Fire and Family

The weather is positively nasty today - hot and sticky - but that doesn't stop the bustle of the plaza and its denizens. Students and wizardly types and artificers and bards and charlatans, oh my. The streets are crowded, and the shady places, what few there are, are the ones most sought after. Seldan is sitting in one of these, beneath a tree to one side, his back against the tree, a sheaf of curled papers in his hand. It looks like he's reading.

Erendriel doesn't appear to be minding the weather. She along the plaza, one hand holding a backpack strap, the other waving about aimlessly. Zapping a rock with fire. Zapping the rock next to it. Doing a few of them and, over the course of 10 zaps, drawing a happy face.

Seldan doesn't look up for a minute or so, as magic in the plaza happens all the time, and it's not fighting or shouting. About halfway through a page, though, he rolls his eyes heavenward as if for patience and looks up, idly rolling the scrolls closed, just in time to see the last zap - and its source. Rolling his eyes again, he stands from the base of the tree and dusts himself off before walking over. "I am amazed you haven't injured anyone yet."

Erendriel looks over, and giggles. "Oh hi," she says as she does one more, finishing the circle of the head, and then dusting her hands. "Hard to hurt anyone when I'm just drawing on the ground."

Seldan folds his arms across his chest, the scrolls still in one hand. "A good thing, too. You aren't damaging the stones, are you?"

Erendriel sighs and turns around. Resting her hands on her knees, she leans way over to take a look at the stones, then dusts one off with her hand before standing again, turning back garound. "They're rocks! Rocks aren't hurt by fire!"

"Perhaps not small fires, but large ones ...." Seldan peers at the rock, then at her as she clears the soot off. Something distracts him for a moment, and he ends up blinking and looking away until she turns back around. "Have a care," he tells her with a sigh.

Erendriel laughs. "They're rocks," she repeats, as she walks on over, grinning. "I mean, if I like created a furnace it could totally melt a rock, right? But I'm not doing that!"

"One does have to practice," Seldan allows, still frowning. "Just don't hurt anyone or anything, all right?" He appears to have given up, at least somewhat. "And you seem very well practiced."

Erendriel laughs. "Practice? No, I'm drawing. See!" She points back to where she drew the happy face. "I've been able to do this for a long time."

Seldan rolls his eyes yet again and pushes a lock of hair out of his face. "Yes, and I have had a blade in my hand since I was seven summers old. I still practice constantly. One can always improve. You still practice every time you wield."

Erendriel giggles. "I wish it worked that way." She then comes up close enough to seewhat he was doing. "Reading?"

"A letter from home." Seldan unfolds his arms and looks down at the sheaf of scrolls rolled together in his hand, letting the change of topic distract him. He unrolls the sheaf to reveal handwriting in a neat, flowy hand. "They wish me to return home for the winter festivals."

Erendriel nods. "Oh that's great." She folds her arms, looks back at her drawing, then back to the letter. "How long does that last, and how far is that?"

Seldan sighs heavily, not sounding happy. "Bryn Myridorn." The High Kingdom of Myrddion, in other words. Some distance away. Certainly entailing an airship ride. "She wishes me to come for a moon or more." No, he definitely doesn't want to do that. "I suspect they wish to hear my tales firsthand." He chuckles quietly. "I wonder if they truly believe me."

Erendriel nods. "Oh yeah that's a bit further than Sendor, and it was a lot of work for me to get here from there. You'd have to take a ship of some kind, or it'll take you forever, probably. Can you afford that?"

"Yes." Seldan examines the letter, then shifts to another page, pushing that lock of hair out of his eyes. "An airship will take me there, and Mother has offered to send assistance with the fare." He pauses, frowning at the new page in a different hand, then looks up. "You don't have any intention of going home, do you." It isn't a question.

Erendriel idly zaps another stone not far from either of them, as she looks briefly at the note, then back to Seldan. "I've never been on an airship. She must really want you back to bring them on one. And no, I just got here!"

Seldan sighs again. "I have not been home since I was called. I should, I suppose, though there is much still to be done here. Father is lecturing me again. I suppose he is the one who truly wishes to see me." He sounds as if he'd rather jump headfirst into a volcano. "I understand. I arrived not long ago myself."

Erendriel giggles. "So they both want you back around. even more. But why lecturing you?"

That lock of hair falls into Seldan's eyes as he looks away, and he absently pushes it away. "Father would very much prefer that I served the Sunlord." He looks up. "The gods had other ideas, though. I ... don't think he was very happy about it, but it is not his choice to make. Such does not stop him from reminding me of my duty, though." _As if I will ever forget_, is the unspoken tack on the end of that sentence.

Erendriel goes wide-eyed, and nods. "Ohhhhhh..." she shifts on her feet, hands folding behind her back, beneath her backpack, and nods. "That's a big deal."

Seldan nods, looking back down at the sheaf. "I cannot run away forever, and the choices of the gods are not his or mine to make." He smiles, a very small expression. "I have not forgotten my duty, and will not. I must simply make him understand that my place is as a servant of Eluna." Suddenly, he stops. "Forgive me, I had not intended to dump that on you."

Erendriel shakes her head. "It's okay. It's important. Is he taking it personally, perhaps?"

Seldan rolls the scrolls up a little more tightly. "I do not know," he admits. "It may be that he is. It may be that he considers me not good enough." The blue eyes lower at that.

Erendriel bites her lip, and shifts a little on her feet. She squats down beside Seldan, and starts sending zots of fire at the ground, sketching a map of southern Myriddon, leaning forward and into it. "You can try to convince him you're good enough, convince him you honor him, or show him that you're going to live your own life no matter what he thinks. What's right for you?"

Seldan glances over at Erendriel, although not quite at her face. "I have little choice," he replies. "I am vowed to serve Eluna and Her people, and it is of little consequence whether he thinks me good enough or not. It ... just makes it easier if he would," he adds, a little lamely. "As I have said, it is neither his choice nor mine to make." Quickly, he looks away, flushing inexplicably.

Erendriel keeps right on sketching. One brief zap of fire at a time, so it takes a while, but she's apparently had.... years of practice at it. As she listens, she nods. "So prove that to him."

"Yes," Seldan finally agrees with a sigh. "The sun is high, and I have kept you long enough. Thank you for listening to me." A brief hesitation. "Would you accompany me for some food?"

Erendriel looks up, and giggles. "Sure thing Seldan. We can talk about something less... stressful like what to eat."