The Diamond's Confluence (Air Tower)

[Jaycy Ashleana]

It had been a quiet night overall; time spent in the Outback office at work was left in relative silence as the building remained empty of usual patrons. Finally Jaycy finished her reports for the week and she’d originally packed paperwork for her journey home. At the last minute, however, she left the papers on the desk and physically walked out of the famed building and toward the portal leading to the Isle. She could have teleported there, either to the sands or the Tower of Air itself but she found herself in need to stretch her legs.

And so she found herself stepping into the eternal Twilight of the pocket dimension from the “pedestrian” route, pausing just inside and taking a deep breath before letting it loose again, gaze drifting over the stillness.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much as I should have been.” Her words seemed to be directed to the air - literally, in this case. A faint breeze toyed at stray strands and the tips of her braid. She smiled faintly and lifted a hand to the diamond and turquoise key that had been so close to her, at the base of her neck, for the last two months, and she turned inevitably to that tower above the tallest mountain. Invisible to some but not, currently, to her, its clouded doors stood silent barrier for the mysteries within.

For a moment it seemed as if she were going to make a direct path there, to disappear into the center of the winds that echoed and whistled at such heights. The elements surely encouraged her journey “home,” turning the whispered wind eastward. However, after a solitary step that way, she paused and then turned head to the clearing and the rings themselves.

They spoke of spring, these soft wisps of air, half dancing around her and fluttering the flowing sleeves of her poets blouse. “I know,” she laughed softly, extending both arm and fingers through it as she walked forward, a slow pace. “Things got busier than I expected, and I admit I didn’t really know what I was looking for when I was looking toward the towers. I found more than I anticipated, though.”

Her words floated ethereally, almost chiming as she murmured not in Common but in the air beings’ own language, learned haphazardly from both Mallory and the Black Diamond but gained in fluency from practice.

“Including more questions than answers.”

She neared the edge of a close ring, pausing just without even while her focus remained on the space within. “You’ve been good friends.” A smile, directed at the flirtatious wind, and responded to with a little trill of whirlwind about her. “Hey! Aye, aye, I know. No, I could never have commanded you. It was generous of you to be so helpful these last two months.”

Truth, she hadn’t commanded the elementals she’d encountered; she’d requested, and they’d answered or not as they willed... with one exception. Near the beginning of her time in the Tower, she’d brought the Black Diamond, uncovered and unshielded, and found ... stillness. Deathly, utterly still. Brows had furrowed as she passed through cloudless doors and the foyer within was as abandoned and empty as the tombs at midnight.

Nothing came to her call that night; not the creatures bound to the element nor the ambient magic that suffused the tower itself.

Calling to the Diamond had no luck either as it failed to impart wisdom or even conversation on the matter. Eventually, however, the redhead had thought to seal the dark gem away, cloak it. And eventually, within a day, the magic of the tower had returned. She’d learned very quickly not to take the Black Diamond from its velvet lined box.

"I should have talked to Mallory earlier about it, in hindsight. Or, I still could. I'm sure Matt -" she paused, mouth snapping shut and lips thinning. Matt was too involved in the Opals, too obsessed. It likely wouldn't be a good idea to add this to his conscious interest. It would definitely be best to let Matt continue to live in ignorance of the Black Diamond ... much like how much pizza Eden actually ordered on his credit. Jaycy snickered, very briefly, glancing back toward the portal (and likely by extension the Outback) before returning her attention to the ring she stood outside.

"We'll see who holds it next. Mayhap we can work together on it." She exhaled another little sigh; too much time had passed too swiftly and she'd missed opportunities. "Whoever it is, I'll warn them about what happened with you all."

The air around her stilled and then resumed, lifting her hair mildly in perhaps playful gratitude. Chuckling, she turned with the wind, a brief dance between the woman and her new friends.

"Aye, aye, I know!" Amusement still laced through voice and expression as she responded to whatever silent chiding she'd been subject to. Slowly the breeze wafted, and a single white feather floated in front of her from the skies. "For me?" A hand came out, palm up, and the feather alighted softly onto it. Upon closer inspection, it was beaded and crystal-coated, a clip perfect for tangling within her hair. "Really?" Softly, she peered into the open air. "... thank you." Her free hand reached back to unbraid her hair and weave the accessory into newly flowing locks. "I'll always keep it." A tender, sweet smile graced her lips for a moment and she bowed her head regally before lapsing into thought.

"Hrm?" Jaycy's head tilted as she turned back to the east, caught again by those invisible companions. "Sparkles is in the Tower? Eating my feathers? AND the cookies?" Eyelids fluttered closed and she dropped her head. "Oh, damnit. Aye... let's go find him before he burps chocolate all over the sheets. And feather balls."

Touching the key at her neck, she faded, piece by piece, blown away.