A Stream's End

[Readicti 902]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2SURjzRU08

 

A slender woman sits cross legged at the edge of a small pond. A light green glow emanates from beneath her eyelids, along with her meekly made wooden stave. Vines slither across the ground as her eyes rain shut in concentration. As the vines rustle the leaves on the ground, her ears twitch and she opens her eyes. She appears ecstatic, grinning down at the vines proudly. “It’s getting easier.” She says out loud, giggling tiredly to herself. The effort of meditation and practice seeming to have worn her out.

Yaehahn suddenly grabs at her stomach, gasping in surprise as she feels a hard kick followed by a strange wave of pain. A familiar wave. As she makes her way closer to the nearby tavern, wave after wave of pain begins to writhe within her. After heading to the tavern, she is met by two maidens, who promptly escort her upstairs. By then she knew what was happening. But how could she have missed it? The signs had been there. The morning sickness, the cravings. And she had written them off as simple illness.

She soon finds herself surrounded by the women she had only earlier that week met. The labor was long and hard. Yaehahn’s only thoughts were of her husband back home, and her teenage boy. As it got close to the end, these thoughts turned to ones of just agony and pain. This time felt different.

The women were there to aid her in the birth and to try to stop the bleeding as best they could. The baby was born screaming healthily, but Yaehahn only lay quiet. She held the baby close to her as she felt herself grow weaker. The tavern maidens trended to her and tried to tell her that it would only last a few days but something in her knew. Knew that it was close to the end. Funny how the girl who fought so hard and long to be with her family, to be a true elf, would be taken from this world by something so simple as birth. Her last wishes were only to make sure the baby and a letter were sent to her family.

 

~*~*~*~

My love,

I’ve been away longer than I promised, and I’m sorry that I won’t be back. We had promised each other that we would be with each other through everything, but it seems there are two things I regret you will miss. I’m sorry that I have to go this way. I know you imagined living with me as I grew older and turned grey. We had accepted that eventually, I would pass surrounded by our children and grandchildren, in your arms. You know if I had had any say this moment would have been with you.

Tell Celahir I love him. I haven’t been around as much as I should have. In a way I feel I look after my father. Neglecting my son as he grew. I was selfish. Whatever happens, never let our boy grow up the way I was forced to. Make him know he has parents that long him more than anything.

Let this love be shared with our daughter. The second thing I’m sorry you had to miss. I only ask that she find you and grow up with all the love you can give him. I’ll only be with her for a few days but I know that i’m already proud of everything she will one day accomplish.

Make sure to tell Maln thank you. We didn’t agree on a lot, but he loved me as much as he could and looked after Celahir. He was the best father any daughter could ask for. He made me who I am, and I will never forget.

Tell Elayne, Dak’ir, and Aelu I’m sorry as well. I wasn’t able to spend time with them recently. Dak’ir was another father to me. Strong and a leader. He made me feel welcome into the Des’Nox. I will never forget. Elayne. My mother. My friend. Make sure she pampers our daughter and gives her all the girls’ nights out. I wish I could do the same. Finally to Aelu. I’m sorry that we could not had that tea. I know politics kept you busy but I was proud that you were my brother. You were someone I could brag about and look up to. I had wished to one day make you proud.

Arveldir, the love of my life. My husband. Please forgive me. I wanted my last thoughts to be of you. Please look after our children and if you find another woman, try to move on. Don’t be stuck on me forever. You knew this would be coming. I’m sorry it was like this. When you think of me, please think of when we were children and got stuck in the rain. Or the first time we met when you decided to fall off the wall so we could talk. Whenever you miss me. Think of our nights in bed when we’d talk about everything we imagined we’d do together and all the places we’d visit.

I love you more than anything in this world and the next and I hope to one day to see you again.

Yours forever,

Yaehahn

 

~*~*~*~*~

The letter and crying babe would be the only things left for the family.

((As some of you may know, I’ve been less active on LoTC. This is not a PK of leaving the server but turning over a new leaf. I’ve played Yaehahn for over half a year now and had planned on playing her until she was old and died of old age. But recently I’ve been less active on her due to a timezone change and found that even when I play her, I can’t find the activity there once was. It wasn’t fair to the character to have her die off through my inability to play her correctly anymore and it wasn’t fair to the family close to her. I will be returning to the Wood Elves after a small break from elves for a while, when I can offer more time. Thank you to all that interacted with Yaehahn and I hope you enjoyed her story as much as I did.))

[Supah 334]

Arveldirs mind falters, a certain numbness setting in that he had never thought he would feel. He remembers the first time he killed, the only thought that ran through his mind was similar to this, but he were the victim.

This can’t be real.

 

It passed his mind like a small glimmer of hope, lasting only a moment before his eyes rested on her signature. He shook. He felt a heat well up in his face, and fill him to the brim only to leak tears that burned his freshly shaven cheeks and drip off of his chin.

 

Slow. Slow.

 

Memories come back to him, to the day whenever he met the love of his life. The memories play out as if he were a bystander watching. The boy with no face, and the pale girl with beautiful peridot eyes. He watched them bicker, and fight over a mad druid. He watched them grow apart and come together, and travel. He watched their first kiss, his best idea for a goodbye, for a hug wouldn’t suffice to him. He watched himself make a fool of himself and dance to propose to her, and saw them get married. He watched their perfect lives together, and their perfect son being born.

 

It was incomplete, only a half written story. He traversed three lands with her and thought to traverse thousands more. He’d promise to take her everywhere, write more chapters in their story and finish it off dying old and happy. But the book was left with too many unfinished pages, and the story of Yaehahn and Arveldir Des’Nox had ended, and closed.

 

 

The boy with no face sat by a stream, watching the water trickle by as he thought of his daughter, he’d only seen a glimpse of her and couldn’t bear to see any more. Not yet.

