Thursday, March 12, 2009

Change (II)

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[377] Nymaya: Change (II)
Thu Mar 12 20:11:48 2009
To: New_Thalos Imm Fastia Baruch Tikhondrius Zsiera ( RP )
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The child was beautiful.

But from the moment she saw Maerala, she could not help but feel an
uncomfortable stirring. The white hair, the big curious eyes - so much
innocence..

It had been a very, very long time since Nymaya had stood in the presence of a child and a part of her recoiled. She tried hard not to think of her own two, lost now to whatever fates they had decided for themselves, but the subject inevitably arose.

Change was dictating that she face these things, that in order to fix what
had been broken, she step back upon the path - set herself directly before
her greatest fears again. In a way, she likened herself to the toddler,
taking her first careful steps in life, only there was no great excitement.
The experience did not hold the same sort of wonders. In its place there
reigned a sluggish river of uncertainty, fear and anger, with a smattering
of hope.

She briefly reflected on the irony of this. She had never been afraid to
place herself in the path of aggression. She had faced off against
countless threats in life without hesitation but she could not seem to
confront the questions of legacy and future with solid answers.

It felt terribly frustrating and left her irritated. What she could not
seem to do for herself, she could in the name of duty, but that felt like a
cop out at best.

Bitter cold winds whipped about, snapping her cloak at her booted ankles,
bringing her back to the moment at hand. She had not been able to resist
the draw back to the icy plains, back to the barren chill of Icewall.

The spire rose in the distance, cloaked now and then by whirlwinds of snow.
She had never known this place to be calm, having had more then enough
reason to traverse its plain numerous times in the past, and it had not
changed.

Not since her first foray here - in the taloned grasp of the ancient white,
Zsiera.

Shying away from that memory, she drew her sword, the metal hissing softly
as it came out of the baldric and narrowed her gaze at the horizon even as
she put her back to the spire and continued on. She hadn't intended to
linger for longer then it took to arrange her thoughts, but night was coming
on fast and she knew that the wolves would be out in force.

Arduous Progress ( Kwars )

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[363] Nymaya: Arduous Progress ( Kwars )
Thu Mar 5 10:57:19 2009
To: New_Thalos ( Imm Cayenna Scorn Necrucifer RP )
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The blessed day was murky.

The wind had lifted, driving enough tiny sand particles into the air to
cloak the day's stinging light, even if it did manage to get sand
everywhere.

Pain throbbed sharply in her temples but she ignored it with single-minded
determination as her blade met and rebounded off another, twice, in such
rapid succession that the metal sang. It was her own bloody fault she was
miserable today.

Another blade came at her from the left, aiming without fail at her side,
but she stepped forward, dodging it with a difficult twist of her body and
caught the incoming weapon with her secondary sword on the inside of the
blade. Before it could reverse and potentially slash a line up her side she
spun her blade around it with a smooth sound of metal scraping metal, and
with a quick jerk up toward herself, disarmed the sword.

The metal resounded as it flew, to lodge itself in the sand, and then she
had one opponent left. The half elven female, Araeya as she named herself,
was quick and agile, showing more human heritage though the way she moved was enough to suggest that she bore elven blood.

Nymaya fell into an easily remembered defensive stance and met the violent
rush of the frustrated half elf seconds later while grasping to her own
restrained frustration in the process. She knew that her anger, her stress,
tended to escape through this medium and even though her head was pounding, she was determined to maintain her control.

Wielding a slender serpentine dagger and a curved scimitar, the shorter
woman came in low. The sound of their blades meeting in a flurry of parries
and strikes reverberated even in the hushed space of the archery range.
Nymaya let her get close, very close, the dagger passing only inches from
vital places, before she began to force her back.

Memories of sparring with others came back to her through the pain that was
not lessening in the slightest and with a sudden burst of focused anger, she
gritted her teeth and finished the spar with a flourish that disarmed Araeya
in a series of successive, vicious strikes.

They stood motionless for a time, the tip of her sword a mere breath away
from the hollow of the half elven woman's throat, before Nymaya finally
pulled back the small elusive tendril of anger and smothered it.

"I'm sorry." She amended as she lowered her blade. "Well fought."

A round of applause ensued as Nymaya sheathed her swords and she watched with a smattering of relief as the half elf let go her own frustration and finally smiled at her comrades who were even then returning her disarmed blades. They were a good lot, these archers, even if she was harsh with them.

Biting back a sigh of chagrin at herself, she resolutely returned the salutes
her troops aimed at her and gave them a day's leave to rest, relax and visit
their families.

Tedious Progress ( Kwars )

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[335] Nymaya: Tedious Progress ( Kwars )
Fri Feb 27 03:26:33 2009
To: New_Thalos Fastia Baruch ( Imm Cayenna Scorn Kwars Necrucifer ) all Irisi
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The dry heat of the day had long set into the palace and with little to
no breeze stirring the air, it had grown somewhat stagnant. She could tell
that she was dehydrating though not a bead of sweat adorned her pale brow.
It was too easily overlooked and she found herself glancing at the pitchers
that a slew of servants had delivered some time ago.

"...but if they cut us off here, we can reroute this way.."

The table before her was thick with maps, primarily of the city and the
palace in general, and surrounding the table were three of the most veteran
archers she had been able to single out.

They were each dressed in the light tunics displaying the unique crest of
New Thalos over light leather armor that would aid them with speed and
maneuverability. If it came to a battle in the palace itself, the only ones
remaining would be corpses. The rest would be on the move.

She clenched her jaw on a sigh and with a touch of annoyance, had to stop
herself from flexing her left hand. Pain spiked through her arm with each
motion and it served only to increase her agitation.

The Deacon had done her job a little too well.

"..we have to assume they will have this area before we can get to it..."

Forcing her attention back to the moment, she drew her hair back behind her
shoulder and finally reached for the goblet of water that had been drawn for
her some time ago.

"...the confines of the hallways are our greatest advantage at this point
though.."

"...they will still push us back..."

The man and wild elf continued to argue with the single half elven female
she had pulled from the ranks, but she let them each have their bit as she
sipped at the cool water. They were progressing, no matter how tedious it
happened to become when the height of day settled, and that was the point.
They had to know and prepare for every possibility, no matter how strange or far-fetched it might seem.

The Bakali had gotten this far and their abilities were not documented well
enough for her peace of mind. So, they would go over the maps and the
probabilities as often as time allowed before it ultimately ran out.

"...it will still give us time to regroup and slip through this courtyard.."

Nymaya followed the motion of the half elven woman's finger as she traced
the path she was focusing on and nodded once.

"How would you three handle that giant worm if it managed to make it to the
palace?"

The silence that greeted her told her exactly what she had suspected.
Thinning her lips, she brought the goblet up and took another sip. The
water was helping to stem her aggravation level, but she kept the leash
purposefully short with these men and women.

"I suggest you shift your focus then." She clipped out in a tone that brooked
no argument.