Noctis slipped from shadowed place to shadowed place, on his search for a new home for his children. They would need a place where they could live and grow. A place where his children and their human counterparts could rise from the ashes. He'd searched multiple places, desperate to find the perfect home. Jumping from shadowed patch of moonlight to shadowed patch of moonlight until every hair on his pelt burned with the fiery cold. Searching for the perfect home, a paradise for his kind. He thought of high canopies, of thick lush forests, of running water full of pools of fish; of places where the deer ran and food was plentiful.
The First Born of the Gods were -or at least had been - hunters and largely nomadic since the genocide of a mad king. In this world his children had been long gone when the events that brokered the interference of the Star-Eyed Goddess occurred. Victims of hunter's their pelts a commodity found in a trade's stall or hung upon some hunter's wall. When the Star- eyed interfered she'd unknowingly set back the clock for his people as well. Here was a gift unlooked for and he would have to use it well.
Perhaps, if his children settled down rather than roaming, if they stayed together rather than separating to meet their individual fates, it would be enough to spare them. Perhaps it would have been enough. But they were Lir and they needed the bond. That was why he had created a Lir specifically for the child who would start the cataclysm the Star-eyed was seeking to prevent. In his day the Lir could negate the magic of the others upon their bond mate. Perhaps doing so would salve both their problems.
With the addition of a more settled life, he hoped they would grow. He hoped a more settled life would cut down on the number of his children who met their end, on the point of a hunter's arrow or the end of a trapper's line. Perhaps a more settled life would spare them the pain of kits stolen and sold, of ages upon ages of captivity, of being treated like a particularly crafty animal, until the victim forgot who and what they were and how to speak.
Hunters, trappers, menageries, privation and the trials of coming of age stole his children from this world, one by one until the slow, steady march to extinction, was complete.
He had to find the perfect place, for his children to rise from the ashes of the old time line. Had to find souls that would be compatible. Had to find those who would help his people rise from the ashes.
A cool warmth flooded him, drawing him up short as he ruled out yet another possibility and prepared to jump between shadows. Confusion slithered into him on the heels of that warmth. Confusion, exasperation, exhaustion and worry trickled into him before settling down to a dull warmth that coiled tightly inside of him. Nestling oddly close to his soul. He crept forward, stalking that illusive warmth, closing his eyes and letting his instincts pull him closer, he pounced. Shadows engulfed him as his body evaporated, and he slipped into the curiously fiery cold of the realm between. He was born up on winds that carried the piece and coolness of night. Cradled in moonlight's embrace through clouds, sky, time and space.
The shadows beneath a massive tree disgorged him, miles upon miles away from his starting point. A rich warmth carried his form back together and he solidified feeling as though he'd just spent the last hour basking in a warm patch of sunlight. He licked at his chest, trying to make his fur lay flat and stalked from the moon light shadow that had birthed him.
He slipped silently from shadow to shadow, looking around with fascination at the homes built high in the boughs. The warmth urged him forward, exhaustion and worry clawing at his soul, a muted presence wrapped around him, blanketing that strange spot within him in love and comfort. He drew closer, confused, and spotted the twin white horses standing below one of the massive trees. They glowed faintly, in the moonlight and he realized he recognized one. The man's Companion, the horse that wasn't. It was from her that the love and comfort flowed.
Utterly bewildered, he slipped from shadow to shadow at a speed no mortal eye could track making his way steadily to the base of the great tree and up. Up and up in pursuit of that illusive and familiar warmth. A door brought him up short, a tangible barrier between him and what lay within. He surrendered himself to the shadows, slipping into the realm between as easily as he drew breath. Solidifying on the other side a mere second later. He stalked silently around the room, as though hunting crafty pray. Drawing up beside the bed he lept to a small shelf attached to the wall, and settled back on his haunches in confusion.
Below him the man turned boy slept, lightly and fitfully radiating distress and worry. Noctis crept forward intending to settle himself against the length of the boy's slim back and nearly tripped over his own paws as he drew up short.
