Ranma and the Defender of the Light

------------------

            chapt. 3:  Teyledras (Part B)

------------------


It had been about an hour before we decided to head back.  Ranma and 
Akane were still watching the stage, but I knew Ranma had gotten up at 
least once, because he had an empty plate next to him.  A singer was now 
on the stage.  Apparently, Ranma and Akane had managed to stay out of 
trouble.  I walked over to them and asked, "Are you two enjoying the 
party?"

"Um, yeah sure.  I'm going to get some more food.  Akane, you want 
anything?"

"No thanks; I've had enough for now."

"Ranma?  While you're up could you get me a couple of those honey 
cakes?"

"Sure."  He got up and went over to the other clearing.

"Erik?  Why do girls keep giving Ranma feathers?"

Krystal laughed, until I glared at her.  "Oh no.  How many does he 
have?"

"Three--that I know of."

"None of the girls mentioned anything about the feathers being from 
their bondbirds, did they?"

By this time Ranma had returned, and answered, "No, why?  Is this 
something important?"  Before answering, I ate one of the cakes he had 
brought, and gave Krystal the other.

"I didn't think any would have, but we're talking about the person who's 
engaged to someone because he beat her in a martial arts tournament."

"Huh?" Ranma and Akane asked together.

"The Teyledras marriage ceremony is very simple.  The couple exchanges 
feathers from their bondbirds.  This can be done publicly, or they can 
just start wearing the other's feather in their hair."

"So what do other types of feathers mean?" Akane demanded.

"Just that the person giving the feather wishes to spend one or more 
nights with the person receiving it."

"Ranma, YOU JERK!!"  Akane suddenly held a very large mallet and was 
about to smash it over Ranma's head.  I reached up and stopped its 
descent with telekinesis.

"Put that away," I told her.  "Yelling at Ranma--or beating on 
him--won't help matters.  I'll talk to you later about that mallet.  For 
now, let's see what we can do to rectify this situation."

By this time the singer had finished, and approached us.  "My name is 
Shadowsinger."

"We enjoyed your performance," Akane told him.

"Thank you."  He addressed Akane specifically now, and pulled a feather 
from his pocket.  "Would you be willing to accept this?"

"Why you PERVERT!!"

"AKANE, I believe I told you to put that away."  I was pointing at the 
mallet that had once again appeared in her hands.  Shadowsinger took the 
opportunity to flee.  "Can't you refuse his advances politely?"  By this 
time several others were staring at us.  The stage was currently empty, 
so our altercation wasn't interrupting anything.

"Um, uh--"

"Never mind, it was a rhetorical question.  We need to deal with this 
situation of Ranma's.  First of all, do you remember who gave you the 
feathers?"

"Um, no."

"That's bad, but not insurmountable.  Of course, having to go up to them 
and return them without knowing their names could be embarrassing..."

"What!?!  You want me to return them?!?"

"It's your only choice.  If you don't, all three young ladies will be 
expecting to spend tonight with you.  While many Teyledras wouldn't 
necessarily object, it's considered polite to let them know ahead of 
time--"

"What?!!" Akane practically exploded.

"Did you think I was kidding when I said they had few sexual 
inhibitions?"  I turned back to Ranma.  "In theory you could keep one.  
Of course, the other two girls would be extremely angry with both you 
and her.  I don't recommend it."

"Ranma...." Akane growled her anger.  To magesight, she glowed with 
unfocused power.  I readied myself to counter anything she might do with 
it.

"Akane, if anything, this is my fault for not warning you.  And for 
leaving you alone for all this time.  You really can't blame Ranma for 
the actions of girls who find him attractive."  Akane turned to face me, 
still seething with anger.  I needed to calm her down, and could think 
of only one way to do so.  I leaned over and whispered to her, "You 
realize of course, that I know how you really feel about Ranma?  Let's 
just get this situation taken care of; we can argue about it later."  As 
I thought, the astonishment was enough to replace her anger.  The glow 
of power surrounding her vanished.

"You...you won't tell him?"

"I told you that anything I learned while in your mind would be held 
confidential.  Of course I won't."

Ranma had missed most of our exchange.  "Wa...What's _that_?"  He was 
pointing at the next being to ascend the stage.  It walked upright, but 
had (nonfunctional) wings instead of arms.  A glorious tail dragged the 
ground from under its unadorned robe.  Its head also bore feathers, and 
ended in a pronounced beak rather than a human mouth.

