Ardent

So her thoughts controlled Boj's changes and vice versa? Well that was certainly a new spin on things... that was an awful lot of pressure to put on the people you went to the other side with. Trust was vital to survive this place. that was becoming very very clear. Trust in the other person and honestly in yourself.

Rynn listened to the woman's words carefully, nodding as she spoke to convey that she understood. She may have been naive about the world, but Rynn was at least intelligent. "That makes sense. I have not known many innates, any that I can think of, but I remember studying them and learning about how they must control themselves."

Fortunately for Rynn, as the minutes passed the sting from the oracle's words was starting to fade. Just because she had all those flaws now didn't mean she wasn't on the road to trying to fix them. This journey had started out as one thing and become something completely different, both in a positive and negative way. She just hoped she survived it.

"I think I better understand it now. Thank you for having patience with my questions, I know I'm pretty naive about this part of the world." Rynn said, looking up at the woman "so I really do appreciate the patience."

The oracle simply turned her head to look out the window and into the stormy morning, nodding her head and mh-hming gently, as if distracted. After a moment she glanced back at Rynn and made a vague gesture with her hand towards the stairs. "You are welcome. And now, I think, you must sleep."

((Once they do head to bed--not sure if you want Rynn to talk to Boj first--is it alright with you if Boj wakes her up?))

"Probably a wise idea." Rynn said, she was very, very exhausted. All the walking and the excitement of taking in the terrifying beautiful scenery combined with her emotionally draining conversation was enough to make the girl want to just fall over.

Rynn bid the oracle and and Boj a quick goodnight. She wanted to talk about the harsh realities with someone, but there was no one here she could talk too, besides, sleep was always the best cure for these things. And so, saying very little, Rynn went upstairs and went to sleep.

((Totally cool for Boj to wake her up))

The young giant was on his side on the other bed when Rynn entered the room, his back towards the door and his eyes on the storm raging outside their window. His thoughts, on his own first meeting with the oracle. It had not been an easy one.

That morning he awoke with an odd feeling in his churned-rock stomach, a sense of unease that bid him get up quietly and--glancing at Rynn to be sure that all was well in her sleep--creep down the stairs to find the oracle bent over, prodding at the weathered old owl. She glanced over her shoulder at Boj and straightened herself out, walking towards him and with a gentle smile she reached up to pat him on the cheek.

"She'll be fine, I think. Now can I ask you a favor?" Boj stared down at her blankly, nodding slowly. The oracle smiled and turned, picking up the owl--who hooted in protest--and pressing it haphazardly into his arms. "I need you to take him with you. Be gentle with him, he's old. Will you do this for me?"

Boj opened his mouth to ask why, a tingle of excitement rising in that stone belly. He always did love animals. But she rose her hand and motioned for him to remain silent. "Just do it, please?" she asked.

He looked down after a long moment to the rumple-feathered bird. It felt...unusually heavy in his hands, moreso than an overfed bird might be. He wondered a moment, as he looked into its too-glassy eyes, if there might be some package she'd hidden inside it. An unpleasant thought, but he owed the Oracle of Kerria more than he could ever repay. He nodded.

A minute or so later he was sprinting up the stairs, several steps at a time, bird in arm. He dashed into the shared room and shook Rynn awake, holding the annoyed and flapping bird over her.

"Look! We get to take him with us!" The oracle knew him all too well.

Thankfully, sleep came so hard and fast Rynn didn't have time to think of her meeting with the woman, but as she awoke she remembered it all too well. It still stung, but it was a quieter sting, a small morning after sting. She was quite surprised at the sight that greeted her. Rynn sat up quickly, looking at the very frustrated bird in his arms.

"Cute." She smiled as she registered in her morning grogginess what it was he'd said. Rynn would've touched it, but she figured it'd bite her. Boj seemed thrilled, it was heartening to see. She had wished they'd managed to keep the bunny, but she'd rather it have lived. "Did she say why?"

"Nope. Come on, time to go."

Boj bustled around the room with the bird flapping with annoyance at the two of them, grinning quite a bit more than he usually might. He'd always wanted a pet, after all, and this was the next best thing.

