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Summoner of Phoenix

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Previous: Summoner of Garuda, Summoner of Titan, Summoner of Ifrit, Summoner of Bahamian (links coming soon)

It occurred to me that I never uploaded the final piece of my XIV summoner series, Phoenix! I completed it last year, and to see the progress of my art in this series from 2016 to 2022 is kind of emotional, to say the least. But it feels thematically appropriate to end on Phoenix... At least until we see what Dawntrail has in store for us!

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Hey fellow XIVers - interested in interviews w/ XIV artists and cosplayers?

I realize I haven’t officially announced it here, even when it was the sole reason I finally changed my name, so I think it’s about time!

On my website, Inquiries of Art, I write in-depth interviews with cosplayers like Malindachan, Chezah, and Fawnina, as well as artists such as Bell Pepper, Whymaige, and Luminis Candle Co., talking about their process, their journey, and whatever else comes up in discussing the why and how behind their work. I’ve been writing these articles for several years now, and I really appreciate every single reader and supporter of my work!

I also have exclusive behind-the-scenes and extra posts on my Ko-fi!

I’m gearing up for my 2023 interviews, and I’m excited to also share them here! Every Ko-fi, reply, and reblog to help support me/spread the word means so, so much. Thanks for checking it out! :D

Check out my interviews and articles at Inquiries of Art!

(Header image by @minomotu​, footer by @popola-sil-pola​)

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FFXIV 6.3 Patch Glam: Into The Cold & Dark

Every time a new patch comes around I'm always up to the last minute making an outfit and sure I'll never find something I like, and every time I end up with something I love.

This glam makes use of a rather humorous piece; can you spot it? ;)

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A Nomad Christmas: Part 2 + a group photo!

(Part 1)

The leads of my free company dressed up as Christmas Carol characters as an holiday surprise for the FC, and asked me to take photos of them! What started as “this is just going to be a fun group photo” turned, inevitably, into something a lot bigger... and a lot more fun! Loved throwing together little sets and running around Eorzea to find the perfect places for photos. I hope everyone loves them! <3

Just call me an honorary Mrs. Fezziwig in the last photo ^-^

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A Nomad Christmas Carol: Part 1

(Part 2)

The leads of my free company dressed up as Christmas Carol characters as an holiday surprise for the FC, and asked me to take photos of them! What started as “this is just going to be a fun group photo” turned, inevitably, into something a lot bigger... and a lot more fun! Loved throwing together little sets and running around Eorzea to find the perfect places for photos. I hope everyone loves them! <3

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Naih'tan’s working late on Starlight eve delivering presents to families in the Firmament. A'on surprises him at one of the little gazebos at the end of the night with mugs of warm mulled wine, drinking and watching the snow fall as the clock strikes midnight. It's the first Starlight in the Firmament, the first Starlight a lot of Ishgard's forgotten families can rest with proper roofs over their heads and good food on their tables.

There's something special about Starlight in Ishgard. A'on can't put her finger on what. Maybe it's memories of a warm hearth during a hard time. Something about having one bright place of respite in a world that felt otherwise so cold. That warmth had extended so much further in her life now, but it started here. To the heavens, a view of which is unmatched from Ishgard's streets built high in the mountains, where the sky rises all the way up from the lowest valley, filled with stars that each and every one feel like an old friend. A reminder that they're never alone, with each other below and the sky above.

(A little drabble to complement @minomotu’s wonderful Christmas art of our cats! ;-;)

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Scars (An A’onisya/Naih’tan Short)

Another short reflective little fic inspired by adorable art of our cats by @minomotu​ ;-; Please enjoy!!

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There was a time A’on stopped looking at mirrors. Only when she couldn’t remember what had been there before could she finally consider herself in a mirror again. A passing storefront window. The lapping lake waters in the Lavender Beds gardens. Until the day came when she knew the scars intimately, and they lived together as friends rather than enemies.

After that, scars made their home along her skin more easily, forming the lines of constellations between each freckle. But with ease came her own sense  of peace. Some scars she herself had never seen—only felt, in the initial hiss of pain, in the creaking moan of tight skin, until finally easing into pale white whispers that passed out of sight, out of mind.

Thought not out of everyone’s sight.

“The Sky Pirates?” Naih’tan asked, his hand gentle on her back.

“Yeah, a raid on some derelict the captain heard was abandoned—it wasn’t, of course. Went south real fast,” A’on replied, her smile sad and soft. Remembering with fondness an adventure Naih’tan did not know. His own scars were too numerous to count, let alone to recall their stories. Naih’tan’s lines made galaxies instead of constellations, whereupon A’onisya’s own stars rested when night fell.

The sunbursts over their hearts mirrored one another, impossible to ignore even if they took the pains to try. Sometimes A’on thought she could still feel the pale skin burning white-hot, threatening to crawl up her throat and choke her, as it had when she and Naih’tan had stood at the edge of the end of the world, not once, but twice—witnessing and holding tight a new star around which their lives now fatefully rotated. So they were told. 

Yet, somehow, the sunburst did not feel new or strange, even in its moments of pain. It was simply the birth of a new star in A’on’s constellations, a new cluster in Naih’tan’s galaxy.

It was a story neither of them needed to speak.

“You haven’t asked me to share my adventures yet.”

A’onisya, standing at the very edge of the tree’s canopy shade,  twisted around to look back at her mother sitting beneath the  old tree. Her eyes were bright in the speckled sunlight, cheeks dimpled, expectant.  She did not see A’ophia’s shadowed eyes pass over the trio of jagged scars across her one eye that, unless it was some trick of the sunlight, looked paler than the other (had that always been the case? surely she would have remembered if so). Her gaze followed the composition of now-healed scratches that cascaded down those freckled shoulders, leading her to the white sunburst scar over A’onisya’s chest, where her heart lay.

It was like looking at a stranger. Or, would be like, if A’ophia had ever known her daughter well enough for her to be anything but.

“No,” A’ophia replied, her smile sad and soft. “I haven’t.”

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Happiness (An A’on/Naih’tan FFXIV Valentine’s Short)

(Art by @minomotu​)

Since Mino drew this lovely piece of our cattes, I had to write a little short story inspired by our Valentine’s Day photoshoot to go with it <3 Please enjoy!

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A'onisya recalled the first time she had worn her suikan--she and Naih'tan's first Valentione’s Day after their marriage, when he surprised her with their home in the Lavender Beds. She remembered apologizing profusely that entire day when she would suddenly find tears dotting her freckled cheeks. "It doesn't make any sense, does it? Why'm I crying so much?" she finally blurted to Naih'tan's cousin, Aiko.

The green-haired miqo'te grinned. "You're just happy, yeah?" she pointed out. "Sometimes a person's so happy all they can do is cry, I think."

