Marieya’s Tutelage

(Story word count: approximately 1500 words. Estimated reading time: 15 minutes)

“So, for you see, sorcery can be seen as exploration. Those with innate magical powers push their own boundaries and are able to produce such incredible spells, some of which even the most astute arcane scholars would never be able to replicate themselves.”

“But that is where the study of the arcane comes in, and acts more like cartography. They observe what the sorcerers have done and work tirelessly to not only figure out the how and why of where this magic came from, but to record it for preservation and to advance their own research.”

Jørgen Brúnison smiled warmly at the very eloquent explanation between innate magic and learned magic, having hoped it assuaged Marieya’s concerns about how her phoenix soul influenced things… but having looked over and seeing the rather perplexed face his companion was making, he decided now was a good moment to excuse themselves.

“Thank you though,” he said, “whilst the explanation will take some time to sink in for her, I appreciate such a thoughtful analogy”. The wizards exchanged bows, as Marieya’s awareness caught up with her, fumbling out a few words of thanks before offering a slightly messy bow herself before making a retreat with Jørgen.

Whilst the wizard had been brought to much warmer territory than the Northlands, they still dressed in clothes suitable for such environments. A thick brown fur shawl encompassed his shoulders, with a woollen tunic covering down from the chest to the mid-thigh area. Beneath all these though were navy-coloured winter underclothes, ensuring complete insulation from the elements. 

Both his gauntlets and boots were lined with similar fur to his shawl, with thick leather gloves completing the ensemble. A lustrous beard and long, but managed, hair gave Jørgen an aura of maturity that had helped the party along in many areas, especially when navigating Marieya’s somewhat anxious approach to life.

The pair navigated their way to a quiet study area. Only one other person was there, and they seemed more focused, or rather, stressed, about the large textbook in front of them, so the two picked a table with some distance from that individual and sat down for a chat.

“My apologies if putting you on the spot about the demiplane made you nervous,” Jørgen said, “you did handle it well all things considered. I just thought she would have found it interesting.”

“Mharoti’s teach you to be good at improvising slash lying,” Marieya said in response, laughing slightly at her own observation, “plus she found it interesting… sorry for making assumptions of why you’d came here too.”

“It is quite alright. Although it was quite disarming to hear something so different from you.”

“I try not to speak about what I don’t know a lot about. Both colleges and relationships fall into that category. The former for being rejected from every magical organisation in the Shadow Realm, and the latter for… y’know.”

“I understand your lost friends, but do you have any connections beyond that? Any siblings or family?”

Marieya looked down at the table, slightly forlorn. “No, nothing of the sort that I can remember,” she said, sighing slightly, “guess I’ve always been sort of a loner.”

“I see… it is just that in your nervous disposition around strangers yet fierce-”, Jørgen paused, backtracking his last word before continuing, “fiery dedication to those you care about, it reminds me of my little sister.”

“You have a sister?”, Marieya said, looking up from the table with curiosity, “I guess they’re back home in the Northlands.”

“There are four of us in total. Myself, my younger sister, an older sister, and an older brother. She was the youngest of us, and always tended to hide behind one of us… unless of course one of us got into trouble, then I feel she would be capable of staring down Ragnarök and telling it to go home!”

The two friends shared a laugh at that idea, of this young girl staring down the literal apocalypse and going “no thank you” to it. “I remember a time like that for me,” Marieya said, wiping a joyous tear from her eye, “I’ve both calmed down and reignited my own flame, so I can relate in a way. What kind of work does she follow?”

“Volunteered at a local shrine, dedicated to the twin goddesses. She must be close to her coming of age now, she was learning to read and write beautifully as part of her work.”

“And I guess they’re all awaiting the return of their most scholarly sibling?”

Jørgen tensed his fingers nervously before wrapping them around each other, seemingly in the unusual position of being lost for words before finally saying, “I hope no one is waiting on me. It had not felt like home for quite some time before I departed on my journey… whenever I think of what I know as home though, I pray for their safety.”

A silence descended between the two for some time, neither knowing properly what to say. Marieya bit her lip gently before speaking again, “…I’m glad you’re lonely too.”

The wizard looked at her, quite perplexed at what she had said. “Okay I know that sounds weird but let me explain. Neither of us are “alone” in the traditional sense, cause, we’ve got each other, along with Grem, Honesty, Fauna. But, both of us are somehow disconnected from what we call “home”, so we both feel our own sense of loneliness. Which means neither of us have to be alone in being alone because of what we share.”

