Not A Test

This is a test, it has to be. There is no other reason she can think of for the Outsider to bring her to the Void night after night. She is never alone in her dreams. He doesn't always talk to her, sometimes he simply watched her as she wanders the Void. Sometimes he asks her questions and even more rarely answers hers. The weirdest occasions are when she finds herself standing in the background as he deals with his other Marked. They never seem to notice her and she can't help but wonder if he means for her to be aware of his other Marked. She feels like that's something she shouldn't know, her father has once told her it is normal for the Marked to destroy each other if they spend to long together. She wonders if the Outsider is trying to drive her mad.

She never approaches during his little meetings and he always seems almost disappointed after his Marked leave. She wonders if they have failed him some how. She never asks and he never says, she doesn't know if she actually wants to know. It has to be some sort of test, only she doesn't know the rules. His games have never been easy and she never knows if she's passing or failing. He always seems unfailingly amused by her efforts however so she must be doing something right most of the time. She doesn't know how to play his games so she always just ends up being herself instead of behaving how she thinks he wants her to. He's much to difficult to get a good read on and she never knows what exactly he wants from her. So she watches and she waits, waits for him to give her a clue. He had never pulled her father into the Void nightly, so this is an odd behavior for him.

Tonight he isn't paying attention to the Marked in front of him. He's half turned in her direction and is watching her as she climbs one of the many floating buildings of the Void, in search of a better vantage point with which to watch him better. She's nearly to her new perch when her foot slips. She lets out a tony cry of surprise and quickly scrambles to get a better grip on the building so she won't fall. She looks up for a better hand hold and the Outsider is standing in a window sill offering her a hand. Of course she takes the hand and he pulls her up to the steadier place. She leans on the side of the window and attempts to catch her breath after the brief scare. He's watching her again, his eyebrows are furrowed and his lips are pinched together. She can here his Marked calling out in confusion where he had left him. For some reason she feels like she might have just failed the test.

He watches her silently for a few more long moments before he turns away and is back by his other Marked in a poof of black smoke. She watches as he waves his hand dismissively at the man and he disappears. She feels ridiculous standing on the building now, having failed to reach her perch. She swiftly begins her descent and is surprised to be met by the Outsider at the bottom. His face is smooth and expressionless once more, and yet she feels like he is expecting something from her. She still isn't sure what he wants so she stays silent, waiting for him to say or do something to give her a hint. As unlikely as that is she still hopes it will happen. He heaves a sigh and she realizes they seem to be in some sort of room now. There is a comfortable looking wing back chair on a rug in front of a strange purple fire that is sitting still and silent inside an obsidian fireplace. The rest of the room is in shadows.

She doesn't think there is a door, she may very well be stuck here for a while. She activates her dark vision to get a better look around. She sees surprise flick across the Outsider's face and suddenly candles are flickering to life around the room. It indeed has no doors or windows it would seem. It is also much bigger then she had at first thought it to be. She thinks it's a library, of some sort at least. Looking back to the Outsider she finds he has moved away from her while she had been distracted with the rest of the room. He now stands beside the fire staring into it's still flames. She slowly moves to stand beside him, he doesn't acknowledge her. They stand together for what feels like hours before she finds herself waking in her bed. There is a new whale bone charm on her bedside table and it could be from no other then the Outsider. Everyone else knows not to enter her rooms without her permission, especially not while she is sleeping.

She feels for the intentions behind the charm and can only feel restfulness from it. It's an odd little thing, but she thinks it might be a gift. Perhaps it is an omen of sorts, why would she need restfulness when she finds herself in the Void every night? She doesn't know and she'll never ask. She gets up and goes about her day as she normally would. Not stopping to think about the little bone charm under her pillow. She almost forgets about the charm altogether until she climbs into bed and shoves her arm under her pillow, finding the little charm once again. She pulls it out and stares at it silently. She falls asleep still contemplating the tiny charm. Her earlier thoughts seem to be proven false when she blinks her eyes open to find herself in the Void. The Outsider is standing only feet from her, in front of him is the same Marked from the night before. He seems frustrated, she doesn't know why but she can guess. For the first time a Marked's eyes move away from the Outsider and land on her. The mans endlessly frustrated babble ends abruptly.

The Outsider's head turns just slightly to look at her, he acknowledges her presence with a nod before turning back to his other Marked expectantly. The man however seems more intent on asking questions of her or about her and she has no intention of answering any of them. Neither does the Outsider as he just stands silently waiting for the man to lose interest. She walks closer which seems to cause the other Marked some discomfort, which he shows by backing away a few steps. She ignored his fears because they are unfounded and mean little to her. She watches the man's eyes widen as she reaches a hand out and touches the Outsider's elbow, his eyes flick to the Outsider his breath held awaiting the Gods reaction. The Outsider as always shows no outward reaction, simply raises his opposite hand and uses it to move her hand to the crook of his arm like a gentleman would. He pats her hand once before dropping his hand, still staring at his Marked.

