Summertime Solace

- One Year Ago - Fang -

The river ran through the mountains with a serene hum, the silvery waters shimmering like currents of jewels.
At this point in Arcadia’s seasons, Fang became too warm for Shalia's liking. The summer sun stayed out longer, snow save for the peaks had melted away, and insects that survived the elevation buzzed around the terrain. It was then that she was quite thankful for her skin being so cold--the pests avoided her like she would call Winter back upon them months too early.
"Maybe I could?" she muttered with a light smile as a winged insect flitted past her shoulder.

The woman approached a narrow and shallow section of the river. This was the plateau where she and Koshnem had been training her in combat and experimenting with her magik. As she was out practicing on her own this time, she wanted to rest under the beaming rays. This area became Shalia’s quiet place where not only could she find improvement, but have a moment of solitude to talk herself down from boiling over when a day became emotionally and physically strenuous. To converse with her magik--which she viewed as an autonomous second soul-- and make amends for whatever abuse of it she may have committed that day. Seek harmony and partnership. Balance as much as she could.
The Conclave was held in a similar area, and she could feel intense concentration in places that reminded her of it, the moment that would shape her forever. That event which raised a new banner to the sky and made her awakened spirit soar.

The day she was lifted from the snow was her rebirth. A body basking in the glow of dawn rising over Fang, melting away who she thought she was and welcoming a new eternal blizzard. The beginning of a journey to come into her own, and no longer feeling like a stranger would stare back in the water’s reflection.
Whatever it took to protect that slice of paradise, the mountain air and scenery that took her breath away, she would fight tooth and nail for.

As she had. As she still would.

Now, as Shalia lived each day under a certain set of Koshnem's words, she began to believe it. Noraura made flesh. The phrase alone had instilled a deeply-rooted value inside of her that she would never forget nor abandon. No one had ever believed in her or accepted her as much as the War Chieftain. Embraced her with such admiration and staunch encouragement. Strangely enough, he was her only friend in the entire world. The thought was almost amusing: two entirely different continents and people and still somehow they fit together like a puzzle of fate.

The goddess of Winter and death had embraced her first, however. Noraura seemed to reach out her hand from an ethereal plane to the woman and Shalia took it, their beings forever intertwined...
She fancied the idea, that she had caught the attention of a goddess. That Noraura was the call she felt back in Helias and that the way she thought her magik could speak was some divine communication. Or maybe all of her head's marbles had spilled out somewhere in Ostiarium.

She knew one thing for sure. Her gods had abandoned her as a child. In fact, if someone asked her to explain it, she would spitefully tell them that ‘those old gods left humankind behind long ago’ and that ‘their time was over now’, but of course there was no foreigner there to ask that. Thankfully. It would be foolish to put it so bluntly if they did. All she had was that Balt bastard who reminded her of every single regretful thing she had done in her life, and that the fragments of the girl from a tiny Mizaran village were still nestled deep inside like scars on organ tissue. A constant reminder of the threat that lay just outside of her yurt. He was once a part of that.

Shalia couldn't stand him even if he did belong to the Aghul. Having a position of authority over him felt right. Now he could feel alienated from the world, too. If only she could silently project all of her past pain onto him as well, not just her rage. ~Ahh, to dream...~

The Pillars that seemingly paved the way of her future were no longer whispers on the wind nor prayers in the night, and truthfully it was liberating. It took being away from a righteous family and a land plagued by crazies using gods as shields to make her realize her loyalties had never really been with them--instead a devotion to the weight of expectation laid on her back. Unforgiving eyes watched on in anticipation of the young girl's every move, waiting for the day she might pledge her life and looks to Hoi's world of cultivation and flesh, or fall at the feet of disappointment. After all, she was ‘too perfect to fail, but rather vain even for a priestess of that nature’, she could recall an older priestess once telling her.

~Still surprised I didn’t burst into flames at the altars. Wouldn’t that be a sight? Maybe I'm going to turn into one of those crazies someday.~

Her face held a scowl as she wiped sweat from her chin. The temperature while warm was what many would consider to be temperate and preferable on a summer’s day. Of course, any kind of heat was double the intensity for her. The warmer seasons kept her out of her element and that alone was enough to toy with her day, but a little refreshing, cold water would take the edge off.

Shalia was quick to set down her spear and remove her clothes. What she now wore through Summer and Spring was very light and she had made it all herself to stay cool in the heat. The top was made from a fabric that had likely been looted hung around her frame as a primitive brassiere, thin leather strips tying it behind her neck and over her shoulders; the knee-length bottoms she had crafted herself consisted of two hide panels tied together at the hip with a fur-lined center piece for some modesty and comfort which functioned as an undergarment. The sides were split open for unrestricted movement which was necessary for the fluid and graceful way she conducted herself in combat.
Recently she had added a strip of soft fur around the inside of the waist as well putting a barrier of the same between her thighs since chafing was an absolute nightmare. Sunburns were tricky with her pale complexion, too, so she favored something to wrap around her shoulders and drape over her head when she is exposed to the sun longer.
The clothes would be considered rather racy and improper under Helian standards, but those hadn't mattered to her for years. This was Arcadia, an uncharted land of natives, mystery, and scenic views where you could begin anew. Her home. And in her home you did not have the luxury of wearing nice gowns and following an unspoken dressing standard; you wore what was practical and available and resolved your own complaints.

She hopped into the water with a small splash. After carefully analyzing the sunken rocks with her feet for anything sharp, Shalia knelt and cupped some water into her hands before throwing it over her face, running them across the top of her hair. She took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly at the sudden relief. Though, there was always a more efficient way to cool off…

The water here sat a little higher than the ankles, and when she laid down and rolled over in it, a blissful and goosebump-inducing sensation came over her. She smiled up at the sky with eyes closed. The water flowed and trickled around her naked body and she listened to the flittering birdsong in the air. She stayed like that for a while.

Finally, she lifted her hand from the moving water and twirled her fingers, turning her head to watch the mist take form. Once again, she created the vague image of a woman. The figure floated just above the surface and began to dance elegantly, much to her amusement. Her eyes lit up at the soft twinkling sound and the glistening in the daylight. It swayed and spun in a way that brought Shalia back to her youth and the festivals with clergy members performing lovely routines. Then her mind drifted to an old dance her father had demonstrated once as she sat with crossed legs and the excited eyes of a child. To her mother explaining a Salosian waltz she learned. Dancing with Jiyn at her wedding.

Quickly, the thought soured her mood with unmistakable guilt and she dismissed it along with the figure. She sent the cool spray of mist toward her face and sat up. As it faded onto her skin, she had made it reach out to her like it was going in for a hug, though it vanished before she could meet it.

Shalia stared longingly into the open air. She hadn't hugged someone in a very long time.

She stood with the water dripping down her body giving one last goodbye before the heat took over again. The woman wiggled her toes in the water one last time before she stepped out.