Closed [The Silver Sliver]A fine day to make a deal[Amelia Cross]

[Clyde Sullins]

63 Spring 513 It had been a long season back in Ravok, to say the least... And he had not even been back for a entire 10 days... It seemed every which way he turned, someone wanted something from him... Or he ran into someone or something. So it was for that, that Clyde went for a sorely needed drink... Clyde set himself down heavily at a empty table, setting his staff down at his feet, and taking a seat facing the door and his back to a wall. Rye moved in under the table, to rest his head on his paws, still darting a look at anyone who neared, and giving a deep throated growl if anyone got close to his master. Except for the barmaid, he had learned not to growl at her, but anyone else to near, would earn his growl... It was a bit odd, but in the shadows under the table, the dog seemed less visible, than a dog in the shadows of a table should be. Something to do with its breed. Clyde simply motioned for a ale, as he usually ordered, and settled back into his chair, as the barmaid walked off with her tray. "So Rye, what do you think will happen tomorrow? I think we have done almost everything we could in the last few days. Surely we will run out of random people eventually."

[Amelia Cross]

The day was calm, as it should have been expected here in Ravok. Amelia didn’t complain, but somehow the overly predictable nature of this city, managed to bore her now and then. But today, that wasn’t really on her mind. For the whole season, she has just been thinking of one and only one thing. The Institute of higher learning and how she didn’t manage to enter fully, or more precisely, afford the full lessons. The girl was well aware it was nothing but her pride that had prevented her from the studies, but truth be told, for the first time in her life, she regretted being so impulsive. Just thinking of the wonderful things she could have studied there made her feel anger towards herself.

All of these thoughts, brought her to the Silver Sliver. To drink? Entertain others? Listen to rumors and watch a fight? No. This time, it was her desire to look for a mentor. The day before, Amelia had done a reading to a young man, who she did a reading to. That time, the night was young and she had time to spare. After a few drinks she had found out about a man who was skilled with magic. She wasn’t sure of much, just a few features she could get out of the drunken boy and a name that didn’t seem to twist through her tongue. But she knew, that there was a place, where she could put the information to good use. She was sure that that one place would be the Silver.

With a bright smile on her blood red lips, she entered the tavern. Waving her head the slightest bit to a few familiar faces, some were a good time and friends to drink with, the others she had done a reading to. With a light step, easy enough to be described as floating, she made her way to the bar and toke a seat, sweeping her black hair over her shoulder. Amelia toke a long glance around the place, it was relatively empty at this point, but that was for the best, it meant she’d have the time to talk with a barmaid about the mysterious man whom she wished to talk with.

However, despite the tavern being half full, the barmaid was over floating with work and Jeb just wasn’t the person she’d wish to discuss this with. As she waited, she looked around the tavern once more with a bit of a bored expression on her face, until her black eyes were caught by a man, sitting with his back to the wall. Shamelessly she didn’t turn her eyes away, as she paid exceptional detail to his appearance. The slightly tanned skin, that seemed to be even warmer within the light that was falling on him. Charming blue eyes, that stood out quite a lot, she’d even call it his most distinguishing feature, well, if it wasn’t for the long and narrow nose. ”is he bored, or frustrated?” she questioned herself as she paid attention to his face and the strange fact, he was sitting alone.

”And what would you want?” the voice of the barmaid awoke Amelia from her wonderings about the man sitting there. ”A good time” Amelia chuckled, before she turned herself to asking her desired questions ”do you know about a man, middle aged, good with magic…?” Amelia questioned, she had just assumed the man she was looking for was old, but she had no clue about the truth. Either way, the barmaid shock her head ”then maybe, that man over there? Is he alone here?” Amelia asked, while pointing the direction with her eyes. The barmaid just smiled at her and nodded a yes. That was enough for Amelia.

