Linela Susan Fryar

Your characters' general information and background/origin should go here.

Moderators: Moderator, DM

User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

Huego left her house that night. She sent him on an impossible quest with unreasonable terms. She would save him from her. She had decided she would save everyone... Everyone but her. She kissed him once. A kiss for his quest and a kiss goodbye at the same time. All her kisses from now on would be thus... A goodbye.

He left and Verenestra stepped from the shadows. The fey was uncommonly silent for a few moments before asking, "Is this really what you would choose? You know you will end up dying alone."

"I've always been alone," She nodded, "I should have accepted it. I cannot save my beloved by being with him. I cannot love him "better"... and I cannot give Huego a future."

"I think you have taken too seriously my comment on being a martyr," Verenestra said quietly, "So be it."

"I realize that was always my function," Linela said with a smile, "I was taught early as I was poked and prodded to forgive people for having better intentions than actions."
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

She emerged from the gnoll cave with Huego, and ran right into her beloved. She asked Huego to go on without her and made her way to her beloved's side. They spoke the truth's they'd held so long, and he seemed to know what was coming. She confessed that while she was deflecting Huego's advances, twisting him in every way away from her, that she wanted to be with Huego.

Her beloved only nodded. There was nothing more to say. She walked to Candlekeep and then ran to the Friendly Arm. Verenestra spoke in her mind, "You are going to go through with it. Give Huego his month and then you are really going to do it, aren't you?"

"I am," She answered.

"Foolish girl," Verenestra spat, "If it is your desire to run into my arms, I can take you now... You do love your misery. Very well, play house, have your dream, love those silly men. They will find out too late all you are going to do for them. You have so much more potential than this."

Disappointment was ripe on the archfey's voice. Linela paid her no mind and ran to Huego's arms, even as she wished just one more time.

I wish I had been enough...

So do I, beloved...


She had tried to save him by living for him. Now she had a new plan.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

03 Tarsakh 1354


The start of one month 30 days...

04 Tarsakh 1354


29...

05 Tarsakh 1354


28...

Linela poured over old texts on the study of the thing known as grace. Everyone uses the word, and some speak of its power, but does anyone really know what it means? Who can give it? Who can take it? Who is it for and what does it do?

She found and read ancient tomes in the ruins of Ulcaster. She studied for hours. She became steadily more convinced of her plan, she just needed to figure out how to execute it. The man she had loved was off seeking his path of vengeance. The man she loved now was seeking her freedom and that gave her precious time to seek her own means.

"This makes no sense," Verenestra said, "You will be just like the others. All that is specail about you will be gone."

"I will still be yours," Linela soothed, "You are my brilliant queen and I will love you always."

Verenestra's distant eyes looked over Linela,"But you won't be you... Not really."

"Then we may amend the pact," Linela offered, "How can I please you?"

Verenestra sneered, "Do not do this thing."

"You said I may do as I please," Linela reminded, "Good or evil so long as I worshiped you. I am maintaining the pact."

Verenestra melted into the shadows. Heavens only know what a fey is thinking, let along when it broods. Still, she was left with her books... And she studied hard.

She was always a good student.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

27... The days were rolling by and would be gone before they knew it. She soaked in all of these last moments. What she had with Huego was selfish. She'd given of herself to the point of damnation, and now she was refilling herself. One month... One month to be as happy as she could bare and then...

She poured over the books again and again. She thought she had a location and the ritual worked out, but she needed to get powerful enough to reach it. Verenestra had been remarkably quiet of late, for which she was grateful.

Being with Huego made her happy... But it also assured that wherever he was, he was not watching her lest he see her with Huego and rip his heart out again and again. It is one thing to nobly stand aside to let someone be happy, it is another to watch it. He was the only one on the coast that might look at her various texts on fey, celestials, and religion and piece together her plan.

Some small part of her hoped for Huego to be successful in freeing her from fate, but the larger part of her was more and more satisfied with her coming end.

... 26 days left.
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

She read through an old tome written by a student in Ulcaster's an Unknown time ago about divine energies and spells. She found it odd that a student of the arcane would have devoted so much time to such a study, but he had written three volumes on it. He was particularly fascinated with the topic of grace. He started by collecting definitions.

