The Paths of the Guardians: I The Waking Forest [Samheen 27]

[Elvin Motricé]

The leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. No sound disturbed the peaceful tranquillity of the ancient wood. Gargantuan trees rose 30 metres and more up into the air. Because of the density of leaves spanning overhead the light that fell through the leaves created a strange green twilight. A strange forest this was, the air felt heavy as if the weight of its uncounted years were somehow conveyed to everything else. The wood was quiet, as if it waited for something to happen…

BOOM

The earth ripples, trees shake and quite a number of leaves floats down slowly as an explosion shakes the forest. As soon as the silence sets back in again, it’s noticeable that the atmosphere of the wood has changed. The air seemed almost static so laden it was with anticipation. Without warning a voice rips through the silence of the wood.

“YOU FOOL! YOU CAN’T GET IT RIGHT EVEN ONCE, CAN YOU! MOTHER BE BLESSED! IF I GET BACK I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS, NOLA!”

A whole series of curses in several languages unknown to the listener followed the first shout in the stranger. Might one be interested in this disturber of the almost sacred silence he, judging from the voice it was definitely a he, would easily be found.

Walking straight for the source of this noise gave some strange effects. Slowly the light grew brighter as the distance between the shouter and yourself diminishes.

“YOU CAN’T EVEN DO A TRAVELLING RIGHT YOU HALF-WITTED EXCUSE FOR A SHNAETAK!”

A clearing came in sight. A clearing formed by several of the gargantuan trees that had apparently been felled by a great explosion. In the middle of the clearing an Adhiel stood, stomping on the ground and sputtering curses as he frantically patted his clothing from which whisps of smoke rose.

OOC: feel free to join in. This is going to be the revival of a NPC. Time to practice my 'rusty' writing skills!

[Guest]

ooc: I'm new to this game, and this is my first venture into Tazlure-spelled-backwards.


ic:
Latharn was delighted; the young Achadhiel had not expected to find such an old and wise forest as this on the Isle of Dort. The air that rustled through the stout, high branches of the ancient trees was laden with their memories and secrets. In some ways, this forest felt like home, like the venerable woods of Caliboirneabh. But there was little question that it was not, nor was it anyplace he recognized from near the abbey, albeit he was still quite new to its environs.

Was he in the waking world at all? He did not remember setting out from the Abbey into the surrounding countryside at all; in fact, the last thing he remembered clearly was retiring to his quarters late eventide. Perhaps he was asleep and dreaming. He often had his strangest and most vivid dreams on his first few nights of sleeping in an unfamiliar place. He-

BOOM!!

Latharn suddenly felt the ground convulse, and his legs buckled partially as if some impudent companion had kicked him in the back of his knees. His chest shook and his bowels rumbled from a concussion of air that that pelted him from everywhere and nowhere. With his ears still ringing from the deafening report, Latharn felt more than heard the frantic scurrying of frightened birds, and the clatter of dislodged branches falling from nearby trees. Though the shock had seemed to strike from all around, the appearance of a cloud of dust told him that the source of the explosion was some place in front of him and slightly to the left.

It was hardly Latharn's first thought to head in that direction to investigate. Anxiously he reached over his shoulder for his bow, and cursed himself silently when he realized that he did not have it with him. He earnestly hoped that this was a dream; he certainly had no wish to confront unarmed whatever was powerful enough to cause such an explosion on the Tether. Still, he had no idea where he was, and running off in a random direction didn't seem particularly prudent. He crouched low near a tree and waited quietly, both for the ringing in his ears to subside so that he could hear better, and to see what would happen next.

The first sound to come to the young priest's recovering ears was the angry voice shouting out in several idioms, most of which he did not understand. From what words he could make out, the creature seemed to be berating some other party for its stupidity. Crouching behind his tree, Latharn wondered for a moment whether this being was what had unleashed the awful destructive power he had just experienced, but then decided that this was probably not the case. If such a powerful being were angry, it would still be blasting away at the surrounding trees, not standing in a smoke-filled clearing yawping at them.

