At dusk on the day after the screams, those with keen eyes notice silent figures passing between the trees. They are pale, translucent things taking no notice of the town or its inhabitants as they walk.
The tavern did not have the same draw as it did most nights. Jael found himself restless, unable to get comfortable in his usual seat. So he took his drink outside. His mug that was once full of mead now dwindles on the verge of emptiness. Tilting up the glass he finished off the little that remains.
He could see Akon taking strides into the forest. He looked to where she might be walking and noticed something moving in the forest, though he could not see well enough to tell what it was.
Jael increased his step walking quickly to get closer to Akon. Whatever was out there he was not about to let anyone find out about it on their own. Again he raised his glass, but nothing was left. He shrugged and set the glass aside. He continued, his arms relaxed, his stride confident but not quite as straight as it should be, with just a sword at his side for protection.
Akon stopped a fair distance from the beings, only drawing close enough to observe what they were, and get a better look at their shapes and forms. She spoke more to herself than to any other, watching the silent filing forms. "Perhaps the prophecies are coming true..." She spoke, eyes hardening as she kept her stoic watch.
In an attempt to actually be quite he made his way over to Akon, avoiding large sticks and such. Not having armor put a lightness in his step but by no means did that make him anymore sneaky. Leaves crunched softly under his feet as he got closer.
"Prophecy huh? Sounds... ominious.", Jael said softly to Akon, reaching out to a tree to steady himself as he stopped a few feet behind her.
He squinted his eyes in an attempt to help him see the figures again more clearly, "What are they exactly?"
The figures have the shapes of people of all sorts; men and women, young and old, human, dwarf, gnome, urodeq, all races are represented. They are formed of misty and unsubstantial light, flickering in and out of sight and passing through the trees and underbrush as if it weren't there at all. All the figures appear to be travelling in the same direction, although none of them acknowlege one another any more than they notice Andol and Akon watching them pass.
He looked at the stones he collected from the tavern as he laid them down next to his bed. His cloak in his right hand his fist clenched tightly around it. The air felt electric. Something was happening in this place he now calls home. Valez pushed back a couple of hairs that fell in front of his eyes as he stood-contemplating. He swings his cloak out wide tied it about himself then went outside. The moon catching the pale color of his cloak; illuminating the path around him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw what he could only describe as spirits. He started to shake and visions of the past scorched the back of his eyelids-begging for attention. "Wes partha, wes peleon Sir Du'Urth" Valez whispered to himself. The tip of his teeth caught the bottom of his lip and he stood that way for a while. The leaves brushed against his feet. He let out a breathe then moved forward towards the spirits.
Akon's gaze drifted along the line of beings, watching them travel. "They are those which have passed. Not of our plane, but still sharing the same existance. Most refer to them as the dead. Yet is it strange that they are so clearly visable...." She frowns, walking now to follow their march. Not walking among them, but following their path to the side of them. "They are always among us, yet not always so visable to the unattuned. Yet even to those that are....this is strange behavior. They are being drawn to something...." She said, her voice low, but not so low as to be guarded.
Valez stands on the edge of the path that the spirits seem to be taking. He looks towards there they are going and and then to where they came from. His green eyes bore into each of the spirits hoping to garner a response. He took another step forward and reached out a hand towards the spirit hoping to get a response.
The misty figure that Valez reaches towards grows a bit brighter and his hand is chilled as though he plunged it into a cold flowing stream, but the translucent human woman with the calm, sad face walks on without stopping.
As Akon and Valez follow the walkers they notice that as they pass the buildings and move to the opposite side of town, their progress becomes less confident. The figures begin to diverge from their paths. Some stop completely, peering to the left and right as if looking for something in the distance. Others turn from the line of march, fading away as they walk in every direction.
Akon walks along with them, seeing them loose their direction after heading through the center of town. She decides to walk among them, allowing herself to be passed through by one of them, standing right in one of their paths. "I would speak with them, but a spirit without some sort of grounding to this plane is beyond my reach...."
Jael watched as everything unfolded. Eventually he caught site of Valez but it felt wrong to shout out so he stayed quite, sure that Valez's keen elf eyes would spot him soon. Seeing the dead like this was new to him though he had heard of spirits walking among the living before.
"So I assume that this might have something to do with Jastery itself, considering how many strange things happen here.", Jael smirked at that comment but frowned as he continued to watch the spirits walk, he wondered where they were going if they had any place in mind at all.
Valez noticed Jael and Akon as he walked with the spirits. His hand still felt cold from touching them. He approached Jael and bowed then nodded in Akon's direction. "It seems we have guests in our lovely town." He held a grin for a second then bit his lip his anxiety showing itself on his face. "There may be nothing at the moment we can do."
Wreynn walks backwards through the procession of the undead spirits, flitting back and forth among the apparitions as they pass his hut just outside of town. Curious and confused he follows one that looks reasonably familiar to him down the road and through the main gates of Jastrey.
