Visions by the sea [open]

[Armandeus]

Crash.

Eru, there were too many of them! Armandeus forced his body to go faster, darting past trees and through the underbrush like a ghost. Behind him the thundering hoard was growing on him. He had to get away, but where? Even running he could tell this was not a familiar part of the woods. His village, sanctuary, was lost somewhere behind him. The thunderous noise was growing, Eru they were almost upon him! It was a foolish instinct to look back, but look he did, and suddenly they were in front of him. He was trapped. It all happened in a rush then; they fell upon him like a wave to shore, dragging him downward . . .

Crash.

Consciousness returned to him slowly and with it came several realizations. The first was that his clothes were missing; he could feel the air, unnaturally cool, against bare skin. The next thing to register was that he was suspended upside down, the growing dizziness of the blood rushing to his head as well as the feel of tightly bound ropes at his extremities confirm it. Despite the absurdity of the angle there was a brightness in front of his eyes, so blinding he could see it through his tightly closed lids. He tried to turn away only to find he could not move his head. Like the rest of him, it too was bound tight. At first he thought he had died, but Fate, it seemed, was not ready to release him. Pain, from his flight through the forest, filtered in overtop of everything else.

"Beautiful, is he not?" Through the pain he suddenly realized he was not alone. "Yes mistress . . ." The presence of a second voice confirmed it. Fear tingled up his spin at the lust dripping from the women's voices above him, amplified by the cold hand that was slowly trailing down over naked, vulnerable flesh. He groaned with the sensations it brought, feeling like the canary the cat had caught as the first woman purred in delight. A gasp was torn from him as the hand suddenly changed, urgently grasping, pulling . . .

Crash.

Armandeus came to himself again with a start, only to be lost again with the strong pull of water all around him, caught within the current as it pulled back into the sea. Sputtering for air he fought the pull and managed to grab onto the planks of the deck, holding on until the current lessened. Finally, coughing, he managed to haul himself out of the water and up onto the dock. There he simply laid, trying to catch his breath.

[catherine dtardis]

after four very challenging months, the baby growing inside of her seemed to finally be comfortable. for the first time in a while catherine felt more like herself. to celebrate the doctor offered to take killian and lumie on what he promised would be a safe adventure, so that catherine could have some time alone to enjoy some peace. after the adventure was over, her husband was going to drop the boys off at her gran's and come back so that they could have some quality time enjoying some peace with each other.

she started her day with a run. she hadn't a good run in ages. so catherine paced herself, and didn't press her luck. the few miles she jogged to the beach felt so liberating, and so very good. she felt like all her muscles were starting to wake up again, and the lethargy of the last few months was something she was eager to shake off.

where did catherine run to? the water, of course. she left her clothes in a puddle on the dock and dove in. her transformation was immediate and she beat her fishtailed lower half with powerful strokes to swim under the waves and deeper into the cold sea. underwater it was easy to lose track of time, so much life to get distracted by and so far away from the other world. it was nearly three hours before catherine swam up to the surface to see what time of day it was.

her eyes weren't on the sky for long because she saw someone pulling themselves onto the dock out of the corner of her eye. a professional racer and a woman who grew up with water, she knew how a body moved through water when that body was okay. the way this man was moving himself...things did not look right.

even though she was in her mermaid form, catherine didn't hesitate to swim a course straight to armandeus. if he was in trouble there was no time to worry about how he'd react to her. unless he was sailor with some evil plot in motion to kidnap her for her hair, but the chances of that were small! if armandeus was looking in the right direction he'd see the redhaired, light green skinned mermaid coming his way. her body glided over the water and bobbed over the breaking waves as easily as any bird coasted in the sky.

when she was close enough she called out, "are you alright? do you need help?" the words would come out much more as a song than she intended them to. in this form when she raised her voice the natural instinct of her vocal cords and diaphram was to release her breath in song. the song of the mermaid was a heavenly thing to hear - soothing, calming and a tempting tickle at the mind.

