Dream Walking

Dream Walking
Date of Scene:	09 September 2016
Location:	Castle Hall - Dun Realtai
Synopsis:	While sleeping since her encounter with Yunomi, Rhapsody gets an unexpected visitor.
Cast of Characters:	325, 639
Tinyplot:	Moeru

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=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

( https://youtu.be/8pWqLRA_0ZE )

       Since arriving in Dun Realtai, the guildmaster of the Izzet, Rhapsody, hasn't even left the room she had been lead to. While her brother had stopped by earlier in the day to reverse the polymorph that had been cast on her, the dragon had remained in her true form, but had been sleeping, though not well.

       Within the dream, Rhapsody was curled into a ball, simply floating through a massive starfield somewhere way out there. The constellations all around could be identified as the Ravnican sky, though with two major differences. The Red Star is absolutley massive in the sky above, seemlingly burning with an angry red light. Far below, a much smaller Blue Star shines cooly from below.

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       It is true that the keep is relatively large compared to most houses, but as far as castles go Dun Realtai is no massive place. It's certainly not on the ostentatious levels that some parts of Ravnica can get, but it /is/ comfortable - and it is quiet. And, fortunately, it's large enough for Rhapsody's true form...with a little extra cozyness, of course.

       In a different world, one far more suited to creatures of any size, Merlin moves above the face of the dream. The wizard casts about, looking in a certain forest meadow...which has not been used it seems. Alas. Then, perhaps it is time to look in on another wounded heart; one that is a victim in this as well. And one who has been nearly catatonic, it seems, since the unexpected battle.

       As Rhapsody floats amidst the stars, there is a soft awareness of a presence, and if she turns she'll spy the wizard of Dun Realtai in all his gloriously pretty bishounen looks. It's certainly not the Merlin of legend, but legends often get so many details wrong. What he's doing in her dream, well...that still remains to be seen. "Lady Rhapsody. I bid you greetings, and pray my presence is acceptable. I sought to inquire as to your well being."

       She's not dreaming /of/ Merlin, that's the real thing before her.

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       Curled up in a ball, she was basically just in a comfortable zero-g sleeping position. When a voice calls to her in her own dream, the floating form starts to uncurl. A world-weary pair of eyes skim about the field of stars, wince at the raging red hues from above, look longingly at the cooler star below, but spotting Merlin here is... strange. She's also still at that point of her dream where she doesn't REALIZE it is a dream, yet. It isn't lucid.. for the moment. 

       "Merlin..?"

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       There is something...ominous, about Rhapsody's sleep. Such a great creature, wrapped so tight as if it were about to uncoil or lash forth. Instead, he diverts his gaze from the white dragon, taking in the two stars that make up the Ravnican sky - and recalls what happened on that day. When one star dimmed so, and the other swelled. Is it merely reflected in Rhapsody's dreams...or is there more direct ties between the Guildmaster and the heavens?

       It would not be the first time, Merlin admits.

       The great creature speaks, and the silverhaired wizard kneels before her. "I am. Permit me to join you in this place, at least." He doesn't outright call it a dream, but it's certainly not quite the real world. Dragons don't fly through space with wizards all that often, at least.

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "Ah... alright..?" Confusion is apparent in the dragon's tone. Her gaze turns upward again, a wince escaping her this time, "He's so angry.." she whispers, half hiding under a wing from the angry gaze of the red giant above them both. "I don't know what to do..." she mumbles before she almost appears to be mentally hit by a freight train. She recalls Yunomi and what happened the last time she was awake. As she does, the Red Star actually starts to swell even further. It causes her to look back at Merlin, pleading, "What am I supposed to do..?"

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Dreams, in a way, are even more sacrosanct than Brehon law. You share a universe with a person, inside their soul. For a guest like Rhapsody, there is no other option that the wizard has. Merlin nods, and settles before her, simply watching quietly.

       He turns his gaze to the Red Star, as it expands and threatens Rhapsody - and simply points a finger. Perhaps dreams are a shared universe, but Merlin of Camelot is one who walks this universe and shapes it as easily as a carpenter his own house. With a simple gaze, and a silent command, the red star begins to shrink once more, the furious scarlet shifting into a softer tone.

