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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Feb 14, 2005 11:40:07 GMT -5
"One of you?" Maeg repeated. "What do you mean?"
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Ye gods," she muttered. "Things just keep getting more complicated, don't they?" She shook her head.
"Hey," she said, remembering something. "Whatever happened to Shadow's friend? Sarien, I think his name was?"
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Feb 14, 2005 22:18:24 GMT -5
((Well, I think so...I'm better able to keep up with your pace now than I was before. Just let me know when would be a good time, if that works.))
Jandalf stood still, focusing in on the contact. [Tall land? Like tall trees, tall mountains...low gravity? And your mother's saying something about aE'chani'li. People's Land or something. Does that ring any bells?]
"I wonder if we'll even be able to get there," she murmured.
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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Feb 16, 2005 11:43:10 GMT -5
(Come on in whenever you want. I'm not sure when our gang will leave Lorien, so hop in whenever you're ready.)
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Post by BEHIND YOU!!! on Feb 18, 2005 3:45:17 GMT -5
"I did not mean to bring my fate here, m'lady," Shadow mumbled. "But I am a deeply embedded enity into these world's fates, and cannot help but being a firm point to draw attention now. It's easy to trace the ripples inward to their starting point."
She raised her gaze to stare at the Lady of the Woods, and offered her now-typical phrase. "But you, like others, could stop my magnetic reaction. Perhaps you, unlike so many others, would take the chance to strike me down, destroy who I am, and destroy what I do to these worlds. Surely Lara'li could do the same as I-- what halts you from my death?" A faint smile crossed her face. "I will leave as soon as possible, m'lady, if you do not kill me on the spot. I admit it, I wouldn't fight my own death now."
Folding her hands in a mockery of the Jedi-pose, Shadow couldn't help the thoughts that Galadriel had as much reason to kill her as Jethine, yet the latter had allowed her to live.
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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Feb 22, 2005 12:28:53 GMT -5
The Lady smiled enigmatically.
“You speak the truth,” she said. “I could do just that, if I so desired. However, I do not believe that your death shall come by my hands. Not all who live deserve life, and not all that die deserve death. Who am I to make such a choice?”<br> Her tight-lipped smile, sharp as a razor and cold as ice, grew sharper still.
“Besides, I have made a promise not to harm you during your stay. I am not one to break such oaths.” Her eyes closed and she gave the smallest hint of a laugh. “Your companion has become a shrewd businesswoman in her travels. I believe in your galaxy one would say she ‘drives a hard bargain.’”
//uh oh, I have to go. I meant for this to be longer, but I just realized that I’m late for class. Later!//
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Feb 27, 2005 19:31:01 GMT -5
((Meep...hope you made it. Heh.
Well, here goes nothing.))
The Padawan stumbled over a tree root and landed hard. It didn't help matters much that she was still shaking after the crash. The smoking ruin of the ship lay somewhere behind her...likely to sit useless until the end of time itself.
Then what'll I do?
She had to face it: she was hopelessly stuck on an uncharted world, wandering into a forest she'd never seen before in her life. If death didn't take her here, the local animals or inhabitants or whatever else would do the job.
Jandalf's ship, nerves, and wits were as good as gone. For all purposes, the only thing she hadn't lost by now was her lightsaber.
((Do we want some of the forest's Elves to intercept her?))
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Post by Tiana, eh? on Feb 28, 2005 2:49:17 GMT -5
Lara'li shook her head. "I wouldn't know," the shorter Jedi mumbled. "I'm not all-knowing. That's Jether's job, I think. Or Tiana's little Mirror... little..." She found herself mumbling not rather nice ways to discribe the rather too-old for her britches girl.
"Eheh..."
She composed herself slightly, and glanced up at Maeggaladiel. "You're part of the Mirror," she said, softly. "That's all I meant." Unless it was more... but I wouldn't know.
Could Maeggaladiel be a Force-sensitive?
[No, it's just... tall.] Tiana shook her figurative head. [I thought you knew the term, though. Means the true ruler's land. Mom's losing it, I suppose...] She found herself drifting away, and reached out to anchor the contact to the easier training bond, rather than bothering with a firm anchored hold.
She was too scared to focus straight, anyway. It took enough effort to keep the mental connection open. [It's tall. And... broken. Can't you just find me?]
"Trust your feelings," Ariane mumbled, and twisted her fingers through the wet sand.
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Post by BEHIND YOU!!! on Mar 1, 2005 2:37:56 GMT -5
((I can get Sarian to do so if you want]
"But that doesn't include after I leave," Shadow said dryly, her voice void of any warmth or apreciation of what she had to do. "You speak, of course, to the fact that I do NOT deserve life. But not always does one have a choice in what they do." She spat it out with some degree of hate to the memories.
