[The Stone Garden]Talking to Stones [Kendall]

[Alevadra Druva]

Spring 42nd, 511AV It had been a long day, and the knight was less than pleased. It was common for Alevadra to be in a grumpy mood, but toward was particularly bad, perhaps she woke up on the wrong side of the bed, perhaps she had a kink in her neck, either way, it was not a good day to pester the woman. It had become habit for the knight to visit the stone garden on her off days. It gave her a chance to talk to Patrick, to her mother. The knight had removed her armor and wore a simple tunic belted at the waist with her sword happily occupying it's place at her side. Her hair was short, she had only cut it a few days ago, it was heating up, and the breeze was pleasant against her neck. The strands that hung down in her face where deep hues on blue and purple, it appeared mostly black, but the sun refracted the strange colors. The woman walked slowly into the garden, nodding solemnly to anyone who happened across her path. She was a knight, and looked the part, her tunic had a windoak stitched onto it, the symbol of the knights. She was respected, and in someways, she felt avoided and feared. It had never been Ale's intention to strike fear into anyone who was undeserving. Black boots crossed the threshold into the garden, small stones surrounded the woman, but they all meant little to nothing to her, her brown eyes were focused, her steps were solid, intentional. The Druva walked to the far wall and knelt, one knee pressed against the ground, her right foot was against the ground, creating a perfect angle at the knee. The dark haired woman bowed her head to the stones, on hand resting on the hilt of her blade, the other on her upright knee. “It's been a long day, Patrick.” She muttered to the ground. Brown eyes flickered up to look over the stones, her eyes landing on a particularly plain one. Her left hand moved from her knee to lightly graze the stone. “It's been a long year already. And I fear it's only now beginning.” She said with a groan, turning herself to lean back against the wall, eyes closed. “You remember when you got drunk and I took care of you?” She chuckled to herself. “I could have skinned you.” Ale stuck her leg out in front of her, and pulled the other one in, her knee sticking towards the sky. A hand reached up to squeeze the bridge of her nose. “I really should stop talking to stones.” Ale muttered. She hadn't accept Patrick's death, how could she have? Her mother's death, then Patrick. The woman had found herself distancing herself from her father, if he died, she didn't want it to hurt as much as the others had. You have to move on at some point. Patrick would have wanted that, right? Right. Ale opened her eyes and moved her hand from her face. It was quiet here, peaceful, the kind of place someone could nap undisturbed. The squires didn't come up here often, it gave Ale a chance to get away from everyone else, everything else. Maybe you'll get sent out soon. Wouldn't that be nice? Just get away from everything.

[Kendall Saarinen]

All of the magic Kendall and Hadrian had been working on lately was starting to effect him. He knew that the learning was nessisary. He was still so new to the world of the arcane though. He had never felt the experience of overgiving before. He had heard about it from his father. It was one of the reasons that his father did not want him to ever start working with magic. At times Kendall wondered if his father just collected terrible things about magic in his mind just to spout them off to his children. Since meeting Hadrian and finally seeing what magic was like he felt a bit of anger toward his father for never letting him see this world before. At the moment it was seeing a bit of why his father hated the art so badly. The Stone Gardens seemed like a good place to visit to try and work through the feelings of overgiving. It was peaceful and quiet. As he walked into the garden he felt a nudging feeling poking at his mind. It was almost like a whisper in his ear. "Play with your fire. Never stop playing." He wanted to give into the whispers. He held his hand out and looked at the scar on his palm. It would be easy. Just release the Res and ignite it. "Just do it. You are a pyromancer. It is in your nature." Kendall ran his fingers through his blond hair as he tried to ignore the sweet whispers. They were getting harder and harder to push out of his mind. He wanted to use his fire, he needed to use his fire. Against his better judgement he let a bit of Res escape from his palm. As it played above his hand he felt a strange metalic taste in his mouth as well as his small headache growing a little worse. In a fit of fear, Kendall closed his hand on the fire, extinguishing it. The sweet whispers had stopped chattering but he felt even worse than he started. He walked on through the garden and in the distance he saw a woman crouched in the stones. He squinted as he tried to place her. He did not think he knew her although he was not really in his right mind at the moment. His feet begged to stay where they were but he pushed forward toward the woman. He should have been resting but maybe he could rest a bit when he reached the girl's side. As he got closer he noticed the strange color of her hair. Was she a Vantha? He had never seen a human with colored hair. Maybe she could use morphing like Hadrian could. When Kendall finally made it to the woman's side he felt the need to walk away. He could not think of anything to say to her or even why he had wanted to be at her side in the first place. Instead he simply let himself drop to the ground and sit on the floor of the garden. He looked up at the dark haired girl with bloodshot eyes. "I don't think you should stop. It makes you feel better right?" He often talked to his fire and at times Ivak, even if the God did not talk back. "It does not matter if it looks strange." He was well aware of how it felt to look strange. He was not strange looking. If fact, he was far from it. He was more strange but personality. Even more so when he was spaced out from overgiving like he was at the moment.