1 a : unmerited divine assistance given to humanoids for their regeneration or sanctification
b : a virtue coming from a God
c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance
2 a : approval, favor stayed in his good graces
b archaic : mercy, pardon
c : a special favor : privilege
d : disposition to or an act or instance of kindness, courtesy, or clemency
e : a temporary exemption : reprieve
3 a : a charming or attractive trait or characteristic.
b : a pleasing appearance or effect : charm
c : ease and suppleness (see 1supple 2b) of movement or bearing danced with such grace
4 Used as a title of address or reference for a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop
5 : a short prayer at a meal asking a blessing or giving thanks
7 : a musical trill, turn, or appoggiatura
8 a : sense of propriety or right
b : the quality or state of being considerate or thoughtful

Through the volumes he focused on grace as a divine favor. He postulated that grace was and energy borne of love primarily, and as such have ultimate power over creation. Love created new things, things which renewed themselves and in turn created more new things. He used the example of childbirth. He waxed poetic for over a hundred pages on the power of love, forgiveness, and through it the power of redemption.

She wondered if he was in love himself, needed forgiveness, or was a follower of Selune. What an odd mage.

Through the books he studied various forms of granted grace including some less pleasant. Wrath was borne of love by means of protection of an ideal or person. He called this "twisted grace" because it was so easily polluted, and made note that this was the only form of grace the race of celestials known as angels had access too. Disconnected from the grace of forgiveness, he said wrath is blind and cuts down all in its path. This is why the angels serve either a good or the person that summoned them. Without restrain they would bring ruin to the world. They were slaved to do good, and an angel that acted counter to that would fall.

He then went into the other forms of Celestials. One's that had minor access to other forms of grace so that they could be granted freedom of movement to do the will of the gods unsupervised; Archons, Guardinals, Eldarin, and more. He argued that even though their grace was more extensive than an angels grace, their grace was still incomplete. Those that came to own a complete grace, often ascended to godhood.

She was fascinated by pages of equations in which he attempted to quantify grace, but the day was slipping away from her... Huego would be looking for her soon.

25 days left...
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

Huego was turning out to be quite the romantic. She hated herself for his inevitable disappointment. This month, unless he was successful, was all she would allow herself to act selfishly. For his good really... He may enjoy this romance now, but when his heart turned to marriage, children, and that she could not offer those it would turn bitter in his mouth.

She should know... She had loved Him with all her heart, offered up her very soul. As the months wore on and she realized that she could never truly make him happy, and never save him it had turned on her. Slowly she withered, until death was not so terrible a thing to contemplate. Instead of enjoying what she had left, she only wondered when it would be over.

So she allowed herself to act selfishly, to pull a happy month from the stranglehold of fate and to keep his eyes off her while she researched her plan. He would never approve... But if she could not save him by living, and she could not offer any other man a happy future, then this was the only choice left to her that had any meaning.

She opened the final book in the series from the poetic mage... The lending of Grace... How odd that he called it lending. It seemed pretty permanent to her.

"Don't do this," Verenestra said one more time, "You will not be beautiful anymore. You are my pretty thing... My fey-blooded, singing storm... Do not squander my gifts."

"You said I could do anything," Linela said flatly, "As long as I am yours and I worship you, oh, my queen."

She found hers in the wastelands again, choking on toxic fumes. Verenestra sneared at her, "I gave you great gifts of power. I showed you the error of your ways in loving him. I have been kind to you and you would deny me the one thing I wanted."

"Kind?" Linela choked, "Tormenting me about him, and laughing at me for my loyalty? Torturing me nearly every night with visions of the family I will never have? That's kind?"

The scene dissolved. Verenestra hoisted Lin up and glared into her eyes lifting her off the ground with a single arm, "You humans say we fey are hard to understand. I have not harmed you in any way. I have only shown you the truth. If you find harm in truth, then perhaps it it you that hurts yourself with the lies you build yourself around."

Lin coughed, trying to gasp around her constricted throat. Verenestra dropped her, and Lin crumbled into a gasping heap. Verenestra paced around her like an animal stalking prey.

"I cannot be sure," Verenestra said finally, "This thing you humans call love. A feeling, stronger in yourselves toward one above all others. I can see in your mind that you have felt strongly about many men... But strongest toward just one."

Verenestra made another of her dolls appear. Linela's large amber eyes widened and she turned her head away in shame. She began to cry and only said, "Don't... Please."