"I'd like to ask which companion you refer to, if I may," the rogue elf added as an afterthought. "I will leave as soon as I am able, but I'd like to know whom it is who 'drives a hard bargain' as those in..." Shadow hesitated the slightest fraction of a second "...my galaxy would say." Then I am an outcast, completely. She may not mean to kill me here, but there is nothing but cold to her voice.
...but is not mine the same?
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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Mar 1, 2005 12:34:28 GMT -5
//Sorry, I just have to say this. I know you've had your sig for a long time, Shadow, but I can't help it... I CRACK UP EVERY TIME I READ IT! "Sorta sucks, you know?" Neeheheeee! Okay. I'm done now.//
"After you leave, there will be no point in killing you," the Lady replied. "You will be gone. That is all I desire."
She folded her hands, entwining her fingers together.
"I was referring to Maeggaladiel," she continued. "She has asked me to leave you be in return for a service to her people. As long as she upholds her end of the bargain, I am bound by honor to uphold mine." She paused for a moment.
"I have told you all I needed to say," she said at last. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss, or shall you be retiring to your quarters?"
---------------------------------------
"Part of the Mirror," echoed Maeg. "Wonderful." She was silent for a moment as they reached their room.
"Who's Jether?" she asked suddenly. "Another reflection of Janalf, like Jethine?" Where WAS Jandalf? She wondered.
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Mar 2, 2005 18:03:19 GMT -5
[Oh,] sent Jandalf. [That sort of tall. I see.]
"Wonderful," she mumbled. "Now all we have to figure out is how to get there."
((Yeah, getting Sarian would be just fine. And Maeg...Jether is Jandalf's son.))
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Post by BEHIND YOU!!! on Mar 3, 2005 12:45:15 GMT -5
"By honor, but not by choice," Shadow said, coldly, flipping her head back to stare across at the Lady. "I'm glad I can add another person to the list of people who'd kill me on own choice had not one of the few who can see me as a person interviened. Tell me, why is it that the wise only see on the outside of a person's masks, but it is the little-- the fools-- that see through to who they really are?"
She waited not for an answer, but continued. "You need not worry-- I am upheld to my word-- your Mirror will be destroyed, though I hold little love for the people of Middle-earth. And what of those caught between this world and the others, then, I pray?"
She spun around and stalked away.
********************
Sarian stalked through the Woods, thinking how much fairer they were than the Shadow Realm. His shift as border guard had been temporaraly termentated, anyway, due to the newcomers.
It was quiet, the ringing of birds echoing through the trees, until another sound reached his ears, and the smoke to his eyes, just faintly.
He dashed through the trees quickly, hardly watching his step as they were so familiar to him now. He reached the border and stared in horror at the smoking ruin before him. He'd seen the style of ship before-- Almarien had drawn such things, and he had passed through the Mirrors a couple of times.
He drew his bow and fitted an arrow to the string. Not that I'll need it. Any survivors are likely to be badly wounded.
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Mar 4, 2005 23:38:46 GMT -5
((Um...since I've got two Jandalfs going at the same time, I'll indicate in OOC comments which one it is if the post doesn't include both of them. This post is Padawan Jandalf.))
Jandalf sat on one of the roots of the tree nearest to her and tugged off her boot, wondering how a pebble could have gotten inside it. She shook the boot out; not one, but three pebbles fell to the ground.
Gah. How very typical. She grimaced and pulled the boot back onto her foot...but there was a pine needle of sorts left inside. She hadn't had reason to notice it before, as it had been lying flat, but now that she'd shaken the boot, it had adjusted itself just right to drive itself into her heel.
She let loose a startled yell and grappled with the boot more frantically this time, only thinking to regret her outburst once she'd yanked the needle from her heel. Someone will have heard that if there's anyone to listen. Stang. I should have been more careful.
Making sure there was nothing left inside her boot this time, she pulled it on once again.
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Post by Tiana, eh? on Mar 7, 2005 0:35:25 GMT -5
[You'd have to be here to get it, Master,] Tiana sent, still heavily focused on the connection that seemed to waver on and off. [Maybe it would be different for you. I just feel... strange here. I can't help my height!]
"I can't help you," Ariane said. "I couldn't teleport you from here if my life depended on it" The older Jedi woman ran her hair back behind her head, and sighed again. "Too tired."
Lara'li reached out to open the door, and smiled. "I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that," she said with a mild grin. "Jether's Jandalf's son--Tiana's boyfriend." She smirked slightly. "But he's a lot like Jandalf in many aspects. Jethine is... completely different."
