Across Oceans Blue (Closed)

[Ruby]

Across Oceans Blue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqNRIM2pdaQ)


2476



Closed To Silence Sei.

Set following the events of Your Souls Are Mine (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?22877-Your-Souls-Are-Mine-(Solo)).


Neither Ruby Winchester nor Emma Orlougne had ever seen a singing ship before. By all means a singing uncles after too much wine, a dancing monkey tainted with magic.Ruby had even witnessed a singing sword that recounted its exploits with every swing, but never a ship that lured sirens to its bow to crush them beneath its long voyage over vast oceans. It had certainly made the voyage from the port of Radasanth to the continent much more memorable. It took both women’s minds off the tooting and froing of the small white sailed vessel as it traversed the rocky waves of the ocean.

A tall spire had broken the horizon after five days. They had watched the vast port of Anebrilith grow on the edge of Raiaera as they had drawn ever closer. They had talked at great lengths about the barded council that was seated beyond, and how they could both dream for a thousand years of one day being pupils in the vast halls of Istien University. Emma had practically shrieked with joy when Ruby had suggested that she was going to make her dream become a reality, and that she would be more than accommodating if the mystic would accompany her every step of the way.

The flock of gulls that spiralled around the sails of the ship called out land. The ship ceased its melodic chorus about a captain it had once loved before he had met his death at the bottom of the ocean, and the sound of the lapping waves against the barnacled hull filled the silence. Already, the ship passed others like it, and they conversed amongst themselves in a secret tongue that Ruby loved to hear and wonder about. It was a heavy, almost draconic language, full of trills and guttural stops. They passed Akashiman Junkers and fishing schooners and trade ships from all the corners of Althanas, and places and styles that Ruby did not recognise. Each ship started a new tone or utterance, and she heard excitement, fear and dread in the ship’s voice as it caught up on sea worthy news from across the world.

The deck of the Whimsy Fair rocked gently as it came alongside an empty jetty. Ruby looked over her shoulder and smiled warmly at Emma, the sort of gesture that suggested anticipation and longing. She patted the railing to her left, “Join me, and let us explore this strange land together like we promised.” The sailors and fishermen burst into a frenzy of activity as the ship became tethered to Anebrilith, and sails and moorings swung left and right and up and down in the gentle breeze and sunshine.

Ruby took a deep breath stealing herself against the unknown and looked down across the busy docklands of the elven port. She had heard rumours that war had ravaged the land, but from the flocks of gulls crying happily overhead and the joyful look on the faces of the merchants she could never have guessed. “What do you think, Emma? What can you hear, see, smell?” She waved her arm over the horizon and settled a finger onto the tall spire of the University in the distance. “What sounds in your heart?”

[Silence Sei]

Three Days Prior...

The fireplaced snapped and crackled before Emma Orlouge, the third eldest of the four Orlouge sisters. She sat Salvarian-style on the floor (that is, with each knee pointed in opposite directions, and one leg atop the other), waiting for her illustrious father to make his presence known. The teen closed her eyes and allowed the combination of the warm air produced by the flames, as well as the sporadic crisping also courtesy of the fire, to take her to her own little world. While most people would simply scoff at the idea of listening to a roaring fire in their quarters, Emma Orlouge had the unique ability to string together sounds from anything in her surroundings in order to make a harmony. A hand lifted up as she began to conduct her imaginary symphony.

Take me back to Raiaera,
The place of learning high
And I shall one day herald
That great country's rise.

The words left her lips as if they had been waiting in the confines of her throat the entire time. Emma had always been one for listening to the music that played all around, never the one to actually sing. She thought of her skills in vocals quite sub-par at best. Then again, with someone like Ella, Emma's little sister and a music prodigy, the teen was used to living in the shadow of her much younger sister. Besides, Ella had never really held an interest in her musical studies, preferring to play outside and do other activities normal of a six-year old. Emma brought her knees up to her chest and opened her eyes, ruffling up the large, blue butterfly rug underneath her.

"You're quite good, you know," the calming voice of Sei Orlouge entered her head. Emma looked to her right, a shocked look on the rest of her face betraying the icy cold glare from her brown eyes. The mute Mystic ignored the gaze and sat beside his daughter. The teens cheeks became flushed with the color red, and the heat that was once comforting had now become unbearably warm. She bit her upper lip as she tried to find the words she had practiced throughout the day. Sei had to know she was going, and due to his ethics about reading the minds of others, the only way for him to know was to tell him.

"I'm assuming this meeting is about Ruby's trip to Anebrilith?" Sei's blue orbs shifted over to his daughter for a second before focusing back on the flames.

"She fancies you, you know," Emma replied in an attempt to make the scene less awkward by embarrassing her father as well.

"You're avoiding the question, Emma."

She sat there for a moment, her gaze going over her pink toenails. After a few moments of reflection, she looked back to her father. As she opened her mouth, the room seemed to change temperatures dramatically, and the musician shivered a bit. It was all the girl could do to keep her lunch in, let alone demand that she be allowed to go. Resigning to a non-verbal reply, the girl simply nodded, strands of brown hair falling over her face.

"I....I love you, I really do, Father. You took me and Ella from that orphanage without a second thought. You're raising Ella to be everything I ever dreamed she could be. For so long, I've put my own dreams to the side to try and help her better herself," She swallowed heavily, tears filling her eyes and merging with the sweat beads her body began to form from the fire. "I love this castle, I love how everyone treats me, and I want you to teach me how to use a weapon. Even though you simply adopted us, I consider you our real father."

