PM to join A read by the sea (Kelski)

[Vasin]

Vasin watched with interest as Remmy snatched the book from his hand rather easily from his giving hand. He couldn't help but enjoy that grin that came when she saw the book he had produced. It was very rare for him to find someone let alone two people interested in such things. When he had first bought the book his coworkers and some of his so-called drinking buddies had tried to chide him for wasting his money. That the money would have been better spent on other activities. They were much more interested in tossing around amusing stories from that day, and in general carousing. With curiosity, he would gradually approach the table where she had placed the book down. He was somewhat interested in knowing how she would repair her own copy. Vasin observed as she brought out the blank parchment with writing instruments. Seemed she would do it much in the same way Goldfinger would write a contract. But she wrote with such practices quickness and grace it was hard to follow! It was almost like the words just appeared on the paper after her pen."Sounds about right, wouldn't put it past people to do something like that. Especially here in Sunberth." he said quietly in reply but was aware that for now, she seemed to be done with the conversation.

This was made all the more obvious when she began to gesture in a direction."The back...?" he questioned quietly to himself as he looked in the direction she had gestured. He had expected maybe a little more help, as this was all a bit foreign to him. He would look to Kelski then and return her gesture with a slight shrug. Well, he had after all given her something that was rather important to tend to he imagined. So he couldn't really expect all that much, plus maybe this could be an adventure in itself... A rather dusty adventure. With that thought, he would follow by Kelski's side to the back room. It was hard to see until Kelski opened that curtain. Standing there the first thing he noticed was how dusty it really was. You could practically taste the air! Then he blinked at the sight of all the scrolls present. This was far more then he had expected, and as he scanned he saw no obvious way to him to identify what each scroll was about.

"I..." he said trying to think of something to answer her question. As he started he would approach one end of the shelves."I am not rightly sure..." he said finishing his thought."But, it has to be a picture right?" he asked working it out in his head."Maybe a picture... from above..." Vasin said thinking that made sense. But he was sure there were all sorts of different types of maps. Written ones, ones from the ground, and all of that. Plus it could be the size of any area! So even from above, one might not be able to identify it. Unless it had the word MAP in big bold letters under it. Best thing to do for now was to try and figure out how this was organized if it even had an organization. So putting a hand forward he would carefully pull out a scroll and open it. Nope, not a map he thought to himself as he would close it.

As he went taking one scroll at a time a thin layer of dust would get caught in his beard. He became a little sniffy but powered through it as he searched. He was so occupied in trying to find a map that he had not noticed Kelski leave the room. As he went he had been organizing the scrolls in his mind. Trying to figure out what section they were from so he didn't dip into that again. There were some interesting texts in here to be certain, but so far he had not found a map. But his luck would soon change had he gently opened a rather large scroll. Reading from the top it said "Atlas..." to which he quietly sounded out his eyes then scrolling to an image below it. Vasin tilted his head a little as he saw a mixture of blobs and lines. The blobs being two colors tan and blue and there was a spot in the corner used to identify what certain lines or blobs meant. Then bellow it was the word he had been looking for accompanied by some others. Vasin smirked at seeing this as while it was not a world map, it was indeed a map!

Vasin's attention was taken away from it by Kelski as she called out to him."I think so!" he said as he would look over towards where her voice came from. He made sure to remember where he found the scroll. Vasin would walk over to her with his find."Here." he said as he would show her."It's in this scroll called Atlas. I think that might be another word for map." he said not entirely sure if that is what it meant."But I think there is more than one as well." he said the start of another right below the other. The scroll he had found was an Atlas of maps from in and around Sunberth. To the observant eye, the majority of them were not very detailed, and even incomplete. Faded the further inland one looked.

[Kelski]

Kelski was enjoying herself. There was something so fulfilling digging carefully through a disorganized room full of old scraps of paper, bits of maps, and books in various states of repair. Most of it was what the Kelvic would consider garbage, either in a foreign language, half rotted away, or just the scribblings of people whose words read as very under educated. The maps, she carefully learned, were of all sorts. There were maps to people’s houses… no not maps. Blueprints. She carefully rummaged through a pile that had carefully hand-drawn layouts to all sorts of types of buildings. That caught her attention for a few moments even as Vasin rummaged across the room. Kelski saw house plans for little homes, cottages, barns, and even buildings. They all had one name on them which made her smile. Davyd Rodgers and Ergus Rodgers. Rodgers & Rodgers must have gifted Remmy with some plans.

