Spirits...

[Tanuchan]

This story is being written in collaboration with Venefyxatu. To avoid interrupting the flow of the story, we'd like to ask that no comments are posted here until it ends. If you feel like giving feedback, either PMs or a thread at the Critic's Corner would be more than welcome . Thanks

Venefyxatu & Tanny

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

This story starts when Tanny and Stephen are suddenly ripped off a wayward, insane Plane where memories turn into reality. That story can be found at the Conservatory (Lost...). The events that led to the opening of a new portal can be read in that RP thread.

 

 

 

::Stephen! Can you follow this?::

 

Saying this, Tanny throws a mental rope made of earth threads in the direction she can dimly sense Stephen's voice is stronger.

 

Stephen concentrates, deepening is contact with earth. Amid the faintly weird threads, he easily recognizes Tanny's imprint and, after taking some time to let it settle on his awareness, starts following it in a quick stride, keeping everything else out of his mind. Or trying to, as he could sense some memories lurking just outside his conscious thought.

 

All of a sudden, he gasps and almost stumbles, sending an angry, shaken thought to his friend.

 

::What happened? The thread nearly broke!::

 

::Mynx cried out, then someone else found us. They're fighting!::

 

 

Stephen frowns, puzzled, once again following the meandering thread. They who? Fighting what? This time, though, there's no answer to his inquiries besides a mixed feeling of annoyance, wonder, and anger drifting back from the guide-thread.

 

 

Tanny stares blandly at Tzimfemme, letting feelings of annoyance and anger fill her and using them as a barrier to ward off memories. A corner of her mind registers Mynx leaving through a rip in the fabric of the plane, followed by Anna.

 

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of having my memories play with me. I am Tanryell of Leyanne, I am Myrienne's blood, I have been exiled. But I am not going to let something out there to play on my memories to use me, to turn me into something I am not!

 

She lets the thoughts repeat themselves, feeding the cold anger until in her mind she can shape it as a tall wall around herself.

 

::Wolf-Lady!::

 

The call is distant, echoing through the coldness she has created around herself. Grasping firmly the guide-thread, she starts weaving other earth threads around it, thickening the rope and, at the same time, letting them envelope her.

 

::Stephen. Come!::

 

Anger usually flares. But for Tanny, it froze all around her and set her apart from the world. She stood in that icy plain, one image set firmly in her mind while pulling the energy of the threads all into herself. She feels the strain - in a detached way, not affecting her. She feels the cold air threads trying to merge into her weaving. She feels water condensing around earth.

 

The air, she ignores. The water, she weaves into her net. And opens herself to the energy pulsing through her.

 

 

Stephen again misses a step, feeling suddenly as if plunged into an icy river. Coldness freezes him for fractions of a second, but before he can realize he isn't following the thread but being pulled by it - with a loud crackling sound he finds himself in a place of sharp, biting cold wind. And another fraction of second later, he finds himself stumbling into Tanny.

 

::Stephen... I can't hold this for too much longer... help me...::

 

Arms wrap around him to give him support, and he feels the pull of earth threads. And instinctively, not really conscious how, he adds to the energy pulsing in Tanny.

 

 

The onlookers just glimpse Stephen appearing suddenly and stumbling into Tanny, and they both vanishing a couple seconds later. A blast of chill air is all they feel.

 

 

Amareyha sat in the narrow patch of bluish grass right in front of the Sam'ey. Her silver hair contrasted with the suntanned skin, and the wind whipping it back revealed her ageless face. Yellow eyes opened, and she stared at the circle of red-gold stones that marked the sacred place of her people. The deep orange sun was about midway up in the strange purplish sky, with the smaller white sun already past its zenith. Amareyha stretched and stood up, revealing a graceful and lithe body not unlike a feline's. The rough white sleeveless tunic barely reached her knees, and she bowed to the Sam'ey muttering a last prayer to the Spirits of Nature.

 

 

A sudden blast of chill air threw the praying priestess to the ground, and she averted her eyes from the blinding flash with a cry.

 

In the center of the circle of stones, a blurred, roughly oval portal opened, flickering madly and running all frequencies of the spectre before disappearing as suddenly as it had come. Two bodies collapsed to the ground.

 

 

 

Stephen was the first to recover enough sense to ask.

 

"Tanny? Tanny, are you alright? What happened?"

 

He grabbed the arms still wrapped around him, freeing himself and turning to his friend. He shook her gently.

 

"I'm... I'm alright... I think..." Tanny blinked, slowly sitting up. "What...?"

 

A keening cry made them turn around, Tanny quickly assessing her surroundings while Stephen frowned slightly. There was something about the voice that was unlike any other voice he'd ever heard.

 

 

Amareyha stared at the two spirits who had landed in the Sam'ey, crying the alarm of the Sam'ey'aren. Her hands flew upwards, her eyes gleaming in fear but also excitement. Would these be the Spirits of the legend? The Guides that had failed ever and ever to appear when she chanted the prayers to open the Door to the Spirit-World?

 

A few natives rushed in, answering to the implicit summons of the priestess' cry. Two of them looked like guards of some kind, armed with rough spears and towering above Amareyha. She shook her head at them, making a gesture and keeping her eyes fixed on Tanny and Stephen.

 

 

Stephen heard them rush closer, got to his feet and spun around. He held his quarterstaff in a way that looked rather relaxed, but that would enable him to swing it in the blink of an eye if necessary. With a slight bow, he calmly spoke a greeting, "Greetings to you all."

 

Silence answered, broken just by a soft rustling sound that Stephen correctly associated with the owner of the keening cry. Tanny's mindvoice reached him, quickly describing the creatures and their reaction.

 

::She... a definite she... imagine a felinoid human... I can almost see a cat, but it's not a cat, not like Mynx or Panther.::

 

Stephen nodded in response, forming a mental image of the creatures while Tanny struggled with words to describe what she was seeing.

 

Amareyha hummed deep in her throat, so softly that it was difficult even for Stephen to hear it. Deeper sounds came in answer, and the males stepped back and to the side while the priestess took some steps towards the Sam'ey.

 

Stephen smiled, facing the woman as if he actually saw her. "Peace to you, m'lady. We mean no harm and we apologize for our abrupt arrival."

 

Amareyah stopped, tilting her head towards Tanny - still sitting right behind Stephen. A short, querying sound was all she let out while turning back to Stephen.

 

Warily, Tanny tried a small nudge into the earth, feeling for anything familiar in that strange place. The feel of earth came to her, vibrating in a somewhat lower frequency - and she caught herself for a second. Vibrating? Frequency? Since when do I feel threads like this?!

 

::Are you alright, Wolf-Lady?::

 

::Find me some aspirin and I'll be fine... I'm tired of power backlashes. Be careful, Stephen. The... woman... doesn't understand us, I think.::

 

Stephen's sensitive hearing caught some definite pattern in the song-like sounds coming from the native, with low rumbling answers that indicated to him the position of the two guards. The repetition of the pattern somehow translated into almost-words, and he spoke softly trying to reproduce that pattern.

 

"Sh'ren Amareyha?"

 

Amareyha suddenly relaxed, and bowed deeply towards them. The sounds continued, and Stephen nodded.

 

::Can you pick the pattern, Tanny? The repetition?::

 

Still carefully tapping that unfamiliar earth-thread and letting its energy flow into her, she hesitated before repeating the last word-like pattern.

 

"Amareyha Sam'ey'aren."

 

Amareyha gestured to a gathering of smaller creatures not unlike herself - but with golden hair intricately woven in braid-like shapes around their heads. Their purple slitted eyes had a meek look, and they scurried towards Tanny and Stephen at an amazing speed. Surrounding them, they helped Tanny to her feet and made sure to keep both of them in their midst.

 

Stephen automatically offered an arm to Tanny, who was clearlystill dizzy from the opening of the Portal. Amareyha hummed and gestured, and the smaller creatures gently herded them towards a path leading through the woods.

 

"I think Amareyha might be her name, Stephen... she repeated it several times, right?"

 

"Yes. Or it might be her name for us, who knows? And where are we, and how in the name of Fate did we come here?"

 

"Don't ask me..." Tanny frowned, flashing scenes coming to her mind - the Elders of her clan pursuing her, flows of air and fire invading her weavings, a white-cold anger filling her. "I don't know."

 

The whispered conversation continued while they walked through a strange wood, tall trees with purplish-green leaves growing between silvery bushes that sometimes seemed to move on their own.

 

 

Amareyha warbled in a very low frequency, suited only for the Mehran's ears. Three of the golden-haired creatures darted ahead of her, to carry the news to the Leader - two of the Spirits had come through the Sam'ey, answering to their prayers and worship. The tribe should be ready to receive them in honor.

 

She smiled, then looked at the Spirits still in awe. How could she have been Chosen for such great honor? It seemed only yesterday that she had been accepted as an Acolyte, then the Priestess had died and her spirit appointed Amareyha as the highest of the Sam'ey'aren. The Priestesses of the Sam'ey, responsible for the passage to the Spirit World, the ones who were Chosen to guard the stone ring until the Spirits deigned to look again into their lowly world and take them a step ahead on their journey to Leyhar - the Perfect Land.

 

When the group got to the village, the Mehran had managed to warn the entire tribe that the Spirits had arrived. Everyone had gathered, and as soon as the group got into sight the excited murmurs faded into silence.

 

The silence was almost eerie as Tanny and Stephen were guided through the crowd to the center of the village. Once there, they were invited to sit on the grass, with Amareyha facing them and the Sam'ey'aren sitting in a circle around them. The rest of the tribe, not wanting to miss anything, gathered round as well, some sitting, others standing, all of them watching Amareyha and the Spirits.

 

 

Amareyha looked at Tanny and Stephen for a few moments, realizing that she'd have to start the welcoming ritual so she wouldn't offend the Spirits. Slowly, stately, she stood up and raised her arms and face to the sky.

 

When she opened her mouth, neither Tanny nor Stephen could hear anything, but apparently the crowd could because they all bowed down. The Sam'ey'aren, sitting cross-legged in a circle around the Spirits and their priestess, had closed their eyes and were moving to a certain rhythm.

 

Suddenly Stephen thought he could hear something, a very high-pitched sound, and not a moment later so did Tanny. The plaintive sound slowly lowered in pitch, and Tanny could see that the Sam'ey'aren were moving to its rhythm.

 

Amareyha gradually lowered her voice, welcoming the Spirits by going from the highest to the lowest sound she could produce, constantly wondering why the Spirits weren't standing. Was she doing it wrong? It was too late now, anyway, as stopping the ritual now would be a much greater offense.

 

The high-pitched tone frayed Tanny's nerves, her ears too sensitive to them, and while she fought to keep herself still, Stephen extended his senses into the earth. He broke contact again almost immediately, something Tanny noticed.

 

:: Stephen? What's wrong? ::

 

:: This world is much more alive than any I've felt before.

 

:: I've noticed it too ... the energy strands here are vibrating. ::

 

The sound had stopped, but the Sam'ey'aren kept moving a little longer. When they sat still again, Amareyha lowered her arms and bowed to the Spirits. Tanny quickly prodded Stephen, got up, and returned the bow, all in one smooth movement.

 

:: She's bowing ... I think we'd better return it. ::

 

At that, Stephen quickly got up as well, and bowed. When the two "Spirits" straightened, again, they were surprised to find one of the Sam'ey'aren standing next to Amareyha with a pitcher of water. The priestess took it, took a sip and then offered it to Tanny. She took a small sip as well and told Stephen to do the same as she passed on the pitcher.

 

When Stephen had sipped the water, the Sam'ey'aren took the pitcher again, took a sip herself and passed it on to the next one. When the last one swallowed the last drop, they all sat down again with Tanny and Stephen following their example.

 

Amareyha then put a hand on her chest.

 

"Amareyha Sh'ren Illonia."

 

:: So it's her name. ::

 

As Amareyha looked expectantly at the Spirits, Tanny put a hand on her own chest. After hesitating for a moment, her voice came merely above a whisper.

 

"Tanryell of Leyanne."

 

Stephen started raising his eyebrows when he heard Tanny's full name, but then nodded in a barely visible way and placed a hand on his chest.

 

"Stephen von Hascodem de Tinservale."

 

Amareyha smiled, bowing deeply and missing both Tanny and Stephen's surprised expressions.

 

 

 

von Hascodem de Tinservale? That's a noble's name! And how in Dyrenne's name did I give my real name?

 

Tanryell of Leyanne? And where in the name of Fate did my full name come from all of a sudden? I was through with that!

[Venefyxatu]

A low-pitched warbling pushed aside Tanny's wonder, invading her thoughts with urgency.

 

"Amareyha Sh'ren Illonia, Erkan't'ley..." There was a slight pressure in her mind, and she was aware of words forming questions she didn't understand. She blinked, uncertain, but before she could actually think she heard herself speaking.

 

"Tanryell of Leyanne, Clan Daughter, Dyrenne's Chosen... the Shadowmere is my land, and Myrienne's my bl..."

 

She gasped in horror, catching herself before blurting something else. From her side, Stephen's voice came - also abruptly interrupted.

 

"Stephen von Hascodem de Tinservale, eldest son of Lord Marcus von Hascodem and Lady Sepultra Irene de Tinservale, heir to the Third ..."

 

No! I'm not, I left all that behind me!

 

Stephen struggled to block all sounds, keeping his face straight and bowing to Amareyha. Part of him sensed Tanny's distress, and one of his hands reached out to hold hers. Tanny barely felt it, concentrating all her attention on Amareyha and on the effort of ignoring the now soft sounds coming from her throat.

 

 

 

A while later, sitting on a bed with her aching head rested on a soft pillow made of feathery leaves, Tanny looked at Stephen. There was a fine mix of feelings coming from him - wariness, puzzlement, and a touch of amusement. She accepted the cup of tea he had prepared on the small fire in the center of the room, sipping it and enjoying the warmth.

 

"I hope you do know what you put in this."

 

"I always do, Wolf-Lady. And actually, I'm betting your headache isn't worse than mine."

 

Putting away his herb-pouch, Stephen picked up his cup and sat besides Tanny. He tried to relax, slowly sipping his tea and giving in to the herbs. It didn't take long for them to do their work, and he enjoyed feeling the headache fade away slowly. Then he moved to sit behind Tanny and massage her temples, knowing that the herbs would need more time for her since she probably hadn't used them before.

 

Tanny sighed, closing her eyes and getting lost in the comfort that came from Stephen's gentle and sure touch. He waited a little longer, to give Tanny's headache a chance to lessen as well, then spoke.

 

"Tanny..." his voice was soft, careful. "About... Tanryell of Leyanne?"

 

She shook her head lightly, but answered in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "My real, full name... as I suppose Stephen von Hascodem de Tinservale is...?"

 

Stephen nodded, his face unreadable.

 

"My father was a skilled merchant who had the talent, luck and foresight to get ever richer and marry a noblewoman. As such, I was born into a noble family which is something I'm not proud of. From the day I left until today I thought I'd left it all behind me ... the politics, the backstabbing, the fake friendships, the ... humanity."

 

From the way he pronounced the last word it was obvious that he didn't consider it to be a good thing.

 

"It's not something I enjoy thinking about. What about you? Your name didn't sound like what my ... family would call a commoner's name..."

 

Stephen could not see her face, but it took a faraway expression, her eyes suddenly unfocusing. Tanny felt suddenly very tired, the headache coming back at once and almost blinding her.

 

"I've never used Tanryell out of the Clan lands. And yes, you're right... not a commoner's name either... I am, or was, the Clan Daughter. In the absence of a male descendant, the guidance of my Clan would have come to me after my father's time."

 

Stephen nodded, and kept prodding carefully.

 

"Leyanne ... is that your mother's name, your Clan's, or the location where it is set?"

 

"Clan name. One out of ten." One out of ten, one both blessed and cursed.

 

"Dyrenne's Chosen... another title?"

 

"Dyrenne is our Mother Goddess. All Clan Daughters are dedicated to her, and act as Her priestesses for some years. As I did, before I left." And where I should have ... stayed?

 

"Myrienne...?"

