Completed Old Dreams and the Sea

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

Elinyra gave him an understanding smile as he spoke so passionately of his art. She had to admit that his youthful enthusiasm was infectious, and perhaps his expertise in a realm of magic that she had so scorned might not be so sinister.

She moved around the table to better study the miniature plant. She reached her good hand out towards it, gently running a finger along the rune-carved stem as it tried vainly to digest her hand with its ineffectual acids. Not hungry, not even wanting, just reaching blindly for whatever nearby source of food it might find. Simple in its creation.

"Druids are..." she thought about how to word her explanation diplomatically as she removed her finger from the mindless plant's grasp. "...typically not very interested in necromancy. We accept death as a part of life, but we believe that once life has ended, it passes on into the Great Cycle of death and rebirth. To dabble with energy that has passed on is... well, it is difficult to wrap my mind around." Taboo, really, but she understood that non-druids, particularly the other races, had a very different perspective of the world than she did. But Perhaps her attempt at an explanation would settle the tension she felt whenever he broached the subject. Or when she thought about that vine that was somehow living in her hand.

"Isn't this dangerous for you?" she asked. It was difficult to imagine William wrangling a man-eating plant.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

The researcher watched eagerly, and happily as he watched her explore his little creation. Well, more a modification really. He could never take credit for such a thing. How gentle she was with it. He smiled, then laughed, emberassed when the flower glommed onto her. He cleared his throat, moved to help her, but her voice cut his action short, and he sat back, listened.

He as intent as he listened. Deeply respectful for what she shared with him. He wasn't exposed to such perspectives back in his days at the university. Not because it was not a field of study offered, but, well, his interestes had taken him down a different path.

Or at least, he thought they had.

He smiled, bittersweet. She had not dismissed him outright, just, made things more plain for him to see. "Thank you, I... I will think on this wisdom, as I continue my work and, well..." no, there was nothing else to say. He bowed his head to her in gratitude. "Thank you, you've given me a gift," druidic knowledge. Perspective. Such were the powers of conversation.

"Dangerous?" he was surpised by the question. "Hmm, I mean, yes, but, well, you learn to walk amongst the danger, truly," he said with a nod. "Respect it," he added. "And, life is full of dangers as it is," he smiled, with more fondness this time as he looked to her. "But I am sure you are well aware of that, Lady Elinyra, please, forgive my prattling's," he cleared his throat, and nod again.

"In fact, I find other mortals more dangerous than the wilds," he laughed. "Sure, a ganto-leach may have put me out of commission for a week, but that was because I hadn't done proper research, hadn't consulted the locals before heading out into the mire. I didn't make that mistake again," he pulled up a sleeve, and showed off a round scar, lined with a many little dots where countless little teeth had punched there way in. "Can't tell you how many times some strong arm has accosted me for my findings though," he said sadly. "Here, Elbion, wherever desperation finds us, and misfortune follows," he still smiled, though it had none of the prior sweetness.

He shook his head. "Forgive me, its just well," he looked to her eyes again, and his expression brightened. "It has just been so long since I've had such lovely company," another laugh, warmer now. "Circumstances being what they were, I suppose Alliria finds my suffering quite amusing, though, I feel in some small measure, she dropped a token for me, this time around," his face warmed, and he did not look away from her. ​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

"I would hardly call that 'prattling'," she replied, glancing up from the plant that had caught her attention to see him looking at her. "Wise is the hunter who learns to see through the eyes of his prey. That is what my mentor once told me. Advice that has probably saved me a few times over."

She sighed and let her hand rest on the table out of the plant's reach, listening to William tell of his troubles. Too common a tale, she thought, that of the self-proclaimed strong harming those they saw as weak because they couldn't see how it damaged the whole. It seemed to be a downfall of the human race, just as hubris was often the downfall of her own.

William's scars went deeper than what showed on his arm, she realized. A spiritual wounding, as the elder druids might have called it. Slow to heal on its own and impossible when the outside world offered nothing but thorns.

