Fantasy Cold Nights (Exalted 2.5e) - Astrid Mustonen

[Maxiom]

Astrid frowned for a moment, but soon suppressed it. She didn't want to make her distaste too obvious. "I have discussed the matter with him. I noticed that my workshop was arranged in such a way to speed up the process and approached him on the topic. If you wish though, I'll talk to him about it further."


She got up from her seat slowly, recovering her coat and scarf. "Thank you for your understanding; I appreciate it. If that's all, I'll see myself out."

 

[Teal]

Diamond Hearth (15th Day of Resplendent Earth)


Black lines covered the swept dirt floor of Astrid's workshop. Drawn in black ink, they formed a series of circles surrounding the operating table in the lab's center. Strange runes were scrawled in precise shapes both within and around the circles, and flowed up the table's side and top. Astrid could not read them, yet their sight made her skin crawl.


Perhaps it was nerves.


Jahrl, in his customary black cloak - looking a bit like an overgrown bald buzzard - was now moving about the perimeter of the workshop. He had brought panels of black wood, and was placing them over the windows. The doors to the workshop - one leading out, to her workshop, and to the small apprentice's cubby - were similarly sealed. Slits of orange evening light still bleed around their edges, but the room had nearly fallen into complete darkness.


The mage now began moving to the four corners of the room. In each, he set one of his strange mage-light crystals. Stepping carefully, he left a fifth - slightly larger than the others, Astrid thought - on the operating table. While lines of evening light still cut like spears through the haloes of shadowy light that now dominated the room, the doctor could now detect yet another ring - this one of shadows - dividing the rings of ink from the rest of the workshop.


Jahrl came up beside her.


"Any last words," the old man asked conversationally, as he withdrew a small dark vial from the leather satchel he wore beneath his cloak, "before we begin?"


(Astrid: 10/24m, 8m committed, 5/6 Will)

 

[Maxiom]

Astrid did her best to avert her eyes from Jahrl's strange symbols - tongues and gibberish as far as she could tell. She made a mental note to scrub down the office thoroughly though; she wanted the runes gone as soon as possible.


"Any last words," he said.


'Does he think we're going to die here?'


"-before we begin?" he finished.


'Still not very inspiring.'


She thought for a moment. "Just don't mess up - there are a lot of people here who count on me not being dead or damned." The whole set-up looked rather unholy to Astrid. She considered calling in a holy man to sanctify the place after she cleaned it. 'Might even call an immaculate if I have to.'

 

[Teal]

((OoC: Astrid does not know the proper name for hell.))


"Any last words, before we begin?" Ask Jahrl, palming the vial of dark liquid he held.


"Just don't mess up - there are a lot of people who count on me not to be dead or damned." Astrid replied, tone biting.


Jahrl turned to regard Astrid for a long moment. His expression was incredulous. With a chuckle, the mage turned back to regard to black mandala. "Not to worry my dear," he palmed the dark vial, "just stay behind the shadow ward and you'll be fine." Jahrl lofted the small glass bottle - and swiftly spun, throwing his opposite hand out toward it.


"Hah!" There was a flash of violet energy from his throat. Radiance exploded in answer from each of the five mage-light stones scattered around the room, domes of white light surrounded by auras of shadow, which drowned all other sights. Buffeted between them, the vial hung suspended in the air - and shattered. Astrid could smell blood.


Silence.


Had she closed her eyes?


The room seemed far larger than a moment ago. Darkness stretched as far as she could see. Only the five mage-lights, shapes now indistinct coronas of soft white, her offered any relief. Yet, their illumination revealed nothing but untextured blackness where there had once been swept dirt. Before her, the black circles and strange runes stood out starkly against the white light. In their center, the operating table yet stood - the only remnant of her office.


A figure stood before it. Tall and long of limb, the creature's skin was a pallid dark grey. It's face was inhumanly smooth and its eyes overlarge and piercing blue. A fringe of starkly white hair crowned its head, and hung down to its neck. A long white robe fell over its form - and a dark grey apron hung over it. Blood, long dried, stained its sleeves and the apron.


"Jahrl..." the creature spoke, in a voice sounding of chimes. The old mage was still beside her - and the darkness seemed to agree with him. In this light, his skin did not seem so wrinkled, and he did not seem so pudgy. His hair even seemed fuller and perhaps a few inches longer. It was still white of course, and smoothed back besides, so it was hard to tell. "...and Astrid." The creature's gaze had turned to her.


