Solo A Lesson Remembered

[Taurina]

Mid-Afternoon of the 88th of Summer 517

Summer was drawing close to its end and, yet, the heat continued to be unrelenting in its torment of the Sea of Grass. There had been wildfires this season. The rains that had come had not been all that the grasslands needed to really thrive. Predators had been hungry this season and made more bold because of that hunger. Hunters had to be cautious, most all others were urged to stay within the city. It had been a tumultuous season full of illness, death, and destruction with a heat that refused to let up. How had they survived it? To Taurina, it was by the god’s wills alone. She hoped that the next season would be better, but there was doubt. The lack of the last winter’s coming had wrought a pain that lasted upon her home. She did not know when it would be made right, if it ever would.

It was not often good to dwell on the doubt and worries. The Ethaefal found that she did just that frequent enough, but she did not wish to. The stress such thoughts brought put such a strain upon her soul and she always had so much weight upon her soul already. So many thoughts, questions, and worries over just about everything going on in her life. So, this day, she had given herself a task to keep her mind and her hands busy. It was her hope that said task would work in providing ample distraction.

The room with walls of canvas was a mess in Taurina’s opinion. It was not as though she was a messy person or even had that many belongings with which she could create a mess, but nothing seemed to be in its place. It made sense that things would change places, of course. This was a moving city and the pavilion along with all within it was packed up frequently and resembled just as frequently. It could be a challenge to keep track of everything, to keep things orderly through each move of the tent city. Yet, it was necessary for everyone to do just that or chaos would ensue in mass.

What was bothering Taurina most this day was how her things had been organized. It was her goal to get all back to the way she preferred it to be. Her belongings, for the most part, fit within the three bags that she owned. Her two large yvas bags and the backpack she carried with her most places. Of course things like her bedroll and extra tent did not fit within these containers, but those were easily rolled up and made small enough that transportation was possible. The objects that fit within the confines of bags were things like extra clothes, her compass, things like her comb and brush, even her blanket. Usually, the Ethaefal was very neat about how she arranged these things when packing. Last time she had not been so neat, however, and had just thrown everything in rather haphazardly while ensuring that everything fit. The amount of her belongings was growing.

All had been pulled out of whatever container it had been placed within. The floor of Taurina’s portion of the Stormblood pavilion was covered with every object that she owned. Well, almost every object, she was still pulling out the remaining objects from her pack. There were just little things left within the pockets of the pack that she often carried with her. Things like her flint and steel pieces, her compass, and stray mizas. Each objected was pulled out and placed in front of her on the ground. The Ethaefal was sitting with her legs crossed, her pack in her lap, and her hands searching every crevice of sad pack. It was nearly empty now, just dust and small pieces of broken charcoal remaining in the bottom. Taurina sighed to herself before standing up and heading outside of the pavilion, bag in hand and the rest of her belongings left where they were on her floor.

Taurina walked through the pavilion and out the front flap into the heated light of Syna. It was like the sweat that already covered her intensified tenfold just for stepping into the direct light of the sun. A huff was blow out from the Ethaefal’s nose. She was tired of the heat, but there was nothing she could do about it. Maybe a breeze would blow through and bring some relief. Taurina held onto that hope as she walked around towards the back of the pavilion. She walked a few yards out and then tipped over the pack in her hands. Then she started shaking, aiming to get all the dirt whatever else was hiding in the inner seams of the heavy clothe out. The Eth shook as hard as she could, moving her arm up and down and side to side. She wanted this pack to end up as clean as she could get it.

It was a chime or two before the woman decided that she was satisfied. She grabbed the bottom of the bag with both hands and gave it one last violent shake before slinging one of the straps over her shoulder. Hands moved down her legs to brush off her pants, make sure she did not track in any of the dirt she had just gotten rid of. Her gaze was focused on the simple task she was doing with her hands, but as she raised to stand again, something caught her eye.

The little cube sparkled under Syna’s light in the grass where it had fallen. It was not very big and was only a chunk of quartz, but the Ethaefal had forgotten about it. Allowed it to be lost in some corner of her bag not to be found till now. Taurina reached forward towards the cube and picked it up. She held it in her head and let herself spend moments just staring at it. While she had forgotten before, it was not hard to remember now. That was what the cube had meant to serve as after all. A reminder of the things she had been taught, the goals she had set for herself, and the mentor she had aspired to one day be like. How shameful it was that she had let herself forget for all this time.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Taurina]

She remembered the day she had been given the quartz cube now. It had been during the fall of five hundred and sixteen, the Ethaefal’s first season in Endrykas. She had met the one who had gifted her this bit of magic while out struggling to produce something of worth on her own. His name was Aoren and she had not seen him since, but she was partially to blame for that as she had never sought him out after their meeting. Was he still in Endrykas? Maybe, maybe not. Taurina was not so interested in searching to find out. Perhaps their paths would cross again some day, just as he had said in his farewell to her that day, or perhaps not. The Eth was willing to leave that up the whatever the gods had planned.

