• PM To Join • [Faldrass] Warm Sand

[Faith Augustin]

24th Cylus 717

Earlier that trial, they'd wandered around the marketplace on Faldrass; it was a place filled with exotic things which, Faith guessed, would become commonplace to them both fairly quickly the longer they lived on Scalvoris. However, right now they were amazing and quite astonishing to her and she rather thought they were to Padraig too. They'd stopped for something to eat and then they'd made their way to the beach. It was nice, she considered as they walked together, just to be together and exploring. She had her magic bag with her and she leant into his shoulder with a smile. "I am very relaxed and full of good food," although how anyone could be on the amount she ate was a miracle but it was true. Also, he might notice, although she hadn't realised it, the amount she ate was increasing. Not much and she would never be a big eater, but just a little, bit by bit.

Faith lifted her head to look up at him and her smile illustrated her contentment. "Can I give you your gifts when we're sitting on the sand, all warm? I have a blanket, too, so we can be warm back and front. Can I?" She had one, particularly, which she thought he would be very interested in and which she'd gone back to whilst he was engrossed in another stall. She was sure that he hadn't spotted her, so it would be a surprise.

As they arrived on the beach, even in the darkness of Cylus, it was a beautiful sight. There were flickering lanterns lit on the pathway ~ all of them lit and maintained by the resort staff. The waters lapped against the orange sand which reflected beautifully in the flickering lanterns and starlight. Out in the bay a family of five of the strangest looking creatures seemed to be playing together. Faith looked at them and beamed in delight. "Look at those!"

Stepping on to the sand, immediately it was obvious that the sand was warm. There was no snow here, though the island was covered in it, nor was there any on the path which, they might notice, was densely packed orange sand. Faith shook her head in amazement. "They said it, but, Padraig look. It's just sand but it's amazing. We need to collect a lot of it ~ I thought we could put it under the floors in the rooms at home? I mean, it will just take the edge off. Although it'll make Saun even more unbearable, so maybe not." She slipped her arm around him, nestling into him with contentment. "We're going to be happy here, you know. It's like us." Quite what she meant, she didn't say but she rather assumed he'd know. If he wanted to explore a little or just sit on the sand was up to him. They had to collect some flora and there were lots of plants around, so Faith was happy to do whatever.

[Padraig]

Just when he thought he'd seen or learned all there was to know about Scalvoris and the surrounding area, Padraig would discover yet another wonder. Like these warm orange sands, which only reminded him of the fact that they'd only just begun to understand all the place had to offer. As an alchemist, himself, or for Faith as a healer. And so much more.

The sands were so warm that he'd stopped to pull off his boots and socks and carried them in one hand, while his other arm was wrapped round Faith's waist. "You eat hardly enough to keep a mouse going," he told her with an affectionate smile. And not a Scalvorian mouse either.

He'd brought his sack too and when she mentioned the gifts, he grinned and laughed. "What, those secrets you've been keeping all to yourself? Only if I can do the same. I've got secrets too," he told her, just as she pointed out the odd looking creatures jumping, splashing and frolicking just off the shore. He'd never seen the likes of them before. They had a natural look about them that suggested they were constantly smiling. "I wonder what they're called."

Now the sand? No more grinding stone for him to create warming reagents. But he wouldn't have believed it till now. "I've brought some empty jars from out of my chemist's kit. We can fill them and take some of the sand back with us." Of course if she wanted enough to place under the floors, they'd need something larger than just a few jars. "You're right it would be too much for warmer weather. But if we were to fill large sacks with it, like mattresses or pallets, then we could slide them in and out of place as the temperature warrants."

"And I already am," he said as they reached a spot that was to her liking, and he spread out a blanket on the sand for them to sit on. Happy, he meant. Happy in Scalvoris, and happy with her wherever they were. So seated side by side, he grinned at her again and gestured to the sack. "Alright then, show me what you've been so secretive about, then I'll show you mine."

