Bacon and Work

Erendriel is still in a pretty down mood. Shoulders slumping even as she wanders into a nice place like the Festival grounds. She's not even shooting any rocks. She's just... moping.

Another clear and beautiful fall day in Alexandria, and there are a few other people around the Festival Grounds, sparring or practicing. A cloaked figure, though, has gone off by himself, well away from anyone else and deep into the soft dirt of the riding list. Whoever it is, their hood is pulled up to conceal their face, and a pair of leather gloves covers their hands.

The figure doesn't seem to have noticed Erendriel, instead drawing a set of arcane sigils in the air, then speaks an arcane word to them in a familiar Myrrish accent. They burst into flame, then spread out to form a spongy, burning sphere in front of him as he spreads his hands apart, but he isn't done with it. He raises a hand, and it starts - bouncing like a child's toy.

Hun'rar has arrived.

Malik is coming up from the opposite side of where Erendriel wanders in, carrying something flat and wrapped in cloth. And he's headed directly for the hooded figure. His steps slow a bit, looking wary at the ball of fire, giving the caster a sidelong glance. But he doesn't say anything, for now. Instead, he pulls the cloth away, revealing a plate piled high with enough breakfast for four people. With a word and a gesture, the bacon on the plate starts to float up of its own accord as he takes a seat by the post, balancing the strips of meat several inches above the fire as they start to sizzle. Apparently, it's breakfast time.

Erendriel notices the fire. She lifts her head, stares, and well, starts walking in that direction. Not to scold, mind you. Not to suggest there's something indecent about using fire magic in public. But to watch, her hands re-gripping her backpack a bit more tightly, head up a little more.

The floating bacon does get the cloaked figure's attention. The hood turns in surprise, but a chuckle comes out of it. He stills the bouncing sphere with a gesture, holding it steady a few inches off the ground to let it do its thing. A few adjustments, up or down, and the caster's entire focus seems to be on holding the flaming sphere, controlling it, bending it to his will. Just ... a different practice tactic.

Hun'rar comes along when he spots the fire and smells something cooking. Dressed simply as he usually is, moving closer carefully until he spots who it is making the light and the smell. When he notices he simply nods and watch the food cook.

Malik looks up as he notices Erendriel coming closer, watching the expression on her face. It doesn't seem that he's in a particular mood to scold, either. Perhaps she misjudged his earlier comments. He gestures to an empty patch of dirt beside him, asking the woman, "Hungry? There's plenty." And then notices the draconic man off to the side, offering him a nod of greeting. "Plenty of room. But if you eat like me, we're definitely wrestling for the last of the bacon." Which is starting to get crispy, the smell permeating the air.

Erendriel isn't spoken to by the mysterious hooded man, so she NOW gets distracted by the sound and talking toward Malik. Looking to HIM now, she sees the bacon, and lets out a muted snicker. "Hello." she says to him. "A little.. thank you..." He's offering people food AGAIN? Huh. Maybe not as grumpy as she thought, as she starts walking his way, though glancing back at the hooded Seldan and his flaming sphere. Hun'rar is then seen, and she waves his way as well.

Hun'rar happily takes the offer, one hand turning into wicked talons that he uses to spear some of the back and hold it to the fire, while he does so gets close enough to the hooded man to try and see who it is. "Nifty spell, what else do you know? Erendriel has more than a few nice ones she can show too. Learned a few from watching her." he notes watching his food cook on his claw.

Startled, the hooded man looks directly at Hun'rar for a moment, but as the hovering bacon finishes cooking - and before it gets hard - he takes three steps backwards and bids with a gesture that it follow him. This, the flaming sphere does, and whoever it is bounces it back and forth a few times in a complicated pattern, bringing it closer and closer to him before stopping it and dismissing it with an arcane gesture.

Only then does the man come over to the group, with a look at the bacon. "Her blessings on all of you, and good morning." It's Seldan.

Malik takes some of the bacon, dumping a pile of scrambled eggs on top of it and wrapping the whole thing in a roll. Breakfast of champions today, it seems. He bits into the thing, letting Seldan and Hun'rar debate the finer points of the spell, though he scoots over a bit to make room for Seldan. "This training thing is gonna cost us a fortune in food," he tells his companion, letting him make whatever he wants. There's eggs, sausage links the size of an ogre's fingers, bacon, some manner of fried potatoes, and a small bowl of pepper gravy, just to wrap it all up. "I've never been hungrier in my life."

