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A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
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<blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 6295744" data-attributes="member: 14561"><p><strong>39x01</strong></p><p></p><p>Wind rustled the exact same black, spiky grass. In exactly the same way.</p><p></p><p>Tavi yawned as Kormick poked him awake. <em>You’d think the wind would get tired of it</em>, Tavi thought. But he heard the voice of Mena’s lessons in his head: <em> the wind never tires</em>.</p><p></p><p>Tavi was frustrated, He was ready to be done with the time loop and back to the work of the prophecy. This trip was about Rose, and the time loop was an impediment. Worse, an impediment they didn’t know how to get out of. Tavi peeled away his bedroll, stretched, and began his morning forms.</p><p></p><p>They sent their ordinary morning sending to Aeton, asking him to meet them at the cave they’d found in the previous loop, and received Aeton’s ordinary gratitude for waking him. <em>If <strong>I’m</strong> ready to be done with this,</em> Tavi thought, <em>imagine how Aeton feels.</em></p><p></p><p>Before setting out for the cave, the party ate breakfast and discussed what they’d learned in the previous loop. Tavi described the cave with its strange markings, and Nyoko described the Sovereign priest’s ritual circle and prayer. With some prompting from Twiggy, in fact, she closed her eyes and described it in painfully precise detail. <em>When those two get going</em>, Tavi thought, <em>life gets awfully detailed</em>.</p><p></p><p>“Could this time loop have been caused by some irregularity in the priest’s prayer?” Savina asked. “Like the fact that his ritual discharged early?”</p><p></p><p>“Word choice can be important,” Twiggy said, “and sometimes getting cut off in the middle of a ritual can have unpredictable results—but this is well beyond ‘unpredictable.’” </p><p></p><p><em>That’s an understatement.</em> “There was a lot of Sheh magic in the air,” Tavi pointed out. “And Sovereign magic as well. Maybe they interacted strangely. Especially since Sheh magic is a strange combination of divine and arcane.” </p><p></p><p>“What would have interacted?” Savina asked. “There were bears, and sinkholes, and swarms, and fires, and spores, and vines—”</p><p></p><p>“But none of those things have to do with time,” Tavi jumped in.</p><p></p><p>“Wait,” Mena said. “That’s right. Sinkholes are earth. Kettenite. Bears are earth animals. Kettenite too. Vines and spores—plants and pollen—are surely Alirrian. Swarms are chaotic. Ehktian. And fires are—” she looked down reflexively at the burn scars on her hands and arms. “Fires are Ehktian…. The point is, none of them are Sedellan. And Sedellus is the goddess of change.”</p><p></p><p>“So there was an absence of change magic?” Tavi asked. It was just on the edge of making sense.</p><p></p><p>“—Yes,” Savina said, as if Tavi’s sentence had resolved the matter. “All that magic in the air. The priest saying ‘preserve us upon <em>this day</em>.’ And an absence of change magic, as you said. Together, they meant the priest’s prayer preserved that day. The same day, preserved over and over again, without change.” </p><p></p><p>Twiggy got that far away look she got when she was running equations in her head.</p><p></p><p>“So what you’re saying is that to stop the time loop, all we have to do is get to the fight and add some change magic,” Kormick said. “Easy peasy.” </p><p></p><p>“Probably best to make sure it’s Sheh magic,” Tavi mused. “Otherwise it could unbalance things in another direction.”</p><p></p><p>“Right,” Twiggy said, with a nod. “Step one, figure out how to do Sheh magic. Step two, figure out how to do Sheh Sedellan magic. Step three, do it in the middle of a battle.” She said it as if it were actually possible. Tavi almost believed it. </p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Excerpt from the notebook of Jan Kormick:</p><p></p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>It was a large cave mouth. Mena looked over at Arden, whose lips were pressed tight. Arden didn’t often show discomfort, but Mena understood. She’d had her fill of caves for the day. “I’ll see what’s inside,” Mena offered. Kormick offered to accompany her. </p><p></p><p>“No need to go in just yet,” Twiggy said. She cast <em>light</em> on a small rock and tossed it inside the cave. It cast a small pool of light, revealing a GIANT blue snout. The snout hissed.