Chapter 1. Dry earth breeds misfortuneÂ
While wandering around the construction site of the Anvil, the sun seekers mind wandered through the past. Most notably through memories of how she got to where she is today. One of them stands out more than anything else among the chaos of her mind. Many years ago... While her life took place in constant travel between Ul'Dah and the great forests of Gridania.
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"Alright then, Mister Rock. Time to establish some basics here. You don't seem to like me. And I sure as heck don't like you. You and your kin made my childhood a hungry hell. Quite frankly, I have no idea why I should respect you in the first place. You have done nothing for me other then make my life miserable."
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Here she was, sitting in a lone room in the Conjurer school of Gridania. She hated almost every minute of it.. But she had reason to be here, at least for now. Her attempts at the conjuring branch of magic were of little success though... Her friends and teachers kept repeating the same issue with her. She did not respected nature on itself, so nature was not responding to her calls for aid.
And now she's talking to a piece of rock on her desk. Needless to add, she felt like a total too, talking to it.
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"Yeah you just sit there in mocking silence, like you always do. Really I don't get these tree huggers around here. You're a friggin piece of rock. I’m talking to a rock, twelve’s sake.. ... Sigh... Fine. Fiiiine. Let's try this more seriously. So. How is, being a rock, and all."
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For a moment, she stared at the dark rock in questioning silence. It was a rock so painfully common it made the whole room more boring just by sitting there. It wasn’t particularly clean, either. So she had to make it sit on a piece of cloth to not get her desk dirty.
Unsurprisingly, the rock refused to change its attitude towards the young Miqo'Te and remained silent.
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"... Yeah what was I expecting."
Giving a deep, pained groan, she leans backwards into her chair, covering her face with both hands, took a deep breath and then slowly stood up, walking in small, random circles around her room, more or less rambling to herself.
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"So, let me get this out of the way. Ever since I was little, living in Ul'Dah was not funny. Harvests get worse year by year by year, and because we were piss-poor, we got the biggest brunt of this ourselves. Yeah, damn right, I blame YOU and the other rocks for that. I swear your cousins in Ul'Dah are trying to kill us all! Why should I respect any of you, we have to claw a living out of every single corner in this sun burned land and YOU aren't exactly helping!"
Flailing her hands aimlessly in the air as she walked around the room, rambling to herself and giving death glares to the unmoving piece of rock on her desk.
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"Day in and out, working hard for the faintest scrap of food or a handful of coins. People told me I should be grateful for such a hard childhood, well tell you what you jerk of a rock, I AM NOT! It sucked! Hard! And I am not happy about that! Unlike around here, where it's green and fertile and lush in every gods damned corner, nature did it's hardest to try and kill us all down there. I have no respect for attempted murder, do you?!"
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Growling, she walked up to the desk, staring at the piece of rock. The multicolored eyes burning in anger and frustration as she glared down on the piece of rock.
"Nature has no concept of fairness. Of gratitude. Of justice. Nature is chaotic, cruel and selfish. How can one respect that, I wonder.."
She recalled faintly the face of one of her closer friends who attended this school. In her mind she saw the young, innocent face and the dazzling smile on her lips as she proudly proclaimed "Nature is beautiful, it gives us so much and asks for so little."
The moment she recalled that, a sudden surge of rage rushed through her body. With frustrated roar of anger and pain, she grabs the rock from her desk, turns around and hurls the rock across the room, making it crash violently against the bare wall. The rock shatters and crumbled to the ground.
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Panting deeply, she stood there for a moment in silence, until the fit of rage slowly fades.
"You have nothing. Nothing I would willingly respect you for."
She looked down to the shattered pieces of rock. Something appeared a little odd to her. Walking closer, she picked up a few of the rock fragments, inspecting the cracks and the color on the insides. A slight grin slipping around her lips.
"Alternatively though... We might come to an agreement..."
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Bringing the fragments of rock to her desk, she put the fragments back on the piece of cloth, opening her desk and pulling a few things out she brought with her from Ul'Dah. A small, fragile looking hammer, a matching sized tweezers, and other tools of small size.
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A few hours, a lot of brute force and delicate work later.. She looked at something that looked somewhat like a chunk of impure ore, molded together in the rough, unrefined shape of a coin. It was deliberately crude, as she was working with the rawest of materials and only her hands as well as simple tools.
"I cannot respect you for what you are. But I might be able to respect you for what I can take from you."
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Awakening from her memory, back at the construction site, she smiles silently, feeling the weight of the silver necklace around her neck, with the crude ore dangling from it between her breasts. For her, this piece of ore was not only a memory of how she got here, but also a reminder of how she could reason with nature. She was not a conjurer at heart, but sometimes, a compromise was the best way to go.
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And for now, that was enough.
