Auranar's Vengeance

Log Info

• Title: His Grandchildren and Avengers

• Emitter: Auranar

• Characters: Auranar, Ravenstongue

• Place: Grandfather's house, Quelynos

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Plane Shift. Caster Level: 14 DC: 24

It is early in the day, but already there's a scent of fresh-baked bread spreading through the humble yet beautiful home of the Feather One, as he is known in some places, but here he is simply and fondly; Grandfather. Auranar hums a happy tune as she sets the bread into a box on the counter for later, dusting her hands up and beginning to clean up the mess she'd made in the baking. She uses her hands and simple spells at Telamon's suggestion, smiling as things quickly disappear and are set to rights.

Her long black hair has been pulled back into a ponytail with a piece of pink ribbon, and she wears a simple but lovely pink dress to match. An apron covers much of that, but as she finishes her cleaning she takes the apron off and cleans it off before setting it in its proper place and making sure that she did not forget anything.

There's a calling from within the woods that surround the clearing where Grandfather's house is located. Auranar knows this sound quite well from both the memories given to her by the pact and the fact she's spent a bit of time here with him: these are the sounds of the strange corvid-like birds that occupy the woods, and one or two of them will come to spend time with Auranar and/or Grandfather whenever they leave the house. Oftentimes, they call to each other if they find a meal in the forest, but as time has worn on, it's seemed more like they sing to each other at random.

This is not a random occasion, however, as Cor'lana emerges from the woods with one of these strange birds on her shoulder. She chuckles affectionately as she approaches the house, petting the bird on his beak. "You're sweet as always," she says, before knocking on the door to the house. "Grandfather? Auranar? It's me, Cor'lana."

Hearing the odd noise of the birds draws Auranar out of her thoughts. It might be Grandfather back already - though in truth he had left just a short time ago - and besides, she liked to watch the birds where she could. So she makes her way toward one of the windows and then comes the knock at the door. At first she is startled, but then hearing her sister's voice she moves quickly to the portal and opens the door enthusiastically. She does not doubt that the birds would quickly set upon anyone unwise enough to try and enter the house that had not been invited and thus has little concern about unwanted guests.

"Cor'lana!" She offers with warmth, welcoming her sister into the house with a little gentle motion, and then as soon as the other is within reach she offers a warm embrace which is perhaps a bit firmer and more enthusiastic than Cor'lana is expecting. "It's been such a long time! How are you? Would you like some tea?"

"It's been a while!" Cor'lana agrees, returning the hug with enthusiasm. "I'm alright; I thought I'd come visit and see how you're doing. I'd love some tea--and ooh, that smells like you just baked some wonderful bread. Where's Grandfather? I didn't see him in the garden."

"Mushroom," the bird on Cor'lana's shoulder says in a mimic of Auranar's voice. He (for somehow, both Auranar and Cor'lana know this) takes flight and flaps down to the ground, his feathers puffed up like he is happy to be in Grandfather's house.

"Mushroom?" Cor'lana looks down to the bird, curiously. "Your name isn't Mushroom--oh, is that what Grandfather's out doing?" She looks to Auranar with a small grin. "I have to admit that I thought that Grandfather wouldn't dare leave his house for a moment with you around, but clearly, he trusts that you'll be safe."

Auranar looks fondly at the bird in question and grins as she moves back toward the kitchen for the tea kettle. "These good birds keep me company and safe." She says warmly. While she is in the kitchen she cuts off a portion of the bread and even gathers the crumbs into the palm of her hand. Thus as she comes around she sets down the kettle over the fire, sets the bread down on the table, and then brings the crumbs over for the bird.

"I had worried that he might not trust me to be safe on my own myself, but he's slowly thawed." She takes down her hair as she sits down, and notably the hair is all black now. Not a trace of pink in it. "But I think that some of that is simply that someone needs to restock the food stores, and in truth me going out into the woods is as dangerous as staying here."

Good bird! She said good bird! The bird's feathers, a medley of raven feathers and the dark brown of an owl's, poof up even more in pride, and he makes happy little noises as Auranar feeds him the breadcrumbs, his tail wagging up and down as he eats his special treat.