the next wave would ride her smoothly to where armandeus lay. as it crashed against the wood catherine used the momentum to hoist herself up onto the weather-worn planks. a graceful twist and she was perched on the edge of the deck only a foot away from him, her dark green scaled lower half hanging off the side of the deck, her tailfins emerged in the water. catherine's mermaid tail reached up to her upper thigh, which meant that her backside with its patchy dark green scales was bare - he'd have to forgive her for that. her chest was covered, of course, in a dark red bikini top. her long wet red hair hung all the way down her back, beaded with small sparkling gems in a pattern like stars in the sky.

now at his side she apologized breathlessly, "i'm sorry if i got you wet just now." it was quite possible she had when she'd hopped up onto the deck, she was sopping wet. "it's just you don't look well so i rushed." she bit her lower lip as she looked down at him. her cheeks were flushed a peachy pink, making it a little more obvious that catherine was maybe just a bit nervous. it wasn't often she revealed to a stranger exactly what she was, and she was hoping it was the right choice to make.

[Armandeus]

Good Eru, what was happening to him? Armandeus honestly didn't know anymore. He had underwent countless visions since the Sight had been awoken in him, but none had been like that. There were always signs before, most predominately in the form of building pressure behind his eyes, but this time it hadn't occurred. This vision had hit so fast there was no time to prepare before he was lost and held there until he finally broke free again.

Armandeus had always known the visions would grow in their intensity; he had seen it happen with his mother. Her visions had grown stronger until she had lost her mind to them, unable to cope with the pressure of it all. After witnessing it firsthand the prospect was daunting and for the life of him, he hadn't a clue what to do about it. But, for the moment there wasn't anything he could do about it.

For the moment there wasn't much he could do, period. While this vision had hit with a fierce speed it still carried the after-effects felt by them all. The first moments after a vision were always tedious and the sensation always the same: like he was struggling to break through the surface of a deep pool of water. It left Armandeus disoriented with the feeling he had dipped his head into a cotton vat, but overall it left him feeling completely exhausted. That, combined with the struggle of his could-have-been drowning pretty much insured the green-haired Elf wasn't going anywhere, despite the fact his booted feet still hung into the water.

So, it was then as he lay face down on the dock, trying to catch his breath that he heard, through the cotton in his ears, that musical voice calling out to him. "Ryan?" The name was spoke out loud even as his mind told him that it wasn't hers. De'Ryanna's voice was something Armandeus loved to hear, but it didn't hold the calming lure he had detected from this voice. It was a struggle to get his body to move the way he wanted, to find the source of this voice and it's concerned words, and when he finally did get his head turned he was greeted by a new spray of water splashing him and a voice apologizing over it.

Blinking the water out of his eyes his gaze traveled upwards from the dark green scales to the woman's face looking down at him. "I was already wet, do not worry." A ghost of a smile formed on his lips as he studied her; she looked familiar. "Have we met?"

[catherine dtardis]

her light green skin flushed even more peach and pink. the mermaid equivalent to being red-faced! it was how his eyes moved up, starting with her tail. now she knew he didn't mean anything suggestive or hubba-hubba by it and really she couldn't blame him for the once over - if she were him she'd be looking rather bewildered at a mermaid sitting there after what he went through, too. but tell that logic to her shy blushing mechanism! in this teeny moment of feeling very self-conscious catherine had the urge to shift back to her land legs, but had to remind herself again that when she didn't have clothes or even a towel within reach...well a mostly nude body was even worse when it came to feeling exposed. so her mermaid form would have to do for both of them.

and then he pointed out that he was already wet. and he was, and she was looking right at him when she said that! boy did catherine feel silly, and it showed in the sheepishly apologetic smile she gave him. "of course you are, i'm sorry..." this sheepish woman was very good at apologizing for things, armandeus would find out. and then, a lightbulb! catherine's face lit up wtih the idea that popped into her head and she added eagerly, "but i can help with that. if you'll let me help, i'd like to help any way i can..." she added that last bit quickly. she wasn't the sort to force help on anyone, because she was a stubborn redhead who didn't very much like it when people tried to force help on her.