Â
[Coming up next: Chapter 2 - Polished Metal, Sharpened Steel]
While wandering around the construction site of the Anvil, the sun seekers mind wandered through the past. Most notably through memories of how she got to where she is today. One of them stands out more than anything else among the chaos of her mind. Many years ago... While her life took place in constant travel between Ul'Dah and the great forests of Gridania.
Â
...
Â
"Alright then, Mister Rock. Time to establish some basics here. You don't seem to like me. And I sure as heck don't like you. You and your kin made my childhood a hungry hell. Quite frankly, I have no idea why I should respect you in the first place. You have done nothing for me other then make my life miserable."
Â
Here she was, sitting in a lone room in the Conjurer school of Gridania. She hated almost every minute of it.. But she had reason to be here, at least for now. Her attempts at the conjuring branch of magic were of little success though... Her friends and teachers kept repeating the same issue with her. She did not respected nature on itself, so nature was not responding to her calls for aid.
And now she's talking to a piece of rock on her desk. Needless to add, she felt like a total too, talking to it.
Â
"Yeah you just sit there in mocking silence, like you always do. Really I don't get these tree huggers around here. You're a friggin piece of rock. I’m talking to a rock, twelve’s sake.. ... Sigh... Fine. Fiiiine. Let's try this more seriously. So. How is, being a rock, and all."
Â
For a moment, she stared at the dark rock in questioning silence. It was a rock so painfully common it made the whole room more boring just by sitting there. It wasn’t particularly clean, either. So she had to make it sit on a piece of cloth to not get her desk dirty.
Unsurprisingly, the rock refused to change its attitude towards the young Miqo'Te and remained silent.
Â
"... Yeah what was I expecting."
Giving a deep, pained groan, she leans backwards into her chair, covering her face with both hands, took a deep breath and then slowly stood up, walking in small, random circles around her room, more or less rambling to herself.
Â
"So, let me get this out of the way. Ever since I was little, living in Ul'Dah was not funny. Harvests get worse year by year by year, and because we were piss-poor, we got the biggest brunt of this ourselves. Yeah, damn right, I blame YOU and the other rocks for that. I swear your cousins in Ul'Dah are trying to kill us all! Why should I respect any of you, we have to claw a living out of every single corner in this sun burned land and YOU aren't exactly helping!"
Flailing her hands aimlessly in the air as she walked around the room, rambling to herself and giving death glares to the unmoving piece of rock on her desk.
Â
"Day in and out, working hard for the faintest scrap of food or a handful of coins. People told me I should be grateful for such a hard childhood, well tell you what you jerk of a rock, I AM NOT! It sucked! Hard! And I am not happy about that! Unlike around here, where it's green and fertile and lush in every gods damned corner, nature did it's hardest to try and kill us all down there. I have no respect for attempted murder, do you?!"
Â
Growling, she walked up to the desk, staring at the piece of rock. The multicolored eyes burning in anger and frustration as she glared down on the piece of rock.
"Nature has no concept of fairness. Of gratitude. Of justice. Nature is chaotic, cruel and selfish. How can one respect that, I wonder.."
She recalled faintly the face of one of her closer friends who attended this school. In her mind she saw the young, innocent face and the dazzling smile on her lips as she proudly proclaimed "Nature is beautiful, it gives us so much and asks for so little."
The moment she recalled that, a sudden surge of rage rushed through her body. With frustrated roar of anger and pain, she grabs the rock from her desk, turns around and hurls the rock across the room, making it crash violently against the bare wall. The rock shatters and crumbled to the ground.
Â
Panting deeply, she stood there for a moment in silence, until the fit of rage slowly fades.
"You have nothing. Nothing I would willingly respect you for."
She looked down to the shattered pieces of rock. Something appeared a little odd to her. Walking closer, she picked up a few of the rock fragments, inspecting the cracks and the color on the insides. A slight grin slipping around her lips.
"Alternatively though... We might come to an agreement..."
Â
Bringing the fragments of rock to her desk, she put the fragments back on the piece of cloth, opening her desk and pulling a few things out she brought with her from Ul'Dah. A small, fragile looking hammer, a matching sized tweezers, and other tools of small size.
Â
A few hours, a lot of brute force and delicate work later.. She looked at something that looked somewhat like a chunk of impure ore, molded together in the rough, unrefined shape of a coin. It was deliberately crude, as she was working with the rawest of materials and only her hands as well as simple tools.
"I cannot respect you for what you are. But I might be able to respect you for what I can take from you."
Â
Awakening from her memory, back at the construction site, she smiles silently, feeling the weight of the silver necklace around her neck, with the crude ore dangling from it between her breasts. For her, this piece of ore was not only a memory of how she got here, but also a reminder of how she could reason with nature. She was not a conjurer at heart, but sometimes, a compromise was the best way to go.
Â
And for now, that was enough.
Â
[Coming up next: Chapter 2 - Polished Metal, Sharpened Steel]
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