Nether's Gate Tavern Jygust 31 MT

[Torc Blackfoot]

Nether's Gate stands just across the way from the Provost Office, and is near enough to the portal and large enough compared with the other, scant dwellings to dominate the newly formed and mutable skyline somewhat. Though only a mere three stories tall this is more than enough to dwarf the other buildings in its shadow, and it is wider and more strongly built than many of the surrounding homes - built along similar lines to the Provost Office itself in choosing practicality over aesthetic appearance. Two large firepots sit on either side of the wide door and, lit at night, create a welcoming glow to tempt passersby into the interior.

Inside, the shabby tavern is surprisingly clean and well lit, the floor strewn with clean straw among the polished but worn wooden tables and chairs. There is a long, wooden bar that dominates one wall of the place, though it is the most basic of things and is as practical and wooden as most of the rest of the place.

Beyond the main room, the 'Gate, as it's fondly known by much of the Pax Honestus, hosts a number of more intimate delights than mere beverages can provide. For not only is Nether's Gate a tavern, entertainment hall and gathering place for all, it also serves as a brothel. Upstairs one could hear the sound of giggling and running feet. The girls of the Nether's Gate knew how to please a man, and keep his mind off the rough daily life of Pax.

The current tavern owner is Melissa LaRouge and she is assisted by a barmaid Rosie. A trader called Morton Wanesman can often be found holding court here and a young achadhiel, Angelo can often be found drinking in a corner.

Jygust 31 ET

Torc rose before the roosters cry in his tent near the refugee camp outside of Pax. For sometime now he had been living with them trying to heal and spread a message of hope to the people. Yet battle and blood was all that he could foresee for now. Scratching himself for Torc was only in his bed clothes, Torc began to think about all there was to do today. Truthfully, after Melissa he should be spending time with the child to find the mad man who was poisoning children. However, he thought of Ulder’s news. There was to much to prepare for, so Torc threw back the blanket and started packing various foci into a bag.

Squatting Torc felt the cool breeze upon his unclothe back, and though he felt he should probably get water to clean his face. Torc didn’t truly have time for such nicities. Torc put on a dirty pair of pants and a clean shirt. Thinking that he should probably give his clothes to some washer women for repair and scrubbing, instead he simply went outside.

Seeing that the small camp of Torc’s followers had yet to rise, Torc went over to the cooking fire and sat on a log close to it. Taking a small white cloth Torc used charcoal to write a quick message to Caelis. Telling him that he was at the Nether’s Gate for the early burns and that he should send a messager boy for him to receive special requests from Torc. Just to make sure that if Caelis didn’t read Torc made the tree that he considered his mark and the mark of Nether’s gate which appeared on its sign. Torc drew an arrow between his mark and the mark of Nether’s gate, hoping that Caelis would be smart enough to realize that he needed to send a runner.

Torc walked through the early morning camp as the sun’s rays started to come over the Howling Mountains. A few roosters could be heard in the distance waking everyone for work. The walk was solemn but clearing to Torc’s mind as he neared the Nether’s Gate Tavern. Pausing before he went in Torc wondered if what he was about to do would be for the best. Still Melissa wanted to know about her child and any misfortune that had been visited.

With that Torc entered the tavern.

[Guido Cercatoro]

(OOC: there may well be momentous events during the night of the 30th but as long as we keep this thread fairly self-contained to the Melissa plot we can move on with it).

It was the morning after the festival and the Gate tavern betrayed the signs of the busiest might it had had since it was established. Several traders and citizens were slumped on the floor, on tables or on chairs sleeping off the copious quantity of alcohol they had consumed. Unwashed and broken glasses littered the floor and the only sign of life was the young barmaid, Rosie, who was cleaning down the bar with a wet rag.

Rosie greeted Torc with a cheery wave of her hand. “Morning. She said you might be in. She’s in the room through there.” She pointed to a side door that lay to one side of the bar.

If Torc went through the door, he would find himself in a small square room that Melissa clearly used as some sort of office. It was dominated by a large desk and a few shelves containing various ledgers, parchments and books lined the walls. In front of the desk was a small chair. Behind the desk was a large armchair within which sat the redheaded owner of the bar. Her head was laid back in the chair and her eyes were closed. She was obviously dozing, perhaps still tired form the events of the previous night.

[Torc Blackfoot]

(OOC: wasn’t originally sure how you wanted to the whole church attack, but I thought I would try to keep it as vague as possible. Besides if I am needed Caelis can always come and get me.)

Torc smiled at Rosie waving back briefly as his eye wandered to her cleavage. The stirrings of lust and general depravity came to him, but after casting his eye to the ground and taking a flicker to cleanse his mind of such things, he stopped at the bar before heading to the Melissa’s office.

Smiling at Rosie a mischievous grin came across his face, and he felt that though it was a sin he wouldn’t mind flirting with the blonde bar maid before performing his good deed. “You know Rosie, it so rare to see you without every man in the bar trying to get an eyeful of our charms, that I must say I enjoy being the only own who you can lavish attention on.” Torc said with a wink. “You know this might be my only chance to whisper soft adhiel poetry in your ears and carry you away to my home in Brie.” Torc was being playful and truthfully he hadn’t any idea what to say to her, but he hoped she would smile or have a small laugh. The world needed more cheer in it.

<After>

Torc smiled at Rosie and spoke, “After my business is done with Melissa, I could use some butter, bread, and cheese to break the morning fast on. If anyone is looking for me, tell them to wait till I am done, hopefully I will be able to have the business done within a mark or two.”

Torc opened the door softly not really thinking about Melissa, but mainly the other guests that slept up stairs. Seeing that Melissa was asleep he quietly entered the room. Placing his stack of foci by the table, he kneeled down and place his head off to the side. This way Melissa could see his face when she woke up and not feel as if someone had disturbed her. Torc placed a hand softly in the middle of her upper back. Rubbing and softly speaking, Torc said, “Melissa, wake up, it’s Torc.” He repeated it softly so that she wouldn’t be awoken suddenly.

[Guido Cercatoro]

Rosie let out a girlish giggle in response to the mage’s flirting. “You have a way with words, sir. I’d love to hear your poetry sometime. I’ll get the kitchen boy to prepare you some food once I’ve finished cleaning the bar.” With a flutter of her eyelashes, the pretty barmaid returned to her duties, humming as she worked.

*********************************************************************

She was wandering through open fields of grass…searching for something she had lost…what was it? She couldn’t recall, yet she felt concerned…it must be something of great importance…she felt apprehensive, almost scared…a red-stained boulder rose suddenly out of the grass, blocking her path…a groaning came from behind the stone, a clawed hand reached around the edge..

..a voice carried across the fields, softly wandering through the grass…speaking her name…

Melissa gasped and opened her eyes and found herself looking directly at the mage.

