#dragonfly knoll

[marykatewiles]

It's heeeeere! My first Kickstarter-funded episode of Hobbit Houses of America, featuring this gorgeous stone cottage tucked away in the forests of Oregon, is out now! Go give it a watch and let me know where I should go next!

[merverb]

Welcome to Hobbit Houses of America!

It's my dream to make it to New Zealand to visit the real Hobbiton someday, but until then, there are plenty of Hobbit Houses here in the US to explore! Today we are in Mosier, Oregon at "Dragonfly Knoll." Interested in staying here yourself? Here's the link! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/62346471...

Hosted by Mary Kate Wiles

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

tti episode 19

“Last time on Total Takes Island: we scared our remaining campers half to death in a horror-movie themed challenge. Ass sacrificed their “friend” Julia, and horror-nuts Bonnie and Patrick were also the first to go, but not before meeting up with a few old friends along the way. In the end, Michael sacrificed herself for Max, who then sacrificed himself for her, taking the walk of shame so she didn’t have to. Will the campers survive another evening? Will Staci ever go bald? Find out now- on Total! Takes! Island!”

The remaining campers walk out to the grassy knoll by the docks, where they’d been instructed to meet this morning. It’s mostly silent, aside from McLovin’s occasional sneeze and sniffle from the small cold he caught during the overnight horror challenge. 

Staci and Bonnie- even Julia and Patrick- and occasionally Ass look back to Michael sulking behind the group, looking tired and dejected. Bonnie bites their lip and looks at the ground nervously. 

---

BONNIE: “I usually try to avoid empathizing with people, but... I know what it’s like to have your only friend taken away from you when you need them most.”

---

“I’m going to go talk to her,” Bonnie says, chewing on a fingernail. 

Patrick raises an eyebrow. “You sure that’s a good idea? She was almost sent home last night. Fraternizing might put a target on your back,”

“No. Besides- if I can get Julia first, then we can collectively vote Ass out next time,” they say. “No one likes them, anyway. At least Michael is nice.”

He shrugs and rolls his eyes, and Bonnie slows down to walk backwards from the rest of the group, stopping and resuming walking forward once they’re side by side with Michael. 

“How’re you holding up?” they ask, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

She sighs. “Not well. I still feel really guilty,”

“Hey, Max volunteered to quit. That’s not on you. Honestly, I wish Caesar or Courtney had chosen to leave instead of being voted out by that witch,” Bonnie offers. “And he did it for you. That must mean a lot, huh?”

“Yeah… it just feels unfair to him,”

Bonnie sighs. “Listen… I don’t like to extend offers for this, but if you ever need to count on someone’s vote, I’m open. It's the least I can do,” they pause to look at Ass and Julia, who are walking arm-in-arm. “And I think I can guess who you’d go for next.”

Up ahead, a large wooden cage falls over the group of campers. Bonnie and Michael stop, watching the scene as their fellow contestants shout in annoyance, and then a large net is thrown over them as Chris steps out holding a beaver. 

“Good morning, campers! Ready for today’s challenge?” 

“Um- what’s with the prison cell, McLean?” Ass asks, hands on the wooden bars. "What is this, the Shaw-lame Redemption?"

Julia rolls her eyes.

---

JULIA: "That's not even clever!"

---

“There are only seven of you left on the island, as I’m sure Michael is well aware,” Chris smiles. Michael glares at him. “After tonight- six! We’re nearing the end, kids! So, today’s challenge is a Canadian favorite- trapping!” 

“What?” Bonnie asks, squinting at him suspiciously. 

“You’ll be trapping wild animals and bringing them back to the campfire. They must return unharmed,” he says, staring at Ass. They roll their eyes. “The reward for winning today’s challenge is a meal of epic proportions!”

The campers' eyes widen and they look between each other. 

“Real food?” Julia asks. 

“Real food. Your favorites, in fact,” he chuckles. “Made on the house by master cook, Chef Hatchet!”

Chef waves from the kitchen with a smile. The campers gasp. 

---

ASS: “Okay, so we have to trap a few wild animals. So what? I’ve been brushing up on my zoology since I returned to the island- I’ll just catch a dragonfly or something easy.”

---

“Ooh, a little bounty hunting, how scary!” Ass smiles, crossing their arms. 

“Glad you think so, Natalie,” Chris grins, holding up a bucket. “Time to choose your animals!”

Bonnie steps up first, pulling a piece of paper from the tin and smiling. “Duck. Okay, not bad,”

Michael goes next. “Deer? Oh, man,” Bonnie places a reassuring hand on their shoulder and tries an empathetic smile. 

Ass rolls their eyes and shoves them apart, reaching into the bucket and rifling around for a good card for at least three minutes while the other campers watch in annoyance. 

“Just pick the damn card already!” Patrick shouts. Ass turns to shoot him a glare and he whimpers. 

They pull out a slip of paper, smirking back at the crowd. “How hard could it be- probably just trapping squirrels- Oh,” their smile drops as they read their card- bear. Chris chuckles. 

“Ooh, me next!” Staci says, rushing up and grabbing a card from the pile. “Beaver! Aww, they’re cute.”

The Canadians in the group wince at her. “What?”

Julia gets a frog- McLovin gets a chipmunk (much to his relief)- and Patrick gets a raccoon. Chris leads them out to the boathouse to gather supplies. 

“You get 60 seconds to grab all the things you might need to trap your animal,” Chris says, gesturing to the boathouse. “Then you’re off! Oh, and loser gets to clean the communal bathrooms.”

The campers gasp and run into the boathouse, digging through it frantically. Ass drags Julia in and forces her to carry out a few crates, dumping them on the sand outside. Michael scans the room, thinking to herself before spotting the deer outfits from earlier that season. Bonnie finds another net, but Patrick snatches it before they can. 

“Ooh, almost got it,” he taunts before running outside. Bonnie rolls their eyes. 

---

BONNIE: “I like Patrick. I do, honest. He’s really funny, especially when he trips on stuff and then cries about scuffing his fancy leather shoes. But he’s definitely not what I’d call ‘friend material’.”

---

“Here,” Michael offers, holding up a purple tin of duck bait. 

Bonnie’s eyes widen. “Oh, nice find!” 

“Coming through!” Staci yells, barrelling into the boathouse and grabbing everything she can in a flash of pink. Before Bonnie can even accept the duck bait, it’s gone from Michael’s hand. 

---

STACI: “I know nothing about beavers besides those cute little informational brochures from the petting zoo. But I do know that now that I’ve lost my chance to be first boot, go bald, and I keep forgetting stuff about my family tree, it’s time to focus on winning,”

---

Bonnie leaves the boathouse empty handed and sighs as they see Julia and Ass digging through a few crates of supplies that they’re hoarding like dragons, hissing at anyone who gets close. 

Patrick walks away with his net, smirking back at the crowd as they dig through what they found. Michael walks in the opposite direction, holding the deer gear and a box of sugarcubes. She stops just before she leaves, seeing Bonnie empty-handed, and backtracks a little. 

“I know you work alone and all, but I could probably help you get a duck, it's the least I can do,” Michael offers. 

Bonnie shrugs. “Fair enough. But let’s deal with you deer problem first,”

“Ugh, all of this is useless!” Ass says, throwing away a shovel. “How does Chris expect us to trap a bear with this junk!”

“Um, us?” Julia almost laughs, picking up a bucket and a tin of live bait.

“Yes, us. This is what friends are for, remember?” They snap. Julia has no reaction. “Okay, fine! Go trap your dumb frog and meet me back at the mess hall in thirty minutes.”

Julia shrugs and walks off. 

Staci sorts through their pile of goodies, humming to themselves as they set off a few wooden planks to the side. Ass leaves, making them the only camper remaining at the boathouse. 

“Um, dude, you better get going,” Chris says. “Everyone else left ages ago- don’t you have a great-great-great-whatever trapper in your family?”

She rolls her eyes with a smile. “Probably. But I don’t know anything about that, I’m an engineer,” she holds up a hammer. 

---

McLovin stumbles through the woods, looking around for any sign of life. He doesn’t seem too worried about his assigned animal- after all, it’s just a chipmunk. Instead, he takes his time, swinging around the plastic pail and dragging the garden hoe he’d picked up from the boathouse while whistling a tune. 

After a bit of walking, he steps into a clearing. “Perfect,” he says, and drops his supplies. 

---

Michael and Bonnie sit in a tree branch somewhere in the woods, swinging their legs back and forth and chatting idly. No animal has come by in some time, but the two have already forgotten about the challenge anyway. 

“And I guess I was just like, so desperate to escape my crappy home life that I just threw myself at anyone who gave me attention, good or bad,” Michael says, plucking a leaf off of the tree and running her thumb over the smooth surface. “I got lucky with Max, but I dealt with a lot of nasty people along the way.”

“I’m like, the complete opposite. I was so against the idea of making friends that when Caesar came along, it took me completely by surprise. It’s why his elimination was so hard for me- I hadn’t even fully processed having a friend at all, let alone was I prepared to lose one so suddenly,” Bonnie sighs. “I’m trying to be more open, though. And like, nice, I guess.”

Michael smiles. “You have a lot of internal walls built up, huh? Avoidant attachment style?”

“I have no idea what that means,”

She shrugs. “I don’t really, either. Max throws around a lot of psychology terms I don’t fully get. It’s kind of cute,”

“I personally don’t see it, but whatever makes you happy,” Bonnie says. “At least it’s not that pool noodle everyone else is drooling over.”

Michael goes pale for a moment, and then laughs nervously. Luckily, a rustling from the bushes below puts a halt to the conversation and they both look down as a deer steps directly under the tree to get to the pile of sugarcubes below. Bonnie nods, and Michael stands on the branch before jumping down onto its back. 

It huffs and begins bucking its hind legs, throwing Michael around. She tries to hold on for a few minutes, but it eventually throws her off. Bonnie winces and hops down as the deer runs away, helping Michael up from the bushes. 

“Okay, ow,” she says, picking a few thistles from her skirt. “That was harder than I thought it’d be. I’m not getting out of here alive.”

“Hm,” Bonnie thinks for a moment. “I’m not super great at offering advice, but when I’m in a tough situation, I like to ask myself what Caesar would do. So… what would Max do?”

