- Messages
- 385
- Character Biography
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All the other children had slipped away. At least that was what Mara told herself inwardly. Gone home to their parents, those mystical creatures that she neither had nor understood very well. In truth, there were a great many things that the tall redheaded woman did not understand. The story of her life was short and bitter, although she herself never dwelt on all the cold and heartless things she had to endure.
Innocence was a blessing. Blissful unawareness of the world and how it really worked were gifts unrealized by the few so gifted with them, and Maranae was among that slim number.
The sun remained a few hands above the horizon, the chill afternoon of another late fall day. There were few people out of doors now in this tiny little town somewhere in the wild lands east and north of Falwood and south and west of Aliria. Many of the trees had already shed their leaves, and those lay in a thick carpet on the ground, the sweet scent of their decay filling the air with the unique odor of autumn. Doorways were swept clean. The muddy ruts in the street running through town sported floating islands if broadleaf.
The girl with the body of a woman stood tall, and stretched to a chorus of popping sinew and bones. She was taller than most human men managed, but of a slight build, willowy and light. Her hair was burnished fiery red, eyes pale jade, and skin as pale as milk with a scattering of freckles on her cheeks. Looking around, she found herself utterly alone. A breath of loneliness stirred in her heart, but was quickly crushed by the more normal optimism. She had not come here to play, after all.
Faint recollection stirred within, and the bright smile on her angelic face faded for a moment. A fleeting image in her mind, green eyes and red hair, hands filled with tenderness and some other thing she could not hope to describe. It was this that had brought her back out here.
But there were many bad memories of those early days. Nightmares to haunt her sleeping hours, few as they were. Things she had done that made her sick to think about them, but that could not be undone.
She pushed past it. She always did.
There was no reason for her to stay in this town. Her destination was a day of travel out of it, and in any case the people wanted things from her to stay indoors, and she did not have any of those bits of metal. The cold did not touch her the same as it did people - normal people, anyway, and so outdoors she would sleep. Again.
She left the town, memories of playing with a ball and other children - she did not see herself as an adult - fading.
Innocence was a blessing. Blissful unawareness of the world and how it really worked were gifts unrealized by the few so gifted with them, and Maranae was among that slim number.
The sun remained a few hands above the horizon, the chill afternoon of another late fall day. There were few people out of doors now in this tiny little town somewhere in the wild lands east and north of Falwood and south and west of Aliria. Many of the trees had already shed their leaves, and those lay in a thick carpet on the ground, the sweet scent of their decay filling the air with the unique odor of autumn. Doorways were swept clean. The muddy ruts in the street running through town sported floating islands if broadleaf.
The girl with the body of a woman stood tall, and stretched to a chorus of popping sinew and bones. She was taller than most human men managed, but of a slight build, willowy and light. Her hair was burnished fiery red, eyes pale jade, and skin as pale as milk with a scattering of freckles on her cheeks. Looking around, she found herself utterly alone. A breath of loneliness stirred in her heart, but was quickly crushed by the more normal optimism. She had not come here to play, after all.
Faint recollection stirred within, and the bright smile on her angelic face faded for a moment. A fleeting image in her mind, green eyes and red hair, hands filled with tenderness and some other thing she could not hope to describe. It was this that had brought her back out here.
But there were many bad memories of those early days. Nightmares to haunt her sleeping hours, few as they were. Things she had done that made her sick to think about them, but that could not be undone.
She pushed past it. She always did.
There was no reason for her to stay in this town. Her destination was a day of travel out of it, and in any case the people wanted things from her to stay indoors, and she did not have any of those bits of metal. The cold did not touch her the same as it did people - normal people, anyway, and so outdoors she would sleep. Again.
She left the town, memories of playing with a ball and other children - she did not see herself as an adult - fading.