The being glanced down at itself. "...for what reason have you forced me into this..." Its expression darkened with displeasure, "...form?"


Jahrl glanced toward her, quirking an eyebrow as if you say, 'Well, what are you waiting for?'

 

[Maxiom]

Astrid's eyes were wide in shock, and also because she was trying her best to take in what little light was left in the workshop. What had Jarhl done? Was this even the same building? Her instincts all said 'no'.


Then her eyes turned to the spirit. Her influence on it was apparent, from its grey pallor to the bloodied apron across its chest. She held her composure though - she'd spent much of her life around more frightening spirits. When Jahrl gestured for her to begin, she nodded slowly, taken aback a bit by sudden change in appearance. 'He really is a spectre,' she noted. 'Only in the gullet of a shadow does he seem to shine.'


"Spirit of the workshop," she addressed him, "Jarhl and I are here to request permission to build a manse on your domain. With your assistance, the process can be made easier and we can avoid causing you or the workshop harm."


There was a lingering question in her mind of why Jahrl needed to drag her to hell to confront the god of the workshop.

 

[Teal]

"I have no objections." The spirit replied, after a moment's thought. He glanced toward Jahrl, "Will there be anything else?" Astrid thought she could hear a hint of annoyance to his words, still.


Jahrl merely shrugged, and gestured once more to Astrid.


The spirit's blue eyes followed the movement. Well?  His inhuman visage seemed to ask.

 

[Maxiom]

'Well since I got that I guess I should ask for one more thing,' Astrid figured. She kept eye contact and continued speaking.


"Yes," she continued. She made a sweeping motion with her arm, indicating their new surroundings. "This is all... dangerously extravagant as a means to make contact with you. As I plan to work here for a while, it would be very helpful if I had a means of contacting you that was a tad more... simple."


She gave the spirit a moment to think. "Being able to communicate with you can facilitate my work and save more lives. I don't nee to explain to you what the Hearth is like - in the future there may be scenarios that go beyond the likes of me."


She frowned a bit, "mercy is not a thing that is forgotten here. Any help you can give me or the people of the Hearth would certainly be rewarded somehow."

 

[Teal]

"Yes." Astrid stated, holding the god's gaze steadily. There was a faint pulse - almost imperceptible in the blackness they inhabited - of spiritual blackness from her. "This is..." Astrid seemed to stand straighter, as she gestured sweepingly to their surroundings. "...dangerously extravagant as a means to make contact with you." She thought she detected the slightest nod of approval from the spirit. "As I plan to work here a while, it would be very helpful if I had a means of contacting you that was a tad more..." The spirit's expression closed, visibly, as she elaborated. "...simple."


"And..." the spirit responded softly, "...why should I do this?"


Astrid responded with a frown. "Because being able to communicate with you can facilitate my work and save more lives."


He seemed unmoved.


"I don't need to explain what life in the Hearth is like!" She added, hurriedly. "In the future, there may be scenarios that go beyond the likes of me." Her expression grew faintly pained, as the spirit's eyes slipped away from her own. "Mercy is not a thing that is forgotten here -" Behind her, Jahrl arched a surprisingly shapely white eyebrow, as blue spiritual radiance began to leak from her. "- any help you can give me or the people of the Hearth would certainly be rewarded somehow."


The spirit's eyes shut and his face turned away from her. "...very well." He replied, after a moment's silence.


Jahrl's expression was suddenly completely unreadable.


"Step past the warding rings," the Spirit continued, "and I shall grant you my blessing."


((Astrid: 4/6 Will.))

 

[Maxiom]

Astrid turned her eyes down to the wards. 'Surprised that worked,' she mused. She turned her head towards Jahrl, but he seemed to lack any sort of opinion/suggestion. The more Astrid thought about it, the more she realized she didn't care for his suggestion anyways.


She put her focus back onto the spirit, who's head was facing the other way. She tried her best to see his eyes as she took a broad step forward, to gauge his intent as she waited for him to grant his blessing.