Michael sighs. “I’m not sure if that proverb is applicable here. Max would probably get so frustrated he’d start crying. But… maybe you do have a point,”

Bonnie watches in an awkward confusion as Michael closes her eyes and clenches her fists. “I want to win. I want to win. I want to win,”

She takes a few deep breaths and then opens her eyes again, smiling at Bonnie. “I think I have a plan,”

---

Julia steps into a swampy, muddy area, bucket in hand as she scans the area. She delicately steps around the large puddles of dirty water and mud to avoid getting her shoes wet. 

She has no way of checking the time, so she’s been counting down the seconds in her head. “One thousand two hundred and four, one thousand two hundred and three, one thousand two hundred and two…”

---

JULIA: “Okay, so I hate Natalie, and I hate their stupid "too cool for school" attitude. But look at who’s left- goth thing, terminally online, that green haired freak, the most pathetic man I’ve ever met, and McLovin, all of whom are gonna come for me first if I lose this alliance.”

---

“One thousand one hundred and eighty seven, one thousand one hundred and eighty six- hey!” Julia shouts in delight, spotting a frog embedded in a mud puddle nearby. “Piece of cake.” she smirks, creeping up to it, bucket overhead. 

She slams the bucket down, but just before it can hit the ground the frog leaps onto her face, sending her backwards and splashing her in mud. 

“Oh, great! This was my last clean shirt! You’re gonna pay for this!” Julia snaps, standing and chasing the frog as it hops away.

---

Patrick steps into an unfamiliar part of the forest, far from camp and far from where any raccoons might live. He sighs, folding up the net and slinging it over his shoulder as he walks, cupping his mouth to shout. 

“KITTY!” he yells. “KITTY!”

Nothing besides a flock of birds flying away in the nearby trees. He sighs again, slicking back his hair before brushing off a flat-ish boulder and taking a seat, crossing his legs and waiting in silence. 

After a few minutes, a skittering noise catches his attention and he smiles as Kitty pops up from the underbrush, shaking off a few roaches and ants like a dog. 

They stand on two legs and take a seat next to him, folding their hands in their lap and smiling. “Hiya!” they say. 

Patrick pats their head like one might a dog. “Hey, Kit. Happen to know where I could bag a raccoon?”

“Oh, yeah, they’re all over! Here!” Kitty drops to all fours again and rushes off into the woods, Patrick standing and following in close pursuit. 

---

Ass checks the time on their watch- it’s already been forty-five minutes, and nothing. They huff, kicking a rock and walking out of camp, grumbling about that no-good Julia. 

As they storm through the forest in search of their ally, they hear a faint giggling from behind a few bushes and curiously poke their head into a clearing. In it is an odd combination of items- a tiny pebble-lined path, an acorn, a garden hoe, and a bucket propped up with a stick. 

They raise an eyebrow. “Hello?”

Someone gasps in surprise and stands up suddenly, hitting their head on a low-hanging tree branch and groaning. Seconds later, McLovin stands, rubbing his head. 

“Oh, Ass. Hey,” he says. 

“Hi, MC. What’s this?” 

He looks around at the setup and then smiles confidently, crossing his arms over his chest. “My trap. Built it myself,”

“Okay… um, how exactly is this a trap?”

McLovin ducks out from his hiding spot and walks over to Ass’ side to navigate them through the course, pointing out the various fixtures. “Here’s the idea- the chipmunk will walk into the clearing, right? He’ll see the acorn and he’ll walk down the path I made trying to get it. When he has it, he’ll be so distracted eating that he won’t notice the hoe- when he steps on it, it’ll hit him in the face and he’ll either pass out, or get dizzy enough to trip and fall into the bucket, knocking over the stick and trapping him! It's fool-proof!”

Ass blinks.

---

ASS: “Look at who’s left- those two “alternative” things, crybaby Pattie, miss “thinks she’s sooo smart”, the pink chick and McLovin, who’s only still here because no one hates him enough to vote him out. He's kind of like the pet of the group. I’m honestly shocked he hasn’t died of tetanus yet,"

---

Ass smiles. “Seems like you’ve got things figured out here. Wanna take a break and help me out for a sec?”

McLovin raises an eyebrow. “What about Julia?”

“I gave her the day off, she’s been working so hard, you know? But I could really use some help,”

“Hm… well, if you’re sure! No way any chipmunk is getting out of my invention!” McLovin smiles confidently. “I’d love to help!”

---

Michael slowly backs out of the woods, tail and antlers on and palm full of sugar cubes that she’s methodically dropping. Bonnie watches from afar as a small doe follows her, trailing the snack. 

---

MICHAEL: “Okay, admittedly, I don’t know anything about deer, so I just kinda thought, how would I trap McLovin? He’s fragile and easily frightened, so I’d have to give the impression of safety. Secondly, he loves candy, so if I wanted to bring him somewhere, I’d have to offer a sugary reward. Third, he’s scared of loud noises and sudden movements, so I'd have to be quiet and predictable. Easy enough,”

---

“Open the cage,” she whispers to Chris as she approaches the wooden trap at the campfire pit. “Open the cage!”

The host shrugs and opens the door, allowing Michael to toss the rest of the sugar cubes inside and slam it shut. “Yes, yes!” she whisper-shouts. “I get the dinner! I won!”

Bonnie catches up with her, and the two high-five. “Okay, now let’s go get that duck,”

---

Staci hovers over the entrance of a beaver dam, holding a surprisingly complex trap made of wood, scrap metal, and netting up by a rope. By now, she’s been waiting for a few hours for the beavers to swim out from their underwater grotto, and so far she’s still patient and quiet. 

A small crunching of twigs has them hold their breath as a large beaver swims out of the hole- Staci drops the contraption into the water, covering it, and pulls out a remote with two large buttons. She presses one and a glass floor slides out, concealing the box. 

Staci pulls it out of the water with the trapped beaver inside, smiling. 

---

STACI: “I’ve learned a lot about myself on this show, honestly. Like, was the original Staci a mechanical genius? No, but I am! And that’s fine, I don’t need to be just like Staci to feel like myself. I can be a little bit of everything, even if that means just being another version of Staci, a mix of passions and interests and family history that makes me both!”

---

Staci jogs off into the woods back to camp, contraption and beaver in hand. They smile proudly as they run, giving a reassuring wave to the beaver inside. “Don’t worry little guy, I’ll have you back home in-”

They bump into something and stumble backwards, their heavy box causing them to drop onto their butt. “Hey!” they say, looking up to see Patrick and… someone else. As their eyes adjust to the contrast from the figures and the sky, they gasp. “Kitty?”

“What’re you doing out here?” Patrick asks sharply. There’s a sleeping raccoon in Kitty’s arms. 

“Patrick, how long have you known Kitty is still on the island- and- have they been helping you?”

Patrick glances at Kitty, then back to Staci. He sighs, taking the raccoon from them and shaking his head. “I was hoping no one would find us yet,”

Kitty starts stalking up to them, smiling. Staci’s eyes widen. 

---

“No hard feelings, right?” Patrick grins as he and Kitty walk back into the woods, leaving Staci hanging upside down from a tall tree branch in a makeshift trap. Their beaver cage hangs beside them, the creature inside chittering nervously. 

Staci glares as the two walk away. 

---

Julia grumbles, walking through the woods with a croaking frog resting on her mud-covered head. She’s coated in dirt and brownish water, soaked and caked in scum as she sulks down the trail back to camp. 

“Hey! Hey!”

Julia stops, looking around the path for a few moments before realizing the sound is coming from above. She looks up to see Staci, still hanging from the tree. “Um… got caught in your own trap?” she laughs. 

“Patrick put me up here. He’s been lying to everyone- he has a secret ally!” 

She raises an eyebrow. “Who?”

“I’ll tell you once me and Dawn are down!”

Julia blinks. “You named your beaver?”

“She needed a name. She’s an animal, not a prisoner,” Staci snaps. “Now help us down!”

Julia puts her frog in her pocket and begins scaling the tree. “Alright, alright,” she reaches the branch after a few moments of struggling to climb, untangling Staci from the trap and helping her and Dawn down. 

Staci takes a moment to regain their balance after being upside down for the past twenty minutes, and then immediately begins running back to camp. “Come on, we have to get there before Patrick!”

“Jeez,” Julia says, running after her. 

---

JULIA: “Okay, admittedly I haven’t been paying much attention to the more… sanity-challenged campers, but what happened to the cute and silly Staci?”

---

Patrick arrives at the campfire pit, Kitty gone and raccoon in tow. He opens the door and tosses in, but groans angrily as he sees a deer already inside. 

“Sorry, man, but at least you’re not cleaning the bathrooms,” Chris smiles. “Oh, and here comes Julia and Staci!”

Patrick blinks as he sees the two running up with their animals, both glaring at him. Chris opens the door, Julia setting her frog inside and Staci pressing the other button on their remote, opening the door and allowing the beaver in. “Both of you are safe from communal bathroom scrubbing!”

“OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN THE DOOR!” a distant voice shouts. Chris does as he’s told (for once) as Ass and McLovin come running, bear in close pursuit. The two manage to jump out of the way just as it runs inside, and Chris slams the door behind it, chuckling as Chef tranqs it with a dart gun nearby. 

“Wow, that’s a first. How’d you do it?” 

McLovin groans and collapses. Ass smiles. “Live bait,”

“Coming through!” Michael yells as she and Bonnie run up to the campfire pit, both trying to hold a very angry duck. It snaps and quacks at them until they toss it inside with the rest of the creatures, both panting. 

“Bonnie, looks like you were the last to get your animal inside the cage…” Chris says. Bonnie’s face drops. 

“...Is what I would say if I saw a chipmunk in there, which I do not. Which means McLovin will be on bathroom duty tonight.” 

McLovin’s eyes snap open. “My trap!”

---

Somewhere in the woods, a passed-out chipmunk lies beside a half-eaten acorn and a garden hoe skewed to the side. 

---

“Sorry, dude,” Chris chuckles, handing him a broom and dustpan. 

---

The inside of the mess hall is lively with chatter as everyone who Michael invited to join her dinner eats and talks over the amazing food Chef prepared, completely fish-free. 

