Undestructable

Faerie tales from beyond the veil to the streets of RhyDin

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Undestructable

Post by JewellRavenlock »

When I was younger I lived in fear
That incarceration of some kind is near
I checked my head, in tact with rules
I nearly became a goddamn fool

But I've heard voices not in the head
Out in the air they called ahead
Through ripped out speakers
Through thick and thin
They found a shelter
Under my skin

How many darkest moments and traps
Still lay ahead of us?
Undestructable
How many final frontiers we gonna mount
With maybe no victory laps?
Undestructable
But if you stepped on path of sacred art
and stuck it out through thick and thin
God knows you become one
With undestructable

And so no longer live I in fear
Them are too greedy to pay my asylum bills
This is my life and freedom's my profession
This is my mission throughout all flight duration

There is a core and it's hardcore
All is hardcore when made with love
The love is a voice of a savage soul
This savage love is undestructable
--Gogol Bordello “Undestructable”
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Post by JewellRavenlock »

“So what don’t you like about it? It sounds like a good idea. Tee-tee Raye knows what she’s doing, right? I mean, she’s kind of a badass. And it’s not like you couldn’t use some extra training.”

“I guess.”

“You guess?”

“It’s going to be hard.”

The teen rolled her eyes. “So what? You’re tough. Stop shitting around for two seconds and be real.”

Jewell closed her eyes and sighed, trying to interrupt Sapphire’s little rant. “Sapphire.”

“You’re not some delicate little flower that’s going to break with some extra training.”

“Sapphire.”

“With your magic and the stuff you’ve done? You’re stronger than half the people around here. Why do you have to lie to yourself and everyone else?”

“Sapphire, enough! I don’t care that it’s going to be difficult physically. That’s the last thing on my mind. It’s going to be hard emotionally.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The crickets sang to them as the teen chewed over that a moment. She plucked another dandelion from the grass at her side, blowing on it to send the seeds scattering into the twilight. “Well.. you know, there is a bright side.”

“What’s that?”

The teen turned her head to smirk at her. “You’ve basically hit beyond rock bottom like.. twenty times in the last two years. It can only go up from here.” She paused. “Probably.”
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Post by JewellRavenlock »

“Hold still!”

“It huuuuuurts.”

“I can’t fix it if you don’t hold still!”

“But Saaaaaa-phire.” The normally tough Faerie sniffled pathetically.

“Don’t be such a baby.” The teen admonished as she finally grabbed hold of her leg when Jewell stopped her squirming and writhing. “It’s just a pulled muscle. Takes me two seconds to fix.”

“Raye is trying to kill me.”

“Hardly. She’s just tougher on you than Ishmerai. Maybe if you didn’t let yourself get so out of shape, this wouldn’t be so bad.”

“I’m not out of shape! I run all the time, I duel, and I train with Kal.”

She smirked. “The horizontal mambo does not count as training.”

“We don’t just--” Jewell’s defensive retort melted away into a sudden sigh of relief as Sapphire eased her terrible suffering with a touch of magic.

“There.” She shoved her leg off her lap. “All better.”

She ran her hand along her calf, no longer sore to the touch and taut with inflammation. “Perfect!”

“I know. I’m awesome. Just try not to pull it again during tomorrow’s training session, okay?”

The Faerie groaned at the reminder.
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The bright, clear laughter of the teen filled the small glen. “You’re worse than a pirate.”

“**** you and **** in your **** ****!”

That only made her laugh harder. “I don’t even know if that’s physically possible.” Jewell glared at her before trying to break apart the block of ice entrapping her right hand with the assistance of a nearby tree. “Will you just let me do it?”

“No!”

“Fine. Have it your way.” She went back to streaming water from the spring fed pond through the air, watching her training partner out of the corner of her eye.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Splash! “Son of a--!”

“I told you if you just focused you could have melted it.”

The Empress stomped her foot and cradled her no longer frozen but very bruised right hand to her chest. “I was focusing!”

“Nah.” Sapphire shook her head. “The second it doesn’t work for you? You lose your focus and get frustrated. Then it really doesn’t work and you get angry. And then it really-”

“Yes! I get it.” She cut her off with a scowl. “You don’t realize how incredibly frustrating this is. This is child’s play!”

