Show Him Colour

"The Book of Maylea", By Maylea, Bloom of Serenity (Page 9)
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[Redacted]

A genteel peacock crowned with a crest of bright scarlet drooping to one side carefully preens his lustrous plumage, drawing the feathers slowly through his beak.

You have emoted: Lief reaches her hand out to gently stroke a genteel peacock crowned with a crest of bright scarlet drooping to one side's sanguine feathers as she reads, and rereads.

Across the heavens, the stars and moon challenge night's dark reign, revealing familiar constellations that tell the tales of myth and legend.

An indecipherable muttering precedes the entry of Daiua Greenthorn.

You have emoted: Slowly and gently, Lief turns the page of the book cradled within a stunning lotus blossom.

Tucking a stray strand of violet hair behind her ear, Daiua Greenthorn says, "Hiya, Lief! Watcha doin'?"

You have emoted: Lief glances up from a stunning lotus blossom and looks over her shoulder, offering Daiua Greenthorn a quiet smile. "Reading our Lady's Book," she says, as though that weren't obvious.

"Though' y'already done tha'," exclaims Daiua Greenthorn , a radiant smile moving across her face.

You have emoted: Her eyes twinkling, Lief shifts a bit in her kneel near the Pool with a quiet rustle of her robes. As she changes positions, she carefully adjusts a small lump tucked into the sash, settling it more comfortably against her waist. "That's true," she laughs with a dip of her antlered head. "But, ah..." She glances briefly over to the Book, where it rests open on the page headed 'IX. Fourth'. "I wanted to remind myself of what She's experienced," she says softly. "She has been occupied with memory of late - I feel pulled to remember with Her what little I can comprehend."

You think to yourself: How I want to understand...

Daiua Greenthorn nods enthusiastically and clasps her hands together. "Ah en't one t'chide fer readin'. An' Ah lahk this book." She winks before leaning over you. "Anythin' specific y'lookin' fer?"

You have emoted: Lief fidgets again with the object in her sash, a subtler movement occupying her hand as she nods up at Daiua Greenthorn. "Nocht," she says quietly. "It's so hard for me to accept..." She sighs quietly. "Accept how He could heal Her so thoroughly and easily, and how He now..."

Daiua Greenthorn's face falls, and it's as if night has passed over her visage. Glancing over at Savit, she says, "'ow 'e's now a dirty stinkin' murderer?" She shakes her fist, knuckles white.

A genteel peacock crowned with a crest of bright scarlet drooping to one side fans his tail open behind him, extending the feathers in a stunning crescent.

You have emoted: Lief lowers her gaze, her hand stilling again as she nods. "Yes," she whispers. "How He's now a dirty stinking murderer." She swallows, and continues, her voice growing stronger if not much louder. "I thought...well, She bade me spread colour and life to those places without them, but...but how can I without finding *some* glimmer of understanding?"

The horizon glows with burnished shades of orange and red, heralding the imminent arrival of Father Sun upon the rim of the world.

Leaning close, her midnight-hued eyes soft with curiosity, Daiua Greenthorn says, "Wha' dontcha unnerstan'?"

You have emoted: "What...why..." Lief looks up at Daiua Greenthorn again, her gray eyes flickering with snatches of muted, troubled colours. "*How* the Void twisted Him. What His heart now feels. Why He *takes* and *lies*. What lurks in His heart - what He remembers. I just...I don't understand anything about Him. And it's easy to say, 'He's hopeless. He's lost.' And maybe He is, but...can we know that?"

You have emoted: Lief swallows after her rambling thoughts, giving her antlered head a quiet shake as though to clear it. "I thought, perhaps if I can *show* Him colour...perhaps He might remember something from before He changed."

Placing her hands on her hips, Daiua Greenthorn asks, "Well, didya?"

You have emoted: Tears suddenly strike Lief's eyes, and she shakes her head. "I tried. And I will keep trying. But I don't think...I have."

Daiua Greenthorn pats you lightly on the shoulder, her lovely brows furrowed. "Ah'm sorra. Jus'," she blinks a few times, "Wha' 'appened?"

You have emoted: "He said He promised They would paint them," Lief says, wiping her face against her kimono robe's sleeve. "I wrote a song. About the blackthorn blossoms. I thought, maybe He would stop thinking about how they remain so pretty on the outside in the Wyrd, and remember how He loved them even before...but He said that, and He returned something I made to try to show Him, and..."

You have emoted: Lief's voice quavers, and she trails off, swallowing, breathing herself into stillness.

Daiua Greenthorn pats you in a friendly manner.

You have emoted: "I don't know if it's a trap," Lief murmurs, her brows knit together. "If there's something changed about it I can't see, if I'd hurt our Lady by showing it to Her. But I...I want to know whose blood..."

Daiua Greenthorn says, "Ah dunno..." She blinks one eye and then the other, patting your shoulder gently still, "Seems kinda risky, doin' sommat lahk tha'. Bu' Ah give it t'ya. Yer brave! Wha'd'e give ya?"

You have emoted: Lief's fingers hesitate as she searches Daiua Greenthorn's face. Then she turns her head down, her hands working at her sash, pulling out a fiery orange kerchief from within. Slowly, she unfolds the cloth, then holds the object forward, revealing to the elfen a crimson-stained fractured blackthorn blossom brooch.

Daiua Greenthorn leans over, eyes wide, to look at the the brooch. "It looks kinda... ye know..." She glances at you, tucking a strand of violet hair behind her ear, "Wha' did you do? An' wha' did 'e do?"