Pausing briefly at the gates, he stares at the stone statue of Haven, removing his hat in acknowledgement as he picks a strange black rose from the ground at her feet. Flower in hand, he continues to follow the procession to the center of town. "Ahh, Jastrey.." he begins to trail off, "it's been so long since I've stepped inside the walls of town. I wonder what everyone is up to these days."
As Glimmer is on her way back to the tavern through the center of town with Gaius, she suddenly hiccups and turns 4 shades of pink. Glimmer turns to Gaius and says "WAIT HERE! I'LL BE RIGHT BACK DON'T MOVE ANYWHERE!" Glimmer gulps for air and begins to run straight for Wreynn,
"UNCLE! UNCLE WREYNN! OVER HERE! IT'S GLIMMER! CAN YOU SEE ME?!?!" Glimmer runs within a few inches of Wreynn's feet before grabbing him up into a life sized Fae hug. She smells of candies; her favorite kind. With a glint in her eye and a twinge of mischief running up her spine, Glimmer plops Wreynn down and produces forth a spew of unintelligible words. "I just...Gaius...just...he's a...monk....MONK HAS WINGS AND I DID IT!" Glimmer jumps up and down gleefully, hugs Wreynn again and says "Well what ARE you waiting for? And why are you here? You know...out...amongst the people? Boy howdy it's good to see you. I betcha yer wantin some tea. Or some spirits. Come visit a spell with me puhhhlease!" Glimmer hiccups, eats a cookie, and bats her eyelashes at Wreynn awaiting his response.
"Wreynn Reinholdt... being called 'Uncle' by fae... Oh this is rich." Katri stepped from the shadow of a near by tree and drew down her mask so her smirk was clearly visible.
"Morzoth, Miss Glimmer." She nodded her hooded head at the pair. "Did I hear you say Gaius has wings?"
"Well of course he has wings. It seems I got a little.....erm...aggitated...no aggrivated...well, I got really mean and I screamed and glitter poofed out like a big boom cloud and then BLAMO! Gaius had wings. He's over there!" Glimmer, not letting go of Wreynn, points to Gaius by the tavern.
"Very nice, Miss Glimmer, very nice." The young Uordeq didn't bother to hid her snicker at the Monk's transformation. She took a drink from her flask, licking a drop of red from her lip as she put it away again. "I shall make a note to stay on your good side then, my dear fae."
Gaius just stands over near the tavern, still looking a bit confused and a bit tired. He rubs his eyes, wondering if the figures in the distance are real or not. He slowly wanders over towards the group gathered near Glimmer.
"Ermm... hello Katri, Morzoth." Gaius gives each of them a small nod.
Wreynn playfully bats away Glimmer knowing exactly the response that he'd get from any of the town's fae population. He reaches down into a small pouch at his side and returns a hand full of small round discs individually wrapped in red cellophane. "Let me guess, still on the sugar high as always, eh Glimmer?" Gently, he unwraps one in front of the fae and pops it in his mouth making a slightly taunting sucking sound on the sweet confection. "Want one?" He asks knowingly.
"This monk," Wryenn begins to walk past Glimmer absentmindely following the apparition, "does he want to be changed back?" He strokes his chin in contemplation. "We can do this, you know. If it was a mistake, there's little that can't be fixed in my kitchen. Besides, I could use another batch of ground up wings and pixie dust." His attenion is firmly brought back to reality as Glimmer jerks down hard on his arm, keeping him from moving anywhere.
For the first time, he noticed that he wasn't exactly alone in town square anymore and pulls down the brim of his hat hiding his eyes slightly, nods to Morzoth, and notices Katri out of the corner of his eye. "Lady Ka.... err, pardon me, Anna, correct?"
"Katri is just fine Wreynn. Nothing seems to stay secret here." She shrugged and tugged at his hat a little. "Got any non-spiked candy on you?"
She drew down her hood and looked at the others standing around, "Hello Gaius. What did you do to set off Miss Glimmer so?"
Glimmer stalks talking abruptly as Wreynn takes the red cellophane tasty bits out of his pocket. She mimics every motion down to popping the imaginary piece she seems to be holding in her mouth. She stands almost ransfixed for a few seconds as a bit of droll begins to form. She snaps out of it as Wreynn opens his hand with a candy and she greedily takes it, unwraps it slowly while making a very small whimpering sound. She then overhears Wreynn talking about Fae wings and pixie dust and promptly pulls his arm rather roughly.
"Katri? An Anna? Well, how do you do Lady Anna of the Dark and Lovely?" Glimmer errupts intoa fit of giggles and curtseys low, still holding onto Wreynn.