He gathered up his belongings, and hers, in such a hurry that he simply swung both of them over his shoulders and grabbed the grumpy owl from the broken dresser. "Time to go," he said before hurrying down the steps, baggage and bird in tow.

Downstairs, the oracle had disappeared, but Boj didn't seem at all surprised by the lack of her presence. He turned and politely asked Rynn to close the door if she would, please, before setting off in the direction of the massive city in the distance.

"What do you think his name is?" Boj asked Rynn as he viewed the preening old thing in his arms.

Enris's hands had found their way to some meat that was sitting on the table, normally he would have offered something to Alcy but he was just too hungry to be bothered. He was happily munching when a man abruptly tossed himself down into a seat across the table. He ignored the man up until the point when he felt eyes upon him. Glancing up, he saw he was being pointedly stared at. This man. . .who was he? Obviously someone familiar enough with the ship and the Captain to be able to arrive so late without any reprimand. He was an interesting man Enris could tell just from that first glance. He continued chewing on his food for another few seconds but the man was determined to continue staring. He cleared his throat before finally speaking.

"Is there something the matter?" He asked, staring pointedly back at the disheveled looking man. He felt he should know him, but for the life of him he just didn't.

The Captain's warning caught Enris's attention. He was strict even to that elf he had been friendly with earlier. At least he didn't play favorites. Served those two right. Fighting should be saved for a battlefield or at least somewhere not where people ate. Enris felt food was extremely important, and where it was served should not be desecrated by senseless squabbles. Senseless squabbles that he felt elves were particularly good at. He always felt elves wanted to pick fights with everyone, no matter how small the reason. They had too much pent up energy and emotions and released it through violence, small or large-scale. Their looks may be youthful and pretty but their personalities certainly were not.

One of the elves decided to head out and the other one, the one with the scar spoke to Barasa. That poor man. He was so meek, that elf's personality absolutely dwarfed his. She didn't appear to be bullying him in any way, she simply inquired about his knowledge of Wizards (which Enris was sure was fairly vast). If she started openly picking on him, he would step in. His strong moral compass would not allow such a thing, especially from an elf whom he was sure made a habit of picking on the weak.

He didn't know the time, but from the fact that it had been sunset when they set off and based on how long they had been eating, he figured it was getting fairly late. He turned his attention back to the awkwardly staring man. He was anxious to get this business over with so he could retire to his room and rest.

"Well okay then..." Rynn said with a laugh, barely out of the bed by the time Boj had literally packed everything the two of them had except for her cloak, which she promptly clasped around her neck. It was a bit chilly in these parts, which was to be expected of such an odd place.

Following him out, Rynn cast a curious glance around trying to find the oracle. Of course it was for naught, as oracles seemed to do whatever they pleased without being very concerned over others viewpoints of it. Not that that was a bad thing, they had to lead quite interesting lives. Doing as Boj said, Rynn shut the door behind them and walked outside, feeling a bit more understanding of herself and endeared by Boj's affection for the bird. For such a giant he had the kindest heart she'd ever seen. Rynn still needed a lot of work on herself and her thoughts of herself, but at least she wasn't finding it too difficult to think positively of Boj.

"His name? I dont know...." She stared at the bird for a long moment before grinning and saying "Heinrich. He looks like a Heinrich to me." Rynn laughed a little, knowing it was a ridiculous name and having no idea where it had come from.

Boj had started to draw his shoulders up a little defensively as he stroked the bird, the expression on his face introverted when she offered her naming suggestion. "I don't like it," he responded, his voice a little more quiet than it's usual amount. "It's a bad name."

He remained quiet as they walked, the sun now high above their heads and the unsettling glow of the sky-mirror now a distant thing beneath the horizon. Boj would not let the bird far from his breast, his hands curled into its ragdoll feathers and held it tight. He seemed moodier than lately now that his excitement over the bird had waned.

"We must be careful with him. Careful," he repeated, as if she were too slow to understand the first time. He glanced down and over somewhat grumpily.

"If you don't like the name thats okay, name him something else. its the first thing that came to mind. Henley? Lon? Raf? I don't know" Rynn said, a reassuring smile on her face. "Name him whatever you like, I am not picky about what we call him." She smiled again, feeling bad that she had upset him so with the name.

