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[ember-rose-gilheed]

@ketsycola

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Echoes of Possible Futures (4th revision)

A woman walked down a tree lined path, the wind blew ruffling the long blue hair off the shoulders, and the hem of her long white dress brushed the ground as her bare feet navigated around gnarled tree roots. As she walked the path to the clearing at the end a symphony of bird song filled the air, she supposed she was a maestro of sorts, having hung countless birdhouses and feeders in these woods. She came to the clearing where which three markers lay. The air was heavy with the perfume of Flame Anisacanthus, Bird of Paradise, Firebush, and Yellow Trumpetbush flowers. Flowers she had planted to attract humming birds

 The first visible marker in the center of this field made of polished fire opal, standing six feet high it caught the setting sun and seemed to blaze like a pillar of flame with the dying light of the day.  It stood high in this garden of stones. All these obelisks each carved from different stones were highly polished, the crafts of loving and artistic hands. She walked past the rows and as she did, she spoke the names of friends and family that had passed.

“Pyarhh G. Pendragon, Nagase Gilheed, Arturia Pendragon, Mordred Pendragon”.

The last name felt bitter on her tongue, she never understood Ember’s dedication to finding Mordred’s body. To dig it forth from the centuries of waste and sewage that her body was thrown unceremoniously into, a traitor’s burial. Nymph watched as months of hard work ticked by slowly and painstakingly. She had asked Ember once, why she did this. Why she forgave the step sister that had stolen everything from her.

And Nymph remembered Ember pausing and staring into the sky before turning to her and speaking. ‘She is my sister, and the role that Ka dealt me and her was never fair. Mordred wasn’t evil, it wasn’t her intention to cause evil. Mordred was a locomotive that couldn’t change course once it was set in motion. And forgiveness is not always about if a person deserves it or not. It is an act of compassion, and she was my sister and I loved her, besides the road I travelled led me to you’ That warm feeling of Ember’s hand through her blue hair, the one that always made her feel like a child was Ember’s closing say.

There was too many friends she thought, too many stones instead of those warm faces. Too many voices that were silent now. She traced the letters on the stone with the tip of her finger. When was the last time she had mussed her hair? Could she even remember? As she sat in front of the fiery pillar she placed down her rough woven bag and kneeled on to the soft carpet of emerald grass. Dried leaves crinkled under her knees as she knelt and pulled at the weeds.

 “I’m sorry, I know it is not an excuse but I haven’t got a change to come up here in a couple weeks. Let me take care of this first. Then we can have our tea” a somewhat sad smile crossed her face

                Nymph worked hard, her fingers digging into the rich black earth and pulling the roots free. It took several minutes, taking the time to pull the fallen leaves away from the marker and disposing of them several yards away. A small laugh was stifled, at one time she thought grass clippings and tea were the same. Thankful Carlos had corrected her. She turned and looked at the area and was satisfied with her up keeping. She then sat and started to open the contents of her bag. With the items spread out before her she reached for the bowl that stood before the marker, turned it upside and shook out the dirt before cleaning it with a blue cloth.

 “The market had them on special, I thought the store owner was going to kick me out since I was spending so much time on picking out a pint” She laughed quietly

                She removed the clear cellophane that held the blueberries in the green container and poured them into the weathered bowl and placed them in front of the marker. She set two tea cups, a bowl and a small kettle on the ground. She filled the kettle from a water skin that looked like a fat bloated sausage around her waist. When she removed the skin to draw water, she rubbed at her neck where the skin’s strap had rubbed up against her skin and irritated it. Her hand stopped briefly as she was expecting to feel something else instead of her sooth pink neck.

                It was always a surprise to her to feel the warm skin of her neck and not the cold metal of the control collar she wore since her creation. It was been almost forty years since her change and it still always surprised her. Maybe it always will she thought. She dropped spoonsful of matcha into the chawan, and with a wave of her hand flames danced around the middle of the black kettle; it was metal, square and engraved with symbols. After a few moments’ time small silvery tendrils of steam curled up from the spout.

 “I had a good harvest this year, lots of good leaves on each plant.”

                Nymph passion or rightful should be called obsession, was the growing of tea. She wanted to make the perfect matcha. When she learned that Carlos had used his powers to help a struggling crop during her first year of planting, she burned it to the ground. She didn’t want or need help; this was her work, her duty. There was a tremendous amount of feeling of Zen, this was something to give honor and remembrance. Nymph did every step by hand, taking hours to slowly remove veins from the prepared leaves and ground them into powder with a small hand cranked granite mill.