       And then there is the matter of her question. "For now...you are supposed to rest. You now dream, in this place among the night sky. But you are safe in Dun Realtai with us." He smiles, then produces a cup of tea in the way that only dreams permit - one instant it is not there, the next it has always been. A long sip. "I am afraid I cannot tell you what it is you are /to/ do. I cannot give you directions or orders."

       She is the Guildmaster. Such decisions are hers, not for others - ANY others, foolish as they may be - to put upon her.

       "But...I can help you sort your thoughts, and lead you to a path you would choose yourself, that you might yourself give that direction and follow it unerringly. Take a breath as deep as you wish; the world of dreams will wait. A century might pass in an hour, or minutes last all night. We will have time." It's not unlike what he'd said to Yunomi...and Merlin knows what he's talking about.

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       And about now the lucididy finds its way to Rhapsody's mind. It is actually the first time the dragon has ever had a lucid dream. She recalls, then, how Merlin had visited Yunomi and is suddenly appreciative that the wizard has decided to visit. Especially when, with nothing but a finger, her 'father' starts to fade into the background. ".. Dreaming.." she muses to herself, eyes closing for a moment. When they open, the two are still among the stars, but a slab of grass-covered ground has appeared below them, and now, it is what Rhapsody is resting on. 

       "I don't know what to do," she repeats, but with far more clarity. "She wouldn't be honest, she wouldn't just tell me why she's doing what she's doing... she just -insists- on treading that path alone when I would follow her into the nether-realms and back, Merlin.. I just want to understand, especially with all the notebooks we found... I just ... I don't understand it at all.

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Merlin finds himself relaxed upon he grass, and smiles. "Very good. Good afternoon, Guildmaster." There's a soft nod in greeting. The fires of the red star no longer seek to scorch, but merely illuminate - casting, amusingly, a soft pink light against the dragon's white skin. Almost like the gentle touch of a father, rather than the furious hand of anger.

       "Bedivere informed me of much of what was said. I do not know of the notebooks, though; other than by mention. What did they say?" It's a simple enough question, but delicate - Rhapsody's just come to her senses as it were, and the contents may hurt. A lot.

       The wizard continues, giving the dragon a moment to organize her thoughts. "She said, I understand, that...someone 'made her a better offer.' I find that extremely hard to believe she would accept such a thing. I do not know Lady Yunomi well," he adds with a bit of a wistful trace in his voice. "But the girl I have met and consider a friend...if there were anything truly in her heart, the single seed of her being, from all that I have heard of her accomplishments..."

       Sigh. "Would be loyalty. She is, first and foremost, a guardian." He sits back, taking a long sip of that tea, glad that dream tea never needs to be refilled - or spills. "The most important question to ask...what is it, then, that she is guarding with such loyalty?"

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "While the notebooks don't really give the answer, something else did," Rhapsody starts to recall, and as she does, the image of Niv-Mizzet that was in her room at Redfern appears. "She had a drawing of Niv," she starts, apparently not even seeing the drawing. "It was encoded.. or something, but my brother solved it. It was the scroll he sent to Yunomi when he.." she pauses. the Red Star flickers a moment. "-left. The message was long but he asked her to look after me, my siblings, and the Izzet. If there is one thing she was, above all else, was as you said. She was extremely loyal to my father. It is why I cannot believe the words she has been saying.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Merlin takes in the drawing, as Rhapsody thinks and explains. The massive red dragon...and this is his daughter. And if she had been merely asleep before, not truly in the waking-dream she is now, then perhaps that explains the great red sun. When it flickers as she explains, speaking of Niv-Mizzet, he's sure. Good job, Merlin! 

       "A person may undergo many things in life. See many things, live many adventures. They change, they grow...but they never stop being who they truly are. The greatest tree fanning over a field," he adds, gesturing to said tree - isn't dreamscaping fun! - "is still a tree. It still came from its own tiny seed, at its heart, and has not become anything different despite how much it has grown."

