Once upon a time, a long time ago
["A long time? You aren't that ancient. And why tell it like it's about someone else?"
"It's true I've not seen 100 yet, but it was still a long time ago. And I like telling it this way."]
Ah hem
Once upon a time there was a pretty temple with a beautiful garden in a quiet corner of a big, bustling port city.
The priestesses of the temple were lovely, graceful, and kind. One of them had a daughter. This daughter was not allowed to leave the temple and garden by herself. The city was full of dangers.
So she learned to play the lute and harp; to dance; to read, which she did voraciously; to tend the garden; and to be very polite to everyone, especially folk who came to pray to Hanali Celanil and celebrate at the temple.
But though she loved her mother very much, and loved the goddess and the other priestesses and enjoyed dancing and singing at the full moon celebrations, and though she tried very hard to be gracious and graceful, she did not want to grow up to be a priestess and have to be gracious and graceful there in that little temple for however long she might live. And elves can live a long long time.
She was restless and curious and occasionally sarcastic. The thought of being endlessly beautifully dressed and well groomed and everlastingly soothing and well spoken----Oh! She wanted to run screaming, to roll in the mud and do something----anything---that wasn't so relentlessly civil.
Remembering this later, when sometimes she longed for a bath and clean clothes even more than a good meal, made her laugh and laugh.
But she never ever wanted to be a priestess, no matter how grubby and hungry she got.
["Why didn't she tell them she wanted to leave and go study somewhere else?"
"She should have. But they genuinely were kind and loving and thought that being a priestess of Hanali Celanil was the highest honor and best possible thing that could happen to you. It's hard to rebel against folks that really love you, especially when a lot of what they want and do are things you yourself want and do."
"Hmph."]
Liria
Moderator: rdjparadis
Re: Liria
"Liry!" Thea grinned down from the garden wall. "Liry, come on!"
"I have to---"
"No, you don't. You know you don't, Li. Come on." The young
halfling's voice promised marvels. "There'll be music and I'll buy you a
honey cake."
"Just a moment," Liria left her basket of flowers for Full Moon
wreaths in the shade of the temple porch and joined her friend. She and
Thea had been in and out of minor mischief since they met.
She joined Thea's friends and learned to use a sling or shy a
stone, to duck and weave and hide well enough to escape more than torn
clothes and a bruise or two.
Auntie Aver took an interest in the two girls and taught them the
basics. How to listen to a lock and get a feel for opening it, how to
walk through a crowd unnoticed, how to keep an eye out for traps and
snares and disarm or avoid them.
Gradually Liria realized that Thea was learning other lessons,
things having a mother and home and a certain naive obliviousness kept
her from noticing.
["I was really really stupid. And too well off to understand how
desperate things were for Thea and the rest."
"You were a nice girl."
"Also stupid. Auntie and her friends had plans for both of us.
Keeping me stupid and silly fit right in.]
"I have to---"
"No, you don't. You know you don't, Li. Come on." The young
halfling's voice promised marvels. "There'll be music and I'll buy you a
honey cake."
"Just a moment," Liria left her basket of flowers for Full Moon
wreaths in the shade of the temple porch and joined her friend. She and
Thea had been in and out of minor mischief since they met.
She joined Thea's friends and learned to use a sling or shy a
stone, to duck and weave and hide well enough to escape more than torn
clothes and a bruise or two.
Auntie Aver took an interest in the two girls and taught them the
basics. How to listen to a lock and get a feel for opening it, how to
walk through a crowd unnoticed, how to keep an eye out for traps and
snares and disarm or avoid them.
Gradually Liria realized that Thea was learning other lessons,
things having a mother and home and a certain naive obliviousness kept
her from noticing.
["I was really really stupid. And too well off to understand how
desperate things were for Thea and the rest."
"You were a nice girl."
"Also stupid. Auntie and her friends had plans for both of us.
Keeping me stupid and silly fit right in.]
Re: Liria
Liria knelt before the altar.
"Dearest Archer of Love, your arrows strike cleanly to the heart. I was hesitant to pray, thinking that I long for my flights tomorrow to bring death and that doesn't seem like something you'd be very concerned with, does it?
But then I thought that I'm doing this to help my friend, and perhaps you'd think that worthy. Please, Lady, help me to help Amysara and to protect her. She is a good person and she should be whole and well and not sick because of the horrible things Amras did.
