The Path to Sin (Ikken Isshu + Griselda Banks)

[Ikken Isshu]

((Holy wow. I don't know how it happened, and I didn't mean to do it, but I'm now in a perfect position to make Aer as neurotic and hateful as his Hearrtes counterpart. I am not sure if I want to take advantage of the opportunity, but damn is it tempting. 8D

Gah, short post. But I couldn't think of anything else to do at this precise point. x_x))

Aer flinched away from Ed's near-hysteric reproach, and could do nothing but nod to her words. He couldn't bring himself to say anything else on the subject, so after a moment of tense silence, he murmured, "We should... We should go."

~

Jalisat stared at the food for a brief moment, unsure of what about it caught his attention. After a few seconds, he realized - it was different. It didn't have vastly foreign ingredients, but everything about it - the look, the smell, the feel of it - was completely alien to him. He could barely believe that he'd been so sheltered in Kilika. Abruptly, he decided that he really did want to go to Guadosalam - and not just to investigate the place he'd seen in his dreams, but also to explore. And on the way, he intended to visit other places as well. Smiling, he realized the perfect way to do that - go on a pilgrimage. It was hardly a new goal, accompanying Ed, but now he had a rather stronger motivation.

He set into his food eagerly, enjoying every bite of the unfamiliar seafood dish. When he finished, he looked up and, swallowing the last of the meal, asked, "D'you think Lady Ed's done in the Cloister yet?"

 

[Griselda Banks]

(( cry And here I was so used to Aer being happy for a change.... Just don't make him become the Devil in this one, 'kay? gonk ))

"Yes," Eddora replied acidly, stalking past Aer to the stairs that led back down. "We should."

The Cloister was silent as Ed and her two guardians retraced their steps, a heavy silence that strongly discouraged speech. When they emerged into the temple proper, a small crowd of villagers had assembled to see the summoner who had once lived among them. Ed, heart heavy with worry, performed the prayer gesture at them and descended the steps. The crowd parted as the three of them passed and left the door.

Ed recognized several faces in the crowd, one of them her uncle that they had met on their way in. "That reminds me," she murmured as they stepped outside to the bright afternoon sunlight. "The graveyard."

Leading the way down the central path of the village, Ed felt as though she was walking to her doom. The last thing she wanted to do at this moment was enter the graveyard - it was supposed to be temporary! - but she knew she had no choice. She had promised, and besides, it was the right thing to do. If no other summoner was going to do it....

They reached the tiny footpath winding away through the cliffs much sooner than she had hoped. Ed stopped, staring at her toes on the edge of the faint trail. "Guys..." she said softly. "If...If you don't mind...I need to do this alone. Wait for me here; I...shouldn't be long." With that, she set off along the trail, dragging her feet and forcing them not to turn around and run.

((Cue drama! 8D Feel free to have Aer follow later on if you want a piece of the action; I just need her to be alone at the beginning of the drama.))

~

Rogan licked the last of his meal off his fingers, relishing the rich taste. Then, stretching his arms high over his head, he looked out the window. "Nah," he said in answer to the boy's question. "See those rocks floating around the temple?" he pointed at several large boulders that could be seen floating in the air past the little buildings of the village. "That's what happens when a summoner's with the Fayth. Trust me, kid. I know from experience that summoners tend to take their pretty time in there. Probably won't be out for another half hour, at least. You can go up and wait if you want," he added, getting to his feet. "But as for me, I think I'm going to take a quick nap. It's no walk in the park, sailing and all."

So saying, he turned and started for the door, already feeling drowsiness tugging at his eyelids. I always do get sleepy right after eating.... he thought languidly.

((To clarify, this part happens a bit before the last part of the section with Ed and her guardians, thus the rocks are still hovering around.))  

[Ikken Isshu]

((No way. This roleplay already has a devil. Sort of. ninja Physically, I don't currently have any plans to make Aer anything other than a black mage. Mentally, I haven't decided what I want to do with him. I kind of liked him as an arrogant nobleman, but that seems to have slowly sapped out of him to the way he is now. For the moment, I'm going to have him cheer up a bit. Aer is always so emo in every roleplay he's in, so I like the variety he gave to this one. xd

SO TEMPTING... Not sure if I should post the second Cal-post now or wait for another post... Screw it! Cue Cal's second post. xd After the immediately relevant material, of course.))

Aer trailed behind Ed and Venez in silence, barely even aware of where they were going. When they came to the path, and Ed spoke and left them, he looked up, startled by the sudden order. His mind immediately forged a connection between her anger earlier and this dismissal, but he realized soon that she hadn't said this because she was still angry with him. She had something else on her mind now. That was a relief. Turning to Venez, he opened his mouth to ask what was so important about this place - then stopped himself. What was he so morose about? He was Aer d'Mors, the Wind of Death, Black Mage extraordinaire, sworn to protect (and, eventually, to marry) the Summoner Eddora Khaul. A man - no, a Lord - of his stature had no business sulking about.

"What's this all about, then?" he asked Venez, slipping without much effort into the pompous manner of speaking that he'd grown up with. "Why've we halted here, in the midst of the pilgrimage?"

~

((Eehee, Jalisat shall take a nap as well. And he'll have one of his 'dreams', so I can give you a hint of why he wants to go to Guadosalam. If I haven't already told you. *forgets easily* x_x))

Jalisat jumped up, bumping against the table as he did so. "Back to the ship, you mean?" He was only too eager to get back on the ship, especially if it wasn't going back to Kilika; after all, the ship was his gateway to other lands. And, he thought slyly, it was probably where Ed would be returning, if another, better ship didn't turn up first. "I'll go with you."

