An Unexpected Meeting (Kulde)

[Aylia Atero]

Location: Forest outside of Avanthal
Day: 40th of Fall, 510 AV

She took a deep breath as she stood in the clearing, Aylia spent most of her time in this clearing as was evident by the tree's several meters in the distance from her which were burned and scorched with many failed attempts to control the fire she produced. She wore a long sleeve white shirt and pants with that thick cloak of hers around her body laying lightly on her boots, she held her hands out palms towards the sky as she looked to her intended targets, she concentrated for a long moment then with a sudden gust her res concentrated from gaseous state over her left hand into a ball of swirling blue mist. With a sudden tensing of her muscles she threw her hand forward causing flames to erupt from the res and impact one of the tree's causing a loud crack as the fire charred the tree leaving its bulk brittle. Then without missing a beat she brought the remaining Res swirling around her in the other and causing another loud crack though with this one a surge of lightning slammed into the same spot causing the tree to splinter and suddenly give falling to the ground with a loud crash as she dropped to her knee's her breathing labored.

She coughed loudly looking at her shaking hands, her eyes were blood shot though not to an extreme amount, she could feel the overgiving coming on, after all she had been at this for quite awhile today improving her form and precision. Standing up she walked over to the tree smiling. "I know, I can feel it. We go through this every day, stop speaking to me as if I were a child." She said, though no one else was there. The voices were common during her training, always telling her when to stop while the Res itself made her feel so much more wonderful. But she listened to her insanity, it was the only thing that had kept her alive so far. Why ignore something thats helping you huh?

Concentrating for several seconds her res dispursed and slammed into a small portion of the tree using the wind to cut off a small piece she quickly followed it with a small flame just the size of the palm of her hand which was placed on the wood instantly turning it into a small campfire to keep her warm. "Why do we stay here? You know I hate the cold." Again there was no reply but she continued acting like everything was normal. Which for her it was, she knew that the voices she heard were just the sweet whispers forced on her by her magic coupled with everything that had happened to her. Just a few hours and she would continue though, back to her training until dark came.

[Kulde]

Kulde was walking through the forest, his trusty 7½ feet spear in his right hand. His quiver with arrows strapped on his back. His shortbow was over his head and hanging on his shoulder. To finish off his hunter gear, Kulde had a several inch long dagger sheathed close to his waist on the left side. Kulde was wearing his usual winter and nature themed clothes. White clothes with a dark green cloak. The dark green cloak would have been better in warmer southern climate where green actually appeared in the wilds a lot, but that didn't concern the young Frostfawn. He was heading out for another hunt when he saw something disturb trees in the distance. He noticed birds fly away from the place and he could hear noises above the sounds from the fleeing birds. Kulde curiously approached the area, looking through the trees and saw something magical appear and strike a tree. Fire. Kulde didn't dislike fire, but he certainly did dislike people who torched trees for no reason. He moved closer, moving silently over the snow. Reaching the inner circle of trees he noticed the hair. It was blonde. Not black like most people's hair around here and the young girl also looked quite pretty. The girl spoke out, at first Kulde looked around for someone else. Could he have missed someone else who had stood in the shade of the trees. But there was no response. Had she seen or heard Kulde? She didn't make an appearance of such. So Kulde stayed quiet. Then she spoke about hating the cold. Kulde was surprised by this outburst. Was she mad? Perhaps. With the display of magic coupled with her mad-tendencies. Kulde felt pretty uncomfortable, but he couldn't let this incident go by without uttering a single word. "Why must you burn these trees?" Kulde said, sticking the point of his spear into the snow at the edge of the clearing. It was a sign of him not being there on aggressive business. Despite his initial urge to either kill the mad girl or get out of there. "And that is an impressive display of magic. I noticed fire and was it wind?" Kulde asked, he had meant the question rhetorically, but he was sure the young girl would answer him still. Should she be the talkative type. Kulde's trained hunter eyes didn't leave her. Looking for an indication of her preparing to fling magic at him. I am Kulde Frostfawn." He stated. He never felt names were important, but social norms had still managed to make him introduce himself whenever he was met with a stranger. In this case, he was urged along by her being attractive and unusual with her long blonde hair.

[Aylia Atero]

When he spoke she didn't react at all she simply stood there over the fire keeping her hands warm and spoke as if she knew he was there but only for a moment. "Well what else would I practice agai--" Her eyes widened when it registered that the voice was different from the usual ones. She turned quickly and put her bare hand nearly inside the fire her res focusing around it out of suprise making a small spurt of flame jump from the camp fire to her hand though the flames moved no further and died away quickly as her hand began to shake. "I...I'm sorry I wasn't aware that anyone was around."

When he spoke of her magic she smiled and gave a light bow to him nodding. She opened her hand towards the crackling fire making a powerful gust of wind hit it directly downward snuffing the flame out leaving only a trail of smoke. "My name is Aylia...Aylia Atero. I have no where but this forest to practice my art in peace. Playing with the art of fire isn't well accepted in a frozen city." Kneeling down abit she grabbed two handfuls of the thick snow that lay across the clearing and threw it onto the snuffed fire causing the embers to instantly hiss out. "Normally im not so loud, but its so hard to control lightning. I didn't mean to disturb you."

