Solo A Bushel of Burns

[Keene Ward]

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The last day of fall, 514 AV

He arrived at the forest by the time the fire had become a blazing inferno, tongues of orange and yellow licking the tallest of the trees in a crackling embrace. The heat was intense, enough to send waves of blistering calefaction that slammed into his exposed skin. The wind that was generated by the flames made them all the more dangerous as they whipped back and fourth, all the appearances of a raging beast. There were reimancers scattered around the flames. Those who were attuned to the earth flung sand and dirt into the heart of the blaze, their attempts to stifle it seemingly inconsequential as the blaze jumped, burst, and spread through the forest with a terrifying voracity. There were several reimancers who hand managed to produce a large scale cloud, showering the flame with a steady downpour. He could see the res draining from the nuits' bodies, the amount of djed needed to maintain the moisture of the cloud too great for the tactic to be considered efficient.

Readying his own res, he was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. Flinching away from it, Keene twirled to stare back at the face of a young man. He had dark eyes, hair, and visage; his stormy frown an evident displeasure at what was happening before them. "You're the Mt. Merlus initiate, are you not?" His words were spoken in a low, rich timbre; piercing brown eyes staring into Keene's with an urgency that helped draw his response.

"Yes. Keene Ward." He extended a hand, but it was never received. The man gave the gesture a raise of a brown, followed by a condescendingly incredulous sneer.

"Kinapak." He turned to glare at the various reimancers; his low opinion of them worn clearly on the frustrated sigh as he glanced across the various groups. "Useless." Returning his attention to Keene with an indifferent stare, Kinapak continued. "They won't listen to me, and Ryanna is busy elsewhere. Only gods know where Darin might be." He shook his head, another frustrated breath of air passing between his near perfectly sculpted lips. "At this rate the whole damned forest will burn down." He threw up his hands in a shrug. "The Deaders deserve it, if you ask me. But most of the food for Pulsers comes from this scrap of wood." The conflict was apparent in his voice, and Keene found the time spent listening to Kinapak was a quick way to waste it.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Yeah. You do that, reimancer." The word was spoken as if it were some derogatory term. Keene raised a brow at it, but decided it was best not to say anything. Instead, he turned towards the blaze, wincing as a burst of heated wind ripped through the air. Once it had passed, Keene regathered his djed, letting it trickle out of his hands and float in several palm sized balls around his outstretched hands. Whipping one of his hands around and stopping the motion as it reached the approximate middle of his chest, Keene sent three of the spheres hurtling at the blaze. With his left hand, he reached across his body, crossing his arms for a tick before pulling them back and towards his ribs. The spheres that traveled towards the heat flattened and extended into sheets as they landed at the base of the fire. Clapping his hands together, the sheets were transmuted into ice, muffling the flames beneath them and sending billows of steam up into the air as the element tried to burn through the frozen water, only to slowly fizzle.

The success was marginal, but the other reimancers took notice of it. Soon, there were more sheets, balls, needles, and hail that crashed downwards at the fire. While it was an an instantaneous solution, the areas that were able to be reclaimed stayed wet enough to stave off the heat for a few chimes before it dried under the intense flames to be re-enveloped. Keene heard a small tsk in spite of the crackle and hiss of the blaze. He glanced over his shoulder to observe Kinapak with arms crossed and face dour. "Are you not going to assist?"

"No."

"...Very well." Keene sent several more thick sheets of ice out over the flames, the usual chill that came with employing the element working well against the intensity of the conflagration. They had a ways to go, but with the adjustment of tactics things seemed much more promising. Those who had previously been drawing up the earth and casting it into the blaze had begun to shower the slowly increasing areas the ice cleared, keeping the fire from jumping back to its original location. While Keene was quite aware that pushing the fire back into the heart of the woods was not the most advisable course of action, he wasn't sure how practical it would have been to try to navigate from within the trees to catch the flame in a pincer. There was a small explosion from deeper in the trees, the blaze swirling with an especially powerful gust of wind sent burning debris scattering in all directions, reigniting what few areas they'd managed to clear and catching several of the reimancers on fire, Keene being one of them.

