Seated on the shores of Lake Lovalus, Rharne serves as the home of the Lighting Knights, the Thunder Priestesses, and the Merchant's guild. This beautiful trade city is filled with a happy and contented people who rarely need an excuse to party.
It was dark and if Xander didn't know better he would have said it was night but this was just part of life in Idalos, for 30 trials every arc they had to live in the darkness. The bitter cold was harsh on his exposed skin and brought out a redness in his complexion as he ascended the steps in front of Gennadiya's large home. He wrapped his cloak closer around his muscular form and stopped in front of the doors. There was an eerie similarity to how he stood now as there had been when he had first met the healer at the Order headquarters when he had arrived in Rharne. Time seemed to have raced by since then.
The father paused for a moment and watched the mist that escaped his lips, billowing pale in the low light as he reached forward and knocked firmly on the doors to the great mansion. He stepped back from the door and shivered slightly in the cold, he was used to the harsh winters from Krome but this one seemed to feel colder. Perhaps it was seeing the warmth of the inside just on the other side of the windows or maybe it was the nerves about what he was going to ask of Gennadiya. Whatever it was the cold seemed to cling to him and reach right on down to his bones.
He watched the door and the lights inside patiently, adjusting the handsome blade that hung at his waist, a gift courtesy of his first student. Once that was done he slipped his hand out from under his heavy cloak and brushed his hair back on his head. He had been in such a rush he had forgotten to properly comb it, his fingers would have to do for now. He hoped Gennadiya would not be offended by his lack of propper grooming this trial. Once finished attempting to make himself presentable he knocked again, not sure whether his inital knock had managed to be heard further into the large house.
"Relax, you don't even really know what it is you're so worried about." It was true, the nobleman could only really remember snippets of his dream, or was it a vision, he still wasn't sure what it was. Whatever it was, he had awoken with a sense of dread and he'd been unable to ignore it. Whether it was madness to believe a dream or not he was unsure, a few arcs ago he might have said so but now after everything that had happened in his life he wasn't sure what to believe anymore.
And so he waited in the cold, hoping to soon see the platinum locks and piercing blue eyes of Gennadiya appear behind the glass in the windows.
The young woman was in the library working on teaching letters with Lilabella. The young girl was carefully working on tracing the letters of her name. Genna glanced at the little girl who had come into her life, and once again the image of where she had been found crossed the young woman’s mind. Though instead of dwelling on the horror of what she had seen there she instead turned her focus on the girl who she had brought out of there. Making sure that the girl was well into the activity Genna turned her attention towards her pile of reports that had come in from the Order.
She had just pulled out the budget report, which luckily she only had to review since she made good use of her staff and had mathematical minds actually handle the details. It was as she settled down in her own overstuffed chair that she heard the first knock coming from the door. Both of them looked up in surprise. Genna gracefully stood up and smiled at Lilabella. “Keep practicing.” She said and walked out of the library. In the comfort of her home Genna was barefoot and moved across the slightly chilly floor as she passed a little stove that warmed up the main hall. She was wearing a pink gown that hugged her upper body put flared around the from the waist down to the floor. Her hair was braided with so that it gave the impression of a circlet.
She could see the form of a man standing on the other side of the door and as she approached began to see that it was Xander through the windows in the door. She quickened her step and opened the door well aware of how cold it was during Cyrus, and here on the mountain slops of Rharne the wind could bit strongly.
As the door opened Genna was smiling broadly. Her gaze quickly took in that Xander was standing there alone. Her eyes took in his appearance. He was bundled against the cold, but she could see that his hair hadn’t been combed and he had attempted to fix that with his hand. She felt a warm in the center of her as she thought how he had been worried and tried to straighten it up. Her gaze was warm as she stepped back and said. “Please Xander come in out of the cold.”
Once he was inside she would motion for him to come with her into the main parlor where there was a warm fire roaring and where they wouldn’t be bothering Lilabelle. “Please come and warm up.” She said and continued. “How have you been? How are the girls?”
Genna would take his cloak if he made a move to remove it, but otherwise she led them over to the couch where they could sit comfortable.
Xander felt relieved by the arrival of Gennadiya, seeing her there and being invited in made him relax a little. It comforted him to know that he had someone he could go too without having to worry about contacting them first or warning them he was coming. It felt good to know that he had somewhere outside his own home that he was welcome. He smiled wearily as he entered the reception room feeling his cheeks itch as they adjusted to the warm air inside. "Thank you, I am sorry to call on you unannounced." He regarded her with a tired but greatful look in his eyes.
He followed her through the house into the parlour, wondering how best to approach his reason for being there because while he wished he was simply there to enjoy her company that was unfortunately not the case. He heard her question and paused to think for a moment as to how to answer it, he decided to start with the second part of her inquiry first. "The girls are well, Ala'ni is watching over the twins while I'm out here, she is growing up so fast." He mused as he removed the leather gloves that covered his cold hands.
