Fable - Ask With Eyes Unclouded

[Josai]

In the Autumn Season

It had been three suns and two moons since the end of the Broofest. Astenvale proper still buzzed with those still stuck in town after all the festivities. Revelers, still hoping to enjoy what the distant retreat from more complicated places had to offer.

Trouble for some. What distance and the call of a far away home could inspire. Peace for others. And something betwixt the two for most.

Josai's stride was even, her gaze held high as she walked through the proud stonework buildings of the townsquare and her spear knocked against the brick laden roads. The old infrastructure was drained and well kept, in no small part to the efforts of sworn and squires tasked with such assignments, as well as those locals they offered their teachings to.

"Its odd," she said to her quest's counterpart. "Two duskers, assigned to the task of investigating such a delicate matter," She frowned beneath the shade of her wide brimmed hat, small and without knowing, but it soon turned to a half smile. "Spose that means they could only trust it to us," specialists in magic, and perception. A star seer, and a mind delver. Two knights of Dusk, who swam through the currents of the Loch.

And it was they who were on the hunt for something even rarer than their own gifts. A member of the Trinemorro. A peoples thought lost to time. With their three eyes, it was said they could scry through the depths of the Loch with but a blink, their kin so in tune with the flows of the timeless depths, and all the secrets kept hidden behind realities reflection, that many sought them out. For council, for aid, for the power thought to be hidden in their flesh and blood.

Josai would not speak of them aloud. Not in the open air, with so many about. Eyes and ears hungry for bits of information. Most without malice, simply by nature. But even traces and hints from the periphery could be extracted from them, should the right mind find its way in. She stopped in front of an inn, one of but three in town.

"The Red Rabbit," Josai said looking up at the sign, and she nod, certain then. "This is where they said he was staying," she looked over to Seluria. "I can do the talking, as I've met the man," she smirked, and shook her head at the memory of the wild mess that was the stage on the night of the festival proper. "He seemed an amicable enough sort," She walked toward the innkeep, and asked for the man.

"Grayson?" the burly, broad chested Hinlon asked. "Eh, let me check, there, Syr Josai, just a minute now," he sounded as he opened his guest book, and thumbed through the pages as his off hand raised a pair of tiny brass-rimmed spectacles to his broad nose, his large flat fingers made the instruments look all the smaller. "Grayson, Grayson, Gray....son," he sounded.

Josai smiled nervously, her spear still in hand, and she looked about the room. Maybe they'd get lucky?

---

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

The pale seer's robes fluttered about her gently as she moved in step with her partner for this quest. A tall Silverwood staff with five smooth river stones dangling from a rope attached to its top swung idly against her shoulder, looped over her back for the time being.

Her head had been turning gently as if to take in the sights, idly listening to Josai's comment on the oddity of the choice. But, just as her sister in arms did, so did she also smile when it was suggested the Masters and Captains could only trust the task to them. "Perhaps it is because it is so delicate that they do not wish to risk misplaced passion from one of the Dawn. Just as in some rare cases, the Dawn are more in their element than the Dusk." she replied softly. But, just as the mind delver did not speak of the Trinemorro, neither did Seluria. For all her air of grace and calm, even now there was an alertness to her that bespoke of a wariness of trouble soon to come.

As they came to a stop along the cobbled roads, the Star Seer looked up and gazed upon the vibrant red hues of the letters etched into the sign that hung over the steps leading into a humble but well kept building. A slight nod cast Josai's way, as well as an amused tug at the lips. "Amicable is one of many words that could be used to describe him, yes." she intoned, her melodic voice almost teasing as she trailed her partner like a second shadow into the inn.

Once inside and out of the sun, Seluria stepped aside while Josai conferred with the innkeeper. Much like her fellow Loch mage, the Seer gazed about the space presented to them- the reflections of the room seeming to flicker and move ever so slightly over the surface of the gem seated within her mask.

Josai Roland Grayson

 

[Roland Grayson]

Since the end of the greatest festival in the world, Roland was having a bit of bad luck. No one needed hired help. All the crops had been harvested. All the animals moved to winter pastures or slaughtered and smoked. No demand for lumber as no one in their right mind would build over the cold months. Not even any mines or taverns or shops in need of a extra arms.

With those knights running around it was obvious why no work for a sellsword or guard existed.

So that had just left Roland with nothing better to do than sit around and contemplate where to trundle on off to next. An act that had to wait as Princess, and him too truthfully, needed a bit of a break from the road by staying in one place for a bit.

==============================

Josai and Seluria received some bad news from Hinlon. No one by the name Grayson was staying at the Red Rabbit. No one going by the name Roland was either. Well no one except that half-crazed drunk Rolly who claimed to be a knight for some king named Marther and gone on a journey to some dark tower. Everyone knew he was full of it, but man was local so everyone knew his true sad story.

