[PK] Madelief of Myrine

[kuerbis 3802]

 

 

A NOTICE OF PASSING
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Issued by the Principality of Myrine
On the 24th of Dragon’s Roar 648
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The Principality of House Mareno is saddened to announce the death of our beloved Princess Madelief of Myrine. The Princess has passed away in the arms of her family after patiently enduring a long, degenerative illness that took over the second half of her adult years. The Princess of Myrine is outlived by her husband of 43 years, three of her six children and her five grandchildren. Her remains are to be burned in a private owynist funeral rite and handed over to the Principality of Blackvale as is custom for a van Aert, but the Princess has asked that her heart be returned to the sea upon her husband’s death.

Requiescat in Pace
Madelief van Aert
2011-2074

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How long has it been? Weeks, months, years, decades - oh life hadn’t been the same since Drusco took away her joy. What good was vengeance when it comes with the bittersweet feeling of being able to move past something? Madelief had been happy once, when she was younger. A carefree life lived with her beloved Cassius as they frolicked through the fields of Burgundy; a life, devoid of duty, devoid of the heavy burden her burgundine ancestry would put upon her shoulders later on.

In her life, Madelief would regret many things. Perhaps she hadn’t spent enough time with her family, perhaps she had not told her husband enough how much she adored him, or perhaps she regretted not being the first to go in a long list of loved ones that had since passed on.

Since the death of her brother Martius, Madelief had stopped fearing death. There was nothing to be afraid of; not when there were people waiting for you on the other side. Cassius had promised, they would not be parted for too long. Surely, they would find one another again, in their next life.

With that comforting thought in mind, Madelief’s mortal life slipped away, her right hand enveloped by her husband’s hands and a miniature of her siblings in her left. And thus ended the last peaceful evening in the life of a woman, who was meant to die in a conflict, decades ago.

 

Spoiler

OOC Note:

I want to thank @Vermy and @scubadooba for letting me play their daughter. It genuinely helped me a ton to get back into LotC. I also want to say thank you to @ninjaclimb1@duck and @pkdon, who played my brothers and cousin and were incredibly fun to interact with at all times. Thank you so much to all the Blackvalers, Myrinians and Numendil people for coming in clutch and fighting a war for Madelief's honor. It means a lot more than you know.

Thank you so much @Nectoristfor letting me marry your character :) i had a ton of fun this time around and im sure we’ll have many more opportunities to RP on other characters <3
Thank you to all the people who played Madelief’s kids, you were honestly a joy to RP with!
@olpx@zuziee @Cubicitaand @RedResult

Thank you to mady and sarahbarah for being the best RP granddaughters anyone could've ever asked for.

Also a huge thank you to everyone who ever interacted with this character, no matter if in a positive or a negative rp situation! Looking back, it has mostly been fun, and I know this PK is long overdue but I hope to see you around o7

 

[Nectorist 12869]

“Grandfather, do you have another story?” 

 

Cassius jolted awake, greeted by the warm rays of the sun. The waters over the bay of Myrine, often wild-whipped by the turbulent storms, enjoyed the peace of the mild spring’s day. It was a sight that he and his wife had enjoyed when it came in a place often clouded by overcast. The rare heat felt like fading memories of home, of hot summers in the shantytown of Grense, where the estate of the Marenos was a brickhouse with four rooms, and the van Aerts, two decades from total Imperium, saw straw roofs when they looked up at night.

It had not been long since she had passed. Minutes bled into hours and hours into days that felt like years, for the old Prince of Myrine could barely recall when he was not within a few steps of her beside. A decade or more had passed since they had last danced, and his right arm felt light from where she had linked hers with his.

You’d be lost if I weren’t here to drag your head from the clouds. He missed her nagging, even if he could lay a few incomplete books at her feet. Surer pens had shaped the world, while he had enjoyed his with his family.

