Of Aelynthi. (Mature themes possible)

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Basilica
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Of Aelynthi. (Mature themes possible)

Post by Basilica »

Note: Mature themes are possible (though not guaranteed) in this sporadic accounting of the life and times of our protaganist this evening, Aelynthi. If you are the sort to wish to be forewarned, then let this notice be it.

--

Often times, my characters spring from a single, errant mental image, and tend to grow from there. Without further ado, the following is a small slice of Aelynthi, set in the not-so-distant past.

-- Your host, the author.


"Image"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Midnight. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The evening was pleasantly temperate. Upon it was borne the softest kiss of cool on the tranquil air, of the sort that was all but made for one to sit and savor the sublime sensation of permitting the heat of the day's exertions to slowly dwindle away, banished to but embers. Overhead, the unimaginable vastness of the celestial reigned, dotted with faintly twinkling pinpricks of light, suspended as though hung by invisible threads in some uncomprehendable ether.

A few slow whisps of clouds, barely threads even, lazily wandered the night sky; here, a pair strands of white partially obscured the great Galleon, on its ceaseless journey through the heavens. But it was truly Selûne that walked with providence across this midnight sky, tears trailing in a glittering wake behind Her footfalls, the whole of them wise with prescience to cast naught but a soft light which portrayed a delicate ambiance over the magestic celestial backdrop, rather than so fiercely overpower it as did Amaunator's daily brilliance.

Illuminated by Selûne's quiet radiance, stilled waves of short grass covered the soil, and stretched on into the distance until a great deciduous forest arose further off, proud and strong with the muted presence of lush, dully lit green.

Emerald orbs observed this in silence, for a moment that stretched on to two, and then three, before elven lips delicately curved upwards in a soft smile. Aelynthi shirked the traveling-pack that had remained her steady, daily companion, the bundle of leathers carefully allowed to slide down to rest on the ground. Supple leather traveling boots were carefully unlanced and removed, to join the traveling-pack in forelorn discard.

Aelynthi padded softly through the field (for it seemed remiss to disturb the quiet solace of the moment), feeling lightened in more than simply the physical sense of having left the traveling-pack behind. She extended her arms out and down, as though simply to sample the eddies swirling almost imperceptibly about outstretched fingertips as she walked through the still, evening air. The earth beneath her soles was pleasantly cool to the touch, the subtle caress of blades of grass about ankles reassuring; the whole of it felt simply right in a way that the mere exchange of words and written script were so ill-equipped to describe.

The elf couldn't help it; she raised her head gently up and dreamily closed her eyes, imagining within her mind's eye, soaring far overhead, what the vista must have looked like from high above. The moonlight bathing down upon the elf seemed to bouy her up even higher, that insubstantial light seeming almost a tangible thing warming upon her cheeks, as though that she could feel it, here and now.

An evening like this was special, a rare gift to be treasured, even so far away from the trapping of the hustle and bustle of 'civilization', roads paved over that soft earth underfoot, a world encased in stone and wood, iron and mortar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ An hour later. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The embrace of the night had grown a smidgeon chiller, but Aelynthi hardly noticed, nor paid it any mind. She sat cross-legged in a small clearing, near the juncture where field met forest; a respite from the grass that had been taken well advantage of by evidence the small, incense-salted candle that slowly burnt afront of the elven woman. Her eyes remained closed in the quiet solance of serene contemplation; Aelynthi absently savored the ambiguously pungent smell which the candle produced, the scent whickering in and out of intensity as invisible eddy currents occasionally buffeted the lazily upward-tracing thread of candlesmoke to the side.

As with all things in life, Aelynthi knew that she would move on from this place. And yet it was a respite that came with truly heart-felt thanks, an oasis in a dry desert -- some might have even called it a sign from her goddess. Aelynthi would have simply smiled at that, had one remarked as such to her, but she did feel a sense of quiet, humbling kinship tonight. This feeling needed not the boisterous clang of temple bells, nor the exalting shouts of a congregation; it was a simpler, more personal sort, a quiet dignity and inner refreshment that simply was, through and through, fingers to bones.

The elf-woman turned her chin up a hint further and mouthed a muted thanks, and though there might have been naught a soul within a league to make notice and record history of it, it mattered not to her. Some truths simply were, and that was all that there was to them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ End. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- Basilica
mr duncan
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Re: Of Aelynthi. (Mature themes possible)

Post by mr duncan »

Glad to see new authors putting the library to use. Look forward to more from you


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Basilica
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Re: Of Aelynthi. (Mature themes possible)

Post by Basilica »

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nwaly-, to ache. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aelynthi stood at the water's edge, the bank on the southern district of Silverymoon. A brilliant moon hang overhead in the night sky, a boon of the Lady's favor.

The elf should have felt clarity, she knew, but uncertainty tugged at heartstrings this particular evening. Where there should have been a cool, calm mindscape, turbulent clouds rallied and rained down acrid droplets of fear and self-doubt.

Long moments passed while the elf watched the slow motion of Selûne and Her Tears across the sublime recesses of the cool night sky.

In a far off and away land, covered almost more by concrete than soil, one might have looked up at a similar night sky and described it in terms of the sterile precision of axial precession, orbital mechanics, inertial reference frames and relativistic perturbations of planetesimals and asteroids.

The elf knew nothing of these things.

Aelynthi looked up at this night sky and saw the slow march of the embodiment of her goddess across the unimagineable heavens, with the Tears that She had wept following in a dutiful wake. The elf watched this and tears of her own came unbidden, soft drops of moisture leaking down moonlit cheeks. The elf bent to a knee and closed her eyes, drew a soft breath in, then exhaled, as though that outbreath would carry away some of that knot of uncertainties.

Elven lips moved, silently, to words that were known by heart but not spoken aloud.


"O 'Tears, in Your endless journey, grant us courage to face our fears, fears that You have seen to their dying dusk.
O 'Tears, in Your endless journey, grant us strength to overcome our trials, trials that You have triumphed over before the morning sun.
O 'Tears, in Your endless journey, grant us wisdom to guide our way from shadow, through the paths that You light.
O 'Tears, in Your endless journey, grant us peace to share with those that we love, peace found in Your still night.
O 'Tears..."


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ End. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- Basilica
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