==============================

The bad luck continued. Sitting in the back room, Roland was listening to the only job available. He didn't want to take it. Was less a job and more a thug trying to hire a hitman. Roland wasn't clean. He had killed people before, but that was different. That was serving as a guard and soldier during a skirmish or war. His job was less about murder and more about protecting those times. But this time? No. He might not be clean, but he wasn't interested in becoming dirty.

Sooner or later the dirt became your end.

As the knight stood up with cat still in his arms being petted, he said, "Thank you for your time gentlemen, but I decline. Find an assassin if you want someone dead."

Frowns greeted his word. One of the men spit his direction as another named him a coward.

Roland was a bit irked by that. He smirked at them as he made sure he didn't have a chair to tangle his feet. "Or instead why don't you just grow a pair of balls and do it yourself? Sure collectively there is enough of a man between you to grow a single, tiny pair."

They were up, drawing weapons, and trying to get around the table with feet getting stuck in chair legs as soon as the words were said. Roland already had backed himself out of the door and into the main room. Princess was set over onto a table and he moved in the opposite direction of it. One arm held off to the side as the other came to rest on his dagger's hilt.

That smirk had taken on a shit eating quality about it.

"See gentlemen! I knew you could do it! A tiny pair for you all to share right there!"

The smirking man already had a plan. Just needed to thin them out and deal with the group of ten one or two at a time. By the gods he hoped he was sober and them not enough to let him pull it off.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Josai]

A commotion came from the backroom. Folk with panic in their eyes hurried away and a man emerged from the mouth of the hidden dining room.

"Oh, sweet misery, what is goin on now," Hinlon cursed, and grabbed up a club he kept hidden under the table of inn keeper's desk. "Oy! No muckin about! This here is a respectable establishment!" Hinlon hollered out as he worked his sizable mass out from behind the way, and moved toward the ruckus. "Mindri, you sod, I told you if you and your boys start up any," when the back room came into view he saw the gang of ruffians with their weapons drawn out. "Are you lot mad?"

"Shut up old man!" one young punk, still just sprouting his chin hairs shout out, jabbing a finger out at the old man. "This bastard called us yellow bellied!"

"Made fun of our nuts, he did!"

Hinlon smacked the palm of his hand to his face and shook his head in dismay. "Well, fuck me, and you are going to stab 'im over that?"

One of the young men, with his dagger drawn, growled, and shook his weapon with pathetic menace. "Hinlon, this ain't got nothin to do with you, mate, so just... just bugger off!"

A steady knock... knock... knock, came off the wooden floor and sounded through the air. Steady and strong. Closer with each knocking. The faint chime of a silver bell was there between each beat, and a trace of glass fainter still, with the hollow rattle of a hanging bone.

Syr Josai appeared behind Hinlon, her spear tall and straight and her hazel gaze seemed to shine blue and white and winters grey. The silver bell, upon its blue string, tied to the cedar shaft, seemed to dance upon currents that swirled around, and Josai's robes rippled and flared with them too as the air in the room grew colder.

"Mindri Mortimer Maldonis! Do not think for a moment that you will be allowed to spill blood in this place without grave repercussion," she said in a voice that seemed to echo like so many waves lapping unto the shore of their minds.

"Syr Josai, I... it's just,"

"I do not carry this spear for jaunty show... Mindri," the winged spear gleamed with a blue light that did ripple green and black as it danced along its stout and pointed head. The silver bell still danced, while the black sphere of obsidian, and the bone charm seemed to lift, gently below the silver bell's orbit. "Leave in peace, or suffer what comes next,"

She hoped, the young man would choose reason. He was a local son of Astenvale, and it was news to Josai that he had taken up to... such dull and ugly business.

Seluria Estel'Narqua Roland Grayson

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

"I don't think we will need to spill blood here today." the Seer's voice came from behind her, an amused lilt to it as the ghostly figure of Seluria glided in their direction. Whereas Syr Josai's spear beat against the floor like a heartbeat to draw them in, the pale Seer's staff remained held above it, the five smooth white riverstones dangling in a chain down from its end shimmering gently with a white light. Silent and, compared to the Loch mage beside her, a good degree less conspicuous and vibrant in color, much like the Stars.

And yet the faint curl of her lips at the corners warned of something else; something almost along the lines of what her companion spoke of.

"I think the men in here have had a little too much to drink...perhaps cleansing them should clear their heads for a bit more civil conversation. Don't you think so, Syr Josai?" she spoke lowly, and clearly- her head turned to face toward Mindri as if looking him in the eye.

Roland Grayson | Josai

 

[Roland Grayson]

The lot was pretty drunk indeed. Good news for Roland, but perhaps also bad news for him too. Drunks tended to not make good decisions and be less inclined to avoid pain. Seen a few people still end up with a knife in their gut even after stabbing first just cause their victim was too drunk to care.

But a trio of voices brought about some hope. The sellsword might have some help and they sounded sober. Drunks didn't respond well to the innkeeper, but the feminine sights did put a pause in their steps. Not out of being charmed so much as frozen in fear. A scary thought that fear was the emotion they felt with how attractive these women were....