"But..." Now the girl's tears began to free flow down her face, dropping gently onto the green dress she had been wearing and leaving several soggy specks, "I want to go so bad. This has been my dream since I could remember. The school of song and swords, to be able to be enrolled there.... I want it so bad..."

"You can go."

"And when Miss La Roux told me that she was making a trip, that she had heard me playing I---" Emma paused for a moment, registering what her father had just said. For added effect, the girl shook her head in disbelief. "I can?"

"Ella will be fine here by herself, Emma," Sei spoke the words in Emma's mind, but each syllable seemed to be drawn out in slow motion to her ears. "There are enough people here at Ixian Castle to take care of her. This is your dream, Emma Orlouge, make sure you make the most out of it. You are, after all, set up to be a shimmering example of excellence for the next generation." Sei ended his little fatherly speech with one last statement, a smile pursing across his lips.

"Besides, Miss Winchester is very interested in your abilities." Emma continued to look at her father, but the world had gone hazy, and then finally black. It wasn't until the next morning that she had realized she had passed out from shock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Emma, deary?" The voice of Ruby echoed back into the mind of the teen. Emma shook her head for a moment, trying to get the spider magi out of her head. The scent of seawater mixed with fresh fish was enough to make the girl hunger for some Akashima sushi. The sounds of the hustle and bustle combined with the waves crashing against boats and wood made her long for a simple day at the beach. The sight of the ominous looking tower that Ruby La Roux had been pointing at intimidated the musician into second guessing her decision.

"I said, what sounds in your heart?"

Everything seemed to come together now in a dramatic chorus. The girl dropped her lightly packed bag and spun around for a few moments, listening to the new songs that a new country produced for her. It was here that Emma Orlouge would become one of the greatest composers in all of Althanas.

"My destiny...."

[Ruby]

There were many responses that Ruby would have accepted from her new companion. As if by fate Emma responded with the precise word she longed for her to say. It rang in her ears and seeped into her chest to touch her heart. It appeared that she had more in common with Emma than she had first come to believe.

"Precisely," she said, looking back out across the busy city.

"We are both about to embark on a journey not just into the unknown," and Ruby was very much at the limits of her worldly experience, "but into the very frontier of new discovery. Expanding our minds as well as our understanding of ourselves."

Her pensive thoughts might have held more meaning for her than they implied for Emma. She leant over the edge of the ship and took one last breath of sea air before stepping back from the gnarled oak. She considered the first things they might do, the places they might see, the wonders they would discover and felt the tingle of excitement run up and down her spine.

"Forgive me for getting philosophical," she smiled at Emma and gestured for them to depart the ship.

"The captain will see to it that our possessions are placed in a secure place." Ruby had nearly broken her marriage vows to solicit that part of the deal.

As Ruby set foot on the gang plank that bridged the thirty feet gap between the ship and the docks of Anebrilith, she overheard the crew muttering something. She craned her neck to listen to their chatter and walked on, a puzzled look barely concealed on her face. What she thought the men had said, as they lugged great crates of trade goods from the deck to the docks with heavy winches and sweaty backs, was that Beinost had grown dreary by the day.

"Emma..." she said non-nonchalantly, not pretending to be the eternal sunshine that she liked to make the nobles of Scara Brae think she was, "listen to the city..."

She stepped onto the docks and instantly knew something was...not wrong, but very much different to what she had expected.

"Can you hear anything else? Destiny aside, can you hear harp strings plucked with elfin fingers or bard song sung over lofty heights?" She tensed with nerves and glanced over her shoulder at the otherwise ordinary occupants of the docklands. With great scrutiny she looked for anything that was out of place.

[Silence Sei]

((Sorry for the delay, Cydster))

Emma paused for a moment, Ruby's words echoing through her not unlike a bell echoing a ring. She had spent so much time listening to the melodies that the country provided; she almost neglected the dark overtures, the sinister symphonies. The girl nodded to Ruby and closed her eyes, attempting to drown out the beautiful sounds for the uglier ones. The girl breathed in and out rather slowly. It took her a few moments before she opened her eyes and began to speak once more.

"There was a war.... it's hard for me to hear all of the details over the melodies. All I know is that there was some sort of big fight and that it affected the school somehow." Emma spoke as if the words did not affect her until her brain registered what she had just said. The teen widened her eyes as she looked to Ruby.

"Sweet Mysticana! The school!" Emma shouted as she began to jerk her head around furiously. She had not heard any actual melodies playing from instruments. She could not hear the bladesingers practicing within the forests. She could not hear anything to indicate that the school was even still there, and that frightened her like nothing else had frightened her in her life. She turned to Ruby, grabbing the hand of the older woman and began tugging as if her life depended on it. She could not afford to have her dream shattered. Not when she was so close to achieving it.

"Miss La Roux! Hurry! We must check on the school!"

[Ruby]

Emma’s words carried with them a sense of sudden urgency. Her doubts confirmed, Ruby wasted little time in paying off the cabin boy and trotting down the loading plank onto the harbour. Their belongings would find their slow way into their booked room in the Arbalest Shanty on the seafront. They would wait for them on their return from whatever lie ahead of them. Ruby glanced over her shoulder to the ship and covered her eyes against the glare of the sun shining down from above. Salt, death and desperation lingered in her nostrils, which flared between heavy breaths. She had donned an inappropriate dress for anything other than casual strolling; something she hoped to amend at a suitable opportunity.