Trying to get to the temple in Sanctuary City was the first time I've ever been in a really big battle. I'm very frightened. Please help me to not let my fear show, to keep my aim steady, and my song strong.
Please, if you speak to my mother, give her my love."
"Dearest Archer of Love, your arrows strike cleanly to the heart. I was hesitant to pray, thinking that I long for my flights tomorrow to bring death and that doesn't seem like something you'd be very concerned with, does it?
But then I thought that I'm doing this to help my friend, and perhaps you'd think that worthy. Please, Lady, help me to help Amysara and to protect her. She is a good person and she should be whole and well and not sick because of the horrible things Amras did.
Trying to get to the temple in Sanctuary City was the first time I've ever been in a really big battle. I'm very frightened. Please help me to not let my fear show, to keep my aim steady, and my song strong.
Please, if you speak to my mother, give her my love."
Re: Liria
( "So why Anchorome? Why come here? It's awfully far from anywhere else. And I think you'd likely go to somewhere with more scholars and such.
"There's somewhere I'm not going. And I like traveling and meeting new people. This is an interesting place."
"Not going? You mean Baldur's Gate?" Randyl caught a leaf falling from one of the Thorn trees and looked at it as though it could tell him something.
"I've been back there to visit Liriatharil quite a bit, actually."
"Hmmm. Mystery place avoidance."
"But I thought you had to leave Baldur's Gate?" Amysara asked.
"I did. Time passes. How about a bit of a romance?"
"Tell on.")
There was a beautiful and charming elven girl. Her name was Liriatharil and she was a priestess of Hanali Celanil at the Fountain of Singing Gold in Evereska.
A handsome and clever elf saw her and he fell in love. But Erynion was very proud. His family was rich and learned and they disaproved of some of the things that priestesses of Hanali Celanil celebrate, especially their care for half elves and belief that the goddess supports all true lovers, no matter their race.
But his family couldn't deny that Liriatharil was as purely elf as it's possible to be. So Erynion wooed her and won her love. They married and, after several years, they had a daughter.
("Who is you."
"Yes."
"Somehow things went sour?"
"Oh, yes.")
All the while, Liriatharil was a priestess at the temple. Her devotion to the goddess was more important to her than anything, except perhaps her daughter. Erynion realized that and resented it and sometimes they quarreled.
Then one night, 4 years after their daughter was born, as she meditated, Liriatharil had a vision. She saw the Goldheart standing on a bustling city street, with many humans busily walking past. There were dwarfs and halflings and elves, all going about their day, trading and talking. The goddess looked into her eyes and spoke, "My Liriatharil, you are needed here, and that need will grow as the years pass. Ask your friends who are willing to serve me here to join you and come make a temple in Baldur's Gate." The street and the goddess vanished, but Liriatharil found she was holding a beautiful golden rose. The rose has never faded. It still smells as deep and sweet as it did that night.
So she asked her friends to go with her and four of them agreed. And then Liriatharil told Erynion about it and asked him if he would go with her too.
He was horrified. His family was horrified. And they fought and fought and fought. Their daughter hid, but she couldn't not hear her father ranting about the disgust he felt at the thought of his Liriatharil going to a city full of folks he thought of as lesser beings. She heard her mother cry.
And Erynion refused to go with Liriatharil and refused to let her take their daughter with her.
So Liriatharil and her companions waited until things had calmed down just a bit, until Erynion started hoping that the whole thing would blow over, and then they took the child and quietly left Evereska, cutting across country to the Black Road, and slowly, with many stops along the way, they walked to Baldur's Gate.
("Your father didn't come after them?"
"He did, along with a whole slew of family, but Mama and her friends are all bards as well as priestesses, and not ungifted in the stealthy arts. And perhaps the Goldheart helped keep us hidden. We were aware of being pursued for quite a long way. But my father wouldn't want to sully himself with human interactions, and gave up before we got to Daggerford.
I remember watching him from under some bushes, my hand over my own mouth to keep from calling him. It was the last time I saw him."
"You aren't going to Evereska," Amysara said.
"Maybe someday. When I'm not afraid of what Erynion will say. Or when he decides that even Evereska isn't pure enough for him and goes to Evermeet. I don't know.")
"There's somewhere I'm not going. And I like traveling and meeting new people. This is an interesting place."
"Not going? You mean Baldur's Gate?" Randyl caught a leaf falling from one of the Thorn trees and looked at it as though it could tell him something.
"I've been back there to visit Liriatharil quite a bit, actually."
