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Elanna Seras, master physician, reluctant spiritworker, and friend in a time of need. She’s a good person who worries much too much.
Part of her first chapter:
“Would you like to pray with me before we begin?” Elanna had been taught in medical school that prayer increased the patient's chance of survival, and it was standard procedure to ask.
Anika nodded vigorously.
“Have you made offerings to Erethor in the past, and honored his festivals?” The customary question.
Anika looked blank for a moment. She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “Well, I... yes? Sometimes, anyway?”
It never really mattered what they said. “Let’s begin then.” Elanna touched her fingertips to her heart and spoke the traditional words of invocation before surgery. “Radiant Erethor, merciful Healer, hear me. Turn your gaze upon us, and be with us now. Please look kindly upon Anika. Remember her past offerings and devotion, and grant her your blessings of good health and swift recovery in the days to come. Let it be so.”
Anika echoed the words by habit, “Let it be so.”
Whatever power the prayer may or may not have held, it put Elanna’s patients at greater ease, and that was what mattered. Elanna had become far more confident that proper sanitary procedures and a steady hand would be what made the difference. It was time to begin, though. She nodded to Izrek, who handed her a bottle of ether.
“Anika, please lay back. This will be over before you know it.” One way or another. Elanna made herself smile.
Okay but what did Unwilling Moon Goddess Selene even DO to warrant being put up there? Did she set someone/something important on fire bc they pissed her off? Did she kill Falon'Dick in a fit of righteous fury and make Mythal (who was some kind of powerful shaman figure maybe) force her into 'atonement'? Did she explode something so powerfully that it affected the tilt of the planet and now she's gotta be in charge of keeping that on track forever? Like what'd she do??
Origins
Moon Goddess AU
Ana belongs to @lycheemilkart
TW For Violence, Death,Alcohol use, Abuse
The Moon was not always a helpful entity.
The Moon God had been a proud creature, thankful for his privacy and distance from the people. More than happy to stay up in the sky, far away from everything and everyone else. He kept his knowledge, his secrets to health to himself, where they could not be misused by those who were unworthy of it.
Until one day, he looked upon the earth and saw a flower of the sun.
She was so tall, petals a stunning shade of golden yellow, stretching towards the skies. Bright and open and warm throughout the day, laughing and reaching towards the sunlight.But when he looked upon her at night, she shied away, closing up as she drooped until the Sun God returned to the skies in the mornings.
Still, he found himself distracted with thoughts of the flower throughout his days. Stealing glances towards the earth more often than he should be, moon lingering in the skies after the sun had risen.After too long of this, the Sun God approached the Moon God.
“Why do you linger so long in our skies?” he asked “You used to savor your time alone, hoarding as much of my stolen light as you could for yourself. Why now do you bask in it?”
“I have become taken with one of your flowers,” The Moon God admitted with a heavy sigh. “But she shies away from me. I know not what I can do. I do not wish to impose myself upon her.”
“So give her what she needs,” The Sun God offers “Do not coerce her. Show her that you can provide for her, show her how you feel, so that she may determine if she feels the same.”
“How?”
“You control the tides. The pull of water. My summers are harsh, and flowers often wilt beneath my heat. Provide her with additional water. Nourish her soil, ensure her roots do not rot and that she may flourish. Show her we are not such total opposites,” The Sun grins.
And so the moon does. Night after night, he cares for her as best he can from a distance. Nudges away predators who would feast on her leaves, shelters her from storms that would otherwise wash her away. Until the summer must come to an end, and he appears before her on the final night.
“Come with me,” he offers her. “The cold will come soon, and you will be taken away. I will keep you healthy, I will keep you safe, I will keep you happy.”
The Flower, having known the softer side of the moon for the whole of the season already, agrees.
When he touches her, her petals turn pale, roots stretch to limbs until she is knelt before him. The Moon God carried his flower back to his kingdom, where they lived happily for centuries.
And then the flower bore his child.
A young girl, hair pale as the moonlight and eyes as green as the earth that bore her mother, came into being.
She was smart, and bright, and kind. And as she grew, her father taught her all he knew. How to heal the sick and save the dying, how to pull at the tides and the necessity of their existence.
