Firiona Vie Everquest

Jetamio shook her head. "I am neither Shaman nor Enchantress, nor a true Dreamer." She focused her attention back on her husband, still holding her hand out to him. She did not have the time to explain the complications of doing what she had done. She wasn't even sure that she could. P'Nala had not been there that night when she cured Zeph, and Jetamio had never mentioned anything about it since.

"Storm, please..." she whispered softly.

He looked up towards her and all his anger melted away in that instant. The visions Remis had nurtured of a great undersea magician-beast vanished in an instant. Jetamio shone like sunshine in his eyes now. He walked towards her and reached up and grasped her hand from the pier. Her power rushed through him. She was showing him the door, and he walked through it. A force unlike anything he had felt before blasted the dream world apart sending shards of that scene flying out into oblivion.
In a flash they were all on the deck of the real Goblin Queen all aware and standing in shock of the wave of powr that had emanated from their touch. All except Remis who still remained motionless on the deck.

At his touch she felt a jerk behind her navel as she was pulled back into reality with the rest of them. She blinked, seeing his familiar face before her still holding her hand. She jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his huge shoulders and buried her face sobbing in his neck muttering unintelligable words.

He hugged her close and consoled her softly. "Its alright , I am here now. You have helped me to let go. Al the fear doubt, and disbeleif, You have freed my mind my love." Their embrace lasted a long time but as they finally parted Stormfollower looked over her shoulder at their sons lifeless body and he began to weep.

She followed his gaze and felt her heart jump into her mouth. Had she killed her own son? Pulling away from Stormfollower she moved towards Remis. Fresh tears ran down her face as she knelt down beside him. She wished she knew what had caused him to turn from them, to become what he had. She reached out a hand, hovering it over his chest as a soft gold nimbus appeared around her hand.
Bringing him back would be easy, but was it wise? Should she let him be at peace, or was his spirit still trapped in some dark place? She looked back over her shoulder at Stormfollower. It was he who had been prey to Remis' dark plot. She took her hand away as she met her husbands eyes.

"You are better versed than I. Is it safe to, do you...do you want to? The power is yours too."

((Or at least I hope you have your level 59 Ressurection spell! lol))

Stormfollower took his sons limp body into his arms and hugged its head close to his own. After a few moments he lay it down gently on the deck and walked to the front of the vessel, there he threw off the small dory used for shallow water beach landings and let its line play out until the Goblin Queen dragged it just behind its stern.

"It is best we leave him be." he spoke gravely.

He lowered his boys body into the small craft and with one swift pull untied the rope that towed it.
It slipped silently away from them on the calm waters. Peacefully making its way towards the dawning sun.

Stormfollower spoke towards the receding dory and into the sunrise.

"Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to the world hear me. I come to you as one of your many children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. May I walk in beauty. Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things that you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Make me strong, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy - myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes so that when light fades, as when the fading sunset, my spirit will come to you without shame."

He turned his back towards his sons remains and sat heavily at the tiller once more. A look of utter defeat was etched deeply on his face.

She was numb, watching her youngest son float away. She wanted to set the craft a-flame so the scavengers could not pick at him, but she could not even summon the energy to conjure that simple spell. She heard a wail behind her as Radha grieved her brother.

She dropped slowly to her knees and simply sat there staring at nothing in particular, her eyes unfocused. She shed no tears, for she was far beyond that. She had lost another son, this time by her own hand and she knew she could never forgive herself that.

But what had made him turn? Had she done something wrong, raised him any differently from the others? Radha, his twin, had never set a foot wrong, and as far as Jetamio knew, neither had Remis until now. Had she spent too much time away? Whatever the reason she blamed herself and slowly began to withdraw from everything around her as her guilt deepened.

Radha cried openly, though still confused by much of it. Remis had completly blocked her out by the end and she never knew why. She walked up to her father's side and held him while crying into his hair.

Sineliniel knelt by Jetamio with tears in her eyes as she felt the great druidess' pain. For a little while their minds had been tied together through P`Nala's powers.

"If there is anything that I can do..."

Myrikel laid her hands on the shoulders of Rahda and Stormfollwer and wept along with them.

Gilliadson pulled out his music box and activated it, allowing the music to wash over them all offering the comfort that they much needed at this time.

P`Nala understood much of what had caused the lad to turn and knew that there was noone left to exact retribution from since he had forced his former master to kill himself. P`Nala's journeys into the minds of mortals had taken her to places darker than even her old House in Neriak and also to places brighter than the Plane of Tranquility. Just as the capacity of each to do great evil there was also the capacity to do great good. It all boiled down to the choices we each make. All the raising, training and nurturing that our parents can pour into us can be brought to naught by our own choices. P`Nala understood that just as she was an anomaly among her own people, Remis was an anomaly among his family. She knew now would not be the time to explain what she had experienced in the young man's mind but hoped that his family would seek the answers that she held for them. For now the Mistress of Illusion wept with the rest of them...

After some time Stormfollower was able to speak again, though with great effort, not all the strength returned to his voice and will.

"Grieve not for the loss of Remis, but only for his spirit... For he is not dead, though that is what he wished us to believe and how he will be to me forever."

