Here we go…On to the "save point" scene. We're halfway through the water caverns! This scene is more a display of Tellah's eccentricities than anything else  I tried to get this out yesterday, just to make it number three up for the day…but my brain died somewhere around ten thirty and thus…it was pushed to today 

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Part VIII: Calm Before the Storm

They had been wandering for hours, and Rydia was beginning to fall asleep on her feet. The maze of cavern passageways was all the same; the same bluish-black rock, the same glistening ceiling and floor…

Cecil had fought a few more monsters; mostly large barbed fish, and finned, almost human-looking, creatures that could walk as well as swim. Tellah unleashed one lightning spell after another, and Rydia was honing her healing abilities. After all of their wandering, all of their fighting, Rydia was finally starting to lose her energy, and she wasn't the only one.

"She's getting tired, is there any place to rest down here?" Cecil asked wearily.

Tellah stopped walking and scratched his head. "This way," he said, moving away from their current path and into another. After a short distance, they arrived at a solid door placed into the cave wall.

Tellah opened the door and stepped inside. Cecil and Rydia followed behind him.

The chamber they had entered was decently sized, but seemed as if it had been mined into the cave and not a feat of nature. There were stone structures sticking up from the ground like stalagmites, but they were crafted with runes. An old burn pit rested in the center of the stones, and that's where Tellah walked.

He stopped in the middle of what Cecil and Rydia both discovered was a perfectly circular ring of stones.

"This is a traveler's ward," Tellah explained. "These stones have powerful runes written into them, wards. They will keep monsters at bay so that we can rest in peace."

"What kind of people created this place?" Cecil asked, curiously walking around.

"Mages, who else?" Tellah replied.

"Is it possible to light a fire in here?"

Again Tellah scratched his head. "There was some wood the last time I slept here. I wonder where it's—"

"There's some wood over here!" Rydia exclaimed.

She bent to pick up one of the smaller logs and shrieked when a centipede wriggled out of it.

Tellah and Cecil both looked in her direction.

"Gracious wonders, child, are you trying to kill me?" Tellah demanded. "What, was there a bug? Nothing to be afraid of," he continued, walking towards her and picking up the log himself.

Rydia's cheeks blazed crimson. It wasn't like her to be afraid of bugs, but after the shell monster, her nerves just hadn't been the same. She glanced over at Cecil, and he shook his head and shrugged.

Tellah plunked the log down on top of the old ashes. "Bring over a few more of those, young one," Tellah instructed Rydia. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Rydia narrowed her eyes and walked back to the logs. She picked up a larger one than the one she'd had before and tried to lift it. With all her effort, she pulled it up from the ground, struggling to pull it after her. She would not be a coward--not to a centipede-- and definitely not in front of a sage. But by the time she'd dragged it halfway to the fire pit, she began to wonder if taking such a large log had been a good idea. After she dropped it over the log Tellah had already carried over, she was exhausted, but absolutely determined not to let it show. She must not have done a good enough job because Cecil walked to the pile and brought the remaining logs over for the fire.

When Cecil had brought over a decent number of logs, they all sat around the crude pile they had constructed in the center of the chamber, staring at it as if waiting for it to spontaneously erupt into flames.

"These logs look damp," Cecil noted.

Tellah looked at him from above the rims of his spectacles, "These are the water caverns. Did you expect much else?"

Rydia was lying on her stomach with her head propped up on bent arms, watching the exchange between the two men. She could tell Cecil was becoming annoyed.

"How are we supposed to burn these if they're damp, torch flame isn't hot enough. Can the smoke even escape?"

Tellah wrinkled his face in disappointment and rebuke. "By the stars, Cecil. You are sitting with a sage. Of course I can get damp wood to burn. As to the smoke, there is a crack in the ceiling of this chamber that leads to the surface. I know this because a bird found its way down here one day…that was an unpleasant experience," he recalled, tugging at his beard.

Rydia made a face, and stared at Tellah while he pondered into empty space.

"How are you going to light them, then?" Cecil persisted.

'The fire spell, of course!" Tellah snapped, glancing sharply at Cecil.

Rydia was instantly filled with fear, horror, or something in between. She couldn't quite explain the twisting in her gut as she heard those words. Cecil didn't see the look on Rydia's face, but simply waited for the old man to do something.

"Now let's see…" Tellah muttered and started mumbling words.

After a few…interesting attempts at the fire spell, Cecil turned his attention towards Rydia. "You may as well start unrolling your bedding. This may take a while."

She agreed, but hoped she could fall asleep faster than the old man could cast the spell. It was one thing she was not in a hurry to see again…

What must have been an hour later, Rydia was fast asleep on her sleeping mat, and a fire was blazing in the fire pit.

"I told you I'd get those logs started on fire!" Tellah announced.

Cecil did not immediately respond. "Tellah, it took you an hour to remember the fire spell."

The old man adjusted his spectacles and cleared his throat. "I'm not as young as I used to be…"

Cecil looked at Tellah for a few seconds before plucking a stick up from the ground and poking the fire with it. Small sparks popped into the air between the two of them.

"I'm sorry, Cecil. I'm a disappointment as a sage," Tellah admitted, almost ashamedly.

Cecil looked up from his fire poking and leveled his gaze.

"The truth is I can't remember much of anything anymore. Only the most basic of spells are at my command now, and even those sometimes slip through my fingers."

"Is it just old age, or something else?"

"Ever since Anna ran away, nothing has been the same. I can't keep focused for very long. When I get my hands on that bard…" he said, balling his hands into shaking fists.

"I hope you find her. How long has she been gone?"

Tellah calmed a bit. "It's been three months. I've been camping in and around these caverns for two of those months, keeping stray travelers out who wouldn't be able to survive the attack of the monster guarding this exit."

"You're very determined, then."

"I am. Why exactly are you so quick to reach Damcyan? I know you're running from Baron, but why to Damcyan?"

Cecil paused. "A dear friend of mine is ill in Kaipo. She followed me from Baron, worried that I had been killed after the collapse of Mist. Only the sand ruby can cure her fever, and I need someone of the royal house of Damcyan to help me acquire it."

"I understand. It will not be an easy quest for you, I'm afraid."

"I'm willing to accept that," Cecil replied.

Tellah said nothing for several minutes and then turned his gaze on Rydia sleeping on the ground.

"Fast asleep. She must have been very tired. You said she was from Mist?"

Cecil nodded.

"I can sense she is very gifted. Young—but she has the potential to master many spells with the proper training. And a summoner of Mist as well!"

For the first time, Cecil saw true emotion brimming in the old man's eyes.

"So adorable, just like Anna used to be when she was young…. What is her name?"

"Her name is Rydia."

"Rydia…" Tellah repeated, testing its sound and weight. "Yes, the girl has boundless potential. She has a lot before her; that I can see already."

Neither man said anything more for some time until Cecil once again broke the silence.

"Tell me about this monster that guards the cavern exit."

Tellah shifted where he was sitting, rocking slightly backwards. "A vicious creature with eight strong tentacles. It's a difficult target and repels even my magic. The trick is to strike the body, but we'll have to get through the tentacles first. That's where your sword comes in."

"You want me to distract the tentacles while you aim your spells at the body?"

"Something to that effect…But we can discuss it more when we're nearer. This old bag of bones needs his sleep!"

Tellah rummaged through his pack and drew out a blanket that he threw over himself. Curling into it, he settled onto the cave floor.

"Good night!"

"Good night," Cecil replied, watching the fire dance before his tired eyes, knowing full well that tomorrow was not going to be easy.