#about: val'shira

[vuldak-juneau]

I get by, but it's hard to forget In the smoke of denial and the fog of regret Dismal and dark, some like clouds in the sky of my soul And I hear thunder roll

I look up at the uncaring sky With a prayer on my lips and a tear in my eye Oh, how the heart burns like fire in the light of the moon I just hope you'll be coming back soon

You're my long-lost love Can we wind back the wheels to the way that it was?

[valshirathelight]

Date: 5 months ago, flashback Location: Avalon, wherever Auden works in there Characters: @ars-gratia-auden & @valshirathelight Notes: Oathbow time

They'd been searching for Mir'solas for years, but it wasn't until recently that Val'shira knew, for certain, that her twin was dead. The letter that had come, stained with tears when Val locked it up in her room's vault. Grief, unending grief in the form of tears and solitude, had started to morph into rage. The world outside of Avalon was dangerous, but it wasn't anything she hadn't always wanted to face.

Val'shira would make anyone who came between her and answers pay. She wanted a weapon that reflected that. Her old bow was beautiful, but it had been the one that she had once used to train with her sister. She couldn't look at it anymore. Directly after visiting her sister's gravesite one day, Val'shira had summoned Auden. She'd shown them a sketch of what she'd wanted, an illusion, even a sense of the type of enchantments she hoped for. Now, she came to Auden to check on the progress.

"Sorry to interrupt you at your work," Val'shira greeted with habitual politeness; she looked like she was just going through a motions these days. Empty, tired. "You already came to me in Elune's Veil when I asked, so I thought I'd save you another trip. I came to see how everything is with the bow." Maybe that was rude, maybe it might be seen as rushing the weapon-maker, but Val'shira was too numb to care about how her actions were interpreted. She'd be gone for a while from Avalon soon anyway.

[thenerasx]

THE SCORN

About ll Skeleton ll Spotify ll Mirror ll Soundtrack ll Self Para ll Musings ll Edits

Born in Avalon on Sylaise's Shores

Was an mpreg elvhen baby

Fathers were craftsmen, one was good at making the things and the other was good at enchanting the things.

Was kind of a lothario, crafting wise he was just interested in explosives and fireworks.

Developed a reputation as a trickster and someone who was, in general, not a very stand-up character.

Had an arranged betrothal to Val'Shira's sister, Mir'Solas Melithar, but neither was very interested in the other.

While going back and forth between the mortal world he was a con artist and thief who live laugh loved ripping people off and then cartwheeling away back to Avalon

Caught up with him when someone sold him out to a Sinarian merchant.

Elokian and Neptune's Fleet got him out of that hot water, so now he's a raider, yarrrr.

Loves guns, and probably walks like a fraction as fast as everyone else because he's always lugging around big bertha.

Has been a raider for the last five years, he was kept from Avalon for twenty as a prisoner before that so... no longer a high elvhen. RIP.

Rumors of his death have been greatly over-exaggerated (ie everyone thought he was killed for being a criminal and wasn't captured.

[valshirathelight]

Date: After most recent plot drop Locations: Eterna, outside markets Characters: @ikarosx & @valshirathelight Notes: Please tell her Iskaldrik has fallen, I just realized she would have no way of knowing

She's never quite been further than Feronia's Haven, but even so the furthest Val'shira lingered long was always Eterna in the Queenslands. Bellanaris has instilled a guilt so powerful within her daughter, a guilt that was memorialized even in her name. Val has managed to overcome the guilt after a few hundred years, finally straying past the feywilds. But it wasn't until now that she felt the determination to go even further than Lysara. The markets of Eterna were bustling; Val'shira was looking for where to purchase a horse to travel on her own when she saw him. Up until that moment, the noble had never once seen Ikaros outside of Avalon. She knew he'd ventured, even at times while she did, but it was an odd sight nonetheless. "Ikaros?" She sounded surprised. The oddness and her curiousity briefly overpowered the heavy pit in her stomach she'd get when she thought of or looked at him.

"What's happened?" Childhood was centuries ago, but Val'shira knew enough about Ikaros to recognize a look of worry on the Prince. Now concern became more important to her than resentment. "Why do you look like that?"

