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"All that glitters is not gold." Alouette became familiarized with these words all too well, and as she stumbled onto the shores of a land foriegn to her, her voice did not faulter in producing this cant. The remaining pieces which had made up her human form fatigued worse than she had been in her longest venture, she sat upon the boulder overlooking the sea and thought of the events which had transpired to lead her here.
As Alouette ogled her reflection with a small sigh, a breeze just forceful enough billow her cloak had blown the thin hood off the scalp it sat upon. Lustrous strands of what closely resembled spun gold fell upon her shoulders, bringing to life her drab brown gaze. As she turned away from the mirrored image with disgust, she heard a sound that was unmistakable for a trained ear, the noise coins would create when shifting in one's purse. Her senses had sprung to life then, reminiscing of the differing aspects of gold. The tang of metal as one would bite down upon a coin to authenticate its worth, the weight of a bar in her hand, the shine produced by the precious metal having been polished with a loving touch. There was only one sense she couldn't account for. As desperately as she tried to imagine the scent filling her nostrils, it seemed as if she were trying to remember a dream too vague. The tavern door was being exercised by the inflow of patrons, and she followed in tow, hoping to catch glimpses of coin parting from one hand only to occupy another.
Taking a seat in a corner booth, the serving wench made swift effort in approaching her. What will you have today?" Alouette thought for a moment, peering around the waifish woman as if her presence was little more than a complete nuisance. "Tea." She spoke curtly, her impolitness causing the woman's friendly smile to wane. "Very well, Miss." She would have no hope for any moments contemplation amongst the slurred chatter of rowdy men, the sound of boisterous laughter reverberating against the confines of the small space. When made up to her preferences and placed before her, all she could do is watch the tendrils of steam rising from the watery beverage for it would be too difficult an action for her hands to perform in bringing it to her lips. She had a cross to bear for her past transgressions, one too obvious and bulky to conceal. Even now as she sat, she struggled positioning the stiff wood until resigning with a sigh, rising from the shaded booth and coming upon the door with hurried movements. "Just give the tea to one of the destitute lot for me."
Pausing as she took one last looking around, her gaze fell to the dusty floorboards. "Although having been victims of circumstance, they weren't unscathed of the devastations of my past lootings." Alouette urged the woman to lighten her pocket of a gold piece for her troubles and was out the door. The steady plodding of her peculiar staff upon the cobbled street, she turned the heads of all she passed. The townspeople simply eyed her contemptuously, and shook their heads. She had become famous upon these streets, but this had earned her the shun of the community. She was the subject of much ridicule, having incurred the wrath of the Gods for her actions in her previous line of work. The tiny offspring which littered the streets from dawn to dusk had regarded her with laughter and the protrudence of their little pink tongues. "How heavy is the cross today, 'Luette? Heavy with the contents of the coffers you had emptied? The alms you had appropriated by false means?" When the people were sufficed upon her receiving their verbal lashings, Alouette crossed the threshold leading away from civilization.
A stray jest or two had followed in tow, as if the hateful words had latched onto the tail end of the tattered garment that was draped about her small frame.The radiant orb of the sun beheld the world below. It, like its lunar sibling, ever the watchful orifices upon the valorous and infernal actions of man, shedding light upon every shameful secret they harbored. She knew that these eyes belonged to the Ayilta, the Sky Being. Alouette had heard tales of the deities bestowing gifts upon a pure and faithful heart, but she had seen firsthand how vengeful they could be to those that are impure of thought and deed.
Sure it wasn't the worst of woes that could haven befallen her, but her palate was an arid landscape and she couldn't extract even a drop of saliva to quench her parched throat. Atone had spared her from what would be a swiftly approaching death from dehydration and starvation, but cursed her thoughts to run rampant of the memories of tasting such savory delacacies and drink. She seemed to be cured for life of hunger, of thirst, of sleep. Most would count these as blessings, but she had not transcended the mortal coil. Each year she would grow older, her body would feel the tolls of age and strife. She looked to her hands, seeing that the black fingernails were brittle and the laquer was flaking off. As much as she tried to turn her focus elsewhere, her attention was drawn to the silver spike that bound her left hand to what appeared to be large staff enameled of white and gold, and its twin fastened to a crystal orb. A she moved, a sanguineous liquid sloshed about, it seemed to be her cruor trapped inside of the strange gem. A scale was affixed to each end of the staff, an old, worn skull inhabiting one and several bars of gold and loose coins filling the other. She was used to the pain by now, but had no use of her hands. It was another stipulation of the curse upon her, the only movement her hands permitted lay in her fingers, which she was able to flex and stretch from time to time.