This is not new behavior to her but the poor man looks like he just witnessed a miracle and a murder all in one fell swoop. His jaw is loose, mouth agape, as he stares dumbly between them. She almost feels sorry for him. Almost being the key word there. With a roll of her eyes she tugs on the arm in her grasp just slightly. The Outsider inclines his head in a small nod and steps away from his Marked to walk with her around the platform they are standing on. It floats alone in a part of the Void she has not yet seen, as is the case every time she finds herself here. There are no outstanding features here and she finds herself disappointed in the lack of interesting things to look at so she turns her head to watch the Outsider. His face is relaxed and calm, it doesn't tell her a thing and his black eyes are impossible to read. At least he doesn't look bored though. He often looks bored when dealing with his other Marked. She can hear whale song in the distance and as they turn in their path she can see the whale in the distance.

She doesn't often see the Leviathan when she wakes to find herself in the Void. She watches it with some small interest and is actually rather shocked to realize it is not alone. There is a small pod of whales with it, swimming playfully and singing. The other Marked hasn't moved an inch or said a word in some time. She almost thinks perhaps he had been dismissed when she spots him again on their next turn. He looks quite shell shocked, his hands are limp by his sides as he follows them with his eyes. He doesn't seem bothered by the whales and she thinks perhaps she is the only one who has never seen so many in the Void. Eventually the Outsider steers them back over to the man where he easily coaxes him back into a conversation he himself is terribly bored with. The other Marked won't stop glancing at her and she almost wishes she had something interesting she could do to spook him. He looks much like a startled cat already, and she would love nothing more then to make him jump.

The Outsider dismisses the man before she can think of a way to spook him. She quickly finds that the Outsider has moved them back to the room from the night before. He leaves her near the bookcases as he moves to stand by the fireplace again. He doesn't seem to be expecting anything from her, yet he has left her to her own devices in a room full of books she's not sure she should be reading. So the hunt for a book begins, the more likely she should not be reading it the more interested she is. She finds several titles and moves to the only chair where she sets the small pile beside it before taking the seat and making herself comfortable. She quickly cracks the first book open and begins reading, she fears he will realize his mistake and take the books if she doesn't make quick work of them. She's half way through the first book when she suddenly wakes in her bed. There is a new bone charm on her pillow. This one is just as peaceful as the first.

She asks her father more about the Void and it's lonely God that day, and is left with only more questions as her father has very little in the way of answers. She wants to look for answers but she knows the only place with even a small amount of knowledge on the Outsider would brand her a heretic just for showing an interest. The Abbey is not a friendly sort and she has little interest in making them her enemy. That night when she sleeps she wakes in the Void, curled in the chair she had last been in. Her book is still in her hands, the Outsider is nowhere to be seen. She really feels like she's being tested now, left alone in what seems to be the Outsider's private library. She finishes her book and puts it back on a shelf, she doesn't want to keep reading. She knows there is no door and wonders if she had been left to find her own way out. At this thought she turns to find a door up against the nearest wall.

She stares mutely at the door, it hadn't been there the last dozen times she had looked at that wall. She carefully exits the room and finds herself in an overgrown ruin, perhaps it used to be a garden of some sort. It's as silent in the Void as it always is, with no Outsider there to distract her she begins exploring. There isn't anything of consequence in the garden, just a bunch of plants she's never seen before. There is however an open gateway with a spotty path leading off into the Void. She plans to follow it once her curiosity with the garden has been sated. Once she has seen all she cares to of the garden she makes her way towards the path. Using her far reach capability she moves off into the unknown. The Void is large and empty, the path leads past nothing and seems to go off forever into the distance. After what feels like hours she comes to the end of the path, it's a dead end. A pod of whales swim in the nearby distance.

This has to be some sort of test, the Outsider is probably watching her somehow. She stands nervously watching the whales for a time. They intermittently move closer and further away. The smallest whale eventually moves close enough to swirl in an arcing circle around the end of the path. Close enough for her to reach up and touch as it passed over her head. The small whale begins to sing as her fingers stroke down it's body. She doesn't notice the other whales coming closer until they are practically on top of her. They're all singing and swimming playfully near the bit of path she finds herself standing on. They are both beautiful and terrifying up close. She watches them in utter amazement as they swirl, play, and sing in the air around her. She had never been this close to a whale before, let alone a small pod of them. Whales around the Isles didn't gather in pods anymore, to easily caught by the whalers.

