The time is two minutes past the fifth hour of the morning. He has been sitting here for two of those hours and nine other minutes in the velvety silence of the sleepy forest, surrounded still by the evening fog that has long left him as damp as the leaves. Sleep and thought had come and gone and melded together; it is difficult, now, to untwine the memories from the dreams. Edward could have done much better than this to prepare himself for magic, he knows. He shouldn't have gone off and gotten drunk in the middle of the night, for one--that had been dreadfully irresponsible. He cracks open a bleary eye. Now? No, perhaps not now. His fingers twitch on his knees as though exasperated with him. Why is it so difficult? It would be a glimpse, is all; no more than a few minutes. The tired grey gaze slides over to one of the mossy monoliths that corral him, silent, stern and motionless. [
"What... what do you think?" he asks it tiredly, though he certainly doesn't expect an answer. It only feels right, is all, to address the opinion of its sleeping magic, even if he is quite sure it can't hear him, and wouldn't care if it could.
"Think about what?" Replied one of the stones to his right. Though it's voice was very familair. And before be could suspect if he was truely mad a little red headed girl peered around, and stepped into the clearing to join him. "You don't look so good. Have you been putting bad stuff in you again?"
Edward jumps, and struggles to sit up a little straighter against his own rock of choice, rustling in the dewy grass. His wide eyes scan the stones, but the vibrance of a certain someone's red hair draws them almost instantly, and he slumps back again in relief with a shy smile. "Oh, I-I... er--only just... j-just a little, Ailbhe. I don't do so well, without." He tilts his head back to watch the steadily lightening sky. It looks sleepy and grey, a little like him, and its cloak of clouds makes him think of a cozy blanket. Perhaps the day doesn't feel like waking up sometimes, just like people do. "I've... I've b-been meaning to... t-to cast a spell, all night."
"Perhaps you only think you don't.. it is what that stuff does." The little lass commented, her words so much older then her young face. She sat down in the grass across from him, folding up her legs to pull her skirt over them. Tilting her head, watching him for a long moment before her attention drifted to the stones. If they were big to Edward they must have been massive to her, yet they were just met with idle curiousity. And her focus soon shifted back to her purple friend, and she smiled. Lifting her hands to put them together, and then appart, in the slowest clap. But now there was a simple small clay cup that fit neatly on one of her little palms, it was rough, the sort where you could clearly see the finger marks of the potter.. She held it out to him. Offering it. Inside he'd find a smooth, honey-like liquid. Though warm to the touch, like a tea. "Might help you focus."
"I am, er... not... n-not yet above my vices, I'm afraid," Edward admits in an abashed sort of way, looking down at his hands, but her movement attracts his attention, and when he looks up again, he is being offered a cup. He cocks his head like a bird, and takes it curiously, pausing to assess its pleasant scent and then downing a sip. The invigorating drink instantly brightens his eyes and wakes his dawdling mind, and the taste... the taste is so familiar, but he cannot place it. "I--I-I have had this before," he says, looking at her with sudden, earnest certainty, "B-but I--I don't know where! What is it? Is it a... a-a spellcaster's drink? I feel as though all of the magic of the world is at my fingertips!"
Ailbhe just smiled all the wider, pulling her knees up to rest her arms on them. "Silly. All the Magic is always at your fingertips. All that did was-" she lifted a wee hand, all balled up then she flicked her fingers out. "..unblocked your senses." She let out a little giggle, and dropped her chin down onto her knees, hands curling around her toes. "You probably taste something like it every time you cast."
Edward shortly finishes the rest of it, and wallows in its potency for just a moment before he carefully sets the small cup aside in the grass and gathers himself to stand. "P-perhaps you are quite right," he muses. "No, of--of course you are, Ailbhe. You are always right." He laughs his shrill, airy laugh, and finds that he suddenly knows exactly what he must do, how to do it, and, of the greatest importance, when to do it. The Timesense, which had grown tired with him over the days, shivers and hums with its gathering knowledge at the forefront of his mind, as wide awake as he is. "The boy told me the day," he says without preamble, but the wise mind in the little girl's form would surely recall the context. "The hour w-will be easy enough to find."
"Then you should find it." Advised his little friend, leaning back slightly and to the side to better smile up at the tall wizard. Then rolled over to hop to her feet herself. "The sooner you are sure of things, the sooner you can help them." Ailbhe added knwingly, brushing off her white dress. Then an idea seemed to occure to her, that made her wide eyes dart back to the wizard, "Oh.. would you like me to leave you be while you cast?"She asked, pointing off out of the clearing. "I don't mind."
"There is hardly a need," Edward assures her, already flexing his fingers. "It will be quick." He takes a deep breath, and then allows his mind to take the single step through the veil that only barely separated it from the organized chaos of temporal infinity. The only immediate evidence of this is the way that his shining eyes suddenly become distant; a keen observer might realize that they are no longer reflecting their surroundings, but the brows above them are drawn with concentration. He reaches out and taps a point in the air, as though it were quite solid, and then he turns and perches himself on the edge of one of the stones, if only to decrease the chances of his body tipping over while his mind flits away from it to peer through the eternal vastness of Temporal Prime.
Ailbhe smiles mildly at the invitation to stay, then wider still at his focused expression. Looking proud in a way as she took her seat on the grass again to watch him. Quite content to wait.
While Ailbhe would only see her friend sitting still and silent with a look of intense focus on his face, Edward is somewhere entirely removed from the little clearing, from Eriu, from the world, and, indeed, from the infinitely small fragment of time known as the present. That shivering, shiny pinprick is dwarfed by the huge, sprawling web of glittering, gold and silver strands crisscrossing across the vast blackness of the void-between, trillions of lifelines with their trillions of crossings, beginnings and endings, laid over the infinity of possibilities, the things that could have been and can yet be. Even in this tangled chaos, it is easy enough for Edward to find the thread of Bernard's passage through time, though he acts with anxious speed. He navigates his own strand, pausing, several times and despite his better judgement, when he encounters a strange, convoluted anomaly that could only be Ailbhe's lifeline, but doesn't dare linger to examine it. [c]
As soon as he finds his last meeting with Bernard, he hastens back along the boy's line, instead, stealing glimpses of the past few days of his life. Then, he finds a very, very long lifeline--that of a certain blue-haired eladrin--and that is where he stops to peer into the moment, and watch it unfold exactly as it really had.