"i'm catherine d'tardis," she added. "my husbands ship - the blue box," she clarified in case armandeus had seen said blue box and didn't know it was a ship, "it's often just outside the tel'ranaemyn inn, or it's parked in the room we rent there on the first floor." she was fairly certain she'd seen him at the inn, though catherine knew she'd certainly seen the man at the alliance before even if they'd never been introduced. she wasn't going to mention the alliance at all, but a recollection changed her mind and she added softly in her sweet almost song-touched voice, "epiphany fed me some of your pie once at the alliance."

in her own way, catherine was already helping him. she was watching the waves, and paying attention to the sounds of the ocean. she wasn't about to let another wave crash him off this dock without preventing it...somehow!

[Armandeus]

Sadly for Catherine, Armandeus' reaction to her skin changing hues was to well, stare. That was, until the realization that it was happening because he was staring hit home and he averted his eyes. "Goheno nin. Forgive me. I did not mean to stare so." He hadn't truly, but given the fact he was laid out like a turkey at a feast and she was sitting there, the only natural angle to see her face was to look upwards.

She apologized and now he had so they were even, for the moment at least! "You can help with my being, how do the mortals put it, wet as a rat?" Armandeus was grateful for help of any kind, especially since the chill of wet clothing was starting to seep into his bones. "I would not complain to being warm again."

For a moment he was quiet, trying to remember if he had seen the aforementioned blue box before, but finally he shook his head. "I cannot recall seeing a blue box anywhere near the Inn before, but you say it is a ship? I have never heard tale of a box being a ship before. It can fit into the room you are renting?" This was interesting to Armandeus and already he was trying to picture what a blue box of a ship would look like, not to mention how it would get into one of the rooms. "I am Armandeus Valandil," added in nearly as an afterthought. "I am the chef at the Tel'Ranaemyn. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Ah, so she had been at the alliance as well. Having not been a member during his and Elessar's stay there Armandeus hadn't met many people, but it was quite possible he had seen her before. At the mention of having tasted his pie Armandeus smiled. "I made a lot of pie back in those times." Ironically the last pie the Elf could recall making was for the previous holiday season. It just goes to show how things can change in a short period of time.

He may not have known that she was watching the waves for him, but he was grateful for it just the same. If another wave swept him off the dock in his current condition he wouldn't have a chance.

[catherine dtardis]

when people stared at catherine when she was in her mermaid form, two opposite and conflicting feelings crashed inside of her: modest sheepishness versus her mermaid begotten vanity. it was why under his watching eyes she started to fiddle with some of the tips of her very long and very red hair, a sign of her nerves, and why her tailfins swished gracefully from side to side on the surface of the water, a sign of her subconsciously showing off. but when she answered him, her kindness was earnest and sincere. "oh it's alright, you shouldn't feel like you have to apologize. it's probably not the sort of thing you see everyday, i know that..." it meaning her, of course, especially her lower half.

she turned her body so that she was facing him a bit more, adding, "just stay still. this doesn't hurt at all but i do have to touch your clothes..." she wanted him to know why her webbed hand was reaching for him before she actually did it. as soon as she rested her hand on the cloth that covered his upper body, he'd be able to feel and see the difference. all the moisture in his clothes was being soaked up by catherine's hand, as if her palm was a sponge. as she pulled the water from the fabric she kept talking, maybe to distract from what she was doing. "oh yes Armandeus, the doctor's ship can fit into our room very easily, on the outside it's the size of a phone booth...well a bit bigger than that but a phone booth is a good way to think of it. when he parks it outside he often parks it near the river because our son and i visit there often."

