RP:The Darkness That Binds Us

Part of the Through The Looking-Glass: Return To Wonderland Arc

Part of the On Stranger Tides Arc

This is a Healer's Guild RP.

This is a Necromancer's Guild RP.

Summary: Khitti visits Emilia to check on her after her ordeal in Alithrya. There, Khitti meets Emilia's daughter Lynn, who is very much amongst the "strange and unusual" like Khitti. Lynn shows the redhead how she views the world (literally, not figuratively) and Emilia is finally gifted her new shadows/shadow-ice hand.

Small Garden, Cenril

Emilia had wandered out of the safe walls of the Academy to enjoy the fresh air outside in the garden. Against the natural greens and browns of the area the woman of white stood out against the tree she was facing with her single hand covering her eyes. Long wild curls of white flowing freely with the breeze about the petite woman wearing a floor length light blue dress whose sleeve hung off her shoulders. Counting could be hear from the woman, “3…5…8…10! Ready or not here I come!” The wintery voice could be heard as turned around from the tree. With feigned excitement the woman began searching the gardens for someone that was hiding. Lynn, the youngest of the triplets stood behind one of the trees closer to the entrance of the garden just a hair shorter than her mother, but just as petite. The girl had wild locks of black curls with a natural pale skin color, not as white as her mom. With the untamed locks falling in her face hiding her left eye only the vibrant icy blue right eye could be seen. A spitting image of the Genasi with jet black curls, easily mistaken once or twice for the other. Anyone entering the garden would see her first. The aura of death and darkness clinging to the youth like an invisible cloak.

Khitti || What do you bring someone that’s been kidnapped and likely tortured? Somehow, this wasn’t a thing Khitti knew. She was almost always the captured one and yet… people mostly just gave her space while she tried to cope with being back home. She’d started to compartmentalize it all just as Brand always had with his own trauma and things went back to normal almost immediately. It was not easy for her, unfortunately, and she usually ended up at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey instead. And when she wasn’t the one kidnapped? Well, it was much the same. Khitti was at a loss on how to help and it bothered her--she was ever the self-sacrificial one, after all. Well, she eventually settled on a bottle of peppermint schnapps. It wasn’t quite as strong as whiskey, but it’d still do the trick, if Emilia needed time to herself with a couple of shots. Clutching the bottle, gift-wrapped in black with a blue bow, Khitti made her way to the theatre and the garden beyond it. She’d find Lynn first, and she had to blink a couple times before she realized that this was not at all the ice genasi. The girl’s aura called to the shadow-wielder, like a fog Khitti could get eternally lost in. It took her a moment to pull herself out of her thoughts before she finally said to the girl, “Hi, uh… I’m looking for Emilia?”

Emilia || Lynn stared at Khitti for a moment as she approached the garden sporting a gift-wrapped bottle. The way the girl stared at her was not like most children look up to the adults. This girl seemed to be staring at her, but past her at the same time as if she could see the spirit within the older woman. Tilting her head to the side, curls parted to reveal the mismatched left eye that was just as vibrant as the other only in green. The lips of the girl never moved as she responded to Khitti. It was a gentle poking prod against the very surface of her mind, ‘Mother is in the garden, she should be along in a moment.’ The words came like a pebble being skipped across the water, bouncing at the other woman’s thought without ever making a push to actually cross the threshold into her mind. Leaning to the left just a little she wiggled a finger beckoning Khitti to step to the left just a tad bit, as if she was stepping on something though nothing visible was there just the garden grass. If Khit followed the prompt to move the faintest bit she would find herself facing the wintery woman as she rounded the corner still playing hide and seek. With a startle the ground below gave a rumble before a spurt of earth shot up from the ground, a bit bigger than a rock, though it crumbled in the air behind the Genasi and fell to the ground behind the group as a dusting of sand. Wide-eyed laced with a startled fear, the wintery woman held her hand over her chest and took a deep breath in, “Hello, Khitti. Pleasure to see you.” She chimed with a smile as her face relaxed realizing it was just a friend.

