[Faldrass] Along Came A Spider

[Faith Augustin]

29th Ashan, 717

As soon as they'd realised that Padraig did not, in fact, have lightbane, the disease which Faith had been working to cure since before he exhibited symptoms, they'd had to go back to the drawing board. It was the small fact that he'd been symptomatic for well over thirty trials, closer to forty which had led them back here to Faldrass. Because it seemed likely that the issue was a response to a toxin which had got in his system when they were here last season and had fallen down a hole before being attacked by two giant spiders.

So, now they were back on Faldrass, staying the resort which they had dubbed the "Resort of the Beautiful People" because in order to cure him, Faith needed at least one spider, preferably two but they must be alive. There were issues, she knew, with carrying them but he was a physicist and she was more than sure that he could work that out. Also, they didn't need to fall down a hole now, they knew where they'd got into the tunnels which ran underneath the volcanic island, so they could at least park a cart outside the entrance or take one in. The cart they could borrow from the resort, but whatever he worked out she would help the best she could.

Having brought things to do on the boat over, the gentle motion of the vessel combined with the fact that she hadn't slept for trials and Faith had leaned her head against his shoulder as they left Scalvoris Town and slept most of the way, curled against him. Which meant of course that she had been grouchy at him for not waking her up, although she didn't say so. He knew, she knew, it was enough.

Still, they were here, they had booked in to the resort and gotten to their cabin. As Padraig unpacked, Faith had gone around and closed up all the curtains and had pulled draft excluders from her domain bag like a magician might pull ribbons from his sleeve, waving them triumphantly with a grin to him and put them down. Not to stop a draft, but to stop the light from getting in under doors and so on.

"I've paid for five trials, that should be enough, I would think." The reception area was brightly lit and there was just no need for him to go there. They'd arrived early afternoon and Faith looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I think we may as well go now. The travel there should be easier for you in this light." From her domain bag she pulled her crossbow and her gladius, which she strapped around her waist. "I've been practicing with the crossbow and the sword," she said, with a slightly apologetic glance of all things. "I thought after last time when I tried to beat the spider to death with the butt of the crossbow I needed to." After all, she'd embarrassed herself thoroughly last time and ended up with the spider on her. Which was at least partly why she wasn't bothering to ask if she could go on her own. He would never agree to such and Faith couldn't really blame him. If it was the other way around, nor would she.

There was no doubt that Faith was agitated at herself. First, she'd misdiagnosed him and then not realised that misdiagnosis early enough because she'd failed to ask the right question. Add in to that her growing worry that, if this wasn't the answer then she had no more options. This was about as obscure and last ditch as it got, in her mind and whilst his condition wasn't deteriorating as fast as lightbane, it was still deteriorating. She prayed to Vri, asking for strength; whatever the future held, whatever sorrows there were she knew that her love, their love for each other was strong enough to face it, in Vri's name.

So, she smiled at him, made sure her first aid kit was ready, shouldered her domain bag and did her best not to show him any of her thoughts or worries. "Want to go hunt a spider?"

[Padraig]

The last thing that Padraig had planned on this cycle, was to head out on a spider hunt. A giant, deadly, aggressive and difficult to bring down spider. In fact he couldn't say that it was anything he'd have ever added to his list of enjoyable or desirable things to do. And back in Scalvoris Town, he simply had too many things to do.

That was the rub however. If Faith was right and it was his run in with the spider that had caused the problem with his eyes, then it was necessary to return to the source. If they didn't, it might only grow worse and all those things he had to do would mean nothing or very little at all. So he'd cleared his schedule and he'd fashioned the bolts that he'd promised he would.

He came to Faldrass prepared with all the gear he'd need, including his sword, his crossbow, the bolts, leather armor...and so on. If he'd known that she secretly wanted two of the things...well, he didn't know, and one was plenty for him. The only real bright spot, was that once they entered the tunnels where they'd found the spiders the first time, it would be easier going on him. Less light these trials, was better than more.