Ass and Julia smile as they walk up to the door, but they’re promptly stopped by Michael blocking the entrance. “No way. This is a friends-only function. You two would be lucky if I consider giving you the leftovers,” 

Ass glares. 

---

ASS: “Okay, so, normally, I’d be convincing everyone to vote off Julia after what happened today. But I still need an ally and frankly, that Michael has been posing a big threat since losing that dweeb suddenly made her competent.”

---

“Okay, changed my mind,” Ass huffs, grabbing Julia’s wrist and dragging her behind them. “We’re not voting Patrick tonight. I say we target Michael.”

“But no one’s gonna vote for her. They’re all inside chumming it up,” Julia insists, jabbing her thumb backwards. 

“Not quite. We just need two votes to win the majority- McLovin will side with us no problem, he’s pretty easy to manipulate. Maybe we can convince Staci, too,”

Julia shakes her head. “Staci’s voting Patrick, like I promised I would, too. But maybe… maybe we can get him on our side…”

“Finally, a good idea from you,” Ass smiles. “I’ll go talk to him.”

---

Patrick knocks on the cabin door before entering without waiting for a response, looking around to make sure his targets are there. 

Sure enough, Michael and Bonnie are sitting on the bunks, talking amongst each other. They both raise an eyebrow as Patrick comes in. “What now?” Bonnie sighs. 

He smiles. “We’re voting Staci tonight,”

“Um,” Michael stares. “Says who?”

“Says Nattie out there, who’s rallying everyone to vote for her,” he points directly at Michael. “They’re not exactly happy about being snuffed, and they’ve already got Julia and McLovin on their side. I said I’d vote with them, but I have… bigger problems right now.”

“How is Staci a problem?” Bonnie asks, squinting at him. 

“It’s complicated. Point is, if you want to stay, you’ll need a tie. Staci’s already voting for me. If I get your votes, you and her will be even,” Patrick says. “Do we have a deal?”

Michael frowns for a moment, looking to Bonnie, who sighs. “Fine,”

“Excellent. I’ll try to, um, persuade McLovin to join our side, just in case,” Patrick grins, walking out into the night. 

---

“Most of you did a good job trapping your animals today- most of you. Some of you did a good job cleaning the bathrooms instead!” Chris smiles. McLovin’s head hangs. “But only one of you is going home, and oh, boy, do we have quite the show for you. Normally, I’d keep things anonymous, but the votes are juicy tonight, so I’m going to read them out loud!”

The campers look around uncomfortably. 

“Alright- let’s see…” Chris says, holding up a sheet of paper and putting on a pair of fake reading glasses. “Ass voted for Michael… Julia voted for Michael...” Ass smiles at Julia. “JMichael voted for Staci…”

Staci rolls her eyes, not surprised in the least until Chris continues. “Bonnie voted for Staci… Staci voted for Patrick… McLovin voted for himself…”

Patrick and Ass both turn to McLovin and glare. He seems to shrink in size as he cowers. 

---

MCLOVIN: “I was going to vote for Michael, I swear, but then Patrick came in and said all this scary stuff about twisting my limbs into knots. But Staci is still my friend, and I-I just couldn’t choose a side!”

---

“And the final vote from Patrick is for…” Ass returns to smiling confidently while Julia frowns slightly. “...Staci. Michael, you’re safe… for now.”

Staci sighs, standing. Patrick waves goodbye merrily as she begins walking to the docks. Ass stands and storms over to him, hands on their hips. “You no-good, backstabbing little worm!”

He shrugs. “Make crappy allies, win crappy prizes, your majesty,”

They growl before turning to McLovin. “And you- grow a goddamned spine already!”

McLovin winces as they storm off, dragging Julia behind them. 

---

STACI: "Okay, so, that sucked, but I guess I should've seen it coming. I have no idea how I made it this far in the first place! But I did learn, like, a lot about myself, and now I don't even need to bring up my relatives, or even the original Staci- I mean, I've eaten literal garbage, I invented a humane automatic beaver trap (which I'm totally patenting before this airs, by the way), I've competed in death-defying stunts and met some crazy people. And those experiences are mine, not Staci's, not my relatives or friends. They're Alex's, and you know what? I'm proud to be myself just as much as I am proud to be Staci." they cross their arms with a smile as the footage cuts out.

---

Chris pops up. “Who’s going home next? And who will pathetically wriggle their way out of making hard choices? Find out next time, on Total! Takes! Island!”

[tough-girl-freed]

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Welsh Gold is the most extraordinary kind of gold in the world. Clogau Gold is one of only a handful of exceptional gems makers that incorporate a dash of Welsh gold in each piece. For the last several ages, Clogau gold has been utilized to make wedding bands for the regal family. Welsh gold supplies are decreasing so while you actually get an opportunity you ought to invest in Clogau gold.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Dragonfly landing site on Saturn moon Titan When NASA's 990-pound Dragonfly rotorcraft reaches the Selk crater region—the mission's target touchdown spot—on Saturn's moon Titan in 2034, Cornell's Léa Bonnefoy will have helped to make it a smooth landing. Bonnefoy and her colleagues assisted the future arrival by characterizing the equatorial, hummocky, knoll-like landscape by combining and analyzing all of the radar images of the area acquired by the Cassini spacecraft during its historic 13 year exploration of the Saturn system. They used radar reflectivity and angled shadows to determine the properties of the surface. Effectively, it's a scene of sand dunes and broken-up icy ground. The research, "Composition, Roughness, and Topography from Radar Backscatter at Selk Crater, the Dragonfly Landing Site," was published Aug. 30 in The Planetary Science Journal. "Dragonfly—the first flying machine for a world in the outer solar system—is going to a scientifically remarkable area," said Bonnefoy, a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Alex Hayes, associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Dragonfly will land in an equatorial, dry region of Titan—a frigid, thick-atmosphere, hydrocarbon world," Bonnefoy said. "It rains liquid methane sometimes, but it is more like a desert on Earth—where you have dunes, some little mountains and an impact crater. We're looking closely at the landing site, its structure and surface. To do that, we're examining radar images from the Cassini-Huygens mission, looking at how radar signal changes from different viewing angles." "The radar images we have of Titan through Cassini have a best-resolution of about 300 meters per pixel, about the size of a football field and we have only seen less than 10% of the surface at that scale," Bonnefoy said, "This means there are probably a lot of small rivers and landscapes that we couldn't see." Early in the Cassini mission, in January 2005, the spacecraft sidekick Huygens probe landed on the Earth-like environment of Titan in a two-hour descent, sending back pictures of river valleys that are invisible in the radar images. Bonnefoy and the group used the radar images to map six terrains at the site, characterizing the landscape and gaging the rim height of Selk crater. Knowing the shape of the crater helps both to understand the region's geology and assess expectations for Dragonfly's exploration. NASA's Dragonfly mission is scheduled to launch in 2027 and arriving at Titan in 2034 for a three-year mission. The spacecraft weighs a whisker under 1,000 pounds and its final design will look like a military transport helicopter. Titan's heavens—mostly nitrogen, with a dash of methane and four times denser than Earth's atmosphere—enables Dragonfly (the size of a very small car) to perform like a drone, carrying out research in chemical composition and astrobiology to understand that planet's make-up and how life on Earth may have emerged. "Over the next several years, we are going to see a lot of attention paid to the Selk crater region," Hayes said. "Lea's work provides a solid foundation upon which to start building models and making predictions for Dragonfly to test when it explores the area in the mid-2030s." As a planetary scientist, Bonnefoy is ready to explore this large moon: "Dragonfly is going to finally show us what the region—and Titan—looks like." IMAGE....Left: mosaic of the incidence-angle-corrected SAR swaths within the ROI. Right: geomorphological map of the ROI. Credit: The Planetary Science Journal (2022). DOI: 10.3847/PSJ/ac8428

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond - Episode of Amnesia Island III 01

The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.* *SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND III 01~

★The Rings will always remember…

Some time ago, there was an island somewhere at sea as all islands were. On this island though there lived only one person. An old hen woman covered in brown feathers and frequently dressed in shirt, skirt, and apron to work in her garden, a red scarf atop her head. She was not particularly lively, and barely made do living in a house long abandoned within a grassy knoll. Dusty, old, overgrown with plant and fungi life, it had seen better days when she first moved in. When that was, she hardly remembered as she would spend hours watching the sky where she would learn what she would only know was called the Sky Ring later loomed, a curious two-fifth fragment of a Ring of impossible size in the sky through which a matching golden hued cogwheel turned through.

The reason the old hen did not really remember was not due to senility. Though she perhaps had as such developing in her early days on the island, the truth was that when she first awoke on the island’s shores, she herself had no memory of herself or anything beyond the island. It made life difficulty early on as she was forced to try and survive when she was hardly young and spry anymore or even sure of why she should. But she managed all the same, even crafting simple fish traps that she would lay in streams or toss out to sea on those days she could make it to the beach.

It was on the beach though that her life would change as one day she was no longer alone.

On a rare day when she felt good enough to make it all the way to the beach, and the mysterious speck of Darkness encircled by the Sky Ring was particularly active with discharges of electricity, she found a girl washed ashore. A hedgehog girl pink of color and absent of everything and anything to identify her. Only a small teardrop shaped creature golden in color with a small golden loop above it, large eyes, and held aloft on dragonfly like wings seemed to know anything. The creature was a fairy, specifically a Ring Fairy, and unlike other fairies, like the golden loops that spun in the air on their axes all over, the fairy could not be seen by all.

The old hen was one such person who could not see the Rings, despite the fact that the whole world was made up of them, their influence affecting everything from landforms, sudden changes in geography and climate, and even objects inexplicably floating in the air or oddities like bumper springs and spikes appearing everywhere for no real reason. As such, Nana had to carry the naked and disheveled hedgehog girl home ignorant to who she was and why she had arrived or from where. But when the girl finally awoke it was a treat for the old hen.

