Although there was a great deal to do for their new quest from Safrin, still Hadama made sure that he took the time to keep up his Academy training. Raw power had rarely been an issue for him, but precision... precision was where he knew he was often lacking.
He had come to the surface today to practice, choosing the Isles in their slow, stately dance across the Arclight for his training. He had carved half a dozen lengths of driftwood into tall, straight staves, pointed at one end and with holes drilled through the other, like giant sewing needles. Planting them in the shallows of a shady lagoon, he created a semicircular challenge course.
Lifting a fist-sized ball of seawater with his magic he held it hovering in front of him, considering the first target in silent contemplation as he stilled his mind in preparation for the task ahead.
Andromeda
While the sun still blazed in the sky, Andromeda took every opportunity she could to bask in the radiance. In their city the sun didn’t reach in and bring life like it did at the surface. The betta drank in the rays of the sun in the shallows of an island until she was disturbed by the sounds of another.
Immediately thinking it to be a landwalker, the mer lifted herself on her elbows to observe the commotion. Instead, she found her gold banded king. A smirk lifted her red lips and she pressed herself away from the sand and deeper into the water. Swimming up from the east, Andromeda settled in to tread next to Hadama. ”What’s all this?”
He had thought that he had the island to himself. It had been quiet enough while he'd been setting up, at least, so Andromeda's appearance was unexpected to say the least.
Unexpected, but not unwelcome.
Hadama continued to hold part of his focus on his watery sphere, but he turned in the shallow waters of the lagoon to face the lovely courtier and inclined his head to her in greeting. "Homework," he rumbled, his mien as solemn as always but with the hint of amusement dancing in his eyes. "I am practicing my magic." Given that Andy could see the floating aqueous orb and given how limited the merfolk's magics were, he trusted her to recognize his own elemental affinity. "An obstacle course. To test my control," he added, nodding to the staves. "Would you like to join me?"
Though he didn't know what magic - if any - the betta might lay claim to, it seemed polite to offer.
The invitation incited a smirk on the noblewoman’s face. Ruby lips then pursed before an arm lifted out of the water. Andromeda twirled her finger clockwise, and air wrapped around Hadama’s ball of water. Lifting it into the air, the betta launched it with her air incantations.
”This could be fun.” She almost purred. With that out of the way, Andromeda took a ribbon that was tied to a shell necklace hanging around her neck. She used it to pull her liquid crimson hair back to keep it out of her face. Sucking in a readying breath, Andromeda swam back a few paces before letting her head tilt.
”Try and make a goal.” She challenged.
Whatever Hadama might have expected, Andromeda's hijacking of his watery projectile had not been high on the list. He attempted to resist the effects of the wind upon his sphere but it was too little, too late as the betta-tailed mermaid neatly isolated it and sent it flying away from the reach of his magic. "Impressive," he rumbled, looking to his courtier with new respect and a gleam of challenge in his emerald eyes.
A goal, was it?
He swam to take his place in front of one of the staves, drawing a second ball of water from the sea and considering what he had just seen of her abilities. After several long moments of thought he gave a slow nod of readiness and then moved with swift forcefulness, flinging the water orb with brute strength towards the hole in the staff behind Andy. "How do you normally use your air magic?" he asked, curious even as their game commenced.
Seeing the glint in Hadama's eyes filled Andromeda's breast with fire. The fire burned hot and white, extending up her neck and peeling her lips apart in a devilish smile. Ready for this challenge, this game, Andy swam so that she was between the merking and some of the targets he had built. Her tail flashed and lashed as she tread water before him, her eyes staying hard on his emerald gaze until he lifted a water orb.
Once he thrust it into the air and aimed for the goal, Andy tracked it with her eyes. Quickly, the woman pushed her hands above her head and air rushed from around her. The sudden gust made the orb dissipate. "Usually to keep people from getting what they want." She taunted, purposefully sidestepping the more detailed answer she assumed he sought.
This was a side of the lovely noblewoman he was unfamiliar with. Her pearly grin was as sharp and hungry as a shark's smile; something he might have expected to see on Kaiden rather than Andy. Hadama was quietly impressed as he gathered his power and attempted a forceful break-through, holding nothing back in recognition of her competitive streak.
It still wasn't enough. The betta-mer's magic met and scattered his with a fierce gust that turned his compact orb into a gentle rain near the goal and it was Hadama's turn to narrow his eyes in amused competitiveness. "Hmm. I see that," he rumbled. "What does it feel like, when you use your magic?" As he spoke he gathered a new water orb, holding it in his hand thoughtfully before splitting it. Lifting both into the air he sent them on two swift, looping courses to fly past Andromeda and reach the goal from different directions.