"If you ever tire of your research here, perhaps you could take up druidry. There are several human circles on the outskirts of the Falwood, and more beyond I am sure."

She met his lingering gaze, trying to find a response to the unexpected compliment. It was not something she could have ever expected in this inimical swamp town, and she found herself caught off-guard. Especially when she was still trying to absorb all that had transpired in the lighthouse. In the back of her mind, she still denied what the demon had told her. It couldn't be that. It couldn't be.

"Lovely?" she asked at length, bringing her scarred hand up from her lap. Her gaze wandered over to the remains of Viktor, floating and staring awkwardly at the two of them. "This is anything but, as you can tell by the state of your lighthouse. What it did to Viktor, it -" she didn't want to finish the statement, so she just let her arm drop with a long exhale.

Garrod Arlette

 

[William Dreixmond]

"That," he struggled to find the right words. He had never been so good with them. "Forgive me if I am being too forward, Lady Elinyra, but, that is but a part of you, not... not the whole of you," His gaze had not faltered. He cleared his throat, and then did close his eyes as he sat back. "That lighthouse needed to be replaced anyway," he almost laughed. Remembering all the things he had hidden in the cellar. "It was a miracle the machinework hadn't fallen apart with me under it months ago! It's not as if the town put in for my requests for needed maintenance," he grumbled. "Why..." his bright blue eyes came open. "Its almost as if our encounter has set me free from that dreaded lighthouse,"

The thought of joining a druidic circle made him laugh some. He knew well enough not to call it ridiculous, outright, but well, the thought of him out and about with druids, barefoot in beneath the two moons, or hopped up on mushrooms well. Maybe it wasn't so bad.

"As to your comment of the circles, as much as I love the wilderness, I must confess, my constitution has never been quite so hardy as to rough it for too long," he cast his eyes down at the little plant. "And I, well, I do believe in what I am doing, even if it may not make the most sense yet," his smile remained. "But, maybe... if not just to learn from a different perspective," he looked to her again. "Stranger things have happened,"

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She smiled, glad for the comment. He was right. Whatever it was, it wasn't her. Just as that lighthouse wasn't him. She grinned at him and let go of her melancholy, if for only a moment. At least some good came out of it.

"I understand. If this is important to you, and it stands to help... you should pursue it. Who knows, someday maybe your plants will change the world for the better." She reached up again towards the plant, feeling the weird petals that adhered to her hand.

"Not going back to lighthouse duty then?"

William Dreixmond

 

[William Dreixmond]

At the smile she gave, and the words she shared, William turned red as a beat. His eyes averted as she put her hand to the flower. "Yes, I," he cleared his throat, tittered a laugh. "My, I never would have thought so highly of, well, what I am doing but," he smiled, warm across his cheeks that tingled with the strain of muscles so used to being firm. Glad for the new stretch. He let his hand down. Composed himself, for one must always be composed when saying something they meant. "Thank you for saying so, Lady Elinyra, it means the world to me," he gave the druid a graceful bow, that started at his hips.

From his bow, he heard her ask, and straightened up quick, cheeks red again. "Oh! Well," he looked around. The hut, his books, Viktor, his hand went to the clasp that had been at his neck. Gone now. His family crest. "I..." he took a moment to remember himself. "I think I might, seek other ventures," he said earnestly. He smiled with an easy fondness. "It has been some time since I have seen my family, and last they heard of me," he chuckled, a sound full of nerves. "Well, I was not so well," he shook his head. Took another breath. "Maybe I should take some time, for myself, before all that," he thought aloud, looked to Viktor, who just smiled back.

'Seeeeeelf' the weird eyeball creature gurgled.

William nodded with conviction. Looked to Elinyra again. "What of you, Lady Elinyra? What comes after the Deamon is repaired?" he asked easily.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She was almost certain she caught him blushing as they faced each other, but thought it best not to mention anything about it. She wasn't sure what she could have said to begin with. She could only nod and smile as he considered what future he wanted to forge for himself.

The smile faltered at his question. She looked away, at the grain of the wood on the table, and drew her hands back into her lap after wiping off what she could of the plant's harmless ichor.