What she was not willing to leave up to the powers that be was her training. She had let it grow lax. Given up any sort of commitment she once might have had for pursuing the magic known as Reimancy awhile ago. She had used it since then. To clean out her tattoo needles as best she could or to practice it a bit when sketching or tattooing had been too hard. Too prove something to that man with the brutal scars just a handful of days ago... She had never remembered Aoren’s lessons though. She had never worked on the things he taught her. That was something she was regretting now. She could only imagine the disappointment that might have lined his features had he known of how she had forgotten to practice and grow in what he had sacrificed an afternoon to teach her.

Taurina did not know if the male would have actually been disappointed, if he would have cared enough to be. She had not gotten to know him very well in their time together. Only a tiny fragment of who he likely was had been revealed to her. In the end, Taurina realized that it did not matter so much if he would have been disappointed or not. What mattered more was that the Ethaefal was disappointed in herself. Ashamed even. She had promised herself that she was going to grow that day. That she was going to heed the lessons taught her and run with them. Become someone like the one who had taught her. Someone who was confident and knowing in their magic. That person she had promised to become was not the person standing behind her pavilion holding that little cube of quartz.

The scarred hand of the earthbound form Taurina wore in Syna’s light closed around the cube of quartz. Determination set in her face before she began to walk back towards the entrance of the pavilion tent. She had not yet finished her cleaning and organizing, but a new task had come to mind. The desire to practice, to learn, came swift and was as unrelenting as the heat. The want to clean and organize her belongings had, for the most part, been replaced. This felt somehow more important. Like someday her knowledge of this art would somehow save her or one she cared about. Maybe that was dramatic of her to think, but she had learned that things rarely happened by pure chance. Why else, if not by fate or a god’s design, had she found the quartz cube now instead of before? Why had she seen it in the grass instead of leaving it and losing it forever?

Nothing happened for no reason. Everything had a purpose. It might not always have been easy finding that purpose, but that did not mean that it did not exist. That was what Taurina had always believed and would continue to believe until it was proven, beyond all doubt, otherwise.

It was easy to enter back into the pavilion and head into her room sectioned off by canvas walls. Taurina could likely do it with her eyes closed. She did not do that, but almost. Her mind was not on her walking or focused on where she was going. In some way she might as well of been walking with her eyes shut. Luckily no one had been around during that particular moment in time for her to trip over or run into. The Ethaefal slipped behind the canvas flap that acted as her door and entered into the mess that she had left behind her when leaving. Nothing had moved from wherever she had placed it on the ground. Everything had been separated and folded nicely then, but in this moment the Ethaefal was pushing everything into one corner of the room. Her pack was thrown on top of the pile.

Taurina made a silent vow to herself that when she was done with this that she would finish up her first task of cleaning and organizing. She was going to have to now anyway. If it had been a mess to her before, it definitely was now all heaped in one large pile like that. Taurina was opting not to care about it at the moment. She sat down with her back turned to the pile as if to prove to herself how much she was not going to focus on that pile of things. The only object she had in front of her was the quartz cube. She placed it in front of her to be used as both a constant reminder and something to focus on so that her mind would not get distracted.

A deep breath was inhaled and then released. Taurina sat with her back straight and legs crossed, her caramel gaze focused on the stone in front of her. Another breath was drawn in, this time held for five ticks before being released. Taurina repeated the action, calming herself down and emptying her mind. It would not do to have so many thoughts and emotions coursing through her, not if she was going to focus. It did not matter that all of those thoughts and emotions were centered around the task at hand. Not if they were only going to distract.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Taurina]

Every time she tried to conjure up a small ball of res it got easier. Of course the length of time between of her practices made getting started still difficult every time. She had to remember how she was suppose to do it, clear her mind of all the junk clogged within it. The breathing had helped her get her mind in the right place though. All the thoughts had retreated to the back where they would not be thought of as much. Her desire to rectify the wrong of not practicing had been simmered down so that she might actually succeed in making that desire a reality. Now she was just concentrating, her breathes coming steady and controlled as she began to drag up some of the res within herself.

It was always slow for her. The pool that was created was opalescent and gel like at the start. It had always reminded Taurina of moonlight with a few extra shades of color within it. Kinda of like a Konti’s scales, but not quite that colorful. The res the Ethaefal let herself create in this moment was roughly the size of her palm. Her palms were not that big since she was not a very large person in this form to begin with, but the amount was still on the higher end of how much she had ever created in one sitting. A deep breath was dragged in and released. No headache had formed yet, that was a good sign. The Ethaefal knew to watch out for those and the desire to keep casting past what she thought to be her limit, she did not wish to overgive.

