11/09/09 - Silencio SpeaksIt was a nice day, late afternoon. The clouds were starting to come over the sun a bit as it readied to set. A slight chill was in the air, reminding Ged in yet another way of Rel being missing. The weather has been typical fall weather instead of Rel's careful monitoring to his own whims. Many leaves outside of the Grove in the surrounding woods and forest had lost their leaves. Inside of the hedge specifically, most of the leaves were dull colors or had fallen to the yard's bottom. The tree in the circle that Rel crafted was practically garish with its bright colors on the background of the dull, the neutral, the bare. Inside the house, Ged heard Janus thanking Aymise for the snack and mentioning he'd be working in the guest room for tonight, not to worry about him for dinner. A lot of people still lived in Rel's home, but without the Master of the House... it just felt wrong.Well, thought Ged, it's time to follow up on what I've been thinking about for a while. Ged paused by the outside kitchen door that led to the porch outside to don his warmer garb of a scarf, coat, and boots. Thumbing through his items, he took a quick stock of ritual inventory: notebooks, his foci, pencils, stones, all there. Confident, he ventured out into the Grove, searching for a dead-wood stick and mentally delighting at the ease of finding one. The young mage carefully etched the Tier rune into the ground in front of him once the stick was acquired, and stood back from it to admire the handiwork for a moment before drawing out one of his stones that held the words 'Yes' and 'No', one on the top side and the other below it. "Fortune Tell!" Ged spoke the verbal to the stone in his palm. "Could the power represented by this rune be used as part of a larger spell to counter the banishment cast on the part of me which is sealed in the mists which cause forgetfulness?" The stone did not move. Hmm, a challenge. "I'll need a more powerful spell, but also that means a better question..." Ged looked through his own lists of runes to construct a more complete spell. Leaves blew lazily about as the young mage placed the Yes/No stone in his pocket and took up the stick once more, lightly tapping it against the ground as he re-read his Rune book. "Hmm... Mantorok, Jiva, Paasa, Jiva, Raje, Mantorok, Tier... Yes, that should do it." He closed the book with a snapping sound, starting to draw on the ground once more with the stick, this time in the way which Tara Harkon and Indana Ward showed to him. A large circle, and spaced along the inner side he drew five five-pointed stars. At the center, a single, larger, five-pointed star; then he carefully stepped out. Using the stick again, Ged brushed seven areas blank: one between each pair of stars along the edge, and two on opposite sides of the middle star. He withdrew the Yes/No stone from his pocket, holding it in his palm. "Fortune Tell! Is this the best diagram to mark the points of a spell using seven runes?" The stone swung to the Yes first, than the No, then gets fumbled. Ged raised an eyebrow as he retrieved the stone. "Fortune Tell! Are questions regarding the magic created by the mage whose personal symbol was a black star difficult to learn the answers to with divinations as a result of said mage being restrained by a spell of banishment?" The stone repeats the same movements. Ged, slightly annoyed, figured he'd get more information out of the spells of this nature if it wasn't limited this time around. Clearly time to switch. He put away the rock and took out the wooden eyeball. Holding it in one hand, he held a pencil in the other while he sat, and propped his notebook open to a blank page. "Fortune Tell! Are questions regarding the magic created by the mage whose personal symbol was a black star difficult to learn the answers to with divinations as a result of said mage being restrained by a spell of banishment?" And he began to write. Yes, because of the banishment you get no help from Rosetta until a few days after the Green & Gold this year. No, because the Black Star Guild has found out more about the Runes as Adventurers have been holding back. There are now some runes that will no longer work evermore. "Neither is good enough!" Ged snapped at the paper. Leaving Rosetta to suffer for the rest of the year-and-a-day will give even further setbacks to the Counselors ever working together. And with Rosetta's help, any work the Black Stars think they have accomplished will be undone. So... Placing the items down, once again Ged picked up the stick. He inscribed runes along the edge of the circle in the blank spaces, with the final two next to the central star. Pargon, Jiva, Paasa, Jiva, Raje, Mantorok, and Tier. He stared at the diagram and then into his eyeball. "Vision: how could this spell be used to counter the Banishment on Rosetta?" Within the iris of the eyeball, Ged saw the decomposing remains of a woman in the woods. A sword was stuck through her, shoved into the ground through her rib cage. She was wearing plain clothes and a wimple, but on her belt he saw a ruined favor, green with