Cor'lana takes a seat at the table, admiring the loaf of bread. "I'd say you've really taken to how Grandfather does things," she says, "but you were always talented with baking. Thankfully, it seems Grandfather's been right as rain since his illness."

Her violet eyes lift up to look at Auranar. "Oh! The pink in your hair is gone now. I thought something was different about you." Cor'lana smiles broadly.

Auranar seems to almost startle at Cor'lana's words, not about the baking - which does make her smile - but rather the comment about her hair. "Oh! I... Well the color grew out, and there really is not much around here in the way of things to dye my hair with." She grins and as the tea kettle whistles she quickly pours it into the ready tea pot to allow the tea to steep. A small collection of various plants is nearby and she pushes this toward Cor'lana. "I hadn't thought about it to be honest. Would you care to pick out the tea you like?"

"If you asked Grandfather, I bet he knows a trick," Cor'lana replies with a small grin. "Although the last time I saw magic involving hair, it was one of my garden pixies trying to put a 'shimmer' into Telamon's hair, and... Well, she ended up making all of him sparkly by accident. Grandfather tends to be more reserved with his magic."

She looks at the plants thoughtfully for a moment before she points to the mint. "That and some lavender's exactly what Telamon and I have in our house all the time," she says. "How have you been keeping around here? Have you been learning anything from Grandfather?"

Auranar gladly takes the herb tray back, picking out the herbs as requested and setting them to steep in the tea pot. Even as she moves she replies. "Oh, it's not that important. Though it might be funny to watch him try and do so. It'd be a handy spell to learn from him too." She seems thoughtful a moment and then shrugs gently. "I've been learning all sorts of things from him!"

Her eyes are bright with enthusiasm. "He's such a kind and patient tutor. I get frustrated long before he does, and he always brings me back around; reminds me that these things come in time and not at all when we want them to." She tucks her hair behind her pointed ears and looks warmly at Cor'lana. "How is everyone doing?"

Cor'lana's eyes are mirrors of that brightness and enthusiasm as Auranar talks about Grandfather's tutelage. "He's wonderful like that," she agrees. "He's taught so many of our ancestors about magic that he's seen the frustration so many times before, you know?"

She considers her next words. "Well--Verna's thrown herself heavily into research," she says. "She seemed... reassured that you're safe. In her own way. Her focus seems to be on making sure that everything's safe when you're back."

Cor'lana looks at Auranar. "I've... I've been having a rough go of things lately. That's part of why I came here today, once I discovered I had the magic to do so on my own. I wanted to be here and... not in Alexandria." There is a lot unsaid, simply because it seems too painful to divulge.

"You're always welcome here Cor'lana." Auranar says immediately and without hesitation. As she talks her hands are busy cutting bread into pieces and she offers her sister a plate. "You can talk about it, or not as you like. Some things need time to talk about. So it's okay if you're not ready yet."

Cor'lana takes the plate and she contemplates the bread. "I... I can't talk about it fully," she says. "Not yet. But I find myself grieving someone. Someone who I really didn't know long or even that well. And there's a lot back in Alexandria that reminds me of him."

She looks down at the bird on the floor, and she smiles gently. "But being here helps. Here in Grandfather's house. Even if he's busy out in the woods, having you here is enough. Because you're family just as much as he is."

Auranar looks up a moment and then begins to pour the tea. "I... I don't understand perfectly of course, but I do know what it's like to mourn someone that you don't really know at all." She smiles softly and pushes the tea toward Cor'lana before pouring her own and holding it in her hands. "You don't have to even like someone terribly much to feel sorrow at their passing, and even someone distant from you leaving can leave a hole you don't expect in your heart."

She looks at the odd little bird eating his bread. "Sometimes, people come into your life suddenly. Unexpectedly. Sometimes when they go you find yourself changed from the person you were before you knew them. It doesn't matter that they were there only a little while."