Latharn at last got his courage up and resolved to approach nearer the source of the commotion. If this *were* really happening on Dort, the monks at the Abbey would want to know more from him than just "I heard this really loud noise in the woods"; notwithstanding his reservations, Latharn felt obliged to look into things more closely. And if this *was* just a dream, well, then it was just a dream. Breathing a quick prayer to the Mother to protect him, the half-elf walked cautiously towards the edge of the sawdust- and smoke-filled clearing, his eyes tearing from the harsh particles filling the air. He could just make out a humanoid form, possibly an elf of some sort, standing amidst a tumbled heap of shattered trees. There was little question that this creature was the source of the shouting Latharn had heard a moment ago. He did not immediately approach or greet the creature, standing instead in the shade of one of the still-standing trees nearby, quietly waiting to see what this apparition would do next.

[Elvin Motricé]

Slowly the stream of foul language died away as the Adhiel surveyed his surroundings. “I’ld kill you if you weren’t who you are, Nola…” he said with a hint of sadness, “such destruction. We used to…”

The strange man suddenly stopped and peered intensely at a spot in front of him. At first it was almost unnoticeable: a vauge sparkle of greenish light seemed to float in the air. Slowly the sparkle grew in intensity and size until it was a bright shining orb.

A knowing and sad smile played around the Elf’s lips as the orb suddenly stretched to a more human form. In an instant the light had disappeared and a woman of otherworldly beauty stood on the clearing.

She was completely naked and her skin had a strange greenish sheen to it, long auburn hair rolled over her naked back and touched her hips. She radiated love, desire and longing. A radiance hard to resist, for most even impossible. Something coiled like a snake through his insides, an instinctive knowing that this woman was dangerous.

“Most Honoured,” the woman spoke in a voice as soft as a breeze, “You must save them! You have the power. This is your responsibility,” her voice got an edge of desperation “, Save my friends!”

“Most Beloved,” the Adhiel replied solemn, “You know full well that since the Traitor’s upcome I no longer hold such power. Even before it’s applications were sparse. It’s only by the will of our Mother that I could do so and this is not her will.”

The woman started to cry truly heartbreaking. “Even dreams are not safe anymore then!” she shouted to the Adhiel who looked at her with pity, “What has happened? Has everything fallen apart?”

The Most Honoured Adhiel sighed: “Almost, Beloved, almost… The world is changing rapidly and that what we hold dear might be destroyed in the ensuing battle,” he frowned, “A dream you say? I can not…” he closed his eyes.

They suddenly flew open: “A dream! Yes! Of course! Here I still can…” He knelt down and frantically began to draw something in the dirt. The strange woman quieted a bit as she saw what the Adhiel was doing. Still crying softly she looked at what the Adhiel was doing.

The rooftop of tree next to Latharn suddenly rustled, which was strange seeing that there was no wind… The woman’s head snapped up and her piercing green eyes looked straight at the young apprentice healer.

Green? How could he know that they were green? He was too far off to actually see the colour of her eyes. Yet as soon as she had looked in his direction her face filled his thoughts and her eyes pierced him to his place. Tears still streaming and falling softly on her breasts. Come out… It was not a question but a command…

OOC: No problemo. Welcome to Tazlure! I hope you'll enjoy this story. If you have any remarks you can always pm me

[Guest]

Latharn could only watch in awe and listen in wonder at what unfolded before him. As strange as the rather noisy entrance of the disgruntled elf had been, what followed after was weirder still: a green light appeared in mid-air, soon taking the shape of an equally green woman. The young priest felt an icy churning sensation in his guts that bid him beware of this creature; nor was that the only sensation that stirred in his lower body, for in addition to being alien and powerful, this being was beautiful and desirable beyond anything he knew on Tazlure. His eyes drank in her naked form, and he could feel his heart and lungs heave against his ribcage like mad prisoners hammering the bars of their cells.

