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LiadansWhisper · **02-18-2016, 11:03 PM**

Truth is harder than a lie
The dark seems safer than the light
And everyone has a heart that loves to hide

The road from Fallgourd Float to the mine north of the small settlement was quiet, and yet Liadan's feet had never felt so heavy. She stared up at the devastated terrain as she made her way with the help of the unusual staff in her hand. Around her, she could Hear the whispers.

The stone is returned! The stone is returned!

She couldn't see them, not yet, but the near-constant whispers disturbing the silence of the evening caused her to look down at the satchel hanging against her hip, the leather-and-fabric bag carrying the three sacred stones she'd originally been charged to recover, the one she'd taken oaths to return. As she made her way up the hill, the restless elementals who had been moving aimlessly around the mine came to a stop, turning in the direction of the small, redheaded Hyur woman making her way down the path. Liadan nodded briefly at the Hearer stationed outside the mine - a fixture at the mine since the theft of the stone - and made her way to the small pedestal where the stone belonged. Reaching into her satchel, she gently placed the otherwise unremarkable stone in its place, taking a step back after a moment and turning, holding her staff up as she spoke in a calm tone.

"As promised, I have returned that which was taken. The promise between us is once more fulfilled. Now rest. Sleep, and trouble these men no more."

As she left the area, she paused to speak quietly with the other Hearer before moving on. The restless elementals were nowhere to be seen.

I'm a mess, and so are you.
We've built walls nobody can get through.
Yeah, it may be hard,
But the best thing we could ever do,
Ever do

The journey to the Stillglade Fane seemed even more surreal to Liadan. Had it been so long since she could openly enter what she had regarded as her home for the past six years? And yet she caught the glances of surprise from a few as she made her way into the chamber at the heart of the Fane, so many moons had passed since she was last seen in the halls. She circled the room, waiting to one side until E-Sumi-Yan was finished with his conversation, offering him a smile as she stepped closer. Liadan pulled the two stones from her satchel, offering them to him as she spoke.

"I have brought the Pact Stones that were taken, and return them now to you, wise one. The third has been returned to its spot at the mine in the North Shroud, but these two present a more...particular difficulty to return."

She nodded as E-Sumi summoned two other conjurers to take the stones, handing them over without objection as the Padjal turned to her and said, "Now, tell me everything that has happened."

Liadan's smile faltered for a moment, but then she withdrew a scroll, holding it out to him, "I fear that this can tell the tale better than I can. I need the Elder Seed Seer to see this, wise one. It is imperative."

Bring your brokenness, and I'll bring mine
'Cause love can heal what hurt divides
And mercy's waiting on the other side
If we're honest
If we're honest

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Spoiler

Quote:Kan-E-Senna
Elder Seedseer
City-State of Gridania

Wise one,

My hand to the Matron, the words I relate here are truth to the best of my knowledge. It gives me no pleasure to relate them, but you have been kept ignorant of this for too long. I am entrusting this letter to E-Sumi-Yan, who knows much of what I speak.

Some fifty-odd years ago lived a family in the North Shroud known as the Fahn family. They were blessed by the Elementals with a child destined to walk the path of the Children of the Forest. However, the child in question - called O-Rehn in records - did not wish for this path, and was particularly close to his mother, who did not wish to be parted from him. Indeed, his family was unusually close-knit and loyal to one another. But the "gift" of becoming Padjal is not something that can be denied, as all know. When the Fane discovered that there was a Child of the Forest not being trained, and further, that his family had no intention of sending him to the Fane at all, they intervened and removed the child from his mother and placed him with another, more acceptable family. The Senna family.

While I cannot know for certain how he was treated, O-Rehn himself described the time as a "reeducation." In his own words, "it was not a kind upbringing." It would seem that this left young O-Rehn with a profound level of resentment and despair. I will relate his own words about being blessed as a Padjal:

"I would ask you, in all seriousness, if to become a Padjal is any kind of gift at all: for a child to be taken from their families and made something different: unaging, a conduit for spirits as much feared for their wrath as respected for their blessings, and set apart from the forestborn by their devotion and reverence, needed in society but separate from it. Were it not for tradition and the undeniable power of the elementals, would we accept this? The taking of children and making them into something other? Such a thing, I think, would be considered a crime against nature, and I cannot condone it."

By the time O-Rehn was of an age to begin to walk the forest himself, he had rejected much of what we are taught as children about our place in the forest, and the Elementals as a whole. In particular, he seemed to hold a deep ambivalence bodering on horror towards the way Forestborn treat those not of the Shroud - specifically Miqo'te and those Elezen born Duskwight. And so, this Child of the Forest who never wished to be what he was turned against the Forest and plotted to weaken the hold of the Elementals over the Shroud. Whether due to ignorance or a misunderstanding, he believed that if he weakened or lowered the Hedge, he would accomplish his task. I do not know how close he came to succeeding before he was apprehended, but apparently it was in such a manner that would have caused great embarassment to the Senna family.

