Closed When Suspicions Arise [Wrenmae]

[Nira'lia]

The Konti was starting to get frustrated. She listened to Zan with much patience but it was clear that he did not intend to budge. The Konti had hoped to just gather enough vague details to know what she to look for in Wrenmae’s chavi, but Zan was too careful. If he was doing it on purpose or not, Nira’lia did not know. He was loyal, and she had expected that. A part of her felt bad for trying to pry this information out of him, but it was important that she do it. Lives depended on it, and her own oath to Rak’keli pushed her to find out about the facts. Nira’lia shrieked as the flap of her tent suddenly opened. She had been much too lost in her thoughts and Zan’s words to not be surprised. The Konti fell back in surprised, and she sat on the ground, staring up at the man with a gaping mouth. “You are up!” she finally managed to gasp. The Konti did not miss the fact that Zan had resumed his place with Wrenmae, but that he was shivering in fright. He had nothing to be scared about! He didn’t spill anything… at all. It was frustrating. Aside from that, Nira’lia could somehow feel that Wrenmae was aware of what she had been doing. She felt guilty and self-conscious, but she swallowed her discomfort and looked up at Wrenmae adamantly. “Not at all, Wrenmae,” she said with a smile that came naturally. However, judging from Zan’s behavior, she could not lie her way out of this. “I was just asking Zan about how it is possible for you to remain as healthy as you do despite this plague, and despite the fact that you have been unconscious and vulnerable. You see, I think the others would be able to benefit from such a secret, don’t you think so?” She was being direct to the point, which wasn’t her usual style.

[Wrenmae]

Wrenmae was the very picture of understanding. As she spoke, he nodded thoughtfully, cast a look back at his quailing familiar, and then back to Nira'Lia. After a moment, he sighed and held out a hand for the healer, helping her back on her feet.

"I understand your concern, healer," He admitted, stretching his arms and massaging his shoulders. After so long asleep, it felt good to get the kinks of sedentary travel out of his muscles. "And, I admit, the cause is an explicable one." Coaxing Zan out of the air to bob on his open palm, Wrenmae held the familiar out to her. "The process of binding a familiar to a wizard is a taxing one. But when a suitable match is found, a wizard signs a contract with the familiar to share lives."

Zan flared in his hand, almost seemed to struggle for a moment before hardening into a flask, a flask with a pitch black content.

Wrenmae regarded the color with a small frown and slipped Zan into his pocket.

"Many of the diseases on Mizahar cannot effect beings such as Zan. As we share lives, I share his immunity, it's as simple as that." He smiled, shrugging, and casting hypnotic mesmer into her eyes.

Makes sense the thought echoed in the healer's mind, Zan does not have the same body as us, if they are bound in that way, it is likely Wrenmae just enjoys fantastic health.

He followed it with a suggestive calm and the emotional state of understanding. Hypnotically placating the healer, he glanced around the room. They were alone, as far as he could tell, and he didn't hear anyone at the tent flap seeking entrance.

A chime, maybe more.

Did he dare?

"I do, however," he said, drawing back from her, "Have a way to ease the pain of those injured. Nothing so advanced as a mark, but a simple magic I learned to focus pain in other places, or even have the mind seek respite in other thoughts and memories."

He reached out, took her hand, emitted the same calming trust as before, pushing it through her mind. "Please," he asked with a soft smile, "Sit down, close your eyes, and let me show you."

[Nira'lia]

The Konti blinked at the dark-colored flask on Wrenmae’s hand. She recalled a while back when Zan had turned into a muddy color because he was upset, and she wondered why he would turn into this dark tint now. Nira’lia knew that some creatures displayed their emotions through colors, such as the Vantha, and she mused about what was bothering the familiar.

The reason he was well was because of Zan?

If she had been in the right state of mind, she would have asked even more. She would inquire as to the reason why Zan had been much too guarded of the fact that his health was splendid. However, these thoughts didn’t occur to her. Instead, the Konti nodded.

It made so much sense when he put it that way.

“You do?” she asked softly but very curiously. Although she was aiding a mage guild, she did not know a lot about magic. And while she would have been wary of his words for she believed that magic was dangerous, she instead found herself answering with complete trust. “Oh, that would be splendid. Please do show me.”

The Konti took a seat before him. She wore a smile that said that she was looking forward to what he could show her. Nira’lia didn’t have any injuries at all, but all she really wanted to see was the trick.

She gave him her hand without any qualms. And, slowly, she closed her eyes and waited.

[Wrenmae]

Nira smiled, Wren’s hypnotic voice soothing her suspicions, whispering notions of calming waves. Lap, lap, lapping at the shore of her subconscious. He lowered with her, settling behind the konti and laying his hands gently on her shoulders. There was little sexual in the way he touched her, merely a point of contact. His fingers brushed her neck, the faint outline of scales there. Tactile sensation. To a hypnotist, these were tools of almost unparalleled worth. Sentient beings were slaves to sensation. Command a single sense, they lapped water from the palm of your hand, control two or more? You could walk them off a cliff with nary a complaint.

