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]

Please forgive my extended absence, RL has been a bit of a challenge lately and so I have not been as attentive to Athynae or any of her dear friends here on the forum. Please know that although I have not publicly commented I have been reading and enjoying all of the stories I just needed to be...quiet...for a little while.

McB I could blow a bunch of overly kind verbage up your fur but truth is truth and you have through all of this been an incredibly supportive friend and for that I am beyond grateful...Thank you so much....

minque, BH, mALX, Haute, Grits, AND FOXY!!!!!!!!! Wherever you are!!!!! Thank you for reading, I do hope you haven't lost interest in Thyna's antics in my absence.....

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

*****
Relas and Evos have brought Thyna to an abandoned mine to hold her while they wait for Serene to return even as Thyna continues to attempt to convince them she is a Lilliputian Elf (explains her smaller than normal size) as well as Captain of the Guard for the Arch Mistress of Redoran. Please keep in mind Serene and Athyn Sarethi are her parents and Sethyas Velas has made it his mission to ensure that Athynae- Her Highness the Princess of Trouble is the absolute best at being....whoever or whatever she should decide to be....

Although Relas was frustrated with my behavior, he had Evos make a couple of torches before he forced me in, nice idiot that he was…

I really have to stop thinking like this else I am going to accidentally say something out loud and that will not go well. Great. Now I'm thinking like someone else; when did I care what I said or who I made mad?

Then the thought again crossed my mind that this could all be part of the master plan to make me more, um, diplomatically acceptable. I couldn't imagine Mother just blatantly lying to me about the whole deal but she had been getting more and more disjointed over my less than diplomatic appraisals. Would Father and Uncle Seth do something like this?

I looked up, then. I was so caught up in trying to convince myself that this was all a set up that I hadn't noticed my entrance into the cave nor where I had decided to settle. I was fairly close to the door and both Relas and Evos were toward the back of the cave. Did they want me to make a run for it? Were they trying to see what I would do? Or, the most likely- they really were that dumb and had no idea what in Nirn they were doing. I didn't want to do anything until my strategy was set in my head and I had a solid plan. This was always the most difficult part of any lesson for me, ALWAYS! Patience was not one of my strong suits, and attempting to evaluate every possible scenario before I decided on a course of action always proved distracting. The only reason I was a decent hunter was because I was moving, thinking, strategizing the entire time. Here I was just stuck, pretending my hands were still tied behind my back, knowing that all of my weapons were exactly where they were supposed to be, strapped to my body and I was being guarded by what it was easy to assume were a couple of Bug Stain's cousins.

But what was their deal? Why did they want Mother? Who were they hired to kidnap Mother for? Did it have something to do with the other idiot we had encountered on this trip? Then it hit me. I had read somewhere about natural selection and sometimes genes needed to be eliminated from the gene pool because bad genes were messing up good ones; maybe someone had decided to help out the gods by making sure some of the less fit were exposed to…and that is why I have such a hard time with the whole 'thinking' thing; there are far too many tangents to get diverted by.

"Hey girly, you hungry?" Relas spoke louder than was necessary, and he called me girly…again!

"Relas is it? You have not bothered to ask my name which I wouldn't give you anyway, but calling a female, ESPECIALLY a Lilliputian Elf, 'girly' is a sure way to get yourself into a rather serious situation." I tried to look like my last tutor when he wanted me to think he was upset with my classwork.

"How am I gonna get in a serious situation by anything I say to you since you're all tied up and everything? And I ain't skeered a no girl anyhow, tied up or not. Sides, seems to me if you won't tell me your name then girly is as good as anything." He didn't seem to realize the seriousness of calling me bad names. He could not have been endangering himself much more if he were trying to make me wear something pink. And now that I knew what to expect I could use the block spell that Rah had discovered in an old handwritten mage's volume that he was studying. And once again, I found myself distracted by my thoughts- this time thoughts of my brother.

He was the child that could do EVERYTHING well. No matter what he decided to do, he was better than average at it and, since he was my brother it was definitely a good thing, because the truth of it was if we had been on opposite sides I really don't know which one of us would have been victorious. His academic and scientific endeavors had provided me with many helpful items, spells, formulas, potions, well, lots of things that I would not have had otherwise, like the block for the paralyze spell. I had yet to test it on any other spell but we had spent an exorbitant amount of time testing its effectiveness in every situation, location or verbal extreme we could think of and it had worked every time, which made me very happy.

"You can call me Captain; that should suffice until you can't call me anything anymore." I heard the air as any inference beyond his understanding whooshed over his head.

"Haha, well then, Captain," and he bowed low, "are you hungry?" and he tried to sound royal.

"I am a captain, not a princess; a salute while standing at attention is more appropriate if you must." I never had felt like a princess anyway so…I didn't like it when I was called Her Highness by anyone except Uncle Seth because I was the Princess of Trouble to him and that was perfectly fine to me, far better than being some namby pamby, frilly pink wearing weakling girl whining about her fingernails.

"I don't much care what kind of pretend games you want to play while you're here, Captain but I do expect that when I ask you a question it is only polite to answer."

"Hungry? Was that the question?" He nodded. "What's on the menu?" I asked as flippantly as I could.

"This ain't no restaurant or high falutin' Arch Mistresses dining hall. We got some jerky and a little bit of smoked guar meat that we can make into stew. I think I saw a patch of mushrooms and we might find some tubers or something. So what'll it be?"