Reaching up he unclasped the leather strap that kept the cloak around him and allowed Gennadiya to take it from him as she offered. He found himself struggling to find the words to describe how he had been. The father followed the healer over to the couch and took a seat, watching the fire dancing in the hearth. "Things have been strange for me." He paused and looked at Gennadiya, his eyes betrayed the fear that was hiding somewhere deep inside his shielded exterior. "I've not been sleeping well." The nobleman looked down for a moment and cleared his throat.
"Do you believe in premonitions?" He looked like he didn't even beleive the word himself as he said it to her aloud. "There was this dream and it just felt so real, like I was seeing something happening somewhere else in the world not that I was imagining it." He raised a hand to his head and rubbed his temple, the thought that he was having some sort of magical visions made his head ache.
Letting out a sigh the shieldbearer looked back towards the fire, not sure if Gennadiya would think he had lost his mind somehow. Though he doubted she would, she seemed to understand the world in ways that he usually did not, she had knowledge of magic and immortals things that were not part of his culture and that seemed mostly foreign to him still to this day. He felt if anyone would understand it would be her that if anyone could help him it would be her. "I just don't understand what is happening Gennadiya." He closed his eyes for a moment in deep thought, waiting to hear the response to what he knew was a load of unclear and unhelpful rambling.
Gennadiya could tell that there was something on Xander’s mind. Her eyes showed concern but she felt sure if it was a critical emergency he would have been far more panicked and less distracted looking. She acknowledged his apology but then brushed it aside with a wave of her hand. “Nothing to be sorry about. You don’t have to give me warning when you come over.” It was subtle but Genna could tell he was pondering what to say, or how to say it. She smiled in agreement as he commented on how Ala’ni was growing up, and doing it quickly. “I have noticed that children have a habit of grown like weeds.” She said trying to produces a bit of light humor.
The young woman took the cloak and hung it up before sitting next to Xander. While she wasn’t actually touching Xander as they sat buy each other. She was as close as it was possible to be though, her focus though was on everything that Xander was saying. The shieldbearer had a dream, and it had stuck with him. As he confused to be confused about what was happening and closed his eye. The young woman felt a pang in her heart at his confusion, and with out realizing what she was doing Genna reached out and took Xander’s hand.
Genna pounded what he had said and as she held his hand. Unknowingly she slipped her other hand so that his was enclosed in both of hers. Eventually she spoke and said. “I believe in the power of dreams. I know that they have power, but I don’t know much about them.” Her voice was calm as she spoke. “I will say though that if you still remember the dreams or even parts of it and more importantly if the feels it brough have remained with you I believe that it is something more then a bad dinner.”
She squeezed Xander’s hand again and was quiet as she thought for a moment longer. “I don’t know what you saw in the dream, but something is calling out to you. I understand that completely, and just as you have supported me with my challenges last season. I am here and will support you and yours anyway I can.” She smiled at the confused man. Again she felt that ping in the center of her being as she looked at him and as she spoke. “If you want to tell me what happened in the dream, or even what you think it is telling you to do. I am here listening. If you can’t talk about it that is fine as well. I am still here.”
The young woman hadn’t realized it but she had adjusted just a bid so that her knee was touching his. Ever since that night well morning, when he had been there for her and had accepted her opening up to him. She had begun to accept that to her at least this man had become more then a friend.
Xander felt her hand take his own and he kept his eyes closed, letting the feeling of her hand and then the second hand accompanied by her words sooth him. He had forgotten the power of something as simple as a woman's comforting touch, how something so little could help to bring clam and clarity to a troubled mind. He looked over at her and gave a weak attempt at a smile. Her confession to believing that dreams could be more than just that did bring some hope to him that he was not going mad. "I am glad to hear that I am no mad." He said with sort of chuckle, he returned the squeeze of her hand that she had given him and sighed heavily.
"It is kind of you to agree with me, to show me that I've not lost my mind, I'm not always sure I deserve such kindness." He said, allowing his own knee to brush gently back against hers. "Its all muddled in my head, somethings I remember clearly and other things are a blur but I have this strong feeling that something dreadful is going to happen." He remembered the visions of an island being assaulted by man and element alike. Flashes of Yeva standing covered in blood in the rain appeared in his minds eye.
He cleared his throat and looked at the healer. "I saw a woman I know covered in blood and having a conversation with someone I didn't know. They were talking about something a place, Faldrass it was and when I looked for it on a map I found it on a map of Scalvoris?" It was a statement of fact but it came out as a question. Xander was not familiar with the land of Scalvoris and as such he was still not sure what any of this meant. "They also spoke of three people, Chrien, Linca and Lisirra. Do those name mean anything to you?" Once again he felt so uninformed all these things were completely foreign to him.
"Whoever they are and whatever is happening or has happened on Faldrass, somehow it is related to what I can only describe as an impending catastrophe." He looked away from her now and shuddered slightly, the unspeakable things he'd seen, the rage and unbridled spite and anger that he had felt in the dream eminating from the being in the ocean filled him with fear. The Shieldbearer had to do something, if the dream was not truly something he had to fear then there would be no consequence for him trying to do something about it. If it was true and he did not try to help he would never forgive himself for allowing people he could have protected to suffer and die.