 

[Teal]

Jahrl made no move to stop her, as she progressively closed the distance between herself and the spirit. The "wards" seemed little more than a trick of the light and a few lines of ink to her. Soon, she found herself before the spirit - who calmly raised a hand, and touched her brow. There was no light or reaction that she could see - but a moment later, the spirit lowered its hand.


"It is done." He intoned.

 

[Maxiom]

'Well, I guess they can't all be light shows?' Astrid wondered if the blessing actually did anything. Maybe the spirit was just pretending to get rid of her? It wasn't as if she could tell the difference.


She gave the spirit a short bow and said, "thank you." She then turned around and walked to where Jahrl was standing. "That's all for the moment. Jahrl, return the workshop to its former state." It was a mildly kinder way of saying 'remove us from this hellish space you call home'.


She waited for him to extricate them, hoping to the gods that he didn't open his mouth to speak.

 

[Teal]

"That's all for the moment," Astrid stated, turning away from the grey-skinned spirit. "Jahrl," the dark haired girl added, moving through the layered circles, "return the workshop to its former state."


If Jahrl noticed her tone, his face did not show it. Instead, the pale man waited for Astrid to cross the last of the boundaries before bowing to the summoned spirit. Astrid might have noticed that it was both deeper than the one she had just performed. "As always," Jahrl stated formally, "thank-you for your graciousness, Place of Hope and Pain." He rose gracefully, before reaching a hand to touch the pendent he wore at his throat. "We will endeavor not to bother you with trivial matters in the future." Jahrl added.


The spirit nodded, "You have my thanks, mage."


There was a flash of violet light, and the spirit faded. Lines of orange evening light once more slipped through the cracks in doorframes and the window coverings; the workshop's dirt floor and rough stone walls were visible again, and Jahrl was had returned to being a pudgy, balding old man. The mage began to move about the room, recollecting the panels and light-crystals immediately. He seemed less graceful than before.


"That went surprisingly well." The old man observed - though he might have been talking to himself.

 

[Maxiom]

"Mhm, sure," Astrid replied as she looked around the room, as though to confirm to herself that they were indeed back in Creation. She was eventually satisfied that they were no longer in hell - just Diamond Hearth, which wasn't too far off she supposed.


She held back from further looking at the writing he had scattered over the room. It was disturbing to her. She didn't even feel safe letting potential patients into the room with it. Most of the Hearth's population was probably illiterate, but Astrid could feel evil emanating from the sigils without even asking for a translation. She moved to get a bowl of water and some rags to wipe it down.


"I have a lot of cleaning up to do," she said to Jahrl from across the room. "I'd rather your runes not mar my workspace. If you could hurry your departure, I would appreciate it."

 

[Teal]

"Hm." Jahrl paused in his collection of wooden panels and pursed his lips. The old man began to approach Astrid, rummaging in his bag as he did. "Here." He offered her a pair of dark-tinted spectacles, framed by a delicate grey metal that Astrid could not identify at a glance, and a small beaker of clear liquid. "These will help." Jarhl said, "Do not allow any one other than me into the room before the runes are gone."


He said nothing more - and soon, he, his wooden panels, and the light crystals, were gone.


* * *


It was dark - grey actually. Deep, dark, grey.


She stood in a room with a swept dirt floor and walls of rough stone and mortar. Though there was no light, she could see the austere furniture that filled the relatively small space clearly. The air around her was still - unnaturally so. Before her, seated behind a simple table of plain stone, was a young man. His clothing was the unadorned leathers of a Haslanti farmer - long-sleeved, thick against the chill of the spring night. His form shone with a white, ephemeral light.


Perhaps he was made of that light.


"Astrid." The being's handsome face was grave. His hands were folded, business-like, across the table. "Are you pregnant?"

 

[Maxiom]

Astrid was taken aback by her surroundings. It wasn't that she didn't recognize this place - it was far from it. She put a hand down on the stone table to confirm to herself if it was real. It wasn't.


She looked up at the large man sitting at the table. He spoke to her in a cold voice, "Astrid."


"Father?" she replied. "How did you...?"


Since Astrid didn't finish her question, he replied with a question of his own. "Are you pregnant?"


That got a reaction. Astrid's hair stood on end, and her usually tired looking eyes popped in attention. "What?!" It seemed like the ghost had struck a nerve. "Of course I'm not!" She seemed equal parts offended and disgusted. 'If I was going to get knocked up I'd have stayed in Ironfall,' she thought but didn't dare say.


