I have all the time in the world. How about you?
There is a theme to Aylin's threats and vows of vengeance that I've noticed and that I want to share.
Do what you will. I cannot prevent you. But you know as well as I, I will come for you. One day.
That one, for example, is for Balthazar, while she is imprisoned.
I cannot prevent you. But I can advise you. Be careful to whom you yoke your fate. One day, when he is severed from me, Ketheric will die. I will not. And when I am freed, I will remember whose recompense to claim.
Did you expect me to beg? To cry? To plead? For what. I accept my fate - for now. But the life of a divine is longer than you can fathom, Sharran. And this cold chapter will close, one day.
And those are for you, when you've yet to harm her, when she's still only warning you off. But then, if you choose to try to kill her, like so many before you:
Was it everything you hoped for? Was it sweet, Sharran, to murder a paladin of Selûne - her daughter - her sword? Congratulations - your mistress Shar will write your name on her hand. And I? I will come for you. When the time is right.
The next bit depends on your character's gender:
When your sons are grown and your beard is long and wiry; when you cannot hold your nightly water and your nose grows as long as your weary, weary days…
When your daughters are grown and your chin sprouts whiskers dark - when your teeth are yellow as corn and your sleep grows short and your days are long and weary, so weary…
When your children are grown and your eyes are weak; when your nose grows as long as your weary, weary days…
Ultimately, your fate will be the same:
That is when this immortal will visit you, Sharran. That is when I will show you what it is to be afraid.
All these long-term promises of one day, coupled with inevitability.
I find it so striking that most of Aylin's threats include her flaunting and flexing her immortality (as well as her flawless, long memory) over whoever has wronged her.
Present your weapon, soldier. Plunge it into the Nightsong. I cannot stop you. But know this: I never forget a face.
HAH! Are you afraid, Sharran? Do you rattle and jump at the realisation that an immortal has your face emblazoned in her mind forevermore?
Everything is but a passing inconvenience to her, she claims, even a century of imprisonment and torment. Outlasting, outliving - that is simply what she does and what she chooses to intimidate with. Promising to wait until you are old and decrepit, until after you've experienced all the vagaries of age that she never will, leaving her sword hanging over your head throughout the entire miserable lifespan that she has permitted you to have.
Then, if you wrong her in a very heinous way, there's the extreme one of outliving not only you, but killing and extinguishing your entire bloodline in order to obliterate every trace of you from existence:
WHEN I AM FREE, I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL MURDER YOU, AND YOUR CHILDREN, AND THEIR CHILDREN BESIDE!
I will rip this world apart, plank and beam, until every iota of your being is scalded by my light. This is my promise. This is my vow.
Over and over, Aylin builds her oaths of vengeance on the foundations of an utter, even proud, certainty that she will see her foe end, one way or another, due to her nature and the simple fact of her own endlessness. This is the well she keeps coming back to.
And I find all of this, this consistent insistence on it, so striking and ironic, because one of her other main emotional threads is being thoroughly enraptured by and devoted to and just so completely in love with a mortal. One who will age and die and pass into memory just like all the targets of her rage - if I think of Isobel when I re-read all of that dialogue up there, it seems to cut both ways so deeply. But then there's the extra element that every single one of these is spoken when she either knows or is (incorrectly) convinced that Isobel is dead. Isobel, who didn't get to grow old, and who is both an anchor to humanity and a very painful reminder of the truth of Aylin's situation being twofold.
Aylin will outlast what she hates, yes, but she will outlast what she loves as well.
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Pollix lazed on the beanbag in the reading area. The passing sun shining just so perfectly on the young tighalax. He rolled onto his stomach and kneaded the carpet below when he spotted something or rather someone.
Nova. The ship Captain's daughter and fellow tighalax is currently stalking something.
'It's like watching a newborn cub walking for the first time. She'd be the runt of any tighalax pack in the galaxy.'
Pollix really had nothing against the smaller cub but he just couldn't help himself from teasing and poking fun at her every now and then.
'She's 6 moons older than me but half my size! She's like one of those stuffies we have in the toy bin.' he giggled to himself.
Intrigued by what she was doing he looks to see what her target is.
His ears perk as does his posture.
