[img]http://imgur.com/TDiDgei.jpg[/img]
"Susuri, this is the very opposite of funny!" Zalena hissed through her teeth as she slunk along under the shadows cast by the surrounding squat buildings. A odd sound, like the faint tinkling of windchimes combined with a woman's laugh, rang in Zalena's ears. She felt a sudden coolness touch her neck, just below her left ear, and knew that Susuri was there, her miniature form obscured by Zalena's cascading dark curls. "You'll never learn to feel the form of things if you don't practice." the tinkling voice spoke with amusement.

"I don't mind learning. I just you hadn't decided to teach me using mother's amulet. You know she'll have my hide if it's lost." Zalena murmured, ducking her head under the hood of her gray cloak so that the two Yid soldiers passing by her would not notice her talking to herself. It hardly mattered, she mused, insanity had begun to dig its claws into Veganshi. Not a day passed without Zalena coming across someone mad from hunger, war or perhaps both. Susuri's melodic voice interrupted her thoughts.

"See, you are already distracted. Learning to see the form of things, not with your eyes but with the water surrounding you, is a vital skill. Your mother's trinket is in this alley. You must feel with the water surrounding us to find it. The water embraces everything, whether as liquid or as vapor or as ice."

"One of these days I'm going to stick you in a jar of brine." Zalena muttered shortly under her breath as she sidestepped a passing cart and went to stand by a stall of ripening fruit. She could not yet feel things around her while she was on the move, it required too much concentration of her. So Zalena had to find somewhere to stand still for a few minutes, which was always a bit conspicuous in a busy marketplace. She pretended to be very interested in a basket of browning apples. Her magical "feelers" reached out to the water around her. She was only strong enough to feel things in or around liquids. Vapor and ice were another matter entirely.

 There were a few puddles, some buckets used for watering horses, and somebody had taken a piss by a clothing merchant. "If you put it in the piss, I swear-" Zalena began to growl.
"Just focus." Susuri chided by her ear, and Zalena felt a tiny tug at her earlobe. Her mouth twitched in irritation but she kept searching.

A tub of soapy laundry water, filled flasks attached to the hips of soldiers and hunters, and...
"You put it in [i]stew[/i]? Are you daft?" Zalena hissed as she began walking away from the fruit stand. She heard the faintest chuckle, and the coolness at her neck suddenly disappeared. The flask at her waist became just a little bit heavier.
"Definitely putting you in brine." Zalena grumbled as she made her way to the very end of the alley, where there was a shabby stand at which a bony woman was selling bowlfuls of stew. Zalena approached the stand and fished out a coin from a small pocket on her belt. She handed it to the weary looking woman, who began to spoon some of the stew into a clay bowl. "Uh- pardon me but may I?" Zalena interrupted her. The woman looked at her quizzically but seemed too tired to bother with asking any questions and relented the ladle. Zalena used her ability to feel out where the amulet was within the small cauldron of murky brown liquid, then carefully scooped it into her bowl. "Thank you!" she handed the ladle back before scurrying off, her prize warming her hands. 

Zalena found a spot in the shadows and crouched down, her plain maroon dress puddling around her feet. She fished a golden amulet out of the lumpy contents of her bowl, rubbed it clean and slipped it under the neckline of her dress so that the amulet was ensconced between her breasts and secured by her corset. As she left the alley Zalena handed the still full bowl to a haggard beggar slumped at the side of the road. He looked at her with bewilderment for a moment, then began to slurp down the contents of the bowl. 

Zalena glanced at him with pity in her amber eyes before walking away. Her father had called Veganshi a city of opportunity, but all Zalena had seen so far was poverty, unrest and illness. The last part was what hurt Zalena the most. Every day she came across those who were diseased or wounded or crippled. Her hands itched to use her magic and mend them, but her father had explicitly forbidden her from doing so. Attracting that kind of attention was unwise, and could lead to unpleasant consequences, he had warned her. Zalena understood what he meant, but it did not alleviate the pain she felt every time she passed somebody she knew was suffering from some malady. She gave her head a small shake, as if this would be enough to dispel the disquiet in her head.

Now that she was done with Susuri's little lesson of the day Zalena decided she deserved a small treat before heading home to tend to her chores. She still had a little money left in her belt, and she knew from extensive experience that it would be enough to purchase her monthly pastry filled with sweet clotted cream. Mouth watering already at the prospect of such a reward, Zalena turned the corner and began to make her way to the bakery in the town square.