The Goddess that afflicted her with such a castigation had not been completely unkind, for she had imbued Alouette with a tongue to weave some meager conjurations, and to afflict those with punishments befitting the crimes they had comitted. She would only be allowed a small respite from her ventures, but her duty to roam the earth and scourge the troubled souls had eaten at her all the while. Alouette sighed, arching her back and wincing as she could not lift a hand to shield her from the harsh light of day.
Since Alouette had not a free hand to perform the sign of her faith, she quickly observed the sky in genuflection before announcing the name of the Goddess. "Azriel Yula Atone. She was just to cast such judgment upon me. My thievery knew no bounds. I was not a mere member of the common rabble and cutpurses, the unpracticed spelunkers and looters. I, single handedly impoverished the peoples of this land. They lay listless in the streets, and still did I spare them? They were too emanciated and frail to defend their earnings, their heirlooms. I've robbed them of their lives as I also relieved them of their remaining trinkets. I've shed so much blood all in the name of profit, of gold, silver and glittering gems. I was but an unwelcome visitor in delapidated homes and grand palaces. From the humblest of fanes, to the most grandiose of holy structure, I was a blight upon their coffers. I've even stolen the golden idols of worship, and scoffed at the consequences of doing so."
Her hands were held high above her knelt form, causing twinges of pain to travel along her sinewy muscles. Her head was bowed, her tawny gaze concealed behind heavy lids. "You, too, have sinned against the Gods. I am but an instrument, an extension of Atone's will. Your transgressions have not gone unnoticed." She rose rather unsteadily, slowly turning to face her visitor. "Octavion. I know of your murderous deeds. It is a befouling stench you haven't cleansed yourself of. I do not think it is even possible for this to be absolved, for the Goddess has turned but a deaf ear to you." The scales swayed in the balmy breeze, causing much of the loose coin to spill onto the ground. It seemed as if the shining currency would be lost forever amongst the grass and earth, but each and every one was accounted for by a twist of tongue, magickally appearing back upon the rest of the pile.
Since this unwieldy device was a cruel whim of Atone, her flesh couldn't be parted from it, nor could it be defiled in any way. Perhaps the gold bars had caught the hungry gaze of bandits, but if they had even attempted to lessen the weight by one coin, they would have been smote by the Divines before their fingertips touched down upon it. Who would dare anyway? Atone's name wasn't a scarce thing upon the lips of mortals. It was often boldly spoken upon the lips of saints and said with less courage upon those besmirched with the stains of their wrong doings. Still there are some that speak it with much hesitation, only after their hearts become too ladden with the weight of their guilt. She brandished the staff as if it were a symbol that was only reserved for the use of clergy, parting her lips just enough to permit words to roll off of her tongue. "Will you speak it? Before the heavens, will you speak the name of Atone and confess before both Gods and Devils?"
Alouette had presented the rigid staff before Octavion's very gaze, so that the relic manifested of Atone's accursed design would seize him, to force a contrite admittance of his horrible secrets. It was an immaculate thing, unflawed by the slightest of imperfections. The ornate, intricately whorling bark was forged into existance to serve as both a curse and a gift, for it may serve as a direct essence of Atone's divinity. "Behold the staff and you shall quake, for you stand now upon the precipice of your damnation." His unsuccessful attempt at evasion had transported him back to the place he stood only moments before. The blades of grass were bent in an impression of his feet. "Do you wish for the ever burning flames to lap at your body, your soul? You cannot escape your fate!"Her tone was fervored in context, but her voice was monotonous, manufactured.She did not smile or frown, and her eyes were not alit with fury. The flesh of her face seemed but a masque of dead skin and muscle, that lie atop of bone like unworked clay. Her eyes were hollow gateways to her soul, his visage painted upon brown hued irises.