Dropping the man who did magic out of her head, she walked towards the man with a little bit of a faked, shy smile. She had come quite close and was about to start speaking, but she was startled by a loud growl ”G…Good evening…would you mind some company?” Amelia asked, still wondering about the growl as she hadn’t managed to spot the dog, who was still slightly giving out a slightly more silent growl at the dark haired girl.

ooca bit longer than I expected, hope you can work with this

[Clyde Sullins]

Of course, Clyde could not be left be. His drink had not even arrived, when already some girl had come up. He supposed she was attractive enough in her own right, but nothing that would send Clyde leaping to his feet to woo her. He doubted many woman at all had such a beauty. Such looks only existed within tales, or in the enthralled mind of those affected by magics. He knew enough of hypnotism, having had it used on him before, that such a thing could occur with that magic. But he felt no such longing, or sudden desire for this woman. He could be fairly certain she was not using such spells on him... That or she was just really bad at it. However before she even arrived, Rye let out a small growl, which appeared to come out of no where. Clyde let out a small grin as he did, and bent down to scratch the dog behind the ears. He was so well hidden though, he had to grope for a moment to find his head. But after a few moments, he did. Though it might look as if he was groping at the empty darkness below his table. As the girl did finally speak, he thought over her words. And her grin, which looked a bit plastered on. It was hard to fake a real smile, if you were not genuinely happy, and this woman was not good enough an actor to do so well enough to deceive him. He was to good at observing and picking up tells and little details that gave it away. This time it had to do with the crooks of the mouth. Easy to spot a fake grin. "That depends entirely, upon what you mean by 'company'. For no, I would not want just any company." Before he could continue, the barmaid arrived with his ale, and set it before him, he took a sip, taking his time, clearly in no hurry to respond to the girls question. He would make her wait, as he took a second sip, and then set it back down. Besides, he could better judge her if he saw how she reacted to such things. Would she let it pass? Would she become angry for having to wait and being ignored? He was interested to know what she did in response to his timed wait. But after letting out a breath, and taking in a fresh one, he finally continued onward with his talk. "If you mean would I like some woman to come and sit with me, and to prattle on about the weather and other such useless topics, such idle banter to no end, then the answer is no. I don't like such useless words, and why should I speak without saying anything? My time is worth more than that." "If you meant it in another fashion, as in 'company' for the night, then the answer is also no. I don't pay for such things, I am not in such dire straights as to need to." "So do you actually have something of use to say, or to ask, that is worth my time, or did you just want to prattle with me? If it is the latter, go ahead and walk away now. Don't worry, I will give you a few moments to collect yourself and to gather an answer, suitable for my question. Or not. How can I say how fluent you are in conversing, with but a half sentence spoken to me."

[Amelia Cross]

At a tavern like Jeb’s, on should be prepared for the unexpected. But Amelia wasn’t, she wasn’t pleased with the man being this calm and reserved, for an instance she even assumed that he would be a waste of her time for her. That is, until he had forced her to wait. Amelia was patient and she had been thought to wait for what she wants, but no, a man at a tavern isn’t exactly something she finds worth waiting for. Or more precisely, she had never ever had the need to wait for a man at this place. Therefore, the slow mannerism of the man in front of her, seemed to intrigue her. It’s not like he could throw her away, and at worst, she’d be left alone by the table as he walked away. So Amelia stayed, calm and now not a glimpse of a fake smile, her facial expression lacked detail, except her eyes…the black eyes were looking into the man’s, direct eye contact had never made her feel awkward.

Finally he spoke again, but soon enough, Amelia questioned herself, was it what she wanted? ”I don’t’ waste my time or others, but if one is sitting alone at a tavern, I assume the person in question, is in no hurry, and honestly, already wasting their time if one would ask of my opinion…” she calmly explained, still startled by the low, barely noticeable growl. She began thinking it was her imagination, but still, she didn’t take the seat from across the stranger. ”As for your second option…, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it” she let out a small smirk, quickly growing into a smile of a tease, or how her father referred to it, a hunter ”Even if I did offer such things, I doubt you could afford it…and yes, I don’t think you’re in need of those services, if you’d be, you’d probably be sitting at the house of pleasures”

Assuming she was correct, Amelia finally let herself break the eye contact and look around once more, carelessly and not actually paying much detail to a lot of things, except a few people entering, always questioning herself, could one of them be the man she is looking for? ”strong words, but so calm…unusual…” she stated as he had finished his quite long speech, but her voice was a little above a whisper, making it hard to tell apart her words. Amelia avoided speaking a lot, she was much more the type to listen, and her father had crafter her into the perfect scholar, obedient and mannered. So, speaking till her mouth runs dry? No, the girl avoided it, but maybe this was the time to break her own habits?