“I can’t find …blood,” she murmured uncertainly, clearly still half asleep.

[Torc Blackfoot]

As Torc looked into her eyes a soft smile came to his face. He wondered if she could see the concern in his eyes. He knew what her dream or nightmare was about. Blood, it was the simplest expression for some about life and all its connections. She had been dreaming about her son, and a part of Torc felt responsible for telling her his harsh concerns.

Melissa wanted to be reunited with family. Wanted knowledge of her son and what had become of him. Torc began to if he shouldn’t try to find his own mother. His father had been a drunk fool that spent any money he had earned on ale. Torc had begged and worked for the food that was shared between him. Torc remembered saving all his money for an apprenticeship, hoping that his father would bargain well for something before drowning himself. Instead he had used all of Torc’s saving to pay for his debts. Torc remembered standing in the village square for burns, while the rain came down, waiting for a tradesmen to come along. It wasn’t till late into the evening, standing while feeling the cold soak down to his bones, that Blaire appeared. He wanted nothing more then company out in the woods while he hunted and trapped furs.

Family, it was a word that scared Torc. Who was his mother? Was she just like Melissa wondering about the child that she had given to the father? Was she died? Torc knew the spells to cast to find those answers, yet he had not decided to venture into his own past for fear of the answers.

“Melissa, don’t worry. I will either find your son or cast a spell to make sure that if the man is lying I can tell. We will find him.” Then Torc wondered what Melissa would do? It was a child she had chosen to leave in another care, would Melissa risk going after the boy now?

Still smiling Torc began to clear off a space on the desk to setup his foci. A small brass bowl was set out, along with some dog teeth, a compass, and wood from a maple tree. Looking around for a pitcher of water and a knife Torc spoke calmly to Melissa.

“The items before you are my foci for the weave I am to cast. Once the brass bowl is filled with water, I will create the equivalent of a hunter master’s hound to find your son in the western kingdom. I will need a few drops of blood in the bowl during the casting so that the spell will hunt down the correct person. Depending on wards, distance, and… other circumstances it can take me quite awhile to find your son. Hopefully I will be done in less then three marks, but if it takes longer I will continue the search. For the first mark or so I will need you here while the casting goes on. I will tell you when to prick your finger and place a few drops in the bowl, afterwards you are free to leave and come back at your leisure.”

“Also, if a runner or a man comes by to see me, ask his buisiness because I am only to be disturbed if it is absolutely necessary.”

“In order for you to feel more comfortable, I ask that you use your own knife in the casting. This way you can be sure to clean it of all traces of your blood, and I can’t have place a geas on it before hand. Afterwards I will ask that you or any of your employees clean the bowl, that way there is no doubt that I have saved the water for enchantments on your person. Before we began I must ask you a few questions.”

Torc finding the water but giving up on the knife, went back to the desk and filled the bowl with clean water.

“Firstly, do you have any knowledge of a mage, priest, or witch placing a curse or warding on you?”

“Second, you have only carried one child to maturity?”

“Have you ever given someone your blood or hair?”

“Lastly, do you voluntarily give me your blood with the express permission that I use it only for divination purposes, and do you understand that if it is not disposed of properly and another mage finds it that any magick wielded against you is not of my doing?”

Torc felt horrible asking her those questions, but he needed the information before he started to waste energy on a weave that could very well give him miss information.

[Guido Cercatoro]

Melissa’s eyes cleared and she gave a quiet smile to Torc. “Sorry, I had a late night last night. I needed to catch up on some sleep but I had such strange dreams.” She shrugged and watched with interest as the mage set up his equipment and gave his instructions. Then, the woman nodded, indicating that she understood what she had to do.

Melissa answered the questions that she was posed in simple and concise fashion.

“I know of no curse or warding that has been placed on me, nor have I had more than a single child. I have not given my blood to anyone as far as I know. As for my hair, well there was a gentleman once who asked for a lock.” She laughed. “I doubt that was for sinister purposes. The poor fellow was in love with me.”

“I will give you permission to use my blood for divination, whatever that might involve.”

[Torc Blackfoot]

As Torc finally took a seat, he smiled at Melissa. “Sorry, don’t mean to frighten you, but usually people don’t know the dangers of giving a mage certain things or certain permissions. Besides, I truly don’t want to hurt someone because they were ignorant of magick, so I sought your permission prior to the ordeal. Now try to be relaxed and comfortable in the chair as much as possible, but no nodding off.” Torc said with a sly grin on his face. “Otherwise, I might just take advantage of the whole situation.”

Smiling Torc did his best to get comfortable in the chair. Closing his eyes and blocking out all the sensations around him. Torc began to take deep calming breaths as he lowered his mind deeper into himself. As Torc’s mind emptied itself off all doubt, discomfort, and perception of the Tether Torc began to picture a might golden leaf willow tree. Slowly his mental world of black began to change as he felt himself become the tree. Soft tendrils of air moving fast through his leaves played an almost aetheral music. Thread of light fell gently onto the golden leaves some of the threads were scattered while some passed through the leaves.

As Torc thoughts slowly grew into branches and then into a trunk, he began to feel his shape coming back into existence. Slowly Torc’s own song came into existences. Like the rustling of leaves in the forest on a windy day or the rasp feel of bark under your hands. His song was that like the trees. Thousands of perceptions, all of which were unique came together to form his centering self. Softly Torc’s roots began to sink within the ground. They began to softly push the land energies aside as Torc sought purchase in ground. The feeling was intense as soft earth, wood, stone and life energies began to move too allow room for Torc’s grounding.

While the roots sought deep purchase into the land, Torc felt his shielding beginning to grow around him. Pure white bark began to encompass his being. It was like a blanket or skin was flowing over him. The shielding that he had made for himself was filled with cracks and crevices as they ran down the tree. Mages who cared not to think would have laughed at Torc for leaving such open break points in his shielding. Yet the cracks and crevices didn’t breach his shielding they were there to allow energy to flow down and into his grounding, just as real bark did for water.

Torc’s perceptions of the flowing aetheral threads and glowing structures of objects dimed slightly as his shielding wrapped itself about him. Once his aetheral transformation was complete he felt whole in a strange way. Torc was as much this being as his physical self and often times felt more comfortable being this being.

Branches of pure thought and connection began to grow around Torc’s foci. Torc could feel the branches bending and splitting again and again as it created a great living web around his foci. In many cases the branches grew around and sometime through the empty spaces of the structures, and like new leaves and stems they began to incorporate them building a great flowing and living structure on balanced energies.

