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Coitus Interruptus	By : Dagian Category: +G through L > Lineage 2 Views: 1218 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Lineage2 nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Coitus Interruptus
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 12
- 13
- 14
Shin gazed at Starr critically, eyeing the way she carried Nathavin’s spare bow that he kept at the cabin. While giving her Nathavin’s spare had been a calculated risk, it had paid off in two ways. One, he had more trust that she wouldn’t seriously attack him, even when presented with a very nearly perfect opportunity to do so. And two, they’d been training all morning and he’d largely figured out what she could and couldn’t do anymore in regard to what he knew she’d once been capable of.
His earlier assessments had been correct. The injury she’d sustained prevented her from being able to attain the power she’d once commanded with the bow. She could generate something close to it, but when she attempted to command that strength she became too pained. Even she reluctantly admitted that the power simply wasn’t there anymore. Her injury also meant that she could not sustain long periods of combat with the weapon, even if she reduced the power generated.
“How were you planning on compensating for this?” He questioned, while approaching and motioning for her to sit on a nearby log. “Clearly you intended to take up spellwork, but I’ve never seen anything like what you’ve been able to accomplish.”
Starr set the bow down and gratefully took the water skein from him, taking a few gulps before answering. “I’ve been trying a few different methods.” She admitted between sips. “While I’m adept enough with magic, water is quite difficult to manipulate in it’s liquid state.” She paused and frowned in remembrance. “I found some spells, which required the water be frozen, were easier to manage, even though they were a higher level of magic than what our masters thought I could handle given that I was so new to the practice.”
With a shrug, she continued. “They forbade me from advancing through the magic in my own way, stubbornly clinging to the old methods of instruction.”
Shin took in the information. It sounded as if the masters tasked with instructing her in magics were too rigid in their instructional methods. “Well, considering the skill you’ve demonstrated, did any of them ever relent?”
She shook her head. “No. I continued learning the way they wanted me to, while practicing in my own way in secret.” She sighed. “In terms of raw power, their way is better. But it’s too…too...stunted I guess would be the best term. It feels as if I’m wielding a club like some brutish orc.”
Shin repressed a scoff. In terms of ‘raw power’, the spells of the light elves were woefully deficient. “Show me what you do when you practice it your way.” Shin had enough experience facing spellsingers in battle that there was no need to have her demonstrate that to him. As she stood, the air around them grew noticeably colder. Something that he knew spellsingers did not do. “Is that intentional? The air growing colder?”
Starr shook her head. “No, not entirely.”
“Explain.” He stood with her and followed as she walked several feet away from the log.
“When I access my magic, sometimes my control slips. The magic that I can’t control manifests itself as colder air.”
Shin thought on that for a second. His knowledge in advanced magics was limited. But he knew enough to know that if she was losing control of her magic enough for it to actually manifest and turn the surrounding air colder for extended periods of time, and yet still have enough left over to cast the magic she had in the brig, then her magic might be as powerful as her archery abilities had been.
It was also potentially dangerous.
He’d once seen a spellhowler who’d lost control over her abilities. The resulting windstorm had nearly torn the woman apart. And he’d heard rumors that humans, notoriously powerful wielders of flame, had sometimes burned vast swaths of land when they couldn’t properly control their abilities. He made mental note to have one of his ravens take a parchment with a brief description of her problem to an accomplished spellhowler and see if he knew of anything that might help him to protect them both should her magic get out of hand.
“And when your control doesn’t slip? Can you lower the air temperature?” He refrained from asking her if her control had slipped just then or if she’d intentionally done it. Although he suspected she hadn’t meant for it to happen.
Starr breathed out slowly through slightly pursed lips as she concentrated. The temperature around them dropped rapidly and significantly. As they continued walking toward the water, frost formed on the grass beneath their feet and the branches of the tree’s yards away from them.
When they stopped at the water’s edge, the gently flowing eddies and small ripples froze solid. It formed a rim of thin, translucent ice that extended out a couple of feet from the shoreline where they stood.
They stood in silence, gazing over her handiwork for a few moments before the ice began to crack. A few seconds later the ice was entirely gone and the air temperature around them was almost back to normal. She formed a dagger her hand. “Weapons are much easier to form and maintain, comparatively speaking.” Without another word, she flung the dagger at a tree on the far shore.
The moment the dagger struck, the tree became encased in a crust of ice so heavy that a branch cracked and fell under the weight. But, after only a few seconds, the ice once again melted.