[Faith Augustin]

She grinned at him as he wandered along barefoot. "It's Cylus, you know that? I wrap up when I don't have to because it looks strange. But you? Naked toes within ten trills." Her arm wrapped around him and she smiled contentedly as she leaned against his shoulder. "I eat plenty. More than I used to, that for sure. Besides, do I seem to lack energy to you?" Faith raised her eyebrow rather quizzically, but she was teasing him. She was barely ever still, after all. "I'm a grasshopper, remember? Lots more energy than a mouse, us grasshoppers."

"They're not secrets, exactly. Surprises. I have no secrets from you." The truth of that statement was undoubted to her, but equally, "I do like surprising you, though. There's an expression you get when you're intrigued and it's adorable." Him buying things for her, however, challenged her in many ways. She recognised that it was a foolish thing to be challenged about, especially when she considered how much pleasure it gave him to spoil her. Her internal reverie about it was broken, though, when she saw the strange beasts. "I don't know. They look happy, don't they? And they seem to be playing together too. How nice." Faith looked at them and frowned, "they must be freezing."

She sat on the blanket, curling herself up into him. "Good," she replied with a serious expression when he said that he was happy. "It's all I want for that to be true every trial for all the rest of them." If she could but make it true, then she would be more than content. She grinned though and shook her head, "You are so impatient, you know. You shouldn't have bought anything, the dog is a wonderful gift. But, no, I can't wait any more."

She was beaming with delight, unable to contain her pleasure at being able to buy things for him. "There are three things. The first one is about you, then me, then the last, us." First, she pulled out a small, decorative letter opener in the shape of a dagger. It was light and elegant with a subtle pattern engraved on it. "The dean has one on his desk, except his was gaudy not elegant. I thought when you are dean or whatever you want to be, you can have this on your desk in your office, Professor Augustin."

When he'd looked at it, she handed him a medium sized box which contained, when he opened it, four glowing stones, two that would fit in the palm of his hand, two smaller ones about the size of his finger. They were native to the caves under Faldrass and Ishallr, she explained. "Light," her eyes met his with a serious gaze. "It's what Famula's lantern is for those souls who are most lost, you know. A light in the darkness, when it all seems hopeless. That's what you are for me and always have been. If I wasn't so shoddy, I'd have told you that in Rharne. But it is."

Finally, when he was ready, she held her hands closed over a small jar and then put it into his. Inside it was something impossible, the swirling, colour changing rainbow sand. "And that's us. Impossible and beautiful just how it is yet filled with the potential to be anything we care to craft from it. I got you two jars but I couldn't hide them both in my hand." Faith shrugged, slightly and gave a wry grin. "And that's all my romantic used up till Ashan. You're going to have to wait till then for any more, I'm afraid. Or that might be a good thing, in fairness. It all sounded better in my head when I practiced saying it there."

[Padraig]

"Not a grasshopper," Padraig reminded her as they walked along, his shoes dropped into his sack along with the purchases he'd made earlier. "A hummingbird, remember? A grasshopper is a layabout compared to a hummingbird." He'd done some reading after all, since much of what he'd learned about the tiny creatures related to his interest in physics.

"Do you know for instance that a hummingbird can flap up to two hundred times per second?" he added with a grin. "They can hover, go up, down, backwards, forwards and even upside down. I'd like to see a grasshopper do that," he teased. "You surprise me every trial, and have since the one we meant. In a good way. I don't need presents for that." Although Padraig couldn't recall anyone referring to him as adorable before.

Sitting on the shore and looking out towards the sea, he pondered the frolicking creatures for a moment. He didn't know what they were of course. But how did they survive the cold? "I'm not sure," he concluded. "They're not fish exactly are they? Maybe like whales they've got a layer of blubber under their skin to act as insulation." Only a guess, but it was the best he had.

Still, in spite of him not needing gifts or things to be happy, he couldn't help but be curious about what she'd done without him knowing. The letter opener wasn't just well made. It appealed to the eyes as well and he took it, looked it over and smiled. "It has a strange ring to it that could take some getting used to." Professor, he meant. "But this is wonderful. Thank you Faith. If I have nothing else on my desk, this will have a place of honor and throughout each trial, I'll see it and think of you." He would anyway of course. There wasn't any trial that wasn't filled with thoughts of her.

