#aravel

[lairofdragonagelore]

Exalted Plains

The Exalted Plains, also known as Dirthavaren ("the promise") in elvish, is a grassland region of the Dales in Orlais. Centuries ago, the Dalish kingdom met its end here, the holdouts of the elven army making their last stand, refusing to surrender against the champions of Andraste: the templar, the sister, and the nobleman patron. The champions' cause was just, and their faith led them to victory. The plains were henceforth called "Exalted". After the elves' defeat and the dissolution of their kingdom, Ville Montevelan became the first human settlement in the Dales, presided over by Revered Mother Amity, Champion of the Exalted March.

Currently, the region is a contested battlefield during the War of the Lions until Empress Empress Celene and Gaspard de Chalons's armies agreed to cease hostilities.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

When entering this zone, Solas explains that this place has a thin Veil product of the battles that happened long time ago: the Exalted March of Dales. So we know we are going to see a mixture of elven ruins and human settlements. 

Scout Harding will inform us that in the area there is a group of rebels who are tired of the War of the Lions, and wants the Dales for themselves.

The first thing we see when we enter this zone are these statues that, design-wise, they are very, very close to the Humanoid Dirthamen/Falon'Din. Humanoid Dirthamen/Falon'Din is a squatted hooded figure, who doesn’t have any object in his hand. This one holds a plate which works as a brazier. In fact, the elven statues are placed in this entrance, but on the Emerald Graves side:

They are called Guardians of the Path, and by the note they trigger, they are Andrastian. Still the striking similarity between these statues and the one we associate with Dirthamen makes me suspect that, once conquered, the Orlesians repurposed the native statues.

The first ruin we find, which surrounds the camp, is an elven one, with a dragon painting on one of its columns.

Besides the path there is a rectangle statue which on its top has a star-shaped fountain with a dove. On a side there is a reused elven/dwarven relic tablet that will trigger the codex Memorials of the Second Exalted March which will be updated as we read all these stones spread in the region. They explain how the “battle” against the elves was happening, mixing Andrastre’s tale with probably bits of History.  It’s very curious how this piece of information depicts the elves as proud and murderous, far away from the Maker and Andraste, which is clearly a lie when we analyse Di’nan Hanin; these Dalish, unlike modern Dalish, had fused Andraste cult into their elven pantheon, not without reason: It had been some decades since they had recovered these lands thanks to Andraste’s promise.

The zone has several ramparts where the imperial army [either side] is trying to retake control from the undead and the demons. Recovering each of these is quite a repetitive task all over the place.

The only important comment about these ramparts is that they give us some idea to understand the function of these Strange Skull-Dragon totem : They seem to hold barriers around pits that allow the dead to rise, and also as columns surrounding zones with many undead or demons. They seem to be related to summoning rituals.

Along the region we find several Andrastian statues and the typical orlesian style in the remnants of the houses that still stand.

Fort Revasan shows the standard elven patterns of any elven ruin. The Orlesian occupation built extra, less durable additions with chess-like floors and decorated wooden elements.

Close to Fort Revasan there is a sealed entrance that requires a war table operation to be solved in order to open. It shows a Fen’Harel statue, guarding the entrance.  It’s a nice detail to see that the base of his statue shows an eluvian-like pattern worth to keep present.

Very far away in the North, over the mountains that surround this region, we see a big Fen’Harel statue observing the Exalted Plains. It’s hard to guess what this zone represented in the time of the Elvhenan [not the Dalish kingdom]. This place has 3 main elvhen ruins: the one in the North Rampart, the Ghilan’nair’s grove, and the Graveyard Var Bellanaris. There are more than these, but they are too destroyed or small. It’s hard to ponder if all of them date of the same time.

At some kilometres of distance from the Fen’Harel’s statue, we see a tower of radical different style. At a single glance, we can see it’s Tevinter. More details of this in the Post about Exalted Plains: Citadelle du Corbeau.

Riverside Garrison is another elven ruin which patterns make it look like Elvhen: flower pattern, square pattern and swirl pattern.

Inside, we find more elements that allows us to suspect this is Elvehan from the time when the Veil did not exist. There is an elaborated tile that we will see in puzzles in the Temple of Mythal, and one of those rounded trees, growing out of it.

With the exception of the rounded tree, the decoration looks like an elvehnan crypt; its style is the same one we found in the crypts of the Temple of Mythal. There are bodies, skeletons and urns everywhere. Of course, DAI has several bodies and skeletons that they use for everything dead, so I won’t focus on the armour or the details of these objects. They are always the same no matter what kind of dead you are looking at: an avvar body, an elven body or a dwarven body.

