Dillema

"Rhia, no!" Trevan leapt after her and grabbed her arm. "You can't go out there!" He got ahold of her and jerked her to a stop.
She whirled around and ripped her arm out of his grasp. "I have to!"
"Why?!"
"Why?! Because they need me!"
"We need you, Rhia!" he yelled, waving an arm back violently towards the two children huddling in the corner. "What about us, your family?"
She bared her teeth and gripped the hilt of her sword tightly. "What sort of life will they live if I don't go? Did you think about that? This whole damn town will go up in flames if I don't go!"
"Then let me go!"
"No! Trevan, I'm sorry, but I'm stronger than you are! If anyone has a chance to save this town and our people, it's me! Don't you see that?!" He grit his teeth, apparently holding back tears. Oh, Trevan...
"What if you die? Hm? What do we do then?"
"Trevan, you're quite capable of-"
"Rhia, -we- need you!"
She tried to hold tightly to her patience, gripping the sword hilt tighter. Blade didn't much appreciate that, and the heat under her palm told her so. "This town needs me, Trevan. I'm their guardian first. You knew that ever since you first laid eyes on me."
His eyes widened, obviously taken aback by that. "Rhia..."
She stepped forward, hands lifting to his cheeks. She gently pulled him closer and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I love you, Trevan. And I love our family. I will not die. That, I promise you, my beloved." She smiled gently and wiped the tears from his cheeks. "You must stay, and keep our children safe. I will make sure we still have a place to sleep at the end of the day."
He sighed in defeat and nodded. "Alright, Rhia." He pulled her close in a tight hug, burying his face in her hair for a short time.
She returned the embrace, before pulling back. Without another word, she turned and slipped out the door.

Depressingly Cute.

The young prince walked quietly through the gardens, sweeping the bushes and trees with his gaze and his ears. As he got about halfway into them, his carefully trained hearing picked up the soft sounds of a child's sniffle. He smiled faintly to himself and he altered his route to head towards the sound. The soft doeskin, soleless boots barely disturbed the grass, making little more sound than a hare. He came to a stop beside the same bush he used to hide in when he was younger and wanted to be alone. Slowly, he crouched down beside it, his voice but a whisper. "Child..? Why are you crying?"
The sniffles stopped, and there was only quiet for a long couple of minutes. Finally, a little voice squeeked through the branches and thick leaves. "I'm not crying."
His smile grew ever so slightly as he turned his gaze towards the bush. "Perhaps not. Will you come out, little flower?"
Another long moment of silence, with not even the rustle of a twig giving any sign that there was anyone in the bush at all, nothing but the soft voice that had spoken before. But, his patience paid off, as two charcoal coloured hands peeked out through the branches and parted them. Following them were two long, terribly thin arms, still bandaged from awful cuts and gashes the gryphon he'd saved her from before had given her. As the rest of her emerged, he saw she was wearing no more than the off-white shift she'd been sleeping in for the past couple of weeks since he brought her there. It seemed horribly bright compared to the midnight black skin she sported, and her starkly silver hair only added to the effect. Crimson eyes gazed up at him out of that black face, and his heart all but melted at the sight of the tear-stained cheeks.
He opened his arms for her and she didn't hesitate a moment to shrink into them. "What happened, little flower?"
She whimpered, burying her face in the shoulder of his burgandy jerkin. The white sleeves of his tunic and his own pale hands around her made her look all the darker. No, there would never be any mistaking her for Drow as she was. The poor dear. "I..I heard the servants talking... They..they were outside the room... They said it wasn't fair that they had to look after me.. That no one should have to look after a..a...a demon!" She sobbed into his chest, wrapping those thin arms around him.
He closed his eyes as he held her close. He had to fight off the wave of rage that came over him and wrinkled his brow. Not all were as kind or open-minded as he, he forced himself to remember. It would take a lot longer than a few weeks to loose everyone of their preconceptions about Drow, this one in particular. "Come, now, little flower. You pay no heed to what those crochety old women say. Why don't you come with me? I'll get you something to eat, and something nice to wear, okay? And you can stay in my room now, where they won't have to look after you. Azelle won't call you a demon. She wants to look after you. She won't stop talking about you, you know."
"Sh-she won't?" She sniffled again and looked up at him with bright, innocent eyes that once again clutched at his heart.
He smiled, and gently brushed the tears from her face. "Nope. I can't shut her up about it." He leaned forward to gently kiss her forehead. "Come, then, won't you, little flower?"
She smiled, ever so softly, and nodded. "Yes, Tobias."

