The Only Hope

[Jetamio]

Morning broke over the Glade, bathing the tiny village in Ro's warming embrace. The villagers rose with the sun, going about their daily chores.

The fires had long since burned down to a warm glow, and Yolanir still slept. Xar'zith too had finally succumbed to her fatigue, and Jetamio was glad to see her do so. Days of no sleep had taken their toll on the assassin. The sun's rays finally made it into the room through the windows, illuminating the sleeping Erudite but keeping Xar'zith in the shade.

Jetamio smiled, but continued her watch. She expected him to wake soon.

[Stormfollower]

Stormfollower knocked lightly before entering the room. In one hand he carried with him a small platter of fruits savories and bread. Two tall glasses of fresh spring water sat precariously on either side of the plate and in his other hand a full pitcher. With the silent deftness of a well practiced server he swung the whole works onto the end table beside the sleeping Yolanir without spilling a drop.

"How is he doing?" He whispered softly, close to Jetamios ear.

[Jetamio]

She smiled up at her great hilking husband who could move with such stealth and grace.#

"The process completed itself a couple of hours ago, I think now his body is just resting after the work. I have never watched it before, but I think he should wake soon."

[Stormfollower]

He nodded and smiled.

"I will leave you alone to greet him back to the living then. I will not be far away, splitting wood, but call if you should need anything."

He glanced down at Yolanir once more, already his skin looked far healthier and Stormfollower could discern a natural aura had returned to his spirit. He left the room as he came, quietly and at ease.

[Yolanir]

He felt the sunlight on his skin and he broke into a smile for it was warm and didn't tingle and make his flesh crawl. He relaxed in its warming touch and remembered time gone by waking in the wilderness with the morning Sun. He stretched long and hard like a waking cat and bones and tendons creaked and snapped. Then he opened his eyes and took in the scene around him, first looking at Xar'zith sleeping at an odd angle, but at least restful and his savior for a second time it would see Jetamio eyeing him. The a loud noise is heard from his middle followed by mild pain.

"Ohhh, great heavens is this a side effect?" as he clutches his gut and looks to Jetamio.

[Jetamio]

The redhead giggled and shook her head.

"Not exactly..." she got up and retrieved the small platter that Stormfollower had left on the table and knelt beside Yolanir. She offered him his pick of the various fruits, cheeses and fine meats. "You should eat something."

She put the platter down on the ground in front of him, then reached behind her and got the water and a glass, also placing those in front of him.

"Eat and drink well, to get your strength back." She smiled at him.

[Yolanir]

He picked up the knife and cut a hunk of mild yellow cheese from a large piece and tore off a piece of bread and a hunk of meat. And then nodded and smile fondly at Jetamio and began to eat. the he intoned
"Mmmm" and swallowed.

"I don't remember how long it has been since I have had real food. It is easy to forget the feeling and the taste." he grabs a yellow fruit and peels it and eats the soft fleshed fruit and smiles, sated for now he looks to his wife and wonders how much longer she will sleep. His attention turns to Jetamio

"Can you tell me where or how I have the gift to talk to plants?" he awaits her answer.

[Jetamio]

She raises an eyebrow at his question with a hint of amusement.

"What makes you think I would know?"

She pulls her legs up to sit cross legged as she regards him, her hands folded neatly across her belly.

"Perhaps you should ask yourself why you chose the wizards path if you knew you had a gift with nature? Was your magic too tightly focused to follow the druids path? We use fire and ice, just as you do, but we lack the mass destruction you can bring about in one blast. Our magic is more subtle than a wizards."

[Yolanir]

"I was forced upon my path of being a Wizard. I was adopted as a slave as a child by a wizard that saw me tending to the gardens at the orphanage, he must have seen me talk to them. He taught me his craft and made me read constantly, he always brought me books. I wasn't freed till near his end when he thought I would make a good wizard and sent me to the Wizards school. I was ahead of everyone in my group and soon, I grew board and tended the gardens more and more and soon fell behind in my classes. But I still made the score with the elders though they disliked me tending the gardens." he takes a long breath after rambling on so much.

"I've never known any other kind of Magik till I left there, and then I was told that I would never be able to do anything else. That I was set upon my path.."

" I think that you might have a clue to why I have them, or an idea. You seem to be tied into Nature." He takes a bite of fruit and chews it while he waits.

[Jetamio]

"It is always possible to change your path, just perhaps not always to what you want to be. As far as I know, Erudites have very little aptitude for Druidic magic, and while you have some talent, there is no Druid guild who would take you."

She fills the other glass with water and takes a drink, glancing over at the still sleeping Xar'zith before speaking again.

"As for why you have them, even if I knew I could not tell you. When asked your age, you have spoken of centuries...you might be older than I. How can I know if you were born before I?" She smiles again, then speaks more seriously but still gently. "I am not a goddess Yolanir... I am just an avatar, a vessel. I was born of a mortal woman, a half elven woman named Neja, for most of my life I knew no different. I did not think anything of it, it never occured to me I might have abilities beyond that of my path. It was a Sanguine who changed my life. There was a young woman who claimed to be my kin, Tensirea said she could tell from a drop of our blood. I gave her mine first. Her reaction was much the same as yours...she never did take any from the young woman. She barely made it to her room before she locked herself in it. The next morning she was changed... and I was exiled."

She stopped there, obviously not keen on reliving too much of that dark area of her life.

[Yolanir]

"So in other words, just tend my gardens and be happy with what I have." he lets that go and watches his sleeping elven wife, waiting for her to awaken, wishing for her comforting embrace.

" I will do as best I can to embrace what I have Jetamio, for it is a wonderful thing to know I have something to give, when I take so much."