Beyond Time (closed)

[heartofcourage]

Dylan was stunned that the doctor was willing to pay the construction workers to allow her to look around Darkwood Manor. "You didn't need to do that." She said softly as they walked up the ramp to the third floor.

"I promise that if I make it back, I'll leave you something at Darkwood that will repay you many times over. You need to talk to a man named Van Ambrose." She murmured as they entered the building and made their way to Ash's studio.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Don't worry about it. If things change when you go back... then I assume none of this will happen," he told her with a smile.

The studio was in a sorry state, moss and plants growing everywhere and empty, rotten frames on the walls. The hearth was shattered and charred, and anything of value had long since been taken either for a museum or stolen by trespassers. But the flagstone floors, even if much of it was crumbling, was still the same. The windows were long gone and the door rotted and off its hinges. Dr. Elm took out his phone, opening a flashlight app to light up the room as the sun was beginning to set outside.

"What were you doing when you were pulled back?" He asked quietly, not sure what to look for.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Ash was painting my portrait. He wanted a painting of me on our wedding day." Dylan said as she carefully stepped around the room, looking at everything as if it would give her a sign to how she was going to get back. "He had just given me my wedding band and a kipper egg. It was all part of the tradition in his family."

 

[KieranSoares]

"What exactly is a Kipper egg?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, walking toward the gallery to see all the paintings that were still there in absolute tatters. It was a real shame, he thought to himself.

 

[heartofcourage]

"A kipper egg is from Inverness. He said that it had to do with the dragon that lived there and kipper eggs were given to brides on their wedding day for good luck or wishes." She said as he stepped into the gallery. "It was a lovely painted egg with a dragon on it."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Wishes?" He paused. "Well, Mrs. Ghis... if we're to believe you've been pulled through time by a derelict piano and married a man from the twelfth century, then I'm inclined to believe a centuries-old tradition of a wish-granting stone egg has merit. Is it possible we might find it?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"He put it on the mantel before he started painting." Dylan said, moving to the ruined hearth. "It was brightly painted. I'm sure it's dulled now."

 

[KieranSoares]

Dr. Elm brought his light toward the mantle, but the ancient piece had long since rotted and split down the middle. So, he shone the light into the fireplace, reaching over to take one of the old dusty cast iron pokers to sift through the ash and half-burned, rotten bits of wood inside. Something clanked against the poker and he reached into the ash, pulling out the very stone egg that Ashien had given her that morning, but it seemed bright as could be, if not brighter than the moment she'd received it, once Dr. Elm wiped away the ashes. The eye of the dragon almost seemed to shine.

"Well, I'll be damned..." he whispered.

 

[heartofcourage]

"My egg." Dylan said in a breathless tone as the doctor found the kipper egg that had been in her hands what seemed like a lifetime ago. "I can't believe it survived so long."

She reached out and took the stone, holding it against her chest tightly as she closed her eyes and thought of Ashien. She wished to be in his time, to be with him, to feel his arms around her body as he hugged her tightly.

 

[KieranSoares]

The egg felt warm in her hands, and Dr. Elm laid a hand on her shoulder as he saw Dylandra seem to begin to flicker out of existence. But he managed to speak once more in a kind voice, "Good luck, Mrs. Ghis."

And then the egg turned almost ice-cold in her hands, and the breeze that had been coming in through the broken windows stopped, and the room grew warm around her. The pop and crackle of a dying fire and the familiar smell of burning wood came to her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Ashien's half-finished portrait of her standing on its easel, his brush laying on the floor where he'd dropped it when she disappeared. He was nowhere to be found, nor Ballas.

 

[heartofcourage]

When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was back. Ashien and Ballas were gone, but she was back. Instantly she started to run, throwing open the door to the studio in a rush.

"Ash!" She yelled, hurrying through each room looking for him. "Ashien!!"

 

[KieranSoares]

It was not Ashien who met her, but Van, stepping out of the ballroom as she approached. "Dylandra?" He asked and quickly rushed to meet her. He pulled her into a tight embrace, murmuring, "Thank God you're safe... I couldn't get through to find you..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Where's Ash?" Dylan asked, hugging Van so tightly that it was nearly painful. "I didn't think that I would ever make it back. Everything was so different. Darkwood didn't exist."

