Etude 14 (continued)

So... More stuffness, as promised. I used my word processor's publish-to-HTML feature, which means that there's non-breaking spaces for all my tabs and it's no longer valid xhtml. Oh well.

     She seemed to be about to say more, but Armand stopped her. "How will you know that someone's been sent to free you?"

     "There were signs... So many conditions..." She sighed. "It does not matter. I wish only that I might free you in some way, but I am helpless."

     Sarah seemed to be squirming in her bonds, as if trying to reach something. "My pocket..."

     "What about your pocket?"

     "Seraiel gave me something to use. But I can't reach it. I need to break it open..." She struggled against the ropes. "Oww... I think I'm getting rope burns."

     "I am afraid my tears may have caused the ropes about you to swell and bind the knots more tightly."

     "Oh, great." Armand had the strong impulse to kick something, but he was tied down fairly securely. Wait... What am I tied to? "Rosemary, what are we tied to?"

     "There are some crevices in the rock. You seem to be wedged in somehow. I cannot tell."

     "Um, are we the first people that have been here?" Asked Sarah.

     "No, only the most recent. I occasionally see some of them in a similar position to you. But all that is left are the bones down there." She gestured with her head. Armand did his best to look downwards. There were skeletons of all sorts scattered over the bottom of the cave, in various states of decay.

     "That's not promising," he said.

     "I believe that you are the first to wake yourselves from the Dream Mesh, however... None of the others bothered to engage me in conversation."

     "That's still not very reassuring."

     "I am sorry. I used to possess some magic of my own, but I have lost it long since... I cannot help you now."

     "Great." The three of them lapsed into an uneasy silence. Armand's eyes had grown used to the dim light in the cave, and he found himself wondering where it came from. "Rosemary?"

     She sniffled. "Yes?"

     "Where is the light coming from?"

     "Oh. The shackles that bind my body to the rock are made of star metal, which glows with an inner radiance."

     "Is there really no way out of here?"

     "I cannot think of one. I am sorry." She sighed deeply. "Just another failing of mine..."

     "Was it really that bad," asked Sarah.

     "Yes, it was. Rethan was not one who loved easily... I fell in love with him the moment I first saw him, but it was years before I could melt his icy shell. And he trusted me... Trusted me so completely and absolutely, and yet I betrayed that trust." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I wish that I had never let that creature into our house..."

     "What creature?"

     "It was a shape shifter... I did not know what it was at first, but all the signs were there for the reading. It refused to cross the threshhold until I had invited it in, and there was the strange cold sensation that it brought with it... How was I to know that the harmless old man was Rethan's greatest enemy?"

     "Well, it probably tried very hard to disguise the fact," pointed out Sarah.

     "Yes, but still... And then, even after I had realized what it was, and was about to throw it out, it begged for mercy... It vowed by the Stars and Moons that it would do no harm... I didn't realize that the oaths were not properly said, that it had tricked me again. So it stayed, and when Rethan returned, it was waiting for him." She started sobbing again.

     "That's pretty bad," said Armand.

     "Yes, it was. Rethan was victorious in their confrontation, but it cost him dearly. He was badly injured, and nearly dying... I did my best to heal him, and I gave my magic to restore him to health. But after that... He was not the same. I had betrayed him. At first things seemed to go on as before, but then he grew more and more distant. I tried to make it up to him, to ease the pain in some way. But nothing I did helped. And then, one day, he led me into this cave. He seemed so happy that day. It was almost like old times... But then he ordered the rock to imprison me, and the shackles to bind me, and he gave the conditions for my release." [insert cryptic conditions that armand and sarah fit]

     "How did he control the rock and the shackles?"

     "It was his main talent... To unlock the sleeping potentials inside inanimate objects. He was an Awakener, and a very good one too." She smiled sadly. "He used to awaken flowers for me... Those were so beautiful." She sighed deeply.

     "What is an Awakener?"

     "As I said, someone who has the talent to release the inner strengths of objects. They can be very powerful if they use the right tools. Some magical items are created so that they can only be used by Awakeners..."

     "Like the Sword of Peace?" Armand felt his breath catch for a moment. Was it possible...?

     "Oh, yes, I suppose so. I never really thought about it."

     "How does it work?"

     "I don't know much about the talent, since I do not possess it. Rethan sometimes tried to explain it to me. He said something about speaking to the inner heart of the object..."

     The Sword of Peace always called me "Awakener." Does that mean I can somehow... speak to the ropes and make them release us? If Rethan was able to awaken the rock to imprison her... But what does it mean? I don't know how I do it! I've only tried with magical things... Armand experimentally tested the ropes. The knots were still swollen tight from Rosemary's tears. She's a pretty useless woman... All she can think of to do is cry... That thought made him angry. She's been chained up here for how long, and she's never once tried to break free. She's convinced she deserves it. That's so... that's... Spineless! A freaking jellyfish!

     "Armand, is there something wrong," asked Sarah.

