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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nonlethal Force" data-source="post: 3017312" data-attributes="member: 35788">Rhema continued to lead them through a network of what felt like back alleys through the rest of the city of Fingerdale.  These were in fact normal streets.  However, the merchant shops that lined the streets took such liberties to extend their storefront out into the street to gain visibility for their wares that the street took on a much more cramped alley feel to it.  Rhema and Semeion were amused to watch Charis’ reaction to some of the various methods of advertising that were employed.  One particular simple magic shop used illusion magic to create a scary dragon head that would rise up with a loud roar at anyone who looked into the shop.  The illusion was so realistic that Rhema and Semeion were taken by surprise; but Charis was completely unprepared for this occurrence and before she knew it she had her new pick in her hand and was ready to defend herself!  Only a convincing appeal from Rhema calmed her down, much to the amusement of several of the nearby merchants.  They had grown accustomed to the initial panic of people passing by.Eventually the trio came to the herbalist shop that Rhema had spoken of earlier.  It was one of the few shops in their entire walk that had not taken advantage of pouring its wares out onto the street to help advertise.  In fact, it had done simply the opposite.  The merchant shops on either side of this herbal shop had taken over all but a very narrow path into the herbal shop.  This arrangement made the herbalist shop blend into the natural background even more.  It was as if the herbalist desired to keep a low profil and only be found by those with the intention of seeking the shop out.Semeion looked at the odd arrangement as Rhema found the narrow path and headed toward the building, “How did you ever find this place, Rhema?”Charis added, “No doubt.  I think that if I was walking down this street in search for it I wouldn’t be able to find it.  It is almost as if the owner doesn’t want to advertise!”Rhema stopped before entering and spoke softly.  From her tone and volume Charis and Semeion picked up rather easily that the street was not a great place to speak of the shop in great detail.  “The owner doesn’t.  And the only reason at all that I know of this place is that several years back the owner of this place came and asked of a favor from my father.  He could give little in exchange.  Fortunately for him his personality caught my attention immediately.  I was a young teenager at the time and I begged my father to help him just because he seemed like a nice person.  My father then suggested an alternate payment for his assistance.  The owner of this shop agreed to train me in the basics of his craft in exchange for my father’s help.  The owner of this shop helped me begin to learn what I know.  Unfortunately, I quickly surpassed the skill of the owner of the shop and since have had to learn what I know on my own.”Rhema turned and parted the thick veil of beads that dangled from the top of the entrance to the shop.  There were several rows of beads, and the beads varied in sizes so as to make a very effective barrier to the sounds and lights trying to pass from the outside, through the curtain, and into the shop.  In truth, they also provided a good barrier at keeping sounds originating in the shop with the walls of the shop.  As the trio entered, they saw quart sized glass jars lining the walls on small wooden shelves.  The rows of shelves that held the quart sized jars were floor to ceiling and almost made it impossible to view the walls behind them.  This first room of the store was roughly a mere 10 feet wide and only a good 15 feet deep.  However, there was a door in the middle of the far wall that looked as though to have seen a fair amount of use.Semeion was intrigued by the patron of the shop.  The figure was a small goblin with bluish highlights to his naturally occurring hair.  His crooked nose and rough skin spoke of the fact that he had not had an easy life.  Before the goblin looked up to see who had entered he began into his typical introductory speech.  “Welcome to the Translucent Corymb.  If you need any assistance finding the herb you desire, feel free to ask.”Rhema cleared her throat a little obviously and spoke.  “We don’t seek herbs, Braagh, you old fool.”The voice and the mild insult caused the goblin to look up and smile.  Once he had recognized Rhema he spoke softly to her.  “Rhema, my dear.  Good to see you once more!  Come, come now.  Have you come and brought friends to stare at the sword of your dreams?  I’ve saved it for you as I promised.”Rhema smiled as the goblin slid off of his chair.  Even from a standing height the goblin rose only to the bottom of Rhema’s ribcage.  “Not only have I come to show them the crystal sword – I’ve come to take it off your hands and slip you some profit in the process!”The goblin smiled even more.  “That is simply wonderful news!  A visit from a friend is good, but a visit from a friend who brings profit is even better!Braagh took several quick steps and turned the handle on the back door.  