Calendula Sperry
Sweet, naive Calendula Sperry, priestess of Frey, had a broken heart and a broken mind. After the violent death of her fiance during a raider attack, she believed she had herself been clubbed to death and was walking the world as a ghost. Having wandered into the midst of the Dragonslayers, she received their pity and their care. They, in turn received her endless injunctions to hurry up and get married and have babies already.
Being a competent agrarian cleric, Calendula had skill with animals, crops, and weather.
She met her death on a Norse plane, where she was lifted and thrown by an ice giant and died of her injuries. Because she died in the plane of her deity, she was granted the opportunity to actually become a ghost after all. She continued to assist her comrades as best she might in spirit form.
They parted when the time came for the Dragonslayers to leave the plane, but she remains to strengthen, one day perhaps to become a lesser goddess herself.
--
Callie's Notes to Self (Player date - 29 Mar 02)
It feels odd to manifest to put quill to paper. Such a corporeal thing to do. But my thoughts carry me down paths that become murky as my own corona, and perhaps writing will help.
I cannot stop thinking these days about my father, about his goodness and wisdom and love, about his faithfulness to ways of Frey. Old memories haunt me. Haunt -me-!
So blessed were we in our prosperity, my parents in their fertility. So much peace befell our lands, and the horses multiplied, and our family multiplied, and blessings heaped upon us in abundant measure, that it was wise and right for my father to devote me, his youngest daughter, to the Priesthood. This was best for me too, of course. My devotion to my god, to my family, and to my land suited me well to the vocation, and I was happy.
My brothers and sisters grew to be jewels of our lineage, honorable and joyous, practical and steadfast. My mother held us all together, and put us right on those occasions when we went wrong. Hard times did come, occasionally, but our determination, faith, and proper living pulled us through again into contentment once more. We were grateful and most observant, of course. We prayed our thanks and gave offerings beyond expectation.
It was a good life, short as it was.
I studied. I thrived. Worlds of wonder opened before me in tutelage, and my already deep faith only grew deeper, my devotion stronger, my love purer. The closer I came to ordination and marriage, the more my bliss rang through me every day, from the breaking open of the sun's first light to the peeping of glittering stars.
My father, with perfect clarity, being such a wise and a devout man, chose the most wonderful match for me in matrimony. For not only was my intended's family one which would form a strong and fruitful alliance, but my intended himself was my ideal mate. Thoughtful, industrious, loyal, perceptive...
I cannot think too long on him. I must not dwell too long on the loss, for that way lies madness. Being a ghost is madness enough without being one of those miserable spirits who wail mindlessly for centuries.
Most of the time I do not ponder the day of my death either, for what is past is done and that is the way of things. Besides, being clubbed to death by a pack of raiders is not a fond memory to revisit.
I am bothered. There has been with me in recent times a restlessness in my particles that I cannot identify. The persistent longing for a place to haunt and a quiet night is being slowly diminished by a feeling. It is like an itch. Perhaps I am spending too much time with these living beings. Their keep has not been the most quiet and peaceful of haunts; always things going on and no rest for the dead. Perhaps their bustle has affected the atmosphere, which must also affect me.
Furthermore, having taken on responsibilities is a stupid thing for a spirit to do. How can I not be restless when I have animals, and now a child, to tend to? But if I don't, who will? What fate would befall them?
Now that we are in this place, this plane of wonder, from whence all blessings I have known have flowed, this restlessness needles me more still. I must see what there is to see in the world of my god and his clan. I must exhaust everything to get little Ariana to her home, yet I must also learn as much as possible in the process. It is almost as it was before.
I am almost ... excited!