“Oh, uh, sorry, my dear.” The old Mareno propped himself up in his wooden rocking chair and looked down to his granddaughter, Eirene. There was some of her grandmother in her- wide-eyes of wonder that took in the world and held it dear- but more of Circe’s fearlessness. “Wha- uh- what was I saying?”

“You had told me about how you didn’t like that old Ruthern castle because everything was frozen. You couldn’t sail.” As he lifted his weary head up, dozens of small fishing barges flecked the sapphire canvas like birds in the sky. A few larger vessels lumbered in and out, bound for Silasia or Koyo-Kuni or Alduun. He liked to imagine that Calias was on one of those boats, finally at peace with himself. 

“Grandfather, can you hear me?”

The fog of memory broke again as he blinked, and Eirene’s face reappeared in his eyes. Cassius chuckled softly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, uh… I’m listening now, I promise.”   

Eirene huffed, though thankfully she never had her mother’s temper, nor her grandmother’s. She and her cousin would wail, surely, but only when they suffered the wounds of scrapes, and so Cassius would tell them of the uncomfortable battles he had to fight, and of how their bruises and nicks were like battle-scars for-

“You said it was important for us to sail and that the frozen waters kept you bound to that keep, like a marlin trapped in an aquarium basin.” The girl mustered a small laugh, but he could feel the sadness behind her words. The old prince reached out a shaking hand to take her own, clasping it within his own with as strong a grip as he could muster. As he had done so many times before, he smiled for her, and she smiled back.

“We live in a great, wide world, my dear. Life takes us apart, like when you go all the way to the capital, or when Archie and Ghetsis went south to fight in the war.” He swept his other arm across the golden skyline. “When Caerine went afar to study, and when Caecilius went west to explore.“ He breathed in sharply and squeezed her hand again. “And when your grandmother went to the Seven Skies.”

One boat appeared over the horizon, emerging as a speck in view. Its sails were large and billowed in the breeze, while the sun blinded all but its silhouette.

“But I have never worried, I have never feared the months spent in this quiet castle. The sea binds us together; it allows us to be reunited again. So long as we have the wind at our backs, our family can never be pulled apart. Whenever you miss your grandmother, or your cousin, or anyone, just know that the sea will always let you reach them, no matter how far away they seem to be.” 

A loud horn blared from the watchtower atop one of the rocks of the bay. Cassius’s gaze broke from his granddaughter’s tear-stained cheeks as he looked again to the great vessel that loomed above the smaller crafts. Now no longer so distant, he could see the blue marlin dancing along the flax-sails that brought it home.

“Grandfather, look! It’s Caerine! She’s coming back- she’s back! That’s really her, isn’t it? She’s back! Caerine’s back, grandfather!”  The excited young girl was ripped from her sorrows as she leapt to her feet and clambered atop the railing that overlooked the sea. “She’s almost here! I can’t believe she’s almost here! We need to go down to meet her, let’s go down, grandfather!” She tugged on his arm with her uncle’s strength, but the Prince of Myrine merely laughed and stayed put.

“Go ahead, Eirene. I will be behind you. It is a long walk, so give me a moment to rest.” With a kindly grin and a well-taught curtsey, the girl made her goodbye and darted off. As her footsteps faded in the distance, Cassius found himself left alone again, and the only sound in his ears the gentle breaking of the waves upon the rocks below. Caerine’s ship, growing larger, treaded in a straight line towards the port that lay at the feet of the castle.

The old prince closed his eyes and dreamt again, for few men loved dreamt more than he. He dreamt of stolen wine from the Petran tavern, an evening war council with his grandfather, a wedding within the ruins of Veletz, hours within his study and hours with his children and grandchildren in the courtyard; of battles in the rolling hills of Drusco and afternoon strolls taken along the sandy beach of Myrine with his wife at his side. When his eyes opened again, he realized that none of it was a dream at all.

