CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Pharen awoke nestled safely in Fen'Harel's embrace, his sheer body heat keeping them both warm, though the fire had died some time during their rest. She felt him nuzzling against her neck, and smiled sleepily. "Good morning, Fen," she said, giggling. Turning over and climbing astride him, she took his face in her palms, and pressed her forehead against his. He sighed against her, wrapping his arms around her waist in an effort to bring her closer.
"I have been awake for some time. You realize you kick in your sleep? And snore? And you stole the covers. I was freezing!" Drawing back, Pharen playfully hit his arm in mock indignation. "I do no such thing! You have no proof!" Even as she finished her sentence, she looked over to the side of the bed in which she had been sleeping. More than half of the blanket that had been covering the bed was on the floor on her side. Seeing this, she raised her arms in surrender. "Alright, alright, not very godlike but hey, at least I'm comfy to sleep on."
Fen'Harel grinned at that, sitting up from the bed. "You continue to surprise me. That is more woman-like than it is godlike." Grinning wider, he ducked a blow from a pillow thrown by Pharen. Allowing his smile to fade, albeit slightly, he locked his gaze with her playful one. "Today, we discover what you are best at. Or, rather, what comes easy for you. Aside from magic and travelling back in time, of course." Pharen narrowed her eyes at him, though unable to keep up the ruse for long, she cracked a small grin.
Fen'Harel arose from the bed and strode over to a small cabinet in the far corner of his quarters. Waving a hand over the doors, they opened to reveal a softly glowing light beyond it, though his body blocked her view of the object. Taking the object and replacing the wards surrounding the piece of furniture, he walked over to her, and placed it in her hands. "Here, this is what you must wear today. This will protect you, much like the sentinels' armor does them." Looking down into her hands, she realized it was clothing, and it was humming with a power not unlike her own.
In awe, she stood from his bed, and held the fabric at the shoulders, and allowed the rest to cascade toward the floor. The very orbs she used to cast when she was with her clan to provide light were embedded into the fabric itself, which caused it to glow. Pharen hesitantly held the collar up to her chest – it was a dress. Holding it out in front of her, she found the hem of the clothing and pulled it over her head. Once she did, the dress began to mold itself to her curves.
The collar dipped low and came to a solid "V" above her belly button, the sleeves flowed like water down the length of her arms, knotting themselves just above her wrists to keep them secured. The hem traveled upwards to meet with the very edge of the "V", and spread across her body, spanning the orbs across her torso and legs. The fabric once more knotting itself, this time to just above her ankles, and leaving her feet bare. The white orbs seemed to pulse with her very own heartbeat.
Pharen extended her arms and swirled around to test the dress, smiling proudly at the way it melded to her, accentuating things she wasn't sure she had to begin with. "I love it! Why this though?" Fen'Harel had been silently appraising her, watching the fabric flow across her skin. Now he looked to her, locking his cerulean gaze to her own. "The orbs draw power from the one who wears it, thereby making its wearer more powerful. They also can detach from the armor itself, assisting you with your barrier, should your magic react harshly to anything we try today." Pharen cocked her head to the side, furrowing her brow.
"So, you're saying that in order to see what I'm good at, I have to find things I'm bad at, too?" The Wolf chuckled, shaking his head. "Since you put it that way…" Fen'Harel inclined his head to the door behind her which opened, revealing six dark blue eyes staring at her from the blackness behind the door. "Da'fen!" Pharen cried, opening her arms in greeting. What bounded out was not the Da'fen she had seen last however; this was a noble beast, the one meant to protect her.
Da'fen had grown to nearly the size of the Dread Wolf himself, his fur sparkling as he neared her. The green from the Beyond had near vanished as he grew, leaving a purely silver full-grown wolf before her. The spines along his back had grown and came to a sharp point at the edges, much like his ears. Pharen held her arms open wider for the wolf to come to her. Da'fen held his head high and walked slowly toward her, nuzzling against her chin even as she remained standing.
"You've grown so big! You're such a good boy Da'fen!" Da'fen, to his credit, let out a small whuff in annoyance, as if to tell her he was no longer just a pup. Fen'Harel smiled smugly. "You are terrible with training animals, so I believe we can mark that off the list of things in which to test you with." He chuckled at the glare she shot him from above Da'fen's monstrous head. Commanding the pup to sit, then to stay, Pharen meandered to the Wolf, smiling smugly that she had gotten him to listen to her. "You were saying?" She couldn't keep the grin creeping into her voice. Raising an eyebrow, Fen retorted, "You were saying?" Following his gaze, Pharen turned to see Da'fen rolling in the blanket that had fallen off the bed, his tongue lolling happily out of his mouth.
