Theory

Rowan looked around the area for the millionth time to make sure no one was nearby. His paranoia was somewhat justified, because he was about to do something very important that no clio other than him and Charlie could see.

Speaking of Charlie, he was waiting for her. Again. Only this time he had initiated the meeting, and it was for an entirely different purpose then their last one. This time, instead of romance, it was for research. (Though...maybe a little romance here or there wouldn't hurt.)

In Rowan's pocket was an old letter, and in his hand was a small pouch that contained the silver piece of star that granted great and once-thought impossible control over the Eilemaiden. And if Rowan's theory was right, the star was even more powerful than any other Overloridian knew.

'There he is,' Mae said from above. Charlie followed her through the forest until she reached Rowan.

"No grand entrance this time," she said, walking up behind him with her seemingly always-present smile. Mae flew around them for a minute before landing on a low branch to watch and listen.

A tiny backpack hung on her shoulders, falling to the small of her back, and held the star piece that he had requested her to bring. She heard a few sticks breaking behind her and turned, only to see Wesley coming up behind them. She turned to Rowan.

"Is it okay if he listens? He can walk around if you think that would be better," she said. Wesley stopped walking and kept his hand on a tree trunk, daemon with him. "But like I said, he's trustworthy."

"Hey," Rowan greeted with a smile. Though he had to admit he was a little annoyed that she'd brought that bodyguard with her. Even though he knew she had to, this conversation was one that no one else was allowed to hear. "Sorry," he said to the bodyguard, Wes or whatever, "but this is a private conversation."

A few feet away Nym was standing guard, ready to warn her clio of anyone getting too close.

Rowan sure hoped his theory was right. Otherwise he'd probably look like an idiot in front of Charlie, which was the last thing he wanted.

Charlie's eyebrows rose as she realized the seriousness in Rowan's voice. She nodded and turned to Wes. "Sorry buddy. Overloridian stuff," she said and Wes nodded. He looked straight into Rowan's eyes.

"You hurt her and you'll regret it," he said, his voice deep and threatening. Charlie just smiled and pushed his chest with a light laugh.

"Go on, now," she said and he smiled and nodded, turning and walking in the opposite direction. "I'm real sorry that I have to bring him everywhere. Just be glad he actually leaves us alone."

She held onto the straps of her backpack, wondering why he was so serious. (Hahaha, why so serioussss? xD)

"So what's up?"

"First off, I'm sorry I'm suddenly getting all serious and Overloridian-like on you," Rowan apologized, "but you're the only one I trust to tell this to. I trust you completely." He pulled the silver star piece out. "And even though there's a million other things I'd rather be doing with you, this seems pretty important."

Then he pulled the ancient letter out of his pocket. "I also found this-"

"I found it!" Nym's voice yelled out from behind a tree.

"-and while I'm not entirely sure what it means, I have a feeling it's connected with this whole situation somehow," Rowan finished, handing Charlie the letter.

Charlie smiled reassuringly. "It's fine, I understand. There's more to a relationship than just having fun when you're both in power," she said, accepting the letter in her hand. She read it quickly, talking to him as she finished it up. "What do you think it means?" She looked up to him when she was finished and swung her backpack over her shoulder, opening the flap at the top to reveal her own glowing star piece.

"You think it has to do with these? Is that why you had me bring mine?"

'Well duh,' she said to herself. 'Why do I have to ask such stupid questions?'

'Don't worry, I'm sure he thinks he's doing a bad job around you, too,' Mae said, trying to reassure Charlie she was doing fine.

"Well, yes and no," Rowan replied, wondering how to explain this. "Honestly, I don't really know what the letter means. I was kind of hoping you'd have an idea. The names in the letter sound...familiar, for lack of a better word, even though I know for a fact I've never heard of them before."

He looked around again to make sure no one else was there. "But I was thinking about something else involving the star pieces. Iluhra said that with hers she could create lightning. Well, we all thought that was impossible before now. What other 'impossible' things could we do, I wonder?" He took Charlie's hand and placed his star piece within it, closing her fingers over it. "Here, I want to try something. Can I borrow your star piece for a moment?"

Charlie widened her eyes a bit with surprise. What did he plan on trying? She looked down at her hand as he set the star piece in it and looked back up to him.

"What do you plan on trying, Rowan?" she asked, a bit of astonishment in her voice. (Can you hear astonishment? xD) She suddenly realized what he was going to try, but she was curious as to how he was going to do it. She nodded and put the letter into her bag as she took the star piece out, hanging it to him. She would reread the letter later and try to figure out what it meant, if anything. She wanted to pay attention to what Rowan was trying to do, and she hoped she was right.

If she was, he was going to try and use her Eilemaiden with the star piece. And if it worked...who knows what they could do?

Rowan watched as a dawning look of comprehension came to Charlie. She seemed to have correctly guessed what he was going to try to do. Well...that saved him the potential embarrassment of having to explain it after failing.

He quickly pushed the thoughts of failing out of his head as he felt the power of the Adhbhar star piece. He needed to concentrate on succeeding, not failing.

He concentrated hard on a small, well-placed rock a few feet in front of him. To his amazement, it bended to his will and floated upwards. In almost total shock he lost concentration and it fell back to the ground. Nevertheless, his theory was right: the star pieces granted anyone their power, regardless of Eilemaiden!

He turned to Charlie, speechless, as if looking for confirmation that that scene had just actually happened.

Charlie looked in amazement as he moved the rock on his own. Her jaw dropped and she went over and picked the rock up to make sure. When she found that it was a regular old rock she turned to Rowan.

"Oh my God, it worked!" she said enthusiastically. She couldn't contain herself, she jumped up and down with excitement. "This is insane! You must be the smartest guy I've ever met!" She finally stopped jumping and held the Dian star piece tightly. "So that means I can control metal right now? Wow." She took a deep breath, barely able to stand still. "Do you think any of the others know?"

Rowan got over his shock and almost laughed. Charlie sure was cute when she was excited.

"Even if the others have guessed, they can't prove anything because none of them are willing to work together," he replied thoughtfully. "I don't think we should tell them..."

He looked Charlie in the eye and smiled. "And yes, you should be able to control metal right now."

Charlie shook her head. "No, we shouldn't tell them. It'll be our little secret," she said with a smirk. She looked down to his sleeves, concentrating on what she remembered his chain to look like. She gripped the star piece and concentrated really hard...

And out came the chain from his sleeve and into her hand. She smiled a huge smile and looked to him with that kind of "be proud of me" look.

"We have such an upper-hand now, Rowan," she said. She was so excited and yet still in disbelief. She laughed at how perfect their situation was and looked down at the chain and star piece in her hands, that smile still there.

The feeling was exihlerating. They had just discovered a power that no one else had ever dreamed of before. Just thinking of what they could do was exciting.

"It's too bad we don't have the other star pieces," he said, though that little glitch hardly seemed to put a dent in their near-perfect situation. "We'll have to keep the others from finding out what we know. It's possible that, with some time and careful planning, we could get to them...but it will be very difficult."