Rynn continued on with her usual half struggle to keep pace with him, his strides were so large. His mood seemed to drop dramatically, and the beauty of the place seemed to be waning towards the verge of creepy, but Rynn did her best to maintain a positive mindset, along with being realistic about her flaws.

It was an exhausting thought process to say the least.

"I'll be careful with him... I must wonder why she gave him to us." Rynn mused, more to herself than to Boj who, for some reason, had found his way into a bad mood.

Sulkily, Boj replied that he didn't like any of those names. "I like Julian," he said after a few more minutes of walking, stroking the bird quietly.

Eventually they came upon a sweetwater stream with a nearby tree, which Boj hesitantly set the bird upon. He seemed far too heavy and old to be able to fly, and besides, he was hopping everywhere. He watched the bird carefully for a long while as he began to fill their waterskins, before taking the bird back down and glancing to Rynn.

"How did it go last night?" he asked politely, as though he hadn't been caught listening in.

They had better be close. Lia shifted uncomfortably in her saddle for the umpteenth time. She wanted to ask how much longer she had to tolerate this, but the last twelve times she had received a noncommittal, "Almost there..." The last five attempts had been even less friendly. With sheer rock towering on either side of the tiny trail there wasn't much to look at; so she stared forward at the same three backs that she had faced the entire journey. It was really irritating. They should be more friendly to her. They hadn't even asked her name much less offered any decent conversation. She wasn't just anybody after all; She had personally been picked to study at the Grand Library itself! Well of course there had been those silly tests but she hadn't found them much of a challenge. Lia readjusted her seating yet again as they began to plod uphill, and brushed blonde hair from her green eyes. Utterly bored, she began to count the flies buzzing around her mount's ear. One... two...

The little group of riders crested the hill, and Lia couldn't help but suck in a quick breath. The Coron Valley stretched out wide and clear. It was so much different from her village, with jumbled houses crammed in between rotting trees. The view before her felt so pure. She forgot her complaints for a brief moment, content in soaking up the beauty before her.

One of the men in front clucked to his horse and gave it a sharp tap with his heel. The animal broke into a fast trot with the others close on its tail. Lia held on for dear life. She wasn't as experienced a rider as she had made out to be, but who could tolerate hours sitting directly behind some silent-as-the-grave stranger? So all she could do was fist her hands in the horse's short mane and grit her teeth. At least now her butt was hurting in all new ways.

The valley was much bigger than she had initially suspected. She could see the library in the distance; just an indistinct structure surround by sparse patches of trees. After alternating the horses' pace from walking to trotting a few times, the library was finally close enough for her to get a good look. Lia wrinkled her nose unimpressed. It seemed so... shabby. She had fully expected something truly grand with gleaming walls and shining windows. The weathered building may have been quite the showpiece at some point, but now it just looked old.

They stopped in front of a door with a very short flight of steps. Lia slithered ungracefully from the saddle, her legs nearly dumping her to the ground. Walking in a little circle, she tried to shake the bow out of her legs. Feeling better, she chose to ignore the semi-amused looks her inhospitable escorts were sending in her direction. When the men had all dismounted they grabbed the reigns of all four animals and simply began walk away. Lia's mouth gaped. How rude! "Excuse me!" One man stiffened and half-turned in her direction, "What about my bags?" The three looked at each other a moment and there seemed to be some silent communication among them. Lia fought the urge to tap her foot. Really this was too much! Finally a decision seemed to be made as the other two led the rest of the horses away while the one began to undo the fastenings on Lia's possessions. "Thank you." He only grunted in reply. Lia rolled her eyes and walked stiffly up the steps knocked on the door.

She waited a bit without hearing anything from the other side. Weren't they expecting her? Lia bit her lip and knocked harder with her fist. Still nothing. She was just about to kick the silent wood when the double doors swung inward. Lia nearly stumbled forward in surprise, but caught herself and drew her shoulders straight. Suddenly she felt very nervous. "H-hello. I'm Lia Arholt. I'm a new student." Uncertain what to do next, she stared openly at the man before her. He looked... odd. Perhaps he was from very far away? Because he looked like no one she had ever seen before. Lia shifted from one foot to the other feeling awkward. She was tired, sore and she smelled like horse. She wanted to take a bath and change back into a dress, not stare at some weird doorman.

