Playing with Magic

[Palla Frostfawn]

Palla had never thought she'd be trying magic, but the thought had intrigued her. She had told Alia that it was her only reason for learning magic, but Palla thought she could reach perfection by morphing her body into something that it wasn't. She could change her appearance, or give herself an edge in combat. The possibilities were endless, really. Palla understood that magic came with many risks, but for her, the benefits outweighed the risks. When she got better at morphing, she believed that she could be anyone, do anything, fix everything about herself that she disliked.

Palla had tried to fast, but her love of food quickly overtook her and she compromised with herself by eating very small portions. She didn't tell Alia about the fasting for fear that would scare her away.

Palla hadn't meant to tell Alia about her plan to learn morphing, but it had slipped out. She had to tell her everything after her slip of the tongue. Earlier that day, Palla had even copied down the basics of morphing. She wrote fast, as fast as she carved, and was able to get the initiation and novice and competent level exercises to practice in one of the books she had bought earlier. She had even copied down quite a bit of Auristics information for Alia, basically the initiation. Palla had also copied down a very small book, more a booklet than an actual book, about meditating in pages she had carefully ripped out of the book that she had written aurustics information in. This, Palla had done word for word, taking care in the five bells that she had used to do so. The books were not written in the best handwriting, but they were easily legible, and that was good enough for Palla.

Alia had agreed to try out magic with Palla after she had hinted that she didn't want to go at it alone, a fact that Palla was grateful for. Alia, however, had steered towards auristics, a safer magic, she determined. Palla had enjoyed talking with her, as they had really gotten along, despite Alia's reluctance to try magic.

Alia had suggested going to Laviku's tower to practice the magic, and while Palla had no idea why they would go to Laviku's tower, as neither of them worshipped Laviku, and the tower wasn’t exactly the most popular place for magic users. Alia had argued that it would be exciting to adventure to visit at least one of the religious towers, as since neither girl was a resident of Riverfall, they had yet to see a lot of the city’s most prominent features. Giving in, Palla had taken two carvings from her shop to her home that day, one of a fish for Laviku, to grant them safe passage on their very short boat ride, and to prove that she did indeed respect him, and a carving of a music note for Alia.

Alia rowed the boat to the tower, and Palla clutched the books to her chest, holding on as if her life depended on it. If she lost these books, she lost precious mizas and more importantly, the knowledge that lay within the books. If she let that be lost, she'd be very ashamed of herself.

While Alia rowed, Palla reached into her backpack, still clutching the books with one hand, and took the fish out. She tossed the fish into the water, and it soon grew waterlogged and sank. Alia wasn't looking, and Palla was hoping that she wouldn't think her present to the god was unnecessary. They were, after all, visiting his tower. Palla hoped Laviku would be pleased with the fish, and she decided he was. Calm waters left the books intact, and they soon arrived at their destination. Palla looked at Alia expectantly, wondering what they should do next.

OOCI have permission to assume that Alia rowed the boat and the like.

[Alia Beaudouin]

49th of Spring, 514 AV
16th Bell

Magic. Something that before the 43rd of spring, Alia had never thought she would be trying. It seemed so dangerous, with the sweet whispers, and the overgiving, she had heard of a woman crying blood after she pushed herself too far. Horrible. But after the winter masquerade party, and meeting Palla, Alia had come to the Vantha girl’s shop once to chat. They really connected during that one visit, however. And just the day before, the girl had come up with the idea of trying out morphing, an idea Alia had not been fond of at all.

Apparently Palla had gone to the library a few days before, and had read a book about morphing, deciding to try it out herself. Alia hadn't been so enthusiastic, it was incredibly risky, especially if you overgave. She had heard about people suffering horrible injuries, or even death after overgiving just a tad too much.

But Palla seemed so excited, and subtly hinted that she would want to learn magic with Alia many times, and so, as a compromise, Alia would learn, or at least learn about magic, and Palla would visit Laviku’s tower. Alia had wanted to visit the tower since she had heard of it earlier that season, but she had put off the visit. The Inarta, admittedly, was too scared to visit without someone to go there. Taking a ride on a tiny old boat to an island that seemed barely bigger wasn’t exactly what Alia would describe as “Safe”. Originally she had wanted to come just to see the fish, as she had heard of all the somewhat rarer species living exclusively in the tower’s waters.
It had seemed like something new and exciting to do, so of course she had planned to do it. A new adventure, what could go wrong?

The boat ride, at least, had been short, with, luckily enough, low tides and good weather. Alia had rowed, as Palla had held the books, ones full of information on magics, tight to her chest, refusing to let them go until they had reached the island. The Vantha had copied down nearly word-for-word what had been written in a few magic books, which she had read up on while at the Riverfall library. Alia was grateful she had gone through such lengths to write down detailed notes about the topic. Palla held In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been the best idea to bring several books on magic & meditating to a completely ocean-bound religious tower, but since they were already there, there wasn’t any point in going back.

When they came close to the tower’s island, Alia turned her attention away from rowing and instead towards the two necklaces she wore around her neck. They were both relatively pretty items she had picked up from the bazaar, and they were very similar, though one was a blue pendant with a silver chain, the main piece being a small crafted stone that was most likely lapis lazuli, from what the vendor had said, while the other was a less precious purple stone piece with a copper chain. Alia knew she had to give something to Laviku, for respect, and the two pendants had come a set, so she planned to give the blue one to Laviku, while giving the deeper purple one to Palla, as a surprise gift.

Once they had arrived, Palla had quickly left the boat, all the books she had brought still bone-dry, thanks to her protection. Alia was a bit slower, processing the gigantic tower that stood before her. Laviku’s island, Alia thought, One of the great Riverfall Religious Towers. It truly was grand, one of the tallest building the Inartan girl had seen in a long time. No wonder it was so talked-about in Riverfall. She sure would be proud of such a monument should her home city build something so great.

As the pair headed inside, Alia lead them down a rock staircase to where she supposed was the most mentionable part of the towers, the platform overlying the waters where many seemingly exotic fish swam, flashing rainbow colours and intricate designs. If Alia had any skill whatsoever in drawing, she would have sketched the beautiful patterns the fish created in the water.

Of course, this was only a sightseeing trip, and the real purpose of coming had only just begun. Taking the first book on meditating from Palla, Alia began to read. And read. And read. She would have thought you could only write so much about closing your eyes and whitening your mind, but no, there were seemingly endless pages full of instructions on meditation, everything from the state of mind to the position, all covered in the books Palla had brought.

As for the purpose of learning meditation, Palla had been convinced that if she was to learn magics, Alia had to attempt to learn something too. Instead of Palla’s choice of the very dangerous Morphing, Alia had chosen something simple, or at least simpler. Auristics. It seemed interesting enough, being able to tell things about someone before even saying hello, and even better, it was one of the least precarious magics. If caution was used, of course.



oocI’m not sure if a fare is required for renting a boat, if so, the grader can decide on it. Palla mentioned she would pay.