The door appeared to be oddly proportioned with the handle located much closer to the ground for the smaller goblin to be able to reach comfortably.  The lower handle gave the top of the door the appearance of a yawning twenty foot mouth as it opened.  As the goblin entered the room the trio could make out several small cases inside the room.  Once they had all entered the back it was clear that this back room was where Braagh kept the wares that he truly cherished.  Everything was under glass and locked.  In fact, everything in the back storeroom that was for sale was also made of crystal.As Rhema walked into the room, she heard a voice.  The voice sounded nearly ghostly, although it had a significantly female quality to it.  “I have watched you come into this shop for years, Rhema.”The thin hairs on the back of Rhema’s neck stood on end as a chill shot down Rhema’s spine.  Her voice betrayed a small sense of concern as she asked, “Braagh, are we alone?”As Braagh reached into one of his pocket and removed a key, he replied, “Do you seek to offend my sensibilities, Rhema?  Of course we are alone!  Nobody knows of the wares of this room unless I desire them to know.”  He smiled politely at her and flipped the key over along his fingers several times.  “So you are really going to take this sword off my hands today?  I can’t believe the day has finally come!  I’m so happy for you!”As Rhema turned to face the case that held the crystalline weapons and Braagh inserted the key into the lock to open that same case, Rhema heard the strange voice again.  This time the voice was coming from behind her.  “Together we can make each other stronger, Rhema.” As Braagh lifted the crystalline sword out of the case with a fair amount of difficulty, for it was a sword designed for someone Rhema’s size and not his own, Rhema spun and turned away from him.  Braagh wrinkled his eyebrows as she turned away right at the moment he prepared to hand her the sword.  “Rhema, is there something wrong?  You’ve never been this edgy back here.  In fact, normally I can’t get you away from this case.”Rhema searched the opposite side of the plain room.  The only thing in that area of the room was the other display case filled with a smattering of crystal objects similar to the case Braagh had just opened.  Confused, she turned back around to Braagh and took the sword into her hand.  “Sorry, Braagh.  I really am interested in this sword.”Rhema’s hand gripped the handle like she had many times before.  The sword felt perfectly balanced in her hand, and she marveled at how the dark blue crystal was just barely light enough to be able to see faint images through the blade itself.  She held the blade up to her eyes and watched as she could barely make out the room and the people within it through the blade.  Of course, everything her eyes perceived through the blade was all heavily tinted from the blue of the crystal.Charis had been intrigued by the crystal objects upon entering, but until Rhema had actually picked one up she was a bit unsure of them since they were not as common as the steel pick she strapped to her belt.  She looked at Rhema’s pleased expression with the sword and asked, “That is a beautiful sword, Rhema.  Can I hold it for a second?”Before Rhema could reply in the affirmative she heard the strange voice again.  “Give her the sword, Rhema.  We both know that your power, our power, does not come from weapons.  It comes from your mind.”Much to the shock of the other three people in the room, Rhema spun on her heels and leveled the sword toward the far wall.  In a firm and surprisingly loud voice Rhema commanded an order into the emptiness.  “I have had enough of your hidden speech.  I demand that you show yourself!”A few moments of awkward silence settled over the room before Semeion spoke.  “Uh, Rhema?  Are you hearing voices?  Because I’ve not heard a word.”Instinctively Braagh locked up the case from which he had drawn Rhema’s sword and with a simple flick of his wrist the key was back into the hidden pocket where it properly belonged.  Charis spun in the direction that Rhema pointed and hoisted her pick in a defensive posture as well.  As the others turned, Semeion also turned and stared at what appeared to be an empty wall with a case in front of it.Rhema heard the voice again.  “Give the sword to your friend to hold.  Search your mind.  Your mind has called out to me for years now.  You can find me if  you know where to look.”“There it was again!  Tell me you didn’t hear it!”  The weight of holding the sword horizontally before her began to cause her hand to waver a bit.  She lowered the sword as the voice commanded.Semeion and Charis simply shook their heads as Rhema looked to them for support.  Once she realized that she truly was the only one hearing the voice she decided to do as the voice suggested.  She turned to Charis and handed her the sword.  “Sure, Charis.  You can see the sword.  Go ahead and take it, I think you’ll have to trust me on this one.”Charis and Semeion exchanged a quick and confused look but decided that they were in no position to argue with Rhema.  She was apparently the only one who was supposed to know what was going on.  Charis stowed her pick onto her belt and took the sword from Rhema.  