"If they hurt to look at, why do you look at them?" Chezarina is quick to whip back with another question, a smirk on her lips.
"Why not look at this instead? A friend gave this clever little stone to me. When it feels the heat from your hand, the way the light shines through it changes a little." Chezarina shows the stone she was playing with to the boy. It doesn't seem too different than any shiny quartz or other common crystal, but the colors inside do seem a little different. Perhaps. It was slight enough that maybe it was all just the belief of the observer.
The boy gives a small smile as the quartz seems to 'warm' in his hand. "My name is Gull. What's yours? And where did you find your curses?"
Luu Sânh may not have spent much time around children recently given thr long journey to Light, as well as her years spent on the frontline at Icefall - hardly the place for youngsters. Still, the community-driven nature of the undine meant that extended families were common and people mostly helped out where they could.
"Hello Gull," she says, picking up on his introduction. "You can call me Luu Sânh. Is Professor Glazier your teacher?" she asks him.
"You may call me Chezarina." She nods to the boy, letting Luu Sânh take the direction of the conversation. Far be it from Chezarina to deny Luu Sânh the burden of diverting the endless questions of children if she so desired it.
"He's my rescuer, Luu Sânh. I was almost dead in ice and I was crying and then we escaped Light. He's like a...big metal imaginary friend that's actually real." The boy's words are fanciful and childish, but they are said slow and considered way.
"Ky La," Albert whispers, his lip twitching. It's as much cursing the inquisitor in his mouth as a correction. Albert puts his hand on Gamb's shoulder as he recounts what happened, eyed closed, nodding. "You did well, Gamb. So did Wash. So did Edmund" He turns to the other survivors. "So did all of you. Helping each other. Surviving."
The loss of Washakie is a stunning blow. But it sounds like the young man went out exactly as he had lived. Helping people. Albert hadn't discussed the gods with Washakie to even know whether he had been religious. But if he had been, then Albert hopes that whatever he served was welcoming him now.
And Albert feels guilty, even though he knows it's irrational. They had no reason to believe that they would be followed, and the wall had been important to follow up on. But the guilt lingers, for each loss.
"Edmund paved the way for us and...stayed behind," he says. He doesn't know if there was more. Edmund was strong in his own right. He might survive, if he wanted to. The worst thing, though, would be for Moon to capture him. Albert wouldn't will that on even that jackass Harold who had won last year's research grant out from him.
Albert didn't want to keep leading like this. He was a teacher and a doctor. The weight of loss was heavy enough already without feeling like it was his fault.
But they clearly weren't safe. They needed to keep moving. And even the places that they found that might seem safe for a moment would likely not stay that way for long.
Why? Why did Ky La chase them? Torture them so?
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"That's... a good description," Luu Sânh replies, a smile playing on her lips for what she realises is probably the first time in a good long while. "I'm glad that he did." Hearing about this act first-hand has given her a better measure of the man and she files it away in his favour.
"A big metal imaginary friend that's real," she repeats quietly to herself. She had forgotten the imagination that children had and their way with words that sometimes finds new ways to express things. A half-remembered glimpse of the past floats to the surface of her mind: a small girl touching her father's upper lip and pronouncing it a 'beard tunnel'. Her dad had loved to tease her about that but she is unsure whether it is actually her memory or simply one created by Luu Sânh after the fact based on his stories.
She suddenly snaps out her dive into the past as she recollects the all-too-real tunnel they are currently in. Despite the fact that Chezarina had nullified the immediate threat, the overwhelming sense of danger still remains.
The rest of the group shares your apprehension, and everyone makes their way down the hill, away from the barrier. The dry, yellow grasses of the sylphan plains slap at your legs. As you put more distant between you and the Breathless Valley, the air seems clearer, and warmer. It is easier to breathe, and knots of tension in lower backs and shoulders start to relax.
Gull wanders away from his new friends Chezarina and Luu Sânh, seeking out his other friend, Bye. The sad sylph does not have much to say, but that's ok.
All the acolytes (both of Sky and the Bringer) cluster around Zephyr emir, and his disciple Anan. Sylphs still comprise the majority
Gamberino, the only ifrit aside from Chezarina, finishes giving the report of their escape. Iris adds a detail now and then. After a moment of silence for fallen comrades, everyone resumes the daily task of moving forward and staying alive.