Wait a moment.... Was that the judge and speaker for the drinking festival?

Roland smirked Josai's way as he looked at her. A wink was met with a fist into the side of his face as the leader of the gaggle of drunks charged on ahead without the hesitation his younger and less experienced juniors held.

The not-a-knight stumbled back a step into one of the tables from the sucker punch then threw his own back at the man with his free hand. His fist broke the man's nose (not the first time he had such an injury based on his looks) and got a half angry, half aroused yell in response.

Roland blinked as he positioned himself into a more open spot, but found himself being tackled into a different table. His breath leaving his lungs as pain surged from the impact twice. Once from the initial hit and once after the table's legs gave way and broke under the weight of the two heavy men.

The drunken lot watched dumbfounded for a moment as their boss became a human boar. One of them finally moved though and in an act of both pure genius and even purer idiocy pinned Princess to the table she was on. She yowled and struggled under his grip forcing him to use both hands to keep her down. A second snapped out of their trance and moved over with his dagger drawn.

"We'll kill it! I swear on my mom we will!" The dagger wielding young man yelled at everyone and no one.

Roland scowled as he held up his arms to block the bashing blows being thrown at his head. The boar on top of him not even attempting to pull out a dagger as he clearly wanted to make the kill with his bare hands. Roland just needed any kind of opening and he would pull a dagger on the brute (his own or the other man's). A vow to gut the two who had stopped wishing to live wordlessly passing his lips.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Josai]

"Oy, settle down you lot, settle-" Hinlon tried to warn as the young men grew more and more agitated.

A swing of the fist and a crack against bone

They chose violence. Why did they always choose violence?

Like an attacking swarm of hornets, the rabble broke into action. More than a couple of them focusing their efforts on the errant participant of the brew-fest, while a couple of others rushed Hinlon and the pair of Duskers who held the mouth of their escape.

Hinlon scowled, and swung his club at one boy, cracking him over the shoulder hard enough to knock him off balance, and with a meaty club of a fist he decked him in the gut to double him over.

Josai huffed, her magicks still swirling cold in the air of the room. With a kick of her foot the butt end of her spear shaft flew up in a wide art, the magical focus that was her weapon, hissed and ice crackled along the floor in a sheet before her, like a carpet of hoarfrost. One boy had his foot frozen to the ground, the other tripped over himself and fell to the ground.

"Mindri!" Josai shout at the young man who had his foot frozen to the ground. His eyes went wide, and she jabbed him hard in the sternum with the blunt end of her weapon. The boy got the wind knocked out of him. "I told you, you would suffer what came next!"

"Syr Josai, I'm, Im," he choked for breath, and gripped with magicked cold and blunt pain from the blow. She walloped him on the back and he fell to the ground.


"We'll kill it! I swear on my mom we will!" some hairbrained idiot called out.

Josai's eyes snapped to the men who held the precious cat hostage. But Josai was a knight trained. Her eyes already lit with magick in a room swirling with the willed forces of loch she had called when she first warned them.

I will handle the one with the knife. Her voice whispered in Seluria's mind.

With spear in hand, and eyes aglow, Josai let out a long breath. "Calm," she said coolly. "No need to be so rash, no blood has been spilt yet," she went on.

"Put... put the spear down, witch!" the frightened boy shouted.

"As you wish," she replied, and let the spear down. and closed her loch blue eyes As it struck the ground, a pulse of magick rippled out. Josai its epicenter. Her mind dove into the Loch, while her body remained standing in the waking world.

Seluria Estel'Narqua Roland Grayson

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Hm. That was one of the more troubling developments she had hoped they wouldn't pick. This was going to get messy. Eyes narrowing faintly behind the mask and gem that covered the upper half of her face, Seluria watched as Josai's image reflected back at her in many different ways, blinking once as her words echoed in her mind.

I'll deal with the melee in the corner then.

Curling her fingers about one of the riverstones on her staff, Seluria gently pulled it free of the rope threaded through it; each knot only barely large enough to hold a given stone in place excepting a firm tug. Kneeling, she let it roll with a smooth motion, and returned to standing again. With all of the chaos going on- it seemed a rather innocuous thing comparably.

And yet, as it slowly meandered its way under the stomping boots of the various men and past broken chairlegs and under the tables, it seemed... too accurate. Too unerring- its subtle white glow only flickering once as it passed through a shadow.

A second pebble was gently tugged free in the same instant that the first tapped against Roland's hip. And just as the largest man threw back his weight for a particularly heavy punch, Roland felt a sudden dizzying sensation as if the floor had been yanked out from under him. Falling, falling-

And then his senses righted themselves without the expected impact, his back cushioned against the floor again as if he had never left it.

But now, the view was different. Instead a woman dressed in ivory and silver robes stood just a couple feet in front of him, looking into the room whose doorway was now to his left, her lips formed into a thin line in focus.

A deafening crash resounded as the boar fell onto the remains of the table; varied and sundry curses soon to follow.

