Username: Strudel
Name: Aella
(storm wind; whirlwind) I want Aella to be fierce bc of this) Gender: Female
How they got their accessories:“You were never anything!” The statement rings out like the toll of a bell, even though the words were spoken as a hiss among the wails and screams resounding throughout the area. Aella freezes in place at the sound of the familiar voice. Her eyes are wholly focused on her ripped chlamys-- a Grecian short cloak-- that was the only thing keeping her grounded, preventing her from crumbling in on herself. She stares at the tattered cloth as if it has all the answers to life. Or perhaps as if it will miraculously mend itself.
Aella shudders as a hand grips her in a rough motion. A hand that she always associated with gentle love and care. Her eyes are ripped away from her gaze as another hand jerks her chin upward. She can feel the sweat, grime, and trembling of the too-familiar hand, just as she’s sure the owner of those hands can feel the same in her. The same filth and sweat clung to Aella’s fur, and her tremors nearly match in time to the woman gripping her. This touch is almost intimate for Aella, no one had ever dared to touch her face. Not that Aella had ever wanted to be elevated onto such a pedestal, but such had been life. Any other day she would have been thrilled at such a gesture. She sucks in a breath, very well aware that in this instance it was not a good thing. Not while she was surrounded by the wreckage and rubble of the only home she had ever known.
“We should have never trusted you!”
Aella feels the warmth disappear from under her muzzle. The warmth is replaced by a sharp stinging across her cheek. This feeling-- this pain-- is foreign to her. Completely unfamiliar and new. She’s never felt pain before, never been harmed, never been struck. She whimpers as the woman above her sneers. She finally gathers enough strength to look up to her. She cannot see her face between the tears and the blinding sunlight lighting like a halo behind her locks. However, she can see what should be there in her mind. Every plane of her face-- her soft cheekbones and her angular chin. She can see the caramel hair framing her face. Her full lips holding a smile full of life and love.
At least that’s the way she should look, Aella highly doubted there was a smile gracing those well-remembered and well-loved features this day.
“You’ll die if you come back here.”Aella gasps as her head snaps upward in one fluid movement. Her breathing quickens as she grips at thin air. Slowly her eyes begin to adjust to the surrounding darkness. She blinks sand and tears out of her eyes as her breathing finally begins to slow. She looks out to her beloved waves, but her grimace doesn’t begin to fade even as she breaths in the salty air of the sea.
“The same dream.”
It was always one of two dreams. That one or… the one that was far worse. At least it wasn’t that one. Not this time, anyway.
It was the same painful, horrible memory. As always, it had played out just as it had originally. The truth, without exaggeration, was terrible enough. It was a reminder of her previous life, a life that had already been over for millennia. A life that, in her mind, she couldn’t seem to escape no matter how hard she tried.
Aella hated the dreams. Aella always hated herself after those dreams. She always did until the sun would rise to light up the sky and she would be able to run from the pain again. She would take to the sky come the morning light, and leave her pain behind on the shore where it could fester on its own without her.
“Why do I even have to sleep?” it wasn’t as if she had to sleep often even. Only after she had used large sums of her power at once. When she did sleep, however, she was almost always plagued by the dark nightmares. The same two dreams she could never seem to escape.
“Lady Brizo, why?”
That wasn’t really a fair question, and it wasn’t about to be answered. Not that she expected one, she of course knew this wasn’t her Lady’s fault. Even though she was fairly certain that her Lady blamed herself more than she let on still. This was not Lady Brizo’s fight either, she had said as much over a hundred years ago when she realized Aella was still battling with her inner torments. And it had been the same hundred years since she had seen the Lady Brizo’s bright smile. Though she remembered it clearly and fondly as she always had. Her lady was proud of her, she knew this perhaps more clearly than anything else, but she could not help her in this. Her heart skipped a beat after a moment as she thought about that. She knew Lady Brizo could not help her, but that didn’t stop that knowledge from hurting her.
