He smiled as the rose settled into place, a burst of color that drew attention to the delicate lines of Maea's face and the new vibrancy of her eyes. It was a moment of peace stolen from the darker places his question had led him, but though he had made many mistakes in his life - indeed, even just in the past year and a half - still he continued to struggle forward, making more, occasionally retreating for a time to lick his wounds, but always coming back in the end, like a moth to a flame. One day the gods would burn him up, but for the moment he yet lived to offer what care he could to his friends - Maea not least among them.
He had known of her telekinesis since the day they had repaired the Guildhalls windows after LongNight's ravages. Since then he had learned a great deal more about Caido's magic, unearthing a journal documenting the known types and stages of each. More, he had watched such things progress in others around him, as new powers manifested and existing ones strengthened. He was surprised but not shocked when the water began to swirl around them, a slow smile spreading over his features at the butterflies she formed. The smile faded as her voice hardened, however, a silver brow arching at her display. He ignored the splash of moisture on his skin; Loren's ice was far more deadly, and his control far more precise than Maea's, and for all her bravado the Launceleyn's body count was much, much higher.
They had only to look at the field around them to see the results of it. Her not-quite-threats and choice of water magic given what had just happened in this very place a mere day before hardened his expression. "I was less myself," he said softly. "The magic that was taken from me, ripped from my soul so that I would better fit this world was as much a part of me as any other. Losing that aspect of me made me... reckless. Destructive. Like a fox gnawing off its own leg to escape a trap." He grew quiet a moment, remembering how he had provoked the Voice, had angered Safrin - and stubbornly refused to back down from either. How he had done the same with Zariah, with Deimos, with Wessex. Not always so foolish, no, but there was a fey wildness in him that had mourned the passage of something so dear to him, and sought to follow in its wake, even as he had assured his friends and family that, no, he didn't miss it, didn't regret being here with them, didn't wish to be whole again. "I appreciate what you're trying to say, Maea, and I know you have also felt the pain of losing a family and a home, but until you have felt something so integral to who you are ripped from you unwillingly, something inside you that you would never have chosen to lose..." He sighed, frustration bleeding away into weariness. "Suffice to say, I hope it's something you never have to understand." He said nothing to the plans of gods, for he patently didn't believe that was the case. Safrin had tried to protect Amalia, he'd seen the light upon her wings that kept the building back. No, Amalia had hesitated over... something. He didn't know what. And that hesitation had cost her dearly. It had nothing to do with gods or grand plans, of that he was certain.
Her questions were sharp as knives, and he tilted his head at her, reappraising this wraith who had come back from the dead. He was beginning to remember more than just the pain of loss, now. Once he had been asking the knife-edge questions, and he tilted his head at her in acknowledgment of this small reprisal. "Curiosity, and concern, to answer your first question. The Launceleyns are a power in Halo and Zariah is back... ah, you missed that," he grimaced apologetically. "Zariah declared herself 'Tyrant' and went by 'the Merciless' and tried to force her will on the Hollowed Grounds. She used her magic as a threat to keep people in line, but eventually she disappeared on a mission for the Voice. Suffice to say, the thought of her gaining mageglass and turning it back on her old vendettas is concerning on a public level and a personal one, since she tried to arrest me, threatened to shut down the Guild to try and get to me when I eluded her, and then threatened Amalia with imprisonment when that didn't work. So part of the purpose of this trip is to find it and study it - find it just what it can do, and also how it can be muted or blocked, if we need to. I doubt we'll be keeping it, though. I made a deal with Warder Neron, in exchange for information on where we might find some, he expects me to bring it back to him. In this, at least, heroics have less to do with it, so much as being prepared to defend ourselves in the future if we need to. And if we don't, then we still learn valuable information to add to the Guild Chronicles." New knowledge always had a place, after all, and if it wasn't useful to them now it might be in the future.
He had known of her telekinesis since the day they had repaired the Guildhalls windows after LongNight's ravages. Since then he had learned a great deal more about Caido's magic, unearthing a journal documenting the known types and stages of each. More, he had watched such things progress in others around him, as new powers manifested and existing ones strengthened. He was surprised but not shocked when the water began to swirl around them, a slow smile spreading over his features at the butterflies she formed. The smile faded as her voice hardened, however, a silver brow arching at her display. He ignored the splash of moisture on his skin; Loren's ice was far more deadly, and his control far more precise than Maea's, and for all her bravado the Launceleyn's body count was much, much higher.
They had only to look at the field around them to see the results of it. Her not-quite-threats and choice of water magic given what had just happened in this very place a mere day before hardened his expression. "I was less myself," he said softly. "The magic that was taken from me, ripped from my soul so that I would better fit this world was as much a part of me as any other. Losing that aspect of me made me... reckless. Destructive. Like a fox gnawing off its own leg to escape a trap." He grew quiet a moment, remembering how he had provoked the Voice, had angered Safrin - and stubbornly refused to back down from either. How he had done the same with Zariah, with Deimos, with Wessex. Not always so foolish, no, but there was a fey wildness in him that had mourned the passage of something so dear to him, and sought to follow in its wake, even as he had assured his friends and family that, no, he didn't miss it, didn't regret being here with them, didn't wish to be whole again. "I appreciate what you're trying to say, Maea, and I know you have also felt the pain of losing a family and a home, but until you have felt something so integral to who you are ripped from you unwillingly, something inside you that you would never have chosen to lose..." He sighed, frustration bleeding away into weariness. "Suffice to say, I hope it's something you never have to understand." He said nothing to the plans of gods, for he patently didn't believe that was the case. Safrin had tried to protect Amalia, he'd seen the light upon her wings that kept the building back. No, Amalia had hesitated over... something. He didn't know what. And that hesitation had cost her dearly. It had nothing to do with gods or grand plans, of that he was certain.
Her questions were sharp as knives, and he tilted his head at her, reappraising this wraith who had come back from the dead. He was beginning to remember more than just the pain of loss, now. Once he had been asking the knife-edge questions, and he tilted his head at her in acknowledgment of this small reprisal. "Curiosity, and concern, to answer your first question. The Launceleyns are a power in Halo and Zariah is back... ah, you missed that," he grimaced apologetically. "Zariah declared herself 'Tyrant' and went by 'the Merciless' and tried to force her will on the Hollowed Grounds. She used her magic as a threat to keep people in line, but eventually she disappeared on a mission for the Voice. Suffice to say, the thought of her gaining mageglass and turning it back on her old vendettas is concerning on a public level and a personal one, since she tried to arrest me, threatened to shut down the Guild to try and get to me when I eluded her, and then threatened Amalia with imprisonment when that didn't work. So part of the purpose of this trip is to find it and study it - find it just what it can do, and also how it can be muted or blocked, if we need to. I doubt we'll be keeping it, though. I made a deal with Warder Neron, in exchange for information on where we might find some, he expects me to bring it back to him. In this, at least, heroics have less to do with it, so much as being prepared to defend ourselves in the future if we need to. And if we don't, then we still learn valuable information to add to the Guild Chronicles." New knowledge always had a place, after all, and if it wasn't useful to them now it might be in the future.