Roland Grayson | Josai

 

[Roland Grayson]

Blow after blow after blow. All Roland could do was take the hits as he protected his head from the boar of a man on top of him. The table was proving to be the least comfortable of beds for this too intimate of violence. A fact that he wished was entirely metaphorical, but sadly was far too literal. The man on top of him was getting some kind of sick arousal from all of this and becoming worse at hiding it with each strike.

More words were exchanged that he couldn't make out as his focus was required elsewhere. The younger men were getting riled up even more and the situation was spiraling due to the drunken logic dominating their collective mind. Roland doubted you could get a whole mind out of all of them though. All he knew was he needed to do something soon and get to Princess.

The blows directed at his head had gone from tight and precise to more open and wild. That twisted pleasure overriding logical sense. It was the opening he needed. After a punch and as the next was being readied, he made his move. A quick, precise jab up into the boar's broken nose. A howl of pleasure and pain followed. His assailant was stunned for the moment.

Perfect. Now Roland just needed to grab a dagger and g-

Dizziness overcame him. Things got strange. Had he taken a blow to the head after all? Seemed like it.

.... Where was he?

Roland wasn't sure what had happened or was going on anymore. After the dizziness he found himself looking not as an ugly bastard of a man but at a silver and ivory robed beauty. Well he assumed they were a beauty with a robe like that not that he actually could see them.

Looks like someone had intervened. He attempted to get himself back up onto his feet as he said, "My thanks."

His arms were numb. No doubt they had already swollen and would be blacker than the void by morning. Need to get a salve or balm to reduce the swelling or they would be rather useless for awhile. For now though he somehow managed to get back to his feet rather clumsily. His face also with a rather large red mark that had swollen up as well.

His gaze went about the place trying to adjust to his new situation. As he did he asked in a far too casual way for the deadly edge his words possessed, "Where are those two who asked to be gutted? Shameful of me if I let them live too long after they begged to be killed."

His eyes showed he wasn't joking.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Josai]

Within the ebb and flow of the loch, time moved close to stand still. what was a breath in the world of the waking mind, was near a minute beneath the black mirror surface of the mind space.

She could see them all within a domain. Glowing phantoms of blue and white and red and yellow. Their tempers oft colored the ephemeral traces they left in the shared psyche of the world, wisps of their flesh that burned like fire and steam rising from the base of their mirrored bodies below.

For in the loch, all the world within the space governed by the diver's sight, was reflected beneath them. Like a sphere bisected cross its horizontal plane. The waking world below, and the dark midnight of the subconscious above.

Josai in the Loch, drift forward through the waters of the mind, with but a gentle dash, her etherial figure, a pale and silvery blue phantasm of herself, encroached toward her foes like a billowing mist. She stopped beside the slow, near stopped, moving ghost of the knife wielder who accosted the darling cat. Her feet come down against the black water surface of the loch with a gentle ripple that pulsed out from her base. A silver line of sanity's silk traced back to where her body still bent low, letting spear down against the floor.

She bent forward, and whispered into the man's ear. Something secret. Something that had the man's yellow traced ghost twitch and twist and fall to its knees clutching its skull as they screamed. A silver traced rat, popped out of the yellow ghosts ear. Skittered around his body as he thrashed and rolled on the ground. More rats followed out of his phantasmal ear canal in a swarm that consumed the dream bandit, and Josai drift back to her physical form with a gliding back step.

Rats devoured the yellow ghost in the Loch, and swarmed toward the other man who held the poor cat down.

In the waking world, but a moment had passed. Seluria had swapped Roland, The big man had crashed against the table, and the man with the knife's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he dropped the knife as if it were made of fire. He fell to the ground in culvusions, as the other man who held prncess broke into a panicked scream, bolting for the exit.

Josai opened here ice blue eyes, and stared at those brigands who remained, her spear again in her hand, her breath, an exhelation of winter's frosty mist that did cloud about her purpled lips.

Who dares. Her frigid stare said to those who remained.

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Rage. Pain. Fear. Vengeance. The veritable stench of such vile emotions filled the air and was thick enough to cut with a blade. And all in such a normally quiet area...Seluria's mouth thinned into a tight line as she stared down Roland for a moment.

These were locals, too, if she had to guess. What in the Stars could have pushed this group to such violence? The air was volatile and crackled with all the wrong energy, and she wished she had realized it sooner.

A scream rang in her ears as Josai's magic went to work, and Seluria sidestepped neatly as the source of such noise fled past her, spotting the cat now free from his grip. Her head turned slightly to Roland again and she nodded inside the room. "I would suggest you retrieve your companion first, good sir." she reminded him, hoping perhaps that might distract him from following suit on his own murderous rage.

That done, Seluria stepped inside the room, pausing as the reflections of the rats in the loch passed over the surface of the gem in her mask. Her head tilted slightly to one side and then turned to look to Josai. She had noticed too then, no doubt. Or would in a moment.

Her gaze then travelled to the others in the room. Eyes narrowing faintly behind her mask, Seluria raised her staff, the pale glow emanating from the three stones still tied to it increasing in its intensity.

