Soaring Dragon, Singing Blades

[Kysis]

Intriguing?  No.  Irritating.  Eilzair knew the woman was up to something, though what it was completely slipped his mind.  He barely knew the woman, yet it seemed like she knew him-- how he used to be-- from what Iseth had said.  Eilzair did not like that.  The information had been given without his permission.  His privacy had been violated... and he could not hold it against Iseth, as much as he tried.  Part of him yearned to be angry at Iseth, to hate him.  It would make living in the aftermath easier.  It would get rid of that creeping want for death.

Wasn\'t Teyne a curious one?  He stopped walking for a moment, turning just slightly to glare at her.  His eyes flashed a bright azure, pupils looking closer to slits for a moment than round.  As the irises faded back to a dull radiance, the pupils seemed slightly more normal.  Slightly.  They had never been completely round.

"Ten years."

Eilzair hoped that would shut her up.  Not saying anything else, he went back to walking, the path suddenly cream hued cobbles.  The walls of the buildings were the same, with some decorative, rose granite details added here and there.  The city was a place of money, comforts, pleasures.  Eilzair had always wondered why Iseth had picked such a place. Iseth had been a sorcerer, a traveler, a kind and caring man.  What did any of those things have to do with fat merchants who never budged from a banquet table any more?  What did that have to do with the city of Rineva, with its pretty petals facing upward and its thorns extending down, into the sewers and crypts beneath the city.

The areas beneath the city marked the sole place Eilzair refused to venture.

It would not be much longer until they reached the center of the city, and the park there, with its elven fountain at the very center of it.  Eilzair knew Daheiyna could be found there, as she always was.

[Existentially Odd]

She tensed when he stopped to glare at her, pausing before taking her next step and having to force herself not to reach for her swords.  Her hands fisting was as far as it got and she regretted that but really, it wasn\'t as if she could entirely trust a man who had the wings of a red dragon.  Especially when asking him a couple of simple questions got him grouchy after she\'d walked quietly in on him and almost received incidental spell damage for her trouble.

It reminded her that he was still an unknown element and that she had to tread carefully.

"Are you going to wait for me to talk to her or are you merely delivering me?" Teyne asked as they set off again, leaving the soft dirt path behind them.  She was surprised by the bitterness in her own voice and wondered why it had come about.  Could it be because she resented their positions as master and indebted or was it more than that?  Was it the fact that they were in that position and changing the dynamic was a road filled with sharp rocks that she seemed to always tread on?  What did she care if he liked her or not anyway?  It wasn\'t as if knowing more about him would give her any ability to fathom what went on behind his eerie eyes.

[Kysis]

"I was going to wait."  Going to be the key words.  Eilzair was not so sure any more.  He kept walking, not slowing his long stride for her at all.  There was a lot going on in his mind, whirling threw nearly to quickly to process it all.  What did Daheiyna want with Teyne?  What was the old woman planning?  It had him snappier than he had been for the past few weeks.  Daheiyna always set him on edge.  She looked too deep.  It made him uncomfortable.

The buildings were all over-large, over decorated.  Eilzair did not bother looking at them in passing, even as guard dogs jumped at the gates to bark at him.  Animals had never liked Eilzair.  The animals could sense what he was, even with the wings hidden.  Eilzair could see his shadow hanging in front of him as he walked, and in those shadow, there were his wings.  It made his step falter for a moment, foot hovering before he started his usual pace again.  It was getting harder to make his wings go away when he used them.  Soon he might be like Iseth, unable to hide those wings.

The neat rows of buildings suddenly opened up into a wide, circular area.  It had been a park at one time, finely groomed, with a gorgeous elven fountain at the center.  That was what Iseth and Daheiyna had told him, anyway.  Iseth had only seen it in its current, overgrown state of affairs, with unruly trees sprouting at nearly every angle, bush and vine choking many of them and most of the paths.  There was one path which remained usable, magically maintained from the looks of it.  There were no cracked stones along that path, no foliage daring to creep over the gray and white swirls patterned into the way.