What was he thinking?
This man was not his beloved Warrior.
He may one day help his people to rise from the ashes of their fate but he was not Lir. Was neither kith nor kin to warrant the breaking of tradition, yet he yearned to lay beside the softly tossing body, yearned to comfort and to aid. He could feel the deep rumble of his purr vibrating in his chest and throat even as he sought to keep the sound firmly behind his teeth.
He probed at the warmth, merciless as a child with a missing tooth…
And pulled back with dawning horror as he recognized the twisting, twining, threads that lay between him and the man who was now a boy. Twining forward and back, weaving spider silk thin strands between them, he reached out a paw and batted, tentatively at the strands, testing their strength and pondered their meaning.
He shifted, horrified and focused on his need to escape, to get away, surrendering himself to the realm between. Felt it pull at his form, felt sharp pain as cold crept into his bones. Agony tore through him as the shadows measured him, pulled him to their breast and shattered his physical form upon the anvil of their choosing. His body tore into a million miniscule pieces, evaporating around him. Darkness and silence pervaded, as he hurtled through space and time, buffeted by gale and sleet and rain. The Darkness of Between spat him from its embrace, battered and bruised for his hubris but still whole.
Confused, discontented and feeling very much lost and alone he stumbled away from the shadow that had been his gate and collapsed upon the silvered stones before him. For a moment he lay there, spent and broken, more in mind then in body, and tried to digest what had come to pass.
It was wrong.
He was Lir-Maker, Lir to the Warrior who carved the shapes, Weaver would one day weave. He should have run his claws across those delicate strands. He shuddered trying to figure out what it all meant and not liking any of his conclusions. Finally exhaustion claimed him and he drew his tail up over his nose and drifted, lost and alone into sleep.
((({ })))
Vanyel suppressed a groan as he and Fandes followed his aunt to the Gate terminus. He was well aware of how much this little … display, was going to hurt. However, he had no way of explaining his knowledge and the boy he had been in the months leading up to and following Tylendel's death, was frankly, to codependent not to follow his aunt like a lost puppy. A pity that boy could not be coached to reason. He rested a hand against Yfandes shoulder as they walked and tried not to think about the enormously stupid decision he was making to keep Savil from becoming suspicious.
:If you insist upon doing this, you could at least ride.: Yfandes snapped into his mind, her voice sharp with suppressed anger and worry.
He refrained from doing anything as ill-bred as snorting, though it was a near thing. : Really? : He asked, a tinge of sardonic amusement in his mental voice. :Thank you I like my spine:
She flicked an ear in his direction, : I hate thinking of you in pain, I wish you wouldn't do this.:
: 'Fandes, we've been through this. Savil is too well respected among the Circle for us to risk her suspicion. :
Yfandes, drew up short : It may be prudent to bring Savil into our confidence, : she replied, arching her neck and shoving him impatiently, towards her unsaddled back. : She's stubborn enough to stand against Kellen, were she to intercede on our behalf: She added with an imperious look when he didn't move fast enough.
He laughed and vaulted up onto her back, letting her carry him to the Gate Terminus.
Y'fandes turned to the side slipping easily off the path so they didn't obstruct the nonexistent traffic to the gate. Moondance, Starwind and Savil stood off to one side engaging in a quiet conference. No doubt Savil giving her friends instructions on his training and keep in her absence. Not being particularly interested in the topic, he tuned them out. He was more than capable of looking after himself, even if he was having difficulty adjusting to the whole Caporal form thing. He shifted slightly, contemplating the problems he was experiencing with his magic. He needed to learn the nuances of his slightly altered gift.
He felt a wave of love and reassurance wash over him from his bond to Yfandes. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to bask in the warmth and the crisp, almost apple flavor of her sending.
: how do I keep up the pretense of being the vain little peacock you once chose, when I can hardly remember him or his motivations?: he asked, his mental voice plaintive.
