Returning Home (Lin, Val)

[Valerie]

OC -- Sorry I haven't been on, but now I'll post. Hopefully this 433 word post can make up for it for now.

IC -- Valerie smiled when she heard she was allowed to keep what she had picked out. She adjusted the leather straps to fit around her own waist. Then she put the necklace on, marveling at the beauty of her new-found treasures. I get to keep these! She kept the giddy, uncharacteristic thought in the back of her mind and turned to Drae, listening to what he had to say.

"Well, if there was such a thing as this 'Aspect', I'm guessing he (or she) would have to end up teaching him/herself. This would include things such as finding any relatives who could give them information on what this 'Aspect' did/learned. Another source could be any books or even (depending on the resources) stone tablets with any information to help them. But the odds of this happening are slim to none. I've never even heard of such a thing before." She had spoken seriously except for the last bit, where she added a laugh to back up her non-belief.

She hadn't quite yet connected the two facts; Drae suddenly curious as to what one might do, and the mood of his cave suddenly going uncomfortable. This lack of mental quickness was due to her still marveling at the size and beauty of her swords and sapphire that now hung around her neck. What am I doing?

She mentally 'shook' herself out of her daze and suddenly realized just what was going on by the look on her beloved's face. "Drae, please tell me you don't think you are this 'Aspect'?" But her hope faded as she recalled his nervousness, his use of 'not wanting to hurt anyone innocent'.

Oh crap. He could get killed! He could even kill me... She recalled Lin warning her of how dangerous Drae could be. This is not good... But another look into her beloved's eyes decided her mind. Even if he is a danger to me, he would never hurt me on purpose. And he needs me now.

She signed, letting go of her amulet that she had still been unconsciously holding. "Well, your will has gotten you this far, and so maybe it just has to be your will and determination to get you farther. There has got to be someone who can help, other than me. Depending on how well it goes, those who teach themselves can sometimes surpass those who have learned from a master. But I'm not sure where a Shadow Dragon can start when all of his race are dead. Unless what I've mentioned earlier can help in some way? Or if you can find some other Shadow Dragon."

[Draetrialis]

((I'm gonna make a piece of the prophecy idea. Just a clue as to how to find the full prophecy.))

Drae sighed. "Of course you haven't heard of such a thing... The Aspect never left the Shadowlands. I think I'm the Aspect because of that aura that appeared before I left for home." he explained briefly before closing his eyes. Hmm... Then it hit him. "Maybe there IS a way of getting help... But it involves magic that has been impossible for years..." With that, Drae hung his head in defeat. "This just sucks..." With that, he shrugged and descended into the water, shifting a couple stones absentmindedly until he saw a glimmer. He gently picked up the glimmering object and raised his head out of the water. "What's this...?" The Shadow set the object, which seemed to be a sparkling piece of stone, on the island, near his hoard. He looked at it before looking at Val.

"It's written in Ancient Draconic. One of the lost languages..." he said. The dragon looked at it again and slowly began translating. "Seeker of the Power, during the Deadly Hour, rise in the night, and do not get a fright, for the answer lies where the angel dies." Drae blinked and looked at his love. "I can't make heads or tails of it... What do you think?" Even as he asked that, he was trying to think of what the little stone could mean. Seeker of the Power... That means the Aspect... During the Deadly Hour... When's that? Obviously at night... And at a location that would seem abnormally scary... But where the angel dies...? "Well... I actually can make something out of it. Seeker of the Power means me, since I seek to learn the Aspect's power... During the Deadly Hour is obviously at night and I have to go somewhere abnormally scary... But I don't know when the Deadly Hour is or where this angel died..."

[Valerie]

OC -- Maybe the angel comment could refer to the prophecy of how "the angel dies" makes sense, but I don't know. This might be an answer, I don't know, just throwing something out there

IC -- Valerie shrugged when she heard the translation of the ancient stone. I have even less of an idea, I don't know anything about this 'Aspect' let alone any clues related to his people. So instead, she turned toward her beloved.