A'on couldn't remember ever having been so happy she wanted to cry, so she wasn't sure if Aiko was just telling one of her jokes, as Aiko was wont to do at times. But her attention was quickly averted elsewhere--specifically, to her own surprise for Naih'tan. One surprise deserved another in return, after all. Delivery moogles were in and out of their property all day, tossing and placing furniture into their house with varying degrees of care, so Naih'tan didn't notice the small bundle that A'on had rushed to the market board to order late that morning. Nor did he suspect her machinations when he left to retrieve dinner, their kitchen hardly being in working order yet, and she quickly set to work.

So it was when he returned to find the house dark, except for a line of glowing chocobo plushies that led him from the front door--navigating his steps carefully around the haphazard furniture--downstairs, where in the corner, piled with even more chocobo plushes, A'onisya sat, primly in her rosy pink suikan, in the corner where Naih'tans study was perfectly--from the carbuncle chair to the deep mahogany desk, down to every last pen, paper, and homely knick-knack--set up just for him.

"Welcome home, love," she said, and watched, in wonderment, as tears fell from her husband's cheeks.

Sometimes a person's so happy all they can do is cry.

That was years ago. Their house looked much different now, but it never stopped feeling like home. A'onisya greeted their morning delivery moogle with especial enthusiasm, trying so very hard to not simply snatch the bundle from his paws. Her fingers shook as she undid the wrapping, but calmed when they settled on treasure of fine fabric hidden underneath. A deep blue, the color of the farthest-out sea on a cloudless day, decorated with ruby reds as bright as spring flowers.

Her new suikan.

"The weather does look rather fine this afternoon, doesn't it?" Naih'tan asked, stepping down from their bedroom loft to where she stood in the foyer.

"Not half so fine as you," she fluttered, smiling wickedly as he blushed at the unexpected compliment. Azeyma's fire, but Naih'tan did strike a handsome figure in his own suikan, which was still in as fine condition as the day he'd purchased it. The sunset hues of its fabric shone just as brightly as A'on's new garment, but then, Naih'tan kept his clothes as meticulously as he kept his research notes.

"W-well, then," he stammered, adjusting his collar and not bothering to hide his grin. "I hope the day isn't so un-fine compared to myself that you would refuse the walk we had planned."

A'on laughed. "Not at all! Just give me a moment to change." The folds and ties were done in a moment, and her hair--curling at the ends from her quick shower earlier--was pulled back into a ponytail. She caught her reflection in the mirror before rejoining Naih'tan, and for just a moment thought she saw a visage of a younger miqo'te, scarless and fresh-faced and dressed in rosy hues, smiling back at her. But she blinked, and the vision was gone.

She shook her head, gently, and soon was stepping down from the lawn of their home onto the cobbled grassy lanes of the Lavender Beds, her arm hooked into the crook of Naih'tan's offered arm.

"Shall we make our way to Yainu-Par, then? I believe the Valentione's have spared no expense in this year's decorations," he suggested.

"Do they ever?" A'on asked, which made him laugh. The day was fine indeed, warm in the sun with a slight crisp along the edges of the trees' shade. The Lavender Beds' carefully curated gardens, stirred by the gentlest breeze, glowed like jewels in the dappled light, so bright that even the floating and glowing and sparkling red hearts of the Valentione's Day decorations could not overshadow them.

"Surprisingly tasteful," Naih'tan said.

"For the Valentiones," A'on agreed, chuckling as they strolled about the perimeter of the gardens. Their conversation meandered as much as their steps, winding and light-footed, letting noontime fade into afternoon, until they were startled out of their own little world by a cry from the far dockside end of the Amethyst Shallows.

"E-excuse me! Sir, madam--might I have a moment?" They turned to watch a roegadyn stumble from the ferry and hurry across the docks in their direction. He stopped short several feet of them and bowed clumsily before rushing on, "I apologize for the intrusion, but--my name is Thubyrhaerz, and I'm a photographer for The Raven. I was supposed to be capturing photos of couples for our Valentione's Day issue, but--"

"Isn't tomorrow Valentione's Day, sir?" Naih'tan inquired.

"--well, yes," the roegadyn flushed. "I might have been rather, ah, selective with my pick of couples, so I find myself... in a bit of a bind, you might say." His grey eyes sparked with fervor, and he continued breathlessly, "I had all but given up hope of meeting my deadline, but something told me to check the Lavender Beds one last time, and lo and behold--I find the handsomest couple I've set eye on yet today." He gestured to A'onisya and Naih'tan, who exchanged looks, but before they could speak, he said, "The complementary outfits, the ease of your gait together, the light in your eyes--I could see it from afar! Please, if you'd allow me, I would be honored to photograph you for our issue. You'd receive copies of the pictures yourselves, of course." His smile eager, with only a hint of desperation, his gaze flickered between them. "What do you say?"

A'on's face split into a grin. "We can hardly refuse after a declaration like that!" she exclaimed, and Naih'tan nodded with a warm smile in agreement. Soon Thubyrhaerz had them sitting on a garden bench while he clambered around them at all angles to catch just the perfect beams of sun through the trees, or directed them to stand in front of one of the many oversized hanging red ribbons as a romantic backdrop. Their posing was awkward at first, but under his expert guidance and quips they were soon laughing and teasing each other, and the time passed such that he insisted on sunset photos by the water's edge, where the golden rouge of evening danced along the crystalline water.

Thubyrhaerz instructed them to sit along the pier, their legs dangling over the edge, and never mind his presence. Watching the sunset, A'on soon found her head resting on Naih'tan's shoulder, a wave of contentment weighing like a warm blanket. Their hands clasped together, the clicking of the camera faded away, and the moment blurred into a happy haze. Only when the sun passed below the horizon did she remember herself and sit upright, looking about for their photographer. Thubyrhaerz stood some feet behind them, looking through his tomestone-like picture machine. "Ah--I did not want to disturb you," he said, glancing up and seeing her watching him. "You both looked so genuinely sweet-like there, seemed a shame to interrupt." He smiled. "But I think I've got everything I need--at least, I hope so, or else my lead will have my head for runnin' so close to my deadline... again."

He grunted as he sat beside them and held out the tome. "Last ones are my favorites," he said, "if you'd like to see the roughs."

Naih'tan handled the machine with care, passing through each photo under Thubyrhaerz's instruction. At the last picture, A'on had him pause for a moment longer, and looked more closely. "Oh, no--am I--why, it looks like I'm crying," she observed, and her gaze caught Thubyrhaerz's with apology. "It's such a nice photo otherwise."

Thubyrhaerz tilted his head. "But--that's what makes the photo, in my professional opinion, ma'am," he replied. "At least--why, they look like tears of happiness to me." His smile was gentle. "I wasn't lying when I said you were the loveliest couple I've seen all day, so really it isn't such a surprise--sometimes a person's so happy, 'specially when they're with the person they love, all they can do is cry. You know?"