It was only through her own sensations of right and wrong that the old hen knew that typically most women wore clothes, so seeing the hedgehog girl carelessly running to and fro without bothered her at first. With no name to call the troublesome girl she took to calling her a rascal. The girl though took lovingly to the old hen and called her Nana, bringing her gifts of books and clothes she found all over the island on her daily adventures. The clothes she would wear for herself were frequently left in tatters after a day of adventuring though, and Nana was at her wits end as the girl would cheerfully smile and not let it bother her. As such, Nana took to calling the rascally girl Rosy for her color and ever cheerful and playful disposition. A thing that gave her a new spark in her life as well.

As Nana and Rosy bonded, and Rosy would find more and more useful things, their lives grew that much better and livelier. Nana found a spring returned to her step and was grateful for the antics and well-meaning pranks of the hedgehog girl she had begun to care for as a daughter. Not believing that the fairy that Rosy called Mote existed though, Nana did believe that Rosy knew more than she let on and surely had secrets of her own. Her knowledge of the Rings and how to use them was far too complete for an amnesiac. As such she believed that Rosy would one day leave Amnesia Island. As such, she wanted to be remembered and though she hid her melancholy at the prospect, she also gladly helped Rosy make a leotard, a garment that would hopefully not snag as easily on nigh everything as easily as everything else Rosy wore, with the Rings so that just collecting even one would fix it should her adventuring leave it in tatters. Seeing Rosy wear it for the first time was a bittersweet moment for the old hen, but she knew she would never be forgotten as long as Rosy had it.

It was not the sight of Rosy frequently donning her leotard for her daily adventures that told Nana that the girl’s time on Amnesia Island was coming to an end however. There was a day when Rosy returned not alone herself. Slung over her back was a black hedgehog boy whose spines grew short as large white crystals burst forth from them, tiny ones sprouting from his left wrist and both ankles with a massive one from his chest like a spike. It was an unusual sight in itself, but not as much as the boy’s right arm, a thing massive compared to his left made of some form of liquid Darkness that reflected no light at all. The Darkness dripped from it like a slowly leaking faucet and dissipated in the air without ever touching the ground. Except where it touched Rosy, where crystals like those growing from the boy’s body and serving as the fingertips of his right hand would spring up on Rosy wherever the darkness touched her and would start crawling over her. As the crystals crawled across her they took on more and more violent forms, pulling the Darkness behind them coating Rosy in it. She was near half consumed by it when she arrived home with the boy and could barely still walk, but Nana was able to pull the darkness off as though it were like melted cheese allowing it to dissipate. As she could it would mean that it would not be too dangerous to let the boy live with them, even if his arrival signified to Nana that Rosy would be leaving sooner than later.

The boy himself was a curious one, one that Rosy called Tempest due to finding him as a storm was coming in and that Nana simply called the Black Hedgehog. He took both names for himself and became Tempest the Black, an amnesiac like Nana the Hen and Rosy the Rascal. He could also see and interact with Mote the Fairy, proving to Nana at last that the fairy was real. But this did not alleviate Nana’s concerns, and though she would care for Tempest as she did Rosy, it was obvious that the black hedgehog desired to leave and possessed a love for Rosy that was anything but sibling like. It was becoming more and more likely that he would take Rosy from the island they called home, especially as after he had lived with them for some time that trouble came threatened their wellbeing.

An older human in a gray military coat with a bushy mustache and tall hat appeared one day accompanied by a disembodied voice he referred to as Projector. He called himself Page General Pinn Bowlings of the Empire, the Pyrokinetic with Green Eyes, and deemed Tempest an enemy of the Empire. Armed with his pyromancy and strange clockwork machines built around medieval knight’s helms that appeared to be powered by animals, the two would fight again and again. Nana was unaware of it until the day Rosy encountered one of the machines and was brought home by Tempest scorched and barely alive. That night, Tempest spoke of the Empire and his ongoing battle to protect those who called Amnesia Island home with him.

To further protect Rosy, Tempest elected to try and use the Rings to leave a memory of himself in her, so that the Rings might remember his speed, which matched even the most famous hedgehog in world’s, in her as a part of her. But when he attempted to forge what Mote called a Ring Bond, something happened. Rosy claimed to have seen Sonic and remembered her name was Amy Rose, yet Tempest saw something completely different. Something that turned him hostile towards Mote. Something that made the fairy flee into the night and he after her. Nana tried to stop Rosy from following, but as the storm of the night passed and morning came, Rosy had every intention of finding her friends and solving the mystery of what happened.

Sky Ring turning quietly in blue sky Last traces of a storm leaving on morning breeze Dew drops falling from vegetable in garden Grassy knoll holding home of brick and clay Home to any number of overgrowing plants and memories Memories the Rings would always remember

Stepping out onto her front step, Nana watched the swinging of her garden gate that separated the cobbled path that was part of her home from that of many that crisscrossed Amnesia Island since the last time the Rings brought a new set of memories with them to the island and changed everything. It was not the first Ring Shift, as she had been told the event was called, that Nana had seen, but after each one she always wondered if it would be her last. At the least, her instincts told her that she would not see the next one to come to Amnesia Island with Rosy.

“Is this finally the day then,” Nana asked, a melancholic smile coming to the corers of her beak. “You promised to come back with Tempest and even your fairy friend, Rosy, but I can’t help but feel that I won’t see you again. If so, I pray your adventures go well and that you come to no harm you can’t spring back from. Stay clear of that troublesome empire if you can, and don’t ignore or take advantage of Tempest’s love for you.”

Turning around, Nana entered her home and closed her door behind her. On the stone step she had occupied, blades of new grass grew straight from the rock where none had been when she had stepped out to watch Rosy leave.

The fresh grass was blown easily by the wind, a breeze that seemed to carry Nana’s well wishes to Rosy as the pink hedgehog girl well on her way down the cobbled roads that cut under forest canopy stopped in her tracks. As she came to a stop, she looked back past moss and lichen covered tree trunks neighbored by giant mushroom caps that held long abandoned shops and their display windows for goods they surely once carried. While she did, the breeze gently caressed Rosy’s spines and she stood still for a long moment. At last, she closed her eyes and smiled, snapping them back open with a brightness in their blue irides that spoke of her determination and joy.

“Really Nana, I’ll be sure to come back!”

Her promise shouted for the wind to carry back if it should, Rosy turned and continued running along cobbled roads, letting the Rings she encountered be absorbed into her body at touch with a sparkling of golden motes of light. She was going to need them and the protection they offered soon enough, and she knew it. In addition to the machines of the Empire, Amnesia Island was home to giant, automobile sized crabs that hardly liked her either. But the cheerful girl was more worried for Tempest and Mote than she was herself and hurried along excitedly looking forward to catching up with them.

Though Rosy’s adventures on Amnesia Island were nothing new, even possessing a sense of danger, none she had before were like the one she embarked on now. Her whole life was soon to change, and the world would open itself up to her. But even as she relied on cartomancy and any other number of fortunetelling techniques, even using them to dowse the location of her friends, she was ignorant of the future she was soon to face. The life she cherished was coming to an end.★

EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND III 01 - END

-----

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic The Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement.

The Sonic Ring Bond alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, the property of the Sonic The Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

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Sonic The Hedgehog Copyright© 1990-2022 SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS

[spacetodaypt]

Scientists depict Dragonfly landing site on Saturn moon Titan

Scientists depict Dragonfly landing site on Saturn moon Titan

When NASA’s 990-pound Dragonfly rotorcraft reaches the Selk crater region – the mission’s target touchdown spot – on Saturn’s moon Titan in 2034, Cornell’s Lea Bonnefoy ’15 will have helped to make it a smooth landing.Bonnefoy and her colleagues assisted the future arrival by characterizing the equatorial, hummocky, knoll-like landscape by combining and analyzing all of the radar images of the…

[eternalstrigoii]

Fledgling

Borra (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) x Gender Unspecified Dark Fae (Forest) Reader

** Sequel to Warbirds **

It had been a long time since you felt like this.

If you were being facetious, as the fey tended to, you would tell the tale of how you could pinpoint the exact last time you had felt so free – when you were little older than many of the children who flew with Maleficent now. You had raced, barefoot and dirty-kneed, through the earthen level of your forest home. You had known how to fly by then, and you had longed to know what it was like for your steps to remain earthbound. How attentive you’d been, your feet flying over the mossy steppes, how easily you’d leapt over the mushroom-shelved logs! Your steps had made no sound on earth so soft, and you had reveled in it. You frightened what few animals lived among you. You heard the music of your parents’ revel and rather than join them, you ran until you had a stitch in your side that throbbed for the rest of the night.

It was one of the few instances you could recall where no one else played a part in your flights of fancy. One of the few times, particularly before you grew older, where being alone had been as safe as being among your own.

Of course, anxiety pricked at your chest, then, and your mate closed his wings around your line of vision as he ensnared you. “You’re dancing with me,” he murmured in your ear.

“Am I?” you teased. “And who will be to blame when I step all over your feet?”

Borra’s face was inches from yours, much too far a distance after what you’d been through. He let you turn to face him before kissing you himself, and you pulled him closer by the back of his neck, soaking in the warmth that he radiated.

He swept you up before you had the opportunity for further protest. Dancing was so much like sparring that you never should’ve underestimated yourself. Borra certainly didn’t.

He grinned as he caught your hand, his steps in time with yours though it had been an age since either of you danced this dance – another time, another place, what felt like ages and lifetimes before.

You knew the children were watching, mesmerized by how easily the both of you folded your wings to avoid the other, how rhythmically your feet hit the ground.

Creeping violets spread at your touch, their black-flecked mouths agape. White magnolias wound around the bodies of the healthy trees, flowers blooming moments after their vines took hold.

Your heart was in your throat. You were so happy you felt as though it might just explode out of you.

The children squealed and screamed, jumping onto their logs excitedly as a blanket of violets overspread the ground.

Perhaps it had.

He laughed, and caught you around the waist, pulling you skyward. Your wings beat in time with his, his hold on you slipping to your fingers before returning to your waist. You ascended together in a loop, the wind in your canted wings.

“Borra,” your hands rested on his strong arms, “It’s time.”

The gemstone green of his eyes never left yours. He nodded once, and his breathless grin joined with yours in a kiss high above the moors.

 You landed in a place where you saw no other creatures. For the first time in so long, Borra shed his armor. He did not let you undress yourself; he had waited so long to have you that he intended to savor it.

