[The Quill's Rest] Tea and Auras

by **Alija** on June 24th, 2015, 9:53 pm

25th Summer 515

It was a nice day, the sun in the sky and a soft oceanic breeze flitted through the streets. Alija had come to the Quill's Rest that afternoon after finishing work and cleaning herself up a bit. She had changed into a simple cotton blue dress, soft and cool, and a pair of lace trimmed gloves, a pair she had had to buy the moment she saw them. Alija found they gave her an upperclass feel to herself - her movements became more elegant, smooth and soft.

It was with such a movement she placed the cup of tea on the small table in front of her, set in a small nook designed for two, although Alija sat alone. She let the noises around her, soft chatter, the occasional laugh, and of course, the clinking of teacups, slowly merge to one. She stared at a point in the wood in front of her, trying to reach a state of meditation and clearness.

Alija took deep steady breaths, focusing on both the swirl in the wood she was staring at and her djed, trying to breath in time with a mental clock that slowly counted the seconds. Once she was focused enough, she shifted her focus entirely onto her djed, forcing it up through her senses.

Using this djed, she began to focus on the tea with different eyes, slowly synchronising her aura with its. It was only a small aura, not extending far, but visible, and it slowly became more clear as she focused on it, trying to remove other distractions.

Closing her eyes, she maintained the focus, understanding that shifting from sight, her primary sense when using auristics, to smell and taste would be hard without focus. She retained a mental image of the teacup and its aura, using that as an anchor point. She inhaled, feeling little things start to reveal themselves up. One of the first was the taste.

Her mounth started to develop a fish like taste, salty and steamy. As she focused and relaxed, it got stronger, revealing more and more precise details on the taste. Kelp was the most prominent; after all, it was steamed kelp tea. However, there were other flavours there, flavours like salt and sugar, other flavouring she did not know the name of. She relenquished in the flavour of the aura, slowly letting her focus fade.

Now she could try the tea for itself. Delicately picking up the teacup, she sipped slowly, trying to taste what she just had. The flavours where there, she supposed, but this way they were all merged as one and it was impossible to pick one out from the other. Alija smiled, remembering their tastes. Only the finest of connoisseurs would have been able to pick out the distinct flavours. And Alija had accomplished that with a little magic. Then again, it wasn't as if she could name them.

Receipt :

by **Talya** on June 27th, 2015, 4:36 pm

The noon had come and gone. As had the cool morning breezes, and the water's waves; gradually, they had retracted as the sun had begun to pull back, retreating into the western sky. Still though, the salty water crashed into the shore, and at times, Talya thought she could hear it as she moved through the city, looking for some place to settle. Some place to find people, and perhaps a drink or a bite to eat, for in this form, she still hungered. But that she knew, would end soon enough when the night came again. She sighed, as she looked up at the sky, there were still a few hours left where she would be trapped in her old body, and thus, less likely to unnerve some of the Zeltivans, who seemed to view her as uncomfortably foreign, at least some of the time. But at least, it was better than Ravok, where she faced constant, open ridicule for what she was. Again she sighed, as the soles of her boots sounded softly against the ground. The cotton folds of her dress swishing around her legs as she glided along, and eventually, came to the establishment known as the Quill's Rest. At which point, she pushed the door back, and headed inside, to find a small gathering of people. Some chairs and tables. Some people situated at those chairs and tables, almost all of them really, keeping them completely occupied, although some people sat alone. She had half the nerve to turn and walk out, but she found her feet weary, and decided to scan the room for a half empty table she could join.