But she gained her mothers kindness and love of the earth, as well.
“Why do we not share our knowledge?” She asked her father.
“It is too freely abused,” he explained “Their lives are too short, and words too easily misinterpreted. People are not to be trusted with it.”
“But their lives could be longer if they knew what we did. Better. The people could flourish, even.”
“Their lives are not our concern. The People are not our domain. We are responsible for greater things.”
Selene was not convinced.
As she grew, so did her curiosity. Her desire to explore the earth, to learn about the people, to help them, the way her father had helped her mother. And so, the Sun God approached her.
“Little moonbeam,” he cooed “I see what you desire. Locked away up here as you are, so far away, so restricted by your fathers fears. I could help you, if you would only do the same in return.”
“I have nothing to give. I am not a god, yet. Only an apprentice.”
“But one day you will be. You will inherit your fathers abilities, and then we will be partners. One day, I will ask of you a favor. You will grant it to me, without restrictions and to the best of your abilities.”
Selene hesitates.
“And in return,” He continues “I will take you to Earth with me. Summer is starting, and my festival will begin. A grand celebration, that I invite you to share in.”
“My father would never agree to that.”
“I have known your father far longer than you have. I will handle him. You only need hold up your end of the bargain.”
Selene swallows.And agrees.
–
Summer begins, and Selene travels down with the Sun God in his chariot to visit the people.The Earth is so bright and full of variety and color and life, it takes her breath away.
She falls in love with it instantly, getting swept up in the celebrations. She dances for a week, and drinks while perched in the lap of the laughing Sun God, joining in with the people and learning as many of their ways as she can.It is warm here, so much warmer than her frozen, lonely home.
She meets several other gods at the event. Goddess of the Earth, who shows her how plants grow in the soil and sprout beneath her feet. The necessity of a life cycle, of rebirth and reuse and the connection of all things that come from the Earth. She meets the God of Invention, who shows her science and math and innovations. The way the people manipulate and alter their environment to make their lives better, to make better use of all that time robs the mortals of. Of the necessity of moving forward. Goddess of Stone, who can not even use magic but is not hindered in any way by it. Who shows her secret, sacred places, where magic can be grown, where it flows like water beneath the earths crust in stunning shades of blue and white.
And for the first time, Selene gets to see a blue sky.
She does not remember taking flight, but she remembers flying. Her wings sprout from her back, and she is off. Soaking in the rays of the sun as she glides over the ocean, over the water she has manipulated for so long from so far away, and she sees that even it contains life, here. She befriends the birds as they fly alongside her, and tell her stories of all the places they have traveled. Watches the fish travel in packs, marvels at the whales as they breathe the air and return to water
She returns to Des’s side breathless.
“Enjoying your time?” he laughs.
“It’s incredible! You get to do this all the time?”
“Every day.”
“I think I will too.”
Des blinks “You will, what?”
“When I am a Goddess, I will visit the people each night. My father may value his privacy, but I do not. I like it here, I love these people, and I do not wish to live in solitude any longer.”
“You know,” Des grins “I think we’re going to be marvelous partners.”
The Festival lasts an entire month, as it turns out. An entire cycle away from home, and though she expects to miss it, she finds it actually….freeing, to be on Earth.She does not want to leave, when the festival ends.Even Des seems reluctant to give her back to her fathers care.
But she has responsibilities to maintain, balances to keep and spells to learn. She adds what she has learned to her repertoire. She sings her spells, dances through rituals, creates within craters and learns to breed plants that will survive in their soil. She visits the earth each night with her mother, using her skills to help those she can.
Her father is not happy with the changes.
“We must be steady,” He warns her. “Do not deviate from our traditions.”
“How do you know?” She challenges “How do you know that we must do things the way we do? That we could never have anything more, never have anything better than this?”
“Because this is the way it has always been.”
“But we can change it. The Earth is constantly changing, constantly growing. Why not us? Why must we stay so far away?”
“It is the way of things. It is to maintain the necessary balance of things. We do not change.”
“You changed,” She argues “You changed for mother. Who is from Earth. The people are not bad, they are not lesser, somehow, just because death visits them. The only thing keeping us locked away up here is you! You and your obsession with being alone!”