Full of Surprises

Seth and the rest of the band sat outside the stadium they were to be performing in the next three nights. They sat around on their amps and the drum boxes, waiting for permission to start taking it all inside. He was leaned back up against the building, plucking the quiet strings of his unplugged bass, his violin sitting in its case beside his knee. Their roadies were there as well, sitting around and joking with them to pass the time. Zelda was sitting beside Akira, this being her first time out on tour with them since her first song had been introduced in the clubs back in Kyoto. She was certainly enjoying herself, too.
Seth let his eyes drift shut, sensitive ears picking up the last sounds of the orchestra playing inside, faint smile on his lips. The door beside them opened and two well-dressed young men stepped outside. One of them glanced over at the group of people sitting around outside and smirked, turning to his buddy. "Don't you just love the wonderful and sophisticated sound of Bach?"
"Actually, they're playing Handel," Seth said casually, eyes still lightly shut.
The two jerked their heads towards him, scowl on the first's face, a look of surprise on the other. "Oh?" the first said with a sneer. "And just what would a rockstar know about classical music?"
He very casually set his guitar down on its stand on his other side, then lifted his violin case up over his knees. Everyone had fallen silent by now, so that the snaps of the case were easily heard as he popped them. He pulled the violin and bow from the case, then set the case back down. He opened his eyes now as he stood, fitting the violin under his chin. He raised the bow, eyes locking onto the first stranger, who was looking quite flabbergasted by now, and glided into a rather difficult and little-known piece of Vivaldi. Their eyes widened, jaws dropping as they watched in shock. It was done perfectly, the more difficult side of Vivaldi's double violin concerto.
Satisfied with the looks of shock and awe on the faces of the two strangers, Seth let his eyes drift shut again. He continued to play, even after the piece had ended, shifting into another, since they were all bored to tears waiting for the orchestra to break down and clear out. Within fifteen minutes, he had attracted a crowd. People on the streets walking by, as well as the audience of the show inside who had filed out after it was over all made their way around to where they were, lining the fence that kept them safe from fans. What was even more surprising, was that as the orchestra filed out of that door beside them, carrying their various instruments, they all hesitated in going to their bus. Instead, they started to create a semi-circle around the band, watching, listening. With grins and whispers of ascent, those that could brought out their instruments, and began to play with Seth. That startled him into opening his eyes, looking around at what he'd attracted with a surprised look. But, he managed a faint smile, and kept playing until the end of the piece.
As it came to an end, the lead violinist of the orchestra grinned and made his way forward, extending his hand to Seth, who took it and shook it politely. "You are quite the violinist, my boy! How long have you been playing?"
He rested both violin and bow in the same hand, the bow hanging from his forefingers by the frog. "Well..quite a long time, I'd say.. My mother taught me when I was younger."
"Aah, how wonderful! I think I speak for all of us here that we thoroughly enjoyed playing with you. You have a certain...oomph to how you play that some of us could only dream of achieving. Please, would you consider joining us?"
Seth's brow raised at the offer, but a sympathetic smile found his lips and he glanced back at the rest of the band and their roadies. "I'm afraid I'm already spoken for."
Akira jumped up and quickly approached. "What would you say to playing with us sometime? The name's Akira, and I'm the main songwriter for our band... I have to say, I've become rather inspired to write a few things now that would involve an orchestra."
The man blinked, but slowly grinned and gave a nod. "That sounds quite interesting." There were nods among the rest of the orchestra. He rummaged through his jacket's inner pocket, pulling out a business card and handing it to Akira. "Here. Contact us at that number, and we'll see about setting something up sometime."
"Great! Thank-you so much!"
"Not at all, thank-you! It would be an honor to play with such refined talent."
Seth coughed into his hand in embarrassment. "Yes, well..I do believe we have to go get set up now. You should all come see us sometime. We can reserve tickets for all of you the next unbooked show."
"That sounds wonderful. Give us a call and let us know, eh?"

