Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians 🌹

Valmont is back and something has changed in the mirrors of Morothaan!

Old vampire tales famously gave mirrors a peculiar power over the undead. Some claimed a vampire could stand before one and find no reflection staring back. But Morothaan has its own laws, and since Valmont established resonance with his other half, the mirrors surrounding him have begun behaving very differently.

When he approaches the glass, he feels you more strongly.

Sometimes it shows him fragments of a world he cannot enter, and sometimes, when you finally fall asleep, the mirror becomes something stranger still. Not quite a doorway, but perhaps the nearest thing Valmont presently possesses to one..

Everything in Valmont's existence now seems divided in two: half darkness, half light. Half longing, half frustration. Half-open doors, half-shut. Half a world away from the soul that somehow makes him feel whole.

Tonight you'll hear his song!
~ The Quiet Scribe 🖤🌹

3 days ago | [YT] | 512

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians,

Kingdom greetings, my friends! A slightly longer letter from the vault today, and a question for you at the end.. 🌹

First, and as always, a little thank you ❤️ Thank you for being here, for listening to these strange little songs and stories I keep sending out into the world, and for caring about the characters who inhabit them. I read far more of what you write to me than I sometimes have the time or energy to answer, and I remain very grateful that you choose to spend a little part of your days here with me.
And since I spend so much time telling you about the lives of fictional people, I thought I would give you a small update from my own...

Quite out of nowhere today, the weather turned absolutely glorious: Rain, lightning, thunder and rushing clouds...

I am normally rather out of place in resort-like cities by the sea. Nothing about my personality or general way of being screams flip-flops and sea towels! I appreciate the beauty of the sea enormously (from a safe distance), but spiritually, I belong somewhere beneath dark trees, among old stone and ancient architecture, city lights, dramatic skies and weather that looks mildly threatening..
And so, my friends, when the rain suddenly arrived today, this now-rather-tanned vampire friend of yours became so ridiculously happy that she practically flew outside.

No coat and no umbrella!!! I simply walked beneath the rushing clouds and let myself get completely soaked. I am now sitting here in wet clothes, with dripping hair, happily writing this post to all of you.

I was absurdly happy 🌧️

My parents have also joined me in the country where I am currently staying. I am very, very close to my parents and siblings. I love them so much, and though it hasn't always been this way, we have a genuinely loving relationship. And yet it never ceases to amaze and amuse me that my parents are also the only two souls on this planet capable of taking my blood pressure from 0 to 1000 at approximately the speed of light. It doesn't matter what levels of Zen-like calm I achieve, these two break me almost instantly..! Honestly, it's like their superpower!

They are incredibly loving people who, by their own admission, were rather clueless parents. With age (and endless discussions with yours truly), they've become quite reflective and even repentant about some of their earlier parenting experiments, particularly where I am concerned, since as the eldest child I was naturally the guinea pig upon whom all experimental upbringing techniques were first tested.


*Sigh...* 🙃

They spent their first couple of days here trying to force me to rest because they knew how tired I was when I arrived. They are older now too, and I make a point of trying to make life as easy and breezy for them as I can. They cooked for me a couple of times, and I have cooked for them a few times. I actually love cooking for people I love, but I am so much of a loner that the opportunity doesn't arise very often, so whenever I finally do it, the recipients tend to react as though some extraordinary celestial event has occurred.

There's also been a great deal of news from my “other” country that has been very, very upsetting to me. What is happening there to animals, to trees, to beautiful living things I care deeply about has left me feeling increasingly restless about the life I am living and what I ought to be doing with it. Something in my soul keeps pulling me towards a very different path, but I still don't have enough clarity to understand where, or towards what, God is pushing me. The only thing I know with absolute certainty is how much I care about those animals...

Yesterday I said to my parents, *Wouldn't it be lovely if, for once, everyone we loved were simply in the same country for an extended period of time?* No jumping onto planes because necessity is calling... No being pulled somewhere else because your heart, or someone you love, is waiting in another place.