The keeper of the library wasted no time simply pulling the girl in and shutting the grand doors behind her, only briefly glancing out to make sure she had not been followed. When the door was sufficiently shut, he began to stride back the way he had come: down the hallway opposite the grand doors. He made no attempt to help her carry her things unless she asked, though it was unclear whether this was out of rudeness or obliviousness. It was, in fact, the latter.

He laid a hand on her shoulder as they walked and steered her down the hallway next to him, pointing to each location as it was passed and named. "There's the kitchens, and there's the dining room, and down that hallway will be your room...sorry, Arholt, did you say?" he asked, stopping and looking at her for the first time. "From where do you hail? One of the northern states perhaps? Not yet unified, I imagine." Still, he seemed only to be half-listening to her answer, if that. Another part of him was already wondering where dinner was, and the rest of him was staring past her in thought.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4190910/scriptorium.png

They had reached the scriptorium, one of the library's better rooms, the sum of the rest of the building. It was Andy's pride, the result of years of work.

Here where stone reinforced wood, twenty some writing desks lay in rows. Nearly each was attended to by one of the librarians, each handpicked for their accuracy, speed, and...discretion. Half-used candles sat unlit and half-melted by their hunched-over heads, quills scratching ink into parchment. Not one glanced up at their arrival.

A few moments later the northern book-keeper he had tasked with preparing Lia's bath arrived, breath quick from her hurrying. She glanced to the student, looking briefly surprised, and then to Andy. He nodded, and turned to the new girl.

"Settle in, and see me in my office--" at this, he motioned to his office at the end of the scriptorium, "and we will begin your studies. If you have any questions, it would be better to wait until after you have found your room."

She couldn't help giggle a little at the giants sulking. Such a funny character he was. Brooding and mature one mintue, and a sulking child the next. "Jullian is a good name." Rynn assented. Honestly she didn't care what they called the bird, but Rynn wanted to cheer him up so she complimented him on it.

She looked at the thing as it hopped about, wondering exactly what the bird was going for with that. It was quite a fat bird, didn't seem very useful. She shrugged and went to filling up her waterskein from the river. Hearing Boj speak, Rynn looked up at him.

"As well as can be expected I suppose. It's hard hearing about those things you, makes you question a lot about yourself." She said simply, trying to stay in line with the oracles advice by not talking too much about herself.

Lia was taken completely by surprise when the doorman clamped a hand on her shoulder and dragged her inside unceremoniously, bags and all. He let her go to close the doors; she just stood there seething. Did no one in this place have any manners? No introduction, no greeting of any kind and her wrists were beginning to hurt from the weight of her bags. She had just opened her mouth to demand to see whoever ran this place, when the hand was back on her shoulder and pushing her gently ahead down the hall. "There's the kitchens, and there's the dining room, and down that hallway will be your room...sorry, Arholt, did you say?" She stumbled forward under his guidance her head snapping from side to side trying to follow his hail of descriptions. She took a breath at the first decent pause. "I need to see..." She didn't get very far before she was interrupted as he began walking while talking again, "From where do you hail? One of the northern states perhaps? Not yet unified, I imagine." She was beginning to feel stupid as she snapped her mouth shut once more as he answered his own question. She was growing increasingly angry with this stupid man. "Will you listen? I need to see..." She stopped and rolled her eyes when she caught the distant look in his eyes. She was clearly being ignored. Lia determined to voice her complaints later and bit back her annoyance... at least until the end of this little 'tour'.

They stepped into a vaulted stone room filled with the soft scritching sounds of quills on paper. Lia breathed in the smell of parchment and candles and relaxed a little. Maybe this place would be alright. There were a number of individuals at work; she could see their shoulders scrunched together as they bent over their task. The hand dropped from her shoulder and she took a half-step forward, but the arrival of another woman- thank goodness- caught her attention. So did the look of surprise. Her tour guide, doorman nodded to the new arrival and turned back to her. "Settle in, and see me in my office--" She followed his motion to the end of the scriptorium, a vague and disconcerting awareness beginning to form in her mind. Had he just said his office? "and we will begin your studies. If you have any questions, it would be better to wait until after you have found your room." She did her best imitation of a fish for a few seconds, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled for words. The doorman was the man in charge! "T-thank you." She finally managed to force out something coherent, her face flushing a little with embarrassment. The woman who had been standing there patiently gave a gestured sharply, and Lia was all too grateful to follow her from the room.