((Eh, it's not that great.. But it was an idea that was plaguing my attention, so I figured I'd best get it out so I could forget about it. Sorry to make you all suffer.))

Sword Dance

Rhia made her way into the salle minutes before dawn overcame the meager illuminations of false dawn. She started to stifle a yawn as she closed the door behind her, until she noticed she'd beaten her master there this morning. She'd never been too sound a sleeper, but it seemed she could never get there ahead of him. With no one to impress, she opened her mouth wide with a noisy yawn, if for no other reason than to protest the morning. She glided through her stretches and warm-up excercises, and soon enough there was no trace of a desire for her bed. Once her muscles were thoroughly loosened and ready for the day's punishment, she went to one of the weapons' racks along the walls of the spacious salle.
She had gotten so used to the typical broadsword shape that Blade took, that she had been rather at a loss when she saw all the different weapons there; but only for a moment, as the next instant she had been overcome with a hunger to learn the ways of each of them. Her master didn't doubt she would master them all, either, though he never said so directly. Presently, he was schooling her in the ways of the cleverly designed scimitar. She'd never been so in love with a weapon before, though her master had mentioned that many fighters felt that way when first coming into contact with the lovely blades. He promised that love would more than likely pass on to a different blade as time went on and she came across more advanced weapons. At the moment, she highly doubted that.
She picked up the sword from the rack, as well as its sister blade, weighing them both carefully in her hand. "Get to know your weapon," her master had told her each time she picked a new one up. "Learn its strengths and weaknesses now, before your enemy shows them to you." She was getting to know these little pretties very well. She moved out into the center of the salle, working out a breathing excercise to calm herself as she went. By the time she came to stand in the center, she was completely relaxed, and nothing short of a tornado would have rattled her focus. Then again, being the Typhoon, it might take even more than a tornado.
She closed her eyes, mentally conjuring an opponent. As she opened her eyes again, she easily visualized the shadow-stalker, and raised one of the swords in front of her face in a salute, imagining it doing the same.
Without a tense muscle in her, she glided into the dance. She brought both swords up together from the left in a graceful arc, turning her body with the motion to build momentum and speed behind the blades. As she came around again, her right blade cut down at an angel across the shadow-stalker's shoulders, and the left hummed through the air at its waist. She reversed the momentum with a step forward, driving both scimitars ahead together in a spear-like thrust. She continued to drive the invisible opponent back with an intricate web of deadly slashes and thrusts, using her body's weight and spin to feed the swords power and momentum. Then, as gracefully as the dance had begun, the lead shifted, her steps and momentum reversing. The fatal web became a protective shield of feints and parries.
After a small number of short steps back, the lead once again shifted and she ceased to lose ground. She raised the hilt of one of the scimitars in a disorienting parry and spun her body forward between imaginary thrusts. She angled one of the scimitars down through the defenses of her opponent and brought it across what would have been its arm. With the forward momentum, she took another heavy step forward, using shoulder and sword hilts to collide into the opponent and knock him back off balance. Then with a final pivot, she guided both swords down and across the unguarded chest, and the last reverse of momentum brought the blades up under its chin.
She stood poised, perfectly balanced, with the swords pointed towards the floor in a guard position, and waited the appropriate three seconds. Then, releasing her breath, she stood up straight and flicked the swords down, to clean them of any blood that would have been there with a true opponent, then saluted once again.
A faint clapping came from the doorway, startling Rhia out of her trance. She glanced over, and blushed immediately to see her master.
"Very nice, Rhia. I think you've learned just about all you can with those scimitars. You may put them back now."
She did so, though let them go a little reluctantly. "What shall I use now?"
"Why don't you try out that rapier?"
As she lifted the flimsy-looking blade her master motioned to, she at once decided he'd been right about that love moving on.

Seth's wings.