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[Keene Ward]

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The fire licked at his clothes, tearing in to them like a rabid animal. He dropped to the ground, slapping at the flames as he rolled about in the dust until they had faded. There was a sharp whistle behind him, drawing his attention back to the raised brows of the young, sculpted face. "That didn't look like much fun." Keene let his lips pull tight in a straight line as he stood, brushing himself off as well was the small amount of fabric that had been lost to the flame. He felt a slight burn on his lower left thigh, but it was a mere irritation. Turning away from the sneering initiate, Keene glared back at the fire. It seemed, with the rush of wind only a few moments before, that it had gained ground, if that were even possible. Masses of flaming refuse hurtled from within the heart of the flames, rolling across the prairie in such volume the majority of them were not stopped. Several more tumbled towards him, though he saw them long before they were upon him. Moving his hands outwards then apart, he sent one of the remaining balls of res out into in front of him, transmuting a layer of the surface into a multi-directional burst of wind that parted the bushes and sent them rolling harmlessly to either side of him.

He had the feeling Kinapak was going to say something about his latest "triumph", which only pushed him towards one of the groups of reimancers that had erected a curved barrier of stone that had been wrenched up out of the ground. He huddled behind it, catching his breath from the short jog it had taken to reach it with speed (and to avoid the flaming bushes that rocketed by). From his vantage point, he could see Kinapak standing with arms crossed gazing into the fire, his skin glowing the ruddy illumination of the blaze. He barely moved, the burning tumbleweeds dashing past him, only nearly missing him as he took the most minimal movements necessary to avoid them. Despite the man's condescending attitude, Keene was impressed with the initiate's strong grasp of physicality. To avoid danger with such calm efficiency was something Keene was neither exceptional at nor inclined towards. Kinapak, however, moved with a fluid sway, his focus placed with heavy emphasis on the crackling waves of heat and hunger that flickered in the smoke filled sky.

Those who he shared the earthen barrier with, a thin, tired looking man Keene supposed could have been a nuit, and a woman with a distractingly large mole off center of the middle of her chin, both seemed to be content behind the shield that protected them against the brunt of the blaze. Neither seemed entirely opposed to Keene's presence, but they provided zero avenue for casual conversation. Having little reason to pursue them, Keene let himself catch his breath before cautiously poking his head around the side of the wall to gauge the dangers of approaching that which he had come to extinguish. He pulled his head back in time to avoid the shimmering wave of crackling fire that whipped past where his had had been a moment before. The woman make a sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh, but didn't make any motion towards eye contact or anything more. Picking himself up off the ground from where he'd fallen, he made a slow, fluid gesture with his left hand, sending the remaining res that had yet to decay around the side of the wall where he flattened it at an angle with his right is a small swoop. Drawing the back of the pane of the res downwards so that it had created a hollow prism, Keene snapped his fingers, the res shifting into a smooth, polished two sided pyramid.

In the reflective sheen of the magic mirror, Keene was able to see around the wall by gaging the rate and location of the fireballs based on how bright they appeared in the already melting apparatus he'd constructed. A break in the barrage presented itself, and Keene ducked around the corner, pulling his arms up in front of him with a thin layer of res covering his palms. To his surprise, the woman and man followed behind him. He continued moving forward, his res ready in the event a stray bush might find its way across their path. All around the flames the reimancers advanced. Some held shields of earth or ice while others moved confidently, the burning brush ricocheting off of their bodies due to what Keene could only imagine was successful shielding in action. His larger group of three kept close to each other, the woman sending subtle strings of air ahead of them, nudging the fireballs off of their trajectory enough that they passed by with only a reminder of heat to gaze the exposed sides of their bodies they tumbled by.

