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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FifthMovement|Fifth Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT ADanceOfAngels |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Rebirth in Snow ==
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| − | Time had passed, meditating on the new Manse of the city.<br>
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| − | Regaining her energies.<br>
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| − | And now, she felt the pull of the Boil's strongest Demesne.
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| − | Of the crushed remains of the home of Iron Tears, the City Father of the Boil. A place, far away in the Industrial, that burned for one such as she. She could feel the power, the essence roaring, twisting, breaking.... on that spot, on a mountain covered with ash and snow, the Snow Owl stood.
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| − | Looking down from it, one could see where the Snow Owl slid down - so many beautiful works of art, so many forges, so much... all crushed down the mountain. The openings to the tunnels underneath it - and to the underground forges where Opal used her skills before meeting the Exalted - stood like wounds festering in the mountainside.
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| − | It had been something great, once.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' It was moderately depressing... the collapsed hallways, the proud stonework cracked and shattered, the triumph of both function and form thrown down like a worthless thing. It was a relic of a time when there was purpose to the world, not the mindless carnage that was so... common in the Age of Sorrows. Even she, with all her knowledge and skill, could not reclaim that. It was lost forever.
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| − | A Dream.<br>
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| − | A Memory.
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| − | And that memory would fray and tatter in the long, stiff wind of coming years. Its halls looted, its proud walls dust.
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| − | Exceedingly Sublime Opal closed her eyes at the pointlessness of it all. But, it was a triump of sentient hands and willful purpose. And those who had helped raise it up stood now in danger.
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| − | "I shall raise up a glimmer, so those yet unborn can look upon this ruin, and wonder at the glory that once stood here... and those that died for it."
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| − | * The demesne roars. The raw essence breaks stone around her. The essence twists the side of the mountain as if it was the bottom of the sea.<br><br>It cries.<br><br>A figure is with her then. A tall older man, flocks of iron-dust coming from his robes.<br><br>"It is depressing, is it not?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Words fail me to express the sadness of it." She nodded to the man. Iron Tears always liked his entrances, even in his... humbler state. The dusts slides from her as if water from a ducks back, and considers the god a long moment.
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| − | ''The things I do for my princables. ''
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| − | "Do you have the items I requested?"
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| − | '''Iron Tears: ''' He ecame closer, picking her hand gently... and landing them on her palm. The diamonds were, each and every one, able to buy a palace. All together, they could buy a country in the Hundred Kingdoms. Even for a god such as Iron Tears, such use of wealth was.... unthinkable. He had certainly suffered much to give them to her. "Here they are, Exceedingly Sublime Opal."
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| − | He looks at the Essence, holding part of it in the air and making iron swirl in it... "The Snow Owl needs to return. My city needs a symbol. My city needs its power. I need it to protect my people... to keep people like Kanti safe."
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| − | "Without them, I would not be, after all."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "These are stones, my Lord, cold and lifeless. So, I shall use them to raise a monument to the living." She very calmly placed them in her belt pouch. No, no pressure at all here. "If my Lord would please remove himself from this place, I will be doing some...renovating."
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| − | She looked at the broken pieces of the Manse, saw its Essence in disorder.
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| − | In the wake of Death, the citizens of Boil were gathering to celebrate Life. She smiled softly at the thought as it came, though her mind.
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| − | ''I should go to the celebration. Not for myself, but for others. '' She looked to Iron Tears, and nodded softly to him... a gesture conveying a wealth of meaning.
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| − | "I shall plant the seed. Please, leave me to my garden."
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| − | '''Iron Tears: ''' "We trust on you. On your hands is the wishes of all of my devotes, Exceedingly Sublime Opal."
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| − | The Iron God nodded, stepping aside.. flocks of iron-sand in his path.
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| − | He stood on the edge of the Demesne, and watches. And watches as she begins her work on the Demesne...
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' No pressure.
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| − | She hid her sarcasm, however. And merely nodded her head toward the disappearing god as she turned her mind toward her work. She spread her stance, and planted her feet and began to focus. She began attuning her mind to the will of the Earth, allowing her to sculpt it with a gesture. She took her second breath, and called to mind what she wanted to do. A rare grin stole the lovely features of her face.