The father looked back over at Gennadiya. "I know I've not explained it well but I just know that something terrible is going to happen and I have to do something to try and stop it." He took his free hand and reached over placing it ontop of the already piled hands. "And I am going to have to ask something of you so that I can do so, but I feel guilty for doing so." His eyes showed that if he could think of a way that would not put extra stress onto her he would. "Would you look after the girls for me for a while, just so I can try and get to the bottom of this, I swear I would not ask it if I felt there were another way." He didn't like the idea of leaving his children in the first place nevermind burdening someone else with it but he felt cornered and he hoped that whatever relationship it was that was growing between them would allow him this request.
She was the only person he felt that he could trust.
Genna quietly listened as Xander spoke about his relief that she didn’t consider him crazy. She gave him a humorous look that said of course he wasn’t crazy. As they talked she felt his respective response as he brough his own knee against hers. The little action was very nice and sent warmth flooding through her. She pulled her attention to what he was saying as he really did appear concerned about what was going on.
“I do sincerely believe you. You have been through a lot, and you do so much for your girls every day to make sure they have a happy life. You do deserve to kindness, and more.” She smiled at him. then she settled in and listened as he began to describe what he had seen in his vision. She didn’t understand much of it, but it didn’t sound like a normal dream.
Genna expression was serious and thoughtful. She spoke up when he asked her and she said. “Lisirra is Immortal over Pestilence and decay, Chrien I believe is over storms though not sure what else. I don’t recognize the third name.” She said in answer and then grew quiet. The use of such names did make her more sure it was some type of vision.
Genna gave his hand a squeeze again as he expressed his guilt about asking her to watch the girls. “Xander, I am honored and grateful that you have asked me to watch over the girls.” She said honestly. “I don’t want you for a moment to feel guilty about asking. I know how much you love those girls, and it makes me happy that you can ask me.” Her eyes were wide and full of the happiness that she was feeling at that moment. She didn’t want him to leave but she understood the need to respond to a call for action. He had come to her first and offered up everything precious to him. Both his need for comfort and his children to protect. “I will glad to watch over the girls.” She smiled at him. “They will be safe here, and we all will await your return.” Genna looked with concern towards Xander. Then she felt the urge to kiss him. She wanted to show him how much he had come to mean to her. She felt her checks get a little pink and she leaned a bit forward. She didn’t think about it she as her body language spoke. Genna was nervous though as it had been a very long time since she kissed anyone and even then it was when she was young and curious. This was different, but she also didn’t want to push Xander into anything either. She was unaware of her squeezing his hand in hers, and subtle turning of her body.
It became clear now why the names were foreign to him, once again his living in Rynmere had stiffled him in understanding what his vision might have meant. Immortals were still not something he was familiar with and the more he heard about them and the more he learned the less he felt he understood. They seemed to be an endless source of infromation where the more you heard the less made sense but for whatever reason the nobleman had been drawn into something involving them again. For whatever reason it felt like something he could not ignore.
"It seems my lack of knowledge about Immortals has been holding me back again." He said with a frown as he tried to remember what she was telling him. Lisirra was over pestilence and Chrien over storms and a third name that was still unrecognised by either of them. "Thank you for telling me what you knew about them." He said earnestly. He was glad that at least some of his story had been understandable enough for her to shed some light on it. The rest of it was still unclear although the overarching theme seemed to remain the same, that whatever eh had seen could not be good and that there was some sort of darkness looming and that if he did not help destruction on a massive scale may take place.
Xander was gladdened to hear that Gennadiya did not mind what he had asked of her, that she was actually happy he had come to her and that he need not feel guilty. It made some of those feelings fo guilt subside but he still felt some, even if she said she was happy to take them he still felt like he was burdening her with a weight that should have been his own to carry. Though as he sat there and she explained that she would take the girls and that they would all await his return Xander found himself unable to dwell on the matter as his eyes met Gennadiya's.
The look was there again, the look he had seen earlier that season when she had come to him for help the look he had seen in the eyes of his late wife. He noticed the flush of her cheeks and he looked down for a moment, watching her hand as it squeezed his. Was he ready to take this step. Somehow he knew what was happening, subconsciously and instinctually his body knew how to react to the signals that the healer was sending him. His own cheeks flushed slightly below a thin layer of stubble.
He looked back up from their hands and reached out with his free hand. The widower gently ran a thumb along Gennadiya's jawline, leaning forward himself mirroring her own movements. His eyes closed before their lips met but a tear still managed to escape one of Xander's eyes. That tear carried with it the confusing mixture of emotions that he had to deal with everyday and as that tear fell for a moment he felt a true sense of calm. His hand continued to cup the side of Gennadiya's face as he withdrew from the kiss, leaving his forehead rested against hers.
It had been a long time since he'd experienced the feeling of a woman's kiss and he'd almost forgotten how powerful it could be. How such a tender expression of love could both start and end wars how it could drive men to do both great and terrible things. He remained where he was for a moment, just soaking in the feelings and remaining close to the healer. "I..." Xander tried to speak but words failed to come to him in that moment. The feelings that had been gone for that brief moment of bliss had started to return and Xander struggled to focus on knowing what to say as he attempted to order his mind and balance his emotions.