[valshirathelight]

EPILOGUE ;

Location: Mystery Sport Lysara Event Characters: Val'shira Melithar, Ramirus/Eluvian Mentions: Aradia @emissaradia, Tianyou @faelortianyou, literally just kenyer Synopsis: Not a self-para - Private DnD thread with Shaner's NPC that highlights significant character development. Bitterness and trust issues ensue.

RAMIRUS:

“Did we-” Ramirus states, he smiles, “I think that’s the exit.” His excitement can hardly be contained. “I’ve uh… I’ve been thinking about this whole.. Crossing over thing. My physical body is dead, but my soul, I mean- people use spirits all the time, why do I have to go now? If you let me hitch a ride, maybe, I dunno. Maybe there’s a way I can stick around.” They could be quite the duo together.

VAL'SHIRA:

Val is beyond relieved, and she is now firmly against ever volunteering for something like this again. What a nightmare. Relief floods her, almost moving her to tears again but she’s too excited to get home (currently an inn) and get to rest. Val turns to Ramirus, excitement bubbling down. His words put an ache in her heart… maybe he didn’t want peace. Val tried to understand exactly what he means, relying on what knowledge she may have learned of demons as a noble high elf with top quality tutoring but little world exposure.

( An arcana check passed ) : Possession can happen commonly with spirits, while all can apply consent to gain a stronger foothold in the world of the living, demons, specifically more powerful ones are known for going to great lengths to gain a person’s willingness or trust. Greater demons are unable to crossover physically without the expressed consent of a host, or invitation from a powerful conjurer.

VAL'SHIRA:

Val was a logical woman. Emotions had run high in this game, and were still running quite high now, but there had to always be pause whenever she intended to change something in her life - especially something as drastic as her own body.

Creating changelings was a tragedy, the elvhen child was sick, but attaching them to humans was an often necessary step that elvhen parents took to save a life. It was a hard decision in Val’shira’s eyes, not something to celebrate or to consider commonplace and easy to stomach. A human body was changed - two lives altered forever. Val thought of changelings with sadness, and possession and attachment of a soul to another body was not unlike changelings. Only, in this case, it was an unnecessary risk for the two of them. Ramirus had had the chance to live his life and his time had come. He had suffered, without the peace he deserved, for years. Val’shira did not need another soul within her, another mind that might come and go as they please. She cared for Ramirus. She sympathized deeply with him now, she wanted only the best for him.

But she did not love him.

In fact, the undead bard was an oddity in her life. She was over 600 years old. The elve’s trust was usually hard won, but the trauma they had both shared opened her heart in a vulnerable way that had easily let Ramirus in. Elves were no strangers to deception, Val’shira even less so, but she was not thinking of deception. She thought of the little boy who hadn’t had the kind of life he deserved. She thought of what they'd endured in his trial. She was confused, concerned and wondering if this was ever a time for any of them to make such decisions. “You would be okay with possession? With a life without peace? Even after that amulet you were wearing, that possession that had taken hold of you in that chamber of your memories?”

RAMIRUS:

“It would only be for a while,” Ramirus explained, “the Students of Proserpina bind spirits to bodies all the time… if you can help me, then maybe we can find another vessel. One that isn’t-“ he smiled a bit and rubbed the back of his head as he gestured toward her, “occupied already.”

VAL'SHIRA:

She considered, silent for a moment as she imagined this playing out. Temporary possession, but that meant he had been invited so the door would likely remain open. And how would she explain this to her future husband, or to anyone for that matter? That she had come into a Lysaran game for exposure - just to come out with a ghost friend forever invited into her body - if, by then, they had done the unsavory thing of finding him another body to inhabit? Would she explain that alongside her slowly increasing disillusionment with the world outside the Moongate? Her new beef for Olympians?

The same Olympians that had practically killed them all on the battlefield with a plague? It might have been a fake scenario but it seemed very real to her. From what Val had heard of history, the battle had happened. She was well-read, and while the elve had never seen a true battlefield, she knew that published accounts were written by victors. Bias was real. And still, she had nevertheless fully trusted in the valor of Olympians before today. If that distrust had happened to her here, how could she allow herself to be so easily sacrificial now to a near stranger? She had known Ramirus for a few hours, shared trauma or not. True care and affection in her heart for him or not. It was not love, it was not unconditional.