Moving onward, knowing that looking at the blueprints would consume her, Kelski started on another pile. These were older writings, on faded folded parchment. She looked at few, saw nothing much but what looked like geographical surveys, and dug deeper. She peeked in again, found lists, then looked even deeper until she pulled out an even older map that partially fell apart as she opened it, and found herself staring at a view of Sunberth from above, though with no buildings or roads marked. Instead, there lines etched like roads all over what looked to be where Sunberth was built properly. She didn’t understand what she was seeing exactly until she read the key and saw the title. “Known Shafts & Tunnels Below The City”. Kelski blinked, pulled the parchment free of the pile she’d only partially pulled it from and started to open it further.

She glanced at Vasin, checking to see if he found anything, then rose when he said he had. She tucked the folded parchment under her arm and headed his direction. Stopping to look over what he had found. “Well, lay them out and open them up.” She said somewhat impatiently. Labels were next to worthless until they revealed something beneath.

She went to the table, cleared off a large section if it by moving stacks of documents and papers, keeping her own find tucked under her arm. Then she patted the space. “Here, bring them here. Lets see what the best of them show.” There were big rocks on the table too, paper weights Kelski guessed, and they were able to gently hold down the edges of anything he unrolled that tried to roll back up.

“Wow… that’s incredible.” She whispered, seeing him open the atlas and get a good view of some of the well-formed sketches of the areas in and around Sunberth. “Is this what you were looking for?” She asked, curious. Kelski had actually hoped for a world map after their conversation. But this was fairly neat as well.

“I think I found a map of the mines too… at least some crude sketches of things directly below Sunberth.” She added, patting the thick folded parchment paper tucked up into her armpit. “But I hoped for a World Map…. I want to see how far we are from Lhavit.” Kelski added, trying to explain, still looking around. Her disinterest wasn't stemming from the fact that she wasn't curious about her own city. It was just that Kelski flew over Sunberth every morning as a sort of routine and she'd seen it all before. In fact, had she the art skill, she could probably fill in more of the map than the original artist had produced detail for. She wasn't about to say that to Vasin though. In her experience, if the subject of her odd looks came up and the fact that she was a Kelvic came to light, people treated her differently.

She liked being just someone's companion out on a small journey of discovery for once.

[Vasin]

Vasin stroked his beard a little as he looked down at the now unrolled Atlas before them. This for sure was a collection of maps, and indeed from in and around Sunberth. He recognized some features from the first featured map, but a lot was missing from what it looked like."Unfortunately no... but still..." he said impressed with the find, even if it was an incomplete set of maps of the area. It gave him something of an idea to work with for searching for a world map."They are not very detailed... Like here..." he said pointing to a river entering Sunberth."This one is more mapped then..." he said pointing to the other.[b]"Then this one."[/b] he said tracing along with his finger. He wondered if whoever had made this map had spent that much time on it? Or maybe there were difficulties associated with making a map from a ground view."Regardless, I'm sure a world map must be here... That person in my book went around the world after all." he said with a subtle nod and reassuringly so. Or at least he hoped so, and what if like their copy of the book it was damaged? That thought did not bode well.

However, those discouraging thoughts were interrupted when Kelski said she had found a map of the mines."Really now?" he asked looking to the rolled up parchment as she patted it."I don't think I have been in the underground sections before. Fairly dangerous from what I heard, then again anywhere in Sunberth can be dangerous." he said with a short shrug."But just like the above world, success can be found by those willing to look." he said intrigued by the thought. A place he had not really ever stepped foot in, and there was a map of sorts. He wanted to explore the world outside Sunberth, yet Sunberth held secrets from him. Secrets that no doubt many in Sunberth were unaware of.