Khitti || Ooooh that was weird. Well, not bad weird. Khitti tried to hide the chill that went down her back as Lynn spoke to her in her mind. It’d been a long time since she’d had someone speaking to her that way, and her speaking back for that matter. Not since she was a vampire. The redhead nodded, offering the girl a faint smile as she did go to where she was directed. She jumped back just in time to hopefully not get hit by what seemed like a lot of dirt and let out her own breath of relief. “Geez, Emilia. I didn’t know you had earth magic too!” Her attention slid towards Lynn again briefly, before it went back to the girl’s mother, “It’s nice to see you too. This is for you!” She handed over the wrapped bottle to the genasi with a smile, “It’s best when ice cold.” She remembered, of course, that Emilia could only eat and drink cold foods. “This must be who my student, Quintessa, told me about,” she said with a nod of her head in the strange girl’s direction. “Quintessa said she’d met one of your children while you were gone and… Lynn, I think she said? Well, Lynn certainly seems like someone Quintessa would find fascinating.” Khitti smirked at the thought.

Emilia gave a look that was nearly as surprised as Khitti was over the earth magic making a small comment on it, “I didn’t know I did either until recently. It is out of control and gets worse each day. I didn’t have this problem before the second heart.” Looking at the Genasi up close Khit would be able to see an old scar that started in the middle of her chest and faded down her center though there was a sliver of purple down it as if recently that wound had been reopened. Her right shoulder below the collar bone had three purple circles scars, the center one larger than the outer two. Notably those were the only visible changes to her physical appearance. With a smile she accepted the bottle from the other woman, “Well, I can always keep it nice and chilled,” she commented knowing her ice magic was easily controlled. Then her gaze drifted over to look at Lynn standing behind the tree with a smile on those frosted blue lips, “Yes, this is Lynn the youngest of the triplets. I am surprised by that. I haven’t been informed yet of a Quintessa, but most people she meets tend to run the other way.” Looking back to Khitti she waved toward the path that led further into the garden, “Would you like to have a seat? Inside the academy or out here in the garden? There are some small apple pie cookies left over there.” Lynn was one to grin wide at the mention of Quintessa by the red head, her voice skipping into her thoughts again, “We hadn’t gotten there. And, you are stepping on Myrtle’s dress…she doesn’t like it when the solids step on her.” Odd thing to tell a stranger when there clearly was no other visible person in the garden for Khitti to be standing on their dress.

Khitti did look down where Emilia’s scar was, crimson brows furrowing somewhat, noting the other scars as well. “Where did it come from? I have seen magical energy clinging to body parts in the past…” She wasn’t going to mention that it was a heart that she herself ripped out of someone else’s chest. No, no. Don’t need to frighten the poor woman. “There’s a terramancer named Odhranos Kerrigan, he’s one of the higher ups in the Mage’s Guild. Perhaps he can help you? While I don’t often speak with him, I have known him for a while; he’s the best terramancer I know.” The offer of a seat would be given and Khitti’d shake her head, “The garden is fine.” Thankfully for Myrtle, Khitti would remove herself from where she’d been standing, releasing the invisible person’s dress. “Please tell Myrtle I’m sorry! I’ll try to not let it happen again,” she said to Lynn as she wandered down the path further into the garden area where Emilia had those apple pie cookies. “Quintessa is a bit like me: the strange and unusual seem to find us. We’re well acquainted with that sort of thing. It would seem Lynn is quite like us too…” Khitti plopped down onto the grass, sitting cross-legged as she scooped up one of those cookies. “Darkness and death has clung to me for a long time.”

Emilia had to think back a moment to remember where the heart did come from since she was near death when she received it, “It was gifted from a massive tree in the ice plane by an undead mare that currently now resides in Frostmaw near my Greenhouse. So, I believe I was told it came from the ancient tree itself? Do trees have hearts?” The woman chuckled after giving her best summary of where it came from. Walking with Khit down the path until they reached the stone bench where there was a plate sitting with a handful of cookies. “I will reach out to Odhanros. I have not spoken to him in a very long time. I have met him, but it was years ago. I’m no real baker like you and those at your shop, but I dabble,” she said softly. Lynn waved at Khitti before she ran off to play in the garden some more with Myrtle. Taking a seat next to her the Genasi sat the bottle down. Watching the child run off and play she turned her focus back to Khitti as she spoke about death and darkness. After a moment she spoke, “Death and darkness more than cling to her. She doesn’t see the world like we do. She does not really live in the world of the living or the world of the dead, rather both at the same time. It is really hard to explain as I am still trying to understand it all. Lynn can show you better than I can explain it, if you will let her share her vision with you? Don’t worry. She loves to try to freak people out with her abilities.” She would wait until Khitti chose if she wanted to see like her daughter did before calling Lynn over to them. If Khit said no, then she would simply let the girl run and play.