Looking through time, the wizard eventually found the moment he had been looking for. It was a bright summer afternoon and Bernard stood next to the road, he was wearing the same clothes as usual and hummed a little tune he'd heard from a passing bard. He seemed to have not a care in the world as he paged through the old dusty spellbook. "Hubudus, no, no. Homogerd, hmm." The small boy pushed his oval glasses up and squinted at the marges. "Don't use on... lettuce." The boy peered up over his glasses at the crop of lettuce he was trying to cast the spell on. "I do wonder why... But how do I pronounce this?"
As if it would make a difference the boy walked out to the road and turned so the sun shone on the old pages, it certainly made it easier to read but it still didn't tell him how to pronounce this word. The boy seemed blissfully unaware of the horse padding towards him slowly, it carried a tall graceful man on its back. His water coloured ponytail fluttered loosely in the wind, as did his large broad brimmed hat that remained firmly on his head. The rest of his dress seemed to be made out of authumn leaves, with a red cape of roses, bordered by a thorny reddish-brown vine. The horse was easily as graceful as the rider with fur the golden colour of corn and a black mane that shimmered with cleanliness. Both the rider and the horse had something otherworldly to it, but it was most obvious on the man. He pulled the reigns ever so slightly when his horse came to about a foot of the young wizard, and his glowing blue eyes found him.
"How quaint, a little human boy trying to master magic." The man said, his voice was pleasant and had an almost musical quality to it. Perhaps only because Edward knew him or at least disliked him, could he catch the faintest mocking inflection. The eladrin's large ears twitched, and he raised his head as the boy whirled around. "Oh, oh yes. Good day sir. Yes. I am trying to master this spell, but I just can't." The boy glanced down at the book for a brief moment, but then found the fey's boyish face again. "A-are you? An el-"
"-adrin? Why yes, I most certainly am. I do hope you were not about to confuse me with my close, yet distant kin. Truly, we are like the sun and the moon." Darnador replied, and he raised his head a little in pride. "Dare I ask though? What is it you are doing with a spellbook in your hands?" Although the man lacked visible pupils, anyone could have the feeling he was looking down at the dusty old book. "It seems like it has seen better days, yet the scent of magic is quite unmistakable. Forgive my boldness but..." The eladrin flitted a glance towards the distant small town, and then at the smelly little farms along the road. "This hardly seems like the place where one could encounter an apprentice wizard, even by the standards of human wizards."
It was easy Bernarde was not entirely certain about this person, putting the fact aside he'd never even heard the world eladrin, the boy was not sure if the man was being friendly to him, or condescending. He'd have to guess he was just misunderstanding. "Oh yes this most certainly is a spellbook sir! But my master gave it to me because he couldn't take me with him! So now I just teach myself!" The boy proudly raised the spellbook, it was his dearest possession by now.
Back on his rock, Edward snorts in contempt with enough force to frighten off a butterfly that had fancied his hat as a very big flower, and nearly upsets his very delicate balance.
Darnador tried to take the spellbook but Bernarde pulled it back down, either coincidence or afraid that the man wanted to steal it. Meanwhile the fey's hand remained still in the air where the spellbook had just been, the man seemed to hook his talonlike fingers around something invisible, and then brought his hand up to his nose. "Ehm..." Bernard replied carefully. "A-are you a wizard too, of sorts?" Darnador laughed heart fully at that. "Not of sorts. I dare say I am more of a wizard than most are. But tell me young boy. Who precisely is your master? I have met many a wizard in my considerable life, I may very well know him." He stroked the hand he'd sniffed over the dun horse's neck, the horse itself remained absolutely still, only its ears swivelled round, but not a sound seemed to startle or interest it.
"He is Edward! A great wizard!" Bernard answered, spreading his arms and smiling proudly, he kept the spellbook firmly in his right hand. "He even looks like a wizard from the old stories. He has a large pointy purple hat, a robe of the same colour and he travels the lands on his cart. He also has a..." The boy paused, but only for a second. ".. panflute! He was quite proficient in playing it."
A clever smile played across Darnador's features, but his reaction was no more than that, still there seemed to change something about him, yet Bernard was oblivious to it all, to the mischief that glinted in his deep blue eyes. "So. Student of Edward then I presume..." Darnador said, his voice carried a sort of mirth to it, like a boy planning mischief. "I have met this wizard. It is good to know he is your master. In fact, I feel obliged to aid you too now!"
(16:31:26) You say, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8At8zfh_o3E]"
(16:31:41) Edwarde:
(16:32:29) Bernarde IS PREDICTABLE]
Bernard seemed to almost not believe it! His master was this famous and known? The boy beamed at the man, how could he doubt a man dressed this silly to be anything else than a wizard? Even if he missed a proper hat and a robe. "Really? Will you help me with this spell?" The boy held out the spellbook again, holding it to the page with the spell he had been trying to cast.
"This time Darnador pushed the book away, shaking his head slowly. "Oh, no, no. Much better than this spell. Yet, I will not teach you a lesson for free. All things have their price, and help from a faerie most of all." He waited for Bernard to give him a hopeless look. "A single cup of tea! And I promise to teach you a valuable lesson for your further life as a wizard. Listen closely now, for a fey's promise is his law. I could never bring myself to break it, if you meet my term.""
"Oh, that is no problem at all sir! Come we can go home right now? Although... my mother always tries to keep the fairies out..." The boy hesitated, he hoped that in his joy he hadn't accidentally insulted this eladrin fairy man. "Most wise! There are many courts and not all are benevolent. Do not think of me as a mere pixie or a boggart. Even unicorns.." This time he paused for a moment, but Bernard either didn't have a reaction or he made his face a mask for a moment. "Refer to me as a lord."
Edward leans forward on his rock in incredulity, and fulfills the inevitability of also tipping right off of it with a jingle and a 'whump' against the soft grass. He sneezes, but doesn't wake back to the present. The butterfly cautiously resumes its perch on his fallen hat. That filthy elf-man!
