From One Wizard to Another [Erenthril please]

[Milo L'Evienne]

Last Darkening of Melora, Late Night, Spring of Era XIV

Just shy of mid-darkening, a quarter of a candlemark or so away from spring turning itself to summer with little added fanfare to speak of, a figure of a man came to loitering not far from an abode he’d been given directions to once before, not so long ago in fact. He’d not paid the place a visit back then, but he had reason to now. But there were no lamps burning inside from what he'd seen and the moon was bright, the sort of moon that invited late night strolls on pristine beaches along the edges of crystalline seas. He'd observed a number of beachcombers doing the same in fact. He’d wait a spell, in case the elf in question had done just that and might return soon. If not, he’d resort to other measures.

Till then though, the portly human of substantial ordinations lingered a stone’s throw or two away from the house, having found himself a bench to occupy while seeming to be doing nothing more than taking a breather after a stroll himself and enjoying the night air. He might have moreso, if not for the nature of his errand.

But he didn’t look at all like a man sent on an errand of any sort, rather an elderly tourist taken to island fashion and quite comfortably so. A cream colored suit and florid silk shirt underneath, brown sandals, but even without the expected robe and staff, he’d be a familiar figure to at least one individual on the island, the very one he was waiting on to notice him. It would take some looking, but the old human had a good deal of faith in that fellow's powers of observation. Though in truth, it was a world away from flea bitten furs and greasy rolled up butcher paper tied up with string.

But if his ruddy cheeks and jolly blue eyes were familiar enough to a fellow who was indeed sufficiently observant to take notice, what was most compelling wasn’t what was, but in fact, what wasn’t. No eccentric flourishes marked the occasional gesture as he pulled bits of stale bread from a sack and tossed them to a few gulls that had landed near his feet in hopes of a handout, no colorful observations nor gregarious shifts of expression etched into the wrinkles on his face.

But most notably, no raspberry beret atop a shock of white hair that would have had him pegged in an instant. Instead, he wore an old cream fedora, it’s band a rather bland shade of gray and it’s brim casting a shadow over a good portion of his face. Maybe, despite all the most usual appearances and with exceptions few and far between, this man was in fact somewhat more than he seemed after all. Then again, the elf in question probably already knew that.

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Eren slowly padded along the beach, feeling the warmth of the sand between his wet toes. He wasn’t exactly dry himself, rather, but wet all over – having just gone for a dip right before sunset. His body glistened off the cool droplets, small invisible beads of salt settling atop his tanned skin as he walked shortly down to his bungalow. Perhaps one of his brightest ideas, the investment in Chelseanna had been well worth it; especially given the amount of time he’d managed to set aside and relax. Granted the beachside beauties were rather off limits nowadays in concern to the Syl’rosyian Elflord, he still had enjoyed a leisurely swim in the ocean and the cool breeze felt nice on his damp skin.

Beside him was the most unusual sight: an Efreet Elemental Lord, permanently bound to this plane of existence by a neat little trick Erenthril had cooked up. Sejin’s shell was in the visage of a hellhound, more or less, though she’d proven quite domicile to playing the part and developing a patience for those she considered ‘lesser beings’. Although she was a haughty individual in her own right, Eren took particular comfort in her by his side for she was one of his most strongest allies, and perhaps along the most useful as well. Accompanied by her raw talent and adept control over the essence of fire, she was also a Master in her own right, and for that she had garnered the respect of the Elementalist and most of those well-versed enough to distinguish her for what she was.

As his almond-shaped eyes picked out the loitering figure with a familiar robust shape near his dwelling, Eren’s footfalls came to a halt and he examined the scene laid out before him. The Sorcerer was one of Milo’s, or at least Eren was ninety percent sure he was, but there was something peculiar about the entire scenario ahead. For one thing, the sorcerer was dressed quite normally – which was odd to say the least – and the briefest pungent odor of raw meat and a gruff looking man he’d encountered in Mystique flashed through the Elf’s mind. A small frown creased his lips before he quietly signaled for Sejin to follow, and the pair made their way over to the familiar individual.