Gull wanders away from his new friends Chezarina and Luu Sânh, seeking out his other friend, Bye. The sad sylph does not have much to say, but that's ok.
All the acolytes (both of Sky and the Bringer) cluster around Zephyr emir, and his disciple Anan. Sylphs still comprise the majority
Gamberino, the only ifrit aside from Chezarina, finishes giving the report of their escape. Iris adds a detail now and then. After a moment of silence for fallen comrades, everyone resumes the daily task of moving forward and staying alive.
"Just remember, in the lightest airy parts of your heart and soul, Sky loves you. You were made in His image to grow into your power much like HIS. Watch and learn from your friend Anan, you will grow just as he has. Our power is in us, and that is true of ALL elen. When you love your own divinity, you truly come to love yourself."
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"My my, I've never heard someone tell an Ifrit they didn't love themselves enough." Chezarina is not quickly taken in by sermons. In her mind it was Edmund, not Sky that made the difference.
Zeph wasn't entirely sure it was time to mince words with their new friend, but he was pretty certain now was NOT the time to address the full bredth of self-love ... in front of the kids
Albert pays little mind to the sermons. He usually didn't, no offense intended to Zephyr. Those who benefited from them could listen.
Instead, he uses the remaining energy from his concoctions and celerity-driven modules (those that once activated simply had to be metabolized or allowed to run their course less risking catastrophic failure) to soar low through the air. He maintains a vigilant perimeter as the group traverses the roads, wondering if any of them had been tagged with some sort of sensor...
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Albert, during one of your patrols closer to the group, Drook approaches you. The boy seems older now, aged by grief and pain. "I wanted to ask you a question, as our head doctor." He pauses. "You also know a lot about magic." Without waiting for an reply, he continues, "The night the ice got in my eyes, and I was casting my spell? I haven't been able to turn it off. Except when I'm asleep, I'm always seeing magical auras around me."
You range ahead for a moment as Albert talks with one of the sylph boys (you are still learning all their names). You see a solitary tree in the distance on the flat plain. The first thing you hear is a scream.
You stop and listen again - a sound like an elen, but your ear is sharp enough to pick out the mimicry. Two more long, drawn out screams. You see several dark shapes, crows perhaps, lurking in the branches of the faraway tree. You have never heard any bird make this particular sound before, but you are certain they are the source.
Albert takes Drook aside, appreciative of the opportunity to use his chief skillset. His mind immediately goes to his earlier concern: that a permanent spell, inducted so by Moon's magic, might be the root of the tracking. He doesn't voice the concern, but takes a few moments to do a quick workup on the boy.
There were ways for an alchemist to gain the sight: that ability to detect magic so often practiced effortlessly by those who by faith or study suffused themselves with the energy. But there were usually enough of those on hand that Albert didn't particularly bother preparing such a spell . Perhaps it was worth checking with one of the others who could figure it out more readily what was going on. Of course, he didn't know the full spectrum of Luu Sânh or Chezarina's capabilities yet. And unfortunately, Drook couldn't well examine himself.
And from there, did any of them have the ability to dispel such an effect? Even if it was desirable by some, it was clearly bothering Drook, who hadn't intended for this to be a permanent change. Albert had encountered some patients, often soldiers who had faced unrecountable horrors on the battlefront, whose experience had left them fundamentally changed. They had strange, new senses, often manifesting with the language of synesthesia (if not the reality). Some learned to live with these new ways of engaging with the world. But others were too strange, and led them to madness and often...
Albert wouldn't abandon Drook to such a fate. He tells Drook what he has noticed in his examination and then explains a few things to him. "It is theoretically possible to make certain spells permanent, but the magic to do so is quite powerful. Expensive as well. I do not know anyone who has been successful in modern history, and even historical records on the subject are fraught at best regarding their reliability." He pauses and looks at the boy carefully. "Some might consider this a gift, but I sense your worry. There are ways to remove it, or at least try to. I don't have the resources available to me, but perhaps someone in our caravan does. And if they do not, I know of a flowering herb that can produce similar effects, if we can find any."
He smiles. "So then: shall we see if we can find anyone to help us?"
If plain birds they be, this would not mean anything to them but disturbance. If more canny creatures they be, hopefully they would take it as a request for parley.