“That is Enough!” He bellows, and the skies above her flicker with electricity, ground shaking as lightning strikes at the frozen ground beneath her feet. “I am still your father, I am still your teacher, I am still your God, and you will Obey Me!” he yells, voice echoing. A bolt of lightning shoots towards her face, striking her down with enough force that it creates a new crater just outside the palace steps.
Selene runs, as soon as she can stand.
She runs all the way to the earth, hiding from her fathers sight within the temple of the Sun. Waits silently, containing herself until the sun rises and Des approaches her.
“What happened?” he whispers, fingers brushing over the fractal scars left by her fathers violence.
“I pushed him too far,” she mumbles. “It was my fault.”
“No,” Des asserts. “This was his mistake. There is no excuse for striking your child.”
Selene just wraps her arms around herself while Des leans back “Perhaps we have left him alone and unchecked for too long,” he muses. “I thought your mother would mellow him out, but it seems like she’s only enabled him in her complacency.”
“I…”Selene swallows “I don’t know what to do from here.”
“Wait for now,” he instructs. “I’ll bring the others together here, and we will discuss how to move forward as a Pantheon, as we always have.”
So Selene waits, while he gathers the others. The Earth Goddess appears first, then the Goddess of the Stone, The God of Invention, and the Goddess of Chaos, and finally Des returns himself.
“This is all you gathered?” Carina, Goddess of Stone questions.
“This is all we need,” Des insists. “Selene, tell us what happened.”
She shares her story, even as they stare at the scar on her face and listen to the storm bellow through the night outside, even now.
In the end, it is decided that it is time for Elrogathe to step down from his position as God of the Moon. Selene helps them travel to her home, with every intention of solving things peacefully.
But when she arrives, she does not find her father.
Only a monster in his stead, standing over her mothers corpse.
“Flowers were not meant to live forever,” it growls.
Selene moves first, while Des notches and shoots an arrow, blowing just past her to strike the creature in the chest as he lets out a bellowing roar.
The battle lasts the entirety of the night, and they are all exhausted by the end of it.
“Traitor,” Growls her father as he bleeds out beneath her, pinned down beneath Carina’s stone, pulsing with energy. “You spoiled, selfish child. You do not understand anything.”
“You killed mother,” She snaps back between heavy breaths as her own blood spills out of her “You don’t get to lecture me anymore.”
Elrogathe bellows again, straining against the rock above him as his fury echoes around them. Selene sighs, weary and exhausted as she stares at the remains of him. Not that she has ever known him to be warm or loving herself, but he was still her father. She has still spent centuries in his company, and there is still something in her that regrets what she has to do.
But still, she will do it.
Selene begins to sing.
The ground beneath her father curls away, carves itself into geometric patterns, plates shifting like a puzzle box, as he is pulled further and further below the surface.
He screams as she casts the ritual to lock him away, curses her and their land. Promises that nothing she has created will grow, that she will spend the rest of her days alone, dooms her to solitude and imprisonment that lasts as long as his own, and uses the last of his mana to turn his words to power, spreading out over both her and both moons.
Des looks at her with regret when she collapses against him, exhausted and spent.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“It had to be done,” she mutters.
He shakes his head “You don’t understand. He’s tied you here.”
“I’ve always been tied to the moon,” She argues.
“No, you were only connected to it,” Ana, the Earth Goddess explains “You had the freedom to travel wherever you liked, for as long as you wanted. This was simply your domain. Now…”
Selenes eyes widen as realization hits her “…I can’t leave?”
“I’m so sorry, Selene,” She nods.
Shock courses through Selenes system while Des carefully lowers her to the ground. “I can’t…I can’t ever leave?”
“Or bring anyone here,” Des sighs. “Your dad was a dick. I should have interfered sooner.”
Selene doesn’t move from that space as reality washes over her, and the other Gods return to Earth to rest and recover and take care of their own responsibilities.
Alone. She’s going to be alone, forever.With her father trapped beneath her.
What has she done?–
Des returns later that night, to remind Selene to raise the moons. She does, but only barely. A waning crescent at the wrong point in the cycle. It is all she can manage, in her current state.