"Hmmm. Mystery place avoidance."
"But I thought you had to leave Baldur's Gate?" Amysara asked.
"I did. Time passes. How about a bit of a romance?"
"Tell on.")
There was a beautiful and charming elven girl. Her name was Liriatharil and she was a priestess of Hanali Celanil at the Fountain of Singing Gold in Evereska.
A handsome and clever elf saw her and he fell in love. But Erynion was very proud. His family was rich and learned and they disaproved of some of the things that priestesses of Hanali Celanil celebrate, especially their care for half elves and belief that the goddess supports all true lovers, no matter their race.
But his family couldn't deny that Liriatharil was as purely elf as it's possible to be. So Erynion wooed her and won her love. They married and, after several years, they had a daughter.
("Who is you."
"Yes."
"Somehow things went sour?"
"Oh, yes.")
All the while, Liriatharil was a priestess at the temple. Her devotion to the goddess was more important to her than anything, except perhaps her daughter. Erynion realized that and resented it and sometimes they quarreled.
Then one night, 4 years after their daughter was born, as she meditated, Liriatharil had a vision. She saw the Goldheart standing on a bustling city street, with many humans busily walking past. There were dwarfs and halflings and elves, all going about their day, trading and talking. The goddess looked into her eyes and spoke, "My Liriatharil, you are needed here, and that need will grow as the years pass. Ask your friends who are willing to serve me here to join you and come make a temple in Baldur's Gate." The street and the goddess vanished, but Liriatharil found she was holding a beautiful golden rose. The rose has never faded. It still smells as deep and sweet as it did that night.
So she asked her friends to go with her and four of them agreed. And then Liriatharil told Erynion about it and asked him if he would go with her too.
He was horrified. His family was horrified. And they fought and fought and fought. Their daughter hid, but she couldn't not hear her father ranting about the disgust he felt at the thought of his Liriatharil going to a city full of folks he thought of as lesser beings. She heard her mother cry.
And Erynion refused to go with Liriatharil and refused to let her take their daughter with her.
So Liriatharil and her companions waited until things had calmed down just a bit, until Erynion started hoping that the whole thing would blow over, and then they took the child and quietly left Evereska, cutting across country to the Black Road, and slowly, with many stops along the way, they walked to Baldur's Gate.
("Your father didn't come after them?"
"He did, along with a whole slew of family, but Mama and her friends are all bards as well as priestesses, and not ungifted in the stealthy arts. And perhaps the Goldheart helped keep us hidden. We were aware of being pursued for quite a long way. But my father wouldn't want to sully himself with human interactions, and gave up before we got to Daggerford.
I remember watching him from under some bushes, my hand over my own mouth to keep from calling him. It was the last time I saw him."
"You aren't going to Evereska," Amysara said.
"Maybe someday. When I'm not afraid of what Erynion will say. Or when he decides that even Evereska isn't pure enough for him and goes to Evermeet. I don't know.")
Re: Liria
Liria read, and drew , and played the harp, and watched Arrilan and Amysara sleep. Now and then, when they seemed almost conscious, she gave them a little water from the fountain.
She wasn't sure what she thought about what had happened, not really. So much pain and fear and death for all the Lapis folk and for the Badger Clan. That wasn't erased, even as the port was rebuilt.
She reread Thea's letter. Danger? Why? From what?
Singing quietly, she played her Moonheart harp again, and prayed to Selune, Sehanine Moonbow, and the Goldheart for all of them.
She wasn't sure what she thought about what had happened, not really. So much pain and fear and death for all the Lapis folk and for the Badger Clan. That wasn't erased, even as the port was rebuilt.
She reread Thea's letter. Danger? Why? From what?
Singing quietly, she played her Moonheart harp again, and prayed to Selune, Sehanine Moonbow, and the Goldheart for all of them.
Re: Liria
Liria looked out over the lake. She missed Thea so much it ached.
She was everything that it seemed she might be, so smart and funny and with all the seriousness underneath. She was likely a great area boss, her guild house well run, her new kids thoroughly trained and well cared for. It had been so good to see Thea again.
Liria looked out over the lake. She tuned her new lute and played the same riff again and again. There were no words yet.
She was everything that it seemed she might be, so smart and funny and with all the seriousness underneath. She was likely a great area boss, her guild house well run, her new kids thoroughly trained and well cared for. It had been so good to see Thea again.
Liria looked out over the lake. She tuned her new lute and played the same riff again and again. There were no words yet.