"Don't point; it's not polite."  I reached up and gently pushed Ranma's 
arm back to his side.  "On second thought, dealing with your admirers 
can wait a half hour or so.  The song of a tervardi is never to be 
missed when one has the opportunity to hear it.  I'm surprised that 
there are any here with so many non-Teyledras in the Vale."

It is impossible to describe tervardi song to anyone who has not heard 
it.  I'm told that a chorus of them is even more beautiful, but can not 
comprehend how that is possible.  The song immediately enchanted Akane, 
and even Ranma stopped to listen.  When it ended, they both wore 
expressions of loss.  Krystal and I probably did as well.  It was some 
time before anyone else took the stage.  The four of us were silent and 
unmoving until then.

"Well," I finally said.  "Ranma and I have problems to straighten out.  
Akane?  Would you stay here with Krystal until we return?"

"Um, oh, yeah, sure."  She was obviously still affected by that song.  
So was Ranma.

"So, how are we going to this?" he was finally able to ask.

"You're going to give me one of the feathers.  I'm going to cast a spell 
on it so that it will point to the person who gave it to you.  We will 
go find her.  From there it's up to you."

"What!?!  You can't just leave this to me!"

"I have to.  If I talk to them, it will seem like you're incompetent to 
do so yourself.  You don't want that, do you?"  Akane laughed, knowing 
that Ranma could not help but respond to a blow to his pride.

He tried to get out of it, though.  "Why can't I just lock my door?  
That'll keep them away, right?"

It was my turn laugh.  "What door?  You didn't see one into your room, 
did you?  The last time I checked, curtains of beads don't exactly come 
equipped with locks."

"Yeah, I guess.  You gotta help me, though.  I just can't do this."

Ranma admitting that he can't do something!!  I was flabbergasted.  
Akane also looked incredibly shocked.

"It's not that hard.  Just explain that you were not aware of the 
significance of the feather, and, had you been, you would not have 
accepted it.  Try not to make it sound like you're not rejecting the 
girl personally."

"Okay, I think I can do that.  Here's the first feather."  He handed me 
one, and I closed my eyes, concentrated, and muttered a spell.  The 
feather spun in my hand to point toward the back of the Vale.

"I think we'll wait on this one.  It's pointing toward the springs.  I 
think confronting her while she's bathing would be a bad idea.  Let me 
have one of the others."

"Yeah, that would be bad.  Here you are."  I easily transferred the 
spell from the first feather to this one.  It, too, spun in my hand, to 
point directly at a young lady who walking over from the other clearing, 
carrying a plate of food.  I pointed her out to Ranma and returned that 
feather.  He, looking as if he was going to confront his worst 
nightmare, walked over to her.  A few minutes later I heard her 
laughter.  She graciously accepted the returned feather and wandered 
off, presumably to find someone else to give it to.

Ranma came back over and said, "That was certainly easier than I 
expected."

"I'd have told you she'd probably react that way, but I don't think 
you'd have believed me.  Let's have the next one."  Once I had cast the 
spell, it pointed back toward the entrance to the Vale.  "Come on," I 
told Ranma.  "Let's go visit her."

The feather led us to an ekele about halfway between the main clearing 
and the entrance.  As we passed the heartstone, Ranma gasped, "Oh that's 
bright."  I had automatically dampened my magesight as we approached it.  
To me, the huge crystal mounted on a spit of rock glowed with a pure 
white light, but was not blinding.  A heartstone is a type of power 
reserve that can be created at a magical node.  Unlike natural nodes, 
there are no ley lines that take power away from heartstones.  Every 
line that leads to a heartstone brings power to it.  It is with these 
artifacts that the Teyledras perform their tremendous feats of magic, 
including local weather control, rendering the Vale invisible from the 
outside, and encouraging plant growth where they want it while hindering 
it where they don't.  The trees in which they mount their ekeles are 
created in this way.

"Yeah, it would be blinding to an untrained latent.  The ekele's over 
here.  Do you want me to dampen your mage-sight?"  He shook his head no, 
and we went over to the ekele.  I pulled the hanging bell-cord to get 
the attention of the occupant.

"I'll be down in a minute," she called.

"Ranma?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be over here."  I wandered away to let them talk privately.  When 
Ranma returned, he didn't look as pleased at the result.  "What's 
wrong?"

"She was hurt.  She said that I was the only person she'd ever given a 
feather to.  I didn't want to hurt anyone!"

That was almost certainly a lie on her part, but I didn't tell him that.  
"It's not too late to go back and tell her that you will spend tonight 
with her."

"I can't do that!"