Close to Revasan Fort, there is a collapsed bridge decorated with a statue of Andraste and a landmark called Pont Agur. It explains with dubious accuracy that after the Exalted March of the Dales some villagers drown trying to cross the river, so the mayor built this bridge and dedicated it to humans and elves too. This started a rumour about the mayor having elven blood, and had to step down. I think this shows how complex was this land after the March; these things [elves and humans in relationships] have been happening since long time ago, as the Tomb of Elandrin shows us with the incident of Red Crossing. For more details read Emerald Graves: Din’an Hanin, Tomb of Elandrin.

Beside Port Agur we find villa Montevelan, where this story of the mayor happened. This was the first human settlement after the Exalted March of the Dales. It’s all destroyed now.

Inside some ramparts we can see big trees that got my attention: I don’t know if they can be considered the original vhenadahl, the trees that the city elves try to grow as a memory of their Dalish roots. These trees can be found in ramparts as well as in the Citadelle du Corbeau. In many times, they show bodies hanging from its branches, so they inspire some murderous sentiment to such an elven symbol [if these tree are supposed to be vhenadahl, I’m just guessing since these can’t be found in other elven ruins, so they seem to be more Dalish than Elvish to me.]

In this rampart in particular, we find a difference in comparison with the rest of the ramparts in the area: there is a small tower which construction date is hard to guess. It could have been built during the Exalted March or a bit earlier.  The entrance is decorated with these enigmatic tablets, depicting the Razikale Ceremony and the Horned warrior holding a sword. We have established they were Tevinter due to their presence in Coracavus and The Still Ruins. Inside the tower we find a Tevinter inspector, Tevinter containers, and minor, decorative Tevinter elements. Inside this tower there is a codex about Legend of the Three Sisters: Book 3, which makes the player aware of how stories change depending on factors such as historical-political situation, countries or censorship. This is yet another call out that the game does to us, players, to not take every single story we read as 100% true. 

It seems that Tevinter mages were present in the Exalted Plains at some point in History and performed some magic or experiments. Considering the Strange Skull-Dragon totem and the undead all over the place, I would be inclined to think that some faction during the Exalted March invited Tevinter mages to provide efforts in the battle. Which is a very odd concept if we remember that it was a war between Elves [many of them coming from families who had fought Tevinter by Andraste’s side to recover their freedom] and the Chantry of that time [which always had some frictions with Tevinter].

I thought in a possibility to explain this Tevinter presence: since many of the elves that fought in the Exalted March belonged to families that had been former slaves of Tevinter mages, some of them could have developed a vast knowledge of Tevinter arcane magic. I have the impression this is more or less proven in the Citadelle du Corbeau, where elves may have installed a Tevinter defence system in an elven ruin. Because of this last fact, I’m a bit inclined to think this is the reason why we find Tevinter elements in this region. However, that doesn’t add up that we find these tablets, which are more related to Tevinter gods and ceremonies than Elven ones. I can imagine elves resorting to Tevinter devices against the Chantry, but hardly performing rituals to Tevinter gods. 

As a conclusion I don’t think we can make a decent explanation of why we find so many Tevinter objects in the ramparts and elven ruin when there is no Tevinter building in the whole region.

We see this rock with an eye in many places of Exalted Plains, usually, but not exclusively, representing the attack of Orlesians [at least in the context of Exalted Plains and Emerald green]. During the main quest, in the attack to Adamant Fortress, it was the Inquisition who used these stones. Clearly a reused asset with little meaning, so I will skip it.

In Victory Rise we find more Elven ruins: we can see the elven patterns of swirls and flowers around this door.  In this place we find the codex of  Legend of the Three Sisters: Book 1. 

In Enavuris [such a name to confuse it so easily with Evanuris] we find a ruin that, after inspection, allows you to follow a quest to look for ancient elven glyphs. The power that the note  The Elven Glyphs talks about ends up being the “Dirthamen’s wisdom”, a strange shield that can be found at the end of the exploration of the Lost Temple of Dirthamen which has an oddly Tevinter look. [See the post related to the Lost Temple of Dirthamen]. It’s hard to understand what each of these symbols that appear in the glyphs mean. Clearly, all of them are secrets, such it is the nature of Dirthamen.  A brief, potential analysis can be found in the post of the Lost Temple of Dirthamen.

In Halin’sulahn we find a very small Dalish clan. They are placed close to a rock which shows the usual painting of a yellow halla, and the one that looks like a battle with many elves on hallas. There is also a statue of a hart. After talking with the Keeper of this clan we are informed about several elven-issues that the War of the Lions has caused.

