#Ulaqa Tia

[avirael]

„A shoulder can be the perfect place for you to rest your head on and that’s how I know people can be homes, too. Home is a safe place; there’s no place safer than the crook of your neck.“ - Source

(Screenshots by Khian)

[avirael]

The silence is whispering to me

In voices only I hear

Of memories I wish to live once more

Memories I hold most dear

And I long to sleep eternally

Peaceful in my release

Free me at last of my promise to stay

I long to go beyond

Beyond the horizon

I'll follow where love has gone

Twilight finds me here alone

Beyond the horizon

I see your love shining, oh

My ghostlight, my afterglow

My wishes flow in rivulets

Scarlet in the night

In pools of staring emptiness

Drowning in the tide

Beyond the Horizon - Poets of the Fall

The screenshots are once again not made by me but this wonderful person: Khian

[avirael]

A few more of my characters with their new appearance from the graphic update :)

Laqa (A‘vi‘s boyfriend) A‘tehmi (A‘vi‘s sister)

Tomoe (twin sister) Tamaki (twin brother)

Raven Phoebe

[avirael]

I found the first test pics Khian did for me (because I was worried about their height difference)

Look at them! I bet they are secretly holding hands! On town square! In front of U’odh’s house! How could anyone not see they are in love? How did they survive so long without being found out?🤭

Screenshots by Khian

[avirael]

✨Just a Dream✨

These screenshots were made by my incredibly talented and kind friend Khian. Please check out her other stuff too!

[avirael]

The End of the World

A'viloh exactly remembered the day the end of the world began. It had been a special day, because that afternoon U'odh had returned home without telling anyone beforehand. His duties with the Company of Heroes had gotten more and more the last few years and so the time he spent at home had gotten less and less.

Therefore everyone was exited and happy to see him back so soon. However this time it wasn’t meant to be a short visit, instead he intended to stay. It was a retreat, a capitulation, a desperate attempt to spent as much time with his loved ones as he still could. After all the world was most likely going to end and the red twin moon growing bigger and bigger in the sky from night to night was the proof of that.

A'viloh knew something was wrong the moment he saw U'odh‘s face. It was the same face he had made the day he had told U'laqa and U'thyka that their mother was going to die. It was a face that meant pain and helplessness and death.

As usual the boys had been excited to hear the stories of their father‘s battles but this time he shook his head and claimed that there were more important things now. U'odh had never been the kind of person to gloss over uncomfortable truths and so he gave them a short and pitiless summary of the events that had led to the current situation.

Some of them tried to reason but there’s no reasoning against the end of the world. So U'odh stated that their fate no longer lay in their own hands but in those of the Twelve, so all they could do was pray. However they could still decide how they wanted to spent the time they had left.

In that spirit everybody tried to go on with life maybe in a more grateful and savouring way than they had before but worry and fear always returned to their faces. By the time Dalamud was close enough that it remained visible even during the day, normal life in the Forgotten Springs seemed unimaginable and from then onwards the moon's descent continued more and more rapidly spreading terror among the townsfolk.

Then one day around noon the bright blue sky over the desert turned a peculiar shade of orange like the air caught fire. A short time later clouds gathered and the sky above started to crackle with thunder. Now only hours remained until Dalamud would crash down to the earth and wipe them all out.

A'viloh had spent the last few weeks in constant dread. He didn’t want his home to be destroyed, his friends and family to be killed. He didn’t want to die. It terrified him so profoundly that this evening when the sky turned dark apart from the ominous glow of the red moon he wasn’t able to do anything else but cry and plea to Azeyma to save them all.

And as he sat on one of the flat roofed buildings staring up to the sky praying to his goddess he suddenly thought that he could hear her voice. It was faint and drowned out by the rumbling of the thunder, so he only understood a few words but he was sure he heard a woman’s voice echo through the air.

"A'viloh!?", a familiar voice suddenly called out to him, loudly to be audible over the storm, ripping him from his thoughts. "What are you doing up here?! Please, come back inside, A'vi!"

Slowly A'viloh turned his gaze away from the red moon and saw U'laqa leaning over the edge of the roof. He looked worried to find A'viloh all alone out here and stretched out a hand for him to take.

