Smart and Strong

[Cassandra Southwind]

oocI'm so sorry for the wait, and if this post is kind of choppy. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of posting.

"Nonsense," Cassandra said, in that friendly way some people had which was mostly just rude. The little jade pieces spilled from her fingers so that she could pull on her newly purchased gloves, oblivious to the extra tip the merchant had pocket for himself. "I have much here, and you do not have a scarf."

In all fairness, neither did she. But Cass found herself in a giving mood. She liked Sana, which for Cass was a strange reaction to a foreigner and a scholar. Some instincts told her to recoil, but most invited her to investigate, to inquire into Sana's life from the safety of the upper ground. Cass was a laborer with a solid task and tangible money; Sana was a student, which apparently did not give her a stable financial footing.

Whether or not the teacher-in-training chose to accept, the scarf was bought. Cassandra decided inwardly that she would wear it herself if pride forced Sana to refuse the gift. She gathered her things and made to walk away from the stall, toward... well, she would decide that when she got there. "I am not one for magic," she put it mildly, resisting the frown that usually dropped on her face when she mentioned the subject. "But you speak of astronomy, and this is interesting to me. It is useful on long journeys, but it is also interesting... amusing."

She could not think of the right word, so she waved away the sentence. "But I am not a learner of books. My Lia tries to teach me on the sea, but there are too many stars. I think the only way to learn this is... indoors."

She was walking too slowly, if only to keep Arysana in the lead. Cassandra craved amusement more than purpose, and was too accustomed to the latter to fathom the way to the former. "Do you study astronomy, or only reimancy?" Her foreign tongue butchered the foreign word, and in her effort to pronounce it she forgot to disguise her (albeit fading) contempt for magic and its disciplines.

[Arysana]

Speech | Thoughts | oocI am so sorry! I was lost to time!

Before a word more of awkward 'no thank yous,' the scarf was bought and her jaw fell slack. She took the item with a surge of hesitation, look vastly uncertain a she chose to place the fabric about her neck almost immediately. "Thank you, Cass," she grinned, pulling her clothing tighter as the cool of the air began to bite at her skin once more.

As Cassandra readied herself to leave, Sana found herself rocking on the balls of her feet in anticipation. She was cold, she was always cold, but it was Winter that the bite of the air that cut to her bone the most, and she found herself putting exaggeration into her movement, working her stiff limbs into life, the food for thought given enough to sharpen her mind as her groaned.

"The stars can say many things," the geomancer mused, eyes turning skyward as she gazed absently into the sky above, her thoughts quickly side tracked by those of winds of flight. "Or so I am told," the was an edge of disappointment to her words, gaze falling from the blue overhead and dwelling on Cass, mind moving in hyper drive as she figured and thought on the little things that made her what she was - Svefra.

The blue of her eyes and the fairing of her skin were the major points of interest, she figured, wondering if, like her mother's people there was a hair or variation of hair colours special to Svefra. "It's not so simple. Theory is indeed done indoors," Sana said, her words soft and kind, point blank refusing to act the slightest bit high and mighty when imparting knowledge that she herself had only just learned. "But applying what you've learned is key, if you can draw a map of the sky, but then somehow fail to go outside and recognise what you see, then you've still much to learn."

Her wording was poor, she knew. It was something that'd she'd been criticised for in class, she spoke a sentence initially intending to take it down one path, only to change her mind halfway through. "I've done the smallest amounts of astronomy, in my fortune telling class. My teacher spoke at large about the glory of the stars, and Our Star Lady. I'm also learning some shielding, and meditation." The words came out strange. 'Our' Star Lady, she had said, not 'The Lady of the Stars'.

She rolled her shoulders as her gaze raked over the nearby stalls and businesses, racking her brain as she thought for something to peak Cass' interests. "But there's quite the variety on offer at the Academy. Astronomy," she gave a shrugged gesture, ensuring that Cassandra knew that she knew that she knew, though feeling like it still had to be said. "Anthropology, philosophy, herbalism,"
her tone took a light bounce and a rhythm, before her mind blanked and shrugged. "Several more, none that I can presently recall."

[Cassandra Southwind]

oocNow it's my turn to apologize. Lots of stuff happened all at once, but I promise I won't take this long again.

Cassandra listened attentively to Arysana's descriptions of her lessons, more interested than she let on about what went on within college walls. Like most Svefra she treated the unknown with a healthy level of disdain--but it was, perhaps, only human that she was also a little bit curious about that which she had hated for so long.

What really was there to hate?

Stories of disastrous overgiving and unleashed monsters were starting to seem more like child's tales, in this city where mages were registered instead of feared, taught safety instead of shot at the gate. Cassandra found herself looking at the people around them and wondering which knew magic, and how many shared her bias against it. "Is that where you are going now, then," she asked as they moved on from the booth together. "To the school?"

She breathed into her hands one last time before she pulled on her gloves and rubbed her palms together, glad for the extra bit of comfort. She had heard once that schools often offer their students free meals in great meals with long tables. But a Zeltivan had told her that, and he had been rather drunk when he had explained it. Cassandra opted not to ask about food, keeping the conversation on higher things.

"The classes you described do not seem to need so much theory," she observed, risking sounding ignorant for the sake of real, unabashed curiosity. "Fortune-telling, shielding, meditating. These are things you can do, with your hands or your body. Though... I did not take you for a woman of combat. Which weapon do you use?"

The softest of smiles pulled candidly on one edge of Cassandra's mouth. She was impressed by the thought that she was in the company of another fighter; she did not know enough about magic or Common to realize that shielding did not describe the ability to use a shield with a sword.

[Arysana]

Speech | Thoughts | oocThe dela on this one is horrible, I know. So sorry about that!

When Arysana's initial intentions were called into question, she pressed her lips and gave an awkward tilt and shake of her head, mouth opening and closing twice as she sought the words to suit her best. "I didn't think to, I usually have my classes in the late evening. It works better with work and study, I suppose." She couldn't help the way her voice trailed at the thought, finding every moment spent in Cassandra's company one where her thoughts and actions were called into question - Why did she wish to teach? Why magic? Why study at night when she seemed to focus best at day? Why even take the works she did, when the pay was so scarce and the superiors insufferable?

The reimancer drummed her head for answers, only half listening as she and her Svefra friend continued their walk, the occasional hum and nod to let the woman know that she held a fair portion of the red head's attention, though she outright snorted at the blatant misinterpretation of her other studies. "No, no. Ivak, no," she giggled, shaking her head as a hand clutched her chest. Was that how they felt? The locals, when she was still rather new to the common tongue?

"I want to learn a blade or weapon, yes - but the shielding I speak of is another kind of magic, one that lets you block things, in the simplest of sense. Sound or light, for example. I…" Arysana faltered and grew silent, lips posed to form answers and explanations though she found it a struggle to form any. "I don’t know why I was wanting to take it up. I think it was to protect me as I continued my work in reimancy. Protect others, too." Another couple of ticks were spent on self-deliberation, some far off chuckle and raw of laughter reminded the young woman that she was indeed with striking company.

"But you, Cass," She pressed and folded her look as to not appear too rude, a frown softly forming as she shot the Svefra woman a double look. "You fight, then?"