Her curiosity as to how Castamir had reached her dreams from so far away seemed forgotten. "What would make you think that?!"

 

[Teal]

The youth sat back in his chair, expression softened somewhat.


"I sensed..." His face twisted into a frown. "...something..." Castamir's shining eyes came to rest on Astrid's own, "...inside you, daughter." He looked concerned, now. "I don't know what it is," The spirit shook its head, "but I am certain that it is not human." Castamir sat forward in the chair again, and brought his hands before himself on the table once more, "And neither, my daughter, are you."

 

[Maxiom]

Astrid rolled her eyes a bit at the last comment and decided to disregard it. "Well I'm not pregnant of all things," she said. As though she'd even have time for sex in Diamond Hearth of all places.


Her thoughts shifted though, as she realized who she was in the room with. 'There are more ways to conceive a child though...' she put together in her head."Shit," she muttered. Was it the spirit's blessing? Maybe something Jahrl did? For all she knew, the god in the workshop was just a sham to begin with, considering Jahrl had to call forth the powers of hell to speak with him.


"If its not human, do you think its a spirit? Is there any descriptor you have?" Astrid asked. A godblood wouldn't be human, but if Castamir could detect something so quickly, then Astrid suspected it wasn't a physical presence - and if it wasn't from the ritual in the workshop, she would have surely detected something a while ago.

 

[Teal]

Castamir fell silent for a long moment - his expression seemed brooding. Then, eventually, he nodded.


"That...is possible." He paused, face contorted in...frustration? "I...do not have the words to describe this...thing." Castamir sighed, before folding his hands on top of the table - his visage impassive once more. "Be careful, my daughter."


The room dissolved around her.


((Astrid: 31/32m. 5/6wp.))

 

[Maxiom]

As the quiet visage of her old and her father home faded, Astrid awoke to the cold night air. She slept on a simple, small matt in an annex to the workshop. She slowly rose to her feet, thankful for the little bits of moonlight provided by the nearby window. She threw her coat over her simple sleeping clothes and pushed open the door into her workshop.


She nodded to the night-guard as she shuffled over to her workdesk, pulling out a sheet of hide that had various other notes scrawled about it. Finding ink and a quill, she quickly went about taking notes of her dream:


-Father sensed something


-A thing in me


-Not human


-Godblood?


-Spirit?


With it scrawled down amidst the mess of other notes, Astrid let out a sigh. She'd expected danger from Diamond Hearth, but maybe something less abstract? She went back to her small room to think, but doubted she would find sleep.

 

[Teal]

17th Day of Resplendent Earth


A pyre burned large from a pit in the center of the stone chamber, shedding light, heat and the indistinct scents of cooking spices. The sounds of feasting filled the room - most of it emanating from the men and women sitting around long tables arranged in neat rows throughout. Children in soft and undyed woolens flitted between them, bearing steaming trays of food and pitchers of drink. Older youths, were scattered throughout the hall - some joined the revelry, others were quiet - all but all with ink-marked rolls of hide before them. Periodically, the children would replace these scrolls with new blank ones - before scurrying off into one of the doors that lined the room's edges, and disappearing beyond it.


Through all this, a line of men and women could be seen bisecting the room - leading up to a pair of thrones at the room's head. Two figures - one in the same soft wool as the children and youths, and another in a dark blue robes, over which armor, fashioned in the likeness of pale ice, glimmered - waited there. Large and regal statues were carved into the wall at their backs - one of a smiling old woman in robes, the other of a stern, robed and armored old man - backed the two.


Several other statues of these same figures were scattered about the recesses at these chamber's edge, bearing different props and standing in different poses. Figures could be seen kneeling before some of them - the glint of silver leaving their hands before they finished. Most melted back into the feast afterward - though the odd one vanished up the stairs near the back of the room, usually appearing tired.


Stepping into the room felt, impossibly, like stepping into the dead of winter - ice and frost covered the outmost reaches of the floor, ceiling and walls - but passed swiftly, giving way to the comfort of the hearth's heat. Indeed, throughout the entire chamber - no matter how close you were to what was certainly raging flames - the temperature never left the comfortable range.


Truly, the temple of the Lord and Lady of Winter was a magical place.


((Astrid: 2/24m, 8m committed; 1/6 wp.))