“Serale,” Eren spoke rather blandly, crossing his arms in front of his chest as his eyes narrowed; he didn’t much like being interrupted in this whole vacationing / ‘retrieval of self’ ordeal, and wasn’t quite sure how the man preferred to be addressed given the obvious incognito he was attempting to pull off.

[Milo L'Evienne]

If the old man took much notice of the approach of elf and beast, and he surely did on both counts, he didn’t give much outward indication of it while his thick and wrinkled hand returned to the depths of his sack time and again in order to pacify a growing crowd of noisy gulls. It was only when all took flight in a storm of white startled feathers that he looked up, after muttering a quiet ‘Oh dear’, in response to having his feathered friends abandon him. ”Ahh, just as well,” he concluded while tipping his sack end up so emptying it of little more than a dusting of crumbs.

”They’d have risen up against soon enough on discovering I was run out of the goods,” added again while brushing a bit of likely imagined lint off his cream lapel. ”I thought you’d never arrive sir.” So saying, he stood and folded the sack to stick back in his coat pocket, then dusted his hands off.

”I fancy a stroll. You?” Not so much a question as an intent given he began a slow stroll back towards the beach, clearly expecting that Erenthril would follow. Curious maybe, given his filthy gruffness once past and an almost genteel and dignified way about him this now, as opposed to the Gwygwin that the elf was likely most familiar with. Then again, possible that it was rather the point and while asking wouldn’t clarify much of anything, the answer might be as simple as there being more than one stagehound residing in higher places.

”It seems sir that a mutual young friend of ours has misplaced someone that he is quite fond of. As it happens, I believe it’s a fondness you’ve come to share, as does he. Not flown off on her own from all accounts, but spirited away from the one place it should least have occurred. Not so far in fact from where our friend himself resides. There are a few delicate matters to address, but am I to assume you’ve an interest in her safe return?”

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Eren’s eyes flickered between the aging disguised wizard to the birds that had abandoned him, a curt nod accompanying the man’s remarks. “Everything rises us up when they don’t get their way,” he shrugged at the cryptic rebuttal, which he felt was rather good but poignant enough to be lost upon the man. The Regent had enough problems of his own to deal with, and the growing dissatisfaction of key members of the public was something entirely different and perhaps lost unto him.

Shuffling his hands out of his pockets and running them through the chocolate brown tresses of his hair, he tucked the few stubborn strands behind his ear and followed Gwygwin down the beach. Sejin strayed behind at instinct, and took to examining their footsteps and gazing apprehensively at the ocean, ignorant of the smoldering ashes her own footsteps left behind. Bringing a Fire Elemental to a location trapped and surrounded by water was perhaps the least intuitive plans Eren had held in mind, though he did enjoy her company, and at least at this rate he didn’t necessarily have to worry about her disappearing too far from him. Especially with the talisman bound around her neck.

The sorcerer’s cryptic speech nearly throttled the young Syl’rosyian Elflord, whose heart had suddenly started to beat a little faster. His gaze had abruptly left the sand some five feet in front of him to the man strolling beside him, eyes narrowing as the diction wore on, a frown slowly unfolding as a turmoil of emotions began to boil inside beneath his skin. “You assume correctly, go on..” he ignored the tingle in the tips of his fingers, or the fact that his palms were beginning to sweat a little. If the matter was serious enough for Milo to seek out Eren’s help, incognito, as it were, then there was something very, very wrong with how events were unfolding.

[b]“Does our friend have reason to suspect the misplacement was brought about by his caretakers in his home?”[/b ] Eren asked, convincing himself that if Gwygwin was placing such importance in talking in roundabout ways, then he could do the same… until impatience won him over. “And does he know exactly when she was misplaced, and where he last put her?” already the clockworks of his mind were shoving aside trivial things in regards to Nikki’s safe return, and he felt a sudden queasy sensation unfurling in the pits of his stomach. The matter, thinking that Nikki had been kidnapped, made him rather sick. Not necessarily physically, but it induced a new dimension of weariness to his mind mentally, especially after what had happened when Elantria had went missing.