I think one version of heaven, for me, would simply be having everyone I love nearby. My family. My few friends. The animals I love. Close enough that meeting for coffee does not require discussions involving plane tickets, hotels and work vacations.

Strangely enough, life has just given me another little piece of that... A dear friend whom I met completely by chance here five years ago sent me a message many weeks ago. Naturally, being me, I allowed it to sit unanswered on my phone for weeks. I finally replied two days ago and discovered that she will be coming to this very city in two weeks with her young daughter, whom I adore.
So I have decided to extend my vacation simply so I can see them.

Our friendship amuses me because we can disappear from each other's lives for months, then suddenly there is a deluge of messages: endless texts from her, a few voice messages from me, both of us rapidly delivering the complete account of everything that has happened since we last spoke. Then, apparently satisfied that the archives have been updated, we vanish again... :- )

From the outside, we have almost nothing in common: she is expansive, exuberantly sociable, artistic and theatrical, a warm, larger-than-life Cancerian with a loud presence and a rather magnificent leggy Slavic beauty. She talks to everyone. She is warm to everyone... She seems constitutionally incapable of entering a room unnoticed.

And then there is me.

Quiet. Broody. Intellectual. Intense. Observant.. Occasionally lethal with my wit and sarcasm... Measured with my words. Civilized, gentle and perfectly pleasant... while privately hoping most of humanity will kindly leave me alone.

I am extraordinarily selective about whom I allow close to me, and she wants to invite everyone to our table.
Can you imagine?

But she is so very kind.. She's deeply spiritual. She's consistent, caring and respectful. She's always working towards greater inner growth and understanding, something I absolutely love in people. We lead very different lives, but my God, I admire her. She's a unique, strong and lovable soul.

And the funniest part is that the entire friendship exists because her little daughter, who many years ago was still a child and disliked practically everybody, inexplicably decided that she liked *me*. It seems that that was sufficient recommendation.

I can't wait to see the now-not-so-little munchkin. Apparently, she's a monumental pain in her mother's neck.

So now my friends, I want to know about *you*!!!!!

🌧️⚡🥀 🌧️⚡🥀 🌧️⚡🥀 In your offline life: Are you the sociable one who collects people everywhere you go, or the quiet creature who has three beloved humans and considers the social calendar sufficiently full? Do you have a friend who is almost your complete opposite? Or is your closest friend someone very much like you?
And if you have a best friend, tell me about them. *How did you meet? What are they like? And what is it about that person that made you choose one another?*
I would genuinely love to read your stories. 🌧️⚡🥀 🌧️⚡🥀 🌧️⚡🥀

I don't have a best friend myself, and I'm not entirely sure what that even means, to tell the truth. Animals are my actual “besties.” 🖤 But I do have a few tried-and-tested friends whom I love very much.

If you've read this far, thank you, and I send you all my love.
~ The Quiet Scribe 🌹

P.S. The images are from Venice earlier this year. I wanted an escape for my birthday and Valentine's Day, so I finally attended the Venice Carnival, which I had wanted to experience for years. My father needed an escape too, so I decided to take him with me. I dragged the sweet fellow to every concert I attended and, to my utter astonishment, he enjoyed them all!! 😎🎼

P.P.S. I've mentioned this before, but I often bring pieces of these musical experiences back with me into Aetheria. I use instruments I've discovered at concerts, and things I've learned from hearing them performed live, when creating my own songs and trying to make something genuinely worth listening to. I also sometimes use photographs I've taken myself of places I've visited as inspiration or references for scenes in my videos. I enjoy leaving those little pieces of my own life hidden among the music and worlds I create for you. They may not always be noticed, but I assure you, they are there ♫

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5 days ago | [YT] | 72

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians 🌹🦇
Frédéric is back!