When they were close enough to the fire to control their res well within the area of the flames, the heat had grown to such a point, Keene had difficult holding his eyes open. The air itself felt as if it were burning, and even as the nuit man erected another stone barrier with the assistance of the woman, Keene felt the unusual sensation of having his sweat evaporate at a rate faster than he could produce it intensify, if that were possible. He ran the back of his hand across his head, the smooth sensation that lacked the moisture the act usually involved. For the first time, the woman spoke, her voice light and airy. "Any sort of plan, ice-boy?" The name lacked the bite that Kinapak had allowed to coat his words, but it still carried with it, at the very least, a questionably negative connotation. Keene shrugged, tossing out a small, flat circle of res and transmuting a side of it into ice with a snap, the chill relieving his skin of the blistering heat, to an extent. Several bushes were in bound before he pulled the mirror back to him, letting it hover at his shoulder as he contemplated their options.
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[Keene Ward]

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"We need to starve the fire." It was a simple concept, one he'd been reminded of in his judgment that felt as though it had been years ago. The fire burned not because it was a manifestation of its will, but because it had things to burn. Of course, simply removing the fire's fuel was next to impossible without divine intervention of a sort, and Keene highly doubt any such thing was ever done for something as menial as a forest fire. No, they had to do it with their own power. He wasn't sure how, but if they could separate the fire from the wood or even deprive of it of the air it hungrily gulped down, there was a chance they could end it with little trouble. A chance did not a plan make, however.

The woman raised a skeptical eye-brow, but her tone remained polite, her eyes flicking to the leather vambrace upon Keene's arm. "And how do you propose we do that?" The nuit simply stared with a lack of interest at the other two. His contribution, it had seemed, had been the wall. Plan making was something the man seemed entirely disinterested in.

"I don't know." Sparks whizzed by as several bushes exploded on the rocky barrier. He extended the mirror back outwards, trying to get a better idea of what was going on. He was unable to draw it back before it was smashed by a passing bush of fire. Glancing at what other reimancers he could see, Keene frowned. No one seemed to be coming up with any sort of useful plan. The majority of those able, however, were using a combination of ice, water, and earth to deal with the flames. Their efforts were disjointed and unorganized; a poor testament to the strength of multiple reimancers. Keene sighed, leaning back against the earth wall and shaking his head. "Chaos."

The woman nodded, staring off at two reimancers who were yelling at each other as they dodged and deflected the burning projectiles cast out by the forest. "Sahova has never placed much emphasis on unity, aside from the collective hatred of specific things." She seemed rather calm despite the circumstance. The silent nuit also nodded, agreeing with the woman's statement. "You would probably have better luck stopping the fire yourself than getting them to work together." Another nod from the man.

"Perhaps." Keene's attention had been drawn back to the graceful figure of Kinapak, who had begun to walk towards their location with an easy stride. When he'd arrived, the man had seemed to have a plan to stop the fire, he only lacked the way to get everyone to do it. Beyond that, it also seemed as though the initiate was not a reimancer, as a few of the bushes came close enough to catch his clothes on fire a few times which he quickly put out by slapping at the flames with quick movements and a disgruntled frown. "Would they listen to a Warden?"

The woman shrugged. "The Pulsers might."

The nuit man spoke up for the first time, his voice soft and wispy. "Kinapak is not well respected among the nuit." He gave the woman a strange glance before addressing Keene once more. "They might listen to you, however. Roknus was... not pleased with how your judgment concluded." Keene couldn't tell what the nuit meant, but the knowledge he may be able to rally the other wizards was useful.

Kinapak glided over, squatting down to form the fourth member of their growing group of magic users. "So, Keene Ward," His words lilted on Keene's name in a slight mock, "How are you planning on stopping the fire?" A small grin curled his lips. Keene didn't have to answer for the initiate to continue. "The Deader is right, and I'm getting tired of just standing around." He raised a brow at Keene. "Do I have permission to help the reimancers?" Keene looked at the woman and man before giving Kinapak a curt nod. He didn't understand the political overtones of the situation, or if any even existed beyond what Kinapak seemed to imagine. "Alright then." His voice seemed to drop the acidic coat, letting it fade into a more coercive growl as he stated his plan. "Fill the forest with water."