A'viloh just blinked at him. "What is she saying? I cannot understand her…"

"Her?", U'laqa yelled against the storm and climbed up onto the roof to be able to speak to A'viloh. "What do you mean?"

Puzzled A'viloh stared at him as the other Miqo'te kneeled down beside him. "Can‘t you hear her?"

"Hear who?", U'laqa asked with confusion written all over his face.

"I don’t know for sure.", A’viloh admitted and looked up to the sky again trying to listen closely. "A women‘s voice. Maybe Azeyma will save us after all. I can’t understand her very well."

Perplexed U'laqa followed A'viloh‘s gaze to the sky and then looked back at him worried. "I can’t hear anything, A'vi…"

The red-haired Miqo'te started to laugh, a hysterical crazy laugh, that turned into a miserable sob halfway through. "I think I‘m going crazy…"

"No!", U'laqa said and grabbed his shoulders. "Please don’t cry, A'vi."

But it was too late to stop now, the tears already ran down his face and all his fear and sadness bubbled out of him in uncontrollable sobs. "I‘m so scared. I don’t want to die..."

U'laqa looked into his wide green eyes filled with terror and wrapped his arms around A'viloh’s shivering body. "We‘re not gonna die, A'vi. Don’t worry! I‘m going to protect you."

The thunder and the eery voice were hard to ignore but with U'laqa holding him so close A'viloh already felt a lot safer even though he knew his words were nothing but white lies. He had never even dared to dream of something like this and in a way it was funny that now the end of the world made it real. But that was a selfish thought, after all U'laqa had left his family‘s side and came out here just to find him.

"I’m sorry. You should be with your loved ones now…", A'viloh muttered but U'laqa shook his head. "But I am, A'vi. I am right where I belong. I‘ve been thinking a lot over the last few weeks and maybe this is my last chance to —"

Suddenly a loud crash roared through the sky. Both of them jumped with fright and stared to the sky. Fire began to rain down and with a horrible sound Dalamud cracked open like a giant egg and gave birth to a dragon of unimaginable size. So this was how it was going to end, A'viloh thought. No one could ever hope to slay such an enormous beast, not the Company of Heroes and not every army in the whole world combined.

"Listen to me, A'vi. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else now but with you…", U'laqa said, his voice unusually frightened, gently shaking A'viloh’s shoulders to make him look at him. "…because I think I‘m in love with you."

Stunned A'viloh stared at him. So I am indeed going mad, was all he could think. Expectantly U'laqa looked at him. „Please tell me that it‘s not just me…“

A'viloh didn’t care if he was hallucinating or not, it didn’t matter anymore. He nodded shyly, unable to speak, and instead started to cry again.

"Don’t cry…", U'laqa whispered and wiped A'vi‘s tears away with his thumbs. He was so close, their foreheads and the tips of their noses touched. A'viloh was certain his heartbeat was louder than the thunder above. Then timidly, tentatively their lips brushed each other. It was more the ghost of a kiss than a real one but it was enough to make A'viloh forget everything else for a fleeting moment.

Until a bloodcurdling roar sounded above, that harshly brought them back to reality. Frightened they looked up to the sky. With a deafening explosion the dragon bursted it‘s cocoon and send shrapnels and fire flying over all of Eorzea. A'viloh shrieked as the fiery projectiles descended. U'laqa tried to shield him from harm, though against such a threat it would be in vain of course, and A'viloh buried his face at U'laqa‘s chest, fingers clawed into his shirt.

Then they felt the impact as one of the shrapnels hit the ground. It felt close, too close, but they didn’t dare to look. The air started to boil and the blast wave tore at them.

With their eyes pressed shut they clung to each other and waited for the end. At least none of them would die alone.

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2023

Day 25 - Call it a Day

With a hiss the arrow left his bow, shot through the air and hit its target. It landed right into the Sandskin Peiste’s left eye and the creature, already studded with arrows all over it’s body, finally broke down defeated.

A'viloh marvelled at the other Miqo'te’s archery skills. Maybe one or two of A'vi’s own arrows had found their target while all the others had missed or didn’t even fly far enough. His skills had improved a little over the last few weeks but alone he would never ever manage to take such a monster down.

When Laqa did it though, it seemed so absurdly easy! The way he fought, the unflinching look in his golden eyes, every single one of his movements, the way he went still amid the turmoil before letting the arrow fly - it all mesmerised A'viloh.