"Natural." she said, rolling her shoulders some. Crimson waves drifted off of the shoulder as she did so, and her tail flicked. She changed her position slightly, turning sideways to Hadama and preparing for his next move. Her green eyes looked him up and down, and she sucked on her cheeks. then, taking in a sharp breath, Andy tried to stop both of the water orbs, but her magic missed on and splashed the other. Her face instantly drew in on itself, a pout that clearly displayed her disappointment and displeasure.
"Does it feel any other way to you?" Andy asked, her voice a huff as her cheeks reddened with heat. She lifted her hand and pointed at him, twirling her finger to send a small vortex of cold air to play with his long, white hair.
There was no question that Andromeda was a daughter of the sea: beautiful and mercurial, stubborn and strong, and utterly unwilling to give up what she had claimed for her own. Hadama admired her, but he could be stubborn, too, and not even her pout could convince him to miss with the orb that slipped past her defenses.
He felt the breeze as it danced over his skin, drying and lifting long tresses in playful gusts. He made no move to escape the little vortex while it remained teasing, instead considering her question as he reached out with his magic to create a small dolphin out of water in the air between them, which he then froze solid and released to bob in the gentle waves of the cove. "Mmn. It is more like... lifting something. With my will," he said at last, speaking slowly as he put the arcane feelings into words. "The magic has... a weight. A pressure. Perhaps because it came to me so late." Only a few years back, as the War approached. "Or because what I am manipulating has more weight," he added, considering Andy's winds versus his own water. "Can you create air the landfolk can breathe?"
Andromeda hummed a little with the words he spoke, nodding with an understanding. "My parents never let me travel to the surface. It wasn't until I was old enough to do what I wanted on my own that I even knew of the mastery I held." She tilted her head some and watched the bobbing ice dolphin. The smile on her lips replaced the pout -- an easy transition that seemed to happen often.
Andy let the wind caressing over Hadama to cease and her hands dropped back into the salty water. "I don't know if I can, I've never tried." She lowered herself so that only her face from the nose up remained above the water. She stayed like that for a few minutes, her emerald eyes moving off Hadama with distant thoughts. Then, she lifted slightly, her lips showing themselves once more. "I don't have any human friends."
Hadama nodded in understanding. His own parents had been far less restrictive of his youthful travels, but when they had been children there had been no real rapport between humans and Mer, and little reason for them to seek out the surface aside from teenage rebellion. It wasn't that humans had been particularly dangerous to Mer - far more the other way around - but the sea had kept to itself until the portals had opened and curious humans from beyond Torchline's borders had upended the traditional way of things.
For the better, he had eventually come to accept.
The wind faded and Andromeda sank into her own thoughts. Hadama, unhurried as ever, waited in companionable silence while he reached out with his magic lightly to touch the water around them, shifting its temperature gradually to one that was pleasantly comfortable for lounging in. When Andy spoke again he gave another nod of his head, this one thoughtful. "Mmn. Is it a thing you want?" Not everyone did, after all. Generations of tradition changed slowly, and the differences and limits of airbreathers could be... challenging to work around.
Flicking her tail as to lift herself more out of the water, Andromeda lifted her hands once more to send a gently gust of wind Hadama's direction. Air moved around the entire exposed part of his body and lifted his hair and some of the water alike, making a slow-moving but careful tornado around him.
"No." she lied, though her voice was as covered in silk and satin as her truths were. "Although I do like to know their secrets." The whole truth, followed by a careful smile as she suddenly opened her palms and the air tornado around Hadama expanded until they were both within it, white hair and red hair waving and dancing in similar fashion.
The wind returned, gentle and controlled, and Hadama glanced from one arm to the other as the air moved around him and swirled his hair over his skin. When he looked back to his dance partner she was smiling, her truth and lies indistinguishable when both were delivered with a honeyed voice and deceptive sincerity.
He accepted both statements with equal calm, nodding slightly in acknowledgment. As the vortex expanded to encompass them both he reached out with his own power, drawing a thin stream of water up to follow the wind and spiral along within its embrace, merging his magic with Andromeda's to create a delicate crystalline waterspout with walls like sheets of moving glass. "Indeed," he murmured, considering this most curious courtier thoughtfully. "What kind of secrets do you seek?"
Red and white hair danced wildly as Andromeda flicked her wrists and made the air churn quicker around them. From the outside, it looked like a raging tempest. A water storm of great proportions. Instead, it was merely two powerful mer enjoying their time together. At least, Andy was enjoying herself. A bright smile crept over her features and devoured her face. Realizing it had happened, however, she flicked her wrists again and calmed the winds beneath her power.
”If its a secret, I seek it.” She replied simply. Not ready to look too impressed by Hadama, although she truly was, the betta yawned. ”While this has been a blast, I believe the city is calling me again. Would you accompany me back?”
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