By: Kariana Posted on: September 14, 2004
A steady wind whipped Kariana's long, ink black hair about her face as she
trudged down the road toward the entrance to the Aureliana. The whistling wind
did not bode well with her, since it usually prophesied the coming of a storm.
Kariana glanced up at the sky, her Rajamalan senses alert to her surroundings.
A bitter 45 or so degrees, she would guess, but that was normal for the month
of Aeguary. A young human boy of about 18 raced by her in naught but a canvas
backpack, a steel short sword gripped tightly in his anxious hands. Kariana let
her celestial blue eyes follow the boy as he ran under the ivy-covered archway
that led into Minia.
Oh, Minia. The memories Kariana had of that placed washed over her in their sweetness. Images of her helping Vellis with his butterfly collections flooded her mind and she watched as the fingers that laid the tiny creatures in their cases changed from that of a tiny child to those of a young woman. She had been a Siren then, her sexual prowess coming to bloom at her maturity. The butterflies were no longer enough to entertain her. The confines of the archway and the Savannah had felt tight and at times seemed to keep her from breathing. A clear memory of the day Vellis had sent her to Loom Island filled Kariana's vision.
She had been sulking about the archway all morning, watching as vibrant men and women dashed into the areas of Minia Vellis had forbidden her to go into. How she had longed to join them. To see the Pixie Queen she knew dwelt to the north or Pepu the pygmy chef that supposedly ate the corpses of kobolds in a special stew. Any wonders of the world around her! She wanted to see anything but the ivy-covered archway that made promises to everyone but her. Promises of lives filled with adventure and excitement. She had kicked the base of that archway to vent her internal struggle, but the motion had caused a whirlwind of butterflies to erupt from their hidden resting places within the ivy. Magnificent colors had swirled about her, lifting her auburn hair and sending it into her face. Kariana had kept her emerald eyes wide open, not wanting to miss a moment of the phenomenon. The commotion had caught Vellis' eye and, after he finished telling the nervous young man he was talking to how to use the butterfly net he had just given him, he walked over to his charge. Kariana was still lost in the myriad of colors swirling about her but the gruff touch of Vellis' hand upon her shoulder had awaked her from her reverie. Turning toward him, she had gazed up into his wise eyes with her naive ones. Vellis had surely noted the deeper sadness that was within them for his next words were not what Kariana had expected.
"It is time for you to leave me, my little summerstorm." Vellis leaned down and placed a fatherly kiss upon her forehead. Kariana blinked in confusion, but in that single blink she had been moved through time and space to stand in the middle of a small island.
Kariana jumped as a large wet droplet hit her face. Apparently she had lost herself in her memories. The droplet that had hit her rolled down the slope of her cheek, stopping for a moment on her chin before falling to the ground. Damn. It had started to rain. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Kariana resumed her walk to the Aureliana. It was not long before her feet left the highway and pressed softly into the slightly moist soil of the Aureliana forest. The tall pines and fir trees blocked some of the incessant wind, but water still managed to slip through, dampening Kariana's clothing, as well as her mood. Usually a good rain would lift her spirits, not drown them. The plants and animals needed the nourishment the sweet water would provide, but lately it seemed as if the skies were angrier than they once had been. It had rained much these past few months and each storm seemed to be accompanied by lightning strikes.
Kariana tried to recall how many times she had patrolled the forests with her guildmates (and the other forestal guilds) in search of the trees the errant lightning had ignited. When no number came to her mind, Kariana shuddered. Fatigue and fear for her beloved forests were wearing her emotions thin. A lone teardrop fell from her eye and caressed her cheek as it followed nearly the same path as the earlier raindrop. She was so tired... so tired. Glancing deeper into the forest, Kariana decided that she was not up for even the short walk to the hidden forest that she had imprinted a grove in. Bunching her lithe dancer's legs beneath her she jumped up, and then dove headfirst into the soil, finding herself safely back in her grove.