</p><p></p><p>“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a dragon,” Kormick said.</p><p></p><p>The snout inched forward into the light, followed by a huge head, huge eyes, huge mouth—</p><p></p><p>“It’s a dragon,” Savina confirmed. </p><p></p><p>The dragon’s mouth opened and it ROARED. “Stay back!” Savina shouted. “Its breath will burn!” The pool of light now illuminated its enormous head. From its mouth came a blast of icy air. The grass in front of them crackled, frozen. “Or—I guess—freeze!” </p><p></p><p>Twiggy immediately ignited her flaming sphere, and situated it in front of the cave mouth, blocking part of it. But it was a big cave mouth, and the dragon was far from trapped. Already Mena could glimpse it shambling around the flame—unwilling to get too close to the fire, but determined to come after them. They had mere seconds. Everyone backed away. Mena pointed Rose to a hiding place to the side of the cave. Rose darted out of sight.</p><p></p><p>Aeton clambered up the rocky hillside beside the cliff until he was at the top of the cave mouth.</p><p></p><p>“What are you planning to do?” Tavi yelled up to him. “Jump on it when it comes out?”</p><p></p><p>Aeton laughed. “You got it. What’s the worst that happens? It kills us? At least I haven’t died that way <strong>yet</strong>.”</p><p></p><p>Mena wasn’t ready to watch her friends die, however temporary Aeton said it would be. She raised her sword and strode to the front of the group. </p><p></p><p>Kormick stepped in front of her. And—the gall of him—he did it <em>protectively</em>. The look he shot her was downright concerned. For her welfare. </p><p></p><p>The look made her stop, reflexively, despite herself. She didn’t like stopping. She didn’t even like the look. She liked even less that it had made her stop. <em>Is this going to be a thing?</em> Mena thought. <em>I can’t run into a cave to attack a dragon because someone cares about me?</em></p><p></p><p>The dragon’s snout nosed beyond the flames. Then its eyes. Then its sinuous neck. </p><p></p><p>Kormick glanced again at Mena. This time she caught his eyes and held them. He held hers right back. </p><p></p><p>Then Kormick grinned. “After you, Dame Mena,” he said. Readying his warhammers, he stepped aside.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ellinor, post: 6295744, member: 14561"] [b]39x01[/b] Wind rustled the exact same black, spiky grass. In exactly the same way. Tavi yawned as Kormick poked him awake. [i]You’d think the wind would get tired of it[/i], Tavi thought. But he heard the voice of Mena’s lessons in his head: [i] the wind never tires[/i]. Tavi was frustrated, He was ready to be done with the time loop and back to the work of the prophecy. This trip was about Rose, and the time loop was an impediment. Worse, an impediment they didn’t know how to get out of. Tavi peeled away his bedroll, stretched, and began his morning forms. They sent their ordinary morning sending to Aeton, asking him to meet them at the cave they’d found in the previous loop, and received Aeton’s ordinary gratitude for waking him. [i]If [b]I’m[/b] ready to be done with this,[/i] Tavi thought, [i]imagine how Aeton feels.[/i] Before setting out for the cave, the party ate breakfast and discussed what they’d learned in the previous loop. Tavi described the cave with its strange markings, and Nyoko described the Sovereign priest’s ritual circle and prayer. With some prompting from Twiggy, in fact, she closed her eyes and described it in painfully precise detail. [i]When those two get going[/i], Tavi thought, [i]life gets awfully detailed[/i]. “Could this time loop have been caused by some irregularity in the priest’s prayer?” Savina asked. “Like the fact that his ritual discharged early?” “Word choice can be important,” Twiggy said, “and sometimes getting cut off in the middle of a ritual can have unpredictable results—but this is well beyond ‘unpredictable.’” [i]That’s an understatement.