Yfandes twitched an ear in his direction, then turned her head and nuzzled his knee.
: Trauma and being Chosen will explain away some of the Changes: a strange female voice said into his mind.
He turned his head and locked gazes with Kellen. His aunt's taller mare made her way daintily out of the shadows that had concealed her. : I have reminded My Chosen of this when she notices the differences and will continue to do so little brother. We will be gone for at least a few weeks. I would suggest you take that time to alter your personality to suit who you are now. :
Vanyel nodded minutely. He was going to fall on his nose as soon as the gate opened, that much was inevitable but perhaps they could use the time that fallowed not only to heed Kellen's advice but to strategize for what was to come. Pinpoint the differences in his magic and find the next step on the crazy path he was now being forced to walk.
Through their bond he felt Yfandes assent.
((( { })))
Vanyel gazed up at the ceiling above his head, trying to ignore the swaying of the Ekele in the wind. He groaned and flung an arm over bloodshot silver eyes. His dreams had been filled with strange things for the past few weeks, crofts in the middle of nowhere, strange land forms, Dark and twisted forests, strange creatures, and seriously weird weather. His mind ran in frantic circles as he tried to come up with the best solution to the situation he'd found himself in.
He missed Tylendel and the way they used to fit together. He missed the young man his memories painted Tylendel to be. He didn't know if the man would ever live up to his ghost, and that hurt in a way he hadn't thought possible. The Tylendel he remembered was kind and gentle, an empathic and sweet lover. A lover who'd done his level best to give Van the love and support, he'd craved like a drowning man craved air.
Vanyel didn't know this Tylendel. The boy who'd tried to kill him twice.
Truth to tell, he didn't much like him. He tried to remind himself that this wasn't His Lendel.
This crazed man wasn't anyone he knew or recognized. It felt like a betrayal somehow. Like he was being disloyal to the boy he remembered from so long ago.
To make matters worse he missed Steffen.
Missed having him at his side. He missed the other man's sense of humor and quiet advice. He missed their fights, and the way it used to annoy the birds and small animals, he missed the bad music contests, and the way Steff was able to make him loosen up and act without thinking. He missed 500 years of love, friendship and companionship.
He shifted, rolled onto his side, grumbling to himself as he fought insomnia. His stomach knotted and rolled in an unpleasant manor, as he tried desperately, to find a comfortable position. His mage gift was still giving him trouble, and something to the North West was making him feel vaguely ill. He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep, hoping - for once - he'd sleep soundly. He felt Fandes reach out and wrap her own shields around him, lessening the pressure he felt building against his shields.
: Thanks,: he whispered into her mind, a bit ashamed of the difficulty he was having. He was a mage with over 500 years of experience and he couldn't shield out whatever was making him nauseated.
He felt Fandes wrap him in a blanket of love and comfort :It will come love.: she said gently into his mind. : Until it does, I will help you. For now, my Chosen, sleep. :
Darkness closed around him, warm and welcoming as he drifted off into dreamless sleep.
((({ }))
The world opened up around him dark and sinister, yet strange and wonderful. The ground below him twisted, turned, rose and fell in a peculiar undulating fashion, as though he walked upon the back of an immense serpent. All around him, massive mountains punched up from the ground in jagged crags, rising from the ground like great broken bones. Ahead of him the ground dipped and fell away as though gouged out by a giant claw. The canyon slithered through the ground, a great serpent, twisting, turning, rolling, swelling and spiraling in strange, vaguely sculpturesque manner.
Dense, black clouds hung low in a toxic green horizon cleaved by violet lightning. An impenetrable fog crept across the land obscuring the way forward, as heavy, fist sized shards of ice fell from the paradoxically clear sky directly above. Constellations oscillated between foreign and familiar as the stars hunted each other across the night sky with disorientating speed. Glowing green, yellow, blue and red orbs burned in the distance; glowering down at him from atop the jagged peaks and crags. A shiver raced down his spine as they resolved into great felines. Smaller felines dotted the smaller peaks below the great cats. Atop a mountain its smoky outline backlit by the revolving stars, an enormous saber- toothed, short tailed, hunting cat roared. His fur stood on end, his back arched and he nearly lept clear of his skin as the roar reverberated through his very essence.