 “I didn’t forget the honey this time, I’m sorry I forget before”

                She placed a few drops of the steaming water in the chawan and whisked it with the bamboo chasen. Once she was satisfied with the constancy, she added the rest of the hot water and whisked the bowl again until the green tea was frothy and light. She added a few drops of honey to one cup and poured the tea from the bowl and into the cups. She took one wagashi from a box and ate it, relished the sweetness of the confection. Every time she ate something sweet she thought of candy apples.

 Nymph could not bear to eat them again even though they were her favorite. The hard shell of the ruby red sugar, the crispy juicy apple underneath, and the melding of the flavors of each bite, it was heaven. She smiled with the thought of her first one, and how she started at unsure while Ember handed it to her. Her smile waned a little and she drank the tea without the honey.

 “Carlos was acting funny after our last mission, I’m not sure why. It wasn’t anything big, just two ghouls slumming in an old home. We had no problem taking them since we were all there anyway looking for signs of Hecate’s return, not that we found any”

                She was worried about him, only Ikaros seemed to be talking to him after that mission. It not a surprise though, they were together now. They tried to hide it from the rest of the Tet but everyone knew that were a couple. She shook her head, her constant nightmares of Hecate during the past month had made sleeping difficult. She used to hate the idea of sleep, having to wait and sit there while people slept, it was boring. Things changed though. She always wanted to sleep, always wanted to dream. She wanted to sleep next to her master, embrace her tight and hear that heartbeat. She finished her tea.

 After the death of Nagase, she stayed with her master every night. Her master cried bitterly each night for months, Nymph would wrap her arms around her until the shaking sobs finally lessened and she drifted off to sleep. She wished that she could follow her into her dreams. But back then she could not sleep, could not dream. She knew when her master was fast asleep by the sounds of her heartbeat. And of course, she grew bored and left for a while and returned a few moments before her master awoke, but she wanted to sleep next her, really sleep not just pretend.

 Nymph knew that Ember only showed this side to her, the broken side. Even after Hana replaced Nagase both in Ember’s heart and as the Guardian of water. Not even to her true daughters Catherine, Pyrahh or Jessica. In front of the Tet she kept her sorrow and grief in check. It made her feel special, that Ember trusted her in moments of weakness.

 “The guy at the coffee place kissed me yesterday. It was my first kiss well my first real kiss. “I was talking with him and leaned over and kissed my cheek.” As she spoke her faced crimsoned a shade of red to almost match the color of the apples she loved so much

                Nymph knew that he would catch on no matter how she tried to hide it; she didn’t even drink the coffee she ordered. Cups of undrunk coffee filled the small table before her as she stared at brown haired man, with the shaggy goatee and a soft smile. His aura felt warm and soft, it reminded her of Astraea strangely enough. She missed her goofy not too bright sister, but at the end she didn’t leave her masters side, and refused to give up and died fighting.

 “I don’t know about dating him, I know a lot more about the human world, but I am afraid of dragging him into our world Ember. I can’t protect him and if something were to happen to him because of me” she stopped at looked at the stone.

 The name carved upon was ‘Ember Gilheed Pendragon’. Although she supposed her true name should have be carved on it. The only one thing Ember’s mother gave her. Only Mordred called her Gwendolyn, the only one that Ember had allowed she supposed. She would always be Ember to her, the one person, that had saved her life and in a strange way even had given her life, a life of purpose, a chance of redemption and atonement. The one person that looked at her and knew she was worth something, that she wasn’t garbage or useless. The one, that while she lay dying in her arms with those the deep purple amethyst eyes that were strangely calm staring up at her. The one that used the last of her strength to smile and tell her ‘I love you, my daughter’. The one that before dying bestowed her elemental power to her adopted daughter. Ember, the one that changed her from an angeloid to a Guardian.

 She had dragged her from that battlefield, where the screams of rage from Hana and the other drowned out the noises of the war itself. Back to Quiet Earth, back to the garden in back of the manor. Away from the acrid smoke, away from the screams and explosions. Away to the sweet breeze and the gentle sun. Nymph listened to Ember’s ragged breathing and as Nymph rested Ember’s head on her lap, she could feel what ever blood wasn’t chocking her lungs was soaking into her white dress. She brushed Ember’s hair, cleaning it of the leaves that had tangled in those red locks when she dragged her back home.

