Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 7: Injury, Exhaustion, Renewal

[Kanami]

Kamilla looked at Morgan as she commented and nodded her head. If the lady said so, it must be true she thought to herself as she scampered into the grounds taking an interest in everything they passed. She waited as the group slowly followed onto the campus, some seemed to lack energy while others were looking as if they didn't want to be here.

She was about to ask Morgan or Tessa a question, but Morgan seemed to be helping Tessa with something, and the curt reply she'd gotten earlier, was enough to tell Kamilla Morgan wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. Despite Morgan always being like that.

Instead she turned her attention back towards the shiny things lying around, and then at the students who curiously eyed them for a few seconds before hurrying off. She recognized some of the tomes being carried around and she laughed. "Wind mages all look stupid" she declared to herself. A moment of silence passed before a burly man, who looked more suited to wielding an axe walked up to her. "What did you just say you miserable little wretch?"

[Snowy_One]

Inside the main hallways, hundreds of magi, each of various ranking and intent, shuffled about as overhead, the giant floating dorm cast its mighty presence about, seeming to encompass the entirety of the interior. So impressive was it that the group didn't even notice as two revenants slowly shuffled up beside the group. Despite their nature as magical beings, each was garbed in robes with a patch saying 'Institute Guard' upon their breast.

"Break it up!" shouted one, his rotten vocal chords somehow managing to make a full voice. "And stop oogling her!"

"But she smells so nice!"

The second of the revanents had somehow come up beside Morgan and was sniffing her body. Not in a perverted way, but more of a hungry cat smelling a tuna. "So much magic, and arcane too!"

"Stop it! We're guards. We have our own food! Anyways, you two!" he said, pointing to the burly man. "Don't get into another fight!"

[Kanami]

The man glared at the guard, and raised his tome. But seemed to rethink his actions and turned away mumbling something about low grade familiars and monsters bossing the superior race around.

Kanami watched as the man walked off, sticking her tongue out before running back over to Tessa and Morgan. She wasn't sure what she'd done wrong, and didn't even think of the possibility that her actions might have caused the man to get violent. She looked around suspiciously, sticking closely to the pair. "Dumb mages everywhere, must be careful" she repeated quietly to herself.

[Phoenix]

Before heading inside, Ixion released Iso and shook his head. Irina was somewhat happy about what Arrin had just told her. Making sure her wyvern would behave, she whispered to him.

Irina: Be polite

The wyvern returned a blank stare before they headed inside.

EDITED: For bs reduction.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan was a tad surprised at being called reliable, 'twas the first non-negative thing said to her in a while, but it was accurae she supposed. She chose to ignore the strange creature sniffing her and moved into their assigned quarters.

She gently laid Tessa down on one of the beds no it's not that kind of scene you perverts and propped up her foot on some pillows. Taking a bandage out of her pack she begain to wrap it around Tessa's ankle.

"You know, while it is very noble, not to mention useful, of you to go around healing our wounds all day, you must not forget to take care of yourself as well." Morgan chastised.

"Someone get me some ice." she demanded vaguely of anyone who was in the nearby vicinity.

[Kanami]

Nyahaha

Kamilla had been examining the room when Morgan called out for someone to grab some ice.

She raised her hand "Kamilla go, Kamilla wants to go!" she said jumping up and down, running out the door before Morgan could say anything.

As she entered the corridor she started wandering around, trying to figure out where she was. She didn't know where she could find ice but she assumed it'd be around somewhere. She decided she wouldn't be able to find anything by herself in such a large complex and started asking students who were walking around.

Most ignored her completely, some didn't even seem to hear her question as they hurried on to their next class. She was about to kick someone to get their attention when a young girl stopped and offered her hand to her. "I know where you can find some Ice" she said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Kamilla looked at the woman uncertain but she had her orders, and she didn't want Morgan yelling that she was too slow when she got back. She took the girls hand and was led away.

[Inactive Account]

Kelas made it to the stables and through caring for the horses, through the argument with the hostler mage about using magic on the horses, and back into the building with the others. Arrin did decently at caring for Trevor; Kelas talked him through all the important steps.

On the way back to the building, Arrin glanced at Kelas. "I found that letter."

"Yeah. Why were you in my bag?"

"I thought it was mine. It was dark, I was looking for something with my teacher's seal on it to get me into the city." Arrin sighed.

