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RESPITE WATERFALLS - AFTERNOON
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Jennica leads the way towards the waterfalls, having only been up here once before, but figuring it would be a calm enough spot for some clearing of air... and wayward enchantments, as the case seems to be. She glances at Aerdrid with a weak smile: "It is a nice spot... I think we can focus in peace here."
Aerdrid wanders along the path after Jennica, having only seen the falls, the pond and stream from high in the air before now. He looks around, feeling perhaps a little odd as a flier under the canopy of the trees lining the clearing. "It does seem rather quiet and nice, yes..."
Jennica nods: "It's a... well it should be fine." She spots a pair of rocks closer to the stream and makes her way to sit down on one, motioning Aerdrid towards the other. "We should sit down. This, uh... might take a bit."
Aerdrid nods and goes to take a seat on the rock indicated. He's tall enough that his legs relax far enough over the edge such that his toes dip into the flowing water of the stream. "Just tell me what must be done, whenever you need me to do something."
Jennica nods, looking at the bracer: "I... well, I accidentally enchanted your bracer as well, causing that bout of... too much past, if you will. The best way... that I can think of, anyway..." She frowns: "I will try to make the magic benign, dormant..." She looks up: "While you kind of talk over what made you down in the first place."
Aerdrid hums a bit, his expression slipping slightly. "Mmh... I see. Well... where to start, I suppose...?"
Jennica shrugs weakly: "The beginning, I guess. I don't really know much of anything, and while I don't... need to know, you need to say it out loud for the magic to 'hear' it, for you to feel it, so I can try and decipher what happened. If t-that makes sense?" She takes Aerdrid's hand so she can touch the bracer: "I will do my best."
Aerdrid nods in understanding. "Well, I suppose the start would be around when I was captured. At the time, I was quite bitter about being trapped, especially underground like the cells in the barracks are. Of course, the losses we sustained at the time were considered acceptable, since it was all in service to the Whisperer, to help remove an unwanted presence from Yzzayt's realm." His expression remains neutral as he talks, but his tone makes his opinion on Xeilzrus and Yzzayt quite clear.
Jennica nods as she listens, starting to reach her magic into the bracer, trying to untangle the accidental enchantment. "That sounds... p-pretty brutal. I'm sorry."
Aerdrid hums, letting out a sigh. "This town's warriors are clever. Though we were out in force to recapture the one you call Louma, they were able to fight back, even with broken weapons. Several of my close kin were slain, and the rest retreated. Only I was captured and brought back to Respite."
Jennica frowns, half at the bracer, half at the story. Her ears twitch. "Nothing clever about warfare. Never a reason to kill."
Aerdrid sighs quietly. "There may be nothing clever of warfare, but there is something to be said of survival, as we were being led to believe at the time."
Jennica frowns, but nods slightly as she continues to weave her magic around the bracer, trying to keep her focus while also keeping the conversation going. "Unfortunate... b-but probably true. So um... you said you were caught. What happened then?"
Aerdrid hums a bit, shrugging at the question. "I was bound up and brought into town, where the guards then put me in a cell under the, er... the barracks, the place the town's warriors stay while performing their duties."
Jennica focuses on a particularly stubborn tangle of magic, then nods as she manages to straighten it out: "A-and... well, t-that probably wasn't fun at all. S-sorry."
Aerdrid shakes his head. "It was neither bad nor good. I was left alone save for a pair of warriors who would keep watch on my cell most of the day and night. No one spoke to me or did much of anything to me, even when food and water were brought to the cell, nor did I try to talk to anyone."
Jennica pauses for a second, then nods again as she continues: "I guess... there are worse things to be than just alone." She pauses for a second, hesitating. "...I like being alone, often."
Aerdrid hums and nods. "Being alone was not too bad, and I preferred it to the potential of just being humiliated, which thankfully never happened, though I fully expected it when I first got put into the cell."
Jennica tilts her head, frowning at the bracer: "Humiliated how? I don't understand."
Aerdrid laughs quietly, though there's no humor in it, just a sort of ironic sadness. "Paraded around, the lone captive of the enemy, mocked in public, made to endure indignities just for the amusement of others."
