Zahrya { 3 } - Blog Posts
zahryaofspring:
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“That’s your problem Robin. You draw lines and make distinctions that don’t matter. Humans, drow, the Eye, the Senate, it’s all a waste. They envy us all the same, they bleed all the same. When pounded beneath the heavy fists of a changeling, all those who would do us harm are nothing but runny puddles of mess. The war we fight is on our very divinity. Anyone who would have us live less than our truths or gifts is our enemy. The notion that we must play by rules created by inferiors is an affront to what we are. Spring wasn’t my only teacher, I had innumerable vile mortals seek me out as an innocent child just to do me harm. And though he never spoke Asterion taught me more about who I am than anyone else. Apparently, you still fail to grasp who you are.” How any eladrin could learn who they were without a changeling to guide them was beyond Zahrya, but that’s where he stood completely apart from his people. They didn’t know so they didn’t understand. The younger generation confused him as much as they saddened him. None had the vast fields and endless skies of the Labyrinth to express themselves freely. They were repressed and lost, so much so that when given a directive from Titania herself they dared to question the faith she placed in him. Absolutely pathetic. “My domain is whatever my sovereign demands. Her Majesty said we were to have no mercy for this realm. If that is something you’re too weak to bring to fruition, then that is your deficiency. I served the Queen for longer than you’ve drawn breath. I know who I am. Whether or not someone is prepared for the storm doesn’t matter, because a storm rips apart weak strongholds as easily as it decimates fortified structures. At least mine do, because I was born to be powerful. I’ll weep for the future of your court if inaction is all you have to offer them.”
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“Because life has meaning Zahrya!” Robin finally snaps, the hum of magic turning the air sweltering around them as she raises her chin to glare at the Spring Chancellor from where she sits on the ground. “Life has meaning, and so does it’s ending and ignoring this because you were isolated of the world it’s not the solution. Your lack of empathy and worthless sense of superiority is going to get us all killed if you keep underestimating those who act against us, and you can’t see it. It only takes one mistake for a fey to die, and many of our enemies known how to do just that. Your reckless ignorance of how the world works outside of your Court is shameful, ignorant and will bite you in the fucking ass if you keep going this way. “ There is a noise of frustration as she raises from her sitting position, flames flickering on her fingertips before she clenches her first and takes a deep breath. “I am well aware that I am young and I have not been train in my position, but I know who am I. I know that the whole cannot be judged by the actions of the few, because if they were we would be just like the exile that has joined hands with Asphodel. We would be just like Fen’harel, traitorous and willing to overthrow our rules for power. But we are not, and that alone shows me that you know nothing of people, that the only reason you received your role is because you are powerful but witless. The storm might destroy the fortress and it’s inhabitants, but by numbers alone there will always be more to replace them, more waiting on the shadows to strike when we grow tired. For fucks’ sake, think things strategically for once in your life,“ She hisses out, a ran running over her face as she speaks. She is committing a mistake, she is aware, but she has grown tired of being condescended merely for having a different set of ideals than Zahrya. There is no denying that eladrins are inherently superiors, no denying that they have every advantage. And yet, countless have fallen at the hands of the Eye, countless have been hunted by vampires, witches and humans alike. “If it were power alone that granted us safety, we would not have lost the Otherworld, and my Court would be without dangers because despite what your ignorance has led you to believe, old witless fool, I am powerful and I am acting. I am just not stupid enough to put a target in my back.”
zahryaofspring:
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He understands after hearing Robin’s words why so many of the fey struggled to accept his viewpoints on their lessers. They probably thought like her, drawing distinctions between insignificant lifeforms. There were allies and special considerations, dangers and risks. How burdensome it must be to place more stock in those beneath them. If only they could see them as Zahrya had for nearly a thousand years, nothing more than puddles of viscera between Asterion’s jaws. The lessons his warder taught him still rang true today: mortals would only ever be violent creatures, and sometimes the only answer to their violence was violence of your own. “The blessed children can have a chance to return to us, but those who don’t take our side deserve their fate. We’ve been at war since before I was born, it’s due time we bring it to a close.” What more was there to say? Clearly he was the only Chancellor who understood loyalty. He made a vow to Titania and he would enact her will even if he had to go about it alone. He was done with these games of politics and passivity. He was a force of nature, now more than ever. If he’d acted on his own sooner, then surely many of the cruel fates the eladrin faced recently would’ve been avoided. “I will not be defined by cowardice. If you are content being afraid of your inferiors, then I will let you rot like the leaves in autumn. Destroying the Eye, destroying the Asphodel, destroying the realm, it’s all the same. We should only worry about protecting those who stand with us. I have no love to spare for those who’d do us harm, either through action or inaction.”
