[Alheas Park] Going for a Seventh Sense (Alses)

[Licearsvansan]

Summer 513. The 27th

Crouched over next to the edge of a still pool of water was the lone figure of a dull brown haired man. Amidst the vibrant reds and oranges that littered the park the half faded browns and greens that covered the man seemed tragically out of place. He wore the bland colors in hopes of blending in, but it seemed that recently his color choices only drew more attention to him. Like an smudge of black in a rainbow of colors it was clear to anyone that he didn't belong.

The man wore a mildly troubled look on his face, and his hand brushed gently over a small blue flower. Jasao weed. Its slender stem was wrapped tightly around the neck of a bright scarlet flower whose petals had begun to turn black with death. The snake let out a sigh, and lifted his head gently to scan the surroundings. He had learned recently that the jasao plant was a weed, and that it was regularly plucked due to its nature to consume gardens. Svan however, didn't have such luxury. Caiyha wasn't the goddess of pretty gardens, she was the goddess of nature, and unfortunately for the plant that was currently being strangled natural selection was a key part of nature. Still, diversity was also important to nature, and as a follower of Caiyha Svan found himself in the sad position of trying to find the balance. The snake frowned. He hated these difficult decisions. It wasn't his place to try to control nature, and yet at the same time it was his duty to tend to it if at all possible. Sadly, if scenarios like this the line between the two grew thin. Why can't this stuff ever have simple answers? Like how hunting for sport is bad, and so is poaching!....Usually.

Tired of trying to figure out the right answer, the snake cupped a hand to his head and rose to his feet. The jasao would live. For now at least. It would be wrong of Svan to kill the plant simply for surviving, and he couldn't think of a place to transplant it. He decided that if the jasao plants in the area should grow too think he might take action to thin their numbers, and give the other plants a chance to adapt. However, at the moment the weeds were living in relative balance with the other fauna. Content with his decision, the snake took a deep breath and let the smell of pollen and wet soil fill his nose. He loved this park. It was the perfect point were nature met civilization in his eyes. Plants of all sorts lined the dirt walkways, and here were the water met the flora stood several glimmering skyglass benches.

Svan closed his ears and breathed in another soft breath. The soft ambient sounds of wildlife filled the air, and along with it came the sound of giggling chatter. A pair of loves sat on a park bench across the pond, and were trading kisses and sweet nothings with each other. The snake frowned at the sight of them, but made no effort to communicate his discontent with their presence to them. He had asked an acquaintance of sorts to meet him at this place in hopes of talking to her in private. However, while the two lovers were certainly ruining the "private" part of his mission here, they at least had the decency to pay more attention to each other than him. With a hint of impatience radiating off his body the snake went over to one of the skyglass benches. As he watched the still waters of the pond he felt a light peace take hold of him, but only enough to take the edge off his feelings. The person he had called to meet him not only knew who he was, but also what he was. To make matters worse Svan hadn't exactly gotten off on the best foot with the woman, and he was well aware that she might deny what he had to ask of her.

Still, it wasn't exactly her opinion of him that troubled him. It was his feelings towards her that he feared might hold him back. He was a man who enjoyed his privacy and for that reason he often did everything he could to avoid aurists. They were dangerous people to people like Svan who relied on lies and secrets to live. However, now Svan was not only being forced to speak with an aurist, but request one's help. Since she would be able to tell when he was lying and when he was acting falsely he would have to be honest with her. Sadly, there were certain things Svan wanted to keep from her. Namely, his poor opinion of the woman, but if Svan was to ask her to teach him he would need to convince himself not to feel this way. It was no small task, but after a day of trying to impress himself with Alses he felt as if he had finally got it. Now all he had to do was continue thinking like this the entire time and things would be alright.

"Okay Svan, just remember. Miss Alses is a well known and respectable young teacher. It would be an honor for you to become her student." After a brief pause Svan let out a relaxed breath and smiled. He had been telling himself that line all day long.

And only in the past bell had he been able to say it without having to fight the urge to burst out laughing.

the letter Svan sentDear Alses

In our first meeting I believe I may have mocked you aruristic abilities. However, in the time since then I have come to realize my mistake. I now understand that you are skilled user of the magic, and that the sacrifice you made on the night of the 80th to help those two girls was significant. I would like both to offer my apologies to you in person, and ask a favor of you if possible. If you are willing to meet me then please come to the pond in Ahleas park on the 27th at the 18th bell. I will be awaiting your arrival.

Sincerely, Licearsvansan.

[Alses]

Alheas Park was something of an occasional destination for Alses; the gardens of the Towers Respite generally provided all the greenery and screening foliage she could desire, and it gave her the sense of smug satisfaction from knowing that all the healthful verdure all around was the direct result of her care over the seasons. If she fancied a stroll, there was the Trail of Waterfalls that wound around the crystal city, and the prospect of a hot bath in the Kinell Hotsprings at the end of it had never failed to be a welcoming one.

Nonetheless, she'd occasionally ventured under the verdant overhang that half-hid the entrance of the Park itself, tucked in the lee of the monumental colossus that was Koten Temple – repository of several unwelcome memories for her. At the recollection, one hand went, unconsciously, to her perfect and unblemished throat, remembering with a shudder Hayani's cruel Projected claws and how the madwoman had done her level best to squeeze life into non-existence.

Which reminded her; she'd made a promise, then, to learn some method or other of defending herself, and she'd still not done it. Unforgivable, really, especially given her view, formulated in the echoing cathedral of her brain, that good people everywhere should prepare to defend and prepare to punish, to be ready for the day that evil decided to rear its ugly head. Of course, who was good and who was evil was a point for endless debate, one that forever raged inside, another counterpoint to the chorus of memories and past lives.

Prismflies, just emerging into the evening light, danced and span around Alses' statuesque form (still an Ethaefal, for another few bells) as she made her way through the tangled, half-wild idyll that was the magic-wracked park. As she walked, Alses delighted in the spangled colours the lights of discharging wild djed and the prismfly glows struck from her skin. Petty, perhaps, but finding joy in the mundane was what kept mages grounded. 'Feet on rock,' Alses reminded herself reflexively, 'Before we can build castles in the air.'

