Legend of Ransera

Norani was always an attentive student. Her moms would always remark how big her eyes would get when watching something new. That brought a sour taste into the Orkhan's mouth, regret from having left, bitterness from wondering if they would comment on Juno being there right beside her learning as well. But Norani stuffed that emotion down, something quite unlike her, unlike the upbringing she was raised with, unlike the normal emotional process for nearly all Ecithians, and she watched as Astrid set to work with her unique tools.

And, of course, she had more questions. Ever the curious chatterbox, at least when not brooding on her pains.

"What is that numbing plant called?"

It was strange to watch the symbols carved into Ruvaf's flesh, but she could see that he was not in pain, not discomforted, and she continued to rub his neck, his beak, and coo to him.

'You are who you are until you decide to become someone else.'

But who was she without family, without her culture, without her friends, without anyone. Who did she even want to be?

Norani shook out the thought, working to focus through the fog of her exhaustion. She grabbed her notebook from her pack, and began writing things down. Carving hook as a tool to translate methods and meanings into symbols. Bone elemental? Norani sketched a quick picture of it in her charcoal.

"Are the symbols the same for everyone or do they differ like languages?"

Norani smiled at the dancing elementals, and she touched the wind lightly with her aether, sending a breeze to join in around them. Agst'ga. Hmm. A people who once helped this great tree and thus provided the elements to the world. In Norani's mind, that sounded like a far more noble calling than any she knew of back home in Ecith. She wrote down Acherani, language of Titans, tongue of the elements. All elementals can understand it, and in that moment, Norani had already decided she would learn it.

At the explanation of the phycaals, Norani was awed. So the spirits were the elements. Norani knew in her heart now that was why it always felt to her like the elements were alive when she worked with them. They were, they very much were.

In large letters, Ghoron, the Last Achaeri, the Last Titan. "What awful place?" Norani's scales stood up on her neck at the thought of souls being ripped away and devoured. Was this the Sundering that the old stories spoke of? But then Astrid spoke of the last titan being asleep and unreachable. The Elements and seasons were locked without this Titan's influence.

Norani could feel it in her rune, by way of her heart, that this would need fixed, that she would need to fix it. To do otherwise would be an affront to the world. There was a guilt though, for it would delay her finding Yeva. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and began to think. Part of her wanted to sacrifice anything and everything to find her dear friend again. But another part also wanted to be able to look herself and her friend in the eye. Finding Yeva was a certainty.

And if someone was expecting her, they would know that Yeva was her goal too. Maybe this would help with that.

Green eyelids slid open, a fierce Orkhan determination within her dark eyes, her aura, invisible to her, lit aflame as every fiber of her being was aligned in this choice, answering the call of the Elements. "I will find Ghoron, I will wake him up, and I will bring balance back." The exhaustion was gone and her mind was made up. She would do this. "Where is he that you cannot go? What more can you tell me of this?"

And silently, 'Please stay strong Yeva. I am coming.'

A language of one's own. The idea of crafting one's language was daunting. Norani found herself wondering if pictography was the only way. But her head was swimming in her exhaustion before she could ponder it much further. She watched as the shadow elemental came closer. As Astrid spoke, Norani knew of her people's prejudice against that particular element.

After all, the greatest threat to their people was the great Shadow Serpent.

It was interesting, to think that spirits such as these were free of things considered good or evil. Like children. Where did good and evil come from? What changed when a child became an adult that formed people that came about to do good? To do evil? And where did Norani fall? She wasn't sure if anything she did was good or bad. At the end of the day, Norani often felt selfish, doing what her heart felt was best.

Norani gave a knowing look at the mention of Zaichaer. Yeva didn't speak too much of the city she'd once lived in, but Norani knew that many there had been unkind to Yeva, due to her very existence. She had found kinship and security there, a place in the world, and eventually her calling that brought her to Ecith and into Norani's own life. And Norani was there when the Seer had spoke to Yeva about the great calamity that had befallen Zaichaer. She had lost a friend.

Norani smiled, cooing to Ruvaf as Astrid worked his wing, fixing the bones into place. "Did he lock away the elements and seasons because of the disaster in Zaichaer? The falling star and the crack in the sky?" Norani couldn't imagine such a thing happening, but it had been a strange world since that had happened. She remembered the aether storm that formed in her village, the eclipse overhead. The world was changing so much, so often.

An evil thing so powerful as to challenge a being such as a Titan. Locked in an a seemingly eternal struggle in a sacred grove with the missing seasons. Norani wondered if permanent winter meant constant rain in Ecith, to accompany the darkness. She knew it would be devastating for so many people. The Ci'uvan eggs can't hatch in the wet season, a generation of fliers would be lost. The lake would flood, so many creatures would be driven away. The reeds would drown, the soil around the tree could loosen.

Her home could come crashing down, her family in it.

As Astrid told her to rest, Norani gave deference. She was beyond exhausted, and she trusted the woman. She knew that her energy would be needed, to recover her magic, to clear her fogged mind, and to prepare her body for what she had decided in her heart would be done. Ruvaf appeared to be mended, his eyelids hanging sleepily, he would need rest as well.

Norani nodded.

"Thank you, for helping Ruvaf. I am eternally grateful to you Astrid," she then looked at each of the elementals that were around, "Thank you, all of you, for guiding me here, for helping Ruvaf, for everything." She smiled tiredly, before yawning wide, tears forcing out of the corners of her eyes. She looked up at the second hut, now realizing what it was for.

She leaned forward, touching her nose to Ruvaf's beak, "You did so well. You'll be better soon, I'll be over there." She let him see where she would be nesting. "Our new friends will be with you tonight, taking care of you. Keep being strong. You're doing so well." She looked at Astrid, "If he gets hungry, he prefers fish."

Norani slowly stood up, nearly toppling over in her weariness, feeling a small gust of wind nudge her back upright. She looked over at the little wind elemental, and smiled. She blew a bit of air through her tusks at it and smiled. She slowly trudged to the hut that had been formed from flowering vines, rough stones, and smaller roots. As she peered inside, she squinted, unable to see. Then it lit up as the fire elemental sidled up next to her. Norani peered down at it, grinning wide. She knelt down, reaching out to caress it, feeling the warmth. She didn't fear fire, even as the warmth grew uncomfortable. The elements all belonged. They could all harm and they could all help.

And Yeva was fire, to Norani.

She stood back up, walking over to a nest that had been formed in the roots and vines, several elementals wondering in and exploring the newly formed home, chirruping to one another. Norani undressed, scrubbed her tusks and teeth, and touched a hand to the lotus on her heart, the constant reminder that her dearest friend was still lost, and that Norani wished that she could be here with her, so that neither of them would be alone.

And it seemed Agst'rasera heard her, as the vines adjusted, the nest doubling in sized, just enough for two. Norani smiled, crawling into it tiredly. The elementals continued exploring, though the woody one approached, head butting a vine, which sprouted a large leaf that spread out and draped over Norani's form. The vines adjusted slightly, giving her the most comfortably bed she'd ever slept in. And soon, the elementals crawled into the nest too, filling in the space that would have been Yeva's, the slight sound of a breeze, a bubbling, the crackling of fire, was quickly lulling Norani to sleep.

One last look in the corner revealed the shadow elemental there, and Norani beckoned it into the nest as well. And it slowly slinked over, nestling in as well. And Norani took a deep breath, preparing for another round of nightmares of Yeva lost in a sea of stars and a broken world. And then she closed her eyes, and the darkness consumed her.