"Indeed" Saliara replied. "But if I was in this with the Pures, do you think I would carry this?"

Saliara knew it was a huge chance to be showing something so important to someone she didn't know. The woman could simply be lying and ready to turn her in at any moment.

But she had to gain members to complete this journey with her. She couldn't do it alone. Even her pride realized that.

Saliara dug out a small pendent. It had a very simple design. A star on a yellow rock. It was the symbol for change in Mostaki. Even before the Pures came into existence. Most families owned one, but if you wanted change you would carry yours around with you. No spy for the Pures would dare to carry one for fear of being accused of something they didn't believe in.

"What do you say now?"

OOC: Yup. . But Samantha has different looks and a different personality from Jord.

The previous post: Showing something to a blind person. So, will that work?
It's interesting enough for two posts more of the both of you.

It was a bother. Her parents didn't take her seriously, the man was certain she'd be his and all he had to do was manipulate her into agreeing with it, the day of the marriage was drawing closer every day, and she didn't have anyone who understood.
Except... Xis, of course.
She softly bit her forefinger, like she always did when troubled.
Her mother called her.
'Leo, your fiancé is here, sweety. I'll send him up!'

Fury drove him on.
The wench! How dare she to abandon him! She was bound to him! By law and word and honour! How dare she! No woman turned him down! Ever!
The fire, the rage that burned in Leo scared his men.
Why would anyone go trough all the trouble for one woman?
It wasn't as if the young master actually cared about women, right? And it was not as if they were married.
Some of the smarter ones had figured that it was the young masters pride what kept them going, and that it was going to be a tough bone to chew either way.

Dark deeds, unfit deeds, deeds of violence, deeds of force.
It was lucky, Samantha pondered afterwards, that she could do magic, that she could make the other one believe that he had succeeded, while he, in fact, had not.
But maybe next time she wouldn't be so lucky.
She had to do something.
She had to make herself more experienced at that area.
And it was not as if she didn't want to.
It was just, she had always thought it would be improper.
But apparently, proper and improper were something of the past.
This was war.
The future was uncertain.
And the only thing she could do was make some nice memories with the person she did like as a man.
At least in that area she could decide who it was going to be.
Romantic love was for the naive.
Romantic love was artificial.
But sincere love was within her reach.

quote IceWolfklaske

By the way, Ishilar, where does that "I find you moderately attractive, and have grown to tolerate your presence. Become legally bonded to me." thing come from?
Whatever it is, tell me, I'm going to love it.

Going from inn to inn, or farmhouse to farmhouse, doing small jobs, doing chores, cooked and cleaned to pay for her stay and her food.
She could live like that for a while.
'I laugh too much.' Samantha thought.
Had she been laughing sincerely, brightly, she wouldn't have thought it.
But sometimes she was laughing bitterly.
She didn't like that much.
She let her fingers dance over the lower part of her belly.
It was flat, there was no sign.
But she hadn't been bleeding.
She knew it would be visible in a few months, and that, if Leo found out, he'd think it was his.
She laughed out loud, not entirely bitter, not entirely brightly.
The idiot!
Did he really think he had succeeded in forcefully taking her?
She herself had decided when she became a woman.
She just wished she had done some more research on the matter.
She liked the idea of being pregnant, but perhaps it wasn't convenient at the moment.
Oh, well. It was alive, and it was entirely her own child.
She smiled again.
She was human.
Leo was a human and a pure.
The child in her belly was half human and half dwarf.
Now, her magic.
She could do illusionary tricks well enough.
She by now could manage to make a fire and heal small wounds.
She could purify water to drink, she could cut things to pieces.
But it wasn't a real weapon yet.
She had to practice that for a bit.

OOC: Ok. I'll read that summary.

Name: Joseph Zianna Leito
Gender: Male
Birth: Commoner
Race: Elf/Human, no human traits.
Age: 164
Group: Pures, to suit his own agenda.
Class: Thief
Weapon: Two Katana-like swords, Leito and Zianna. Zianna came from his mother, Leito from his father.
Leito: A dark, evil sword that swings with more power than anyone could.
Zianna: An Elven sword that can move through solid objects without damaging them.
A self-crafted longbow.
Hometown: Arlen
Appearance: Standing at 6'2, he is tall, with dusty blonde hair and striking green eyes. He has well tanned skin, and all of the traits of an elf.
History: He grew up without parents, who were executed by the Pures when he was young for mating, as his mother had been Elven and his father human. He had been hidden, and learned from a young age to fend for himself. He pick pocketed for enough money to feed himself, and eventually moved into a high level crime ring. However, this wasn't for him, so he sold them out to the Pures, who didn't know of his birth, in exchange for a position of relative power. Now, he simply bides his time and waits, climbing the ranks to accomplish his plans... and ultimately take the world for himself.
Other: He has absolutely no sense of moral and would kill without mercy to accomplish his own ends.