“You must fight this battle on your own.” Aella remembers Brizo’s words to her clearly “I will always be with you, my child, but this I cannot do for you. I know you can do it though. I’ve always had faith in you-- I’ve always known you could do anything. I have the most hope in you, above all.”Aella shakes her head, not wanting to think about Lady Brizo in that moment, not when the pain from her memories were still so terribly fresh, like wounds reopened. She looks to the ocean, watching as the moonlight dances across the waves. After several beats of near-silence passes, Aella finally breathes a heavy sigh.
“I wish I could just keep the fond memories and discard the rest.”
There had been happy times for her-- many of them-- she remembers them all clearly and fondly, but there always was a twinge of sadness imbedded in them. Her happy experiences were marred by the pain and the grief that she couldn’t seem to get past, even after all of this time. It was pain she could never forget. Rejection and fear colored all of it, every memory, of her first few years of life.
Aella closes her eyes tightly, blocking out the ocean and the calm light of the moon from her vision. Everything is black again as she listens to the soft song of the sea-- the waves flitting against the sand.
She found me on the beach. It’s my first memory. There was nothing before her.Aella begins to doze again after a few moments, the happy memory sticking to her mind as she slips into yet another dream.
“Ah! My goddess! What a blessing you have bestowed upon us!” it was the honeyed voice that Aella first awoke to in the sand. She flicked her tail softly, nudging the leg of the human looking down to her. She was still a child then, eyes wide and innocent. She knew nothing yet-- she was nothing quite yet-- nothing but a blank slate ready to be filled with new knowledge and love. A newly hatched viscling with no home to speak of. She stood on all four of her shaky legs as the human exclaimed something else.
“She has blessed me! Her holy fin has graced my skin!” the human was female, with caramel hair that seemed to glow in the sunlight. Aella couldn't see the features of her face, but she would hear the smile in her words. Immediately Aella knew it was with this woman that she forever needed to stay. She sat on her haunches and whimpered up at the young female.
The female, who could have been no older than fifteen years, gently lifted the viscling into her gentle arms “Forgive my unworthy hands.” the young woman-- girl really-- wrapped her arms around the viscling. The white garments the girl wore encircled young Aella like a coddled baby in their blanket.
It wasn’t until Aella was older that she realized everyone in the village treated her with complete reverence. At first, she simply thought she was loved fiercely. The young priestess had made a special home for Aella (with the help of the women of the village) in the temple of the goddess Brizo. Brizo was the protector of mariners, sailors, and fishermen. The village (a simple fishing village) depended upon Brizo’s many blessings. Because of Aella’s unusual tail and beautiful colors, they assumed she was a gift from their mighty protector. They knew, in their hearts, that Brizo would continue to protect and bless their village and their fishermen as long as they respected her and her blessing.
The villagers did indeed love Aella. They blessed her, and it so happened that in return they were indeed blessed. Not a person went hungry since they had started to care for Aella, and not a ship had been lost to the sea. Aella of course understood very little of this. She was simply content to be loved and to love. Though, she did grow jealous of others and their familiarity together. She didn’t understand why they remained so formal to her, but it was all she had known and her only life. She would, and did, accept it.
Aella did long for more than just the reserved touches from a finger or a hand when someone wanted or needed a blessing, especially with the young priestess who had first found her on that shore all that time ago and had cared for her since. There was always love in the rounded cheeks that the baby fat had only now started to fall away from. Her full lips always held a smile for Aella, even when the young priestess was sick or in pain. She protected and cared for Aella without question. She was even the one to give Aella her name, claiming that it suited the young viscet because of her “whirlwind spirit.”
Korinna was her name. Korinna was Aella’s whole world. She longed to be held in the girl's arms. She longed for that kindred spirit, her protector-- her sister-- to hold her close.
Only once a year did this happen.
It was always Aella’s favorite time of the year.
Every year, when the women would build and send out a boat of offering to the Goddess Brizo, Korinna would gently remove the band of flowers from Aella’s brow. She would carefully remove the meticulously hand crafted chlamys that rested on her shoulders, and the silky ornament that adorned her tail. She would set them on the boat last with loving care, and then Aella would sit proudly before it and gently prod the boat. It would drift out to sea, watched until it was completely out of sight (the villagers took this as Brizo accepting the offering)
Korinna would then take Aella in her arms (even though, now that Aella was nearly full grown, she was certainly becoming a bit big to be carried by a young woman) and take her to a warm bath filled with different oils and petals. She would gently wash Aella-- everywhere but on the face-- and dry her meticulously. When the priestess was done, the women of the village would gather to present Aella with fresh garments.