It was much shorter and simplistic than Keene had anticipated, but it was not without merit. "And those who lack the control over the element?" Keene's voice was smooth, calm and collected. The heat had increased, and the lack of sweat was growing incredibly uncomfortable, but it had yet to affect his though processes.

Kinapak shrugged. "Mud then. Have them combine their elements. You all can do that, can't you?" The addition of the question was one of the more earnest things that came from the young man's mouth. All three reimancers nodded in unison. "I thought so." He gave Keene skeptical squint, the whirling of mind almost visible in eyes before he came to conclusion. "I'll rally the Pulsers, you grab the Deaders." He extended a hand, a small twitch playing at his lips as his eyes flashed. "Ready?"

Keene looked at the extended appendage, taking a short breath and gripping onto it. "Ready." The hand was immediately released as the man's skin bubbled and rolled like liquid. In a short time, there stood before them a slim, elegant looking feline with whiskers that extended twice the length of the body and fur that shimmered in the orange glow of the flames. The creature let out a strange hissing growl before it darted off across the prairie. Taking little time to further think on the situation, Keene and the others sprinted off into the opposite direction.

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[Keene Ward]

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The woman once more protected them, her mastery of air currents allowed her minimal use of res for maximum protection. The three of them moved quickly, Keene spearheading their trajectory towards the two nearest reimancers who were using a combination of wind and water to create a an icy swirl of snowy sleet that had some effect on the flames, though the gusts seemed to give the fire a bit more strength, making it counter productive enough for the two men to bicker over which one of them was causing the problem.

"Well it has to be you," the hydromancer's tone was nasally and bored sounding, though the tone of accusation was quite clear. "Water puts fire out."

"I'm not saying the air isn't part of the problem," The other man's voice was low and thick sounding, as if something was stuffed into his cheeks. "I'm merely pointing out you're being stingy with your sleet."

"Nonsense. If I give you any more, I won't be able to sustain the spell."

"Rubbish. I've given twice the res you have, and I'm fine."

"For now, maybe."

By the time the two had noticed Keene's group, the geomancer had already erected a barrier with the woman's help once more. It was smaller than the first, and thinner as they were at an angle that wasn't directly in line with the raging, spinning balls of fire. The nasally man turned to face them, both wizards letting their res pull back into their bodies. His bushy brows raised in surprise. "Can we help you?"

Keene nodded, crouched behind the barrier. "Fill the forest with mud." Both wizards gave the initiate confused stares, which the woman responded to, the soft bounce of her voice floating in the heated air around them.

"He means a large scale res dispersal using hydro and geomancy as transmutation units." Keene turned his head in surprise at the assistance, but the others seemed to understand, though their tones were skeptical.

The bass of the second man was the first to respond. "We don't have enough res for that, and this body is relatively new. I'd like to keep it in tact for the time being."

The nasally wizard spoke up in support. "And even if the five of us were to do it, it wouldn't be nearly enough."

Keene nodded, "Yes. But there are more than five of us here."

The other two glanced around in another bit of confusion. This time, the nuit spoke up, his quiet whispers a bit louder than before to carry over the crackling rage of the flames. "The others."

Again, realization passed over the duo. A burst of wind shot out from the woman's hands, deflecting an incoming blaze of bushy chaos. "Well, I suppose that would work." The nasally toned man glanced at his partner who nodded in concession. "What's the signal?"

All heads turned to Keene who glanced between the expectant faces with a frown. He hadn't thought to ask Kinapak how they were to coordinate their efforts. "Ah... I suppose... A spear of ice?" It was one of the most noticeable things he could do, and it didn't garner a whole lot of support.

"What about a flare?" The woman turned to their male nuit associate with a raised brow. "You can manipulate fire, can you not, Tavaris?" The nuit, finally named, gave a short nod. "Will that work?" The other nuits nodded, apparently pleased enough.

"We'll start on the flare then." The two moved to take Keene's groups place as they stared off towards the rest of the nuits scattered around the fire. Conversations became shorter and shorter as they developed a more convincing and brief explanation of a plan, Keene and the woman (who's name was Urika, as one of the surprised reimancers had referred to her) became quite adept at convincing the nuits with a combination of logic, reason, and filling the other's gaps.

