Distant Wanderings

[Shadow]

Shadow sighed. "No, you sleep in your own tent. I am quite comfortable sleeping out here." He laughed. "Besides, I can keep the fire company." shaking his head, he pulled out a very compact roll from his pouch. "I keep a spare anyways." Laughing, he unrolled the canvas and set up his own tent. "So... are we gonna stay up late, telling ghost stories and legends like the kids do? or are we going to have a watch, and be sleeping in turns..." Shadow guesses that it was going to be the latter, but he had a small hope for the former, as he could tell some scary true stories. but this thought was interrupted by a large yawn from Shadow, who felt the temptation to curl up and fall asleep. "I cant hold my eyelids open... he smiled sleepily, and mumbled one last thing before falling asleep. "Wake me when it is my turn to-" then he was silent.

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

A small smile flitted across her lips as Tyanno set up the tent. She nodded her head and said softly, "Thank you, Tyanno. You've been quite the host!" What she really wanted to say was that she had no qualms sleeping out in the wilderness instead of in her tent but she figured he would probably insist that she sleep in a tent as a 'lady should be treated as such'. Often that way of thinking irritated her, but sometimes it felt good to be around chivalrous people when all one had been around were cads and ne'er-do-wells.

She chuckled softly as Shadow spoke. "Ah... ghost stories would be quite a pleasure..." But naturally, he had fallen asleep, hearing not a word she had said. She looked over at Tyanno and sighed. "I shall take the first watch if you wish. I am not very tired. And perhaps if you aren't too tired, yourself, you might be able to tell me a little bit more about yourself," she spoke softly. Adiana could sense the aura of a warrior around him, or at least a fighter of some sorts, and she would love to aid him if he was. That was her hope after all, to become a warrior mage but she wouldn't say that just yet.

[Tyanno Dynam, Allaine mage]

Tyanno was sipping some of the wine and smiled at Shadow. But before he could suggest a good story, Shadow was out like a snuffed candle. He chuckled to himself. He passed the canteen to Adiana. "So you wanna here about me huh?" He thought to himself for a moment. "I am a sworn protectorate. I uphold chivalry, decency, and common good for the people. I am claimed to affiliate to an ancient order of Allaine. They were unallied peacekeepers and soldiers of good. They served no king, were both mage and warrior, and were always there when the innocent needed them. They were the greatest of their kind. They hunted evil relentlessly."

Tyanno sighed and looked up at the stars. They shined quite brightly out here on this clear night. "They were betrayed and slaughtered by combined forces of various dark beings know collectively only as the Darkness. My friend Alezand is the last known leader alive from that lost Order. And my father died when the last battle was fought. So in a way, I am an Allaine by birth. So I pledge to help Master Jozlyn rebuild the Order, as his first mage and partner."

He turned and looked at Adiana. "There is more going on here than this little war between the two cities. The Darkness has returned to the land. One reason is that they have followed Master Jozlyn here to Avaren. But they have come to destroy the lands here and far. They are here now. Out in the outer lands like this forest and the mountains. We fought them, Alezand and I, and a few others who know of the danger. It was terrible. And it has us scared. Alezand hasn't found any really to join in ranks. And we can't fight by ourselves." He sighed again. "The lost one I was speaking of was Master Jozlyn himself. He freed me from being captive but he was a man on the run and he couldn't take me with him. So I tracked him all the way here."

He smiled again, his memories ebbing away as he changed the subject slightly. "I plan to be the first new Mage Knight since the Last Stand. But I have to find someone to instruct me first. I am going to be an Arcane Elemental Archer, someday..."

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

She took the canteen gratefully with a nod of thanks as he spoke. As the words flowed from his lips, she could feel the excitement rising. This was it! Perhaps this was the very thing she had been waiting for since the death of her family. Adiana hid her excitement under the facade of polite interest. His story was an interesting one, at least. She sighed after he finished talking and leaned back slightly on her log. "Wow," she said softly and shook her head. "That's amazing. I'd love to be a warrior mage, myself. I'd like to be an elemental mage, too. As for an elemental archer, that sounds fantastic... I'm a pretty fair shot with a bow, too, though the staff will always be my favorite weapon."

