[July 1] [Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria] Mutual Aid

[runiclore]

Mutual Aid
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: July 1 - _____ is the sign of a stable mind
Series: Valkyrie Profile Silmeria
Character/Pairing: Alicia, Silmeria
Rating: K
Words: 680

Notes: n/a



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"It's not working," Alicia said. "I don't feel anything. Can't we go back inside?"

You aren't concentrating. Energy from the Great Tree is the easiest to detect because there's so much of it everywhere. Try harder!

Alicia sighed sharply and pulled her hands into her cloak. The fur lining kept her warm as long as she stood still, but when she stretched her hand out, even if she held the folds closed, the snowy air would gust in and her flesh would prickle under her layers of pants and tunics and boots. The forested alcove outside her chateau was frosted over, the branches and stones pale and luminescent with ice in the starlight. There was a torch some ways back on the street, but its light barely reached her corner of the city, where the walls had crumbled to let the junipers take root and spread their branches.

"Maybe if it wasn't so cold I'd be able to concentrate!" Alicia's breath misted, died. "There isn't anything around here to freeze, so couldn't we do this in the banquet hall or something?"

And let the servants see? Don't be stupid. If you want something to aim at--

No! She closed her eyes. We're not going anywhere.

If Odin can learn to do this, so can you. Silmeria paused, and when she continued, the edge had left her voice. Try thinking of your hands as the limbs of a tree, and the energy as ice melting and running to the tip of a branch, falling, and freezing into icicles. The roots of Yggdrasil aren't very different from those bare branches above your head.

Alicia resisted the temptation to look and tried to ignore the wind sneaking under her cloak. It was very different, obviously; she wasn't a branch passively collecting bits of power, and what did she know about the World Tree, besides the legend everybody told? Did it even exist - did it even have roots, or was that just a metaphor?

Alicia.

"I'm sorry--"

Pay attention.

Her arm swept out of her cloak, and Alicia's skin crawled and shivered, but Silmeria held their body rigidly still. The pavement vibrated beneath her feet. Warmth crawled over her legs from the ground, flooding her blood vessels, and pooled at the tips of her fingers until they prickled and stung. Did you feel that? She tried to nod, couldn't. The valkyrie stepped back and swung, like she was throwing something, and the tree in front of them flashed. Alicia blinked the afterimage away.

Now, try again.

The tree was encased in a translucent cage that might have been glass, if glass makers could craft something so thin and fine and clear. It faded as she watched. "But--" She licked her lips. "Are you sure I can--?"

If I can use your body to do this, then yes, you are capable. Now do it. Concentrate. Hrist will come eventually, and where will you be if you can't defend yourself without my help? I can't stay out forever.

"Yes." Alicia huddled into her cloak. "I know." Then, more softly, she said, "This isn't as easy as you make it out to be."

Silmeria was silent for a long moment. Alicia tried to picture her thinking, looking up at the stars or off to the distance, past the tangle of trees pressing into the stone alcove. I look something like you, the valkyrie once told her, but your hair is darker and straighter, and I suppose I'd be a little taller. That was a few years ago, but Alicia hadn't grown much since then. She was small and thin, nothing like the warrior she imagined the goddess to be.

She wasn't meant for fighting. Her hands could barely fit around a sword hilt, and her arms weren't up to swinging a weapon around. She wasn't Silmeria.

I'm not like you. I'm not powerful. I'm not a god--

Enough. Silmeria's voice was firm, almost cold. Just keep trying and you'll succeed, I promise.


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Comments

[sky-pirate-tat.livejournal.com]

*claps* Well done! I really like how you portrayed Silmeria, very strict but it's her strict attitude that makes her kind.

[runiclore.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you like it! It's my first try at both of them.