Simple Gifts [Closed] - Part 2

[laurenande]

WHO: Galadriel, Thranduil, Solas, Myrobalan, Merrill, Kitty, Lakshmi, Teren, Marcoulf, Jang, Obi-Wan, and Anders
WHAT: A trip to a perfectly normal Chantry in the middle of nowhere.
WHEN: Current.
WHERE: The Island of Alamar, Ferelden.
NOTES: Current warnings, to be updated: Mild Gore

The Abbey on the White Cliff

Around noon on the fourth day, Brigette and the other sisters gather up the people of the Abbey. Everyone who can walk, who can stand, is urged to join them in the auditorium--the doors at the end of the main hall are thrown open and the people welcomed in. Today Reverend Mother Alvar will be enacting her final miracle and, in the grand tradition of this Abbey, the people are invited to behold and take joy in the sight of it. They are encouraged to be there for the end of the previous Reverend Mother's life, just as they are encouraged to welcome the new Reverend Mother, Luca, as she assumes her new position.

The auditorium is a wide, stepped chamber that drops downward into an open forum and stage. The roof is high and domed and was once constructed of the same grey stone as everything else on the island. It was caved in at some point, destroyed by a falling tree, but it has been patched over with wood and canvas. The extensive scaffolding speaks volumes of how much effort has gone into restoring this room, but all of it stands still and empty in preparation for the ceremony.

Above the center of the stage, in the very middle of the room, visible from all angles, there is a great green tear in the veil--a massive rift cleaves the room in two. It churns sluggishly, ebbing and twisting, muted under the weight of whatever pall hangs across this Abbey. Around the rift there is a golden arch--the wood is carved into flames and swords and papered over in hammered gold leaf. Behind the rift there is a triptych depicting scenes from the Chant and each is lovingly painted and framed in gold.

The room is filled with chaos, but not of the sort one would expect in the shadow of a rift. The people who meander in, the pilgrims who take up the seats near to the stage at the base of the steps, all of them are smiling, all of them are happy, some are weeping tears of joy or remorse, but all of them are entirely unsurprised by the rift's presence. They take no issue lingering near it. Praise is heaped upon the carpenters for their diligence in finishing the arch, songs are sung softly as everyone gathers, and eventually the room is prompted to recite from the Chant as Alvar comes to the center of the stage. She is frail and those who spoke with her earlier will see how she has aged--twenty years in a day, it seems--and she leans heavily on Luca until she moves apart to stand on her own.

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls.
From these emerald waters doth life begin anew.
Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you.
In my arms lies Eternity.

When she speaks the Chant, for a moment, her voice sounds youthful again--no older than Luca's--but it is fleeting and before the end she is breathless and thin once more.

OOC:

Hey everyone, this is part 2! I will be posting an initial thread for this scene that will be a free for all, but feel free to start a thread beneath the Ceremony Header if you want. Below I will be reposting the updated areas and people links, same as the previous post.

New Top-levels are welcomed, as always, but if you have questions please hit me up.

This section will contain the rest of this plot, unless we skyrocket to too many tags for me to keep them straight.

Comments

[esquive]

He doesn't linger. The moment Luca's feet touch the ground, he's climbing through the window and dropping after her - clink of metal, the awkward thump of his sword battering against his thigh. Marcoulf's hand closes on Luca's arm.

"This way. Let's go." Away from that damned window. He leads her rapidly from the wall's shadow, cutting hard and sharp for the dormitory. He doesn't release her arm.

[laurenande]

Luca doesn't struggle against him as they flee, her steps are right after his, quick and eager to be away. The distance to the dormitories is not wide but, before they even make it to the kitchen door, they can hear the destruction of the office behind them. The shattering of glass echoes out into the treeline.

Luca gives a small yelp and slaps her hand over her mouth as the sound rings out. They dive into the darkened kitchen and, once again, they are alone. The sound of rain drowns out the sounds outside and the door closes heavily behind them, drawn by the chill of the outdoors.

[esquive]

Marcoulf's hand stays steady (or clinging) there at her arm through it - through the battery of the rain and the dark and the glass shattering pang and the desperate little move it takes to duck inside the dark of the kitchen.

It's a beat of quiet. A strangled second of hesitation where he listens to the dark and the rain. "Lead on," he says after a long moment. "I'll mind you."

[laurenande]

Luca nods and moves without thinking, tugging against his grip on her arm. She offers him a short look and then looks to the ceiling.

"We should wake your friends, the rest of them," she says. "They are best equipped to help us and they must leave as quickly as we do."

She hesitates as she glances back at the darkened stairwell beyond the kitchens. It is not frigid here, for the moment they are safe, but she also has no idea why those wraiths were looking for her. Why they destroyed the office is a mystery.

"You should go first," she says and looks back. "I...would not expect them to be glad at the sight of me in the darkness."

[esquive]

Nevermind the reason he'd come to her in the first place. This makes sense: following direction. She doesn't need to tell him a second time. With a nod, Marcoulf takes the lead: one hand at his dagger should he need it, the other with its fingers still pinched in the heavy sleeve of her robes - leading like a child might up the darkened stair.