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

Hi everybody!

OoC: I know, double post, but I don't want to do my first post in the same post as my sheet. (Yes, I was accepted.)

IC:

"Get your hands against the wall!" Joseph shouted. Three Hadef operatives leaned against the wall, one sobbing hysterically.

"Shut up!" He shouted, kicking the human woman mercilessly. "You scum," He growled, "Are all traitors. The price for betrayal is death. However, I'm feeling good today. I'm going to spare you." Joseph's fellow raiders looked at him quizzically.

"You simply must tell me what I want to know. You scum are harboring dangerous fugitives. We don't want to kill them, and if you give me their location we won't. Unfortunately, if you don't, we will likely come at a PISS poor time and have to fight. Then we'll kill them all. So, you willing to talk?"

"Never. We will never betray our brethren to you, Purist bastard." Piped a stocky Dwarven man. Joseph kicked him savagely.

"Fine." He pulled Leito and cut down the three Hadef.

"Sir, how will we explain this?" Came the low voice from one of his four fellows.

"A battle. They put up a hell of a fight. We had to kill them."

"But we don't have cuts or anything, we're not believable."

"Of course we are, I lost four men!" Joseph sprung upon them, slaughtering the four of them.

This message was edited by Joseph Leito on Feb 12 2008.

OoC : Did you just forget NorthernWolf on the first post, Kyinnla, or did she (or he?) quit?

-------------------------

“We need a bed. Quickly.” She spoke to Aranel, who she barely new, but the man quickly turned around and headed toward an inn that could be seen ahead on the main square. “Not there, I'll explain later. Take a left here.” Severein bungled in between them, on a plate of air strong enough to carry the elf. While it required some focus for Suuri to maintain her hold of the Craft, it barely cost her any physical effort, pushing the elf was merely laying her hand against the man's feet and moving. Aranel still led the way, moving quickly, shoving people out of the way where necessary, though apparently he did it gently, as no-one complained about it. Or perhaps that was because they were transporting an unconscious man as quickly as they could. She just hoped that no pure-supporters were watching her.

“Wait! It's here.” The inn stood on their left, a small semi-dilapidated building, its business was obviously terrible. But Suuri knew that the man was very reliable and trustworthy, and it wasn't his fault that the inn in the main square openly supported the pures. That scared a lot of people, and thus business was bad for Yömaja, keeper of the Golden Wings, as his inn was called, although the sign had been blown away a couple of years ago during a storm. Today the man would be content though, there was a lot of movement around the inn, but it was sure to attract the attention of the pures, and it would be trouble, it had happened before. Nevertheless, Yömaja Päällikkö, had always kept his inn alive, nomatter how small the group of his clients was.

Aranel pushed open the door, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Suuri doubted he would hesitate for even a moment to strike down anyone who got in his way, still his way was blocked by a tall human who towered above Suuri, and was about a hand taller than Aranel. She knew the human well, she had met him long ago, long for a human, and they had gotten along from the start, he especially liked her sense of humor, and her childlike happiness, and she returned the favor, his humor wasn't too shabby either, and he always played along with her if she was messing with someone, even if it was a customer. “I'm sorry to drop in like this, Yömaja, but my friend here is wounded, I urgently need to tend to him. Please give us a room. I'll explain later,” and with a quick look at Aranel, she added, “he's ok, too. It's just the situation that made him edgy.” I hope.

The innkeeper led them up the stairs and gave them the first room they came across, on the right side of the hallway. “It's my biggest room, I'll make sure you get another bed, since it only features two. It's window shows the yard and the alley behind the inn. It's not too high either.” The statement was said casually, but Suuri knew her friend would do everything in his power to give them their chance of escape, and the window was just a minor detail that would help. “Thank you.” Suuri said, entering the room, Aranel now behind her, she gently laid Severein down on the bed. “I'll go keep an eye out downstairs.” Aranel spoke, when the door was closed behind them. “You wouldn't blend in. And I need you here if we have to move. Don't worry, Yömaja will warn us in time.” Her voice was monotonous, perhaps even cold, as she put her attention to Severein and his wound.

Excluding his pants, most of Severein's clothes now lay across a chair in the far corner of the room, Aranel stood absolutely still next to the door, probably listening. Little noise came from the floor below, where the common room of the inn was situated, which was beneficial to Suuri's concentration. The wooden floor was polished, but a little rough, and was hurting the knees she was sitting on. A longer skirt would've easily prevented it, but she couldn't just change her clothes now, the elf depended on her. Severein's pale blonde hair lay spread out over his pillow and his eyes trembled in pain, which was visible even under their lids, but she couldn't stop that now, her mind went out to the wound.