 

There was a pause, something knotting deep in Tanny's heart and mind. She whispered something in a language unknown to Stephen, then she turned suddenly away.

 

"I don't want to talk about it."

 

Not wanting to press the issue, Stephen nodded again and lapsed into silence, trying to sort out his thoughts. He could feel she was deeply disturbed, and instinctively went back to massaging her temples, willing her to relax. Meanwhile, he wondered what had driven Tanny to leave her Clan and everything associated with it behind, and why both of them had started using their full names again at the same moment.

 

 

Tanny let her mind wander - something quite difficult when she felt a hammer pounding every brain cell against an iron anvil. But little by little, Stephen's reassurance worked its way through, and she once again pushed back memories she didn't want to deal with right then. Trying to remember how the chanting of the priestess felt, a vague memory of air touched her, and resisting the urge to shut it out she examined it carefully.

 

"Stephen... there is... magic in their words. Elemental magic," she whispered at last, not hiding her surprise at her conclusion.

 

"How so?"

 

"Air... there was a touch of Air threads... and... I think that was a kind of... truthspell..."

 

Stephen replied while thinking that over.

 

"A truthspell? What are you saying; that they want to make sure we don't lie to them? I'd be surprised if they even understood us ..."

 

Tanny shuddered, a sudden memory crossing her mind and making her go rigid. Stephen, now gently rubbing her shoulders, sensed that.

 

"What?"

 

"Just... I'm quite sure that for a moment... my True Name crossed my mind before answering that greeting."

 

"True Name? What are you, then ... a Demon?"

 

Although Stephen was sitting behind her and she couldn't see his grin, Tanny caught the humour in his voice and couldn't help but chuckling. She visualized a wolf-demon with a tanuki's markings on his face and a tanuki tail, and knew that it came from Stephen's mind; she started laughing, surprising even Stephen.

 

The outburst made Tanny finally relax, and after some time to catch her breath, she tried to explain to Stephen the concept of True Names.

 

"No, not a Demon... yet... " She grinned, and continued, "But they aren't the only creatures to have True Names. Every one of us has a True Name, which is born with us and woven deeply into our very soul and mind. The knowledge of one's True Name gives a measure of power over them, because it resonates so close to their own being that it cannot be resisted. If magic is woven through the True Name, it touches the very essence that makes us what we are; that's why True Names are kept a close secret. You know yours; you usually don't trust it to anyone you cannot trust your life to.

 

"I thought only Demons had them ... but you're saying that I have one as well?"

 

With a grin, Stephen started tickling Tanny.

 

"I'm feeling a lot more evil all of a sudden!"

 

While he said so, however, his mind was racing and came to a conclusion as he stopped tickling her.

 

"So why don't I know mine? I'd imagine that if you have a True Name, you'd know about it, even if you hide it from others ..."

 

Tanny observed Stephen with a cautious look as she talked. "We come into our True Names around the time our body and mind mature. Whether you want a True Name or not, at one moment you do get that knowledge. But not everybody is conscious of it for longer than a few minutes, and then... some just hide it so deep their own mind ignores it. Not trusting the knowledge."

 

"Seems like most people manage just fine without knowing theirs ... if it can be so dangerous, why sea..."

 

At that moment, Amareyha came in and bowed.

 

"Ti'kranell, sh'ran Eltaran."

 

With a gesture, she indicated that they should follow her.

 

"What now?" whispered Tanny, tiredly.

 

Stephen's answer was mostly a shrug. "Either some other ritual, or they're preparing to eat us in some canibalistic feast..."

 

Tanny snorted, and composed her face when Amareyha looked at her with a querying look and purr.

 

 

Amareyha felt rather happy, in spite of her nervousness. The Chieftain had been warned of the Spirits' arrival, and as proper hadn't talked or identified himself in any way during the Welcoming Ritual. All Chieftains knew that only the rank of Priestess mattered for the Spirits, and imposing his own presence when the time wasn't ripe was the most certain way to be doomed; but there were legends of at least one proud Chieftain, cursed his name be, that tried to disavow the High Priestess and had caused both his and her downfall. Amareyha respected deeply the wise Letharen, and knew that had nothing to do with the fact that he was her father-brother. And remembering all his wisdom, she buried the nagging fear that he would do or say something improper - they only had the ancient lore to guide them in the rituals, but they would have to do. The Spirits would certainly understand that memory was too short to keep rituals when it was so long since they had abandoned them to their own fate.

 

Or had they come to test their faith, to see if they had kept the knowledge and learned from past mistakes, to be worth again their blessings?

 

The priestess suppressed a sigh, willing herself to calm down and murmuring a soft prayer to Illonia.

 

 

Once again they stood in the middle of a circle, with a soft chanting drumming into their ears. Tanny and Stephen both held tight to the earth threads, aware of the way the chanting affected their mind. Amareyha bowed to them, starting a high-pitched wailing chant that suddenly became too acute for their hearing. Their bodies could feel it, though, and Tanny gasped as she felt the threads she was holding as a shield start to vibrate and fight her control. From Stephen, she sensed the same surprise.

 

The crowd around them parted at the end of Amareyha's chanting, and a tall, muscled warrior walked slowly to kneel in front of them. Stephen could sense the respect permeating the crowd, and Tanny noticed the golden chain around his neck.

 

::He is a warrior, and strong. But I think also he is old, and something in his eyes... there is pride, and wisdom. And leadership.::

 

::Chieftain?::

 

::I'd say yes. ::

Edited March 16, 2008 by Venefyxatu

[Tanuchan]

Why didn't they see it? Was he really the only one whose eyes were open? Those two were ... radiating, yes, but not in the way he would expect from a Spirit. Of course, he had never seen a Spirit before, so he had no real way of knowing, but these two ... they couldn't be Spirits. He could sense their confusion – surely true Spirits wouldn't be confused?

In fact, he could feel their confusion pressing into him, as if they were trying to push him away. Perhaps they were – maybe they knew he knew they weren't real Spirits and were trying to stop him from telling anyone. And what if they knew that he knew that they knew ... no!

 

He cut off the thought before it could spiral him deeper into the madness. It was hard enough sensing what everyone around him felt without adding crazy thoughts like those as well. Despite what everyone else thought, he knew that he wasn't crazy. He could go there, and he had, but he knew he wasn't. He was just ... different.

 

When the Chieftain stepped forward he could sense their confusion becoming stronger. Suddenly it became too much for him and he ... did something. It hurt his head, but it must've done something to them too.

 

 

 

 

Letharen stayed on his knees while the tribe chanted. Amareyha stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders to indicate that he was the legitimate chieftain of the tribe and the Sam'ey'aren dancing in a circle around them and the Spirits. As the chanting of the tribe picked up speed, the Sam'ey'aren danced faster, apparently without effort. When the tribe suddenly stopped chanting, the Sam'ey'aren vanished so quickly it almost seemed like magic. Then Letharen got back to his feet and spoke the traditional greeting.

 

“Though I am but Chieftain,

I welcome you to the tribe.

In the name of us not as enlightened as the Sam'ey'aren,

We are at your disposal should you require it of us.”

 

After that, Amareyha took the word.

 

“Chieftain, behold the Spirits that have come to guide us.

Spirits, favour our Chieftain, Letharen by name.”

 

She accentuated every sentence with a high-pitched sound at the end, not noticing how Tanny and Stephen were trying to keep the confusion from their faces. After a few moments of silence, though, she started wondering whether she had offended them.

 

Then one of them made some of those strange, unintelligible sounds and she relaxed again. Though strange, it didn't have a threatening sound so she assumed she was doing good.

 

 

 

::What do we do now?::

 

:: Well... answer them?:: Tanny's mental voice was suddenly tired.

 

Stephen sent a reassuring thought to her, then chose carefully neutral words and hoped they were conveying the right feeling.

 

"We are honored to meet the Chieftain of this Tribe, and we assure once again that we come in peace and with nothing in our hearts but the best wishes towards you."

 

He bowed and could sense Tanny doing the same.

 

In the next second, something hit Stephen - his mind to be precise. Feelings of confusion, dread, and deep hatred flooded and threatened to truly blind him. He gasped, holding his head with one hand and grasping his staff so tightly with the other that his knuckles went white. Tanny turned to him in alarm, their telepathic link bringing her an echo of the turmoil in his mind. Suddenly, it was focussed on herself also, with such force that it awakened her deepest instinct.

 

She changed without thought. Where there had been a woman holding her friend, now there was a black wolf turning towards the Tribe, gray eyes piercing the crowd and fixing themselves on one creature at the edge of the circle around them.

 

 

Panic erupted in the clearing. Amareyha had her hands over her mouth, eyes rounding in disbelief as her mind clutched to the briefest of images she had caught from the transformation - a half human-half wolf shimmering on two paws before stabilizing in the wolf-form that now stared angrily at The Sh'ynte. Amareyha could almost - but not quite - sense the impending attack of the Spirit and her mind blanked out at the mere possibility of heresy, of one of the Blessed Spirits attacking the Sh'ynte.

 

For the Sh'ynte were sacred, untouchable. They were born that way, with the memories of what came before their birth, of what came during previous life cycles. Often, these were memories of lives lived as other beings, yet they were never meant to be carried on into the next life. These unfortunate souls were always avoided by most of the Tribe, for fear that all of them would be punished for having access to the forbidden memories. As such, it was the Sh'ren's duty to show the compassion of Illonia and prevent the Sh'ynte from being cast out completely. After all, it was Illonia who had allowed these memories to seep through, and only the Sh'ren had the vaguest idea that it happened as a sign of things to come.

 

 

Amareyha shrieked as Tanny's strong hind legs coiled for a jump. Letharen gasped and sprung to get his spear, eyes locked on the black wolf-demon that had apparently possessed one of the Eltaran. He shouted both warrior cries and warding words, lithely crouching and ready to impale the unholy beast on the black-and-silver blessed spear using its own weight, and thus free the Blessed Spirit.

 

The Mehran wailed and scattered, just as afraid of the Sh'ynte as of the possessed Spirit. They ran wildly and blindly, unfortunately unable to avoid Stephen when their escape route crossed the spot where he was standing, still clutching his head and his staff, linking deeper into the earth in order to try and soothe the rush of feelings that was assaulting his mind. Slowly, with sweat beads of concentration forming on his forehead, he had finally managed to push the offending feelings out, using the vastness of the planet to clear his mind, when he was thrown to the ground by the collision. He flailed his arms to try and grab something, instead letting go of his staff. It hit Tanny right on her rump – not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to distract her.

 

The sudden, sharp pain in her rump made Tanny change the direction of her jump at the last moment, head turning towards the new attacker. Letharen screamed in frustration, seeing the wolf-demon land rather awkwardly to the left of the spear and immediately turn around to face the other spirit with a snarl.

 

Meanwhile, the impact had caused Stephen to lose his link with the earth. When the feelings came rushing back, it was worse than the first time. He got up, flailing wildly and trying to get away from the source. He hadn't taken three steps when he ran into Tanny, who had jaws open ready to jump on him.

 

 

Something sharp and red-hot seemed to sear through Tanny's mind, and she felt the wrongness of the target between her jaws. She froze, as quickly and completely as if a command of old had been issued by her Priestess in the Temple of Dyrenne. In that fraction of a second, she recognized Stephen's dazed mind and snapped out of her madness. Tumbling back into human form, she collapsed to the ground - or to what would have been ground if Stephen's chest hadn't been in the way.

 

"Tanny? What's going on?"

 

Tanny whimpered and whispered some words in a language alien to Stephen, repeating something that sounded like a denial. Suddenly, he sensed a fire-hot thread of energy being buried in the ground underneath his feet.

 

Stephen frowned, confused. Tanny obviously needed some peace and quiet, just like he did. He gently started pulling her in the direction of the temple when she interrupted him with a muttered, "The other way". He changed direction the way she nudged him, vaguely noticing that Amareyha and the chieftain were having an animated discussion somewhere behind them. He could only hope they wouldn't be too offended.

 

When they arrived at the entrance of the temple, though, Tanny frowned. With a somewhat dreamlike look, she turned to yet another direction, muttering something Stephen didn't quite understand.

 

Some day I'll have to learn her mother tongue... supposing that's what she's using, not some wolf-tanuki mixed language...

 

“This way, Wolf-Lady ... this time I happen to know the temple entrance is right here to my left.”

 

“No ... this way, Stephen. Not back to the temple. Safer ... there,” she pointed, with a soft sigh.

 

Following the direction she had indicated, Stephen led her through some bushes to a hidden pathway. After following it for a little while, they came upon a small lake. Some logs were conveniently arranged on a pebble beach and they sat down, both trying to sort out their minds.

 

"We're going to need a way to get away from the tribe to have some peace, preferrably before they burn us or something...", Stephen finally muttered.

 

"Burn us? What are you talking about?"

 

"I'm pretty sure we didn't go along with their ritual too well ... I'm also pretty sure they can be insulted by this ..."

 

"Oh, by Dymarra's heart... Stephen, we don't have a clue about what they're doing and saying... that ritual could even have been for blessing us as their next meal... " Standing up, she started walking to and fro.

 

"And what a meal that would be..." Stephen chuckled, sensing Tanny all bristled up. "Try cooking a wolf in a pot..."

 

"Wolf?" Tanny blinked, confused.

 

Stephen frowned, starting to feel uneasy with Tanny's overall reactions over the last hour. "Yes... you shapechanged... "

 

Tanny sat down again with a groan.

 

"From the sounds of it, you are as surprised by that as the tribe was. I can't say I paid much attention though ... something hit my mind, too."

 

 

Memory rushed back. Tanny closed her eyes, breathing deeply and sorting through them - between what was alien feelings imposed on her now and then. Between the catpeople and the Clan people. With a shudder, she discarded the memory of a fiery thread being thrown down into earth to anchor herself.

 

"... Great."

 

Arching an eyebrow, Stephen queried, "Great? Is that the only thing you have to say? You almost tore my throat to shreds, you wild beast!"

 

"Wild beast? You hit my rump with your staff!"

 

"Well, better than your head... I'd probably lose my staff if I had." Grinning, and quickly stepping out of Tanny's reach, he completed, "Too hard."

 

Tanny's groan and half-hearted attempt to jump at Stephen ended up in giggles, that soon took a panicked, hysterical note before getting mixed up with tears. Gently, Stephen wrapped his arms around her and patted her back.

 

"There, there, Wolf-lady... let it go. And then tell me what is that you're bottling up." He hushed her, sitting down with an arm across her shoulders. "Have your folks never told you not to lie?" He let his humor creep into his voice, hiding behind it a growing worry for his friend.

 

After some minutes, sighing, Tanny shook her head. "Sorry, Stephen. I don't know what it is. Since we left the Pen through that thrice-cursed Portal on the guild grounds, memories and dreams have been trying to invade my mind. Not only that, but something else... something deeper. And more powerful."

 

"So your past is trying to possess you like a common demon?"

 

"Oh, no - nothing like a possessing demon, don't worry." Her smile was lopsided. "Not even a Tanuki-Demon."

 

She couldn't help not grinning back at Stephen's grin, then sobered up and finished in a whisper, "It's blood possession, more likely. Power. Power... in my blood."

 

Closing eyes, calling to herself a thread of earth to link her to Stephen, she groped for the tenuous energy she sensed folded in layers of mist. The jewel she wore at her throat flashed for a second when protective earth threads wrapped around her, and then she used that steadying energy to bring to her what she finally found - a glowing thread of fire, contained by threads of water.

 

She caught, first, the surprise in Stephen's mind. And then, without pause, the next image - Stephen squeezing a tanuki to make it breathe fire so he could light one of his cigarettes ...

 

Both toppled on the floor giggling helplessly.

[Venefyxatu]

“So you would use me as a lighter?” Tanny chuckled, trying to suppress the last giggling fits. The answer came in Stephen’s characteristically dry manner.

 

“Of course – with a fiery temperament like yours, I’d never even have to replace you … Seriously though, you’ve hinted at this before, but you never did tell me what exactly is wrong with weaving Fire threads.”

 

Even though he couldn’t see her face, Stephen could almost physically feel her mood darken. When she kept hesitating before responding, he gently nudged her with his elbow.

