Dothaven is an oubliette, a place where things are placed to be forgotten. It is not a dedicated death trap. Deep in the center of the fortress is an area the size of a village, where clean water and a strangely replenishing suplly of food can be found in abundance. Some people stay here, seeing it as a great escape from society... but the fact that the dwellers cannot leave the sizable village area is enough to make it a bad place. In addition to the village, there is a large artificial 'country side' area with lakes full of fish and forests full of game. As nice as it is, it remains a prison; as leaving the boundaries of this area will get the Malufel's attention.

---

Castle Dothaven
Dothaven Quarters
Seven Suns Inn
Dothaven Temples

Quarters Archive

---

Mi'ehna's eyes begin to color again, slowly. Her breathing takes on the irregularity of being awake, but she isn't lucid... and probably won't be for a while.

---

About ten hours worth of while, as it turns out. Mi'ehna sits up quite suddenly, her eyes and hair blazing in bright, neon pink, and her mind receiving every single thought and feeling within a ten mile radius.

She looks around, once she's shielded herself. The last thing she remembers was... what? Meeting Felina. No... further than that. Or was it? She doesn't know.

"Oh, good. You're awake. How do you feel?" Felina's worn out, but her energy hadn't been as torn down as it might have been because what Mi'ehna had absorbed from the Malufel had been used as a resource along with her own. So, she's awake, and has been sitting quietly nearby constantly, her power carefully contained. She's been worried.

Mi'ehna looks at Felina, as if shocked to hear a voice so close. "Felina? That is your name, is it not?" She blinks, sets a hand to her temple. "My mind is so muddled, I cannot recall for sure. I feel like I have been sleeping forever."

"Yes, that's right. About eleven hours, give or take." She doesn't remember. She's not really surprised. Reconnecting mental pathways doesn't mean they couldn't have lost something while broken.

"Oh. A long time." Mi'ehna rubs her temple, conscious of a very insistent pain in her mind. "I feel different. What did you do to me?" Different hell... her energy levels are increasing like mad, grasping for the precipice at which she had been when the Malufel had blasted her mind. She's been right next to Felina, intimately connected, for hours... and her body is acclimating.

"The Malufel came into town and you were exposed to its full energy. Your mind was flooded beyond its capacity and many important connections were broken. I fixed them." The construct's voice is dull as she relates this, certainly far from a tone expecting praise and gratitude. Her chin is leaning on her hands. "I haven't sensed any problems in the last few hours. You should stay aware of what's going on in your mind, especially of anomolies, but I think it's stable." As stable as Mi'ehna's mind ever gets, anyway. The word "stable" doesn't seem to apply.

"Really..." Mi shakes her head again, trying to knock the cobwebs out. "Thank you, then. I feel... I do not know. Energized is the wrong word. But I feel as if I could move a mountain right now." She smiles at Felina, a very sweet, grateful expression. "Are you well? You have done so much for me..."

The corners of Felina's lips tip up a little at that. "I'm fine. Thank you." She's just glad Mi'ehna is okay.

Mi swings her legs over so that she can stand, blinking. Her hair and eyes are actually pulsating rapidly in color, from pink to violet, and it's fairly obvious that she's still a little disoriented. "Fill me in," she quietly says, "on what is going on... why I would meet the Malufel here, without my shields."

This Felina does, methodically, simply and completely, like she learned to many years ago from her brief stint in espionage. She doesn't omit pitching Mi'ehna out of the way hoping to protect her, and how she suspects that's precisely what had triggered her shields going down. "...Momo and the Dancer seem to be tolerating one another well enough, for the time being. I'll create a new body for her as soon as my energy has a chance to fully recover."

"Then she is safe. Rest for now then, and... take my bed, please." Mi'ehna stands, pulls back her covers. "If you need to rest, use it. Unless... you need something else?"

Felina shakes her head. "No. If you're sure you're all right, then I am fine."

"I am. I feel fantastic, better than fantastic even." She looks at Felina again, quizzicaly this time. "What is a barrier? And why do I suddenly know so much about it?"

One of the serinian's eyebrows raises a bit, though her eyes sparkle with quiet humor. "Oh, good. Alive and full of semi-classified information." She laughs softly. "The Barrier is what that separates and comprises dimensions. Essentially the fabric that's the physical state of the universe. Maintaining it is my job, hence, you now know something about it since we spent so many hours with our minds linked. Don't be surprised if you forget it again, though, it's a possibility." Not a threat, actually, just a possibility of this unreliable method of information transfer.

Mi'ehna shakes her head, understanding what Felina is getting at, but not totally in agreement. "No, that... Felina, I mean, why do I feel like I am close to this thing, this barrier?" Blinks again, biting her lip worriedly. "I feel like I know... it. How it functions, what it wants."

"I've spent the majority of my life acclimating myself to feeling the Barrier. Even a powerful psychic usually won't note it because, well...it's everywhere, a background energy. Just white noise. You must have picked up on my training."

"Oh..." Mi'ehna nods to that, smiles a bit. "So many things that you know are in my head right now... it may pass, it may not. I hope it will, though... I feel as if should not know how to manipulate such a vast thing as your barrier."

Felina nods a little. "Don't worry. With the tools at your disposal, you'd have too much trouble to use what you know extensively. You got my knowledge of how to use my toys, not my toys." She smiles.

Mi'ehna chuckles quietly. What an arrogant remark. Her color is settling towards violet at this point, and her energy level has finally leveled off at a point that dwarfs her previous stable level... for some reason, she's feeling like using it. 

Of course, Felina's not talking about her power. She's talking about her crystal, her direct link to the Barrier that dramatically reduces the amount of power she needs to manipulate it. She yawns. "That ansy, huh?" It's more amused than accusatory.

"What are you talking about, ansy?" Mi'ehna steps back, eyes focusing and unfocusing. "I appreciate your help, I do. But I would prefer not to be underestimated by you." 

Felina raises her hands a little in mock-defense. "I'm not underestimating anyone. You just seem restless, that's all. I apologize if I offended you."

"Restless. Yes." Mi'ehna sits back down on the edge of her bed, leans her chin on her palms. "I have not yet warned you, have I. About my mindset, how it changes?"

Felina shakes her head. "Not that I recall, no."

The village leader sighs, sits back. "A long time ago, my mind and body were infused with sorcery by a millenia-old vampire. I did not know it at the time, but in addition to strengthening my mental perception and my physical endurance, it set my emotional state into a higher phase. Love and sorrow in particular... would run away with me at any given time. I fell in love with anyone who might have loved me back, sometimes on the spot." She laughs softly, knowing how foolsih that made her sound. "A while later, a certain feminine Dumeni sorcerer infused me again... hence the changing hair color. The second one changed me, made my mind the conduit that it is, but... it made me aggressive and vindictive. Made me hurt people." She looks up, wondering if Felina will just laugh at all this.

Felina's eyes are soft and sympathetic, though. "Ah...I'm sorry. Believe me...I'm a construct. I understand imbedded nature...how powerful it is, and how hard it can be to deal with." She suddenly wants to kill Moorn. Again.

"I know you are. And thank you... just... watch. The color of my true infusion is pink. My eyes, and every hair on my body glow with it. When... his... infusion manifests, my color is violet. You will know." For her part, Mi'ehna has never stopped wanting to kill him. "Did I tell you about my father, Drianis?"

Felina shakes her head, eyes relaxing nearer a smile. Fathers are a fond subject. "No. Tell me about him?" She folds her legs.

"He was a beautiful man, Felina. He could steal your heart with a glance, if he wanted to. A mountain... he was as big as Eleris, and so strong... he was one of the first infusions, an experiment. Everything about him had been made better through sorcery. He had the most magnificent ass." She laughs despite herself. "Before he adopted me, I noticed such things."

Felina's eyes sparkle. Mi'ehna's fondness for this figure is quite tangible. "He sounds like a wonderful man."

Mi'ehna nods, her smile returning and her color going pink again. "He was. He was not perfect, but... he did what he could. Radivishe Moorn ruined his life, took everything from him... and he got back up and took the fight to him. Even when I..." she sighs a bit, her pink light refracting through half-formed tears to cast rainbows along her cheeks. "When I fought against him, he absorbed everything I could throw at him, when he could have killed me. And he forgave me, knowing that Moorn had control over me back them."