Using what little water she had left in her bag, and the dirt on her feet and sandals, she created something that probably no-one had seen before, she didn't have a name for it herself. It couldn't exist on its own, magic was needed to sustain it, but once brought into contact, it would create a sort of seal that restricted the wound, and would attempt to remove it. She had hoped the elf's enhanced healing would help her, but she was starting to give up that hope. If only her great-grandmother were here now, she was the best healer Suuri had ever come across, and she would probably have seen something similar to this already. Suuri could only do her best, so she lay the seal in place. She was dead tired, but she couldn't rest yet. She got up. “I might need a look at your runes later, I might need some more knowledge to be able to heal this. But right now, I need some herbs to bolster his strength, as well as mine. I'll be back soon.” She looked at Aranel pensively, the man wouldn't let anyone in without having to tell him, a good thing of course. “I'll knock twice, wait a moment, and then knock again.” Aranel nodded in agreement at her sign.

She rushed down the stairs, half depending on her wings to carry her weight so she wouldn't fall down. She almost bumped into the innkeeper when she reached the bottom, and threw him an apoligizing smile, but didn't slow down for a second. Some people in the common room definitely stared at her when she rushed out the door. She didn't have time, and she would already have to slow down in the town itself, she couldn't afford to throw away time now. Only when she was outside, she realised that there were mostly non-fairies in the inn, but that actually made sense, those from other regions didn't know the situation with the inns in this town. And she noticed she had forgotten to put her sandals on as well, but she couldn't go back now, and it hadn't rained anyway, so the ground was dry enough to walk on.

She made her way through the city, outing a greeting here and there to people she knew, they had no idea what had happened yet, and she had no time to tell them now. In fact, when she thought about it, she didn't feel sad at all, only the feelings of urgency and need were there. She still failed to smile to anyone though, but Yömaja had been an exception of course, since that had been for a good reason, which made all the difference. She only drew attention from the people she knew. That was good, she supposed. It didn't take long to find the store she needed, she knew the town like the back of her hand. The store was quite far away from the inn, however, and that always made it take a while. The owner didn't want to bring too much attention to herself either, so one had to know where it was to find it. Pures didn't seem to like herbs either, Suuri had no idea why.

She entered the store, greeting the fairy behind the counter. “You look tired, dear,” came the reply. The woman behind the counter was old, very old, and only three and a half feet tall. She had the best merchandise in all of Kalan and its neighbouring regions, at least for those who knew what she sold. “It's a long story, Yrtti. You'll probably hear about it soon enough.” Suuri trusted Yrtti Talteen, the woman had known her since birth, and she had known the woman since she could walk and talk, but she still couldn't afford to babble, she had the elf to consider. “I'll need something that provides healing energy for a nasty Craft-based wound, please don't ask. And something that will help me using the Craft, if at all possible. I'm getting too tired to think.”

“You just need a good rest, child,” the old woman spoke, “and this should help your friend.” Yrtti handed over a small package, quite soft overall, but obviously filled with several kinds of herbs as it was hard here and there. “Boil it all in water, give the man all he can drink after it cools down. Give the rest about an hour later, or faster if you can.” Suuri nodded, and thanked her before she moved out again. Fatigue was thoroughly setting in now. The Craft was renowned for its lag, one would often only get tired a while after one had used it, which was occasionally useful, but she could very well miss it right now. And she had used the Craft very intensively, it would definitely still get worse. Even being tired, she kept up her pace, walking back to the inn as fast she could.

She knocked on the door twice, waited and knocked once more, then entered. Aranel sat on the second bed in the room, Severein was still out, sweating profusely, that was good. She threw Aranel the bag with herbs, “Boil all of it in water, give as much as he will drink when it cools down. The rest an hour later. I'm not going to be able to stand much longer, so please let me use that bed, master human. Yömaja will deliver the third shortly.” Before she had even finished speaking, Suuri began to undress, throwing her corset, skirt and underwear at the feet end of the bed she intended to use, fairies always had room left on their beds in an inn, since they were shorter than elves or men. As soon as Aranel had stood up to do as she said, she plunged down on the bed and fell asleep.

-----------

EDIT: Typos

This message was edited by Mole on Feb 13 2008.

Aranel did as instructed, barely noticing that Suuri had called him 'master human' rather than his name. He heard the fairy discarding her clothes on the floor as he left to fetch a pot to boil water in. He glanced at the elf in the other bed, "Don't die, burn you!" he muttered.

