Athynae Sarethi: The Making of a Princess, Entries from Athynae's childhood journals Options

[Athynae]

Hey guys, well seeing as Athynae and sometimes Athlain's antics as children have been referenced in Blood on the Moon and each time I have found myself writing the "memory", mostly in an effort to better understand her, I thought I would share some of those blasts from the past with you. The entries will not necessarily be in order, just snapshots from here and there at different ages and occasionally some entries from the PoV of other friends and family just to add some spice. The first entry will be the story of Athynae getting her first journal and why.




I hope you enjoy Athynae's childhood antics, I have sure had fun writing the handful that I have so far. Even better are some of the "memories" from others who know her. Just be cautious while reading with any beverages close as she has a tendency to speak her mind (like you didn't know that) and we all know what that can mean when a child is involved.




"Mama are housecats baby Khajiitt??" While standing next to a family of Khajiit in market square kind of thing.




*Note: It has been pointed out that Athynae seems a bit mature for her age in some of the entries and if I were gauging her by my two eldest children that would be true(quite normal but no less wonderful), however two ideas mingled together in regard to her intelligence and maturity; One- She is her own person and there is no comparing her to anyone on that level; Two- I sort of combined my two youngest children, my daughter who is and always has been an adult (just ask her) and my son who, at the age of two, slipped out the sliding glass door, off of the deck that was 5 feet off the ground (we have no idea how he did it), climbed the fence and went to the neighbor's to help him work on a car, oh, and he only had on a pull-up, my motorcycle goggles and his sister's paten leather dress shoes.




Please do what you do, comment, correct, suggest but most of all I hope you enjoy.





Athynae Serethi- The Making of a Princess…





I dedicate this endeavor to the three people who are responsible for Athynae's existence:




minque for creating her and graciously sharing her with treydog




treydog for making her a part of Athlain's world and subsequently introducing me to her through his story then allowing me to become her writer




and of course




Black Hand who has allowed me to make Seth such an important person in Athynae's life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

This post has been edited by Athynae: Feb 3 2012, 03:09 AM

[Athynae]

And now part 2 of Payback

Thyna has learned that the Treyson Terrors, Mae and Cai, overheard Berwain discussing dosing his guar with a fortify speed potion before the race. She was quite angry with the girls for their part, causing Thyna to have to conceded the win because her guar was dosed by them, but upon hearing why they did it she is still quite peeved with them but not nearly as much as she is at Berwain...

Let's see what happens next....

"Athynae?" Mother's voice broke through my concentration as I sat reading one of the books on ancient magic. "I apologize for being late but I had visitors. Berwain's parents came to see me." I almost landed in the floor when I spun around on the stool where I was sitting.

"What? Why would they come and see you? To apologize for that cheat they call a son?" The sting of what had happened was still quite fresh, half a day and an entire night had passed and I was still so steamed I hadn't even thought about what I was going to do. It was never a good idea to lay the ground work for a plan when you were still this angry, something was bound to go wrong.

"Young lady I will not have you speaking like that about someone. He is still a person. Do you understand me?" She already had her 'loons in a twist and I had just given them another turn.

"Yes ma'am but Mother I am only speaking the truth. And if he hadn't cheated Mae and Cai would not have felt obligated to even the odds and I would not have had to concede the race." I was just a tad indignant about the whole thing.

"Oh, my dear, no they weren't here to apologize at least that wasn't the main reason. Sera Ules the representative for the Hlaalu council is insisting that something be done to restore Berwain's honor since you tainted it."

"Since I did what? Oh no, you have got to be kidding me? HE IS THE ONE THAT CHEATED!" Why did the gods allow so many stupid people to roam Nirn?

"I know Athynae and I am sorry but this could cause conflict between the two houses and disrupt the peace here. I know that is a heavy burden to carry for a child but that is the way it is. Berwain's parents are good people and they do not wish to cause problems, that's why they came to me, to keep Sera Ules from getting anyone stirred up before something could be done." She had sat down next to me and had that 'this is very important please listen' look.

