Journal Entry 13.01 Aja Accepts the Gifts of Winter

Aja almost dies and meets her Patron

General Summary

During the final moments of the battle with the Light Thief, Aja is quickly examining her best options for concluding the battle with the archers.
Using the cover of her cloud to move, she suddenly senses movement beside her. Looking over she is shocked to see the Light Thief floating next to her. Then he speaks - she can't recall what he said, only that it included something the along the lines of "I am so sorry, I owe a debt that must be paid." Then she remembers a bright light - and coldness - and darkness.
And somehow, Aja knows that her life is slipping from her. She is dying. She doesn't even remember why she is dying, what did the Light Thief do? She is more concerned for Gigi and the others left behind than for herself - accepting what is. You can't adventure like she has for the past year without understanding mortality will always be present.
As she continues to fade, she slips into more of a dream state, strange colors, memories and relations flash by. The events make perfect logical sense as she sees them - she understands on a deeper level why events in the world are happening. She sees the harbingers for what they are - she now understands Kinsi in full. And then a new memory slips in and she forgets why the former event was so simple and logical a moment before.
As she leaps from thought to thought, everything goes white.
Standing in front of her is Dame Imokan - however this Imokan has a white hair and a spiral pendant. Aja knows she should recognize this, then without understanding, she knows who this is. She has always known.
Without even speaking, she hears in her head a cold voice.
"Well Child, It seems you have gotten yourself into a situation. I do believe you might be dying. And should you die all my efforts to secure you in my service will have been for naught. Though your life has been of trivial entertainment for the short idles I have spent watching you, I would hate to see you pass unfulfilled."
"And I so missed out conversation the last few nights. I do have good news and some bad news. The good news is I can save you, the bad news is that once I do, my powers to influence your success will be sorely diminished in this land. While this land is fey, I am being blocked. Just talking to you is exerting all my energies."
"So choose well. Die with your friends, or rise from the icy cold of death and claim the heritage your family so dearly has tried to keep from you since you were born."
"Simply say, 'Yes my queen, I shall receive your favor' or say 'Nay, I forsake your gifts'.”
Knowing this choice is important, Aja doesn't hesitate. On some level, she knows she needs to accept to save her friends, to be with Gigi again, on another level, she feels this is her destiny. She has been moving toward this moment her whole life, possibly before she was born.
With a single "Yes, my queen" she feels a rush of power enter her. An elation tied to the mastery of winter, the permanence that all things must sleep and yet the promise that what slumbers will once again awaken. "Arise my child - accept this seed of winter."
Aja understands that she has not just accepted a charge to serve, she has accepted a role - that of champion of Winter - destined to lead the fight against that which seeks to circumvent the natural order of the multiverse. Some might perceive her as nothing more than Winter's Executioner, however already Aja knows her calling is much higher - she must preserve that all things end so that growth and renewal can begin. She sees that she is also a guide. On some level, she understands that winter is not death, it is not an end. It is only a rest, a chance for something better to come along. However, the process can be brutally harsh, almost must be harsh else the old and stale refuses to leave, clinging on and preventing the next generation from its time.
Even as a midwife, she represented the transition of pain into new life, a guiding hand to make sure a natural process is uncomplicated. Her role is that of helping the transition to arrive and begin, not the tending or caretaking of the growth to come. Other's will do that.
As she accepts the role, a potent source of elemental winter bonds with a tiny spark of winter which was already present in her being. That source of power awakens her back to the battle fully healed. She flies up ready to lash out at her enemies, feeling the might of Winter struggling to gain freedom.
However, her companions have already finished the combat. Bridling her new found power, she struggles successfully to hold the burgeoning force in check, knowing that she will have the opportunity soon enough to release its power. This spark of power arises from the seed of winter combining with her spark. Once she expends it, she can grow the seed and will someday surpass her mastery of winter she now contains.

‘Tis a fearful thing

to love what death can touch.

A fearful thing

to love, to hope, to dream, to be –

to be,

And oh, to lose.

A thing for fools, this,

And a holy thing,

a holy thing

to love.

For your life has lived in me,

your laugh once lifted me,

your word was gift to me.

To remember this brings painful joy.

‘Tis a human thing, love,

a holy thing, to love

what death has touched.

- Yehuda HaLevi

Report Date

20 Sep 2018