Tales of Ovelia: Seeds of Freedom

[Willow Pillow]

"I'll get right on that."


In one weeks time he went from being a lowly coward criminal to a leader all these people looked up to and respected. All by accident. Sari knew the truth, and even if there was a fondness now between the two of them as comrads, she still knew that he was a thief and it was probably dumb luck the two of them survived that day. Now he was expected to lead a nation.


a free nation, in a world where freedom didn't exist. That was a horrifying concept. He would be assasinated in under a week. The three of them knew it too. "Thank you Vey...for everything. Umm....one more thing. I'd like to make sure we set up a volunteer based military system. We're going to need more than 20% of the population to defend our arms....but I'm not forcing anyone into the military. I'm...I'm kind of hoping that people want to protect this....hopefully."


Sari asked for men, and he dismissed Vey thanking her again.....catching her ass before she left. He really had a problem. When Vey was gone, he ran his fingers through his messy locks. He had not shaven his face or eaten properly in a week, and he was starting to look haggard and scrangy. "Are we over our heads?"

 

[Penelope Burns]

"Oh hell yes." Sari said, not remotely sugarcoating her response. "We are a duo who were criminals a week ago, and now we have to create a system of leadership, a brand new economy, secure our borders from all sides, and keep the people inside the borders from rioting." Saying they were in over their heads was the understatement to end all understatements. It would take years before they would have an actual break, if they were lucky.


"I have a plan, though. To give us a better chance. I'll be discussing things with Vey, and I've already sent a letter to Falker to see if he's willing to negotiate. From the letters to Keval I've read he seems like the most levelheaded Magister. At the very least, it's a start. If he supports us then his formidable military joins ours. If he doesn't, he's too far away to really make much of a difference." Sari had spend the past few days planning on what to say and who to say it to, only finally deciding on who to send a letter to the day before. Things were desperate, but with some work they could at least fix their situation with the military.

 

[Willow Pillow]

Even though it was an illusion, and hr had figured out it was an illusion....O'Donovan looked at sari and all he could hear was his brothers voice.


Outcasts have a cause. Have a fire in their belly to motivate them.....he didn't belong here.


"Next time when you advertise treasure beyond your dreams emphasize leading role I'm government before you get a couple of thieves sign up to help you." He was trying to make the situation light and push away his own fears. Elbows resting on the table he looked at her.


Not at the breasts. He was-nope there he went. He was really trying to work on this. "So gain allies. Part of that has to do with actually talking to them....there will be a point where I will go out and....personally meet these magisters. Is that all your plan? What's with the five soldiers?

 

[Penelope Burns]

"Sort of." Sari said, about to explain. "We aren't going out to meet anybody until you have full control over your magic. The last thing we need is for you to be hundreds of miles from home and fall for a trap." She said it with a light tone, trying to make him laugh, though she wasn't an expert at joking.


"And the five soldiers are a surprise. I don't have a real plan for them yet, but once I get to know the five specifically I'll have something." Sari wasn't entirely being honest. She knew exactly what she was going to do with the five, she just wasn't ready to share that yet.

 

[Willow Pillow]

"Afraid I can't dazzle them with my winning personality and quick wit?" He flashed her his pearly whites.


That and he was prime for the slaughter right now. Who knew killing a magister gave you their powers? He didn't.....but other magisters probably did and he was a giant blinking sign of power just prime for the stealing right now. It would be more than suicidal to leave the comforts of....was this place really the comforts of home now? Jesus....


He just raised a brow at her as she said she wasn't sure what she was doing. He knew her better than that. They hadn't known each other long but he knew her better than that. "Whatever you say sweetheart. My faith and trust are all in your hands."


Felt kind of dirty saying the trust word. He did trust her. Honestly....she was the only person he truly trusted. And she didn't even know his full name.


He pulled down the collar of his shirt feeling the heat of that. "We pretty much only really have each other right now....despite ....even because....of all this....responsibility. Maybe you should know who I really am....my name is Shannon O'Donovan...." He waited for the snort of laughter and when it didn't come he explained his past.


If they were really going to do this.....embark on this crazy insane journey....they needed each other....this was his way of showing his hand to her instead of being a jokey Percy prick with a magical cold.

 

[Penelope Burns]

Sari didn't know what to say. He just gave her everything, his entire life put out in the open. "Donovan, I..." She was at a true loss for words, no aggressiveness, no arguments, no snark, just shock. She wasn't about to use his birth name, especially since he didn't seem to like it.


"I'm so sorry." Was all she managed. He deserved far more than just three bullshit words, but she had no idea what to say. His own brother took away the only person he loved, that was terrible. "We'll find him." She said, trying to comfort him. She was terrible at comforting people, but she tried despite that.

 

[Willow Pillow]

He'll find us. Then history is going to repeat itself. Around and around the wheel we go...


Hr kept that to himself as he pushed his locks out of his face. "I'm not concerned about that...." Lies. "I just thought you needed to know... In case something were to happen. We're friends, despite all your best efforts you're stuck with me. So good time more than any to open up."

 

[Penelope Burns]

Sari sighed. She knew that was coming. "You already know one of the most important events in my life, you were there." She said, reminding him of what happened only 8 days earlier. "Long before that, I had a father, Jun..." And with that, she spilled her entire life, telling him everything important in her life, from her father's death, to the woman saving her, to meeting Damien and Keval's invasion. Everything she had, right there in the open.