Stopping suddenly, Eren stared down at the ground, wondering just what the hell he was going to do.

[Milo L'Evienne]

”I imagined as much,” the old wizard quipped on the matter of assumptions while reaching up an aged hand to adjust the brim of his hat to better allow for the moonlight as they strolled, him bent on keeping to a deserted stretch of beach.

”As for reason to suspect as much sir, indeed. Good reason, if little else beyond that save conjecture at this point. But as for the when and where, a candlemark, perhaps two gone by now. And from her room sir, without cause to suspect anything gone astray from without. As for the rest, it's early yet. There is a matter of timing that is somewhat curious if not for mere coincidence, thus further raising the possibility that the young lady might still be within the city.”

”But,” he added pointedly. ”it’s early yet, and acting on conjecture alone is too often ill advised in delicate matters such as this. It’s messy for one thing,” he added, just a trace of that eccentricity slipping through.

”There’ll be more if not already and you'll be kept appraised, perhaps as soon as a few candlemarks from now. For now, as difficult as I imagine this may be, I must ask that you stay put until you've been contacted again. There are others busy at work, but rest assured you will be contacted again very shortly. And of course, this conversation never occured.”

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Eren’s frown deepened.

A few candlemarks ago? At least Milo was acting fast – blindingly fast, perhaps, compared to a handful of those that held the position before him – but still not quick enough for Eren’s tastes. Granted, for Eren’s tastes, the situation would have never occurred. But then not everyone could be expected to hang on Nikki’s every whim and word. Eren was slowly beginning to understand Milo’s peculiar reluctance to Nikki’s free spirit now, yes, and he was quietly kindling the inner fire and rage he felt at her disappearance.

And to think that Gwygwin was here, chiding him to stay put on the island. Even after telling him all this.

“What do you mean stay put? Why can’t you just teleport both of us back to the palace? I’ll stay in Milo’s quarters, out of earshot. Hell, I can even make myself disappear if you need me to. But make me involved!” Eren’s voice was shaky at best, and it was evident he was spending a great deal of concentration and will in controlling it. His hands had started that familiar slight tremor, the sort one collects when anxiety slowly settles in. He felt the tingling sensation first, and shuffled them quickly into his pockets, balled into tightened fists.

“That’s not really fair. Expecting me to sit around and wait here. You don’t know where she is. You.. you don’t even know what’s happening to her. Right now. She could be-..” his words trailed off at the thought, and he shied his eyes away from the world and closed them for a moment, taking a deep breath. He didn’t trust any of those crummy Imperial bastards.

[Milo L'Evienne]

It was a rare occurrence that the old wizard found himself subjected to any measurable state of indecisiveness. For all his eccentricity and a reputation for at least the appearance of maddening spontaneity, it was hardly ever the case that he didn’t know his own mind. That was a conundrum for others to bear in relation to him, including his state thereof. But he’d been dubious when it came to the notion of convincing the elf to stay put even for a candlemark once he’d been told that Miss Nikki had been spirited away from under the noses of dozens meant to prevent just such a thing, a way of thinking that His Most Imperial Employer had shared. What it had come down to was using one’s best judgment. Only natural after all that once informed, this fellow so fond of the lady in question would resist any notion of sitting on his hands even for a candlemark.

”No its not sir,” he conceded with fishing a silk kerchief from his pocket before lifting the brim of his hat, mopping his brown then putting all back from whence it came. ”Fair I mean. There’ll be no staying in his Excellency’s quarters I’m afraid. They’ve been put in the care of private guards with orders that none are to enter and without his direct say so, even I would enjoy more success convincing twenty Rosemen to relent than those three particular gentlemen. If you mean disappearance in the literal sense,” he added with a dramatic flourish of an old hand, reminiscent of pulling a rabbit from a hat, ”I’m afraid the wards will allow no such thing. But…” he added quickly before the elf’s hands went to twitching more, not a good sign when taking into account a powerful and itchy wizard of any sort.