Adiana stood up after a few seconds to walk over to the log that he sat on and sat herself down next to him. She looked at him and spoke once more. "Could I possibly join your order?" Her question was innocent enough, but her eyes and voice could not hide the desire to be a warrior mage and to be taught that craft. And if he says yes... maybe he can be my teacher as well... was her hopeful thought.

[Tyanno Dynam, Allaine mage]

Now Tyanno was rather taken by surprise by the sudden request. In their time here, Alezand had been trying, between the upheaval and the fighting, to gain people for the new Order. And though many had joined them from time to time as allies in the various struggles, none had openly decided to take the oath to the Order. But here sat a pretty girl whom barely knew him and yet after a bit of his common generosity and a bit of his past and she was struck. She openly wanted to be one of them. Just to say she could aspire to something.

It took him a second to respond, for two reasons one was the surprise of her request and second was the quality of a young woman that was sitting next to him. Attractive, seemingly lonely and yet selfless, seeking to serve the people for her own satisfaction. Maybe there was hope for this place after all. "Yes, Adiana, I think you very well can. But you must be sure that this is what you want. To become Allaine is a hard thing. It requires the most serious commitment and the purest morale and heart. And even if you succeed, its a tough life. An Allaine knight or mage must protect an innocent no matter the danger to his or her own life. We always appear when the hour of need is greatest. No deed is too small, and chivalry and honor rule our souls. We are like the wind, passing from trouble to trouble, coming out of nowhere, slay the evil, and disappear without a trace back into the fold. We represent the hope of every person, when the world stacks the deck against them. Are your sure that this is what you want?"

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

As she listened to him intently, she was a little discomforted by the fact that her deeds would have to be selfless. She was an honorable person but many times she preferred to remain neutral instead of pick a side, but usually she would pick the side of good. With that in mind, she decided she would do this. Adiana needed something to do with her life, and this could very well be the very thing that she needed. She smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, I accept this responsibility. All I ask for now, is the training that I require. I can't exactly control my magic..."

She took in a deep breath and then turned her violet gaze to the flames and stared into them. Am I the only female in this order? she thought a bit restlessly. She probably was and that she was sure of. Of course, that didn't matter since any man within this order of knights would not touch her, and currently being forced into something she didn't want nor was ready for scared her greatly. She didn't fear men, she just remained wary of them. It was much safer that way, after all.

[Tyanno Dynam, Allaine mage]

Tyanno laughed, "I can't control mine too much either. I can form ice in small amounts and create water jets, but I am hardly the master of that element and it will be awhile before I can practice yet another element, like fire. But we will train together. We will meet up with Alezand in Rapaere tomorrow and you will get to meet him and Then I will take you up to Aesir with Shadow. As it happens, Shadow and I have some business with the mage King, Cain and it regards training to be a mage knight, like an arcane archer. if he lends his support, then we will be trained at Aesir. If not, then you and I will dicover the secrets ourselves. Sound good?" He asked.

He gazed back up at the stars. He noticed she still seemed slightly wary of him. Yes, he was intrigued by her features, but he would not let any harm come to her, and certainly not by his hand. She seemed rather more troubled than a girl like her should be, and that was the growing trend in the land. It was unfair and wrong. He would correct that problem in time.

[Shadow]

Shadow mumbled something about a potato in his sleep, rolled on his side, and abruptly sat up, eyes wide open. "huh? how long was I out for?" He silenced himself as he heard Tyanno's last comment, something about Shadow, him and the mage king... Oh yeah.. i remember... Sighing, shadow got up and stretched. "I think, that once I am a full shape-shifter, I will turn into a rock before going to sleep. might help in these crazy invironments..." Shadow, who was wide awake, looked around curiously. Random words from Tyanno and Adiana's conversation while he was asleep popped into his head, but he shook them off. "ill be right back... need to find a spring..." he nodded and walked off into the bushes, the rustling of his movements becoming fainter and fainter.
He returned a few minutes later, head drenched in water. "heh... that was cold... But at least I'm awake." he picked up a small stick, and placed it into the coals of the fire. it instantly light up, and he pulled it out. holding it up so he could look at it closely, he smiled. "i always loved playing with fire when i was a kid... My father hated it... he thought that I would end up setting the house or the shop on fire." laughing slightly, he examined the flame for a few minutes, before pulling a package out of his pack.