Cor'lana nods quietly, taking the tea and sipping it as she considers Auranar's words. It appears the tea is already doing her a world of good, as when she finishes sipping it and looks down at Grandfather's bird, she's already smiling--just a little. "You're right," she says. "I suppose it's... just odd for me to experience. The only great loss I've ever experienced is my mother--who I knew well. Even if I didn't know the truth of her death for over two years."

The bird finishes his bread. He looks up at Cor'lana for a moment... And then he flaps up, landing on her shoulder. He nuzzles into her hair, like how Pothy does to her, and Cor'lana snickers. "I'm sorry, are we not paying enough attention to you?" she asks the bird, looking back at Auranar. "They're such sweet things."

"I have to admit that there's not been much death to deal with in my life either. My parents of course, but I never knew them. But just the same their deaths changed my life in every way, and even now I find myself mourning them at odd times." Auranar seems more inclined to hold her tea than drink it. "And then when I lost Verna... Even though I had hope that her goddess would not take her from me so swiftly I was utterly bereft."

Here she takes a moment and tries her own tea before smiling at the bird. "Yes, they are excellent company on the rare occasion that Grandfather can not be here himself. They remind me very much of Pothy, and I think that my predisposition toward spoiling your familiar is fattening them up." She laughs gently.

"I suppose when you've dealt with so many good birds wanting nothing but affection and food, they all feel the same," Cor'lana says with a snicker, leaning in and kissing the bird on his beak. This makes all of his feathers puff up again, and she smiles all the wider for it.

Cor'lana looks at Auranar on the subject of Verna. "I remember when that happened," she says somberly. "I blamed myself, too. For not convincing Verna harder to stay. Just all the more reason for me to take down Marsward..."

The thought she'd had goes unfinished. She turns her attention to the bread and eats the slice she's been given, humming thoughtfully. "Oh, this is wonderful, Auranar," she says. "Is this--one of your recipe's? Grandfather's? Or a combination of the two?"

Auranar grins with sudden pleasure. "You like it? That's excellent! I have been toying a bit with a few of Grandfather's recipes. Nothing that destroys their core of course, but fiddling here and there. This one is one of my favorite combinations so far. It's a little of both of us together."

She seems slightly embarrassed suddenly. "I feel sometimes as though I'm doing things over again that someone else has done before me. But he never says a word to suggest anything of the sort." She looks at Cor'lana. "And even though I miss Verna every day... I know that when I go back to her that I'll have the strength to protect her the way she's always trying to protect me."

"I don't think he'd ever dream of implying such," Cor'lana says with a grin. "It's been decades since he's had anyone living here with him. He's overjoyed to have someone here again, you know? He's been such a lonely soul for such a long time that I think he might even relish the idea of doing some things over again."

She gestures off in the direction of the nursery, a room that Cor'lana had showed Auranar the last time before she left to return home to Alexandria. "He willingly takes on babies and small children, over and over and over again, because he adores them, after all. I don't know how he has the patience for it, but I suppose when you're old and you're... well, functionally immortal, you just have that quality. At least for some things."

Cor'lana pauses a moment to take another bite of the bread. "That's more or less what I told Verna," she says. "That this was a gift from Grandfather and I--the gift of not feeling powerless. The gift of feeling like you belong somewhere and that you have a goal to strive for, and people who will love and support you as you try and climb."

"You're exactly right of course, about everything." Auranar picks up a small piece of bread and nibbles on it. "I'm learning to trust myself; trust my instincts. Trust the magic I was born with and my own abilities. I never realized how important it is to play to my own strengths... because I never thought I had any."

"I needed so much to be more than the person feeding the army, more than just another pair of eyes reading some book or another." She looks at her hands suddenly. "I know that you and Verna saw more in me than that, but I never felt it in my heart. Not until Grandfather gave me those memories and then... I knew exactly what I was meant to do."

"He gave me memories, too," Cor'lana responds with a small smile, reaching across the table with a free hand for Auranar to take. "When he and I made my pact--it was the same as yours, but I didn't have anyone to hold me. But the memories were wonderful. People think that these kinds of things are always dark and scary--and Grandfather can be dark and scary--but they can also come from love and warmth. Which is something I think you needed. I'm just glad we could do that for you."

