Recent content by Svenia Albrecht

"It just hurt a lot." There was nothing good and right about fighting in her experience. She had never really come down on the winning side of any conflict - or if she had, it certainly never felt like it. She was not as strong as even other girls her own age and crippled to boot. Magic was a...

She bit the inside of her lip and said nothing at first. She was too subtle for her own good, apparently, but the idea of saying outright that she wanted to spend more time with him in particular was beyond her. It was a level of confidence she did not have within her. Or at least, not yet. "Of...

"I am afraid I was not tutored in philosophy as you were," she replied in a quiet voice. "Risk and reward, mathematics, and a broad view of the world through the lens of a trader - which many do not understand very well." She sighed softly, and turned her chair carefully so she could better...

She stared after the retreating back of the two healers, her face unreadable for a moment. She then shook herself, breaking whatever chain of thought was wending its way through her mind. Instead, she turned her head so that she could see Suleiman with her good eye, expression neutral. "This...

She nodded and leaned into him a little more as she moved with care. The dull ache in her hip had eased with movement. Of course, it was just a matter of time before it returned because she wasn't sitting. It was a frustration that she had lived with for years and had become nominally at home...

"Something with raspberries in it," she said without any hesitation, tightening her arm round his and pulling them closer together. "A lot of people like peaches and cream, but raspberries are even better!" Her eyes were alight at the thought of the tartness and sweetness melding in her mouth...

She flinched involuntarily at the question. After a moment, she turned away. "It is just me and my brother, now." She set the cup on the desk and closed her eyes. No, it was not all warm smiles and butterflies. No one had to try to kill her, though; the world did that for her. In exchange for...

"That should be better." She opened her eyes and wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand. The relived nightmare was over now. She hated going to the healers not because of the pain that came before and during, but because it was always filled with echoes of fire and being shattered...

She neatly folded the paper and stuck it in the pocket and took the offered hands, rising stiffly with a grunt of effort. A flare of pain in her bad hip, there and gone and as familiar to her as the halls of her home was all the more she suffered for that effort. "I don't think I do, either,"...

"Mine are only neat through long practice," she said. "I find it calming to write, anyway." The realm of the familiar stretching back to when she had first even learned how to form her letters. The memory of stern taskmasters chiding her for sloppiness or haste stayed with her all of the years...

"I've been distracted," she said absently. She did not elaborate further on that, only nodding once to his offer. "I can transcribe your notes quicker. Besides, it would be rude to make you work on behalf of my inattention." She grinned at the tone of his voice at the admission. She herself was...

Sharp wit could not compete with sharp pain. She nodded back to Suleiman with a drawn face, and turned to look at the last remaining combatant with a certain amount of dread. She was unsure if she could do much more to help the so-called sandborn fighter. Was probably a moot point, in any case...

She managed to get to her feet with a herculean effort. Every shift of her body brought pain, every breath brought agony. "I..," she tried to say and paled further. She could not stand straight without bright stars exploding across her eyes. "No. He... he hurt me... pretty badly," she admitted...

"I must confess my history is limited in some ways," she said. "I may not have paid as much attention as I should have to the tutors when they spoke of far-away places and the ancient tragedy and triumph that haunted them." Of course, he spoke of battle. There were other wars that raged in...

Barach turned at the last second to give Suleiman a wicked grin. It didn't stop his forward momentum. For her part, Svenia tried to roll away. Unsuccessfully. The blow landed with a muffled crunch and woosh of all of her breath leaving her at once. The heat and greasy feel of magic winked out...