 

“Take your time, Wolf-Lady. Tell me whenever you’re ready.”

 

Closing her eyes, Tanny took a long, deep breath and answered, “It's not wrong... depending on who weaves them. Me... it's a curse.”

 

Stephen nodded, but waited in silence, wondering whether she’d like to tell more.

 

Tanny stirred uneasily, and her voice was hushed. "You have to understand, first, that the great majority of the Clan can wield only one of the four kinds of elemental energy — water, fire, earth, air. Probably ninety-five percent of us is proficient in just one of them. Maybe another four percent can weave a little bit of one other non-opposite energy besides their primary one."

 

"That leaves still one percent that, let me guess, can wield two elements with equal proficiency. Like you," concluded Stephen easily. "But what you mean by non-opposite energy?"

 

She paused, apparently trying to sort out thoughts. Quietly, she added, "Not only equal proficiency, but a great deal of skill. I can do with both Earth and Water threads what most of the Clan can't do with their primary ones."

 

"Well, well... where is all that humbleness I'm so used to?" Stephen grinned, letting a teasing tone surface to ease the strain he could feel in his friend. As answer, he heard a soft chuckle followed by a light mind-touch and a wince. "Something wrong?" Stephen reached out a hand towards Tanny, resting it lightly on her arm.

 

"Headache," grumbled Tanny with a grimace. "It seems that using mindspeech right now is rather impossible..." Still rubbing her temple lightly, she went on, "Opposite energies are... well, opposite. Water and Fire, Earth and Air. They do not mix for us. They cannot be woven together, they cannot be controlled together."

 

Stephen frowned, his mind picturing the tanuki-lighter suddenly catching fire and burning into ashes. Worried that something similar would actually happen to Tanny, he almost asked her not to try it. However, he realized that that would be exactly the wrong thing to say ... and that her not trying would probably lead to more trouble than her actually trying.

 

"But you are ..."

 

He hesitated, trying to find the right word.

 

"... an exception?"

 

Tanny's voice dropped to a whisper. "I can, yes. Water and Fire, as you saw. That makes me Tainted at the eyes of the Clan."

 

"Were you exiled because of that?"

 

She winced, but still nodded. "Partially. I was considered a Rebel... but I know they never forgot Myrienne's Blood. I'm Tainted... and... Abomination."

 

Tanny was suddenly interrupted by a loud series of sounds – and not exactly friendly ones at that, although it was hard to tell.

 

“Ti’karianno allaren’ka fer’neyia aramannis si’tareno!”

 

Both of them raised heads towards the sound. It reverberated in their minds and ears, and Tanny shuddered.

 

"I don't have a clue what that means, but I can say it sounds pretty much dangerous...."

 

In one fluent movement, Stephen grabbed his staff and got up, facing the way the sound came from. Tanny was a mere fraction behind him with a muttered “Now what?”

 

When she saw the angry tribe coming up the path she and Stephen had followed before, she added, “Those don’t look very friendly.”

 

“Perhaps it’d be a good idea to use that fire to singe some fur?”

 

Taking a step back, followed by Stephen, Tanny replied, “And give them another reason to trample us?”

 

“From the sounds of it, one more reason won’t make that much of a difference. Though if you prefer, you could try throwing your temperament at them … They’ve been quite reverential so far … perhaps if they see that they’re angering us they’ll reconsider?"

 

Muttering under her breath about having to do all the hard work, Tanny took a firm step forward, conjured up her angriest frown and raised her voice.

 

“Stop this madness right now! First you welcome us with ceremonies, then you try to blast our minds, and then you’re going to trample us? What kind of hospitality is this?! Bad kitties!”

 

At hearing those last words, Stephen had to conjure up every shred of self-control to turn his back to the tribe in a stately, seemingly offended manner. He could only hope that none of them were behind him where they could see the broad grin he was unable to suppress.

 

Tanny didn't turn her back to the "bad kitties", even though she wished she could — having to control a giggling fit while keeping an angry face only made her headache worse. Which, in a way, helped her to keep her angry face.

 

The tribe stopped, quite baffled by this unexpected reaction. Perhaps these two were Spirits after all — certainly an ordinary intruder would be scared at the sight of Firtang; for, on the rare occasions that the Clan got worked up and angry, it was a fearsome sight.

 

“Well?”

 

The sound was almost a bark as Tanny tapped her foot on the ground impatiently. Upon seeing this, the tribe collectively took a few steps back. Even the Mad One, who had been so convinced that these two were not real Spirits, was taken aback. Amareyha alone took two steps forward, bowed, and said something in her language that didn’t sound quite as threatening. Upon hearing this, Stephen, who had managed to pull himself together again, turned around, carefully keeping a straight face for fear of bursting out laughing. When Tanny added a nod to Amareyha, the Sh’ren sighed with audible relief. The priestess turned around to face the tribe and started walking away. The tribe parted for her and followed – all of them quite eager to get away from the angry Spirits.

 

 

The "angry Spirits", meanwhile, had a hard time containing themselves long enough to make sure that the last of the tribe had left. When they couldn't anymore, both of them burst out laughing, leaning against each other to stop them from falling down.

 

"Bad kitties," Stephen hiccoughed, "don't ever do that again if you want me to stay serious."

 

When they'd finally calmed down, Stephen started searching the clearing, chuckling, "For some reason I can almost imagine you saying that to Mynx ..."

 

Tanny chuckled, trying hard to avoid a new fit of laughter. "I did say that some times to that kitty... and actually, these felinoids are starting to remind me more and more of Mynx in a bad day... "

 

It didn't take him long to find the plant he needed and take a few of its leaves. Not much later, he'd brewed some tea that he handed to Tanny.

 

"It'll be very bitter and it won't make it go away completely, but it's the only plant I could find here that would do something about your headache."

 

Tanny thanked Stephen with a relieved sigh, and sipped the tea. That was followed by sudden spluttering and coughing, and when she finally recovered her senses enough to breathe, she had to shout at Stephen.

 

"Ok, ok, I'm alright! Stop pounding my back like bread dough, you crazy Ranger!!"

 

Stephen chuckled and patted Tanny's back a little more gently a few times for good measure.

 

"I warned you ... did it help?"

 

"Incredibly enough, yeah, the headache is gone... it probably got scared away by the taste of your concoction!"

 

::I really wonder why you are not a wizard. You can for sure work with malodorous potions and smells, so half the learning is already done!::

 

The sudden change in mood that she felt from their mindlink told Tanny that he didn't exactly take that as a compliment.

Edited August 15, 2009 by Venefyxatu

[Tanuchan]

::Stephen?::

Tanny's mind-voice sobered, reacting to Stephen's sudden withdrawal. He kept to himself, a faraway expression coming to his usual calm face. She went for their usual light mind-link, hoping it would soothe whatever memory her words had brought to her friend's mind.

 

Usually their mind-link was smooth, as natural as dealing with earth threads was for both of them. For Tanny, it had always felt like the touch of soft, new leaves brushing against her. However, this time the association that came to her when she touched Stephen's mind was the rushing sound of leaves in a soft breeze, with the familiar feeling in the background. She held her breath, trying to pinpoint exactly what the change meant, something in the back of her mind insisting that it was important.

 

But then, Stephen's voice came. Not in mindspeech, but in a solid, yet dream-like, voice.

 

 

"A long time ago, the world where I come from was ruled by demons. There's little we know about that period, but when it ended, it was the human magi who took the lead. According to what is known of that time, it was actually better when the demons still ruled ..."

 

Tanny listened to Stephen quietly, drawn by her friend's whispery voice and restrained emotions. Stephen paused briefly before continuing, and Tanny could feel in her mind how detached he was trying to be.

 

"In a way, it was the demons who freed us of the magi and their experiments when they took away the mana, which is the basis of all magic. The magi followed it to the north, where they still are ... my country is one of those bordering on mage territory. The only reason they are not interested in it is because the mana is so erratic and weak. Of course, that doesn't stop the nobility from dabbling in magic ... after all, if they could, the magi would still rule, so it's only natural that magic and being important go hand in hand ..."

 

His voice trailed off and he lapsed into silence. Tanny waited, and unconsciously reached out to elemental energies that her mind could sense all around, almost tranced. Suddenly Stephen spoke up again.

 

"Do you know how they hunt?"

 

The sudden question snapped Tanny back to reality, but Stephen continued without really giving her a chance to react. "They have servants going in the opposite direction, making noise to scare the animals away. Then, if their magic works, they just ... blast them and leave them. The servants ... they've mostly learned to be very careful when they approach the group. After all, what's one less nichma?"

 

Tanny sensed the special bitterness around that last word, and the hesitation. She leaned to touch Stephen's hand, encouraging him, knowing as well as him that it had to come out. "A nichma?"

 

"It is also what I was called whenever they thought that my parents or their informants wouldn't hear it ... a non-magic user. My parents were ... probably still are, very powerful. Using such a derogatory word when talking about their eldest son wouldn't do one much good. A hunting accident, on the other hand, is known to happen ..."

 

It was instinctively woven, in answer to Stephen's pain that he could not hide completely. Threads of water started to form a protective shield, laced with earth. Tanny stretched and twisted each thread until it ressonated with Stephen's aura, reinforcing nature's protection. The vibration that seemed to pervade everything in that world gave her new ways of matching her friend's pattern, and she neatly tucked that information in a corner of her mind for later study. As the soothing from water and earth started to flow into Stephen, Tanny mentally stepped back to check her work...

 

An extra twist here... and there... and... a snatch of this...

 

She reached out naturally for a flimsy thread, entwining it expertly as a finishing touch. And as she came back to herself, what she had done sank in.

 

"No... no!!"

 

Tanny turned and, hands on her face, fled from the clearing shutting her mind to any and all elemental threads around her.

 

For a brief moment, Stephen thought that she was reacting to his story, before he realized that he'd felt that fleeting sensation of wolf fur against his mind again - his reaction to her energy weaving. With a frown he got up and started going after her when he suddenly stopped.

 

::Tanny?::

 

Reaching out with his mind, he tried to sense her presence, but couldn't find it - it was as if she'd never been there at all.

 

 

Tanny didn't hear Stephen, nor sensed his worry as she would normally have. Changing into a wolf mid-run, she kept her mind closed to all elemental energies; closed as she had never done except while under training at the distant Temple of Dyrenne. She changed her focus into a wolf's one, using smell and sound to keep her in a direction away from... anything behind her. Protests of her mind were stifled with a single-mindedness she had used very few times before.

 

A forest.

 

The smell of leaves being crushed under her paws. The sound of small branches snapping as her strong leaps took her away from the curse.

 

The breeze touching her fur, and sunbeams telling her the direction away from the circle of stones and the tribe.

 

The freedom of a wolf.

[Venefyxatu]

Amareyha walked back to the village in utter silence, confused thoughts racing through her mind. The Sh'ynte had offended the Spirits, then claimed that they weren't Spirits at all. But the way they reacted to Firtang, the Angered Tribe, clearly indicated that they were.

When she noticed Letharen approaching her, she shook her head at him, not wanting to be disturbed in her thoughts right now. He nodded and started directing the tribe back to its daily tasks while Amareyha made her way back to the Sam'ey, the Holy Stones that served as a monument to Illonia. She signaled to the Sam'ey'aren who were following her to stay in the village; she needed to be alone right now, to meditate, pray and think. When she arrived there and saw the Sam'ey waiting for her, silent and majestic as always, the worried frown suddenly vanished from her face and she smiled, a deep contentment taking hold of her.

 

Generations of Sh'ren before me have come here, upheld the rituals, guided the tribe, and none of them have ever seen real Spirits appear. And now, not one but two Spirits have appeared in our midst while I am Sh'ren. They've been offended, but I've soothed them again. Something must be right.

 

Still smiling, she started walking among the Sam'ey, tracing her fingers along the worn patterns that were carved into them generations ago, that one thought echoing through her mind.

 

Something must be right.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the Sh'ynte had separated himself from the tribe and started running along the mountain paths, deftly avoiding trees. When he felt that it didn't help to clear the turmoil in his mind, he climbed one of the trees and started making his way across its branches to the next tree, and the next one after that, and the next one again. Having to concentrate on keeping his balance helped, and he felt his mind calm down after a while; enough to sit down on one of the branches and fall asleep, the so-called Spirits all but forgotten for the moment.

 

Not much later he was woken up by a soft sound; something walking along the trees, panting as if it had just exerted itself. When he looked down and saw the big, black wolf that had posessed the Spirit earlier that day he froze with panic. However, when he sensed its tiredness, its indifference, he couldn't help but feel some pity. The panic was quickly replaced by confusion and quietly, so as not to disturb it, he snuck away to think things through.

 

 

 

Amareyha sat under the Sam'ey'lia, the Prime Sam'ey Stone. She listened to the voice of memory, the ancient knowledge of the Tribe that came from Mother to Daughter since Illonia, the Mother of Spirits, walked the down-world and consecrated the first Sh'ren.

 

 

Every year, with the coming of Summer, the snows from the mountains turn to water and come to the valley. During this time, the Sam'ey are flooded and can only be reached by the Sh'ren.

While the Sam'ey are flooded, the Sh'ren proves her dedication to Illonia by diving to them and anchoring a small statue to the Sam'ey'lia. If the statue is not there after the water has left, the Sh'ren is considered to be no longer in the grace of Illonia and must leave the tribe, so as not to attract the wrath of the Goddess. Should this happen, one of the Sam'ey'aren may go with her to share the burden of the curse, for Illonia is a compassionate deity.

While the Sam'ey'aren accompanies the Sh'ren'ti she may not publicly reveal her name, title or tribe, although she remains a Sam'ey'aren of the tribe. Until the Sh'ren'ti has found grace in the eyes of Illonia again by returning to Her Home, the Sam'ey'aren may not return to the tribe.

In the entire history of the tribe, this has happened only twice. Of these two times, only once has a Sam'ey'aren accompanied the Sh'ren'ti. When she returned, the Sam'ey'aren took her place again, but she has never spoken of what happened during the journey with the Sh'ren'ti.

 

 

Amareyha thought again about that tale. It was part of the Mysteries of the consecrated, and had always had a powerful attraction on her. She was Sh'ren, but even she did not know what happened outside the tribe; she wanted to know, she wanted to see what else Illonia had created with her steps and her caresses, but she also knew that she could never leave the tribe while a Sh'ren. That longing that she kept secret in the deep recesses of her heart was her personal struggle. Every Summer she both dreaded and expected the statue to disappear, a sign of her wish to disobey.

 

She looked at the line of the mountains, to the receding line of snow on their peaks. She calculated it would take maybe a tahed before the flood came, and the ritual of Kal'th. Would this be the time for her to leave? Was that why the Spirits were here, as a sign that Illonia would return and free them from the place-bondage?

 

And then she thought of the Sh'ynte. Feared by most, pitied by some, but yet part of the tribe. A Blessed one unable to deal with the terrible truth that came during his Blessing, and driven to madness. Not outcast, but by duty welcomed in any home as part of the litter. Marked by the Goddess, yet free.

 

Her brother.

 

She tried to remember when they had played together, siblings and litter-siblings both. Anileh had always been quick, smart, active. Then the change had come, the night after she had joined the Sam'ey'aren. Anileh had been sick, down with a persistent fever, and when it broke his mind was broken with it. He wailed, snatching at visions, growling against unseen threats, whimpering with pain from invisible wounds. He had been Touched by the Goddess.

 

 

Amareyha also held another secret, and she lowered her head in pray to Illonia. Mother of Spirits, please clear the mind of my brother... I know he rages against the Eltaran and attacked them, that what he senses is distrust and fear... do not punish him for doubting, be merciful.

 

For she shared part of her brother's visions when they were at worst. And she knew he had been the one who had brought to life the image of the Mar'ey'theal.