A'on leaned more closely into Naih'tan, and he squeezed her hand softly. "Yeah, I do know," she said. She caught Naih'tan's gaze, and they smiled, together. Always. "I do."

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FFXIV A’onisya One-Shot // Meet Me In The Woods

For @minomotu‘s birthday I finished the next one-shot in A’on’s playlist series, “Meet Me In The Woods”! This one is a lot more expansive than previous stories (and also I took more time with it since it was a present and I just adore this song, which was such a perfect find for this moment). Mino’s character Naih’tan is A’on’s husband, and I’ve been wanting to write this part of A’on’s story--where she breaks up with Naih’tan and eventually runs off suddenly--for a long time. I’m really happy with how it came together and I hope you enjoy! :)

Song: Meet Me In The Woods (Lord Huron)

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The clues Naih'tan had were scanter than he liked. He wished they were merely one of Aiko's pranks when she handed in the once-folded slip of parchment that morning, but her seafoam eyes were deadly serious. "She's gone, cousin," she said, "without a word to anyone. All I found was this left on her desk."

A rough charcoal drawing on the back one of one her rune worksheets, depicting a forest clearing that Naih'tan did not recognize. Below, in the uncertain looping script he knew at once as A'onisya's, were the words "Meet me in the woods."

His heart tightened. A'on was not typically one for cryptic riddles; he'd seen her roll her eyes on more than one occasion at Urianger's drawn-out soliloques. Something was very, very wrong. But then, truth to tell, A'on hadn't been quite right since their job in the Tam-Tara Deepcroft. Naih'tan had never seen her stand so still, rooted to the spot in the middle of the myriad candles that surrounded them on all sides, her eyes fixed on the edge where Edda had stumbled back and fallen, forever, her laughter echoing into silence. Stillness mirrored again in the doorframe of his study that evening: "I need some time. I'm sorry."

Time he was all too willing to give, as much as she required, as he told himself not to worry his mind back into that shadowed and bloody crypt. Her presence in the free company headquarters seemed unchanged for the most part, as did her smile, though Naih'tan watched her carefully. Most of the company did not notice any shift at all in her demeanor, of that he was quite sure, or perhaps they might have said something. Perhaps he should have. But she needed time, she'd said. And he trusted her. He trusted her growing silence in the library as she hid behind her books, and the strangely muted sound of her carbuncles' paws in the halls, and even the unspoken anxiety masked behind her smile when the company was all together.

Whatever fear A'on carried, she carried it in silence, wrapped and knotted behind the criss-crossed stitches of a facade that, in his heart, Naih'tan worried would unravel before it could bear more weight. And now that weight sat in a note in his hand, ink heavy on the parchment.

"I'll find her," he said--repeated--against Aiko's growing protestations as she gathered the nearby members of their free company, who observed Naih'tan with a steadier calm in their concern than his cousin--and, truly, himself.

"What woods might she be referring to?" Silver, a roegadyn and the oldest of their company, wondered.

"She came from Bronze Lake, didn't she?" Colson, the younger sea wolf warrior of their party and Naih'tan's mentor, pointed out. "Could she have returned there?"

Aiko let out a huff and slumped back against her chair, glaring at her untouched cup of tea. "Those woods're huge, though."

"We could organize several search parties," Colson said. "Granted our resources aren't substantial, but--"

"No, I don't think that's necessary," Naih'tan cut in. He immediately pulled back from the table, surprised himself by the sharpness in his tone. "Ah--apologies," he stammered, "what I mean to say is--the A tribe resides in those woods, correct? I don't think we should need worry about finding them. If they are like most miqo'te clans, the moment I enter their territory, they will find me."

"'I'?" Aiko echoed, her eyes narrowing. "What, you think the rest of us aren't coming?"

"Do you know much about the A tribe, Naih'tan?" Silver asked.

Naih'tan rubbed the back of his neck, easing the nerves that twitched along his shoulders. "Not much," he admitted. "From the little A'on has mentioned... my impression has not been favorable." His frown deepened; A'on never spoke openly ill of her clan, but the cast-aside glances, the quick reassurances, the way her hands fiddled with her books--those told another story entirely.

"All the more reason for us to go with you!" Aiko burst out. "It's not like we're not worried, too!"

Colson caught Naih'tan's gaze and held it. "...You think she doesn't want to be found?"

Naih'tan sighed and picked up the slip of parchment from the table, turning it over in his hands. How often he had observed her handwriting in their long hours in the library, or at the picnic table under the shade of the maple in the front yard, or at a hidden-away corner table at the Bismark in Limsa Lominsa. He couldn't forget her handwriting if he tried; after all, he had taught her. He traced the unsure but careful loops of her letters, as if they might whisper their secret to him. But he received only silence.

"I don't think she knows herself," he whispered. "Which is why I believe I must be the one to find her."

Aiko opened her mouth to protest again, but Colson laid a hand on her slight shoulders. She sat back with a scowl, and Naih'tan's chest tightened in sympathy at the concern beneath his cousin's glare. "A'onisya is a capable summoner, and Naih'tan knows his way around a sword," Colson said. "Worried though we might be, I think he has the right of it. This is personal. Let's trust them, all right?"

Aiko's glower shifted to Naih'tan, and he had to resist the instinct to squirm under her gaze. "...All right. Fine," she finally conceded. "But you better bring her back! Or I'll be right unhappy with you both."

Naih'tan nodded, glancing between his friends before looking at the note once more.

Meet me in the woods.

"It's not much," he said, "but it's enough. I'll find her." I'll find her because it has to be enough. And so do I.

* * *

Keepers were a notoriously nocturnal bunch--a habit Naih'tan had to unlearn when he'd left with Aiko to find his own way in Ul'dah, years ago. He was always amazed, then, at the uncanny skill of their Seeker cousins to disappear in broad daylight rather than the shadows of night. And, likewise, to appear suddenly like unexpected lightning on a clear summer day. The A tribe of Bronze Lake was no exception.

Surrounded on all sides by bows with arrows nocked deadly tight, Naih'tan set his sword and shield in the grass before slowly lifting his hands.  "I apologize; I know this is a highly irregular meeting of our kinds, and often an ill one," he said, "but I come not for myself. I seek a friend who is one of your own. I'd hoped you might help me find her."

"You are mistaken, Keeper," one of the hunters snarled. With shots of gray through her braided hair and lines along her stern mouth, Naih'tan marked her as one of the elders of the hunting party, and likely its leader. She fixed him in an icy glare as she sneered, "None of our clansfolk are unaccounted for, and even they were, they would not consort with your type."

"There is one such who would, actually," Naih'tan said in a rush, his throat dry. "She left you a little over a year ago. I only ask if you have seen her as of recent. Her name is A'onisya Dehf."