The pool of res that Taurina had created was rather misshapen and looked more like a blob than anything. Her first assignment to herself was to shape the res into a sphere. This was something she had done before so while it was not easy, it was not overly hard. She had even done it during her lesson with Aoren. The Ethaefal concentrated once more, focusing on her breathing and on the res hovering above her palm. She remembered what Aoren had told her when she drew up res in front of him. He had told her not to rush anything. That haste was a mage’s undoing. She kept this in mind as she slowly molded the res to her liking.

Two to three chimes had passed before Taurina was successful in shaping her res. Slower than she would like, but she reminded herself again not to rush. All would come in do time. It was better to do things carefully, really get to know the magic before rushing into anything. ‘The mastery was in the details,’ Aoren had said that day. She believed those words rang true. How she wished she had followed up on that lesson now. She could have learned so much more. Even if she had not found him again, but just practiced regularly since then. She could have been so much further along than she was now. Yet, she had not been smart. Had not thought so far ahead. Her mind then had been on things like surviving, settling into Endrykas, working her job. Then the Zith had come and her world had been rocky for a little bit. Though, truly, it probably still could be considered rocky.

Taurina blew out a breath and pushed thoughts away. She did not wish to dwell. Not when there was Reimancy to practice. She could think about all the things that pressed on her mind and infiltrated her thoughts later. When it was dark and there was nothing she could do but ponder all those messy thoughts. The point simply was now that she had let this magic, this Personal Disciple, get away from her. No more. That was her resolution. It would get away from her no more.

With her opposite hand, Taurina reached over and ran her fingers over her own res. She felt the gel like texture, but did not poke holes into it or try to manipulate it. All she did was graze the surface and then let her hand drop. Another breath was sucked in. Now was the next task, get the gel like substance to shift to a liquid. She had only done it once before where she got her res to turn to a liquid like substance. It was not turning it to water, which she could do with a rather simple thought, but keeping it as it was. Just a different form. Something she had not known was even possible and would not have ever thought to try before she ran across and learned from Aoren.

Last time she had been told to find the connection within herself. What was it she had been told? Gas like breath, liquid like blood, solid like bone. That sounded correct. Taurina did not know what part of her the gel was suppose to be like, but that part did not matter as much since that was the form her res seemed to take every time she created it. The Ethaefal decided not to think about it any longer and instead focused on finding the connection within herself for shifting the res to a liquid. It was blood that was like a liquid. The way Taurina had been able to do it before was by focusing on her heartbeat. Since it worked last time, she decided to give that a try this time.

Eyes were closed and mind cleared of any thoughts that had trickled back in. The Ethaefal focused on getting her breathing steady, on the sound of air moving through her lungs. Once she felt at rest and as focused as she could get, Taurina began to focus on the thumping of her heart. Her very mortal, drumming, heartbeat that proved she was alive. The beats came one after the other, pumping the blood that moved through it to every part of her being. In a way it was her life force. At least, it was a part of it.

Eyes opened, but the focus on her heartbeat did not shift. Taurina coaxed gentle thoughts towards the ball of res hovering above her palm. She was asking it to change, to become like the river of blood moving through her. Liquid as a puddle. The shift did not come easy and a thrum of pain had begun to pound in the back of the Ethaefal’s skull by the end, but eventually Taurina had her wish. Her res was changed from a gel to a liquid.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Taurina]

A happy smile stretched across Taurina’s face when she reached success. The throbbing in her head was not pleasant, but it was at least ignored easily enough. Taurina raised both her hands so that her palms were together and faced towards the ceiling. She tilted her hands together as one plank like structure and shifted her liquid res between the two. Really, she was just playing with it. She wanted to see how it moved, study its texture, and find out what she could do with it. Not all was likely to be done in this one session, but she hoped that she would remember better from now on. Remember to practice and to keep up with it. She did not want to let this slip through the cracks of her mind again.

Taurina shifted the res back to hovering above one palm. In this liquid state she found it harder to get the substance to remain still. It was constantly moving, the majority of it going towards the lowest point of her hand. It truly was like a pool of water. Only, it was no water. Only like it. With a thought, however, that changed. Despite wanting to do more, learn how to get her magic to shift through all the stages, Taurina did not want to stress it. She did not want to be one of those mages who was undone because of impatience and haste. So she ended her practice then, even though she felt that she could have gone longer, and turned her res to water.