Verenestra smiled, "I think you know I'm right. Poor girl... You would play at dreams you will never have for one man, and sacrifice yourself on the altar of love for another."

Her laugh was crueler and colder than ever, "And neither of them... Is the one you really wanted."

"That's how it is in the human world," Linela said as she looked anywhere but at the vision before her, "Sometimes the one you love most does not love you back. You have to move on or content yourself with misery. You have to let them go."

"So you've contented yourself with misery," Verenestra mocked, "Because all I've seen you do with yourself is commit to deeper and deeper acts of despair. Now you are going to give up the most brilliantly beautiful thing about you... You didn't just content yourself... You've married yourself to misery in his stead."

"I have only ever acted out of love and loyalty!" Linela barked, "Please make the vision go away!"

"Ohhh," Verenestra cooed, "Can't even face a false one of him can you?"

Lin's eyes snapped up to the fey, "You'll not manipulate me. I am going through with my plan. You don't have to understand human things like moving on after heartbreak, or dedicating yourself to something bigger than you. You can MOCK it all you want... It changes nothing."

She found herself back in her townhouse and her body shook... She couldn't focus on the words before her as her eyes watered. She marked the page, hid the book away so that Huego would not find it if her came over, and curled up among her mountain of pillows. Then she cried herself to sleep.
Image
24 days...
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

23 days...

The days seemed to fly by like mere candle marks. She closed the books and her notes. She was sure she could accomplish her goal. If it would work, was another story.

"If it doesn't," Verenestra growled, "You'll be left just another of my children. The old you will die and be unrecognizable next to the new you. I can't guarantee you will even remember yourself long enough to deliver the piece of yourself that you shed to the person you are gifting it to."

"My future is without hope," She said and tucked everything away into her hiding place, "At least in this there is a chance, however small of someone being whole and happy in this."

Verenestra scoffed, as it was impossible for most fey to understand the gravity of death and wanting death to mean something. Her only true care was that her pretty Lin was going to change in a way that she disapproved of. Lin was happy to see her go. Maybe she would understand and get along with her patron better when all that was left of her was the nymph blood in her veins.

She picked up a sketch of herself where she had tried to imagine herself with brown hair. The hair she would have had before fate began to play its cruel hand.
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

A large group at the fire outside the gate is not abnormal. Huego has played for larger groups, but the tone as she approached was grave. Eyes shifted to her, and the tone got... Colder.

Huego approached her and asked that they go for a walk away from the crowd. Rania looked at her cooly and muttered, "Celestial Goddess, give me strength to hold my tongue tonight."

Clearly she doesn't know I speak Celestial...

Around the fire were mutters and curses about Bran. Saying he was a coward and only attacked people when he knew he had them outnumbered and they were obviously weaker than him. Practiced by now at hearing things that made her blood rise, she did not react. Then the mob mentality set in, "We should hunt him down..."

She reacted to nothing. She followed Huego away, but she would be lying if she said her blood was not blooding, or that it wasn't easier to breathe now away from the group. Huego took her home and began to explain.

Bran had attacked a woman with Msciwoj. It apparently had something to do with her wearing a mask and refusing to show her face. Linela didn't understand, he himself had worn a mask twice in knowong her. Why would he be offended by that? Then... She also knew how readily people accused and attempted to fight him with his mask on. It's well known; masks are not trusted. Further, they were illegal in certain places.

She kept from grinding her teeth. If that was their reason for being up in arms where was the outrage when it happened to him? Where was the disgust when he was attacked, outnumbered on the tradeway? Hypocrites.

Because they were ignorant of the fact that blood magic is not just practiced by evil blood mages? Because they did not know it was also a shamanistic right practiced by completely normal shaman? Because they had never spoken to Lannia, whom they seemed to so love, to ask her about what spells a shaman might have access to? Vampiric Feast for example? But Lannia smiles, Lannia makes them feel welcome and accepts their flaws. Bran refused, and condemned them... They didn't like him, so the slightest excuse...

The other women was a tiefling, who all but hunted him down and made him fight her twice, but that with the testimony of one other masked woman was all they needed for a mob. Madness.

Did anyone know this woman? Did anyone know why she was wearing a mask or what dark powers she might have? Bran did not hunt people that ran unless he had a reason, but no one gave him that benefit. No one even considered it. Inside she boiled over, outside she was placid. Right now, she needed more information.