There was only a small clearing at the center of the wild-life held central park.  In its center stood a massive fountain, metal, delicately carved by elven hands.  The water bubbling in it almost looked crystalline rather than like liquid.  There was a woman sitting at the side of that fountain.  She was bent with age, wrinkles crinkling her entire face and hands.  She still had a healthy tan.  When she looked up, her eyes were hazel, big, still youthful despite their surround.  A smile stretched onto her thin lips.

She only took a quick look over Eilzair, a disapproving glance at his dark attire, before standing and somehow managing to sweep a curtsy at Teyne.  It looked awkward, as she was draped in multiple layers of cloth, all in earth hues, all soft, random bits of lives and vines acting as ornamentation and her belt.  Clovers were strung through the tiny ringlets of her white hair, which was pulled back into a small bun.

"Ahhh, so the rumors are true." Her voice was kind, warm.  She gave another glance towards Eilzair, her eyes dismissing him.  Eilzair turned and walked for a while until he could no longer hear them. "I am Daheiyna.  And you are Teyne, if Iseth\'s ward told me correctly."

[Existentially Odd]

Teyne merely nodded, biting her tongue so that she didn\'t say anything obnoxious to begin with (for her first impulse was to ask about the rumours the old woman spoke of... but that should wait a few moments, really).  "I am," the young wood elf answered in her usual husky voice, dipping into a fairly good copy of the druid\'s curtsy.  It was slightly awkward, considering she wasn\'t used to employing such civilised actions wearing her weapons (or at all, really), but shouldn\'t cause offense to the old one.

"You asked Eilzair about me?" Teyne queried after her smile of greeting had come and gone and she\'d regained her straight-standing posture, thumbs looped casually into her belts, at around navel position.  "I am... intrigued by the fact that you need my help and I am keen to do anything I can to help.  Pray, what can I do to aid you, tender of the forest?" she enquired humbly.  To her, acknowledging the role that the old woman had performed for many years was more respectful than using her name.

Despite appearances (and her heritage as one the heathens of the Elven branches - a wood elf), Teyne was a well-raised and polite elf child.  Her keen gaze had noted a slight elongation to Daheiyna\'s ears that bespoke a distant Elven ancestor, so she rather hoped the old woman would approve of her ways.  Too bad if she didn\'t, for the potentially-impertinent words were out now.

[Kysis]

The girl was respectful, which Daheiyna could appreciate.  Eilzair used to be that way.  She looked over the elf carefully, noting a good amount of the weaponry carried on her (though not all of it).  It was not what she had been expecting of an elf, but times changed.  In places like Kyvana, life was revered.  Daheiyna thought Eilzair should travel there some day, learn an appreciation for life which Iseth had someone failed to pass on.  Iseth’s number one teaching, to never give into the darkness, had obviously gone in one ear and out the other.

Skipping any further pleasantries, Daheiyna sat back beside the fountain, getting to business. “You are in a very precarious situation, not just because of your proximity to Iseth’s ward, but for being a wood elf.” Daheiyna could tell from her looks.  Having met Eilzair’s adoptive parents when they came looking for him (and telling them she had not seen him), she had an idea of what a wood elf’s coloring was. “But that isn’t why I called you here.  There is something I need your help with.”

Daheiyna looked down into the water, wishing visions would spring up from it like they had when Iseth touched the cool surface.  She knew it had been a spell, but it was still nice to know the future now and then.  Iseth had a soothing aura about him in general, another thing which had not been passed on to his ward at all.

“I’m curious.  What color wings does Eilzair have?” She had never seen them.  It would explain a lot if she knew, help her formulate her currently nebulous plans.

[Existentially Odd]

Teyne was very confused, a frown registering as she was told she was in a precarious position because she was close to Eilzair and because she was a wood elf.  The former she understood, since the man was such a volatile being, but the latter warning she did not.  Before she could ask for clarification, however, the old woman continued speaking.

