Healing the Fox

Aerea : move slowly as the fox was very heavy. “Queen Acacia, I found you at last. Can you help this fox, he fell onto some sharp rocks, his roots are not as good a climbing as mine.”

Acacia: leans over and reaches out her hand to take the tiny fox kit from the dryad , biting her lip to keep from smiling as the fox kit was very close in size to the tiny dryad. “Here, let me see him” As she had been meditating on her element of water from the bee garden, seeing if distance from the element made a difference, she was open to her element.

Aerea: lifted the kit onto Acacia’s out stretched hands, stepping back to let the Queen do her stuff.

Acacia: Lifting the tiny kit, she could see some tiny cuts on the tender pads of the kit.She spoke in fae *homer hufl hogat* and a gentle stream of water came from her hand to cleanse the cuts. They were not serious, but would be very painful for the tiny fox to walk on. releasing her conection with the element of water with a whispered thank you,  She reached out for the element of fire,  finding it, feel her pulse quicken, speaking in fae once more *rwulqude ruci, bacurv olg miow* focusing on purifying and curing the tiny cuts.  The kit wriggled on her palm, yipping that it tickled.

Aerea gasped surprised by the flames that has surrounded the foxes feet. “are they going to burn him?” stepping back with an instinctive fear of all fire.

Acacia Thanking the lord of Fire, she broke the connection when the flame shifted from healing to tickling. “There you go little one” as the fox tried to lick her face and tumbled to land at her feet, bouncing right back up to look at Aerea with bright eyes.  “No, the elements know what they are doing far more than I. But he is all better, go run and play. ”

A matter of rules.

A Sonnet is a poem of an expressive thought or idea made up of 14 lines, each being 10 syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the schemes – Italian, where eight lines called an octave consisting of two quatrains which normally open the poem as the question are followed by six lines called a sestet that are the answer, or the more common English which is three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet.

I have been feeling rather philosophical about rules. I tend to think of them as the frame work on which we create our artwork, but lately I have been thinking of them more in terms of creating a Sonnet. You have a set of rules that must be followed or it is not a Sonnet. Within the structure of those rules, you have absolute freedom to do what you will, and it is still a sonnet. Others will either like or dislike it, but all know it to be a Sonnet.  When you do not follow the rules, it can still be a poem, but it is not a Sonnet.

I have been feeling lately like I was told that we are all here to write Sonnets. I was made to learn the rules, and when I tried to bend or push them, I was told no. We only allow Sonnets.   Now, I find that I am still feeling constrained to write Sonnets, while others get to write Haiku and other still get to write freeform verse with no rules at all.

There is a bit of frustration that comes when it get hard to write a Sonnet, when you see how easy it is to write a haiku in comparison, and people tell you to ignore those writing free form as no one respects them anyway.  Yet, there they are shouting free form verse as you are quietly trying to write your Sonnet.

I have been trying to be more accepting of the fact that perhaps we are all writing poetry. However, when we are creating a group piece, and three people are writing Haiku, someone else is doing only rhyming couplets, and our loner shouting their free form verse, It makes it impossible for me to do what I set out to do, write a Sonnet.

Why is it that they have to be allowed to write their poetry because otherwise they will not have fun?  Why is their fun more important than my ability to have fun?

 

Seeking Healing

Acacia Rose  falls to the floor of the healers hall in a shower of purple sparkles, a wing membrane torn and blood pouring from her shoulder.  looking to the startled young healer trainee, “Help me please”  The trainee runs looking for a healer.

Katina Star is about to get ready for bed when the trainee knocks frantically on the door to the Marshal’s Office. “Ugh…. I’ll be right there.” As quickly as she can run, Katina shows up at the healers hall looking concerned. “Acacia! What happened?”

Acacia Rose  looks up to see Katina from where she lay on the floor “I was attacked, a dagger to my wing and the crossbow bolt in my shoulder.”

Katina Star kneels to carefully lift Acacia, trying not to jostle her too much, cradling her friend in her arms as though she weighed nothing and carrying her over to a bed.
She sets Acacia down carefully so she can examine the wounds. “Hmm… I’ll find something to patch the wing… it’s different from my wing… this bolt though….” she sighs “I can probably remove it but I’m not as skilled a surgeon as Malada… I can do battlefield first aid at most, and divine healing will only help so far until that thing is out.”

