#{ altena thread 01. }

[mmoneystones]

continued from x

"Oh!" Citrinne withdraws from her own quick sip at Altena's final remark. She was so prepared in remembering the other's name in advance, that she had failed to remember to provide her own!

"Such an insult from my own end...now there is no need to backup your gift with pun! In fact, should I throw in some spare jewelry as proper apology...?"

Your name, Citrinne. She only wants your name.

"I'm Citrinne! A new knight in training that will be working with your...mother."

Nope, it's still weird to speak it aloud. Still, Altena herself does not seem to mind open mention of her familial relation with Ethlyn, so the Brodian plays along.

"And yes, your mother is a lovely woman," Citrinne adds on, holding the milkshake ever so slightly closer to Altena. Partially as apology and partially...she thinks she caught a taste of vegetable in the drink. Gross.

"You two may not share hair color, yet I can see the connection all the same. You two...actually have quite a similar laugh."

@luminousrider

[ulirblood]

"Hey, wait a minute!" Altena reaches out for the woman's hand to stop her from walking away. Edain stops and turns around and Altena realizes she's made a mistake.

While she knows she'll never be as intimately familiar with the Mistress of Fiana as her brother, Leif, Altena has made a point to meet the woman. She knows Eyvel will be important in the efforts to rebuild and so she's made several trips to the town her brother spent much of his life in.

This woman, here, bears such a striking resemblance to her though there are noticeable differences. Altena had assumed it was simply the formal attire and the atmosphere of the evening at first but, now that she has her up close, she knows this is a different person entirely.

"Oh sorry," she says sheepishly as a flower springs to life on her vine. "You look just like someone else."

she doesn't quite turn her head at the sound of a voice calling her way, figuring that the shout must be meant for someone else, but the hand that grabs at her wrist forces her attention to the source of voice.

she meets the gaze of a young brown haired woman, blinking owlishly just as a flower sprouts upon the vine around her neck. it is not quite irritation, but the slightly open mouth of hers conveys confusion.

and the apology causes her to smile, firmly shaking her head. "it's alright, miss. i get mistaken for someone else all the time." she reassures, but then her own words make her pause. perhaps, could this girl know her sister? "may i ask you something? you wouldn't happen to know a woman named brigid, would you?"

[stepbysstep]

Wyverns? Lances? Hmmmm. Lene’s used to riding horseback alongside her knight, but those flying mounts were a whole other stock. Although…she can see herself brandishing one of those spears pretty well. As long as it wasn’t anything super heavy, obviously.

Still, a chance to stroll in on Professor Altena’s class? How could she give no as an answer?

“Welll, I’m probably gonna focus hard on my own study spots first, but don’t be shocked to see a green groupie sitting near the front of your lecture! As long as being from the same place doesn’t throw off your style too hard, of course.”

Another joyous giggle and Lene jumps back to a previous point. “But hold on. A bunch of our friends are also here? And they take you back to the Liberation Army days…?”

She trails off momentarily. There is some mystery to how Altena dropped that middle line. She makes it sound like even more people from home - some she wouldn’t normally know about - are here too. Does the princess know something that she's refraining from sharing?

Who cares? There’s a more pressing issue with what she just said.

“That’s not good! Those days are all behind us, right? Things should be a lot more peaceful now, and with peace…” Lene’s voice sways out and back in as she quickly sprints to recollect her little charity bag, “...comes prosperity! You get me?”

rockabilly this town

[zephyntus]

[SAME] the sender and receiver both reach for the same object.

meet cute/ugly ask meme

[SAME] the sender and receiver both reach for the same object —

arthur reaches for one of the training lances, figuring that he should at least try giving another weapon a go for once. he did come here to learn after all, and it would be a waste to not take advantage of the resources held here.

instead of meeting wood like he expects, his hand grazes against skin, causing arthur to abruptly pull his hand away. he blinks, only to see that altena had reached for the same lance as him.

"oh sorry altena, you can have that one." he backs off, figuring it not a big deal to grab another weapon. it was not like that was the only training lance available on the training grounds. that would be just absurd.

[zephyntus]

lance at work

@lumenjorun (moved from here)

  “Huh— oh, Arthur!” Altena laughs in surprise as yet another familiar face greets her, though the circumstances are anything but expected. “I didn’t know you trained with lances,” she remarks with a smile. On the battlefield, she’s only seen him using magic, but maybe he has a more physically adept side to him that she hasn’t had the chance to see yet. It would be a shame to deprive him the opportunity to train.

