Author: Kaya Silverheart, Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:02 AM, Post Subject: Long Journey's End (P)

The Dragon chuckled as he settled himself better onto the ledge where he had settled them down - thankfully if it could hold his weight then it would easily hold Pol and Kaya's for the time being. "Fate will take care of Luna and the children now; in a way I am glad that Kythe never got the chance to meet her grandchildren, being separated from all of you must have been heartbreaking enough as it was without throwing them into it for her as well." Valandil sighed softly. 
Kaya smiled softly at the Dragon; patting his large front leg with a hand that was utterly dwarfed by the Dragon's sheer size. "I know what you mean Uncle Val but don't worry about that for now. Luna and the kids will be fine; she's home with Marius and she's happy and where she's always wanted to be, remember that ok?" She smiled. 

Kaya chuckled slightly and rolled her eyes at her father  at least that had not changed. He had always been one to state the obvious in a situation and something about that now was quite… reassuring in it's way given all that had changed in the last few moments of her life, at least in her life her father would be forever consistent in how he was. 
"She will have gone to look for someone in authority; assuming she arrived in one piece…" 
"What do you mean in one piece?" Kaya asked the Dragon swiftly, looking up at him with an expression that betrayed her horror at the thought that her mother may have arrived injured or on her death bed. 
"You know exactly what the Gods of Myna are and how they viewed your mother. The death of Father was felt throughout Myna and your mother never returned home from the Conclave; even though they tasked her to kill him I doubt they showed her any gratitude, if they had we would not be here looking for her would we? They know your mother can kill even a God, she killed the best of them - I doubt they sent her here without attacking her first. It might be wise to look for healer's halls, anyone that might be able to help her when she first arrived." 

Author: Pol Silverheart, Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:32 PM, Post Subject: Long Journey's End (P)

Pol couldn’t help but smile at Valandil’s words. “I suppose you are right, Val. And, no, I wouldn’t want to have her any other way. Adventure has probably kept me alive into my old age, even as it does try to constantly kill me. But, if I had a say, we’d do a bit less of falling to not-quite-certain death, and a bit more fawning over Luna’s children.”
The words hurt Pol. They probably would never not hurt. But that side of his family was doing well. They would grow up and have wonderful lives. Only the Gods of this new world knew of Kythe would be lucky enough to have that fate as well. Especially since Raith had followed her here. Pol would never stop worry about his son, but he did not know what to do about him, what he could do for him. He knew what he could do for Kythe, and so that was what he would focus on. Once that was done, he’d move on to the next problem.
Pol shook his head at his daughter and Valandil’s banter and laugh. “She’d probably agree with him, even if she never would tell him,” he replied to his daughter. “Your mother has seen more years than all of us combined I’d wage, and while she might scoff at the connotation of the word, she’s never been one to deny a truth.

