The last note faded away, drowned out in thunderous applause. Alfrond bowed and gestured to the rest of them. Shae couldn’t restrain her smile as she bowed with the other girls. Her first performance! The rush of it was overwhelming. She tucked her hand drum under her arm and followed the others off the stage, […]
“I must commend you, I have never seen anything quite like that before.” The investor nodded. “Most entertaining.” “Thank you.” Shae beamed as Dance squeezed her hand under the table. “We’ve worked hard to make something unique. We think it will do well.” “Perhaps.” Shae felt her blood run cold. “Perhaps? I’m sure we…” […]
Then the crash so loud ringing in her ears where were they where was he when did the world become so bright and loud and cluttered lights so bright they lit up the universe yet everything was so dark so dark so lost and alone where where they where was he why wouldn’t he […]
“I lost everything. My home, my family. My riches. I miss those most of all.” The Lalafell sighed and downed his mug of ale in one gulp, an impressive feat considering the mug was almost as tall as he. “Why does everyone keep insisting on calling down these primals? No one profits. It’s just not […]
She stumbled through the strange stone streets of the Outsider city. It seemed to be endless – no matter which direction she looked, all she could see was stone buildings, ludicrously large Outsider boats, and the ocean. It was as if all of nature had been eradicated from this land. She may have felt […]
Music caught her ears. Not that there was anything unusual about music – every corner of Limsa Lominsa seemed to conceal a bard or minstrel or buckster. It would have been far more noteworthy not to hear music of some sort while walking through the city. But this music…it struck a half-forgotten responsive chord […]
“You will be constantly moving through The Dance. There are a number of reasons for this, and the entertainment value is only the smallest of them. The main reason is that, when your rings return, they will be coming back in force. The Dance is timed in such a way that your body will […]
The dance finished with a flourish as the musicians gave one last triumphant exclamation point to the masterful performance. The dancer posed, twin rings held up, one over her face, the other over her belly. Shae understood now how people might think a person was an avatar of some higher being – the woman […]
The Outsider city was dirty and squalid and disgusting, a stain on the otherwise pristine view of wide sandy shores and the heaving sea beyond. She had heard of the endless waters, of course, but she had not really believed the stories. Storytellers were wont to exaggerate, after all, and a tale of a […]
“Well, that is a nice trinket, true ‘nuff.” The merchant, a sly-eyed human male (she thought – it was so hard to tell. She assumed breasts (or lack of such) created the defining difference based on the one time she had seen male Viera) held out a hand. “Let’s see it, then.” She reached forward […]
The aberrant banemite hissed, or…rattled, or something. It was an odd sound that was difficult to describe, the sound a normal banemite might make if it had somehow grown six times larger than usual, so whatever passed for its chest cavity amplified its sound by that much. Which was, of course, exactly what had happened. […]
She left the Wood the day her mother died. It wasn’t a decision, exactly. A “decision” infers other alternatives, a conscious choice between options. But she had no choice – her mother’s passing meant passage of the fluffle to her aunt. As foster parents went, there was no one she could think of less […]
Shae (not her real name, which she left behind as well) left her home in the Wood the night her mother died in order to avoid being raised by her tyrannical aunt. She has spent many years in the Outside, most of it spent in and around Limsa Lominsa. She found herself pulled into this […]