"I can keep looking for a world map if I keep at it then by simply going through every scroll..." he said looking to the shelves."I would eventually find it." he said looking back to her a small smile formed on his face."I wonder what other things could be found when looking for it as well..." he said giving the notion some thought. He had not expected that they would find two pieces of interesting parchment."But in the meantime, we should work with what we have. What if we were to... use that map you found?" he asked her.

[Kelski]

Kelski bent over Vasin’s find as well, fascinated. She’d never seen Sunberth from the artists perspective and seeing a map seemed odd when she was so used to flying over it. “I’ve seen these areas from the air hundreds of times, but I’ve never seen them rendered into a map. How odd… they look so different.” Kelski said, turning her head this way and that, trying to overlay her memory with the reality inked on paper. “It’s still interesting, useful, Vasin… even if it wasn’t what you were looking for.” She followed his comments and his fingers tracing the outlines of the lines on the map.

Kelski looked up at Vasin and pointed down at the maps. “You wanted to learn this stuff. You want to explore and see new places. You should start here, with these, fleshing them out and filling them in for Remmy. I know Sunberth changes a lot, but a current set of maps for the city and surrounds would be invaluable to the people here. You could do that, Vasin. You really could.” Kelski urged him. She didn’t know if he’d want to or if he felt his cartography skills would be up to snuff.

“I don’t know what kind of time you have on your hands, but exploring the area is not a bad idea if you can swing it in between your normal work and free time. It would help a lot of people too.” Kelski said, running her hands over the incomplete maps, knowing the truth of what she spoke. Her fingers ended in long sharp nails that were the deepest black in color. They looked more like talons than actual human nails. She glanced up at him, then down at her nails, and curled her hands into fists, pulling them back from the map. Kelski hoped he hadn’t noticed. She looked at the really sad pile of Sunberth material and wished for a moment it was better, more complete. Then her eyes widened slightly. “You could make little marks on the maps where its safe to read and not get harassed by strangers wanting … no demanding … to know what your reading.” She said quietly, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she were repressing a smile.

When she mentioned her own find, he looked interested as well. “I’m going to use this this map. I swear I’m going too. You could… you could come explore the underground... with me. I’ve been out and about beneath Sunberth a few times. I have some land over in Baroque Bay. I’d love to follow some of these maps and see if there’s anything beneath the property. It would be good to know for … structural foundation.” Kelski said, looking sort of sheepish for inviting him to join her on an underground walk. Why would she want company anyhow? She could just go alone. It was safe, better even, if she did go alone. Besides, this quiet reader was not going to want to traipse about underground with a stranger anyhow. It was a crazy idea and one she fully expected him to reject.

And then she saw the flash of discouragement in his eyes. “This place is a mess. Of course, there’s a world map here somewhere. It’s just either buried or too obvious for us to see it.” Kelski said, looking around, glancing from pile to pile to pile. The shelves and stacks and rows filled up the room and she truthfully had no idea where to look. Rising from where she sat across from him and seemed to continue her search. “Don’t give up.” Then she too dug into the room once more, leaving the treasures from the first sorte on the table they had claimed for themselves.

She found nothing, just a huge odd collection of things unrelated and haphazardly put together. Kelski wondered if this was Remmy’s spare room, the place everything got placed before it got sorted and put away in the main collection. She said as much, voicing her thought out loud as she stood up from a pile she’d just been sorting through… and muttered. “This feels like a spare room. There’s scrolls, books, journals, everything… but nothing seems to go together.” The Kelvic hissed, irritation coloring her words. She glanced at Vasin again, to see if he was having any more luck.

[Vasin]

Vasin would look back to the map as he noticed how intrigued Kelski seemed by it. It certainly was a different way to see Sunberth, especially for him to view it from above. Even if parts were missing, or if the parts there didn't line up with reality."Yeah, really does look different. Certainly can be put to use, even as a starting point." He nodded a little tracing over the map with his eyes her words almost going over his head. He blinked, what an odd thing for her to say."Wait, from the air?" he asked not sure if maybe she had misspoken or not. Maybe she meant that she had gotten on top of some tall building? He had never thought of climbing up onto a building to look down below. Indeed, he occupied his sightseeing with looking off into the distance. Well, of course, Vasin figured that you could see more the further up you climbed. But there was something odd about her choice of wording, regardless he wondered if she maybe had some spots she would like to share? But, the idea of viewing it from the air... It was like a Birdseye view in a way. Ah, such ultimate freedom, or so he thought as he stared down at the map.