Khitti blinked several times at Emilia’s explanation about her new heart. “I suppose there could be trees with hearts. Maybe it was once a dryad? There are other trees that are a bit more lively and magical than normal trees, so I suppose even those could have a heart--especially if it’s on another plane of existence too.” She thought the whole thing over as she shoved a cookie into her mouth, offering the woman a few more blinks, “What? Are you kidding? These are amazing!” All desserts were equal in Khitti’s eyes--equally delicious. The redhead watched Lynn too as she played, listening to her mother speak of the way of things with the girl. “To be honest… I understand completely. My own abilities are sourced straight from the Shadow Plane. There are times where I don’t feel like I belong here… but I don’t belong there either. That feeling was much worse just a few years ago. There are times I just want to envelope myself in shadows and disappear entirely for everyone else’s sake. I bring nothing but trouble.” A half frown made itself known as Khitti mused somewhat unhappily over these thoughts of hers she was spewing, but it was soon gotten rid of as she shook her head. “Sorry, that’s uh… a bit much. I would love to see it, if she would show me, though I will say that it likely won’t freak me out. I’ve seen things that would drive people mad. I think I might be one of those people too, but I haven’t quite decided yet,”she said, smirking.

Emilia listened to Khitti as she explained her knowledge about tree and hearts and magic all mixed together. The healer was happy she came to visit today, if anything beyond some company she gained insight into what had been wrong with her recently along with guidance for a direction to go. Reaching over she gently patted the other woman’s knee after she shared about her desire to vanish into the shadows, knowing that feeling all to well, except vanishing into the snow rather. “I am happy to say that I am most glad you did not choose to vanish into the shadows. Trouble or not I fancy your company and smile here in this plane. When I froze over I simply wanted to vanish into the wintery snow of Frostmaw, so I understand your feelings.” When the red head agreed Emilia waved Lynn over to join them. The dark haired girl plopped down on the ground with them as she listened to her mother, “Care to show Miss Khitti your world?” The look on the girl’s face was surprised, her voice echoed from the world around them so both could hear her, though her lips never moved, “Really? Of course!” Normally, Em warned the girl not to go poking into the minds of others. Turning toward the other woman the child grinned a devious smile, her voice reaching into her thoughts first, “Relax and just let me in, but keep your eyes open, Kay?” There wasn’t much of a warning after that as Lynn pushed right on through past the basic thoughts to connect with the woman on a darker level inside her mind, taking over her eyesight all together. First her sight would start to go fuzzy as if she was losing her sight, then slowly it would become clear again, but at a different perspective. Khitti would be looking at herself as if she was sitting where Lynn was. Slowly Lynn looked to the side of the red haired woman. The world before her was both alive and dead at the same time. The present world seen everyday right there before them while another world was visible layered over it, the spirit side. Some spirits like Myrtle could be seen waving at them. These were the ones trapped in neither life or death for whatever reason. Then everything went black around them as the present world vanished and the two fell into darkness, pure utter darkness with nothing around them. It was an empty void as Lynn looked around for the other to see, in the distance far beyond them a flicker of something silvery. In a few blinks after sharing her sight Lynn would retreat from Khitti’s mind, allowing her sight to slowly become her own again.

Khitti || A faint smile was offered to Emilia as she expressed her happiness that Khitti was indeed around, “The feeling is mutual.” It grew a little more when Lynn was given the go ahead to infiltrate Khitti’s mind and the excitement that came with it. She did as she was told, relaxing and keeping her eyes open and on the girl. The force that pushed into mind was -strong- and that same force would find the darkest parts of Khitti’s thoughts, plowing through all the walls she’d built up over time to force away memories. Where Khitti would be shown Lynn’s outside world, Lynn would find her own little world to inspect on Khitti’s end of things. Flashes of mindflayers; an ever-burning village full of shambling undead; a black-haired, grey-skinned woman having her heart forcefully removed from her chest; her identical twin sister resurrected through necromancy, only for the spell to go wrong and the girl mutating into an abomination; and fire… so much fire were all put on display for the girl. Voices of the past spoke as well, not matching any of the bits of memory that filtered through their brief link. ‘Khitti! Give me my music box back!’ ‘You’re just as much undead as those creatures in th’ woods. I will -make- ya cast if ya won’t do it willingly!’ More unsavory words were said from various beings, but they were all dampened by the sound of evil laughter, these too from other people. All the while, Khitti saw what Lynn could. She took in the spirits, took in the darkness, took in that silvery light. When her mind was released, Khitti let out a heavy sigh and wiped at her eyes. There had been tears and yet only Lynn would know why. “It’s amazing, Lynn. I’m kind of jealous, really. What… was that silver light...?”

