From Gwyneth:
My capable apprentice and intern, Friðrós, has done such beautiful work with the Pangurlands and initial work on Island Four, but when it came time to reshape the cliffs and the coastline, I stepped in. (As an aside, I really must find a better name than Island 4 for Island 4). Mine and Nathaniel’s official Residence, the real one that we actually like and live in, is there of course, and the horses, and lately I’ve noticed a lovely umbral forest growing on the northeast tip of the island, near the white queen (or as near to her as one might want to get), but of course I needed cliffs. What is a shore without rocks and cliffs?
It’s beautiful, I think. And there are little details I’d never have thought to include years ago. So much of building a Realm is about the details, even if no-one notices them. Well. The folk who do notice them, they usually end up staying.
What I really love though, is walking along the cliff at night. There’s something about our moon that inspires me, makes me want to be more and do more. Of course, I am getting that opportunity now, although I’m sworn to secrecy around what occurred on the Autumnal Equinox. It’s better that way, I think.
It’s peaceful now, as I walk across from the cliff steps to the circle of standing stones. Which reminds me: we are so close to Samhain, and I’ve not spoken to Clutie about how she would like to conduct our realm Samhain ritual. She often tries to go with something small, but I think, as she has a little more insight into what’s happening to me than most, she might want to do a little more this year. It’s more important than ever that I commune with our ancestors, our gods, and our nature spirits. I’m just not thinking too much about how I will manage to remain sane (ha!) whilst taking up my new duties.
Kvit heard something just as we started up the stairs; he promised he’d be back soon, but “soon” is never a specific time, even with beings who care about time. Kvit’s not really one of those.
But the night, the night is glorious, and the smell of the sea invigorates me. It makes me remember summers on the Welsh coast with my not-really-my-gran Welsh gran. If I am ever whimsical, and I hear that I am not whimsical enough, it’s when I remember times like those, worlds and lifetimes away, but close as the sound of the waves singing my Realm to sleep.
I’m just about ready to send a little good energy out into the night universe when I hear something behind me. Well, someone. Someone with a familiar voice. Someone cursing. A lot.
“Don’t look now, Gwyneth,” Kvit screeches as he flies up from the meadow, aiming for my shoulder. “But there’s another raven! I smelled him!”
“It’s faerie, Kvit,” I reply as I turn to regard Lady Mystie, who looks like an approaching storm. Great hair, though. “There are always more ravens. Lady Mystie; you’re not often wandering the cliffs at night. I won’t ask how you are: I sense you’re going to tell me without an invitation.”
“What is it,” Lady Mystie hisses between gasps, “with you and cliffs, Fae Majesty? You and weird places up in the sky? You and airships? Do you ever, even once, pause to think of how the rest of us are going to get where you are?”
I raise a brow. “I’m not the movement guard,” I say. “All of you have free will and the ability to find your own ways.” I sense my calm will only infuriate her, so I add a beatific smile for good measure. “Surely you don’t believe I am in the business of removing all life’s little challenges? I’d be a poor excuse for a Queen if I became everyone’s mother.” Should I press further? Perhaps not; she seems ready to boil over. Briefly, I imagine the curving horns on her head turning to steam and drifting away into the cloudy night. “But surely you have not followed me up onto this cliff to discuss your issues with my landscaping?” Oh. Oh, dear. I rather suspect she has.
“Well. Now that you mention it…” Lady Mystie throws her hands up in the air. “We had Autumn, Majesty! We had Autumn for like two glorious days, and then, what? You decided you wanted perpetual summer or something?” Gosh; she’s really upset. “I need orange! I need yellow! I need piles of leaves to throw Xote into!”
“Wait: wouldn’t Xote yeet you into the outer darkness if you did that?”
“Xote?” Lady Mystie’s voice goes suddenly quiet. “Xote is a delight, Majesty. He is a frolicsome bundle of gaiety!” Her eyes narrow. “Are you… are you dissing my perfect poopsie donkey, Xote?” She’s not smiling.
Everyone has a line they are unwilling to cross, even if it requires complete disengagement from objective reality. For Lady Mystie, it seems that line is Xote. And for the prudent monarch, such a chess move requires a delicate retreat. “Certainly not, Lady Mystie. It’s only that some of the children tourists have drawn pictures of him in a swirling circle of fire etched with eldritch symbols they could not possibly know. I, as you know, am fond of all our nature spirit denizens, and Xote has my blessing, as do they all.”