“Let us waste no time Emma!” She roared, practically vomiting salt up the loading ramp. The ship sung for a moment as if it had been roused from a drunken sleep, before it’s mumbled yet contented words faded out of earshot once more. Once she was certain Ms Orlougne was in hot pursuit, she turned on a heel and made for the large gap between the buildings on the harbour front. Common sense told her that the large thoroughfare would lead them into the heart of Anebrilith. Though the tower seemed to put the school in the city it was an illusory trick. The blade singers practised their arts far away, a day or so travel from the edges of Raiaera’s premier port.

“War is always waiting to ruin my day,” she mumbled, hair flapping against her brow and lip clamped into a tight, lemon purse. With each step her lungs burnt with lack of exercise, urged on by the need to have her doubts sedated, eased and packed away. Emma caught up quickly, clearly thriving in the zenith of her youth and walked alongside. “I should have seen this sooner, should have sent word in advance, anything but this,” she said with a sort of half-terrified shimmer. Her worries took on an aura of their own, and if Emma were to look closely she might have caught a glimpse of flames lapping from the spell singer’s auburn locks.

The sound of their heels against the battered, shattered cobblestones accompanied their silence as they turned left from the main street along the sign posted foreigner’s quarters. As they left the safety of the harbour they swiftly realised the extent of the conflict, and just how devastating it had been. Signposts slowly starting to lean, cobbles slowly vanished into dust tracks darting away down derelict side streets. Cobwebs, ruins and apathy replaced the bustling noise and life of the sea salt shorefront.

“Perhaps we are, through an irony most perverse, the only spell singers left in the land of the bard…” she posed it half rhetorically and half anxiously, hoping Emma had it in her to ease the matron’s paranoid doubts. The first task at hand for the duo was to solicit passage to the school, and for that, they needed to talk to the Minister of Exchange; the envoy of Scara Brae on matters of visitation. “Let us hope we make it in time to see some semblance of wonder sung in the school’s halls."

[Silence Sei]

The girl tried to keep in step with the demanding matriarch, paying as little attention to the blur of greens whipping past her face while she followed the prim and proper Ruby Winchester. The girl looked to the ghost town that was once home of the magnificient Bladesingers. How could this have happened? Who could have done this. emma's lithe body began to tremble, though she was unsure of if the reaction was out of sorrow or rage. Ruby's outlook on the irony of the situation did not help to improve upon the teenagers mood. She had waited so long for this day, and now it would never come.

"The whispers of the undead are conspiring like a serenade for the sinister," Emma mummbled, causing Ruby to turn to her. It took the crimson haired beauty a moment to realize that the younger girl was stringing together the words to a song. This was a stress exercise she had learned in the orphanage where she had grown up. Whenever something seemed to bad to be reality, the teen would create a song in order to cheer the rest of the orphans up from their dreary demeanors. In all of her years, Emma Orlouge never thought that she would be writing a song on the fly in order to bring herself out of a depression.

"The dead spread their whispers
They hurt, they die, they moan
Here to torture their two new guests
So far away from home"

"Emma?" Ruby asked, concerned that the lyrics the girl was singing was a protrayal of her own feelings. In truth, Emma was incredibly sad for what had happened, so much so that her mind contemplated ending her existence right then and there. Yet, whenever such thoughts crossed her mind, the teen could not help but think of the four year old girl that she would be leaving behind. Ella would never forgive her sister if she had taken the cowardly way out now. Emma stood up straight, belting out the next lines at the top of her lungs.

"But there is no time for sorrow!
I will restore, me!
No more shall this land be hollowed!
We will restore it, me and Miss Ruby!"

Emma threw her hands into the air in a grandoise fashion, as if praising some God for his divine intervention. The girl looked to her female companion, a perky smile slowly crawling back across her features. Emma knew full well that she had to sing in order to get out the troubles she was carrying upon her since arriving. Hopefully, Miss Ruby would not only agree to help the girl, but understand the singing exercise.

"I'm okay now, if you're ready to go..."

[Ruby]

Ruby threw a puzzled shaped expression at Emma.

It was not a shape her face took often.

“It’s more than okay,” she said softly, pulling her eyebrows back into line with a warming smile. Though the cold air of the ruins of Anebrilith chilled her spine and tried to freeze the cockles of her heart, she felt compassion and heat from the young Orlougne and was thankful to be amongst such good company.

Emma had sung with such emotion and passion that even Ruby felt her tear ducts simmer. There was something about her that she had not seen before but had always expected. Ever since their encounter in the gothic monstrosity of Sei’s Corone retreat she had felt a kinship with the girl, a talented bridge between matriarch and progeny.

She gestured for Emma to approach, and when she neared, she took her up into her arm and they continued their advance through the quiet streets towards their destination. Arm in arm, they appeared as sisters, their striking clashes in attire and physical appearance lost in an aura of friendship, togetherness and likeminded sensibilities.

If Lillith had seen them she would have slit Emma’s throat with jealousy.

“Tell me…this is just a question, there’s no need to answer if you don’t feel comfortable.” Ruby bit her lip, tracing the outline of a tumbling tower rising up over the city skyline. It was lit in the twilight, pilloried by two taller towers falling into greater disrepair. The smell of almonds and formaldehyde was strong as they passed the towers tall outer wall and continued through a street lined with open sewers.