To aid in her quest, Talya called upon her auristics. By concentrating deeply upon the figure she wanted to study, her eyes developing a trance-like appearance, she was able to give the vaporous tendrils rise. In this case, she focused upon the aura of a rather average looking woman. Her hair was relatively short, cropped just above the shoulder, and tan in color. Her skin was far paler than the Ethaefal's as well. She couldn't make out much more than that, but it was enough in the end, for a pale blue aura to form around her. The mist circling lazily, as though the woman were at the center of a pool- perhaps simply sitting in a tub, and the water was able to remain largely still, tranquil, although the occasional vibration still occurred against not only the skin; but the inner rim of the water's container as well. Just looking at the aura made Talya feel at peace, as though the owner were naturally calm, or was entering a more serene state after having enjoyed her tea. Or at least some of it. As she sniffed the air, she caught the scent of something she could only describe as oceanic. As the rate of her heart's beating began to increase, she realized that she smelled something salty; something like low tide, and something more natural, plant like even, although she could not place her finger on it. This, she realized, could belong to the aura, making her think that the woman liked water; or did some work around it. Which made a lot of sense, and alternatively didn't tell her much as she lived in Zeltiva, and in the grand scheme of things, everyone lived near the water.

But then again, this could be the scent of the Quill's Rest as well, and of all of its people as one great mass, as many seemed to be sailors, and as was said before, all lived around the water. Or maybe it was a mixture of the two, whatever the case, Talya found that the aura seemed safe enough to her. That the woman who owned it seemed approachable. And now that she realized that she had been standing in the doorway awhile, and some people were beginning to give her funny looks as though to say make up yer mind miss, either walk out that door or sit down already, Talya's cheeks reddened as the aura fell, and with a shrug, she darted over to the table where Alija was sitting, and stopped as she came to hover over the empty chair. "Is this seat taken?" Talya asked, as a wave of exhaustion crashed into her. She pointed. "Mind if I take it?" she asked, as she chose to weave her djed into her eyes. The intense gaze she held upon the other woman as her vision settled upon the other woman's eyes. Say yes, her hypnotic djed urged, although she wasn't quite sure her magic was strong enough, or it worked that way. She couldn't remember anymore, or at least, not right now.

When Alija had replied in the affirmative, or even said nothing at all, Talya would pull her seat back, and settle in. She'd smile sweetly, and say "thank you," as a worker came over to ask her what she wanted. "I'll have to think about it," was all she'd manage before the woman nodded and darted away to help someone else.

"Sorry about this... there weren't any other tables..." Talya explained, as what looked as though it may have been a blush spread to her cheeks.

Forgive me, the djed urged, as Talya struggled to regain her breath a moment. "What is that?" she'd ask, with a gesture to the mug, which was meant more to distract herself from the effects of magic than anything else. She seems to be staring at it rather intensely... I wonder what's so interesting about it.

Talya's nose wrinkled. It was kind of like what she smelled before when she was studying the woman's aura. "Stinks like the sea..."

Although, again, this could have just been the establishment and its people themselves, confusing the poor Ethaefal's nose.

OOCAnything in italics tends to involve hypnosis.

Bold are thoughts.

by **Alija** on June 30th, 2015, 4:41 pm

Alija hadn't even noticed that she had been joined by another until she found herself with a strong feeling of forgivness, which snapped her out of her trance like state. She glanced up to a dark skinned woman with dark locks of hair and eyes black. After the initial shock at seeing her companion had faded, she started to listen to what young woman was saying.

"What is that?" she asked about the tea in her hand, before wrinkling her nose at the smell, "Smells like the sea." Not a native Zeltivan then. Kelp was everywhere, and any Zeltivan would have recognised the familiar scent. Then again, Alija didn't need that to distinguish this woman as foreign: her looks and accent did just that.

Alija looked down at the tea, the green liquid swirling as she lowered her hand slightly, focus transferring to her companion. "It's kelp tea, a Zeltivan speciality. I would recommend it. However, that's not why I was staring at it. I was looking at its aura - well, smelling it anyway."

As if demonstrating, she let go of normal senses and gathered up her djed to replace them as her eyes sank in a trance-like state. They settled upon the woman, letting the smoke come to view, smoke that twirled around her and spread a little further than the average human. Then, as she focused a little more, a pale white smoke, contrasting with the black, became to come to view. It was confusing, as if there were two people not one, and it showed confusion too, the smoke so random and without any pattern or clearly defined movements.