"Five trials should be plenty, I'm sure," he'd told her while they'd unpacked their things and prepared for the outing. Still, he grinned when she reminded him of the last time they'd battled what was to become their prey. Her methods had left something to be desired. But in the end, he couldn't argue their effectiveness. The job had gotten done. The job was different this time however.

Of course he knew that she was feeling...well, guilt, upset with herself, all of those things that were neither warranted or necessary. But he also knew that no matter what he said, he'd never talk her out of it. "Can't think of anything I'd rather do," he said dryly. However. "But you know, it's getting late. We're both tired. I know I could use a little shuteye before we head out." Padraig knew of course that it he'd suggested the delay for her sake, she'd have argued with him. So a little white lie, with the best of intentions.

"Why don't we wait till the morning, when it's bright out, and that'll get me out of it during the worst part of the trial. I'll do better down in the dark. But for this evening, a nice meal, a quiet time by the fire. We can read, relax?" It took some doing to convince her, but ultimately they'd delay the outing till morning. And the food at the resort was good after all. It meant as good a sleep that night as he'd get. That was, till something caught his imagination, just slipping awake from a dream in the dark, and he spotted something quite strange.

It was difficult not to, since the thing was circling his upper arm and was glowing in the dark. And he laid there for some time, frowning, remembering what he must have impossibly forgotten, considering while Faith slept. He didn't want to wake her, but since she too woke before the dawn, after he kissed her and smiled, he adopted a truly curious expression and drew back the sheet to reveal his arm. "So, I've got this thing," he said, showing her just what he meant.

[Faith Augustin]

He wanted to wait until the morning, go and have something to eat and just relax. He even pointed out that he would do better in the dark during the light of the trial tomorrow, but Faith remained entirely unconvinced. She looked at him, though, and she realised that he was not suggesting it for him, but for her. When she realised that, Faith sighed and shook her head, but it was in that moment that he won. "What do you mean, the food's good? That's fighting talk, that is." She couldn't deny that the prospect of an evening together, just the two of them where someone else cooked and they simply got to be together did sound good. With a quirk of her eyebrow, she put the domain bag on the chair and unbuckled her sword. "Since it's you, I suppose."

It was a lovely idea, she had to admit and as she fell asleep with her head on his chest, Faith could not help but tell him that he'd been right. "I had a lovely evening. Thank you." They would cure him tomorrow, she promised as she fell into sleep's embrace.

It was a strange dream she had, and when she woke in the morning it was with a memory of something which she couldn't quite work out how she had forgotten. But then, had she forgotten it, or was now the time to remember it, she wondered. Unusually, Padraig was awake before her and Faith looked at him in surprise. He had a strange expression on his face but his early morning kiss was not concerned or tense. So, she returned the kiss and then he spoke to her. He had this thing? What sort of a thing? Faith looked slightly concerned and then more than slightly as he moved the sheet to show her.

"Oh, thank all the Immortals, it's just your arm." Having given him a somewhat meaningful glance, she looked at him and her eyebrow raised as she realised that he had a glowing band of light around said arm. "I thought there was something serious going on for a minute. What is that?" With a frown, she asked what might be a strange question, except of course, it wasn't. "Is that because of the Tomb? I mean.." Had it been more than a dream, she wondered and she held out her hand, palm up, where there was a single, perfect, leaf.

Then, because things weren't strange enough, Faith lifted her hand and undid the ribbon which tied her nightgown at the top. There, over her heart was a tattoo, the like of which had not been there when they'd got into bed the night before. A single small seedling.

"Moseke. She... Padraig, this sounds insane but after the Tomb, she was there as we left, do you remember? She didn't say anything but she smiled, like she had when she started to heal my brands, and she marked me. Did you see it?" He'd been there, after all, they'd been there together throughout the whole thing. Yet, in her memory, no other Immortal had been there, not at all. Obviously, though, another one had been and Padraig had also been marked. Faith reached her hand out to touch the band of light which hovered around his arm and she looked at him with curiosity all over her face. Her Padraig, not usually big on faith had been marked by an Immortal. How did he feel about that, then? She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was thinking about this.