She said nothing... Thought she thought it...

If they hunt him down and hang him... I die with him.

Information... Focus on getting the information...

She asked Huego why the crowd had become so cold suddenly when she arrived. Her placid exterior near broken when she heard... Rania knows.

How? How did Rania know? She and Bran had been so careful. They never even flirted in public. How? HOW??? Huego said he didn't know, but Rania knew.

Her mind spun back to the campfire, and the way they looked at her... Gods... Rania must have told them too... Suddenly the hangman's noose flashed in Linela's eyes. She could see it now; and angry mob at her doorstep demanding her blood when they could not find Bran. They were ex-lovers now, but she doubted that would matter to that blood thirsty lot.

Huego started talking about breaking her pact, and that time was now even shorter because they could find and hang Bran any day. In her head... She was already doomed, if not by his hanging, then by her own... If accused and questioned, she would not be able to resist defending him. Worse, she would not be able to hold her own accusations to the supposed righteous of the coast. That would be her death sentence for sure; calling them hypocrites to their miserable faces.

Her venom surprised her. She actually wanted to face them, to fight them, to unleash her feylock powers on them and give them their excuse to hang her... What in her life was worth saving anyway? If you can't live well... Choose the way you die, either nobly or with a bang, but never silent and resigned. To think she had thought of redeeming them, of redeeming Bran. She was, for so long a creature of forgiveness, kindness, and a near physical aversion to lying.

Huego continued on about saving her, and breaking her pact... So I can die powerless?

She had done nothing truly wrong, but she had little remaining faith in the supposed righteous of the coast. No longer a creature of faith and honesty, her blanched soul wept for all the love she had put out and how little had been returned... One can only give until it breaks them. She told Huego what he wanted to hear. She would arrange his meeting with Verenestra. Then she fully distracted him...

She hated lying to him. She hated deceiving him, but now at least he could truly claim to be a victim of her charms when the hangman came knocking for her. Who knows... He might even come to believe in time that she was a evil as they will make her sound. Instead of heartbreak, he might come to feel he dodged an arrow in not having her any more.

Every kiss is a good-bye. Looks like the dance is coming too quickly to an end... I am sorry I wasn't enough, beloved...
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

How to expose the truth without letting it be known that she knew? That was always a question. If Bran laid low a few days she might clear his name. Clearing him might buy her more time, before a noose might find her or Huego might unwittingly agree to anything Verenestra asked. She still had to find the spring that the ritual spoke of if she was going to complete it before time ran out. The angry mobs stirred outside. They made their threats, they called for blood. Such was often the case when people are given a reason to act against someone they simply do not like. Like a lit stick to lamp oil, hate burns reckless without asking the proper questions.

Do I have any days left?
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

Finding the truth, and naming the guilty. What if everyone is guilty? What if that is always the case? In a story where everyone is guilty, what is the most grave sin?

Not knowing how guilty you are.

Shutting your eyes to anything but your own perception, self-justifying, and retelling the story as if your truth is the only real truth. Hypocrisy. Self-righteousness. These are the true sins and lead to all other forms.

Self righteousness elevates you to infallible, it elevates your judgment to godhood. If you can never be wrong, never act poorly, you've no need for forgiveness. You've no need to forgive. You've no need to question the things you do because you have never misstepped.

You've no need for grace. Self righteousness is polar to grace.

If you have not critically considered your actions, you are guilty. If you have justified rather than listen or soothe, you are guilty. If you have called for justice against a foul act without first asking "Why?" as if it were your fondest friend that committed it... You are guilty.

Bran killed a drow who thought to subvert the Radiant Heart and the Halls of Inner Light. As little love as he had for these organizations, he put down his hatred and executed a drow that meant them harm. He could have self-justified, he could have stood aside and said they deserved it. Instead he protected them all.

Then the angry mob formed of the SELF-righteous of the coast. Those that never questioned that the act was an evil one, never asked... Why? They spoke angrily and loudly, in a public place, by a busy road. Apparently they felt so secure in their righteousness that they felt no shame. If Bran was the evil that they thought he was, there was plenty of ways for him to hear their planning.

