[color=00aeef]"Feel magic?"[/color]

Could she feel magic? She had felt many things on this journey, most of them confusing and terrifying and heart-wrenching. Certainly magic had been involved, but Rilana didn't consider that she could feel magic in general. It was more like magic had washed over her from powerful sources like the null shard, a dragon god, and a deranged shield-mage moon fey, as strong and undeniable as the waves of the ocean, with herself being no more talented for being able to feel them. Thinking about it, she looked around at the camp spread out before them, trying to sense anything special. Without even looking she knew where Kona was, and Ortha, and if she concentrated she could even see through their eyes. She could feel Ortha's insatiable hunger and naive curiosity. She could feel Kona's disapproval and cool superiority. For a moment it seemed that she could feel the living energy of everything around them, even the people, the same way she felt Kona and Ortha's life forces when she Bound herself to them. Svarak's, being the closest, was huge and warm beside her.

When Svarak produced the sword, Rilana eyed it warily, her expression stony as she refused to touch it. [color=00aeef]"I cut myself on it in the tower,"[/color] she whispered. [color=00aeef]"I heard Juloya's voice."[/color] Her eyes squinted closed and she put her face in her hands, trying to banish the memory of the pain the woman had been forced to endure all this time. She eventually straightened up, looking more careworn than before.

[color=00aeef]"Yes, about two days with the weather like this."[/color] Taking the cooked food, she ate slowly, noticing that it was delicious and feeling guilty that she was in little mood to appreciate it. [color=00aeef]"This is really good. I never imagined that you could cook. You keep surprising me."[/color] At least this surprise was a pleasant one. She watched him for a while, wondering at the implication of him wishing they'd had longer to dance together.

[color=00aeef]"It seems almost foolish to make plans when I don't know what's going to happen, or if the people I care about will even be around for me to...be with."[/color] One of her hands dropped to the silver sash around her hips, toying with the hem. She pulled one foot up onto the rock, leaning forward to rest against her own knee. [color=00aeef]"At one point I had hoped for more than friendship, but I know better now, so if we manage to accomplish this...terrible thing, I'd be glad to see you often."[/color] As often as her wanderlust would allow, of course.

She didn't answer his question right away, taking a few moments to finish a mouthful of her dinner and look out beyond the camp the the mountainous and winter-locked wilderness. 

[color=00aeef]"For my part, I don't know that my life would have been much different until last year. I never had the urge to leave the Frostfell and my wild friends."[/color] She felt a bubble of satisfaction from the gryphon. [color=00aeef]"If not for certain meddling that brought me south,"[/color] and she gave the Charr a pointed look, [color=00aeef]"I would still be there."[/color]

[color=00aeef]"But others will not feel the same. An entire city cut off for centuries? And not knowing why? I'm sure they will feel slighted, angry. And it's hard to blame them, even if it was the only way to stop...[i]him[/i]."[/color]