Kerennya/Logs/Wild Magic Vignette 09182024/A Personal Vigil to Eluned
Kerennya rowed the currach with determination toward Tethloren Island, empowered by her Vigor spell. For days, her heart had been feeling torn, but she'd soldiered on, determined to understand as much as she could about Wild Magic and help as many people as she could.
The latest set of revelations from Elanthia, however, had ripped something inside of her, and she was determined to get an answer from Eluned, the Lady she loved, who the tanned Elf felt must have an answer to the conundrum she was wrestling with. Meraud had knowledge about magic, of that there was no doubt; but Eluned was the Mistress of Arcane Wisdom, and Kerennya desperately wanted to hear Her speak from that role.
Arriving at the Mooring Rock, she tied up the currach, then decided to start with a visit to the pools. She'd worked up a sweat on the trip over, and she thought she might be there for a few days. She removed those things she didn't want to get wet, then entered the black pool, shivering at water's chill. Dunking down in the pool, she gasped as she broke the water's surface, then quickly climbed the ledge and entered the misty pool. That was the warm one and she felt the muscles that had tensed in the cold water slowly relax. She didn't know if Eluned required ceremonial cleansing for what she wanted to attempt, but she figured bathing in seawater certainly couldn't hurt any. She took out the lavender she'd bought in the Crossing and rubbed that all over her, then repeated the process with sage. She hoped she wasn't crossing some line that non-clerics were not supposed to cross in taking this holy bath.
Exiting the pool, she rubbed the holy oil she'd bought in Shard on herself, then donned the blue robe with the sign of the Dolphin embroidered in silver thread on the shoulder. She then climbed out the hole and walked to the South Porch, where the azurite carving of a dolphin was. She removed and unrolled her bedroll, and then took a sest on it.
She got out her gold kathla with nine turquoise plates depicting events from Eluned's life and studied it, then began to pour out her heart to her goddess. "Eluned, I was taught to honor the Immortals, and ever since that day that I knew I loved You the most of them all, I have known Your favor and Your protection. At the same time, as an empath, I learned a reverence for life, and I love this Elanthia that has been provided for mortals to live in.
I don't know how this business with the Heralds, Guardians and Gardeners is going to shake out, although I suspect there are one or more Gardeners that need to be dealt with. Whether any of these groups might remain after that, I don't know. I will engage in sorcery as Meraud has commanded in order to support the Immortals in this fight. I will freely offer my healing skill and any other thing I can to those who serve the Immortals in this fight. I am placing all of my faith in You Immortals to get us all through this."
"But once the dust has shaken out from that fight, Lady Eluned, with respect, we—and by we, I mean Immortals and mortals alike—CANNOT continue on in inflicting all of these wounds upon Elanthia with our sorcery. Not without giving something back and finding ways to heal at least some of the damage that we've done. Anything that afflicts the land will eventually afflict the sea, so if we can get ahead of it, the seas need never suffer as the land has. Surely that is something You can get behind?!
"I plan to ask the being Liraxes about its long-term plans for the machine it has built in the hope it might be usable for this purpose. Additionally, at least three of us mortals have independently concluded that some kind of organization or society is needed to repair the damage done by sorcery. I plan to be involved in that if it comes to fruition. The boon I have come to beg from You and the other Immortals is a method to start healing our Elanthia itself, not just the mana, so we may be better stewards of it in the future than we have been in the past."
Even though it was entirely possible that Eluned already knew everything, Kerennya proceeded to share with her everything she had seen in the Primal Elanthia visions. Who knew whether the Immortals actually bothered to communicate things like this with each other?
"Where the Heralds have gone most wrong is in their retreat from the world and failure to build relationships with those they expected to get help from, but what they want—taken to less of an extreme—is worth including in Elanthia's future. I realize instant answers aren't possible, and I don't expect that. You can take my life, or take my magic from me as payment for this boon, I do not care. But Lady Eluned, I am not going to leave this place until You bless me about this."
And so Kerennya set herself to wait in patient silence for the blessing she so badly wanted, remembering the story about the young boy who sat by the goddess' side as she wept over the damage done by the World Dragon to her oceans, transfixed by her beauty and sorrow, neither eating nor drinking for several days. If a mere child could hold vigil for that long, then so could she.