Besides, enjoying the scenery - beautiful though it was, wondrous and strange thanks to the wild djed surging and rolling through the place and a mute testament in striated wood and varicoloured foliage to the monumental adaptability of life - wasn't her purpose today: she had a more unpleasant (or at least, potentially unpleasant) task to attend to.

Finding her - to call him friend implied a degree of familiarity and warmth that wasn't there - acquaintance was laughably easy; the long bells of proximity thanks to the strange events of Invocation had given her a good taste of his aura, impressed into the vast repository of her unconscious mind with time and heavy use of her powers that night. Licearsvansan was scales, a silver shimmer to the eyes and whispering, rushing susurrus to the ears. He'd been tainted by the sickly brown tendrils of fear when last she'd met him, and the edges of his aura thrummed with blood, most of it old and fading - but still, enough to evoke caution.

He was easy to locate even had she not the advantage of auristics, in truth, his clothes drab and bland in contrast to the exuberant ornateness of Lhavitian styles: he stood out a league, even when trying to blend in, the sure sign of someone ill at-ease with their position in the starry city, or else a relative newcomer. Alses hadn't asked him, when they'd last met, how long he'd been in Lhavit, or even what he did for a living in the city. Now, perhaps, she'd have the chance – always presupposing they got along this time. Whilst he'd been dismissive and a little abrasive, he'd also been of some considerable help – that gave him, in her books, a second chance.

As she approached, she drank in as much as was possible about the snakeling, slumped pensively on a splendid skyglass bench by one of the many pools and ponds that dotted the Park. Impatience, a tingling thrill at the tips of her fingers, shivered the outer edges of his aura as she came closer, boots crunching on the close-packed gravel and earth of the pathways. There was also indecision and unsettlement – he was perhaps as unnerved as she, if not more so, by the prospect of their meeting again.

Silk rustled gently as she reached into an inner pocket and produced the slightly-crumpled letter that had landed at her (or rather, more precisely the Tower Respite's) doorstep several days ago. Once she was close enough, Alses cleared her throat gently. “Licearsvansan?" she murmured, as pleasantly as possible. "We got your letter.” Automatically, the result of seasons and years in Lhavit with all its incidental, civilised courtesies, her mouth tacked on: “How have you been?”

[Licearsvansan]

Svan startled slightly at the woman's sudden appearence. He had been practicing his lines just up until the moment she arrived. He could barely imagine how embarrassing his reaction would have been if she had actually wanted to scare him. Attempting to hide the fact that he had been caught off guard Svan forced an awkward smile and looked up towards Alses. He managed to hold his gaze for all of one tick before he looked away and did a double take. The snake shot the woman a confused look, "Who are you? I think you have the wrong person." Just as the words escaped his lips a sudden realization hit him. Ethaefal Svan slapped his face and hid behind his hand and a mop of chestnut colored hair. He had remembered that the wizard at the registry had refered to the woman as an Ethaefal, but he had failed to prepair himself to be greeted by such a sight. Svan peaked out through his fingers with an ashamed look on his face. "I'm fine thank you. I'm just having a little trouble speaking with my foot in my mouth."

Svan lowered his hand and attempted to regain his composure. "I hope you're doing just as well." The snake scooted over on the seat to make room for the woman. "Ah, feel free to take a seat. I don't bite...at least not much in this form anyways." Svan gave a toothy smile to the woman. His grin however, quickly sank into a frown caught somewhere between guilty and troubled. "About that actually.... I imagine that you have a few question's about what exactly happened when we met. I can't claim to know anything about that god-child-thing or what it wanted, but I'll try to answer what I can." Svan took a moment to look over the woman next to him. She shimmered almost like a star, and her golden hair seemed like it was practically radiating an aura of light. Svans plain dark features made him feel like a shadow standing before the power of the sun. It made him feel small, and more than a bit jealous. He was the sort of Dhani who only found beauty in snakes and other Dhani, but even he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of an Eth. A moment passed and Svan realized that he had gone from staring politely to gawking. The snake shut his mouth and chuckled uncomfortably.

He breathed harshly once and closed his eyes as he drew himself back to the task at hand. "Alright, now what questions do you have? The sooner we get through with those, the sooner we can assuage any fears you might have of me turning into a snake and eating you whole."

Svan folded his hands on his lap, and gave the woman a small well meaning smile.

[Alses]

Alses frowned, momentarily nonplussed – her powers had never let her down before, after all, and she opened her mouth to utter either some form of rebuttal or an apology for the mistake (she wasn't quite sure which reaction would prevail, in the event).

Before she could get so much as a word past her vocal cords, however, the drab figure's features contorted themselves into a sort of dismayed recollection, as though some internal admonishment was raging in his brain.

“Foot in your mouth?” she echoed, momentarily confused, mentally trying to imagine how such a concatenation of circumstances might come about. “Ah, a figure of speech!” Alses smiled, inordinately pleased at having recognized it after but a tick or two of mental wrangling. “We're doing well, thank you for asking,” she added, again more or less on social autopilot, falling back on the conversational formulae that experience or Chiona Dusk had taught her.

Her fingers fired a fusillade as she cracked them with some satisfaction, a volley of sharp reports quickly swallowed by the foliage all around. “I had a chance to magesmith again, and my novices are growing in leaps and bounds,” she clarified with a broad smile. “Ah, we don't recall if I properly introduced myself?” A brief pause, and then Alses flashed Licearsvansan a burning, wry smile. “Well, in truth, I know we didn't. Our mortal seeming isn't one I like associated with my solar self, after all. Alses, Lhavit's lady magesmith and an instructor of Auristics at the Dusk Tower, amongst other things.”

At his belated, still slightly beauty-struck offer of a place on his bench, she nodded her brief thanks and swept her silken robes out in an elegant fan (as much as was possible, given the constraints of the space available on the elegant skyglass) as she sat down, the two of them now almost companionably close.

There was nothing in his aura to cause her worry, no subconscious tipping to anything untoward; she'd be a safe distance away, at least, if anything threatening began to manifest. Indeed, when she regarded Svan she saw him through two sets of senses – the mundane physical, hardly used, and the infinitely richer, more informative auristic lens that painted his secrets and hopes and fears close around him, a swelling symphony of coloured light and sound and the occasional scaly susurrus sliding over her skin.

