Kreyu

(OOC: So, I've never tried writing something from someone else's character's POV before, but I hope to get Skellig rightish. Content warning for character fearing an unwanted arranged marriage and/or ending up enslaved and all the MANY consent issues that come with those. But nothing is going to happen to them because Skellig will save the day.)


They fight as long and as hard against the spread of Taint, against Those Who Dwell Below, as they can. It is not enough, and in the end Karma flows from the world like blood from a mortal wound. Skellig tries to save Kreyu, tries so very hard, but even every drop of his Light will not save her.

Death looks as sorrowful as he has ever seen Them as Skellig clutches the hand of Kreyu's spririt. "Please, let me go with her!" he begs.

"It is not your time," They reply, sorrow in Their voice. They look away, gazing at something he can not sense. "And you are the only one who may be able to mend what has been broken. Karma has gone, but your Light remains. Grow Light, hunt the Enemy, and you will see Kreyu again."

Those last words are the only thing keeping him mostly sane as he comes to, his being chilled to the very core. He entombs her body with her hoard, secures the treasures within as best he can. (The world is freezing, an ice age coming in a climate wracked by the loss of karma. Famine, disease, war, and natural disasters end the civilizations of the Mythic age. Those few humans who survive revert to living in small family groups that hunt and gather. In time they lose writing, the use of metals, almost all of civilization's gifts.)

He takes some few small treasures from her hoard to help restore her memory when he finds her, walks away into the cold world. He learned many things at Kreyu's side, and he passes those on to the people he encounters. He grows Light where he travels, always leaves with just a bit more in his stores than he started with. When the Enemy stirs, he hunts them relentlessly, searches for their secrets, their weaknesses, the place where the pool that makes their kind rests deep beneath the Earth.

He is more RELIEVED than anything else when his libido slumbers and does not wake again. For all that he has her permission to seek other company should she be dead, the mere THOUGHT of doing such a thing turns his stomach. (And he has gotten very, VERY tired of his own hand!)

His memories of the Mythic age remain bright, sharp, but what comes after turns into a hazy mist. The years, the decades, and the centuries without her blend into one another, a merciful muddle. The Ice retreats, men relearn the working of copper and bronze, the carving of runes, farming the soil.

Taint can not exist without karma, and so the Enemy tries from time to time to undo the act that destroyed the Mythic age in order to spread their poison, destroy all life. They have awakened one node and one place where the world is now as it SHOULD be. He has set up a nest for himself over that node, a dwelling in the heart of the forest. (Not home, NEVER home, not without HER.)

He is preparing to go and forage for food as the sun rises, for his body needs fuel to hunt the Enemy. The tattoo on his arm warms, tingles, the mark of his bond with Kreyu ALIVE for the first time since her death!

The staff at the House of Blue Lotuses is very glad to see them, to let them have THEIR room again. They had to leave a great many treasures behind at the Lair, but they are settling in in the afternoon when a message comes from a priest at the temple of the God King, who is sometimes called Osiris.

It is an urgent request for Kreyu and Skellig to meet him at the God-King's main temple in Amikaya, a request for help with two missing people.

The temple is mostly quiet, although there is some noise from the religious rites going on and from the people who find shelter here. Like the Ring Islands, the temples here offers food and shelter to those in need. Some are regulars, some only come once in a while. All are welcomed, for it is Ma'at that those who have take care of those who do not.

The young priest bows his shaved head when he sees them, the kilt and sash of his office relatively plain. "Forgive me for asking you to come so far in the heat of the day, but I am on duty and there are...places where an on duty priest is not permitted to go." He flushes slightly in embarrassment.

They wind up staying two full cycles of the Moon with Tyr's tribe.

Time enough to learn the various dances, share recipes, race through the Teeth, make friends, share stories, BELONG.

It might even be enough time for Skellig to sort out how he feels about being among other people with wings!

Tyr clasps Skellig's forearm in farewell. "I would call you my brother, if you would permit it?" he says, voice soft.

Kreyu has taken a different shape than is usual for her. A dragon, yes, but one of quite different build and coloration!