While he stared longingly in spite of himself at the wondrous female, she and the elf began to talk. They acted as if they knew one another, and spoke knowingly about things Latharn did not understand: Who were these friends of whom this woman spoke? How was the elf supposed to save them, and with what powers? Who was this Traitor? A glimmer of both hope and recognition sparked in the achadhiel's mind when the elf mentioned "our Mother". Perhaps they could be allies rather than enemies. By the time the exquisite green creature began to weep, Latharn was on the verge of bursting out of his hiding place to step forward and comfort her, and greet her as a friend. The strength of this urge made him uneasy, however, and he waited and hid still.

The aspiring young healer did not get to hesitate long. Something rustled in the branches of his tree, and the woman raised her head and looked straight at him. In spite of the stretch of smoke-filled forest that separated them, there was no question that she saw him, and he her. Her eyes pierced him like green crossbow bolts. Time froze; though his heart still raced, he could not breathe. He could somehow see her as if she were right in front of him, the color of her eyes, the stream of tears down her neck, the stray strands of her hair, the texture of her flawless green skin, the shape of her breasts. Desire stirred in him again, and he wondered for a moment if this were going to be one of *those* kind of dreams, and immediately regretted wondering this. He had a painful, shameful sense that she could hear his every thought, including his impure ones.

Come out she called to him, and something seemed to pull him up from within. The feeling of lost control was deeply unsettling to Latharn, and as he stood there miserably exposed to the creature, feeling as naked and exposed in spirit as she was in body, he found himself sending up a plea to his Goddess. K'tan protect me! he prayed silently, reverting to his native name for the Mother in his stress. Divine Mother, I am powerless here. I have no weapons, no magic, no skills of tongue or arms. Guide me and protect me. I put myself in your hands. Give me the strength to manage this.

Somehow, in spite of his awe and terror at the green female's powerful presence, in spite of the swirling chaos of emotions within him, another, less self-centered thought came to him. And provide some way to help her.

Willing himself to breathe, to stand upright and walk calmly, Latharn stepped forward towards the pair of strangers as confidently as he could. "I salute the world in you both," he said as loudly and confidently as he could manage, which was not very, as he always felt odd speaking loudly. "I hope you will forgive me for spying on you from hiding, but I..." was absolutely terrified out of my mind "...I was not certain if I should approach you. You - you seem to know one another and why you are here. I..." Latharn paused here, realizing what he was about to say sounded stupid: "I do not. -know why I am here, that is."

Awkwardly and almost helplessly he looked back and forth between the two strangers. Dream or no, he had a strong sense that these next few moments, and how these two reacted to him in that interval, were crucial to something, possibly to everything. Even as this thought crossed the achadhiel's mind, he realized to his annoyance that he had no idea what it meant.

[Elvin Motricé]

As his desire stirred in him again he could feel the amusement of the amusement of the woman washing over him. As he walked she projected another feeling in his mind, one that was too alien for him to fully comprehend but it seemed some kind of invitation…

The otherworldly creature remained watching him as he approached. Her eyes wandered over his body unashamed, taking in every detail carefully. She seemed to like what she saw: a slight smile played around her reddish brown lips. She remained silent however and the contact he had felt before had faded.

The Adhiel ignored Latharn completely and kept drawing. As he entered the clearing he could finally take a look at the Elf’s work. Complex geometrical patterns wound outward, spirals and symbols entwined in the manifold forks that branched off from the centre of the crater left by the explosion.

“You know. I always found that a strange expression. How can you salute the world in someone? I do know what they mean by it but it gives those with no significant intellect or empathic feeling a wrong idea of their place in the whole. Everyone is part of the world. Everyone must abide to the same principles of reality.”

He stood up and dusted off his hands: “There are people who think they are intelligent by stating numerous examples of things that did no abide by the principles of reality. What they tend to forget is that their understanding of reality is far from perfect. Failing to understand the nature of reality can be quite dangerous in places where possibilities expand.”