I sail to you, Madelief, for now that we are by the sea, we are never far from each other

[ninjaclimb1 432]

Martius welcomed his sister into the seven skies, awaiting now only the arrivals of Diedrick and Carolus.

[confusedjester 811]

As yet another letter, stamped with the brand of Burgundy, arrived by courier, did Romhilda's hands tremble. 

 

Her father?-

 

Yet, it was not. However, no relief bore on her features. The death of her aunt weighed heavy on her shoulders, slurring her mood. The closest thing Romhilda ever had to a mother was gone.

Rain weeped upon the Duchy of Lorraine, masking the bereaved wails of the van Aert amidst its fall.

[sarahbarah 7105]

Spoiler

 

 

"Grandfather, can you hear me?"

 

It was another sunny day that had graced the shores of Myrine. though the youth felt anything but. The sunlight felt warm upon her shoulders, but it could not rid her of the chill that settled within the confines of her chest. 

 

Eirene's hand trembled where it clutched his. For a fleeting, foolish moment, she thought he had simply drifted; lost to his thoughts as he always was, and chasing ghosts that only he could see. The corners of her lips quirked, anticipating a smile that would surely precede a bout of scolding. 

 

Still, the old Prince did not answer.  "...You're with her now, aren't you?" The wind stirred, warmer now, like a hand that brushed against her cheek. 

 

"Eirene!"

 

The youth turned at the sudden, startling sound of her name, and wiped at her face with haste. Far beneath the cliffs, she could see her: Caerine, standing upon the dock, searching, calling, alive and returned - just as their grandfather had promised.  

 

The sea binds us together.

 

Eirene regarded her grandfather for a final time, noting the peace that had settled over him much akin to a gentle tide. "I'll go meet her," uttered the youth with a soft, solemn tenderness. "I'll tell her your story. So you don't forget it." With a careful reverence, she set his hand to rest upon the arm of the chair.

 

And then, she ran. Down the winding path, toward the harbor and the living, and toward the sea that, as Cassius promised, would one day bring them together again. 

[Mady 3771]

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IT HAD BEEN WEEKS AT SEA WHEN A SHIP CARRYING A MARLIN CREST FINALLY SPOTTED LAND, and per the Myrnish custom an offering was poured out into the ocean's waves. Stood along the bow in her usual contemplation perch, CAERINE couldn't help but breath out a sigh of relief as she spotted the white caps of the waves upon the golden shore of her homeland. She had been away for years at this point and even now as she breathed in the salted air, she knew without a doubt that she was finally home.

 

It took a night and half a day for the ship to reach port and dock, the cawing of gulls and the thumping of footsteps upon wood seemed to echo betwixt the lines of boats nested side by side. The young Princess watched and waited until it was her time to step back onto land, her eyes scanning the horizon beyond the crowd of merchants and families awaiting their returned kin. It was upon the steps of the cliffside where she first spotted the familiar girl of fair hair bounding down, and behind her a frail elder stopped for a rest. CAERINE knew both forms all too well, and she could not help the squeal of excitement which escaped her.

 

As her feet hit the dock, a quick breeze ripped around her, causing her sensible curls to flutter and frame her visage. In the midst of her plight and battle with steadying herself against the sudden gust, the Mareno would feel a caress against her cheek and a soft whisper, 'The sea binds us. . .'. It took all but a few seconds for her to regain her footing and settle her hair, and by then the utterance had gone, leaving her in a confused stupor - at least for another second before the cries of her younger cousin grew nearer.

 

CAERINE was home, but it was not the same one which she had left some years before. Each cloud and tree appeared the same, though the sense that something was missing lingered in her chest.

⋆ ｡༻───────────────────────────────────────────────༺｡⋆

 

[Digit___ 1224]

Aviel Roy read of the passing of Princess Madelief, the governess of his wife, Selyne.

 

"I'm sorry fer yer loss, my Star." He spoked as he passed the missive to Selyne (@Parasolii) with a somber visage and a frown, knowing how much Madelief meant to her.