[Padraig]

"What do you mean, it's just my arm?" Padraig shot back, frowning, confused. "What did you think it was?" he asked then, almost accusingly as if he was personally affronted. But then it dawned on him, based on the myriad of expressions that had crossed her face. Something like that would have been far more serious indeed, in his mind. And though he wasn't the least bit cavalier about what the mystery was, he'd have been much more alarmed instead.

"I'm not sure," he said at first when she asked about the tomb, and frowning, Padraig sat up in the bed, his back resting against the headboard. It had been chaos and confusion from the very start, all the way to the end. Much of it had happened in a strange sort of haze, and was just as hazy now that he thought on it again.

But if that wasn't enough, Faith then revealed a mark on her hand and one on her breast. If those had been there before? Long before? It was enough that he hadn't noticed it in himself. But then maybe it didn't glow like this in the brightening's light, and in the dark...well, she ought to have noticed in the same way he wouldn't have missed the mark on her chest.

Still, in spite of all of it, what Faith was saying made sense. Moseke? He shook his head, frowning. "No, I didn't see. But now...I'm not sure why I haven't remembered before. But after I left you, after we came out from the tomb I was headed back towards the portal. An immortal was there. I didn't realize who it was. But now...I think, Qylios," he said.

Remembering back, he told Faith how the Immortal had stopped him, and thanked him for his part in all of it. And then before she'd gone, she'd taken him by the arm. "It felt strange, it tingled. Is that what this is?" he asked, examining his arm again. "Qylios?"

[Faith Augustin]

Faith's lips twitched in amusement as he realised what her thought processes had been and why she had responded with it was just his arm. Then, as his expressions in turn changed with his thoughts, she let out a guffaw. "See? There's always a worse case. Glowing band around your arm is weird. But it isn't the weirdest." She kissed him gently and then turned to the fact that a glowing band around his arm was, most certainly, weird.

He looked at the tattoo on her chest and palms and Faith spoke, unwittingly, what he was thinking. "Even if I failed to notice these," she held out both hands, small leaves in the palms of each and then gestured to her chest. "then I do not think for one moment you would have. You spot imaginary dimples in all sorts of places, after all. I'd say, in fairness, you have an excellent attention to detail when it comes to me." As he sat up in bed, she did the same, but in the opposite direction to him so she was sitting and looking at him, as close to being in his lap as at his side as she leaned against him. "I like to think that I share that trait when it comes to you, and I would have noticed a glowing arm band. I dreamed last night of Moseke at the Tomb. You of Qylios."

Faith, of course, had an intrinsic level of, well, faith which Padraig did not and she nodded her head. "It's like this, the same but from a different Immortal." She put her hand in his showing him the tattoo from Famula. "You've been blessed by Qylios. It's...you know what it does, you just have to think about it." She smiled at him with an encouraging smile. "Think about it, consider it, and you'll find you know, already." It wasn't his way, his mind was one attuned to science, not just knowing things and he would resist that idea, she knew. So, she used her secret weapon. She'd told him once, long ago on the way to a street party in preparation for a snowball fight that never happened, that she would win and she had a secret weapon. He'd been so busy being sure about trajectory and physics, assuring her that precise calculation ensured his victory that he hadn't asked what the secret weapon was.

"I know it isn't how you do things, usually. Put that aside, if you would and trust me?" If he allowed himself to know, then he would know. And whilst faith in 'just knowing' or philosophy was not his bag, faith in her? He had that in droves. So, she put her hands into his and looked at him with a serious gaze, "I believe you already know. Concentrate and find it."

[Padraig]

"Well at the least, it certainly would have made things interesting," Padraig said dryly, in response to what he thought that Faith had assumed. Or at least, what had been the first possibility to cross her mind. He couldn't quite suppress a grin in response, in spite of a more pressing mystery.

