Renegade

The jig is up, the news is out They finally found me The renegade who had it made Retrieved for a bounty ~ Styx

The apartment was dark, and chilly, a draft sweeping through the cause obvious in the form of a half dressed figure standing in the doorway to the balcony. The denim was gone in favor of the simple comfort of sweat pants. His torso was bare, and the kiss of snowflakes graced his shoulders, and from the looks of the streams of water down his back it was obvious he'd been standing there for quite some time. The sound of the elevator had him shifting to look over his shoulder toward the door. The sound of the knob turning had him licking his lower lip, and turning back to watch the snow fall on the city. His hair was streaked white, a gift from above and one that he managed to push free with a sweep of his hand through it. "Must have been a good night?"

Eddie's gaze looked further than it probably should, past the tall buildings and towards something hidden from sight by light and shadow. He held a glass of scotch in his hand, half gone though he'd been taking it in sips. "I wasn't sure which I preferred more tonight' quiet or music." The same could be said about proper lighting too it seemed.

Stepping inside, she drew the jacket tighter. The form in the doorway drew her like a magnet, although that wasn't any different than usual. "Seems like that kind of night?" She would swear she could smell him still, although why that would surprise her when she was wrapped in his skin, and he was right there...but this was different. This was bone deep, and made her head throb. They're coming" come" here. She shook her head, and walked faster, her heels clicking against the floor as she ducked beneath his arm and clung to him, burying her head in his chest. She hadn't the slightest idea what she'd done, or what to do now.

The scent of him filled her lungs, subtly different that the smell in her memory. It seemed crisper, sharper somehow, with the cold. Tahlia tilted her head back, looking up at him for a long moment before resting her cheek against his chest. "I would have been here sooner, but...I got waylaid." She didn't know who Nim was to Eddie, or how to broach the subject of her strange visitor. She just knew she had to. Eddie would know what to do. Eddie always knew what to do.

Eddie held back a wince, letting his arms fold around Tahlia because it seemed like she needed it from him. "We all get waylaid now and again." He took a few shuffling steps backwards, enough to let the door be closed. His hands slid beneath the jacket, and slipped it from her shoulders. Eddie knew what to do, but he also knew that the proximity of the blonde was enough to make him forget how long they'd been apart. He proceeded to do exactly what her sweater demanded of him. It wasn't the first time he'd unwrapped this particular present, but it wasn't going to be the last one either.

His hands found her waist, and lifted her higher, his eyes taking in her face before he engaged in one of his favorite past times. The game was called kissing Tahlia, and it was going into extra innings tonight. "We'll talk about it later" right now I'm going to show you what you've been missing while being waylaid."

"How could I forget?" Her thighs wrapped around his waist, her arms over his shoulders, her hands knotting into his hair as she eagerly joined in for as many extra innings as they both could manage. For as much as she rarely talked about the man she was currently wrapped around like a limpet, there was hardly a moment he was far from her thoughts. The various marks he'd left across her skin might have had something to do with that, but it was just as likely the smell of him, the taste of him against her lips, the heat of him enveloping her, and melting away the world outside. Tonight it all seemed so much more intense, until she had to drag her lips from his to draw in frantic breaths.

Forehead to forehead, still floating, she hesitantly brought her eyes to his. She wasn't ready for half of what Nim had said, or implied, but this...this was familiar and as safe as anything ever was when it came to Eddie Blake. "Eddie.." Bedroom - please" And I really like this sweater?"

————————————————————————— ——————————————

The tangled mess of blonde on his chest occasionally caught in his fingers as he stroked through it. The pounding of his heart had slowed to something more restful, they had a tendency to get each other to this moment. On the brink of sleep, except that he knew this wasn't going to be one of those days. It was day, and far enough into it that most people had been up for hours. Lunch was right around their corner. He'd rather be like this, tangled up arm and leg with her. "So tell me about Nim." He'd known the moment she looked up at him, even if she hadn't quite made it to the mirror to see for herself.

"The ice queen. She invited herself into my car outside the Inn." She still wasn't certain where Nim fit in to Eddie's world, save that she'd clearly known him for years. "Kept calling me "landbound"." Her headache had faded some in the intervening hours, but things still felt..off. Not substantially, because being with him, like this...felt more right than a lot of things in her life. Shifting, she laid her cheek against his chest, fingers idly swirling over and around the scars there. It didn't even occur to her to ask how he knew. She assumed he could smell the other woman on her. "She...did something. Said you'd suddenly come out of hiding, and other things were coming. Because...because of me?"

She wasn't sure how to describe what Nim had showed her, and the way it had made her feel. "Eddie...the night I got kidnapped...how did you know?" She suspected the answer wasn't what she had assumed, but she needed to hear it from him.

"I dunno, I heard you? felt you? I just knew." He didn't know how else to put it than that. "What she did" it may be for the best, but she is cold. Has always been that way that I can remember. Too much time out there, too much power. Still, she did warn you? I wasn't expecting the other." Eddie's finger touched the spot just between Tahlia's eyebrows. It wasn't something he could do, maybe if he weren't so different. "I...there is a lot that is going to happen. I mean, I suppose I knew it could but somehow it just didn't seem like it would."

Eddie pointed towards the wall, there was nothing different about it but if she'd followed the direction he indicated she'd find the island. "The thing about them is" a long time ago they chose to defend this place. It was a lot smaller then, and there were more frequent visits between. They even let in outsiders. That didn't really sit well with the others. A few of them ambushed the last...It's not important what they did. Only that until that night they didn't know about me. Now they do." He shrugged as though it was an even smaller deal than his words had already indicated.

"Because I tried to escape." She'd followed the direction of his arm, but she was still sifting through sensory memories that weren't always her own. "I thought we were closer...that the water wasn't so cold...tried to swim back. But it was dark, and cold..and I remembered the squid." Her voice softened, the words not her own. "...tears on the water"" She blinked up at him, eyes narrowing while her teeth found her bottom lip. "All I could think of was you rescuing me from the squid...I wanted you there, so much...even though I knew you didn't even know I was gone. But I?" She shook her head, curling back against his side.

"I didn't know. And now, because I...whatever I did, it didn't just call you. And now something's...looking for me" Is that why you gave me your coat' Nim...she kept calling you EJ. Said you wanted her to protect me. But...Eddie..why?"

"Shhh. There are answers, they're not what you may be expecting though." His fingers ran the length of her spine, to soothe or distract as he could. "They'd have come anyway, the only difference is not everything out there wants to save. Fact is, more often than not they'd drag you down deep. That was the expectation, but now they realize there's another Cosain. It would have happened eventually." Eddie didn't say anything about what Nim called him, his nose wrinkled, though she may have missed that.

"There are factions under the waves, different mindsets, different belief systems. Many of them would see an end to those who're confined to the hard earth." Even among his own people there were those who held on to prejudices. "I understand it, people take far more than they need. Take it from them. I don't know who is coming, Tahlia. They're looking for me because in saving you..." He didn't say which time, or if it was both. "...I have declared my own position. You'd be safe, if I were willing to leave you alone. I'm not though." He didn't know if he could put it any better than that. Maybe if he had a week and an unlimited supply of paper to get it right.

"Oh." For a moment, it was all she could think to say. There was a lot to absorb in that single statement. And some of it more dangerous than the rest. Curled up against his side, Tahlia reached over to stroke her fingers across the newly inked image on Eddie's forearm. She didn't know what a Cosain was, but the way he said it - the way Nim had talked about him - left no doubt that it was a title. One that didn't come along every day. Laying her cheek on his ribcage, she didn't bring her eyes to his face, looking at his arm while she continued tracing the edges. "I don't think Nim likes me very much." That, was probably an understatement.

She'd told him about her past, told him about Simon...there was perhaps one other who had any sense how much she feared abandonment. "I don't think you're wrong...or they are. People have lost respect for nature. Fear of the darkest depths and midnight forests. But I?" She drew in a shaky breath, the stroke of his fingers keeping her calm, and just a little distracted by the memories of what those fingers could do. "Eddie...was I supposed to drown" Is that...no?" She shook her head softly, realization blooming. "It's not about me. Is it. You took something from the sea, and now they're coming for you. I can help. Eddie...please?" So different from the last time, but her face shone no less intently.

"Nim doesn't particularly like anyone. She'll do what?s right though." In this particular case it was his version of right. He turned to look at her, propping up his head and shoving some pillows beneath it. "What do you mean, supposed to drown" If I were the type to believe that kind of thing, then the obvious answer would have to be, no. Otherwise you would have done just that. There's more at stake for Nim, for all of them. The roane haven't been a power for a very long time. We keep the harbor, it's ours. By association, the land attached is as well." He sighed out a deep breath, and reached for the pack of smokes pulling two from it and lighting both. One he handed off to her.

"Come up here." Eddie offered her no choice as he grabbed her backside and pulled her higher on his chest. "Of course you can help me, but inasmuch as there aren't any rules to this game, there's rules. Maybe they try to use you, they're not supposed to' depends on who's coming. I haven't been part of the roane enough to know which groups are where,who was closest, what their opinions are. We'll have to wait and see. I should get some kind of word." At least he hoped he would. There was still a rift between him and them.

She was careful not to let the burnt ember touch his skin as he hauled her higher up against his side. She couldn't resist a squeak, or taking advantage of her new position to sneak a kiss. It was Eddie, and even if they had just spent hours exhausting each other...it had been too long for her liking since she'd had the taste of him on her lips. She let the rest go, his argument was valid, and she wasn't usually one to spend too much time considering "what ifs". She was here, with him. And the rest...she didn't know what a roane was. Save that it seemed she did. She could see the cove, and figures in it. She tried to look closer, but it wasn't her memory, and the attempt made her head throb.

Burying her face into his chest, Tahlia let out a whimper, and focused on the scent of sea and musk that was uniquely his. The same scent that had toyed through the watery visions earlier, and surrounded her whenever she managed to coax him into letting her borrow his jacket. "Ow. Moments like this, I really wish painkillers worked?" Instead, she turned her head just enough to steal a drag from the cigarette he'd given her, and slowly exhaled. "I don't know what she did to me...things just go...funny from time to time." She wasn't sure Eddie did either, really...but she certainly wasn't going to ask Nim.

"It should pass" fade as the mark does." He'd said it now, if she understood that he meant a real mark positioned right at the pint Nim had touched her. Eddie wasn't entirely sure what was done, but he could see it, the warning to leave her alone. "Speaking of? you should probably go take a look at it." It was difficult to say how the femme fatale would react to what had been done. There was no real excuse for him not telling her sooner, the reason wasn't complicated though. It could still be felt in the ache of muscles and the way she smelled, the fact that it was almost impossible to distinguish them from one another.

"Mark" What mark?" She hadn't looked, hadn't wasted a moment after she walked in the apartment and been swept up into Eddie's arms. She slid out from beneath the sheets, padding across the moonlit floor to lean one palm against the dresser and brush back her bangs with the other. Turning her head back and forth, she surveyed the mark Nim's touch had left behind, frowning at her reflection. Her beauty was her fortune, and now there was a blemish, and so prominently placed it would be immediately obvious. Except...it wasn't, exactly. She had no idea how Nim had created it with a simple touch of her finger, but it was delicately twined, an intricate symbol that almost looked like a tattoo. Still, though. "What is it' Eddie?" There was a note of concern, a quaver that she couldn't quite hide.

It wasn't so much the mark itself, as that she hadn't had a choice - there had been no discussion, she'd simply been the canvas. Pushing her bangs away from it, her fingers sought the risen symbol behind her right ear, tracing over each delicate line without a conscious awareness that she was doing so. The two were not so dissimilar, in her mind, even if one had been punishment, and the other" "What does it mean' Is it...do I have to leave it visible?"

"It's a ward, a little like a do not street sign for the purposes of what?s coming. It should make the others leave you out of it. It's kind of what I meant by even though there's no rules" there are still some rules." His voice increased in volume, and it wasn't long before he was behind her, hands on her abdomen. They rode her curves upwards even as he pulled her against him. "It's meant to be seen, though other fae may know it for what it is. They'll at least know it's kinship."

"At least it's pretty?" He tried to lighten the mood as he whispered it into her ear. "Not like a tattoo covering half your face. That happens too, depending on who is doing the warding." He shrugged, a bare movement of his shoulder more felt than seen. "I'll show you one if I see it." Eddie surrounded her, a robe of her very own complete with its own body heat.

"It is?" She conceded the point, leaning back against him, safe and secure, and lulled into complacency by his warmth. As strange as it sounded, she'd always felt most at ease in the company of the rogues and rakes of society. And these weren't many out there more rakish than the darkly handsome man wrapped around her. Letting her head fall back against his chest, a thin beam of moonlight seemed to kiss the sigil, bathing her face in a gentle glow. Her arms rested atop his, fingers laid almost strategically atop the pie that graced his forearm.

"So, the other challengers will see this, and leave me alone" What happens if they don't' And when...do we know when they're coming" Just so I can maybe schedule...not to be out' Or not with anyone else." Ace might understand, but Jordan would not be pleased to be surprised by some stranger with an agenda against his companion. Especially not if that agenda involved Eddie. He hadn't quite said it, but Tahlia hadn't been doing this as long as she had without learning how to read beyond what was spoken. She didn't want to think about it right now. Right now, she was warm, and safe, and all she could sense was Eddie wrapped around her, and a thousand questions she'd never ask.

"Nim didn't say. As for when they're coming, I'll know when they get close. We'll be drawn together. It would help to know who's coming, and maybe I'll hear something if the others aren't trying to hide." Eddie's thumb slid along her jaw, a distraction meant to have her leaning into his touch so that he could have a clear shot at her shoulder with his mouth. "If they come for you, I'll do what I did before." The closer he got to her the more his need of her became apparent. He turned her around to face him, kissing her hard and drawing her toward the bed. "Now" let's see if you can do what you did before.?

I Put a Spell on You

And I don't care if you don't want me I'm yours right now I put a spell on you Because you're mine ~ Annie Lennox

Eddie didn't let the little things bother him after a call from Tahlia that was half panicked and all confusing. He'd gotten what he needed out of it, something had happened, and it wasn't a hey I just won the lottery moment. So small things, like red lights and pedestrians crossing streets were just not bothering him at all. He ignored them for the most part. The Road Runner was fast, so making it through a few intersections against the lights wasn't too difficult. The pedestrians, well, this was RhyDin after all, and pedestrian traffic was much lighter on its feet than any other city in the known universe. Probably from all the marketplace bombings" maybe? no...definitely probably. He'd formed a plan on the drive to Tahlia's place, worked out every detail and solidified it on the elevator as he rode it up to the penthouse.

It only took a moment to work the lock, and open the door. Eddie pushed his way inside, spotted Tahlia and was in front of her in just a few steps. The key fell from his hand as he reached for her pulling her to him and holding on tightly. This was a diversion from the plan, it was a stupid plan anyway. "Are you alright?"

She'd curled herself into a corner of the couch as soon as she'd gotten home, not even bothering to remove the jacket that had been the focus of so much interest. Pupils still swollen anime-wide, she blinked up at the approaching figure until her brain caught up with her eyes, and she flung herself into his arms in the same moment he reached to pull her close. Wrapping around him, she buried her face in his shoulder and clung, nodding in response to his question. She didn't trust herself to speak, not for a long moment, just held on tight, trembling with relief. Eddie would know what to do - Tahlia knew enough to know she was out of her depth.

Slowly, she relaxed, although she made no effort to let go of him. "I was leaving work...there was this"guy waiting for me. I thought he was just...but he had these scars, and he wanted your jacket, and said he could use me and called me Misery like it was my name and said I had done horrible things and then he grabbed my hair and everything went weird." Relaxed might be an overstatement. Now that he was there, and she was starting to feel safe, the words came tumbling out of her in a rush that was likely no less confusing than the phone call had been. "He turned into a shark, Eddie...and then there was water but there wasn't and he was gone and I just...all I could think about was getting out and getting to you and he said I made you lie for me and I don't know what?s going on?" She ran out of air, and finally stopped, her face still buried against the crook of his shoulder.

Listening is not the same thing as hearing, though it's often mistaken for it. Eddie listened to the story, though details were understandably lean. There were enough for him to actually hear her though. The description was of an attack, anyone listening would have known that. What he heard though, was that Tahlia was scared and more than a little confused. Knowing that didn't make it any easier to figure out where to begin. "Misery Woe...A child's story, she doesn't exist never existed. Like Jenny Haniver?" Eddie took a moment to look at Tahlia, his explanation was only serving to confuse her more.

"You don't know her" Jenny Haniver is kind of like Mab Darogan." There was still that confused look on Tahlia's face. "Right' that's fae legend. Think of her as a combination of Mary of Nazareth, and" Lilith. She's supposed to drive out' well that's not important. I guess Misery Woe is kind of like?" Eddie went quiet, thinking obviously of the right person to compare her to. "Ishtar...that's probably too far back" The Whore of Babylon maybe is closest." It was as close as he could come with what he believed she would know. "Just a stupid myth, though I'm not surprised to hear it come from a Rokea." The last word was spit out of his mouth like a curse. "They're not so bright, proof being that he saw the sign and acted anyway. That was probably the lie he thought I was telling. You're Ceangailte Tal"n, I doubt he's ever seen one that actually bore the mark." He doubted anyone had ever seen it, he'd never heard of it before, and those stories had been given to him like elementary math.

"He's alive, but nowhere that he can hurt you, or me for that matter. It sounds like Nim's mark took him to another plane. I hadn't expected that." Something painful, that had been the expectation. Maybe Nim knew something he did not' "That's not everything though is it?" Eddie wasn't letting go of the little blonde. He kept her ear to his torso, letting the vibrations of his speech soothe in ways that no amount of telling her that everything was alright ever could.

"I...it all happened so fast. And it...it felt funny. Threw him across the alley...everyone keeps thinking I took your jacket, and they don't believe me when I say you gave it to me...and there?" She tried to think back, through the chaos and confusion. "There were these...figures. Three of them, I think. It was after the water...well, not water but...kind of?" Clarity was not going to come any time soon, and possibly never. This was his world, not hers, and try as she might, she was occasionally swept away by all the new things. "It passed, and took him, and they took off, and it...it felt like I passed through the ocean. Like the night?" Tahlia shifted, perfectly content with being curled up against his chest and in his arms, that raspy voice echoing through her memory.

"The night of the squid...that sort of salty tightness. He said something about a feast...that the call...the call was so strong he thought I'd be bigger?" She wasn't sure what was important, and what wasn't. So she tried to remember it all and was certain she was missing things. "Eddie...I'm what?" She hadn't lived 300 years without some facility for languages, repeating them, if not always understanding what she said. "Ceangailte Tal"n" And the other thing...is he like...like a shark version of you? His teeth?" Shuddering, she clung tight once more - those teeth were going to cause a nightmare or two.

Eddie breathed deeply, letting it sigh out of him with relief. "They're here, were there. Undoubtedly you answered one of their questions. The mark is real, knowing that they'll not bother you." It was nonlethal though, and he wasn't sure if that was because Nim hadn't wanted to help, or if she valued the lives of the others more. So much prejudice among the sea people. "It did what was intended, he broke the rules, consider him in a vast prison. It has no walls, but the way back here will test him' it may even destroy him."

He put his fingers beneath Tahlia's chin, and lifted her face so he could kiss her. This was already some kind of record to have waited for that first one. "Ceangailte Tal"n" literally translated it just means...attached to the land." Plus it sounded prettier than calling her Land Bound. Still it was that fact which had given her that name. Eddie, behave or you'll become the plaything of Misery Woe! Those words had worked once, but eventually they'd lost their influence, and he'd only act up even more. "There are many things beneath the waves, Tahlia. Fae of a sort' though men have called us monsters. Rokea, Selkie" even Sirens are out there. I guess it depends on what you mean by a shark version of me?"

One had never been enough, Eddie was like Pringles in that regard. Letting out what felt like the first full breath she'd taken since a giant hand had knotted into her hair, Tahlia kissed him again before tucking her head back into his shoulder. "He had a leather jacket. I didn't get close enough to see if it was sharkskin, but then your teeth are normal and you don't have leopard spots anywhere." And if anyone had made a study of every inch of Eddie Blake, it was the little blonde currently wrapped in his arms. "But you said other challengers and I guess I just figured you meant they were all going to be able to change like you do. And then he was a shark." She was trying to make sense of everything he'd told her, vague memories slipping like silk thread through her thoughts. The northern isles had never been her preferred climate - too cold.

She really didn't care what happened to the sharp-toothed thug, and as far as she was concerned, the farther away he stayed from her, and from Eddie, the happier she would be. "I've heard of Sirens...singing on the rocks to lure men to their deaths. And I remember sailors telling stories of creatures "mermaids and dragons and kraken...and having to touch iron before they would let my brother bring me aboard." Her lashes tickled against his neck, and she smiled, those memories not entirely unpleasant. "I don't think you're a monster. But Nim...and now the one today...why do they think I am forcing you to do things?" Nim hadn't quite said forced, but the surprise at her having Eddie's jacket had implied it was not his choice, but hers, that she wore it.

"By those standards, yes, they'll all be like me. The sharks are more obvious, I'm sure that he was out of sorts just for having to transform in the first place" at least to a form that could walk among people. They'd likely be able to change better, if they were to pair with' but no that doesn't happen. They only mate among their own kind, so their blood is pure. They believe this makes them superior." Eddie shook his head. "They deceive themselves, mistaking purity as having value, rather than rarity. I'll take steel over iron...every time." Weird words coming out of his mouth, that was a certainty.

"I've read some of the things that the Greeks from your world wrote. Some of it is true, but quite jaded. Mermaids are friendly beings in their writings, but they're really quite nasty. They'll drag a man down, drag him deep until lungs collapse and life flees. There is power in the Siren song, but I've been to a few concerts that were just as dangerous. They write about what Siren's do, as though it's intentional, but they omit the why of it. There are no male Sirens, Tahlia. Not for a very long time. But there are still Sirens, why do you think that is" If they're killing all these sailors, who's telling the stories" It's about survival of their species" and I don't want to talk about the things done to my people." Eddie's voice didn't change, the only indicator that he felt anything would be the way he stiffened as he talked about things. With her last question, Eddie's face filled with an odd emotion for him. There was worry in his eyes, and the crease to his forehead.

"I...it?" He turned his head away, not before worry became pain enough to have him letting go of Tahlia and turning further. "Why does it matter, if we both know it isn't true?"

For the moment, the rest could be left aside. He'd pulled away, and for a moment her arms hovered, empty, before they fell into her lap, and she focused her attention on her hands. She could understand survival, could understand wanting to keep information close, to ensure that no-one knew everything. She just...hadn't thought he'd ever keep it from her. "You don't trust me?" There was only one explanation, in her mind. And why should he" Simon hadn't. No-one did. No-one with any sense, anyway. And she'd kept her own secrets...but this was a matter of survival. Her fingers twisted and ran along the cuffs that threatened to swallow them. "Do we" I don't even know what it is - but you do. Eddie Blake...always one step ahead. Even when it comes to me."