Softly as if a feather brushed the very edge of skin, Torc energies grew to encompass Melissa’s structure. It was easy to tell where she was, for her structure was the most complex in the room. Layers and layers of complex knotting and miniature knots laid all over Melissa, yet Torc’s patience and growing web softly began to brash the opening space between her threads and knots. Small sprouts of thought flowed through her structure caring Torc’s perceptions deep into the being of Melissa. Torc used only the lightest of touch and only the most smoothing of perceptions. Giving thoughts of warm baths or soft linen came to mind as Torc’s energies moved across Melissa’s. Growing into a being could be hurtful, so Torc only took the softest and gentlest paths to Melissa inner structure.

Many mages called it skein, or the simplest of all structures of the body, Torc had no name or thought to give it. It was the essence of the physical self, and after moving deep into Melissa’s structures Torc found it. It was one symbol or rune that felt if two others were wisps beside it. Some mages referred to it as a person’s true nature and true name. Torc pitied those fools, for this was but one part of discover of ones true name. The other two runes which completed the sound of ones nature were the wisps of energy that Torc could barely make out. One ruled the mind, and it was the stronger of the two. However, the other he was just barely aware, and sometimes wondered if it was the soul.

Softly Torc touched the rune, making sure that his tough was gentle and as soft and delicate as a drop of morning dew. He gave warmth into the touch and finally allowed the living web of foci to complete itself. His perceptions slowly climbed back up the living web of thoughts and connections to the aetheral realm itself.

In the distance Torc could hear the babbling of a brook, and as he focused on that music his thoughts and self slowly sank down to another layer of the aether. The sound of the brook came closer and closer as he sank deeper. Finally he was on the edge of the brook looking across the rivers of times following back and forth into each other. Often times the present of the world was being shaped by the past and the future. Here in Pax Torc felt the roar of the past pressing down on the present. Still with Melissa’s energy woven with his own, he felt her past and it had nothing to do with the ocean of Pax and Selderine. Torc looked onto the ground at was the present, to his roots it felt like a swamp due to the heavy waters of Selderine’s past. Yet Torc, slowly allowed the clean waters in the blow to represent the clean unpolluted past from Pax to represent Melissa’s past. Allowing the two connections between Melissa’s rune and the water to align Torc began feeling the threads of time around him till he found Melissa’s thread.

Torc knew that once he secured that thread and allowed himself to view into Melissa’s past that his own he would carry Melissa’s and his own perceptions into her past. Torc would then have to find a node in which her body was pregnant. Those nodes would more then likely be major decision points, times in which Melissa was emotional charged and it affected her life. That was why he was bring Melissa’s own perceptions along, because he doing this, but she needed to know what Torc was about to see so that she would feel betrayed.

Once there at a node of time in which Melissa was pregnant, he would slow down the speed at which it played giving him time to search for the second rune of life within Melissa. It was more then likely Torc would see the scene played from Melissa’s eyes as he searched for the rune, but it would be the easiest way to gather the information for the first part of the weave.

[Guido Cercatoro]

Torc had no trouble in clearing his mind and entering the aether. The familiar form of the willow tree formed in his mind - strong, unyielding and perhaps fortified by the mage’s recent experiences. Then, the mage sent out his branches of energy towards Melissa. The woman’s energies burned surprisingly bright and strong - as intense as her blazing red hair. Perhaps it was an indication that the woman had latent powers of her own, evident in the aether but hidden from her in the tether? And the mage sensed only good in the woman; despite her role as madam of a brothel, there was no sign of dark taint in her energies; her central being sighed as the mage gently touched her true nature. And he instantly felt a connection… a bond…as if that touch had always meant to be…

Torc turned to the river of time, a place where had been before. And now, he sensed the turbulence in the river as if the past was a storm, churning the waters of the present. Yet he ignored these echoes of what was transpiring in Pax and sought to concentrate on the task at hand..

The mage sought to connect Melissa to the past. Achieving a calmness in the waters was difficult but he found a path and achieved his aim. Yet, at the edge of his perception he could still hear the roar of Selderine battering at the door of the present…

He travelled down the thread, receiving a flurry of images…a dark female adhiel comforting her, a fight in the bar, the arrival of Angelo, the purchase of the tavern…….then scenes he saw only fleetingly as he journeyed down the ribbon of energy…

Yet , well before he had found the time when Melissa had conceived, time slowed and a scene passed slowly before his eyes….her eyes..it somehow seemed important..

She was serving behind a dirty bar in some obscure village….a pretty young girl, attracting the attention of the rough locals…but in the corner a pair of deep blue eyes watched…hidden beneath a dark cowl…eyes centred on her…she remembered dimly…yet there was more…

The scene began to fade…

[Torc Blackfoot]

The willow tree shuddered as the connection was made. Never before had Torc felt the shared understanding between two people. Never before had he decided to share with someone who could be gifted. The connection felt like two people holding each other wrapped in a blanket watching a camp fire fade away. Torc had seen many people after festivals, when the night grew long and the cold air settled into the ground, do just that very thing. Never had he shared his warm with woman. He had only looked on in jealous frustration as regular men and women had a shared being just by the simple act of holding.

Torc knew that as he held Melissa’s rune and sensed the good in her, he wondered due to her latent talents did she feel the same. In a way it was a dizzying feeling being connected with a good person. The way it made Torc feel was almost unbearable wonder. What kind of touching or kissing could compare to the shared understanding between two individuals? Yet no matter how wonderful if felt Torc knew that the feeling would end, and there would lay the temptation. For a lonely soul such as Torc, this feeling was light upon his soul, and yet if Melissa had no sense of it, then he would be stealing from her. Still there was a deep part of Torc that wanted to forever keep the connection alive. To forever feel the warmth and right in it.

For the flicker Torc pushed aside the thoughts of warmth and closeness. Thinking instead on the question of Melissa herself, the woman possibly possess latent talents in magic, and Torc wondered whether he should even tell Melissa about it. Magic had brought Torc power, but it had also brought him fear from many. Torc was renown through Pax, but he was also the loneliest he had ever been. Magic and its ability to wield it cam with a terrible price. However, Melissa also had a business and people who counted on her. What could she benefit from the knowledge about her latent talent? Even though people looked down at her and she helped provide a ‘dirty’ service for the community, no one feared her. Torc knew that if he wanted to take someone to bed he was going to have to ask for some of Melissa’s girls services. No church going woman would take a mage to bed. Yet he wanted the connection, he wanted the intimacy that touch and laughter brought, not only the release of the pump.

Finally an answer came, he would tell her but warn her off of such a path. Too much was given up in the pursuit of magic. Too much was lost and questions were the only thing gained. So Torc finally able to focus went back to work diving into the screaming roar of Selderine past and Pax present.

