Chapter Thirty-six: The Ocean Arcanum
Fluctus was a beautiful place, the city itself sitting on a huge island of some kind of smooth white stone. The buildings were not towering but colored in every color one can imagine water to be, many decorated with shells, coral pieces, and even the feathers of waterfowl. The air was cool and smelt of salt. The ground was divided into sections separated by small trickles of water about the width of pencils that fed into each other, creating a web of water working through the whole of the stone floor.
The Tidebound elves were an even more diverse lot than their steeds, most going about whatever business they had, but some stopping to watch the procession of oddness before them. By now, word seemed to have spread about Callum, Aaravos and the spring debt line. Every color, blend of colors or even pattern imaginable graced their skin. Some had the feelers that Arro had, some had frills, some both, some neither.
Arro led Callum and company to his home, one of the more humble buildings in the city, but still with a grandness to it. The group left the ripplebounders in a small stable-like structure outside of the house. Ezran, who was more interested in exploring than magic, didn't need to be told twice when the elf dismissed him to wander about and do as he wished for the time being. He would have bolted off with Soren following if not for the streams. The humans had to mind them as they walked, both nearly falling at one point of another as water trickles meant sudden dips in the ground, while Arro and the other Tidebound elves navigated the streams without so much as loosing stride.
"Okay, I'm just not getting this." Rayla admitted. Of course, she supported Zephyr in this…thing wholeheartedly, she was just confused. "Why Soren, of all people?
"Well, why Callum?" Zephyr asked, and it seemed Rayla had been expecting this retort because she didn't appear offended or caught off-guard. Callum was loyal, funny and gentle in a way that she had never experienced before meeting him. Soren, on the other hand, was brave, loyal and pretty fun as well, but in other ways, he just reminded her too much of the other Moonshadow elves back home. Maybe that was why she wasn't seeing whatever Zephyr was, she didn't have the same experiences Rayla did. She simply couldn't imagine being held so gently by Soren, and she knew for a fact that he was too much of a goofball to say the kinds of things that, from Callum, could be her undoing in an argument. No, Soren was more of a pal as far as she was concerned.
"Fair point." Rayla said. "I'm pretty sure you felt this way when your brother got married."
"Probably." Zephyr said, and she winced as a particular thought stuck her. "So, about his sister."
"Lost cause." Rayla told her promptly. "He tried talking her down after Viren died, and she said us elves' emotions aren't worth caring about."
"Oh, she couldn't have meant it." Zephyr said. "Soren told me about his dad, but I think he thinks Claudia can be saved."
"It'd certainly be no small miracle." Rayla frowned and turned away, her arms crossed. She had already given Claudia that chance before they returned to Novus. She'd tried to talk to her and felt sorry for her, and Claudia had responded by saying the things she'd said in the prison cell. If there was any redemption to be had for the woman, Rayla would have no part of it.
The feeling of her wings fading was becoming familiar to Claudia – she had blown through her supply of feathers, but the incantation for the wings must have been permanently burned into her brain by now. It was lucky than, that she finally spotted the Moonshadow elf, at the shore of the sea and talking to some other elf. Claudia watched them closely as she descended from the sky, making sure neither of them looked her way. She silently cursed to herself when she pulled out the glass jar, seeing the moon spiders had also been depleted. In fact, she had nothing she could use against the elves. Even if the new one didn't seem like she was a fighter, she remembered how easily the Moonshadow elf had overtaken her in their last physical confrontation.
She probably would have charged the two and demanded where Callum and Ezran were if the reek of dark magic hadn't gotten their attention first. Claudia ignored the fact that, rather than attacking, the Skywing elf seemed surprised to see her and the Moonshadow elf just looked annoyed.
"Say the demon's name and she shall appear." Rayla told Zephyr, without either taking their eyes off of Claudia.
Callum was thankful that, unlike outside, the inside of Arro's house was solid ground, although one wall was made up entirely of a wide but quiet waterfall which fed into a narrow pool which, despite the total lack any channels to elsewhere, seemed to resist overflowing. The wall opposite to this was packed from ceiling to floor and from wall to wall with plastic tubes that looked like they held scrolls. Callum supposed it was understandable, imposing some sort of water-proofing spell on book after book would probably take a fair amount of time.
