#bonus points if you can name the two melusine i drew

[dailyneuvillette]

day thirty three; confused ducklings

[shellyscribbles]

Weekly update

Well, today has not gone as planned, so I am ending my week with out writing today.  I did meet my goal of adding 3,500 words to The Shadow of Vale this week.  I added 3,858 words, in fact.  My total word count is now 13,719. 

It was a pretty good week.  I might share two scenes.  I am pretty happy with the majority of what I wrote this week. 

Here is the first scene I wanted to share.  It is Akil and Cyrus arriving in Enid to speak with Sevan and Melusine. 

             As they walked deeper into the city, the dwellings were a little more modest, but not much.  There was abrupt shift from those to the towers that surrounded the central garden where children rushed through the trails with their parents shouting after them.

             Akil smiled, refreshed by the vibrancy and life of the city.  It helped relieve the weight of knowing Lux now lay dark.  

             “Have your friends been to Enid before?” Pachoua asked.  

             “Uh, I don’t believe so.  They would have had to come through Sylfaen if they did.” Rhys looked at the naims.  Cyrus kept his eyes ahead, but Akil was obviously enjoying the sights, keeping a protective hand on Zuriel’s back.  “No, I don’t believe they have.”

             The chief home was enormous.  Akil had mistaken it for some sort of colony building until Pachoua announced they had reached the gate of Sevan’s home.  They walked through an extravagant water garden to get to the entry hall.  Once inside, Pachoua asked them to wait before heading further into the great home, which Akil had to stop himself from calling a castle.  

             After several minutes, the doors opened and they were greeted by a remarkably dressed nymph woman with a bright smile. “Welcome to Enid.  I am Hali, daughter of Sevan.” She bowed to them.  

             “I’m Akil, this is Cyrus.” Recalling the child, he turned to show the child’s face, “This is Zuriel.”

             Hali smiled and bent over to be eye to eye with the child, “Zuriel is a strong name.  Hello, Zuriel.”

             Zuriel smiled and gave a brief laugh bringing fresh delight from the nymph princess.  She looked again at Akil and Cyrus and bid them to follow her to see her father and mother, the chief couple of Enid.  

             The hall they found themselves in beyond the doors was awe inspiring.  The rest of Enid was attractive, but the ornate decorations covering the walls and the columns were uniquely stunning.  The skill employed in not only the images but the media employed with just as important to the effect.  The murals laid out the founding of Enid along one wall and that of Vale on the other with an image of the founding chief and his wife high on the wall behind the current chief Sevan and his wife Melusine.  

             “Father, mother, I present to you Akil and Cyrus, naims from Halcyon with the nymph son Zuriel.” Hali heralded as they drew near the thrones in which the chief and his wife sat.  

             Sevan and his wife stood and nodded in greeting. Akil and Cyrus stopped before them and bowed in response.  

             “This nymph son, where is he from?” Sevan asked when they had sat once more.  

             “Lux.” Akil tried to speak clearly and loudly, but had a strange feeling he wasn’t addressing the chief properly.  

             “How have you come by him?”

             “We left Lux with his mother.  When we got to Trost, the sorcerers caught wind of our location and Adira, Zuriel’s mother, came up with a plan to lead the sorcerers north while we slipped south to Tooli.  Rhys in Tooli suggested we come to you for help getting the child safely to Halcyon.”

             “Hmm.” The chief sat in thought a moment.

             “A bridge.” Melusine spoke softly to her husband. “If the sorcerers are intent on finding the child, we should take him out of Vale and bring him around to Halcyon from the outside.”

             Akil stood up straight.  The idea was a good one as it would be far safer to take the child out of Vale.  Samael could set up traps and attacks anyway they went.  Once Adira was found, they would know where they would be aiming to reach. Any roads to Halcyon where likely to be dangerous.  

             “It would be expansive.” Sevan replied, though he did not sound opposed to the idea.  

             Melusine nodded in agreement, “we would need help. We don’t have strong tera nymphs here. We should send messengers to Trond. There are many good tera nymphs in Sylfaen.”

             At this Sevan smiled broadly and leaned forward to the naims, “You can make a bleed I assume?”

             “Yes.” Akil answered, looking at Cyrus briefly, “both of us can.”

             “Then I will send to Slyfaen for some tera nymphs. You can form a bleed here, they will build a bridge out.  It could be awkward feeling out to Halcyon from outside of Vale.” Sevan paused, thinking over this new hurdle.