 

 

Wolf ... big bad black wolf ... Spirit ... is it a Spirit, or is it masquerading as a Spirit? What about the other one? That one isn't a wolf, that one doesn't look like the Mar'ey'theal, the other one still looks the same as when they got here. Maybe the Mar'ey'theal is strong enough to capture a Spirit and make it come along, maybe the Spirit is trapped and needs rescue, needs to be saved from the Mar'ey'theal. And what if the Spirit knows and is willingly cooperating? Are there bad Spirits? It can't be, can't be, the Mar'ey'theal isn't strong enough to corrupt a Spirit, the Spirits are always good, they are sent by Illonia and She is good, nothing can corrupt them, impossible to corrupt!

 

While these thoughts were racing through his mind, Anileh was racing through the forest until he suddenly stopped as abruptly as his thoughts. Then, a single thought surfaced.

 

The Spirit ... maybe I can help him.

 

With a sense of purpose, Anileh started walking again, searching.

[Tanuchan]

She's gone. Completely gone. How is that possible?

 

Worried, Stephen paused briefly, frowning as he wondered what this could mean. Then he knelt down and extended his senses into the earth, careful as ever not to sense too much, and started searching for Tanny'stracks with his mind as well as his hands. It took him a while, but eventually he found tracks leading away from the clearing and started following them.

 

It seemed he had been following them only briefly when he noticed the tracks turning into wolf tracks ... wolf tracks that had apparently been made at great speed. Assuming correctly that Tanny's instincts would keep her safe he slowed down a little and started also scouting the area. It took him quite some time, but eventually he was satisfied that none of the tribe was here and that Tanny would have had enough time to calm down a little after whatever thoughts it were that had scared her off. Picking up her tracks again without too much effort, he started following them to a small clearing in the trees. When he noticed the wolf lying down there, he quietly went to sit down near it, concentrating on preparing another one of his cigarettes...

 

 

The wolf suddenly raised her head. Smoke? This smell is... Then she sneezed.

 

Stephen smiled at the familiar sound, and puffed another ring of smoke that drifted towards the wolf's nose. What he had not quite predicted was her reaction, for the wolf growled and jumped at him with bared fangs. Out of surprise, he just emptied his lungs sending a full cloud of smoke into her nose.

 

Tanny sneezed again, making her miss the annoying target. She landed a bit awkwardly, turned to attack again and was met with another well-aimed puff from Stephen's cigarette. As she immediately had a sneezing fit mid-jump, it resulted in her landing heavily on the ranger's lap.

 

Ouch... my head... this smell... She sneezed again and again, a faint deja vu sensation coming to her.

 

::Wolf-Lady, as much as I usually enjoy having a lady on my lap, could you please leave it vacant? It's rather difficult to have a good smoke with a sneezing wolf right on front of my nose...::

 

What the... Then it came to her, the reason for the deja vu — an annoying ranger and his more-than-annoying smoking habit. ::Stephen?!:: And another sneeze.

 

She dug her nose forcefully into his belly, trying to stop the smell. Stephen, as she had quite planned, got his breath cut short and gagged, almost swallowing the cigarette in the process.

 

If a wolf could smile while sneezing, then that was exactly what Tanny was doing. He unceremoniously dumped her on the ground, and what came to him in mind-speech was laughter mixed with coughing and sneezing. Then he felt Tanny changing shapes, and her voice came rasping, breathless.

 

"Stephen, you moron ... I still wonder how someone attuned to Nature can stand that smell..." She rolled further from him, and reached for a fresh thread of Air to bring her some respite.

 

And she froze again.

 

Stephen, once again sensing some strange change in Tanny's mood, acted quickly and quite without thinking. He felt her presence through the earth and just ... inverted that sense to try and send her a feeling of reassurance.

 

::Not again, Wolf-Lady... please, I don't think I can stand another wolf digging its nose in my stomach this soon... He tried for a cheerful, teasing tone, but at the same time he stood ready for any sudden change in his companion's mood.

 

Tanny grabbed the Earth thread that had suddenly appeared, and quickly used it as an anchor point. Then she recognized Stephen's touch in it, conveying as much his presence as his worry. Slowly, she forced herself to relax and closed her eyes. Soon she felt Stephen's arms around her, a comforting presence thankfully without any more cigarette smells.

 

 

After a while, Stephen carefully asked while still holding her, "Huh... so... well... what happened...?"

 

Tanny sighed, and murmured, "Air threads."

 

As the silence told her that Stephen was still confused, she added, "I used them. Snatched at a nice, smooth, inviting damned Air thread when I was weaving a shield around you."

 

"Does that mean that now I am damned?"

 

Stephen was relieved to be answered by her laughter, although a bit on the verge of hysterics.

 

"Oh yes, you have been damned on the day I met you, moron of a ranger... it's a wonder you haven't yet been blasted by those threads you weave so carelessly!"

 

It was Stephen's turn to blink, surprised. "Weave? I don't weave anything, you know that."

 

There is no magic affinity in me, never has been, never will be, denied his mind.

 

Tanny pondered, without taking her gaze off Stephen. Then she added, slowly, "We need more time to talk about this than we have now... but what you did a while ago was exactly that. You sent a protective thread of Earth towards me, and though very crude it had the principle of shield-weaving in it."

 

Stephen was silent for several minutes, trying to analyse what exactly he had done. The only thing he could come up with was an attempt to use his sense of the earth to convey information, instead of getting information from it. And so he told Tanny, adding, "You did the same at least once, Wolf-Lady... right before we ended up here."

 

She nodded, "yes... but that is something that is well within my abilities, I just did not quite expect it to work with you..."

 

"Alright... but anyway, what is so wrong about you using Air?" he asked, now feeling it a good opportunity to give Tanny a chance to talk about it.

 

She sighed wearily, and leaned on Stephen's reassuring arms. "We were talking about Abomination... remember?"

 

He nodded slowly, murmuring, "Why would you be abomination for using a third kind of energy?"

 

"It's a long story... misty, rooted in legend... a legend that was created from reality."

 

"As usual with legends." He smiled, "I wonder if you are a good story-teller?"

 

Tanny chuckled, shaking her head, "Not really... but that story is not for now, Stephen. I'll tell it to you one day, when we have time... " And when I have sorted out what is happening to me...

 

Stephen could not see his friend's drawn face, haunted eyes looking far away through the forest. But he could very well sense her darkening spirits, and felt quite lost. He hugged her closer, not knowing what else to do; part of him regretted having asked her, part knew he had done right, and still another part insisted on asking him what he thought he was doing.

 

"Suffice to say that weaving opposite energies is wrong. They have properties that make them incompatible, and trying to encircle fire with water, meshing them, making them work as one, is unnatural. Besides that... power might be measured not only by skill, but also by the number of elements one can control. Even in a crude weaving, those energies will have more power in them than a one-dimensional weaving."

 

Pondering about that, uninvited and so far buried memories came to Stephen's mind. He frowned and mentally grounded them with his heels; he sensed Tanny flinching, and knew she had picked up something of his utter disgust.

 

::Stephen?::

 

::It's nothing. You were saying...?::

 

After a moment more, Tanny's voice came again, tinted with darkness. "I faced exile for being a Rebel; for being Tainted I risked Ablation... the burning out of my energy-sense. But more than that, being Tainted reminded them too much of cursed Myrienne. She ... she dared to reach for the power of nature itself, tried to weave that and the dream-spirits... she let darkness creep into her heart and mind, and almost destroyed all the Clan Lands. Legend says she was tempted by the Demon-God and taken as his consort... and from the darkness weaves the destinies of all her blood, constantly drawing them to the same path she traced for herself."

 

She suddenly stood up, taking two steps away from Stephen and facing the sky. In a fey mood, she raised her arms, closing her eyes and bending her mind to the currents all around her. She found what she knew was there, and enveloped herself in a cocoon of Air. "Myrienne was able to weave all energies with equal skill. Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Myrienne was also my foremother. Abomination."

 

There was an undercurrent of both horror and terror in Tanny, mixed with resignation and regret. Stephen sat, stunned, not knowing what to do or say. He sensed air moving around them, rushing towards his friend; and could feel earth flowing, bringing with it the coolness of water.

 

A sense of impending danger enveloped Stephen, and without thinking twice he sprang toward Tanny; he encircled her with both arms, reached as deep into the earth as he dared and not even being aware how, brought up that sense of security all around both of them.

 

::Tanny... Wolf-Lady!:: His mind-voice was urgent, focused, trying to break through the increasing turmoil of energies around Tanny. He sensed the warmth of fire searing the edge of his mind, and mentally shouted and shoved Tanny. ::TANRYELL OF LEYANNE! Don't you dare to consume yourself in Fire, you stubborn savage wolf! We still have a full pride of bad kitties to take care of!::

 

It might have been the panic in Stephen's voice, or the sheer absurdity of his words... or the deep, caring worry that was shown in that moment. But all of a sudden the energies around Tanny dissipated as if they had never been, and she sagged in Stephen's arms.

 

"Stephen... do you remember when we talked about True Names?" The voice was but a whisper.

 

"Yes..." he was hesitant, not really sure yet what to think about it.

 

She told it to his mind, and repeated it again, making sure he understood it clearly. Aloud, she completed, "Use it if I get out of control again. It will reach my mind whatever is happening."

 

"But..."

 

"Stephen, I could have killed you. Now, and before... if not for your cigarettes." She squeezed his hand, then completed, "Thinking better of it, I might as well kill you because of them... actually... it might help the environment quite a lot... "

Edited July 6, 2010 by Tanuchan

[Venefyxatu]

When Anileh approached the clearing in which Tanny and Stephen were talking he slowed down instinctively.

 

Quietly now, quuiieettt ... mustn't disturb them.

 

As silently as he could, Anileh crept closer to spy on the Spirits.

 

He doesn't look like he's being corrupted, but is it always visible? And why is he comforting the Mar'ey'theal? Is it sad because it's failing to convert him? That must be what those sounds are, the Spirit is so good that it tells its corruptor not to give up! It must be a trainee Mar'ey'theal, and the Spirit is helping it! Or maybe the Mar'ey'theal is in fact a good Spirit that is sad because it got corrupted? Yes, yes, that must be it! The Mar'ey'theal is the one who needs help! And now that it is not in its evil shape...

 

Anileh pounced out of the tree and with a sound much like a purr approached the Spirits. His eyes kept flicking from one to the other restlessly, but apart from bolting upright they didn't react. If they hadn't been Spirits he would have sworn they looked a little startled.

 

"I can help you get rid of the Mar'ey'theal in you. Come with me."

 

There they go again, making those funny noises again. They probably just talk, no, not now, must'n attack them, must stay calm or they'll never let me help them and then maybe they both get corrupted no no no no

 

Pressing his hands against his eyes, Anileh started rocking back and forth on his heels, trying to get himself under control. A few moments and several worried glances from the Spirits later he succeeded and looked at them again.

 

"Come now, come with me."

 

Beckoning them to follow him, he turned and headed for his cave, looking back to see if they were following him. When he saw that they were still making those weird noises at each other, he rushed back towards them and started hopping in circles around them, throwing his hands up in the air.

 

"What are you waiting for, honoured Spirits? I can help you! Help!"

 

Seeing that they were distracted from their funny noises by him, he started trying to convince them with signs.

 

Pointing at himself, he said, "Me."

 

Before he got a chance to continue, they turned to each other and made some more funny noises, upon which the corrupted one pointed towards herself and slowly said something which he understood as "Tannutsjen". The not-corrupted one then pointed towards himself and made a noise that sounded like "Steff-en".

 

Oh no no no no I only said one word and they already misunderstand me! Amareyha should handle this, she can communicate with the Spirits, not me, not poor Anileh, but I can help them better than Amareyha and she won't let me if she finds out what I'm trying to do so I can't ask her and they must think I'm called me now and I'm not and it's wrong and I have to correct that first.

 

As soon as he got control over his thoughts again he shook his head and pointed at himself again.

 

"Anileh."

 

Then he pointed at the corrupted one.

 

"Tann-u-tsjen?"

 

And at the not-corrupted one.

 

"Steff-en?"

 

When they both nodded, he jumped and clapped his hands with glee. They understood! He understood! Talking with Spirits wasn't that hard! Encouraged by the success, and by the fact that they seemed to be reacting favourably to his cheerfulness, he focused his attention on them again. Then he scratched his head. How in the name of Illonia was he supposed to sign "help"?

 

He pondered for a few moments, then he got an idea. Getting down on his hands and knees, he gave his best dog imitation. Then he got up and made a shooing motion while snarling, followed by his best scared-dog-running-away imitation. When all that was done, he looked at them and nodded eagerly, beckoning them to follow him.

 

 

 

Stephen frowned at Tanny's words, picking from her some rather confusing images. "Wolf-lady, you sound like someone describing a cat imitating a dog. And if there's one thing I'd love to have my sight restored for, it would be the ability to see that."

 

Tanny blinked, "Huh... Stephen... you know... you might really wish for the Naked Angel to appear now and restore your sight..."

 

He snorted. "If that means what I think it does, he can be clothed for all I care. Are you seriously saying that there's a cat trying to imitate you?" He could only hear soft padding around them, as if someone was impatient and were tapping soft feet - paws? - on the ground.

 

"ME? Stephen, you moron of a ranger.. I'm a wolf, if you have not noticed it until now!" She glared; even knowing Stephen couldn't see it, she felt better for that, and besides she knew he could tell it by her voice.

 

Stephen grinned his most innocent grin. "Wags tail when happy, growls and bites when unhappy, really, I wouldn't see the difference even if I could."

 

Tanny rolled eyes, biting back a growl and the desire to bite the smug grin off his face. "Right... so keep in mind that angry or frustrated dogs also bite the nearest ankles without thinking twice."

 

Stephen chuckled, "Duly noted. Now what are we going to do about our mime friend?"

 

She turned to the puzzling cat, who was actually looking at them with a rather questioning, almost anxious expression. "Good question.... should I just go wolf and chase him? Maybe he wants to play.... "

 

"While I don't doubt that it would be very entertaining, something tells me that these aren't very playful kitty cats."

 

"Hm... point taken. So what do we do?" Tanny took in the surrounding area, noticing that there was no other cat nearby; a glance towards Stephen told her that he was also checking for any sign of danger.

 

"You know, when one does not know what to do... take the easiest path?"

 

She frowned, but then sagged shoulders with a sigh. "I don't like it, but I don't have any idea either. So... we follow, and be ready to fight our way out from a boiling cauldron?"

 

~~

 

 

Anileh was happy that the Spirits were seated apparently comfortably in his cave. The Mar'ey'theal one didn't look entirely at ease, though. Anileh could almost sense its readiness to switch back to its evil shape and had to struggle to remain composed as he laid out the preparations for the ritual.

 

When he was satisfied that the smell of herbs and incense was spreading well enough through the cave, he allowed his thoughts to wander back to the Spirits, hoping that he'd be able to hold his control long enough to complete the ritual.

 

Not now, mustn't lose control now, not when they're about to let me help them, but the Mar'ey'theal is strong, I can sense it radiating, it's going to overwhelm me, no, not if I don't let it, Amareyha says we can be stronger than the Mar'ey'theal if we just want to, perhaps I can even sense it better and find out what it needs to go away, allow it to get closer to my mind but not too much, not too much, because then it will take me too and I can't let that happen.

 

Anileh tried desperately to keep his thoughts under control and his panic at bay as he let his awareness of the Mar'ey'theal sink in deeper. When he felt that the contact became too close, Anileh started chanting in the voice that he'd heard Amareyha use for rituals and incantations. The Spirit became more and more clear in his mind.

 

 

Tanny actually relaxed a little once in the cave, the herbs the cat was burning having an eerie soothing effect. Part of her mind frowned, trying to remember where a similar smell had been used, but most of herself was just weary and welcomed some little respite. She followed the cat with just minimal movements, not willing to flaunt her awareness of him.

 

::Stephen? Can you tell what those herbs are?::

 

::Not really. But the smell reminds me of something.::

 

Stephen felt Tanny nodding and then lapse into silence once again. He decided to just sit comfortably and let his senses tell him whether something was amiss, making sure his staff was close at hand.