Wide green eyes peered up from beneath a sweep of blonde bangs that split just enough to frame the delicate knotwork that Nim had left in her wake. "You know so much about me, Eddie...even if I didn't mean for you to. And I thought...after Westport...after the boat...Yasuo...I thought I'd proven myself. I promised?" She took a deep breath, and slid the jacket from her shoulders, pulling her arms free until it lay folded across her lap. "You and I both know better than to run a play without knowing what we hold in our deck. You gave me this. Told me to keep it safe. And I trusted you. So I did. I told him I'd never try to make you do anything. I told Nim the same thing. I didn't expect them to believe me, Eddie - but I thought you'd already know that. It matters - because some giant walking shark just tried to eat me, and the ice queen thinks I'm stupid - and I don't even know why."

"It's not the same thing, it's not about staying ahead of anyone." Eddie didn't turn to look at Tahlia as he shoved hands that had a slight tremble into the front pockets of his jeans. He wasn't afraid of anything, not Fast Eddie Blake. He stiffened, like he was flexing every muscle in his body at the same time, but at least the slight palsy that he'd taken on had disappeared" gone, it was gone...or had never been there! "Maybe you're right about deserving an answer" I can't say it though. It'll have to be shown." He sniffed in a breath and held it for as long as he could. His left hand was freed from his pocket, moving to rub something that was irritating his eye.

"Tell me to do something" something that I wouldn't normally do."

"Huh?" Something he wouldn't normally do. She started to protest, but something about the way he said it stopped her. Almost without realizing it, she found herself looking for the wall from before - she felt the same tension, the same weight, but it was nowhere in sight. She knew him well enough to know that making him do something ridiculous - like a silly dance, would only make a mockery of this. Whatever it was it was serious. "Tell me?" The words died, even though she wasn't sure she knew where this was going, she knew enough about compulsion to know there were some flames too dangerous to play with. There was, ultimately, only one thing she could think of that was safe enough to test.

"Go to the kitchen. Get one of the small steak knives." She brought her eyes to his back, watching him like a gazelle tracks a leopard. "And stab me with it. Nowhere fatal, please?" It wasn't much, but if he could do that...it would at least keep her alive.

Eddie didn't say a word as he walked out of the room through the kitchen door. The faintest rasping sound could be heard, a serrated edge pulling free of a butcher's block. When she saw him again, his face would be expressionless, his eyes empty of anything that could be called free will. He moved through the doorway, and took a direct route towards where Tahlia sat on the couch. He reached to touch her shoulder, sliding his hand down her arm until he had her hand in his own. He gripped it hard, not bothering to look at it, those empty eyes were locked on hers. The tip of the steak knife was pressed to her palm, and the first signs of struggle were visible on his face.

Eddie's eyes narrowed pleadingly as tears began to flow from them, but whatever fight was going on, it was clear that he was losing as the pressure on the knife increased. There was no witty remarks from him, no words at all. Eddie hadn't been given permission to speak.

"Eddie! Stop!" She'd seen enough, and she could feel the tightness behind her third eye that had come immediately after her attacker had grabbed her. She'd forgotten about the sigil, and what it could do. Her free hand tensed in the leather, a spot of red peeking beneath the flash of steel against her palm, along with a pinprick of pain. Just because she wouldn't bleed, didn't mean Tahlia didn't feel the pain of her wounds.

Trusting to some sixth sense, she leaned forward, leaving her hand in his, the other still knotted in his jacket as she kissed him, hard, tears spilling over her lashes as she broke the kiss and rested her forehead against his. "I'm sorry...Eddie...I'm so sorry...forgive me?"

He'd said he didn't want to talk about what had been done to his people. Skin harvesting was a thing practiced. Not in his time, not in recent memory really. It had become a thing as forgotten as the Roane. There were still those who took a skin, here and there. It wasn't common, but he bet that if he went to the docks on any given day, there was at least one fisherman who had a wife that was a little too doting. Eddie kissed her back just as hard. "It was never about trust. If I didn't, you'd never have been given it." Perhaps she would understand, it wasn't often that he was without it. Even when he was, it wasn't far from him.

"Taking my will" You might as well have just ra?" Eddie bit his tongue until it bled. He wasn't going down that road. The timing of this couldn't be worse. He didn't have the time to undo what had just happened. Not until it was all over, at least. "There's a reason that those who take a Selkie's skin hide it. The Selkie will always be looking to take it back and escape." Would the difference be apparent to Tahlia"

"But I didn't take?" She was still shaken by what she'd done, what he'd almost done at her word, and what the ward would have done as a result. "I didn't know. I would never...not to you." Not to anyone, although she'd seen her sister wield her gifts like a hammer, and Tahlia herself hadn't been above subtly guiding a will or two in her time. But this...this was different. This was almost beyond slavery, and she would never have gone so far. And she never wanted to see him so blank again. Not Eddie. It was the kind of sin even she couldn't condone.

"I - you know you can have it back. I'm just holding it. All those times I asked you...it just, it smells like you and it makes me feel safe, and...safe." She finished lamely, then brought her lips to his hoping he'd never think to ask what else she might have meant. "Wait - Eddie...all those times I was just wearing your jacket...you didn't...I mean...I didn't make you...did I?" For much the same reason, she stumbled and stammered, still trying to wrap her head around what everyone else thought was going on here. "Oh my god - they all think I...no wonder Nim was so nasty!"

"You've done nothing." Until just now at least, at his urging of course. In a way it was Eddie showing far more trust of anyone than he ever had. "It's about will, or the exertion of it at least. Maybe think of it like a voodoo doll. A practitioner takes a bit of your hair" makes you vulnerable...susceptible...Only this is more dominating. I'd have jumped from the balcony if you'd said the words, trapped and just able to watch it all happen." It was difficult to explain exactly how things were for him. The rest, that would be even more difficult.

"There's something else." He took a few moments to breathe, just to steel himself a little better. "Now that it's been done...it isn't simply undone, though the how is simple." Eddie looked at the jacket, but made no move to try and retrieve it. "I'm a little" stuck with this for now."

"So...until you undo it, I might accidentally do what everyone thinks I've been doing the whole time we've been...together?" It was the only word she could think of, although it didn't come close to being the right one, and she worried at her bottom lip even as she said it. She stroked the leather across her lap, and there was something calculating behind those wide, angelic eyes, her head tilting to the side as she looked up at him. "What if...what if I told you to tell me if I did" Or just...to...no...no that wouldn't work. You stopping and walking away in the middle would just?" Tahlia stopped dead, and pouted like someone had taken away her favorite toy. Perhaps on some level, they had. "****. We can't...not until you can undo it. I'd feel like I was forcing you." And thank you, Eddie, for putting that thought in her head.

"I don't want to control you. I never have. I don't want to accidentally say something and?" Not that she would, or could. She'd tried to explain to Saul, and Reggie - but she wasn't sure they'd understood. She couldn't leave Eddie even if she wanted to, and she didn't. They might wander, they might find other entertainments...but there was something bone deep that she couldn't shake, even if she couldn't even put a name to it. "Eddie...what do we do now" I can't just...not see you?"

"Try this" take my hand, and lead me to where you want to go' then when you get me there" maybe you say." That old familiar pull came to the corners of Eddie's mouth. He leaned in to whisper words directly into Tahlia's ear. His left hand on the other side of her head, holding her in place until he was done.

Her lips curved into a matching smile, and she smeared them across his palm, her eyes locked on his. Wrapping one delicate hand around his wrist, she rose, and tugged upwards, leaving the sealskin on the couch, and drawing him down the hallway.

Ready For It

Me, I was a robber first time that he saw me Stealing hearts and running off and never saying sorry But if I'm a thief, then he can join the heist And we'll move to an island-and ~ Taylor Swift

Luckily the elevator in the garage lead directly to her penthouse, without having to deal with the lobby, and odd stares from the neighbors. Still dressed in all the sparkle and slink of the club, she kept her hand wrapped around Eddie's wrist, as if the big guy couldn't lift her up and tuck her under an arm if he was so inclined. The drive back had been quiet, with sporadic bursts of commentary on the club, or the route back to Seaside. It wasn't until they were securely in her aerie that she pulled him close, and kissed him with every bit as much heat as he'd supplied on the dance floor. Maybe it was about safety, they certainly had never been shy about public displays - but there was something about recent events, knowing there were still more out there, maybe. Licking her lips, she blinked up at him, her smile blooming slowly as she started in on the buttons of his silk shirt, or what was left of it. "How many more are there?"

Silence was his companion sometimes, even if there were a driving beat flowing across the speakers of his car it would be like it didn't really exist. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk, things were just filling his head. That was probably evident by the way the scowl kept finding his face in those quiet moments. It was like being stuck in traffic, when he really wanted to push the gas pedal to the floor. Forced to hold back, no choice in the matter. Small talk, he managed that all right. It had been a good evening. Hadn't it' His chest burned a bit, he'd had worse but perhaps something with a bit of antiseptic would be advisable. That kiss of hers was returned, hard and full. "Two I think. She was probably the most dangerous." It wasn't a lie, not exactly at least. The others would be worse for a few reasons. At least they were stuck in one form, instead of shifting at a thought. He'd been expecting it, that was her fault for being so blatant about things. It had been her downfall as well once he'd gotten a good idea of her speed and size. She was far older than she looked. The damn Crocs, they just kept getting bigger.

"Not sure when the others will come either." Eddie worked the buttons with his fingers, and peeled the red stained silk away from his chest. It pulled at the fresh scabs, scars are supposed to be pretty things, right"

She certainly wasn't going to complain, one hand smoothing over the raw cuts, which seemed to obey some unspoken whim and didn't start to bleed, even as she took the ruined shirt from him with the other, and her lips followed up on the gentle touch of fingertips. "Going to have to take you shopping then. I don't suppose we could ask the other two to let you change first?" Not that she minded taking him shopping, somehow, that seemed to have carried over a little from their time in Westport. "And I'd hope so...you just wrestled a crocodile in an alley. Between her, and that"shark..." Her eyes widened and she paused, palm pressed to his chest for a long moment before she continued. "Eddie...none of them are squid, are they?" She wasn't sure if he even knew, but she had to ask. There were nights the two battled to see which could wake her faster.

"I'll get rid of this...and get the first aid kit." She wasn't moving far enough to negate the effect she had on his wounds, just into the kitchen. Actually' "You mind coming in here" I'm getting the place redone, but no need to leave evidence behind." Bending in those too-high glittered heels, she did remember to bend at the knees, and keep from flashing too much. Not just at the moment, anyway. She wasn't a healer, but she always had a first aid set tucked away - there were a handful of people who knew what she could do, and she preferred it that way.

Eddie let out a laugh at the croc wrestling comment. "They won't make a move, not right away." He didn't know who they were, what they were for that matter, but he knew that much. There wasn't a rule against it. As a matter of fact, there'd been such challenges where the one hunted defeated a challenger, but was left almost helpless only to have another come along and finish them. "They'll want to figure out how to move against me. I'm sure they were there watching." It's what every instinct told him that he'd be doing. "You know?" He didn't mind following after her in the least, and it was likely a good thing she remembered how not to bend" or was that bad" "I've never heard of one. Probably' well, they say the Sea Witch is but honestly, she's more like the stores of Jenny Haniver."

He leaned against the doorway, it was one of those things that he did for totally selfish reasons. He knew exactly how much of it he filled up, and was quite keen on displaying that at any given opportunity. "They think I'm weak." Maybe he was.

"The other ones I saw?" Vague figures in the fog the wall of water had left behind, one down...and she hadn't seen enough of them to be any help. "It makes sense, I guess...figure out your strengths, or strategies?" She'd never bothered applying the knowledge to her own fighting, but she knew enough to recognize sound strategy when she heard it. Hauling the rather ancient looking box out from a cabinet, she set it on the counter, rising slowly to give him ample opportunity to appreciate the view, and the way the fabric clung as she moved. Looking over her shoulder, she winked, and curled a finger, beckoning him closer. Not that she didn't enjoy the way he filled the space - but then, she'd always had a thing for tall men. Eddie just happened to be taller than most.

His comment made her sputter, and then let out a long, unrestrained laugh, shaking her head at the absurdity. "They think you're weak" How could they possibly...have they seen you?" There was nothing weak about him, and she bore the marks to prove it.

"No' it's perfect. If they think I'm vulnerable, they've always got a weakness that can be exploited. What I have to hope is that they continue to be blinded by what they think, as opposed to what is." Eddie closed the space between them, he kept his gaze completely innocent, looking for every visible attribute that he was the willing patient. Problem with that was" Eddie had hands" and while one of them was quite visible tracing the space around the marks scoring his torso. The other was being wicked and sliding along the back of a thigh, and completely ignoring the boundaries of hems. Boundaries were for other people!

Still acting innocent, even though she could surely feel the truth of him, he started to talk. "I started changing when I was three. Sooner than some, but for most I was a late bloomer." Not unexpected really. Eddie wasn't fully Selkie, and that had consequences. There were pictures, none that anyone had seen, Eddie kept them squirreled away. It wasn't like he had a permanent home to keep things like that. "I was at least conscious of what I was, but when I got older" maybe ten years old, I had a friend. He was older, and he wasn't really a friend to me. He would ask me things. Do seals dream" I couldn't answer those questions, Tahlia. I'm not a seal, so I don't know. That was never a good enough answer for him. Eventually I noticed that he only did that when there were people around he was trying to impress. That he was using my discomfort as a way to do that. The next time he asked me, I asked a question in return. Do Donkeys dream" He of course answered as I had always done, saying he wasn't one so he didn't know. I let him have it then" telling him' No, you're not, but I think you might be Were" but not affected by the moon' it's just whenever Julia shows up you turn into a jackass."

Yes, he was talking" he was revealing things that had hurt him when he was young. That hadn't stopped him from trying to distract her from being able to listen. Eddie Blake was not vulnerable" not like other people" not at all.

Of course not - he was just easily distracted. Tahlia turned without moving his hand, a damp cloth moving to clean off those claw and teeth marks. She kept her head down, eye contact would somehow break the spell. "Children can be horrible. But they learn from the adults. The hate...the fear...they learn it from their parents, and then they pass it on." There was antiseptic close to hand, but she was taking extra special care to make certain the wounds were clean. Slow, even strokes, one foot rising to draw her knee up along his thigh. They'd get to that - she was certain there were wounds she couldn't see yet. From time to time, she let her lips follow behind, as if checking to make sure there was nothing left behind but the taste of his skin. Or perhaps she was checking to make sure there was nothing that remained to cause infection.

Setting the cloth aside, she reached for the salve, and started smoothing it over those same cuts, occasionally hissing under her breath when she could read the marks, and the damage that caused them. "So you'll let them think you have a weakness. Keep them from coming at you at full strength. Of course, they don't know Eddie Blake. You don't have any weaknesses. No faults. Not a crack, or an achilles heel. Right, puddin?" She finally looked up at him, her fingers still soothing the antiseptic across his wounds.

"Who' Me" I'm like a mountain lake untouched by currents or tides. The things I'm hiding though' can be treacherous." They likely would be too. People saw what they wanted, what they thought they knew, but they certainly didn't understand what went on between Eddie and the blonde girl that everyone thought was controlling him. They'd learn soon enough. It was his goal to make them understand that what you see ain't always what you get. That had been the point of the story. He didn't wince as she cleaned his injuries, it stung but other things hurt worse. Maybe he was just concentrating on more important things than a few measly cuts and bites. There was something underlying in his attention to her. Eddie was still thinking, and the foundation of that was" if he were them, what would he do next' It was obvious by now that he wasn't going to be able to have his normal life until this was over. It would help to know who and what was out there.

"Enough!" A man could only take so much touching before he needed a hell of a lot more. He looked at Tahlia with an intensity that said he needed more, and he needed it immediately. Why did he need it so badly' Because he was tired of trying to puzzle out what could be? not when there was the chance to have what was right in front of him. There were things he needed her to know, and he'd tell her" after" when there was no breath left in either of them.

She had expected him to lose patience, and her hands were already on the waist of his pants. A twist and tug of dexterous fingers, and it would be hard to tell which hit the tile faster, his pants, or her knees. He'd literally wrestled monsters to keep her safe, if anyone had earned a clear display of her appreciation, it was him. This - didn't require thought. Those pale green eyes traced up along muscle and sinew, until they met his, the tip of her tongue just peeking between her lips. Arms twisted behind her tugged the zipper of that lavender sheath that clung in all the right places, even as it slithered to the floor. She had no idea what was coming, only that it felt like the next step they took would take them into uncharted territory, and for the moment, she needed something safe, and familiar.

Take Me to Church

Take me to church I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife Offer me that deathless death Good God, let me give you my life ~ Hozier (Dance performance by Sergei Polunin)

———————————— 48 Minutes Later ————————————-

I was staring at the ceiling, chained to a stone table, the iron shackles bit into my wrists so tightly that I couldn't feel my hands. I'd been dead, but there was no death. Not so long as my body survived out there. There was only me, and him and...something else on the very edge of my sense of smell.

Tahlia couldn't follow much of the conversation. Eddie had said this Jennie Haniver was like the name the Rokea had spit at her...Misery something. A myth. A legend. But one the Mer seemed to believe in with a fierce intensity. Her nails rent the sheets, hissing with frustration that there was nothing she could do. He'd saved her how many times, and now he paid the price and she could do nothing but watch with ineffective rage. Later, perhaps, she would realize that the last time she had shrieked with such intensity, as the staff swung, and Eddie's head rolled and bounced across the stone, she had been handcuffed to a train, and before that it had been nearly three centuries. Even so, there was nothing that said she would admit the reason why. And then it was like the skip of a record, or the twitch of a signal. Everything shifted. And there was Eddie"her Eddie...whole and chained back to the stone.

Bo tried not to retch at the reset. She'd been warned by the knight, that there would be cycles, that he would die a few times, resetting to the beginning. They'd learned already the man was stubborn...cocky. His actions had told them that. Even if she was beginning to suspect they were not his, but the will of the blonde, for all she played at being unaware of their ways. The more the Selkie huntress learned...the Call, the skin...the more she suspected she had toyed with Jax in the alley, fully aware that the mark would protect her, and that she had this new Cosain at her command. It made her blood boil, and she steeled herself, impressed at Eddie's resolve in the face of such torture.

Confusion, I felt it and I'm certain I had that look in my eyes. It took my mind some time to catch up to my body, or this body. I suppose for the duration of this life it was my body. I studied the Mer closely, he was shorter than I am and lean, not that it mattered much of course. I was chained down and he was standing, the torch in his hand didn't leave me feeling very confident of my position. He grinned at me, leaning over to look right in my face. "The Mother" she births us to be warriors."

"****, what?d you do, eat everything that looked like a sea pickle down at the sewage treatment plant?" I don't know why he wasn't amused, I thought it was funny even after he punched me in the face. Of course I still thought it was true. At least I could turn my head to spit out the blood. Had I been a better man, I'd have warned him to watch his shoes. Clearly I'm evil and don't think like that.

"I've heard that one before." He said it, but he also pulled away from me. Maybe he was afraid I would kiss him or something. His tough luck, I like girls.

"How many times" Three, four" Doesn't matter" and here's why. I'm confused about something. What the hell does a fish know about birth anyway' You're spawned, grow in an egg that laid in the sand to be fertilized." He seemed unimpressed by my flawless logic. Some people were never really satisfied. The torch sparked to life and with the twist of a knob the flame turned blue. "Wait...wait! You don't have to do that you know. I'm not saying it's a bad thing" I've seen the ruby fields of Tenathor. It's quite" stunning."

"Mammals are not allowed there, especially predators." He seemed shocked, at the very least he hadn't come any closer to me.

"Hi, I'm Eddie Blake. I do shit that I'm not allowed to. Still, I didn't see any birthing" Your friend knows what I'm talking about. You fish' the Rokea, even the damn reptiles" egg spawned. We know birth. You shouldn't hide back there." I didn't know her, but I knew it was a her, and I knew what she was. "The Mother, she knows birth too' do you really believe that she'll side with you in Jihad, when she shares so little in common with you?" The zealot's eyes went wide, wild with madness as I attacked his beliefs again. It wasn't much of an attack, just a bit of religious theory EB 101. I caught a glimpse of the woman, she was getting closer. Then the fire seared through my shins and I was shorter by a good foot. All I had left was screams to give.

The pillow beneath her head was soaked with tears, her throat hoarse from screaming every time that shark-edged blade sliced through his body. It was all she could do, to stay in the vision with him and watch each cut, echo each scream, to stay, and not leave, the way she'd promised him she would. It took every ounce of strength in that little blonde body to keep her eyes on Eddie, and not force herself awake. If she ever found herself near that horrid creature, she would wring every drop of blood from his form, or whatever he had in his veins. So focused was she on the stone, and on the form tied to it, that she did not see the other figure until she stepped into the light.

Tall and dark, and dressed in what Tahlia could only assume was sealskin, the figure was...decidedly female. Her hair was swept back, her eyes locked on the stone, and the Mer. Almost midnight black eyes swept from Eddie to the Mer, hesitation writ on every line of her face. The knight had said this was necessary, but she was beginning to question whether it truly was. She opened her mouth to speak, only to stare, open-mouthed, as the fish-man lost his mind, hacking at the male Selkie with wild abandon. Blood sprayed everything in reach, and the screams...those screams brought her to her knees, huddling there while the world shifted yet again, and it was all as it had been. Only now...now she could not get those screams out of her head.

In the Arms of an Angel

It don't make no difference Escaping one last time It's easier to believe In this sweet madness Oh this glorious sadness That brings me to my knees ~ Sarah McLachlan

I woke up on a stone table"

Bo stumbled back, stunned, staring at the Mer in horror. For the moment, it saved her from processing what Eddie had shown her just before" "You asked for a confession! He was...he was confessing!" And what a confession...but he couldn't truly...she could not tell the Mer. If she told him anything, now. "I think he was right. You fear him. Even without the training we all received...the strength of his clan behind him...he has withstood everything you have subjected him to. You sought to make him question, and he has instead shaken your foundation. Your temple grows smaller, and no amount of blood will change that." She could still hear the whispers in her head...the soft, breathless voice she knew must belong to the blonde, and the low, bass rumble that could only belong to the man in front of her. Just because he wouldn't say it, didn't change what she'd felt from him. The greatest failing of their kind...

...chains held me tightly to the thing"

"He is to suffer as no other has!"

