TO DREAM

[Eryane 3698]

Spoiler

 

 

TO DREAM

 

“You are the warrior of Kazimar’s kin. I can sense it.”

“A warrior?” Maya beamed, “I’ll try to be.”

“You will not try. You will be.”

 

There was a familiar chill in the air as Maya leaned on the parapets of her balcony after the festivities of her son’s coronation. The room was foreign to her, the room of the Queen Mother, despite the many years she had spent in it since her husband’s passing. The waters below were still that day, although the tranquility of it only itched at her more. She still had her conspiracies about the cursed Lake Milena. Her mother’s skeleton had been found in its waters, along with the bodies of her mentor, Milena, and her sister, Katerina. 

 

“Don’t look away, Maya.” Her father muttered to her as he held her close at his side. Moments before, she had been on her uncle Vlad’s shoulders and spectating the ongoings of duma. She was only five and could hardly understand the political speech. Maya stood at her father’s flank and stared forth with big eyes full of uncertainty. 

 

“What is happening?” She asked, trembling and stuttering, but received no answer. The blade in her uncle’s hand rose high into the air. She listened to what her father told her, unknowingly spectating the events as they unfolded. The stranger she watched diligently was knelt before a block of stone, for reasons she did not know until her uncle lowered the sword. Eyes once filled with curiosity were now widened with terror and tears. Her father simply kept a hand at her shoulder, but she scurried away and rushed for the comforts of home. 

 

Anger engulfed her. Her eyes narrowed as she stared down, down the stoney walls. Nature would stay the same despite all of the change that occurred around it. She grimaced, looking out at the grey walls of the city instead of the muddied waters. What is life without the ones we love? She pondered, pivoted and turned back into her chambers. A stranger stood at the other side of the door. 

 

“Do you wish for Queenship, Maya?” She had been eyeing the slow waters of Lake Milena as the inquiry was sent her way. The question had meant little to her as she was more interested in if the next pebble she threw would skip across the water one more time than the last toss. 

 

“I just want to be something great,” Maya was seated to the right of the Queen of Haense, Milena Ekaterina. A little further down the river was a boy, Andrik, that she recently acquainted with after the feast in the great hall. She juggled the thin pebble between her hands, before gripping it tight and narrowing her eyes as she released it from her fingers and onto the water. One, two, three–

 

Maya lilted her chin as she caught sight of the masked figure. Her fingers traversed across the scarlet fabrics that she donned, only to feel the emptiness of the knife that she usually kept on her person. A sensation wiped over her as she saw the assailant approach one stride at a time, backing her out of the palace walls and onto the balcony once more. 

 

“You are becoming a woman Maya, you can not chase the impossible forever. You must learn as I did, the world is cruel and joy is not provided but earned,” her father had said from the doorway of her room within the Alimar manor. She let out a sob as he tossed her into the room by her hair, causing her to collapse to the floorboards. Maya caught herself before her face could slam into the ground. “If you wish to chase after wisps of it instead of building towards your own, you will never find the happiness you wish, only a taste of it, and never be content.”

 

Before she said another word, the door was shut abruptly. She jumped at the sound of it, but gritted her teeth. Each of the words stung, replaying in her memory as an unending song. If there was anyone she had to have faith in, it was herself. She would not let anything stop her from dreaming the impossible to be possible. 

 

A cry emitted as silver was plunged into her stomach, although she let out a scream as she shoved the black donned figure away from her– leaving the dagger embedded within her torso to be torn out. She stumbled into her room with eyes darting about furiously for anything of potential weaponry. Her fingers enclosed around a candlestick, pivoting over her shoulder to swing wildly and strike across the black mask of a man who stood in her balcony’s doorway. Blood spewed out and she stumbled backwards. 