Standing back up she turned towards him her eyes changing from the dull blue to a much brighter and more lively blue which contrasted perfectly with her blonde hair which she brushed behind her ear with her shaking hand. "I'm going to be resting for abit. If I've interrupted your hunting then the least I could do is offer you something to eat and some warm tea." She walked over to a rock in the clearing and pulled a small bag from behind it pulling out two metal cups filling each with some dark colored ice that was in a small pouch, after a few seconds a heavy steam began coming from the cups and she walked over to him and held out one of the cups. "Be careful. Its hot." Hot was quite the word for it. The heat could be felt through gloves, the liquid smelled strong with a hint of sweetness. If he were to drink some it would taste as it smelled, stout and a warming refresher against the cold weather.

[Kulde]

The person turned to face Kulde with fire in her hands. Perhaps it was the shock. Or perhaps she wanted to kill him. But his eyes flared a deep red color when he saw the flames. Danger often had that effect on him. She extinguished the fire, which he, of course, preferred. It was not that much that he disliked fire, it was more he disliked the idea of being on fire. But with the initial display of fire soon gone, Kulde accepted her smile and bow as a sign of her not wanting to kill him. He gave her a small smile back and stepped closer. Kulde had never had a problem with magic. Mainly because he had never had a bad run in with magicians. He hadn't heard any rumors either, for he spent much of his time out in the wilderness. "It is alright, Aylia. I merely thought you were burning the tree for fun." Kulde said. Not sure how else to respond. He had never been very social. His eyes slowly returning to their usual dark brown colors, indicating he was calm. He walked up to her as he took his hands up into his sleeve. He was wearing gloves, but Kulde expected that Aylia could hold warmer things than he, the fire flinging thing, so he expected when it was hot for her, then it would be searing to him. Several layers of clothing would be better. He could feel the warmth through both layers of clothing, but it wasn't unbearable. He lowered his head down to it and smelled it. Very strong, but sweet too. "Smells good." He said breathing air on the tea, trying to cool it down. No way he was going to drink it while it was this hot. It would burn his mouth to a crisp. Still. He was happy to get something warm before heading out for yet another hunting trip. "Thank you. Do you come out here often to use magic?" Kulde asked.

[Aylia Atero]

She nodded and took a drink of the piping hot liquid as if it were only room temperature then pointed to several stumps that were covered in snow. "Every day. But I try to make sure that no one is around." Taking another drink her eyes changed to a comforted purple before back to that dull blue. "I hope you enjoy it, the strength of it helps keep me active in this cold weather." Of course it wouldn't have been as cold to her if she were dressed properly, instead she wore those thin cloths that allowed the wind to cut through the fabric as if it wern't even there, the only real protection she was wearing from the cold was the thick cloak and even it seemed inadiquite.

She held her cup tightly her knuckles turning white over it, her hands were shaking so violently but the grip she had kept her display of weakness to a minimum, something she learned in prison, to show weakness was just asking to be taken advantage of. "My calling is magic, each wisp of flames a new discovery, each movement and word a focused will. Eventually, I will be one of the greatest sorcerers in this world. Of that I have no doubt." She took another drink of the tea before setting it down on the rock.

Walking over to the large fallen tree she examined its size then placed her hands on it making that blue mist of res form around her though this time it moved down the length of the tree and slowly moved from gas to liquid coating the entire tree. "Step back, I need to make sure the tree that I've destroyed doesn't change the surrounding in eviroment." She backedup aswell several meters before she breathed in deeply. "I'm already feeling overgiving, I wouldn't want to lose control and burn you because your to close." She smiled at him abit waiting for him to back away then with a sudden jolt of her hands a spark ignited on the liquid res causing the rest to transmute in an instant.

The plot of flames burned hot, so much it could be felt as if a bonfire, the entire tree seemed to ignite from the inside aswell making it burn to embers in just a minute or so with her concentration. The moment the tree collapsed into ash though she released her focus and stumbled back over to the rock grabbing onto it for support she coughed loudly spitting up a small amount of blood which stained the snow red. She could hear the voice again warning her but pushed it to the back of her mind. Holding her stomach she leaned her back against the stone and breathed deeply. "I apologize for my condition. Normally I don't tax myself this much, but I've been practicing for a few hours." She grabbed the tea and took a long drink of it before moving her blonde locks from her face. "So when are you going to ask?" She said in reference to her hair, which got mostly questions from everyone around.

[Cheshire]

. Character: Kulde Experience: None Lore: Seeing the Difference Between Vantha and Other Humans, Feeling Protective of Nature Additional Note: I noticed Aylia was gone so I graded this thread. I'm sorry I could not give you any XP for the thread. I'm sure the story would have gotten interesting though. Feel free to PM me with any concerns or comments.