Death was not only in the air and on the wind, but in the very stonework and heart of Anebrilith.

When she had first discovered her spell singing she had been fearful of even uttering a note, lest she crack time or topple Scara Brae into the sea. It had taken her many years, centuries in fact to truly overcome that fear. When she had, through the providence of love and friendship she had felt such relief she wondered why she had been so weak to be afraid of herself at all.

She did not want the same for Emma.

“Did you sing those words so beautifully because you had to, or because you felt you needed to?”

There was always a strange compulsion that formed in Ruby’s oesophagus when she belted out a song to sear flesh, crack skulls and craft artistic inflexions of light in the soft Autumnal skies. As her technique developed, she had mixed the instinctual formation of lyrics with demand, so that she drew three things in her mind before she sang.

One was the image of the result, what she wanted from her words.

One was the image of her own self, singing on stage in front of a million souls resplendent.

The final image of what she accepted could go wrong with her magic. The consequence of spell singing, if applied incorrectly, could be horrific for the singer as well as those around her.

A life giving melody could so easily turn into a pillorying requiem.

These were all lessons Emma would have to learn on her own terms. They were harsh lessons and things the Bladesingers could not teach her. Ruby hoped to be able to help her young charge as best she could, for her own betterment as well as their mutual development of a new and prosperous relationship.

They turned another corner and came out onto a wide boulevard, lined with oak trees along its centre. Residences rose like crooked teeth on either side of the cobbled street. If it were not for the sporadic appearance of a withered crone in a curious window or the stooped figures of ancient men smoking in doorways, Ruby could have forgiven herself for thinking Anebrilith sang with the voices of the dead because the living no longer dwelt in her walls.

She quickened her pace, ears pricked to hear Emma’s response and how much conviction the young woman put behind her reply. All the while she keened her glowing pupils on every movement and shadow, ever watchful of danger, ever watchful of opportunity. Soon, they would find out what had happened here.

Soon, they would find out if there journey across oceans blue had been for nought.

[Silence Sei]

Ruby's question came as a shock to the young girl. She had not thought about why she sang the song. To Emma, the words just left her as freely as a canary released from its cage. There was no logic behind it, as far as she was concerned. She had just wanted to sing, and so she did. The girl opened her mouth, prepared her address her mentor when they rounded a corner and found that Anebrilith was not the home of the dead that the two had originally thought it was. Emma let out a small sigh of relief as she followed closely behind Ruby, finding a strange comfort in feeling the older woman's arm nestled against hers. It reminded the teen of her own mother, before she had been taken away to the orphanage.

"I sang because it felt right, Miss Ruby,” Emma felt more at home now that her feet were placed upon cobblestone once more. Her nose caught the scent of civilization; a fire in the hearth, a smell of sweat, and a trail of pipe smoke that slowly crept its way from the door of a house. She slowed her stride a bit to enjoy the smells she had grown slightly accustomed to, smells she did not realize that she had missed so much. Ruby seemed to catch this and lowered herself to a brisk walk to match the teen.

"Quit that," Ruby responded, her tone sounding somewhat cross with the teen. Emma blinked a few times in utter confusion as to what her elder was referring to.

"Quite what?"

"The Miss Ruby. If you are going to address me formally, it would be Misses, not Miss,” The crimson haired woman seemed to have regained her regal form and speech by the time they were on the road.

"But, is Miss not the proper term when referring to someone as young, if not younger?" Emma's question brought a small laugh out of Ruby. The girl's exceptional hearing caught small cracks in the laughter, hinting that the older woman was trying to stop herself from making a fool out of herself with hysterics. They walked in silence for a few moments, Emma being mindful of the way she carried herself in the sophisticated Ruby's presence. After all, she did not want to set a bad example for the Ixian Knights, or more importantly, the Winchester name. She heard one more small pip of merriment escape from her companion, and a smile crept across Emma's face when she heard Ruby whisper something.

"You flatter me, Emma dear..."

[Ruby]

Emma flattered Ruby because she was anything but young.

“I am five centuries and a few years senior, so Mrs is quite appropriate.”

They walked on in a momentary silence caused by the matriarch’s domineering and commanding tone. Ruby thought hard about her response to Emma’s enquiry, before coming to the conclusion that she had been too hard on the girl.

She chuckled, “I am sorry for snapping at you dear,” her personality switched from mother to sister in a flash. “I am a stickler for etiquette, and I’m quite tired of men attempting to flatter me into bed all the time to allow things to slide.” This included her husband Leopold, who thought he was the Thayne's gift to small talk.

When they finally reached the end of the long road they come to a steep right turn and a narrower alley which lead to a large gothic building. The strange light cast it in shadow, fear and sorrow. Ruby traced the stained glass patterns set in the few windows that had yet to be smashed or plundered and sighed.

“You’ve no need to call me Mrs either, Ruby is my name to friends and certainly, to family.”

She gave no time for Emma to dwell on the implications of her words before she marched off towards the embassy. Inside, she hoped to find out the truth about their journey’s fate.

“For the record,” she shouted over her shoulder, legs taught with energy and back arched with upper class sensibilities. he walked to carry herself to new heights of self-importance as she made her entrance into Anebrilith politics. “That’s precisely the right reason to sing. Even if your words carry no power now they will in time, and you will wield it righteously.”