"Phew! That was a tough one.", the blonde Miqo'te said and ran the back of his hand over his forehead as he turned to A'viloh. "You think three ones will be good enough to impress Gundobald?"

The two of them had arrived at Little Ala Mhigo around three months ago and while they had managed to befriend a few people, a lot of them remained wary of them. The most stubborn of them was Gundobald, who was unfortunately also the leader of this settlement. He tolerated them so far but winning his sympathy seemed like an impossible task. For U'laqa however this was more of a challenge than a hindrance and he took on every possible task that might enhance their reputation in the Ala Mhigan’s eyes. Today that had meant decimating the Peistes which had increased more and more around the settlement over the last few weeks.

"I don’t think anything is enough to impress Gundobald." A'viloh laughed. "You could bring down a Primal all by yourself and all you‘d get would be one of his stoic huffs."

U'laqa chuckled and yanked the arrows from the Peiste‘s corpse. "You‘re right. It just bugs me that I can’t win that stubborn old man over…"

"Ah yes... I can see how that‘s a heavy blow for someone as much-loved as you!", A'viloh teased.

Laqa handed him some of the arrows, then leaned down and planted a small kiss on A'vi’s lips. "I don’t care if they love me or not as long as you do, Vi…"

"You know that I always will, no matter how many monsters you can fight…", A'viloh blushed and fidgeted with the arrows in his hands. "...but if you want to we could try to take out another one."

U'laqa shook his head. "Nah! It‘s enough for one day."

"Alright, but I will try to aim a little better next time…", A‘viloh promised.

Laqa grinned and winked at him. "Maybe you actually would if you concentrated on what I taught you instead of staring at me half of the time."

"I am not!", A'viloh protested.

"Yes you are!", the other teased and nudged him.

A'viloh giggled. "Why would I? It’s not like you look distractingly handsome when you’re fighting…"

"You’re flattery isn‘t going to save you from target practice, Vi!", U'laqa teased, took his hand and pulled him along.

For a while he let A'viloh shoot arrows at a cactus from various distances, giving advice and correcting his posture, the later with a little more physical contact than would have been strictly necessary - Focus, Vi!, he teased knowing very well what he was doing - before he pressed a kiss to A'vi‘s cheek from behind and announced: "I guess that’s enough. Let’s call it a day."

A'viloh went to get his arrows while Laqa lay down under a big green tree nearby, that defied the blazing sun and offered them a patch of comfortable shadow. A'viloh sat down beside him and observed the view. Little Ala Mhigo at their backs, the landscape of Broken Water stretched out in front of them, the road leading towards Camp Drybone at their left and the ancient ruins of the Belah‘dian temple to their right. Not a soul to be seen far and wide.

"This is a nice spot, isn’t it?", A'viloh asked and looked down to Laqa.

"Mhmm… I really like the view.", he answered, deliberately looking at A'viloh instead. The red-haired Miqo'te looked at him as if he wanted to say Don’t be silly! but U'laqa reached out for him and pulled him down towards himself before he could say another word.

And as they lay there in the grass together, just the two of them, away from the prying eyes of Little Ala Mhigo, A’viloh thought that this had to be the best place in the world.

[avirael]

Let’s meet again in our next life…

(I couldn’t be there for the server shutdown 😢…)

[avirael]

I took another picture of Laqa before he will be gone soon…🙈🥲

[avirael]

"Home" (3/6) - Little Ala Mhigo After leaving the Forgotten Springs A'viloh and U'laqa traveled through Southern Thanalan for a while but soon realised that it was too dangerous with just the two of them out there on their own. So they decided to stay in Little Ala Mhigo until they made plans of were to go next.

The Ala Mhigans were very reluctant about the outsiders at first but U'laqa soon managed to befriend some of them by helping them out with hunting monsters. Not all of them warmed up to them but after a while they had a nice little circle of friends, that made living there much more bearable. One of the women even taught A'vi how to braid his long and impractical hair in ways a lot of the Ala Mhigans did, a habit he kept up to the present day.

However the place was really poor and living there was very difficult, so U'laqa soon shared the same dream a lot of the refugees dreamed: Going to Ul'dah. And in his case also building a good life as adventurers for themselves just like his father had done with the Company of Heroes.