moldy splotches and a fungus covering a black star. I can't remove this banishment early... is it due to something that has to do with her? "Fortune Tell, did the act of sending the younger sister of my elven friend who belongs to the same nation as I do secure the banishment?" Ged's pencil kept writing: Sending? Send her where or Sending her what? A letter? What sending? The young mage paused, taking the pencil off the page. "...oops. ...Fortune Tell! When the younger sister of my elven friend who belongs to the same nation as I do was sent to the element shared by the white and purple counselors to the first queen of the faeries, was the banishment secured so that it could not be removed early?" He began to draw Trees, and then a small animal. He added the letters 'woof woof' next to it. Hmmm...that's a Yes, I think, and I'm tapped for fortune tells and visions. But that's not all I have. Ged took out his three-minute hourglass, setting it on the ground in front of him and letting the sand drain through to have a fresh start. He focused on the feelings he had when he had reached out to or had noted Masks' presence. The wind, Spacial feelings, the Dreaming, and mystery... it was all a mystery right now; a terrible tangle. And if it is was one thing Ged disliked, it was tangles. He flipped the hourglass, calling up into the sky, "Masks! I call out to you! Let my voice reach beyond this place and call you to me! I Seance you, Masks! Cnuic na Sidhe, it is Ged, and I seek knowledge pertaining to one of the Counselors, and the element you embody! Point of Sky and Space, I call out to you! Hear my voice and may I see you!" Ged reached out, letting the actual sound of his voice fade away but with the mental force behind the words being sent just as strong: Dreamer, the power of patience and performance! Always there, never seen, yet leaving everyone wanting more in the ways of thought, spirit, and life! Masks, I call to you! There was nothing in response, at first, and then a heavy, quiet presence was with him, by his side. It spoke nothing, and yet Ged got the feeling that this was only but an ounce of its presence, as if it were holding something back. He smiled. "Thank you for coming," he said, while signing 'Thank you'. "I have been trying to learn about what happened to Rosetta. I know you and he never got along, and I may be starting to learn more of the reasons. I still believe that none of us will ever make the progress we want towards truly working together and being Counselors, if we keep our backs turned towards each other." He paused to let that sink in. "And now, Rosetta is trapped. Tortured, in great pain, cut off from everything. It would be as if what happened to you were done again, just after you got your first breaths of true Faerie air again. No one deserves that! I learned that the Banishment was secured, most likely by Xanas Harkon being sent to Space by the Black Star Guild. Do you know anything about this? There are plans to help get her out. Is there a way? Would we be able to reach into Space and pluck her out, restoring her to the Cycle and making Rosetta that much freer?" Ged then fell silent, watching attentively for a sign that he was on the right path. In hind sight, he did wonder how the Silent Counselor *was* going to answer him. There was a pause, like the presence is considering something. It holds for some time. Finally, a small amount of mirth came down the seance line, mixed with a feeling of wanting to assist but still being held back, then confusion about being seanced in general. The space around Ged grew colder as the sun sank down, creating twilight. Aymise, inside, had only a couple of lamps running with less workers at the home. Lady Tarnisha herself seemed to be absent, so the workers were on break, dining on the deer they were able to acquire in market. One of the workers even volunteered to do the dishes so Aymise didn't have to get up on the bum foot. There is quite the sumptuous yet simple feast taking place, and even one worker has broken out an accordion and starting leading the men in songs from The Bar and Wench. Ged tuned it all out with a sigh, double-checking that all his protection enchantments were up and running. Guess it used to be easier for Masks to actually appear during Seances. I guess I should find out why it's still held back next time I have access to Seer magic. The runes drawn at Ged's feet became covered by the wind and the leaves in the grove, however, the leaves are in an odd pattern on the ground: almost like a trapezoid with a bum leg. Ged smiled. "Nice to see you at least in one way, Masks." Ged could feel the mirth as the presence shifted, bearing down upon Ged's shoulders. Ged then got an idea. A little clumsily but knowing the theory, he attempted to bend forward and move his arms and shoulders as if to flip something off his back over his head. Not that he wanted to be rid of Masks in any way, however it sure would be amusing for both of them if he were to catch the being by surprise and out-athletic him, if only once. But the man-turned-elf found nothing to grasp. There