 

[KieranSoares]

Van seemed absolutely stunned at that news, realizing then that the future he knew depended on Dylandra being with Ashien. "He... he waited for you for nearly an hour, then he ran off to the forest to beg the werefolk to help him get you back. I stayed to try to get you back through the piano." He took her hand then. "I'll take you to them. He probably won't leave them until they're certain that they can't help." He took her out to the stables, finding that Kiva had taken a horse and gone with Ashien. Van took the last two horses, saddled them, and helped Dylandra up onto Hane's saddle. They were off immediately westward toward the vast and ancient forest that didn't exist in Dylandra's time. As they rode by Van's memory, he asked her, "How in the world did you get back?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"I found my kipper egg. He had placed it on the mantel, but in the future, it was in the fire place." Dylan commented as they rode hard towards the were camp, desperate to reach Ashien. "I was arrested for trespassing. I nearly didn't make it back in time."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I never imagined they actually work..." Van thought aloud. They soon began to come upon signs of civilization in the forest, mostly in the form of carved wooden statues and markers and the occasional hut, until the forest opened up into a palisade-surrounded village. Its gates stood only open just wide enough for a horse to pass through, and there were two burly werefolk- a dark golden Cougar and a light grey Wolf- guarding the entrance, while other armed warriors patrolled around the walls.

Van pulled his horse to a halt as they called out, and he spoke in return in that odd language Dylandra heard Kiva and Ashien speak to the horses. The warriors soon stepped out of their way and allowed them through, but another came to lead them, speaking casually to Van.

It was a beautiful village full of small houses and all sorts of werefolk and a few humans. Many greeted Van as they passed, looking curiously at the woman who followed. The village was colorful and welcoming on the inside, and there were certainly no monsters or barbarians like human lore tended to tell. The warrior led them on to the end of the village where a long house stood, and they left their horses to go inside.

There Ashien sat with a group of elders, begging them in Lunar to help him get Dylandra back. But they seemed forlorn, telling him there was nothing they could do.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan followed quickly behind Van as he spoke to the group that greeted them. Once she saw Ashien, however, all her thoughts of following were gone. She pushed past Van and hurried to him, launching herself into his arms before she could even speak. There were no words as she hugged her husband tightly, her face buried against his throat as she sought comfort from the panic that had threatened to overwhelm her since she had disappeared.

 

[KieranSoares]

Ashien didn't realize who was practically tackling him under she outright knocked him off his feet and he saw her golden hair. He didn't care that they were on the ground, his arms wrapping around her tightly. Tears of relief filled his eyes and he didn't say a word just yet. The elders looked on, smiling softly at the reunion.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I thought I had lost you." Dylan whispered against his skin. "God, Ash, I didn't think I would make it back to you this time."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I've never been so scared to be alone in my life," he murmured to her, lifting her head to meet her eyes with a painful smile. "Do me a favor, love, and don't ever do that again. My heart can't take it." He kissed her so gently, letting her know how truly terrified he'd been when she didn't immediately reappear.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'll try my hardest, Ash." Dylan said softly as Ashien kissed her so gently that she felt her heart would burst. "I never want to go back. I know I'm suppose to be right here with you."

 

[KieranSoares]

A soft chuckle came from one of the four elders. "Ashien, you do not exaggerate your love, I see."

Ashien sat up with Dylandra, still holding her close as he turned to the elders with a slightly embarrassed smile, but that didn't stop him from keeping Dylandra right at his side. "If anything,
I couldn't say enough, sir." He looked at Dylandra then. "Love, these are the Elders of the Amnamo Tribe."

He introduced the silver Wolf as Head Elder Kyn, the red Bear as Warrior Elder Diirsuun, the greying lioness as Healing Elder Eltian, and the much younger white Wolf as Spirit Elder Dorn. Each greeted Dylandra, glad to see she'd returned to their dear friend Ashien.

Kyn, the oldest and their leader, rose from his place as Ashien and Dylandra stood, and he came to press a stone carved in the shape of a moon wrapped across a sun into her palm. It was a beautiful piece, pure white and veined with silvery tendrils. "Take this, dear, and lay it inside the piano. It should stop this madness of time on your behalf. We use these stones to calm the restless blessed trees like the one your husband's piano was carved from."

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan greeted every single one of them, never once letting go of Ash as she took the offered talisman that would help tame the wayward piano. She thanked them profusely, pressing her cheek against Ashien's chest. Never in a million years would she have thought that her wedding night would have been spent in the way that it was. She just wanted to go home and sleep in his arms for hours until it was all just a distant memory.

 

[KieranSoares]

Kyn smiled softly at how the two lovers held one another. "I suspect you'll want time alone after this ordeal. Go on home. But please do join us for the coming Summer Solstice festival. I've welcomed you many times, young Ashien, but perhaps your wife will see to it that you put aside your work and have a bit of fun." He walked with them to the broad double-doors of the longhouse, bringing Van close beside.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan thanked them for the invitation and for helping Ashien in his time of need. They would most definitely be back for the summer solstice. She had no intention of ever leaving Ashien's side again. Time and fate would not pull them apart.

When they stepped out into the outdoors, Dylan breathed in deeply of the fresh air. It was different from being in the city itself, where everything was dingy and dirty. It was something else that made her sure that she was in the right time and place.