And he did. You honeyed together well into the late morning. When you finally slept, secure in the cover of his wings, the mossy knoll you’d settled on was alive in brilliant shades of wildflowers that had not existed the night before.

 “Doin’ alright, then?” Diaval asked, and you thought it was in passing. You were watching Borra fly with the children, teaching them to coast on the currents as their parents did. It was as necessary a skill for survival as the flight itself, lest traveling take too much energy.

You nodded, but the lingering raven gave you pause.

He lifted his brow, nodding to your hands. How they had instinctively folded over your stomach.

“Yes,” you replied. Diaval was not supposed to be the first to know, but you’d rather him than someone else – someone who’d tell your mate before you had the chance. “We’re doing more than alright.”

“Y’know you can tell us, if you ever…?”

You didn’t know him well enough to be outwardly fond, but these weren’t exactly ordinary circumstances. You squeezed his hand amicably. “Thank you.”

He gave you a gentle half-smile, and you knew he’d tell Maleficent.

That was fine with you. Her blessing would be the opposite of a problem.

 Borra paused.

Perhaps you should have waited, but you made quite the elaborate effort to get him to dine alone. No sooner had he settled than your admission was tacked on like an afterthought, and when he looked up at you…well, he looked at you just like he had when he brought you to Maleficent’s castle. Or, rather, when you’d detoured him there.

“Already?”

You nodded. It was so hard for you to contain your smile; after a moment, laughter just bubbled out.

“A baby,” he repeated. “You and I?”

“Well, I certainly haven’t stolen one!”

He joined you on your feet and swept you into his arms. You threw your arms around him in delight, your wings flapping so hard you nearly knocked your cups over.

You pretended not to notice that he kept you flush against him as he clutched you, your stomach pressed safely against his. Your wing had all but fully healed, and you could return to the great nest to retrieve what you needed, if you wanted to, or to relocate for your fledgling’s birth.

“Is it too soon?” you murmured into his shoulder.

“No,” he replied immediately. “No…I’ve never been happier.”

“You don’t sound it.” Normally, the idea of confrontation didn’t faze you, but this was different – he wanted to become your nest-mate.

His hands ran up your back, palms large enough to nearly cover all of your skin as they swept over you. “When you sleep, I touch the scar they left on your shoulder.” He touched it then; it ran from the flesh of your arm across much of your upper back. You were very lucky it hadn’t been a few inches higher. “I think of how easily you could’ve been stolen from me.”

You kissed him, not that you needed to remind him you hadn’t been.

“I am happy. I swear that I have never been happier.” He took both of your hands in his, his thumbs sweeping across your well-calloused knuckles. “I also swear to you that no harm will ever come to you or our child. No mortal, no fey, no force of nature may act against you. Not without my retribution.”

“I know.” You cupped his cheek and gently bunted your horns against his. “If you’re worried, we can always return to the great nest. Stay there until they’re strong enough to evade capture.”

“Is that what you want?”

You stroked his jaw. You were both scarred by the war you’d lobbied for; there was a part of you that did want to return to the great nest so your fledgling could be safely born in the same woods where you had been. His desert would have been even greater protection.

“I think,” you were deliberate with your words, “we are safer with Maleficent.”

It was the one phrase he could not argue. Your people had been massacred without her, and as much as you’d hoped you would be able to change the tides of war on your own, she was far too powerful to be discounted. Even the great nest seemed vulnerable in comparison.

“Tell me if you change your mind.” He kissed your forehead, then drew your body flush with his.

You nodded, but your wings folded to allow him to cover you with his as he had with increasing frequency since your time on the battlefield. You knew that it was soon, that you both needed to heal from the loss and the trauma you’d experienced, and you didn’t want him to feel like he had to protect you. You were a warrior in your own right; his partner, not his bride.

But you loved him, and you’d never oppose the safety of his arms.

 The moors threw you a grand celebration.

You were not the celebratory type, not in the way they were used to. You preferred to stay in your nest, tucked away in a small pocket of the moors, far from the reaches of any human kingdom. Your people rarely made permanent structures, and yet you and Borra made this one yourselves – he rent the earth for its formation, and you cloaked it with camouflage to keep it hidden from prying eyes. On the cliff face, your nests had never required doors, but on the openness of the moors, you and your mate sheltered yours well.

But a celebration was necessary. He was the voice of his people, and yours was to be the first child born outside the great nest in generations. There were lives to be honored, particularly the both of yours.

So you let them.

The Folk of the Air, the colorful little dragonfly-types with bodies hardly bigger than drops of summer rain, wove crowns from your violets and his magnolia blossoms for the other to wear. They even fit them neatly over your horns, apparently well used to that measure of adjustment.

The Folk of the Earth, from the little toadstool people to the anthropomorphic porcupines, brought you woven mats of colorful straw stuffed with down, and the softest spider-silk in which to cloak them. The men of the trees even gave you a cradle made of curled and living branches.

You and your mate exchanged bemused glances from time to time. Neither of you had the heart to tell them that you didn’t plan to put them down until they were ready to walk.

It was as though the residents of the moors were aware there was little need to offer you anything that was not purely a gesture of welcome, though they had many things in common with humans that you found odd (the duo-and-pot of Aurora’s other godmothers gave the both of you wooden cutlery and plates, which you were both gracious enough not to comment on). There was little that they hadn’t thought of – offers to be your sentry, to be your fledgling’s playmate, to assure you that your fledgling would never find trouble (though you knew no fledgling of yours would be so lucky).

The procession was allowed to end with Maleficent.

As she was the queen of the land you now called home, you both stood to give her the respect she deserved. Diaval inclined his head to you, and you to him in return; you may have been a warrior in equal to your mate, but you were no one’s leader, just as Maleficent’s raven was hers and hers alone.

“My sincere congratulations to you both.”

“Thank you,” you murmured, inclining your head.

“I admit, I’ve considered my gift for some time. You are both fierce warriors, strong and capable in your own rights. You’ve led successful campaigns,” she gestured to Borra, “and protected my people.” To you. “In many ways…a blessing would be more of an insult than a gift.”

Her people were afraid, but you were not. Maleficent was as cunning as she was powerful; she understood the power of her words and what they meant to others of her own kind.

She leaned between you and your mate, and whispered so only you could hear.

 You spent much of your pregnancy in Borra’s arms.

Whenever you protested that you shouldn’t be stealing him away, he’d lean in and murmur to you, “If they need me, they will come.”

Your belly grew steadily, and your fledgling was quick to respond to the warmth of their father’s touch.

They came when they were least expected, in the dead of night during a storm. You sent the will o’ the wisps for Udo of the Tundra, who was to be your midwife, and then your husband sent for Maleficent.

Pain was natural. It was to be expected. But you clung to Borra, your wings broad across his arms, and you keened as though your ancestors ensured you would birth an egg unopened.

Maleficent reached you first.

Your breath came in heaves, pain in your chest for the first time in what felt like ages – damage from the iron powder to your lungs, you were certain.

For what you’d done for her, she owed no debt.

But, like the sister you no longer had, she held your hand while you struggled – while your mate kneaded your back with his knuckles to keep your breath even.

Your fledgling came when the storm was at its height.

You fought to breathe while your child cried, the darkness and the thunder offering little comfort to a creature newly born. Diaval bundled him in blankets and passed him into the crook of Borra’s arm. “A son.”

You were exhausted, your hair damp with sweat as you lay against his shoulder. You thumbed the bumps where his horns were soon to emerge, trailed your fingertips along his cheek.

“Breathe.” Borra moved closer to you, elevating your body against his chest.

You looked to Maleficent, and her grasp on you tightened. You did not know the extent of her power, nor did you think you ever would, but, eventually, Udo was able to reach you. Your breathing softened gradually, and you rested well before you were ready.

 “Your rest is what saved you.” Udo returned several times over the course of the next several days, to ensure you and your fledgling remained safe. Part of you wondered if Borra insisted; he hadn’t traveled more than a few feet away from you since.

“It was Maleficent,” you replied. “I don’t know how, but she protected us.”

Udo glanced to Borra, as though you did not know the stories of the power she was said to hold. Your mate, to his credit, had eyes only for you.

“You should continue resting. Give yourself another few days before you try any undertaking.”

You nodded, though you felt fine.

“And if it happens again?” Borra asked without looking away. You hated that he’d felt powerless in the face of the one obstacle he had not thought to name.

“Send for me,” Udo replied, patient as ever.

“I will be fine,” you insisted, gently bunting horns with your mate. “I swear it.”

He flexed his jaw, but moved closer. You had not fully touched your bed in days, wrapped in the down of his wings. You weren’t entirely opposed, but sometimes it distressed you.

“If you keep worrying so intensely, it will do nothing but cause me to worry for you.” You brushed your fingers along his clenched jaw until he released it, and the tension in his shoulders with a long, slow breath.

“I will be fine, Borra,” you whispered. “I will never leave you. Above all else, don’t you remember?”

“Above all else,” he repeated.

Though you thought you ought to amend that for your fledgling, it wasn’t as though he neglected to hold you both as close to him as your bodies would allow.

“It was Maleficent,” you whispered, firmly. “Please, believe me.”

“Do you remember when I told her it was time she took care of one of her own?” He held your eyes without an ounce of doubt. “She honored that.”

“Now we’re even,” you whispered.

He nodded.

Your hand rested over one of your fledgling’s, and his closed over yours. He gave your horns another gentle bunt, and let out a sigh that you finally believed to be relief.

[mellifera38]

Mel’s Big Fantasy Place-Name Reference

So I’ve been doing lots of D&D world-building lately and I’ve kind of been putting together lists of words to help inspire new fantasy place names. I figured I’d share. These are helpful for naming towns, regions, landforms, roads, shops, and they’re also probably useful for coming up with surnames. This is LONG. There’s plenty more under the cut including a huge list of “fantasy sounding” word-parts. Enjoy!