wasn't anything there, but a growing frustration was forming down the line. The Seance timer had since ran out of sands, but yet the presence was still there in the Grove with the young mage. "Hmm." Ged looked all around carefully, not seeing anything out of the ordinary within the Grove. He moved to stand in the middle of the trapezoid, which at least in his mind, was Masks' symbol, and chants "Pargon Raje Isa." Power Light Silence. Let me see him. There wasn't any magical response to Ged's casting. He sighed vocally. Darn, not even to a three-point. How else?! He made a face, thinking as he looked about his person, patting down the clothes and finding a small bit of candle in his pocket. Drawing if forth, Ged sheltered the candle with his hand, lighting it with a simple casting. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he spoke another verbal to help him figure out where to go. "I open my mind to visions from throughout the planes around me! If I cannot see you in this domain, Masks, perhaps another! Dream!" If I can use the spell I knows so well to attune myself to the Dreamer in another way, then this may save me a lot of time in the long run. The candle was sheltered from the wind, true, but then with a short gust the flame was snuffed now. An irritated look crossed the young mage's face as the brief smoke created curled into the air past Ged's ears. And in that smoke, he heard the lightest of whispers: "mark me down." The three spoken words send Ged reeling, vertigo affected and his ears and skull feeling like some one or some thing just boxed/bashed it in three different directions. Tossed about like a tree in a wind-storm, Ged's entire body flings itself to the ground as a shower of leaves, dirt, and branches rise up in all directions. --- Um, am I still alive? I am. Wow, I feel honored. Fumbling slowly around to locate his glasses, Ged realized the enchantment for his sash of that allowed him to resist Death once was not running. Repairing the glasses and throwing them onto his face, he spent a moment looking at his surroundings, including the smoke and debris he was sitting among, to see if there are any details he didn't notice before. Satisfied (and a bit in awe of the destruction), he quickly dove for his notebook and pencil under a branch, writing down Masks' symbol, and steadied himself, trying to see what happened, what was meant by "mark me down". Maybe it meant to write something other than Masks' symbol? A pause. His 'Protection from Magic' enchantment was down as well. Ged was safe, he reasoned as he looked around once more at the upheaval three little words caused. A little tickle down one ear lobe had him shift the pencil to scratch, but he drew back blood and swallowed hard. Safe, but barely. The area where Ged was casting in, was spoken to - all the earth had been upturned, all the leaves gone - either scattered or pressed into the earth, the couple of trees near-by were bent away from Ged, perhaps permanently. All the noise that was outside, Ged could barely hear. Also: no birds, owls, crickets, nothing. Wow. But there's no time to think about the implications of all this right now; I need to think! There's a message trying to get through, I have to figure out how to get it! As for the mark Ged made on the paper, it was pressed down hard onto the notebook's page. Ged turned his focus back toward it, with the broken trapezoid with a line through it, a backwards L for a leg...? It was all there, at the top of the page. He held his pencil beneath it and tried to focus; tried to see if anything urged him to write ...well, anything! Whether he felt anything pushing him, any sense at all of another presence. The symbol began to tear and crumble, folding in unique and quick ways, eventually forming a very small three-dimensional paper doll with a mask on its face. "Hmmm...." Ged slowly and carefully lifted the small figure up to eye-level and peered at it intently. It waved. Ged smiled widely, and waves back with his free hand. Then, holding the tiny paper doll carefully in his hand, Ged leans back and quickly re-cast his spells. "Most powerful spell of all, the ability to cheat death. With this spell I fear no monster, blade, nor magic. Armor has nothing on this. Let it be known that I can Resist Death. I am the Mage of Faerie. I am composed of Fire and Space. Space is the element of magic. Magic is at my command. I command magic not to harm me and thus am protected from it. Protection from Magic." And with that, Ged bent to sit back up, and looked closely at the doll. It gave a slight bow and sat, gesturing up with a hand at Ged as if to say, 'So, talk.' "I don't want Rosetta to be left, unable to see or even move again, for a full year. If we have any hope of repairing ancient wrongs, they will be ruined by this. I am aware that he has suffered; directly and much worse, and that he himself did the same to every other Counselor. But from what I have seen, there are things the Counselors need to do now. And that means working together somehow. He can't be left like this. So, I want to weaken it, get him back to at