Lady Mystie brings a hand to her mouth. She squeals. “Khonsu! Khonsu, did you hear that? My beloved soul donkey is a model!”
Khonsu lets out a little stream of carks, loud enough to wake the dream forest spirits. Possibly loud enough to wake Prince Consort Nathaniel. “Aw, he says they are using their imaginations, and we are enriching lives!”
Khonsu lets out a louder stream of carks. And Kvit starts, inexplicably but not uncharacteristically, to laugh.
That’s not remotely what he said, you know. I do like this telepathic ability that seems to have come with Events that transpired at the Equinox. I’ll tell you later; we can’t have you busting a gut on a cliffside. The sky would become concerned. Kvit conveys all this to me whilst still laughing out loud. “Kvit. I love that you find delight in Lady Mystie and Xote’s contributions,” I insert smoothly. I reach out and pat Lady Mystie on the shoulder. “Everywhere I go,” I explain, “at this time of year, everything is all orange and black and garish shades of pink or purple. After a few days, I decided I wanted our Realm to look fresh and storybook-like.” I sigh. “It would be unseemly of me to change from autumn, to summer, and then to autumn again…but what would you think of this as a compromise?” I tap a finger against my nose. “I, too, prefer cooler weather. Perhaps, when we are through Samhain, let’s see. Would a mild winter suit you?”
Lady Mystie’s eyes grow huge. And, I’m delighted to see, my offer of a compromise has made her forget that Xote’s honour was ever in question.
“You would do that for me?”
“Of course, Lady Mystie. You are an integral part of Awenia, after all. I can’t have one of my favourite subjects feeling down because of the weather. We only have a few days left of October: will you be all right until then? I could lower the temperature in the Book Forest generally, if that would make it nicer.”
I don’t believe I have ever seen Lady Mystie smile before. Kvit shoots up into the air and in a show of dramatics that surprises exactly no-one, proceeds to turn himself over, then flops on my head with a (dull) thunk. He is surprisingly solid for a raven who glamours himself small so he can ride on my shoulder. “Ow!”
“Your raven is so funny! And — ooh, yes; could you make it much cooler? I appreciate that you’ve made it a mild summer, of course, but I do love a chill in the air. It makes me hungry for cake.” She (and I do not use this word lightly) giggles.
Well, that made sense. “Of course, Lady Mystie. Temperature changes are trivial,” I say with a little wave of my hand, and the air around us becomes cooler, as if a breeze has just decided to waft in from the sea. “That will start it; tomorrow you’ll notice a much more crisp morning,” I assert. A breath. A drawing-in. “Now, you know I am delighted to make these small changes for you, Lady Mystie, but I’m sure you also know the terms.”
Lady Mystie stops smiling. “How big a favour will I owe you?”
I shrug. “Trivial, really. Let’s discuss it when the season changes. Will that be acceptable?”
She swallows, perhaps realising she may have negotiated herself into a geas. I hold out my hand.
Lady Mystie takes my hand and squeezes. Her hands are much larger than my hands. No matter: although the physical strength is there, I can feel the oath settle upon her like a mantle, like a shawl. It gladdens my heart.
The cooler air flows in from the sea. Lady Mystie is happy, but a wee bit unsettled (one of my favourite states). Kvit is complaining that the fall hurt his back (excellent). The wind moves the harp’s strings over in the stone gazebo. I’m pleased I thought to wear something with long sleeves. “I hope you will feel so much better when you wake into a cooler day tomorrow, Lady Mystie,” I say. Then, I turn back toward the stone circles. “I’m going to sing a lullabye to the meadow,” I say. “Would you care to sing with me?”
Lady Mystie makes a strangled noise behind me. I smile. “I regret that I have obligations elsewhere, Your Fae Majesty. I shall make my way back to the treehouse, and I will look forward to that cooler day tomorrow.” Funny: it seems to take her much less time to leave the cliff than it did for her to arrive here.
As I walk out into the circle of stones, just lit by moonlight, one of the two triskelia seems to call to me. This symbol is one I’ve loved since I was a small girl. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Newgrange, in Ireland, how I longed to trace those symbols with my fingers as if I could somehow make their carving deeper with my small hands. Spirals always have an effect on me, and of course everything seems mirrored in threes, more powerful when multiplied.
