The Tale of the Ugly Troll (cont. Part III)

[TheMuse]

Jena nodded her head and then quickly rose to her feet: almost a little too quickly, for the blood rushed to her head and caused her to wobble. Once she gained her footing, she wiped her face and brushed herself off. She could not face Galein or Faironi, eye to eye, so she kept her head turned as she spoke.

"Yes, it's about time we...moved...on." How strange that seemed to sound coming from Jena.

She coughed hard, her throat dry and scratchy, and desperately needing water.

[ 02-27-2005, 07:31 AM: Message edited by: TheMuse ]

[Saliarasri]

Fairioni nods and starts walking again, but before she does, she hands Jena her cantina.

"I'm not really that thirst y right now, so go ahead and drink from it. I can get some water later."

She keeps walking, lost in thought

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

Galein rolls to his feet, and without another word, begins walking towards the pass in the vale - towards the exit, and ultimately, towards the cave. Something in his eyes have changed, and he no longer seems to wish to have questions answered, no, instead, he wants a recokoning...

[TheMuse]

Jena smiled as Faironi hands her the waterskin. She closes her eyes, tilts her head back and swallows just a small trickle of water at first. She breaks for a moment, glances at Faironi, and ponders whether or not she should consume any more. It would be rude to finish it off, yet she was incredibly thirst: more so than usual. It was not usual for Jena to take advantage of what others offered.

Sighing and shrugging, she swallows the rest of the water impulsively, and several drops landed on her face and chest. After she is done, she wipes her faces and quickly hands the cantina back to Faironi. "Thank you, Faironi..."

Jena glances up and watches with raised eyebrows Galein as he walks toward the pass. She sighs and runs her hand quickly through her long dark hair, glancing back and forth from the lifeless body nearby to Galein.

Despite his short, miserable life on this world, Jena respected her brother as now being deceased, and for merely being her older brother and the thoughts, events, and memories they had shared together in their younger days, and she could not allow his body to remain here as it was: for creatures of the wild to come feed on it at their leisure. Not that they would, of course, considering he had poision in him, yet she could not leave him here to rot.

Another reason she needed to finalize his buriel was because her mourning phase was not complete. There seemed to be so many open ends and terrible circumstances. No, she was not yet ready to move on.

"Faironi, why don't you go with Galein. I have....things to attend to before moving on, and I can wait here for the others when they are ready (either asleep or caught up, whatever the case may be.)"

[dplax]

OOC: Finally I'm back after a week's absence.

Do we regain HP during the travel of several days?

Drusalia ??/22

After the interminable tunnels the sunshine and the soft embrace of nature was most welcome. All Drusalia did was sit, with her back pressed against the trunk of a tree as she enjoyed the cool breeze and the singing of the birds. She saw Faironi, Aeriah and Jena walk off deeper into the vale, but for the moment Drusalia was content to just sit there, with her thoughts wandering off. As she sat there a sleepfullness overcame her and she fell asleep.

OOC: we discussed what she might dream about some time ago Colin, I'm just not sure whether you allow it to happen this time. Therefore I'm holding back on the rest of the post until I hear from you.

[Saliarasri]

Fairioni takes it "We'll be back.." as she smiles at her, "Sorry on your loss." is all she says as she keeps walking


[ 02-28-2005, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: Saliarasri ]

[dplax]

Drusalia ??/22

Dreaming is a strange state of mind. Many are those who have tried to understand why we dream, and even more are those who try giving meaning to dreams. For Drusalia, asleep beside the tree, her dreams did not bring any comfort. As the sun moved and the shadow of the tree reached her so did she feel shadows starting to move in her dreams. As the shadows shifted and moved Drusalia saw moments of her recent past.

She saw Verrion lying next to her in the tent and watching her. A flash and the image was replaced by her argument with Aeriah. Another flash and she saw a house, a house she had not seen in the last month. A house she had seen before losing her memories. The vision blurred before Drusalia could recognize any more details and was replaced by a fast paced movement. Movement through a forest. The vision looked at the same time totally unknown and then again strangely familar.

Another flash and she saw the house again. She entered and walked up the stairs. A dead body was in the study with a diary in front of it. Drusalia picked up the diary, but before she could read any of the words the vision faded again. She saw this time a table. A table around which dozens of guests were sitting. Drusalia saw the man she had just previously seen as dead and she also saw herself sitting next to him. Not far down the table she thought she could see a familiar face, but sight of it was blocked by a servant bringing food. When the servant got up the vision faded and Drusalia did not get a good look at the man's face. All she had seen had been the man's right hand resting on the table.

The vision of the diary in her hands came back and she saw the first two words. They gave the exact date. Barely two months ago. Then before she could read any further she woke with a start.

Who had been the man she had seen at a banquet and then dead? The anger and sorrow she had felt when she had spotted the dead body had been unmistakeable. The man had meant a lot for Drusalia.

She looked around herself. An hour, maybe two had passed while she had been dreaming. She saw Verrion sitting on a rock a few feet away watching her.

"Sleep well?" - he asked putting his hand on his knees preparing to stand up.