“Congratulations on becoming a Goddess,” he jokes, in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Selene just looks at him blankly, still tired but too stressed to sleep.
“Look,” he sighs “I know this sucks. Patricide is a pretty awful way to ascend. But now you can make the changes you wanted.”
“I can’t change anything. I can’t even reach the people, let alone aide or share anything with them.”
“I talked with The Earth Goddess, actually. We might be able to help with that.”
“You can let me travel freely to Earth?”
“Well, no. But on the Full Moon, with a combination of being fully visible to her, and since you’ll already be reflecting the maximum amount of power and light from me, we think we might be able to…project you there. You’ll be able to interact with people and things. Talk, share knowledge, teach them what you can.”
Selene swallows, turning to stare at the Earth, watching the clouds swirl over the blue and green sphere, so far away.
But this is a better offer than she dared hope for, anyways.
“Thank you.”
Des shrugs “Helping you helps me too. It means you’ll be better off to help me, when I ask you for that favor.”
“I’ll do whatever I can,” She nods in agreement.
“Rest, tomorrow,” He suggests. “You’ll find Godhood is not so easy as I make it look.”
Selene stands, finally, gazing out over the wreckage of her parents palace.“I will do my best,” she vows.
I did more drabbles because I needed a fluffy distraction. They all tie together, and take place after Selene adopts Elanna.
Dirthamen belongs to @feynites
Elanna belongs to @lycheemilkart
Warning for brief NSFW at the beginning of the third installment
“You need to talk to her,” Ana glares at Dirthamen when he finally enters the living room.
Well.
Mumbles, might be more apt.
Dirthamen stares at the pile of blankets, most of which he suspects are newly purchased, and the Ana wrapped up tightly within their center. He can just make out her eyes, a splash of red hair peeking through the sides, and a smattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose.
Dirthamen opens his mouth to respond, but Selene bursts into the room with a tray of hot chocolate and a bowl filled with marshmallows.
“Ok! I've got the cocoa and-Oh, Dirthamen. Welcome home,” she smiles.
“Selene,” he nods, before gesturing to Ana “Is there a reason you've turned Ana into a living burrito?”
“She's not-” Selene turns to look at Ana and her nose crinkles slightly “...She's fine.”
Dirthamen raises a skeptical eyebrow, and looks to Ana while mouthing 'what did you do'.
Ana huffs, and one of the blankets shifts off of her shoulder. Selene quickly moves to fix it, tucking its edges underneath another.
“I said I was cold.” Ana answers plainly.
Dirthamen looks back at Selene, who is laying out the mugs on the table.
“Do you perhaps think this may be over doing it?”
“Nope,” Selene responds, popping the P.
Ana looks over at Dirthamen pleadingly, and he lets out a sigh.
“Selene,” he attempts, moving behind her and slipping his arms around her waist. “Perhaps she does not need so many blankets, hm?”
“I don't want her to be cold,” Selene frowns turning in his arms to face him. He sees glimmers of red in the backs of her eyes, and an outline of horns this close to her.
It is days like these he is thankful Elanna is not a mage.
“Perhaps she could keep one or two of the blankets then, while she drinks the hot chocolate you prepared? She can hardly use her hands the way she is settled currently.”
Selene's frown deepens, and he sees a tail flick in her shadow. But after a moment, she glances back at Ana, and lets out a relenting sigh. He gives them a gentle kiss on the cheek in thanks before releasing them.
Selene grumbles slightly as she unwraps Ana, leaving her with just two blankets, one over her shoulders and one over her lap. But Ana seems to relax, significantly, which lowers Selenes own stress level he notes.
The thought that this is perhaps what a family is supposed to be like crosses his mind as he leans against Selenes shoulders and drapes one of the discarded blankets over the two of them.
He wonders if he could entice Ana into approaching Selene about the pros of having small feet pattering around the house.
–------
Dirthamen thinks that it would, perhaps, be a good thing to bond with Ana outside of the house.
This is what he reminds himself of when he goes to pick her up from school on a day where Selene is going to be working late.