"I will continue my journey until I've found an answer - a cure for my condition," she replied after an uncertain pause, her eyes narrowed in outward determination, though inside she felt an ache for home and trepidation for whatever long road awaited. "Where that answer is, I don't know, but I will keep searching until I have it."

She grew quiet, but gave William what smile she could manage. She would not burden him further with her troubles.

William Dreixmond

 

[William Dreixmond]

Her condition. "I, well, I wish you luck, Lady Elinyra," he assured. His mind thinking on the sample he had tried to collect. How it had changed Viktor. He blinked twice, head cocked back with sudden remembrance. "I almost forgot," he said as he stood up, and rushed to the stack of books he had been curating earlier. He had laid them down, absently, upon one of the countertops before he had begun preparing their meal.

"I pulled these from my collection," he grabbed them up, and walked over to her side. Held them in his arms for just a moment longer, and handed them to her. "Copies of my personal research," he smiled, hesitant to let them go. "Of course, I still have the original drafts," he nodded. "These should be easy enough to read and maintain, even tucked away in a pack,"

Upon the fine leather cover of the tied together bindings of the heavy volumes, was stamped: On the Practical Applications of the Necrotic Energies: A treatises on Death Magic.

"While, well, I have not but an educated guess, based on what we witnessed that night, but... I think the section titled, On the Apllication of Death-," he caught himself. Cleared his throat, opened the tomb to the appropriate page with some flips of the pages. "Here," he said and pointed to the title of the section. "I realized a little too late, that perhaps, the book could have been more clearly organized," he laughed, coughed and cleared his throat, then gently present to page to her again. "But this section," On the Application of Death to Inhibit Growth. "Maybe It will prove useful to your," he searched for the words. "Quest," he offered it to her.

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

"Thank you," she replied, gingerly taking the offered tome. "That is very generous of you. I will make good use of it. And thank you again for preparing us lunch." She placed the tome in her pack before cleaning both her plate and Garrod's partially-finished one from the table. She didn't figure he was going to return for his cold meal.

"I should probably go find Garrod before he disappears again," she thought aloud as she packed up her gear, reluctant to leave this cozy cottage with its collection of esoteric books, weird plants and an apothecary who was full of surprises.

Lingering in the doorway for a few moments longer, she smiled and bid William goodbye, promising to come back for a final farewell before her ship departed.

Then back out into the swamp, fetid and gloomy in the deepening evening shadows, with barely a single path to follow that didn't squelch underfoot.

"Now where have you gone to, hunter?" Elinyra asked under her breath.

William Dreixmond Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod had found himself a fishing rod by the side of the cabin, and wasn't far at all. A bit of digging in the mud saw some worms pulled out for bait. Put them against the hook, and cast the line.

From there, it was just a matter of waiting.

Rod in hand as he listened to the songs of the bayou. Insect wings, frog croak, fish splash, and night birds. The moon played pretty against the water, and the rushes did stir. Lap after gentle lap.

The hunter breathed in deep. The gauntlet laid beside him, removed from his pale fleshed and scarred arm. Its jewel gleamed like a cats eye. Patient as it watched. Fingers spread like spider's legs, rested in the soft dirt.

Only a matter of time until you wear me again, Oh Bearer Mine.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

As evening turned hurriedly into night, Elinyra spotted Garrod fishing not far from the cabin. Coming around the small pond, she wondered at how easily she'd lost track of the afternoon; not that there was much to do but wait at this point.

She paused beside a mangrove tree to observe the hunter. He looked far more relaxed than when he'd left earlier - just sitting and enjoying the call of the frogs and the silver moon's reflection on gentle ripples over still water. She didn't notice the gauntlet lying on the bank beside him, but the sense of calm around him made her dare to hope that the demon's presence was far away.

"May I join you?" she asked in a low voice as she came up beside him, trying not to scare away whatever he was fishing for.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Something nibbled on his hook. He could feel it, through the fibers of the rob. A bump. A tag. Not a whole bite just yet.