~

Calaman felt sick. He tried to ignore the feeling, because it had been there for a long time. Several hours? A day? Several days? He had no way of knowing. He hadn't precisely lost his sense of time, but in this place, it was difficult to tell how much had passed, especially since he had no way of knowing how long he'd been unconscious before waking up in the company of Temporary.

The ground seemed to lurch underneath him, and he clamped his jaw shut and swallowed.

He had regained the ability to move about an hour - it seemed - after Temporary had left him. It had come slowly, and only long after his sense of feeling had returned. Until then, he lay on his side, no longer senseless, but unable to rise. Then, with a faint prickling sensation, strength had raced through his muscles.

His vision was another matter. The bizarre obscuring lights never did entirely fade, but after a few hours of exercising, they dimmed greatly, enabling him to see his surroundings with a degree of clarity.

He was being kept in a chamber very much like what he expected a Maester might sleep in. He'd been on the floor, but there was a lavish four-poster bed. Against one wall was a minibar adorned with drinks Calaman had never even heard of, let alone seen or - of course - tasted. He resolved to avoid the minibar, and not just for reasons of personal taste. The room was expensively furnished, with a shelf of old-looking books, a divan and several chairs, including two around a roaring fire. The room had no doors, and only one window.

When Calaman had approached the window, he was greeted with a vision of emptiness. To all sides and above, there was nothing but darkness. Below, he saw when he leaned out of the window, was a steep rock face extending down into the same abyss. He saw no end to the drop. Looking side to side and putting his head in and out of the room, he'd decided that the room in which he was being kept constituted the entire building. He'd pulled himself back into the room and shut the window, and didn't open it again.

Now, though, he had no patience or concentration to spare for exploring. Holding his arms across his abdomen, he stifled groans and tried to ignore his present situation. Unfortunately, the situation had other plans.

"Damn. You really did a number on yourself back in Besaid."

He looked up, illness momentarily forgotten. A figure stood by the fireplace, but the damnable lights in Calaman's eyes flared and masked the man's appearance. He knew that voice, though. It was the Witness.

"Hold still, Calaman. I believe I can handle this without too much difficulty."

There was a brief feeling of cold in Calaman's body, and then a faint aura appeared around him. It looked like a spell of Protect or Shell, but faded in seconds. He felt no lingering effects - but his stomach-illness, whatever its cause, was gone.

"Try to avoid using magic of your own unless you've had practice," the Witness said dryly. "I'd be happy to teach you... Once I'm certain I can trust you."

"What? Why... If you want to help me, why did you abduct me?" (Calaman was able to speak normally now, and took advantage of the opportunity.)

The Witness laughed softly. Calaman squinted, but the lights still would not let him get a clear glimpse of the Witness's face.

"I didn't say I want to help you, Calaman. I said that if I think I can trust you, I'll be glad to teach you my abilities... the ones you can learn, of course."

Calaman scowled. "Trust me?"

"Not to turn against me, or to do something foolish to set me back from my goals. But until I can trust you, you're on your own."

"If I'm on my own, then release me. Send me back to Djose."

"Oh, Eddora is no longer in Djose. You've been in my care for several days, Calaman. But even if she were, I can't send you back to Spira if you're just going to run back to serve that sycophantic acolyte."

Calaman blinked. Of all the words that described Eddora, 'sycophantic' was not the first that came to mind. He frowned.

"Why not?"

The Witness came forward and sat on the edge of the bed. Calaman pushed himself back against the headboard, not wanting to be any closer to this man than he had to. He sat up and pushed his back against the board.

"Because, Calaman," the Witness said coolly, "she and all of her kind are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem. Oh, they try, I'll give them that. Some of them even do some good. But summoners are little more than temporary solutions, and most of them don't even realize it." He broke off, sighed audibly. "I'm afraid I can't explain all of my theories to you. But trust me when I say I am working for the greater good. And you are going to be a part of that work, Calaman."

Calaman swallowed. His eyes went instinctively to the window, and back to the Witness, who he still couldn't see clearly.

"You were taught by Althemen?" he asked quietly.

"Among other teachers, yes, Althemen taught me."

Calaman gulped and made a small jump. "Did he ever teach you those special techniques he promised to teach you?"

The Witness was silent for a few seconds, then he laughed almost imperceptibly and got to his feet. He came around the side of the bed, and before Calaman could react, he placed one knee on the side of the bed, leaned forward, and stuck a small knife hilt deep into the side of Calaman's neck.

There was no pain, but the surprise made up for it. Blood ran down and soaked him just as it had done before, when the Witness had healed him. Calaman's eyes widened, and his vision wavered. The lights flared and then disappeared. The Witness bent down close to Calaman. The folds of his black and violet robes swayed as he did so. His skin was pale and smooth, his lips bizarrely dark, as if rivulets of blood coursed just below the surface. His blue-green eyes flashed behind raven bangs, and he smiled, his sharp features growing sharper with the expression.

"I'm surprised Althemen never taught you the value of keeping secrets," the Witness said mildly, and then the light faded.

~

Calaman sucked in a breath and immediately reached for his neck. After clutching at his neck with both hands for a few seconds, he finally registered that there was no wound. No knife, no scarring that he could feel, no dried blood. He lay exactly where he'd been when he'd lost consciousness. He sat up and shook his head.

The Witness sat in one of the chairs by the fire, a dark grey armchair. He turned his head and regarded Calaman with a small smile.