“Would you like to get some ice cream?” he asks.
Elanna raises an eyebrow at him, and tugs slightly on the edge of her knit cap. “Uh, sure.”
They walk to the local ice cream shop together, Dirthamen asking casual questions about Elannas day and schooling, and Elanna answering them with the usual teenage 'fine I guess', 'sure', and 'uh-huh's.
When they arrive, they each choose their preferred flavor and toppings, and sit down at one of the booths inside, rather than going back out into the cold.
“Soo...why are we doing this?” Elanna asks from around a mouth full of butter pecan and captain crunch berries.
Dirthamen swirls his toppings through his ice cream awkwardly and avoids her gaze.
“I thought perhaps we should get better acquainted. Since we are inhabiting the same house hold.”
“Uh-huh...” Elanna nods dubiously, slipping her finger less gloves off and tucking them into her backpack.
He takes several spoonfuls before tapping his spoon nervously against the side of his cup.
Elanna has been with them for a little over a year now. He is still unsure how to broach the subject again with Selene, but he is certain it will go over better if he has Elannas comfort accounted for first.
“So, are you trying to like, be my dad or something?” Elanna asks, as her spoon falls into her already emptied bowl.
Dirthamen blinks.
“No. Would you like me to be?”
Elanna shrugs “I don't really care. I already had a dad. And a mom. And an Uncle. So.”
He nods “I was not trying to force myself into your life. I actually wanted to speak with you, before I asked Selene something.”
“Oh. You're finally proposing then?”
His brows furrow and he shakes his head, but then pauses. “I was not planning to, yet. Do you think I should?”
“I mean, I guess? You guys like, live together and share a bed room and do adult stuff together. I guess I just figured you'd be getting married and popping out babies soon.”
“Yes, that is what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Ok? So talk to me.”
“I would like to have babies with Selene.”
“Ok.”
“But you are also a part of our family.”
“Alright.”
“And we do not want you to feel left behind in any way.”
“Cool.”
“...So you would be alright if Selene and I decided to have children?”
Elanna shrugs “Can I still keep my room?”
Dirthamen blinks.
“I...do not see why not.”
“Then go for it, if it makes you happy.”
Dirthamen nods, and gives Ana a smile.
“Thank you.”
She shrugs her backpack back on. “No problem.”
–------
Selene's back arches as she bites down on the back of her hand to keep from yelling too loudly, and Dirthamen lifts his head from between her legs.
“Dirthamen, I swear to the gods, if you stop again I am going to scream,” she mutters without any real heat behind it.
He places a soft kiss to the inside of her thigh in response.
“Have you given any further consideration to my question?”
Selene groans “You're asking me now?”
He licks a stripe through her folds and her groan turns to a moan.
“It seemed like a good time to bring it up,” he responds, lips brushing against the base of her stomach.
“It's not. It's a good time to bring you up though,” she mutters, hands drifting to his jaw and gently pulling him up until her mouth is pressed to his. She flips them, making quick work of his clothing, and ensures that he is well worn out by the time she's done.
-
Selene taps her pen repeatedly against her desk. She's trying to review her emails, but everything just keeps blurring together.
Dirthamen wants babies.
Dirthamen wants to have babies.
She's not even sure if that's something she can do.
If you wanted to, I'm sure we could.
Selene sighs, and scrubs at her eyes with the palm of her hands.
That's what it comes down to, she supposes.
Whether or not she wants to.
...It's not like she doesn't want to.
She just doesn't know if she's ready, yet.
They've had Ana for a little over a year, and Uthvir has only recently stopped teasing her for taking her role as 'Mom Friend' so literally.
But Dirthamen seems determined to get some sort of child in the household. Selene chuckles, as she briefly wonders if he inherited his fathers soft spot for children in this lifetime.
She misses when she could just borrow a baby from someone else. Like Uthvir, or Venavismi, or Serahlin and Adannar-
She pauses.
Adannar.
Yes, that could work.
Selene picks up her phone, and dials one of the few companies she's still a partial owner of.
-
Dirthamen and Elanna are sitting in the living room, playing an intense looking game of Guess Who when Selene walks through the door that evening.