Towns & Kingdoms

town, borough, city, hamlet, parish, township, village, villa, domain

kingdom, empire, nation, country, county, city-state, state, province, dominion

Town Name End Words (English flavored)

-ton, -ston, -caster, -dale, -den, -field, -gate, -glen, -ham, -holm, -hurst, -bar, -boro, -by, -cross, -kirk, -meade, -moore, -ville, -wich, -bee, -burg, -cester, -don, -lea, -mer, -rose, -wall, -worth, -berg, -burgh, -chase, -ly, -lin, -mor, -mere, -pool. -port, -stead, -stow, -strath, -side, -way, -berry, -bury, -chester, -haven, -mar, -mont, -ton, -wick, -meet, -heim, -hold, -hall, -point

Buildings & Places

castle, fort, palace, fortress, garrison, lodge, estate, hold, stronghold, tower, watchtower, palace, spire, citadel, bastion, court, manor, house

altar, chapel, abbey, shrine, temple, monastery, cathedral, sanctum, crypt, catacomb, tomb

orchard, arbor, vineyard, farm, farmstead, shire, garden, ranch

plaza, district, quarter, market, courtyard, inn, stables, tavern, blacksmith, forge, mine, mill, quarry, gallows, apothecary, college, bakery, clothier, library, guild house, bath house, pleasure house, brothel, jail, prison, dungeon, cellar, basement, attic, sewer, cistern

lookout, post, tradepost, camp, outpost, hovel, hideaway, lair, nook, watch, roost, respite, retreat, hostel, holdout, redoubt, perch, refuge, haven, alcove, haunt, knell, enclave, station, caravan, exchange, conclave

port, bridge, ferry, harbor, landing, jetty, wharf, berth, footbridge, dam, beacon, lighthouse, marina, dockyard, shipyard

road, street, way, row, lane, trail, corner, crossing, gate, junction, waygate, end, wall, crossroads,  barrier, bulwark, blockade, pavilion, avenue, promenade, alley, fork, route

Time & Direction

North, South, East, West, up, down, side, rise, fall, over, under

Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, solstice, equanox, vernal, ever, never

dusk, dawn, dawnrise, morning, night, nightfall, evening, sundown, sunbreak, sunset

lunar, solar, sun, moon, star, eclipse

Geographical Terms

Cave, cavern, cenote, precipice, crevasse, crater, maar, chasm, ravine, trench, rift, pit

Cliff, bluff, crag, scarp, outcrop, stack, tor, falls, run, eyrie, aerie

Hill, mountain, volcano, knoll, hillock, downs, barrow, plateau, mesa, butte, pike, peak, mount, summit, horn, knob, pass, ridge, terrace, gap, point, rise, rim, range, view, vista, canyon, hogback, ledge, stair, descent

Valley, gulch, gully, vale, dale, dell, glen, hollow, grotto, gorge, bottoms, basin, knoll, combe

Meadow, grassland, field, pasture, steppe, veld, sward, lea, mead, fell, moor, moorland, heath, croft, paddock, boondock, prairie, acre, strath, heights, mount, belt

Woodlands, woods, forest, bush, bower, arbor, grove, weald, timberland, thicket, bosk, copse, coppice, underbrush, hinterland, park, jungle, rainforest, wilds, frontier, outskirts

Desert, dunes, playa, arroyo, chaparral, karst, salt flats, salt pan, oasis, spring, seep, tar pit, hot springs, fissure, steam vent, geyser, waste, wasteland, badland, brushland, dustbowl, scrubland

Ocean, sea, lake, pond, spring, tarn, mere, sluice, pool, coast, gulf, bay

Lagoon, cay, key, reef, atoll, shoal, tideland, tide flat, swale, cove, sandspit, strand, beach

Snowdrift, snowbank, permafrost, floe, hoar, rime, tundra, fjord, glacier, iceberg

River, stream, creek, brook, tributary, watersmeet, headwater, ford, levee, delta, estuary, firth, strait, narrows, channel, eddy, inlet, rapids, mouth, falls

Wetland, marsh, bog, fen, moor, bayou, glade, swamp, banks, span, wash, march, shallows, mire, morass, quag, quagmire, everglade, slough, lowland, sump, reach

Island, isle, peninsula, isthmus, bight, headland, promontory, cape, pointe, cape

More under the cut including: Color words, Animal/Monster related words, Rocks/Metals/Gems list, Foliage, People groups/types, Weather/Environment/ Elemental words, Man-made Items, Body Parts, Mechanical sounding words, a huge list of both pleasant and unpleasant Atmospheric Descriptors, and a huge list of Fantasy Word-parts.

Color Descriptions

Warm: red, scarlet, crimson, rusty, cerise, carmine, cinnabar, orange, vermillion, ochre, peach, salmon, saffron, yellow, gold, lemon, amber, pink, magenta, maroon, brown, sepia, burgundy, beige, tan, fuchsia, taupe

Cool: green, beryl, jade, evergreen, chartreuse, olive, viridian, celadon, blue, azure, navy, cerulean, turquoise, teal, cyan, cobalt, periwinkle, beryl, purple, violet, indigo, mauve, plum

Neutral: gray, silver, ashy, charcoal, slate, white, pearly, alabaster, ivory, black, ebony, jet

dark, dusky, pale, bleached, blotchy, bold, dappled, lustrous, faded, drab, milky, mottled, opaque, pastel, stained, subtle, ruddy, waxen, tinted, tinged, painted

Animal / Monster-Related Words

Bear, eagle, wolf, serpent, hawk, horse, goat, sheep, bull, raven, crow, dog, stag, rat, boar, lion, hare, owl, crane, goose, swan, otter, frog, toad, moth, bee, wasp, beetle, spider, slug, snail, leech, dragonfly, fish, trout, salmon, bass, crab, shell, dolphin, whale, eel, cod, haddock

Dragon, goblin, giant, wyvern, ghast, siren, lich, hag, ogre, wyrm, kraken

Talon, scale, tusk, hoof, mane, horn, fur, feather, fang, wing, whisker, bristle, paw, tail, beak, claw, web, quill, paw, maw, pelt, haunch, gill, fin,

Hive, honey, nest, burrow, den, hole, wallow

Rocks / Metals / Minerals

Gold, silver, brass, bronze, copper, platinum, iron, steel, tin, mithril, electrum, adamantite, quicksilver, fool’s gold, titanium

Diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, opal, pearl, jade, jasper, onyx, citrine, aquamarine, turquoise, lapiz lazuli, amethyst, quartz, crystal, amber, jewel

Granite, shale, marble, limestone, sandstone, slate, diorite, basalt, rhyolite, obsidian, glass

Earth, stone, clay, sand, silt, salt, mote, lode, vein, ore, ingot, coal, boulder, bedrock, crust, rubble, pebble, gravel, cobble, dust, clod, peat, muck mud, slip, loam, dirt, grit, scree, shard, flint, stalactite/mite

Trees / Plants / Flowers

Tree, ash, aspen, pine, birch, alder, willow, dogwood, oak, maple, walnut,  chestnut, cedar, mahogany, palm, beech, hickory, hemlock, cottonwood, hawthorn, sycamore, poplar, cypress, mangrove, elm, fir, spruce, yew

Branch, bough, bramble, gnarl, burr, tangle, thistle, briar, thorn, moss, bark, shrub, undergrowth, overgrowth, root, vine, bracken, reed, driftwood, coral, fern, berry, bamboo, nectar, petal, leaf, seed, clover, grass, grain, trunk, twig, canopy, cactus, weed, mushroom, fungus

Apple, olive, apricot, elderberry, coconut, sugar, rice, wheat, cotton, flax, barley, hops, onion, carrot, turnip, cabbage, squash, pumpkin, pepper

Flower, rose, lavender, lilac, jasmine, jonquil, marigold, carnelian, carnation, goldenrod, sage, wisteria, dahlia, nightshade, lily, daisy, daffodil, columbine, amaranth, crocus, buttercup, foxglove, iris, holly, hydrangea, orchid, snowdrop, hyacinth, tulip, yarrow, magnolia, honeysuckle, belladonna, lily pad, magnolia

People

Settler, Pilgrim, Pioneer, Merchant, Prospector, Maker, Surveyor, Mason, Overseer, Apprentice, Widow, Sailor, Miner, Blacksmith, Butcher, Baker, Brewer, Barkeep, Ferryman, Hangman, Gambler, Fisherman, Adventurer, Hero, Seeker, Hiker, Traveler, Crone

Mage, Magician, Summoner, Sorcerer, Wizard, Conjurer, Necromancer, 

King, Queen, Lord, Count, Baron, Guard, Soldier, Knight, Vindicator, Merchant, Crusader, Imperator, Syndicate, Vanguard, Champion, Warden, Victor, Legionnaire, Master, Archer, Footman, Gladiator, Barbarian, Captain, Commodore, 

Beggar, Hunter, Ranger, Deadman, Smuggler, Robber, Swindler, Rebel, Bootlegger, Outlaw, Pirate, Brigand, Ruffian, Highwayman, Cutpurse, Thief, Assassin

God, Goddess, Exarch, Angel, Devil, Demon, Cultist, Prophet, Hermit, Seer

council, clergy, guild, militia, choir 

Climate, Environment, & The Elements

Cold, cool, brisk, frosty, chilly, icy, freezing, frozen, frigid, glacial, bitter, biting, bleak, arctic, polar, boreal, wintry, snowy, snow, blizzarding, blizzard, sleeting, sleet, chill, frost, ice, icebound, ice cap, floe, snowblind, frostbite, coldsnap, avalanche, snowflake

Hot, sunny, humid, sweltering, steaming, boiling, sizzling, blistering, scalding, smoking, caldescent, dry, parched, arid, fallow, thirsty, melting, molten, fiery, blazing, burning, charring, glowing, searing, scorching, blasted, sun, fire, heat, flame, wildfire, bonfire, inferno, coal, ash, cinder, ember, flare, pyre, tinder, kindling, aflame, alight, ablaze, lava, magma, slag,

Wet, damp, dank, soggy, sodden, soaked, drenched, dripping, sopping, briny, murky, rain, storm, hail, drizzle, sprinkle, downpour, deluge, squall, water, cloud, fog, mist, dew, puddle, pool, current, whirlpool, deep, depths, tide, waves, whitewater, waterfall, tidal wave, flow, flood, leak, drain

