Private Tales Light After Dark

[Gerrard]

It brought a touch of colour to his cheeks to think that she wasn't dressed suitably to go down to the bar but sharing a room with him. Thought hadn't quite cross his mind. There was a difference between being on the road and in a room. There were plenty of married couples of his standing that didn't even share a room at night.

There was, at least, a simple solution to the problem. He walked to the door and leaned his head out.

"Hey!" he called down. He waited patiently until one of the waitresses appeared.

"A bottle of Abbey gold and two glasses please?" he asked. It took but a moment to arrive. The whole bottle wasn't cheap. The door closed behind him and Gerrard set it down.

"Good for the road too now we have another horse," he chuckled.

 

[Audreyn]

"I'm starting to think I really love this idea of a pack horse." She slid to the floor between the beds and went cross legged, the candle light spilling across the space warmly. There was of course a table left forgotten in the dark folds of the room, but the ground and the rug she sat on worked well enough for her peasant tastes.

Her face crinkled, hands still held out awkwardly before her. "Oh ow. Ow. Oooooow..." she breathed, fine , just turning vocal as the consequences met her in full.

"I think I left his whole chest like this," she commented, vague yet distressed. "Do you think he's alright?"

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard passed a glance over the table before shrugging and sitting down. Rather than sitting cross-legged he leaned his back against the side of his bed and stretched his legs out.

He poured two glasses of whisky, just a sliver of amber swirled around the base of each glass. Gerrard held one out for Audreyn. He wondered what her life had been like before. It would be some time before he decided to ask that question. The peasants in the cities had some of the worst living conditions. At least, that was what he was told. Sometimes ten people living in one room. No doors because they were stupid enough to burn them for warmth and then be left exposed to the elements.

Gerrard took a sip and leaned his head back against the mattress. For a moment he thought this was fake. Then he realised it was just the smell of singed garments. It burned quite pleasantly on the way down.

"He might be. Would you be so concerned for a thief if he was in great pain right now?"

 

[Audreyn]

She drank it all with one graceless toss back, no appreciation to the expensive liquid as she grimaced at the soft burn that rolled down her throat.

She placed down the glass and stretched out her fingers, breathing through the sting as it bit sharply at her attention. "I. Um." She gave the question great thought, appreciating the distraction.

"No? Maybe. He deserved it," she concluded, possessing little empathy for those that hurt her. "But I don't like that I did it." She nodded, realizing that was exactly her stance on it. "Makesmelikethem."

 

[Gerrard]

"Well, fireballs are not all that a mage is good for. As we discussed earlier. I can't teach you to heal but a basic shield would be a good lesson in concentration and more than enough to put off your common thief without setting fire to anything."

He looked down on the glass. Should have ordered her some house gin, he thought to himself.

"Another glass?" he asked. Gerrard decided he would probably have to avoid offering a third for a time. He had little notion of how well she could handle her liquor.

 

[Audreyn]

She nodded hard, the warmth in her stomach doing nothing to smother the burn of her hands.

"You mean like I did on the horse?" She had strangely enough managed to channel her flames to expand around her like a shield during the attack. It had been the thing to stop any of the many from yanking her off the horse and leaving with her when Gerrard was engaging the other mage.

"I don't know how I did that. I only said your word for fireball." She also didn't get burned, which she found insanely frustrating in this moment.

She took the glass when it was offered to her and downed it in the same manor, smacking her lips and making a face at the effort.

 

[Gerrard]

"Right, you really don't have to down this you know?" he said in clear amusement. He took another sip from his first glass, only half way through it.

"But anyway..." he said waving it away. He thought back to the battle, much of which was now slightly hazy in his memory. "...we can make something less obvious. Even if I am remarkably impressed you managed to shape the fire so well after one lessed."

He spied a loose coin on the floor and picked it up. Setting his glass down on the floor he picked up the bottle with the other hand.

"Expensive bottle..." he said, holding it up and setting it down on the table. He closed his eyes and muttered a few words, holding his palm over the bottle. An irredescent sphere shimmered into existence around it.

Gerrard took a few steps back, tested the weight of the coin and tossed it at the bottle. There was a soft crack as it bounced off the barrier, rolling to a stop next the Audrey's bare feet.