Ailbhe jumps, and hastily crawls over to check he's alright. Of course he is... And at the sneeze she covers her mouth to surpress a laugh. Reaching over to pick up the hat. Slowly and carefully as not to dislodge the butterfly again, she puts it on her own little head for safe keeping. Though she has to hold it up to stop it eating her entire head.
There was a short silence, Bernard was beaming and so was Darnador, as if a deal was being made in silence. "I will come by in the morrow. When the rooster has cried I will appear at your door. Offer me a cup of tea when that time is now. I can truly not wait to meet the parents of such a promising young wizard." Bernard gave a nod to that, he couldn't believe his luck. "Now run along now. We shall meet again soon...."
The child nodded and, spurred on by joy and excitement, zoomed right back to his house. Darnador was left behind on the road.
A prickle at the corner of his subconscious alerts Edward that something may be coming to find him. Quickly, he draws out of this moment and searches for the next where the young boy's lifeline meets the eladrin's, and plunges hastily into it.
It was precisely as Darnador had promised, Edward found the moment with the rooster loudly crying. The inside of the house was cozy and quaint. A small wooden table stood in the middle of a large room and a teapot was boiling above the stone heart. A blonde-haired plump woman stood at an oven and pulled a hot bread out of it while a blond haired man with a thick moustache was eying the door. He hadn't even made remark about the fey's lateness when a soft rap followed the last syllable of the rooster's cry. "Well, well. A man of his word at least." The father huffed. The young Bernard, who'd already donned his wizard outfit slid his chair back and quickly ran towards the door.
Bernard opened the door and Darnador strode in, he was wearing something different today. A rather noble-looking red vest with golden linings and buttons, and what appeared to be a plump pair of pants tucked in black riding boots. He had donned all the jewels he possessed, this was obvious. And while Bernard gave a big smile, his parents couldn't help but give the pompous elf a very nasty look. "Good morning good madam and sir." He gave a nod at the parents, who were trying to smile back. "It is great to meet you." Bernard's mother took the teapot from the fire and poured in a mug, the sooner they were rid of this jester the better.
Edward, though still sprawled awkwardly on the ground, groans against the grass in a disgruntled sort of way. Really?
Albhie, curious as to what was causing her friend to pull all these funny faces, looked around the clearing. Then reached out a tiny hand to his hairline. Hesitating momentarily, her hand reaching back up to her lips. Then she reached out again, making only the slightest contact as she lent forward, sneaking a peak at what he was seeing. -- The sight of the elf made her screw up that cute little nose and think a bad word.
The fey took the mug and sipped it slightly, he gave the kind of look that implied he'd had much much better tea before, but he kept his tongue which made it even worse for his mother. Bernard however sat down next to his guest and looked up longingly. "So what are you going to teach me Mister ehm..." The eladrin set his tea back down. "I suppose you have held up your side of the bargain. Give me good Edward's spellbook for a moment, do not worry, I promise you I shall not damage it this day."
It was clear that the young wizard hesitated, but before his father could sputter out a retort the boy hopped right up and gave the book to him. "So... Mister." Gustave began, his voice anything but friendly. "You a fairy." "You could say that.." The wizard answers as he pages through the book. "In fact I am an eladrin. A lord of the Feywild, as far as one can have lordship over the pristine beauty of the primal nature of this world, unspoiled by man and ran by magic." Darnador tapped his finger against a page in the book.
If Edward took a peek inside the book he'd see that Darnador just transfigured a single word. Seeing as the word he transfigured it was just another word with the same meaing, he had technically not damaged it, it was not a formula either so the change would never trouble anyone. Neither the boy or his parents saw this.
Ah, but Edward did. The nerve! He doesn't do much of anything, but his narrowed eyes and displeased expression say quite a lot.
Gustave raised a brow, but his mother laid a hand on his shoulder. No matter what kind of person this was, he was still a wizard, and she knew it could be unwise to anger him. It was then that the man bounded out his chair, a sudden mirth to his eyes. "Well now Bernard. Are you familiar with transfiguration? The term?"
"Ehm..." "I see not!" Darnador pulled Bernard out of his chair and positioned him a bit away from the table and across of him. "Transfiguration is one of the most known schools of magic, although, perhaps not always by that name. It allows us to change things! Change a prince into a frog! A maiden into a goose or into a few notes of music..." Bernard seemed to be quite impressed by learning this, but of course, the child was always impressed when magic was involved. "Oh wow! Can I.. can I change my.. My hat into a proper hat with it?"
Darnador answered with a laugh. "Quite possibly yes! But a wizard's hat is often a show of how much they've perfected magic. For that matter, I daresay your awful-looking hat is precisely the hat that you deserve." A crack resounded through the room as Gustave crushed his cup in his hand, but Paulette pushed him back into his chair before he could rise. Darnador ignored it, and with his words he made the boy ignore it as well. "But it is optional thing. I for one would rather die than be seen with something so human and silly. I think my presence speaks for itself, I don't need a hat to prove it." The eladrin shrugged. "But to each his own? Is it not?" The boy nodded back uncertainly.
The eladrin's nasty comment makes Edward clench his jaw. While never a very spiteful person, Darnador is doing an incredible job of inspiring such feelings inside of him. He privately decides to find a way to upgrade wee Bernard's hat later.
"But let us not talk about hats, we are here to talk about transfiguration. Now transfiguration is quite difficult. You order the universe to make something what it is not... Allow me to show you." The eladrin pulled his wand and started chanting in a strange tongue. Everyone in the room now watched him with interest, the parents would rather have had it that he took his magic outside, but they couldn't exactly interrupt him now could they?
Then it happened, as Edward might have expected. The wizard took the slightly step to the side and turned to the parents. A greenish mist shot out of his silver wand and briefly swirled around the parents. They shrank immediately and in a soft low puff the mist dispersed to show them as two tiny rats with blue eyes. Bernard's eyes widened and he leapt backwards in surprise, while the eladrin gave the briefest chuckle at the success of his plan
As quickly as the boy had jumped back, as quick did he rush forward to find the two rats. He was still too shocked to cry. "W-w-what have you done?" "I showed you the power of transfiguration." The eladrin answered in a matter-of-factly way. "But do not fret. Transfiguration can be broken. Allow me to give you the terms now, your parents already know them. It's quite interesting really, I even attempted some poetry in your abysmally primitive language." The man cleared his throat, while Bernard gave him a horrified look. "For your parents to return to normal, a condition you must meet. The wizard known as Edward, a thief, a liar, and a cheat. Turn his body into a rat, all will be well if you do that." The Eladrin declared.