Worry and amusement warred for Pol’s heart as his daughter let her wings sprout from her back, not thinking completely through the implications until it was too late. Traveling through the planes could be stressful, as he had said, but he now worried more that his daughter was experiencing some anxiety about the situation. Her brother wanted to do harm to her mother, who was lost in a strange world, and from what Luna had said to him before he left, the sisters had not parted on the best terms. It was a lot to place on his child’s mind.
Of course it is inappropriate to call a two hundred year old woman a child, Pol reminded himself. But she would always be his daughter, and he worried about her.
On the other hand, it was the right of every parent since the dawn of time to feel a bit of amusement at their children’s embarrassment. The only question was whether a bit of gentle teasing would do more harm or good.
Between the look she gave him, and the worry that was already gnawing at him, Pol decided to ignore her embarrassment for the moment.
He walked a few steps over to her once she had changed into clothing that had not been destroyed. “What we do now is both very simple, and immensely complicated. We find your mother.”
Pol smiled, he did enjoy to state the obvious when asked. “It seems simple enough on the face of it, but we are in a world we know nothing about. This world may be immediately hostile or friendly or anything in between, and we cannot know which until we begin to interact with her people.”
The world below the floating mountains spread out before them as a bank of clouds passed by. Forests, cities, grasslands, coasts all spread out before them. It looked much like the worlds he had known before, and he did not doubt it was similar and different in important ways. “We also have at least one large continent below us, and nothing to say there are not more across the seas, far from even our keen eyes. And we have nothing to say that Kythe is on this continent or another, or someplace entirely different. We know nothing about this world.”
Pol smiled and then shook his head. “Well now that the words are out of my mouth, I do not believe that is entirely true. There is one thing we know about this world.” He paused a moment, waiting to see of Kaya would realize what he was refereeing to. “We know Kythe is here. And while we might not know anything else, I think that is enough. She knew less of this world then the three of us do when she first arrived. So we think like her, and we go where we think she would have gone, and done what we think she would have done. Eventually we will find something that will lead us to her. It may not be much, but it’s a place to start.”
Straightening, Pol began to pace along the small clearing Valandil had placed them on. Movement had always helped him think, and slowly a thought began to form in his mind. When he had first met Kythe she was a part of a group that helped those in need. “She would look for allies, good people she could trust. So that’s what we need to do too.”

Author: Kaya Silverheart, Posted: Fri Feb 1, 2019 4:37 PM, Post Subject: Long Journey's End (P)

”Even so; given we have both experienced Gods from another world I do believe that those that call Myna their home can be far crueler. Though that may just be when it’s aimed at this family.” The Dragon sighed heavily. ”But you are right; short of throwing us directly into a volcano we could weather just about anything they throw at us.”
The Ancient Dragon watched his Bondmate’s husband carefully; he had always promised Kythe that he would watch out for her family whenever she was not with them and with them so close to finding her once more he was loathe to watch Pol plummet to his death off a mountain edge just because it had given way beneath his feet.
”You knew you wouldn’t get a quiet life when you married her Silverheart.” The Dragon snorted; reading the man’s face. ”No such thing as a quiet life when you get involved with our girl.” He chuckled, settling upon the mountain edge, tail curling around his front paws. ”Not that we would have the stubborn old crone any other way.”
”Don’t let Mama hear you call her an old crone Uncle Val, she’ll never forgive you for that one!” Kaya laughed, looking up at the Dragon fondly.
”What’s she going to do to stop me exactly?” He replied in amusement.

It was amazing what a difference being here had made to the Dragon already - the distance between him and their mother had left him lost and a mere shadow of his former self, now that he could feel her more strongly Kaya could already see that he was returning to himself and it made her feel all the happier. Seeing such a magnificent creature withdrawn had been a sorry sight to say the least.
”I’ll get us down have no fear of that; best to take stock for a moment and gain our bearings while it’s quiet. The Gods only know what kind of world we find ourselves on now and I would rather we did not end up diving straight into a battle because we were unprepared. At least from up here we have an advantage height wise; and we can see a great distance. May as well rest a moment an plan your next steps for finding our girl. Though knowing Kythe she’ll have made her name here by now; you know what she’s like the interfering wench.”

As her father questioned why she had not shifted she flinched slightly; her face flushing red as she realised that she had been hoping that he would not notice her failure to act. ”I… I admit it all caught me a little by surprise and I completely forgot I even had the ability to shift let alone the fact that I actually have wings…” The young woman admitted. ”I’m fine though Father, see?” To prove the point a pair of golden Dragon wings sprung from her back… accompanied by the resounding riiiiiip of her clothes… she was not wearing the garbs that allowed for her to grow her wings without incident.
Groaning and burying her face in her hands at the sheer embarrassment of what she had just done she rid herself of the wings once more. Unlike her mother Kaya tended to remain in her fully Elven form except for her eyes - the slitted pupils were something she could not physically change and that was fine but she related far more to her father and his wolven heritage than the Dragon within her mother. Sighing she looked at her father with a look that showed just how mortified the girl truly was.
”Your spare clothes are in the pack Little One; don’t fret so.” Valandil said softly, watching as she trudged over to him slowly, clambering up his back to find her pack of clothes.
”What do we do now Da?” She asked; hoping to ignore the incident entirely while she changed her shirt for one she hadn’t just made large holes in.

