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[colur]

Date & Time: Vague late July, early June
Location: All over, especially where the damage is the worst.
Characters: Eilonwy and you (???)
Summary: Eilonwy explores Exsilium after the bombing, trying to find ways to help.
Warnings: N/A


Eilonwy never liked to ask permission. It seemed rather pointless, when you'd already made up your mind. Apples do not have lips to ask the ground, but they fall anyway. But here there was no one for her to ask, and the freedom made her unfamiliar. Knowing what to do was very helpful, even if you did not plan on doing it.

And here, she did not know what to do.

Oh, she thought she did, at first, she was quite certain that she had to escape. There were people counting on her at home. Counting on her for proper curtsies and polite conversation, but counting on her nonetheless. But then the bombing happened, and she realized that the people here needed help, too.

Not that she was exactly sure how to go about it. Today she was climbing through the rubble, her knees scraped and hair wild, looking for mouths to feed or shoulders to throw blankets on. To help people, you know. Hmmph.

[ ooc: Tag in whatever format you prefer. I will match! ]

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[colur]

"Someone might already be hurt! And my own legs work just fine." As if to demonstrate, she wobbled, sending a few pebbles dancing down the pile. But she quickly righted herself, her arms sticking out like wings. "I've climbed trees before, for your information. Although, they told me I oughtn't do that either."

[hbisea]

"For good reason," she said flatly. She sighed and in a single bound, leapt a couple of feet forward in the air to situate herself on top of the rubble as well. Her hand reached out in an attempt to take Eilonwy's arm and steady her. "Is it only you out here?"

[colur]

She recoiled instinctively from the hand trying to grab her, wobbling a bit more in the process. Eilonwy hadn't meant to be rude, but her arms went where they wanted to when she was trying to balance. When she'd steadied herself, she could answer.

"I came here alone, if that's what you mean." She wondered if this woman was some sort of sorceress— she'd never seen anybody jump like that. It made her more exciting, by Eilonwy's reckoning.

[hbisea]

She understood the desire to help others. Her first few days in Exsilium had been spent reading and questioning the new world around her, apprehensive to lift a finger.

But then the virus rampaged through the city and then those bombs were dropped. She then fully understood that this United Earth had every intention of slaughtering them. She was forcibly brought here, but she refused to lay down and die.

"It's dangerous. You could find yourself buried underneath this wreckage." She looked around, maybe for a sign of blood or clothing, but nothing.

[colur]

She nodded, having momentarily recovered her footing. "Once my friends fell into a great pit, where a giant was living. Except he wasn't really a giant, but a wizard who had made himself large on accident. Or, he had meant to make himself large, but he hadn't meant to make himself so large he couldn't fit through doors and gates! The wizard wanted to use them in a spell that would turn himself small again, but if you ask me he was rather small already."

After a hesitation, she added, "The point is, I don't think that will happen here."

[hbisea]

That was a random story and she didn't see what it had to do with what was happening here and now. In fact, she didn't look very convinced after Eilonwy had concluded her little tale.

"Get down. I will lift this rubble myself."

[colur]

Eilonwy didn't appreciate being ordered around, but on the other hand she wanted to see this lady lift a giant boulder. If she could, of course. Such a feat would be beyond even a Son of Don. So she nodded and began climbing down the rubble.

[hbisea]

While she made it her duty to protect the young, Mera never had the patience to be mouthed off to or ordered around, no matter who it was. She waited until Eilonwy was at the bottom, relatively safe and she hopped down herself. She held her arm out -- the one with the trident.

"Stand back," is all she said before she lifted her free hand.

Eilonwy would first notice the rain wasn't pouring as heavily on her head anymore. The droplets curved midair, quickly merging with each other until it took the shape a flat, watery disc that slipped beneath the rubble. It was heavy and she could feel a muscle or two protest in her body, but several seconds later the wreckage was carried a good few meters in the air.