"Of course. It wasn't your fault, and he understood that." Felina nods to this.

"Yes, but I beat him nearly to death with my bare hands... had it been me, I would have defended myself at least." Mi'ehna shakes her head, sort of pointlessly, but for the sake of movement. "He knew that I loved him, and he loved me, in his paternal way. He was there the first time I fought with Gabriel... Moorn, that is. When I lost, he protected me..." her eyes light up, and she laughs, her mind laughing even more clearly. "In fact, he ripped Moorn's arm out of the socket. And beat him with it. I have never seen anything like it."

A little grins tugs at the edges of Felina's lips. Grows, until she's outright laughing. She nearly has tears in her eyes. "Oh, goodness...that's an absolutely delicious picture." Composes herself. Then breaks into chuckling again.

"Well, I see you have known Moorn long enough to get the right feeling about him." Mi'ehna laughs, the rainbows still there, but for a better reason. "How do you know that waste of flesh?"

Felina's smile becomes a bit more wry. Still genuine, in a way, but crooked. "Oh...I was on the world looking for a shard of the Barrier, and my energy signature caught his attention. I believe he introduced himself to me as 'I think I want to murder you.' We fought, things got nasty...to make a long story short, I think he's torn between being mortally annoyed with my existance and considering me an interesting study for continued observation, and we've gone at it pretty regularly every few years since then. Usually petty stuff, only rarely a truly dedicated attempt to kill me. Our paths just happen to wind and cross more often than either of us would like...all in all, fate's a bitch."

"It is. So tell me..." Mi'ehna's eyes light up with mischeif, her smile a little less innocent than usual. "Have you kicked his ass before? I want to know how. Spare no detail!"

Felina laughs. "I killed one of his homonoculi a day after we met, got some help from his old consort to toss him into Moren Aiga and get torn a new one by these really wicked creatures that now live there--actually, I've done that twice now, once after he came back for revenge after the first time, so he's lost three bodies to me now--and have landed more than my share of blows and various pain-inflicting things here and there, how's that?" She grins. He's landed far more on her, and despite destroying bodies, she's inadvertantely supplied better and better research for newer ones, but...those are beside the point.

"Oh, Felina, stop! I will need to change pants if you keep up that talk." Mi'ehna laughs out loud, so very thrilled to hear all of that. "Oh, he is such a bitch! You have made my century, Felina."

Felina has to laugh as well. Really, it's a nice release to be able to joke with someone about such a serious trouble, someone who really understands. "It's my pleasure. Believe me." Hmm...wonder if he's still listening to this? I'm going to get my ass kicked when I leave here if so...

Mi'ehna chuckles quietly. "I have heard that he torments those he sends here, now and again. Speaks to their minds. It has never happened in my presence, though." Her smile widens. "He is still afraid of me, afraid of the power he gave me. I could pull him here in an instant if he tried to get into my mind. That would be the day."

Felina smiles. "Oh, really? I'll have to remember that...." And she hopes the bastard had heard this discourse. Though another part hopes he hadn't. "Is there a particular method to this?"

"Mmm... yes and no. Gabriel and I were once very intimately connected, mind to mind, for quite some time. He actually wanted me to be his woman, if you can believe that, and 'help create a world transcending any gods feeble designs' he said, and... we were pretty close for a while. Until he turned on me, of course." Mi nods, willing those memories away in short order. "I learned a lot of his tricks by osmosis then. I know how he opened the portal here, and if I could latch onto his energy signature, I could open one right under his feet."

"I see." Felina nods, taking this in dutifully. "Good to know. I guess that would explain why he's never spoken to you." And why he seems to dislike her so very, very much. Interesting...she'd never given much thought to his past personal relationships.

"Well, that, and because he hates me. I think my face sickens him." Mi'ehna bats her eyelashes. "Has he been speaking to you, then?"

Felina grins at Mi'ehna a little for the eyelash bat. "I can't see why. And a couple of times, yes. Once to tell me to get out of Momo's head because he'd been having fun watching the damage spread and poison her mind, and a second more maliciously."

"Hmm... well... oh, Felina, you have no idea. I just had the most scrumptious idea flash into my head. Is there any way that you can connect your mind to mine, for a fairly long period, without being very obvious about it?"

Felina's eyes sparkle with interest. She definitely likes where this is going. "Maybe...it's possible."

Mi'ehna is practically bursting with excitement on this one. "Then let's do it. I can handle your power now that I have acclimated to you a bit. Link with me, and then find a way to stir his hackles enough to bother you. It should not be too difficult. When he does, I will bring him here." She grins. "Then he can either show us the way out, or we can slap him around for eternity."

Felina's grin fully displays her fangs now. "I like you. You know that?" She closes her eyes a few moments, thinking of ways to work this. Discreet connection...she's done it before, certainly. A discreet connection strong enough, that's the trick...ah. That should work. "Alright. You ready?"

"Just a moment. This is off-putting to some, so please try not to be too surprised." Mi'ehna hops off of her bed and calmly walks into the next room, dragging a paper screen in front of the door. Once mostly hidden, she calmly proceeds to undress. "My order," she explains, "was always taught that covering the body hinders spiritual power. To say nothing of the walls, of course, but it is a habit I have never quite put down. I hope you do not mind." By the time she's said that she is sitting upon her heels, eyes closed. "Ready."

"Ah. So that's what happens when you have an order instead of a group of pompous psychic snobs." Physical contact isn't really necessary for this, and Felina's comfortable, so she just closes her eyes and reaches for Mi'ehna's mind slowly. Finds a certain thread...doesn't link it with her equivalent, exactly. Just exchanges some energy between them. It will last perhaps two or three days before it needs to be reestablished...but the result is a strikingly solid, reasonably complete link regardless. She opens her eyes again. "Pretty painless. All done. Though you know that."

"Of course! So... how to go about rubbing him raw..." Mi'ehna is thinking pretty hard, and some of the images in her mind are accidentally transmitted to Felina... mostly of Momo, trying to link that event to some way of getting his attention.

"Oh, I'm not worried about that." Felina smiles sweetly. "He knows how to get under my skin. But it goes two ways. I know how to get under his, too." She stands up.

"I should stay here. The portal will take a great of strength to open, and I would hate to err, as we have only one chance at this. I cannot wait to see what you come up with."

Felina smiles. "Oh, he'll beat me senseless for all this sometime in the future, I'm sure. But some things are worth it." She waves over her shoulder, and heads back over to the shed Momo had been in before, purportedly checking for any dangerous remnant of the malufel-esque substance. Thankfully, and expectedly, she finds nothing at all. She smiles a little to herself, fairly genuinely. A job well done. "Tsk tsk. I suppose that's one less little girl you get to watch be ruined. So sorry to spoil your fun. Again," she comments idly to Moorn. She may have done it anyway, she has no doubts that he has at least half an eye this way with Mi'enha's experience and also the knowledge that she's here.

There's no answer, but his presence is heavy, as if he is listening from afar. If so, he's certainly not in the best of moods.

"Mi'ehna will be fine too. Much stronger than before, actually, from being exposed to me so long."

Still, silence... but now he's definitely there and definitely furious. His grumbling comes across in the form of angry little peaks and waves in the psychic spectrum.

"You did a great job allowing that."

"Just be glad you are there, and I am here, you flea-bitten whore. I can't"...

There's an immense surge in the energy surrounded the area, big enough to physically vibrate the floor and walls.  Mi'ehna's voice actually carries over into Felina's mind, groaning a bit at the intense strain of what she's trying to do. 

In the center of the storage barn the ceiling illuminates in swirling blue, and a certain effeminate sorcerer falls to the floor from within it. He looks around, confused, for a moment.

Felina's quite smart enough to take a couple steps left. It looks casual, but now a clean jump or two backward will put her outside. She also cuts the connection to Mi'ehna's mind so that damage to her won't carry over to the other psychic...and puts on her best smile. "Hi. Nice of you to join us."

Radivishe Moorn blinks, staring at Felina in something closely akin to amazement. "Clever little beast," he mutters as he gets to his feet. "But then what? Trapped in here with me for eternity does not sound all that good for you."

