A bond with himself, another both with either elements, and now a fourth bond was made with the person approaching him. Four bonds all at once, it was a lot for a guy to handle, and even the slightest bit if distraction would break them.

The ocean boomed, the lighthouse snapped and the footsteps plodded heavily towards him. The bonds were now gone, leaving Henri's mind clear of any links and strings, with just himself, his work before him and no time to explain to the upcoming person how it got there.

His house definitely wasn't hot anymore. Drawing his thick jacket close, Henri fought to keep out the cold, shivering, staring dumbfounded at the ice sheets caking his house. Cleanup would be impossible, the ice needed to melt, and then everything would be soggy, most of his fuel and food would have gone bad and oh god the cellar, kegs and kegs of drinks possibly gone to waste, all with no door, leaving his home opened to any intruder as they pleased. He prayed to every God that that person would be Roland.

Turning around he would face...

When Henri turned around, he would, indeed, face Roland, and Roland, staring at the crystal hovering beside Henri, was more than a little confused; he was expecting. . . Well, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but this wasn't it: The lighthouse wasn't on fire, for one, and it was... Cold? No, freezing. Winter was coming but this was too much. Then there was that sound from the ocean just a second ago. Where the hell had that come from? It sounded like cannon fire.

“ . . . The fire?” Roland asked, hesitantly. Maybe Denton was joking, maybe there had been no fire, but no, Roland could smell the smoke on the wind and knew that to not be true. There was a fire and it was out, but Roland knew enough about the pump system to know that Henri couldn’t have put out a fire all by himself.

"Oh uh.."

Roland was staring at something, confused. When his eyes followed Roland's he'd realize that it was the crystal just, sitting there on the ground. He'd forgotten all about it, right. He bent down and sort of just, put it in his pocket, he wanted to make an attempt to hide it somehow, but he didn't -hide- things from his best friend, and that would be working against his whole trying to get Roland to believe the weird shit that's been happening. It was just, how could he explain THIS one to him?

"It's gone now...looks like your thing with Denton went well." He meant of course that Roland didn't have a single scratch on him. "What happened?"

“Gone?” The ridiculousness of the statement was like a slap in the face. yeah, it was gone, sure, but where had it gone? That was what Roland really wanted to know and, also, there was the crystal floating beside his friend. He’d bet a penny that, that was the weirdest damn thing he had seen all damn day. Unfortunately, Roland would have lost that bet . . .

Once Henri reached out to pluck the crystal from the air, he would find it just out of reach and grasp, and, if he leaned in to try and grab it again, it would be just as far away as before. All Henri succeeded in doing was bringing more attention to the crystal.

“And that!?” Roland gawked.

"Oh uh.." There was a lot of that lately. "This thing? It's nothing.

The diamond didn't seem to agree with the idea of downplaying the situation one bit. Everytime he reached for it and tried to conceal it, it kept on floating just out of his reach, to the point where Henri looked like a cat playing with a laser pointer, pawing at the diamond he could never grasp.

"Come on! Get-damnit! No! FINE!" He'd have to settle for just standing in front of it so people couldn't see it. Now was a good a time as any to explain, he was just a bit nervous about Roland's reaction.

"Would you believe me if I told you Aurelius helped me turn the fire into ice?"

Roland glanced to the lighthouse and then back to Henri.

"No," he said bluntly.

As if he was going to actually believe that! For one, you don't turn fire into ice. What part of fire could freeze? That was insane.

Were he able to, Aurelius would have reached through the gap in Henri’s vision and swatted him one good time. Roland’s assessment, although unknown to Aurelius, was a correct one, and Henri’s explanation was childish at best. Fortunately for all involved, Aurelius had not actually expected Henri to understand abstract metaphysical concepts let alone explain them to someone else.

Hh, Aurelius sighed and stared through the window with disinterest before fading out of sight. After a moment or two, Henri’s vision began to re-knit until there was not a crack or seam out of place, and, following that, a familiar sensation worked its way up the length of his arm; he would know without looking that the crystal was no longer behind him.