The girl deliberately smoothed her features as she was asked what colour wings the dragon disciple sported.  Her gaze slid to him, to where he was waiting in the distance and she was filled with a sudden conflict she didn\'t like.  The druid was a being of nature; soothing and generous of spirit, calmness leaking out of her that made Teyne ache for home.  Yet her instincts were to protect Eilzair from the old one and she couldn\'t say why.

"I would feel uncomfortable answering a question you can just as easily ask him," she said honestly, her gaze returning to Daheiyna\'s.  Her expression was purposely placid, so that she wasn\'t interpreted as aggressive.  It seemed a strange thing for the woman to ask her what colour wings the human had, when she\'d known him far longer than Teyne.  In that case, it was obviously something he didn\'t wish broadly known and she wasn\'t about to betray him (though, really, such loyalty made no sense to her, what did she owe him beyond her promise to aid him in order to pay off her debt?).

[Kysis]

Daheiyna had not been expecting that answer, a puzzled look taking her worn face as she stared into Teyne’s eyes.  The druid let her eyes roam to where Eilzair was as well, studying his black clad form, glowing eyes, his strange shadow, with wings in it.  The wings were a new addition to his shadow, Daheiyna knowing he had finally gained his wings, as Iseth had anticipated with excitement and dread.

“I can feel the evil seething around him.” Daheiyna’s eyes were turned back to Teyne at this, to see if the elf too had felt it. “Help him.”  It was something she had promised Iseth.  If anything were to happen, Daheiyna was to make sure Eilzair was all right.  She had already failed him.  Daheiyna could feel it.

“There is a cult I have been researching into, and they believe the blood of a dragon will do something or another for them.  They killed Iseth and captured Eilzair.  The only reason he would have returned here is to seek them out and destroy them.”

There was so much Daheiyna wanted to ask.  She wanted to prod again about the wings.  Ask if Eilzair’s magic had progressed.  The other night she had gone to visit Iseth’s grave, and upon entering the garden, found the area protected by a heavy ward.  It had not been what she was expecting, but gave her a glimmer of hope.  All hope might not be lost.  Daheiyna had promised Iseth, after all, even if she thought the eventuality would never come.

[Existentially Odd]

The young wood elf scooped the scabbards of her longswords at an angle behind her and crouched elegantly before the druid, tucking her strong body into a neat ball and looking quizzically at the woman she didn\'t feel worthy of sitting at an equal level with.  She resisted the urge to look over at Eilzair again, realising now that this meeting was about him, which was why she\'d been requested alone.

Would she have to tell him what they\'d discussed?  Perhaps she could give him one of those impatient looks he always gave her and change the subject by answering curtly like he did to put her in her place... she doubted it, though.  Either way, she hoped to remain as impartial with her comments as she had with Daheiyna, should he want information.  Looking only at the druid should hopefully deter him slightly.

"He killed the necromancer who\'d bound me in an agreement against my will and I swore to repay that debt.  I will help him in any way that I can," she answered Daheiyna honestly, interpreting the instruction to help Eilzair as an order to physically aid him cut down those that would torment him, rather than acknowledging the many spiritual implications such an instruction might have.  She didn\'t feel herself worthy of doing anything more than swinging a blade before the man, anyway.

"He hasn\'t said to me that intends going after anyone, though he did mention that he was enslaved against his will once.  If they killed Iseth for his dragon blood, why did they let Eilzair go?  Or did he... escape somehow?" she asked, curious about how long the dragon disciple had suffered at the hands of his tormentors and exactly what cruelties he\'d been forced to endure.