“Yeah. And you still suck at it.” She smirked. “So let’s try again. Take a few deep breaths.” Jewell complied after muttering about the humiliation of being taught by a teenager. “Are you breathing?”

“Of course I’m breathing!” she snapped.

“Then catch!”

The elder Faerie “caught” the water being hurdled her way and smiled triumphantly. She let it trail and dance around her before condensing it into a sphere and whipping it back at Sapphire, catching her in the face. “Hah! Who sucks now?”
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“It’s still not working right.” Each word was punctuated by a jab thrown at the punching bag.

He watched vent her frustration and rage upon the sack of sand. “Sapphire is right, Mira. You’re not focusing.”

“I’m trying!” She threw her hands up in the air as she turned to him. “I swear I am, Merai. I’ve been doing everything you have asked of me. That Raye has asked of me. I have been training harder than I have in years. I’ve even been meditating like she suggested. Deep breathing. Focus. All of it! But it’s not working. My magic is just broken.”

“Are you sure it is the magic that is broken?” He asked gently. She turned her face away from him, but he persisted. “Are you sure it is not you, my lady?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think you do, Mira. Your abilities come from inside you. You are the focus for your own power. It is channeled through you.” He paused so the next statement would have greater impetus: “It is channeled through your emotions. How can you hope to exercise control over your own abilities when you cannot control yourself? The roiling storm inside you colors everything you do. How can you hope to tame and control such power when you are in turmoil? ”

Her grey eyes shone with tears when she looked back at him. “I’m not… I’ve been trying!”

“I know you have,” he said soothingly. “But you have been through many trials. You can not so easily overcome what you were subjected to this winter.” Instantly, her shoulders curled forward, her body drawing in defensively. She had to guard her core, to protect that which had been touched. Sullied. Shattered. “These trials have left their mark upon you.”

“I want them to go away!” She wiped furiously at her tears. Just another sign of weakness. “I don’t want to be broken anymore. I don’t want to be fractured. I’m tired of feeling like this. I’m all sharp edges inside. I need to fix it. I need it to go away.”

“I know.”
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Post by JewellRavenlock »

“I am glad--” He got a good look at her and cursed quietly, pushing her right back into the hall and closing over the door to Sapphire’s hospital room. “Mira,” he hissed. “What happened? You were supposed to be with Raye!”

“How is she?” she tried to peer around him but the door and six plus feet of solid knight blocked her effectively.

“What happened to your face?”

“We ran into a little trouble.”

He took a deep breath, counting to ten in his head. “You should let one of the nurses look at that.”

“Later. I already cleaned it up. Now come on. I want to see her.”

He didn’t budge. “Tell me what happened first.”

She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her temper in check. Her emotions were so high to the surface these last few days. The littlest thing could set her off. She was volatile, angry, upset, and she just wanted to check on Sapphire. She didn’t have time for this right now, but the knight was difficult to get around and she didn’t want to start a fight by pulling rank on him.

Her sigh vented only a little of her frustration. “We got them both. First one gave me a little trouble. My control slipped.” He arched a brow in question. “I.. I got angry and he snapped out of the glamour. Shoved me against a wall. We scuffled a little, but Raye got him long enough so I could enchant him again. And we were more careful with the second guy. So there. It’s done. Can I go in and see her now?”

He frowned. “You are lucky Rayvinn was with you, Mira. You are playing things too dangerously.”

“Right. Thanks for the lecture Captain Obvious.”
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“Of course you’re struggling, Jewell. When your magic was removed, they took a vital part of you. They stole a major piece of your identity. You adjusted as well as you could to that, given the circumstances. But then you just got it all back at once.”

“It was supposed to feel good.”

“Doesn’t it sometimes?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. I guess. Sometimes. I just.. I thought I would feel whole again. Instead, I feel like I have all the pieces but someone put them together wrong.”

“How can we fix that?”

“I don’t know!” Jewell’s hands curled into the jersey skirt of her dress, bunching it up. “I’ve been trying. But instead of getting better, things keep getting worse. And shit keeps happening and I need to be ready to deal with it and I’m just not. I know something is coming. Something big. I’m not ready for it. Instead, I’m out of control.”

Helen Bronner nodded, holding up her finger to indicate one moment as she stood up and stepped over to her desk. She rifled through a drawer, pulling out a box overflowing with business cards. She dug through them a moment, spreading discarded ones out across the surface of her desk before she landed on what she was looking for. She left the mess for later, stepping over to hand off the white card embossed with gold to Jewell.

