[Alvadas Quest, Part II] Hidden Beneath the Green

[Cadence]

Title: Hidden Beneath the Green Timestamp: 30th of Winter, 510 AV (Approximately two bells before noon) Location: Garden of No Return Purpose: Acquiring the bark of a certain tree Participating Characters: Aselia, Derric, Hadrian, Pain Light, fluffy snow covered the ground surrounding the Garden of No Return. Winter had covered Alvadas like an old, comfortable blanket, bringing with it pristinely white snow and only a mild chill. But even all of the streets of Alvadas had responded to the season in some form or another, the large, sprawling garden remained unchanged. Trees rose from amidst the hedge maze, green and luscious, and completely unperturbed by the current season. The hedge maze itself was dark green in color, cut with such extreme precision that one might have thought somebody went to great pains to trim it every day. The hedges were quite tall, reaching well past the heads of even the tallest Jamoura. The path leading into it was paved with light cobblestones, though it was reasonable to expect that fact to be quite unstable, as most concepts in Alvadas. The paths were wide enough to comfortably accommodate two people walking side by side. Along the hedges grew flowers of every possible color, size, and botanical persuasion. Some flowers looked carnivorous enough to be excluded from the ‘botanical’ category entirely. At the entrance to the maze stood none other than Doddel Asperenus. The man looked much more in his element now, wearing a prim, black jsuit and leaning lightly on an intricately carved cane. Besides him stood the tall Symenestra illusionist, dressed in her usual azure robes. The robes were draped elegantly across her disproportionately long libs, extenuating the inhuman air that hung around her. She looked much the same since the time spent abroad the Azure Lady, except for one striking difference. Her previously black hair was now entirely white. It wasn’t the greying white of old age. Rather, it was an almost translucent tint, reminiscent of cobwebs. It hung limply past her shoulders, no longer restricted by the ridiculous bun she used to keep atop her head. She looked like a magician who held considerable power and was well aware of it. She gave the group before her a lazy smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, but remained silent as Asperenus launched into his spiel. "So good of you all to join us,” he said, gracing each of them with a nod of his head. “I will keep this brief, as we – or rather, you – have will need all the time you can get today. The Scholars need the bark of a tree growing within this garden to recreate the amulet worn by Saaren Curn during his unsuccessful coup d-etat. Mister Curn himself is rather undisposed toward giving us any help in the matter, and since his trial has not yet taken place, we cannot force his hand. This maze within this garden is a difficult one to navigate, and many a traveler has gotten lost in it before. However, there are fountains scattered within the maze and quite a few trees and bushes with edible fruit. You should neither starve, nor die of dehydration. The tree you will be looking for is rather exotic, and to our knowledge, only found in this garden. It is quite distinctive, with bright red streaks running along the length of its trunk. Its leaves are a very pale green, almost colorless. There are no others like it.” Asperenus paused, fishing in a satchel hanging by his side, before bringing out four elegantly curved knives. He handed a knife to each of the participants, saying, “You can peel the bark from the tree with this. Approximately a foot from each of you will do. Do not take any more than that. The tree is the only one of its kind and it must be preserved well. Not all of you may find the tree, but even one of you succeeding should be enough. Please, strive to return before the sun begins to set. At this time of year, you should have roughly seven bells. I will be waiting outside. There are five entrances to the garden and they each remain stagnant. Should you exit and not find me there, simply circle around the garden on the outside until you come to our current location. Do-" “Of, for Ionu’s sake!” exclaimed Senessa Avenca impatiently. “Do stop chattering, Doddel. It’s giving me a headache. They are not children. They’ll figure it out. And while you’re waiting outside like the coward you are, I think I’ll be taking a stroll through the Garden of No Return.” Her robes swishing with the air of finality, she turned around on her heel and walked right into the hedge maze. The sleeve of her robe caught momentarily on the side of a hedge – apparently not quite so nicely trimmed as it appeared to be at first glance – and tore. Senessa seemed to pay no heed to this and simply kept on walking, leaving a piece of blue fabric the size of a child’s palm stuck to the hedge. She quickly disappeared behind a bend without so much as a ‘good luck.’ Asperenus coughed, wiping an invisible speckle of dust from his suit jacket. “Well, don’t let me keep you,” he said rather sheepishly. “Senessa always knows how to put things bluntly enough. You might as well figure it out on your own.” He stood back slightly, gesturing at the entrance to the Garden of No Return with unnecessary reverence.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian had done his homework in the time between landing and showing up for this second adventure, all in the name of attracting the good graces of a deity -- he couldn't even rightly say whether Ionu was male or female, though he suspected that gender was really more of something that physical beings with reproductive organs had to worry about than the divine. But that was just a theory. He glanced at Aselia and Elhaym, Derric and the Alvadans, curious as to what they had all been up to in the meantime. While the natives variously instructed and argued, he tried to absorb as much information as he could, knowing that any little thing might prove edifying at a later time when decisions were crucial. But he didn't engage his Auristics, nor step outside his body to test any Webs that might exist in Alvadas. If he had learned anything from the voyage over the Suvan Sea, it was that his senses were not to be trusted so blindly as before. Open yourself to illusion, they said here. Well, he was going to try. All the same, he noted the piece of fabric the Symenestra left in her wake, wondering if that was on purpose. Did her ability to weave illusion also grant her the ability to see through it? He did not know the answer to that question, but hoped to one day. "Thank you for the advice, Master Asperenus," he said quietly, and started carefully forward, noting what floral markers he could and trusting to his memory and his wits. He had little else to offer. The others would follow in his wake or split up as per their natures, but he was an indifferent leader so he merely struck out on his own. Trusting someone else to lead him went against his nature. He murmured a prayer to both Eyris and Ionu as he crossed over the threshold, and idly wondered how often the two received a shared prayer.