 

Tanny, meanwhile, tried to make sense of the strange mix of feelings that crossed Anileh's face. She frowned as she felt Anileh's eyes suddenly lock into hers with an intensity that made her inhale sharply. She fought the almost hypnotizing gaze that seemed to be trying to pierce her thoughts, locking her barriers tightly in place while trying to reach for the steadying touch of earth. However, before she could grasp the elusive thread, a soft chant intruded.

 

Eyes followed her. Wherever she turned to, there they were, ready to gaze into her mind, into the recesses behind the walls. Cat's eyes. Piercing in their intensity, softly sounding the walls around her for an opening, a small opening that gave it a chance to see...

 

Stephen felt something wrong coming from Tanny, and reached for her with concern in his mind-voice. ::Wolf-Lady?::

 

However, he had no answer as Tanny concentrated on following Anileh's attempts against her barriers, reinforcing them whenever he tried to force one down. He's strong... but... how...?

 

The intrusive chant tried to wind around her mind, an invitation to relax and open herself to peace and joy. Tanny tried to shake her mind free of it, but found out her reactions were sluggish; an attempt to stand up resulted in a weak twitching of her legs, and she braced herself to try something a bit more forceful. Then it hit her - a piercing spear thrown where she least expected, against the strongest of her barriers. Barriers that had been locked down so tightly and for so long, that she had mostly forgotten they existed and was , thus, unable to completely reinforce in time. She fought the pressure, hastily throwing in all strength she could gather from the faltering, tainted earth threads she could find. No... oh no not there, cat! She glared as an image of her as a wolf intruded, distorted, wavering as being viewed through a foggy glass; she felt a dim prod to shapechange, and refused it. ::Stephen!::

 

The pressure increased, and she doubled over in pain as Anileh's mind-spear buried itself in her barriers.

 

::Wolf-Lady!:: The pain that hit Stephen made him gasp, losing focus for a moment. He stood up, fully intending to rush over to where he sensed Tanny to be, but stopped after one step. There was too much coming through their link all of a sudden, confusing his sense of place for a few moments before he managed to diminish it. Having suddenly lost most of another sense, he took a while to be able to concentrate and get used to it.

 

"Tanny, what's happening?"

 

There was startling silence on their link, before a rush of madness hit Stephen's mind.

 

 

 

It's linked so closely to the Mar'ey'theal, impossible to separate them, it's as if it's only one being, the Spirit is the Mar'ey'theal but it doesn't feel threatening it doesn't feel as if it's going to jump at me and hurt me if it's going to change it's because it wants to run away because it's tired and ... scared?

 

The realization startled Anileh so hard that he lost control over his thoughts and quickly spiralled down into his usual madness. Images of a wolf running through a forest trying to escape something, images of turbulent chaos surrounding a half-wolf half-Spirit, a sense of deep, piercing cold, all of those and more assaulted Anileh's mind at once.

 

 

She fought the mind-spear as images of a wolf appeared, madness in its eyes. The wolf wavered into a semblance of her Otherself, then back into a ravening beast. A lithe cat with a spear came to pierce the wolf's heart, that suddenly was herself again. She sensed fear and madness, waves of invading feelings that mingled with her own thoughts. She became a cat, flashing teeth ready to tear into the throat of a wolf... she was the wolf, growling at the feline with her own eyes that tried to blind her... she was fleeing the clearing, the cold clearing of that other plane... there were Clan warriors in pursuit, threatening her with Fire and Air, threatening herself that was again the cat spreading madness around itself... she was herself... she was the Otherself... she was a cat... the cat... who was herself... it was afraid... she was scared.

 

Scared? Threatened. Madness that comes from... herself as a cat? A cat who is herself? Half-cat, half-wolf, tearing herself into pieces?

 

Pain. We do not trust you. You are not ... but you are. Abomination. Mad? Outcast.

 

 

Anileh felt himself being drawn closer to the wolf, to the Mar'ey'theal which suddenly looked different, not like the Mar'ey'theal at all and yet so much like it. He flailed and tried to run away from the Mar'ey'theal, and then suddenly he was the wolf, no, not the wolf, chasing the wolf as the Mar'ey'theal, reaching out to it with fire and with the air itself, though he didn't know how he could do that, was he becoming the Mar'ey'theal, please no Illonia, not that, I'm Anileh, not the Mar'ey'theal, I'm running from it together with the wolf, see, right next to it, together, I am the wolf, no I'm me, I'm a wolf-me, I'm ... confused.

 

 

 

::Tanryell!:: Stephen's voice became more urgent, sensing an overwhelming turmoil coming from his link to Tanny. He focused on the earth threads around them, and in spite of their queerness, he could sense his friend more clearly - her presence wavering, shifting, and at times disappearing. He took the last few steps towards her and knelt down behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders to make sure that she was still there.

 

::You're still here, Tanryell. Still in your human shape.:: He tried to concentrate on those thoughts, somehow send her some reassurance. But as he used his touch with earth to reinforce it, he received some of what she was experiencing, and drew a sharp breath. He reached for his own head - there was so much, and so quickly ...

 

 

 

She felt herself being split in two, in four, in eight, in uncountable shards, each of which holding a facet of herself, mirroring part of her mind. She felt the wall, the barrier that was so old it looked and felt as immovable as a mountain. The shards that were herself buried into it as she saw again the cat, the wolf, the spear, her Otherself turning against herself... old, old memories of a temple inside a mountain, of the sky seen through the shaft of a dead crater... memories of old skills, of barriers rising over barriers over walls committing memories to oblivion...

 

 

 

Stephen could sense madness lurking around Tanny's thoughts, ready to swallow her. In sudden panic he snatched at a memory -

 

Use it if I get out of control again. It will reach my mind whatever is happening

 

- he breathed, and careful with the remembered intonation, he sent with as much clarity as he could a call with her True Name.

 

 

 

The world shattered.

 

Some small, sane part of Tanny's mind responded to the call of her Name, and suddenly focused on the cat behind the assaulting feelings. ::No you will NOT!:: Freed from ages of imprisonment, an old skill resurfaced with deadly grace. Tanny, her expression cold as death, focused on Anileh, feeding her anger and her fear into a net that she cast over him. ::It is mine, and it is me... it's my mind and my soul... you have no right and you will not take that from me!::

 

Tanny fed the glowing net, throwing into it also the feelings still assaulting her. She tightened it, enmeshing more and more the core of bright madness in its center. Earth and Air vibrated around herself, being channeled into the net.

 

 

As Anileh pressed his hands to his eyes and let out a high-pitched shriek, he didn't see the Mar'ey'theal standing and facing him with cold, calculating eyes. He felt the temperature in the cave dropping, and a sensation of the cave being scoured by a cold wind so strong that Anileh looked around in a panic. He suddenly shrieked again, arching backwards as if in pain, clutching his head between his paws.

 

 

Stephen could not really make any sense of what he was sensing around him, but what he caught was enough to tell him that the miming cat was in acute pain. From Tanny, he felt now a cold, growing purpose. Something that chilled him to the bone with a certainty - she was able to hit back as strongly as she had been hit.

 

"Wolf-Lady, stop it!" Whatever it is... "You're going to kill him!," he realized in horror.

 

Stephen felt wintry resolution hitting him, and knew it was not coming from their earth-link but was radiating from Tanny. He gasped at the dire purpose behind it, and without thinking threw himself at Tanny, fully intending to shake her out from what seemed a half-maddened trance.

 

Anileh wailed, clawing at unseen things. Stephen could feel fear and panic surrounding them, but somehow knew that it was not real, but was being created by the person in the center of that maelstrom of feelings. Tanny.

 

::Wolf-Lady! Tanny::!! He tried to shake her, but was buffeted by the edge of a feeling of terror that circled out from her, and gasped.

 

::Tanny... stop it, please! You savage wolf, can't you even feel what mess you're making of things?:: Stephen gritted his teeth, and grabbed Tanny by her shoulders as he used again her True Name.

 

 

Tanny drew a sharp breath, turning to Stephen as he whispered, "Whatever you're doing, stop it... you do not want to kill it in spite of everything, do you?"

 

The storm of feelings spiralling around the cave stopped at once, and Stephen caught Tanny before she slumped onto the floor.

 

::Karaylos' Seven Hells... :: The soft but sharp mind-whisper came followed by a string of unintelligible words that Stephen took, correctly, as creative cursing in Tanny's mother-tongue. She looked at him wearily, her voice barely a whisper, "I'm sorry, Stephen... and thank you."

 

Tanny looked in the direction of Anileh, who was at that moment a curled, whimpering ball of fur. Stephen hesitated, and Tanny closed her eyes tiredly for a moment before whispering, ::He'll be alright... whatever that means concerning him. We need to get out, I have no idea how he's going to react once he comes back to his senses... and right now I need to sort out a few things. Like this headache...::

 

 

 

Stephen guided them to what seemed to be a safely secluded place north-west from the cave and the tribe. Tanny had been strangely silent, eyes cold and focused on something far off. Stephen found a protected spot against the roots of a huge tree, and made Tanny sit there. He hesitated for a moment, then sighed softly. I suppose she'll be alright... I wouldn't wish to be the one to interrupt those thoughts... He reached through the earth-link, feeling something like a cold, sharp edge coming from her. Wanting to give her some time alone, he picked up his bow and quiver and left for a while.

 

Tanny blinked as what seemed a piece of roasted meat on a wooden skewer appeared in front of her eyes. Behind it, Stephen smiled. "I figured out we could as well eat while we're out here?"

 

"Oh..." She looked around, taking in the merry fire with a few more sharpened branches serving as skewers for some kind of meat that, she admitted, smelled good. Stephen offered the waterskin. "There's a river up there," he pointed out. "Are you feeling better?"

 

She nodded, sighing softly. "Sorry, Stephen... seems I was... out."

 

"You can make our next camp, and cook too." He grinned, "And hunt. Wolves should be good at that, if at nothing else..."

 

Glad that that remark got at least a distracted chuckle out of her, Stephen started eating as well. For some time both of them just ate in silence after discovering that they were actually quite hungry.

 

When their meal was finished, Stephen leaned back and focussed his attention on Tanny again.

 

"So... what happened back there? It became quite... agitated... "

 

Tanny looked towards the trees, busying herself with checking the makeshift wards she had woven a while ago. Stephen waited patiently, sharpening a branch to pass the time. Suddenly, he felt something touch him lightly, and straightened. ::...Wolf-Lady?::

 

Stephen sensed doubt, and hesitation, and as he seemed to identify the touch, it retreated quickly. ::Yes, you sensed that... :: came Tanny's mind-voice.

 

She locked the barriers in place again, carefully, as strongly as she could. The last she sensed as they clicked in place was Stephen's confusion.

 

Letting out a slow breath, Tanny tried to explain. "That cat back there... Anileh? ... is a wild empath. The fool has just rudimentary barriers and... meddled with what he should not have... he got through my barriers." She frowned, almost glaring at something only she could see. "What you felt was a maelstrom of feelings, both his and mine, out of control and reinforcing each other. Until you broke the circle... " Her look softened as she looked straight towards Stephen, and she smiled. ::Thank you for that, Stephen. I would have been driven mad, and I don't mean it just metaphorically.::

 

Stephen frowned slightly. "So ... those barriers were meant to keep you sane? Then I can only hope you managed to repair them ..."

 

Tanny leaned against the tree, closing eyes. She longed for the feel of straight earth, without the queer vibration that permeated this whole world. She knew that she was walking on a dangerous edge, the strangeness of the place threatening more than carefully placed barriers.

 

"Sane? Since when you think I'm sane, dear Ranger?" she managed a light tone, but failed to keep it as she continued, "And the answer, for both your questions, is yes and no." She felt Stephen start, but did not elaborate and just added, "They are back in place now."

 

He waited a few moments, but when he was convinced Tanny would not say more, he filed it for a later conversation. Carefully, he tried the other question. "And what about empathy? I know about the basic idea, but ... what was actually happening there? I don't really grasp how sensing someone's emotions can spiral out of control so hard."

 

"It's not that simple. If the link gets out of control and becomes strong enough, you start ... " She paused for a moment, searching for the right word. After a few moments she found it. "... merging. The separation between yourself and the other one starts to blur and vanish. You lose your own sense of identity as it blends together with the other's. The confusion that causes only reinforces the torrent and makes it harder to resist."

 

"So ... does that mean that you were both sensing each other? That you have a talent for empathy, too?"

 

"I had almost forgotten..." her voice was a harsh whisper, rather unwilling to tell much, but she continued, "I was born an empath. I blocked it when I left the Clan Lands, and had never again used that. I think that I actually just forgot how to lift the barriers I built around that... until that fool of a cat pierced through them."

 

"He seemed to be... regretting that mistake... " he frowned, remembering Tanny's cold expression as she had just stood in front of the cat, seemingly entranced. "Was it because he... merged with a wolf?"

 

Tanny shook her head, for a moment hiding her face between her hands. ::No.::

 

"Full empathy is rather... versatile." Tanny's voice sounded far, as if she was actually talking to herself. "A receptive empath senses the emotional field around others; projective empaths can project their feelings towards others. A full empath can do both... and receiving the purposeful projection of an empath when barriers are down can be rather... painful."

 

Stephen thought about that, and nodded slowly. "You said the cat has rudimentary barriers... and you lost control over yours... were you projecting?"

 

"Rather angrily, too." She stood up, touching the tree she had been leaning against. "We need to leave, Stephen. This world is strange, and it's playing hell with my nerves, I must admit it... " She tried to feel the earth, the water flowing not far, and got just a hint of familiar threads. "We need to go back to those stones. There's a portal there, somewhere... with a bit of luck we might trigger it."

 

"And with a handful of luck, be back to the Keep?" Stephen chuckled, "I must say you're rather the optimist, Wolf-Lady..."

 

"It worked last time... do you want more luck than coming back through a portal that had anything to do with Wyvern?"

 

"... point taken." He grimaced, remembering their rather confusing escape from furious orcs. "How do we deal with that, though? I don't think those kitties will let us go back there that easily..."

 

Tanny sighed, and neared the fire. "We must rest first, I guess. Do you think we're safe here? My wards are not to be trusted, not with all this... vibration."

 

"It will be safe enough for now. If I'm orienting myself correctly, the cave we just came from is now between us and the village. Who knows how scared they are of this ... Anileh? We might want to move around a little bit tomorrow though, just to see if there are any better secluded spots."

 

"Good. With some luck they'll leave us alone long enough for us to find a way out of here," she sighed wearily.

 

Stephen muttered, "We're relying a lot on luck... aren't we?"

Edited July 6, 2010 by Tanuchan

[Tanuchan]

"Wolf-Lady, I still think-"

 

"Well, do you have a better idea, Stephen?" Tanny's voice was annoyed as she looked levelly at the Ranger, then looking down at the Standing Stones from a small hill. "Unless you tell me you can find a Portal just by sensing it through Earth!"

 

It was early evening, and they could see the soft glow of the torches, one sitting at the center of the circle of stones and three more placed further around it. Tanny rested eyes on them, feeling eerily detached all of a sudden. Stephen frowned, and touched her arm. "I still think it's a bad idea."

 

Startled, Tanny looked back at Stephen still with an annoyed expression. "You wanted to find a way to that place without having to get near the tribe again. After almost a week of scouting and looking for it, now you tell me it's a bad idea?"

 

"That place seems rather... unstable to my senses, Wolf-Lady. Even from this far, I can feel that there is something not purely earth on there."

 

"Is there anything at all in here that feels like pure something?" She sighed, letting her annoyance go and sitting on the ground, still facing the Stones. "I can believe you, though - there is something not quite right when we come from this side. The energies are not only vibrating, they are... resonating with something else." I wonder if that might mean the Portal is still there...

 

Stephen sat down next to Tanny, and after a while he asked, "Do you have any idea how Portals work?"

 

"Enough to know that I don't like them," she growled. "Little more than that, Stephen. That's magic, and I don't understand magic." Her voice was rueful.

 

Quietly, Stephen continued, "Portals are just that... doors to other realms. Like a door from one room to the other." He tried to reach memories that he had buried very deep, and succeeded only partially as he completed, "Their energy can be sometimes directed to real Gating, and that's about all I remember from my magic lessons."