"Is he always like that?" Lia asked her new guide once she was sure they were out of earshot. The woman glanced over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "I mean... never mind" Lia finished lamely. The woman gave her a slight encouraging smile and pushed open a door, stepping aside. Lia could see a wooden tub, a little less than waist high, and shivered with delight. "Will you be okay by yourself dear?" Lia's gaze snapped back to her escort. How old did they think she was? She just nodded dumbly. The woman's smile grew. "Good. Now your room is down that way, second hall on the left. I expect you'll get along here well as long as you apply yourself." She gave a curt nod and was off, leaving Lia to stare at her back. Well at least she knew now that it wasn't just the doorman/library head; everyone here was more than a little odd.

She couldn't allow herself to luxuriate too long in the bath. The thought that her presence was being waited on was enough to make her scrub with haste. Still the warm water felt divine on her aching muscles as she sat, knees drawn to her chest and her arms around her shins. Reluctantly she untangled her limbs and stepped out to the floor. She dried herself with a rough, thick towel and slipped into her least wrinkled dress. Smoothing the front of the blue skirt and feeling much better, Lia went off in search of her room.

She only got confused once, but she finally found the small room that was to become hers. It was sparsely furnished but clean. She didn't waste time getting acquainted. Instead she dumped her things on the bed and trotted off to the scriptorium. It hadn't changed much from her last visit. Each person was still hard at work, however she did receive some brief, curious glances as she made her way to office at the end of the room. She paused a moment, drawing a breath for courage, and knocked carefully.

Boj glanced over when she giggled, his foul mood growing a little worse at the sound of her laughter. Still, he didn't say anything for a while until he found the right moment to snap at her, seemingly out of the blue a few minutes after she had answered his question. "Can't you take this a little more seriously?"

It's not just our lives at stake.

He filled another spare waterskin, eyes still hardened on the bird before he rose and picked it back up, relaxing somewhat with it in his arms. His voice softened just a little. "Apologies. I didn't mean it," he said while he stroked the bird, its touch calming him.

Boj was getting impatient. He really wasn't, but he felt as if slowed by her presence. Yet he couldn't simply abandon someone here. Not again.

But he needed to get to the koysqatsi now. He turned slowly and nodded with his head in the direction of the ruined city. "Let's pick up our pace. You heard her, your boyfriend is on his way," he added with the tiniest of smiles and a lightening of the voice, though there was a great deal of force involved in making it so.

So Boj set off and picked up his pace--even let Rynn hold the scarily heavy, glassy-eyed bird--eyes on the broken towers in the distance, his innards hardening just a little bit more.

Rynn will find her noble-teeth chipping rather easily, breaking away into a more common shape. She will find her body weakening to some degree over the next few days, and her vision growing a bit worse. But hey, at least she's not literally getting kidney stones! :)

"Hey!" She said, in response to his outburst "I am taking this seriously. I was just trying to help you by staying positive. Of course I'm taking this seriously." Rynn said, glaring at him. What had brought that on? Running her tongue over her teeth as she often did, Rynn found that they were not as sharp as they used to be. Well if that was the change she was going through, she was pleased. Now she could blend in with society a little better.

So he apologized to a bird but not to the woman he'd snapped at? Seemed he could care less about preventing her changes, though she was doing her best to help him. Hardly seemed fair. Rynn took the bird, though she didn't particularly want to. The thing weighed far more than a bird ever should. She looked down at its creepy glass eyed stare, getting a bit apprehensive about the thing. Seriously why did the oracle give her the bird? Saying nothing, Rynn continued to walk with him, finding that she felt a little bit tired more quickly than normal. Perhaps it was the trip draining on her.

He had started to forget all about the new student, busy as he was copying one of less vivid memories into a spare shred of parchment he'd found on his desk. An obscure little fact he'd picked up so very long ago regarding the--damn it all!

