12th of Fall, 516AV Mid-day Drake let out a wistful sigh, pacing around the common labs in noncommittal lines. Arriving at Sahova yesterday morning, he had been filled with a powerful blend of apprehension and wonder at what awaited him. However, as he had grown to expect over his admittedly sparse few years, the reality was far more banal than anything his imagination could have conjured. While the Citadel was certainly a marvel of old Alahean engineering, and the set-up of even the common labs and workshops far more impressive than anything similar he had seen prior, he couldn’t shake the fish out of water feeling that had settled upon him the moment he had passed through the gates. It wasn’t only the fact that he was now, for the first time in his life, totally outnumbered by walking corpses; Nuit did not make him uncomfortable, he was a mage after all, not a small-minded farm boy living in Syliras. It wasn’t even the fact that, ostensibly, the bulk of the walking corpses he had actually spoken to thus far (which wasn’t many, they didn’t seem terribly predisposed to socializing) seemed to be offended by the fact that he wasn’t a corpse himself. But the spartan and somewhat oppressive manner in which the Gug Andjak had been designed had driven the realization home of exactly what time spent here was going to be like. There wasn’t really anything in terms of decoration or diversion, and while Drake had to give the Nuits credit for efficiency, he felt himself pining for the life he was leaving behind. Caravaning might have been dangerous and the pay might have been subpar, but each day had been a new and fascinating experience. My time here will be far more rewarding, I am sure. He scowled slightly, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Just perhaps not as carnally satisfying as places like Kenash and Ravok. That was, of course, if he was even permitted to stay here. The judgement was in just under ten days. Ten days to prepare the most dazzling display of wizardry he could perform. Nearby, in the common labs, he had made out others he had seen arriving with him to the harbor the day prior - crafting and practicing and studying. Drake figured he had to have something of an edge in this regard, as he had had some experience convincing people he was a better wizard than he actually was. Then again, perhaps it would be best not to try and use Hypnotism on Master Wizards. The thought elicited a chuckle from him. In his hands sat a small leather bound journal. As he paced, he thumbed through it idly. Aquamancy exercises, with detailed explanations and illustrations, all hand-written by his father. As a child he had been required to drill them each and every day, ten sets of each. He was well beyond the need to carry it, each of the basic forms detailed within already well committed to his memory, but he found that reading through it always helped to stimulate his thinking. Perhaps it was just the chance to read things written in his mother tongue. He had not spoken nor heard Vani in sometime, but reading his father's handwriting, he could hear each word in his father's voice echoing across his mind. |