Not that he intended to do that…simply some damage control.

No.

Silence, Zan. This is your fault. Our secret is your responsibility. You let he know too much and I’m dealing with the threat.

I…I won’t let you.

You won’t let me?

Yes. Nira is my friend. She won’t hurt us. You’re just all full of hate cause women think you petch with guys and guys think you’re a girl.

…what?

I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you would cry.

Shut up Zan. Let me do my work.

No. I protest. I protest. I demand to see a judge. I submit an injunction! I query the higher powers! I seek appeal!

Stop looking in my books. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Loquaciously so, sir. Loquaciously so. You know nothing of the ignominy of my intellect.

Immensity?

I know what I said.

I’m sure you did.

Don’t hurt her…please?

I’m simply easing her suspicion…nothing more. I won’t run afoul of her guardians, especially in a petching knight filled camp of plague victims. Shyke of a situation you put me in.

But I had to! You were unconscious!

Maybe. We will talk of it later. Now be silent.

I…

Now.

Zan fell silent in his ear, and the hypnotist leaned forward, whispering in Nira’s ear. “Now, Nira’Lia, I want you to relax. Completely put your mind at ease. Allow yourself to drift. Follow the sound of my voice and grow ever more relaxed.”

I can trust him. The thought echoed in her mind.

I want to relax.

“Now, Nira’Lia, when you have reached the point of utter relaxation, I want you to tap your right index finger against your leg. Just one little tap.” Waves of serenity washed over her fears and insecurities, everything around her felt light, far away. She was relaxing, surrendering to the sensation. Wrenmae continued. The path to a perfect hypnotic trance was not one that should be rushed. Each being had their own threshold for relaxation and peace. Sometimes it took longer, sometimes shorter. In every case, however, implanting hypnotic directives in a mind was only successful when one had completely surrendered to a state of mental bliss.

“There is nothing else to worry about,” he murmured, “All that exists is this moment, and all you want to be is drifting into a peace unlike any you’ve felt before.”

[Nira'lia]

“Alright.”

His voice was soothing. The ambiance was soothing. Everything in their surroundings appeared to relax her, even if she were in a more reasonable mind, she would realize just how odd the situation was.

The Konti kept her eyes closed. Her shoulders slacked and she felt herself slowly drifting to complete repose.

And she wanted this. The days that had led to this one had been full of turmoil. Nira’lia disliked travelling with the Knights, and she hated the Knights themselves. They were trying to take away her freedom. Along with the plague, these thoughts had been eating her from within. And she wanted to just forget these thoughts, but it had been so hard.

Now she was forgetting them. Every word that the man uttered was the truth.

“You are right…” she whispered, her voice content. Her lips curved into a content smile. What was she even worrying about? The Knights? The Plague? What about them?

The Konti sat with her hands on her lap. A look of utter satisfaction rested on her face. Nira’lia was silent now, waiting for his next words.

[Wrenmae]

Wrenmae took a moment to compose himself as the konti submitted peacefully to his suggestive hypnosis. As with others before, her body was poised in a state of complete relaxation and yet rigorous attention. He'd need little magic for the next part, using bits of hypnotic pressure to keep her relaxed and in the hypnotic state.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions that I would like you to answer for me," he began, "When you awake from this daze, you will remember only that I have shown you a method of meditation to relax the body and sedate the pains of plague and injury. You will remember no questions, you will remember no requests."

Clearing his throat with a light cough, Wrenmae reinforced his words with hypnotic suggestion. In her state, she would accept nearly anything not completely contradictory to her nature.

"I want to begin with your name, where you are from, your expertise, and your suspicions of me...when you have given me those answers you will forget I asked you for them and answer me a few more...such as your relationship and what you know of Eridanus, of Imass, of Syliras, and of the Windoak."

Crossing to the tent, Wrenmae peeked out to mark the passage of those meandering around the camp. Everyone seemed to be wrapped in their own world, bent to their own purpose. He let the flap fall and returned to Nira'Lia to hear her answers.

[Nira'lia]

The Konti nodded slowly. Each word he spoke came to her as an order. Her brain could not fight against it, nor did her brain wish to.

“Nira’lia. I spent the first half of my life in Sunberth, the other half in Zeltiva,” she said softly but clearly. The Konti did not usually tell people she had come from Sunberth. It was not a fact that she liked to speak about. However, the sentences appeared to be escaping her lips without any hesitation. “I am a healer. I am marked by Rak’keli and am a specialist in the field of medicine. My suspicions of you… I find it very strange that you do not fall to the plague. You were unconscious and should have been more vulnerable in that state, but you appeared to simply get healthier each day. It was very strange.”

She paused for a while. And in an instant, she had forgotten everything she had said. She proceeded to answer his next questions, not realizing the danger she was putting herself and her companions in.

“Eridanus is someone I met many years ago. He is a very important person to me. Our fates our tied and it is my duty to help him in many things, and I am loyal to him. He is… marked by the gods, a mage, a powerful warrior, a scholar, and he is establishing a mage guild called The Order of Transcendence.”

