Duck and Cover and Roll

Erendriel sits in her cell, sighing, sitting back. Her feet dangling off of the ground, she leans back and sucks on a large, red piece of hard candy on a stick.

Mikilos has arrived.

There are footsteps on the hard stone outside one of the cells, and it isn't long before Seldan is visible in front of the cells, scanning as if looking for a face. When he spots Erendriel sucking on a piece of candy, he seems to find what he is looking for, and comes to a stop in front of where she sits, studying her seriously.

Mikilos whistles quietly to himself as he enters, nodding politely to the guards as he passes. Once to the cells, the tall elf slows, scanning the cells with idle curiousity until he spies Erendriel. "Ah, there's the arson herself. How are you?"

Erendriel looks up at the two people coming in. The snack pushes way into her cheek, she waves her hands and mutters something, then a Mage Hand pulls the candy out of her mouth, so she can stand, fold her arms, and walk up to the bar. Snickering. "Hi... I feel like an animal in a cage on display."

Seldan folds his arms in response to Erendriel, studying her closely and rather disapprovingly. "I see you are none the worse for wear," he greets. "That, at least, is good, but what possessed you to fire burning hands into a fight between guards and oruchs, in the midst of a wooden bar?"

Mikilos blinks. "Well obviously, she doesn't know Fireball yet." Fishig through his bag for a moment, he looks to Erendriel. "We got your letter. It's my shop, Belhan just watches it, but I brought you some sweet rolls anyway."

Erendriel looks to Seldan first, her mage hand holding that candy dutifully off the ground for her, right at face level. Eyes constantly flicking to it as she makes sure to maintain enough concentration that it doesn't DROP the candy, she grabs the bars and sighs. "They were going to hit me! You saw them, the guards were losing." Mikilos's offer is received with a grin. "Thank you! And I mean it, I'll buy my robe from you if you can make it."

Seldan rolls his eyes in exasperation. "That does not mean that it is acceptable to blindly shoot fire at everything moving! You made the entire affair worse, you know." He shakes his head, then turns to study Mikilos. "That is kind of you, sir."

Mikilos waves vaugely. "It's easy enough to make up some rolls. I had the lab heated anyway. And after you set fire to a few people, word gets around and they leave you alone. Anycase, exactly what sort of robe were you looking for? I didn't catch the details."

Erendriel scoffs at Seldan. "I have a right to defend myself against a gang of pirates, whom I WARNED mind you to stop that before I did something about it. I WARNED them and they didn't LISTEN. Then the gaurds got mad because I was doing their jobs better than they were." She rolls her eyes, and looks to Mikilos again. "I hope you're right. And um, Robe of Blazing, nice and shiny and makes my fire even better." She then tears off a roll and holds it through the bars, offering to each of them.

"You do realize that you hit the guards, and not the oruchs, right?" Seldan unfolds his arms to accept a piece of roll, but his tone is that of one talking to someone slightly addled. "Several were badly burned, and the oruchs dodged beneath the table, which caught fire. Far better if you had caught the leader's trousers afire. They do not lead who cannot maintain dignity, and he would have deserved it." To Mikilos, he simply nods. "You are a crafter of magic, then?" Definite interest there.

Mikilos politely declines the offered roll, frowning mildly. "Blazing.... blazing... ah yes, okay, I recall those now." He considers a moment. "I've never made one quite like that, but I don't foresee any problems. Just a standard design, or did you want something special? A specific shade of color, or a pocket in the lining, or some such?" He nods to Seldan, offering a handshake. "Mikilos Mithralla, of Mithralla Merchandise, up on the Mountain Road. I craft mundane items as well, but mostly magic items. I somewhat specialize towards magic swords, but can make most weapons, armors, rings, staves, potions, and scrolls of arcane nature. Just look for the giant longsword, it's hard to miss."

Erendriel shakes her head. "I hit all of them, and my shot forced the pirates to dive under the table, which turned the whole tide of the fight and it wrapped up. Handing Seldan one hunk of roll, then while glancing at her mage hand, tears off a second hunk to try herslef. "Oh this is good, thank you again Mikilos. And I think... a standard design should be amazing. All shiny and orange red, right?" But then she waves her roll at Seldan, and the mage hand waves the candy in a matching move, gesturing at him. "A person should be able to walk into a public house without being threatened, I have ar ight to defend myself. I'm not blaming the guards for putting me in here, but I think the law is wrong here, is all."

"You threw the spell before any of them made a threatening move toward you," Seldan points out, taking the roll in his off-hand. He turns to Mikilos, then, and takes the hand, shaking firmly. "Good to know. I am Seldan Padaryn of the Silver Guard, and I am certain I will have need of such services before long, especially if I continue to keep company with this one." A sudden smile at Erendriel removes any hostility from the statement. "You got yourself into your own pickle, my friend."