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| − | Plant a seed.
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| − | She began to gesture, a wall flows into the floor. A statue tumbles into it all. To rebuild, she would need a base, not a tattered mass.
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| − | When it was ready, she stood away from it, and lifting her arms, caused it to grow. Visably, it was slowl, even though it grew a few yards every few seconds. She kept the picture of it firm in her mind.
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| − | Life begets life.
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| − | It was at first a stalk. It was not a straight and perfect pillar. Such constructs were harsh. Artificial. She let the Essence that coarsed through the Demanse influence the growth of it. She felt herself thrill with the energy she directs, a tingling energy that plays across her skin. She exalted in the sensation, letting it unknowingly guide her intent as she caused the tree to ride. The sun set as she worked. Long, spiraling offshoots sprouted from the main stone.
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| − | As she worked, she produced the diamonds, and used the growth of the stone to carry them into the correct possitions, until they formed a ring hundreds of feet in the air. She considered this, and pulled more earth from the mountain. She pulled crystal from the depths, and caused it to grow upon the offshoots, even as those offshoots extended wide, flat surfaces to catch the wind and direct it.
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| − | Opal finished, near shivering with exaustion, as she began to walk to the center of the construct. Her breath was laboured and sweat ran from her, until she reached the center. She threw her hands up letting her Essence coarse through her work, and set the pattern back into a proper order.
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| − | As the Cresent Moon rose on the Boil, it cast its pale light upon the Mountain. And there, as Opal lifted her hands to its rising light, a tree of white stone came to life - lights in its boughts glowing as the crystals she placed became charged with the Essence from the newly capped Manse.
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| − | '''Iron Tears: ''' The God is there, watching... and blessing. That was his domain.<br>
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| − | And she excelled in every facet of it.<br>
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| − | He blessed every moment she made, she blessed her task, but she would have done so even without his blessings.<br>
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| − | She was, indeed, Sublime.
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| − | As the Moon rose, Iron Tears made the whole of the Boil gaze at the Mountan with a subtle pull. It would grow once again. The Boil would grow once again... and he was there, then. handling the Mountain Folk something to dry her sweat with, there to lend his blessings and hold her if she was to fall of exaustion.
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| − | "You have my thanks once more time, Exceedingly Sublime Opal."
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| − | "It is a real pity you will not come to the Celebration. More and more, you prove yourself worthy of the honors."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She looked at him, so drained she had to focus on who he was. She nodded tiredly and took the cloth and wiped away her sweat, though it did not stain her. "I think... I shall attend. If your invitation is still open, of course." She brushed a few locks of her hair from her face, it obediently stayed in place once she corrected it, and glanced around at what she wrought.
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| − | "Is my Lord pleased, then?"
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| − | '''Iron Tears: ''' "It is open, of course. Always. You are one of the great ones that shall get their homage there, after all."
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| − | "And.. yes, I am. This pleases me, Opal. This will show them. This new hope. The Prince, their victory... I have faith for the times ahead."
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| − | "And what will you do next, Exceedingly Sublime Opal?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Go to a party and make polite conversation with people I barely know, of course." She laughs softly, and handed the cloth back to him. "After that... only fate knows. For now, would you be willing to take me down? I seem to have made a bit of an oversight. After that, I recommend my Lord spend the evening attuning himself to his Manse."
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| − | '''Iron Tears: ''' "I will have time until a party that is only tomorrow night, of course. As for tonight..." He takes it, and it disappear in flocks of burning iron, as he touches Opal... and she hears. The awe. The surprise. The rections to her new Manse. "...you are invited to join me in my lybrary, if you wish. I think there is much you could learn there... and I wish to take some of the books out of my sanctum, and give them to the Gears - so we can research greater things about the threats we now face."
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| − | As he finishes, he smiles at her, "You will do fine. Half of all parties is to laugh and pretend you care about the conversations around you."
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| − | "The other half, is the entertaining part."
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FifthMovement|Fifth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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