[Elhaym]

Pain shoved her hands even deeper into her pockets, exhaling a veil of white vapor in the cold air. Apparently she had been shopping in Alvadas, as the thick black fur lined coat she wore was a new addition to her wardrobe. Having spent a reasonable amount of time around her aboard the Azure Lady, the fact that she was actually wearing heavy leather boots might have been surprising as well. The cold wasn't something Pain was quite used to as of yet, and she had dressed the part. She withdrew her hands and wiped under her sniffling nose as Asperenus began to speak, stuffing her face into her elbow to stifle a hacking cough a few times during the monologue. She had come down with a pretty bad cold in the last few days, and her red nose and watering eyes made her look miserable. She was only half listening, absently taking the knife she was offered by the blade and flipping it to catch it's hilt. It didn't seem too terribly special, but she kept a firm grip on it despite. "ACHOOO!" Pain roared, her sneeze so loud and hard that she threw her whole upper body into a downward motion. She felt stuffy and horrible, but she'd said she would help. Pain wasn't too smart, and she wasn't always nice. What she was however, was honest... and when you got her word, you could count on it. So here she was, feverish and with a runny nose. "I think she's got the right idea..." Pain said, lethargically pointing at the disappearing Senessa. "it's just ah.... ahhh... ACHOOO!!!! ... dammit. Whatever." Pain mumbled, sniffling and waving her arms in irritation. She began to walk opposite of Hadrien, searching for a way into the maze. After a moment of solitude and with the figures of the others far in the distance, Pain happened upon another entry into the garden. "I woulda' brought you if it weren't so damned cold, Tanny... but wish me luck!" Pain said aloud, sniffing after her words ended and trudging forward into the maze. Tanny was asleep back in her lodging, and she couldn't bring herself to wake him and drag him out into the cold. This time she was going it alone. She immediately came to a point where she must turn right or left, as the initial path was blocked by a sturdy growth of hedges. Pain turned right, casually strolling through the grassy lanes until she came upon a dead end. "Oh, come on..." Pain groaned. This would be more annoying than she thought... but when she turned around, she became even more irritated. Her vision was blurry, watery eyes swollen and her head feeling inflated and compressed all at the same time. Was it just her ill state, or had the path she'd taken changed? It seemed to veer in a different direction now. "ACHOOO!!!" Pain sneezed, doubling over from the force. She sniffled a few times, and spit into the grass beneath her. "Why the petch did I sign up for this..." Yet, she marched forward.

[Derric]

Derric, with freezing hands shoved into his pockets, gazed past the Alvadans as they argued and looked instead at the garden. The ominous name, Garden of No Return, was a natural source of worry, but Derric was quick to squelch the negative thoughts. He was determined to put his fears aside and try to live a little. Even if that meant risking another brush with death. After all, he'd promised himself that he would. His fingers, still deep in a pocket, were clutched around Asperenus's knife as Derric stood silent for a full chime after the other's had finished speaking. In lieu of words, he simply looked around, observing his surroundings as he did so. With a deep breath, the performer finally began to move, and despite the urge to follow the fighter girl, he immediately headed in the direction of Senessa. Gradually speeding up, the man grabbed the blue fabric as he entered through the hedges, fully intending to track the illusionist down. Of course, his intentions and his hopes were entirely different in this case. Despite making the unwise choice of entering alone, Derric was not a complete fool, and understood that his chances of finding the Symenestra would be slim. Regardless of that, he continued along the path, keeping an eye out for more blue pieces of cloth, or anything for that matter, that could point him in the right direction. He walked like that for a while. Maintaining a smooth, calm composure and unwilling to let himself become as full of fear as he had been on the Azure Lady coming to Alvadas. Rather, Derric kept his head held high, and tried his hardest to look towards a pleasant future, and doing his best not to think of a bad one.