Seth hissed in pain as the old man pried the red and swollen skin away from the broken shards of all that was left of his right wing. The blood had long ago dried into a thick scap, and it was rather unpleasant to have that scab broken open.
"Sorry.." the old man said hesitantly. With a reassuring look from Sala, he kept going. Seth was still a bit of a mystery to the people of Neo New York, him and his mother both. They weren't quite as feared as they had been the first day they walked through the Gates, now that Sala had talked to the city's Elders and got their tentative acceptance of the two Desert Walkers. But the people of the city were still wary of the two, stories still circulating about the 'demon and his mistress'.
The old man gently picked away the last of the broken shards of bone that were no longer connected to the root of the wing, which grew out of the shoulderblade. Seth's other wing was draped over the other side of the room. It's once pure-white feathers were now a dismal gray and wilted, a good number of them having already fallen out. It was dying without its partner, and Seth knew there was limited time to get a surrogate in place, or else he would have no choice but to remove the remaining wing as well.
That was why he'd come to this old man. Not only was he the best doctor and surgeon in the city, but he was known for prosthetics as well. While he'd hardly ever done anything remotely like what Seth was asking him to, he'd risen to the challenge. He surveyed the injury a last time, then rose to his feet and went into a room off the one they were in. When he returned a few moments later, he carried a contraption that looked remotely familiar, though it was all folded up and its shape wasn't quite discernable. It was made of sturdy aluminum poles that wouldn't bend, but were hollow and light-weight. There were joints that allowed it to fold up as it was, and Seth could only assume he'd made use of the hollow poles to attatch the mechanism that would allow his muscles to move the wing. Then, of course, the most important part of the wing was the lightweight canvas that was stretched like a sail over the poles. He motioned to Sala to hold the tip of the wing, while he walked to the other side of the room and let the wing stretch out.
Seth's eyes widened as he looked at the mechanical wing. He could even feel his real wing perking up, as if it sensed a new partner. "Well, I'll be damned... You really did it..da Vinci's wing..."
"With a few changes, yes." The old man smiled, glowing in the obvious praise Seth was giving him. He folded the wing up again and made his way back over to Seth. "This may hurt, son. The skin's still raw, after all."
"I'll be fine. Just do it." He exchanged a look with Sala, who smiled encouragingly to him, causing him to smile back.
The old man shrugged faintly and, as gently as he could, rested the chassy of the contraption over the wound. Seth let out another hiss as it settled over the bone and muscles. "Sala, come and hold this still."
She nodded and placed his hands where his had been, holding it as still as she could. "How will it work?"
"Well, there are sensors that will respond to the muscles in his shoulder, and I'll be attatching something to the base of his real wing, so the two can move in unison while in flight." He began to strap the thing into place around Seth's chest and back, making sure it was secure.
Seth's brow rose as the old man spoke. "You mean I'll be able to fly again?"
"That was the purpose of da Vinci's wing design, wasn't it? Flight? It's the same weight and relatively the same size as your other wing.. I imagine you'll be able to get off the ground with it. Maybe no fancy maneuvers, but it should hold up under a good glide, maybe a little more. You're not going to be a Walker anymore, right?"
Seth was quiet for a time, thinking over that question. His gaze drifted back to Sala, who looked at him curiously, even hopefully. He smiled, faintly, and nodded. "I guess not."
The old man just smiled as he finished hooking the controls up to Seth's other wing. "All right. That should do it. Try it out."
Seth sat up straighter, flexing his shoulders first, before slowly extending his real wing. At the same time, the mechanical wing slowly began to extend. Before it even got halfway, though, Seth let out a third hiss of pain and folded them both back again, hand instinctively lifting to grip his right shoulder.
"Hm.." The old man tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Guess you'll need to take it easy. I imagine the shoulder will need to heal and get used to the weight again before you can do any real work with it."
Seth slowly relaxed and sighed, letting his shoulder go. "Only to be expected. At least it works.. And my wing seems to be happy about having a new partner." Sure enough, some of the feathers on his pitiful-looking wing were a few shades lighter, looking healthier. "There's hope yet, eh?"
Sala smiled her relief, stepping forward to take the old man's hand. "Thank-you so much."
"Not at all, Saleem. Now both of you, get on out of here. I've got real patients to see."
Seth got to his feet, surprised and quite relieved to hear the old man joke with them like that. It showed he was growing more comfortable in Seth's presence, and that was a very good sign indeed. He slipped his hand into Sala's as he waved good-bye with the other, then led her out of the building back onto the sandy street.