But hate isn't smart enough to hide. It is a wild thing that swings without target until -someone- is hit and then turns inward. You find excuses for the damage done, because you can't deal with hating yourself for how you behaved... Righteous fury. You elevate yourself to a god again and excuse your sins as if they did not occur.

You ignore grace... You ignore that the same forgiveness you might extend, you might keep for yourself. Self-righteousness can only survive, ego can only survive, if you believe there is nothing to forgive.

Gods help me. Gods forgive me. Gods help us all.

There is another story she is still investigating... She discovered a new piece recently. She needed to speak to Derik Ranloss.

She almost had all the stories... All the sins collected. She needed to move quickly, and she needed to get to the spring to complete her sacrifice. She did not have the month she planned. Verenestra was silent, and now that she knew the fey was talking to Huego in his dreams, Lin found that unsettling.
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

She found what she thought was the pure spring the rituals called for. Perfect, clear and still, regardless, it would have to do. She'd encountered a detail toward the end she had not considered in the chapter called, "Shards of Grace."

A subject who exchanged the component of lavendar for rosemary, did not gift their grace to one person. The grace fractured, near explosively and showered multiple people. To some it gave great peace, to others it gave great despair. Notes were limited on it, few would speak of the profound visions it ignited in them.

One subject did speak;

"At first... It was a nightmare, All my sins laid bare before me, even ones I had never considered. Every time I ever lied, every time I acted too quickly or too rashly and caused others harm. Then the people I had allowed myself to hate, all their stories were played out for me. I saw it through there eyes, and hated myself all the more for never allowing them to just be human to me. I lived for a moment in time in a place where all my sins were known, and where my worst fears were realized.

And then... I was forgiven. I saw the people in my life that might draw me up and be there even as all my mistakes were thrust into the open... I... I saw her... She held me and said, 'I knew most of this about you already, but even now that I know it all, I forgive you. Now go... And give the forgiveness that you have been denying.'

She showed me the road to atonement and redemption. I have never felt so peaceful.

I think... I think we can bring her back. We have to bring her back!"

The rest of the interview with this man was too far ravaged by time to be read.

Did this mean she did not have to publicly expose the sins of the coast? Could her sacrifice be two-fold? Exposing the self-righteous to themselves, and redeeming Bran's soul? What of those that seemed deeply troubled after receiving their shards of grace? Why was the result so varied? Would it be different depending on who sacrificed their human grace?

She wondered what gifts and curses might be granted the coast by her grace...
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

"If he could," Verenestra taunted, "He would stop you."

"Are you on about Bran again," Linela sighed as she wrote in her book, "I am honoring the pact either way. On the one hand I die and join you early, on the other maybe Huego buys the pact and you get whatever it is that you want for that. There exist ways to be a contract breaker, and to break the pact by force. He knows that, so why would he object to me paying up early or buying it out?"

"Because you chose it," Verenestra purred back at her, "And because of how you intend to 'pay up early'. You might honor your chains in that... But you would not be honoring his, and he is quite happy with them."

Linela lips curled sourly and she attempted to focus on what she was writing. Verenestra sat behind Linela, one leg on either side of her and pressed against her back as she cooed, "I wonder, if both of them had a future to offer you. Who would you choose."

Linela snorted, "I'm not playing your games tonight. I have work to do."

"Oh my pretty singing storm," Verenestra chuckled, "As if you have a choice."

They were in Verenestra's world again, with all her silver mirrors. Verenestra smiled and snapped her fingers. Before Lin stood Bran, but he was different somehow. He... Shined. He had this easy smile about him, and a light in his eyes that was simply intoxicating. Lin stood and walked closer.

"I would not have been able to love you," He said.

She ignored Verenestra's manipulation and looked deeply into his eyes. That was the light... The light she felt was buried within him. She'd never seen it, but she had felt it. She cupped his face and tears rolled down her cheeks as she said, "I don't care..."
Image
Verenestra's exterior expression was cool and neutral. Linela just kept talking, "I never cared if restoring you would mean we could never be together. Light like yours belongs to the world. I only wanted to bring it back..."

Her hands fell away from his face and she looked down at her feet. She said it one more time, "I'm sorry I wasn't enough. I never seem to be enough..."

He disappeared and Verenestra's expression showed clear disapproval. She was upon Lin in less than a second, snarling, "You have always been enough for me, and yet you squander your gifts and my power on these stupid children. You want to know why they aren't licking food from your hands? It's because you aren't true to yourself, you refuse to use the gifts you were born with to get what you want!"