Silence reigned supreme for a few ticks, the both of them a little unsure of where to go next, but Licearsvansan broke it before it became too uncomfortable, taking the lead as was reasonable for someone who'd requested the meeting in the first place.

“Well, I'm glad we weren't the only one totally confused by...whatever she was,” Alses admitted with a slightly frustrated sigh. Not knowing things rankled, sent dark-black lightning dancing through her aura and carved frown-lines on perfect fire-opal skin. “Incomplete and only half-there, yes, but still...” Alses trailed off and shook her head, dispelling a fruitless line of thought. “I don't suppose you found out anything more about that dagger you were left? I've had precious little luck with the mirror,” she confided. “We were able to find out it absorbs djed from the ambient, as though someone's used an obsidian pearl in its construction, and there's a fairly obvious trigger glyph that releases its effect, but we can't for the life of us work out what causes it to fire, or even what will happen. Most infuriating.”

It took a little while for her frown to smooth away as she turned over the meat of Licearsvansan's offer in her mind; failure, especially in the academic, investigative sphere, didn't go down well, and it showed. Head cocked slightly sideways, the better to inspect him without turning fully, she murmured: “We know you won't eat us. Rest assured, before you could consciously think of doing so we'd be halfway to the nearest Shinya guardsman. Not that we'll turn down your dangerous offer, of course. Knowledge is the very sweetest of nectars, after all, sweeter even than Syna's rays at noontide.” Absently, her head tipped backwards and she stared blankly at the sky, mostly obscured by the multicoloured canopy and the drifting nebulae of rainbowed djed in the higher reaches of the trees.

“So. First, tell me, Licearsvansan – are you truly another race, or merely a Morpher from the Twilight Tower? Our guess is the former, but I made very heavy use of my power the last time we met and I'm not sure how much of what we Saw towards the end of that night we can trust.”

Alses raised her hand and began to tick her questions off on it, keeping her voice light and inconsequential, the better to avoid drawing attention. “Second, what happened when you were off in the Peaks? Celeste – the half-complete godling, or whatever she actually was – mentioned hunger, and your girl was bleeding rather heavily, if we recall correctly.” She smiled as brightly as she could at the snake-kin beside her, taking any sting out of the implications cargoed with her words. “Not to cast aspersions,” she reassured him, quickly. “We're just curious, and perhaps hoping to find some...some common element that might tie everything together. I confess, the events of that night have been bothering me rather. Especially that blasted mirror, all the more so since I can't work out what it's for.” Rather grudgingly, she added: “Nice workmanship, though.”

A third finger rose on her languid hand between them. “Third – and final, for the moment – what do you want? We doubt you went to the trouble of writing us a letter and hiring a courier simply to make amends for your attitude last time, or to discuss the unusual events of last season. What can we do for you, Licearsvansan – or what are you hoping we can do for you?”

[Licearsvansan]

As the woman continued on, Svan slowly began to relax. Contrary to her earlier attitude towards him, this woman actually seemed to be fairly kind. Or polite at the very least. The snake figured that the woman had probably just been on edge the night they met, and it would have been a lie to say that he hadn't felt the same. Aside from the brief mention of how any bloodthirsty slip ups in his aura might give cause for the Shinya to hunt him down, Svan remained fairly at ease. He nodded slowly as the woman explained her race. He new next to nothing about the Eth aside from the fact that they changed forms, and that their divine seeming was blindingly beautiful. his brow raised at the mention of her full title. A magesmith AND an auristic teacher? It shouldn't have surprised him, all the mages he had ever met had been either hungry for power or knowledge. Usually both. Still, he hadn't expected this woman to be so skilled. He still held the view that a powerful mage was a mad man with energy surging off of his body and the power to make mountains with each step. But Alses was just a civil young looking girl with eyes that saw more than she ever let on. It shook the very foundations of everything Svan knew about magic. Not that Svan had ever had a stellar understanding of mages to begin with. As far as he had ever been concerned, a mage was someone who's goal in life was to burn off his snake face with a fireball.

As the questions finished the snake bit his lip, massaged his throat, and smiled politely. "Fair enough questions," he said as if he had any right to secrecy if he wanted her to help him. "The first is easy to answer. My name is Licearsvansan, and while I know morphing magic, the form you saw me take was that of a Dhani. That is the name of my kind, and we each possesses the ability to take that form along with the ability to shift between human or snake. Some people compare it to kelvics, but its really more like some sort of natural morphing magic we are all born with." The serpent turned his head to the side and stared at the ground. Talking about his race was never a comforting topic for him. Secrets were part of the reason the Dhani had survived so long, and Svan felt like a traitor to his people very time he informed an ignorant person that there were indeed monstrous shapeshifting snake people among them. "We Dhani aren't exactly liked by most societies. At least not by those that know of us. We have a reputation for being rather carnivorous, and I've heard dozens of stories about horrible serpents causing all sorts of mayhem. Half the tales are true, and still the other half are only exaggerations." Svan looked back to the woman quickly and raised up his hands as if blocking any suspicions his words might have casted on him. "Don't get me wrong, there are Dhani like me who don't want to live like that. However, out of the hundred plus Dhani that I have met, I can count the good ones on one hand." Svan frowned, "I couldn't change them, so I left them." The snake paused, "Before they could change me any further."

The man's eyes were solemn for a tick as he reflect on his past. Then, as the moment of recollection passed he grinned happily, and continued onto the second question. "Now about the next topic...I understand you're concern, what with the blood soaked monster snake and all, but I assure you that I didn't harm....anyone really." Svan drew a ponderous finger to his chin as he realized that he actually hadn't killed anything that night. "After you guys left, I lead the Shinya guard to our girl. Unfortunately, it seems that I had over estimated the man's ability to travel at night, and I accidentally lost him when I found the girl. She had been attacked by a Rashkari, which is a giant purple cat with massive teeth. I'm not sure of all that happened but when I found her, she had a dead Sym by her side and was bleeding out fast. I distracted the beast, and she stabbed it from behind. I then used some of the medicine I was carrying to patch her up, and carried her over to you guys. As for the blood and lump in my throat...Well Rashkari blood resists the cold, and I admit to being curious of the taste of Symenestra." Svan glanced away from the woman. "Its not like its dead body would have served any greater purpose." His eyes flicked back to the woman, and he made a timid smile. "Turns out they taste absolutely nothing like spiders..."

