Kal sat by the field. His old, frail body broke down some hours ago in the field. Muscles just refused to work anymore. It was tiresome for the god who inhabited him. Something would have to be done about that. Soon. For now though, he relished the spare time he had sitting next to the field while playing with his puzzleknot. Well, the mortal’s puzzleknot technically. The god of magic quite enjoyed playing with his own creations. As he found the personalized challenges quite engaging as he twisted and pushed the parts of the puzzle around. So far he had only opened one layer. He wondered which focus the mortal would’ve gotten. Which role was he destined for in the great designs?

From the corner of his eyes he kept a careful watch on his daughter working with the oxen. The animals loved her, as was evident by the many licks they gave her. She was sweet, nice, kindhearted. It worried him still. A queen had to be just but stern as well. An empress even more so. Her heart would have to be steeled. Somehow.

“Soleira!” A kid hollered from the village. The farmers stopped their work. “Soleira!” The kid repeated as he came to the edge of the field. He was out of breath but still tried to shout: “People! From the south! They’re… They’re coming!” Farmers started to look at each other. Fearful and confused. Soleira handed one of them control of the ard and said her goodbyes to the oxen that pulled it. Then took to the skies and headed south.

Qael really needed to do something about the frail body of this mortal. It made walking tiresome. Still, he made his way due south. Soleira was waiting some distance ahead of the village. Birds were flocking to the skies. Forming black clouds ready to descend upon whatever had entered their domain.

“Who do you think they are?” Soleira asked the mortal she knew as Kal as he finally arrived. Her eyes were still trained on the small dots in the far off distance. Dots that moved closer though.

“No way of knowing unless you ask.” Kal said with a smile she couldn’t see. He saw the worry on her body though. She looked tense. Had raiders tried to attack her people before maybe? He didn’t know. Maybe he should ask someday.

The strangers came closer. They saw three oxen, loaded with sacks. An older man rode a donkey. He looked older than Kal even. In front of the tiny caravan, an middle aged man with a very full beard walked, clutching a staff that looked like it had beaten some animals on the snout before. A few sheep were walking beside them as well. When they were about a hundred meters away, the leader of the group stopped them, and walked forward alone.

“Hail, Soleira. Queen of Soleras.” 

Kal could guess her thoughts: she wasn’t a queen.

“I am Ashekan. This is my family.” He introduced them all but two by name and pointed off in the distance. Though kept away from Soleira. Clear as not to appear as a threat. “We have come…” The words were stuck in his throat for a second. “We have come to… beg for a life here.”

“Where are you from?” Soleira asked.

“We have come from the waters south. But the war… the anger. It’s not safe there.” The man said. “Me and my family decided to find a better place to raise our children. They deserve a better life.” The man lowered himself to his knees. Slowly, and with the help of his staff. “I beg of you, Queen Soleira. Allow us to live here.”

Soleira, however, was already looking past the man and at the caravan. That slowly stepped forward out of curiosity. She saw people that didn’t look like the others. Their heads were shaven clean and they kept staring down at the ground. Each had a rope attached to their arm, leading to one of the oxen. “Who are they?” Soleira asked.

The man, confused, looked up. “Those are our slaves, my lady?”

“No…” She said, as she stepped forward. Passing the man without fear. People were taking a step back from the caravan. Afraid of why she suddenly stalked forward. The slaves almost shook in their place. “You’re not slaves anymore.” She said as she took the ropes off their arm. “We don’t keep slaves here in Soleras.”

“But… My lady.” Ashekan said as he came trailing after her. “We have bought these men. They are criminals. They are… They are our slaves?”

She turned to face the man. “Not here. Not in Soleras. Here they are the same as you and I. If they commit a crime, they’ll be punished but I refuse to have my people be slavers.” She turned to the men again. “You are free in Soleras. Go ahead. Make your homes here. Serve the Light, and the people here will help you with food and shelter.”

The two of them muttered their thanks before scurrying away towards Soleras. Trying to get as far away from their former owners as possible.