You have emoted: "Like blood?" Lief supplies for Daiua Greenthorn, a sudden queasiness taking her features. She presses one hand to her midsection, stilling herself to calm again. "I made...you know, most of this. Some of the middle parts broke off, but I thought He might still remember with it. And I wrote a song...I sent both to Him, and He..."

You have emoted: Lief places an elegant white letter on the ground as she quietly says, "He...'painted' it."

You drop an elegant white letter.

Daiua Greenthorn creases her brow in a frown.

Scratching the back of his head, Daiua Greenthorn says, "Eeeesh..."

Daiua Greenthorn says, "Yer wondering 'oo 'e killed this time?"

You have emoted: "And if there's been anything else placed upon it," Lief says quietly, eyes turning down to the brooch. "Mahin had asked me, when He first gazed at me, whether He had given me anything, and she seemed very concerned that He might have..."

Her voice tight with strains of anxiety, you say to Daiua Greenthorn, "I don't want to hurt our Mother. I don't want to."

Daiua Greenthorn says to you, "Ken Ah touch it?"

Nodding, offering it forward with kerchief and all, you give a crimson-stained fractured blackthorn blossom brooch to Daiua Greenthorn.

As the sun passes below the horizon's edge, Mother Night unveils her terrible, shadowy beauty, spreading darkness across the land.

Daiua Greenthorn pokes at the brooch, sparks in her fingertips flying violet against the crimson. She brings it to her nose and sniffs it, then she squints at it with one eye.

Daiua Greenthorn says, "Ah dunno."

Daiua Greenthorn gives a crimson-stained fractured blackthorn blossom brooch to you.

Daiua Greenthorn says, "Ah 'aven't blown up nor nothin', even wit' me sparkles. Bu' Ah'm nae a Goddess."

Daiua Greenthorn says to you, "Ah dunno. Ah mean, yer touchin' it."

Daiua Greenthorn places her hands on her hips again as she now squints at you.

You have emoted: Lief purses her lips as she stares down at the heirloom, blood-stained and part broken. After a long moment, she confesses, "I just...don't know what to do with it. If I put it somewhere, it could do something bad, and if I keep it, it could, too..." She closes her eyes for a moment, at a loss.

Her voice unusually soft, Daiua Greenthorn says, "Ye know, Lief. Ah dun wanna make ye feel bad nor nothin'..." She kneels down and places her midnight eyes level with yours, "Bu'... Ah jus' thoughta somethin'."

You have emoted: With her words, Lief's eyes open again, watching Daiua Greenthorn's own, searching them with a troubled and silent question.

Daiua Greenthorn clasps her hands together, violet glow and all. "Ah'm nae sure 'e needed it t'do anythin' magical nor nothin'." Her eyes look into yours.

Daiua Greenthorn says, "'Cause lookin' a' ye now. Yer in a righ' state." She tucks a strand of violet hair behind her ear, "Ain't tha' enough?"

You have emoted: Lief's lips waiver as they twitch upward for a moment, only to fall again. "I want to put it behind me," she says quietly, "but...but our Lady trusts me, and He is cunning." She falls silent as she studies the brooch. "It makes me mad. And it makes me sick. And it makes me scared. I don't want to do wrong, but without understanding something more...I don't know I can do anything but act while half-blind."

Her voice growing even quieter, scarcely more than a whisper, you say, "She bade me spread colour and life...and that's an easy thing to do where both already thrive, isn't it?"

You think to yourself: It makes me sad, too...

Daiua Greenthorn shakes her head, her tresses gleaming. "Ah thin' yer puttin' too much on yerself. Ain't nobody been able ter get the Gloms t'do anythin'. Nae me, tho' they were curious 'bout me." She nudges you lightly, a violet spark flying from her into you. "Mebbe jus' throw it away? Th'brooch clearly really bothers ya."

You have emoted: As the violet spark touches her, Lief gives a little squeak, rubbing where it touches. Her expression turns a bit rueful, but there's a smile there all the same. "It does bother me," she agrees, bowing her antlered head in acknowledgement of that. "It's not a bad idea - I've considered it." She blinks slowly down at the brooch, then wraps it up again and tucks it away. "I won't consider it too much harder than I have been. I've got a lot of other things to try wrapping my head around."


Daiua Greenthorn nods her head emphatically.

Winking, Daiua Greenthorn says, "Ah know wha' it's lahk t'ave too much in me 'ead."

You nod your head sagely at Daiua Greenthorn.

Daiua Greenthorn says, "It feels a lot be'er when there ain't."

Tapping her freckled cheek, you say, "If only my mind were a library I could just sort all the thoughts away..."

Glancing askance, you say, "Though maybe that wouldn't help much, either. Our archives in the Serenwilde aren't the most organized right now."

Daiua Greenthorn gives a trillingly melodic laugh.

Daiua Greenthorn pats you in a friendly manner.

You smile softly at Daiua Greenthorn.

Daiua Greenthorn exclaims, "Ah'm gunna go, Lief. Bu', if yer 'ead ever gets really really full, come talk t'me!"

Laughing a bit, you say to Daiua Greenthorn, "I will, Daiua. And thank you!"

Daiua Greenthorn beams broadly.

Daiua Greenthorn waves and says "Goodbye!"

With a small nod to herself, Daiua scuttles away into the distance.

You have emoted: Lief rises from where she kneels after offering Savit another stroke against his head, then takes to wing.