"Oh well, it's probably nothing my angel. We don't even know if this is some sort of fluke or not. Surely if it was in your cave, you would already know about it. So it' probably nothing." She swam over and leaned on her beloved's shoulder. "You're special enough as is, we don't need this too." But she couldn't help but look at the stone, wondering if they could find the key to this mystery.

It's just a rock, nothing more nothing less. It just happens to have writing on it. But as plain as it appeared, there was something special about it, almost had an aura around it that was of something else. That's strange. So she involuntarily reached for it, not knowing what she was doing. But the moment she touched the stone, her arm shot back, feeling as if it'd been shocked. She held her claw in her other, cradling the hurt claw. Ow! That hurt!

"I think only you can touch it." She said through clenched teeth, seething at the fact a stupid rock had hurt her.

[Draetrialis]

((Ceana needs to become active again. I have an idea though. Rebellion attack. *shrugs* I'll implement it, but it's up to you if you want it to just be a trick to get Drae alone with Ceana or not. Davenord is the name of my worgen in WoW, so yeah... but I'll make a profile for him later.))

Drae winced when Val got injured by the stone. "Hm..." He looked at it closely. "This stone is odd..." he muttered before looking at Val again. "You okay...?" the dragon asked. He looked back at the stone, knowing that Val was, but he felt better that he had asked. Where the angel dies... Why is that so familiar? After a minute, Drae picked it up and went to his armor, setting the stone into the underside of the shin piece. Suddenly, abnormal breathing echoed from the entrance to his cave. "What the...?" He looked and saw a human garbed in armor run in. "Thank the gods I found you, Draetrialis!" he gasped before saluting. "I am Captain Davenord. We just received word that the Rebellion is moving in on the front lines and we need your assistance." Drae looked at Val before rising. "How did you even find my cave?" he asked. Davenord was silent a minute as he caught his breath and he said, "I was told that you lived in the lake, so I had to use a boat to look for the cave. I swear I will tell noone where this cave is, since it was so well hidden as it is." The Shadow closed his eyes before looking at Val. "Please... Go to the Library and find more on the poem. I'll go to the Front Lines. I have to. I promise to be careful." Davenord bowed to Val and said nervously, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything, ma'am." Drae snorted and swiftly put on his armor. "Let's go, Captain." he said, diving into the water and speeding out of sight. The Captain bowed again and left.

[Valerie]

OC -- Sure for the Rebellion attack. Ceana is not really inactive, just waiting for a thread to occupy. That's all so it'll be fine. Like my idea on a book of the history of Shadowlands? New: This thread has a break. Valerie will be waiting in a courtyard for Drae's return....so yea.

IC -- Valerie watched with beady eyes as Captain Davenord came and ultimately, took Drae with him. "Okay, I'll be in the Library. But if I can find anything, I will come to find you. Besides, I've been wanting to sink my claws into something, and these new swords might come in handy." She pulled one of the swords out just enough to see the condition of the blade and smiled. I could definitely use some fighting time. But once Drae was out of the cave with the Captain in tow, she took her time in leaving.

And I was hoping to get some time with him... So she just walked around, seeing what else was in the cave. She picked up a handful of coins, letting them fall out of her hand to settle back on the ground. Oh well, Drae really did have go for a good reason. I just hope he protect himself well enough. She shook her head at this thought. Who am I kidding? Drae even held up to my attacks once, he can handle the attack of the Rebellion. Plus he has his armor.

After a while of walking around, she decided she'd better go ahead and head where she said she'd be in case her beloved came back soon, and to try solve some of the riddle. So she dove out of the main entrance of the cave, swimming up to the surface. From there she climbed out and shook herself mostly dry before leaping into the air to fly back to the castle which had the Library.