The stones? Those were a wonder. He'd seen them in the market and wondered what it was that caused them to glow. "You are my light," he said, holding one of the stones in his hand and studying it curiously. "And there are always things we could say, or forgot to say, or could have said better." Always would be, he figured. "But those are words. I've never doubted how you felt. I hope you know the same of me."

The rainbow sand was impossible. Like so many things on Scalvoris. And like them, he agreed. After all, hadn't he thought in the beginning that what he'd felt for her was doomed, never to be realized considering their circumstances, each of them? "Fate has a funny way of working things out, doesn't it?" he told her. "And now, my turn."

Opening his sack, he pulled out the rounds of wood and set them aside. "These were because we wanted them. But this," he said, and took out a small velvet sack to place in Faith's hand, "is because it made me think of you." The carved silver brooch was inside, with a perfect oval fernstone set in its center. "It's a mystery, wrapped in a conundrum." The stone itself was cool to the touch, even when it shouldn't be, and the fernlike feature inside was its own mystery. Who knew what it was, or if it was responsible for the stone's uniqueness?

"And this?" he said as he pulled out the tiny, potted bonsai tree. "Like us, it should be impossible." Impossible, Padraig explained, because against all odds, in spite of reason or logic, it was. It existed when logic said it shouldn't. It had grown and thrived in spite of all the odds and conditions being against it. But as fate would have it, it had taken root and flourished. Just as fate had arranged things for them, and changed both their lives in the process. "It should be impossible, but there it is all the same. Just like us."

[Faith Augustin]

"How does anyone know how fast it's wings beat? Surely, no one can count that fast?" Faith grinned at him wickedly and shook her head, "plus, I don't know how to hover. Although, in fairness, I lack the grasshopper's ability to jump too." She surprised him every trial? Faith's eyes showed her surprise at that revelation. "Really? I can't imagine how, but I'm glad it's in a good way, at least." There was no doubting that he was uncommonly biased when it came to assessments of just how interesting she was, she knew, but she was grateful that he was. "Since it's you, then, a hummingbird it is. Not a grasshopper or a mouse." She chuckled, slightly, "It's more flattering than when Malcolm called me a cow, I suppose. I hope they're alright, wherever they are." She'd looked for Lady Elyna and Lord Krome when they'd returned to Andaris but had been unable to find them.

Professor had a strange ring to it? Faith shook her head and replied with the truth as she saw it. "It is what you were born to do, Padraig. You're a scientist and a scholar, you belong there." He did, very much so as far as she was concerned and they should recognise how lucky they were to have him there. As to knowing how he felt? "I am yours, you are mine. There's no doubt, not for a trill." It was a simple and clear truth to her, there could be no doubt ~ it was obvious in thought, word and deed, after all. Leaning over to kiss him, she buried her hand in his hair and closed her eyes. "If I am your light and your hummingbird, I'm like a glow in the dark flutterbug. This is getting less flattering, you know." She was teasing, of course and her smile told him how pleased she was that he liked what she'd bought.

His turn, he said and Faith looked at him as he put the small pouch in her hands. When she opened it, the delicate brooch fell into her hand and she looked at it in utter delight. "I've never... " she shook her head, trying to make the words make sense. "So many things I've never, you must get bored of hearing me say it. You've given me so many firsts, how do you make each of them perfect?" She pinned it to her top and there was no doubting the delight she felt, everything about her said it.

There was a real risk that she'd tip over into tears, though, when he showed her the tree and told her what his reasoning was for buying it. Looking up at him, she listened to his explanation and tears sprung to her eyes, though she blinked them away. Her face told him just how much she loved it and when she spoke, her voice was shaky. "Padraig I... what on Idalos? Padraig!" It might be a strange response, but as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, there was a crackling noise and a sudden feeling of their ears popping, loudly.