once his torso was dry, she put her hand on top of his knee. just as with the cloth covering his chest, his lower half would now start to dry as all the water was pulled into her. she continued to talk, with a slightly rambling tone. catherine was nervous. it wasn't often she did this for someone, she tended to keep things like this a secret. "oh the chef, i'm supposed to help you! a woman named de'ryanna said it was a good way to pay her back for making spinach for me one night when i was feeling terribly morning stick but my stomach hurt and i was having trouble with my blood sugar. i said i owed her one for helping me and she suggested that i help in the kitchen because i love cooking, i used to help my gran she owns a bakery and caters all sorts of things, i grew up cooking, do you not make pies anymore?" he'd said he used to make pies a lot back in those times, which to catherine suggested that something had changed.

by the end of her rambling, armandeus was completely dry. catherine sat back, and folded her hands in her lap as she looked out over the water. "are you hurt? the tide is going out but if you're hurt we should get you someplace a bit more comfortable." comfortable for him, of course. catherine was entirely comfortable with were they were right now, she was quite in her element!

[Armandeus]

"If I may be so bold I would say it is not something I have seen before outside of children's tales." He gave a laugh then, his eyes brightening in memory. "But, alas, there is a time I would have said such a thing to a human. How vain we Elves must seem! But on the same note I do not blame my parents for teaching such things. I fear they did not have the same privilege I have in meeting such amazing people, especially the few who come to help another they do not even know."

Call it paranoia if you wish, but the phrase "just stay still" inflicted a sudden desire to move within Armandeus; a desire that would go unheeded for most of his body still felt like he was made of lead. So in the end he remained still except for his fingers which had taken on his nervousness and started to twitch. When she started to talk it was a welcomed distraction to his nerves, although it didn't do much in the way of keeping him from looking down at what she was doing. "A phone booth?" The confusion was evident in his voice as he frowned, trying to recall if he had ever seen such a thing called a phone booth before. "I am afraid I have never heard of such a thing. I take it that it is not like the ships that sail onto the sea?" When she said ship that was the image he immediately thought of, although it was becoming more unlikely that a ship of that size could fit easily into a room at the Inn.

"Spinach? Rather disgusting stuff I believe, but that is only my opinion. I prefer something that has a sweeter taste to it." Armandeus couldn't hold back the grin that came with that statement, for he was well known for his incredible sweet tooth. "It will be welcoming to have another hand helping in the kitchen, especially now since the holidays are forthcoming. I must admit until you mentioned it I had not thought of when I had made my last pie, but I believe the last was during the holidays. Is it not strange how things change without you even noticing?"

It was a wonderful feeling to be dry again after being thoroughly soaked and the Elf very nearly laughed at the sheer joy of it. As it was he reigned it in and gave Catherine a wide grin. "Thank you! It is a joy to be dry again, I feel like I may survive this trip to the seaside after all."

It was with the joy still in his eyes as he slowly propped his upper body up on his elbows and looked past her, out to the sea. "Hurt is a fitting word for it, although this is not a hurt of the body but of the mind. It comes without a cure or reprieve and as you can see hits like a ton of bricks as the saying goes." He looked back to her then, the smile still in place. "Do not worry, I believe I have grown to it after all these years."

[catherine dtardis]

"children's tales?" she sounded and looked so hopeful, and her next words revealed why. "i hope they were nice tales..." a slight glance away from him and down at the water. tailfins swishin almost self-consciously. because catherine knew that there was more than one not-so-nice tale about merfolk out there. just as many as there were not-so-nice tales about sailors being not-so-nice to mermaids! "honestly while i've met elves before i don't know very much about them. i mean you," she corrected quickly, only to correct herself a second time, "you and your people, i mean..." a sheepish and apologetic glance at him.