”should you agree to abide by a particular set of conditions while in the palace, I might be convinced to have you return with me. You must understand sir that there is much at stake here. If measures thus far have been successful and suspicions are indeed founded in regards to those responsible, then no word has yet been leaked into the city in regards to the lady’s abduction, leaving behind the likelihood that any word currently circulating there has either come of staff who have defied those measures and are therefore subject to suspicion themselves, those directly involved in her abduction, or those who know of them and their activities. You will see no flurries of activity in the palace, only a subtle increasing of security and no explanations given for it.”

”There is no dashing about or shouting or sending out alarms. There are no soldiers or constables pouring out into the city at this time. If measures have been wholly successful, there are not so many as you might expect even within the palace itself who are aware just yet save for a select handful. If more than those are in the position of speaking of it, then they too may be suspect. There are a number of reasons for these measures at this point, one of those being that an overwhelming display might result in those responsible going even deeper into hiding, thus making her all the more difficult to locate. Its conjecture sir and nothing more, but until more is known its all there is. Should you agree to maintain an outward air of calm ignorance and speak of this only to myself and our young friend exclusively, then I will portal you back with me, and there arrange quarters for you until more information becomes available, and it may have already over the course of our conversation.”

[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Eren stood there and listened. His palms were sweaty, and his fingers were absent mindedly twitching beneath the confines of his trouser’s pants, yet he did nothing. Showed nothing of the thoughts that were wrapping themselves about his mind, nor of the mounting anxiety and concern. His face remained mutely impassive, no contortions to speak of, not even the slightest hint of panic or the flicker of inner turmoil that was lit ablaze within his heart. No, Gwygwin was speaking to an Elf that had long-since suppressed his inner thoughts and desires, had taken comfort in the sanctuary of his mind. He could remain numb to the world around him.

When the Sorcerer finished speaking, Eren did not answer right away. The response required deliberation, not because Eren knew what he wanted to do, but rather, questioned whether or not he could follow through with it. He knew that to act in any suspicious manner would compromise Milo’s plan – and it seemed like a solid plan – from the get-go, and he wasn’t entirely sure just how long he’d be able to compose himself without getting directly involved. Which he wouldn’t be, of course. Not publically. He was Milo’s inside man, the invisible rook atop the chessboard, hidden from the roving eye of politics.

“Alright,” he finally began, at length, and his flat tone concealed the raspy nature that would have otherwise been present. “I can do it. Take me back with you. I would like to speak to Milo, in private, later, but… yes. I think I can manage that,” his thoughts were scattered, disrupted and unamused by this sudden dissonance that had filtered into his life. Shaking his head and massaging his temples, the Elf stalked off to Sejin and knelt down beside the Efreet Elemental, imparting instructions. The Hellhound turned and meandered back up to the bungalow.

Returning, Eren spoke of nothing to the Sorcerer, merely shuffled his hands back into his pockets and waited for Gwygwin’s next move.

[Milo L'Evienne]

Once having informed the elf what would be expected of him should he return to Prime immediately, rest assured the old wizard observed the younger one’s…relatively speaking, resulting demeanor by way of applying a sort of mental measuring stick to the likelihood that he could comply without getting itchy and the sort of impatient that might raise alarm bells that didn’t warrant raising just yet. Matters of the heart after all could render even the most levelheaded fellow…not, as a result. And if there was anyone able to accurately assess another’s ability to pull the wool over the eyes of the casual observer, it was Gwygwin. Ultimately he seemed satisfied, even before Eren indicated he could manage it by as much as saying so.

”Alright then sir, back with me you go, though with the wards up in force we’ll have to manage our arrival a bit away and then have ourselves a little stroll. You will be housed in a suite not far from my own in fact and as for speaking with him in private, most naturally and very shortly after our return I imagine.” Certainly by now, Gwygwin imagined, they must have come across something to go on. ”So as soon as you’re ready sir,” he added then while Eren made off to arrange things with his hound. And when the elf returned, it was only taking the time to manage clara, a tap on his shoulder for Erenthril’s benefit and a step forward before leaving behind an abandoned beach in their wake.

Operation Restoration