"Here?" he asked a moment of consideration."Well, I suppose..." he started with a slight pause."I suppose you are right." he said with a small nod as he looked from the map back to her."In that, I don't know much about Sunberth despite having been here for some time... I mean, I know a thing or two but if I want to go out and explore I think you are right. I should start here, really hone in what I want to do. One needs to start somewhere after all..." he said looking back down to the maps."Kenabelle Wright had to start somewhere." he said before rubbing the back of his head."I'll need to learn a thing or two about map making though..." he hand shifting to stroke his beard."Must be something in here about that." he added with a slight glimpse around.

Vasin would look back as she spoke to him, though not in time to catch a glimpse of her nails. He thought about what she had said and considered it rather carefully. Soon enough he gave a slight nod liking the notion."On some days I have work, but on others like today, I am free. Entirely depends if anyone has missed a payment or if someone else took a job." he said looking down to the map."I like the sounds of that. Exploring the city on my free time... filling in the blanks... It would be a nice change of pace, helping people." the start of a smile forming on their face. Then when she told him what else he could do, he paused for a moment looking to her. He gave a chuckle having not even thought about that."I like that!" he said opening up a little further."Might make more people curious about books as well." he said recalling back to when she had mentioned how if even one person read without hiding, it might make more people curious about it."I'm sure I could find plenty of quiet spots if I just looked." he said glancing back to the map."I wonder how filled out this would look when I take the time?" he asked merely to himself.

"I'd love to come along, I can make time for certain." he said with a rather sure nod."Exploring the surface of Sunberth can go hand in hand with exploring what lurks underneath." he said with an ever slight pause."Even if it is just for figuring out foundation spots. Could be very helpful." he said liking the idea of taking feats of exploration to others. Though, he knew that drawing too much attention to themselves could spell trouble. But what harm could there really be? Surely the various Gangs of Sunberth wouldn't care if someone went around drawing maps. Well, they might, but at the same time, they might not. Sunberth was inherently dangerous, so it was pointless to fret about such things."We might find more then what we bargained for as well." he voiced finding the idea of the unknown intriguing.

Vasin nodded in agreement, it had to be here and as he said prior it was just a matter of searching long enough. As they would return to searching he stood there. He took out a couple of scrolls in the section he had believed was map related. But no dice! They were not related to his Atlas in any way, his theory had proven rather... incorrect as he stood there and stared for a moment. Then what Kelski had said before rang in his mind. Maybe it was just too obvious for them to notice. He breathed out his eyes scanning over the shelves, the word obvious ran through his mind."Yeah... a spare room." he said sounding a little deflated. His eyes came to rest upon a scroll on a near top shelf, it stuck out. Vasin had an odd feeling about it."Nah, couldn't be..." he muttered to himself before deciding to at least check it out. Reaching up with a stretch he would grab it gently and take it down. Then with a delicate nature would unroll it and take a look at what was presented to him."Well then..." he said his tone uplifted as he walked back to the table and laid it out."I think I found it!" he called her over. The map was labeled as a world map and had the name of some cities upon it which he recognized. This had to be it right?

[Kelski]

Kelski nodded. “Yes… from the air. I am a Kelvic.” She said it with some hesitation. Some humans didn’t like Kelvics all that much, and often treated them as less than human. Would Vasin suddenly treat her differently? Kelski figured she’d better tell him now rather than later. “I… I am a Sea Eagle. I often fly above the city, circling it. I take a flight in the morning and sometimes in the evening. I worry about things… mobs, fires, what’s going on at the slag heap, that kind of thing. Flying over it leaves me time to see how things are that day, the changes, and the dangers. Sunberth is a very dynamic place. It changes so often. The city often acts tainted, like it pulls people down. If you notice, people come here happy, sometimes full of dreams, and the longer they are here the harder they get… the more they loose hope. Sometimes, I picture the city as a giant carcass rotting in the sun. We’re the beetles and maggots eating away at it. And its slowly rotting us as it itself rots in the sun.” Kelski said softly, watching Vasin’s expression thoughtfully.

