Spellbinder Notes (Day 27)

Species (according to Ursa):

27) Cloudmakers

- Air spirits who live off of moisture collected in the air

- "farm" clouds

o farms on land plant seeds to grow plants, Cloudmakers gather water in the air into clouds until they can harvest the collected moisture as rain.

o farmed clouds follow its creator where ever he wanders until the cloud disperses from old age

o to find or track a Cloudmaker, follow clusters of clouds that appear to moving closely in the same direction.

- bodies are often mistaken as light shafts and air funnels T

o only time Cloudmakers solidify is when they chose come to earth in order to procreate and assist their alleys by providing rain

- nomadic people

- usually live in small close family groups.

o More likely to live alone with a large flock of clouds then with a large group of Cloudmakers

o Even as children, Cloudmakers do not stay with their families long.

§ Soon as a child Cloudmaker can gather a cloud, they are sent out on their own.

- associate themselves to different nomadic lines.

o total of six nomadic lines:

§ Laasko Cloudmakers

§ Meri Cloudmakers

§ Vuori Cloudmakers

§ Aavikko Cloudmakers

§ Metsä Cloudmakers

§ Rekka Cloudmakers.

o These nomadic lines derive from the Cloudmaker's preferred area of habitation.

§ Laasko Cloudmakers inhabit large valley areas near the Vuori Cloudmakers, who enjoy their lives among the misty tops of mountains.

· Both known for their laid back nature and general good nature towards land inhabitants

§ Meri Cloudmakers tend to fear land so they create their cloud farms over large bodies of water

· using a unique method of filtering salt from the water in the air

· sell the resulting salt crystals to merchants.

§ Aavikko Cloudmakers prefer desert-like areas

· masters at growing large clouds from small reservoirs of moisture

· sell pieces of their clouds to desert travelers for exorbitant rates

§ Metsä Cloudmakers and Rekka Cloudmakers, unlike the other nomadic lines, prefer solitude from the world

· Taking refuge in heavily forested locations, Metsä Cloudmakers tend to be both cloud farmers and vegetation farmers.

o They find solace in plants, especially trees, but try to avoid contact with other creatures.

· Rekka Cloudmakers isolate themselves to artic climates where moisture is plentiful for their nourishment and contact with other creatures is limited.

- do not interact with other creatures often

o however, any bonds they make are eternal, since they value anyone who can take their attention from their clouds.

o will always return to those non-Cloudmaker that it calls friends.

- stays on land are limited as earth naturally absorbs moisture and water, which are the life blood of Cloudmakers.

o too long of contact with earth will kill a Cloudmaker.

The sun rose on Yuki-Onna breathing fine streams of frozen air into Lieben, Chris and Roque's ears. Freezing specific memories took time, but she was milking it to be close to Tristan as long as possible. Their passionate exchange had lasted until both of their appetites were full, then he had left her to dress and bathe as he ran back to his precious little toy. Bitterness nagged at Yuki-Onna as she worked, but she dared not mess up on her task. Tristan's passion was great for love, but his hate was far greater. She could not bear to see him hate her and she knew she could not survive it either.

Tristan held the sleeping Chenoa as he sang her an old song.

Lovers come

And lovers go

But you, fair one,

Are more than so.

You are the day

And I am the night

Waiting for your say

So that I may hold you tight

For never as lovers

Shall you be held

But as wife and life

Will we be meld

When Chenoa began to stir, Tristan quickly lowered her to the ground and busied himself, so he did not appear to have been lying awake all night watching her sleep. Yuki-Onna crinkled her nose in disgust as she finished her job. Chenoa yawned, stretching loudly and looking around. At first the sight of the strange snow-white woman startled Chenoa, but she decided, since Tristan had not woken her, that the woman was a friend.

"Good morning, Tristan," Chenoa said cheerfully, making Yuki-Onna roll her eyes. "I hope you slept well."

"It was very well, though he did not do much sleeping," Yuki-Onna purred, standing and placing a possessive hand on Tristan's chest.

Eyes flashing warning, Tristan gritted his teeth in a smile. Pretending to have missed her meaning, Chenoa returned the woman's smile; however, she thought her teeth might break from the pressure of clamping them together.

"I am Chenoa Rose," Chenoa offered the strange woman her hand.

"Yes, I have heard," Yuki-Onna replied, never moving her hands from Tristan.

"Oh? Really? How?" Chenoa said curiously.

"The whole of Taikaa is buzzing about some little Spellbinder mutt who's been running amuck."

