Naunet

This is how I've interpreted the dragoon story, as well. Alongside Ildur's excellent description!

Restricting a certain class (job, whatever you want to call it) to a particular region is completely different from the lengths Squeenix has gone and is totally fine. It's no different than the backstory all Death Knights had to at least initially follow in WoW. It gets absurd when only one person ever is allowed to actually be that class/job, even though the game allows as many people who want to level it to do so.

Honestly, fuck the lore wherever it disallows a player from roleplaying a class you can choose to be in-game. Restricting the lore behind jobs such that only ONE SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE UBER GUY/LADY can become them is quite seriously the dumbest "lore" move I've ever seen an MMO make and it doesn't deserve being given the time of day.

There had been nothing to say as K'takka delivered her lesson, nothing that could have altered its outcome or the minds of those involved, and so K'deiki had not spoken. That did not mean she remained passive, however, and as her half-sister and half-sister's grandson attempted to impress upon her own wayward great-granddaughter, K'deiki had devoted her energy to prayer. Knobby hands worked themselves rhythmically into the soft sand beneath her knees and the many layers of the colored cloth adorning her body, and with each slow, aged breath, she sought their Warden's wisdom and protection for her family. K'ailia had need of it most of all, she thought, not to shield her from the consequences of her actions but to guide her, to teach her. The Warden was ever willing to offer lessons to those who would listen, though even as she prayed, K'deiki wondered if now too few of their young were willing to listen. She could sense K'jhanhi's presence near and knew what the old man thought and felt without asking. The silence of his bitter rejection was a kindness for the young girl bowed on the ground before them, a sign that he did not wish to push her further. With a heavy heart, K'deiki recognized that it also meant he had given up. There would be no lessons from him, no prayers for their great-granddaughter, and she couldn't fault him that. She lifted her head as K'takka called for K'yohko once more, took in the shadowed forms in the tent cast in oranges and yellows in fire light, and finally spoke, her voice rattling out from her ribs, "We have seen what your actions have done to your mother. We saw it in how she came to us desperate and hateful of herself. In abandoning your family, you risked breaking them, when we have already lost much. Will you only see that once she's become as empty a shell as my own daughter?" Her words dragged from her throat with difficulty, and she coughed once, a dry, raspy sound, before continuing, "I do not want you to have to watch your family crumble so that you may learn a lesson. Think of others, K'ailia Yohko. Do not think of your wants for now. Think of others."

The most animal-like (I still think those ears are so not cat ears) my miqo'te tend to be are in the expressions with their ears and tail. Like Twin, I'll also lean more on other senses, particularly smell as it's something that's mentioned in lore as a sense that is very developed in miqo'te. Considering the mobile their ears are, I treat their hearing as more directed than, say, a hyur's as well. I'll admit, I internally cringe every time I see the "rrrr"s and "meow"s and whatnot, both from NPCs and other PC miqo'te. I feel that treating them like just "cat people" does a disservice to the uniqueness of their cultures, so I do my best to treat them as miqo'te and not "cat people".

It took more thought and effort than an observer might imagine to pick a few fruits. Filtered light dappled brown skin as thickly gloved hands pushed through thick nests of branches and leaves, ignoring the occasional scrape of wood on flesh. A tuneless hum sounded oddly hollow behind the plain, featureless mask the man wore, its blank face and empty eyes hiding away all form of expression and leaving only fiery red furred ears and tail with which to communicate. Not that there was anyone around to talk to; no one save the forest, and the masked miqo'te did not think the Shroud appreciated their conversations. Still, sometimes he liked to tease it, "Don't mind me, friend. Nothing here but us bushes and trees and... ahah!" One hand patted the twisted bush comfortingly while the other pulled back with an oblong, yellow-green object cupped in its palm. The masked angled down to the fruit as his hand turned it about. "Not one worm! A new record." The bush seemed to shiver with pride, or anger, or maybe that was the wind. With the Shroud, it was hard to tell, unless one had a Hearer. Dirt and sweat-smeared shoulders shrugged in a stretch as the man arched is bare back and let out a great, heaving sigh. Calloused toes curled into the thick litter beneath his feet, and he allowed himself a moment to relish the soothing coolness just below the surface before directing his attention inward. He noted the stiffness in his spine as he moved, and the way the Shroud's air felt heavy in his lungs. A strange, numbing ache persisted in one thigh. Humming to himself once more, the masked miqo'te tucked the fruit into a mostly empty bag slung at one hip and returned his attention to the bush. Muscled arms once more reached past branch and leaf, but the gestures were more deliberate now, less searching and more simply... feeling. The shrub shuddered and a faint smell reached his nose of something impossibly old and earthy, but the miqo'te did not fear. The mask and the gloves would hide him for this. When his hands wrapped around another fruit, something pulsed through the leaves, rattling them into a chaotic music. He felt warmth through the gloves and the ancient scent grew stronger, sharper. Then in a careful gesture, he pulled the fruit from its stem and leaned back. In that instant, the shrub fell still but the warmth he'd felt lingered in the palms of his hands before traveling up his arms to settle into spine, lung, leg. Red ears cocked lopsidedly. "Thank ya kindly," he muttered and dropped this fruit in alongside its partner in his bag. "I'll be moving along now, so don't worry. Now..." Blue eyes peered around at the dense forest through the round, dark holes of his mask. "Who's next?"

"K'ailia Yohko would understand," came the low, firm voice of K'jhanhi. He still did not turn, did not give the girl the respect of his gaze, though he did offer his voice, "The one who has returned clearly does not." From her position on the floor, K'deiki watched the shriveled, red and white form behind their visitor and let out a slow sigh that rattled her lungs between frail ribs. She, too, did not look directly at K'ailia when she finally spoke, her clouded over eyes keeping to the elder behind the girl, "It is one thing to violate our laws to the point of exile. It is another to willfully leave one's family. I cannot imagine what kind of heart it would take to do such a thing."

K'ailia's intrusion on the thick silence of the elders' tent did not evoke reactions much warmer than K'takka's in the other two present. K'deiki's ratty, thin ears lifted and her wrinkled face grew even more deeply folded with a heavy frown. She did not move from where she sat. Her old ears did not catch K'nahli's words outside the tent and so she only watched their wayward great grandchild in disappointed silence. The large form of K'jhanhi, somehow still towering in the tent despite his bent posture, very deliberately turned his back to the girl. "You know our laws. The news is that K'ailia Yohko has left. She would be wise to follow the actions of those others who've abandoned us."

Contrary to the demands of her body, Antimony did not immediately go to the single inn - more of a way-stop on the path to death for most in Drybone. Instead she returned to the Immortal Flames' building and tried to ignore the thick stench of corpses and the little, nightmare thoughts that fretted over her daughters' exposure to this shadowed realm. If one spent enough time in the company of shadows, one might eventually become them. Keenly aware she had no money to speak of, the last of her on hand coins spent on the chocobos that had taken her here, Antimony sought the assistance of the Blade officer who had provided her "escort". She could no longer stomach the thought of traveling to Coerthas, not when K'airos refused to come with her. A small guilt towards Mitari and his kind invitation dragged on her thoughts. "Sorry miss. No refunds, no exchanges." The reply was delivered in a largely cool tone, but with a hint of amusement that rankled Antimony's already frayed nerves to the point where she saw herself alternately bursting into tears or hurling the apple still clutched in one hand at the officer's helmeted head. Perhaps luckily for Antimony, she did neither, instead returning to the open courtyard of Camp Drybone that was really little more than a particularly large hole dug into the ground. A grave, for all those yet waiting to die, or waiting for their own, smaller holes by the church, she thought with a shiver. This place was a nest for bad omens. That her daughters had... As if on cue, the sky opened up again, and in the shadow of night, the rain that fell was icy. Her feet slapped through rapidly growing puddles as she hurried across the open chasm of the camp, clutching the coat and both the pear and apple as close to her chest as she could manage to keep them dry. The downpour soaked into her clothing quickly this second time, the fibers still damp from the previous rain, and when she finally made it through the door of what she hoped was the inn, she resembled more a drowned mole than any decent miqo'te. The receptionist at the front desk gave her a wary, disapproving look. Antimony took a long minute to catch her breath, feeling the chill of the rain weighing on her lungs as much as it did her fur and clothing. She stood shivering just inside the doorway, a small puddle collecting beneath her, until the woman at the front desk cleared her throat, startling her out of the semi-daze her exhausted mind had drifted to. "May I help you, miss?" She sounded dubious; Antimony could not pinpoint why. Approaching the desk, Antimony's feet left small patches of mud; she missed the annoyed frown of a nearby maid. "Yes, please," the woman sighed, wiping at her glasses only to find the gesture clouded them further. "If you have a room open..." "We only rent to those who can pay, miss. Or the dying." "Ah!" Antimony's ears lifted slightly and then fell again, following the exclamation with a slightly lower, "Oh. I..." She spent a moment searching the pockets of her dress, though she knew well the results before she'd even begun the action. The receptionist seemed to predict them as well. She cast a sidelong glance towards the loitering maid and then gave Antimony a look that somehow managed to be both gentle and condescending, "As I said, miss. Only to those who can pay or are dying. If you cannot do either, I must ask you to leave. Some of our guests are in delicate positions." Matted grey ears pressed back into equally soaked hair. "Oh. Yes. I... understand." She couldn't suppress the shiver down her tail; unfortunately the receptionist did not seem particularly sympathetic. There was a long moment when the door to Drybone's inn shut behind Antimony where she wrestled with the numbing, powerful urge to simply walk back out into the desert once more, to turn her back on even her daughters and flee north, to run away. Then white light flickered and filled the deep ditch Drybone's citizens had carved out for themselves in harsh shadows, and a sharp, persistent pain in her stomach brought itself to her foremost attention. The coat and fruit felt suddenly impossibly heavy in her arms, and the flashing of lightning spurred a frantic dizziness that nearly sent her to the ground. Food, she thought wearily, for the first time in... two days? Three? She found she couldn't remember. Eating in the rain did not appeal to her, even with the oppressive hunger, and so she left the steps of the inn to cross the brief gap between it and what appeared to be, judging by the signage, some sort of general goods store. The pounding of the rain was quickly replaced once more by the low sound of voices, the shadows and flashing lightning by warm yellow lanterns. To the right of the door she entered in, a pair of miqo'te hunched over a table, muttering between themselves over some bulging sack. Antimony blinked slowly at them for a moment before stepping off to one side and then sagging against one wall. There was a warmth to the place that offered some comfort, a respite from her darker thoughts. She'd taken a bit of the apple and even had a moment to actually savor the coolly flavored juices bound within its flesh, before a firm sound interrupted her sluggish distraction. Her ears swiveled slowly, eyes squinting through foggy lenses before settling on a large, round shape directly to her left. "We're not a charity," the blue-brown shape grumbled. "Not a picnic spot either. If you're not gonna buy nothin', get out." The form loomed impossibly large suddenly and Antimony shrunk back in a sudden panic and confusion, the apple nearly dropping from her grip. She managed a weak apology before the shape all but pushed her out the door with its presence, and her stumbling retreat carried her down the stairs in a flurry of limbs. She thought she'd understood the value of money before, Antimony thought dizzily as the rain once again battered the top of her head in sharp staccato, but never had she seen such responses as these. A painful chill settled into her bones as she hunched outside of the store. A man in the grey, red, and yellow uniform of the Brass Blades patrolled past her, and the disapproving frown he turned on her sent Antimony skittering away. Her limbs felt both too loose and as stiff as a corpse as she moved, and muddy water splashed up the hem of her dress as uncoordinated steps carried her to a small alcove on one side of the store. There she huddled and shivered, felt her ears and eyes burning with unbidden emotion, and began to let herself succumb to the heavy cloud that had settled over mind and body. "Get yer own damn shelter," hissed a rattly voice, its tone threadbare and rough, like bone scraping against bone. "Lest ya wantin' ta really keep me company. Got somethin' ta keep us all nice an' toasty..." A thin, high pitched noise escaped Antimony's throat, and she fled that alcove without even looking to identify the voice. Her panicked flight across Drybone did not go unnoticed by those poor few who remained out in the rain, but neither did it draw much pity. Preoccupied by their own plights, Antimony's was nothing new to the unwanted of Drybone. The camp was not very large, and despite her hazy state of mind, she knew the dangers of wandering out once more into the desert, so she did not run for long. Exhaustion dropped her to her knees against the wall of a building she did not know of what. The tall stone somewhat buffered against the pouring rain, though there remained deep, muddy puddles that gave beneath her weight and stained limb and cloth alike. Dimly, she realized she should eat even now, and so as she drew herself up against the wall, a sad and pathetic thing in the night, the apple once again came to her hands. She could not relish its flavor now, though, hardly even took note of the texture of it between her teeth; she ate numbly, mechanically, her body shaking and wrapping about itself to conserve heat. A part of her wondered if this was how Megiddo was treated, an unwanted intrusion on a society structured around keeping him out, keeping him separate. It churned her stomach. This was all for K'airos, she thought and felt her bones tremble deep in her flesh. She would remain in Drybone for K'airos. She would go to Ul'dah for K'airos. She would even risk the judgment of the family she had left behind for her daughter, if only it meant she could have her back, and the guilt that now gripped her towards her abandonment of her brother almost brought her meager meal up onto the mud. A new thought joined this one not long after: if one spent enough time in the company of the homeless - the lost, the abandoned, the wanderers - one might eventually become them.

