Hello loves! While I haven't been writing, I have been working on updating some issues that have been hanging around on the layout! The Character change box is now at the bottom of the page, beside the up/down arrows! Green and Gold dragon flight dates have been shifted to the bottom of the page, where the (useless!) discord widget was located. Where the dragon flights were in the header, is now replaced by a Monthly Event box! This will be updated at the start of each month, with a fun mini-event you can take part in, if you want to! Thistle!
25.Mar.23, 06:01 AM
He was not the first to fall in love with the ocean.
Many people before him, common folk and sailor alike, had come to adore the way the water mirrored the sky, or the hidden world beneath the waves. To some, the feeling of being dwarfed many times over by something so vast as the sea, that perfect feeling of being finite when all you can see is water, is a major drawing point in itself.
For sure, he loved the ocean for all these reasons and more, but if there was one thing he had to pick about it that he loved most (especially on days like today), it was that the ocean didn’t judge him. She, like death, was a great equaliser; it didn’t matter to her if you were a Lord holder, or a holdless drudge. She treated any and all in the exact same way: if you swam too deep, she would still drown you.
It wasn’t something that most people liked to think about, but it was a truth all the same. Perhaps he knew it more than others because of how he had lost his mother. But, sooner or later, every person who loved the sea would have to come to the same conclusion, or else they simply wouldn’t survive upon it.
And now he was a Journeyman Seacrafter, so Valtala felt like it was crucial for himself to make peace with the knowledge so that he could not only survive on water, but flourish upon it. It was only the logical course of action. Accept your own mortality, move on to the next problem.
Which brought him back to today.
The other boys at Seacraft Hall had been especially adversarial this morning. It did not matter to them that he had walked the tables not a fortnight before; Valtala now outranked most of them, and he could fathom a guess that their assault today was maybe spurred on by that fact, instead.
Were they jealous? Almost certainly. Maybe not to be him — after all, what he was to them frightened them, he was sure of it. - but most definitely coveting of his newfound position as Junior Journeyman. At just eighteen turns old.
This made the youth smile to himself, a little, in pride, at his reflection in the hand mirror. He had to do so gingerly, because his upper lip on the righthand side of his face was still swelling. Valtala could still taste the blood in his mouth.
Normally, the other boys weren’t so quick to escalate to fisticuffs and violence. Usually, it was just name calling, or perhaps shoving, or maybe even pulling his hair or little pranks (like cutting holes in his fishing nets!), but today had been different, because today Valtala had pulled rank and had tried to tell them off.
“I’m a Journeyman, now, and you boys simply can’t do this to me any longer.” He had said to them. With sureness in his voice, and with his palms raising towards the sky. Maybe trying to implore them.
The biggest one of them (and their obvious ringleader) had swung at him for that, swung and struck true to Valtala’s poor, beautiful face. “Watch me!” The jerk had sneered, and that was invitation enough for all of the other boys — in their circle around him! - to rain down their own blows.
Not all of them had been physical, either.
“Cocksucker!” One of them had spat at him. As if it were a bad thing. Well, to the apprentices at Seacraft Hall, it was, maybe. Maybe for sure. But it was not an insult to him, however. Still, the boy had flung the word at him as if to hurt him, so it could still be considered a blow.
Valtala’s fingers tightened on the round hand mirror in his grip. With his other hand, he reached up to lightly touch another one of the bruises on his body. Only the one boy had hit him in his face. The rest of the blows had been to his arms, back and chest. Seven or eight of them he gathered, although he could not tell for sure.
“It could have been worse,” he sighed, as he set the mirror down on the bedside beside himself. There was no use in getting upset about his reflection now, even though he really, REALLY wanted to. That would be letting them win! Besides. He would heal.
The young Journeyman stood up, deftly unbraiding his hair from its long tail and letting it flow out in waves down his shoulders.
If there was one place in the whole world, one where he didn’t feel judged, it was in the ocean.. So, even if today seemed like a little bit much to him, Valtala decided that he would tackle this problem — the whole ‘what to do with the other boys’ issue! - a little later, after clearing his head. Going for a swim would do just that, so that’s what he was going to do.
He grabbed a satchel to put a change of clothes into, then headed out the door. It wouldn’t take him long to get to the water. He could trace the steps from his bed to the shoreline in his sleep. He left the hall, then started walking down towards the beach.
When he got there, he was delighted to find out that he was the only person on the rocky shore. Valtala set down his bag, stripped off his clothes, and dove into the ocean headfirst and nude. It was still early spring so the water had an icy chill to it, but the blonde adored the shock that it set to his system, and so he dove into the crashing waves with gusto, enjoying the movement of his limbs and even the salt water sting of his upper lip. He was not aware of wether he was in the water for minutes or hours.
Everything felt better.
Valtala swam out deeper, to where the water was about ten meters deep. His body now acclimated to the temperature, he dog paddled lightly at the surface, looking into the sun filled afternoon for ships or anything interesting in the distance. There was nothing, so he turned to face the beach once more.
