#you get this at 11:56 pm bc i'm tired and i've been chipping away at this first chapter
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
crystal-verse · 1 year ago
Text
A snippet of beckoned by sunlight and freedom (obscured by visions and mystery), the planned fic that'll span ARR as experienced by Mehka and K'pheli.
A'mehka'ahma was not familiar with ships or the salty sea. Both things were rare in Gelmorra -- as would be expected, considering Gelmorra was an underground city. There were rivers that ran through the tunnels and hollowed-out caves, and a few small pools that were large enough to swim in, but no proper lakes, and certainly no sea.
Standing on the deck of that great ship, as it sailed through the ocean waters, she couldn't say that she disliked it. A'mehka'ahma had shed her old identity upon rising aboveground, leaving those caves to follow that call from the gods (that wanderlust in her blood, that need to see what was out there) -- she wore her new name, Mehka Awandah, like a tightly-fitting shirt or bracelet, and hoped that she could keep Gelmorra hidden. As was always the hope -- as was always the danger. As far as she knew, Limsa Lominsa had little knowledge of Gelmorra, not nearly as much a risk as going to Gridania would have been (and Mehka did worry for her cousin, Sae'pheli'ehva), but one should always be safe rather than sorry.
Mehka (and that was her name now, here -- she had to think of herself as Mehka) was lucky that her clothes, while a bit odd, didn't draw more than a passing eye. Mehka Awandah was a Miqo'te from the middle of the Twelveswood, seeking glory and adventure by leaving her clan and traveling to Limsa Lominsa. She was experienced moderately in the lance, as her clan had used for hunting, and in daggers, which were used for smaller prey or skinning hunts. She had taken up the axe in hopes it would serve her in coming times. She had little coin, basic knowledge of Eorzea's geography and politics, and wanted to see what the world was like.
A'mehka'ahma would keep hidden any mention of Gelmorra -- of its silkmoths the size of an antelope, raised and bred for silk and meat; of its large caverns with stone reaching high above, buildings and small shrines and little walls made from stone mined from the cavern around them, quicklime and basalt and dolomite; of the aether-filled light-crystals, glowing enough for the people to see. Of the way her people crept aboveground, through the stone passageways and through the darkness, to see the stars on hallowed days and to see the sun on others, or those reckless enough to go aboveground just to feel the breeze. Of the way the plants all glow that soft blue-purple, bioluminescence grown into them. Of the way Gelmorra, its Duskwights who had lived amidst the underground dusk and quiet rivers and threat of Gridania's elementals, thrived in its secrecy, lived despite everything, taught their people the history and common knowledge of aboveground, the culture of the different city-states of Eorzea and of Gyr Albania and of Ilsabard, that should they go aboveground they would have covers made, an aboveground identity with enough knowledge that they would not be found out.
It is why A'mehka'ahma and Mehka Awandah are one and the same, really. The same person, just a different past worn -- names worn like a cloak or a pretty outfit, to keep one's past told to only those who were trusted. Knowing of Eorzea and Gyr Albania and Ilsabard.
(There are a great many Garleans living in Gelmorra, just as there are a great many Miqo'te and Elezen. Some of these Garleans are born Duskwights, proudly claiming that word that Gridania had painted on those who'd chosen to stay underground all those centuries ago. Some of these Garleans are imperial defectors, looking for somewhere safe, and taken down to Gelmorra by the Duskwights. Some of the Elezen, too, and the Miqo'te -- most of the aboveground Duskwights aren't aware of Gelmorra, so 'tis up to the belowground Duskwights to find them, to offer them that home again, where the Wildwoods will not blame them for simply being born to a legacy of loyalty.)
Regardless of all this -- her name is Mehka. Mehka Awandah. Adventurer seeking glory and adventure in Limsa Lominsa. She stands on the deck of that ship, as it leaves its harbor in Thanalan, and turns her face up to the sky -- lets the sea breeze surround her, blow her hair in one direction and then the other, lets the waves rock her from side to side.
"Not used to the sea breeze, eh?" Comments one of the other people on this ship -- a Roegadyn, with a blue tint to his skin and long lavender hair. The book strapped by his hip suggests she's a woman of magic. "Yer a Keeper of the Moon, I see."
"How could you tell?" Mehka asks, words entirely sincere. She knows that she does not particularly look like a Seeker of the Sun or a Keeper of the Moon -- by her height she is Gelmorran, as tall as any Elezen or Garlean (taller, even, than some of her female Elezen friends), Her pupils are rounded as opposed to the slit pupils of her mother, but she's got the shorter fangs more common to Seekers of the sun, rather than the longer fangs one would expect from a Keeper of the Moon. (And, as well -- she's not been smiling that wide from the sea breeze, has she?)
The Roegadyn woman just chortles, and slaps Mehka's back. "Ye've confirmed it jus' now, lass!"
Ah. Or that.
"I hope ye don' think I'm bein' rude." The woman continues. "I know plenty'a Keepers who'd tan my hide for callin' 'em a Seeker just based off their looks. But ye seemed a new adventurer, and I made a lucky guess about ye not bein' the type to take offense if I guessed wrong." She stretches one arm, then motions for Mehka to follow her. "It's gettin' late. We'd best be goin' below deck to rest."
The woman's got a good point -- it is getting quite dark, now that Mehka bothers to pay attention to the light of the sky. Nowhere near as dark as would be troublesome for her -- she is Gelmorran born and raised, after all, and all Gelmorran-born are used to low light levels -- but dark enough that one might want to think about sleeping. "My thanks," she tells the woman, and gives a small smile. "I'm Mehka Awandah. Might I have your name?"
The woman grins back at her. "Solkwyda Aerbremwyn, Limsa Lominsa born and raised!" She pulls the book from her hip, and after a brief second with a flare of aether a creature appears -- small, thin, and foxlike, colored blue save for the red crystal on its head, with a three-forked tail. "An' this 'ere's my Carbuncle!"
Carbuncle, now named, sneezes, and jumps on top of the also newly-named Solkwyda's shoulders.
Mehka smiles in what she hopes is a polite manner. "'Tis good to meet you, then." The conversation cuts off from there -- Mehka and Solkwyda parting ways as they descend belowdeck. Mehka stops by the galley for a quick bite of dinner, and then heads to the sleeping quarters aboard the ship. Her own room is small, but decently furnished -- a bed, a dresser bolted to the floor for one to store their things in -- and Mehka lays down with a sigh, glad to be off her feet even if the rocking of the ship is a bit unsettling now that she's on her back, surrounded by wood and steel.
She rolls over, and closes her eyes. Tomorrow she'll arrive at Limsa Lominsa -- and then her life as an adventurer will begin, and she can finally work towards the explanation for that strange calling she'd felt those few months ago.
3 notes · View notes