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Date Posted: 20:41:52 12/11/01 Tue
Author: Isobel
Subject: A return to reality
In reply to: Erlic Eastlore 's message, "Do unto others" on 19:47:50 12/11/01 Tue

As they re-entered the original chamber and smelled the food laid out before them, Isobel grinned at the old man.

"So, old one. We have passed your tests," she stated.

“Come, my friends, come, and join me for dinner!” the old man cried jovially.

Isobel and her compadres briefly exchanged looks, deciding without speaking that it would probably be best to sit down to a meal this time. Besides, she was famished, having eaten nothing since breaking her fast this morning (unless you counted the cup of blood she drank at the fire tonight).

The food was delicious and they ate their fill. "I wonder if the others are having as fine a meal as this?" she wondered aloud, and grinned at her friends.

As they ate, the old man explained himself further, then began to enlighten them. Ah! Isobel thought, The tests of enlightenment! But the things that the old man said were so odd....

Ravin was apparently a master thief with empathic powers that he needed to develop. Erlic, whose real name she now learned was Lon Su, could be cold and cruel or compassionate and warm yet needed to learn balance and a middle ground. (She found these revelations about her new friends most interesting.)

As for herself... she looked at her father's sword. The old man said it held many secrets. Isobel stared at it, nearly scoffing. This worthless sword did not even have a name! It was old and battered and the only reason she still had it was that it was her father's. What secrets could it possibly hold? Still...

“But I have tarried too long," the old man said. "You came, and passed the test in accordance to the rules set, and it is now time for you to leave, and re-join your friends.” Isobel saw that a door had appeared behind him. “That will lead you directly out of this room to an area just outside your camp," he said, and vanished.

Erlic opined that they should leave while they had the chance, and Isobel agreed. "Indeed, Frio... I would not care to undergo these tests a second time tonight." It was then that Erlic discovered the gem in his pouch. Isobel and Ravin quickly searched their own pouches, and there embedded in the bread she had stuffed into her pouch that morning was a large red gem. Ravin's was blue. All three gems were the same, save their color. "This must be worth a fortune!" she breathed, and smiled at the others, who were wearing expressions to match her own.

“Maybe it was worth the test,” Erlic said.

"Indeed," Isoble replied, then winced slightly and touched her side, expecting a sharp pain. But... it was healed! She gasped and looked at her friends. They, too, bore no sign of the injuries they had suffered.

"It seems the old man has given us more than the pearls and gems," she said as they headed back to the camp, stuffing the gem back into her pouch. She fell silent then, contemplating what they had just been through and what the old man had told them.

She was startled out of her reverie by Justin's crude comment: "Hey, you guys must have had a threesome! Why wasn't I invited?" Isobel snorted at him in disgust. "Because you are a smelly, disgusting pig with the personality of a goat," she said as she brushed past him to take a seat on a rock near the fire.

Marz was apparently learning to play a lute, and the camp was filled with laughter, warmth, and music. Isobel found herself holding her father's sword on her lap, looking closely at it. "Tell me your secrets," she whispered to the sword. But it was silent as always.

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