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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]

"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."

[hbisea]

And she laughed. Mera hadn't laughed, even if it was a bit quiet, like that in a while. She was allowing the mood of this world to dampen her own spirits.

"I guess they can't help themselves." She took a moment to catch her breath. "Have I introduced myself? I'm Mera. And who are you?"

[colur]

"I am called Eilonwy." And she made a little curtsy. She'd had a lot of practice with curtsies, now, she could do it passably graceful even on the crooked ground.

[hbisea]

She was genuinely surprised by the curtsy. It had been a long, long time since anyone had done so before Mera.

Her smile reappeared quickly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Eilonwy. Have you been here long?"

[colur]

"More than a fortnight, less than a season. Is that long? I do not know how I ought to be counting."

[hbisea]

"That's a long enough time to be away from home," she said, exhaling a quiet, saddened sigh.

[colur]

"But I have been away from home much longer. If I can be said to have a home, really at all. When I was very little, my family sent me to Spiral Castle to live with the awful Achren!" She paused, sticking her nose in the air. Eilonwy hadn't thought of Achren for a long time— at least a long time by a young woman's reckoning. "I think she was lying about that, anyway."

[hbisea]

She lifted her free hand, gesticulating for Eilonwy to slow down as she didn't fully understand the context behind her story. She had felt a tugged string in heart when the girl had mentioned she hasn't had much of a place to call home.

"Why did they send you away? For protection?"

[colur]

"I do not know. Achren said it was for my education, but it must have been for my…" she didn't know how to describe her magic powers, especially now that they were gone.

"They are likely dead, my family. I know not if it was by Achren's hand." But she was proud, as she said this, proud and brave.