@thegoodfellow
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“Do tell me more about this war of yours, this war that Titania did not acknowledge, this war that you seem so sure we are fighting when few others are,” she insists in an attempt to understand the man’s motivations, voice soft as she tilts her head to observe the Spring Chancellor with consideration. “Perhaps it is my age, but I had the understanding that the Eye did not become a more overt threat until recently, and that the only war the fey truly worried about for as long as you have been alive was the inevitable fight against the drows?” The Spring Chancellor had always fascinated her, the oddness of his actions clear even when compared to other’s his age. Fen’harel, Laer, Revas, her parents, they all comported themselves rather differently than the Chancellor before her, and while she understands that she is in dire need to begin separating herself from her own affections towards humanity, she is always surprised at Zahrya’s rancor for the species Titania helped create as he worships the former Queen. “You call it cowardice, but you are wrong, Chancellor,” she offers, words firm. “Destruction is not a domain usually associated to Spring, thus you must fail to understand that not being wary of your enemies will bring your downfall. It’s those who are not wary of the storm that are struck by lightning, and overconfidence is dangerous when dealing with the creature’s whose creation Titania blessed.”
zahryaofspring:
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Benevolence is in Zahrya’s nature, but even now he can’t tell if Robin’s hesitation is something to be cherished or shot down. He can’t see beyond the bounds of his vow. “I will show them no mercy,” he declares with an intensity that’s out of place given the tone of their chat, but he softens once again. “It’s not just the season, it’s you. These fields are only possible because this bounty is what your heart reflects. Charity is wonderful, but at some point we have to turn our gaze to ourselves.” As he strums, Zahrya thinks of the old days before humans became so plentiful, the days his kind thrived while he grew in the Labyrinth. They’d been shared with him and therefore he was able to idealize the era. Perhaps Robin could benefit from such stories. “There was once a time when no mortal king could accomplish anything without the influence of an eladrin. They worshipped us and in turn, we built their civilizations. Art, music, and magic, all gifts from us, but that has been forgotten. We are no longer bound by the senate and can once again expose our divinity to the masses, but we’re beyond the point where we could do such things without purpose. Testing the denizens of the mortal realm with the intention of subjugation would be the only way such an idea could work.”
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“It’s a lesson I am beginning to learn, yes, but despite my growing lack of compassion towards most of humanity,” Robin says slowly, spitting out the word compassion as if it had rotten in her mouth, the resentment from recent events on her shoulders weighting her down but not to fully cloud her senses. “I cannot say that showing them no mercy is the solution, not when many of them are our allies. When many of them have laid with fey, or given birth to faiman children. Do the children do not deserve our mercy?” It’s a quick inquiry, and Robin wonders. Wonders where Zahrya would have fallen on the news of her brother’s exile to be with his human and his children, wonders if he considers those children worthy. “There is no denying that we are beyond humanity’s comprehension, that without us they would never have become what they now are. However, I must warn you Zahrya, humans have long desired to kill their gods, and the Eye has made that desire a reality. If you test them too harshly, too quickly, you will turn the same people who erased Alstroemeria from existence towards us, and we cannot fight a war in two fronts with our current strength. If we want to destroy the Eye, we must do it carefully, and only after can we be bolder.”
“Many forget that while summer and spring are used for planting, it is fall that brings the harvest to fruition,” Robin mentions idly, smile tired from where she is stands, a hand wrapped around her waist and the other on a tree trunk to keep her balance. As a Chancellor, she has been given the best treatment capable for someone suffering from an iron wound, but the faint scar still pulls if she moves just right, so she has taken to be careful as she moves. Nothing too noticeable, for she can’t allow her people to grow discouraged, but she doesn’t believe for a second the other Chancellors have not noticed. Fall might be for liars, but she has never been much of an actor when it comes to the things that matter most. “That is a beautiful dream, but you are correct. Humankind fears what they cannot comprehend, and those who would not hate us would be too afraid to go against the crowds to protest. And yet, we must not forget that although many mortals are our enemies, there are many more unaware of our existence and they, more than anyone else, deserve our mercy.”
where?: autumn’s fields
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With the influx of Otherworldly refugees, part of Zahrya’s duties now include ensuring that no ecosystem is overburdened. The balance of life within the forest will be maintained for all, and the bounty of Robin’s fields was a big part of that. Crop vegetables and fungus line the bellies of the beasts Zahrya directs along a migratory feeding path. Humans could spend their entire lives tending to these fields and never pick the plants bare, just one of the many marvels of this forest. “It’s quite curious how this one strip of forest could feed so many,” he says absentmindedly as they watch the animals feed, the lyre at his fingertips directing their march and appetites. “We could probably heal the entire realm together. You and I could easily feed every plant and creature with the simplest of songs, and yet they would still find a reason to persecute us for it. I’m much happier now that we’ve abandoned such notions. Mercy is for the deserving.”
@thegoodfellow