Lin was blasted back, hitting and breaking through a mirror. Verenestra stalked toward her, waving her hand as the scene melted away, "What a waste."

"Huego..." Linela answered to the air at the vision faded, "I would choose Huego. Even saved, Bran has no future together to give me. That's doesn't mean I don't love him, and it doesn't mean I'm not going to try to save him... After all... I've nothing to lose."
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

Linela fell asleep on her notes, inward her mind ground its gears. Something tickled her there, biting insistently for attention. It was something dark, something that just felt out of place.

She remembered the many torments of Verenestra. Linela knew very little about fey, but from what she knew Verenestra's behavior was odd. That was confusing in itself. A fey's behavior was typically odd. They didn't understand things like death, or sacrifice. It probably didn't even fully occur to them what they asked for in a pact. What, after all, was a human soul to a fey goddess but a plaything?

Maybe it was a foothold she wanted. More power and influence in the world of men? It was a world in which she might surpass her mother's influence. She was supposed to be a jealous and pragmatic fey. So Linela had read...

Verenestra seemed to delight in tormenting Linela, making her suffer. She had not read anything about her being cruel, only preferring followers of little personal ambition. Was it normal for Verenestra to travel about in dreams and make so many personal appearances? So little was known or written.

She seemed so perturbed by Linela's plans to sacrifice her humanity and gift away her human grace. It had made her progressively more aggressive. Why was she so concerned by this? Why did she care so much about Linela's human grace.

"Because If I wanted a nymph," Verenestra's voice echoed in the darkness, waking Linela, "I'd choose any number from my court."

Linela sat up slowly, "My queen."

"You fey blood and your human grace," She looked Linela up and down, "That perfect blend of supernatural beauty, but -just- believable enough, just real enough to touch... It makes you special. So I will give you one final warning. Promise me you will abandon this foolish plan."

"You don't want to die do you?" Verenestra cooed, "You don't want everything you are gone just like that? You don't even know it will work. Do you want to die for nothing?"

Something in her mind screamed... She understands human death.

Linela's mind raced as she watched Verenestra. What was Linela missing? Why was it nagging her so much? Linela only scowled at Verenestra, "My answer has not changed."

"Pity," Verenestra said in a cold, emotionless tone, "That was the wrong answer."

Verenestra stalked toward Linela growing in size and the Vernestra's skin became scaly. Clawed hands gripped the laces of Linela's bodice and lifted her up against the wall by it. Verenestra's smile became jagged and split her face, in her eyes was nothing but wicked cruetly. Linela watched in terror as the monstrous transformation seemed to commence in slow motion. Finally, there was no more Verenestra...

A demon...

"I had hoped to keep the deception going a bit longer," The hateful foreign voice spoke, "But I could almost feel your mind working it out."

Something like a chuckle came from the beast, but it was so much more terrifying. It looked at her with malice and delight at the fear in her eyes. It leaned close and spat out it's words, "You really thought a fey goddess would have any interest in you? You're pathetic."

"A demon..." Linela barely managed to breath out.

"A demon!" It mocked in return, "Of course a demon! And your stupid little plan won't work. Your grace is tainted, your soul is mine."

The hours the passed after were ones she would not soon forget. The demon did not leave until Linela was well assured of her place. When it was over Linela was tattered, beaten and emotionally hollowed out. She sat staring across the empty townhouse in traumatized shock.

The voice rang in her ears, "You're my singing storm. I'll be back to remind you regularly."
Image
Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

“Hello, Beautiful,” Huego said with that warm, easy smile.

“Hi there, my cheeky bard,” Was her deliberately unsophisticated response.

He slung his lute and sat abruptly beside her, pulling her into him. The other women at the fire used the moment to excuse herself. Linela normally would have tried to get her to stay with assurances that they would not be “overly cute” but today Linela just did not have the energy.

Small talk, something about that song he keeps calling my favorite to tease me. She found herself in an oddly antisocial mood. Finally, she looked at him and suggested that they train. Even in her ears, her voice had an odd hollowness. Huego seemed to sense her struggling mood and said, “We'll figure it all out. Let's... just enjoy right now.”

She smiled, though she very much doubted that it touched her eyes. She felt so… numb.

