Thinking Out Loud: Fadeless.

Originally posted here as part of the 15 Minute Ficlet, I wanna poke at this some more...


La'faen was the kind of girl who never really enjoyed social events; solstice parties on the village green seemed largey like a waste of time. Why would she need to dress up in her prettiest frock and shawl? So some young man could ask her if she would like to dance? Offer her flowers? Trinkets? Usually she ended up hovering at the edge of the green, staring longingly up at the Daesharr Temple, wondering if maybe Danayl would see fit to deliver her from this fate of boredom. Surely her parents wouldn't really object if she opted to conscript herself into the army or something? Swords were interesting, far more so than sewing. She had been up to Col'Lefyra once, with her father, to visit his dying mother. The capital city of Feranath had left her bubbling with words, trickling steadily out over her lips until her father had told her pointedly to be quieter in her excitement. She had tried. Ash and blood, she had tried so hard to hold her tongue.

Now, she glanced around, wondering where her walk away from the dancing on the green had taken her. She knew it was dangerous to wander away from the village into the woods on the Kinai, the darkest, longest night of the year, but at least here, in the darkness, away from all the fiddles and singing and twirly-whirly dancing, she could think. It was strange, here surrounded by nothing but winter-scorched and sap-bursted trees that she actually felt like she was living - enlivened by the solitude. It was like she was the only person alive out here, with all the other creatures of the forest asleep in hibernation or gone. There were no wolves in these parts, not for generations.

"Pretty night for a young woman to be out on her own," a voice said and La'faen nearly fell over as she spun around.

The speaker made no attempt to conceal herself. She was tall, taller than most women La'faen had seen; and she was beautiful - beautiful in a way that made La'faen's knees go weak with a desire she had never thought to feel for another of her own sex. The long black hair fell down around a strangely pale face, juxtaposed by the black lines that seemed to curl up to her cheek - tattoos?

"I - "

"Sorry, girl, didn't mean to scare you. I came here to get away from the hubbub at Felyriah," the woman said, leaning back against the frozen bark of an ancient oak. Felyriah? A shot of panic rushed through the young girl; Felyriah was the only place where...

"You're one of the Dar'nayl..." she breathed.

"Yes, I am," the strange woman said. It was only then that La'faen noticed the sharpeness of her teeth when her lips parted, the teeth made for killing, "don't worry. I'm not here to eat you, girl. I'm here because I can't stand parties, and I quite like frozen dead forests, somehow they make me feel like I'm bursting with life and energy. Which of course I am."

The Dark Lady...the Dark Prince's consort. Ash and blood. La'faen felt giddy with excitement, terror. The adrenalin bursting through her veins made her want to run and skip and dance. The Dark Lady seemed to study her for a moment, watching her with a lopsided smile.

"Can't stand parties either?"

"No, m'lady," La'faen squeaked, finally finding her voice.

"Kae. We're in the middle of the forest, girl, bothering with titles is stupid and taxing."

"Yes...er...Kae," La'faen said, feeling slightly bold for daring. Kae'ra Vexantris t'Ameandir tyr'Kainiri smiled at her, a brilliant toothy smile, and it was then that La'faen realised why she felt so alive: when you were staring death - or one who walked its edge - in the face, you had very little choice but to remember just how alive you were.


Thinking out loud.
Obviously this takes place after "Lady of the Glaive", the first part of The Fadeless. I'm thinking it's gotta be in the vicinity of Kainiri, given Kae's showing up there. I doubt she would run too far from Felyriah; she wouldn't stray to far from Teforne, especially during the second part. So...that gives me quaint lil village in the nearabouts of Kainiri, so it's probably on the coast?

I really wish I could draw Kae from this scene, it's after she's gone through the Awakening, obviously: the tattoos and the hair, which is black in this scene. So she's been through the Door...come out. I wonder if I can't doodle some and sketch some ideas for how it's KINDA meant to look, even if I can't draw it properly. Maybe there's someone out there who'll take pity on a drawingless writer, lolz.

Transitions

I suppose I should start our affair with honesty, and possibly a plagiarised phrase from Fight Club: You met me at a very strange time in my life.

Of course, I've no intention of blowing up buildings, or anything quite that spectacular - or destructive - but it does seem to suite my current circumstances: I'm in transition. I'm moving away from everything I know and diving headlong into what some people might call the deep end, and others might claim I should've been swimming in that pond years ago.

Nothing's simple, though.

For those of you who don't know me, then...

I'm V, I have been ever since I first hopped onto the Internet. It's a handle, nickname, petname, whatever name, that appears to have stuck. I could tell you how it came about, but it's got various versions, so let's just skip that part and assume I've had a rather long-winded love affair with the letter itself. Before I was V, I was Olwen - not mind you, that I've undergone some supernatural change that has given me a new identity or anything, I'm still Olwen to most people, and I have no illusions that it is and always will be my real name. I read somewhere once that your name is the first gift your parents give you; not so sure about that since they obviously give you life first up, but eh, who am I to criticise another's writings. But we were talking about me...

I've been writing since before I could write. Ask my dad, he'll tell you I used to scribble on little bits of paper when I was three, glue them together, and then read him a story. At the end of the story, when asked to reread it, a totally new story manifested itself. I'm ashamed to say I've lost that particular talent, nowadays the things I write tend to deliver only one set of words, but such is the loss of childhood.

I've lived in a lot of places around the world. I was born in the Netherlands, but I have no real patriotic tendencies towards the country of my birth and see it mostly as a place where we own a house and my family lives. To me, the Netherlands has always been a 'place to visit people', a 'vacation country', the 'country where things work, sometimes too well', and most recently, 'the place I doubt I could ever really settle'. I've lived in London - it's where I first learned English, which is now my prefered language - I've lived in Abidjan, Ivory Coast - although back then there was only the one president and all the Liberian refugees were on the west side of the river - and in Maputo, Mozambique - which in my opinion still was the Pearl of Africa. I've lived in Suva, Fiji - the British really should've built it on the other side of the island, but perhaps they felt homesick for the rain - and I've lived in Canberra, Australia - where I am now, still, for the next two weeks. 

I'm moving to Melbourne. 

That in itself might seem like a very boring thing, simple and straightforward. As a statement it certainly is, but for someone who's never really been on her own, this is a big thing. Moreover, I think this is me finally growing up. Not bad for someone who turned 25 last September right? 

Let's be fair though, it's doubtful that I will ever really grow up.

Now that we've got that mostly out of the way...

"You've got three blogs, what between Valerian Night, Riven Cascades, Shards of Silver, and not to mention the one you write with L! Why on earth do you want to start another one?"

Easy answer? I want somewhere were I can put up snippets, or thoughts, or bits of writing, anything and everything: photographs, bad sketches, doodles, half hashed out ideas, story charts, art for no other purpose than my own desire to see it online. I want space to be selfish. If I had any idea how to work wordpress I'd probably be able to squish it all together into one blog, but since I'm still struggling to get my head worked around certain elements, this will do for the time being. I'm comfortable with Blogger afterall. 

So what you need to know before you read on?

1. it's doubtful that this'll update with any regularity, you're more or less bound to my swings of creativity and/or interest.

2. be prepared for anything, good or bad, drivel or masterpiece.

That aside, glad to have you here. 

Clear Skies,

V