A few hours later... Antimony trudged through the tavern door looking more like the corpses piled in the shadows outside than a living, breathing miqo'te. A thick, purple and brown coat hung from her arms and was strangely clean compared to her own mud-caked and thoroughly soaked form. She didn’t look around immediately when she entered, simply pausing to rest in the dim light, entire body drooping. At a low, circular table on the lower floor of the tavern, K'airos, still garbed in her Blade gear, sat alone save for the company of a plate of pears, a jar of water, a mug, and a small bowl of sugar. She didn’t seem to have eaten more than one pear, despite the large amount still on the plate. Above, Antimony moved further in after a moment, turning to descend the stairs unsteadily. She stopped immediately, however, when she caught sight of the young woman alone at the table. K'airos Thalen fails to notice Antimony. She's holding a pear covered in sugar between her hands. She stares at it with visible suspicion. Antimony hugged the coat tighter to her chest, just watching K'airos for a time, and then took a slow breath and continued down the stairs. She stopped a couple steps away from the woman's table. When she spoke, her voice cracked with exhaustion and apprehension, “Air... ah, Ai--Excuse me.” Something stopped her from speaking her daughter’s name, and it broke her heart. K'airos's ears perked up. She faced Antimony, and it would seem like she was about to happily jump over the table to reach her. Instead, she shifted uncomfortably on her stool and smiled broadly. "Oh! You...look awful! Please, sit!" Antimony wavered on her feet when K'airos spoke, as though the woman's voice were enough to topple her over. At the invitation, she warily took a seat, body folding down onto the bench slowly. Her tail shivered and twitched. “And... you look well.” She looked away from K'airos when she said this. The red-haired girl poured a decent amount of water on her mug and passed it over to Antimony. "Here." Antimony watched the mug for a time and then pulled an apple from the folds of the coat she carried, setting it on the table before taking the mug in two, shaking hands. Her ears drooped as she drank thirstily and then murmured a, "Thank you, Ai... ah." “You are Antimony, I know! It's on the letter. And I'm K'airos! It's easy to pronounce. You should try!” Antimony looked pained for a moment and visibly struggled with her next words, "I am... happy to see you, Ai--K'airos." K'airos smiled again. "So...you are going to the Shroud, still? I...ah...I still have the orders here, so I -have- to escort you...unless you asked for another guard." She sounded disappointed in that last part. Antimony took another, long drink from the mug, her dirty fingers around it not yet steady, and then manages a brief look in K'airos's direction. The sight of her curls her tail close to her body but she manages, "I would... like it very much. If you were to accompany me." “Of course! Just..." and she lowered her voice, leaning closer. "...let's not tell my sister about it. She has a bad temper!" Quickly, she returned to her original position. "Let's meet tomorrow at dawn at the tunnel just outside the Immortal Flames barracks. If it's convenient to you?" Antimony bowed her head briefly, setting the mug down before she dropped it. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed out, "Yes, that... would be alright. I could use a night's rest, as it is." A pause, another, small glance towards K'airos as she searched for words to continue. K'airos picked up the jar and held it a few inches above the table. "More water?" Antimony nodded after a moment, and her eyes shifted to the bowl of sugar near K'airos. She couldn’t quite help herself when she said, "I... hope that is not all you're eating." K'airos served the water and spilled out some of it when she looked at the bowl, her ears dropping in shame. "Wha- no! Of course not! It's...it's a dessert! And to make...up for...the...uh...sugar loss of running around in heavy armor..." she mumbled. Antimony smiled briefly, the expression more sad than anything. "It's alright. You... deserve a treat, I'm certain." K'airos smiles back. “I do! But...uhm...so! I was wondering how have you bee-I mean where are you from? And what do you do? It's been so long...! So long since I...uh...saw...someone. Uhm.” She stared at the still unbitten pears on the plate. The older, tired woman watched K'airos quietly for a moment and then looked to the table. In the yellow light of the tavern, only half of her features were lit as she worked over several, conflicting thoughts. “I... was working in Ul'dah, until recently. But... before then, I lived in a city called, ah, Limsa Lominsa. It... is by the ocean. West.” K'airos leaned forward, looking at Antimony and raising both fists to shoulder level. "I've never been there! I just...kind of fell in Ul'dah and stayed here the past five years. You should tell me when you go back so I can escort you again! We'll see the ocean!" she said excited and hilariously ignoring that Antimony had probably seen the ocean a thousand times already. Antimony seemed to lose her breath at that and took nearly a minute to recover, sipping from her water carefully. "That," she finally choked, cleared her throat, and blinked hard, "That... would be wonde--appreciated." Her tail stilled behind her and she added in a softer tone, "You would love the ocean, I think." K'airos's tail, by contrast, had been slowly rising up until being basically touching the back of her neck, with a slight curve. "I'm sure I will!" She taps the extremes of her armored hands together various times, her eyes closed with excitement. "And what do you are you going to do in the Shroud?" At this unexpected – but perfectly logical – question, Antimony’s expression went suddenly blank for several seconds. Then her hands folded carefully in her lap, only to worry her fingers there. "I had thought to travel to Coerthas." K'airos tilted her head. "Why? That's so far north! You...you should stay in Ul'dah! There's nothing anyone else have that we don't." she nodded matter-of-factly. Ears lying flat, she gave K'airos a deeply apologetic look. "I... do not think I can stay in Ul'dah. But... there is someone I might see in Coerthas." K'airos kept tapping her gauntlets together. It was either very irritating or mildly rhythmic. "Friends? That's good! I don't have many friends...if any...I guess I just work too much, and the rest of my time is spent with Aijeen." Antimony pressed her lips together and brought her hands up again to wrap them about the mug. The gesture only somewhat stilled their shaking. "Perhaps..." She blinks rapidly behind smudged glasses. "Perhaps you could... continue with me, into Coerthas." K'airos took a long breath, smiling at that proposition. But then she dropped her shoulders, her smile shrunk considerably, and her ears dropped a bit. "That would be nice, but I Brass Blades don't operate outside Thanalan. Besides..." She raised the pear she was staring at maliciously before. "...someone has to stay with Aijeen." Her grip on the mug tightening briefly, Antimony cast her eyes about the tavern before settling them on the far wall. "I... understand." A pause, a shiver that ran the length of her tail. "I had hoped... it is an unfamiliar place. And dangerous, I've heard." “But...you have friends there, right? I'm sure they can help you reach them!” Antimony gave K'airos a brief look. "I do not... actually know anyone there. Aside from one, in Coerthas." K'airos decided to stare at the pear in her hands. "Oh" she let out. "Oh!" she repeated, biting the pear and cheering up. "Ask your friend Ulanee to help you! If she could ask for an escort now she can surely ask for another there!" Antimony drew in a slow breath and then turned her eyes to K'airos, what features that were lit in the partial light displaying her plea, "Are you certain you cannot come with me? It would mean the world to have you near once mo--" She cut herself off suddenly and ducked her head, dragging her focus to the mug of water. K'airos bit sadly on the pear, right after dowsing it on the bowl of sugar. "I'm sorry. it could cause trouble between Ul'dah and the Gridanians." As she munched on the pear, her expression changed to one of disappointment. Maybe with the pear. "And I wouldn't know how to convince Aijeen to not follow me. It would be awkward." Antimony's features trembled for a moment and she said, half to herself, in a faint voice, "Perhaps I... could stay here... But Aijeen..." K'airos pondered for a moment. The pear, to her eyes, became a nasty fruit filled with bile and creepy eyes and a maw filled with teeth. It would be cute if it wasn't giving her a tummy-ache. Despite of that, she looked at Antimony and said: "I should be transferred back to Ul'dah shortly. I could ask for vacations! Do you think I need vacations? I think I need them! And you could come visit! And tell me about that city by the sea and how you've been for the last five years...for...for... no particular reason.” Antimony let out a shaky breath, bowing forward until her forearms rested on the table and her head nearly touched her mug. "Ul'dah..." The thought of the city - or rather, who remained in it - sent a shudder through her tail, and an expression that could be guilt crossed her face. "Per...haps." She closed her eyes. "I... do not wish to leave you alone." “I'm not alone. I have Aijeen! And...well, you have your friend in Coerthas. It wouldn't be nice if you let him hanging up there in...whatever architecture they have up there.” The younger woman startled at her own words. “Or her! It's a her? I didn't want to insult him by calling her a him! Tell him -I MEAN- her I'm sorry!” Antimony smiled faintly. "He," she corrected and then sighed. "It was not a... planned thing. He would... well, he doesn't even know... ah." “Oh.” K'airos cheered up visibly. If she was a torch, she would have exploded by now. "Then you can go back to Ul'dah! And when I go back I'll look for you and we can talk again!" Antimony winced and then looked at K'airos out of the corner of her eyes. After a time, she just repeated, "... Perhaps." She blinked suddenly and dropped her head into one hand, murmuring, "I... may need a day or two to recover before any more travel, regardless, I believe. Do you..." She trailed off, unsure of the question she wants to ask. K'airos picked up a pear and offered it to Antimony. "I have a room at the Eternal Sleep. With Aijeen. So let's not meet there!" Swallowing, Antimony looked almost ill and managed, "Is there, ah, any...where else to stay in this town?" She took the pear after a moment, but only held it loosely in one hand. Giving the older woman a long look of thought, K’airos eventually said, “K'airos Thalen: I don't think so. Maybe you could stay in the Church? It's close enough and the priests are good people. I'm sure they can let you stay there for a night.” Antimony furrowed her brow worriedly. "Is not Aijeen... she was with the... dead there." “Oh. Right! Uhm...” Again K'airos thought deeply by looking to a random point in the stairs. “You'll have to stay in the inn, then. There's no other choice and, if Aijeen's going to find you are still here, then you might as well be comfortable!” Antimony Jhanhi shivered, the action continuing down into her tail, which curled against her hip. Its mud-matted fur cracked a bit. "I will... stay as far from your room as possible," she conceded. K'airos nodded. “When we get back to Ul'dah, I'll show you all the things I confi-collected with the Blades! They are...ah...bonuses for doing a good work.” She nods again, mostly to reassure herself of that. Antimony Jhanhi blinks and shakes her head, somewhat dislodging herself from whatever haze she'd begun to fall into. She glanced towards K'airos and managed a weak smile. "I would like that. To... see your work." K'airos hurried to pour more water in Antimony's mug. "I think you are falling asleep!" she smiles, amused. "You should get a room right away, before someone else takes them all away!" Looking to her mug, Antimony forced herself to drink again and closed her eyes at the soothing liquid. When she finished, she cleared her throat and nodded slowly. "It has been d--well." She looked to the pear in her hand, the apple on the table, and took up the latter as well before gathering both them and the coat back into her arms. She looked to K'airos carefully. “You will... remain here for... two days?” “Probably! It's hard to say. Sometimes orders just come and I have to run all over Thanalan! But...it should be easy to find out if I moved. Just ask at the Immortal Flames. I'll let them know to let you know so you can know!” Antimony bit down on rising fear, displaying it only as a vaguely worried frown and a low set to her ears. "I do not wish to... lose you. Ah, lose sight of... well." Coughing, she stood suddenly, swayed in one spot and muttered, "I should rest. And... you as well." K'airos stood up with a jump. She barely managed to not start hopping right away. “It was good to see you!” Antimony leaned forward slightly, almost as though to hug K'airos, but with the items in her arms and her own anxiety, the action failed. Instead she smiled sadly. "You cannot know how much so." Then she turned and made to head back to the stairs. K'airos started hopping in place as Antimony moved away. She said nothing more and made no sound, except for the clinging of her heavy chainmail and the noise of her heels stomping against the stone floor. Under yellow light and harsh shadows, Antimony left the tavern at a heavy pace, her thoughts weighing her down more than her exhaustion.