 

Her eyes were lowered and her chin dipped as silence filled the Basilica. The consort’s coronation robes stilled as her movements did. Several proceedings occured around her that she heed no attention towards. A sudden weight was bestowed upon her head as Andrik, her newly wedded husband, rested the symbol of regality upon her onyx coiffure. And when she brought her gaze up, the people within the pews were on their feet and Andrik was at her side. Although sixteen, she stood with pride in the midst of the Haeseni cathedral. “Long live the King! Long live the Queen!” 

 

“You won’t get to them, you won’t touch my children,” she screamed out in a hoarse voice as she was approached again. The item within her hand was hardly enough, but her sword was not within sight. As soon as he dove, she threw the metalwork for his head and ducked off to the side. She tripped over the lengths of her scarlet fabric and her wound pounded against the wood. Another cry escaped her, but she scrambled to her feet with shaky hands assisting and rushed for the nook in the corner of her room. There, a shortsword rested against a wall in its jewel-encrusted sheath. She lunged forth.

 

Maya drummed her fingers repetitively upon the mahogany table. Five children, only twenty-three, and widowed. The title of Queen Mother stood as a reminder of her husband’s gruesome passing. It was a wound reopened every time she was addressed properly. The war was not ending either, and some days she began to find that she couldn’t remember a time outside of conflict. 

 

“Many who fight in battles do so because o’ duty, honor, or glory. It is not a pleasant experience, seeing men be butchered.” Tiberius Barrow said grimly, and thus tore her from her stupor. She had never managed to know him well, other than in passing. Although now he reigned in the place of her husband as the regent, until her young son was of age. Her brows furrowed together. 

 

“I know.” With each blink, she could hear the screams from the battles; for what seemed to be duty, honor, and glory was nothing in comparison to the horrors of true, real war. “And this war has torn my family apart. They have caused my family to be in shambles.” Her lips thinned then as she turned to the gardens, trying to recall all those she had lost. Alexandria’s murder seemed as though it had happened only days ago with how painful it was to think upon.

 

“Is it revenge you seek?” The Lord Regent asked, bringing her attention back over to him and the canopy they were seated underneath. With her hands folded in her lap, her fingers dug into the palms of her hands. The years of war had taken its toll on the dowager. 

 

“Da, it is.”

 

With the sword only paces away, she mustered the strength that remained within her to close the distance that remained between her and the weapon in a sudden rush. Her eyes went wide as a sharp pain entered her lower back. Blood trickled down her skin as she collapsed to her knees, but the sword now was within her reach. She heaved in a breath, exhaled it. Never before had her breaths sounded so loud and engulfing. Her heart pounded in her ears and black blurs started within the corners of her eyes. 

 

Every treaty was another wave of relief. They seemed endless, constantly pouring in as the allies of the AIS dropped like flies. The war was finally at its end after countless years. But it was no longer the same without her cousin, her confidant, her friend– Aleksandra. All of the deaths and months of mourning that had waned down on her was nothing in comparison to the loss of her dearest friend, the one who had her back throughout it all. The blow of her sister’s murder not long after brought her to the brink of shattering.

 

Despite it, Maya had found peace in her life. She strode through the halls of Haense’s royal academy that she had founded, content as she reminisced on her children’s upbringing. She only wished she could’ve given them more time with their father, but such was not her decision to make. 

 

Her daughters had grown to be so beautiful with their own personalities. Regardless of their undeniable similarity in facial features, they were so different in such precious ways. Analiesa, Alexandria, Amelya. They brought her a happiness and a love she never thought she could find; a joy she never thought she would ever have in her lifetime. 

 

There was an indescribable pride she was consumed by as she thought of her son’s rule and the years to come for him; as well as her successor, the Lady Viktoria Ruthern, who she knew would reign in greatness.

 

Maya gripped the sword’s pommel once it was removed from the sheath in a swift movement. Before her assailant could advance again, she rose to her feet with her sword drawn. And as the assassin plunged his dagger into her heart, she thrusted her sword through his. 

 

So many people flashed through her mind; those who she had lost, and those who she would leave behind. 

 

When she fell again, she did not rise.