As the boy was still speechless the eladrin continued. "You see, the wizard Edward stole something of mine, something rather important. I would like to have it back, but I have no idea where he has run." The wizard pointed at the spellbook on the table. "But that book! That book knows. You haven't mastered the spellbook yet, in fact, when I nearly touched it yesterday I could 'smell' it wasn't your magic. The smell reminded me of a certain object of mine that this wizard also felt fit to destroy." Now Bernard really was crying, he didn't know what to do. He clearly wanted to destroy this person with his magic, he so wished he could do something. But he couldn't, his mind raced and he couldn't focus on even the few spells he'd cast successfully once. The magic kept escaping him.
Edward is so invested in the moment that his limp fingers suddenly begin to twitch and spark, and the look on his face is so fierce that one could almost ignore the fact that he's slumped over on the ground with his rear halfway into the air. In Temporal Prime, his mind jumps, and the action is conveyed through to his body, as well. He is about to be found; he can feel the overwhelming presences of the Denizens, searching first for any tampering in his wake as they approach him with the inevitability of time itself--but no, he must linger just a little while longer, just in case there was something else. This is what he had come for, after all. He shifts uncomfortably before going limp again, and his expression becomes anxious.
(18:23:29) Aldurin: Little Ailbhe grows concerned, and withdraws her hand, severing her connection to his mind, and putting a stop to her spying. It was more important to locate that sparking hand and hold it with both of hers. Unbothered by the spell his anger had started to weave. He would tell her anything important later.
Deciding he'd explained enough Darnador walked over to the table to retrieve the spellbook, in a sudden fit of rage Bernard stood up and took the teapot in his hand. But before he could charge the point of a silvery longsword flashed before him and he had to stop. "Don't do that." The wizard answered with an amused smile. "I am not the kind of person that would slay a child for attacking him. I truly am not. It wouldn't do if I were to wound you either, so just remain calm." The closeness of death had beaten the air out of Bernard. "Besides. You are a wizard, if you want to stop me do so with your magic, not a club." The boy dropped the teapot and looked down, he whispered under his breath all the magic words he remembered from in the book, but he couldn't put them in the right order, nothing happened.
"Now hold this for a moment." He picked up the spellbook and handed it to the boy. "And you may want to bring these too." He pointed at his rats and Bernard gathered them up, perhaps if he did what he fae asked he'd turn them back to normal. His parents were still not certain what was happening, his mother seemed to even have fainted. "I am going to return the spellbook to the owner, which is of course Edward." The eladrin smiled. "You shall then turn Edward into a rat, and then your parents will become humans again." The wizard already started to cast. "Oh... And don't tell Edward exactly what happened. It would quite ruin the fun and your parents might stay the way they are. So better hold those tears, or he might ask you what is wrong, your tongue may slip and seal their fate!"
The boy tried to wipe his face, but it was hard to remove all traces of his sadness. But then Darnador did him at least one kindness, and cleaned his face before resuming the spell to send the book back to Edward. With a flash it was over, Darnador's spell hit the book and Bernard was gone. The eladrin smiled proudly. "Well that is that now." He muttered in elvish. Darnador quite calmly walked around the table to put the chairs back in place, he doused the fire, and then peacefully finished the tea of Bernard and his parents, sadly Bernard had spilled the rest. With that the vision should be over, Edward had seen everything.
Too long, too long, just barely too long! The Denizen closes in, cold, wild and impossibly huge next to the tiny presence of Edward's mind. A powerful impact sends him hurtling back into the present like a swatted fly, with millions of ethereal claws slashing at him as he goes. The cuts manifest themselves on his body like bloody raindrops--undeterred by his clothes, they dig through his flesh as though drawn by invisible knives, though most heal again almost as soon as they are inflicted. Edward's wide, startled eyes come back to focus as his mind returns, and, breathing quickly, he slowly rolls over out of his mildly undignified position and onto his back with a grimace. He wipes the black dribble from the corner of his mouth with a bloody hand. That could have gone much worse. Massaging his temples, he tries to remember; what had he ascertained? He will have to dedicate a nice, long think to it.
Two little hands land on his chest "Edward! Wha-- what was that are you okay!?" Cried the wee red headed girl as her horrified face hones into view. She reaches for his hand again. "You're bleeding. Oh why are you bleeding?"
The sound of Ailbhe's worried voice returns the rest of Edward's stunned consciousness, and as he peers up at her, he forms a thin, reassuring smile. Though he sounds shaken, he says, "Sh-sh-shallow--shallow cuts, lass, y-you needn't worry. They--th-they look--worse, th-than, than they are." There aren't very many of the injuries left, either, but a few of them still pepper his hands and his face, thin gouges and slices; some of them even continue to disappear. There's probably more beneath his clothes, but they don't deter him as he sits up after giving her little hand a warm, comforting squeeze. "I--I-I saw it. All of it," he informs, pushing up his glasses with his knuckles and delicately wiping one dribbling scratch that had landed right across the bridge of his nose.
Little Ailbhe still looked greatly distressed. She obviously hadn't expected his spell to draw blood... but he has said it was fine... so she tried, at least, to focus on the objective of the whole mess. "I peeked at a little..." she admitted awkwardly, looking to the side. "Enough to know what the pompus bully looks like." She turned her concerned attention back to the wizard and tried very hard to smile. "Did you find anything in what you saw?"
"A... a few things," Edward murmurs distantly, frowning in a grave way at one of the tall stones, and then over at his wee friend. "The--the most important, is, er, is that I believe that the c-curse is neither... neither complicated nor especially powerful. He... he treated it like..." He pauses, and his frown deepens considerably. "...like a cruel game."
Ailbhe smiled for real this time, diving forward to hug the elder fellow. "Good! Then you shall have no trouble winning." She declared, sounding greatly relieved. "I'm sorry I suggested this tact... should you go tell the boy?"