"No, I like being reasonably intact. Come on. You banish people here all the time, you have a good enough feel for how the dimension functions to have a fairly good chance of getting through it from either side."

"And I am positive that you know me better than to think I'm going to show you the way out of here." He takes a step forward, black eyes boiling. "At least while I'm here, I can finally pay a visit to my other female thorn. Get out of my way."

Felina just smiles at that, though she's really about to jump out of her skin. She seriously doubts he can do anything to get out without her seeing or at least being able to psychically reenact what he does, but doesn't feel the need to state this. She just steps aside, with an "after you" motion.

Moorn storms past Felina, barely giving her a look. The few people wandering around retreat almost as a single unit, some people even crying out at the sight of him... obviously, he's been busy. He closes his eyes for a moment, searching for Mi'ehna, whose throat he plans to tear out as soon as possible, and turns for her home without any more delay.

Felina's extremely on edge, especially since every sense is telling her that he probably means Mi'ehna immediate harm, and follows a few steps behind, quiet. Of course, she's also at least slightly confident that he would have trouble taking on both of them at the moment, especially since a big fight may leave him too drained to effectively deal with a whole village of people who would like him dead.

He doesn't have to go far. Mi'ehna steps out of her house, dressed again in dark red number that honestly looks like a bodysock, but isn't transparent. Her eyes are set, mouth tight in a grim line.

"Gabriel," she greets him, her voice uncharacteristically stiff.

"Mi'ehna. You just couldn't live without me, could you?" The sorcerer snickers, amused to no end by himself. 

"I just do not want you to live without me, is all."

"Still haven't learned to use contractions, I see. Fine. Let's see what you've got these days." The sorcerer drops any semblance of guard, and just waves her to come on.

Other people are gathering slowly, Eleris at the helm. Torches are lit, swords drawn, guns loaded. Moorn looks around, smirks. "Felina, you devil. You did all this for me?"

"Everybody loves a parade," the serinian notes. Actually, she's significantly more worried about the villagers than the sorcerer...his main trouble for the moment is with Mi'ehna and Felina.

"Eleris, get them out of here," Mi'ehna warns, but her eyes widen at the suddenly mischeivous smile upon Moorn's face. The sorcerer throws his hands out, casting images in six different directions, each one moving as if to assault the villagers. Mi'ehna, though, can see the real Moorn well enough and rushes him, just in time to catch a vicious backhand to her upper cheek. She loses her balance and drops, rolling away.

Felina grits her teeth...he's used solid dopplegangers on her twice now, she doesn't dare take any chances that these can't hurt anyone. Six strong shields that have the specialized additional property of dispelling illusions spring up in front of the six images. "Eleris, now! Please!" Her voice has shifted entirely to that battle-minded one Moorn's heard more often than not.

Eleris wastes no time in herding them out, though some protest until he slaps one of them. "Move!"

Mi'ehna has sprung to her feet, her face red but no damage done. Moorn is hovering apart from both of them, and looks like he's having the time of his life. "Twice the whore, eh? Sounds like fun."

"Has anyone told you today that you have a perverted sense of amusement?" Felina inquires, a hand on her sword. "Or just flat-out called you a sick bastard? If not, you're overdue again."

Mi'ehna's lip curls a bit in a smile. She wishes she could think of witty retorts like that. 

"Such a sharp tongue. And it still tastes like fur." Moorn chuckles quietly, and shrugs, just waiting. Fighting multiple opponents is folly for anyone, especially when they are of similar, and in Mi'ehna's case unreadable, power levels. "But you should have known I would have prepared for this, too, Felina. Indirectly."

"This is the part where you expound, yes?" Probably by action. But eh. Felina can hope.

Moorn just laughs. He's got this bad guy thing down.

He lifts his hands, and begins to write his familiar runes... only in soft blue this time. "Old dogs, new tricks," he mumbles as the runes begin to take shape. Clean, focused beams of blue fire out and down, scarring the earth black en route to the two women. Mi'ehna squeaks and combat rolls out of the way.

That looks just about bad. Felina springs back fast, concentratng on the spells she's been quietly building...moments after the tendrils appear, the ground beneath Moorn simply explodes. It's a diversion...the key escape route, up, is laced by a quietly prepared spell field. The ultimate goal is a subtle, almost undetectable spell field above him. It will render someone passing through it illiterate...and unable to write. Including runes.

Moorn moves up, right through Felina's trap, and growls when his spells simply stop working. For a second. 

"Ah well. Brute force it is." The sorcer casts images again, a dozen of them all in the same direction, and charges them. Mi'ehna lowers her stance a little bit and tries to meet him with a counter-throw, but it doesn't quite work out that way. She does throw him, all right, only he holds on and she goes with him, tumbling end over end.

Felina takes the more direct approach. Her sword shings from its sheath and starts swinging, incorporating the occasional wide, sweeping, blade-like energy attack. She's always keenly conscious of Mi'ehna's location, though.

Mi'ehna takes advantage of Moorn's distraction and rams her head into the sorcerer's face. Moorn slips just long enough for Felina's blade to slice into him before casting images and backing off again.

"Bad odds," he mutters. "When did you get so strong?"

Mi'ehna chuckles. "Blame Felina." 

Moorn's eyes roll a bit. "Ever the thorn. Ah well. Equalizer."

A rush of heavy footsteps sounds from the line hallway at those words.

Felina's ears fold back. "Well, shit. You know, nothing vaguely resembling 'ally' usually goes into planning on dealing with you. You're everyone's darling that way." She backs off and resets her stance, running through possible plans in her mind. Damnit, damnit, damnit...why didn't I take the time to truly learn that time spell instead of just mimicking it? I'll be damned if Moorn can't unwravel the mirror in a heartbeat...

The Malufel appears predictably at the corner of the hallway. Only this time, it isn't alone... another creature of smaller stature trails at its heels, looking around with open sensors.

"Well," Moorn chuckles, "isn't that a surprise."

In tandem, the monsters bound across the field towards them.

Felina's ears fold straight back, fangs lightly bared, and she begins to re-mimic that distortion spell around her blade, holding her ground for now since she's confident she knows the Malufel's speed and jumping ability. She hopes that the smaller one is less powerful.

Mi'ehna narrows her eyes, setting herself. She doesn't know whether to defend against the monsters or watch her back now. 

The older Malufel leaps straight for Felina, the younger for Mi'ehna, each swinging massive paws but keeping their insectoid legs hidden.

Felina grits her teeth and goes on the defensive for now, leaping straight up and back and not coming down. She tries to find what hold Moorn has on these creatures...there has to be some breakable connection, it's not like he created them!

Moorn just chuckles, enjoying the show. The smaller creature almost seems to be moving faster than the larger, as it lands several blows on Mi'ehna in the early going, opening a pair of angry gashes upon her face and her back.  She isn't done fighting, though .

The original Malufel grumbles its frustration and leaps after her.

"Oh, they are relatively simple beasts," Moorn chuckles. "All instinct."

If Felina can sense teleportation spells, she should be able to sense a pair of very unique energy patterns of that sort about half formed beneath herself and Mi'ehna.

She can...and does. However, her crystal not working makes this trickier...she springs in another direction, landing on two more energy platforms as she goes. They always disappear behind her. The time distortion spell on her blade gains its full power.

That little signature follows her as if it's glued to her feet, and the persistent Malufel continues its chase.

Mi'ehna finally breaks away from the smaller creature, turning one of its attacks into a very neat throw. "Felina! They think we are trying to escape, that must be it. They would not attack otherwise!"

Of course! A powerful, sudden energy surbe is aimed to destroy the teleportation spells...it's fairly intense, as this is important, but leaves her a little off balance.

Nothing. No energy response, no anything. Moorn just laughs at Felina's attempts to destroy a spell that barely even exists. He's really getting a kick out of this... even though that represents the last of his bag of tricks concerning Dothaven.

The Malufels do falter for a moment, giving Mi'ehna enough time to plant an ungodly forceful fist into the heat sensors of the smaller one. The beast screams and flails, connecting a wild swing that sends the village leader careening across the village. The original Malufel takes even longer to recover.