Mikilos has a firm grip for a wizard, but a sorta weak grip for a blacksmith, so it evens out. He shrugs, and nods to Eren. "There's a lot of grey area for the guards. They could have you locked up in the Dungeon as a magical menace, or just accept it as self defense and let it slide. This is fairly average for use of magical fire inside a wooden building."

Erendriel takes another bite of bread, and purses her lips. "The law has to be reasonable if people are going to tolerate it. This time it was, so it is tolerated."

Seldan eyes Erendriel. "If they have to jail you enough times for this sort of thing, they are likely to decide that you -are- a magical menace." The unspoken _and they'd be right_ is left floating on the end of that sentence. "I would not see that happen. You are fortunate that they are not demanding damages to the bar as well."

Mikilos nods. "A couple rare events, it happens. Make a habit of burning places, and yeah, they can turn harsh."

Erendriel finishes off the roll, and tears off another. Glancing again at the mage hand, making sure to keep it just in her mind. Just the kind of thing you learn to do when you have that spell. "Well hopefully pirates aren't causing trouble eery day here. If they are i'll burn down their ships."

Seldan actually smiles at that, considers the chunk of roll in his hand, and says, "I think we are all in luck, then. This is the first I have heard of such things." He takes a bite of the roll, then, and nods approval. "These are excellent," he tells Mikilos.

Mikilos frowns. "Pirates... are uncommon. But can be a real problem when they are around... their ship mounted autocannons can also be a massive problem." He pales a little, with a bit of a haunted look. "...such a problem."

Erendriel nods to Seldan. "They are." Then her head turns and she looks to Mikilos with a blink. "What are ship mounted autocannons?"

Seldan also turns to look at Mikilos more closely. "A cannon of any sort in the harbor would have caused a great deal more stir, I suspect, so you need not worry. But you have seen such things before. I would hear your story." He takes another bite of the chunk of roll.

Mikilos sighs, and ponders a few moments. "Was a pirate gang raiding the river, popping up and disappearing like magic. Managed to set a trap and capture the captain. As he was being brought in, the crew tried a rescue, the ship was artifice, could travel under the water. rammed the dock, dumped a lot of people into the water. I managed to keep my feet, cast a flying spell to try and get a better view and help. Apparently a flying wizard makes for an enticing target. Autocannon is a large, very deadly artifice weapon." The elf falls quiet for a few moments. "I'm told they could see daylight though my chest before I fell to the dock."

Erendriel goes wide-eyed at that. "Oh no..." she says softly. Then popping the rest of the bread into her mouth, she chews it down while wriggling her fingers, and zapping the far wall, through the bars. Swallowing. "Burn them down."

Seldan also goes wide-eyed, and lets out a low whistle. "That's really scary," he agrees. "They'd ... whoa!" As the little jet of fire shoots from Erendriel's fingers, he throws himself sideways away from it and ends up sprawling on the stone floor. "What was -that- for?" he asks, getting up slowly and brushing himself off.

Mikilos blinks, having barely noticed the jet of flame. It's really a matter of what you get used to. "Anyway, yeah, distinctly unplesant. Was fortunatel the pieces landed beside a cleric friend, Jessa Heartrose, who managed to breathe life back into the flesh before I was truely dead. Still, I was utterly out of that fight. As I recall the whole thing lead to an assult on an underwater fortress, which i believe was destroyed with the Planar Disjunction Cannon."

Erendriel looks at Seldan like he's gone mad. It doesn't even OCCUR to her that he's reacting to the magical zap of fire that came from her fingertip out of nowhere, hitting the stone wall behind her visitors. "What was what for? SAying I'll burn down pirates becuase they kill people? What's wrong with that?" Grabbing her candy from the mage hand, she lets it dissipate. "That sounds awful, Mikilos. It's good you got out of it."

"Shooting fire at me for no damned reason!" Seldan stares at Erendriel in frank disbelief. "You really are a menace." He continues to brush himself off. "You need to learn some control before you really hurt someone." He speaks to Mikilos, but doesn't take her eyes off of Erendriel. "Yes, awful indeed. I am glad you survived, and glad for the warning as well."

'Everything okay?'

'Yep.'

'Anything new?'

'Nope.'

'Love ya.'

'Love you too, bye.'

Mikilos hesitates, and shrugs. "It's a minor cantrip. Barely set paper on fire.... buuuut... really should be a little more discriminating on where you throw your flames."

Erendriel freezes, looks at Seldan, tilting her head. "I did?" she says softly, then realizing. "Oh, you mean at the wall? Come on, I wasn't even pointing at you." She giggles. "Are youy scared of fire or something?"

