27 april 2006

• Okhfels: Isadora enters her tent to find Okhfels inside, standing with his hands clasped behind him. Clearly, he has been pacing, and a troubled look colors his face.
• Isadora: Isadora, fresh from giving Jilliams his marching orders if she doesn't return from the quest, pauses for a moment before continuing in. "What's happened?" she asks.
• Okhfels: "I heard something from Alshor. I'm... it can't be true. You would tell me first, when you make your choice?"
• Isadora: "Of course," Isadora says, looking confused, then a little worried as she thinks she understands. "You're impatient?"
• Okhfels: Okhfels sighs with relief. "No, no... there's this rumor going around that you said you were going to turn me down. I know I'm - I know I'm not worthy of you. I know I'm asking a lot of you - but I couldn't believe you wouldn't tell me first."
• Isadora: "I said wh--? Oh." Isadora hesitates for the briefest moment before finishing. "That's not what I said."
• Okhfels: Okhfels pauses, and looks out from under knitted brows. "What *did* you say?" he asks, slowly.
• Isadora: "I told the warriors I'd marry no one before the quest--which seemed uncontroversial, since I plan to start before another day has passed." Isadora says it as she's hanging her sword on a peg, a casual gesture, but she looks back over her shoulder at him with some concern.
• Okhfels: Okhfels considers that, for some seconds before his brow smoothes and he nods. "I - yes. A wedding would get in the way of getting ready for the quest."
• Isadora moves to him and puts her hands on his shoulders lightly, looking him in the face. "Lest you hear the rest of the conversation told in a similar vein, I'll tell you: I went to the warriors and asked them, if they found you an unfit match, who among them was good enough to stand in your stead. It seemed like the swiftest way to break their charge."
• Okhfels: Okhfels slowly breaks into a smile. "And did any of them pick up the glove?"
• Okhfels: Okhfels uses one of Isadora's phrases.
• Isadora: "Verily, there was a great casting about of eyes, and an echoing silence," Isadora answers with a smile of her own. "Then they agreed to send one of their own as an observer, on the grounds that I not marry you until the affair was done." Isadora frowns a bit, touching his face. "I was hasty, and didn't let you know what I planned. I'm sorry."
• Okhfels: Okhfels gently wraps his arms around Isadora's waist and pulls her in closer. "It's alright. Married or not, we're in this together, okay? I want what you want. You can tell me what you're thinking."
• Isadora leans her head against Okhfels' chest, listening to his heart and coincidentally not looking at his face. "You want to know what I'm thinking?" she says quietly. "I want to marry you like a drowning man wants air, but if I do it I'll be like putting aside my sword arm. And I don't know if I can give up that much, even for you."
• Isadora: *it'll be like
• Okhfels: "I - I don't understand."
• Isadora: Isadora's hands clench on his arms and she pulls back enough to look him in the face as she explains with an intense--almost angry--look on her face. "I'm an aristocrat, and you're as proud a common man as ever walked the earth. People like us don't just... marry. Not in Kaitaine, they don't."
• Okhfels: Okhfels thinks for a long minute before speaking, with his lips pressed together. Then, "And are you the kind of woman to do what people expect? Tomorrow, you and I and the rest... we're going to make history."
• Okhfels: "People like us, we don't follow traditions."
• Isadora takes a breath, then says in a slow and controlled voice, "I have cast aside more traditions than I realized I even knew, since coming out here. But this... this is harder."
• Okhfels: "So it's time to make new traditions. That's what this quest is about, isn't it? Creating something new?"
• Isadora: "I... suppose so," Isadora says, but she doesn't really sound convinced. "We may all die out there anyway, so nothing final needs to be said."
• Okhfels: Okhfels nods, not wishing to push any further. He leans down to place a tender kiss on the corner of her mouth.
• Smerf: There's a frantic knocking at Isadora's tent post.
• Isadora: "What?" Isadora barks.
• Okhfels: Okhfels groans in frustration.
• Smerf: One of the Ikati soldiers pokes his head in hesitantly, "Sorry to bother you, my lady, but I think there may be some trouble at Egani's house."
• Isadora: "And he'd been so good lately," Isadora complains to the heavens, then heads for Egani's house.