But she was right. If the things, blessings or marks he guessed, had been visible before, they would have noticed them. Both on each other, and on themselves. It would be fruitless, at least in the moment, to question why he'd only noticed it now. "You do have dimples," he maintained. "And I'm not imagining them."

And forgotten, just for the moment, was the problem with his eyes. It hadn't gotten any better of course, but the dawn hadn't quite broken yet and the room was dark, making the glowing band around his arm all the more noticeable. "You think I'd just know?" he asked with a frown.

A scientist didn't just know anything. He studied, experimented, did research, compared all the variables...Knowing was gut instinct and while that had it's place too, a scholar simply didn't rely on it completely. Of course he trusted her. Implicitly. But he was still skeptical. Nevertheless he'd give it a try. "Alright then. So Qylios is the Immortal of light." Hence the nature of the mark, he guessed.

"Of bonds, leadership, courage." Of course these were all knowns, gained from reading, observation or word of mouth. So falling quiet and holding her hand in his, he let logic go in exchange for sense and feeling. It took some effort to still his mind and let it drift back before uttering, "I can bond with another, like yourself for instance," he said, and then she too would wear a gold band round her arm. If she was willing.

"Our actions, while fighting for example, would be in tune with one another, as well as our thoughts and feelings" He wasn't sure how he knew it, or if it was true. But maybe she was right after all and he'd known it all along. "What about this then?" he asked, referring to the mark on her hand and over her heart.

[Faith Augustin]

She just nodded when he asked for clarification. He'd just know? That must be something which really did not sit easily with him, she knew, but as he always would be, he was willing to give it a try for her. So, as he recited what he knew Faith said nothing, just looked at him and waited. Facts first, that was his way and he needed to say them, to ground himself in the known. Their hands held together, though, that grounded him in a different way and he fell silent and considered it.

It didn't take long and he realised what it was that he was feeling, what powers and abilities he had been granted. Whilst he thought about it, she watched him and his expression, her thumb unconsciously moving over his hand. He spoke, explaining what he had realised and Faith smiled. Bond with another? That sounded right and appropriate considering Qylios' domains. He described that bond and the nature of it and Faith nodded, thoughtfully. "That sounds very appropriate for someone blessed by Qylios, and it sounds very appropriate for you." Glancing down at her arm, she wondered what it would look like, would it be the same as his?

"So, it links us further? Kura would have a field day you know, bonds and rings?" Faith smiled fondly at the thought of their friend and she just nodded her head. "The physical representation and Immortal's blessed enhancement of what we already have? That sounds like something I can get behind. Since it's you." She leaned forward and kissed him gently. True enough she might have previously been more reticent about the idea of bands wrapping around her arm, of physical marking in that way ~ but this was Padraig and when she said 'since it's you', that was a lot more significant than the flippant delivery made it sound. They were already bonded in just about every way possible, in her eyes, so if this made them more able to function in a combat, too, then all to the good.

Then, he asked about her blessing, the tattoo on her breast where her heart beat beneath it and the leaves on her palms. Faith looked at the leaves and a frown of concentration crossed her face. "Not yet. These are for later, once I understand the mark better and have shown more devotion to Moseke. This?" She put her hand to her chest and concentrated. It was only a moment and Faith's face showed the delight she felt as she realised what this was.

"I can heal. Wounds and toxins. I can.. I think more or less pull the toxin from your body. So, your dimple delusions aside," Her eyes showed the depth of emotions she was feeling as she reached to touch her hand to his cheek. The relief was palpable at what she had realised she could now do. "I can fix your sight. Unless you'd rather go spider hunting, of course?"

She wouldn't do it unless he gave his permission, of course and Faith explained that it would require concentration on her part. But if he was willing to give it a go, then it would be something that she was very, very happy to use.

[Padraig]

It hadn't set well with him, therefore it had taken some effort. Padraig was a scientist. But a scientist's way of thinking and approaching the world wasn't just his job or part of his chosen field. It was his natural way of being. Scientist's didn't just know. That was for seers, philosophers and the devoutly religious. And he was none of those.

