[Antinous Grounds] Newly New (Solo)

[Harper]

37th of Summer, 512 It had only been two days since Harper had returned from her escorting mission, one in which she and many other Knights traveled to Zeltiva in order to escort the new potential Mage-Knights. Harper was glad to be back in Syliras; the trip was long and exhausting. She missed the comforts of the Squire Dormitories, a bed she could sleep on, and food that she didn't have to gather herself. Harper's patron, Ser Klaus Cham, met Harper at the gates when they returned to Syliras, as did many other patrons and knights. He welcomed her back with a gruff hug, one that Harper didn't appreciate (she was almost positive that he did it simply to annoy her). After everything was settled, the new recruits were taken to their new homes, told about the city and introduced into their new lives in the Knighthood, Ser Cham walked Harper back to the dorms and told her that she would have one day of rest before her training would resume. "There is much to learn in the world, my dear, and I have much to teach you," was pretty much all he had to say on the subject. And so Harper slept for almost eighteen hours straight the next day, wallowing in her bed, and then stalked around the Castle until around the seventh bell in the morning when she was to meet Ser Cham on the Antinous Training Grounds in order to resume her lessons. And so, early on the 37th day of Summer, Harper met her patron on the training grounds, still tired but ready to learn everything she could from him. "Good-morning, dear!" Ser Cham called out to Harper as she approached him. He was leaning against the entrance into the training grounds. Harper simply nodded in his direction. "Good-morning, Sergeant," she replied.

[Harper]

"So why exactly have you had me meet you here today? I am anxious to learn anything I can, I'm just not sure what it is exactly you're going to be teaching today..." Harper conversed with Ser Cham. "First off, I've heard some things." He eyed her carefully, and she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "In your travels to Zeltiva: what all did you learn? I'm interested in hearing about it." He gave her a warm smile, and she semi-scowled back at him. She had a feeling that she knew what he was getting at. "I learned a lot of things. I dug a few trenches with my Voiding, something I had never done before. It was a complicated process, and one I honestly don't want to repeat. It took a lot of my strength and left me weak." She looked to the ground, kicking dirt with her leather boots. "I learned how to gather food from the forest, and ways to make sure things weren't poisonous." "A useful skill," He commented. She nodded and went on. "Then I went hunting with Ser Brinkaas and Ser Monsel. Uh, I'm guessing you know them? Anyway. We stalked through the forest--me, Brinkaas, Monsel and another from Zeltiva, Tallis--for a good while. We finally spotted a bear, and..." Harper looked at her Patron with guilt. She didn't want him knowing about what she brought forth. "And what?" He asked simply. "I used my Voiding to slow the bear down enough for Monsel to shoot it." She said simply. "Well that seems practical. Is that all?" Harper sighed. "Something came out of the portal I opened. It had never happened to me before that. It was a creature, something that looked like it used to be human; a white-skinned creature with many teeth and humanoid arms and legs, but it acted more animalistic than anything I'd ever seen. It was terrifying, and made many attempts on our lives. I eventually managed to subdue it with my Leeching and we killed it." She didn't want to speak any more of the subject, but Ser Cham went on. "So you brought something out of the Void, eh?" He let out a long series of chuckles. She didn't understand what was so funny about it, and it seemed as if Cham noticed by the expression on her face. "Voiding is an art unlike any other. It opens doors to a place of infinite space. Through these portals, we can do a lot like force people and things into it by manipulating our own Djed to create Pulls, which you know about. Many wizards throw their failed experiments into the Void as a safety precaution, and not all of them die there... Sometimes, things come out of the Void instead of just going in. I'm sure it was a terrifying experience, but I'm glad it happened to you. Now you know how dangerous the Void really is. I hope you learned something from it, but don't beat yourself up over it. Things like these happen."