Hands on hips, Tira stepped out of the enormous palace gates with the air of a victor. As if to show the world how ready she was, she stretched luxuriantly in the fine midmorning sun, promptly wobbled on her limp, caught herself on her quarterstaff, lost her balance and slid sideways onto her backside with a kind of ludicrous grace.

Wide-eyed and grinning despite herself, the teenager waved to where Lakshmi was looking down at her from a window, picked herself up and galloped across Waterfall Bridge before the general could change her mind about letting her go. 

It was the first time Tira had been let out unguarded. On paper, this changed little, beyond the fact that she no longer had to spend the first hour or so sneaking past her guide. Towards the end it had been a charade for both of them. The knight knew that Tira, ever the nomad, would never be happy under wraps, and had only caught her when her escape attempts grew half-hearted and slack. He wasn't sure if she knew how easy it was for an adult warrior to catch her, and it didn't matter- She just thought of it as a game anyway.

So he played along, training her, he supposed. And when Tira earned her win and put enough distance on her trail to feel confident, the knight picked up, found a hidden corner just inside earshot of her chosen roaming-ground, and meditated. It was a good way to spend guard duty. And now that she had free reign? Well, good for her. He had faith in the girl.

Tira zipped through the streets, occasionally vaulting on her staff when her ankle forbade her a leap. It wasn't really a quarterstaff. In fact, it had been a pole holding up a street-marquee until she made off with it. It felt fair. After all, nobody really noticed the loss until it collapsed, and that was a whole week later.

Alefpria was full of tents and shades and sails in the summer, each more gaily colourful than the last. There were hues she'd never seen before, not even on the rainbow. Tira thought the blue sari she found in her new wardrobe was the prettiest bit of fabric she'd seen in her whole life until she saw how much the Alefprians dabbled in pigments. From then on she'd worn only the plainest shirts and pants, finger-painted them with colour from every dye-barrel she could find, and tore thin ribbons from them to tie around her staff for emphasis. Her black hair went the same way, tied and coloured.

Today Tira streaked her rimpled head-mop with a particularly bright shade of pink. She wanted to make an impression.

[center]* * * * *[/center]

Tyufik waited in the alley, legs crossed, feeling the sun on his grey chest. His eyes were closed, head tilted slightly in a pose, hoping that Lonar would turn up and spare him one of those taunting side-glances she'd been baiting his attention with for months. It was a very Lifprasilian kind of romance, a slow, intimate kind of challenge that dared each other to move before someone else did. And that didn't seem out of the question at all, really, considering that Kunonok seemed almost as interested in Tyufik as he was in that fisher's apprentice on the north side.

The shirtless adolescent streetster jolted his eyes open when the first sound of arrival was neither Lonar's heavy gait nor Kunonok's lighter one, but a familiar yell and sliding on canvas.

Tira skidded down the awning and landed deftly on her good foot, exclaiming something in that foreign banter she had, her hands signing for emphasis. Tyufik had never seen her so pleased, and he could guess why. The short brown human was always late to meet with his little gang of vagrants. Whatever fussy foster-parent held her back had finally given up, it seemed.

The trio had stopped trying to shake Tira off after the first few days. When they saw her kill a birb with a slingstone at twelve paces without thinking twice and showed them how to pluck and cook it, they started waiting for her. Tyufik smacked her shoulder by way of greeting and was promptly smacked back.

Good thing Lonar wasn't around to see him wince. Tira hit hard for something so small.

Together the two waited, practicing languages. Her dialect of Urtelem hand-speak was, as far as Tyufik knew, unique to wherever-the-hell Tira had come from. And fluent enough to teach. She was picking up on Alefprian remarkably quickly, too, even with the city's bizarre mix of neologisms. Rumour said the Divas themselves sometimes introduced new words to the language for sport, to see which one would take. Whatever the truth, Tira had a knack for finding the sauciest slang.

