Ranni finally parsed through the manastorm that was her mother's magic to find the queen moving with great speed towards the palace. She was already in the upper city, it would be scant minutes until she arrived at where Ranni could reluctantly guess her destination to be, the sanctum of the erd tree.
Owain began clearing the throne pavilion mere moments after Ranni translocated them afore a startled Morgott. "Sentinels! Guide and Guard protocol! Reginald, escort the king to his quarters!" At the boom of Owain's voice over the howling winds, the speechless crowd of aristocrats and knights burst into frantic motion.
Morgott rose from the elden throne, frowning as Reginald took his arm, "Wain-"
Owain ushered the king towards the pavilion stairs with a guiding hand, eyes upon the wrathful storm above."I shall explain all when all is done, my lord." his eyes found his Vice-Commander's, "Bid the gate wardens to allow the carian queen to pass unhindered!"
"Yes, Highlord! Prithee, my king, we must make haste." The pair exited, but not without a rearward look of worry from Morgott.
It was only a few minutes until Relios bound up the long stairs of the throne pavilion with a proud bark. The hound's collar, a powerful warding heirloom fashioned by father, must have guarded it against mother's unrest. Even Ranni was feeling as if she might faint from the oppressive weight of it. "Mother! Calm thyself!" she called.
Mother floated from atop Relios, not stopping to greet Ranni and leaving both she and Owain to catch up, "Calm am I, little moon. Clear is my mind."
They entered the long halfway that led to the thorned door, Ranni's beseeching requests for prudence went unheeded. She stumbled. Wirra, this pressure was monstrous. She wondered how Owai- A loud thunk resounded from her right as her husband impacted the stone walls of the erd tree's antechamber face first, sliding down rather comically. Ranni groaned, exasperated.
The pressure only grew as mother floated forward slowly, Ranni swayed on unsteady feet. "M-mama, pray, thy magic is…too…heavy. Do not-"
Ranni tumbled forward into her mother's waiting arms, only half lucid. She should have been panicking but the weight it-she blinked heavily, watching mother's placid face. "Hush, little culver. Be not afeard, Mama has thee." Gentle winds buoyed her alongside her mother. Ranni reached out a hand laggardly, which the queen took with a smile. No, mama readied magic. She was… "Mama…too dangerous." Ranni doubted her breathy plea was even heard, the storm beyond the narrow hall still raged too fierce.
Mother laid a steady hand against the barrier of shimmering incantation and sharp thorns, it flared a bright gold. This was not the careful inspection spell she'd used before, this magic was much too piercing, it was too brash! "Ah, I see thee, watcher. Bare thy secrets to me, cravenous thing. Hide not from I, come out say I.~" her voice was slipping, a lilting snarl of musical anger. The door blared brighter gold, the thorns curled upon themselves, the shine was blinding. Ranni's terror was distant, too squashed by blanketing power, she blinked stupidly at what she knew to be her end. There would be too great of backlash from this hasty attempt should mother press to far, they would all be caught in her mania.
"To watch yet ne're greet. Such rudeness! Come out, say-" Mother snatched her hand back with a gasp. Then she began to laugh, but it was not mirthful. "I'll lay thee low yet, cowardly dullard."
The enspelled door shuddered dim, the blizzard beyond their backs began to still, and Ranni could think again! Mother magic was receding! She heaved in a rushed breath, "Mother wait! Prithee, do not do…mother?" Mother was already floating away.
"Wake thy husband, dear daughter. Bring to me the shard bearers all, cometh hence to Caria." she commanded, silver mist wrapping about her form.
Ranni sat slumped to the wall, bringing her husband's head to her lap with a disbelieving laugh as the blizzard quieted in full. Just what was mother planning that required five shards of the elden ring?
Owain awoke with a headache. Ranni's urgent patting of his cheeks did him no favors. He captured her hands, bringing them to his lips without opening his eyes. Had he fallen asleep on a bench again? "I am awake already, my tempest. Enough bludgeoning."
She huffed, "Thou'rt a slumberin' brute is what thou art! I've half a mind to put Relios' collar round thy neck with how oft thou falleth flat from Mother's magic. Lessons in resistance wilt thou soon be taking, mine bumbler." Her hands roved gently across his head, was she inspecting him for injury? What had- Ah! Mother Renalla! His eyes snapped open, curse his slowness!
He scrambled to his knees, taking Ranni in his arms, "Mother, is she well?" Her sigh brought poor portents.
His wife's hands were cool against his brow, "She demands we bring the shard bearers to Caria. I know not what she intends. Some measure of control lies still within her grasp, it seemeth, as all she attempted to do to the wards was an intense spell of appraisal. I know not what upset her so but…I wouldst guess it has something to do with father." Ranni confessed, voice tense.
