• Memory • [Burhan] Mid-Winter wasting

[Elyna]

22nd Cylus 711

Outside were the dark depths of Cylus and the endless falling snow. In Burhan, they were fortunate that the trees kept some of the snow off the ground, but it still felt thick and fast in the endless twilight of the Season. It grew harder to keep track of days and nights and they threatened to merge in a constant grey. But that wasn’t the reason Elyna was resentful to be back in Burhan. She had been summoned by the Duchess to spend the season at home, and Yoreth had remained in Andaris.

Frustration had her rising from her bed and dressing in warm breaches, shirt and boots with a woollen jerkin over the top. A large hall was put aside for the season, due to the perishing cold outside and she traipsed through the House, with a pair of waster swords slung over her shoulder. Smiling at those who past her with a polite nod of the head. Her bootlaces trailed in her wake, but she was determined. Pent up for too many trials now, she was determined to spend some energy, without going outside into the bitter wind and knee high ice.

The hall had been cleared and straw mats stacked on oneside. There was even a selection of archery bosses against one wall and a small fireplace against the other. The roaring fire did little to heat the room up, but it did dispel the worst draughts. Besides, Elyna had every intention of raising her body temperature through exercise and too much heat would have been unbearable. Not that she didn’t miss Sa’un and long for Ashan.

Grateful to be alone she set the swords to oneside and started the stretch. Arms above her head before she bent and brushed fingers against the wooden floor. She lent to both sides and extended her legs in a slow pair of splits, satisfied to sink to the floor before crawling back to her feet. She checked that no one was looking once more before leaning forward, hands flat on the floor and legs swinging over her head in a lazy cartwheel. Successful, she bent and turned into a second, then a third before tucking into a forward roll. Dizzy, the Skyrider straightened, grinning to herself, before she realised, inevitably, that she was no longer alone.

[Lorena]

Snug beneath the warm refuge of thick baby seal furs and somebody else’s mittens, Lorena returned to the Burhan residence. Against the will of her family the young noble took every opportunity she could to sneak away to spend time with the other children. Today she had gone down to the river where the ice was thick and the fishermen loomed over the ice holes waiting for their next haul. At first the noble had thought the act ever so exciting until she was dragged into a world of senseless boredom. Fishing she decided, was like watching paint dry – only it was worse because of the sheer anticipation of eventually catching a fish then having to repeat the whole waiting process all over again.

Lorena carefully slunk through each nook and cranny, sneaking through the back doors and all of the more non-conspicuous areas of the establishment. Snow was generally bad weather for training, the guards would often be called away to clear the gazillions of clustered snowflakes that barred the mansion doors and the family rarely used it, they had no need.

Each calculated footfall threatened to creak underneath her boots as she made her way through the training hall, hoping that nobody was there to catch her. Not that it would have been hard; her clothes smelt of the log fire she had shared down at the lake and she was often prone to standing out. However, today that spotlight was stolen by another. Lost in a world her own, she saw her cousin Elyna showing an elegant display of acrobatics. Ever the athlete and quite the swordsman, her older cousin’s ways of going about life had always amused her. There was a lack of nobility that Elyna held that Lorena often envied, she was stuck in Burhan while her cousin left her to go and see the world, and to put it bluntly - it wasn’t fair.

“Very well done,” Lorena commended, her eyes alight with sly mischief “Bravo! The circus will hire you tomorrow.” Their relationship had always been crass, Lorena would do whatever was in her power to make Elyna squirm and the now known to be Skyrider more often than not took it like a champion. She was a woman after her own heart.

Closing the space between them, Lorena sought to stir the 'Lady’s' emotions as she slowly circled around her and reached out, stroking the back of the other woman’s neck “Come Elyna, entertain me again! For you and I are past our dancing days.”