The encampment shows the typical Dalish symbols: these fences with ragged hides and tree branches paint in red or green on them.

I always like to highlight that the Aravels keep these undulating lines that make me remember the undulating patterns in many, if not all, murals found in DAI. It is also worth remembering that the aravels were prison-ships filled with slaves that sent elves to dwarven cities [check The Horror of Hormak].

In search for those ancient elven glyphs, we explore a zone called Ancient Baths. By its name it seems to be an elven building which allowed baths in the river. Its entrance is decorated with two archer statues, and two wall paintings: the yellow halla, and the black twisted halla with white elves wearing vallaslin [the Dalish “remember” that golden hallas guided The people to places where they needed to be, specially in desperate times. The truth behind that probable is more twisted]. Every time I see these paintings I suspect that this building was meant to be used by slaves.

As we proceed, we find a point where we need to jump off. This chamber, in its configuration [not grandeur], looks like the Temple of Mythal's main chamber where the priest stays in a high place, inaccessible to reach [no stairs in this chamber], looking from above down to the petitioner. 

This section has ancient elven decorative elements: two inuksuit decorated with red swirls and a central squared stone, both elements used for the elven dead. More than half of the ruin has fallen apart but it seems to give an idea that this building was meant to be used to see baths in the river.

As it can be seen, the decoration is ancient elvhen.

As we explore the map, we find this statue which triggers Andruil's Messenger, a codex that produces more confusion than understanding of who is the god behind the owl symbol. There is a painting of a yellow halla beside the statue. Since it is an information given by Gisharel, it may be extremely wrong. The tale almost hides a command: the people, aka the slaved elves, will follow Andruil, she will tell them when to hunt, when to raise hallas, and when to settle down. And for that, she will use an owl. Since we do not truly have better sources confirming that the owl, crow, or raven are Dirthamen’s sacred animal, it’s hard to suspect how much of this tale has been twisted along the Dalish history.

In the open we see more of these four painting together: The row of slaved elves, The Armoured Figure,  The Vallaslin shifting halla, and the black halla with elves wearing vallaslin. All these paintings together seem to speak about elves being capture, alienated [ they have no face nor heart] under the control of a symbol we have seen a lot: the golden ring, and these slaves are related to vallaslin and deformed hallas that shift. For more detail, see the post Nation Art: Elvhen.

Several times in the open we can find these owl statues or the archers. Sometimes even marking a path, as if they were guiding us to some places. Sometimes they are accompanied with the paintings.

The Path of flame, a name designated by the Chantry to this part, looks like the entrance of a bigger elven ruin, which is protected by two big Fen’Harel statues. The landmark we trigger around this area, extremely unreliable, suggests that this place was an elven arena. I hardly believe it, but certainly there is something about gathering many elves and forcing them to walk certain paths [aka, a path to mark slaves? considering the paintings]. The truth is, that the game has showed us two elvhen arenas already: In Emprise du Lion, called currently by orlesians names since the original ones were lost to the ages: Etienne’s Ring and Leontine’s Ring, which are now used by dragons. So, I have to say that despite not trusting this source in the slightest, the Ruined Arches of Exalted Plains have a similar look to those we see in Emprise du Lion. So maybe elves had rings after all but the purpose of them is completely unknown. 

In this zone, we find a solitary statue of Fen’Harel on the waterfall.

Some meters away from it, there is a Shrine to Sylaise, which entrance is decorated in the same fashion than the Ancient Baths: two archers indicating the entrance, and two paintings depicting a yellow halla and a black halla wtih elves wearing vallaslin.

When we enter the temple, we only find crypt-related elements: inuksuit and urns, and a codex of Sylaise is triggered: Sylaise: the Hearthkeeper, which is the usual one we find in DAO, and extremely unreliable.

Inside the temple there is a small corner covered with a barrier, where a body can be found. This body has a valuable historical talisman of the Dales elves, and an ancient elven robe. It's not clear to me how to understand the situation in which we find it.

This talisman belonged to an historical warrior of the Dales, and since we find a Robe that looks like the same one than the Keeper of the Clan we met, I assume this body was an ancient Keeper who wanted to protect that talisman from the shemlen, and made a barrier with themselves inside, or they activated some trap of the small shrine and got caught in it..

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

[koyot1]

christmas gift for my friend @wednesdaylatte of their character Aravel from my campaign, Pantomime!! kiss kiss muah muah besitos

[niennandil-me-writes]

Goretober 15: Masochist

CN: abuse, abusive power dynamics

[Aravel belongs to @yakyuu-yarou]

Aráto wasn’t even hiding his rage as he left the council. Teeth gritted, he stomped through the corridors of the fortress. He didn’t know where he had found the patience to stay as long as he did, after every one of his contributions was brushed off, gently but firmly, as if he were a child giving the wrong answers in school.