Lonar and Kunonok arrived in due time. Tyufik winked and Lonar rolled her eyes extravagantly but bit her lip as she turned aside. Tira cackled at the two of them. Kunonok came last, without his usual smirk. What's down? Oh, they found the wreckage of Albatross, that catamaran that didn't come back. Anything interesting? Probably snapped at by a leviathan squid. Bunch of weird teeth marks, whole mast splintered, eight bodies missing. Well, shit. Yeah.

The trio walked as they chatted, happy to get an early start. With the extra walking time they decided to cross to the waterfall end of the city and look for caves. Tira didn't say much, but her grin was wide enough to keel a ship with.

Taking a direct route led them through the busiest of Alefpria's plazas. Everyone in the Capital seemed to be making something or plying some trade, even though much food was free, the orchards of citrus and pefant overseen by the General's workers. Wood and canvas flapped everywhere. Ceramics, carts, looms, Marionettes. Humans and rovaick worked under supervision, the palace orchestrating their rehabilitation into apprenticeships. Goblins clustered themselves into work-gangs, hauling wheelbarrows of malachite single-file through the foreign city.

Such minerals were brought in from the southern cliffs, where the refugees had more than compensated for the appalling lack of mine-skill shown by the Citadel-descended Lifprasilians. Those smooth rock faces- Crafted by a particularly beautiful male Diva, it was said- Were a buzz of quarrying activity. So Tyufik led his friends closer to the waterfalls, where the jungle began, and the mountains had not been fully explored.

Yet.

[center]* * * * *[/center]

Kunonok pointed out that Tira would probably ruin her ankle again if she kept up the enthusiasm. Lonar was tallest, so she helped her get the first foothold, not without protest from the weird little tagalong. Tyufik found a stream and slipped in it while taking a drink. Kunonok spotted a leech on his ankle when he dragged himself out and pocketed it. Good bait, you know? Tyufik wondered if there were trout in the mountain rivers. Lonar yelled at them. Work those legs you're so proud of.

Tira chewed a sourgrass stalk, a flower on the end dangling out through the hole in her face. Lonar asked her if there would be urtelem on the top of the mountain. Complacent shrug. Kunonok found a furl den, then a beehive. Tyufik wore a sprig of patterned leaves between his ears. Lonar tossed a rock off the edge and watched it fall. Kunonok discovered that he had a hole in his pocket and a particularly sly leech on his ass. Tyufik stole one of Tira's sourgrasses, and hey, did anyone bring food? Tira said something smug. Lonar knuckled her head for a while when they realised she wanted to go back to the beehive and smoke it out. Don't you dare, little scamp.

Tyufik saw a quicker route down and led the way. Kunonok taught Tira how to juggle with pebbles. Lonar realised that the new trail had a jump in it, suggested they turn back until Tyufik pointed out the thick curtain of vines. Lonar shrugged and went across first. Tyufik snapped Kunonok and Tira out of their practice and crossed over. Tira tossed down her staff to free her hands. Kunonok waited as she climbed her way

[i]A height a slip a fall the back of a demon destroyer a sky of winged people burning a spear of light acidic black ichor claws like a great spider a leap faster than she ever saw them move tearing the limb apart clinging dangling acid searing a height a fall dancer no dancer come back[/i]

[sub][i][color=9e0b0f]Look up, Tira.[/color][/i][/sub]

Tira's eyes flew open and she registered Tyufik's voice calling her. She realised she was biting her tongue, swallowed, coughed, and said she was good, she was still good, though Kunonok had followed her along the vines and had a firm hand around her wrist. The two made their way down without incident.

Lonar asked her what happened, bringing in a warning look from Kunonok, ever the perceptive one. Tira forced a smile and said she was good, using the same words as before; They were the best ones she knew. Tyufik handed her staff back and asked if she could walk. She prodded his chest and said something crude and fluent that made them all laugh. Tyufik hid his relief by kicking her ankles, since she was clearly still so full of energy.

Later, Lonar accompanied Tira home as far as the bridge, wondering quietly which of the palace brass had chosen to adopt the human. The two leaned on the balustrade, watching the sun turn orange.

[i]"Lonar?"[/i]

"Mhm?"