“I don’t trust Students of Proserpina any longer. Perhaps that’s… foolish, I don’t know. But I also do not trust ourselves right now in this very moment. We’re weary, and you might harm your only chance for everlasting peace… reunion with your Gods, the mysteries of what comes next. For what? An eternity in this volatile world?” She frowned. “Horrible things are coming. It is one reason I hope to bring more elvhen within Avalon sooner rather than later, no matter their connection to the Laurelin. I… believe you need more time to think it through. You have seen what can become of possession. Good intentions do not mean good outcomes.”

RAMIRUS:

“I’ve been trapped in here for 75 years-“ after all he’d done for them, after how hard he worked, Ramirus looked hurt. But it was to be expected, she hadn’t liked him from the onset, still, he was visibly wounded. “All I’ve had is time. You’re going to leave me here?”

VAL'SHIRA:

Val’shira wasn’t one to let herself care about other people’s feelings. She had been a bitch, still would likely be a bitch, but the soft interior past the hard shell had a heart that broke at the sight of her new friend’s wounded face. Then she reasoned. She wasn’t one to make life-altering decisions just because someone looked sad and made puppy eyes at her. Especially not someone she didn’t love. Time here would not hurt the bard, though she would still feel heavy guilt for leaving him behind.

If she had to find a way to bring him out of this, she would work her ass off to do it and force a witch to help her. Maybe Aradia? If she had to trust any Olympian, let it be an exiled one, and one who also cared for Ramirus. But the high elve would not sacrifice her body and risk Ramirus’ own regret for forcing his soul to endure this. The soul was the most important part of them all. A decision on a whim, after such an emotional journey, was not wise for either one of them. This was not something the warrior sister had to teach the artist sister, it was something that Val had known even better than Mir’solas. Grace, strength and adoration had been her sister’s, but at least wisdom had been the younger’s.

“You’ve had time, but not your memories.” She came forward, looking regretful and sad but there was steel in her eyes. Val’shira was finally firm on her choice. “You are whole now,” She said with with fervent energy, emphasizing her words. An elvhen could not lie, and so this Val believed. “The soul is who you are. You will know yourself better now and you have the time to make that decision. No danger to find you anymore, no confusion and memory-bloke to weigh on you… You need to be sure you want to sacrifice the possibility of peace. Forever. And while you do decide, I swear to you, I will not abandon a true friend in need.”

But I also need to think of myself. No one in my life has ever put me first but myself.

RAMIRUS:

A laughter blooms from the back of Ramirus’s throat, and his body shifts as he grows larger and larger, and larger. 30 ft towering above, a Greater Demon of Pride with a crown of many jewels stands over you.

“Well done, keep your wits about you. True tests are never done.”

You awaken in the stadium, the trial is over, and the people are all gone. It’s very late.

There is a note from the Master of Games: Well done.

There are illusionary images playing around the stadium of a great battle between you and your fellow combatants. A crowd cheering, a stadium in an uproar as your name and the names of the others are chanted. The world was not privy to your encounter.

VAL'SHIRA

If Val’shira had beef with Lysaran games before, she really did now. The demon emerged, and the high elve was so struck with such complete and utter shock that it suddenly occurred to her how much of an idiot she was. Naive, inexperienced in so many regards despite her age. She had been so close… SO CLOSE to trusting a complete stranger. It was nothing but her own self-boundaries that had kept her safe. Not even the consideration that this friend she had made, the first new friend in a long time, was a whole ass demon. She should have considered it. The emotional walls came up higher now. Trust would come even more hard won, coldness and indifference grew within the elves’ heart. Disillusionment with her love for Lysara. She might have learned to contend with her own history through this experience, but Val’shira had come out a colder person than before as the stadium came back into view.

She looked around at these cheering people, all these people that didn’t know what their leaders had just put her and her teammates through. Or they did. She didn’t know which one was worse.

Val’shira had always loved the world outside the Moongate, but maybe it was just naiveté that she hadn’t been outside long enough - not as much as others like Tianyou, who always preferred Avalon. Rose-tinted glasses of an elve who had never felt at home with her family so she had found home in the world outside. Maybe Tianyou was right about this place. Maybe she had to add another reason to why she needed to find a way to return elven-blooded to the safety of Avalon, not just the impending conflicts. This place… it was cruel. These were the thoughts that ran through her mind as she went through her emotions quickly: confusion, shock, hurt, denial, hot anger… cold rage. Maybe the crowd couldn’t see her face, but she knew where she was mentally as she felt her expression lock into deadpan. For a second, she hated every one of these people. And she hated that she hated them.