He could hear Aravel panting, trying to keep pace with him.

“Who do they think they are?” he asked no one in particular, quickening his steps. His cloak billowed behind him, and his armor creaked at every step, giving his pace authority. “Crusty old people. Ha, old! I’m older than half of them, and yet not as senile.”

“They don’t know you yet,” Aravel said quickly. “Once they do, they will listen.”

Aráto ignored them. “Old in experience they may be, but not in wisdom. They deem me a child! Don’t they know who I am?” He had reached his room, entered, and slammed the door shut, almost into Aravel’s face, who, unfortunately, stepped to the side at the last moment.

“Aráto,” they said meekly.

“I am the chosen one!” He threw his cloak in the corner.

“Aráto!”

“I am the one destined to defeat the forces of evil!” He took the glaive from the holster on his back. “And this is how they regard me?”

“Meldamir!”

He wheeled around on them and thrust the glaive forward, piercing them right below the chest. They screamed out and tumbled backwards from the force. Aráto followed them until they were forced against the wall, and then pushed the glaive deeper into the wound, until he could feel the tip hit the stone wall behind them.

“Do not trifle with me today, my angel,” he growled. “I’m all out of patience.”

Aravel gritted their teeth into a smile. “I know.” They reached up their hands to grip the weapon lodged inside them, absentmindedly tracing the point where it entered them and smearing the blood running down. “They are fools not to listen to you, Aráto Cilhatal. But soon they will see what I see. They will know how special you are.”

Aráto found his scowl transforming into a lopsided grin. After today’s council, he had really needed to let of some steam. Only now did he realize why Aravel had done what they’d done. They truly were the only one he could depend on, the first person to ever believe in him. Not that he’d ever tell them that.

He pulled the glaive from their flesh, which was met with a disappointed sigh from Aravel, and then an excited gasp as he used the blade on the side of it to cut them once across their entire body. Their pretty pastel pink gown was stained with shimmering golden blood. He smirked and grabbed their rose strands of hair in his hand.

“You think I’m done with you already, angel?”

They bit their lip. He yanked them closer, and then kicked them in the stomach to send them sprawling to the ground.

“Get up,” he commanded as he stepped on their sternum. They strained against him, almost managed to push themself off the floor before he put his entire weight on them. They grabbed his boot, which seemed more like a sign of adoration than an attempt to push him away. He laughed and thrust the glaive downwards, into their chest, just below their heart. They screamed and shuddered and threw back their head.

He looked down on them, that perfect angelic creature, now covered in blood and mutilated, knowing he had put them in that state. Knowing he could do that to them. Knowing they had let him do that to them. It made him feel powerful. And he needed to feel that after the humiliation he had lived through. Not just today, but his entire life. He had always felt so small, so insignificant and without meaning, until Aravel had come into his life, presenting him with the glaive and the prophecy attached to it.

Aráto twisted the glaive around and watched the angel squirm under him. No longer weak. No longer insignificant. If he wanted, he could kill them right now.

His whole body went cold at that realization. He could do that. They would let him. That excited him, made him feel more powerful than ever before. And yet…

It frightened him like nothing else.

They were the only one who had ever believed in him. Who had handed him a destiny. Who had made him strong and important. Who listened to his talk and valued his thoughts. If he killed them, yes, he’d feel powerful for a moment. And then?

He’d have lost all that they were to him. Who was a chosen one without his prophecy? He’d go right back to being weak, insignificant Meldamir.

He was nothing without them. And he hated them for it.

Aráto pulled the glaive out of them and leaned it against the wall. Their silence was filled with questions, which he chose to ignore. He pulled them up by the hair and let healing magic close their wounds. Then he let go of them, letting the slump to the ground again. Turning away, he snapped his fingers.

He started undoing the clasps of his armor. After a moment, Aravel joined him, already all cleaned up by magic, and helped him doff his armor.

[selfish-cat]

Are you going to finish your da fic with non?

I haven't given up on it! Like part of the next chapter is right there on my wip list but brain and hands and thoughts are having trouble finding a meeting time that works for them--but it's on my list!!

[cairaleighexe]

💠Thora Cadash for @aravelsforariha 💠

thank you @queenaeducan for having me draw your girl!! 💐

[dalishborne]

keeper's day off :')

[ulenehlervu]

doodled some ladies from riften to end the year

more here

[pigeonwithapen]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something truly unfinished, and I want to get in the habit of posting more in general. So! Please enjoy my favorite scribble in my files lol. [ID in alt for all]

Very important bonus:

[pandoratelenor]

*solas haunting the dreams of dalish keepers for hundreds of years*

Also Solas:

"I dont understand why the dalish are so obsessed with me, and with insulting me!"