“What’s this?” She accepted the card from Dr. Bronner and flipped it over, reading the name on the front. “Master Tenzin? Are you trying to get rid of me or set me up on a date?”

The doctor laughed as she retook her seat. “Not quite. I doubt I could if I really wanted to, and I don’t think you need help getting a date.” The Empress smiled, admitting the truth to both of those. “Master Tenzin is an old friend of mine. I think you should go see him.”

She pointed to the characters beneath Master Tenzin’s name. “What’s this?”

“The name of the temple he runs. It means ‘Ascend’.”

Jewell’s brow furrowed a touch. “Is it in town?”

“Unfortunately not. Master Tenzin feels that there is no peace to be found in this city. He only visits under great protest. The temple is near Mount Yasuo.”

Her patient’s expression settled into a displeased frown. “That is far. I have work to do, Dr. Bronner.”

“There are hot springs.”

That earned a bit of a smile. “It’s still far.”

“I know.”

The blue haired faerie spun the paper about between her fingers as if it were a playing card. She had been practicing with those. “Tell me why. What do you think I will gain from this? How can he help me?”

“Jewell, you’re beyond my skills here. I don’t think I can help you with what you are struggling with anymore. I can’t help you move beyond all the trauma you’ve been through recently. I can’t help you reign in your magic. I can’t help rearrange all the pieces inside you. But I think Master Tenzin can.”

She palmed the card, nodding. “All right. When do I leave?”
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The train ride out to Mount Yasuo was long. The hike to the temple was longer. Thankfully, there was tea waiting at the end of the journey and the promise of a soak in the hot springs to wash the travel dirt and dust from her.

“I am surprised that my good friend Dr. Helen thinks me equipped to help a great lady amongst the sidhe.” Master Tenzin commented from across the table they knelt at. He had greeted her personally upon arrival, had carried her things to the small room that would be hers for the duration of her stay, and had invited her to tea.

Dr. Bronner’s friend was old by mortal standards, though the faerie could not guess at an age as such things meant little to her. He was bald, his head shiny, with a long beard that was once black but was almost fully white now. His frame was lean and wiry. When standing, they were almost eye-to-eye. And those eyes were old and deep. Old and knowledgeable. They were a bright green, and they looked right through her.

She ducked her head, a smile teasing her lips as she looked up through her lashes at the older man. Even in dusty leather, face streaked with sweat and grime, she could be a coquette. “Many people mistake me for elvish.”

“Only one of the sidhe could be such a master with illusions.”

“But sir, I wear no illusions about me today.” She spread her hands out on the table. It was a gesture of goodwill amongst those who practiced the arts; it didn’t really mean much in practice when she could easily cast devastating magic without even a twitch of her pinkie finger. “I come to you as I am.”

“No child,” the old man shook his head. “You still appear as you want not as you are.”

She frowned. There were not many who recognized that almost everything about Jewell was an illusion whether she was crafting with glamour or not. She did not need to wear a veil to create an illusion. Her actions, speech, even her dress were all artifice, clever tricks to manipulate how others saw her. It was uncomfortable to have that pulled away. “I suppose I do,” she conceded carefully.

“Take no offense, child. I am old. I have seen many things. I assure you, you are very good at what you do.”

The compliment soothed her bruised ego. “Thank you.” She curled her hands around the small cup of tea. “May I ask, sir, why it is that you call me child? Surely, if you know that I am of the sidhe, you must know I am undoubtedly older than you are.”

“Are you so sure?”

Her brows drew together and her eyes narrowed. Jewell often did her best to not be rude. She usually chose not to look beyond the glamour people wore, the spells they wove about themselves, or to penetrate their defenses. She chose not to know who or what she was dealing with. At times though, it was almost too tempting. She wanted to know who this man really was and what he was.

“Do not look so concerned, lady. I mean you no harm. I am a friend, or I could be if you would allow me the honor.”

She suddenly smiled, feeling foolish. Here was no enemy to evaluate. Rather, he was a potential ally. She did not have to determine his weaknesses, looking for the cracks and flaws she may one day need to tear him apart. “Of course. My apologies, Master Tenzin. I would be very honored to have you as a friend.”