She was indeed impressed with the natural balance that the crystalline sword provided in her hand.As she gave the sword to Charis, Rhema noticed that Braagh had a smug smile on his lips.  In a rather sharp tone stemming from the confusion of the incidents with the voices, Rhema demanded information from Braagh.  “And just what are you grinning at, Braagh?”Braagh didn’t answer. The short creature before them merely shook his head from side to side.  Rather intentionally, he forced the smug smile from his face until Rhema turned back around to the opposite case.  Once he was sure that her attention was otherwise focused elsewhere, the smile returned to the goblin’s expression.The voice entered Rhema’s mind once more.  “Good.  Now, use your mind.  Your mind has been calling out to me for years.  Together we can become strong.  Use your mind to find me.”In an odd manner, Rhema spoke aloud in response to the voice.  Charis and Semeion once more exchanged confused looks as the response made no sense without the reason for prompting it.  “How have I been calling for you?  I don’t know how!”  Semeion looked as though he were about to speak, but Braagh and Charis both motioned for him to remain quiet.The voice returned once more to Rhema’s mind.  “I cannot guide you in what you already know how to do yourself.  You must have confidence that you know what you are doing.  Use your mind and find me.”Rhema closed her eyes and focused.  She offered up a small prayer to Ischarus’ god.  When she opened her eyes once more, she stepped forward to the opposite case and began to look inside.  Very slowly, Braagh moved from behind the one case to the side of the other.  He did not wish to disturb Rhema, so he did not approach the lock on the opposite side from where Rhema looked.Inside the case, Rhema poured over the contents, hoping to find something that would strike her as being familiar.  She reasoned that if she had been calling out for years, that there must have been something in this case that she had seen in one of her many trips before.  She looked at several crystalline objects.  There were a few crystal shafts that were about two feet long and of a variety of colors.  There were several other crystal swords of varying shapes, sizes, and colors.  There were a few small cases with what looked like crystal shards within the cases. And almost as decoration there were a few simple crystals of various colors simply laying in the case.Again Rhema spoke aloud to the voice that had appeared in her head.  “There are so many to choose from, how do I know who you are?”There was no reply.  What had seemed at first to be an intrusion into her mind was now greatly missed.  Her mind felt the mental silence and longed for it to be filled with advice.  She was trying to solve a puzzle in which the only clue was that she already knew the answer.  The very fact that she didn’t know how to unlock the answer was racing through her mind.After several minutes of deep thinking, Rhema spoke aloud to allow the logic to come to the open air.  “I believe you are not a weapon, because none of the weapons look familiar or intriguing to me.”  As she spoke, she gestured with her hands.  The action was more of a physical release of nervous energy than anything else. When she stopped gesturing she looked down at her hands before her.  They had come together almost as if she were forming a bowl with her fingers and palms.  Her mind leapt in understanding.  “You are one of the stones being used for decoration!”Rhema didn’t notice that Braagh’s smug smile turned into a smile of pride at her verbal outburst.  Charis and Semeion did notice it.  The goblin’s smile was infectious as they all began to smile in the realization that Rhema had made a tremendous leap in understanding.  Semeion and Charis slowly stepped towards the case so that they could better see the stones that Rhema had to choose from.  There were at least six that matched the size of the bowl subconsciously formed by Rhema’s hands.  The stones were each colored differently.  There was a dark purple crystal, a pink crystal, a maize crystal, a scarlet crystal, an orange crystal, and a navy blue crystal.Rhema stepped back to think, slightly bumping into Charis’ right side.  As Rhema’s hands shot out to brace herself from falling, she caught sight of her cloak as it flailed about her as well as her sword that she had asked Charis to hold.  Both of them were a dark blue in color.  Her mind raced back to the case.  “Could the choice be that simple?”She thought for a moment and looked around the room to find Braagh.  She was amused to find him smiling so proudly and already standing beside the case, key in hand as if he was anticipating the moment to come.  She spoke to the small creature in a soft tone.  “Braagh, could I see …”  Her voice stopped short of making a firm commitment.Rhema’s finger rested on the glass top and she pointed to the navy blue stone.  The goblin easily rounded the corner of the case and slipped the key into the lock.  It was pretty clear that he was just as excited about what was happening as Rhema.  Charis and Semeion each saw the goblin’s excitement and realized that they were the only two standing on the outside of the experience and looking in.  