She glanced down at the map and nodded. Slowly she smiled as he looked over the map and thought about what she said. “Now I think you are thinking like an explorer. You could hone lots of skills here that will do you justice out on the road. Mapmaking? Yes, that would be a good place to start. “If we explore the underground….” She said tapping at the material she’d dug up…. “Mapmaking would be good.. not only to adjust these maps but to explore new things that aren’t on these maps. I like seeing new places too. I like doing new things. I do a lot of work inside… I sit at a bench all day. If I don’t get out and fly or ruffle my feathers a bit, I get a little crazy or angry. It just depends on the day.” She said softly, looking around.

“If you ever want to go out exploring…. I’ll come with you if you want some company as long as its not for long… more than a day or overnight. I can make a decent scout.” She added thoughtfully. “I have a business here in town I cannot leave…. and big plans for more of the same.” She said softly, running her hands over the maps both of them had laid out.

“You work for Goldfinger?” She guessed suddenly by what he said about his job. “He’s the one that loans money around here. And hires people to chase down those that miss a payment. I took a loan out from him to start my business. I made good payments though, so no one ever had to chase me down. I’m friends with Sastiva. She’s one of Goldfinger’s assistants. She’s wicked good at hand to hand combat. She’s teaching me, but slowly… I’m awkward in my human form and act too much like a predator sometimes. But I’m learning. All I can do is practice.” Kelski admitted, not knowing if he knew any of the people she spoke up, but she thought her guess was solid enough because Goldfinger was the only person that collected payments unless a gang was pressing businesses for ‘protection’.

The Kelvic looked thoughtful. Then she smiled at his enthusiasm for filling out the maps more. It was a noble goal and one that would help others if others knew there were maps there to consult. “I think you should do it, for certain. If you want any company, I’ll be glad to help too.” Kelski affirmed. She liked the idea a whole lot. She was about to say more when he equated exploring the surface for exploring what lurked underneath.

Lurking underneath? That sounded so ominous. Kelski stifled a grin as her imagination went wild. Vasin had no idea what she found beneath the surface. And she couldn’t tell him because she had no idea what he thought of mages…. just like she had no idea what he thought of Kelvics. Vasin was an uncertainty, but she could already tell she liked him… for a human that is.

About then, Vasin took up his world map search, and Kelski couldn’t believe it when he actually found one. He unrolled it on the table she’d started to think of as their work table, and leaned over it. The Kelvic went to join him, reaching out to touch the delicate surface of the parchment, tracing her fingers over the land.

“I had no idea the world was so large.” Kelski said when she scanned the enormous map. She traced her hand from Sunberth to Lhavit, then over to Alvadas. “I’ve lived all these places… not by my choice. I didn’t even come here by my choice. But I’ve been here, here, and here…. And the places in between.” There was a sadness to her voice as she spoke softly, staring at the map and looking at Sunberth’s place on it. Sunberth truthfully was isolated, so far away from the things she thought she loved. Kelski wondered why she ended up so far away.

“Where have you been Vasin? And… where are you going?” She asked, suddenly tracing the outskirts of the map… the circumnavigation of it. “Lady Wright sailed here… all the way around if your book is true.” She said wistfully, then glanced at him. Kelski was curious about his response.

[Vasin]

Vasin was sufficed to say surprised at Kelski's reveal that she is a Kelvic. With a blink, he would look at her and look her over. He had never seen a Kelvic first hand himself, maybe from a distance but he could never be sure. Vasin had about to say something when he noticed how much hesitation she had spoken with and reconsidered his words."Well..." he started to say as he thought a moment more."That is a very apt description of this place... very true..." he said with a quiet nod knowing first hand that this city did things to people, he included."I can only imagine what it must be like to see it all... from up there. This place looks nasty enough from the ground sometimes." he said considering how many people came here for freedom and ended up crushed beneath the wills of others."But hey, you get to see things from a perspective I could never hope to... or even what these map makers hoped to... Closest I could get to that is probably if I climbed the tallest building around, or tried to climb a tree at the edge of the city." Vasin would say not thinking it was a bad deal to be able to fly up high as she apparently could. Even if the sights were not all pretty. Vasin didn't really have a reason to dislike her for what she was, she seemed like a fine enough person.

