Glade Paralix
Asher
Story
Agave called the mountainous desert oasis where she grew up home, despite it being isolated and simplistic in its lifestyle. A natural spring provided water and lush vegetation surrounded the pass where frequent traders and their caravans traveled, offering occasional commerce. Agave heard tales of the technological growth far off in other countries and thought such to be fantastical and wondrous, only used to agriculture and trading. A part of Agave had always wanted to see more past the oasis, but strict rules provided no such allowance. She grew up under a very religious household, molded into the demure, submissive female role that old teachings suggested for women in the community. Agave rarely questioned the teachings, wishing nothing more than to make her parents proud of her, but she never stopped wondering about her dreams to travel. When she became a teenager, Agave’s worldview began to shift upon learning of her magical abilities.Magic was still a feared thing in the world, and witches were prominent even with the bolstering of steam technology that slowly drove an industrial age throughout the world. Agave’s people were very superstitious and condemned magic and Agave feared speaking of her abilities, so kept them out of the eyes of others while secretly testing herself out of curiosity. Agave went so far as to barter for magical texts to study from, a rebellious act that would have gotten her in severe trouble had it been discovered. Her eyes opened to an entirely new world of learning, Agave used such pursuits as a hidden pleasure, someday hoping to use her magical prowess to aid the village and help turn their opinions towards something more positive.
That chance came in a terrifying way that Agave still has nightmares about as an adult. In the summer of her thirteenth year, the area was struck by a massive earthquake that caused severe devastation, including sinkholes, erosion, and the depletion of the reservoirs that provided the area its water source. Crops began to fail subsequently after, and with trade routes damaged the flow of goods slowed to a trickle. In the two years after, dehydration and starvation razed the village and caused massive amounts of death, including Agave’s entire family. She attempted to use what she learned magically to aid the village, but with no other help due to their isolated region and the area becoming a dried-up landscape, Agave gathered what little she had and left, like several had attempted before her. Crossing the desert was a near impossible task and Agave feared the previous attempts ended poorly, but she had no other choice and set off to find somewhere else to go.
Agave became lost in the desert not soon after she left, and lack of proper supplies almost certainly doomed the young teenager to her demise out in the wastes. It was through sheer luck that a caravan picked her up, starving and near death, and took her to the nearest town. Agave recovered there and struggled to find out what to do with herself so far from home. Culture-shock and disorientation faded some over time, and after earning money via odd jobs, Agave heard tales of a fabled clan called Vivere that took in the homeless, destitute, and magically-inclined outcasts in society, having grown over the past two centuries into a strong community. Few seemed to be able to find the place, but Agave found renewed vigor with this story and set herself in finding the clan to seek refuge and find her true place in society.
Eight months of searching and Agave, world-weary and barely seventeen, was welcomed into the clan with the exchange that she would hone her healing abilities with the clan’s top healer and work for her keep. Agave agreed with no question and her abilities blossomed with actual tutelage. She quickly called the clan her new home, the warm welcome of others giving her a new outlook on life and a more positive demeanor. No one but the clan elders bore the knowledge of her struggles, and Agave set to keep it that way, determined to start anew and keep the past behind her.
Agave’s fast learning and her natural-born skills led the woman to the assistant position under the head doctor in just a handful of years. She is used to being one of the first faces new clan residents see, attempting to bring warmth and calm to the hospital ward, an often uneasy place for people to visit. Known to be patient even with the worst of temperaments, Agave was tested the most with one particular entrant to Vivere, who was conscripted to the guard and seemed to always visit the ward with repeat injuries. Becoming well-acquainted with the woman over time, Agave showed nothing but kindness and care despite grating harshness in turn. It did surprise her when she noticed the other witch slowly started to open up more, knowing the reputation that Luvinie had garnered in her stay. Becoming tepid acquaintances, the change was not unnoticed by Luvinie's counterpart who had arrived with her to the clan, Precious; she had become a nurse herself, and a good friend of Agave in turn. She noticed before either of them did the closeness the two were developing, and Agave, oblivious to noticing signs of something else, was stunned when it developed into romantic feelings. They danced around their feelings and around one another for awhile, neither wanting to really admit to what had changed. Once they were forced to confront the issue, both were surprised to know that their feelings were reciprocated. Their relationship was slow at first, but Agave fully embraced the feeling of loving someone else, foreign to her for so long. The two are entirely opposite in many ways, but Agave dotes on, accepts and cares for Luvinie unconditionally, while Luvinie does well to ground Agave, give her confidence, and remind her of her own self-worth.
Yoshi
