Maintain -Koru and Xayah
Xayah had not anticipated being sent back to the Beneath. They had done their duty, and it was time to spend time in the Above with her husband - and now daughter. To learn the empyrians used to be haeidans was mind boggling and fascinating at the same time. Something she could focus on after this monumental task was complete, though.
Accompanied by her husband once more, the pair returned to the Beneath once more alongside countless others at the Elder’s urging. Alongside haedians who were seeking to save their Matriarch as well. Yet as they entered the crystallized cavern echoing with the sounds of voices and working, Xayah was once again rendered speechless. The Matriarch was something to behold, even in her confined state.
“… How do we even begin to help her?” Xayah asked her husband as she stepped aside to let a large, speckled haedian hurry by with supplies strapped to his back. “This feels… chaotic. It’s organized, but I can practically taste the stress in the air.”
—
Koru was equally as awed by the Matriarch’s appearance as his partner. She was magnificent, imposing, and yet he felt mostly sympathy for the creature. She was incapacitated by her own growth. Stuck in the earth, with glimpses of her body peeking amidst an ocean of crystals. How claustrophobic she must have been when she first found herself unable to move.
“The Matriarch is such an important figure to the Haedians, that the chance to help her- really help her, has everyone worked up. The Caregivers no doubt wish to keep her as comfortable as one can while countless Reoseans are digging at her sides,” Koru analyzed as he watched others work on the crystals climbing up the Matriarchs body. It must be so unpleasant, being stuck on the ground unable to move for Cosmosis knows how long.
“The crystals clinging to her jaw look so unpleasant,” he commented as the Matriarch feasted on the morsels of food that were placed on her tongue. Crystals restricted so much of her movement that she didn’t even chew any of the food brought over. It simply vanished with the twist of her tongue and an audible gulp. “We should join the others, my star. The crystals are endless and we’re sitting idle in such chaos.”
Gesturing to the Matriarch’s head, Koru began scaling the rocky paths down to reach the giant Haedian’s jaw. Perhaps with some gentle magic, he could chip and file away the prodding growths.
—
“All of it looks unpleasant. I can’t even imagine how all of this must feel. To constantly produce crystals and be confined and crushed by them… it has to be suffocating.” Xayah mused, feeling sympathy for the giant Haedian’s plight. “I doubt any of this feels very pleasant for her.”
At Koru’s suggestion, Xayah nodded and followed behind him easily. Tending to her comfort seemed their best course of action for now. They could figure out more to do once they got their bearings in the chaos of it all. The stone and crystals clattering away from them as they made their way towards the Matriarch’s head were lost in the cacophony around them. The sheer beauty and magnificence of the cavern would have to be put on the back-burner to be admired later.
Yet, Xayah was wide eyed again when they found themselves next to her large head. The runner paused long enough to just take in her sheer size before managing to tear her focus away to move next to Koru to start chipping away at the crystal encasing her jaw.
“There is so much to try to wrap our heads around… now isn’t the time for it, but I’m going to spend so long in the archives after this. There’s so much more to learn, to try to understand.”
—
“I’m sure Vatek can watch Keela a while longer, he understands how important all of this is for us to participate in and learn,” Koru huffed as he clipped off a particularly gnarly crystal growth. “To think all of this is unfolding during our lifetime, especially while we’re young enough to make this journey over and again.” He would thank a god for such fateful opportunity, but felt it’d be in bad taste at this very moment, standing beside the Matriarch’s ear, surrounded by her faithful.
Gods, such a fickle subject now. Oris, Empyria, and the history with Cosmosis was all unraveling and rewriting itself fin Koru’s head and he couldn’t wait to get a chance to sit in silence for hours, writing away in books handbook about all he’s learning on his second trip down to the Beneath. All the revelations and new discoveries, and most of all such a close audience to the Matriarch herself. He’d never thought much of the Elder nor did he know about the Haedian ruler, but now it was all so… close. Immediate. Impactful to his life, and that of all of Vitalus.
The glowing crystals around the large Haedian were of varying density, with fresh growth crumpling with enough force from his magic, whilst the old solidified masses remained strong. He’d be gentle now, so close to her head as she eats the Caregivers’ offerings. Perhaps later they’d have to really get their paws dirty digging into the solid mass around her neck.
—
“Your poor brother’s sanity may be worn thin if he has to watch her even more.” Xayah laughed as she worked on chipping away at the crystal growth before them, taking care to not be too rough with it all. “Keela can accompany me for those trips. She’s clung to me plenty of times in our archives.”
The tiny empyrian could simply be with her mother for those trips. She always behaved well, so Xayah wasn’t concerned about the pup causing a ruckus. Not in the archives, that is. Everywhere else was a different story. Though… Xayah briefly wondered how Keela would look as a haedian, how the empyrians were once haedians. Learning they were not the origin species was mind boggling. Never had she considered there was anything else…
“I never thought we would be apart of history in any way. Not of major significance like this, that is.” Xayah mused softly to her husband, feeling… humbled among other things. “We are one small part of a greater whole.”
More of the glowing, colorful crystal crumbled away under her hands as Xayah worked away on it. A Caregiver came around to help clear the crystal chunks away from the pair and others who were working, unknowingly adding to Xayah’s view of everyone working together as a unit. Almost like ants, in a way. They were certainly the size of ants when compared to the Matriarch.