Owain hummed, such news hardly weighed upon him if he were being honest, he still felt like he were flying at the loss of the runes. "Then we've work to do. Fret not, pretty wife, I am sure Mother has a proper plan."
Ranni smiled weakly, laying her brow to his for but a moment before patting his chest, "Allow me up then, muscled beast, thy arms art too perfect a cage."
Owain pouted, "A cage you say? I'd never wish to be your jailor." he released her with a teasing smile as she breathed a small laugh.
"Thy arms art home, my dear." she kissed him swiftly, "Enough flirting, we must speak to Morgott. Ah, and remind me later, but I've news to share."
"As you command, Your Highness." Ranni's fist buried into his side made him chuckle.
Rykard dreamed of crawling. Or rather, it seemed he was crawling. Too low to the ground were his eyes. Too great did his world seem in size. The first prince ate rats, lizards, even birds. The noble lord of Gelmir slithered like some sort of foul snake. Then he would see his reptilian reflection in some glinting surface of his dream and see true, his nature. Then he'd wake, the cycle begun again.
So disorientating was it to awake to normal limbed body that oft in the early hours of the morning, with only Tanith aside him, it felt almost as if this were not his own flesh. He would sit and he would stare at his hands and his terror would grow. His skin seemed too smooth, too warm, his scent too dull, his magic, oh, his magic was in ruins!
His new bride would only repeat the same nervous line. She said he'd had an accident, some memory spell mishap that had damaged his very soul, one that even the visiting perfumers of the capital could not fully fix. It was horrifying, just what had he been trying to accomplish? He found no clarity in the flitting eyes of his lover, nor in her anxious murmurs and clinging hands. He'd never seen the normally collected woman in such…unease.
Radahn was no better. Not that Rykard had expected much verbosity from his stoic younger brother. The man would only respond in grunts or uncomfortable silence, though he made sure to drop in on Rykard multiple times a day. Radahn seemed changed in some great way, not just his blued eyes…he seemed much older in manner than he had only just the moon prior! Rykard felt as if he missed a sweeping swath of his brother's growing up for some reason.
Ranni was unnerving as well. She was much too affectionate, and had hardly scolded him since he first woke. She too, would offer him no details on the happenings of the golden order nor of Caria. She only bid him focus on recovering. Rykard had tried to ply her planned consort, Owain, for knowledge to no avail. The stern faced man appeared furious and responded curtly. Ranni had informed Rykard that Owain was not upset, and that was, in fact, just his nervous face. Her comforting would have been more consoling if his family's silence were not so disconcerting.
Mother was most worrisome of all. She would not see him, even when he asked for her. She was ever away, and when she was within the manor, her handmaidens obfuscated Rykard's attempts to go to her. That his exceedingly affectionate, and oft overbearing mother would not even look at him had his insides roiling with dread. What had he done?
Hundreds of Tree Sentinels patrolled the manor, and the only Carian knight that had come to greet him had been Tanya. Loretta had not even come to tease him about missing his archery lessons. Something was not right, something was being hidden from him and he would find out what. He snuck from his quarters, intent on secreting himself to the library.
Hywel was quite sick of hosting an elden shard. The thing would not cease yammering, and he'd already broken a few of his prized carving tools with inadvertent bursts of strength. He'd needed to borrow Siluria's and she was exceedingly annoying about it.
The weight of fractured divinity was one he did not envy his son for carrying. Still, he could not believe Wain held three of the wretched things for so long. It gave him such pride, he was sure he seemed the most boastful of fools in the eyes of their guests. His gaze lingered on his chatting daughters, it was good to see his home so full once more.
Hywel and his cantankerous wife had been…bickering over inconsequential nonsense since the day of the Carian queen's storm. Wain and Ranni had returned, windswept but hale, and beseeched all three shard bearers to attend Rennala in Caria in a week's time. It had seemed so short a wait, so light a weight to bear the things. Such bravado. Hywel had been so wrong. Fury he'd never held as his own bubbled just beneath his skin. His hands, long turned from war, itched to once more pick up his spear and seek violence.
When he had first returned to the lands between, he'd packed away his armor, put up his weapons, and settled into farming with his beloved pirate. An easy choice, war had ever been his lesser favored devotion. He'd fought for his Lord Godfrey, but his lord was dead; so now he lived for his family. Hywel was not an aggressive man by nature, nor did he possess his son's unwavering devotion to maintaining peace. Unceasing horror at the front of an army had dulled such zealous justice in him. The shard's influence had been bringing forth a man he did not wish to recognize. One who would do anything to force a perfect order, one who kill any who would threaten it.
