We’re gonna sit here and drink this booze (Ashandra)

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

It had been, to put it mildly, an exhausting last few months for Valanthia L'Evienne.

She'd emerged from an unplanned eleven-era hiatus from existence, the result of an encounter with Kalendryas in the Arakmat desert. Then she had fled to Ieffreon, tried to figure out everything that had happened while she was gone, and ended up trying to raise an army to liberate Candaceburg. It was, to put it mildly, exhausting, and the slim half-vysstichi woman needed a break.

It hadn't made Umbrosus particularly happy, but Val had chosen this evening to go to the nearest tavern. She was wearing a simple black top, along with a red skirt with a jagged hem, set off by a black belt. Her tell-tale pale hair was concealed beneath a headscarf, as she wasn't necessarily in the mood to be recognized at the moment. Once she was inside, she took a seat at the back of the pub, where she could see everything that was going on, while staying relatively out of the way.

She'd ordered a tumbler of amaretto, which rested on the table in front of her. Val was trying to pace herself -- something that wasn't always easy for her to do, as her last outing with Jade had made abundantly clear. She also had a glass of water, on the off chance that it might help her to avoid a hangover tomorrow. Possibly wishful thinking, but it was worth a try anyway.

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

Unlike Valanthia, Ashandra had no inclination to hide just who - or what - she was, and as such was most likely one of the first people the half-vysstichi would notice.

For Ashandra was certainly unique. Long white hair fell in gentle waves down her back to her waist, twin-tipped ears which marked her as a half-esh and pale skin off-set by bright green eyes. She wore a plain white blouse, finished off with a pair of dark brown trousers. The only color to her form - aside from her eyes - was a forest green, sheer scarf wound around her neck, the ends trailing down the front of her chest and her back.

If her unique appearance was not enough to garner attention, Ashandra was also front and center at the bar of the tavern, a tumbler of alcohol before her. She was not particularly picky about what she drank - it was more about the effect than the taste, in her mind.

And she was most certainly already beginning to feel those effects. It wasn't much overt - just the tell-tale signs of exaggerated movements and perhaps slightly-too-loud speech - a speech heavily accented as only one born outside the Empire could be. As Valanthia sat in her tucked-away spot, Ashandra was regaling what appeared to a be a sailor - quite a bit in his cups as well, from the looks of things, and apparently paying little to no attention to what Ashandra was actually saying - with yet another tale of her daughter.

Her Vysstichi daughter, from the sounds of it.

"I un'stand her wish to be li' those 'round her, I do ... but she speaks perfectly! Now all o' a sudden, she wants t' be soundin' li' she's from m' mountain home, no' from a fine Vysstichi fam'ly a'fore their untimely deaths landed her wi' me?" Ashandra took another healthy swallow, finishing off her glass, before signalling to the bartender for another around.

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val certainly noticed the other woman -- it would have been extremely difficult not to. The young woman wasn't sure she had seen a half-Esh (or, indeed, any kind of Esh) since she'd arrived in Ieffreon. She certainly hadn't heard that particular accent before, and it wasn't as if Val was a person who hadn't traveled extensively. She'd seen huge swathes of the Empire, but (unless one counted the underground cities of Herrozzal and Har'oloth) she'd never been outside of it.

Her curiosity was further roused by what she could overhear. A half-Esh with a Vysstichi foster daughter? That was something you didn't see every day. Or, in this case, hear about.

The sailor certainly didn't seem all that interested in whatever tale was being told. But, despite herself and her general wish to be left alone, Val was interested. Impulsively, she picked up her tumbler, then stood and crossed the room, seating herself on the other side of the strange woman.

"Serale," she said. "Pardon...pardon me, but I couldn't help but notice your accent. I can't place it -- where are you from?" It occurred to the grey-skinned woman that this might seem confrontational, so she raised her hand for the bartender. "Give me a Jaedaxian flamebarrel, and...whatever she's drinking, for her." She raised the tumbler of amaretto to her lips, drained it, and set it back down.

"I'm Val, by the way," she added to her new companion. She wasn't ready to give her surname yet, but in order to be friendly, she ought to give something.

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

"Ah, Jaedaxia." And was that a certain amount of bitterness that Valanthia could detect in her voice? Indisputably so, if the laugh that followed it was any indication. "I 'ave many mem'ries of tha' place, no' all o' 'em fond."