Antimony made her way across the desert-savannah of Drybone in a daze. Her feet stumbled beneath her every so often, though she usually caught herself before her body could fall. Dust clung to her clothing and skin, and her features were drawn with exhaustion and no small amount of dehydration. At some point her steps slowed until she'd come to a stop and then, with a faint exhalation, dropped to her knees next to a nearby rock and leaned against it. The sky flashed white, and not a second later thunder crackled above her. Antimony looked up wearily as water struck her face, at first only sporadically, but then, in a sudden gust of wind, rain streaked down from the sky in a downpour. Ears drooping, she bowed her head to one hand. “I suggest the shelter of these trees, meager as they are. Thanalan rain can cause pneumonia as easily as la Noscea rain.” Antimony could not manage the strength or will to be surprised at the voice. She lifted her head slightly, eyes shifting vaguely in the direction it had come from, and didn’t respond for several, long moments. After a time, however, she lurched to her feet as though pulled by something outside her body and moved to the trees. There she collapsed again. The Duskwight she recognized before she’d even seen him as Megiddo produced a Faerie apple from a pocket and extended it towards Antimony. "I've a friend in the Shroud who gathers these. They're a rather calming flavor, as apples go." Above him, thin branches swayed in a stormy wind. Antimony looked to the apple, silent for a beat, and then something wrenched in her features and her shoulders and head bowed forward towards her lap with a single, choked sob. Once this was out, she fell silent again. Megiddo hummed and withdrew the apple, "A good cry helps a lot of ills as well. Or so the women in my life often said." “They... left me. My baby girls. They didn't...” Her voice was a hoarse whisper that cracked on the end. Her tail shivered and pulled close to her, fur soaked from the rain. “Did you know that I was an Elder and religious counselor for my Clan for many years? I helped four generations of Duskwight contend with death, loss and anger. Never once did I see anyone face it straight-on. Always crooked, always terrified, never rational.” Antimony hugged herself, feeling the chill of the rain seeping through her clothes, and looked up uncertainly at Megiddo. Megiddo let his gaze slide away from Antimony and said, "Oschon had deposited me in the Lichyard before your arrival, and bid me to comfort a woman who had suffered loss. I was nearby and admit to having overheard your difficulty. Duskwight oft overhear such things, a curse of our Clan." Antimony's eyes looked past Megiddo, unfocused, as she sagged a bit into the ground as though about to become one with it. "Twice," she whispered under the pounding of rain on leaves and rock and grass. "They were... they died. And now..." She couldn't finish the thought. “Is it not better that they live than that they are dead, even if they live away from you?” Antimony shuddered and then suddenly let out a wail, "I don't understand! My beautiful girls, why would they..." “Your grief is familiar. I have felt such as well. My son turned against me and sowed much suffering in my clan, and I will never understand. There is no truth or answer that will satisfy you. Only our childrens' private thoughts, unbidden feelings.” Her ears pressed flat against the sides of her head, disappearing in wet, disheveled hair. She'd gone silent again not long after the burst of grief and remained silent still, until, "... I do not know what to do except... run." The Duskwight had hardly moved to even breathe beneath the boughs of the tree. “There may be some comfort in running. But I might offer you something more tangible, though you would not find it ideal upon first taste.” To this Antimony did not verbally reply, though her ears shifted somewhat from her head, which remained bowed low. Megiddo waited a long moment before inquiring, "Did not one of your daughters implore the other to accept you? Did she not beg to the point of tears to have her mother back?" Antimony shivered and curled her tail up by her waist. Her voice, when she spoke, was low and broken, "And still she turned from me." Megiddo continued placidly, “The intervention of the other is the only explanation. As my son turned many of my children against me, so the less faithful of your daughters stands between you and the daughter who desires to return to you.” Shaking her head slightly, a low, pained sound worked its way from Antimony’s throat. "I don't understand," she breathed and shuddered. "I love her. I always..." “There can be no understanding. Focus on this: one of your daughters loves and desires you. The other impedes. If not for the bitterness of the second, you and your daughter would already have reunited.” Antimony lifted her head, an action that took visible effort, and watched Megiddo through the rain that made it down between the leaves. Exhaustion overrode much of the grief in her features. "What... are you saying?" He replied very simply, “You desire two daughters, yet you have none. You could have one daughter, if the other were removed from your path.” Antimony's face went slack. "You... You mean..." Her ears shivered, flicking little drops of water. Then in a sudden motion, she curled in on herself and shouted, "No! I'll do no such thing! Not to my... not to my girls. Not even if they--" “As I said, you would not like the taste of it at first,” Megiddo conceded. “How comforted would you be, though, with even just one child at your side? Would not everything be bearable, then? Your tribe, your work, this world.” Antimony murmured weakly, "Airos..." And then shook with a sob. "I will not kill my own children! I cannot. I would... I would sooner kill myself!" “Let us not say 'kill', for such may not be necessary. Let us say 'correct'. Let us say 'discipline'. Let us say that we will seperate from the unfaithful daughter until she remembers the value of family, that she may then return on her own.” “... I don't... know what you mean.” “I mean to separate your daughters so that the one who wishes to be with you may make her decision separate from the bitter influence of the other. It's a bit much to assume I wanted to kill you child, isn't it?” It was impossible to tell if he was offended. Antimony looked away, breath unsteady. "You... in Ul'dah... I only thought..." Megiddo smiled. "You need not justify yourself to me. Now, think about what I've said. Your daughter wants to be with you. Should we not take action to give our children what they want?" Antimony swayed somewhat, catching herself with one hand in muddy ground, and replied unevenly, "She does not think she is my daughter. How can I..." “Children do not say what they think. You recall how she begged her sister to accept that you were her mother? She would accept you again were her sister not present.” Antimony lifted her eyes to Megiddo, looking faint. "You truly think..." There was fear in her voice. "If she rejects me, I couldn't..." “Be generous, gentle, and patient. I have faith you will outlast the seeds of doubt that were planted in her mind.” Antimony stared at Megiddo for several seconds, tail writhing next to her, and then very suddenly her remaining strength fled and she dropped to the ground fully so that she lay then on her side. "I... will stay with her. For... her," she sighed. Megiddo reached out and sat the apple next to Antimony. "I envy your opportunity, and that you have years left to reach for it. Even if one of my children were to arise from the dirt today, I would not have enough time to do anything for them." Antimony moved her eyes sluggishly to the apple, feeling cool mud press against her cheek, and slowly processed Megiddo's words. "Does... Loughree not count?" “The last of my family whom I loved was my grandson. Whom Loughree killed. Loss is one thing, but betrayal quite another. I hope you never have to feel the emotions which I do.” Antimony sighed and moved her hand enough to grip the apple. "I am sorry," she replied tiredly and then found her eyes had closed. It took a moment to open them again. Megiddo reached up to place a hand on the tree limb next to him, "I have not hurt Loughree if that is your concern. Pitiable as she may be, though, she will hurt others. Perhaps discipline is in order, but I won't overdo it." He lifted himself to his feet with great effort, exhaling heavily. He stood hunched, tired, thin. Antimony didn’t shift to follow Megiddo's movements; exhausted eyes only watched his feet sinking slightly into the mud. "I... am glad to hear of it." She blinked, and the action lasted longer than it should have. She sighed. "Thank you." Megiddo lingered against the tree, looking down at Antimony. "You would be better off not resting overly long in the wilderness. Illness and predators are not rare here." The woman’s tail curled against one leg. The fur was matted with mud but she paid it no mind. After a long moment of silence, she slowly pushed herself up. "I do not... know how far I've gone," she admitted quietly. “So I had assumed. If you had not gotten lost, Oschon could not have put me before you. However, I believe I can direct you back to Drybone. Or you can just follow the stink of death, as though aging, chasing the scent of your own future tomb.” Antimony shivered and, after another moment, struggled to her feet where she swayed unsteadily. The apple dangled in one hand. "And if... Aijeen is there..." Megiddo hummed, reaching up and pulling at his beard. "She did threaten to flee with your other daughter like a kidnapper if you returned, didn't she?" Antimony paled and brought her hands close to herself, unconsciously clutching the apple. "She... she hates me," she whispered, strained, and looked as though the admission brought her physical pain. "She would not hesitate." Megiddo held up a calming hand, "Wait until you have your daughter to comfort you before entertaining your grief. For now, think carefully, so that we make sure you achieve such ends." She took several moments to, if not compose herself, then at least ease her grip on the apple and somewhat steady her breath. Then, with a sigh, "Drybone. Could you...?" Megiddo smiled and closed his eyes. "Yes. A moment of quiet, please." He lifted his head to the air and concentrated for a time, and then opened his eyes to look at the sky. "Can't tell north from south in all of this rain, but," he lifted one long arm between the branches and pointed, "There's a good direction to wander, I think." Antimony turned her head to follow his gesture, blinking slowly through the rain, then turned back to Megiddo. She tried for a smile, but the expression mostly failed. Instead, she wearily bowed her head and repeated a quiet, "Thank you." “What are you planning to do, Antimony?” Frowning slightly, Antimony seemed to struggle with something for a moment. A part of her still desperately wanted to run, and yet K'airos was only a breath away... She swallowed. "I... would simply see her again, first. Speak..." Her fingers shook around the apple. "I do not know, but I must see her again." “Do you have a plan as to how you will isolate her?” He inquired. Antimony winced, ears flattening. "Please don't say it so... But I... don't know. She has--" She looked strained at this, "--a life here. To uproot her..." “I encourage you to start in the short term. Earn an hour, a moment with your daughter, and perhaps pry from her the information you need to construct a more sure plan. But be cautious to avoid a confrontation with the bitterness and despair that clouds your other child. You do not have the stomach for conflict that it would take to repair that rift. Not yet.” She seemed to shrink at that, her tail drooping from more than just the rain and mud. "My Aijeen... she will come around. She must..." Her ears shook and then she turned to look off in the direction Megiddo had suggested. “I hope that you are correct, Antimony. Do let me know if you require assistance.” “... I will. Thank you, Megiddo.” The loss-worn, muddy woman then began to move in that general direction, steps weary and unsteady, but eventually she would make it back to Drybone.

