#edyne wihls

[blacknovelist]

mom sketch hours GO

[blacknovelist]

Having neither money or artistic sense or even an understanding of Canon will stop me from conceptualizing feri'um's mom, okay—

Long spiral horn was the concept before I knew anything about ffxiv but I rather think the new shorter one works much better and is probably easier to approximate in the character creator

[blacknovelist]

endings (ffxiv fic)

I had a lot of feelings after learning about how the original ffxiv rebooted into the current A Realm Reborn iteration, man. I also have a lot of feelings about my character’s backstory and their mom specifically. and it’s writing month. you can probably guess where this is going.

anyway <3

Over the tatters of nations embroiled in battle, a moon descends from the sky and sends the people into tumult.

A continent away, a mother braces against the uncertainty.

The skies tended to tint orange near the horizon in the days before Dalamud's fall, even this far from Cartineau and beyond the bounds of Eorzea. In the months further back it had gleamed, a red-white hole in the daytime sky that inched nearer and nearer until it no longer could be sighted save for the splashes of color it left on the clouds.

They got little more than hearsay and rumor this far east, but Edyne had once made work of collecting leaves off the grapevine and in months of distant dread such as this, the habit had reared its head with a vengeance unhindered by a broken horn. Lips hung loose on merchants and adventurers of all flavors. She knew what it meant.

She'd known for so long this had been coming, the steady flow of whispers shifting with each moon that passed and their crops flourishing or crumbling unnaturally, as though to lend greater credence to the changing of days. And yet now, to know that the end of this time of waiting approached felt... worse, somehow. It could be tomorrow, the next day, a week from now, tonight even. Would the heavens flash red once the moon crashed itself into the land at long last? Would the destruction be bound only to Eorzea, over which the descent had been said to be locked upon, or would shockwaves and devastation reach even here?

By Dusk and Dawn, let it not reach them here.

Her child turned from their dusty work as though sensing their mother's heavy gaze and heavier thoughts, and at the curious tilt of their head as they looked back to her she couldn't help but smile. Feri'um beamed in turn, uprooted the last of the withered crop he’d been cleaning up, and ambled over. Edyne didn't hesitate to pull them into a hug.

Gods beyond, when had her little one grown so much? Once, they'd barely reached the tips of her fingers, even standing straight up. Now they could wrap their arms around her waist without any fuss at all, and who knew how much taller they'd get by the end of this year? Or the next, even.

She did not entertain the dead seed that asked if either would even come.

"Mom?"

"Weiben's hosting us for dinner tonight. Liuren will be there too." She leaned down to rub their horns with her own. "Go clean up."

"Okay." Feri'um frowned up at her. "What about the rest of the packing?"

"It's all handled, unless you haven't put those shoes away like I told you yesterday."

"I did!" Only half a lie— her spare sandals had indeed been bundled, but she'd spotted theirs tucked behind their bedroll. "....do you know what we're eating?"

"Nothing but tomatoes and celery," she said, just to watch the teen's nose scrunch, and she brushed her palm along the budding scales along their jaw. "Now go. I don't want to see any dirt under your nails!"

Supper wasn't, in fact, either of those vegetables, much to Feri’um’s relief. The three adults present shared a quiet laugh as the children bickered over a bowl of snap peas, Weiben's dark-horned duo glaring axes until one noticed Feri sneaking spoonfuls straight out of the others' arms. Liuren shot the two au ra a jokingly satisfied look at the lack of young blood that belonged to her at the table, then squawked as Weiben dangled the salt just out of her lalafellan reach.

Tomorrow, the rest of their little mixed tribe would gather, and the multitude of families would pick up their roots and press onwards. The Garleans hadn't reached this region yet, approach slowed by their current focus on the western front, and even then would probably not pay much mind to a little band of wanderers so long as they took care— but to stay still too long put an itch in every Xaela-blooded head in camp, Edyne's mixed heritage no exception.

With good fortune, the tribe murmured, the tint of the sky would remain a tint for days more, until they could find a good spot to settle yet again. If they were luckier still, impact might pass without them so much as noticing. Perhaps they'd be spared casualty and effect alike from the second moon's fall, the calamitous Dalamud a consequence for Aldenard and its nations alone.

Edyne Wihls did not hope. She prayed. To Azim and Nhaama, father of Dawn and mother of Dusk, and perhaps a bit to the Twelve her not-auri clanmates had brought with them too, because if any Gods might hear perhaps they could find it in their divine and distant hearts to take pity on the little mortal mother laying out pleas, worshiper or not.

Let them all survive, Eorzeans and her own people alike. If not that, permit her tribe to carry on, ruffled but alive through calamity. And failing that still, then please, protect their children— allow her child to wander and learn how to understand like she did, once.

And if none of that would do, then at least let the end come quick. By the Skies, let them not suffer.

(And Edyne dreamed, that night. Not of light and darkness or of crystals and black cloth, but of smiling faces and clear blue skies. Of a child grown strong and tall but never too large for her to pull into her arms. Of a world, vast and dangerous and bloody but so very bright through another's eyes, filled with strangers turned friends and endless fresh sights. Of life just as easily saved as it could be cut away.

It was not an answer, nor a reassurance. But she woke without memory of it the next day, nonetheless settled to her core, and when she on a whim scooped Feri'um into her arms, they just sighed and laughed and hugged her back.)

[blacknovelist]

See I could think about my FFXIV character but consider: I can think about their mom specifically instead also