[Elora]

All valid points.

Of course, to get Vanwe out of the house, Barrold needs to get there and spirit her away before Rangers show up. As I understand it, Rangers already observe the house, so therefore there'll need to be some further alterations.

Here is my own question. If Rangers don't like to track in the dark, why would they locate a concealed cellar in the dark? Seems to plausible that they might not. Barrold has used this cellar in past for his activities. It is concealed, but not indetectible in daylight.

Certainly, Vanwe is in no condition to escape. She's bound hand and foot and exceptionally weak. She won't be going very far under her own management.

Barrold will certainly encounter Avanill in the morning. As that character is esconced at the inn right now, that seems to me to be the best course to take to bring that character into the thick of things.

Hilde, concerning Vanwe, I take a somewhat different view. I can appreciate your concern and have no desire to engage in cliches with my own characters. We're of one mind there.

Vanwe is not getting stronger. Rather, her character is becoming more defined. Up to now, she's been somewhat indistinct. What can she do? Why is Naiore so concerned about her abilities?

My intentions for Vanwe is to make her similiar in some respects to her mother and father, but make different choices. Vanwe's uncanny healing ability is rooted in the same talents as her mother's sensativities. Naiore choses to use her in violent and destructive ways, Vanwe does not.

For Vanwe to emerge as something more than a victim character, a cliche I wish to avoid, her abilities do have to start to come to the fore. So, Vanwe's terrified reach, crude as it was, is the beginning. That served three purposes. First, it helped me reveal something more about Vanwe. Secondly, it gave Lespheria something to sense apart from Naiore and confirm Vanwe's survival thus far. Third, it was impetus for the Rangers to do more than sit at the inn and discuss things. I doubt those characters would sit whilst the hunt was afoot, be it night or dark.

So, rest assured, Vanwe is not developing into some superhero, multipowered character. But neither shall she be a passive victim. Vanwe's tendancy to underestimate herself is her main downfall. The sooner she uncovers her resources and begins to use them, the sooner shall she stand on her own feet.

One final note, I had Vanwe's surge crude and grasping as Vanwe has had no training for her sensativities. Without so much as an Elven role model and the active and violent repression of her abilities by the villagers, her skill and contol is rough and she feels reluctant to ever use her sensativities. It is a thing of shame, corruption and fear for her, given her childhood.

That sort of baggage is not easily overthrown on account of one, albiet very traumatic, experience. So therein is a natural break to any tendancy for Vanwe to morph into something supernatural.