K'airos walked back to where she had dragged Antimony to. Her armor was quite loud, so her approach was heard even by the dead. The older woman did not react to the noisy approach. She sat slumped in the dirt and dead grass, half bowed over her knees and very still. K'airos kneeled behind her, placing one hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." she started weakly. "Aijeen's just trying to protect me." Antimony only shivered when K'airos's hand touched her, but she otherwise did not respond. “She's just...Aijeen's...she's like she is. I'm sorry, but...I'll change her mind! I'll remind her what it is to have a mother, and to love her. And then we may...we may find her and...be together...” She tried to pull Antimony up, her speech interrupted by intermittent sobbing. Antimony accepted the pulling passively, standing half under her own power and half supported by K'airos. She did not look at the young woman; in fact, her gaze was not focused on anything immediate at all. K'airos took one of her hands between her own before continuing, "I will stay in Drybone and...and you can come visit! Even if I can't...if you aren't...we can share stories! And remind us of what it was back then. And maybe we'll...we'll think... Promise me you'll come see me! I don't care if you aren't mom. I don't care what Aijeen thinks. You are so like her! Please!” Antimony let out a faint sigh and a few breathy words barely audible, "I need to..." Her eyes shifted slowly to K'airos's hand on her's and she quivered. K'airos didn’t seem to be paying attention. "Please! Please come visit me! Maybe, when we get...to spend time we...we will banish any doubt and...and find it's real after all." Still holding her mother, she drops her head until the forehead hits Antimony's shoulder. Antimony made a thin, strangled sound and, features twisting as though in physical pain, she tore away from K'airos and choked out a, "--go... I need to go..." And so she made to do so. K'airos let her go, her mouth hanging open. She said nothing more. In the silence, Antimony fled and felt as though she were killing a part of herself.

Some time after arriving in Drybone... Antimony emerged from the Immortal Flames office looking weary. Her clothes were dusty from a day and a half straight of travel, her fur and hair sweaty. The Blades officer on duty there had taken her money – or, the money Ulanan had given her – rather eagerly and instructed her to wait outside for her supposed escort. She descended the steps and stopped off to one side to wait, ears drooping tiredly. After a moment, she glanced briefly across the courtyard, towards the few merchant stalls set up, then frowned and looked away, shifting her weight. She had little money left after the impromptu journey. A young miqo’te wearing the uniform of the Brass Blades rounded the corner of the office building just then, carrying a big sack with the words "Confiscated" written in bold black letters on one side. She passed by Antimony without paying her more attention that to avoid crashing into her. She entered the building, opening the door with a very weak kick. Antimony blinked, looks confused for a moment, but soon went back to wearily waiting. Inside the office building, it only took the Blade woman a moment to drop the bag in the depot and give the officer at charge a list. In return, he handed her a letter and pointed to the door, telling her that a new assignment was waiting outside. She saluted and exited the place from where she came in (kicking the door again), the letter open between her hands. Antimony's tail twitched and after a moment, she looked back towards the merchant stalls, considering once again their foodstuffs, her empty stomach, and almost just as empty coinpurse. The Blade woman climbed down the steps and with eyes still on the letter she asked: "Excuse me, Antimony? I'm the bodyguard that was requested for you!" Antimony started, ears swiveling, and turned to the miqo'te looking as though she'd seen - or heard - a ghost. She blinked rapidly behind her glasses and then managed a faint, "... Yes? Ah, that's... me. Hello." The Blade woman smiled and nodded to the letter. "Hello! I hear you want to reach the Shro-" she never finished the line. Raising her head to actually see the person in front of her, she froze in place with the oddest smile. Antimony looked distracted for several seconds, a vague frown on her features. Then she swallowed, her ears shaking and ventured uneasily, "The... Shroud. Yes. Ah, I need to get to... Coerthas?" The Blade woman’s following reaction was very professional. She basically lunged forward and surrounded Antimony with her arms before squeezing her in a hug of uncanny affection. “MOM!” Antimony grunted at the force of the hug, eyes widening, and went very, very still in the Blade's arms. Her mouth opened, but no sound made it out. The younger woman kept the hug going, nervously hopping in place. "We thought you died! But you are alive!" She pushed away without letting her mother go. "You are alive!" Antimony just kind of hung in the woman's grip for several, long moments, looking utterly lost. Then, something clicked in her expression and her features were flooded with a mix of relief, disbelief, sorrow, and joy; her brain could not pick just one. Her arms moved to either side of the woman as though afraid to touch her. "Ai... Airos?" K'airos smiled broadly and followed with yet another hug. "Yes! It's me! And this is you! Where have you been? And you use glasses! And a weird name...and...and you are alive!" she said, the words trampling over each other in quick succession. She sounded so happy you could almost touch that happiness and place it inside a bottle. Antimony's hands shook. Her ears shook. Her whole tail shivered as though it were about to fall off. Then her expression crumpled and she simply threw herself against her daughter, wrapping her arms around the armored woman and sobbed. K'airos placed one armored hand on her mother's head. She quickly retrieved it, as gauntlets made for poor hugging tools. She still hopped in place. "I missed you! You have to tell me where you've been!" Antimony just shook her head, pulling frantically at K'airos's mask-bandana to take it from her face. Once it was off, she held her daughter's head, stared wide-eyed for several seconds, and then just pulled her tighter, sobbing. "My baby... my... you died...!" K'airos's first reaction was to shut her eyes and exclaim "I know!" She only needed one second to process what was being said and corrected: "That's what everyone thought. But Aijeen found me and nursed me back to health!" Antimony trembled into the hug, still crying desperately, and then a shock ran through her tail, the limb lashing. "... Aijeen...?" “Yes! We live together! She's probably at the church. She's a volunteer there!” Antimony looked very faint then and kind of sagged against K'airos. "My..." K'airos tried to hold her on her feet. "Are...are you okay? Do you want to sit?" Antimony clungs to K'airos as though she might disappear any moment now and took a long while in responding. When she did, it was only a weak, "Aijeen... too." One hand petted at K'airos's hair, reassuring herself of the woman's presence. “We are both here! Well...she's not here -here- but...she's around here! So she's here but not...you know...” K'airos gave two small hops. "We should go tell her!" Antimony sobbed at that, her shoulders shaking her arms around K'airos. "My babies," she repeated and then, after another long moment, she nodded. K'airos took Antimony by one hand and pulled her away towards the ramp, sporting a bright smile. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you!" Antimony looked as though even the slightest breeze might topple her, but she followed with K'airos, absolutely unwilling to let her daughter out of her sight. K'airos kept pulling her mother to the ramp, seldomly turning around, walking backwards, then turning around and hurrying up before looking back and repeating the sequence. “You should see her! She's a lady, now! Fancy clothes, fancy vocabulary. She looks so pretty! Though she dyed her hair.” Antimony blinked past tears at that, looking confused, but she couldn’t quite talk around the lump in her throat. Instead, she just watched her daughter and listened to her voice, a voice she'd never thought she'd hear again. “Oh, and she studies! Magic, of course. I think she knows all branches of it! Though I don't get any of it, but I know she's talented!” Antimony's ears drooped at old, ill memories, and she ventured quietly, "Does she still...?" K'airos stopped briefly to respond to that. "No, there are no more monsters! She got past that. Those mages educated her well, I reckon!" And with that said she turned around, smiling, and walked up the ramp again. Antimony let out a faint, shaky sigh but said nothing else. “Oh! And she's good with people! She was friends with another tribe in Ul'dah, and they helped her with her education. It was quite nice! Though that was before the Battle. But she keeps in touch! Or...they keep in touch. Or one of them does, anyway!” K'airos's speech pattern was fast and excited, as if she couldn't hold any bit of information and had to get it out of her throat as fast as possible. Antimony listened with a vaguely dazed expression. The tears had slowed, though not stopped completely, and they dragged pale tracks down her somewhat dusty face. “After Aijeen healed me, I went into the Immortal Flames office, and they were 'But you are dead!' and so I told them 'But I'm not dead!'. Then they went 'I guess you are not dead!' and I was reintegrated. A bit later I joined the Blades. Less war, better work hours and less dangers overall. It's a good job!” As her daughter spoke, Antimony nodded weakly, but again, couldn’t really seem to manage much more than that. K’airos continued, “I haven't got enough for a home yet, but I'm saving enough! Oh, here we are. Aijeen should be around here. Let's go look for her, and you can tell me what you have been up to!” Antimony looked up the path into the lichyard and hesitated, a worried expression crossing her face. "With... the dead...?" K'airos failed to notice her mother's worry. "Told you, she's a volunteer at the church! Many refugees try to get to Ul'dah, but not all of them get here. And then there's the Amalj'aa, and the dead from the Calamity..." Some sadness leaked out of her words, and she sighed. "But it's good work! Giving peace to the families of those poor souls." Antimony swayed slightly, her tail shivering, and then took a step forward. "I... where is she in this then...?" “I don't know...oh! I have an idea! I'll go look for her and I'll bring her here!” Antimony shivered and then turned immediately to K'airos with a nearly-shouted, "No!" Her hands moved to clutch her daughter. "Don't--I'll... I will go with you." K'airos grabbed her mother's hand. "Alright. Then let's go find Aijeen! She can't be far!" With that said, she moved to the cemetery, pulling Antimony with her. As they walked, she looked around, searching for familiar white clothes and green hair. Antimony kept close to K'airos as they moved along the path, looking both extremely distressed and uncomfortable at their surroundings. Very suddenly, K'airos stopped and pointed excitedly with one hand. "There she is!" Antimony looked up sharply and followed K'airos's gesture with a desperate look. "Aijeen..?" “Come!” K'airos tried to not run off, seeing how Antimony was probably too tired to follow suit. “She still has her temper, so let me talk to her first.” The promise of seeing her youngest daughter again overrode any exhaustion she may have felt, and Antimony took several, uncertain steps forward, and then a moment later moved faster, at an almost frantic pace. “Ai... Aijeen...!” Her cry is hesitant, almost afraid. “I guess that will work, too!” K’airos smiled at her mother’s back and followed. Antimony frowned slightly as she approached, not recognizing the white-clothed woman several yalms off. She glanced at K'airos worriedly. The green-haired woman dressed in white was lecturing a corpse that lay in the shade near a gravestone, "... and if you'd only taken better care of your eyebrows in life, you would've made a much prettier corpse and I'd have graduated you to the deluxe graves. Alas! Your imperfections have earned you a few gravemates that are- ... Hm?" She turned, looked back to who called her, and… The girl squinted into the sun and brightened at one she saw. "Oh, doll! You've finally come!" She ran towards Antimony and attacked the woman with an intimate hug. Next to her, K’airos was so happy she almost expeled luminosity. Antimony staggered under the white-clothed woman’s hug, wearing the same, dazed expression she'd had when she first saw K'airos. "My... Aijeen. It's you...?" Her voice shook. The green-haired girl nodded, squeezing Antimony, "Yes. You're Aijeen. Oh, you've made me so happy!" She kissed Antimonys cheek and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. Antimony blinked rapidly to try and fend off further tears, though she wasn’t particularly successful. She didn’t object to the girl's affections, and brought her hands up to try and get a better look at her face. "It's you," she breathed shakily. "You and... my baby girls..." K'airos watched, delighted with the scene. She placed one hand on each one's shoulders. "I told you she'd be happy!" D’aijeen lifted her face and beamed into Antimony's features. "Oh, doll. Don't call me that in front of Airos! It's embarrassing," she blushed accordingly. And dropped her hands to Antimony's lower back and squeezed. And leaned forward towards her face. "I like the glasses, but I don't know about the hair. Are you trying to look older? It's cute!" Antimony's ears twitched along with her tail, a look of confusion passing over her features. "Aijeen? What do you mean...?" K'airos chuckled in nervous confusion. "Why are you calling mom a doll?" D'aijeen glanced towards Airos, a bit confused. She frowned for a moment, then smirked, "You two are conspiring together. I adore you both! So cute." She leaned forward to kiss the side of Antimony's jaw in a manner most inappropriate. Antimony startled and half chides, "Aijeen! What are you doing...??" She set shaking hands on her daughter's shoulders, leaning back to look at her face worriedly. D'aijeen let herself get pushed back, a little hurt. "Uhm. What do you..." She paused, appeared suspicious, and sloooooowly withdrew her hands from the hug. She looked over at K'airos, "This is D'ahl, right?" Antimony's ears drooped, a sad look crossing her face for a moment. "Aijeen, you... don't recognize me?" K'airos's intuition kicked in and she grabbed her sister from both shoulders, looking directly at her eyes. "Please do not freak out." She took a deep breath, and then added: "No, this is not D'ahl. This is mom. Our actual mother." D'aijeen blinked, "Oh," and stepped away from Antimony. She manages a small smile at K'airos. "I won't freak out. It's fine." Antimony watched her youngest daughter silently, bringing her hands together in front of her. K'airos let her sister go with a large sigh. "Well, I guess this wasn't the big happy family reunion I had hoped...so let's fix that!" And with those words, she lunged forward to hug both of them with a broad smile. "I'm so happy to have both of you!" D'aijeen went stiff and yelped as she got bodily forced back up against her mother, "Airos! Please! Don't!" Not resisting the hug – because whyever would she? – Antimony reached for her daughter with one trembling hand, touching the side of her arm. "Aijeen, I... I can't believe you're..." K'airos kept hugging both of them, placing her head on her mother's shoulder, facing Aijeen. "Please don't ruin the moment!" she said lowly to her sister. D'aijeen grit her teeth, flushing red in humiliation, "There is no moment! Airos, please, let go! I can't do this!" Antimony's ears swept back with a brief look of despair, but she reached forward again, past K'airos, to hug her youngest daughter full-on. "I can't believe you're here," she breathed. "Alive. I...” K'airos let Aijeen go. She used her best puppy eyes and let her ears drop down to the sides. "Please, please, please, please! Just his once!" she begged, hopping in place. D'aijeen pushed against her mother, though her motions were exceptionally weak. "No! This is a lie! Let go of me!" “A lie...? Aijeen, I don't understand.. I--You're here...! Airos is--she's alive...!” Antimony's words broke towards the end as the tears returned, and she clutched at D'aijeen. “It's not a lie! She's alive and fine! I got hired by her employer to escort her to the Shroud!” K'airos waved the letter she was given back at the office, as if it was some kind of magical proof. D'aijeen continued to struggle, shouting, "No! Let go of me! K'airos, please, I command you to make this woman release me!” At this, Antimony looked up at D'aijeen's face, confused and emotionally pained. K'airos automatically stopped waving the letter to grab her mother and pull her away from Aijeen. "Let's...let's give her some space to process this, okay?" she said quite naturally. “What--no! I'm not... I am not leaving... either of you!” Antimony's hands tightened on D'aijeen. K'airos surrounded Antimony with her arms and pulled with more strength. "It's okay, mom! We are not leaving! She's just...confused! You know how she is." Antimony did not willingly release her daughter, but K'airos was considerably stronger than her and so she was, eventually, pulled away. Then she turned to K'airos and wrapped her arms around her instead, burying her face in her older daughter's armored neck. D'aijeen collapsed to the ground after being released, suddenly appearing very tired. She breathed deeply, clutching at her chest. "Liar. Deceiver!" K'airos patted Antimony's shoulder slowly and repeatedly. She looked over her to her sister. “Aijeen! What are you talking about?” D'aijeen groaned out, "Oh, my beautiful, perfect Airos, you're being deceived." And then she growled at Antimony, "Even D'ahl is a more convincing fake than you are! What is your name?" “Stop that!” K’airos protested. Antimony looked up and then half-turned from K'airos to blink in tearful confusion at D'aijeen. "What... what do you mean? I... I'm your mother!" The last sentence was practically begged from her throat. D'aijeen laboriously rose to her feet, saying in a pleading voice, "Airos, please. You must listen to me, obey me, and reject this woman as your mother. She's lying!" K'airos's grip on Antimony lessened, and she took a step away. She turned to her, her eyes wet. “She isn't! She smells like her! She sounds like her! It's mom! It's mom!” “What--no!” Her legs shook. “No, I'm not--K'piru! I'm K'piru! I... I helped you carve your--your first spearhead, Airos. I--Aijeen, I let you take some of my... herbs when you were young, even when it was against the rules, because I knew--I knew you'd...” Antimony looked desperately towards her younger daughter. “Stop this at once!” D'aijeen stomped her foot, "Airos, I command you to get away from that woman! Come here that I might protect you!" K'airos let her mother go completely and went to Aijeen's side without further questioning. She looked deeply troubled, however. When she passed Antimony, the frantic woman reached out, took two steps to follow, and then just tried to grab at her. "No--! Airos, please you--don't leave me!" D'aijeen intercepted the reaching hand and smacked it away meanly, "Stop! I won't allow you to continue!" K'airos hopped in place, tapping her hands together with louds clanks. "But I have orders to escort her..." When D’aijeen intervened, Antimony only redirected her attention to the younger girl, utterly desperate, and made to cling to her. "Please!" She all but sobbed, "Aijeen, it's me... Please, do not leave me again--!" D'aijeen stiffened under the woman's grip, but served as a well between her mother and her sister. Oh so metaphorical. "I do not know your motivation in this deception, but do not repeat it. Airos is my sun and my fire, the most precious and valuable thing I have ever touched, and I will not let her be further damaged by constructed phantasms like you. If you chose not to relent, you will find nothing but opposition and defeat here." Antimony shook her head furiously and just cried again, "Please don't leave me! My babies--my... Airos, Aijeen, it's me--please..." She did not relent in her grip on D'aijeen. K'airos just stood awkwardly with her mouth open, unable to move and her eyes darting around the place. “You will go and request a different escort. You will not bother us further. You will do this immediately. Understand?” The green-haired woman huffed in frustration. Antimony did not seem to understand at all, for she only shook her head and repeated a sobbed, "No... don't leave me." K'airos pulled on her sister's sleeve. "Aijeen, stop." she said weakly. D'aijeen snapped her gaze to K'airos, "I'm not wrong, Airos. I'm sorry. Please, just... walk away and let me deal with this, precious Airos." K'airos shook her head. "No, she's...she smells...she sounds...she's...she..." she mumbled, never finishing the idea. She bit her own tongue, literally, trying to say whatever it was. “Airos, I command you to go to the church and wait for me inside. You know that it is right to trust me with this.” K'airos dropped her eyes to the ground and walked away, just as Aijeen told her to. Antimony half leaned away from D'aijeen, eyes flicking between her and K'airos frantically, utterly torn as to what to do. Suddenly, she ripped herself away and went to reach after K'airos with a pleaded, "No! Airos--not when... not when I've finally got you back!" D'aijeen grabbed her mother's ear to restrain her, the action callous. She yelped at the sharp pain and desperately tried to extricate herself. "Airos! Please! I promise you--it's me!" “I'm sorry...I have to wait in the church...” And she continued to walk away, her steps heavy and a bit erratic. Antimony let out a wail and tried again to follow her. D'aijeen pinched down on Antimony's ear and held her as best she could. She was pretty frail, so it was very possible that Antimony could escape. "Stop it and talk to me!" Antimony turned to D'aijeen suddenly, heedless of the girl's grip on her ear, and clasped her hands upon her shoulders. "Why must you do this, Aijeen! I don't... I don't understand--you know who I am... please!" K'airos’s walking speed became unbearably slower as she got further away. She did not stop, though. D'aijeen let go of Antimony's ear, putting her hands on the woman’s arms, and dropped her voice, "Airos is beautiful, perfect. Immaculate. I worship her. I love her more than my mother ever could have. And Airos loves me. Why would I let you intrude on our life? Even if you were our mother?" Antimony's expression fell, along with her ears. "I... I love you, Aijeen. Both of you... How could you think that I don't...?" Her voice, quieter suddenly, shook. “If you loved me you would leave me to my happiness. I saw that advertisement in the Tonberry's Lantern, so tell any other imposters you might have stashed around to stay away too. I'll defend my Airos. She's mine.” The older woman’s hands quaked on D'aijeen's shoulders. "I'm not... I'm your mother," she protested weakly. "You're my..." “Then I'm going to take Airos and leave, and you're never going to find us.” Antimony's hands fell away then and her expression grew very distant. "Please, don't... don't leave me again." D'aijeen dropped her hands and said in a commanding, biting tone, "Let go of me." Swaying almost imperceptibly, Antimony brought her own hands close to herself. "Aijeen," she managed before her words choked off. "Thank you. Remember my message for your associates." D'aijeen stepped away from Antimony, pausing to see if the woman was going to pursue her again. Antimony did not follow. Instead, the strength in her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees in the dry grass. Green eyes watched D'aijeen retreat with a lost look. Nodding, wavering, D'aijeen said, "I loved my mother, in a way, but she did not love me. She also didn't have glasses and her hair wasn't so gray, so your impersonation needs a great deal of work." With this, she turned on her heal to walk away. Antimony did not move from where she collapsed in the grass, nor did her eyes leave the spot where D'aijeen had stood.