Felina growls. Runs quickly through her own bags of tricks...teleportation spells that might not immediately explode at her. She picks one, with a far more obvious signature, and opens it near Radivishe Moorn. It doesn't go anywhere nice, if it even opens. Just outside the town line.

Hadone, meanwhile, is standing just barely on the outskirts of that. Stiffens when Mi'ehna goes flying and, though hesitating a bare moment due to possible danger to Momo as well, sets off towards the village leader at a run, taking the long way around the action.

Damn, Momo notes, she really got creamed. 

Mi'ehna, despite looking like the bad end of a car accident, pulls herself to her feet and stumbles back towards the fight.

Moorn blinks at the shift in energy of the field, just about the same time the smaller Malufel looks at him with its damaged sensors. The creature charages him in perfect fury, another escapee!

Felina takes this moment to jump over to Mi'ehna. "Hey, you all right?" The air between them thickens with healing magic.

Mi'ehna nods, despite the blood flowing from various wounds all over her face. "It hits hard," she notes, "look out!"

The first Malufel bounds towards them again, the ground quivering beneath its heavy steps.

Moorn, for his part, is casting images every which way to escape the other beast, who is hot on his trail everywhere he goes.

Felina growls under her breath and resists the need to slap herself in the forehead...if only because she could use the hand to stay alive. "This is the single most moronic picture I've seen this year..." She closes her eyes and tries again to pinpoint the nature of Moorn's teleportation spells...this is going nowhere, she needs to neutralize all three. A few moments later, a softer spell than her first, more skill than brute force, glows to life over the whole area.


The spells dissipate under this more persuasive spell, and the Malufels both calm on the spot. The original one skids, carving deep ruts in the ground as it does, and stands still, looking about with its sensors as if confused.  The newer one just lands from its latest leap and sits.

It takes about this long for Moorn's flurry of images to fade, leaving only one, the real one of course, speeding towards Mi'ehna back with pure murder in his eyes.

Felina grits her teeth, all her speed trying to put her, her sword, and a solid psionic shield between them.

Mi'ehna has enough wherewithal to move, albeit a little slower than usual. Moorn seems to have the same idea as Felina, as sorcerous shields glimmer into life in front of him.

Felina skids to a stop solidly between Mi'ehna and Moorn, eyes locked on his and coldly intense. The radiant energy from his shield actually shatters her halfhearted one, and she doesnt' care enough to make another, only her sword in front of her. "Stop this. This is moronic, and not getting anywhere. However you got here, we're all after the same thing now, and that's getting out." She's really wondering at this point why Mi'ehna had suggested this. She must have known how intensely Radivishe Moorn seems to hate her...and certainly knows him well enough to guess whether he'd act on it.

Mi'ehna shakes her head, her wits gathered again. "Felina, do not stop him."

Moorn backs off, the amusement gone from his demeanor. "I thought that is why you two brought me here, Felina, to kill me. It's certainly why she wants me here."

Mi'ehna just stares at him coldly, the murder in her eyes far more fierce than his.

Felina's eyes dart back to Mi'ehna's...and almost wince at what she sees there. Damnit, damnit, damnit...how the HELL do I get into these things. "Mi'ehna, listen. Moorn has the knowledge to get as many people out of here as want to go, with tweaking. Killing him won't help that. Come on, you're this village's leader. I thought that's why you'd wanted to do this."

"Felina, thank you for your help. Thank you for caring. You have done your part, now please step aside." Mi'ehna doesn't even cast a glance at Felina. 

Radivishe Moorn's eyes narrow just a little bit. "There's the killer I made you so many years ago. Brava, Mi'ehna."

Felina's ears flick a little at the sorcerer's statement, but her eyes stay fixed on Mi'ehna's whether that's reciprocated or not. "Mi'ehna. You are more this. I could even help you search for a way to remove and reverse the power infusion that he imparted to you. But he's right. You're just being what he made you. Stop it."

"Felina, please..." she finally looks at Felina, the hatred in her eyes tempered by despair, "do you not see that I cannot stop?"

Moorn just chortles. He's having fun again.

"If you do not move, I will... have to move you," Mi continues, her words straining more than a little.

"So then what? We fight, wear each other out, one person's hurt or killed, and he has plenty of power left to squish the victor? Don't be stupid. I know you have a hell of a grudge with him and that's all well and good. But save it. This isn't the time. There are other people on the line."

"No... I mean..."

Moorn cuts in, his impatience plain in his voice. "She literally can't stop, idiot. Don't you think she would jump at the chance to make me help her if she could?" 

Mi'ehna expression pleads with Felina. Her energy is changing, darkening rapidly into violet, but it's pretty plain that she's fighting against his influence still. Even as she rushes to attack Felina, she's fighting. Losing. But fighting.

Felina grits her teeth, and leaps backwards. She sheaths her sword as she flies...she doesn't want to have to use it. Her mind races through all the connections she'd reformed in Mi'ehna's mind before...there has to be something of value, something that has to do with how she's controlled!

Of course, she's also working hard at staying out of reach despite a considerably more dextrous opponent than the Malufel, and aware of how pissed off she is that Moorn has to be enjoying this. A psychic field bursts towards Mi'ehna...it's designed to temporarily clarify the mind of demonic and other inlaid influences.

Dextrous is right. Mi'ehna, now that her attention is focused on a single opponent, is quicker than a hiccup. The shields have been removed from her mind, and the open conduit of it trawls into Felina's psyche, searching for weakenesses, pinging any that appear. She herself keeps up with Felina's every movement, hands raised, firing off jabs whenever the Serinian is in range... which isn't often.

Felina's at a severe disadvantage...the one, of course, of being the only member of a fight not immediately willing to do damage. "Mi'ehna...Mi'ehna! Snap out of it, come on!" She's changed gears...searching for the pink aura. For whatever substance it has in the other's soul. She has to drag that back to the surface, and is trying...though it's only for the time equivalent of quick jabs she can get close enough to the other woman's mind. Mi'ehna is closing the gap to her power even more quickly now...it's harder and harder to shield the energy and keep it from being transferred as the other gains power.


"Nng!" Felina jerks suddenly in the air when Mi'ehna successfully slashes a psychic thread she's long been unable to properly guard. She lands solidly on an unreasonably hard tree branch, hitting her head hard, but manages to grab on and end up on her feet. It's clear that the last part is just painfully ingrained habit, though.

Mi'ehna puts her heels together and kicks off of the hard earth, leaping up as if to land on the branch along with Felina. Her mind continues its internal assault almost independent of her physical movements, homing in on that particular section of Felina's mind... Felina's power is hindering her to a great extent, though. Were it not for her immense ability, the fight would have been over before it had started... in her younger days, Mi'ehna had successfully stopped a man's heart without even touching him on more than one occasion. It baffles her just a bit that Felina is so able to resist. 

Felina's going to die if she just keeps taking it. That's clear. Fangs bare, a faint yellow aura glimmers to life around her eyes. Sorry, Mi'ehna. Her palms snap against the other telepath's temples, far too tight to easily jerk away. Then her eyes flash blindingly. She stops trying to contain her power. Instead the truly massive near-entirety bursts into Mi'ehna's mind in one tremendous glut.

Mi'ehna hadn't been ready for it, not any more than usual anyway. In a lot of ways, it's just like when she was exposed to the Malufel's energy. The telepath squeals, her eyes and hair lighting up in vivid gold. As blood begins to pour from the wounds on her head, Mi's teeth bare, gritted together as her own hands snap onto either side of Felina's head, mimicking Felina's own technique in a distorted, twisted manner.

Felina had been ready to reabsorb the energy...but not in the way that it's reintroduced. Not with the harsh, alien tendencies that Mi'ehna introduces to it. The pain that tears through her mind and body is far too intense for her to hear her own,very feline scream. She's aware of one thing, for the barest of moments...she hopes that the power spike will be enough to allow Mi'ehna control of herself. Before that thought even finishes itself, and before the initial, fiery burst of pain ceases, she'd lost the waking world. She slips from the branch a few moments later.

Mi'ehna isn't far behind her. her hair and eyes are still gold as she tumbles backwards, landing in a heap not far from the Serinian.

Radivishe Moorn is cackling. He hasn't had this much fun since... he can't remember when. 

