[Haven] Warning Shots

[Elisabeth Black]

15 Ashan, Arc 721

Elisabeth saw Balthazar in the distance, walking through the settlement. She had just experienced something that…she wasn’t sure of. The young woman knew what she had seen, but had no idea what to do with the information and was hopeful for a bit of guidance. Whatever it had been felt...important, at least in terms of the idea that it had been the first time to ever happen to her. Beyond that, she had no answers. Vega had appeared in the, what….vision? That was enough to get her attention…as if the rest of it hadn’t been confusing on multiple levels.

Swiftly making her way through the settlement, she nodded and smiled to those she passed, keeping her eyes on Balthazar to make sure she didn’t lose him. Elisabeth hated to bother him in the middle of the trial when things were busy, but she felt that the matter couldn’t wait.

Finally, she got close enough to him where she could softly call out. “Balthazar…I need to talk to you. It’s urgent.”

What else was there to say? Haven offered relatively little in the way of privacy but the matter wasn't one she really wanted to talk to him about in the middle of the settlement either. Elisabeth wasn't sure what people's opinions on 'visions' might be and she didn't need to make Balthazar's job any harder than it already was.

[Balthazar Black]

15 Ashan 721

The speech had gone better than Balthazar was expecting it to but he had a very low bar for success when it came to speeches. He made it through the whole thing without openly condemning the Elements and the Council which was a win. He'd also made it through the whole thing without revealing Kura was a mage or going off on a rant about Jacien, the master of the bazaar being an undercover Element. All and all he'd kept it fairly focused and got the job done. People didn't seem to think he was a slaver anymore but there was still a level of discontent in the settlement. Everyone was discontented for a different reason; some mad at Balthazar, some mad at the Elements, and some mad at the Council, but the discontent was clear. It would take time and success to change that but at least they were not still calling him a slaver.

He would take whatever victories he could. For now the only victories he'd find were on Faldrass and fortunately there were many different things that needed doing. The wind was powerful and beat against the forest of stone pillars Balthazar had erected in better times but Balder reported that another settler had an idea of a way to create a more effective windbreak so Balthazar would have to look into it. Beyond expanding and solidifying the settlement there were other things that needed to be done. They were between the garden and the Badlands which cut them off from most of Faldrass. Sooner or later they would need to find a path through the Badlands to reach the others. He'd need to find Darius's settlement as well and Saoire's school... and hopefully a path to the Heart.

He also decided it would be worthwhile to look over the guide to the island that Saoire gave him. While most of it was probably changed by the eruption, if he found anything worth looking at he would know where to start. He was walking back towards his tent when Elisabeth reached him. It was strange that he didn't feel her frequency or her connection to the elements, instead he'd noticed her using his more base sense. He could smell her hair, a very familiar scent by now, and hear her footsteps. He couldn't quite connect the sound of the footsteps to Elisabeth herself until he turned and saw her though. He smiled but it was nothing like his smile had once been. He never seemed quite as happy as he had once been. His smile faded into concern as she spoke and he nodded.

"Let's go to the garden then, I just gave a speech so I know most of the settlers are still down at the beach. It's more pleasant in Ashan than in Cylus." Balthazar said, gesturing towards the western side of the settlement that let out near the Serenity Garden. "Just remember I have a tail now." He said with a small nod of his head to the ever present Flame Trooper while they walked.

[Elisabeth Black]

15 Ashan, Arc 721

Elisabeth missed his old smile. He made efforts for her – always – but she knew it wasn’t the same. She had no doubts about how he felt about her. No, it was simply their experience in Almund that had taken a bit of him with it. She wouldn’t give up though, trying to get that smile back. The young woman loved him too much for that.

