[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XOkhvi0.png[/img] [sub][color=92278f][b]✧[/b] Location: [/color][i]???[/i] [color=#91DB94]☀ Interactions:[/color] [@Cio] [@Shard][@CMDR Melander] ☽ Text colour: [color=#92278f]#92278f[/color][color=#91DB94]#91DB94[/color][/sub] [/center] [hr] [hr] [center] Saranja wasn't able to stop herself smiling at the humble reaction the dreamsage had taken, as well as her readiness to provide in Umbra's intangible shopping list. "[color=92278f]Would that we were of great enough import to offer you our own wagon, but we travel the roads on foot.[/color]" She looked down pointedly at her hooves, and the paws of Umbra levitating off the ground. "[color=92278f]In a manner of speaking.[/color]" She took a pause for a moment, her gaze looking past (though not really focusing on anything) the [color=#91DB94]green tiefling[/color] to glance at her wagon. "[color=92278f]Not that I am one to trade in promises and bargains, but should we manage to fit the wagon to the wheel, may we share the road? If we are to be lost it is always better to be lost in good company.[/color]" She tangled her horns into Umbra's own at that statement, as a quite obvious sign of affection. [/center] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] Teya held back a look of surprise at being proposed such an offer. The tiefling looked at Saranja at first, then at Umbra, rather unsure of which one of them to address as she spoke. The goat lady was very much blindfolded, so would she even notice? Or was there magic at play? Teya glanced at her broken wagon wheel behind them. [color=#91DB94]"Oh? Well, there's always room on my wagon, should you need a lift!"[/color] Teya assured, holding the two dream jars close to her chest as she nodded excitedly. [color=#91DB94]"It might be a bit cramped inside, as I hold most my equipment and belongins there, but there's enough room for all of us,"[/color] the dreamy tiefling added as she motioned to the back of the carriage filled with so many odd accessories and artifacts stacked up on each other that it seemed like a minor safety hazard. [color=#91DB94]"Of course, if you were kind enough to help me I'd also offer you my homebrew dream tea. Or... perhaps an iced dream tea, as the weather is what it is,"[/color] Teya mused. [color=#91DB94]"I'm sorry, that's about all I can offer for your help..."[/color] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] Umbra was quite surprised by the crafty tiefling, where she presented two of the most difficult ingredients, and so quickly. If honesty played a part in this, the fae had not expected them able to procure the required materials for the spell, at hand. As it was, Dark Magic revolved around life and death. Spells like the Dark Mending, which was described in Umbra Nox's spellbook, stretched itself outside the allowed confines of black magic. As such, it required physical ingredients to construct that bridge, one could say. No spell of the dark kind would manage a solution to broken objects, of the non-organic sort, one might add, without extended ingredients. Feeling a tingle of warmth making its way down his spine, suddenly, Umbra rubbed his fuzzy cheek against Saranja, a response to her affectionate statement of physical proportions. She was a cuddly sort, indeed, and as the fates had turned, so was the prince. "Firstly..," the prince spoke, a playful lick of his small, pink tongue tracing its way across Saranja's cheek. "Coat me with a layer of surprise, I did not expect you to produce two of the ingredients, and with such haste," he spoke, scratching the tip of his snout. "Secondly, I happen to be in a position where I can..," Umbra cleared his throat, "expend a serving of virgin's locks," he confessed. "Additionally, I am unaware of this.., Dream Tea. Very well, you have intrigued me," the prince reached for a small, ornate dagger at his belt, under no circumstances considered an actual weapon. Drawing it, he cut a lock of raven, black hair from his head, and returned the blade to where it had rested. "Do you both happen to have life-granters still drawing breath?" [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] [center] Saranja wordlessly answered the question by untangling her horns from Umbra, and then placing her hand onto the tip of his, dragging her palm down it roughly to bleed. "[color=92278f]I am a child of the stars, a daughter of Fate, and while there are Three that still draw breath, it would be wrong to say they were ever a parent to me.[/color]" She said, in a complete non-answer, though held her bleeding palm for Umbra to collect from. The blood of a seer, a satyr and an orphan, all in one! She wondered if that made for a potent reagent, or if she put too much stock into her own importance.. It wasn't as if any one of the three were too outlandish and rare, but the combination itself still made her smile. It might have looked odd to the other two, since upon thinking about this, she'd spaced out a little bit, and was just holding her palm out while smiling brightly to herself as blood dripped down her palm and across her forearms. It contrasted with her skin in the same sort of way that the rest of her ritual markings did. "[color=92278f]We do make for quite an odd trio, don't we?[/color]" She said, suddenly. She then frowned a little to herself. "[color=92278f]My apologies if anyone else was speaking, I was away with the fairies, so to speak.