First Encounter, Take Two! (Zorry and fire_by_rain)

OoC: Continuation of this thread, which sadly got abandoned before it really got started. Thanks for agreeing to pick this up again, guys. ^_^

BiC: It took a while, but eventually Bella collected herself. While she certainly could sit and mourn all day, it wouldn't do any good. It was almost dark, and if she wanted a chance to set up any kind of camp she needed to do it now. She began setting up a small shelter on the edge of the clearing. It might have looked strange to an outsider. Here was this perfect open space, and the tracker instead chose to set up among the trees. It didn't feel right to her, even all these years later, trying to camp where her home had once stood. The memories were still too strong. That was also why she would be eating dry rations tonight. She didn't really feel like starting a fire here...

All too soon she was done, and forced back into inactivity. She stared sadly into the open space, losing herself to memories once more. Years had gone by, and yet being here made her feel like a little girl once more, horror-struck to see her home in flames, her family buried somewhere underneath... She shook her head. Would the pain never go away?

~~~~~

Luna grew more excited by the minute. The two were discussing the girl! And planned to go looking for her! This had worked out even better than she'd hoped. The most she had expected was some dumb local to have news of a traveler, that may or may not have been her target. This was unexpectedly easy. She grinned, and waited.

OoC: So, yeah, it's not much, but as before there's still not a lot I can do yet. I can't wait until this thing really gets going! : D

OoC: Sorry it took me so long to reply. I know I used Zorlo in the first one... but I can't seem to find a way to fit him in here, Belle, sorry, so I'm gonna use Zachary.

BiC: Lost, lost, lost! This happened every time one of Zorlo's monkeys brought the ice mage a delayed order. Since the Aura Master had died five months ago, every so often, Monroe and Zachary would get an order about helping one of Zorlo's old associates or making sure someone was okay or something.

This most recent order, however, was a tad bit odd. Aside from the fact there had been at least two months between Zorlo's last order and this most recent one, it had very little to do with something very Zorlo agenda related. Instead, it seemed a bit off. Zorlo wanted Zachary to find a friend of the fencer's named Bella and make sure she was okay. Odd though this sounded, the ice mage figured it couldn't have been that dangerous.

Well, that thought had landed the ice mage... here. Wherever here was, that is. The Aura Master's orders had been, at best, extremely vague. All the Replicator knew is that he had become insanely lost in this forest, and if he didn't find something or someone soon, he would begin heading backwards out of there. Then again, how would he get back to the Dome?

The amateur sorcerer sighed. Nothing involving the Dome, nor Zorlo, was ever easy. Of this much, he was assured. Still, that had only been that morning. Fate had, as all good things did, intervened and dragged the Replicator towards a town somewhere. Well, to be more exact, it was stories of people that had visited there that led him this way.

Stories of a green haired man slamming through a wall into an inn and other odd stories were circulated through the town. Finally, the sorcerer stopped at the inn and found the silver eyed woman that the fencer had also briefly discussed. The red haired warrior approached the woman and decided to introduce himself.

"Hello, miss, my name is Zachary Leos, and Zorlo asked me to find you. He said you'd be the person who could best help me find a woman named Bella. Can I inquire your assistance... I'm in a bit of a hurry, you see," the ice mage stated somewhat nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. He never had been very good with introductions, mostly of himself. Luckily it was almost over. Now he would await her response.

Bella's sharp ears caught a whisper of sound nearby. A strange sensation crept into her mind; a feeling like sunlight, or wind. It seemed almost tentative, if possible, sweetly cautious. The forest seemed to be watching her.

After a few minutes, she caught sight of a figure appearing out of the trees. It was an abnormally tall man with blond hair and amber eyes, the left of which was tinted blue. There was a sun tattoo under his left jawline on his neck. His face was warm and friendly, and he was dressed in a long gray cloak. The man leaned one hand on the trunk of a tree and looked across the clearing at her. "Bella?" he asked softly, as if not sure if he should approach.

~~~~~~~


Something was wrong.

That was all she knew for sure. Something was teasing at her senses just out of reach, just beyond her mind. It nagged her somewhere deep, somewhere she couldn't pinpoint. Her memories sparked and surged, as if they held something important. The immortal struggled with them in frustration, reaching for any clue.

She let out an angry sigh, taking a quick swig of her drink. Then something itched at the back of her mind. Cold. Her gold and silver eyes flicked backwards over her shoulder, seeing a stranger walking closer.

