Free At Last

It was odd to live her life day to day. No black outs. No missing time. No waking up in strange places without any clue as to how she’d gotten there, how long she’d been missing. No coming to and finding herself covered in blood, surrounded by corpses, or a myriad of other alarming circumstances. No fear.

And not only that, but to have answers. All this time, she’d simply had no idea that she’d been sharing her consciousness with two other women, women that were her... and yet, nothing like her at all. Particularly Thana, the scary one. One look at that woman had been all it had taken to be shaken to her core, and Calliope, as she was now calling herself, was grateful that the woman was dead. Aeron had seemed just as shaken by the experience, her and Calliope both now free from the dark mage’s influence, able to carve their own separate paths, yet both sharing similar struggles from the fissure of her soul. It would take time – a lot of time. She didn’t know what the future held for her now, but as scary as that was… Calliope had never felt so alive, so whole.

Then again, motherhood had a way of making a woman glow. During the months that she had been waiting for Nathaniel to find her, Calliope had discovered that she was with child, though she hadn’t known how that was possible. She wasn’t a virgin, certainly, but she had not had sex with anyone in quite some time. It was only after Mythal had separated the three fractions of her spirit and Thana had been killed when Calliope had learned the truth about how she had come with child, a truth that was both terrifying and also relieving. It had been difficult to grasp at first, but at the end of the day all that mattered to her was that the child was Nat’s, and she certainly harbored no ill will toward him for what had happened. The only thing she was was happy. Well and truly happy.

But she needed to find a place to settle, now that everything had calmed down. The leaders of the Rune Knights, Serilda and Mythal, had graciously let her stay with them for a time as Calliope finished out the term of her pregnancy. It hadn’t been too long since Serilda had also born children, so the couple was more than prepared to help Calliope learn everything she needed and to have a support system to get her through. She had Nathaniel, too, of course – though due to his criminal history, he was still going through rehabilitation in prison. Calliope hoped he would be out sooner rather than later, and then they could figure out the next steps, but for now she was on her own. She knew she couldn’t stay with Mythal and Serilda forever, and as much as she appreciated their generosity, she did not want to overstay her welcome.

So, once she was ready, she asked them for help with finding a new guild. Calliope had visited a couple of the ones that had been recommended to her already, but had yet to make a choice. All of them were lovely places with kind and curious people, but none had yet to truly strike a chord of belonging in her. Today, she would visit yet another: a fairly newer legal guild known as Luminous Rose. Serilda had been there before and worked with one of its members on a job, so the noblewoman was able to tell her what to look for in order to make it to the hidden entrance. It took a little wandering to find the ravine that led to the caverns which the guild’s members called home, but the sight when she finally arrived was breathtaking. In a way it reminded her of the home she once had with Elysium, though brighter and less dreary.

Not really sure where to start, Calliope simply meandered slowly through what appeared to be an underground city of sorts, her mismatched brown and pink eyes nearly unable to hold still from trying to see everything at once. She wore a sleeveless white top that was trimmed in black with a small window over her chest, and a comfortable pair of jeans. Her pink and brown hair was comfortably down. Swaddled to her chest was an infant that was only a couple months old at least, with short blonde hair, the babe sleeping comfortably against her mother’s chest. After a few minutes of looking around, Calliope decided it would probably be best to ask for assistance. Looking for someone bearing a guild mark, she approached the first person she saw. “Hi there, I’m sorry to bother you,” she said with a polite smile, her voice on the more quiet and soft side. “I am looking for a guild to join. Luminous Rose was recommended to me by a friend, so I was hoping to get some information… I don’t suppose you would mind pointing me in the right direction?”

Before the person she approached even had a chance to respond, Calliope heard someone else speak up from behind her. With a blink she turned and saw a taller woman – granted, everyone was taller than Calliope – with blonde hair standing nearby and introducing herself. Excusing herself to the other person she’d tried to talk to with an apologetic smile, she turned to Lucia. “It’s nice to meet you, Lucia. My name is Calliope Foster. I-”

She blinked once more in surprise, her words cut off as another individual practically materialized in the air beside them. It was another woman, this one with white hair and curved horns protruding from her skull. The woman was practically laser locked onto the child swaddled against Calliope’s chest, exclaiming her excitement in a language that Calliope did not recognize. As if sensing that she was perhaps being a bit overeager about a complete stranger’s baby, the woman took a step back out of Calliope’s personal space and apologized with a bow.