A'viloh on the other hand had already been reluctant about leaving his old home behind and was finally quite content about being able to be with U'laqa without the need for secrets. Despite the circumstances he liked Little Ala Mhigo and the friends they made there and retrospectively he considers their time there the happiest year of his life. However he would have followed Laqa through all seven hells if that was were his friend wanted to go, so it was only a matter of time until they would move on.

In the end after a little more than a year U'laqa and a few Ala Mhigans had cooked up a plan, or rather got roped into one by people who claimed they could help them with their journey and start in Ul'dah for very little coin. In hindsight it was quite suspicious and they should have know better but they were desperate and fell for the trap.

After a day's travel the smugglers made their move and attacked them at night in their sleep. They were shackled and transported down the Burnt Lizard Creek on a little boat until they reached the sea. There they were handed over to a band of pirates that set sail for La Noscea.

[avirael]

"Home" (2/6) - The Forgotten Springs

A'viloh was 5 years old when he was orphaned. The people of the U-tribe found him crying between the corpses of his family as the only survivor of the Amalj'aa attack.

He was brought to the Forgotten Springs, were it was decided that he would be allowed to stay with them until he was old enough to return to his home if he wished so.

So he remained with the U-tribe. He loved the place, grew up with lots of other children and had a relatively careless and happy childhood.

He was especially fond of U'laqa, the oldest son of the nunh, who was the same age and the first person to treat A'vi as part of the family. A'viloh admired him a lot because the other Miqo'te was very brave and a lot better at things like hunting and fighting.

A'viloh on the other hand had always been rather small and weak and was often scolded by his trainers. U'laqa however still treated him like his best friend no matter what other people said and eventually as they grew older A'viloh realised that he was falling in love with U'laqa.

Of course he was to shy to say anything and couldn’t imagine that someone as perfect as U'laqa would like scrawny, weak, little A'viloh too. After all U'laqa was beloved by everyone and his father had great expectations for him.

However U'laqa absolutely liked A'viloh back and loved how kind and cute and beautiful he was, but he didn’t know what to say or do. It took them until the Calamity, when they watched Dalamud fall together, to finally realise their feelings were mutual.

Slowly they developed a relationship but kept it secret out of fear how U'laqa‘s father would react. In the end they were found out of course and indeed were met with disappointment. A dispute broke out, words were said that all sides regretted afterwards and in the end U'laqa announced he and A'viloh would leave the village together.

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2023

Day 08 - Shed

The sun had long vanished beneath the horizon as A'viloh sneaked out of the house trying his best to not wake anyone. It was a clear night and the dark blue sky was filled with millions of stars shining in all kinds of colors. In A'viloh’s opinion this view never got boring, he could marvel at it for the rest of his life and wonder if somewhere up there someone else saw a similar sky and did the same.

Quietly he crossed the Aetheryte square, staying in the shadows as best as he could, alway keeping an eye out for people who could see him. He wasn’t sure if it was really necessary to be this careful but better safe than sorry.

U'laqa had asked to meet him at midnight by the wooden shed at the springs. This had been earlier that day after their archery training session. While everybody else went to retrieve their arrows U'laqa had casually stepped beside him and whispered in his ear. Before A'viloh could reply anything U'laqa had already run after the other boys, not that he would have replied anything dumbfounded as he was.

All afternoon he had been torn between worry and excitement about this secret meeting. A few weeks had passed since Dalamud’s fall and the world hadn’t come to an end after all. That night as the dust started to settle and worried voices called out for them, they had embarrassedly untangled from their embrace and pretended nothing had happened. The oasis had remained relatively unharmed by the catastrophe and so all things had quickly returned back to normal. A'viloh had already began to worry that things between U'laqa and him had also returned to normal. He feared that what U'laqa had said to him that night as the two of them watched in terror as the red moon fell out of the sky had long been forgotten.

Now, as he stepped towards the springs, all he felt was nervousness. A tiny fire burnt in one of the braziers but there was no one to be seen. He looked around, but found nothing. Carefully he peaked into the shed, nothing either. Then suddenly something gripped his shoulders from behind and snarled. He shrieked and spun around only to realise that it wasn’t a monster that attacked him but just U'laqa who had pranked him.