“This is very good. Now,” he picked up the envelope Jewell had brought with her from Dr. Bronner, “let us see how Dr. Helen thinks I can help my new friend.”
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“Jewell, what do you know about chakras?”

They sat cross legged on one of the temple porches, watching the sun rise. Dawn was just now touching the peaks of the surrounding mountains, leaving the grounds in muted dusk. The hum and buzz of the city was very far away.

Despite the lack of sleep and the exertion of the previous day, she felt refreshed. The temple, with its simple routines and lifestyle, was very grounding. Her blue hair was tied back modest and low, and there were no high heels to squeeze her feet into this morning. Instead, she wore the plain, keikogi style outfit that most of the inhabitants seemed to prefer along with flat sandals. Dressed like this, she felt comfortable and calm. She was not The Empress. She was just Jewell.

“Chakras are pools of energy in our bodies.” She tried to recall everything she had ever read on the subject. It was not quite how they were taught to think of energy in Faerie, but there were similarities in most disciplines of energy study. “Seven pools, right?” Master Tenzin nodded. “And each pool of energy supposedly has a purpose.

“Yes. Each pool has a purpose and each pool can also be blocked by a specific kind of emotion.” Her brow furrowed a little. “Together, we will work on removing the emotional blocks so your energy can flow freely.”

“Why?”

“With your chakras blocked, you will never have access to the full range of your abilities again. You will never have full control over your abilities again. You complain to Dr. Helen about feeling out of control, yes?”

Shame colored her face. “Yes.”

“You must work through some of these blockages so that your energy can flow freely and allow you to feel in control once more.”

Her heart hammered inside her chest. There was so much she still didn’t feel ready to deal with. There were so many things she had avoided for so long. But she wanted to do this. Needed to do it. “What will happen after I unblock my chakras?”

“You will find balance.”

((Disclaimer about the source material for upcoming posts on chakras found here.))
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“We will start with the earth chakra. What do you know of this one?”

Jewell shifted ever so slightly, legs crossed and chin tilted up. The slate stone of the patio was cool beneath her, sending goosebumps racing across her bare arms. The sun was still blocked by the temple buildings rising up on all sides and wouldn’t touch the rock and bonsai courtyard garden until later this afternoon. “The earth chakra is located at the base of the spine.”

“Correct. It deals with survival, and is blocked by fear. In order to cleanse this chakra, you must first let your greatest fears become clear to you. What is it that you fear?”

Her fine features twisted up. “Can’t we do an easier one first?”

“No.”

“But--”

“No.”

She sighed dramatically before giving in. Her chest rose with a deep inhalation while her eyes fluttered closed. Jewell focused and meditated. Then she saw her greatest fears.

Robin held her arm in a vicegrip that made her cry out in pain. He was screaming at her. Shaking her. Then he hit her across the face. She saw stars.

The portraits of her children hung on the walls around her.

She crouched on the stone floor in the dark, trembling. Blood coated her from head to toe. The bodies of the priests from the Temple of the Divine Mother lay around her.

The world spun. Her vision blurred. She tasted blood in her mouth, and there was the weight of someone on top of her. Stale breath, filled with cigarette smoke and cheap ale, assaulted her face while rough hands tore at her clothes. She didn’t even remember to scream.

Darkness was thick around her. She clawed at the ceiling, causing more dirt to fall and hit her in the face. There was no escape.

Her brother looked at her with cold disdain.

Leather thongs kept her strapped to a table of iron that burned her over and over again. The Vessel brushed her hair behind her ear. “We need to see what you are capable of.” He leaned forward and whispered her name. The world fell away.

Conventina Ta-Neer held the contract out to her. Her eyesight blurred, obstructed by tears, as she tried to read the terms without success. In the end, she signed her name, selling her soul.

Over and over again she saw herself used and abused. Manipulated. Controlled. Mistreated. Degraded. Robin. Jemini. Conventina. Men without faces. Men without names. Men who she only knew by their touch or the way they made her cry.

Her whole body shuddered violently. She brushed the tears from her face as she opened her eyes. Master Tenzin watched her calmly. “I’m afraid of being weak. Of being easy prey. Of being vulnerable. I’m afraid of the dark.” She licked her lips. Her mouth was incredibly dry. Her stomach was roiling. Her heart beat painfully inside her chest. “I’m afraid of being a victim again and again and again and never being strong enough to fight back because someone will always be stronger. They’ll always be controlling me or manipulating me or using me.