She could feel something else about it too, slight traces of magic, she believed, a feeling that had always come to her when around the College of Djed. It prickled slightly against her skill, both warm and cold, uncomfortable and soothing. So this girl knew magic too. She just couldn't tell what it was.

Letting the aura fade away and the real world return, she stared back at her companion. "You're a wizard too," she said simply, face expressionless. Alija was lucky in the fact that in Zeltiva, magic wasn't rare and feared as much as it was elsewhere. In fact, only a few seasons ago they had a fully running school for it. However, this foreigner might have not known that. She just hoped that she hadn't offended her.

by **Talya** on July 10th, 2015, 9:42 pm

Talya frowned. "Sounds... interesting,," she commented, which was more or less code for that sounds absolutely disgusting so why in the world would you willingly drink it? The Ethaefal's brow furrowed as she studied Alija's eyes, watched her slip into a trance, and then, speak little. She felt her heart stop though, for a single beat, her breath catch in the back of her throat, but she tried not to let her eyes widen and her alarm be betrayed upon the rest of her countenance. She wasn't sure if she had managed as she whispered, "a wizard?" before falling silent a moment, licking her dry lips with the tip of her tongue, "is that what they are calling them these days?" she questioned, as she stifled a nervous chuckle, and looked down at the table, where she proceeded to draw circles with the point of her finger. Her eyes trailing after it idly, before she looked up, back at Alija. She did her best to lock eyes momentarily, before she settled into her own trance and studied the woman's aura again. Not as much the colors or the smells, but what was hidden behind that. The depths of the aura; for clues into the life of the person that sat before her, that ran more closely to the heart than emotion. The portions of her that formed the soul of her person, as opposed to her veil; the facade displayed by her countenance.

Talya felt as though she were sifting through mud, although her hands did not make the motion, as the aura seemed strangely cloudy. Foggier than before. But still, she could sense something further there. A faint tingling at the edge of her mind; a poke, a prod, that suggested there was far more to Alija than what was met with her naked eye. Something kept hidden; something magical; a sense that she were looking into a mirror, for in the woman, she saw a portion of herself. Or rather she sensed it more than she saw. Although there was the occasional sparkle that helped to tip her off- the woman before her, much like herself, was an aurist. A curious grin passed over her lips then, as Talya let the aura fall, and a wave of exhaustion passed over her. Her eyes growing more distant for a moment, before coming back into focus, although how Alija could know remained unclear, seeing as Talya's eyes betrayed only darkness at this hour.

"Is there any use in hiding anymore?" Talya asked, in little more than a whisper, although her mind spoke of something else. Silently, as they locked eyes. Silence. Silence. What are you doing? Don't you know it is unwise to speak of such things here? For, unfortunately for the Ethaefal, she hadn't been long enough within the port city to know the differences of its people and its ways, its very heart and structure, in comparison to where she had grown up, to know that magic was far more accepted there than here. Silence, her mind hissed again, her heart beating a little faster now that she continued to weave her hypnotic djed into her words. "Or do you already know?" she paused, as she glanced down at the kelp tea, and thought again on its unpleasant scent for a moment; grounding herself in how it was a part of the earth, before looking up again. "Or do you simply, think you know, as so many of this world seem to do?"

OOCAnything in bold is a thought. Anything in italics is emphasized, or the work of hypnosis depending on context.

Feel free to ignore any hypnotic attempts, as Talya, isn't quite so talented in that department as of yet.

by **Alija** on July 11th, 2015, 9:01 pm

The girl seemed to tense, beginning to draw circles with her fingers. She gave a nervous chuckle, licking her lips, before making eye contact for a moment. What she did after that felt so familiar, Alija became certain. Talya was an aurist. She gave a slight grin, before seeming to fall out of the trance.

Her black eyes continued to unsettle her slightly, the way they had stared trance-like at her. The eyes met her own.

