The Circle's Gonna Come Around [Goss]

[Trista]

Trista said nothing. She had no idea what to say, and her silence persisted long after Avalis had departed.

She had too many things to think about, and the Akvatari tried to put them in some kind of order. First...she had actually received a gnosis mark -- though it seemed that to some degree, Mura itself had marked her first, and that was what had brought Avalis into it. Still, a gnosis mark was a gnosis mark, and, for the first time in her entire life, a deity had shown an interest in her. It was difficult to believe, though she had seen it happen, and it took her some time to let it sink in.

And then...then there was the problem of her art.

She had always been a talented artist, but circumstances seemed to have diverted that talent in a wildly different direction. Her paintbrush and pencil now functioned as a telescope -- a telescope, if the goddess spoke the truth, of essentially unlimited range and power. True, it only worked for half a bell or so, but half a bell was a lot of time, and if she worked several canvases in sequence, she could probably hold the view for much, much longer.

It was an awesome power, and one that she scarcely could comprehend. What would she choose to know if she could see anything, anything at all?

Of course, no power came without a price, and Avalis had intimated that the price for this particular gift was a steep one indeed. People who wanted to know secrets would pay almost anything for them...and people who wanted to keep them would have no compunction about killing her to prevent her from disclosing them. She could understand this immediately -- what she didn't know was how to act on it.

No one, it seemed, except herself and Avalis knew of her gift. It would be possible to simply bury it, to concentrate on her singing and her dulcimer, and leave the world of visual art far behind. True, it was rare for one of her ability to completely change disciplines, but it wasn't unknown, and she did have a fair amount of talent for music as well. It would be difficult, but she could do it.

Or could she? Trista shut her eyes, trying to imagine a life without drawing, without painting. Even with the comfort of music, it seemed barren and lonely to her, even more so than her life was already, simply by nature. Would she be able to hold off the temptation to make even one quick sketch for her entire life? She already knew the answer, if she were to stop and be honest with herself.

Conversely, she could accept her gift and try to find some positive, less-likely-to-get-her-killed way of using it. She could set herself up as a diviner, possibly, provided she didn't let anyone know what her methods were. Or, if she were careful how often she used it, as some type of card-trick magician. However, this brought up another question. She didn't know exactly how this gift worked -- it didn't use Djed, so it wasn't real magic in the way she knew of it. However, it wasn't the result of a gnosis either, and try as she might, Trista couldn't think of a third thing that would control these effects; she knew that the water had touched her, but that didn't mean that she understood the mechanism.

The other part of this was that she didn't know if anyone could tell she was using it. Use of gnosis powers was known by the god who had granted them, and other magicians could sense the use of magic. But if she used her talent to see another, would they be able to sense it was being done? And if they could, would they be able to trace it back to her? The idea was unnerving, and she didn't know exactly how to test it, at least not right away.

What she could do -- and indeed, what she probably should do -- was test it in ways that wouldn't bring this up. No one could be bothered if she tried her hand at viewing her room in Abura again, for instance, or some of the ocean byways she had traversed, or her cottage here. Perhaps small-scale tests such as these would give her a better idea as to how this particular gift worked.

Gift. A rueful smile twitched at her lips. Whatever else happened to her, at very least, this would give someone an excellent story to write. A tragedy, probably. But even so, if one's mortality was going to end abruptly and violently, literary immortality would be something of a consolation.

[Gossamer]

. Character: Trista Experience: +4 Drawing, +4 Painting, +2 Interrogation Lore: Avalis (partial), Personal Curses/Gifts, Mural Painting, Where to lease in Mura, Mura Topography (tour), Mural Painting, and Mura Hierarchy Additional Note: You now have a gnosis mark of Avalis and a very specific gift/curse granted by prolonged exposure to the Vision Water on Konti Isle. This gift will allow you to paint a picture and see into that picture as if viewing the scene through a window. It only lets you view real places and once the half hour is gone, the painting seizes up. Until then you can see movement and detail that is extraordinary. It does not matter what time of day it is... the paintings will always reflect real time. Oh, and everyone and their dog will want you for evil purposes if word gets out. Here's your SS thread. http://www.mizahar.com/forums/topic2342.html And I would have given you +5/+5 on the drawing painting, but you only mentioned it for a line or two in most posts.. I would have liked some technical detail more than her thoughts on things for the extra XP. .