So that's who you are!

OOC: I made a couple of alterations as far as what happened just before Tamy awoke – obviously the golden halo etc that you’ll soon read about weren’t included in my first account of her opening her eyes while Torbin was watching. Anyway, it should make sense when you get to that part. J


Tamy wasn’t able to truly feel her relief after successfully bringing Dase into the plane. After all, a moment of the slightest relaxation on her holds for both of them to remain would have resulted in an immediate and wrenching tumble back into their home plane – and the damage to either one or both of them could be severe. However, she was confident of her ability to maintain the connection for some time. And, she resolved, the moment she felt herself slip, she could bring them back to their own plane through safe means.

Of course, there were more complete ways to transition from one plane to the next, and although Tamy was, on some level, aware of this fact, an attempt to perform this feat with her barely trained power would have been suicidal. She knew better than to release her grip on her own reality.

She couldn’t hide the smile that lit her face to see and feel and hear and taste the joy of Dase and Airy at being united in this way. She felt the vague physical world in the form of wetness on her cheeks, but the greater sensation was an overwhelming wave of all feelings combined in a tangle of elation. Tamy was naturally inclined to primarily attune her senses to the positive nuances of her surroundings, and she became so engulfed that she did not at first feel the hum of another, slighter presence from her own plane.

Airy was animated in her conversation with Dase, and so she did not notice the subtle shift in the currents of the air – if it was to be called “air” – that instituted an intrusion. Intrustion was an inappropriate word, she knew immediately. This energy belonged.

It was suddenly clear to her: she felt his aura as clearly as if she was standing next to him in her home plane. It was Rhn, the brave, quiet ranger who wore –

Suddenly, an awesome image overcame her. A pulsing, bronze light that caught her in a physical way, in a form she perfectly understood. She was seeing this with her eyes, this shining surface. The object shifted and twisted as if tumbling through the air, a huge block of an object that filled the field of Tamy’s vision. And then flesh fingers caught it from its descent, and darkness enveloped. Tamy fought the restriction, and her awareness pulled free, pulled away to encompass the entire tableau before her. A dark-headed man held the object in his fist, and when he looked up his eyes were a brilliant amber that caught hers with the intensity of a hawk’s. She held his gaze, her own eyes narrowing to better absorb the message that was meant to be delivered to her, but in another instant the image fell from her, and she was beneath Dase, once again in Airy’s plane.

She was confused, and the senses in this place had revolved from peace and serenity to the most tumultuous pain, rage and vast power she had ever experienced. Her mind was reeling from the order of events – she could no longer maintain her hold here and there at once. Grasping Dase’s hand, she pressed her eyes tightly closed and in an instant opened her eyes again. They were back in the clearing.

All of the energy seemed to suddenly be lifted from her, and she fell listlessly backwards, landing with a jolt on her elbows. Blinking at the red dots of pain and fatigue that crowded her vision, she saw that Dase, doused in sweat and clearly upset, was being carefully tended by Torbin.

In a moment, he rounded on her with a fury that quickly faded to soft thanks and apologies. She gratefully allowed him to take her hand, even as Torbin knelt next to her and quickly felt her forehead for fever and her throat for the strength of her pulse.

“I’m okay,” she managed, but her voice was weak. Suddenly, the happenings came back to her and her eyes widened automatically. She searched for Rhn and found him, looking bewildered. The medallion flashed before her eyes, and she caught a deep, ragged breath in the same instant. Her eyes met the ranger’s, filled with wonder and a blatant disbelief.

“So that’s who you are.”





Torbin didn’t know what Rhn meant by saying that he “could see her”…but she read the passionate intensity in the ranger’s eyes and knew that whoever he was seeing was vivid and real in his mind. She followed the direction of his gaze, but saw nothing but the emptiness of the clearing and, beyond that, the dark columns of the trunks of trees.

Then, it was as if things began happening very quickly. The stone grew ice cold against her skin, and for some reason, instead of looking at the rock, Torbin’s attention flew to Tamy, who was still sitting where she had been when last Torbin had looked, only now, there was something…different…about her.

Before Torbin could even exact what the change was, the girl took on a heated flow that surrounded her body and Dase’s, extending fractions of an inch past her skin, haloing the individual flyaway hairs that rose from their heads, bathing them both in a golden light that was of such a beautiful, muted intensity Torbin’s eyes stung with awestruck tears.

In another instant the hue disappeared, and both children’s eyes opened at once. A strangled cry rose from Dase, and Torbin went to him first, and after assuring herself that he was fine, allowed him to cross the space between himself and Tamy and take the girl’s hand. Torbin then quickly checked Tamy’s vitals, but aside from being upset and weakened by whatever exertions she’d just performed, the girl was fine.

She heard Tamy’s words as if they were across a distance. She so wanted to ask the child what had happened to cause the glow that had momentarily surrounded she and Dase, Torbin could barely comprehend the questions Tamy had asked of Rhn. When she did, she felt a foreboding grow within her, and she, too, looked across the short distance that separated herself and the children from the ranger with whom she suddenly seemed to have so much in common.

“What do you mean, Tamy?” Torbin was more or less holding both Dase and Tamy at once. She wasn’t sure what to make of the tumult of maternal emotions that were overcoming her in regard to the two of them, but she didn’t have time to question that now.