• Okhfels: "Not again. Can I kill him this time?"

• Smerf: Laura's voice cries out in panic, "Egani, come quick!"
• Egani: "What is it?"
• Smerf: "It's Lana, she's started bleeding again, and I can't get her to stop!"
• Egani lifts the wound dressing on Lana's shoulder. "It looks like it's worse than I thought."
• Egani: He decides to take a magical approach to stop the bleeding and then get her back on track...
• Smerf: Egani's control of essence still hasn't fully stabalized from his encounter with Vella earlier. He weaves a complex essence pattern in order to stabalize Lana, but it slips from his control and somehow sets up a reaction in her body that accellerates the blood loss. Laura looking on cries, "What are you doing!?"
• Egani: "She's bleeding!"
• Egani: "What happened to Vella? Get her.
• Egani: "
• Egani reaches into Lana's shoulder and pinches the artery against the bone, trying to just shut off the blood flow.
• Smerf: Just then Vella staggers into the room, her face is pale and she still looks incredibly weak from her attempt to heal Lana earlier. She manages to gasp softly, "Fool! What have you done?"
• Egani: "She's bleeding!"
• Egani: "You did something to her essence...what was it?"
• Smerf: Vella limps forward, "This isn't my doing you arrogant fool. Your incompetence may yet cost her her life. It may still be possible to save her though, if you do exactly as I say."
• Egani wait to assess her directions before committing.
• Smerf: Vella glares at Egani, "Give me some of your essence. I no longer have the strength to do this on my own."
• Egani: "Uh..." Egani hands her a couple of vials of purified essence, curious what she'll do.
• Smerf: She examines them briefly, "No you fool, not this processed stuff. That's your problem! You don't understand the life of essence. If I am going to undo what you have done here, I need _raw_ essence."
• Egani: Egani considers for a few moments, glancing about the room. "OK, here." and he attempts to create an essence siphon that draws just a small amount from everyone around and channels it through Vella.
• Smerf: Egani, still tired and distracted, miscalculates badly. Instead of flowing into Vella, the essence flows against her, disrupting her concentration. The essence she is handling slips out of her control, "Damn it!"
• Smerf: Egani watches as Vella scrambles to bring the last of her reserves to bear, he watches as she does something odd: she seems to push Lana's spirit out of her body and into some sort of stasis.
• Smerf: Panting, she rounds on Egani, "Do you realize what you have done now?"
• Egani: "I did what you asked. Against my better judgement, I once again, followed the direction of an elf who believed they knew more than they actually did. Is that about right?" Egani examines Lana's body, trying to discern the state of things.
• Smerf: Vella stands speechless for a long moment as if unable to believe what Egani has said. Then she bites out between clenched teeth, "I asked for some of your essence you fool. It was your essence that destabalized her, and I needed that same power to stabalize her. But no, you had to get all fancy."
• Egani: "Hmm..." Egani continues to examine Lana. "So you wanted my essence and I sent you some. I see."
• Egani continues to master his growing ire.
• Egani: "What is her spirit doing now...?"
• Smerf: Vella stares at Egani for a long moment, "I had to send her into another realm, one you couldn't meddle with." She gives him a long look, then leans forward and slaps Egani across the face, "You arrogant bastard!"
• Egani blinks.
• Egani stands up straight and wipes a trickly of blood from the side of his lip. "Huh."
• Smerf: Vella is trembling where she stands, partly from fatigue, but mostly from suppressed rage. "Do you see all people as being nothing more than your wife is? Are we just little constructs to play with?"
• Egani draws the ancient sword that he took from the last elf that he killed and uses it as a focus for killing this one. He attempts to render his nemesis into raw essence and a bit of waste matter and channel the essence through the dimensional gate that Lana's spirit took -- infusing her with the power to return to her body.
• Smerf: Vella sees Egani with the blade and her eyes widen in shock. Surely he's not that insane! Once she realizes his deadly intent she gathers herself and throws a bolt of essence at Egani. He bats it aside with his blade, and then drives it straight into her heart.
• Smerf: The force of her essence runs into Egani, and he quickly shapes it and tears open the spirit gate before it can fully close.
• Smerf: He reaches in and snatches Lana's spirit back forcefully, jamming it roughly back into her body.