Author: Pol Silverheart, Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:39 AM, Post Subject: Long Journey's End (P)

The rush of the wind on his face as he fell was not something that Pol had experienced in many many years. His children had not yet been born in fact, and now as the air buffeted his face, he fell besides his eldest daughter, both of them measuring their lives in centuries.

Pol kept his eyes closed against the stinging winds and waited. There was nothing he could do about their current situation, even at the height of his power (which he was far from now) he would have been helpless in this situation. For creatures of the Earth, the Air was often a significant weakness. But Pol was not concerned. While he was powerless to do anything here, he knew that Kaya and Valandil were anything but powerless in this situation. So it was far from surprising when the old ranger felt draconic claws wrap around his torso and arrested his fall.

He shook his head slightly as his wife's dragon companion expressed his frustration with the gods of his world. Pol could not help but smile in slight amusement. "I have never known the gods of any world or plane to be anything other an obtuse, fickle, and/or working towards their own ends. But they do tend to do as they say, and I had no doubt that between the three of us we would be able to weather whatever storm they deigned to throw us into."

It wasn't long before Valandil placed both himself and Kaya down on solid ground, in fact it was much sooner than Pol would have expected. So as Kaya and Valandil confirmed what he already suspected, Pol began to take a look at the world in which they now found themselves. The terrain around them suggested a mountain, but even if they were at the top of a mountain range the air shouldn't be this thin.

Slowly, careful of where he was stepping, Pol began to make his way towards the edge of the small clearing where the trio had landed. As he looked over the edge, the sight of a vast land spread out below him occasionally obscured by thick cotton clouds. They were on a mountain, but one that floated high above the land rather than rose up out of it. The world below them looked at once tantalizing familiar and so different than the world he had known for the last two centuries. And somewhere out there was Kythe, his wife and partner. It had taken them so long to figure out what had happened, and longer still to determine how they could follow in her footsteps.

It was moments like this that Pol really felt his age. Physically, he was not all that different from where he had been in his mid-thirties, but he was nearly into his third century and had the scars to prove it. He would do anything to find his wife and reunite with her, but Pol desperately missed the days when the biggest problem they had had was teaching the triplets manners. Foolish him, he had thought, or maybe hoped, that the life of war, adventure, and death was behind them.

And now they were here, and Valandil confirmed this was the right place, though Pol would not have doubted it even without his confirmation. Would they ever return? Pol did not expect that was likely, and he'd made his goodbyes to Luna and his grandchildren, but knowing he would never see them grow was a wound that he doubted would ever close. He felt tears threatening to fall from his golden eyes as he remembered that Kythe had not been there to watch her children grow. There was no recovering that for her, but Kaya was here with him, and that was something. Raith was here too…which was an issue, but it was one he was sure that he and Kythe could solve together.

He turned to smile as he felt his daughter's hand on his arm, wiping away a tear as he did. She was always worrying about him when he should be worrying about her. Placing his hand on hers, Pol replied, "I am fine, Kaya. We've made it, and we will find her soon." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and pulled her close. "The next step is for us to get down from here," he said gesturing to the ground far below them. "I doubt the gods were kind enough to place us exactly where she is."

Pol turned to look at his daughter. Of his two daughters, Kaya was the better suited to these kinds of tasks, but even being skilled did not always mean one was prepared for being hurled into a new and strange world. "What about you? I notice you did not change as we fell, are you okay? Traveling through the planes like that can have odd effects sometimes."