She glanced around. Shadow hadn't returned. She hadn't expected Shadow to be back yet, anyway. "No long lost love rests between these people and Almarien," she said, softly. "Yet, within her heart, it's different now." Lara'li sat down, and looked up at the taller elf woman.
"What are we going to do now?"
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Mar 7, 2005 19:16:35 GMT -5
((Actually, Maeg, that was a good guess on your part, due to the similarities in their names, I suppose. Heh.))
Jandalf grit her teeth. "All right, then. That's perfectly all right. Because we're going to get there regardless.
"...Even though I don't know how."
[Padawan, just try to keep up the connection on your end until I think of something.]
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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Mar 8, 2005 12:23:24 GMT -5
//I personally figured it was a guy, since I heard you and Tiana talking about him in Coauthors. RP Maeg doesn't know that, though, so I figured I'd make her ask. I didn't know he was Jandalf's son... I figured he was Jethine's brother or something.//
"I don't know," Maeg replied truthfully. "I think things are getting way out of hand. I'm sorry that I brought everyone here. I had hoped the Lady would be able to help us, but now it seems she's just causing us more trouble."
She sat down on the floor and chewed her lower lip. Things were happening much too quickly, despite the appearance that they had been sitting doing nothing for so long. This was not what she had wanted. It was inevitable, she aknowledged grudgingly, but not what she had in mind when she came.
Tiredly she removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Everything became hazy as she looked around without their aid.
The Lady wasn’t telling her something. Maeg could see that much. She was making Maeg risk her stupid neck for the stupid Woods and she wasn’t going to stupid tell her why it was her stupid job. After years of being away, the Lady asks her out of the blue to do something she herself would be more capable of undertaking. Why was she so darn special? Was this just the Lady’s way of saying “Beat it, Blinky, we don't have the time or energy to get rid of you ourselves?”<br> She shook her head and put her glasses back on.
"I know Almarien doesn't care for this world. She has no reason to. From what I know of her story, I don't blame her." She smiled grimly. "I don't think these people will harm her, though. I'm pretty sure she's got good insurance on her side."
Pretty @%&*!$ good insurance... she thought to herself.
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Post by Tiana, eh? on Mar 8, 2005 19:27:19 GMT -5
Ariane narrowed her eyes. "I told you, I can't help you. You're going to have to come up with something on your own. Since you assume I'm coming." The exausted Jedi folded her arms. "Can't you just anchor yourself mentally to Tiana and pull yourself mentally into her world rather than physically to get a grip?"
[I'll try, Master.] Tiana ground her teeth together, ignoring the mental struggle that continued in her mind.
Lara'li was quiet for a while, putting things together that she had gathered. The other langauges didn't help the Terran Jedi much, but...
Almarien had been acting rather distant for ages, and she couldn't get a mental hold on her at all. As if something had wiped her powers temporarilly away-- Shadow, she meant. Maeggaladiel was fidgety.
That was understandable, but yet not. She wasn't lying, just... holding something back.
"You did something," Lara'li stated grimly. "Didn't you? To protect Sha... Almarien. You seen the inevitablity of her death here, if she was without any protection... you knew she was classed as a traitor, even if what you seen of her was different. A life for a life, isn't it? The Lady wants to get rid of the two of you-- isn't it just easier for her to dispose of all of us in one shot by giving us a hopeless quest?!"
Lara'li was nearly hysterical by this point. "What did you do?!"
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Post by BEHIND YOU!!! on Mar 9, 2005 0:00:43 GMT -5
Sarian was quiet as he slipped through the trees towards the burning wrekage. The yelp coming from nearby changed his direction, and he followed the echoing noice of the outburst to where a younger woman in outlandish clothing sat on a largeish root under a tree.
She could almost be elvin, he thought, tucking his finger behind the arrow feather, and pulling it slightly back as he stepped forward.
"Stay where you are," he warned in a soft voice, "or you won't get much further." An inner flicker caused him to add, in Basic, "Keep your hands where I can see them."
*****************************
Shadow pased through the woods, not knowing what she had expected from the confrontation. She had confronted many enemies before-- why should this time have been any different.
Yet, inwardly, the rogue elf was peturbed that the Lady refused to forgive her for what she was, rather than leaving her be for the sake of the few who could see her. I realize now how rare Jandalf was.
It hurt, though, to always be spaired just for what she could do. Treated as if she were just another piece to the game, a pawn to be thrown away to protect the king at all costs.
She spat on the ground, and stared for just a moment. "I rennounce Middle-earth and its people," she hissed, "and those who hold to its ways. I am of the future Mirrors evermore, and my alliance is to them." She closed her eyes for a second. "To Jethine, to Jandalf, to the Force that lies within me. I will do this for Middle-earth, but not for any lost love that lies within."