This shape is more serpentine, although it still has four legs and wings. Her body and her wings are covered in feathers that are all the colors of the rainbow. She fusses with some of her wing feathers, the claws of this shape far smaller, as dexterous as human hands.

"How do I look?" she asks, a little nervous about her appearance.

They spent yesterday helping curtail an outbreak of the White Death and doing a bit of shopping. Luckily, or not, depending on your point of view, they ALSO found out that today is the day the former slaves they plan on helping go before the judge.

That means this morning has involved a lot of preparation on Kreyu's part, because if she is appearing in an Official capacity, she must look just so. She is very grateful that Skellig is willing to help her make the small braids and decorate them with beads that match the dress.

"You can see part of why I don't do this very often," she quips.

Breakfast and a bath are had, and there's one last bit of shopping to do before they take off to hunt pirates.

Kreyu kisses him goodbye, flushing, as she goes to pick up the Rod of the Sun.

Morning at the House of the Blue Lotuses is a quiet time, as most everyone was up VERY late the night before. Breakfast was a quick affair of bread, eggs, and beer and then Kreyu and Skellig bathed again. Kreyu's hair washing this morning left it frizzy and wild, only tamed by application of a pomade scented with frankincense.

She's picked out several pieces of jewelry for Skellig to choose from. Two 'collars', one more colorful, the other in simpler gold and lapis lazuli, featuring a falcon in the design. Scarab rings in orange carnelian, turquoise, or lapis lazuli, and 'belts' made of beads to match either 'collar'.

The current fashion is for the wealthy to wear a lot of jewelry, so Kreyu is wearing quite a bit herself. Her pectoral collar features lotuses in lapis lazuli and abalone shell set into gold. Bracelets featuring a falcon design in lapis and carnelian adorn both of her wrists and she wears a golden ring on each hand inlaid with turquoise scarabs. Her girdle is made of beads in carnelian, abalone, lapis lazuli, and gold, and it trails down to form a kind of 'net' over her gown from the waist down.

At the moment, she's holding up a small bronze mirror in one hand while she applies kohl to her eyes with the other. "Kohl helps protect your eyes from the sun, and no city dweller would be seen without it," she tells Skellig.

Kreyu intended to dance in the sky with Skellig the very next day, but events have conspired to prevent that from occurring. A raid on the village by former soldiers meant many wounded to heal and much damage to fix. Akatan's sister, Neferet, has a definite crush, an infatuation, with Skellig. She hasn't done anything but look and exchange some friendly words, but it still makes her brother FURIOUS.

For all that Euripedes was from a different time and place, a line he had Medea speak in the play of the same name still rings true: "I would rather stand three times in the line of battle than once bear a child." Even with Kreyu's magic, with Taweret's skill, childbirth is incredibly dangerous. There are reasons why Taweret's goddess image of She Who Is Great has elements of the hippo, the lion, and the crocodile, a fearsome appearance to drive off the many threats facing a woman giving birth. The second birth in a week began this morning and was still going on when the sun began to set. Not a good sign.

Skellig, trying to burn off nervous energy while Kreyu was working, happened across a few of the village men drinking. They said things about Kreyu they should not have said. That he was FEEDING on Kreyu, drinking her blood. There...may have been a fight. At least they don't think he's a demon anymore, you can't give a demon a black eye in a brawl with your fists!

It is truly night now, and Skellig can hear Kreyu's tired footsteps on the road...

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content starting around tag 194.)

Kreyu took advantage of Skellig's deep sleep to create and recreate her wings many, many times. The precious jar of preening oil sits safely on a shelf. She's certain that it's enough to give his whole body a treatment.

The RESPONSIBLE thing, after that, would have been to start on making breakfast. But he looked so lovely in the dim light of pre-dawn that she crawled back into bed with him. She's dozing now, somewhere between awake and asleep.

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content)

(OOC: Warning for adult content, mild drawing blood and tasting blood.)

Kreyu has rooms at Milliways, and the one suited to her human shape is relatively modest. There are a few pieces of her hoard scattered about, carved wooden mementos, wall hangings, a jeweled hand mirror.

The bed is large enough for several people, because even in human shape she tends to sprawl, and covered in a blanket in deep green.