The others had some inkling as to what was happening while they were simply trying to just understand what was happening.Rhema finished her thought.  “… the navy … no.  Not the navy blue stone.  The voice that spoke out to me was not a carbon copy of who I am.  The voice that spoke to me was a compliment to who I am.  The voice promised that together we could make each other stronger.  Her mind raced through the selection again as her eyes bounced from crystal to crystal.  I would like to see the scarlet stone, please.”The familiar voice returned to Rhema’s mind.  “Did I not tell you that you had the ability to find me?  Together we shall enhance each other.  Your mind has awakened me from my natural sleep.  Thank you.”Rhema stood up and smiled as Braagh removed the scarlet stone from the case.  Charis and Semeion exchanged confused looks one more time as Rhema spoke in response to an unheard prompting.  “You’re welcome, and thank you.”Charis waited until Rhema had accepted the stone from Braagh before speaking.  “So, can you explain what just happened to those of us sane enough to not hear voices?”  The teasing was intentional and Charis’ face erupted in a broad smile as she spoke to Rhema.Braagh smiled toward Rhema and the expression informed Rhema that he would address the question.  “These crystals that you interpret as decoration each have within them a deep consciousness.  They are not for sale, and you cannot buy one.  Rather, they lay in waiting for someone to come buy and make a mental connection.  Once that connection has occurred, the crystal responds.  Some of the crystals are aggressive in their approach and other crystals can wait a year, two, five, or even ten years while the mental powers of the one they connected to are established in greater power.  In all cases, however, the psychic power laden deep within the stones is drawn to the power in some people.  The stones enhance the abilities of the ones to whom they are drawn.  It is very much a symbiotic relationship.”Semeion smiled as he made a connection with his own training.  “So, this stone is more like a psychic familiar for Rhema?”Braagh nodded.  “As a crude analogy, yes.  In some ways that is a fair assumption.  In other ways there is great difference.”Rhema stowed the crystal in one of the inner pockets of her cloak.  “You will not let me pay for the crystal, Braagh?  If not, then tell me what I owe for the sword.  I have a feeling that it is almost time to go see Ischarus.”Braagh replied, “I do not pay for the crystals myself, so I do not charge for them.  As for the sword …”Rhema settled the debt with Braagh and after a bit more small talk they headed out of the well disguised store toward the center of town.  They would have much to show Ischarus and hopefully he would have much to tell them about his training.[Sblock=Color-Free Speech Section]Rhema continued to lead them through a network of what felt like back alleys through the rest of the city of Fingerdale. These were in fact normal streets. However, the merchant shops that lined the streets took such liberties to extend their storefront out into the street to gain visibility for their wares that the street took on a much more cramped alley feel to it. Rhema and Semeion were amused to watch Charis’ reaction to some of the various methods of advertising that were employed. One particular simple magic shop used illusion magic to create a scary dragon head that would rise up with a loud roar at anyone who looked into the shop. The illusion was so realistic that Rhema and Semeion were taken by surprise; but Charis was completely unprepared for this occurrence and before she knew it she had her new pick in her hand and was ready to defend herself! Only a convincing appeal from Rhema calmed her down, much to the amusement of several of the nearby merchants. They had grown accustomed to the initial panic of people passing by.Eventually the trio came to the herbalist shop that Rhema had spoken of earlier. It was one of the few shops in their entire walk that had not taken advantage of pouring its wares out onto the street to help advertise. In fact, it had done simply the opposite. The merchant shops on either side of this herbal shop had taken over all but a very narrow path into the herbal shop. This arrangement made the herbalist shop blend into the natural background even more. It was as if the herbalist desired to keep a low profil and only be found by those with the intention of seeking the shop out.Semeion looked at the odd arrangement as Rhema found the narrow path and headed toward the building, “How did you ever find this place, Rhema?”Charis added, “No doubt. I think that if I was walking down this street in search for it I wouldn’t be able to find it. It is almost as if the owner doesn’t want to advertise!”Rhema stopped before entering and spoke softly. From her tone and volume Charis and Semeion picked up rather easily that the street was not a great place to speak of the shop in great detail. “The owner doesn’t. And the only reason at all that I know of this place is that several years back the owner of this place came and asked of a favor from my father. He could give little in exchange. Fortunately for him his personality caught my attention immediately. I was a young teenager at the time and I begged my