Linela Susan Fryar

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Tiberis79
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Linela Susan Fryar

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First Name: Linela "Lin, Nel, Ella, or 'DINNER'! I come really fast for that last one."
Last Name: Fryar

Appearance: Supernatural. Her pure white hair seems to catch every random updraft and swirl around her. She radiates incredible warmth and empathy to the point she seems to glow... Or is she just glowing? As the daughter of a wealthy Sembian merchant she was given training in dance, and how to behave as a lady. She rejects a lot of it, but her walk is so fluid and graceful she appears to float. Though not a beauty in the classic sense, her large eyes, angular features, and up-turned nose give her a delicate, spritely look.

Race: Human Fey-blooded
Age: 26
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 100lbs

Eyes: Larger than normal, hyper expressive. Linela has no poker face, no ability to lie without wearing it all over her features. They are amber/brown. In some lights her eyes flash warm yellows and reds, in others they look near-black and bottomless.

Hair: Her pure white hair has an unnatural shimmer. It is impossibly fine and soft, like the fur on a rex rabbit, or fine spider's silk, moving around her delicately as if it were alive.


Personality Profile: Bright, warm, unreasonably loving and forgiving. At first glance may seems a little flighty and ditzy, but she is exceptionally well read on a variety of topics and may suddenly shift to intense scholarly discussion. She is optimistic to a fault, placing a sunny spin on most things.

General Health: Good, sickly as a child
Deity: Sune
Initial Alignment: Neutral Good
Profession: Bardess
Base Class & Proposed Development: Bard Fey-blooded, mostly mind-affecting spells
Habits/Hobbies: Reading, Writing, Poetry, Dance, Acting, Singing, and Paper folding
Languages:
Weapon of Choice: Short sword

Background: Sickly as a child she spent near 16 years in a sick bed under the care of various physicians who could not identify what was wrong with her. The best diagnosis they could give her was a "disease of the blood". Kept locked away in her room for her protection, through a fight of chronic anemia her hair faded from ash brown to pure white.

She was fed bone jelly, spinach, and liver near constantly. She turns green at the smell of it now. Her two brothers used to sneak her other things and sweets to eat and gather on her bed to listen to her singing and stories. The occasional fight with paper dragons erupted.

Her condition suddenly and drastically improved at 16. Her parents were used to protecting her but they engaged her in dance and other trappings of pretend-nobility at that time, encouraging her aspirations toward music and theater. Eventually she began to ask we her instructors always came to them, and why her brothers had courted many matches but no suitors had been introduced to her.

Her parents could not get past her sickly childhood and told her that her brothers would always protect her at the manor. She was expected to stay and live out her days therein. She tried several times to reason with them, but eventually collected a modest sum of gold and took off into the night. Her oldest brother, James, eventually caught up with her. After a long talk he gifted her some special armor and modest supplies. She still writes home to her family, in hopes that they will change their mind about her status. At present, she is disowned by her parents, who do not write back to her. Both brothers actively write her.

Goals: Since coming to the coast she has realized through a few near death experiences what her childhood illness was. Fey traits have manifested in her from a nymph ancestor, of deep empathy (at one point grief could kill her), charm, and some other odd enchantments she doesn't speak of unless she trusts a person. She has spent months training her mind and emotions so that a friend's grief can no longer make her physically ill. Her current goals are to be able to completely dispell her persistent fey traits so that people may see and know her as she is without fear of her fey charm taking hold. She feels at times that her true self is invisible and, given the choice, people will choose the nymph over her. She's had little evidence to the contrary, as even people who have known and professed to adore her, chose to remain under that influence.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Honesty

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For some it is a choice. For me and these large eyes? Not so much. I can't help but be truthful, lies write themselves all over my face, but sometimes it is necessary to lie to protect what is right. What do I do then?

I'm too in my head about this... He is showing me how to cook and I am a million miles away. I think of Corvin... I think of Kald and Thedran... Of Nilimirith and my brothers... Of corruption, disrespect, and looming darkness. Until mere months ago my world was a room full of bookshelves and a four posted canopy bed. It's so large now. It's almost swallowed me a few times.

There can be no future with the man I love...

I watch his hands move, and I fall into his smile. I am given to thinking it is only for me. I feel the goodness in him even now. A soul that only wanted to do good and was tread upon, used, and forgotten. How might his story have ended if I had come sooner? Now it has a path, a dreadful path from which he believes he cannot return. Maybe he's right... And in all my prayers I beg for him to be wrong.

We need salt... A good excuse. No need for him to get geared up to walk a block to the market. I insist because I must get away. I walk toward the market, and when I am sure he is not following I find an isolated corner and I cry. I won't let him see it. I won't make him suffer. He's suffered enough.

There can be no future with the man I love... I know it. I accepted it... It's not fair for me to need to cry over it.
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I must limit myself. Salt does not take long to fetch. A cloth for my face, a dab of makeup for the puffiness. Buy the salt... Return with it.

