Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Roderika wasn’t entirely sure what her Tarnished intended, by taking her on this journey to the forbidden lands, far to the North. The Mountaintops of the Giants, she’d heard them called. Luckily, the two of them had yet to see a giant on their travels. It had been nice, riding with her Tarnished on Torrent’s back, traveling with him all the way here. But she still had no idea what precisely their purpose here was.
 
To be fair, it was at least partially her fault. She hadn’t bothered to ask. Not that her Tarnished spoke much. Hearing him speak to affirm their vows at that rather off-the-cuff wedding Lady Loux had arranged for them was certainly something, but beyond that, he was still silent as ever. Roderika didn’t begrudge him that.
 
All the same, she could have asked questions, posited ideas, and likely figured out some details from his reactions. He was very emotive, the new Elden Lord. Her Tarnished was an open book at times, easy enough to read if one knew what they were looking for. She hadn’t even tried though. He’d offered her his hand while on the back of Torrent, his Spectral Steed, and she’d taken it, letting him pull her up onto the saddle behind him and riding off with her, right then and there.
 
They’d been traveling together for a day and a night now. She’d started out at his back, hugging him tightly from behind, but this morning when they’d remounted, she’d ended up in front of him, his arms wrapped around her waist to hold Torrent’s reins. It was an intimate traveling experience to be sure, and one Roderika had thoroughly enjoyed, even as they’d crossed into these utterly frozen lands and continued on their way.
 
Now… now they must finally be nearing their ultimate destination. After traveling in a circuitous route that ultimately took them high up onto cliff-faces overlooking the roads they’d initially rode along to get to this place, they were nearing a set of what looked like ruins. The plateau these ruins sit upon is located between two bridges… and it’s entirely possible they’re just passing through, but Roderika has this itch behind her ears that tells her no… no, this is the place.
 
There’s a building, budding anticipation within her right now. It has nothing to do with her and her Tarnished’s relationship, nothing to do with the man who she could now call husband thanks to the ring upon her finger, and everything to do with her status as a Spirit Tuner. There was something about this place. It was…
 
“My Lord… where have you brought me?”
 
He doesn’t answer her, of course, save to guide Torrent around the edges of the ruins, rather than through. They move to the back of the area first, and soon Roderika finds herself dismounting. To his credit, her Lord Husband does offer her his hand again. Feeling no small amount of trepidation at this point, Roderika nevertheless takes it.
 
She isn’t a scared little girl anymore, after all. When she came to the Lands Between, she was adrift. The machinations back in her homeland that had seen her, and her subjects driven out in exile, had left her blank-minded and uncertain of herself. She was of noble blood… but she was not deserving of noble recognition, not anymore.
 
And then her weakness… it had gotten her men killed. Worse than killed, in many a case. She’d broken, for a time after that. Broken and lost her way, becoming little more than a rambling madwoman, her words as nonsensical as the thoughts in her head. Her reality hadn’t seemed to make sense, and so she’d stopped trying to make sense of it.
 
Until he’d come along. Her Tarnished, her brave warrior. He’d set things right, hadn’t he? He’d shown her that there was more than just wallowing in your past mistakes, more than just existing in a state of perpetual regret and self-loathing. That even one as wretched as she could have… a future.
 
She’d made her way to Roundtable Hold of her own accord, the first achievement that Roderika could truly call her own, but even that was supported by his every action, by the kindness her Tarnished had shown her. And when Master Hewg had taken her under his wing and shown her the basics of Spirit Tuning in his own grudging yet affectionate way, Roderika had been all too happy.
 
Now though, they were in this place, and Roderika wasn’t entirely sure what their purpose here was. Still, she owes him too much to complain. There are some gravestones at the back of the ruins, where her Lord Husband ends up leading her. As the two of them stop in front of a pair of them, Roderika throws him a confused glance, brow furrowed. Then, she crouches down to read them out properly.
 