"I like Sera Arenim and his wife, they have always been nice to me. How they could end up with that" Mother put her finger over my mouth to shush me.

"Just listen please. I do not want there to be any question or doubt about your honor or the honor of MY HOUSE, when this is over so I have sent the Arenim's back to Ules with the proposition of a challenge, not unlike a proper challenge except the rules will be set like a tournament match. I am sure he will be agreeable, he thinks Berwain has not only been thwarted but is also a great fighter." And Mother actually smiled and winked at me.

"So you are proposing that I meet him with weapons? Mother I have not seen him fight in several years, I don't know how good he is." It wasn't that I was afraid of him, far from it, but something wasn't sitting right in my head.

Mother raised an eyebrow "Does it matter? Here is what I know, you are a great fighter, one of the best for your age in Vvardenfell. Not only that but Berwain has acted dishonorably and if nothing else Azura will see to it that he beats himself if you don't. I am NOT doubting your skill in the least please understand, but you will not be the only one on your side." And she patted my leg in a gesture of reassurance. "I must go and get this planned so we can be done with it as soon as possible. I just wanted you to know what was going on before I went any further, you are good with this?" she placed her palm to my cheek.

"Do I have a choice? Seems like the only way it can be resolved." I almost snarled but it wasn't her fault so I wasn't upset with her. She kissed my forehead and departed the laboratory. And the barrage started. I wanted to throw things and scream. I wanted to go hunt that good for nothing cheat down and kick his sorry butt NOW! As much as I thought of myself as 'grown up' I knew that in the eyes of the adults I was still a kid and so was Berwain yet because of his abhorrent behavior here we were. I was going to be placed in an arena to fight him and it wasn't for bragging rights or ribbons it was for the honor of Redoran House, if I was allowed to say bad words there would have been a string of them that went all the way to the mainland and back. I hate you Berwain Arenim, you will regret this!

I don't know if I was early or Athlain was late, but either way I was ready to do something physically exerting to occupy my mind and he hadn't arrived yet. Mother had been late to our lessons because she'd had visitors and I was still a bit disturbed by what had happened, so I was distracted. I had been thinking clearly enough though that I brought my bow. It wasn't a good idea to spar with Athlain given my mood, so target practice it was.

"Hey. Wow, what world are you visiting?" I barely looked up when he greeted me.

"Just trying to figure out what in the name of the Nine happened this morning. I really hate it when things get muddled." I was still focused on something in the distance.

"OOOkkkayy. So, what is it this time? Did someone move your katana again?" He gave a laugh, which my look ended. "Seriously, I was just kidding. This isn't good is it?"

"I don't know whether it's good or bad, it just wasn't my plan." I had my brow furrowed, still thinking. I really did not like Berwain and that didn't look like it was going to change very soon.

"Are you going to tell me or do I have to let you beat it out of me?" He sat down beside me.

"Sera Arenim and his wife came to visit Mother this morning. Berwain has been shouting all over Under Skar and the outer wall that I am a liar and a cheat and it's all my fault what happened. Plus the Hlaalu representative is quite peeved that I broke Baby Stain's nose. He shouldn't have run into my hand like that. I mean I didn't swing at all- I just put up my hand so he wouldn't run into me. Is it my fault that his nose didn't stop in time? Anyway, he's just a big whiny cheater that got caught and now instead of me being able to teach him a lesson on my terms I am being called out." I shrugged.

"What? What do you mean called out?"
"You know, c a l l e d o u t…you know? Like bring your weapons and meet on the edge
of town? Not like being called out to play like a twelve year old."

"You aren't making any sense yet. Nothing new, but a point would be good any time now." He gave me a fake smile.

I rolled my eyes, "If you'd shut up, I would finish."

"Right. This is me shutting up so you can finish." He crossed his arms.