Whether he plead to the heavens above or reviled them, it did not matter. She would have to perform the rites which would chastise him for his wickedness. She couldn't simply turn her cheek, or ignore her orders. This would be a worse grievance than blasphemy. Her instructions were penned by the hand of Atone, forever ingrained upon her labrinthian mind. The blood that coursed through her veins pump throughout her small form to the symphony of the ethereal beings, her heartbeat drummed with the vigor bestowed upon her. "You have been weighed, measured, and found wanting." The silver buckets bobbed about as she moved, contents shifting as she stepped to close in on Octavion as if she sought to snuff out all the oxygen around him, despite being outdoors. She sought to suffocate him, as if his struggle for normal respiratory function would coerce an avowal of his misdeeds, and worthy himself for Atone's forgiveness. "Does your tongue lie still? Such arrogance shall be the death of you, lest you forsake this reckoning. The truth shall ever ring within your soul, wrought with the torment of your crimes." The air seemed to grow cold then, frigid fingers tearing at her cloak as if in a such a motion to snatch it from the body the sable colored cloth had enveloped. Her flesh did not seem to react to the sensation of the benumbing weather, the winds seemed to be conjured of the deepest part of the forest where not even the tiniest beam of sunlight could pierce the heavily leafed treetops. "You shall feel the humiliation of a death before the eyes of the community, under the light of the moon. You shall feel the venom of the crowd, recceiving not an ounce of sympathy but revulsion in its stead. As dawn breaks over the horizon, you will wake from your earthen slumber anew, but with the memories and scarrifications of your said deaths, so that you may behold your marred vessel and suffer the consequence of your actions always."
The newcomer was acknowledged in a state of mingling confusion and anger, her words stalled in her throat. Then, she observed his predicament. Beads of perspiration had bloomed upon his skin, it was apparent that he was agonized by some sort of adversity. She knew not how to approach this pained creature. "Much woe betides you." Alouette stated the obvious, planting the bottom of her staff into a patch of barren earth. "Are you also wracked with suffering for a trespass that weighs heavily on your soul?" His body reacted in such a way that it appeared he was smote by lightning, causing him to convulse before her. "Were you covetous,lustful, or...was it more sinister? Do you seek to be bathed in blood that will cleanse you of your immoralities? Speak the name of the Goddess and recant!" The blood contained within the walls of the crystal orb began to roil with a thunderous sound. If one were to witness it, it would seem as if the bubbling juices stirred to such a sudden increase of heat that it threatened to escape the sanctuary within in an eruption of broken glass.
After several moments of examining under a keen gaze, Alouette shook her head softly. "It seems that this unfortunate fellow had trifled with the Gods, and what heedless of the consequences of what would be to come of doing so." She could only utter a few last words his direction in parting, "I pray Atone has mercy on your soul." Her concentration was once again directed to Octavion. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tonight will be the last of your mortal life unerred by the ravages of death. A strong imbibement perhaps? Alcohol could be one's most cherished friend at a time like this. What of your most baser appetites? Of course, I cannot help you with those." She started back into town, leaving Octavion and the mysterious man behind.
The streets were abuzz with excited chatter, forming thrown together committees as if to discuss crudely formed ideas for the festivities which would be taking place at darkfall. The gleeful cries of celebration became like a living entity,conjured into being by the sheer merriment and humor of what was supposed to be a wholly somber and sedated occasion. Did they not care that the the heavens will become ablaze with the fires that would gredily consume one of their own, that his flesh and bone would be reduced to ash before their very gazes? They almost seem to beseech the Gods that this would come sooner. Alouette maneuvered through the crowded 'square. It seemed only merely moments after she had cast such dire judgement on Octavion, yet a pyre had already been erected in his name. The melodical clang of the crier's bell seemed add a musical tone to the situation, the raucous noise of song and dance of the drunkards after becoming inspired of sipping on liquid courage. She hoped that he would join accompany her this day, for it seemed a rather morbid notion that he would wish to spend his remaining time alone.
She stepped into the tavern, feeling herself becoming upswept in the tide of new arrivals. Alouette attempted to smite at the hands that seemed to probe her frail form, but felt herself falling under their clusmy grasps before she could utilize her staff. Mead and wine continued to flow, and she had to squirm out of the way or become trod upon as if she were fresh soil. Even the Lawmen had taken up drinking, so there was none to enforce order in the chaotic streets. She searched for Octavion in thought, as if she could transmit a telepathic beacon his way. Soon the interior of the hovel was further put into disarray, loutish men assailing one another with their fists and and tankards.
She heard the sound of breaking glass as the body of an especially rotund individual collided with the window, and his body landed in an askew position outside. She feared becoming trampled, and it was not an easy task to migrate to safety through the inebriated lot. The others began taking their place before the stage the convict would grace later that night. It was as if these people wished for an unobscured look of their own reflections in his gaze, feel the heat of the burning effigy. The community seemed to crave bloodshed in all of its forms.