Intuition was often a better rod for a Diviner than an actual Diviner rod… then a dirty idea of what Melissa and himself could do with his diviner rod came into his head. Calmly Torc, took a deep breath and cleansed himself of outside thoughts and distractions. The scene spoke of importance to him, or was it Melissa? Either way, Torc focused on the bubble of time supporting and restructuring the bubble so that they wouldn’t need to depend on Melissa’s memory to fill in the dead spots of the moment.

Torc found the intersection of both timelines where Melissa and the Man’s past met. Softly he began to weave a shielding around the event in the living weave that both Torc and Melissa were part of. Torc gently tied in their perceptions with the small section of time that seemed to him important. Yet Torc made several knots so that he could slow down time if needed. Details were sometimes important and if his intuition told him this was important then he needed to be able to slow or stop their perception of the event. Torc also knew that since he was focusing on the man and Melissa, Melissa memory would fill in the general surroundings, unless he needed to bring in that string as well.

Carefully before reliving the event, Torc touched the thread of Melissa’s perceptions, his thoughts gently laid down the question onto it.

“This moment of time seems important; do I have your permission for us to relive it?” Torc didn’t know if she could form any coherent perceptions of her own, but the way they were connected Torc felt sure he could tell whether she said yes or no. Hopefully afterwards Torc could review the scene.

[Guido Cercatoro]

There was no sign that the redhead was aware of Torc’s direct touch in the aether. Any latent talent was clearly well buried; or, perhaps for some reason she did not wish to acknowledge its existence? Whatever the truth, she responded instantly to Torc’s words. “Do what you must do.”

Torc’s weave slowed the passage of time and, with Melissa’s renewed concentration, the scene solidified.

A small inn; the same tyoe of inn that could be seen across the length and breadth of the kingdom. Nothing unusual, nothing much out of place. Melissa was behind the bar; a younger Melissa; a fresh-faced girl, flirting with the constant attention of the locals.

The cowled man in the corner rose from his seat and wandered over to the bar, throwing down a few coins in apparent payment. With a smile Melissa scooped them up but then frowned. Amongst the coins was a small amulet which she offered back to the man. He shook his head, turned and left the bar, leaving the puzzled girl with the jewellery in her hands. She shrugged, tied the chain around her neck and went back to her duties.

[Torc Blackfoot]

Torc wondered at the scene and allowed the loop to play one more time. Why did the man where his cowl inside? Inns often had fire going during normal hours that most people would be sweating under such garments. His garments didn’t look anything usually then a normal traveler. So why obscure his face?

As Torc watched he focused on the man’s hands and the bit of jewelry that Melissa was left. Why was this event important? Torc had felt his mind focus on this moment in time. There was no explanation besides some far fetched ones. The best one was the idea that his Master had planned on Torc divining into Melissa’s past. Setting subtle triggers to catch Torc’s mind while also giving Melissa a piece of jewelry that contained some kind of vital information, or Torc had just been wrong. Either way, the piece of jewelry could wait till after Torc found Melissa’s child.

Torc took the threads of time that he had been viewing and began to untangle them from the living web. He kept hold of Melissa’s history, the thread still held her vibrant being. Softly in the ocean of time Torc saw the threads slowly reform and balance once again. Normally the calm ebb and waves of time would feel as if one was swimming in a still pool. The past was set, yet here in Pax the past had become a storm moving aside threads of the present and making the waters muddy.

How long could time survive such a storm? People were repeating the actions of the past. Mistakes and inconstancies were began to take form, and yet to destroy the being of Pax a creature that just needed to be connected once again to something.

Slowly the living web of Torc and Melissa began to sink and follow the lines of her past. Without understanding or meaning to do what he did, Torc felt the web flow and shift. Torc could feel his aetheral presence touching Melissa’s. It almost felt like an embrace, both souls and minds holding each other and warming themselves with the kindness and goodness that was held in each other.

Once again the web began to move and flow over the knots of time within Melissa’s life. He began looking for a moment in which lines just didn’t connect to Melissa’s thread of time, but a moment in which another thread of time was created.

Torc would then be able to flow over that thread of time, and then could ask Melissa to leave just a drop or two of her blood in the bowl so that he could fin his way back. As Torc continued on, he began to think about what troubles he might encounter. Torc had to make sure that thread that he was about to follow would be Melissa’s boy. If he made too many wrong turns going forward from that point on he could end up following another child or person. The blood would help, Melissa’s life energy would have similar aspects to that of the boys. So Torc could test the thread versus Melissa’s life energy and be sure that he was on the right track. He would only have to do it when the knots were so complex that it would overwhelm normal mages.

Many people thought that to protect against divination one had to have weaves and wards set through out their lives. Truthfully, if one had large enough impact on the course of a great deal of people and they didn’t leave any connections around… a mage could lose him in the knots of time that people went through. Most times a weave often trigger vibrations along that persons timeline that could be heard and felt. Most weaves that were setup to ward against past divinations merely bunched large groups of threads together around the persons timeline. There were many possibilities and Torc waited patiently till he found the creation and branch of a new timeline from Melissa’s.

[Ssinith DIllil]

((Just started being a supporter, so I'll be doing this thread.))

Being in a social business threads of time and presence were long and many. Many were like stones being skipped in the river of regulars that she served. Others were steady like floating branches down the stream, likely people which she worked with. What he would be looking for was an obstruction in the river which led to a new stream, coming from the same water as the river.

Considering he was a frequent customer of hers, it would take some hard looking to find that stream, but as he slowly went forward, he came across a point where one thread and hers started to twine and turn into three parts.

The third part branched out into its own, swiftly carried out into its own thread but there was something abnormal...

A whirlpool of fate... whatever the event of this birth put into place, it was starting to create a bigger storm over the horizon.

--

The vision was recent.

It was hard to tell which hall the man was walking down, or when precisely this was, but he walked down the hall to an Achadhiel lad about twelve who held a strange paper in his hands along with two other people who seemed to either be his parents or guardians. He was very well dressed, and the obvious makings of a young mage.

There were tears in his eyes from some news, one of his tears falling upon the very same amulet which was in the earlier scene.

It was hard to tell if the lad knew the man was his father or not, but from the looks of the pairing clothes, he was the very least an apprentice to his father. Several other young students were in the picture, saying farewell to their teacher, all of them having Adhiel blood of varying degrees. A couple of the other younger students, one a small girl even younger than the boy, had parents with them as the blue-eyed man addressed them.

He seemed to be making them an offer...
--

It was then that the jarring sensation of those blue eyes staring Torc down started to fill the area.

[Torc Blackfoot]

((Welcome abroad and hope to see you around, Pax is a bumpy ride ))

Torc continued through the rivers of time. Branches of lives and stones of stories untold. He felt closer to Melissa the woman now. He saw all the paths and people she had touched throughout her live. As he found the new life she helped create he realized that the child would be a storm of prophecy. Storm caused ripples and stone as well as branches in the flow of time could become lost.