Should he follow Faith's wide eyed gaze, there was what appeared to be an almost flash of lightening and then, there on the sand in front of them was a man. He was an older man, maybe in his thirties and his gaze was wild eyed. His hair was sticking out all over the place and his clothing was crumpled and bedraggled-looking, or it had been three or four trials ago. Now, it was worse.

"Did you see it? Are they here? Did you make them? They're coming! They are, they're coming!" He looked around and then back to the two of them and he looked utterly spooked, terrified and completely lacking anything resembling sanity. "Did you see them, boy? Tell me, tell me you can see them too. Get off! Get off!!" He swatted at the air around him.

[Padraig]

So many questions. Padraig sometimes didn't know if they were serious ones or not but he'd grinned and teased her. "You're missing the point I think. And the point is that a hummingbird is tiny, colorful, beautiful, and a grasshopper is not. A grasshopper destroys gardens and hops. That's it." And he remembered Malcolm's reference and though he realized it was a statement meant in jest, it was not a very flattering analogy to be sure.

"What's a flutterbug?" he'd asked belatedly. But then he'd shaken his head and considered her thoughts on his suitability as a professor. "Maybe. I hope so anyway. If I learned anything from my first trial as one, it's that I'll need to develop my own style. I don't care much for lecturing."

It pleased him more than he'd thought it might, that she liked the things he'd gotten her, and the sentiment behind them. "I wasn't sure if you'd like jewelry or not. I'd rejected the idea of a necklace or bracelet because...well I'm not sure why," he decided. But then he did know why. It was because those things wrapped and closed around her throat or her arm, and he worried that they'd remind her of the things she'd been forced to wear before. On the other hand, a brooch was pinned on a scarf or clothing, and not wrapped around any of her.

But then, just when the trial might become even more personal, considering the privacy they were currently enjoying, there was a pop, a crackle and a flash of light that put a stop to it all. And right quick. Faith's reaction got him to his feet quicker than the surprise itself, and Padraig was already dropping his hand to his sword's grip as he leaped to his feet. His eyes were almost as wide as those of the man who'd suddenly come out of nowhere.

He looked a mess, and sounded as if something wicked was on his heels. Except that it was only him, and them. He wasn't letting down his guard, but at the same time he glanced around quickly. "See what? Who?" he asked. What did he mean, did they make them? The man was clearly out of his mind. The only way that Padraig figured he could have gotten there was by being a rupturer, unless he had a pair of boots to do it for him.

And as the man swatted at the air and spun round looking for whatever it was he thought was after him, Padraig noticed he held a small box in his other hand. He was clutching it to his chest as if it contained some sort of treasure. But it looked old. Very old, made from ornately carved wood with a stylized, but rusted lock on it. "What's in the box?" Padraig asked carefully, hoping that Faith could step in and become a second voice of reason.

[Faith Augustin]

Her sudden and unashamed grin when he told her that she was missing the point was clear; just as he was teasing her, so she too was teasing him. "Tiny, colourful and beautiful? You are much better at romantic than you think you are, you know." She looked up at him in surprise when he asked what a flutterbug was, but his thoughts on being a professor were more important to her. "You'll find your way of doing it, settle into your own rhythm and you will be excellent. But if you weren't, then I'd be no less proud of you." There was a truth there which was absolute, no doubting it. He belonged in that Academy and it had been his dream for such a long time.

Once she had pinned the brooch on to her coat, Faith looked at him and smiled, her eyes meeting his. Then, though, he explained something and her expression changed to thoughtful. Not sure why, indeed. "It couldn't and wouldn't make me feel anything except loved." That was the simple and honest truth of it. There was another point to make, though, and she hoped he understood it. "The thing to keep in mind is what it symbolises, what it means. Even if you'd bought me exactly the same items as Tristan had me wear," which he never would, she knew, because it would be beyond crass. But simply put, even if he did? She shrugged. "What Tristan dressed his possession in symbolised just that. Possession, ownership. Very different to you buying me something as a symbol of love and respect. Now it sounds like I'm asking you to buy me necklaces, I'm not." Just in case, she thought, best let him know that. Her expression was telling, though, that this was an important point to her. "Its just.. well, I work hard not to be held back by what I was. I no more want your choice restrained by worries about my past than you want mine to be."