A bare step inside and I look into that smile again. Gods, I love that smile. I love the beautiful broken heart beneath his curse. There is no future... So I will take every moment of the present. I drop the salt, and fall into his arms... Dinner is going to be burnt or cold, and I don't care.

That's how you lie when you can't... You just don't say anything.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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I find myself drifting further and further from Sune since I left home. Sune teaches a love for outward beauty, and while I enjoy things that are traditionally beautiful I find myself drawn to things that contain something... More.

I was raised in my faith. My family would certainly shudder to think that I was considering conversion. Even if I left my goddess behind... Where shall I go?

Strangely enough I find myself split. Sometimes I think on hoar, as so many deserve justice that they have not properly reaped on the coast. Then considering Selune, as so many have reaped too much suffering for their decisions... Vengence and forgiveness... Somewhere between is...

Justice.

No... I can't find one that makes sense. One that gives vengeance to the unrepentant wicked and mercy to those who understand the toll of their mis-deeds. Gods, lead me to the one of you that will hear this message of my heart...

Gods, I would give you my last breath to restore my love. There must be a way to teach him mercy and forgiveness. Let it start with himself. Let him forgive himself and fight for more than eternal damnation from his existence, or else... Take me with him. I offer myself, in sacrifice, for his sins.

Make ill the wicked that have lead him here. Make glaring their misdeeds that they bury and excuse, mocking righteousness by continuing to thrive. Bring down your gable firmly and without reservation on those that would dare to say they've done nothing wrong... Everyone, after all, has done something wrong.

The sin is not in the doing, so much as it is in the self-justification. So easily excusing one's self while they point at others and judge. My heart, my soul searches for this god or goddess.

Show me the way home.

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So here I am at the library, reading through various scriptures, and trying to find something that fits... Tyr, no... Torm... no... no, no, NO! My hand came down on a bookshelf with a frustrated clap. A book tumbled from its once secure purchase, and the librarian scowled at me. I mouthed my apologies and raised the book.

"Bahamut the Dragon God"? I shake my head in frustration and don't bother reading it. I'm no dragon after all.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She stroked his dark hair, such contrast to her own pure white locks. His eyes were closed, he seemed relaxed. In this moment, with all the broken malice drained from his features, she could see it. The broken angel.

A single tear escaped, and fell to his own cheek. A moment of adrenaline grasped her. A small second of panic that he would wake with her tears rolling over his cheeks. He did not stir, and she bent down, kissing the tear on his cheek to clean it away and to seal the sentiment. If only a tear, kissed with love could baptize him and wash him clean.

His fate was death and eternal damnation, and if anyone knew she harbored him... Hers as well. She smiled morbidly... She'd gladly die beside him. Her heart almost demanded it.

Yet, some small bit of her hoped. Some tiny glimmer, prayed for him to find forgiveness and escape from the pain. She knew no outer influence could give him this. He had to believe, and to want it. Yet, a small seed of bitterness twisted her stomach.

Why? Why could he not? How is it that the good she saw so clearly within him did not ache to heal and make things right? How could vengeance be that important? Why wasn't she enough? Why wasn't the idea of a real and happy future with her enough? He could find redemption, he could become a beacon of light and hope and purity again. She knew he could.



And yet... She could ask questions of herself. Could this doomed love they share truly be worth the pain? Never married, never to bare children... The simple little house full of books, and rocking chairs seemed to fade a little more each day. It grew dim... Dark... Wasn't it important? Didn't she deserve it? Why did she run from one cage into another?

He shifted and his arm found her legs. His embrace tightened ever so lightly, and he let out a content sigh. Then that soft smile...

It's worth it... To be loved for who I am, and to be whatever small comfort I am to him.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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Lin wiped the tears from her eyes in the dark ally where she wept. She came to the coast with such hope to spread joy and beauty. She came to live her life and settle into a warm cottage full of bookcases and a strong man to love. She came casting aside her near nobility to taste a life that was of her own choosing. She came with a near physical aversion to lying.

Now where was she? She still occasionally shook at thinking on the things she'd been asked to do. It was because he knew the gravity the choice would have with her that he asked her. Still her stomach twisted at the figurative gavel placed in her tiny, weak arms.

Her mind went back to happier times. She remembered dancing at the white mask, and the improvisation they did. She remember swaying the whole crowd to near tears with her song. That was so much the life she had envisioned except that there would be a man in the chairs. A man waiting to cherish her more than anyone could cheer, and waiting to love her more deeply than any mere fan.

She did not know why she thought Aidan then... She still had not sung for Aidan... She'd not seen him in so very long, and perhaps that was for the best. What would he think of her? Of the choices she's making and the person she was becoming? Or her harboring this man; this man so many found despicable.

This loving... Wonderful... Fallen angel.

"Who cares was he thinks!" She barked at the air.

"Who indeed," Came a voice so smooth and soft that to hear it was to feel your ears wrapped in silk.

