#maradin

The old woman knew that she was on her last leg. Each breathe became more and more tiresome. She thought that it was a miracle that she made it this far, then again, she worked in the business of miracles. “Cairistonia?” The nurse stuck her head in the hospital room. “You have a visitor. She had an odd feeling that she knew who it was. There was no way, though. He had gone off saving the world with his group, ‘the Riftwalkers’ or something like that. He found a new tribe, or so she thought. An old, yet familiar blond head poked in, "There she is!” The energy in his voice was oddly comforting. Like a song she hadn’t heard in ages. She attempted to breathe out a greeting, but her strength was not quite what it used to be. “Hey-hey, you don’t need to talk,” he rushed toward her, kneeling by her bedside. “I just wanted to come here, while I had the time, to thank you. I wanna thank you for all the patience that you held up for me, all the love that you poured out, and all the wisdom that you instilled. I’ve done some things that many would call great deeds, but I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything a third as amazing if it wasn’t for your help.” Cairistonia smiled at her old apprentice. There was a glow about her that showed that she was at peace with things. “Also, there’s somebody that I want you to meet,” he gestured at the door, seemingly beckoning someone from just outside. Cairistonia’s heart fluttered. 'Who could it possibly be?’ In walked a strapping young man, not quite the spitting image of the young man she once knew, but there was an air about him that made their relationship known. He knelt down and held cradled Cairistonia’s hand in his own. “This is Noah,” he patted the young man’s back. “He’s told me so much about you,” he smiled. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.” “Noah is moving to your island in Maradin. He’s going to do great things for the tribe.” This made the young man make a bashful expression. Cairistonia’s smile simply grew wider. The entire room seemed to glow. Behind the two men, she saw a great, warm light. It was welcoming. It was time to go home. Cairistonia passed with a smile on her face.

 It had been years since Cairistonia had an apprentice. She tried and failed with her daughter, and felt like that was the last she’d ever try. Still, she was getting along in her years and her tribe was going to need a new healer before long. Rather than pick her own pupil, this time, she decided to put it up with the Clan of Orphans to send one out to the remote island on which she resided. She watched as the ship approached. Although she was of the Maradinese natives, she felt more comfort seeing the banners of the half-breeds rather than her own kin now. Perhaps it was the children that had given her a soft spot. As the ship docked, a flurry of busybodies scampered here and their to greet long lost friends and siblings. She thought back to the Kindwords, hoping that they had been able to reunite. Her daydream was interrupted by an abrupt “hi.” In front of her stood one of the half-birds. Or was he full bird? Avikin were always difficult to distinguish from humans when they had long hair and wore shoes. He was tall, taller than she expected at least. “You must be Ga- Geyare- Gur-” Cairistonia struggled to read the chicken scrawlings on the letter that she received. “It’s Garth,” the bird person smiled. Cairistonia stifled a bit of laughter. Most non-Maradinese names sounded odd to her, but this one seemed to take the cake. “Where did that come from.” “It’s supposed to be from my resemblance to a famous musician known as Garthola the Grand,” Garth angled his face and gestured toward it, as if Cairistonia knew what Garthola the Grand looked like. “My mom says he might actually be my dad.” “So you’re not-” “Yeah, I’m not an orphan.” Garth nonchalantly smiled, “but the Clan of Orphans let me have the scholarship anyway.” “… Uh-huh…” Cairistonia was unsure how to respond to such an offhand remark. She decided to change the conversation to something more important. She turned around to face inland, gesturing for her new pupil to follow, “lesson one, Garth. There is always something that someone needs healed, be that physically or emoti-” As Cairistonia turned around to look at Garth, but he wasn’t there. She shook her head in panic, not having any idea where he could have gone. In the distance, she could hear music start up. She looked over and saw that Garth had joined the buskers on the dock. He even picked up one of their lutes, playing it almost as loud as he sung, drowning out the other buskers. “Garth! GARTH!” Cairistonia shouted over the music. “GARTH, STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!!!” The music suddenly screeched to a stop, the bagpipe player almost lost his balance. “You want to be a cleric, right?” “I wanna be the best cleric!” He gleefully smiled. “You’re not going to be anywhere near good if you let yourself be unfocused like that,” Cairistonias’ natural Mardinese accent shone through more when she was aggravated.“If you’re unfocused, you’re going to lose more lives than you save, and that’s just not what we stand for. We are servants, protectors, and leaders of The Light! We don’t go off to serve our own whims and just do whatever we please. That’s how you get yourself killed!” Cairistonia realized that she had ended up giving her whole spiel to the onlookers on the dock behind her rather than her new apprentice. She noticed he had gone quiet and turned around to apologize for scaring him. Much to her surprise, he was sitting cross-legged on the dock with a book titled ‘Weirder Stuff II’ in his hands, eyes afixed upon the text. “I’m almost done.” “GARTH!” ta beh conutie