 

That day, until he could face his daughter, the final gift from the love of his life, Arveldir Des’Nox was broken.

[OhDeerLord 673]

It started as a normal day, he was tending the cows and carrying over a new hay bale when he heard the crying of a baby. Frowning the mali'ame drops the bale and makes his way up Yaehahn and Arveldir's tree at their homestead, shocked to find a little bundle, dark skinned like a mer but with bright green eyes. Instincts react first and he picks up the baby to shush and calm it, finding a letter set beside it- tearstained but intact.

 

As soon as he reads it, the elf falls to the floor on his knees, face buried in the baby's blankets as he starts to sob. The memories of raising Yaehahn fill his mind, her bittersweet story and hard-fought life. It wasn't supposed to end this way.

 

Broken, his only daughter lost to the Elven curse, ironic as most of her life was spent worrying for the human curse in her blood. It wasn't supposed to end this way, that repeats in his mind, looping. They were supposed to keep her until she aged grey, she was supposed to be surrounded by her family and happy, not alone on a trip gone wrong.

 

The elf known for his smile would not smile again for quite some time. But there were things to do. A baby to care for and a funeral to prepare. Dwyn picks himself up off the ground and cradles the baby in his arms, staring down at her and swearing to pour all the love Yaehahn would have experienced into this child.

 

He barely registers Ac'Aelu and Celahir were in the room with him, consumed by his grief, the only light being the warmth in his arms, dragging him out of darkness and giving him purpose.

 

Bath, Food, Blankets, Crib.

'Keep yourself together, Dwyn.' He thinks to himself, closing his eyes tightly and fighting back more tears, rocking the baby in his arms, the last new piece of Yaehahn he will ever see.

[Aelu / Rel (Combustionary) 1540]

Ac'Aelu reads over the note, a deep hollow feeling coming over him. He turns to see Dwyn and the child, both crying. He read over the note again and looked to his father. His mind recalled Aera, and the ordeal her loss had been.

 

He'd always felt like an outsider to his family, only having been part of it for a few short years since the discovery. Aside from Dwyn, he'd only seen them a small handful of times. He'd planned to change that. To actually meet the young, caring woman who was his sister. She'd always seemed to be truly wonderful.

 

With an inhalation, he finally speaks. "I'm going to go find Arveldir. Celahir needs his father in a time like this."

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

The flickering reflection of flames dance among the dim gaze of sea green pupils as a figure hunched by a fireplace on one of his daily solitary trips into the forest of Fiandria. 'No thoughts' had thoughts after all, and right now they were with the Tinuvial family.

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Elorna sits quietly in her home, hands clutching the letter that bore the news of Yaehahn's death. She stared without sight at the parchment in silence for a long time, unmoving. Eventually, she slowly bows her head, eyes welling with tears as she whispers. "Cerridwen... guide this young soul... watch over her  children..." her words falter and she lets out a long, trembling breath. "I need to see Dwyn..."

[The Fact Core 511]

The Boogie Man rubs his chin slowly in thought. He moves outside of his amazing but weird house as he slowly climbs up a small hill before he came to a stop on top of it. He turns to look out into the far distance as the sun slowly sets on the horizon. The black buttons on his eyes sparkle in the deep orange sunshine. The calm wind blows through his ghastly hat and scarecrowy body. He takes a deep breath before he finally exhales...

 

"I don't get it"

[Dakirennis 959]

Having arrived home after visiting Arveldir and the newest little addition to his family, Dak'ir drags his feet to his den within Ker'nor. Slumping into a seat before his fireplace he pulls a stone from the inside of his robe, taking long look at it as it glows a faint blue.

 

"One more to join them in the Ancestral Plane... Ancestors guide your spirit safely to the other side, daughter."

[Sykes Piko 67]

Elayne, having been living in her own burrow at the time, was informed by Aelu of Yaehahn's passing, deeply saddened by the news and upset that the cause of her passing was child birth, she couldn't help but blame herself for not being there when needed to be. She decided to spend the rest of the night with Ac'Aelu and drink herself to sleep until the next day, which she'd need to do her best to support Arveldir and Dwyn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Celahir peeks out of his bedroom door to see Dwyn weeping as a baby is held in his arms, frowning, he'd thought that something bad must have happen, and believed that his mother would never leave him or his newborn sister. He was caught by Ac'Aelu whom decided to be the bearer of bad news, Celahir was more angry than sad, blaming the newborn for taking his mother's life and then run out into the forest out of frustration, planning to stay away for at least a day to calm down.

[Quavinir_Twiceborn 1050]

To say Quavinir was filled with grief would be an incorrect statement.

 

To say he missed his daughter would be incorrect.

 

To say Quavinir was stricken with mourning would be incorrect.

 

Yet to say an emptiness filled Quavinir's soul, an unfathomable pit of grief emptying out all form of joy or happiness...

 

That would be correct to say.

 

Yet to say that Quavinir's one wish was to see his daughter again, to apologize and cry out his short-comings and say  how much better she deserved, to be the father she deserved and would love, to be a father that would take her place in the grave and give up all he had just to give her 1 more day.

 

That would be correct to say.

 

Yet to say that Quavinir's heart was darkened beyond all compare in his life, that the greatest, and most unfathomably bright light in his life had just been put out.

 

That would be correct to say.

 

Yet, none of this was said aloud by Quavinir, and moreso, none of it would be said aloud later.

For Yaehahn was gone. Dead, out of his life whether he liked it or not. Yaehahn was gone, whether he yelled at the sky or blasphemed the gods, whether he cried out in sorrow or stayed silent for the rest of his life.

 

Yaehahn was gone.

[Heero 4092]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.