Shielding at Sunrise (Antar)

[Shai]

Timestamp: 33rd of Winter, 511 AV.

Hugging the sheer wall with microscopic hooks ejected from her palms and feet, Shai was sneaking at a very unusual time for the spider; only a few chimes before dawn. Some errant portion of her mind had hatched the insane notion that sneaking up on Antar was some sort of challenge, the same as stealing from him without him noticing. Her complacency connected to the rogue was probably the best way she to show that she actually did trust him, in some things. She had enough faith him that she assumed he would recognize her and stop his edged execution before he made a fatal error.

The day prior she had unlocked the window to his room, although she suspected he might be paranoid enough to check the latch every night. She wondered idly what he might have thought if he had noticed her doing it. Slinking along the wall with silence steady breaths and eased placements of her weight; so that she might not cause a ruckus to alert the room’s occupant, Shai snuck from her window to Antar’s. The hour had been chosen carefully carrying the wish that the rogue was still fast asleep. Shai knew for a fact she couldn’t sneak up on him while he was meditating and surprising him while he was wide awake would surely be futile. That left the next avenue to attempt; while he rested.

There was no tangible reason for her stealth. If she had wanted to the spider could probably just knock on his door and be admitted. But this was the strange way in which the Symenestra admitted her affections for the rogue; testing her skills against his. No, it made absolutely no sense. Especially not for a mature woman to be playing child’s games, but she did it anyways. The thief was nowhere near actually verbalizing her emotions for a human, not yet at least. And so very backwards, what woman breaks into a man’s room?

Today ,at least, she had an excuse for her mischief. They were supposed to meet prior to their morning meal to practice shielding. It was Antar’s fault if he had failed to specific a time for them to meet. Coming to perch on the lip of the outer windowsill Shai was greeted by the shuttered portal. The spider placed the pad of her index finger on the lower right hand corner of one shutter. Applying a gentle, even pull with her cilia she eased the wood back hair by subtle hair and eventual met with iron resistance. He had indeed relatched the window. Slowly letting the shutter return to its resting position, Shai avoided the clatter simply releasing it would have caused.

Pulling out her metal picks she slid them in between the tiny gap of the shutters. Flipping the latch was no trouble for the thief. The crystal tinkle of the little latch against its metal fixture was deafening. She’d just lost; there was no doubt in her mind that the tiny noise had alerted Antar to a trespasser’s presence. Sighing, Shai opened one of the shutters and sat down upon the sill, letting her legs dangle off the edge into his room. As the spider looked around the chamber to see if she had at least caught the man asleep the sunrise threw a shadow of her delicate frame across the floor.

[Antar]

From beneath the sill of the window, Antar sighed and looked towards the bed where he had rolled up a blanket for making up the guise of his 'sleeping' form. He'd noticed the latch being undone last night and wondered if it would have been best to do anything about it. Ever curious to see as to whom had unlatched it, the rogue had settled for sleeping against the wall under the window.

Some would find it unsettling to do so, hard on one's muscles, but to Antar it was merely an exercise of his patience and stoic nature. One of the first things one had to learn on the road as a mercenary, or as a former assassin , was to be able to sleep anywhere. In a tree, inside a bale of hay with mice crawling around you, anywhere. The small click to his ears of the window latch being undone was like an alarm clock, and his eyes snapped open to see the lithe shadow of a thief spread across the floor from its perch. This could only mean one of two things: either the thief was someone skilled in holding themselves unaturally upon a wall, or a symenestra.
One symenestra that he had traveled with always provided the most welcome of diversions... and the other not so much.

He wasn't really into guys anyway.

So if it was one of those he traveled with; which meant he would have to begin to squish one in a rather pleasant way for her interuption, or it was the other one he was wary of that he'd have to crack the spider's skull open and begin by removing the brainstem for the poisoning bastard who pretended to be a 'doctor' at times.

Very soon, from above, a slender female leg of a cloaked form stretched its way to enter the room and Antar smiled. Reaching up to grab the offending appendage he tugged his intruder inside, yanking her from the wall to gently, (in some respects) toss her on the bed before moving to immobilize her arms as the hood of her cloak fell away to reveal a bit of bared fangs. Chuckling softly, he leaned a bit closer to her to stave off her ire with a quick kiss to the tip of her nose before pulling back to let her up.

