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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 12:39:43 GMT -5
After all the rain and sunshine, Spring had sprung and the flowers were in full bloom, making the gardens a lovely and fragrant place to pass the time. I was without assigantions today, at least as yet, though I did not think I would be called upon to fulfill those duties today. I had finished with all my lessons earlier in the day, and so now the sun was high with it being early in the afternoon, beating down upon the land. The warmth of the sun caressed my bare shoulders, as did my sunny locks, as I walked through the colourful display of the Gentian garden. Gentian flowers of blue and indigo, and poppies too of a blood red with black centres surrounded me, their fragrance mingling and leaving the air I inhaled heavily scented, but pleasnatly so. My fingers absently brushed the pedals of flowers I walked by, caressing their petals gently as I found myself lost in thought and humming silently to myself, an old Skaldic tune my mother used to sing to us when we were babes. My gown, the same deep bluish-purple of some of the Gentian blooms, brushed past my ankles, swishing with the gentle breeze that blew and the slow movement of my steps. My eyes closed as I alked, trusting my instincts to keep me from trampelling any of the beautiful blooms that growed around me.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 13:52:36 GMT -5
With spring in full bloom, I had decided to forgo any plans I had made for the day and decided to sit in the garden for a while. It had been quiet since Queen Coretta's wedding, and it seemed that Gentian had followed that. In the garden, there was already someone there, a woman, and I wondered if this was Kasia's sister just from her looks. I walked the laid paths of the garden at a gentle pace and kept an eye on the other woman.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 13:57:12 GMT -5
I felt more than heard the presence of another person in the gardens with me, but I did not open my eyes and continued to wander the path laid out with gentle steps, true steps that never strayed into the flowerbeds, not even a bit. My arms were still spread, fingertips brushing the petals as I walked, taking in a deep breath as I heard the steps of the other person. They were light steps, not heavy booted ones, and so I figured a woman, and judging from her silence, and how the steps seemed to follow me at a close enough range, she was perhaps following me. I wondered if she would speak but continued to walk silently regardless, not perturbed or unsettled, though I had to admit I was a little intrigued.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 14:09:30 GMT -5
I didn't dare speak in case I startled her into stepping into the flower beds. But I should say something to her since we were both in the gardens. Right? "Lovely day," I said.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 14:24:01 GMT -5
The woman spoke, and I smiled. Her voice was soft, not at all raised to startle, but loud enough that I could hear her. I opened my eyes, letting my arms fall back at my sides as I turned and nodded my head in a slight bow.
"Yes, it most certainly is. And teh flowers are lovely, aren't they?" I queried as my eyes first gazed at the woman who stood behind me, then at a flower bed to the right. She was very pretty, and I thought that I had seen her about Gentian before - no I was certain - though we never spoke before now.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 14:47:55 GMT -5
I nodded. "They are." I watched her shift her gaze from me to a flower bed to the left. I was sure I've seen her around Gentian before, but haven't really spoken to her until now. "I'm Kaden."
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 15:26:57 GMT -5
I nodded, smiling.
"Nice to meet you Kaden," I said as I brought my gaze back up to hers. "I am Felicja. So what brings you to walking in the gardens?" I asked.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 12, 2011 15:37:08 GMT -5
"It's a too nice of a day not to enjoy it. It helps clear the mental cobwebs. And you?"
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 13, 2011 8:34:03 GMT -5
I nodded as I went to move to continue my walk in the garden, motioning genteely for her to walk with me, if she so pleased.
"Yes, that it does," I agreed, "Iwas drawn to the promise of sunshine and the sweet fragrance of the blooms," I said wiht a smile. "Plus it is a good place to think... or not think. It holds enough peace or distraction to do either, I think.".
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 13, 2011 12:01:55 GMT -5
I joined Felicja in the walk. "Have that promise been kept?" The garden was certainly a good place to think, or not.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 14, 2011 14:10:38 GMT -5
I furrowed my brows but only a moment, my face turned away from her so she would not see the physical manifestation of my confusion.
"I am sorry... I don't quite follow," I said, laughing aplogetically, "what promise do you mean?" I asked.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 14, 2011 21:22:02 GMT -5
"The promise of sunshine and the sweet fragrance of the blooms." I could hear the confusion in her voice. "Has that been kept thus far?"
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 14:29:39 GMT -5
It was quite the odd question when if one just opened their eyes and looked about, they could see that spring was in full bloom, and then some.
"Yes," I said, chucklling softly, "yes I believe it has. Don't you think so?"
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 14:50:38 GMT -5
I nodded. "I do." I stopped and put a hand to a flower, feeling the softness of its pedals.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 14:54:20 GMT -5
I watched her as she stopped, stopping alongside her, her fingers gliding over the petals of a nearby flower whose stem drooped a little with the weight of its petals.