She suddenly became emboldened by the asperity of her patron Goddess, as if she was but a conduit for the roiling cruor that now surged up the length of the staff, seeking an import to her veins. She became an idol of vengeance, rising from the floor as if guided under arm by unseen beings. "Jubilee upon a day that one of your peers is condemned to face his execution , such impertinence. Becoming inebriated upon the wines that flow in celebration in lieu of such a grave matter. The bottom of the staff struck the floorboards, sending both living forms and inanimate structure to encounter one another with painful results to the former of the two. The drunken individuals stumbled to their feet, easing away from the female utilizing swaying scales. Most were too hesitant or too intoxicated to control their bodies enough to divert from her path.
"You shall suffer for your mockeries as Octavion struggles with coming to terms of his impending execution! The energies of your derision and antipathy have festered within you, and you shall wear the pox you placed upon yourselves!" The multitude of people which had occupied the tavern had begun to exhibit the signs of judgment cast down upon them from Atone. Flesh had yielded from bone, displaying bloody rifts upon what had been canvases previously unblemished, but a abrupt turn of cheek had been not enough to satisfy the Goddess. The maimed herd wailed their repentance for their actions, but Alouette continued to rain down wrath at its most absolute form.
They looked as if they were cast into sanguinary waters, most were sputtering on the vital fluid that filled them from wounds which were located in inconspicuous places. She could hear bones fracturing, as if they had stood a persecuted lot before their peers that were armed with the favored, albeit crude projectile arsenal of their age. Smoldering embers manifested upon their skin, boring holes into pliable tissues. "Now, that's I've caputured the audience befitting of a vessel of the Divine Atone.." She cleared her throat authoritatively, hearing naught but the sounds of a sinewy membrane working upon the faces she beheld to seal their tongues within. "We shall treat this solemn occasion as what it should be." She surveyed the butchered masses, directing the tip of the staff at a point toward the door. The wooden wall was obliterated, showering the town in splintering bits. "We shan't be late, tis almost sundown." Her voice returned to a tone that was normal for her, as she felt the power of the Goddess that had seized her body departing.
She made her way to Ulfric, a blush upon her rather drained pallor. "I do apologize for that ..spectacle. Are you quite alright? I'm certain I could find something to dress your wounds if you wish for my aid. She had heeded his words, finding no way to answer them at that moment. She shook her head softly, recounting the curse she had placed upon the man, and that he was to be executed. He seemed have already realized this, as it was most difficult to keep such a discovery a secret amongst the petite community.
"His crimes of murder shall not remain disregarded, and the reproof of a hallowed tongue shall lash him until his parting breath." Upon becoming engrossed in both conversation and the nagging curiousity of the man before her, she had not noticed the sun sinking upon the horizon. "I suppose it is time." She ushered the people out of the tavern, which was filled to capacity. The crowd witnessed his absolution in the form of a sanctified fire, in silence. She bowed her head, shutting away the sight of his crisping flesh.
She had just realized that their chance meeting was devoid of introduction. They spoke as strangers, but she was certain to remedy such a gaffe on her part, and privy him to her identity. "I am Alouette. What name do you own? Her facial features softened, although some of Octavion's cremated remnants were aloft in her direction and she was unable to lift a hand to bat at the air that tickled her nostrils. Embers that alit the night like fireflies stung her eyes, making them lacrimate a salty substance that mingled with his ash to sooty her cheeks. This nuisance played at the muscles beneath her epidermis, causing her eyes to open and shut rapidly, her nose and lips to twitch. Suddenly, it appeared that she was touched with a soothing hand, one that was undetectable to the people around her.
"Atone is an unforgiving Goddess. The hale of the Trinity." Her composed form went through a rather violent transition then. she had surrendered control of the appendages that were unattached to the cumbersome rod, piting her against the convulsions that overwhelmed the sylphlike female and and brought her to her knees. "So you say that -my- judgement is unwarranted? Have I erred somehow?" Something writhed within Alouette's form, and she then fully succumbed to the conflict occuring in her, and the entity revealed itself upon her flesh in the form of smoldering fissures that exuded a molten cruor. As she became alivened within the human husk, Alouette's head was thrusted back so that the Goddess could behold the man with a turbulent gaze. "I -am- Atonement..but these pitiful specks do not deserve my absolution... the disgraceful, the unrepenting! The vulgar, weak, liscentious lot! I shall rise the very flames of perdition to enkindle the land, I shall bring down torrents to cleanse the wicked from the face of the earth!"