Svan coughed into his hand in a poor attempt to change topic. "As for the dagger I received, his eyes darted from side to side as if wary of anyone eavesdropping, "I found out....that it cuts things." The snake's eyes grew playful, and he grinned a teasing smile. "I tested it out and it seems to cut a little better than most weapons I've seen, but I'm not much of a weaponsmith." The snake gestured over to a large gash that was healing on his arm. "I've learned that it cuts through flesh like butter...and you don't want to know what it can do to butter. Aside from though it doesn't seem to be anything special."

After having answered all of her curiosities only one remained. "You're right to believe that I didn't call you here just to chat. I take it you noticed my lack of tea? Svan smirked as he referenced the quest he and Alses had gone through. "I know that I have little right to ask this of you but-" Svan looked at the woman with pleading eyes.

"I want you to teach me how to use Auristics.

[Alses]

“You know morphing as well? Interesting...” she mused. Well. All magic was interesting, all the more so if it was difficult to acquire, and since the Dusk Tower had...differences...with House Twilight, Morphing was amongst the more elusive of magics in Lhavit, at least for Alses.

The draw of the forbidden, always – but it had to be tempered with caution, as every mage (or at least, every sane and alive mage) knew. That thought had kept her more-or-less safe with her auristic endeavours, and would hopefully preserve her eternal body and soul through the endless centuries that stretched ahead.

She listened intently to Licearsvansan's brief discourse on his race, drinking in the knowledge and squirrelling it away for future reference. “We'll make a note to be careful around others of your kind, then,” Alses noted lightly. “Although the Shinya filter arrivals, so presumably any others we might meet in Lhavit will have been vetted?” A brief pause, as a thought struck her, sparking a sudden question, apropos of nothing in particular. “Kalea's not home to very many snakes, but the ones I've seen looked very little like you did the last time we met,” she observed. “Do you all have different...” an airy gesture, trying to conjure the appropriate words from the aether. “...morphs?” Were there coral snake Dhani, for instance, lurking in the waters around the coast, were there basking-snake Dhani who lounged around on volcanically-warmed rock? Or did all Dhani, everywhere, have but one serpentine form?

She listened courteously as he continued to answer her questions, eyes distant as she examined the curling corona of silver scales, forever in motion, all around him, following the argentine flash and flare of emotion and meaning, her prodigious skills directed to ferreting out truth and lies by the fluctuations in confidence, itself an advanced prospect, inferred from tiny shifts and changes in physical and mental states. It was important to establish auristic omniscience early on; that way she could relax the intense scrutiny later on, before headaches or something similar began to develop. Even a master had to watch themselves, after all; it was the arrogance of skill that did for many powerful mages, in the end, too sure of their powers and too dismissive of the consequences they'd so feared as fresh-faced novices.

“What made you decide to be different, then? It wasn't easy to break away.” She didn't bother to phrase the last as a question; it was evident to everyone with an ounce of talent, and the expressions which flitted across his face were a telltale giveaway – if one knew what to look for, of course. Motivation, that was a powerful thing to know about a person.

“You had a much more difficult time of it than I, that night,” Alses murmured, changing the subject slightly and shaking her head. “Well, I'm sure Protector Gavima made it back to Lhavit safely; he's a guardsman, and it'd be a poor lookout for the city if a Shinya couldn't make it back from the Misty Peaks.” Her voice took on a musing, pensive tone as she drank in the new information about what, precisely, had occurred to Licearsvansan on Invocation night.

“Rashkari,” she echoed – not disbelieving; there was truth ringing clear in his aura, so he at least believed what he was saying, more a curious tone, intrigue coupled with no small surprise. “We'd thought they were legends, or much-exaggerated tales spun by the Morphers of the Twilight Tower.” A wry smile danced across her face for a moment or two. “My girl – Lucilla – killed her pursuer, too, just as we got there; tipped him over the edge of a cliff and into the Amaranthine. Efficient, considering she had no weapons but her wits and her enemy's hubris.”

Carefully, Alses filed away the information on rashkari blood for future reference – one never knew when such knowledge would come in handy, after all – and tried not to go too green at Svan's next revelation.

She didn't manage it very well, and the instinctual relish that flowered up in Svan's aura didn't help too much either. Absently, she pressed the fingers of one hand to her lips and swallowed, hard, determinedly focusing on something else. “Please don't discuss your eating habits again, Licearsvansan,” she managed, with a slightly pained smile. “Eating in general isn't a pleasant topic, if we're honest.”

She was grateful that, for all his oddities and his eccentricities in Lhavit, he did at least know when a topic was not up for further discussion, changing the topic without grace or artifice. Not that that mattered, of course – she wasn't much good at conversation either. “Well, that is a dagger's function,” she murmured with a smile, having regained her equipoise a little and cautiously enjoying the slightly thawed atmosphere, the flash of needed humour from the dour snakeling. “There might be a hidden function to it, mind – I can't imagine we both acquired valuable artifacts for no reason, after all.”

Her fingers itched as he brought his wound into prominent view for Alses to peruse. Instinctive, divine djed poured into her sensitive fingertips at the merest thought of injury, a reflex response, almost, to summon Tanroa's Blessing and at least speed the wound's easement.

However. She hardly knew Licearsvansan, and for all she knew there might be some religious or cultural or even simply personal objection to her intervention.

“That's quite a wound,” she observed instead, restraining herself from action with an effort of will. “I daresay the Catholicon gave you an earful when you had it treated?” Alses automatically assumed, as a matter of course, that the advice of Lhavit's healers had been sought.

His request, after having equably and calmly answered her questions, did not come as a total shock; it was one of the few skills she possessed to any real degree, and one that Licearsvansan had seen in action himself – although he'd been dismissive of it, then.

She took her time in replying, eyes steadily regarding Licearsvansan as she pulled up further skeins of djed to reinforce her sight, spinning the most intricate webwork of magic imaginable out from her skin, infinitely porous and drinking in every scrap of information about the world. A flicker of thought, and her beautifully responsive webworks of personal djed shifted and collapsed, the wider nets falling away into dissolution as she bent her focus almost exclusively towards Licearsvansan, leaving only the bare-bones impressions of the rest of the world as a safety measure.