 

---

 

The sky was a soft pink and orange, with puffy, yet calming clouds painted with delicate colors. Behind her was a perfect sunset, and the house before her was peculiarly clean. She let out a slight laugh as she reached for the knob of the door and tugged it open. 

 

“It’s been a while,” a familiar voice would call out to her. Tears welled in her eyes as she settled her sights to her friend, Aleksandra, seated within a red armchair with embroidered pillows. In an instant, the two embraced in a hug tighter than ever before. 

 

As soon as her cousin stepped away, she beckoned her over to a table. Maya lowered into the empty chair beside her Aleks’. There, an unopened bottle of Carrion Black was resting upon the wooden table. She uncorked it and took a swig as the friend opposite of her sipped her tea, the two together again– watching over their family and friends.

 

 

---

 

MAYA VALERIYA ALIMAR

QUEEN OF HAENSE | BARONESS OF ANTIOCH

 

13th of the Sun’s Smile, 1730 - 11th of the Grand Harvest, 1762

 

 

Spoiler

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been a part of this ride, especially the Haense community. Maya has been a lot more than just a character to me, because I got to get back into Haense after leaving the server a good while and met so many amazing people through her. To everyone: you all are amazing!

 

I have always loved the Haense community and always will. Being able to give back to it by being Queen meant so much to me and it’s an opportunity I’ll always be thankful for. There are so many people who helped me along the way. I cannot reiterate enough how wonderful the Haense community has been.

 

There are so many people I could list to thank for the experiences I’ve had on this server and for developing Maya further, but Silverstatik most of all for letting me play Maya to begin with.

 

Lastly, I wanted to say good luck to my beautiful best friend, Zaerie, for being the next Queen of Haense. Love you Shelby ❤️

 

 

[Zaerie 3747]

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryhgSTis7lI

 

   Viktoria held a pile of papers- notes written on the Queens of Haense, their courts, and how they ruled. Prepared for the Queen Mother, Maya, to look over and correct if necessary. She had been schooled for the position, unknowing to herself until the betrothal was set only a few saints days ago. She held her hand up to the door of the Queen Mother, bending her finger into a curl, lifting up to knock on the door in a small rhythm. Waiting a moment with no answer, Viktoria sighed and went to open the door, if Maya wasn’t here, she’d simply leave the papers on her desk for now. As the door swung open, Viktoria’s eyes went wide, and she screamed.

 

      In front of her, Viktoria saw two bodies with blood pooled around them. She sunk to her knees in sobs, the papers scattering around her- forgotten. She crawled on the floor towards Maya, pressing her fingers to Maya’s neck to check for any life- though only found a cold echo of the Queen. Her knee’s soaked in the pool, she hung her head as she continued her weeping, long locks of her hair wicking blood off of the floor.

 

      She knelt in the blood as she cried, holding her hand out to try to shake Maya awake, “Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You aren’t done yet- I’m not ready without you!” she’d wail, until a servant finally walked in and helped pick the girl up off of the floor. Viktoria would wipe a tear from her cheek, though only replaced it with a smear of the blood.

 

      Viktoria stayed in her room for days after, wrapping her blankets around herself. A dress stained with her mentors blood in a pile, until tossed into the fire. “Maya- I’ll do it. I’ll do you proud.”

 

 

---

 

      Aleksandra would sit in her red chair, cradling a book in her lap as she sips her tea. She caressed the page before flipping it, filling the room with the only sound, a light ‘thwip’. Before she could get to the next paragraph on the page, the knob would rattle a half second, then the door swung open. She looked over to the entryway, a gasping smile taking over her facade. “It’s been a long time.” Aleksandra stood abruptly, tossing the book to the ground with a loud thump as she closed the space between the two, wrapping her arms around her friend as if no time had passed at all, but also an eternity.

 

      She stepped back from her cousin then, kneeling to retrieve her book from the floor, and hide it in a nearby shelf, the story on it’s pages forgotten over Maya’s arrival. She gestured for Maya to sit down and joined her in the pairing armchair. The two would stay for an age, speaking, drinking, jesting, and watching over the loved ones left below, and visiting the ones that had already appeared. 