Mikilos perks an ear, and sighs. "Excuse me. Some sort of trouble at the shop. I'll get things ready for your robe, have them waiting when you're out." He nods to Seldan. "Nice meeting you." A murmur of words, and then he's gone. No flash, no smoke, just... gone."

"No, but there was no reason to do that at all." Seldan shakes his head, and looks down at the last of his roll, which hit the floor. "I suppose you startled me," he admits. "Magic is a gift to be used wisely, not thrown around in a fit of temper."

Erendriel shrugs. "I can shoot fire the way some people can jump high, or lift heavy things. They can do those things casually and so can I. It's part of who I am."

Seldan folds his arms across his chest, floor-tainted piece of roll still in one hand. "As can I, but that doesn't mean that I do it only for fun or in fits of temper. Her gifts are worth more to me than that, and they should be worth more to you as well." The sternness on his faces fades around the corners, just a little bit. "Mine differ from yours, a little. I do not yet fully understand ... but I do know that my fire will not harm any who are not evil."

Erendriel looks down at her fingers, and one-handedely tears off another roll piece for Seldan. "I don't have any gifts from anyone. This is all me, it's just my special talent."

Oh. She doesn't -know-. "But you do," Seldan explains, his expression softening, his head tilting. "You work magic as naturally as you breathe, right? That in itself isn't just a talent. It's a gift from the Dreamer." He's dragging religion into it.

Oh. She doesn't -know-. "But you do," Seldan explains, his expression softening, his head tilting as he automatically reacshes to take the new piece of roll and discard the old one in a nearby bin. "You work magic as naturally as you breathe, right? That in itself isn't just a talent. It's a gift from the Dreamer." He's dragging religion into it.

Erendriel Squints. "Who's the Dreamer?" She then takes the last roll and brings it to her mouth, ready to snack as she senses a long explanation coming."

That long explanation is not forthcoming. "Eluna, the Dreaming Goddess," Seldan answers, the roll momentarily forgotten in his hand. "She who took the magical tides from Taara after Animus fell." It's almost as if he is reciting, in some ways. "Look, I know exactly what you mean when you say you shoot fire like some people jump high. I ... I do, too, although it is different from yours."

Erendriel shakes her head. "Eluna is cool but I don't think she gives me any magic. It's not like some. I don't pray for it. I just do it. I dn't have to thinka bout it. I Barely even understand how magic works."

"And you don't have to, am I right?" Seldan smiles at that, the anger gone. "I'd sooner skip the musty old books, myself. I figure it out, or I don't. I haven't gotten very far yet, either ... I can only do the most basic of spells. I don't pray for it, either. Not these. I ... haven't had much time to work on it. My honored father demands that I keep up my religious studies and work with the blade." He sighs.

Erendriel shrugs. "I'm just awesome at it. I can't even read magic." She then snickers and takes a taste of the tip of her candy again. "And it's fun. I don't have to eat good food sparingly, when I enjoy it."

"Is that all magic is to you? Fun?" Seldan sounds genuinely nonplussed. "Small wonder you throw it around without thinking. Just remember, that it's also great power, and you can hurt people with it. Even when you're trying to help. If you tried to learn a little more about it, you might find things you never knew."

Erendriel looks at him after another lick. "I mean it's not like I threw a fireball in there. I can't even do fireballs. It seems like the more I do magic, the more I can do, so I'll probably do fireballs soon though."

"You did enough to injure several guards and set the bar afire," Seldan points out, finally taking a bite of his roll. "I do not think you even know your own power. Yes, more practice and you will find that you learn more. That is true of any endeavor. But I do not wish to see you get hurt, or anyone else. You should learn more of your own power."

Erendriel shrugs and smiles. "Maybe. I didn't burn the place down, and the fight ended pretty quickly after I did it." She leans her head against the bars. "The guards should be THANKING me!" she calls out.

"You know why it didn't burn down?" Seldan's stern look has returned. "Because I and another dragged in a water trough and put it out. That's why it didn't. Another few moments and it would have."

Erendriel looks at him, and pauses. "That was nice of you. I was too busy trying to avoid getting hit. People say I should pick up a cahir instead but I can't do that!"

Seldan's stern look doesn't budge, even though he takes another bite of roll. "My memory says the guard had you under arrest by that time. What is a cahir?"

Seldan's stern look doesn't budge, even though he takes another bite of roll. "My memory says the guard had you under arrest by that time. Why can't you?"

Erendriel has left.

JUDGE: Beaglefinder summons Erendriel away.

Erendriel has arrived.

JUDGE: Beaglefinder returns Erendriel.