[esoteric-aesthetic-lyrics]

The Child You Were - Frances Aravel

[anneapocalypse]

I remain unconvinced that we were ever meant to think aravels literally flew through the air before Last Flight was written. That has just never made sense to me. I am much more inclined to write this off as either an in-character mistake (Isseya is not Dalish, and is operating based on stories she's heard) or simply a lore error in a book that is known to have been rushed. (According to Ghil Dirthalen's youtube series on the book, Liane Merciel has said that she didn't have much time to do lore review.)

The Codex entry on aravels includes this line:

Someone once told me that humans flee when they see the sails of our aravels flying above the tops of trees.

Which I never took to mean the aravels were literally flying. It's the sails which are "flying above the tops of trees" and can be seen from a distance. The entry also includes this line:

There is nothing more wonderful than sitting on an aravel as it flies through the forest, pulled by our halla.

Through the forest, not above the forest. Halla are also not flying creatures. Aravels have wheels, and they are called "landships," not "airships."

Furthermore, while I'm always cautious about taking game mechanics too diagetically, both the Keeper specialization in Awakening and Merrill's Wrath of the Elvhen abilities demonstrate a Keeper's ability to manipulate the land and specifically the trees and plant life. Based on those abilities, it just makes a lot more sense to me that Keepers are gently parting the trees to let aravels through than that they're magicking up both the aravels and the halla to make them fly while also giving the halla free rein to fly where they wish. Like one is Occam's Razor, and the other is overcomplicating things, and also sounds a bit like someone skimmed the Codex entry and misunderstood it.

[lairofdragonagelore]

The Crossroads [DLC Trespasser]: Forgotten Tower and Hidden Hollow

Through the Crossroads we access to two hidden spaces: The Forgotten Tower may be located along the coast of Volca Sea or in one of its isles, and the Hidden Hollow, which location is unknown, although its visual may suggest a place along the Waking Sea due to its similarity to caves of the Storm Coast.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Forgotten Tower

When we charge these dragon eggs with Fade energy from the Anchor, they allow the creation of stone bridges. Cole says something curious about it: these eggs are old and ask the stones to change, so they do.

Using the egg from the isle that leads us to the Deep Roads, we reach the Forgotten Tower. The entrance to its eluvian is decorated with a Chasind rug, and some rubble where we can find a Monolith with swirls.

Inside we find a throne along the continuation of the rug. This room has no doors to go outside, or latch to go down if it is a tower. It’s a strange space, giving you the idea that there is no way out but through the eluvian. Maybe some latch is under the rubble, but it can’t be found. According to Skyhold decoration, this is a Ferelden throne.

Beside the Chasind carpet we find two drawings on the floor: a golden halla, and a red-stained black halla. Despite being a Ferelden tower, something related to elvhen have been here since these paintings belong to Nation Art: Elvhen.

There is some overgrowth in the room, and there is not much to say about the tower. It’s a small space, with an architecture that resembles Ferelden construction, but it has Dalish details such as the curtains and the elvhen paintings on the ground. 

Behind the throne there is some rubble where we find a Dwarf with long limbs, a beheaded Mabari statue and a Monolith with swirls.

On the ground we get a Moldy Journal, written in a strange way for my knowledge. This seems to be written by an Anderfelen person who met an elvhen in this tower. A deeper analysis of this codex and part of this tower can be found in Old Codex: Mouldy Journal.

When we open the chest, two revenants appear.

And then we have access to the items for the set The Taken Shape and the upgrade of the codex. A detailed analysis of these items can be found in The Taken Shape set.

Hidden Hollow

Around the corner of the isle where we have access to the eluvian that send us to the Deep Road, we find some rocks with red marks. I suppose these are small infiltration of red lyrium? The usual colour of these glowing rocks is green in the fade. These disturbed me a bit. They don’t truly look like red lyrium, but it’s only normal to fear. There are some elvhen funerary urns around the eluvian. Once more we see how the local environment of the eluvian reflects its destiny [which I think it’s also a game mechanics to help the player to identify them easily].

After so many months of extensive analysis and repetition of symbols all over the game, the first impression I get when entering this room is about “sacrifices” trying to hide. This space reminds me the first part before entering to Ghilan’nain’s Grove, where there is an excess of bones and elements of death.

There are several inuksuit: the Red inuksuk, that I always associate with slave elves that marked places of sacrifice or where their blood will be spilled. There is also a white inuksuck with red swirls drawn on it. We found this element in many elvhen crypts or graveyards but also in the Emerald Graves to mark those Emerald Knights that had fallen during the Exalted March.