After asking you how a gentleman should properly court someone, our vampire apparently took his assignment very seriously 😂 He has been reading the notes of his Love Council, remembering your advice, and paying attention to all those little things you told him actually matter.

Your favorite book. Your favorite path. What makes you laugh. What moves your heart. Even that one time you mentioned liking emerald green...

Naturally, Frédéric handled that last one with his usual nonexistent financial restraint. 💎😂

But something unexpected happens this time. While Frédéric is busy learning everything about you, he begins to realize that you've been paying attention to him too.

And to this reformed four-hundred-year-old vampire lothario, being truly known is considerably more frightening to a than he anticipated...

Frédéric returns tonight.
And the Love Council may have one final lesson to teach him... ♟️🦇

Also, a very Happy Birthday to @heranmouada9864!! 🎂🌹 Wishing you continued magic and whimsy, wonderful health, happiness, and all the love your heart can hold. May the year ahead be a beautiful one..!
~The Quiet Scribe 🌹

1 week ago | [YT] | 547

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians ❤️⚔️

Our next journey takes us away from Aetheria and into the extraordinary true story of Joan of Arc.

Born around 1412 into a peasant family in the small French village of Domrémy, Joan was still a teenager when she said she began receiving divine visions instructing her to help save France during the Hundred Years’ War. At a time when much of northern France was under English or allied Burgundian control, she somehow made her way to the future King Charles VII and convinced him to allow her to accompany French forces. She was only about 17 years old.

In 1429, Joan became closely associated with the dramatic French victory that lifted the Siege of Orléans. She later accompanied the campaign that brought Charles to Reims, where he was crowned King of France. A teenage peasant girl had somehow found herself standing at the center of kings, armies, religion, and war.

But her story would end terribly.. Joan was captured by Burgundian forces in 1430, transferred to the English, and placed on trial for heresy. After months of interrogation, she was condemned and burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431, around nineteen years old.

Twenty-five years later, a new ecclesiastical trial overturned the original judgment and declared the proceedings against her unjust. Almost five centuries after her death, in 1920, Joan was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Whether one approaches her story through history, faith, psychology, politics, or legend, there is something astonishing about this young woman who refused to abandon what she believed she had been called to do, even when surrounded by powers vastly greater than herself.

My song is my musical interpretation of Joan of Arc: her calling, her courage, her victories, her captivity, and ultimately, the fire. 🔥⚔️🌹 I had made this quite sometime ago and decided to publish it tonight.

I will be almost completely absent on the 8th and 9th, as I'll be on the road again, so I wanted to post something for you today before I left. Please continue to write me, I'll look at everything and write back when I return. I send you all my love!

~ The Quiet Scribe 🌹

P.S. If you ever get the chance to watch movies about her life, do it. One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1928 French silent film about her trial: The Passion of Joan of Arc.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 187

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians, 📜

*A LETTER FROM THE VAULT AND A QUESTION!*

I wanted to write you a little letter to keep you updated, and partly simply because I like staying connected to you beyond the songs and stories we create here.

I am also travelling and a little in-between places at the moment, so if my replies come more slowly than usual, bear with me until I am settled again.. 🌹

As many of you know, I have been complaining for months about comments mysteriously vanishing. Well... thanks to the very lovely @silvanateodorescu2362, we have finally uncovered the mystery. YouTube has apparently been sending many of your comments to YouTube jail, holding them because it decided they might be spam. Why? God knows. I genuinely can't think of an explanation for some of the perfectly innocent comments I have found imprisoned there.

I am very sorry to those of you who may have spent weeks, or even months, thinking I was ignoring you or, worse, had blocked you. I'd never deliberately do that. If you've been here a while, you know I respond to everyone. I even respond to the nasty people! 😏 So please know: if I haven't answered your comment, or at least hearted it, I simply haven't seen it. I'm slowly working through the backlog while trying to balance thoughtful replies with the other parts of my life that need me.

Now then... being away has given me quite a lot of time to think about my own life too.