Without selfishness, she mused to herself as she turned away and skipped up the dusty steps. She swallowed her pride as she stepped through the heavy columns of splintered marble that lined the alcove of the embassy. Without malice and without the same mistakes I made throughout my many lives.

“Come along Miss Orlougne!” She bellowed as she disappeared inside.

[Silence Sei]

As the two climbed the steps to the embassy, Emma could not help but dwell on the words that her mentor had said to her. Those words of encouragement helped to commit the girl realize even more that she wanted to be like Ruby Winchester. Of course, Emma had not learned of the elder woman's many misdeeds and mistakes, picturing the auburn haired adult as an affectionate and awe-inspiring angel. Each step that they took released small clouds of dust from the rather unused steps, and within a minute in a half, they were standing before two large white doors, easily the size of two full grown men, and the width of three. Emma met the fire-hued eyes of her idol, and the two nodded at the same time, pushing the doors open to see what was within.

Emma gasped at the sheer architecture of the embassy. Pillars that had been chipped away to give the illusion of ivory vines snaking around the white support beams, stained glass windows that had been so recently made that Emma could distinctly recognize a picture of Godhand Striker (The 'Saint of Strength' in Raiaera), and floors so meticulously clean that the girl would have sword that her older sister Anita had arrived ahead of them. Everything was absolutely perfect, just the way Emma had imagined a country such as Raiaera would be. Tears began to caress her cheeks as she looked around in sheer admiration for the place. Emma's focus was brought back to her companion once she heard the clicking of Ruby's heels against the platinum tile of the floor.

As the two walked, they passed several elves and humans of various shapes and sizes. She could recognize the clothing styles from Scara Brae, Corone, and even Salvar while following the Winchester matriarch. They soon approached a desk, where a man in a black business suit and red tie sat, smiling politely to the both of them. Emma couldn't help but notice the man's pristine teeth as he began to speak to the two of them.

"Welcome to Raiaera," the man said, every word he spoke seemed to carry a jovial tune to it, "what can we do for you lovely ladies today?"

[Ruby]

Ruby forgave the receptionist for his uncouth introduction. She was trying to be a motherly figure in front of Emma, and she refused to let a man of such lowly stature break her already feeble composure. Wistfully she tapped her delicate fingers on the edge of the counter, her eyes piercing his soul with fiery conviction and a domineering presence that came with age and compassion for nobody other than herself.

“A welcome that might be better received if you could tell us what happened in Anebrilith?” She wasted little time getting to the point.

The receptionist frowned, as if he weren’t entirely convinced his guests could be so blissfully unaware of the war in his homeland. He watched her fingers as they rattled out a ditty on the worn mahogany and then sighed.

“I assume you have just arrived in Beinost, so I shall briefly summarise what happened.” He stood with a rush of air that bordered on the creepy, and Ruby stepped back from the counter. He was an immensely tall man, standing over her like a lighthouse, teeth flashing a warning to strays and trouble makers who dared to enter the grandiose spectacle of Anebrilith.

His pointed ears and fair skin placed him in the lineage of the High Elves.

“Raiaera has been at war for so many years, I find it hard to believe anyone could have remained untouched by it. Alas, I guess people from afar are oblivious to the hardships of others, careless for their woes unseen with their own eyes. He was called Xem’Zund, our enemy, and he devastated not just this city but every city in our kingdom.” He waved his arm over the heads of the two ladies and stepped out from the half circle reception to draw their attention to a large mural on the vast wall that flanked the left side of the entrance chamber.

Ruby and Emma both followed him slowly, their heels clicking on the marble like nervous sheep following the crook of their Shepard. In the maelstrom of colour, undead monstrosities and great zombified dragons loomed up from a bed of fire. Dead elves and deader enemies fought with tooth, blade and song in a battlefield in the central sphere, and two figures dangled puppet strings over the scene, heads leering in the torchlight twilight.

“They are calling it the Corpse War, though the War between Corpses is a more fitting title. He is dead,” he pointed up at the right figure, a cowed necromancer with glowing eyes. “Though it was only after the many sacrifices of Raiaera’s living heroes the Dawnbringers that he was defeated.” He moved to point to the other figure, an elf wreathed in golden flame surrounded by smaller figures. There was a human, a purple robed elf, a man with a hat Ruby was certain to be a wizard and several other mundane looking individuals.

"His name is Ingwe."

Ruby remarked on his striking appearance, and wondered if she had ever met him in a past life. She felt a kinship with anyone wreathed in fire, especially those bearing the mark of the Phoenix.

Emma mouthed her surprise, but took several mutterings before she could speak her mind. “What happened to Anebrilith, it seemed so peaceful and full of life when we landed on the harbour cobbles?”

He smiled.

“Much of the harbour is set back from the besieged outer limits of the city. We were fortunate enough to survive the siege but much of the city did not. When the blade singers started to rebuild it, using the souls of the many thousands of dead to power their song they deemed it fit to rename our home. We needed a new image and purpose, so Beinost became our guiding light.”

He hung his head, and Ruby patted Emma on the shoulder to calm her frantic rise in hesitation.

“If this city survived and the blade singers rebuilt it, then we can assume they still live.” She looked to the man with a stern and heavy burden weighing her expression. With the melodrama on the wall behind him, he appeared far too calm and collected to be imparting such news. Then again, she contemplated before speaking, this was perhaps the hundredth time he had informed visitors of their ignorance. “Am I right, good sir, does Istien University still stand?”