"You took that fairly well," he remarked, and turned his eyes back to the fire.

Calaman leaped off of the bed, staggered, caught himself on the back of another chair, a deep jade green one.

"You stabbed me in the neck," he said.

"Yes, you're very observant," the Witness said. "And you must stop thinking of me with that cumbersome title. It's so dull. Please, call me Pheos."

"Why am I alive?"

"I healed you, of course."

"That was a mortal wound," Calaman pointed out.

"Obviously not," Pheos countered.

"White mages can't heal mortal wounds," Calaman insisted.

"Well, then, you're lucky I'm not a white mage," Pheos said dangerously. Calaman fell silent, but only for a moment.

"How did you heal me, then? No mage could have - "

"I can do a lot of things your insipid mages couldn't dream of doing, Calaman. I healed you after putting a knife through your neck. I brought you to this place. I healed you before, too, even though I was nowhere near you. And I exterminated every marine fiend within a two mile radius of that sad little boat. How many mages do you know with those abilities?"

"And you're vain, too," Calaman said dryly.

"Touché."

Calaman sighed and fell into the chair he'd been holding onto. Thankfully, the dancing lights were gone. He saw the Witness clearly now, though for the moment his eyes were on the fire.

"What do you want me here for?" he asked the flames.

"At the moment, I am protecting you and myself. Even though you apparently recovered after the little stunt you pulled in Besaid, you might be dead by now if you weren't under my wing. And if you weren't dead, you'd be off causing problems for me."

Calaman frowned and furrowed his brow. "I don't understand - how would... Was that why I was sick before?"

"Yes. For the most part, anyway."

"And how would I be causing problems for you?"

The Witness just smiled at that. "I think you'll probably know the answer to that soon enough. On that note, I have work to do. We will speak again, Calaman. Until then." He rose and bowed politely, then faded into shadow. Calaman found himself staring at the empty space, thinking, He can teleport!

So what was going to happen now? Was he merely going to be held captive here until he died? Or was he to be released eventually? He wondered what Eddora was doing now. He couldn't even begin to imagine - for one thing, he didn't know how long he'd been here. Even if he'd known before, he didn't have the slightest idea how long he was unconscious after Pheos stabbed him. Thinking of it, he rubbed the side of his neck unconsciously. No mark. Not even any residual pain.

Sighing, he sank deeper into the chair, letting the flames hypnotize him. There wasn't much else to do.

((You probably noticed that Pheos said that Eddora was no longer in Djose. That's significant, considering that she most certainly still is. ninja ))

 

[Griselda Banks]

(( xd I like it when Aer's acting like an arrogant nobleman. It's funny.

And no, you haven't explained to me about Jalisat's dreams. I am very interested to see what will happen. And...I suppose you mean that Calaman is farther along in time than Ed and the others? Or is this Pheos guy just lying? *is willing to wait and see things play out*))

Venez looked up at him in surprise, though whether it was because of his sudden change in demeanor or simply because she hadn't expected him to speak to her, was not clear. "Oh...I don't know," she said immediately, but after a moment of thought she added, "Lady Eddora promised to see to this graveyard they've made, and...I would assume she knew many of the people buried there. She probably needs some time to deal with her emotions."

~

Rogan chuckled at Jalisat's eagerness. Clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder again, he directed them out the door and back down to the docks. "That's the spirit," he said. "A nice, long nap before we head out." When they reached the Fayth, Rogan disappeared into his tiny cabin. In a surprisingly short time, snores began to emanate from it.

~

((Semi-quote from The Village, yay!))

Eddora walked alone on the path winding through the cliffs. It was not far to the graveyard - just far enough that the villagers would be safe. She used the time while walking to attempt to brace herself for what she would find at the end of the trail. But when she reached the end, her footsteps faltered.

In a large, open space between high walls of stone were dozens and dozens of lines of little mounds, with a flat wooden stake sticking straight up to mark each one. Ed had forgotten just how many there were...and she supposed that some had been added since she had left fifteen years ago. Most of the village had been killed on that day. She could scarcely believe they had managed to rebuild and repopulate the place in just fifteen years. Many of the people here now probably came from other places, fleeing Sin's destruction of their former homes. Yes, that was what people always did. They ran from death, but death came to find them again. Sorrow was like a dog. It could smell you.

Slowly, Ed dragged her feet forward, along the path that led around the little graveyard. The stakes all had the person's name on them, and they were arranged alphabetically by family name. Ed passed several rows, numbly recognizing names here and there. Finally she came to 'Kantar', and entered that row. She passed by the many Kantar stakes, remembering the huge family that had been among the first to die. Towards the middle of the row, she came upon the stakes she was looking for at last.

Khaul, Zarra. Khaul, Nordan. Khaul, Ennara.

Ed reached out a finger and ran it along that last name. "Ennara," she whispered, the name like honey on her tongue. How long it had been....

"Hello, Dora."

Ed slowly looked up, not sure if she should be dreading what she would see or not. Pyreflies floated around the stake, forming a translucent girl who looked somewhere around ten years old. She wore a light blue dress, and her black hair fell down to her waist in many narrow braids, ending in colorful beads that clinked together when she moved. This girl's face had the same shape as Ed's, but her eyes were soft grey.

"...Nara?"

"Yes," Nara said softly, her voice almost seeming to echo. "It's been so long since I've seen you, Dora. I've missed you."

Tears sprang to Ed's eyes. "I've missed you too. Oh, Nara, you don't know how long I've wanted to hear your voice again...."