Hun'rar laughs "It will give you a good appetite." he notes eating the bacon right off of the talons on his fingers. "Building yourself up requires energy and that means food." he says helping himself to some more of the food. "So Seldan, looks like its spread. Now your skin is darker than mine, looking to emulate me?" he says with a joking smile.

"On the whole, I prefer it to not being hungry." An oblique reference to recent events, despite Seldan's laugh as he takes the proffered seat, removes gloves and hood to show that Hun'rar is entirely correct, except for a patch on the back of his neck that appears to be untouched. He also appears to have been sweating some, by the mess his hair is. "You have my gratitude for bringing breakfast."

He sighs, though, at Hun'rar's observation, the laughter fading. As he speaks, he assembles his own breakfast, eggs, two sausages, some of the potatoes, and similarly stuffs all of that into a roll with a bit of the gravy on top. "It seems to respond to sunlight. It will fade if I am indoors for a time. About the spell ... it is a new one, and one that seems to require close control."

Erendriel uses a mage hand tog et paice of bacon. But then she blushes as she does it, sighs, and eats the bacon anyway. "Thank you very much, Malik" she'll nod to him, her voice a little softer than usual. Seldan speaking makes her look over. "Oh it's you," she smiles. "I didn't recognize you with the hood. So you're training, that's great."

Malik looks over at Seldan, raising a curious eyebrow. "You want me to...?" Apparently, they have an understanding on the matter, as he doesn't finish the sentence. "We're starting to draw a crowd, it seems." Still, he goes about eating breakfast, watching the other two willworkers curiously, though he can't help but chuckle at Erendriel's comment. "Training seems great while you're doing it. But I've never been so sore in my life. I hurt in muscles I didn't even know existed."

Hun'rar laughs "Just means you need to keep doing it, the sore muscles. If you add it to your routine it will stop hurting in no time." he takes some more of the sausage and potatoes "So Erendriel, how goes practice? Figure out anything new? Or find a good fire spell to blow a lock apart?"

Seldan nods agreement with Malik, on what appears to be multiple points, but is too busy attending to his own breakfast to answer verbally at once. Chew, swallow, stretch gingerly. When he can speak politely, he adds, "I was also sore, but the run across the city did me good. Yes, if you would. I have a line on a merchant who can help, but daring the market as I am may be risky." As Hun'rar turns to Erendriel, he, too, falls silent to listen.

Erendriel takes the bacon with her real hand to hold it as she eats it slowly. Feelign eyes on her, she looks to Hun'rar, and stalls by finishing the bacon and swallowing it before she speaks. "I um.." she stammers, glancing around. "I'm not... sure..."

Malik knows exactly what it is he's supposed to do. Closing his eyes and speaking a few words, his hands working a bit, he reaches out and touches the back of Seldan's neck. From where he touched, a wave of normal color starts to spread, and it isn't long before the black has entirely disappeared, save for perhaps the smallest spots for the sharpest of eyes. Otherwise, he returns to his normal color -- the pale Myrrish complexion that sets off the red in his strawberry blonde hair. "You should be good for at least a few hours," he tells the man. Though Hun'rar's question for the fiery sorceress makes him smile, watching Erendriel's reaction curiously.

Hun'rar continues to eat "Well I ask, Erendriel, because I saw a merchant yesterday selling lock boxes. I figure if you wanted to get better you could buy a few practice on them until its as easy as shooting fire. Which I might add I have been working on myself, think I nailed the Fireball spell." he announces with a bit of pride. "Still difficult in armor though."

Erendriel bites herl ip hard, blushing faintly a bit some more, as she is questioned. The mention of Fireball does brighten her up. "That's a very good spell," she syas, though her voice isn't really in it. But her eyes go to her boots. "I just.. I just don't... I don't know..."

Seldan nods his gratitude to Malik as the inky blackness vanishes, and lets out a breath he did not know he was holding. "My thanks to you." He continues to consume his breakfast, listening in silence to the conversation, but pauses at Erendriel's responses. "Speak your mind, Erendriel," he says gently. "What troubles you?"

Malik looks up to Erendriel and Hun'rar as the continue to discuss magical affairs. "Such spells are fine," he tells nobody in particular, "when practiced carefully, and not with reckless abandon where someone might get injured." It might not be the response she was looking for, but he at least gives tacit approval of the magics involved. "And provided that you're not destroying something of considerable value in the process."

Hun'rar nods "Learning spells is slow for me, I have been much more focused on the power in my bloodline but I am happy with what I know, fire spells seem to come particularly easy but it's not hard to know why." he adds with a grin before turning to Erendriel "We are all friends here is you want to talk about it."