Kids and such.

Well, first we have Mirian. She is Rhia's first child, and first daughter. She was born in China in 4512bce. She's a full elf, though with mixed races of half Wood, quarter Drow, and quarter High. Her appearances takes much after her Wood heritage, having platinum blonde hair and pale blue eyes. Her skin is ashen, almost a muddy gray, the only place her Drow heritage tries to peak through. I haven't at all experimented with her disposition during life, and only know how she's become since entering Heaven. She never met Toryk, her father, as he died while Rhia was still pregnant. She died young, though was one of the few of Rhia's kids to live late into her teens. She was about seventeen when she died, and spent all of those years at Rhia's side. She's sweet, gentle; Rhia did well to keep her from getting spoiled by the life they lived, and it wasn't until she entered Heaven and learned just how Rhia's life had been, and watched her siblings come after her, that her innocence was truly spoiled. Being the first of Rhia's children, she gained the ability for leadership, and took on maternal instincts that would rival Rhia's own. She knows how to settle disputes, and has a cool temper that most definitely came from her father. Perhaps I'll come to know her better down the line, but for now, she's only slightly less a mystery than the others.

Next is Aubri. Rhia's second child and first son. Like Mirian, he was born in China, in 4302bce. As of yet, I know nothing of his father, so I know very little about how he'll look. I know his father is elven, at least. I picture him being tall, taller than Rhia, with somewhat sandy hair and fair skin. He's resourceful, confident, and good with his hands. In life, he, too, spent much time with Rhia, though a little more with his father, and lived to be about eighteen. As I'm sitting here, I'm getting an image of a village, or perhaps a small town. Rhia perhaps met a soldier while he was on duty, and as he was relieved of that duty - the war or whatever trifle he was involved with came to an end - he returned to his home, proving to be a stonesmith, a builder. I think I've also now found where I'll place the Dragon Elf War. But, putting that aside, and getting back to Aubri... When he did die, and came to Heaven, he met Mirian, and at once the two bonded and became inseperable. As time went on, and more of the K-kids came, he and Mirian acted as surrogate parents to them all. By around 1000ce, he petitioned to God and set to the task of creating an Estate for Rhia and their whole family. The Estate eventually becomes big enough to house not only Rhia and all of the kids, but all of the kids fathers, their own families, and just about anyone that Rhia might want to keep close to her.

Third, we have Antranig. He is the third child and second son, born in Sumer in 3194bce. He is the first half-elf of Rhia's line; that is, the first child Rhia has with a human. His name means (in which language I cannot at the moment remember) First Child. I see him as being very dark-skinned, almost golden, with peculiar - to the other humans - platinum hair. His eyes are a very pale blue, like ice, and he has acquired Rhia's accute ability to read people, through their habits, movements, and emotions. He lives to maybe twelve, and lived those years as a bit of a runt among the other kids of the human city. Rhia lived at that time as a mercenary, and only saw Tran during the Off-season or when she wasn't on contract. His father was the city's blacksmith, and was often contracted as a weaponsmith for the militia, so Tran often spent his time alone training with one of the forge swords. Upon his request, Rhia taught him here and there while she was at home, though his father never really approved of it.

Rhia's fourth child and third son is Taban. He is Rhia's first link to Earth's solid history, as he is the son of the Hittite king, Mursilis I. He was born in 1612bce, eight years after Mursilis rose to power. The boy didn't age too much, so there was little time for him to really become much of a character himself in life. He lived maybe only to five or six, and very little of that time was spent with Rhia. It so happened that Rhia was working with Mursilis' military, training soldiers, leading expeditions, etc, and if the fact that a bastard child between them existed got out among Mursilis' adversaries, things would not have boded well for him. So, Taban was sent into Babylon with an escort, a trusted friend of Rhia's. It also so happened that Mursilis, as is rather commonly known, went a tad bit sick in the head during his reign, and led a conquest into Babylon. Much to Rhia's dismay, she could not stop him, and during the battle to subdue the people, both the escort and Taban were killed.