Mad eyes and the reek of decomposing flesh lined the face of the Merman who stood over me. I tried to say something smartassed about it, but my words came out as sounds. My mouth was wide enough to bite both sides of the Mer's head, if only I could move! I struggled against the binding chains trying desperately to break free" to shatter them. They were such little things, how could they truly hold me" We weren't alone, there was another" a she...but she wasn't chained as I was. I couldn't keep the look of betrayal out of my eyes, this should not be? should not! I bent, stretched reached for her as much as I could, but there was no way to put my mouth on her. Please" Pain, it exploded through me, the feel of serrated knife sawing against bone. Trapped...hurt...afraid! Please...mother...why"

"Mammal and half breed at that. I was wrong to try to bring him back. I should just kill him and cleanse the memory of him from the waves...but not before we've taken him apart again? and again."

The giggling laughter only made things worse. I wanted to swim, I could swim faster than the laugh' faster than the pain" faster than the betrayer.

The sound brought her attention back to the table, and now it was a scream of rage that slowly built and burst from her throat. "How dare you!" To force...Blasphemer! You accuse him of your sins!" It was too much, finally. "I should have stopped this before." She held out a hand to the struggling form on the stone...even now, he was a giant, an exquisitely formed specimen of their species. "Forgive me...I did not know he intended this"please?"

His construct, but her connection, which meant she could maintained a link with the world outside - had to, to ensure they were not disturbed. The image of her froze, flickering for a moment before she steadied with a blade where none had been before. Long and thin, it glimmered darkly - not an object of the sea, but of flame. The islands of her birth were littered with them - obsidian hardened and flaked to an edge that would never dull. She could not spare a glance at the leopard seal still struggling, her attention focused on the crazed Mer. Step by step, she advanced, until she was within striking distance. "Enough! I decide who lives" The murky light danced along the blade, and then along the thick, viscous fluid that sprayed from the knights throat. And the world...shook.

"Oh, now, you took it way too far, only love can save him now...All these riddles that you burn All come runnin' back to you?" Bo watched as the construct began to fail, her eyes on the Mer as he gurgled...the full realization striking with a little less speed than her blade. She was conscious, and could step from the crumbling vision when she chose...but the Selkie...with a start, she realized that the other was still there. Another set of eyes. Casting her gaze on the struggling seal, she spoke to him, and to whatever entity was watching over them. She suspected she knew. "All these feelings that you hide, only love can save him now?" It was all she could do...the chains would fade as their creator did, but in his current form, there was no way Eddie could escape before the temple collapsed with him in it.

Out in the world, the blonde stirred, the words tugging at something...the only thing she had faith in anymore lay on a stone slab, and she had only the vaguest idea how to help him. Wrenching herself from the vision, she sat bolt upright in the bed, and realized the sound of water was not only within the vision itself. Her bathroom was flooding, the bedroom carpet beginning to soak through. Flinging herself from the bed, she stumbled to the prone figure across the threshold between the two. Somehow finding the strength she tugged him up and over, cradling his head in her lap as she had done once before. This time, she didn't scream, but the intensity sang through every syllable. "Puddin...puddin...wake up..please..."

My head hurt, maybe more than that. I felt like I'd hit a brick wall with my face. Imagine my relief when it was just the tiled floor. At least it cut down on abrasions, right' I stirred in Tahlia's hold, an overwhelming urge to weep doing its best to push through my stellar block of all things touchy feely. It wasn't the right time, even if I could try to pass it off as the water from the tub on my face. "I slipped" fell." I knew I was fine, that I was whole and undamaged" well except the pain in my head at least. I might have hit something on the way down too. It was hard to tell at this point. "Did you get the water shut off?"

My hand hit the edge of the tub, and I only briefly checked to make sure it had all its fingers, that it was still there...that it was a hand and not' No time for that, I started to pull myself upwards. There was coffee, I could smell it. I wanted it. "I'll get a mop for this mess." I probably could have had her just call someone. I hesitated, wondering if that was something I normally did and wasn't now or" Hell, I didn't remember and standing there was just going to make questions happen. Either way, I was closer to the supply closet and it was my mess to fix. I started moving again. "You make us a couple of latte's?? It would get us both moving. I don't know why I needed that too, or maybe just felt like she did.

I stepped inside the little room, pretending to look for the things I needed and letting the door swing closed behind me. I knew this was the time, Eddie Blake could lose it now.

In The Air Tonight

Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand I've seen your face before my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am Well I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been It's all been a pack of lies ~In This Moment

Bo could perhaps be forgiven her burst of laughter. “All this time...all this time and effort to keep him away from me. Out of my villainous clutches, lest I - what? Lest he befall the same fate as Kaelin" And now...now you may as well be serving him to me on a mother-of-pearl platter.” The dark-haired warrior leaned forward, setting her elbows on her knees as she considered the priestess with bitter humor radiating from her. “For two centuries, you have thrown in my face what happened that day. Blamed me, without equivocation, for his death. He knew what being Cosain meant. He made his choice on that beach, to do what he had been trained for, what we all trained for...save your grandson. Who you have thrown into this with no training, no warning...all to spite me. And now…now you want me to take him in, train him to his birthright, and...let me guess...take him to my bed" To wipe all memory of his little blonde toy from his memory' Seven years for seven tears, isn’t it"”

Bo leaned back, and shook her head. “Have you seen them together" We spied on them, before Jax made his move. And then again before the reptile made her challenge at the club. Hours of study before Ridire na Farraige and I came up with our plan. And then your Eddie...while he was on the stone, enduring the kinds of torture only a fanatic can devise, he showed me visions. His own memories, and hers. She was there, somehow.” A hand passed over her face, and the selkie shook her head. “All that...Nimsu...he’s your kin. You’ve held that flame for centuries...do you think seven years will make him forget her after she willingly gave him his skin"”

“Spite" Not so much…Ysabeau. Did I worry that he’d have an accident" That’s probably closer to the truth.” Nimsu wasn’t prone to sarcasm, though when it came out it was the biting kind in a dangerous low tone. “Kaelin was there to help you...and you killed him. He was a fool to trust in someone who was so obviously under orders from her own elders. Don’t think we’re blind that it’s your clan that now occupies the western isles and dominates the Verdant Expanse.” She tore her gaze from the dark haired Selkie, dropping her face towards her lap and letting the barest of smiles begin to consume the normally icy countenance. “I’ll admit to a certain amount of satisfaction in so many failures against my untrained, untamed grandson.” Perhaps more satisfaction in the who had been thwarted than the actual doing of it. “You’ve seen what’s possible, imagine how much more could be should he be honed.”

Nim sniffed before fixing her eyes on Bo again. “I liked you once...maybe more than that. I don’t trust you, but I trust the others even less. You say the tradition, and I say does he seem the type to allow himself to be ruled by it' No, he swims Ysabeau, long and hard in solitude. He’ll come back all too quickly, and you will have limited opportunity to work your seductions on him. Even if you do manage it, I’d warn you against taking him to your bed. It might just spell the same fate as Kaelin.” The words came out of her, and Nim almost wanted it to be a foretelling. Justice so far as she was concerned, but the fact was that hated though she may be, Ysabeau was vital to everything.

“You didn’t answer my question, Nimsu. Because I suspect you do not know. Because you fear he will thwart all your plans, and return to the city. Return to her. Your untrained, untamed grandson isn’t minding your plans for him...and you wish me to return him to the waves.” She ignored the talk of the Isles, and the territory her clan now controlled. Others had made that decision. Nor did she deny that her elders had made certain requests, or protest that she had refused. That it had, in truth, been an accident. It had all been said before, and repetition would make it no more effective. “I will remind you, Nimsu, that none of our kind take oaths lightly. I meant the one I swore then, and I mean it still. You said yourself, you knew I was coming.” She did not think she needed to explain further. Not here. Not to her.

“I will not deny that if he could be trained...he would be the most formidable Cosain our kind has had since the time of legend. A match for any Rokea...or any other creature that calls the sea home. And we have discussed your choices. To hide, to deny him training. You have avoided answering why you gave the girl protection. But it matters little.” Ysabeau was beginning to suspect Eddie had been insistent that it be so. “I gave the Mer the means to do what he felt necessary. And then I killed him when I realized he was mad. And yes, I dropped my challenge without a direct blow. It is my right. Unusual, but not unheard of. Unlike, say...placing a mark of protection on one of the landbound.” The rest of her machinations...those were all too common, especially now, when the clans were in decline.

“Two things moved my hand in this. It’s true that he came to me for it, but that wasn’t why. The fathach na doimhneacht was the reason behind both things. What do you think it would have looked like if one of you had gotten ahold of her" I’ll tell you what, because it had already happened once before. Eddie would have saved her, and died for it. He was that you know or should have been, but something saved him. I may not know what, but I know who and for that I owed her...we all owe her. Besides, Ysabeau, there are no rules against it just because it hasn’t been done before.” All of that was truth, there was no reason to hide any of it now. “Let’s be very clear, dearest Ysabeau, without my interference you’d all be dead. Can you imagine what that would do to the already fragile relations that exist between us all" You Cosain are the protectors, if you’re gone it would mean open war would it not"” Nim didn’t say that she feared that her own tribe would be wiped out. They’d fallen very far since Kaelin’s demise.

“It might surprise you to know though, that I am not asking him to come back to the sea, though some would call that blasphemy. I’ve meditated on it, and I think I see another way, a better one.” Centuries of belief instilled in her, and it was only the last decade or so that she’d begun to question things. Many things. “Tell me if you know, who wrote the strictures by which we live"”

Ysabeau took a moment. She knew, they all knew. But it was the rest of what she’d said that took some consideration. That Eddie would kill to protect the little blonde somehow did not surprise her as much as it would have earlier. And the punishment for that was written by the same hands that wrote the rest of the laws. “The Mer, of course. The youngest pup knows that. Our laws are part of us.”

She said it by rote, her attention still on the thought of war. Nim wasn’t the only one concerned about the fate of her people. Against the larger predators, they could ultimately not hope to prevail. Not without the custom and law of the champions. And even then...she could not have won the fights Eddie had, she knew this. She suspected the others did too. As long as the newest Cosain stood, she would not have to.

“Does it not strike you as wrong that the people least able to step on the shores are the ones telling us all how long is long enough"” By the laws, Nim was speaking something close to heresy, though it echoed what had come from her grandson. “So long as our advantages are restricted, there can be no equality. You say the laws are part of us, and I say they were designed to keep us chained. The Mer may have been first among us, I don’t deny this, and thousands of years ago such rules may have been necessary if only to keep us from hurting ourselves. But the Selk, the Roane, Dubh, and Bán, we evolve. Part of this comes from our desirability among the others fae and non. You have been desired, I remember how they couldn’t take their eyes from you.” It was the most Nim had said to Bo in what seemed ages, yet she only paused for breath before continuing. “Today’s Mer is no different than the one who first penned the law. When we grow too populous, they come to cut us down no differently than the pelt hunter. They force our gratitude for it, such a favor they do for us. It stands today, even though it has been millenia since we’ve overfished. The boy represents change, we don’t need policing by cladhaire thú! Not anymore, especially if he is instructed in what it is to be Cosain...and all that the mother grants you.”

“Why not let him have his pet for now then…" One or the other will tire eventually, and in the meantime he might see reason if the training is presented as a way to ensure her safety.” It was the easiest part of what Nim had said to respond to. The rest...it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of it herself, hadn’t heard the young ones complain that they had to live by these archaic laws. Especially now that there were so many among them like her...Selkie because they could change, but bearing another blood in their veins as well. Too many who had siblings, or half siblings, who could not change, and were shunned from the clans, and their homes. Those too, she questioned...part of the reason she had never had pups of her own, beside the fact that since Kaelin she had found no-one worthy, was the fear that she would have to give them up if they did not inherit the all-important gift. “This has been your plan since the beginning, hasn’t it...to have him lead a charge against the laws that bind us - or at least the ones you disagree with. You meant all along for me to train him, because you know how I feel...you’ve always known. But, Nimsu...tell me this. Have you taken a good look at his grandson of yours" What makes you think he will honor any tradition at all"”

“I harbor no ill will towards the girl.” She called her girl, though she knew better. “Her own pull on him is likely as strong as what drives her to him. I believe the only thing that will break them is them. For now, there may be no choice but to encourage them. With that in mind, of course, you’re quite right about how to bring him to you. It must be for her or he’ll resist. That means getting closer, showing him what’s possible and how it can be used. I’m certainly not telling you to put her in harm’s way. Pulling her out of it, or rather being seen pulling her out of it, that would end up drawing him in.” Nim shifted uncomfortably for a moment before shaking her head. “You give me too much credit, it wasn’t my plan from the beginning I simply adapted another’s when his dreams came crashing down.” A smile that almost wasn’t cruel passed wistfully over her lips. He hadn’t been completely wrong by any means, he was just too confident in the expected results. “Nature finds a way…”

“Have I guided his decisions towards this end" You may think so, though much of my guidance has been in understanding E.J. If you want him to go in a set direction, you have to make that the one that he isn’t allowed to. Tell him it’s too difficult, or not for him and that’s exactly where you’ll find him the very next hour. Do I think he will honor traditions" No… at least not the ones that have no use. The ones we uphold for the sake of memory have no interest for someone like him. He’s not unlike you there, Ysabeau. I’m actually surprised that someone like you upholds any tradition at all.” Her tone held the faintest bit of contempt for the dark haired Cosain.

Ysabeau grit her teeth, and swallowed back a growl. She should have known the shamaness would not give up all of her irritating habits. “I take my position seriously. As I know you do. As we must, to keep our own safe. Your opinions on our shared past, and my actions in it, notwithstanding. Although I suppose given that you just admitted to being less than omniscient, that I can forgive your little barb. There are those traditions I would happily see fade into the past where they belong. Some of the ones I have seen you enforce with your own hand. But if you seek to raise your...E.J. to lead your rebellion, that he may do exactly that. And I doubt either of us could stop him now. That may bring the downfall of all our traditions.”

Standing, because the warrior was not one to sit for long stretches without reason, and because like most women of action, she thought better moving. “I have little hope of finding him if he’s seeking solace in the Mother. But I do not think he will stay away for longer than he absolutely must, if that long.” Long, easy strides had her crossing the room as she spoke, her footfalls nearly silent. “And setting up an accident for the girl...one he won’t see through...I’ll need some time to think it through. I suppose I’ll have to return to the city in a few weeks. See if he’s come back. If the girl is still an issue…” She listed it as a question to be answered, but she was fairly certain the answer was already written. Nim, for all her skill, and refusal to admit ignorance, hadn’t been in that fateful vision, hadn’t heard and felt the things she had. Eddie had been in no shape to free himself, which meant the tiny blonde had pulled him out. What that meant...she wasn’t ready to put into words.

“There now, you see" It’s not so hard to get someone to believe in a tradition even when they don’t really want to.” Nim’s tone was smug, perhaps a little triumphant. “E.J. will be back, we both know that. In the meantime, sweetest...maybe you need to think about how you would direct yourself"” She doubted it was any of the answers that Ysabeau had come seeking, and knew her well enough even now to know that when her back was up like that she was done hearing anything except her own anger. That may be the best thing for the Selkie, though Nim doubted she’d see it that way. Ysabeau had shown up confused and concerned, she’d be leaving angry, and with a purpose. “Be careful out there, Bo, listen before you move too far. It’s gotten crowded out there recently, and not everyone appreciates what you represent.” Nim excelled at being cryptic, and manipulative for that matter. She had no idea where E.J. had gotten his little attitudes though. That boy could make a stone furious, and then soothe it with a grin.

“Ultimately the decision falls to you… I won’t fault you for backing out… and I certainly won’t leave you alone...chained to fate.” Nim turned away from Bo, a fist balling up in her lap until her nails dug into her palm. She could feel the warmth of her blood trying to seep its way between her fingers. It was the only indication that she would give the other woman that she knew full well what had gone on.

It was subtle, but there was no missing the coppery tint to the air, or the final verbal blade to the back. Two centuries past, and still she found herself with the urge to explain herself. It was useless, if she’d learned anything in that time, and she would like to think she had. Turning on her heel, she headed back to the pool. Back to the Mother, and the world outside. Perhaps it was her own stubbornness that stopped her just at the threshold, although she did not turn around. “I would invite you to consider this, Nimsu, since you know so much. I knew I hadn’t the power to get us both out. Remember, if you would, who did, and how she managed it.” And at that, she dove into the chill waters of home, and was gone.

Nim closed her eyes, letting her awareness flow like the sea itself. She could see it all, like porpoise echolocation only on a far grander scale. The coast that made up the harbor, and beyond. She was aware of the Verdant expanse, the place that had secured by her people and was now in the hands of the Dubh. She had every right to be bitter over that, but found herself less concerned over it than once she had been. There was more at stake now than even that place. There was activity everywhere among the Selk Islands, and much of it was mirrored through the deep waters where the Rokea ran. There was even more concern when her sight passed over the Fields of Tenethor. So many hatchlings ready to rise. She stretched her mind to the farthest reaches and couldn’t seem to find the one thing she was looking for. Not out there in the ice pack of the deep south, though she’d managed to track him for a while. Ysabeau wasn’t wrong in her belief that E.J. did what he wanted, and in this case that meant not being found.

Eddie nodded, he wasn’t necessarily embarrassed by his outfit, or lack of it for that matter. He wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, except maybe that brothel down in the warehouse district. That was beside the point though. He picked up the bottle, considered it for a long moment before actually pouring out a cup full of it. “We’re pretty classy eh"” He downed that first glass before taking off the leather coat, this he took and placed reverently into the car. It wouldn’t do to leave it out, and he liked the paint job on the car too much to tempt scratching the finish with the zipper. He walked down the beach a bit, and hauled back a large piece of driftwood. Maybe making the fire was more important than getting dressed tonight. “Toss me your lighter, babe.”

“I get enough classy, puddin…” She watched him, just…watched him as he walked down the beach and manhandled a piece of driftwood that looked as heavy as she was without a thought. Maybe a little dreamy eyed, she shook her head with a start, and went to do what she said she was going to do in the first place. One hand ducked into her clutch, pulling out her lighter and tossing it over to him before she moved around the Runner, and popped the trunk. Still watching him out of the corner of her eye, she reached into the trunk and pulled out a blanket - not his favorite color, not quite, but a blue that looked like a twilight sky. She let him deal with the fire - camping had never been a strong point, and busied herself with laying the blanket out, and reclaimed the bourbon, pouring a little for herself and refilling his.

Eddie was no boy scout, literally and figuratively speaking. What he was perhaps more than made up for it in some ways. He caught the lighter out of the air, then poured a bit of the bourbon on the wood. It was dry enough, sunbleached even in the colder months of the year. He hoped it wouldn’t take much more than that to catch the wood ablaze. He certainly wasn’t going to risk too much more of the bourbon though. A line of fire ran along the length of wood, glowing blue from the accelerent he’d used. It would work or it wouldn’t. That done he let the heat do its job before turning a curious look towards Tahlia.

“It’s funny, you’d think that the first thing on my mind would be putting on something. That it wouldn’t matter if it were nice or not, just the sense of being clothed would be enough. That’s not it though, it’s stupid things that matter. Things like lights and familiar smells.” He wasn’t talking about the city, that he had actually gotten used to not smelling. He moved toward the blanket conscious of the sand on his feet, but finding a way down without making it too gritty. He still had the lighter, now he was pilfering a smoke from her pack.

“I guess that makes sense...you’re comfortable in your skins.” She wasn’t entirely clear how it worked, didn’t really need to know...just accepted that it did, and Eddie knew himself best. She’d already slipped out of the boots, they weren’t going anywhere, and walking on them in the sand just made her look ridiculous. “I do feel a little overdressed…” Lounging back on one hand, she took a sip of her bourbon, and watched the fire. There was something that hadn’t happened, yet...they were setting a new record tonight. But bringing it up, felt wrong. He’d just climbed out of the ocean. There was something about him that seemed off, that had seemed off since the night she’d found him on the bathroom floor. They hadn’t talked about that, either.

Nestling the cup in the sand, she sat up, legs curled to the side so she could angle toward him without staring him down. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but Eddie had a way of only letting her know what he wanted her to. Taking one of her own, she reclaimed her lighter, and lit her cigarette, letting out a plume of smoke. The words, when they came, were barely audible. “Things felt...strange...while you were gone.”

Eddie was stretched out on the blanket, cigarette between his lips. A slow move towards her and his head was in her lap. “Strange how"” He slid one arm around behind her, the other was holding his smoke out over the sand. Tall as he was, he’d found a way to curl himself around and under her. His knees were pushed beneath Tahlia’s ankles, and while he was sure this made things uncomfortable for her he was going to do it anyway. “Figured things here would probably be running smoothly without… one more thing.” It should have been, no last second alterations of plans to announce, or unexpected Eddie viewings in places he didn’t really belong. He acted like he did a lot, but he knew the truth of things. He just wasn’t the type to let something like that stop him from doing what he wanted.

“I’ll go talk to him tomorrow.” That wasn’t a squeeze of her hip by his hand. Probably just some night sand crab with really big pincers. Probably. “Then, we can figure some other stuff out, right"” He didn’t know what needed figuring out, but obviously something did.

“Just strange. I kept wanting to tell you things, and you weren’t...there.” She couldn’t do much about the position, or the fact that he was likely well aware what was, or wasn’t beneath her clothing. “Yeah, things were fine...and him who"” To be fair, there were a lot of ‘hims’ in her world. Not immediately realizing which one he meant could be understood.

She knew it wasn’t a crab, even through leather she could tell the difference, but she wasn’t going to call him out. It wasn’t how they worked. The truth was, there were nights she would have given almost anything to hear that song making the windows of the Inn shake, and that...well it almost made her thinks about things she had gotten very good at avoiding. “Sure. There’s got to be things...right"” She took a drag of her cigarette, and let it go before looking down at him. “The place looks different. I figured, since I had to redo the bathroom and bedroom anyway...might as well do the whole thing, right' Kami helped. And I have something I thought you might like…”

“The guy that hit you at the powerhouse party.” Of course, how could she forget' “Did you try at all" You never can tell what’s gonna happen until you try something.” He might have been teasing, it was probably hard to say considering…”You didn’t happen to bring any coffee out did you?” That was something else he’d been without for weeks… and the whole sunrise being awake thing was certainly not Eddie Blake’s desire. Another pull from the cigarette, and he was pushing himself upwards and leaning on his arm as he looked at her.