((Yay for a little bit of casual RP on some characters that could use a bit of love...!)) *** Outside the busy Carline Canopy, a masked miqo’te dressed in little more than a pair of rugged pants and sturdy work gloves dropped a lumpy, fairly heavy-looking sack onto the deck of the balcony before stretching his arms up over his head. His ears cocked to one side as he muttered to himself, “Guess apples are in season... or something. Man...” He shook his head, red hair swaying. A blonde roegadyn garbed in thick, earth-colored leathers and carrying a longbow across her broad back passed the miqo’te then and walked into the tavern just like a person who walked into the tavern. This would not be the last time she did things in a tautological way. In a removed corner just outside the Canopy, nestled between a few barrels overflowing with flowers, a wrinkled, old Duskwight had been sitting by the inn since before dark, and he now turned his silver eyes towards the masked Miqo'te to his right. He didn’t say anything at first, for several seconds just looking him over, and then said, "What kind of apple?" as if he were asking about a corpse. The miqo’te 's ears swiveled in the direction of the voice, though the mask he wore hid any change of expression or gaze. His laugh suggested some familiarity, though. "Faerie ones. Don't think they're magical though." The Duskwight held up an open palm, "You should let me double check. I could tell you for sure." The roegadyn from before exited the tavern not long after she had entered, with a bottle of ale and a pouch of dry fruits. Extremely interesting stuff if your interests are on the wrong things. The miqo’te placed one hand behind his neck and stretched the muscles there. This action was followed by a rather... disconcerting pop, and then his arm dropped to swing loosely at his side a few times. "You just want one of my apples," his voice conveyed a grin. Still, he bent to reach into the sack and tossed an apple in the Duskwight's direction without looking. The old man did not go out of his way to catch the mis-thrown apple. He watched it thud against the wall and fall near his leg, where he finally picked it up and considered the bruise. "It does not appear magical." “I figured! If they were really fairies, they probably wouldn't have liked me picking 'em anyway.” The miqo’te turned to face the Duskwight and leaned against the railing of the balcony. His tail swished broadly behind him. “Fairies only like dancing,” spoke the roegadyn, who had paused in her exit to turn towards the conversing pair. She intruded in the conversation like someone who intruded into a conversation. The Duskwight turned his attention to the apple, ignoring that which was said to and near him as he took a bite from it. “Eh? And how do you get to knowing that? Danced with a lot of fairies in your day?” The miqo’te's expression was utterly unreadable behind the mask he wore, but his tone was jesting. “I hope she has not been dancing counter-clockwise about faire rings,” the Duskwight uttered in idle warning. “She may be here to take vengeance for the apples you've harvested. The miqo’te man laughed at that. “Vengeance about apples,” the roegadyn mused. “Maybe if there was a starving man who could have survived thanks to those apples. But no, I don't think so.” “She's no faerie, then,” the Duskwight concluded. He took another bite of the apple. “In either case I'm sure the sylphs do not care about your apple-catching.” The miqo’te 's shoulders shook briefly with a lingering chuckle. "He doesn't count?" His tail flicked once. “He is not the one who gathered the apples, is he?” the roegadyn inquired. “Nah, but maybe he's starving? No way to tell!” The Duskwight nodded, "You never know. I could be." “It wouldn't be unlike the Gridanians to let a man starve right outside their tavern.” The observation came with the necessary irony. The miqo’te just hummed to himself, scratching behind his mask with one finger. The roegadyn moved to the railing then. Once she reached it, she bent against it, placing her elbows on it. After a time, however, she found the railing to be too small for her and decided to not bend against it for long. She left her bottle on it, though. “Especially a Duskwight,” the old man added. “Some days I don't even bother coming into town.” “Well, this day got you an apple,” the miqo’te announced broadly. “Or two. Hells, I can spare more if ya want, I'm sure.” “Did you ask the Hearers if the Elementals aren't angry about you having their apples?” came a word of caution from the roegadyn. The masked man craned his neck up towards her. Though tall for a miqo'te, his height was still nothing compared to one of her race. The empty face of the masked stared up at her for a moment as he thought and then, "... Nah, figure I'll know if I do something wrong." The Duskwight smiled at something in his words. "Yes, the elementals do have a way of talking to us directly." “Yes, you will. Once the beasts of the Twelveswood decide to attack you without provocation.” The miqo’te scratched at the back of his head, ears twitching. "Yup, definitely don't want that. So... Apple?" She shook her head firmly. “No, thank you. I can tell you are new to the Shroud, but you are wearing a local mask. A souvenir?” The miqo’te seemed to think on that, or at least the askew angle of his ears would have suggested it. "Not so new that I don't know what this does." He chuckled. The roegadyn hand rested against her waist. “Really? I wonder what you did to get that reaction from the woods. But then not many know what they did.” The masked man waved a hand. "Ah, who knows. Maybe it was the apples! Or the fairies." He shook his head, ears bouncing with the gesture. “Likely the apples,” the Duskwight, who had been rather silent and partaking of his apple until now, spoke up. “Can't help it,” the miqo’te was saying. “They're tasty! Took some getting used to, but...” He shrugged and grinned, but that expression was not at all visible. The Duskwight threw an apple core past the two, over the railing. "Behold, I have disrespected the Shroud and am doomed to die. Typical Duskwight.” At the action, the miqo’te’s whole body bent and shook in a burst of laughter. “Yet you have no mask, Duskwight. You seem to have fared quite well with the woods.” The Duskwight looked up at her and said, "What of your mask, Roegadyn?" She folded her arms, shaking her head sligh. “Quite an insensitive question, but a deserved one, I admit. Half of my face was torn apart by a creature. It is not a sight anyone should suffer.” The miqo’te’s tail swished. “Aw, I'm sure it's not so bad. Only half your face, after all!” The Duskwight hummed and closed his eyes, "I had not intended to broach such a question. You could have deigned not to disclose. I apoogize for my young friend's lack of manners.” “Manners?” The masked miqo’te quirked his ears. “I was perfectly mannerful. You're supposed to encourage the lady.” “Yes. Yes, you should be ashamed.” The woman jokingly threw her sight to the miqo'te. “I think you've mistaken 'encouraging' for 'insensitive'. Shame.” The Duskwight shook his head. “We have not shared names. I am Aiswys.” The masked miqo’te wagged one finger at the Duskwight, but whatever response he'd been about to deliver was interrupted by the woman on his left. He turned to her and extended one hand welcomingly, "A pleasure to meet you then, Ai-s-wys!" The name, for some reason, was difficult on his tongue. Not used to Sea Wolf names, perhaps. Off to the side, the Duskwight did not seem to catch the queue to volunteer his name. Aiswys nodded to the miqo’te, acknowledging his difficulty to say her name. “What is yours?” The miqo’te stared blankly back at Aiswys for several seconds. The mask helped this, for it still refused to reveal any expression. Then his ears twisted one way, then the other. His tail performed some weird contortion. Then finally, he laughed. "Ah! Just some guy with apples." “That's quite a long, nonspecific name you have, Guy-with-Apples.” “Just-some-guy-with-apples, actually,” the Duskwight corrected. “He doesn’t like it shortened.” “Eh, it works! Some days, I'm ‘Guy with chestnuts’ or ‘Guy with alligator pears’.” The masked man waved a hand at the Duskwight. "That's Megiddo, by the way." “Charmed to make your acquaintance,” Aiswys nodded. “I hope Gridania is not threating you too badly this day.” “Gridania holds no threat to those who understand it,” the Duskwight, Megiddo, replied. “It's okay,” the miqo’te mused. “Rains too much, but what can ya do.” “There are plenty of things wrong with the Black Shroud. And the world at large. They just...differ in scope.” Aiswys turned her head to look away into the horizon like a woman who looked away into the horizon. It was all very tautological. The miqo’te tilted his head and then just shrugged. "Not quite sure I follow your meaning there, but alright." “Life is a barter,” Aiswys explained calmly. “Here and everywhere. The Shroud has the Elementals to collect and rectify debts, but they are only here. Everywhere else, debts are created and there is none but the gods and their servants to collect. A matter of scope, as I said.” The miqo’te tapped his chin beneath the mask. "Aaahah. Well, I'll pay the forest back for these apples one of these days, how about that." Then he hefted the bag and swung it over one shoulder. “I hope you do. Otherwise, the woods might want to collect. Though...” Aiswys let out a faint chuckle, muffled by her mask. "I do not think apples are very important on a divine scale." “They're important on my belly's scale! And others'.” At this, the miqo’te burst out laughing, perhaps in poor taste to his own joke. “Well said! Do not eat them all in one go.” The miqo’te shrugged, "I make no promises," and turned then, lifting an idle wave to Megiddo in his little corner. "Catch ya later. Got more where these come from if you want." Aiswys left the apple guy with his apples. She looked down to the railing and pondered about how short it was. Megiddo tossed a slight wave to the masked miqo'te with the apples, who then walked off, his tail swinging in time with his steps. A moment later, Aiswys picked up her bottle. She walked near the Duskwight and left the bottle next to him. “A little Gridanian gift. I'm sure they won't mind.” Megiddo looked down at the bottle and up at the Roegadyn, "I'm a hermit, not a beggar." “Good, because this is not charity. It's a gift.” “In that case, thank you.” Aiswys gave Megiddo a short nod and departed with her pouch of dry fruits, just like a woman who carried a pouch of dry fruits and who just gave a man a short nod. This was her last tautological action of the night.