“For instance,” the Elf raised a slender finger and quickly sketched a complicated rune in the air, his finger carving what seemed to be furrows of energy into the air. With a complex wave of his hand he sent the sign spinning towards the centre of his drawing. The rune grew until it touched all patterns around it. It’s liquid light spread like a bonfire through the patterns, through the twists and turns. The more of the drawing was filled the more intense the light became until it was impossible to see anything.

“There’s the possibility that I never arrived here in the fashion that I did and that everything had remained as it was,” the Adhiel’s voice sounded right before the world went crazy. To Latharn’s feeling everything seemed to move and stay in the same place all at the same time.

Suddenly his vision was restored and the clearing with the fallen trees was no longer there. All around him the forest was normal. No uprooted trees, no dust and falling leaves and… no strange woman.

“My name is Eawenn,” the Elf introduced himself as he inspected their new surroundings and nodded, “A fine piece of work, even if I say so myself!”

[Guest]

Spurred on by his own feelings, and by the strange woman's response to him, Latharn came closer. He had no idea what he was doing, what he would say if and when she spoke to him. He felt her eyes on his body, and had to look down to ensure that he was still wearing clothes; he would hardly have been the first person to find himself inexplicably undressed in a dream. He found himself not caring if he were, especially when the green apparition gave him that bewitching smile.

Latharn frowned a bit when the elf began talking, and not merely because his voice ruined the moment. His comments about the greeting seemed odd. "What does it mean, othi?" replied the young priest: " Everybody just uses it to mean Hello, Namaste." He shrugged, aware that his comment sounded prosaic and simple. "Nobody I know thinks it literally says something about their special place in the world, but then you probably know more people than I do, othi."

The young achadhiel's puzzlement grew as he continued to listen to the other. It all sounded metaphysical, what this adhiel said, the sort of stuff he was sure to learn soon enough in his studies at the Abbey: we are all part of the world...if we think something does not conform to reality,it is because we misunderstand reality...things might just as easily have been different than they are... He could not tell whether all this talk contained some deep revelation of truth, or was just a string of clever, shallow truisms. Latharn was also puzzled by what the figures were supposed to be that the elf drew, first on the ground, and then, magically, in the air. The aspirant did not know runes or glyphs, and nothing in the elf's manner indicated how, if at all, what he was doing with his hands related to what he was saying. Uncertainly, Latharn ventured one more look at the green woman, who was still smiling at him.

The vertigo was sudden, intense, and completely unexpected. Everything seemed to spin and blur around him, and for a moment he thought he was about to faint. He had felt that way before when he had spun around too quickly while playing or dancing, or when he had held his breath too long while swimming, but he could not attach any cause to this abrupt dizziness. Fortunately, it lasted only a moment. However, when he looked around once his senses had returned to normal, much had changed. Where he, the elf, and the woman had formerly stood in among recently-blasted trees, they now stood in pristine forest -and "they" now included only himself and the elf, for to his dismay and disappointment, the woman was gone.

Startled and astonished, Latharn barely noticed when the elf spoke again and introduced himself. "Wh-what? Who?" he blurted, momentarily forgetting his manners. "Ah, yes, namaste," he added as he remembered them. "I am Latharn mac Seitheach; I don't remember if I said that already." He looked around at the altered forest as Eawenn asked his question. "A fine piece of work, I guess," he agreed politely, although to tell the truth he had thought the woman a far finer piece of work, and did not consider her disappearance much of an improvement. The young priest was not exactly certain what the elf was referring to: did he mean that the change he had apparently just wrought, or was he perhaps referring to everything they could see? Was he taking credit for everything in the dream?

He remained silent for several moments, letting this all sink in, and not quite sure what to say. At last he turned towards his neighbor and asked: "Who was that woman? And where did she go?"

[Elvin Motricé]

Eawenn smiled: “I was wondering when you’ld ask. It’s difficult for youth to ignore the call of nature. Luckily by your own wisdom and by your calling your experience wasn’t twisted like it sometimes is by others that don’t have some form of mental resistance.”