       He considers, wondering. "Yunomi is a guardian. Above all else, that is what she is." There's a vision of the tanuki in human form, now, wearing her typical outfit and goggles. The image also has quite dirty hands and fingers from working in the gardens of Dun Realtai. The dream-image gives Rhapsody a small wave and a smile. "That Yunomi seeks with all of her being to fulfill that promise she made to Niv-Mizzet, and...in her own words, she is."

       Remember the dream they'd met in, Rhapsody. When you saw what Yunomi told Merlin. "Right now, at this very moment...everything she is doing, everything she is saying and claiming...is to protect you, your siblings, and Ravnica itself. She is fulfilling her duty, and her coremost being."

       He turns his eyes to the dragon and stands, not quite defiant, but in a sense issuing a challenge to her. There's a long, quiet stare, before he asks a question. "Did you ask what Yunomi believes she is protecting you all /from./"

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       Looking at the tree, Rhapsody listens to what the wizard has to say. In the meantime, the light shining down has evened out a bit, the blue star joining with the red one, now about the same size and brightness to the other. Somehow it results in regular sunlight. Meh! Dreams!

       With the question asked by Merlin at the end, Rhapsody looks surprised. The question hadn't even crossed her mind. "No..". It stung a little to admit it, but it was true. "I don't know if she would have answered, though. Still, any time she had spoken of the Magic Eaters before, it was generally her being nervous or fearful. It's why I refuse to trust Ijiwaru at -all-...

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Dreams are magic. So are Ravnican stars. Ah, if only they knew the truth - the land of Everything Explodes Sooner or Later worshiping the cosmic perpetual explosion of thermonuclear furnaces in the sky? They'd /love/ it. Then again, everyone knows stars are not such silly things. Science! Meh!

       "Magic-eaters. I imagine their name is...descriptive of their desires and abilities." He doesn't outright frown, but for a wizard it's hardly the sort of thing that they'd like to hang out much. Isn't Ravnica full of magic, in that regard. "Who, and what, are they - as well as this Ijiwaru figure. I suspect that if we follow her fears...we will come to the same thoughts that motivated her decision and need to protect you all."

       He considers. There is much of Ravnican politics he does not know...and Bedivere would probably punish him for getting involved in such things. And not in a fun way, either. A parallel occurs to him, and he considers. "Bedivere's Stewardhood over Dun Realtai is one of careful alliance and permissiveness, and he sees it not as a power base but a duty to protect. Indeed, it is the way of the knights of the Round Table, as one of their virtues. Even that 'shining city on a hill' of Camelot, in its greatest years, was rife with tension and the worry of a friend with a sword by your side...or a dagger in your back."

       Merlin looks back at the dragon, reaching one hand up to caress the creature's muzzle. "Bedivere was the marshal, and was occasionally instrumental in ferreting out those threats to the kingdom. Perhaps Ravnica is in its own questioned land...and the advice of experience in such matters will be of assistance. At the very least, he can often see patterns others do not; his intelligence is never something I have questioned."

       His stodgy scabbard-up-the-butt nature, quite often.

       "But tell me more of this Ijiwaru. Your own instincts are the very first things you should trust - who is he...and why must you trust him."

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       There's no pulling back from the kind hand that reaches out for Rhapsody. In fact, the dragon's head leans lightly into it, probably the only true affection she's felt since this entire plot started that wasn't a touch o sympathy or pity. ... This wasn't one of those, was it? "I don't know much of him, Merlin," she begins, eyes closing as she thinks. "He and his people just feel.. wrong. Like my spirit is trying to pull away from my body when they are around." Magical black holes? Dragons are magical creatures? Seems about right. "And Ijiwaru.." she hisses the name. "Damn snake he -" she stutters, halting her speech, looking to Merlin again as if to say 'This is a dream.. right?' "... He .. he made me choose.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       There's a smile when Merlin's hand is pressed gently against, and he just lets it remain. A simple enough gesture of kindness and tenderness for another being - perhaps affection, even. His hand is not there for pity, and the only sympathy being provided is a true one - one of shared, equal emotions. And a little respect, as well; Rhapsody /is/ a beautiful dragon.

