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Before answering him she 'rewound' her memory to the moment where she had looked down on Vahn and Providence and froze the picture.

"I think it's you..." She'd never thought something else but for the first time it occured to her that it also could have been fake, or an illusion. Still, would it make sense?
A meeting with Vahn or some of the others who had been in the arena's center could maybe provide them with better answers.

"And for the arena: it was destroyed on that very day."
Lucind told him about the tornado she had witnessed being outside the building - and the phoenix which had suddenly risen from the stadium and apparently annihilated the extreme storm.

"Remember when I told you about 'the' stadium being rebuild and the docks leading to it? Well, it happened all there..."

"His name is Vahn. But I can't really tell you much about him..."

Despite having seen him many, many times, all she knew was that this man belonged to the so called Kyonuske clan. His special ability was high level fire manipulation and there were several almost legend-like stories winding around his being.

After a moment Lucind finished the incantation and the mirror vanished until only soft waves on the pond's surface reminded of its existance.
She didn't know what to say now...

She gazed down on the water and just knelt there alone for a while, her thoughts drifting along. When she had to yawn Lucind thought it might be time for her to go to bed: she needed as much sleep as possible to be fit for the next day, for their little experiment.
An hour later the woman was deeply sleeping.

The next morning, though, when she awoke and lay still under the warm and cuddly blanket a sudden attack of nervousness and doubt hit her which made her hastily sitting upright and getting out of bed to do something distracting.

She already felt better when she faced herself in the bathroom mirror, brushing her teeth.

Why did you invite him to your house at all?

Even a week after Hetel had asked her this Lucind still had no better answer than: It felt right.
And although the uncertainty about the possible consequences of the planned deed it also felt right to give it a try, to see what the monk saw every second of his life...



Lucind spent the rest of the morning and the whole afternoon with preparing, too.
That is, most of the time the Half-Siren sat in front of the pond, wrapped in a black, woolen coat and connected to the lhor'aven, either meditating and thus strengthening her psionic spheres as well as her body or reinforcing her mind's shields, doors and filters. She considered creating an 'emergency exit', something like a hidden stand by connection to the collective unconscious, which could serve her as a last option...for the worst case, so to speak.

After having a bit lunch she went to Kraun's room to ask him what exactly he was going to do. And where.

At this time of the year, sunset was on its way although it was only late afternoon.
Lucind walked out into the garden again as it was the easiest way for her to have the best and most reliable contact to a natural water source.

Before kneeling down on a plain, large pillow she asked Kraun if he'd like to have anything like this to have it more comfortable outside here.

First, the woman entered the lhor'aven another time to create that emergency exit: for this she didn't sink her legs into the pond like she had done before but simply hold her hand over the water and made the water spirits help her by winding around her fingers.

Then she sat back on her heels and faced Kraun to see if he was ready.

Having spent half the day 'swimming' in the collective unsonscious - longer than Lucind had ever done before - had made her calm, provided her with absolute control over herself, her emotions. The Siren part had taken over for now and enabled her to stand the monk's look without showing any signs of strain.

How strong her composure really was, if it was powerful enough for this, Lucind couldn't tell though for she just didn't know what was to come.
Yet the woman wasn't nervous anymore, nor in doubt. Her features seemed to be wiped clean.

And she did like she was asked to and closed her eyes.

She didn't answer, barely nodded upon Kraun's instruction.

The scenery that was presented to her, the visualisation of his mind was highly interesting but it didn't last for long so she had no chance to get a closer look on them. Still she could feel the tingling atmosphere on this place, a familiar cold and well hidden powers.

Then she was brought back, the now existing connection being of another kind than the one's she usually made during psionic tasks.
Her eyelids slightly burned. She heard Kraun's words and nodded again but waited several seconds, calmly checking her mental shields.

Finally, the woman slowly opened her eyes.

She saw Kraun sitting in front of her.

But she saw more than only him.

Much more.

It was as if her view pierced through every existing layer of the physical and spiritual reality. The garden, for example, was no longer empty: there were persons, spirits, lost souls, animals, a dragon even, all being cramped in the small garden. But everyone and everything acted for itself as if being alone there.

Her eyes didn't only see through the planes of space - but also of time. And this effect didn't only go for the garden. It didn't stop as if layer after layer was placed behind each other, each filled with information, visual impressions. A storm of physical and psychic stimulation which she wasn't able to handle. Even though she didn't actually move her eyes there was too much to see on one spot which her mind refused to categorize and work out.

Lucind didn't close her eyes. Nor retreated her hand.

The very moment she began to see the way the monk saw, her eyes widened in shock and her mouth dropped open. But no sound came over her lips.
She simply passed out after a couple of seconds, the mindblowing view melting her shields in an instance and making her emotions dwelling up in forceful waves.

Her collapse was an automatic reaction of her soul, not only to protect itself from going haywire but also Kraun's mind.




"Lucind?

....

Lucind?!"

"..."

"Open your eyes, Lucind."

She sighed and did like she was told. She was under water, floating on her back. It felt nice. Soothing. Whereas keeping her eyes open was exhausting. But before she was able to close them, she noticed someone else next to her, only blurred though. Lucind didn't want to turn her head to look at this someone.

Hands were placed on her back and she was being lifted, approaching the sea's surface and finally breaking through.

"I don't have to tell you how stupid this operation was. I thought you'd really changed your mind and decided to just leave it like that and listen to my advice."

Lying in Hetel's arms on the now solid surface wasn't nice at all, just uncomfortable. And it made her getting sleepy even faster.

"But I thought you were going to start something like this when I felt you taking precautions here all day long."

"..."

"I could feel his presence verly clearly even though I wasn't close. Which means, I could congratulate for having mastered such a contact without directly wandering to the 'last sea'. But I'd rather you stop testing your limits again and again with experiments like this."

"...shut up."
Lucind sighed. Hetel's voice was too loud, it made her temples throb.
Her mouth felt unpleasantly dry and swallowing was a pain.
"I want to sleep now...s'everything so hazy..."

At this point, Lucind thought to feel a strand being brushed out of her face and when her clanleader spoke again her voice sounded much softer.

"You know what happens when you overtax your mind's power. And with you being this weak even here that means it won't be no fun when you return."

The Half-Siren did know: her soul would temporarily take a certain amount of her physical strength to ensure a faster psionic recovery. And this time it wasn't just done with a long sleep.

"How much will I have to pay?"

It was shortly after midnight when Lucind breathed in and out deeply one time and slowly awoke. After Hetel had guided her back to leave the lhor'aven, Lucind had drifted into a deep sleep.

Her mouth softly twitched as well as her eyelids before she opened them.
The woman lay on her side, and stared straight ahead.
She blinked and frowned, then blinked again and the hand resting on the pillow clutched at the fabric. Her lips were suddenly squeezed together.

Then Lucind heaved a sigh and turned on her back, closing her eyes.

"How late is it?"

She'd been feeling Kraun's aura next to her.