His eyes dancing with mirth, he began to hum a bit as he stood from the bed and stretched before looking at his guest of the morning as if seeing her for the first time and wondering where Nil had gone off to. "Oh hello there, my dear Shaisha, so glad you could drop in. Still feeling a bit constrained to take caution in your visits due to Dhalvasha's presence. Where is the little blighter anyways?"

[Shai]

Shai scrunched her brow in confusion as she replaced her picks. Her night vision told her the bundle on the bed was a ruse, where was the rogue at now? A tug on her leg was all the warning she got before she was tossed on to the bed. Snarling the spider bared her fangs in surprise. Heart pounding and ready to defend herself the situation was instantly illuminated when she recognized it was Antar above her. He kissed her and she knew he wasn’t angry at her antics. Loosing a breath that’d had been trapped in her chest since the first tug on her leg. Shai sat up and swung her legs around to the side of the bed and promptly found her feet again. “Dhalvasha’s opinion matters less than a ‘Bertian penny prostitute. I did it for fun. Someday I will catch you, rogue.” As her earlier astonishment slowly faded she treaded the distance between the bed and the window inspecting the latch.


“Unlocking it yesterday was what gave me away? I cannot imagine you slept here for comfort.” It was the only way she could imagine having given herself away. Shrugging off her cloak she tossed it on the bed behind her and spun on her toes to face Antar. “As I recall we have an appointment today? With the magical more than the mundane, unfortunately. I doubt Alvadas would know mundane if it pranced through the gates with banners and heralds. ” Soundlessly on nimble toes the spider approached him. “You did say before breakfast. Well, here I am before breakfast.” Shai simpered mysteriously, wondering if he would contradict her.

While she gave him a chance to she considered how she might alert Antar to her presence silently in the future. It might be helpful for him to be able to identify her without visual or verbal queues. Maybe a perfume? the idea had merit but at the same time it would have to subtle enough for someone else to miss, especially if she was sneaking through shadows. Worse though someone might realize what the perfume was and try to use it against them. The idea had merit but she would need to think more on a way to achieve the desired effect without exposing a giant weakness. Maybe Antar would have some ideas, she’d ask him later. It was time to get down to business.


After a pause she changed topics, “So what shall we be manifesting today?”

[Antar]

Well if she wanted to play games then two could play them. He would be happy to oblige her in an interesting dance of wits.

"Manifesting?" the rogue glanced on at with a puzzled look before letting his gaze dally over the curve of her hips. Mischievously he happened to speak with a slight inflection of humor tinging his voice. "I don't believe I ever said about manifesting anything today... perhaps you'd have to remind me?"

Standing up he placed his body between her view as his hand darted to a small ensemble of 'jewelry' of hers he had managed to nab a bit before on the road, thinking that maybe it might be useful if Dhalvasha started stalking around. For a moment he could hear the whispering of Shai's cloak as she stepped towards him, her words speaking a bit of a denial as she spoke about their 'lesson' in shielding for the day ahead.

He waited until she was positioned just behind him, and he could almost feel her presence at his back. Turning upon his heel he brought the fashion accessory upwards in a quick motion with one hand to let the latch catch and close about Shai's neck... With the other hand he simultaneously encircled her waist and swung her body close to his as he moved them both towards a wall.

Her mouth opened a bit in startled surprise, almost gaping like a fish out of water as she realized what he had just done, and could feel the cool glint of metal from the slave collar about her neck.

For another second those fangs were bared as irritation entered her eyes, but the rogue stymied such things from getting out of hand. Her breath could be felt on his cheek, and with one hand to her chin, he gently shut her jaws together. "Just a little forfeit dear, don't worry, if you ever do sneak up on me, I'll be happy to wear that collar for a single night as well. Well ... maybe one a little larger to fit my neck size."


Whistling aloud, he separated the distance from her and made his way towards the privy to tend to a rather urgent morning ritual... leaving Shai behind holding her own council with a slave collar and bit of wire as her only company... he could have taken such events a number of interesting directions, though his more sensible side noted the need for practice was always necessary. Especially if the foxy symenestran was going to learn enough of shielding to help... defend herself.

Calling out to her as he unhitched his drawers to drain a snake of sorts, he tried to tell "Shaisha" to re-latch the window. He still didn't petching know where or when that other symenestran was about and it wasn't like him to jeapordize himself on the possibility Shai's ex- webmate was lurking about.