[Aselia Timandre]

Aselia had informed herself about the place just as Hadrian, although her drive had been of a different nature. The Konti, still a youngster by the standards of her race, was full of burning curiosity. On the 30th, she found the Garden of No Return in time and approached Asperenus and Senessa just before the scholar started is informative lecture on the mission. She threw a quick look at Senessa and nodded in greeting. For a moment her eyes widened. The Symenestra’s hair was snow white! The change in appearance radiated an entirely different aura than before.

While listening, Aselia let the backpack she had brought with her fall into the grass. Not that it was heavy, but she thought it’d be best to save energy for the more important part of the searching. She tried to memorize everything she heard: There were five steady exits. The tree in question featured a reddish bark and pale green leaves, and a foot of the bark’s material should suffice for the scholar’s purposes. She accepted the offered knife and let it sink into a side pocket of her backpack. Almost automatically, her white fingers felt for the candles, the flint and steel. Having made sure that they were there, she straightened. The cold didn’t seem to bother her that much, but actually her hands were ice cold. Konti Isle was known for a more moderate climate, bordering on hot, and certainly nice and shiny for the entire year. Nevertheless, she had dressed appropriately for the Alvadan Winter. A hooded cloak, colored soft grey, warmed her slender frame. Underneath she wore white pants and a white tunic, practical clothing meant for digging around in mud. Her usual riding boots and the backpack completed her equipment. The peregrine falcon, Holuri, was perched at her shoulder as ever. Aselia had a feeling that she would probably be of help in a garden, and even more in a labyrinth.

Violet eyes lightened up as Senessa exclaimed her intention of strolling around inside. That had to be a chance! Avalis had listened to her wish and provided an opportunity for Aselia to gather more knowledge about the mysterious Symenestra.

Just when she took a step forward, Derric passed her and snatched the piece of fabric from the twig. Aselia gasped. After a second of hesitation she hastily went after Derric. That was hers! Holuri flapped her wings in protest as the Konti tried to catch up to the street mage. Her feathers hit Aselia’s cheek, but she ignored it. “Hey”, she said as she had reached his side and started walking at a normal pace next to him. “That piece of fabric from her robes, I’d like to have it if you don’t mind. You see, that’s important for me. Since we’re both going after her”, which was actually true, “it doesn’t matter who has it, don’t you think so?”

Apart from getting the fabric, she tried to keep an eye on the environment as well. The garden was beautiful, but not serene. Plants that looked more like predators than anything else and the high hedge mazes added a dangerous atmosphere.

[Cadence]