"So... now to clean up." He trots towards them, heading first for Felina... oh, this will be so much fun! He's smirking the whole time, that is until a pair of thumping footsteps gets his attention. 

Moorn turns his head, foot already raised to stomp down on Felina, just in time to be viciously backhanded by the newer, smaller Malufel. The sorcerer tumbles over backwards, images shooting every which way, but the creature is on him in a second, pinning him down with its mighty claws.

The mouth in its torso growls open.

"Mo. Mo. I...t... r...e...m...e...m...b...e...r...s... y...o...u..."

A flood of healing energy permeates the area around the fallen women, the sound of Misao's voice just barely audible at that distance. Near her house, the original Malufel is sitting next to her, its sensors open and watching. 

"Mm..." Felina's eyelids twitch a bit, very nearly opening, but not quite. Not yet...the damage is heavily concentrated in her mind, though parts are healing.

For Mi'ehna, the spell is just the ticket. Since her body and her mind are more or less intimately connected at this point (more than usual, that is), her body is quickly able to convert the spell into a more pliable form. She sits up, shaking her head.

"What was that...?" She looks around, totally disoriented. "Gabriel? Felina?" The telepath wobbles to her feet, noticing the Malufel pinning Moorn and not caring in the least. She kneels next to Felina, observing the situation. "Hey. Are you there?"

A little grunt and a single, slight nod answer her after a moment. Felina's eyes open just a slit to look at the Malufel and its quarry.

Mi puts her hands to Felina's head, and does her best to funnel her converted form of Misao's spell into Felina's mind.

Moorn is quiet. Furious, of course, but almost sulking. What a boorish way to lose a fight.

Felina's eyes open again. Still...with a half-closed, almost sleepy quality, but at least they're not crossed this time, and the pain loses its edge. She doesn't look at Mi'ehna. "You you again?"

Sadly, Mi'ehna looks away, shaking her head. "No. Look." She runs a hand through her newly golden hair. "I told you. I could not stop. I warned you before, Felina. But do not worry about that. Just get up and enjoy the sight."

Felina looks down and aside. She does get up on her knees, though, and looks up. Normally she'd be a shade or ten beyond merely amused to see Radivishe Moorn pinned down like this, but...now, she's really not. "So. Now what?" Her voice and tops several layers of thought are carefully devoid of emotion, something that carries into her face.

"I suppose we ask him nicely to let us all out?" Mi'ehna moves closer the new Malufel, carefully observing the patient beast. 

About this time, Moorn's energy signature starts to swell. He's been quiet the whole time, just building his strength up beneath his obvious surface. 

"Felina, do you feel that?" Mi asks the Serinian.

Felina nods, watching and feeling quietly but strangely lethargic. She isn't sure what he's doing...and today, anticipating has only created a massive amount of trouble or pain for everyone around her.

"What are you doing, Gabriel?" Mi'ehna kneels next to the pinned sorcerer, calmly slaps his face. 

Moorn stays quiet still, just gathering more and more energy together. He begins to mumble quietly, but rhythmically.

When the blast comes, it comes so suddenly that even the new Malufel is taken off guard. Like a concussion grenade detonating in ten places Moorn's build up energy snaps outward, shoving the bewildered monster up and away.

It's quite enough to get an admittedly weakened Felina back on her feet, sword drawn. "Eleris, get everyone as far away from the village as possible!"

Eleris doesn't answer, just... does it. He's learned enough by now to listen to Felina. The sorcerer is on his feet within a moment, his expression decidedly unpleasant. 

"So, the question is, what do you do now?" he asks, in irksome mimicry of Felina's earlier statement.

"That's a very good question," Felina half-mutters. With all that's happened and her current energy level, she isn't quite up to smart-assed remarks. Though that, no doubt, won't last long.

"Show us the way out of here, Gabriel. Please, I beg you," Mi'ehna answers him, her voice shaking with the humiliation of what she's saying. "I will do whatever you want. Please, show us the way!"

Felina puts a reassuring hand on Mi'ehna's shoulder. Way to go, Mi'ehna. The thought is low-level and not verbalized. Though...assuming she can read Felina as well as, say, Mara-kuru for the moment, it's possible that she gets the gist.

She does, and it heartens her somewhat.

"Whatever I want?" The sorcerer just grins. "Are you sure you are willing to go so far for these yokels?"

Mi'ehna just nods. 

"Then you'll finally consent to be my wife."

She nods, her face grim, eyes sparkling in held-back despair.

Felina stiffens. Well...that's unexpected. "Mi'ehna...are you sure? There has to be another way...we can work though this."

"No. You were right, Felina. This is why I wanted to bring him here. To get everyone out, right?" The telepath doesn't even look at either of them... she's far too ashamed for that. Moorn just crosses his arms, waiting patiently. From his mindset and signature, it's almost conceivable that he doesn't want her to hurt her.

Felina's lips are parted a little, fangs slightly visible...sure sign of agitation. She doesn'tknow what to do...this is Mi'ehna's choice to make. But...can she let her? Really? She says nothing more for the moment.

"Before I can go through with this, I have to know. Gabriel, why have you sent so many assassins against me? If you still held onto what you felt for me, why did you hurt me to begin with?" Mi'ehna asks these questions with a quiet reservation, as if the answers don't especially matter.

"Both were for your own good. You needed to see a bigger picture than just yourself and your friends." Moorn smirks. "That's all I care to tell about it for now. What's the matter, Felina? You look upset."

"Sympathy pains," the serinian notes. It's not actually the first jab that comes to mind...she's laid off the heavy insults until the situation stabilizes.

"Imagine that," Moorn answers back. 

"Felina, please, do not make this any harder than it is." Mi'ehna looks at the Serinian, just for a moment, expressionaless. "Thank you for steering me in the right direction. Gabriel... send the people out first." She blinks, still looking at Felina. "Send them out, and make me your wife here. Then we can leave."

Felina's eyes glance over to Mi'ehna for a moment, then travel back go Moorn. Strange request. Mi'ehna, what are you up to?

"Fine. Gather your idiot rabble into this place, and I will send them away." The sorcerer smiles, for once without mockery or hateful intent. He steps forward, reaches up to touch Mi'ehna's cheek. She shivers, but doesn't shy away. 

"Felina. Help me round everyone up," Mi'ehna asks of the Serinian, facing her again. "I need your help."

Felina nods, quiet. She's somewhat taken aback by Moorn's demeanor, and heads off to find Eleris.

Most of the village has been gathered into and around Eleris's hilltop house... the Malufels have disappeared without a trace. 

Some of the people inside the house are openly weeping... telepaths, the lot of them. They know what's happened. Eleris himself is pacing out front, perfectly ready to lay down his life for the people inside. He's relieved to see that Felina's alive, but that doesn't show well on his face.

"Felina... is everything all right? Has he gone?"

"No." Felina's quite subdued, face dead and blank. "He's still here. He's agreed to send anyone who wants to go back to the larger world."

The giant looks as confused as he's ever looked in her presence.

"How did you get that maniac to agree to that?" he demands, waving off a few people who are gathering around them.


"I didn't. Mi'ehna did. Who all is going?"

A murmur of voices rises all around them.

"But why do you not seem happy, Felina...?" Misao is the one to ask the question on everyone's mind. "You should be thrilled."

Felina pauses a few moments at that question. She's not sure how to answer...what she should say, and what she shouldn't. "Mi'ehna is putting a lot at stake in the deal. Now. Who's going?"

Misao tilts her head. "I'm staying. I won't let Mi'ehna put herself in danger for me!"

Eleris grimaces. Shit. Now if he backs out he'll look klike a coward.

"I cannot allow Misao to stand alone, Felina. I will stay."

Several others add their agreement, while a few step forward to leave. All look to Felina for an answer.

"Mi'ehna isn't in any physical danger," Felina clarifies. She's having trouble stepping into the strong sort of leadership figure she usually can. She hesitates. "She agreed to marry him."

Eleris coughs. "That is so... amazingly... cliche...? Why? She could not love such a thing."

"She agreed to do it on the condition that he would release all of you." Redundant, yes, but she doesn't know what else to say.

"Hold up! Wait!" 

Another murmur goes through the crowd at the interruption, but the people part anyway for one of the four temple caretakers. Aliema strides past them, eyes set firmly upon Felina.