"So, you're an ocean mage?" Callum asked, before backtracking. "Or is that tide mage because, you know, Tidebound."
"It's ocean mage." Arro said, and Callum was relieved when he didn't seem incensed by it. Not quite as good-natured as Ibis had been, but still quite amiable. "We call ourselves 'Tidebound' because few of us actually dwell in the ocean. Our homes are made in bodies of water connected to the ocean, like rivers, wetlands and this very sea, as we still need land to survive. Like ourselves, these places draw power from the ocean."
Callum nodded, and looked out a window to see the sun begin to disappear behind distant trees to the west. "Yeah. Look, I promised someone I'd be back at the shore before sundown. I need to connect to the ocean arcanum tonight."
"A bit of a rush, isn't it?" Arro asked.
"We're on a pretty serious time crunch." Callum said, and preceded to tell the older mage about Aaravos, the first storm of spring, and how, on top of all that he still had the earth arcanum to connect to. By the time he was finished, the sun had sunk even lower.
"Then there is little time to waste." Arro said. "How did you connect to the other arcanums?"
"If I have an understanding of the arcanum and what it's about, I can connect to it while I sleep." Callum said, hastily adding; "Well, most of them. My newest arcanum is the star primal and no one knows how I managed that."
Arro nodded. "Than allow my assistance. The ocean arcanum involves change, fluidity and navigation. Unfortunately, this is all I can offer in such a short timeframe."
"Change, fluidity and navigation." Callum repeated, considering this for a moment. "Thank you, Arro. I'll connect to the arcanum tonight, and I would like to come back tomorrow. I'm giving myself a month each to learn everything I can about the last two primal sources."
"Very well." Arro said. "Gather your friends. I'll arrange for the ripplebounders to take you back across, and for your own steed to stay the night at the shore."
It was dusk. With how Ezran was excitedly going on about Fluctus, it wasn't surprising when the girls heard them before they saw them approach. Something among them was, in turn, surprising enough to silence Ezran's ramblings. It was Claudia, her arms and legs bound up with vines – Soren had the provisions including the rope. Maybe he should have left the bag with the girls. For once, Claudia seemed fearful rather than angry, as though she thought Rayla would hurt her. Rayla was, in fact, looking very annoyed at their new captive while Zephyr regarded the human woman with confusion.
"Hey, guys!" Rayla greeted, her falsely chipper voice a sharp contrast to her morose appearance as the three dismounted. "You'll never guess who apparently escaped her imprisonment."
"Well, can we take a couple of guesses anyway?" Callum asked, the playfulness of this question hampered by his unamused tone and frown sent to the captive.
"How'd you escape your cell?" Soren demanded of his sister. She ignored him.
"Callum, you have to call her off!" Claudia exclaimed, fearfully, her eyes wide and darting to Rayla. "My dad thought he could trust an elf and you saw what happened to him. You need to let me go so I can do what needs to be done."
"Which is?" Callum asked, though it was clear she probably wasn't going to be taken seriously either way.
"She has you under some spell, and the others, too!" Claudia told him. She would have gone on if not for Rayla's exasperated groan.
"Again, with this?" Rayla asked, raising her voice, and it was clear that Claudia had been here spouting the same nonsense for a while now. "For the last time, Claudia, I'm a Moonshadow elf; our thing is illusions, not mind control or whatever you're on about! Even if it was, I'm not a magic user!" Seeing the venomous looks the two were sending each other, Callum took Rayla by the arms from behind and slowly drew her to him. Rayla allowed herself to be led back a few steps and held from behind, and Claudia's glare intensified when taking in a few details of this interaction. By the way he stared her down coldly and the slight clutch she saw in his hands, it was clear that this embrace was not one of affection, but of protection. Was his heart so thoroughly enthralled by her tricks that he would fight for the thief?
"Everything started going wrong when she showed up!" Claudia accused. "The next time we saw you, you were acting weird."
"We were changing!" Callum said with a raised voice, spacing his words out so she'd be sure to hear him, since she clearly couldn't otherwise. "Meeting an elf who proves everyone wrong about them, going on a journey to return a stolen baby to its grieving mother, finally finding your destiny after fourteen years of your life being aimless? How can all that not change someone? I wasn't acting weird, I was becoming more open-minded!"
