To Fly is to Fall

[Lirinya 2650]

To Fly is to Fall

 

The forces of the Covenant lined up upon their battlements, overlooking Castle Aurelian on the other side. Cannoneers manned their cannons, adjusting the aim carefully and with great precision. Others lined up to help reload, while a group of cavalry took their place to engage the enemy in small skirmishes. The siege did not last long. Castle Aurelian’s defenses were destroyed with almost immediate haste, and the forces of the Covenant gathered, waiting only for that final call:

 

“Charge!”

 

 

---

 

 

“Poppiya!” Enrico called, she could see him humbling as fast as he could, attempting to catch up to her. They were surrounded by the rest of the Covenant forces, rushing towards Castle Aurelian. Their commanders had spotted a breach in the castle, and now came the push to wrestle the castle from the enemy’s grasp as swiftly.

 

Poppiya sprinted ahead, following her aunt and brother in tow. She glanced back at the call- and halted in her path. “Enrico- quickly!” she called over with her sword held high, “-to the Keep. We have to take the Keep.” She then turned back to the rushing crowd, and continued on the path towards their goal.

 

Castle Aurelian had not lasted long under fire from the forces of the Covenant. Their cannons had drilled holes into the keep, some stray cannonballs even landing within the civilian housing of the town behind it. Smoke rose gently from the keep that was now little but ruins, and the muddied dirt around it was earlier littered with the early signs of a field battle. Enrico was covered in a light dust of gunpowder, a cannoneer by trade, his squad had managed the collapse of a tower. Poppiya, on the other hand, had been a part of the main force, tasked with reloading the various siege instruments for the soldiers.

 

The forces of the Covenant made their way across the fields and into the breach of Castle Aurelian, their forces spread around the keep, met with little resistance except skirmishes atop the roofs of the fallen castle. “Watch out!” Enrico called, warning Poppiya of an incoming arrow from a stray Stassionite.

 

As the arrow volleyed over  the courtyard, Poppiya took cover within the armies of Balian who raised their shields above their heads protectively. The thousands of men, with a united shield of iron and wood held skyward, prepared for the potential onslaught of arrows from their foes. Though, they did not come. The stray few fizzled into nothingness, and the army dispersed to begin their attack once more. A stray horseman managed his way into the forces of the combined Balianese-Petran-Urguani force which had been tasked with occupying the courtyard, only to meet their swift end at the tip of Enrico’s pike.

 

Then came the second charge, the forces of Stassion, Veletz, and the Orcs had clambered their way back onto the castle’s walls and roofs, a last ditch attempt to try and disperse the Covenant forces. Climbing up to meet the forces head on, Enrico and Poppiya lost sight of one another. So many people in one place, it was impossible not to. Arrows whistled, hitting flesh, wood, or dirt, while the singing of steel against steel echoed.

 

The battle was not a contest. The tremendous power of the Covenant forces was not something that what remained of the Stassion and Veletz could muster a fight against, especially not after the initial charge. They were a scattered few, and those who were not cut down fled from atop the castle wars, either plummeting to their deaths, or being charged down by Covenant cavalry.

 

But even in victory, there is defeat. 

 

The battle died down, the last of the enemy had been slain, the ruins of Castle Aurelian was theirs now. Enrico caught his breath, covered in blood and sweat. The corpse of one of the last soldiers laid before him, next to him a fallen horse. The haze of fighting still blurred his vision, and upon looking up he saw himself barely in the company of others.

 

“Poppy?” He queered into the empty mountainside around him, though hearing no answer. A couple of cavalry soldiers rode up, “Prince Enrico, the battle is won! It is time to go.” He barely registered the words, but he staggering to follow the cavalryman. They arrived with the bulk of the force, they were singing songs of victory and cheers of joy, basking in the glory of yet another battle won.

 

“Poppy?” He asked, pressing his hand to the soldier of a random soldier. It was not her. He repeated the attempt, over and over again, but he could not find her. As others took to their carriages, returning to their homelands, Enrico remained amongst the rubble of Castle Aurelian, seeking the colorful armor that she wore. A rich purple tabard, decorated in the Balian Crest with a pink sash slung across her chest. 

 

Within the field of bloodied bodies, a cloak of blue fluttered gently in the wind. Laid face down in the dirt, it appeared as non significant, ‘til its plum garment peeked through the mud. The individual had seen all hell- bloodied and beaten beyond recognition, but its Balian Emblem could not be mistaken. The head dress which usually, so elegantly decorated chestnut locks sat skewed and dirtied, bloody and torn. Laid beside the body was a rapier, a war-worn weapon of aged appearance. 

 

“Poppy?” He echoed for the last time. His heart sank, and his knees fell into the ground before him. The glow of victory shone on him, and yet he wept. He took Poppiya’s sword with him, and carried the body to the carriages. He loaded it with great care. It was one of few, he noted, perhaps that made it even more precious.

 

 The plan had succeeded, but success had proven itself to be bittersweet.

Spoiler

Ty @garentoft for writing this with me. Poppy didn't come home from war?

 

[garentoft 8353]

They had been victorious in battle, but at what cost? Enrico was left to ponder such. Flowers wilt, he reminded himself, even poppies.