  Nymph held her until the brilliant lights of her eyes had faded. She felt the once powerful heart, which Nymph once compared to the stars, a furnace, or a nuclear explosion finally quiet and stop. She held her former master as she drowned her face in tears that managed to wash away the blood, muck and mire and reveal the delicate freckles that adorned her nose. Ember Gilheed, the red headed banshee that leaped into each and every battle with a scream and guns blazing and a half crazed smile.

 Ember, who slept below her now, under this blanket of emerald green grass and a bed of black earth where the air was filled with smell of flowers and a concert of bird song. Ember slept next to her fallen Tet, her mother and sister. She turned to the markers of Astraea and Nagase lying to her right and left. Nymph smiled a bitter smile, as she lay with her back to Ember’s marker, her wings unfurling from her back and seemly hugging the stone. Nymph watched as the sun dipped low and twilight grew into night.

 The birds quieted and all that was heard was the gentle wind that frolicked in the trees. This was always the hard part, leaving. She wanted nothing more to dig thorough the earth and awaken her three friends, because they couldn’t be dead. Nagase the white haired thief, the prankster couldn’t be gone. Astraea, the blonde bumbling angeloid, who was serious while locked in combat and sugary sweet the rest of the time, she really couldn’t be gone, could she? Ember, with a cup of tea or a gun in her hand, fierce and loving couldn’t have passed.

Pyrahh, the brash and sometimes crazed wolf girl twin couldn’t have been taken by death right? And why should they be gone. She could grab that relic locked in the vault. That terrible wish giving cursed thing that had been overflowing with blood and sorrow.  Bring them all back, all their soft and warm embraces. All the laughs all the fights., everything that was lost could be found again. The price that Ember paid was high. The ghosts of her mother and sister set free. All the spirits they had set free to rejoin the great circle.  And to undo all that Ember had fought and bled for would be the greatest sin. For to use it once would set it free upon the worlds. The day had ended and the night starry sky filled with the lights of fireflies, but strangely their lights were purple.

 “Purple? I never saw purple fireflies”

 Nymph spoke and watched in wonder as the danced in the air. A delicate dance that appeared to be choreographed, she looked upon them with joy. She rose to her feet and closed her eyes; she lifted her hands and danced with them. She felt them as they lightly kissed her skin when they bumped into her. She laughed with her child like laughter and for a moment felt the burden of her responsibilities lift off her shoulders.

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Echoes of Possible Futures (3rd revision)

A woman walked down a tree lined path, the wind blew ruffling the long blue hair off the shoulders, and the hem of her long white dress brushed the ground as her bare feet navigated around gnarled tree roots. As she walked the path to the clearing at the end a symphony of bird song filled the air, she supposed she was a maestro of sorts, having hung countless birdhouses and feeders in these woods. She came to the clearing where which three markers lay. The air was heavy with the perfume of Flame Anisacanthus, Bird of Paradise, Firebush, and Yellow Trumpetbush flowers. Flowers she had planted to attract humming birds

 The first visible marker in the center of this field made of polished fire opal, standing six feet high it caught the setting sun and seemed to blaze like a pillar of flame with the dying light of the day.  It stood high in this garden of stones. All these obelisks each carved from different stones were highly polished, the crafts of loving and artistic hands. She walked past the rows and as she did, she spoke the names of friends and family that had passed.

“Pyarhh G. Pendragon, Nagase Gilheed, Arturia Pendragon, Mordred Pendragon”.

The last name felt bitter on her tongue, she never understood Ember’s dedication to finding Mordred’s body. To dig it forth from the centuries of waste and sewage that her body was thrown unceremoniously into, a traitor’s burial. Nymph watched as months of hard work ticked by slowly and painstakingly. She had asked Ember once, why she did this. Why she forgave the step sister that had stolen everything from her.

And Nymph remembered Ember pausing and staring into the sky before turning to her and speaking. ‘She is my sister, and the role that Ka dealt me and her was never fair. Mordred wasn’t evil, it wasn’t her intention to cause evil. Mordred was a locomotive that couldn’t change course once it was set in motion. And forgiveness is not always about if a person deserves it or not. It is an act of compassion, and she was my sister and I loved her, besides the road I travelled led me to you’ That warm feeling of Ember’s hand through her blue hair, the one that always made her feel like a child was Ember’s closing say on the matter.