She looks out of a nearby window for a moment. "Speaking of which... the rook. He hasn't been by at all lately, I imagine. And I know Grandfather well enough to know that he's probably reluctant to talk about it. You haven't heard anything, have you? Or stumbled across anything?"

Auranar gladly takes her sisters hand, putting down her cup of tea to do so. "I should ask, but... The memory of Grandfather sitting in his chair... dying..." Her eyes are dark and she can't help the little flicker of her eyes toward the chair in question. "I can't imagine why someone - anyone would hate him so. There must be some reason behind it... and perhaps it is time that I asked."

Cor'lana squeezes Auranar's hand, nodding soberly as her eyes go just as dark as her sister's. "I think it was the rook," she says. "Or an acquaintance of his. They're 'cousins' and... The only thing I've ever really been told is that he's simply a sadist. When he found out that Grandfather was happy and in love... He came around and tried to ruin what they had. He even tricked Grandfather's wife into thinking he was Grandfather once, and she kissed him because of it."

Her expression turns into disgust. "That apparently resulted in Grandfather beating him to an inch within his life. Made him swear an oath to leave them alone. And... for whatever reason, the rook's decided that the current generation of mortals that are descended from Grandfather make for particularly fun toys. But I think if anyone can find out more about it, it'd be you. You're the one living here, and Grandfather wants you to feel part of the family. That means knowing everything, even the darkest spots."

"Good for Grandfather." Auranar murmurs dangerously, her dark eyes hot. "I will not so quickly forget nor forgive what the Rook did to Grandfather. Whatever reason for his choice in deciding that he wants to stir his feathers now; he will find himself in grave error."

That small flame burns brighter in Auranar's eyes. "I mean to see him dead Cor'lana. For that reason alone is good enough cause to question Grandfather... perhaps I will find some weakness of the Rook's in there somewhere."

Cor'lana is visibly surprised as Auranar declares her killing intent--but the expression is quickly replaced by a small, small smirk, a sort of grim satisfaction in knowing that they're both on the same page. "I'm glad we agree," she says. "He's caused far too much pain for so many people."

She looks at Auranar for a moment--and then realization comes up in her eyes. "Telamon cast a spell a while back to try and pry information about the Corpse-Eater out. He was given a vision of the rook with one of his victims--a fey woman by the name of Alba, who had slain her spouse because she thought it was the Rook, and the Rook was... gloating in it, before he compelled her out of her home and..."

The sentence can't be finished. Cor'lana shivers violently, like she's suddenly in a stiff winter breeze. "He lived up to his name," she finally says, looking back down to the table. "If you can find Alba--with Grandfather, of course--you could learn more. Maybe she would be willing to talk."

Disgust and determination war on Auranar's face, her eyes glittering darkly. If it were a flame before it is a bonfire now. Something to warm herself with on cold nights. "That is an excellent place to start. I appreciate that." It's a notable thing actually, the care which Auranar is putting into her words, as if she's thinking more deeply about what she says before she says it. "With that in mind... is there something more... specific I can do to help you? I hate to see you so sad Cor'lana."

Cor'lana smiles a little. Just a little. "I was thinking--it'd be nice to go into the garden," she says. "Maybe to pick some flowers. I brought some the other day to him, but... I think it'd be better if I brought flowers that are closer to home. I'd love if you could come with me."

The bird, who is still on Cor'lana's shoulder, carefully taps his talons, as though to remind her that he is a very good guard bird who will protect them both. He gets a kiss on the beak for his protection.

"That sounds lovely." Auranar says gently, picking up her little bits of bread which are unfinished. "We should feed these remnants to our deserving guardians." She smiles more broadly at the bird that is comforting Cor'lana in particular. She doesn't press for more information. It'll come in time if Cor'lana wants it to. She'll merely be here, as any good sister should be. The best she can offer now is to pamper the birds and be at the other woman's side as much as possible.

She rises to her feet smoothly and follows the other woman to the garden, offering quiet chit-chat about the various plants that she knows to be in bloom. Subtly encouraging her sister to stay until Grandfather returns; perhaps even for dinner. She thinks to herself, both of them could use the extra attention.