“Right doesn't really come into it, Licearsvansan,” she remarked. Deep focus demanded subtlety, another facet of Chiona's training, to allow her to carry on with a façade of normality. “We can train you, of course – but magic is a valuable thing, and not something to be lightly thrown around, even here. You said you were a morpher, yes?” A rhetorical question, since he'd admitted as such and in any case there was a certain fluidity, an elusive plasticity to his aura that – she was beginning to learn – was indicative of a morpher magus.

“The Dusk Tower has...historical differences, shall we say? with the Twilight Tower, which makes morphing one of the more difficult magics to study for us. If you're skilled in the discipline, an exchange of some kind is easily worked out. If not...is there any reason you want us, specifically, rather than the Dusk Tower?”

[Licearsvansan]

Svan listened to the woman carefully. Normally he didn't care much for what other races had to say, but this woman was important to him. She was the only aurist that he knew, and he needed her help. So as the woman continued on, the snake did his best to pay close attention to the words she said, and not her body. It was hard. Attractive might not be the word he would use for her, but her beauty was captivating none the less. Looking at her was like staring at a finely crafted painting. Twice he had to fight back the urge to touch her, just because he wasn't sure she was real.

Luckily, he managed to control himself. His determination to behave was great enough to restrain his curiosities, and he was even able to keep track of (most) of what she said. He nodded tentatively when she asked about other kinds of Dhani, and outright frowned when she asked why he had run away. It was evident that both topics where rather sore subjects. His hazel eyes flicked away down to the ground and remained there until she mentioned the Rashkari. He laughed a little when she told him that she hadn't believed in Rashkari until now. It was evident that this woman knew little of the world beyond city walls. The Rashkari might not have been in massive numbers like the swarms of quarter deer that littered the Unforgiving, but there were enough of them that anyone who chose to traverse the mountains would find a healthy enough number of them. That, and its not like their vibrant purple fur blended into much. Still, he supposed it made sense that she wouldn't believe it. The phrase "big toothed purple tiger" sounds less like a new beast and more like a curious cat gotten into a fight with some hair dye.

As the conversation continued, Svan grew more antsy. He had no idea if this woman would agree to teach him anything. She was a teacher, but it was completely possible that she was too high up to be bothered with a novice. So when she actually agreed, Svan was almost in disbelief. He masked it on his face of course, but it must have been completely obvious to the aurist. In an attempt to hide his surprise Svan tried to quickly address her offer. "I-um, yes. That sounds like a fair trade. I should warn you that I really don't have much experience teaching though. Of course I'm sure that a mage of your caliber should have no trouble learning a magic like morphing. As for why I want to learn it..." The serpent's voice trailed off and a guilty look crossed his face. He considered dodging the truth for a moment, but fear that this woman could detect his half truth's kept him honest. "My reasons for coming to the Dusk tower are twofold. I want to learn Auristics, but there is also a third magic that I am interested in." Svan raised a finger to the sky, "Familiarity." He pulled his hand down and rested it back on his earthy brown slacks. "I've heard various people talk about the magic during my travels through Mizahar, but during you're towers open day I heard that the head of your house uses this magic, or at least knows how a person can learn it. As you said, magic is valuable so I can't just walk up to him and demand it of him. So I want to make myself useful in hopes that he may teach me the magic one day. But to do that I need to get into the house, and to do that I need auristics." Svan looked firmly into Alses eyes, all his trepidation was gone, and in its place stood pure conviction. "And to do that, I need your help."

"I'm not going to ask you to do this for me out of the kindness of your heart though. I will tell you or teach you anything you want to know. For example, you wanted to know if there other kinds of Dhani? The answer is yes. Three kinds in fact, Rattlers, Constrictors, and Vipers. As for why I left the nest? I didn't want to become the kind of merciless killer that the rest of my race has become. They worship Siku, sadistic mother to all Dhani and goddess of snakes everywhere. I worship Caiyha, Mother of Siku and Goddess of nature. Most of my people respect the Caiyha, but not her teachings. So I left to become a better man-snake-person..." Svan took in a breath as he finished his miniature speech.

"So does that answer your question ma'am?"

[Alses]

“So it isn't really me you need, exactly, just the Tower...” she tailed off for a moment, and when she spoke again it was in a decidedly more official tone. “Speaking with my Tower instructor's hat on – I think that's the phrase – rather than my private tutor's hat - that's not too much of a problem. We accept novices throughout the year, after all. All you'll have to do is pass a couple of interviews with the Dusks and a panel of masters. No pressure,” Alses added, tone once more returning to a more informal cadence, with a grin curving her lips and the relaxed assurance of one who'd already ran the gauntlet and been found worthy.

His comment on her calibre brought a chuckling laugh to her lips, one that wound its way around them both and set lights to dancing in her eyes. “We may have some small skill at auristics, Licearsvansan, but that doesn't make me all-powerful by any stretch! We might find that I can't wrap my head around whatever concepts and techniques are involved in Morphing, for one, no matter how many times they're explained or demonstrated.” She shrugged, philosophical about her chances; mages specialised for a reason, after all, the exceptions only being the occasional arcane savant – and declared savanthood was not a mantle she dared to assume. Yet. “It may even be that the basics come within my grasp but the finer subtleties elude me forever: who knows?”

Alses listened carefully to her companion's reasons – this was this bit that truly interested her, from a personal as well as professional standpoint. “Familiary?” she echoed after a moment, surprise clear on her face if not in her aura. “We've heard it mentioned,” she said, faintly dubiously, “But the Patriarch isn't one to shout his skills from the rooftops.” Alses was scouring her own brain as she spoke, trying to remember if she'd ever seen it being used – she drew a blank; Ald'gare Dusk had killed Sayim with Saving Grace, for instance, nothing more esoteric.

“Why Familiary?” she asked bluntly. “They'll ask you the same thing at interview, you know.”

With a sigh, she leaned into the skyglass bench, head tipped absently backward to delight in the dappled sunlight streaming down. “The process is going to be the same either way though, Licearsvansan. Since you've approached me, we – that is to say, I – will write a brief letter of introduction for you to the Dusk Tower secretary, if I think you'll be able to stand the course.” Carefully, she watched for his reaction – it would tell her a fair bit about his temperament. Alses would also write a letter of impressions that would be passed onto the interviewing team, to provide a more complete picture – although that wasn't something Licearsvansan would know about. That he'd sought her out as a potential means of entry spoke well for resourcefulness, but could count against him if he came across as underhanded, or likely to use the art for ill – he'd not simply applied with the Tower secretary, as per normal procedure, after all.