Edward gladly and carefully returns the earnest hug, perhaps getting a faceful of his own hat in the process. "Oh, but--b-but it was a good idea, Ailbhe. Er... I-I will tell him, though it is still quite early. I will try to make progress t-towards a--a counterspell, until... u-until they wake."
"What... what do you think?" he asks it tiredly, though he certainly doesn't expect an answer. It only feels right, is all, to address the opinion of its sleeping magic, even if he is quite sure it can't hear him, and wouldn't care if it could.
"Think about what?" Replied one of the stones to his right. Though it's voice was very familair. And before be could suspect if he was truely mad a little red headed girl peered around, and stepped into the clearing to join him. "You don't look so good. Have you been putting bad stuff in you again?"
Edward jumps, and struggles to sit up a little straighter against his own rock of choice, rustling in the dewy grass. His wide eyes scan the stones, but the vibrance of a certain someone's red hair draws them almost instantly, and he slumps back again in relief with a shy smile. "Oh, I-I... er--only just... j-just a little, Ailbhe. I don't do so well, without." He tilts his head back to watch the steadily lightening sky. It looks sleepy and grey, a little like him, and its cloak of clouds makes him think of a cozy blanket. Perhaps the day doesn't feel like waking up sometimes, just like people do. "I've... I've b-been meaning to... t-to cast a spell, all night."
"Perhaps you only think you don't.. it is what that stuff does." The little lass commented, her words so much older then her young face. She sat down in the grass across from him, folding up her legs to pull her skirt over them. Tilting her head, watching him for a long moment before her attention drifted to the stones. If they were big to Edward they must have been massive to her, yet they were just met with idle curiousity. And her focus soon shifted back to her purple friend, and she smiled. Lifting her hands to put them together, and then appart, in the slowest clap. But now there was a simple small clay cup that fit neatly on one of her little palms, it was rough, the sort where you could clearly see the finger marks of the potter.. She held it out to him. Offering it. Inside he'd find a smooth, honey-like liquid. Though warm to the touch, like a tea. "Might help you focus."
"I am, er... not... n-not yet above my vices, I'm afraid," Edward admits in an abashed sort of way, looking down at his hands, but her movement attracts his attention, and when he looks up again, he is being offered a cup. He cocks his head like a bird, and takes it curiously, pausing to assess its pleasant scent and then downing a sip. The invigorating drink instantly brightens his eyes and wakes his dawdling mind, and the taste... the taste is so familiar, but he cannot place it. "I--I-I have had this before," he says, looking at her with sudden, earnest certainty, "B-but I--I don't know where! What is it? Is it a... a-a spellcaster's drink? I feel as though all of the magic of the world is at my fingertips!"
Ailbhe just smiled all the wider, pulling her knees up to rest her arms on them. "Silly. All the Magic is always at your fingertips. All that did was-" she lifted a wee hand, all balled up then she flicked her fingers out. "..unblocked your senses." She let out a little giggle, and dropped her chin down onto her knees, hands curling around her toes. "You probably taste something like it every time you cast."
Edward shortly finishes the rest of it, and wallows in its potency for just a moment before he carefully sets the small cup aside in the grass and gathers himself to stand. "P-perhaps you are quite right," he muses. "No, of--of course you are, Ailbhe. You are always right." He laughs his shrill, airy laugh, and finds that he suddenly knows exactly what he must do, how to do it, and, of the greatest importance, when to do it. The Timesense, which had grown tired with him over the days, shivers and hums with its gathering knowledge at the forefront of his mind, as wide awake as he is. "The boy told me the day," he says without preamble, but the wise mind in the little girl's form would surely recall the context. "The hour w-will be easy enough to find."
"Then you should find it." Advised his little friend, leaning back slightly and to the side to better smile up at the tall wizard. Then rolled over to hop to her feet herself. "The sooner you are sure of things, the sooner you can help them." Ailbhe added knwingly, brushing off her white dress. Then an idea seemed to occure to her, that made her wide eyes dart back to the wizard, "Oh.. would you like me to leave you be while you cast?"She asked, pointing off out of the clearing. "I don't mind."
"There is hardly a need," Edward assures her, already flexing his fingers. "It will be quick." He takes a deep breath, and then allows his mind to take the single step through the veil that only barely separated it from the organized chaos of temporal infinity. The only immediate evidence of this is the way that his shining eyes suddenly become distant; a keen observer might realize that they are no longer reflecting their surroundings, but the brows above them are drawn with concentration. He reaches out and taps a point in the air, as though it were quite solid, and then he turns and perches himself on the edge of one of the stones, if only to decrease the chances of his body tipping over while his mind flits away from it to peer through the eternal vastness of Temporal Prime.
Ailbhe smiles mildly at the invitation to stay, then wider still at his focused expression. Looking proud in a way as she took her seat on the grass again to watch him. Quite content to wait.
While Ailbhe would only see her friend sitting still and silent with a look of intense focus on his face, Edward is somewhere entirely removed from the little clearing, from Eriu, from the world, and, indeed, from the infinitely small fragment of time known as the present. That shivering, shiny pinprick is dwarfed by the huge, sprawling web of glittering, gold and silver strands crisscrossing across the vast blackness of the void-between, trillions of lifelines with their trillions of crossings, beginnings and endings, laid over the infinity of possibilities, the things that could have been and can yet be. Even in this tangled chaos, it is easy enough for Edward to find the thread of Bernard's passage through time, though he acts with anxious speed. He navigates his own strand, pausing, several times and despite his better judgement, when he encounters a strange, convoluted anomaly that could only be Ailbhe's lifeline, but doesn't dare linger to examine it. [c]
As soon as he finds his last meeting with Bernard, he hastens back along the boy's line, instead, stealing glimpses of the past few days of his life. Then, he finds a very, very long lifeline--that of a certain blue-haired eladrin--and that is where he stops to peer into the moment, and watch it unfold exactly as it really had.