     "No." A little of his annoyance must have crept into his voice, because Sarah looked away quickly and didn't say anything. Armand felt like banging his head against the rock and screaming for it to let him go. He didn't. Damn it, if I could just figure out how to get these things unknotted... And Sarah's just as useless as Rosemary. He glared at Sarah, but her head was turned away from him. He strained again, trying to awaken the ropes or the rock or anything, but failing. And the failing only made him more and more angry.


     "Is something wrong with your friend," asked Rosemary.

     "I don't know. I don't really know anything about him. He's just weird sometimes."

     "Ahh. He seemed most interested in Awakeners..."

     "I guess." Sarah sighed. "The only reason he's tangled up in this mess is because of me..."

     "I am sorry, then."

     "Yeah, I am too. I wish I knew what I was doing... People keep telling me that I'm a nexus, but they won't tell me what it means."

     "A nexus?"

     "Yeah. Do you know?"

     "I know in general terms what a nexus is, but I have no detailed knowledge. They are very rare, and I was never able to meet one."

     "So what's the big deal about being a nexus?"

     "A nexus is a junction of time. Time is very malleable in Farelle, and can be manipulated. Normally it requires a great deal of effort to perform even the least of tasks, but a nexus is by nature able to manipulate time."

     "So I can manipulate time?"

     "If you are a nexus."

     "I only know that I can stop things sometimes..."

     Rosemary seemed awed. "That is a very, very difficult thing for anyone to do. I am surprised you can do it, even so untrained."

     Sarah sighed. "And I don't know where to get training. Everyone seems to be after me. And I just don't know what to do!"

     Rosemary made a sympathetic noise. "It is very hard. Perhaps... Sometimes, answers can be found in the Dream Mesh. What were your experiences like, and how did you manage to wake up?"

     Sarah swallowed. "I was on a raft ride. It was pleasant. We were drifting lazily down a river... A lot of things happened. But eventually, I realized that we weren't actually going anywhere. We looked like we were moving, but we weren't. And everything was hollow. I... I fought my way out, somehow. I don't remember. But it was hard."

     "Then perhaps your problem is that you drift too often. But it is pleasant sometimes, and it is much easier than fighting. Much, much easier... Especially when you know there is no reason to fight. When you know that things are as bad as they can get, and anything you can do will only make things worse. So much easier to just slip away, and let yourself go... Drift with the current and let it take you where it will." The cadence of Rosemary's words lulled Sarah slowly, without her realizing. And then she was asleep, and the dreams started again.


     "Sarah?" There was no response. Armand looked over to Sarah, and saw that she had fallen asleep again. "Sarah!" He looked at Rosemary. "What did you do to her?"

     "Nothing, I swear it."

     "She's dreaming again, isn't she?"

     "Probably. Perhaps she will find her way out again, as she did before."

     "I don't trust you anymore."

     Rosemary sighed. "That seems to happen to me... I suppose I am not entirely trustworthy."

     Armand glared at her. "You're not making this easier."

     "I only told Sarah how it feels to drift along with events, not fighting the current and not caring."

     "That sounds like a load of crap."

     Rosemary shrugged. "It is how I have lived these centuries in this cave. Perhaps you should try it."

     "No."

     "Then I will stay here and await my Rethan's return."


     Armand glared at Rosemary, but her eyes were closed now. Tears still dripped from them; beautiful, crystalline tears that sparkled and glittered in the light of the star metal. He looked at Sarah, who was sleeping peacefully. Neither of them responded to anything he said. In the fidgety silence, he felt himself growing drowsy again. It's those damn tears of hers... I'll bet the Dream Mesh is still trying to get me again. He tried to shake his head to clear it. He was growing more and more tired, and he felt a tugging at the corners of his mind. In desperation, he banged his head against the stone, just hard enough to hurt. The ensuing dizziness cleared his head for a moment, but then the fog returned. I will not give in! He'd fought off the Fallen Ones and their weird mist, and he wasn't about to give in to some useless girl's tears. He struggled against the ropes, trying to free his hands or his feet or any part he could. They refused to budge. Damn it, damn it, damn it... The drowsiness was growing stronger, and the pull felt almost like someone calling his name. He tried to bang his head against the rock again, but it was too hard to lift it... Fog crept in and around him, threatening to engulf him completely. The pull grew stronger and stronger, a rope tied to an anchor that was dragging him down. And then suddenly, clearly, he heard the voice of the Spring Flower calling his name. And he answered, and the fog engulfed him.



     Armand found himself still in the cavern, but he felt a curious detachment from everything. It was somehow much brighter than it had been before, and he could see the sparks crawling and dancing merrily within the rocks and everything else in the cave. They seemed to be trying to escape, as if straining for freedom. He reached out a hand -- he noticed distantly that he was no longer bound, although he could see his body quite clearly -- and touched the rocks. He whispered to them, encouraging them to awaken. And the rocks opened.