Nara cocked her head to one side. "Then why didn't you save me?"

Ed froze. "What?"

Nara smiled, but somehow that sent a chill down Ed's spine. "You didn't save me. Sin came, and you ran. Mother always told you to take care of me. But in the end, you abandoned me."

Ed drew back as if struck. "I..."

"You're sorry?" The pyreflies began to swirl faster and faster around Nara's body. "But that's not good enough, is it, big sister? It won't change the torment I feel, looking at you. Because you're alive...and I'm not."

Nara's body grew larger and larger, mutating into a large fiend. Her hair became tentacles, and her fingers became claws. More pyreflies rose from the graves all around, soaring into her body. Soon there were other bodies sticking out from all sides, all moaning and wailing at once in a discordant cacophony.

"Help!"

"No...save me...."

"Brother!"

"I want to die!"

"Mama...."

Ed sank to her knees. "No...Nara.... Don't do this."

Nara giggled, her voice magnified and much deeper than it had been a moment ago. "This is your own fault, Eddora." Drawing itself up, the gigantic fiend lifted its many claws for an attack that would slice Ed cleanly in two.

And Ed discovered that she couldn't move an inch. She stared up into Nara's mangled face, and her heart stilled as she saw no hint of mercy there. She knew that what her little sister had said was true. At the first sign of Sin, Ed had turned tail and run as far and as fast as she could. She had left little Ennara to fend for herself, when her mother had expressly told her to watch over her. Ed's fear for her own safety had overruled everything, and because of that...Nara was now a monster. It was all her fault.

With a thundering, many-voiced roar, the fiend lunged forward. Ed gazed up at her doom, watching her death grow ever closer, and then-

A flash of white obscured her vision, and for a moment she thought she was dead. Then she saw that an enormous white snake, somehow gliding through the air, had darted between her and the fiend. The fiend slashed its side, but this strange creature squeezed its body around it and pushed the enormous fiend backward, scattering stakes in all directions.

The white snake untangled itself from the fiend, then opened its mouth and a torrent of water gushed out, pounding into the fiend's body. Ed stared at the quickly beginning battle with shock. This snake, whatever it was, was protecting her.

((And, of course, I had to make fiend!Nara look like Envy's true form from FMA... stare ))  

[Ikken Isshu]

((A magician never reveals his secrets. ninja ))

"Lady!" came a powerful shout from the entrance to the graveyard. Satiyen Ronso was running toward the fiend, silver spear brandished, beastlike feet pounding on the dirt. He didn't even seem to register that he was in a cemetery; fearlessly, the Ronso leaped into the air, soared over the apparently benevolent snake-creature, and drove his spear deep into what looked like the fiend's chest. He hung from the halberd for a brief moment, then dropped to the ground, rolled away, and got to his feet. He immediately moved around behind the fiend in an attempt to get up onto its back, potentially doing more damage.

Luseik and Keskes were more circumspect in their approach; neither drew a weapon, and while Keskes entered with little pretense, Luseik paused at the entrance to perform a prayer gesture and murmur a cant for the peaceful rest of the dead. Then he, too, followed his Guardians onto the cemetery's turf. The black mage stood to the side, awaiting orders; Luseik put himself near Eddora and watched Satiyen with something like disapproval in his eyes, but said nothing.

"What is that snake creature?" he asked, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the conflict, as well as Satiyen's shouts.

((Feel free to b***h at Satiyen. He kind of jumped in without thinking once he saw that Eddora was in danger. I expect she might not appreciate him attacking her family, even if they are trying to kill her. ninja ))

~

Jalisat remained up on the deck for a time, watching the sea and then, when that grew tedious, moving to the other side of the ship to look over Djose. Before long, that too became dull, and a full hour hadn't passed before he sank down to sit on the open deck, and then leaned against the railing. He dozed off within minutes.

He'd scarcely closed his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Jalisat," he heard, and though he couldn't be sure, he thought it was Rogan's voice.

"I'm awake," he mumbled, knowing full well that he wasn't. "What is it?"

"There's something you should see. Get up - look over the edge."

Jalisat opened his eyes. A figure was indeed standing over him, and while he thought it was Rogan, he couldn't see the man's face clearly. Odd, since it was the middle of the day, but Jalisat didn't pay it any mind.

He stood up and turned to look over the edge of the ship - and without warning, felt Rogan's hands on his back. Slowly, he toppled over the railing and plummeted down to the surface of the water below.

Hitting the water was like falling onto a tarp - the surface was solid but yielding, and after it had depressed itself about two yards downward, it started to split. He felt first his left leg, then his right, slipping down into the cold water. It covered first his waist, then his chest. He tried to claw at the surface of the water, but as solid as it was, it was too smooth to clutch, and his face was soon beneath the waves. His hands followed shortly thereafter, and then everything went dark.

"Kavindra," someone was saying. It was a man's voice. He sounded distressed - panicked. "Kavindra, please. Open your eyes."

Confused, Jalisat did - and he found himself staring at someone who could only be a white mage. The man was ruggedly handsome, almost like Jalisat's father but with a more squared chin and with reddish-brown hair instead of a dusty blonde. The man wore the traditional robes of a white mage - solid white cloth, trimmed with a red pattern resembling a mosaic pattern.

The man was bent over a still figure in a bed, a skeletal, sallow woman in the eldritch robes of a summoner. Her hair, thin and sparse and oily black, was splayed out on the pillow. She wasn't moving - at all.

"Kavindra!" the man cried, hunched pathetically over the woman's still form. "Kavindra... I can't lose you after all of this. We... I can't lose you."