I agree with Liadan in that the WHM quest does not in any way support a broader disseminating of white magic/succor knowledge (I'm that "consultant" friend Ildur spoke of haha). I also agree with Ildur in that the lore is complete bullshit for an MMO setting, and we, to borrow a phrase, must needs adjust it to allow for smooth roleplay. Never in all my years of roleplaying in MMOs (and I've been doing it for a long while) have I seen the lore for a class one can play in game be so utterly, uncompromisingly restricted from RP. Now, I've seen some limits on backstory - such as Death Knights in WoW - but it's never to the degree that we as roleplayers have to struggle against the lore itself to actually roleplay. It's absurd, and I firmly believe Squeenix made a huge mistake in writing it in such a way. If we as players can pick up the class, then we have every right to roleplay that class (job, whatever). So yeah. The lore is pretty clear in that the Padjal are not teaching non-Padjal (except for the one lone WHM story quest character) white magic. What I also think is pretty clear is that we need to just toss that single point out the window to allow for characters to access their chosen class ICly.

After leaving Ul'dah and leaving her very livelihood, Antimony set off on the path to Black Brush... *** Antimony walked her rented chocobo to the porter, having recently arrived at Black Brush Station. Her ears hung low to the sides of her head, and her pace was of one distracted by thought. She offered a very brief smile to the porter and held out a thin ticket to her - him? It was hard to tell with the mask. The chocobo at her side kwehed and fluffed its feathers at the other birds loitering around. Ulanan sat near the keeper, looking all dozy and bored. Her eyes discovered Antimony after a moment. Yawning, she raised both hands to stretch herself. “ Antimony!” Antimony's tail stiffened, bushing out considerably before curling flat against one leg. Tensely, she turned to the voice. "Ah... hello, Ulanan." Ulanan walked towards her, stumbling once thanks to the long time she had spent sitting in one place. “I heard you were leaving to Coerthas.” Antimony smiled a bit weakly, not really putting any emotion behind the expression. "Where...ever would you have heard that?" “I heard it from the people now living in your room.” Antimony's smile fell immediately, her ears swooping back. "Oh. I see." She was quiet for a moment and then sighed before continuing without directly looking at the lalafell, "Then you will know why." Ulanan let out a big breath. "I know." She reached for her pouch and, with both hands, offered it to the Miqo'te. "I'm not here to convince you to stay, just to ask you to be careful and get an escort in Drybone." Antimony blinked at the pouch, then shifted her eyes to Ulanan, brow furrowing slightly. "What is this...?" Ulanan smiled and proclaimed happily: "It's a pouch! With coin inside and a letter to the Brass Blades in Drybone to assign you an escort." Antimony was silent for a long moment and then turned to drop to one knee in front of Ulanan, wrapping her arms around the lalafell in a brief hug. "Thank you. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but thank you." Ulanan was confused by hugging protocols for a full second before realizing that the protocol was 'wrap your arms around the other person', so she did. “Just present the letter to an Immortal Flame officer and he'll get you my father's finest bodyguard!” Antimony pulled away after a moment, standing with some effort, the pouch in one hand. She seemed to struggle with something for a time before finally managing, "If you could... I would ask a favor of you." She sighed, tail twisting anxiously behind her. "Miss Loughree... can you check and see if she is alright? Megiddo was..." Ulanan frowned at the Duskwight's name. "That old, grey asparagus." she grumbled. "I will make sure Loughree is safe, don't worry." Antimony bowed her head. "I will anyway, but... thank you." The porter gestured inquiringly then, and Antimony sighed. "I should... go now. I'm sorry." Ulanan nodded and waves her hand shyly. "Have a safe journey! And enjoy Coerthas!" Antimony lifted one hand in response, looking away. A shadow crossed her features at some thought and then she turned away suddenly, moving to the chocobo the porter had prepared for her. Ulanan turned around with her eyes closed and concentrated. The aether around her gathered, surrounding her in a dim blue light and lifting her. After a moment, there was a flash and she was gone. Antimony's shoulders slumped at the dull hum of aether charging and then dissipating. She was still for a moment before pulling herself onto the chocobo's back and setting off for Drybone.

Some general Titan tips: - If you (or anyone else) is ever in a position where they're surrounded by WotLs, try to get to a spot where you are only hit by one, rather than multiple. As long as your health is kept up, you'll be alright. - If a dps goes doing before the heart phase and is unavailable for a rez (i.e. got knocked off by Landslide), make sure to use Limit Break on the heart. It's entirely possible to get through this phase with one or two dps down. - Going into p5, have everyone stay stacked where the gaoled individual was (remember, you don't break the second gaol from the heart phase until after the heart is dead). If you have a WHM, they should be precasting Divine Seal + Cure III to land right when Titan does his OMGRAGE aoe. If done right, this will bump pretty much everyone back up to full health immediately. As soon as that is out, the group needs to split in preparation for WotL. - It helps if someone calls out over vent or macros into party chat where to move during the three row bomb sets in p5 (left, right, Titan, back). Remember to move across the room as soon as Landslide hits. - Utilize Virus and that BLM Apocolkjasdfasdfwhatsit skill alternately to minimize Mountain Buster damage. Remember, he always does MB after Landslide in p5. - Make sure the tank is stunning Tumults in p5 (during the third stomp). - Healer tip in p5: Divine Seal + Swiftcast + Medica II is your friend. The combo is up for every Tumult. Get that going right before/as it starts and you have enough time to cast a Medica follow up buffer (if need be) before you need to move for WotL. This strategy brought to you by having to solo heal way too many Titan HMs. If you need someone, I'm more than happy to heal the fight for you.

Bahahaha that reminds me of a very special night that K'thalen, K'luha, and K'ile spent together... It started out innocently enough... Little brother wants to join! Thalen does smoldering looks really well.... K'ile just couldn't help himself. Look out, Luha! But soon, the brothers found one another too distracting... That passion, it's undeniable. K'ile is very NSFW. Like, seriously NSFW. Ah yes, it was a good evening. This is what Squee gets for censoring the /doze emote.