"Is there any use in hiding anymore? Or do you already now? Or do you simply, think you know, as so many of this world seem to do?" she said softly, words barely audible. They seemed to suggest silence, and Alija replied quietly to her, unsure whether she was doing so willingly or not.

"Why hide your skill?" she answered, taking another sip of tea, "I know. Magic is in your aura, as much as it must be in mine. A fellow aurist." Alija suddenly considered what that meant. Perhaps she would be willing to help her, or to train with her. Perhaps she wouldn't be alone in this art. "Don't be scared. I don't know where you come from, but in Zeltiva... well, magic isn't too rare. Still uncommon, but auristics is unnoticeable. Only another wizard could tell, and they would have no reason to fear you."

Alija smiled, straightening up a little and drinking some more of the tea. "Anyway, my name is Alija. I'm pleased to meet you. I think fate drew us together, one reason or another. After all, who else would recognise what you are? Which leads me to ask, what are you? Not to be rude, but I haven't seen anyone with eyes like yours."

by **Talya** on July 11th, 2015, 10:10 pm

Talya chuckled. "Skill?" she questioned. "I'd hardly call it that," she continued, as she fought the urge to pick up a glass and take a drink. She found her throat a little dry, and she felt somewhat thirsty, but from the look of things, it didn't appear as though there would be anything in the establishment to her liking. She frowned slightly, and then forced the way her emotions were betrayed to pass as she coerced a deep breath in through her nose, and out through her mouth, and lent a sparkle to her eyes. She was still amazed, even after her few years, at the openness of some humans, and of course, the stupid questions they always seemed to ask. Or at least, the ones she deemed obvious anyway.

"I don't suppose you've been studying long," Talya commented, as she traced another circle in the wood, just so she would have something for her hand to do. Something to occupy her time. "Or perhaps, under many people." She paused. "I find they're not so forward," she glanced down at her finger, "and that they tend to hide their skill, as though it were more precious than their own lives." She smirked, "until of course, they try to kill you."

Talya's smirk edged into a smile. The corners of her lips softened, as did the expression her eyes portrayed. "Talya," she said simply, as she fought off the urge to reach for a beverage once more. The urge to drink cloying at her; irritatingly. She blinked a few times, trying to ward it off, as she widened her grin in slight, to the point where it seemed at least a little forced. "A conglomeration of fragments. Broken memories." She paused. "They call us Ethaefal, the children of Leth or Syna. By day we take one form, by night, another." She smiled weakly, as though recounting something of the past. "What you see before you is a Chaktawe, a desert nomad, which is likely why you don't recognize the form. But at night, when the stars have taken to the sky, and the sun has disappeared, I become something else. A sort of mirror of the moon, I suppose you could argue."

Talya fell silent for a moment. "You will see, as it seems now, that you have many questions, and fewer answers." She paused, as she found that she was stumbling over her thoughts. "It seems your quest for knowledge has started a new chapter, and that you seek now to fill the pages, and sate your lust."

Talya shrugged. "Or I could be entirely wrong. You could not care." She paused, and offered a sweet smile. "I don't know you well enough to be certain."

by **Alija** on July 12th, 2015, 6:09 am

"You are right," Alija smiled, trying to reassure her, "I haven't studied under many people. Just one wizard. But I have studied long. Many, many years. And I've lived in Zeltiva longer." Her hands found their way back to the teacup, wrapping around the handle comfortably. "In many places, it is like you say. But just last Fall, we had a fully running school of Djed. People came to study magic here. People learned to live with it."

She listened to Talya speak about herself, about how her form showed a Chaktawe, from the desert, but she were Ethaefal. One of Leth, for she took the form of the moon when Syna left the sky. Of them she knew of. They passed through the city often, having swum up from where they fell into the city. Or at least, as far as Alija knew. That was what she had pieced together from rumours and gossip.

Before Alija could ask, Talya continued talking. "You will see, it seems now, that you have many questions and fewer answers. It seems your quest for knowledge has started a new chapter, and that you seek now to fill the pages, and sate your lust. Or I could be entirely wrong. You could not care. I do not know you well enough to be certain." She gave a short, sweet smile.