As they approached the final group of nuits, a trio that was using water reimancy in tandem to create a geyser. It was effective, but the size of the spell wasn't enough. The fire's heat evaporated a large portion of the directed blast, and the lack of attractable water meant they were only able to use their own res. They had already constructed a wall of ice similar to those Tavaris had previously cast. The three of them ducked behind it, the two Pulsars breathing heavily. They had darted between the various groups, leaving small barricades behind with reimancers waiting for the signal. If nothing else, the plan was that the combined force of the nuits would act as a signal to the Pulsers altered to Kinapak's tactics. If all else failed, they had enough strength to take out at least half of the flames that roared into the darkening night. The more time they wasted, the more of the forest was lost. Those that had joined them had ceased casting, letting the fire rage on unimpeded.

"What the petch do you fools thing you're doing?" The words were spoken by an authoritative nuit with a long face that seemed to be flaking around the more mobile parts of his face.

Urika replied, her voice a bit strained from the dashing to and fro they had all subjected themselves to, though Tavaris seemed relatively unperturbed. "We hit the fire at the same time. Together." The man didn't seem impressed, but the three of them had squatted down, their struggle ceasing for the time being.

A woman with a messy braid and sunken eyes spoke up next, her voice cracking and hoarse. "Since when were you a pet of the Pulsars, Tavaris?" The nuit in question just returned the woman's glare with one of his own.

"We don't need you, but it would help." Urika spoke once more, but the three nuits barely gave her a second glance.

The obvious leader with the peeling face addressed Tavaris, not even bothering to give Keene a cursory glance. "And you support this... Cooperation, Tavaris?"

Tavaris gave Keene an expectant look. Keene frowned, unsure of how to handle the situation. Seeing as Tavaris seemed to refuse to answer the nuit, Keene faced the unpleasant looking man and spoke in his calm, steady tone. "And you do not?"

Seeing he would get no answers from Tavaris, the nuit finally deigned Keene with a glowering frown. His eyes flicked to Keene's vambrace and a brow was raised in what was something between interest and contempt. "An Initiate, hm?" He glanced over at the crackling waves of heat that were steadily melting through the icy barrier that had already deflected a handful of tumbleweeds. "I do not, no."

Urika made a small coughing noise, garnering the attention of the third nuit who's face was covered by a dark hood. When he spoke, his voice hissed over the "s's" of his words. "Ssshe needsss to learn sssome ressspect."

The other man moved a hand to stay whatever machinations the other had been working upon. "Yes, but you need to learn some self-restraint, Kisamiroven." A small hiss, but the man shifted backwards in response to the nuit's command. "We will not interfere, Initiate, but neither will we assist."

Keene frowned. "You're certain?"

"Why would he say it if he wasn't certain about it, Pulsar?" The rasp of the woman's voice was clearly mocking. "A limited life span makes one hasty, but so for the nuit."

Keene kept his gaze focused on the dark eyes of the man, ignoring the voice of the obvious subordinate. The two stared at each other for what felt like bells before the nuit stirred, a small smile curling his cracking lips. "I am."

Nodding, Keene turned to address Tavaris. "Ready?" The nuit nodded, res pooling between his hands. Keene and Urika mirrored him, the three of them twisting their res around the others in a twirl of pale blues, vibrant greens, and soft violets. As one the ball of combined res rose up into the air under three separate modes of casting. Tavaris muttered under his breath, the unintelligible chant mixing with the low hum Urika employed to manipulate her own res. Keene's hands made subtle movements until they sent the res upward, flicking his hands towards the sky. Once it had reached its peak, Tavaris' whisper broke the threshold into the audible with a firm recha vanukit while Urika's hum climaxed with a sharp whistle. Keene flicked his hands outward as Tavaris' res broke out into an eruption of flame. The two pulsars transmuted their res into gusts of wind that pushed and pulled the fire outward in a large circle of flame before the elements faded into the darkness.