Val’shira looked down at the note in her hand. She let light burst from her skin. Light did not produce heat, only the eventual absorption of it. She made the light brighter, it soaked into the paper until she watched it begin to smolder. She stood there until it was ash in her hand. “Fuck you and your tests,” she muttered, glare piercing towards where she hoped the Master of Games was. Even if he couldn’t hear her, it felt good to say it.

[valshirathelight]

Summary

Val'shira has been sketching since she was a child, doodling in the corners of notebooks and parchment after long days of studying. She began to try to color and paint at about 20 years old, taking a bit of supplies to one of her favorite places in Elune's Veil to see if she could imitate it. After many, many years, the centuries old elve formed her own styles in sketching, coloring and painting, inspired by both imagination straight from her head and realism that came from looking at her own illusions. When it comes to paintings from the heart and emotions, they tend to come out less hyper-realistic and are often on living subjects or situations she imagined from history. When it comes to painting to strictly capture something in her head, it tends to be more landscape and architecture orientated and she attempts to make them as realistic as possible, even using magic to take away the texture from her paint and soften edges. Her great passion is to sketch and color with special pens or to paint with (mostly) oils. Her greatest works usually take months to complete, if not more. Of course, pretty images didn't impress her family. In order to conform into being more useful to elvhen society as a noble elve, Val'shira took her love of art and put it into architecture, eventually learning how best to build elaborate buildings of elvhen (and, later, Lysaran) design and style. This is not her passion but she has learned to enjoy it and has realized the benefit of many useful skills that had to be earned to become an architect.

Artist Claims/Inspiration/Credits

Anato Finstark (Top Header & First Slide)

Alessandro Paviolo (Bottom Header & Second Slide)

Carla Urbano & Unknown Artist(s) (Third Slide)

[valshirathelight]

Date: Post most recent plot drop Location: Eterna, Lysara Characters: @ladyaylin & @valshirathelight Notes: channeling my own adhd here

In Avalon, Val'shira was a lady, but outside the Moongate she felt like anything but. The world was wide and fascinating; she still had so much to learn about life outside the Moongate. The Lady of Festivals reigned over Taravell when it came to moments like these - moments readying for celebration and hundreds of guests. Val didn't know how Aylin did it half of the time. Her twin, Mir'solas, had been set to be heir to the House Melithar but, while Val'shira had been there to listen to her mother ramble on how to run a house, she didn't put much stock to it. She never thought society was going to be for her. Even now with Mir'solas gone and Val set to inherit Elune's Veil, she had entrusted things to her uncle to manage and went to pursue what she believed was a greater purpose. She thought of that purpose now, her mind wandering as Aylin presented the format of the festivities and Val'shira felt a pang of guilt. She promised she would always try to be there to help with Aylin's creative visions but it was difficult for recent events not to take over her thoughts.

"Sorry, yes. The stage..." Val'shira sighed, disappointed in herself. Though it was likely that her fellow high elve was used to this behavior from Val, having babysat the young noble while she still ran around as distracted, chaotic little elvhen child. "I'm sorry, Aylin, I know this is important. You have the whole damn queendom coming."

[valshirathelight]

Date: Post the refugees getting safely to Haven Location: Haven, Lysara Characters: @jamieprice & @valshirathelight Notes: "sorry about paying you to accidentally suffer endlessly"

Val'shira had once given up on believing that her friend Theneras was alive but, somehow, even still believing he was dead by now, she regretted it. She regretted not looking longer. It was due to this that she could not let go of the idea that her niece or nephew was still alive somewhere. Even if Jamie had not found them, she would thank him for his service and then dismiss it. Perhaps this was a journey she had to take on her own. The mercenary had already been through hell and back in Iskaldrik.

"You're alive," Val'shira breathed out, in awe as she walked towards him. The high elve has been searching among the refugees that had returned from Iskaldrik to see if she could find him among them. She looked at each face - also hoping and wondering that one of them was the child of her sister. She stopped in front of Jamie, the question on her face despite the fact that she was too afraid to voice it - too afraid to get the disappointment that she felt was coming.