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As they move on, Luu Sânh feels swept up as if by a current. The immediate problem had proved surmountable - albeit with some serious attrition - but she's still unsure about the situation, the destination and the strangers. On the positive side of the ledger were the fact that Albert and Zephyr clearly had the intelligence to overcome obstacles and powerful abilities; valuable resources in what is still very clearly a dangerous situation. And it's not like Chezarina is a bosom companion of many years but an alliance of practicalities.
On the flip side, a much larger group is more likely to attract unwanted attention and she prefers to take people's measure of a period of time, even if the early signs were promising. And without a focused end goal, she feels somewhat at their mercy, even if going with the flow is the undine way. Then again, Luu Sânh has ever been one to swim against the tide, with consequences both good and ill.
If anything, it is the presence of minors that means she knows deep down that until this stream winds its course she could not in good conscience abandon them. It might be black and white thinking but to do otherwise would simply be unconscionable. Until they are safe she will be there to help however she can. No elen left behind. This stirs up unpleasant memories that have no place in her current situation so she shuts them down. A reckoning with it can wait. After all, she has refused to engage with it and her position on the betrayal remains stubbornly unchanged.
While she may be silent and wrapped up in her thoughts as they travel, Luu Sânh's senses remain keen and ever-alert.
** spoiler omitted **
The birds stop their awful screams for a moment. One large crow flies down to investigate the arrow, pecks it a few times, and then gives several bird-like nods in your direction.
The scream-calls shift in tone, more like the moaning of the dead now.
"He smiles. "So then: shall we see if we can find anyone to help us?"...
Drook looks hopeful. "Yes please."
Consent gained, Albert goes to Gamberino and Iris. If any remaining in the group knew their herbs, especially a rare one such as moly, it would likely be them. "Keep your eyes to the ground," he advises. "Flowers white as milk and roots black as night," he quotes from an old text, "But don't go plucking up every white flower you see."
---
Albert knows well enough the abilities of most of those remaining in the caravan, but Luu Sânh and Chezarina remain a relative enigma. Well, Chezarina had demonstrated herself quite capable with a bow, and Luu Sânh held her sword like someone who knew how to use it. Either could be proficient with some sort of magic. But if he had to hazard a guess, Luu Sânh might be the more magically-inclined of the two. So with a bit of a hustle, Albert takes Drook towards the undan ele.
"Luu Sânh," he hails as he approaches. "When we next have a moment to pause, I had hoped to ask you a favor. Are you perchance a practitioner of magic?"
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Zephyr, you hear a strange sound, just at the edge of your senses, up where Chezarina is scouting ahead of the group. It sounds like creatures of Sky in mourning.
Albert knows well enough the abilities of most of those remaining in the caravan, but Luu Sânh and Chezarina remain a relative enigma. Well, Chezarina had demonstrated herself quite capable with a bow, and Luu Sânh held her sword like someone who knew how to use it. Either could be proficient with some sort of magic. But if he had to hazard a guess, Luu Sânh might be the more magically-inclined of the two. So with a bit of a hustle, Albert takes Drook towards the undan ele.
"Luu Sânh," he hails as he approaches. "When we next have a moment to pause, I had hoped to ask you a favor. Are you perchance a practitioner of magic?"
"Albert," Luu Sânh slightly inclines her head as she returns the greeting at the approach of the armoured man. Unsure of his intent and where this line of questioning may be going, she decides to proceed cautiously and make him work for the information. "I have a degree of skill, yes," she replies.
Coming up to pace with the undan, Albert nods his head towards his worried companion. "This is Drook. He was an apprentice of Edmund, the el who secured our passage safely through the Breathless Valley." There hadn't been time to process that yet. But there it was. Albert encourages the young man to share his own experiences, but helps to fill in any details that seem relevant.
The broad strokes, of course, are that Drook's troubles had begun following an incursion into their hideout in Light by Moon. First, Drook experienced some sort of dream visitation. Then, while trying to figure out an illusion spell, he had activated a common divination effect and found his eyes rimed with ice. Since then, in spite of his efforts to dismiss the spell, it had persisted.
Albert has theories, of course. But that's all. "He's medically fine. As much as any of us are, that is. I have sent some of my students out to look for herbs that could help to reverse the condition, but I'm aware of certain abjurative magic that may dispel an undesired spell effect." His dispassionate description of the events and symptoms of the odd condition give final way to mild resignation. "I know when I'm out of my depth, and this is one such circumstance. Whether you can help to elucidate or ameliorate the problem, I appreciate any insight you may have."