"Ah." Kelas paused. "Look, I know the letter wasn't phrased in the most delicate fashion, and probably ruins how you thought of your teacher. Not to mention the scrying, which vexed me plenty, too. Look on the bright side, though... if she hadn't sent it out, I'd never have found you." Kelas was acutely aware that she'd barely gotten to know her brother yet.

"Yeah..." Arrin thought for a moment. "Since we've apparently hit 'later'-- what happened to Kamilla?"

"Morgan happened to Kamilla," Kelas spat. "Right, so Kamilla was going through her whole 'crimson wielders will burn in hell' routine, and was starting to attract attention. We defused it a bit, got people to think she was drunk, but Morgan wasn't satisfied with it." Kelas grimaced. ";Once we were out of sight, Morgan ensorcelled Kamilla. Stole her memories.:

Arrin was thoughtful as well as startled. "Mm, it is said that elder magic is capable of doing so, though not permanently... sorry, this place makes me go on about theory too much. I guess I was right to not trust Morgan."

"You can say that again." They were entering the building again. "There's more to talk about, but not where people-- or enchanted walls-- might be listening," Kelas said tiredly as they rejoined the group.

edit: argblargSPACING

Edited June 4, 2010 by Darth Lacuna

[riariadne]

In a less pleasant place than the rest of the group, Chase was pushed into a cell which was locked behind him. He collapsed and groaned in pain. His punishment had been changed to torture- one hundred lashings in front of the public and a month in jail. His back was bleeding, not only from the cruel punishment, but from various- sometimes sharp- objects that had been thrown at him from the crowd. He sat in pain against the wall of the cell, cushioned only by his clothes. He slowly laid down and sunk into a slumber.

[Ansem]

Helios scowled at the girls comment. Now i miss the old one........... If only she would shut up! "I assure you that you are smelling yourself" He said to the girl. He ignored the comment when she said that all wind mages are dumb. Clearly it was obvious who was the smart one and who was dumb one. When Helios heard Morgan ask for ice he saw a girl rush up to the waitress. She said something and they ran off. Helios scoffed and returned to waiting. That is when he heard a voice that made him facepalm. "YO HELIOS" Ian shouted. Helios did not look. Ian dismounted off Mark's horse. "Miss me"?

[Balcerzak]

At the arrival of the revenants, Tessa grew worried, clinging a bit closer to Morgan for support. She'd never seen anything quite like one before, and its appearance was grotesque, and frightening. Apparently the beasts were non-hostile, and seemingly even in the employ of the academy if the badges on the robes adorning what was left of their bodies were any accurate indication. Sis walked on with determination, unphased even though one of them had been nearly all over her. Once again Tessa found herself filling with a sense of respect for the shaman.

When they'd arrived at their destination, she let Morgan lay her down. Removing the soft leather riding boot, the swelling was already becoming somewhat noticeable. Tessa scrunched up her face while the other woman started to care for it. Even though she was being as gentle as possible, it was still painful. But that wasn't the reason, not really. Tessa recognized that she'd really fouled up.

The unusual role reversal, and the accompanying (and deserved) chastisement to remember to look after herself as well as others left her embarrassed, and she felt her cheeks flush as she nodded.

"I... well, it's just that," she began to try to make excuses but paused for a moment. There'd been no time really. Compared to what everyone else always goes through, this is nothing. These thoughts and other similar were flitting through her head, but she was pretty sure that if she said them, they'd be immediately seen through.

Taking a deep breath, she cleared them away. It'd be best to just be straight here. "Heh, I guess this is sort of an ironic turn around, isn't it?" With a light laugh, she attempted to lighten the mood, "I've been harping on you to take care of yourself, but it looks like I really need to start practicing what I preach. I'm sorry. I'm not sure I'll feel right putting priority on myself, but if no-one else is in need..." she trailed off, short of making a promise or commitment.

[Ansem]

"Ian why are you here" Helios asked the mercenary. Mark dismounted of his horse. "Where is everyone else"? "They went inside the building" Helios answered. Ian looked like he wanted to say something. "What, Ian". "My contract hasnt expired yet" Ian said. "I still work for you". Mark looked around. "I'll go to the stable and leave my horse". "You two go ahead into the building". Helios nodded. Helios and Mark headed into the building.

[-Cynthia-]

"You won't be able to help anyone if you're crippled or dead. Sometimes you will have to ignore the suffering of others for the greater good."