Jennica blinks, slightly aghast at the thought: "Wh-who would do such a t-thing...?" She shakes her head and refocuses on the bracer, although her focus is a bit shaken. "W-well, good that it didn't happen."
Aerdrid sighs. "I have seen similar a few times in the past, almost always when we didn't have a Whisperer to guide the Saurs all together."
Jennica runs her hand over the bracer, frowning: "That d-doesn't sound right or fair... n-not that I really know."
Aerdrid shakes his head. "It wasn't right, nor fair. But that is how the Saurs were in the past. Always fighting among clans, ignoring each other, or many other things besides whenever we did not have a leader to guide everyone fairly."
Jennica grasps the bracer lightly: "W-well, you're not in all of that anymore, r-right? That's a good thing, y-yes?"
Aerdrid nods softly. "Yes, though we no longer have a Whisperer, I think being part of a larger whole, like Respite Falls, will be good for many of us, especially after everything that happened at the Prominence."
Jennica nods, running her fingers over the bracer as her magic slowly untangles the unwanted enchantment. "I only heard of it, but... y-yeah. This town is s-safe and welcoming, yes?"
Aerdrid sighs as he looks around at the lake and waterfall. "Safe... and is becoming welcoming, the more I experience of the town. Many of my kin are growing to like it here, now that tensions are easing..." He shakes his head a little, "But there is still a lot of sadness for what was lost when Yzzayt emerged from beneath the Prominence."
Jennica hums as she stares at the bracer: "Yzzayt... the big dragon that was followed by that storm." She glances at the waters next to them: "That was a day, and I was only here in Respite..."
Aerdrid nods. "I only heard of what happened during that day from others who were present. One of Respite's warriors, who was present in the Whisperer's amphitheater during the fighting... and several of my kin who were helped out of the Prominence by Dyvrisse's own warriors, as well as those of this town. But I still saw what became of it all with my own eyes not long after I was freed from captivity."
Jennica looks at the bracer and focuses: "What... I think I am coming onto something with this, a-and I am sorry for asking, but... w-what did it feel like, going back?"
Aerdrid lets his head sag a bit as he looks down towards the surface of the water near the two. "Numb... disbelief... shock... sorrow. It's difficult to describe, but as though there is just so much to take in that everything goes blank for a time." He looks over at Jennica slightly, "Imagine a place you have known for years, lived in, and made a home in... only to leave for a time, and then come back to find it all gone and ruined, even the ground appears unfamiliar... and all that is left is the sound of the wind, where there was once so many sounds of life."
Jennica stares blankly at the bracer for a moment before she refocuses her efforts: "I can't even... imagine... such horror, really." She starts, however, make some headway in untangling the unwanted enchantment, it coming loose as Aerdrid talks and she keeps trying. "K-keep going. We're getting it."
Aerdrid shakes his head. "I don't even remember how long I spent just... staring at the crater Yzzayt left behind. But, I suppose after a time, I started to understand just... how pointless the war was. One side was simply defending themselves and those who called the land their home... and the other side was led by a whisperer of lies." He trails off, letting the last word hang in the air.
Jennica works the magic strands as she listens, starting to feel hope at untangling her mistake: "I s-suppose eventually one has to move on."
Aerdrid sighs as he gets his thoughts back in order. "After seeing all of that, and knowing I was not present to help anyone, I spent some time out at the Prominence building a shrine to all of the fallen. My kin, Respite's warriors, the ones who could not fight, all buried at the Prominence, but with nothing to mark their passing before the shrine was built. I still feel as though I should do more."
Jennica stares at the bracer intently for a second, then does a quick yanking motion as the enchantment comes loose. "Mmrf. Finally. I got it." Barely visible, the now-stray magic soon vanishes into the moist air of the waterfall. "...got it."
Aerdrid continues to talk for a few seconds before it registers that Jennica is done. "A single shrine built by one person hardly honors the fallen, but I, er..." He blinks, then looks at Jennica again, "You... got... it? What is 'it'?"
Jennica holds the bracer and Aerdrid's arm in her hand, a smile finding its' way to her face: "I... the accidental enchantment. Your bracer is clean, empty, again." She lets out a sigh of relief: "I wasn't sure if I could do it."
