Gray watched the two dance for a while, mesmerized by the vistani girl's dancing skills. She would have to be a skilled dancer, what with the way she used dance as a martial attack form, but the Hengeyokai was still amazed at how she could not only make herself look good on a dance floor, but was so skilled as to make others look good as well...THAT takes real talent! As he thought on that, he ate the delicious food presented to him, but did decide to stay away from the ale. He was rather susceptible to the effects of alcohol, and felt he would need to stay mentally sharp for the next leg of their journey...wherever it was that they were going to go...
When the two dancers take a break for refreshments, Gray closes his eyes and focuses on everything that had happened that day. He thought of each instance where his attacks had either failed to make their mark, or where his tactics had been flawed. His master may have taught him the fundamentals of the Desert Wind style of martial arts, but he knew full well that he would have to experiment and experience using this style in combat to make it fit him. After all, if martial arts were a simple cookie-cutter process of learning moves and repeating them...everyone would do it...right?
After closing his eyes for just a moment, there was a flash of white light in his mind's eye and he felt himself pulled into another place. It was almost like the releasing of a cork from a bottle of wine... a ton of resistance as the cork is pulled, pulled, pulled...and then POP, it flies across the room to its destination. Gray felt the resistance as he was summoned to that other place, and then POP... he was there! He found himself in a forest glen not-unlike the one Fiddlesticks had just led them from, but this one was somehow different... The vegetation looked and felt more alive, the colors a little more vibrant, and the air had a hum of power to it. Gray blinked away the sudden change in brightness, and as his vision refocused itself, he found himself standing in front of an older Eladrin female. She was dressed in a gown of gossamer silks, its green and white fabrics creating a sort of vine motif. Her skin was a delicate cream color, and was...perfect. Resting on her brow was some kind of blue gem housed in a fine silver band that verily glowed in the intense light. She must have taken a few steps toward him, because she moved closer, but if she had actually moved her legs, Gray couldn't tell, as her movements were flawlessly graceful, each movement flowing into the other with utter perfectness. Simply put...she was transcendent.
Gray looked about the glen, confused, as to why he was suddenly here, and he worried that Soryth had somehow cast a spell on him. That thought was quickly dispelled with the warm smile the "By the gods..." Gray thought to himself. "Even her finger nails are perfect..."
Gray felt himself almost involuntarily moving closer to the lady, but whether that was because of some kind of charm, or pure curiosity eluded the shapeshifter. In either case, Gray followed the Eladrin woman to a large tree-stump, where she stopped and knelt. Touching the top of the tree stump with her hands on the open wood, a pained look flashed for a moment before she closed her eyes and refocused. Opening her eyes only a second later, she looked directly at Gray. Gray began to see images in his mind. A beautiful tree, centuries old, its branches swaying gently in a breeze as the sun-light filtered through its leaves. Suddenly the image in his mind changed, and he saw a horde of orcs tearing through trees with axes and ravaging the animal population in unnecessary slaughter. Gray felt the strike of each axe as clearly as if they had been directed at himself, and he flinched hard the first time his chest burned in agony.
Just as quickly as the image had entered his mind, it receded, and he once again saw the Eladrin woman sitting across from him, with the stump between them. Gesturing about them with both hands, Gray could see that the entire glen was nothing more than a desolate waste. Each tree lay split, torn asunder, and rent limb from limb by axes. Gray felt tightness in his chest and nearly wept at the sight.
On the stump lay the handwraps that Fiddlesticks had blessed with the snail and clovers. Except now, whenever the light hit them at the right angle, the image of a verdant tree appeared as a black silhouette on the shiny green backdrop of color. Another image entered Gray's mind. In his minds' eye, Gray can see himself, a bit older, and seemingly more mature. He had the look of experience in his eyes. The backdrop kept changing from forest, to desert, to fields and mountains, and grassy plains in a never ending cycle of places and seasons. He saw himself confronting those who would harm the land, moving about the landscape as though he were a part of it. He saw something else as well that both scared him, and excited him...
In the middle of a series of movements and strikes against a large group of orcs and giants, Gray's form shifted. For a moment, his sight of himself was blocked by a moving giant. Gray heard a loud roar, and then, when the giant had moved aside in fear, the shapeshifter saw not a fox Hengeyokai surrounded by foes...but a dragon! The large beast was lithe and muscular. The color of its scales reminded him of the desert sands where he grew up. The dragon let out a blast of carefully controlled fire that incinerated a group of orcs that were unprepared for the unexpected change in Gray's form! A red aura of heat exuded from the dragon's body, and when next the dragon struck with a blistering flourish, the giant caught in the aura burned all the more severely, its skin crisping like the bark of an old tree.
Gray's heart pumped liked he were running a marathon, adrenaline flowing through his veins. The image quickly faded and the shapeshifter could see the Eladrin woman offering him the handwraps, and he heard three words in his mind: Accept. Protect Nature. Gray reached out for the handwraps. As he touched them, he felt that same resistant pulling from before and then felt a pop as he felt his body jolt. It was then that Gray realized that he had not actually been in his body during this short visit he'd had with the Eladrin woman. Who was this woman anyway, and why was she pleading with him to protect nature? Sure...he was a creature of the fey realms, but he hadn't even grown up in Arcadia. Looking down at his hands, Gray was dumbfounded to see that the silhouette of a tree could be seen on his handwraps as the light reflected off of their slight green color. Gray's mind spun. Was this a blessing...or some kind of mandate? If he decided not to take up this cause...would there be consequences? And if he did...would he become the version of himself that he saw in his vision?