He smiled and guided them back to the desk. As he veered around the counter he pointed to an open ledger on the counter to their right.

“Please sign in; I shall have an escort to take you to the University. If that is why you have come to these lands, then I am only too glad to be able to have a University to show you. Many come for the wizard towers, and to teach and be taught in the College Arcana. It did not fare as well as the blade singers did, and the college is mostly closed to new intake at present, whilst it’s faculty help rebuild the city.”

Ruby looked over her shoulder at the mural, and settled her thoughts on that striking blue hat.

“You are most kind, my name is Ruby Winchester,” she scribbled her name into the book half still looking at the artwork behind her. Emma followed suit, though she was too shy to relay titles.

“Why do we need an escort?”

The man smiled again, his unnerving calmness and polished dentures far too clean for Ruby’s liking. “The dead still roam the lands, unhindered by the necromancer’s power, they do as they will and will as they do. I wish you the best of trips and please, enjoy what our realm has to offer,” he pulled the ledger away and closed it with a satisfied nod.

“Were shall we wait?” Emma said curiously, looking around the chamber.

The receptionist pointed a skeletal digit at the central circle of wing back chairs which were surrounded by potted plants and information boards before whistling off into the back room to tend to their travel arrangements.

Ruby shrugged and followed Emma as she waltzed over and sat with a sigh into the dusty embrace of Beinost hospitality.

“What a curious turn of events,” Emma said; more chirpy now she was alone with her new friend’s company.

Ruby nodded glumly, fearing that their attempts to find learning in Raiaera would end in them teaching the elves how to rebuild their home. She could feel a song tickling her larynx and tried to contain it, lest a new tower rise from the ruins of Beinost that could not be torn down so easily by rotten hands.

“What do you know of this Xem’Zund?” She asked her new charge. She unbuckled some of her belts and ruffled her hair, which smelt of salt and sweat and continued to ply some care and attention to her dishevelled appearance before they continued on their journey.

[Silence Sei]

"Not much," Emma replied to the older woman, still trying to absorb the history lesson she had just gone through, "only what Mother Holly taught us in the orphanage. He was a lich, from what I understand, and he was defeated by heroes long ago. I knew that there had been rumors of his return, but I did not think they were true until I saw that." Emma pointed to the picture of stained glass window that portrayed a silver haired, muscular man holding back a legion of skeletons with one hand, much like parents holding children back from fighting.

"I recognized him as soon as I saw him. Godhand Striker, Saint of Strength here in Raiaera. Father told me he once fought by his side, and from records of the last Cell tournament, it seemed as though he was the tournament, if that makes sense. He's a respected war hero, at least enough that Father speaks highly of him whenever he talks about the old days, and from the stories told, he can make General Ravenheart look weak." Emma was talking of true titans, people like Sei Orlouge and Letho Ravenheart, who could topple mountains with their determination and part the seas with their wills. The girl dreamed of one day being spoken of such praises, she longer for it to be her image so carefully crafted into stained glass.

"Sei seems to teach his children well," Ruby replied, checking her dress for any imperfections that may have rose to the surface during their journey, "Emma, dear, don't you think you should probably clean up before we are brought to the school?"

"What's wrong with....never mind. Yes M'am,” Emma slowly approached the man at the front desk, asking for the location of the bathroom. The girl spent several minutes in the facilities before walking out looking like a perfect combination of warrior and debutant. A green dress covered most of her body, revealing only the slightest hint of a neckline slipping out from her white frills. She wore two gloves that allowed her fingers and thumbs exposure into the air. Well hidden at her hip was an emerald green sword hilt, intentionally colored to match her dress for deceitful purposes. Her hair had been formed into one long, brown ponytail, tied into knots about every two inches, and extending down to the lower back. She had managed to do her makeup to the point that she looked like a fragile doll, pale white skin that only highlighted the red blush at her cheeks, and hazel brown in her eyes. The girl seemed to have every head in the room turning towards her odd appearance, which caused her to tread carefully back towards her mentor.

She cracked a half-hearted, half-smile, obviously feeling uncomfortable in the dress. "Too much...?"

[Ruby]

“Emma my dear there’s no such word in my vocabulary. Too much is for people who aren’t confident in their own skin. Too much is for people who’ve something to hide. You look,” she rose from her chair, fingers pinched and held out to her right side as if she were a waiter describing fine Salvar wine, “fabulous.” The air sparkled with power.

Even as she said it, Ruby felt a little twinge of jealousy run up her spine and slap her over the back of the head. After their earlier conversation about Mrs and Miss, Emma’s youth and beauty hit home. Though Mrs Winchester tried her best to fight away the encroaching presence of time, she knew it was a battle she was losing. Before her, the young Orlougne reflected everything Ruby wanted to be, but without the burden of having to live through it over and over in an eternal cycle of pain and suffering.

In an attempt to distract herself from herself, she looked back at the mural.

“You mentioned Sei fought with this,” she waved her hands in little circles of concentration, “Godhand. Do you recall the names of any of the others pictured here?”

Emma shook her head, but took several steps closer, both to stand by Ruby’s side and to get a better look. “Father taught me well, but it was always a game to him, a sort of fallacy.”

She fixated on the blue hat once more, and wondered if he could help her...