The older miqo'te's blue eyes narrowed to slits. "...If you know Onisya, boy, then you know she is not welcome amongst us. As you seem to recall her fondly enough to search for her, I would urge you the wisdom to consider her leave-taking a gift. The best that she could give you."

Naih'tan stepped forward before he could stop himself, hand slashing the air in front of him. "She's our friend!" he barked. The hunters tightened their circle instinctively at his sudden movement, and he stepped back with a long breath to quiet the roar in his ears. "...Whatever your personal impressions," he finally continued when he was certain he could speak calmly again, "to myself and my company she is regarded dearly, and now she has disappeared with scarcely a word. You are the only lead we have." He met the leader's eyes squarely, fists clenched and jaw set. "Believe me, I have no desire to linger. All I ask is a few words--and then I shall gift you my leave as well."

A hiss from between her teeth like a laugh, and the huntress's eyes flickered to her sisters with an almost imperceptible nod. Pointing to the youngest in their party, she barked, "Tell the nuhn what is amiss. I shall escort our visitor to A'ophia's hut." The girl bolted, and just as Naih'tan blinked, the leader had stepped at his side, holding him fast. "Let us make this quick, Keeper," she said. "I don't fancy Onisya's shadow seeping into our village any longer than necessary."

Naih'tan glared, but said nothing, and allowed her to lead him on a dizzying, pathless trek through the woods until they reached the A tribe. The huntress did not allow Naih'tan time to gawk at their tents and the goings-on of daily life, but ushered him around the perimeter to a handsome hut, one of the largest in the village. A smattering of young kits as well as older children whom Naih'tan gauged to be in their late teens watched his approach. Considering the tight familial bonds of miqo'te tribes, he assumed not all of them were A'on's siblings. "Fetch your mother. It concerns her oldest," his escort ordered one of the girls, and she scampered inside. The older ones, sensing trouble, shuffled the younglings away, though they watched him openly as they hurried off. Naih'tan did not return their curious eyes, but stood stiff and still, eyes locked forward, pointedly ignoring the stern watch of his accompaniment.

After several minutes, the kit scampered out of the hut's entrance, followed by an older miqo'te. Naih'tan felt his breath catch, for a split moment a visage of A'on flashing across his vision. But, no, for all her resemblance to her daughter, the similarities faded into the dust at his feet in a blink. Where A'on was all softness and smiles, A'ophia--despite the violet hair that framed her face and the achingly familiar magenta eyes--was all sharp edges and sternness, from the tight mouth to the short crop of her hair.

"You can leave us, A'freya," A'on's mother said. The huntress hesitated only a moment before begrudgingly releasing Naih'tan's hands from behind his back. She gave a short bow before deparing, but Naih'tan could feel the glaring daggers in his back. Still he kept his silence, letting it deepen between himself and A'ophia. After minutes had passed, her eyes narrowed. "I hear you are seeking my oldest daughter, Keeper," A'ophia said evenly. "Let us speak of it inside." She motioned for Naih'tan to follow, and slipped back into her home.

Naih'tan swallowed, then swallowed again--when had his throat tightened as if a hand clutched it closed? "I am," he managed as he followed A'ophia inside. "My name is Naih'tan; I am a close... acquaintence of A'on through ties with our free company." He chanced a sweeping glance about his surroundings as he spoke. The building was neat and almost immaculately clean, almost unfathomably so considering A'onisya's own tendency towards organized chaos. Despite the tensions between Seekers and Keepers, A'ophia's home filled Naih'tan with a surge of bittersweet memory. The hanging herbs from the ceiling, the tools stretched across A'ophia's workbench, and the long communal table cleaned from the morning's breakfast but still set with bowls of fresh fruits for midday snacking would have fit well in any home within his own clan.

Naih'tan clung to the unexpected warmth in his chest to find once more his courage and continue, stronger now, "She departed our company with only a cryptic note in her wake. We are concerned of her well-being, and believe you are the only lead we might have as to her whereabouts."

A'ophia had returned to her workspace and was leaning over a large drum filled with liquid--leather making, Naih'tan realized from the bucket of salts set out, which would explain why back flap of the tent was left open to allow fresh air to flow in.

"She has not returned here, if that should satisfy you," the older miqo'te noted shortly, looking to her work rather than meeting Naih'tan's gaze. He let the silence that followed stretch out once more, watching her mix more salt into the drum. Still without acknowledging him, she continued, "...I suspect, however, it will not."

"I am gaining the sense that answer satisfies you," Naih'tan said stiffly. "But you are correct. I seek more--as, I suspect, A'on seeks also." And, before he could stop himself, "So I am hardly surprised to find her steps did not lead her to you."

A'ophia finally turned from her work and met Naih'tan's gaze fully, her dark eyes narrowed to slits. "How long have you known Onisya, boy? A year? Less?" she asked. "I raised her, from kit to adult. I know her--"

"Then you should know some information that might be of use to me," Naih'tan pointed out. "Share what you know and I shall depart, but I am not leaving until then."

"--I know you should be grateful she's gone," A'ophia finished with a sneer.

Naih'tan dimly noticed his jaw grinding, and his hands clenching into fists at his sides. He wanted to return each glare A'ophia threw his way with disdain, but instead took a long and steadying breath to release the tension in his shoulders. Wearily, he said, "Why do you care so much to warn me away? To protect a Keeper you only just met?" A pause, then, "Or to hurt your own daughter?"

A'ophia's eyes flew open, and where she had leaned over the table like a cat curled to leap, she now straightened. Her thin tail flicked sharply, but a mask had fallen over her face, obscuring her expression--indignation? disgust?... guilt? Naih'tan kept his gaze locked on hers, unmoved still from the entrance of her home.

Tell me, and I'll leave. Like she left.

A'ophia sat heavily in the chair at her workbench, rubbing her face in her hands and letting out a breath. For a moment Naih'tan thought he saw a weariness like his own pass across her eyes, but she blinked, and it was gone. "Show me this note," she demanded, cleaning away the tools from the table. Moving quickly before she could change her mind, Naih'tan set down the folded parchment. A'ophia handled the paper with a precise swiftness, delicate yet disdainful. "Meet me in the woods," she clipped. Her gaze flickered to Naih'tan's. "No woods near you?"

Unable to determine if her question was born from sarcasm or honesty, Naih'tan replied, "Our free company resides in the Mist, in Limsa Lominsa. There are woods, but we're closer to the beach than the forest. At least, no woods of particular import for A'on nearby, that I'm aware."

"Hm." A'ophia held out the paper to Naih'tan; he held it gently before slipping it into his pack. From A'ophia's glance at Naih'tan's bag, he was sure she had noted the lingering moment. Well, let her. "We--the tribe, that is--used to live in Oakwood, did Onisya tell you that?" A'ophia sniffed. When Naih'tan affirmed she had not, A'ophia shook her head. "Of course she did not, though she lived eighteen years of her life there." He prickled at the woman's tone, but did not interrupt. "There was a grove not far from our summer camp that she often escaped to. I believe she meant to keep it secret, but little escapes a mother's eye, particularly with a daughter such as she."