The garden welcomed its guests with absolute stillness, much like a giant beast whose layer had just been invaded. The beast does not react immediately when prodded; it stays motionless waiting for the intruders to back off. When they do not, the beast yawns and stretches, shaking the dirt and leaves from its gigantic form… Hadrian The garden sprawled out before Hadrian, each twist and turn as enticing as the next. In front of the young man, the road split into three paths isolated from one another by the thick hedges. Each road looked identical to the other two, with the only exception being the color of the flowers that ran along the paths. It was almost comical how each choice appeared to be color-coded. The path to Hadrian’s left was lined with bright red flowers, with large, luscious petals. The one directly in front of him contained what appeared to be the same type of flower – this one a shade of pale yellow. The sides of the rightmost path were paved with flowers of deep purple. Should Hadrian choose to engage his Auristics, he would not see any discrepancies in the auras of the flowers. Sometimes flowers are just flowers. It didn’t seem like a life-changing choice. After all, the colors couldn’t possibly mean something, could they? Hadrian felt a gentle breeze touch his face. The current of air was oddly dry. It didn’t belong in the garden. Rather, it was reminiscent of a hot, merciless desert. But the wind passed briefly, as if it were nothing more than a figment of Hadrian’s imagination. The young man still had a choice to make. Pain Pain’s determination was not lost on the garden. If the maze had been a living entity, it would have humored her for a while – amused and slightly surprised at her resolve. As such, the path which Pain had chosen remained free of twists and turns for a good while. If the woman were to focus her blurry vision long enough on her surroundings, she would see the remarkable beauty that bloomed around her. Tall, proud stems held oversized buds of every color imaginable. Exceedingly vibrant green grass rustled beneath her feet. Every sensation in the garden leaned toward a bright, care-free atmosphere … …Every sensation except the sudden taste of sand in Pain’s mouth. The feeling came as an absolute surprise and lasted no longer than a heartbeat. For a moment, it was as if grains of sand had lodged themselves in every crevice inside Pain’s mouth. Her tongue felt dry, as did her lips. But the feeling passed as quickly as I had come, seamlessly replaced by the pleasantly moist taste of Spring, and the not-so-pleasant feeling of a cold. The path ahead of her remained free of any turns for quite a while, until Pain reached what appeared to be a gaping hole in the ground. It stretched the width of the path and was approximately ten feet in length. The hole was not especially deep – no more than 15 feet. Stones and loose branches jutted out of the hole’s walls. It seemed that one could just as easily jump across the hole as climb down and out of it. If Pain were to turn back, she would see that the path on which she had previously walked was now a dead end in the form of a tall, thick hedge. Nowhere to go but forward. Derric and Aselia The leaves on the garden’s trees rustled subtly, moving along with a wind that was not there. Derric and Aselia both caught a flash of blue out of the corner of their eyes, the source of the color quickly disappearing down a pathway to their right. Were they to follow what could only have been Senessa, they would see nothing but another pathway of the maze. Senessa was definitely in the vicinity, but she was obviously not willing to stop for a chat. About a chime after Aselia inquired after the fabric in Derric’s hands, something in their surroundings changed. They were still surrounded by lush, green trees and vibrant flowers, but the ground underneath their feet did not feel like dirt or grass. For a heartbeat, it was as if the two were standing on blazing hot sand, their shoes practically sinking in it. The air felt drier around them, and the breeze that touched their skin felt as if it carried grains of sand. The sensation flickered on and off so quickly, that neither of the two could really be sure whether it had ever been there to begin with. Once again, something blue flickered in their peripheral vision, this time in the exact opposite direction from the first sighting. Derric heard a rustle of what might have been robes somewhere to his left. Aselia caught the sound of footsteps behind her. But neither could be sure if the sounds they had heard were real. Of course, it would be just like Senessa Avenca to toy with them and send them on a wild goose-chase for her own pleasure. The question was whether Aselia and Derric would choose to play along.

[Hadrian]

As Hadrian surveyed the three-forked path before him, he went through his memories, thinking about cultural associations with colors. Red could mean passion or blood, sex or luck. Yellow and purple had as many and more symbolic associations. But what did the people of Alvada think of color? Or did it matter what Hadrian associated with each? His Auristics, as per usual, told him nothing. Despite his growing competence, the City of Illusions seemed aware of his extra senses and took great care to blur them as often as possible. He should have known. His foot raised to start down the path of yellow flowers, a completely random choice because he felt like it was better than over-analyzing, he caught that hint of a desert breeze and froze, remembering the traumatic early passage on the Azure Lady. "Curn?" he muttered. "Avenca?" Still no answer. "Drainira?" It was worth a shot, but no. When nothing further happened, he started walking again, this time down the path of purple flowers. Yellow just reminded him too much of sand at that moment, and red of blood that he did not want shed for some magical bark. He did wonder if he would find the tree, and if he might not take a little bark for himself, or even leaves. The leaves of the Windoak had proven so powerful in his enchantments. Perhaps he could even sell such reagents to someone like Devan Nightshade in Syliras, because Hadrian needed some serious capital in order to afford a laboratory of his own and the accoutrements and supplies necessary to magecraft his own ideas into being... But he shook that thought off, focusing on the idea of the tree in question in the hopes that his feet would lead him to it the way they did everything else in Alvadas.