Emilia picked up a cookie to munch on while Khitti and Lynn shared a moment together. It was not often the girl got to enjoy the company of someone as excited about her sight as she was. The Genasi also managed to free the bottle from its wrapped, open it, and take a sip of it or a few. It was delicious and Khit seemed to know exactly what she needed tonight. The dark haired girl reached a hand over to brush a missed tear off her chin, her voice was clam inside mind keeping their conversation mostly a private one, ‘Don’t worry, Khitti, I won’t ever share your secrets with another, but I am learning how to remove them from a book I found. If you ever want…. The silver light is when a spirit vanishes into the final death. You see there is those who remain here in line with the living, like Myrtle. Trapped for one reason or another. Some choose to stay to watch over people, some are missing a part of them that lets them move on, a curse that holds them here. Then if you tread into death carefully enough you can walk through the darkness one shade at a time. The darker it gets the deeper into death you have gone. When you reach the pitch black and can see your breath you have reached the end. Once a light goes out there it never comes back. I cannot imagine being trapped there. So cold, so dark, and the spirit is all twisted and wrapped to the point it isn’t recognizable.”

Khitti just shook her head at the mention of getting rid of her memories. They had to stay there. She had to remember, even if she didn’t want to. As the girl explained, Khitti remembered that Emilia was still there, to which she looked over at the woman as she drank from the bottle, a slight grin forming. “I died. Twice, technically. But the second time, I was just in darkness. I could hear my sister there, until she moved on. I was nothing there. Nothing wrapped in more nothing. And then I was pulled out again,” her words for the girl still. “There’s ghosts in the Shadow Plane too. Some there call it ‘Purgatory’. They just wander forever. There’s echoes of bad things there too. The people that I got my own magic from were like sheep herders, except for the dead. They’d keep them from wandering too far and calmed them when they turned malevolent. I can calm them too, because of it.” Khitti squinted a moment and pursed her lips together in thought, “Do you want to see what -I- can do? I was trying to create something for your mother not too long ago and I finally finished it.” She looked over at Emilia, offering the woman a smile, “I can make your hand now, if you’d like.”

Emilia || Lynn listened, hanging on every word that Khitti shared with her soaking it all in like a sponge. Her eyes were wide with fascination when she mentioned a ‘Purgatory’. Instantly her words rang, “I want to go there…” Only Khitti was privy to Lynn’s side of the conversation. The child simply never spoke aloud for whatever the reason was. “I am sorry you got trapped in that darkness….I want to know what is beyond it, but I dare not go that far…The spirits not trapped I can help cross it. Sometimes it is just walking with them or finding their head and putting it back on…” she admitted quietly. For as dark of a little child as she was, she did also use it for good and not just tormenting people for fun with the spirits. Again her face was bright with curious nature and excitement when the other woman offered to show her what she could do. Bouncing in her seat she is nodding eagerly, her voice this time thrown to the wind as it rang around them, “I would love to!” It was a happy squeal and luckily not trapped in Khitti’s head alone. Emilia leaned forward as she set the bottle down and finished the cookie in her mouth, “I think I would much enjoy that, Khitti. Its been years since I had two hands.” Granted if one really looked at the bottle Emilia had not drank very much of it, yet.