”Well, you made it clear that there is no need to play around with questions…you want direct ones…straight to the point” she said, finally gathering her own courage and sitting down by the table. Yes, she wasn’t invited, but as she had made it clear to her mind before, he couldn’t actually do anything about it, except complain. ”I’m looking for…someone, a man of power and skill” she began explaining, with such emphasis on a few words, that she could make it sound as if the man in front of her was the one she needed ”skilled in magic, he returned to Ravok recently…” her black lashes flittering as she leaned in ”maybe you’ve heard of him?”

Little did Amelia know, that the stranger with a semi sharp tnge in front of her, was indeed the famous Clyde Sullins, the tutor she was looking for.

[Clyde Sullins]

If nothing else, their talking proved the girl was in fact patient, at least enough to listen and not interrupt and let him finish. Perhaps even more patient than himself at times. She just silently waited, staring deep into his eyes, examining him. He would just stare back, unabashed, unashamed, unflinching. "Assumptions. Sometimes they are accurate. But you will find not always, and when you depend upon those assumptions for making decisions, things can go badly for all involved. Especially when you make one so specific, and judgmental." "Rye, sit." As he said this, without even looking down, the growl would cut off. Perhaps leaving the girl all the more curious for it. But he would move on, a small smirk on his face for a few moments, as it did seem this one was at least moderately capable of carrying on a conversation. "Perhaps it might be said I also made some assumptions, but mine were wide enough, and together more or less covered all the possibilities, that invariably at least one would cover the truth. But that was in three disparate possible avenues of assumption, not a single one as you made. Made better by observation and logic, to come to a proper conclusion. Unbiased by my own prior experiences to make such an assumption, as yours was." "And yet another assumption, which also proves false? My, you are truly on a roll, with your unskilled observations and assumptions. You might be surprised what I could afford, if it truly was required. Don't look upon my robes and clothes, and think one thing. Would a man truly wear any finery, in a place such as this? Or would he not dull his apparel?" The girls eyes darted about for a few moments, looking, questing, quickly examining, was she searching for something or someone? Perhaps... But it was to soon to make such an assumption. Finally the girl seemed to have built herself up to the next statement, almost visibly swelling as her courage built up to a breaking point. Surely what she had to say, or truly ask, was not so hard to state? Or so he thought, before she said it. It would be his turn to find an assumption had proved wrong, in that her question truly did merit it being so hard to voice. Of course, he had not voice the assumption, so only he would know of it, or that it had been wrong. As she sat down, he waited upon her response. He did not question her sitting, if she had no place there she would leave soon enough. ”I’m looking for…someone, a man of power and skill. skilled in magic, he returned to Ravok recently… Maybe you’ve heard of him?” Clyde looked at the girl, her eyes aflutter, as she daintily displayed her eyelashes. Clyde just looked at her, wondering about her odd performance. "What is wrong with your eyelids? Or do you have something in your eyes? You should really have that taken care of." The attempt at using such feminine whiles completely went over Clyde's head. It did not even register as such. He was genuinely wondering if she had some eye issue, or something akin to it. Of course, the girl might as easily think he was joking, or teasing at her for her actions. Taking another sip of his ale, Clyde looked at the woman. "And I am afraid you will need to give me a bit more info, before I can know for certain of whom you speak. I do believe I know of such a man, perhaps better than many others, though I doubt anyone knows him truly. Do you perhaps have a name?" "And what is it that you want of him? You seemed to have left that bit out. Don't tell me you are another fool, looking to learn magic? I have seen first hand how foolish it is, to seek such secrets. It rarely if ever ends well for those who know of it... Of magic... Things such as that are better left alone, as it is a path you cannot leave once you set out upon it. What possible reason could you have, for wanting to learn magic? Surely not a good one." Clyde just looked at the woman, a serious look on his face. Technically nothing he had said was a lie, though to some it might be considered evasive, or a half truth leaving out part of the info. But he did not lie in his speech.

[Amelia Cross]

”Rye? Could it be his pet?...or imaginary friend” she began wondering as soon as the man spoke out the name. She was about to laugh, being sure it was nothing but a weird quirk of a madman in disguise. Yet, as the growling came to a sudden stop, she began assuming he had a pet, there, under the table. Sending a slight chill up her spine, the thought crossed her mind, but the face stayed frozen still.