 

A peace long earned.

[AndrewTech 3329]

The late King Andrik IV of Haense was whistling a cheerful tune as he and his sister traversed the grounds of his favorite garden in the Seven Skies. “I think I’ve done it, Alexandria. This time, I know that I’ve-“

 

Suddenly, the deceased King comes to a stop in his tracks. Gazing upward at the cottage where Aleksandra’s gaze overlooked the beautiful meadow below, his eyes would widen as he takes note of another silhouette in the window.

 

“-Alex, it’s her!” Andrik cried out in shock as he caught sight of the shadow through the window. “She- No, she should have won that fight! She’s was always so strong... Ugh!”

Dashing away, the King vanished from sight. He rushed to his gardens, which the amateur botanist had tended so loyally in the Seven Skies for so long. The man fumbled around in the foliage for that which he was searching for until he found it.

 

Content, he picked it out of the patch of flowers and began to move toward the cottage. His emotions were mixed. Sigismund was a man now, a regnant King who would be able to care for his sibling. But on the other hand, his girls were just children...  And Nikolas was even more of a child than they were. But they were Crows, and they would endure as all Crows did when they were forced to leave the nest. He was sure of it.

 

Rushing into the cottage, Andrik came to a halt. Maya and Aleks’s backs were turned to him, and he knew that they were enjoying their time together. But nonetheless, the hobbyist naturalist held the flower up that he had taken from the gardens: A perfect red tulip, bred to the utmost perfection. Something he had been working on for the last six years in the Seven Skies, waiting for the day that he and Maya would be reunited.

 

He had known that it would be a long journey for his best childhood friend and closest companion, but he had prepared himself for the day that he would have to greet her.

 

“Maya?” He tries to garner her attention, a soft smile coming upon his face. “I have something for you...”

[libertyybelle 6187]

Upon seeing Maya enter the seven skies, Karina began to weep tears of joy and sadness. For as much as she wished her sister would stay upon the greens of Arcas, finally the two were together. No longer were they to be separated by forces of darkness. Her arms wrapped around her beloved sister, her whisper coming off slightly breathless.

 

”Finally we may keep our promise and never again be parted.”

 

The sisters then joined their family. Father, Cousins, Friends, Companions. In a odd little way, death had connected them more than it ever did while they still walked the plain. For that, Karina was happy.

 

[bumblefina 2766]

Analiesa Reza sat curled in a corner of her room, the princess in blue’s arms wrapped tightly around her legs, knees pulled close to her chest. The girl of just twelve shook, shoulders rattling violently as she wept, unhindered sobs racking her. The news had come rather unceremoniously not long after her mother had been found, servants and guards flooding the residential keep in the ensuing chaos. The eldest triplet had immediately locked herself into her room, shoving a wardrobe in front of her door to keep all others out. Her hound, a gift from her mother just the year before, sat close at her side, the dog resting it’s head against her shoulder. Nela gave a low whine, prompting the princess to open her arms and hug the dog close. Like so many before her, she was now without both of her parents. It was a cruel fate, an alignment of stars that plagued too many young men and women. She’d always imagined growing older with their mother at her side, smiling to her someday as she stood before an alter to wed, and someday showing her mother her own children. Those experiences had been stolen from her by some cruel hand of fate, and now she only had the memories of her mother and father to cling to. Analiesa wept into her dog’s fur until her sisters crept into the same room via their own passages, and the trio huddled together throughout the night. 

[MikoMonster 1396]

“Murdered?!” Amelya Valeriya repeated as she took a shaky step back from her friend, Viktoria Ruthern. “No... she couldn’t. There are always guards about. Where- where is she?”

 

”Oh my God, Vikky.” uttered the young princess in horror as she gazed down upon the pair of cold, sheet-covered bodies on the floor before them.