Jalisat took a step forward, but the room darkened as soon as he did so - all he saw were silhouettes; the black shape of the man and his apparently-dead love, Kavindra, in the dark confines of a small but well-furnished room.

"Kavindra... Kavindra... Kavindra."

With a start and a sharp, gasping intake of breath, Jalisat awoke on the deck of the ship.

He was lying between two railing posts, one arm dangling off the edge of the ship; a single movement in the wrong direction, and he'd be falling off the edge just like in his dream. His insides suddenly tight with fear, he held his breath, slowly reached up, touched the railing, and with the sudden movement of someone pulling off a bandage, he wrapped both arms around it and held tight until he could pull his body away from the edge. Carefully he released the railing, and scrambled backward.

Finally, he exhaled.

Collapsing back onto the deck to stare up at the sky, he pondered the meaning of the dream. He hadn't seen Guadosalam this time - but that wasn't always a factor. Sometimes he saw it, sometimes he didn't. But he always saw that white mage, weeping over the body of the summoner, Kavindra. Sometimes he heard the man's name in the dream, but he could never remember it - or how he heard it, because there was never anyone in the dream but those two, and the woman was always dead. He didn't know why he had the dream, or what it meant, but he knew that he had to see Guadosalam - maybe he could find some hint of that dead woman, Kavindra, if he went there. Guadosalam's part in his dreams was always different, when it was there at all; once he had watched the woman die in Guadosalam; another time he'd watched the man carry her body through its dark and cavernous chambers; once, he'd even begged her to wake up so that they could live out their lives in peace and quiet, free from Sin, free from the pilgrimages - in Guadosalam. Somehow, that woman was connected to Guadosalam, though neither she nor the man were Guado.

Jalisat intended to find out what the dream meant - whether it was some kind of memory, or otherwise. Sometimes he entertained notions that the people he saw in his dream were his real parents - maybe the woman had died giving birth to him, and the man had been unable to bear the sight of his beloved wife in his child's face, so he had found Jalisat a new home in Kilika. It wasn't that Jalisat disliked his family enough to wish that he was adopted, but it would certainly make life more interesting.

He sighed and shook his head. Speculating about it at this point was useless - he'd already run through so many possibilities that they made his head hurt, so the only thing left to do now was to go to Guadosalam.

If this stupid boat would ever get moving.

 

[Griselda Banks]

((Lol.))

Venez cocked her head in the direction of the graveyard. "Do you...hear something?" she asked tentatively.

~

Eddora could only sit and watch as a Ronso (who looked somewhat familiar, though she couldn't quite place him) leapt into the fray. The Khaul fiend shrieked at the top of its many lungs as Satiyen's spear bit into its flesh, and a multitude of hands groped at the shaft to pull it back out. The white snake took its opportunity to lash out at the vaguely humanoid bodies emerging from the fiend's back. The snake's enormous fangs sank into flesh, sending spurts of dark blood everywhere.

Ed twitched as Nara's face twisted in pain and screamed. Seemingly from a great distance, she heard someone ask her, "What is that snake creature?" She looked vaguely up at a summoner (Luseik? The name stuck in her mind.) standing at her side.

Suddenly it occurred to her that he was expecting her to answer. "I...I don't know," she said in a feeble voice, trembling as Nara kept on screaming and screaming, even as she raked her claws across the snake's back, sending pearly scales flying everywhere. "It just came...from nowhere...."

The white snake drew back, drawing itself up for another attack. In that moment, its enormous eyes flicked over to Ed, and their gazes locked. Those eyes looked so familiar...deep green like the ocean...but where had she seen them before? Then the snake lunged at the fiend, and their gaze was broken.  

[Ikken Isshu]

Aer frowned at Venez' question; he glanced down the path to the graveyard, but it curved too much and the graveyard itself was out of sight. He repeated Venez' gesture of tilting his head, listened, and shrugged.

"I hear nothing," he said. "Shall we go and see what she's up to? She did request privacy, but for her own sake..."

~

Luseik frowned at Ed's dazed answer and turned his eyes back to the battle.

"Keskes," he said. "Satiyen looks to be managing himself, and we don't know how the snake will react to an attempt at assistance. Try to attack the fiend without interfering with either of them." Nodding, Keskes proceeded to whip up a Thundara spell.

The Ronso made quite an impressive effort of battling the fiend, but he wasn't making much progress when compared with the snake's vicious success in fighting it. He was wary of the snake, and kept his distance where possible; he wasn't sure if it might attack him as soon as its current target was dispatched. He barely noticed when the fiend yanked his spear out of its body, and proceeded to twist it beyond all usefulness, tossing it aside like a piece of trash - which, in all truthfulness, it now was - but instead focused on the present battle. He'd managed to clamber up onto the fiend's back, and now threw himself from side to side, trying to avoid the bodies that were protruding from the fiend's body. One of them leered at him as it emerged, and he drove his sharp claws into its face. It howled with pain and groped at him, but he elbowed it hard and kept climbing. He clambered up onto the fiend's top, and gripped its head with both hands. He didn't know if removing the head or breaking the neck would kill it, but it was worth a try. Closing his eyes, he gave a powerful wrench to the side.

 

[Griselda Banks]

"I thought I heard shouting...but maybe I was wrong," Venez hastily added, feeling a little embarrassed. "Maybe...we should just go and check...?"

They made their way along the path, and Venez couldn't decide whether she hoped she'd been mistaken or not. She would feel very foolish if it turned out she'd just been imagining things, but if Eddora had shouted....