Severein floated in darkness. Breath came easily here. If only it weren't so dark and desolate...
"Where is this place?" the elf wondered, "What is this place, more importantly?"
"The void." The answer came from no where and everywhere all at once.
"The void? Sounds like a place out of a bad story. Okay. So I'm at the void, where ever it is, what is it?"
"The void." The answer came again.
"That's not funny," Severein retorted. A figure appeared in the void, whatever and where ever it was.
"The void is what you see. The void is darkness. The void is emptiness. The void is Death." The figure, it was a man by its voice, responded in the same voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
"Okay...am I dead?"
"No. The void is Death. You are within Death. You can touch Death. Like me."
"I don't want to touch Death or whatever!" Severein protested, "Nor do I want to die!"
"You aren't listening, Severein!" for that instant, the voice became angry and it came from only one direction, the man before it evened and came from everywhere once more, "Touching Death is not the same as dieing. Touching Death is touching power." The sound became concentrated and harsh on the word 'power'
"I've got all the power I want, thanks," Severein responded.
"Fool. You can never defeat the power the Pures have. Few can wield Death, but there are some. When you encounter them, you will die. Power. Take it."
"No!" Severein said, "I want nothing to do with your power!"
"Want it or not, it will come to you. Will it harness you or you it?" The man drew nearer. Severein tried to back away and found he could not. Black tendrils from the void began to creep up his legs.

"Severein!" Aranel leaped from the herbs he'd been boiling in the water as the elf fell out of bed, convulsing and writhing.

"The void will mark you, Severein. You cannot escape. It hunts you. It will consume you if you do not accept it. Consume and destroy you."
"I don't-" Severein stopped. The man had come near enough for Severein to see his face. And it couldn't be.
"DEATH, THE VOID, WILL CONSUME YOU! IF IT DOESN'T, I WILL!"
Two tendrils of the void hovered for a moment in front of the elf's eyes before they plunged into them.
Severein screamed...

...And awoke with a start. Aranel was eyeing him warily. He was on the floor.
"Water!" Severein gasped. Aranel reached for cup already filled with water. The elf wrenched it out of the runemaster's hand and gulped it down. He almost spat it back out again and would have had he not needed something, anything, to whet his throat.
"What's in that bloody stuff!?" he spluttered, "It's vile!"
"It's your medicine," Aranel replied, "Take it or I'll force it down you."
Severein glared at the second cup Aranel held before forcing the horrid liquid down.
"I was instructed to give you as much as you could take, then the rest in an hour," Aranel said as the elf took a third cup.
"Fine," the elf replied hoarsely.
"We need to get that taken care of," Aranel added, indicating the wound across Severein's stomach. It had broken open. "I'm not surprised it broke open with all the bloody thrashing you were doing. I'm surprised Suuri didn't wake up even if it did only last less than a minute."
"I was having a dream," Severein said, grimacing when Aranel filled the cup a fourth time.
The human raised an eyebrow, "Must've been quite a dream to have you writhing like you were being tortured...were you being tortured?" Aranel asked after a moment.
Severein shook his head and stood. The curse from the wound had receded all the way back to the cut, though that remained as black as ever. At some point, it had stopped bleeding. Thanks to the elf's healing abilities, most likely. Severein set about cleaning the dried blood off of his skin.
"I guess it can only be contained for now," Aranel said, noting Severein's gaze.
"I suppose. It's better than nothing," Severein replied, turning to look at the sleeping Suuri. The elf reached out and brushed a stray hair out of the fairy's eyes with a finger.
"Thank you, Miss Suuri," the elf said softly, returning his look to Aranel.
"Has there been any pursuit?"
Aranel shook his head, "We haven't even been here more than an hour, two at most. For now, things are quiet. But...what's with your eyes?"
Severein blinked, "My eyes?" he turned to a small mirror and felt his breath catch, amber eyes turning to wide-eyed blue with surprise. In each pupil, swirling around the blue was black. The black swirls seemed to move like stormy clouds. Severein knew it for what it was and felt his blood chill.
"The void has marked you. The void will hunt you and consume you..."
"It must be a remnant of your rune curse...it should go when the rest of it does," Severein kept his voice calm.
"Sure..." Aranel sounded doubtful.

"I need some air," the elf said after a moment.
"You're not going outside. There's no telling whether the curse has run its course or not."
"Fine..." Severein strode to a window and opened it and sat on the ledge, "We'll move when Suuri awakens." Severein's back was to the human. He stared at the streets below. Just because Aranel had't seen any pursuit didn't mean there wasn't any.
"Well, if you're going to sit in the window, at least put a shirt on. We don't need any attention because of that wound," Aranel said.
"Right," Severein said absently, staring outside lost in thought. He threw on the deep blue shirt Aranel handed him and barely glanced at the cup filled once more with the horrible-tasting mixture.
"The void...that man...what is going on?"

