Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Re: Brighter lights and Louder sounds!! Message-ID: From: jgreene@dorm.rutgers.edu (Jeffrey Greene) Date: 16 Oct 92 18:26:54 GMT References: <1992Oct13.080258.3106@wkuvx1.bitnet> <1992Oct13.153738.3132@wkuvx1.bitnet> fannicm@wkuvx1.bitnet writes: > "RuneCaster?" she exclaims as a look of surprise crosses her face. "You >honor me with that which I have not earned, good sir! A name is not a gift >to be given or taken lightly, and I fear that I have not earned the right >to bear a name. I do thank you for your kindness, tho I cannot accept such >a name." > Indigo and Ixy can both see, however, that their kindness is not >without effect. The young drow sits higher in her seat and a sparkle has >come into her dark blue eyes that were downcast and sad but a few moments >before. >> "However, I am gladdened by your desire to set things right, may you have >> good hunting and warm currents. Godspeed." > "May you always find Sunny and Sweet Waters." "Thank you, RuneCaster. If you think yourself unworthy of the name, then think of it as a title, a label, a convienient phrase," explains Indigo. The merman, with quick and deft mental skill, locks the secret of RuneCaster his mental probes have discovered within his mind. Skill, not power alone, could open it, so the secret was safe for now. "And RuneCaster, hurry back from fixing the runes. I would like very much to learn what I did wrong, so as to not repeat my mistakes." The merman weighed his next words carefully. "In return, I would gladly instruct you in the use of your own powers, maybe allowing you to control them, to stop the voices in your head. You are powerful, but untrained. As my inexperience with runes is dangerous, so is your inexperience with matters of the mind. You probably never noticed the probe, never knew I was in your mind at all." Indigo swam in circles in his tank, wondering who he could help next. The phu was interesting, but really hard to understand. He never met an ancient one before, but he had figured that they would have at least taken time out to learn modern languages. This Ixy fellow seemed helpful enough, but did he have the courage to aid the drow, whose very name poses a threat? The Blade sinkers seemed pleased enough, once they got over the initial shock, that Blade was still around for questioning. But will Tawm be pleased to see them? And this drow, this RuneCaster, whose name was so dangerous that it had to be locked within his subconscious, what will become of her? She is powerful, but untrained, probably cursing her power instead of embracing it. He recalled his own lessons in screening out the psi-noise constantly around him. He remembered his first lessons in psionic defense, and of psionic skill. He thought of how his tutors had molded his mind like clay into a razor edge. Her mind was not formless clay, however; it was like shattered glass - could he help her rebuild it without getting cut? Like the tide, all of these things will come to shore in time. And, like the shells and crabs revealed by the lowering water, what treasures lie on the sands of the future will only be revealed when he looked. -jak