“The ice daggers you used to torture me lasted for hours. And you said that the oath dagger would never melt.” Shin prodded, wanting to see more than what she was showing him. While this was all very impressive visually, he couldn’t see where it would be much more than a nuisance in battle. She was holding back. Or perhaps she was tired, she had practiced extensively with the bow earlier. While he’d asked her to do so, so that he might see where her limitations were, she’d continued working with it long after he’d told her he’d seen enough.
Staring at the serene river, she sighed. “As near as I can tell, my magic responds to my intention when I cast it.” She conjured another dagger and held it out for him to see. As she continued speaking, the dagger began to change shape. “As long as I have a firm and clear intent in mind, or in the case of weaponry, a clear design in mind as well as a clearly defined intent, the magic will perform as I want it to. Lasting as long as I want it to and dissolving when I want it to.”
Shin watched as the dagger morphed as she spoke, flowing smoothly and changing shape to that of a sword, a shield, and finally into a simple bow and a single arrow. Reaching out, he plucked the slender arrow from her and held it gingerly. The ice seemed exceptionally fragile. With a sudden downward motion, he flung the arrow into the ground, half expecting it to shatter.
The arrow dug into the mud and froze everything around it. As it stayed frozen, he listened as she explained.
“The smaller the area affected, the more intense and powerful the magic is. That would stay frozen solid indefinitely if I wanted it to.” She gazed back at the tree she’d flung the dagger at. “Anything too large, and my magic simply cannot cope. The daggers that I used that night in the brig, I had a clear target, and my intention was very much clear. As a result, the magic was very powerful.” Her gaze swung back to him. Could she have killed him with her magic? Should she have used that rather than her bow? Then again, the ice chains should have held him immobile and yet they hadn’t. Had that been a lack of spellpower, or an unconscious lack of resolve on her part? She found that she couldn’t say.
“I don’t know if you could’ve killed me with your magic or not, hrea.” He spoke slowly, his voice soft as he contemplated all that she’d told him. As he considered it, he realized that it just might’ve been possible for her, if she hadn’t solely focused on trying to use her bow to kill him. If she’d attacked him with her magic skills, skills that were so different from any other magic he’d ever seen, he wouldn’t have been prepared for it. And wouldn’t have known how to counter it. And he still didn’t know how to counter it, except by breaking the weapons, assuming that was even possible. But if she’d stabbed him in the heart with one of those icy daggers…
He shuddered a bit despite himself. He was damn lucky she hadn’t thought of that back then.
Deciding to break for the midday meal, he led them back to the cabin. Starr followed him quietly, understanding that he was busy making sense of all that she’d told him. While on the way, she realized that she had quite a lot to think on as well. Why hadn’t her ice chains held him when they should have? Once they were back, she settled into one of the chairs and settled in, her brows furrowed in deep thought. Shin watched her for a moment before deciding to follow suit on the opposite chair. The rest of the fish wouldn’t take long to cook at all, and he needed to concentrate on all that he’d learned.
Her use of magic was more complex than he’d expected. She was combining the very real, very tangible physicality of weaponry with the ethereal, and nonphysical obscurity that was magic.
If her own masters had forbade her to train in this way, how dangerous was it? While the light elves didn’t dabble in risky magics in general since the tragedy that had befallen the infamous Sea of Spores at their incompetent hands, they also knew their limitations better than anyone. Or they could simply be being overly cautious, both with the magic and with her. Either way, he needed to consult with someone more knowledgeable in magic than himself.
His first choice was Faeronar. The old mystic had knowledge that even the scholars of the Ivory Tower didn’t possess, and never would. He was also the most trustworthy. But getting him away from the ever watchful eyes of the rest of the Obsidian Council would be nearly impossible.
Kattath was his second choice. She was a spellhowler and a staunch friend of Nathavin’s. The woman was loyal, for at least as long as Nathavin was. Which effectively meant that she would be loyal to their deaths. But she was quite hostile toward their light cousins and Starr in particular. During the battle for Giran, her sister had been felled by Starr’s arrow in front of her. And he didn’t feel like testing the boundaries of Kattath’s loyalty.
Finally, there was Ilzytmyr. A summoner of creatures from the darkest depths of the abyss, his magic was not even remotely like hers. But controlling those beasts took considerable discipline. Discipline she was sorely lacking since her magic was essentially leaking out and making the air turn bitingly cold.
Turning to her to pose a question, he found that she’d fallen asleep. With a shake of his head, he stood and covered her with a blanket and then stepped outside.