Daheiyna was right about the evil seething around the redheaded man, but Teyne also knew him to be compassionate enough to have defended her and that was certainly not the action of evil.  Pure evil tended to be completely selfish and indifferent to any sort of suffering; Eilzair wasn\'t like that.  It was just the red dragon blood in him, she supposed, and although that often ran hot enough to silence her with a look, it wasn\'t the dominant portion of his being

yet... he\'s still growing, still advancing.  Look at the changes in his wings since you\'ve known him; with an increase in his powers might grow the blossoming of that coldness you sense in him at times

or the only part of him to take into consideration.  He was far more than the sum of his wings; she knew that in her heart, even if she\'d not experienced anything much of him personally.

[Kysis]

“Only he knows what happened down there.” Daheiyna looked down at that statement, as if it was underneath the very spot they sat upon.  It was further down, the crypts running beneath the city.  The ruins of an ancient city had been built upon to make the current city, buildings stacked on buildings.  The crypts had been the only clue Daheiyna had managed to find so far.  There were no other traces of the cult.

“All I know is that he went in a young, shy sorcerer.  He came out as that.” Daheiyna motioned towards where Eilzair was.  She feel the shifts of magic in the air.  He was playing with his powers, new spells.  A group of acorns lifted up from the ground around Eilzair, dancing about without anything touching them to move them.  Eilzair’s eyes glowed brighter while making them levitate.  Daheiyna was not at all surprised.  Every time she had been invited over to the manor, Eilzair was either practicing his magic or reading.  That sword almost seemed an afterthought to her.

Almost.  Iseth said he was rather good with it.

It was good to know Eilzair had not been swallowed by evil, though.  There was still a spark of compassion hiding somewhere within him.  No matter how carefully Eilzair hid it, he still had a heart.  Somewhere in there.  Iseth would not have dealt with Eilzair if he was a lost cause.  A golden dragon never helps an evil soul.

The pinecones suddenly flew in different directions, each slamming into a different tree with enough momentum to shatter the hard things.  Eilzair flexed his hand, letting it fall back to his side.  The meeting was taking longer than he would have thought.  Eilzair looked in their direction.  Patience was only one of his virtues when it came to obtaining knowledge.  Eilzair could sit through that because he gained something from it.  He gained nothing from this (that he knew of).

“I have a request.  Please, watch him closely.  Tell me if anything happens.  If you could, ask him to join us.”

[Existentially Odd]

Teyne was incredibly uncomfortable with the request to divide her loyalties.  She owed Daheiyna nothing, it was not the same for Eilzair - yet she was being asked to spy and relate information about her master to a woman she barely knew.  The thing about it all was that she inherently trusted the aura of the druid, yet Eilzair was more difficult to deal with.  It was very confusing.

"I... will get him," she said, her expression no doubt proclaiming that she was being evasive in answering to that request - and that she was troubled by it in the first place.  Glancing over, she saw the dragon disciple looking at them and unfolded herself gracefully from her crouched position, walking slowly towards him.  She tasted various comments the whole way there, not sure what she was going to say.

"Daheiyna would like you to join us," she said quietly as she stopped before Eilzair, squinting through the bright sunlight to his greater height.  "She would also like... to know what colour your wings are if... you\'d like to tell her," Teyne murmured, wanting to tell him everything but not sure she should.  She\'d decided it was probably best to let them communicate as much as possible and only get between them if there was a desperate need.  It was an Elven philosophy, as well as something she\'d learned from living in an assassin academy she wanted nothing to do with.

She stepped aside and waited for Eilzair to approach the fountain first, intending to trail after him.

[Kysis]

So, the woman was asking about his wings?  It was no surprise to Eilzair, his bright eyes sliding past Teyne and to the druid.  Now that Iseth was gone, Eilzair had no reason to listen to her, or to tell her a thing.  He had only done it for Iseth\'s sake, after all.  Gathering a calm about him like a soldier would put on armor and shields for a coming battle, Eilzair walked towards the center of the "park", never taking his eyes off the druid.  His mind remained in an extended state, feeling around him for shifts in the magic of the place.  There was some stagnant energy there, but nothing to worry about.  If Daheiyna called upon any of her druidic powers, Eilzair would be the first to know it.