For this reason, the Seedseer Council at the time sent him to Toto-Rak, which, as you may recall, was a testament to the brutality and cruelty of mankind. Indeed, I am uncertain of the reasons he was sent there, as I cannot think of a worse place to send an already unstable, resentment-filled child. Whatever the reasoning behind this action, I do feel that the Seedseer Council should have had some inkling of what the result would be - for it in no way changed O-Rehn's mind about the innate evil of the Elementals and those who serve them. If anything, I believe it worsened them.

Forty-odd years ago, an entire wing of the Toto-Rak prison disappeared into the Void. While void taint was discovered, no one truly understood what had happened, or how, but because O-Rehn disappeared with the others, the entire incident was covered up as much as possible to protect the good name of the Senna family. They even went so far as to bury the records of those who had been incarcerated in the wing, and told their families (what family they had, anyway) that they were dead. But they were not.

Some forty-odd years ago, a despairing, lost Padjal discovered something dark and evil in the bowels of Toto-Rak, and instead of attempting to destroy it - for how could he, given that he himself was imprisoned - he bargained with it. In exchange for the lives and souls of twelve other prisoners, he purchased shelter for himself - out of time and undying - until the Shroud was more prepared to change. To become better than it was. At that time, he and the twelve would be released, and O-Rehn would be free to enact his plans. If he succeeded, he and the twelve would be freed. If he failed, or the corruption that enslaved the twelve passed to him, then the voidsent would have a claim on O-Rehn's soul, and upon his death, his body. With access, yes, to his knowledge and gifts with a magic long thought lost.

It is a testament to just how lost O-Rehn was that a Padjal would have agreed to such a thing, but I suspect that he did not fully understand what he was agreeing to. Indeed, he admits that he does not believe the creature he struck a bargain with - Neruhm - ever intended to free him. How it happened, we know not, only that he was freed to find Toto-Rak in ruins, as our people had finally decided that such places were barbaric and should never have existed in the first place. The twelve were also freed, and most were mad from their forty years spent tortured in the void.

O-Rehn's return was not actually something that Gridania or the Fane was aware of, but the return of the twelve prisoners he had taken with him was noticed, not in the least because one of them - a mad Hearer by the name of Syros North - began setting large swaths of the forest on fire out of spite. You may recall that Syros North was a Hearer who was incarcerated in Toto-Rak for attempting to burn a sacred grove to the ground. Needless to say, soon things got entirely out of hand. I became involved when a Pactstone was stolen from the mine north of Fallgourd Float, and the Elementals rampaged in response. This is where I first encountered O-Rehn Fahn, having no idea of his past or who he was beyond a Child of the Forest who did not frequent Gridania.

What I discovered while investigating the theft of the Pactstone chilled my very bones. While trying to determine who the thirteenth prisoner was - for my comrades were certain that prisoner's identity was the key to understanding what was happening - I was personally threatened by a member of your Entwined Serpents. When we dug deeper, we discovered that they were aware of O-Rehn's return (though we did not realize that it was he, specifically, they sought) and were again attempting to cover his existence up. They did not seem to care what the cost might be to the forest, and the people we serve, but instead cared only that the Senna family not be embarassed. This is what led me to realize that the only person the thirteenth prisoner could be was a Padjal, despite the heresy inherent in such a statement.

The prospect of a Padjal who had sold his soul to the void for power was a chilling one, indeed, and I and my comrades embarked on a desperate attempt to find the prisoners who had returned, and, using the Pactstones, conduct a cleansing to free them of their spiritual chains to the voidsent prince, as we called him. O-Rehn assisted in this at every turn. Despite our best efforts, one of the twelve - Syros North - was killed in the Sylphlands as we attempted to recover the Pactstone he had stolen. It was at this point that O-Rehn was no longer able to hide his condition. He gave the Pactstone I had entrusted to him (for, again, I believed him to be another Padjal to be trusted) to two of the other prisoners - Lynch and Carter - and left a note to me. I am including it with this letter.

I fully admit that I concealed the contents of the note from the others, and from the Fane, because I did not know what to do with the knowledge. I could not disagree with much of what O-Rehn said, not after my eyes had been truly opened to my own treatment of and beliefs about those not born in the Shroud, or those born to "lesser" clans. And given my own history, of which I am sure you are aware, it was hard not to sympathize with him. My own parents succeeded in concealing me from the Fane because I was merely born a Hearer. But no one can conceal being a Padjal. And I understood, as few would, that our parents did what they did out of love, not out of evil motives.