Alija returned it. Before replying, she took a long sip of tea, letting the flavours explode in her mouth. Then, satisfied, she said simply, "I have questions. Some I could answer myself, some I couldn't. Some Auristics could help answer. I came here to practise that, and I will do so. You seem to know me, and you don't. I have questions, but I have a plan, and I will stick to the plan. If you care to stay, you can give me answers. You can join me. She hoped that she would stay. Auristics was beautiful, but she always wanted to know what it was like to see auras through different eyes. This was another question that she didn't have the answer to. Perhaps this question would be the one to be answered.

by **Talya** on July 12th, 2015, 12:11 pm

Talya's brow rose into a high arch. But only on the right side. "They must only have to pay a fee," she commented. "Which is easy enough to accomplish if you work at something outside of your education." She paused. "The institute was much harder to gain entry to- you had to be a citizen, you had to be recommended by someone, and more often than not, you had to bare the black cloaks upon your shoulders." She fell silent as her brow fell back into place, and her eyes trailed over Alija's hands as they rest against the teacup, and she enjoyed the apparent warmth of her beverage. It seemed to still be steaming, anyway. "Do they have anything like that?" she asked, a part of her interested if she could brush up on her skills and learn something new while she was in the city. After she got a job of course, seeing as she was low on mizas, as money as seemed to run through her fingers as easily as water. "To cull out some of the players? People they may deem unstable? People they think may be prone to the misuse of magic, perhaps?" she inquired. For goodness only knew what could happen if even just a competent voider or reimancer could do to a city if their power remained unchecked.

Talya cleared her throat. Softly, she never liked calling attention to herself. It was dry and scratchy. She supposed it was the salty bay air, she wasn't used to. At least, she didn't think Lake Ravok was salty anyway, but then again, she could be wrong, seeing as she had never really taken the time to check and be certain of as much. "There is only so much auristics can do for anyone, or for you, this is true, as every discipline comes with its limitations, of which you must make yourself aware." Talya watched the faint quiver of the woman's lips, the way a muscle seemed to course angrily just beneath the surface of her skin, in several of her fingers. She thought perhaps, that Alija was preparing to move again, and wondered now that she had taken a sip, if she intended to set the mug down. It made sense to Talya, she supposed, as people seemed to take a long time to drink hot beverages. Something about savoring it. The moment; but she supposed it was really an ingenious way to cover up the fact that they were trying desperately not to burn their tongues.

"Plans too, have their limitations," Talya continued after another moment. "Especially when you find yourself unable to stick to it," she finished with a small smile, a sort of passing glint within her dark eyes. "Unable to adapt to the change," she added as a sort of afterthought, her voice trailing off for a moment as she developed a far off look, and sank into the musings of her own mind for a moment, before reconsidering, remembering that she was conversing with the stranger who sat before her. "I know not what sort of questions you may have for me, but all the same, I can endeavor to answer them for you before the day is done," although that is likely to only create new ones for you, she thought to herself. "Would this be the place you wished to ask them?" Talya inquired. "Or would you like to go somewhere else, to practice and to learn?"

by **Alija** on July 16th, 2015, 9:01 pm

Alija smiled as her companion spoke of difficulties of entering some Institution: the location of such place, and the place itself, unknown to Alija, but it sounded almost familiar. "The College of Djed used to have something like you speak of. An interview, in the Scholar's Asylum, to see if you were a dabbler or madman. I was labelled a dabbler, and denied a place." She looked down at her cup, remembering the anger and sorrow she had felt at not being given a place. How she had grown over the last few seasons. "They were right. If the College was still there, I would reapply, if I was allowed. I've grown out of my dabbling. But it was destroyed last Winter."