Lila faced her rising past poorly as well. She was turnt to better ways now, aye, but for many a year she had been the most bloodthirsty of corsairs. Wain had inherited his mother's rage and his father's steady will; in their son such dangerous tools were put to peaceful purpose. Lila had not the mellow temperament of the blood of house Turonus. Lila's temper had always been swift, her wrath absolute. When he had first begun to woo her, she'd led a fleet of merciless brigands who had already slain thousands and likely would have slit his throat as well had he not caught her fancy.
Since they had taken up the shards, Hywel saw his deleterious wife of eld and it was disquieting. Her savage heart and lust for bloodshed, the powerful hate that had filled the sails of an armada. A villain shared his sheets, and Hywel worried at what course she might take, should they hold the runes for too long. She had been whispering to herself, muttering to the manic reflection in her freshly sharpened cutlass.
She snapped at him oft now, with biting words and vicious tongue. He'd thought himself forgiven for his banishment, but it seemed she'd only placated him with unmeant words. Hywel had committed untold atrocities in the service of his lord, in pursuit of the order the Queen Marika sought. Nothing shamed him more than when his wife threw her abandonment in his face. No, these runes were already taking a toll, one he was unsure they could pay for over-long. He sighed, what a toilsome week.
As they passed through the portal stone into the largest of Caria Manor's courtyards, Hywel brooded. He would say the final straw of this ordeal had been the disastrous dinner his family held the night prior. Hywel was not a talkative man, ever content to let others speak whilst he listened. His sister had spoken to Kristoff of swordplay, his wife had inquired to Alecto of the happenings within the palace, his daughters teased each other for their mishaps during that day's training. Hywel had foolishly chanced a smile, content at this rare moment of familial peace he'd found.
His daughters should perhaps have known better than to broach the topic of the black knives whilst their mother was within hearing, but he would try not begrudge them the mistake. Lila had careened into their dining room from the kitchen and immediately launched into a tirade, lamenting the first death of her firstborn. She blamed Lord Malekith, she belittled Lady Fortissax she cursed Queen Marika, she denounced the golden order in its entirety. Hywel did not disagree with her, of course, but he'd only wished to preserve some shred of decorum with Alecto and Kristoff present. He most likely should not have bothered.
Things had swiftly spiraled out of hand, shouting, cursing, the throwing of plates. Kristoff was of the order of the ancient dragons, he of course rose to his lady's defense. Alecto had been close friend and handmaiden to the queen, she would hear no ill of her. The cutting words of close family were offered too carelessly. The evening was ended by Hywel's own bellowing, a thing he despised doing, when Lila had heeded some yattering of her shard and nigh stabbed him in the side with a fork in her anger. Cooler heads had certainly not prevailed. He refocused, taking in the beauty of a restored Carian Manor. Wain had done a wonderful job. He smiled.
Queen Rennala's plan was more simple than Hywel had expected, but he was sure it made it no less dangerous. The shard bearers all stood circled within the antechamber of Ranni's tower. Funnily enough, this meeting of the minds was also a family reunion. He and Lila had not met with Rennala since long before the shattering, when still she had mind enough left to host. Hywel was filled with an weary sort of expectation. Lila and Rennala got on like a house aflame. With the shard shorting her already coarse manners, and Rennala's own temperance now a thing of brittle ice, according to Wain; Hywel only hoped the two firebrands would not excite too high of fervor in each other.
Lila fiddled with one of Ranni's tools for astrology and Hywel bumped her shoulder lightly with his own. She scowled but put the thing down. Lila met Rennala's eyes with a squint, "Ye ken I am no student o' sorcery, Rennala. Speaketh ye this plan o' yers te me again, but make it so even ears unlearned in glintstone might heed." Hywel took Lila's hand gently, he misliked the intensity in which she was speaking.
The queen, much calmed since her outburst the week prior, smiled, "I shall taketh the shards unto myself for but a small time. With their magic to mask mine I will fool the tree into allowin' a short projection of mine own spell within its sanctum. I shall speak to Marika and my husband. I shall have the answers we needst to devise a path forward."
"An' the tree'll just ye through, no watchin'?" Lila questioned, intensity forgotten as she adjusted the ties of her Hywel's shirt.
Rennala shook her head, "Nay, I must fool the wards, my daughter must distract our foe."
Hywel watched Ranni square her shoulders. He smiled softly at her courage. He'd always enjoyed the princess' fierce nature. He hummed low, rubbing at his chin. "By slaying her pair of fingers."
"Aye." Rennala confirmed. She watched Morgott contemplatively. "T'is my hope the screams of its dying child shall deafen its ears to mine presence."
Rennala's brutal wish had the circle momentarily silent. They were, all of them, resolved to this blasphemy. The fingers and the force behind them had stolen Owain and Ranni both. He would see that which he once revered, dead.