Acacia Rose  relaxes knowing she is in good hands, “Mira told me that Vellette said that someone was after her fae, I was checking the gardens when I was attacked from the shadows”

Katina Star scowls at whoever would be hunting fae. She focuses on the crossbow wound first as it’s bleeding the most. “I can probably just pull this out instead of having to force it through like one would an arrow…”

Acacia Rose  nods to Katina, “Yes, do go ahead,” she gripped the pillow knowing that it would hurt.

Katina Star sighs, preparing herself, and then remembers something. “Hang on, maybe this will help… I know Snow did this for me before I had an arrow removed once… they had to push it THROUGH my body with the barbing…”

Aetheyr wanders in, it’s little hand rummaging around in a pouch while it mutters something about unicorns to itself.

Katina Star gently lays a hand on top of Acacia’s head and begins to pray in draconic. “bahamut, troth sia thurirl, batobot jaciv geou ti kiwieg loerchik de nomeno procedure…” (Bahamut, protect my friend, that she will not feel pain from this procedure…)

Aetheyr stops at the sound of a voice and looks up. It frowns at seeing Acacia laid out on the table. “What’s going on?”, it asks, speaking loudly to be heard.

Katina Star continues to pray over Acacia, waiting to see the effect. Her wing and tail spikes glow with divine light.

Acacia Rose  nodded and felt the unfamiliar magic swirl around her. The magic of deities always fascinated her. She still gripped the pillow, but felt a little floaty, smiling to Aethheyr, “Miye, it is the wind Katina”

Katina Star nods to the elemental. “Bring me two bowls, one with water and one empty, and some cloth”

Aetheyr wiggles it’s fingers in a small wave to Acacia, still frowning. It blinks, then sees the injuries to the Fae and runs to fetch the items.

Katina Star stops praying over Acacia and takes the bowls and cloth. “Thank you.” She wraps the cloth around the shaft of the bolt that’s still poking out of Acacia’s shoulder and grips tightly. “Boy I hope my spell worked…” she mutters before giving it a careful tug.

Aetheyr looks at the full sized bowls in consternation for a moment, then frowns and whispers something quietly, and waits. It smiles gratefully when a helpful wind assists it in lifting and carrying one bowl at a time, setting them on the floor by Katina’s feet. It pulls a water skin from it’s pouch and fills one of them with water, then runs back and laboriously carries a towel over as well.

Aetheyr climbs on top of a nearby chair so it can see over the edge of the bed. It peers curiously at what Katina is doing, a small frown on it’s little face.

Acacia Rose  felt oddly devoid of pain, it hurt, but no longer the sharp throbbiing pain. She smiled at the elemental “You are so pretty”

Katina Star notices minimal reaction from Acacia and hehs. She carefully pulls the bolt out the rest of the way and sets it in the empty bowl before folding bandages into a thick square to place over the wound. She applies pressure and begins to wrap up Acacia’s shoulder to hold the patch in place.

Aetheyr blinks at the Fae and looks down at itself confusedly for a moment. Seeing nothing unusual, it shrugs and goes back to watching Katina dressing the wound with great interest.

Acacia Rose  looks to Katina, “I want the bolt, to scry”

Katina Star nods “Yes, I’ve saved it.” She finishes wrapping up Acacia’s shoulder and lays her hand on top of it. Her wing and tail spikes begin to glow again, as well as her hands, as she prays for Bahamut to heal the wound.”You should be lucky the bolt was smooth”

Aetheyr frowns slightly watching the bandaging. It looks at it’s own tiny hands and back again, and shakes it’s head.

Acacia Rose  “It seemed more pointy than smooth to me. She continued to watch the tiny Elemental, “I like the wind you know, it helps me fly”

Aetheyr pulls a tiny parchment envelope from it’s pouch and offers it to Katina. “Comfrey. If you sprinkle it on the wound it will heal faster”, it says simply.