[colur]

"That's water magic!" she said, because that was very much how it seemed to her. Her voice was excited, like bells on a sleigh horse, and she was smiling. Eilonwy was curious by nature, but especially curious about sorcery.

[hbisea]

She shook her head, keeping the wreckage safely above their heads in the meantime. "It's not magic." Mera and magic had a strange relationship. Sometimes, it was not a very good one, especially when her own people used it against her so they could exile Arthur and manipulate her to suit their whims.

"There's nothing here," she added. No bodies or anything salvageable from the rubble she had lifted. She didn't consider it a bad thing.

[colur]

"Well, then what is it?' Eilonwy didn't seem to think much about demanding answers. She'd never seen a skill like that before.

[hbisea]

Guessing that Eilonwy had no need to check the space that had been cleared out, she lowered the pile before she could fully release it when it's only a couple of feet off the ground. It shook her balance only momentarily.

"I'm Atlantean and though we have sorcerers and sorceresses where I'm from, this is simply an ability of mine I've always had." She finally said, looking back at the young girl.

[colur]

"Well, I've never heard of that." Her contrarian impulse was strong. Then again, she had the proof of what she was saying right in front of her. Eilonwy couldn't disbelieve her, that would be like doubting you were clothed when you could feel them making your arms itchy.

"But it sounds interesting, please continue."

[hbisea]

"It's not a surprise to hear that; we are from different worlds." And points of time, apparently. It still shocked Mera that the Robin here was the original one -- Garth's ally and friend. "Are you familiar with the legend of Atlantis?" It seemed an appropriate starting point if the girl was that curious.

[colur]

She shook her head. "No, I've never heard of such a place. Though, I do not know the names of every star or every lake. It seems to me, that there's much that we know without realizing it."

[hbisea]

A curious look. "Do you know of any other lakes here?"

It was a stretch, but there was only one she knew of here -- the only she often dove into when she wanted to take a swim. The pool at the Hold made her feel claustrophobic. It was man made, not fresh; the ocean is much more preferable but she couldn't enter it here for fear of contamination.

"I admit it's the first time I've met anyone who hasn't heard of Atlantis. It was a booming culture and highly advanced society before it sank into the ocean nearly ten thousand years ago."

[colur]

Eilonwy was going to explain that she meant back home in Prydain. She didn't know how she could learn the lakes of a place she did not belong to. But before she could ask, something else the woman said caught her attention.

"It was drowned? The whole city?"

She couldn't help but remember Caer Colur, where her mother was born, and her mother before that, and her mother before that.

[hbisea]

"The entire continent." She let that hang in the air for a moment, a somber expression settling in at the thought. But that was the past and they had made a life for themselves afterwards. "A dome was erected to ensure the survival of the people. While King Orin's scientists developed a scientific method for Atlanteans to survive underwater, others sought a different alternative; magic."

[colur]

"Did they find any? Magic, I mean?" Eilonwy was obviously enraptured with the entire tale, sorrowful as it seemed to be.

[hbisea]

"Atlantis has always had both sorcerers and scientists." She smiled a little. "It was the king's brother who took the others who had used magic in their survival to venture out of the dome."

[colur]

"That is a wonderful story," she said, returning the smile. "Thank you very much for telling it."

[hbisea]

"Atlanteans have their faults, but we persevered." It was nice to share her history with someone, even if they were unfamiliar with it. Although deep within her, it made her ache for her husband and home even more. "Honestly, I'm glad you didn't call me a mermaid as most assume."

[colur]

"Why would I do that?" She screwed her face up, confused. "You've got feet, I can see them."

[hbisea]

"Not everyone is as clever as you are, I suppose." Mera shrugged, tapping a nail against the handle of her trident. "To think grown men ask me those questions over and over."

Saul.

[colur]

Eilonwy had also met Saul and found him a very frustrating man.

"Like I said before. Some men can grow very large, while still remaining curiously small."