As the vision came to both Torc and Melissa, he felt odd that that Melissa’s boy had so much in common with Torc. The boy was a mage and abandoned by his mother. The emotional bleed of Torc’s own emotions began to fill the living web that both Melissa and himself were in. As Torc watched the memory of standing out in the town square came to him.

Torc didn’t look much older than a boy of thirteen, marks pasted as every boy of the hamlet stood in the square waiting to be picked for their professions. Some boys knew that their fathers would gather then up before evening tide to bring them back to their house to celebrate them becoming a man with a trade. Some would wait till sunset as farmers and villagers outside the hamlets outskirts came in to pick up farm hands and general workmen. For the past three years Torc had worked and saved every banner so that he could buy a spot at the Miller. It was hard work tugging the grain sacks and flour, but Torc knew he had no sons and Torc had worked for the man for the past year. After haggling with the Town’s Miller, Torc finally had a price that was close to all the money he had in the world.

Trusting his father, the towns drunk, he gave the money to him so that he could paid the Miller his fee. As sunset came and went, Torc still stood out in the town square. The last boy to be chosen, as the miller can two marks after dark, he told Torc that his father had used his money to pay off all his debts and without the money the Miller could not accept him.
Torc had been crushed by the betrayal and waited until the wee marks of morning before Blaire came to him and chose him as his apprentice.
Watching the scene unfold Torc realized that the Mage that was the Boy’s father had detected Torc’s scrying.

The mages was using an image foci for his warding. Torc was semi proud that it had taken so long for the mage to react to his divination, Torc had traversed nearly twelve cycles before he had detected it. Torc began to focus and expand his own mind and concentration so that the mage wouldn’t be able to see the living web that held Torc in the past.
Moving with surety Torc began to build a wall of reflection. The mage could try many tricks while a struggle of wills over the scrying continued.

Slowly as Torc focused on the mage he began to weave strands of time into a perfectly clear still blue pond. It was a symbol for the wall of reflection, an idea that as a person stares into the water trying to force their pure will on the reflection that their own will would fight them.
Torc also knew that the mage probably only sensed Torc’s power and true rune. So as Torc construct his defenses and gave faints to the boy’s father, he reshaped the living web. He began to place Melissa on what on almost thought of drift wood. It was made of present and past energy’s echos of the boy’s. Within the stream of time if one did not pay attention it would appear as nothing more then a repeated choice.

He felt sorry for abondaning her to what lie ahead. But if a struggle was about to happen, then Torc felt she would be safer and at least have an answer when it was done. Slowly Torc placed Melissa’s rune on the makeshift rafted and though he thinned the connection between them, he pushed the raft forward in time. If she came into trouble Torc could always pull her back with the connection.

Focusing on her perceptions Torc gave her a whispered message, “I will delay the father as long as I can. Visions will come to you. Once you know where he is, tug the connection between us. If you are in trouble tug several times.”

Finally, with a last push Torc sent Melissa off. The time now as for distraction, Torc began to ready himself for pushes and faints that spoke of a lesser mage then what he was.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Alright..." was all he heard from Melissa.

There was a contest of will beginning, that was for sure. Torc's perceptions in the web about his wards could tell that this type of magic was not the father's expertise. It was because he started tugging on the father's connection that he was able to feel the ripple effect and detect it.

"I knew what her profession was, but I thought I was the only one who got that close to her..."

The cloaked figure was standing on a piece of ice in the middle of the water... the obstruction with caused the stream to exist. His blue eyes looked across at Torc from under the hood, revealing a slight white goatee on his angled chin. His cloak hid the rest of his body as he appeared to be admiring his runic work. He sat down on his little iceburg across from where Torc was by his tree, stroking his chin.

"Runic work?... At first I thought this time around she would be the cradle robber, but your experience betrays your age."

It would take keen eyes to see his own wards. It was a ward, only made of clear sheets of ice. Looking at the weave of it, one could tell that his specialty was battlemagery, as it seemed specifically wired for elemental attack. The other clue was that a sling rested against his hip as he sat on the iceberg.

As Torc manned his defenses, the flow of time began to fade as his focus was directed towards the new intruder. As good as he was in letting Melissa drift to another place and she had some magical innate talent, for how long she could hold on while Torc defended the place and kept the connection was shaky.

Which was likely something the older mage before him was banking on, despite knowing that Torc was his superior in this meeting. A suave smile curved his lips as he merely played the waiting game, waiting for the boy or Melissa to get tired enough to drop the connection.

[Torc Blackfoot]

Torc knew that the man thought of his warding as a block of ice smooth, cold and strong. The fact that sat on an iceberg in the river of time meant that the man felt more at home with define forces and movement. Yet Torc wondered at the odd choice of warding. Even a battlemage had to realize that time was even in ice? Time and space were movement, and all movement existed in everything. Even though Torc focus was on the mage, he began to think of a way to use the man’s warding against him.
Thinking back to the Ghearan College, he remembered his lesson’s.

Everything is energy, space and time were perceived as layers under the aether. In actually it wasn’t separate, all was the same. As Torc took his own seat he began to focus on the time strands that were in the Battlemages wards. Torc didn’t dare touch them with his mind as they would probably feel like an attack. The river of time was within the ice the man had dared to ward with. Torc merely decided to use it as his scrying glass to help Melissa and sustain the connection.

As Torc concentrated on the task at hand, finding the insections and focusing on the almost invisible lines of time being magnified from the ice. Torc decide to try one other tactic before playing a game that might Torc might have to pull Melissa back from.

“What can I say, for a good bump and the feeling of not being alone, I am willing to do some divination work. However, what I didn’t expect was to face another mage of your skill. Listen, the deal stands that as soon as I find where her boy is and that he is in good health, then I get my night paid for. If you are willing to allow the both of us to view the boy and uncloud his whereabouts, then I will be willing to show you how to strength your perception on the boys time line. In the end, we all get what we make out ahead, what do you say?”

[Ssinith DIllil]

As Torc thought about the time strands weaved into the Battlemage's ward, one had to be aware of how physics worked in the real world about motion. Even ice moved, albeit it was a very slow movement. It wasn't as if he was stopping time, rather slowing it down. Even as he viewed it, he felt how he looked at it slow down... it was an odd alien feeling.

What it would mean if he actually hit the ward with something could mean several things in this place.

The mage tilted his head slightly, almost wanting to tell where he was. He slowly stood up and cracked his neck with a smirk.

"He's alive and he's with a better father than I am. Outside of that, I won't allow Mel to get involved in my mess. It's mine to clean up."

He raised his hand where he was, though he kept that smirk on his face.