"Sometimes there's no way to avoid hurting someone.  Trust me, I've been 
there."

"That doesn't help very much."

"I know.  It never gets any easier.  Or, if it does, then you've become 
too much like the people I fight against.  Let's go back and wait for 
your other admirer to finish her bath."  We returned to Krystal and 
Akane.  I set the feather on a flat rock, so that it could swing freely 
to point the appropriate direction.  I also added an alarm spell to 
alert me if it moved significantly.  It wasn't long before it did move, 
and I pointed it out to Ranma.  "I'd say she's getting food."

"I can't do this.  I can't hurt someone else like I hurt that other 
girl."

I tried to be as gentle with him as possible.  "You have to talk to her.  
Unless you want to spend the night with her."

>From beside me, I sensed a flash of power.  I looked over to where Akane 
was talking to Krystal.  Akane was glowing again.  The glow vanished 
after Ranma said, "I can't do that either."

"Then you have to talk to her now.  Trust me, she's much more likely to 
react the way the first one did."  He nodded, picked up the feather, and 
went to find her.  He returned in somewhat better spirits.  "Well?"

"You were right.  But I still don't like what happened with that other 
girl."  He sat down and turned his attention to the stage, where a small 
group was performing an intricate dance.

Sometime later, the party was winding down.  Most of the food had been 
eaten.  Akane was beginning to yawn, and Ranma also looked a little 
tired.  The four of us headed to the guest quarters.  As we entered, 
Krystal and I each conjured a magelight.  She turned and attached hers 
to the wall.  I put mine on the inside of Ranma's bedroom, conjured 
another, and put in on the inside of Akane's bedroom.  "When you're 
ready to go to sleep, just touch the light and tell it to go out."

"Just touch the light and tell it to go out??"

"I believe that's what I said, yes."  I leaned down to the entrance, 
spoke a few words, drew a line across in front of it with one finger, 
and spoke a few more words.  The line glowed blue briefly, and faded to 
invisibility.

"Was that really necessary?" Krystal asked me.

"Probably not."

"What was it?" Akane asked.

"Is.  A ward.  Should someone cross that line in the night, it will 
awaken me."

"You'll wake up every time a hertasi comes in," Krystal warned.

"I've set it to ignore them.  Speaking of hertasi..." I turned to Ranma 
and Akane "...before you go bed, put your clothes just outside the 
curtain.  They'll be cleaned and returned before morning."

"And just what are hertasi?"

"The other non-human race that lives with Teyledras.  You've already 
seen dyheli and tervardi.  Hertasi are very shy--especially around 
strangers--which is why you haven't seen any.  They do a lot of what we 
would consider to be menial work in the Vales.  They enjoy it, are far 
better at it than almost all humans, and free up humans to do things 
that they are physically unable to do.  Twice a year, they take a 
holiday and the Teyledras hold a celebration in their honor.  It's said 
that no hertasi would allow this to be done more often, simply because 
they can't stand human cooking."

Ranma laughed.  Akane simply glared at me in disbelief.  "Go on, go to 
bed."  They vanished into their respective bedrooms.  Soon, two piles of 
clothing appeared outside the curtains.  Krystal and I set up our own 
bedding in one side of the main room, tossed our clothes nearby, and 
crawled in.  Krystal gestured, extinguishing the magelight.

A couple hours later, my ward awakened me.  I sat up and conjured a 
magelight.  A young woman wearing a loose white robe and long, unbound, 
silver hair had just stepped in.  She looked at me and said, "I'm 
looking for Ranma."

"He's asleep."

"But..."

"And has chosen to spend tonight alone."

Seeing that I would not allow her to pass, she left.  I let the 
magelight vanish, and lied back down.  A few minutes later the ward 
alerted me again.  Once again, I conjured a magelight.  The same young 
lady looked at me, sighed, and left.  Deciding that I wasn't interested 
in being awakened like this again, I strengthened the ward into a 
barrier against her.  Then I placed a second ward of the same type as 
the first in a semicircle around the entrance, so I would still be 
alerted should someone else enter.  No one did.

The next morning, Ranma and Akane took turns in the bath.  Krystal and I 
used one of the public springs.  She teleported away afterward.  I went 
to get Ranma and Akane and took them to visit the shaman.

We walked down the row of guest quarters.  Upon reaching the first one, 
I knocked on the door.

"Enter."  And we did.

"Shaman."  I bowed slightly before her, and sat down.  As I had 
instructed them, Ranma and Akane bowed somewhat deeper, and joined me on 
the floor.