"As f'r where I'm from ... I am o' th' Rhaghrnd o' th' distant mountains. Ashandra Gha'Nalis is m' name." Ashandra paused to take a drink, only now realising that giving her full name might not have been the best idea, when dealing with one who had quite possibly visited Jaedaxia recently. Did they still remember her there, or the necromancy she had let loose in the jail where she had been held?

"Wha' brings ye to Ieffreon, then, if'n ye prefer th' finer things o' Jaedaxia?"

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val had never met anyone from the lands of the Rhaghrnd, not that she could recall. It made sense, then, that she hadn't been able to place the accent.

"Jaedaxia? Oh...I'm not from there. I...I mean, I've visited, but it's been...eras and eras since I was there." Though there was no way for Val to know it, this was perhaps fortunate for Ashandra. "I was...just trying different whiskeys at one point, and the Jaedaxian Flamebarrel was my favorite. It's got...some caramel, or brown sugar kind of notes." She laughed self-consciously. "Not that I'm a...a real connoisseur or anything. I just like what I like."

She shook her head. "I'm not...not from Ieffreon either though. I was...living in Arakmat, but that's...well, it was a war zone when I left." The full truth was much, much more complicated than that, but it was an accurate statement as far as it went. Not that she was from Arakmat originally either, but the grey-skinned woman didn't generally lead new conversations with the fact that she'd grown up in Herrozzal. That tended to bring things to a screeching halt, unless she was talking to someone that she already knew.

"But how do you get from...from the Rhaghrnd lands to Eunesia, Ashandra?" Val asked. "That's...probably a more interesting story. I...don't think I've ever talked to anyone from the Great Mountains before."

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

"Among m' people, there is what is known in yer language as a ... vision quest?" Ashandra was not entirely certain of that translation - it really didn't do her journey justice. It was more than just a quest, more than just a coming of age - it was what made a Rhaghrnd what they were, in their very soul. Still, this land did not seem to have the proper language to describe her journey, so she would have to make do.

"We journey down th' mountain to ..." Ashandra gave a small sound of frustration, taking a small sip of her drink once it had arrived in front of her. It wasn't her usual fare, after all, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. "A comin' of age journey, y' could say. We call i' Vhatchrhak - a quest o' namin', I suppose is th' best translation' ye could be findin'. A journey to discover who we are, an' our place in th' tribe."

Ashandra shrugged. "Every journey is diff'ent, an' not all return t' their tribe."

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

The concept made some sense to Val, although she found it oddly bittersweet to think about. She had grown up in the undercity of Herozzal, and traveled all over Aelyria in her adulthood. She had been an impoverished outsider, a trained assassin, an Imperial Consul, a Princess of the Realm. She had spoken with people from her own past incarnations, sat at tables with nobility and royalty, penetrated the arcane Veil of Silrosia, and discoursed with the servant of a Planetar outside of time itself. She had seen statues come to life, watched a necromancer defeated by the spirit of a saint, and seen memories of her own past deaths. She had been a nobody, rose to the level of sister and confidante of the King, and then fallen back to semi-obscurity, a half-forgotten exile in a country that was no longer hers.

And through it all, she had never known who she was. She'd never known her place. And, with her Sanguine sisters vanished, and her brothers and sister scattered or dead, she didn't even have a tribe, or a people, or a family.

"What's that like?"

Her tone had completely shifted. Before, Val had been friendly and conversational; now she spoke with a quiet sadness, and there was a funereal melancholy in her grey eyes.

"To...to find your place. Or to...believe that, at the end of a journey, you...you could know who you are and where you belong? I mean...if you're on that journey still, maybe you don't know either. But...maybe you do. And I'd...I'm curious what it would be. To know."

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

Ashandra had risen her glass to take another swallow, but now she paused with the glass almost to her lips, before setting it down gently without taking in a single drop.

"I am still journeyin', as y' guessed. Bu' ... I am not th' same as m' people. Tha' is t' say, I am unique among m' tribe." Ashandra gave a small sigh. "I am Rhaghrnd, true. Bu' m' father was no' o' th' tribe. He was elven, makin' me wha' is known among th' people of this land as ... half esh? I believe tha' is th' common term. This makes thin's ... difficult, when it comes to certain traditions o' m' people."

A look of sadness now adorned Ashandra's pale features, as she tucked her long white hair behind her ears, to reveal the twin-tipped ears which marked her as the afore mentioned half-esh.

"Bu' I know th' stories o' my people, and no' a single adult in m' life growin' up had no' completed this journey 'emselves. So, I can answer your questions from th' perspective of one who 'as witnessed it in others."