Venez came to an abrupt halt when they turned the last corner and found themselves looking on the scene of battle.

~

((Since you had Keskes "whip up" a Thundara spell, but not use it yet, I thought I could incorporate it into my post. Hope you don't mind.

Also...I didn't realize it until I started actually writing it, but some of this stuff is pretty gross. I'll blame it on Hiromu Arakawa with her concept of Envy stare

Can you spot the quote from Haibane Renmei? xd ))

The fiend's neck snapped to the side, and Ennara's face grimaced in pain, making an odd gurgling sound. Her head flopped oddly, and for a moment it looked like the fiend was dead at last. Then the head began to jerk, the jaws parted, and a new face pushed its way out of her mouth, twisting grotesquely to get free of the other face's teeth. Once the new head was free, fingers began to push the lips back, splitting the skin to make the opening larger. Before this new body could emerge completely, and while it was still occupied with getting free, the snake creature darted forward, jaws closing over the entire head.

Suddenly the snake's eyes flicked to the side, and it released the mangled body hanging halfway out of Ennara's mouth. The snake opened its mouth and a torrent of water gushed out, wrapping around Satiyen like a cocoon. It swept the Ronso to the other side of the graveyard, near Ed and Luseik, and then the water released him, slapping onto the ground in a puddle. Then the snake whipped back around to face the fiend, encasing it in a similar blanket of water. The many bodies gurgled and thrashed, unable to breathe.

A single deadly bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens, and the fiend jerked and thrashed about. When the snake let the water slosh onto the ground, the fiend collapsed in a tangled heap of arms and faces. It lay there for a moment, then dissolved into hundreds of pyreflies that milled about, almost looking confused. The snake, still hovering in the air, turned slowly to face the summoners. The sea-green eyes bored into Ed's, almost as if trying to say something. Then the snake closed its eyes, inclined its head slightly, and sailed through the air towards the sea.

Stunned, Ed watched it leave, disappearing behind the cliffs as abruptly as it had appeared. What was it? Where had it come from? Why had it protected her? Well, whatever it was, she owed it her life. Oh.... With a pang, Ed remembered why her life had been in jeopardy in the first place.

Wearily, feeling as though she was a hundred years old, Ed got to her feet and looked around. She saw her guardians at the edge of the graveyard, and wondered when they had got here. She rubbed her eyes and turned back to face her task. "I'll Send them now," she said quietly, but it was so quiet in the aftermath of the battle that everyone could hear her perfectly.

Straightening Ennara's grave marker to give herself a little time to compose herself, Ed heard Nara's words again: You abandoned me. "I'm sorry," she whispered, clasping Nara's name in both hands. "I'm going to make things right."

Taking a deep breath, Ed spread her arms wide and began to twirl. A few steps into the haunting dance of the Sending, the pyreflies began to react. They danced along with her, twirling and dipping and leaping, closing in on her with every move. At the pinnacle of the dance, Ed pirouetted in the middle of a veritable whirlwind of pyreflies. She could feel them all, all of their lives and emotions and dreams. Joy, sorrow, pain, humor, anger, bitterness, fear.... She felt them all, she saw all at once every event in each of their lives. And they all ended abruptly, in a blast of fear and pain, as Sin closed in on them. Out of the torrent of lives and souls, one seemed to extend to her, like a hand reaching out. A pyrefly brushed her cheek with a fleeting, almost tender touch. And with that touch came a feeling of forgiveness.

Ed closed her eyes, and she was soaring through the air with the pyreflies. They were flying, speeding away to the Farplane, and a pure joy filled Ed's heart. She would be at peace there. She would be with all these souls she knew and loved. She eagerly stretched out to reach the Farplane, but just as she was sure they were nearly there, a gentle touch on her soul brought her up short. Though she could see nothing but pyreflies, she got the distinct impression that one was smiling sadly at her. Not yet, dear one.

And then she was rushing back, back to Spira, back to reality, back to her body, back to the fears and anguish of life. She found herself standing and looking up at the sky where the last glimpse of fleeing pyreflies faded away. Her arms were stretched out to them; they seemed to slip between her fingers even as she groped at them. She slowly sank back to her knees, still staring up at the sky.

Ed covered her face with her hands. They were all gone now. Gone forever. The villagers she had grown up around...her parents...Nara, her best friend and only sister. Calaman. "In the end, everyone leaves me." A tear slipped between her fingers to trail down her cheek.  

[Ikken Isshu]

((Didn't mind in the least; you did it much better than I would have. xd

Also, I would probably have had a harder time spotting the line if you hadn't put it right at the end of your post. Man, now you've gone and brought up all the gut-wrenching angst of Haibane's last few episodes. First anime that ever made me choke up, I think. crying ))

When Ed collapsed, Aer started to sprint toward her, afraid she'd been wounded; Keskes skittishly jumped in her direction in case he could help; and the Ronso lurched forward, still disoriented but willing to assist. Luseik, on the other hand, calmly stepped between Eddora and the others.

"There's pain in any Sending," he said mildly and quietly, mainly to Aer as the mage reached Luseik, "most of all when a Summoner's own loved ones are involved. Understand that before you try to comfort her, or you will only alienate her more."

"She is a Summoner," Aer said a little stiffly. "Venez and I are her Guardians."

"And that's why there's a line between you and Lady Eddora that cannot be crossed," Luseik replied without heat. "She's in a lot of pain right now. Don't make it worse."