father to help him just because he seemed like a nice person. My father then suggested an alternate payment for his assistance. The owner of this shop agreed to train me in the basics of his craft in exchange for my father’s help. The owner of this shop helped me begin to learn what I know. Unfortunately, I quickly surpassed the skill of the owner of the shop and since have had to learn what I know on my own.”Rhema turned and parted the thick veil of beads that dangled from the top of the entrance to the shop. There were several rows of beads, and the beads varied in sizes so as to make a very effective barrier to the sounds and lights trying to pass from the outside, through the curtain, and into the shop. In truth, they also provided a good barrier at keeping sounds originating in the shop with the walls of the shop. As the trio entered, they saw quart sized glass jars lining the walls on small wooden shelves. The rows of shelves that held the quart sized jars were floor to ceiling and almost made it impossible to view the walls behind them. This first room of the store was roughly a mere 10 feet wide and only a good 15 feet deep. However, there was a door in the middle of the far wall that looked as though to have seen a fair amount of use.Semeion was intrigued by the patron of the shop. The figure was a small goblin with bluish highlights to his naturally occurring hair. His crooked nose and rough skin spoke of the fact that he had not had an easy life. Before the goblin looked up to see who had entered he began into his typical introductory speech. “Welcome to the Translucent Corymb. If you need any assistance finding the herb you desire, feel free to ask.”Rhema cleared her throat a little obviously and spoke. “We don’t seek herbs, Braagh, you old fool.”The voice and the mild insult caused the goblin to look up and smile. Once he had recognized Rhema he spoke softly to her. “Rhema, my dear. Good to see you once more! Come, come now. Have you come and brought friends to stare at the sword of your dreams? I’ve saved it for you as I promised.”Rhema smiled as the goblin slid off of his chair. Even from a standing height the goblin rose only to the bottom of Rhema’s ribcage. “Not only have I come to show them the crystal sword – I’ve come to take it off your hands and slip you some profit in the process!”The goblin smiled even more. “That is simply wonderful news! A visit from a friend is good, but a visit from a friend who brings profit is even better!Braagh took several quick steps and turned the handle on the back door. The door appeared to be oddly proportioned with the handle located much closer to the ground for the smaller goblin to be able to reach comfortably. The lower handle gave the top of the door the appearance of a yawning twenty foot mouth as it opened. As the goblin entered the room the trio could make out several small cases inside the room. Once they had all entered the back it was clear that this back room was where Braagh kept the wares that he truly cherished. Everything was under glass and locked. In fact, everything in the back storeroom that was for sale was also made of crystal.As Rhema walked into the room, she heard a voice. The voice sounded nearly ghostly, although it had a significantly female quality to it. “I have watched you come into this shop for years, Rhema.”The thin hairs on the back of Rhema’s neck stood on end as a chill shot down Rhema’s spine. Her voice betrayed a small sense of concern as she asked, “Braagh, are we alone?”As Braagh reached into one of his pocket and removed a key, he replied, “Do you seek to offend my sensibilities, Rhema? Of course we are alone! Nobody knows of the wares of this room unless I desire them to know.” He smiled politely at her and flipped the key over along his fingers several times. “So you are really going to take this sword off my hands today? I can’t believe the day has finally come! I’m so happy for you!”As Rhema turned to face the case that held the crystalline weapons and Braagh inserted the key into the lock to open that same case, Rhema heard the strange voice again. This time the voice was coming from behind her. “Together we can make each other stronger, Rhema.” As Braagh lifted the crystalline sword out of the case with a fair amount of difficulty, for it was a sword designed for someone Rhema’s size and not his own, Rhema spun and turned away from him. Braagh wrinkled his eyebrows as she turned away right at the moment he prepared to hand her the sword. “Rhema, is there something wrong? You’ve never been this edgy back here. In fact, normally I can’t get you away from this case.”Rhema searched the opposite side of the plain room. The only thing in that area of the room was the other display case filled with a smattering of crystal objects similar to the case Braagh had just opened. Confused, she turned back around to Braagh and took the sword into her hand. “Sorry, Braagh. I really am interested in this sword.”Rhema’s hand gripped the handle like she had many times before. The sword felt perfectly balanced in her hand, and she marveled at how the dark blue crystal was just barely light enough to be able to see faint images through the blade itself. She held the blade up to her eyes and watched as she could barely make