Claws digging into the turf at his feet, he screamed his own challenge into the night. Stepping forward and placing one foot onto the open air, feeling it solidify to take his weight he wove step by step through the dense fog lithe as a cat.
Lord dark, lady bright what was going on?
:Fandies?: he cried. For once he received no answer.
There was something threatening in the air, he could feel the regard of the many varied felines as they watched him, wondering what had brought him to this realm. This Plane to which he didn't belong.
He gazed out across the land, a vague sick feeling washing over him as the world split upon itself, in a strange and nauseating case of double vision. One image showed him the empty air before him as though he was not frantically searching for an escape. The other view was his own frantic sweeps of the land around him.
Abruptly he realized only the peaks and crags nearest him were populated by cats great and small. Further away he saw a red fox, and a white, a wolf, a black bear and a raven among the many enormous beasts.
"You do not come alone" a voice hissed into the darkness as a colossal serpent rose out the air before him drawing his attention as nothing else could. It rose before him, forming out of fog and dense clouds as it rose up to tower over him, immense hood flaring, fangs glistening with Venom in its great black maw.
The strange double vision shook him as he gazed upon the huge reptile in horrified fascination, yet somehow turned his head away from the snake, and gazed out eyes piercing the inky void until his vision settled upon … himself, though he was curiously discolored, and vaguely transparent despite also being in sharp relief. A wave of shock and confusion washed over him followed by exasperation and he reached out to bat at his own bare foot with one speckled paw.
"Unforeseen, Hesprec" he intoned in a voice not his own. "Rujholla." He called. "You'd best come collect what is yours."
With those words, panic, anger and fear washed over him, rolling down the bonds that tied him to Yfandes, like a tidal wave down a narrow canyon. The ear splitting squeal of an enraged mare, reverberated through the air around him and the clattering of bells on stone heralded the Companion's arrival. She skidded to a halt beside him slipping a bit as she flung himself between him, the cat and the enormous serpent. Ears pinned, nostrils pinched she reared and screamed a challenge at the vaguely amused serpent.
"Peacce, Little Sssisster." Hesprec hissed, "I will let you leave with the little sssoul."
Yfandes settled herself on all four hooves and nudged him towards her back with a solid shove of her nose. Utterly bewildered Vanyel vaulted onto her back. She hardly waited for him to settle before she took off at the gallop.
"Your sssoul is made to be bound, and that form ssssevered ties with your Warrior centuriesss ago. You would do well to remember that." he heard Hesprec hiss as he catapulted into wakefulness back in the safety of the Ekele.
He sat there for a moment, utterly bewildered.
: Fandes? : He called softly
:Chosen, : Came the tart reply.
For a moment he just sat there staring at the wall. Slowly he rose to his feet and made for the door and the unwelcome climb down the stupid Tree. : What in the name of the Star Eyed was that?: he demanded as he feet touched the ground.
Yfandes glowed in the darkness, pulsing with an ethereal blue light. : Ask your damned Cat. : She replied hotly, in a tone she'd never used on him in the more than 500 years they been bound to each other. He closed his eyes feeling her fear as it washed over him. Taking the sting out of her sharp words.
"Not my cat," he replied, striding over to her side and taking her head into his hands. Feeling the velvety softness of her fur beneath his hands. He reached up and rubbed the spot between her eyes feeling her melt into the touch the same way a horse would have.
: I'm not so sure of that.: she responded hotly. Giving a full body shudder as she relaxed into him. : I couldn't reach you.: She said softly. : You went somewhere I could not follow.:
"You came for me," he reminded her gently.
She snorted, and he got that old curious double image of the Herald she had once been super imposed over the white horse. : Only because the damned cat, opened the door.: She admitted after a moment's hesitation.