[Elhaym]

"Fuhhh! pffttt! pffffffft!" Pain's voice was muffled as she began to spat, but the sensation of sand was already gone by the time her bodily reaction occurred. That sensation had been all too familiar. Back aboard the ship when the illusionist Curn had started his revolution, Pain and the others in the maze had been trapped in a desert by his powerful sensory alterations. This whole situation still hinged on Curn... could it be that he was somehow beginning to interfere again? Damn idiots. They should have taken her advice. She would have gladly snapped his fleshy little neck on the spot for what he had done to her. Pain's hand instinctively went to her nose, a byproduct of said adventure. It had been broken, and reset, and broken again, and reset properly. It had begun to ache when she got sick due to her constant sneezing. She continued onward, muttering under her breath and wheezing. She was in awesome shape physically, but her sickness had reduced her stamina. She felt lethargic and hazy, watery eyes clouding her vision and the sound of her strained breath filling the cold air around her. The sudden feeling of weightlessness consumed her as her forward foot fell sharply. Pain tumbled forward, twisting her body and becoming aware that she had just stepped into a pit of sorts... well, fallen was more appropriate. Pain twisted her body as she fell forward, bending her torso forward and managing to cling to the soft edge of the pit before she fell in. The toes of her boots dug into the earthy wall of the edge, and she managed to bring her knees forward and press them against it as well. She held on there for a moment, clinging to the edge and panting at her sudden exertion. She moved her head left to right, examining the trap. Upon inspection, she realized it wasn't too deep at all. Not only that, but the knife she had been given had fallen inside when she had quickly twisted and clung to the edge, embedding it's blade in the soil below. Not only that, but when she raised herself up briefly to look at the path she had come from she could see that it had been sealed off by a simply massive hedge. "Guh... coulda' stayed home." Pain grumbled, pushing with all her limbs and jumping to the floor of the pit. She landed lightly, flexing her knees to absorb the impact. Pain bent and snatched up the knife, examining it briefly before returning her attention to the opposite wall. She'd have to climb out, but that wasn't a big deal. Winter sickness or not, she could manage a small climb. Pain tucked the knife into the belt at the small of her back, and walked slowly to the opposite edge. She pushed her hand through the soil, testing it's firmness. It was loose, but not so bad that she couldn't manage to climb it. Her body was cold save her head, which seemed to be engulfed in the flame of illness. She needed to stretch a little, or else risk pulling something and making whatever else was thrown at her all the more difficult. She straightened her legs and crouched, warming the thick and bulky muscles of her thighs and calves. She rotated her shoulders, pressing them back and forth and did several toe touches before she was content to attempt the climb. Pain had been stretching for a few chimes, and had grown unaware of her surroundings. Between the reduced visibility of the large pit and her ill state, she had developed a bit of tunnel vision. She launched herself at the earthen wall with a running start, and clung to it with all four limbs. Her muscles powered her up, but as her climb began the thought occurred to her... "Wonder what's up there... this place is so weird..."

[Derric]

Derric Derric turned to face Aselia, and offered a nod in response to her request. "Don't see why not, it's not like I have much use for it." He handed the blue piece of fabric to the girl, silently questioning what she intended to do with it as he handed it over. After all, it was just a piece of fabric. What importance could it hold other than tracking down the illusionist? "Say," he said, trying to lower the feeling of danger that the garden generated with casual conversation, "Why are you going after Senessa?" Derric knew why he, personally, was; the performer wanted to learn more about Ionu and illusionism. Yet, he was curious about Aselia's purposes. Was she pursuing the same things as him? Or were the Konti's reasons entirely different from his own? Not that it mattered much, for he hardly knew the girl to begin with. It was then that the illusionist began her game. At least, Derric assumed the symenestra lady was behind the flashes of blue. It was just like her, of course, to toy with the two of them. She did seem to find pleasure in being confusing and mysterious, and a game of hide-and-seek like this would no doubt provide some amusement to Senessa. His thoughts were interrupted when, for no more than a moment, the ground beneath their feet turned to blazing sand. Yet, the illusion had ended almost as quickly as it'd begun, and Derric was left with nothing more than a single, disturbing thought. Curn. The man who had tried to poison and destroy their minds in his conquest to capture Alvadas. With a shudder, the performer realized that the rogue illusionist could be anywhere. He hadn't the slightest idea of the man's location nor the range of his powers. "You don't think..." he said, unable to mask the nervousness in his tone, "You don't think Curn's here, do you?" Aside from the threat of doom by insanity at the hands of a corrupted illusionist, Derric had his own mission to return to. He had come to the garden intending to find Senessa Avenca, and his plans hadn't changed since they had arrived. Of course, for that to happen, they first had to figure out which way to go. He glanced left to right, looking at each possible pathway. Then a thought hit him, this was Alvadas. If he wanted to find the illusionist, Derric would have to be more creative than that. Thus far, he had only looked at the available paths, the only viable options had this been an ordinary maze. It seemed crazy, even compared to the adventure that had occurred on the boat. Yet, with what almost seemed to be reluctance, Derric shifted his vision to the sky. Sure, the idea was hardly intelligent, and the performer didn't entirely expect it to work. In fact, he hardly expected to find anything at all. A look into my life : I know my last actions there are kind of stupid, but Derric's current situation (not the maze specifically, but his life) kind of remind me of something someone once told me. It was something about, well, I think it was 'Jewish Mysticism", all about how these guys (Kabulists or something) saw three different forms of rationality. Irrational, Rational, and then Non-rational. Imagine you're in a ditch in the ground and you need to get out. Each rationality would have a different approach. The irrational person would do something stupid and pointless, like flail their arms up and down and sing happy birthday. The rational person might try and formulate some kind of plan (in the case of the discussion, most people questioned if there was a door or a ladder they could use to climb out. Notice how those are all things people would look horizontally for). However, the non-rational person (the kind I kind of relate to Ionu's favored in a way) would look up. Simple as that. While the rational person would try to take the normal, logical route, the non-rational person would open there minds and take the "up" route. Notice, I never said the ditch was deep, it doesn't have to be more than a few feet. I dunno why I'm saying this. I guess it's just my strange personal experience that led me to take a leap of faith that probably won't land anywhere.