As the other Miqo'te heard A'viloh surprised scream he quickly pressed a finger to his lips and gestured for him to be quiet.

"Shhh! They’re going to hear you.", he whispered and because A'viloh stared at him like he just had a heart attack he added: "I’m sorry A'vi, it was just too tempting. By Azeyma! You should have seen your face!" Then he started to laugh heartily.

A'viloh grimaced. "Haha, very funny… So you called me here to scare me to death, is that it?"

"Maybe!", Laqa answered with a cheeky glint in his golden eyes and that kind of wide amiable smile on his face that never failed to make A'viloh speechless.

Silence settled between them and for a few moments neither really knew what to say. Then U'laqa nervously ran his fingers through his bright blonde hair and his face became more serious than usual.

"No… actually I wanted to to talk to you, about… you know, what I said when Dalamud fell…"

A'viloh made an anxious face. So it was indeed how he feared. All of this had been a misunderstanding and now U'laqa wanted to take back what he said.

"I see…", he muttered disheartening.

"What’s with that gloomy face now?", he asked obliviously.

A'viloh forced a weak smile onto his face. "I understand. I know it was a weird situation, end of the world and everything. It‘s alright if you changed your mind. I really shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up…"

"What?!", the other Miqo'te exclaimed. "You thought I didn’t mean it?!"

A'viloh couldn’t believe what he heard.

"You didn’t? No, I mean: You did?"

U'laqa sighed and slowly shook his head, smiling in a way that made A'viloh think he was making fun of him. "Oh, you silly, adorable idiot…"

A'viloh still struggled to understand and just stared at the other boy in confusion.

Finally U'laqa grasped his hands and said: "I meant every word, every single one. I love you, A'vi. I loved you since the day we met."

"You do??"

U'laqa chuckled at his puzzled expression.

„I do.“

Still A'viloh couldn’t quite believe it and wondered if this was just a dream he would wake up from every second now.

After a moment U'laqa raised an eyebrow and quizzically tilted his head. "Please don‘t tell me now that you don’t like me back…"

"No!", A'viloh exclaimed. "I do too!"

When he realised what he just said his face went hot and he quickly looked down in embarrassment. Very quietly he added: "I like you very much. For a long while now actually but I never thought…"

"Shhh…", U'laqa said quietly and A'viloh instantly fell silent, as the blonde boy cupped his face in his hands and made him meet his gaze.

Then he slowly leaned down and kissed him.

[avirael]

"Home" (4/6) - The Silver Bazaar

The pirate ship however never made it to La Noscea and instead sunk in a thunderstorm close to the Silver Bazaar, where A'viloh was washed ashore alone, grieving and traumatised.

The pirates had not treated their "cargo" very kindly and shortly after their departure from Thanalan things had escalated. U'laqa was brutally murdered for trying to protect A'viloh from the pirates and A'vi was left to an even worse fate, that made him wish they had just drowned him too.

For days he prayed to Azeyma, first for her to punish his torturers but all alone in the dark belly of the ship, starved and broken, he eventually only prayed for her to end his suffering.

And when he already began to wonder if the goddess was even listening to him so far from home, she finally answered. She and her kin Rhalgr and Llymlaen took pity on him and send storm and thunder and fire to tear the ship apart.

But death was not granted to him. Instead he was washed ashore just outside the Silver Bazaar, where Kikipu found him miraculously alive between the wreckage of the ship and the corpses of the pirates and their victims.

She took him in and slowly nursed him back to health, even if not all of his wound could be healed with medicine. She treated him with patience and kindness and eventually A'viloh slowly started to feel better again and tried to help Kikipu as good as he could in their little settlement.

Around a year after his arrival there he had started to think of the place and it's people as his new home. So when he heard that the bazaar was going to be demolished, he decided to do something to help the person, who had by then become like a mother to him.

[avirael]

I‘m sad, so I created Laqa on Cloudtest01.

Feel free to send a friend invite if you have a character there too…

(The full name is U‘laqa Tia)

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2023

Day 05 - Barbarous

Potential Trigger Warning:

While not explicitly described this story still contains topics of physical and sexual violence!

Context: This story describes a part of A'viloh’s captivity by pirates after leaving his home.