       Even yet as a dragon, Rhapsody speaks with the voice of a worried girl - and the description is something that would instill fear even into his own heart. "I have sensed something similar, once. It was not an experience I might like to repeat again." And then there is Rhapsody's question, and Merlin smiles. 

       Well, it /is/ Rhapsody's dream. And her own memories, and frankly...it /is/ fetchingly cute. If she looks down at herself, the Guildmaster will find a recollection of her avatar, when she'd visited that video-game world. Maybe the outfit is different, something a little cuter and feminine - something that Yunomi herself might very much approve of.

       "In a dream...you can be anything you want to be. Or anyone. You seemed to remember this form with amusment, at least." It isn't so much that she's been polymorphed, transformed, or that he tapped deep into her mind. It's just her own dream expressing itself with a little guidance from Merlin, turning her into a different shape - one that he can't help but admit is cute. "Between this form, and your usual...and who you are in /your/ innermost core, it's quite clear just how much, and why, she loves you so."

       Oh, and a wild gazebo has appeared, with its fifty hit points and iron construction. There's even some chairs and a table, with sweets and tea ready. "Come and enjoy. There's no calories in a dream, so...take your time. And when you are ready, speak further. None but the two of us even knows this place /exists./"

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       The avatar she created, herself, for helping some old friends in a crazy online death-video game, but that was a whole different story. She didn't mind it, at all, actually. Being in that form in her old Izzet Coat with some simple clothes beneath? It felt as comfortable as her dragon form. As she moves to the DEADLY GAZEBO, a blush crosses her features from the wizard's comment. "You're too kind.." is her whispered reply before taking a seat. 

       No one else around, in a place no one else exists, where prying eyes and ears cannot go, the guildmaster can finally admit to -someone- what happened the Sunday before. "He's blackmailing me, Merlin.." she admits. Just -saying- so causes so much weight to lift off of her shoulders. "He .. has a picture of me going into Yunomi's room at Redfern without showing the magic-eaters. Clear evidence I was refusing to work with him against the Guild Council vote. . . it amounts to treason in Ravnica. I would be excommunicated from the League and banished from the city, and my siblings would go with me cause they knowingly let me go without telling anyone.." siiiiigh. "I .. I have to do what he says... I care for Yunomi more than almost everything. I just.. cannot.. let everything my father built over his 11,000 year old life fall apart. The guild would fall apart, the city would spiral as a result... I just.. can't.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       "Merely honest, dear." And, of course, right. Merlin is always right. Right?

       He'll escort her INTO THE JAWS OF THE GAZEBO, a court wizard attending to a visiting dignitary. He settles in at a chair opposite her, and slowly dissects a piece of cake with a fork, nibbling as Rhapsody explains.

       Blackmail. A nasty word, but in this case quite possibly accurate. When Rhapsody explains further, he listens closely - and starts to draw connections. "These places, I am afraid, I am not yet familiar with. Redfern, and what the Council voted. And yet..." He considers, thinking of everything that has happened. "I take it...that this is the vote to condemn Yunomi. That he was the chosen hunter to bring her to justice, over the objections of those few of wisdom and sense."

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       The dragon moves to explain only after taking a sip of some iced tea that appeared cause it is what she wanted. "There was a vote in Ravnica, during a Guild Council meeting, where Ijiwaru appeared to offer his services. The vote was 5 to 4 in favor of allowing Ijiwaru to persue Yunomi. As for Redfern, it was a sort of slum in Sydney Austrailia where Yunomi had been staying and where we found a lot of notebooks about her various projects. I went there, as did Bedivere and a few others. The problem was Ijiwaru got some pictures of me entering, hence the issue.." And the explination is done! 