Wind, breeze, gust, billow, gail, draft, waft, zephyr, still, airy, clear, smokey, tempest, tempestuous, windswept, aerial, lofty, torrid, turbulent, nebulous, tradewind, thunder, lightning, spark, cyclone, tornado, whirlwind, hurricane, typhoon

Man-made Item Words

Furnace, forge, anvil, vault, strap, strip, whetstone, brick, sword, blade, axe, dagger, shield, buckler, morningstar, bow, quiver, arrow, polearm, flail, staff, stave, sheath, hilt, hammer, knife, helm, mantle, banner, pauldron, chainmail, mace, dart, cutlass, canon, needle, cowl, belt,  buckle, bandana, goggles, hood, boot, heel, spindle, spool, thread, sweater, skirt, bonnet, apron, leather, hide, plate, tunic, vest, satin, silk, wool, velvet, lace, corset, stocking, binding

Plow, scythe, (wheel) barrow, saddle, harrow, brand, collar, whip, leash, lead, bridle, stirrup, wheel, straw, stall, barn, hay, bale, pitchfork, well, log, saw, lumber, sod, thatch, mortar, brick, cement, concrete, pitch, pillar, window, fountain, door, cage, spoke, pole, table, bench, plank, board

Candle, torch, cradle, broom, lamp, lantern, clock, bell, lock, hook, trunk, looking glass, spyglass, bottle, vase, locket, locker, key, handle, rope, knot, sack, pocket, pouch, manacle, chain, stake, coffin, fan. cauldron, kettle, pot, bowl, pestle, oven, ladle, spoon, font, wand, potion, elixir, draught, portal, book, tome, scroll, word, manuscript, letter, message, grimoire, map, ink, quill, pen, cards, dice

Coin, coronet, crown, circlet, scepter, treasure, riches, scales, pie, tart, loaf, biscuit, custard, caramel, pudding, porridge, stew, bread, tea, gravy, gristle, spice, lute, lyre, harp, drum, rouge, powder, perfume, brush

bilge, stern, pier, sail, anchor, mast, dock, deck, flag, ship, boat, canoe, barge, wagon, sled, carriage, buggy, cart

Wine, brandy, whiskey, ale, moonshine, gin, cider, rum, grog, beer, brew, goblet, flagon, flask, cask, tankard, stein, mug, barrel, stock, wort, malt

Body Parts

Head, throat, finger, foot, hand, neck, shoulder, rib, jaw, eye, lips, bosom

Skull, spine, bone, tooth, heart, blood, tears, gut, beard

Mechanical-Sounding Words

cog, fuse, sprocket, wrench, screw, nail, bolt, lever, pulley, spanner, gear, spring, shaft, switch, button, cast, pipe, plug, dial, meter, nozzle, cord, brake, gauge, coil, oil, signal, wire, fluke, staple, clamp, bolt, nut, bulb, patch, pump, cable, socket

torque, force, sonic, spark, fizzle, thermal, beam, laser, steam, buzz, mega, mecha, electro, telsa, power, flicker, charge, current, flow, tinker

Atmospheric Words

Unpleasant, Dangerous, Threatening

(nouns) death, fury, battle, scar, shadow, razor, nightmare, wrath, bone, splinter, peril, war, riptide, strife, reckoning, sorrow, terror, deadwood, nether, venom, grime, rage, void, conquest, pain, folly, revenge, horrid, mirk, shear, fathom, frenzy, corpselight/marshlight, reaper, gloom, doom, torment, torture, spite, grizzled, sludge, refuse, spore, carrion, fear, pyre, funeral, shade, beast, witch, grip, legion, downfall, ruin, plague, woe, bane, horde, acid, fell, grief, corpse, mildew, mold, miter, dirge

(adjectives) dead, jagged, decrepit, fallen, darkened, blackened, dire, grim, feral, wild, broken, desolate, mad, lost, under, stagnant, blistered, derelict, forlorn, unbound, sunken, fallow, shriveled, wayward, bleak, low, weathered, fungal, last, brittle, sleepy, -strewn, dusky, deserted, empty, barren, vacant, forsaken, bare, bereft, stranded, solitary, abandoned, discarded, forgotten, deep, abysmal, bottomless, buried, fathomless,unfathomable, diseased, plagued, virulent, noxious, venomous, toxic, fetid, revolting, putrid, rancid, foul, squalid, sullied, vile, blighted, vicious, ferocious, dangerous, savage, cavernous, vast, yawning, chasmal, echoing, dim, dingy, gloomy, inky, lurid, shaded, shadowy, somber, sunless, tenebrous, unlit, veiled, hellish, accursed, sulfurous, damned, infernal, condemned, doomed, wicked, sinister, dread, unending, spectral, ghostly, haunted, eldritch, unknown, weary, silent, hungry, cloven, acidic

(verb/adverbs): wither (withering / withered), skulk (skulking), whisper, skitter, chitter, sting, slither, writhe, gape, screech, scream, howl, lurk, roil, twist, shift, swarm, spawn, fester, bleed, howl, shudder, shrivel, devour, swirl, maul, trip, smother, weep, shatter, ruin, curse, ravage, hush, rot, drown, sunder, blister, warp, fracture, die, shroud, fall, surge, shiver, roar, thunder, smolder, break, silt, slide, lash, mourn, crush, wail, decay, crumble, erode, decline, reek, lament, taint, corrupt, defile, poison, infect, shun, sigh, sever, crawl, starve, grind, cut, wound, bruise, maim, stab, bludgeon, rust, mutilate, tremble, stumble, fumble, clank, clang

Pleasant, Safe, Neutral

(nouns) spirit, luck, soul, oracle, song, sky, smile, rune, obelisk, cloud, timber, valor, triumph, rest, dream, thrall, might, valiance, glory, mirror, life, hope, oath, serenity, sojourn, god, hearth, crown, throne, crest, guard, rise, ascent, circle, ring, twin, vigil, breath, new, whistle, grasp, snap, fringe, threshold, arch, cleft, bend, home, fruit, wilds, echo, moonlight, sunlight, starlight, splendor, vigilance, honor, memory, fortune, aurora, paradise, caress

(adjectives) gentle, pleasant, prosperous, peaceful, sweet, good, great, mild, grand, topic, lush, wild, abundant, verdant, sylvan, vital, florid, bosky, callow, verdurous, lucious, fertile, spellbound, captivating, mystical, hidden, arcane, clandestine, esoteric, covert, cryptic, runic, otherworldly, touched, still, fair, deep, quiet, bright, sheer, tranquil, ancient, light, far, -wrought, tidal, royal, shaded, swift, true, free, high, vibrant, pure, argent, hibernal, ascendant, halcyon, silken, bountiful, gilded, colossal, massive, stout, elder, -bourne, furrowed, happy, merry, -bound, loud, lit, silk, quiet, bright, luminous, shining, burnished, glossy, brilliant, lambent, lucent, lustrous, radiant, resplendent, vivid, vibrant, illuminated, silvery, limpid, sunlit, divine, sacred, holy, eternal, celestial, spiritual, almighty, anointed, consecrated, exalted, hallowed, sanctified, ambrosial, beatific, blissful, demure, naked, bare, ample, coy,  deific, godly, omnipotent, omnipresent, rapturous, sacramental, sacrosanct, blessed, majestic, iridescent, glowing, overgrown, dense, hard, timeless, sly, scatter, everlasting, full, half, first, last

(verb/adverbs) arch (arching / arched), wink (winking), sing, nestle, graze, stroll, roll, flourish, bloom, bud, burgeon, live, dawn, hide, dawn, run, pray, wake, laugh, wake, glimmer, glitter, drift, sleep, tumble, bind, arch, blush, grin, glister, beam, meander, wind, widen, charm, bewitch, enthrall, entrance, enchant, allure, beguile, glitter, shimmer, sparkle twinkle, crest, quiver, slumber, herald, shelter, leap, click, climb, scuttle, dig, barter, chant, hum, chime, kiss, flirt, tempt, tease, play, seduce

Generic “Fantasy-Sounding” Word Parts

A - D

aaz, ada, adaer, adal, adar, adbar, adir, ae, ael, aer, aern, aeron, aeryeon, agar, agis, aglar, agron, ahar, akan, akyl, al, alam, alan, alaor, ald, alea, ali, alir, allyn, alm, alon, alor, altar, altum, aluar, alys, amar, amaz, ame, ammen, amir, amol, amn, amus, anar, andor, ang, ankh, ar, ara, aram, arc, arg, arian, arkh, arla, arlith, arn, arond, arthus, arum, arvien, ary, asha, ashyr, ask, assur, aster, astra, ath, athor, athra, athryn, atol, au, auga, aum, auroch, aven, az, azar, baal, bae, bael, bak, bal, balor, ban, bar, bara, barr, batol, batar, basir, basha, batyr, bel, belph, belu, ben, beo, bere, berren, berun, besil, bezan, bhaer, bhal, blask, blis, blod, bor, boraz, bos, bran, brath, braun, breon, bri, bry, bul, bur, byl, caer, cal, calan, cara, cassa, cath, cela, cen, cenar, cerul, chalar, cham, chion, cimar, clo, coram, corel, corman, crim, crom, daar, dach, dae, dago, dagol, dahar, dala, dalar, dalin, dam, danas, daneth, dannar, dar, darian,  darath, darm, darma, darro, das, dasa, dasha, dath, del, delia, delimm, dellyn, delmar, delo, den, dess, dever, dhaer, dhas, dhaz, dhed, dhin, din, dine, diar, dien, div, djer, dlyn, dol, dolan, doon, dora, doril, doun, dral, dranor, drasil, dren, drian, drien, drin, drov, druar, drud, duald, duatha, duir, dul, dulth, dun, durth, dyra, dyver,