"A complication unforeseen. I assure you Rujholla. Had I known he would follow me into the In-between, I'd have warned you before I went to set the scene." The cat replied appearing on her hindquarters with a puff of displaced air.
Yfandes turned her head and pinned her ears at the currently housecat sized nuisance on her rump.
"Can you not speak plainly?" Vanyel demanded, still shaken by the strange experience he'd just endured.
The cat turned it's somewhat intense gaze upon him and flicked the tail hanging almost comically along Yfandes rump, following the curve and fall of the Companion's tail. "Do you wish me to speak plainly or true?" the cat retorted.
"both" Vanyel and Yfandes snapped.
The cat stretched and yawned before curling up on Yfandes rump looking for all the world as though he perched upon the plush cushions of the king's personal chambers. "Upon mortal ears I am bound to speak in riddle and rhyme." The cat replied, lips curling back to reveal even more of his elongated fangs. "Lir to Lir, when called to comfort and guild, to do so would be a crime."
Vanyel rubbed his temples and counted to ten in EVERY language he knew. It wouldn't do to skin the beast.
: Elaborate… please.: YFandies all but growled.
The cat shifted clearly uncomfortable and granted them no answers.
"What did the Snake mean when he said your soul was made to be bound?" Vanyel enquired.
The cat looked up at him. "That tail, tell I cannot. For it would pale, spoken in riddle and rhyme, we haven't the time."
Van pinched the bridge of his nose this was giving him a headache.
: You are bound to speak in riddle and rhyme to those who are mortal?: Yfandes enquired. : We lived for more than five centuries as boarder guardians, free of our mortal forms. We have gone backwards in time to change what is to come. How are we mortal?:
The cat seemed to perk up at that. He regarded Yfandes and him with luminous blue eyes.
: You have never spoken to me in Riddles and Rhymes.: Yfandes pressed. : Riddles, yes rhymes no.:
The Cat turned his head and Van shuddered under the creature's full regard. Something deep in his bones screaming 'run you idiot that's a predator'.
The Cat opened his mouth, closed his mouth, made a half strangled noise and turned his head to address Yfandes alone. "I am unable to fight the Geas." He informed her. "He is bound to mortal flesh and form. Though soul to soul and form to form you are the same, the Geas recognizes it not."
Yfandes considered this. : Then tell Me.: She replied, and Vanyel felt her reach, pulling him into a closer meld with her. He felt his knees buckle, and his body settle against her shoulder as she lay them both down. The Cat lept from her rump, lofting over his form as it grew to an immense size. Van shifted, and let go of his mortal form, surrendering himself to her with the absolute trust of a Herald for his Companion. He felt his body shut down as he slid into a, frankly, unnatural sleep. Her will superseding his in a way she had never done before, he shifted, the essence of him settling in against her so that his soul rode along in her body the way Tayledras scouts sometimes flew with their birds. He shifted trying to keep them as separate as possible. Curling up as small as possible as he occupied her body, tucking himself against her ears. Briefly reveling in the strange and chaotic experience of being a Companion, of feeling things entirely through her body as his own form lay comatose against her side.
:Now explain : Yfandes demanded.
: That is Cheating Rujholla.: the cat, now the size of a mountain hunting cat, purred, his mind voice caressing the surface of Vanyel's mind. :I like the way you think. :
:If you dislike the game, change the rules.: Yfandes retorted.
"Shall I speak?" :or shall I speak: The cat enquired shifting from verbal to mind speech.
: Which ever leaves the Geas the most room.: Fandes prompted.
The Cat nodded. "First things first." He purred. "In this form I am called Noctis."
:I am Yfandes, My Herald is Vanyel.: Yfandes replied primly.
"I am aware." Noctis replied. He stilled and then began to speak and as he spoke Vanyel felt the words wrap around him and he saw the scene play out around him as though he stood in the audience of a massive theatrical production.