Ashandra took a moment to collect her thoughts, her brow furrowing slightly in concentration. "There is a peace, I s'pose, in knowin tha' yer place in yer home, yer tribe, yer family, is known an' understood. T' never wonder if'n ye could be doin' better if'n ye made a different decision, chose a diff'ent path. To never wonder if those around you can understand what it took to get to where you are - for they all 'ave un'ergone th' same journey, th' same hardships. It makes m' own hardships now easier to bear, I s'pose.

"I know tha' I 'ave a place waitin' fer me in m' home, when I return - an' that the only thing stoppin' me from returnin' eventually will be m' own death - or m' own choice. I know I 'ave a place t' return, when I'm ready. An' only I will know when I'm ready - none woul' eva' force that decision on m', an' there is no time limit on when I may return. No exp'ration date, y' could say, on m' success or failure.

There is, really, no' failure. No way I could fail at this. If I die in the course o' my journey, that is what was meant to happen. My journ'y will be complete, in th' way it was always s'posed to be."

OOC: Sorry is my replies are a little slow for the next couple of days. Traveling several thousand miles via car / ferry, so I'm pretty exhausted, haha.

Ashandra gave a small, self deprecating smile. "That is what we are told, wha' we believe. But i's easy to lose faith, sometimes, when theya' seems t' be no end in sight, when it seems that I shall neva' return home, my journey complete. An' it makes those frien's an' even fam'ly that I make here seem ... less, sometimes. Knowin' tha' I will one day b' forced to leave 'em behind, if'n my journey is eva' t' be complete."

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

To never wonder about your path. To know that everyone around you understood. To be unable to fail.

On an intellectual level, Val knew what the words meant. But she could scarcely imagine what it would be like to feel that way. Val did almost nothing but wonder about her path, felt like no one around her had ever really understood her or her struggle, and spent her days wandering around the charred wreckage of a world in which every single thing that she'd ever tried to build had fallen down around her. She took a drink of her whiskey, which tasted like like molasses and failure.

But the last thing that Ashandra added -- that did resonate with her. Feeling like the journey would never be complete, and knowing that if that day ever did come, it would mean leaving every connection that had been made in the outside world. Her heart went out to the other woman -- a fellow person with ancestry that made her feel like an outsider, someone who could only return home by giving up whatever she'd found on her journey.

She returned the small smile. "I...I suppose those are two aspects of the same thing. In that...finishing the thing that lets you find your place in your community requires...leaving everything else behind." Her voice was gentle, but the sadness was still there in her eyes.

"Have you...have you been in Ieffreon long? And have you...have you learned anything that will...that you think will answer the questions you set out on your journey with." She laughed once, softly. "Not that you're under any...any obligation to tell me, of course. But...if you feel like it might be...of any value to tell your stories to a random stranger at a tavern...well, I can promise that if you want a good listener, I'm your girl."


OOC: Safe travels!

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

"Was m' first stop, Ieffreon. Was m' first 'ome, after I lef' th' mou'ains." Ashandra revealed, a distant look entering in to her eyes. "They lef' the Empire fer a while, doan know if ye heard o' that? Would na' le' me back in, e'en if'n I owned pro'erty. Was a bi' o' a time, gettin' ever'thin' back in workin' orda' when I came back, lemme tell ye." Ashandra gave a small laugh, taking another mouthful of her drink.

"So no, aint m' firs' trip to Ieffreon, nor m' secon'. Hoping to be here a while, this time 'round, though."

OOC: Sorry for the short response, and the long delay! Still moving in, getting started at my new/old job - I'm moving back to my home town, and I've worked here before - all that jazz.

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Valanthia nodded, and took another drink from her own cup. "I had heard that there had...had been difficulties. I'm glad you were...able to make it back."

Then, something else that Ashandra had said registered in her mind. "Working order? Do you...do you have some kind of factory, or a gadgeteer's shop, or something?" Val was currently pondering some questions that she wasn't quite mechanically-minded enough to be able to answer -- mostly around instrument construction, but there were some engineering questions as well -- and wondered if by chance Ashandra would be an expert in such things.

Of course, the answer might well be no, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that. Idly, she swirled the remaining whiskey around in her cup.

OOC: No worries! Hope the settling in goes well.

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

Internally, Ashandra winced. Right. How was one to explain their fascination with death, with the workings of the body, without also explaining that they were both necromancer and grafter? That their specialty lay in the raising of the dead, or the improvement - one might call it mutilation, though Ashandra did not - of bodies both dead and alive?

