IC: Midsummer Rising

[white_flowers]

Midsummer.

Longest day, brightest day, day of celebration for those of the Light and also of the Wild.

It will be a day of great power-- and had once marked the ending of the rising Dark in the world she had once called her own.

But here at the end of all the worlds, she intends to change things. The longest and brightest day it may be, but there is another side to it as well; for at the moment that the sun passes zenith, the time of Light also passes.

So begins the long slow fall into the Dark.

This time, the White Rider means to turn her carefully-gathered power to advantage at that precise moment, bringing the cycle to an entirely different ending -- for everyone.

She is smiling cruelly when she steps out of the forest and starts toward the bar, half-lost in her thoughts and her plans.

Comments

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

So many hours of light and warmth give Ace more of an excuse to spend the day outside, and she spends most of it practicing football drills, both to improve in the hopes of continuing to beat Wells, and also to try and wear herself out for once.

It's a gorgeous day, really. Everything's green and growing, the sun sparkles off the ripples in the lake, the shark pops up every once in a while, and it's deliciously warm.

Thus, the white shows up starkly, an almost painful contrast against the beauty of the day. Ace pauses to watch Blodwen warily. Don't antagonize, they've warned. Don't challenge her.

She'll just keep quiet until she's safely by.

[white_flowers]

That may take longer than Ace might have hoped, as Blodwen stops when she notices the other woman.

Her smile is poisonous in its sweet malice.

"Why, hello cariad." The soft light voice is lilting, amused. "Enjoying the day, are you?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace tries to look calm and relaxed, even if she tensed at the first word, the hair at the back of her neck standing on end. Of course she would have that smile that always seems to bypass every conscious thought and triggers the need to take Blodwen apart.

"Yeah. S'warm." Polite. She has to be polite. If she managed to live with Gem's constant needling for fifty years, she can take the white bitch's presence for a few minutes.

[gramarye1971]

Midsummer is still a few days off, and the Light's power has not quite reached true ascendency. But that cannot be helped, not when there is open conflict between the Dark and the Wild Magic outside the bar where the rules against outside business do not properly apply.

Merriman is first out the door, and not half a dozen paces from the door he stops so short that he nearly overbalances. One arm goes out, a silent and unquestionable command to the others to go no further.

Raven has a legitimate right of confrontation in this. And there is also the consideration that for those of the Light to intervene now, with all of the magic that is churning around Raven and the White Rider, could do incalculable harm with no real certainty of doing good.

'Not yet,' he hisses between his teeth, his expression taut with the strain of having to check his natural response to act. 'Approach -- but do not strike.'

[theravenboy]

Behind Merriman, Bran Davies runs, trying not to let the scabbarded sword belted about his waist bump into his legs. Even now, with Wild Magic hissing and sparking against the Dark in the air, he is still Bran Davies. He holds tightly to what he knows as himself

(a small neat room in a small neat cottage just off Cadfan's Way, a hillside with John and Owen and Lluchddu guiding the sheep, a yellow rose in the gardens of the Lost Land, a king leading his queen out into a sunlit land)

as the Hunter wakes in the bottom of his mind. So it is that Bran stops short when Merriman commands it. Then, listening to the Hunter, but not letting it take control, Bran paces slowly towards the confrontation.

[sign-seeker.livejournal.com]

Will is poised like a hunting dog behind Merriman, all his senses flung wide. The icy jolt that lanced through the scar on his wrist has faded, and when Merriman moves again Will paces silently behind him, taut and fierce-eyed.

The fathomless, inhumanly ravenous hating that is the Dark presses against his mind, and all around is the sound of Raven's laughter, high and wild like the cawing of birds or the barking of dogs, far-off.

[blue_ajah]

She has come hurrying out the lake door in the wake of Merriman, Bran and Will-- who all slow at Merriman's command, watching the battle as they approach.

Moiraine does not slow, however. Instead, a golden glow explodes into being around her as the Aes Sedai moves swiftly to one side, for she has noticed something else.

A shining white-gold band of Air spun with Earth goes flying from her fingertips, wrapping carefully around the wire of the cage and drawing it towards her, away from the White Rider.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

The little bundle of feathers doesn't move as the cage goes skidding away from the battle, other then the quick little rise and fall of little-bird breathing. She's a rather pathetic sight at this point, her feathers sticking up at random where water and wind ruffled and seperated them.

As the cage goes flying once again, Ace's little talons wrap around one of the slender silver wires, hanging on for dear life.

[blue_ajah]

"Light," she mutters, cradling the cage carefully in her hands and studying the bird inside, after a quick glance for the battle and the others.

"What manner of creature are you to have invoked her wrath so?" The gleaming wire feels oily with the taint of Shadow, making it very clear to the Aes Sedai as to the source of the prison that had been lying near the Rider.

[puckishly.livejournal.com]

When there is this sort of power swirling around, one doesn't simply ignore it.

Or Puck doesn't, at any rate.

His posture is easy as he ambles out the door, but his eyes are cat-narrow and glittering.

"Well."

[mercurialist]

Mercer feels it, too; feels the way it rips free, more like, crossing the boundary that held it in place and spilling out into the open.

He flinches, and is at the threshold in an instant; one hand grips the frame as he stares up into the sky. His mouth falls open.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me," he mumbles.

[nita_callahan]

Nita nearly runs straight into him in her hurry to get outside.

