New Beginnings
The ranger rode in silence atop her borrowed mount, her auburn locks looking like flames in the midday sun. She kept her gaze on the forestry beyond the road, and absently stroked the steed's flowing mane. She wondered what had become of Bellflower, and prayed silently that a deserving owner had come across the group of horses, and that they'd not become a meal for some horrid beast. The thought made Kaleyl shudder. "Mielikki protected her," she whispered, as a clearing came into view.
Clucking to her mount, she urged the calm beast off the road and through the waving grain until she saw the spot she was looking for. In the midst of a well-kept grassy plot of ground was a large slab of granite, it's top blackened from use. Kaleyl quietly dismounted and lead her horse closer, looking at the ash covered stone. Pulling the bandanna she'd used in her disguise so many weeks before from her pack, she meticulously cleaned the stone and then stuffed the rag in her pocket, returning to her horse to untie the dry logs strapped to the steed's back. Carrying them to the slab, she arranged them carefully, and drenched them in the oil from her pack.
Pausing for a moment, she took a look around before turning back to her duties. Tenderly, she removed her sister's broken body from the magical sack and arranged it with care atop the prepared slab.
"My sister..." she said softly, kissing her forehead.
Solemnly, she stood back and ignited the rag from her pocket and laid it on the seasoned logs. As the flames began to eagerly consume the fueled wood, Kaleyl recalled the song Poco had sang about herself and Arien, and softly, she sang the few lines that had stuck in her mind.
"If wishes are dreams
To hearts made of stone
Those wishes come true
and your left alone.
Cry ye young sister
Kaleyl has not time
To wipe your sweet tears
Or assist in your prime"
"All is not lost, Arien," she says, twisting their combined locks of hair in her fingers. "If there is a way... I will find it." Stepping away from the heat of the flame, she sat down in the grass to wait.
******
It was early the next morning when Kaleyl finally made her way through the streets of Waterdeep, her sister's ashes carefully tucked into her pack in the ornately carved wooden urn she'd purchased the day before. Having returned the loaned horse, she made her way on foot towards the direction of the Blade and Bow, but not before stopping by Mielikki's shrine.
Slipping quickly to the mossy patch of green, the ranger knelt on the now familiar ground, and clasped her holy symbol in her hands reverently. "Thank you, sweet Mielikki," she said simply, bowing her head. "I am in your debt and service for as long as I am needed on this world. I pray you guide me in the direction you wish for me to follow."
Lifting her head, Kaleyl smiled, a renewed sense of peace finding it's way back into her soul. Sitting back on the cushion of green, her fingers combed through the green tendrils, reaching out toward the row of purple blossoms. "Aren't they beautiful, Tiris?" she asked the ferret, who had found his way upon her shoulder. She rubbed her thumb against her fingertip as she imagined the softness of the violet petal.
Suddenly, the petite flower lifted itself from the surrounding bed, and swayed gently in the air for a moment, it's stem spilling up from the earth like a mountain spring, and as Kaleyl watched in amazement, the blossom wove it's way to her fingertips. Kaleyl's mouth slipped open in awe as she opened her fingers to stroke the delicate petals. Slowly, virescent tendrils wrapped themselves around her wrist and traveled up her arm in a graceful spiral. Hovering just inches beneath her nose, the purple blossom bloomed into a graceful flower before the astonished ranger's eyes. With a smile of wonder, the half-elf leaned down to inhale it's sweet fragrance, and at that moment, she knew her path.
****
Kaleyl stood somewhat nervously before the door of the Blade and Bow in the light of the mid-morning sun. It would be some time before she became accustomed to her new attire. Her auburn hair was a sharp contrast to her new saffron yellow vestments, but the red embroidery and rope belt coordinated well with her fiery locks. The tail of her robe-like garment rested just above her sandaled feet, and would have been full were it not for the belted tie. Her silver unicorn holy symbol felt at home against the golden skin in the vee of the sleeveless bodice, but the oaken staff in her hand still felt foreign. "Ah well," she thought, as her fingers begged to scratch at the new pattern of ivy that encircled her left upper arm, "I have plenty of time to get used to it."
Tiris chattered impatiently on her shoulder, as if encouraging her to get on with it. Smiling over at him with a scratch to his head instead of the new tattoo, she took a deep breath, and opened the door to the tavern.
****
OOC: The words Kaleyl sings are from Aubrey's "Bard Song" posted back at Elturel.