Soon he was in the cleared circle, not sitting, merely looking down, from a good distance, at the woman.  Eilzair waited in silence.  No answers would come from him unless there were actual questions.  In fact, Eilzair did not want to answer a damn thing she said unless he had to.  Daheiyna reminded him of Iseth.  There were a lot of loose ends and frustrations down that road.

Daheiyna could feel the force of his hatred and was surprised by it, just staring at him, knowing she only had a few moments before the young firebrand walked off.  Eilzair had always been impatient (unless it had to do with power).  Daheiyna hoped to appeal to that side of him. "I have found a lead about the cult.  There are traces of them in the ruins beneath this city."

For a few moments Eilzair stood there, unmoving, nothing of emotion flickering about his face.  He had not asked for her help.  It was his debt to repay and his alone.  If anyone else found the cult, destroyed it... Eilzair dashed those thoughts from his mind before they could seep in to his aura which hung about him at all times.  Keeping such a close rein on his emotions, when he had been alone for the last few weeks and able to let them out, was difficult, barely manageable, but he did it.

"I am to old to go investigate on my own.  I was hoping you and Teyne could do that."

[Existentially Odd]

Teyne, who\'d come to stand at Eilzair\'s left so that she could see both people, looked up at the man enquiringly.  She\'d only just learned of the cult\'s existence, that he had suffered at the hands of those who had imprisoned him.  She didn\'t know whether he sought revenge against them, though Daheiyna seemed certain of it.  It was not a task she was unwilling to participate in and she supposed that that was all she could offer right now.
 
"I will help you in any endeavour I am able," she vowed quietly, staring intently into his pale eyes.  They looked almost surreal in bright light, colourless and unflawed.  There was a beauty to them - but that might also have been because she didn\'t know what thoughts were going on behind them; the mystery of him aroused her curiosity and admiration in equally dangerous amounts.
 
"If you wish to pursue the cult, I\'ll fight with you.  You gave me my freedom; it would be an honour to help you gain yours," she murmured, believing him to not be free, despite the fact that he was no longer bound and gagged.  He was able to walk around in the open air, to come and go as he pleased, but his heart and soul were still bonded to a time in his past where he had lost everything that mattered.  He needed to learn to move away from that and live his life, rather than merely existing through it.

[Kysis]

Eilzair could hear the words, head lowering just slightly, eyes sliding over towards her.  That debt… he had told her it was not a debt, merely duty, yet she insisted upon helping.  And for some reason, he insisted upon not sending her away.  It was a cycle, never ending it seemed.  Eilzair closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a long, slow breath, one he had not even realized he was holding.  There were mixed emotions swirling through him, attacking his senses, his carefully constructed façade.  Could he hold it?

Daheiyna’s eyes were on him, so he had to.

What he wanted to say was that he was not strong enough to face them.  He was stronger now than he had ever been, but it was not enough.  Eilzair could still remember Iseth, how his mentor barely had to try to beat Eilzair in their spars, no matter what the younger did.  And they had killed Iseth.  Eilzair refused to die.  The escape was still a blur in his mind.  A dark smudge which refused to be cleaned off until it was cleaned up.

And those last words soaked in.  A slight flinch showed on his face, nothing more appearing across his visage until he opened his eyes.  They were haunted, even if the flesh surrounding refused to show the emotion he felt within.  There was only so much he could hide, and only for so long.

“We will look into it.” Eilzair’s voice was barely a whisper, carrying over the quiet which had become the fountain clearing.  No birds sang so close to them, no squirrels skittering about.  There was just the gurgle of that fountain, water rolling over delicate metal carving.  Iseth used to use the fountain for scrying.  Teyne was right.  He was not free.  Just that morning, while working on the dilapidated and dangerous roof, Eilzair had not been afraid of falling.  He was more afraid he would jump.  It was time to start tying loose ends.