He had recognized the lacun marks, even if he had not commented on them. It was not his place to say anything and would be a breach of trust between him and his ... well he wasn't quite sure what Shai was developing into. Friend... lover... trusted companion? What would that eventually mean to him if the other man did not take a hint or Shai's feelings would seem to sway back towards the doctor?

Honestly, he wondered what might ever have to happen if the other man proved... an impediment to Shai's well being. It was up to her to decide what to do with the man, even if Antar had cautioned against ending the other symenestran's life. He'd sensed there was unfinished business there betweenst them. Maybe not for her, but certainly for the male. Just because something was over for one person would not necessarily mean it was over , forgotten , and forgiven by the other. Especially if the other was a borderline psychotic doctor's apprentice before the white haired symenestra had been 'webnapped' by a spider woman.

Whistling all the while, the rogue relieved himself he stayed for five chimes within the privy, emptying his bladder. Only lacing himself up to return back to his room when the chirping of Ellise at the symenestran woman alerted to him the fact that the kelvic had woken up within her cage and noted her somewhat friendly sleeping companion on the road and was trying to say hello.

It truly was a shame out of the two kelvic's they had following them around that one was a literal birdbrain... though wit that errant thought the rogue realized she could prove very useful today in helping Shai train. Helping them both actually.

[Shai]

Trying not to snarl at the rogue Shai stalked over and shut the window and secured it with a latch. When had he gotten the collar? And was he serious; a piece of wire? Not a chance. Shai tossed open her cloak which lay on his bed.

Since he wasn’t paying attention she didn’t feel the need to hide the pockets. The little compartments weren’t really a secret all of her traveling companions had seen her pull out objects at various times but she preferred no one know exactly where she kept each item. It made it much more difficult to steal from her. Pulling out her picks she began to work on the lock latched on the back of her neck. It was an extremely awkward angle to work at but she had been practicing since the last time this very collar had entrapped her. While she scrapped the pick along the cylinder listening for the click Shai considered why Antar had just called her Shaisha. She was beginning to suspect he just liked that name, but the thief wasn’t so complacent not to be wary when he called her by an alias. Why though? They were alone in the rooms provided for them by the Alvadas government. Was he worried about Dhalvasha? The man was mostly harmless, at least in combat. As for subterfuge there was definite danger there from any Symenestra. No her former webmate was hopeless in a fight, he had effectively neutered himself in that regard as a child by refusing his training. The pick clicked down a level.

Sitting down on the bed she continued her careful work, she didn’t want to break a pick they were too valuable. And who knew where she might be able to find them outside of Sunberth? She should have known her game would be met with another gambit; it was very much like the rogue. Actually, Antar and Shai seemed to find themselves inconstant games of posturing and skill when they weren’t doing business. Not that the spider minded any. The pick clicked down another layer.

Shai had used this lock before to practice so she knew this was the proper row. With a steady twist the lock snapped open. Replacing her pick carefully in her cloak, she tossed the fabric to put it back to a semblance of how it previously sat. Pulling up her legs she crawled across the bed the collar hanging onto her neck like a torc. Settled herself on her knees she sat facing the direction Antar would return from. Removing the collar she placed it in her lap along with the wire he had given her to pick it with. She had no disillusion that the rogue wouldn’t notice she had circumvented his rules. “I cheat every time. If I think it will increase my chance for success, I will always bend the rules.” Shai kind of figured he would suspect it from her at this point, rules were only useful as means to a goal or obstacles. If it was an obstacle she would remove it, if it was helpful she would utilize it.

[Antar]

Antar smiled when he returned, taking note of Shai kneeling upon the bed, the collar resting at her knees. For a moment, he was tempted to sassily remark that such a picture of subserviance suited her, kneeling on his bed. But such a thing didn't suit her, not really... so he stayed silent. Besides, in a place like the illusions capital of the world who knew who could be eavesdropping.

The rogue at least had no qualms in thinking that as much as they were 'guests' of the department of illusion that those same hosts wouldn't hesitate to task someone to watch them all. Even any... 'nightly sessions' between him and his friendly neighborhood spider gal. Of course, he'd never suggest such a topic of 'watchers' openly. Such would be bad sports to their hosts. Instead it was probably best that one side pretend the other side didn't know what the first was doing.

Or at least that was the way his well honed sense of survival dictated it.