“I don’t know Kami.” He gave her a bewildered shrug. “Or the other…” But he knew there’d been another, damn that nose of his. “You’ll have to show it to me eventually, that or maybe just find me in the bedroom when you come home some night.” The nearly spent smoke was flicked into the fire without actually looking at it. “What might I like more than this"”

There had been several others, not least of which because the nightmares had been so bad at first she hadn’t slept at all, and even after, she’d only managed a few hours at a time. She’d been wrung out, exhausted, and another body had been the only way to tire herself out enough to get any rest at all. She would, of course, say none of this. “Oh! Kruger. Right.” She hadn’t forgotten, the man hit like one of his hammers. “I didn’t...bring coffee.” And if her attempts at reaching him had worked, his ears would have been burning. “I’m sure you’ll meet her. She’s...fun. And you know I never mind finding you in my bedroom. Or anywhere else. I...kinda figured we’d be heading back there, after this.” She wasn’t sure why she’d assumed that, and she wasn’t going to try to explain. Reaching out, she ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. “I don’t know about better...but they’re interesting. Little mage-created candies. They change how certain...fluids, taste.” She paused, biting back how she’d hardly been able to think about anything other than whether Eddie liked strawberry or chocolate better. “I’m going to be the model on the packages, so I get as many as I want, and samples of all the new flavors.” It wasn’t like her to babble like this, but she didn’t know how to start a conversation she wasn’t sure they wanted to have.

Tossing her own cigarette into the flames, she finally brought her eyes to his. “I mean, you might like a lot of things better than this...you haven’t…” She bit her bottom lip. “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

“Don’t take that the wrong way… the kissing thing. I don’t exactly have a toothbrush handy. I’m pretty sure that it would be better to kiss old socks. A few more of these will help though.” He held up the red cup. He sat up, and poured out a little more the cup going to his mouth. There was a hint of the old smile hidden just behind the rim of the cup. It came with a wink of course. “I know I don’t seem like myself right now. Still trying to get a handle on who I am...what I am...something like that at least.” Stretching, like he had an ache that he was trying to work out, Eddie quickly downed the rest of the drink. When it was gone, he leaned over and took the cup out of her hand setting it aside. He stayed close enough to feel her breath on his skin, eyes dropping to her lips half a heartbeat before claiming them with his own.

For once, she wasn’t expecting it. She should have been, but neither one of them were exactly behaving like themselves just at the moment. The hand that had been holding her cup combed into his hair, the other doing barely adequate job of holding her up, her palm divoting into the sand beneath the blanket. For a moment, anyway. Kissing Eddie usually required two hands, certainly when it had been so long since she’d gotten to do it last. The way their legs were tangled up, it was more than she could manage staying upright, so she let gravity take over, slowly falling back against the blanket, and more than encouraging him to come right along with her. It would be more a more comfortable position to keep talking, anyway.

It may have been part of his evil plan, because Eddie did follow her down, and even moved so that she would bear the burden of his weight...maybe even the slight grind of hip against her. It was likely that he was just trying to make an impression… in the sand! The gods all knew that Eddie was an innocent Saint! Innocent… Saint! Just because he put his hands around her wrists and pulled her hands forcibly from his hair… and perhaps he did pin them to the blanket over her head… that was just him being a good boy, right'

She may have detected the slightest of trembles to his body, though it was certainly not from hesitation. The evidence of it was vibrated into her mouth in a low thrumming growl that may have been a bit possessive. He took her wrists in one hand, and broke their kiss, looking down at her with the heated intensity of a breach in the crust of the earth. The skin of his hands… and probably all of it, though that would be the most obvious, was new… soft… free of calluses that had once existed there. Not surprising, considering where he’d been and for how long. It didn’t affect how he touched her though, or the way every sinew and muscle tensed against her. Where the coarseness of his skin had disappeared, his nails made up for it digging in to the back of her thigh as he coaxed her leg to circle him.

It wouldn’t take much to bring her leg up over his hip, both of them, in fact. She hadn’t worn much to the beach on purpose, something he was likely becoming intimately familiar with. Pinned to sand beneath him, she made no effort to get away, her chest rising and falling rapidly against his. That growl just did things. Wide green eyes blinked up at him, and her smile could rival the moonlight for brightness. There might have been the smallest kiss of cool metal, the seal just a touch cooler than the finely crafted body it never left. Licking the taste of him from her lips, her smile returned, warm and eager, and conveying the intense giddiness that kept sweeping through her in waves. “Welcome back, baby...I missed you”

Devil

You said it yourself you're scared of being alone You said it yourself that you can crack the code But the static you hear automatically keeps you exposed on your own I hope you're ready, steady, smashing through the levy...

...'Cause it's about to get heavy It's about to be on Yeah, I'm bangin' slingin' napalm So nobody move 'Cause I was sent to warn you The devil's in the next room ~ Shinedown

———————————- 14 February 2018 ———————————-

He’d said durable, even used the ‘s’ word, which still made her laugh as the clock ticked toward eight, and she stepped out of the penthouse, and into the private elevator which would take her downstairs. One could argue that black leather was always sensible, even if it was Polo Ralph Lauren pants, and boots with a three-inch heel. They had lug soles, that had to count for something. She’d even left her jewelry home, except for the seal that alway dangled against her navel, and, of course, the black and silver collar at her throat. One word. Six letters. One more than his name but it meant the same thing. Clutch in one hand, duffel in the other (he’d said to pack something slinky for later, after all), Tahlia leaned against the wall, and slid a hand behind her back to check the silver daggers strapped there. Something about the message had hinted she’d better dress for trouble.

A subtle chime announced her arrival in the lobby, and she stepped out, giving Brett a wink, and the saucy smirk the concierge ought to know well by now. The metal fittings on her leather jacket clinked against the duffel as she shifted it up on to a shoulder, shaking her head before the smoothly smiling man could move to help. “I got it, thanks...have a good night, sugar.” Juggling for a moment, she slipped a cigarette between her lips, and stepped outside, jamming the pack into the back pocket that didn’t already hold her phone. The flash of flame lit her face for an instant, and she let out a plume of smoke, dropping the larger bag at her feet to wait. She didn’t expect it would be long.

That was perhaps an understatement, it was only a moment after her lighter flared that the delicate sound of thunder ignited. Man made thunder certainly, the kind at the control of Eddie’s right foot and it was going to get much louder before it quieted. If the sound of the engine was enough to have her looking his direction, the sudden illumination of the headlights would zero her in on exactly where he was. It wasn’t dark yet, the sun was still making its presence known in deep red and purple hues along the horizon. It was much harder to appreciate among the tall buildings of course than say at the top of it. Then again it didn’t have to look down jealously at the purple Roadrunner pulling out of that parking spot and circling into the front drive of the apartment building. Tinted windows remained up as he pulled beneath the covered entrance and rolled to a stop in front of the blonde girl. There was only one thing missing, the driving beat of heavy bass through the speakers.

Eddie didn’t get out, he might be in a mood tonight, besides there was a perfectly good doorman standing right there. He looked like he needed something to do. When Tahlia appeared with the duffle, he put his hand out to take it, then dropped it into the back seat. It had been awhile since he’d put anything or anyone back there. Didn’t really have the need to lately, considering where he’d been. “There’s a bottle under the seat.” He said it like she should get it out, and make use of it. A cursory inspection of her brought an approving nod from him and the flash of a smile that belonged on a misbehaving boy. He barely waited for the door to fully close before starting forward again and making a turn onto the street.

One brow quirked up, and she leaned forward without a word to secure the bottle, twisting in the seat to press a kiss to his cheek before dropping back against the leather. Twisting the cap off, she took a swig, and purred, holding the bottle out to him as she unzipped her jacket. “So do I get to know where we’re going, or are you surprising me with a romantic getaway"” Dressed as they were, she somehow doubted it, but she wouldn’t be her if she didn’t tease him a little. Especially not with that bad-boy smile on his lips. She could guess what he was thinking, and the black tank top under her jacket wasn’t designed to let him think straight. Not yet, anyway.

Finally taking a second drag from her cigarette, the blonde shifted to avoid poking herself on her own daggers, and subtly glanced around the cars interior. It was clean...she might have had it detailed at a very trustworthy place she knew of before handing him back the keys, and Eddie hadn’t been back long enough to change that. Not that he would. She was nearly certain the car meant more to him than anything, herself included.

“Eventually, first I think we need to go to church.” It was one of those Saint’s days after all, right' He still hadn’t put on any music, but he was feeling indecisive at the moment on what he wanted to hear. It likely was the last thing that Tahlia had expected to hear out of him, but she knew him pretty well by now and a trip to church could simply be a euphemism for something else. The car rolled on, out of Seaside and across the Marketplace. There was a fantastic view of the harbor as the crossed the bridge into Old Temple district. Maybe he really did mean they were going to church' They were present at practically every corner, displayed in all their radiance. The car just passed them all by as it traveled eastwards along the coast and passed beyond the city wall. It always surprised him how quickly the concentration of buildings turned into forest when he drove outside past the city limits.

There was still the occasional building here and there, still temples to one deity or another though they looked less like places of worship and more like compounds. It took another twenty minutes before he started to slow, and Eddie didn’t have a light foot when it came to abandoned roads. The building was surrounded by walls on three sides, the fourth bordered the water. It did have a large parking lot, which he turned the car into and coasted slowly into a spot. Above the wall the building rose, tall and a lot like the places they’d seen when they’d gone to Yasou. There was even a massive stone dragon fountain jutting out into the parking lot, the pool into which it belched a stream of water nearly cutting the lot in half. There was something familiar about the figure. It was like many others that weren’t nearly so large, but that wasn’t what gave it the feel. The thing almost could have been alive.

“Church"” It never occurred to her that he might not be kidding. But as the car rolled through the evening air, she realized that they seemed to be surrounded by religious buildings, half of them to gods she’d never heard of. Idly, she wondered if this was where dead gods went, if they wandered this planet like everyone else. It had to be the odd shadows, the vague sense of being watched from shadowed enclaves as they passed building after building, with breaks of trees, and the occasional compound. More gods, although these seemed gods of commerce. Smoke wafted from between her lips, her eyes flitting from the scenery to the man beside her. At least until the car turned, and the dragon came into view.

Her hands tensed against the seat, and she tossed the butt of her cigarette out the window. She recognized the statue, and watched it like she expected it to fly at them, and start the whole process over again. This place had haunted her dreams, and she lifted the bottle to her lips, swallowing a few good chugs before licking her lips and flicking her gaze to him. “Eddie...why are we here"” It was imposing enough, perhaps he would just attribute her response to that, and confusion.

It wasn’t a look he’d favored her with very often. At best it would be called stony, if it weren’t for the blaze in his eyes that said he was barely holding the facade of control. “I’ve been thinking a little…” The man was still a fabulous liar, but there was no mistaking that he really meant a lot. “...about your nightmares.” She’d said things that perhaps she didn’t think he’d heard or understood when he’d returned. The worst one...they had you...and I couldn’t save you. All I could do was watch. He wasn’t a genius, but it hardly took one to understand that. It had taken a while to actually find this place, even if Reggie had done most of the work. The illusion had to come from somewhere, and it was always easier to show a place that was known. “I think this will help us both. Confronting the darkness.” Eddie still hadn’t taken a single drink, it was unusual almost like he’d left it there solely for Tahlia knowing that she’d react as she had.

Eddie opened his door moving to step out of the car. “Come on, I got you a present for Valentine’s Day.” He stood up and closed the door behind him, making his way to the rear of the car and popping the trunk while he watched Tahlia and her internal struggle. “I was a bit surprised when I did find this place, it almost seems abandoned, doesn’t it"” The place was dark, though as the night took stronger hold lights did appear here and there. It didn’t break the eerie silence, the place could tomb what with the lack of ambient sound even among the trees. There were no animals, though it was still the middle of winter. Maybe there was going to be a cold snap coming"

“It...yeah.” First things first. She was surprised the place actually existed, let alone that it was here and he’d found it. Stepping out into the eerie quiet, she shifted phone and cigarettes to interior pockets, her fingers dipping into the front pocket of her pants for a moment, skimming over a silver disk maybe the size of a quarter. Something had told her to bring it tonight, and now she understood why. She left the bottle behind, not that it mattered much. She looked back and forth between Eddie and the seemingly abandoned temple compound, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Closing her door with exaggerated care,she stalked back toward the trunk, still glancing back over her shoulder at the dragon statue. She couldn’t help feeling like it was watching her. Waiting for her guard to drop. One hand twisted behind her back to recheck her daggers, the other digging into her pocket, wrapping the leather cord she kept the pendant on around her fingers.

“Confronting the darkness...most guys go with flowers, Eddie...chocolates. Jewelry. Not facing down nightmares.” But he’d given her jewelry, hadn’t he - the black pearl currently being set for her into a navel stud at one of Rhydin’s premier jewelers. This was by far the strangest Valentine’s Day she’d ever had. But then...when had they ever done anything normal" “All this and a present too' You shouldn’t have.” She didn’t glance into the trunk, not yet. “But it just so happens I got something for you too…” She pulled out the silver charm, keeping it held tightly in her fist. “I’ll let you go first…”

Eddie looked at Tahlia, she didn’t seem to have anything on her that stood out as a gift. That just meant it was small enough to fit in a pocket. If that’s what she was hoping for, she was going to be pretty disappointed when he opened the trunk all the way and pulled out the drum fed tactical shotgun and handed it to her. “It’s not exactly a dozen roses, but it is a twelve gauge.” He might not have understood the entire point of Valentine’s Day, surely the important part was the twelve, right' “It’s semiauto, so you won’t have to pump after each round… just pull back here.” He took hold of the lever and yanked it smoothly back until the first round was seated and let it spring forward. “Safety’s right by your trigger finger, pistol grips for speed in aiming.”

He reached in and took out a second one that was identical to the one he’d just given Tahlia. “I got us a matched set.” That I’m trouble smile was on his lips again as he set the weapon down and took out a couple bandoliers that had smaller magazines on them, and their usual 9 millimeter pistols. “Happy Valentine’s day Pumpkin.”

It said something about her state of mind that she took it with a slow smile, “You thought of everything.” She wasn’t disappointed, focusing more keeping the tremble from her limbs, or any sign of how her pulse was racing. Her hand smoothed along the barrel, and she set the gun against her hip, aiming toward the ground. She may be more comfortable with weaponry than she let be known, but not enough to dismiss the directions he gave her. Grinning up at him, she blew a saucy kiss in his direction. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Puddin.”

Matched weapons were certainly bigger than her gift for him, but the use for them carried as much weight. Her hand pulled from her pocket, wrapped tight around the pendant, and she looked at it for a moment before tipping her face up to his. “My gift isn’t as big...but it’s...well, it’s one of the few things that’s really mine.” Her fingers uncurled, and she held her hand out, the moonlight skimming over embossed silver, hung from a simple cord. “My mother always said if anything happened to her, this would keep us safe. The night of the fire, I grabbed it...had it ever since. I don’t know how you could wear it, when you change...but it would - something just told me I should give it to you tonight.” She shrugged, suddenly feeling exposed.

“It’s...perfect. Put it on me"” There were a lot of things that he knew it was, and just couldn’t say out loud. He leaned over, pulling his jacket down so that Tahlia could reach his neck. She wasn’t wrong about the changing, there were special considerations that would need to be taken in order to wear it always. Not difficult ones, just highly specific materials that would be required. “Thank you. I can see that it means a lot to you… and that you’re obviously worried about me.” Eddie didn’t have a lot of that from people, most would be happier if something did happen to him. Maybe that was why he took great pleasure in coming through things as unscathed as possible.

One finger held the metal disk to the hollow in his neck until Tahlia managed to put a knot in the cord and he could let it dangle. It slid beneath his shirt, maybe that was more appropriate than having it out and visible, if only because he was pretty sure that was where she’d rather be too. Eddie talked while she worked. “There’s several decent tactical entrances to this place, assuming you can get over the wall. There’s a way into the upper floors, and coming from that direction would give us an element of surprise. It’s probably the smartest way to go in.” He pointed to the roof of a balcony that could be scaled pretty easily. “Normally I’d make you wear a hooded mask… but it’s not going to be necessary for two reasons.”

“Of course I worry about you...you have a positive thing for putting yourself in danger.” Nimble fingers tied the disk in place, taking the opportunity to skim her fingers along his jaw as she let go. He wasn’t wrong that she would rather be under his shirt, or rather, she would very much rather them both be shirtless, naked would be even better. Certainly better than mounting a tactical assault on an unknown foe. Picking up the shotgun, she hefted it, half-turned to look over the facade. It was entirely possible that she might waste her first shot taking out the stone dragon, just to make herself feel better. To make sure the wretched thing would never hurt anyone else.

“Hooded mask" You...oh.” It took her a second to catch up, realizing this likely went along with his not requiring them to wear gloves, or for that matter, the fact that they’d driven his very noticeable car there, and would be leaving the same way. “Why is that"” A moment later, she suspected she had figured out the answer, or at least one of them. “We’re the only ones leaving here breathing, aren’t we, puddin…”

“I never put myself into danger.” He was all wide eyed innocence now. Completely earnest in his insistence that such things just never occurred even as he reached for the shotgun and closed the trunk. “I honestly have no idea what you mean.” He looked from her to the temple and back. “If you’re wondering, there’s about two dozen Mer inside. I may not know why they’re here, but I do know that they don’t belong, and I’m happy to help them remember it.” He may have had a bit of a vendetta to settle as well. Eddie started his walk across the parking lot, oddly he was doing nothing to be stealthy. “And that’s right baby… we’re gonna kill em all.”

“Two..dozen…” No wonder he’d brought extra ammunition. Shotgun held ready, she tagged along behind, which meant, with any luck, that he would miss her squeak of surprise as the bass shook the air. A warning would have been nice, but that was a conversation for a later time, perhaps. There was no argument about killing them all. She couldn’t think of a better fate, and while the one who’d tortured him was already beyond her reach, she was more than happy to make his brethren pay for his sins.

“I changed my mind.” He’d been heading for the the spot on the wall he’d determined was going to be the easiest to get over. He altered his angle heading right towards that dragon fountain. Eddie walked along the side of it, running his hand along the side of the the snakelike body pausing halfway to reach to the bandolier he wore and pull something free from it. He pressed it hard against the thing and kept his walk going right towards the front doors. “Eddie Blake doesn’t hide in the shadows.” To prove it a low rumble broke its way across the air centered on the purple beast. Maybe he’d just been waiting for the right moment to unleash the superbass? His shoulder planted against the intricately carved wooden doors and he gave a mighty shove sending them inwards with a crash that was emphasized by the blast of an explosion that tore the dragon to pieces.

The Vengeful One

...No forgiveness from all I've seen The degradation I cannot forget So sleep soundly in your beds tonight For judgement falls upon you at first light....

...You'll die You'll know why For you cannot be saved This world is too depraved When you die You'll know why

I'm the hand of God I'm the dark messiah I'm the vengeful one (Look inside and see what you're becoming)... ~ Disturbed

Something boiled inside Eddie, it churned and spun, a maelstrom in the deepest ocean whose outer rim was a mass of blades. Their razor sharp edges cut into him, not physically, he didn’t bleed...didn’t bleed blood at least. The keening had started low, too soft to be heard above the clash of weapons, but with each utterance of the word *bleed* it grew, drowning him with the agony of its vibration as the savage edges inside him cut away everything but the growing rage. It oozed in him until it filled every inch of his six foot six frame, and then it burst out of his pores like sweat after a long night of sex.

“Where is she!” Eddie’s voice rebounded off the walls and ceiling of the cavern, but even its volume didn’t give the Mer closing on Tahlia any pause. They ignored him...no, they sought to hurt him even more by taking one more from him. This would not do, no....it would not! Eddie stood up, his ears picking up the sound of cloth being torn. Had one of them gotten through' His hands still held to his pistols, but this was far more personal and required his very special loving touch. They barely made a sound as they hit the sand. Turning, Eddie started towards those who sought to engulf Tahlia leaving them behind as unnecessary as an afterthought would be.

The closest of them was lean, like all the Mer seemed to be. Eddie hadn’t spent nearly so much time at sea as most of his kin, but he’d never seen a powerfully built Mer. He towered over the scalemailed creature, one hand grasping it about the throat and pulling it back and up to look him in the face. Its mouth opened, a yelp constricted by one of his massive hands. That was when he felt the things blade take him in the shoulder. It was an odd sensation, the bite of the edge, the sting of air as the mer pulled it free and readied another such strike. Eddie moved quicker, lunging outwards, it was barely more than a shrugging push and release of the Mer and yet its body crossed the expanse of the chamber hit the weathered stone wall and dropped to the sand unmoving. He reached out for a second one, shaking it when it tried to attack until it dropped its weapon. Then he pulled it right up to his own face.

“I said…” His voice had been deep since it had first changed, but even he didn’t recognize the rumbling that came from his mouth. “...where is…” His hand was massive, too massive, it completely encircled the Mer’s neck. The thing gasped as it struggled to breathe. He was tall, but it had taken too long to lift the thing in his hand, his furred hand. Silver grey fur ran along his arm and Eddie knew that if he concentrated he would be able to feel the movement in the air with every single strand. To make matters worse, the rumble he’d begun with took on a feral growl as he bared teeth that shouldn’t be that large or wickedly pointed. “...my mother"!”

Tahlia couldn’t spare as much attention to Eddie as he deserved, pressed as she was on all sides. Her daggers were coated, slick, so much so that when one stuck, her hand slipped free, and she was left with only the one blade. Only for a moment, as she grabbed a spear heading toward her ribs, and spun inside its reach, killing the Mer with a single strike, and taking the spear for her own. It was unwieldy, but did what she needed it to, her lips still moving, calling the blood from their veins as she twisted and ducked, the sand beneath her feet darkening. Dropping for a low sweep, she realized the Mer around her were either dying, or frozen. Turning her head slowly, she realized that the roaring sound in her ears hadn’t been her heartbeat, or the song of the blood in her veins, but the sound of Eddie’s roar echoing through the cavern. Taking the chance to catch her breath, she found herself instead gaping, her eyes wide. Eddie was...bigger. Different. Different was an understatement. He’d grown over a foot, and those teeth...the fur...she’d seen him as a seal before. Now he was - almost both, but neither.

She was covered in crimson streaks, could feel it drying in her hair, and flaking from her skin. Not her blood, of course. That remained where it was supposed to, even though there were spots where her clothes were split and torn, and so, presumably, was the skin beneath. His mother. Something in the look he’d had last had told her that Eddie, at least, had thought she was dead, until he’d found whatever he’d been looking for in the sand. Tahlia’s heart twisted in her chest, but she’d long ago given up believing in miracles. At least for herself. If Eddie could have one...well, she’d do as much as she could to make that happen.

Frustrated at the silence coming from the Mer in his grip, Eddie tried to shake the information free again only to hear a sickening pop from it. It stared lifelessly at him, something even more ungratifying. He turned his gaze on the two that were closing on Tahlia and his anger boiled once more. “Mine!” He hurled the body towards them, one managed to dodge the incoming mass of dead Mer, the other wasn’t so skilled. It hit him full on knocking him to the sand in a tangle of limbs. Eddie’s form wasn’t far behind that toss, he began to close with the Mer that was still standing. It moved into a defensive position, poised to attack but Eddie ignored it passing between it and Tahlia. He bent and scooped up a fallen spear continuing on a path that put him over the Mer pile he’d just created. Up went a massive arm and down, sending the tip of the spear through both torso’s like wet paper.