Looking through time, the wizard eventually found the moment he had been looking for. It was a bright summer afternoon and Bernard stood next to the road, he was wearing the same clothes as usual and hummed a little tune he'd heard from a passing bard. He seemed to have not a care in the world as he paged through the old dusty spellbook. "Hubudus, no, no. Homogerd, hmm." The small boy pushed his oval glasses up and squinted at the marges. "Don't use on... lettuce." The boy peered up over his glasses at the crop of lettuce he was trying to cast the spell on. "I do wonder why... But how do I pronounce this?"
As if it would make a difference the boy walked out to the road and turned so the sun shone on the old pages, it certainly made it easier to read but it still didn't tell him how to pronounce this word. The boy seemed blissfully unaware of the horse padding towards him slowly, it carried a tall graceful man on its back. His water coloured ponytail fluttered loosely in the wind, as did his large broad brimmed hat that remained firmly on his head. The rest of his dress seemed to be made out of authumn leaves, with a red cape of roses, bordered by a thorny reddish-brown vine. The horse was easily as graceful as the rider with fur the golden colour of corn and a black mane that shimmered with cleanliness. Both the rider and the horse had something otherworldly to it, but it was most obvious on the man. He pulled the reigns ever so slightly when his horse came to about a foot of the young wizard, and his glowing blue eyes found him.
"How quaint, a little human boy trying to master magic." The man said, his voice was pleasant and had an almost musical quality to it. Perhaps only because Edward knew him or at least disliked him, could he catch the faintest mocking inflection. The eladrin's large ears twitched, and he raised his head as the boy whirled around. "Oh, oh yes. Good day sir. Yes. I am trying to master this spell, but I just can't." The boy glanced down at the book for a brief moment, but then found the fey's boyish face again. "A-are you? An el-"
"-adrin? Why yes, I most certainly am. I do hope you were not about to confuse me with my close, yet distant kin. Truly, we are like the sun and the moon." Darnador replied, and he raised his head a little in pride. "Dare I ask though? What is it you are doing with a spellbook in your hands?" Although the man lacked visible pupils, anyone could have the feeling he was looking down at the dusty old book. "It seems like it has seen better days, yet the scent of magic is quite unmistakable. Forgive my boldness but..." The eladrin flitted a glance towards the distant small town, and then at the smelly little farms along the road. "This hardly seems like the place where one could encounter an apprentice wizard, even by the standards of human wizards."
It was easy Bernarde was not entirely certain about this person, putting the fact aside he'd never even heard the world eladrin, the boy was not sure if the man was being friendly to him, or condescending. He'd have to guess he was just misunderstanding. "Oh yes this most certainly is a spellbook sir! But my master gave it to me because he couldn't take me with him! So now I just teach myself!" The boy proudly raised the spellbook, it was his dearest possession by now.
Back on his rock, Edward snorts in contempt with enough force to frighten off a butterfly that had fancied his hat as a very big flower, and nearly upsets his very delicate balance.
Darnador tried to take the spellbook but Bernarde pulled it back down, either coincidence or afraid that the man wanted to steal it. Meanwhile the fey's hand remained still in the air where the spellbook had just been, the man seemed to hook his talonlike fingers around something invisible, and then brought his hand up to his nose. "Ehm..." Bernard replied carefully. "A-are you a wizard too, of sorts?" Darnador laughed heart fully at that. "Not of sorts. I dare say I am more of a wizard than most are. But tell me young boy. Who precisely is your master? I have met many a wizard in my considerable life, I may very well know him." He stroked the hand he'd sniffed over the dun horse's neck, the horse itself remained absolutely still, only its ears swivelled round, but not a sound seemed to startle or interest it.
"He is Edward! A great wizard!" Bernard answered, spreading his arms and smiling proudly, he kept the spellbook firmly in his right hand. "He even looks like a wizard from the old stories. He has a large pointy purple hat, a robe of the same colour and he travels the lands on his cart. He also has a..." The boy paused, but only for a second. ".. panflute! He was quite proficient in playing it."
A clever smile played across Darnador's features, but his reaction was no more than that, still there seemed to change something about him, yet Bernard was oblivious to it all, to the mischief that glinted in his deep blue eyes. "So. Student of Edward then I presume..." Darnador said, his voice carried a sort of mirth to it, like a boy planning mischief. "I have met this wizard. It is good to know he is your master. In fact, I feel obliged to aid you too now!"
(16:31:26) You say, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8At8zfh_o3E]"
(16:31:41) Edwarde:
(16:32:29) Bernarde IS PREDICTABLE]
Bernard seemed to almost not believe it! His master was this famous and known? The boy beamed at the man, how could he doubt a man dressed this silly to be anything else than a wizard? Even if he missed a proper hat and a robe. "Really? Will you help me with this spell?" The boy held out the spellbook again, holding it to the page with the spell he had been trying to cast.
"This time Darnador pushed the book away, shaking his head slowly. "Oh, no, no. Much better than this spell. Yet, I will not teach you a lesson for free. All things have their price, and help from a faerie most of all." He waited for Bernard to give him a hopeless look. "A single cup of tea! And I promise to teach you a valuable lesson for your further life as a wizard. Listen closely now, for a fey's promise is his law. I could never bring myself to break it, if you meet my term.""
"Oh, that is no problem at all sir! Come we can go home right now? Although... my mother always tries to keep the fairies out..." The boy hesitated, he hoped that in his joy he hadn't accidentally insulted this eladrin fairy man. "Most wise! There are many courts and not all are benevolent. Do not think of me as a mere pixie or a boggart. Even unicorns.." This time he paused for a moment, but Bernard either didn't have a reaction or he made his face a mask for a moment. "Refer to me as a lord."
Edward leans forward on his rock in incredulity, and fulfills the inevitability of also tipping right off of it with a jingle and a 'whump' against the soft grass. He sneezes, but doesn't wake back to the present. The butterfly cautiously resumes its perch on his fallen hat. That filthy elf-man!
Ailbhe jumps, and hastily crawls over to check he's alright. Of course he is... And at the sneeze she covers her mouth to surpress a laugh. Reaching over to pick up the hat. Slowly and carefully as not to dislodge the butterfly again, she puts it on her own little head for safe keeping. Though she has to hold it up to stop it eating her entire head.