I am currently in a place where life feels almost absurdly easy and beautiful. There are no animals depending on me here, no responsibilities waiting for me the moment I open my eyes, no emergencies to solve. There is just blue sky, mountains covered in forests, long sandy beaches and that enormous blue sea. I wake up, I walk, I write, I make music, I drink my tea far too slowly, and for once, there is very little that *needs* anything from me.

And I confess, my dear Aetherians, there are moments when I think: I could live like this.

If I didn't have the animals waiting for me in another country, and that beautiful old garden full of trees, some of them older than I am, I could simply stay. I could make a little life somewhere by the sea and become one of those suspiciously relaxed people who spend their days drinking wine with beautiful views, leafing through vintage books while an old favorite spins on the record player (Demis Roussos at the time of writing this), then wandering along the shore with nowhere they particularly need to be. Here, my greatest dilemma of the morning is whether to walk towards the mountains or towards the sea..
All of this has also made me think about the life I chose.

When my own life fell apart about a decade ago and I slowly began picking up the pieces of myself, I made a very deliberate decision. I had spent enough years pursuing what I thought would make me happy, only to discover how much pain some of those pursuits brought. I began to see how little so much of what the world expected me to have, achieve or desire actually mattered. Coupled with all the suffering I was seeing around me, I decided that if I was going to rebuild my life, I wanted to build it around something else. Something I had always done well, and naturally. I wanted to live, as much as I could, a life of service.

I don't regret that decision, but... after the very, very difficult year I have had, I would be lying to you if I said I never question it.

I have witnessed things this year that I wish I could un-see. I have tried to save animals I could not save, witnessed cruelty I could not stop, and learned the terrible limits of what one pair of hands can do in a world awash in darkness. I often wonder why I keep trying to shoulder a burden never meant for one person, perhaps not even for a thousand. There is always another animal, another emergency, another pair of frightened eyes you desperately want to protect, knowing you cannot possibly reach them all. Ah, my friends! It's such a cruel dilemma...

And then I come somewhere like this, where the sea is blue and nobody urgently needs anything from me, where the animals I encounter on the streets are treated with such kindness and care, and some small part of me whispers: *"Nice, isn't it? You know, you could choose the easy life too."*

But then.. I remember my animals and God, I miss them! I miss their little cute faces, their pain-in-the-neck personalities and their routines, and the ones who come looking for me because they know *I* am *their* person. The most difficult part is that I know what may await them if I leave, and the thought of abandoning these innocent little friends of mine who trust me to protect them feels unbearable. Beyond what my heart can take. They don't understand countries or complicated human choices.. They only know who rescued them, who feeds them, who speaks gently to them, and who comes when they are frightened or hurt. They have placed ALL their wordless trust in me in such a way that I am unable to even entertain the idea of betraying them and leaving..

Sometimes I think I just want to do my best to help whatever needs help in this world before my soul returns to wherever the hell it came from. Do you know what I mean?

That same instinct to care is what keeps my thoughts returning to some of you right now. There are several of you going through difficult things. Some have had surgeries in the past weeks, some are living through grief and loss, and others are facing trials of different kinds. I think of you often, and I pray for you. Out of respect for your privacy and boundaries, I cannot contact you uninitiated, reach out and ask how you are doing, but please know that I wonder about you and I care. And in my heart's eye, I see you *well, healed, triumphant, loved, cherished, seen and adored.* I know how terribly sentimental and cringe that may sound, but God help me, it's the truth and I don't care how it sounds.

For now, I walk. I look at the sea. I make my strange little songs about vampires and elves. I feed opportunistic pigeons who hobble in my direction whenever I sit down somewhere. And I am allowing myself, for a little while, to discover what it feels like to have life ask almost nothing of me. I wish everyone living under pressure could have moments like these, when the nervous system is finally given a chance to be at peace, even for a little while...