He looked at Latharn: “I’m not making a whole lot of sense to you, am I?” The Adhiel smiled a sad smile, “One of the downsides of living through century after century is that you often forget that others don’t know some things that have become evident over the years.”

“Let me approach this in terms you can understand and relate to. She’s a dryad, a soul that lives within a tree,” he looked at Latharn and smiled, “Surely you should know why she has gone? She reached her purpose,” he motioned to the trees around them, “I restored her friends back to their original state. That was her only purpose to come out. Had I not been who I am she’ld have killed me for what I have done,” again he smiled sadly, “Or at least she’ld have tried.”

“Now let me answer your first question,” Eawenn said after a small pause, “And I must apologize for ignoring it earlier but sometimes an answer needs to wait until it is the appropriate time to give it. The Adhiel only use it as a greeting, yes. And in doing so most of them have forgotten the true meaning of those words. My reply to your greeting was to gauge your capabilities. It truly doesn’t give a meaning to your special place in the world. It’s to remind you that you are a part of the world and by doing so that all others view you equally and treat you with some measure of respect. An old friend of mine used to say: you can ignore the world all you want. But you keep stepping on it. But maybe, if you ignore it hard enough you’ll step off it. Now where would you land then?”

The strange man laughed softly: “A ludicrous way of formulating it, of course. But it has a resounding truth in it. And it is a good way to teach of course. Answers shouldn’t be just handed down. If you give a student a problem or the answer in the form of a riddle he can find his own wisdom from it. Then he can extract the meaning from it that lies closest to his own heart.”

The Adhiel stood up: “But I’m wandering away from our conversation. Another downside of old age, I guess… Before we continue talking I have on request though. If you must refer to me by something else then my own name then do not use othi. Use daini, after all ancient is what I am! I’m even older then these trees,” he looked around and whispered to himself, “Most of them I planted here myself…”

[Guest]

The old adhiel certainly was not making much sense to the young acolyte of the Mother, and Latharn would have understood little of what he said even if he had been giving Eawenn his undivided attention, as opposed to scanning the trees longingly for some last glimpse of the beautiful apparition who had just vanished so suddenly.

Resistance? he thought as his mind gradually turned more fully to the strange elf's words. He turned towards Eawenn with the question on his face, but did not speak it aloud.

When Eawenn explained who the woman was, and why she was there, the achadhiel's first thought was to ask him if he could destroy some more trees so that she would come back, but he quickly stifled that thought, realizing that it was foolish. He remembered the uncanny feeling of foreboding that had first stirred within him as he saw her, and so he took Eawenn's statement that she would have killed him to heart.

"I sensed somehow that she was both powerful and dangerous," he agreed. "As desirable as she was, she was also terrifying in a way. Now that she's gone I want...I both want to see her again and never to see her again, if that makes any sense." He realized that this probably sounded odd, and looked somewhat sheepishly at Eawenn, hoping that the adhiel wouldn't think he was making fun of the ancient one's cryptic manner of speech.

A bit of resentment flared up in him when the elf talked about the greeting and its "riddle". So the adhiel was "gauging his capabilities", was he? "What you mention crossed my mind as a possibility," he said, trying to keep his irritation from rising into his voice, "but I did not expect a stranger to present me with some trial of how deep or clever I could be in response to a simple attempt to establish goodwill in a tense situation." He paused, forcing himself to breathe slowly and letting himself calm down. He was being stupid to get defensive, he realized. "I take your point, though, and it is a good one," he finally added in a calmer and more conciliatory tone.

He even granted Eawenn's comment about stepping off the world a grin. In a way, he felt that he *had* stepped stepped off the world, off the Tether into this dream-world where trees could be destroyed and then immediately righted again as if nothing had ever happened. He only hoped that his interactions with Eawenn continued to be cordial.