 

It seemed unreal to her that that the woman who had raised her and her siblings single-handedly could be gone so quickly. It had been mere minutes ago that her mother had been giving her triplets the gifts their late father had bestowed upon them. Now, the life had left her body, the motherly warmth swept away by an eternal, lifeless cold. 

 

”What- do we do now?” her companion inquired after a moment.

 

 

---

 

The two girls stood side by side upon the late Queen-Mother’s balcony, the larger of the corpses resting on the rail just before them.

 

“Are you ready, Amelya? Or would you like to say something to it.”

 

The princess took a deep breath, watching the choppy waters of Lake Milena over the body of her mother’s assailant. 

 

”You killed the only parental figure I ever knew, a woman that took care of so many young people, for your own selfish spite. You may have killed her, but her death will be honored. Yours will be spat upon by thousands. Enjoy your swim, murderer.” 

 

Viktoria counted to three, and the body went toppling down into the cold, dark waters below. It landed with a splash, slowly sinking beneath the waves.

 

 

---

 

After enduring the Emperor’s wrathful and uninvited visit, Amelya slunk back up to her room, locking the door behind her. She sat down at her table, writing a sharply-worded letter she would likely never send. She proceeded to stash it away before crawling onto her bed, curling into a ball to sob away her grief.

 

As the sun began to set and the evening grew dark, the triplets began to move about their rooms, crawling between them through secretive tunnels hidden by tapestries. As the other two Barbanov triplets made their way into Amelya’s room, they curled up upon her bed. Without an utterance, they curled upon the bed together, protected from the world by their irrevocable closeness. There, they laid to sleep, mourning the loss of their beloved mother together.

 

 

 

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

Claude glances aloft, waving as the Queen mother passes up to the Seven Skies.

[garentoft 9265]

Lauritz pointed to the House banners in Ekaterinburg. His daughter, Margrethe, stood beside him, peering at the banners too. “Barbanov and Alimar.” He pointed to the two next to each other, “Those are the ones I recognise.”. “Why do they have names?” She asked him, her gaze curiously twisted to him. He did not have time to respond, for a voice roared behind him. “LAURITZ, WHERE?” The Emperor screamed. He was confused, “Where… what?” He asked with furrowed brows. The Emperor grabbed him by the collar, “The Queen Mother is DEAD, you stupid ****!”. In that moment, he felt the world collapse.

 

Lauritz gently lowered the duvet over Margrethe. Immediately after, his composure collapsed as he sat on the side of the bed. The tears began to stream down his face, he sobbed. He made his way over to his chair, laying his head against the table as he wept uncontrollably. He thought of Maya’s children, who now had no mother nor father. His last conversation with Maya rang throughout his head: “Who needs the past anyways? It's not like it does us any good, other than to dwell.”, “We shape who we are, not others.”, “You're a good man, Lauritz.”, “It's not like I'm going to die the moment I leave.”, how ironic. He wondered if he was cursed, was it everyone that he talked to that was destined to die before he truly got to know them? After a while, the looming threat of giving up on it all disappeared, it is not what Maya would have done. 

 

The next morning, he would travel to Reza.

[Eddywilson2 2117]

When Nikolas heard the news from his sister, Amelya, the world around him went silent. The only noise he could hear was his heartbeat pounding in his skull. In that moment, the once curious and exotic world to him lost a little bit of its color. The world would never be the same to Niko, not without his Mamej.

 

The funeral pyre blazed as men and women of Haense crowded around its flames. Niko stood close, hoping to feel the warmth of his mother’s embrace just one last time, something he already desperately missed. The heat burned away his tears, but it could not fill the hole in his heart, his Mamej.

 

The young boy of ten found himself in his Mamej’s room after the funeral. Despite it being covered in dried blood and the charred remains of the Emperor’s fury, he found it comforting. The closest he could come to feeling his Mamej in this life. The thought saddened him. Reality was a struggle for Niko to accept, and he still clung to hope that his Mamej would walk through the doors and smile at him like he had so many times. He only wished he could see her smile once more.