Aer gritted his teeth, inhaled, and tried to ignore the images that went through his mind - Calaman, the snake, that bizarre fiend, the pyreflies. None of which he understood. Perhaps that was Luseik's point.

"Lady," he said, slightly chastened, "Would you like to rest in town?"

Smiling without humor, Luseik stepped aside and allowed Aer to kneel by Eddora. Silently, he nodded to his Guardians, and they made themselves absent without disturbing anything else.  

[Griselda Banks]

((Hmm, true, I thought of that as I was reading over my post again. But I agree with you wholeheartedly; Haibane is a powerful anime. I cried when I watched it in Japanese, but when I watched the dub after that...wow. Just hearing those things said in your own mother tongue is incredibly powerful. Especially because there have been times when I've felt like Reki (and Ed, now...), that everyone leaves me in the end.))

Eddora kept her hands pressed against her eyes, feeling several more tears squeezing between her fingers. She could almost feel the pain in her heart at the knowledge that she would never, ever, ever see her family again. She thought she had dealt with this pain fifteen years ago, but she saw now how wrong she had been. She had done nothing but push the pain deep down inside herself, refusing to face it because somehow, she had realized just how painful it would be.

She felt as though she was the only living being in the middle of a desolate, lifeless wasteland. No matter how loud she screamed, no one would hear her. She would be alone, forever. Why should she even continue to live, if life meant opening her heart to people who would only leave her desolate like this, time and time again?

But then Ed felt a presence at her side, and a blissfully familiar voice spoke gently to her. "Lady, would you like to rest in town?"

Aer.

A sob ripped painfully from Ed's throat, and before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed the front of Aer's robes and pulled him close. Clutching him in a clumsy, awkward embrace, she let her tears loose. "Don't," she choked out, her voice trembling and muffled in the cloth. "Don't you leave me too!"  

[Ikken Isshu]

Aer was so taken aback by Ed's reaction that he almost jumped backward, but after a second he just stood there, arms hovering a few inches away from returning her embrace.

He was surprised to realize that he was distinctly uncomfortable with her this close. After another second passed, he realized that it was because he'd spent so long trying to get into her good graces that he'd gotten used to the status quo; now that she actually wanted to be close to him, albeit in this state of distress, he wasn't sure how to react.

All of that passed through his mind very rapidly, and then one thought came through like a sledgehammer on a church bell: I'm not in pain. She is. In that moment, he realized that he'd been thinking about his own problems so intently that he hadn't even given consideration to why Ed was clutching to his robes and sobbing.

"I won't," he heard himself say, closing his arms around her.

He didn't feel the smug satisfaction he always anticipated at the thought of holding her in his arms; he didn't feel any warm, bubbly sensation that people called 'love'; he didn't feel anything at all, except a cold loneliness that he realized was Eddora's.

"I won't," he repeated, working to keep his voice steady. "I won't leave you, Ed." His eyes went to Luseik's back, and he remembered what the man had said. There were things about Eddora he couldn't understand, would never understand. "Venez is here too," he said. "We're here, and we're not going anywhere without you."

As they left the graveyard, Luseik smiled to himself.

"Perhaps there's hope for that man yet," he said under his breath. Keskes chuckled; Satiyen snorted. "The next Cloister is Macalania. I suppose I shouldn't hold my breath."

"We've a ways to go," Keskes agreed. "And the..."

"I know," Luseik said before Keskes could finish. "I'd like to cross the Moonflow as quickly as we can, but we don't need to hurry. As long as we don't dally, I won't complain. I'm not that fragile, Keskes."

Keskes smiled, but it was a brief and forced smile.

Satiyen kept his silence.

 

[Griselda Banks]

((@_@ Just read the last like five pages or so of the Hearrtes roleplay. I'm kind of glad I'm not in that thing anymore; I would have no idea what to do anymore ._. Splinter is much tamer.

Also, something in this post made me think of Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Ever read that?))

Eddora knew she was making a scene, but she just didn't care anymore. The pain was like iron bands tightening viciously around her chest, and she had to hold onto something or she was sure she would be consumed by it. So she clung desperately to Aer.

At first, it was like clinging to a wooden post. It kept her in place, but the pain remained. Then his arms closed around her, and she could feel his chest vibrating as he said soothingly, "I won't...I won't...I won't leave you, Ed." She felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Venez, who had been standing awkwardly off to the side, feeling as though she was intruding on something personal, drew closer when Aer mentioned her name, and put a comforting hand on Ed's shoulder.

Slowly, Ed's sobs subsided, and she drew deep breaths to calm herself again. She could smell Aer's hair, and the scent was unexpectedly comforting. But the unfortunate thing about crying is that eventually you have to stop. Ed didn't know how she would face her guardians now that she had exposed such a pitiful side of herself. But she couldn't just stand there in Aer's embrace forever (though the idea seemed oddly appealing for one mad instant), so finally she pulled away from him and turned away to dry her eyes on the white sleeve of her robes. Her eyes felt hot and itchy, and she was sniffing as if she had a bad head cold.

"I need sake," she said thickly, heading back towards the trail and keeping her eyes on the ground. Her shoulders slumped wearily; she looked like a much-diminished version of her usual self.  

[Ikken Isshu]

((I think everyone would be completely lost if Bard hadn't based all of that nonsense on a short story I originally wrote. Luckily his explanation put me in mind of writing the original, so it wasn't too hard for me to just adapt it all to Hearrtes in my mind. But damn, I would hate to be Silent... Or, God forbid, Sphinx. Sometimes I wonder if Sphinx even understands the original concept of Hearrtes, let alone all this updated nonsense... Gah, I want to post Cals next post, but it hasn't been long enough yet. The temptation is just too great. xd

Never read Notes, but it sounds familiar. I shall go and look it up now.))