“Here lie Aurelia and Aureliette, who never saw the stars…”
 
It takes a moment, and the passage of one of the harmless spirit animals darting through the graveyard for Roderika to put it together. When she does, a gasp leaves her lips, and her eyes tear up. It wasn’t something most knew… but in the course of training to be an accomplished, even expert Spirit Tuner, Roderika had learned much… not all of it good.
 
The Lands Between were far from perfect. Queen Marika the Eternal and her Erdtree were said to have put an end to Death itself, instead instituting a never-ending cycle of life and rebirth where all returned to the roots of the Erdtree, and eventually were reborn anew. Twas a lovely sentiment, and maybe once upon a time, it had even functioned as intended.
 
But the cycle had very clearly been broken for a long, long time. No more was this obvious then the fate of children who died in the Lands Between. The cycle of life and rebirth was broken, ruined by the shattering of the Elden Ring all that time ago. And in that ruin… was the simple truth. Children who died in the Lands Between became Jellyfish Spirits, one and all.
 
Roderika had… known this. In the way someone might know some obscure piece of knowledge, but not truly understand the ramifications of it. Or maybe her mind had simply protected her from understanding until this moment. Because, for even longer than Roderika had known that Jellyfish Spirits were the dead children of these Lands, Roderika had also known the name of the Jellyfish Spirit Ashes that she’d given to her Tarnished, all that time ago.
 
Aurelia.

 
Slowly rising to her feet, hands trembling, Roderika looks to her Lord Husband, eyes wide and filled with unshed tears. These gravestones… two sisters, who had never gotten to see the stars. She remembered her request to her Tarnished, all that time ago. How she had begged him to take Aurelia with him, how she had asked if he would perhaps look for her home and help her find it in his travels.
 
She had not intended nor expected him to bring her along when he finally did so. But then, she also hadn’t understood entirely what Jellyfish WERE, back then. It was all emotions and feelings and instinct for her, at that time. She didn’t even know what Spirit Tuning was yet. Knowing what she did now… she can’t be surprised, that this was the home that Aurelia was looking for. But, if that was indeed the case…
 
Roderika’s lower lip wobbles, her breath hitching.
 
“This? Is t-this truly it? All that… that remains?”
 
She knows in her heart of hearts that it is. But it still hurts. It still burns, her eyes on fire from the unshed tears she’s trying to hold back, her throat locking up in anguish and despair. But her Tarnished… her Tarnished just offers her a smile and his hand again. She takes it, of course, and lets him lead her deeper into the ruins of Aurelia’s former home.
 
They don’t make it five steps past the half-destroyed walls, before they hear it. A melodic, feminine voice calling out to the air.
 
“Sister… where did you go?”
 
Roderika’s hand comes up to cover her mouth, as she sees another Jellyfish, floating in the air between the arches and pillars of crumbling stone.
 
“You promised me. When we turned fourteen, we’d go to see the stars…”
 
Roderika’s legs almost lock up on her. She’s reminded that in her heart of hearts, she is nothing more than a craven. But this fear is different. New, even. And yet, her Lord Husband does not let her stop. He guides her, gently but firmly, to where the Jellyfish hovers.
 
“I’ve been waiting ever so long. Forever and ever, it seems.”
 
She can imagine. Oh, how she can imagine. Aureliette. It has to be. Aurelia’s sister, the true reason that the Jellyfish Spirit wanted to get home so badly. Waiting, all this time, for her sister to return to her.
 
Roderika collapses to her knees then, the despair getting the better of her. She feels as bad as she felt in the wake of her men’s sacrifice for her… worse, even. But before she can truly drop into that yawning pit of sorrow welling up in her chest, his hand comes down on her shoulder and he crouches next to her, pressing something into her hands.
 
Blinking, the Spirit Tuner looks down to see her Lord Husband’s worn and trusty Spirit Caller’s Bell in her hands. And then she feels it… him passing one of the multitude of Spirit Ashes that clung to him, over to her. Roderika’s breath heaves in her chest, as she feels the return of her old friend. Oh, how much they’ve both grown, since she’d given Aurelia to him, all that time ago. Her, as a fully realized Spirit Tuner and a Noble Lady once more besides… and Aurelia, grown strong and powerful on Glovewort that Roderika herself had helped imbue into her ashes.
 