The adhiel's announcement that he had planted most of these trees himself was something Latharn had not forseen at all, and his face showed it. He found himself wanting to ask at what point the dryad had appeared in his woods: did she come of her own after he had planted the trees, did he bring her along with them, or did she somehow grow into being as the trees grew? He decided not to ask about the dryad again, however; Eawenn was probably already convinced that he was a foolish, randy youth as it was. He decided to ask a different question the answer to which interested him almost as much:

"You planted these yourself, then, oth- daini?" he asked, catching himself. "You and the dryad talked about how you had or didn't have your powers, and how maybe you had them in a dream whereas you no longer did in the waking world. Did you plant these trees for real somewhere on Tazlure, or did you only do it here in dreams? That is where we are right now, right? In a dream?"

[Elvin Motricé]

The ageless man smiled again: “It is hard to resist the forces of nature. Especially when your heart resides in nature,” his smile grew even bigger when Latharn expressed his irritation about the riddle, “But this is far from a normal meeting, young friend. Dreams are meant to be strange. And this one certainly is a strange dream.”

As the apprentice priest posed his last question the smile faded from the Adhiel’s face. He stared into the distance as if he saw something else. Softly he spoke: “Oh yes, I did have power in all worlds once. Once I was free but soon I became merely a pawn in a game so complex that we can not understand it. Now I am forever bound to my faith in ways that I had never foreseen.”

Eawenn sighed: “It was all such a long time ago. The story in its entirety would be too long to tell you now. Suffice to say that I received a calling of sorts and I followed the voice that called out. It lead me to this forest which was very real back then. There I met the one who called me. But who that was and why I am called is not for you to know, at least not yet…”

He stood up: “In a way that forest in the real world was a reflection of this forest. It took me quite a while to reshape this place into the place you're in now. At first this place was never meant to be shown to mortals but it had to change for change empowers life, without it there is only death. You have ended up in a dream that few people ever see. A permanent dream of sorts. It has a very old name that in a very literal translation means Waking Dream,” Eawenn smiled mysteriously, “Sometimes a memory has a life of its own and in the light of old memories we make choices.”

[Guest]

Latharn listened carefully to the old elf and tried hard to follow what he said. The previous day Brother Pietro had suggested that he he ought to study general philosophy, theology, perhaps metaphysics before further indulging his fascination with demons, and now that advice was beginning to make sense. Worlds...dreams...memories...beliefs... The idea that these things each had realities of their own, and that these realities could encroach on one another was an idea he was familiar with and was willing to accept, but as Eawenn spoke, the young achadhiel finally began to see just how mind-boggling the implications of that casually-expressed idea could be.

"I am a new monk at the Abbey on Dort," he ventured at last, after taking a moment to let what the old adhiel had told him sink in. "I have only just begun to study the sorts of things of which you speak. I, too, received a vocation in a dream, and answered it, which is how I came all the way from Kislovan to Dort in the first place." He thought for a moment. "I guess I never thought of my calling as a choice; I always just figured that the Mother had called me, and so I came. I blamed her for the fact that I left my father and home so far behind."

His face saddened a bit as he said this last, not only because of the memory of his father, but because of a realization that hit him at that moment, a realization about himself that did not make him entirely comfortable. "It bothers me to think that it was completely my choice. Like that means that *I* must bear the responsibility for my own homesickness, for my father's loneliness and sadness. It's easier to think it's the Mother's fault for calling me. But I answered that call. K'tan never compelled me, ordered me, threatened me."

Choice Latharn had always thought of choice as a good thing, a freedom, a permission. Now the word sounded ominous, even frightening. Choice had given Eawenn the strange life he now had, his apparent exile in this dreamworld.

There was another thoughtful pause. "Speaking of choice, daini," the young acolyte said at last, "what are we going to do now? I'm at a bit of a loss here, Eawenn, and I could use some counsel." He shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

[Elvin Motricé]

“There’s always a choice,” the Adhiel said smiling, “though not always as apparent and sometimes you don’t think you have one because the other options are unattractive,” he looked at Latharn and smiled, “You speak of K’tan as if K’tan is the Mother. He is not though. He’s different… A reflection of the Mother’s power, one of her… children for lack of a better word.”