"Hello, miss, my name is Zachary Leos, and Zorlo asked me to find you. He said you'd be the person who could best help me find a woman named Bella. Can I inquire your assistance... I'm in a bit of a hurry, you see," he told her.

Iyasis looked over him, noticing he seemed nervous. "Ah, Zorlo sent you, did he?" she repeated thoughtfully. Her voice was like music laced in fire. She offered him a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you. But I fear I haven't seen Bella in a few months. I don't know know what Zorlo would want Bella for, but I do know my friend just went to find her. I could check with him if you like," she said casually.

Bella was startled to see him here. They hadn't seen each other in a while. And he had never been here with her before, though of course she had told him about the place. She was surprised that he had found her... and slightly ashamed. How long had he been standing there, watching her? She threw a quick, weak smile on her face, trying to mask some of the gaping pain. She didn't want him to see how badly she was hurting...

"Hello, 'Hiya," she said. The smile didn't quite reach her voice, unfortunately. It did lift her heart some, seeing him here, but it was already so low that that made little difference.

He started to walk towards her, hesitantly. He seemed uncertain of his welcome here. As if he was trespassing on something private, too personal even for him. Bella sensed it, stood, and moved to close the distance between them. She embraced him, but it was different than usual. Rather than the happy, carefree hugs they usually shared, this one was slow and sad. All her movements seemed this way. Even when she looked up at him and tried, again, to smile.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, to break the silence. The question wasn't accusatory, as if she didn't want him there. Simply curious. She was, in fact, rather glad that she wasn't alone...

This was the point where explaining why he was there got complicated. To simply say, "Zorlo sent me," was all well and good, but there was one minor complication: Zorlo had been dead for nearly half a year. Still, did this woman know? Did the person the ice mage was looking for know? If not, was this why the Aura Master had sent the amateur sorcerer to find these people?

No. That wasn't something the fencer would do at all. Everything he did served some kind of greater purpose. This greater purpose, the Replicator noted, tended to involve some dangerous adventure. For a few moments, Zachary contemplated just telling this woman that Zorlo was dead and having her tell the other woman he was looking for, but a deep feeling, probably the ice mage's conscience, told him that someone or something wouldn't let him leave.

That thing, odd as it sounded, was probably the mostly invisible spirit of the deceased. Zachary laughed nervously at the thought of a Zorlo ghost following him around for a few moments before he stopped and turned to look at the woman. "Uh... sorry," he said, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "You see... in all technicality, Zorlo didn't send me here. Technically, Zorlo's dead, and one of his random post-mortem notes found me today."

"So... pretty much, a dead guy sent me to find you and this "Bella" person. Now, knowing Zorlo, I can say, pretty much, beyond a shadow of a doubt it wasn't just to tell you that he's dead. So... uh... yeah, telling or asking or whatever it is you were gonna do to help me find this person Z told me to find would be lovely," he said, still nervously. It wasn't one of those things he easily shook. This woman... or someone else in this inn perhaps, gave him the chills. Or, moreover, caused his skin to crawl, since he wasn't one to notice chills.

Lohiya was watching her carefully as she seemed welcoming to his intrusion, yet more distant and aching than he had ever seen. He felt his heart break when he finally got a good look at her eyes. Agony resonated inside them like no other mortal eyes he had ever seen. As she rose and approached him, for a second he almost stepped back, disturbed by this Bella he had never seen. It's true, it had been a long time since they had been together, but this... He wasn't sure he knew what do to. The air master didn't know if he could handle watching pain of this magnitude that he couldn't take from her.

As she slowly, almost limply, wrapped her arms around him, he felt her aching spread to him as if from skin to skin. A lump welled in the archer's throat and he trembled softly as he returned the embrace. "I... I just wanted to find you...." he said softly in reply. Seeing her eyes, feeling her agony, he felt lost and broken. "Bella..." he whispered, amber eyes dimming. Lohiya gently stroked her hair, holding her close against his chest. He wasn't sure what he could say to her right now, or what he could do.


"Dead?" Iyasis repeated, eyes flashing with fire. After a moment, she let out a long breath, lowering her head. "Gods... Zorlo..." she murmured, shaking her head. She mumbled something under her breath, sounding like some foreign language. Then her gold and silver eyes narrowed in thought. "In death, he wanted something of me and Bella..." she said softly, mostly to herself. "What could it have been... He told you nothing of why?" She looked up into his eyes. She didn't know how the fencer had died, so maybe it was tied somehow, but as ignorant of it all as she was, the fire innate was puzzled. What would be so important for Bella and herself to do that Zorlo came to them even in death?