 

He walked to the closet and opened it, revealing the beautiful dresses his Mamej used to wear. He looked at the one she had worn for the most recent masquerade, smiling at the memory as tears trickled down his cheeks. He leaned down, plunging his face into the dress and hugging it close as he breathed deeply. His Mamej’s scent, faint but still on its silk, flooded him with memories. He sat down in the closet, dress in hand, and wept.

[winterblood 11181]

Alexandria Karina Barbanov felt hollow, her emotions utterly numbed, after she had heard of the news of her mother’s demise.  She laid within her bed, tucked under her many covers and fur pelts to hide her from the world, and wept to herself as the swollen and pale moon rose high in the night.  It wasn’t until the small hours of the morning when the grave realization of her mother’s passing struck her.

 

She couldn’t stop herself from trembling, despite the warmth her bed offered her.  Every exhale she released quavered, often being followed by a pathetic sniffle and a muffled whimper of a child’s cry.  Her heart ached with the terrible and haunting pain of loss; Alex never thought she would have to bear such a tremendous weight again within her chest, after the passing of her father Andrik IV. 

 

A sense of dread lurked within her ever since she had nearly lost her own life to an assassin within the lower chambers of the Haeseni public library two years ago; a fear which only grew and clutched at her heart with every passing day.  She was aware of the potential dangers and strangers that held intent to hurt her and her family; however, the thought of them actually succeeding and taking one of them away never dared to enter her thoughts before, for it was too unbearable to consider.  Alexandria could not escape such realities now, unfortunately. 

 

With an unsteady sigh, the young Barbanov rose up from her bed.  She felt exhausted from her grief, though could not find slumber within her own chambers.  Alexandria stooped down to put on her slippers, before lighting the small lantern at her bedside.  A weak, orange flame lit up the corner of her room and illuminated the painting of her late father on her wall, done by the painter Alaine Ferri.

 

Alexandria took the lantern with her as she padded across her bedroom, stepping over her large dog named Repka who slept and snored on the floor at the foot of her bed.  She neared her window, climbing atop its ledge to undo the latches of it and push it open.  From there, she was able to access her sister Amelya’s balcony to her room.  As she proceeded to climb into her sister’s bedroom, wiping her eyes again from tears, she noticed that her sister Analiesa had shared the same idea has her.  She saw her sisters curled up in bed, mourning the loss of their mother together. 

 

She joined them, finally finding herself a small bit of solace in the company of Amelya and Analiesa. 

[Rhodesia 77]

The aged Imperial Knight signs the Cross of Lorraine, empathizing with the Emperor and Sigismund II.
“Complacency breeds weak men, and weak men allow such heinous acts to befall the nobility.”

 

[Legoboy7984 3155]

Stefan Vyronov lets out a soft sigh upon hearing the news of the Queen’s death.

“Believe we first met when I was a ward to her husband. She gave me a room in the palace yet never talked to her much. Despite us only having less than a handful of conversations and them being short I do have to say you will be missed in Haense. May you rest and reunite with your husband, Koeng Andrik IV, in paradise.”

[helldiving 5793]

An Imperial Knight offered some prayer for a figure that he met in the days prior. Adrian Leopold allowed for hushed murmurs and words to slip from his parted lips. He felt some sorrow for the Haensemen, sorrow for Sigismund II, sorrow for the life that had been so abruptly taken from the Queen-Mother.

“Godani have you.”

  

[Dyl 2088]

Sir Jahan Basrid would be in his office going over various documents when he would be notified of the Queen-Mother’s passing, “Ya Mitras,” he’d mutter, “So young yet gone already. It is a shame such vibrant flames get snuffed out so early....”

[AnonymousAlexa 3890]

Angelika let out a burst of tears as soon as she heard the news about the Queen-Mother. She remembered the many years she had warded under the Queen and the many lessons on politics and history that led her to where she was today. ”She is in the Seven Skies now, with her husband, her sister, and her cousin.” The signed the Lorraine before repeating the For Brothers and Sisters Departed prayer sixteen times in a row.