[/i] “There was a lot of Sheh magic in the air,” Tavi pointed out. “And Sovereign magic as well. Maybe they interacted strangely. Especially since Sheh magic is a strange combination of divine and arcane.” “What would have interacted?” Savina asked. “There were bears, and sinkholes, and swarms, and fires, and spores, and vines—” “But none of those things have to do with time,” Tavi jumped in. “Wait,” Mena said. “That’s right. Sinkholes are earth. Kettenite. Bears are earth animals. Kettenite too. Vines and spores—plants and pollen—are surely Alirrian. Swarms are chaotic. Ehktian. And fires are—” she looked down reflexively at the burn scars on her hands and arms. “Fires are Ehktian…. The point is, none of them are Sedellan. And Sedellus is the goddess of change.” “So there was an absence of change magic?” Tavi asked. It was just on the edge of making sense. “—Yes,” Savina said, as if Tavi’s sentence had resolved the matter. “All that magic in the air. The priest saying ‘preserve us upon [i]this day[/i].’ And an absence of change magic, as you said. Together, they meant the priest’s prayer preserved that day. The same day, preserved over and over again, without change.” Twiggy got that far away look she got when she was running equations in her head. “So what you’re saying is that to stop the time loop, all we have to do is get to the fight and add some change magic,” Kormick said. “Easy peasy.” “Probably best to make sure it’s Sheh magic,” Tavi mused. “Otherwise it could unbalance things in another direction.” “Right,” Twiggy said, with a nod. “Step one, figure out how to do Sheh magic. Step two, figure out how to do Sheh Sedellan magic. Step three, do it in the middle of a battle.” She said it as if it were actually possible. Tavi almost believed it. ### Excerpt from the notebook of Jan Kormick: ### It was a large cave mouth. Mena looked over at Arden, whose lips were pressed tight. Arden didn’t often show discomfort, but Mena understood. She’d had her fill of caves for the day. “I’ll see what’s inside,” Mena offered. Kormick offered to accompany her. “No need to go in just yet,” Twiggy said. She cast [i]light[/i] on a small rock and tossed it inside the cave. It cast a small pool of light, revealing a GIANT blue snout. The snout hissed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a dragon,” Kormick said. The snout inched forward into the light, followed by a huge head, huge eyes, huge mouth— “It’s a dragon,” Savina confirmed. The dragon’s mouth opened and it ROARED. “Stay back!” Savina shouted. “Its breath will burn!” The pool of light now illuminated its enormous head. From its mouth came a blast of icy air. The grass in front of them crackled, frozen. “Or—I guess—freeze!” Twiggy immediately ignited her flaming sphere, and situated it in front of the cave mouth, blocking part of it. But it was a big cave mouth, and the dragon was far from trapped. Already Mena could glimpse it shambling around the flame—unwilling to get too close to the fire, but determined to come after them. They had mere seconds. Everyone backed away. Mena pointed Rose to a hiding place to the side of the cave. Rose darted out of sight. Aeton clambered up the rocky hillside beside the cliff until he was at the top of the cave mouth. “What are you planning to do?” Tavi yelled up to him. “Jump on it when it comes out?” Aeton laughed. “You got it. What’s the worst that happens? It kills us? At least I haven’t died that way [b]yet[/b].” Mena wasn’t ready to watch her friends die, however temporary Aeton said it would be. She raised her sword and strode to the front of the group. Kormick stepped in front of her. And—the gall of him—he did it [i]protectively[/i]. The look he shot her was downright concerned. For her welfare. The look made her stop, reflexively, despite herself. She didn’t like stopping. She didn’t even like the look. She liked even less that it had made her stop. [i]Is this going to be a thing?[/i] Mena thought. [i]I can’t run into a cave to attack a dragon because someone cares about me?[/i] The dragon’s snout nosed beyond the flames. Then its eyes. Then its sinuous neck. Kormick glanced again at Mena. This time she caught his eyes and held them. He held hers right back. Then Kormick grinned. “After you, Dame Mena,” he said. Readying his warhammers, he stepped aside. [/QUOTE]
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