"Though if you can get that information out of this little trick, maybe she can handle it after all... good luck, sonny."

His line in time was still his line, and he tugged back. It was a line, though connected to Mel, his was required to find the boy. Ice covered that stream even around the raft that Mel was and brought around a cold feeling even to Torc.

Because his strand during the scrying was also intertwined to both of them during this event.

The chill subsided, even as it hit the reflection ward, fragmenting into chunks of ice which floated as memories. Even Torc started to have a hard time thinking. It was as if the mage expected to be hit by his own tactic, fragmenting his own memories about this short period.
--

The ice around Melissa actually sprouted another vision. With the memory frozen, the moment was as clear as the day it happened.

"Fraed..."

"Listen, your the only [i]real woman I've ever met. If you have to go into this to make ends meet, at least let me be your first. I'll pay you enough so that you won't have to go into it all the time. Your too good for that."

The man was cloakless. He was a good looking Adhiel, even as age barely lingered across his eyes and fingers. He was a rough and tumble man, but his blue eyes cared about the woman he was looking at. His hair was white and ruggedly messy with countless scars on his arms.

"Fraed, but your Adhiel, am I gonna up and die and leave you a mess?"

"Well, I hate to admit this, but I'm about two-hundred years older than you. I'm only three-fourths Adhiel, I don't even have another fifty left."

The girl looked quite awkward at that moment, taking a couple of steps back while scrunching her nose in a cute moment of disgust.

"You... you cradle-robber! ... Old goat!"

Fraed snickered and folded his arms, starting to recline on the bed near to them while showing off his arms while giving that smirk of his which seemed to fit only his face.

"Oh come, now. I get better with age..."[/i]
---

"Fraeden... that old goat!" Melissa replied.

The water continued to run, but ice was running though it. Fraeden had made a double edged sword... memories as ice, clear as if they would have been that day, but scattered across the river. He would have a hard time picking out which ones were important to finding their son, even if he had divined against Fraed himself... for he scattered his own memories using the reflection ward.

Of course, ice always melted and the river would be whole once more, but how long that would take would be a good question, as his own memories of the two of them were scattered. The visions he had previously were chunks of ice at his feet.

If he were to look at the insight of this, he was fortunate that Fraed didn't have the power to wipe the memories completely, merely make them harder to remember...

Right now, it was still as if they were two holding one another by the campfire, but it was as if the blanket was too short for their bare feet and the ground was covered in snow, making it much harder to concentrate. Already, Torc was starting to get a headache.

[Torc Blackfoot]

OOC: Thought I would try to clear up some of what is going on. One, I am not sure where memories come into play and why they are interacting with time. However, I will assume that “memories” is code word for past events in his timeline, because otherwise I have just become a mindcrafter without any knowledge. As far as scattering his own memories using the reflection ward, I will assume the mage uses his time line which is trapped in his ward to break it apart and pollute the boy’s timeline. Scatter through out the boy’s time line are now events in the Fathers past. As for the connection with Melissa, she is moving down river towards her sons present. The connection is becoming thin due to… some reason which is unclear, my guess is that as she further progresses along her son’s river of time, the living connection formed by the weave is becoming weaker as she progress in her son’s spacetime line. Currently, there are two options, I can try to weave together Fraed timeline which would hold the “memory” and give us the answer of how we can find the boy in the here and now. Or I can try to reinforce the strand and continue allowing Melissa to drift down the path till she find river delta… the present and has a vision of the boy.

Torc looked at Melissa. Fraeden was probably insane or so sure that he should be the only one to help his boy that he was willing to kill himself in the attempt. The reflection ward, was much like a high quality mirror, except for reflecting light, it reflected the will of the caster. If Fraeden had let loose some like of elemental blast or a weave that would hold itself together long enough to touch the warding, well Torc could have understood the shattering. Instead the man had thrown himself or his timeline at it. That act seem desperate, of course with time his memories or timeline would slowly find its way back to the natural order of things. But for Torc that could be days or weeks.

The first choice was easy, in the aether Torc began to pull on the living web that connected Melissa and himself. Slowly, the vines and branches that connected the pair shrunk as he reeled her in. There was no longer any point in keeping Melissa out in her son’s timeline. It was dangerous at best without Fraeden’s polluted waters. Besides Torc, had tried to conceal her and buy time so that she could find out where her son was. Instead the mage had recognized her and decided to add to her danger.

Torc wasn’t will to take the risk of the connection severing and having to wade through her son’s timeline to find her. Besides Fraeden said himself that if they could find the information it was hers.

As Torc finally pulled Melissa’s aetheral presence from the timeline, Torc developed a plan.

Fraeden had chanellenge Torc to basically put back all the pieces of his past, and this normally would happen anyway. So Torc began to think of a weave that for some mages were called a catalyst. It was a weave that sped a natural process along without consuming any of its own energy. It was the only effective way to deal with the current situation. Fraeden had destroyed the ward and polluted the waters of time. A small part of Torc wondered if the existence of time elements wouldn’t be pissed off at that, but since Torc didn’t know any, he had to become his own Time Warden.

Torc had seen old women throw salt into stock pots to help the water reach higher temperatures. Granted most of the time Torc thought it was just to season the meat, but for his understanding it would do. As soon as he fished up the poor Melissa, Torc began to focus on one shard of cold memory. Torc began to form a water skin with salt packed inside, in the aether Torc began to concentrate on the strands of natural order and connection.

As Torc brought down his branches an scoop up the shard, placing it under his control. Torc began to reinforce the threads that connected the shard to the other pieces next to it. The weave Torc was to create would focus on the strands of the shard forcing those pieces close to it to reconnect and as the shard began to build back up to its former ice ward, Torc would use his catalyst to thaw out the memories into a ward built to contain it. Torc knew that if he flooded the spot in which they stood now with Fraeden timeline it would cause less chaos then the melting of the ice, but would still damage the pathways. Instead, once the Mage’s past was contained within the ward they could move it to a spot Melissa remembered them at. There Torc could release the energies without fear that Fraeden would pollute another timeline.

Manipulating the forces would initially be hard, but once it was going Torc remembered a gnomish device called a magnet that would pull iron. Torc believe the weave he was forming would do the same for the polluting energies in the boy’s timeline. As they filled the bag, Torc then could find what happened to the boy, and replace whatever ill Fraeden had done to himself by restoring the balance.

[Ssinith DIllil]

((OOC: Lemme know if this is good.))

Memories were a fickle thing in the passage of time. If they were part of the brain, it would be mindcrafting, but interacting with memory on a soul level allowed it to be manipulated by a wizard. Ghosts could recall things of their past lives, otherwise they wouldn't be bound to the world. One could receive damage to their head and forget, but there was another side to things... instincts made by time and experience. If one lost the experience of those memories, what they learned which could change time would be lost forever.