Listening, she had so many to add in between his words, words one would probably find offensive. But being the listener she was, Amelia didn’t interrupt the man even once. A few times her lips almost cracked open in-between his words, but she decided that if a man at a tavern is this well-spoken, it’s much more useful to listen. Above all else, she had little to do with the man; she didn’t have anything to argue with him about. She wouldn’t let herself drop to one of those women who not only join in, but start loud argues in public places.

”That’s probably true, my intuition is lacking…but it has never bothered me, as all I need to find out about someone I can do by taking a glance at their palm…” speaking in short and calm sentences, as if she had all of the time on the world to herself. ”Well, if one should be honest, I don’t assume you to be...how to put it…poor, I just know that there isn’t an amount of wealth that could buy me” she explained with a smile. Somehow, the man seemed to be doing a bad job of getting her away from himself, if that was at all what he was trying to do. At most, he had managed to interest Amelia with just how unusual he was. ”Now knowledge is a different thing…”

Amelia was slightly disappointed that her acts don’t go through with this man, but at the same time she felt intrigued by him. She was too used to getting what she wanted, at least here, in Ravok. She couldn’t help but chuckle the slightest bit ”looks like I can drop my attempts of seduction” the thought seemed more and more bizarre and unnatural to her as she looked back at him once more ”Don’t you know, it’s not polite to point such things out?” she just calmly questioned, not really expecting an answer to it, before moving on.

”Really? This boy new him?” Amelia had trouble believing it, she had used the question only as an excuse for some small, chatter. Now, she was seriously questioning just how useful the man in front of her could be. ”A name…what was his name…Cly..” she couldn’t remember. It was right there on her tongue, but nothing came out. ”I doubt there could be a lot of men like that, don’t you agree?” she continued pushing back the question, but despite it being something similar to an escape route, the emphasis on the little word, you, could make one wonder.

”I’d say, this time you have assumed quite right, I’m a fool looking for a tutor. The Institute is a brilliant place, but if what I have heard is true, this man is a lot more skilled than the instructors at the institute” seeing as the man hadn’t fallen for her acts, she decided that making up lies for her motives would be useless. He saw through the main façade, it was just a question, how clear and how deep could he see?

”Magic is a precious gift, it’s power that comes with great risk and responsibility…I’m most aware of it, believe me…but I have a war with many…myself, and whole city who denied me happiness and freedom” Amelia’s voice had dropped, it was cold and a bit distant. She didn’t have much of a clue to why had she stated her motives like so, but maybe, the direct way she was forced to speak had forced her to say something that came from deep inside of her, hurt that was left from long ago.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde simply gazed back at the woman, as she spoke of looking at a persons palm to learn of them. What the petch? He paused for a moment, wondering if the woman was insane, to truly believe that you could read a person by their hand. Or perhaps she was just making it up, or pretending she believed. He shook his head, and half muttered in response to her words. "Oh great, just what we need, some lady who thinks she can tell everything of someone by looking at their palms. You know, most people wait till they have been doing magic for awhile, to go crazy. You however seem determined to beat the curve in that regard." "Magic is one thing, and god magic yet another, but I don't believe you have either that allow you to do what you claim. So either you believe and are crazy, or you are putting on a show like you do, as you likely do for your customers. Which is it?" Clyde paused for a moment, taking a sip of his ale, and gave the girl time to answer. Then he would move onward, responding to the other things she had said. "Perhaps there are not many men like that, but it seems we have been cursed to live in interesting times, and in such interesting times such as this, many people of great skill crop up. Most ages would have but one or two at a time, maybe a few such skilled people existing in unison. But in this age, I fear many will appear making life both very interesting, and very bothersome. So a bit more info would be helpful... Unless of course you don't know it yourself." Clyde had just grasped at such a possible reason for her words, and how evasive she was being. Why else would she simply not state the mans name if she knew it? After saying what he did, he supposed their might be a few reasons for it... But none that made a great deal of sense. His first deduction seemed to make the most sense. As the girl spoke of her true reason for wanting to learn magic, Clyde made a small smirk, not in making fun of the girl, but in that his own past was not so different. The very things that had pushed him so hard into getting better at magic had not been so different. But of course, he had not chosen magic, it had been thrust upon him. It had not been his choice, unlike this girl who wanted to choose to follow it. He had been but a small child of five years old, when he had been initiated into Reimancy. A dangerously young age to do such an act... Long before he had been able to make any choice on the matter... And before the many other events that turned him from Syliras, and made him who he was. As Clyde spoke, his voice would grow cold and emotionless, like he was barely suppressing his emotions from bursting force, and it was only through this forced apathy that he could keep it as such. "You? You are aware of nothing. You hold a candle in your hand, see the flame and its flickering warmth, and the light it sheds, and see it is a marvel, as wondrous and powerful thing that you can control. You think you respect it, that you understand it, that you know its dangers and the precautions you must take, but you know nothing." "For then you are the fool who sets the building around you on fire to create more flame, and only end up killing yourself, when you realize it has gotten beyond your control. It would be foolish of me to help you find a teacher, when you don't respect the very thing you seek. You say you do, but you don't." "You want to learn magic so you can make war. To fight the people and the city or cities which you sense have wronged you. To right the wrongs of the freedoms and happiness they stole from you. But who are these people? What is this city? Will there truly be an end to things, once you have completed this goal, if you ever do? If you manage to not burn your own house down on the path there. And then what, once you complete such a goal?" Clyde paused for a few seconds, before finishing. "You think you know so much, that you know what you seek. But just as a person that has never been burned, cannot truly respect flame, you do not respect magic, and will only destroy yourself should you gain it. You see it for its glamor, but don't see the downside to it. Nothing is for free, most of all magic. What do you truly desire so badly, that you would choose magic? What fool would choose magic willingly? And what greater fool, would willingly pass on such a curse to another?"