[/color]" She smiled at her own little wordplay, though her gaze once again directed to the back of the wagon. "[color=92278f]I have so many questions wriggling under my skin. But they can wait. A rest, a mending and a journey will each do wonders in helping me refine them.[/color]" [/center] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] Teya chuckled at being able to surprise a royal. She would've lied if she had said the thought didn't spark a sense of pride in her. [color=#91DB94][i]Hear that, my dearest Dream Weaver? I've impressed a prince,[/i][/color] Teya spoke in her mind, feeling a familiar tingly feeling in response. The tiefling hoped she had made her deity happy, smiling despite herself. The conversation turned to the tiefling's tea offer then, and the prince expressed interest in that as well. Teya simply hummed excitedly in response, only to be taken aback by the goat lady using the prince's horn to pierce her own palm to get the last ingredient. Teya, too, would count an orphan now, she realised. Her father had died before she'd become of age, and her mother? Well... she'd never been there. But Teya considered herself quite lucky despite all this, having her patron there, looking out for her. The tiefling didn't remember feeling alone as long as the Dream Weaver was there, looking over. [color=#91DB94]"How shall I prepare the ingredients I have? Do you mind them being jarred, or would that somehow disturb the ritual?"[/color] Teya asked Umbra all the while she was cradling the two jars in her arms. [color=#91DB94]"I ask because... Well, nevermind that. Just... are you able to perform the spell with the ingredients contained?"[/color] the young tiefling wondered with a worried look, the jewellery on her horns clinking together lightly as she tilted her head to the side. Teya offered the two jars to Umbra, placing them with him gently. [color=#91DB94]"Treat them with caution, they're sensitive... I mean, um, just... be careful,"[/color] she instructed out of habit and maybe a bit out of fear. It was not often that Teya trusted any dreams in the hands of those who were not educated on how to handle them. Even if it was a prince she was trusting them to, it did make Teya nervous. She wouldn't want him to be sloppy and accidentally unleash a widow's worst nightmare on himself. [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] "They can remain, as they are," Umbra returned, as a claw extended. Dark energy began to sizzle, ever so softly, atop his digit, moving along every motion, as if the prince was holding a pen. He began to draw, in the air, a symbol. With the first motion, Saranja's blood levitated, and formed a circle around the symbol as it was being drawn. When the dark magician had been offered the two ingredients afforded him by the tiefling, he extended his remaining, free hand. Mimicking the motions of the first, dark energy began emitting from his claw. In lamen's terms, one could consider it a sorcerer's ink, used to perform Dark Magic. It was what allowed the realms of Dark and that of Gaia, the earth they inhabited, to share a bond, for a brief moment as the spell took hold. The prince's claw lightly tapped its way onto the lid of a jar, and then again, and again. He was knocking on it. Eventually, the nightmare within was knocking back, wanting to be let out. Though he was asked to be careful, Umbra casually opened the lid, and the Nightmare flew out of its prison, slithering its way into Saranja's blood trail, joining the circle. This process was repeated for the opposing dream, the hopes of a child. Finally, Umbra tossed his severed hair into the ritual, as he finished drawing the circle. It would be wise to add that the ambidexterity performed in this manner required many, many failures. Luckily, enough of them had happened, for Umbra to prevent further disaster.., otherwise caused by himself. The strands soaked up every drop of blood, every fragment of essence, before at his behest, wrapped themselves around the wheel, putting the pieces together. It was, as if, the hair then melted into the newly repaired, and fully functional device. "There, we are," Umbra nodded, rubbing his small, clawed hands together. [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] [center] She took this mostly in stride, though shook her head by the end of it. "[color=92278f]So very different to the naked prancing in streams and woods that I'm used to for ritual magic. Whatever happened to good fey values?[/color]" She said, clearly in jest by the way the wide smile claimed her face so readily. She stretched out wide, a few cracks sounding out as she gave a soft flex and resumed her comfortable slump again. "[color=92278f]You will keep an eye out for any signs as we pass by, won't you my dearest ward?[/color]" She said, facing Umbra. "[color=92278f]While we are both very good at being lost it wouldn't do for us to be found by less endearing types than our wonderful dreamseller here, especially not with the precious things she holds within this humble wagon.[/color]" She took a pause, then facing the [color=#91DB94]green tiefling again[/color]. "[color=92278f]You haven't given us a name to use yet, and I've learned that it's a social faux-pas to say someone's name before they've introduced it.