To earthly grace and will
But fires and fires are bound
By nothing short of imagination
~~~
Written in the Cronicles of Ages by Selena, the Teller of Tales and Dreamer of Dreams
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The man lounges on a couch, seemingly at ease, only the flickering movement of his eyes betray his nervousness.
She walks up behind him, quietly, amused at his nervousness, he was only a Tralkin after all, he had nothing to worry about from the Alsin like she did, "Tharayl, it's about time you showed up."
The man, Tharayl, jumps up and spins around, facing her and bowing slightly, "Thiynial, I am sorry for not coming sooner, I was entirely too busy."
"If you say so, Tharayl. Now, have you any news to report first?"
Tharayl smiles and reaches down towards the large knife on his belt, "I do, infact. This will be your last report ever."
She spins around, to see five of the Alsin that she had only slight contact with, "But..."
"It didn't take long to figure out there was a spy among us, and ever less time to figure out who it was," one of the Alsin remarks as he approaches her with a long knife in his hand.
Thiynial turns and bolts through the window, twisting and diving through the garden outside, running as fast as she could to get away from the group.
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Thiynial pauses, dragging air deep into her lungs and pausing before expelling it and dragging more in. She was well away from the Alsin, but the Ilsin probably wouldn't be much more welcoming of her. She had, after all, become an Alsin in name and, slightly, in attitude.
What shall we do? No place in Kamangrai will truely be safe now. a voice remarks in her head, the voice of her second soul, Nialtin.
We shall... find somewhere else to go... her first soul, Riyali, responds.
Someplace else... yes, that would work.
She looks around then starts walking away from all known Baerkaen settlements. Baerkaen... the double souled. Even their names reflected it, with the 'Th' in front of their names meaning 'Two in One' and the rest of their names made up of the first parts of the names of their two spirits. Thiynial, 'Two in One: Riyali and Nialtin'; Tharayl, 'Two in One: Jardian and Aylan'. Of course, they didn't always go by that honorific title, sometimes they went by the name of one of their souls.
Thiynial keeps trotting, looking for one of those gates that were opened to other realms not too long ago.
If we go to another realm, we shouldn't use to honorific or switch off, the people in other realms aren't used to double souled beings, I've heard.
Good idea, but who's name should we use, yours or mine?
Yours, you are first-soul so you should be in control.
Very well, Nialtin, I will be in control and we will use my name.
With that decided, both souls fall into silence, Riyali taking full control of the body and Nialtin relaxing in the back, just a passenger.
There! Nialtin mentally exclaims as she sifts through what Riyali is seeing. To the right among those rocks, there's a gaeldin there. I don't know where it leads too, but it doesn't look like it's been used recently.
Riyali stops and studies the area, walking closer to the shimmering gateway, called a gaeldin by her race. You're right, Nialtin, it hasn't been used any time recently, I don't think its been used at all, actually.
Then lets take it, we should bind it closed after we use it, though.
Very well.
Riyali leaps through the gaeldin and lands lightly on her feet. Twirling around and raising a hand, both souls focus on binding the gaeldin closed. With only a small resistance the gaeldin slides shut and winks out.
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She turns from the gaeldin and sets out towards what looks like buildings in the distance. Maybe the residents of this place would take her in, if not, she could always find some other place or realm.
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The buildings must have been closer than she thought, within only a few hours she had reached them. Looking up she cautiously approaches a person standing near the entrence to a building.
"Excuse me, but where is this?" Riyali asks.
The man turns to her, "This is Cy Dragonstake. Are you here to stand on the sands to see if you impress?"
Sands? Impress? Impress what?
I don't know, shall we find out?
Very well.
"Impress what?"
"Why, a Cy dragon of course!" the man answers.
Should be try to impress one of these... dragons?
Hm.. it might be interesting. Alright, lets try it.
"I... think I'll stand," Riyali responds, trying to remember not to say 'we'.
"Good good!"
Riyali follows the man inside, slightly wary at what she just got into, but reasoning that it must be better than what's awaiting her if she goes back to Kamangrai.
Got that right. Nialtin mutters.