A rustle, soft and barely there. His eye went wide and turned to see her, head snapping to his shoulder.

A splash across the water, a pull on the line, and an odd little bloop as the bobber plunked down under the water.

"'Course," he said, looked back to see the bobber pop back up. He huffed a laugh. Grabbed the line and twined it end over end around his fingers. The line rippled a shimmering bow in its wake as it cut closer to them.

Fat redworms wriggled in a lump of mud beside him.

"Mind the bait," he said with a smirk.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

She was almost taken aback by his laughter. She wasn't sure she'd heard him truly laugh up until now. It gave her a smile as she gently set aside the pile of worms and sat down beside him opposite the gruesome gauntlet. Now she noticed his hands, bare as they worked the fishing pole and line with the unfettered glee of a boy at his favorite fishing spot.

She considered asking him about his lack of demonic armor, but decided it was for the best to let it go. Just as he had in this moment of simply living. Instead she quietly watched the battle unfold between fisher and fish, predator and prey; the fish flopping, leaping and diving in the water as it struggled to free itself from the hook while he fought to pull it to the shore.

Something stirred in Elinyra's mind as her gaze shifted out across the moonlit pond and its shadowed corona of reeds. For just a moment, she thought she caught something standing between the moss-covered mangroves; a flicker of movement in the shadows that proved to be nothing when she looked up. A bird or a deer, probably.

Subconsciously she pulled her arms around herself and looked back to see who would be victorious in the ongoing struggle between fish and man.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

The line went taught, pulled hard against bone and skin, made his fingers feel as if they might pop. But he eased, and pulled,and twined as he worked the fish closer and closer to shore.

It thrashed, and splashed, and sprayed water as it leapt out. Wasn't so big as to trouble him none. But even a little fish could put up a fight.

Something popped. The tension on the line sagged. He smiled wide and toothy, and huffed. "Scrappy little guy," he looked over to Elinyra, saw her wrapped in on herself. His hands kept working the empty line back to shore.

"You alright there?" he asked, set his eye out across the water. "Look like you've seen a ghost," his eye flit to his gauntlet, rested against the silty soil of the bank. "'Spose a demon would do though," shame hid soft in his tone.

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

Elinyra forced herself to relax again when he noticed her abrupt tension. Casting her gaze out into the silent trees, she shook her head like someone waking from a bad dream. "No it's... it's nothing."

She turned to look at him. Too see him for him, not the thing that had used him like a puppet. A monster hunter, a mercenary, and currently just a man enjoying a small calm pool in a swamp. Elinyra considered if she should really speak her mind, or just leave him in peace. She finally realized that her silence would gnaw at him more than her words could.

"Honestly, I hope that nothing like what happened at the lighthouse ever happens again. To either of us." She glanced at her wrapped hand, as if trying to find her own conviction. "But despite the bad, there has also been good to come of it."

She paused and looked back at up him, grinning despite the ugly purple bruise on one side of her face. "We are alive, and we are better for what we've been through. The lighthouse will be rebuilt, and William has already decided that this gives him the opportunity to move on with his life. The ship will be repaired within a week, and then we can too. Older and wiser, as they say.

"Though, perhaps it would be better to keep out of the good captain's way until then," she added with a sheepish expression, realizing that she hadn't had the chance to warn Garrod of the rampaging drunk dwarf. Who was probably staying a night in the iron-bar inn. She chuckled at the thought despite herself.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod watched as she spoke, quiet, till the cork bobber plunked against his finger. He set the rod easy against his shoulder, and pulled in the weight and the hook.

He nod. "Aye, that there has," he said, smile soft across his lips. But, she went on, and he listened as worry after worry seemed to be expelled from her. Exorcised. Life still theirs, the lighthouse, its keeper, and the ship. "Older and wiser," he agreed.

He took another worm from the pile of mud, and hooked it onto the end of the rod. Cast the thing out with an easy flick that used both hands.