Something resonated in her very soul. She turned toward the voice and beheld a woman so lovely she simply could not be real. Lin wondered if she might have cried herself to sleep there and was in a dream. The woman's bare feet made no sound as she closed the distance between herself and Lin. Lin blushed fiercely at the woman's near see through dress. The woman's long white tresses spilled over her chest and pretended at modesty.
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"You're beautiful," The woman said with a slight jealous hitch in her melodic voice, "But not as beautiful as I... You do show your heritage, little fey-blooded."

"Who...?" Linela managed to croak out.

"Your patron, dear girl," She answered with a wicked smile, "Come to initiate the pact you were born to, fey-lock."

"Fey-lock?" Linela's senses were swimming, the woman seemed to exude some kind of calming charm. She felt the oddest sense of devotion to this woman, and Lin knew it had to be a spell, yet that did not matter.

"A warlock, by another term," The woman explained, "But where most warlock's are pacted to fiends... You will be pacted to me, goddess of the nymphs, archfey of the summer, the oak princess."

Linela felt disoriented, drugged even. The woman smiled and continued, "Warlock are not made, they are born. This has always been your destiny. You will wield my power laying flat those enemies you cannot charm into allies, and you will sing to the heavens and call forth the very lightning from the sky. All of this, will be yours to command."

The world around Lin slipped away and she found herself in a great room of silver and mirrors. The woman embraced her from behind, urging her to look forward into the mirror. The archfey pressed her cheek against Lin's.

"Look at you," She said, "You want to be loved for who you are, yet you deny it. You deny who you are. This face... These graceful, willowy limbs. You could accomplish all he asked of you in a day if you embraced who you are."

"All he asks," Lin said numbly, "Yes... I want to make him happy if it can be done."

"It can," The woman purred into Linela's ear, "In any way you choose... Pact to me, as you were born to, and so many things will become possible little nymph. Your blood does not lie to you. I am your goddess, so worship me, bond to me, and I will repay you ten fold."

"He will be happy?" Linela asked, staring into the mirror.

"I do not know why one who set out so fiercely determined to live for themself has chosen to live for a man who should be worshiping at her feet," The woman sneered, "But yes, child... You can make him blissfully happy... Maybe even wrestle him from his dark fate with your new power."

"I can save him," Linela breathed out, "Then I am yours. I do not even want to know the cost."

Verenestra smiled...

"It is done."

Lin awoke in the ally. For a moment, she thought it may have been a dream, then purple tendrils swirled around her hands and she heard the woman's voice.

"Do good or do evil, I care not," Verenestra cooed, "But you are mine now. At the end of your days, you will be a member of my court. Rise my singing storm... Rise my fey-lock."
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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The gnoll fell with a thud at her feet. She'd had such trouble before. All of her old powers had been stripped away... But these new ones...
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The archfey materialized from the shadows, again her feet made no sound and she closed in. An arogant smirk graced Verenestra's lips, "Good... You are progressing nicely."

She took Lin's arm, pointed it at a charging gnoll shaman and said, "Melt..."

And acid spray launched from Linela's fingertips and the gnoll's cries of agony etched into her ears. She stuck her sword through the beasts skull to end the suffering. Verenestra watched with a vacant stare.

"Do you think that beast would have been merciful to you?" The archfey sneered.

"No," Linela said, "I have no illusions... But that is what makes me better than it."

The archfey was on her in a moment, she grasped Linela's chin and forced it up to meet her gaze, "What makes you better is who you belong to."

The vemon in Verenestra's eyes ebbed and she gave an elegant smile, "Poor naive little nymph-blooded. You sweet, loving little thing. That's why I like you so much I think. Your capacity to worship on that level. You worship ideals, you worship that man, and now... You will worship me."

The archfey pouted with her plump lips and coiled around Linela, cooing into her ear, "That's all I really want... To be worshipped, and in return I give you all this strength. Is it so much to ask? If you cannot find the means, you have the power, to save him... I can make you forget him when he's gone..."

Linela's eyes grew wide as the woman's intoxicating voice filled her head.
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"And I've no need to bring you immediately to death," Verenestra soothed, "You could live a thousand lifetimes before I call you to my court. Beautiful and ageless... Birth a hundred fat children, love and be worshiped by a hundred men... All this I give you... Only honor the pact, serve me... Worship me."

Linela snapped back to reality and shoved away, only then thinking, "Oh hells... I just shoved an archfey."

Before Verenestra could respond, Linela hit her knees, "Oh great one... All I ask is to die with him if I cannot save him. As soon as he leaves this world, let me leave it with him. If he is returned to the one he is pacted to, let me be returned to you as well and then..."

She felt the tears fall from her eyes, "Then... Erase all memories of my life from me. Impose any reality there you see fit. Make me into the tool of worship you so desire. There is nothing I wish to remember but loving you."