There was a short silence, Bernard was beaming and so was Darnador, as if a deal was being made in silence. "I will come by in the morrow. When the rooster has cried I will appear at your door. Offer me a cup of tea when that time is now. I can truly not wait to meet the parents of such a promising young wizard." Bernard gave a nod to that, he couldn't believe his luck. "Now run along now. We shall meet again soon...."
The child nodded and, spurred on by joy and excitement, zoomed right back to his house. Darnador was left behind on the road.
A prickle at the corner of his subconscious alerts Edward that something may be coming to find him. Quickly, he draws out of this moment and searches for the next where the young boy's lifeline meets the eladrin's, and plunges hastily into it.
It was precisely as Darnador had promised, Edward found the moment with the rooster loudly crying. The inside of the house was cozy and quaint. A small wooden table stood in the middle of a large room and a teapot was boiling above the stone heart. A blonde-haired plump woman stood at an oven and pulled a hot bread out of it while a blond haired man with a thick moustache was eying the door. He hadn't even made remark about the fey's lateness when a soft rap followed the last syllable of the rooster's cry. "Well, well. A man of his word at least." The father huffed. The young Bernard, who'd already donned his wizard outfit slid his chair back and quickly ran towards the door.
Bernard opened the door and Darnador strode in, he was wearing something different today. A rather noble-looking red vest with golden linings and buttons, and what appeared to be a plump pair of pants tucked in black riding boots. He had donned all the jewels he possessed, this was obvious. And while Bernard gave a big smile, his parents couldn't help but give the pompous elf a very nasty look. "Good morning good madam and sir." He gave a nod at the parents, who were trying to smile back. "It is great to meet you." Bernard's mother took the teapot from the fire and poured in a mug, the sooner they were rid of this jester the better.
Edward, though still sprawled awkwardly on the ground, groans against the grass in a disgruntled sort of way. Really?
Albhie, curious as to what was causing her friend to pull all these funny faces, looked around the clearing. Then reached out a tiny hand to his hairline. Hesitating momentarily, her hand reaching back up to her lips. Then she reached out again, making only the slightest contact as she lent forward, sneaking a peak at what he was seeing. -- The sight of the elf made her screw up that cute little nose and think a bad word.
The fey took the mug and sipped it slightly, he gave the kind of look that implied he'd had much much better tea before, but he kept his tongue which made it even worse for his mother. Bernard however sat down next to his guest and looked up longingly. "So what are you going to teach me Mister ehm..." The eladrin set his tea back down. "I suppose you have held up your side of the bargain. Give me good Edward's spellbook for a moment, do not worry, I promise you I shall not damage it this day."
It was clear that the young wizard hesitated, but before his father could sputter out a retort the boy hopped right up and gave the book to him. "So... Mister." Gustave began, his voice anything but friendly. "You a fairy." "You could say that.." The wizard answers as he pages through the book. "In fact I am an eladrin. A lord of the Feywild, as far as one can have lordship over the pristine beauty of the primal nature of this world, unspoiled by man and ran by magic." Darnador tapped his finger against a page in the book.
If Edward took a peek inside the book he'd see that Darnador just transfigured a single word. Seeing as the word he transfigured it was just another word with the same meaing, he had technically not damaged it, it was not a formula either so the change would never trouble anyone. Neither the boy or his parents saw this.
Ah, but Edward did. The nerve! He doesn't do much of anything, but his narrowed eyes and displeased expression say quite a lot.
Gustave raised a brow, but his mother laid a hand on his shoulder. No matter what kind of person this was, he was still a wizard, and she knew it could be unwise to anger him. It was then that the man bounded out his chair, a sudden mirth to his eyes. "Well now Bernard. Are you familiar with transfiguration? The term?"
"Ehm..." "I see not!" Darnador pulled Bernard out of his chair and positioned him a bit away from the table and across of him. "Transfiguration is one of the most known schools of magic, although, perhaps not always by that name. It allows us to change things! Change a prince into a frog! A maiden into a goose or into a few notes of music..." Bernard seemed to be quite impressed by learning this, but of course, the child was always impressed when magic was involved. "Oh wow! Can I.. can I change my.. My hat into a proper hat with it?"
Darnador answered with a laugh. "Quite possibly yes! But a wizard's hat is often a show of how much they've perfected magic. For that matter, I daresay your awful-looking hat is precisely the hat that you deserve." A crack resounded through the room as Gustave crushed his cup in his hand, but Paulette pushed him back into his chair before he could rise. Darnador ignored it, and with his words he made the boy ignore it as well. "But it is optional thing. I for one would rather die than be seen with something so human and silly. I think my presence speaks for itself, I don't need a hat to prove it." The eladrin shrugged. "But to each his own? Is it not?" The boy nodded back uncertainly.
The eladrin's nasty comment makes Edward clench his jaw. While never a very spiteful person, Darnador is doing an incredible job of inspiring such feelings inside of him. He privately decides to find a way to upgrade wee Bernard's hat later.
"But let us not talk about hats, we are here to talk about transfiguration. Now transfiguration is quite difficult. You order the universe to make something what it is not... Allow me to show you." The eladrin pulled his wand and started chanting in a strange tongue. Everyone in the room now watched him with interest, the parents would rather have had it that he took his magic outside, but they couldn't exactly interrupt him now could they?
Then it happened, as Edward might have expected. The wizard took the slightly step to the side and turned to the parents. A greenish mist shot out of his silver wand and briefly swirled around the parents. They shrank immediately and in a soft low puff the mist dispersed to show them as two tiny rats with blue eyes. Bernard's eyes widened and he leapt backwards in surprise, while the eladrin gave the briefest chuckle at the success of his plan
As quickly as the boy had jumped back, as quick did he rush forward to find the two rats. He was still too shocked to cry. "W-w-what have you done?" "I showed you the power of transfiguration." The eladrin answered in a matter-of-factly way. "But do not fret. Transfiguration can be broken. Allow me to give you the terms now, your parents already know them. It's quite interesting really, I even attempted some poetry in your abysmally primitive language." The man cleared his throat, while Bernard gave him a horrified look. "For your parents to return to normal, a condition you must meet. The wizard known as Edward, a thief, a liar, and a cheat. Turn his body into a rat, all will be well if you do that." The Eladrin declared.