"Who's out there?" she asks, more or less rhetorically, as she slips around Mercer.

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

If it had not been for what the Commodore had said a couple weeks ago, the sight of him and others running out the back door would have been one clue.

But it was more the feeling of

cold and pain and the Dark

that had Wellard running for the back door, with Lord Ostium behind him. Out the back door, to where Raven and the White Rider are locked in battle-

Laughing and screaming.

[young_tmriddle]

He'd not planned on coming out at all. It's not a question of cowardice or of fear - it's a question on not raising a hand against a powerful enemy who already had him quite under her thumb. It wasn't that he thought Merriman couldn't battle her.

It simply wouldn't be wise for him to become more of a target at the expense of his family's well-being.

However, once Wellard made for the door, Tom knew he was involved. The lad had been seriously injured by Blodwen, and had no magic to protect him.

As he steps outside, he closes his eyes, wincing against the Dark power, so cold, so greedy.

"Wellard, stay back. Do not get in the middle of things!"

[politestpirate.livejournal.com]

"I think I know enough for that!" Wellard glances at Tom, eyes wide, then back to the battle.

"Something was happening, and I just-"

Ran towards a huge fight between powers almost past his reckoning. Wellard is realizing this, and that it was most likely not the smartest thing to do, but it is rather too late to go back, now.

"Just came out." He mutters through clenched teeth. "I know enough to not try to deal with things far beyond my power."

[howling_laugh]

Coyote is there. She knew this would come, but not how.

It's not a pleasant surprise.

The amount of power in the air is terrifying, magical and physical storms making her senses scream.

But she has a job to do. Coyote leans into the wind and pushes forward. Heat ripples the air around her, evaporating rain as it falls.

Raven's power is a beacon through the muddle. And as Coyote closes in, she can see a crumpled form dressed in white.

The howl that follows is full of malevolent glee.

[creator_raven]

Raven is still kneeling, head bent, eyes black and oddly unfocused.

He hears Coyote, though, and it is this that prompts him to look up.

It isn't gratitude that flashes across his face.

Nor is it welcome.

Instead there is something of wariness in it, but whether it is directed toward the vast storm of the Dark, or to the woman who approaches, perhaps even Raven himself is unsure.

Perhaps.

[howling_laugh]

He isn't glad to see her? For shame. Coyote is grinning as she approaches, though it isn't a very nice one. Her halo of heat extends to accommodate him, but not Blodwen.

"Did you win, Bird?" she calls over the wind. Raven feels much nicer than the Dark pressing against her skull. She comes closer.

[white_flowers]

Released from all constraint, the Dark had risen here at near-Midsummer, intent upon total destruction-- and indeed, something had been destroyed.

In the wake of the searing, blindingly pure white Light, it takes some time for vision to be restored.

Everything is quiet, save for the soft ragged sounds of someone quietly gasping, as though for air -- or to stifle sobs.

[howling_laugh]

Wiping blood away from her nose, Coyote stands. The wreath of fire still burns around her, hazing the air with heat.

The sun is setting. But the Dark is gone. Ah, irony.

She laughs. Looking down at Blodwen, it lengthens to another howl. This one is triumphant.

[creator_raven]

Raven stays crouched a moment more, head tilted. Perhaps he is watching Blodwen. Perhaps he is watching something else.

But at length he, too, stands and moves closer, black eyes fixed on what used to be the White Rider of the Dark.

There is another moment or two of silence--silence broken only by that same quiet gasping--and then Raven nudges Blodwen's calf with the toe of his boot.

"All debts are paid now, I think."

Perhaps this is meant to be a comfort.

[gramarye1971]

He's aware of the pain first. The gradual return to consciousness is rather like swimming upwards through what feels like treacle, and the pain returns first.

Other bits and pieces of awareness slowly begin to filter in. The scent of earth. Grass. A bare whisper of a breeze.

Light.

Only one thing is missing, and that is his sense of the Dark's presence.

He takes that as a good sign -- but he isn't about to try something as demanding as actually opening his eyes just yet.

[theravenboy]

Hands.

Bran feels his hands first, sore and tingling, as he begins to wake. In sudden panic (can I still play?), Bran pulls himself further into consciousness. His arms hurt too, and his legs. I fell, Bran remembers. He remembers the tornado, and Caliburn, and Will and Merriman standing behind him, and--

Bran opens his eyes and blinks, white eyelashes flickering in the sudden sunlight.

[last_adam]

Everything's so quiet, everything's so still, Adam can't help but feel that this can't be right, this can't be the end. And things clear up, as they are wont to do, but he can't quite let himself relax yet. Turning, he looks at the people behind him, trying to ensure that everybody's alright, trying to ensure-


He's not even sure what. But he turns and kneels by Moiraine, and reaches out and grabs Mary's arm perhaps a bit too rough, and he smiles, a knowing smile.

"Is everybody alright, then?"

[mercurialist]

When you see power about to collide with power, and you hear somebody yell for you to hit the deck, you'd better fucking hit the deck.

So Mercer threw himself at the ground and yanked his cap down over his eyes as the explosion hit.

And now he straightens, cautiously, pushing his hat back, blinking away the edges of afterimages. He still can't feel much in his left shoulder except a singleminded stabbing ow, but the sky seems to be clear -- and the weight of the Dark is gone.

Triumphant, he lets out a hoarse whoop like a sports match spectator and punches the air with his good arm.