       Another sip, a nip at a random baked good that she reached for, (DONUT) and then she settles back into the chair she had found herself in. "It's all such a mess.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Oh now this is interesting. "I recall hearing of that vote, then. Hrm." She explains further about Bedivere's participation, and Merlin raises an eyebrow. So that's what that had been, early on. Then there is something that tickles the back of Merlin's mind, as Rhapsody commits cruel devourous assault on the innocent dream donut. What a total dragon.

       "So you say that Ijiwaru had already been to this place, knew of its existence...and instead of using its information to determine Yunomi's fate, where she had gone or what she was doing..." After all, those notebooks and pictures and drawings were still quite intact, and in their possession after all.

       He looks over at her, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Used it as a trap for power over someone else, whom he knew would approach first, specifically...you. Remind me..." He leaves the chain of logic unstated for the moment, but between Yunomi's fear of the Magic Eater, the simple act of blackmail he'd committed against the Izzet Guildmaster, the control it gives him over Rhapsody and the apparent potential threat to her life, her siblings, and the entire land of Ravnica... "You once claimed he had no kind feelings for Yunomi as well."

       One eyebrow raises slightly as he regards the human-form Guildmaster over the rim of a teacup. Sip. "Perhaps his machinations stretch further than what you have already seen...and is what Yunomi is trying to protect you from. There is, after all, much for him to gain of this - and if he does, that which she guards the most will be at the most risk."

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       Now all of that is quite a fearful thought. It would explain that simple laugh that had occured just a little while before they had found Redfern and moved in to research further. "... That's just..." Cruel? Wicked? Absolutley coniving? Lots of words, but none Rhapsody thinks of seem quite intense enough for the man. "He... has his reason. I guess, long before Namamura unified, Yunomi apparently killed a member of his family that was very young, though, I keep hearing about this 'rebirth' she had but.. I'm very much in the dark about it. It is why I asked her, when she appeared, if I was talking to Yunomi Stadler or if I was talking to Umehana Odanuki, the name Ijiwaru continues to call her. So ... he has a very deep seeded hatred of her, but only the version he once knew, not what she is now. That's what stings so much, Merlin. I can't even believe she did that awful thing.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       "Apparently." Heard it from who, asks the raised eyebrow? "And...if true, what were the circumstances for such a thing? Yunomi's loyalty is her core...but she is as cruel and vicious as you are." He's taking a guess, but Merlin has seen a little of Rhapsody so far - and whatever shape she is, all he sees is a woman who loves and adores more than anything else. Yunomi, her family, Ravnica, so many more things. Perhaps that's /her/ soul's deepest seed. Perhaps not. But it is still a part of her, as far as the wizard can tell.

       "And if he has this hatred...would it not spread to those she cherishes? Hurt them, to hurt her?" It is not an uncommon strategy in vendetta. And of course...to hurt Rhapsody, to drive her out, to ruin everything that Yunomi cherishes and values. "Would this Ijiwaru and his Magic Eaters be capable and willing to destroy so much, if it satisfied their vengeance - or even simply their desires?"

       There's another pointed question aimed right at Rhapsody, mid-donut. "What would he gain more directly, if you were to be excommunicated?" Who assumes the reins, then, if the Niv-Mizzet legacy is removed?

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "I'm sure he has this hatred, but he is working WITHIN the Ravnican law system and insists that he'll bring her in. I don't truly believe that. It is very easy to have an 'accident' happen.. I refuse to take his word," she muses before considering the trailing question. "I.. don't know what would happen. Only what Ryxinel believes. If we were removed, one of the guilds would likely install someone they can manipulate, and the moment one guild has the power of 2... they wouldn't stop. All of the guilds have their own drives and purposes, but with the possiblity to have more power then they have now? I don't think any of them would be able to resist it.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       "Is he?" Is blackmail within Ravnican law? Interesting place. "And power...has been a driving force since the first human looked out at a world that he did not yet own, and creatures he did not yet control. Or, I suppose, the first dragon," he adds with a nod to Rhapsody. "It is the nature of beings, perhaps. What truly matters is the reasons...and the use of that power." He /is/ Merlin after all. And raised and guided a king to absolute power that many would consider 'great' - and many more, 'good.'