The small boat bobbed far away on the horizon bathed on the glow of the morning sun. On the floor of its wooden hull Remis lay still yet the effects of his feign death spell were now worn off. When he was sure he was out of sight of them he would head for land. He would stay hidden, and he would grow. Time was on his side and was revenge his sole concern now, his mind twisted in knots and convulsed in its raging protests.

"...For he is not dead, though that is what he wished us to believe..."

Jetamio had heard little of what was going on around her, but those words rang through her mind. Her head snapped up as she finally understood what her son was.

"Necromancy...how? I thought he was training with Oxbalm?"

"As did I, yet it is clear he has become very skilled at the art of deceit as well as mastering much of the ways of necromancy. I should have known his training was not completed when he first approached me in Qeynos. He followed none of the regular Wolf clans customs of a new initiate towards an elder shaman. But I thought it was only our unnatural surroundings and him being my son that caused him to be less formal. But it is now clear he has been lying to us all for some time."

"He will be a danger to us, especially you, Master Stormfollower" P`Nala spoke up after a few moments of thought.

"Necromancy! By all that is holy! No! What could have brought such a wonderful young man to such depths?" Sineliniel querried.

P`Nala held some of the answers in her mind from her encounter with Remis but could not reveal them just yet. She would have to Investigate further to gain the rest of the answers. There would be another encounter between the two, she was sure of it. The Mistress of Illusion would have to continue her studies to stay ahead of him. Being the son of such close friends to her mistress, P`Nala knew that she could not bring herself to destroy him when they face each other again...

"Evil did this, nothing more... Nature will deal with him." Stormfollower responded to P`Nalas query in an even and emotionally drained tone.

Stormfollower took the tiller in his grip once more and steered the ship towards the north west. His stern face frozen in its state while his eyes stretched out towards the fifth horizon. He hummed the tune of an ancient mariners dirge. He hummed it softly so as not to infect the seas with his depression. Ahead in the unseen distance a small uncharted island hid behind the horizon. The only clue to its existence was the small cloud that now formed above it in the early morning warmth. Stormfollower used this cloud as his guide. He knew this island well. He had lived there many times over the years. It was the southern most island in a chain of far flung islands that his people fished for pin fish during the months of Thunder Moon and the Moon of the Wolf Star. It was also a place he and Remis had been to many times.

He remained quiet while the grief of his companions washed over the deck of the Goblin Queen and dripped its silent burden into the diluting sea. No one could know his mind on this matter any further, Remis was dead to him, this he had stated. And by the laws of his people he had been left for nature to deal with him. Lost on the sea he would show his will to live or he would die. Yet Stormfollower had seen his will and knew it to be weak. The boy would not last the week in his estimation. South and west the north wind had blown him and with no sail to tack by he would be funneled towards the central storms of the Guarding sea. Stormfollower knew the winds and currents well enough that it would be a simple matter to follow and save his boy and many times his hand was hard fought not to steer that course.

From within the fifth horizon the Island of the Dead (as it was known to his people) rose out of the Guarding sea. Goblin Queen headed steadily for it with an even breeze filling her snow white sails. The signpost cloud had grown larger as the morning had progressed and was now filling in the sky in a verticle progression, its lower regions becoming darker. It looked like rain.
"Fitting." Stormfollower thought.

His heading was now slightly to the south of the sacred burial island of the Wolf Cult. There was a bay in the lee of the prevailing winds where he would weigh the ships anchor. They would be there shortly before mid-day and he knew the fruits of the hidden orchard there would be ripe for a fresh lunch when they arrived, That was if anyone felt like eating.

The mood had been very somber on the deck of his usually joyful ship. Everyone had kept their thoughts to themselves and little was said except to remark on some passing bird or to comment on the forming weather. Now that they approached this unscheduled stop the lack of communication was beginning to be awkward. Furtive glances spoke what no one said, the unspoken question that formed then dissipated many times in each of their minds was left unanswered. Still Stormfollower said nothing. With his one hand ever on the tiller and his other tuning the sails with the multiple lines he had set up to reach him where he sat, the shaman guided them carefully ever closer to the island. He at least was occupied.

When they were close to the shore, safely in the protection of the little bay he finally released the tiller. As the ship glided smoothly closer to shore he ran to the bow and busied himself with the release of the anchor. Once its length of chain and rope was deployed to a sufficient length to hold he set the line to the strong-post on the bow. As the anchor set in the mud below the little ship spun around until her stern was facing the shore. He calmly walked back to the tiller and removed a long line from a locker nearby. Tying it to a cleat he boldly spoke an ancient oath "Infrequent shall the sea want for my taste." then calmly dove off the ship and into the cold clam waters of the bay. It was only a short swim to shore where he set about tying off the stern line to a heavy tree trunk at the top of the beach.

The cloud formation above them had now grown in height and size and was obliviously about to drop its rain at any moment. Stormfollower now set about making a shelter.

The Knight Stripped off his armor and passed the bag that held it to Fluffy to bring to him on the shore. He then dove in to the water to help Stormfollower with the preparations for making the camp. The cold water shocked his senses but he ignored the shock just as we would minor injuries during a battle. Upon reaching the shore, Gilliadson set about helping his old friend with building the shelter.

Sineliniel and Fluffy floated to the shore and set about gathering firewood in case a fire was needed. Sineliniel called Myrikel and P`Nala to her once the gathering task was done. Myrikel picked up the bag that held her Father's armor and brought it to him.