As they walked, she gently slipped her hand against his, squeezing it softly. It was always good to remind Balthazar that no matter what, they were together. For thirty trials, that had not been the case, each worried about the other. Elisabeth believed in their relationship with a depth she had not thought possible, even confessing to Vri that Balthazar was the one that she chose to give her heart to always. It was a bold move for sure…but something she believed in deeply. In some ways, she felt that the moment she had met him in Rharne, it had been a done deal. Of course, there had always been other men that came in and out of her life at various points, but none that had captured her attention. Only Balthazar.

The time in Almund had changed nothing…other than her lingering issues with the fear of losing him. It had only taken a blink of an eye in Almund. Thirty trials, gone. Now, she was determined to make every trial count with him.

She nodded as he mentioned the Element with them, but Elisabeth’s mind came to life. Balthazar wasn’t going to like her talking about what she had seen publicly, and that included the Element, putting her between a rock and a hard place. She had nothing against the Elements that were sent to the island each trial to watch the man she loved but there were things that she wanted the option to keep private between the two of them, and those opportunities were few. Lack of privacy for a good many things between the couple were few and far between, and that bothered her.

In the end, Elisabeth decided to be straightforward about it. “This is not something anyone should know about. Not until we talk about it.” If Balthazar were paying attention, he would note the hard edge to her voice. The young woman didn’t use that tone often, but she was certainly using it now. There was no whimsical or teasing look on her face. The young mage was dead serious. The settlement was his to lead but he had made her a part of that by choice…and she took her role seriously. Her commitment to the settlement and Faldrass itself was not something for anyone to dismiss lightly, regardless of how little time she had spent there.

[Balthazar Black]

15 Ashan 721

"Is it something you need to show me or something you want to tell me?" Balthazar asked as they passed out of the settlement and into the area where the garden began. Balthazar would walk until they reached the cliffside but they had a little space to go before then. There were trees in the garden that Balthazar refused to cut down. It would have made things much easier for them to use the wood but Balthazar thought there was a certain beauty to the garden he did not want to disturb... however he worried that one trial his people would decide they also did not want to share it... or worse, he would. He noticed the edge in Elisabeth's voice but gave no indication that he had for his own reasons. He'd spent a lot of his silence considering how he wanted to work around the Flame Troopers always watching him. He did not like, and outright refused, to let them know everything he discussed with everyone he spoke with.

They could see his meeting with his settlers and his guards and they could watch him drink if they ever managed to get alcohol, but he hated when they watched him talking with Elisabeth. "Is it about the settlement or your training?" Balthazar asked as they moved passed a few beautiful flowers. He wanted to get some sense of what they were going away to talk about but he also wanted privacy. Unfortunately curiosity always got the better of his patience, even before magic. The trial had changed things about that but not erased the impulse entirely.

[Elisabeth Black]

15 Ashan, Arc 721

His question to her simply made the young woman arch her eyebrow. Hmmmm. Interesting. Elisabeth knew of Balthazar’s abilities to a certain extent but not specifics. Did she really need to tell him about the vision? She needed to communicate it, certainly, but was there a way to do that without words? “It happened during meditation. I need to show you…”

The follow up question made her wince a bit. That was getting too far into specifics for her liking, but she would have to make do. “Training, I think, but I’m not sure. That’s what I need your advice on.” It wasn’t a lie. Not really. Elisabeth had no idea what she had seen so telling him that it possibly was training-related was plausible. Possible? Probably not…. but plausible.

What did he have up his sleeve?

As they moved closer to the garden, Elisabeth took a trill to admire the tranquility of it. For as isolated as they were from the rest of the island, putting the settlement near Serenity Garden had been a good idea. It was a place of peace and beauty.

Elisabeth was serious about what she needed to convey to him, but in the spirit of her new-found thinking on not wasting a single trial, she gently kissed him on the cheek. Element or no, they weren’t going to take everything from her. There was a lot they couldn’t do…but she refused to be embarrassed by the small things she still could do to let Balthazar know of her feelings.