Huego told her about an undead attack on the fire at the Gate. He then suggested they take the shorter route to the village of the Xvarts instead of running through Beregost. She agreed, and they were off. The training was going well, and then she swore she saw a man running by being chased by Xvarts.

She ran to help him and he seemed to disappear. She used only her bard and storm singing abilities to fight the Xvarts in case he was still close enough to see her. She didn’t want to hang… Just yet.

They fought a while longer and there was no sign of him. She began using her powers again, and just as she did, she spotted him again. She instantly changed her invocation to a song and brought down a storm. Whoever he was, he seemed to be running into their battle when the foes were many and cutting a few down or wounding them to make them easier prey. She called out to him a few times, but he kept running away.

Huego saw him this time and grunted. He told her that Tamzim had told him Kurt was hired to protect her by Bran. He didn’t know how reliable the information was, but Linela was almost certain that the man had been watching them long enough to see her use her powers. Best to confront him and be done with this. She figured out how she was seeing him and Huego was not… She could see through invisibility spells.

She walked up to Kurt looked him dead in the face and said, “I see you.”

He stood still and she stood there, staring at him with an arches brow. Then his spell wore off. He looked down and himself and cursed. She rolled her eyes and assured him, “I saw you a number of times.”

They moved to conversation to higher, safer ground. Over the course of the conversation they established that he was hired to protect her. He did know what she was, a warlock, and that he was there to guard, not to judge. Anger churned within her. All the anger she’d pressed away since coming to the coast, all the disappointment as she berated Bran for trying to protect her when all he’d ever had to do to save them both was to actually want a future.

Kurt and Linela were both people of ever-present smiles, but in this moment there was nothing but coldness in her heart and she believed he sensed it. Then in her head…

He still loves you…

Her mouth raced on without her, even as she struggled inside her own breaking heart. Kurt said plainly, “He hired me to guard you, Linela.”

“And why?” Linela spat, “So that even more people can suspect I am still his woman?”

She knew the real answer before he even spoke it, “He wants you safe. No matter who you love, no matter who you share your bed with.”

He still loves you… And you love him…

The voice inside her head was cruel, almost laughing. The conversation continued to race without her. Seemingly without prompt she said, “No one just stops loving someone...”

She found an even higher place to look out across the valley, and sat down hard as the men looked after her, confused by her outburst. The soon followed and Kurt was assuring Huego that Bran meant him no harm in this either. She slowly re-entered the conversation, making sure Kurt knew the consequences of knowing she was a warlock… Hung from the neck until dead…

“The consequences for me are,” She started, sadly remember the hopelessness of her situation, “Far more severe.... More than even I knew.”

She recounted a bit of her bitterness, her loneliness, not too many details though. Eventually Kurt broke in, “You should turn this in your favor. That is my advice. If you have fears, or enemies...”

She looked down between her feat for a long moment, and then she stood to face him. Her heart bled openly as the words fell from her, “I have collected the sins of this coast line. The mighty, the weak, the supposed evil, and the supposedly righteous. A pretty girl smiles and stops talking and they can't but spill their life's stories. I expected to find enemies... He told me to look for them… That my judgement was all he could trust. Do you know what I found instead? Humanity...”

Both men stared at her half confused and half stunned so she continued, “A bunch of children stumbling in the dark. Every one of them guilty and innocent all at once. The biggest sin is that they don't know it. They know only their preception. Their limited view of reality. They are constantly blinding themselves to what they do and judging everyone else. But every one of them... Every one, does that. Even Bran.”

“All these conflicts, all the sufferring?” She further explained as the men continued to gape, Kurts eyes wide and overwhelmed, “It's because no one forgives themselves, much less anyone else. And me?”

Her laughter rang bitterly in her ears 1as she said, “I had a plan to maybe... just maybe open their eyes.”

Her voice began to break as the tears threatened, “In the absence of my own future I hoped to give them a future that was brighter, and save Bran... But those are the dreams of a -stupid-… Naïve… Little girl.”

Huego moved to hug her and she stopped him with an outstretched hand. She continued, “I have no enemies... None but myself. I have only love for too many people on opposite sides, for stupid reasons, and there is -nothing- I can do. You still want to watch this hopeless dance? Is he paying you enough?”