Casting the small stick into the fire, he pulled out his knife and ripped the package open. A large flame sprung out, and rested itself in the palm of Shadow's hand. "hey Tyanno... want to try freezing an actual flame?"

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

Adiana chuckled as he spoke. Here she was thinking that he was pretty powerful only to discover that he was just about as untrained as she was in the art of magic. It disappointed her and delighted her at the same time. She nodded and replied happily, "That sounds like a plan to me." Adiana then heard noise in Shadow's direction and turned her violet gaze upon him. She nodded in response to what he said and then sighed and looked back into the flames. The girl saw movement in his direction once more and turned her gaze from the flames onto Shadow and gasped at the flash of a knife and then the birth of a tiny flame in his hands. Adiana could only stare at the small flame and casted a side-glance at Tyanno.

[Tyanno Dynam, Allaine mage]

Tyanno nodded, half turning to look at Shadow. "Sure, I'll try, I suggest you remove your hand unless you want to test my accuracy as well." He warned and without much pause, he whipped out his right hand and a blast of cold frost issued forth. His face was strained but not to the usual extent. His powers were growing, and the beam met the flame with a tiny explosion of shards and steam. But then as the air cleared a few seconds afterward, all could see clearly a growing crystalline ball that still glowed for a few moments before finally losing its light at last. Tyanno's hand lowered and he exhaled. Rather impressed in himself, he smiled "Not bad, wasn't actually sure I'd pull it off."...

[Shadow]

Shadow, instead of removing his hand, formed a barrier around the top of his hand instead, so the freeze wouldn't get to his hand and do permanent damage. "shadow's eyes glinted mischievously as the ball solidified into solid ice. smiling, he nodded. "very good tyanno. purely amazing..." turning his gaze to Adiana, he smiled again. "would you like to... Unfreeze it? i can assure you, you wont be doing me any harm, unless you somehow manage to throw me into the fire...." he laughed. "but that is not something i am really concerned about." he looked intently at the frozen ball of what was once a flame that was now in his hands again, noting that there was a dull flicker one again coming from the middle. he looked over to tyanno. "you did well, but you must have realized that this is no normal flame, as I created from a package." smiling once more, he held the ball of ice out to Adiana. "If you want to try to unfreeze it, do so quickly or it will un-freeze itself, which can tend to get a little messy..." Oh, he knew how messy it could get, as one failed experiment proved very nicely for him. he smiled at the distant memory, as it was now more meaningless than the faintest wisp of a dream. but back to the situation at hand. The sphere of ice was steadily glowing brighter and brighter, and Shadow readied himself to cover it with a barrier if need be. "i suggest you just blast it with some kind of fire..."

(I want shadow to get his hand burned... XP)

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

She watched in silent amazement as Tyanno managed to freeze the small flame. Then a smile ticked across her lips as she eyed the two men. Shadow asked if she wanted to try, and her smile remained the same except for the little glint in her eyes. "I don't know... I can't... control my magic..." Then she frowned, the glint gone from her eyes. Again he asked her to try and do it. She sighed and said, "Alright, alright... I'll try." The young woman took in a deep breath and held out a hand, a finger pointing at the ice ball.

The girl pushed her mind into it but nothing happened. She frowned and lowered her hand, her thoughts racing. Then she remembered what Serenity had told her about magic. 'It must be channeled. Simply pointing and thinking does not work. You have to grasp the core in your soul and pull out the thread, channel it into something small... Like a tube, then release. Think coiled snake.' Adiana cocked her head as if she were being taught by the wolf right now, and then she quickly wondered how the she-wolf had known that much about magic.