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

Day and night looked the same in the belly of the ship and all sense of time was long lost, so it was impossible to tell how many days they had already spent shackled in the dark, when finally A'viloh’s personal Calamity struck them.

The pirates were laughing as they entered the cargo room and a few of them were also talking in a slurred voiced. They seemed to be drunk, very very drunk at that. Definitely drunk enough to lay hand on the cargo.

While one of the men picked on an Ala Mhigan girl way to young for any reasonable persons taste, another one roughly pulled A'viloh to his feet. One dirty hand tugged at his loose hair and the other tried to force his chin up. “What do we have here? A pretty kitten?”

A'viloh wasn’t sure if the man had mistaken him for a girl or if he just didn’t care. It didn’t really matter anyway, his intentions were even more obvious than the strong smell of alcohol on his breath.

A'viloh tried to struggle out of the man’s grip but a harsh jap at his hair made him howl in pain.

“Leave him alone!!”

Before he realised what was happening, U'laqa had jumped at the sailor like a wild Coeurl, hissing and hitting and scratching. The pirate was surprised enough to let go of his prey but he still was a lot taller than his opponent. Only Laqa‘s momentum and anger gave him an advantage and made both of them fall to the floor.

Turmoil broke loose and it took the other pirates a moment to tear Laqa away from their comrade. Suddenly a loud voice echoed through the room and everything went silent at once, as the big Roegadyn captain stomped in. “What’s going on here?!”

The attacked sailor jumped to his feet and agrily pointed at Laqa who was held in an iron grip by three other men.

“He attacked me, capn. Didn’t like how I looked at his friend there. See, he left quite a mark.”, he pointed at his face and indeed a big red stripe ran across his skin, from barely under his eye all the way down to his chin.

For a moment the captain seemed to assess the situation and then he loudly addressed all of his shackled cargo at once.

��I warned you! All of you are my property now and I don’t tolerate disobedience!“, then he turned to Laqa and gestured at his men. “Take him upstairs! Let him be a warning example for the others.“

“No!” A'viloh wailed without thinking and threw himself at the men holding Laqa. “No, leave him be!”

Of course he wasn’t strong enough to take on even one of them and so all it needed was one harsh slap across his face to send him to the floorboards at their feet.

The captain scoffed and turned to leave. “Take them both!”

They were dragged upstairs and while A'viloh shivered in fear, U'laqa struggled and cursed. After all this time in the dark belly of the ship the sun felt way to bright and made their eyes burn.

Both of them were pushed to their knees side by side on the deck of the ship and the captain stepped in front of them. A'viloh wanted to plea to him and insist it was all just a misunderstanding but all he got out was a squeaky “please…” he wasn’t even sure anybody heard.

The captain towered over Laqa.

“Do you think I am just going to let you attack my men like this and stir trouble?“, he asked but only got a stubborn look and a growl for an answer.

“You’re punishment shall be a warning to all the others not to cross me! How am I supposed to sell a disobedient kitty like you to anyone? All you accomplished with your little show was proving that you are worthless to me.”

He waved at his men. “You know what we do with mutineers, boys. Tie him up and feed him to the fish. Do with the other as you like, maybe this one is still able to learn some obedience…”

Both of the Miqo'te yelled and struggled but it was in vain. It were just too many even for Laqa to take on all by himself. They held him in place and tied his hands tightly together while he hissed and cursed. Another man brought a long rope and attached one end to the mast of the ship and the other to Laqa’s bonds. Then they roughly shoved him over the deck, past A'viloh and towards the railing.

A'viloh hurled himself at Laqa, trying to cling to him, but the pirates had both of them tightly in their grips. For a moment A'viloh and Laqa were only inches away, trying to get to each other and calling each other’s names.

And then suddenly they both were torn backwards, A'viloh thrown to the floorboards and Laqa pushed over the railing. He hit the water with a loud splash while the rope bound to him suddenly went tight from pulling him after the ship. He tried to stay above water but at this speed it was a futile struggle.

Laqa screamed in despair and in pain and A'viloh wailed and cried his name while some of the pirates pushed him to the ground. All he perceived was their laughter mixed with his boyfriend’s screams and the feeling of their hands all over his body. But after a while he couldn’t tell anymore if the screams were still Laqa’s or his own.