The next four kids I'll speak of together, as they were siblings. First is Marcus, fifth child and fourth son, born in 1304bce. Then came Medwin, sixth child and fifth son, born in 1296. Then Xenon, seventh child and sixth son, born in 1294. And last was Demeter, eighth child and second daughter, born in 1289. They were all born in Babylon, a place Rhia came to hold dear to her, and often returned to during her early years. Shortly after Demeter was born, the father went off to war, having done so a number of times already, but this time did not come back. Rhia did her very best to keep her children out of the war, especially Marcus, who was very much like his father in that he wanted to do nothing less than protect his family and kingdom. Much to Rhia's dismay, he did finally go off to war, leaving Rhia and the other three to see to the rest of the city, which Rhia, too, wanted fiercely to protect. When certain unfriendly circumstances came to pass that forced Rhia to desert the city and, extremely reluctantly, her children, Marcus returned to look after his younger siblings. Demeter, it turned out, was a very gifted priestess, and ended up serving the few young years she had - dying at eight - in the service of the temple of a certain Goddess Rhia was already affiliated with. In turn, Xenon made it to 13, Medwin to 15, and Marcus to 20, having died before the other three by means of battle rather than what befell the other three. (There is a picture of these four together on the photobucket site.)

Next, there's Draco. He's the ninth child and seventh son, born in Athens in 659bce. Draco is unique among all of Rhia's children, in that he is an actual figure of our existing history. He was the first Athenian Law Scribe, and transcribed some very harsh laws, which I am speculating for the sake of the storyline is due to Rhia's own cruel nature that developed by this time in her life. I'm going to say he was the first of Rhia's children to not be bred out of love, and thus did not know his father, nor would have wanted to. I'd also say he and Rhia didn't quite see much of each other, or get along too well when they did see each other. He's imposing, stern and has a very demanding presence. At the same time, he's able to sink into the background without anyone really missing him. Though, that might have a little something to do with the hint of magick he has command of. I haven't figured out how old he is when he dies. As I said, he is the one exception in that he's an actual historical figure, so that will take a little more research and finesse.

And here we have Adelle. She's the tenth child and third daughter. She's the fifth child to be born in Babylon, in 603bce. You may notice that Draco, Adelle, and two of the next kids are all born relatively close together, yet not living at the same time. This is reason for it, and reason for why it stops. The main reason is because Rhia was rather loose with herself, and Adelle is the second child to be born from lust instead of love, and the second to not spend much time at all in Rhia's presence and none at all in the presence of her father. As a result, Adelle is one of the only children without a real strong bond to Rhia, and to the other kids once she reaches heaven. In life, she was a thief, and spent much of her life under the wing of another, very successful thief. Her love is for climbing, and always enjoyed scaling walls to get into better-protected buildings. The times she did see Rhia, even as a child, they never said much to each other, though that didn't stop Adelle from forming an admiration for the woman. But, admiration and love are two very different things.

The next two are also born in Babylon. Leila, the eleventh child and fourth daughter, born in 545bce, and Kadin, twelfth child and eighth son, born in 541. As I mentioned, Rhia often returned to Babylon, finding it a sort of sanctuary. By this time, she has a strong bond with the people of Babylon. Before Adelle was born, she helped in the designing and building of the Hanging Gardens, among other things. These two were not born of the same consequences as Draco and Adelle, but rather were born of a young man that, while she didn't exactly love him, he understood her, and didn't judge her, and became a safe haven within the sanctuary of Babylon, and she stayed with him for the rest of his years. Granted, they weren't very long years. He, and the two children, were assassinated in the attempt - and success - to strike a paralyzing blow to Rhia. Leila died at eleven, and Kadin at seven.

A long gap of years brings us to Sully, the thirteenth child and fifth daughter, born in Rome in 49ce. Sully was a very sweet-natured child in life, loving to sing and dance, and got to know Jason well while living in the port city of Rome. Rhia had once again taken to the mercenary life, though during the time she had Sully, she and her lover stayed-put for the most part there in Rome. They did little jobs, and Rhia was even noticed by the new emperor, Nero. She did a lot of work and conferring with him, and was one of the few who did not hate him for his unconventional and artistic ways, and even helped him in building some of his greatest monuments. Sully and her father were both caught in the fire that burned Rome, unable to escape their home, Rhia not reaching them in time. Sully lived to thirteen, and in heaven retains her scars, which cover the whole right side of her body, and continue to plague her with a terrible ache whenever anyone touches them.