The knocking at the door interrupted had interrupted the delicate process of recollection that had built this library in the first place. Andy's jaw tightened with annoyance--nevermind that he'd asked her here in the first place--and he crumpled the half-finished note in his hands as he rose and strode to the door. Unlocked it. Opened it, parchment in his fist as he stared down at her.

Now, Andy was not the most intimidating figure. He wasn't the sort of man who could easily threaten anyone, though he did have the ability to back up a threat. But a lifetime spent at desks and through glass at the intricacies of life had built up a man whose mind was almost entirely self contained--even those he had known longest would have found him difficult to comprehend for this alone. His foreign, difficult-to-read face and the scattering of not-quite-forgotten customs he occasionally displayed didn't help things.

For example, Andy was barefoot.

The well-worn unlaced boots lay side by side beside the door, a habit that had left more than a few of the librarians scratching their heads. And he always insisted, as he did now with a vague motion of the hand, that others do so when they entered his office.

Andy turned abruptly and returned to his desk with the assumption that she followed and took the handcarved seat he'd left on the other side of the desk for her. He held up one finger to beg a moment, his other hand flipping back open the crumple of half-scribed memories, his eyes drawn to the bored sketch he'd made in the corner. Lovely face, sharp ears. It made him smile oh-so-slightly before he balled it back up between his hands and dropped it on the side of his desk, finally giving her his full attention.

He looked a little surprised when he first looked at her, really, for the first time. She was younger than he'd been expecting. Nevermind that she was a she--rarely did women get enough of an "education" in the pigshit villages and so-called cities scattered across the northern half of this damned continent. She had to have been quite intelligent.

Andy smiled faintly at her before pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly between two calloused fingertips. With his free hand, he slid the introductory book to her. "Tell me what you know of this place, and why you are here," he began, clasping his hands together and regarding her thoughtfully.

The glassy-eyed bird stares back up at Rynn.

Boj glanced over when she protested, his expression softening and his eyes turning low and then away with a tinge of guilt in his belly, followed by a slight hardening of his stomach lining. "Thank you for trying. I am sorry," he offered somewhat half-heartedly.

He slowed a little, turning his head and furrowing his brows when he noticed that her pace had gotten worse. His eyes softened a little more post-apology, noticing the little signs of tiredness she was showing. Yet they had only just started walking, and despite being so short-legged compared to him she had never seemed exhausted nearly this quickly. It was a worrying sign.

Stopping entirely at a fallen tree some ten or so minutes later--it was hard to tell, something about the lighting in this place made everything seem still, further away than it really was--he offered her sweetwater, watching her carefully.

"You are ill?" What he would do if she could not continue, he was not sure.

Rynn shuddered as the bird stared up at her. So. Incredibly. Disconcerting. "It's okay." She said, looking at Boj "I know it can be stressful, I appreciate the apology." Rynn smiled, well at least he wasn't only apologizing to birds today.

As they stopped, Rynn took a swig from the sweetwater, feeling a bit better after doing so. "I'm fine, Just a bit more tired than normal. Not to mention this bird is so incredibly heavy." She said, offering him what she hoped was a reassuring smile so that he wouldn't worry. His worry could make her weak.

Boj frowned at her answer but nodded, deciding that the trip must be catching up with her and that it was time for a rest. He settled down where they stood, taking the bird rather unceremoniously from her and tucking it--squawking--under his arm. Half-politely, he patted the spot on the fallen tree trunk next to him and pulled the annoyed owl onto his lap to view it more carefully.

He pulled from his rucksack a paper-wrapped, odd-looking contraption, which he promptly unwrapped and placed in her own lap. If she had any knowledge of the subject, she'd recognize it as the taken-apart components of a trap.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, pointing to the much closer broken city's edge perhaps half a day's travel from their resting spot. "There are many traps laid throughout the better parts of the rubble there. We will need to be careful, and alert." He paused. "Do you need to rest for a few hours or so?"

Lia took a small step back uncertainly as she heard movement from the other side of the door. There was the hollow sound of a lock being turned and suddenly she was looking once more at her unusual teacher. Her gaze was drawn to the crumpled lump of paper in his grip. Great. She had interrupted something. She nearly flinched when he turned quickly and without a word, but she shook off her nervousness and followed him through the door.