[valshirathelight]

NPC COUNT: 2) MIR'SOLAS MELITHAR

Relationship: Identical Twin Sister Age: Early 600's Occupation: Swordswoman Species: High Elve, Sound Manipulation Status: Deceased

Born just 7 minutes before Val'shira, her identical twin. Mir'solas, known as "Mira" to those close to her, was a vivacious child who did not lose her spark of joy as she grew older. She was known as someone who was eager to please, and the sociable delight of Elune's Veil. Wherever she went, music would follow thanks to her magic. She did not have a close relationship with her twin until they were adults. She was very much a homebody, and not very curious about life outside her branch of Avalon until she decided that she wanted to be a warrior.

She left Elune's Veil long enough to be taught by experts in Elgar'nan's Hearth and returned a swordswoman who never stopped practicing or hoping to fight for her people. During this time, Mira was also arranged a marriage with Theneras of Sylaise’s Shore. A common elve, son of friends of Bellanaris. He was expected to one day move to Elune's Veil once Mira was his wife. The two never seemed very interested in their engagement.

Mira would leave Avalon every so often, claiming that she was attempting to join the Warrior's Guild. She began to curl her short hair, hiding her elvhen ears far better. Eventually, Mira left and did not return. Trackers were only able to trace her journey to the border of Lysara and Iskaldrik. Missing for years, Mira was considered deceased and likely killed by Witchers. It wasn't until years later and a few months before the fall of Iskaldrik that Val'shira recieved a letter from her sister, claiming that the letter would only have reached her if she was truly dead. There was little information on the hastily written letter, but it begged her sister to find and care for her only child.

[valshirathelight]

NPC COUNT: 1) BELLANARIS MELITHAR

Relationship: Mother (1/2) Age: 900's Occupation: Former Lady of Elune's Veil Species: High Elve, Hypnotism/Full Illusion Making(?) Status: Alive (Blighted)

Bellanaris Melithar was born the eldest daughter in the noble family of House Melithar of Elune's Veil, having only a younger brother. As heir, she was taught from a young age the importance of responsibility and leadership and grew to be a just and gentle leader to her branch. Her troubles were always with her wife and children. When she was given an arranged marriage to Ghilas, an elve she had had a crush on since childhood, Bellanaris was overjoyed. She did not forsee that Ghilas did not feel the same way. Though her wife tried to remain in the relationship, once Bellanaris fell pregnant, Ghilas was likely terrified of being trapped. Rumour has it, Ghilas was in love with someone in Taravell, but the full truth of what happened to destroy their relationship was never divulged. The only thing Bellanaris told her daughters about their other mother was that she had Light Manipulation, like Val'shira. Bellanaris gave birth to their daughters alone, heartbroken, and with an absent wife who had left her family to leave Avalon and live in Taravell. Ghilas would become a Silver Elve and never meet her daughters, nor ever see Bellanaris again before her mortal death. It is common knowledge that Bellanaris had always favored her eldest daughter, the twin born a few minutes before the other.

[valshirathelight]

Val'shira hesitated. She knew he was right; she needed to focus on what her sister had asked of, and what she knew Mira would have wanted before her death. She owed her twin that much. But she also owed much to Tianyou and to his family. If it hadn't been for Hiro and Mithrahn's warmth and kindness, and the respect that they had for their son, Val'shira would have long since left her home to play wife in Elgar'nan's Hearth. Instead, the highest branch had given her joy and friendship, and Val had been permitted to find her own way before ever needing to worry about settling down. Hiro was quite possibly the kindest man alongside Theneras' fathers, and her heart broke.

"After a short journey to the Wildlands, I'm coming back and staying in The Stumble Inn. Please... don't hesitate, alright?" But Val did for a moment, staring at him. "And if you're going to let the brothers jostle you around, at least make sure they're paying you enough for the trouble." It was a bit of a tease, at attempt to leave her friend on a more lighthearted note based on what she knew of what he usually got up to in Taravell. "I'll be keeping my ears and eyes out for you."