Just like that A'viloh was suddenly left all alone among monsters and from that moment on they would haunt his nights and days forever.

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2023

Day 03 - Family

The sun was already setting and painted the sky so many shades of yellow, gold and orange that you almost couldn’t tell anymore were the desert dunes stopped and the sky started. It turned the Forgotten Springs into quite a stunning view only rivalled by a clear night sky full of stars.

But the strange little Miqo'te child that was sitting by the Aetheryte didn’t seem to have an eye for it. U'laqa wondered if maybe he came from an even more beautiful place than the oasis and if that was the reason he seemed so indifferent.

His mother and a few other hunters had brought him back home earlier that day when they returned from their trip to the desert. They all had looked rather serious when they came back, some of them even sad, and U'laqa’s mother had carried that little boy on her arms. Even then he did have that same strange expression, like he wasn’t looking at anything at all.

U'laqa, always the most curious one of his siblings, had immediately run to his mother and asked: “Who is that, mommy?”

She had put the little boy down at the steps of the Aetheryte and shooed her son away.

“Come with me, Laqa. Leave him be for now. He needs some rest first.”

Then she had taken her son’s hand and had walked with him towards their house. But U'laqa‘s curiosity was too great, so he asked: “Where did he come from, mommy?”

She had ruffled his bright blonde hair and put on a thoughtful face.

“I don’t know, sweetie. We found him in the desert but I think he’s from somewhere far away. I will go and talk to your father about him. I think it’s best if the poor boy stays with us, because he doesn’t have a family anymore. You go and play with your siblings a little more.”

U'laqa had done as she said and played with his little siblings, although most of them were not much fun to play with. He wondered if the boy by the Aetheryte was more fun to play with but his mother had said to leave him alone. But if his father allowed him to live with them he would kind of be like one of his siblings, wouldn’t he? So was he really disobeying his mother when he went to talk to him now? She had said that he needed to rest but he wasn’t even resting, he just sat there and did nothing. He had to be horribly bored.

Slowly he sneaked closer to the child always looking if somebody was watching, until he stood right in front of him. To U'laqa’s disappointment he didn’t seem to notice him at all. He slowly blinked every now and then but without that U'laqa would have thought the boy was sleeping.

He reminded U'laqa of one of the toys his father had brought home from one of his visits to Ul'dah. The boy looked just like that tiny mechanical mammet when you forgot to rewind it, shoulders and arms sacked down, head tilted to the floor and his eyes entirely unfocused.

But he also looked like a real boy and not like a mammet, U'laqa thought. He examined him from different angles and then crouched down to get a better look of his face.

The boy was about his age and had tangled red hair with some orange streaks that almost reached his shoulders. There were freckles around his nose and he had eyes with such a vivid green color U'laqa had never seen before in his life. Did real people have eyes as pretty as that? Maybe he was a mammet after all?

U'laqa stretched out a hand and waved it in front of the boy’s face looking for a reaction.

“Hello? Can you hear me?…Hellooo?”

The boy blinked. Once, then twice and then looked up very slowly.

“Hey you!”, U'laqa exclaimed happily but the other child just stared at him with wide fearful eyes, as if he just noticed him now. Then U'laqa remembered what his mother had told him.

“My mom said you are from far away and don’t have a family anymore. Is that true?”

The red haired boy kept staring at him for a moment, then he just nodded wordlessly. He looked kind of sad.

“Sorry about that…”

U'laqa imagined what it would be like not to have a family and found that it sounded really lonely. Then he had an idea.

“Well, but you are here now! And mommy said that maybe you can stay! So I can be your family now! What do you think?”

For a moment the other child sceptically glanced around the place and then at U'laqa, but finally just shrugged.

U'laqa took that as a yes.

“Hooray! Soooo… what’s your name?”

Barely audible the child whispered: “A'viloh…”

“A'viloh? Okay, nice…” he thought for a moment and then added: “but I think I’m just gonna call you A'vi. That’s shorter and after all we’re family now, right?”

A'viloh shrugged absently yet another time and once again U'laqa interpreted it the way he wanted to.

“Great!”

He beamed and threw his arms around A'viloh in a tight hug. Once he let go of him he added: “I’m U'laqa by the way and I’m soooo happy you’re here!”

And just like that a tiny smile crept across the sad boy’s face.