"Hello, Periwinkle." She purred to her golem, his massive seven foot frame towering over her mere five feet nine inches. Periwinkle slightly lowered his head to give Kariana a knowing wink before resuming his peaceful watch over her grove. Kariana smiled as she walked over to check her hive and the industrious bees within. The incessant buzz of their wings told Kariana that they were fine. Gracefully she lowered herself to the ground, curling her legs up beneath her. All the plants here were healthy and at various states of growth. She had harvested the plants to a safe minimum the previous month and already they were sprouting new shoots. Despite the rain that fell about her, Kariana couldn't help but smile joyfully as she looked about her beautiful grove. However, her serenity did not last long.
Thunder crashed as a bolt of white lightning flashed overhead. Kariana leapt to her weary feet, filled with a sudden energy drawn from unknown reserves. A tree somewhere in the Aerinewild, the beautiful and peaceful Aerinewild, had been hit by the lightning and was surely ablaze! Kariana sent a mental shout for help to all her guildmates. The more people who came to search for the fire the sooner it would be extinguished. The voices of her guildmates echoed in her mind as they said they would be on their way; the youngest ones asking if they should be water beacons. Closing her eyes, Kariana focused on the morph she needed to take. With a feral cry, a light enveloped her body as the spirit of the icewyrm over took her. Flexing within her new spiritual form, Kariana prowled out to the south to start a patrol of the forest.
It had only been moments since her call for help, but already her Druidic companions were springing up magically from the ground around her. Many were also enveloped with the icewyrm's spirit but others simply carried a multitude of water filled buckets in their strong arms. Each Druid that Kariana passed had a look of intense concentration in his or her eyes. This fire must be found. No tree could be left unchecked. Kariana continued her search.
It was not long before Hyano yelled excitedly, "Got one! No spreading." The chorus of excited woots and congratulations that followed filled the air. "Only one strike, right?" Hyano was heard yelling.
"Right. Just the one. Great job, everyone. Thank you!" Kariana yelled as she returned to her Rajamalan form and slunk back to her grove. With a deep sigh she collapsed to the ground, cuddling upon the blanket her sister, Rosette, had made her. With light fingers, she traced its beautiful flower pattern and marveled again at its intricacy. Happily lost in her thoughts, Kariana did not know that someone else was in her grove until it was too late. Strong and powerful arms locked themselves around her and pulled her up into the treetops, but before Kariana could even let out a mental cry for help, a familiar tongue ran along her ear, before whispering some delicious secrets. Kariana's eyes went wide with obvious happiness as she turned to face her husband.
"Sunamon! Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!" She said, as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
Sunamon pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss before gently pulling away. "Hey babe. I'm glad to see you too. What's up? Something wrong?" His brow furrowed into a frown as he gave Kariana a quick once-over, eyeing her suspiciously. "Something is wrong."
"No, my love. I'm just tired. There have been a lot of fires lately. I'm afraid to sleep less I miss one." Kariana rubbed her eyes with her long, furred fingers. Sunamon wrapped his arms around her, the white of his fur blending with hers. To anyone watching they would have appeared to be one Raja, half with black spots and the other half with stripes. Kariana's mind unwittingly thought about what a handsome couple the two of them must make, and when she realized what she was thinking she blushed.
Trying to cover up her embarrassment, she started rambling, "I'm not even thinking properly. Have you seen our daughters lately? I haven't spoken with any of them for nearly a month." Kariana tried to focus on the image of her three beautiful daughters. Rianara, Kaiya and Larali were her pride and joy. All of them were so hard-working and caring. Rianara had ended up following her father's footsteps, becoming a Dawnstrider. But like her mother, she felt a calling in teaching. Kariana swelled with pride as she remembered the day Ria had become the Head of Novices in her guild. Kaiya and Larali though, they had followed their mother's footsteps, becoming Druids. But Kariana couldn't deny that those two had their father's flair for impishness.
Sunamon chuckled. "You need some sleep, babe. I'll keep an eye on the weather." And with that he snapped his fingers in front of Kariana and she went suddenly limp in his arms as sleep overtook her. Snuggling up beside her, Sunamon did his best to keep the rain from soaking his lovely wife as she dreamed. He didn't know how long he had been staring at the sky, but the weather had shifted and the rain eventually stopped before Kariana opened her eyes and stretched languidly.