Wryenn's hand quickly darted back into his pocked and rummaged around a bit before coming back out in a clutched fist. "Well, it appears that the only adventurer that can keep a secret is a dead one, isn't it? You really should be taking better precautions, Kat." Wreynn takes a quick look around the courtyard to see if there was anyone else trying to hide in the shadows *Seek* "You're welcome to a piece if you'd like, you'll just have to take it on good faith that there's nothing wrong with it."
Wreynn opens his palm just wide enough for the piece of candy to slip from his hand, then snatches it as its falling between his thumb and index finger before offering it to Katri.
"Of course. As it's always been. You know, by the way, I'm old enough to do without the lectures. We aren't kids any longer." She chuckled lightly, taking the candy held out to her and unwrapping it.
Popping the piece in her mouth after sniffing at it cautiously, she looked at Gaius, "I see. Well... It could have been worse then... Breaking a fae's cookies is dangerous..."
"And so is getting them addicted to sweets..." Wreynn pleasantly produces yet another gently wrapped confection and offers it to Gauis. "I'm sorry for your loss, or happy for your gain, which ever way you wish to decide. Care for a sweet, if nothing else, I can guarantee it will make you feel better about the situation. No true fairy could possibly resist."
"Farewell Morzoth." She nodded at the angori as he walked away, still sucking on the piece of candy she had gotten from Wryenn. It thankfully appeared that she had gotten her request for non-spiked sweets. Watching Gaius she shook her head.
"And another addict arises." She said as he ate the candy. When she looked back to Wryenn and Glimmer she noticed the black rose in his hat. She cringed mentally, stopping herself from wrinkling her nose at the vile plant that was a reminder of the last time she had seen Alyial and when the Astral had invaded town. She stared at it for a moment before taking a step closer to the Uordeq male.
"Do you mind-?" She asked as she stood on her toes and reached up to pluck the flower from his hat.
Wreynn stops her hand just before she's able to pluck the flower hanging from just under the brim of his hat. "I do mind, thank you. I was thinking about heading to the healers den to find a vase of water and set it on Haven's shelf. If you'd like one, there's a ring of them still growing at the base of her statue just outside the gates." He points carelessly in the direction of the gate while walking towards the healers den, leaving Katri and Glimmer behind.
He turns as an after thought and speaks back to those gathered, "By the way, do any of you know a fellow by the name of Valez, calls himself the Knight Grand Pillar? A touch pretentious if you ask me, but he asked to meet me in town. Is he someone that I need to worry about, or should I leave my knives on the table?"
The little Uordeq shrugged with a careless grin, "Alright then. I've heard she was a great woman. Must be true for an Uordeq like you to care." Her hand was withdrawn just a fraction too quickly, dropping straight back to her side beneath her cloak, when he reached up to stop her. A tiny flicker of pain might have been seen at the moment of contact before it vanished in to her uncaring expression.
"I guess it's a good thing I didn't destroy them all, after all and to know that more than one survived the cold. " She muttered to herself as Wreynn turned and walked away.
"I think you have little to worry about. He seemed like quite a bit of hot air to me." Katri replied as she began to draw her hood back up to hide her eyes and her mask to hide the rest. "Oh, and let me know if you see your brother about, will you?"
Valez blinks and looks around trying to regain his senses. He had spent the last moments staring at the apparitions' eyes and became lost in memory. His ears especially perked up as he heard his name as well as the self bestowed title. He grinned also hearing Katri's response. His eyes grew serious as he pondered, for him, the newcomer. A curious bunch this is he thought to himself. He wondered to himself the danger of the road he was about to embark on. "Travel with the streams Valez" he whispered to himself. He thoght of his friends and looked up towards the stars his lips parted and he let out a breathe. "I am Valez Du'Urth." he said loud enough for those in the area to hear him.
Akon's eyes closed and opened yet again, seeming a bit stark as the apparition passed through her, growing slightly lighter as it passed through her. She shook off a deep shiver of cold, and looked behind her as it grew slightly lighter having touched her. Musing to herself, then eyeing the crowd, she turned on her heals and headed back towards the outskirts of town, her figure fading into the fallen night.
Katri walked out to the statue of Haven at the wall. She bowed her head respectfully to the figure of the woman she never knew, before kneeling down at the statue's base and picking two of the black roses that had survived both the dose of aether she had shot at them and the cold winter. One she laid at the statue's feet - hey, if even Wreynn cared, it wasn't Rasiri being stupid and whoever she was must have done something fantastic- the other she carried carefully in her hand as she walked back in the direction of the group. With a last nod to every one, she slipped into the trees where she had initially appeared from and faded from sight as she cut across the apparitions' paths.
Akon's ever watchful gaze then did look upon the figures silently moving through the long lines of timber. She watched for a moment in the company of Blisdon and Cail from the Healers Den before taking stride towards the strange beings. Her vision creased into a frown, and her hand took a natural, yet casual rest across the hilt of her long blackblade, striding towards the beings without any particular note of malice. Her entire being seemed dull in emotion both in appearance and gait as she drew closer to the walking figures.