If not for Roderika’s training, she would not have been able to hold Aurelia, as she did now. If not for her endless work on behalf of not just her Tarnished but the other Tarnished of Roundtable Hold, she would not be strong enough for this.
 
Had he known she would need the practice? Roderika couldn’t say for sure… but she knew one thing, feeling Aurelia’s embrace after all this time, holding the Spirit Caller’s Bell in her hands, and looking up at Aureliette as the Jellyfish continued to repeat her words to a sister who would otherwise never be coming… she knows she can do this much.
 
Ringing the bell, Roderika manifests Aurelia with the strength of her soul. Only then do the tears finally fall, though she’s smiling a blindingly bright smile through them all the while. Next to the first Jellyfish, another appears.
 
It’s only in that moment, that Roderika realizes her Lord Husband has timed this perfectly. They’ve arrived at these ruins on a night where the stars are bright in the sky, not a cloud in sight. It is… beautiful, to say the least.
 
“Ahh, dear sister. You’re finally here.”
 
The tendrils of the two Jellyfish join together, and they do a little twirl, spinning around one another in abject happiness and ethereal joy. Roderika’s breath catches, as she lets out a laughing sob at the sight.
 
“No time to waste. Let’s see the stars.”
 
They ascend then. Roderika can’t explain it, not even for all her knowledge of Spirits, not even with all her expertise as a Spirit Tuner. The strength of their familial love for one another is her best guess for what causes the two Jellyfish to rise up into the night sky, ethereal tendrils still intertwined, until finally they disappear from her sight.
 
Roderika stares after them for a moment, the tears streaming freely down her smiling face. Then… she stands suddenly, and spins about. Stumbling at first, she gets her legs moving quickly enough, running back out of the ruins. She’s aware that her beloved is on her heels, moving right along with her, but she ignores him for the moment. This is too important, in her eyes.
 
Dropping in front of the two gravestones and their shared plaque once more, Roderika yanks a small knife from her belt, and brings it to the stone. It takes a few swipes, a few harsh scrapes, but she manages it all the same, what she’s going for. When it’s done, a single word has been removed, and the whole message has been changed for the better.
 
Now it reads thusly; ‘Here lie Aurelia and Aureliette, who never saw the stars’.
 
Staring at the changed epitaph, Roderika feels a weight she did not even know about lift away. At the same time, her Lord Husband kneels down beside her, and wraps his arms around her warmly. Roderika leans her head against his chest, the tears still flowing freely. But she is not sobbing. She is crying tears of happiness and of joy. She feels full, in a way she otherwise didn’t think she ever could have. Aurelia’s business, for all that Roderika had tried to pass her off to the Tarnished, had been Roderika’s business.
 
Somehow, her beloved had known that. Somehow, her silent Lord Husband had known they needed to come here together, to do this… together. Still smiling, Roderika’s gaze slides from the gravestones in front of them, to the stars above. At the same time… she puts away her knife and rests her hand upon her abdomen with a sigh.
 
“I’m expecting, my Lord. Pregnant w-with your child. I’m not the only one, either… you’ve been busy, after all.”
 
She feels a little bad, because by telling him here and now, she’s effectively taking away the opportunity for the others to get to tell him as well. But the moment is too perfect for it for her to say nothing. And besides, he’s not even remotely surprised. When she looks to meet her Lord Husband’s eyes, he’s smiling down at her knowingly, and gives her a slightly stronger squeeze of pure happiness.
 
Said happiness is infectious. Roderika has never felt both oh so full and oh so light at the same time. Full of happiness… and light of burden, of weight, of despair. Her Tarnished has ever been a source of strength for her, and no more is that true then in this moment.
 
Gazing up at the stars in a place Roderika did not know was in fact aptly named Stargazers’ Ruins, the Spirit Tuner lets out a breathless sigh.
 
“Thank you. Thank you… for everything.”

-x-X-x-

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