The North (Closed)

[heartofcourage]

"The one who needed his Gran to make it better." Fiona said as she turned to look at him, a weary look full of shadows on her face. "I've never wanted to let anyone into my head. Now they're all going to try and push and prod. I can't handle that, Sam. There are things I don't want them to see or know about me. Things that I've only ever told you. Hell, things I've never told you. And all for what? A dragon that continues to haunt us even after his body is ash."

 

[KieranSoares]

"If you have an idea tha' doesn't involve leavin' you to fend for yourself, I'm all ears," Sam murmured. "I'd love to be the only one you had to accept help from. I know you hate asking for help even when you need it."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona came to his side and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face against his warm skin. "It can't just be you, love. Not in your condition. Not now."

 

[KieranSoares]

Not knowing what else to offer, and knowing they both just needed some comfort, Sam kissed her cheek and held her tight. "We're always ready to take on hurt for the other. But you're right... I can't overdo it right now. For your sake as much as mine."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley could hear the murmured conversation through the open door, but she didn't intrude on their peace. In fact, she hoped that somehow he convinced her to sleep. Instead, she paced as Soma sat at the table with Andre. Her mind was racing, thinking over everything that had happened.

"Why did he stay behind? Why was it Ma and not Markos?" Riley asked, looking over at the other two. "And why this fractured half of him? Why did this happen?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Markos said something about Hesperus being free of his sickness now that he's dead. Maybe it wasn't his choice," Soma pondered. "He wanted a fight. He never said anything about wanting to infect someone else. I don't even know if he knew he could."

"If he's free of it... could we talk to him?" Andre asked with a look up at Riley. "I know that's more your Ma's domain, but Markos should be able to talk to him."

"Markos has already offered to help any way he can. I'm sure we could ask."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley was suddenly struck by a thought, and she paused in her pacing. "You stay here with Ma and Da. I'll go speak with Markos."

Leaving the apartment, she hurried through the castle to find Markos. It was almost like the thought that she had wanted to flee, but she channeled her Ma. She needed to be like Fiona in moments like this. Poised. Calm. Not headstrong and brutish like she normally was.

 

[KieranSoares]

A few hints from the castle staff led Riley to find Markos out on the castle grounds with his tent and camp setup instead of in any lodging inside the keep. He was sitting quite contentedly with a book borrowed from the unruined part of the library when he glanced up to see Riley approaching. Recognizing a look of urgency, he slipped the book into his tent and stood to meet her.

"Everything feels so restless. I wondered if someone would come to talk to me," he mused. "What can I do for you, Miss Riley?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"Just listen to me. This is about as close as I'll ever get to thinking like you." Riley murmured as she took a deep breath. "Is it not true that we are all parts of a whole? Reven gave us all something in my line, pieces of her power. My brother has one. I have another. My Da now has something. The only one that has them all is my Ma. Rider Queen might be an honorary title, but the Blackstones have always been powerful. Hesperus was woken by someone, and when he woke, he wanted a Blackstone. He wanted a Caller that was complete. Why?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Your father is likely to be a whole Caller as well with Dzana, so that begs the question as to why Hesperus didn't target him in the battle too. I imagine it's less to do with Reven, and more to do with Margaret Blackstone." Markos offered thoughtfully.

 

[heartofcourage]

"So, what? He went after a fairy tale? A legend that he knew was most likely already dead? My Ma isn't Margaret." Riley tired to insist, struggling to wrap her mind around all of this. "Or did he want to poison the Blackstone line?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Short of asking him directly or assuming it was some facet of his madness, I have no concrete answers. My best guess is that it was a combination of glory-seeking in his sick brain, and something to do with finishing the fight he started long ago. He was broken, Miss Riley. We can't assume anything, really."

 

[heartofcourage]

"He's poisoning her. He will kill her." Riley said adamantly. "And I don't have time to sit around and listen to anyone ponder upon it. I need you to have answers for me."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Then I will go and get what answers I can. I was waiting for your mother to be ready to join me, but I see we have no such time. Go, I will come to you when I have something. In the meantime, you may find something yourself in Reven if you can reach her. Or, you may join me."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stared at the odd man for a while, crossing her arms over her chest. He was inviting her on a fool’s journey. When she was younger, she wouldn't have even entertained something that wasted her time. Now that she was older, she knew that she was at the mercy of those that had what she wanted.

"I'll leave Reven to my brother." She said with a small shrug of her shoulders.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I ask only one thing... remember that the Hesperus we will meet will not be like the one who fought us. I ask you treat him civilly til we understand the depth of that madness. If what the stories say of Hesperus being as dear to our ancestors as Reven was before his turn, I think we'll be meeting the dragon that Reven knew and loved. I hope so, anyway."

Markos turned and sat back down before his tent, digging in his bag. "You can join me now, or check in with your brother. I need to prepare."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stood there in silence, confused as to what Markos was going on about. If they were going to meet Hesperus, she wondered what was happening inside of her mother's mind at that very moment.

"I guess...I'll leave you to prepare." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Riley stared at him for a while longer before she turned to leave him in peace. She didn't want to go back to her parents and their quarters, so she wandered. There was nowhere in particular that she aimed to go, but she wanted to get rid of the anxiety and agitation that was rising inside of me.