There are several Elvhen funerary lids and elven urns, and a curious element standing out from the rest: a small miniature of an aravel. This is not an Aravel, but a miniature of it. Why?

If we stick with the idea transpired in Tevinter Nights: The Horror of Hormak, we may relate it to slaves sent to places where terrible experiments of transformation were committed onto them. This Hollow is made of stone, and in some way, we can consider it potentially located somewhere around the Storm Coast, where these kind of caves were common. Hinterlands also has one of these around the Lake Calenhad [around the corner where we fight the dragon] and close to the main town Crossroad: a Wolf Hollow decorated with avvar statues where we finish the Quest of the black wolves.

On the wall, there is a big golden halla.

In the centre of the room there is an Elven hart statue. If we remember Exalted Plains: Ghilan’nain’s Grove, we can relate this place through this statue to Ghilan’nain and Andruil, and to a place where sacrifices are gathered.

On the other side of the room, we find another Red inuksuk and a mural of a red-stained halla. The same two paintings we found in the Forgotten Tower.

When we open the chest, demons of rage and despair appear. After that, we can take the item of The Taken Shape set, and an update of the codex.

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

100% agree with your tags on the tlt/baru reblog and thank you for saying it !!

Since you've given me the excuse to talk about it more, the other area of potential appeal that Baru has for TLT fans is that both series follow a conventional (ish) plot structure in book 1 but spend book 2 on a complex and less conventionally structured exploration of grief and trauma wherein the main character is in horrendous pain, has been cut off from anything resembling healthy support, is surrounded by ostensible allies who are completely and utterly untrustworthy, and is struggling to find any path to victory in a fight that they feel utterly unequal to but are nevertheless wholely committed. I think the thing that makes or breaks Baru for people coming to it from TLT is that Baru is much, much more grounded in the real world. Where the emotions and events of TLT are abstracted through layers of magic and obfuscated worldbuilding, Baru's world and rules are clearly laid out, extremely close to our own, and the context of the events that play out is clear and familiar. Harrow's power might metaphysically arise from the slaughter of innocents, but Baru's power is institutional, given to her as a reward for the slaughter of thousands.

I think it makes sense that it varies person to person whether the change in context makes the story better or worse for you.

[niennandil-me-writes]

Goretober 8: Nosebleed

CN: bullying

[Aravel belongs to @yakyuu-yarou]

A young elf boy was running through the streets of the town. Tears and blood were streaming down his face. His fine tunic completely soiled by now. He tried to hold in the tears, tried not to touch his nose, but failed at both. His nose was moving in ways he knew it shouldn’t be, pain searing through his face when he tried to right it.

Someone called something at him from the side of the road. He kept his face down. They were staring, he knew that, staring at his shame. There goes Miriel’s boy, running away from his problems, can’t even defend himself. His hands balled into fists. He gritted his teeth to keep from sobbing and moved faster.

Now, decades later, that same elf boy, not quite as young anymore, is walking the same streets. His steps are measured and confident, closely followed by a pastel shadow. It doesn’t take long to find who he is looking for.

“Curufin!” Aráto calls after the blonde elf, as if he had just spotted an old friend.

The other elf looks up from the market stalls outside his family’s shop, brow furrowed. “Excuse me, do I know you?”

Aráto tries to hide his irritation behind a jest: “It has hardly been, what, 30 years, and you don’t recognize your old schoolmate?”

Curufin looks at him more closely, and his eyes twinkle with recognition as they reach Aráto’s nose. “Meldamir, is that you?” He smiles, as if seeing an old friend. “Oh, it has been a while, hasn’t it?”

Aráto didn’t anticipate his reaction being so... friendly. “Yes. But I go by Aráto now.”

Curufin’s brow furrows again. “Aráto?”

He nods and repeats the name, smiling, daring him to ridicule it. But the other just nods as well. “Who’s your friend?”

“Aravel,” he smiles while they keep silent, like he told them to. “We met a few weeks ago.”

“So, you still work in your parents’ yarn shop?” Aráto says as an excuse to enter through the door, giving Curufin no choice but to follow him as he tries to pick up the insignificant conversation. Aravel, he knows, follows right behind them, and closes the door. The shop is empty except for them.

“How is your gang doing?” Aráto interrupts Curufin’s talk about the yarn business.

“My what?”

Slowly Aráto is getting impatient about Curufin’s ceaseless confusion. “Oh, you know, your friends. I forget their names.” He hasn’t. “The people you used to hang out with and torment me together with.”