"Apparently Berwain went to the Hlaalu representative and claimed that I had been dishonorable in the race and on top of that had broken his nose so Sera Useless- I mean Ules- went to Berwain's parents and told them it was their responsibility to return honor to their name as well as House Hlaalu. They came to Mother to tell her what happened and from what Mother said they aren't very happy with Berwain either, but he is still their little piece of scrib scum. So Mother suggested a warrior's challenge to return honor to both houses. However it turns out, whoever wins, honor will be restored to both houses because we faced the public challenge." I paused and Athlain jumped in

"Um, Thyna, challenges like this are, they're, what were they thinking? I mean, Athynae, he could" and Athlain's eyes welled full "kill you." He was turning an awful shade of gray and looked like he needed one of Mother's stomach potions. If I'd been in a different mood I would have just let him keep thinking that for a while, just for the fun of it, but I wasn't really up for playing the game right now.

"You can't get rid of me that easy. It's going to be like the tournaments, I can't believe you thought, never mind. Anyway, they are working out the specifics now." I was rolling my eyes.

"Oh." Athlain's color returned along with a look of relief. "When is this 'challenge' supposed to happen?"

"In a few days as soon as they can post the notice. He is such an idiot; why did he think this was a good idea?"

"I have no idea cuz he's gonna get his hide skinned and tanned. This should be a good one for sure. Why are you so upset? You get to humiliate him in public." He pushed my shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess. I still don't know what kind of challenge it will be. Mother is planning on making it like a tournament match of sorts, so House Hlaalu can't refute the outcome. It's just more than it needs to be is all."

"I get that, but you'll still clean up the arena with him. No worries Thyna; you got this. The only one that even comes close to beating you with weapons is that kid from the Ahemussa tribe- what's his name?"

"You know, sometimes you are too much of a distraction. You are still missing the point.
This should just be between me and the Stain, not causing conflict between two Houses; this is ridiculously STUPID."

Athlain got a far away look and his eyes glazed over before he said, "But you get to fight for the honor of House Redoran. You get to show everyone you are worthy to be a Redoran Warrior." The glaze had pooled in the bottom of his eyes.

"You know Athlain, sometimes that 'honor' of yours looks a lot like your heart and you are wearing it on the wrong side of your skin." It hurt to look at him because I felt the same way about House Redoran, but that was no reason there should be a possibility of a House war. Holy guar butts and kagouti dung, how did a kid, A KID, stir up all this mess? I had stirred a lot of poop in my time, but even I hadn't gone this far.

He looked down and scuffed the ground with his foot. "You just don't get it do you? Even if I wanted to fight for the honor of House Redoran, I couldn't. I'd get my butt handed to me. And you just act like it is above you to do this or something." He had a sad look on his face that I had never seen before. It made me mad, but not at him. I was mad at the gods for not letting him be good with weapons, and at Uncle Trey for not being supportive of his efforts to learn to be a warrior, but most of all I was mad at myself, because no matter what I did to try to teach him, nothing worked. He couldn't hold a sword without hurting himself; it was just sad.

"I'm sorry Athlain; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Of course I am proud that I CAN fight for honor and I know you know that I would be your champion, but this isn't a situation that calls for such drastic measures, that's all I'm saying."

"Oh great, I can see it now, 'And standing as champion for Athlain Treyson, son of the great Trey of High Rock, is Athynae Sarethi. Yes, she is a girl but she won't hurt herself with the swords at least."

"You are so dumb! Why do you do that to yourself? Besides that isn't going to happen anyway; everyone likes you. And you'll figure out the weapons thing- you will!" I pushed him off of our perch. "Now come on; I don't want to fight today. Let's go for some target practice. I made some new fletching, and I want to see how well it works."

"I hate you." He was getting up and dusting himself off.

"Yeah, I know, that's why you never spend any time with me." I was walking toward the archery targets.

"I could change that you know?" And he came up and pushed me from behind, just a little shove.

"Careful- I'll call you out."

As much as I wanted to teach Mae and Cai a lesson, Berwain was at the top of the list. Unfortunately, the planning had been taken out of my hands.




This post has been edited by Athynae: Mar 16 2012, 03:12 AM