Walking to the middle of the town-square of Arlen, Joseph unfurled a large piece of parchment, nailing it to the center post. Soon a gathering had appeared around it. Upon it, scrawled in a tidy hand, was written:

In accordance with Order Ninety-Two, Act Seven, Chapter Two, Section 4, From this moment, any person caught in contact with a person of any other breed, or collaborating with half-breeds will be put to death, immediately. Also, anyone caught breeding with a person of a higher social class will be put to death. Signed, Chief Operative Joseph Leito.

"Wait, he doesn't have the authority, does he?" Came the grumbling of the crowd. Joseph smirked. Loyalty had dropped lately in the town, and this would drop it farther, especially when he didn't, honestly, have the authority to make acts without the permission of a higher authority. Joseph knew that a few more of these phony acts would drive morale to breaking. Unfortunately, it would blow his cover. He'd have to find out some other way.

OOC: Nope, i didn't quite Mole, i think i have yet to quit an rp i'm in...but otherwise my life has been drastically busy sadly. sorry for inconveniences
IC:
Revallyne smiled, and chuckled happily at the lady that was before her.
"M'lady, I'm blind." she said while holding back chuckles, "However, I heard you pull out something...if you're willing?" and Ree held out her hand to examine the piece the lady held for her to 'see'.
Ree then felt a small object placed in the palm of her hand.
She moved her fingers over the surface. It was a star on a rock. "You're brave to be showing this to me without even knowing who I am.", and Ree was getting hopeful, this lady was outgoing to have walked up and asked to go on an adventure. Ree handed it back to her quickly so no one would see.
"If we are to be companions, I guess we skipped greetings, I'm Revallyne."
The lady then introduced herself as Saliara and shook Ree's hand, letting her know she was an elf from her slender frame and stature like hers, perhaps taller.
"Well, lead away, if you need more people I'm with ya."
In the distance she heard people squabbling over a new rule just made as it was hammered to a pole: no mixing of breeds or higher classes.

"Just making life harder aren't they?" Ree sighed and waited to be lead wherever this quest was going to take them. She figured Saliara would know since she was the one that asked, and Ree didn't know where the Hadefs were anyways.

OOC: Yea..I kinda forgot to add her. But it's all fixed now.
IC:

"Of course" Saliara replied bitterly under her breath.

Well a blind companion wouldn't be too bad, Saliara thought. At least she had one. As for finding others, she would just have to wait to find some others. Hopefully there would be others. In the first place.

"I can't tell you too much now, but we'll need to find a few more people" Saliara said as they headed back into the main marketplace.

A sensation came over the elf at that moment. She had the strange urge to check her belongings. Saliara didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first when she pulled her small hand sized bag, but something felt wrong. Everything was there, but...something was off. She looked at the bag itself to notice it was newer and of cheaper quality.

"Damn it" she muttered under her breath. "Revallyne, have you noticed anyone coming within a few meters of us?"

Suuri's dreams were filled with horrid images of death and pain, the events of the past day and night emerging throughout her dreams in bits and pieces, but mainly the feelings she should have felt came through. Throughout the day and night she had had to put her feelings aside to stay calm, but her dreams knew no such necessities, here it could all come out. Suuri could see herself crying a lifetime. But there was nothing she could do to comfort herself, nothing would change the past, and still she had to move on, nothing would chase away the deep sadness either. Fortunately it was all a dream, in reality she could more easily shut it all out, at least, she hoped it would remain that way. Or was it just her dreams telling her that that was impossible. Memory told her it was possible, but could that be trusted in a dream? Could a dream manipulate what you knew? Had there even been a yesterday? Suuri's sadness was drowned out quickly by a myriad of philosophical questions, all the while still dreaming.

Suuri slept long, very long. By the time she opened her eyes, the red-orangish glow of twilight illuminated the room. She scanned the room as quickly as she could. The third bed had been delivered, Severein sat in the window, but Aranel was nowhere to be seen. Slipping from under the sheets, she remembered too late that she has thrown all of her clothes on the foot end of the bed. She hoped the elf would be mature enough not to mind or be ridiculous. “Where's the human? Aranel I mean.” Suuri's voice came out quite silently, like it always did in the morning. Nevertheless the elf turned his head to look at her before replying.
“He's in the common room, trying to see if he can get some information.” After a moment he added: “Do not worry, he gave me my medicine.” Suuri quietly nodded in approval before the elf went on. “My initial plan was to go on as soon as you woke up...”
“But we're staying here until the morning? It certainly wouldn't be a bad idea, both you and Aranel haven't truely rested yet, and we're quite safe here.”
“Not quite what I was going to say, but it has the same effect. I would recommend you get dressed, though, miss Suuri. I would like to go see how Aranel is doing.” Suuri nodded in reply, grabbing her clothing from the foot end of the bed, and started putting it on.
“Could you thread the baleens for me, please?” Severein raised an eyebrow at first, but he complied, pulling hard on the strings hanging out of her corset. “A bit tighter.” Suuri gasped as Severein pulled even harder. “That's good.”
“How can you wear something this tight?” Severein asked with a quizzical look on his face.
“I've never really wondered about that, to be honest. It just doesn't give any problems with my wings.”
Severein shrugged at the answer, Suuri looked smilingly at him before she opened the door, he followed closely behind her.