“You will have an interview – or several – with various members of House Dusk and the instructing staff,” Alses continued, giving precious little hint as to the thoughts and reactions going on inside. “Which won't include me, since we'll have to recuse ourself. Conflict of interest.” Her eyes twinkled, though, and she rapidly continued: “Nothing in the rules to say I can't unofficially give you a few...” she cast around for the right word “...pointers, though. A little advice, based on our own experience, a little guidance.”

Alses rose in a waterfall of silk; there were better places to discuss that sort of thing than a park bench, after all. “Walk with me, Licearsvansan,” she commanded lazily, always watching for his responses even if she gave the outward impression of unconcern. “We can talk as we walk, and at the end of it a spot of tea at Mhakula's would be just the thing.”

Gravel crunched gratifyingly as she walked, sure that Licearsvansan would follow. Alses kept the pace slow; no sense in rushing or getting out of breath, after all. “Now. The interview will be your primary hurdle, since there's no other way to assess your suitability. The first point to bear in mind is not to lie; you might not be called on it straight away – or at all – but it'll have been noticed more or less immediately. We'd not chance half-truths, either, if we took our interview again. They'll start with a few basic questions – name, age, race, that sort of thing. Purely a formality to check they're interviewing the right person, of course.”

Naturally, it wasn't a formality at all, more a way of getting a normal reading on an aura, of shifts and changes in confidence and much else besides that were best assessed against a baseline of truth.

“Since you're already a wizard, they'll have your Registry record, too,” Alses added, from memory, meaning the scroll that contained common details of every wizard in Lhavit, “So be prepared to answer a few questions on whatever is recorded down there – might be best to ensure it's up-to-date before you're interviewed, actually.”

Alses remembered her own interview; there had been a lot of questions about magecraft fired at her, for instance – part of the reason she was privately almost certain she'd been accepted on the basis of that rare, valuable skill than anything else. Who could blame them, really? A tame magesmith at their beck and call? One up for House Dusk.

“Be upfront about what you really want to learn,” was her next piece of advice, still padding amiably along the curving pathways of the park, a leisurely amble or stroll. “To us, familiary seems to hold your attention over auristics.” Not a use of her power, as such, just simple observation, the sort that came unconsciously to her now – a subliminal noticing of the subtle shift and play of muscles and expressions on the face, the shifts in body language that, she knew, would be writ large in an aurist's sight. There was no sense in using her powers when mundane observation would do; that would be to invite headaches or overgiving if she kept it up for long enough, and to no good effect.

“Tell them that's your end goal at the Tower, and above all tell them why. Again, don't lie – we did, at first, and they were quite short with us-” a massive understatement “-until we told the truth: 'because auristics would help with our magecrafting.' No shame in learning a discipline to support something else; we have a few aspiring merchants amongst the students, for instance, who wanted to learn the rudiments of auristics to give themselves another defense against fraud and swindlery and all the other nastiness of trade in foreign parts.” Her more cynical self broke through for a moment and added: “Or perhaps to give themselves an advantage in fraud and swindlery in foreign parts.”

“And again, we tangent,” she remarked, pulling the reins of her conversation back. “I do that a lot,” Alses added, well-aware of her own conversational faults. “Now, after that, you can say why you want to learn auristics, too – and what you might be able to bring to the Tower.”

'You're not affiliated to the Twilight Tower,' her thoughts ran as she looked, speculatively, at Licearsvansan. 'Your Morphing, if you're any great shakes at it, might make you a decent bargaining tool at interview. You'd be a useful teaching tool for me, at least – I could show the novices what other disciplines of magic at work look like.'

She'd not explain her thinking explicitly, though – she wanted some evidence of initiative and intelligence (of the sort needed for auristics) from Licearsvansan. Leading people like sheep wasn't the way things went, it ran counter to the Tower's methods – or at least, their modern methods.

“What happened with my interview at that point is that they took a break – their term for it is 'recessed'. Easily the hardest part; you're left on your own for a little while whilst they go and...and...and collect their thoughts, use the privy or whatever else it is mortals find to do when they have a spare few chimes on their hands. Bear in mind that the people who return may not be the same ones who interviewed you at first, too; mine were replaced by Chiona Dusk, Ald'gare Dusk and Yuo'ta Dusk – the family aurists' triumvirate, as it were. They have the final say, I think, although there is consultation.” Alses frowned. “The Tower doesn't exactly offer Familiary as a standard class, as you said...who knows what conditions might be attached? The Dusks are fond of tests and puzzles, it has to be said.”

A sigh. “Once you're past the gates, we can do more for you, really. Advice is the best we can give on the interview front; the heiress might be my friend and mentor but that only stretches so far.”

[Licearsvansan]

In the 118 years that Svan had lived, not once had he heard the phrase "no pressure" actually instill even the slightest bit of confidence. Due to the way she smirked as she said it, he was fairly sure that the woman was joking, but it still didn't make him feel any better. The way she spoke seemed so professional that Svan could barely tell what was meant to be a joke and what wasn't. So instead of laughing off her teasing remark, Svan's expression shifted to one of unamusement. This was after all, a very serious deal for him, and her joke had done nothing to ease his already present trepidation.

Svan was glad when the Eth decided to move on from her joke, and he was somewhat surprised at her humility when she responded to the praise of her skill. It seemed the sort of practiced humility that was used by those in business or politics in an attempt not to come across as vain or arrogant, but Svan found it unique from many of the mages he met. He often expected mages to not only tell him why they were better, but to stop and pull out a list so that they could recite each and every superior trait they held. Alses however seemed somewhat humble. So long as I continue to praise her that is... Svan suddenly remembered the look she had given him when he mocked her power during their first encounter. Despite her displayed humility, it would be best for him to treat her as respectively as he could.....at least for now.

Then came the question he was dreading.

“Why Familiary?”