“…that made no sense at all did it?”

“No, no,” Jørgen said in response, looking to reassure his friend, “it makes more sense than you realise, especially given an individual’s need for relatedness. On your note of feeling disconnected from home, do you ever yearn for when time was simpler back home, in the Shadow Realm?”

Now it was Marieya’s turn to pause, as she looked down at her gloved hand, flexing her fingers slightly as she looked back on her actions and what led up to the moments of today. “Simpler is a subjective term,” she said, “sure we’re chased down by dragons, fighting hordes of undead, and have just unleashed the demon lord of conquest into the world. But things weren’t all good back then either.”

“Phoenix blood doesn’t just make me different in a magical sense from most Shadow Fey. Certain things I feel differently as well… being crass a good portion of my people focus on sex, usually using congress with other Midgard beings as a premium for magical items, with the reason being “it warmed them”. Well, I never got that, maybe because I’ve always had warmth inside, but it kind of meant no one really got me, bar the few friends I had.”

Another pause came, this time much shorter, before Marieya continued on. “Besides, I can’t really dwell too much, the life I led before can be left behind now. And home doesn’t have to be somewhere set in stone,” she looked up at Jørgen as she said this, and made a deliberate effort to make eye contact with him for her next point, “it can be two eyes and a heartbeat, y’know?”

Having had such a deeply personal matter shared with him, Jørgen returned eye contact and smiled slightly, saying, “I definitely understand. Home need not be a place, home is whoever you can feel relaxed with. Sharing a house without those who feel special to you just serves as a reminder of what was lost… I do not think I am ready to discuss that one though.”

Marieya reached out a hand and took Jørgen’s with it, squeezing gently. “We can talk whenever you’re ready, just don’t bottle it up and then explode into a ball of fiery feathers.”

“I did and you’ve literally been inside my mind to see what effects it had.”

Jørgen returned the hand squeeze, laughing softly, and said, “I think we all learnt something from your experience on that. It is at least more unique than crying into a bottle by moonlight, I have seen that one many times.”

The laugh Marieya produced was one of nervous denial, “Hah, yeah, totally…”, she said, knowing full well she has done that one many times in the past. 

Sensing her discomfort, the wizard seeked to change the topic to something more positive, saying, “I will say you are the best cleric I have seen in a while, both in action and during downtime.”

“Thanks, wasn’t a role I exactly envisioned a while back,” she said with a sincere smile, “but I’m glad it has been able to help people in many ways. And I can say the same for yourself as a wizard… even if I’ve learnt you folk really like maps for some reason…”

“Sure, we will go with that as the takeaway from today’s events.”

Inspiration

Starting the year off in the most reliable way I know how, with a Marieya story. This time though the stakes are much lower as I was mainly aiming to develop and explore the relationship Marieya and our wizard, Jørgen Brúnison, share.

Jørgen often ends up being the unintentional face of the party, especially when it comes to serious political-ish matters in the world. Whilst his player does try to share the responsibility and make sure people are staying engaged, this is helpful when three of the remaining four party members have the potential to be diplomatic incidents. (the last one is usually a weasel)

What brought about the main inspiration for this piece was a brief bit of roleplay myself and Jørgen’s player did in the text channel of the game, initially it took place during a non-specific long rest period, but given the two characters have now split off from the party to spend some time at a magical college, I figured that would have made sense thematically.

Plus it allowed me to revisit the brilliant explanation between sorcerers and wizards and Marieya’s reaction to it. Whilst it was a very well constructed set of metaphors, having an Intelligence of 9 meant it was very much a case of smile, nod, and say something about maps so people know you at least sort of know what they said went in.

One of the main points in this story is the first instance of Marieya’s sexuality being written down. All of my characters have their own sexual and romantic orientations because I want them to have them and no one can stop me, but this usually does not come up in regular play. 

However, something discovered in the Midgard World Book during a general game discussion inadvertently led to something very narratively pleasing. Before this piece of information was discovered, Marieya’s orientations were always asexual and panromantic. 

Though, the little detail of Shadow Fey saying that sex “warms them” provided a beautiful reason of why she always felt differently, and allowed me to further explore the positives of her phoenix blood.

This was fun to write, and hopefully I get the chance to explore both Fauna’s and Grem’s connections to Marieya in the future.