least where he had been with me. But my divinations have shown that this can't happen now, because of something connected to a Black Star woman of the Hammer sect, and I think I know what that means." He looked at the doll. "It must be Xanas Harkon having been put in Space. And that's why I wanted to converse with you. Do you think it would be possible, if we were to come up with the right plan, for someone to retrieve Xanas from Space, and would that help Rosetta?" The doll began to make gestures and signs rapidly, but Ged recognized that at its size he was not going to be able to see much. "I'll try to keep it to yes and no questions," he added quickly. The doll shook its head. It then pointed in a couple of directions, gestured behind its head, and then shook it once more, signing NOT-CORRECT. "Oh. Which part is not correct? Is it the assumption that this is about Xanas?" The doll nodded. "Oh! Hmmm...could it be Iris Rose Harkon, rather than Xanas? Though if so, I'll have some bad news for Tara. I suspected it, though." The doll rolled its head, an over-stated gesture of eye-rolling as frustration streamed through the presence down the line to Ged. It gave a hop, a skip, and a jump across the paper, landing a bit closer to Ged's face by climbing unseen stairs. Then it waved its arms as if to say, 'No! No, no... start again.' "Okay, okay, sorry! So, not the Harkon children. So, something in connection to the Black Star woman, now deceased, caused the banishment to be irreversible. Do you know what it was?" The doll rolled its head, waving its arms as if to say, 'No! Start again.' "Okay," the tone coming across slightly annoyed, now. "Rosetta is banished, and I don't want him suffering like that, I think it's bad, if nothing else for diplomacy; even if I can't get anyone to agree with me that it shouldn't be done because of humanitarian concerns. Is this a good start?" The doll nodded, signing out: 'One cannot undo the banishment because it is YOUR high level magic. Only YOUR high level magic can counter it. Whatever might undo a Banishment is what you seek, on your High Magic terms. Next question.' The doll sat upon Ged's knee as the Mage took a little while to process the signs he saw. "Oh. I see. That's why the first ritual I worked out required an Intervention, a Magus, a Knight of the Red Branch, and a priestess. Our magic. No Runes, no tricks. Right?" The doll nodded. 'I can see no Rosetta, so did you did not do this ritual.' It scrunched up briefly, acting as if bound, and then stretches. 'Now the why?' it signed. Ged sighed, the annoyed tone leaving and replaced with one sounding ashamed. "I was too indecisive, and didn't act fast enough. It meant that, when the time came, I did not have either the people or the resources I needed. We traveled to him, I hear, but I do not remember the events and I know that all we accomplished was learning a little. I don't know if the same ritual would work in the future if I do get the people I would need together, but I should find that out. I was also told that I was forgetting something big, involving my plans with the ritual, but don't know what." The doll shrugged before signing. 'The Mysts are dangerous. There is a reason Rosetta is locked within, Ged. Please remember this in all your dealings from here on out. Next question.' Ged looked troubled. "Well, there is a reason he is locked within... but we still all are needed... aren't we?" He gazed upon the doll. "Do you, yourself, think that this guiding force for me is true? Do the Counselors have a duty to fulfill to current Faerie?" The doll merely shrugged again and signed carefully, slowly: 'The whim of the way is the weight of the will.' Suddenly, it looked over its shoulder as if something were bearing down on it, and then with a giant 'whoosh' the leaves scattered further from Ged as the wind picked up in his area. The doll became naught much more than crumpled paper as the presence left the Grove. Aymise, the house-keeper and hunter, called out to Ged that he would catch cold, and to come in and eat something. Stretching out the legs and then coming to a slow stand, Ged had a lot to think about but was pretty tapped for magic, let alone his own personal energy. A yawn escaped from the young Mage. It was time to think, rest, and recuperate. However, I've got one more thing to do tonight, Ged thinks, and pens very quickly a short letter... Dear Dame Jeyde Thunderwalker, This is long overdue. What with becoming his follower and then his imprisonment, I should have asked for this much sooner. But at least I am now. Jeyde, could you please tell me, sometime, about the story of Rel and Ascerbus? I have only heard fragments and pieces up until now, and I owe it to him to learn what I can from one who was there and deeply involved. So, if you are willing, I would like to meet with you some time soon and hear the story. Sincerely, Ged Loremipsum Clan Rua Thar Cinn Chimeron And with that, Ged sends it away. |
Created by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 08-12-11 03:43 PM
Last Modified by Janna Oakfellow-Pushee at 08-12-11 03:44 PM