[Balthazar Black]

15 Ashan 721

Balthazar did not ask another question until they reached the cliffside where the single tree with pink leaves hung out over slowly rising smoke. It was, arguably, the best sight on Faldrass and it was theirs to protect from people who would harm it. The walk through the garden, while it had not been slow, had been calming due to the aroma of a certain plan that grew inside. It was a little thing but it took the man's mind off revenge and directed it towards helping Elisabeth with whatever she was brining to him. Elisabeth kissed him on the cheek and while she wasn't bothered by displaying her affection, it seemed that Balthazar was not quite as comfortable with it as she was. He grew a little tense at the feeling of her lips on his cheek and when they parted he looked, almost instinctively, towards the trooper trailing a little bit behind them.

It was a form of privacy that he should have been more grateful for. The trooper could have been standing beside them but instead kept a small distance. Small enough that they could hear but large enough that Balthazar could not feel their breath on his neck. "I'm only going to ask what I am alright with them hearing." Balthazar said to Elisabeth so that if he seemed to be behaving strangely as his questioning began, she would understand why. They'd reach their destination so it was time to figure out what was going on. "Without giving me details, what happened during meditation that you need to show me?"

[Elisabeth Black]

15 Ashan, Arc 721

Sighing softly, Elisabeth immediately regretted her action. Balthazar had not appreciated the gesture – that was clear. So be it. She would not do that again.

The young woman loved the feeling she got when walking through the gardens. Doing so with Balthazar made her feel doubly blessed as she knew of the calming effect the place had on him. Part of her wished they could just live within the gardens but that was not practical – just a wishful thinking.

Looking back at the Element, Balthazar got her attention again by telling her that he would only ask what he was comfortable having overhead. That made sense. However, he did not know what she was going to tell him so he couldn’t really base his strategy on that. It left her needing to be the one to communicate the nature of the event to him, so he was better informed.

Looking up at him, she began. “I was meditating per usual….and something different interrupted the session. I need help figuring out what it was. It was something I saw, and I feel it’s important to my training.” Again, not a total lie. It was plausible what she had seen was an element warning….so that would be ‘part of her training’. She did not think so though. Elisabeth knew what it felt like when elements were warning her, and this had not been that. At all.

Balthazar knew her. He knew she would not have interrupted him if it hadn’t been important. She needed him to trust her instincts in that moment.

[Balthazar Black]

15 Ashan 721

Elisabeth was cautious and Balthazar was grateful for it but she was perhaps a little too nervous about her wording. 'I had a vision' would have been enough for the man and it told the trooper nothing of what she'd seen that she wanted to present to him. Balthazar crossed his arms as he thought through what she'd said to try and deduce what she was telling him. She'd been meditating and something had interrupted it, but what something? She saw something and wanted to figure out what it was that she had seen. Balthazar unsheathed the dagger Elisabeth had once gifted him which he wore at the back of his belt and flipped it in his hand so he was holding the blade with the handle extended to Elisabeth.

"Alright, take hold of the dagger." Balthazar instructed before continuing to explain what he was doing. He had no issue with the Flame Trooper knowing he had the ability, the odds were that they already did. He'd designated the dagger a memento but he did not know yet how to get a memory that was not his own into it. "I have discovered that all experiences have a tangible weight to them and I have the ability to share mine with others, but I think I might be able to see yours- if you let me." They hadn't taken everything from him. His link to Vri lingered and with it the means to share knowledge one could not simply 'explain.' "I want you to hold the dagger and focus on what you experienced. Think of it like imparting an echo of what you saw into the dagger and I will try to do the rest." If they failed, they could always speak but when it came to visions, which Balthazar believed they were talking about at this point, it would probably be better for him to see them.

[Elisabeth Black]

15 Ashan, Arc 721

Elisabeth listened intently – the Element with them no longer a concern. As Balthazar flipped the dagger that she had given him around, handle first and instructed her to grab hold of it, the young woman did exactly that.

He explained about the weight of memories and this one was fresh in the front of her mind. There was nothing she was not willing to share with him for Elisabeth did not keep secrets. Not from Balthazar.