"Mage."  From her seated position, she bowed to the same degree I had.  
Her clothing was similar to that of a Teyledras mage, but lacked the 
adorning feathers.

"I have come to ask your advice in a matter that may concern all of us."

"It is a rare thing when an elite mage asks advice of a mere shaman.  
Speak on."

"Part of being an elite mage is learning to recognize limitations, and 
not to hesitate to ask for aid if it is needed."

"This is also part of shamanic training.  Speak on."

"The matter concerns a curse."

"Curses are easily dealt with.  You know the ritual as well as I do."

"And what, pray tell, should one do when the ritual fails?"

"It has never failed."

"It did.  Yesterday."

"Speak on."

"First, I think you should know the background.  Ranma, would you please 
explain your curse to the shaman?  Shaman, I ask that you forgive Ranma 
for any transgressions he may make in the protocol.  His ways are not 
ours."

"Very well, we will dispense with protocol for now.  Ranma?"

"It begins with a training trip my father started me on when I was very 
young.  Toward the end of this trip, we entered a training ground called 
known as Jusenkyo.  Jusenkyo lies in a valley between mountains.  The 
valley contains hundreds of small springs.  Standing in the springs are 
wooden poles.  The purpose of the training is to improve balance by 
leaping from one pool to another without falling into any of the 
springs.  My father and I not only practiced balance, but also midair 
combat.  We each fell into a different spring.  Each spring is cursed in 
such a way that whoever falls into that spring will take the form of the 
first creature to drown in it.  Hot water returns the person to normal, 
but cold water returns them to the cursed form.  I know of 3 others 
cursed in this manner."

"Might I see this curse in action?"

Once again, I bowed briefly before her.  "Shaman, I ask your permission 
to use magic in your presence."

She returned my bow.  "Mage, you have my permission."

I reached into the fourth dimension for a bowl.  Then, I filled it with 
water from the same source.  "Cold water."  I handed the bowl to the 
shaman.  "If you will splash him with it, you may witness his 
transformation."

She took the bowl, and upended it over Ranma's head.  "Interesting.  How 
many of these springs are there again?"

"Ranma, do you know the exact number?"

"I'm not sure that anyone does.  The curses I've seen are Giant Panda, 
Black Piglet, Cat, and Duck.  I also know that there is a Spring of 
Drowned Man.  I believe that a curse from this spring would replace my 
own curse, effectively curing me.  Of course, that would involve 
returning to Jusenkyo and _finding_ that spring.  With so many to choose 
from, it seems impractical."

"I see.  You change back with hot water?"

"Would you like a demonstration?"  I retrieved the bowl, filled it 
again, and focused magic to heat the water.  Once again, I handed it to 
the shaman, warning her, "Be careful; it's hot."

She took the bowl, being careful not to burn herself, and dumped the hot 
water on Ranma.  "I'd like to see each change one more time."

"Ready?"

"I'm watching."

This time I dumped the water directly on Ranma.

"And the change back please?"

Once again, I dumped hot water directly on him.

"Now, mage, tell me _exactly_ what happened when you performed the 
ritual of curse-removal."

"Before I began I had Ranma change to his cursed form, and told him to 
concentrate on the curse itself,  After the first stage, the herbs 
glowed normally and the circle formed.  The second stage reacted 
normally as well.  In fact, everything did until I finished the final 
verse.  The gathered power should have flowed into him smoothly, 
countering the curse.  Instead, the power remained in the symbols and 
items on the floor.  The entire design flared, temporarily blinding the 
only witness.  The herbs were incinerated, leaving scorch marks on the 
floor of the building.  Ranma vomited and passed out.  The power 
gathered by the initial stages of the ritual was expended on these 
meaningless, trivial things."

"What did you do then?"

"Once I saw that the power had, in fact, been spent, I incinerated 
Ranma's vomit, and performed a magical scan of him.  I found no damage 
whatsoever.  Then, I splashed him with hot water.  The water, or the 
shock of transformation, awakened him.  To make absolutely certain that 
the curse had not been effected by the ritual in any way, I splashed him 
with cold water once again, and then again with hot.  The 
transformations proceeded as you have seen here, and as I had seen 
earlier, before I attempted the ritual.  There is only one thing I can 
think of that I could have done that might have caused it to fail.  I 
performed it while he was in his cursed state.  Should I have performed 
it when he was normal?"

"No, I think not.  The ritual is designed to work on an active curse.  
If the curse were not active--if he was in his normal form--it would 
have no effect...you did right to perform it as you did.  There is one 
other slim possibility.  What of the items that you used?  Are you 
absolutely certain that they were correct?"