In the darkness... Verenestra smiled. In Linela's mind... Though she'd not seen her beloved in weeks... She thought of happier times they might share together if she could only save him. She wanted all of those moments she could wrench from death's cold fingertips.
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And if she could not save him... She did not want to remember... She did not want to know for an eternity where his soul was, and what tortures it endured.

And for that... She sold her soul to the jealous, manipulative archfey... The oak princess, Verenestra.
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Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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Five thick thuds as five bodies hit the ground. The woman behind her had needed rescuing from these beasts. The trick was doing that without using Linela's warlock powers in front of the woman.

Actually... It wasn't tricky at all. All five gnolls in a charred circle around her fell to her storm. She sang... She sang and sang, and the storms continued to come. The women watched in stunned awe as they walked near effortlessly from the cave. She delivered her to her daughter, and the woman wept.

"I will tell of the noble storm-singer all of my days," She blubbered, "My grandchildren will herald your name, Ms. Linela... The singing storm."

"Rise... My singing storm."

Verenestra's words echoed in Linela's mind. She hugged the woman and patted the little girl on the head. She had control over her fey charm finally as well... She could give hugs.

I'm damned... I am pacted to an archfey and my soul belongs to her. If this is what being damned is... I should have sold my soul sooner.

She wondered freely about the coast these days. She eradicated the threats to its people, and she stood up for the right of things. She had the power now. She had the power to stand between evil people and the weak whom they would oppress. She'd always stood in the way anyway... But now... Now she could fight back instead of just taking the punches.

Her mind's eye beheld the wickedness of the people of power and influence on the coast. She could see them clearly and the confusion and chaos that they wrought. They looked down on Sembia, spat vemon in her face, and they were no better.

In this land of confusion and chaos... I am the hands that will tear down the closets they hide their sins in. I am the light that will display them, bare and powerless. I will kill no one... But I will make them face their deeds. What they do, and who they become once exposed? That will be their doing.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She fought at the side of these paladins. They spoke proudly of her great strength and pure heart. They'd gone in together to save someone, and they emerged victorious largely by her hand. They invited her to stop by some time, assuming her singing did not always summon storms. She gladly accepted.

Something twisted inside her.
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...Something cruel and ugly.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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Weeks passed, and still no sign of her beloved. She knew he wasn't dead because of her pact, but where he was or what he was doing was a mystery. He had his mission, she reminded herself of that, and that he didn't tell her much of it to shield her from it. Still her dreams were haunted by the precious time slipping away from them both.

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She set down her book and looked about the townhouse. Her normal posture slackened and she slumped at the shoulders. There was so much she couldn't say to anyone. It worked out well, as listening is how you learn and men never fail to talk when a pretty girl is listening.

But she had never felt so alone... So lost.

The tears began again, unbidden. She wiped them away and stood. She had to go find some life or shrivel up and die. She found a small gathering at the fire outside of town. A golden-haired woman sat talking with Esteban, Dwalin, and a handsome young bard. The bard stood, holding a lute, Dwalin was picking on him for singing too many balads, and Esteban was... Well... Esteban.

They all talked and sang and she danced. She even sang one up-beat song to make the dwarf happy. Then the Bard, Huego, ask her to join him for dinner. She was having such a lovely time talking and joking and living, that she near jumped at the invitation. Outside the Elfsong the levity continued. They would be joined by Lord Luke Darius, Thedran, Mi-le, and Dwalin caught up to them.

A few flirty comments were made and she deflected them, but if she was honest with herself she was sincerely enjoying the attention and Huego seemed a nice man. Ever the honest and loyal soul, she made sure it was known that she was still loyal to the last man she was with. If anyone was sincerely interested in her, they would have to find this mystery man and see what he had to say about it.

She was talking, not just listening. She was laughing, and folding paper. For a moment, she was the idealistic young woman that stepped of the boat into the harbor... Was it almost a year ago? She completely forgot she had agreed to meet a merchant about a set of armor. The sending ended her day abruptly and she dashed off to collect the armor and pay the promised fee.

She returned home with her armor the door, closed behind her, and she was alone again. That was when she really felt it; the withering of her soul. She was a flower without water or sunlight. She looked to her books, hand trembling as she reached for one. It was a book on paper folding. She meant to take and track down Huego since he had expressed interest in it, when a voice came behind her.

"You wear full armor at home now, beloved?"

She was stunned. Some part of her doubted her ears, and then her eyes as she turned to see him. Dark hair slung about his shoulders and warm, sad eyes upon her, there her stood. She took her steps carefully, as if each one could make him evaporate.

He seemed to sense a difference in her, and she could not lie to him. She told him everything... Well... Most of it. She left out the part where she dies when he dies, and then everything she is gets erased if she fails to save him. You know... Minor details.

Honestly it was not that she would hide anything from him... Only that he seemed to not want to know. He was crestfallen. His heartbreak at the news was palpable. Even knowing his fate, his folly, she had sold her soul. He left as they were talking. It was an abrupt departure and some part of her wanted to tackle him to keep him there.