"So how long have you been serving Naamah in Gentian House?" I asked her, though I myself did not reach out and touch any flowers this time.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 14:59:48 GMT -5
"I've lived in Gentian since the age of six, if that's what you mean. My mother and I were casted out of our kumpania when it was learned that she laid with a gadje man. We came to the City and fell on hard times a year or so after arriving. I was sold to Gentian House. Through that time, Mother did teach me somewhat of the dromonde." I felt a distant pain when I talked of my mother, but it had been so long ago. "What about you?"
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:06:52 GMT -5
Her story was a sad one, and though her tone did not waver or change, I could sense the change in her demeanor as she told it. I nodded, understanding more than she might realise I did.
"I did not come straight to Gentian... I started out at Cereus first, then went to Eglantine, and soon after that I came here, and I have been here ever since. My sister, though, she went straight from Cereus to Gentian. I spent more time there in Cereus House than she did. My mother taught me how to dowse when I was very little, but for some reason she always had it in her head that I belonged in Cereus, and so that was the Dowayne she presented her plea to when she left us here." It was not a topic I enjoyed discussing, one I usually ran away from, or had run away from very much in the past, choosing a foggy mind from Opium over the memories, before I had learned how to hone its use. But now... now well, it still hurt but I tried to emain emotionless about it, and I doubt she'd see contrary just by looking at me.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:13:29 GMT -5
I listened to the story, and could hear a hint of sadness, or was it hurt, perhaps both, in her voice. It seemed like her mother saw something that was not truly meant to be for Felicja. I looked up from the flower to look into her eyes, the dromonde came unbidden and I saw into her past. Yes, there was hurt there. Now, there was something else. Like she was trying to mask it so others cannot see it.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:17:09 GMT -5
For a moment she stared at me, but then her expression went blank, and I had not been so little in Gentian to know what was going on. There were others in our House who ahd the dromonode, and I knew then she was either looking into my past, or my future - that far off gaze. i waved my hands before her face and cocked my head to the side.
"If you wish to know something about me, please, ask, do not go where you have no permission to enter," I said, my words a little clipped.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:23:02 GMT -5
"My apologizes. Sometimes the dromonde comes unasked for. I don't mean to pry with the dromonde where I'm unwanted." The only other time that has happened was the vision of the missing Comtess.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:31:17 GMT -5
I smiled softly, nodding my head. "Yes, I can certainly understand having things come to you unbidde," I said with a soft sigh. I, for one, had dreams - visions. Dreams while sleeping, sometimes very intricate and detailed. I always kept a pad of parchment by my bed so I could draw whatever images I could remember. And visions while I was awake. Usually very short, and just an image or two, which always left me dazed, a little confused, and scribbling something on a sheet of parchment. It was why Cereus had sent me to Eglantine, afterall.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:42:25 GMT -5
"Some times it's not all bad, having the dromonde come unbidden. But... There are times when I call upon it and I see things..." I remember seeing the death of a childhood friend and there was naught I could do to stop it. That still haunted me.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:46:03 GMT -5
"I've always thought the dormonde to be one of those abilities that had more control - you could control whose future or past you looked into... though of course you can never control waht you see. That is why, even though the temptation is there, I do not look into my own future, or the futures of those I love. Using runes, or cards, or anything. I just do not know what I would see, and that uncertainty would be unbearable, especially if there were something bad."
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 15:54:12 GMT -5
"It is, though it does come unbidden. I have looked into my own past and found a childhood friend and saw that he had suffered a death from being run over an out of control carriage. I haven't looked into my own past to see who else had died or looked into my future to see what Fate has in store for me."
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 16:00:30 GMT -5
"That must have been a very sad thing for you to see," I said softly as I let my hand move forward to stroke my fingertips along the stem of one of the Gentians.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 18:46:57 GMT -5
"He was from the same kampania. I think it was the first time they had came to the City and he was excited. If only I had known they were here..." I moved my hand to a different flower.
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 19:30:42 GMT -5
"I am sorry for your loss. But even had you known, there is no telling now whether you'd have been able to stop it from happening, or whether his fate would have been better off," I offered. It may have sounded a little harsh but it was the truth.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 20, 2011 21:50:36 GMT -5
"I've told myself that many times before. It took a while before it actually set in." I sighed. "And who knows if he would suffer a worse death than by carriage."
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Post by Felicja nó Gentian on Apr 21, 2011 9:08:01 GMT -5
"Exactly, there is no way of knowing if you could actually save him, or if saving him would haev been better. It is a tough thing at times, seeing things you don't necessarily want to see, but on the whole, it often can be helpful , at least for our patrons," I said with a smile.
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Post by Kaden nó Gentian on Apr 21, 2011 19:14:15 GMT -5
"Those that truly wish to see their future, yes." There have been somethings even I couldn't see with the dromonde. So many paths for so many people, one could get lost in the maze.
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