Far be it from him, to besmirch the lucent reputation of the department of illusions. They were paying the bills after all. Still smiling the rogue said nothing at Shai's use of something other then the wire he had given her, if she truly wanted to pretend to fool him, then the very least she should have done was bend the wire itself.

But no matter.

She wasn't hear to learn how to untangle herself from any confining conflagrations of knots or shackles... such things might come later, but not this morning. This morning was for shielding, at least that's what he had to remind himself. Still, the sight of Shai's willowy form just perched there on the bed was too much of a beautiful temptation not to at least let his gaze roll over her curves at least once.

Showing no appreciation at all would have been the most horrible of manners. Chuckling lightly , Antar's steps made their way to Ellise' cage where he promptly popped the latch to let the bleating kelvic out. Hopping on her hind feet, the kelvic whistled wildly and made a straight beeline for Shai, hopping up to the bed long enough to brush her feathery head against Antar's companion's thigh. Sighing a bit, Antar would mutter a few words to get the falcon kelvic to hop off to one side of the bed where she started rolling around like the feathered birdbrain she was.

After such a thing was done, the man would bridge the distance between Shai and himself, sitting on the edge of the bed to grasp one of her hands lightly as he asked a question. "Have you been practicing creating your 'reserve' of djed as I asked you to, gathering it slowly over the last week or so?"

[Shai]

Shai smiled at Elise. Carefully she stroked the falcon kelvic’s soft feathers before Antar gave the command and Elise moved on. Returning her sights to Antar she considered his question. She had been practicing, since before they even landed in Alvadas. The first few days had been futile though, most of the djed she tried to store simply dispersed the moment she took her attention from it. There were no books on this when she had studied in Kalinor, not that she had read anyways. It felt very much like trying to catch the wind and the only reason she knew it was possible because she’d seen others do it. In the past she had managed to utilize djed but never to store it.

After several days of losing her stock pile if she didn’t keep her mind on it, Shai came up with a plan. It was a way to trick her own mind into securing the energy for her. Sitting down to meditate Shai had constructed a stout wooden chest inside her mind. The next time she attempted to store djed she had pushed all of it into the imaginary chest and slammed the lid shut. On the next day when she went to do the same, the spider was pleasantly surprised to see the exercise had succeeded. Over the last few days she had been filling up the chest more and more, luckily being imaginary the chest could hold as much as she wanted. She had no idea of how it might look to somehow who could sense djed, but she suspected it would actually look normal. Shai hoped the djed wasn’t actually condensed into a box shape and that was actually stored normally . . .whatever stored normally looked like.

Back in the room with the rogue Shai’s gaze dulled as her mind focused on the unseen. Mentally she tapped the chest, it still shut and presumably still full. She hadn’t yet tried to take any of the djed back out so this would be an interesting exercise for certain. “Yes in a fashion I have done as you asked me.” She replied finally. Some part of her wanted to rip the lid off the chest and see what happened in she released all of the energy at once, but the rest of her was horrified that the idea even occurred to her. This kind of situation was why she didn’t like magic.

Shifting towards him, without shaking off his hand, Shai asked “What would you have me do with it?”

[Antar]

Taking a Look at Shai with his Auristics, the rogue saw how the djed streams within the symenestra's body were reacting to her practice. Like anyone delving into the arts, there was always the idea of keeping a 'reserve' of djed between them. Many theories said djed , the personal magic of one's soul was a fine limitation, that over time a mage would simply 'blur' over the edges like one would wet down paint, blurring the image beneath.

Antar believed some of that was true.

But what would that mean of magics not using the personal djed of a mage?

Rumors said that back near the Valterian's time , Sagallius had once created an entire fort with reimancy out in the wilderness where there had been none. Surely that could not have been fueled just by the paltry streams of djed within one's own body? But how did that explain things like the chavena that Kamalia had talked about? Did every man woman and child, beast, stone , or pebble have a connection to some greater resoirvoir then what was contained within themselves? Did over time their connection to the chavi allow them to 'blur' the lines and somewhat 'heal' from their djed use?

Antar didn't know, as he was not as skilled or proficient in knowledge as he would like to one day be. He persevered for the days ahead, always readying himself for the next trial, and the next tribulations. So what could he pass onto Shai?

Thinking a moment he lay the shackled collar halfway between them, it's circumference resting halfway upon her thighs.

