[ The months following her return from Ultima Thule and the Scions immediately "disbanding" themselves in the aftermath had blurred together in a chaos of travel, hard work, and way too many deeply emotional conversations. Highly uncomfortable, if she was perfectly honest about it. But people had needed help and her friends had needed assistance and if throwing herself face-first into task after task to help them out had pushed off some long-overdue soulsearching on her part, well...
Who was she kidding? She was pushing that off as long as she possibly could. But even then, things quieted down some. She grew restless, the lull between matters that demanded her immediate attention growing wider and wider. Which was how she found herself sitting on the docks of Kugane late one evening, watching the sun set beyond the far horizon, nothing on her looming agenda and a melancholy air surrounding her.
Soulsearching indeed.
It started as a niggling thought in the back of her mind. A curiosity that formed into a question and then a string of them. A wondering, as an idea took shape. Probably not a very good idea, in truth, and if any of her erstwhile companions had even been on this side of the star while she was considering such reckless ideas, she's sure their inner trouble alarms would be blaring in their ears in warning. She'd expect Alisaie to immediately ignore it and jump in with her with both feet, of course, but that's beside the point.
Said point being, she was here and on her own with nothing demanding her attention for the foreseeable future. And with nothing looming ahead of her to hold her attention, it instead turned... back.
Which is how, after a scrambled week of intense research and study and a few hair-brained tests with questionable results under her belt, Yona finds herself flinging her consciousness out of her own (safely tucked away) body and following the shimmer of stars and souls and memories into the beyond.
Into the Aetherial Sea.
A soul crystal is clenched tightly in one hand, gleaming and sending out a pulse of warm magic with each beat of her distant heart. A beacon, even if she hadn't intended it as such. But considering she's here to search, maybe that can only aid in her efforts. At least, that's what she hopes. Because otherwise? This is a very large and unknown place and she's not even really sure where to start looking, now that she's actually made it here. ]
[Though he had only recently been guided back to the Source, the aetherial sea had ever been his domain— the 'Underworld,' it had once been called, though the name had long fallen out of favor, forgotten as so many other things had been over countless millennia as divided souls lived their lives without knowing what came before.
As such, it was quite plain to him when someone or something entered the aetherial sea that ought not to be there.
It had happened some months back, as well— as far as he could tell, though the passage of time on the Source was difficult to measure from this place, where it held no meaning— but that time, it had been several souls, aided by Sharlayan tools.
Now, it was only one, and he knew that color well, even dimmed as it was.
Of course it would be her.
There's no telling how long she looks before his voice reaches her, but it pierces through the rolling waves of aether, even as his countenance is nowhere to be seen.]
[ The voice that reaches out to her isn't exactly a surprise, but it does nothing to slow or waylay her passage. Her expression is one of determination as she propels herself forward through dark waves of a makeup she has no name for. There are many things in this place she cannot describe although it holds wonders she'd love to stop and explore. Understand. Were she not so set on her course, she might have paused to do so.
But Yona is, if nothing else, a very stubborn person. And considering that familiar voice has told her nothing she doesn't already know, she just continues to press on, as if she hadn't heard it in the first place.
...Not that she expects him to take that for the hint it is.
Or maybe she just wants to return the favor of pretending to be entirely unaware of his incorporeal presence this time. Somewhere, she's sure, that will make Hythlodaeus smile. ]
[Though he has no physical body to reach out with, there is something that ripples through the aether that strongly resembles a great sigh as he opts to act through sheer will instead. Though she’ll see no hand to do it, something will catch her by the shoulder, a grab that is more warning than restraint.]
This sea will tear you apart. Even a stubborn spirit such as yours cannot defy its nature.
[Though he has no doubt she will try. She has ever been defiant and reckless, with no care for her own well-being.
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Sailing the Aetherial Sea
Who was she kidding? She was pushing that off as long as she possibly could. But even then, things quieted down some. She grew restless, the lull between matters that demanded her immediate attention growing wider and wider. Which was how she found herself sitting on the docks of Kugane late one evening, watching the sun set beyond the far horizon, nothing on her looming agenda and a melancholy air surrounding her.
Soulsearching indeed.
It started as a niggling thought in the back of her mind. A curiosity that formed into a question and then a string of them. A wondering, as an idea took shape. Probably not a very good idea, in truth, and if any of her erstwhile companions had even been on this side of the star while she was considering such reckless ideas, she's sure their inner trouble alarms would be blaring in their ears in warning. She'd expect Alisaie to immediately ignore it and jump in with her with both feet, of course, but that's beside the point.
Said point being, she was here and on her own with nothing demanding her attention for the foreseeable future. And with nothing looming ahead of her to hold her attention, it instead turned... back.
Which is how, after a scrambled week of intense research and study and a few hair-brained tests with questionable results under her belt, Yona finds herself flinging her consciousness out of her own (safely tucked away) body and following the shimmer of stars and souls and memories into the beyond.
Into the Aetherial Sea.
A soul crystal is clenched tightly in one hand, gleaming and sending out a pulse of warm magic with each beat of her distant heart. A beacon, even if she hadn't intended it as such. But considering she's here to search, maybe that can only aid in her efforts. At least, that's what she hopes. Because otherwise? This is a very large and unknown place and she's not even really sure where to start looking, now that she's actually made it here. ]
no subject
As such, it was quite plain to him when someone or something entered the aetherial sea that ought not to be there.
It had happened some months back, as well— as far as he could tell, though the passage of time on the Source was difficult to measure from this place, where it held no meaning— but that time, it had been several souls, aided by Sharlayan tools.
Now, it was only one, and he knew that color well, even dimmed as it was.
Of course it would be her.
There's no telling how long she looks before his voice reaches her, but it pierces through the rolling waves of aether, even as his countenance is nowhere to be seen.]
You don't belong here, hero.
no subject
But Yona is, if nothing else, a very stubborn person. And considering that familiar voice has told her nothing she doesn't already know, she just continues to press on, as if she hadn't heard it in the first place.
...Not that she expects him to take that for the hint it is.
Or maybe she just wants to return the favor of pretending to be entirely unaware of his incorporeal presence this time. Somewhere, she's sure, that will make Hythlodaeus smile. ]
no subject
This sea will tear you apart. Even a stubborn spirit such as yours cannot defy its nature.
[Though he has no doubt she will try. She has ever been defiant and reckless, with no care for her own well-being.
Even now, millennia later, it exhausts him.]
Why are you here.
[It comes out more demand than question.]