[i]"Think you that... Suyko sin weit ghorg?"[/i]

"Another... Fight? Big fight? Oh, oh, I see, a war." Lonar shrugged. "Eventually, I guess. Not anytime soon." She looked at Tira. The long shadows picked out the scar. "Why?" Tira smiled and tilted her head, as she often did when she didn't understand something. Lonar took the hint.

Not anytime soon. Something inside Tira wasn't so sure.

[center][h3]~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/h3][/center]

[colour=MintCream][i]Whisper found something funny when we came back from the last dive.[/i][/colour]

[colour=MistyRose][i]It was a pretty long dip, maybe six hours. Mother takes us down for longer and longer each shadecircle. Maybe it's because she's grown so much. Old Grandma told us the Arks would grow and she was right, oh god, she was so right. They're both swelling up and changing shape, even though I've never seen them eat anything but ice and Rock. But, hey! Mother's big enough to swallow a reef-lily whole anyway! I've seen her do it! There's probably nothing to worry about. Father's pretty huge too.[/i][/colour]

[colour=AliceBlue][i]Then again, maybe it's us who've gotten big. I shrank a little when I laid, and Wander only looks bloated because she's carrying, but my daughters doubled in the first radian since they hatched. Tripled by the end of their second. Watching them grow like that- Listening to them laugh, and tussle...[/i][/colour]

[colour=LavenderBlush][i]Have you ever loved someone so much that you feel like you can always see them, even if the sun falls down and blinds you forever? That your life doesn't even exist anymore outside of holding on to them?[/i][/colour]

[colour=Honeydew][i]Forget what Whisper found for a moment, I need to tell you. I have nine daughters. Nine! They're never lonely. Six haven't chosen names yet, so we call them all Diaphane Little. One chased a fish on our first dive and decided she was Ocean. Another spends time around Father and asked us to call her Diaphane Brother, so we did, and now she's our sister-brother, like the jetlets who have mothers and not-mothers but still make one family. Wander spends time with one who likes noise, so she's Diaphane Loud. I love her. I love them all. They give me life.[/i][/colour]

[colour=Ivory][i]Speaking of. The more we dive, the more living critters we find down on Galbar. Whisper's the only one who knows how to deal with spirits, and sometimes she catches them deep in the liquid-ice or in the blueness, and holds them still for us to eat. Wander says they taste indescribable, and she looked really happy about it. She'd grown a bit, too. We'll find more soon enough, I think.[/i][/colour]

[colour=GhostWhite][i]There are other things too. Birds die when you put them into liquid for long enough, but we still find some really big flightless ones out to sea. They perch on shells made of tree bones, which are solid, but kind of sit around on top of the liquid because they're not dense enough to get gravity-stuck. Tall grey things that'll sting you with light if they startle, but I like them. They taste exotic.[/i][/colour]

[colour=MistyRose][i]Heh, I keep getting sidetracked. It's good stuff, though. But yeah. What Whisper found.[/i][/colour]

[colour=Mintcream][i]It was shaped like an organ I once found inside one of the grey birds in the floatshells, one that pumps that runny blood they have. A flying thing, like a jetlet, with six propulsion siphons and four other limbs. It was fast, maybe the fastest thing I've seen other than Mother- And Father, of course. Whisper said she saw a whole shoal of them, but even with Wander's help she could only corner one. It tasted sweet. A sweet heart.[/i][/colour]

[center][hider=It looked like this.]
[img]http://pre11.deviantart.net/3791/th/pre/i/2012/198/f/0/have_a_heart_by_katepfeilschiefter-d57nf7r.jpg[/img]
[url=http://mistermiener.deviantart.com/art/Have-a-Heart-315180999]Artist[/url][/hider][/center]

[colour=AliceBlue][i]Since then we've spotted them a few more times. Mostly around Mother. Sometimes[/i] in [i]her. We've tried to chase them out but she closes herself up and locks us out when we try. Suits me. Means I don't have to clean all the stuff she sheds. They're better at eating it, anyway.[/i][/colour]