"Sorcerer's paste is one item that I keep available.  Admittedly, the 
jar I used was almost two years old.  Therefore, I used a little of it 
to cast a simple drowsing spell as a test.  The drowsing spell worked as 
expected, so I knew I could use it for this safely.  Herb lore is not 
something I'm familiar with, so I keep an herbalist on my staff.  He 
provided everything else.  He assured me that the nightshade and 
powdered mavensleaf were properly aged.  The tincture, of course, has to 
be fresh.  He mixed it in my presence, so I know it was good as well."

"In that case, I can't find anything wrong with the ritual as you 
performed int.  This is unnerving to think that a curse exists that the 
ritual can not remove.  If one does, might not others?  If others do, 
could a shaman or mage create more?  The existence of the ritual is the 
only thing that prevents many mages from throwing curse after curse at 
their enemies.  This could destabilize the entire power balance."

"It's possible, though I do not think the danger is as great as that.  
Remember, curses laid by deities are unaffected by the ritual.  Should 
someone learn of this curse, and that it did not respond to the ritual, 
he or she would assume that that is the reason.  We know that this is 
not the case because the power summoned by the ritual flows to the deity 
that laid such a curse.  I find it unlikely that someone would learn the 
details of what happened that day.  Still, a quiet warning to friendly 
groups might not be amiss."

"Nabiki knows.  She'd sell any information, if the price was right," 
Akane contributed.

"Nabiki does not know the significance of her knowledge.  And," I glared 
at both Ranma and Akane.  "She will _not_ find out.  Is that clear?"

They both stammered their assurances.

"Maybe I should put a compulsion on her not to tell...or blur her 
memories of the incident...."

"It might not be a bad idea."

"I'll have to carefully read the rules of telepathy again, and determine 
if this warrants doing so.  Still, even if Nabiki doesn't sell the info, 
it's possible someone will learn of it.  The only way to prevent that is 
to prove that this curse does have a cure.  Any ideas?"

"Only one.  I'm surprised you haven't done this already, in fact.  
Return to this Jusenkyo place and retrieve a sample of the water that 
causes this curse.  I'm sure you can determine how the water creates the 
original curse.  With that knowledge, you should be able to devise a 
counter."

"I've thought of that.  I have tried.  I have been to Jusenkyo once.  It 
was there that I first met Ranma.  When I arrived there, I was fleeing 
the clones of the Dark Alliance.  With help from Ranma and Krystal, I 
was able to destroy them.  But, in the process, I had fireballed one of 
the springs.  Apparently, Jusenkyo is capable of protecting its 
existence.  A fourth-dimensional barrier now surrounds it, making it 
impossible to teleport there.  Normally, this can be gotten around by 
teleporting somewhere nearby and walking the rest of the way.  I tried 
that.  Barrier wards surround the valley.  I am unable to enter.  
Thinking that the wards might be set against me specifically, I sent one 
of my agents to try.  He, too, was unable to enter.  I believe that the 
wards must be selective, but have no idea who is permitted entry."

"Then I am afraid I am unable to aid you in this matter.  You may want 
to try other rituals.  Perhaps one will work.  Or, you could concentrate 
on the wards.  If they are selective--and I agree that they must be--you 
could possibly find someone capable of entering, or deceive them into 
permitting your entry."

I bowed to her once again.  "I thank you for hearing our words, and 
considering our problem."

She returned my bow.  "I have heard you, and you have heard me, and our 
words have come to an end."

I picked up my bowl, and gestured to Ranma and Akane to follow me 
outside.

"All that for nothing!"  Ranma was disappointed, as was I.

"We'll just have to try something else.  Let's go get your things, and 
leave."

Once they had gathered everything they had brought with them, we 
teleported back to the Tendo Dojo.  Since Ranma had said that he and 
Akane had no school the next day, I added the time we had spent here to 
the time we left, and returned then.  A few extra hours might not seem 
like much, but hours can add up.  After all, in the universe in which I 
was born, those who did not know my nature believed me to be in my early 
twenties.  A look at any form of identification I possessed would 
confirm that.  However, if you included the time I had spent in other 
universes, I had lived for over three centuries.

------------------

Part C will follow


--
Erik

"What's more dangerous than a mage out to rule the entire world?  Why, a 
mage at play, of course...."

        -Ed Greenwood, "Elminster at the Magefair"

http://www.cs.transy.edu/ejessup/homepage.html
--



______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com