Drook waves, the young sylph seeming uncertain of how to react to Albert's introduction. "Hi." He looks down at the ground.
Zephyr, you hear a strange sound, just at the edge of your senses, up where Chezarina is scouting ahead of the group. It sounds like creatures of Sky in mourning.
With a thought, Zephyr's form blurs as he becomes a very misty translucent air elemental and flies off towards Chezarina.
To Fury he says, "Stay here and watch over them - you can reach me the fastest if there is trouble."
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"Hello Drook," replies Luu Sânh to the child's shy introduction, crouching down so as to be more of a height. "I'm sorry. May Mother River guide him on his journey, be it to shore or to the Eternal Ocean."
Standing back up, she listens to Albert's explanation of what happened to Drook, letting him finish without interruption. "I see," she says, feeling that at least here she does have some understanding of the situation. Even if the exact causes are uncertain, this a problem with tangible effects and parameters and she can work with that.
There is still a nagging at the back of her mind that perhaps Albert is not being straight with her, or that this may be some kind of test. Luu Sânh doesn't think it's likely; the sylph's behaviour and conduct hasn't suggested this to her so far. And she certainly hope it is not - to use a child in such a way would be abhorrent - but she has also experienced some terrible things in the battle against Dark, not to mention the brief encounters with the madness of moon, and would prefer to be more certain of his intentions.
"It is good that he is healthy," she agrees. "And much of magic derives from the element of water, including ice," she continues, still hedging and delaying to size up the situation. "What other remedies have you tried?" she asks.
Zephyr re-sylphs himself as he approaches Chezarina, the tree, and the birds, pausing to hover about 10' closer to the tree than her currect position, aloft about 75% of the height of the tree.
casts Commune with Birds
"Sky-Friends, I am Zephyr, a disciple of our Father. What news? What has He shown you that his followers and children should know? If you are in need, surely I might help in some way."
Albert blinks a few times, and then looks down at Drook. "Well I just found out. And I don't have the supplies I would normally have in my lab. So...have you tried else anything, Drook?"
Albert blinks a few times, and then looks down at Drook. " So...have you tried else anything, Drook?"
"Praying. Umm. Rubbing my eyes alot. Washing them with soap, but that hurt." He seems embarrased to say such things out loud, around knowledgeable adults and their big words.
The urgent caws sounds like shouts. The Harbingers of Ceasing and Resting! Cannot move! Cannot Fly! Windless! Windless!
Chezarina, to your ear it sounds like Zephyr is whistling, singing, and shouting in something approximating Sylphan, all at the same time.
At the birds seeming approval, Chezarina had started to slowly approach. No reason to be quick and aggressive. This slowness and focusing on the birds had rendered her slow to notice Zephyr's approach.
She raises an eye at the sudden noises he makes but figures well, it must just be a Sylph thing, or a Zephyr thing, or perhaps both. She's shrugs as he takes over the negotiations, happy not to be in charge.
Chezarina, you hear a soft tread in the grasses behind you. The very young sylph boy named Gull walks over beside you again. "You never answered my question, Chezarina. Where did you find your curses? They taste bad."
Albert, in his rush to be first, Gamberino brings you a white flower with dark gray roots. With a stubborn look on his face, he is about to go back and look again, when Iris brings you a single moly plant, carefully extracted from the soil.
"Speed isn't always a virtue, Gamb." She gives that smile the lies somewhere between teasing and mocking.
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"Sssh, can't you hear Zephyr is talking?" She pretends like she was following the conversation.
Luu Sânh is satisfied with Albert's answer, unable to sense anything other than the genuine concern for the boy that she would expect any decent person would be showing in the circumstances. She nods in appreciation of his honesty in what he has so far done - and been unable to do - for Drook.
"Praying. Umm. Rubbing my eyes alot. Washing them with soap, but that hurt." He seems embarrased to say such things out loud, around knowledgeable adults and their big words.
"Good and understandable reactions," she says, her mouth rising into a slight smile as she dips easily back down to be more on the child's level. "Except the soap, that probably isn't sensible." She fishes into a pouch at her belt and produces a vial of silvery powder. She carefully pours a fingernail-sized amount into her palm. "I'm going to cast a spell to see if I can identify what sort of magic has been used here." Luu Sânh addresses Drook but the explanation is to put Albert's mind at ease too, as well as to see if he has any other suggestions on how to proceed as she works things through. "I think it best to work through things logically. Understanding its nature may hold the key in being able to reverse or remove its effects. Is that ok, Drook?"