There was a particular look Padraig got which she could not explain but which she recognised. Her own expression changed in response and she raised an eyebrow questioningly and then smiled as she leaned in to him just as the mood was quite ruined and Faith jumped up as Padraig did. She saw his hand drop to his sword, but the man looked around wildly. As Padraig considered whether there was a pair of boots, he saw that the man was, in fact, as barefoot as him.
"The lights, boy. Did you see the lights? Get off me!!!" The last shouted to thin air as he swatted ineffectively. He looked at Padraig then, stopping and peering. "Do I know you? This isn't... oh, Immortals. The ripping happened didn't it? Did Havardr grow a volcano or am I on Faldrass?"

Clutching the box as Padraig spoke, the man frowned. "The lights come, there's a rip in the world and then... oh then.... " The man started to cry and Faith spoke to him, keeping her tone soft and quiet. "It's alright. We can help you, maybe? Where.. where did you come from?"
"Havardr, I was searching out a relic. I'm a.. a.. I used to be. GET OFF ME! Sorry, what? Yes, treasure. Hunting treasure. Portal in, portal out, but now there's rips and rends, holes and tears."
"You.. this is Faldrass, I think Havardr is further away?" Faith's sense of direction was almost legendary in terms of how she had none at all so she looked at Padraig for confirmation of this.

Padraig asked about the box and the crazy man looked at him, tears pouring down his face. "It's the relic. I opened the box, the world ripped and now we're all going to die. It's my.. fault... mine. You! You can take it! Take it and fix the world, boy, yes? You can do that. He can do that, can't he?" The last he asked Faith and she felt a moment of really not being sure what to say. On the one hand she very much wanted the man to give Padraig the box, but on the other, she didn't lie. Instead, though, she opted for telling the truth.
"Can he fix the world? He fixed mine." Faith smiled at the old man and nodded encouragingly as he gingerly held the box out to Padraig.
"Take it and fix the world, or we're all going to die, I know it. WILL YOU GET OFF ME!!"

Whatever it was that he was seeing, it was attacking him from all sides. The box in question was held out with a shaking, trembling hand as the tearful man batted away the invisible enemies with his other.

[Padraig]

What had been a romantic moment, destined to become more so, was as good as swept away on the tide with the appearance of a man who'd clearly lost control of his faculties. Anything they might have said to one another forgotten in that instant. Like a cold bucket of water thrown over proceedings past, present and the very near future.

"What lights?" he asked the man. Of course there'd been a crackle of energy racing through the air when the stranger appeared and it had sparked blue. But Padraig didn't think that was what he was talking about. And for all his flailing around and slapping at the air, there didn't appear to be anything to slap at. The man was clearly mad, even unpredictable. And as a result, Padraig's hand never strayed far from his blade. But no, he didn't think he knew the man or had even seen him before. And he said as much.

Faith might have more luck than him. At least maybe she'd do better at helping to diminish the man's agitated state. "So, you've ripped a hole in time and space?" he tried. "It's that way," Padraig added and pointed off in distance, towards Havardr. So there was a relic of some sort in that box? One the one hand Padraig might like to have a look. On the other, he worried that there might in fact be something in it that was more troublesome, than not.

"I don't know about that," he said, smiling a little at Faith when she talked about him fixing her world, or any world for that matter. At any rate, it appeared he was taking the box regardless. He was undecided to be honest. Clearly the man was mad, imagining something pursuing and attacking him that was not. But ultimately he was a scientist and the inclination to know, far outweighed the desire to leave well enough alone. So turning his focus to the box, he flicked open the lock, lifted the lid just a hair, waited, then peeked inside.