speaking of sailors, armandeus' question had catherine shaking her head vigorously. "oh no, the doctor's ship isn't like that at all. it moves through space and time, not water." being married to the doctor for over three years now, catherine had learned to try her very best to say that as nonchalantly and naturally as her husband always did. when her husband stated that fact, no one ever seemed to look at him strangely at all. but catherine...when catherine tried to explain what her husband did and about his ship people looked at her like she'd just escaped the madhouse. because of the comparison to a ship at sea, a notion occurred to catherine for the very first time, and she stared out over the receding ocean as she spoke it thoughtfully, "i do suppose that makes him a sailor of a sort, sailing through time and space..." a foolish little smile. "that's sort of ironic." something she'd have to mention to her husband later.

as for things changing without a person noticing, catherine didn't say anything to that. when armandeus made that remark, catherine looked down at her hands folded in her lap, the tip of one cool smooth finger rubbing against the webbing between her thumb and forefinger. catherine always noticed when things changed, that was part of the difficulty she'd always had. she was the sort that always knew what they had or didn't, gained or lost at any given moment. it made losing some things nearly unbearable. in that way, catherine knew a lot about hurting of the mind.

which is why she was working very hard to put aside some of the thoughts that sprang to her head as a result of the remark, and she focused on the kitchen part. swallowing and giving a short glance with a small smile. "helping gran cook in the winter was how i got through them. even though winters are very mild where i come from, still. it got cold enough that even going in the water with a wet suit...well, one couldn't swim that long." back when her mermaid side was dormant, of course. now things were much different. a pause and she added softly, "my gran tells me all the time that anything that gives you growing pains is something you can grow out of if you put your mind to it." a sign that she was dwelling on the changes comment, perhaps because he'd mentioned a hurt of the mind.

but. there were more important things. catherine sat up a bit straighter, tucking her hair behind her ears first and then patting the tops of her thighs with a decided little smack. "you're very welcome." referring to drying him, of course. "but that's just the tip of the iceberg, isn't it? it's probably best to leave here don't you think?" laying on a deck for a very long time wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, and if his body was weak in any fashion she didn't want him out here long enough to catch a cold of some kind. "the inn would be the place to go for you to have a proper rest, right?" catherine asked that as she looked towards where her clothes were collected in that neat little pile at the foot of the deck. out of reach, but if she shimmied a few feet to the right, she'd be able to reach them.

[Armandeus]

Armandeus simply grinned as he looked at her. "I do not believe I have come across a children's tale that was not a nice one, but aye, the ones of my childhood were pleasant. Those were times of peace then, but even when the wars came it was not the Aear-Hîni* who brought them. We considered them to be the wisest beings under the great sea." With her words about not knowing much about Elves, Armandeus looked thoughtful before smiling again. "I cannot speak for the Elven kind of this realm, for the ones I have met are quite different, but as a whole we are a reserved people. It takes much time to learn our secrets."

"A ship that can sail through time and space . . ." He repeated her words, though not out of doubt, but rather intrigue. For one who had entered Rhy'Din accidentally through a portal the idea that a ship could travel that way held a degree of fascination. "Can this ship go anywhere? Even unto the other realms?"

Catherine's silence did not go unnoticed by the Elf and he gave a soft sigh as fascination gave way to a frown. "I apologize if my words distressed you. It seems of late that my mouth has a way of running off with words before my mind can catch up with it." Wasn't that the truth? It was the very reason he had ended up here, alone at the seaside in the first place. Her words about the coldness of winter distracted him, however, and his eyes shined with a new thought. "Where I am from there is no form of winter or even the coldness it brings. Until coming here I did not know such a season existed until Elessar and I happened to land into the middle of it." There was a wry smile on his face at the memory; what a shock that had been indeed, to fall from the lush warm jungle of Gensis to a cold, silent forest of Rhy'Din in the dead of winter.

"Growing pains, eh?" He sounded amused by that, and had a grin to match. "I rather like that phrase. It sounds much better than a 'hurt of the mind' I think. Although I fear I am growing into mine rather growing out of it, no matter how much I wish it not to be so. Oh, how I wish it was the reverse! To be free from this burden of accursed Sight!"