 

Tanny chuckled wearily, "We just need a Mage now, right?" She looked at Stephen, but chose not to pursue it. "Do you remember how we activated that portal from the Orc Realm back to the Pen?"

 

"With rather a lot of commotion, confusion and a big bang. Right in front of a huge Orc army trying to trample us."

 

"I was rather asking about the actual opening of the portal, not the circumstances."

 

Stephen chuckled, "I know, but I needed a moment to let it come back. I seem to remember finding a spot in the earth that remembered the portal. Then you did something with it to open it again ..."

 

"Now if only I could remember what." Tanny made a face, and after some effort just shrugged. "There were a lot of wild energies around us... there was you, I, and those Orc shamans. I don't think it was exactly me who triggered it, Stephen."

 

She sighed wistfully and stared down at the Standing Stones for a while before speaking again.

 

"This isn't going to get us anywhere."

 

"We'll get somewhere eventually, Wolf-Lady. After all, this is the Pen we're trying to get to. How about we just try? Last time you managed just by instinct, perhaps you'll be able to do it again."

 

"You're being a bit too optimistic, aren't you, Ranger?" She looked at him with a grim smile. "But we have at least to try. Either that, or find someone with some magic-"

 

Some shadowy movement around the Standing Stones caught Tanny's eyes, and she stopped Stephen's question with a hand on his lips. ::Shhh... there's someone down there. One of them....:: As the almost-feline passed in front of a torch, she recognized her. ::The priestess - Amareyha.::

 

::I assume that if anyone here does magic, it's her. I wonder what she's doing, though.::

 

::From the way she's moving about, she seems to be waiting for something. And ... wait ... there are more of them.:: Tanny stared down intently for a little longer. ::It seems like those ... the ones that look like trainee-priestesses are with her.::

 

Stephen nodded, and after a minute added, ::And if they stay there, they're going to become very, very wet kitties.::

 

Tanny looked up a little surprised. ::What do you mean?::

 

::It's still rather far off, but there's a torrent of water heading their way. I can just barely hear it rushing closer, but it's becoming stronger already ... it must be approaching rather quickly.::

 

At that moment, Tanny noticed Amareyha and the Sam'ey'aren moving away from the stones to what looked like a safe distance.

 

::They know.::

 

::Hmm ... do you think they're waiting for it?::

 

::It's possible. With those cats, you never know. :: Frowning, still following them, Tanny added, ::At least these cats seem to not like water that much...::

 

Down at the Sam'ey, the junior priestesses made a loose circle around Amareyha, and soon the soft chanting reached Tanny's and Stephen's ears. Amareyha was silent, eyes fixed on the central stone, oblivious for a moment of what was going around her.

 

 

One more Kal'th... one more year. Will this be the different one? She answered to the chant of the Sam'ey'aren automatically, still half-lost in thoughts. The Spirits arrived, and then went into hiding. I have seen them at times, during the night - why are they avoiding us, Illonia? Was I at fault? Or is that a sign that more changes are to come? She turned to the direction of the flood, raising arms and joining the invocation chant. Illonia, Mother, guide us... guide me. I feel restless. Where does this desire comes from? Why I do not see myself leading the Tribe to the day You call me to your side?

 

 

The chant seemed to go on and on for very long, and Tanny wished she could shut her mind to it. It was starting to grate in her senses, the subtle changes in intonation sending waves of vibrations in different frequencies through her mind. She was startled when Stephen's hands touched her head.

 

::Take it easy, Wolf-Lady,:: he sent gently while massaging her temples. ::I don't think it's safe for us to lit a fire here so I can prepare you some tea...::

 

Tanny made a face, half-mumbling, ::I'm glad it's not safe, then... you need to find better herbs, or at least some that do not give me a reaction headache to them.::. She closed her eyes, letting Stephen's gentle fingers work tension away. ::Thank you, Stephen.::

 

As she relaxed, and trusting Stephen to keep senses on the priestess's ritual down the Stones, Tanny let her awareness flow and expand at will. The vibration that permeated the space around her still put her on the edge, but she forced herself to observe its flow in a detached way. Threads are no more than the way we choose to see the energies around us. You can consider them as lines, or floating specks of dust, or a stream. However you choose to see it, you have to know how to recognize them in spite of what your mind-sight tells you. The voice of Karala, the old High Priestess in the temple of Dyrenne, came back to Tanny's mind.

 

Stephen vaguely felt Tanny's awareness extending into the earth around them and realized that she was searching for the portal spot.

 

::I think it was somewhere near those stones, but please try not to interrupt their ritual.::

 

Tanny nodded slightly as Stephen's thought touched her mind, and shaped her perception towards the Stones. She hesitated, frowning at what seemed to be a wall in front of her. A wall of ... vibrating threads. Yes, they are threads. And I can work with them... forget the vibration. See their nature. She groped for anything familiar around her, faltering for a moment.

 

Sensing her faltering, Stephen instinctively sent out a protective, steadying sense of earth to stabilize her again. ::Someday you'll have to teach me how to do that on purpose, rather than by instinct, Wolf-Lady.::

 

::Any time you want, Ranger.:: She smiled, and then drew on Stephen's strength to steady herself as she reached out for one of the vibrating threads. Air. She gasped at the vaguely familiar touch, trying to resist the urge to retreat.

 

::Wolf-Lady?::

 

Steadying herself, Tanny forced herself to isolate and follow a single Air thread. ::Why can't they use plain Water in this place?!::.

 

::Hmmm...:: Stephen noted the gruff tone in his friend, and after some time studying what he felt from Earth and what he heard very faintly, he completed, ::Wolf-Lady, I believe your wish is about to come true. I don't know how those things go for you, but... brace yourself?::

 

Stephen's warning confused Tanny for just a moment, as she suddenly felt Water rushing to meet her. With a mental yelp, she hastily leaned on Stephen's shielding, opening herself just enough to both absorb and deflect the waves of watery threads battering her energy-sense. In spite of its almost subliminal vibration, Tanny felt comforted by the otherwise familiar touch, drawing a good measure of soothing and calm from them before slowly receding back to the hilltop.

 

"The flood," whispered Stephen, feeling through Earth how the waters filled the area of the Stones — an area that just then he recognized as a small flood-basin.

 

"Yes. It's filling fast." Still half-entranced by the energy-sense, and still shielded by Stephen, Tanny grasped his hand and let images fill her mind.

 

Water, rushing in from the channel so far hidden among tall grass and boulders strewn randomly. Flooding the basin, waters rising fast around the stones, swirling and splashing around the central one. The sam'ey'aren, all kneeling but for Amareyha, who stood with arms raised and looked just like a statue. The moon rising behind her.

 

Stephen drew a sharp breath, surprised as images flooded his mind as certainly as the rushing sound of water filled his ears. Tanny's whispered thought came in before he could retreat, ::No. Stay open to me.::

 

::Open? How-::

 

::Just don't fight it, and keep the... sense of earth.::

 

Stephen nodded and tried not to resist, which became harder as he focused on it. After a few moments and some irritated grunts from Tanny it suddenly clicked in his mind and the images continued to flow.

 

 

Amareyha lowered her arms slowly, timing it with the slowing of the flood. The resurrected River was now flowing steadily, feeding the small lake that already covered two-thirds of the central pillar of the Sam'ey. She waited until the water level reached the carving of the Goddess on the face of the stone, and then intoned a sharp syllable. Leaves behind her rustled as two acolytes stepped to her side, one of them offering a small statue with bowed head.

 

Illonia, Mother, what fate did you choose for me...? She took the chains the other acolyte offered her, and carefully placed them around arms and legs of the statue. With another sharp syllable, Amareyha dismissed the Acolyte of Chains. Another took her place, and the three of them went to the margin of the lake. The acolyte helped Amareyha out of her robe, and tied a scarf on her wrist. The priestess took the statue and dived into the lake.

 

As she swam towards the base of the central stone, Amareyha tried to sort out her feelings. What do I expect? What do I fear? She chained the statue to the stone, making sure it was well fastened, then braided her wrist-scarf into the links with the intricate pattern that identified herself to Illonia. Almost out of breath, she gave a final tug in the last knot, and kicked upwards, to the surface.

 

 

Up the hill, Tanny saw Amareyha surface without the statue, and also noticed the lack of the scarf. She kept eyes on the priestess while two acolytes robed her, some tension rising in her that she herself did not notice until Stephen queried softly.

 

::What's wrong?::

 

Tanny blinked, and mentally shook herself vigorously. Then, sighing, turned her back to the newly-formed lake. ::Let's find a better place to camp for the night... preferably in a place where no one would look for intruders.::

 

::There was a nice spot not far from here ... I doubt they'd visit there, but I'll scout the area just to make sure.::

 

It didn't take them long to get to the spot Stephen had in mind and make themselves comfortable with some of the food that they still had left. When they finished their meal, Tanny rested against a tree trunk and after a while sighed. Seeming almost talking to herself, she explained, "A week ago you asked whether I had repaired my empathic barriers. I actually don't think they can be 'repaired' — not in the sense of getting them back to what they were. They seem to still be a bit unstable right now-"

 

Tanny stopped abruptly, and the face Stephen could not see showed some internal struggle. After a moment, she continued as abruptly, "-I'm not sure what is happening, but there is a lot of confusion and doubt in Amareyha's mind. Centered on that lake, and that strange ritual we saw."

 

"Hmm ... you saw her diving into the lake with a statue, some chains and a scarf, but came up without all that stuff? I'm actually tempted to go and check that out, see if we can find any clues about what's going on. Perhaps those items and the ritual can help trigger our portal back. After all, we did appear right there."

 

Tanny shrugged, "Why not? We'll need to start somewhere, even if it doesn't seem like a good idea to try and open a portal in the middle of a lake."

 

With a chuckle, Stephen nodded. "We can start checking whether the tribe stays away from the stones tomorrow. If they do, we'll use the opportunity."

 

"Alright."

 

The silence stretched, with Tanny becoming more and more absorbed in thoughts. Stephen lit a cigarette, and for once made an extra effort to keep downwind from his brooding friend, while sorting out his own thoughts.

 

We'll need a portal back, but ... neither one of us really knows how to open it, or even to make sure it goes to the right place. And if there is enough of a memory of the last portal in the earth, we'll just end up at that weird place again where memories become reality.

 

Slowly exhaling the smoke of his cigarette, he let his thoughts wander on what would happen if they would actually be able to open a portal, and how big the chance would be it would end up in a familiar place. Suddenly, unbidden, a fragment of a lesson from his childhood returned to him.

 

A secret which the magi have long kept hidden is that new portals can no longer be created, not even in Ilistar. They do, however, have a set of historical portals which they can open and close as they desire. The only restriction is that they cannot make them end up at new destinations. Thus, they have all their possibilities carefully mapped out.

 

Frowning slightly, he wondered whether the same theory would apply here, or whether it was strictly tied to his own world.

 

Tanny gazed at Stephen, raising some barriers around her so that he did not notice her intent observation of him. Her eyes flickered in the moonlight, the normally silvery-gray having deepened to a bluish hue. There is more to you than you admit, Stephen. She recalled bits and pieces she had noticed in her friend since they had left the Keep through a wayward Portal, and started to see the vaguest of patterns in there. She shook her head lightly, still arguing with herself. Should I? Would it really help him, or just... break him? He has barriers on memories... almost as strong as mine.

 

With a soft sigh, Tanny hugged her knees still with eyes on Stephen, who suddenly addressed her.

 

"Tanny, you know more about magic than I do ... how much of a chance do you think there is of us ending up with a portal back to that weird place we came here from in the first place?"

 

"Honestly? Pretty big." Her voice was hushed, and a frown creased her expression. "A Portal is but a door. Unless it has been created with the intention of opening in different worlds, and even so one who uses it would need to know how to trigger it to the correct destination." After a pause, she continued, "I wish we had a choice in the matter, but..."

 

Picking up Tanny's meaning, Stephen finished her sentence for her. "We really don't, do we?"

 

"Well, our choice is staying or trying to go somewhere." Her voice was grim. "I don't work Portals, Ranger... unfortunately. That's pure magic." Though.... I wonder if I'm able to see through the web of energies it creates...

 

"Web of energies? What do you mean?"

 

Tanny started, a bit surprised at Stephen's ability to pick up her thoughts. "Hm... a Portal is nothing more than a complex weave of energies. My energy-sense is able to also sense magic being channeled, and occasionally detect their ... threads. I do not understand them, nor can I interfere with them, but I might be able to see them. For all the good it might do."

 

"Have you ever tried interfering with them? Who knows, it might actually help getting a good result ..."

 

"Or it might end up with us arriving in an even stranger world. Are you sure you're willing to take that risk?" She tilted her head, wondering whether he really was that crazy.

 

Stephen chuckled, "We run that risk anyway, so we might as well try to influence it to our advantage."

 

Tanny kept silent, though Stephen could feel her grudging agreement. She went back to her previous brooding, again focusing on what her memory insisted on recalling. She was so intent on following branching possibilities, that she was aware of Stephen trying to get her attention only when he prodded her gently through their earth-link.

 

::Wolf-Lady ... what are you thinking?::

 

::That it would be easier if you were not so stubborn,:: she answered in a half-teasing tone. Then, more seriously and making up her mind, she touched his arm. "Stephen, tell me what you did when you created the earth-shield around me."

 

For a few moments, Stephen thought that over.

 

"You know... that is a very good question. I know I sort of ... anchored my own sense to the earth around me, and I guess you used that to protect your weavings from the rushing water?"

 

"Hmm...." Tanny thought that over, then threw a grounding line for her using still the Water threads. It didn't feel as reliable as the normal earth-grounding she would use, but she did not need more than some hold on any familiar element — and Water seemed to be the least tainted by vibration so far. "Do it again please?"

 

Stephen harrumphed. "You still believe I actually know what I'm doing when it comes to that earth-stuff? In that case I think I still have a few barrels of Lemonoaid™ that need selling ..."

 

"Stephen!" She glared, shuddering at the thought. "Don't be stubborn. Just... do it? You were able to manipulate the threads... somehow. Can you See this?"

 

Tanny reached out for a flimsy thread of earth, nudging it until it stopped struggling and allowed itself to be braided into a simple cord. She let it glow softly, and nudged Stephen gently. ::Can you sense the weaving in any way?::

 

Frowning, he took a few moments to sense around himself, then suddenly noticed it and nodded.

 

"There is ... something all right."

 

::Can you pick it up?:: She let the weave drift towards Stephen, observing through her energy-sense.

 

With a straight face, Stephen stuck his hand out to where he sensed the threads to be and grasped a handful of air, holding it up with a triumphant grin. What he did not expect was the sudden tingling in his hand, almost like a shock, complemented by Tanny's smug grin that he could not see but sensed all the same.

 

"Right, my dear, smart Ranger... can you actually show me what you do with the earth threads?" There was a hint of amusement now in her voice, and Tanny settled down more comfortably. "This is not just out of the blue, Stephen. I won't be able to do much only by myself, as you should have noticed by now. It would be good if you could do consciously what you did by instinct so far. There might be more things hanging on that than just steadying me."

 

Stephen shook his head. "If you like, I could knit you a sweater with them, but I'd have to find those threads first. For all I know, there is just "the earth" as I sense it underneath my feet. Although, perhaps ... who knows, it might just be a blanket..."

 

Ignoring Tanny's confusion at his last remark, Stephen concentrated on the earth directly around him, this time not extending his senses in distance but in depth. He sat in silence for so long that Tanny started wondering whether he'd fallen asleep.

 

"Stephen?"

 

He briefly shook his head and tried to go deeper into his sense, trying to find those threads. After several more minutes, he spoke without letting go of his concentration.

 

"Do you think you can ... mark one single thread that runs underneath me?"

 

Tanny frowned, trying to make sense of what Stephen were trying to do. She did not answer, relaxing instead and concentrating on what she could feel through their earth-link. It dawned on her then that he was searching for a web of threads in the earth itself — the solid matter, and not the web of energies that hovered around anything solid. Deciding against clarifying him, she decided to tackle the problem from another angle.