"Oh?" he grinned at the last bit. "Yeah, 'spose that makes sense," he said with a huff. "Poor man," he shook his head some. "Never looks good for business when one of your hired hands goes and... well... burns down much of anything really, let alone a light house,"

He turned his green eye onto her. "You fish much, Elinyra?" he asked, held the rod easy in his hands. "Great way to just, ease the mind some, focus on something simple, when everything gets..." he laughed, wistful. "All crazy like, you know?" he smirked. "Can give it a try if you'd like," he offered her the rod. "Help take your mind off of, well, all the crazy we just went through,"

She seemed worried. As if there were more she was afraid to let him see. But he knew that feeling well too. She had seen what he carried. What he actually carried. And she chose to come find him. "That soup you made really helped by the way," he said softly.

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

"Only bow fishing, which doesn't work so well in dark ponds at night," she replied with a nod to her backpack, with her bow sitting beside it. "Can't say I've tried catching any with a pole and a string. Sure, show me."

She took the rod from him, feeling its weight and balance in her hands as the cork bobbed and made silver ripples in the water.

"I'm glad the soup helped! I didn't honestly trust the... cook much, but there wasn't much selection down at the local tavern," she mused, thinking back to the hairy chef whose race was beyond all classification.

The night went on noisily around them, with all sorts of cricketsong and frogs croaking and mysterious things splashing in the distance. Yet it was a calming sort of noise, the sort of noise that soothed all of the day's worries and trials into velvety repose - so much that Elinyra had to stifle a yawn.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

"Ah, a sharpshooter," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Maybe you can show me how, next time?" he smiled soft as he handed over the rod.

"Nothing to it really, till something hits," he nodded toward the bobbing bit of cork that float atop the pond water. Rings of hypnotic gold and silver from moon and starlight pulsed out gentle from each of its little dips and springs. "Just a matter of waiting then," he said easy. "Feeling," he bobbed the rod with tap from his fingers. "For the nibbles" he hooked the line that ran lazy beneath the pole with a crooked finger, gave it a pull that bent the rod down to the water. "and the bites,"

His finger came free of the line, and he sat back and smoothed back his scruffy hair from his eye.

They sat in a bubble of silence. A pocket of calm. A little sound escaped her. "See, it's workin already," he smirked, his eye on the water. A little more quiet.

The dragonflies hummed by. The night birds sang. He breathed in the earthy scent, the sweet decay of places like this. "So," he started. Again. "What's really eatin at ya?"

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

"I'd love to! It takes some practice, and the right fishing spot, but it's a rather fun way to get a meal. Maybe we can try it tomorrow."

She grinned wider at the impromptu lesson. It reminded her of the one who'd taught her how to use a bow for hunting and fishing. Except that he would have somehow made it more of a challenge and then teased her relentlessly until she conquered it.

"Erm..." she stammered a moment, casting aside the memory and the soft blush that had come to her cheeks to give thought to Garrod's question. To focus on his curious green eye for a moment before her gaze fell to the comfort of earth and water.

"Your... the demon... said something to me. Called me something. I hoped it was a lie, but I can't help but wonder. It seemed to know about me. Not just what I've told you, just... as if it knew me. I have to wonder how much it knew about this thing in my hand. Or about the creature that..."

She trailed off, imagining that the last of the thought, and that night a decade ago, might sink quietly into the dark mud at the bottom of the pond.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

"Sounds like a date then," he smirked. "Not much of a shot though, so, bare with me," he added.

'Your... the demon...'

What little joy sparked from the thought of bow fishing turned cool. Wistful. Yeah, she was not wrong about that, he supposed. Belephus. The demon. He wasn't quite sure where the thing began, and he ended.

Oh Bearer Mine, the voice hissed, feint in his mind, but he paid it no attention. Kept his eye on the water. On the thin trace of line that sagged toward the water like spider's silk in the moons' light.

"I wouldn't pay it no mind," Garrod said, simple as that, his lips down turned as he kept his eye on the dark water the pond. "It's... well, as far as I can tell, it enjoys twisting things around it. No real way to tell if what it says is fact or fiction," he looked down at the gauntlet, and the way its fingers were arranged made it look like it bore a grin. He huffed, and turned it over.

