Farewell sweet earth and northern sky (tinuviel) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-06-13 17:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, luthien tinuviel, morrigan |
Who: Luthien and Morrigan
What: Meeting and talking about magic and gardens, like you do
When: Recently
Where: A nursery
Status: complete
Rating: PG
Luthien had been struck with the idea of planting a garden. She’d never liked having a lawn anyway, and converting it to a garden and some kind of landscaping was an idea that had been on her mind lately. Also more trees.
Lots and lots of trees.
The tall elf moved through the plants like an ethereal princess, pale and with hair the color of midnight.
Morrigan was in the market for some different plants. While her greenhouse had many different kinds of plants growing, she was still needing something else. After all, she had a somewhat tricky problem on her hands. She was trying to make a better treatment for healing scars. Morrigan had used her magic to heal Li’s wounds as much as possible. Now she wanted to try something to help lessen the scarring, both from the burn itself and from where the skin graft had been taken.
She was moving through the plants, carefully looking them over and judging their properties. Morrigan already had a couple aloe plants in her cart. Though as she picked up another plant to examine it, a woman caught her eye. The way she moved is what caught her attention. There was something very elven about her, though she wasn’t an elf from Thedas. At least not a modern elf, anyways.
“If you don’t my saying, you look almost at home among these plants,” Morrigan said, watching the taller woman very curiously.
Luthien tended to tower over, well, everyone. Nearly seven feet tall by modern reckoning. 6’9”. And when she brushed her hair aside it was obvious as to her lineage. Her accent sounded like a cross between french and italian “A long time ago, I spent more time among trees and plants than among my family.”
So this woman was an elf. Fascinating! Suddenly Morrigan wondered if this woman’s elven language had anything whatsoever in common with the elven language she could speak. “I have met elves in my dreams, though none look quite as you do.” Not even Abelas and his Sentinel elves had looked anything like this woman.
“Well, I am half-elf,” Luthien clarified, though the other half was definitely not human. She gave Morrigan a flirty wink. “I’ve discovered there are many different kinds of elves in these dreams. Even in my own, we are varied.”
Half-elf was even more intriguing. Half-elves in Morrigan’s dreams always looked human. Morrigan was still trying to wrap her brain around Alistair being half-elf. She shook that thought from her mind before smiling. “Elves are not so varied in mine, though they are quite fascinating. I spent my formative years studying their history and learning their language. Let us say that I perhaps speak elvish better than most modern elves in my dreams.”
Which had been yet another clue-in-hindsight that Flemeth was Mythal. All the elven lore she’d learned and took an interest in. “Do you and other elves have magic?”
Luthien nodded. “At least one form of Elvish remained dominant, even among Men, long after my age. At least for official documentation. As far as I have discovered, anyway.”
It was hard to explain how she knew Sindarin had survived into the Third Age, and Quenya to an extent. “Elves do have magic, though it is not usually very obvious. Our weapons can be enchanted to cut fel flesh easier, or glow in orcish presence. Some can call upon power, to wash away evil taint. Myself, I sing, and dance. I can enchant or make one fall into a slumber. Or break the very walls of a fortress and bring it crashing down. I sung the Dark Lord to sleep so that we might steal a jewel from his crown. Even the god of fate who decided whether my kin could be reincarnated or must wait was moved by my song, and granted me a mortal life to be with my beloved.”
It was bragging, but it was also the truth. “My mother was a maiar, a lesser god or angel. That probably helped. The maiar were powerful spirits, capable of great magics, though even they were rarely flashy. When the gods came to Middle-earth to finally stop the Dark Lord, the battle was so terrible that it sank much of the western lands beneath the waves. I’m glad I was not alive to witness that.”
That was entirely fascinating. Morrigan was listening very closely. Sometimes she wondered if she’d missed her calling as an archaeologist or historian with her love of all things ancient. Didn’t matter what world they were from.
“That is entirely fascinating. T’would seem as though your world was diverse in the beings that inhabited it.” Morrigan certainly didn’t mind the bragging. She tended to brag a lot herself when she was going on about her own talents.
“Very diverse. Humans and elves, dwarves and halflings. And many creatures besides, both good and evil. Sentient wargs and eagles. My hound, Huan, can talk.” She loved Huan. He wasn’t really hers, so to speak, he’d adopted her.
“Tis certainly quite the variety. A hound that can speak, that is rather amazing. The stories such animals could tell!” Sometimes Morrigan wished animals in Thedas had the ability to speak, but at the same time it was probably for the best that they didn’t. Though she’d be intrigued to hear what dragons had to say. Such as wondering where they’d disappeared to, and if gryphons were actually extinct, or if they had simply disappeared from sight for centuries the way dragons had.