Kim. One of their human caretakers/teachers. Currently cleaning up some blocks on the ground. Completely unaware of the small feline-like creature.
She pounces. The prey is caught. Sent tumbling to it's side, shrieking with laughter.
A successful hunt shrieks Athea also watching the "hunt".
'A successful hunt? Pfft, I get that they're comrades but how could Athea call that a hunt?' for Nova's hunt was something to be expected of when one was a fresh cub. To celebrate a hunt like this when you were 7 summers old? Unheard of.
But runts do take longer since they're often too weak for some summers to do this type of thing, he concluded.
Still, at their age they should be hunting prey that's much bigger than Kim. Something around Max's size.
"Pollix! I caught Kim, did you see?"
"I saw...you were very quiet. But remember to use what's around you. Like you could have hide behind the bookshelf to get even closer."
"Oh. That's so smart! Thanks Pollix, I'm going to practice on Kim again."
"Mmmm." he curled back onto the bean bag.
"Not impressed?"
"Your blocking the sun Athea," he whined looking up at the orc. "But no not really. I mean Kim is strong I guess but she's a human."
"What. Humans are strong, sometimes stronger than other apex species like us." Pollix scoffs
"Yeah but I knocked her down like a million times when we wrestled! So Nova's probably going to be able to knock her over at least once, or maybe Kim just let her." he finished as an afterthought.
"...Okay so maybe she let Nova knock her over but what if she also let you knock her over?"
<If there's one thing many know about Tighalaxes it's that they are very prideful of their hunts and wins. And to diminish said hunts and wins is to question their skills as a hunter. The fastest and easiest way to tick them off>
The cub puffs his fur and flicks his tail around angrily.
"Nu-uh."
"Yu-huh."
"No. I knocked her over because I'm stronger than her!"
"And so did Nova. So I guess Nova is also strong." she stares at him.
<Now for Orcs, what they're known for is their undying loyalty. Should you belittle or badmouth an Orc's friend within earshot of them be prepared for an argument or a swift blow to the face. Depends on the situation>
The young orc straightens to her full height while keeping her gaze with the tighalax cub. Who in return get's up and rises to his full height as well.
Standing at 5 feet tall both are easily larger than most other youngling species their age. Only 5 inches shy of their teacher Kim.
Only at the age 6.
"Why don't you try to tackle her?"
Startled they stop sizing each other up and turn to the human who managed sneak up on them.
Jasper. A human child their age. Almost a foot smaller than them.
"I do it all the time. It's fun and I get to see how strong I am by how much I can make Kim move!" he exclaims, "One time I managed to make her take a step."
"That could work."
"Huh?"
"If you can tackle Kim then I'll apologize and take it back. If you can't then that means that Nova is strong too."
"Alright. But I'm doing it the proper way. Not when she's crouched down. That'd be too easy."
"Whatever."
..
'A real hunter should rely on their strength and instincts. Not just hiding and sneak attacks.'
He stalks towards Kim who's standing in the middle of the room doing a head count.
He picks up the pace. Her back is still to him.
He's broken into a run now. Normally he should wait till he's closer but he's just trying to tackle her so it's fine. She hears him.
He's at full speed and mere seconds away. Athea will be saying sorry to him very soon. She turns sideways and widens her feet.
He lunges. She's smiling.
To Athea and everyone else watching it was like watching a bouncy ball hit a wall. The cub made impact only to bounce off the human onto the floor.
"OH SHOOT!" Kim picks him and sets him on his back paws. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't think you'd bounce like that."
"..." could she always pick him up that easily?
"You look okay, Pollix are you hurt anywhere?" he shakes his head.
"Well that's good. Sorry about that buddy," she chuckles. "I thought since your a lot bigger than Jasper and Nova that you'd be fine. Here, let me go get you a starburst for the great effort."
"Wow Pollix! You made her actually get ready for it. I never did that. You really are strong." exclaims Nova. Eyes sparkling with awe.
"I, I just bounced off her. Like a bug."
"Yep." Athea pats her friend on the shoulder.
"...Nova you did a great job with your hunt. It was awesome."
"Aw, thanks Pol."
"I wonder if I could tackle her? I am heavier than you."
"Yeah you are pretty fat."
"Fat so I can crush you."
"You two are weird friends." sighs Nova.
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