Svan had to bite his tongue from saying, "why not?". There was a time and place for a sharp tongue and this was neither. He managed to still hold his breath long enough for the long winded woman to continue. She made note that She would not be giving him direct help, but would at least give him a recommendation. He thanked her calmly and allowed her to go on. It was honestly better than he had hoped for and he was grateful to the woman for her help. The fact that she was willing to give Svan a few pointers was even better. He was developing mixed feelings about this woman. The woman still gave him an odd feeling, but he was having more and more trouble figuring out exactly what it was. Perhaps he just couldn't get their first meeting out of his mind. He had seen her with her hair down so to speak, and there was a definite contrast to the way she was now. As he mulled the thought over in his mind he realized that she seemed much more....proud than she did that night. She had still acted proud then too, but back then it had seem more forced. Now she just seemed to radiate confidence, as if she knew just how amazing she was. But that was unimportant for now. He could ask all the questions he needed later when he got into the tower.....assuming he could get in.

Suddenly the woman stood up, and Svan found himself unconsciously following. He was to walk with her, so be it. It would be good to be seen with Alses. Perhaps now the other aurists of Lhavit would stop giving him dirty looks. He had been reminded that he was a Dhani more times in the past few days than his entire life. He wondered where these people had been his entire childhood. Back in the days were Svan was constantly reminded how unlike a Dhani he was.

The first tip the woman gave him was not to lie. He at least had enough sense to have already figured out that already. He doubted that Alses would even be bothering to tell him this if he had been so foolish as to try to lie to an aurist. The tip about half lies was appreciated though. Svan had been unsure about them, but now he knew better than to even try.

Next she came to the subject of his registry record. It was a topic he cared little about. He had just updated it, and he doubted that there was anything there that he wouldn't already be asked.

And then she mentioned the familiary again. The edge of Svan's mouth drooped a bit as she noted that he had noticed that he was more interested in familiary than auristics. He hadn't exactly been subtle about it, but it wasn't fun being read so easily. He did however appreciate the next bit of advice she gave him. He let out a small laugh, "Hehe, you lied to them?" The snake asked in genuine surprise. He could barely believe it. Not only that she had the foolishness to lie to an aurist, but that she had just admitted it to Svan. The serpent smiled, amused by the woman's honesty to a complete stranger. His grin broadened even further when she let her cynical side leak out. Another Dhani would have been excited to see a sign of weakness under the mask of professionality. Svan? He was just happy to see some humanity in her. He was a man of jests and casual talks. All this seriousness reminded him too much of his days in the nest. Back when he could have lied to an aurists face and made them believe it. Now he had only fragments of that version of Svan. Still, it was enough for him to still put back together the old mask and make it believable. Just as long as you didn't look too close or too hard. It sufficed most days, but he could tell by the way this woman acted, he would have to get much better if he hoped to get anywhere in this city.

“And again, we tangent,” She said as she returned to the primary topic, “I do that a lot,”

"You are not alone." Svan added before he could stop himself. He played it off with a laugh.

The woman then began going into the meat of her advice. She explained in detail the way that she had been interviewed, and gave Svan valuable knowledge of what he could expect. It was fairly simple, nothing more than a very elaborate interview, but by the way she said it.....it almost sounded like Svan would be on trial. He wondered for a moment what happened to those who failed.

When she mentioned familiary a final time and closed her speech, Svan realized that it was his turn to speak. He had plenty of time to work up an answer, but he was still trying to find a way to sugar coat it. How do you say, "I need a familiar because I need someone to act as my conscience that I won't be able to kill" in a good way. Svan had even nearly killed Samantha on his way here just because she tried to stop him from eating an innocent girl. Had the girl's tears not stopped Svan....He tried not to think of it most days.

"I want a second opinion Alses. Er- I mean that I want someone to be there to give me an extra perspective on my choices. As a Dhani I grew being taught things that I've come to learn most societies don't tolerate. And I've been to so many different cities that I have trouble some days trying to figure out what the right thing to do. Would you believe that in a city called Ravok, you can actually get executed for defending yourself against slavers? HA!" Svan laughed spitefully as he recalled his horrid time in the city....then remembered the not so horrible time he had with another Dhani there. Luckily, it wasn't mating season so Svan had absolutely no difficulty shoving that woman back out of his head. Freed from his memories, Svan returned to the conversation at hand.

"Don't get me wrong Alses, I know better than to go around murdering people or torturing things but...Its the little things I need help with. The philosophy behind the teachings. I want to see my life through the eyes of someone new to this world. I want to here what they have to say about the path I've chosen, the decisions I make." He sighed heavily. "I don't know how long you have been around and I'm not going to pretend to. But you should know that I've lived for roughly 118 years, and in that time I've heard so many different philosophies that I'm not sure what to think any more." Svan laughed at a sudden thought he had. "I guess I could always ask a child what they think, but with the kind of things I go through on a regular basis..." Svan rolled up a sleeve to reveal a dozen scars and scratches. "I don't think that would be such a good choice."

"There are other reasons too of course. Companionship on my travels, help with my magic, and perhaps even a lesson or two in maturity." Svan laughed again but stopped himself short, "Not that I would need such a thing." He almost forgot who he was talking to. He had to be careful. just because she was polite, and he was being forced to be honest did not meant hat he could say whatever he wanted. However, there was something that he did need to say. Svan slowed to a stop and scratched the back of his head. He looked up at Alses for a moment."Sorry for stopping Alses...I just wanted to say thanks." Without anything else to add, h continued forward again. it was obvious that thanking people didn't come naturally for him, but she deserved it.

And frankly, it was easier than having to apologize.

[Alses]

Amusement cracked Licearsvansan's stoic shell, something that, with care, she could pry open and get a more natural assessment of his character. Alses rocked her hand to and fro for a moment, as though trying to massage her words into something less stupid. “A little,” she admitted, with a wryly knowing smile. “Rather unwise of me, we know, but we were a very...distant...Ethaefal at the time.”

Unconsciously, she tilted her head heavenwards, staring blankly full in the face of Syna's burning orb for a moment. “Head in the stars and with little care or concern for all the little nuances of conversation.”

'Still less for truth and lies when it came to getting what we wanted,' she didn't add – there was honesty and there was stupidity, and Alses wasn't about to give any indication that she fell seriously short of perfection to a potential student, the blip during Invocation notwithstanding.

That was understandable, anyway, surely? She'd been chained to her mortal form and subjected to heavy djed use: decidedly not at her most serene then.