A'ophia paused--expecting, what? Naih'tan wondered, searching her eyes and seeing only the mask that hid them--before finally continuing, "I can give you the coordinates for our old camp, as we have no plans to return, but I can grant no more. Perhaps she has made her way there, perhaps not, but that is for you to find. I wish no further part in it."

"Of course," Naih'tan replied automatically, his heart thudding at his success. A'ophia recited the coordinates, which he wrote hastily and reaffirmed before tucking the paper into the same pocket as A'on's note. His hand settled on the pocket with a tender protectiveness. "And for that I shall keep my promise and take my leave."

A'ophia stood, her expression unchanged. "As you should," she replied with a finality that emphasized her disregard of well wishes or good-byes. She wanted and needed no thanks, as Naih'tan suspected; upholding his end of the bargain was enough. She escorted him outside, and to the perimeter of their camp. Though Naih'tan did not see A'freya or the other huntresses, he could feel their eyes--as always--on his back. His sword and shield were set upright against a nearby tree, waiting for him. He knew he would be wise to retrieve them and leave. Quickly.

He chanced one final look over his shoulder at A'ophia. Her hair shimmered with highlights much like her daughter's in the early afternoon light, and even her eyes flickered more brightly. Her mouth, however, was as hard set as ever, and her expression unchanging as she watched him turn and depart.

Oakwood. At last. As certain as the weight of his weapons in his hands, Naih'tan knew--A'on would be there. She has to be.

Travel took him well into the evening, so that the sun was long set by the time Naih'tan navigated his way to the hard-earned coordinates. Perhaps most travelers would have taken the sun's descent below the horizon as a cue for rest, but Naih'tan only smiled when day gave way to night. The moon was an old friend, for a Keeper; long though he had been away from his own clan, such instinct yet sang in his blood. The melody was not one easily forgotten.

Ghostly remnants of an old life emerged from the darkened forest of Oakwood soon enough; A'ophia's information had not led him astray. The path his feet traveled now was unknown to him, but the peaceful familiarity of the moonlight calmed any lingering nerves. The stars shone above his head as the moon illuminated the ground beneath his feet; Naih'tan needed naught else to guide his steps, for he knew also that he had not been the first to newly re-awaken the path he sought from its slumber. Disturbed overgrowth betrayed the footsteps along the abandoned earth that had risen to greet its guest like a host rises to welcome a long-lost friend.

Naih'tan followed. Time lost its way in the forest, trailing and tripping behind the miqo'te in the trees' lengthening shadows. Still Naih'tan did not falter, or even glance back; he had an appointment to keep, after all.

A meeting.

The trees thinned, sensing his approach; just as the path had raised its hand in greeting, so to did the grove open its door, caling--"come in, come in."

Naih'tan crossed the threshhold. "I'm here," he said.

A figure shifted in the center of the clearing, turning towards him. He dug into his pack and retrieved the note, holding it forward. An invitation. Their eyes flickered to the paper, glinting like stars in the night-light, and Naih'tan could count each and every freckle on their cheeks.

"You're here," A'onisya echoed.

Naih'tan returned the paper to its pocket and started to cross the space between them, but stopped when something crunched like bone underneath his foot. He looked down, and felt the breath leave his chest all at once. The trees that were once verdant and lush were in this grove colored of ash; their blackened and withered leaves clawed at his every footstep, and the bare branches of undergrowth grasped and caught at his tunic. A small cry escaped his lips before he could stop it, and he stumbled forward. He caught himself quickly, and shook his head to regain his senses. The dying wood quieted. Not dying, Naih'tan corrected, now taking a closer survey of the grove. D--

"Dead. It's all dead, here," A'onisya called softly from where she remained sitting, cross-legged, her tail curled in the scattered blackened leaves. Naih'tan stared at her, and noticed the brightness had gone out of her eyes. Or had it all along been only a trick of the moonlight? "I killed it, years ago." She paused, then uttered, "I loved this wood."

Naih'tan stilled. The miqo'te before him was A'onisya; his heart would not be swayed from that truth. But there was a deeper truth buried in the ground beneath his feet here, rising and lilting in that voice which sounded so like and yet so unlike her. "When your clan lived here, you mean?" he asked. "But you were young then, weren't you?"

"You think the clan wasn't scared of me when I was young?" A'on replied. Her hand curled into the earth at her side, leaves and dry dirt shattering like glass between her fingers.

"You think they had any right to?" Naih'tan shot back. For a moment there was that light like fire again in A'on's eyes before darkness once more shadowed them.

"I dreamt of this place--I realized when I awoke and drew my memory. I didn't mean for you to find it," she admitted. "I spent many days here when I was a kit. Warm spring evenings and bright summer afternoons." Her gaze wandered away from Naih'tan, passing from one blackened tree to the next. "When my heart was confused or saddened, my feet would bring me here, where I was always welcomed." A smile played across her features with the reminiscence. "Sometimes just to lie in the tall grass and stare the sky. Or watch squirrel kits find their footing in the low branches. And when the grove had nothing to give, it allowed me to give back."

Naih'tan had approached the edge of circle now, mere feet from A'on. Though she sat comfortably, something in her manner reminded him of a young doe. Perhaps it was the flicker of her ears, listening, or the occasional twitch of her tail in the leaves, the hints at agitation amidst serenity. Still but alert, and always watching. "Was it your magic?" he whispered.

"I didn't know what I had inside me," came the reply. "Nor did they. But it frightened them." Her eyes were dark, as dark as her mother's. "It didn't frighten me, though. Foolishly so." She gestured to the trees around them. "I knew too little, gave too much--and look what came of it."

"A'on--" Naih'tan stepped forward, but stopped again when A'onisya leapt to her feet, her chest heaving, the leaves scattering. "You were barely more than a kit yourself," he continued. "And what your tribe did not try to understand, they chose to fear. What else could you have done? The fact that you're alive at all--" his voice cracked, and he let his words trail off, falling like dry autumn leaves onto cold ground. "That's enough."

"Is it?" A'on demanded, turning away from him, her head tilted upward at the stars winking through the trees. "To possibly keep hurting what--who--I care for?" 

"You can't take that burden wholly on yourself, A'onisya," Naih'tan said. "No one can. You aren't alone anymore."

"But that's what frightens me!" A'onisya cried sharply, turning around. Suddenly she was inches from Naih'tan, her fists balled into his shirt, almost pushing him back, were her stature not so slight against his own. "You saw what she did, Naih'tan, you saw as well as me--and now you've seen me, too, you've seen this--"

"Do you truly believe we are defined by only one moment in our lives? one mistake of a grieving heart?" Naih'tan interrupted, gesturing to the decaying trees that stood silent and watchful. "Are you the same girl who stood in this wood all those years ago?"