[Amelia Cross]

IT hurt Amelia to listen this time. She was free to hear a lot of things about herself from others and toke them as jokes or teasing. There were little subjects that could make the girl feel empty, make her feel hurt. None the less, this man had found one of them: Her practice of fortune telling. To Amelia, it was a gift given by a friend. It saved her from the lonely times she was alone and helped her mother when she was in need. How dare a stranger call her mad?

”I let you question my sanity. I let you question my mind and my motives. But what I have learned through blood and tears you can’t claim to be insane.” a high exaggeration, for fortune telling is one of those skills that doesn’t require someone to go through pain, but Amelia did. Back when she learned the power of seeing pass someone, and seeing into their future. She had to go through pain brought to her by her own father, who still doesn’t mind lifting his hand on the girl if he sees her practice on the streets of Ravok. ”Or maybe you are just afraid? For I could tell a lot of things by just letting you pick a card….or trailing along the lines of your palm…afraid of the future?” she paused for a moment before she continued with a little bit of notable aggression in her tone ”Or maybe afraid I could look into your past?”

The pain of listening to a man that showed no emotion. Only now did Amelia realize how little she knows about people and their faces. Before this man, she was sure she could read into someone by hearing them speak, but this man was different and she couldn’t even manage to accept it as a good or a bad thing. One moment she was sure he is about to help, but the next he is putting her down again, and again. But all this time, the only question rolling through her mind was…what was the name of the man she needed? She didn’t even turn away to see who is entering or leaving, she sincerely believed that this man could hold the answers.

”You think I would be looking for someone, who I don’t have the name of?” a short question, preparing Amelia to finally answer the question that frightened her most, needless to say the pause was short enough only for her to take a breath, not for someone to answer ”Clyde Sullins…” as she twisted her lips to say the word. She believed and hopped it was the right one she had remembered…but one can never know when it comes to names of strangers. Now all she did was look for a reaction in the man, hopping to see what she was looking for, information.

”You are blunt to an impolite level. ” Amelia couldn’t help but point out, she was usually thought to keep her own mouth shut and speak only what is needed, but despite a few pleasant things she managed to like in this man, the coldness shadowed it all. ”But if I know nothing, I need someone to teach me…isn’t it right?” and to her, this was as true as it could be ”I won’t stop trying, I’ll look, I’ll step over my pride and accept the teachings at the Institute…but I won’t give up on what I feel is meant for me…” probably the girl was getting a bit too emotional, but in a good way, she wasn’t crying or showing signs of sadness. She was smiling, a true and warm smile overflowing her, as she knew that not giving up, is just what she has been doing all her life.

