Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
"A Spark of Blue Light, Distant and Vague"
Aedan's Journal. Session 2-24-01.
© 2001 Todd Worrell
With the occasional word from Gabriel, I described what I had seen in the City in the Sky, nearly three weeks ago. According to Alluravel and Cian, they had been there as well, somehow. It had really happened.
I ignored Magni's persistent questions about the minute details and walked off by myself to think.
Beneath the canopy of the trees, I found an old log and sat down. If what I had seen had been real, then Deirdre was still alive. My mother was alive, or had been. I felt hope, then, an unfamiliar feeling. Despite what I had told everyone, what I had told Brand, I never expected her to be alive. What was the Abyss like? Brand had described it without saying much. He had survived, but he had strange powers that Deirdre didn't. Now, maybe, just maybe, she was trapped inside the stone form. She could live again. Hope is pain, Caine had said. Now I knew exactly what he meant.
If she could be revived. Flora had believed that since the two statues were joined it would be a more complicated procedure than the others had been. She had asked all of us to help.
I turned around and walked back to the clearing. Flora and company had succeeded in restoring the large man without the arrow in his stomach. He was a big, scruffy fellow, with wild brown hair sprouting from his entire head. His name, so I was told, was the Daerga.
I shook his hand and was assaulted by the strong smell of bread, beer, and cigars. The Daerga smiled and patted his belly at me.
"Something is happening," Raj had been keeping lookout. For what, I didn't know. Looking around now, I couldn't see anything, but the sound of the wind was increasing.
"It's the Crossroads," The Daerga said. "It's approaching. Too bad there's not a marble floor here. I've always wanted a marble floor."
"Oh shit," Giselle pulled at her hair. "The Inn—it's going to appear here? What about Finnvarra?"
So we moved the statues and ourselves a safe distance away and watched. Heavy oak beams flew through the woods, followed by various other building materials. An inn assembled itself around the Daerga, standing alone in the clearing fifty yards from us. I heard the heavy sounds of wood slamming into place, the compression of air, and strange twinkling noises. For about thirty seconds, it was too noisy to talk to each other, then it got quiet.
Cian and Giselle spoke. The blond prince turned left and vanished into thin air. I had seen Giselle do that trick a couple times. Apparently it wasn't unique to her.
The Inn at the Crossroads seemed to stabilize and age as we watched. After a couple minutes, weeds sprouted along the foundations. Birds' nests grew in the eaves. It looked like the place had always been there. I asked Flora a few questions about the revivification process. She questioned me about my sorcery, then told me what she wanted me to do to help. She gave all of us specific tasks.
Flora would summon the energy needed. Her daughter would stabilize and separate it. Magni would fill in the gaps in the statues' bodies. Gabriel would distribute the energy, gauging how much to give and to which statue. Gregory and I would concentrate on Deirdre.
With a deep breath, we began.
I felt the onrush of Flora's magic. It had that strong, perfumed scent of hers that I remembered. Giselle's sorcery was similar, but it smelled more like wildflowers. She diverted some of the power toward Gregory. He funneled it into the woman as I watched and studied.
Almost immediately, she became less substantial. She wasn't stone any more, but she wasn't flesh either. She collapsed and Raj caught her and lowered her to the ground. She had a cut on her head, which I healed with a spell. I put her to sleep with a word and submerged myself in her mind.
There was some sense of loose trump energy inside her, but it was faint. With my eyes I could see that the woman's body was pale, with a silver aura around her. Inside her mind, everything was wrong. I didn't see any memories, thoughts, or images. She was empty, and I was surrounded by a gray fog.
Inside the darkness that was or was not my mother, I gave myself completely over to the search. I heard people shouting, but my eyes saw nothing outside. A moment later, I saw a spark of blue light, distant and vague. I hunted for it in the haze.
As I moved through the fog, I was vaguely aware of someone entering the mists behind me. I sped up and thought myself faster and faster until I was nearly upon the blue light.
Up close I could see that it was really two sources of light, one prismatic like Trump, the other shifting between silvery white and cobalt blue. I had a brief moment to register that the images looked like twin coiled flames before they lined up. Behind me, I could feel the presence coming on steadily. I didn't hesitate. The two images lined up. I plunged into the nexus.
"I'm sorry," a woman's voice said, low, sorrowful. My mother's voice.
Everything went dark. The fog was gone. My pursuer was gone. The images of the flames were gone. I was alone in an icy cold, endless space. Limitless blackness stretched out before me in all directions. I wasn't breathing, but that didn't seem to matter. I felt the heat escaping my body.
I closed my eyes and nothing changed. I was nowhere near where I had been. I began to pray.
"Mother, Maiden, Crone," I whispered. "My life is in your hands."
* * *
<previous Aedan's Journal next>