The very ferocity of her voice had obliterated most of the sound structure about them, and the town's inhabitants were given the gift of flight in a violent upheaval, although the one she was communicating with remained unscathed by her whim. "What roils within you? You do not suffer afflictions by my doing, so what wracks your body?" Alouette rose, making her way upon the charred corpse that was Octavion. "Octavion, I bid you to stir within your expired form, I bid you to awaken, and your body shall shudder with its first breath!"
"Silence! You may be the harbinger of a wholly benevolent God, but I will not have you sully my ears with such nonsense. These mortals need to be chastised, they need to be disciplined! Or the sin in their hearts will run rampant, and consume everything upon this temporal plane. The fetor of the chaos that eats them from the inside will despoil the earth, and it will become a ruinous landscape where nothing shall thrive!"With that, the uncompassionate being was evulsed of Alouette, who collapsed upon the flinty soil. Her hands showed no wear of the ordeal,fortified flesh reinforced to her staff, so she would evermore wear the stigma cast upon her. The rest of her weary body had not escaped the trial without blemish, for she was branded with a lattice work of scarring. "It is a delight to make your aquaintance, then." A rosy tinct to her cheeks, she turned briefly to eye the plume of smoke that rose from the kindling at the base of the pyre. Then she assessed the destruction of the town, becoming disheartened that the population was reduced to such an extreme, that their homes were banished from the plot of land they were erected upon. She recalled his words prior to her metamorphosis, and closed the gap between them.
"I show concern because I am a compassionate creature amongst those of hardened hearts. "Antipathy is a sin. It is a gateway for more grave of transgressions, as you've witnessed a few moments ago. The people extended not a prayer for the salvation of this man. A stipulation of his curse was that his peers may not reflect sympathy unto him, but it is ultimately one's free will that could have meet this with opposition. Instead they chose to surrender to their predilections of hatred for those who are different, and the tavern roared unto the heavens in their carousal." Alouette's voice lowered in decibel, and strummed upon timid vocal chords. "You must be famished, good Sir. I have some coin I could part with if you'd care to join me for a meal. The neighboring town is famous for its bistro. There are also many shoppes that offer a bargain for their provisions, if you may require anything." With a soft nod, she then turned in said direction of the next town, looking upon the rooftops that seemed to reach miles into the sky from the close vicinity they were standing.
Although the harshness of his words had not riled a discernible display out outward emotion, her inner feelings were like an eye of a storm, the momentary calm that would lull one into a false sense of safety. "Do you think I receive some sort of enjoyment of this? Do you perceive me as not standing here before you, but with my feet prancing and my hips in gyration to the sounds of my own merriment? If so, your eyes must be plagued by illusion or you must be suffering from a psychosis of which there is -no cure for!- I am but one of the unforgiven, castigated by Atone for my previous exploits. I am but her vessel, she had deemed me worthy to inhabit her body, to enforce her order! I wish not to incur her wrath again, for my weak form could not survive such..malediction. Look at me!"
She mustered her strength in attempting to pry her hands from the cumbersome relic, to show him that the spikes would be driven deeper into the wood. This act had caused her much pain, that would overwhelm the tranquility of her features. "Wouldn't you think that perhaps I could be inclined to use my hands, if tempted with coin or beverage? My palate yearns for the tastes of food and drink, the bite of whiskey and pungent spices of curried lamb! I am forever relieved of having to partake of these as a way to sustain life, but flavors dancing upon my tongue shall be like the ravages of time upon dream once so vivid. I suppose I had taken these petty endeavors for granted when I possessed the capabilities to sup."She frowned, feeling insulted and rejected by Ulfric.
"It pains my heart that through my veins, I brought life to my Goddess. My body was just an instrument for her to dole out destruction, my legs were but a vehicle for her Divine form." In a flash of premonition, she would see two silhouettes. "There are two overlooking our conversation." Alouette uttered, oblivious to anything else taking place at that moment. Unbeknownst to both God and mortal, there was to be some strange energies coming from the new presences which would interfere with the efforts of Atone, channeled through the human conductor she inhabited.