A'on relieved her grip on his tunic, but her eyes remained frozen on his. "What if I am?" she whispered. "What if I could be?"

What if I hurt you.

Though she had not spoken the words, her eyes shone with the honest fear which rested at the core of her heart, exhumed by a young woman whose fear of lost love had clawed at the grave like the desperate throes of those buried alive. Naih'tan replied, "No light ever existed without darkness--what you ask could be true of anyone. But we decide that for ourselves, A'on." In his mind he recalled the rows and rows of candles lined along the bloody altar, the tangible smell of rot and iron seeping into his pores, and over it all the girl's laughter, dancing.

"The sins of others are not yours," Naih'tan said, pulling her fists away from his chest to hold them gently in his hands. "Not tomorrow, or any day after. Fear can dictate the paths we see when we're alone--the choices we can make. But fear sees only darkness, not the light beside it." He squeezed her hands, gently. "That's why we have each other. To see darkness and light both, and choose which path to follow."

He let the words hang in the space between them. Ever so slowly her head tilted, eyes closing as she nodded, bowing and bringing their enclosed hands together to rest her forehead on them. Accepting, silently. Only for a moment, perhaps.

But a moment was passing, like the night would pass into day, and darkness would pass to light. As time passed, catching and embracing them as they stood in that shadowed wood under the stars, leading their steps forward as the stars tilted in their orbit. A future of moments.

A'onisya knelt suddenly, lowering one hand to sweep away the dead leaves. Her fingers came to rest on a flash of violet in a bright patch of new green grass between them, luminous in the moonlight.

I need some time. 

"I'm sorry," she said. Her voice wavered, but her eyes shone, and her hand was quick to return to Naih'tan's warmth, and she met him step for step, shoulder to shoulder, down the forest path. At the edge of the grove she paused for just a moment, turning, clasping one hand to her breast in a last farewell, and fare wishes.

You are forgiven.

[skyholding]

FFXIV A’onisya One-Shot // She Lit a Fire

So it’s been... a minute. But I had some free time on my hands recently and wanted to finish this short (with the intent to keep going). Picking up from where we last saw A’onisya, this is the beginning of her friendship/relationship with @naihtan-jinjahl, a story I’ve wanted to write for a long time! Please enjoy!

I have been trying to find her want to give what I got She lit a fire, but now she's in my every thought

Song: She Lit A Fire by Lord Huron

---

"Enjoying the view?"

A'on jumped, nearly tumbling backward off the stone wall she’d been sitting on until a light shove from behind pushed her forward. Balance regained, A'on turned more fully towards the perpetrator, a Keeper miqo'te around her own age and also a member of the Ataraxia free company. “Aiko--!”

"Guilty as charged," Aiko Gakunin said, sweeping into a bow so low that her ears nearly graced the ground. 

A'on's freckles blended into the blush across her face. "I-I'm just watching them train," she muttered. 

"For the third time this week?" Aiko's grin widened when A'on's blush deepened. She peered over A'on's shoulder at the two figures sparring with the striking dummy in the XIA yard. 

"You can always just talk to him, y'know."

"T-talk, to...?"

"My cousin."

"Ooh, I don't know," A'on stammered. "I wouldn't want to--Naih'tan's always busy training, and he's really serious about it, I'm sure he has better things to - " She stopped short as two impossibly large seafoam green eyes filled her vision.

"A'on." Aiko set her hands on A'on's shoulders. "Listen. My cousin is the. Biggest. Nerd. In. Eorzea."

"Wait… seriously?" A'on burst out laughing, causing Colson and Naih'tan to glance over from their training. Aiko waved wildly back. Naih'tan returned a small smile, pausing to watch them a moment before the roegadyn called his attention back.

Aiko leaned in so her lips were almost touching A'on's ear. "Seriously," she whispered. She gave an exaggerated wink, leapt lightly over the wall, and disappeared out of sight into the free company house.

***

"Everything all right, cousin?"

Naih'tan was sure he levitated off the floor as he nearly dropped his freshly steeped tea. "Aiko! Why are you always so sneaky? Have you been training with Tavarius?" he demanded. Aiko, smirking, curled her way out of the shadows of the library stacks.

"What's the point of training if I'm not the one lucky enough to have cute girls watching me?" she mused, flopping down in the seat across from Naih'tan. 

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind." Aiko rifled through the stacks of notes Naih'tan had arranged on the desk with disinterest and ignored his continued glare.

"While you're putting my papers into complete disarray, mind telling me what you've done with my book?"

"Book? What book?"

"I was gone five minutes to make tea. I return and the book I was currently preoccupied with has vanished. Miraculously, I find my dear cousin in the very room said book lay, innocent and unwitting. Surely this dear cousin of mine witnessed the book pick itself up and walk off, and would like to tell me where it's got to."

Aiko winked. "You'd be right." She pointed over Naih'tan's shoulder. He turned, and found himself looking directly at an open window in the corner of the library. There, poised neatly on the narrow ledge, was a topaz carbuncle, with a familiar tome clutched in its mouth.

"Nugget!" Naih'tan roared, striding to the window. The carbuncle allowed him two steps before it spun and leaped outside, leaving only gold sparkles in its wake on the windowsill. "Library books are not to be removed from free company premises, you thief!” Nah’tan yelled uselessly.

"I don't think shouting is typically allowed, either," Aiko commented, but Naih’tan was already out the door. He caught only her laughter echoing behind him as he bolted after the summon.

***

The day was perfect for training, really, with a fresh almost dreamlike air warmed by the late morning sun. But Colson and Naih'tan weren't sparring by the training dummy, so A'onisya had instead settled on another perfect activity for such a spring day - a bit of an adventure.

From the top of Gullperch Tower, the blue of the water and sky stretched so far that they embraced one another at the far-out horizon. She was so high that even the waves were silent; the only sounds were the occasional cry of a seagull and the gentle ocean breeze on her ears. A'onisya had walked past Gullperch many times, but the presence of Maelstrom officers usually shooed her away. Today, however, was her chance - for today, Gullperch Tower stood oddly empty on the edge of Bloodshore beach.

An endless amount of stairs that stretched as far as the horizon later, and - "We sure lucked out, eh? Well worth the climb, yeah?" A'on had gasped to her carbuncle when they finally reached the top. She leaned back against the warm white stone, staring out at that endless blue, admiring the view, and must have dozed off... She awoke with a start and stood with a yawn. Shielding her eyes, she peered up at the sun. Peaking just past noon. Should be heading back soon, I s'pose.