-----------------------

OoC : I don't know why I came up with this scene. If I did anything wrong with Severein, please let me know, Ishi, and I'll change it.

OOC: Nah, it's fine, Mole.
-----------------

"It's true what they say about fairies and modesty," Severein thought, as he grinned back at Suuri, "The two don't exist together at all." Not that the elf minded. He was about to voice his thoughts when a new thought struck him.
"Miss Suuri..." Severein began as the two descended down the stairs into the common room.
"Just Suuri, please," the fairy said.
Severein nodded, "Suuri...do you know anything about something called the void?"
Suuri looked at Severein over her shoulder, frowning at him, "The Void," the fairy placed a special emphasis on 'void', "Is a part of a lost branch of arcane magic. In most texts, it is what the users of this magic referred to their power source as. They called it the power of death. Which makes most believe it is similar to Necromancy, and yet the users of the Void insisted it was different. And it is different. Unlike other branches and elements of magic, no one has ever been able to wield the Void, or at least been recorded as being able to use it, for nearly a century now. Of course, the history of the Void, or the legend of it, really, is taught to every person who learns to wield the Craft or any form of magic. There are others, mostly skeptics, who say that the Void is not a branch of magic, but rather a place where the souls of the dead continue to exist, detached from their bodies. But..." Suuri glanced at the elf again, "Why do you ask?"
Severein hesitated a moment, trying to think of what he did and didn't want to tell her, "It was in a dream I had," he said at last, "While I was unconscious. I was in a pitch black place, simply standing in place. There was no visible ground, but I was on something solid at least. A voice, detached somehow, said I was in the void. He said the void was death. Maybe I was dreaming about it because I was so close to death in reality..."
"So it does truly exist." Severein thought as another voice came unbidden, "And it has marked you."
"...How can you dream about something you've never heard of before?" Suuri asked after a moment.
Severein was saved the problem of answering by Aranel spotting them and coming toward them.

"There's talk of an elf looking for companions for an adventure," Aranel said. The human lowered his voice, "It's probably a mission for the Hadefs."
"It could take some time to track the elf down, but this is a decent lead to the Hadefs. We can find out what news there is then," Severein remarked, "Thank the gods Kalan isn't large. We'll search until nightfall. That gives us roughly an hour to-"
Severein stopped and hissed, hand going subconsciously to his abdomen.
"It hurts," the elf said through grit teeth, sinking into a chair for fear that his legs would soon stop supporting him.
"You aren't going any where in this condition," Suuri said firmly, "Now let me look at it."
"In our room. We don't want to attract attention," Severein gasped, standing.
"Aranel, please carry him," Suuri said.
"I can make it up the bloody stairs," the elf grumbled and as if to demonstrate his point, made for the stairs. Aranel and Suuri followed closely behind, looking ready to catch Severein if seemed in danger of falling.
The elf's vision swam with the effort of dealing with the pain and climbing the stairs, despite being short steps.
And then all at once, the pain was gone. Just as the three reached their room.

"Lift up your shirt," Suuri said as Aranel poked his head out the door, looking for anyone who might have followed them before shutting the door.
Severein complied. Suuri's eyebrows dropped in a frown.
"The curse is still there," she said.
Severein raised an eyebrow, "It's not supposed to be?"
"That medicine I had Aranel give you combined with my healing should have destroyed all traces of it and left only the wound to heal. But..." Suuri layed her hands over the black cut. Severein's hands went over hers and pushed them away.
"Do not tire yourself again so soon on my behalf," the elf said softly, "Not for something that is no longer deadly."
"It very well could prove to be lethal, still," Suuri said firmly in reply, "The only way that mixture would not have worked is if there is another force at work in this wound."
"There should be nothing like that in my runes," Aranel said, "If there is an outside force, then it is most likely the Pures. There is a chance, a slim one, that among the Pures who escaped from the farm was a user of Necromancy and is cursing Severein with the base of my own curse to amplify it. He would have to have seen his wound, though, to know it would be possible. Meaning that it is unlikely it happened at the farmhouse. Severein was wounded, I was unconscious and Suuri was in the house. It was the perfect opportunity to strike. Meaning..."
"We were seen at some point when we crossed the open fields to Kalan," Severein finished.
"So what do we do?" Suuri asked.
"Nothing," Aranel said, "At least nothing different than what we've planned. I will go and look for the elf. You two stay here."
"No, you should stay. I'll blend in more easily. Besides, I know people here. People we can trust," Suuri protested.
"Severein is sick or cursed or something. He cannot defend himself against more than two or three assailants and you can bet on the Pures bringing more than that when we killed about fifteen of them altogether. He needs someone here to guard him. You are the one who will be able to help him if his wound troubles him. You are still tired from healing him. Don't argue, I know something of magic otherwise these runes wouldn't work. You've rested nearly all day, but you're still not at full strength. You aren't strong enough to defend yourself if the Pures decide to attack you. It isn't about blending in anymore. The Pures will go after you if they spot you. If they spot any of us for that matter. I, however, have done nothing all day and am in a fitter condition to fight than both of you if need be."
"Aranel is right, Suuri," Severein spoke before the fairy could respond. Suuri closed her mouth and nodded reluctantly. That was all Aranel needed. The human slipped out of the room and into Kalan to search for the elf.