Katina Star finishes channeling healing power to Acacia and sighs, looking exhausted. “By smooth I mean not barbed.” Katina Star nods at Aetheyr. “Thanks… when her bandages are changed we’ll apply some.” She starts to wash the blood off her hands with the bowl of water.

Aetheyr nods. It looks at the Fae curiously for a moment, and a small breeze appears to gently flutter her wings.

Katina Star looks at the torn wing now. “What should be done about this? Your wings are so delicate, mine are a bit thicker. I worry if we stitch your wing like Malada stitched mine it might just do more harm than good…”

Acacia Rose  felt the wound begin to knit itself back together feeling oddly like she did while in the middle of a transmutation, the flesh shifting and coming together. The bleeding stopping but still clearly  a wound”

Katina Star: “Unless we used a *really* tiny needle and *really* thin thread. Or maybe just healing power will do it”

Aetheyr rummages in it’s pouch again, producing a small jar of a thick amber substance. It holds the jar out to Katina. “This might help. It’s sap from a maple. It’s sticky, might put the wing together enough for it to heal on it’s own”, it says the last in a somewhat questioning tone, as if uncertain.

Katina Star smiles at Aetheyr “That actually sounds much better than attempting to stitch this tear. I don’t want to poke more holes in her wing”

Acacia Rose  nods at this. “the one hole is more than enough for me thank you!

Katina Star pats a bare spot on the bed and looks at Aetheyr. “Come up here and help seal this. I’ll hold the tear together for you”

Aetheyr looks up at the bed, then closes it’s eyes and jumps, somehow managing to jump much higher than such a small creature should be able to. It lands softly on the edge of the bed, the jar cradled in it’s hands. It carefully moves along the edge to where it can reach the tear in the Fae’s wing, opens the jar with one hand and gently dabs a little of the sap along the edges of the tear, as Katina holds it together.

Acacia Rose  holds still as the elemental worked trying to not move her wings. “That tickles, which is much better than hurting”

Katina Star chuckles, holding the tear together carefully

Aetheyr finishes, looking at the tear suspiciously. “I hope it holds”, it says to no one in particular, then steps back, absently licking the sap from it’s fingers.

Acacia Rose  titls her head, “That smells good. I wonder if I taste good now”

Katina Star hmms and takes a bit of bandage to stick over the excess sap around the tear. “This’ll help hold it together.”Katina Star also prays a small blessing of healing.

Aetheyr nods and softly floats down from the bed, putting the jar back in it’s pouch.

Katina Star finishes all blessings and cleaning up and slumps a bit, looking exhausted.

Acacia Rose  sits up again, trying her wing, She can move it, but decides it is bet if she did not try fight. She looked to Katina. “Do Paladins use mana, I have a mana potion if it helps you”

Aetheyr offers Katina a dandelion. “It will give you some energy”, it says encouragingly.

Katina Star shakes her head. “I don’t really understand what mana is… it sort of depends on who you ask. I just channel the power of a god… I believe Malada explained it like this: ‘When the infinite touches the finite, it hurts.'” She laughs. “Except it doesn’t hurt me…. just wears me out.”Katina Star accepts the dandelion awkwardly. “It’s pretty but what do i do with this?”

Acacia Rose  nods, “that makes sense. Silly Katina, you eat it. What else do you do with flowers?”

Katina Star blinks. “I don’t eat flowers… why would anyone eat flowers?”

Aetheyr nods at Acacia’s words, looking at Katina.

Acacia Rose  blinks looking at Katina. “There are a lot of eddible flowers that you can eat. She hands Katina some lavender. “this is my favorite”

Katina Star: “Uh, thanks. But I’d rather look at pretty flowers than eat them…”

Aetheyr shakes it’s head, looking baffled.

Acacia Rose  looks to Aetheyr with a knowing look. “Dragons” shrugging her shoulders, then wincing. “I should not do that, what should I do?”

Katina Star: “You should lay there and get some rest.”

Aetheyr nods in agreement with Katina. “Rest and let the wounds heal”

Acacia Rose  wrinkled her nose, “Lay, in a bed? and do nothing? Do I have to?”

Katina Star nods “Yes, you have to. I’ve had to every time I’ve been wounded.”