“The raven delivered the treaty to the Council.” Nathavin informed Shin, coming away from the tree he’d been resting against.
“How long have you been there?” Shin questioned, somewhat surprised.
Nathavin’s shoulders raised and lowered in a shrug. “Not long.” He glanced at the cabin. “How’s she?”
“So far so good. But we haven’t really had a test of her loyalties yet.”
Nathavin took a long look at his friend. “Do you really think she will turn on them? I know they’ve turned on her, but you are asking her to forego not only years of training, but they are her people.”
Shin shrugged as he leaned against a pile of firewood, idly flicking a rather large, bulbous spider off the timbers. “There’s no way of telling what will happen when she is face to face with her kindred again. That is something that we will have to wait to see what happens.”
Nathavin huffed a bit while digging around in his rucksack. “I returned to the fortress as you asked. I found this. You really outdid yourself on taking out their defense forces, there were hardly any patrols left.”
Taking the parchment Nathavin held, Shin muttered quietly under his breath as he unfurled the papers and began reading the contents. “I warned her that I would kill everyone that came to question me in her place. And I did.”
Studying his friend closely, Nathavin replied, his voice steady. “I heard that she had a lover…”
“I killed him as well when he pursued me.” Shin’s voice was hard, indicating the conversation was over.
Nathavin allowed the conversation to lapse. Shin didn’t seem concerned that he’d killed her lover and so Nathavin supposed he shouldn’t be either. However, if he’d killed the lover while being pursued, it likely meant that she’d witnessed the killing. Exactly how Shin expected her to simply move past that he didn’t know.
Scanning over the documents, Shin questioned Nathavin about who would be better equipped to help her train. “We don’t have long.” He reminded him.
Thinking it over, Nathavin agreed that Faeronar would be the best choice, but the Council would be suspicious of his absence. Ilzytmyr was away on a mission and there was no telling when he would return. “Kattath is the only option unless you wish to find someone else.”
“Will she be able to look past what happened at Giran?” Shin asked, his voice expressing his doubt. But they didn’t have time to properly search for and vet someone else. It wouldn’t be much longer before the Council recalled him for another mission. And he could only avoid the Council for so long.
“That you will have to ask her.” Nathavin’s voice rumbled.
“I won’t have this plan thwarted by the wayward actions of your lover, Nathavin.” Shin warned ominously. “If she cannot look past what happened…”
With a growl, Nathavin cut him off. “I will make sure that she understands that she is to obey you and that no harm is to come to Starr.” Calling to his own fenrir, Nathavin mounted up and disappeared into the forest.
“You can stop hiding at the door, hrea.” Shin called out quietly.
Slowly, Starr opened the door and stepped outside.
“I know that you can’t currently understand our language but know this. Eavesdropping on conversations is generally not well received in our society.” Shin explained as he watched her approach him.
Ignoring his comment, she asked quietly. “Who is that? That’s the second time he’s come around.”
“His name is Nathavin, and he’s a friend. And his word carries as much weight as mine, should the occasion ever arise.” He further clarified. Gazing in the direction Nathavin had traveled, he wondered if his friend would follow through on the plan to overthrow the Council and take up the discarded role of Lord. He hoped so. The Council was corrupted to the core and was suspected of having a hand in the death of the previous Lord so that they could seize power.
Starr remembered the bow he’d carried. It had been a slightly better quality bow than her own had been. Was he the one that their command had been worried about becoming better than her? Had he been the one to shoot and injure her?
Unaware of her thoughts, Shin motioned for them to go back inside. “What do you typically eat for your midday meal?” He questioned, shutting the door behind them.
Ignoring the question, Starr indicated the scrolls in his hand. “Those have light elven lettering. May I see them?” She didn’t offer to read them for him, assuming that if he could speak their language then he could probably read it as well.
Hesitating, Shin wondered if he should. Nathavin hadn’t known that her lover had been a sentry Captain when he’d grabbed the scrolls. Scrolls that documented her battle with her injury and her efforts to overcome it in exacting detail.
Extending the scrolls to her, Shin spoke somberly. “You’re not going to like what you read, hrea.” He felt genuine sorrow for her.
With slightly shaking hands, Starr grabbed the parchments and began reading. The more she read, the sadder and angrier she got. All that time, Einao had been reporting on her. Pointing out every failure. While he’d expressed his frustration and dismay at the decision to dismiss her, he’d agreed that it was the only logical choice. As the air turned cold, her magic shredded the parchment in her hand to pieces.
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Coitus Interruptus