Your eye is my eye, Oh Bearer Mine. It whispered. Your flesh, my flesh.

"But... it sounded like it knew about, your hand?" he asked. Forgetting about his own woe, his eye looked to her again. "And, a creature?" had that been what cursed her? Some sort of monster.

Not so kind as I. Belephus laughed.

The cork at the surface of the pond bobbed and dipped.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

And, a creature?

The piece of cork was pulled below the waterline before Elinyra had the chance to respond, drawing her attention fully back into the present. Not knowing entirely what to do, she yanked back on the rod and felt it catch on something at the end of the line. Whatever she'd caught, it must have been as surprised as she was. It yanked the line this way and that trying to somehow dislodge the hook.

She sprang to her feet, trying to get control of the fishing line with one hand as she battled the slick pond beast that breached the water with a splash and the flick of a fish tail.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod's eye went wide at the sound of the splash, his head snapped to look at the pond. Only caught the things tail. "Woah," he said, excitement there in his voice.

Elinyra was already up, her hand trying to grab up the line. Garrod laughed. "There ya go!" he said and sprang up to his feet, palm and fingers splayed into the soft wet earth of the shore.

The thing at the end of the line breached the water with a defiant thrash. Garrod's eye went wide. It was massive.

"Brace yourself, it'll pull you over!" he said elated. He would help. If she asked. Till then, he was but an eager spectator. "You gotta try and bring it to shore!" he near laughed, his eye shot back to the rippling surface of the pond. All the reeds and lilies and scum set to motion by the battle.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

It was sorely trying to pull her into the pond. Elinyra grabbed onto the line and pulled it, though she nearly lost her grip on the pole in the process. She was sure she was going to wear out before this fish, or else it was going to get away.

"An arrow would have been quicker!" she commented through clenched teeth as she pulled the jumping fish to shore, kneeling down to grab it while she kept the line taut in the other.

"Do you have a rock handy? Or should I just let this one get away...?" she questioned Garrod as she tried rather unsuccessfully to pin the slippery, thrashing fish against the shore mud. It was a large catfish of some sort - edible, but probably not very tasty. She wondered briefly how hungry her companion was, especially considering how much of his lunch he'd left behind hours before.

Finally, she managed to brace the squirming thing on the shore, its fate to be determined by the hunter's hunger.

Garrod Arlette

 

[Garrod Arlette]

Garrod's hand instinctively went for the knife at his belt, pulled it free of its sheath and bent down beside Elinyra. Shoulder to shoulder, his left hand pressed down hard on the catfish's head as the creature went on. Thrashed and squirmed. Garrod grabbed it by the jaw. Its bit maw, with its hard plate like teeth seemed to gasp. Mud and muck swirled about it.

"Always feel bad about takin down the ones as big as this," he said with a smirk. "They've gone on and lived so long already," the creature's jaw's snapped shut. Caught his fingers in a crush. He winced, but went on grinning. Forced its jaw open with a firm pull. his eye saw the hook. He slipped the knife's blade in, and worked it under the hook as the fish thrashed. Stilled his work, then gave the flat blade a twist that saw the hook popped out. "Sides," he said as he looked up at her, not but the wriggly fish between them after he sheathed his knife once more. "I don't feel much too hungry for cat fish," he grinned.

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

Satisfied, she released the fish and watched it dart back into the scummy depths before looking back at him.

"You've made one fish wiser. Maybe it will remember your mercy. More likely it will remember the hook," she commented with a sly smile as she washed her hands in the water. She remained kneeling for a few moments more, letting the moment of peace hang in the scant distance between them; a fond memory worth holding onto in whatever dark days lay ahead.

Sides, he said as he looked up at her, not but the wriggly fish between them after he sheathed his knife once more. I dont feel much too hungry for cat fish,

His statement reminded her that it was getting well past supper time, and she still had to find her way back to camp across the dark and unfamiliar landscape. She figured neither of them intended on being more of a burden on William by staying in his tiny cottage if they didn't have to.

"What are you hungry for, then?"

Garrod Arlette