 

[Maxiom]

Festivities and mirth permeated the temple. It was truly a joyous place, a small bastion of grace that allowed the people of the Hearth to have atleast a momentary reprieve from the weight of life's troubles. Astrid would have loved the sight of it if she wasn't so fucking tired.


She walked into the temple on somewhat shaky legs. She had ridden in on reindeer, but she was lacking sleep, and the previous day was relentless with injury and incident. Things weren't looking up. 'Just need to find the priests, put my mind at rest..." Admittedly, she wouldn't mind staying for a night, perhaps volunteering her services, but she was needed elsewhere. The slaves and the guards would expect Astrid to be there should they be injured, and it'd be a disservice to them to stay gone longer than needed.


She waited patiently in line with her offering ready, thinking over how she'd phrase her request. 'The less detail, the better,' she decided. She'd leave out the part about how her father was a ghost who literally invaded her dreams unless it came up.


As the path became clear, she gained ground to approach the two figures sitting before the statues. "Greetings," she said with a short bow, "I am Astrid of Ironfall. I require... counsel. I fear I may have been made victim of some manner of curse, and I need your assistance if you will grant it."

 

[Teal]

"Child," the middle-aged woman in undyed wools replied, a tone of urgency in her voice as she leaned forward from her perch on the throne, "are you certain you wish to speak of such things so soon?" The priestess was frowning, her concern visible. "Your journey has obviously left you tired, and we have rooms set aside for guests upstairs."


Astrid felt a presence come up beside her. It was a young man - perhaps a year or two older than she was - in the same undyed wools of the woman speaking. She might have noticed that he was...quite pleasing to her eye.


"Won't you please make use of one?" The priestess continued. "I swear we shall speak of your curse when you are stronger."


The other priest - a man of similar age - was silent. Astrid could not help but notice, this close, that the light of the hearth did not seem to reach him as it did his partner, who was bathed in its warm glow. Shadows hung thick about him, and frost coated his throne - and the entire corner of the room beyond him. She thought she could detect stairs leading down through that shadow cloaked portal.


Fortunately, the stairs leading up were clearly visible, bathed in firelight and on the opposite end of the wall.

 

[Maxiom]

"Your journey has obviously left you tired, and we have rooms set aside for guests upstairs."


"I really can't, I need to..." she trailed off for a brief moment.


"Won't you please make use of one? I swear we shall speak of your curse when you are stronger."


Astrid sighed, defeated. She didn't have time for this, but she conceded she needed some rest. "Yes, okay. Just a brief rest. But just for a moment."


She turned to the man who had been standing next to her. "If you could show me where to go I'd be appreciative."

 

[Teal]

The young man smiled warmly, clasping her shoulder lightly. "Gladly, miss." His blue eyes turned toward Hilda, who stood a respectful distance off - and looked considerably less suspicious than she usually did. "Will you be accompanying her?" The Initiate asked, conversationally.


Hilda's eyes moved between Astrid and her guide, before she shook her head. "I'm not tired, and she'll be safe here." A remarkably polite response from her, ordinarily, surly bodyguard. The blond woman's eyes turned toward the feasting - and she smiled eagerly. "I'm sure I'll find something to do here, anyway."


"All are welcome." The initiate and the enthroned priestess replied - not quite in unison.


If Hilda was disturbed by this, she kept her own counsel. Instead, approached Astrid. "Get some sleep." The woman clasped her shoulder as well - firmly.


"This way." The initiate beckoned her toward the stairs.


* * *


"You don't look like you're from around here." The initiate stated, conversationally, as they passed through the stone archway and began to ascend the steps. "Are you Haslanti, miss...?" He sounded curious - nothing more.


Judging by his pale hair and skin, he was probably a Hearthling.

 

[Maxiom]

"You can call me Astrid," she told the young man as they ascended the stairs. She kinda wished that Hilda had followed - maybe she'd have distracted the initiate from personal questions. "And yes, I'm from Ironfall." Astrid's appearance was unique she supposed - especially to this priest who likely hadn't met many people outside the Hearth. It occurred to her that she could've told the man she was from some outlandish place like the Blessed Isle or Heaven itself if she wanted, but there was little sense in telling such a lie, especially when she had already introduced herself as Astrid of Ironfall to the priestess in the main hall.