"New things..." he quietly said liking that notion. His finger ran along the mudway as it was shown on the map to where it faded to not be there."I'm sure there is plenty of new things that could be added." he said looking back to her."There could be any number of unknown paths and tunnels here that are not on either this map our the underground map." he said obviously liking that notion very much."If I become good enough at finding new things... maybe I can figure out and answer bigger questions." he said wondering what was out there that no one here in Sunberth had ever seen before or thought to see."I sort of know that feeling, it's why I don't like to just sit at the tavern on my time off." he said not liking the idea of experiencing the same thing every single day. The idea of it was boring and took him closer and closer to being crushed here.

Vasin would nod."Yep, Goldfinger is whom I work for. You are pretty quick." he said in compliment."Also, glad to hear you didn't run into any problems with the payments." he said knowing that a number of people had trouble with those loans. But that was what made Goldfinger successful because not everyone was."Probably a good idea to learn hand to hand. Can't have a weapon on hand all the time. But yeah, if you keep at it I'm sure you will overcome any obstacles." he said in a reassuring manner."But yeah, it's good enough work for someone like me. Steady enough for my liking. Need to be careful." he said knowing his line of work had some dangers to it, but as this was Sunberth he was fine with that.

"It truly is huge..." he commented as he watched her trace her finger around the map. But then he noticed her tone, it sounded of a sense of longing for him. He would glance at her, the idea of being taken around the world and not by choice... It was an odd idea, he wondered truly how she felt about that. But her question had gotten him thinking."Let us see..." he would say quietly thinking back, through both first-hand memory and what he read in his mother's journal."Here..." he said his eyes resting on a particular part of the map. He brought his finger to it, the wording, the name of this place."This is where I started... Desperation Bay..." he said as he traced his finger along the eastern side of the map."They hugged the coast, and visited where they could..." he said a couple choices of cities."Then..." he quietly said a moment of hesitation. He wasn't entirely sure where it had happened but the memory was still etched into his mind. Faces of loved ones long lost like shadows in his mind slowly fading to be unrecognizable specters."Ended right here in Sunberth."

[Kelski]

Kelski released a sigh of relief when Vasin gave her a good looking over and said nothing about her being Kelvic. She stood for his cursory exam, but as she studied his features she saw no judgement on his face and not a single flicker of distaste. Maybe her race wasn’t loathsome to him. Most people saw Kelvics no better than pets, making them slaves without a thought and treating them as people would treat animals. But instead of displaying any sort of reaction Vasin simply moved on to what she’d described Sunberth as.

The Sea Eagle nodded. “In a lot of ways, things are better from up high. However, my vision is really good. I can pick out a mouse in great detail from a mile high, so unless I mute my vision to more human standards, I see the filth just as easily from up there as down here. But flying…. flying is the best.” She said with a grin. It was a hard to describe freedom, a way to live above all one’s problems and troubles. “If I didn’t fly daily…. something in me dies.” She said softly.

“There’s a way you could experience it. There’s a magic that allows you to change your shape like a Kelvic does naturally. Many of those types of mages know the joy of flight… and the ease of travel.” She said, hesitantly, gently, not wanting to invoke his rage of magic if he was a typical Sunberthian. “You could find one of those mages and get them to teach you.” She said, gently suggesting it to him in an innocent non-calculating way. Kelski was careful with her words, not wanting to give away the fact she knew such a magic.

She smiled the way he said ‘new things’. She liked that thought a lot. Her life had been full of new things lately. Kelski heard out all his ideas and nodded to each one, agreeing with his suggestions as his fingers traced the map. “You could answer all sorts of questions, probably ones no one has thought to ask yet as well.” She said agreeably, wondering how many tunnels there were and what secrets they held.