[Elyna]

It was with a smile that the Skyrider turned and greeted her cousin. Embarrassment already stained her cheeks and she turned to try and keep the sly girl in sight. Rolling her shoulders, squirming as intended as the delicate touch landed on the guard hairs above her spine. Elyna retreated a step and was determined to keep a wary distance.
“Cousin,” the smile remained genuine as she looked over the girl’s attire, “you look too warm for such a cold day...If I can join the circus maybe you could join a zoo?” She peered around the empty hall before tilting her head. Ever restless she shifted her weight between her feet, “you’ve come here for a reason Lorena…?”

The girl was beautiful, that much was certain. Elyna wondered how many features they truly shared. Dark eyes and hair, but Lorena had always managed to come up, and appear more genteel or ladylike. Rather, her parents had insisted she maintain her status. It had been more than a decade since Elyna’s own parents had demanded she remain in skirts and appear ‘polished’ at all times. It had been obvious from a young age that certain pursuits and talents were lacking in the young woman.

"If we are truly beyond our dancing days, then this is a very sad day indeed."

[Lorena]

Lorena took note of Elyna's shyness with piqued amusement, she couldn't help but feel childish around the older woman. The Skyrider never failed to lament around reasons, reasons, reasons! After all this time Lorena would have expected her cousin to know better, alas she never did and it was a good out. "A Zoo? Why my beautiful cousin, we're already in one! I swear every other day my mother is throwing her arms about waffling like a baboon in heat. I never have any idea what she goes on about, she's lucky if I listen."

Was she warm? Lorena preened her attire in the window and considered that in comparison to the dry rags that Elyna chose to cover herself in on such a cold day that she probably was 'appropriately dressed' her mother had called it, a load of nonsense if you asked her. There was no fun in trying to predict the weather and the clothes were loathsomely heavy.

"Well, you always did like playing the part of the man. Coward," she accused, the corners of her mouth held the same sly smile "you used to lead me across the ballroom floor and now you flee from me? Much the soldier Elyna." Emphasising the word for dramatic effect Lorena briefly glanced to the floor as she remembered how much she had enjoyed their time back then, even if Elyna was a simple idiot at times.

Both Burhan girls had been rebellious to their parents in different ways, while Lorena remained her ladylike posture she knew Elyna had always been boyish; always fighting with swords, or horse riding, or petting the donkeys. Lorena often found such activities mundane and sought adventure, amusement usually of a dangerous nature and at the end of it all, even the tomboy became wary of her.

"It is not a lady's prerogative to ask for a dance, Elyna. Neither would you offer it to me, so yes the day you left me alone in that ballroom was a sad day indeed."

[Elyna]

There was something about her cousin which made Elyna nervous. Even now, after all this time the Skyrider was aware she would not be able to relax. Lorena liked to keep her on her toes. Little jabs, or barbed comments. A twist of power and the knowledge that the girl held. But still, they were family and she could appreciate a the problem of Mothers and she grinned, “tell me about it, I think my Mother wanted me married already. If it wasn’t for my Father, I’m sure I wouldn’t have lasted a Season with the ‘Hand before she forced me into some kind of engagement,” Elyna spoke with perhaps too much honesty, but shrugged. It was true, and she made a mental note to be kinder to her Father. He was a good man, and it was probably down to him that she was able to remain a Skyrider for any reasonable length of time.

“Lead you Lorena?” Elyna rolled down the sleaves of her shirt to the wrist, it was getting cooler without any movement in the room, “well, one of us had to take the lead and I seem to remember you wanting to be the Lady…” she teased in response. Another quick glance around the empty room and she shook her head, “and I’m not going to ask you to dance, little cousin,” she tried to emphasize the little. Because she had changed, she wasn’t the same girl who’d left Burhan a couple of years back. She was different now. Her lover waited back in Andaris, eager for her return.

Elyna turned her back on Lorena and collected up the practise weapons she’d bought with her, “did you want to learn something Lorena? Or Have you just come here to annoy me?” She asked, deciding to opt for honesty.

[Lorena]

"I expected more of you," Lorena whispered, almost immediately after Elyna's drab explanation and a gave her a bored, unimpressed expression. "Of course I just thought 'I'm going to sneak back through the training ground just so I can annoy my cousin' points to you there. You have me all figured out," she replied with a drab, agitated tone. Lorena had a perfectly good trial and now she had to deal with insatiable 'adult' that Elyna had become.