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[Keene Ward]

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As the flames faded, the reimancers sprung into action. They moved around, jumped over, or broke through the barriers Tavaris had erected, res flying through the air in jets, wisps, balls, squares, and any other feasible manifestation of the lifeblood of reimancy. Keene follow just behind Urika, Tavaris close behind him. Their own res shifted and joined with the others as it plunged into the heart of the flames. The translucent, glowing substances spread out, filling the air with an impressive volume as the reimancers began their various styles of transmutation. The whirling balls of fire shot past them. Some groups had those focusing on protecting the others, as was the case with Tavaris as he raised and broke down protective barriers to keep the other two safe. For those who were not as fortunate, a few were caught on fire, though it was generally put out with a shift from the focus of the massive spell.

Keene's own res rush forward, becoming water with splay of his hands and crashing down into the flames to join in and add to the muddy downpour. The sheer weight of the magic damped the flames, sucking them under the torrential down pour as res drifted and shot from all different areas of the collective reimancer forces. They beat the fire back, most groups falling into an alternation of casting and advancing. For never having worked together, the result was impressive. The fires began to sputter, receding into the forest with no where to go, as the winds of the prairie had begun to kick up from behind what had once been the inferno, keeping it from latching on to the trees behind it. As the reimancers advanced, they soon found the unstable state of the forest to be a detrimental hazard.

The fire had seriously destabilized many of the older, larger trees, and it had completely whipped out the majority of the underbrush. While the path ahead was clear, it was not without danger. The trees had begun to collapse under the force of the winds paired with the loss from the fire's hunger. The flames themselves even began to make advances, the tumbleweeds flying at a faster and more prolific rate, riding on the breathy currents of the breeze. Heavy thuds from where the trees landed, sending soggy clumps of ash and dirt into the air. There were shouts of alarm and pain, but Keene quickly forgot them as one of the massive trunks tumble down towards them. Res already pooled around him, Keene pulled the liquid into an angled sheet, transmuting it into a gust of powerful air that knocked the three of them just out of the way of the crushing weight as it slammed into the ground. Having had little time to gauge his surroundings, Keene let out a sharp yelp as he slammed into one of the more sturdy trees that still stood, the impact knocking the air out of his lungs and sending dark spots flashing through his vision.

He heard Urika let out a sharp cry of pain, but his head didn't respond very well to his need to investigate. Still stunned, he heard Urika's cry fall into a muffled whimper as the sound of boots squishing into mud stopped before him. Tavaris' urgent whisper reached Keene's ears as he blinked furiously to dispel his temporary lack of faculties. "Are you all right?"

Keene shook his head, the ache in his temples reminding him that he had just had an impact meeting with one of the more ancient members of the forest. "I think so." He coughed out the words, continuing on with a few more splutters before he was finally able to look around and actually see what was going on around him. The fallen tree lay less that a foot away from them, the branches miraculously focused more towards the the top that was a good distance away from them. Flicking his head to the right - and immediately regretting the pain that ensued - Keene's eyes fell on the huffing frame of Urika, holding her shoulder where blood dripped from her elbow that was turned the wrong direction. Tavaris moved away from Keene, crouching down beside her. Struggling to his feet, pressing a hand to his head, Keene stumbled over. "Urika?"

She gave him a weak smile, "Just a little sprain."

Keene and Tavaris exchanged glances, the nuit shaking his head. He turned to Urika, his voice quiet but insistent. "I'm going to burn the wound closed." The blood ran not from the broken limb, but from a hole that had been bestowed upon her by a fallen branch Keene had flung her into. "It's going to hurt."

Urika gave a weak chuckle, tightening her grip on her shoulder. "It already hurts." Without saying another word, Tavaris sent a small pebble of res out to the wound, mumbling until he muttered pechi vanukit. The gentle lavender liquid flared a white hot for a tick, long enough to burn the gash in Urika's arm shut, but not without a scream of pain as it did so. Keene flinched at the cry, but it quickly devolved into more manageable and muffled whimpers. Urika, despite her more delicate appearance, was incredibly tough. Keene found he was staring in an impressed, wide eyed gape when she turned to give him a weak wink. "I'll be fine."