The Sea Eagle grinned at Vasin’s compliment. No one had ever called her quick before. She suspected he meant smart, hoped in fact, because it was all she aspired to be to a human. Most of them thought so little of her kind. “I worked hard to pay Goldfinger back.” She said simply, then nodded at his suggestion for Hand to Hand. “I’m learning, but slowly. Sastiva says I’m not very gifted at it.” Kelski said thoughtfully then grinned. “I’ll work harder.”

As he talked about Wrights trip, Kelski’s eyebrow rose. “Really? They ended here in Sunberth? I didn’t know that. Nothing here speaks of it. I know in Lhavit the past is everywhere and famous people or famous events are commemorated by statues, retellings, stories, even holidays. I wonder why no one remembers anything in Sunberth except the bad things?” Kelski mused, looking thoughtful. She began to gather up her findings and spread out in a place on the table, opening her backpack and pulling out pen, ink, and a blank book.

Then she started copying the crude maps of the underground into the blank book being careful to copy as much of it as she could exactly as she could. And as she worked, she kept the conversation up with Vasin.

“If you could go anywhere on that big world map, where would you go?” She asked thoughtfully.

“I would go find out if I really truly had a real family. There’s a lot to suggest my life how I thought it was, wasn’t true. Somewhere close to here, is a place I was supposedly born and that I have a home full of family there. I want to go see it. What about you? Do you have a mother and father here?” She asked, curious, knowing he’d hinted about his father earlier in their conversation but had dropped the topic before it had barely manifested.

[Vasin]

Vasin seemed to consider what she said for a moment."I suppose there are aspects of Sunberth that cannot be hidden no matter how far up you are." he said before he smiles."But as you said, flying is great. It's freedom endless. You could fly away from here, far away from the stench that penetrates to the core of this city. You could fly above the vast wilderness unopposed by the monsters in the forest below." he said though not entirely sure what threats lay waiting above in the air. But he liked the idea of flight, it would make seeing the world easier. It was dangerous to go out there."Someone with your eyes would make a great map maker I bet." he commented though of course not familiar with what it took to make a map.

"Magic?" he asked questioningly and then thought it over for a moment."That would be nice and all. But magic here? In Sunberth?" he asked shaking his head."Unlikely. Plus, mages would give Sunberth a wide birth." he imagined with a sigh as if disappointed."One can always dream though." he said knowing how people in Sunberth felt about mages and magic. He had never seen either himself but had heard about how much people here hated them."Their pointed wizard hat and robes would give them away too quickly." Vasin joked a little unaware that a mage stood right in front of him.

"You know what they say right?" he asked Kelski."Hard work beats natural talent when talent becomes complacent." he said."Well, I think that is what they say at least." he said with a little bit of a shrug."Maybe I will have to speak to them. See what they have to offer." Vasin pondered out loud. He didn't know them well or at all, but everyone liked a little coin here and there. So he figured if he had put some coin aside he could get some lesson. Then he would find out if he had a talent or had to work harder then talent.

Vasin realized too late that Kelski thought she had been talking about Wright and not he own journey here. He looked to her but said nothing for a moment before speaking."Well no but..." he said another slight pause."I was talking about my father's attempt. Or at least, I think it was what he was trying..." he said not entirely certain as he looked back to the map."As for Sunberth... I think the reason why is because people here are always in the present. People think of the here and now, how to survive every day. Some think of the future, but very few think of the past." he said thinking about it."Plus people have better things to spend their money on then statues. Or at least they think they do." he added not dismissing her question.

He thought about her question before he would speak. He was somewhat related to how she wanted to find out if she had a real family. But he already knew the answer to that for himself. He knew where one of them was and always would be, but had no idea about his father and had assumed the worse."Oh um..." he paused brought back into the moment looking back to the map."I would probably either go to the Suvan Sea... or maybe Desperation Bay..." he said thinking a little more his eyes resting on Avanthal."Maybe even further back, to Avanthal." he said really thinking it over."There are a lot of places I'd like to see. Places no one had seen before. Like where the mudway comes from, or how far north you can go." he said not sure how one would go about either. Her question about his parents, it made him pause."I don't." he said simply his eyes tracing their route one last time.