Khitti sighed. “Maybe I’ll take you there someday. When it’s better. I have to fix things first. Your mother went there, once upon a time. It was not a pleasant trip.” She still felt bad for bringing everyone there then. It had been probably one of the worst experiences of Khitti’s life--and that’s saying something considering she’s had -a lot- of worst experiences. “I’m glad you can help these spirits though. People in the Necromancer’s Guild don’t agree with the fact that I won’t resurrect the dead to use for my own gain. It’s not right. I’ve seen what happens when that kind of power is used for evil.” Khitti shook off the dour mood the conversation had brought on and turned towards Emilia, reaching out to the arm with the missing hand. “Okay! This is going to be far easier than making a dragon out of shadow,” she muttered to herself. When Emilia was ready, Khitti cracked her knuckles and wiggled her fingers a little, mostly for dramatic effect. Shadows started to gather from all corners and crevices of the garden, collecting together into a ball in front of Khitti. The redhead moved the ball of shadows to Emilia’s stump; soon it took on ice crystals and then it -became- ice. Ever so carefully, Khitti crafted a skeletal hand from the grey-colored ice, shadows swirling within, the appendage attaching itself to the ice genasi’s wrist. More shadows gathered after Khitti finished with the ice, creating the muscles, tendons, and ligaments that were needed to have a fully functioning hand. Once those were in place, more ice would form around it, binding it all together. Khitti let out another sigh, tired from the amount of magic it took to craft the hand so quickly. “Now, put your own layer of ice over top of it to make it yours. It shouldn’t go away. I would say that fire could affect it, but with it being mostly ice, I’m sure you already knew that. Go ahead! Try it out!”

Emilia || Lynn would chime in softly to Khitti alone, ‘I want to help you fix it’. It was the last she had on the subject because the woman was about to reveal her own skills with the shadow magic she mentioned earlier. The girl was careful to sit back out of the way, but she watched ever so carefully to each detail that went into the magic Khitti performed, as if she could replicate it knowing she could never do such. Pure aww was glazed into her eyes throughout the entire process of the making of a hand out of nothing but shadows and ice. Emilia watched in perfect silence as the hand began to form first with a skeleton of ice followed by tendons and muscle to make it a working hand. In her head she mentally went over the anatomy of a hand with the other woman, call it the healer in her. As she instructed the Genasi with her left hand froze over the hand of shadow and ice with a layer of her own elemental magic of the frozen kind. Like a binder it settled over top sealing over the hand like the last layer of flesh. Staring at it the woman felt weird just seeing another hand upon her stump, or former stump. It took a moment for her brain to catch up to connect with the magic beneath it, but slowly she managed to open and close the hand to make a fist then open it again. “Simply astonishing…” she whispered. Then forgetting she had the hand she reached to cover her gaping mouth. Formerly, just a stump would land over her mouth…this time she accidentally smacked herself in the face with the new hand. Reality check, it was real. Lynn was about to explode with amazement as she turned to look at Khitti her voice on the wind again for all to hear, “You are the coolest woman ever. Sorry, Mom. Can we be friends? Can I love you forever?” she said point blankly, enamored with this red haired woman. Emilia blinked looking at Khitti, “I owe you a great deal for this, Khitti. Thanks. It is the real blessing, as are you. You must be tired now. It is late and that looked like a lot of magic. Would you like to stay at the Academy tonight?” she offered.

Khitti would’ve argued with Lynn if she had the chance. The Shadow Plane was too dangerous. It was something her and her husband, Brand, would have to take care of. She couldn’t help but laugh at both mother and daughter as the one smacked herself in the face and the other completely freaked out about Khitti’s abilities. “We can certainly be friends, but I wouldn’t advise the love part,” she said in between a bit of snickering. Khitti shook her head to Emilia, offering her a smile, “No thank you. My husband’s ship is just at the wharf. It’s not too terrible of a walk. I just feel safer sleeping there when I’m low on magic, so that Brand is around. It’s… complicated.” The redhead pushed herself up off the ground and brushed off any dirt on her clothes. “You be careful with that thing, Emilia. I’m glad I could help you… and that my magic is useful for more than just fighting and lighting tea kettles when I’m feeling lazy. Take care of your mother, Lynn. Help her to feel safe again. If you need me, you know where to find me.” With a wave, Khitti’d head off for home.

Emilia in turn rose from the ground after Khitti did. Lynn was also up from the ground and giving Khitti a quick hug before she could walk off into the night, her voice in her head “I’ll love you forever and I’ll take care of mom!” it was a positive note. Granted, the love the child was going to offer Khitti was not in the thought of a romantic type, more of a family type. That favorite relative kind. Emilia gave Lynn a small push toward the Academy to usher her back inside. Then as Khitti left she waved, “Stay safe. You have more talent in your pinky finger that some have in their entire body and it has all the uses in the world beyond what you might think of it. Take care of yourself. I hope to see you again before too long in the future. I was nice to share cookies with you, and thanks again for the drink it was the perfect idea.” Another wave to the departing woman before she would turn to follow Lynn inside, making sure to grab both the bottle, the wrappings and the cookie plate to take inside.