He's too young. Well, that was funny. Tianyou couldn't even count on one hand the amount of times he had called his father an old man. He still looked fairly young, but that was just a part of elvhen genetics. If no one were the wiser, they would think that Hiro was Tianyou's slightly older brother. A few more years and they would probably end up looking identical. To an extent of course. People always told him he looked a lot more like his mother than he did his father. He always thought he just looked like a nice combination of the two. That didn't much matter right now though. Val'shira's comment jsut put a hint of a smile on his face because of that thought. Old man Hiro. He wished that was his father's only problem right now.

It was a good thing he had people around him that cared like Val'shira did. He could probably keep talking about how much he wanted to save the man, but he would have felt like he was being annoying about it if he were around anyone else. Save for Ikaros. A moment passed as he listened to one of his oldest friends speak. You won't be alone. He had never truly realized how alone he felt. In all honesty, he had left Avalon with Ikaros, but the oracle wasn't with him at night when he had to sit alone with his thoughts. Meditation didn't have the same appeal when every dark thought started filtering through his head before, during and after. Nevertheless, he nodded his head at her words.

"And neither will you." He let out a sigh, the nature around him becoming more of interest to him. "My problems do not outweigh yours. You must not prioritize this instead of finding what you came here to find. If you need me, you know I will find you. As I know you will do the same, my friend."

[valshirathelight]

Everyone was sorry about her sister, but Juneau didn't seem the kind to just throw nice words here and there without meaning them. So, funnily enough, Val'shira felt gratitude for the familiar sentiment this time around. She nodded in response, extending that feeling wordlessly.

Most people were easy to see as children where Val was concerned, but Juneau was truly and automatically so young in her eyes. It was a good thing. These feelings, this sadness in her eyes... one day it would be just a memory to her. She hoped so. She had truly come to care for the little spitfire. Maybe it's because children were so cute, but she doubted too many other people would see the demon wolf as cute.

Val didn't feel pity for the other woman, not anymore. But she was hopeful for her and truly believed she'd be fine. She watched her with steady, thoughtful eyes as she turned away. "Good luck, Juneau," she said as her back turned.

END.

Juneau watched Val’shira shake her head. A day earlier and Juneau’s temper would have flared to the extreme. She would have yelled until she was hoarse in Ivar’s defense–because if she could convince herself that Ivar hadn’t been that bad then it would mean that she herself had not been that stupid. Now, there was no fooling herself, no walking it back. No words of defense came to her mind, and no rage swelled in her belly. All it seemed to inspire was the abject pity in the eyes of Val’shira, Elokian, and even Alder who had seen the truth without the macabre theatrics of the mystery box. 

“I don’t like people who pretend they need help… who make you feel like they care about you but they just want something in the end,” Juneau muttered. That was most people. It was her. That was probably why she had so few friends. “I’m glad you’re okay, though… and I’m sorry about your sister.” 

Tired eyes landed on Val’shira’s face and Juneau considered promising to take care of herself as soon as she grew into something worthy of even her own rotten attention. She’d made it this far, hadn’t she? It became too much to look at Val when she suggested there was more than one, singular thing of worth within Juneau. Her limbs were slow and heavy with exhaustion as she pushed her stool back from the bar to leave Val’shira to her own company and to return to Alder’s rooms to lick her wounds and pray for a night of numb, dreamless sleep. “You and everybody else,” she sighed below her breath as she turned her back on Val. 

[valshirathelight]

"I did not need to know that," she groaned. It might have been funny had she had thought of Mira. The two, engaged, set to made some heirs for Elune's Veil one day. She hadn't thought much of it when she was little - it made sense when their parents were friends - but it bothered her more and more with every passing decade. He took the dynamite back and she didn't fight him. Val'shira leaned back against the stair as she considered his names. "Subtle," she teased, glancing over with a small grin and eyebrow lift. When she looked away again, she sighed. "There are like a million-billion beautiful elvhen words for things and places... we can be traditional." But that was so expected. One of the worst curses about being an artist was that you were chronically hoping for originality in everything you did, one way or another.

She pouted, a very serious and thoughtful pout. "Or we can be more simple... Something nice but still somehow foreboding. So, maybe warren. Like a rabbit's warren." She smiled. "Wanderer's Warren... The Wild Warren." Was alliteration overused somewhere too? She moved her foot to gently push at his leg. "Am I overthinking it?" He was likely one of the only people Val'shira would outwardly ask for advice - words to humble the rarely humbled, sentiments to bring a stubborn elve back from doing whatever she wanted - thoughts or actions of her's that could either spiral her into anxiety or into trouble with someone. Val was introspective enough to know how difficult she could be, but rarely admitted it and even rarer did she seek help. People didn't need to know how fragile her ego actually was.

