[i]Earlier in the day...[/i]

Deven made his way through the halls towards the mess hall, he let his cloak remain open seeing as he was inside and the cold was not bothering him too much thanks to his blood. His mind drifted off as he walked. Trystan would soon be arriving at the college, he had to admit he was excited to see the familiar face. Tyrstan had been one of the few people Deven had grown somewhat close with, which was not too surprising considering he had taught Deven everything he knew about swordsmanship.

It had been almost a year since he saw Trystan. A few months before Deven and Jenna set off for the college Trystan was sent to help lead the forces attacking Redwood. Now here he was leading this emissary mission to the college. He would likely have hundreds of stories to tell both him and Jenna. Trystan was always a fan of his stories.Deven couldn't help but remember something Jenna's father had said about his brother, [I]Trystan loves to reminisce...he'll talk your ear off a thousand and one times before he even gets out of breath. Sometimes I feel his mind is stuck more in the past then it is the present. Whether it's a curse of a blessing is a thing to be argued.[/I] 

Trystan's mind set had always seemed so odd to Deven. They were complete opposites, just like him and Jenna. Both Trystan had so many fond memories, memories of happiness, of warmer times. They had so much they could look back on a smile about. But Deven? He had nothing, his past was something he would rather forget. His memories held nothing but pain and hurt for him, always the struggle to survive and the feeling of loss. He spent his life trying to forget his past and ignore his memories.

To him there was no point in remembering, the only thing he got from it was pain. To him it was a point of making new memories with which to bury the old ones. That way, he could maybe one day pretend that what happened never happened. 

But he never could. He could never forget what had happened, not when the memories haunted his dreams, lurked in the shadows of his mind. He could almost hear that bone chilling voice again, [I]No where is safe.[/I] it echoed in his mind making his hair stand on edge as a chill ran through his body. He pulled his cloak tight around himself, [I]Stop it Deven.[/I] Deven thought angrily. [I]Don't think about that, not again. You know thinking about that only leads to bad things.[/I] He thought scolding himself.

He shook his head as he tried to force his mind onto other topics. As he finished he noticed one of the colleges many windows overlooking the entrance. He slowed to a stop as he approached, he had recently found that letting himself get lost in a view sometimes helped clear his thoughts...sometimes. [I]Worth a shot.[/I] He thought to himself before he released his grip on his cloak, crossed his arms and leaned on the edge of the window frame.

His eyes settled on the path leading to the college gates. There was a carriage approaching with an armed escort in tow he could not make out the insignia on their equipment from this distance but, he could guess by the darker colors that they were likely from Djarkel. Eania had quite the affinity for bright, showy and what some might call happier colors. While Djarkel preferred darker colors. "Hmm, so many envoys, all coming to one place." He thought aloud. [I]I wonder if Trystans arrived yet...[/I] He thought to himself as his gaze followed the carriage in its path.

Auriel had been wondering the halls for a while now, unsure what to spend her time on, as ever. Outside of classes, this place had little in the way of official activity to keep her amused, which meant she often fell into old habits, most of which were frowned on by the majority of the staff. Thus far she'd managed to avoid any real scolding for her actions, but it was only a matter of time.

As she rounded a corner, she spotted the cloaked form of Deven, one of her fellow pyromancers, standing at a window, gazing out. Totally oblivious to her presence. She stepped slowly and softly towards him, stalking towards him as she would a beast of prey in the wild. Of course that was probably totally unnecessary, if he was in one of his reveries she could probably walk loudly up to him and he wouldn't notice, but this was all part of the fun.

Once she was almost right next to him, she reached out and gently took hold of the side of his cloak, pulling it aside and reaching towards his coinpurse. She deftly took it from his belt while he was distracted with the window, then leaned her head close to his ear and whispered "Lost something?" Before leaping back and brandishing the coinpurse before her.

Deven had long gotten lost in his thoughts as he watched the carriage, which in this time. Had managed to enter the college and begin dispersing its envoys into the college's depths. [I]I should get moving again. I've wasted enough ti-[/I] He thought before he heard a whisper in his ear, "Lost something?" The feminine voice said. 