Speaking softly, as Antar held her hand, the rogue would impart a bit of his first lesson. "The first thing about djed, is learning how not to use it unless necessary, or in my personal view- only in dire resorts or with long pauses between use to only strengthen one's craft. Djed exists in all things, it is the makeup of one's soul if you believe some people. To first use it you must learn to touch it without using it. Merely to let it flow within your body , manipulating it towards a specific goal without learning that first is like pulling the cart before the horse. If you can understand that, then the task I have for you is simple... yet difficult. Begin to take the smallest strands of your reserves and let that power flow... in it's courses. We as sentient beings begin knowing where our hands are at all times, even if our eyes are closed. Such things are instinctual, and the best physical tools to help you concentrate your manipulations. So Rest... breathe deeply and meditate without distractions. Then start here"

Reaching across with one hand, Antar lay a palm across shai's stomach, through the thin fabric of her clothing he could feel her body's warmth. "And let the energies simply travel along this path." The rougue allowed the soft touch his fingers to trace it's way up over her clothed skin to her shoulders and then down the length of her arms, tracing faintly over her wrists before coming to her hands. For a moment, his observations noted a brief shudder at his touch's passing, but he dismissed such things. Such reactions were distractive to the lesson. Taking her other palm loosely in his own, the rogue held both of their sets of hands between them as they were touching, knee to knee.

Keeping his Auristics vision upon her he merely waited for Shai's beginning attempts to alter the courses of the potential within her small form. The rogue was sure she'd find him as harsh a taskmaster as Eryss was to him, though at times, he knew he would guide her studies gently , opting for finesse over brute force when it would do the job better...

[Shai]

Closing her eyes as she was instructed, Shai began to breath. But at the rogue’s further instruction and his hand’s pilgrimage the purple eyes flew back open. Giving him one baleful glance, “If you want my concentration, do not distract me. You will simply divert my focus elsewhere and we will accomplish nothing this morning.” Shai sighed and tried to close her mind again allowing him to direct her palms. Finding peace took time, especially when in Antar’s presence. But eventually it came, in her mind a silhouette of her own body and in a vague sense behind her lay the chest. Her curiosity taunted her, nearly sidetracking her from the rogue’s directions. Pulling her mind back she forced herself not to think about what might happen when it was opened, she would find out soon anyways. Regulating her breath in a steady pace she began with her focus at her navel. She’d managed to store it but that in a way was simply moving the djed, now she had to maintain that movement with control. He had told her to take from her reserves but she wasn’t ready to open that box, so instead she sought out the djed she would have otherwise stored this evening before bed. The first touch always seemed to be the most difficult, like trying to grab a ray of sunlight. You knew it was there, you could feel its warmth on your skin but your hand past right through it. The trick, as Shai had finally worked out through long hours of grasping like a cat stalking a reflection, was not to imagine your hand holding it because that made you physical it was instead to simply know you held it. As soon as Shai accepted that she had the djed without reaching for it the struggle ended. Opening her mind, she stroked the djed that had radiated from her core, it wasn’t necessary to reach for what was already hers. Gently reorganizing the radiation into a stream she pulled up along her torso and through her chest cavity. For a moment she hesitated and lost her concentration on the stream; which hand did he want her to pull the djed through? He held both her palms. Both must be the answer but she wasn’t sure she could split the stream and maintain her concentration on two separate points at once, not yet. So she opted for the right hand. Coaxing up the stream again she let it seep through her veins and down to her palm. The second attempt took the same amount of effort as the first but keeping her concentration like this in meditation was difficult for the spider, she wasn’t used to blocking out her senses. Quite the contrary the thief often needed to absorb every minute detail in order to make an informed decision on her next moves. This was so vastly different from the norm for her that she found it exhaustive. Not to mention she had to place her trust in the deviously dangerous rogue, who had become her teacher, to not try any of his tricks on her. Trust for a fragile woman who’d survived in Sunberth was about as likely as the sky spitting gold rimmed mizas. So instead of faith she simply forced herself to ignore her instincts which kept demanding that she not take her eyes off the human. It was only hardly morning and she already felt tired; even if the djed was discarded then from nothing else but maintain her focus for so long. This was going to be a long, long day.