Erendriel takes a slow, deep breath through her nose. Her hands dropping off of her backpack, gripping each other. "I..." she continues to speak softly and hesitantly. "I just don't know... It's... I don't know what to do. I did that... I Did that practice... and it didn't work at all." She sighs deeply. "Seldan, Hun'rar, you saw it. It didn't work, at all. Everything I tried. Everything I did to practice, completely failed."

Seldan finishes his breakfast, and speaks a quick, arcane word that most here will doubtless know. A flick of a gesture, and hands and mouth are once again clean. "You try new things," he tells Erendriel when that is done. "It is in the trying, and erring, that we learn. Failure is not a crime. Not trying again is the true crime. I am certain that magical traps are a different matter from ordinary ones, although I have not engaged in their study. Perhaps time spent with locks, without magic, will help."

Malik listens, though he eventually nods in agreement with the others. "Sometimes, things don't work. Even when you practice them. There are a million things that can go wrong. If everything always went in favor of competent individuals, wars would be bloodless standstills where generals stand around measuring their --" He flashes a glance to the paladin, finishing, "swords."

Hun'rar ponders "Well you can always turn to magic. There are headbands that boost intelligence and impart certain skills. Perhaps that will help you out? I have considered doing that myself, after all only so much time in the day to practice things." he notes with a shrug.

Erendriel bites her lip and look sat Hun'rar. "But.. you know... that's what he told me. I can't just... do it like my magic. I have to do something else to learn it. And I'm lost, you know?" Nodding to the others., but shrugging helplessly.

"I think that I understand." Seldan watches Erendriel closely. "Your magic comes naturally to you, you once told me. I think that earning your skills by your own toil and frustration is unknown to you, and it is a thing that you must learn, would you have more than the most familiar of magic in your hands. I said that I would teach you how to practice, and I will. Choose a weapon that you do not know, but would learn, and I will teach it to you, do I know it myself. I cannot teach you of locks, but I can teach you how to work. What say you?"

"Then un-lose yourself." Malik looks up to her, his expression steely as he leans against the post, offering a little shrug. "Are you expecting someone to swoop down from the heavens and take you by the hand? Tell you that it's going to be fine, and show you all the divine secrets of the universe? Because I assure you, short of the stories they tell in the Temple, that happens rarely enough that it might as well never happen at all." He pulls a knee up to his chest, resting his elbow on it. "At the end of the day, the only person that you can rely on is yourself, and what friends you've managed to make a good enough impression on that they're willing to risk themselves for your benefit. You've spent a lot of time cultivating an outward fire. Perhaps it's time that you start cultivating the fire within. Stop looking for everyone to pat you on the head and tell you what a good job you did, and set out to prove every bastard that ever doubted you wrong. Stop looking for praise when the world works the way you think it should, and start learning to feel that fire in your chest that can change it when it doesn't."

Hun'rar shrugs "Eh, do what you like. It's ultimately up to you and us lecturing is not going to change anything. You have natural powers but you also get better by using them, so you have been practicing." he grins to everyone "Plus magic items can do a lot for you too."

Erendriel is stabbed in the gut with Malik's lecture, even if it's softened with Seldan's offer of help, and Hun'rar's straddling the middle. She blushes bright red at this point, staring intensely at her feet. Fingertips squeezing tightly, one hand on the other, her whole body tensing up tightly. Her mouth opens as she considers how to address Malik's cartload of tough love... but finds no words, and instead answers Seldan. Hard to tell when she's staring at the ground, except for her words. "A... a weapon? Like.. a starknife?"

"No, Hun'rar. Malik is right. She must do this by the hard path, for only then will she find her inner strength." Seldan looks gratefully up at Malik, for saying what his manners are too well ingrained to permit him to say openly. "Yes, I can teach you the starknife, on one condition." He holds up a finger. "This will be neither easy nor fun for you. You must commit to this learning daily, from tomorrow until spring thaw, without fail. At spring thaw, you may decide whether you wish to continue or not, but you may not stop before then. Do you understand?"

Hun'rar shrugs "Its the better way, I will admit but there are many paths to power and ability. Its not like any of us don't use magic to augment our abilities here. My belt gives me a good deal with strength for example." he shrugs "I am not here to make decisions for other people on these things."

Erendriel turns to Hun'rar, and sniffs. Slowly raising her face to look to him. "The problem is.. I can't just magic this. They're... um.. they're saying I have to... train and stuff. But I've never done anything like that before, ever. I'm just... It's a lot." Then looking to Seldan again. "I'll try... but I have to um.. I have to mix it with the toher stuff too, you know?"