[HIGH_FIRE 4118]

Despite what Sybille knew of the battle and what had come after, the absence of Poppiya was too much for the woman. She sat in her room anxious, worried and scared for the woman she cared so deeply for. She put pen to paper and wrote some lies down... would she meet Pops again?

[esotericas 1559]

Galina Georgina knelt beside her bed, and praying for the soul of her brother's wife. "May she rest well in the Skies."

[teeylin 998]

Cassian returned from his wedding to a merry Malkovya- music and laughter rang through the halls, and the family and staff were riding high on victory and celebration. Though his newly wed wife retired to her chambers soon after arrival, the Count took the night to celebrate with the rest of the Colborns. 

 

Only the next day, after a long night and many a headache from hangover, did he see the news that his cousin had passed. He wept.

[critter 2470]

He hadn't told her.

 

He hadn't told her.

 

He had written to battle joyous, grinning; the world, it seemed, in his grasp, and he had returned without the sister he had leaned on over the years. The news found him stepping from the tavern into the bitter winter, and it wasn't the cold which sobered him so sharp as it was the gut-deep cut of fear that she could possibly be gone - Poppiya, who had so effortlessly carried everything he could not over the years.

Henrik wept with unabashed shame, and with each rumbling breath prayed that, by miracle, she might - as she always had before - still come home.

[MissToni 3487]

Marjorie Vuiller heard the news with a saddened look upon her visage. The girl thought long and hard to herself before she spoke to her mother with much uncertainty.

 

"What happens to my study now? It was almost finished..."  @_yink_

[Caedis 430]

Anatoliy's anxieties worsened. At first, he had been mildly concerned - Before the battle he had sent his wife, Poppiya, a letter; wishing her to stay safe. Telling her he would see her soon. Telling her he loved her.

He had expected one back after the war.

 

Days after the battle, he was still waiting for that letter.

 

The paranoia grew. The fear and worry grew. The Baron Godunov began actively searching, checking all the usual spots his wife could be found - But she wasn't there. Eventually he returned home, unwilling to leave their four children with the maids for too long.

 

               -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"She'll be back soon.." Weeks had passed. The Baron was awaiting letters back from others - Letters he had sent inquiring as to his wife's whereabouts. He sat in his home of Verskaya - The keep having been newly completed by his own talents and hard work. A warm home. A cozy home. A family home.

He was sat by the cot of their newborns, watching over them. Tears prickled his eyes, but his smile - His warm, comforting smile that had endured the utter hell the Baron had already endured - remained on his sleeping children.

"Just wait.. Vyr mamej will be home soon.."

 

And so - The Baron remained. Still waiting for his letter.

[_yink_ 348]

22 minutes ago, MissToni said:

Marjorie Vuiller heard the news with a saddened look upon her visage. The girl thought long and hard to herself before she spoke to her mother with much uncertainty.

 

"What happens to my study now? It was almost finished..."  @_yink_

A rooftop turned training grounds is where Gwenyth would often be found in the County home, and tonight was no different. The Dame was busy working away at her strict training ritual as Marjorie had come trudging up the spiral staircase which opened up to a clear night sky. A moment had passed before Gwenyth took notice to the little Vuiller. Smile gracing her lips as she knelt down to meet her halfway. "What's wrong, mea lass?" She inquired and reached to take her daughter's hand once she'd taken notice of the saddened look she donned. 

"Oh..." Her freehand moved to pinch the bridge of her nose, and a sigh escaped through her lips. "We'll... Vy will continue vyr studies, Marjorie. Vy've worked tae hard and vy will do this in her honour, nie?" @MissToni

[Smol 781]

The news took, longer than one might expect to reach Aurelia. It had only a few days after the battle in the midlands, but she noticed the lack of poppyia's presence, which was ever so present in balian, a place she so found herself visiting. finally the when she was in a far-off clinic the news came from a courier that had finally stumbled upon the wandering field medic. It was then the young woman fell so utterly silent, perhaps for the first time in so long. Her visage scanned over the news brought to her then she sought to return back to the work that had her preoccupied. But As she let out a slow unsteady breath and nodded silently at the courier's words. She reminded herself, It was not her war to fight in nor her war to protect those from. But it was something that hurt her all the same, even though she and Poppiya were never on the best terms, the news hurt her deeply. Yet, she could not find it in herself to cry, she would not.

 

"The lord has willed her passing. not every innocent can be saved from their destined end."

 

She murmured under her breath as she shifted her visage slightly to the right towards the window of the clinic and out across the fields. Lost within her own thoughts her work quite forgotten. 

[Cheese 2307]

For days, Liridona stared out the window.

 

She didn’t eat. She didn’t sleep. She only thought of her niece, whom she had been stationed with at cannon 20.

 

Whenever someone talked to her, she was silent, save for the meek, hopeful question she echoed every time the door opened.

 

”….Poppy?”

[najtik 38]

When the news reached Karl, he was on his way to the dwellings, he was so diligently renovating for the Balian Queen.

 

The news struck him to the very core, ripping out his heart with no abandon, as his twin sister has been slain.

 

He wasn't to be seen for a few weeks, as he retreated into the cold halls of Mondstadt to rearrange his thoughts.