Post by Kieliah Draegar on Jun 13, 2014 21:39:57 GMT
The peal of the bells sliced through the kingdom like a knife through a wheel of sharp cheese, and Kieliah Draegar was no different. Her body rocked with the tolling sound, back and forth, back and forth. Tears burned like acid as they trailed mercilessly down her cheeks, symbols of weakness she'd thought to hold back. With her back against the wall, Kieliah slid down to the floor and put her head on her knees. The hobgoblins of grief were conspiring to tear her into little pieces and scatter them to the wind. The Kralica – her mother – was gone. What would Kieliah do without her? She would never hug her mother again, never catch a whiff of violets on her neck. Amarah Draegar was dead, and praying to Oudeteros was not going to bring her back. Someone was saying “no, no, no” over and over, and she realized it was her own cracked voice pleading with the Lightmask. But it didn't matter. Nothing would ever matter again.
"it can't be true that i'm losing you. the sun cannot fall from the sky" - ryandan
Booted feet were planted firmly as the brother to the king stood helplessly upon one of the many balconies of Phos Castle. Eyes glanced over the lands bathed in the warmth of the sun...but those bells echoed fiercely, constantly, and there were no smiling faces out in the streets. They all knew the news, and it hit Kade like an avalanche of stone. He had seen to Kevan, assured that his brother was alright...before he came out here to grieve in silence. Amarah had been beloved by all, but he could be so selfish as to say that she wasn't as loved by any other as she was by him. She always was and always will be- that he knew. And it was a shame he could not mourn for her as he rightfully thought.
Tears threatened blue eyes, but he dare not allow them to shed. So once he composed himself, gathered himself back together, Kade made his way back inside to find the one person who was possibly far more distraught than he was- his niece.
She would not be difficult to find. It was a matter of following the sounds of sobbing and those gently murmured pleas to a god who could do nothing, to find her down the hallway of her mother's chambers, curled into herself. Brisk footfalls carried the tall man to her side, falling to a knee beside her with a hand to her shoulder. Kade could say numerous things, could tell her he wished that her mother was still with them...but all he could manage was a small, whispered, "I'm...sorry, Kie."
Post by Kieliah Draegar on Jun 17, 2014 4:05:47 GMT
The words all ran together after a fashion, until nothing made sense. Next thing she knew, her uncle was kneeling and touching her shoulder. She could barely feel the weight of his hand there. "Why?!" she wailed, so blinded by tears that she could hardly see his face. "The goddess...did not have...to take her...from me..." Not from her father. Not from the kingdom. Not from the world. From her. Amarah and Kieliah had been inseparable since she was born. She had been her mother's truest pride and joy, and none doted on the girl like the Kralica. Her father was somewhat distant and cold, but that had never mattered because her mother and uncle had been so warm and loving. Now, it was as if a limb was missing. Kieliah felt a horrible void as keenly as an open wound. She flung herself at Uncle Kade and just sobbed against his neck, her body wracked with the cries of grief that just refused to cease.
"it can't be true that i'm losing you. the sun cannot fall from the sky" - ryandan
Why?
Didn't one always ask that? Why? Why was she taken from them? How could Oudeteros do this to anyone? But it was never their way to ask why, because...it simply was. It simply had to be. Amarah had a path, one that the goddess had chosen for her. Such was the way of a devoted being, was it not? How could saying any of this make his young niece understand and accept it?
How could he expect her to...when he himself could not?
"No...she did not," he finally responded, at a loss for words as his own pain was quickly rising to mirror hers. "But it is the way of life. It is the way things have to be..." So then why did he sound so unsure of himself? He shifted slightly with the small weight of her as she flung herself at him, falling deeper into her sorrow. He cradled her lovingly against his chest, as he had done many times before, to try and offer whatever comfort his embrace could give. But her warmth was a greater comfort to him, he quickly realized. "Your father will need you now. This kingdom will need you. You will easily stand in her place when the time comes, Kieliah, because she is still with you. She will never leave you."
Kade never got his chance to say goodbye, and that would be something he'd forever regret.
Last Edit: Jun 18, 2014 1:23:51 GMT by Kade Draegar
Post by Kieliah Draegar on Jun 18, 2014 1:03:34 GMT
"If the goddess did not have to," she demanded in a choked voice, beating her fists feebly against Uncle Kade's chest, "then why did she?" The Kralica was a priestess, a Servant of Light. Didn't she still have so much work to do, so much life to live? She was so young! His comforting words filled her ears, but right now, they weren't much comfort. "Father is barely moved," she said softly, and Kieliah could not keep the bitterness from her voice. How could Father be so...detached? His wife was gone. Did it even matter? Kevan Draegar didn't even seem to care, and Kie's whole world had fallen apart. "How can the sun still be shining? How could she go so willingly into such...finality?" Amarah's spirituality had not been matched in her daughter. Oh, she believed in the goddess and the Lightmask, but she believed in all the other godmasks too. "Fortune must be favoring the Caliga," she said listlessly, drawing back from Kade's arms to play with a fine gold chain around her neck, a gift from her mother. Was Amarah still with her, truly? "I cannot feel her," the girl confessed in a desperate whisper. "I cannot feel anything but disbelief...and pain." Her weakness and vulnerability were a terrible thing to admit, but Uncle Kade wouldn't expose it. She knew that.
"it can't be true that i'm losing you. the sun cannot fall from the sky" - ryandan
He desperately wished he had the answers to the girl's pleas, to her sobbing demands as to why the goddess had taken her mother so soon. Kade could easily mourn in the very same fashion. He could easily break down, draw into himself and forget everything else around him...but it couldn't be allowed. Someone needed to keep a level head, even if the pain of Amarah's death was secretly causing him to crumble from within. His brother barely flinched- something that was not foreign for the Kral even from a young age. Kevan barely shared any emotion, and it often made Kade wonder if he had ever loved the woman he married at all... Because he knew he himself did.
A light grind of his jaw, he was quick to lie for his brother like he always did, "It is just his way, noiva...He never was very good at letting others see his weaknesses. As it should be for a Kral." No. No, it shouldn't be. If he wasn't so adamant on stopping Kieliah's tears, he might have shed some himself. 'Fortune must be favoring the Caliga...' That made the elder man's brow furrow with displeasure, but he did not reach for her; allowing her to draw away from him. "Never utter such words, my niece. Your mother was the light- our light -and it is why the sun burns brighter this day. We will grieve, we will hate the circumstances...but now she is able to continue her work from above. She is not and will never truly be gone. To think that is to spoil her memory. To not remember or not keep her in your heart will make her vision fade." Unlike Kie, Kade wholeheartedly believed in everything the Lightmask represented. To him, none other existed...especially the Shadowmask. The Caliga were nothing but a plague to this world and were good to hide away in their dark forest.