"I appreciate the offer but if it's all the same to you I'll just eat what I have in my pack." I tried to retrace our steps and remember where the mushrooms were and what kind they were. If they were the right kind then maybe I would ask for some, but would they know all of the qualities of a particular fungus and what happens if they were mixed with other ingredients? Well, if they were just button tops then I could eat them and no one would be the wiser, but if they were what I thought they were because of the location, then if nothing else I could certainly have some fun with my captors. I might even be able to figure out what they were up to and who put them up to it. "I would like to have some of those mushrooms if you don't mind; they will go nicely with my bread and cheese."

"Evos, fetch the grand Captain here some of them mushrooms. The happier we keep her the less trouble she'll cause." And he shot a look at me that said, "At least that's the hope."

"I have no reason to cause you any trouble. When the time comes for me to do something it won't be any trouble at all." And I smiled the best imitation of a Bree 'smile of innocence' I could manage.

"Good, keep it that way and you might not have to die." He tried to look tough but he didn't have what it took to kill someone; he didn't have that shadow behind his eyes that I had seen my entire life. Father, Mother, Uncle Seth, Uncle Trey, they all had it and I knew why, but I also knew that what they had done was done out of necessity, for survival, the survival of a way of life, of a race- and as far as I was concerned that was all the justification I needed.

"Could you please untie my hands so I can get to my pack, and reach my rations?" I didn't think he would but it was worth asking regardless of the answer. "I already told you I wasn't going to cause you any trouble."

"You promise?" And he squinted at me like he was trying to figure my intentions.

"On the honor of my station as Captain." And I pulled myself up as straight as I could and still maintain the ruse that I was tied tight.

"All right, fine. Me and Evos can handle you tied or not so I don't see the harm in it."

"Good," I said as I shook the ropes free before he could get to me. "That was beginning to wear on me just a little." I moved to a place that the wall was a bit smoother and sat, drawing my pack to me and pulling out the food I had brought. Evos returned and tossed a pouch at me. Relas never even reacted to my shucking of the ropes. I reached in and was happy to discover I was correct; the variety of mushrooms was innocuous the vast majority of the time, but mixed with a bit of 'Bane they produced mild hallucinations accompanied by bouts of extreme happiness- giggle fits if you will. Once again- Thank you Rah.

Now the mental ball was rolling; while I prepared the mushrooms, using their cooking utensils, I planned. First I had to get my own serving that wasn't tainted by the 'Bane without them noticing, but I also had to make them think the 'treat' was so good that they couldn't pass it up. A touch of Cook's special secret seasoning that made everything smell like it had been sent from the gods and taste almost that good was exactly what I needed. Thankfully I had my tiny wooden spice box.

It could not have worked better if they were actors in a play. I munched on bread and cheese as I waited for the inevitable.

"….and she said. Bahahaha. She said 'the midwife slapped ME when you was born!'" and they both guffawed. I had not been paying attention to what had prompted this statement; I didn't know if Relas was talking about his mama and him or someone else, but it wasn't a stretch to think…

"Least you knowed yer mama. Heck, mine dropped me at the gates of Balmora with a note that said, 'I ain't no mama.'

" I felt tears well unbidden even as they laughed harder. Suddenly I didn't want to hear anymore; it was time to get on with it.

"Hey boys, whatcha talking about?" Hahahahaha

"Our mamas, worthless biddies that they was. How bout yers, Capt?" HAHA "Capt? You ain't really a captain are ya? Youze just pullin our legs weren't ya?"

"Nope, honest to goodness, I am a Captain of the Guard for the Arch Mistress of Redoran House." I shrugged my shoulders and giggled.

"She sure did make them Cammona Tong people mad. I'd a thought she was smarter than that, but I guess not."

"How'd she make 'em mad you reckon?" I had decided talking like them might help, I don't know why, but making fun of them made it easier to laugh at the seriousness of what was going on.

"I ain't quite sure; has something to do with the Hlaalu and trade and writs or somethin. And she's protected somehow by some edict or somethin' so they can't just kill her."

I felt like Uncle Seth had drop kicked me into a marble slab. Trying to breath, I asked, "So what are you two sposed to do with her? If you can't kill her I mean, what's left?" I felt queasy just saying it but… onward…

"We's just sposed to kidnap her and hold her til they come tell us what to do. I figure they just want to hold her til they can get her to change the trade laws so the Hlaalu can go back to bein the underhanded scum they are."

"So, she made a good law that sorta keeps em from scamming everybody, even their own, but you are working with them so they can go back to bein underhanded scum?" At this I laughed; the irony was just way too funny.

Evos finally decided to add his thoughts, "Well Capt, a job's a job and we ain't had much luck getting work here lately, so when the councilman came to see us at the pub we was down to our last coin. Seemed like the thing to do, make some money, have some fun with the hoity toity harlot." He laughed at his funny, and Relas laughed too, but I felt like I was going to take off like one of Rah's experimental explosive devices.

You came up with this plan, this was your bright idea, it's too late to turn back now. Either keep gathering the information that they are giving up FREELY or tuck your head between your knees and let whatever happens happen. Are you a warrior or are you something else? Get a grip, Thyna, set up or no, you have to win, you always have to win.




This post has been edited by Athynae: Aug 14 2012, 04:33 AM