Every year the clothing was styled a little differently, but always they would include a crown of flowers, a chlamys that was of a vibrant color (usually green), and a tail ornament. The priestess and the other women of the village would speak a blessing over Aella and the garments, carefully brushing their fingertips down her smooth tail. Finally, they would implore that Brizo bless them as well with another year of safety and prosperity.
Honestly, Aella had always thought the ceremony was a bit much. There was much of it that she didn’t understand, though as the years continued she began to realize that they were asking their goddess to protect them, using her as a vehicle for their prayers. She didn’t really understand why, but it was simply the way of things. It was a human thing, she would assume. Some strange custom. Besides, the village was safe and prosperous, so she assumed that it must work? Honestly, she didn’t question it much. It was what it was.
Well, until it wasn’t.Aella stirred in her dream, her mind thankfully skipping over the most painful memories for once. The memories of death and loss. The settlement was destroyed by a tidal wave-- an act of violence from perhaps Poseidon himself. He was always jealous of the villager’s devotion to Brizo and not to himself. Aella’s beautiful clothing was ripped and torn as she struggled to save those that she could from the disaster. Nevertheless, they still blamed her for the destruction of their homes. Especially Korinna, who had devoted such a large portion of her young life to the Goddess Brizo and to Aella particularly. Her father had died in the disaster. She was hurting and she blamed the only one she could see to blame. Aella. To be fair to Korinna, she was not the first one to blame Aella, just the one that stung the most.
Aella was forced from the only home she had ever known and the only people she had ever loved. She didn’t know how to care for herself or survive in the island wilds. She was left homeless and wandering, slowly dying as the remains of her clothes turned to rags and her eyes grew hollowed and haunted.
She began to think she was cursed.
Eventually Aella settled by the sea (she couldn’t bear to part from the ocean, it was the only thing familiar to her) She lay in the sand, knowing she wouldn’t make it much longer. She could feel death creeping upon her. If she were to die (she definitely knew that’s what was happening) it would be by the only thing that reminded her of her home.
Aella awoke, clean and warm. There was no sound of the sea.
Was this what dying was like? Warm and quiet?
Aella quickly realizes though that there is sound. The sound of a softly crackling fire. Her eyes shoot open in that moment as she jerks upward, pricking her ears toward the sound.
“Relax, child, don’t strain yourself.”
Aella blinks, making out a form by the firelight. Golden hair cascaded in waves down the human’s back. She is turned from Aella, working on something, obscuring the viscet’s view of both her and her project.
“I’ll be over there soon enough. Rest your aching muscles.” the (most decidedly feminine) voice says softly. Aella does as the voice instructs, seeing the woman shift in her peripherals after she has rested down onto the bedding once more.
“You can speak now, young one.” the woman was standing over her now-- holding herself proudly. She stood as a noblewoman would stand, pride and strength radiating from every small movement. Even in the semi dark Aella could make out the features of her face. Sea-green eyes glint in the firelight with a strength and purpose that Aella couldn’t hope to understand in those moments. Those eyes flicker down to study the viscet before her. Those same eyes crinkle in the corners a moment as the woman narrows them. Her studying intensifies even as Aella studies her. Her high cheekbones were mostly hidden by her wavy locks, which made her look even softer in appearance. Aella visibly relaxes her stiffened posture as the somehow familiar woman’s expression softens considerably.
“I wasn’t able to speak before.” the words flowing from Aella’s muzzle were unfamiliar to her, and yet at the same time they somehow felt natural. Like breathing. “I don’t understand.” and really, she didn’t. Not one bit. But there was only so much the woman expected the viscet to understand. And there was only so much that Aella ever understood, and so when she received no answer she did not ask again.
Aella was the first to speak again “You saved me, didn’t you? Can I… can I know your name?” she looked up to the woman, hope in her eyes.
Hope that was quickly shot down.