"You are evil." She said as she pounced on him, sending them both rolling head over heels. Sunamon just laughed and kissed her. "You needed it, love. Feel better now?"
Kariana nodded her head emphatically. She really did feel better. She had dreamed some lovely dreams of butterflies and emerald cities, and the memory of those left her smiling.
"Here's something you almost never hear me say, let's go bashing. You need a break." Kariana turned her head towards her powerful husband and eyed him suspiciously but when she saw him standing up and getting out his whip she knew he was serious. Delighted with the idea Kariana, called aloud and pulled the spirit of the wyvern into her, quickly putting up her bashing defenses.
Sunamon and Kariana spent the next few days happily hunting scorpions down in the pit and searching for snakes in the desert. Kariana was even able to harvest a few sacs and skins from the snakes they killed. Kariana kept a mental channel open with her Guild, ready to jump at the first sign of fire, but it never came. Her friends were laughing, actually, for the first time all month it seemed. Perhaps the danger finally was past. Kariana knew she was starting to feel like her old self when she began to mentally sing silly songs with Miguel with the entire guild listening, laughing and even singing along.
Sunamon had just brought Kariana to a shrine to Scarlatti so she could offer the corpses of all the scorpions from their most recent hunt when a desperate cry sounded in her mind. "FIRE! Fire in the Aalen! They're everywhere. Hurry!" Bunching her legs beneath her, Kariana was immediately in the air and tracking to Evadne, leaving Sunamon standing by the shrine all by himself.
As soon as Kariana's feet touched the ground, she pulled the spirit of the icewyrm into her once more. People were popping up from the soil and racing past her in every direction. Looking quickly around her, Kariana began her own search.
It wasn't long before Kariana stumbled into a burning room, the hot flames licking her and catching her highly flammable fur on fire. Almost instinctively, she applied some mending salve to her burning fur to put out the flames as she opened her jaw and froze the ground around her. Unable to survive the ice, the fire went out and Kariana was already moving onto the surrounding groves to look for spreading. After needing to freeze the ground in two more locations, Kariana yelled, "Three more out! How is it looking?" Kariana lifted a hand to her face and tried to clear the rain from her eyes as she waited for a response.
"I got a few, and so did Rahum. I'm patrolling now." The less familiar voice of her cousin, Eski could be heard yelling. So, even Eleusis had come to help. Good. It was reassuring to know that all the forestal peoples were working on this together. A few more yells of who had put out how many fell on Kariana's ears and she shook her head in disbelief. It seemed the whole forest had been on fire. Her Aunt Aelyn's voice could be heard yelling now to make sure and check the plants to see if this had been something other than lightning. Kariana nodded even though no one could see her accept the order, and began to patrol the redwood forest, looking to make sure every grove still had its plants.
After a couple mishaps running into basilisks nesting in secluded rooms in the forest and realizing she had already seen a few of the groves more than once, Kariana thought the forest looked all clear. Just as she was about to open her mouth and yell just that, Rahum beat her to it. "It looks all clear! Must have just been a really bad storm." Rahum's voice was almost immediately followed by Evadne yelling, "Awesome. Good job everyone!"
Kariana turned her head and took a good look at her surroundings. It was impossible to tell that there had just been a very dangerous fire here, except for the ice that covered the occasional patch of ground. The sun had come out and was now shining brightly down on the Aalen, lighting it with hope and promises of a few days peace. A tiny faerie flew in from the north and then flew daintily out to the southeast. Memories of Minia and Vellis flashed across her memory and her heart felt lighter than it had in days. The vibrancy of the forest filled Kariana's being and she smiled.
This was why she fought. No amount of sleep deprivation or fatigue could keep her from protecting the forests that she loved. They would grow and they would thrive. Kariana blew a kiss to the forest and hurled herself into the undergrowth to rest.
Who knows when she will need to go and fight again?