No... Please, don't leave me here alone again... I am so alone... Please...

She fumbled out some words... Something like, "Where are you going?" and "Are you coming back?"

She immediately wished she hadn't sounded so desperate. A lady does not go throwing herself at the ankles of a man. It was the thought of being alone in the townhouse for another month... Suddenly she could not breathe. His wounded eyes turned to her and he gave her that loving smile she'd only ever seen directed at her. He assured her he would be back shortly.

The door closed and the walls shrunk inward at her. She trotted out not long after him, looking for sunlight, and ran into Derik Ranloss. He had come because Rania had spoken to him about some events on the tradeway, events Suna (a student of his) had also spoken of, and that he had connected to something Linela had said and asked about...

Gods that man was sharp.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She sat at the fire outside of town, again looking for life beyond the plots she was a part of. No one seemed to be about this morning. She lost herself looking into the flames, and shut off her mind for a moment.

The man the coast knew as Bran walked up behind her and began talking to her. They conversed for some time, and then when their separate ways. She was a creature that believed in redemption and justice, and he was a man of vengeance. Onlookers noted however, that he seemed to mean her no ill, excusing himself from the conversation with, "Enjoy your day then, Miss Fryar."

"Be well, Mr. Bran," She said in return.

Bran was seen heading toward the Friendly arm, while she headed deeper toward the farmlands and up the river to Ulgoth's Beard. It was a lazy day, and she did no training. She continued walking and eventually ended up in a place she and her beloved often met.

And there he was.

They talked about the various things she was trying to accomplish for him, and disagreed about her degree of failure. The conversation turned, as it often did, to saving him, and his mood soured. He refused to escape what he called his just punishment.

The hells, as she saw it, was a place for deceivers, and the self-righteous. Those who gave no care to their mistakes and failings, sweeping them under the rug. This was not a place she expected for people who felt the weight of what they had done. She gently attempted to talk about kindness, hope, and atonement, and was squashed per the usual.

She swallowed hard and pressed just a little further as he said that being in hell would not torment him near so much as an eternity without her. She offered that an eternity together was still attainable if he would only open his eyes to what she was saying. She was shut down again.

A change of subject... WHat had he done on his walk away from her. His brows raised and he countered by asking what she had done without him around. Linela was never overty dishonest, it still weighed on her in many ways that she could now lie to people. With him? She would only hide what he wanted hidden, so she told him everything she had done. She even told him about knocking both Huego and herself over with a gust of wind, and that Huego might be about asking after her.

He only smiled and said, "He must be a brave man. I should like to meet him."

She did, after all knock him over and he still asked her to dinner.

"He is a nice man," She affirmed.

They continued on lightly, talking about anything they could as long as they did not talk about what she really wanted to say. She felt her heart breaking, even as it was filled up with him.

She went out later, looking for life again, and visited the Muse. Luke had said he'd not seen her in some time and it was true. She had neglected to visit.

There was a lively gathering. Rania, Oth, Dove, Luke, Danny, Rellon, Mill, Nathan, and Huego were all present. She hoped she remembered the names well. They brought up the leader of the Radiant her, whom she had once called, "Mr. Shinybritches."

It was practiced deflection.

Huego sang and Linela suppressed her initial urge to drag every person in the bar up to dance. Her toes reflexively tapped and her head bobbed along. Huego, then asked Luke to sing that he might ask Linela to dance. He practically announced it to the room. She blushed in spite of herself.

"Rather confident I will say yes, aren't you?" She answered.

He gave an bow and extended his hand. To those looking on it might have appeared courtly, to her trained eyes she saw the improper distance of his feet, and the height of the bow. Still... It was adorable, and she never turned down the chance to dance.

They danced to a few songs. Huego was so intent on the conversation that he missed a change in tempo. Their conversation was light, and peaceful. Soon he went back to the stage and started to sing again, she danced though no one danced with her, as she was well known for. Even Iris Sorin called her the tiny dancer.

Dice was brought up and a moment of panic hit her. She'd played that game exactly once, and it was far too revealing. Even when you refused to answer you gave things away. She took that as her cue to exit and Huego followed. They ended up on the beach talking.

It was casual at first, like any two friends getting to know each other. Never one to sit completely still, Linela drew patterns in the sand around the rock she was sitting on. He told her he had asked around about her, and that she was a bit of a mystery, but more mysterious than that was this man who had left her alone for weeks.

She told him truthfully the man had returned the very day that she met Huego, but avoided details. As the conversation turned in that direction she did all she could but felt herself folding inward. She couldn't talk about this, not to anyone... It as another reminder of how alone she was, even with her beloved. Always alone, always listening.

Those that talked with her often would say she speaks plenty... But she never says anything. Huego seemed to want her to speak more deeply about herself, and she simply could not. She eventually excused herself as tired. He said he would like to meet the man she was so loyal to, if it could be arranged.