Morgan sighed. "This whole situation really isn't fair to you I suppose. You were never a warrior before this, yet the duty for caring for an entire squadron of soldiers was thrust upon you. You don't have a Crimson Weapon, so this is not even your fate. Unfortunately, we don't have any other staff users, so perhaps it is your destiny to aid us. We certainly would not have gotten this far wthout your help."

Kamilla is taking a shoreman's hour to get that ice...

Edited July 24, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Inactive Account]

As Arrin and Kelas walked to where most of the group was gathered in the hall, students continued to rush by. One clipped Kelas in the side with an elbow. "Sorry!" the boy called, oblivious to Kelas' gasp of pain. She'd hidden her injury all through the stable-work; there was no hiding it now.

Kelas staggered along and slumped against a wall by the others, trying to look casual. "Arrin, you know this place-- why don't you go get-- a healer-- for Tessa's leg," she suggested. "And maybe-- another for me-- while you're at it."

"What?" Arrin was startled; he hadn't realized Kelas was hurt. "What happ--"

"Go," Kelas growled, managing to wait until her brother was out of sight before letting her knees buckle.

[Ansem]

Mark was headed to the stable with his horse. He saw Arrin looking rather upset. "Hey your the Mage from before" He said. "What happened"?

[Snowy_One]

High above the dorms, located in the ninth floor, the secretary had just walked into her office again, sighing deeply with resignation and frustration at the criminals in the academy. Wasn't her matter though! Maybe, if the headmaster would stop flitting off at every whim, she would have not have done something like that! But nooooo! The headmaster had to go somewhere, chasing some strand of 'taint' that was more likely than not just some revanent within the academy! And now she was stuck with-

"Why hello there. How have things been since I left?"

A wide eyed and utterly horrified stare upon her face as she realized she was far from the only person in the room.

"Ummm... They've been fine? We have a few new students?" she answered, hoping the headmaster couldn't hear the fear in her voice.

"New students? I was unaware we now offered classes for criminals." replied the headmaster. The secretaries face changed from that of horror to one of a person realizing that they had just been caught cheating on their graduation test. On every question.

"They're not! That is to say they are, but they're here for the 'how not to burn down the inn with an insanely overpowered fireball' class! There's been some vacancies opening up ever since the incident with the Halton inn last semester!"

"Uh-hu... And all of them are fire mages? Even the ones riding the wyvern and wearing armor?" replied the headmaster with a droll tone. "As your penalty, you now have to do all the paperwork as if I wasn't here for the next two days! Oh. And for lying to me, you have to go straight to your room tonight without dessert! Understand?"

The secretary opened her mouth to object to such a childish punishment. "I heard your namecalling earlier. If you're gonna act like a child, I will discipline you like one. Now, mind the office while I go to deal with our guests." said the headmaster, pulling the cloak tight before leaving the room and a infuriated secretary behind.

"By the way! She's disqualified from the class you wanted to have her take because she's not a wind mage!" called back the headmaster as the door closed to the office.

[Balcerzak]

"Ignore suffering for the greater good, huh? That's... an interesting way to look at things. But, it still strikes me as selfish, somehow. Maybe I'm just being silly. Maybe if it were something really serious, I'd think differently. But I don't really know. For just an ankle, when somebody else is bleeding out in front of my eyes? That's not even a choice." She shook her head, firm in conviction on this last point at least.

Moving on to Morgan's second topic, she was surprised to find that it illuminated the recent source of stress that she hadn't quite been able to properly identify until now.

"Wow! You're completely right on that. No wonder I'm having some troubles managing to keep up. When previously the worst things I needed to manage were when say Brother Elmo had cut himself in the kitchen, or when Brother Perry had fallen from re-shingling the roof and had broken his leg, or other such things of similar nature. And all happening weeks apart no less! I guess it only makes sense I'm exhausting myself, when day in, day out people are getting hurt so badly."

"As far as whether it's fate or not, I'm not sure. It certainly does seem like The Lady has a plan for me here, though, Crismon Weapon or no. And on that note, it might not be wise of you to tend to dismiss those without them as useless, well maybe that's too harsh a word, but you know what I mean. After all history is full of examples of the heroes only being able to make their accomplishments with the support of their followers."

