Kithran, Samuel and Sara

Add an 'I' in there and you get 'kiss' for an abbreviation

As for that scene...

Sara: *while she's distracted tidying things up, she waters Kithran more*

Kithran: Ack! What was that for? 

Sara: Just keeping you watered *gives a giggle and smiles, before giving Kithran a hug* my dear wildflower

Kithran: *mumbling* I'm not a plant...! 

I don't see why Kithran would need to unless she wanted. Aranwen's is a matter of survival so she has little choice there...

For Aranwen to pick up apothecarial skills - Kithran may not be under any spell, but that doesn't mean she can't help her be more comfortable, especially with something like tea.

Aaand so she can help look after both Ch'dau and Kithran's health. She may not be able to read anything on Kazari, but she might certainly end up writing about them, their health and how to care for them.

Aranwen being shortened to 'Ara' just ocurred because it felt right as a short form said between Saeriel and Aranwen

I did find it rather interesting you picked the name Tara for Kithran's mentor, and then noticed the similarity there

I picked the name Mithwen for its similarity to Kithran for Aranwen to have a double take on first meeting Kithran

As for the name Sara...

Well, let's just say that I am fairly certain that Aranwen is going to be reconnecting a lot with her memory of Saeriel, after a fashion - S[aeriel] + ara[nwen], she'll look to live her life as Saeriel would have liked to, outside of being a bladesinger. Picking up books, reading, looking after a garden/crops, and perhaps starting to become something of an apothecarian.

It's a vague idea of where I see her going, anyhow

Anyhow I had a thought about threads - KCandK is a thread about their past, and Aranwen wouldn't accept being called Khatun post-HC.

Perhaps we might be best suited to making a fresh thread for their recovery and future? Just a thought

PS Collab-whee!

PPS Playing with the name 'Sara' as the name of Aranwen post-HC

Aranwen was playing to a long con, believing that by being seen as broken, she might gain an advantage in the complacency of her captors. To ask about Kithran directly would suggest she still had an objective, still had the will to be curious and perhaps fight.

She anticipated being made a servant, or perhaps worse. Though untrained in stealth or true subterfuge, she had the plan in her mind that she would use the unfamiliarity of the keep to her advantage. Explain her errant wandering with being lost. And, in that way, make herself a map, finding where Kithran was, perhaps getting a message to her, and waiting for an opportunity. 

Though, that was what she hoped to be able to do. She was aware that the situation as it was, there was an incredibly high likelihood that she'd be made to serve Davena personally, and perhaps be too entangled in that to do much more. She could only trust the others to be able to take advantage of the same idea, that they may yet snatch victory from absolute defeat

I have a possible song for healing themes. I'll share it later after HC is concluded 

I'm still shocked at how... Almost foretelling Light and Shadow has been for Aranwen

The beginning being of her past loss

It isn't how it is meant to be 

Then after the interlude, we are at the current scenes in HC

As light and shadow, the sun and the moon, torn between love and hate, I cannot get it somehow

Torn between love and hate. Aranwen's psyche is shattered by emotions right now.

Gaining by losing always haunt us to our dying days. Stuck in the haze, how did it ever come to this?

Currently stunned... With ever mounting guilt

And then... The last line

I wonder how you'll feel about this madness

I don't know for sure yet. The ending has not yet been written. One way or another, I can see that happening...

Jesting aside, yes, I am assuming in this timeline at least that we're at the epilogue state.

I didn't even think of heirloom weapons, so to speak. It certainly makes sense, though I am also fond of the idea that there is a forge master at Megilindor Nost who crafts their original blades too. 

Anyone ready for a gut punch?

I had another thought - though it's observed that Bladesingers will leave their dishonoured blades where they lie on the field of battle, I can't help but wonder if there may be exceptions to that. Especially in the case where the blade is recovered not for use, but as a memoir of either the battle, that bladesinger, or something else of emotional importance.

Not all would, of course. Some, maybe most, would rather leave their dishonoured blade to never know of it again, to never recall to mind the failure associated with it. But I could see how some might - especially if it were a company of bladesingers that picked up the blades of their fallen who died in battle. Perhaps there's even something of a blade graveyard at Megilindor Nost.