But strangely it had come to him, just as Faith had assured him it would. He couldn't say he'd become a convert overnight to that way of thinking, if ever. But in this case, letting go of logic and critical thinking had served him well. "I guess it does," he agreed. Appropriate for the Immortal, suited to many of his natural inclinations. Then he smiled, even grinned a little. 'You're right I think. Kura would find it both ironic and delightful." Maybe they ought not tell her, he suggested with a wider grin. At least not right away.

Since it's you, she said. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, he brushed her cheek and let his hand drop to hers again. "Well I can't think of anyone I'd rather bond with, or anyone at all but you. We're as bonded as two people can be already though. I wouldn't know where to start." But for now he was more curious about the marks she'd received from Moseke.

What she revealed though took him by complete surprise and it showed. "You can heal, in a way you never could before?" It wasn't only appropriate, he thought, but it brought up a world of possibilities. Some far reaching, some very close at hand. "You can fix my eyes, just like that," he asked with a curious mind, and something about it was bothering him. "At what cost? To you I mean."

It was clear that if the ability to heal came with a risk for herself in doing it, Padraig was prepared to refuse and opt for hunting the spider instead. He wouldn't see her harm herself to help him. But if she could assure him that there was no real danger of harming herself in the process, then, and only then would he agree.

[Faith Augustin]

"You know where to start," she insisted and she smiled, leaning her head against his hand as he stroked her cheek. "In fact, you know what to do and how to do it." She frowned slightly in thought and then lifted her hand to touch his forehead. "It's like us. We don't live there, where it's all logical." Her hand moved to his chest, feeling the gentle thrum of his heart and she smiled. "We live here. But as much as that's true, emotions like love, desire, all of them; they have physiological reactions, physical symptoms." Which came first, Faith said, out of the physical increase in heart rate or the feeling of love, they just didn't know that yet as doctors. But they knew that it was, undeniably, the case.

"So, I am in your heart as you are in mine. Physiologically, emotionally. We don't understand it, but we know it to be. It therefore seems logical to me," she couldn't help but smile as she said that, "that we consider this automatic knowledge we both have to be similar. The power of the Immortals, as little as we understand it, we know it changes those they bless. It's why we used my blood previously, after all." It was that power which he had channeled using his alchemical skill to make the cloak previously. "So it isn't that you know. It's that you've been physiologically changed by the blessing in order to ensure that you can function at your most effective. See how logical and scientific it is?" Faith could not help the grin which crossed her face at that point. It was all true, what she said and yet it was a million miles away from her experience of it.

To her, it was a matter of faith.

He asked about the mark and the healing and she looked at him with a calm expression as she considered it. "I have to concentrate and if I don't, it could go wrong. If it goes wrong, it could hurt either of us. But I am good at concentrating, I know what I have to do. I believe that the risk to either and both of us is significantly less than spider hunting." She looked at him and smiled. "And we know what that looks like, anyhow. I've never done this. I can collect the toxin, too. Let me just get a bowl."

Scooting off the bed quickly, Faith got a small bowl which she put on her lap as she sat back down. Then, she lowered her head in prayer to Moseke, thanking the Immortal for the opportunity to promote life in this way, to serve others and to aid growth and healing. She put her hand on Padraig's chest, somehow feeling that it was the appropriate thing to do and lifted her head to look at him. He knew the slight frown of concentration, he'd seen it many times before after all.

After a few moments, the tattoo which was still visible beneath her untied nightgown started to glow. It shimmered a deep green and then tendrils of energy, like branches reached out and wrapped around them both. Faith's expression didn't change other than the fact that she smiled at him to let him know that all was well as the branches reached out from her to him. Light moved up and down the branches and as the healing power flooded into him and the toxins flooded out.

It took time and she needed to keep still and maintain her concentration but, after a few moments the branches retracted from him. Faith held up the bowl and there, in front of the mark itself, collected the small sample of dark green venom.

