Under the Sea: Conclusion and aftermath

[voidtreckermods]

Ritual

The jellyfish is no more and as red team take stock of their injuries, or collapse from exhaustion the lights zip around them, singing their song of joy. They gather around the light that had been inside the jellyfish and now that it has been released it is obvious this light is different. Stronger. They surround it and the song gets even louder as they begin to move towards the plinth.

In the caverns where the purple and orange team are there is a stillness. For those in orange team still in the cavern they can only hope that the instructions they gave out had been followed. Luckily for them they have been, Purple team have done a remarkable job of defeating the crabs and cleaning the temple. The priests gather around the shell on the alter, arms linked together in prayer as they seek to re-sanctify their temple. As their prayer begins they will invite the voidtreckers to join them, though no one is forced into taking part in the ritual. They suggest that they use their strange wrist jewellery to open communication with their friends in Bui.

The monster on the beach is defeated and though the fight is still raging against the crabs, a beacon has been built and lit. The islanders who are not fighting gather around it, linking arms, drawing any voidtreckers who don't object to joining them into the circle.

The song begins hesitantly, almost as if everyone has forgotten the words and only half remembers the tune. The SCA translates, the prayer is simple, a blessing on the land and its people, deliverance from the darkness and hope for the future.

The light from the jellyfish reaches the plinth and is set upon it. The song heightens and the light shoots upwards, blinding in its brilliance.

Through the dark storm clouds a light streams towards the island, most of it towards the beacon on the island though there is a break away light that goes towards the train, where some of orange team have set up a second beacon. It swirls around those on the train roof, singing a song of happiness and bounces back towards the island.

The light reaches the main beacon and hits it with a strength that lights up the whole sky. The light splits more solidly into two and speeds off over the ocean. Light pours into the underground caverns, not caring about the ocean and rock in the way, the light pools into the shells, the caverns glow warmly.

Outside the storm calms, clouds roll back, the sun shines. The sea stills. The wind stops. The sun is rising, a beautiful dawn. Any monsters left scuttle away, vanishing into the ocean, away from Bui.

Those with any powers that they couldn't reach before find them returned in a rush. Those who can sense life find this world teeming with it. A song that dances between every plant and creature.

Some of red may have evacuated to the train but those who stayed to see the ritual through, the world around them seems to melt away and they find themselves back next to the rock pools. Among their number there are some confused looking islanders who intrinsically draw closer to those who helped free the lights.

Orange and Purple

Down underwater there's noise and a babble of voices as the citizens of Bui wake up. There's a shimmering around the city now, like a shield though they can pass through easily. Parents scramble to locate their children and all check on loved ones and friends.

The familiar voice of train announcements is heard through Orange team's SCAs. Orange return to the VoidTrecker Express. Once everyone is on board it flies low over the ocean, skimming the waves.

In the underwater temple the priests finish sealing the ritual and then it is time to begin the return trek. There are no monsters this time and after a few hours, as they emerge onto the first of the sandbanks they will find the VoidTrecker Express is waiting for them.

Red and Blue

The monsters gone, those of the island gather everyone from the rock pools and for a few hours everyone sleeps.

At about noon the islanders begin to stir, begin putting things to rights. Wood is moved from the strategic points to more communal campfires on the beach. Any dead monsters that haven't been gathered for food have been washed out to sea, disappeared into the depths. They begin to prepare food and won't turn away any helpers. Though those who have been fighting are encouraged to rest.

The islanders bring blankets and start to gather. Everyone is exhausted but the children, in the way of children find the energy to play in the sea and the sand.

Beach Day

Early afternoon the train lands on the beach and everyone gets a holographic message to their SCA.

Mission successful. Well done Voidtreckers. Enjoy the rest of your day. You will find suitable clothing in the dressing room. A new recipe has been added to the kitchen information points.

The dressing room is indeed open once more, this time it holds swimsuits of every style, shorts, t shirts, wraps and beach skirts. Sun hats and sunglasses can also be found. It's a bit of a mush mash but they should be able to cobble together something other than their uniform wet suits.

Time to laze around on the beach or for those who still have energy swim or play. A few hours later a ripple across the water brings some of those from Bui and they swim or lounge on rocks to talk.

Food and stories

Food is cooked and shared, the islanders will happily try the voidtreckers' offerings and share their own. As the sun begins to set they gather around the fires. Stories and songs are shared and there's even some dancing for the brave.

Voidtreckers can choose whether to sleep in their own beds or spend one last night on the island before the train flies off into the sunrise and into the void.

Comments

[marriedanidiot]

"I started with my two eldest sons." She nods. "They were here for a brief time, and it was good. But I thought, perhaps... I would carve them again in stone, as I have not done since they were much younger. But small, for we have not the space! I will probably go ahead and do the whole family, as I have never enjoyed an uncompleted set! But the very smallness of the work makes detailing quite finicky."

[achickenformylove]

"Oh, so it is a family portrait. That is nice."

WangJi had never sat for anything like that at home. It might have been seen as vain in their sect. But members of Lanling Jin did on occasion.

"I would suspect that it would be difficult to make such fine details on a small scale, especially when you are using someone you know rather than an abstract idea."