"Aed'Purifui!" the single word rings out sharp and clear as a bell- and in an instant there is a silent flash that blinds the eyes for but a moment. Like stepping into a newly lit room out of a dark one, the men that yet remained present in the room would find themselves cleansed of the effects of the alcohol that so emboldened them and numbed them to pain.

Likewise, it would leave them with a pointed hangover.

"Now..." she slowly lowers her staff, folding both hands around it and letting its base rest against the floor. "...what is the meaning of this?" her words lacking in their typical flowing calm, and instead carrying an almost predatory weight to them as she watched the two men in the corner in particular, wondering if they would still continue to fight, or if they would finally come to their senses.

Josai | Roland Grayson

 

[Roland Grayson]

Things were chaos. Drunken young men spurred on by a depraved leader quick to violence all looking to avoid the consequences of their foolish actions. Consequences that were already in motion as the pair of knights moved to reclaim the peace.

Princess found herself freed because of their swift actions. Her first instinct was to find her human. Who was clearly at this one spot the whole time then suddenly was gone. Her hope and calm vanishing with him. So her next action was to hide in her home. Her true home. She darted around the floor for a while dodging she didn't even know who but rather more of everything till she saw the stairs. She rushed up them to head back to the room they had been staying in. If she could just get in then she could hide in Roland's pack that served as her always available home.

Roland saw his love dart up the stairs. A sigh of relief escaped him. His gaze ignoring Seluria as he found the pair that wished for death. One was crumbled to the floor a true mess of a man. Sad yet deserving. He could be addressed whenever. The current problem was that the other one was bolting for the door and likely to escape if no one stopped him.

His arms would be worthless later, but he could still feel that fire in his veins. They could still be used for now. So as soon as Josai began to stare down and dare those gathered to continue and Seluria had finished asking what the purpose of all this was, a mug went soaring through the air. Ale spinning out in all directions coating all those around its path in the brew. The man at the door took it full on to the back of his head. His face slammed into the wall. The second nose of the day broke. He flew back and slammed into a chair.

Cries of agony left him. Pain allowed to be fully displayed now that sobriety had been cursed upon the room. Those not in agony had dropped to their knees and began to beg. Excuses of all kinds began to fly from lips.

The mean man said we had no balls. Didn't do anything! Was them with the cat! Boss would beat us if we didn't do something!

And on and on they went till a loud voice boomed. "Don't say a word or I'll gut ya!"

The boar had spoken. Shaky as he stood up onto his feet. Eyes fires directed towards the knights and the man who had broken his nose.

Roland just ignored it all. The satisfaction of pegging the runner with the mug enough to damped his ire. He was on his way to make sure Princess was okay. He knew where she had headed to find comfort. He also knew the door was locked. She was going to be a mess and take some time to calm down.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Josai]

The faces around the two Sworn Sisters were tight. Twisted with the want to be stay quiet. Josai's blue gaze burned star bright, and she stared down each young face that remained in turn, ending on the big one who was so brazenly piggish.

"Silence will not save you, oaf," she spat.

"What?!" the big man spat back. His frame finding some of its natural strength again.

Frost's touch was still on Josai's lips. Her breath tight, her grip upon her weapon supple, yet strong, her whole body poised with the fluid strength of a beast, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"I said," she said firmly. "That your tight lipped foolishness, will not save you," she did not know this man. The others, young sons and daughters of the farmers and traders that made this place their home. One or two vagabonds, sure, but many were good and kindly youths she had known for years.

To think they would be swept up in such utter foolishness. It filled her with an icy fury that swirled around her, the silver bell upon her spear shaft chiming and ringing harshly.

The boar man said nothing else.

It was short time before the constable arrived, and took the boarish man away, along with a few of the runts who'd stuck around, stink eyeing the knights who had thwarted their drunken bullying.

"Well'p," constable Rickard, round cheeked, kind eyed, and mustachioed, sounded as his deputy shoved the last of the miscreants out the inn. "Thank ya both fer handlin' that business," he wore a wide brimmed hat, though he held it over his chest, as was proper. "Not sure what in the hell these lot were thinkin, what with the monastery being so near by but, lucky they didn't cause too much trouble," he gave the two knights a wink and a bow, rose up and fixed his hat upon his head. "We are in yer debt, m'Syrs," he nod his head and walked away.

Josai sighed and shook her head, dismayed. It was as if the whole world was going mad.

But suppose in times as trying as these, every bit of madness felt all the more twisted. All the more deeply rooted in the heart and flesh. "Well," Syr Josai said, and smiled softly to her Sworn Sister. "Suppose we best get on with our actual reason for being here," she took in another deep breath, let it out, and let her spear rest against her shoulder as she made up the way she had seen the battered cat owner hurry off to.

She hoped both he and his furry Princess were ok.

Seluria Estel'Narqua Roland Grayson

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Seluria shook her head to herself gently, concern written in the thin line of her mouth. Josai did not need to share a mind-link with her for the two to be on the same page about the madness as of late. It was deeply concerning indeed- and it made their quest all the more important to find answers to.