Ruby smiled, “I can picture the scene. Regardless of the merits of your respectable education, I am very glad I heard you sing at the castle.” She looked down over the crook of her pampered nose at her charge.

They stood side by side in silence for several minutes, each woman uncertain of how to advance the conversation out of its arrogant decline into compliments and back slapping. Though Ruby was well versed in flattering nobility for hours on end in a vicious competition for attention, somehow that type of discussion did not seem entirely appropriate with Emma. The only other woman that Ruby had met in recent years that could match her heart, intellect and creativity was her sister. She was far away, fighting a war that she could not understand.

Several awkward minutes passed, with no sound but the empty echoes of the hall to keep them both company.

“Ladies,” a familiar voice said from behind.

Ruby and Emma both turned and smiled at the receptionist. She was unnerved by his silent arrival, but put that down to his race. He held in his arms a large leather book, which was folded open and balanced on the splayed fingers of his right hand. He used the fingers of his left to scan the ledger entries, and he did so as he advanced towards them, finalising the details of their travel arrangements to the very last.

“What progress?” Ruby said, her warmth around Emma frosting over quickly.

“A carriage will be outside shortly with horses tacked and an escort.” Emma’s ears pricked and she struggled to contain her enthusiasm. “You will be at Istien University at sunrise tomorrow, all being well.”

Emma had started to run towards the ancient doors that lead back through the cracked pillars onto the street before Ruby could stop her. Distraught at her lack of constraint she bowed to the receptionist, thanked him in the best elven she could muster and strode after Emma before she made a fool of herself.

“Baby steps,” she whispered to herself, “Baby steps…”

[Silence Sei]

The open air greeted Emma with a renewed vigor; the sounds of the world sounded more pleasent, the taste of the wind was sweeter, even the sun seemed to shine brighter, despite it being the latter hours of the day. The formally dressed Emma was absolutely astounded by the way the atmosphere seemed to change now that she knew her beloved Anebrilith had simply relocated and went by a new name. Rebuilding would not be necessary, for the city was still there.

Her amazement grew as the sound of horse hooves clapped against solid ground, the creaks of wheels growing louder until their carriage had arrived. The thing resembled a box on wheels, made extravagant by the azure blues, emerald greens, and crimson reds that were painted about it. A man of unusually tall length stepped off of the front of their transportation, walking to the entrance of the carriage and lowering the seemingly ivory steps to allow the women to ride in elegance towards their destination. The actual entryway was veiled by a white silk substance, glimmers of the plush seats within managing to sneak out in sporadic wind gusts.

The whole presentation of the thing seemed to be almost more than Emma could bear. She placed both hands over her heart as if she feared it would jump out ahead of her and take her seat. She could feel her adrenaline pumping in every vein of her body. This was perhaps the most exciting and incredible moment of the young girl's life. Even as Ruby managed to follow the girl, she swore she heard the older woman take her own gasp of astonishment at the carriage. "It---"

Emma turned as Ruby began to speak; quite sure that even the noblewoman was impressed with the ride. Ruby must have seen the expectant look in Emma's eyes, for she seemed to shift into a different tone as she continued. "It will do."

Emma turned back to the carriage, smiling at Ruby's attempt to continue holding herself to a higher standard. Oh yes, Emma thought to herself, possibly the happiest she had been for weeks, with your company, Miss Ruby, it will do nicely....

[Ruby]

Ruby smiled with a secret satisfaction as she stared out the carriage’s window. As it trundled through Beinost’s desolated streets towards the high road north, she watched the dishevelled paupers and Bladesingers run back and forth through alleyways and boardwalks as they went about their business. A flash of steel and a high strung note built a wall here, a coughing fit felled a living soul there.

She wrinkled her nose at the juxtaposition between destruction and creation.

Despite the rebuilding effort it was clear that the city was very much on its knees. It was a pity that they had decided to visit Raiaera now, when they had years to realise their potential. The red head tried to picture what Anebrilith must have looked like before the war, and what Beinost could look like long after.

“This place would have outshone even Scara Brae’s most beautiful districts in its zenith,” she mumbled, bitter that her eyes were being opened to the vast artistry that the world beyond her small island held.

“It is nothing compared to one’s home though,” Emma replied, her lips wrinkled into an uncertain and pensive expression. Ruby mentally thanked her charge for the effort, but continued to look out of the carriage’s window as if she hadn’t heard.

With a sigh she propped her elbow up on the window frame and dug her fingers into her crimson mane to rest her weary head. Though they had done little in the way of labour. The constant strain of looking one’s best and maintaining the façade around Emma was a fatiguing experience for the matriarch. She was glad the young Orlougne was impressed with the carriage and with their journey on the whole, but she still felt guilty for putting on airs and graces when her husband had paid for this carriage in particular.

Normally, guests to the city would be escorted to the University on foot through swamp, mire and marshland.

“Rest Emma, there will be plenty of time to see the wonders of the elven homelands when we have learnt their ways and earned their trusts,” she smiled with less satisfaction but more kindness than she perhaps intended. The hypocrisy of saying trusts when she had already abused Emma’s left her stomach churning violently. This was just another game to Duffy, and even if there was no choice in the matter, Ruby was not going to hurt another more than she needed to.

Emma deserved better.

She deserved better.

She hated Duffy for using her to get to Sei, but if the troupe was to survive in the changing times the bond with the Ixian Knights had to become watertight.