Bitter toward her cousin the girl scowled and turned on her heels, storming away from the soldier. For what it had been worth, she thought that maybe the Skyrider could garner her some small comfort away from the relentless berating that she always received from the scolding tongues of her family. If Elyna wanted to be left alone that badly, the young Burhan had no interest indulging her scorn.

As prone as she was mischief Lorena was much more freely aggressive towards her family than the rest of the family, for years she'd been called vicious, wild and untamed. There was a little bit of joy in being the Burhan that didn't have to restrain herself to the rules, at least she didn't let down people's expectations of her. "Whore!" the Biqaj yelled back in defiance of her older cousin, shouting on her way "flocked by sluts and men, she indulges! Yet never could read and write!!!"

Raising her hand in the air Lorena raised her dismissal of Elyna like so many often did to her, she knew the score. Once the subject of scorn, always the subject.

[Elyna]

Speaking to Lorena was like standing on quick-sand. Just when she thought she had the girl figured out and tried to approach a problem head-on, the rules changed and the sand beneath her feet shifted. Lorena acted as though she was mortally wounded by the accusation, a minor one, that her intentions were less than innocent. She’d needled the Skyrider and as a young woman who had matured, who had been forced to mature quickly within the Iron Hand, Elyna felt suddenly bereft. As though the changes she’d undergone were somehow offensive to her cousin. Perhaps though, Lorena simply wasn’t used to her standing up for herself.

The girl turned to flounce off and Elyna was left to watch her, deflated and regretting her determined attempt to find out what Lorena wanted. Because she always seemed to want something. Nothing was without a price with her cousin, even if the price was the loss of some pride. The young woman let out a slow sigh, it wasn’t pride she lost now but some of her hard earned peace. Unsettled she prepared to apologise before the final insults were flung back.

A whore? Flocked by men and sluts? Confused Ely glanced around the empty room and wondered what on Idalos she was talking about. There was no one in the room to flock her? The Skyrider peered after the girl and pushed her fingers though her hair, tugging at the strands. She couldn’t know about Yoreth. No one knew about Yoreth. No one. Not even Edmund. The taunt about her literary skills stung. Perhaps Lorena knew too much about the struggles she’d faced as a child. The taunts weren’t new. They weren’t strictly accurate but they had the power to wound. Close enough to the truth and too often used as a weapon.

Elyna reclaimed her weapons and turned back to the empty room. Her desire to train vanished and she slung the sword over her shoulder and retreated. Somethings changed, and somethings always stayed the same.

[Pegasus]

Elyna

Points!:

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Acrobatics: The art of a lazy cartwheel.
Lorena: Likes to torment you

Loot:

NA

Fame:

NA

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Comments:

Well written, clearly consistent with your character. I was intrigued to see Elyna interact with a family member from long ago.

Lorena

Points!:

Story: 4/5
Collaboration: 5/ 5
Structure: 5/ 5

Knowledge:

Stealth: Use the weather to your advantage when hiding.
Elyna: All grown up

Loot:

NA

Fame:

NA

Magic:

These points may NOT be used for arcana

Comments:

I found the Lorena parts of this thread a little difficult, to be honest, as she seemed to change from one post to another. I wasn't quite sure how that worked in terms of her internal workings and, as Elyna wrote, I felt like I was on quicksand with the pc. That led to a disjointed story and is why I have not awarded full points for this thread in terms of story for you. I understand that this might well be to do with there being a large time gap between posts, though!

Overview:

General comments. Cousins! Who'd have them? The first two posts portrayed two girls who knew each other very well indeed. I was very pleased to get an insight into the two pc's.
Story As stated above, I felt that there was a 'disconnect' between posts, which made the story quite stacatto in places and meant that this was quite a tricky thread to grade.
Structure Nothing major from either of you - all good.

Please do PM me if you think I've missed anything or you have any questions!