 

[KieranSoares]

Riley was left to wander for some thirty minutes before she felt something change in the air. She could easily feel nearby Callers and Elder Dragons save for the void that was Fiona at the moment. While her defenses had grown strong, she could still detect major shifts. She felt the moment something changed about Markos. Or rather, she felt the moment Markos's presence disappeared.

When she returned to his little camp, he was right where she'd left him. Spread out in front of him were a number of small jars of various plant material and incense, and a wooden pipe billowing a spicy, earthy smoke. He was quietly taking long inhales from the pipe, his eyes focused on a small campfire now burning before him. It was all some ancient ritual, it seemed, used by those who didn't have Fiona's innate talent of piercing the veil unaided. Even the moment Riley came close, the smoke from the pipe made her a little lightheaded but not dangerously so.

"Mm, Lady Riley," Markos spoke with a calm, relaxed tone. "You're welcome to partake if it'll help you focus. Otherwise..." He drew a tiny bone spoon from the mix of shamanic objects and used it to load more material into the pipe, "I do believe I'm ready."

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stood for a moment, instantly transported to her grandfather's cabin in Sweden. The smell of the smoke in the camp reminded Riley so much of Owen's solitary home that she was instantly transported through time to when she was a small kit spending a few weeks in summer with him. He burned the herbs to "help calm her soul" and she was instantly at ease as she took a seat next to Markos.

"I don't need anything to focus." She said softly, her ears folding back as she studied the strange man. "It makes sense that you do, though. My Uka used to burn herbs when I visited."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Herbs in the fire to calm the air and energy around us," Markos said with a nod, "and then the pipe and a few medicinal plants to help quiet my mind... Fractured as it can be sometimes, I need something to slow me down to focus."

Taking another draw from the pipe, Markos laid it aside and straightened to stare into the flames. "Let's see if you're ready to talk, old friend," he whispered and half-closed his eyes. He fell into a trance state that bordered sleep. Once his mind went under, Riley could feel Markos's presence expand. He was a normal man in physical shape, but Riley could envision a mind more akin to a dragon. It was noble and honest, but the entire thing was laced with deep, dark cracks like a precious vase shattered and badly glued back together. He was instantly bounding upward and into the misty void that separated the mortal from the beyond.

 

[heartofcourage]

The smoke made her sensitive nose sting, her head swimming with all of the images that passed by her. She didn't like any of this. She didn't feel in control of the situation as she let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. Space and time wasn't as fractured for her, but it was never east to achieve peace of mind. She had never been confident in her abilities, even if she had enough bravado for five men. Her mother faced everything with a calm grace. Riley was like a wild storm that destroyed many things in its path.

 

[KieranSoares]

Markos led the way into the mist until it began to thin. Riley saw the fog thin over a vast seascape and distant islands. It felt like flying without a dragon beneath her as she approached a great mountain surrounded by verdant green hills and a large swath of forest, but none of it was familiar to her. It was almost arid, the grasses and brush meant to stand up to heat instead of cold Scottish winters. The trees were ancient and gnarled, and groves of olive trees dominated one slope.

The mountain was crescent-shaped, and the basin valley in the middle framed a large lake and a spring-fed waterfall that nearly hid a complex of caves behind it. Riley was deposited gently on the shore. Markos's presence was still with her, but it seemed he was struggling to maintain the connection and manifest his form at the same time. He focused on keeping Riley connected through his bond to Hesperus most of all.

With only the full, distant roar of the water to accompany her, Riley had a long moment alone to take in the misty landscape. It wasn't unlike Reven's domain at her Swedish mountain lake valley. The peace was only disturbed when a great blue eye lit up and peered around the edge of the waterfall from the caverns within.

"Who wakes me now?" A familiar, low rumble questioned. A brass maw and head pushed out into the light, revealing a younger, slightly smaller version of the ancient dragon. He had both eyes back, but the scar on his chest was much broader and more pronounced after Fiona and her family had hacked it open.

 

[heartofcourage]

Riley stared at the great figure and tilted her head to the side as he rumbled out his question. "Riley Ghis." She called out. "And...I suppose...Markos."

"I'm the daughter of Fiona Blackstone. I'm here to talk to you." She tried to make herself sound braver than she felt in the moment, worried that she might say something that made the situation worse.

 

[KieranSoares]

He withdrew slightly at the mention of a Blackstone, but slowly began to emerge from the falls. Lithe and no longer so bulky with overbuilt muscle, he moved much more gracefully. He had a feline quality again like most dragons and he wasn't so heavy-footed. When he was fully revealed from the waterfall, Riley beheld a handsome brass dragon about twice Schaller's size who no longer seemed so full of hubris. He regarded her not as an ant as he once had, but as a potential danger.

"I think... I remember you," he murmured. He approached carefully and lowered his great head to look at her with his mismatched eyes. "You're Margaret's kin."

 

[heartofcourage]

"...yes. Margaret's kin." Riley said as his eyes studied her intently. "I...helped to kill you. I can't really say that I'm sorry about that, but...you seem better."