“Maybe that’ll help you get the point.” It wasn’t his best line by a long shot, but he was under a lot of stress. Something had happened that he didn’t understand or even know was possible, let alone how he’d managed it. There was no form like this among his people, not even the rumor of it. In his relatively short twenty five years he’d never had this happen and there was the worry that he didn’t know how to get out of it. It wasn’t like becoming the seal, not exactly at least. For that he didn’t have to think about it, he just was it. At the very least, bad jokes aside, he still had his mind. That pass between the Mer and Tahlia had been for her benefit, should she choose to use the distraction.

The remaining Mer had pulled short, and was too busy watching Eddie to see the silver blade that flew from Tahlia’s hand, and buried itself just above the scale armor. The blades were gloriously weighted, she’d have to thank Kal for the gift of them, and make sure she found the other one. She hadn’t Called so much blood forth in a very long time, and she leaned heavily on one hand, watching the gurgling fishman collapse to the sand. Pale green eyes shifted to watch Eddie as he dispatched a squirming pile of scales and limbs, and she let out a sigh of relief. It was done. They’d survived. More than that, they had succeeded. The Mer had no foothold, not anymore, and if not tonight, than perhaps one night soon, the cavern they were in would be crushed beneath the weight of the temple.

If she hadn’t been so tired, perhaps she would have noticed the figure stumbling up from the wall, and barrelling toward her at a run. Not to hurt her, but because she was between him, and the water. Slim, yes, but the figure still had height and weight on the petite blonde. Half-kneeling, she couldn’t move fast enough, not to get out of the way, but she could try to tangle him up enough to keep him on the shore. Try, at least. Instead, the Mer dragged her with him, and she barely managed a breath before he tumbled them both into the glowing pool. The splash drenched the shoreline, and she sank beneath the surface, releasing her hold to save herself.

The sound of their collision was enough to pull Eddie back to the blonde just in time to see her go over the edge and into the pool. He didn’t know what might be down there, beyond the fleeing Mer. Would it seize the opportunity to take her down with it' He couldn’t take the chance that it wouldn’t. He pulled the tatters of his shirt from his body, that ever present jacket of his was gone. That was less of a surprise than what he’d become, some things are just too obvious to be surprised at… like Eddie Blake diving headfirst into the pool without ever checking the depths.

It happened, as it always happened. The instant he hit the water he simply was the massive Leopard seal, sixteen feet from snout to back flippers and well over half a ton of fun. If proof were needed, it could be found in the slowly sinking denim jeans. The only real difference perhaps was that the lichen filled pool may have given Tahlia a far better view of the transformation than she’d had in dark waters. Like this he could bend in ways that would make a contortionist jealous, he turned back on himself heading for Tahlia and taking her arm as gently as he could in his mouth to bring her towards the surface once more. He waited, every heartbeat taking the Mer farther from them, but he had to see her onto the shore safely. Only then did he dive again and not come back up.

At least this time she had the leather between his teeth, and her arm. One arm found the shore, and she clung, turning to meet those familiar terra cotta eyes, and stroke a hand along that enormous head as he let her go, and she hauled herself up out of the water. There was nothing left on the surface to hurt her. Coughing, she dragged herself clear of the shore, and set her back against a stone. She’d seen Eddie leave the water before, and she didn’t wish to be in his way when he returned. At least she was clean, now, or cleaner, the blood washed away in the pool. Eventually, she wondered if the rest of the blood they’d spilled would seep into the water. Truthfully, she didn’t care, as long as the leopard seal returned.

Taking a few breaths, she rose, and searched the sand, and the bodies, reclaiming her silver daggers, and taking them back to the water to clean them. Blood would etch silver if left too long. So would salt water, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Tearing a strip from the bottom of her tank top, she dried the blades, and set them back in their holsters, and then went to collect the rest of their weapons. Sentimental value, of course. Stripping out of her jacket, she let her hair down, and hoped she’d have a chance to dry out. Beyond that, she watched the pool, and waited.

The Mer had most of the advantages, time gained while Eddie aided in getting Tahlia out of the pool and knowledge of the pathways to take once Eddie was on the hunt. It had another, the ability to breathe underwater but that wasn’t going to stop him from chasing down the Mer. It was injured and that slowed it down tremendously, not that it could have outpaced him anyway. Eddie’s underwater eyesight was superior to many of his own kind, not surprising considering where Leopard seals usually hunted. The odd illumination came from the algae, but it was how it lay that gave away the path of his prey. It spotted him closing in, swam harder nearly making it to the exit and open waters, but Eddie put on a burst of speed. His mouth opened wide and wickedly pointed teeth closed on the Mer. He wasn’t so delicate with this one as he had been of Tahlia. Scale mail shattered under his bite, prompting him to close his mouth even harder until he felt the flesh give way and blood rush across his tongue. Abruptly he changed directions, powerful jaws pulling the Mer sideways and pushing him along back the way they’d come giving a vigorous shake whenever the Mer made any attempt to strike at him.

Time ticked onwards, seconds aged into long minutes with no change coming to the surface of the pool. The waves of their passing had died leaving the pool calm and placid, until water exploded outwards. The muscular neck of the massive seal flexed, Mer filled maw jerking sideways as Eddie treated it like he would any penguin. Flesh tore in his teeth, the Mer’s body came away from his bite and landed hard on the floor of the cavern, exacerbating the injuries sustained earlier when it had hit the wall. A wave of water rose as Eddie launched himself to the sand, flipper becoming hand on contact with the earth and curling into fist as he stood and stalked the Mer once more. He was bare, save for his ever present leather jacket. There were very few times he would ever be spotted without it, and only one who’d had opportunity to don its surprising warmth.

“Where"!” The word was half question half shout, Eddie dropped to his knees and loomed over the prone Merling. The raspy snicker it directed his way was answered by a hard punch to the face. Eddie showed little regard for the needle like teeth that lined its mouth. The blow didn’t bring any answers, nor did the next one perhaps it would have if he’d given the thing a chance to talk, but he was still in that rage. The question would sound half a second before another hard punch hit the Mer square in the face. Eddie didn’t notice when the thing lost consciousness, nor did he stop his assault. It’s face went from bloody mess to flat faced. Its skull broke apart, and the big man didn’t stop punching even though blood and brains coated his fist.

The Mer flying overhead woke Tahlia from her reverie, and she scrambled to her feet. She hardly needed to, since it wasn’t moving, and even if it had, Eddie was right there. Not making a sound, Tahlia watched the seal rise up out of the pool, following his prey. Because there was no mistaking that that was what the Mer had become. The squelching sound of the blows continued long after the snap of delicate bones had ceased. She knew that sound, knew it well, and for a moment, she forgot where she was. Not-so-distant memories took hold, and it took her a minute to recover, one hand rubbing at a hidden scar along her ribs. All the while, the sound never stopped, until there was no way the creature still lived...Eddie might as well have been tenderizing steak. Maybe he was. She’d never thought to ask what he ate out there in the deep blue.

He’d changed when he hit the sand, the fur was gone, and there was a sparkle of silver at his throat, along with a deep red line that hadn’t been there before. Wincing, because testing out how that cord would survive his change hadn’t exactly been in her plans for the evening, at least it had done what she’d hoped - it kept him safe...the only blood she could see was splatters from the bloody punching bag beneath his fists.

“Puddin" Whatever you’re tryin’ to teach him, he’s past learnin’...and I can’t imagine they taste any better than they smell.” She stayed back, not reaching out to touch him, her leather streaked with salt where it was slowly drying out, hair a tangle of waves and salt-flecked curls. “Eddie...baby, he’s dead. More than.” How much it would do to help her nightmares, she wasn’t certain. But now wasn’t the time to mention that. “I have the weapons, your shirt’s kinda shot...and I’m not going back in there for your jeans. Tell me you still have the keys"” Maybe focusing on the minutia would help him come out of whatever still held him in its grip.

His fist halted mid fall, he looked at what he’d done and smiled ever so slightly. One finger came to his lips as he turned his head and looked at Tahlia. It left a streak of red on them, standing up he rolled the body into the pool and let it sink out of sight. Maybe it would find his pants" Doubtful. He’d forgotten, it was easy to do that sometimes, curling a finger at her he stepped towards one of the walls and put his ear to it indicating that she should do the same. The hard stone surface pulsed, something deep inside sounding like a heartbeat that was out of sync. “Close your eyes… and hear the way out.”

When she complied, she might pick up something more over that odd heartbeat. A hard guitar bassline that mingled in, a steady vibration that wove around and through the wall. “Never brought the keys in.” Why would he" The car kept his sense of direction, in a weird way it told him where not to go. “This isn’t over, Tahlia…” She probably already knew that though. Eddie turned and looked across the chamber, searching for something he’d lost. “Where is it"” Had it gotten buried again, there were so many scents in here that everything was mingling together. He moved, heading back into the chamber until he felt the tug on his arm. It wasn’t the one coated in blood, and yet it was still a tentative little thing...just enough.

She’d followed him to the wall, heard that unmistakable thump of bass, and allowed herself a small smile. No wonder he loved that car so much - she should have guessed it wasn’t just for the bench seats and the surging horsepower. She took a moment to lean there, catch her breath, tired, yes, but not enough that her magic faltered. Still blonde, for one, and while the spots where the Mer had gotten past her guard stung from the saltwater bath, they didn’t bleed. Tahlia knew it wasn’t over - how could it be? If someone had told her her mother lived...shaking her head, she realized Eddie had stumbled off, scanning the sand.

She knew what he was looking for. It was there in her off hand, the one not wrapped lightly around his bicep. Tahlia held the skin out to him, carefully positioned fur-side up. The granulation stuck to her palm, a little, but she knew enough to figure out what that scrap of hide was. Who’s it was. “Eddie…” What could she say, really' “I found it when I was gathering the weapons. I didn’t think you’d want to leave it behind.”

Eddie took it from her, and drew it up to his nose once more to inhale. The smell made his breath shudder again, for whatever reason. There was no rage in him this time, no change into something he didn’t begin to understand. “Thank you.” It was a simple two word statement, not nearly enough to say what it really meant. He knew what it was, what it was supposed to do and that it had nearly succeeded. It might have had he gone into this alone. Once he’d have done just that. “She was…” He shook his head, not willing to finish by saying here. “They did this, hurt her to get to me, but they’re just soldiers, barely better than drones. They don’t know anything.”

The ones who did were long gone, had been from the moment the car had turned into the driveway. He could have wished until his hands were full and never changed that fact. “We need to go see someone. I have a change of clothes in the car.” Eddie glossed over certain things, ignoring them perhaps so long as she was. “How much edge do your knives have left"” He pulled his arm from her grasp, only to lay it over her shoulder. His other hand relieved her of some of the burden of weapons she’d recovered. There was urgency in both the question and the way he was imploring her by touch towards the entrance to this place.

Tahlia wasn’t big enough to slow him down, and she didn’t even try. Getting out of that blood-stained cavern was on her short list of gifts today. “My daggers" They don’t seem to dull, really, although salt water and creepy fish-guy blood can’t be good for them. Might need to clean them again...why"” She could ask and walk at the same time, although she was having to take a couple of steps to his one. It was fine though, more than.

Looking down at her likely ruined leathers, the blonde shook her head, and spat out a salty strand that stuck to her lips. “Yeah, I do too. Not sure it’s the right kind of thing for a meeting though. Someone said slinky.” She’d assumed he meant dancing, somewhere dark and loud where they could wind each other up until they couldn’t take it anymore. Not...whatever happened now. “Do you think we could swing by my place" Get a shower, something a little more suitable for meeting...people.” One name sprang to mind, given everything, but she wasn’t going to say it first. If they were going to meet the ice queen, Tahlia wanted to look a little more presentable for that kind of company.

“No, but don’t worry, I don’t think he’ll mind.” Eddie put the skin back into Tahlia’s hand. “Think you could make this into one long thin strip"” It would mean cutting it in a spiral assuming her blades were up to the task. If not it might just have to wait a bit. “Then putting the amulet on it… cuz my neck’s on fire here, Pumpkin.” He tugged at the cord that had left a red ring around his throat, but didn’t take it off. He’d do that when the other was ready, and then it would go right back on. “I need to see a man about an iron.” Cryptic as always, it wasn’t that Eddie didn’t want to share information there were just some things he couldn’t really bring himself to say aloud. She would, or should know that about him already. “And trust me when I say, he’s seen you worse.”

She took the skin, sliding one of the blades out as they continued up, and out. “I think so, yeah…” If her hands shook a little, it could probably be forgiven - this was his mother's skin, unless she’d misunderstood everything. And enigmatic as Eddie was, that reaction had been blazingly clear, at least to her. It had been...a very long time since she’d done work like this, but there was an old adage about bicycles for a reason. She set the blade, and then focused on their surroundings, letting muscle memory take over. A long thin spiral twisted around the blade as she worked - not the whole thing, even Eddie didn’t need that much cord. But enough. More than, really. She had an idea, in case he decided to do that half-man, half-seal thing again. Still moving, she held her hand out for the amulet - for her idea to work, she’d need to string it herself. “He’s…” Iron. She only knew one person they both knew who would be able to answer metallic jeopardy. And who had seen her worse than she was now. “We’re going to see the blacksmith.”

A hard tug on the amulet broke the cord holding it, maybe it was the salt water? It could have been, right' Eddie handed it over to her without breaking a step. His expression was an unreadable mismash of emotions. He breathed hard through his nose as though trying to expel the reek of the temple. He should have rigged it to blow, but that would have been far less a warning to those who came to find it. Stay out of the harbor and off the land, or find more of the same. Maybe he should have blown it anyway, to hide what they would understand to easily. He wasn’t done with them, and they already knew the why of it. Eddie nodded as Tahlia latched onto the whom they were going to see. “We’re going to see...my brother.”

Shine

Give me a word Give me a sign Show me where to look Tell me what will I find ~ Collective Soul

Enlightenment Park, Kruger doubted anyone would ever get the full punchline of the place. It was his contribution to the city meant as a place where kids could play and home to a library where everyone could learn if that were their desire. The property that had been given to him, once held a community center dedicated to a once and now not so dead Jewell Ravenlock. It had been a gift from her brother for special services. What those were only a chosen few would ever know, that was part of the joke now wasn’t it' At the center of the park rose a spire nearly four hundred feet into the air. It wasn’t the tallest thing in the city by far, but no one could say that Kruger didn’t like to make a show of almost everything. This late, the park was empty, the library closed, and even though he’d urged Eddie to park in the parking lot, the spire was not his goal this evening. There was knowledge to be gained in every aspect of the park, even if it were something so simple as when to just play. Enlightenment however could only be found when you got beneath the surface. The real punchline was that so far as he was concerned.

The library had many doors, there was the main entrance located inside the park, a rear entrance on the street, and several emergency exits which lined the sides of the building. There was another one, concealed unless you knew the way. Fortunately for Kruger he did, mostly because he’d made it, but that’s not really important. More important was what lay beyond that door. He ushered Eddie and Tahlia through it, letting the thing close and become one with the foundation once more. For a moment they were in complete darkness, and then a purple light pierced that veil. The wall was broken at shoulder height (to him and Tahlia) by a vein of crystal which revealed a path that curved inward in a long spiral. Kruger nearly spoke, looking at the two of them before closing his mouth and just starting down the winding corridor. Their walk took them deep beneath the library, Fibonacci would have been pleased with Kruger’s use of his formula which ended at yet another door nearly six hundred feet beneath the city. The glowing crystal ended at a rectangular shape on the wall to which he pressed his hand. The door swung inward, only then revealing how massive it was. Eight feet from floor to ceiling, another six across and four deep. Maybe he was trying to hide something important down there" “This isn’t something I let people see very often.” He shot a look at Eddie as he spoke. “Normally I trust them.”

Tahlia had been quiet on the way over, taking the opportunity to curl against Eddie’s side and close her eyes for just a few minutes. The fight had taken a lot more out of her than she was willing to admit to. Maybe that’s why she stayed quiet as they followed Krugers lead, into the library and down. Tahlia’d never been to the park before, and had no idea there was even a library there. Oops. To be fair, she’d been a little busy.

The corner of her lips ticked upwards at the light, or rather, the color of the light. She might be harboring some sneaking suspicions that the brothers were more alike than either would ever admit. Peridot eyes slid over the stone, and along the path. Something seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite see the scope of it. All she knew was that they had gone a long way, and this...this was not a normal space. Kruger’s voice drew her attention, and she started to reply before just shaking her head with a sigh. She hadn’t spoken to her siblings, save Luc, since she arrived...who was she to judge"

Eddie hated driving in silence, though technically the engine made that impossible. Still, he’d turned off the music just in case. Not that he thought Kruger wouldn’t like the music, if anything he was a bigger showboat than Eddie could ever be…if he did say so himself. His brother had remained silent too, much as that irked Eddie. He could tell by the occassional glance in the rearview mirror that the other man was thinking. The stubborn ass wouldn’t share though. Of course he also hadn’t given up the scrap of skin since he’d taken it either, another thing that was putting Eddie out. He’d been the one to find it, now he’d be lucky to pry it from Kruger’s cold dead fingers. Stubborn, selfish...ASS. He had no problem telling Eddie what to do though, turn here...park there...no over there, seriously what was the difference"

The hidden door absolutelydidn’t surprise Eddie. Just because one minute the wall was solid and the next it was a gaping maw didn’t mean he was surprised. The momentary darkness did at least give him the opportunity to send a pinch to Tahlia’s backside, at least he hoped it was hers. Pinching Kruger’s tush wasn’t anywhere near his bucket list. The ambience once that door closed was nice too, everything going from black to a nice purple haze, it was a little known fact that Eddie sort of liked purple… now that song was stuck in his head though. He also wasn’t being childish, like he could be. Not once in the entire long walk did he actually come out and say, are we there yet" He wanted to, the words needed saying, especially since this time he wasn’t the one doing the guiding...or driving. “Jesus, I didn’t know you had access to a bank vault.” Eddie’s tone was sarcastic, and who could blame him really considering what Kruger had said. It wasn’t because the lack of trust had made him wince. That would mean he actually cared what Kruger thought of him. Nothing could be further from the truth...not one little thing.

Kruger just shook his head and stayed silent. He’d been silent most of the time since leaving his shop, he had reasons and they were multilayered. First and foremost, he needed to think about what he wanted to do, what he actually could do and perhaps more importantly how to make that happen. Having Eddie around just gave him a viable excuse that would uphold the image of him being a brainless buffoon. In a strange way he’d never cared much if people thought that about him, that might be obvious from the way he acted in certain circles. It was in some ways a test to those around him to see if they genuinely wanted to know him or simply accepted his minor eccentricities. It was just a pity that Eddie refused to do that and stay away. The massive door swung shut again with a heavy whumpf of air and a rapid fire clicking as multiple locks moved into place. “I’m not paranoid.” It was best to cut off those thoughts before they were given voice!

Echoes followed the doors closing, the purple glow that had guided them downward branched out into an openness that was nearly as long as the distance they’d traveled under the city. They were in the center of a vast corridor whose walls were sixty feet away to the right and left and rose another hundred to an arched ceiling which added another twenty at its pinnacle. There were massive supporting columns and the floor was stone polished to a high sheen. Everywhere the eye looked there were carvings, some simple elemental symbols, others more complex ideas like chaos, order and balance. Most were formulaic in nature, and might as well be a language unto themselves for how tightly packed together they were. Here, unlike the path down the light brightened. It began slowly, almost as though the place weren’t certain that this was what was required of it. Purple went to blue and then to a muted white illuminating things to something more normal. Considering who’d built it, maybe abnormal was the reason behind the confusion.

There were doorways along the corridor, most of them hid their attributes behind closed doors. The light at least made the opposite end of the place visible some five hundred ten feet away, though it was obscured by a solitary column in the center of the subterranean chamber. Kruger took a deep breath and let it out in an audible sigh. The sound was picked up by every curved surface making the entire place feel like it too was breathing. He started forwards walking towards that center column. “There’s rooms over there for you to freshen up in. A bed to catch a few hours of sleep. You should probably do that.” Drawing nearer to the sanctum’s center revealed even more about the place, the center column wasn’t a column at all. It rose up from the floor ninety meters and supported a large circular platform. Above that rose a dome another ninety meters leaving the top of the platform even with the circular opening. The domes ceiling was painted into a representation of the night sky over Rhydin, though somehow the moons which appeared up there were in perfect alignment with the pair of celestial bodies that orbited the planet. “I’ll need at least an hour anyway. You can find me, up there.” He pointed to the platform with one finger, turning toward them and blocking their forward progress. “This is the boring stuff. Nobody really wants to see it.”

Tahlia opened her mouth to protest...but right now, there were other things she needed more than satisfying her curiosity about the smith, and what he could do. She’d seen forges...back when they were common enough to have one on every corner, practically. This...this was like none of them. It felt more like a church - a temple to the act of creation. Some of the designs on the walls, the formulas, she supposed she should call them, looked like the kind of things her brother would scribble as he experimented and tested. They’d never made sense to her, but… “Louis would love this place…” She spoke in a whisper. Somehow the place seemed to insist on it, from her at least. She wasn’t sure either of the other two was capable of whispering. Or at least not what normal people thought of as whispering.

She had a feeling Eddie would insist on being there, without an excuse. Other than that night on the beach, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him tired. Even if Kruger wouldn’t let him up, he’d insist...and something told her this place wasn’t a good place to challenge the smith, if anywhere really was. Turning, she laid a hand on Eddie’s forearm, right above the pumpkin pie inked into his skin. “Puddin...could we" The salt is really starting to sting where those Mer caught me...and I might need help washing it off. Please"” She didn’t mind playing damsel, just this once.

Eddie didn’t once feel the need to duck, that was unsettling enough that he didn’t even say the smartass comment about Kruger overcompensating for his shortcomings. He’d wanted to, really he did but something held his tongue in check. He stopped walking where the dome chamber opened up, and the walls darted away into a pair of deep transepts. It irked him somewhat that he hadn’t known about this place when he’d taken so much satisfaction in knowing everything. The writing was on the wall though, literally, and to Eddie it might as well be Greek. Come to think of it, maybe some of it was. Kruger was too eager to have them leave him alone, it made Eddie suspicious. He wasn’t a suspicious man by any means, not of anyone or anything...usually… with the exception of everyone that is. He wanted to please Tahlia, but just felt like he was being left out of something important. “What exactly are you hiding"” Other than a massive underground structure buried beneath a park.