"Running amuck?" Chenoa thought bristling, but she did her best to not show her feelings.

"Oh," she said instead. "I didn't know I was causing so much trouble in Taikaa. That is very embarrassing."

"I am sure it is."

"Uh…who are you?"

"Yuki-Onna. I am close, personal friend of Tristan. He asked me here to help fix up your friends."

"Oh…Thank you very much. I appreciate it."

"Well, I'd do anything for Tristan. After all he's done for me, it's the least I can do."

"You and Tristan have known each other a long time?"

"Over five hundred years. Isn't that right, Tristan?"

"Yes. Though sometimes it feels soooo much longer," Tristan replied, his face stoic as he removed himself from Yuki-Onna's touch. "Yuki-Onna is here to help the boys get better."

Immediately losing her resentment and dislike, Chenoa beamed. The idea that someone would be able to help her friends was a great relief.

"Oh, that is wonderful! I am truly grateful for your help! I have been so worried about them."

"Yes…" Yuki-Onna forced a cold smile as Chenoa ran over to check on her friends. "They should wake in a few minutes. I just froze the memories of their…"

Tristan swiftly grabbed Yuki-Onna's arm, spinning her around and motioning for her to shut her mouth. Startled she stopped midsentence and Tristan released her all before Chenoa turned around to look at them curiously.

"Memories of their what?"

"Their brutal beatings. It traumatized them."

"Oh!"

Guilt tore at Chenoa's chest as she brushed back the hair on Lieben and Chris's face. Tristan left Yuki-Onna's side to stand behind Chenoa. He stroked her hair affectionately, though Chenoa was oblivious to him. Yuki-Onna felt her face burn with bitter cold as the man she blindly loved fall for another woman. Being a snow witch, Yuki-Onna knew what it meant if Tristan fell in love with that girl. It would mean that he would never love another woman. That he would abandon all who loved him to pursue and stand by the girl. Well that would not happen if she could help it.

"Tristan, darling," Yuki-Onna simpered, approaching him and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I am quite tired from helping these boys. I need a bit of feeding. Would you please assist me?"

"Not now," Tristan said coolly, his eyes obsessively trained on Chenoa.

"Tristan, she did us a favor," Chenoa gasped, looking up at him in shock. "We should feed her. What does she eat?"

"Tristan knows what I like to eat," Yuki-Onna purred, her meaning slipping over Chenoa's head.

"Later, Yuki-Onna," Tristan growled warningly.

"Tristan, what is the big deal?" Chenoa inquired, unaware of Yuki-Onna's seductive touch on Tristan's back.

"Chenoa, trust me. I will deal with her later."

"Oooh, Tristan. You will. You will allow me to feed for hours?"

Yuki-Onna took a bold step and brushed her lips along his jaw and neck, her eyes flickering to Chenoa, who blushed crimson and turned away. Suddenly Chenoa understood how Yuki-Onna fed. Sexual feeding seemed quite popular or at least common in Taikaa. Resisting the urge to strike Yuki-Onna, Tristan shrugged her off. Reaching for Chenoa, Tristan felt as if she was slipping ever so slightly from his fingers. Spinning around quickly, Chenoa beamed at them brightly, though her heart ached.

"Well, I appreciate all that you both have done," Chenoa grinned, her cheeks hurting from the effort. "I am going to wait for the boys to wake up."

Tristan knew that his presence was no longer welcomed so he walked to clean up the camp. Yuki-Onna flittered behind Tristan like his shadow. She cooed and purred to him, but he did his best to ignore her. Once and while she would brush against him to grab his attention, but Tristan was used to love-blind women. It was one of the draw backs of being a Nonelement.

"She didn't put up much a fight," Yuki-Onna hissed as she watched Chenoa attentively care for her friends.

"She fights when it is important," Tristan responded, his eyes fixed on the ground as he cleared the earth of their presence.

"So you aren't important to her then?"

Halting, Tristan felt his face elongating as his temper flared. If Yuki-Onna did not watch herself, she would be on the other side of his emotional spectrum. Sensing the change, Yuki-Onna took a break from her harassment. She wanted his love, not his hate.

As the sun hung overhead, it started to warm the air. Chris, Lieben and Roque slept soundly as the heat from the sun melted their frozen memories, which trickled from their minds. After about thirty minutes, they began to stir. Chris woke first.

Blinking he groaned at the stiffness of his body, but smiled as Chenoa's anxious, beautiful face hung above him. His hand automatically reached for her face, cupping it gently. Without thinking, Chenoa threw her arms around Chris, crying into his shoulder.