And now then... my question to you:

🌹✨❓✨🌹 What about you? Is there a life you sometimes imagine for yourself that is very different from the one you are living now? I've told you a little about the life I'm living and the life I sometimes imagine. Now I want to hear about yours. If you could set down your responsibilities for a little while, where would you go, and what would your days look like? A specific country? An island in the middle of nowhere? Into the arms of someone safe? 🌹✨❓✨🌹

Thank you friends for trusting me with pieces of yourselves and for being on this strange little rollercoaster with me. I know I am a little crazy, but thankfully, so are you! One day we're listening to a repentant vampire, the next we're with elves, knights, or some character from mythology or history. I just want to make beautiful, emotional music that moves us and takes us away for a little while from the darkness and difficulties of the world. A pox on the algorithm!

Wherever this road takes us, be it long or short, I am very glad we somehow found one another..

~The Quiet Scribe 🌹
P.S. Tiny field report from the Scribe's travel: The pigeons shared dessert with me. Or rather, they very generously left me some crumbs 🤓🕊️ This baby gave me the stink eye when she realized I was all out of cookies.
P.P.S. I go for early morning walks by the river, and I often think of those of you who write to me. I do wish you were all there walking beside me...

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 84

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians,

We know what Aetheryn was going through when he wandered among the gravestones, confronting Celia’s mortality and wondering what loving a human woman might ultimately cost them both. But while he was fighting that battle in the forest, Celia was facing a very different one at home.

Her family could see a perfectly good future waiting for her: a safe and peaceful human life, and a kind, handsome young man who genuinely cared for her. There was only one problem!! Somewhere along the way, Celia’s heart had wandered far beyond the life everyone imagined for her and into a forest where it had no business belonging.. 🌿

Today, friends, we return to that same fateful night, but this time we will see everything through Celia’s eyes. And perhaps we will finally understand what she was carrying with her when she went to find Aetheryn... 📜💔

~ The Quiet Scribe 🌹 ✨

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 245

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians,

Kingdom greetings, friends!
Tonight we return to the darker side of Aetheria ❄️🐾

There are people in Veloren who fear the Crown.. And then there are people who fear the man the Crown sends when fear is no longer enough.

You remember René , don't you?!
Our assassin has many names:

The King’s Hound.
The Winter Fang.
The Quiet Death.

Cold, arrogant and merciless, he has spent most of his life doing exactly what he was trained to do: Hunt. Kill. Obey.

But what happens when the Crown's perfect weapon encounters something, or rather someone who triggers a memory buried so deep and so painful that his soul had not dared to revisit until that moment? 🖤❄️

This one asks a question I would genuinely love to hear your thoughts on:
Have you ever realized that something you were taught growing up wasn’t necessarily true?
(Me: oh yes! So so so many things!)
~The Quiet Scribe 🌹

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 354

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians 🌸

Lirael’s journey continues...

This time, his path leads him to an ancient cherry tree where generations have left their wishes tied among its branches.

But when Lirael finally arrives, the pilgrims are gone, and he is alone with the tree.

He leaves no ribbon.
He asks for no promise.

He simply plays his flute and admits the one hope he has carried quietly through Aetheria: That somewhere beneath this same sky, his other half is well and happy.

He understands, that for now, that is enough 🌸
You'll hear that song tonight! Hope you'll like it, friends!

~ The Quiet Scribe 🌹

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 473

Whispers Of Aetheria

My dear Aetherians ⚔️ ❤️

Kingdom greetings my friends! A letter from the vault and a couple of question for you.

Things have been genuinely busy lately, but I wanted to write because it's been a while. Those of you who leave me comments regularly have become a strange, steady presence in my days away from the screen. I think of you more than you'd probably guess. It's a little peculiar how fond I've grown of you, and how I wish you happiness the same way I'd wish it for myself.

Outside of the animals I rescue, it's been a while since I've loved and cared about anyone new, and yet here I am, loving all of you anyway.