“Hiding? Nothing. I mean, you can come too, but unless you know about how to integrate Schrodinger's Quantum Mechanical formula on Harmonic Motion via the Unity Molecular formula to extract heavy metal biorhythms. You’ll just get in my way.” Behind him as he spoke the names, portions of the intricate carvings lit up brighter than those which surrounded them. He watched Eddie’s face for a reaction, but the tall man was a study in stone.

“I think… Tahlia needs my help a little more.” He was pretty good at getting those hard to reach spots. Eddie relented to the tug at his arm, turning his back on the smith and pretty much every bit of the spectacle of the building behind him. “Besides, math is for nerds and geeks.” Eddie might admit later that he was in awe of the place...to Tahlia...when no one else was around, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from getting the last word in against Kruger. Eddie wasn’t picky, Kruger had said rooms, so he went to the first door and pulled it open to let Tahlia go in ahead of him. He shut the door behind them, looking at the little blonde with a half perplexed expression. “Told you he could help…” The words didn’t match the expression in the least, Eddie was a walking talking conundrum.

She was almost used to that, catching sight of that look of his over her shoulder. “You did. Hopefully you two can keep from killing each other long enough to let him.” She was already letting her hair down, and tugging the torn tank top over her head. There was nothing really to be done about her clothes...even torn, this outfit seemed a better idea than the ‘something slinky’ she’d thought she’d be wearing by now. The shower hadn’t just been an excuse, the edges of those cuts were an angry red - salt wasn’t poisonous, just painful. Sitting down on the bed to pull off her boots, she flopped backwards. “Oh god...I shouldn’t have done that..now I don’t want to get up…” It was a surprisingly comfortable bed.

“Hush now, don't you cry Wipe away the teardrop from your eye”

The moment his first words began the forge was gone, but not. He could still feel the heat from the fire at his back. He knew if he opened his eyes he’d still see Tahlia and Eddie standing in nearly the same position and just as equidistant as they had been from him. What was in front of him was different, instead of the domed chamber there was another version of Kruger, and oddly a second voice sang too. It came from the figure in the center of the space, he knelt next to the bed of a small child, smoothing at wild curls with his fingers.

Instinctively Eddie knew that what was before him wasn’t more than a memory, and one that didn’t belong to him. It came out of Kruger’s mind, but he felt like if he reached out towards it that things would be solid. It was something that his brother would never have talked to him about, and he knew that if it weren’t for the current need it would never have been said. The knowing hurt, he wished things had been could be different, but like always when something hurt Eddie his mind started to make mean spirited jokes. He would have opened his mouth and made comments if he hadn’t been so stunned by the song. He knew it, remembered it despite what he’d said before. Voices behind him had him turning around, they were distant and soft though it was clear enough that they would have been deafening if heard close up. They were just echoes through the halls below, or maybe through time. Was that even possible" The sounds of high pitched giggles cut through the air loud yet soft all at once.

...Hard about, Niko me boy! ...Aye aye Captain...Yaaaar!

The laughter continued, but it changed. No longer the peels of a child at play, now it was distinctly feminine. Curiosity had Eddie turning back he wanted to look at Tahlia to see if she’d heard what he had. When he did he was met by another scene, Kruger was there, a far younger version of him at least. That second voice was still singing the words along with his brother, though the tone lacked some of the depth. He was laying in a field, his head resting on the abdomen of a dark haired elf woman that Eddie recognized.

”Your mind tricked you to feel the pain Of someone close to you leaving the game of life”

The scene faded and was overlapped by another, in the distance the woman rode at the head of a company of soldiers disappearing into a deep woods. It lasted only a moment before bleeding into another. The woman’s head lay on Kruger’s knees, his fingers traced the lines of a face broken and abused which stared up at him blankly. Dried blood coated her throat and did nothing to hide the deep cut that had caused it. A hand touched Kruger’s shoulder, and a tall elf in armor came into view. He looked up at the man, his face a mask of inconsolable grief and pain. Beneath the platform more voices could be heard, still distant echoes through time, but clear and audible to those above.

It was the will of the gods, Aristotle… Gods" Then I’ll kill them all...Do you hear me" I’m going to kill each and every one of you!”

Tahlia didn’t know the song, but it sounded familiar in the way that all songs sung by mothers to frightened children are familiar. It had been...a very long time since her own had done anything of the kind. Since she’d been alive. The emotions struck her harder than she was expecting, and she closed her eyes, pressing her lips together. Kruger hadn’t said she had to watch, just that she couldn’t move. And yet...she couldn’t leave Eddie to face this alone, any more than she had the night in the temple.

Forcing her eyes open, she let out a gasp. They were somewhere else, again...she recognized Kruger, looking much younger than she’d seen him. There were docks, and she could hear the ocean, the song still hiding in the surf and the cry of seagulls. He was on the gangplank of a ship - what she thought of as a pirate ship, masted and grand, creaking with the tide. She’d sailed on a few of them...after touching iron to remove her taint, and console the crew for having a woman aboard. With a start, she realized she was letting her mind wander, and focused back on the ocean, and the ship...and the man who seemed to be leading them all.

...You have no name boy...no family...no clan...because it's what you are...nothing

”There's a place I like to hide. A doorway that I run through in the night. Relax child, you were there, but only didn't realize and you were scared.”

The voice accompanying Kruger turned high and reedy and the words came with soft sobs from the child laying on a bed of straw alone in the dark. Eddie held so tightly to the bath behind him that his forearms ached. He was barely aware of it, and had no idea when it had begun as he watched the massive red haired smith restrain the boy and whip him. The vision...he knew better, but it was easier to deal with if he didn’t call it a memory...was so vivid that he could smell blood in the air, and the burning of flesh as the brand burned its way through the skin of the boy’s face. Easier to say boy too, it removed him somewhat from the already overwhelming emotions for what he was seeing. Eddie wanted to close his eyes, he would have except that he’d already seen too much and knew it would just keep playing across his eyelids.

Another hint of blood hit him, and the smell of burnt flesh but it wasn’t coming from in front of him. It was clearly in the direction of the forge, but the singer never stopped and the song did not falter. The voices were closing in. Where once they’d seemed far off to Eddie, they were getting progressively closer to his hearing at least though the next one left no doubt in his mind. It descended from above, a hostage of the massive dome freed from captivity with that same reedy tenor.

...C...call...me...Ish...mael…

”I- will be watching over you. I- am gonna help you see it through. I- will protect you in the night. I- am smiling next to you, in Silent Lucidity.”

Eddie ignored the impossible scents. He almost hadn’t, but the child’s voice was gone now. It wasn’t even a male voice anymore. He knew the sound, didn’t have to see the form of Kruger stretched over the lap of the singer to know it was their mother. She looked down at her burden, fingers smoothing out wild curls. The red of her hair burned like fire, and her eyes were so green they almost hurt to look at. The focus of the images between them changed, settling on her face and zooming ever inwards until everything turned black as it swept into her pupil. A shaft of light slammed into the anvil from the center of the dome. It rotated on itself, opening like a scroll and revealing a cluster of islands in a deep blue sea. In sudden bursts it zoomed in on the place dropping closer to the water, then descending far beneath the waves. All at once it altered, a small well lit chamber appeared though it was impossible to tell from the angle where the light was coming from. Sitting on the edge of a bed was the woman whose face had just been seen. She raised her head as though aware that she was being watched, her eyes seemed to look right at the three of them and recognition flashed through those too green eyes. Her mouth moved, sound came from all around them again in a harsh whisper.

Help me.

Kruger had said not to move until the connection was made, he’d also said they’d know when it happened. If the whisper hadn’t been enough, the maelstrom like portal that appeared in front of Eddie certainly was. Water was all he could see, still he didn’t hesitate. He simply took the step forward that would carry him through it.

It only took Tahlia a moment to make the connection, realizing who the woman on the bed might be, and a moment later, why Eddie liked her better blonde. She took a step to follow him, biting back the cry of his name. It couldn’t be that easy - could it' Bottom lip pulled between her teeth, she shot a panicked, pleading look over at the smith. She couldn’t let Eddie go alone - but Kruger had said she had to be the anchor. She didn’t think she could stand by and watch again, unable to do anything. Tahlia didn’t understand exactly what was going on, and it was that that kept her feet in place, not wanting to risk breaking whatever anchored that portal - and leaving Eddie with no way back.

“Kruger...please…” She didn’t love the quaver in her voice, but she couldn’t hide it. It was that important to her not to let him face this alone. Not that she knew what she could do to help. She just knew that she had to try…

Kruger opened his eyes, green gold orbs looked straight at Tahlia. His face burned and he could feel the blood running down his back, old wounds opened up for him to relive. He didn’t let it stop him, it wasn’t that it didn’t hurt in fact it hurt every bit as much now as the first time he’d ever felt the lash or the brand. He’d already lived through the pain once, doing so again was just easier. He knew what she wanted and thought he understood why, stopping now would alter the intended result perhaps fatally. What he needed was for her to listen, to understand.

If you open your mind for me,you won't rely on open eyes to see. The walls you built within come tumbling down, and a new world will begin.

She needed to see what was and what needed to be, to let go because there was nothing that he could do that would let her go where she wanted to...not physically at least.

Living twice at once you learn, You're safe from pain in the dream domain. A soul set free to fly.

No longer limited to his place by the forge, Kruger moved towards Tahlia. He didn’t speak, just kept the song going as he approached. He put one hand behind his back drawing it out and raising it towards Tahlia’s forehead. Red liquid clung thickly to his thumb, he used his nail to draw five lines on her forehead, one vertical and four horizontal beneath it like an arrow pointed downward and that’s exactly what she did. He caught her as she collapsed, lowering her gently to the floor. Part of her was still standing, that part which could endure the where she so wanted to go. “You’re in between, not here or there but both. He can find her, but you can find him...but I’m going to give you a head start.”

Tahlia looked down at her body, and took a breath, trying to give herself a moment to adjust...and then tried not to panic that she couldn’t breathe. Right. Her body was lying on the forge floor. And breathing. “This is like the temple...only not.” She’d have to adjust on the move. She didn’t have time to learn to walk, not with Eddie heading into who-knew-what. She could feel the tug - could feel where he was. But there was something else first.

She turned her focus from the portal, back to the smith, with what she hoped was a smile. “Thank you.” Looking around the forge for the moment, she realized he was technically the only leg of the triangle left standing. “What will you do' While Eddie’s doing what he does, and I...do what I can"”

Kruger acknowledged the thank you with a nod. He withdrew the hammer from its place and turned from the prone form of Tahlia, from the incorporeal aspect as well and stepped towards the black fires. He took up a pair of tongs and withdrew the rod he’d placed earlier. “Me? I’m going to make an entrance.” He wore a cocky grin as he looked at Phantom Tahlia, and jerked his head towards the open portal. The glowing rod was placed atop the anvil, but he waited for her to step through before sending the hammer down. It went off less like a bell than it should have sounded, more like a gong though the shockwave that spread outward struck the walls of the dome and amplified. “Welcome back my friends...to the show that never ends.”

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

Love is like a dyin' ember Only memories remain Through the ages I'll remember Blue eyes cryin' in the rain ~ Oesch's die Dritten

Ysabeau

Ysabeau knelt in silence, breathing in the vague sent of the incense, just a hint of salt, and something that wouldn't be recognized on the surface - the kind of plants that grew in the deep and dark, and took planning and preparation to recover. It was part of what made them sacred. She didn't use this one often, but after the trials...Nim and her tricks, her insinuations. After all that, and everything she'd seen in those wretched visions when the Mer had gone over the edge, she needed the time to sit and contemplate. To center herself. So she had taken a bath, washing herself from head to toe in silence, and then set up the altar. Incense. An abalone shell. One of the bioluminescent globes to light the space. And a pendant. One of a pair, although the other wasn't accessible to her. Nim had that. Held it over her like a threat. But maybe...maybe if she helped the shaman achieve her goal, she could get it. It wouldn't mean anything to anyone else. Wouldn't bring him back. But it would be something.

Taking a deep breath, the cosain focused, or rather let herself unfocus - Kaelin was never far from her thoughts. She'd simply grown adept at hiding that fact from the others. Beau didn't need to close her eyes, not anymore. Not to summon his face, or the sound of his voice - even if it had been more years than she thought possible. But she still sought his counsel. And, if she were honest...she wasn't entirely certain it was all drawn from her memory. He was part of her, true - he always would be. But sometimes, it felt like he was truly there with her.

"What's wrong with your face?" The words came from nowhere, half jokingly and half serious they were accompanied by sounds and scents of the sea. He'd often said that everything began and ended there, but in the literal sense the black sand beach created by pulverized obsidian had been that. Kaelin had never appeared there before, and maybe that he was there now had something to do with where Beau's mind was. The dark expanse sparkled in sunlight, as it had the day they'd met, and the one they'd parted on. Here and there massive stones of the substance rose from the sand and out of the water making it clear enough what had created the odd beach. "Never did like you with that one, always seemed like you were ready to bite someone...usually me but I can honestly say that shouldn't be the case this time."

As Kaelin spoke, his frame solidified, starting as a mere shadow hidden amongst the black crystals and slowly becoming statuesque. He was still a shadow, but that was mainly because he stood with his back towards the sun. It was the best place to appear from after all, ask anyone. "No, my guess is someone closer to life than me, if only a little." The dark outline twisted, head turning to gaze around at the site that had manifested with him. "Two hundred years, and you still come here when you're upset." He stepped closer, his footfalls sounding in the granulated glass though he left no footprints in his wake. As he neared things became clearer. Kaelin had never been what people would call lean, a mass of shoulders arms and chest on a form that didn't quite top out at six feet. You'd be hard pressed to find any fat over the muscles, then again maybe Ysabeau was idealizing him. That wasn't impossible, right' Where his eyes really that blue, or his hair quite so dark despite that hints of silver that wove through it at the temples" Was he really here, or was that just the bits of him that he left behind" The entire thought line might not even be his own, but he'd play his part, pretend that it was, live a little longer though he was ages gone.

"It's home, still, Kaelin. It will always be. In no small part because...you're here." She couldn't help the smile. He'd always been able to do that. "And no, it's not you. It's her. Again." She very much doubted that he would need a clarification on who she was. Nimsu had always been a thorn in Ysabeau's side, and Kaelin had often had to be the voice of reason. "Do you know what she's done, leannán" She's been hiding your...successor. Letting him grow up wild. Untrained. And now...now that he's slipped her leash and is charging around like a bullshark through coral...she wants me to step in. To befriend him. Guide him." She let out a snickering little laugh. "Get him away from the talamh faoi cheangal baineann he's got himself attached to. I thought she was controlling him, now I don't know."

For a moment, she simply stared at him, taking him in the way she always had. Maybe she was idealizing him a little. She had in life, why should it stop simply because he'd gone. "She still blames me. She'll always blame me. Punish me. For what happened. But this...the Mer cosain is dead. He went mad...and I think...I think Nimsu is trying to start a war." Beau ran a hand through her hair, and sighed, reaching a hand for the pendant that was always around her neck when she sought him out. Here. In the place that had meant so much to both of them. Better to remember him like this, than the last time she saw him.

"Home." Kaelin settled onto the sand, looked to his left and pointed. "That's where I found you, too wild a thing to be tamed easily, and over there is where you told me you loved me, and I told you little girls don't really know what that word means. Up there is where I kissed you the first time and we...." His voice trailed off, and he turned his too blue eyes back to her. "But we're here, and this is where I bled out in front of you. I can only believe that we're here because of the uncertainty you're feeling." His hands idly began to hollow out a patch of sand between them. "Hiding him from who' Likely she said from you, but that's just Nim and you know you have to look beneath words meant to hurt. Perhaps it's the why of it that matters most?" A rogue wave broke and bulled its way across the sand infiltrating the space beneath Kaelin and filling the hole he'd been digging only to recede and leave a crystal clear pool behind.

"You say that the Mer was insane, but haven't we always been a reflection of those we serve" When I was alive the others always said I was far too bold, and maybe I was but we were strong then....the Roane. Look at you, cautious to the point that you unwittingly allied yourself to that insanity, so I wonder if war can really be avoided. I wonder what the benefit of Nim's choice to allow my successor to run wild." Kaelin dipped his hands into the pool, bringing them out with palms upright. A globe of water rested atop them, it should have been as clear as when it was formed, yet at the center of it there was motion. Figures struck out at one another, most unfamiliar, though Beau would recognize a pair of them, at least until the taller one became something altogether different. "Even setting aside his mistress of earth and stone and their relationship as a secondary concern, can you deny the obligation that The Mother has placed before you?" Kaelin's hands dropped away, the ball of water remained where it was playing out a scene of immense carnage. Whatever held it into place imploding as the transfigured form dove headlong into a luminous pool.

For a moment, she was distracted, following his gestures as he pointed out their own little map of moments. Remembering them as her eyes found each location and her mind supplied the memories that went with them. Good memories, most of them, now at least. Except that last. The place where they now sat. The spot she'd held him as he died, and for a moment the pool was red, and she could see him lying there again. Taking a sharp breath, Ysabeau closed her her eyes and shook her head, sharply, definitely. It was easier, normally, to be in the spot than to see it. To not talk about it. But now...well, now it seemed she was going to have to deal with all the things she didn't want to.

"Of course there's benefit. He doesn't bow to the Mer the way we were all trained to do. The way they expect us to. He's...cocky. Like you were. Bold. Daring. Someone made sure he knows his heritage - but he's as comfortable on land. Very little respect for authority." The description made her cringe, but he wasn't wrong. "He got Nim to put the mark on her - his little landwalker. It took Jax. And then he took the reptile...and walked away. The Mer thought...we thought...she was controlling him. But then...maybe that's how she could see" I couldn't get him out..." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to say these things - she was talking to herself. To the face she missed more than the smell of salt and sun-warmed sand. Except that it helped. It always helped to talk to him. It always had. Even when he reminded her that Nim was the one who had brought them together - convinced him to train her.

"I know war is coming. I know it's inevitable. But I don't know...I just don't know if we're strong enough. Even if Nim can convince her grandson to be what she wishes him to be..."

"Did you ever consider that it matters little what Nim wishes" After all..." His words were turned suddenly silent. Kaelin's lips still moved but the force of his voice was overtaken by the echoes of a massive gong. Sound reverberated from everywhere and nowhere at all tearing at the landscape toppling trees, shattering stone. His expression turned instantly from wizened counsellor to that shocked expression she'd only seen once before. The light dimmed as shadowy fingers slid across the sun curling into a massive fist and drowning everything in darkness....all except for eight points of light in the sky where once the sun had dwelt. There was a pattern to them, a distinct shape that could only have been put there on purpose. The Ara glowed white hot, it would be the last thing Ysabeau would see before being thrown from her meditations...that and the imprint of Kaelin's clutching hand on the sand.

Head Above Water

So pull me up from down below 'Cause I'm underneath the undertow Come dry me off and hold me close I need you now, I need you most ~ Avril Lavigne

Tahlia

The darkness never receded, it just lost that purple hue in favor of something more like a lightning bug glow. The opening to the portal was no longer visible, though if someone stood there long enough they might feel the hint of a breeze signifying that it was indeed still present and open. The sounds of a hammer still rang on, though its origin had shifted position and the timing of the blows was off by half a beat. Shelves stood in odd places within the new space, all of them laden with the bits and pieces that made up sea life. In stark contrast, there were a number of spaces which held iron bars and from the sound of the ringing that was the material being worked currently. The space between the strokes was filled with the sound of chanting, though the language was either dead or something far from common.

A large man stood over the anvil, his hand holding to a long handled hammer, he was burly but something in the greying shade of his skin spoke of age. From time to time his head would lift, attention drawn to the second figure in the room. His distraction with her didn't seem to hinder his ability to work any, a clear sign that he'd been doing this for a long time. The other, it was just as clear, had not. She was as obviously youthful as he was aging, his gaze held a certain fondness for the kneeling girl. Her attire was a long robe reminiscent of catholic nuns except that she wore no cover. Her hair hung in wavy lengths of cerulean and viridian highlights. A second sound broke the rhythm of the room, another bell coming at discordant measures to the smith's hammer. It was enough to draw the chanting woman out of her work.

"I have to go. I'll return to finish when I can." She rose to her feet, revealing a handful of weapons laid out on the floor, then crossed the room to place an almost chaste kiss on the smith's cheek.

"More meditating, Angelfish?" His tone was rimmed with disappointment, though the kiss did give him a bit of a smile.

"I only do what the mother wills." She raised the back of her robe, covering her head and glided from the room.

There was a sigh from the smith as he watched her go, head shaking. "At this rate I'll never get all these weapons blessed....kind of a strange time for meditation, it's barely past breakfast."

Tahlia stepped from the portal, automatically ducking behind a rack of weapons - some complete, some obviously in progress, watching the scene before her with sharp eyes. She didn't know how visible, or not, she was like this, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. She assumed that if Bo had been able to sense her in that god-forsaken torture dream, others might be able to as well.

Blessed weapons...war had been a near constant reality, when she was young, and she remembered the priests offering blessings and absolution to the soldiers. Still, it was a piece of information she would have to hold on to, glancing around the space as if to note details, but really just to see if there was anything distinctive. She could feel a subtle tug, a direction,nothing more, but the warmth of it gave her no question as to who it was drawing her to. Ducking down, she snuck along the wall until she gained the door, glancing back for a moment to make certain the smith was back at his work before she slipped through the doorway.

Motion caught the smith's eyes, he got a glimpse of someone...something....retreating through the door. He balled up a fist and held it against his stomach, certain he knew what was happening. "The girl can't cook to save her life....got me seeing things. At least she's pretty."

There were more than a few hooded forms moving along the hallway, though the door to the smithy seemed to be the last one in this particular corridor. The light wasn't blinding, but it was certainly much brighter than the forge had been. The sound of the bell seemed to intone through very walls of the place, perhaps something in that smooth pearlescent finish acted to amplify the sound. They were lined with brighter versions of the glows that had been in the forge, here and there a tapestry hung. Most of these depicted a domineering woman as she appeared to be commanding the waters to do her bidding, or standing over sea creatures with a loving expression on her face.

The corridor bent inward, yet never seemed to rise. This was not a ramp but something that ran along the outer wall perhaps. The hooded women veered to the right through another doorway. There was another a little further down and to the left, here too was the hint of brimstone and something more. The hint of a whisper saying it would help to see it through.

Tahlia was certain the hooded figures would be more likely to notice her, so she bypassed the doorway on the right, smoothing one hand along the wall, and kept her eyes on the figures. They looked like the ones from the cavern, only unarmed. At least, visibly unarmed. One passed close by, and the blonde held her non-existent breath. There was a rush of forms, and she pressed into the wall, edging herself behind one of the tapestries, one depicting the Mother (she assumed) gazing down on her children with love. It didn't seem to match the vibe of the hooded figures, or the buzz of war. More likely the other...the one she could see hanging just across...who seemed...well, the angry god of the Old Testament she'd grown up with.