"Didn't think so."

Was Henri...upset or disappointed in Roland? He pressed his thumb and forefinger at the bridge of his nose and tightly closed his eyes.Watching the world take apart and reassemble itself in weird stitches would take awhile for him to get comfortable with and even caused a sort of stinging itch in his eyes. When he opened them, everything was back to normal. The crystal disappeared back up his arm, he jolted a bit, but that was that. Back to reality now, and responsibility.

"So, how'd it go with Denton?" He asked getting back to his original question.

Roland narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He could tell that it was pointless trying to press Henri for more information on what had happened right now; he would find out, eventually, however, and if Henri really could freeze fire, then, well, he would just have to demonstrate his ability to do so in person.

“Denton, eh?” Roland shrugged. “Denton was feeling a lil’ sleepy and wanted to take a nap and his friends came to an understanding with me. They won’t bother you again,” he said reassuringly, “but you should try n’avoid them anyways. I’ll talk with ‘em later.”

"Heh okay."Ya he bet Denton took a nap after his confrontation with Roland. He didn't think Denton could even touch him, but he had to ask to make sure his friend didn't sustain any sort of damage. "I don't think there's much to say, besides you've done a lot already. I'm sorry you had to get caught up in all this, I'll make it up to you late, promise. But now..."

Henri looked back at the gaping doorless entry to his house and sighed heavily.

"I got a lot of work to do."

"Yeah . . .," Roland said reluctantly and looked around. Things weren't all that bad, fortunately for Henri, and they could have been much worse had he not somehow "frozen" the fire. Ha.

“I’ll have a word with my old man,” Roland promised. His dad was a talented guy and had a colorful history; he had told his son that he worked a couple months under a master carpenter in the capital when he was a few years younger than Roland and Henri. There was probably something he could do to help out. “I’ll send Pilot next yer way tomorrow if my dad’ll help.”

And, Roland supposed, that was his queue to leave; he would let Henri alone with his cold, scorched lighthouse and head back to his family and finish his dinner. He was damn near starving now and today had been one of their early dinners . . .

Good on his word, Roland did, in fact, get his father to help with the repairs of the lighthouse and by the end of the week, everything was as good as new and better than ever. Mr. Dufort had not asked anything in return and had spoken no more than a handful of words while working, but had put both Henri and Roland to work on the repairs, as well.

Behind the lighthouse was something of a hidden treasure that only a handful of people really ever got to see; it was a small room (complete with a balcony of sorts) built into the cliff-side, and accessible only by an easily missed detachment of stairs a ways from the lighthouse, itself. Roland and Henri would know this as the place that their fathers often went to discuss things privately, though, whether or not they built it or commissioned it, themselves, Roland could not say. Regardless, with Henri’s father’s passing, it had become a comfortable place to just hang out, drink, and not have to deal with any unwanted visitors; it offered seating, a table to put drinks or food on, and, most importantly for today, privacy.

They would need that today.

Roland sat in one of two worn, wooden rocking chairs and was waiting for Henri to return with some supplies. The voice in Henri’s head, Aurelius, he was called, had apparently given Henri a list of things he needed to gather and bring back to their little base. Roland had been waiting patiently for fifteen minutes now and he was starting to get bored. How long did it take to find a matchbox, a couple of candles, a cup of water, and sand? This was ridiculous!

This all felt like a joke to Roland and he wasn’t laughing. Sure, Henri was crazy in a way, but he wasn’t psychopathic and, really, Roland couldn’t believe in this Aurelius thing . . . Today was supposed to be proof, proof that Henri could do, well, things, and Roland could finally have faith in him again but it all just seemed so - so unreal: Aurelius, the fire yesterday, the loud boom from the ocean, the broken door of the lighthouse, and the temperature dropping so fast that it could have killed someone from exposure in an instant. What the hell was even going on anymore?