out the room and the people within it through the blade. Of course, everything her eyes perceived through the blade was all heavily tinted from the blue of the crystal.Charis had been intrigued by the crystal objects upon entering, but until Rhema had actually picked one up she was a bit unsure of them since they were not as common as the steel pick she strapped to her belt. She looked at Rhema’s pleased expression with the sword and asked, “That is a beautiful sword, Rhema. Can I hold it for a second?”Before Rhema could reply in the affirmative she heard the strange voice again. “Give her the sword, Rhema. We both know that your power, our power, does not come from weapons. It comes from your mind.”Much to the shock of the other three people in the room, Rhema spun on her heels and leveled the sword toward the far wall. In a firm and surprisingly loud voice Rhema commanded an order into the emptiness. “I have had enough of your hidden speech. I demand that you show yourself!”A few moments of awkward silence settled over the room before Semeion spoke. “Uh, Rhema? Are you hearing voices? Because I’ve not heard a word.”Instinctively Braagh locked up the case from which he had drawn Rhema’s sword and with a simple flick of his wrist the key was back into the hidden pocket where it properly belonged. Charis spun in the direction that Rhema pointed and hoisted her pick in a defensive posture as well. As the others turned, Semeion also turned and stared at what appeared to be an empty wall with a case in front of it.Rhema heard the voice again. “Give the sword to your friend to hold. Search your mind. Your mind has called out to me for years now. You can find me if you know where to look.”“There it was again! Tell me you didn’t hear it!” The weight of holding the sword horizontally before her began to cause her hand to waver a bit. She lowered the sword as the voice commanded.Semeion and Charis simply shook their heads as Rhema looked to them for support. Once she realized that she truly was the only one hearing the voice she decided to do as the voice suggested. She turned to Charis and handed her the sword. “Sure, Charis. You can see the sword. Go ahead and take it, I think you’ll have to trust me on this one.”Charis and Semeion exchanged a quick and confused look but decided that they were in no position to argue with Rhema. She was apparently the only one who was supposed to know what was going on. Charis stowed her pick onto her belt and took the sword from Rhema. She was indeed impressed with the natural balance that the crystalline sword provided in her hand.As she gave the sword to Charis, Rhema noticed that Braagh had a smug smile on his lips. In a rather sharp tone stemming from the confusion of the incidents with the voices, Rhema demanded information from Braagh. “And just what are you grinning at, Braagh?”Braagh didn’t answer. The short creature before them merely shook his head from side to side. Rather intentionally, he forced the smug smile from his face until Rhema turned back around to the opposite case. Once he was sure that her attention was otherwise focused elsewhere, the smile returned to the goblin’s expression.The voice entered Rhema’s mind once more. “Good. Now, use your mind. Your mind has been calling out to me for years. Together we can become strong. Use your mind to find me.”In an odd manner, Rhema spoke aloud in response to the voice. Charis and Semeion once more exchanged confused looks as the response made no sense without the reason for prompting it. “How have I been calling for you? I don’t know how!” Semeion looked as though he were about to speak, but Braagh and Charis both motioned for him to remain quiet.The voice returned once more to Rhema’s mind. “I cannot guide you in what you already know how to do yourself. You must have confidence that you know what you are doing. Use your mind and find me.”Rhema closed her eyes and focused. She offered up a small prayer to Ischarus’ god. When she opened her eyes once more, she stepped forward to the opposite case and began to look inside. Very slowly, Braagh moved from behind the one case to the side of the other. He did not wish to disturb Rhema, so he did not approach the lock on the opposite side from where Rhema looked.Inside the case, Rhema poured over the contents, hoping to find something that would strike her as being familiar. She reasoned that if she had been calling out for years, that there must have been something in this case that she had seen in one of her many trips before. She looked at several crystalline objects. There were a few crystal shafts that were about two feet long and of a variety of colors. There were several other crystal swords of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. There were a few small cases with what looked like crystal shards within the cases. And almost as decoration there were a few simple crystals of various colors simply laying in the case.Again Rhema spoke aloud to the voice that had appeared in her head. “There are so many to choose from, how do I know who you are?”There was no reply. What had seemed at first to be an intrusion into her mind was now greatly missed. Her mind felt the mental silence and longed for it to be filled with advice. She was trying to solve