And then was Ember’s mother. Arturia seemed to be cold and distant at times Nymph felt that Arturia was someone that was too guarded with her emotions, that her somehow any expression of them would be a disservice to her subjects. Ember had practically worshipped her mother, Arturia was Ember’s hero and idol long before she ever learned of her lineage. Nymph believed that Ember had surpassed her mother, while she was only a Dinh and not a king, it didn’t matter. In her eyes, maybe because she still had the eyes of a child when it came to her, Ember was close to a goddess. For Dinh means more parent than leader and isn’t mother another word for god to a child

There was too many friends she thought, too many stones instead of those warm faces. Too many voices that were silent now. She traced the letters on the stone with the tip of her finger. When was the last time she had mussed her hair? Could she even remember? As she sat in front of the fiery pillar she placed down her rough woven bag and kneeled on to the soft carpet of emerald grass. Dried leaves crinkled under her knees as she knelt and pulled at the weeds.

 “I’m sorry, I know it is not an excuse but I haven’t got a change to come up here in a couple weeks. Let me take care of this first. Then we can have our tea” a somewhat sad smile crossed her face

                Nymph worked hard, her fingers digging into the rich black earth and pulling the roots free. It took several minutes, taking the time to pull the fallen leaves away from the marker and disposing of them several yards away. A small laugh was stifled, at one time she thought grass clippings and tea were the same. Thankful Carlos had corrected her. She turned and looked at the area and was satisfied with her up keeping. She then sat and started to open the contents of her bag. With the items spread out before her she reached for the bowl that stood before the marker, turned it upside and shook out the dirt before cleaning it with a blue cloth.

 “The market had them on special, I thought the store owner was going to kick me out since I was spending so much time on picking out a pint” She laughed quietly

                She removed the clear cellophane that held the blueberries in the green container and poured them into the weathered bowl and placed them in front of the marker. She set two tea cups, a bowl and a small kettle on the ground. She filled the kettle from a water skin that looked like a fat bloated sausage around her waist. When she removed the skin to draw water, she rubbed at her neck where the skin’s strap had rubbed up against her skin and irritated it. Her hand stopped briefly as she was expecting to feel something else instead of her sooth pink neck.

                It was always a surprise to her to feel the warm skin of her neck and not the cold metal of the control collar she wore since her creation. It was been almost forty years since her change and it still always surprised her. Maybe it always will she thought. She dropped spoonsful of matcha into the chawan, and with a wave of her hand flames danced around the middle of the black kettle; it was metal, square and engraved with symbols. After a few moments’ time small silvery tendrils of steam curled up from the spout.

 “I had a good harvest this year, lots of good leaves on each plant.”

                Nymph passion or rightful should be called obsession, was the growing of tea. She wanted to make the perfect matcha. When she learned that Carlos had used his powers to help a struggling crop during her first year of planting, she burned it to the ground. She didn’t want or need help; this was her work, her duty. There was a tremendous amount of feeling of Zen, this was something to give honor and remembrance. Nymph did every step by hand, taking hours to slowly remove veins from the prepared leaves and ground them into powder with a small hand cranked granite mill.

 “I didn’t forget the honey this time, I’m sorry I forget before”

                She placed a few drops of the steaming water in the chawan and whisked it with the bamboo chasen. Once she was satisfied with the constancy, she added the rest of the hot water and whisked the bowl again until the green tea was frothy and light. She added a few drops of honey to one cup and poured the tea from the bowl and into the cups. She took one wagashi from a box and ate it, relished the sweetness of the confection. Every time she ate something sweet she thought of candy apples.

 Nymph could not bear to eat them again even though they were her favorite. The hard shell of the ruby red sugar, the crispy juicy apple underneath, and the melding of the flavors of each bite, it was heaven. She smiled with the thought of her first one, and how she started at unsure while Ember handed it to her. Her smile waned a little and she drank the tea without the honey.

 “Carlos was acting funny after our last mission, I’m not sure why. It wasn’t anything big, just two ghouls slumming in an old home. We had no problem taking them since we were all there anyway looking for signs of Hecate’s return, not that we found any”

                She was worried about him, only Ikaros seemed to be talking to him after that mission. It not a surprise though, they were together now. They tried to hide it from the rest of the Tet but everyone knew that were a couple. She shook her head, her constant nightmares of Hecate during the past month had made sleeping difficult. She used to hate the idea of sleep, having to wait and sit there while people slept, it was boring. Things changed though. She always wanted to sleep, always wanted to dream. She wanted to sleep next to her master, embrace her tight and hear that heartbeat. She finished her tea.