The snapping, cracking rumble of the forest and the fire still sounded around them. Those who had avoided injury from the falling trees had banded together once more to combat the fire. The sun had long since faded under the cover of darkness as they had advanced, and now the night was lit only by the slowly receding flames of the once-inferno as it was pushed back against the winds. Figures moved in the distance, but most moved away from them; save for one quick moving shadow that darted over the fallen mess of charcoal trees to land with a finessed grace upon the trunk that had nearly ended the three of them. With a ripple, the long whiskered cat stretched and twisted back into the now bare-skinned frame of Kinapak, his eyes slightly more slanted and muscles a bit more defined than previously. He casually crossed a leg, the movement more for the benefit of the others than his own shame. "Anything you'd like to say? 'Thank you', maybe?" His voice was smooth and silvery, but the tone had returned to its condescending lilt. "I have to say, I wasn't expecting you to get that many nuits to cooperate." He gave Tavaris a wink, which the nuit just shrugged off, turning his attention back to Urika.

Keene slowly rose to his feet, steadying himself against the tree that had robbed him of his air for a while. "Thank you." The words were, for the most part, sincere. Kinapak had come up with a plan to organize and fight back the fire, though his attitude made it a bit more difficult for Keene to find anything more beyond the feeling that the initiate was overly pompous. Still, they had been largely successful thanks to the strange shape shifter, and Keene was not one to overlook it. "Neither was I." He gave the back of Tavaris' a frame a small frown, wondering if the taciturn nuit had had something to do with it. In any case, the majority of the blaze had died down to a manageable force that the remaining reimancers were taking care of. Many of the others had started to escort the injured back across the prairie. Tavaris rose with Urika, supporting her with a hand around her hip, his smaller, weaker frame managing to keep her aloft through some miracle.

"I'm taking her back." He nodded at Kinapak and gave Keene a slightly deeper bow. His voice was once more soft and quiet, a clearly audible whisper. "Initiate." Before he and Urika hobbled off. The woman gave Keene another, final weak smile before they moved on. It was a strange feeling of pride and relief that filled him then, which he quickly pushed down and out of his main consciousness. The fire was still at hand, and while the others were slowly extinguishing it, Keene still had res enough to assist. There was still the issue of the naked Kinapak, staring down at him with a strange curiosity. Not wanting to just leave in the midst of what could have been a conversation, he waited for the other man to say something as his blue eyes bore into him with a slight frown Keene found familiar.

"Your eyes are uneven."

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[Keene Ward]

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"...What?" The statement caught Keene by surprise, having expected something far less... petty.

"They're uneven." Kinapak hopped off of the trunk, hitting the ground with a small splash that sent the mud splattering in every direction. He raised a hand moving it over Keene's eyes with a breath's width of distance between their skin. Keene, uncomfortable but unflinching, stared at the advent of the finger so close in his line of sight. "Your right eyelid is lower than your left." Kinapak the the hand rest in the crook of his arm as he crossed them across his bare chest, shaking his head. "It's been bothering me."

Keene gave him a blank stare of incredulity. "I see."

Kinapak nodded, turning to stare at the receding flames, the light wavering with their slow destruction. "We saved most of the forest." He ran his finger tips across the fallen tree, tracing the charred remains of the bark. "Riyanna will be... Well." He turned to Keene, offering him a small smile. Keene was unable to make anything of the initiate's seemingly ease of emotional shift. He couldn't decided if it mean the other man was unstable or merely scatterbrained. Deciding to take the safety of the prior, Keene simply nodded in return. The headache had faded somewhat, letting his mind swim in a dull throb of pain as his blood ran from his heart to his brain. He followed behind the other initiate, Kinapak apparently having finished with the conversation in the "stand and talk" form of it. Turning his face so he could still see forward but allowed his voice to be better heard by the pale young man to his side, Kinapak started to speak again. "Mt. Merlus is pretty far from here. Have you met any of the others?"

Keene shook his head. "I wasn't aware there were more."