• Smerf: Laura watches in horror, "What have you done?"
• Artanis comes rushing in, visibly short on breath. "Lana!?" he calls, looking around rapidly. He sees Egani bent over a woman's body, while another elven woman is collapsed on the floor, bleeding terribly. His eyes meet Laura's.
• Smerf: Laura is too shocked to say anything, but she continues to stare at Egani.
• Egani checks on Lana's condition.
• Artanis walks over to Egani and tries to discern the face of the woman the man's body has been hiding from his view.
• Smerf: As Egani looks at Lana he realizes that something didn't work as expected. Her spirit is indeed in her body again, but she seems to be in some sort of magically induced coma.
• Egani: "Well, it looks like I was able to stablize her with Vella's help. But I'm not precisely sure what state her spirit is in." Egani takes down one of his hardest books -- the one on spirits and starts reading.
• Artanis: Shock overcomes Artanis as he recognizes the delicate and long lost visage... "Egani, what..." He kneels down beside her and takes her shoulders in his hands.
• Egani: Looking up after just a second, "Oh, Laura, could you arrange to have Fahd asked if he's available?"
• Egani: Leaving his book without hesitation, Egani rushes to Lana. "No! Don't hurt her."
• Egani: "What are you doing?"
• Artanis ignores Egani and hugs the inert body.
• Egani looks to Laura. "?"
• Smerf: Laura, horror still fresh in her eyes, turns to Egani, "He hasn't seen her in 20 years..."
• Egani: Remembering his first meeting with Artanis, Egani realizes the meaning of his behavior. "Ah...Well, good."
• Egani returns to his research.
• Artanis looks back up at Laura, with wet eyes. "What happened?"
• Isadora: "...don't kill him, please," Isadora finishes saying to Okhfels as they arrive in some haste. She looks around the room and her eyebrows all but vanish into her hair. "Gracious, she looks worse than when I left her," she says of Lana.
• Smerf: Laura looks up in relief as Isadora arrives. "Thank goodness you're here! Egani, he..."
• Okhfels: Okhfels comes in behind her and surveys the tent interior, especially the blood. He shakes his head. "Ash and smoke, Egani, can you go just one day without wreaking havoc?"
• Egani: "Isadora, what can you tell me about her spirit?" Egani looks up and the matriarch.
• Egani: *at
• Isadora blinks at Laura's reception, and takes it as a sign of the extremity of the situation. To Egani, she says, "Lana's? Angry, I suppose. Confident, if unduly so."
• Egani: "I'm fearing that her spirt is existing in two places at once -- here in her body and simultaneously in that other place where Vella was trying to stash her. I'm not sure of all this though -- spirits aren't my thing."
• Egani: "I was hoping you might have some insight."
• Smerf: Laura looks pleadingly at Isadora, and then significantly at the sword still clutched in Egani's hand.
• Okhfels: "Maybe you ought to stick to your 'thing'" Okhfels mutters.
• Egani: "We may need bigger guns to help rectify this situation."
• Isadora: "I think my insight will increase in proportion to your clarity," Isadora says to Egani. "Please explain the last few minutes, especially the stabbing and magic parts."
• Isadora: "And who's he?" she adds, frowning down at Artanis.
• Egani: "You kind of had to be there." Egani sighs. "OK, let's see...Laura called me when she discovered that Lana's right shoulder had begun to bleed again."
• Artanis realizes that it is getting crowded and starts to get nervous. He looks around for any sign of his sword, discreetly.
• Egani: "So I came out and started working but Vella barged in and started ordering me around. Rather than get huffy, I hoped she knew what she was doing, so I followed her plan and it all went to hell. We were going to lose Lana. Then, Vella did something interesting -- she ejected Lana's spirit, intact(!), and shoved it into another world."
• Okhfels: Okhfels notices Artanis getting nervous, and shoots him a look intended to confirm his anxieties.
• Egani: "At that point, she started berating me and striking me. During this time I kept asking her for information related to saving Lana's life. She was most uncooperative and eventually I decided to use her essence to power a very difficult life-saving maneuver. It worked. Barely."
• Artanis slowly gets up, behind Egani's back as he is giving his explanation. He doesn't seem to notice Okhfels.