Seldan is unmoved, his gaze unyielding. "To power and ability, perhaps. To the strength to try again after you fail, to keep going when all seems lost, to find another way? There is none, and without that, all the power on Ea is meaningless, or worse. It is what you do with the power that you have that determines what good you will do with your time on this plane. It matters not how much power you have, if you cannot do that, and at this moment, she does not know how." Now, he looks at Erendriel. "I am certain you will find a way." Unspoken in that statement is, _you'd better._ "In a few weeks time - as soon as we can - we must make our way north. Hun'rar, who do you wish to join us?"

Hun'rar nods "Of course, I would welcome the chance. I even have some scrolls for magic to keep me comfortable in the cold, bought them for another mission but never had to use them." he says with a shrugs "But you know I won't turn down a challenge."

Erendriel watches Seldan as he explains just what she's committing herself to. He doesn't appear to object to her pleading that at times, the starknife training will conflict with her other responsibilities... so she nods to him, and then clings desperately to the change of subject "You mean the... tribe?"

"Yes, Erendriel, though ... there is more. Hun'rar, this expedition is yours to lead by right, if you will. The information find was yours." Seldan looks puzzled by Hun'rar's response, and pushes a lock of hair out of his eyes. "I was suspicious when I left the tower, of the supposed fate of Zeheir. A wizard capable of sending a tower through space and time, across the planes? I thought it wise to least learn whether his fate was worth the learning, so I sought augury of the Dreamer's Temple, asking Her - _what will happen should I seek the wizard Zeheir?_ The answer came back: _weal and woe_. Cryptic, to be sure."

He grips the bench on which he sits with hands on either side of his legs as he continues. "Still, I took that to mean that there was something to find, and that it would be both good and bad. So I sought the wizard Mikilos, and Hun'rar was in the shop at the time. We all parted to do research on the wizard Zeheir, to see if we could learn his fate. I managed little, but Hun'rar found more." He nods to the dragon knight, indicating that he should pick up the tale.

Hun'rar nods "Right, his tower randomly moves places periodically, however it or part of it was fixed in the far north via some ritual. Might be related to the tribe." he says to Erendriel. "I also found a report detailing how he was destroyed, even after he entered lichdom. Finding this tower may provide clues, additionlly he /may/ have a living son. However I have no further clues on that yet." he adds with a shrug. "It really was a lucky find."

Erendriel blinks. "He was destroyed? Well.. do we think that's related to who's in there now then?" Taking a deep breath, the coloration of her face slowly returning to normal, hands going back to the straps of her pack.

Seldan shrugs at Erendriel's question. "Perhaps, perhaps not. That an entire tribe in that area was found slaughtered, with snowflake scars such as that you bear, suggests that it is tied to her. Did she occupy the tower after his death? That seems likely. As for his living son," He pauses and snaps his fingers. "That reminds me, I should seek entrance to the city record, to determine if such a one is known to live or have lived here in Alexandria. But ..." His expression falls. "I must conceal this before I attempt the nobles' district, else I am likely to be arrested or run out."

Hun'rar raises an eyebrow "My research didn't find much about the son at the time but there are more places to look. I will have to get some proper winter clothes though, perhaps some fur for the padding underneath my plate." he speculates idly.

Erendriel gestures dismissively with her hand. "I will definitely trust whatever you two came up with, and follow along to help in any way I can, you know?"

"As will I, Hun'rar, among other things. Her blessing that I have some coin still, without turning to Guild work." Seldan is idly and pensively examining one of his hands as he talks. "I will see about venturing to the city records as soon as I may."

Hun'rar nods "Anything you two can find is appreciated, the more we know, the better prepared we will be. But like I said, I also have magic prepared of mine own that can make me comfortable in any weather. Used to make use of it to go swimming in the winter during my paladin training, we would be comfortable wearing nearly nothing in the snow and ice." he says a bit whistfully, recalling a memory. "I miss those bonds of brotherhood with the other initiates."

Erendriel smiles. "Well... um... when you guys are ready to go on the trip, post a note somewhere where like... I'll see it? Or you know there are some Inquisitors at the Temple who know where to find me. Let them know, please? I'm gonna go lie down."

Seldan's gaze is difficult to read as he looks over at Erendriel. "I shall. Rest well." He, too, stands, although he doesn't move away immediately. "Would that mine was as worth recalling. But, I should return to my practice. Would you join me, Hun'rar?"

Hun'rar nods "I would be happy to and rest well." he says to Erendriel before joining Seldan.