Beyond the door a stairway rose, that it did not also descend was telling in a way that there was no further down to go.The scent, the sound both disappeared within that pristinely carved staircase. Whether they had been real, or simply tricks played by the mind once inside they slipped away. From here, there's only one way...up. They might be gone, but there were other things reaching out for Tahlia, one in particular really and if she had a doubt she'd find that the pull became stronger the closer to those steps she got. The steps were steep, and bent around two more times before stopping at a closed door. It, much like the walls, was slightly opaque, the stout hinges indicated that it swung inward, and perhaps that it was heavier than it looked. A window of sorts rested halfway between the top of the door and the handle. It wasn't like the ones she'd be familiar with. There were no seams, and the substance wasn't glass. It was designed to be there, a distinctive oval shape which seemed to have had the pearlescence drawn out of it.

She followed the pull, closing her eyes even though it didn't really do anything at all, and feeling her way along the smooth curve. She nearly walked into the door, stopping just short, and blinking at it for a moment, still disoriented by being both present and somehow...not. Rising up on tiptoe, she peered through the opening, scanning the other side for a hint of what was ahead of her. Assuming she could get on the other side of the door.

Another corridor ran forward from the door. Here the walls had been siphoned of the milky tint as well, though what was beyond them was difficult to see. To the left everything was dark, like the sky at night when clouds covered the stars. To the right another wall was visible through the windows. The angle making it obvious that room on the opposite side was deeper than the floor, like they'd been put in place to observe something happening below.

There had to be some code, or sequence. Leaning up and in, she tried to see what the other side of the door was like, if there was a key, or a lock...or something. So focused on looking over - she nearly fell flat on her face when she went through the door, and stumbled a few feet down the corridor. Glancing around, she was incredibly thankful Eddie hadn't been there to see that, or anyone else for that matter. Turning, she reached to close the door behind her, only to realize that it had never opened. Huh. Maybe Kruger had been right about looking through things.

A panoramic view was offered through the window to the left. It was definitely outside, and yet even more confining. The darkness was unbroken from above, from far below rose a glow that pulsed in shades of crimson. It came from thousands of small, at least they appeared that way from here, shapes lining....the seabed like rows of rubies. If there were any doubt about this place being beneath the water it would be removed as a shape swam uncaringly past. It's coloring was bright, the kind of thing found in tropical waters....or fish tanks. The view to the right was less open, the windows looked down into vast central chambers. There were creatures swimming here too, less ornately colored and at least half their measure was humanoid. The first window revealed a nursery, dozens of forms small enough to be nothing other than infants which zipped back and forth within.

Each window looked down on a similar scene, though the creatures within were bigger, presumably older and progressively less innocent in nature. No longer were the caregivers a reasonable facsimile of land nannies. Now they were weapons instructors and the students the size of five year old children. The corridor sloped upwards, the chambers deepening as the children increased in size. They broadened out to accommodate the ever more aggressiveness of their training. Upon the walls were diagrams of different species from both land and sea. The final window looked down upon groups of young adults engaged in combat against each other under a massive banner reading. Flosh Klin Emo Cosain!

Tahlia could read the words, but not understand the language, save the one word. Whatever the rest was, she suspected it wasn't good. She continued along the path, pulled inexorably onward. To say the scene below gave her goosebumps would be an understatement, or at least, it would have if she wasn't just...a projection. Maybe an illusion. She hadn't really had a chance to ask Kruger, not that she expected him to be any more forthcoming than his brother.

Shaking her head at the thought, she kept moving. She had to find Eddie - and then, then she wanted to get out of here.

The corridor bent sharply to the right, the windows becoming the same clouded color that most of the place had been up to this point only to end at yet another massive tapestry. This one, like all the others had a maternal figure on it, though unlike the others it depicted her healing the injured. To the left was another set of stairs, whatever was happening to the right would be inaccessible. The pull was growing stronger, it came from the stairwell, and yet it wasn't strongest there. Its greater urging was to move forward.

Tahlia stayed alert, moving cautiously across the hall. She still wasn't sure how visible she might be, or might not be. Angling toward the steps, she slowed as the tug that was leading her didn't seem to follow. Two steps toward the stairs, and it was at her side. Turning, once than once more, she found herself facing the tapestry. Closing her eyes, she spun, following the pull, only to end up exactly where she'd started. It was drawing her to the tapestry. The one showing the Mother caring for her children. An infirmary' Was Eddie hurt' But...she couldn't see an opening, but then, did it matter" Just as she moved toward the wall, she saw it. A shadow along an edge that was darker than it should have been. The slightest movement. A sign. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the tapestry, hoping it wasn't a disaster.

Hidden behind the tapestry, a low tunnel swept away and upwards. There were signs that it was used often, the biggest being no dust on the floor. It was the perfect height for someone small, anyone too much over five feet tall would need to stoop to traverse it. The tunnel, like so many other things in the place was a worked spiral, though another opening existed in the wall not too far away from this one. The darkness in it said that it too was covered, quite possibly in the same way. As Tahlia worked her way upwards she would see there were many such openings, all of them hidden behind a curtain of thick woven cloth. Still, it's not always what?s ahead that is the danger, but that which comes from behind. Glass shattered in her wake, the sound of porcelain hitting stone punctuated by a terrified shriek. "Mother protect me from Misery Woe!" The call was frail despite its volume, tremulous words from an aged throat.

"What is it Nianni?" A second voice full of authority asked.

"A spirit, sister, the dark one....the destroyer roams our halls this day!" The presence of the other woman had done nothing to pull the panic from Nianni's voice.

"Calm yourself you old fool, your eyes are old and are playing tricks on your mind. There's no way the destroyer could pass through our hallowed halls. Where is your faith?" The stern voice began to reprimand the old woman, but even that died away as another sound carried through the tunnel. "Get someplace safe, Nianni...maybe you did see something after all."

"You see! I said what I saw....she's here to consume the blood of our children!"

The crash of glass pulled the tiny blonde up short, staring at the crone in surprise. That name again. She wasn't sure where to go - at least the older sister didn't seem to be taken seriously. Making her way along the corridor, the blast of a horn sent her hiding behind a nearby tapestry. Maybe in wasn't her the old one had seen...or perhaps she'd tripped a wire, or some kind of alarm. In between the lowing bursts of sound, she could hear footsteps. Too quick and sure to be Nianni, it had to be the other one. For the moment, Tahlia needed to play it safe. Besides...there was something familiar about the rhythm of the tones....

There were a lot of voices now and footfalls to match the quantity. They remained outside of the tunnel, almost as though they didn't know this accessway existed or surely they'd have been inside. "Livyatan..." was said by more than one voice though another was asking where it had come from. The steps behind were closing and ahead there seemed to be nothing less than filled chambers and corridors.

"Here it comes!" Boom, the impact could be felt as well as heard, the entire complex shook under the impact of something that had to be massive. Ahead and behind the footfalls became the sound of bodies hitting the floor. The tapestry behind which she was hidden also shook, though it was with the impact of a body against the other side of it.

Tahlia ducked, looking up at the cracks spiderwebbing across the ceiling...the opalescence of the walls shimmering with the impact. A single word breathed out - a name she uttered often, and with every ounce of hushed joy she could manage. He always did know how to make an entrance. Ducking out from behind the tapestry, she looked out over the room below, then up, squinting in the sudden shadows. Ghostly lips pulled into a smile, realizing that it wasn't clouds, but a whale the size of a battleship blotting out the light...surrounded by alarms and chaos, the blonde stood still, waiting.

Large sections of the ceiling collapsed inward towards Tahlia to shatter as they impacted the floor. Some did more than simply become bits of thick shell scattered across the corridor, pinning Mer unfortunate enough to have lost their footing completely. There were still plenty stirring to life, their progress marked by the scuffing of weapons on the floor and the tinkling of shifting detritus as bits and pieces slipped noisily from the slowly rising forms. The hornblower had stopped, likely as out of sorts as those in the space beyond the tapestry, though the bell still tolled. It rang out a couple of times before being followed by a voice from above.

"Ding Dong....Avon Calling! I got just what your faces need!" Another impact, this one significantly smaller than the previous. It likely didn't register on the richter scale at all, the poor sap that felt the full weight of one Eddie Blake, he only had a moment to really get a feel for what just happened. What followed were the sounds of some kind of blunt object making contact with some almost solid objects, if a little hollow or squishy.

Poor Unfortunate Souls

If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet You've got the pay the toll Take a gulp and take a breath And go ahead and sign the scroll ~ Poor Unfortunate Souls lyrics (c) Walt Disney Music Company

Eddie had never been here, not inside here at least and yet he knew exactly where he needed to go. "You could have, but I didn't expect that you would want to." He reached out to take Tahlia's hand only to have it pass right through her. How had he missed that she was practically transparent anyway' "Do I want to know what?s happened to you?" He probably should have phrased that differently, because yes he did want to know. "Stay with me, I'd hate to lose you in here." If that were even possible in her current state, he was about to head out when he heard the creaking groan echo through the corridors. That wasn't a major concern, it was the sound that followed which had him start to worry. The inrush of the sea was distinct even at the distance the sound needed to travel to get to the dynamic duo. "Oops..." He would have made a quick grab for the blonde, if he hadn't already been thwarted once by her lack of solidity.

Turning back towards the essence which pulled at his chest like fishing line, Eddie stepped over the fallen Mer and those things which would have his feet bleeding. His path becoming a winding twist of doorways and corridors that undulated anglelessly, though even as he moved forward he couldn't keep from looking over his shoulder to check on Tahlia.

"Your brother. He did - something like that mark Nim put on me, so I'm here, but...not. I guess cause the whole...not one of you, thing?" Tahlia shrugged, staring at her the way her fingers closed over nothing. They were ghosts to each other, in this place, but she was there and he could see her, and somehow that was important. She couldn't hold on, but she was as close behind as her much smaller strides could keep her. Habit had her murmuring a single word under her breath, hoping to erase the crimson footprints in Eddie's wake. "And before you say anything, I asked him to." Begged might be closer, but now wasn't the time or the place for a conversation they'd been so good at avoiding.

The rush of water was a backdrop as they made their way through the smoothly curving corridors, trusting the big Selkie to lead the way. She was pretty sure she couldn't drown like this, but really, why test that theory' Hopping over a splayed figure (possibly landing on its head just to make herself feel better), it took her a moment to realize that the corridor had somehow gone from simply clean to pristine, and there was a subtle scent in the air she could only describe as antiseptic. Nose crinkling, she resisted the urge to touch anything, and took an extra few steps to stick just a little closer.

Abandoned pathways stretched out before them, their normal occupants pulled away to other places whether that was dealing with the flooding below or the Livyatan that someone had managed to enrage mattered little to Eddie, so long as they didn't get in his way. It wouldn't last, he knew that much, hell he could hear voices ahead and see where this particular hallway became an open area. Navigating around it would have been pointless, the pull would bring him back here again. He stopped at the edge, putting his back to the wall and pointing to a closed door in full view of the chamber just around the corner.

"Liandra's always saying the most horrible things about you." The voice was clear, strong, and quite young. It came from a novice acolyte who, judging by the smell, was delivering food.

A second voice came from further into the chamber, this one deeper, full of experience, and a bit of ire. "Girls who gossip are a bore, dear. I'm certain they've told you I don't like a lot of blabber....so run along, before I teach you what idle chatter's for."

The tray the acolyte carried hit a tabletop hard enough to indicate that it was done on purpose. It was followed by a haughty huff and solid footfalls heading down an adjoining corridor. "Ugh! She's such a witch!" It likely wasn't meant to be heard, but the low chuckle from the other woman said that she'd gotten exactly what she wanted.

The witch in question tilted her head, not turning to look at the edge of the hallway, although it was obvious there was no-one else to whom the next words could be addressed. "Come in, come in, my dear...we musn't lurk in doorways. I know why you're here, of course...you have a thing for a certain Selkie...not that I blame you, he is quite a catch. But - you're just a little landbound, aren't you. And...you aren't quite all here either..."

Tahlia looked over at Eddie, and mouthed a question. Not quite a question, since she took a half step - after all, what could the witch do to her in her current state"

He certainly didn't like that the woman seemed to know that much about Tahlia and her current state of unbeing, but it was clear that she only sensed one of them. Then there was the matter of the ring of keys that glinted their all too solid presence on a desktop. Eddie was of two minds, on the one hand he was more than happy to make a play for them himself but he knew he wouldn't get more than a few steps before he was wrapped up in some sort of spell. The acolyte's accusation of the woman being a witch may have been more accurate than a simple insult. He nodded at the keys, hoping that Tahlia would understand what needed to happen.

She did, and nodded ever so slightly, masking the gesture by tucking her hair behind an ear, and stepped out to where the witch could see her. Tahlia had yet to see an old Mer, or one who wasn't in fighting trim - this one was neither, her face crinkling at the edges, and drooping into a jowled jaw that kept nodding after she had stopped. "How did you know I was there" And...why I was there?" She wouldn't mention names...the sea hag didn't seem to fall for the Misery Woe myth that had had the sister in the infirmary screeching. Making her slow, gravity-mimicking path to where the witch stood, she purposefully angled her way along the wall, hoping the other woman would turn to track her.

"The girl wasn't kidding when she called me a witch. I fortunately know a little magic, and I use it on behalf of poor unfortunates...like yourself." The zaftig figure shifted as they'd hoped, moving toward Tahlia with what was meant to be a reassuring smile.

Timing was everything, knowing that didn't make waiting any easier for Eddie. There would be those who, if they ever heard of this, would chastise him for sending her out there into danger. They were the same people who believed that women weren't capable of handling it too. Maybe they weren't always wrong, there were plenty of women who needed to be constantly protected. Of course there were plenty of men with the same issue, and those same people would often look down on them. There's nothing wrong with being afraid, what was more important was finding the strengths in those people and using it.

It was true that there had been the occasional rescue, but Eddie had faith that Tahlia was more than capable of anything. It didn't make it simpler to let it happen, but that was exactly what he would do. He observed, as stealthily as he could, the interaction between the shade and the admitted witch, letting things unfold as they would. He was ready to step in, should the need arise, but she knew what was needed and slowly the little blonde managed to get the witch turned fully about. That left him to do his part, at least his bare feet were quiet on the floor though he was conscious of every step and the way his skin seemed to want to stick to it. Probably whatever they used to clean it' It didn't matter, what did was getting the ring of keys without them making a sound to call attention to himself. It wasn't much different than picking a pocket, just a bigger sleight of hand illusion. Once he had them in his palm, Eddie moved silently towards the door and began to test the different keys in the lock.

Tahlia kept both of them in her sight, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, every inch the damsel looking for a magical cure to whatever was a step beyond a long distance relationship. "So you could...help me" How?" Eyes wide, hands twisting in front of her, those angelic looks of hers sold the act with only the barest effort from her. She just needed to keep the witch focused. Eddie could do the rest - would, she had no doubt. She'd never seen him fail.

"What you need, dearie...is to be part of his world. I could do that for you...you'd make a very pretty seal. Such...lovely golden fur...Let Orsine help you get your Selkie, pet...after all, who knows what he's getting up to while you're sitting on the beach, just waiting for him to come home. There's a lot of fish in the sea, so to speak...fine, strapping male like that probably has a mate in every cove..." Eddie looked away from the door for a moment, using touch to insert the keys. He frowned at what the witch was saying, a look was sent to Tahlia to steady her resolve perhaps to let her judge for herself what was true and what wasn't. His fingers gave a twist to the key which turned, he could feel it pulling the bolt of the lock open. He left them in the door, turning all the way towards Tahlia and Orsine. He'd thought the *woman* was a fable, maybe he should have known better but she just seemed so...unreal....growing up.

He moved away from the door, it was time to put the witch in her place as defiantly as he could. Eddie still had the advantage of being *unseen*, the irony wasn't lost on him and he'd likely point it out later. Now he just needed to keep the witch's offer from taking hold. He kept his progress slow, the room wasn't huge but there was a lot of space to cover between the door and them, too much if he betrayed his presence too soon. Enough that Orsine would be able to get the drop on him and who knew what she would unleash"

Anyone else would have missed the wink before her eyes went wide, her attention on the larger-than-life figure of Orsine. "Do you think that would help" He's been away a lot, lately...and there's this...one..." A little truth, just enough to season the lie. As secure as Tahlia often seemed to be, she couldn't compete with the ocean, and she knew enough not to try. Eddie wouldn't respond to a tight leash any better than she would. "But I wouldn't be able to change back..."

Who knew what snapped the witch's attention away from the girl, and toward the door, and the giant Selkie standing between her, and it. Rage contorted her features, and power crackled across her skin as she pointed a shaking finger at Eddie. "Ainmhithe díograiseach...you dare too much!" Lightning gathered in her other hand, rising to send it flying before turning with a speed surprising in one of her age and build, and sending that ball of destruction toward the tiny blonde figure who'd served to distract her.

"You go too far, Witch!" Eddie could take being the focus of Orsine's ire, at least he thought he could, but the woman turned the intention of her assault on Tahlia. "No!" He was too far away to interfere, half a step it might as well have been a mile for all the good it did. He'd gotten his hands on Orsine, used every bit of the strength in his body to pull at her and force her away from the little blonde. Too late...he'd been too late....that shocked him, left him uncertain of how to proceed. His foot came up catching Orsine in the stomach and sending her careening towards the table he'd so recently liberated the keys from.

There was desperation in his expression as he turned back to Tahlia certain to find her a quivering mass of electrocuted flesh. Eddie knew he should have kept his focus on Orsine, but that just wasn't something he was capable of doing. He didn't care what happened, not if he'd brought the blonde to harm. "Baby"!" He stepped forward, dreading what he'd find when he felt the implosion of heat across the exposed skin of his legs. He winced, expecting to become little more than charred Selkie, only to hear Orsine hit the floor next to his feet. It was enough to pull his gaze back to discover the fierce gaze of the redhead standing in the now open doorway.

Tahlia's instincts had taken over, throwing herself to the side, and down before she remembered that she...wasn't really there. Still, who knew what magic could do to her, in whatever state Kruger had sent her here in. Brushing off non-existent dust from her illusory form, she stood up just in time to see a blast of something vaguely purple ripple through the air, and send the sea witch Orsine plummeting to the floor. The flames aimed at Eddie's back hit the strange smooth surface below their feet, and faded. There wasn't time to react, just stare in shock at the figure that had emerged from the cell, eyes only a few shades darker than her own, and crimson locks that reminded her of centuries past, and people long gone from her. Facing down the witch she'd done without a thought, this woman...made her nervous.

"I'm ok, baby. I'm pretty sure it would have just gone through me but..." Stepping closer, she reached for him, cursing under her breath when her hand went through his. "I'm ok. Did she get you?" Later, maybe, she'd find herself a quiet moment to process just how many times she'd nearly died since meeting the Selkie, nevermind that she wouldn't change a moment of it. Right now...there were more important things.

Habit, had him putting out his hand for Tahlia to take hold of, or was it instinct now? Either way he was unable to feel the solidity he was looking for. Her voice pulled his attention away from the form of Lumira and, after several moments of high scrutiny, finding the smile that would answer her questions. "Right as rain, Pumpkin." He wanted to put his arm around her protectively before going to where his mother stood eyes glaring at the unconscious witch lying prostrate on the floor. Those eyes moved to him and in turn to Tahlia softening ever so slightly as she gestured for the two of them to come inside the chamber with her.

Eddie would have preferred that connection which he was being denied, probably something done on purpose just to injure him. He'd have things to say about that later. In lieu of it he moved forward placing himself between the redhead and the blonde as he moved into the room past his mother who closed the door behind them. "You should dress more appropriately, Edward Jain Blake...this isn't the time to go about with your bits hanging out."

"No no....you're right. Let me go back and find my pants....just wait here a little longer...mother." The last word was a mixture of sarcastic formality. She'd started it calling him his full name like that. You'd think she'd be a little more grateful and less critical, she might as well have asked if he was wearing clean underwear when he got into an accident. "This is Tahlia...she's....with me." He indicated the woman he was unable to make physical contact with. "This is Lumira, my mother...who's much nicer than she seems, just under a lot of stress I think." Despite the greeting he'd gotten, one that he really did understand it was just hard to accept easily, Eddie hugged Lumira like he hadn't seen her in years...like he'd believed she was dead only to discover she wasn't.

Cochise

Drown if you want, and I'll see you at the bottom, Where you'll crawl on my skin and put the blame on me, so you don't feel a thing. Go on and save yourself, and take it out on me. ~ Audioslave

The tools might be different, but their use was quite similar as workmen spread a mortar like substance into the gap. It wasn't exactly mortar, the hue and consistency were as pearlescent as the walls. Eddie didn't want to think about how it was made, or where it came from. He nodded to Tahlia, it made sense to send the one person who made no noise to scout ahead. "Just be careful." He knew he didn't need to worry, but that didn't stop him from doing so anyway.

"It'll give me a chance to rest up a little for the next stretch." Lumira put her back to the wall and slid down til she was sitting on her heels. She watched as Tahlia moved off, doing everything she could to prepare herself and not be the reason that they ended up getting caught. "She seems nice. You deserve someone nice." She didn't catch the grateful, if confused, look that Eddie gave her.

"She's whatever she needs to be." He mumbled the words, keeping his eyes on where Tahlia had disappeared to.

The tiny blonde blew a kiss back before she disappeared behind a pile of rubble, carefully picking her way with an eye to how easy the path might be, not only for Eddie, but for Lumira. It was probably for the best that she didn't hear the description - it would only have made her laugh, and lose her focus. Glancing up, there was no sign of the creature, and no sign of patrols. She just had to trust what they had been told. So far, showoff or not, Kruger had been as good as his word.

Right now, Tahlia was being exactly what she needed to be, what *they* needed her to be. It was took much to ask that there were no guards at all, but she was swift, and silent, moving up on the one left behind to make certain he was alone. The path beyond seemed clear, as far as she could see. It wouldn't stay that way. Carefully making her way back, she caught Eddie's eye, and gestured, certain he would be able to follow even if she wasn't right ahead. Not wanting to take the risk that the guard would hear Lumira's more audible approach, she crept back to the guard, breathing out a single word as she sent the blade through his back, and used the relatively solid weight of it to carefully lower the body to the ground, away from immediate discovery. No sound, and somehow the blood pooled slowly from his butchered heart. Holding her breath, she tried to listen past the sounds behind her for any alarm, and heard...nothing.