“I’ll never be strong enough to protect myself.”
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“Next we will consider the water chakra. This one is located in the abdomen. It deals with pleasure, and is blocked by guilt.”

Her heart was racing inside her chest. It didn’t matter that they were sitting next to a babbling mountain stream. The chatter of the water, which was normally a soothing balm to her soul, could not block out the roaring in her ears.

“Look at the guilt from your past that burdens you, Jewell. What do you blame yourself for?”

Her arms folded over her stomach defensively, nails digging into the pale skin of her forearms. She tried to protect herself from the truth and block out the pain, her body bending forward under the burden of her guilt. “It was my fault. I let my children die. I didn’t save them. I wasn’t fast enough. Strong enough. I wasn’t smart enough or fierce enough. I didn’t play the game well enough and they died. They’re dead. They died because of me.”

It had been a long time since she had said the words out loud. They had power. They made it so real. They freed a torrent of tears down her face. “They killed my children, and I didn’t save them. I was supposed to save them but I didn’t. I couldn’t. And.. I just don’t understand. Why did that happen to them? Why couldn’t they just kill me instead?”

Master Tenzin nodded slowly. “Their deaths are very tragic, and I do not know the answers to your questions, Jewell. But I do know that you must accept the reality that these terrible things happened,” he paused, “and then let them go.”

“What? No!” She shook her head furiously, sprinkling the already damp ground with her tears. “I can’t. How can I ever let this go?”

“You must let it go or it will poison your energy. It has already poisoned your energy!”

She snapped her jaw shut, teeth grinding against each other. The truth of that statement was like a slap in the face. She had been poisoning herself. Not just in the months since she realized her children were dead. No, she had been poisoning herself for the many long years that preceded that in her relentless search to get them back. The guilt of letting them be taken in the first place had eaten away at her every step she had taken through Faerie.

“Jewell, you must meditate and realize that these things happened. They have happened and you cannot undo them. You have tried to make amends. You have sought vengeance. You have taken your revenge.

“However, if you wish to find balance, you must now forgive yourself.”
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Master Tenzin’s posture was impeccable as he sat across from the fire from her. It lit up his face, illuminating the deep lines that told his age. He set his hand flat against his abdomen, “Today, we will discuss the fire chakra. It is located in the stomach. It deals with willpower, and is blocked by shame. Recognize the biggest disappointments in yourself. What things are you ashamed of?”

Jewell lowered her eyes and stared at the flames. “I did horrible things in Faerie.”

“Are you truly ashamed of what you did?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m ashamed that I’m not.”

“I see.” He nodded. “What else?”

She took a deep breath, the words sticking in her mouth at first. In many ways, this was harder than dealing with her guilt. Anyone that knew her understood her guilt. They had seen her failures. They had seen how she had returned from Faerie empty handed.

Her shame was her own carefully guarded secret. “I… I was never a good wife or a mother.”

“Why?”

She turned her face away. “Because I was disloyal.”

“No. I do not believe that. Moreover, you do not believe that of yourself.” He waited until she dared to meet his gaze. His green eyes pierced her own, calm and penetrating. “Why?”

“Because--” her chest heaved as the truth tried to work its way out, “I was never good enough. I could never be good enough. I was never good enough for any of them. I didn’t spend enough time with my children. I didn’t know how to raise them. To help them be good people. I didn’t know how to love them. I didn’t know how to show them that I loved them.

“And I couldn’t be the perfect wife. I couldn’t even be a good wife. I flirted. My eyes wandered. And I couldn't.. they told me I can’t even carry a pregnancy to term anymore. Not that I want to but even if I did--” Once again, there were tears in her eyes. She let them fall freely now. She could have no real shame in front of Master Tenzin.

It felt good to let it out.

“It’s like I’m not even a real woman. I’m a sham. A fake. And they don’t even know it at first. They think I’m wonderful. Perfect. The definition of alluring femininity. Then when they realize they’ve been deceived? They don’t know what to do. They’re taken in by the glamour and then they find out that I’m empty inside. I’m nothing.

“I’m useless. Pointless. A waste of life.”
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“Now we will talk about the air chakra. This one is located at the heart.” Jewell lifted her hand and let it rest over her heart, feeling its steady beat. “It deals with love, and is blocked by grief.

