Jaek

They had finally seemed to come to the end of the underground cavern. Talon was pressing his hand against the stone, and repeating something similar to the words he had uttered earlier. The door swung open and they stepped out.

The buzz that had been growing in Jaekel's head finally quieted down and he felt relieved no longer to be in there. As they exited, the wraith that Rune had been talking to went back into her amulet.

They seemed to have been getting along pretty well, though he had only heard snippets of the conversation. He knew though if he asked Rune would happily tell him what they had talked about.

Talon as he exited, reverted back to how he had been before they entered – though Jaekel still wasn't sure how exactly to describe the current personality – other than he seemed to be on the sharp-tongued side.

He remarked, "So long as none of you slow us down, we should be there by nightfall. So no dilly-dallying. Let's march."

Jaekel sighed and fell back to walk beside of Rune as they followed Talon through a wooded area. She glanced at him, concern in her grey eyes, "Are you okay? That place seemed to be affecting you."

"Already better. And actually – I might feel lighter than I did before entering there." He had not fully realized it, but he felt really good right now, charged even.

She smiled, relief showing in her expression. He looked away, an all too familiar feeling that he could not yet speak of rising up.

"How far away do you think the tower is?" Rune suddenly asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.

He shrugged, and glanced back at her. "No clue. I don't exactly know what to expect when we get there either." Clambering over a bit of a thick log, he reached out a hand to help her over it too. Not that she exactly needed the help – her legs were quite long enough and she was physically fit enough that it would not have been that difficult for her to get over it on her own. But still the smile she graced him with made him know the help was appreciated. She always looked quite pretty when she smiled. That is, she was always pretty, but her smiles always lit up her whole face.

He did not release her hand after pulling her up. Nor did she pull it away, comfortably squeezing his hand in hers. He felt his lips curve up happily. Despite the fact that she was a girl, Rune's hands were only a little smaller than his own, though definitely thinner.

She had a happy smile on her face and once again he found himself wondering what she was thinking of, even as he knew that they were on entirely different pages. He sighed just a little to himself, looking away. Well, for now, it was fine. They were still rather young after all. Someday it would occur to her.

Till then he would wait. Well, up to a point – if it took her too long, he might end up just bluntly saying something. But since they were still only eighteen he was not in too much of a rush.

There was a sweetness he was relishing to just how things were currently. So, even though there was a bit of yearning for things to progress he was happy to just live in the moment with this sweet feeling of ambiguity.

After all, these days would someday be all in the past. The future would come when it willed, but for now it was better to live in the moment with these giddy feelings that made it difficult to keep a smile off his face at the slightest hint of her affection.

The walk seemed to pass quickly as he was focusing on the feel of her hand in his. But before he knew it – and it had been a while since the sun was now low in the sky – they were standing in front of a ramshackle large house that had a large, very tall, tower attached at the side – or rather it looked like the house had been made attached to the tower.

The top of the tower – which could barely be seen – was bulbous like an orb. It was a beautiful pearly color – and strangely enough reminded him just a bit of Kaldrek's crystal ball. He had the strangest premonition that if he stepped into that tower he would be assaulted with visions – this was a place made for the use of divining. He just somehow knew that.

Before Talon could knock at the door, it came open. Standing there in the doorway was a very beautiful woman though her face was marred with a scar that ran down it. Her hair was a very vibrant shade of red – a color that Jaekel had always found soothing. Her blue eyes were the saddest eyes that Jaekel had ever seen. She looked rather young, only a few years older than they were.

However as he looked at her, his head hurt slightly and he had a brief flash of hundreds of scenes. Most of which flew by so quickly he could not catch hold of them. But it left him with an impression that despite her looks this woman was quite old. Older than many elves ever reached even.

Also he recognized her – for he had seen her in a vision before. And this house too had been in it, though he had not seen the tower in it.

"I've been expecting you." She said opening the door wider, "Come on in."

They all went inside and she closed the door behind them and locked it with an audible click. Jaekel's eyes fell on a bloodstained tapestry across the door – recognizing the people in it for he had seen them before in a vision. Lucien, Agreas, and Xeltia – even after so much time he could still recall the names of the people in the vision.