[colour=Ivory][i]My daughters can't get enough of those sweethearts, though. I've shown them how to kill pretty much every imagen that isn't more than double their size- And they're already figuring out how to kill the ones that are! Each one takes a bit, like a fin or an arm, and pulls in different directions as hard as they can. But sweethearts are... Tricksy little shits.[/i][/colour]

[colour=LavenderBlush][i]They keep dodging. They whirl around you when you least expect it and each time we see them they're a little better at it. Even Wander's realised she can't catch them without slowing down to plan first, and even then she needs help. Worst of all, there's something in their bite that actually burns, even when I'm dissolved.[/i][/colour] 

[colour=GhostWhite][i]So I guess the three of us are going to try and take them together, as a pack, even though we're all grown up. We'll signal our directions and fly in a flock, like jetlets do. Practicing our turns and sprints. If they're a challenge, then game on.[/i][/colour]

[colour=Honeydew][i]I've never found anything I can't hunt. I've never found a problem I can't learn to solve. If my daughters want this, then by god, I will give it to them.[/i][/colour]

[center][img]http://66.media.tumblr.com/402cf15221e1f9c6bac10732dd4537fc/tumblr_o8rjgeiPvk1u5gf80o3_1280.png[/img][/center]

Mother River is wise. She knows that for all things there is a flow. There are rapids and there are meanders. As she walks to her final resting place, she slows, becomes tired and heavy; And dies, like so many others, at the feet of the Sepulchre.

The Mahd Estuary that filters around the base of the Forsaken Craglands is a pale thing, weighed down by opaque silt, but in its twilight half-life it is still stronger than it appears and deeper than men fare to guess. Another detail, were it needed, highlighting the height and strangeness of the wanderer's grave.

Another veil to hide Old Skinstitch.

Brown darkness, then pitch. A cruel undercurrent with no solid forms to hold on to. Only mud in which to sink and stay.

A slim tentacle forces itself against the blind press of water. Plucks, effortlessly, a small, lost object from its ever-flowing path to the grave.

Touches. Feels. Examines.

[color=f6989d][i][i]It's a doll.[/i][/i][/color]

Crafted by human hands. Loved by them, too. Burned in them, upon a pyre just large enough for a child. Charred.

The Emaciator releases its prize. It knows.

In a porcelain carcass-shell wrought with bismuth bones, Heartworm stalks into the mud, and tastes cold dreams of Vetros.

[hider=worldbuilding?]
Three sections.

[b]First section.[/b] Tira spends a day out in Alefpria with her Lifprasilian friends, doing what teenagers do. There's a lot of Alefpria-related worldbuilding and a minor reference to the Diaphane arc, though nothing really relevant on a global scale. Tira discovers that her experience with Grot has left her at least somewhat scared of heights. She decides she likes peace over war. [b]No points spent. Fairly lighthearted story about a girl and her friends going on an adventure, though a bit chunked up with worldbuilding.[/b]

[b]Second section.[/b] Stellar takes on first-person again and reflects on what she and the growing sorority has found on Galbar. The raids, while still short and limited to fairly isolated locations, have increased in frequency and the change eaters have destroyed at least one boat full of Lifprasilians. In Lex, a new species, dubbed sweethearts, has appeared. They're very fast, sapient (though not as intelligent as most mortal species), and their bodies produce an Other-substance that young change eaters find addictive. [url=http://katepfeilschiefter.deviantart.com/art/Have-a-Heart-315180999]Art from here.[/url] Unbeknownst to Stellar, this is Jvan's way of training them to hunt in a faster, more organised fashion. [b]1 Free Point spent to teach the entropites more advanced aerial manoeuvres. A monologue without much relevance unless you have stakes in Diaphanes or Alefpria. Not much development of sweethearts yet.[/b]

[b]Third section.[/b] Heartworm, having combined two of his Sculptor aides to produce an even more terrifying vessel made of bismuth, porcelain and tentacles, discerns the existence of Vetros from artefacts washed down the Mahd. [b]No points spent. Very short section of Heartworm being weird.[/b]

[b]Jvan
9 Might Ambient
4 Might in Ovaedis
0 Free Points
Level Four[/b]
[/hider]