A vanser
Blog entry

02/26/05

Friday with Torlinque was weird, but I attributed it to people interrupting us. Friday night when I tried to "go" to our room, I couldn't get through. It felt like something was blocking us. I could hear them, but I couldn't see them or touch them. The visual flashed in and out briefly and then died. I "got" that Torlinque was trying to teach Tolirion some more techniques of magick because he is not able to come to my realm as easily as Torlinque can. This is due to our training and his lack of it, so. Tolirion was able to open up a tunnel for me to follow, but I couldn't move. I couldn't get out of my body. It made me angry. Finally we gave up.

This morning, I "went" to our room immediately when I woke up and got through just fine. The first thing I saw was Torlinque, fully dressed, dropping the crystal we sometimes use to aid our focus like it was a hot brick and backing up against the wall. He stood there with his hair hiding his face from me. Immediately I knew something was very wrong.

"Torlinque, what's going on? Where is Tolirion?" I asked. He ignored the first question and said softly, "He's gone." "To work?" I asked. "No, [Soul name], he left me. He took a wagon with all his things." he said in almost a whisper. "K'eth!" I cursed.

Then I grabbed his head in between my hands and made him look at me. His eyes were full of tears. "You were trying to find him with the crystal weren't you? You didn't Send to me, did you?" I asked. He nodded. "I'm going to go get him. This is ridiculous. You stay here and don't move. I'll be right back." He nodded again.

I flew down the road looking for Tolirion. He must have been traveling almost all night. He was wearing a brown traveling cloak and was indeed driving two horses in front of a wagon full of stuff. I landed on the road in front of the horses and they reared, then stopped. Then I hopped up on the bench next to Tolirion. He threw back his hood, sighed, and said, "I knew you'd come for me."

"Tolirion, what are you doing? You can't leave. You and Torlinque are bound now!" I said. "[Soul name], he got all scary again!" he whined. "Tolirion, something's obviously wrong with him. You can't run away every time he gets sick! It's immature, childish behavior and you know better. How could you just abandon him? Now turn this wagon around. We're going home." I said. "Well, we tried the magick like you asked, and something went wrong with him. We couldn't get throught to you, and I..." I threw up my hand, "I don't want to hear it Tolirion. Do you love him or not?" "I do, but..." "But nothing. Let's go." He turned the wagon around and started for home. "I knew you'd come for me." he repeated softly. I didn't say anything. Just then, I was mad enough to have smacked him, but I didn't.

"Loving an Adrastai is hard isn't it?" he said a few minutes later. "Yes it is." I replied. "They get all kinds of ailments other Elves don't get, don't they?" he said. "Adrastai are on the front lines all the time Tolirion. All Elves would get such ailments if they did not protect everyone. When we get home, I will scan him and see what is wrong with him."

"[Soul name], I won't get in until late tonight. I'm a far distance out." he said. "Nonsense." I said, and opened a portal between where we were on the road and about an eighth of a mile from home. In a blink we were there, wagon and everything. Tolirion's jaw hit the floor. "How did you do that?" he said. "Magick." said I. He just shook his head at me in amazement. I am one of the few of our clan who can open portals by myself like that without a draelren for added power. I don't do it very often because it takes a lot of energy and I don't like to show off, but this was an emergency.

"Come on." I said to Tolirion as I jumped down, "Leave the wagon. We'll get your things later." and I ran into the house. Tolirion came right behind me.

Torlinque was still right up against the wall where I'd left him, poor thing. "How did you get here so quickly?" he asked. "Nevermind that now." I said, "Let me look at you." and started to scan him. I started at the top of his head and worked my way down him. Right on his solar plexus I found it, a k'etherai vanser. I yanked it off him and wrung its slimy neck.

Vansers are like big green energy leeches. They are about 2 feet long and made of matter that is much less dense than that of their host. They are capable of glamour so that they are invisible to the naked eye, but they show up immediately in scans. Where Torlinque picked it up, I don't know.

I threw it on the floor and stepped on it for good measure. Torlinque and Tolirion both looked at it wide eyed. I said, "Well, that explains the erratic behavior and the failure of the magick." They both looked at me. "How did you know?" Tolirion asked. "Well, our Torlinque would never, ever, behave that way of his own accord. Every time he does, innevitably something is wrong with him." I said. I had even questioned him on Friday if he had scored a kill he hadn't told me of, and he said he hadn't. I sensed something was wrong then. Even he guessed he'd had it about 2 days after looking back in hindsight.

Tolirion felt just awful. He started to cry, hiding his face in the crook of his arm. "Shhh. I'm fine now." Torlinque said, running a hand over Tolirion's hair. He was too. Once a vanser is removed, the patient recovers immediately. Torlinque raised him up and held him close. "I'm so sorry." Tolirion whispered, "I didn't know what else to do!" "It's all right. I forgive you." Torlinque soothed.

What happened next was a private thing, but it was then that Tolirion promised to never leave Torlinque again.