"Eons ago the Gods brought forth their First Born. As is often the case the rivalry was fierce and it soon became important that the gifts of one negate the gifts of the other. To the One they gave mage craft, illusion and the ability to block the Lir and the gifts of the Other, and the lifestone, the locus of their power and longevity in the Lir's place. To those who would serve the Asar-Suti he granted the magic of a life of eternal youth, lest someone take pains to slay them. To the Other they gave the Lir, half their soul created for the Warrior they walked with, the Shape-change, the ability to take another's mind and the ability to heal. These gifts came at a cost; for the death of the Lir or the destruction of the Lifestone saw the destruction of The Children of the First born. For the Lir the price was not as steep, should the warrior die the Lir goes on in the world an ordinary creature to live an ordinary life. Should the Lir never find his Warrior, his Lir, the Lir dies, for half his soul is never gained. Should human and Lir never bond then the Human remains an un-whole shadow, but their life goes on and they never come into the gifts of their people." The great cat paused, and shook his head. "And so it went and brother slew brother, until the Prophesy of the Lion came to pass, and a child of all blood was born to unite four realms and 2 warring races."
With the words, Vanyel saw them, a race of people with their black hair, copper skin, and yellow eyes. He saw the wolves, foxes, eagles, hawks, falcons, bear and boar and he saw the great tawny hunting cats all the Lir that walked beside the Children of the first born. He saw the other race with their unnatural beauty, pale lilac eyes and forever youthful bodies. And when Noctis continued he saw the Mage wars of his own history that had dragged the feline Lir into this world.
"The land and the magic was sundered and several of the Lir who bore the form of mountain hunting cats were pulled into this world but they were not alone in their displacement. With them came a creature from a different realm" Noctis continues and here Vanyel saw what looked like a grinning housecat like creature of unusual color that appeared and disappeared grew and shrank at will and he understood that it was from this creature that Noctis had gained the geas that made him speak the truth of the world in riddles and rhymes when mortal ears could hear.
"The last was a large predatory cat" Noctis continues and here Vanyel saw an animal that looked very similar to Noctis as he had first seen him. Thought the colors were different. "The rogue magic bound them together near immortal creature, with familiar and mundane and the Geas clashed. For the Lir were bound to their warriors and the young could not find the other half of their souls to bond. So I came into this world to ease the geas that the Lir might thrive and survive. But they only survive. A third of our kits are yet lost to the sickness that comes when Lir cannot find Lir. Another third we lose in the following years into adulthood, to the need to search out our Lir. For our pelts are well prized." And here Vanyel saw an image that made him ill, a plush mottled, splotched, spotted and striped pelt upon the ground before a hearth fire.
These were sentient creatures. Sentient creatures hunted like animals for their pelt and meat. The thought was horrendous, utterly vile and entirely horrifying. "And so we survive" Noctis told Yfandes calmly. "And those that live to parent the next generation watch as two thirds of their young succumb to the geas." The tip of his tail flicked in clear distress. "So when the Star-eyed came to you, I saw a chance to liberate my people. To raise the first born so that the Lir, my children, may live." The cat looked down then. "But in doing so, I felted the magic's of two worlds. To help the child your Chosen must save, I looked into his soul and I crafted one of mine to suit." And here Vanyel saw the image of another of Noctis's kind though this one was a soft grayish silver with a white belly and markings ranging from smoke gray to dappled silver. "I crafted her to protect him, to guild him and to help cancel the evil that has wormed its way into his body and attached itself to a child's soul like a leach upon the belly of a fish. Such is anathema to us and we shan't let it stand." Vanyel felt the creature's anger wash slowly over him. Abruptly the huge cat shrank down to the size of a small housecat radiating sorrow and shame. "However, in so doing, I unintentionally changed your Chosen's magic, and gave him a burden he was never meant to bare. The Deep Magic he was never meant to carry. I have changed things out of order and recognition and as I seek to place them into position, I have found my claws further entangled in the threads of time and Reality. The Geas that uses to only partly affect me, now seeks to strangle me. And as Hesprec" here that cat hissed the great serpent's name in annoyance. "So kindly pointed out to me. I may be the First, but I am still Lir, and in this form I am unbound. The Warrior who is my Lir cannot reach me here. For in this form I am no longer a part of his world. To aid my children, I had to make myself a part of this world. "
Vanyel winced as he felt that unholy emptiness from prior to his second choosing wash over him again though distant and vaguely muted.