But there was much more to this Aetheric meeting than that.

It was obvious that Fraed wasn't the best at manipulating time energy. Slowing down his own time energy in several spots, hoping to slow down areas where his was intertwined didn't work as well as he had thought. He held his head slightly as a few pieces of the iceburg he was sitting on started to crack and melt. Apparently the spell didn't backfire in the manner he had intended.

"That must have been one hell of a lay..."

Melissa was getting quite the headache as her energy was pulled from the equation, but it was as if Torc had built a net to catch the floating ice and help them return to their former by salting them down. Shaking his head Fraed slipped a little bit from his seated position, showing a glint from under his cloak...

... Another amulet as seen in the visions.

[Torc Blackfoot]

((OOC: Looks great, sorry work has been real busy and I didn’t mean to put this off so long.))

Torc felt the heavy load of pulling Melissa back in and the net that he had used to capture Fraed’s memories. It felt like dragging a heavy anchor deep in a river. Torc could almost feel the coarse hemp as each hand moved forward pulling Melissa towards him. With his eyes he saw the vines and branches of the living web between Torc and Melissa convort and contract pulling them together. Through that very web Torc felt the hurt and damage Melissa had received, and on part as well as Torc.

The breaking of the reflection ward had stressed Torc on magic, and an already difficult road head became longer. Still he waited for the mage to strike again and again. Battlemages were often overly aggressive and cared little for fair play. With Melissa still being pulled in Torc wondered when threads of space and light would be thrown to disorient him.

Looking back at the containment net, Torc began to worry about Fraed, instead of worring what he would do next. Imprints or memories on the soul could be used in combat, but copies were often used. Yet Torc and Fraed had been surrounded by the flow of time and space. Torc began to wonder if the man hadn’t bled out all his memories in an attempt to harm Torc. If that was true then all the decisions that those memories involved would not have the same imprint on his soul, which would destabilize him in the aetheral plane.

“Fraed? Are you ok? Do you know where you are and where your body is?” Damn! Torc thought. Why are you doing this? Just take the damn amulet and run down the boy! So what if he is hurt or too foolish to do anything?

“Melissa, talk to Fraed, tell him why you are looking for your boy.” Maybe talking to him will help him stabilize, if nothing more it might distract him. Besides he needed to evualate how Melissa was doing as well.

Torc began to direct his roots under the river and then just under the iceberg. Slowly he formed a raft under the mage.

Even if Faed was able to stabilize, he was a battlemage not a diviner. The raft once completed would be able to catch Fraed if he slipped off his own ice, but it also held another purpose. Torc could move the whole scene closer to Melissa’s son. Fraed wouldn’t feel the movement for his ground would be anchored into the raft, and though Torc wouldn’t break the man standing before them, he could move them all to the place that Melissa and Fraed’s son was at.

The idea of a wagon with two men fighting on it came to mind. The wagon could move towards a destination and though the men were fighting as to where it would go, didn’t mean that it wouldn’t go. Initially Torc, had been moving towards the son, so if they continued the momentum, then Fraed wouldn’t receive another chance to displace Melissa and Himself.

However, if Fraed and forgotten where his body was, then he would need help and the memory’s contained within the net. Torc realized that he didn’t want to kill the man, even though he had been a jerk. Besides having a battlemage owe you a favor wasn’t a bad thing.

Just in case Torc readying himself to turn the raft into a sling that would hold the mage and connect them, so that Torc could help those memories find their rightful place again.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Yes... I'm just tired... damnit, this is harder than I thought."

"Fraed, you old goat!"

Melissa's tone was that of someone who had one of those relationships... they fought and got angry at one another a lot, and that was how they showed affection. She seemed to be more angry than hurt, but a woman in labor always had an ill temper. With Torc this close to her soul and energy, it could be the very same tone... or it could just be that when it came to Fraed, she was a bitter old maid.

Fraed looked up from his position. If Melissa wasn't still part of the equation, he would have kept firing. It was a good sign that he still cared about it.

"Mel, you can't get involved in this! I'd love to show him to you, but if the wrong people know..."

As the raft lifted under the iceburg, his feet found solid ground and the ice was no longer touching the water. He let the ice melt back into the water as he sat on the raft instead. Apparently the ice, still being a part of the water, still kept him connected to the river. Since ice floated and now he was floating on another person's will, he was quite in a predicament as he started floating to the net himself.

The sassy old man flipped his cape and a wind energy made a sail on the raft. Even if Torc was holding the web AND the raft with his draining energy, the old man gave him something easier to work with by moving it himself. The question would be, what would the old man do once he got to the web as well as Melissa?

[Torc Blackfoot]

Torc was unsure of what to do, his own energy was draining and he didn’t feel like Fraed was a problem. The man was protecting his son, but in that protection Fraed had a real fear about someone else finding out where the boy was. Damn Melissa and her foolishness, Torc thought.

“Fraed, listen to me, after all these years why do you think Melissa has finally decided to look for the boy? I am sure that she had access to many other mages through out the years. Why did she ask me to find her boy now? It was because someone else told her that he had knowledge of the boy’s whereabouts.”

“I can hear the fear in your voice Fraed. If the wrong people know, well there is someone out there that is willing to sale that information to the boy’s mother. If the boy is important or connected to something else, it will be only a matter of time before they find the wrong people.”

“If the man truly knows where the boy is, then no harm can come from Melissa seeing him. If you continue to block us and I return with Melissa, she must then use her hard earned savings to pay this man off. In which case we wouldn’t be able to confirm or deny his information and whether there exists a person out there willing to sale this information to the highest bidder.”

“What happens if I defeat your stand? Melissa might be able to view her boy, but then I won’t be ready to defend us or shield our use in magick against the wrong people.”

“Fraed, it makes more sense for us to work together in shielding this attempt, then it does fighting. Please, join us as a friend, not as an enemy, and supervisor the divination so that you are sure no one else knows where he is.”

It was a risk to tell Fraed about the contact that Melissa had, but if something was going on with their son, then Torc could run interference at Pax with the other man. Torc began to feel that this rabbit hole was just too deep for any kind of reward. He already had enough to worry about at Pax without getting into another mystery. Besides, Torc, could always turn back and Melissa would know that he attempted to reach her son. However, he would also know that he didn’t do everything that was in his power to find her son. This was going to have to be Torc last attempt at reason with Fraed. Then he was going to have to fight with his own tricks.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"You don't have kids, do you?"

The old man was starting to get stable again, though shakily against Torc's ritual. It was getting very tiring on the both of them.

"I know that my boy is in good hands and happy where he is. He's with people who have been good parents to him. If she goes off looking for him, even if she has you, his happiness has too much of a chance to be compromised. Drop the damn scry before I make this hard on all of us."