What water splashed into Taurina expected, cupped, hands. Some trickled through the cracks between her fingers and over the sides of her palms, but what did not get lost to the floor was drunk down by the thirsty Eth. Most of that which was left made it into Taurina’s mouth, but some still ran down her arms. The water was no different from regular water. It tasted just the same and the little bit she got had been refreshing. It was gone now though. Either consumed or soaked up by the pavilion tent floor. Darkened spots on said floor showed where the water had fallen. Taurina sighed and simply shrugged. She had other things to attend to and the floor would dry in time. Probably not much time at all really, with the heat and everything.

Taurina stood to her feet, ready to finish up the task she had started with organizing her belongings when the pounding in her head became worse. Her nose scrunched in discomfort as she pressed fingertips against her temples. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she prayed that the headache would simply pass. She did not have Aoren here this time to take away her pain with his healing magic like he had last time. She did not think she had cast so much to bring this on, but apparently she had done more than she thought. The large amount of res and then transitioning the state of it all at once had probably brought this on. There was a low groan that bubbled out of Taurina’s throat. She noticed now the faint taste of metal that had filled her mouth.

All of it was unpleasant. The Ethaefal could only guess this was happening as direct result of her cast magic. Too much too soon. She had not practiced enough and though she had tried to be careful, it had not been enough. Overgiving was what she had heard it called. It hurt and there was discomfort, but it was at least not getting worse. The taste in her mouth was not growing worse and her headache had yet to bring her fully down. It seemed as though this was going to be the worst of it. She just needed to be more careful next time. Smaller amounts when attempting the transitions. At least for now. Until she got a better handle on how to do it.

Taurina sighed and continued to rub her temples. Her eyes were opened, however, and her gaze moving across the room. All of her things were a mess and while she had all night -in theory- to clean in, she knew that she was going to want some sleep this night because her mind was now so weary. So she moved towards the pile and began to pull things out of it. She spread everything out across her floor and looked over it all as she tried to decide how exactly she was going to go about this. It was while she was circling all her items that her eye was caught once more by the quartz cube she had left on the ground.

The Ethaefal went towards it and picked the cube up. She knew already that if she just put it in her pack than she was going to lose or forget about it again. So she decided that she needed a better place for it. A place where it could not be forgotten. Eyes looked from the quartz cube in her hand to the various belongings she had out as she searched for an idea. Where could she put it where it would not be forgotten? She did not know. Sinking down to her knees, Taurina stared at the cube as her head pounded seemingly against her skull.

Taurina’s empty hand came up and rubbed against the side of her head, aiming to bring some relief. Her fingers failed at bringing her head any relief, however. It was just not something she was capable of. She had to just wait for it to pass or go out and seek a healer. Neither something she wished to do. Bringing her hand to her head did help with something, though. All the braids she had in her hair and the wrap gave her an idea for what to do with the cube. She could not put it in her hair, but was not just a chunk of smooth stone. It had ridges and fractured edges. The Ethaefal thought that maybe she could tie a sting around it and maybe put it around her neck or figure out how to weave it into her yvas blanket. Then it was less likely to get forgotten about.

Taurina reached out for her cloak and her dagger. The thing was heavy and unneeded because of all the heat. It was probably hasty, but Taurina did not wish to go and have to find a piece of string long enough. Besides, it was not like this was going to destroy the whole cloak. It would still be usable. So the Ethaefal went ahead and did what she had planned. She cut away a very thin strip of the fabric of her cloak from the bottom that was some amount over a foot long. The cloak had a frayed edge now, but Taurina decided she would be able to find someone to fix that at some point. She went to work wrapping the string around the quartz cube. Once she was satisfied that it was not going anywhere, she tied it off and then tied a double knot at the top of the string so that a loop was formed.

The loop was slipped over Taurina’s head so that the string colored grey rested against the base of her neck. The stone landed just past her bust in this form, shimmering in any light that hit it. Taurina nodded, satisfied with herself. She would wear it around her neck as a reminder for now and if she decided at some point that no longer worked for her, woven into her yvas it would be. And with that all decided and done, the Ethaefal went back to work on organizing her living space.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

Boxcode credit goes to Azmere

[Rufio]

G R A D E

xp

Observation +2
Cleaning +1
Philosophy +1
Meditation +1
Reimancy +2
Organization +1


lores

Cleaning: Shaking dirt from heavy cloth
Philosophy: There is a design to everything, nothing happens by chance
Meditation: Using crystals to aid focus
Reimancy: Conjuring res needs a clear & focused mind
Haste is a mage’s undoing
Reimancy: Changing res form from gel to liquid
Over-giving Effect: A taste of metal & migraines

If you feel I missed anything shoot me a PM.
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