"Oh, thank god!" Chenoa sobbed, her fear finally releasing from her body. "I was so worried you would never wake!"

"Chenoa," Chris mumbled, breathing in her scent.

It had changed. Before it had been elusive and faint, but now it smelled strongly of earth and wind. His mind flashed back to his tree house when he was a child. It had been his favorite place. His safe place. His home. Chenoa smelled like home. Squeezing tighter, he didn't want to let go of her.

However, at that moment, Lieben coughed and sat up. Letting go of Chris, Chenoa threw her arms around Lieben, holding him tight to her. He jerked in surprise, though quickly adjusted and hugged her back. For a long moment Chenoa silently wept as she hugged Lieben. Then she pulled both boys to her and held them. Chenoa would never have forgiven herself if they had died protecting her. In a bit Roque awoke as well. Fussing over the boys, Chenoa brought them food and water. Once they were full, she helped them walk and stretch their sleep stiff bodies. Tristan made sure not to involve himself too much. It was a hard moment for Chenoa, and, while his insides writhed with jealousy, Tristan knew it was for the best.

"How long have we been out?" Chris finally asked as the sun became to set.

"About a week. I have only been up a day myself," Chenoa explained. "Tristan found us."

"Ve owe you great thanks than," Lieben nodded solemnly, holding a hand out to Tristan.

"It was nothing. You all are very important to Chenoa, so you are important to me," Tristan said honestly.

Shaking hands, the Nonelement and Nonelement hybrid examined each other. Lieben had never known any Nonelements, other than his father. It had always been his opinion that Nonelements were selfish and not to be trusted, but now he found himself in debt to Tristan. Meanwhile Tristan observed Lieben and realized how similar Lieben was to his father. He could understand why Elixir had abandoned the normal Nonelement ways. Elixir loved his son.

Chris walked forward and held out his hand to Tristan as well.

"Yes…thank you, Tristan," Chris said seriously.

As Tristan gripped Chris's hand, something sharp ran up his arm and into his chest. Suppressing a gasp, Tristan held onto to Chris's hand and saw how dark Chris's eyes were. Something inside of Tristan screamed to bow to Chris, but he held his ground. The feeling was gone as soon as Chris released his grip and smiled pleasantly at Tristan.

"I am glad we are all safe," Chris smiled, wrapping an arm around Chenoa.

"Yes, we are lucky," Chenoa nodded, leaning against Chris. She was weak from relief.

"Vat happened to us all?" Lieben inquired.

"No idea," Chenoa admitted. "I blacked out after they played a horrible illusion on me."

"Vat illusion?"

"They made me believe that they killed you three. It was horrible. I don't even want to think about it."

Chris wrapped both arms around Chenoa and held her tight. She shuddered momentarily as she blocked out the vision of their hearts being ripped from their chests. Lieben stroked the back of her head, his eyes full of confusion as his free hand rubbed his chest over his heart.

"You all should be heading out," Tristan said, his voice heavy with emotions.

"Already?" Chenoa started. "They just woke up."

"They have been sleeping for a week. They need the exercise and I would prefer you heading out to find Ursa and Cor. The sooner you are with them the better."

"He is right, Senoa," Lieben agreed, glancing nervously back at the city. He never wanted to go back to that city.

"Yeah, Chenoa," Chris added. "It is time to go. Nick and Gabby have been waiting long enough."

"Okay…okay…I know when I am outnumbered," Chenoa sighed. "Roque, what will you do?"

Roque, who had stayed mostly silent all this time, looked up. His eyes were serious.

"I will stay here. My home is here and if the city really has been healed then I want to stay and make sure it will stay healed," he said thoughtfully.

"But your home…"

"That was just a building of wood. I can rebuild and the Unos will help me. They are good kids."

"If you think that is best, okay. You are always welcome with us though."

"Thank you, Chenoa, but I am going to stay."

"If you ever need anything…"

"Thank you again, Chenoa. I agree with your friends. You must be going."

Roque hugged Chenoa awkwardly. It had been a long time since he had ever hugged anyone. Sniffling, Chenoa accepted his hug and grabbed her stuff. The boys all said their goodbyes before Chenoa, Lieben and Chris started heading down the road away from the city. Looking back, Chenoa saw that Tristan was not following.

"Tristan?" Chenoa said confused.

"I have some business here to take care of," Tristan said calmly.

"Oh…"

"Don't worry. I'll find you. I always do."