Having nearly finished, a thought that had floated up earlier resurfaced, and she decided to ask. "But what you just said got me to thinking. What about you, Sis? Were you always raised fighting. Have things been this difficult for you forever?"

[Kanami]

Kamilla came rushing into the room holding a bag of what looked like gummy lollies. "Tessa! Lady! A smiling lady gave me lollies" she said twirling the bag around her finger. "She said they were really popular and really tasty."

Seeing Morgans annoyed look Kamilla took a step back and calmed down a bit. "She also gave me a funny ball" she said reaching into her pocket and producing an orb, inside snowflakes were appearing from the top and disappearing from the bottom. She quickly passed it to Morgan since her fingers were getting cold and she wanted to go sit down after running around. Making sure Morgan had received the peculiar orb, she walked over to the bed beside Tessa's and sat down. And started opening the bag of lollies.

[riariadne]

OOC: I'm barely resisting the urge to comment about that...

Chase realized he was awake. Where am I... last thing I remember was... oh... I'm in jail. he got himself off the small cot, and opened his eyes. He blinked several times and looked around. There were fewer guards since he'd last been awake, and no sign of Conrad. He also noticed a piece of bread and water on a plate, and remembered how long it had been since he had eaten. He devoured the meal quickly, and looked around. There's not much to do here... I guess I'll just... wait.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan looked with curiousity at the orb. Not exactly ice, but it should do. She applied it to Tessa's bandage.

"In a sense, yes. Flemeth's lessons in the Pocket Plane did prepare me for combat. The situations were different, but much harder than the current one in many ways. Perhaps it it because I had to rely on myself in there that I often see others as unecessary.

She noticed Kamilla opening the bag of lolis lollies, but decided it wasn't her affair. Perhaps they were poisoned, perhaps not.

[Ether]

As Damian was deciding how to respond to the mage trio,Ulfhrahn appeared from the forest,and approached him.

"Ulfhrahn!What are you doing here?" Damian asked the wyvern,and Ulfhrahn explained to him,the best he could.

"So Aiya and the others went into town?And are likely headed towards TISME headquarters?And...are going to a fish market...?" Damian attempted to translate Ulfhrahns movements and grunts,and came up with something mostly reasonable.

"I'll assume the last part is a translation error...,anyway,I suppose going to your Quarters is the only thing I can really do right now,isn't it?" Damian said,first to Ulfhrahn,and then turning to the mage trio.

"Are you coming,Esphyr?"

***********************

TISME headquarters was massive,and the magical energy floating around overflowed through Aiya's mana circuit,giving her a pleasant sensation.

'There is an unbelievable amount of magic here...even a novice like me can sense that...'

Kamilia seemed to be acting up again,and then followed a girl off,and Morgan had brought Tessa into a room to check on her ankle.

"Uhh...Morgan,is there anything I can do to help?" Aiya asked,hoping to make herself useful,since wandering around with the group's current notoriety seemed unwise.

[Snowy_One]

"All you need to do is give the command." replied Esphyr, a wry look upon her face as she took Daiman's hand, offering her other to Madison to take. "I already know some of the words for a warp chant, but you will need to remind me." she said.

---

Knock Knock

From the door to the room where Morgan was tending to Tessa came a soft and gentle rapping of a fist upon the door. Neither hard nor imposing, it actually sounded more like the knock of a maid returning with the dried bedsheets from whatever person had previously occupied the room than anything else.

[Kanami]

Upon hearing the knock Kamilla tossed her bag of lolis aside and ran over to the door. She paused and then turned back and looked at the other two occupants of the room. More specifically Morgan, to see if she was allowed to open the door.

[Snike]

While the rest of the party went off to tend to other things, Eric slipped off to the academy's library for a little while. Ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the students, the swordsman selected a book about mana networks and sat down, already lost inside it's pages.

[Inactive Account]

Arrin returned at a run, a pair of novice healers behind him. One bustled off towards Tessa's room. Arrin looked for Kelas, and didn't see her: another look found that she'd fallen to the ground. "Kelas!" She looked up dully, looking from Arrin to the healer. The healer took one look, then fled.

Arrin looked to the others, eyes full of fear, silently asking "What do we do?"

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan asked "Who's at the door?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mage trio linked hands with Esphyr and Damian and did their traditional magical chant. The power of the Warp staff sent them back to their quarters at TISME.

Edited June 5, 2010 by -Cynthia-