Acacia Rose  looked to Katina. “I am not sure that counts. It sounds like a silly healer rule”

Katina Star: “It helps. You heal better if you’re not running about.And I don’t know when that one blessing I cast on you will wear off but I’m certain you’ll probably just want to rest when you start to feel pain again.” Katina Star goes to make some tea for Acacia.

Acacia Rose  eyes the door.

Katina Star rummages through her pouch and found a soothing tea mixture that Malada had given her to aid with sleep. She brews it and brings a cup over to Acacia.

Acacia Rose  looks to Katina. “Can’t I have rum instead? I am quite sure that Malada said it is medicinal? Healers are always making me conjure it.”

Aetheyr sits down and pulls out another dandelion, munching on it absently while watching the other two.

Katina Star chuckles. “It’s good for cleaning wounds.”

Acacia Rose  pouts, and takes the tea cup, Holding her hand over it and muttering “..Yo-Ho-ho, agus buidéal rum!
Dí agus bhí an diabhal déanta don rest–
… Yo-ho-ho, agus buidéal rum! ”
[20:06]  Acacia Rose : {..Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest–
…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!’} transmutting the tea into rum and taking a generous sip.

Aetheyr smells the rum and glances up at Katina, to see if she’ll notice.

Katina Star makes out a few words of the spell and can smell the rum, she huffs. “If you wanted me to spike the tea I would have… Malada’s done it for me a few times”

Acacia Rose  smiles and tries quite unsuccessfully to look innocent.

Aetheyr finishes the dandelion and fidgets, anxious to get back to trying to make potions now that it appears no longer to be needed. “Well… I guess my work here is done”, it says airily, standing and appearing on the verge of leaving.

Katina Star pours another cup of tea for Acacia. “This time, don’t transmute it. This will help you rest.”

Acacia Rose  smiles to Aetheyr, “My thanks for your help on my wing,” she looks to Katina and back to both of them, “I owe you both a boon for healing me. Please let me know what I can do for you at any time”

Katina Star smiles. “Just doing my job. But I will keep it in mind.”

Aetheyr waves a tiny hand dismissively. “It was good practice”, it says simply.

Katina Star yawns

Acacia Rose  smiles sipping from her cup, not taking the new cup of tea, her eyes drooping happily.

Katina Star steps over to the bed and pulls up the blankets, tucking Acacia in.

Aetheyr looks at the Fae, then at the dragon, and shrugs. It slips out the back door, heading up to where the cauldron is kept.

Katina Star yawns again and summons NPC acolytes to her. “Watch over her and make sure she gets some rest. Let me know if I’m needed.”

Katina Star: “Sleep well Acacia”

Acacia Rose  nods sleepily, smiling at Katina with a wave, saving nothing.

Brainstorming

Acacia Rose makes her way though the dark stone corridors, nodding to those she passed, her steps confident as if she were within the halls of her own guild. The heavy silk of her skirts brushed across the floor in a series of soft swishes. Stepping into the Magi hall, she spied Nifredil by the book cases, the rich scent of leather and old paper filling the air. “MIye Nifredil. I came to see you because I saw something more from the scrying, A red crystal….” she trailed off realizing he had given the head to Parzival.

Nifredil Evael stood over a desk as an Acolyte shuffled through several scrolls in the chair in front of him. Others shuffled about the guild hall seemingly following precise instructions as none of the actions they took were wasted…”Acacia. I wondered how long it would take you to come see me.”…he spoke as if he had made her wait on purpose, he could remember the look that she had given him the night he passed the head to the Devil King, and he turned slowly to meet her; enduring that his wings did not disturb the Acolyte studying…”I too had seen visions of the red crystal, and I can assure you that the proper actions have been taken.”

Acacia Rose tilted her head to study him, ponder how much she should say about the matters that had detained her. “I would have come sooner, but there has been a bit of unrest in the Unseelie Fae and I needed to deal with that, That area is becoming dangerous to be in.” Her look at him grew more focused. “And what actions did you take if I may ask?”