But, just as her Sworn Sister said so, they did need to have a third party to assist. And that would be the rowdy Roland it seemed. The poor man had shown first hand how much of a beating he could take, and Seluria internally noted that next time she should definetly use a different spell. Teleporting him out of trouble might have worked in this instance, but doubling his effectiveness would work better in others.

He'd likely need some treatment for those bruises later as well.

"Indeed, Syr Josai. And we may also have to add another reason to be in the area; it may be prudent to get some herbs, unless you happen to have some packed that I do not." she commented gently, moving to follow her companion.

 

[Josai]

Josai's frown deepened some as they made their way through the inn, her spear's end knocked against the floor with each step, as the silver bell rang, the obsidian orb thunked, and the bone charm rattled. She had not brought her apothecary's field pack.

"A sage plan," she said at the foot of the stairs, then sighed and shook her head dismayed by herself. "Excuse the poor pun," she smiled weakly toward the seer. "But I was not expecting such, well, such violence so early in our quest," so near to home, no less. She made her way up the stairs, and rapped a knuckle against the door number Hinlon had given them.

She cleared her throat after a stream of steady knocks. "Master Roland," she called through the wood. "It is Syrs Josai and Selluria, of Anathaeum, we have need to speak to you, and, we can offer our service as healers to tend to your hurts," her brow knit, and her lips came to a flat line.

Being personable on a stage or behind a bar was one thing. This sort of thing though, well, it always made her a bit nervous.

 

[Roland Grayson]

Princess was beyond scared. She was horrified. Terrified. All the ified. A ball of fluffed up fur desperate to get to her safe place. Clawing. Crying. Doing everything she could to the door to get it to open up for her.

Thud. Thud. Thud....

The booming came from the steps. Something was coming up the stairs. Something was coming for her.

She clawed harder. Meowed, cried, louder.

"Stop whining Princess. You're safe now."

A soothing, affectionate tone from her human.

Roland smiled to the ball of fluff that rushed to him. No matter how useless his arms were becoming nothing was stopping him from picking her up and holding her close to his chest. Purring began instantly. Nuzzling following close behind. Coos and pets to calm her down.

Key barely made it out of pocket and into the hole. Struggle to turn. Soft click of the unlocking. Turn of knob and pushed open with booted foot. Pushing back closed the same way.

The pair found their way to the bed and flopped down. Princess demanded all of Roland's attention. All of it was freely given. This was how they stayed for what felt like a mere moment before a knock on the door sent the cat diving into her true home: his pack. She hid away as his eyes glared at the door.

Words echoed through the wood. His own echoed back, "Not locked. Enter."

The women would find the man laying on his back across the bed the wrong way. He lay across the width rather than the length. His feet planted on the floor. His head hanging off the side. Eyes were locked to the ceiling.

What could they want? Hopefully not a good time unless they were okay with being on top.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Seluria entered slowly after Josai, her gaze moving between the scared feline and her caretaker. Watching the various facial expressions displayed in the many facets of her gem, she picked up on a general sense of exhaustion and irritation. Expected, given what he had been through. But they needed his help.

"Thank you, for not doing what you had desired to back there." Humming gently, the Seer decided to make things a little easier. Both of them needed to be in a better mood for any bargaining. And so, she moved to gently pluck a third white stone from the cord tied to her staff. It flickered with a gentle white pulse, and Roland would suddenly feel his aches and pains fade. Kneeling slowly, the woman rolled the glowing stone over the floor, aiming to draw the cat out of her hiding place to potentially chase a new toy around.

However, the spell did not come without a cost. While Roland's bruises faded somewhat, she gained her own in turn beneath the silken robes she wore- hidden from prying eyes. Slowly rising to her feet again, Seluria gently tucked her hands in either sleeve, her staff tucked between her arm and chest as she nodded to Josai to speak. "My apologies that we intrude, but we were looking for you earlier, and it is of a matter of importance."

 

[Josai]

While she could not discern outright what he was thinking, least, not without greater application of her magick, she had a woman's intuition. And there was something, odd about the way he laid about. Almost expectant. But, witch that she was, it would not be the first, nor last time she had to navigate such waters.

Seluria lead the conversation, even showed their good will and intent by taking in the man's hurts.

The Spear Witch could feel the warmth of pain transfer, from one vessel to the other, across the cool waters of the Loch, the flame of Life's hurts did sail. She did not need to see to know what had transpired. Josai took in deep, cool breath, tinged with the sweat and bit with blood that welled around cuts and busted lip.

She could not take the hurts of others unto herself, as her sworn sister had, but she could guide the waters of the mind. With a quick exhalation, Josai's magick rode those same currents set to stir by Seluria's. For what was the will of water, but to flow?

Her Sister Knight would feel the Spear Witch's own magicks flow through her. Catalyzing the natural healing of her body. Pulse, by steady pulse. The two would be a tandem circuit, the burden of their spell craft halved by the techniques of field magick so instilled in them by their Pursuits.