 After the death of Nagase, she stayed with her master every night. Her master cried bitterly each night for months, Nymph would wrap her arms around her until the shaking sobs finally lessened and she drifted off to sleep. She wished that she could follow her into her dreams. But back then she could not sleep, could not dream. She knew when her master was fast asleep by the sounds of her heartbeat. And of course, she grew bored and left for a while and returned a few moments before her master awoke, but she wanted to sleep next her, really sleep not just pretend.

Nymph knew that Ember only showed this side to her, the broken side. Even after Hana replaced Nagase both in Ember’s heart and as the Guardian of water. Not even to her true daughters Catherine, Pyrahh or Jessica. In front of the Tet she kept her sorrow and grief in check. It made her feel special, that Ember trusted her in moments of weakness.

 “The guy at the coffee place kissed me yesterday. It was my first kiss well my first real kiss. He jumped over the counter and took me in his arms and kissed me.” As she spoke her faced crimsoned a shade of red to almost match the color of the apples she loved so much

                Nymph knew that he would catch on no matter how she tried to hide it; she didn’t even drink the coffee she ordered. Cups of undrunk coffee filled the small table before her as she stared at brown haired man, with the shaggy goatee and a soft smile. His embraced felt warm and soft, it reminded her of Astraea strangely enough. She missed her goofy not too bright sister, but at the end she didn’t leave her masters side, and refused to give up and died fighting.

 “I don’t know about dating him, I know a lot more about the human world, but I am afraid of dragging him into our world Ember. I can’t protect him and if something were to happen to him because of me” she stopped at looked at the stone.

 The name carved upon was ‘Ember Gilheed Pendragon’, her master, her Dinh. The one person, that had saved her life and in a strange way even had given her life, a life of purpose, a chance of redemption and atonement. The one person that looked at her and knew she was worth something, that she wasn’t garbage or useless. The one, that while she lay dying in her arms with those the deep purple amethyst eyes that were strangely calm staring up at her. The one that used the last of her strength to smile and tell her ‘I love you, my daughter’. The one that before dying bestowed her elemental power to her adopted daughter. Ember, the one that changed her from an angeloid to a Guardian.

 Nymph held her until the brilliant lights of her eyes had faded. She felt the once powerful heart, which Nymph once compared to the stars, a furnace, a nuclear explosion finally quiet and stop. She held her former master as she drowned her face in tears that managed to wash away the blood, muck and mire and reveal the delicate freckles that adorned her nose. Ember Gilheed, the red headed banshee that leaped into each and every battle with a scream and guns blazing and a half crazed smile.

 Ember, who slept below her now, under this blanket of emerald green grass and a bed of black earth where the air was filled with smell of flowers and a concert of bird song. Ember slept next to her fallen Tet, her mother and sister. She turned to the markers of Astraea and Nagase lying to her right and left. Nymph smiled a bitter smile, as she lay with her back to Ember’s marker, her wings unfurling from her back and seemly hugging the stone. Nymph watched as the sun dipped low and twilight grew into night.

 The birds quieted and all that was heard was the gentle wind that frolicked in the trees. This was always the hard part, leaving. She wanted nothing more to dig thorough the earth and awaken her three friends, because they couldn’t be dead. Nagase the white haired thief, the prankster couldn’t be gone. Astraea, the blonde bumbling angeloid, who was serious while locked in combat and sugary sweet the rest of the time, she really couldn’t be gone, could she? Ember, with a cup of tea or a gun in her hand, fierce and loving couldn’t have passed.

Pyrahh, the brash and sometimes crazed wolf girl twin couldn’t have been taken by death right? And why should they be gone. She could grab that relic locked in the vault. That terrible wish giving cursed thing that had been overflowing with blood and sorrow.  Bring them all back, all their soft and warm embraces. All the laughs all the fights., everything that was lost could be found again. The price that Ember paid was high. The ghosts of her mother and sister set free. All the spirits they had set free to rejoin the great circle.  And to undo all that Ember had fought and bled for would be the greatest sin. For to use it once would set it free upon the worlds. The day had ended and the night starry sky filled with the lights of fireflies, but strangely their lights were purple.

 “Purple? I never saw purple fireflies”

 Nymph spoke and watched in wonder as the danced in the air. A delicate dance that appeared to be choreographed, she looked upon them with joy. She rose to her feet and closed her eyes; she lifted her hands and danced with them. She felt them as they lightly kissed her skin when they bumped into her. She laughed with her child like laughter and for a moment felt the burden of her responsibilities lift off her shoulders.