"Felina, what in hell happened? All of the caretakers reported a huge energy surge here just a few minutes ago... I came as soon as I could."

Eleris explains quickly to the anxious looking elemental. "Marry him? How droll. Felina, you know that a wedding needs witnesses. Lots of witnesses. Lots of big, powerful, angry witnesses." Her eyes shine.

Felina smirks, though it lacks heart. "I have to admit, I'm torn. Every instinct I have says not to let this happen...and yet another very vocal part is screaming at me that not only is it her choice, but it may be the only chance most of you will have for a very long while to get home."

"But she hates him," Misao interjects, "I can live here forever and be sort of content. Mi'ehna would be miserable for the rest of existence!"

"Yes. Unless she's planning something, I'm sure you're right. But...you all are going first, and then they'll be married. Here." She doesn't go so far as to say she finds something suspicious in this...but hopefully those smart enough to pick up on that are also smart enough to keep their bloody mouths closed. "Thank you, Misao...that's very selfless of you." She smiles, briefly. "But...can you speak for everyone?"

"No, and I don't intend to." 

Aliema lays a hand upon Misao's shoulder, shakes her head. "The caretakers cannot go anyway. Let the four of us serve as witnesses. Everyone else should go."

Misao starts to protest, but her voice stops when Aliema smacks her across the mouth. She just sort of stares at the elemental.

"No arguing. You'd be stupid to go against the kind of power we felt. And I won't have it. So. Anyone want to argue with a wind elemental?" 

Silence.  Eleris looks like he wants to talk, but... what Felina said finally hit in his thick skull.

Felina half-smiles. It's a sad sort of smile. But there. She bows her head in gratitude. "Alright. Is everyone in the village here and accounted for? Check carefully." Her mind's scanning the countryside for stragglers.

"They are all here, except for the dancer and Momo," Eleris answers. "There really aren't all that many of us these days."

Felina nods. "They're on the other side of the square..." she makes a mental note to Momo that they're leaving, and to meet in the square. "Alright. Follow me, then." She turns, still subdued, and heads back towards Moorn and Mi'ehna.

"I'll round up the caretakers," Aliema says, and takes off to do so.

Eleris shouts a few commands, and before long the entire ragtag group is shuffling along, down the hill and to the main road of the village. They aren't really sure what to expect at this point.

Radivishe Moorn is standing more or less where he was left, with a very despondent Mi'ehna sitting against a tree with her head buried against her knees.

Felina closes her eyes a few moments. She doesn't know if she's making the right decision in going along with this...or not. She seriously doubts whether Mi'ehna herself knows which she'd rather Felina to do. She walks quietly over to the other telepath.

"Did you get everyone?" Mi'ehna asks of Felina, not looking up. "You made sure that no one tried to stay, right...?"

"Yeah. Only the caretakers are staying behind, I searched as thoroughly as possible telepathically." Felina's voice is soft...very close-ranged, only. She sits on her feet, weight balanced on her toes. "Mi'ehna, please tell me you have something planned to get out of this." It sounds to everyone but "Mi'ehna, if they can hear through some trick, "are you sure you want to do this?"

"I was raised for service to people," the telepath answers, lifting eyes that cast rainbows along her arms and knees at this moment. "If I put myself before them then I was raised for nothing. Maybe I can temper him. Maybe I will come to tolerate him." She looks at Felina again, expressionless despite her half-formed tears. 

Felina's eyes sparkle, then close, face downturned for a moment. She understands. God she understands. Better than maybe anyone else. The construct takes a deep, shaky breath, then reaches out and hugs Mi'ehna tightly.

Mi'ehna doesn't really react at first. Just sits, staring forward. Finally she reaches up and lays her hand on Felina's forearm, speechless, at a loss for pretty much everything.

I have one, last trick up my sleeve, Felina, her mind whispers, but I need your help. I need a link to your mind, Felina... when I say, I need you to blow off as much power as you can, however you can. We are going to drain him dry. A pause, and she squeezes a little harder. If it does not work, use the mental link to end my life. However you can. We will make certain that everyone is safe first, either way.

There's a long pause at this. You have my word. Felina squeezes Mi'ehna's arm once more, briefly, and stands up.

"Are you finished?" Radivishe Moorn demands, tapping a foot impatiently. "Touching, really. Gather all of your sheep in front of me and let's get them out of here. Now."

The signatures of the four caretakers are en route... maybe two more minutes.

Felina's glance to the sorceror is impressively neutral considering how she feels about him at the moment. She establishes the same quiet mental connection with Mi'ehna as she'd had before as she walks over to the villagers.

"If all of the rabble is here." Moorn begins to chant, something he rarely ever does, in preparation for the spell. Each word grows in tempo and volume until he sounds like he's screaming gibberish... but at the same time, a blue field rises up from the earth to envelope the villagers. "Last chance to say your peace, ladies."

"There aren't words profane enough." Felina's on edge just because he is chanting. It's so unusual.

The spell is marvelous in its unimpressiveness. A hint of blue wafts along, permeating every inch of everyone contained within, a flash... and they're gone. Just... vanished, as if they'd never been, leaving only the three of them, and the arriving caretakers.

"There. I sent them back to that piddling little town I've been staying in." The sorcerer wipes his brow... it had been a helluva spell, at least in the concentration department.

Felina's impressed...she's not sure she can duplicate that. Fairly certain she can't, actually, since it was more skill than sheer power. Not that she states this in any way. She looks over at the caretakers as they arrive.

It's quite an assortment, really. The fire nymph in front, Aliema just behind, the mermaid walking on human legs, and the rock creature plodding behind them. None of them seem too pleased at all this.

"So, Mi'ehna. Come. Let's end this filthy business between you and I, and start again." The sorcerer holds out a hand, a hand which Mi'ehna hesitates only a little in taking. She's donig a good job of containing her terror, knowing that what's about to happen has a pretty good chance of going wrong. She signals Felina, subtly, to start blowing off power, trying not to look into the devil's eyes.

Felina lets out a slow breath...and then leaps backward, gettind distance. She's been gathering her energy to an extent, as quietly as possible...now does that in full. She's done it before, when facing Moorn, actually. The first time they'd fought. A tremendous energy release, just barely slow enough not to be explosive, manifests in the form of a vivid light she trusts to use as a cloak.

Moorn's eyes snap that way, just in time for Mi'ehna to clap her hands on either side of his face. Felina's draining technique assaults him, funneling the energy into the Serinian herself. 

"Die! Just die! Leave me alone," the telepath shrieks, her entire body shaking at the awesome power funneling through her.

Felina's not entirely ready for it, but she is to at least some extent...her body is really designed for this kind of thing. She closes her eyes, starts to channel most in the form of a fast-growing shield. She tries to shut her ears to Mi'ehna and only concentrate on this. This is wrong. So's the alternative. So are the other alternatives. This is the one she's chosen.

Moorn's energy level is dropping fast. It's plain that Mi means to kill him here and now, and he knows that.

His response is quick, and unambiguous, as a dozen pallid tendrils snake out from him and snap back together in tandem against Mi'ehna's back. The blow is so severe that her shirt is ripped in eight long gashes, each oozing with blood. The telepath stiffens, standing perfectly straight... the pain should communicate to Felina as well, though not in the harrowing waves Mi'ehna is feeling.

Felina's very quick to extend the shield to Mi'ehna...though leaving her hands, which she needs to be free, vulherable. Her mind races. His spell had been tremendously complicated, yes, and she couldn't possibly form it from scratch, but...can she mimic it? Is that possible? With this much power...it's a possibility.

Another sickening lash rips open a deep gash across the back of Mi'ehna's neck, almost heedless of Felina's shields... these are desperation attacks from a man who knows that anything else will get him killed. Mi'ehna shrieks at the pain of it, her mind a blot of nothing but agony.

Another lash, and her hands slip from his face.

The drain ends.

Felina sucks in her breath, telekinetically jerks Mi'ehna up and away from Moorn, towards herself. Then one hundred percent of her energy is dedicated to only one thing: creating a mimic of the spell Moorn had used and getting she and Mi'ehna out of here. The same blue light does start to form.