Talya cleared her throat, before speaking "There is only so much auristics can do for anyone, or for you, this is true, as every discipline comes with its limitations, of which you must make yourself aware." Alija nodded in agreement. It revealed so much, but she had so much more to discover. So many auras to read, so many meanings, colours, swirls to assign definitions to. "Plans too, have their limitations. Especially when you find yourself unable to stick to it, unable to adapt to the change. I know not what sort of questions you may have for me, but all the same, I can endeavor to answer them for you before the day is done. Would this be the place you wished to ask them? Or would you like to go somewhere else, to practice and to learn?"

"Everything has its limitations," Alija said simply, taking a few more sips of tea, "But I do not know them. I wish to find out, and how will I if I do not try to discover?" She chuckled softly to herself, "To practice and learn? So you will join me? I have questions, true, and I have plans. These plans do not encompass the location, and the questions do not rely on the location there are asked. I will stay here until either wants to go.

Her gloved hands placed the cup down, and she pulled at one finger, debating whether to remove the glove. Deciding against it, she moved her hands into her lap, looking towards the Ethaefal opposite her. "Do you know much about Chaktawe? Or do you forget that body, only assume it?"

by **Talya** on July 18th, 2015, 4:30 am

Talya simply nodded. "We can stay here then," she responded, as her eyes sailed over Alija's hands. The way her fingers toyed with the edge of her glove. Pulling at them slightly, as though playing with something that had proven cloying. She imagined them a metaphor for how the woman's mind was working right now. How it was churning; and she was left only to chew between several conflicted thoughts. "As it doesn't make much difference," the Ethaefal added, as Alija ceased her fidgeting and the manner of the glove and its removal was left alone. She fought off the urge to nibble on her lower lip as the woman set her hands in her lap. At which point her countenance seemed to shift slightly, for at least to Talya, she seemed to sit up a little straighter, as she finished gathering herself. A more assured expression crossing her lips, as the internal struggle that she had thought she had caught a glimpse of left Alija's pale eyes.

"Much," Talya whispered, as though testing the word upon her lips. "That would depend on what you consider to be a great deal, and what you would consider to be rather paltry." She paused. "It's all relative," she added, with a sheepish grin, as a glint made its way into her dark eyes. "But that is not to say that the Ethaefal are left with nothing. That they have no memory of what they once were, and thus, have no knowledge of what it was like to live as their mortal seeming unless of course, they traveled to one of the world's libraries and did their own research, or alternatively, were lucky enough to be birthed to the waters near where they once lived, if they could not at the very least, speak to those of their own race in their natural corner of the world for themselves." She paused. That had been a mouthful, to say the very least.

"We remember some things- but it is all very fragmented," Talya explained. "Most of our memories are rather broken, a sort of glimpse into past times; past worlds." She paused again, as she ran her right hand through her hair, and pulled apart several knots before setting her hand in her lap again. "When our patron deity rules the sky- we remember far more than when they don't. We can remember to more distant times; and the memories are more distinct, although that isn't to say that they seem entirely intact." She thought for a moment about her words, before continuing. "It's like being handed a single piece to a larger puzzle, and being told to put everything back together just using it."

Talya smiled again. "When Leth has been overcome by Syna, it is impossible for those of Leth to remember anything more foreign than their most recent past life and the memories are missing even more aspects- perhaps if a picture were to flash across an Ethaefal's mind, it would be devoid of sound or smells. Aspects, that would more readily occur in their alternate form, although these are in no way guaranteed." Talya narrowed her eyes a little when she was done speaking. "Does that make sense?" she asked before falling silent, and wondering if she should be practicing on her own. Studying the tables perhaps, for their auras, if not looking over a few of the other patrons, so that the two could compare notes later.

Inwardly, Talya shrugged. It didn't matter, as there was always going to be more time for that. More time for everything really.

"Why did you ask?" Talya went on to inquire as she allowed her gaze to return to normal. She couldn't see why a human would be so interested in small details like that; why it would matter at all to her. But then again, she supposed that everyone was different, and she may just be a weird one.

Closed [The Quill's Rest] Tea and Auras