As amazing as the whales are she still feels like she's being tested. She doesn't get to think about it for to long before the smallest whale is knocking her forward with it's tail. She let's out a small surprised sound as she tumbles over the edge of the path. She knows she can't be hurt by falling into the Void but it surprised her all the same. She isn't expecting to land on the back of one of the larger whales, she's quick to grip it not actually wanting to fall into the Void. Though it won't hurt, falling into the Void is highly unpleasant. It's incredibly chilly and moist, like falling into an incredibly thick fog. It saturates the lungs and makes it hard to breathe. It would be nicer if it felt more like falling into the ocean, she loved floating on the water. The whales have moved away from her old perch on the scattered path and are making their way farther into the blankness that is the Void. She can't help but wonder where exactly they are taking her.

Soon enough a new platform comes into view, once again it looks like a ruined garden much prettier then the last one she found herself in. In the garden however stands the Outsider, staring into what looks like a bird bath. The whales part from the pod one by one as they rush to greet the master of the Void. The whale of whoms back she is on keeps a leisurely pace as it glides along and slides happily past the Outsider who doesn't even look up as he greets the whale in a foreign and possibly long lost language. At least she assumes it's a greeting, she could be wrong. She laughs quietly to herself and is surprised when his head whips around a look of surprise on his own face. She smiles and waves from her place still atop the whale who had carried her here. The look of surprise slides off his face being replaced by curiosity. She slides from the whales back carefully and moves to join him over at the bird bath.

He gives her one last curious glance before turning back to the bird bath, which she now realizes is a scrying pool. Within it's depths she can see a foreign people moving about what looks like it might be a market. This is of course exciting for her, she knows Pandyssia exists but doesn't know what lays upon it. If this place isn't Pandyssia then it means there are even more people in the world and her kingdom is not alone. She'll have to send out exploration parties, small ones on sturdy ships with large cargo holds. The bigger the party the less likely it is to come back, she had noticed that about everyone sent out in history. She can't help but wonder why no one else had ever noticed before. She watches the scrying pool with open curiosity and wonders if the Outsider minds that she is also watching. He isn't paying her any mind any more, he seems much more interested in something on the pools surface.

Eventually he waves his hand and the image changes, it's now a large group of people gathered in a room with a table and chairs and they appear to be arguing. She can't understand a word they say so she focuses on other things. The clothes they wear are strange and pretty, bold colors and patterns that work nicely with the loose flowing fabrics. The clothes are a stark contrast to the furniture which looks boring to say the least, all sharp angles and uncomfortable edges. She almost wonders if that is intentional. She hadn't realized that she had moved closer to the scrying pool and that her hands were hovering just at the edge of it, her mark is glowing. With a twitch of her fingers the image pans to show more of the room, this is when the Outsider finally acts. He fastens his fingers around her wrist and gently pulls her away from the scrying pool. She looks up at him a slight flush upon her cheeks, she smiles apologetically and moves across the garden.

He watches her go with a small frown on his face but does not stop her or chastise her. She explores these ruins just as she had the other, taking in every detail that she can. She picks some of the flowers and creates a couple of flower crowns. She puts one on her own head and goes about very carefully getting the rest onto the heads of the whales who are still swimming about. The last one she holds in both hands and chews her lower lip. She glances up at the back of the Outsider's head and wonders if he would mind. She hadn't made flower crowns since she was a child. She lifts the pretty orange crown and sneaks to the best of her abilities, she hopes he's to engrossed in the scrying pool to pay her any mind. He doesn't look up until the flower frown is on his head, he brings a hand up to touch it and frowns. He glances around and looks almost dumbfounded at the whales wearing flower crowns. His eyes flick almost incredulously to her.

She smiles sheepishly and shrugs, he obviously had not expected her to create flower crowns for the whales and him. She reaches up and adjusts his flower crown so it sits properly on his head, he's still frowning but he doesn't stop her. As she lowers her hand he once again grasps her wrist. They stand watching each other for what feels like forever but is only a few seconds. He doesn't release her wrist as he leans down and presses his forehead gently against hers. She releases a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. His eyes are closed and she is very confused, these past few days have been really weird. He let's out a sigh and his other arm curls around her waist his eyes opening to watch her for her reaction. She feels like she's being tested again but this time it's different. She carefully brings up the hand he isn't holding and curls her fingers along his jaw, he sighs again and his eyes slide closed.

Perhaps this had not been a test after all.

Fin.