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Echoes of Possible Futures (2nd revision)

A woman walked down a tree lined path, the wind blew ruffling the long blue hair off the shoulders, and the hem of her long white dress brushed the ground as her bare feet navigated around gnarled tree roots. As she walked the path to the clearing at the end a symphony of bird song filled the air, she supposed she was a maestro of sorts, having hung countless birdhouses and feeders in these woods. She came to the clearing where which three markers lay. The air was heavy with the perfume of Flame Anisacanthus, Bird of Paradise, Firebush, and Yellow Trumpetbush flowers. Flowers she had planted to attract humming birds

 The first visible marker in the center of this field made of polished fire opal, standing six feet high it caught the setting sun and seemed to blaze like a pillar of flame with the dying light of the day.  It stood high in this garden of stones. All these obelisks each carved from different stones were highly polished, the crafts of loving and artistic hands. She walked past the rows and as she did, she spoke the names of friends and family that had passed.

“Pyarhh G. Pendragon, Nagase Gilheed, Arturia Pendragon, Mordred Pendragon”.

The last name felt bitter on her tongue, she never understood Ember’s dedication to finding Mordred’s body. To dig it forth from the centuries of waste and sewage that her body was thrown unceremoniously into, a traitor’s burial. Nymph watched as months of hard work ticked by slowly and painstakingly. She had asked Ember once, why she did this. Why she forgave the step sister that had stolen everything from her.

And Nymph remembered Ember pausing and staring into the sky before turning to her and speaking. ‘She is my sister, and the role that Ka dealt me and her was never fair. Mordred wasn’t evil, it wasn’t her intention to cause evil. Mordred was a locomotive that couldn’t change course once it was set in motion. And forgiveness is not always about if a person deserves it or not. It is an act of compassion, and she was my sister and I loved her, besides the road I travelled led me to you’ That warm feeling of Ember’s hand through her blue hair, the one that always made her feel like a child was Ember’s closing say.

There was too many friends she thought, too many stones instead of those warm faces. Too many voices that were silent now. She traced the letters on the stone with the tip of her finger. When was the last time she had mussed her hair? Could she even remember? As she sat in front of the fiery pillar she placed down her rough woven bag and kneeled on to the soft carpet of emerald grass. Dried leaves crinkled under her knees as she knelt and pulled at the weeds.

 “I’m sorry, I know it is not an excuse but I haven’t got a change to come up here in a couple weeks. Let me take care of this first. Then we can have our tea” a somewhat sad smile crossed her face

                Nymph worked hard, her fingers digging into the rich black earth and pulling the roots free. It took several minutes, taking the time to pull the fallen leaves away from the marker and disposing of them several yards away. A small laugh was stifled, at one time she thought grass clippings and tea were the same. Thankful Carlos had corrected her. She turned and looked at the area and was satisfied with her up keeping. She then sat and started to open the contents of her bag. With the items spread out before her she reached for the bowl that stood before the marker, turned it upside and shook out the dirt before cleaning it with a blue cloth.

 “The market had them on special, I thought the store owner was going to kick me out since I was spending so much time on picking out a pint” She laughed quietly

                She removed the clear cellophane that held the blueberries in the green container and poured them into the weathered bowl and placed them in front of the marker. She set two tea cups, a bowl and a small kettle on the ground. She filled the kettle from a water skin that looked like a fat bloated sausage around her waist. When she removed the skin to draw water, she rubbed at her neck where the skin’s strap had rubbed up against her skin and irritated it. Her hand stopped briefly as she was expecting to feel something else instead of her sooth pink neck.

                It was always a surprise to her to feel the warm skin of her neck and not the cold metal of the control collar she wore since her creation. It was been almost forty years since her change and it still always surprised her. Maybe it always will she thought. She dropped spoonsful of matcha into the chawan, and with a wave of her hand flames danced around the middle of the black kettle; it was metal, square and engraved with symbols. After a few moments’ time small silvery tendrils of steam curled up from the spout.

 “I had a good harvest this year, lots of good leaves on each plant.”

                Nymph passion or rightful should be called obsession, was the growing of tea. She wanted to make the perfect matcha. When she learned that Carlos had used his powers to help a struggling crop during her first year of planting, she burned it to the ground. She didn’t want or need help; this was her work, her duty. There was a tremendous amount of feeling of Zen, this was something to give honor and remembrance. Nymph did every step by hand, taking hours to slowly remove veins from the prepared leaves and ground them into powder with a small hand cranked granite mill.