He was off in his own musings then and when she made mention of going back to the inn he merely blinked at her for a moment before the actual words sunk in. "Ah? Yes, the Inn would be the place to go. It would be nice to lay upon something softer than this deck." That only left the matter of getting up and wasn't that always the hard part of things? Getting up when all you wanted to do was rest.




[*Translation: Aear-Hîni = sea-children, intended to be the Elvish word for mere folk.]

[catherine dtardis]

"oh. you have very nice children's tales then." catherine was both glad for him and very relieved for herself. there were occasions when people had found out about what catherine was and with either beat red or flush peachy-pink cheeks [depending on what form she was in at the time] she'd had to assure them, convince them or plea with them not to believe the stories they'd heard about merfolk, or to at least believe that she wasn't like that herself. what mortifying experiences those were, and they were much of the reason that catherine tried to keep what she was a secret.

while catherine answered armadeus' question about her husband's tardis, she started her shimmying down the dock. as long as she could reach her sweatshirt, she could use it like a small towel and covered what needed to be covered so she could change forms and slip her shorts on underneath. "it can go anywhere in this universe, any time in the past or future. or the present of course," she added with a sheepish little smile over her shoulder at him. "so as long as the other realms you're talking about are in this universe..." that was the safest answer she felt she could give him to his question. catherine was by no means an expert in time travel and the boundaries her husband faced, and she didn't want to give the elf false information.

by the time her webbed fingers tugged her sweatshirt over to her, catherine was entirely dry - even her hair. the same trick she had performed for armadeus was easily performed on herself, which is why when she was on her own catherine didn't bother with towels when she visited the water. her sweatshirt was spread over her lap, and after she smoothed it out to make sure that it was situated on the tops of her legs in a way that would ensure modesty she shifted back to her human form. it was an instantaneous transformation, done smoothly in the time of a blink, and one that caused her no pain. as soon as her legs were back she quickly slid those shorts on and slipped them under the sweatshirt - it was obvious catherine was well practiced with this move.

"well we never really grow out of ourselves, do we? our bodies are always are bodies, our minds and feelings too, so i think you don't have to feel bad about growing into instead of growing out of. i don't think there a lot of things we can grow out of. only things that we grow into because we know how to handle them the best way we can. i think that's what my gran would say, and she's very very wise." catherine nodded to herself as she slipped her shirt on over her bathing top, and then picked her sweatshirt up off her lap to slip on that.

the last thing to do was get on her socks and running shoes, and while she did that she asked. "sight? you don't mean that you want to be blind, do you?" tying the laces of one sneaker then the other, catherine stood up and walked back down the deck over to him. she wasn't sure if he needed helping up, but she was standing there in case he did.

[Armandeus]

"They were nice stories . . ." There was a note of longing in his voice and his gaze momentarily turned towards the sky, a faraway look in his eyes. It was gone in an instant and he turned to look at her again, watching as she moved down the dock. "Universe? I have never heard of such a word before, but I fear the realms I speak of are out of reach even from it. But, do not mind the questioning," He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "It was simply a sudden, foolish thought, nothing more."

While Catherine was transforming Armandeus was on the move. The actions were sluggishly slow, as if he simply lacked the strength to move except by the effort of will. Once he was finally sitting up straight he fell backwards on one hand, struck by a memory and the irony of the situation. Shortly after he and Elessar had came through the portal that separated their worlds Armandeus had been struck with another vision. It had been freezing that night, which meant there had been no time to stop and rest. Armandeus could still remember how Elessar had taken charge, hauling him to his feet and forcing him to walk, though he stumbled like a newborn calf and threatened to fall with every step. His slow pace had finally become too much for Elessar to take and he'd very nearly carried the other Elf until the effects wore off. Wasn't it ironic now that here he was in nearly the same position brought because of the fight he'd had with Elessar?