The sorcerer's wits return fairly quickly, and realizing that he has been had again, he has no better plans than to lash at Felina with those pallid tendrils. Their nature is slightly different than usual, as evinced by a paler color... fueled by an emotion other than hatred for once.

The caretakers gather near the field, each looking to the next. Aliema nods grimly, pulls back her hand, and flings a shearing gust of wind into the fray. 

Aimed squarely for Felina.

Her shields have dissipated by this time...the blue flashes to a pinker colour, then dissolves when she's forced to divide her concentration to new shields. They're aimed to block Moorn's spell--impressively so, actually, considering her haste...but she's too slow on the unexpected wind attack. Part of it breaks past the fast-thrown defense and cuts deep into her back, thankfully a non-fatal spot due to a quick turn. The shields that had been intended against Moorn's tendrils thin to a nearly pitiable level, absolutely no match for them.

The tendrils snap against both women, though it's obvious that they are not intended to kill or cripple. Aliema does not follow up her attack, only covers her face in shame. The fire imp puts its hand on her ankle, the mermaid hugs her, but the rock monster just looks confused.

"I won't forgive you for this," Moorn growls at the two of them, "never. I swear I will make you wish that your idiot father had never slapped you together," he says to Felina, "and you," his eyes lose some of their edge as he sees the damage he's done to Mi'ehna, "you will be mine. Consent, or no consent."

Felina's slammed to the ground by the tendrils though ultimately ending up on her feet, biting back a cry at the same nearly soul-searing pain that had Mi'ehna had experienced only seconds before. There's no smart-ass remark this time...just a deadliy seriousness. She knows beyond any semblance of a doubt that she's just made a very powerful enemy of a formerly neutral party.

Mi'ehna, dazed beyond speech, lies all but still upon the ground. She hadn't been prepared for how much stronger Moorn has become since they had last met, not at all.

"If you leave now, Felina," the sorcerer snarls through closed teeth, "I will not follow you. Leave her to me. But this is the only chance I will give you."

"Do not forget our deal, Felina," Mi'ehna mumbles through the strangled voice of her mind, as she fights up to her knees. 

She hasn't. But her own fangs set as she struggles up to her feet. "Not on your miserable life."

"Then wait for me in hell." The sorcerer walks, not charges, not rushes, just walks, towards her, eyes purposefully locked upon her. It's plain that there is no play on his mind this time, though he wears a strangely despondent expression.

"I'll sit next to your reserved area." Felina narrows her eyes, taking a step backward to solidify her stance and drawing her sword. She's in deep, deep trouble. She knows that very well. But she won't forsake Mi'ehna.

Moorn's energy builds, builds, and builds, but he seems hesitant to attack. His eyes keep settling on Mi'ehna, on the blood dripping from her skin. He's distracted, to say the least. Finally, though, he throws his hands forward, forming a solid shield of energy which he proceeds to fling against the Serinian in every attempt to knock her out of her nonexistant shoes.

Felina's ears flatten. Hand flies away from Culheru's hilt to meet the another, and a wedged energy shield that hopes to split his on impact bursts into existance, the pointed edge facing away from her.

The shields split, just as intended, but at this point Aliema makes her presence known with another microburst that is almost as terrible as her expression right now. For a fleeting second her full power makes itself known, and even Mi'ehna turns her head in shock. It's easily as great as Radivishe Moorns, and even more focused, as she knows nothing but the wind.

Felina jumps, startled from intense concentration on Moorn, stance quickly shifting to have both of them in her sight. She hates to have her concentration divided...but look how that had ended a moment ago.

Both of them approach at their own pace. Moorn moves ever closer to Mi'ehna, while Aliema seems to be trying to nudge Felina away from the helpless telepath.

Aliema attacks first, summoning gale force winds to blow against Felina... to push her back, or hold her, either will work for her purposes.

It does both, actually. Felina nearly tumbles head over heels, but stays on her feet. Twenty feet farther back than she had been before, she manages to grab foothold again and, ears actively blown flat back, tries to struggle towards Mi'ehna, more than wary of what may happen to her. How the HELL is my psychic casting being held back by wind elemental magic? She manages to take slow steps forward through nothing but determination...but she has a lot of ground to cover.

Aliema watches, impressed with Felina's ability to withstand what would have ripped a human cleanly into bits. She holds onto the attack for a moment, and then reverses it so that a wind of equal force blows towards Felina's back.

Moorn kneels in front of Mi'ehna, shaking his head. "I wanted you willingly. I wanted you hesitantly, at worst. But I will take you against your will, if it is the only way." Pallid tendrils snake out and begin to entwine her. She just doesn't have the strength to fight back.

"Gnn!" It's a good tactic. Felina's pitched straight through the room of a hut--sideways, taking most of it with her--before gaining some semblance of telekinetic control again, fangs clenched. "Aliema, what the hell is this?!"

The wind elemental's tears don't make it right. But that doesn't stop them from being there.  

The rock monster has seen enough. It puts its tremendous bulk between the elemental and Felina, holding up its hands to ward off whatever Aliema might do. The other two caretakers stay back for now.

Mi'ehna voice wafts across the psychic spectrum, quivering, crackling... she won't be able to keep it up for long, with Moorn's sorcery enveloping her.

"Felina, please, if you have any mercy in you, end me..." 

Felina's cheek twitches once as she drops to the ground in the earth guardian's lee. Twice. Aliema...Moorn...this much sorcery already in the air, her own energy where it is...she tries one last thing. Feeding Mi'ehna power.

Aliema raises her hands, as if to cast again, but lowers them. "I can't do this. Please, Nor, get out of the way. Please."

The earth elemental doesn't budge.

Mi'ehna's energy level rises, enough that she can begin to fight back. Strands snap, one by one.

Moorn's eyes well up. He closes them as he clamps down on the spell, shattering both of Mi'ehna's arms and dragging her to the ground again.

"Grk.!! Felina...!"

The fire and water caretakers lower their heads. This is indeed a dark, horrible day.


Felina's teeth grit tighter. She doesn't jump when a molar breaks. Then she closes her eyes, resigned. When she opens them again a moment later, there's a despondent determination. She gathers her energy into a slashing, devestating, purely psychic attack, designed to sever nearly every strand in the mind, fatal whenever it connects. And this is the energy that bursts at Mi'ehna's mind.

There is little question in the result of the attack. Mi'ehna's entire body jolts, her back arched, eyes frozen in a glassy stare for a split second. Then... nothing. She lays perfectly still, her last breath sighing from between her bloody lips.

Aliema falls to her knees, knowing that she had caused this, knowing it was necessary, but... unwilling to accept it. 

"Mi'ehna...?" Radivishe Moorn's spell disspipates in an instant. "Mi'ehna?" He nudges her. "No you won't! No!"

Felina's eyes close, and she sinks back limply onto her feet, a tear sliding down her cheek. Her ears have nothing supporting them upright at all, nor anything holding them down. She just...waits. For whatever comes next. She can't say she doesn't feel deeply sorry for Radivishe Moorn, for the first time in her life.

The earth elemental moans a very... whale like moan, and tramps over the fallen village leader. It kneels, and Moorn only pays it the barest attention. 

"I never meant this to happen," the sorcerer whispers, "of all the people... I never wanted you to die, Mi'ehna..."

Felina doesn't move from where she sits or open her eyes. She doesn't try to speak, though she doesn't feel right to leave unless he tells her to. Ironically, her protective instinct is focussed in some way on Moorn right now...and she's also just killed an innocent woman. She just sits still...for as long as it takes.

Moorn's hands clench, tight, so tightly that the crunch of bone cane be heard all the way across the village. Any other time he would have blasted this entire place to dust. But now... even he knows that he can only blame himself for this.

The earth elemental moans again, its voice rumbling the earth beneath it. Moorn looks at it, his eyes running with tears that haven't been shed in centuries, wondering at the suddenly immense flood of life sorcery flowing out of the beast's body. It's absolutely tremendous, this restorative power... it dwarfs his own. It is this power that catches the fading essence of Mi'ehna's life force and begins, slowly, to knit it back together. The elemental moans quietly as it works, not moving an inch.

Felina stiffens, looking up quickly and more startled than she cares to admit, before her eyes narrow to what's normal for their current lethargy. She can swear that that's the same spell she's sensed her father use...once. Maybe twice. Her senses are on high alert. She watches, ears perked for sound.