Now, every so often I open the vault and take something out to show you. Not because it is valuable in any way an auction house would recognize, but because it has a story stitched into it, the kind that only becomes visible once you have carried the object home and lived with it a while..

This week, two such things:

The first is a vintage saddle hunting bag I found at a flea market for less than the price of a coffee. It was in rough shape: torn threads, blue ink on the beautiful leather. It had been treated carelessly for years, the leather dry and dulled, but underneath all of that neglect I could see something else entirely: a shape built with real intention, stitching that someone once took pride in. I knew I couldn't leave it. I bought it and had the leather cleaned and restored. What emerged is the bag in the photograph.

For me, I have always loved giving a second life to battered and neglected things, not because I imagine myself their savior, but because something in me looks at them and thinks, “You are not finished yet, and I can see that you want to live.” I strongly believe that there is something almost sacred in rescuing a thing that still has life in it, and giving it the chance to be beautiful again...

The second is a small stack of books gathered from my travels: poets from Lisbon, a bilingual edition of Attila József, a study of Bartók and Kodály. I found them in my drawer today whilst looking everywhere for a different book. I rarely come home from a trip with the usual kind of souvenirs purchased for myself. I like to buy books, vintage music collections, and a piece of jewelry particular to the country or city I am visiting...

✈️ What about you? What kind of souvenirs do you like to bring home when you travel? I always find it fascinating what people choose to carry home with them.

As you know, I scarcely leave my house unless I must. Though serious and broody looking, there is a version of me that people meet and assume has always lived out loud: talkative, warm, a little shameless and charming, the kind of person who could be mistaken for the most sociable one in the room, holding the space, making sure every stranger has someone to talk to. That part of me is still entirely real and still comes out easily when called on. What has changed is that I no longer feel the pull to go looking for crowds, or to get to know everyone in a room on a surface level just for the sake of it. I would rather sit with one person, or a very small circle, where there is room for real depth to form. Certain energies simply don't appeal to me the way they used to, and I've stopped pretending otherwise... My outings now are small and deliberate: trips to the vet, a concert at a venue close enough that I can slip in and out before anyone catches my eye for conversation, and a visit every few months to catch up with the only two friends I have here.

Which is exactly why, every so often, the hermit in me grows restless, and when that happens, I do not ease my way back into life in the city slowly. I get on a plane instead. Somewhere preferably unfamiliar, I find I can be entirely myself again, curious and unguarded, wandering on my own terms. I gave up drinking a decade ago, but travel is the one place I still enjoy sitting at a bar with a glass of something and letting conversation happen.

As you know, I have lived between a few countries, and in a week or so I leave for one of them, where the sea and the mountains sit close enough to touch and the nights are loud with music. None of the responsibilities that shape my days here will follow me there. I find myself wishing I could bring all of you along.

That's all from me for today. Now tell me, friends: 🗝️ do you have a flea market near you that you love to wander through? I would love to hear what small, storied things have found their way into your own life

Until next time,

~ The Quiet Scribe 🌹

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 108

Whispers Of Aetheria

🌹 FREDERIC IS BACK. 🩸

The last time we met our centuries-old vampire lothario, Frederic encountered something he had apparently never considered possible: you rejected him. Completely. His usual candlelight, dangerous smile and effortless charm failed spectacularly. 😂

Naturally, friends, Frederic has decided the problem cannot possibly be him. He simply needs to learn how one properly courts a woman with high standards like you. So he has read the books, studied the etiquette, and returned to Morothaan prepared to try again.

Diamonds? Rubies? Pearls? Flowers? Carriages? Opening doors? Offering his coat? Surely one of these will work. And if you ask Frederic for flowers, perhaps be extremely specific about the quantity. 🌹 Our boy is love-sick and he might get carried away!

Tonight, our ancient vampire attempts something considerably more difficult than seduction: winning you over properly.
Hope you enjoy!
~ The Quiet Scribe 🩸🌙🌹

1 month ago | [YT] | 555