First the azure eye opened.  In an eternity it closed while the ashen 
one opened. The world remained the same.  It had remained similarly 
foreign for many sunrises.  It had been growing colder, and the 
scent of snow hung blessedly in the air.  

For all his own stoicism, Audion missed the nigh-eternal blanket of 
white of his homeland, the vibrant bloom of the winter gardens, 
the caress of rich furs and the burn of his father's mead on his 
lips.  In all his thoughts, however, nothing stirred his longing 
as the echo of the breakers against the walls below his windows at 
the keep.  

A glittering, bejeweled hand clenched and unclenched in the dim 
haze of the morning.  It felt as though his mind would unravel 
beneath the weight of the Void if the calm of the waters would 
not grace him soon.  He felt in his heart no remorse 
against the image of the fool he'd be should he come to the 
sea in Stana's presence.  Perhaps it would do well for someone 
to see him as something other then he had been in 
the past. The idea of friends...to let people so close 
abhorred him, let alone such a acknowledgement of weakness.  

Audion sighed heavily, opening both eyes at once and sitting up 
languidly.  Stana lay at the base of the tree they'd camped under, 
her breathing regular.  

::Does she sleep now, or does she remain fickle and dangerous? 
Her manner has changed:: 

The songbirds had only begun to clear their throats to the crisp 
air as the Elementalist stood silently and stretched his 
lithe limbs.  He finished, taking his usual contrposto as he 
regarded the girl

::The guardian....cannot protect her now...:: 

Audion's eyes glimmered with lust.  Tendrils of the void splayed 
out into his aura, chilling the air beyond its seasonal temperature 
as they caressed his alabaster skin.  It could all be over quickly, 
with nothing more then a short gasp of despair, and he could continue 
in his quest for the others.  His neck and shoulder ached with memory, 
and his brother's acid laugh dully echoed about the air around him.  

::Chaos is awakened.:: 
 
He turned his gaze away, his lavish tresses hiding his eyes 
from the first rays of morning glow.  His teeth ground against 
each other briefly as the Void was wrenched 
and torn back within, where he would wish it remain.  
This was one of the Chosen, whatever that meant to the 
dwellers of that horrid continent, and so a bearer of the power of 
his deities.  He had been told to take it from them should he desire 
his own strength again... 

::If they are lost, only I and a handful of ineffective countermeasures 
will remain.  It can wait:: The emptiness inside surged against his will 
again, but ineffectively.  
A fine trail of crimson made its way down his chin before Audion 
realized he was biting his lip against his pain.  He scowled, 
and strode lightly away to gather water from a nearby stream. He 
bent over the sluggish waters, scooping some into a heavily 
worn stone that would serve well as a bowl. ::It can wait.  I can wait.::  

Audion returned to dreary, sleepy eyed companion.  His actions remain 
soundless but for the soft swish of his hair against his back and 
shoulders, and his eyes remained darkened against the glow of the east.  
He set the bowl in front of the girl, then 
folded his legs beneath himself to sit across from her.  

"You've pressed for time heavily.  Have you inspected your 
self-made wound?"   

Stana blinked the tiredness out of her eyes, reaching up and 
massaging the back of her neck, shoulders stretching. She looked down 
to where the bloodstone pendant glimmered on her chest. 

"Several times a day it seems."  She admitted. "I keep expecting to see 
*something*." Her hazel eyes glinted with suppressed mischief "and you 
are asking this in a professional manner?"

"I'd not have an injury slow down your progress."

"My progress?" she grinned, resisting the urge of getting to her feet "I 
take it you are not including yourself in our merry Trek?"

Her fingers went to the laces on her blouse and began untying them rapidly. 
She pulled the fabric aside enough to revealan unmarked patch of skin 
where not long ago an Alicorn had been plunged. Her gaze was very 
steady as the other leaned forward. 

"I trust." Her voice warned steadily "That should you touch - we will 
not have the same experience as last time?"

His fingers hesitated as he glanced up into the eyes that were still
calm, but thinly covering a flash of wariness.