As Latharn requested counsel the ageless man laughed. “Dreams are not often something you can be counselled on. They’re a part of us, as much as they’re a part of other things,” Eawenn replied amused, “But I think you are here to learn about choice and to learn about the hidden battle that will soon be fought out in the open. Everyone must make a choice in these days…”

“Follow the path over there and see what you find,” he said gesturing to a path the monk hadn’t noticed before, or a path that wasn’t there before, “that is the best counsel I can give you. This is not my dream, young man. I am just a passer-by.”

[Guest]

[ooc: I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. Won't happen again.]


Latharn listened with a frown at the old Adhiel's words. As always, they were cryptic, seeming to hold much promise of meaning and revelation behind them, but never fully delivering on that promise, at least not as far as the young half-elf could make out. K'Tan not the Mother? The hidden battle we must all eventuall fight in the open? By now the monk was resigned to Eawenn's riddling talk, and so he confined himself to a slightly pained sigh in response.

Follow that path, the ancient one had said, and no sooner did he say it that a path appeared. Latharn turned to Eawenn. "For somebody who claims that this is not his dream," he remarked, "you seem to know a great deal about what is to happen in it. I'm not going to even ask you to explain further, daini." He raised his hand hastily as if to stave off another torrent of metaphysical riddles. With his hand still raised this way, he turned to look again down the path, trying to see if he could discern anything that would help him along the way.

Turning back towards Eawenn, he asked: "I suppose this means that I am to go alone? That you are not coming with me?" The old elf had not taken his leave yet, so it seemed polite to ask before stalking off into the wilds of what was, apparently his own dream.

[Elvin Motricé]

OOC: No worries, this is for fun . You can take as long as you want. My apologies for the short post but I'm a little pressed for time. As soon as you enter the path we'll take this story to the next level

IC:

There was nothing abnormal about the road that led away from the clearing. It looked much like a game trail, small enough for one man to walk it. After about six feet it slowly turned right.

The Adhiel smiled sadly: "I can not follow you were you go. I wasn't even supposed to be here. Only a dreamer can dream. Follow your path and maybe we'll meet again in the near future."

[Guest]

Latharn eyed the path in front of him dubiously. It was small, just wide enough for one man to walk down. The young monk was certain that there was some sort of allegorical meaning to this that Eawenn could tell him about, but he had had enough of metaphysical riddles for one conversation.

"Very well," he said at last, quietly, "If you cannot accompany me, nor tell me more, I suppose I should go on my way. Thank you for your help and kindness, daini." He nodded his head respectfully to the ancient adhiel, then turned once more to face the path. He hesitated for a moment. In spite of the fact that Eawenn made him feel foolish and ignorant at times, he liked and respected the old elf, and would have gladly endured his riddles for his company, especially on such an uncertain and potentially dangerous errand.

There was nothing else for it, however. Breathing out a sigh, the achadhiel stepped towards the path. The first few steps he took uncertainly, the way he had when he had first entered the clearing to confront Eawenn and the dryad; then it seemed as if his legs remembered the forest floor, remembered the long, loping walks he had taken, both with his father and alone, in the wilds of Caliborneabh. His stride lengthened, his pace increased, and he let in a deep breath of the woodland air, clearing his mind of preoccupations and opening his senses to his surroundings. "Ibh ea fiadhea ta ealiu, Eawenn!" he said, as he neared the bend in the path that would take him out of sight, possibly forever, of his latest mentor.

[Elvin Motricé]

"The first few tentative steps on that road went as all steps on a new a path. Tentative and maybe somewhat afraid," Eawenn, servant of the Mother, observed. The Adhiel looked until the acolyte had faded from sight. A mortal wouldn't have heard the words Latharn shouted from a place that was so far away but the immortal heard them. "Safe journey and may the Light guide your steps, Latharn mac Seitheach," he whispered.

OOC: You can continue here The Paths of the Guardians II: The Field of Sleep