Turning, Eilzair walked swiftly away, crimson wings unfurling from his back.  With a leap, Eilzair powered himself to the sky.  Teyne could easily find her own way back to the manor.  There was only one path going to it, after all.

Daheiyna’s eyes widened as she saw the blood hued wings, a look of horror taking her face.  The hope she had for Eilzair faltered.  She had a withered hand over the wide O of her lips, and though she tried swallowing back her fright, it would not leave her.  Finally, after a few moments of staring, she spoke, voice trembling noticeably. “Iseth would have cried his heart out if he’d known what his ward would become…” It was the truth.  Iseth had cared too much about everyone, and to see what Eilzair was fated to.... It was probably better Iseth would never know.  Daheiyna would not have been able to stand his heartbreak over it.

[Existentially Odd]

Teyne turned from watching Eilzair taking off and shot a glare Daheiyna\'s way.  What right did she have to speak of the dragon disciple like he was a lost cause?  Just because his wings were the red of the most chaotic, evil beast to inhabit the known worlds, didn\'t mean he was completely like that.  Teyne was certain the man had depths she hadn\'t fathomed yet, but she was unwilling to write him off entirely.  He deserved a chance.

"In my experience," she growled warningly at the druid, "evil is defined by action, not appearance.  If Iseth were still here to see his ward\'s wings and he let them break his heart, then I doubt he was the man I\'ve received the impression he was.  If he were to give up on Eilzair because of just that one thing, then I doubt he would ever have loved him in the first place because he\'s not just his wings, I tell you!" she bristled, taking a step towards the old woman.

It didn\'t go any farther than that one step, for she was sensible enough not to provoke a fight she couldn\'t win against someone who spoke from ignorance, rather than malice, but she was extremely frustrated and her set expression and raised voice gave that away.  She took a deep breath to try and extricate herself from the situation with some decorum, letting it out quietly.  "There\'s more to him than his wings," she told Daheiyna in a much softer voice.  "Give him a chance to prove it before you judge him on your pre-conceptions."

Her piece said, Teyne inclined her head respectfully and stepped her right foot behind her left, intending to pivot and leave.  She would wait until she was officially dismissed, however; she was inherently respectful, despite her outburst.  Hopefully the druid realised that she\'d spoken from a place of understanding, in defense of herself and her master.

[Kysis]

Daheiyna was taken aback, unable to do anything but sit there and stare with wide eyes.  She listened.  That voice, berating her, was full of compassion and hope.  Eilzair needed those things.  Daheiyna had not expected Eilzair to gather such a person to him, but it just proved the young dragon disciple wanted to crawl from the hellish pit he had fallen.  Yes, Daheiyna was sure of it.

“You may go.”

There was nothing else Daheiyna could say.  She remembered Iseth telling her about how a dragon’s blood determined whether the person was good or evil from birth.  How strong the dragon blood was determined how hard that sway was to fight.  Eilzair had strong enough dragon’s blood for his eyes to glow.  Daheiyna was assuming his eyes glowed and were nearly slits because of the strength of his blood.  It was possible she was wrong.

Eilzair flew the entire way back to the manor, through the forest, dodging around trees, pausing to rest on high branches where he could sit.  After a few moments he would jump off, wings doing to work to let him glide for a while before beating them again, propelling him faster onward.  Eilzair landed at the front door, making a straight line through the manor, to its very core.  The ward fell at his approach, door opening easily.

A lush garden was beyond.  There were long pools of water running the length of the place, a deep emerald and murky, lilies and other water plants drifting across the surface.  The grass around the pools was long, needed trimming.  Eilzair walked across the lawn slowly, going between the two pools.  A small but beautiful headstone stood in the center of the garden.

When Eilzair went to kneel, he lost his balance, falling to lay on his side next to the grave, wings extended behind him.  The tips of his right wing hung into the water.  Though his back was to the only door to the gardens, Eilzair felt safe.