__flashback
"Audion." Stana had said, voice tight. She didnt look his way, merely 
got to her feet. "I've little patience for the riddles and lies that 
flow from your honeyed tongue. Why not try that sweet poison on the 
Ambassador? She'd be more meet for it"

"I'd rather chance conversation with you, Chosen."
 
"Too bad. Practice to the walls then."  She began to walk by, 
and winced as his fingers clamped over her arm. Her indignant 
gaze locked into his.   She just now realized that his eyes were 
dualed colored like Clips'....

Abruptly he shoved her away with a rough immediacy that had belied all his
earlier courtesies.  The clay cup shattered against the ground, liquid
spilling into the stones.  The earth between rock lapped hungrily at the
moisture.

Stana's hand was on her arm where he had held her, rubbing at the burning
\par \hich\af22\dbch\af4\loch\f22 cold sensation there.  She had not known 
this kind of pain before. It seemed to grow, spreading up her arm and halfway 
through her chest before it stopped.  Her head was swimming for a few moments 
and she leaned against the door for support Audion rested against the wall of
a hallway, clutching his wrist.  "What did I do?  It happened again.  
They..she needn't know." 

Now looking into that expression, Audion realized that she had indeed known
or knew now. 

"We never did discuss that. " she said, now getting to her feet
and stretching luxurious in the dappled morning. Her manner had gone
offhand again, unconcerned. "There were  a lot
of things we never got a chance to talk about. Like why you joined us,
how you claimed to be able to protect us, and why General R'Kelnin went 
out of his way to warn me about you particularly."

Questions she had asked many times.  But the answers had never been 
forthcoming. While the words were the same, the tone in them was 
more of a polite request, rather than the rough demand of old. 
The determination underneath was the same. 

Perhaps he could distract that will. She certainly seemed motivated to talk, 
and he had just as many questions of his own. 

"And you? You never explained what exactly transpired in the nightmare world 
amongst you, Clip and Chaos. I was but a backseat participant to the event."

Mention of Clip's name caused the smile to roll from her eyes completely, 
leaving something more bleak in its wake. She got up and leaned her back 
against the tree trunk, folding her arms over her chest protectively. 

"The Nachtmer." She said, words chilly on her tongue. "The world of the 
nightmare, beyond the dream. The place that Chaos was entrapped millennia
ago, if I understand the story. If it's even the right story - like most 
truths, they lose focus over time. "

She shrugged, shoulders strained. 
He could see the tension in her neck as she held herself very still.  
"As part of- of an initiation of sorts I would guess, the three of us, 
with our guardians were sent into the Nachtmer to retrieve the book of 
prophecy that Chaos clasped to himself as he was exiled.  That would 
have been me Teri, and Emily" 

Only Emily was dead - or so it seemed. The power of water had "ceased"
hadn't Audion pronounced that some time ago? Only she had been oblivious. 

"And?" his voice dragged her back to him, where she saw him leaning forward 
ever so slightly. 

"And- it was apparently a paradox." She admitted. "a self fulfilling cycle. 
Supposedly the Chosen would be called to this plane to rescue the prophecy 
from the hands of chaos or some claptrap like that-- only instead we were the 
catalyst for his release thereby 
causing Chaos to be released in the first place. The  presence
of three elements in the Nightmare opened up a crack that allowed 
Chaos to begin breaking out into the real world."

"We had met a child in there - a native, we thought. His name
was Ramdek." She threw a shamed grin at his head and laughed. 
"Ramdek - Kedmar spelled backwards. Kedmar being the name of 
names - Chaotically speaking of course." Her head lifted to the 
blue sky above. "I figured that one out yesterday when I wrote their
names down in a journal I've been keeping. Seems funny we didn't realize 
it sooner.  But you know, when you're trying to save your neck from the 
generic forces of "evil" it's just one thing after another."

Her eyes snapped down and she shook her head, autumn orange tresses swinging 
with the motion. "I need a drink." She said suddenly, and ignoring the 
bowl at her feet walked over to the stream. 

What she had really meant, Audion was sure, was that she needed a chance 
to get away for a moment. 