After finishing her life story, she looked to Donovan. "Questions?"

 

[Willow Pillow]

(On my phone and work or I'd reread her stuff....I like that they are foils to eachother....one loses everything and fights the other runs like a scared little girl....one is emotionally closed off while the other has it still intact)


Fire in the belly. They had a very different yet similar past. She chose to fight for something while he ran like a frightened child.


He was still running.


He listened hearing all of it, how dark and twisted. Her snarly emotionless attitude made more sense. He didn't say a word and only did what he knew to do in this situation. He pull her into a hug and just held her.

 

[Penelope Burns]

Sari first thought he was making a grab for her breasts, but then his arms were wrapped around her. He was hugging her. She could have berated him for the unnecessary touching, but it was nice. She felt the buildup of emotional chaos vanish, the ten ton weight on her shoulders lifted. She felt bliss again.


"I don't know what you did, Donovan, but thank you." She said, relief slowly filling her. She felt like she could tell him what she needed to without any fear. He needed to know, it involved him in a big way. "After my legs are fully healed, I'm taking the five people Vey chooses, and we're going to find as many Outcasts as we can. We're going to make sure to give them a home without fear of retribution."

 

[Willow Pillow]

(I don't know if I want them together.....or to keep their relationship like family. I'm leaning on family....you?)


As he held her....he realized he had something worth losing again....something he had tried to avoid from happening since forever ago.


As she mentioned her plan he heard his brother. Fire in their bellies. A need to fight and a call to action. He let her go. "If we do this....outcasts from any region are welcome here. Every loner needs a home.

 

[Penelope Burns]

"Well of course!" She said, glad he was okay with her leaving. He wasn't stopping her if he had disagreed, but his agreement was a small victory.


She didn't know what else to say. Was there anything to say? They had a brand new country to create, and her mission was going to get much needed help from the Outcasts.

 

[Willow Pillow]

"Just promise me you'll be careful. You tend to be wreckless out there....and I need to teach you how to run in a forest where you don't sound like a herd of elephants."


He was expecting her to hit him for that....but family teases family.

 

[Penelope Burns]

((Okay, my next post will be the final one, so conclusion time!))


As expected, Sari hit him for the comment. "Unlike you, I'm actually a formidable fighter." She teased, but they both knew who saved whose skin more. She wouldn't be alive without his help, and as soon as she was done recruiting she would make sure to stay by his side. He wasn't dying on her watch.

 

[Willow Pillow]

"I'm sorry....I'll just swing an Axe wildly next time my bad for knowing how to use my thinker up here." He joked along with her. "You're improving...just slightly...on your comebacks."


Two friends....two family members sat in a room making light jokes as the world around them was shifting and changing. What they had done was unheard of. And people were watching. Waiting and watching.


Time would pass and O'Donovan would grow into his magical abilities. His leadership he still felt uncomfortable in but the people of Keval (they kept the name to spite the wizard....in death he would see that his land was refuge for the outcasts) but with veys help a council had been set on the top experts of the land.....and work was made to improve it.


By two years time they were thriving....Shannon was finally finding time to sleep instead of constantly studying his abilities....and people were fleeing their own territories to escape to theirs.


After two years he had made an effort to invite or visit every territory for diplomatic reasons....but for his own needs to see what was happening and what he needed to prepare for in his own him.


By three even though sari was off on her own....the two were close to the hip like family.

 

[Penelope Burns]

Sari, true to her word, left a week later with her team in tow, hoping to find a formidable number of Outcasts in the passing weeks. Her adventure led her across Ovelia, from her former home in Oris to Magister Daren's land in the far north. She made sure to care for her squad, to treat them like Donovan had all those years ago.


Unfortunately, she was never the only one to hunt for Oucasts. Uro's General had his own expeditionary force out to eliminate as many outposts as possible. It become a race against time, and Sari was haunted by the images from the places she failed to save.


After over a year of searching, her team returned home, confident that they did the best they could. From then on, Sari did the best she could to lead their new land with Donovan, even taking a seat on their new council as the minister of intelligence.


Whatever happened, she knew that she would do anything to protect Donovan. He was all she had left.


And she wasn't about to lose that.

 

[Willow Pillow]

Outcasts were vermin. Criminals. When Keval had been taken over,it had become a symbol of hope that needed to be eliminated. The last thing any magister needed to face was outcasts and slaves believing they could raid towers and declare their independence.


Two were extremely lucky....a fluke of gunpowder and a powerful magisters cockiness.


Uros general did his best to curve stomp it. Raids were done. Outcasts were burned alive. Most had a stake rammed through them and their bodies were posted up high for display for other slaves to see what happened when you had fancy ideas of freedom.


One day after kevals fall and ten slaves decided to fight....their bodies to this day hung as warnings, decayed and rotten.


Hope was a fire that was hard to put out. The only way to snuff it was to punish the one that ignited it.


And that was a young weasle magister who put on magic shows for the public and parading around like some sort of leader. He would be made an example of....in due time.

 

[Willow Pillow]

(Do you want to continue this in THIS thread or the other?)

 

[Penelope Burns]

(The new one)