His musing were cut short by Catherine's words, causing him to smile. "Your gran sounds like a very wise woman indeed. I think perhaps those were things I needed to hear." He sobered then, looking up at her. "I do wish for blindness, but not in the manner you may think." He paused, his face a cross between thoughtful and seriousness. "You said you did not know much about Elves. Would you like to change that? To learn about one kind in particular?"

[catherine dtardis]

catherine nearly paused in her steps over to him when he spoke of his fear. her pace slowed, and she stood two short feet away from him ready to help him up if necessary. "i have a lot of fears," she replied quietly, looking a bit solemn "but if there's one thing i've learned from my time with the doctor, it's that just because you have fears it doesn't mean they're true. maybe you should talk to him about the realm you have a question about? he loves helping people..." a small encouraging smile was given to armandeus. catherine made the suggestion, but she wouldn't push him more than that. she of all people knew that being pushed towards something when you weren't comfortable with it felt terrible.

it was why she changed the subject, away from her gran, or his wish for a blindness of sorts. at least for now, she felt it best to talk about something else. especially since he had offered a topic. "i would love to. i used to be wary of traveling with my husband, you know nervous about going to different times and planets and not knowing anything about the people or what to do and what if i did the wrong thing and it insulted someone or i didn't know the right things about the land and i got lost or in trouble..."

a sheepish smile as catherine realized she'd started to ramble, and she quieted herself and instead just offered her hand out to armandeus so he could take it to pull himself to his feet. "what i mean to say is, i would very much like to learn about elves. but only if you let me help you up and we talk as we walk back to the inn together." it was autumn, after all. the later it got the colder it would get, and with how she'd found him laying on the dock as he'd been she was concerned about him catching a chill.

after a pause and a thoughtful bite of her lower lip she added, "maybe you could tell me one of the nice stories, too? if you don't mind. i think hearing a nice story about, um, Aear-Hini?" sienna eyes glanced at him to make sure she had said that correctly, a foolish flush coloring her cheeks. but she pushed herself to finish her thought despite her rising skittishness. "well, i think that would be very good for me to hear. and maybe it's a story i could tell my children. killian loves new stories..." her smile was almost shy as she urged him to begin walking towards the inn.

[Trindala Do Sant]

From the rocky banks that over looked the docks, sat a figure clad in tattered old rags. Had it been sitting there long enough to see the Green Haired Seer fall in? Or be rescued by the Mer folk? It was likely.

A strong cold breeze howled in off The shadows back and down over the sandy shores. The promise of bad weather was enough to disturbed the ratty old fabric heap from its rock pile. the shadow stood from its place and looked back over its shoulder quickly.

The vision it saw from that faceless hood was an unnatural fog and the darkened horizon. The heap hunched over upon seeing the foreboding storm coming in and started to hobble in the direction of the other and more importantly the inn.

A clap of thunder rolled softly off in the distance and the robed one's passe quickened into a sort of crow hop. The pilgrim shadow quickly came up beside the two and gave no greeting.
However, despite its unfriendly appearance it walked along with them ever vigilant of the growing storm that lurked from behind.

[Armandeus]

Armandeus could relate to Catherine when it came to fears. He had quite a few himself, several of which had been prying on his mind as of late, one being the loss of his realm. That was why he barely paused for thought before agreeing to meet the Doctor. "I believe I would like to meet him after all." Even if the Doctor couldn't answer his question Armandeus was a curious creature by nature and how could he pass up a possible chance of seeing the blue box that was a ship?

The change in topic did not go unnoticed by Armandeus but did change what he was going to say. Instead he focused on what she was saying and frowned thoughtfully. "Have you been to many planets then? Since coming here I have often wondered if other places are the same as this or different still." He was the one starting to ramble now and gave her a small smile. "I mean to say this planet is already so different from where I was from." Armandeus snorted softly to himself. He'd nearly said 'my own', but after three years it was past time to start calling New Haven as his home.