After the door shut, Severein faced Suuri, "I suppose now there's nothing we can do for the moment."
"I suppose," the fairy agreed, "So now what? Are we simply going to wait for him to return?"
Severein shrugged, "What would you like to do for fun?"
"Fun?" Suuri asked, "Is this the time?"
"If you don't take the opportunity now, it may never come again. They're few and far between. First, however, thank you for treating my wound. I'm indebted to you," Severein replied.
"You have no debt. You took me along with you. We're comrades now and it was the least I could do" Suuri replied.
"Comrades..." Severein smiled, "We'll be in this together for a long time with any luck. Simply being comrades won't do for long. I'm hoping for friends eventually."
Suuri smiled in return, "Eventually. If you want to start, the friendliest thing you could do now would be to get back into bed and rest without grumbling for once."
"And the friendliest thing you could do would be to stop bossing me around," Severein retorted, still smiling.
Suuri raised an eyebrow in amusement as an invisible force pushed into Severein and toppled the elf onto his bed and held him there.
Severein laughed, "I jest! I jest!"
Suuri laugh as well and released the flows of air holding the elf down. Almost immediately, Severein threw his pillow at her.
Suuri gave a cry of surprise and raised her arms to stop the pillow from hitting her face. She laughed as the pillow fell to the floor and the fairy lashed out with air again to hold the elf down.
"I can hold there all night if you insist on acting like that," Suuri said between giggles.
"Truce," Severein replied with a laugh.
"Truce," Suuri agreed with a grin, "On the promise you won't do anything like that again once I release you."
"You have it," the elf said and felt the air lift from him once more.
"Now rest," Suuri said firmly, though the effect was lost on the playful smile on her face.
"Only on the promise that you don't force me into it again," the elf replied with a grin that instantly faded as he found himself bound by air for a third time.
"You are in no position to make demands, Master Elf," Suuri said, grinning.
"You cheat," Severein laughed, "But I know when I'm cornered. Let me up."
Suuri complied after pretending to think about it.

"Well," Severein began after taking a moment to prop his head up against the wall and resting a hand behind it, "That was certainly good fun. Any more of it and I may die after all."
"You may at that," Suuri laughed and then after a moment, "REST!"
"I'll need my pillow back," Severein said. Suuri threw it at him.
The two were silent for a moment until Suuri spoke up, "I thought you two were serious all the time. Do you and Aranel act like that?"
"Sometimes," Severein replied, "It isn't often, but there are times when we both need a break and to just laugh. A bit of laughter goes far in balancing the dark times we face."
Suuri nodded, "I'll bet it does."
The two fell silent once more. Severein sank into his pillow, his grin gone.
"But in the end, after the laughter is done, our problems are still there. The demons we have to face, both those inside our minds and those taking existence in the world, have not disappeared. The battle is never over." Severein thought as he stared at his reflection in a mirror. The swirling Void in his eyes stared back.

OOC: I wasn't sure about including the "fun" paragraph, but it seemed necessary for the part after it. Anything you don't like, Mole, just let me know.

OOC: I'm joining anyone who's willing to drag my character along, or be dragged.
Or by anyone who wants to be chased by an obsessive narcissist.
I need a little more storyline, so I might as well interact.
That works ten out of ten times.