When the mark had stopped shimmering, Faith let out a long breath and looked at him with a question in her gaze as she chewed her lower lip nervously. She knew it had worked, the mark had both taken away the toxin and healed the damage done, but the proof of it was in his experience, so she waited to see but she could not disguise the eager expression on her face, even though she was absolutely exhausted after that.

Off Topic

For the reviewer: Faith has used the "Willows' Sanctuary" from the Sevrath Mark. Any knowledge in this, if deemed appropriate, would be gratefully received, thanks!

[Padraig]

Was it logical and scientific, at it's root? Padraig knew that in part at least, she was teasing him with that statement. But there might be some truth to it. If he considered any strong emotion, like fear, anger, happiness, love, each of them seemed to evoke some physical response as well. The connection between mind and body, perhaps. He'd not go so far as to say the philosophers were in any way scientific, or logical in their approach. Still, Padraig grinned when she brushed his cheek and admitted. "You might have a point."

So if he'd been fundamentally changed somehow by his interaction with Qylios, changed by the mark that she'd left behind, then he may already intuitively know something of the nature of those changes, and how to go about tapping into them. "I think that maybe this bonding is different, between one choice or another. You and I, I mean, as opposed to me and someone else," he considered. At the least, he felt it would be more personal.

But if she could assure him that the process of healing him would do her no harm, then he was willing to allow it. After all she had a point, the dangers presented by the giant spiders, of which they'd already experienced once before, were real enough. In fact the last interaction with the things was the cause of his current predicament. And so Padraig agreed.

It was a marvel, the changes in her as she proceeded, the glowing of the mark, the dark green liquid filling the bowl. He sat quiet throughout, only moving if she wanted him to and not speaking at all. And when she was done? He wasn't completely sure. The sun was just coming up outdoors and the curtains were drawn to block out the light. They were in near darkness already and he'd been fine already, under those circumstances.

Padraig thought it was better, but it could be wishful thinking. "There's only one way to find out I guess?" Dropping his feet over the edge of the bed and sitting up, he lit the lamp and on reflex, due to trials on end of troubles, blinked in response. But when the glow from the lamp formed a wide circle around them, something he couldn't have tolerated just the night before, he smiled and looked at her. "It's worked. I believe it's worked."

Opening a set of curtains as the sun rose seemed to confirm what they already knew, and he joined her back on the bed. "You are nothing short of a wonder, Faith. Thank you. I didn't tell you how worried I was," he admitted. "Though I think you already knew. It's like getting part of my future back." His professional one, that was. His future with her had never been in question.

So, how did this bonding thing work? "You know, I feel as if you and I are as connected already as two people can be, and this is...well, I almost feel as if it's ceremony, an acknowledgment of what we already know." But it was what was needed, he guessed, if he was to use the gifts he'd been given. More importantly, if the blessing worked in the way that he sensed that it would, it might act as a protection for her as well. They did tend to find themselves in any number of unusual or dangerous situations and if they could face them better bonded as one, then that alone was worth it.

Facing her on the bed, he took Faith's hand and placed it on his upper arm, where the gold ring of light glowed around it. Padraig placed his own hand then, gently round her upper arm in the same place. He'd never prayed, not once, and it wasn't really something he'd ever thought about doing. Heartfelt declarations, spoken aloud, also weren't his strong suit. That wasn't to say he didn't feel deeply, but saying was different.

"In Qylios' name then. In gratitude for the gift I've been given." Looking at Faith then while they were joined, his hand on her and hers on him, he smiled. Mostly what he said, she knew already. But he also knew that what he'd say was right. At least for the two of them. "I am yours, and you are mine. Me for you, and you for me. Two, drawn together as one. One mind, one spirit, one heart. Always."

And then Padraig smiled again, curiously now. The mark he wore on his arm, she did as well. She'd been right. It was done now, and just as she'd assured him would be the case, it was done.

► Show Spoiler

Pad has used Bond, from the Celarion mark, to form a bond with Faith