After a brief moment of concentration, Josai would open her eyes, washed in blue light of Loch, and look to the swollen and bruised mercenary. He would like feel the effects of Seluria's magick strengthened, now that the two healers worked in unison.

"Master Roland," She said with calm and cool voice. "Do you recall laying eyes upon a three eyed being, during the Broofest?"

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Roland Grayson]

His display of vulnerability and being unable to properly lay upon the bed thankfully had been taken as him being casual and playful. Both of those were far from how he currently felt as his arms had reached that point of going numb as well as stopped listening to his commands to move. So perfect time for a pair of lovely guests to visit him.

Roland smiled after the mention of not gutting those worthless scumbags earlier like they had so loudly requested of him to. "I may be a rogue, but I am no brute. Be unsightly of me to gut a pair of pigs in front of such pleasant company."

Also no actual harm came to Princess so it would be a bit of an over reaction to kill them for spooking her. Doubtful she would be out around strangers for some time, especially without him present and in his arms the entire time. Some time on the road away from others should calm her nerves and ease her back into being social again.

The numbness had faded and pain was returning to his arms a moment after his response. But it was not the level of pain it had been before nor was the swelling. He looked to his arms and moved them around a bit settling on folding them together on his stomach to keep up an appearance of being casual. Then he glanced to the two women. Something was taking place going off their odd body language. Perhaps it was related to his arms feeling better?

Before any inquiry into it could be made, Roland found himself the one being questioned. This important matter had something to do with a three eyed being during the Broofest. Three eyed? A memory quickly played then dissolved back into the depth of his mind.

"I do." Roland got himself sat up onto the edge of his bed. "Why does my encounter with a pretty and unique woman during a festival interest you, my lovelies?"

Something was taking place. Something not involved with his arms feeling a bit better.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Josai]

Josai smiled at the man's confession.

"It interest our Order, Master Roland, not us as individuals," Josai let him know. She took in a deep breath, and let out long cool exhalation, her eyes turned to the door, she took a moment to move and seal it shut. Her hand took from a hidden pocket in her flowing blue robes a piece of charcoal, she scribed a series of runes along its wooden frame, symbols of loch and wyld. Symbols of protection, of repulsion, sound and sight.

There would be no visible or audible difference once the sigils were set. Nor when they were circled, and outlined in proper geometry. When each node was connected, however, the black line of the charcoal turned blue and white and pulsed green before it turned back to the black trace of carbon.

A ward of sealing. No hand could open the door, and no ear could pierce its barrier. Only those gifted with magick, and capable of spell breaking would be able to enter, or hear inside now. And both Josai and Selluria would feel their tampering ripple across the web of magick Josai had just woven. In theory, at least.

With another cool breath, Josai nod, and removed her proud hat. Let her spear rest against the walls.

"What I tell you now, Master Roland, is done so in good faith," she met the man's eyes, her own traced with Loch's blue light, her fingers twist and struck and gave shape to seals and sigils that seamed to flash in those pools of water that were her gaze. Feint. Her mind reached out to his, a cool feeling that might feel like mist come kiss him across the forehead. "And is not to be shared with others," she closed her eyes, and bowed her head to him. The feeling of the cool mist deepened. If Roland allowed, the mist would come to feel like a flow. Some felt water. Others music. Others still something only they could describe. "I offer you entry into the Loch, where I can more readily show you why this encounter is of such importance,"

In tune with the flows of the inner sea, Selluria could easily add her own mind to the tether, as Josai's consciousness began to slowly dip down into the black mirror of the Loch.

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Seluria watched Josai place the seals over the door, and, taking the hint, glided across the room to do the same with the windowsill, sealing it likewise against intrusion in much the same fashion as her companion, before pocketing the charcoal.

It was a delicate matter. One that toed the line of myth and reality. Even for them.

Turning to face the pair, Seluria's gaze followed the flow of magic from Josai to Roland, and back again, spreading from the two like ripples over a still pond. And in a moment, she too dipped her feet into it, and began to wade through its flows.

"I'll be sure to catch you should you fall, Master Roland. Though...I recommend you try sitting up." She comments, smiling a bit as the gem in her mask began to glow and shimmer with magick. "It can be a bit disorienting at first."

And then she too was in the Loch- her vision flickering between the two realms, and then stabilizing in one that perhaps felt even more familliar to her than the waking world at times...

 

[Roland Grayson]

As things progressed towards answers, Roland had to raise a brow. Secrecy and sorcery. How he hated that pairing. Nothing good was ever involved when they were together. Just what kind of trouble had he stumbled his way into? Or more precise, had Princess gotten him into.

The man sat up with much effort. His arms were feeling better but it didn't change the fact he was on the downward portion following a heavy beating. That surge of energy from the fight was spent and with it came the fatigue and the pain. But he managed just in time to feel that odd sensation upon his head before everything just... changed....