The woman simply shook her head “Not just yet.” she replied, a ghost of a smile flitting at the corners of her mouth “Just relax here, and I’ll care for you.”
The woman did just as she said she would. She cared for Aella as she slowly regained her strength. When Aella would rest, the woman would work on her project by the firelight at night, never allowing Aella to so much as catch a glimpse of her work. Eventually Aella stopped trying. It wasn’t until Aella was at full strength that the project was finally finished, and she allowed Aella to join her to see it.
It was so familiar to Aella and yet… not familiar at all. She tilted her head in confusion at the garments laid out before her. They were light, holding an almost breezy quality. They were made of what looked to be the finest silk, so thin that if it had been left uncolored it would be practically invisible when on the wearer. The pieces were beautiful, stunning really… but why were they so familiar to her?
It struck Aella after a few moments they were hers, what she had been wearing when she collapsed upon the beach. They were completely different now, not even of the same material. Surely she must be imagining that they could be the same? But the kindly woman’s eyes gave it away as she realized Aella recognized the spirit of the items. Her looks said it all-- Aella was correct. She gently touched the articles with her paws, almost afraid to touch something so beautiful-- something that looked so fragile. Her dark green chlamys was now a silky light green piece of cloth. One that would simply drape across the shoulders with little fabric to fall past the beautiful golden buckle that adorned it. Her eyes focused on the next golden buckle, the one for the tail ornament. It was made of the same silky fabric, and it was every bit as beautiful as the modified chlamys.
“I think it’s time I told you that I’m--”
“The goddess, Brizo.” Aella interrupted before bowing her head in shame “I’m sorry, my goddess, I didn’t mean to interrupt. It simply... came out.”
The beautiful goddess chuckled softly at the young viscet’s reaction, her laughter sounded like bells “No need to apologize, young one. I should have known you were clever enough to figure me out. You always were one of my brightest.” as Aella looked up to her, Brizo’s smile brightened. Her expression, her body language, it all spoke of the love that she had to give. The love that she had already given Aella, and would continue to give.
A real, unconditional love.
The love of a mother for her child, or a master of his skill for his most prized creation.
Nothing could have been more obvious in that moment to Aella as the gentle goddess took the sides of Aella’s face in her hands, cupping her cheeks gently with a caress.
“My goddess, I… I’m not worthy.” Aella felt like a failure, a creature not worthy of love from such an important person. Maybe not deserving of love at all. It was what she had come to believe.
A single tear dropped onto Aella’s muzzle as the goddess spoke “My child.” she began softly “You are the most precious of my children. I took you from the waves myself, protected that beautiful egg of yours that your own parents could not protect. I left you in what I thought would become a loving home. One that I thought would accept the beautiful being you are, inside and out. I’m sorry that I failed you.” the goddess’s tears were coming fast now, it was like a torrential downpour of pain and regret springing forth.
Aella felt a charge as she kept her eyes locked to those of the goddess. It was like electricity running through her veins. She could see, no, she could feel the intensity of regret and sorrow dripping from the goddess onto her.
“My goddess, I-” Aella was cut short.
“Lady. Call me Lady Brizo.” the beautiful woman before Aella spoke softly even through her tears. She smiled to her a moment “Do you love me?” the question was sudden, vulnerable. A tentative question asked from the tender lips of Aella’s twice-savior.
“I love you very much, my godde-” Aella cleared her throat, her voice was nothing but a soft whisper that would have easily been lost to the winds had they not been in a shelter “-My Lady.” she finished, wishing to follow through with Lady Brizo’s request.
The goddess’s eyes shone like emeralds as her stance relaxed. She was relieved “This is wondrous!” the Lady exclaimed. She released Aella and twirled. Her beautiful seafoam chiton billowed out in the spin. Aella’s eyes widened as she watched, thinking that the goddess looked like waves in that moment.
When Lady Brizo’s eyes met Aella’s once more, there was some kind of band-- or circlet-- in her hands. The metal band itself was a rich green, a translucent wing shining on each end. The entire thing glimmered in the firelight. The wings were secured to the band with gold buckles to match the other garments. Lady Brizo gently stroked Aella’s cheek for a moment before securing the band to her brow.
