After a few days of living in constant wonder of this outstanding grove, while the half elf was busily munching on fruit, the first actual contact was made between the powerful forces that inhabited the throne. Calista looked up, startled and having not quite heard what had happened, and saw the nobly dressed man stepping forward to speak to the assembled mages. She leaned forward eagerly as he spoke, his voice carrying over the amassed people easily. As he continued, however, Calista's visage grew from elated and excited to serious and slightly grim.

Calista's motivation, above all else, was to travel the country. She grew restless so easily that she felt more comfortable on the ever-changing road than a stagnant house. The few times she tried leaving the fertile countryside, she was dangerously and frighteningly taught and reminded that Paladins were ruthless and merciless when it comes to citizenship papers, which would be expected as they were looking for people like her. Normally, she got out of it by blaming her race and leaving without any disrespect to the Paladins, though she had to fight on rare occasion. She ached to see a bustling human city and get lost in the miasma that was city odor, sound, and activity. She had never thought she would be able to get citizenship papers before, and that prospect alone enticed her. As he went on to discuss the purpose of the members of the covenant, she smiled. To travel and look for lost glories was already planned in her future, and she realized that being supported like this could make her a very happy elf. Nodding and smiling along with the man's speech, she was enraptured by possibilities. 

The only drawback was that she had no wish to involve herself in human politics. She was worried that this agreement would bring her into conflicts she did not understand. She knew the gist of what was happening in government, anyone who lived in this country did, but if she was honest she would say that she knew very little about anything like that. As much as that dampened the appeal of the offer, she didn't completely comprehend the severity the drawbacks for such treasonous actions. She still felt the opportunity was more positive than negative. When the time came, she pledged her name and stepped through the portal.

As soon as she saw the fortress, Calista thought she made the right decision. It was regal and immense, and she absolutely loved the overgrown look of the place. She knew they would renovate all those traces away, but this was a perfect first impression. She didn't feel as close to nature in the current condition of the estate as she did in the grove, but it was stronger here than any human establishment she had ever felt before. She was saddened to think her new home would lose that quality. 

As they advanced on the structure, a feeling that seemed to reverberate within the elf's bones settled in her marrow, and she looked around with the hair on the back of her neck raised in apprehension. It was old and magical, but it did not resemble the warm comfort of communion with the Earth Mother. As the boulders that littered the grounds collected into a roaring, rearing monstrosity, Calista felt a hot rage flare inside her. All living creatures, and plants, and dirt, and even stone were the creations and children of the Great Earth Mother, and to see them defiled left a bitter taste of bile in the elf's throat. When the witch heralded the danger with a loud cry, Calista didn't hear her. All she could hear was blood throbbing in her ears. She whipped her staff to bare, other hand gripped around an invisible and intangible leash that figuratively wrapped around the stone at her feet, sectioning off large slabs as she prepared for battle. Having traveled lands without secure roads, she was used to defending herself in a way, but never from something of this magnitude. Fueled by fury, Calista sneered at the tainted stone before her.

The witch restrained the major beast from barreling through their amassed force and more tainted stone rose from the ground. More enemies came to bear against her, so Calista's prayer to the Earth Mother was raised to a spoken whisper, her voice sounding reverent and pleading. It would not be understood, however, by any of the humans gathered here, for in prayer Calista spoke only in Elvish. As she channeled deeper, the ability graced to her as an answer to her beseeching words, she could feel the stone she planned to wrench to her call that lied below her. But she could also feel the disgusting sensation of the tainted, possessed stone beings that lumbered toward her. The very material that comprised the beings felt wrong; stone was normally strong and heavy, and pounded with a steady rhythmic beating as though singing with the heartbeat of the earth, but the stone of the abominations felt as though riddled with holes that made caverns filled with acidic, organic puss that dripped and infested them further with each passing moment. She shuddered, the feeling almost overwhelming her, and she withdrew her perception as to not draw the attention of an unwanted visitor. She shook herself, still furious at the desecration of the Great Mother's Earth, but now more composed. She thanked the Mother for the quick reality shock, and finally hefted her staff and gripped hand as though they bared a great weight. The crashing sound of wrenched stone tore through the cacophony of battle. 

The slabs were not large: they were each approximately four feet long and 3 feet thick. They were jagged, having been torn from the larger building blocks of the courtyard's floor. There were three of them, suspended equidistant around the small elf a few feet from the ground. As she moved, the slabs swirled around her, and she kept up her guard. If one possessed cairn would come too close, it would be pushed to the ground by a barrage of flying boulders. Looking around, Calista knew she should get to where people would need healing. Her spells could save lives, and she knew that healing her downed allies would be better than draining herself trying to destroy the formidable hulks. The mages had begun to form different configurations, and many of them were working in conjuncture; one group would weaken, the other would kill. She passed by the configured groups and looked for stragglers that sill needed help.

She moved briskly, trying to conserve energy and choosing to avoid enemies rather than engage. It wasn't long before she found someone. A hulk fell before her, revealing the sight of a woman collapsing. With practiced precision, the slabs that hovered converged in a shield-like structure above her as she crouched next to the woman. After a quick look, Calista saw little wounds and figured the woman had exhausted herself by channeling. Reminding herself not to do the same, Calista raised her hand over the woman's forehead, closed her eyes, and muttered a soft-worded prayer. A soft green glow surrounded her fingertips and the woman's temples, and after a moment of the elf slightly straining the woman took an easy breath. Calista stopped, her own breath coming in small pants, and looked around her hovering shield. One hulk was looking at her through the gaps, and another was caught by the first's attention. She cursed under her breath and stood on weak knees, hoping someone would see her and the prone woman's plight.