"God fucking damnit..."

Henri was in the cellar rifling through things. Water and sand weren't difficult items to find since he was surrounded by them, but during that week when he was waiting for a new door to arrive, as a safety precaution he moved all his possessions behind other locked doors in the house, either the lighthouse, storage, or cellar. Problem was he couldn't remember for the life of him where they all ended up.He'd been to the lighthouse, and to the storage and couldn't find candles, that left the cellar for him to search through.

It was very dark in the cellar, if only he had a light source. Damnit. He had his mattress down here and the rest of his personal items. If he was a candle, where would he be? Next to his bed where it would be of use would be a good idea. ON all fours he felt around on the ground, the big cushiony thing was obviously the mattress, higher up was some more fabric, maybe clothes or a pillow, then, his fingers brushed against something smooth and waxy.

"GOTCHA!" Henri grabbed a handful of the candles, stuffed them in his pocket and made his way upstairs. Not before banging his foot on some protruding object in the dark.

Not too long after Henri arrived with all his things.

"Hey sorry, I couldn't find the candles."

"Finally," Roland muttered under his breath. He couldn't really explain but he was really apprehensive about all of this; he was the one who had pushed for this (and apparently Aurelius, too), but, all the same, he kind of didn't want to know the truth. Revulsion, maybe--this was the kind of stuff better left alone. Was he really this superstitious?

Once everything was placed on the table, Aurelius would begin pointing out where each individual item went and what they should be contained in, and even what was beside them; in the end, a glass of water sat beside an upright candle with a porcelain saucer of sand centered behind them. The matchbox was on the far side of the table.

These things form a triangle. Aurelius stated, bluntly. Now try and imagine the lines between them--visualize the shape of a triangle, understand?--Earth to water is a line, water to fire is a line, and fire to earth is also a line.

There was more Aurelius wanted to add, to explain, but, all the same, he knew better than to overwhelm his current . . . host . . . and the less he said, the better off all involved would be. He’d say more, later--for now, though, he had to take baby steps.

Visualization is important, Aurelius added. Release the first seal when you are ready.

"Heh..."

Everything was eventually placed in a specific order. Eventually because, between every motion Henri paused before setting down the next item. He was listening to Aurelius's instructions, in the end the arrangement formed a triangle shape. Strange objects, special arrangements and even ancient magic words? This looked like some sort of cult magic, and it made Henri equally as nervous as Roland.

Because his best friend's trust was on the line, if this didn't work Roland wouldn't believe him now or ever again. This was his attempt to trying to restore his friend's faith in him, all that talk about reading ancient poetry, dreams, monster attacks, voices and the freezing lighthouse would be all for nothing. Roland would think he was crazy, heck Henri was even starting to doubt himself. With Roland here as witness, it would make everything easier. Otherwise if this failed he might even commit himself to a nuthouse.

Magic indeed. This was definitely also training for him. Visualizing the triangle wasn't difficult for Henri, the items were by themselves placed in a pretty triangular shape, and the objects clearly represented their elements, sand for earth, the candle for fire, the water for well, water. Once everything was in place Henri sat down in the seat across from Roland.

"Well here it goes. In mei anima, iaceo lacuna."

Just as had happened when he first released the seal, Henri's vision splintered and cracked and eventually reformed into a small window in the corner of his vision; it was through this window that he could see Aurelius as something more than a voice in his head.

Unfortunately, Henri was the only one who could see him.

Yes, good. Aurelius said approvingly. He had been worried that his host’s unique mannerisms might have interfered with the release command now that there were no dire consequences to his failure. Fortunately, Aurelius’ worries appeared to have been unwarranted this time. On the other hand, Roland couldn’t help but furrow his brow in response to a sizable chunk of rock hovering just in front of his face; he had to fight off the urge to grab it from the air, in fact.

“That, . . .” he said hesitantly, “what was that? What’d you do?”