Nifredil Evael moved over to the long table, and he reached into the pouch on his hip as he listened to her…”I am sure the Hive can handle its self. What they do is of no concern of mine until they choose to make it my concern.”…he withdrew his hand from his pouch, it was clenched, but did not look as if he were holding anything within it…”You are that concerned about the precautions I took?”…he would place the cracked crystal on the table as he looked at her with an unamused look

Acacia Rose adjusted that silk scarf that hung about her hips, “Nifredil, if I were concerned about them I would not seek you out so often to discuss magic and is secrets. I trust you as one of those Initiated, but that does not mean that I know your actions, and thus I am curious. It is a habit of mine. Many find my insatiable curiosity to be tiresome.”

Nifredil Evael smirked at her…”If you trusted my precautions then you wouldn’t have glared at me like you did the other night.”…he turned to one of the Acolytes that seemed to be standing around, and he gestured for him to complete his task…”They are assisting me with some research. Looking for spells that might be useful in uncovering what secrets this still holds.”…he moves to look over the Acolyte that was sitting behind him, and suddenly took the parchment that he was reading so he could study it himself

Acacia Rose reaches to her belt lift the book that she wore there, Turning the pages she made little hmmmng sounds, as she flipped through the pages, “This one,” She said tapping her finger on the page, “This is one that has been very useful in the past for me. It takes a lot out of you, but I find that it is well worth the effort. It will tell me of the legend and lore behind an object.” Holding the book out where he could see it.

Nifredil Evael looked over the page she showed him, he had yet to crack open his grimoire during this time; choosing to let the Acolytes do all of the research at this time…”Ahh yes. One of my students came across that one earlier, and I asked them to set it aside.”…he held the scroll up with the Soul Scry spell on it…”This here could be an interesting experiment If nothing more.”

Acacia Rose flipped a few pages, “This is the one that I use to follow up that spell, It provided a great deal of insight into the person or thing. She looked up to him with a smile, “I have also discovered that the yellow waters fro the fey wilds are particularly useful for scrying.”

Nifredil Evael rolled the parchment up before handing back to the Acolyte he took it from…”I think we have a good base for ideas. We need to prepare to ensure can learn the most from these spells.”…he returned to the table, and he takes the crystal into his hand once again, holding it in his palm as he holds it out for her to inspect should she choose to

Acacia Rose took the crystal, running her fingers along it, noting the crack in it. Thinking of the crystal that she had acquire through her fight with the Fomorian. “It is shame it is not from a harder substance. There is a crystal in the Feywilds that is harder than any other, It requires a spell to cut. The color is quite lovely at least” grinning at the last to indicate that she jests as she extends it back to him.

Nifredil Evael watched her inspect the crystal, an nodded to her as he really had no knowledge of the crystals from the Feywild…”You should show me these crystals from the other plane.”…he would close his hand around the crystal as she places it back into his hand, and he carefully tucked it back into his pouch…”I have chosen to keep this on my person. It prevents others from locating that it is here as easy.”…he lowered his head to the Archmage. offering her a genuine smile…”I will prepare for our rituals. I think the rune, and mirror will serve us well in our scrying. I just need to collect a few things before then.”

Acacia Rose nods in agreement. “I will need to gather the items that I have, I will stay in touch, but we should do this soon. She looks up, “May the shadows keep you safe until then” a smile on her face as she makes her way to the door to depart

Choosing a Crystal

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Acacia walks through the darkness of the cave, taking time to choose the crystal with care. Seeing a lovely iridescent crystal sparkle ahead of her down the path, a smile formed on her lips. This was it, a perfect choice for the task. It was light and beautiful, a very Seelie choice. Her fingers began to glow purple as she focused on the crystal, “Eilimint na Cruinne, ordaímse duit, Tabhair amach as an cloch sin a mhian liom.” {Element of Earth, I command you, Bring forth from the stone that which I desire.} spinning the element of earth within the crystal to cause a large new shard to form. Once the crystal was the size she desired, she let the glow fade from her fingers as the energy returned to the weave. Taking a hammer that had been dipped in wax a number of times, She stuck the shard sharply at the join to the main crystal, breaking it free. A grim grin crossed her face. This would be the tool she would use. Soon the Hive would know the error of their ways.