We were able to conduct a cleansing ritual for six of the twelve near Blessed Bud, and freed them all from the debilitating influence of the void, as well as the spiritual chains tying them to Neruhm. In the aftermath, we ensured that they were able to safely leave the Shroud if they so wished. Afterward, I attempted to motivate my compatriots to focus on Neruhm, for he, in my opinion, was the greater threat. As long as he had a hold on the prisoners, and on O-Rehn, the Forest was not safe. But my comrades began to suspect O-Rehn for being involved, thanks to the apparent influence of Neruhm on one of our number, and vowed to hunt him down to "eliminate the threat." I went so far as to share the letter he gave me in an attempt to convince them that focusing on O-Rehn was wrong for a multitude of reasons - not in the least that the Forest did not need a Greenwrath.

But they are adventurers. I have since concluded that perhaps it is not outsiders that are the problem, but rather, adventurers who rush headlong into everything and refuse to even take a moment to consider that they might be making a situation far worse. But, I digress.

By the time we had settled on a course of action, O-Rehn had already been apprehended by the Entwined Serpents when he took his sister (for his family still resides in the North Shroud) to Gridania proper for medical treatment. In response, I led a group consisting of myself and five others to rescue him and bring him to a safe place until after Neruhm was defeated, so we could then return him to Gridania for judgment. We discovered that the leader of a particular part of the Entwined Serpents, an Elezen named Zelia, had made an agreement with one of the twelve prisoners - a retired Wailer named Hearns - to help her kill O-Rehn and cover up the Senna family's embarassment. Wailer Hearns had been much changed from his time in Toto-Rak and the void. It seems that his eyes were burned from his skull at some point, likely by the Warden himself (as records attest this was one of his favored means of torture), and while Hearns was in the Void he had developed an ability to "mute" the elementals in an area, making it impossible to call upon their aid, and impossible for a Greenwrath to occur if a Padjal or Hearer were to be slain.

Zelia apparently discovered this fact because I made it a point to warn the Fane of the danger to both Padjal and Hearers when I discovered Hearns' ability.

Had they succeeded, Neruhm would have been able to use O-Rehn's body as an anchor to this world and likely would have come close to destroying the Shroud. I will spare you the details of how they were executing him, and instead merely relate that it was akin to slaughtering a lamb. We managed to convince Hearns and his men of the folly of their actions, as well as some of the Entwined Serpents, that what they were doing was putting the entire forest at risk. I will attest that none of the men with Zelia were aware of that, nor were Hearns and his men. None of them wished harm upon the Shroud, nor upon its people. Hearns' men were simply desperate, for they had no way to make a living with their injuries and they felt Gridania had abandoned them, while the Entwined Serpents trusted their leader, Zelia, and didn't realize the full impact of their actions.

Zelia, on the other hand, verbally stated she did not care. The only thing she cared about was the status of the Senna family and sparing them the "embarassment" of O-Rehn's existence.

I was able to heal O-Rehn's injuries, as well as bind back much of the void taint that he had been inflicted with, to allow him to think more clearly. We later learned that another of the Twelve - one Pelderain, who apparently was responsible for the "Horse Oil" craze not long ago - had probably been murdered, though to this day we have no idea who killed him or how he died. His body has not been found, but his corruption was also on O-Rehn by the time my group found him.

While I and two others transported O-Rehn out of the Shroud (and thus, hopefully, away from Neruhm's influence), another group of adventurers bravely entered Toto-Rak to confront Neruhm in his home. They brought him low at great cost to themselves, and defeated him in the bowels of Toto-Rak.

Once Neruhm had been defeated, there remained only the need to cleanse those prisoners who were still tainted, and to allow O-Rehn to make his plea. For, as I am sure you have ascertained, O-Rehn's ultimate goal by this point was to ensure that no more Padjal were born like him - aberrant, unsuited to the life they were chosen for. He wanted no more than a simple choice be given to the children the Elementals choose for the role. For how is it a "gift" if it cannot be refused? How is it a "gift" if it inflicts a burden some are unsuited to bear? This request was made directly to me, as O-Rehn had promised to bow to my judgment. I could not deny him the simple request.

We chose a spot in the North Shroud to conduct the ritual, and succeeded in cleansing the remaining four prisoners, and then began the ritual to cleanse O-Rehn. The Forest opposed us, the elementals incensed that anyone would question their "gift." I know not what O-Rehn said to them, nor how he managed to convince them of his cause, but in the end, the selfsame elementals who were angry accepted his request, and his body dissolved into aether, his soul having been given to the elementals in exchange. The Pactstones that were left behind now bear new markings, signifying this change to the terms of the Pact of Gelmorra. So let it be known, wise one, that through this sacrifice, O-Rehn Fahn has ensured that never again will a child be chosen who does not wish to be a servant of the Forest. Never again will an aberrant Padjal be born to our people. Let that be his penance for the harm he has done to those around him, and to the Forest.

