Battle Hymn of the Republic

Three Weeks after Maw

“Oh for the love of…”

Laoise had woken up in a cold sweat, again. As she ran a hand through her sleep tousled hair, her other hand lifted to rub her chest. It had been the same dream that had woken her up last night, and many of the nights over the last couple weeks; the dream of Sorrow killing her in the Elementia Magicus. If the past nightmares held true to tonight then Laoise likely wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again any time soon. Swinging her legs out of bed, the Irish maiden slipped a robe on and shuffled out of her room.

It was the witching hour, and a few hours until even Ruarc woke up. Pouring herself a glass of water, Laoise sat quietly at the table in the enviably sleepy cottage. Her sigh was deep and forlorn as she wallowed in the trauma of dying in a way reserved for familiars. It felt like her soul was raw, and resituated wrong after she had resurrected. For the most part she felt she was hiding it well enough; Ruarc was typically obtuse in the dopey way many men were, and her coworkers noticed to the extent that she was increasingly sleep deprived during practice. To the fey’s credit, Caoranach seemed to suspect something was not right in her own way, which mostly amounted to a shift in the ways the fey taunted her.

“I wonder if there is a support group for familiars at Carneath,” Laoise idly mumbled as she looked at the night sky through the kitchen window. It had been stormy the last few days, but the weather had cleared. Despite the chill in the air, Laoise still felt the urge to feel a breeze on her skin. Gently shifting her chair back, she stood and made her way to the back door figuring she would sit on the patio for a bit.

“Ack!”

Laoise yelped when she opened the door and was blinded by the midday sun. Quickly shutting the door again, she wondered if she had finally lost her mind. Looking through the window of the door, she saw the night shaded patio as expected; at least through the dazzling stars dancing in her eyes. Squinting, Laoise opened the door again, and once again was greeted with sunlight and a pleasantly warm breeze; not to mention the patio was nowhere to be seen. Poking her head through the portal Laoise glanced around as her eyes adjusted to the light.

“Well, that’s peculiar, is Percy around?”

Stepping through, Laoise left the door open behind her so she could get back. The field she found herself in was quiet scenic, situated in a valley with lovely mountains flanking it. Laoise took a deep breath as she took in the scent of wildflowers and fragrant herbs. Oddly enough she felt better. Amazing what a literal ray of sunshine can do.

“Alright, let’s pick some thyme for breakfast and maybe bake some… where’s the door?” Laoise turned and found the portal she had come through had closed, leaving her alone in a field. The familiar adjusted her robe, and found herself wishing she had put her slippers on.

Two Weeks Later (EM Time)




Sat upon a rock in her scenic valley, Laoise lounged languidly in the light of the late morning sun. She had spent her morning much as she had spent the last couple weeks worth of mornings; shouting to the heavens for Percy to show up and help her get home. Following the usual lack of response, she caught her breath during a short siesta, and it would be followed by continuing to work on her survival shelter. Unlike last time she had been in the Elementia it was far more inviting, but she was lacking supplies and couldn’t figure out how to make her wings come out again. Idly she reached for where she had normally worn her shape-change pendant for the last ten years wishing she still had it, but Percy went and shook that up as well. So now she was stuck in the mountains with normal boring human legs and no idea where to go.

Standing, she dusted herself off, straightening her clothes and heading back to the copse of trees where she had her shelter. Laoise’s memory of survival methods was dated, but thanks to Ruarc’s dubious decision to walk from Ireland to Japan years back she had been introduced to information she now got to put into practice. The shelters the druid had used had been rudimentary since they only needed to last a night or two, but the lessons in food acquisition paid off and she had read up on the more lasting shelters once in Japan. Now she had a rudimentary A-frame hovel constructed of pine boughs, thatch, and a couple fallen trees for stability. Given that she lacked tools she was actually rather proud of the result.

Adding a bit of fuel to the small fire she had been nurturing since the first week, she set about her other task of trying to turn a tree branch into a spear. Up until now, Laoise had been eating berries and a few edible roots, but since she wasn’t able to turn into a dove she actually had to worry about getting more calories than berries could provide. So, as she grimaced about the pine sap clinging to her fingers she kept telling herself it would be worth it if she could spear a fish from the stream running down through the valley. This project she was less proud of. Given the lack of tools, she was banking on the wedge tip from breaking the branch off the tree. All in all it was dull, and would be as likely to give the fish a bruise as it was to actually spear the thing.

“A knife would be rad…” Laoise grumbled as she shook away pine needles stuck to her hand. To her surprise when she shifted her hand back, it had a knife in it. Staring for several long moments she processed the new development, and then promptly cursed and spat at the realm she found herself in.

“So I can get a knife, but a door back home is too much to ask!?”