Side A – Yasgrid
The world was gone. The world was more present than ever. The world was hers.
No matter how hard Yasgrid blinked, she could clear the blinding light from her eyes. Though in a sense that didn’t matter. She could still see just fine. Better than she ever had before.
There were no shadows in the Darkwood anymore. Everything was light and all of the light was intermingled.
The leaves underneath her hands and knees were fashioned from brilliant shades of green and brown. Yellows and oranges wove and danced underneath their surface while misty blue sparkles rose from them to dance on the silver winds.
“This was probably a terrible idea,” a young Elven girl said. “If the others see me like this…”
Yasgrid rose and turned to see who was speaking and beheld a sight that took away her breath for the rest of eternity.
The light of the leaves had been achingly beautiful, but to look upon a person? The majesty of creation burst through Yasgrid. The light which made up the quite mortal and quite ordinary Elven body and spirit before her was painted in so many layers of wonder and grandeur that it couldn’t be anything but solid and real.
“…” Yasgrid wanted words to come out. Had to express what she was seeing before her mind exploded with awe.
“Oh, ooops,” Ilia said. “I didn’t think about where all that power would go.”
What power? Yasgrid’s mind was drowning in the divine sight she’d received too much to focus on the fact that she’d likely been standing a touch too close when Ilia cast off her godhood to become a part of the creation she loved.
“That will fade,” Ilia said. “Probably. I’m not sure but I don’t think mortals are capable of holding that sort of power.”
“What do you mean?” Yasgrid asked, the words not entirely her own. “This is fine, isn’t it?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s not supposed to be glowing like that,” Ilia said. “And I don’t think she has the filters to make sense of what she’s seeing at the moment. Without you, she might have been reduced to dust. Or maybe the power would have passed through without finding any purchase.”
Who was Ilia talking too? Yasgrid wasn’t able to form that question either. Not fully, but she was aware that there was someone else – or perhaps ‘someone elses’ – in the conversation.
“This feels right though,” Yasgrid didn’t say, though the words did emerge from her mouth.
“It’s right that you shielded her from the effect of what I did,” Ilia said. “But you should let her go. Or the power you’re holding onto. It will drive you or her from this world, and I belive she does not want that.”
Ilia was right, but oh, how painfully wrong she was too. To leave behind the glory of seeing the world for the gorgeous creation that it was? To step back from understanding everything around her at its most intimate level? How could that ever be something Yasgrid would desire? And why would she ever wish to Yasgrid at all for that matter?
Fortunately, the decision was not in her hands in that moment.
Side B – Nia
Nia had done a lot of stupid things in her life. She could admit that. What she was not stupid enough to do though was go through with the idea she had without telling the woman she loved and, more importantly, the woman who was going to be playing their impossible song with her.
“You want to try to reach two people with the same song?” Margrada said, blinking in surprise, which Nia couldn’t really blame her for.
“Two of us playing, so that’s two people we can talk to,” Nia said. “I think.”
“You do remember that this little trick isn’t something that’s really possible for anyone else right?” Margrada said.
“We both know that’s not true,” Nia said. “Yasgrid and I might have come up with it, but you’ve been part of it enough times now that you can probably play the song better than I can.”
Margrada scowled.
“I used to think we were in competition,” she said. “I think that was less pressure than this. I’m not that good a drummer you know?”
“You can lie to me all you like,” Nia said, trailing a finger down Margrada’s jaw before clasping her hand around Margrada’s chin, “but do not ever lie to yourself about how skilled you are.”
“I’m not Osdora,” Margrada said. “If I was we wouldn’t need to do this in the first place.”
“Do you think Osdora was Osdora at our age?” Nia asked. “Even better, do you think Osdora can do everything you can?”
“She can do a lot more,” Margrada said.
“But not how you can, or even what you can,” Nia said. “I’m not saying your perfect, or that you don’t have more growth ahead of you. I’m saying you are amazing, and that between the two of us, we’ve definitely got this.”
“You’re really annoying sometimes,” Margrada said, and scooped Nia up into a deep kiss which Nia simply melted into.
“That’s not discouraging me from being annoying you realize?” she said when the kiss sadly ended a minute or so later.
“Whoever said I wanted to discourage you?” Margrada’s smile nearly urged Nia to put off their drumming session for a few hours, but the drums probably wouldn’t wait that long.
Still though, the temptation.
Nia grit her teeth and pushed it all down. She had a city to fix. Fun was for afterward.
“Who else do you think you need to call in though?” Margrada asked. “Yasgrid?”
“No. I think to really fix this we’re going to need an expert on the Darkwood, it’s peoples, it’s history, and it’s magics.” Nia said. “What’s happening here is more than just a bridge between two places. The Darkwood is mingling with these mountains and producing something new.”
“And you know someone who knows all that?” Margrada asked.
“Yeah. Naosha M’Kellin. My mother.”