ROLEPLAY

[OOC - this is the story of a reunion between two best friends, told from the point of view of Senatrius]

„You bet!“ Luminatrix let out a short laugh. „That’s it, really. I lived there, occasionally working with the local tribes, bartering various materials for supplies I needed. I briefly stayed with the Keepers around the time my son was born, then I went from place to place depending on where I could find food and shelter.“

„That couldn’t have been as easy as you’re saying. I’ve been to the Wastelands countless times. You may be much better at sneaking last things unnoticed than I will ever be, but I don’t believe you had an easy time there. Especially with a small child.“

Luminatrix frowned slightly. As the sun slowly rose above the horizon, Senatrius studied her face. She had aged just a little bit, not much. Her hair was cut short, by the looks of it with a hunting knife rather than by a hairdresser. She had scars he didn’t remember, too. But the one thing that struck him the most were her eyes. They were the same sky blue as always, the same eyes he remembered and yet, they were so very different. The spark of excitement, curiosity, the childlike wonder – it was all gone. Gone and replaced with such sadness, such deep grief it broke his heart. Many good friends had died or disappeared over the years, he had mourned every single one of them. But Lumi had not known until her return. He couldn’t imagine how horrible it must have been for her to find out that almost everyone dear to her was gone.

„You’re right. It wasn’t. That’s also why I came back. I wanted my son to see the upper lands, to experience their beauty, to feel the sunlight on his skin. I had thought that maybe, in twenty years, things will have calmed down, but I was so very wrong. If anything, they are worse now then they had been before.“

„What do you mean?“ What Senatrius meant to ask was rather „how much do you know“. He had no idea how long his best friend had been back. But clearly it had been long enough for her to see what the world had become.

„Where do I even start? The separation of Nations hasn’t diminished, if anything, it’s even worse. And same with factions. Instead of uniting together to wipe out the Kitins, they are all fighting each other… their childish wars will definitely not lead to anything but everyone’s deaths. I have no words for how saddened, how disappointed I am. This is not the Atys I had grown to love, not anymore. The Atys I loved was a world of progress, of building bridges across the things that divide us. But now it seems even more frozen in the past than it has ever been.“

Senatrius offered his friend a sad smile. „You’re not wrong. But not everything is so bleak. Homins still do their best to look out for each other. You should come to Zora, live with us.“

„I’m thankful for the offer. But I have already found another place to live. In Hidden Source.“
Senatrius was stunned. So, not all of the rumors were untrue after all. He had refused to believe that his friend would become a Marauder. But she had. „How…why, Lumi? They are horrible people, bloodthirsty warmongers, merciless murderers…“

„Many are. But not all of them. The clan I joined is full of good people. They just don’t quite fit in with the other citizens of the four Nations. Just like me. They took me in and didn’t care about my past, didn’t judge me. With them, I found a new home. Besides, I knew a handful of them. Many were once Karavan…“

Senatrius remembered. He now knew exactly what clan she was talking about. They were strange for Marauders. From what he had heard, they barely partook in raids on cities, they weren’t opposed to occasionally trading with other factions and, supposedly, they had even allied themselves with some Rangers and certain Karavan followers in a number of battles. Certainly no saints, but then, there were very few Homins who didn’t have blood on their hands, regardless of faction.

„And your son, is he in your clan, too?“