“Welcome home,” They announce in unison without looking up.
A tiny yap sounds from the other side of Selene, and both of their heads whip up immediately.
Selene grins “I'm home! Who wants to help me unload the car?” As she turns, they notice a small kennel crate being carried in her arms. Elanna practically crawls on all fours in her rush to meet the new creature.
Selene carefully places it down on the ground, and closes the door behind her to keep it from getting loose, deciding to get the rest of the supplies in a little bit.
She kneels, and asks Ana to take a few steps back as she opens the door.
A very small gold and white Akita puppy stumbles out of the cage, blinking and sniffing at the air around him.
“Elanna, Dirthamen,” Selene says gently, digging a treat out of her purse and holding it out “This is Ein. Some people at the animal rescue found him last week. He's blind in one eye, but very sweet, and in need of a home.”
“He looks like a toasted, fluffy, marshmallow,” Elanna marvels, and Selene hands her a treat to feed to Ein, and then another for Dirthamen to do the same.
She watches, as Dirthamen carefully observes the puppy's curled tail wag when it eats from his hand.
Des watches, too.
Waiting.
And then they see it. The smile curling at the sides of his mouth, and they know then, that they have succeeded.
He loves the dog, as surely as he would love any other creature they brought into their lives. Selene feels a weight lift off of her own shoulders, one she hadn't even realized she was carrying.
She slumps back against the door, and watches as her family makes space for one more member.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Warnings for death, allusions to suicide, and childhood trauma
Elanna belongs to @lycheemilkart
Selene is 3 when her Papae dies. Her Mamae cries, and they bury them, and then they move.
“Too many memories,” her Mamae explains through red rimmed eyes as she takes Selene into the city and away from the clan.
The smells are the most difficult thing for her to adjust to. It's piss and garbage and too long between baths. It's crowded, and the other children are loud while they dance around the Vhenadahl and interrupt her mothers prayers. She cries more when they do that.
Selene is 4 when she has enough. One of the other children is swinging from a branch, when it snaps off and they trample right through her Mamae's plot and shrine trying to escape from getting in trouble. Her vision goes white, as she picks up the other branch and chases them down with it.
She doesn't hit them, not really, but she is quick and the threat scares them enough.
Selene asks her Mamae to smooth it down, and then plants the branch firmly in the top corner of her Mamaes plot.
A warning.
They do not trample her Mamaes space again. But she still cries, sometimes.
Selene is not sure what else she can do.
Selene is 8 when her Mamae gets too sick to work anymore. She doesn't mind taking it over, not really. She tends to the plants and does her homework and cleans the house and cooks the stews while her mother rests and tells her stories. She learns to barter with the neighbors, that watching the babies while the mother does the laundry will earn her a coin, and that taking care of a few other plots will earn her more coins, and some of the older kids will give her snacks and clothes and books for helping with their homework. Sometimes Selene runs out of time, and can't earn all of her coins and has to sell things instead so that Mamae can keep her roof and her bed. She just takes small things, though. Decorative pieces or old books that Mamae won't notice the absence of from beneath her blankets.
Selene is 9, when her Mamae stops waking up.
She cries, and strangers come to take her away. She doesn't want to go, she has worked hard, she has fought and bled and learned and earned this place and she doesn't want to lose her home.
And then suddenly everything gets very warm.
Everything is bright, and vibrant, and there are voices and they are promising her things, promising her Mamae back, that she can keep her home that she can keep her family, that she does not have to lose anything if she would just accept their help-
And then all she knows is darkness.
–
When Selene wakes up, she is in a very dark, damp, cold room. There is a window, but it is very high off the ground, and there are bars blocking the sunlight. There is a dark stain on the back wall, and a rope hanging from the ceiling.
Selene does not think she wants to be here anymore.
She calls out, cries for someone, anyone. She's sorry. She does not understand what she did, but she is sorry and she will never do it again.
A woman in long white robes opens the door to her cell, and asks her if she means it.
“Yes,” Selene pleads “Yes, I am sorry.”
The woman seems satisfied with Selenes sincerity, and escorts her out of the room and down the hall. She gives Selene a piece of bread, which she devours too quickly but she is very hungry. She's not sure how long she was in that cell, but her stomach is still growling after she has finished.