Most people might have been put off by someone they didn’t know invading their personal space, but Calliope wasn’t one of those people. She had fairly good people skills, but her experience with social norms was extremely limited, so she had never grown up learning a lot of behaviors that were culturally accepted as normal. As such, rather than being bothered, she was simply surprised, and her surprise grew into a small but bright smile as the woman complimented her daughter.

“It’s okay! I’m not bothered by it. She is pretty adorable, isn’t she?” Gleaming with pride, Calliope smiled down at the sleeping child, only to discover that she’d actually woken up at some point without her noticing. Loosening the straps, she carefully pulled the little girl out of the sling and turned her around, holding her so the baby would be facing outward where the other two women could see and interact with her more directly. “Her name is Meika.”

Meika looked up at Lucia and the horned woman with big, bright, pink eyes. Calliope pulled a soft plush toy in the shape of a vulcan monkey from one of her pockets and offered it to the little girl, who accepted it with a series of incoherent babbling. “Anyway, I don’t suppose either of you could help me out? I’m looking for a guild to join. Luminous Rose was recommended to me by a friend. I was hoping to get some more information to see if it would be a good fit for me.”

The plush toy went flying gently as Meika, in all her infant glory, accidentally threw it right at Lucia. “Oops! Oh I’m so sorry…”

The words of apology had barely finished escaping her lips when yet another new arrival joined their little group. The newcomer was only a few inches taller than Calliope, with vibrant blonde hair and a set of mismatched eyes like Calliope’s, though with different colors. The woman caught the plush vulcan before it could hit Lucia, snatched it so swiftly out of the air that it left the mother a little stunned. She gave the woman a small but bright smile as she took the offered toy back. “Great catch..!”

Holding the toy back in front of Meika, Calliope listened to the brief exchange while the little girl continued to babble and slap her hands around the toy, her attention constantly back and forth between the vulcan and Kanna. This new woman introduced herself as Nita, one of the guild’s aces, and a name that Calliope immediately recognized. Even as Lucia confirmed that this woman would be a good source of information for learning more about the guild, Calliope’s smile widened. “Oh! Nita! You were actually the one I was hoping to run into!”

Fussing a bit with the sling to loosen it, Calliope lifted Meika out of the device and held her quite trustingly out toward Kanna. “Here you go!” Clearly, Calliope didn’t have much of a sense of stranger danger, though in truth she greatly felt that there was no reason to worry. It wasn’t like this was a dark guild, afterall, and Kanna clearly was transfixed on the child and wanting to play with her. It would allow the newer mother a chance to take a break from holding her, giving her back a small rest.

Then, she turned to the two blond women, primarily Nita. “My name is Calliope. I mentioned to Lucia and Kanna that I was here trying to learn more about your guild because I am looking for one to join. This one was recommended to me by Serilda Sinclair. She told me that she worked a job with you once, and was impressed with you. She thought this guild could be a good fit for me…”

“You see, I recently… lost my magic, which was stolen from me. It’s a long story…” A long story that Calliope felt she would need to tell before being inducted into the guild – any guild. There was a somewhat somber expression breaking through her otherwise light and cheery attitude, a sign that the memories were still a bit raw and something that she was still struggling with. “Serilda and her fiance have been trying to help me get back on my feet. They have been very generous to me but I… I need to find my own place in the world, you know?”

From her tone, it was obvious that the decision to start moving on was her own, and not that the Rune Knight leaders were kicking her out or anything along those lines. She simply didn’t wish to overstay her welcome or abuse their generosity. “I used to be in a guild before, and I really loved it, but that guild disbanded some time ago. And even if it was still around, it… wouldn’t be the right place for me, anymore. I need a fresh start with a place that can hopefully help me learn magic again so I can take care of myself and my little one, here, without having to completely rely on others around me.”