Ashekan was frowing. Crows and hawks were still high in the air. Their flight pattern became erratic and agitated. Even from a distance Kal could see him doubting the decision to come here, so he stepped forward. Conjuring some of the bread he kept in his cloak. He passed Ashekan and Soleira and approached the mother. “Here. The first gift of Soleras. Nobody goes hungry here.” He said with a smile. One the mother returned. Mortals were so easy to convince. Give them food and they will follow you to the end of the world. Behind him, Ashekan was already softening again.
[center]~[/center]
“They’re calling you Daughter of the Sun now.” Kal said as he sat against rock, toying with his puzzlebox. Soleira was just approaching, and cocked an eyebrow up. She was quickly realizing there was more to Kal than he seemed to admit. For one, he was clearly a talented mage but there was more. Nobody just rode around half the world atop a massive, white, flying lion just to visit some place in the middle of nowhere. There had to be a hundred more mythical places between here and the frostlands.

“Are the now?” Soleira said as she sat down with a piece of bread and some berries. The colorful trees gave some much needed shadow from the burning sun high up. Most of the work these days had to be started before dawn now. Not that she minded. It was a selfish delight to lounge in the afternoon heat but it was a delight none the less. “Well I guess its true. Oraeliara did make all of my kin.”

“That’s not what they mean.” Kal put the puzzlebox down again and looked over the various shadowy spots around the fields. There were a lot more farmers now. Each producing much more food. Some had even traded the hoe for the one earth spell Kal had taught them. They were reverent though. “They praise you. Sure, you and your kin are all children of Oraeliara, but they’ll only call you Daughter of the Sun.”

The two remained in relative silence as they ate. Mostly they just enjoyed the warmth. Until Soleira spoke up again: “A lot of people are starting to look up to you as well. These people never knew much magic. They rarely used it even when I just arrived. But your spell has made working the land a lot easier.”

A soft smile formed on Kal’s lips. “I’m here just to serve. Your people should know their full strength. As should you.”

Soleira stopped correcting him whenever Kal said ‘your people’. After she released the slaves of those first few refugees she stopped pretending like she wasn’t here to care for them. “I can’t do magic. None of my kin can.” She said, looking at Kal and then down at the ground. “It’s for the better. It would just be used in the war. They’re already abusing the light of my mother to harm each other. I couldn’t imagine what they’d do if they could set the world against each other.” Yet she felt that pang of jealousy. In the last year, with Kal’s presence, she had grown intrigued by magic. Especially because of how much it was now helping her grow Soleras.

“You’re right. You’re right. Your kin would use the gift for war and murder. Perhaps that’s the reason why they never got it.” Kal said. “But you have.” And then he took a sip of his water.

Soleira turned to face him. “I’m still an Oraeliari. I can’t do magic.”

“When you fly, do you go faster? Do you feel lighter than you should?” Kal asked with a very casual tone. “Do you feel the hard winds against you when you fly into them?”

For a minute Soleira was quiet. She flapped her wings a few time to feel the brush of the air around her. She never thought about it, but yeah. She did feel lighter and she did fly faster than any of her kin. Was it magic? Or just the fact that she has two pair of wings instead of one? So far Kal hadn’t been wrong when it came to magic. If someone would know… “How do I learn how to control it?”

“You can’t. Not yet.” Sorcery required a certain kind of arrogance. It demanded the world to change for you regardless of your own knowledge about it. Fundamentally sorcery was about altering the reality around you to suit your own desires. He looked upon Soleira and he saw someone utterly devoid of such arrogance. Qael’s daughter had always bend herself to the world. He got up and put a hand on her shoulder. “Someday you’ll be ready to learn.”

[hider=Summary]Kal is sitting beside the field keeping an eye out. A kid runs up to the field yelling to Soleira that strangers have come. She flies up to meet him. Kal finds her before though, on the southern edge of Soleras. The strangers introduce themselves as refugees. But they bring two slaves. Soleira, upon seeing them, frees the slaves and tells the refugees that in Soleras, there are no slaves or slavers. Just people who are equal to each other. Tensions rise for a split second until Kal offers food the mother of the family, telling them that in Soleras, nobody goes hungry.

Later Kal and Soleira are musing in the shadow for their lunch. Kal tells her people refer to her as Daughter of the Sun. Soleira quickly points back the conversation to Kal, saying many are grateful for him and the one magic spell he taught the people. Upon which he simply says all people should know their full strength. Including her. Soleira says Aiviri cannot perform magic, and says she’s happy because of that. They are already abusing the light to harm each other, the destruction they’d wrought would be worse should they know how to put the world itself against each other. Kal agrees, but still maintains Soleira is blessed with magic. She asks how she could control it, but Kal says she isn’t ready for that yet.[/hider]

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[b]Post Length:[/b] 8.9K Characters
+4 Prestige >> The Conduit
+4 Prestige >> Soleira
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