[Flashback] A Meeting [Kendall]

[Elisse]

Season of Summer, Day 9, 508AV Elisse had grown tired of staying up in the University library for hours on end. She loved the place, there was no question about that. Being surrounded by more knowledge than one knew what to do with was exciting to her. And yes, to that end, Eli was a little bit of a recluse. However, as the season of Summer had arrived, she wanted to spend more time outside. Elisse had checked out a reimancy book two days previously, and she figured it was time to start reading it. She headed down to one of the many outdoor spaces of the University, but it was crowded with people. If she wanted to practice anything she found in the book, there was a very good chance that someone would get burned, so she went off in search for somewhere quieter. And that was how she came to be sitting beneath a tree in one of the small public gardens of the Old Quarter. The book was open on her lap, and her eyes flicked as she read through the paragraphs. She had some parchment and a pen, but for now the page stayed empty.

[Kendall Saarinen]

Although the warmth of Syna was all around her, Kendall was content to be in the University studying. It was not because she was a shut in, she just simply loved the art of learning. She wanted to grow up to be just like her mother. She wanted to be able to tell her children stories like her mother had told her. Today she would venture outside though. It was simply too perfect of a day to waste sitting in the library. Outside, the air was warm and held the signature salty air of Zeltiva. It was the omnipresent reminder of the sea rolling right off the coast. At the moment Kendall wanted to find a place to sit and write. She had written a little. Mostly just a few lines of prose but she was always proud of whatever little free writing she could fit in. She looked over to a couple trees in the corner of the gardens. There as a girl sitting there with a notebook open, waiting to be written in. Kendall knew the pains of writer's block. It was a nasty plague. She walked over to the girl's side and smiled at her sweetly. "Hello, are you having a bit of writer's block?" Kendall pushed her long brown locks out of her eyes and looked down at the empty notebook. "I am Kendall by the way. I am guessing you study here? I'm surprised I have not seen you around more." She bit her lip and straightened out her skirt. "Anyway, tell me about what you are trying to write. Sometimes it helps to speak your thoughts rather than to write them."

[Elisse]

Elisse's pen was still poised above the paper when a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see a girl standing over her, curls framing a pretty face. Elisse quickly but casually covered her library book with an arm, shielding the printed words from view. Not everyone felt comfortable around reimancers. She waited 'till the girl had finished speaking before answering. She racked her brain to see if she could pull up any memory of the girl - Kendall - but it was to no avail. She smiled. "I'm Elisse." She was squinting slightly as she looked up at Kendall. The sun was reaching it's peak in the sky, and it was just above the girls head. "You guessed correctly, though I haven't seen you before either. I expect we've chosen to study different things." She offered another small smile before glancing at her arm-covered book. "I uh, I'm just taking notes from a book I borrowed."

[Kendall Saarinen]

"Nice to meet you Elisse." Kendall smiled kindly as she motioned to the seat next to Elisse. "Do you mind?" Kendall always somewhat assumed that people would not mind her sitting down next to them. She was not a terribly imposing person. She stood at a height of 5'6 which rarely was taller than others her age. Still, her mother's manners had been instilled in her even since she was little. Marie Saarinen was known throughout her family and those who knew her to be well mannered to a fault. "What subjects do you study?" Kendall was always interested to see what others took as their studies. There was so much that she had not studied. She wanted to learn all that she could but there was only so much time in a day. "What kind of book are you looking at?" Kendall did not mean to be nosy. She just was curious. She wanted to know more about the girl and to know what she studied.

[Elisse]

Elisse quickly shook her head and gave the girl a small smile, indicating that she was fine to sit down. She moved over a tiny bit to give her more space. She looked sidelong at the girl, still trying to place her inside the University walls. Once again, she drew a blank. She flipped her book closed and set in on top of the parchment in her lap before answering. "I study Anthropology." It was true, although it certainly was not her main area of study. She looked over at Kendall again, considering her for a quick moment. She then held the book out to her. "And uh, reimancy..." The girl seemed nice enough, like she wouldn't run away at the mention of magics. After a significant pause she returned the question. "What about you? What is it you're studying here?"

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall nodded as she listened to Elisse, sitting down at her side. "Anthropology huh? I bet that is interesting." Her green eyes grew wide when the girl mentioned that she studied reimancy. "Wow, magic. That must be amazing." She smiled lightly before taking the book in her hands. If Kendall's father knew she was looking at a book of Reimany she knew that she would not have been able to leave the house for a season. Da'nel Saarinen despised magic and let all of his children know that they were not to study it. Her eyes grazed across the pages as she flipped through the book. Her eyes stopped upon an entry about pyromancy. "Fire Reimancy, or Pyromancy is the act of controlling fire. It is through this skill that one can either create flames from their Res or pull it in like a magnet, like all other elements. This skill needs to be used with caution because it is the only element (without exploration into paraelements) that can cause injury to the wielder if the element rebukes and touches their skin. With the skill of Pyromancy a Reimancer can delve into paraelements if they can hone their skills enough to learn aeromancy (air Reimancy) or terramancy (earth Reimancy). With the mixture of Pyromancy and Aeromancy one can work with lightning Reimancy. Likewise, with the combination of Pyromancy and Terramancy one can harness the power of Lava Reimancy." Kendall read the passage in amazement. She knew her father would be upset but she could not help herself. It was the forbidden education, arcana. "Wow Elisse, I bet learning this is so exciting! Do you practice alone or do you train with other people?" She imagined a pair of Reimancers facing off in a room together, their elements ready for pretend battle. "Which element do you work with?" Kendall would have worried about asking too much of the girl if she was not so swept up in the thought of magic and the fact that people actually used it so close to her own household. She knew it existed but she never had the change to talk with a romancer before. "Oh! I study literature." Kendall smiled as she pulled out her notebook. "I want to be a famous writer or poet someday, like Marie Sendlant!" Kendall had been a fan of the deceased poet ever since her mother had read her Marie's poetry. "I suppose I study a bit of history and world culture. I am interested in the different races in the world. I suppose anthropology might overlap into that."

[Oracle]

Name: Kendall Saarinen

XP Award:

• Socialization +1
• Etiquette +1
• Investigation +2
• Reimancy +1

Lore:

• Lending an Ear

Notes: Sorry about the delay. I went ahead and only issued for Kendall since Elisse is listed as retired. If she returns I can revisit the thread and re-issue.

Hope this is ok.

If you have any concerns with this please PM me and let me know.

A.S. Oracle