[Aselia Timandre]

Aselia gladly took the piece of fabric from Derric, grabbing it in her fist. The next thing she wanted to do was to sit down and meditate, feeling her way into the Chavena. The key to Senessa’s past was hers! The feeling of triumph lightened her features with a smile. She stopped to concentrate.

Just then she caught sight of blue fabric to her right. Who was that? She turned her head, but wasn’t quick enough, and the person had already vanished. Looking at the fabric in her hand, she wondered whether it had been the weird Symenestra. Was she trying to show them something? Because there weren’t any other signs, she returned to Derric’s question. “Me?” She smiled. “I’m burning with curiosity. I can sense that she hides a secret of epic proportions. Konti are seers, Derric. Hopefully I’ll be able to find out through this piece of fabric from her robes.” Despite the little bit of luck she had had, she still felt suspicion sharpening her thoughts. Probably Senessa tried to show them something, playing a silly game? That sounded just like her. However, they had to be careful. The Symenestra appeared to be harmless and playful at first sight, but there also was more to her. She radiated an aura of cunning and power.

The maze still was nothing but a maze though. No signs of danger were evident, so Aselia stopped walking, tried to concentrate on the piece of fabric and her breathing. She needed to calm down to activate her gnosis. But the garden wouldn’t have it.

Sand! Again! Aselia gave a sharp cry of surprise when she felt her feet sinking in. Its echo rang in her ears, annoyingly so, but within a heartbeat the sensation of drought and hot sand was gone.

Aselia blinked and looked around. Her feet were standing on solid ground once again, as if they had never been consumed by desert sand. The brief experience reminded her of what they had been confronted with aboard the Azure Lady. Therefore, she understood Derric’s guess about Curn. But wasn’t Curn in the hands of the Alvadan Scholars? Surely, they knew how to handle illusion and kept him locked away until the time of his punishment. Right? “I don’t think so”, she answered carefully. “But I have a feeling everything is possible in this city. I don’t fully understand its mechanics yet ...”

That was the point. She didn’t understand! That was why she resorted to Divination, the only aspect of the game that had never, never disappointed her. Visions were clear to individuals with a single mark. The past couldn’t be changed anymore. What about the present?

Hasty footsteps passed, behind her back. Spinning around, Aselia blew white hair out of her face and scanned the path they had come from. Again, they were teased! She hated not knowing, not seeing through what was going on. To her, the solution was clear. Derric, the street mage, she remembered, probably had other ideas in his head. They could work together by trying everything they came up with, right?

Anyway, Aselia couldn’t be talked into walking a single step further. She let herself sink to the ground, briefly allowed herself to feel the texture of earth and grass under her hands. Then she grabbed the piece of fabric, closed her eyes and tried to focus. It wasn’t difficult, since she had practiced it many times, with many Konti and a certain human in Syliras, only a short while back ... She focused. Inhaled. Exhaled. Let the air flow through her body. When she felt the numbing indifference of trance, she conjured the Chavena. A vast amount of colorful shapes was stretching out in front of her inner vision, the individual Chavi curling around one another and into themselves. Thinking of the blue fabric in her hand, thinking of the person it belonged to, she tried to find the Chavi that was Senessa Avenca ...