"Y'know, Nugget, I dunno what Aiko was implying the other day," she thought aloud, stretching her arms upward. "She had that same look in her eyes Jewel has sometimes when he wants to cause trouble, you know, buddy?" Hearing no response from her carbuncle, A'on craned her head around to see if he was asleep. Nowhere in sight. She jogged a lap around the top of the tower, but he was gone. "Nugget?" she called down the stairwell, but received no answer except her own voice echoing back to her. "Nu - !"

"Nugget!"

A'onisya stopped for a moment, confused. "Wait, that wasn't me, was it?" Cupping her hands to her mouth, she yelled once more, "Nuggeeeettttt - oh! Hello." A flash of gold turned the corner, and her topaz carbuncle reappeared, its three tails wriggling with delight. "Where in Azeyma's name did you run off to?" A'onisya demanded. "And what's that you've got in your mouth, you little thief?"

As she knelt to take the tome from Nugget's mouth, she heard that second voice again. "A'onisya! Where are you?"

"Uuh - up here?" A'on replied, looking this way and that for the speaker. Finally, after running around the tower, she saw a familiar miqo'te far, far below her, looking wildly this way and that at the foot of the tower.  "Oh - Naih'tan! Hello! We're up here!"  She waved until he looked up.

"A'onisya?! What in Eorzea are you doing up there?"

"Just - you know - having a look around!" A'onisya called. "Were you looking for Nugget?"

"Yes! One moment, please, I shall be there posthaste." Ten minutes later, A'on was wondering if she shouldn't start her way down the steps in case Naih'tan had collapsed halfway, but finally he staggered up the last flight and sat in a heap on the stone floor. "That is - quite - quite a few - stairs," he managed.

"Need some water?" A'on asked, offering Naih'tan her jug. As he gulped between gasps, she said, "View's well worth it, though. I always wanted to come up here!"

"I must admit, I had never really - considered it, myself," he replied. He returned her now-empty flask and grasped her outstretched hand, standing with a grunt. "I'm rather embarrassed to say I've actually never ventured to the coast up this way - not until Nugget there led me on a wild chase."

"Never?!" A'on gaped. She pulled him towards the side of the tower and gestured outward. "But Costa del Sol is beautiful! There's no place in the world with a bluer sky, I'd wager!"

"It is a lovely view," Naih'tan agreed. He had to keep himself looking firmly towards the horizon, as his vision swam if he looked down. He found himself focusing on the touch of her hand in his, as her grip was a steadying comfort. "I just never thought to come up here by myself, I suppose. I'm... glad I finally did." If A'onisya noticed Naih'tan clutching her hand, she said nothing. They stood for a long moment in silence, admiring the sparkling water and cloudless sky. Finally Naih'tan burst out "oh but you're probably - " while A'on said "I'm assuming you're just here because Nugget - "

They stopped simultaneously, then laughed.

"Sorry, go ahead," A'onisya giggled.

"No, no, my apologies. I shouldn't take more of your time," Naih'tan said. Realizing he was still holding her hand, he pulled back quickly and stepped away from the edge. "I was in the library studying when Nugget made off with one of my books, and I simply came to retrieve it from the - "

" - little thief," A'on finished, rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry about that. I've no idea what possessed him to run off and cause trouble." She knelt down and beckoned to the topaz carbuncle, who happily waddled forward and dropped his prize into her outstretched hands. "Maybe Jewel is rubbing off on him." She stood and held out the tome to Naih'tan, but as his hand closed around the binding, she suddenly snatched it back. Her eyes scanned the runes and illustrations across the pages.

"Wait a sec! I recognize this. It's Transmuting and Transfiguring. Guildmaster Thubyrgeim assigned this to me not long ago," she exclaimed. 

Her eyes were wide as she peered over its pages to look at Naih'tan. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Naih'tan, have you - "

"A'on, please, I promise it's not - "

" - been watching me - "

" - it's nothing untoward, I swear - "

" - study and now you - "

" - the book looked quite intrig - "

" - want to become an arcanist?!"

Naih'tan stammered, "I, ah - that is to say, well - I mean, I have perhaps taken - an interest in the field - "

"Really?" A'on moved closer so now only the book, clutched in her hands, separated them. 

Naih'tan swallowed and chuckled, eyes darting everywhere but her. "That, that is to say - "

"Cause I could totally introduce you to the guildmaster! She'd be delighted to have another arcanist. You've such a knack for studying, I bet you'd catch up to me in no time. Then we could even train together!"

"A'on, I - " Naih'tan paused. "I have a knack for studying?"

"I see the piles of books you leave in the library," A'on said. "They're all huge, and I don't recognize even half the symbols on the covers. So you've got more've a knack than I do, at least."

"You've been studying the arcane for awhile now, though, right? I'm certain you could read those books if you wanted," he replied.

"Yeah, if I had a hundred years!" A'on groaned, leaning on the stone rail to peer down at the beach. "You can probably polish off ten of your tomes in the time it takes me to read one of these." She tapped her finger on the cover of Transmuting and Transfiguring.

Naih'tan shrugged. "Personally, I find the fact that you are working your way through through your arcane stuides despite not having a scholarly background far more impressive," he said.

"Not that I always get very far," A'on lamented. "I kinda... stopped halfway through Transmuting. I just couldn't follow it. I know the guildmaster will be disappointed, but what's the point of reading what I don't understand? Sometimes I can work through those blocks, and sometimes..." She sighed.

"If you'd like, I felt I was getting a fairly good grasp on it, myself. Perhaps I could be of assistance?" Naih'tan had asked the question before he realized what he was saying. He bit his cheek, cursing his thoughtless tongue - first he complimented her studies, only to then insult her with needing help! If she was offended, he admonished himself, she certainly had every right to - 

"You'd do that?" A'on's voice was soft, but cut through Naih'tan's swirling thoughts like a shock. "I couldn't possibly ask you! To have that on your plate along with your own studies, and all your training - "

"It's no trouble at all," he blurted out. "Why, it - it would be my pleasure! To spend time with - that is, to help you advance, I mean - not that you are not fully capable on your own accord, of course, but - if I could be of some help - perhaps it might - it might be nice, I think?"

A'on allowed Naih'tan to finish his rambling before her smile burst into a full-on grin. "Yeah, I think that sounds great!" she exclaimed. "When d'you wanna start?"

Naih'tan squinted up at the sky. It was early yet, and the air was still clean and fresh. As a gentle breeze rolled up from the ocean, he realized how much more pleasant it was sitting in a tower that felt yalms away from the world than in the increasingly stuffy library. "We could begin now, if you'd like," he said.

Nugget curled up in a corner of the tower, tucking its paws neatly beneath it. A'on sat so she was leaning against its fluff, and motioned to Naih'tan. He hesitated, but she was already opening the book eagerly; Nugget stretched out its tails in an open invitation. Its dark eyes watching him intently, a comically stern contrast to A'on's eager expression. Naih'tan laughed in acquiescence, and curled up against the carbuncle so he and A'on were shoulder-to-shoulder, hunched over the very beginning of chapter one. 