[Antar]

Antar saw Shai's attempt in his Sight, watched her struggles patiently as her eyes stayed closed. She wasn't his first student he taught in anything, merely the first he was teaching a bit of magic too. The symenestra had struggled in the exercise, he could see that much in the djed flow of her aura, and the rippling tide of scintillating azure rivulets of energy which followed her manipulations of her personal djed.

Some of it was right, some of it was wrong.

But magic, in any form could be seen similar to a muscle, the more you used it the stronger the muscle became. It wasn't for him to discern, question, or rebuke her in her attempts unless she did something that would hurt herself greatly.

So far, he had seen no such signs that she was close to that. Only the natural fatigue which came from such a use.

Much like how he was feeling with using his auristics.

He could tell she was tired, as was he.

Dispelling the djed from his eyes back into the natural flows within his body, Antar settled himself a moment. Saying nothing as he looked at her with normal vision.

No matter how beautiful the symenestra was in her aura, like a poisonous flower in full bloom, his natural form was quite pleasing to the eye as well. A lot different then other symenestra, male or female. He truly didn't like the race in general; but Shai was the exception.

It was strange to consider: but unless she crossed certain boundaries the woman would not have anything to fear from him. Ever.

However that would not mean he wouldn't tease her endlessly to get a point across.

Smiling, he silently reached up one hand to use his index tickle the end of the woman's nose as he chuckled amidst his words. "Excellent effort for an attempt, but perhaps you should consider that you may be overthinking this? Let things flow naturally within you, your djed has been inside you since your birth it likes to stay at rest, like a still pool of water. Let yourself return to that state if you feel tired. Now... go drink and eat something, perhaps you have a bit of your fruit juice with you?"

Reaching a hand towards Shai's discarded cloak he had every intent to reach into the exact pocket he had seen her take it from before to the waterskin to her. But then he stopped, his hand paused over the garment and went to pick up the entire cloak by the lapel to bring it closer to the woman. 'It was a subtle reminder that while he would endeavor to keep in mind her health there were a few boundaries he would respect, but ,' he mused with a bit rogueish delight, 'only if not amorously inclined at the time.'

While she shuffled for her waterskin he settled deeper into a bit of meditation, not clearing his mind but concentrating on his own meditative focus. Focusing upon the image of the frozen waterfalls of avanthal, colored auroraes of light shining through the icicles, helped him to remember the one city of mizahar he felt a sense of peace at so far.

Through such contemplations, he could imagine that each refracted color was a bit of something different within him, and through their 'backdrop' he would recall memories of feelings he wished to examine. Red for times of anger, there were so many of those, blue for sadness, yellow and orange for times of joy, those were so few. and the other shades bore their own meanings.

For now, he resolved on the darkest of green, the colors of forests, peaceful and almost the dark of night, and shadows he found himself drawn to at times. Using the mental image to place himself in a state of calm, he began to work his djed, letting it boil in his stomach until small arcs of electricity seemed to make their way up through his spine, to his shoulders, and then down his limbs to his hands.

Unlike with reimancy where it felt like churning lava through his veins, Shielding was a more pleasant sensation. Even if it made him feel as if his muscles should spasm a little from the static 'charge' his mind interpreted the flow of djed as during the Shielding Art's use.

Absentmindedly following instinct, the man would return his hand from pestering Shai's nose to let his palm lie next to hers, this time reversing from where his hands had cupped her own, to allowing his to be held. From his fingers spun a few gossamer strands of bluish white, stretched towards the circular contraption which lay between them.

Acting in accordance with his will, the lines of pure djed began to stretch and wriggle like worms before wrapping themselves like threads on a spinner's loom to entwine about the metal surface. Encompassing the collar in a wash of lines, Shai's eyes would see the pattern of a grid take shape as Antar strained his will to complete the tasking. Soon, enough small bluish 'pulses' of pure djed, traced along the spider strands which emanated from his fingertips to begin the change within the shield itself.

Shai would watch, and consider as the object seemed to be sheathed in a formless shifting grey as the shield was tasked to block light. Opening his eyes the rogue would smile at Shai a moment, as she finished refreshing herself.

But only for a moment, as he stretched a single line of djed back down to the made shield, sending another 'pulse' with the information he desired of it, as his creation began to unravel and fade into nothingness. All would be left to Shai's eye was the cold iron collar, letting it stay the way it had been before.

Politely speaking the rogue would go on to say five little words, in a tone that held no mocking in his tone. Only a polite request. "Now you try, my dear."