Now for one of my favorite little-known characters. Larael, the fourteenth child and ninth son, born in 311ce. He was born in Rome after Rhia's forced return. She'd been captured, and made a slave, and offered as a gift to the prince, Constantine. She became a general in his army, training his men and leading them into battle, helping Constantine win much of his empire. During her time with him, the relationship became decidedly more than professional. Thus, Larael. Granted, he didn't spend much time actually in Constantine the Great's presence, but that didn't stop him from getting the "Greater than Thou" attitude. When he was around five, Rhia took him and fled from Rome due to some grievance with her bounty and the Hunters and the like. Now comes the reason for his being my favorite little-known character. He is Seth's big brother. He was twelve when Seth was born, and had already taken up a good bit of his mother's knowledge in the martial arts, and was quite handy with a scimitar or, when situation allowed, two. To sum it up, as I'm supposed to be doing here, he made Seth's life miserable for as long as the two were together. Which, fortunately for Seth, wasn't all that long. In five years, Larael met his fate.

And, thus, onto one of my favorite characters, period. Seth, fifteenth child and tenth son, born in Spain in 323ce. As I'm pretty sure I've gone over here before, Seth is an incarnation of Rhia's black magick, Arcane. During his first legs of life, Seth knew very little of his father or even what he was. He had little chance to ask, of course. The cruelty of his older brother forced him to grow quickly in both mind and body, and was made into a very cold person early on. He and Rhia never truly got along, not in ways that anyone could understand, and as time went on, their relationship turned into what can only be described as violent acceptance. Arguments tended to be settled through fists rather than words, and yet with a simple glance or gesture, one seemed to know precisely what the other was thinking, and when to cut the crap. Seth turns out to be the longest living of the Kolareny kids, partly due to what he was - being 'half magick' in a sense imparted him with a greater power than any of the K-kids had had - and partly due to his part in God's plan, though that is a whole different topic I don't intend to discuss here. His 'childhood', which comes and goes with the situation he's presented with, is spent very much on his own. He spent nearly equal parts of his life living on his own as he did in Rhia's stead, partly because of how long he happened to live and how easily Rhia seemed to get into trouble those days. In truth, Seth lived three lives. His first was the longest, dying somewhere in the twentieth century, and during which he'd taken one wife, though nothing came of it in way of children. It was to this woman, Mara, that he gave his soul, and will end up spending eternity in Heaven with her. His second life is granted by way of becoming a low-level Guardian Angel in order to keep watch over Rhia (though she is never his official charge). In that second life, he takes a second wife, Rebecca, with which he has one daughter, Cecelia. That second life actually comes to an end the moment Rebecca officially becomes his wife, and before she even knew she was pregnant, dying by protecting her on the alter from an assassination attempt. And, finally, his third life, during which he lives through the Apocolypse and stands at Rhia's side up until only decades before the end of the world. About six years before he dies last, he takes his third wife, Sala, with which he has two boys, whose names I cannot at the moment recall. He dies this last time in protecting the city Sala and the boys are living in. There is plenty more to say about Seth. Perhaps one of these days I'll do a detailed bio of him. I intend to spend a lot of books looking into his life.

The next two girls are rather sweet little numbers. Paytah, sixteenth child and sixth daughter, was born in 714ce, and Nituna, seventeenth child and seventh daughter, in 715. These are the first two children of Rhia's born in America, to, surprise, a Native American. The funny thing about it is that Rhia had no idea she'd entered some new land. She'd just happened to be near the Bering Straight during the right time of winter, and crossed without even realizing it. The people by then didn't look much different from the Russian and Chinese nomads, and she simply assumed she'd gone farther than she ever had before on the continent, never having really had reason to go all the way to the shore before. But anyway. The girls turned out to be very sweet natured, and it was only the destruction the Hunters wreaked that they met such an early end, along with the tribe she'd been travelling with. Paytah died at nine, and Nituna at eight.