Luckily, Ashandra had her legal profession to fall back on.

"Herbalism, actually. Remedies for th' mind an' body. Always wanted t' dabble in Alchemy, I 'ave, but neva' got th' opp'rtun'ty. Mayhap I can look int' tha', now tha' I've returned home t' Ieffreon."

A pensive look came over Ashandra's pale features, as she idly ran her fingers over her half-empty glass.

"Still, there's work t' be done, gettin' m' Herbalism shop back up an' runnin'. It's been allowed t' languish, while I've been away - while m' home was kept from me." This last was said with a scowl, Ashandra's opinion of the attempt of isolationism by Ieffreon clear for all to see.

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Herbalism. That was something else that interested Val. To be fair, most of what the princess knew how to do with herbs was to poison people, thanks to her crash course in poisons at Coldlight. But she was intrigued by the other possibilities of plants as well.

"Is your...your shop here in town? I have some...small training in the uses of plants. Nothing impressive, and...certainly not enough to open my own shop," she added. "But if...yours is reopening, I'd love to...to have a look sometime."

Valanthia noted the displeasure in the other woman's expression. One side of Val's family was originally from Eunesia, but Val hadn't grown up there, and had indeed barely spent any time on the isles. Their isolationist bent was foreign to her, though she certainly knew it existed. If Doukas Parthas was any indication, the isles didn't even really like each other; they certainly didn't particularly care for outsiders. Val hadn't experienced much of that -- she already owned her property here, and whether because of her family ties to the area, or just because she still had a bit of money, no one had given her a particularly hard time. She knew for certain that it happened though.

She took one last swig of the alcohol, then set her empty cup down. After her adventure with Jade, she knew that she should probably try and pace her drinking for the darkening.

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

Ashandra grinned. "Aye. Well, wha's left o' it, I s'pose." Ashandra's grin quickly turned into a frown, even as she signaled for another drink. She paused long enough to take a healthy swallow of the alcohol, a pensive look crossing her pale features.

"Dunno what I can be expecting' o' my shop - or m' home - now the' I've returned. Could be in tatters, could be thrivin'. Could be the' another has claimed it for their own." Ashandra shrugged her delicate shoulders, though it was clear that she was quite perturbed by the thoughts now at the forefront of her mind.

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

"I understand," Val said, and there was a weight behind the words. "I...lost my home in the war. That's...really the reason why I'm in Ieffreon. Nowhere...nowhere else to go back to."

The pain in Valanthia's eyes was obvious, and she did not try to hide it. The destruction of Arakmat, the loss of her friends and home -- all of it had happened while she had been removed from time itself. When she was returned, the dreadful had already happened. There had been nothing to be done except to come to Ieffreon, the one place she had left to go.

"But I hope yours is...still either in good order, or quickly able to be...to be returned to it. Do you have a...a sense of how long you'll be here?"

 

[Ashandra Gha'Nalis]

Ashandra's eyes were not shadowed with both her own grief, and sympathy for the plight of the woman before her - though she knew only the part of it that Velanthia had spoken aloud. "I am here for good, I'm thinkin'" Ashandra revealed after a moment, her drink set aside for the moment. "Ieffreon hold many mem'ries for me, per'aps just as much so as m' 'ome o' m' birth."

Ashandra sighed deeply. "Bu' I 'ave no' been to m' shop yet, nor m' villa. I hold hope the' they were no' too badly damaged, we I will see when I work u' th' courage to visit. For now, I am simply enjoyin' bein' back here." Ashandra raised her drink, as if in a toast to that, before taking a healthy swallow.

 

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Val raised her own tumbler, and drank to the other woman's health. Setting the cup down, she tilted her head slightly as she looked at Ashandra.

"If you...if you haven't been to your villa...do you have a place to stay?" Valanthia vividly remembered the sinking feeling she'd had upon first returning to the timeline, the feeling of not being able to return home. It hadn't been a pleasant one.

"I've been...fortunate," she added thoughtfully. "A long time ago, I...acquired a piece of real estate here in Ieffreon. I didn't really...didn't really think much about it, but it's made it so that, even if my home in Arakmat is...is gone, I still have a place to live."

The offer wasn't spoken -- mostly because Val didn't want to offend -- but it was definitely intended. If Ashandra was taken care of, that was fine, but if not, Val had plenty of guest rooms that she wasn't using. She didn't want anyone else to feel like they didn't have a place to go.