“You have had much grief in your short life, Jewell. Lay it all out in front of you.”

She had faced her fears. Forgiven herself for her guilt. Admitted to her deepest shame. Now she touched upon the well of grief and hurt that she carried with her every day.

Jewell closed her eyes to meditate.

She was in a sea of bodies. They stood around her as far as her keen grey eyes could see in every direction. Countless faces, yet each was familiar: someone she had lost either in death or life.

Cher and Gene leaned against each other off to the her right. They waved when she looked their way. Eva Jade, Oz, and Raven were with them.

Her mother and father, their faces obscured by the passage of time, were off in the distance.

Alex stood in her path. His arms were around Moradin and Kerrick. Devyn sat on one of his broad shoulders and blew her a kiss as she stepped around them.

To the left, her beautiful mortal lovers: Skyler and Trent. Both dead because of her.

A few faces from Aquarius, her very first home, were scattered throughout the crowd. Her first mentor. Her governess. There were even more from Faerie. Her grandmother, kind and compassionate. Friends lost in the pursuit of her children. Friends lost in battle. Friends lost to the treachery and cruelty of Conventina and Muirenn.

“Ta gra agam ort, murinin,” Stephen whispered as she passed him by.

Face after face. Name after name. Jewell remembered them all. She waded through the sea, not realizing that each and every one of them faded away behind her. They were disappearing. Soon they would be gone forever.

She looked over her shoulder and found herself alone.

Alone except for one other person: Amanda. Her daughter was standing there, staring at her. She was waiting for her. “You’re going to leave me too now, aren’t you?”

The young girl reached up and brushed her fingers against Jewell’s cheek. She leaned into the touch.

Amanda’s hand was warm.

“It’s time, mamma.”

“Please don’t go,” she begged quietly even as she too started to fade away. She reached out, but her hand passed right through her. She couldn’t hold on to her girl. Her first born. The first real joy in her life. “I can’t.. I’m so alone without you.”

“You’ll be fine,” she whispered in return.

“But I miss you.

“I love you.”
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“You are doing so well, Jewell. Are you ready for another?”

“Yes.” She answered unhesitatingly. The hard ones were behind her. It had only been a few days since she arrived at the temple, but she already felt stronger. More in control. Balanced.

Every single tear was worth it to feel like herself again.

“Wonderful! Let us talk about the sound chakra. It is located at the throat. It deals with truth, and is blocked by lies. These include the lies we tell ourselves. Jewell, you cannot lie about your own nature. You must accept who and what you are. You must embrace your whole self.”

“But, how can I do that? How can I do that after being in Faerie? I’ve seen what they are. I have lived among them. I refuse to be like that. I never will.”

“No one is saying that you must become one of them. Are you not more than that? Are you not more than a simple Sidhe?”

She hesitated, a furrow forming in her brow.

“Who are you Jewell? What are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then you must remember. You must remember the trials you have endured and the strength you have showed. You must acknowledge all the parts of yourself. Let them make you complete. Accept that these are parts of you but it do not define you. Accept yourself as you are: wonderful, imperfect, strong, and shining brighter than all those around you.”
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JewellRavenlock
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The Empress

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Post by JewellRavenlock »

“What’s next?” Jewell was eager now. They were coming to the end of her training. It was all coming together. She felt lighter than she had in years. Freer.

She hadn’t felt so uncumbered since the day she had watched her house burn down, kissed Stephen Kidd goodbye, and entered Faerie.

“The light chakra. This one is located at the forehead.”

“It deals with insight.”

“Yes. You have been reading in our library.” She smiled her admittance. “When this chakra is blocked, you lose your sense of direction in life. You become stagnant.”

“Why?”

“Because you begin to distrust your inner voice. You are unable to let go of the past and you fear what the future holds.”

She nodded slowly. Over the last few days, she had come to truly trust Master Tenzin. She saw the differences balancing her chakras was making. She felt it. “How do I move past it? How do I clear this chakra?”

“You must realize that you are the master of your own life, Jewell. Yes, you have been used and abused. You have been manipulated. But today? You are in control.”

She took a deep breath and repeated that beautiful affirmation: “I am in control.”

[]The explanation of the chakra for this post came from this site.[]
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