A little cough of a sneer escaped the other man's lips, but he seemed to at least be attempting to hide his contempt at the moment. "There are. I haven't met them all, but there's the Tamas twins, Deran and Derain, and then..." He paused in his reply, rolling his eyes before letting the last name drip from his lips like a particularly acrid taste. "Lorelei." From the sound of things, the last woman mentioned was not Kinapak's favorite individual, though Keene couldn't imagine the vanity of the young man netted him very many favorites from either perspective when it came to relationships. "And they all have their own Wardens, which I'm sure Warden Atziri already explained to you." Keene nodded, remembering her make mention of others on the island with tasks similar to their own. "Yes well, you already know I'm Kinapak." He pat his chest with a suave narcissism that was made all the more potent by his shameless lack of clothes. "Daren and I are the Prairie's initiates under Warden Riyanna." He spoke the names with an authority that Keene supposed was probably warranted despite previous displays of confidence. If the other Warden was anywhere near as powerful as Keene believed Atziri to be, Kinapak's authoritative tone when he spoke of her and his fellow initiate was much more believable as appropriate; not that Kinapak was any slouch of a wizard. Keene still found the man's easiness with whatever form of mysticism he employed to be impressive and curious.

"And that magic you use, what it is called?"

Kinapak raised a brow. "Morphing." Nodding, Keene filed the name away. The magic was fascinating, a much more visceral form than that of shielding. "...You don't know much, do you." The tone was less patronizing and more a statement of fact. Keene shrugged. There was enough he didn't know that he couldn't refute Kinapak's claim, and he supposed there was little reason to do so even if he could have.

The two of them finally reached the flames, the remaining reimancers spreading res over the flames and soaking them with their respective elements. The fireballs had all but disappeared and as they approached, only a small area still blazed. Keene drew fourth his own res, spreading it out to join that of the last wave of collective reimancy, splaying his fingers and flicking his hands outwards to transmute the liquid into water. The hiss of the dying flames faded with the light, blanketing the area in darkness for a moment before small pricks of light popped up around the soggy aftermath of the wizards' efforts. There was the cracking and crunch of bone as Kinapak's face rearranged itself into a more feline form, though the details were lost to Keene in the darkness. The other initiate took Keene's hand, the sensation sending a stiff reflex down his spine. Unperturbed by Keene's reluctance, Kinapak pulled him back towards where they had come. "I'll lead you back to the prairie. You can follow the rest of the wizard back from there."

Though the situation was not optimal, Keene knew the terrain was a bit too unstable and dangerous to be traversed blindly. Kinapak seemed to know where he was going, and so he let the other man lead him on back to where he could find his way to the path that led to the citadel. "...Thank you." Kinapak just responded with a low "Mhm."

.

[Ink]

Fate has dictated the conclusion to your journey...

...And now, only Fortune awaits you.

I am Ink, Mistress of Sahova; and it is my pleasure to award you with this bounty of XP and Lore. If you have any questions regarding this Grade, please do not hesitate to send me a PM. Fret not, I tend not to smite...often.

 

Keene

XP

• Persuasion 1
• Observation 3
• Reimancy 4
• Tactics 3
• Leadership 3
• Subterfuge 1
• Politics 1

LORES

• Kinapak: Warden Initiate
• This Boy is On Fire!
• Great Tumbleweeds of Fire
• Reimancy: Ice Mirror
• Kinapak: Vain
• Prairie Wardens: Morphers

MISCELLANEOUS

• Overgiving: Splitting headaches, spontaneous wounds on his hands and arms for two weeks.
  
• Notes: Remember that the Nuits of Sahova are very efficient. So using something as inefficient as a cloud to put out a fire makes very little sense. Also you write the mas lacking inexperiance and incompetent at combat. Neither of these things are true.
  
  Nuit are less skilled at physical combat because of their sluggish vessel movements but their minds and therefore magics are sharp as ever. In addition some of the Wizards on Sahova are a old enough to have experiance as Alahean Battle mages and would be very experienced in war,

With Regards,
Ink