Aerdrid looks slowly between Jennica and the bracelet, then sighs and nods slowly. "I... you were able to do it, though... Thank you, Jennica."
Jennica smiles, feeling a bit of excitement: "I... y-yeah, I was. I did. G-glad I could." She then realizes she's squeezing Aerdrid's hand and quickly pulls her hand away, blushing fiercely.
Aerdrid tilts his head a bit at the blush on Jennica's face, but he also takes the time to look at the bracelet, his attention divided between the two. "But... yes, these are the thoughts that have been troubling me as of late..."
Jennica nods, wishing her blush would vanish somewhere very very quickly. "Y-yes. D-do you still feel troubled about it?"
Aerdrid sighs a little and just rests his arms on his knees. "The weight is gone... but the thoughts linger still."
Jennica hums, looking at Aerdrid, considering. "I suppose it will take time as the only cure. I don't have a trinket for that."
Aerdrid nods. "I would prefer the thoughts fade on their own. But... all the same, thank you again, Jennica."
Jennica smiles hesitantly: "M-my mistake in the f-first place, but, well, all good I hope." She goes silent for a second before adding: "...you're b-better than you think you are, I think."
Aerdrid gives Jennica a curious look. "Why do you say that?"
Jennica hesitates before continuing: "...I sensed a lot of pain, p-perhaps pain you don't need to carry anymore, while I was working. Guilt. Shame. Loss." She glances at Aerdrid: "Sorry. I didn't mean to, but... k-kind of happened."
Aerdrid tilts his head. "You could sense all of that while tending to my bracelet...? Why do you think I shouldn't shoulder the pain any longer?"
Jennica hesitates again, her voice quiet: "P-pain pushes us forward, but it can also... hinder. Stop us from moving on. I-it can like... keep us from growing." She pauses, gathering her words: "...d-does it do any good for those you built the shrine for, for you to stay in that crater too, in your mind?"
Aerdrid spends a few moments considering the question (though he mostly just sees the crater in his mind) before he answers, though he's not fully convinced of what he says. "It means I never forget those who did not live to see the end of this war."
Jennica nods, glancing at the waters again: "B-but... is it necessary to hold all that weight on you? What I felt was... very heavy. Or was it just the remains of the enchantment?" She gives Aerdrid a sideways glance, knowing the answer already.
Aerdrid gazes distantly over the lake. "It was... heavier, before, when I first arrived at the Prominence. The weight brought me to my knees, quite literally..."
Jennica hums quietly: "How... how much of it do you carry with you, still?"
Aerdrid shrugs slightly. "I don't know. Most of it? Some of it? Barely any of it? Is there a way to accurately measure this sort of thing?"
Jennica shrugs: "Not really. Like... pretty much anything I do, it was just a feeling." She sighs: "Sorry. Shouldn't have said anything."
Aerdrid shakes his head wearily. "I do appreciate you asking, though, Jennica. I may not be deserving of such kindness from you, though."
Jennica smiles softly, if a bit hesitantly: "Everyone is deserving of kindness."
Aerdrid looks over at Jennica again. "But I wouldn't expect it of, nor ask you for it, since I had a hand in your own suffering... and yet, you give it so freely?"
Jennica looks back at Aerdrid: "If I held every horrible dream, every sleepless night, every despairing moment against you, would it be fair or change anything?" She shakes her head: "I believe everyone has good in them."
Aerdrid looks closely at Jennica as she talks, seeming humbled by her stance on things. "Then you're a shining example of such a person."
Jennica blinks, then blushes as she looks at Aerdrid with slight surprise: "M-me?"
Aerdrid nods. "Of course. You offer kindness to one who caused you no end of suffering. You have more than enough reason to just curse my name and never see me again... and yet here you are, setting aside your own worries to help with mine."
Jennica swallows, her blush fierce: "I just... d-did what anyone would have." Even she knows that's not true, but words are really hard right now all of a sudden.
Aerdrid hums quietly, thinking for a moment. "Then... Respite Falls is much more forgiving than we were led to believe, so long ago."
Jennica nods perhaps a bit hastily: "Y-yes. T-that's it." She takes a deep breath, going quiet as her blush slightly fades.