When Ed finally stepped away from him, Aer had the odd sensation that some necessary part of his body had been painlessly removed. He shook his head, though, and at Ed's mention of sake, he smiled. He had a hunch that laughing would be his death sentence, so he wisely kept his silence as he followed her. For some reason, he couldn't quite make himself meet Venez' eyes, though he wasn't studying the dirt like Ed was doing.

"I think we all could use a drink," he finally agreed, "and I've got money to burn."

~

"Rogan!" Jalisat called when he saw the little figures, in their unmistakable robes, walking along the path. "Rogan, they're going into the village!" He ran over to the door and banged on it a few times with his fists. "Are we going to go see if they need a ride? Rogan, wake up already!"

Then something made him stop. He ran back to the railing and stared off into the distance at the three, wondering what was so odd - and then it struck him. There were only three.

"Where's Calaman?" he wondered aloud.

 

[Griselda Banks]

((Well, I can tell you this about Notes: It's AWESOME. If you like stories that are more about emotions and thoughts than actual actions, that is. Dostoyevsky isn't afraid to write out all the ugly things in our hearts we usually try to cover up.))

Venez looked uncomfortable, both because of the emotional tension still hanging in the air, and the mention of alcohol.

Eddora led the way back to the path winding through the village, and moved mechanically to the tavern she had never entered before. As a child, she had always wondered what the men did there when the windows were lit up and rowdy songs echoed down the street, but her mother had always forbade her from so much as looking through the door. She remembered her first taste of liquor, how it had buzzed around her head and made her forget, for the first time, all the grief that weighed her heart down. She remembered guzzling down glass after glass after glass, just to prove to the brawny men that a little slip of a summoner could hold her liquor just as well as they.

She was in that position again - heading to the tavern to drown her sorrows. Pushing open the door, Ed glanced around the unfamiliar tavern and saw that it was mostly empty, since most of the men were already out on the docks. There were a few older men by the window, sipping their drinks and smoking pipes.

Ed headed over to the bar, and suddenly she realized that the bartender looked familiar. Loa, her neighbor back when she had still lived here. Loa's eyebrows rose with surprise to see her, and he set aside the rag he was wiping the bar with. "If it isn't little Dora!" he said in amazement. "I heard you've become a summoner since we-"

"Sake." Ed felt sick to hear his cheerful voice.

"Sake?" A slow smile lifted Loa's mouth. "I never thought I'd live to see the day little Dora Khaul would come to me for a drink! Fact is, I'd almost feel like it was-"

"Sake!" Ed said more sharply. She could feel the sorrow welling up inside her again, and her tears were too close behind her. They might rise up at any minute.

Loa scratched his head. "And isn't drinking discouraged for a summo-"

Ed slammed her hand down on the bar. "Just give me the damn sake, Loa!"

The tavern fell silent. The smile slipped off Loa's face, and he reached for a bottle of sake. "All right," he said quietly. "Just tryin' to make some small talk."

Ed snatched the bottle out of his hands before he could give her a glass and tipped it into her mouth.

"Hey, watch now!" Loa cried. "That's potent stuff, Dora! You'll want to watch how-"

Ed lowered the bottle long enough to wipe her mouth and snarl, "I'll drink as much as I please, you backwards village idiot." Then she turned her back on him and emptied the bottle in several long gulps. The alcohol had already started to take effect on her; she could feel her head floating up off her shoulders. She set the bottle back down onto the bar; it cracked when she thumped it down. "C'mon, Aer," she mumbled, walking to the door that seemed to sway from side to side. "Le'ss get out of here." She bounced off the doorframe and out into the street.

~

The snores from Rogan's cabin had faded away some time ago; either he had fallen into a deeper sleep, or he was lying awake. After Jalisat had been calling for some time, the door swung open and Rogan groaned, "All right, all right, I'm up!" With a huge yawn, he strode over to the side of the ship to see for himself.

"So they are. Oh yeah...and that Calaman kid isn't with them. Wonder where he could be...." Rubbing his eyes and yawning again, Rogan seemed to make a valiant effort to wake himself up. "Okay, kid, okay. Let's go up there and see what the deal is."  

[Ikken Isshu]

((I just discovered the Era musical project, and downloaded the entire thing on the same evening. It's awesome... most of it is a kind of pseudo-Latin-but-not-really Gregorian-style chant, backed by groovy/trancy beats and a bit of a strings orchestra. Very nice background music for writing and reading RP posts. I was listening to a song called 'Sombre Day' while reading your last post, and it gave me chills. xd ))

Aer stared after Ed for a second, then gave the bartender an apologetic look, dropped a small fortune in gil on the bartop, and followed her out. He was wondering whether to regret suggesting that they all head to the bar.

"Hey! Hey, Lady Ed!" came a familiar, young voice from the direction of the quay. Aer looked to see the Kilikan boy, Jalisat, running in their direction, Rogan some distance behind. He couldn't help but smile at Jalisat's unorthodox combination of religious respect ("Lady") with the friendly nickname ("Ed"). As Jalisat reached them and skidded to a halt, not even breathing hard, the boy's first question was, "Are you going on now?" followed immediately by, "Will you need another boat ride?" and then, "Where's Calaman?" and finally, ignoring Aer's warning gestures from behind Ed's back, "Wow, Lady Ed, you look angry... Did something happen?"