OOC Thread located here (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234676.msg12442736#msg12442736)<br/>Eden World building thread located here (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234676.msg11541319#msg11541319)<br/><div class="floatright"><div align="center"><sup><em>click images to enlarge</em></sup></div>(https://i.imgur.com/VuGfwLj.png)<br/>Izusa - kitsune priestess<br/><br/>(https://imgur.com/A7mkRZ8.jpg)<br/>The Riverbank<br/><br/>(https://imgur.com/IV2tOES.jpg)<br/>Iber - divine fairy</div><hr/><br/>Izusa had time to look at the river bank as the boat slowly made its way across the river Erusrin.  She couldn’t see the tiny little fairy, barely bigger than a house fly, but she guessed that the fey had turned itself invisible while in the presence of the boat woman who currently paddled across the deceptively calm river. Iber, the tiny little fey creature was only a small part of the reason that Izusa was here now, being banished, being sent across the river.  In the world she was leaving, this was akin to a death sentence, or some people considered it a far crueler fate.<br/><br/>The River Erusian was the dividing line between the mortal controlled lands, kingdoms, and independent states that made up half of the world of Eden.  On the other side, the side she was headed too, the world was ruled by Pandora, the goddess of corruption.  Here she was, being banished, because the elder nuns of the convent decided it was the only fair punishment for her ‘crime.’<br/><br/>She managed to avoid rolling her eyes, some crime.  Yes, she’d known that section of the library was off limits, locked, sealed, but why?  Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and her nimble fingers had stolen, in quick succession, the three keys needed from three different priestesses to enter the forbidden section.  There she’d found, dusty and dry rotting away, knowledge that probably went back to before the pandoran invasion.  Ravenously she read, and read, and read, and read.<br/><br/>She learned that her goddess, the Goddess named Shoni, was once powerful and well respected in Eden.  But back then men and women were present in equal numbers.  Izusa had grown up in a world where women outnumbered men usually at least three or four to one.  Or like the village she’d grown up in, far more, with a few men who were permanent residents and most others passing through from time to time.<br/><br/>She’d learned that there was magic that was considered dangerous in its use, because the priestesses believed that it’s use could let the goddess Pandora learn the location of their secret convent.  During the war, followers, priests, and priestesses of Shoni seemed to be targeted especially brutally by the followers of Pandora.  Still, it couldn’t hurt to just<em>try</em>out some of the spells and rituals, could it?<br/><br/>The first had summoned Iber, a tiny fairy smaller than her fingernail, who had floated around and asked why she’d been summoned from the realms of the goddess.  After a bit of a brief introduction Izusa had determined that the tiny fey creature was now bound to her, and could communicate about the goddess’s wishes and goals, but seemed to be lacking in information that wasn’t directly related to the goddesses’s desires.  Still it was she, this tiny fey creature, fluttering around with a slight glow to her tiny nude body, that suggested Izusa read another scroll.  There Izusa had learned the ritual of transference, where an impregnated priestess could petition her goddess to transfer the life in her womb into the womb of a wanting and deserving mother who couldn’t otherwise conceive.<br/><br/>This spell alone could alleviate so much suffering, so many women who for lack of a man, could not find a father for the children they wished to have.  Why would such knowledge be forbidden?  It made no sense.  There were spells to increase and decrease fertility, and even lewder ones… all locked away, hidden knowledge, and Izusa couldn’t understand why.<br/><br/>Of course all that had ended when the priestesses found her sitting on the floor surrounded by the forbidden scrolls.  The rage they’d shown, the hurt, the anger, the disbelief that she’d violated the forbidden section of the library.  They’d dragged her out by her tufted ears, and Iber had vanished to invisibility giving her no guidance.  Finally her fate had been decided and she was sent across the river, banished from the mortal realms, sentenced to live out her life among the cursed realms that were owned by Pandora the evil goddess of Corruption.<br/><br/>But, after the sentencing as Izusa was packing some meager belongings and was alone, Iber reappeared and consoled her.  The tiny feyling swore that Izusa could redeem herself in the eyes of the goddess and return to this place as a champion if she wanted.  She simply needed to prove her value and worth.  Izusa knew there were ruins of ancient temples to Shoni among the cursed lands, and probably people who could use her tending and mercy, and the touch of the goddess Shoni.<br/><br/>The boat thumped up on the river bank, snapping the kitsune priestess out of her memories and the boat woman gestured for Izusa to disembark and take her bag.  Then with a soft look she said,<strong> “You’re not the first I’ve had to ferry across, and I know you’ve probably heard all sorts of horror stories.  But the rumor is that if you follow this river up stream half a day, there’s a tributary.  Follow that for an hour and there’s a small village.  I don’t know what you’ll find there, but that’s the rumor.  Might be better than camping in the wilds.”</strong>The boat woman shrugged and then pulled her long oar up, waiting for Izusa to finish disembarking to the sandy shore.<br/><br/>After which she began to push back to the water, pulling away from this cursed side of the river banks, with a last<strong> “good luck”</strong>called out as she began to paddle the boat away back towards the mortal realms.<br/><br/>This side of the river didn’t really look any different at all, didn’t feel any different.  Izusa had thought that maybe there would be a dark presence or twisted corrupted nature, but it honestly looked exactly the same here as on the side of the river she’d just left.  Except she knew it wasn't’t.  She was in foreign territory now, the realm of an opposing God, Pandora, opposed and hated of Shoni.  But Izusa had faith, and while she’d never heard the voice of Shoni, the tiny fairy Iber faded back into view and Izusa knew she had a tiny fey creature, a companion, from the goddesses realm itself.  Yes, she’d be ok.<br/><br/>Plus, there was a whole new world to explore, and a part of that excited her.<br/>