I simply don't think it's an issue at all. If there was any unusual aging traits regarding the miqo'te, the lore would likely have something to say about it (as it does regarding elezen and lalafell). That there are no "older" options for female miqo'te faces in character creation is no different than there being no older options for female Eth (or... uh, all the other races) in Rift - but one certainly couldn't say that their races don't age. Likewise, there aren't any aged faces for any of the females of races (and even some of the males) in TERA, but that doesn't mean the races don't age; in fact, the only exception regarding aging - elin - is explicitly explained in lore. You're mistaking artistic tendencies towards beautiful women as lore, and that really isn't a reliable source of evidence.

Hey there! I do a lot of the organizing and general development footwork for the player-made K tribe, though there are certainly others around who can chime in as well. What would you like to know to help craft your story? I'm more than happy to construct histories to create a splitting of the K tribe across territories!

We do know that we only have four face options because of "memory limitations" (read: PS3 limitations). Occam's Razor applies here. Female miqo'te are built around the "catgirl" fantasy. There is a general perception among narrow-minded individuals that "older" faces are "ugly". An old miqo'te face would sully their precious catgirl fantasy, and we all know that it's a cardinal sin to make an ugly woman in fantasy fiction (especially video games). Therefore, our four options are restricted to only degrees of young beautiful.

"I'm sorry, miss, but Coerthas is beyond the jurisdiction of the Grand Companies. It's simply not in our or our chocobos' best interests to endorse travel so far north... ah, are you alright? Miss? You don't seem well..." Coward. Selfish. ... Miss?" She didn't want to go. "... If you're set on it, the best I can do is offer rent of one to Drybone." You're far too gentle. "They're more kind to the dead than the living there, so there's no guarantee you'll find what you need to get into the Shroud, but..." She needed to go. "... You're five gil short, miss." I can make it so they'll never. Follow you. Again. "Er, that's not... okay. This girl'll take you to Black Brush. Give the ticket to the porter there, and they'll swap you out with a fresh one for the journey to Drybone. Uh, good... luck, miss." Kin-killer.

After Dalamud fell from the sky and fire had overtaken them, K'deiki had prayed that their family would need not suffer loss again. She had spent many hours with her weary bones bent in supplication, and for five years, they had lived in something resembling peace. A hard won peace. She did not want to be the one who declared more lost, not this time. When the ancient woman, mother and grandmother to so many lost already, lifted her head to meet K'luha's gaze, there was a heavy sorrow in her wrinkled face. "Do whatever you can to bring them back," the words breathed out from her frail lungs and hung in the air as delicate and ephemeral as footsteps in sand. Once she spoke, she returned her attention to the beads and her prayers. They would need their Warden's guardianship much in the coming days.