[marriedanidiot]

"It did not start that way, but yes, I think it will be."

She smiles. "In miniature, yes. It is both a challenge and a joy."

[achickenformylove]

"It sounds like it would be a productive way to pass time and rewarding. I do not sculpt but I have written music."

[marriedanidiot]

She perks up.

"Oh, you compose? I would love to hear some of your music, if you have the inclination."

[achickenformylove]

"I will be happy to. I do not have my guqin with me now." He had left it in his cabin after the mission. "We can meet up at another time and I can play it."

[marriedanidiot]

"Thank you, I would enjoy that! My Makalaure played the harp." She adds wistfully. "I wish he were here to meet you - I think you would have been good friends."

[achickenformylove]

"Makalaure? That is your partner? If he were here, I should like to meet him."

[marriedanidiot]

"Oh no, Makalaure is my son - my second! Feanaro is my husband - you might meet him around as he is on the train."

[achickenformylove]

"Oh. My apologies. I believe I did meet your husband at the wedding reception."

[marriedanidiot]

"That's alright." She smiles wryly. "My family is quite large, it's understandable!"

[achickenformylove]

"How many children do you have?" He wasn't sure he had ever heard.

[marriedanidiot]

"Seven boys." She smiles wryly. "Ai and a right handful they were too. My youngest two were twins, and at that point I told Feanaro that if he wanted any more children he could bear them himself!"

[achickenformylove]

"Seven? That is a lot of sons." A faint smile crossed his face at the last part. "Yes, I could imagine that would be the thought."

[marriedanidiot]

"It is rather." She smiles, and then goes on, a little more soberly.

"I can admit freely now we were hoping for a daughter, Feanaro and I... but after the Ambarussa we... had begun fighting, by then. And seven is a great deal more than most elven couples manage and I was growing weary. Feanaro had only to hear that to stop, for his own mother gave too much of herself to his bearing and could not remain, and that wound stayed with him ever since. Whatever our disagreements, he would not countenance to risk me that way."

[achickenformylove]

"I see." He could understand how something like losing one's mother would stay with someone, being someone who had lost his mother at a young age and had continued to go to her cottage to wait for her for months after she had gone. He still visited the cottage on occasion even though he now understood what her being gone had meant. And he had lost the person he had loved for so long. "It is good that he was understanding of that."

[marriedanidiot]

"For all his faults." She agrees quietly. "No one can say he did not care for me, or our sons. Even in his anger, he worried."

[achickenformylove]

Anger and emotions were not uncommon in relationships that he knew from his world. It was not a secret how the former Yunmeng Jiang sect leader and his wife were together and Jin Guangshan's... reputation preceded him. It was just not something that people discussed in open forums. And he never once saw his own parents together. So he cannot judge.

"That is good then."

[marriedanidiot]

"It is." She smiles quietly.

"I had feared that the Feanaro that greeted me here would be... unrecognisable as my husband, consumed by his rage and jealousy as he was before. But... he has learnt. He has grown. And I am very very glad."

[achickenformylove]

"If you don't mind my curiosity, was there something that has made this part of him grow, or was that always a part of him?"

Jiang Wanyin had always been hot-tempered, but it had been everything with WuXian that had made him unbearable to deal with so he couldn't help but wonder if it had been similar

[marriedanidiot]

She considers this thoughtfully.

"He always had a temper." She says finally. "Even when we were young. But when we were younger, he burnt as brightly as you would expect from his namesake, flaring up and settling just as swiftly. Things began to truly sour when Morgoth was released. Feanaro never had truck with him, and yet.. and yet, his dislike of his step-mother and his half-siblings, so long a begrudging tolerance of their existence... began to harden. Especially as Nolofinwe seemed to take everything that he wanted - his father's love, his place at his father's side. Never mind that Feanaro would have hated such work! And then after he made the Silmarils... aye, aye. Something truly changed in him then."

[achickenformylove]

"It sounds like he has indeed had a dislike time. He sounds very much like Wei Ying's junior brother. They were as close to actual brothers as I was with my own. But he always had a temper. Life was not kind to his family and for a while, he continued to hold himself properly. The events that caused Wei Ying's death soured his personality almost permanently."

[marriedanidiot]

"A death often will." She nods. "Feanaro's greatest grief was always the loss of his mother. When Finwe was slain..."

She trails off and shakes her head. "Things had already been... bad by then. I had moved back to my father's house, and he had been banished to Formenos. But when Finwe was slain, we all feared that Feanaro would take his own life in grief."

It might almost, almost have been preferably to what actually happened instead.

[achickenformylove]

"I am sorry to hear that."

The death of his own mother had stuck with him as well. He had spent so many months going to her cottage, waiting for her to let him in because he hadn't understood she was gone. Even now, he still visited her cottage as it was the only place he had ever seen his mother in life.

After a moment, he said, "I apologize if the question has brought up unpleasant memories. Let us talk of something better."

[marriedanidiot]

"It's alright." She smiles at him tiredly. "It was a very long time ago, even as we Elves account it. I am only happy to have him back again now."

She nods.

"What would you like to speak of instead?"