Subject: Re: Looking down on Huss; A different perspective

An hour later, he's still sitting in the same spot, and no closer to finding anything but a sore backside. Pensive pushes himself to his feet, and brushes himself off. The holy symbol Elvira gave him bumps against his bare chest, cool and heavy. Pensive passes his fingers over it, searching for some answer in it-- but there is nothing he can find there that will ease his mind.

His clothes are still wet-- nothing to do but wait around then. Pensive unwraps the stonesash bound to his left thigh, and lets it furl away from his hand. He snaps a few dead leaves laying on the ground into the air, and concentrates on juggling them with the end of the stonesash. There is a comfort in exercise that cannot be gained from study, or meditation. To give the mind over to the muscles, to action and reaction, to blank one's consciousness and become. . . Pensive wasn't sure he knew the right word. Something that moved without physicality, something as light as breath, but solid nonetheless. It was like every inch of him was concentrated into moments that lingered for hours.

And yet, Pensive finds that peculiar peace evade him. Everywhere over him, the scratching of the Shadow. It was frustrating to be so close, only to be called back again and again by the whispering, chittering voice from his dreams. With a snort, Pensive lets the leaves fall, and wraps the stonesash back around his thigh. His clothes are still wet-- he puts them on anyway. Just to be contrary. Let them chafe. Maybe it would distract his mind from feeling Kor Garesh.

He finds Rennick and Gully repairing Rennick's axe, and stands for a long moment in the heat of the forge until his clothes are dry, and his face feels stretched tight. He is careful not to stand in their way, but their work is a distraction, and he needs something to distract him. Also-- Rennick's anticipation and happiness over the axe is a relief from the Shadow's oppression.