If only it were that simple. If only telling people who he was wouldn't completely ruin everything she was trying to accomplish. If only she could be like every other woman on the coast and drag him to parties, dance, have dinner, and worry about when or if he might ever ask her to marry him.

Then the flash... A vision of a little house and children running through a field of flowers. She saw the rocking chairs on the front porch and the modest inner dwelling, remarkable only in that the walls were all bookshelves and every one of them was full.

It was her dream, and one she could never have with her beloved so long as he pursued what he felt was his only remaining purpose. She went home and looked about the empty space. This was what she had, and even it might be taken if it were known that she was with this man. She told herself she was ready to face the gallows for him, but some small piece of her wondered how he let himself ask it of her.

She had offered up everything to fight for him and with him. Wasn't she worth more than this? Wasn't she worth living for? Wasn't she worth fighting fate and finding redemption? She sold herself to an archfey for just the chance to save him. She faced an eternity where all she was would be erased...

She felt some strange comfort then. Perhaps she would not remember the dull ache in her heart at all her innocence and dreams lost.

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Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She smiled as she entered, her beloved sitting at her table with two objects before him. He looked like a boy with a cookie. He smiled to her, "A Gift."

She looked over the flask and the necklace with a vibrant smile as he explained the potion and more importantly to her... The sending stone. She placed in about her neck and held up her hair, modeling it for him, "How does it look?"

"It becomes you," He said with an adoring smile, "But most magi know what that is, and might suspect you've a lover."

"I make no secrets of my loyalty," She said and turned the stone over in her hands, "Only of to whom I am loyal. Sometimes it is the only way to put off a persistent suitor."

He smiled and they teased each other a bit. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down into his lap with a deep, resonant purr, and she melted. Soon he was peppering her with kisses and acting a fool for her. She gazed up at him, struck by him once more. She made her wishes, "I wish it could be like this out there. I wish I could drag you to parties and dances... I wish I knew the way to heal everything they did to you."

He grunted softly, assured her it was not her fault and there was nothing she could do. Not exactly what she wanted to hear. She cupped his face and spoke softly, "The hells are a place for unrepentant souls. For those who have no care for anything but their legacy and sweep their fowl deeds beneath the rug. You don't belong there. You don't deserve it."

His mood began to sour again. He kissed her hand and changed the subject as always. She told herself she must be patient. This was not her time to persuade him. Right now, what she could do was be some small comfort to his tortured soul. So she smiled for him. She smiled and inside she wept. She smiled as his determination to meet his grizzly end tore her apart. She smiled. For him.

She smiled.

Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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The story begins with a beautiful young woman...
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She lived in luxury, but decided to leave to find adventure. She had many small adventures. Some were dangerous, others more mundane.

Until one day, she met someone. She met a large beast. She was frightened at first, but the beast spoke softly to her and she saw something in him that no one else could. She fell in love with this beast, though no one understood it.

Then one day, the beast was gone. The beautiful woman was heartbroken. She searched for him, and could not find him. She wondered why he left...


===============================

"Murdered by pirates," Rorry's voice interrupted.

Linela sushed the gnome and turned her eyes back to Huego.

"In her searching," He began again, "She met a prince. A handsome prince, who was full of himself. He laid eyes on the woman, and was instantly smitten. He forgot himself, caught up in her beauty."

Linela smiled gently and asked, "What did she do?"

"She spoke to the prince, and befriended him..."

====================================

"Will you help me find the beast?" The beautiful woman asked.

The prince, thinking that once the beast was found, the woman would surely see how much better it would be to be with the prince, decided to help her find the beast. The more the prince searched, the more he became smitten with the woman. Until one day, they found the beast.

When the prince saw her with the beast, he said to her, "If you love him, I will not stand in your way, nor try to take you from him."

========================

"And what did she say?" Linela asked canting her head.

"Unfortunately, I was never told the rest of the story," Huego said with a smile, "But the prince learned, that if you love something, that sometimes you must not keep it to yourself for it to be happy."

"Ah, a open ending," Kald Blake nodded his approval

"Did the prince get to know the beast?" Linela asked

"I'm sure if the beautiful woman ever asked him to, he would," Huego answered.

Linela touched the breastplate of her armor. Beneath it, the sending stone glowed and warmed her. Her love was thinking of her this exact moment. She'd ended up separating from him in the day. They'd encountered the man that murdered her love and she had to lead that man away. The long distances between candle marks put her at the fire and then lead her here, outside of the Elfsong. She sat with Kald, Rorry, and Huego, telling stories and enjoying a meal.

But somewhere... Her beast was out there, and thinking of her.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She started the walk back home from The Last Anchor after a nice long soak in the sauna. She smiled lightly to herself and blushed, recalling all the day's events. Her musings were swiftly interrupted, however, as she found herself in that great shimmering silver hall of mirrors. Verenestra beheld her with an amused smirk. Linela turned and bowed, "How may I be of service, my lady?"