Blinking owlishly, Lia took in stacks of books and papers everywhere. Organized chaos seemed to be the theme. His quick gesture caught her eye, and Lia's gaze followed the motion to his discarded shoes. Her brow wrinkled slightly. What on earth? Surely he didn't expect her to pick those up or something? She shot him a quick look. Oh sure. He wouldn't shut up earlier and now he wouldn't talk? He must be mad about being interrupted.

Well too bad!

Hadn't he been the one who told her to come right away? Her gaze drifted back to the shoes and back again to him; this time noticing his bare feet. She barely held back a giggle. Only small children went without shoes! She toed off her own footwear with a grin. Suddenly she felt a lot less unsure about everything, and this man.

Lia settled herself in the chair facing him and folded her hands neatly in her lap. She couldn't resist wriggling her toes though. There was a long moment of silence as she watched him rifle through some book. She didn't feel uncomfortable with the lack of conversation; it was quite the opposite. There were so many interesting things she could see in here that her fingertips were practically itching to get a hold on some of the books scattered around.

"Tell me what you know of this place, and why you are here," He genuinely took her by surprise with his question. How many reasons could she possibly have for coming here? She picked up the book he had slid her way and ran her fingers appreciatively along the spine. "Well, I know you can find certain things in the villages if you look hard enough." She looked him directly in the eye, "But all the important knowledge can only be found here. I want to learn as much as possible, sir."

I've decided to bring the dinner to a close. Feel free to cover how your night ended in your next post. We will timeskip to a day or two away from reaching Kerria, I will need to confer with Dorian Raker on which route the Ardent will be taking. Assume a month or so has passed since the dinner.

Andy tapped his fingers against the rough-hewn wood of his desk as he awaited and then listened to her answer. And, when she provided it, a slow smile spread its way across his face. That was one way to go about flattering him. He nodded to himself with approval and plucked an apple from the clay bowl to his left, prying a seed from within its womb with a practiced, lazy movement as he spoke.

"You passed your test, which means you know a great deal more about something as simple as this, than any pig farmer or even warlord's so-called witchdoctor," he began, finally plucking the seed and holding it up between the two of them. He looked past it at her as he continued. "And you know the essentials of what this is, how it's no different from a man's seed: how it is a set of instructions. All the world's a set of instructions, if only you know how to read them..."

He turned the seed over in his fingertips absentmindedly as he tried to remember whether it was she or another who had passed on the pretty thing's name, the seed beginning to sprout and build around his hand. No matter. He turned his attention back to her to continue, leaning forward the slightest bit. "I dislike the term, but it seems to have stuck with the others here. I haven't the foggiest idea where the pig farmers heard it. But wizards you may call us, if you really please. I'd prefer you don't. We are scientists, dear Lia. And I would be quite pleased if you would join us."

Dinner has ended and time has skipped forward about a month or so, after the ship's stop in Fort Rock. The ship is nearing the coast of Kerria and will arrive in perhaps a day or two. This is some of the final time you'll get prior to the adventure being in full swing, so take the time to flex your character muscles and play around while you can.

It is a hot summer night, and has rained recently. The ride has been mostly uneventful, no sea monsters this time.

Cas Seingalt leaned back in her chair and flicked a card across the table at the muted crewmember, taking a moment to admire her work as he yawned and revealed the severed tongue behind rough, cracked lips. A fair price paid and in the two years since, apologized and more for on her part in the taking of his tongue.

Really, she thought, he'd gotten the better deal. Cas had killed for less.

She was rather bad at this game, she thought with a frown. Deryn had taught her to play, but without threatening violence the elf found she was entirely unable to match her older friend's abilities, and usually unable to match anyone else's, either. Cas was hoping the muted machinist would be an easy target.

Apparently not.

Cas might have swung her gun wildly at the man for the smug grin across his face as he pulled his winnings closer, but today was not that day. After all, she'd lost a bet and now she'd had a promise to keep.