Catherine's offered hand was taken as the Elf pulled himself up to his feet. For the space of a second he swayed like a tree limb caught in a gale wind, and clutched her hand to keep from falling, but then the sensation passed and he regained his footing. A nervous look was cast towards her as he let go of her hand, hopefully he hadn't hurt her! When it came to Armandeus catching a chill there wasn't much to be concerned about. While the Elf shared his friend's dislike for the colder temperatures he had found he had more an immunity to it.

She wanted to hear a story. The notion was a bit funny to him and the Elf began to laugh before he could stop himself. "I feel I must warn you I am not good at story-telling." It was so bad he could almost make a story of telling how bad his story-telling actually was. "Well, let's see. . ." He paused as he thought about it, he hadn't heard a children's story in years.

Finally he snapped his fingers and grinned. "I think I've got it!" At least he hoped he had it. "Once there was a young Elfling named Rilien and what a curious child he was, always exploring into things that should not being explored into. One day he decided on the foolish idea of visiting the Aear-Hini," He paused and cast a nervous glance at her before continuing. "Foolish because their villages resided under the sea and no Elf thus far had been able to reach them. So . . ."

Armandeus cut off again, only this time to cast a look upon the shadowed figure that had come upon them rather suddenly. Dark purple eyes traveled over the ratted rags of the figure before glancing back to Catherine again. He didn't sense any malice from this shadow but in precaution he was already slipping one of his daggers free of it's hiding place in his sleeve.

[catherine dtardis]

catherine seemed very pleased that armandeus wanted to meet her husband. "oh i'll tell him. he's taken the boys on an adventure today, but i'll tell him when he gets back..." while a man with a time machine could obviously return to the present day the same minute that he left, the doctor was very good about returning hours later so that catherine really did get a break and some time to herself. "i've been to many planets, but certainly nowhere near as many as the doctor has. some of them are very very different, but others are not so very different. where there are just smaller differences. like earth, earth doesn't seem so very different to me than home. and it has very good amusement parks and seafood." both remembered fondly by catherine. "earth was our first date. we went to old boston and borrowed a pirate ship to go diving for treasure..." catherine still had the precious gems she'd taken from that expedition, hidden in her secret hoarding place.

she was very glad to see that after that initial sway in his balance, armadeus seemed just fine. still, she was glad to have him up and walking with her back to the inn, because with the way the waves started crashing harder against the rocks, beach and the deck she didn't even need to look at the sky to know a storm was coming. the water always told catherine everything she needed to know. so the athlete was fighting her own pace - trying to strike a balance between walking at a brisk pace to encourage armandeus to do the same and not going too fast.

already catherine could tell the story was going to be a good one. about a boy who had an itch for adventure. perfect to tell her rambunctious, adventuring three-year-old. so she was inwardly huffy that the story came to such an abrupt halt. but when catherine too saw the cloaked figure she did not have the cautious response that armandeus did, and there was no reaching for any hidden weapon of any kind - because catherine didn't carry such things. she did have one device on her that she could use in an emergency, but the mermaid didn't think this was an emergency at all. she wasn't even the least bit unsettled.

this was because catherine incorrectly recognized this cloaked figure as one of the black counsel of the planet Aneth. it was a planet she and her husband visited last year when it came up on the radar as a minor distress signal. after the doctor helped them rid their atmosphere of an airborne pathogen normally used to make livestock subservient in that galaxy, the black counsel had invited them to the temple to participate in the ritual of thanks, which included chanting, dance and a very lovely feast. it was a planet catherine remembered fondly, even though the fact they never showed their faces had unsettled her at first.

"ian en-ek kheper ra nub." catherine addressed the figure brightly in the native language of Aneth as it walked with them. even though her husband's ship had a universal translator that worked for any who were connected to it [such as catherine] which would automatically translate her words into whatever language the party she was speaking of needed to hear, she always tried to learn at least a little bit of the languages of the places she traveled. she thought it was only polite. "are you looking for my husband?" it wouldn't be the first time someone ran into catherine in their search for the doctor.

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