The color drained from her face, and she sighed, turning once more to the Dread Wolf. "Point taken. May we move on?" Fen'Harel nodded in agreement, leading her out to the front courtyard where many sentinels had taken up residence. One sentinel in particular rose to his feet, inclining his head to Pharen, and kneeling down in front of Fen'Harel. "Master, everything is ready, at your leisure." Fen'Harel curled his lips and his body tensed in what was obvious disapproval before reaching a hand forward, pushing away the elvhen's hood.
Bending slightly, the Dread Wolf placed a hand at the sentinel's shoulder, his expression and demeanor softening visibly. "Vir'tel, you are lethallin here, in this temple you call home. I must request of you to call me Fen'Harel." The man shook slightly before raising his eyes to meet the Wolf's. Pharen felt immense sorrow for this sentinel; he had to have been through much to react in such a way. The man had no visible slave markings, though he must have had a harsh master, before the Dread Wolf.
Rising from his former position, the elvhen named Vir'tel stood toe to toe with the elvhen god. "Ma serannas…Fen'Harel." Fen bowed his head and allowed a small smile to pass across his lips, before turning to Pharen, who was watching the sentinel walk away with his head held high. "His former master was Andruil. After she began to hunt in the Void and steadily became less sane, he was one of the first she hunted. She had an arrow nocked and ready to end his life when she discovered he was asking questions regarding her sanity. Andruil was very displeased, even more so when Da'Fen and I took him in."
Pharen had canted her head to the side, listening as he regaled his tale, and her eyes widened at his admission. "You saved him?" Fen'Harel nodded. "Yes, we did. Da'Fen and I happened to be in the right place at the right time." Pharen saw a flicker of sadness cross his features, before he schooled his expression once more. "I have decided it best that we begin with the elements, see if you have any connections to them outside being a mage. Are you prepared?"
Pharen nodded once, and almost immediately felt an immense pressure against her neck which traveled down her spinal cord. The pressure turned to ice water that trickled through her veins, nearly freezing her solid. But before she could mount a defense, she icy feeling left her, causing Pharen to blink up at Fen'Harel in confusion. "Hmm. Not ice, then. Perhaps you could summon a weapon from the Beyond?" He eyed her anxiously, awaiting her response. She closed her eyes and sank into the deepest recesses of her mind, attempting to envision a weapon from her time. A greatsword, perhaps?
The sound of clanging metal through air caught her attention, followed by a soft chink. Opening her eyes, Da'Fen was holding a blade nearly the length of his body in his teeth, the edge of it mere inches from her throat. Sheepishly, she looked to her teacher, who was grinning. He strode toward the pair, relieving the pup of his burden, and turned it over in his hands. "This is a weapon from your future, then?" Pharen nodded. "Good. I have an idea. Stand in front of the summoning font." Fen'Harel gestured to a large stone block in the very center of their area, surrounded by glyphs of varying colors and sizes on the ground.
"Please, da'enansal, indulge me. Focus your energy on simply the act of summoning, but not summoning anything in particular. Focus on the raw power of your magic alone." Pharen did as she was told, and without realizing it, had begun to cast energy into the font, much as she had with her foci. The font itself began to bend and twist into a form, a form that rose from the ground sharply and towered over the trio's heads; branches and vines began spouting up from under her feet, swirling ever upward before forming an arch.
The center of the arch began flowing with water, which cascaded several feet to either side in a curtain before them. Pharen watched in awe as the vines roped themselves together at the edges of the screen of fluid, connecting them. The water began to shimmer and glow white, the orbs on her dress infusing the stream with power. As the water began to rush from the apex, ever faster, small threads of magic began to weave their way into each droplet, before finally glowing a brilliant white as the orbs danced around her.
Raising her arm to temporarily shield her, she felt her magic stop pouring into the summoning font, and her mana began surging forward toward whatever she had made. Pharen dropped her arm to admire her handiwork only to feel her jaw drop at what she had created. She looked to Fen'Harel, who looked every bit the part of Pride. Hands clasped behind his back, he slowly walked forward to the font, stopping mere inches from it. "I am impressed, ma vhenan. I have not seen anyone with the ability to create an eluvian."