The conversation continued from there. Kurt was set on protecting her and being of service in some way. She said that if he was insistent, then he should take the cover of a good friend. A protector means that there is something worth protecting. She does not need yet more eyes upon her. It was hard enough already to keep her secret. They agreed that he would also serve as a lookout crying “storm” if anyone was coming near and Linela had to hide her powers.

They got back to training, and once Lin and Huego were in a relatively secure place, Kurt left. Linela took Huego to a beautiful place. It could not have been easy on him, hearing all of that talk about Bran still loving her, hiring people to watch and protect her. So she wanted to give him something to fill him back up a bit.

He started to make small talk about Bran. So much for sparing him more of that kind of talk. He was going on about a conversation he had with Isabella, “She told me that he wants someone to stop him. For someone to prove that the world was better than he claims by stopping him.”

And the world… stopped.

Huego kept talking but her mind was on fire. She stood abruptly, holding the sides of her head as her eyes widened at a revelation.

No, no… Please no…

“I asked for the power to save him,” She breathed out, “What if the only way to save him... Is to stop him?”

Huego considered it, “If he is stopped... he might believe the world is a better place.... and wish to be saved.”

“Gods,” She shuddered, “I have to -fight- Bran?”

“And if he kills you?” Huego cautioned.

I can’t kill him. I just can’t!

But it came out, “He.. won't I just can't believe he would.”

She closed her eyes and bid her mind to stop. The image of standing on the other side from him. The idea of fight against him tore at her already tattered heart. They wouldn’t stop… The images wouldn’t stop! She looked at her open hand, imagining it spilling his blood. Her hand closed and she snapped.

She grabbed fists full of pebbles and launched them toward the sky, snarling. She howled at the heavens, “Why do you HATE me??? Damn you! I don't want to fight anyone! Least of all him! Why is everything violence and blood?”

Huego spoke softly to her, trying to sooth her but she rounded on him, “Why? Don't they ever get enough suffering? This is some kind of cruel joke... I couldn’t love him better so I have to BEAT him better? What kind of sense is that?”

Cruel laugher rang in all corners of her mind. The demon did not have to speak. She knew what it would say.

You asked for the power to save him…

She crashed down on the bench, defeated, “I should have stayed... I should have just stayed in my room... The world run by these gods is awful.”

Huego knelt and started trying to sooth her, “I ... don't have good words to say, Linela. But... I'm here.”

“It's not,” She started, choking on her tears, “Fair... And I know that sounds childish... But I wanted so little... At least I thought I did... I don't think I ever hurt anyone... So why? Why does it have to be this way? Why am I always suffering even as I try to help? It's not fair... How can the gods ask this of me?”

They didn’t… You begged for the chance to save him without considering what it might mean.

“No, it's not,” Huego agreed.

“I just,” The tears continued to interrupt her ability to speak, “I just wanted to help. I just wanted to put something beautiful in the world. Tell stupid stories... Sing silly songs... I just wanted to live... Beyond the glass of my bedroom window... I wanted people to see it the way I did. The beauty of it all.”

“The world... is a beautiful place, but it is also cruel,” He said back to her, “And you have made my world a much more beautiful place. You have -added- to the world by coming into it.”

He professed his young man’s plans to woo and bed and drink. To sing and live life without commitment or care, “But... You showed up. I've... never been an evil person. But you... you've made me into a good one. At first... you were ... interesting. Someone who caught my eye. Women... they either threw themselves at me... or avoided me, and you did neither. The more I spent time with you... The more I thought about you... The more I was drawn to you. You've brightened my world and made it a better place.”

“You make no sense,” She said with a wry smile, “I swear you've lost your mind, crazy angel”
They flirted in a cute and somewhat saddened way. Eventually he said, “Linela… You make me happy every day… You give me hope.”

She didn’t bother him with the obvious question; How does someone so hopeless give hope?

They were joined shortly after by Tellae Ranloss. It was a good diversion from the emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that sank into Linela’s bones. They decided they would adventure into a nearby cave soon together and Linela would show them the pure spring inside.

Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
User avatar
Tiberis79
Posts: 289
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:36 am

Re: Linela Susan Fryar

Unread post by Tiberis79 »

Lannia Tannen - Bunnybow the vicious, scourge to tasty animals and talker to snarky spirit dogs.
Linela Fyar - Fey Bard.
Post Reply

Return to “Character Biographies”