"Okay…please be safe."

"Just take care of yourself for now."

Smiling weakly, Chenoa felt Chris pulling her forward. Gulping, Chenoa turned away from Tristan and headed down the path. Yuki-Onna, Tristan and Roque watched for a long time before Roque spoke.

"We died, didn't we?" he whispered seriously.

"Excuse me?" Tristan replied innocently.

"I saw my parents and Glitterbug. I know we died…what I don't know is how we were brought back."

"Some things are a mystery."

"I see no signs of a Piper."

"There is no Piper."

"Then Luoja himself must have made his presence known."

"It would be about time he showed himself again."

Roque crinkled his nose at the obvious bitterness in Tristan's tone. Turning back to the city, Roque headed home. He decided that he didn't want to know how he had been revived. For now, it only mattered that his love and parents waited for him when he died and that he was alive again. His home, his city waited for him.

Chris and Lieben walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Chenoa kept staring between the two of them, amazed that they were back and alive. Her heart felt so full of love and relief that she was sure it would burst. Yet just as her heart peeked the familiar presence appeared in her mind. Osiris peeked into her mind, though his presence was much weaker than before.

"Hey, girl," he whispered as if worried about spooking her.

"Osiris," Chenoa thought coolly.

"I am glad you are okay. I have not been able to reach you for over a week. First someone had your body bound and then it was like you were dead. I have never experienced that before. You are okay…right?"

"Why do you care?"

"I…I don't know. I just feel like you are important for some reason. Trust me I'd much rather just torture you like always but for now I'll give you a break."

"You are so kind."

"I do what I can…hey, Chenoa…"

"What?"

"You have gotten stronger."

"Thanks for noticing."

"I'm glad you finally accepted your powers."

"I didn't have much of a choice."

Osiris fell silent and just sat in Chenoa's mind as they walked. The stars and pixies started to appear in the sky. It was peaceful and all four enjoyed the quiet. Delicately, Osiris peered into Chenoa's raw memories. For once Chenoa knew she could stop him, but she didn't. Part of her wanted to share the burden of the memories with someone.

"Chenoa?"

"Yeah…"

"You know he lied right?"

"Who?"

"That Nonelement."

"What did he lie about?"

"Your friends…those two guys."

Chenoa's eyes flickered to her dear friends and she stretched out her hands, taking one hand of each in hers.

"What about them?"

"They died."

"I know."

Squeezing tight, Chenoa felt tears prick at her eye lids. She held on tight because she didn't want to ever let go of them again. Osiris felt her pain and for once it did not give him great joy. It was as if her pain had become his pain.

"What are you going to do about it?" he finally asked cautiously.

"Never let it happen again," Chenoa said stoically.

Closing her mind, Chenoa saw the gateway burn black as Osiris was hurled from her mind. Lieben looked at Chenoa as a momentary wave of power rolled off her body. Cocking her head to the side, she smiled at him.

Hours later the three made bed for the night with the boys curling up close to Chenoa. In a few short minutes Chris and Lieben's steady breathing told her they were asleep. Carefully picking her way out from between them, Chenoa did her best not to disturb them. Once free from their sleeping form, Chenoa found a large open spot by the firelight. Settling down, she crossed her legs, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

The presence of a new person caused Chenoa to sigh audibly.

"Will I ever get some privacy?" Chenoa said aloud to the person.

"No," the blunt voice of Oric responded.

Chenoa didn't need to open her eyes to see him sitting on a rock near her. He groomed his beautiful velvet cat ears as he tried to pretend he wasn't watching her. Settling back in, Chenoa took another deep steadying breath. Oric matched his breathing with hers.

"Won't Quälen wonder where you went?" she finally smiled.

"Naw…he made a small bust today so he has drunken himself into a stooper," Oric smirked.

"And you just missed me so much you had to visit me?"

"I felt the change in your aura. I wanted to come see."

"That obvious?"

"Like a flood light. You aren't sealed anymore."

"Nope."

"Gateway?"

"Yes."

"About to open it for the first time?"

"Uh huh."

"Then I'll stay until you are done. Doing it alone can be scary the first time."

"Thank you, Oric."

Oric swished his long tail in silent pleasure. Settling in for the final time, Chenoa took deep breaths. Shadows quickly appeared around her, animals of all shapes and sizes roaming closer to her in deep gray smoke. They called to her and brushed against her. Forcing herself to relax, Chenoa understood that they were part of accepting her power. Milling around her they called in soft voices for her to remember.

"I am ready," she whispered.