[Faith Augustin]

"What lights? What do you mean, what lights? The lights, boy." The man looked at Padraig as though he was a bit stupid for asking, really. "The lights that come before the rips. They dance in front of me and inside my brain. They're all the rainbow colours, they are, dancing and jumping around. They've got teeth, too"
Jolly good, Faith thought to herself as she did her best to comfort the man. That wasn't at all unnerving. Looking at him, she couldn't help but wonder if he'd been drugged or something. His pupils were larger than she would have expected and he had a very glassy eyed expression.

"Come and sit down with me? Come on, there we go. Let's just sit over here?" Faith tried her best to calm and sooth him, keeping her voice steady and low, pitching it in such a way that she sounded calm. The man nodded and moved over to sit where she was directing him, sobbing and hiccuping as he did but also, every now and then, swatting at the unseen things which he believed were attacking him.

He was just about to sit down when he glanced at Padraig and saw him opening the box and let out a cry of sheer panic.
"NO! Oh no! NO!" He fell to the floor and curled up in a ball, protecting his head with his hands and sobbing. Faith looked at Padraig with an utterly incredulous expression. He'd opened it? Just like that? She knelt next to the sobbing, by now totally hysterical man for whom the opening of the box had been simply too much and had pushed him over the edge. "Shush, it's alright, look, it's alright."

Padraig, meanwhile, peered into the box. Faith looked up at him and sighed. "We need to get him sedated, something to calm him down." His hysterical sobbing was hard to talk over, she had to raise her voice. "Then get him checked out at the Order, I think. Might be a bit more long term than I can deal with here." Saying that, she reached into her bag and started working on a soothing, calming drink for him. Faith was trying her best to get him to calm and she spoke to him in soft tones constantly.

Suddenly, he lifted his head. "It's gone. My magic. It's gone. I can't... I can't... oh what have you done!?" The last was to Padraig. Faith looked at Padraig with an apologetic glance. Apparently, it was all his fault, according to their newest companion. "Here you go, drink this." She wondereed if Padraig might like some of the same concoction of Scalvblack Tea that she'd just given to the man. "We need to get the authorities, I guess? What's in there?"

The last, of course, was a whisper.

[Padraig]

Dancing, multicolored lights with teeth, grasping and clawing. And apparently, according to him he was still under attack and taking swipes at them.

Padraig frowned, and raised a brow Faith's way. The man was clearly, certifiably mad. Or he'd indulged in something questionable, and was high as a kite. It wouldn't do any good to say it aloud however. But how could he have known that just peeking in the box would cause the man to react that way? Why had he given it to him if he didn't want him to open it and see for himself what the trouble was?

Still, he glanced Faith's way and shrugged apologetically when her expression seemed to imply that it might have been a mistake. He'd fix that however, or at least do something to reassure the man that indeed, the world was safe in his hands. Reaching into his pocket, Padraig made a great show of pulling out a small vial that he'd brought along, with nothing in it but a few drops of almond oil. He'd brought it along in case he found some sort of organic material to take back with him, something he'd want to store in oil.

"I'm a physicist," he told the man once there was a break in the wailing and sobbing. "A chemist, an alchemist. Never fear. This," Padraig added while holding up the vial, "Is an elixir of my own creation. It's taken six arcs just to refine the stuff...Crafted from the antennae of the rare and elusive boutsy fly. Of course it takes an awful lot of antennae to create just a few drops of precious liquid. It acts as a containment potion."

He sounded and looked as serious as any serious, legendary scientist could. But he couldn't look Faith in the eye as he spilled just a few drops of the 'precious' elixir onto the box lid. "Whatever has escaped from this box will be drawn back in, and I can assure you, nothing else will escape from it."

Nothing lost, nothing gone, the world back to rights, he assured the man while still avoiding Faith's stare as he peered into the box. What was in there? "Nothing," Padraig whispered back. "Nothing but a dust bunny." An uncommonly large one. But dust, and nothing more. So back in character, he smiled and snapped the box shut, slid the lock in place and declared, "See? All fixed."