• Isadora: "It looks like you used more than her essence," Isadora says mildly, looking at Vella's body. She then looks inquiringly at Laura, curious how this story agrees with her version of events.
• Egani turns to Laura. "I can see that you are uneasy with how I handled this, but as the only living witness, would you disagree with any of what I've just said?"
• Okhfels: Okhfels moves closer to Artanis.
• Artanis notices his runic sword clamped to the workplace and makes a subtle move towards it.
• Egani is oblivious to Artanis.
• Smerf: Laura blinks at Egani, "Um... Vella was yelling at you about essence or magic or something? She said she asked for your power, but I felt you drawing power from me." She looks flustered, "This isn't really something I know much about."
• Egani: "Yes, I drew a little power from all of us once she made it clear that she didn't know how to use refined essence."
• Egani: "The whole thing was such a waste. My poor judgement in trusting her may have cost more than we know."
• Smerf: Laura looks somewhat confused, "But, Egani... The way she was talking it sounded like you weren't doing what she asked you to..."
• Isadora either doesn't notice Artanis or trusts Okhfels to handle it, as she continues talking to the other two. "Neither of you has mentioned the stabbing part, which I must account a hole in the narrative."
• Egani: "Oh, I stabbed her through the heart. I had to mechanically release a whole mess of essentially bound power to fund my effort at saving Lana's departing spirit."
• Smerf: Laura turns to Isadora and speaks at the same time as Egani, "She slapped him and called him an 'arrogant bastard' and then he stabbed her."
• Egani: "This weapon, I must admit, is admirably suited to that chore, too." Egani pats the hilt appreciatively.
• Isadora looks at Lana's body intently, trying to use her new training to get a sense of the woman's spirit.
• Smerf: Isadora goes into a light trance and can see the lines leading from Lana's body into the spirit world. She can not be entirely sure, but it seems that this world is the place she has been working to reach for weeks now.
• Isadora: "Ah..." begins Isadora, eyes unfocused, as Artanis makes his move.
• Artanis lunges for the sword and manages to pull it out of the clamp's hold. Okhfels and Isadora react, but Artanis is already picking up Lana's body and ready to sprint outside.
• Okhfels: Artanis turns towards the door, and finds Okhfels' sword between him and escape. "Going somewhere?" Okhfels asks. Clearly, if he wants to get out quickly, there will be a fight.
• Egani: Startled, and worried for his patient, Egani approaches Artanis from the side, trying to relieve him of his burden.
• Isadora: "I can see where her spirit went," Isadora says into the momentary frozen silence, then her eyes refocus and she blinks at the scene.
• Artanis: "If you let me go with her, I assure you that many problems to your camp will be avoided," he says and makes a dismissive head movement towards Egani.
• Egani: "She is hurt Elf. She might be dying because of your rough treatment."
• Isadora shoots a look at Laura, trying to take a cue from her reaction to Artanis.
• Smerf: Laura steps forward and lays a hand on Artanis' arm, "Artanis, she's still weak. Very weak. I don't know that moving her is a good idea."
• Artanis: "She will be perfectly fine where I bring her to." Artanis doesn't really believe it.
• Artanis: "Let me pass, sir."
• Okhfels: Okhfels laughs. To Isadora, he says, "He called me 'sir'."
• Egani: To no one in particular, "Sebastian is still in that sword. I've been thusfar unable to retrieve him from the demons that live there." Egani shrugs.
• Artanis: Taking advantage of his remark to Isadora, Artanis pushes forward.
• Isadora shoots Okhfels a "stop making me laugh, I'm trying to be serious here" look, and asks Artanis quietly, "Do you know how to find her spirit? In less than a day, we'll be leaving this camp to go to the place where it rests. You could come with us, to bring her back."
• Okhfels: Okhfels gives Isadora the "Oh, now COME ON," look.
• Isadora raises a hand marginally to Okhfels--see how Artanis reacts, first.
• Egani: Egani is attempting to take Lana from the mad elf.
• Smerf: Artanis feints one way, and then somehow manages to slip by as Okhfels moves to intercept him. Egani is hot on his heels, trying to keep him from running off with Lana and doing her serious injury.