E - H

ea, eber, eden, edluk, egan, eiel, eilean, ejen, elath, eld, eldor, eldra, elith emar, ellesar, eltar, eltaran, elth, eltur, elyth, emen, empra, emril, emvor, ena, endra, enthor, erad, erai, ere, eriel, erith, erl, eron, erre, eryn, esk, esmel, espar, estria, eta, ethel, eval, ezro, ezan, ezune, ezil, fael, faelar, faern, falk, falak, farak, faril, farla, fel, fen, fenris, fer, fet, fin, finar, forel, folgun, ful, fulk, fur, fyra, fallon, gael, gach, gabir, gadath, gal, galar, gana, gar, garth, garon, garok, garne, gath, geir, gelden, geren,  geron, ghal, ghallar, ghast, ghel, ghom, ghon, gith, glae, glander, glar, glym, gol, goll, gollo, goloth, gorot, gost, goth, graeve, gran, grimm, grist, grom, grosh, grun, grym, gual, guil, guir, gulth, gulur, gur, gurnth, gwaer, haa, hael, haer, hadar, hadel, hakla, hala, hald, halana, halid, hallar, halon, halrua, halus, halvan, hamar, hanar, hanyl, haor, hara, haren, haresk, harmun, harrokh, harrow, haspur, haza, hazuth, heber,  hela, helve, hem, hen, herath, hesper, heth, hethar, hind, hisari, hjaa, hlath, hlond, hluth, hoarth, holtar, horo, hotun, hrag, hrakh, hroth, hull, hyak, hyrza

I - M

iibra, ilth, ilus, ilira, iman, imar, imas, imb, imir, immer, immil, imne, impil, ingdal, innar, ir, iriae, iril, irith, irk, irul, isha, istis, isil, itala, ith, ithal, itka, jada, jae, jaeda, jahaka, jala, jarra, jaro, jath, jenda, jhaamm, jhothm, jinn, jinth, jyn, kado, kah, kal, kalif, kam, kana, kara, karg, kars, karth, kasp, katla, kaul, kazar, kazr, kela, kelem, kerym, keth, keva, kez, kezan, khaer, khal, khama, khaz, khara, khed, khel, khol, khur, kil, kor, korvan, koll, kos, kir, kra, kul, kulda, kund, kyne, lae, laen, lag, lan, lann, lanar, lantar, lapal, lar, laran, lareth, lark, lath, lauth, lav, lavur, lazar, leih, leshyr, leth, lhaza, lhuven, liad, liam, liard, lim, lin, lirn, lisk, listra, lith, liya, llair, llor, lok, lolth, loran, lorkh, lorn, loth, lothen, luen, luir, luk, lund, lur, luth, lyndus, lyra, lyth, maal, madrasm maera, maer, maerim, maes, mag, magra, mahand, mal, malar, mald, maldo, mar, mara, mark, marl, maru, maruk, meir, melish, memnon, mer, metar, methi, mhil, mina, mir, miram, mirk, mista, mith, moander, mok, modir, modan, mon, monn, mor, more, morel, moril, morn, moro, morrow, morth, mort, morum, morven, muar, mul, mydra, myr, myra, myst

N - S

naar, nadyra, naedyr, naga, najar, nal, naal, nalir, nar, naruk, narbond, narlith, narzul, nasaq, nashkel, natar, nath, natha, neir, neth, nether, nhall, nikh, nil, nilith, noan, nolvurm nonthal, norda, noro, novul, nul, nur, nus, nyan, nyth, ober, odra, oghr, okoth, olleth, olodel, omgar, ondath, onthril, ordul, orish, oroch, orgra, orlim, ormath, ornar, orntath, oroch, orth, orva, oryn, orzo, ostel, ostor, ostrav, othea, ovar, ozod, ozul, palan, palad, pae, peldan, pern, perris, perim, pele, pen, phail, phanda, phara, phen, phendra, pila, pinn, pora, puril, pur, pyra, qadim, quar, quel, ques, quil, raah, rael, ran, ranna, rassil, rak, rald, rassa, reddan, reith, relur, ren, rendril, resil, reska, reth, reven, revar, rhy, rhynn, ria, rian, rin, ris, rissian, rona, roch, rorn, rora, rotha, rual, ruar, ruhal, ruil, ruk, runn, rusk, ryn, saa, saar, saal, sabal, samar, samrin, sankh, sar, sarg, sarguth, sarin, sarlan, sel, seld, sember, semkh, sen, sendrin, septa, senta, seros, shaar, shad, shadra, shae, shaen, shaera, shak, shalan, sham, shamath, shan, shana, sharan, shayl, shemar, shere, shor, shul, shyll, shyr, sidur, sil, silvan, sim, sintar, sirem, skar, skell, skur, skyr, sokol, solan, sola, somra, sor, ssin, stel, strill, suldan, sulk, sunda, sur, surkh, suth, syl, sylph, sylune, syndra, syth

T - Z

taak, taar, taer, tah, tak, tala, talag, talar, talas, talath, tammar, tanar, tanil, tar, tara, taran, tarl, tarn, tasha, tath, tavil, telar, teld, telf, telos, tempe, tethy, tezir, thaar, thaer, thal, thalag, thalas, thalan, thalar, thamor, thander, thangol, thar, thay, thazal, theer, theim, thelon, thera, thendi, theril, thiir, thil, thild, thimir, thommar, thon, thoon, thor, thran, thrann, threl, thril, thrul, thryn, thuk, thultan, thume, thun, thy, thyn, thyr, tir, tiras, tirum, tohre, tol, tolar, tolir,  tolzrin, tor, tormel, tormir, traal, triel, trith, tsath, tsur, tul, tur, turiver, turth, tymor, tyr, uder, udar, ugoth, uhr, ukh, ukir, uker, usten, ulgarth, ulgoth, ultir, ulur, umar, umath, umber, unara, undro, undu, untha, upir, ur, ursa, ursol, uron, uth, uthen, uz, van, vaar, vaelan, vaer, vaern, val valan, valash, vali, valt, vandan, vanede, vanrak, var, varyth, vassa, vastar, vaunt, vay, vel, velar, velen, velius, vell, velta, ven, veren, vern, vesper, vilar, vilhon, vintor, vir, vira, virdin, volo, volun, von, voon, vor, voro, vos, vosir, vosal, vund, war, wara, whel, wol, wynn, wyr, wyrm, xer, xul, xen, xian, yad, yag, yal, yar, yath, yeon, yhal, yir, yirar, yuir, yul, yur, zail, zala, zalhar, zan, zanda, zar, zalar, zarach, zaru, zash, zashu, zemur, zhent, zim, ziram, zindala, zindar, zoun, zul, zurr, zuth, zuu, zym

A lot of places are named after historical events, battles, and people, so keep that in mind. God/Goddess names tied to your world also work well. Places are also often named after things that the area is known for, like Georgia being known for its peaches.

My brain was fried by the end of this so feel free to add more!

I hope you find this reference helpful and good luck world-building!

-Mel

[glaucussubmerged]

Old Powers

Also known as: Powers of the Earth, Dark Powers, Old Powers of (the) Earth, Old Ones, Dark Ones, the Ones Underfoot

Ancient powers, worshipped in the Kargad Lands but considered to be evil by the Archipelagans. The spirit trapped in the Stone of Terrenon and the Nameless Ones of the Tombs of Atuan are examples. Roke Knoll, the Immanent Grove, Faliern Forest and the Lips of Paor are also said to be centres of the Old Powers. Bound to one place, they cannot cross the sea; Ged states: 'Out of the sea rise storms and monsters, but no evil powers: evil is of earth.'a Often served by women, they are associated with the feminine, in opposition to the masculine magic. A more neutral explanation of the Old Powers is given in Tales from Earthsea & The Other Wind, where they are considered to be ancient powers associated with the earth, including caves, streams, hills and trees, neutral but exacting a price; as Alder says, 'the Powers of the Earth keep their own account'b

[Major sources: The Hawk's Flight, WoE; Hunting, WoE (a); The Ring of Erreth-Akbe, ToA; Dragonfly, TfE; Dolphin, OW (b)]

'"They have no power of making. All their power is to darken and destroy. They cannot leave this place; they are this place; and it should be left to them. They should not be denied or forgotten, but neither should they be worshipped. … And where men worship these things and abase themselves before them, there evil breeds; there places are made in the world where darkness gathers, places given over wholly to the Ones whom we call Nameless, the ancient and holy Powers of the Earth before the Light, the powers of the dark, of ruin, of madness…"' '"But before the gods and after, always, are the streams. Caves, stones, hills. Trees. The earth. The darkness of the earth."'

[The Ring of Erreth-Akbe, ToA/Dragonfly, TfE]

[poem-today]

A poem by Jan Owen

Seascape with Young Girl

           for Eve-Marie

The heat seethes dragonflies, their sheen, the exact colour of flight; pink orchids stretch on wispy stems not-quite rope-tricks. 

She pauses for a moment on the path where tangled tea-trees shine with Old Man’s Beard; two skinks glissando through her hands  and a stumpy-tail, lichen-patched, in the sun  recognises her with a long Jurassic gaze. 

She thuds at any hidden snake and a pair of blue wrens split the air, splice it up, disappear. 

At last – a spill of sand, the first steep slope, a slap of wind and before her the smiling sea. Left and right the dunes loll lion-colour. Below, the light bleeds silver on water; a rainbow sail windsurfs the inshore green and cries of gulls and children thin into air, pure as the notes of a pipe.

Suddenly on the next knoll, in one quick leap there’s a boy – slanting eyes, curly hair -- capering, he slings a stone, whistles and swoops and rolls and will be seen. 

Her eyes fine to horizons;  the line of her throat and chin is smooth as the headland and as remote. She will not notice him. And just as suddenly, he’s gone.  Her neck acknowledges an absence. 

The rainbow sail is down; wavelets fawn, bright-fanged, on the beach: the day’s a haze of white noise, tinnitus of tomorrow. Everything is far away, is within reach.

Jan Owen

Image: Peron Dunes, Tasmania. (Photo: David Clode).

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[confuzzled-kishper]

Dragonfly

a golden dragonfly flitted crossed my yard

on argent wings as melodic as a bard

he came to rest among the sunset honeysuckle

and in that moment my lips parted in a chuckle

to see such a delicate sprite

that can dance and shimmer in midday’s light

arrest its wings and ground its soul

here together atop this emerald knoll

overlooking cerulean streams

and a verdant orchard that teems

with cardinal fruits ripe for plunder

this afternoon has me filled with wonder

i have seen nature’s beauty unmarred

ever since that dragonfly flitted crossed my yard