Afternoon turned to evening, and it wasn't until their stomachs rumbled hungrily and the sun had slanted well past the top of the tower that they realized how late the hour had become. They had just started to gather their things when a voice made them both jump. "Ho - you there! What're you two kits doin' up here, eh?!" A gruff midlander wearing the distinct red of the Maelstrom had come up the steps, his face as shocked as theirs.

"Quick - make a break for it!" A'on screeched, and they raced down the steps before the officer could yell after them. They ran down the dirt road, Nugget lagging only several feet behind, until they finally burst through the front gates of the Mist. Seeing the Maelstrom officer at the entrance was enough to set them off again, and they collapsed in an undignified laughing heap until they finally caught their breath. As they stumbled their way down to the Ataraxia free company house, they were watched by a young Keeper miqo'te with seafoam eyes at the beach. She smiled, hearing their excited chatting on the wind, before running up the steps to meet them for dinner.

[skyholding]

It’s the Starlight season, and that means the PRIMO x XIA gift-giving extravaganza!

So ask yourself--What would you like for Starlight this year?--and come to the Aftcastle in Limsa Lominsa on Jenova server to tell Santa your deepest wish for Starlight! He might just have what you’re looking for; he’s got a pretty big bag of goodies, after all.

Come spread the holiday cheer to your fellow players! New or old, all are welcome. We have something for everyone!

When? 8 PM EST, Friday, December 20th Where? Limsa Lominsa, Aftcastle (Jenova server) Who? PRIMO and XIA--joined hopefully by all who read this! What? A Starlight celebration with gifts for all! We have a medley of minions, glam, high-level HQ gear, and other surprises!

Please spread the word! We hope to see everyone there!!

[skyholding]

I’m teaming up with Aetherflow Media to promote artists selling FFXIV merchandise at conventions this summer, but I need help finding them!

Whether it’s charms, prints, or commissions, or anything else you’ve created, let me know what con(s) you’ll be at and what you’re selling, and Aetherflow Media will feature you in my brand-new series “Wondrous Sundries: The FFXIV Player’s Guide to Artist Alley Loot.”

We want to promote absolutely as many artists as we possibly can, so please don’t be afraid to reach out! Even just reblogging this post to get the word out is a huge help!

My contact info: Tumblr: https://flockofflamingos.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ac_mickey Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flockofflamingos/ Email: acmickeyart@gmail.com

[skyholding]

JEWEL NO

carbuncle would like scratches and will show u their butt

[skyholding]

Primo and XIA are spreading Starlight cheer this holiday season!

We’re once again hosting a massive gift-giving extravaganza for everyone on Jenova!

So ask yourself--What would you like for Starlight this year?--and come to the Aftcastle in Limsa Lominsa to tell Santa your deepest wish for Starlight! He might just have what you’re looking for; he’s got a pretty big bag of goodies, after all.

So come with a cheerful holiday spirit to spread to your fellow players! New or old players, all are welcome. We have something for everyone!

When? 7:30 PM EST, Friday, December 21st  Where? Limsa Lominsa, Aftcastle (Jenova server) Who? Primo and XIA--joined hopefully by all who read this! What? A Starlight celebration with gifts for all! Presents include HQ 380 battle gear, HQ current crafting/gathering gear, and rare minions (with perhaps some other surprises if you’ve been a good adventurer this year!)

Please spread the word! We hope to see everyone there!!

[skyholding]

“Let me measure the extent of your existence.”

Claws penetrated to the core of her soul, and her jaw wrenched open in a soundless scream as pain shot to each point of her body. Her skin crumbled to pieces as foggy nonexistence consumed what had once been bone to tendon to blood.

The last of her breath sighed at the end of her rage. That blue eye pierced her mind as its grasp pierced her heart, cold inquiry observing her shatter under its force. 

The extent of her existence, torn to pieces under the gaze of a monstrous machine--

and there was nothing. Her spirit was the bottom of her ocean, and its floor a cracking fissure as soul and all cascaded downward into nothingness.

Yet even as she accepted this, the eye opened wide. Its vision consumed hers. Something was reforming in the the abyssal canyon, creation from destruction, unbroken, another form embracing her, catching her as she fell. The new, so familiar yet so alien, reaching out to save that crumbling shell--to save... herself? But which form reached out to save the other?

“Such a death becometh you not.”

Her soul heard the voice before her mind, and beat with recognition, guilt, hope, sorrow. The air around her shook, and her body, not yet complete in its form, cried out with the disturbance.

Then all was shattered glass and light--

and she descended, til her feet touched the metallic earth.

She reached up to touch her face, and felt coarse surface beneath her fingers. Horns curled back behind her jaw. Then in a rush came sight and sound and she gazed upward at her friend who had torn through Omega’s power and sought that her-not-her on the other side of her soul to save her.

“Thine all-too-clumsy effort to draw out which--by thine own admission--defieth thine understanding is the very height of folly.”

It was too fast, too soon, too many questions, A’on’s confusion mirrored by Omega’s. She reached out to her friend as she’d reached out to her own soul--but unlike herself, the dragon was far too far out of reach for saving. Tears spilled over her scales, flush and feeling that reminded her she was alive.

She was changed, but she was alive.

One life exchanged for the life of another.

Her heart thudded, almost perversely strong with life in the wake of those who sacrificed themselves for her, as she grasped what Omega stood blind to.

Was that always to be the extent of her existence?

[skyholding]

“Do not your souls weigh heavy?”

No better time than All Saint’s Wake to embrace your inner goddess for a night.

[skyholding]

A’onisya’s would have to be linked to the Summoner series I finished this summer.

It’s every summoner’s fear, but also the foundation of their power, the all-consuming heart of it. The joining of an aetheric power and mortal will into a single and more powerful being.

An extension of the regular summoner LB3, and something that A’on would not be able to tap into until mastering her warrior studies with Colson. The limit break requires great physical strength so as not to be torn apart by the other-creature clawing its way into the summoner’s own skin, their bodies twist into a malformed joining of summon and summoner.

The summoner loses their senses of sight, smell, hearing, and touch. They become a focused beacon of destruction. Such power would be rampant and wild if not kept in check, but the strength and will of the summoner gives it purpose. Everything in the world falls away but the object of the summoner’s ire, like the blood-red sight of a crazed bull.

Perhaps it is their truest summoning, as Ysayle into Iceheart and Yotsuyu into Tsukiyomi.

But here, the summoner is aware of their control, and knows they cannot hold it any longer than their body and mind allow. They do not wish to hold it longer, and that wish is the key. The moment is brief but devastating, and the summoner must have the awareness to retreat such power quickly away before they lose control altogether.

If your XIV character had their own Limit Break what would it be? 👀