When she came back, her voice was steady if a bit raw. "his name is like 
chewing on sand. Leaves a gritty taste in your mouth." She shrugged again, 
finding comfort in that over familiar move. "Soon after you showed up - 
the banquet, the siege you know about those. Then we escaped 
S'kae and headed towards Madron in a 
botched attempt to rescue Finn."

Another disaster. Were any of them even alive at this point?

"During that time, actually since right after we entered the Nachtmer,
I had been having bad dreams.  Ramdek was not in all of them, at least 
not that I could see, but I felt him in most of them."

Her voice had taken on a ragged tone, obviously she was treading sensitive 
ground now. Ground she wanted unbroken. 

"I took to drugging my sleep. It seemed the only way to stop the dreams. I 
didn't tell anyone of course I was not in the talkative mood. But I think 
Clip knew." Her glance swept back to his "You spilled one of the potions 
I had tried to make for that night at the Inn. "

"Was it a drug for sleep?" he asked "or rest eternal?"

She couldn't look at those eyes anymore, and she let her gaze wander. 

"I'm not sure anymore. I- was not myself." She cupped the pendant, 
glinted it his way. "This thing has been playing mind games with me - 
it's not a complete amulet, the power is unbalanced, and has been royally 
screwing up my thoughts. But -" she hesitated " - there had to be enough 
of me there to let it screw with. Which means I'm still at fault for 
everything that transpired." 

"Anyway." She continued, schooling her narrative "without the sleeping 
draught or perhaps in spite of it - Ramdek found me again.  That was the 
state I was in when I stumbled into you and Teri dancing. I was pretty 
confused. With Lyr's warning jangling in my head and you and Teri - 
and well, I lost it. " 

She had hit Teri, hard. Dragged her away to bed. 

"Then the attack by Lieh."

"Then the attack." Stana agreed. "And more running. Running into TREES even."  
she smiled."Boy was THAT something else! And meeting up with elves- and - well 
weird stuff like that. I was pretty far-gone at that point, but it was still
in the background of my thoughts. Then to Madron, and well somehow Ramdek is
waxing stronger, his power is beginning to impact on reality here. Using it, 
he was somehow able to merge the Nightmare with "here" and draw us 
to him. "

"And the visions he showed us? Do you take them seriously?"

"If he didnt have the truth to flaunt."  She said carefully "I think he  
would have made something up to rattle us anyway." She looked guiltily at him 
"That didn't answer your question, did it?" Stana sighed, hand reaching 
to brush some stray hairs from her face. "Yes. I believe them. 
Which means Lyr is captured and posibly dead. It also means that
somewhere, the earth element is still going wild..that  
poor girl" her voice dropped but Audion noted that she seemed
to be missing the whole point of why that scene had been shown
which suited him well enough.

"You heard Clip and I converse trapped in a dream, the only way to dispel 
it was for a stronger reality to intrude
Clip held the darkness at bay long enough for me to...  well." 
She gestured to herself shyly and coughed. "It didn't turn out 
the way I thought."

"You lived for one thing." He noted in irony. 

"That too." She allowed. "With everything collapsing, Clip was able to 
use the reality and open a pathway into the Nachtmer that the 
Unicorns could infiltrate. 
They held off the darkness while we escaped.  I'm not sure but I think Chaos has 
been temporarily re-ensnared in his priso--god knows how long for, though."

"And you?"

"I was told it was not my day to die." She answered blandly. 

"Indeed?"

"All that workup for nothing." She responded. "The princess of the Unicorns 
indicated that it wasn't time for Armageddon, and that I should traipse 
off like a good Unicorn and come back later to herald in the end." Her 
tone was light, she was joking heavily to cover her unease. "I'm not sure 
though how much more sure the princess was than I" she shook 
herself once and sighed. "What a ragged party of heroes we are supposed to be!" 
she laughed "I can't believe anyone is taking our involvement in this seriously. 
* I'm * even starting to. Teri would laugh at me, I think." 

Before he could comment, she fixed her gaze on him. "So now that we've recapped, we 
can get back to the topic at hand- I told you everything I know, or most, 
it's your turn, and I would appreciate a similar courtesy."