My reverie’s interrupted by Kvit unconcernedly pecking at my cheek. “That was such a nice thing you did for Lady Mystie,” he says, with that edge in his voice that makes me know he’s been listening to, oh, just about everything.
“Mm,” I reply. “Trying to focus, here.”
“I wonder,” he muses, “if she’ll ever realise you were already planning on shifting the Realm to winter after the Samhain celebrations.”
I give him a sharp look. “I should hope she would not hear that from you, if she hears it at all.”
“Oh, certainly not,” he replies. He flutters his wings to show how affronted he is by the very idea. “I admire your deviousness.”
“I’m not devious,” is my reply. “I’m a mediator, a creator; you might even call me a diplomat. If someone’s desire might please me too, I fail to see how that is in any way devious.”
Kvit hisses a sigh. “Right: let’s just get the singing done.”
Let it be cool, let it be colder.
Let winter fall on the day of renewal, the day of our new year.
Let the clouds gather.
Scél lemm dúib:
Dordaid dam,
Snigid gaim,
Ro-fáith sam;
Gáeth ard úar,
Ísel grían,
Gair a rith,
Ruirthech rían;
Ro-rúad rath
Ro-cleth cruth,
Ro-gab gnáth
Guigrann guth;
Ro-gab úacht
Etti én
Aigre re
É mo scél.– 9th century Irish
I have news for you:
The stag bells,
Winter snows,
Summer has gone;
Wind high and cold,
The sun low,
Short its course
The sea running high;
Deep red the bracken
Its shape lost,
The wild goose has
Raised its accustomed cry;
Cold has seized
The birds’ wings
Season of ice
This is my news.
“Bíodh sé; so be it,” I whisper to the sea. “Bíodh sé.”
Notes & Credits:
(sponsored items are denoted with a “*”)
Featured:
- Senzafine: Severina Gown, Spectral*. This stunning gown is at Trick or Treat Lane, only until 31st October.
- Hexumbra: Francine Eye Makeup*. Also at Trick or Treat Lane, only until 31st October.
- Kvit: Portrayed as always by CKit Falconry’s Magical Talking Raven*. You can adopt your own raven at the CKit Falconry Main Store.
Other Fancy Stuff:
- Gwyneth:
- Hair: Ayashi, April Hair
- Ears: Petrichor, Kefira Ears
- Tiara: Poison Rouge, Elba Tiara
- Brows: /safe for mortals/, forest brow
- Eyes: Half Deer, Strange Visions, Ethereal eyes, worn over Contraption’s Depthgloss Eyes
- Upper Eyelashes: Void, Mirage
- Lower Lashes: No Match, No Curse
- Cheek shimmer: Cazimi, Mystic Shimmer
- Lipstick: Hayatih, Patina Lipstick
- Gorget, Earrings, & Bodychain: Requisition, Amaranth
- Skin: Velour, Faye Fantasy, in Lunaris
- Signature Ring: Yummy, Solitaire Ring
- Body Sparkles: Void, Iridescence
- Lady Mystie:
- Hair: Magika, October
- Horns: Rozoregalia Belial
- Khonsu is brought to life by Quills & Curiosities’ Feathered Familiar
- Bat freckles: /safe for mortals/ captivating bat freckles
- Brow Adornment: /safe for mortals/ rose brow
- Eyeshadow and scars: WarPaint, Leviathon Eyeshadow & Scars
- Tears: WarPaint, Sol Glitter Tears
- Lipstick: Esme HD Lipstick by Boscato
- Eyes: Avi-Glam, Zombie Eyes
- Skin: DeeTaleZ, Siri, Nordic Cold
- Gown: Madame Noir, Cecelia (Ghost Ed)
- Lady Mystie is masterfully portrayed by the luminous and wonderful Mystical Edenflower. My life would not be OK without Myst.
On the Set:
- Cliff Build: Konoha, Drinker’s Plateau
- Rock Bridge: Heart, Essential Mesh Rock Pack, Mossy Green Bridge
- Shore: Studio Skye, Skye Rocky Shore Building Set
- Standing Stones: Sweet Revolutions & Telperion Designs, Moonfleet Bay Celtic Stones
- Stone Gazebo: Harshlands, Romantic Stone Gazebo
- Harp: Harshlands, The Mourning Harp
Photographed on location in Awenia. Awenia is an open PG Realm with many good photography spots and a relaxed attitude toward casual roleplay from our visitors.
Leave a Reply