a puzzle in which the only clue was that she already knew the answer. The very fact that she didn’t know how to unlock the answer was racing through her mind.After several minutes of deep thinking, Rhema spoke aloud to allow the logic to come to the open air. “I believe you are not a weapon, because none of the weapons look familiar or intriguing to me.” As she spoke, she gestured with her hands. The action was more of a physical release of nervous energy than anything else. When she stopped gesturing she looked down at her hands before her. They had come together almost as if she were forming a bowl with her fingers and palms. Her mind leapt in understanding. “You are one of the stones being used for decoration!”Rhema didn’t notice that Braagh’s smug smile turned into a smile of pride at her verbal outburst. Charis and Semeion did notice it. The goblin’s smile was infectious as they all began to smile in the realization that Rhema had made a tremendous leap in understanding. Semeion and Charis slowly stepped towards the case so that they could better see the stones that Rhema had to choose from. There were at least six that matched the size of the bowl subconsciously formed by Rhema’s hands. The stones were each colored differently. There was a dark purple crystal, a pink crystal, a maize crystal, a scarlet crystal, an orange crystal, and a navy blue crystal.Rhema stepped back to think, slightly bumping into Charis’ right side. As Rhema’s hands shot out to brace herself from falling, she caught sight of her cloak as it flailed about her as well as her sword that she had asked Charis to hold. Both of them were a dark blue in color. Her mind raced back to the case. “Could the choice be that simple?”She thought for a moment and looked around the room to find Braagh. She was amused to find him smiling so proudly and already standing beside the case, key in hand as if he was anticipating the moment to come. She spoke to the small creature in a soft tone. “Braagh, could I see …” Her voice stopped short of making a firm commitment.Rhema’s finger rested on the glass top and she pointed to the navy blue stone. The goblin easily rounded the corner of the case and slipped the key into the lock. It was pretty clear that he was just as excited about what was happening as Rhema. Charis and Semeion each saw the goblin’s excitement and realized that they were the only two standing on the outside of the experience and looking in. The others had some inkling as to what was happening while they were simply trying to just understand what was happening.Rhema finished her thought. “… the navy … no. Not the navy blue stone. The voice that spoke out to me was not a carbon copy of who I am. The voice that spoke to me was a compliment to who I am. The voice promised that together we could make each other stronger. Her mind raced through the selection again as her eyes bounced from crystal to crystal. I would like to see the scarlet stone, please.”The familiar voice returned to Rhema’s mind. “Did I not tell you that you had the ability to find me? Together we shall enhance each other. Your mind has awakened me from my natural sleep. Thank you.”Rhema stood up and smiled as Braagh removed the scarlet stone from the case. Charis and Semeion exchanged confused looks one more time as Rhema spoke in response to an unheard prompting. “You’re welcome, and thank you.”Charis waited until Rhema had accepted the stone from Braagh before speaking. “So, can you explain what just happened to those of us sane enough to not hear voices?” The teasing was intentional and Charis’ face erupted in a broad smile as she spoke to Rhema.Braagh smiled toward Rhema and the expression informed Rhema that he would address the question. “These crystals that you interpret as decoration each have within them a deep consciousness. They are not for sale, and you cannot buy one. Rather, they lay in waiting for someone to come buy and make a mental connection. Once that connection has occurred, the crystal responds. Some of the crystals are aggressive in their approach and other crystals can wait a year, two, five, or even ten years while the mental powers of the one they connected to are established in greater power. In all cases, however, the psychic power laden deep within the stones is drawn to the power in some people. The stones enhance the abilities of the ones to whom they are drawn. It is very much a symbiotic relationship.”Semeion smiled as he made a connection with his own training. “So, this stone is more like a psychic familiar for Rhema?”Braagh nodded. “As a crude analogy, yes. In some ways that is a fair assumption. In other ways there is great difference.”Rhema stowed the crystal in one of the inner pockets of her cloak. “You will not let me pay for the crystal, Braagh? If not, then tell me what I owe for the sword. I have a feeling that it is almost time to go see Ischarus.”Braagh replied, “I do not pay for the crystals myself, so I do not charge for them. As for the sword …”Rhema settled the debt with Braagh and after a bit more small talk they headed out of the well disguised store toward the center of town. They would have much to show Ischarus and hopefully he would have much to tell them about his training.[/Sblock]</blockquote>

Verification