"She had her claws in you even then." Claudia persisted. Callum stared for a moment. She hadn't listened to a word he'd just said. His expression hardened.
"Than so be it." He said, his chilly voice calming down, which at last seemed to get through to her if her horrified expression was any indication. "If I'm under some sort of spell, than it's the happiest I've ever been in my life, and if you care about that, you'll leave us alone."
Claudia felt her heartrate double in terror as she looked into his eyes. It occurred to her that this was the first true eye-contact they had made since Callum had tried his hand at dark magic, and even then there had been a cold scorn in them, identical to what was happening now. Claudia herself was no stranger to mental control, but finally looking deeply into his eyes, she saw nothing; no cloudiness, no underlying fear, nothing that could even remotely imply that his words were not his own. His eyes were as clear as clean water. There…really was no mind control?
Claudia admitted to herself that she should have been feeling relief, but instead anger bubbled in her stomach. If there was no mind control, that meant Callum knew everything that he had been doing. He had willingly let her father fall from that cliff in favor of his little fling. He was in full control when he decided that a filthy elf was even slightly worthy of his heart. And he was speaking what he felt was the absolute truth, looking at her in the way that he should have been looking at the elf. Claudia turned away, unwilling to see the elf's smug face.
Rayla's face wasn't smug. She was watching Claudia closely for any sudden movement, any reason to think she'd try to attack them. This watch didn't last long as Callum pulled Rayla away, seeming ready to lead her somewhere.
"Soren, keep an eye on her." Callum told him. "It's getting late and I still need to connect to the ocean arcanum. I doubt we'd be able to sleep here. We'll see you guys in the morning."
"Sure." Soren said before looking back at Claudia, looking like he fully shared their distrust in his sister. He wished this wasn't the case. Callum nodded before he and Rayla wandered off, hand-in-hand.
"So, we're just staying up tonight?" Ezran asked him.
"No, I'll keep watch over her tonight." Soren told him. He had pulled all-night guard jobs before; he'd be okay so long as was allowed to rest the next day. Despite this being completely believable, Ezran and Zephyr still exchanged a worried look.
A short distance away was a small grove of some Xadian tree who's red tanks seemed to be made up of intertwining vines, easily within walking distance but it still offered the privacy the couple sought. Callum sat and leaned against a larger tree trunk, with Rayla leaning on his shoulder, Callum wrapped his arm around her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." The elf answered. "I can take care of myself against her."
"I meant about the sea." he said, gently. There was a brief pause. Rayla's voice was small and hesitant, and maybe a little distant.
"I'll be okay, but I will be better when we move on to the earth arcanum."
This was the end of the conversation, the pair just soaking in one another's presence as they drifted off together, with Callum keeping change, fluidity and navigation in his mind, and Rayla trying to keep her mind away from water.
It was twilight, whether dawn or dusk, Callum wasn't sure. He was at a beach, looking at the sparkling ocean which was taking on many colors under the orange, pink and purple sky. The calm, serene ocean changed so quickly, Callum couldn't have pinpointed when it happened if he tried. Suddenly, a huge wave overtook Callum and he was now beneath the icy water. Or was he? Like the moon arcanum so long ago, there was no water underwater. As if this wasn't enough, he awoke on a sandy ground, the sound of waves filling his ears. Somehow, he had washed up on some sort of beach.
Seeing a small boat with oars halfway in the water, Callum looked towards the sun, which was low in the sky. It would have been nice if he could know if that sun was in the east or west, he only knew it was one of those. The knowledge that this was a dream made it easy to keep calm. The breeze was blowing toward the sun and with no other lead, Callum decided to head that way and turned to approach the boat.
Rayla's sleep wasn't so peaceful. She was a child again, not long before her parents were to leave for the Dragonguard. They were in a part of the Moonshadow Forest which included a wide river. Rayla had ignored her parents' warnings to be careful and to get away from the bank as she climbed and jumped among the large, white rocks. All of the kids played here and besides, she was a proficient swimmer. Most young Moonshadow elves were old enough to swim before leaving the villages for the first time. All at once, her footing was gone, the water engulfed her, and blurred voices were shouting her name as her tiny lungs were screaming for air. The calm surface of the river had been deceptive, because beneath it there was a powerful current - too powerful for her small self to swim against - sweeping her away from the rocks, away from her parents. She struggled and flailed, but she couldn't break the surface. As she felt unconsciousness overtake her, she could feel her tiny body be gently seized by a pair of hands.