 “I didn’t forget the honey this time, I’m sorry I forget before”

                She placed a few drops of the steaming water in the chawan and whisked it with the bamboo chasen. Once she was satisfied with the constancy, she added the rest of the hot water and whisked the bowl again until the green tea was frothy and light. She added a few drops of honey to one cup and poured the tea from the bowl and into the cups. She took one wagashi from a box and ate it, relished the sweetness of the confection. Every time she ate something sweet she thought of candy apples.

 Nymph could not bear to eat them again even though they were her favorite. The hard shell of the ruby red sugar, the crispy juicy apple underneath, and the melding of the flavors of each bite, it was heaven. She smiled with the thought of her first one, and how she started at unsure while Ember handed it to her. Her smile waned a little and she drank the tea without the honey.

 “Carlos was acting funny after our last mission, I’m not sure why. It wasn’t anything big, just two ghouls slumming in an old home. We had no problem taking them since we were all there anyway looking for signs of Hecate’s return, not that we found any”

                She was worried about him, only Ikaros seemed to be talking to him after that mission. It not a surprise though, they were together now. They tried to hide it from the rest of the Tet but everyone knew that were a couple. She shook her head, her constant nightmares of Hecate during the past month had made sleeping difficult. She used to hate the idea of sleep, having to wait and sit there while people slept, it was boring. Things changed though. She always wanted to sleep, always wanted to dream. She wanted to sleep next to her master, embrace her tight and hear that heartbeat. She finished her tea.

            After the death of Nagase, she stayed with her master every night. Her master cried bitterly each night for months, Nymph would wrap her arms around her until the shaking sobs finally lessened and she drifted off to sleep. She wished that she could follow her into her dreams. But back then she could not sleep, could not dream. She knew when her master was fast asleep by the sounds of her heartbeat. And of course, she grew bored and left for a while and returned a few moments before her master awoke, but she wanted to sleep next her, really sleep not just pretend.

        Nymph knew that Ember only showed this side to her, the broken side. Even after Hana replaced Nagase both in Ember’s heart and as the Guardian of water. Not even to her true daughters Catherine, Pyrahh or Jessica. In front of the Tet she kept her sorrow and grief in check. It made her feel special, that Ember trusted her in moments of weakness.

 “The guy at the coffee place kissed me yesterday. It was my first kiss well my first real kiss. He jumped over the counter and took me in his arms and kissed me.” As she spoke her faced crimsoned a shade of red to almost match the color of the apples she loved so much

                Nymph knew that he would catch on no matter how she tried to hide it; she didn’t even drink the coffee she ordered. Cups of undrunk coffee filled the small table before her as she stared at brown haired man, with the shaggy goatee and a soft smile. His embraced felt warm and soft, it reminded her of Astraea strangely enough. She missed her goofy not too bright sister, but at the end she didn’t leave her masters side, and refused to give up and died fighting.

 “I don’t know about dating him, I know a lot more about the human world, but I am afraid of dragging him into our world Ember. I can’t protect him and if something were to happen to him because of me” she stopped at looked at the stone.

            The name carved upon was ‘Ember Gilheed Pendragon’, her master, her Dinh. The one person, that had saved her life and in a strange way even had given her life, a life of purpose, a chance of redemption and atonement. The one person that looked at her and knew she was worth something, that she wasn’t garbage or useless. The one, that while she lay dying in her arms with those the deep purple amethyst eyes that were strangely calm staring up at her. The one that used the last of her strength to smile and tell her ‘I love you, my daughter’. The one that before dying bestowed her elemental power to her adopted daughter. Ember, the one that changed her from an angeloid to a Guardian.

         Nymph held her until the brilliant lights of her eyes had faded. She felt the once powerful heart, which Nymph once compared to the stars, a furnace, a nuclear explosion finally quiet and stop. She held her former master as she drowned her face in tears that managed to wash away the blood, muck and mire and reveal the delicate freckles that adorned her nose. Ember Gilheed Pendragon. The lost child of Camelot,  the red headed banshee that leaped into each and every battle with a scream and guns blazing and a half crazed smile.

       Ember, who slept below her now, under this blanket of emerald green grass and a bed of black earth where the air was filled with smell of flowers and a concert of bird song. Ember slept next to her fallen Tet, her mother and sister. She turned to the markers of Astraea and Nagase lying to her right and left. Nymph smiled a bitter smile, as she lay with her back to Ember’s marker, her wings unfurling from her back and seemly hugging the stone. Nymph watched as the sun dipped low and twilight grew into night.