Luu Sânh, you can tell Drook feels comfortable around you, and your patient approach is working. "Yeah, that's ok Loosen. Umm, how do you say your name again?"
"Ok, thank you Drook," smiles the undine. She thinks for a second, trying to work out how to make her name more pronounceable to the child. "It's Luu Sânh. Try 'Loo Sarn'," She looks him in the eye. "I'm going to start casting now," and with that she chants through the words to a simple spell, one she has cast dozens of times before. As she finishes and the argent reagent dissipates in a tiny cloud, she focuses to pick up on any magical auras in the vicinity.
Aside from the magical items many of you hold and wield, the aura that holds your attention is that coming from the eyes of Drook. In some ways, the aura mirrors that of the detect magic cantrip you just cast - a weak pulsing of divination magic.
Beneath that, however, lies the filmy residue of a permanency spell, with the stopped clocks of Time magic ticking in your ears. The round faces of the clocks become black-framed glasses...you see a smug visage peering at you from behind those glasses...and laughter.
Ha.
Ha.
"Time. Need to find the time." Bye, the strange, muttering sylph, has kept mostly to himself after you crossed the Breathless, but now he meanders over to gently usher Gull away from Chezarina. There is a motherly scolding in his tone.
After she finishes the incantation, Luu Sânh is initially slightly overwhelmed by the number of magical auras that she is picking up. She is able to identify the majority as either personal effect enhancements or enchanted items and she has a brief moment of recognition that between them, her and her companions are packing a small arsenal. She pushes that aside to focus on the magical pulse that has caught her attention, the one that is coming from - or behind? - Drook's eyes.
Narrowing her focus and attention, she squints and looks more closely, almost sucked into the reflection of the boy's eyes. No, not a reflection, she realises - a face not her own. At the same moment she sees it open its mouth to laugh, an echoing cacophony of mirth fills her ears, bouncing around as if coming from all directions.
Luu Sânh responds with an uncharacteristically high-pitched peal of laughter of her own, one tinged with a touch of madness, for it is now she who is a dark mirror of that grinning face.
The awful loss of control is over after but a moment, but you feel the spell worming around in you, ready to make you lash out.
"Time. Need to find the time." Bye, the strange, muttering sylph, has kept mostly to himself after you crossed the Breathless, but now he meanders over to gently usher Gull away from Chezarina. There is a motherly scolding in his tone.
"Bye, wait just a moment? Please? I wanted to ask Gull about tasting curses. I think maybe he can help you, maybe even help all of us. You knew he could do this, didn't you?"
Bye is a terrible liar, and he knows it, so he simply nods. "So? I. I can't. Even remember my own. Own name. I need to try first. Me. My name. Bry name." He words are calm at first, but his breathing is getting slightly faster.
Chezarina looks between the two with a raised eyebrow. Something she's not following is going on between the two.
As the laughter fades, Luu Sânh is horrified to realise that it is coming from her own mouth and any merriment on her face quickly slides off into a look of horror. Realising that she has been caught by a spell that she can still sense skittering around and spreading out inside her, she snaps into defensive mode. Realising that she might be a liability to herself and others she warns Albert and Drook, "Step clear. There's some kind of fell magic behind the ailment and it is threatening to have me in its grip too."
She works through her knowledge of magical spells and effects that could cause her to lose control and behave in such a fashion. Then she casts a spell of her own - one that she would likely have tried on Drook - in order to nullify the magic fizzing around inside her.
The writhing tooth-smiling madness leaves you; your mind is your own again.
The permanency is still active on Drook, and its clear someone else is spying through his eyes now and then (the better to watch you my dear!)
Drook runs away, afraid of what he may have caused with the unstable magic that haunts his vision.
(he would be headed roughly toward Chezarina and Zeph)
Sighing with relief that she is able to flush out the unwanted invasion of her head, Luu Sânh shakes it as if this action would flush out any lingering effects from the bout of lunacy that had had her in its grip. She is clear-headed enough to understand that the lurking presence behind Drook's eyes is still there, a window out at least. She hopes that it is not also a portal into the boy's mind. That was close. But no harm done to yourself or anyone else, which is always a good result. At least she hopes as much, as Drook dashes away, though she concedes that she did warn him to do so.