There was a reason the current age was called the Dragon Age. Would there be a Gryphon Age to come? Who knew!
“I’d rather he didn’t. It was foretold he’d speak three times ere he died. I’d like to keep him around.” Luthien had a melodic way of speaking, which gave her fantastic timing. “He’s a great babysitter.”
Dragons though, they could speak. And you never, ever wanted to listen.
“Hopefully he will not speak, then, so that he may remain with you.” Morrigan was rather fond of the way the woman spoke. It was very pleasant to listen to. “Sounds a bit like my fianceé’s dog. Very intelligent, more than a bit of a goof, but he’s a good guard dog. Probably would make a great babysitter as well.” You know, if she and Maia had kids.
“Perhaps we could have a play date. Yours is good with children?” Luthien, honestly, could stand to have more friends who were of a magical nature. There were aspects of her world she couldn’t share with many - though her wie, at least, was a witch.
“That I could not say, I do not think he has been around them. I can say he is very gentle with my cats.” Mabari war hound indeed. More like great big, goofy softie, but Morrigan wouldn’t quite say that outloud. “Though we could certainly work out a play date. Barkspawn always likes meeting new people and new animals. This I know to be true because once I had shapeshifted into a dog and was playing in the backyard when he came out and immediately wanted to play.”
“Cats are a good test. If he can handle a cat, he can handle a child. They are not too much different.” Then again a full grown dog was a bit like a child too, so it was only natural.
Though at Morrigan’s admission, Luthien looked actually surprised. “You can shape shift? I can form illusions, take another form that way. Or cloak myself with my hair. But not shapeshift.”
“Then perhaps we could arrange a playdate. Though perhaps starting with Barkspawn being on a leash just to ensure he doesn’t trample over anyone initially.” And she would need to see if Maia would be up for such a thing.
“Indeed I can. Though I am only able to assume animal forms, I cannot, for example, take the form of another person.” Morrigan explained.
Part of Luthien’s illusion had involved using the skin of a person, but Thuringwethil had been an evil vampire bat person and so she didn’t really feel any guilt about that. Still, she wasn’t going to say that out loud. Wearing someone’s skin was generally not polite conversation.
“That would have been incredibly useful.”
Even Morrigan would shy away from discussion of wearing someone’s skin. That definitely was something she had no desire to ever do. She chuckled softly. “It does have its uses, though I have to learn each individual animal form. I cannot simply just take a form I have not learned.” Shapeshifting was an artform, and it wasn’t a type of magic taught in the Circles.
“It must take a great deal of study, and of self-discipline.” Luthien nodded, giving Morrigan a respectful smile. “But I do not blame you for wishing to play around as a dog. I’d do the same.”
Morrigan at least didn’t seem evil, like the shifters she knew of from her dreams. Sauron could become a great wolf, and there was Thuringwethil of course. But this was the first she’d heard of a regular human.
“It does indeed. I actually prefer the form of a cat or raven, but each form has its uses.” Morrigan said with a smile. “I am also able to take the form of a dragon, though that was more a gift I inherited during the events of my dreams than my actually learning it. My mother taught me the art of shapeshifting, and she prefered turning into a dragon above most other things.”
And now, Morrigan had to wonder if Flemeth was actually a dragon. Or, well, not Flemeth but Mythal. Mythal had dragons all over her temple in the Arbor Wilds. It was perhaps not a coincidence that Flemeth could shift into a dragon.
“What is it like to fly?” Leave it to the woman who’s name means nightengale to focus on the flight aspect. She could only imagine what it would feel like.
“In my world, Dragons are very intelligent, and one should never believe anything they say.” She tilted her head. “Should I trust you?”
“Tis one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. It is freeing, and I enjoy being free.” Morrigan disliked being confined in some respects, and she liked spreading her wings.
Morrigan had to laugh a bit. “Dragons are not all-powerful beings with the power of speech in my world. I enjoy the power of being a dragon, but I am not evil. In essence, I am a firm believer in nature.” And, well, if anything Morrigan was closer to be an elf than she was anything else.
Luthien smiled, the expression a bit like the sun peeking from behind the clouds. “I can understand the desire to be free. My father sought to lock me away so that I would not do something foolhardy, like try to save my beloved.”