Noctis shifted "To save my people there are tasks I must perform, changes I must make, but the more magic I felt the more is stuck on my claws and -by necessity- the closer I weave myself into the pattern of this world. And the more the noose tightens and there will be consequences real and unforeseen. For as the noose tightens around me to also enclose him and through him you."
Vanyel felt YFandes' shock and a flash of protective rage. He understood he honestly did. :Fandes: he whispered. : He is trying to save his people. We cannot fault him for that. He did not know this would happen anymore than we. I agreed to walk this path. Can we truly be angry?:
He felt her bristle. : He should have stopped when it started affecting you!: she replied.
Van sighed, a truly odd experience given the fact that his body was currently comatose upon the floor, and his soul shared her body. :We came to save our world, to save our people and possibly just possibly give another world and another people a chance. Now there is a chance to save a race of sentient creatures, not unlike the Kyree and in some ways not unlike the Companions themselves. The risk is to me and through me possibly to you. What happens if he continues?:
Yfandes took a breath and posed his question to Noctis. "He becomes one of the First Born." Noctis replied. "The first of this world."
:and were you to die? : Yfandes asked.
Noctis contemplated the question. "He would die, lest the Herald Companion bond be strong enough to hold him here when half his soul has been sundered." The cat paused and amended his statement. "A third of his soul. But lady that is not the issue we must consider."
: And what is?: Yfandes snapped.
Noctis looked at her, his gaze unblinking and then blinked slowly in the language of cats. "I have existed in this realm since shortly after the events you call the Mage Wars and the Cataclysm that brought my children here. It is entirely possible that I cannot die, yet I do not know what the future will bring as I set the changes in place. I could die tomorrow, l could live a life eternal or I may yet bind myself to a mortal life beside a mortal warrior, I no longer know what the marrow may bring."
Vanyel resigned himself. Glorious fates often include glorious funerals. He mumbled to himself.
: Chosen are you sure? :
:Are you?: he countered. : I don't like this.: He said quietly :But there are no guarantees in this, save that inaction will likely bring about the very slow destruction of his people. Where are they in our time? Where were they in Firesong's and Elspeth's:
"Extinct" Noctis replied succinctly "after more than a thousand years of suffering."
He felt Yfandes deflate, : if you are willing than I am.: She informed him mildly.
Vanyel sighed and turned his attention towards the Immortal cat that may have accidently turned itself into a living breathing creature. : Do what you must, what comes, comes and we will face it together or apart as the … pattern demands. :
Vanyel felt himself slipping away from Yfandes, felt his body as it settled around him, like a slightly to tight garment. He shifted settling himself more comfortably against Yfandes furry shoulder as she curled around him like he was one of her foals. Something soft, and plush settled against him and he felt more than heard, the deep rumbling radiate against his chest as he drifted off to sleep one hand carding through the plush silky warmth of the pelt against him, fisting in it the way he often held on to Fandes mane. The mare snorted but leaned over to nuzzle him lightly as he slid into the arms of the first untroubled sleep he'd had since returning from the past.
((({ })))
Vanyel woke in the dawn light feeling, well rested and strangle rejuvenated. He was also warm… uncomfortably so. Yfandes' bulk was easily recognizable against his back and under his cheek. But the furry warmth he was almost wrapped around startled him. And he slowly raised his head and found himself face to face with the biggest cat he had ever seen.
Noctis yawned and rose from his place against Vanyel's chest, vanishing before his eyes without a word. Leaving him feeling utterly bewildered.