Nodding her understanding of what was going to be attempted, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes…and took him there.

***

Fire.

There were flames everywhere. Everywhere.

A mountain split down the middle. Two people...a male and female

There was a glow coming out of the rift, like fire maybe…or was it just orange? A figure lifted out of the rift, made of fire. And then all three descended into the rift…. were there stairs? And a voice… 'I can only guarantee safe passage to the Heart for the Death Forged.'

A cavern. A single, large rose on a vine curled up over a massive glowing crystal. There were thorned vines at the base that slithered out, slipping against lava. The vines glowed orange, as if absorbing the lava and spreading it throughout the vines.

A campsite. Boulders. A fire. Two mysterious figures.

***

As the memory receded, her sapphire eyes flashed open, finding Balthazar’s gaze to see if what she had seen had indeed been passed to him. Elisabeth was anxious to know what he thought about the situation but she remained quiet for the moment, waiting for some indication from him.

[Balthazar Black]

15 Ashan 721

There was a mechanical issue with what Balthazar was attempting that he did not realize until the memento was made. While Elisabeth focused on the memory she wanted to share, the single uninterrupted memory, Balthazar moved his hands from the blade of the dagger to cup her own. He did not know how this would work. He could only focus on the feeling he had when he imparted his own memories into objects. Mark abilities were there own kind of magic and he was still learning to understand everything Vri had given him the ability to do. His memory worked regardless but this ability required a little more concentration. Elisabeth focused on the vision she'd seen meditating and Balthazar focused on imparting her offered memory into the dagger they were holding.

He did not want to take the full memory from her but he knew that meant he would see whatever she'd seen with less clarity. When Elisabeth looked at him again, he got the sense she was done trying to impart her memory and he looked down at the dagger in her hands like it was some delicate thing made of glass. Alright... here goes nothing. Balthazar took the dagger back into his hands and as he did, his focus seemed to shift. His gaze became distant as he was thrown into his own sort of vision- Elisabeth's memory.

He was sitting. Was he sitting? Maybe he was just shorter- her height. She was trying to meditate. There was sand. A beach? Yes. Then there was fire. Lots of fire. Things burning. Familiar faces on a broken mountain. Vega and the one who'd been introduced as Arlo at the ball. A figure made of fire coming of something but it was unclear what. Her memory was one thing, but her memory of the vision was another. Clear to her but not perfect like his. Already imperfect, already losing detail and put through a curtain. Faldrass, the induk? Faldrun, the Immortal? He couldn't quite recognize the burning figure before the memory of her visions moved forward. Safe passage to the Heart for the Death Forged? Death Forged? Did Vri know of them? Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask. The memory moved still. A rose on a massive glowing crystal. Xiur and another beside a fire... and then the memory ended and the dagger was nothing more than a blade.

Balthazar blinked a few times and looked up at Elisabeth, then back at the Flame Trooper, then back to Elisabeth. She really had had a vision while she was meditating. A vision! What caused that? Vri had shown him things before but as an individual with the ability to impart memories into objects, Balthazar didn't immediately out rule the possibility the visions had come from a less benevolent source. Then again Vri hadn't shown him things out of benevolence, he'd shown him them to provide guidance. So what was trying to guide Elisabeth?

"Say nothing of this to anyone until we know more." Balthazar instructed Elisabeth as his mind mulled slowly over what she'd show him. Safe passage to the Heart? Heart... heart... like the Heart of Faldrass where they'd found the induk imprisoned? They hadn't been Death Forged when the band of adventurers on Faldrass had gone into the Heart but it had hardly been 'safe' for them. Death Forged, another puzzling term for the ever curious man. "Prepare a letter for the Albarech with a summary of what you recall but don't send it until we speak again. There are a wealth of books on the island in our tent, look through them and see if you can find anything to explain what cause... that. I'll..." Balthazar paused and looked towards his guard. "Consult my contacts."