'Home'

Emerging from behind the apple tree, Maylea, Bloom of Serenity breaks into a small smile. Her golden eyes turn to gaze down the hill as She pauses beside you. Her presence is like a fragrance to you, a familiar one, a breath of comfort.

You have emoted: Lief's eyes turn up to find her Goddess, and she smiles, a little smile that grows into a beaming one. "My Lady," she says with warmth, her hands clasped over her kimono's lap. "Doesn't it sound lovely here?"

"Indeed, Eldin." Maylea tilts Her head slightly. "Words of Truth, songs of colour, echoing throughout the Kiunid Vruna." Her golden eyes fall upon you. "You have meditated," She states.

You have emoted: Lief nods her antlered head, her eyes shining. Her hands lift to gather the copious amounts of fabric which make up a hooded coat of striking rainbow hues draped over her shoulders, pulling her wings free so she may hover level with Maylea. "I have found so much strength in these meditations," she says, turning her gaze back down the hill and into the orchard below. "Not only in myself, but in others, and in You."

"You have blossomed, My Lief." Maylea reaches out, placing a hand on your shoulder, hand upon the many-coloured cloak. "The burdens you bear and which have been given to you, you wear well." Where Her hand touches, the coat shimmers, as if the colours seek to leap into the air.

You have emoted: Lief's eyes turn back to Maylea with Her touch, only to flit to her shoulder for a moment, if only to see the sudden movement of color rising to her Goddess's hand. She softens, and smiles up at Her again, her gray irises likewise shimmering with color. "I know that I have blossomed because of my own self," she says softly, her wings humming behind her, "but I also know it would have been impossible for my colors to shine the way they do without others." She bites the inside of her bottom lip briefly, and she suddenly pipes up, "I wrote You a song."

"Oh?" Maylea leans against the apple tree. The branches bend over Her, the blossoms almost leaping from their rest towards the Goddess. "Eldin, would you be willing to share it?"

You have emoted: Lief brightens and nods immediately with an eager, "Yes, I would, my Lady!" Rather than bob in the air, she flits herself up to one of the lower-hanging branches of the apple tree and balances there, her ankles hooking together, allowing the bough to bend slightly beneath her weight.

You cease wielding a shot glass in your left hand.
You glance askance.
You begin to wield a light coloured oak lute in your left hand.

You have emoted: Lief fiddles with a light coloured oak lute, ensuring it remains in tune before she quiets the instrument, then slowly breathes out before flashing Maylea a quick but radiant smile.

You have emoted: Lief's fingers begin to pluck out a melody, simple and clear. Tabbed by her thumb, the lowest note rarely changes; her fingers dance along the higher notes, the sound like bird trills, or like the patter of summer rain.

You have emoted: A smile wends its way upon Lief's face as she begins to sing, "A gentle sigh; a fragrant breeze; the quiet earth begins to stir."

Softly and sweetly, joining her tender voice to the lute and the True Sermon echoing throughout Kiunid Vruna, you sing, "Sweet blossoms burst upon the trees with all the nectar birds prefer."

You have emoted: Lief's fingertips maintain their mellifluous rhythm, guiding the melody beneath her voice. "I feel it calling out to Her, like dusty pollen sings to bees..."

Rocking forward into the uppermost curve of her teardrop-shaped lute even as she balances in the tree, you sing, "...This life which passes as a blur, its joys and sorrows a reprise for all the precious love She sees."

You have emoted: Beneath Lief's calloused fingertips, a light coloured oak lute gains strength in the interlude. Pink flowers shiver free from her antlers, whirling about her, fading into nothingness before they might brush her hands or the blessed land beneath her.

You have emoted: Lief draws her fingers against the lute thrice, in three gentle chords, each a honeyed lingering declaration, each unhurried, happy to meander among the apple blossoms and fruits which grow about her.

You have emoted: When the rhythmic melody resumes, it is quieter once more, a constant trickle beneath Lief's voice. "Before Her," the faeling sings, her brow tugging together with emotion and faith in kind, "all defies the gloam, Her hope igniting all the night with brightness, painted polychrome..."

Pausing to draw a breath on beat, smiling to herself, you sing, "...Serenity my guiding light."

You have emoted: Lief's smile grows, aglow with all the vibrant warmth within the faeling's heart. She sings a vow, one which rises from within, felt deeply at her core, "I'll follow Her with sheer delight and dance above the musky loam, a petal twirling into flight upon a wind - the Way I roam."

Softly, and with sweet sentiment, you sing, "I know She'll ever be my home."

You have emoted: Lief's fingers pull another measure or two from a light coloured oak lute before they still, and she bobs upon her perch in the apple tree. She slides off when the sound quiets, and slings the instrument away again before gathering a hooded coat of striking rainbow hues in her fingers and returning to bob before Maylea, eyes bright.

Maylea is hush for a moment with the conclusion of your song. As the moment of silence passes, the Goddess approaches you, placing a hand upon your cheek, cupping it. "Thank you, My dear," She murmurs. "Your voice and your song rises before Me."

You have emoted: Lief leans her cheek into Maylea's palm, blinking several times against her emotion before she smiles anew at Maylea. "I have come to know so much joy because of You, my Lady," she says, her voice quiet despite the music that had only just rung from her. "I won't ever be lost, ever, no matter the dark paths I might spread color into, no matter the frights that make my heart jump or the sorrows I will know in my future. I won't because of You."

As you lean into Her touch, you feel your heart leap. That which is Hers within you rises. No sorrow, as had been in memories of the past, but joy, delight: A vision of Two entwined, listening to the harmonies of the Song of Creation, when all that is was still young, unblemished. The worlds stretch out before you, uncreated, new: possibilities endless.

You have emoted: Lief's eyes widen slightly, glossy for the briefest moment with the vision which she sees - which she feels, and her smile brightens, unbidden, a mortal echo of the sheer unblemished happiness which is Maylea's own.

Maylea murmurs, "My Lief, though your life is brief, sharded through the cycles of the First World, your colours rise and rise." She withdraws Her hand, and the vision fades, and yourself within you returns to serenity. "Thank you for your time, little one." The Goddess smiles, Her eyes golden, reflecting what you had seen.

Gracefully departing, Maylea dissolves into a swirl of prismatic colours.

You have emoted: Lief lingers where she hovers, gazing at the place her Goddess had just stood, and her hands rise up to touch her heart.

You think to yourself: I feel so much love within. So very much love.