And then, there was a break...

--
The vision was scarce, but a peek behind Fraed's defenses. A glen, perhaps? A humble place, that much was for certain, but it was hard to tell if it was in Pax or not. A house which had a sign for a bauble and art shop on the porch.
--

Fraed winced and scowled...

"Damn you, boy... I will kill you myself if they tear him from Mel."

With that, he left the connection, knowing if he took too much more of the strain, he wouldn't be able to do anything about what he feared. Once he left, the waters returned to normal and the net seemed to just be holding Melissa up... the problem was that the storm down the wayside now seemed to churn even bigger.

[Torc Blackfoot]

Torc had outlasted Fraed.

In a way it was a godsend. He hadn’t wanted to hurt the man, and now he could proceed. Of course the threat against his life was still important to note, but with Pax, an approaching army, and all the other insanity one more mage with a grudge was only a drop in the ocean. Torc with a sad laugh as Fraed faded out thought about his situation.

Fraed was going to have to wait his turn, for the approaching army was rumored to have a mage just to take Torc out. Then if that mage didn’t kill Torc, he was some how going to have to heal the land without burning out his own magick or life. Once that was done, Torc then had the task of calming the storm waters of Pax’s time strands. Oh aye, Fraed was a force to be reckoned with, but on the list of things leading to his demise… Torc didn’t need to quite worry as of yet.

Gently Torc pulled in the net with Melissa in it, finally bringing it back to the safe shore that he was rooted in. Dissolving away the ropes and allowing the energies to dissipate Torc gently pulled Melissa close. In his minds eye Torc felt has if he was holding Melissa in an embrace. His rough hands placed softly on the small of her back, while his head was gently pressed against hers. As he transferred his perceptions to Melissa it felt like he was whispering in her ear.

“I am sorry for all of this. Let us take a look at your son and be on our way.”

Gently Torc waited for Melissa’s answer.

If she still wanted to find her son, even after all of what Fraed had said, then he would proceed. Torc would gather them up, placing a warm blanket of energies around them as they finally found her boy. Though the focus would be on the boy, Torc would look for as many details about the place and people he was with, that way once Melissa met with her would be information merchant, Torc would know if it was a scam or if he needed to fulfill the promise to Fraed by finding out more information about the man.

If she wanted to give up and never be bothered with the knowledge of her son, then Torc understood it. He would move them back to there Tethered bodies and softly break the link, because afterwards he could morn the sadness of it all. Because even though Torc understood the reasons, the hurt of a son never knowing his mother was still a deep pain.

Softly Torc held Melissa, inhaling her scent. The warmth of two beings shared was a feeling beyond the simplests of longings. He had wanted to be close to someone, yet sadly it was a false sense of closeness. Melissa couldn’t enjoy the shared bond, because she wouldn’t want to. Torc felt so sad that his was the only way for him to feel the wonder of another.

Editted 1: As per your PM

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Damn that man... I feel he loves our son so much, yet he's still stubborn..." Melissa sighed.

Melissa let out a lot in Torc's arms. She was tired from all of this, but was happy to rest soundly in his arms even if just in the Aether. Melissa let the sight flow into her mind, about the little store in the quieter side of a town. The two Achadiel who were beside him in the vision were happy together as they made all sorts of crazy artistic things together with the basics of magic, her son wearing the amulet around his neck.

He was, indeed, happy.

"I can feel it... those two couldn't have a child of their own..." Melissa said. "I... don't know how I know that."

Sighing for a moment, she pondered if it really was worth it... if just watching from a distance like Fraed would be enough. He looked like her, and it killed her from within not to just rush up and hold him.

"... I know Fraed loves the boy... I want to see my son, but he wouldn't be such an ass unless something was up on his end. If he doesn't want us to be stupid about it, then let's not be stupid about it. I'll have to hire a couple of more roughs if I ever let him visit."

A few peaceful tears fell from her eyes as she gazed at what the future might hold if she sought out her son. Her energy nestled in closer to Torc.

"I hate to trouble you... but would you stick around a little longer... at least for the first visit? If someone might be after my boy as Fraed says, then I want the bastards out in the open where I can pull a few strings of my own..."

[Torc Blackfoot]

Torc could guess how Melissa knew that the family couldn’t have children. In her current line of work it paid to understand the connections and wants of her customers. Her perceptions were focused on such mechanisms of behavior, so it made sense that Melissa could perceive the want of the family for a child and the inability to have one.

As Torc saw the tears began and felt the slight focus shift into a possible future. Torc wove a blanket of leaves to obscure her vision. He would hold to the promise to Fraed. Softly he allowed the divination to fade into the aether and began to move them back to the little office at the Nether’s Gate. Torc began to wonder about the time storm coming. Truthfully he wished he could have afforded Melissa a longer look, but Torc felt that it would only prolong her joy and suffering. Better to know that he was currently safe and happy.

As Torc propelled them along the aetheral distance he listened to Melissa request.

“I have much too prepare today, Melissa. Last night, a rumor of an armed force approaching Selderine was given to me. I must prepare battle foci, as well as, a grand battle charm. Hopefully, once I have completed both we will have a chance to stand and fight against the Battle Mage that is coming with them. If I can surprise and overwhelm their senses, along with providing a swift killing strike to a great deal of men, then the green troops will scatter, allowing Ulder’s Swordmarked to continue the fight on equal terms.”

“However, preparations for the rituals, as well as, materials need to be gathered. I can spend some time of today with you, and perhaps help you face this man. However, I must ask a price of you, if you wish for my help in this.”

Torc felt evil asking for something of Melissa, while he was bound so closely to her, but in the end he did have an armed force to worry about.

“While we have been bound, I have learned that you have the energy for magick, with practice you could become a fine mage. If you wish I can spend sometime with you showing you healing magicks for disease, wards against conception, and perhaps a masking illusion for your girls. I, however, can’t be your teacher… Let’s just say I would be too tempted to dabble in some of the old rites that need both genders. Also, I am not sure if I could keep the proper discipline as your teacher.”

“Yet, that does not do us any good for the on coming battle. As you can feel magick can be very tiring, the battle charm, as well as, the creation of battle foci will continuous keep me in a state of low energy. I could teach you within a mark or two how to join me and how to help replenish my energy reservoirs, this wouldn’t be as effective as if you could help me in the rituals, but this way you can simply hand over your energy without anyone knowing you can perform magick.”

“Also, I must teach you this since I will not drain you dry, I will have to trust that you will voluntary give over some of your energy to me.”

Torc waited for the response. It was not fool proof, nor did he put it in the best of ways. However, for the upcoming battle Torc was going to need as much strength as possible.