    She holds out the lance to him. “Here, you take it. Do you want to spar a round with me? I can grab a sword.” It would be a marginally fairer fight that way, though the glint in her eyes suggests she’s not about to go easy on him for being a novice at the weapon.

"uh no— actually, i don't. usually." arthur is quick to speak up before she misunderstands. he does not want to be on the end of her sword with a lance, no, with a weapon he doesn't know how to wield period. he was still way more comfortable with his reason magic. "i still prefer my wind and my thunder magic, but the monastery has all these resources. i thought it would be a waste not to at least try them out."

still, he does take the lance from her. it's not like he's lost complete interest, but fighting someone like altena with it was a different story. "thanks but i wouldn't like to die just yet." arthur huffs out a quiet laugh at his own joke. "maybe you could give me some pointers instead. i wouldn't mind that."

[arcaeda]

caeda's eyes widen in surprise as she looks to ellie, the saintess collapsing to the ground as if in slow motion.

she barely feels fatigued at all, but the saintess—

the state of the oasis filled with what seems like miasmic water is completely ignored as caeda collapses onto her knees and tries to wake the woman up. "lady ellie—!" she looks up in surprise when altena picks ellie up.

and as soon as altena puts her back down, the villagers all stand protectively in front of ellie, surrounding the both of them at the same time. caeda frowns as she slowly stands up, her hand cautiously snaking to the lance on her back in case a fight interrupts. it should surely still be possible to get through to them with words first. "i promise you we did not mean to do anything to her." she tries slowly. "acting rashly could only harm the saintess, don't you think?"

altena next to her does not reach for her lance as caeda does, holding her hands out in front of her as if to display no intent to attack. "fools. did you not all just watch her help you? help ellie?" her frustration with the situation was rather palpable.

Altena may not be reaching for her weapon, but the villagers are, meager though they may be.

"Shut up, monster. We let you in by the saint's good graces. How could you…?"

monster, they call her. caeda has had enough. "i'm sorry but i can't just sit back and let you insult altena like this anymore." caeda's expression turns into a firm glare as she cuts in, anger just barely cutting into her tone. "why are you so insistent that she's a monster?"

and then they stare at her with wildeyes as if the answer was obvious. caeda glances back at altena and noticeably pauses in her actions, momentarily seeing the monster they claim her to be. "if you're with her, you must be one too!"

"this is riduclous." caeda outright scowls now as she looks back at the villagers. though she saw the appearance of monster, it did not change what kind of person altena was on the inside. she was surely not a threat to the village like they thought she was. "do you not feel guilty ostracizing those different from you?" she asks, remembering how ellie had wished to reunite dragon and human. "lady ellie would not have wished for this."

it barely seems to get through to them at all. "please come quietly. for lady ellie's sake." caeda's eyes narrow in suspicious. "and if we come quietly, then what?"

"… We shall see once the saintess awakens."

“so you ask us to follow you to an unknown fate? you can’t think that is an easy choice to accept for us.”

Ellie stirs, somewhat, on the ground. "Please… don't fight…"

"…" caeda goes silent, as she glances behind the villages where ellie begs for peace. the woman's voice stirs her heart and she brings her hands hand away from her lance. “alright i’ll follow you on the condition that you leave altena alone. the only one here who really could have potentially done anything to her would be me. i shared my energy with her after all.”

The villagers nod. Fine. And thus begins the procession back to the village…

[END]

exposure therapy

[arcaeda]

"those holy weapons must be important to your country. sentimental to yourself, perhaps?" caeda smiles towards altena as she speaks of the dragon gods and her holy blood. "we'd best find your lance as quick as possible in that case."

night comes quicker upon them than expected with darkness approaching as they find themselves above the village that ellie had mentioned.

and it's as if, upon seeing them, the citizens of this village seem to hurry faster to return to their homes. a frown tugs at caeda's lips as she observes this, still briefly sitting atop her pegasus after they land. were the villagers simply afraid of having new visitors or was there more to it..?

"…i'm not sure about that." she hums, tilting her head slightly. "they seem eager to be as far away from us as possible." she takes the time to get her feet on the ground as she speaks, careful to keep a grip on her mount's rein in order to avoid losing him. "i worry if there will be anyone at all for us to talk to if it's like this." she speaks as she looks around at what this village had to offer them in the moment.