The posture Verenestra held was of an amused cat. The scenery changed around them and Linela found herself in beautiful bridal gown with a long, shimmering veil.
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Linela openly gawked at the beautiful dress on her tiny frame. Verenestra cooed at her and closed the distance, cupping her chin and lifting Linela's gaze to her own. Verenestra smiled and said, "I know all your dreams... All your secret desires."

"A little house...," Verenestra started as the things she spoke of appeared, "Children? Oh yes... And the rocking chairs."

Verenestra ruffled the hair of a little boy who ran to Linela, throwing his arms around her legs a squealing, "Mama! Mama, I missed you!"

"And on the inside," Verenested snapped her fingers and there they were, "A modest little home... Lined with bookcases. Every shelf full of books. But... Who is in the bedroom waiting for you, little nymph-blooded?"

Linela turned toward the bedroom, surely her beloved...

Then the scene turned dark. The house was gone and the lands all around her were blighted and dying. Her children ran toward her, "Mommy! Mommy we're scared!"

She opened her arms and watched in horror as they cried out. The flesh stripped off their faces as they ran desperately toward her. With a rattling thump empty skeletons hit the ground. She stepped back in horror as one of the skulls rolled toward her feet.

Her wedding dress was now a threadbare cloth sack, and the putrid stench on the wind was choking her. She turned toward Verenestra in tears, who beheld her with a cruel smile, "What? This is what you wanted."

Then her beloved appeared, Verenestra wrapped around him from behind and purred into his ear. He remained still, and empty shell of a vision.

"There are so many ways this one could be saved," Verenestra placed her head on his shoulder, "He knows most of them. He could break your pact too, save you from the fate you willingly signed yourself to... But alas, he has become what he hates. He has become the picture of hypocracy and self-righteousness. He will descend into the hands of his patron... Into the abyss, to prove he's better than them when he has already become them."

Verenesta watched Linela, choking in agony a few solid minutes before continuing, "This is what he wants, this choking death all around us. It amazes me that one of his gifts could be so foolish. You can't blight out evil without becoming it. You also can't exterminate it. The forces of good and evil are a balance, a function of your wretched world. If he blights the coasts that evil will only redistribute to what is left of the world. He would make the whole world suffer his arrogance."

"He's," Linela coughed out,"He's given that up, he's just trying to kill off truly evil people now... He asked me to be his eyes in this because he knows his judgement is too severe... He know's I won't point him at anyone unless they truly deserve it."

Verenestra's laughter split the air and made Linela's ears ring. Linela was pulled roughly to her feet as Verenestra spat, "You really think he waits for you to do evil? What does he do on his walks away from you then? The ones he never talks about?"

The scene shifted to a beautiful grove full of pixies and wild creatures. Linela found herself with a harp in her hands, wearing a royal blue gown. Verenestra sat across from her with an amused chuckle, "Oh, I do like you. You are so beautifully real and innocent. Trusting him, trusting that bard, trusting... Yourself."

"Play for me," Verenestra demanded, "All the songs you sing for them."

Linela somberly plucked the harp.
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"He could be with you for all eternity," Verenestra teased, "He could save you both, but he doesn't. Not that eternity with me would be so bad... I could make a whole world for the two of you. You could meet, fall in love, be married and have children over and over for all of time. You could live out a thousand stories together if he'd only pledge himself over. But he simply doesn't want to... You know it, and still you insist on trying. You could at least have your dreams of house and family with that "cheeky bard"? You pass him over, again and again, for your loyalty to despair."

Linela's eyes flashed angrily at Verenestra who only smiled back at her, "What... Are you mad at me little fey-blooded? For my words? For the vision? I am only giving you what you want. You must want it, because you asked for it. You stay in it knowing there is no hope."

Verenestra laughed and laughed, "You don't even have to choose you know? You could have both those silly men wrapped around your finger. Men pretend to be creatures of pride, but for the kind of fantasy you provide? They'd gladly share and crawl after you, kissing the footprints you leave in the mud. All you have to do is access that part of your blood that links you to me, but you constantly shut it off."

"I want my love to love me," Linela said softly, "Just as me."

Verenestra was clearly entertained. She sat behind Linela, wrapping her arms about Linela's tiny frame. Verenestra gently moved Linela's hair, exposing one shoulder, and the archfey laid her cheek against Linela's neck, purring softly, "You act like the nymph in your blood is a separate person... It's part of you, and you should embrace it."

Verenestra moved her lips up by Linela's ear, "I think I know why you are so irresistible... Even to me... It's your reality... You have both the supernatural charm of your kin and the raw, tangible presence of mortality. I think you should live forever. Shedding your mortal form might actually diminish your beauty."

"That's not the deal," Linela growled.

"Fine, fine," Verenestra soothed, "But then... When I erase who you are and all your memories, how will you know the difference?"