Curufin’s eyes widen. He leans forward against the shop counter, looks down and licks his lips. “Listen, Meldamir –“

“Aráto.”

“Yes, sorry.” He shuffles around a bit. “Listen, I – I was an asshole back then. No other words for that. I had anger issues – not that that’s any excuse – but... I’ve been working on that. I can do nothing but apologize. If you want, you can pick out some yarn free of charge. It’s on me.”

“You bullied me for years, and now you think some free textiles are going to make up for that?” Aráto walks around Curufin, who follows him, turning away from the front part of the shop.

Curufin sighs, seeming almost tormented himself right now. Aráto has as much pity for him as Curufin had for him. "I get if you never want to see me again. Wouldn’t want to see the me from back then either. I was a stupid, cruel youth. And you didn’t deserve that.”

“You weren’t just stupid and cruel. You beat me up on the regular.”

“I was a stupid teen,” Curufin says more exasperated. “It was decades ago!”

“And you just want me to forget about it?” Aráto laughs. “Sorry, that scar I carry around everywhere makes that quite hard.”

Curufin turns pale. “That was me? Oh gods. It was, wasn’t it.” He puts his head in his hands. “Man, Meld- Aráto, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix what you did.”

“Aráto, what do you want?” He sounds tired, annoyed, embarrassed.

Aráto looks over Curufin’s shoulder to see Aravel close the last of the curtains. He smiles. “Retribution.” He reaches for the glaive slung over his shoulder.

Curufin’s eyes widen in fear. “What are you doing?” He backs away, only to run into Aravel, who puts one hand on his shoulder. Their pink eyes stay focused on Aráto. They won’t do anything unless he tells them to. This is his fight.

“You and your friends tormented me because it made you feel big,” Aráto says. “Today I’ll show you what it means to feel small.” He thrusts the spear forward and Curufin jumps, not realizing it is just a feint to get the haft between his legs. Curufin topples and falls to the floor with a yelp of pain. Before he can jump up, Aráto stands over him, one foot on his chest. He points the blunt side of the glaive at Curufin’s face. “And I will turn this mark of shame into one of triumph. An eye for an eye, a nose for a nose.”

He thrusts down. There’s a satisfying crunch, then a high-pitched scream. Aráto lifts the weapon to see it covered in blood. Curufin’s face is covered in blood as well, his nose a mangled mess of flesh and bones. He gives out a disgusting wet sob and reaches up to his face, only to cry out more when his fingers brush the wound.

Aráto smiles. He’s had his revenge, and he could stop here. Instead, he turns the glaive around.

[danafinwefeaelenionfeanorian]

Feanorian Week Day Seven: Feanaro and Nerdanel

140 FO

"They're supposed to arrive today," I tell Mother over my tea cup.

She decided to drag me from my desk in the castle to enjoy a small break with her. At the manor, no less. We could have gone anywhere in Tirion, but we had to go home.

I'm not mad about it, but this means I could be here when they arrive. I wasn’t expecting to see them until dinner. I had time to rein in my emotions but now I may not.

I'm supposed to be Arafinwe's chief advisor and head of state. I take care of nearly everything for him like I did for Oropher and Thranduil in their respective ruling of the Eryn Lasgalen.

Father, Grandfather and Grandmother are set to arrive in Tirion today. They should go to the castle to see Arafinwe first, but I have a sneaking suspicion they are coming here first. I’d have been fine greeting them there but again I think they’ll come here.

Mother hasn't seen Father since we left in 1495. I haven't seen Grandfather since he was murdered twelve feet from me. As for Grandmother, neither Mother nor I have met her. She's been in Mandos since before either of us was born.

"That's what has you fired up?" She asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes," I gulp some tea down to avoid a longer answer.

"Dana, darling, you're getting married next week, and your Father, Grandfather and Grandmother arriving is what has you more fired up than a smithy." Mother snorts in an attempt to hold back her nervous laughter.

An understatement. I feel like I'm holding back a torrent of flames and heat, and holding it back is so strenuous that I've begun to shake.

"Yes,"

"You'd think I'd be more...more..."

"More fired up than me?" I offer loosely drawing on my skills as a wordsmith.

"Yes,"

"Dana, there are three people coming up the drive. One has silver hair like Turca," Tauriel's voice filters into the sunroom. I'd ask what could have possibly torn her away from her drawing with Nelyo, but when someone has hair like Turca, there can only be one person it belongs to.

The art room and the sunroom overlook the drive. I could see if it’s them. I twist in the arm chair and try to catch a glimpse of the three people. Sure enough there are three people walking up the drive. One has silver hair and the other two have dark brown hair.