Author: Kaya Silverheart, Posted: Mon Jan 7, 2019 12:18 PM, Post Subject: Long Journey's End (P)

~The disappearance of her mother had been hard enough on the family; it had been Valandil that felt Kythe vanish first of all (but of course), the Ancient Dragon keening terribly as though struck a fatal blow to the heart, and in his way he was… to have his Bondmate ripped from him and sent who knew where had left him lost and half mad – the only solace the family had taken was that the Dragon was alive which meant that so too was their mother. Over a century, nearly two, had passed while they desperately tried to find out what had happened to her but to no avail.
Luna had given up; she had her own family to worry over now and had mother not told them of the thousands of other time she had found herself in other worlds? Why would now be any different from that? Kaya had been livid with her younger sister for such words and they had got into a blazing row until Valandil, still mourning but ever hopeful that his Bondmate would return home to him, had put a stop to it. And Raith… well Raith had ventured deeper into his own insanity in his attempt to locate their mother – he had always sworn blind that he hated the woman, that she was the reason behind his ‘affliction’ but Kaya believed deep down her younger brother loved his mother, for all his protesting.
When her brother had vanished also Kaya knew that it was related to their mother and set about tracking down her wayward sibling. It hadn’t taken much doing - Raith was far more predictable to her than he would ever admit and when she had found out where he had gone she had hurried home to inform her father and sister. Together they could confront the Gods and find out exactly what had happened to their mother and brother! Luna wanted no part, she had her own family to worry about now, she wanted to look after them… Kaya was angry at her but she understood and so she had travelled with her father and Valandil to the home of the Gods… time to get answers.

”Where are they?” The young woman snarled in a tone so like her mother’s that neither her father nor Valandil could help but smirk at the air of defiance to her voice. ”I know it was you; I tracked Raith here where did you send him? What did you do?”
”Only what your brother asked of us. We sent him to find your mother so that he could finish what was started from the moment of his birth.” Came the answer from the Deities in their lofty houses.
It was as Kaya feared - Raith had lost his mind entirely and sought out their mother to end their lives as he had believed they should have been years ago. She had never understood his single minded fixation on the troubles of his birth or the fact that he and mother had been saved but obsessed he was. ”Then send us. Send us after them both.” Kaya said.
”And why would we do that little halfling child? Why would we do such favours to you?” They laughed.
”Because if you don’t I will spend the rest of my days finding a way to rid this world of you lot and your tyranny forever, and don’t think I won’t.” She snapped.
”Ever the daughter of our Daughter.” The Gods hissed. ”Go then, go find your brother and your wretched, ungrateful mother but know this - you will never see this place again.” They snarled before there was a large snap and Kaya found herself falling from a great height…~

And that was what she woke to; the great rush of air and the lack of it in her lungs due to the altitude and shock. Too surprised by what was happening her instinct to transform or even just have out her wings did not kick in - though thankfully a looming shadow indicated that she might not have been ready but another was. Valandil’s large, black and red shape appeared from the clouds as he snatched her out of the sky alongside her father; carrying them gently within his claws as he flared out his own wings to slow their descent. ”We should have known better than to trust those fiends.” The Dragon snorted irritably as he turned on a wingtip and alighted upon the nearest mountain ledge that was big enough to support his weight. Satisfied that they were safe he placed Pol and Kaya down and furled his wings to his back. ”I can feel her… she’s here.” He whispered softly, his voice almost cracking at the relief.
”I swear we will find her soon Val, can you hold on a little longer?” Kaya asked the Dragon, placing a loving hand to his leg.
”I have waited this long, what’s a little more time? At least I can feel her more strongly now.” He sighed.
”Father? How do you feel? Are you alright?” Kaya asked, hurrying to his side and looking at him with concern, her copper coloured hair falling into her green-blue eyes. She adored her father; she had always been a daddy’s girl but she had felt the loss of her mother nonetheless and seeing him hurt by her absence had only fueled the girl’s determination to find her. ”We’re close daddy. They’re here.” She whispered as she clung to his sleeve, seeking her own reassurance in his presence.