Truth be told, in this case it was perhaps she who had gotten the better deal. Perverted--in her mind--though the mute's betting deal--in written form--might have been, even she had to admit the littlest bit that she liked the idea. She'd gotten on fairer terms with the man since the ship had set sail--even she felt bad for taking his tongue--and when Deryn had not been around to whisper with, when the captain had not been around to--well...she'd never call it stalking, but it was bordering on such--stick close by, when that dark-skinned Kerrian scholar wasn't studying outside of his room. It was times like those that she spent with the mute.

She moved down the hallways and into the gut of the ship, finding the storage room and poking through it as she tried to remember where he said he'd placed it. She lifted one white tarp after the other, her thoughts turning to the scholar.

Cas had found herself walking right to him, without so much as realizing she'd gotten up. She'd found herself unconsciously circling him, watching him, and experiencing an unfamiliar and vague turning of her stomach. Not an unpleasant feeling exactly, but...one that had left her more than a little confused, as the incidents came to grow over the course of the month. Granted, they were still rare, and the feeling was terribly faint. But it was there.

She'd wondered if the excess of Kerrian blood in his veins had unsettled her. He was no Innate, certainly, but like had happened with Belo it was always possible for the bastard magic to lie waiting under the skin, just waiting to be uncorked...ah! Here it was.

The linen fluttered, heavy and thick as she put all her--small amount of--strength into throwing it off the old phonograph. Dusty, a little rusty, but stunning to be sure. They'd had one back home, her mother used to play the saddest songs...an mournful little smile helped its way onto her lips and she ran a hand along the copper horn, her smile growing at the faint hum the movement produced. The sound probably wouldn't be great, but it seemed in alright enough shape. Now to get it topside.

Some twenty minutes and a great deal of gun-waving later, the pair of engineers Cas had 'recruited' into dragging the thing up the stairs and onto the deck had finished doing so. The mute had fallen asleep in the time since she'd gone below deck, a weathered novella hung over his face and his chair leaning dangerously back. Lovely. Only barely annoyed, Cas casually nudged his foot with the steel tip of her boot before turning and fiddling with the dusty contraption.

Click.

The sound cracked and popped before finding the right note, a tingle of piano key sounding out as the sound began, the betting pair getting into waltz position as the old chanson began--only for the aged record to, itself, snap and crack. So much for a song. But the mute was not deterred: he clumsily but with the most pleased expression whirled the half-amused elf around, lucky to be alive.

Taking the seat beside him, Rynn very strongly considering leaning against him and closing her eyes for a few moments, but decided against that. Boj didn't seem the type to take kindly to friendly leaning. It was best to keep her distance. She let out a breath looking at what he had placed on her lap.

"Its a trap... thats what it is." She said, looking at him as he continued speaking. "Understandably so, caution will be the priority. And we don't need a few hours, only a few minutes. I don't know what it is, maybe its this place, but I just don't feel as energetic as I normally do." Rynn sighed, taking a sip from her waterskein. The water helped.

Lia's green eyes widened as the seed in his hand began to sprout. She leaned forward with a hungry expression as the plant continued to grow. This was what she wanted! Not myth or tricks; just the perfect understanding of how the world could be- how it is. She gripped the book in her lap, a wide grin stuck on her face.

Decades later...

Lia smiled at her memories as she brushed a finger down the spine of that very same book. It had taken her many years, but it had been well worth the hard work. It never ceased to excite her that no matter how much she discovered, there always seemed to be another surprise- especially where he was concerned.

"Miss Arholt! "

Lia turned to a pair of giggling servant women and rolled her eyes, "Good day. How can I help you ladies?" They exchanged looks while tittering behind their hands. Lia crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. The shorter girl on the left finally confessed, "We heard that you were dating... Well we wanted to know... Um, he has your head in his office!"

"WHAT?"

The women watched as Lia stormed off. "You know, Caiti? I don't think they are dating..."

Lia could only stare in shock. Those silly women hadn't lied. It was her face! The clay model had been stashed not-so-innocently in a corner behind a pile of books. Lia could feel her face burning. "I'm going to KILL him!" She balled her hands into angry fists and stalked from the room. "ANNNNNNNNDY!" When she found him she was going to give him a piece of her mind... And ask him what the hell was up with those pointy ears!