Oh, sweet Varda, they're here.

I plop my tea cup onto the side table and stare at Mother. She looks as nervous as I feel. Oh valar.

I slide my legs off the arm of the armchair and stand. Together, Mother and I exit the sunroom. Nelyo meets us in the hall and walks with us to the front entry.

Tauriel silently walks behind us, muttering about our or rather my relatives, trying to figure out who they are. She then comes upon the answer and gasps.

At the front entry we don’t have to wait long for the doors to open. In fact it’s as we’re arriving that they open.

Standing on the other side of the doors are the very people I expected. Grandfather, Grandmother and Father. The original royal family. Finally, complete after all this time.

“Feaelenion,” Grandfather smiles.

“Grandfather,” I whisper.

Then, in an instant, he opens his arms for a hug like he did all those years ago. I surge forward, tears streaming down my face and fold myself into the hug. It's everything I've been wanting all these years.

I feel Grandfather lift his arms from my back and beckon Nelyo over. My brother instantly envelopes me and Grandfather in his arms. And suddenly, I'm fifty again.

“Forgive me, my dearest,” Father weeps between gasps. “forgive me,”

“I have. You are forgiven,” Mother murmurs. "You have been for some time,"

I detach myself from Grandfather and Nelyo to watch my parents. Father is kneeling and hugging Mother's waist as tightly as he can, from what I can tell. Mother is leaning down and murmuring into the top of his head.

Both have tears streaming down their cheeks.

I wipe my own tears from my face and beckon Tauriel over. She wonders closer in a daze as if realizing I wasn't exaggerating when I said I look identical to my Grandfather.

"Grandfather, this is Tauriel my oldest,"

"Your oldest," A feminine voice, not belonging to Mother, says. "How many do you have?"

"Two," I smile, glancing at the small female with silver hair. A clear relation to Father and the hair Turca inherited. "My youngest is Aravel. He's currently out with Nanwe,"

"As in the lord, Finwe mentioned you were courting?" Grandmother asks.

"I still am,"

"Dana, you're getting married to him in a week," Tauriel states as if it were plainer than my nose.

"Are we not allowed to court up until then?"

Tauriel sputters, then blows a raspberry at me. Delightful use of words, darling. Delightful.

"They are...your own?" Grandmother tentatively asks. She eyes me and my daughter.

It's quite clear that Tauriel and I do not resemble one another. Her red hair could have been inherited from Mother if she was my child, but he skin colour? That is far too dark to be mine or Nanwe's.

I'd have her no other way. She is beautiful as is. A perfect addition to my family.

"No, they're adopted. If I were to have a child of my own body, I'd turn out like you, Grandmother," I tell her as I pull Tauriel into my side for a hug.

"Oh,"

"How do you know?" Grandfather asks.

Oh, dear valar. So many questions, and it's not even over dinner. I sigh and tell them I was told by Iluvatar. Which is true. It just wasn't in person.

"YOU WHERE WHAT?" Father asks, tearing his and Mother's attention from each other.

"It was the night I'd accepted Nanwe as my intended," I sigh, remembering the night clearly as if it were yesterday. "He slipped into my dreams that night and said if I were to bear a child I would end up like my Grandmother,"

"Why did you not say something?" Nelyo asks. He saw me that morning after. I was shaken, and he knew me well enough then to know something happened.

He was so sure it was Nanwe that he nearly broke exile to tear Nanwe's head off. It took me sitting on his chest to get him to stop. I had to tell him I had a nightmare to get him to back off.

"It wasn't a big deal. Nanwe and I had just accepted one another, and children were so far off. It wasn't a pressing issue,"

Tauriel pulls on my sleeve. She's looking directly at Father. "Uncle Curvo wasn't lying when he said he looked exactly like Grandfather,"

"No he wasn't,"

"Did you say, Grandfather?" Father asks Tauriel. Father's head snaps to Tauriel standing by me.

Tauriel nods.

Father swears and gingerly picks her up in a hug and twirls her around while murmuring, "A grandchild. A grandchild. A grandchild,"

Mother and I share a smile. We had many conversations over the past month depicting what his reaction will be to Tauriel and Aravel. What his reaction to Mother will be. How she will react and how my siblings will react.

"She's also a smith," Nelyo mentions.

Father places Tauriel down and asks her if this is true. At her nod Father pulls her into a tight hug. Mother chuckles and attaches herself to her husband and grandchild.

[cairaleighexe]

Hi everyone!

I am currently participating in Aravels for Ariha and am contributing two [2] half-body commission slots [$60 each] for the Gaza Mutual Aid Collective!

My listing

Artist Catalogue