Troubles.

Okay, so I've encountered a few setbacks. I think I'd have to be concerned if I -didn't- run into a few in this journey. Sure would be nice not to run into brick walls sometimes, though. Anyway, as to the problems themselves, the laptop I was using to write my book on crashed; died, burned out, lost all my files. That's three months worth of rping with nelmorr13 and a good ten pages of the book I had just finished that same day. That leaves me with the initial five or six pages of the book itself and the first couple of pages of filler I was working on, plus what I've written in a notebook since then. Frankly, it had me incredibly pissed. It didn't help that the computer guy assured me he could save the files, then came back a few days later and said that the c:drive was totally fried and wouldn't let go of any of the files, and basically told me over and over I was in idiot for not putting it on disc. But, on a high note, I figured out that I probably would have ended up rewriting much of what I've done already anyway, because the original stuff and the filler I put into the middle of it didn't mesh together properly. That doesn't mean it isn't a pain in the ass that I don't have the original to work from, but, it was only about eight hours of work. I'll pull myself out of it. Also on a high note, all of my computers are a few hours away from being fixed and having internet and Word, and properly fire-walled and spy-ware protected. So, with any luck, nothing like this will happen again. Not to mention I'm saving -everything- of consequence to disc now.
I have been making a bit of progress with the story, despite the setbacks. It doesn't seem all that significant to me just yet, as there isn't a whole lot written down, and it all has to be typed up and written better, since I don't write as well when I'm physically writing (I don't write fast enough to keep up with my brain, so long sentences end up being short little stubby things that could be lengthened to make more sense). But it's all unfolding itself. And with what I've been reading by Mercedes Lackey and RASalvatore, I don't think I'll have much trouble with getting out a good-lengthed book. I swear that Lackey writes books in which absolutely nothing happens, yet it's still insanely enjoyable and takes up three hundred pages. It boggles my mind. Then again, I read Salvatore, and a whole bunch of stuff happens in three hundred pages, that I have to sit back, blink, and wonder how he managed to be so damn detailed and still fit it all in. The careful balance of filler and stuff of consequence, I suppose. Just the right amount of each to get the typical length. I won't even mention the Potter books...
Speaking of Salvatore, yes, I've finally officially been acquainted with Drizzt, and he's even better than I had been expecting. I've also had a pretty good insight to Drow life in the Underground, and what Lloth is truly like. I still haven't figured out if I'm allowed to use the name Lloth or not, as she's an entity of D&D, I believe, but is seemingly universally known as the Drow Goddess. I know I can't use Elbereth as the Wood entity, because she's a strict creation of Tolkien, so I've begun to just refer to her as Goddess. Perhaps I'll come up with a name from history that will work. I'm pretty sure I don't want to make up my own goddess. I really want very little of what I'm doing to be new creations. I want you readers to be intimately familiar with much of what I talk about, hence all the well-known historic events.
There is one event that I'm creating on my own to explain a few things. And that's the Great Dragon Elf War. I'm mostly using it to majorly wipe out the elf and dragon races, among the other minor fantastical races. I'm seeing it as the big turning point in the books, where I break away from fantasy and turn over to 'historical fiction' of a sort. I've been having trouble deciding exactly when to place it, though. Rhia is still young, but skilled enough that the elves ask her to join their ranks. It has to be during a time in which most of the Northern Asian continent (that is, Russia) is still unpopulated by humans, at least no more than nomads. It may just end up being some time around 4200bce, shortly after her second child is born. Maybe during the third book. Of course, that insinuates I'll be doing this by chronological order... Maybe I will end up doing that afterall, starting from where I'm picking up with Toryk in this first book. Just have one or two books that go back in time. That's still a ways off, though, I guess.
Oh, I'm finally going to start giving personality to each of her kids. I'm still not quite sure how many she's going to have had, not counting adopted kids or tagalongs, as I'm continuing to get ideas for kids themselves, or actual events or situations that would make another child worth working out. I guess we'll see how that goes, too.
Let's see..what else... I guess there isn't too much else worth mentioning that's coming to mind. If I think of anything, I'll be back.