Once back, she landed in one of the main courtyards of Ammon castle. Once on the ground, she shifted back into her human form, deciding there was no need to stay otherwise. Then she padded down the corridor that lead to the Library.

She grabbed a couple books, deciding to start with history to look for answers. But after looking for over half an hour, she still couldn't even find reference that the Shadowlands exists or even once existed. Well I know it exists, I just can't find books on it. She thought as she drew another couple history books to fruitlessly check. But she stopped short when she noticed there was something behind the books that was different than the wall. Now that's strange. She rubbed her hand on the odd looking material, noticing it was leather. She pulled out a few other books, allowing her to pull out the old, leather-bound book. Now this is strange. Well it was well hidden so it must be secret. So she took the book up to her room, allowing her to flip through the book without any unwanted eyes seeing it.

This is interesting. She thought as she flipped the page through the book that she now knew was about the history of the Shadowlands. I should just give the whole book to Drae. So she put the book into her leather side bag and was just about to leave to deliver the precious artifact when she yawned widely. Well, it'll do me no good to land in the middle of the fighting while only being half awake. So I guess I'll get some sleep. So instead of slinging her bag on her shoulder, she hid it in the nightstand that resided next to her bed and then flopped onto her bed for a short rest to regain her strength before she possibly engaged in fighting.



~Passage of time. Time changed to after Rebellion battle/battle ending and Valerie wakes up one morning after having taken care of things around the castle.~



She woke up, feeling refreshed, even though she had no original intention of sleeping the whole night away. Oh well, I guess I'll just see if Drae is back yet. The Rebellion won't hold up long, not with the Shadow fighting against them.

She yawned and stretched, cracking her back in the process. Ah, that felt good. I'm not really geared up for fighting now...I guess I'll just head to the side courtyard that Drae likes to use the most. He has something against using the main one, something about discretion or something like that...like I care much. She shrugged at this and threw on a fresh gown and some of those soft-soled slippers she loved so much before heading off.

She was almost out of her room when she remembered the book she'd found. Can't be good to forget that. I guess I'll take it with me. So she reached into the nightstand she'd hid it in the previous night and slung it over her head to make sure it was secure.

She padded down the corridor, heading first and foremost to grab something to eat and then to the courtyard. But instead of having to go into the kitchen, she grabbed from one of the platters that the servants constantly left out and resupplied for dragons such as her who were hungry. Hmm, maybe this. So she grabbed her choice of meal and took it on the go to the courtyard.

Once there, she couldn't find Drae. Huh, odd. I guess maybe those stupid dark dragons actually put up a fight. Or were they too scared and hid like usual, I don't know. Either way though, he is most likely to come to this courtyard or he knows to find me here. So she took a seat on one of the concrete benches and settled in to eat her meal.

But a couple bites into it, she got bored and decided to take out her precious book and learn some more about the history while she waited. She flipped pages as she finished them, nibbling on her bun with meat and cheese the whole time.

The only time she put down her book was to brush the crumbs off of her gown and her hands. But she didn't have to worry about the book, she'd taken extra care to keep crumbs from falling on it, to help keep the condition of the must-be ancient book. Drae should know how old it is, or at least be able to figure it out better than me. She carefully book-marked her page with a leaf of a nearby tree before inspecting the condition of the magnificent find. I take one look at this thing and guess it as being old. That is not much of a find, I think even Lin could better date it than me. Oh well. She shrugged, dismissing her lack of judgment on the accuracy of the age of the book and went back to reading the interesting history of the Shadow Lands.

Though she didn't understand what most of it actually meant, since a lot of it pertained to activities/customs she couldn't even fathom, she still got the general gist that the Shadow Lands were troubled and were only blessed with short periods of peace (of which usually came after a war was fought). But she kept reading anyways, knowing that once Drae had the book, he probably wouldn't give it up for her to read since he also knew she had no clue what it meant and that it didn't particularly pertain to her. So she kept reading, waiting for her beloved to come back.

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