“You will be my wind, my beautiful daughter. If you accept my gift-- and your responsibility.” Brizo’s words were serious-- yet full of pride and love. Hidden behind the words and her tone was a little fear-- fear of being rejected by her prized child. Even a goddess could fear, after all.
Aella can’t speak, but the proud tilt of her head and the glimmer in her eyes says it all. She would do whatever it took to make her Lady proud of her. The love and reverence was evident in the way she smiled, in the very way she held herself now.
“Wear this mantle proudly, and help me to protect those that I have sworn to protect. With it, you will become one with the gusts and the gales. It will answer to your call, only second to my own. You will be my guiding wind.”
Lady Brizo smiled as her young charge stands proudly to accept the next of the gifts-- the scarf that was once her chlamys. “This will conceal you from the eyes of man at your discretion. So that you might work outside of the prying eyes of mortals.” Aella bowed as the garment was drapped onto her shoulders and strapped into place.
The only piece left now was the tail decoration. Lady Briso smiled brightly as she picked it up. “And this…” she began “This is a piece of me. The most treasured one. This contains my luck, the luck of the sea. Use it how you see fit to bring yourself-- and those you so choose-- luck among the ocean waves.” she clipped it to her beloved charge with a satisfying snap.
Aella could feel the tingling in her stomach as she accepted the gifts. As the last of the gifts snapped into place, it was like a jolt of power burst forth through her, like a sudden fire set ablaze in her very bones. Every inch of her glowed with the new power coursing through her being. She looked down to her paws in wonder even after the light had faded.
“You will never hunger again, or die, so long as you continue down my path.” Lady Brizo said, snapping Aella out of her reverie. The words cut straight through Aella’s thoughts.
“So as long as a serve you, my Lady, I will live forever and never hunger?” Brizo nodded in response. Aella smiled after a moment with the knowledge that she would never again be broken and dying as she had been when the Lady Brizo found her on that shore and saved her.
My lady always saved me, she’ll always protect me.Aella wakes again, this time a smile gracing her features. The sun was rising against the tides, colors darting and reflecting across the waves and sky in a natural show of lights. A blessing from her Lady-- at least that’s what Aella believed. Though the sky was hardly her Lady’s domain.
She stands and stretches, watching all the while as the sky begins to fade to its clear blue colors. It wasn’t until the sun was no longer skating the surface of her Lady’s domain that Aella finally takes to the skies. As she always does, she practically hugs the waves as she flies overhead-- she loved feeling the soft caress of the ocean spray as it graced her fur. She smiles as she sees a ship with no wind in its sails off in the distance. She flicks her tail, in a smooth and casual movement, and tilts her head. Barely a heartbeat passes before the sails billow forward and the ship lurches forward, startling the crews.
She could hear cheers and see the activity of the crew as she approaches the ship. She smiles down to them, completely invisible to the crew below.
Thank you, my Lady, for the blessing. May these noble men make it home safe to their loving families. I give them my luck and your blessing.The ship is bathed in light for a moment as it changes it’s course ever so subtly. Even the crew could have sworn the deck glimmered before writing it off as a simple trick of the light or their eyes. Aella lightly runs her paw over the scarf-like garment (that was just as colorful and new looking as the day she first received it many millennia ago) as she smiles down at the ship. The ship slips away from her quickly, well on it’s way to its intended destination.
I wouldn’t trade this.Somehow she just knew that she would be ok. She knew that she would overcome her dark past and be able to continue her work. She knew, with her gifts and her blessings, that she would survive reliving the horrors again and again in her dreams. And that she would be all the stronger for it. She grips the clasp on her shoulder, feeling the spiral ridge on her paw pad as she continues to smile. A true and genuine smile shines brightly, matching the lively vibrancy of Apollo's sun overhead. She also thought perhaps that one day soon, she would overcome the horrible memories. Certainly not today, and perhaps not tomorrow or even fifty years from now, but what was fifty years to an immortal demi-goddess like herself anyway?
Extras:
Click Images for Fullsized versions.
Redlining and background (minus ship) done by Mint Chip. Everything else by me.
By Me.