His whole body tensed and his hand shot to his knife as his cloak came falling back to his side and he whipped around to face the source of the whisper. There standing before him, a coinpurse in hand, stood Auriel. Her crimson hair being the first thing he noticed, then came the rest of her features, her striking green eyes and the marking between them then her pale skin. She was a fellow pyromancer and the two had spoken on occasion both in class and out. But they were barely to the point he could justifiably call her a friend.

His eyes settled on the coinpurse in her hand and his hand shifted to where his should be. Sure enough, it was gone. His eyes narrowed on her in faint annoyance, "Good to see you too Auriel." He said before he jokingly rolled his eyes. "You are really teaching me to watch my back more and more often at this school." He continued as he extended his hand palm up for his coinpurse. "Mind if I have that back?" He added after a short pause.

Auriel had a big grin on her face as she dangled the jingling coin-purse in front of her classmate. "I could've run off and been half way across the college by now..." She joked. She didn't actually want the coins, after all she could just steal them from someone she didn't like if she needed money. This was just one of her ways of saying hello.

She tossed the coin purse back to him, then stepped up to the window next to him and looked out herself. "Whats so interesting out there that you didn't notice a pretty elf girl sneak up on you? I could've done all sorts of things and you wouldn't even have noticed..." As was largely the norm, her voice wasn't entirely serious in tone. The majority of what she did was, after all, purely for fun, and seriousness rarely came into it.

"You could have." He said, nodding as he did. "But thankfully you didn't." He said as he continued to hold out his hand. "So I guess I should count myself lucky that it was you that took it and not another." He added with a slight smile. It was times like this he was thankful that patience was not something he lacked, though Auriel had certainly tested his limits before.

As she tossed the coinpurse back to him he caught it with ease. "Thank you." He said as he returned it to its rightful place. As she joined him at the window he turned back to face it, leaning on the wall once more. He listened as she questioned him lightly, "What a shame that would have been wouldn't it?" He joked before he paused as he thought on his answer. "Just watching the envoys arrive. There's quite a lot of them." He partially lied as he gestured faintly towards the carriage in the college's courtyard. "I'm surprised someone as quick handed as you hasn't tried messing with them yet." He added smiling at her.

Auriel turned back from the cold air coming in the window and feigned a hurt expression "Who says I haven't?" She maintained the look for a moment, then dropped it, returning to her usual mirthful expression. "So... who is she?" Auriel asked accusingly. She'd seen Deven stuck in his reveries often enough to know when something was different. She was probably wrong in this case, but it would still be fun.

"What lovely lady has got the mighty and handsome Deven wrapped around her finger so tightly that he's stuck waiting at the window for her to arrive?" She was having trouble maintaining a straight face as she spoke. She couldn't imagine Jenna just letting him be smitten to that degree.

Deven chuckled and shook his head at her little act before he turned his gaze back to the window. A moment past of silence before Auriel spoke up again. "Hmm?" Deven said as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "She?" He asked, not entirely sure what exactly it was she was hinting at.

But soon his question was answered as she continued speaking, one of his guesses being proven true as she did. He managed to keep from getting a little flustered instead chuckling and rolling his eyes as he turned his head back to the window listening to her speech. Once she was done he spoke, "No." He said before a thought came to mind, "Lucky for you, theres no lady." He said grinning at her as he finished. "What about you? What's got you stalking about the halls?" He asked as his eyes drifted back to the window.

A slight sense of relief rolled over Auriel as Deven explained it wasn't a woman he was waiting for. Having other women involved closely tended to make for the kind of unpleasant complication she preferred to avoid. That was one reason she'd decided to leave Althalus alone. His woman was half snake, and not a very forgiving one either.

"Oh, the usual." She answered, only partially lying. She was bored, it was true, but she'd also learned recently that the representative sent from Ghannos was none other than Siala, the girl who'd given her her scars and chased her from her homeland. That'd put her on edge more than a little. "Its just so boring here. How can you stand it?" Of course she meant outside of the classes where she learnt how to throw fire at things. Or at least, they promised to teach her how to throw fire eventually.

