Maidenless No Longer (Elden Ring)

Chapter 10: Rennala of the Full Moon

A/N: She is Rennala of the Full Moon, the Last Queen of Caria, and you will put some RESPECT on her name.

-x-X-x-

They thought her mad. Her, Rennala of the Full Moon, Last Queen of Caria. Quite the lark, was it not? They thought her descended into lunacy, only because she knew the truth and they did not. Alas, twas the way of things. The blind very rarely accepted that they were blind, refusing to see the unvarnished truth of the world. She, who understood the way things truly were, could not help those who did not want to be helped.

Certainly, once upon a time she'd tried. Once upon a time, Rennala had given her all to both her family and the Academy. Born to the Carian Royal Family, a dynasty of mage royalty descended from the very first astrologers, she had been the original bridge between her family and the Academy of Raya Lucaria. The Academy had feared the Royal Family of Caria's growing power, until Rennala had come along.

As a young woman, she had made her way to the very top of the Academy in no time at all, mastering the Full Moon sorcery and bringing about a new age of prosperity and harmony for all of Caria. Despite the Academy's reverence for the stars making her focus on the Moon somewhat... unorthodox, Rennala had been able to prove that the two need not be at odds.

Becoming Master of the Academy had simply been the obvious next step, and in doing so, she had instigated the formation of the Cuckoo Knights and a variety of other reforms and practices besides. All of which had only increased the power of both the Academy and Caria to greater and greater heights.

That was what brought Radagon to her doorstep. Ah, dear Radagon. Rennala's husband had arrived in her lands at the head of an invading army. A portent of doom, one might say, but Rennala had always liked to think one made their own destiny, if one had enough power. She didn't entirely believe that anymore...

Regardless, Radagon might have arrived as a conqueror, but before the end came, it was she who conquered him, or so she'd thought. Theirs was a love that was so true, it bore them three children. Radagon had gifted her the amber egg she clung to even now, after all, the power of Rebirth hers to wield to this day. And she, in turn, had gifted him the weapon that he had reforged into a great, golden sword.

Truly, she had been a fool in love. THEY had been fools in love, or so she liked to think. But... all good things came apart in the end. This was one of the truths of the universe that Rennala had been forced to accept, that so many others refused to see the evidence of all around them.

In starting his war to establish the Golden Order, Godfrey, the First Elden Lord, had called her beloved son Radahn to fight for him. General Radahn, as he would come to be called, would do much on behalf of his commander. He would shackle the stars themselves, in an effort to maintain the Golden Order. And thus... thus did ruin come to pass.

Rennala did not blame her baby boy, of course. Radahn had always had a strong, caring heart to him. From growing his red hair long and proud out of love for his father, to learning gravitational magic in spite of his warrior's path, all to be able to continue riding his trusty steed Leonard into battle long past the point where her boy outgrew his mount.

Still, there was no denying that Radahn's act of holding back the stars had dire consequences for their family. The Carian Royal Family and the astrology their magic was based in, was tied to the movements of the stars. Their shackling stagnated Carian sorcery. This alone might not have been so bad, might not have been so disastrous or ruinous. Rennala, at least, would not have minded things being quite so... hm, slowed down. After all, Radahn's shackling of the stars had the additional effect of bringing her daughter Ranni's destiny to a standstill as well.