K'aijeen had not struggled against her father as he carried her, and the endless, rasping accusations had gone silent. The child's hands still strained against her father's chest and shoulder, but she leaned her forehead against him as well to hide her face behind her hair. K'ile Tia, on the other hand, had begun to mutter strings of curses as they walked, and the nearer to camp they came, the loud and more agitated he grew. By the time they arrived, he was subjecting K'airos to vicious blasphemies grunted through his teeth. The first tents to roll into view were pale dots on a dark horizon that gradually became more grey as their steps carried them closer. Thalen did not ease his grip on his daughter, holding her close and focusing on the press of her face against his skin. One hand he kept on her side, against the wound the strange evil had given her in its escape. He could tell the bleeding had slowed, but it still concerned him. He didn't know what poisons it may have held on its claws. He did not speak as they walked, features stony and withdrawn. He barely acknowledged K'piru, who had at first kept very close and then, as their journey back lengthened, fell back. He could smell her fear, but there was nothing he could do about it for now - not until they returned and dealt with K'aijeen. He lifted blue eyes to the outer line of tents marking their camp as they approached and then, minutes later, passed them. Everything was quiet still, this early in the morning, and the light skins shifted in a morning breeze like ghosts. Finally, Thalen spoke quietly, to the daughter in his arms, "Your mother will bandage you up, and then you're going to explain to us what happened." K'airos huffed after he spoke. Maybe she was reacting to the curses the blasphemous tia was spitting to the air next to her. She dispelled any doubt by adding some words to the huffing: "I don't think she'll tell us anything." "I told you!" K'aijeen shouted, her voice strained and body tensing, "You ruined it! It's never coming back!" At her middle daughter's words, K'piru hunched her shoulders, hugging herself. She kept her eyes on Thalen's back, and the bits of hair and limbs she could see of K'aijeen poking out on either side. At her youngest's cries, she looked away. "That... is a good thing, Aijeen. It was evil." Glaring at the sand in front of himself, K'ile growled out, "Shouldn't we go to the Elders?" "We should take care of your wound properly first." K'airos said. "I could only... the walking might have reopened it," K'piru added softy. She tried to return her gaze to Thalen and her daughter but found that impossible. The former hummed to himself, carefully adjusted his grip as they passed a few more tents, and then said, "Don't want either of you passing out from blood loss in front of them." K'ile grunted in ascent, silent as he continued to hobble on. The girl in Thalen's hands was quiet for a few moments, and then she shifted suddenly in Thalen's grip to throw her face in her sister's direction. "I was going to tell you everything, Airos! You were supposed to help me!" "Too bad I couldn't read your thoughts." K'airos growled without looking at her. She kept the eyes fixed on the sand, moving steadily towards her family's tent. Thalen bent slightly to enter K'piru and her children's tent, taking a moment to breathe in familiar scents of dried herbs and ointments that always seemed to cling to the woman. They were little comfort now, though, with his daughter squirming in his arms. He frowned and said, "I'm going to put you down now. Don't run." As he spoke, he knelt to ease K'aijeen to the floor. K'piru hung back outside the tent a moment, her ears and tail trembling. Her daughter, her lovely K'aijeen, seemed almost as terrifying as that monstrous beast she had summoned, and K'piru was not sure she could face her. When she touched the floor, K'aijeen tried to escape her father's grip. Not to leave the tent, though, just to get away from him. He let her go, looking a bit sad but giving her space. "Do you have everything to treat them here?" K'airos voice sounded behind them while she helped K'ile get inside. "I don't need much," K'ile said, hobbling in. "Just tie it off and I'll be good." Meanwhile, K'aijeen had retreated to a corner of the tent, facing the wall and curling up on herself. She doesn't even seem to notice that she's been hurt. K'piru watched her daughter and K'ile enter the tent, made as though to follow, and hesitated again. The way she had screamed, hurling condemnation until she was breathless - it tore at her chest. She cast a pained glance behind her, to the softening sky, and then pushed forward into the tent. It felt like walking through an ocean of mud. Once inside, she moved wordlessly to one side of the tent and began to gather items. Her hands shook as she moved. "Piru's got everything here. She'll take care of it," Thalen said as lightly as he could manage, which wasn't very. He watched his daughter in the corner, blue eyes frowning. "That's a good idea. Let's tie K'ile up!" K'airos joked, giving her uncle a weak smile. She moved him to a side and tried to make him sit down. "Just lie there and don't move while we tie you- I mean your wound- up." Trying to ignore the weight of the situation, K'ile dropped to the ground. "Do whatever you want, K'airos. I'm not in good shape to fight back." In one arm, K'piru held a small bowl, inside which was a greenish, opaque paste, as well as a few other medical items. Swallowing, she approached K'aijeen, keeping her eyes averted, and reached out with her free hand for her daughter. "Aijeen, let me see. Her entire body tensing until her small muscles looked ot be stones underneath her skin, K'aijeen hissed, "I don't want you touching me. I can do it myself." Something bottomed out in her gut, but K'piru steadied herself and placed one hand on her daughter's shoulder, moving close. "It's better if you let me help, Aijeen. Remember, that's one of the first rules...?" She set the bowl down and moved her hands to try and get a look at her daughter's side. K'airos walked towards them and crouched behind her sister. "Let mom help. You know that's something she's good at!" She offered another weak smile. K'aijeen spun out of the corner suddenly and swung at her mother’s hands, "Don't lecture me about more rules! Do you think I don't understand this..." she grabbed the bowl and looked at with disgust. "Simple poultice! This small medicine!" "Small…?" K'piru's ears drooped, but she didn't let her daughter's gestures stop her, One hand moved to hold her arm gently. "Aijeen, let me see. You're hurt and I want to help you." She tried to keep the pleading out of her voice, but still it shook and seemed terribly... small. Behind her, Thalen crossed his arms and frowned, his tail swishing forcefully behind him in the somewhat cramped space. K'airos grabbed her sister's arms with the intent of holding them still. "We have had enough scenes for one day, Aijeen." she pouted. "I said I can do it! Don't-!" She began to struggle with her mother, but when K'airos grabbed her, she went limp, her voice coming up short. Her hands clenched into small, pitiful fists, her eyes closed. "Please, Aijeen," K'piru whispered, and crouched to feel her daughter's side, noting the blood soaking her clothes and pulling at the cloth to reveal a long gash. She let out a slow breath and took one of the strips of cloth she'd brought to wipe at the blood, cleaning the wound. Seeming to suffer her mother’s attention in silence, she muttered, "You betrayed me, Airos. I was almost done." "No one betrayed you, Aijeen," K'piru said sadly. "We just want to help you..." The bleeding had mostly stopped, slowing to an occasional oozing, and once the wound was cleared, she began to smear some of the "simple poultice" on it. K'airos frowned at Aijeen's words. "You are unfair. You didn't explain anything to me. And yet you demand I understand." She kept her stern frown for a while, staring at her sister's back. Ignoring her mother with unsettling ease, K'aijeen snapped at K'airos, "You just needed to do what I said! Trust me! I promised!" "You know" K'airos started "When I pick my spear, I expect it to work in a particular way. If I thrust it, I expect it to move forward and wound the beast. If I twist the pole, I expect its blade to twist inside the wound. I don't explain it why." Her lips became a thin line and she looked away. "I'm not a spear, you know. I'm your sister." Her eyes opening to watch her sister's face, K'aijeen's gaze flicked about. Her eyes narrowed, and she thinks, and became visibly frustrated. Finally she tossed her head back and just groaned, "I trusted you." K'piru kept quiet as she tended to her daughter's wound, ensuring even and full coverage of the poultice before beginning to apply bandages - tight so as to draw the skin together and close the wound. K'airos released Aijeen to throw her arms to the air, mirroring her sister's frustration. "Well, I trusted you too! And what did I get for that? A monster, K'ile wounded, you wounded and who knows how much time tied up under the sun!" "If you trust me we wouldn't be here," K'aijeen hissed, closing her eyes. "Mom! Why aren't you done yet? It's not difficult!" "That makes no sense!" K'airos stood up swiftly and walked away towards the other side of the tent. "We wouldn't be here, either, if you had told me!" K'piru's ears flattened against her head at her daughter's words. As she wound the bandage, she layered a few herbs in that would release beneficial essences as they broke down. "It will be done right," she whispered. K'aijeen hissed, "You can't do anything right. All of you just ruin everything." Across the tent, sitting with his hands clasped over the wound on his leg and keeping pressure there, K'ile watched K'airos with a frown. "Aijeen, don't say things like that," K'piru begged quietly. She kept her hands on her daughter when she finished wrapping the bandages and, in a desperate urge, made to pull her into a shaking hug. "Please, don't say those things. We love you." K'airos crossed her arms. For an instant, K'iles frown caused her to hesitate. A sudden urge to crouch and disappear assaulted her. But she recovered by looking away and muttering some blasphemies of her own making. K'aijeen bit at her mother, "You ruin that, too." And then, squirming to try and see what her mother is doing, "You should be done by now! I would be! You're inept! This entire tribe is inept!" "K'aijeen," Thalen spoke somberly, a warning tone. The uncharacteristic frown on his face deepened, worried. K'piru only shook her head and continued to try and hold her daughter close, repeating, "Don't say those things. I love you, Aijeen. Please, you must stop..." "You don't love me. I don't believe you. You're a liar." She lay still again, her muscles tense. "Finish what you're doing!" "We are tools. We can't love, mom." K'airos said and bit her tongue right after speaking, expression conflicted. It was hard to know if she was about to burst into a fire like a bag of bomb claws or just into a thousand mean words. Or a thousand tears. K'piru's shoulders shook. She had finished a minute or two ago, but she still clung to her daughter. "That's not true, Aijeen! Why would you... why do you do this!" "You wouldn't understand," K'aijeen ansered, staring at the ceiling. "Your mind is small. You only understand simple things, like your powders and rituals and lessons. You live in a tiny, stupid world." K'airos snapped. "Stop being mean!" She then looked at her father and gestured to Aijeen wildly, unsure of what she was trying to convey with those movements. "Tell her to stop!" "K'aijeen," Thalen spoke again, firmer this time, and stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't speak to your mom like that. No one here deserves words like that, alright? So stop it." K'piru seemed at a loss for words and just shook her head, holding tight to her daughter. "Blind. Foolish." K’aijeen muttered, then growled, "Why is everyone touching me? Get off of me!" K'airos was briefly amused by that reaction and giggled. "No!" K'piru refused vehemently. "I'm not going to just let you go. You're my beautiful girl - I love you and--and I want you to stop hurting yourself and others, Aijeen!" K'ile gave K'airos a bemused look. At her mother’s words, K'aijeen frowned, her tail moving restlessly. She looked at the ceiling and muttered, "If you loved me you'd say it more often. You're lying. And nobody would've gotten hurt if nobody had meddled." "What do you... why would you... Aijeen...!" K'piru moved her hands up to her daughter's face, turning her features towards her. "Look at me, Aijeen! I would never lie to you. Never." Behind his daughter, Thalen frowned and murmured, "We wouldn't have gone out looking for you if we didn't care." "Nobody would have been hurt if you hadn't keep things secret." K'airos muttered, as if she didn't want to be heard. She then shook her head, walking away until she was next to the tent's entrance. K'aijeen chose this time to go silent, her features turning down into a stubborn frown. It was also this silence which K'ile took as his queue to humbly state, "Bleeding..." K'piru flinched at K'ile's voice, her arms shaking around K'aijeen for several seconds before she whispered, "I need to help him. I love you," and released her daughter. It took an incomprehensible amount of effort for her to pull away and turn her attention to the tia in the tent. K'airos sat on the floor right where she was standing, adding nothing to the exchange. She didn't think anything she said would matter. Seeing K'piru turn towards him, K'ile frowned and said, "There are others who could fix me up." K'aijeen tried to squirm away from her father's hand. Thalen didn't budge his grip and sighed at his daughter. "You're gonna have a lot of days of apologizing ahead of you, y'know," he muttered to her. Shifting over to K'ile, K'piru kept her head bowed and shook it wordlessly. Her hands shook slightly as they moved to gently unwrap the makeshift bandage, her daughter's words echoing in her head. K'airos smiled. "We'll get over this." she said. "In three suns we'll have forgotten all about this! Aijeen will have a new secret plan, I'll help her with it. Then dad will wander into it somehow and K'ile will frown and be stern with us...all that while mom is assaulted by worry! And three days after -that- we will forget about it, too!" "I don't think that's going to happen," K'ile muttered. With a glare in her blue eyes, K'aijeen met her father's gaze and says, "I won't apologize. Not even once. I can start over! I just..." She rolled her head to look past K'thalen to her sister, "K'airos, I forgive you. But I need my book. I'll let you know everything from now on, I promise! Everything!" "Ah, come on, K'aijeen," Thalen shook his head, lips a thin line. "That thing - whatever it was you summoned? Damned near killed your mom and K'ile. You know I can't let that happen again." K'airos pressed her lips together, her eyes set on the ground. "Where did you get that book?" "I'll tell you, Airos," K'aijeen returned her gaze to the ceiling. "I'm not telling them. "I hope it's destroyed," K'piru said suddenly, tone low and almost bitter, though it still shook with worry. She did not give K'ile warning before she began to work at cleaning the gaping wound in his leg, setting a bowl beneath it to catch blood and pushing her finger inside the wound to rub it with a cleansing ointment. "I'm not going to keep any more secrets from the tribe or our family." K'airos said to K'aijeen. And nodding to her mother, she said "I burned the book after the creature ran away." K'ile of course grunted when K'piru set to work in his wound, growling out, "Ah, Warden damn it, Piru! Why are you mad at me?" At the very mention of destroying the book, K'aijeen strained against her father's hand and shouted at her mother, "No! You can't!" But at K'airos' words, the girl froze, her hands pressing against her father's arm. She shifted under him to direct her glare at K'airos. "You're lying. You didn't! You're lying!" "It will begin to numb soon," K'piru murmured distractedly to K'ile after a moment. Green eyes shifted to K'airos, and relief briefly slackened her features. "Good. It's... that evil must have... taken ahold of her somehow. We..." Something flashed in her eyes - realization, resignation. "If she's cleansed of it--we could... there must be a way to remove it from her." K'airos nodded to the ground. "I hope that's it. The book was to blame, wasn't it?" She raised her eyes to look at her father, desperately seeking some sort of confirmation. "Wasn't it?" "No! Don't! DON’T DO THAT!" K'aijeen snarled with sudden fury, fighting her father's hold. "I did this! It's not evil! You say you love me in one breath and then say I'm possessed! You liar! Ugly crone!" Her voice shifted, dropped, but her struggling continued. "K'airos. Please. The book, you didn't." K'piru cringed over K'ile's leg and begged without looking at her daughter, "I'm trying to help you because I love you, Aijeen!" K'airos answer was blunt: "I did. I burned it because I refuse to think you would be so selfish on your own!" K'thalen bent slightly to put his other hand on K'aijeen's opposite shoulder, expression solemn as he listened. The girl snapped at her mother, "Shut up! You liar! I'm never listening to anything you say, ever again!" She turns her gaze to the ceiling, "None of you understand! Small minds think I'm selfish! Clueless closed eyes! Too stupid to love anything!" She had begun to apply a sealing ointment on K'ile's wound to keep it shut, but at K'aijeen's words, K'piru simply crumbled, bending over his leg with a sob. Thalen darted bright eyes towards her, then down at K'aijeen and frowned, gripping his daughter firmly enough that he could turn her to look in her eyes. "Listen to me, K'aijeen. You want to think those things? Fine. If you want to hate us - fine. They're horrible things to think on their own, but you don't say it to the people who love you." He urged her upward with his grip. "Get up. We're going to the elders now." K'ile made a face and took K'piru in his hands to support her, mostly ignoring his own pain. "She loves that book more than us. Why don't we send her to get hugs and care from its ashes?" K'airos growled, standing up furiously. Her tail was raised, reaching slightly beyond her shoulders. "Maybe that book will give her a new and smarter sister!" Letting herself get pulled up, K'aijeen turns mournful eyes on her father. "Dad, I don't want this to be happening. I'm not possessed! I love everyone. I'm trying to help the tribe. I was doing something good!" "I know you want to do something good," Thalen let his tone soften just slightly, moving one of his hands to rub at her back. He frowned over her head and then sighed. "Like I said, you nearly got your mom and K'ile killed by that monster. You can't tell me that was a good thing, K'aijeen. It's not possible." K'airos pouted, turning around and opening the tent. She huffed, and then stepped outside without saying any more words. K'piru only shook with tears, her hands still gripping K'ile's leg. K'ile did his best to comfort K'piru with shoulder-pats and arm-squeezes, but the Tia had no words. He looked to K'thalen helplessly, but he didn't know what to do about the child either. K'aijeen's answer was firm, "It wouldn't have done anything if I'd finished. It was only dangerous because you meddled! The Elders wouldn't understand! They're foolish! Senile." "What were you gonna do with it, then, K'aijeen? That thing did not want to be controlled, even I could tell that," Thalen frowned. "There's nothing good that coulda come of it." He put some pressure on her shoulders. "C'mon. We're going." "They're going to rack Airos and exile me!" K'aijeen protested, very loudly, "You want that?" K'piru looked up at that, eyes wide and wet, and turned her face to K'ile desperately. "They--they wouldn't... She's a child...! Would they really...?" "They won't," K'ile said sternly to K'piru. "Let's go, K'aijeen," Thalen muttered and continued to urge her forwards, intended to leave the tent. K'aijeen leaves the tent, her glare falling on the ground. The morning light shines on a girl covered in her own blood and stinking of rot. "I'm not going to let them talk down to me." K'airos lingered outside walking in a straight line. She reached the end of its arbitrary length and turned around to continue her stroll. The steps on the sand showed that she had been doing this at a fast pace. When she saw K'aijeen exiting the tent, she stopped and looked at her for a moment before walking towards her in silence. Inside the tent, K'piru sagged as though all the strength had fled from her muscles, then with a distant expression, she went back to wordlessly managing K'ile's wound, sealing the hole and wrapping it tightly. It still bled, but the ointment and pressure would do more now than her makeshift bandage from earlier. K'ile watched K'piru working his leg again, then turned his gaze towards the outside as the others left. He was about to say something to K'piru, but then he didn't. K'aijeen stopped and looked up at K'airos, seeming both sad and rather afraid of her older sister. "That book can't be replaced. Ever." K'airos expression was a mix of anger and uncontrollable sadness. "Good." she said with a cough. "Then maybe I won't have to burn the next one." Placing a hand on K'aijeen's back, Thalen kept her moving after a moment, offering a sympathetic look to K'airos.. As they neared K'airos, K'aijeen suddenly leapt at her sister and gripped at her clothes with her fingernails, eyes wide and ears flat. She shouts, "I trusted you! You ruined everything! You lied! You always hated me! Betrayer!" There was no defensive attempt from K'airos. She just placed both hands softly against the sides of Aijeen's head and leaned her own head forward. "I don't hate you. I'm tired of getting in trouble, and I'm tired of you not telling me what you do. I'm sorry." "What'd I say about those words, K'aijeen?" Thalen frowned and kept the pressure of his hands. "... Airos," the girl let go of her sister, and drifted under her father's pressure for a time. Then she spun and tried to get away from him, "I don't need to talk to the Elders! I exile myself!" "What?" K'airos' eyes widened and looked at her in confusion. Thalen blinked once and then strengthened his grip. "You don't want to do that," he all but commanded. "Yes I do." K'aijeen said, pulling against her father's grip. "This tiny pocket of small-minded people. It's disgusting. Nobody here knows anything. There's only hate and stupidity here. Closed eyes closed ears. I could have been the wisest shaman. I could've made the tribe better!" K'airos curled her hands into fists. Her tail did something similar, rising up. "You keep sayng that! Then go away! Go find a better tribe! One made of books and butchered beast flesh!" Without noticing, she jumped in place, both feet stomping angrily on the sand. "Go away! We are not good for you! Go away!" she yelled. He pulled her to him then, wrapping one arm around her firmly. Something like anger darkened his features. "Stop that. We're family, K'aijeen." To K'airos he growled, "Go help your mother," and then back to the younger daughter, "You don't get to say that stuff, you got that? You don't get to leave us, because we love you, and you love us, and we're family." Thalen's growl was enough to snap K'airos out of her anger. Her tail dropped between her legs, and she herself dropped into a deep sadness. She swiftly turned around and ran away from them and the tent, sobbing. "You can't control what I say," K'aijeen growled up at her father. "What I think. What's real. I can do whatever I want and you can't stop me." "Twelve help me, I can and I will," Thalen breathed furiously, holding onto K'aijeen. "I'm not going to let you make more stupid decisions. If I have to protect you from yourself, then I will. Now come with me." Seeing the futility in fighting her father, K'aijeen let herself be dragged off. "You're the stupid." Letting the words hit him, K'thalen did not allow himself to react further, save for a tightening of his features and a deep ache in his chest. He moved with his daughter through the tents - now coming alive with more movement as the morning wore on – and towards the elders at the center of the camp. K'airos stopped running a few tents back. She thought she had a clear understanding of the situation. That her sister only loved her as long as she was useful, that even if she wasn't exiled she would leave on her own, and that there was nothing that could change any of it. For all those things, she dropped to the sand like a thrown rock and cried.