King Morgott cleared his throat, "This Mother of Fingers Wain spake of, that is the foe that hast bound my mother?" Godfrey's blood was so apparent in the king, it made Hywel nostalgic.
Hywel met Siluria's eyes. They'd discussed the king's abandonment of his crucible blessings at length. Lord Godfrey would be disappointed at the scorning of such strength, but Hywel, at least, thought the first elden lord would also be happy his son was at last comfortable in his own skin. Siluria would have preferred the king remain so blessed, but she would not raise protest. She and Ordovis had already bickered enough.
Owain laid a hand atop his king's shoulder, "Aye, my lord. At least, that is what we believe. When last your queen mother appeared before me, she tasked me with the deaths of the finger mother and its spawn. She bid me prepare to slay a god as well, though I am unsure as to which." Hywel unclenched his jaw. He could guess at the god the eternal one spoke of, but his lord had bid him silent, so silent he would remain.
King Morgott cleared his throat, "I…I wouldst very much like answers from mother as well. Thou sayest this shall be but first step to devising a way to free her?"
Rennala nodded. Hywel noted the way in which she clenched her hands into fists with small apprehension, "Aye, king. When my projection slinks within the tree, clarity of method shall I seeketh and latching anchor shall I place."
"Then I am for it, Queen Rennala." King Morgott met Rennala's eyes without wavering. The man had taken much of the revelations of the past day in stride, though Hywel was sure there was tension yet to come.
Siluria stepped forward, "As is house Turonus, queen." Hywel smiled to the monarch as well, Lila at his side.
Rennala's eyes scanned the room before she smiled once more, this one tinted vicious, "Excellent. T'is time then to prepare. One week, and I shall have fine tuned mine spellcraft."
The following days passed slowly, yet Ranni was still reluctant to inform her consort of what was…needed of him. She'd been stalling, but Sellen and Fortissax would not be collecting the soul strands of the golden prince forevermore. It was time she sat him down. The evening afore she was set to face her fingers saw them sitting across from each other atop her bed. Ranni sighed, this was to be an uncomfortable ordeal.
Wain took the news of his involvement nigh as well as Ranni had expected. She'd hoped his lingering euphoria from losing the shards would buoy him through this conversation, but the way he was regarding her thoroughly dashed such hope. Her consort's face was the picture of discomfort as he listened to her explanation of their plan to save Godwyn.
"This plan is…complicated, and many things must align for all to go well. I am…what I am expected to provide for Lady Fortissax…." he cringed, which made Ranni cringe as well.
She stilled his fidgeting hands, "Aye, Wain I… I know, but t'is needed. I beg thee, husband, aid me in this attempt to reverse mine error. Make love to me this night and I shall handle…the task."
He scrubbed at his face with a hand, "If this is the only hope, then what right have I to balk?" His gaze, ever-burning, settled to hers. "Then let us…"
She shifted closer to him. Oh, this was unbearably awkward! "A-Aye, let us."
Ranni had never experienced anything less than superb intimacy with Owain. He was a tender man of tireless stamina, a relentless force of devotion and passion. She had always matched his fervor with enthusiasm, and every touch betwixt them had always felt as the most entrancing of spells. They were intensely in love, with vigorous love-making to match.
The stuttering, reluctant, sex that followed their uncomfortable conversation was decidedly unsatisfactory. The ill-eased coupling was the closest she had ever felt to relating to her few noble friends that complained about their lovers' performances. As Ranni lay atop their sheets, seed atop her stomach, she bemoaned the absurdity of their fate. Her hands covered her eyes, she just needed to view this as another part of her atonement. Egads, she felt abhorrent!
The next morning found them recovered, stood naked at the entrance to the cave in which Ranni had banished her fingers. She had discovered it beneath the cathedral of Manus Celus some centuries ago. The moon was strong here and she thought it fitting to banish her hated fingers to the suffocating depths beneath a church not their own. Her eyes took in the destruction of the once grand building, she'd build it anew just as they'd restored all of Caria. Ranni clenched her fists.
Their morning meal had been an easing of the tension held from the night prior. It was a steadying period of grounding that Ranni had needed after such a…she shook her head, dispelling her thoughts. She would face her jailers alone and bared, ritualistic in her wrath. Owain would be her witness, he would see her shine!
Mother was afore the erd tree, runes in heart, they would need to time this perfectly. Ranni had taught her the magic to transfer runes, but she knew they would be needed when mother's spell was done. She must be naught but steady steel! The blade to kill her fate shone with dark malfeasance in her hand.
"Are you ready, Starlight?" Owain's bulk was reassuring, she leaned into his side.
"Aye, Sunbeam, I shall carve free my destiny at last." At the sensation of mother's magic pulsing, she took Owain's hand. Together, they leapt into the depths. Ranni would free of it! After such hardship, would she have her victory!