It was then that he realised that he was no longer alone. Somebody had come down to the water while he had been splashing away, and what’s more, it was someone he did not recognise, although it was hard to tell from this distance. Curiously, the Journeyman raised an arm out of the water and waved at the onlooker. Just in case it was someone new.
“Helloooo!” He called out, as an additional precaution against appearing unfriendly.
Many people before him, common folk and sailor alike, had come to adore the way the water mirrored the sky, or the hidden world beneath the waves. To some, the feeling of being dwarfed many times over by something so vast as the sea, that perfect feeling of being finite when all you can see is water, is a major drawing point in itself.
For sure, he loved the ocean for all these reasons and more, but if there was one thing he had to pick about it that he loved most (especially on days like today), it was that the ocean didn’t judge him. She, like death, was a great equaliser; it didn’t matter to her if you were a Lord holder, or a holdless drudge. She treated any and all in the exact same way: if you swam too deep, she would still drown you.
It wasn’t something that most people liked to think about, but it was a truth all the same. Perhaps he knew it more than others because of how he had lost his mother. But, sooner or later, every person who loved the sea would have to come to the same conclusion, or else they simply wouldn’t survive upon it.
And now he was a Journeyman Seacrafter, so Valtala felt like it was crucial for himself to make peace with the knowledge so that he could not only survive on water, but flourish upon it. It was only the logical course of action. Accept your own mortality, move on to the next problem.
Which brought him back to today.
The other boys at Seacraft Hall had been especially adversarial this morning. It did not matter to them that he had walked the tables not a fortnight before; Valtala now outranked most of them, and he could fathom a guess that their assault today was maybe spurred on by that fact, instead.
Were they jealous? Almost certainly. Maybe not to be him — after all, what he was to them frightened them, he was sure of it. - but most definitely coveting of his newfound position as Junior Journeyman. At just eighteen turns old.
This made the youth smile to himself, a little, in pride, at his reflection in the hand mirror. He had to do so gingerly, because his upper lip on the righthand side of his face was still swelling. Valtala could still taste the blood in his mouth.
Normally, the other boys weren’t so quick to escalate to fisticuffs and violence. Usually, it was just name calling, or perhaps shoving, or maybe even pulling his hair or little pranks (like cutting holes in his fishing nets!), but today had been different, because today Valtala had pulled rank and had tried to tell them off.
“I’m a Journeyman, now, and you boys simply can’t do this to me any longer.” He had said to them. With sureness in his voice, and with his palms raising towards the sky. Maybe trying to implore them.
The biggest one of them (and their obvious ringleader) had swung at him for that, swung and struck true to Valtala’s poor, beautiful face. “Watch me!” The jerk had sneered, and that was invitation enough for all of the other boys — in their circle around him! - to rain down their own blows.
Not all of them had been physical, either.
“Cocksucker!” One of them had spat at him. As if it were a bad thing. Well, to the apprentices at Seacraft Hall, it was, maybe. Maybe for sure. But it was not an insult to him, however. Still, the boy had flung the word at him as if to hurt him, so it could still be considered a blow.
Valtala’s fingers tightened on the round hand mirror in his grip. With his other hand, he reached up to lightly touch another one of the bruises on his body. Only the one boy had hit him in his face. The rest of the blows had been to his arms, back and chest. Seven or eight of them he gathered, although he could not tell for sure.
“It could have been worse,” he sighed, as he set the mirror down on the bedside beside himself. There was no use in getting upset about his reflection now, even though he really, REALLY wanted to. That would be letting them win! Besides. He would heal.
The young Journeyman stood up, deftly unbraiding his hair from its long tail and letting it flow out in waves down his shoulders.
If there was one place in the whole world, one where he didn’t feel judged, it was in the ocean.. So, even if today seemed like a little bit much to him, Valtala decided that he would tackle this problem — the whole ‘what to do with the other boys’ issue! - a little later, after clearing his head. Going for a swim would do just that, so that’s what he was going to do.
He grabbed a satchel to put a change of clothes into, then headed out the door. It wouldn’t take him long to get to the water. He could trace the steps from his bed to the shoreline in his sleep. He left the hall, then started walking down towards the beach.
When he got there, he was delighted to find out that he was the only person on the rocky shore. Valtala set down his bag, stripped off his clothes, and dove into the ocean headfirst and nude. It was still early spring so the water had an icy chill to it, but the blonde adored the shock that it set to his system, and so he dove into the crashing waves with gusto, enjoying the movement of his limbs and even the salt water sting of his upper lip. He was not aware of wether he was in the water for minutes or hours.
Everything felt better.
Valtala swam out deeper, to where the water was about ten meters deep. His body now acclimated to the temperature, he dog paddled lightly at the surface, looking into the sun filled afternoon for ships or anything interesting in the distance. There was nothing, so he turned to face the beach once more.
It was then that he realised that he was no longer alone. Somebody had come down to the water while he had been splashing away, and what’s more, it was someone he did not recognise, although it was hard to tell from this distance. Curiously, the Journeyman raised an arm out of the water and waved at the onlooker. Just in case it was someone new.
“Helloooo!” He called out, as an additional precaution against appearing unfriendly.