IC:

Samantha feigned a smile to the guards and walked into the city.
One of them smiled back briefly, in none of them arose even the shadow of the idea of asking her questions or stopping her.
Smiling made life so much easier.
Uno muchos grando problemo, she had no idea where she had wandered to.
She suspected she was somewhere foreign, with all them elves and other species about.
Samantha wasn't a prejudged woman, but creatures built that fragile sort of scared her.
What if they broke as soon as you touched them, just like that glass vase they once had on the mantelpiece?
At the moment her complete lack of sense of direction was not a problem, but her lack of a goal was.
The downside to having a goal combined with her marvellous sense of direction was of course that she was bound to get lost and end up somewhere completely different, but still, she'd like to have a goal.
And somewhere save within the next few months so she could get her baby.
Now, the annoying bit was that she knew, from history books no-one ever bothered to read, that it was reasonably to perfectly save anywhere only a two of decades ago.
And now the country was utter bloody chaos and distrust.
Couldn't they wait with their stupid power-hungry war and separation until after she had given birth or something?
Or after she had died.
That couldn't take longer than a century, and three-quarter of the people could outlive that, and the ones who couldn't... Well, tons of people died in wars and politics anyway, so they should have died, and their stupid plans with them.
They should have sat on a snake or eaten cyanide or drank molten lead or, or, or whatever you died on in politics!
According to Samantha, the birth of one child was more important than the lives of a whole bunch of war-makers.
She had tried that all-are-equal philosophy a couple of years ago, but the problem with that was that she wasn't a forgiving and sweet and the let-us-give-the-psycho-another-chance kind of person.
She marched trough a group of upset people muttering and shouting something about breeds and authority.
She glanced at a paper that had seemingly caused it.
It looked sort of official, but she chose to ignore it.
After all, if you hadn't read it, you could claim innocence, and the muttering of disapproval made it sound like it wasn't something nice, and a rule she could break in no time at all.
She preferred not to know of rules she broke on a regular basis.
She was, after all, an innocent maiden.
Sort of.
She walked past some more people and almost bumped into an elf.
She mumbled an apology out of habit, and stared for one moment into two pearly orbs for eyes.
Her step faltered for one moment, until she realized that the woman was blind, and thought nothing more about it.
But...
What on earth was she to do now?

Suuri sat on the soft mattress of her bed, alternatingly staring outside and looking at the tall elf, Severein. He stuck out above her by a large margin, and she had to look up to the man most of the time, yet she had tackled him easily with only light use of the Craft. She had never realised how big an advantage she had because of her ability with it. Nevertheless, she had been brought up with the notion that the Craft was not at her disposal to harm other, or to get them to do what she wanted. Those limits were of course terribly ill defined on purpose, as sometimes you needed to break a rule because it was the right thing to do. But apparently the difference was even larger than her teachers had taught her. It would not be the same in combat though, the Craft couldn't make you invincible in any way, an arrow or a sword was equally lethal to everyone. Nevertheless, she could do things, neither the human, nor Severein could do. That would certainly give them a bit of an edge more. The sky started to darken outside, and the reddish glow of twilight turned to the darkest of blue of the night.

Severein finally lay on his bed, his face pointed at Suuri. Not that it mattered for the elf, he could see her even if she stood behind him. His eyes seemed strange though, she hadn't noticed it before, but they were no longer the same. But as much as she tried to see what the oddity was, she never noticed the swirling blackness around his eyes. Still she thought of the question Severein had asked her, about the Void. It sent a chill down her spine while her mind echoed the explanation she had given to the elf. She wouldn't admit it but other types of magic scared her, she liked only the Craft, and even then only four of the five elements, of which she could wield three. It was unfortunate she had never found someone to teach her in the spirit element, as it was the only element you could not learn yourself, since there was never anything to see, and you couldn't improve what you couldn't see.

The Craft represented nature, it could do anything that nature could do, other types of magic could do other things, often very unnatural. Raising the dead was not part of nature, nor was pain, at least not as something you could throw around. Fairies usually stuck to the Craft and more often than not loathed the other types of magic because of their close bond with nature. The Void of course, was something different entirely, if it was indeed a sort of vault for the dead, then it was indeed part of nature, and no fairy would ever eschew it, since it would give certainty that people were reïncarnated and reborn onto the world. Or at least a relative certainty. Still, Severein had not answered the question how it could possibly appear in his dreams, and even if elf didn't worry about that, she did. This was an area few people had experience in, and probably with good reason. Just thinking about the possible connection between the cut and the dream, Suuri longed to take a closer look at the wound again, perhaps she could find out more with the craft, but she didn't want to just sit by.

Severein was sleeping, or at the very least deep in though. In either case, his eyes were closed and his face directed upward. Threading lightly, Suuri got up on her feet and moved over. Without sitting down on the bed, she created something from the air in the room, she wasn't quite sure what it was herself, but it would serve its purpose. Carefully she reached out to Severein's wound with the pocket of air under her control, the elf eyes suddenly shot open, looking at her. “I told you not to tire yourself on my behalf so soon.” Suuri didn't even look at him when she replied, and her words came out slowly, as she concentrated on her investigation. “I will not, I promise, I just wanted a closer look at it with the craft.” Suuri continued undisturbed. Suddenly she gasped in surprise. “This might not be a curse at all, Severein, although I can't exactly say why.”