             Akil hesitated.  He knew an easy way to deal with it, though it would not be the cleanest means.  “Sir, it would be simple matter of making small bleeds to check out location. Though it exposes us to some risk, its far less than simply leaving north from here.”

             Sevan looked at the naim a moment.  A look of annoyance flashed across his face.  “For now, that should be the plan.  Perhaps something even better will present itself as we go along.” Sevan turned to his daughter who stood to his right. “Hali, send Apalala to Slyfaen to tell Trond of our idea.  Ask him to send as many as he can spare.  The more we have, the faster we can get the child north.  Also, send Darya to prepare rooms for the naims to rest in while we wait for the Slyfaen nymphs.”

             Hali nodded to her father and bowed to the naims before leaving quickly through a door in the back of the hall.

             “Now,” Sevan said, rising from his throne, “Lets have a look at the child.”

             Akil slipped Zuriel out from the sling bringing a frustrated cry from the child.  After a brief effort to sooth him, Akil handed the child to Sevan’s waiting arms.  Melusine came up behind her husband and looked down at the child with a smile.  

             “We were disappointed when our last pregnant mother had a daughter.  Agur is a good king.  I trust his plan to free us of Samael will work.” Melusine addressed herself to the naims while her hand rested gently on Zuriel’s head.  “What an irony that we should strike the blow to fell him after all he has done to us.”

             “Has word reached here of Lux?” Cyrus asked.  

             “It’s dark.  We marked it’s absence three nights past.” Sevan spoke with something like annoyance.  The idea that the Chief of Enid would be unaware of the destruction of a nymph capital was an irritation to him.  The lack of decorum from the naims was beginning to wear on him, making each word grating to the cheif.  “We have some nursing mothers who can tend the child while we await Trond’s nymphs. Darya should be in shortly to show you to the rooms where you can rest.”

             Akil took a step forward before regaining control of himself as Sevan turned and headed out the same door his daughter had rushed through just moments before.  Melusine bowed to the naims before following her husband.  

             “That was strange.” Cyrus said after they were left alone a moment.  

             “Yeah.  But they’ll help.  It’s a good idea.”

-- And for a bonus scene, here is Aila with Leora and Uri--

             As the sun arose, Uri came to the conclusion that they would be safer if they remained where they were until the cover of dark.  With the sorcerers so near, it wasn’t worth the risk of the girls being seen.  

             “Then this shelter is too small.” Aila said with a shake of her head, “get out.  I’ll expand it.”

             Uri crawled out first, ensuring there was no one around, he motioned for Leora and Aila to follow.  Aila quickly linked to the life point and began to bring up the plants, carefully guiding the branches to make a larger hallow inside.  Uri looked on in wonder.  The speed and skill she already possessed at such a young age was remarkable.  Though he didn’t have extensive knowledge of the skills of nymphs, he knew enough to know that her abilities were above normal.  

             “Okay, I think this will work.” Aila said, closing her eyes a moment to steady herself.  It had been sometime since she had spent so much of herself.  Without consistent food and rest, it was all she could do to keep on her feet.

             “That’s remarkable.” Uri stepped forward, admiring the way she laced vines through the interior to screen them without giving the appearance of anything strange with the outer plant.  Unless someone was very familiar with what that brush had looked like the day before, they would be none the wiser.  

             They climbed in through a gap against the wall. Aila entered first, followed by Leora. Uri looked around once more before climbing in himself.  Aila was linked to water and pulling a small pool up before them.  

             “Where did you find water to link?” Uri asked, shocked.  

             “There is always water in the tera.”

             “Mom taught us that.” Leora said with heartbreaking longing in her voice.  

             Uri nodded, trying to smiling encouragingly to the young nymph.  Leora looked at the pool her sister had formed, wiping a tear from her eye.  

             “Are you able to link to tera as well?” Uri asked, overcome by curiosity.  

             Aila nodded, “I was only beginning training with it though.  I am best at the plant life point.”

             “Bring up water in a dry place is pretty remarkable.” Uri said, unconvinced that plants were her strong suit.  

             Aila shrugged.  She could connect to the life points with ease, always had.  While she knew not everyone could bring up water from a desert, she could always find the water.  She looked at Leora, still lost in thought, staring at the water.  She put her arm around her slim shoulders. Leora laid against her sister gratefully.  

             “You said we are going through Enid?” Aila asked, wishing to speak of anything but herself or her training.