        The birds quieted and all that was heard was the gentle wind that frolicked in the trees. This was always the hard part, leaving. She wanted nothing more to dig thorough the earth and awaken her three friends, because they couldn’t be dead. Nagase the white haired thief, the prankster couldn’t be gone. Astraea, the blonde bumbling angeloid, who was serious while locked in combat and sugary sweet the rest of the time, she really couldn’t be gone, could she? Ember, with a cup of tea or a gun in her hand, fierce and loving couldn’t have passed.

      Pyrahh, the brash and sometimes crazed wolf girl twin couldn’t have been taken by death right? And why should they be gone. She could grab that relic locked in the vault. That terrible wish giving cursed thing that had been overflowing with blood and sorrow.  Bring them all back, all their soft and warm embraces. All the laughs all the fights., everything that was lost could be found again. The price that Ember paid was high. The ghosts of her mother and sister set free. All the spirits they had set free to rejoin the great circle.  And to undo all that Ember had fought and bled for would be the greatest sin. For to use it once would set it free upon the worlds. The stars twinkled in the curtain of night and the dark forest was filled with the lights of fireflies, but strangely their lights were purple.

 “Purple? I never saw purple fireflies”

     Nymph spoke and watched in wonder as the danced in the air. A delicate dance that appeared to be choreographed, she looked upon them with joy. She rose to her feet and closed her eyes; she lifted her hands and danced with them. She felt them as they lightly kissed her skin when they bumped into her. She laughed with her child like laughter and for a moment felt the burden of her responsibilities lift off her shoulders.

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Fuck Emilia

#TeamRem

is it even a contest at this point that rem is best girl 

like honestly??

what has emilia done? honestly what has she done? nothing. i get the fact that she’s gonna be queen and all that ya, and subaru has this weird unwarranted infatuation with her why? because she healed him a bit? okay sure she’s the first person he met, but goddamn if rem hasn’t done 10 times as much for that boy

seriously. 

like i know the series is probably gonna end in subaru and emilia getting together but i fucking implore someone to write an alternate ending fanfic, for the sake of my sanity

i mean i’ll probably write one for myself but i wanna see how other people approach the end 

anywya, rant over

[ember-rose-gilheed]

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[ember-rose-gilheed]

"You didn't think that I wouldn't scour each and every world till I found you. You are my most precious thing in all the world" She holds the girl tight and smiles

"So, this is where you left to. What have you been doing in this world ?"

*from the sky a rift opens and Ember her crystalline wings spread lands softly behind her and scoops the young girl into her arms*

[ember-rose-gilheed]

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[ember-rose-gilheed]

[ember-rose-gilheed]

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Same here, I am actually trying to find a good image of her for a tattoo

Nymph is literally my favorite character ever and I rarely draw her. There is nothing about her that I hate! This was meant to be a quick doodle but I couldnt help myself xD

[ember-rose-gilheed]

Please reblog this as silent permission for me to rp with you.

[ember-rose-gilheed]

☠

Bedtime Headcanons 💤

§ = The character’s most common sleeping position?

∞ = What does the character usually wear to bed?

♔ = What size bed do they sleep on?

@ = Soft or hard mattress?

± = How many pillows does the character usually sleep on?

☀ = Lights on or off?

æ = Door open or closed?

♥ = Do they prefer to sleep alone? With a partner/stuffed companion?

ツ = Does the character steal the covers or has the covers stolen off them?

☯ = Any odd sleeping habits?

zzz  = Does the character snore? What does it sound like?

☁ = How often does the character dream?

☆ = Character’s best dream?

✖ = Does the character have nightmares?

☠ = Character’s worst nightmare?

☂ = Has the character ever had a wet dream?

回 = The weirdest dream the character has experienced?

❖ = Does the character lucid dream?

☾ = What time does the character usually sleep/wake up?

ϟ = Are they a light or heavy sleeper? Can they sleep through a lot of noise?

☎ = Do they suffer from a sleep disorder? (e.g. insomnia, night terrors, narcolepsy)

Ω = Has the character ever sleep walked before?

ღ = Are they comfortable sleeping in a bed that isn’t their own? (e.g. at hotels, other people’s homes, etc.)

❀ = Do they use stimulus to help them sleep? (e.g. candles, music, aromatherapy)

☮ = Ideal place to sleep? (impractical or otherwise. e.g. a pink fluffy marshmallow)

[ember-rose-gilheed]

((Seems that you took a look around here again. Hi.))

I do from time to time

[ember-rose-gilheed]

*draws a penguin on your forehead *

Grab a marker and write something on my muse! (Anywhere over my muse's body.)

[ember-rose-gilheed]

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