She wishes she had gotten to take some of her saved up snacks with her, but doesn't voice the thought aloud.
The woman gives Selene a test, makes sure she can read and write and asks about her school. Selene answers them all as honestly as she can, and ends up with a new pair of clothes and shoes for her trouble. She changes into them, a drab tan shirt and some black shorts, and follows the woman as she leads her further down the hall.
Anything will be better than that cell, Selene thinks.
There are more tests, and questions, and some men in armor poke and prod at her with magic and swords before they let her into the final room.
It is filled with more children.
Some are elvhen, some human, and there are even a few people with horns, she notes.
Selene shuffles awkwardly with only the vague instructions of “Go play. We will tell you where to go when the sun goes down.”
Selene swallows, and hopes it isn't back into the cell.
Mostly, Selene sticks to the walls. Unsure of herself, or the other children. She finds some paper, and starts writing out her multiplication tables. The numbers are nice, and familiar, and she likes the way they look on the paper.
“Whatcha doin'?” A voice asks, as Selenes view is obscured by orange.
A lot of orange.
She blinks, and realizes that the orange is actually hair, and it's attached to a small freckled elvhen girl.
“Oh. I'm just....” Selene looks down at the paper and then back at the girl “I don't know what else to do.”
The other girl just nods as though this makes perfect sense “You're new here, huh?”
Selene nods back.
“I'm Elanna,” the girl grins, a smile eating up most of her face.
Selene starts to cry.
She doesn't know why, although it's probably because it's the first smile she's seen directed at her in weeks. It's embarrassing, really, people don't like when you cry, and you're not supposed to cry at nothing and what if they send her back to the cell because she messed up already and now the sobbing is just getting louder and she can't stop and Elanna is panicking too.
Selene takes deep breaths to try to calm herself down.
Elanna pats her shoulder consolingly “It's ok. Sometimes we just cry because we have to. I used to cry a lot too.”
Selene sniffles and nods again. “Thank” *hic* “you.”
Elanna waits patiently for Selenes sobs to dissipate, and then holds out her hand and shows her around. Apparently they're in an orphanage, and sometimes people stay for a long time and sometimes they disappear really quickly. Selene asks about the cell and Elanna just looks at her funny “I dunno,” she answers honestly “I didn't have anything like that.”
Selene swallows and hopes that isn't a bad sign.
She ends up spending the rest of the day trailing around Elanna, and discovers she used to live with a clan too, when she was little.
It's a nice connection, even if neither of them remember it very well. Selene thinks this is what having a friend is supposed to be like. When she asks Elanna, she just gets a very enthusiastic “Yep!” in return.
That's probably a good sign.
Selene only separates from Elanna in fact, when the sun goes down and Selene is taken to a separate sort of room. It's got funny signs and symbols all over it, and the other kids fidget a lot and some of them seem to actually be taking turns sleeping, which Selene thinks is silly. They're all supposed to be asleep, after all.
One of the older kids, around 13 and apparently soon to be transferred somewhere else because they're 'getting too old for a kids way of sleeping', whatever that means, looks at Selene funny.
“You hear the voices too?” they ask.
Selene blinks, and remembers when they had come to take her away from her Mamaes corpse. Promises...
Selene nods.
“Those're demons,”the human tells her “They'll lie to you and tell you all sort of things but they just want to kill you, and all the rest of us. You'll learn soon. The Chant'll teach you.”
Selene just nods slowly, and thinks perhaps it's a good thing that the other child will be leaving soon.
But sleep is difficult.
There are many voices, many more than she's ever heard before. Colors and images and illusions and a warm purple light with a soothing tone that she just feels like melting into.
But she's awoken abruptly by very cold water splashing onto her face. Selene sputters, sitting up, and panicking before recalling the events of the day before.
The sun is barely breaking over the town, but all of the other children are dressed.
There is a pair of robes at the foot of her bed, identical to the others.
“What are these for?” she asks.
“Training.” One of the other kids mutters.
Selene swallows, and feels an overwhelming sense of dread as she changes into her new outfit.