Drusalia turned and smiled at Verrion and then spotted his hand. The same hand she had seen at the banquet.

"Verrion. I think we have met in our lives before losing our memories. I have just had a series of flashbacks and I saw your hand in one of them."

[dplax]

OOC: Posting for Bozos as he is busy until the end of the weekend and Colin asked me to take over for a post, and Bozos agreed to this.

Verrion and Drusalia

The look of surprise on Verrion's face was only mild. He could see that what Drusalia had seen had greatly troubled her. Walking over he put his hands around her and after planting a kiss on her forehead looked into her eyes.

"Do you want to tell me what you have seen?"

Drusalia lifted up Verrion's hand and looked at it for several seconds. She wanted to be sure that it was what she had seen. And it was.

"I'm not sure. I can't make much of what I have seen, yet I feel deep inside that it greatly troubles me."

Verrion smiled. He was not going to force her, if she did not want to tell him about it now. He was nearly sure that in time he would learn anyway. Drusalia with a sudden movement put her arms around him and Verrion could see fear in her eyes. Fear. But of what?

"Verrion. I am afraid of the truth. I'm afraid of what the knowledge of the past could bring. What if I knew you before losing my memories? What if our relationship was non-friendly, or worse?"

Drusalia took a deep breath and sighed.

"I am happy with you now, and I'm not sure whether I would want to lose you."

Verrion looked into Drusalia's eyes and he could see his own fears reflected in them. He could not help but ask himself the question of whether he wanted to lose Drusalia and regain his memories. What if he had been a bad man before losing his memories?

"Whatever has happened between us in the past, in the last few weeks we have gone through things together which will have profoundly changed whatever relationship we have had. I can not promise anything, but if after I regain my memories I have the choice of choosing between you and someone else I would choose you."

Drusalia did not know what to reply and but mouthed a silent thank you to Verrion.

"I hope that with the knowledge of our pasts both of us shall be given that choice."

They kissed. They then took each other's hands and started walking away from the cave, in a direction which happened to be the way the others had gone. But they had only gone a few hundred meters when Drusalia stopped and turning to Verrion said:

"I saw someone else in my vision also. A man, about thirty years older than you. I saw him at the a banquet. The same banquet where due to a servant standing ahead of you, I saw but your hand. This man was sitting at the end of the table in the place of honor, and I was sitting next to him, with you several seats down. I saw him in a different flashback also. I saw him in a house. He was lying dead in the study of this house. He had a diary next to him and I picked up the diary, yet when I started reading it my vision faded. That diary felt so important."

Drusalia then described the man, but Verrion did not recognize him. He felt that Drusalia had seen some of her past. But he did not know whether this was a good or a bad thing.

"Dru, whatever happens when or if we regain our memories, I would like you to know that I truly love you now."

With his arm around her waist he pulled Drusalia close to him and they kissed passionately. Lost in the kiss Drusalia did not watch where she put her foot and she stumbled falling and drawing down Verrion with her. But the grass was gentle here and when they fell they were not hurt. They turned to each other and continued kissing and caressing each other. They were just about to be completely carried away by their passion when Drusalia heard movement among the bushes.

Verrion also heard it and springing up drew his weapon. A frightened looking bird flew out from among the bushes and quickly disappeared on the other side of the path. Drusalia and Verrion looked at each other and slowly both of them started laughing. Verrion put away his weapon and they continued along the path.

Ten minutes later they spotted the others.

[TheMuse]

Jena prepared a proper burial for her brother: mother would have wanted it that way. Of course as she eventually laid his body in the ground she was extremly cautious as to avoid the poision on and around him. The blue-eyed half-elf had gathered some wildflowers and placed them on top of the dirt mound where her brother's body now lay. During the preparation process, Jena had gotten filthy from clawing in the dirt with her bare hands. This did not bother her, however, as she was too intent on saying her goodbye's to the only sibling she had.

As she kneeled beside his resting place, Jena lowered her head and closed her eyes. Her long dark tousles flapped in the wind, and she spoke softly as the words came muffled and soft.

"Rest in peace, James." She tossed one final flower on his body, and keeping her head lowered, she prayed silently. She prayed that whatever he had done in this world could be forgiven: for even though she forgave him it would be likely that others could not. Jena was, in her heart, hurt deeply, but the pain was significantly less than if she had held a grudge.

After several more tears shed, Jena finally raised her head, wiped the tears, and rose to her feet.

She jogged ahead, without letting any emotions consume her, and finally she caught up with Faironi and Galein. She inhaled and exhaled deeply in an attempt to catch her breath. Sighing, she wiped a smudge of dirt from her face. By this time, she was covered in dirt, blood and sweat from her jogging.

Ahead she could see Drusalia and Verrion in the distance. She turned, not wanting them to she her blood shot eyes nor the grime that covered her clothing and body.

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

When Fai, Jena, and whom-so-ever else follows, they find Galein stepping coldly over a corpse - one of those who followed James. Behind him, lay another corpse, and it seemed as though he was tracking them down, one by one... he is silent, his aura chill and his eyes are icy; with no mercy within their glass-green orbs...