Post by Krixia on Jun 25, 2017 21:37:04 GMT -8
It was a quiet night. Quiet in the sense that not much was happening where she was at the time, that is. Certainly, the spirits were loud enough, communicating to each other, as well as people who were calling on them, wittingly or otherwise. Just as the sun fell behind the horizon and night came, a mostly camoflauged beast ran through and over varying types of lands. Her destination? A place that very few knew about, and even fewer would dare step foot in without an audience. Though she was not her former self, she felt no fear as trees and foliage melded around her. The Shaman walked into the giant tree-trunk grotto. With her bared feet, she didn't even pause as she entered into the spirit's pond. It didn't take long for the connection of realms to ripple with the arrival of it's owner.
A watery figure rose out from the water's surface, slowly taking shape and form into that of a woman, standing merely a few feet away from Krixia. Unlike the black hair that hung from Krixia's head, the spirit's own was waving in the air around her lightly, little drops of water dripping from gathered strands, returning to the pool. For a long moment, the two creatures of nature stood silently and stared into each other's eyes. Aside from the dripping sounds that lightly echoed around them, nothing else would be heard. In what was likely near ten minutes, yet seemed an eternity, the spirit finally broke the silence. ()
"You're a bold woman, treading into such sacred ground, and without tribute. Tell me, Krixia. What does one such as you, a shell of a sleeping, majestic creature, dare doing in walking unwaranted into my own pools?"
Was this statement a test? Krixia didn't really know, but she wasn't here to play afraid, or play at guessing games. She had a favor, and she didn't know wether or not it would be answered the way she hoped it would. While she imagined the mention of a shell of a majestic beast was likely meant to influence her demeanor, it did not.
"Elder spirit. I come to ask of you, a favor."
Despite her ability to remain calm and cool in the situation, the words that left her lips did make her tense up, if slightly. Getting a favor from a spirit that even the most novice of conjurers could call upon was one thing, and the trade easy enough, but one as commanding over an aspect of nature as this one? That was something entirely different. She tried her best to let that tension fade from her body, lest the spirit witness it for too long and attempt to use it against her in some way. She honestly wasn't sure if the being would, given that the female form in front of her wasn't really one that was malevolent or benevolent at it's core.
Somehow, this actually surprised the spirit. Typically, people were easy to read, and Krixia truly had anything she could want, and did not give off any feelings of desire for anything the spirit might provide her personally. So why did a woman that possessed an impressive command over nature itself come to one such as she?
"You come to me for a favor? What for? There's not much in my power that would benefit you, at least not that I can forsee as things stand. You know someone like me wouldn't likely give up such a request for some mere bauble or act, don't you?" (c)
Krixia knew, alright. She knew all too well. The last few years of her life had been nothing but learning that in so many different ways. A small smile spread over her lips as her hands both moved to rest against her stomach. The bottoms of her hands brushed against her garb as it floated up some in the water of the pond. She'd almost forgotten she walked right into water. Thoughts of the child that she had given birth to, and which was currently under her own trials, and.... gone... came to mind at that moment. She would get her back on her own terms, and in another way. The bittersweet moment came to an end when Krixia, not letting her hands move just yet, spoke out a little softer now, and to the point.
"You've felt the corruption that is feeding in parts deep and forgotten. Things that wake lately I wouldn't give another thought, but someone, or something, I feel, may be trying to guide and manipulate a path and wake such a thing from it's slumber, not only early, but directed. The destruction would be far greater and painful to the land than it should naturally be if it's allowed to come to fruition. I seek the aid of others who heed the call with unsel-"
The woman caught herself in her own words, smirked slightly, but ulitmately finished her words. "Mostly. Mostly unselfish intentions."
Krixia had more to say, but the spirit interrupted her with words and movement.
"You mean others like you?"
The question was accompanied by a hand lifting up to brush fingers lightly against Krixia's cheek, to which the shifter tilted into the affection and purred instinctually, her eyes slowly drooping half closed. Her thumbs even started to rub onto her own stomach as hands stayed resting there. She didn't need to answer, as the spirit had done well enough in guessing where the conversation was trying to go.
"Others who have given so much of their time, and the only thing they want or ask in return is just a little time in return for their loved ones? Others who serve like that. You want me to do what exactly?"
It wasn't as if the spirit didn't know what Krixia wanted, but the words needed to come from the shifter, and there was always the possibility it wasn't obvious. Once Krixia gained enough focus to speak, she lifted one hand from stomach to slide her fingertips along the back of the spirits hand, another move by the previously mentioned bold creature, and smiled wider.
"I'd have you speak to them, ask them to do as they're able within their own means, or the means collectively, to try and counter the corruption that could do more than what I've already stated if not left unchecked. If they are to answer, that is their choice, and the only thing I ask of you."
The spirit knew this was no simple thing to be done, even as a message. There was an urgency coming from Krixia, even if she was relaxing and enjoying the touch given to her. Considering a moment, she asked of the shifter.
"And you? You are to do the same as you would have me ask of others?"
While the two remained talking, Krixia refused to let that hand leave her face. Being a creature physical in nature, she adored the affection she was offered right now. The spirit felt no reason to pull it's hand away, either, and so it did not. The hand touching hand started to rub back and forth gently and the shifter purred louder, simply smiling and nodding her answer. It was simply what she did.
The spirit gave an approving smile, and stepping forward, she offered more affection in the form of an embrace. While it was nice to have the two most important people in the world give her such an act, it was different than this. Rhemilya and Sinead were love, family. This was nature, and the simple gesture was something akin to having the force that is what she does her hardest to protect offer up a single, silent gesture of gratitude. Call it selfish. Call it wrong. At the moment, Krixia simply called it welcomed. Her own arms wrapped around the spirit and she purred louder still. The shifter nuzzled her face in agaisnt the cold face of the spirit she spoke with, much like a more domesticated feline might do to a loving owner.
"Then you shall have this favor, it's price already negotiated in your own acts. You don't need me to tell you how taxing that will likely be on you. Rest easy, Shaman. You've some time to see this through yet." (c)
The next words weren't lost on Krixia, but it was another part of her, one of her memories that weren't her own, as well as a part of her own at the same time. They had her purring stopped, but a smile still rested on her face...
"Be it that nature and time meld between worlds, know that the sleeping beast would have someone to come to when she wakes up."
Those last words were whispered, and Krixia shivered slightly. Sudden thoughts and memories of her creation and the reason she was left in this world ripped through her like a knife right in the heart, but with a nice thought of what would come to her original self on the time of her awakening. Without another word, she pulled back from the spirit and turned away, making her way back out into the night, wiping tears from her face once she left the grotto. The woman became the beast once more, off in search of her next destination.