 

::Stephen,:: she mind-spoke softly, ::Relax.::

 

She felt him blink, and Saw a wavering on the knot of energies close to him. Nodding to herself, she insisted again, ::Just relax, Stephen... feel the earth as you usually do — when you just try to get information from it.::

 

Stephen slowly relaxed and, still rather lost as to what Tanny wanted him to do, shifted his awareness to the usually soothing earth-sense that he relied onto. Tanny's voice intruded softly again, ::Trust me.::

 

Breathing slowly, Tanny let part of her awareness drift toward Stephen through their earth-link. At least unstable barriers might be useful for something, she thought ruefully as she used the trickle of empathy leaking through barriers to touch Stephen's foremind. ::See this?:: She focused on the earth strand glowing to her energy-sense, ignoring the vibration that made her clench her jaw.

 

Trying not to focus on it too intently, Stephen just kept his senses centered on the small area around himself. When he became aware of Tanny's thread, it came as such a surprise that he almost lost his contact.

 

::I sense something, yes.::

 

As he tried to focus on it, it seemed to be eluding his grasp, but after several attempts and a few curses muttered under his breath, he started getting the hang of it.

 

"I think I've got it ... at least I can sort of sense where it is without it slipping my grasp."

 

::Good.:: Tanny smiled, changing her weaving a bit. The cord of earth was now more similar to a small net, with nodes that glowed softly. ::Focus on the glowing nodes. Don't try to actually grasp them - just focus as close to them as you can. As if you were trying to fill your sight just with one of them.::

 

"Wolf-Lady, I still don't understand why you keep insisting that I can see those things. Even with my extra sense I'm just ... aware of various patterns and presences. You did change something though, didn't you?"

 

::I added some more threads to make a sort of net. See if you can find the points where the threads cross each other.::

 

With a frown of concentration on his brow, Stephen tried to sense the different threads. After a little while he thought he could sense where the different threads were in relation to each other and started focusing on the nodes instead. Picking one, he concentrated on it to try and get every single detail about it firmly in his mind. He blinked mentally in surprise as the node suddenly seemed to fade away and almost lost his hold on the earth-sense. He felt Tanny's characteristic touch, somehow steadying his link. Her voice came softly, ::Try to do it again with another node. Just focus - I have woven them in a way that they'll darken if they're touched by another's mind.::

 

Chuckling softly, Stephen couldn't help but grin. "You really can sort of see them, can't you? For me they just ... fade away, almost as if they suddenly stop existing."

 

"Fade away?" Tanny frowned in surprise, tilting her head inquisitively. "How so?"

 

"They become vague. Imagine holding someone's hand, and suddenly discovering that that person is a ghost."

 

Block. A very deep one. She nodded slowly, nudging a glowing node right in front of Stephen's mind-eye and keeping him busy with chasing nodes for a while, using the time herself to think of her options.

 

Tanny slowly unraveled the weaving. I must not. I cannot. But without his help... Carefully, she wove Water around him and let it refresh and clear his mind. Be strong, Stephen, please... without a bare minimum of control, what I need do to will probably destroy us both. She monitored the small, subtle healing weave as it hovered around the Ranger. It is only your awareness that I need to nudge back to life.

 

Stephen sagged as the Water-weave was dispelled, and only then noticed a rather suspicious headache telling him of its existence. He groaned softly, feeling suddenly very tired.

 

"Just relax, Stephen." Tanny's voice was as gentle as her hands rubbing his shoulders, deftly working on the tension points and helping his muscles unknot. "You might want to try one of your concoctions, they'll probably help the headache."

 

"What-"

 

"Reaction headache. It comes with the effort of controlling elemental threads.'

 

"I wasn't controlling anything!" His voice was almost a growl, though Tanny's massage was starting to ease his body and mind. Sighing, he shook his head. "What was all that about?"

 

"You were actually touching a couple Earth threads, Stephen. Nudging them, though just very slightly." She smiled at the sudden tension she felt under her hands, and proceeded to work it out. "I also noticed how quickly you were able to follow their movement by the end of the exercise, dear Ranger."

 

Confused, Stephen tried to recall what he had actually done. He could only remember focusing his mind on glowing knots in front of him, passing on to the next as soon as one faded away.

 

"I think that next I have to teach you to keep barriers in place... relax, Stephen. You're broadcasting." Tanny's soft chuckling interrupted his thoughts, and he started to answer when she hushed him again. "Turn your earth-sense towards you, Stephen. Draw it in. Now."

 

Her voice was suddenly so sharp, that Stephen instinctively recoiled and pulled his awareness of earth back into himself. He was even more confused and surprised as his friend said, "Thank you - you were starting to give me a headache."

 

Laughing softly as he pulled a few leaves from one of his pouches and started brewing a tea out of them, he said, "That would only be fair, wouldn't it? So what, exactly, was that torture you were putting me through all about?"

 

"That was a very very basic exercise, Stephen. One that we used at the Temple with those too eager or too anxious to be able to succeed in Weaving... I guess it works well in other situations too." She gazed into the forest around them, voice somewhat hushed and a hint of unwillingness to talk that Stephen caught. But in spite of it, Tanny continued. "The point is that 'touching' elemental energy-threads is much more focusing on them than reaching out to grasp a real thread. Once you're able to focus, you're just a step away from 'nudging' them."

 

After a pause, Tanny continued with a wry smile, "We just need now to make you see the threads on your own... and not through my energy-sense."

 

"Before we start that, though, you might want to come up with a reason why I'd want to start giving myself headaches."

 

Tanny chuckled wearily, working on her own headache. "If you really want me to find a way to trigger a portal back to the Pen, I'll need your help. I'm unable to ground properly here, I'm unable to fine-control elemental threads... hell, I'm just unable to get my energy-affinity working in here." She grimaced, standing up abruptly and taking some steps away from the fire - and from Stephen's cigarette.

 

She let silence grow for a while, conscious that Stephen was saying something but just too intent on her own thoughts to actually listen to him.

 

"And you think I can somehow he..."

 

Realizing that Tanny wasn't listening, he lapsed into silence and watched her for a while before mentally nudging her.

 

::Wolf-Lady? What's bothering you?::

 

::Memories.:: answered her curtly, making it rather clear to Stephen that she did not want to discuss those with him. Going back to her brooding, she unconsciously clenched her hand. Air. Opposite Earth, incompatible in normal weaving. But one subtle enough to not create too many ripples around magic energies. And the need of a strong grounding line to be able to control it without the Training.

 

Stephen nodded and leaned back, knowing that she'd need some time to mentally sort things out .

[Venefyxatu]

Thanks to Mynx for writing with us

A few days later, they found the clearing where they'd observed the ritual abandoned and decided to go and take a closer look. Down at the lake, Stephen started sensing around to see if he could find any trace of the portal that brought them there. It took him a while, but eventually something caught his attention.

This feels familiar ... I wonder ...

As he explored the spot a little further, he realized that it did indeed feel similar to the point they'd used to trigger the portal to get away from the Orcs in Gaia..

Tanny was some distance further from Stephen, but his soft mind-call made her turn her attention to the spot where he was. She kept her energy-sense open, having just found something on the edge of her awareness. ::Did you find something?::

::Maybe. Can you feel something here?:: He mentally showed a point straight ahead of him.

Something actually wavered in front of Stephen as Tanny directed part of her awareness there. Puzzled, she examined it better, finally shuddering as the feeling connected with memories. ::Yes. A taste of that portal from the Orcs.::

Tanny walked slowly towards Stephen, trying to keep both focal points within the range of her energy-awareness. When she was as close as she could tell to the mid-point between them, she stopped and took her time analizing them the best she could. After some long minutes, she sighed. ::Right, there is something in here. There's a point where two... signatures... converge. One of them seems to be a portal, if both our memories are accurate. I am not sure at all what the other is, but it overlaps and creates... ripples all around. Both foci are just at the surface of the lake.::

::Two signatures? What is this, a portal crossroads?::

::How am I to know? I don't have a map of portal-roads, I just read energies!:: She grumbled huffly. ::I actually think they work in tandem, but not sure to what purpose.::

::Wait ... you're serious? If there have been other portals here, we might actually be able to go somewhere else besides that weird dream-plane.::

Tanny sighed, exasperated. ::Stephen, I don't know!:: She caught herself, struggling to keep her temper. In a gentler voice, she said, ::Sorry, Stephen. The truth is that I simply cannot be sure of anything at all. I'm no mage to figure out portals, and right now even trying to make sense of elemental energies is difficult for me.::. She used one of the wavering grounding lines she had cast to drain her tension away, succeeding just by half. I seem to not even be able to keep damned barriers in place, curse this world be! The string of barely muttered oaths in her mother-tongue seemed to help her unwind a bit, and she unclenched fists.

Stephen put a hand on Tanny's shoulder.

"Relax, Wolf-Lady. We did it once, so I'm sure we can do it again. With two chances, we're bound to get out of here. I suggest we try the one that feels the oldest. The one we came through is definitely not going to lead us back to the Pen, so we'll be improving our chances by not using it."

"Ranger, you really need to pay more attention to what I say instead of what your stubborn brain tells you I said," said Tanny in a gruff way, though with underlying amusement. "One of them is a Portal, probably the one that brought us here. The other is something I don't understand, but if it is a Portal it has a completely different signature."

"I see. If this thing is creating ripples, we're in for an interesting ride. You said you needed me to ... ground you?"

Tanny smiled, squeezing the hand that was still on her shoulder. "Yes. The shielding you're able to do works also as a grounding line for me. Can you do it?"

"The difference is that now at least I know more or less what I'm doing."

Stephen reached down into the earth and linked himself into it as firmly as he could, expanding his shield from that point on. When he felt ready enough, he nodded.

"Go ahead."

Tanny braced herself, and reached out with her energy-sense once again. Out of instinct, she went for the "crossing roads" point, hovering over the secondary focus it created as she examined the flow of faint energy threads. Using a touch of Water, she experimented with nudging farther from the focus, studying the rippling effects. It reacts to elements... but it knows it's not a trigger. She looked grimly at the knot of bright magic energy.

::Stephen, please - do not falter now. If you think you cannot hold on the shield, tell me now...:: She turned her attention back to the pool of energies starting to fill her awareness. ::It can destroy us both.::

With a wry chuckle, Stephen remarked, "You certainly know how to encourage a guy. I'll hold it."

Tanny reached out for Air, carefully teasing one single thread closer to the core of the knot. All she could see by now was the web of energies, with the very dim awareness of Stephen's shielding in the back of her mind. Waiting to get familiar with the rhythm of the swirling and pulsing threads, she suddenly hit the very core with a spear made of Air.

The web of energies shattered, hitting Tanny with snapping, snarling threads that reared against her and blinded her with pain. It was just sheer will that made her still hold to the thread of Air, the only one that strangely did not fight her.

Stephen could feel the pain in Tanny's mind, and automatically nudged the threads he was holding into a wrapping pattern around her. "Hold on, Wolf-Lady. Judging by that pain you're definitely triggering someth-"

The sudden rushing sound interrupted Stephen.

"That sounds like a lot of water suddenly finding a more comfortable spot to be in ..."



While Tanny fought collapse and Stephen wondered whether the underwater portal would actually drain the lake dry, on the other side a robed figure found herself very surprised by a sudden torrent of water coming out of a portal she had been trying to trigger.

"GAAAAAAH!"

Amidst a flood of spluttered curses, the robed feline hit another, closed Gate-frame, as the torrent threatened to wash her away from her backyard. She gasped, grabbing the frame and trying to gather her wits about herself long enough to both understand what had just happened and, if possible, to avoid drowning.

Tigers like water, but this is just ridiculous!

With a growl, Mynx raised a paw and gestured a pattern on the air at the same time chanting some words, and soon she was standing on dry ground once more, the river parting around her as if frightened by her glare.

Finally dry and carefully approaching the portal, she examined it carefully. A portal opening into a lake? What for? Something doesn't feel quite right here.

Mynx suddenly sensed something rather faint that did not feel like magical energy at all.

"Tanny?!"

She blinked, stunned as she recognized the signature of her friend's Weaving. Looking a bit dubiously at the portal, but making her decision in a second, she muttered another spell then just dived into the watery portal.



The news that the Spirits had returned to visit the flooded Sam'ey had spread through the tribe like wildfire and before long, most of them were peeking out of the nearby trees to see what was happening. Their collective gasp as the water started draining away was fortunately not loud enough to disturb the Spirits.

Amareyha was surprised that they didn't seem to hear the beating of her heart. Would this finally be Illonia's answer to her troubles? Were the Spirits here to show her her path? The waters should have stayed for at least another tahed ... perhaps they wanted to show her that they really did approve of her... or that they didn't want her to be the Sh'ren.

Sensing Anileh trembling next to her, she knew he was having trouble staying calm and watching, so she put one arm around his shoulders to comfort him.

"Dont worry, Anileh. I'm sure they have a reason for what they're doing."

Amareyha's soothing words calmed Anileh a little, but he didn't stop trembling.

"They're not Spirits, Amareyha."

"Sshh."

Both of them watched breathlessly as another figure came out of the receding water, her fur drying instantly with a vague wave of her paw. This time, the collective gasp from the tribe could be heard throughout the valley as all but Amareyha, Anileh, and Letharen fled the clearing.


Stephen could not guess what was happening, but Tanny immediately sensed a characteristic signature around the web of energies she could See with her energy-sense. Surprise and relief made her falter, and as the backlash of suddenly released energies hit her, she just blacked out and collapsed into Stephen's arms.

"Tanny?!" Mynx cried out, running over to her friends. "Stephen, what the hell have you been up to?"

Murmuring a Healing spell, Mynx gently touched Tanny's forehead, sighing quietly with relief as her friend stirred and sat up with a dazed look and a grimace.

"We have been mostly trying to figure out a way to get back to the Pen without being drawn into too many strange rituals of the local tribe. Speaking of which, I think I can hear one of them approaching."

Tanny blinked, finally recognizing her friend and whispering in wondering relief, "Mynx?! Gods, I'm glad to see you..." She tried to stand up, but dizziness convinced her that she was quite alright sitting down.

Stephen's hearing turned out to be accurate, as Amareyha approached the small group and knelt on the ground. Some distance behind her, Letharen was holding on to Anileh.

"Illonia y Eltaran, te'kran'chi ta'mia andamei ne'rai Sh'ren Amareyha. An'trei d'niria muirt'krae."
(*Illonia and Spirits, I am Sh'ren Amareyha and welcome you to our lands. We have not forgotten you.)

Behind the three puzzled Pennites, the last of the water was flowing away through the portal, before it closed itself. Amareyha, suddenly noticing that the statue was gone, gasped, but was already smiling inwardly.

So the goddess herself has come in answer to my prayers to show me the path.

"Ti'meria, Sh'ren'ti. Ter'ai."
(*I am now Sh'ren'ti. Thank you.)

With these last words, she bowed even deeper and seemed content just to wait.

Stephen helped Tanny to her feet, prudently keeping an unobstrusive hand on her elbow, and turned to Mynx.

"Lady Mynx, if you understood that, feel free to answer her. Tanny and I have tried a few times without getting eaten, but ..."

Mynx frowned at the creature kneeling before her.

"Y miera Terr'ent yn," she said, her voice a register lower than Amareyha's, and accented, but unmistakable. "Ahn m'Shrn?"
(*If you have not forgotten me, then name me to prove so.)

"Illonia, me'tria Eltaran."
(*Illonia, Mother of the Spirits.)

"M'yua sek ter'ai th'nura?" Mynx raised an eyebrow archly at Amareyha.
(*And you thank me why?)

"Len tya i'rnae ash'nela, y sh'aentre ir'dia ulnare aspe'riae."
(*For gracing us with your presence, and showing me my path.)

Mynx made a quiet noise in the back of her throat, before lifting her gaze to where Letharen and Anileh stood. She looked at them for a moment, before tilting her head slightly to talk to Tanny and Stephen without letting the strange creatures out of her sight.

"Care to fill me in on what's been going on?" She asked quietly. When Amareyha looked about to protest, Mynx hissed sharply at her.