“I will wake you in a few hours to take some respite myself,” she nodded politely at her charge and looked back out at the rolling ruins and shacks. Beinost swiftly melted away into open countryside. Mountains, red trees and festering outposts mottled the landscape as minutes turned to hours, leaving Ruby exasperated trying to remember all the many landmarks that told Raiaera’s illustrious history.

As the afternoon air quickly turned cold and faded into dusk, Ruby made the wise decision to not let her true purpose for being in the elven heartland get in the way of what could be a perfectly respectable and sisterly friendship. She glanced at Emma and recalled the times she had looked after a younger woman and guided her through the awakening sensation of realising that the world was indeed your oyster. If the song she had heard the young Orlougne sing in the streets of Beinost was anything to measure her potential by, then she would give Ruby a run for her money. Her talent would easily impress the Bardic College into offering her tutelage without so much as breaking a sweat.

In all of her thoughts the red headed matriarch of Scara Brae’s knitting circle had forgotten one thing. She was here to find out what she had done in a former life to seal the final copy of The Phoenix & the Bard shut. If she could only work out how to rekindle her former talent as an elf, as the Bardic queen Liana, she could end Lucian’s tyranny over the troupe forever. With that victory they would all be free of the curse of immortality. Perhaps then she could have normal friendships with people just as kind and true as Emma without the secrecy, war and lies.

For now, she would make do with playing the dutiful wife, the bountiful mistress of the stage and the inspiration to a new generation of artist that would continue to wow and bedazzle the common folk of Althanas.

She felt her eyelids grow heavy and slipped into a doze, despite the toeing and froing of the carriage over the farrow ground well-trodden my marching battle hosts.

“Just for a few minutes,” she promised, with no intention of keeping her word.

[Amen]

Across Oceans Blue by Silence Sei and Ruby La Roux

Hey guys, sorry for the slight wait on this one. As per your request, this will be a full rubric judgment with light commentary. Well. I’ll try to keep it light. If I come across as a little dickish, it’s because I’m trying to point out places where I can see room for improvement without going into too much detail, in an effort to keep this short and sweet. Please feel free to PM me or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try to catch me on AIM. I’ll be happy to talk about it in greater detail in private.

For now, though, let’s get you some experience!

Plot - 11/30

Story – 3/10

This thread was a strange one; it felt more like an exercise to get into these characters than a full, self-contained story. It works fine as an exercise, but if I’m judging it as a story it lacks a compelling or obvious problem or antagonist. There’s a goal, yes, but I don’t see an issue with attaining that goal. There’s no struggle here, just a slow burn while we wait to arrive.

This one feels like it ended abruptly as well, right when we were getting to something that might have been conflict (Ruby feels like she’s abused Emma’s trust). The issue is twofold: it ends there, and there are no hints of it throughout the thread. If this is a prologue to a larger story, it wanders too much, if it’s a whole story, it’s stunted.

Strategy – 5/10

The exploration of song magic here was interesting! I would have loved to see it fleshed out more, but I was certainly intrigued. More than that, I was inspired to play with it a bit in my own writing.

Setting – 3/10

Definitely keep setting in mind! The singing ships were compelling, but barring that the setting seems to take a far-off back seat until we reach the embassy and I had a hard time picturing your surroundings.

Characterization - 14/30

Continuity – 5/10

This fits well with Althanas and I like that you guys paid attention to the rich, recent history of the Corpse War and all the characters that were a part of it. I was, from post-to-post, baffled by some of the character evolution throughout the thread. Ruby seems to vacillate: here confident, here sisterly, here matronly, here a bit stuck up, there level-headed. It was hard to get a bead on what was causing these shifts in mood.

Interaction – 5/10

Character – 4/10

These are not bad characters, but I wish I knew them better. I think if they had been more challenged here, there would have been more room to expand who they are as people for the reader. One specific thing I will point out: I really got the sense that this was two dudes writing from the point of view of two ladies. This is hard, harder than I think most people realize: there are ways men and women are the same, and there are ways men and women are different, and knowing which is which can add incredible verisimilitude to a character.

Chief among those differences is the world is a more threatening place to women, especially in a strange place among strange people and, on average, women feel that.

Writing Style - 14/30

Creativity – 4/10

Love the singing boats, which set the bar high for creativity early. I wanted to get slapped with more weirdness as the thread went on.

Mechanics – 6/10

I caught minor mechanical errors throughout, mostly punctuation issues.

Clarity – 4/10

Sometimes I had clarity issues stemming from mechanical errors, other times I couldn’t quite lock down what the writer was trying to convey to me. Try to trim a bit of the excess fat where you can! For example (and I’m picking on Sei here because I’ve picked on Duffy enough already):

“Emma could not help but dwell on the words that her mentor had said to her”

There’s nothing technically WRONG with this sentence, but it’s clunky. If it’s in the middle of other clunky sentences, it can be a stumbling point for readers.

Try this on for size: “Emma could not help but dwell on the words of her mentor.”

If it were me, I would then stop and think, does Emma feel particularly compelled not to dwell? If not: “Emma dwelt on the words of her mentor.”

That is a delicious sentence; it is bite-sized and flavorful.

Wildcard – 6/10

Want more from Emma and Ruby. Want to know what happens!

Total: 45

RUBY LA ROUX gains 470 EXP and 160 GP.
SILENCE SEI gains 790 EXP and 140 GP.