18 Ashan, Arc 721
Balthazar as well had things to sort. The young mage was giving him as much space to do so as possible but being as he had made her an important part of the settlement team, Elisabeth was involved. She made sure people were happy, listened to problems, assisted with whatever she could. Using her strengths to help the settlement seemed to be the best way to help ensure their continued happiness.
The work never ended but Elisabeth decided to take some time for another mediation session. The trial had left her tired and in need of a bit of reflection. Sighing gently, the young woman trudged down to the beach and sat down on the warm sand, noting it's soothing presence on her.
Closing her eyes, she smiled as she let her mind take her to the tangle of emotions waging war inside of her. While most wouldn’t think it would be something to be happy about, Elisabeth had come from a life where she really wasn’t considered about emotions. Having them, to her, was something to be celebrated and cherished. Since Rharne, her heart had flooded with things she never thought she would have deal with. Arguably, Ezner had been the starting point, opening her to the cruelties of the world. Balthazar had then shown her the world of love. But there was more to life than love. She spent so much time focusing on how she felt about the mage that other things sometimes slipped out of focus….and when that happened, the young woman felt….out of balance. It was time to reign some of that in.
Breathing deeply, she took in the calmness from the environment around her, exhaling stress so she could focus. Ehe visualized taking Balthazar out of the picture. Her love for him was absolute. A constant, and thus wasn’t something she needed to deal with. Moving that to the side, she was left with emotions stemming from their arrest and detainment. Elisabeth had tried to hide those behind the happiness of being with Balthazar on Faldrass, but it wasn’t working well.
When she visualized those emotions, she saw anger and grief. The grief was simple – thirty trials lost. Thirty trials of relationships had been put on hold because the situation needed to sort itself out. Thirty trials of her life, gone. She had acknowledged and grieved for the loss, but it was time to move past that sorrow. Once she did, it would no longer have hold on her.
Pushing grief aside, anger was there. Elisabeth had always been aware of the current of rage that resided within her. The very thought of slavery brought it to the surface, for example. The anger she had been feeling had a few different sources and separating those out would be helpful. She was aware of what Balthazar was angry about – or at least she thought she knew – but his anger wasn’t her anger. Some things crossed. Most didn’t.
Almund. A lot of things had gone wrong in a very short period of time. She had spent a lot of time being angry about what had happened but the problem with that was finding a focus of her anger. It wasn’t Balthazar. Jacien – maybe. Despite what had been said, she still didn’t trust the man. She had found it oddly curious that his entire presence in the trial had been mostly to report on her personally. Elisabeth found it unnerving that he knew so much personal information about her.
Rand. She didn’t know what to think about him either. He didn’t have a high opinion of the young woman and had voiced that opinion in the trial.
That left her with Kura.
The Albarech – Elisabeth had conflicting feelings about her. There was underlying gratitude that she was a person that saw beyond the surface. Balthazar wasn’t a typical person and as such, there had been the need to dive further. The young mage actually….liked Kura. She found her to be smart, creative, and resourceful. But wrapped within that was still anger. But what was she angry about?
Then another emotion came to her – sadness. It was tangled in the web of emotions as well. The sadness seemed to be associated with Balthazar’s lack of magic. Magic was a connection for them and something that currently they couldn’t share…but it was a temporary thing. Perhaps instead of feeling sad, she could shift that emotion to something more positive. Instead of mourning the loss, it could be that she was the guardian of their connection until his magic was restored. The thought filled her with a bit of relief.
That was a much better way to think about things.
Taking that out of the tangle, she was left with the anger again…but she noticed that each time she removed another emotion, it took a bit of the anger with it, leaving something that was less than anger. Frustration, perhaps. Yet the source of her frustration wouldn’t surface, try as she might.
Perhaps that web was to be untangled another time.
Elisabeth kept her eyes closed and moved her mind to a newly created place in her head. She had heard of people creating special places within their dreams. In fact, she had one such place that she often visited…but this was different. She called it a mind palace, and, in fact, it was Faldrass. As she learned more about the island, different pieces were added. Right now, Haven was where she remained, sorting through a few things when suddenly…a vision ripped through her mind…..
Not again…
Wincing, Elisabeth felt the now familiar jolt of energy that accompanied the intrusions into her mind. Pulling deep on discipline, she took a deep breath and tried to ease her mind, giving the vision a clear passage in her mind.
Vega…and the man from the vision before. They were….someplace else. On a mountain someplace. Not Faldrass. Certainly not Faldrass. But it looked like the same landscape from before. And as before….the glowing rift opened…and the scene shifted….
A structure. A large structure…like a two-story house or….no….Inn, perhaps? Something of that nature. On fire….the death of a young man…
This time, the fire in the vision was bright and brilliant, almost as if she was on fire. As a whole, the vision was much more intense than the first one she had seen. Gasping a bit, she held onto the images the best she could, wanting every ounce of information available.
The scene shifted and showed the same place. A new structure, similar to the old. And Vega was there…again.
And then…it was gone, a large, loud gasp slipping from her lips, leaving the young mage as it had before. Heart racing, Elisabeth had to stop and take deep breaths to regain her composure. Looking around, she noticed Balder not too far away. It looked like he had been coming to check on her. Gently waving him off, he nodded and began swiftly walking away, presumably to find Balthazar. Well, that was to be expected. Balthazar would know something was up before she had the chance to tell him. Damn.
Unfolding her knees and resting her feet on the sand, she put her arms across her knees, laying her head down for a trill. Her head was throbbing, and she didn’t feel like she would be all that successful walking currently, so she just stayed put, breathing in and breathing out.
Taking her mind back to what she had seen, her first thought was not a good one. She had assumed her vision had been Faldrass because of the lava….but Vega had certainly not been on Faldrass! She had no idea about the Inn or fire…or new Inn, although then, again, Vega. Vega was all over this. Elisabeth had assumed, erroneously, that her visions had to do with Faldrass but that was clearly not the case. Or at least she couldn’t presume that. Faldrass might be the overarching theme to them but she had no idea how each thing tied in…
…yet.
Running her hands through her hair, she considered what she had learned before about the discrepancies regarding where the Heart actually was. Balthazar was convinced it was under Faldress - the Baron too. But that's not what her vision had shown her. Vega had not been on Faldrass....so where had she been? Scalvoris Mountains? Wasn't that what the Baron's book had said? What if there was a connection?