       "Enough of such thoughts for now. You have much to consider, I suppose...and it is good not to tread too long in the same circles. Besides, this is a dream. Typically, it is best to dream of /good/ things, for proper rest." Merlin plucks a donut from the box that had never existed before, looking over the sparkles and glaze. An exploratory nibble, and a smile of satisfaction.

       And that smile turns to Rhapsody. "I saw her greet you at the test. I have a little understanding of your relationship," he adds. Though, even if it was subtle, a half-incubus like Merlin would /instantly/ pick up on such feelings, as if they were cried out like poetry across a valley. "So let us speak of pleasant things. Tell me what you love so much about her."

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "I ... everything?" The question was sudden and it had caught Rhapsody off guard. "At.. first I didn't really consider it too much since I had known her so long. At first it was more like she was a sister but.. I don't know... the more we trained together, studied Ravnican magic together, the closer things got. I can't put a finger on exactly when it changed.. it just .. did.." As a dragon, Rhapsody is young, but thanks to how Ravnican dragons work, she hatched able to walk and talk, memories transfered down. Still, the lack of experience in the world would put her at being about a teenager and not much further. "I haven't thought of anyone else like that, before.."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       Merlin laughs softly at her pronouncement of 'everything' - it's so earnest and adorable he can't help it. "When you are so close to someone, for so long, and you find yourself in such parallel in your souls, perhaps it is something one never notices until it is too late. He watches, as she elaborates a little further, noting her youth. And her honesty. "It i not an uncommon way of hearts, I suppose...in fact," he adds with a smirk, "there are some just alike, even here in Dun Realtai."

       Nyo ho ho ho.

       "I suppose she would say much of the same. I should ask her, someday. Perhaps over donuts." Wink. "It is good that there isn't one single thing, one draw more than the rest. People can change and grow, in their fashion, and they aren't often who they were when they were young. Such as the aforementioned tree," he adds, which provides shade over the gazebo as if it always had. "It is best, I think...to love another for all of their being, rather than...as a single thing that can pass in time."

       Merlin holds up his fingers, in which the donut has turned into a small handful of flower petals. They blow away on a small breeze, while the tree itself remains. "The love you have for her, and I daresay its reciprocal, is something that is all-encompassing...and I suppose, all forgiving, is it not?"

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "Of course... It's why I cannot accept the things she said. In the moment... I actually believed them. That I could point out the very things she's promised to my father, the notes she coded to hide from prying eyes. The clear evidence contrary to everything she's said in person.." the donut has vanished by now. Instead she's holding a particular band of red and blue flowers. Those same ones she was given on Presentation Day. "Even when I went back to Nivix after the press conference.. of all the things I destroyed, the sight of these is what stopped my rampage. I suppose they wouldn't be in Dun Realtai, so I didn't have them to look at.. but..." the other hand has the goggles, "She threw these at me. Niv made them first, then Ryxinel repaired them, she's had them for ages.." so much for talking about nice things.

       She's able to backtrack, though! "So yes...I don't care if she sliced my leg, demanded the Izzet League, changed me into a human, even put Richard in such a spot.. it is all for a -reason- that I just don't see, yet." Both items are set down before the dragon's gaze turns back to Merlin again. "If she is truly protecting me from Ijiwaru and everything else, I can't imagine how much it is tearing her apart to hear all of us cry out to bring her home." Pause. Consideration, "Ijiwaru wouldn't recognize me as a human... it's giving me ideas.."

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "Of course... It's why I cannot accept the things she said. In the moment... I actually believed them. That I could point out the very things she's promised to my father, the notes she coded to hide from prying eyes. The clear evidence contrary to everything she's said in person.." the donut has vanished by now. Instead she's holding a particular band of red and blue flowers. Those same ones she was given on Presentation Day. "Even when I went back to Nivix after the press conference.. of all the things I destroyed, the sight of these is what stopped my rampage. I suppose they wouldn't be in Dun Realtai, so I didn't have them to look at.. but..." the other hand has the goggles, "She threw these at me. Niv made them first, then Ryxinel repaired them, she's had them for ages.." so much for talking about nice things.