[Kelski]

Kelski smiled. “I love to fly. It’s one of my favorite things in the world.” She said, her entire face lighting up with her enthusiasm. Kelski wasn’t a stoic person. When she spoke, the Kelvic tended to be animated, especially about things she was passionate towards. “You are exactly right. Freedom. Endless freedom. You know…” She said softly, lowering her voice and glancing around. “The magic, it’s called Morphing. I’ve… read about it and seen it a little first hand.” She said softly, watching his face for a reaction. Kelski would never admit to a stranger she was a mage, but she wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to test out the waters in terms of where Vasin’s opinions lay. He was Sunberthian. But that didn’t mean he was as stupid or bigoted as the rest of them.

“I like maps.” She said, thinking about it, then shaking her head. No, it wasn’t her that liked maps so well… but some shadowy figure in her past. “Its not the maps though, not really. It’s the eye for fine detail. That’s what I like… no matter what it is. Details matter. It makes me a good jeweler.” She murmured. Kelski never skipped steps or took shortcuts. She took great pains to make everything exactly perfect. There was a need inside of her to do so. It was what made her …. a good mage as well. Regardless of what others thought of Kelvics being craftspeople and mages.

At his dismissal of Magic, Kelski shook her head. She took his arm and gave it a grip to really get his attention. “Vasin.” She said his name intently, then slowly smiled at him. “Where better to hide? Where better to thrive? You do so in the last place anyone would look for you. You do so under the noses of your enemies and within the shield of ignorant hatred. Of course, there are mages here. There are probably a lot of them.” She said softly, instantly, wanting him to understand the truth of the world. For some reason, she wanted his acceptance too. She was far younger than Vasin, but she’d lived a lot more than she sensed he’d lived. She’d traveled the world in short years, been a slave to other’s desires, and lived on the edge of knowing her life would be short and she needed to take advantage of things while she could.

And she wanted this man as a friend. And if he could… would… accept magic then they could possibly be friends.

“I’ve never heard that.” She said in response to his quote about hard work beating natural talent. But she loved it. “I really like that. It’s a very true saying.” She agreed, offering him a smile and glancing down at their materials again.

“Your father was an explorer?” Kelski knew there was a story there, but she could also see the pause in his speech, the hesitation. She thought it was pain. And she didn’t want to pry though she wanted to know. “Maybe someday you can tell me about him.” She said softly, leaving the topic open. “I like… to hear about families. About growing up in them and having parents and having that sort of love… and of dreams and people chasing them.” The Sea Eagle said, moving away from Vasin and leaning a hip on the table they were working from. She was restless, partially uncomfortable from the topic because it wasn’t something she had and it was something she’d always wanted. But partially because she didn’t want to press Vasin to speak of hurtful things.

Life was full of enough hurt without reliving old hurt over and over again.

“Is that what you do?” She asked suddenly. “Live in the now? I don’t. I’m a Kelvic and most of my kind do just that. But I can’t. I’m a Sea Eagle and we see very far. I see into the future and plan for it. I always want to be better, stronger, more secure. If that means money, friends, and even power… I will do that. I know what it’s like to have nothing, not even freedom. And I will never live like that again.” She said softly.

She liked his question… the one she’d asked him. It made him think and that made her happy. He was a thinking man, and those types of men interested her. She smiled when he started dreaming, turning his eyes forward to the future and to the possibilities that lay out there.

She felt bad… about his sudden sadness. She felt bad about having ultimately caved into her curiosity and asked him about his parents. “I’m sorry.” She said softly when he replied that he had no parents here.

“Do you think we can be friends?” She asked abruptly. “I know friends don’t replace family, not at all, but they can bring other kinds of warmth and light in your life. I would very much like to be your friend.” She said after a long pause, glancing down at their research and thinking over how much fun they’d had together. Vasin had broken up her long day and chased some of the sadness she harbored in her heart away. Kelski didn’t know why she was sad. It was as if she’d forgotten. But she was still incredibly plagued by it.

He might say no. She was only a Kelvic after all. But then again, he might say yes. There was nothing worse or nothing better than those two answers.