He dispelled the barrier, retrieved the bottle and sat back down on the floor with a soft grunt. Gerrard downed what was left in his glass with a shrug, pouring himself another.

 

[Audreyn]

"How did you do that?" Audreyn breathed, instantly seeing the worth of such a spell. She hadn't stopped being uncomfortable with magic, but the attack had made it clear to her that magic was here to stay for the moment and she had to adapt. Powerful magical forces wanted to steal her away and hurt her friend?

Fine.

She'd learn powerful magic to keep them back. You know. As powerful as a shield spell could be. At least she was willing now.

"Teach me. I wanna know."

The pain in her hands was still prevalent and screaming, the heat of the liquor spreading through her body at a languid pace. Impatient, she reached for more, outwardly hissing at the effort of using her hands.

 

[Gerrard]

"I will," he stated firmly. "Though not here," he added after giving it a moment's thought. He had not entirely slept off the red and the whisky was bringing the pleasant buzz back quickly.

"You have so much raw ability I think we would probably be best off doing this outside of the town walls. I think people would mind if you sheared the inn in half..."

After another sip he continued, "It's a verbal spell but it does require a lot of concentration. You ever juggle? It's like that. Keeping something in balance whilst you try and do other things. If you just stand still in the danger with a shield it'll collapse eventually."

 

[Audreyn]

"Ow," she protested, a breathless squeak as she managed to slosh near half a glass full.

"Listen, I know I-...exploded my home, but an inns a lot bigger. I don't think I could do something like that." At least she hoped so. Coming to think on it, she was immensely glad she had spent so many days after the incident unconscious. She had had so many burns then too, and if just her hands threatened to drive her to tears, the aftermath of that must of have been...

She drank from the glass heedlessly, eyes stinging.

 

[Gerrard]

Stupid, he silently chastised himself. Drawing paralells between this and the event that had torn away everything she had held dear in life.

"Sorry," he said, straightening his shoulders, refusing to be cowed at the notion of having to apologise for his words. "I don't always..."

Speak to people like real humans?

"...think about what I'm saying. Ah fuck it, we can try it now if you want? Not with the bottle though," he added quickly.

After a moment's thought he downed his glass and placed it empty on the floor between them, looking to see if she still wanted to try now.

 

[Audreyn]

She coughed as the last bit slid down her throat, more than three glasses gone and she wondered why it didn't do more than build a thick warmness inside her. Did this really work for Gerrard? He had acted like it did for his side. She frowned at the glass, gingerly placing it down and holding her hands protectively to her.

"Yes." Determination furrowed in her brows. She coughed again, her voice rough. "What if he didn't die-- my parent's killer. What if he's out there right now, waiting. I can't be weak, I- I have to be able to defend us." And kill him, but first things first.

 

[Gerrard]

"Well, we'll think about that later..." his eyes flicked towards the wash basin briefly.

"If you're trying to shield another object it goes skydas nas de. If you're trying to shield yourself skydas nas lea. You need to reach out and feel the magical currents where you intend to raise the shield. It's like...tearing a break in magic itself. But it's the same as when you focus a fireball into a shape."

Leaving both glasses empty for now he reached out with his palm and spoke the words clearly. The semi-transparent field came and went in a heartbeat.

"There, can you feel where it was?"

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn's eyes snapped directly to where the fluxuration and magic was, her attention sharp for the first moment before fizzling out into slight uncomprehension.

"I-... there?" She asked, no confidence in her tone as she pointed more vaguely to the place her gaze had connected to.

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard chuckled, the drink had taken the edge of his self control and we'll-honed stern demeanour that usually came with a lesson.

"Place your hand over where it was, close your eyes. You should still be able to feel where it was. Like...like a sunspot on your eyes after you've looked at the sun?"

 

[Audreyn]

Close to instructions, she close her eyes and let her hand drift over. The slight shake of pain was calming, the warm tingle stretching to the finger tips that hovered over the space.

She hummed, a wave of tension melting out of her body in a visible slump. "It's tingly. Like... the air is alive." She perked, eyes opening. "Magic?"

 

[Gerrard]

"A shield like that leaves more of a mark than most magic."

He had followed the trail of her outburst, but this time he had the sense not to make the comparison.

"Keep focusing on that. Try and trace the shape and form it once had. Then, when you feel you can visualise it, say the words and will it back into existence."