Silently, Eddie reached for his mother, lending her his strength to help her rise. The progress was slow, anathema for him. He would have preferred to go at this fast and hard, but what more would you expect from someone called Fast Eddie" This entire thing plagued at him, pulling him from his own believed strength, that and having to watch the frailty of someone who had always seemed unbreakable. He found himself, even as they quietly moved down that first least dangerous hallway, hoping that something would happen...anything that would put him into a place where he was far more comfortable. In a different situation, there hadn't been many, this urge of his would have pushed him to make something happen. It made a sick kind of sense perhaps, Eddie didn't like feeling vulnerable, or avoiding things that were better faced head on with a grin and shout of something foul. In a way it was him pushing away those things that were better for him.

Those feelings didn't disappear as he led Lumira through the opening hidden by the massive tapestry. They lessened, slowly seeping out of him in order to make room for the next time...and the next. He looked over his shoulder at the shrouded entrance like a man expecting trouble to find him that he'd thought left behind. They moved through the spiraled corridor, that prickly feeling on his neck subsiding even as a certain amount of trepidation began to rise at the sounds coming ahead of them. Water still surged down there, another of those unfightable enemies. At least this one was an old friend.

Lumira concentrated on every step she took, not wanting to become the reason for their getting caught, and yet she managed to marvel at the gaping hole and the fractured fault line descending down the wall. It had even managed to crack the floor, though that was too fine, its edges pressed too tightly to leave room for light to flow through it. It was more than she'd expected to see, though if she were being honest with herself not so much that she was surprised. Her son had always been bigger than his peers, and even those several years older. He grew quickly, and with that had come all the awkwardness of rapid growth. He'd tripped often, broken things unintentionally, messes had followed him until he'd managed to get used to his own size. She'd never thought about it back then, perhaps she should have but the sight before her seemed right in a way. This is what it looked like when her son intentionally broke things.

Tahlia stayed in the lead, glancing back occasionally to check on their progress. Rescue missions were not something she was familiar with, as a rule. The last time - the last time had been in a cold, wet dungeon in another world, almost another life, and she had been the one being rescued. She was deadlier, now, if not much bigger. Looking back was nearly like looking in a mirror...with a shake of her head, she focused, her steps slowing as they approached the training grounds, and the sounds of battle reached her ears. It had a different tone than before, more frantic, desperate, even. Holding up a hand, Tahlia crept forward, blade at the ready, and glanced down to the rapidly filling enclosures. If they hadn't been fish, she might have worried, but it seemed the denizens of the deep were taking the offered opportunity to get a little of their own back.

Lumira couldn't help but feel something for the scene below, her gaze had been drawn there whether through the sound or some sense of foreboding from an unknown source. The predatory sea denizens were not large, the break wouldn't allow for anything large to push through. It didn't hold back the numbers though, the forms below were certainly trained but there's always a huge difference between training and reality. She wished she could want them all dead, would have perhaps if they weren't children, older perhaps, teetering on the edges of adulthood but children nonetheless. She watched as they formed defensive squares against the influx of hungry tooth filled mouths, fascinated even as she was disturbed by what was happening. She kept moving, their progress was still within her ability to keep up moving by feel at the moment while her gaze was trained elsewhere. She kept moving that is, until she ran smack into Eddie's back. His form was stiff, like every muscle he possessed was suddenly bunched up, coiled and ready to spring into action.

Coldness burned its way through her, its source beginning at the very tips of her toes where the first touch of rising water washed over them. She looked at that, and was reminded of what it looked like when water filled a bathtub by slowly increasing degrees. It was the low growl that she felt from Eddie as much as heard that managed to direct her attention forward. The corridor extended further by quite a bit, there was one break some distance ahead and instinctively she understood that was for them. It wasn't the way that had them halted, but what shared the path with them. Lumira felt Eddie start to move, and grabbed his arm tightening her grip desperately when it seemed he was trying to pull away.

A massive figure stood in their way, eight feet tall and heavy with corded muscles. Its mouth was filled with wickedly serrated triangular teeth. The Rokea had transformed only halfway, and the head that lifted from its shoulders was that of a shark, but Lumira knew it to be the one who had brought her here so long ago. It was the same one they always brought in when they needed to move her from one place to another, though it had been some time since she'd seen Jax. She didn't know why, only that his disappearance had incensed many of the acolytes. She knew she didn't have the strength to hold Eddie back, not with her hands at least. "Don't...please."

Tahlia stood between the two giants, frozen, her eyes locked on the Rokea much the way a sparrow watches a snake. She wasn't a harmless songbird, though, and the smile that wreathed her face was more predatory than anything that of sang like she did ought to be capable of. The blade was slowly twisting in her hands, rising slowly into position. She could hear Eddie's growl, and it kept her from backing down.

"Do not engage." There was a sluggish tenor to the words, the kind that could be found in any drunk in a tavern, or to one on the fringes of exhaustion.

Eddie pulled his arm free of his mother, and gripped the spear in both hands. "We can take him together, Pumpkin."

The voice pulled her up short. She knew what it was. Knew who it was, even if she'd never heard it sound like that before. "But...we can beat him. He can't touch me, and Eddie could take him..."

"That's what I said..." Eddie started to cut off Tahlia, then looked at her to see who she was looking at. It wasn't his mother. "Who are you talking to?" This was hardly the time for insanity to set in.

"Regardless, you're running out of time." The words dimmed in volume, and if it were somehow possible felt more like a groan.

Eddie began to move forward, there would be time later to figure out what was going on with his little blonde.

Pale green eyes remained locked on the half-shark, and there was just the barest shake of her head. "Your brother says we're running out of time. Baby...he sounds tired..." She still thought there was a chance.

That may have explained Tahlia's sudden insight into things, but it certainly didn't shed any light onto how they were going to manage to get past the big Rokea without time wasted on a fight. He needed a moment to think, to assess the situation...a second or two to resign himself to tell Tahlia to get his mother out, that he'd see her soon as confidently as he could muster on short notice.

"Where did you come from?" Jax's voice rasped its way past those jagged teeth a fiendish facsimile of the one that had last been heard by any of the trio as the giant Rokea looked at them...except he wasn't looking at them, his eyes seemed to Eddie to be focused on something else altogether.

"No!" The shriek came an instant before Eddie could manage one of his irreverent retorts. It came from his mother of all places. Perhaps she knew his plan' The rising water between them and Jax splashed three times at different intervals which began in front of them and ended half a stride in front of Jax. There wasn't even a heartbeat between that final splash before the massive figure was blasted backwards down the corridor, his mouth striking for no visible reason.

Lumira had felt the faintest brush of air against her skin, nothing that might not be expected considering where they were and what was happening as the cold sea infiltrated deeper into the warmer space of the corridor. It was the smell that didn't belong, the barest hint of heated sulfur which told her what was happening. Visibly nothing had changed, she didn't see the form that had emerged from the corridor that had veered off to the left. That didn't stop her from knowing it had run past the trio, despite never viewing the words that blazed off the dark material of its shirt which read The Anvil eats Fish for Breakfast! She had heard what Tahlia had said, and understood the danger of what could be. "You'll have to carry me from here." It was the only way to speed up their pace.

It seemed only Tahlia had front row seats to this show. The shirt made her laugh - both brothers had a positive gift for showmanship, even if they'd never admit it was something they shared. If only she had more of an understanding of what was going on. Part of her wanted to go after Jax, a big part...the rest knew he wouldn't have done this if it wasn't absolutely necessary. "Baby...?"

Eddie wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, not when he was in a hurry at least, no matter how odd it was to watch the Rokea fighting with nothing. He nodded at Tahlia letting the spear clatter to the floor and turning to hoist his mother. She wasn't wrong, this would allow them to move much more quickly. "Lead the way, baby." He fell in behind the blonde, surging forwards with his burden and not thinking twice about how the area right around Jax appeared to have the red tinge of blood in the water. He wouldn't have the time anyway, because the now unblocked doorway showed why the water was rising above their ankles. The stairs had disappeared beneath the incoming sea like some kind of sinking ship.

The little blonde hissed a word as they drew closer...blood in the water meant she could do that at least. The translucent form paused at the stairs. She knew she wasn't there, and yet...water and she didn't have a great history. But it was the only way out, and the faster they got out, the faster this would all be over. At least she hoped so. Not for the first time, she wished she could touch - she was trying to listen to Lumira's advice and not panic, but the touch of Eddie's hand would have done a lot to keep her calm. Shooting a last look over her shoulder, she gave him a soft smile, and moved forward into the water. This way out, apparently.

Eddie was careful, carrying his mother slowly into the rising water rather than plunging in like he normally would. The change came for them both at nearly the same moment. It did manage make things better for Lumira, as she'd said there would be less pressure from being forced to stand. Though it did nothing to assist in communication between the two selkies and the transparent Tahlia, who seemed to be balking at being submerged in salt water. Eddie poked his head out of the water to look at her and chirp whistle reassuringly. She knew the way....they needed her....he knew she could do it! Likely she understood none of it.

The water didn't so much as ripple as she stepped into it. The chirps didn't translate to words, but she could guess Eddie was being encouraging. Taking an unnecessary breath she moved deeper...not finding the resistance she expected. The water was like air, and she realized that she wasn't constrained by normal movement. Watching the two selkies for a moment, Tahlia launched herself forward - at least this time, she couldn't drown.

Being in the water had a healing effect on Lumira, it didn't make her whole by any means, but she felt stronger than she had in a long time. Normally she'd delight in the sea, perhaps marvel at how Tahlia's half there form moved so swiftly and maybe even try to play. There was an urgency to their swim, one that she was unable to explain to either of them in any language. She pushed herself to keep up with them without charging ahead into places she didn't know. If she had she'd have left them behind, in fact it was the moment at which Tahlia made the last turn into the forge that she did just that. There was a figure in there, a burly Mer who stood in contemplation of the disk feebly pulsating in his workspace. Lumira used her considerable size to bowl into the smith, pushing past him through the rupture to disappear.

Tahlia watched the seal-Lumira send the Mer tumbling, and paused, watching the gateway flicker. Moving close, she laid a hand on the giant head of the leopard seal behind her, knowing he couldn't feel it, but wanting the moment anyway. The way out dimmed, and then brightened, and she knew they didn't have much more time to lose. Hopefully Kruger would be waiting on the other side, after all, he was only a little more there than she was. Blade still in hand, she darted back to the surface.

Eddie couldn't feel the touch, that didn't mean he didn't appreciate what it would feel like. He let out the briefest of whistles, then watched as Tahlia took her run at the dying gateway, following along in her wake and maybe almost playfully colliding with the mer who was trying to right himself as he passed into the portal moments before it disappeared completely.

Wish You Were Here

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from hell Blue skies from pain Can you tell a green field From a cold steel rail" A smile from a veil" Do you think you can tell" ~ Songwriters: David Gilmour / Roger Waters Pink Floyd

Lumira was blind. In the brief instant it had taken her to cross the portal's threshold she'd lost her ability to see. That wasn't quite accurate, her eyes still worked just fine, they hadn't been prepared for the intensity of the light on the other side. She held her hand in front of squinting eyes trying to block the white purple glow as she would the sun and stepped forward cautiously. Had there not been others about to traverse the same space she'd have remained in place until her eyes adjusted to the brilliance that burned across her retinas like wildfire. Two steps were taken the soles of her feet shuffling across the floor with an almost agonizing slowness, she took three more before she felt what couldn't be seen. The tip of her toes collided with...something. It was solid even if it lacked the hardness of stone and it moved at the gentle impact ever so slightly.

There is a certain feel that can only be recognized as flesh. Lumira would have known what it was even if she were immersed in darkness instead of light. It was still warm at least, the brief contact of her skin told her that much before she pulled her foot back. An arm most assuredly judging by the weight and how it had moved. If there had been a sound to hear it was lost in a cacophony of guitar like feedback in the key of D sharp, or perhaps E flat, which permeated the air heavy as a wall. She stopped her advance, moving vertically instead to kneel and grope for the impedance letting the scent guide her where her eyes could not. That hadn't been noticeable before masked as it was by the smell of sulfur from even her keen senses, not that she recognized him after so much time had passed. There wasn't even a bare emanation of the aroma the child in her memory possessed. It was still him though. Despite all the contrary input Lumira received from her five senses, a mother always knows in her heart. "Kruger..."

Tahlia didn't so much step through as wake up, her eyes ringed in silver as she, took the breath she'd been subconsciously craving since Kruger had put her into that strange half-existence. Rolling onto her side, she coughed, her brain certain she was drowning, and it took a moment for mind and body to sync back up to each other. Once they did, she looked up, her first thought, as always, for the giant selkie who was center and shadow, and was only distracted from that search by the sight of a slowly leaking form sprawled across the floor of the forge, with Lumira hunched over him. Not the one she'd been seeking, but one connected to him - to both of them, in his own way. Grumbling under her breath about the stubbornness of the entire family, the tiny blonde shifted to her feet, and stumbled over, sinking to her knees next to the smith. She laid her hands on his chest, and murmured come back, paying little attention to the fact that the blood pooling on the ground began to seep back into the man it came from - it was what she'd asked it to do, and she expected no less.

Eddie could have been insulted, even surly at how abruptly the opening closed as he passed through it. He would have been, and just as eager to lash out at the obvious orchestrator of that if there hadn't been one most excellent reason not to. It was far more important to be seen as the epitome of presence. That would be impossible if he made himself known by angrily chastising his brother, so he acted like it was nothing more than he expected. Sure he hadn't anticipated the blazing light and blaring noise that enveloped him, but he refused to let such banal things touch him...."I am not planning to help anyone pay for his utility bill....just don't even ask." His half smirk was only slightly besmirched by the need to shield his eyes, the need for it becoming far less as the tear in the air sealed itself fully and the radiance dimmed enough for him to be able to make out the person he most wanted to see him. He wasn't upset at all to see her kneeling with her hands on Kruger's chest, no not jealous in the least little bit. His face always looked that way.

Nim was alone, an unseen witness to events still being played out on two similar planes slightly adjacent to her own, or at least to the one she currently occupied. At least she was no longer subjugated to listen to the lunatic ravings of her daughter's fool of a son. Of course that only left her to listen to the sound of her own thoughts, things that nearly had her speaking them aloud. Craziness...she almost missed the boy...almost. He'd promised that he wouldn't leave her here with no way to get back, and yet here she stood wondering if she should try to leave and half afraid that if she did that she'd miss something important. So she lingered, letting her attention be drawn to the image of Lumira. A noise...certainly not a squeak...pushed out of her involuntarily as she watched and did not fail to notice the diminishing pool of blood or the creature responsible for it. She watched it unseep, or was it anti-seep from the savage crescent shaped wound on Kruger's chest.

The White Shark's bite was always vast and deep. Skin peeled back in the shape of wicked claws across an abdomen which until a second before had been pristine. Their depth should have been accompanied by gouts of red vitreous lifeblood, but it was suspiciously absent. She didn't need to see the raking blow Jax had delivered to Kruger's consciousness to know where it had come from. No, she was seeing things far more clearly now which only increased her suspicions of E.J's blonde distraction. There was more wrong with what was happening, the bite which had punctured the skin on Kruger's torso began to slowly knit itself back together leaving not even the hint of a scar behind. "How...why...who?" Nim finished the sentences that went with each inquiry silently in her head. It simply wouldn't do to be found talking to herself.

This close, Tahlia could keep her eyes closed, and focus her attention on keeping his blood where it belonged. Or at least, where they thought it belonged. Whoever kept taking shots might disagree. Eddie had seen her do this before, to herself, or to him - it didn't occur to her that there would be questions, or concerns - wasn't she using her powers for good, this time" Whatever fight Kruger was raging had given them the chance to get to the portal, and get away. Besides, she knew how much they meant to each other, even if it might actually kill them to say so. The healing...helped. It was easier to make the blood behave when it didn't have an easy way out, but there were more injuries. "Baby...could you come here" Your brother seems pretty intent on trying to get himself killed, and if I'm gonna be here a bit...I haven't been able to touch you for ages."

Eddie needed no more coaxing than the request, he'd have moved at a look from Tahlia. He stepped around his mother and knelt behind the blonde, slipping his arms around her waist and pressing himself against her back. Funny the kinds of things that brought out that I'm trouble smile. "I hope he wakes up soon..." Eddie wanted to be concerned for what was going on, the things that he couldn't see shouldn't be happening here and now. "...I think his stereo is broken." Wanting a thing and actually allowing himself to touch it were two completely different things. He did have the good sense to look abashed as Lumira frowned at him. He'd thought it was funny, maybe inappropriate but just a little. Of course the silent rebuke was just further proof that mom always loved Kruger better!! Eddie was not pouting!

Talia knew him, even if they never really talked about it - certainly not to say those words, and leaned back into his chest, snuggling into his arms and trusting him to move around her, tilting her head back and kissing the only part she could reach. Which turned out to be his jaw, but it didn't really matter. She could touch him again. She liked the smith just fine, but he was Eddie's brother and that meant she'd push herself to the point of exhaustion to help him as much as she could. The fact that he was healing, somehow, helped...it just meant she had to deal with the new wounds, and making sure there wasn't anything else mixing with it that could harm him. It had been a while, and between the massacre the night before, and tonight...Tahlia was tapping into reserves she hadn't used in years.

"He's trapped." Lumira's gaze was on Tahlia but the clipped tone was obviously meant as a mild rebuke for her youngest. At least she hoped it was mild, though who could really blame her if it weren't' It had been a long time since she'd had anyone else's feelings to consider when she spoke. Eddie would just have to learn to be understanding. "I don't know what?s holding him there." She looked over her shoulder in Eddie's direction though her intent was focused more up where the portal had been. "The way back is closed. Either he couldn't hold it open or..." or he'd closed it on purpose, but that thought was folly. No one in their right mind would intentionally trap themselves that way. "We need a way to pull him back, or barring that sever the connection." Despite the intervention which seemingly came from the blonde, Kruger's body would only take so much. Her attention was drawn to a shimmering in the air, a space significantly darker than its surroundings which never really solidified into the form of her mother. "What did you do"!"

Things had become clear to Nim now that she was no longer distracted by conversation. Even that was now an obvious ploy to keep her from discoveries, being manipulated left her feeling a trifle sour. This was what she did, having it done to her had been inconceivable until now. Being alone had allowed her to observe things with far greater lucidity. Oh, she'd seen it all as it unfolded, but the barbs and droning of Lumira's whelp had prevented her from understanding exactly what she witnessed. This place she'd been brought to was an illusion, but it was most certainly based on fact. She could see now what she'd been missing, why the nexus of imagery centered itself over the anvil. Initially there'd been no reason to believe that it was anything more than a symbol. Now she surmised that it was more, she'd seen this particular artifact before. Maybe Georg had been right after all. Maybe they'd both gotten what they wanted.

"I'm a victim here, Mira, as we all are." Nim could feel the strain at her mind as she pierced the metaphysical veil though she refused to let it alter her opinion of anyone else. The sound of a disbelieving chuckle pulled her attention to Eddie. She looked from her daughter to him with narrowed eyes before letting them fall to Tahlia with what was a promise to have words with her later. "Scoff if you will, but I've been as impotent as a child since this began." Her footfalls made no sound as she moved her way around all of them to the place where until recently Tahlia had lain.

"Oh good...just what I was missing." If Nim was making promises, Tahlia was unaware, eyes closed, curled up as much as she could be in the warm, safe circle of Eddie's arms and trying her best to keep Kruger alive until they could figure out how to get him back. Assuming Eddie was looking, which, let's be honest, was all but certain, he'd be the first to see the gold start to fade, deepen into the color of blood in the ocean, and then to nearly the same shade as the liquid she was working her hardest to control in the smith. The tan faded out from her skin, and marks appeared that hadn't been visible before. A fleur de lys behind her right ear, and the edge of an oak leaf visible along her ribs, both branded into skin more porcelain than it had been before. The black pearl nestled in her navel shivered as she let out a slow breath, and leaned in a little closer, depending on the man behind her to hold her up. He was the only one who knew how much it cost her, to let that go. She didn't raise her voice, she was sure she didn't need to. Nim had never frightened her. "Look, much as I love your cryptic little entrances...and seriously, is that genetic" Because you ALL do it - if you're not going to be helpful, I really need to focus on keeping him alive...for as long as I can..."

"Perhaps you should focus more on what you're doing..Bó na Talún." Nim's face took on an innocent expression as Lumira squealed out MOTHER! You can't say that! It only lasted a moment, broken by the scrape of steel on stone. Nim bent taking the hilt so recently abandoned by Tahlia in hand.

"Your leanbh briste has linked itself to this place, Mira dear. It's up to us to know how to sever that connection. Fortunately the fool left us all the tools we'll need." She would need to find this place again, to claim the artifacts within for her own Just causes. Gaia's words were still with her. As she stood, the same transparently luminous blade extended from the Daedric hilt. "We just need to kill the heart of his manufacturings." Maybe she was Cryptic, it wasn't up to *that* woman to comment on it, right' Nim advanced on the prone figure of Kruger and the pair of kneeling women raising the weapon high over her head tempted if for a moment to cure the firstborn of this disease called living. Pity that her daughter would never forgive her, she could see that in the suspicious look in the woman's eyes.

Unseen behind her lids, the once and again blonde's eyes shot silver, and the voice that pulled from her throat was soft, but unbroken. "Nim, I swear by your precious Mother that if you swing that blade at either man I will take every drop of blood in your veins to heal them without so much as a blink. You mean nothing to me other than being their kin. Are we clear?" Small she might be, and nearly exhausted, but there was nothing in her tone to suggest that she was not capable of doing exactly what she threatened.

The weapon descended in an arc, faux blade falling swiftly towards the intricately carved anvil. She tensed for the impact, imagining (though it would be impossible to prove) the neck of a redhead stretched across the space. The crash never happened, the weapon's edge passed through the anvil as though both were made of smoke pulling Nim off balance enough to have her quick stepping to recover. The image was there one moment, and then gone like the bursting of a bubble. The only evidence that something had happened was the opening of Kruger's eyes and the sound of a child's voice surrounding them.

Mommy! Around them everything was following the anvil into oblivion. Where once there was an entire working forge, now there was nothing except for them. The only solid thing left which wasn't alive was the hilt in Nim's hands. Kruger reached for Lumira and then broke apart like smoke on water. Inside her head she could hear his voice...What's really going to break your brain later is when you wonder if I was ever here at all...

The sudden disconnect sent Tahlia falling back, and if everything was dark, she hardly noticed - mostly because her eyes were closed. At least she wasn't in a bikini, this time. Salt crusted leathers and a torn tank top weren't much better, but it meant she wasn't shivering. Blinking didn't seem to improve matters. "...he could have at least left the lights..." Not, really, that it mattered - a moment later, she slumped against Eddie's chest, reserves tapped out, head leaning on one gigantic bicep and trusting him, if no one else in the room, to keep her safe for long enough to recover some of her strength. There would be questions, later...both for her and from her, she was certain. All of that could wait.