[/color]" She said, as if that made any sense whatsoever. [/center] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] Teya observed the ritual from the side, silver eyes big and curious. The moment Prince Umbra opened the jar's lid, however... a little yelp escaped the green tiefling's mouth. [color=91DB94]"No don't open the-"[/color] she began with a hand outstretched, only to sigh when the worst didn't happen. The tiefling watched with careful expression as the prince completed the spell, mending the broken wheel completely. Still, what she felt wasn't joy, but a slowly fleeting sense of dread. Had it been in her nature, she would've scolded the young prince for meddling with things he didn't know about. He'd been really lucky, no doubt. [color=91DB94]"That could've ended so much worse, uh, your...  highness,"[/color] Teya supplied, breathless from the anticipation. Indeed, Umbra had been very lucky, regardless of how skilled he might be, dreams were feeble creatures capable of the most unexpected twists, especially in the hands of someone who hadn't grown up handling their physical manifestation. What had she been thinking, wasting dreams like that? For her own use, no less? Teya shook her head and put her hands together in a humble apology for the Dream Weaver, apologising for her foolishness. Dreams were much more valuable than that, and Teya had sworn she would treat them with respect. As Teya finished her apology, she allowed herself to move on and turn to examine the newly fixed wagon wheel with an admiring look on her face. [color=91DB94]"It's [i]exactly[/i] like it was before, if not better! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"[/color] Teya sing sang, her hand skimming along the rim of the wheel. Then the tiefling paused, something not seeming right with her. The goat lady, specifically. [color=91DB94]"I'm sorry, ma'am... how- why'd you- did you call me a dream seller? 'Cause that's - [i]that is,[/i] not what [i]I[/i] do, or... In a way, I suppose, but... Oh my [b]dreams![/b] You are... a seer, yes, you mentioned! Pardon me. I am... Teya. Teya Dreamster, in your service,"[/color] Teya introduced herself to end a long and incoherent monologue, doing a small curtsey with her tail perking up gleefully. [color=91DB94]"Would you like a refreshment for your troubles now or on the way to the unknown?"[/color] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] Raising a brow at Saranja, the prince eventually managed a smirk, and shook his head. "Ah, my dear," he stated, brushing spindly fingers through the thickness of his raven bangs, "I shall aspire to view the course of magic, as it dances a path across my sight.., laid bare and freed of the obfuscation warranted by cloth." He would then shift his attention to the wagon, once more placing one leg over the other, as he leaned back. "Accompanying our new ally appears to be a decision founded in logic," he stated. However, as Teya began speaking to him, and appeared more than a little rattled, Umbra's expression remained motionless, as it so often did. Sometimes, it was theorized that he had the one, and on the best of days, different variations of it. "Chaos is generally fun, and quite the interesting playmate," the prince shrugged, thumbing at Saranja, "this one can see things," he continued. Then, he paused, considering his statement. That did not come out right, at all. However, he found it humorous, and left it. Yes, Saranja could see things. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, and all that," Umbra Nox stated, gently rubbing his fingers together, "Teya of house.., Dreamster," he raised a brow, trying to wrap his head around the name. It was an odd handle, but quite the charming one. "We should be on our way. I believe Mother insisted on the trade routes growing more dangerous, the longer you remain idle," Umbra sighed, rubbing his forehead, "and I would consider myself in good fortune, if she chooses to tailor a new dress, in lieu of calling for me.., again." The fae rolled his eyes, a claw idly tapping the dimly glowing, grey crystal attached to his bracelet. They could surely imbibe in Teya's offer for tea, while riding along. [center]______________________________________________________________[/center] [center] "[color=92278f]I meant no offense, I assure you. I did not mean to make you out to be some peddler of something so precious.[/color]" She said, apologetically to the [color=#91DB94]green tiefling[/color], dipping her head ever so slightly. "[color=92278f]Thank you again for agreeing to take us along, though I am a veteran wanderer there is only so much you can do before the hooves ache and the fur sticks.[/color]" She held a hand to her heart, decidedly keeping the bleeding palmed one at her side, drip-dropping away onto the floor below. She didn't seem to mind. "[color=92278f]I think we should indulge when we come to a rest for the night - not that I am trying to overstate our boundaries or indeed overstay our welcome, just that it would be difficult to do so while journeying on, and inadvisable to stay in one place on the roads, as both said well by Queen Nox and quoted by my dear Prince here.[/color]" Teya smiled in response and nodded softly, seeming to accept the explanation. She chose to ignore the Prince's attempt at figuring her last name out, just smiling at the cute confusion. Tiefling names were a very peculiar subject, one that not many others fully understood. [color=91DB94]"Well then, shall we get going?"[/color] Saranja breathed out softly, and joined the dreamy tiefling onto the wagon along with Umbra. Maybe seating him on her lap. Maybe. And so, they were off. [/center] [center]______________________________________________________________[/center]