[The Bronze Wood] The Hunters Meet. (Miharu)

[Sturlin]

“I can understand the joy of learning such a complex and interesting thing. Nice would not be how I would describe my own learning, however.” He smiled to her, the expression looking strange as his toughened left face refused to move properly, and munched some more on his biscuit. Taking a rack from his preserving kit he rested the now mostly dried and salted jerky on it in a patch of sunlight. He then began to array more stripped and salted deer meat on the pan.

Soon the pan was once again held well above the fire to bask in its glow. Finishing the last of the biscuit looked unpleasant, but it was nice to wash it down with a gulp from his water skin. His left hand moved to rub over the shaved scalp of his head. It was becoming difficult once again for him to discover topics of conversation. Even his time with Sam been relatively brief and light on talk. Clearing the last of the crumbs from his throat he asked, “What manner of wounds have you had to repair?”

[Miharu Mindi]

She paused mid-chew, golden eyes suddenly focused completely on him. It was possibly a little unnerving, like staring into the eyes of a wild animal and realizing it was just as intelligent as you and had much sharper teeth.

He wanted to talk to her, and he wasn't very good at it, so he'd just been interrogating her. She doubted he really cared, but she understood the impetus for wanting company.

"How'd you get your wounds?" she asked curiously, not unkindly, just as if she thought that was enough questions about her, thank you.

[Sturlin]

He shrugged slightly, as he did when trying to shake off a topic he considered uncomfortable. The silence which grew from her question was long, and he had time to flip the jerky before he answered. “I attempted something which was beyond my capabilities. My arrogance hurt both myself and others.” Sturlin opened his mouth as if to add more but he shut it so quickly that his teeth clicked together. As if nothing strange had happened he glanced at her eyes before taking another drink from his water skin.

[Miharu Mindi]

She continued staring and chewing, her head tilting a little as her curiosity grew. "Yes, but that's a lot of skin to lose. Were you dragged behind a horse or something? It's not clean enough to have been torture. You can usually see blademarks in that." She'd seen, once, a criminal who'd been interrogated for answers. She wasn't supposed to have seen him, but a curious child can hide in so many places. It was certainly something she'd never forgotten.

[Sturlin]

Sturlin really had no experience with discussing his powers with others. From what had happened to his father he knew that it was unwise to perform magic in the public eye or to abuse others with it. The people of his home were, for the most part, united in their hatred of magic. However his father had been insane, to put it lightly, and his vicious use of magic might have been what caused that reaction rather than the magic itself.

More silence passed as he watched the girl and those captivating eyes. They were alone in the woods, and he could easily move deeper were she to alert others in the area of his magic. If they attempted to hunt him down he could pack up and leave. There was nothing holding him in the area and Mr. Pickles was always eager for another adventure. This thought brought his eyes to the cat who so greatly adored his guest. Mr. Pickles winked, as cats sometimes do.

What if she were to attack him, he wondered. There were several feet between them. She was currently a young unarmed woman, though he knew that would not be the case for long if she decided to assault him. He'd give himself even odds of tearing her apart with Reimancy or being disemboweled. This was not a pleasant thought. Coming to these woods had been to avoid further killing.

Finally his mind came to the positives of sharing this information with her. If she did not care then at least he would have one friend in the world, excluding cats and horses, who knew what he really did out here. If she came back to visit it would be pleasant to know someone that he could share the results of his experiments with, though she likely would not understand them. A heavy sigh left his lips as he looked back to the jerky and pondered.

He pulled the jerky back from the fire to lay it beside the previous batch on the rack. Layering more meat on the pan he glanced at her again. When he moved the pan over the fire he did so with his right hand, leaving his scarred hand tensed in preparation for defending himself in case she had the same violent reaction toward magic as his neighbors had so long ago. It was very possible he was just a paranoid hermit, “The wounds were caused by a complex bit of magic, that I performed without realizing the consequences.”

There...that should work. He had not given away any details. He looked to her as if hoping that her reaction would not be a hostile one. Mr. Pickles carefully lifted one leg straight into the air and began the ever engaging process of licking himself.

[Miharu Mindi]

She'd stared at him the whole time, watching him think it through with unwavering eyes. She'd expected some grandious story of adventure - the gods knew she had a few of her own, and with less than savory people - but when he said magic she blinked as if stunned.

Two breaths passed while Mr. Pickles licked his way over one arm and then a bit of Miharu's bare shoulder.

And an absolutely stunning grin burst across Miharu's face as those huge golden eyes lit with excitement. "You're a mage?" she squeaked, bouncing a little in her seat. "Like, an actual, real-life magic user? I've never met a mage before! Well, my old teacher, she was marked by Rak'keli, but she didn't, like..." And she held her hands out in front of her, fingers spread, and made little pew-pew-boom! noises.

[Sturlin]

Stunned was the perfect word to describe his reaction to her words as well. Staring for a moment, he gave a small smile and shook his head, as if amused that she would romanticize mages in such a manner. The jerky was beginning to look very good, as he shifted his grip on the pan to examine it he said, “Yes. A real life mage.” He had to admit that it felt good to see that grin, and to know that it was at least indirectly related to him.

Francis flicked his tail at a particularly troublesome fly, looking over at them with a bored cast to his shoulders. Mr. Pickles ignored them entirely, his licking taking up all of his not inconsiderable attention.

[Miharu Mindi]

"Wow," she breathed, the smile banking into something less bright but more casual and comfortable, as if this new bit of adventure had suddenly chased away her stoicism. It was an unpredictable change, from the cautious, quietly curious woman to the suddenly exuberant teenager that she actually was.

"So, like, how do you do magic? Do you have to be, like, born with the talent, the way some people are just really good at an instrument or something?"

[Sturlin]

He shifted back and forth uncomfortably on his log. Magic was a very personal part of him, and it seemed strange to discuss it too openly. Working her question over in his mind he decided to answer truthfully, but without a great deal of detail in the telling. “In theory, I suppose, anyone could attempt to learn. My teacher was not a man who was interested in discussing theory.”

It was time once more to re-position the jerky, and he did so with his eyes flitting back and forth between her and his work as usual. Perhaps in an attempt to change the subject, so that he would not have to decide how much he was willing to tell her, he decided to compliment her. Whatever the motivation behind it his tone of voice clearly conveyed the truth of his statement. “You have a very pleasant smile.”

[Miharu Mindi]

Her face scrunched up at the compliment, which might have made another woman blush and stammer. Or at least a human woman.

"My smile? What does that have to do with anything? Do you have to have a pretty smile to learn magic?" And then she blinked, and her expression shifted more to something like revelatory. "Ooooh," she drawled, "you don't want to talk about it. Mage secrets or whatever. Right," she sighed, looking as disappointed as any teenager deprived of something fun. She propped an elbow on her knee and leaned her chin on it, the other hand rising to idly twine Mr. Pickles' tail around her forefinger. "So. Um." Another heavy sigh. That sort of thing had worked on her father when he'd been alive and unwilling to share some tidbit of information.