Linela did not respond. She sang and played as she was instructed, pouring her broken heart into every note.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She fell down into all her pillows that night and wept... Again. Her beloved was out, and she could no longer be near her only true friend.

"Friend..." Verenestra said in an amused tone, "Is that really what he is?"

"Go away," Linela growled before she thought on it.

Linela hit the hard ground with a thick smack as the bed disappeared beneath her. She groaned and scrambled to her feet, bracing for the impact of a blow that never came. Verenestra sat across from her with a wicked smile and said, "Think I don't deal with moody, heartbroken women? The fall is the only blow you'll receive so long as you mind you tongue better now that I have reminded you who owns you."

She laughed, "But you -are- heartbroken. Make no mistake and who wouldn't be?"

The scenery shifted. Her beloved and Huego stood like dolls before her. Verenestra walked in circles around them and nodded approvingly, "You've good taste at least. Stunning men, the both of them."

Verenestra curled around her love and spoke, "Look at this specimen... I bet he makes you happy to be a woman. So darkly handsome, broody and distant, and yet... When he looks at you."
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Linela's heart leapt to her throat and she took a step toward him before realizing that the expression was faked and he was still a doll Verenestra was using to torment her. Verenestra smiled and walked to Huego saying, "But then... This one looks at you much the same."

"I love you," the doll spoke in the smooth baratone of his bardic voice.

"I told him to stay away from me," Linela argued, "I gave him a hundred reasons not to pursue, and when he said that to me... I told him goodbye."

"Yes," Verenestra started in a patronizing tone, "Such a good, faithful girl. Sticking to your beloved, and choosing him in the midst of temptation. Your love can't offer you marriage, children, your little home, or even to grow old together. He doesn't even dance with you... Huego does."

She walked over and gave Linela a mocking pat on the head as she continued, "My my, you must love him, but does he love you with the same depth? You know what I find interesting? You speak always of what he wants, what he needs, and of being the light in his existence even if you fail to save him. You sold yourself to me for the chance to save him. What about your own dreams wasn't worth fighting for, and who is the light in your existence? You are withering and you do it willingly."

"You know what else I find interesting?" She smiled and snapped her fingers.

"Linela," Huego pleaded, "Do you love me?"

"You didn't answer him," Verenestra grinned, "You would answer yes to your beloved without hesitation, but what right would he have to even question your devotion? He might not know the exact terms of your pact, but he must know on some level that you did it for him. Huego however... He follows you around, determined to bring a smile to your lips. His devoted eyes never leave you. He had a right to that question, and an answer. The answer you denied him. You just carved his heart out and left him standing in the rain."

Linela shook with rage. She did the right thing, what right did anyone have to torment her for it? She warned Huego off her from the start, she repeated her warning time and again, and when it was clear the warnings were unheaded she sent him away from her. She was with her love and would see it to its end. She would save him or die with him as the only light he had in this world... And Huego could move on and find a woman that could offer him a future. Ever in her thoughts, Verenestra laughed.

"You won't take his future," Verenestra doubled over at her middle with cruel laughed, "I love it! I love how fully you devote yourself to everyone around you. You refuse to even argue with your beloved for fear of causing him pain, you refuse to leave him for Huego for fear of stealing Huego's future, and all the while you deny yourself all the things you protect for both of them... My precious little martyr."

The scene faded away and Linela found herself back in her room with just the echo of Verenestra's laughter ringing in her ears.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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Tiberis79
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Re: Linela Susan Fryar

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She listened to the man quietly, her blood boiling at the same time that she wanted to cry. She stopped herself from saying a dozen different things as he relayed reports of her beloved's foul deeds. She held her tongue. She was getting good at that. Justifying him would expose her.

She returned to Derik, Calad and Huego's company and she could still hear Verenestra laughing in her mind. Linela laughed and carried on socially like nothing had happened. She was getting good at that too. In her mind she was still only half there and half in Verenestra's halls of mirrors.

Verenestra showed Linela the dance lesson she gave Huego with a wry smirk, "This is my favorite part."

The false Linela looked up into the false Huego's eyes. Realizing she was enjoying herself with this man she admonished herself. Verenestra stopped the vision, freezing them as they spun around each other, "Right here, where you realized just how many times you've sent that man away and he has come back. Better, that you keep letting him come back because you actually want to be with him."

"And then you send him away!" The archfey cackles, "You had him, and you sent him away again for your precious loyalty."

"Love is not always easy," Linela argued, "There will always be temptation."

"oh yes," the Archfey paced around the froze image of the dance and smiled, "And you "can't take his future!" You are doomed and want him to find someone with whom there is some chance of happiness. How noble."

She patted Linela's head, "You truly love everyone in your world more than yourself. The truth will crash down on you soon enough..."

She returned to the conversation with these men and she heard two more times that night of the evil her beloved had done and would continue to do. She smiled and played dumb and innocent while she broke inside. Too late...

Too late she put it all together.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
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