Roland felt as if he had been dropped from a platform into water. All sense of direction lost. No sense other than touch seeming to work. Which way should he swim to find his breath? Sailors and swimmers knew how to find their way back up in the dark. He didn't. Whatever it was they had done might as well have been done to an infant. No, he was even worse off than that. At least a new born held some primal instinct to guide them to basic survival. He held none. A rock would have an easier time getting itself back up than him.

So the knight struggled as best he could. He was no mage. Not a single drop of magic existed within him. A bastard born lacking in this as he was in legitimacy back home in Vinvale. Was he going to become one with the endless gray around him now as his fellow Graysons' did before him back home?

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Well... that's interesting. I was expecting the Naga...

It came first as a glimpse of light- a few specks. Mere pinpricks in the endless gray around him. And then a sudden sense of motion as his flailing about came within proximity to something behind him. A moment later- contact. Stability and overstimulation both. Not the hard impact of ground but a mildly softer one against what first seemed to be fur, flesh, and bone. A horse?

A cool hand gently ensures he stays in the same seated position he was before. A soft voice echoing in his head. "Right now, focus on what you can feel, and the rest will come to make sense of itself in its own way for you. The Loch can be a bit different for each person that views it."

No... not a hand. If he looked over, he would see the claws of a bird. Feel the long mane of something in his hands. But instead of a horse, what he looked down to see was a lion. Or... at least, what only vaguely passed as one. Blurred and distorted slightly, the pinpricks of light inside them- constellations, flared brighter as the images slowly stabilized. It was a beast with three tails and long fangs that peeked past its upper lip as it turned its head back to glance at him with eyes filled with starlight.

"You have the Dove and the Lion watching over you it seems. A rather fitting pair." Seluria had walked over as if on air now, a smile tugging at her lips, her eyes hidden behind the mask, which now shone as if a star itself, her robes shimmering as if ephemeral liquid.

The dove, perched on his shoulder, blinked its four eyes and ruffled its six wings, settling into a calm pseudo-nap. Seluria nodded, and looked toward where another light emanated now and began to fully materialize for him. "I think he is ready now, sister Josai."

Josai Roland Grayson

 

[Josai]

Like ripples across the calm surface of a lake, their forms bent and blurred as their minds came to focus within the Loch. The Sea of Dreams. Kingdom of Mud.

Selluria comforted the struggling Roland, assured him that spirits had come to his aid, she declared him ready. Josai stepped forth from the point of light, and murk billowed and swirled about her robes as she set foot upon the black mirror that was the floor beneath her feet.

"Thank you, sister, you have tethered him well," Josai wore a pleased smile. She had worked with the Seer before. On quests that saw them amidst the blight, had them dive into the minds of mad men to try and find leads to stay ahead of the threats that surrounded their order. Grim work. Hard work. But Estel'Narqua handled herself with her peculiar grace. The same grace she mustered now.

Beneath them, the waking world was reflected under foot. A pool of loch light, matched to each of their auras. Here, each Knight, and the mercenary, appeared like shades and specters, the warped and blend with each moment that passed.

"Time moves differently here, Master Roland," she announced. Stepped forward, with her tall spear rest upon her shoulder. "Within the realm of the sleeping mind, we call, the Loch," she smiled. "Have you found your feet?" she asked as she looked to the dove and the lion both, who flickered and shimmered with the cloudy light of those things that hid beneath the shadows of stars, and bellow the surface of deep waters. "You might feel the compulsion to breath," she said with a titter. "Only a habit of the waking mind," she assured. And stepped away into the black pitch.

A feint trace of light, thin as spider's silk, flowed behind her. Sanity's silk, as the knight's had come to think of it. A tether, to help their diving consciousness find their way back to their mortal coils, waiting for them, still as statues within the room, where all still followed the laws of the waking world.

---

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Roland Grayson]

Eternal nothing. Endless spiraling. Roland was lost within that void they had drawn him into. No senses to guide him. No knowledge nor skill to grant him aid. It was terrifying. A horror beyond nightmare. Would it follow him back in his dreams after he escaped? If he escaped....

But then things began to solidify and slow. Forms took shape. Direction. Sensation ever so slowly creeping back into his existence. Words he could not comprehend drifting about. Their emotions and intent the only thing he could make out. Some form of aid was being given to him. A piece of driftwood to keep him afloat within those inky waves.

Focus. Awareness. They returned to him eventually. Before him was the pair of women from his room.... At least he believed them to be.... His mind needed to adjust still from the chaos. All he could picture was the faceless depths of the gray where all Vinvale bastards were said to return upon their death. Born of the gray, march on bastard sons and daughters. Labor, toil, and break yourself for the privilege of your birth. From what you were born shall be your return. Faceless. Nameless. Oh Graysons of Vinvale.....

Roland had spaced out. This place bothered him. A growing realization the longer he was here trying to regain himself. Magic was uncomfortable and unpredictable....

With a smile the man looked to the two. "I'm here. Fully here.... What was it you needed from me?"

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua