About The Bardess

[A brief: this is a completely out of character document I update from time to time with my travels and adventures. It may make no sense to you, but it is dear to me. These are some of the times and characters I have cherished from 1987 to the present. I add it here as part of my ongoing effort to share my adventures. If you are reading and find yourself mentioned, know that I would welcome a note. ]

 

The Bardess & The …

It all began with The Priestess and the The First Worlde, the Elanthia of Creation. She served the Goddess whose name could not be uttered. She gave her heart to the Legend, who was neither holy nor light, but he worked for the good of Elanthia, for the heart of the world; she left when he did not return from a perilous task. Then there was the Bardess and the Warrior, and at the last, there was the Dreamweaver and the First Worlde, and all Worlds yet to be. The First Worlde was locked in time, along with those who remained.

Traveling far, the Healer and the Heroes explored new lands provided to them in what would become the Olde Worlde. It was a wonder. So large, so varied, so … magical. So healed.

On a lark or two, wandering side trips from Elanthia took her to places where the songs leaked out, anyway. There was the Madam and the Reluctant Vampire, and then the almost tale of the Ladye and the Dark One; there was the tale of the Wolf Lady and the Protector; and the legend of the precious soulmates: the Seamstress and the Smith.

Her dreams did not fade, and the call of Home was strong. Back in The Olde Worlde, cloaked now in the dreams that linked her to the First Worlde, she sang. There was the Bardess and the Ranger, the Sorceress and the (engaged) Rogue (but not to her), and ultimately the Bardess and the Dark Mage, who were the Light and the Dark, and all things because they were one; he was her every breath, she, his fire. He took her from the Olde Worlde and gave her the promise of the New Worlde. From whence he disappeared. And within a few long, long, months, so did she.

Born into the New Worlde to try to fulfill the ‘Weaver’s void, a new Bardess carried the heart of all dreams and all times. There was the Bardess and the Barbarian, whose unrequited love was never for her; the Bardess and the Prince of Thieves, the Bardess and the Mage who broke her heart most cruelly, the Bardess and her Shadow Knight, and the Bardess and the One Who Always Loved Her–whose heart she kept breaking, again, and again; she never forgave herself.

One winter’s night began the story of the Bardess and the Hero, in a softly whispered prophecy, she told him: “You will spend some time with a Bardess.” And he did, and it was good. When her Prince pierced her soul, her heart, she dreamed a song for her charming Prince, which she never sang for him. (And unsung songs are weavings undone; you can wait too long.) It was all made clear to her one night as her heart wrenched when the Hero handed her a thorny rose (“It reminded me of you…”). They danced all night, and from that moment forth, all the dances were his, all the songs were theirs. No regrets, only what their life ahead held – together. This Bardess, too, like the Dreamweaver before her, found the other half of her soul.

“Come, come be young with me again,” Time whispered in her
soul. It was the age-old temptation, in her ear. Once more…

A young elven bardess, named for her priestess ancestor in the First Worlde, returned to the Olde Worlde, which was now the Worlde Reborn. She found her way …back… to the Landing, which was for all purposes a different city now, in a completely unfamiliar world. But the past lay around every corner, upon every street; it was treacherous to her very soul. The question: would she be able to turn the ghosts into dreams, into tales? The other question: could she make her own life? Would she be so allowed?

She began to turn the ghosts into tales, make friends, and build her life. She met the Archmage, who caught her fancy, her heart, and then he sailed off. Was the sea her rival,  her legacy, or her destiny?

…yet to be finished…