Rayla jolted awake with a sharp gasp, her lungs taking in air that her body didn't truly need. She was safe, on solid ground, and the only wetness on her body were the fresh tear trails going down her cheeks. Even with Callum at her side, she couldn't keep the memory away. The next thing she had known after the river, she had woken up in her bed back at the Silvergrove to her parents', Runaan and Ethari's fussing. Apparently, her savior had been a passing Tidebound elf. It had been a while before she was even willing to leave the village again, and she couldn't even stand baths from that day on, let alone an unpredictable, deceptive, wild body of water.
Rayla tried to force those thoughts from her head as the pounding in her chest finally calmed down. It was still night, with the crescent moon high in the sky, she needed to get back to sleep. She wiped the drying tears from her face and snuggled deeper into Callum, who slept soundly. As she slipped back into sleep, she only hoped her second bout of dreams would be better.
Callum couldn't tell the difference between minutes and hours once the island was out of sight. Sudden moments of turbulence since setting out had quickly conditioned him to be distrusting of the ocean, which he now knew could turn treacherous at any moment. He easily understood and saw how it related to the rest of life; one day a prince by marriage, living in a palace with is stepfather and brother, the next on a quest with that brother and an elf to restore a once thought destroyed dragon egg to it's mother to stop a war. A month's difference had brought more changes and by the next year he could hardly recognize himself. In truth he was becoming impatient for the second part of the dream. On the horizon, Callum spotted a single cloud, which in the blink of an eye was a raging storm, with the water sloshing every which way, jerking the boat to and fro. The boat capsized, sending him beneath the waves with water sloshing, wind blowing and thunder crashing fighting for dominance over his ears.
Again, he was in a familiar void. It was quiet, dry and not quite as cold as the sea had been. Callum turned around before someone could say his name. It was Rayla.
"Rayla?" Callum asked. Unbidden into his mind, he heard Claudia's words and his own response back when he was connecting to the moon arcanum. How everything started 'going wrong' when Rayla showed up, and his response that he was changing. "Change."
"What's that?" Rayla asked, lost considering Callum had made the connection in his mind, but had yet to tell her.
"Rayla, you were the catalyst for so much change." Callum told her, his face one of adoration and thankfulness. "You took everything I grew up hearing about elves and proved them so wrong, you were the one who said we needed to take the egg back to the Dragon Queen, you…you were the first one to call me a mage."
"Glade I can be of help." She said, and he held her tightly, willing her to not disappear in the way Soren or his mother had. Rayla was the start of so much change in his life, but she was also his rock now.
Callum awoke to an especially bright sky, the cold of the morning only offset by the warmth of Rayla who, as seemed to be often these days, seemed to like cuddling up to him to sleep. It certainly wasn't a problem, again she had become his rock in life, one of the few things he could always count on. He had the ocean arcanum now. Perhaps all of those changes in his life gave him an edge over this one, because as he contemplated it, nothing really stood out as new information; he had been adapting to new situations since he was about four, when his mother married the King Harrow.
Callum performed a quick warmth spell which ingulfed himself and Rayla in relief. The shift awoke Rayla, who seemed a bit groggier than usual. Without saying anything, he pulled her to her feet – they probably needed to get back to the others to make sure no one had frozen to death overnight – and she seemed to wake up as they walked.
"Trouble?" Callum asked, noticing her uneasy demeanor as they went.
"Sort of." Rayla told him with a yawn. "I'll tell you later."
Author's Notes: So, I have discovered that I am the last to discover the leaked pages of Through The Moon, which renders this an AU from the beginning on several counts. What they have failed to take into consideration is that nothing can stop me now, we're passed the halfway point. Mwahahaha! Seriously though, those pages are so cute, although I'm kinda on-the-fence about Rayla's new look. It's definitely pretty, but….it just doesn't look like her. Oh well, I guess that's what the ocean primal is about, right? Sometimes, ya just gotta take what comes at ya. Review.