@fangedjustice

Welcome to the Bitch Seat

[ulirblood]

@luminousrider (moved from here)

eyvel is not a name that she's familiar with— nor does she know where fiana is. "no, i'm sorry to say this but i don't know her." edain says with a frown, shaking her head. with that the conversation seems done, but then the girl mentions her mother and brigid in the same sentence.

her mouth opens and closes in an effort to say something, before words finally come to her. "… your mother and brigid might have been good friends. what was her name..?"

yankee doodle dandy

[mmoneystones]

Where Citrinne finds warmth in her claim, Altena only strikes back with clear disdain. Her lips begin to part in slight distress, attempting to understand the meaning behind the woman in front of her starting to break away.

Ethlyn spoke of her daughter with nothing but eagerness in her voice. Surely Altena must feel the same toward her own mother? Is there...something Citrinne is missing when it comes to their relationship?

Whatever the case may be, Altena makes it obvious that she is not willing to discuss anything else, let alone that, for the time being. Citrinne withdraws her milkshake-equipped hand, suddenly not feeling the desire to drink from it anymore.

"Oh...of course," Citrinne accepts the pardon. "I hope we can speak again," an empty promise.

She ends up turning her back to the lady first, retreating with the aim to dispose of the half-consumed dessert. Citrinne only hopes that Altena finds more solace with her date than with whatever pain the Brodian had just subjected her to.

the end

"No. You can't, can you?" Any comfort Altena had previously felt in the conversation dissipates quickly leaving an uncomfortable void between the two women. She takes a step back and looks away, putting as much distance as she can between them without outright leaving.

She is proud of the similarities between herself and her adoptive father. She is proud of the values he instilled in her as he raised her as his own daughter. Her strength, her love of her country, her desire to see her people thrive.

Part of her wants to correct. Wants to interject and explain that Ethlyn did not raise her. It was not Ethlyn's influence that shaped her into the woman she is today. But that invites curiosity and questions and what right does this stranger have to any part of Altena's story? She doesn't owe her an explanation of what she's gone through.

"But I must go." Her words are curt, to the point. She's done with this conversation. "My date," she does, at least, offer an excuse rather than simply walking away, "He'll be looking for me."

[mmoneystones]

"You do," Citrinne returns with a single nod. The shake floats between them for a few more moments before she decides to withdraw it upon Altena's stunned hesitation.

Had she said something out of line? Citrinne believes that she had only made an idle observation, a similarity between relatives. She couldn't imagine the two of them spending little time with one another. Ethlyn seemed to be a lovely woman, so Citrinne holds no reluctance in assuming she is a lovely mother as well...

...no, she finds herself questioning Altena being the child to Ethlyn once more. Surely if they are to share a parental bond, it is not through...normal means?

"Has it been that long? Surely you and her cannot be that unalike from one another. Lady Ethlyn knows many here, so I'm sure you must know several too, similar or different."

The Brodian continues to carry the conversation, trying her hardest to veer from the awkward inquiries in her mind while learning more of Altena all the same. "Hair color is an obvious failure of similarity, the same with your eye color. Although...her eyes hold a similar strength in them as yours. That may be another common ground!"

"You can never differ too much from those you are raised by, right?" There is no smile behind Citrinne's reflecting descriptions, though a kind passion carries through her speech.

"We do?"

Altena has been compared to her mother countless times throughout her life but never over something like this. It had always been her father--the one who raised her--cursing that damn woman and her stubbornness when Altena put her foot down and insisted on doing things her own way. He never told her more. Never sat her down and told her stories of her mother even when she begged for them.

She held tight to that stubbornness growing up as her only connection to a mother she never knew. She holds onto it now as the one truth in a sea of lies she was allowed to believe.

Even now, knowing who her mother is and getting to meet people who knew her, Altena rarely finds them comparing her to Ethlyn. It's always her father's eyes. Her father's blood. Her father's lance. Her father's brand. Her father's legacy.

She doesn't expect the warmth to bubble up inside of her as she is compared to her mother. She wouldn't have thought it would matter so much but she feels light thinking about it. She wants to hear her mother laugh again so she can listen for notes of herself in it.

"Thank you. I..." She's not really sure what to say. This has been completely unexpected. "It's been some time since anyone's compared me to her."

[stepbysstep]

Now this is more of her speed!

There is no instrumental accompaniment to her movements. But that doesn't matter, as all Lene needs is the freedom that comes from the evening air, her loose garments, and the intent to dance. She flies throughout the town square, yet remains grounded to be the center of attention for the small crowd.