Her eyes twinkled. Clearly that hadn’t worked. “In my world, dragons and the other servants of the Dark Lord are not of nature, but a perversion of nature. It is nice to think that in some places they might be a part of nature.”
“Clearly your father’s efforts were in vain,” she commented, judging by the twinkle in her eyes. It was something many mages in Thedas could potentially empathize with, considering how so many were confined to the Circles before the war had begun.
“Dragons are part of nature in Thedas. They were even worshipped as gods by some ancients. Though dragons disappeared, and were even thought to be extinct for a while. But they have returned, giving name to the current age, the Dragon Age.”
“Yes. They certainly were.” She’d had help of course, in her quest. But much of it she’d had to do alone. And despite the legends, when they’d fought the monstrous wolves, Huan had not done it alone.
“Our ages are less cleverly named. The Years of the the Lamps, then the Years of the Trees, and finally the Ages of the Sun. The light was passed down. When the lamps were destroyed, they were planted as seeds for the trees. When the trees were lost, their light was placed in the sky as the sun. I still remember the day the sun first rose. It was… magical.”
Morrigan had to chuckle a bit. “They are still interesting names for ages. Practical, even. Each age is given its name by the shape of events towards the end of the age before it. More or less.” Morrigan was just happy to live in the Dragon Age, despite the tumultuous times that were occurring within it. “Seeing the sun rise for the first time must have truly been awe-inspiring.”
“With the rising of the sun came a great deal of tumultuous events. But at the time, I could only think that this warmth must have been what my mother had felt in the ancient days, before she’d come and met my father.”
“There always seems to be great turmoil to follow such momentous occasions.” Change was not always met with open, accepting arms, regardless of what race someone was. When things happened that threatened to interrupt the everyday life of the average person, there was a lot of panic and fighting tended to break out to resist the change.
“I might have to give you a history lesson sometime, if you’ll share about your world?” There was simply too much for one conversation, especially for the both of them. Besides, Luthien was keen to talk to the shapeshifter more. Her magic felt ancient.
“I would greatly enjoy that. I enjoy learning history, especially ancient history.” Morrigan said with a nod. Oh yes, she more than relished in learning. And she was more than happy to share things about Thedas, even demonstrate her magic. Though obviously do it somewhere out of sight of the general public. “I seem to have completely forgotten to introduce myself. I am Morrigan,” she said, holding her hand out in greeting. At least in this life she was more accustomed to shaking hands than she was in the dreams.
“Luthien,” she replied, taking Morrigan’s hand firmly. “What is it you do in this life, then? Shape-shifting would not earn most people a living.”
“I am an herbalist, though sometimes I think I missed a calling to be an archaeologist. Nevertheless, I also have healing magic, and excelled at making potions in my dreams. Seems as though the herbalism carried into this life before I even knew what my dream life was.” Morrigan explained. “What about yourself?”
“You seem to be well versed in history. It is never too late to study up and get another degree.” Luthien often wondered if she should go to school. She rode on her family’s wealth, and then her own success. “I am a musician. A singer. With a nice following, if I might be so modest.”
“Tis something I have thought about at times. We shall see what happens.” Right now, her mind was too scattered to focus on school. If things with Maia calmed down, and she and Max actually made the cure for the Blight, then she’d more seriously think about school. “A singer, that is certainly an excellent line of work.” Unless one was Leliana, then it wasn’t so pleasant. But Luthien didn’t seem to be like Leliana. At least not currently.
“I enjoy it. I bring joy to people, and that alone makes it worth it.” She sang of love and life, and of another world where the night was quiet and still. It seemed to resonate with people.
“That is certainly reason enough to do it.” Not that Morrigan really did anything to bring joy to people outside of the very few people she actually cared about. But she understood the sentiment.
“I’ll make sure to get you tickets to my next show.” She probably wouldn’t do something for the fourth of July, but she did want to do another benefit concert soon.
“That is very kind of you. My fianceé may also be interested in your music.” Maia also enjoyed such things. Maybe it would be a good thing for them to do, to get out and, hopefully, get their minds off of darker things.
“That sounds perfect then. Love is a common theme of my music. It is the one thing that we all share in common. Be it romantic, or otherwise.” Luthien laced her fingers together. “It has been pleasant to talk with you, but I should get home or my wife will wonder why I am gone for so long.”
“I agree.” Morrigan hadn’t really been one for love of any sort until Maia had come along. Clearly it only took one person to change someone’s mind. “Ah, best not to leave her wondering then. It was very nice to speak with you, and I look forward to speaking to you again.” Which they’d already talked about doing.