Deven listened as she answered. He could only imagine what the usual must be for her, but he dare not ask. As she continued he nodded along with her, "It can be boring, but luckily I have been able to keep myself entertained. Whatever time I have where I am not studying or training I normally spend with Jenna and we tend to find ways to keep ourselves entertained." Deven said with a shrug. He noticed what he said could have been misinterpreted, but he was confident Auriel understood what he meant. 

"You know, if your bored you could come with me to the mess hall. Jenna's waiting there now and I really should be getting back to her, i'm probably going to be keeping her waiting longer than she has patience for. I am sure she would be more than happy to have another person to pass the time with. What do you say?" Deven asked turning from the window to face Auriel.

Auriel looked back at Deven then, her mischevious grin only growing larger. "Why... might she get worried that you're off whiling away the long, boring hours in the company of another woman?" She said, teasing him with every chance she could get. She would still go to the mess hall with him though, at least something interesting might happen there. "Well lead on handsome... And watch your back..."

Deven smiled and shook his head at Auriel's jest. "You misunderstand the dynamics of mine and Jenna's friendship, if she found out I was "whiling away the hours with another woman" she'll probably start by giving me a pat on the back before she started complaining about being kept waiting so long." Deven replied smiling lightly at Auriel. As she told him to lead on and warned him to watch his back, he couldn't help but smile slyly and say, "I can't, I'm too busy watching yours." before he pushed off the wall and began in the direction of the mess hall.

Auriel smiled coyly at that remark and sauntered past Deven with a slight swing in her hips. She looked back for a moment and said provocatively "Well perhaps I should go first then..." before continuing down the hallway toward the mess hall.

Deven could not help but watch as Auriel passed him, his eyes admiring the slight show she put on as she walked. "Hmm...by all means, lead away." He said as a sly smile spread across his lips. He followed a short distance after her as she led the way, eventually speeding up to walk next to her.

As Deven came alongside her on the walk to the mess hall, Auriel adjusted her walk to get close to him and slipped a searching hand around his waist, behind his cloak. To onlookers, they'd appear to be a close couple perhaps, and while she did enjoy the closeness, it was also another method to acquire items that weren't hers. She simply wished he carried something more interesting than a bag of coins and a knife.

As Auriel slipped her arm around Deven's waist it caught him completely off guard, he hadn't expected her to move so close let alone slip an arm around him. Naturally his body tensed at the physical contact, though this time his hand did not drop to his knife. "Whoa, at least take me to dinner first." He joked before he smiled playfully at Auriel. 

Auriel laughed at that and quickly replied in a sultry tone "I thought that was your job..." before sticking her tongue out for a moment. As she spoke she reached around to find the hilt of the knife on devens belt, testing to see how easily she could take it from its sheath.

Deven chuckled at her reply, "Has that ever stopped you before?" Deven teased, grinning at her as he did. As they reached a small set of stairs, it provided an opportune moment of time, while they descended them, to test how hard the knife was to pull from its sheath. It put up some resistance, meant to be unable to fall out while moving, but should she play it smart she may be able to take it from him.

"I am curious, how do you feel about this whole, meeting of nations thing?" He asked after they passed a pair of Djarkel guards. They were laughing at something one of them had said, but Deven hadn't been able to hear it.

Auriel used the chance to try and acquire his knife, but with her focus not entirely on the task she only managed to pull it a little out of its sheath before she had to release it again.

Auriel didn't much care about any aspect of the fact that the nations were all here. With the sole exception of the identity of one of the Ghannos representatives of course. That wasn't something she was going to talk about with Deven though. "Why?" She asked only semi-seriously. "You planning to join in the talks or something? You know they aren't ever going to get anywhere." She took on a sly expression then "Or is it because of this mystery lady you're denying exists?" She winked at him as she finished speaking, pulling him along at a faster pace once they reached the bottom of the stairs, eager to inform Jenna of Devens 'mystery woman.'

They quickly approached another staircase, and having already tested the dagger, auriel took the chance to yank it right from its sheath. The moment it was in her grasp and away from Deven, she began sprinting down the hallway. As she did she yelled out to him "Catch me if you can!" A silly grin on her face as her long legs carried her away from the shorter man.