[SpringsSong]

It had been ages since he'd been in the swamp, but it was evident that Xadoc had been meaning to return here for ages, just from the way he was acting as he flew above the trees.  Anyone else who would have spent near as much time away from the swamps as him would have forgotten them entirely, but it was apparent that Xadoc knew where he was headed.

I have failed the Pantheon... and the ones that I guard... he said to himself as his mind continued to replay the incident that had happened over the seas of Jawan.  Ciren had been severely injured, as had Giada--for those incidents, he would never completely forgive himself.  Though Ciren was his main charge and the only one that the Celestials had placed him in direct charge of, his bond with Giada made it hard to ignore the duty he felt towards her.

Here, Xadoc veered downward at an incredibly steep angle.  It was evident that he had arrived at the spot he meant to be in, and after a few moments of diving, he crashed through a net of foliage that had grown over the place where he spent so long resting before his Awakening.  He knew that Giada would doubtless follow after him, but whether or not he would listen to her was another matter entirely.

[1.2]

[SpringsSong]

"Xadoc!  Xadoc!  Please, for the love of the Celestials, come back here!"

Giada's voice was decidedly worried as she flew above the swamps, her wings beating powerfully as she tried to find the God of Storms.  One of her claws was held closer to her body and looked to be the slightest bit mangled; this was, of course, the result of a heated duel between her, her sister, her stepbrothers, and Deraj which had ended in her being severely injured, along with Ciren, Aila, and Nyera.  Kuille had escaped harm only because he was the one that was meant to fight his father to the death and the Fall.

"Xadoc, please, wait for me!"

She cried this as she neared the area where she first remembered meeting him before the Fall; the net of foliage there was broken, so he had obivously returned here, hoping for solitude.  However, that was one thing he was not going to be getting.

"Xadoc!"

[1.2]

[SpringsSong]

When Xadoc heard Giada's voice, he was fighting with himself to turn around and go meet her, but he had already made up his mind to retreat to his cave deep beneath the surface of Baian.  He had a feeling that the Fairy Paragon would be following him anyways; part of the reason she had been injured was because she had dove after him into the ocean and had gotten in between him and Deraj.

"No, Giada.  I have failed Ciren, I have failed Eruanna, and... I have failed you.  I must go into solitude until I have learned from the errors in my ways.  I was unable to protect Ciren, I was unable to protect you; therefore, I have failed the Being of the Ocean."

Xadoc was already preparing himself for a lecture from the Fairy Paragon mentally as he said this, which was why he was heading as deep into the cavern as he could.  The deeper he went, the longer it would take Giada to find him, and the more time he would have to meditate before she would reach him.  He did not know why she had put herself in harm's way for him, but at the same time, he was wondering why he was not flying back out to meet her now.

"I have failed you..."

[1.4]

[SpringsSong]

"Those are not the words of the Guardian of the Seas or of the God of Storms, Xadoc!  I know you better than that!"

By now, Giada was already starting her descent into the swamps and towards the area where she had first found Xadoc before the Fall.  He was taking her injury a little too personally; she could have been injured as bad as he would have been had she not intervened; Deraj's claws were aimed for his neck, which could have injured him far worse than she would have been.

"You did not fail anyone, Xadoc!  Ciren was injured because he chose to fight Deraj when only Kuille was meant to fight him--and you would have been hurt far more had I not intervened when Deraj went after you into the oceans.  It was the least I could do, getting my claw in between the two of you... you could have died if I had not been there..."

As she landed on the floor of the cavern deep within Baian's underground, she kept her right claw off of the ground carefully, knowing that it would be harder to find Xadoc with a lame claw; however, she could not use her human form in order to overcome that impediment.

"I will not forsake you, Xadoc... I could never forsake you."

[1.4]

[SpringsSong]

Xadoc sighed as he continued deeper within the caverns, trying to shut out what Giada was saying.  However, the words still reached him, no matter how deep he tried to go into the caverns.  Nevertheless, no matter how much she tried to argue that he had done what he could, he could only shake his head as he sighed, stopping only for a moment.

"I could have caused a tempest that would have knocked Deraj out of the skies and given Ciren the cover he would have needed to gain an advantage over Deraj and help Kuille gain the upper hand.  Had I caused that tempest, you would not have needed to come into those dangerous waters with me.  You did not need to come in after me; you could have drowned..."

It was this thought that was keeping Xadoc from going to face her now--the fact that she could have drowned in trying to save him.  He shook his head as he took off in a run, trying to get away from her as fast as he could.

"I do not deserve to be bonded to you... you could have drowned..."

[1.6]

[SpringsSong]

"Xadoc, there is nothing you could have done!  The battle was Kuille's alone to fight--even Alyssa herself was rendered powerless during that battle whenever she tried to aid him!  The prophecy spoke only of the son of the God of Life rising up against him to cast him out, not any others from the Pantheon.  We were not to intervene in something that Kuille alone was supposed to do."

Even as she said this, she could feel Xadoc's presence fading faster than it had before; he was running now, she guessed, and that was when she heard him say what she had said.  She felt her heart twist in her chest; Xadoc was taking this far harder than she would have imagined him taking it.

"Nay, I would not have drowned--Atlantia was protecting me then.  It was when Deraj about took off my claw that I was in real danger, but then you got me back to the surface and onto the ship so that I could be taken to the infirmary, Xadoc--you did not fail me then!  And I would be bonded to no other, for you would have sacrificed yourself to save me!"

[1.6]

[SpringsSong]

Xadoc stopped here, even though he knew that Giada was doubtless working on hunting him down.  If their bond was as strong as Aila and Ekal's was proving to be, given that they were communicating while they were nowhere near one another, then she would find him not matter how far into the cavern he went.  He turned to face the direction which she would be coming from, and he sighed as he sat down.

"Giada... I would not be much use to Eruanna, Ciren, or you if I were dead.  And I would think that I would almost lose reasons to be alive, aside from protecting Ciren, if you were to die.  You... you mean the world to me, Giada; that is why I have to wonder why you would so foolishly throw yourself in harm's way for me!"

Tears were starting to well up in his voice, and he knew that this would only draw the injured Giada in faster than would be safe for her.  He sighed as he scratched at the stone, and as he did, a barrier within the cavern dropped.

"Do not injure yourself further, Giada..." he whispered, knowing she would have felt the barrier drop.

[1.8]

[SpringsSong]

Giada had indeed felt the barrier drop, and without waiting a single moment more, she took on her human form, with her right hand being held in place by both a cast and a sling.  This is when she took off in a dead run, running as fast as she could towards the feeling of Xadoc's presence as she could.  There was no way he was going to go into solitude; not if she could help it.

"I appreciate your concern, dear Xadoc; however, you really need to not take this so seriously.  This was only the first battle you have been involved in since your Awakening.  You, like Valisilwen and Zaman, took the longest to awaken, and your memories are buried so deep within yourselves that you would not remember your days in Re'klet as it were.  I only barely remember my days in Re'klet, for I had to go through a rebirth in this realm, along with Ath'yeri, Kylistern, and Kuille."

She sighed as the Nago Paragon finally came into her range of vision.  She stopped for a few moments before running towards him again, wrapping her free arm around his dark pink mane before she shifted forms into her Paragon form.

[1.8]