The elemental falters. The spell is just too complex for a creature of its limited intelligence, power level aside. Aliema looks up, eyes filled with wonder and a hint of confusion, before closing them and adding her strength to the spell as best she can.

Radivishe Moorn stares at them, perfectly perplexed, before opening his own mind and laying bare the nearly boundless wisdom that is there. The spell begins to pick up somewhat. Mi'ehna's body glows, and her hair takes on a soft, skye-blue color.

One edge of Felina's lips twitches, but she walks over to the elemental, and touches it gently, offering both her power...and her limited but existant knowledge of what she's now sure is this exact spell. Tel-tiono had never taught it to her, as he'd considered its necessary power expenditure too dangerous to her at this point in her life, but...she had tried to learn by watching. by watching many, many times with psychic recollection.

The elemental moans again, an eerie, soulful sound the emenates from only god knows where. Felina's recollections are exactly what the spell needs, and the result is instant and fantastic. Mi'ehna glows a bright white for a few seconds, and then fades again. Her wounds remain open, her hair blue, her eyes closed. 

Only now, she's breathing. 

Felina lets out her breath, and takes a knee beside Mi'ehna quickly, hands on her chest, working "oridinary" healing magic--powerful stuff, only plain compared to the spell just used. She's still silent.

The elemental sits back, exhausted. It had blown off more power than it could really have used up, but it is content. Rest is good.

Aliema stares down at Mi'ehna for only a moment, turns, and walks away. She has no right to participate in any joy that occurs here, after what she's done, and she knows it.

Radivishe Moorn remains silent as well. What could he say? "I'm glad you're a live, now, I'm taking you!" No. Not this time.

There are a thousand things Felina wants to know. Of everyone. But those musings are all but mute...her concentration's on Mi'ehna as she finishes knitting the dangerous wounds, then the arms, until she finally eases back on the sleep spells that had ensured unconsciousness through that pain. "Mi'ehna?" she inquires softly, laying a gentle hand on the other telepath's forehead.

Mi'ehna gasps, her face scrunching a bit. "Mother?" She blinks open her eyes, which, not surprisingly, shine with the same blue as her hair. "Felina? How did... where am I?" She looks up, sees the inscrutable expression on Moorn's face. "Why is he still here?"

"He helped bring you back. Are you okay?" Felina's eyes are soft and quietly...overjoyed...at Mi'ehna being alive after all.

"He did?" She blinks at him. "I feel less than excellent, Felina, but... odd as it is, I think i will live. Help me up?"

Felina nods, and slips an arm gently under Mi'ehna's,numbing her pain and replenishing no doubt nauseating energy loss. "So," she inquires softly... "are we leaving Dothaven, or not?"

Moorn glances up at Felina, only for a moment. Help her? No. Yes. Goddammit. "I suppose I should pull the others out of stasis and send them, as well..."

He smirks at Mi'ehna's shocked look. "What?" he demands. "Did you not notice that the Malufels did not attack when I 'sent them away'? They will this time. You must be prepared, Felina, to keep them back until we are all out."

Well, that explains that inconsistency. Bastard. Felina nods, though. She's not sure whether he'll take the trouble to pull her out as well, but...doesn't try to extract a promise of this. She can fight her way out later if necessary, she's confident of that. She looks down at Mi'ehna. "Don't you dare try to help. No matter what happens. I'm nothing if not resilient."

"All I ever seem able to do is bleed and die, Felina." Mi wobbles on her feet, but she's standing at least. "I will stay back."

The earth elemental rumbles, stomps its feet. It is perfectly willing to help.

Moorn steps back, his mouth closed, eyes still wet. He begins to quietly chant, as the blue aura appears around himself, Mi'ehna, and yes, Felina as well.

Stomping footsteps once again herald the coming of the beast. The younger one, though, hangs back in the hallway instead of approaching... it is being punished for attacking Moorn without just cause. Well... its version of just cause, anyway.

Felina puts a hand on the earth caretaker a moment, for gratitude, then lets out her breath slowly...draws her sword and begins to weave a time distortion spell around it. Actually, it's at least slightly more than a mimic this time. She's gaining more understanding of it, just from sensing it so often. She takes off for the edge of town at a quick clip to meet the monster.

Malufel moves to meet her as well, its heat sensors sealed, ready for a fight. Leaps at the very last second, insectoid arms firing out to snag Felina and drag her into the glimmering space in its torso.

Felina may be predictable, but she's far from inflexible. Her step stutters slightly when an almost-jump turns into an only slightly risky slide under the malufel. Being small and quick can be lovely. She springs up, sword raised, and plunges it towards the monster's back. Well. At least she'll have its full attention.

The blade finds home, and the Malufel thrashes with all of its strength to throw her off.

Well, this is fun... Sarcasm, of course. One "sticky-hands" spell later, Felina's just staying in the middle of the Malufel's back and trying to take advantage of its lack of flexibility...though very ready to jump.

Moorn's chanting is starting to reverberate all over the village area... to Mi'ehna, it's getting creepy as hell.

The Malufel straightens up, its insect arms shooting out again... even longer, their segments bending around its massive body to reach for Felina.

The earth elemental swings its monstrous arm at the beast, and the force of the blow sounds like a the roar of a hundred cannons. The malufel staggers with Felina on its back.

Yeep! Felina launches herself off of its back and lands about thirty feet behind it. Gathers a psionic impact spell and flings it at the Malufel's head.

Without the time distortion affecting the spell, the Malufel largely resists it. Its huge arms are tied up with the earth elemental's, but obvious cracks are beginning to form in the surface of the elemental's body. The Malufel is simply too strong.

Felina grits her teeth, not willing to let it just destroy an ally. She leaps again, lands on its massive upper arm, and stabs the sword down towards the forearm.

The Malufel screams... no grumbling, a piercing screech, and shoves the elemental away with its insect arms. In the same motion it turns its massive body and swings its arm, still attached to Felina's sword, at the ground.

Felina knows better than to refuse to let go at tis point. She springs off the arm and lands unusually hard on the Malufel's "head".

The light around them all grows that much more brightly, and though there is no sound, Mi'ehna is calling for Felina to come closer to them. 

The Malufel bucks like a rabid bull, its feet crushing the earth down beneath its feet, and its growls overpowering every other sound in the room. Quick as a wink, Felina jumps back to the creature's again-raised forearm long enough to grab her sword and leaps off of it entirely, ending up significantly closer to Mi'ehna and Moorn though keeping slight distance. She's sure it will attack her...and here she should be able to get the others safe if Moorn isn't fast enough.

The beast rushes, stomping down and shattering the foot of the earth elemental in mid run. The elemental stays down, but it doesn't seem to be in pain thanks to ungodly amounts of healing sorcery it has placed there.

The Malufel moves like black lightning, and swings for Felina... a swing that, if she moves, will strike Mi'ehna instead.

Felina recognizes this, and grits her teeth...she solidifies shields and herself with all her most powerful psionics, and braces for impact.

The impact of beast against shields literally cleaves open the ground beneath them, but the Malufel cannot instantly shatter them, only damage them. 

"twenty seconds, Felina..." Radivishe Moorn's voice sounds only softly.

Felina appreciates the update, though she's certainly a wee bit too busy to acknowledge it. Alright...you know what? I'll be damned if you're invincible. And I'll be damned if there isn't some way to overpower you! Exactly what triggered this bust of energy is anyone's guess...it probably has a lot to do with its being one of the only ways to keep Mi'ehna from being hurt sooner or later.

She can't affect the Malufel with magic directly, but indirectly...a huge measure of Felina's power shifts to enhancing her physical strength. She grabs hold of the Malufel's wrist through her shields, destroying them, and tries to drag the monster along with her at a horridly awkward angle that will put it off balance.

Not really expecting her to suddenly be so much stronger, the Malufel pitches off to one side with her, its massive girth rolling along with her. Mi'ehna screams at her, silently though. The beast's torso splits, bathing Felina in violet light. Its insectoid limbs shoot out and envelop Felina, dragging her inward.

"Five seconds, Fe..."

The light bursts, blackening everything around Felina and transporting her instantly to Inverse Time.