With the extension of her arms, pinks swirl around her for one final slow triplet of spins. Lene's hands clasp together upon completion. When she spreads them open, she is met with a respectable amount of applause.

"Thank you, everyone! You're all a great audience!" Lene cheers, a subtle glint in her eye when she notices the sack in front of her get slightly fuller. Her first night in the town, and she's already got the favor of some of the townsfolk!

She is just about ready to reward the generosity with an encore, only for the corner of her vision to notice a very familiar bush of brown hair.

"Sorry folks, that'll be it for tonight!" her announcement is met with a few disappointed jeers. Lene spins a finger in an attempt to control the crowd. "Don't be like that! Your favorite dancer in green will be here same time, next week!"

The empty promise is enough to divert most of the attention from her. As groups of people are making their way back to their daily lives, Lene picks up her donation bag and weaves through them to catch the brown-haired lady before she leaves her sight.

"Altenaa! Right?" Lene sings the familiar name of another ally she has not seen for some time. And between that time and now...has she seen her in anything that wasn't that excessive piece of battle armor?

"Any reason for being away from home? Or could you tell my dancing was here, and couldn't resist following?" Lene lets out a giggle at her own joke. Only one, though. She is genuinely interested in Altena's motive.

@luminousrider

rockabilly this town

[stepbysstep]

"Right to the archbishop?!!" Lene jumps two steps back to try escaping Altena's glare. "Oh noooo~!"

When she can tell the charade is up, Lene cracks up at her own acting. The Thracian princess is sure good at being intimidating. The dancer is only glad that she never found herself on Altena's bad side.

"That makes two of us then!" Lene cannot help but perform an idle spin to emphasize her hatred of the dress code. "I always knew I was made for these clothes over anything else! I won't let any stupid rule get in the way! ...Buuut, I'll comply when on school grounds. If I must."

With the mini-rant out of the way, Lene returns to Altena's first inquiries. "Yep, in the house with Ares! He came here first, but I've arrived now to be his knight in shining armor! Could learn some good stuff along the way too, maybe," her energy is high, but only because she really is glad to be here. Not that Altena needs to hear that out loud...she already seems to know Ares is part of the reason.

"If you're here, then I bet a bunch of others from Jugdral are around, too!" Lene has the possibilities of reunions already mixed in her mind. "Have you been teaching them well, assistant-style?"

rockabilly this town

[stepbysstep]

Altena's straight, piercing response does not go unnoticed by Lene. The two of them were of similar age, and yet Thracia's princess always seemed to be living on a different plane. The dancer sort of gets it at a surface level - nobility that wields one of those holy blood weapons and all that. During wars those concerns definitely took priority, where fighting mattered above all.

But now? There is no war to get in their way. (At least, none that Lene knows of. One more conflict between the higher-ups and she might flip.) Just two girls and a whole new town to explore!

"Oh, like at the monastery? Cool!" Lene chirps with glee. Seeing Altena here really isn't that much of a shock that should likely come from finding an old neighbor on a new continent. If anything, it was more relieving. Ares got sent to this academy thanks to its supposed prestige, so seeing strong allies such as Altena here is basically definitive proof of that claim.

"I'm here to learn there too!" Lene continues, giving her own purpose for leave without waiting for the other to ask. "Though I bet you couldn't tell, with me being in my dancer fit and all..."

She trails off before bringing a hand to her mouth for a gasp, and maybe some overacting. If Altena's really a professor, does she have to report this?!

"Hey, student's don't have to be in uniform around town, do they? You're not gonna turn me in, are you?!"

rockabilly this town

[arcaeda]

she senses irritation in altena’s tone alone and so decides to intervene before the relationship between ellie and altena can sour any further. “now hold on altena.” caeda says with a clear voice. “let’s not be completely dismissive right away.” she steps in front of altena almost protectively, hoping to mitigate any offense that could possibly taken. “i imagine there must be something we can do, like perhaps track down whoever cursed the village, for example. right, miss ellie?”

She shakes her head and seems surprised. "Oh, goodness, no! We don't have the time for that. As soon as we are finished with rest and provisions here, we should head for the shrine and its trial. Things are perhaps worse in Elibe than I feared..." She sighs, mournful. Worried.

shrines. trials. caeda purses her lips in thought before asking the question now on her mind. “right, of course. what does this consist of?”