“I suppose I didn't think they'd condescend to teach me if I didn't want to pursue it as a specialty,” Alses mused, lips pursed in remembrance. “But, as we found out later, it doesn't much matter. If you've the aptitude, if you want to learn and you're not a certified lunatic criminal, they'll at least consider you.”

That had been an interesting lesson to absorb; the Towers accrued and kept their influence down the generations by accepting, every year, a certain number of people who didn't necessarily intend to become full-time aurists. In this way, House Dusk knew, by dint of passing on a certain measure of their specialised skills in their way, and in an environment that they controlled, the Tower could be sure in the knowledge that the experience would result in a steady stream of grateful alumni who could be relied upon for a favour or two every now and then, say, or regular news from foreign parts. Something to provide a large pool of people – many of them successful and wealthy in their own right, thanks to Tower tutelage – that could be called on by House Dusk and its Tower in times of need, too.

Very shrewd.

Blinking against the hard white blaze of Syna overhead – infuriatingly obscured by branches and leafy canopies more often than not in the Park – Alses returned her attention to the slightly more mundane realm of Lhavit, and to her snaky companion of the moment, the possible-student Licearsvansan.

“Always good to know others have difficulty keeping a directed thread of conversation,” she said happily. “Feel free to rein me in if we truly plunge off into the irrelevant, though. Mortals' time is precious; mine is not – or at least, not in the same way.”

Their gentle stroll had, by this point, curved them around the lake and was taking them along the wide track that led to the Park gates and the formal courtyards, plazas, avenues and boulevards of the city proper, glittering under the abundant light like the largest diamond conceivable.

“A...second opinion?” she echoed, curious and doubtful in equal measure. “And Familiary will bring you this to some significant degree? As I said, we know very little about the discipline; the Tower doesn't teach it as a general rule.” Her features grew troubled as Licearsvansan continued, his brief reminiscence about time spent in a city called Ravok particularly.

“Ravok sounds terrible,” she observed with a shudder. “I daresay slavers hold considerable influence there, to keep such a deplorable state of affairs going?” A shiver. “Maybe I'll see the day the last chain is broken and the last slaver dead, who knows? For now, we'll stay in the city whose air is too pure for a slave to breathe, such that any who breathe it become immediately and irrevocably free, protected by the full might of all of Lhavit in concert.”

She was quoting from an inscription carved deeply into the quays of Port Tranquil, and again into the soaring skyglass bridges that recorded significant events in the starry city's history; it was highly likely that, even had Licearsvansan not completed the History Pilgrimage around the city, he'd at least have seen the emphatic inscription, a legacy of the Day of Discord.

“You sound rather like you're lost, if you don't mind us saying so,” Alses observed quietly. “Not physically, of course, but mentally and spiritually. We were much the same when first we fell to Mizahar, in truth. I think all Ethaefal are.” The glorious memory of Syna's incarnation flashed into her head and curved her mouth into a beatific smile, her face shimmering smoothly into a brief expression of transported rapture at that perfect moment. “But we're no longer flailing around loose and lost in Mizahar; we have our anchor and our guide again.”

Alses shook her head, bringing herself back from recollection. That perfect, blazing smile, a reflection of Syna's glory on Mizahar, vanished into a much smaller, much more impassive upcurve.

“You're a great deal older than me, Licearsvansan – but then, to an Ethaefal, time has very little meaning. Five years or five centuries, it makes no real difference. I've travelled quite widely also; I...returned...to Mizahar on the opposite side of the continent, in the city known as Zeltiva - have you been there?” Alses shook her head at that, recognizing the tangent and ruthlessly pruning it back so she could focus on the more important topic in hand. “I understand something of the panoply of philosophies you've experienced. Not to preach, but we've generally found that treating other people as I'd like to be treated in turn works quite well, as a philosophy for life.”

“Now, I wouldn't dream of dissuading you from Familiary, from something you're set on understanding, but we don't know how much an alien perspective on events would help you become...” she waved an airy hand. “More grounded. More oriented to the Lhavitian norm, to what's right and wrong. Let's say that the second perspective Familiary grants you is that of...of someone for whom the acquisition of power is the only concern. It would follow that, if butchering someone was the easiest way to smooth your rise to said power, it would encourage you to bury your fangs in your that person's neck, instead of acting as the sort of moral counterpoint you seem to be after.”

“We're very much afraid that there's no easy track to what you want,” Alses continued with a sigh. “My advice, if you'll take it, is to find a hobby that has nothing to do with magic and mastery and get to know some people in the city. I garden,” she offered, as an example, “And I philtre, both for the Towers Respite. Partly out of necessity, in the early days, to defray some of my expenses, but now we keep at it because they're enjoyable activities. Through them, I've met more than the upper classes and the mages of Lhavit; we've broadened our frame of reference to include the ordinary citizens who've lived here their whole lives and seen the city grow and change from the doings of the Towers and the Tuwele. Immersion in their concerns, their view of the world, of what's right and wrong and why, has helped inform my own opinions. We'd still be a head-in-the-stars Ethaefal with no care for anyone but ourself without it.” She flashed him a broad smile.

“Sometimes, too, it's just good to take a day away from arcana and refocus oneself in the world. Ethaefal – and mages in general – are often too detached from the mundane, lost amongst their castles in the air. Friends and acquaintances, I've found, keep you sane and careful. A socially-isolated mage cares little for the possibility that his experiments might go spectacularly awry and level the surrounding area, but one with friends and family and a stake in the city around them? Far harder to let go of such things.” A thought struck her, and she grinned, wide and white.

“The Tower is very concerned with ethics, too,” Alses mentioned. “We try not to simply teach you how to do things, but the nuances of when to pry and when not to as well. I daresay some of the instructors will positively relish the chance to test their ethical leanings against your own position. You could debate at the Basilika as well – that's always stimulating. Argument and debate make you examine yourself, why you think what you think and whether there are compelling reasons behind it or not.”

His sudden thanks surprised her, and brought back that spectacular smile, the sun blazing out from behind a cloud. “You're very welcome, Licearsvansan. It's rare that we get a chance to start again with someone; Tanroa's river only runs in one direction, after all, and we really weren't at our best that night. Now you see us as we should be.” She paused, briefly, before continuing: “I'd appreciate it if you'd keep our hideous mortal chain to yourself, hmm?”