More into the mind of Nixa as she struggles with the whole good/bad thing.
@-->--- Start of the Log ---<--@
As night begins, the children are ushered into the bedroom of the orphanage. Some of the more tired children take comfort in climbing into bed, while there are others protesting the need to go to bed. Patiently, Ansthen guides the children to their respectable beds.
“I have a special gift for you tonight,” he offers to the children. This announcement does pique the curiosity of the more attentive children.
Ethereal musicians float into the room. One of the musicians plucks at her harp slowly and gently, while another sings softly, “Sune. Sune. Sune Firehair. Sune. Sune. Sune Firehair.” With the ethereal singers, the melody sounds ghostly.
One of the young girls perks up and smiles brightly, “Nixa!” Obviously, the girl has grown used to seeing the different illusions that Nixa has created over the past year or so.
Nixa does walk in, under the enchantment of Eagles Splendor. She waits for the musicians to reach the appropriate notes before she starts to sing, “Lay down your head, and I’ll sing you a lullaby.” She reaches out to touch the cheek of the girl that called out her name but does not break from her singing, “Back to the years of Sune Firehair. And I’ll sing you to sleep, and I will see you tomorrow. Bless you with love for the road that you go.”
The ethereal musicians continue to pluck at their strings while one of the vocalists softly sings, “Sune. Sune Firehair.” Nixa takes the brief musical interlude to move over to another bed and sits down while smiling to its occupant. She helps tuck the boy into the bed, making sure the quilt is snuggled around him, “May you sail far to the far fields of fortune.” She looks to the next bed over, and continues, “With diamonds and pearls, at your head and your feet.” She then looks to another, “And may you need never to banish misfortune.” She then stands up so that she can look at all of the children, “May you find kindness in all that you meet.”
The musicians pick up the volume of their music as she starts to sing the chorus, “May there always be angels to watch over you.” Nixa starts to walk across the room to the other row of beds, “To guide you each step of the way.” A brief vocal rest allows Nixa to smile at another one of the girls, watching intently, “To guard you and keep you safe from all harm. Sune. Sune Firehair.” The last line of the chorus is followed with a bittersweet melody from an ethereal violin.
The instrumental interlude seems to produce sleepy eyes as all lullabies are known to do. Nixa then starts to sing again in softer tones, setting her sights on the children that are still awake, “May you bring love, and may you bring happiness.” Nixa then focuses on the girl that called out her name as she still awake and not wanting to miss any time with the wizardess, “Be loved in return til the end of your days. Now fall off to sleep. I am not meaning to keep you. I will just sit for a while and sing Sune Firehair.”
Nixa gets up once more so that she can cross the room towards the exit as Ansthen extinguishes the last lantern in the room. Only the light from the outer room shines through the exit as Nixa sings the chorus once more, “May there always be angels to watch over you, to guide you each step of the way. To guard you and keep you safe from all harm. Sune. Sune Firehair.” She gives pause and sings once more, “Sune. Sune Firehair.”
From there, the ethereal musicians complete the song while the ethereal vocalists repeat softly, “Sune. Sune Firehair.” Once all the children have fallen asleep from the lullaby, Ansthen closes the door and ushers Nixa into the other room.
“That is a beautiful lullaby, Nixa. Thank you for helping putting the children to sleep,” he says with genuine gratitude.
Nixa offers a tender smile, “My nanny used to sing that to me when I was a little girl.” Her eyes drift to the side, recalling images of her childhood when life was simpler. Her shoulders drop as she is brought back to the here and now.
Ansthen picks up on the shift in moods, “What is troubling you?”
Nixa turns away from the Ilmateri and frowns, “I just fear that all this effort to perform acts of kindness will be for naught.” She closes her eyes, “I watch Ailyn suffer from a broken heart, and I get mad at Areia for being heartless towards her. There is a part of me that wants to lash out at Areia.”
Ansthen puts a hand on Nixa’s shoulder. Before he can speak, Nixa sighs, “I know. I know. It is not my place. Love comes and goes. Some relationships are not meant to be. I think this break-up has been a long time coming.” She turns to face Ansthen, “I think that some of my lashing out at Areia also stems from a previous grudge that I held with Areia. I fear that I am simply burying my… ‘old’ … self under all these acts of love. That I am truly not doing anything to help my inner core.” She wrinkles her nose, “Lipstick on a pig, so to speak.”
The Ilmateri nods his head and frowns as he hears the woman. “I had a friend who once told me that in each person there are two wolves. There is one wolf that is protective and nurturing, like a mother wolf tending to her cubs. Loving and good.” He tilts his head, “There is another that is the predator, searching for blood to fulfill some carnal need. Like a wolf out in the wild, searching for its next prey. Evil and gruesome.” He gives pause to let that settle, but then speaks, “They are constantly doing battle.”
“But which one wins?” Nixa asks helplessly.
The priest smiles gently, “Which ever one you feed, Nixa.”
@-->--- End of Log ---<--@