Whilst her eyes were closed he stole her glass and poured himself another whilst she focused on his empty one to raise a barrier around.

 

[Audreyn]

She closed her eyes again, brows furrowing as she tried to concentrate out its shape.

A peek was spared at the slight rustle he caused, but no comment was made as she caught him with her glass. That stuff was useless anyway, her pain barely dulled after glasses drank!

She left him to it, keeping her suspension of his actual like for the beverage at bay as she traced out its form.

She took her time. Near a minute later, she breathed the words. "Skydas nas de." It flashed back into existence, wavering, but remaining. She opened her eyes and grinned.

"See. Nothing exploded!" It dissipated at that exact moment. She frowned.

 

[Gerrard]

"Quite right," he said, taking a sip, "nothing exploded. But you need to make sure that you focus on keeping its form the same as you keep it. Got to hold it together even when it's being pounded by arrows. If you lose concentration here and pour energy into keeping it together instead of focus then you could put a nice hole in the floor.

"Want to try again?" His buzz was a nice warm blanket that seemed to drape across his very mind. Teaching and dranking was a bad combination, but Gerrard had too much faith in his own brilliance.

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn nodded wordlessly, her usual determination set into her brows as she closed her eyes and reached out again. It was harder to locate a second time, the warm buzzing feeling dispersing to her whole hand and up her arm. Had it spread out into the air around it?

Her concentration became slow and bumbling, thoughts slipping without her noticing, the pain left her attention without acknowledgement. She wiggled her fingers, trying to aid in her location of the magic. But in focus on her own tingling senses, she outlined her hand instead.

"Skydas nas de." And breaking the use of the spell as she did, two things happened at once. One-- a shield appeared around her hand. But two-- the glass jumped up a foot, then shattered.

 

[Gerrard]

A much larger sphere popped into existince around the exploding glass. Ripples sped out around its surface from each impacting shard of glass. They expanded in bands all the way around the sphere, criss-crossing each other and creating ever changing patterns. The shards of glass could be heard collecting at the base of the sphere.

Gerrard hadn't spoken a word to form the barrier. The concentration etched into his brows eased away as he chuckled.

"And thus, I think we conclude our lesson until we are both sober and some distance from breakable objects.

"Dont feel bad though, most students take about three hours just to make anything appear. I had one who would always give himself a nose bleed from trying. Horrible little brat he was too."

 

[Audreyn]

Audreyn slumped, a bit dully startled by the explosion and the brush with more harm that Gerrard had prevented. "I always break things," she complained, leaning back against the bed. "Everything, magic sucks."

She didn't care that she was clearly advanced without effort-- that she could do things without practice that would take others countless hours. She didn't care about the potential, in truth she didn't even see it and the comparison to others meant nothing to her. She only cared about what she couldn't do. Or rather, how it kept backfiring on her.

 

[Gerrard]

"Magic is not awful," he said firmly, "but you are awful at using it. It took me twelve years to graduate from the college. You should have been taught from a much younger age."

He gave a shrug, topped up the remaining glass and held it out for her.

"But you learn quickly and I am brilliant so I think we can make you safe and at competent in a very narrow focus of spells within a year."

Brilliant and driven, but overconfident and stubborn. Not the best qualities for a teacher but he had never really had an interest in investing time in a student before. It had always felt like a waste of his time that was required of him by the college to continue his research.

 

[Audreyn]

"A few, a year?" She balked. The proffered glass made her blink at the abrupt realization that her hands no longer hurt. No wait, that wasn't correct, they still hurt. They just also felt like they were ten feet away from her and filled with fuzz, so... hurt less? No! Took longer to reach her! Yeah, that was it.

Either way, she took the glass and sipped it a bit slower, the taste also no longer bothering her. She made a face regardless, lowering the glass to her lap. "Ohey.I thinkthis is working." She chirped.

 

[Gerrard]

"If it hadn't started working you would have to have a rather unique constitution," he mused. "Don't drink it so fast you end up vomiting on the floor."

It was a subtle change in his voice. The usually precise, clipped words starting to slur into one another.

"Well how long does it take to learn...regular things. You can't become..." a moment of concentration followed as he tried to think about what normal folk did. "...a farmer or a carpenter overnight?"

Or maybe they could. It wasn't as if they were selective about who got to become a peasant.