 "It depends on the shrine. Some have involved combat. Others have involved solving puzzles and riddles. Depends on what the person who placed the seal will have gone with." She turns toward the oasis then. "Right. Well. I have to do something about this, so if you'll excuse me...?"

"i see... “ she trails off, now looking at ellie’s back turned to her. there’s concern in her heart for this young girl, seeing and hearing the responsibilities she seems to hold in the eyes of the villager. a desire to help is born from this concern, which she wastes no time in expressing. “is there anything we or at least i can do in the meantime, to help ease the burden on you?" 

 "Oh, yes... If you would... But if you'd rather not, that's all right too, I'd understand -- sharing a bit of your energy with me will alleviate the strain. I must pray for some time."

caeda considers it for a moment, feeling altena’s gaze on her. she has no idea what it means to share with some energy. it would be better not to agree to anything too rashly.. “of course i would like to help you in that aspect, may i ask what sharing my energy with you consists of, though?”

"Just standing beside me is okay too. I just don't want to be alone... Ah- it's as simple as holding hands. You may feel a bit weary or weak afterward but it's nothing a good night's sleep won't cure."

exposure therapy

[arcaeda]

it doesn't take a genius to see that altena does not want to be here. caeda does not hesitate to take the lead here, hoping to ease what little discomfort she can.

“of course. it’s the least we could do in exchange for letting us stay in the village.” caeda smiles politely, ignoring the whispers if for nothing more than her own sanity.”… and so it seems.” she hums, looking over the almost bone dry oasis. “this is one of if not your main sources of water, isn’t it? that’s a conundrum…. do you know how long it’s been like this?”

"Um, well, it… it is," the youth affirms anxiously. "Not the only one, thankfully, but…"

He frowns, puzzled. "It happened overnight, apparently."

“what are your other sources of water?” caeda asks, a crease in her brow as she thinks of how to fix this. “we’ll want to figure out what happened here but in the mean time, it’s important to make sure the village can function without its main source. “ she places a hand on her chin in the thought, her experience as queen obvious in the calm way that she approaches this. “i’m not an expert on this particular problem but perhaps there’s something wrong with the water spring underneath…”

"Well, there's another small oasis… and then there's runoff from the mountain range… And certain fruit in the desert too… We'll be okay for now. I'm sure the saintess will fix things before you guys go on your way."

One hopes, goes unsaid.

caeda almost lets out a sigh of relief to know that this is not the village's only source of water. the comment about the saintess fixing it though intrigues her, and intrigue is made obvious in her next question.. “has the saintess fixed this sort of thing in the past? and by what means, if so?”

"She has! Thankfully it doesn't happen often… … And it's not my place to fathom the saintess's ability…"

to so undoubtedly support the saintess's ability to fix things… it reminds her a little of the faith placed in marth as the hero-king. he was not infallible, but treated like a god by many despite that. knowing how that had affected marth, a mild concern for the saintess' internal feelings blossoms in her heart that she stuffs away for now. “i see. i suppose i’ll have to talk to the saintess about this later then. we’ll do what we can to help still, though. you said there was another small oasis around. where would that one be?”

"It's not too far from here -- you guys would probably have passed it on your way into town without noticing it. It's behind a big ol' sweeping dune."

"thank you for your help." the pegasus knight smiles sweetly before looking towards altena now. "i'm going to head over to the other oasis, altena." she states calmly. "this is probably more than you bargained for, so if you'd like to go back to the village i don't mind going it alone."

exposure therapy

[arcaeda]

"somethign similar in my homeland… well if there's anything that would be close to the gae bolg it would be the falchion. it was forged using the fang of the divine dragon naga and passed through generations of the altean royal family. the falchion too is well-loved just like your lance." she explains still with the same smile despite altena's reluctance to engage with her.

she was still talking back. that was enough leadway for caeda to weasle her way into a proper friendship. it may take time but she's confident that it will happen eventually. this behavior from caeda continues even when they get to the stables where their mounts await them.

it is easy to see the adoration that altena has for her wyvern, watching the smile start to form on the woman's face. caeda giggles to herself as she walks over to her pegasus with her back turned to altena for a moment. the communicaton between pegasus and rider is done almost silently as caeda greets her with a calming hand to the mane.

"we should head over to the oasis to see what we're working with for now. i asked one of the villagers earlier for directions so you can follow my lead if you like." she looks back at altena now, waiting for what the wyvern rider would like to do.

exposure therapy