Anyhow, let me just get to the point: if Aranwen were to have kept her first blade and Sae's as a memoir of their time together, would that metal serve to be reforged into tools?

Just a thought. Have to start somewhere with acquiring tools of the trade, after all

No, I mean more than that. A new identity. Depending on how far she had to go with it...

Cut her hair, or dye it
Perhaps even cut off the tips of her ears

She's still her, of course, but she cannot be 'Aranwen'

Aranwen would likely need to assume a different name as well; better for the Sylvari known as Aranwen to be reported as deceased in battle, than to be hunted as an oathbreaker and deserter...

In some ways, it actually might make it easier - Kithran only then needs to recognize Ch'dau, and Aranwen introducing herself as someone new might help reconnect them.

The 'sung by Kithran' lyrics I was thinking of in Ash Like Snow:

My heart is played just like a harp
By sinful hands of darkness
With nails oh so sharp
Your voice is like a drug
That makes me numb
And leaves me with no senses - deaf and dumb

If you look at the map of Antaron, there are two lakes south of the Chakaran Mountains. Somewhere nearby, following the natural path between them, looks to be a natural place for a town - beyond the border of Sylvari lands, but close enough to still have forest nearby.

It could host a few farms, and a small trade route acting as a halfway point between the Chakaran Mines and Sylvari, a natural location for a foundry to work unprocessed ore.

Probably a very mixed demographic here, some Khord, some Sylvari, humans I'm sure...

Close enough to home for Aranwen to avoid homesickness, far enough away to not be included in its borders proper.

Cause I do dig it 

I would joke about retirement to Cal'ele'miur as the obscure place in question, but that is a very questionable fae-te at best

I had a very similar idea for a journey of recovery, so to speak, with our characters. This, of course, assumes certain ways in how HC ends, but to be honest I don't mind making a split timeline so we do get to see that journey of recovery, altering whatever key happenings in the actual HC ending so that it's plausible.

If she can manage to pull herself together in spite of everything... I found another song for Aranwen

It also has a few lines fitting for Kithran... you'll know them when you hear them.

This song feels like it might be appropriate to the current situation

Now open your eyes, while our plight is repeated
Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated
Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken
Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken

I've just been listening to "weight of the world" and "light and shadow" while posting for Aranwen in HC.

Perhaps I might have to add 'the world' to that list...

"If I could be where you are" was a close second to "light and shadow" for Aranwen at least with respect to Saeriel

Speaking of... if anyone were to help heal a broken or missing heart, Saeriel actually would have been a good candidate for that...

's for you both

PS. Better idea - drop that dishonoured blade; let the ground, rust, and time claim it as it should!

Aranwen is in a very precarious position right now, mentally speaking. If she should be able to move... I can't claim to know what actions she will take beyond doing whatever she can to finish what she started, and claim Davena's life.

She's insane with grief, guilt, rage, all manner of emotions.

I truly cannot predict what she will do.

I'm just watching Aranwen's psyche shatter like glass in HC, and can't help but think... that is exactly the outcome Morgana would want if she used magic akin to that of phantasmal killer on Aranwen.

As she said before

The desperate are the easiest for her to influence, to make them dance to her threads

Is just backup copper wire in case her pouch gets swiped, just as Kithran had done

• Needle, thread, and patches for fixing her clothing if she should stumble or whatever


• A cute looking twig as from a shrub, in something of a Y shape though the split ends are curved in a very clear, unsuccessful attempt to make it into a heart shape. Still has a leaf attached, though it looks like it could really use water/planting if it were to be made into a proper plant


• A small piece of copper wire


• A small packet of red powder, hardly larger than a teaspooon amount


• A small cut piece of fleece, perhaps leftover from another sewing project

She also has some copper wire twisted around her right ring finger, which seems to be nothing more than a child's makeshift attempt at jewelry.

The spells these go to are cantrips

• Message - copper wire


• Dancing Lights - phosphorous


• Minor Illusion - fleece

Why is Saina fearless about being on her own? Call her mom if she finds herself in trouble by using Message

And thus the mystery of the pouch is laid to rest, never to be brought up again