The Records of Liselsia
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Reunion and Doubts
On the highest hill of Norwick in the hours of a young night, a pale figure with dress of crimson, recognizable from the Sisterhood, stood motionlessly. The dress of hers, fluttering in its own dance in duet with the night breeze with the pale silvery moon in the background, matching with the skin tone of the very woman. Her pale blonde hair wavers along with the breeze and her soft blue eyes, reflects a distant kind. In all she seems to resemble like a woman in a painting, with a beauty she holds that can be described as one of fragility.
In silence she watches, across the majestic green Rawlins forest that seems to continue on towards the endless horizon below her. The sight she sees and feels can only be expressed as 'breatheless', with the Rawlins across the landscape being bathed by the gentle moonlight making the forest seemed to glow dimly.
And then she sighs deeply. One that can be expressed as deep sorrow and a painful longing of one's heart that cries out.
"Liselsia Mei," A soft melodic tone, one of whisper and softness like the breeze, addresses the woman in crimson dress from behind. The shadowy female figure steps out from the shadows of the night and into the soft moonlight, standing side by side by Liselsia. Unlike Liselsia, she wears an attire that is of simplicity and modesty: A loose robe with soft grayness for its color. Her skin is similar to Liselsia's in its paleness, like the color of the moon above them. Her hair also, is as the same color of the golden rice field in the dawn like Liselsia's. Only her eyes are different, as they are not one of ocean blue but rather in color of deep emerald.
"Tortinita Jie!" Liselsia gasps; her facade is now replaced with excitement and gladness. She spins around with her arms outstretched, embracing Tortinata tightly like a close sister she had been been separated from for too long. "Why did I not receive word, of your arrival Jie? Are other Jie and Mei with you?
"Alone I came to this land, for other Jie Mei we speak, busy they are in assisting to rebuild Falsita. The scars it carries we know, will take generations to mend."
“A journey one requires to make from the furthest east, to come to this land we know as Narfell, be it seeking I the only reason?” Liselsia inquires with an expression of puzzlement.
A moment of silence, which Tortinita’s voice eventually fills the void.
"I come Liselsia Mei, to bear you a message as a representative, from the High Priestess of the White Lotus." The emerald-eyed woman then reaches into the sleeve of her robe, revealing a scroll in hand which she hands it over to Liselsia, who then accepts it with a formal stance.
Slowly, the blue-eyed woman unrolls the scroll, reading the message it bears within with whispered words. Totinita stands by her, with a watchful gaze.
"…decree orders, that Liselsia Shuma, one of the eight of the Lotus Seed Bearers, has the burden placed upon her removed from the previous ruling. Her status is now no longer as an exiled Sister and is once more, a Sister of the White Lotus Sect." Liselsia cannot help, but smile at the news she reads and whispers, continuing to read further under her soft breath. "...by the High Priestess's decision, she appoints Liselsia Shuma as the leading Jie of the Moon Faction of the Sect. Liselsia Shuma will adhere to the High Priestess's words and return to Falsita immediately, to perform the ceremony of acceptance as a Jie of the Moon Facti-..." Lisesia's whisper trails into silence. She lifts her head up to look into the emerald eyes staring into her soft blue ones. A look of expectance Tortinita gives, and also a look of pride like big sister showers upon a younger one.
"The sages of the White Lotus Sect, has decided you be the fitting person to lead the Moon Faction. Past mistakes of yours they thought they had witnessed, but in the end it was a mistake of theirs they learnt, that they watched and do with clouded eyes. Yours, they realized was the right kind. Even I had misjudged and wronged you."
Liselsia simply continues to stare at the emerald-eye woman, with an expression that gradually reveals one of reluctance as Tortinita continues on. "It shows how much, the world has changed and how most of us, are still trapped in the moments of the past, afraid to embrace the future. We will need new blood, one that is younger and braver. One whose eyes are not clouded with the trappings of the past. You Liselsia, be the fitting person to show the Sect, the future we cannot see…nor the courage to embrace.” She breathes in deeply as she notices Liselsia’s change of expression, finally managing to utter the last sentence in a form of desperate whisper.
“We need you, Falsita needs you. Let not his sacrifice and legacies, come to a pointless end.”
Liselsia simply chooses to say nothing for the moment. Awkward silence lingers between the two women for the time, with occasional distant howls of the wolves across the forest breaking the deafening silence.
Eventually, a deep sigh Liselsia lets out.
“Change you speak, indeed I see a move in one’s perception. However there are still some things I see, that did not change after these many years of centuries and mistakes the Sect had made.” She turns around to face Tortinita, gazing deeply into her emerald eyes with her soft blue ones. She speaks now with a hint of anger.
“The Sect speaks such words once again, merely to disguise its selfishness.”
Silence once more lingers between the two; the expression Tortinita wears is one of unhidden guilt with eyes of her being set upon the ground. Finally, Tortinita musters enough bravery to break the cold silence.
“Words you speak, we will not deny the degree of truths it hold. We sacrificed much of others, simply to fulfill the selfishness of our goals, which we thought were right. Believe I do, you too understand that we did what we simply thought, was the best of Falsita's future. The price we paid dearly for it… now only regrets are all we have left. Now in the hearts of ours, only redemptions we seek, so as future generations of Falsita will not suffer from our foolishness.”
“I am no sage Tortinita Jie.” Liselsia quietly murmurs, her eyes closed, her lips are in a tight curl. “Choices I made, sacrifices I made are with reasons indifferent than the Sect's. For I too did it out of one’s own selfishness I did. The difference of treatment I received now, is merely because the choice I made happened to be the ‘right’ kind, one that gives the best results. If the decision I made happened to be the wrong kind, I doubt this be the decision they would make.” A deep sigh she lets out, whispering the remaining words.
“How much he meant to I Tortinita, you know it well enough. How ready I was to betray the Sect, in order to accomplish the goals he has, was no secret to you. It was not a matter of ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’.
I simply loved him.”
Tortinita remains silent, though she wears a knowing look. The very words Liselsia speaks, carries a recognisable tone of sadness and melancholy. The glint in her soft blue eyes, shows one of unspeakable loss she may had suffered from.
“Ryu… Soma,” Tortinita finally speaks, a melodic voice in solemn tone. “One born without destiny. One never meant to exist, but marks remained from the steps he made. Changing the destinies and fate of all, whom he came in touch with. His existence adverted the sufferings of the people of Falsita. His passing now brings back certainties to Falsita and even the Gods. For even Gods are also fearful, of a mortal whose future they cannot see. For fearful they are, that his existence may even affect their own wheel of fate. It was for the best Liselsia, lest the Gods’ intervention may bring an end to Falsita instead to bring back their own certainties.”
Liselsia sighs deeply, knowing the words Tortinita said, are ones of truth. A resigned nod she gives, her soft -spoken voice once more forms a melodic tone, though a somber kind.
"At the cost of ruining a life of a child. Became a monster he did, because of the selfish actions of the adults or Gods may had made."
Another sigh she lets out, shaking her head slowly.
"I wish the time needed to consider the High Priestess's decree. This is all I ask. For here in Narfell, there are also Ryu's legacies I wish to see and hope it will live on as well.”
And they stand in silence, on top of the hill of Norwick, with the thoughts of both women thinking along the same line. One that holds a hint of irony, and even bitterness in one of their hearts:
Even the Gods themselves, are capable of being selfish.