{Video; UN: elvenking}

[tauraran]

{He is a king without his elegant trappings - but, really, he doesn't need them. The robe he wears catches the light with the smallest of motions, glittering faintly as if precious jewels are woven in the fabric. His hair is bound into a single thick braid that lays against his back and his circlet is elsewhere - as are his rings.}

How many parents reside in Lunatia? Are you separated from your children if so? {The flickering light on the table before him is all the illumination he requires as he works on a sketch. The drawing depicts trees and a variety of animal life beneath their mighty boughs.}

My fear for my son increases by the day and I have found no relief for it. I hardly realized how helpless I could feel as a father.

{His attention shifts from the sketch of the forest to a second sketch of a face much like his own - yet different enough that it must be his son.}

Comments

[ragingnature]

If you think I'm charming now you should meet me when I'm myself. [ She flashes what passes for a smile in her current form, really it's just a bunch of sharp teeth. Maybe the small white flowers bloom atop her head and along her horns help make up for that. ]

Oh, don't worry. I have a roommate and while he's not the best cook he's able to help in the kitchen.

[tauraran]

{He chuckles, which should tell her she has been successful in her endeavor to charm him further.}

I would be honored. Those from my world are not nearly as colorful as you.

{Unless they include the Vala and Maia - who can take on any shape or color they please.}

Have you developed an appetite for meat?

[ragingnature]

I'm more accustomed to people being brightly coloured like myself. Unless they're human.

Sanguis tends to bring with it a desire for blood... Though this body doesn't seem to appreciate my typically vegetarian diet.

[tauraran]

I am not of the race of Men. I am an Elf. {He turns his head to let her see his pointed ears.} My race was created after the Valar and the Maiar.

{Which makes them, basically, the oldest race walking/living on Arda.}

No, it wouldn't. Listen to what it tells you; I do not think you will thrive on vegetables.

[ragingnature]

Oh. I mostly meant that about back home. There's a lot of different kinds of mortals and immortals here thanks to the way this world works.

[ There's a soft grumbling huff from her. ]

Maybe I can just stick to eating eggs until I change back.

[tauraran]

That is so. What do you think of the other immortals you have met?

{He has yet to meet many, he presumes? But it would be difficult for him to tell from sight or sound alone.}

Do you think poorly of carnivores? They were created to hunt for their food; to keep the herds in check. Without them, we would be overrun with various creatures and they would starve for lack of nourishment.

[ragingnature]

I actually haven't met that many. But I know if the magic of this world is powerful enough to bring in us gods then there must be others.

No. I know they're necessary to the circle of life and I don't fault anyone that chooses to eat meat. I simply don't. I've never seen much a reason to do so and grew up in a community where the majority of our meals came from what we grew.

[tauraran]

I recall a king who had skin almost as vibrant as yours. He spoke of the Underworld?

{Thranduil and Hades should be bros for life.}

I respect your reasoning and I too do not eat much meat. Sometimes we hunt in my realm to keep populations healthy and, of course, the meat does not go to waste.

[ragingnature]

Oh, you met Hades! [ The white flowers that had previously bloomed shift to a shade of blue that matches the King. The tip of her tail wags back and forth, softly thumping again the couch she's been resting on. ]

That is a noble way to do things.

[tauraran]

That was his name, yes. {Now that is a surprising reaction! What is she to Hades? Someone special, he thinks.}

How do you know him? {He can't help but ask.}

My kingdom is not just my people; it includes the wildlife too.

[ragingnature]

Um. [ If she knew she could still blush as a dragon she wouldn't have ever turned video on. But there is a very obvious hot pink glow that spreads across her scaley little cheeks. ]

We're from the same world. I haven't known him for very long though.

That makes sense.

[tauraran]

{Adorable. Even a frosty Elven-King can't resist smiling softly at that blush.}

He is very kind. We spoke of death and his way of determining where a soul should go.

{The answers had both soothed and impressed him, frankly.}

[ragingnature]

Oh?

[ Her giddiness subsides a little because she does not agree with everything he has set up. ]

I recently started interning in the Underworld and sort of help with that process.

[tauraran]

You do not agree with it? {Losing anyone is difficult - heart-breaking even - however it is natural for most species/races.}

[ragingnature]

I never said anything about disagreeing with his policies but... [ Should she get into it? ]

Well, he does make those buried without an obol wait for a hundred years before they can move on. Which is so unfair! The dead shouldn't be punished just because they couldn't get a proper burial for whatever reason.

[tauraran]

Forgive me. You only seemed...hesitant. {He is confused about what an obol could be, but he presumes it is a traditional funerary practice.}

Where do they wait for a hundred years? Is it a desolate place?

[ragingnature]

Ah... [ She doesn't always realize how transparent she can be. ]

They wait on the shore of the Acheron, which is one of the rivers in the Underworld. It's...well, there's rocks and some bits of buildings but there didn't look to be a lot else from what little I saw.

We didn't stay long because the Shades started to get a little restless with me around.

[tauraran]

{He can see her problem with the Underworld's law and he nods after a short pause.}

That doesn't seem fair, I agree with you. {The living are the ones who failed them; not the other way around.} The living should be punished; not the dead. Haven't they suffered enough?

Why do they react to you? Can they sense you are a goddess?

[ragingnature]

Exactly!

[ She lets out an amused huff. ] You know, not everyone working in the Underworld or Olympus are gods.

But...yeah. They kept asking for favours that only a fertility goddess could grant. And I'm... [ Her little brow furrows before she shakes her head. ] I might be, I don't know. I really need to speak to my mother.

[tauraran]

That is likely so, however you give off a certain feeling. You remind me of one of the Valar. {Much like Hades had.}

It seems strange to me that your mother would keep your identity a secret. {Strange and unhelpful.} Do you like the idea of helping things grow from seed to flower?

[ragingnature]

Well, in my case I am the Goddess of Spring. Growing flowers and other plants is kind of everything my abilities encompass. But I suppose since I'm supposed to be joining the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood she didn't think it would be helpful if I knew I was a fertility goddess?

Maybe she doesn't know... [ Though she doubts that. How could her mother not know? ]

[tauraran]

I would not say Eternal Maidenhood is your...ah...calling? {There is a tinge of amusement in his voice, but it isn't cruel.} I do not know how gods manifest their powers, yet would it not follow that since you can grow flowers, you could also grow a child in a mother's womb?

[ragingnature]

When I was younger it seemed like something I could do. Now... It certainly isn't. [ She sighs and lowers her head. ]

Um, I don't think it would work like that. I think... I think maybe I could make a woman or a man more fertile but they'd still have to do things the natural way? Similar to blessing lands so that the crops planted in it grow healthy and plentiful.

I honestly don't know how being a fertility goddess is supposed to work.

[tauraran]

No child should be considering such things. {Unless their parents are failing them utterly!}

Regardless it leads to the same outcome, does it not? All children are born from "seeds"; the "seeds" only vary greatly in size and shape. {Most of them come from eggs, which could technically be equated to a plant seed, yes?}

You will learn by doing.

[ragingnature]

Yes, I suppose so. But unlike with plants, which I can grow from nothing, I'm fairly certain I couldn't grow a person. [ Except she probably could. After all, she and many of the goddesses were made rather than born. ]

I wouldn't even know where to start.