[Alevadra Druva]

Alevadra was started, had someone actually gotten this close to her without her notice? The woman cursed herself, either she was getting out of practice, or this man found her on an off day. Murky brown eyes moved to meet a young man with ruffled blond hair. “I don't think you should stop. It makes you feel better right?” Ale looked up at the boy. What did he know of what made her feel better? On the other hand, this man did have it right. It did make her feel better, even if it was only a small bit, these one way conversations kept her close to those past. “It does not matter if if looks strange.” The short woman smiled over at the man. “I suppose you're right. I am sort of strange to begin with.” The woman smirked and nudged her new company. Alevadra looked the man over. His eyes were bloodshot and it looked as if he'd been up for days, trudging through the forest. Not that he was dirty, but he looked worn down and exhausted. Perhaps he was sick, perhaps this was how he always looked. Whatever the case, Alevadra left it be, he was no threat for the time being, just a man sitting next to a knight who talked to stones. No biggie. The Druva let her head rest back against the stones for a moment, her eyes squinting up to the sky. “It's a queer day, isn't it?” Ale thought it was at the very least, strange. She had woken up without any drive for anything. She barely tended her horse and her shift was a monotonous task that she nearly slept through. All of these things made for a queer day. Brown eyes moved from the slowly passing white puffs to the man sitting next to her. Sera Druva, but, you caught me at an off time, so you can call me Alevadra, or Ale for short.” The rough woman offered him a soft smile. She was prickly on the outside, but this man had lucked out, she was at a weak point, and her soft nature was showing through the spikes she'd built. “So, what brings you here? Just coming to enjoy the quiet, or is a loved one here for you as well?”

[Kendall Saarinen]

A small smirk played on Kendall's lips when Alevandra spoke of being strange. "The best of us are." Kendall normally was not this open about himself. Maybe it was the overgiving making him careless or even more open. He chuckled at the nudge although he felt a bit of fear rip through him when he saw the girl looking him over. He always got a bit scared when people looked at him a bit too long. He worried they could see through his facade and could sense the girl that hid inside of him. With a small nod Kendall agreed. "Yeah, I did not really feel like doing much today but walking around it seems." He really did not do much unless he was with Cathan or Hadrian. Of course, he had a job that he needed to keep up with as well. Luckily he was not needed at the stables at the moment. Kendall held a hand out to the woman and smiled. "Nice to meet you Alevandra. I'm Ken… Saarinen." He added his last name after a moment of consideration. He normally did not give out his surname but Alevandra gave out hers and he wanted to be respectful. "Which do you prefer to be called?" He really did not mind calling her by either name but he did not want to see overly friendly but jumping to a nickname when they had just met. "I just come here from time to time. It is nice to have a quiet place to think and to meditate when needed." Kendall really just needed somewhere quiet. He felt sick but he did not want to spend the whole day cooped up inside. "What about you Alevandra?"