”You see, I’m a good student, I listen…I was born in the city of knowledge and pots, and hold nothing but the deepest respect for teaching…I have traveled to the city of knight…the city that managed to take away my happiness, but there I learned the complex art of telling the future…or more precisely, one’s fortune and past…” Amelia had been a curios child all her life, it had led her to most of her own fortune and downfalls. But this time, it was more than just curiosity…it was…something much more meaningful to the girl.

”Well, I must tell you one, If I’d be foolish enough to not be able to control the power that might be trusted upon me, wouldn’t it mean that I’d deserve to die? To perish in the ashes of my own mistakes?” as she was a believer, of the laws that meant…you get what you deserve ”Probably, saying ‘war’ was too strong, but I want to see the city and the people perish…I want to see Syliras burn in flames…I want to see my friend and my mother free from their citadel” Amelia spoke, and her pleasant voice dropped, showing a bit of disgust in her voice.

Amelia had grown up in that city, it never seemed to bother her, the way it was and how the people lived there. She thought it was natural, as Zeltiva was crowded as well. But crimes, crimes everywhere despite the knights. People threated as scum unless they had an association to the knights, that’s what Amelia realized about Syliras after her first trip to Ravok. That the city her mother loved, had brainwashed her! She was sure of it, and all she wanted now was to bring her mother back to Ravok, with Tia, and have a good life here…

Bringing her eyes back to the man ”If I manage to help that city fall, I’ll save my mother…and she, me and my father will live a calm life here, the one my father offered a long time ago…the one the Sun offers ” another short pause, before she continued ”I have had my fair gain of pain on my skin…that’s why I know what it brings, I don’t wish to be a circus member who earns money by magic, I don’t want to drop it in conversations as “I know magic, just so you like me more”…I don’t seek that, and if you don’t see it…your skills of analyzing someone, aren’t as good as you claim…” she finally finished, waiting for the man to respond.

[Clyde Sullins]

Clyde just stared back at the girl, wondering at how affronted she had become at his response to her palm reading. While he knew divinition was possible, for he was only alive due to a konti telling the future, he did not believe such things could be done by mundane people. It was a rare gift, and only for the most powerful of diviners, not for the average person to do. Especially one without any special skills, or magic to their name. "I can't? Clearly I can, as I just did. My capability to say so is not in question, what you would be questioning is my right to do so. Whether or not I should say it. But no oath limits me, or stops me from saying it. Saying I physically can't say it is even more foolish." Holding out his hand across the table, Clyde showed his palm. "So prove it. Tell me who I am, were I have been and done, were I will go and what I will do. Surely if your ability is so true, then it would be but a simple task to know who I am. Unless of course I am right. Put your mizas were your mouth is." He made little to no reaction to hearing his name, after all he had been pretty sure for quite some time he was the one she looked for. In her own words such powerful magic users were not that common. So he was not surprised. He gave nothing away so easily. Clyde waited, and let her defend her position, her reason for why she should learn and be taught, without answering or interrupting. It was his turn to be patient and wait for her words to run dry. He slowly sipped at his ale, as he listened. Finally she was done, and he had a few quick statements, along with a question. "First, I highly doubt dropping being a wizard into conversations would make people like you more, or respect you. Fear you, yes. Be cautious, yes. Hate you, possibly. But respect you more? No. Make them like you more? No. And don't make more assumptions, perhaps my analysis is more true than you realize, or will even admit to yourself. Just because you don't like what you hear, does not mean the person saying it is wrong. Perhaps some of what I said is blunt, or my opinion, or even meant to get a rise or a certain response from you... But nothing I said was an outright lie." Clyde paused for a moment, to let his words sink in, before stating his final words, his question. "But I ask you, even if you do convince this mage you are fit to be taught, and not crazy, and will use the magic well... How will you convince him to teach you? What could you give him, to get him to teach you? What do you have to offer or give that this mage needs? What would you be willing to give up? Your last miza? The clothes off your back? Favors? Your very free will? What could you give him, to pay him for what you desire and value so highly? As I said earlier, magic is not free, and neither is learning it."

[Amelia Cross]

She was once again left with a pause. Amelia knew well, that this man should have known what she meant by the small ‘can’t’, she was sure he also understood perfectly what the whole statement was about. Still, he made it sound like she was no more than an uneducated slave, who didn’t know how to speak. Probably, this was the point where her mind was telling her to leave, most vividly. Yet, the man’s offer to read his palm was inviting. Amelia dearly wished to show him his place, by showing him she was right, yet, she knew her skills weren’t advanced enough to read him completely; she’d have to guess and assume. With him, it didn’t well.

