A kind request

[Palla Frostfawn]

 “Y-Yes, I think that would make a nice little saying.” Palla replied to the man's question. "O-Oh, a figurehead? I-I'm sorry, but constructing one would lean more torwards carpentry, a-and I'm only a woodcarver." Palla didn't want to disappoint the man, so she added "O-Of course, if you have the general shape made already, I-I would be more than happy to carve designs on it."

"U-Um..." Palla responded to the man's question. "I-I'm marked by Morwen. A-All Vantha are at birth. T-The gnosis is called ice reaving, and i-ice reavers are naturally comfortable in the cold. I-I think we have to be, t-to survive. I-It's extremely cold in Avanthal, i-it's a bit cool even for me with my gnosis in the very extreme temperatures." Palla paused for a moment after talking quickly. 

     She took a breath and hesitantly continued. "I-I can also... I-I can... I-I'll show you." Palla looked around the park. She picked up a large handful of icy snow. Palla tapped her gnosis and carefully 
sculpted the ice into the shape of a medium sized songbird. In the side, near the flat bottom, words were etched. The Songbird of the Suvan Sea. Palla hoped she didn't scare the man with her powers. After all, only being marked once, it was a relatively small thing. Palla placed the songbird on the bench next to the man, it only looking slightly different than the bird she had carved earlier, with many small differences. "T-This will melt, of course. I can't keep it frozen forever. With only one mark, my power does have limits."

     Palla looked down in shame and fear. What if he thinks I'm a witch, an evil one? What if my shop suffers from his bad reaction to this? I know people are uneasy about magic. I am, myself, but gnosis marks are different. They are powers given by the gods themselves. Even so, I shouldn't have even told him about the mark, just said instead that Vantha are built for the cold. Palla waited for the man's reaction, hoping he wasn't fearful. 

[Stefan]

“Oh my... this is quite interesting...” he said as he looked at Palla as she did her magic with the ice. Now this was something amazing. Magic was something dangerous, and Stefan knew it... but it was also interesting to watch. The power to destroy, or in this case to create, right at one’s fingertips. There was much potential on it, indeed.

But when the Vantha finished the ice sculpture with her magic, he instead held it in his hands, with a melancholic, almost sad, smile on his face. It was different to his previous smiles, as this one seemed to appear from the deep of his soul.

“You know... when I was a sailor, there was someone... someone that I... I...” the young bard struggled to find the right word, like if the one he wanted to said was bitter on his tongue “...Appreciated quite a lot. Yes, that. She used to call me “her songbird” and it always made me feel good when she said it” the tone of the man was that of regret “I sometimes wish I never left...”

Quickly, he shrugged it off “Look at me, getting all sentimental...” he gave away a nervous chuckle, because even though he was often open to strangers, he never discussed such personal details of his life... perhaps the bird pressed a button?

He looked for something in his pocket, and gave it to Palla; three golden rimmed mizas on her hand “I would like the carving, if you please... I have to say, that thing you did with the snow is quite impressive. I would like to keep the ice sculpture, but as you said, it will melt soon.” It was odd, but Stefan dropped his flirty behaviour and now was quite sentimental, like if a memory making his way from the bottom of his mind.

[Palla Frostfawn]

Palla was relived that Stefan wasn't scared of her magic, and watched him carefully as he took the bird and held it with a sad smile. Stefan had called it interesting, but Palla kept her mouth shut and decided he thought it was just that... Interesting, not dangerous. Does he like it? Did I do something wrong?

She listened to the man as he told Palla about a woman he admired quite a bit. Stefan had put much effort into finding a suitable word to describe the said woman, which made Palla curious. It turns out that she called him her little songbird, and that left Palla to wonder about who she was. Could she have been a lover? Did she die? Did Stefan leave her and regret it? I won't ask, I don't want to sound rude, but I am curious.

"O-Oh, that's okay." Palla responded to the human's comment about being sentimental. Of course it's okay! My petching mouth. I'm making it seem like he did something wrong by showing emotions, by saying it's okay, that I forgive him. Palla yelled at herself quickly after the comment. "E-Everyone has their problems, a-and we can only speculate about the ones of others."

Palla decided to go out on a limb, and said "I-I've never felt complete. M-Moving to Riverfall helped a bit, but I don't think that was it. T-The empty hole inside me has shrunk, b-but I don't think my wanderlust was the problem. I-I don't know what it is, b-but I just try to seem happy, and then I usually am." Palla's short speech brought up emotions, and she scolded herself once more.

Just petch this. It's one thing to talk to Kavala, she has much more experience than me, and she seems very trustworthy. This random man who seems to be flirting with me is a different story. Oh, well. He seems to have the common sense to keep his mouth shut, I hope he does.

When the man held out three gold mizas, Palla was surprised, but silently accepted them. Palla decided that she had had said enough, and smiled at him in thanks instead of talking. She got up to leave, and said to him a soft goodbye, one that he would only hear very faintly. Palla set off back torwards her home, vowing to make him the bird soon.
OOCTell me if you want me to change my post to make this last longer, but I think it's for the best that we wrap it up.

[Gossamer]

XP AWARD!
Thanks for threading in Riverfall.

Character: Palla
Experience: Carving +2, Socialization +3, Planning +2,
Lore: Ice Reaving: One can carve ice sculptures With it.



Additional Note: Neat little thread… please feel free to keep the 3 Mizas. I’m going to assume your time with Stefan was worth at least that.