As she started to speak about Imass, the corner of her lips twitched momentarily. Nira’lia did not like Imass at the moment. If she had not been in such a trance, she would have been much more irritable in her reply.

“Imass is Eridanus’s acquaintance. A complete zealot. The Knight is very loyal to the Syliran Knights and can be very rash and difficult to decipher. I do not really know much about him aside from the fact that he is a dangerous man. He sees nothing but his gods, and would kill for them without a moment’s hesitation. And, the Windoak… it is sentient. It has its own voice. I do believe it leads the Knights. I do not know much about it as well, aside from the fact that knowing even so little about its truth is risky. The Knights will kill anyone who knows the truth.”

[Wrenmae]

Wrenmae reflected on her answers, crossing the length of her tent to check outside again. The two guards posted near her tent were recycled, but none looked inside. They seemed to only be interested in her activity. So...the information had made her a prisoner then. He'd have to be careful not to become the same...or likely worse.

"Nira'Lia," he said, his voice soothing and a reinforcing wave of weaved hypnotic pattern fell upon the quilt already about her mind, adding yet another layer to the comprehensive defense against her coming out of the trance on her own accord, "Your ability allows you to see memories. Are all Konti abilities the same? And to that extent, do they all work by touch?"

He paused to wait for her to speak before continuing his line of quesitoning, "You have seen into Imass and seen the Windoak, save for myself, of whose memories you will forget upon waking, what other secrets have you accidentally gleaned from those around you?"

Finally, his curiosity was sated as she finished the last line of questioning, at least for now. No doubt there would be other patients soon and he could not risk himself being caught with a compliant and hypnotize Konti sitting in the middle of the room.

"Nira'Lia, when you awake, you will feel more relaxed than you have in a long time. Your worries will seem manageable, your hope will soar, your spirit will be reinvigorated. You will forget I questioned you, and only remember that your suspicions of me have been eased and, in fact, you know me as a close friend. Wherever you so choose to go, I should like you to send me a letter once or twice a season. In this letter you will feel compelled to tell me of any interesting secrets of knowledge you stumble upon. In return, I will grant you the will to defy those who would keep you captive. You may choose your own life and will feel compelled to disobey the will of one who would have you do contrary to your dreams, your passion, your ideas."

He paused, layering the last hypnotic burst to seal the last suggestion in.

"When I ask you to relax, you will return to this state, exiting only when I say 'awake'. Now. I want you to count to ten and then awake, remembering little of our encounter save your renewed feelings of friendship toward me."

Turning, he passed to the door of the tent.

Zan remained quiet, shocked into silence by the power of the hypnotist fully in his own. He dared not speak, lest Wren reverse his position and lay darker urges on the friendly Konti.

Satisfied, the hypnotist exited the tent, leaving the Konti to come to her own...never realizing how much she had revealed.

How many she had inadvertently betrayed.

[Nira'lia]

“No. Not all Konti can see into the past… we have to have Avalis’s blessing, or we have to have the gift. Each Konti is born with a special gift, and they are all different from the other. Not all of them are done by touch… and none of them have the same gift as me.”

His next question was a difficult one. She had seen many memories, and if she divulged each of them now, it would take hours. As a result, her mind dissected his question unconsciously. He was asking about secrets, about memories that one would not usually speak about. Aside from that, he probably did not care about those who he did not know.

“I haven’t seen many secrets. Bob Barton is marked by Kelwyn. Healer Anne is cheating on her husband. Zan loves you more than you know. The blonde-haired squire from two tents down has a bastard child. I do believe those are all the secrets I know.”

She listened intently on his next instructions. Nira’lia felt him leave the tent… and after ten counts, she woke up.

And she was utterly puzzled.

The Konti could not recall why she was in her tent, at such a time, simply sitting there and doing nothing. She also did not realize it at the moment, but she now had the will to decline the Knights with all that she had. She was going to choose what she wanted and fight for that… as dangerous as that was. She now also held no suspicions towards Wrenmae, and in her eyes, he was a friend. He was such a friend that he would send him letters in the seasons to come, telling him everything that was worth knowing. Aside from that, she had no idea of the situation she had put her friends in.

[Paragon]

Nira'lia

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Investigation	2
Unarmed Combat	1
Socialisation	1
Persuasion	2
Interrogation	1

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Acting on Suspicion
•	Countering an Inappropriate Touch
•	Understanding Zan's Plight
•	Unwittingly Giving Away Secrets
•	Victim of Hypnotism

Wrenmae

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Acting	1
Rhetoric	1
Familiary	1
Interrogation	2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Arriving in the Nick of Time
•	Subduing with Soothing Thoughts
•	Interrogating via Hypnotism
•	Eridanus' Plans
•	The Truth of the Windoak
•	The Extent of the Konti's Powers
•	Nira'lia's Suspicions

Legend Becomes Reality

Jeez guys, this was like a cheesy Carry On film at the start, all the grabbing of breasts and naughty, naked bodies XD However, it slowly turned into something much more sinister. The last few posts had a very tense edge to them. Nicely done guys. And Nira'lia, you silly, silly girl. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can work from there.