       She's able to backtrack, though! "So yes...I don't care if she sliced my leg, demanded the Izzet League, changed me into a human, even put Richard in such a spot.. it is all for a -reason- that I just don't see, yet. If I had thought about it last night, I would have walked toward her and demanded she prove she was truly against me. Put that Naginata right against my chest, and forced her hand.. I just .. didn't think of it." 

At this point, both items are set down before the dragon's gaze turns back to Merlin again. "If she is truly protecting me from Ijiwaru and everything else, I can't imagine how much it is tearing her apart to hear all of us cry out to bring her home." Pause. Consideration, "Ijiwaru wouldn't recognize me as a human... it's giving me ideas."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       "Then her very words, true or false, are merely lines in a script she must follow - a script written by the need to guard you and Ravnica." It is the only answer Merlin has - he knows by arcane ways the words she told /him/ are no lie. "She is acting on that promise, and her words are trying to tell you something she cannot say herself. If you were her...what might she truly mean?"

       If their hearts share such a bond, perhaps there's a memory only those two share. Just like that code, perhaps there is a message in Yunomi's words.

       "Those goggles remain in your possession still. They are on a table next to your bed, Guildmaster. Consider this - she did not destroy them. That would have been simple, and made her even less findable. She gave them to you to hold until it was time for her to come back." Even if it wasn't a conscious decision, it was still one she'd made."

       As to Rhapsody's further thoughts, Merlin shakes his head. "She is not done. If you had...you may have forced her to compromise her mission and her promise. I understand why you did not then...but I do not believe you can push her to that choice again. Not for her safety." And then Merlin hears something that makes him smile with truly impish glee. He does magic.

       "Guildmaster," the cat says, "I am the..." The raven stares unblinking even as it speaks. "Master of dreams," the horse continues. "And I am the master of shapes and things." The words flow seamlessly from a cycle of dog, owl, lizard, chimera, and...even a dragon such as Rhapsody's true form. It's a good thing it's a big gazebo. Before her once more, the human form of Merlin smils. "And in the real world...I am even /more/ skilled in such things - myself and others."

       Were she to ever seek human form again...who better to provide it than he? Her brother may have been the one to turn her back to her true form, undoing Yunomi's spell. But her brother cannot tell anyone who a strange human girl is that noone has seen before, if he wasn't the one who performed the transmutation.

=============================<* Rhapsody has posed *>=============================

       "... Then Ijiwaru will think I am stuck in Dun Realtai beyond all hope. Let him think it for as long as he wants. I may even keep Ryxinel and Sidonia in the dark on this particular fact. I -will- help just.. in a very different way, now." A genuine smile. "Thank you, Merlin. I think you helped me figure out what I need to do. Once i'm a bit more rested, I'll find you."

==============================<* Merlin has posed *>==============================

       "Perhaps he will feel confident enough to begin a further move, then. If he truly is the source of the danger Yunomi battles. If not...with luck we shall learn its true nature anyway." There's a smile returned to the girl. "Then I shall leave you to your rest. It has been a pleasure, Guildmaster," he adds with respect and dignity.

       She is finally back in the position of just that - a woman in control, making decisions, just as he'd described.

       Merlin stands, making his way to her side, and kneeling down. "Yunomi is a friend of Bedivere's, and many others of Dun Realtai. I see her as a friend as well. You, now, join that group. The Order of the Rose, we called it." One hand reaches up and brushes Rhapsody's temple; a single blue and red rose exactly like the one that Yunomi had worn that Monday of the test. It was Merlin's gift to her, and now to Rhapsody as well.

       "Rest well. You have much to prepare for, I suppose. I will give you a boon, at least, in the hours you have left while you sleep." He leans forward and actually kisses her forehead, a chaste peck that seals a dream within. When she blinks again, the wizard is gone - but the one she wants to see the most is there once more, even if it /is/ just a dream.

       Sometimes all one needs is the right arms to be comforted by.