With a nod of her head, she lifted her hand up again and aimed at the ice ball. She took in another deep breath, concentrated, found the core of energy in her soul, and channeled it into something small. Suddenly, what was supposed to be a small bolt of lightning had turned into a ball of fire. It not only struck the ball of ice and caused the ice to explode, but practically consumed the smaller fire in Shadow's hand. Adiana's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Gods! Shadow, are you alright?" she cried, knowing that her ball of flame might have burnt his hand.

[Shadow]

Shadow braced himself, as it looked like the ball of ice was going to explode. Then Adiana tired again, and instead of remembering to shield his hand, he watched her face intently. The blast hit his hand, and Shadow yelped. The searing pain that it brought, luckily doing no harm other than bringing pain, was an un-expected thing that he thought he had been prepared for. Waving his hand around, he cursed, waved it again, then tried to compose himself. "damn that was a hot shock... Jeez.." he stared incredulously at his red and smoking hand. "well, at least it didn't catch on fire." He laughed a bit, and gingerly touched the smoking hand with his non-burnt hand. "wow... There was definitely some power behind that... I could feel it in you, and was about to suggest a way to release it, but you did that just fine." Laughing again, he rummaged around his pouch with his good hand, eventually pulling out a thin, triangular shaped leaf that had long spines running down the sides. Breaking the leaf open, he caught, with his bad hand, the liquid that flowed out and rubbed it around. the hand began to return itself to its normal color, and Shadow could touch it without causing pain. Nodding, he pulled out a strip of cloth and wound it around his hand. Looking up at Adiana once more, he shook his head. "That was quite the experiance... I don't think i have ever had such a burn that my entire hand was incapacitated... I think there was a little lightning in that too..." Shadow smiled. "but, no harm done, at least not yet anyways. But you don't need to worry, as my body is an exceptional self-healer, given time..." laughing again, he used his dagger to cut off some of the excess cloth, which he used to wrap what was left of the leaf he broke to heal his burn with. Putting the wrapped leaf into his pouch, he lifted his (we'll say... he burnt his right hand...) right arm and tried to move the hand independently. "nope... not even a wiggle of a finger..." sighing again, he put away his dagger. "someone could stab my hand right now, and I wouldn't be able to feel it.... it's that dead." he sighed again, now looking at the fire. "Adiana, you definitely have potential... I can feel the untapped reserves of power in you... an example of which being the fact that you just unintentionally fried my hand..." sighing again, he laughed weakly. "eh... I'm sure it will be fine..."

[Adiana Kieron Astraea]

The girl stared at Shadow nervously. She gently took his hand and flinched. "I'm sorry..." she said weakly. She watched him attempt to fix his hand up and gnawed on her bottom lip. It looked really painful, or so she thought until he mentioned the fact that he couldn't even feel it. Crap... she thought and continued looking at the severely damaged hand. She smiled weakly and said, "It's burnt all the way to the nerves... Are you sure you'll be able to use that hand again?" Adiana highly doubted he would ever regain the use of that hand again, but then magic was something odd and with its own rules. Given enough strength, one could raise the dead with magic so she supposed magic could heal severe wounds like that as well. She gave him another weak smile and a slight laugh and said once more, "I'm so sorry, Shadow... Let me help you bandage it..."

[Tyanno Dynam, Allaine mage]

Tyanno rushed over to his friend. "Don't remove any cloth that maybe stuck to the wound!" He exclaimed. Alezand was a great healer, and he passed a lot of his knowledge onto Tyanno, though he feared that he would never reach the level that which the warrior had achieved in that skill. He examined the burn before helping Shadow wrap up the wound. "You are going to have to keep up your fluids and make sure to keep that wrapped against the cold, for it will be more susceptible to frost bite." He stepped over and grabbed the bottle of wine and brought it over to Shadow. "This is going to sting, a lot, but it will prevent infection from setting in." He explained before pouring a few onces onto the bandaged hand.

Turning to Adiana, "Relax, it's not your fault, and given his abilities, it should be fine." Looking back at Shadow, he added "Though you are very lucky, it could've been a lot worse." He double checked the interventions in place. "Now may I suggest sleep, we have a bit of a trip ahead of us tomorrow."

OCC: Always gotta throw my medic stuff in there, lol. I love my job.