Amelia didn’t manage to part the man’s dialogue, before he had already spoken again. All of it was common words of a man who mistrusted a fortune teller. If she’d get a silver each time someone asked her to prove her skills, she’d be living better than most acolytes. The only words that confused the girl, was his closing line. “Put your mizas where your mouth is? What on earth could he mean by it?” she repeated in her head, before pulling her own palms on the table.

The girl was clearly in no rush as she was almost a bit lazy with how she approached the offer. Carefully she brought the palm a slight bit closer; she leaned in a bit, to bout see the lines covering his palms better and to shorten the distance between them, even if just for a barley noticeable bit. ”Well Amelia, now or never…you can do it! You know you can!” her voice inside of her own head reassured her, as she began observing the man’s palm, each line, the fingers and their forms. Her own palms feeling the texture of his skin, all in all, the palm gave out an unusual feel. It seemed as one that has worked hard, yet it was quite clear that the man wasn’t that much into physical work. Then the words he spoke came to mind, could he be someone of higher standing, just avoiding unloving eyes? Or maybe worse, an agent of the Sun, who tell on her to her father if he’d find out her name. It seemed, as this simple action, had caused more questions than answer.

Still, she knew she had spent a lot of time absorbing the lines of his hand, it was time for her to actually tell him something ”One thing, clear from the line of your mind…you don’t do much physical work…actually, I’d say you limit yourself from most activities involving strong, physical activity” she began, running her thumb along the base of his palm. ”but you work hard, or how I’d like to think, worked hard on your mind, on mental powers and strengths…” Amelia explained, until to a point when her eyes widened the slightest bit, a line cutting straight from his little finger. This was a line she saw only people using magic have, her friend Tia explained, that it’s a line that forms itself to let chavi float from the body more freely. The pattern was mixed, but it had a much bigger resemblance to flames. Destructive magic?

”Speeches about flames and candles, dangers of magic, no wonder, you use magic yourself and have come in quite the touch with destructive ones…” she explained, cutting herself off a bit to pay more attention to him and how he was reacting to the certain statements. Not a whole lot of words yet, but she was curios. ”You don’t have a lot of friends, your line of love is short, you are true to the ones that come near you…but tend to be quite emotionless to others…” Amelia finished. She realized that she hadn’t said much on the behave of his past or future, she had trouble reading into that without the use of her cards, but yet, she assumed it was close enough? ”but I do admit my defeat, I can’t read inside your past without the use of my cards, all I can add is, that you have gone through a lot of physical pain in the past…and something dear to you was stolen…” She made it clear, that she had finished her reading, but still, didn’t pull herself away. None the less, she removed her palms from his, assuming he wouldn’t want to stay in much of a physical contact with her. ”If you want me to go into details, we can always arrange that though…” Amelia almost chuckled towards the end of her words.

”If you wished to see me run away in tears from your words or say “I give up”, you failed…of course, I come from a bit more different paths of life, so magic to those people, were never a reason to hate…except maybe in one place…still, I chose to believe in destiny and my own path…Maybe you just haven’t met the right people, who would like you, for your magic?” a question that could actually sting, she wasn’t sure was it a right way to play, but it was the only thing that came out of her. She hopped that her gentle and calm voice, would be enough to prove it wasn’t mockery.

The last question of the man before her, caught her a bit off guard, but she seemed to be gathering herself together quite well ”I’d be willing to give up my last miza, though, perhaps I’m wrong, but I doubt a man of such position would crave money…” she replied, before moving on ”Yet, I’d be willing to become a servant…For the need of learning, I’d step over my own pride and become close to what others call a slave. Above all, I can give what most people of this city can’t, a good word in the Sun…I can think of only a few things, I’d refuse to do, but those, I doubt a sane man would ask…though, as you have stated, I’m crazy, making me wonder, maybe I have no knowledge of what sane and insane is?” Such a serious question answered, yet Amelia finished it with a smile, before throwing a question back ”And what would you ask, to teach such things?” She didn’t think the man sitting in front of her was Clyde. The question came out just as a small wondering, but oh my, what could it bring?