Such a buzzkill, was this place even going to be scary if there weren't real stakes on the line? They were doing this together though and at least Val would make sure that this was going to last past a fortnight. No dynamite though? What was Theneras even going to contribute? He'd have to put some thought into that. His eyes fixed on his friend for a few beats too long as she made a show of humoring him.

"I was joking but I'll take it, anything for a show." The mountain looked stable enough but Theneras had a habit of not thinking things all the way through. He didn't know what he could contribute that'd be at the other's level but he liked a challenge, and any chance to get his mind working. She plucked the dynamite though and put her back to him for a moment, Theneras was Theneras, so he looked and bit his lip before clearing his throat. Grinning.

"Jokes on you, I'm into that shit." Theneras grinned, tone light before he sat down next to her and plucked the dynamite from her hands before he pocketed it again into his jacket. Theneras rubbed his hands together as he tried to think of a good name, there were about eighty-seven-thousand fancy elven words for how special things were. So many, maybe too many. Kind of got monotonous after a while and it made naming anything new kind of tough. "What about Doom House; Residence of Unbridled Horrors?" Subtly wasn't his strong suit.

[valshirathelight]

Val'shira seemed to hardly listen for a few seconds, looking away in frustration that she tried to push down. It wasn't Jamie's fault - she knew going in this that there was little hope a stranger could find her sister if no one in Elune's Veil could. Maybe when he got to Iskaldrik he would know more. Until then, Val'shira had time to prepare to go herself and join him later. There was still things at Elune's Veil she couldn't leave half assed and her people had to know that she wasn't abandoning them the way her Silver mother or Mir'solas did.

"My sister is dead," she acknowledged. "I think her child must be a daughter because girls run in our family, but it could be a son... I don't know." She swallowed. "I don't know if they're a silver elf or a faiman. I don't know. All I know if they're out there and their mother, my sister, is dead. So, yes, I am concerned about the child." Though the child was likely an adult by now. The elve took out a purse that jingled with coins and she placed it on the table. "I have payment for your journey to Iskaldrik. Whatever ship you wish to commission, whatever mode of transportation or smuggler can get you in."

"Is it enough?"

He doesn't usually do this kind of thing, this is not a job he'd ever really look twice at until he needed to. The kicker was that he indeed needed to, the itch to return back home grew the longer he was away. It's not something he's entirely proud of, the hold the Highlands still have over him. There's no people there that he misses, nothing specific at least, but he wants to be there. Information on a missing person is small potatoes and something that's low risk, making it a win/win scenario for him. He gets to head back to Iskaldrik, Val'shira gets information, it should be a relatively routine trip. "Nae much, I might have figured the area fae a merchant I know. Every couple of weeks some essentials would be either delivered or picked up until one day it jus' stopped." Jamie's eyes go from glancing around the quaintness of the Stumble Inn to the elvhen across from him. "It's the daughter yer more concerned tae find, yeah?"

[faelortianyou]

He's too young. Well, that was funny. Tianyou couldn't even count on one hand the amount of times he had called his father an old man. He still looked fairly young, but that was just a part of elvhen genetics. If no one were the wiser, they would think that Hiro was Tianyou's slightly older brother. A few more years and they would probably end up looking identical. To an extent of course. People always told him he looked a lot more like his mother than he did his father. He always thought he just looked like a nice combination of the two. That didn't much matter right now though. Val'shira's comment jsut put a hint of a smile on his face because of that thought. Old man Hiro. He wished that was his father's only problem right now.

It was a good thing he had people around him that cared like Val'shira did. He could probably keep talking about how much he wanted to save the man, but he would have felt like he was being annoying about it if he were around anyone else. Save for Ikaros. A moment passed as he listened to one of his oldest friends speak. You won't be alone. He had never truly realized how alone he felt. In all honesty, he had left Avalon with Ikaros, but the oracle wasn't with him at night when he had to sit alone with his thoughts. Meditation didn't have the same appeal when every dark thought started filtering through his head before, during and after. Nevertheless, he nodded his head at her words.