With Neruhm defeated, O-Rehn gone, and the twelve prisoners cleansed, this threat has now passed from the Shroud. But there is more to tell, more that you must know to prevent this from happening again.

It seems that "Neruhm" was not actually a void prince, at least not in the way that we have been taught to think of them. Rather, he came into being as a result of the atrocities our people perpetuated in Toto-Rak over the centuries. His name was actually an acronym for "Northeastern Reeducation Underhold of Menphina." What's more, several members of that group had previously visited the "Broken Spear," which I know no one is supposed to know about but you and I both know exists. They detected Neruhm's influence there, even though Broken Spear is a far newer location. After comparing notes and examining the evidence, we have concluded that Neruhm cannot ever truly die. He was defeated within Toto-Rak by the group of adventurers working under my authority, but as long as we as a people allow places like Toto-Rak - and, yes, the Broken Spear - to exist, he will never die. He will continue to feed on the pain, fear, and despair of those tortured and tormented in such places, and yes, he will grow stronger and return. He is the blight that we - as Gridanians - have inflicted upon the Shroud. He is our shame, and only we can end him. I implore you to shutter such places as Broken Spear, for the sake of the Shroud and our future. We are better than this. We must be better than this.

I hope I have not overstepped my bounds, but I truly believe that this information must reach you for the good of us all. I pray you will listen to this sad tale, and find the wisdom hidden within it. We must not repeat the sins of the past if we are to have a bright future.

Respectfully,

Liadan Summerfield
Hearer

((Here is a link to the letter enclosed with Liadan's letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tmuq...I1EkU/edit))

Don't pretend to be something that you're not
Living life afraid of getting caught
There is freedom found When we lay our secrets down
At the cross,
At the cross

"I have one more thing I need to discuss with you."

Liadan smiled down at E-Sumi-Yan as he finished reading the letter she intended for the Elder Seedseer, giving her a questioning look.

"I need to leave."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "This...journey...has taught me a great deal. I have come to realize that my prejudices and petty hatreds were wrong, and I have come to question the innate goodness of our people, of this city. I still believe that we are a good people, and that we mean well, but I no longer believe we are always right. That the elementals are always right."

Liadan fidgeted for a moment, glancing around the circular room, then back to the head of the Fane, "There is a whole world out there crying out for hope. For comfort. For help. And we have kept the hope of mankind hidden for so long that I wonder if we even remember what it was meant for in the first place." She raised a hand, covering her lips for a moment before continuing in a slightly choked tone, "O-Rehn taught me much, wise one. I don't want to die knowing that I could have made a difference...but I was too afraid to step out my home to help a world that needs me. That needs what we have hidden."

"A-Towa-Cant made a pilgrimage across Eorzea, in a time as dark as this one, and the world was changed for it. Maybe this is what I was always meant to do."

So bring your brokenness, and I'll bring mine
'Cause love can heal what hurt divides
And mercy's waiting on the other side
If we're honest
If we're honest

Courageous whistled cheerfully as he padded down the dusty road through the South Shroud, his white feathers rustling in the breeze. Liadan chuckled softly, leaning down to pat the side of his neck as he carried her further south towards Thanalan. It had been a difficult parting, full of tears and some regrets, but she had been resolute in her belief that this was the best course of action. And, eventually, E-Sumi had agreed with her, despite his reservations. Indeed, no one seemed quite sure what to do with a Hearer whose faith in the Elementals had been so deeply shaken. Better that she not stir up further trouble at home.

Liadan tapped her chocobo on the side of his neck, "C'mon, Courageous, this'll be a great adventure! You'll see!" The chocobo, still entirely unconvinced of that fact, whistled a hopeful kweh in response and picked up speed, trotting into the treeline as she held on rather haphazardly.

It would change our lives
It would set us free
It's what we need to be

"Thank you, O-Rehn, for all you taught me. I will never forget you."

She never noticed the tiny pinprick of light hovering over her shoulder as she rode.

--------------------------

((Thank you, Verad, for telling an amazing story. And thank you for letting me be a part of it. Smile

It's completely changed the course of my character, which is the highest compliment for any storyteller! Heart

You told an amazing story I will never forget!

For anyone wanting to know the source of the lyrics, find the original artist behind the spoiler tags below!))

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Crimes Against Nature [Closed]

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes