The Calm Before The Storm

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

Katlyn sat on the bank, watching the last few villagers mooring their boats and collecting their wares after a long days fishing. It was just getting dark and the sky was a dusky blue-grey, Katlyn like to come sit on the banks at this time of evening and it was usually the only free time she got due to the hard work she did on the farm.

She tucked the few stray hairs that had come loose from her ponytail back behind her ears and brought her knees up to her chest. It was chilly out and the wind was starting to pick up too which mean her rough shirt and slacks were providing little protection. Katlyn hoped it meant a storm was on the way, the harvest had been tough this year and they hadn't had rain in a week and her father would be losing money if they didnt have some soon.

The last fisherman passed by Katlyn and she smiled warmly, he had spent a summer on the farm last year and she had become firm friends with him, teaching him to ride a horse whenever they had a minute to spare.
"Hey Jack, how did the fishing go today?" She stood up and skipped over to him, standing on tiptoes and giving him a quick hug. He grinned down at her and laughed.
"Oh you know, not too bad. I think the fish had sensed a storm coming in though.." He signalled to the sky in the east where tall black clouds were bubbling up. Katlyn nodded.
"It wouldn't surprise me! But i don't think father will complain. The harvest has been dry this year and i the crop might be ruined without some rain."

After Jack and Katlyn had said their goodbyes, she wandered down to the river side and sat by the very edge. The water was cool as she ran her hand through the water and the gentle lapping of the water on the bank made Katlyn feel peaceful after a busy day.
The first roll of thunder sent s smile to her lips. It seemed that there would be some rain tonight after all. She closed her eyes.

When Katlyn opened them again, her face was wet with rain and the sky was flashing bright with lightening. The thunder was deafening and Katlyn realised how tired she must have been to have slept through it this long. She pressed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her sleepy eyes, suddenly aware of how wet through she was she laughed and started running back towards the village.

Katlyn screamed as a huge bolt of lightening struck the ground mere metres in front of her. The thunder that followed was incredible and something snapped inside her head. That was the last thing she was conscious of.

Her body buckled as she passed out and her head hit the wet ground with a thump. She began writhing as one of her seizures set in, head lolling from one side to the other, making her neck look like it was made of rubber. She was in serious need of help.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer didn't know what drew him towards the small village, and didn't really care to much.

He was at the brink of his stress level,a rare event for all he had been through. Keeping up his studying in the Magicians Guild and pulling night shifts at The Ram to support himself. Dreamer hadn't expected things to be as difficult as they were, and felt he just needed a break to get away.

So, gathering his things he requested the night off to venture away from Camelot for a rest day. It cost him a whole nights pay, but Dreamer felt it was well worth it. The guild didn't seem to care that he would be away, he wasn't forced to be there,It was Dreamer's choice.

So he followed where his feet led him, and for most of the day he traveled until he came upon the village. Dreamer thought his countryside trip would be a welcoming experience, which was quiet different from reality. People were bustling about, some staring off into the sea for moments at a time. Dreamer looked toward where they were staring, and Dreamer saw it.

The storm

"KATLYN! KATLYN" a man was screaming at the top of his lungs, searching frantically for someone. Dreamer approached the man, along with a few other men. The man seemed to see a familiar face and approached quickly, "Jack! Have you seen Katlyn, i cant find her anywhere". Jack looked confused, "That's funny, cause i just saw her down by the bank".

At that moment a large bolt of lightning cracked, striking somewhere off by the bank. The man turned pale white, and attempted to run for it. The men pulled him back though, and try as he may, the man couldn't go free. Without a thought, Dreamer dropped his bags and ran towards the storm.

It took him ten minutes, and in that time the storm had grown rougher. Dreamer could feel wind and rain beating against his clothes, trying to stop him from approaching. It didnt take long for Dreamer to find the young woman on the bank. She was sprawled out and shaking uncontrollably, in dire need of assistance.

Dreamer swore, he hadn't been faced with a problem quiet like Katlyns. He tried to pick her up, but with the storm on top of them he was not strong enough to carry her back. Dreamer tried removing his coat and his shirt, the two uneccessary pieces of cloth weighting him down. Still, he could not carry her the whole way to the village.

He would have to help here there.

Dreamer put his shirt underneath the woman's head, trying to make her more comfortable. Taking his hands, he placed them as best he could against her bare stomach and forehead. It was difficult with her thrashing around, but he was able to keep his hands there. Then, he began to sing his magic into the young woman.

Be calm, be still
Fear nothing from the thrill
Be calm, be still
I command you with my will
Be calm, be still
Heal


Dreamer knew the words were makeshift, but he hadnt exactly planned on the event. Plus with the storm raging on them, Dreamer was suprised his mind was working right at all. Dreamer felt his magic start to work its way from his fingers into the womans body. Soon, Her body started to grow calm and ceased its thrashing.

Then, her eyes opened quickly.

Too quick for Dreamer to pull his hands away from her bare skin.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

Katlyn screamed. She had no idea what had happened, but she was cold, wet and laying on the hard ground. On top that some strange man had his hands on her bare stomach.
Her muscles ached and she found it virtually impossible to move, despite her best efforts.
Tears streaked down her face, although they were lost with the heavy rain that was pounding her body and she wished that she could get away from this horrible situation.

After a minute or so, her head cleared a little, and she remembered the lightening strike. Had she had one of her seizures? It seemed the most likely solution, for this man definitely hadn't been here before and she couldn't remember getting to the ground. But it still didn't explain what he was doing here, or why he was touching her.

"What are you doing?" She whimpered, decided that since she couldn't get away she may as well ask. She hoped to god that he was here to help rather than do more damage. No one would hear her screams over the rumbling thunder, and she could barely move.

It had been a few months since the last time she had passed out and had a fit. That time she had been in one of the fields of her fathers farm and although it was still a terrible situation, she had at least had friendly faces to greet her when she woke. She decided now that the worst thing in the world was waking up to a stranger.
More often than not, Katlyn's illness didn't bother her, she wasn't exactly happy with it, but she figured there was nothing she could do so she may as well live with it. It rarely got her down and she always stayed positive, but right now she wished for the first time ever that her mother had never taken her on the long journey to Camelot which caused her to first get sick.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

"What are you doing?"

The words startled him and his hands flew up defensively. He held them, palms up, to show he meant no harm. Of course, he was slightly flustered so his words didn't really come out very very. It was more gibberish than anything, "No no no no no no no no I..I..uhhh..i was...oh please...i was...uhhh" Dreamer didn't exactly want to tell this girl he had used magic. He knew that Magic was still a source of evil in many people's hearts, because they feared it.

Then again, if he didn't come up with a good reason, he would most likely get beaten to death by the father of the woman. "Crap" he thought, his vacation wasn't turning out as planned. Dreamer decided to just try and skip the whole misunderstanding, and hope the woman forgot about it.

He had noticed she was having a hard time moving, which was a slightly less disasterous problem. Dreamer stood slowly and then bent down to slowly pick her up by her lower back and legs. He was frantically explaining he meant no harm as he did this. With the young woman now in somewhat control of her body, she was less dead weight. Which made it slightly easier to lift her and carry her.

Dreamer prayed she wouldn't scream.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

Something about the man's shocked expression and flustered speech told Katlyn that whatever this odd man had been doing, it hadn't been of ill intention. She breathed a slow sigh of relief, although she still didn't know what was going on.

Just as she was beginning to relax a little, she felt the strong arms curl under her knees and back, she let out a cry of surprise, although she couldn't help but laugh as he began to utter a string of words, that has little meaning but that she knew meant he was trying to help.

"I'm so sorry." She apologised when he had her firmly in his arms. "You really don't need to do this. I'm fine really!" She giggled, as he stumbled and she nearly rolled clean out of his arms. Only Katlyn Blake could see the funny side in a situation like this.
The rain was still hammering down as they approached the village, she couldn't turn her head to look, but her father's voice was clear above even the storm.
"Oh Katy, what has happened?!" He was crying out, she could only assume the quiet thudding was the noise of his feet pounding the ground as he ran towards her. She was dying to turn her head and look at him to assure him she was ok, but her neck wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried.
The feeling of being paralysed was the one thing that Katlyn disliked most about her illness. It was like an itch you couldn't scratch, or a bad dream when try as you might, you could never quite reach your goal. She felt like she was moving her limbs, but when she looked they were still as could be.
"Daddy I'm fine!" She yelled, smiling and rolling her eyes at the man carrying her, his face was all she could see and it was beginning to get awkward staring at him.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer cursed as he took a wrong step and his feet started to fall forward. He was lucky to gain his balance back. He may have been fast, but he wasn't exactly the strongest character out there. Dreamer concentrated as hard as he could to walk through the storm. He was kind of lucky she hadn't move, but was worried as to why.

Maybe when he spoke Calm in his spell he had accidentally paralyzed her. The fear gripped his chest as he walked slowly closer and closer the the village. A small form started to approach them and grow larger with each step, the girls father. Dreamer started to take in account the size the man had on him, it was intimidating.

The man asked what had happened, and Dreamer fought for the words to speak. Looking down, Dreamer saw the girl rolling her eyes and smiling. That was another fear that Dreamer had tried to ignore. Had he accidentally caused mental damage to the girl, or even failed to fix it when he could. It was unnoticeable, cause he was dripping with sweat, but dreamer was actually sweating from both fear and physical strain.

When her father finally took the girl from his arms, Dreamer felt like he was going to drop there. His arms burned and his head felt like it had been smashed like a hammer. Dreamer had nothing else to do but follow the man as he rushed away, his feet carrying behind the two of them.

Dreamer didn't notice the cold until they entered the village. He had forgotten both his shirt and his coat back at the bank. It was too late for them now, and he doubted that his spare's inside his sack had survived the harsh weather. Dreamer only hoped that his bags were where he placed them or somewhere safe, it was his life in those bags.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

"I'm fine!" Katlyn protested as her father rushed her into the house. He always acted like this when she had an episode, and it was always annoying. She had wanted to thank her "knight in shining armour" properly for saving her, but being unable to turn her head, and with her father taking her into the house, she had no idea what had happened to him.

When she was safely in her bed, she felt even worse. What if she never saw him again? or worse he thought she was ungrateful. It wasn't fair, her father hadn't even let her say thank you and goodness only knew where he was now.

Katlyn sighed as her father came back with a dry towel, he began rubbing her hair wildly, trying to get as much moisture out of it as he could. Apparently she would catch a chill if he didn't, but she hated the fact that she had no control against the pushing and pulling of his hands. She had already been changed by a female neighbour and she was grateful to be dry and warm once more. She still wanted to know where the man had gotten to, but soon her exhaustion got the better of her and she fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of storms and strangers.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer was greeted in the house by Jack, the man he had listened to earlier. The man handed Dreamer his bags and rushed off to go take care of something. The house was going wild, even if there was only three people in there now. Dreamer, Katlyn's father, and a lady neighbor.

The lady had walked into Katlyn's room as her father was passing at the door. Dreamer backed himself into a corner and went threw his belongings. Everything was there, but they were soaked, as expected. Dreamer immediately took out his violin and tried drying it with his damp clothes, with little success. He set it on a nearby chair, Praying no damage came to it.

Looking around, Dreamer was now just sitting down and waiting for something to do. The lady had walked out of the room, leaving the door open for Katlyn's father to rush in. Dreamer tried peeking in the door, but the lady caught his attention instead. She didn't say anything, everyone was being really quiet. She threw him a change of clothes and nodded to him with a smile, a thank you. She then left the house, most likely to go attend her own family.

Dreamer changed into the warm clothes,quickly, he didn't know how much privacy you could get in a living room. As Dreamer pulled on his shirt, Katlyn's father appeared. Seeing Dreamer, the man rushed Dreamer and pulled him into a giant embrace. Dreamer was shocked, and losing his breath at an alarming rate. When the man released him, Dreamer gasped for breath as the man clapped him on the shoulder.

Dreamer looked up and the man nodded to the door where katlynn was. Dreamer took that as a sign that he should enter, Dreamer didn't know why. He figured the man must have trusted him now, a strange characteristic for a father. Of course, Dreamer wouldn't know to much about the characteristics of a father.

Dreamer grabbed his violin, even in the safety of the house Dreamer still felt protective over it. He entered the room, and Dreamer looked at the now sleeping Katlyn. Dreamer was surprised to find her in such a peacefully state, a smile still on her face.

Dreamer was starting to get tired, so he retired to a chair at the far corner of the room. Resting the Violin against the wall beside him, Dreamer took one last look at Katlyn, then fell asleep.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

Katlyn opened her eyes sleepily and smiled as she saw the face of her saviour sitting in a chair nearby.
"Hi" She slurred, managing to prop herself up shakily. Her movement had improved slightly since she had first got home, but she was still weak and wouldn't be allowed out for a couple of days yet.

Once she was sitting up though she felt a little more comfortable, and had started to wake up properly too, so for the first time she noticed that he wasn't actually awake. Slipping her feet unsteadily onto her bedroom floor, she managed to hobble over to where he was sitting. He was a strange looking man, somehow that had managed to slip past her last night but with his shocking white hair and different coloured eyes, in the daylight it was quite alarming. She stumbled back a little and suddenly caught sight of his violin. Music had always fascinate her, and carefully Katlyn picked the instrument up and plucked the strings.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer's eyes shot open as soon as he heard the first note being played. His instinct was to grab at the violin, but he changed his mind as his hand was moving. Dreamer saw that it was Katlyn wielding the violin, and that made him terribly uncomfortable. He had never allowed another soul touch his violin. The instrument was his life, how he lived and communicated, He felt it was a material piece of himself.

So to see the young woman play it, or at least attempt to, Dreamer was conflicted. In the end though , he didn't want to frighten or scare her in any way. So he Settled himself into the chair, quietly, fearing his words would be harmful as well. His hands grabbed at the arms of the chair with might as he began to calm down.

His mind was rationalizing the situation. Katlyn was a curious woman who found an interesting instrument apparently unattended. She meant no harm to the instrument or Dreamer, so she was not crossing any lines on purpose. So Dreamer watched,quietly, as Katlyn plucked a few strings.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

Katlyn was happily plucking away at the strings of Dreamer's violin enjoying the delicate sounds they made. She had never seen an instrument as fine as this one, the wood positively gleamed and she figured he must take very good care of it.
She plucked another string and looked up grinning, only to find a pair of very awake eyes staring back at her.

"Oh!" She exclaimed flinging the instrument into his lap. "I'm so sorry...I..I just wanted to see how it sounded!" She smiled a bright, but slightly cautious smile and wobbled back over to sit on her bed.
She wasn't sure exactly how this stranger would react, she definitely wouldnt have taken kindly to him playing with anything of hers, but something told her that he was a rational and level headed person and he certainly seemed calm at the moment.

"I'm Katlyn." She smiled after a few minutes silence, "Thank you again for saving me..."She paused, had this man told her his name?

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer caught the violin with both of his hands and gently brought it to his chest. He breathed a sigh of relief when it rested against him, he had held its breath when it was in the air. Dreamer looked up at the girl, and she was looking at him funny, but with a smile. Dreamer shrugged, and went on to tune the violin.

She had said her name, and Dreamer found no harm in giving his, "My name is Dreamer" he said. He knew people found it odd, but he didnt, it was his name. Dreamer looked back up at her, his violin held properly against his chest, and waited.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

"Thats a nice name." She smiled at him from the safety of her bed. Her feet felt unsteady and standing up for a long period of time wan't sensible at the moment.

"So, you play the violin?" She asked after a few seconds of silence. Dreamer didn't seem the most talkative of people, although she had just woken him up, but she wanted to know more about this strange man who looked so different.

While he replied, she pulled her legs carefully onto her bed, and propped her pillow up behind her. Once she was comfortable she turned back to him and asked, "So tell me about you? Your family, job, hobbies?...Sorry!" She laughed, "I'm just bored stuck in here and all i can do is talk!" She poked her tongue out and giggled.

[Jasen "Dreamer" Masters]

Dreamer nodded politely as she complimented him on his name. He watched her, she was still pretty weak from the previous night. Even moving herself about seemed to be draining her. Dreamer wondered what caused her to shut down, he didn't believe it could have been the lightning anymore.

He was caught off guard by her urgency to know more about him, He usually asked the questions. For a moment he couldn't find the words to answer her. He eventually caught himself in the silence and spoke, "Don't worry, i don't mind" Dreamer said, "I live alone and work as an entertainer at the Ram's Tavern and.." Dreamer didn't exactly know what to say about his hobbies, he never really thought about it.

"I guess you could say i have alot of hobbies" he said.

[Katlyn Isabel Blake]

"Like what?" She asked before poor Dreamer had really had time to get the words out. She was probably being annoying, but to Katlyn strangers were intriguing and fascinating and she just wanted to know everything there was to know.

"I'm going to come visit The Ram when this spell has passed," She waved her arms about signalling the illness that she was suffering from. "I'd like to hear you play!" She grinned and pulled her covers up around her. The autumnal air was slowly turning wintry and she was cold just sitting there in her nightclothes. The fact that she was in male company never even crossed her mind, she was clothed and where others might be shy because it was socially unacceptable, Kate didn't care.

"You can ask questions about me you know." She said absent-mindedly, playing with her finger nails.