"And neither will you." He let out a sigh, the nature around him becoming more of interest to him. "My problems do not outweigh yours. You must not prioritize this instead of finding what you came here to find. If you need me, you know I will find you. As I know you will do the same, my friend."

Val'shira appreciated Tianyou's candor, especially because sharing her most intimate thoughts and most intrusive feelings was not something that the elvhen did with anyone anymore. There was truly no one left in her life, no one except a fiancé that she didn't love and who didn't love her either. She didn't talk about him. Tianyou had his own life and Val'shira wanted nothing less for him, even if she didn't physically see him as often as she would have liked to. For Tianyou to be just as honest meant that their relationship was as it always was, something she deeply treasured. Val'shira was even more relieved to hear Tianyou confide in her. Or, she would have been, had the answer not been so heart-wrenching to hear.

As many times as Val had been bitter over not having had as much luck as her friend did with family, she adored the Faelorian nobles and thought both of Tian's parents would have a long, long, and happy life together. "That's not right," she breathed out, her shocked eyes now filling with grief. "He's too young." Personal grief and grief for her friend's suffering. Bellanaris also suffered from the Blight, but their's was a complicated relationship and at least her own mother was old enough that it wasn't so shocking. "Oh, Tian. It's not." Distressed but still steadfast, Val'shira squeezed his hand. It was in that moment that the carriage had started to slow down, marking their destination arrival to the gate. Val didn't yet move. "I don't care what I'm doing, call on me. Lord Hiro is..." So many things, things Val'shira has already told Tianyou. It had always been more comforting to be around his family than her own. "Him and Lady Mithrahn let me believe love is real. Let me repay all the kindness your family has given me over the years. Let me try. You won't be alone."

Maybe finding a way to get elvhen-blooded into Avalon was a pipedream. Maybe finding one mystery person in an entire continent with little information, someone who might not even be alive anymore, was a pipedream. Maybe curing the Blight was also a pipedream. Maybe she was just collecting pipedreams, but Val'shira was done doing nothing but sitting pretty in Avalon with a branch that didn't really need her anyway.

[valshirathelight]

A tiny little grin at Ikaro's first statement, and the noble felt the air around her clear as some of the heaviness in her heart lifted. Baby steps. She knew now that she hoped to stick by her friend's side through the difficulties that lay ahead, but it would still take her some time to find peace with Mir'solas' death. Though it was unwise to blame other people for her own sister's choices, the deep grief of a twin sister was hardly logical. Val'shira let in a deep sigh, preening by a finger curling through her long, dark hair. "I know," she teased. Once more, jesting in deadpan.

"... I'm looking for a lot of things," she replied vaguely. Much like Ikaros, Val'shira did not wish to burden the prince with more than he was already carrying. He was carrying a lot. "Peace with Mira's death... and what I owe her. There are things I promised myself I would do for my sister before I return to Avalon." Elune's Veil could wait for her; her uncle would see through shouldering both the branch and supporting Titania. No one had ever expected the younger twin to lead anyway.

"Don't worry about me." Val put a hand on his shoulder briefly and squeezed. "I'll be busy though," she added casually, taking away her hand. "So, if you need your favorite ranger's help, first make sure someone important is dying or the world is ending. You'd probably know with enough advance time." This was true, but Ikaros would know her well enough to suspect that she could be called upon for anything. Val'shira put up a front, but the messy heart of a tortured artist was stereotypically very sensitive.

"On the contrary, I hear I'm a joy to have at parties." Ikaros had to force himself not to laugh, the air amongst them was still tense with the reality they now faced ahead. He was curious to know what she was doing outside of Avalon, though not in a way that would require much answer – they were all free to do what they wanted, Ikaros was just simply nosey. "I accept it." He figured there wasn't much to add on, though he huffed out a small laugh despite himself. "I like the way you phrase that much better than what I usually think of." The vision he'd had in Eterna, that had been suffocating, and now he was out in the woods at least, heading towards the stones that would send them closer to the Moongate.

"There's a lot going on, Val. I don't wish to burden you with more." She'd already lost her sister, on a journey searching for the lost pieces. Ikaros could look, perhaps he'd see what she was looking for, but there was the thought that yet again he'd see something out of reach for Val'shira. "What were you doing in Eterna?"