Yet something inside her missed the realm of peace that was cut away from it all.
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Post by Lady Maeggaladiel on Mar 10, 2005 11:47:51 GMT -5
//I wrote this late last night on my computer, so if it sounds really weird it's because I was only half-awake.//
“No, I don’t think she wants us all dead,” Maeg said slowly, twisting a strand of hair between her fingertips. “She’s not a cruel woman, despite what you and Shad—Almarien have seen of her. She tries to do what’s best for the whole of Lothlorien. Apparently our presence here has harmed—or will harm—the Wood in some way.”
Her fingers wrapped themselves around the pendant on her neck as she spoke. Quickly they turned the pendant over and over again, running nervously over its smooth surface and entwining themselves in its mithril chain.
“You’re very observant, Lara’li,” she continued after a moment’s pause. “I have indeed made a pact with Galadriel to let Almarien live. I do not know if the Lady would have really killed her if I hadn’t, but I didn’t feel comfortable taking that kind of chance.” She stared down at her own ever-moving fingers as they wove spider-like through the chain.
“You know, some people say that everything happens for a reason,” she began again. “They say that there are no coincidences in this life. If that’s true, then there was a reason why I stumbled aboard that pirate ship, why I felt compelled to touch that Mirror, why we came to the Lady, of all people, for aid, why Almarien ran into Sarian… why the paths of a Jedi, a Sith and a Nearsighted Elf should cross in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Maybe this is all leading to something much larger.” She nodded to herself.
“Yeah,” she murmured, still staring at her hands. “I think it will lead to something really important.” A little laugh lodged in her throat. “Galadriel knows about it, I’m sure. The woman is hiding something from us; you know that, don’t you? I have a feeling that there’s a bigger reason why she dislikes Almarien and why I’m constantly being given the cold shoulder.” There was another pause. “I’m sorry we got you involved in this, Lara’li. You’ve done nothing to deserve the treatment you receive for being in our company.”<br> She untangled a hand from her chain and ran it through her hair. She couldn’t keep avoiding Lara’li’s question. The Terran deserved to know what was going on. It was a luxury that few of them could afford.
“You wanted to know what I offered in return for Almarien’s life,” she began awkwardly. “I promised Galadriel that I would come to the People’s aid. Our passage to Middle-Earth has upset several forces, and they are being drawn to this place. I have been asked restore the balance we have disturbed. It’s no big deal; we’ll be outta here in no time.” The last part was probably a lie, she realized. She had no idea why Galadriel would want her to undertake this mission. She was a minor telepath and had traveled to other worlds. That was the extent of her ‘adventurer’ résumé. Could it be that the Lady really was trying to kill her?
//Woah… that was long. Sorry. I guess RP Maeg had a lot to say.// //It’s bizarre how different from me RP Maeg has become. Now she’s all melodramatic and weird. Not that I’m not weird.//
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Post by Jandalf on Toast on Mar 10, 2005 14:13:17 GMT -5
"I'm not completely off my rocker," Jandalf said wearily. "There's no way to pull this off in a physical sense. I'd try your suggestion...only I don't know what'll happen to us then. Wouldn't there be a fair chance that only our essences would be moved, and our bodies would stay here?" She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face, where it seemed to keep moving. "Then we'd be dead. No help there."
[...Padawan...have you ever heard of an instance where someone pulled their mental self over to another realm and their bodies came with?]
The Padawan froze, and raised her hands slowly, intertwining her fingers at the top of her head. She'd been held up before, but...
Jandalf gradually twisted herself about to get at least a glimpse of the threat. Bow and arrows?! Yet somehow...something about him isn't that primitive. Something about these woods.
She hesitated. At least he understands Basic. "Who are you? ...And where am I?"
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Post by BEHIND YOU!!! on Mar 11, 2005 2:25:03 GMT -5
She does speak Basic rather than the Common Tongue. "You're not in much of a position to be asking the questions, esketor," the elf said, wryly. He fingered the feather of his arrow. He didn't plan on shooting the outsider, but it was good insurence nevertheless.
"Nevertheless, I am Sarian Calenroch Vilyarandir of the line of Myrgwath, which will mean little to you, and these are the borders of the Lady of the Wood's realm." He observed her appearance with some interest-- she had turned enough to see him, and he could look her over fairly well from her angle. The single braid interested him-- a lot of elves wore braids, but never just a single fine rope.
Who is she? Do I take the risk and possibly throw away who I am on a gamble?
"And who are you, jeedai?"
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