As the boy was still speechless the eladrin continued. "You see, the wizard Edward stole something of mine, something rather important. I would like to have it back, but I have no idea where he has run." The wizard pointed at the spellbook on the table. "But that book! That book knows. You haven't mastered the spellbook yet, in fact, when I nearly touched it yesterday I could 'smell' it wasn't your magic. The smell reminded me of a certain object of mine that this wizard also felt fit to destroy." Now Bernard really was crying, he didn't know what to do. He clearly wanted to destroy this person with his magic, he so wished he could do something. But he couldn't, his mind raced and he couldn't focus on even the few spells he'd cast successfully once. The magic kept escaping him.
Edward is so invested in the moment that his limp fingers suddenly begin to twitch and spark, and the look on his face is so fierce that one could almost ignore the fact that he's slumped over on the ground with his rear halfway into the air. In Temporal Prime, his mind jumps, and the action is conveyed through to his body, as well. He is about to be found; he can feel the overwhelming presences of the Denizens, searching first for any tampering in his wake as they approach him with the inevitability of time itself--but no, he must linger just a little while longer, just in case there was something else. This is what he had come for, after all. He shifts uncomfortably before going limp again, and his expression becomes anxious.
(18:23:29) Aldurin: Little Ailbhe grows concerned, and withdraws her hand, severing her connection to his mind, and putting a stop to her spying. It was more important to locate that sparking hand and hold it with both of hers. Unbothered by the spell his anger had started to weave. He would tell her anything important later.
Deciding he'd explained enough Darnador walked over to the table to retrieve the spellbook, in a sudden fit of rage Bernard stood up and took the teapot in his hand. But before he could charge the point of a silvery longsword flashed before him and he had to stop. "Don't do that." The wizard answered with an amused smile. "I am not the kind of person that would slay a child for attacking him. I truly am not. It wouldn't do if I were to wound you either, so just remain calm." The closeness of death had beaten the air out of Bernard. "Besides. You are a wizard, if you want to stop me do so with your magic, not a club." The boy dropped the teapot and looked down, he whispered under his breath all the magic words he remembered from in the book, but he couldn't put them in the right order, nothing happened.
"Now hold this for a moment." He picked up the spellbook and handed it to the boy. "And you may want to bring these too." He pointed at his rats and Bernard gathered them up, perhaps if he did what he fae asked he'd turn them back to normal. His parents were still not certain what was happening, his mother seemed to even have fainted. "I am going to return the spellbook to the owner, which is of course Edward." The eladrin smiled. "You shall then turn Edward into a rat, and then your parents will become humans again." The wizard already started to cast. "Oh... And don't tell Edward exactly what happened. It would quite ruin the fun and your parents might stay the way they are. So better hold those tears, or he might ask you what is wrong, your tongue may slip and seal their fate!"
The boy tried to wipe his face, but it was hard to remove all traces of his sadness. But then Darnador did him at least one kindness, and cleaned his face before resuming the spell to send the book back to Edward. With a flash it was over, Darnador's spell hit the book and Bernard was gone. The eladrin smiled proudly. "Well that is that now." He muttered in elvish. Darnador quite calmly walked around the table to put the chairs back in place, he doused the fire, and then peacefully finished the tea of Bernard and his parents, sadly Bernard had spilled the rest. With that the vision should be over, Edward had seen everything.
Too long, too long, just barely too long! The Denizen closes in, cold, wild and impossibly huge next to the tiny presence of Edward's mind. A powerful impact sends him hurtling back into the present like a swatted fly, with millions of ethereal claws slashing at him as he goes. The cuts manifest themselves on his body like bloody raindrops--undeterred by his clothes, they dig through his flesh as though drawn by invisible knives, though most heal again almost as soon as they are inflicted. Edward's wide, startled eyes come back to focus as his mind returns, and, breathing quickly, he slowly rolls over out of his mildly undignified position and onto his back with a grimace. He wipes the black dribble from the corner of his mouth with a bloody hand. That could have gone much worse. Massaging his temples, he tries to remember; what had he ascertained? He will have to dedicate a nice, long think to it.
Two little hands land on his chest "Edward! Wha-- what was that are you okay!?" Cried the wee red headed girl as her horrified face hones into view. She reaches for his hand again. "You're bleeding. Oh why are you bleeding?"
The sound of Ailbhe's worried voice returns the rest of Edward's stunned consciousness, and as he peers up at her, he forms a thin, reassuring smile. Though he sounds shaken, he says, "Sh-sh-shallow--shallow cuts, lass, y-you needn't worry. They--th-they look--worse, th-than, than they are." There aren't very many of the injuries left, either, but a few of them still pepper his hands and his face, thin gouges and slices; some of them even continue to disappear. There's probably more beneath his clothes, but they don't deter him as he sits up after giving her little hand a warm, comforting squeeze. "I--I-I saw it. All of it," he informs, pushing up his glasses with his knuckles and delicately wiping one dribbling scratch that had landed right across the bridge of his nose.
Little Ailbhe still looked greatly distressed. She obviously hadn't expected his spell to draw blood... but he has said it was fine... so she tried, at least, to focus on the objective of the whole mess. "I peeked at a little..." she admitted awkwardly, looking to the side. "Enough to know what the pompus bully looks like." She turned her concerned attention back to the wizard and tried very hard to smile. "Did you find anything in what you saw?"
"A... a few things," Edward murmurs distantly, frowning in a grave way at one of the tall stones, and then over at his wee friend. "The--the most important, is, er, is that I believe that the c-curse is neither... neither complicated nor especially powerful. He... he treated it like..." He pauses, and his frown deepens considerably. "...like a cruel game."
Ailbhe smiled for real this time, diving forward to hug the elder fellow. "Good! Then you shall have no trouble winning." She declared, sounding greatly relieved. "I'm sorry I suggested this tact... should you go tell the boy?"
Edward gladly and carefully returns the earnest hug, perhaps getting a faceful of his own hat in the process. "Oh, but--b-but it was a good idea, Ailbhe. Er... I-I will tell him, though it is still quite early. I will try to make progress t-towards a--a counterspell, until... u-until they wake."