Stephen waited a moment, waiting for Tanny to answer. When nothing came but a tired sigh, he shrugged. "The short version is that we got here through some portal, apparently in the middle of a ritual, and have been treated to what seems to be all the rituals they could come up with and ensnare us for, some with the entire tribe and one with only that ... Anileh fellow. After that we tried to stay away from them as much as we could. What you might want to know, too, is that they seem to be using a crude form of magic."

"Crude elemental energy manipulation," corrected Tanny softly, trying to push to the back of her mind the awareness of what felt suspiciously like a migraine about to start screaming.

"I see..." Mynx said, folding her arms and drawing herself to her full height as she looked down at Amareyha. "And they think I'm their...Spirit Mother?" Maybe I should have had that God-boy follow me through and pretend he's my servant, the feline thought with an amused twitch of her tail.

Both Tanny and Stephen chimed in unison, "They do?"

Amareyha looked at the three in quiet wonder until her curiosity got the better of her.

"Illonia, th'ea ina're al'tae mandria akshana'tre Mar'ey'theal. Ins'terna aletre shu'rn ae?"
(*Illonia, you speak with the Mar'ey'theal as if she is a regular spirit. Does this not bother you?)

Mynx stiffened slightly, her expression becoming cold.

"Ehn Mar'ey'theal th'ea ngt ae, Sh'ren'ti." She said, voice growling slightly. "M'sek len trr, r'krrn?"
(*Those demons are my friends. I would expect you not to question me?)

Without waiting for a response, Mynx glanced over at where Tanny and Stephen stood. "Can I assume you would both like to come home now?" She asked.

"The sooner the better." Stephen reached out to Tanny through their link, and could only feel her exhaustion. "I think both of us could do with some real rest."

Tanny nodded weakly, "I'll be glad for some understandable, straight threads."

"But let me guess, you need me to open the Gate," Mynx said.

Stephen grimaced, "Neither of us is really ... proficient with those things."

Tanny's sharp whisper interrupted him, "Oh, come on Stephen. You can just say that we don't know the first thing about them."

"Feel free to take that as a yes." Stephen grinned at Mynx.

"Right then," Mynx looked around briefly to be sure there weren't more 'followers' about to show up. "Stephen, Tanny, go to where the portal was." She kept a stern gaze on Amareyha as she spoke. As her friends moved towards the now-empty lake bed, Mynx turned and followed them, before stopping a few feet in front of the empty portal. Grinning to herself, she turned back to face Amareyha, Letharen and Anileh. If it's a Spirit-Goddess they want...

Spreading her arms wide, Mynx summoned the shadows of her robe about her and began to chant, deliberately adjusting the timbre of her voice so that they could hear the accent of it, although they could not understand the words. Behind her, the Gate slowly flickered to life, a familiar field nearby Mynx's quarters visible through the glow.

"Go when you're ready," she told Tanny and Stephen, lowering her arms slightly as the Gate took hold.

"Sh'ren'ti," she addressed Amareyha. "Hrrn'mk ter'ai ahn, sh'ran y miera ae."
(*Outcast priestess, given you are so quick to reach your own conclusions, clearly you do not need me.)

Pulling her hood up until her face was hidden in shadows, Mynx leaned down until her face was level with the Priestess and growled softly. "Ehn nkt m'rea Terr'ent rh'kehn!"
(*Do not harm that which you do not understand.)

With that, the feline turned and followed Tanny and Stephen through the Gate, bracing against the cost of transporting them all that she knew was coming.


When Amareyha saw Illonia and her Spirits leaving, the stern talking-to she had gotten made her wonder whether she was supposed to follow. When she saw Illonia stumble to her knees on the other side of the portal, however, the decision was made in an instant. She rushed through the portal without thinking about it, immediately offering what support she could to help the goddess back to her feet. Behind her, she could vaguely hear Anileh shriek her name but she didn't realize what was happening until he just barely managed to avoid running into her.

Mynx let out a surprised cry at the sudden drain of two more using the Gate she was keyed to, dispelling it with what was little more than a snarl. Too focused on not blacking out for once, Mynx barely heard Amareyha yammering something to her as she helped the feline stand. The priestess, however, continued to speak to her, tugging slightly at her arm.

"Yes, yes," the feline muttered to herself, before turning her attention to the priestess. "M'yre t'rrn!"

At Illonia's order to calm down, Amareyha caught herself and bowed her head meekly. "My apologies, my goddess."

Mynx rolled her eyes at the title but fought to hold her tongue. It probably wouldn't do well to disenchant the creature when she had no hope of returning her to her realm for at least a day.

Reaching out to her friends, Mynx rested a paw each on Tanny and Stephen's shoulder - partly to keep her own balance. "Are you guys okay?" She asked.

With the Goddess leaning on the Spirits, Amareyha drifted into the background again, where Anileh immediately grabbed her shoulders.

"Amareyha, we shouldn't be here. It's wrong wrong wrong."

Amareyha likewise put her own hands on Anileh's shoulders.

"I had to leave the tribe. You saw for yourself that the statue was gone, that I am Sh'ren'ti. You didn't have to follow, though. Letharen would have taken good care of you."

"But you wouldn't have had anyone to take care of you." He hesitated briefly with a glance towards Illonia, before continuing in a whisper. "The Goddess doesn't seem to care too much about us being here ... she won't be there for you all the time. Besides ..." Again, he hesitated before continuing. "I need you. You're the only one who can calm me down, and you know it." Edited September 11, 2010 by Tanuchan

[Mynx]

Stephen smiled as he heard Amareyha and Anileh chattering quietly among themselves. In order to keep them away from Mynx somewhat, he'd offered them a tent next to his encampment which, after some choice words from "Illonia" they had accepted.

 

While he was having breakfast, his thoughts kept going back to the two, wondering what should be done with them.

 

They seemed to be rather willing to follow ... but that was probably because at least Amareyha interpreted Mynx's presence as some sort of invitation. We probably interfered with them too much already, though ... maybe it'd be best to just send them back.

 

When he'd finished eating, he decided to go and talk to Tanny about it. He briefly considered taking them along, but decided against it, wanting some relative peace to discuss it. Besides, even if they'd go anywhere, he'd be able to find them back quickly enough.

 

He found Tanny enjoying her own breakfast on the back porch of her cottage.

 

"Good morning, Wolf-Lady. Did you sleep well?"

 

"Yeah. For the first night in ages." She grinned, "Come, get a bit more of coffee - I see you seem to have slept well too." She served him coffee and a slice of cake. "I even decided to make a cake."

 

Stephen chuckled, and in spite of having already eaten, did not refuse a second breakfast - he had come to appreciate Tanny's fine cooking, and the cake smelled of fresh oranges.

 

"Yes, it was a good night's rest. Thankfully. I think even Amareyha and Anileh slept."

 

Tanny grimaced slightly, still not at ease with the idea of a wild empath anywhere near her. "What are you going to do with them?"

 

"Me?!"

 

"They're camped with you, aren't they? And you're a Ranger. And a Spirit." Her voice was serious, but Stephen could sense the grin behind it. "I'm just a Demon, so I'm surely not going near them."

 

"Aaah, but you're Illonia's friend... that should balance their views..." He gave her a toothy grin. "Amareyha might be quite interested in knowing you better!"

 

Flinching at the thought, Tanny murmured something like 'Gods forbid' before turning her attention to her breakfast. Stephen couldn't help but chuckle at that comment.

 

"You know at least one Goddess you could probably convince to forbid her... "

 

This brought a chuckle from Tanny, after which Stephen continued a little more seriously.

 

"I was actually thinking that they should probably go back to their own world. Although since neither one of us could accomplish that, we'll probably have to ask Mynx for another portal."

 

"If it gets Amareyha off her back, I'm sure she'll be more than willing to provide one. Probably more, for good measure."

 

They continued chatting for a little longer before setting off towards Mynx's house.

 

There was silence in Mynx's quarters, but soon both Stephen's and Tanny's keen hearing caught up faint metallic sounds coming from Mynx's backyard. Intrigued, both went round the house, and Tanny held Stephen's arm to stop him as soon as she saw Mynx. She smiled, sending in a very quiet voice, ::Don't interrupt her, Stephen. She's training.::

 

Mynx had all her concentration on the kata, eyes slightly unfocused as she went through the disciplined patterns. The contained force in her movements fascinated Tanny as the feline changed grips on the sai, going from defensive to offensive motifs in a smooth flow. With a final lunge, Mynx finally grinned at Tanny and Stephen, back to a resting position and bowing to them before summoning her robe of shadows to stow away the pair of weapons.

 

"Good morning, Kitty," Tanny hugged Mynx. "That was beautiful. I should visit you more times early in the mornings."

 

Mynx chuckled, shaking her head. "The problem being that it's not always I practice in the mornings - nights are also nice. Hello, Stephen."

 

Stephen bowed to her. "Good morning, lady Mynx."

 

"So, what brings you here this early?" the feline tilted her head, waving them towards her quarters. Tanny handed her a small package, and Mynx grinned as she smelled one of her friend's cakes. "I see you decided to start early in the kitchen today?"

 

"Late last night, actually," she chuckled.

 

Sitting in Mynx's living room, Stephen then brought up their problem.

 

"There are still two cat-like creatures around which would probably be better off if they went back to their own world. We figured that, since you've already seen it and actually know how to handle a Portal, you might get rid of your worshipers and a potential headache for Tanny all in one go."

 

The feline grimaced, having had to bear all their babble and worship for several hours until she had decided enough was enough, and sternly sent them away to find their place of rest for the night with her helper "Spirit".

 

"It's never too soon to send worshipers home." Mynx stood up, "If you bring them to the Portal Ring, we can just do it and still have time for some fun later? Maybe you're up for a sparring match, Stephen?"

 

"That sounds like fun. I'll see if I can find those two and get them."

 

 

When he arrived back at his camp, Stephen didn't have too much trouble finding Amareyha and Anileh exploring the neighborhood a little. He announced his presence, and beckoned for them to follow him.

 

"Come. Illonia wishes to see you."

 

While he was certain that they didn't understand him, the name Illonia and his gestures were enough to get them to follow him. Not much later they met Tanny and Mynx in her property, at the ring of stone Portals. Stephen couldn't resist bowing to Mynx and grinning, "Your loyal servants are here, my goddess."

 

Mynx shot Stephen a glare, and rolled eyes as Amareyha went on her knees, drawing Anileh down with her and whispering a short greeting prayer.

 

Mynx sighed gently and waited for the prayer to finish, trying not to let her discomfort at the praise show. When Amareyha finally lifted her head again, Mynx cleared her throat slightly and began to speak once more in her worshiper's tongue.

 

"Sh'ren, tarnaeia il'tra dae nare'chte urna."*

(*"Priestess, it is time now for you both to return to your home.")

 

Amareyha flinched at her goddess' words, feeling suddenly afraid. With a meek voice, she whispered, "Mi'rna, alt'ra ni en'ria? Firn'ae ma'sneria amatri naesi, en fir'tri astri nirm'ae alfra ne'rtik yarnia a'rmenn."*

(*"My goddess, have we offended you somehow? We humbly apologize, but we will learn if you just allow us to stay at your side.")

 

Mynx resisted the urge to smack her forehead, staring at the kneeling priestess with a slight frown. "Ar'linn afrena ans'ti urna, Sh'ren."*

(*"There was no offense that cannot be forgiven if you but go home, Priestess.")

 

She took a while to answer, but when she did, it was with the certainty in her heart that it was another test posed to her, one to verify the strength of her resolution and faith.

 

"Mi'rna, ni'arne nare'chta urna. Ei Sh'ren'ti, ti'arne neirya fe talnirr y de'rka. S'aerne i lyrae ti'arnae, narlae esni k'ra nach'ri irr. S'nei, yerna allt'ra fryni'kra - ans ye'rnae urna neiry."*

(*"My goddess, I do not wish to return home. I am Sh'ren'ti, exiled for life by your choice and decree. If I am to live in exile, my choice is to serve you here. If I cannot, then allow me to wander this land - but I wish no other home than yours.")

 

Mynx blinked, before muttering a quiet oath. "Ya're nastri ae'rni. Er'ni ant'ra merni, y fre'nta enari ag'rane."* Nodding at her friends, she turned and went back in the direction of her house.

(*"I will be back soon. Do not stray far from here, and do not get yourself in trouble.")

 

 

"Why can't I just tell them I'm no goddamned goddess?!" Mynx growled, tail lashing.

 

"I think it's wrong for you to break their faith, Kitty... Telling them you're not their goddess might potentially destroy their entire outlook on life. At worst, they may start thinking that everything they've ever believed in is one big lie and just ... give up wanting to live."

 

"And what do you propose? That I keep this farce and accept their worship?" She glared.

 

Stephen nodded. "There must be a way to reach a compromise. They must not be deceived, but neither should they have the very basis of their life taken from them. You can't just tell them, 'Hey, your faith is correct, only it's not me who's Illonia. Sorry about that, don't feel bad about it, I get mistaken for a goddess a lot, have a nice life.' There has to be a better way out."

 

Tanny frowned at that, seeming to ponder. Slowly, a grin appeared. "Actually... the answer might be just that, Stephen..."

 

"In that case you'll have to enlighten me, because I don't quite see it. Pun intended, so there."

 

"Well... if they understood that Mynx is just one example of the many kinds of people we have at the Pen... that she is neither exceptionally powerful nor below the average of other Talents here... " Tanny searched for words to explain her idea.

 

"They'd be scared out of their minds because they'd think they're the only two "normal" persons in a realm full of gods."

 

"Stephen!" She actually glared him down, something that was expectantly lost on Stephen, and then went for a pinch on their link that worked as well as a physical one.

 

"Hey, what was that for? You know as well as I do that I'm right about this."

 

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to let a ... shall we say 'lesser entity' such as a Spirit guide them around until they've grown acquainted with this place?" Tanny grinned. "Perfect for you - you're the Ranger, after all."

 

Stephen seemed to think this over for a few moments, then smiled slightly and nodded.

 

"It would be interesting, for sure. Though it would help a lot if lady Mynx would teach me at least the basics of their language. You know, so I can actually express myself a little and understand what they're trying to say."

 

"Mmm," Mynx said noncommittally. "I'm still not so sure about this." When they looked at her curiously, Mynx sighed and continued. "What you're proposing doesn't solve anything. All it will do is stop them from running around trying to exorcise every 'demon' they encounter at the Keep. It's bad enough being mistaken again for something I'm not, I don't want to have to deal with them falling to their knees every time I bump into them."

 

"If they are to stay here, they need to be told something that does not cause them unending panic," murmured Stephen, and Tanny nodded. Mynx's ears flattened slightly.

 

"I don't want to be a goddess. Even if we convince them that here I'm as normal as the next mage, you know they're still going to think of me as Illonia and question anything they see me do that does not fit with their doctrine!" The feline spread her paws out entreatingly. "Couldn't I just tell them they have a mission to spread word of their goddess' existence back in their realm, or something?"

 

"It would be dishonest to send them on a false mission, Lady Mynx," Stephen shook his head. Mynx ground her teeth.

 

"And this is honest?!"

 

"It is the best possible solution, Kitty... you know that, don't you?" Tanny wheedled her friend gently, and at last Mynx sighed.

 

"One of these days, Wolf... And they are your responsibility now, Stephen!"

 

A little later, Mynx was trying very hard at Stephen's pronunciation.

 

"Amareyha, Anileh, nis trellarrrfi taenrrrrkla estri y gafran trrrsa taerrrrkna."*

(*Amareyha, Anileh, I will help you choose a treetop and build a firepit.)

 

The two of them looked at him for a few moments, blinking uncertainly. The looks on their faces proved too much for Mynx, who burst out laughing. When she calmed down enough, she made it clear that Stephen would help them choose a suitable spot for building a place to live. They looked quite grateful, though still somewhat disappointed at having to spend their time away from Illonia.

 

While Stephen was asking Mynx what was so funny, Amareyha whispered to Anileh, "Don't worry - I know just the way to stay close to the Goddess."

 

 

~ THE END ~

Edited September 11, 2010 by Tanuchan