Blackfridayrule

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Ridahne smiled, satisfied. "Good." She intended to teach Darin everything she knew, but she wasn't sure what her experience was. She really had no idea what farming was like, as she was from a fishing village and also the desert. Farming did happen in Azurei, but not in her region. Atakhara was right between the sea and the Dust Sea, as if the beach just extended on inland for eternity. Fertile land was not something she was used to.

While Darin built the fire (quite well, Ridahne had to note) Ridahne set out a waxed leather bowl-like container to catch rainwater and brought in her saddle and its bags so it didn't get soaked. She set it down and, with the roar of rain building outside and the fire blazing heartily, she took out a little wooden box with ornate carvings and paint. Inside was a set of differently shaped bone needles--too large for sewing--a container of the fragrant balm she'd put on Darin's shoulder, and three smaller containers with blue, white, and black contents. Her tattoo kit and her blades were the most prized things she owned and she kept good care of both. Ridahne pulled up the leg of one of her trousers to expose an unfinished tattoo in black ink. She rinsed it in water, then dipped a fine bone needle into the black ink and began to rhythmically poke the tip into her skin, stopping every few pricks to dip it back into the ink.

"Well..." she said with a resigned sigh, "I guess we'll be here a while then. Want a tattoo?" The little smirk on her face said she was joking...or at least mostly. She wasn't about to just slap one on her right there and then--it was something that had to be considered and thought about first. Her hands were steady and practiced--she had decades of experience tattooing. Mitaja, also keen to stay out of the rain, curled up behind Darin but with her large head still in reach of Ridahne's hand.

"We have a practice in Azurei when you meet someone new that you are trying to get to know. It's not a revolutionary concept but I like it. You tell me something about yourself and in turn you get to ask a question about me. Yes?"

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Ridahne smiled. "Humans seem to think 103 is a lot, yes. But by our standards I am young. The Sota Sol is 435 years old, and there was a woman in my village who was 581. A healthy elf can live to about 600. We're not immortal like some people like to think, but we do live a long time. I can't imagine only living to 60 though...how do you have time to choose a career? Are they picked for you? And even then, how do you have time to train? I was scouted out for mine around...ah...twenty five? I didn't train right away, I spent some time on the family boat fishing--it's what we've done for centuries. I think I actually left home and started training at around thirty two, and I was not given my blade until I was fifty. And then it was another ten or so years before I officially became a--"

Ridahne stopped herself, mouth still open as she tried to come up with a way to divert the subject gracefully. But nothing came. She'd gone too far, gotten too relaxed. She swore to herself that she would not lie to Darin, and she had a nagging sense that if she did, bad things would happen to her, or perhaps she wouldn't be able to at all. But that didn't mean she was ready to reveal all her skeletons just yet. They had only just met after all. What would Darin think of her if she knew not just what she'd done to earn execution and exile, but what she was?

The elf clamped her mouth shut and focused back down on the reins in her hands. The storm was getting closer and raindrops were imminent; she could smell the change in the air and while she liked the smell of rain and the sound of it out the window at night, she did not want to be caught in it. She was silent as she gave Tsura his head and let him gallop after Talbot, except when she eventually found a potential spot for camp and whistled sharply to catch Darin's attention.

Ridahne veered off the road, checking her horse to a walk as she investigated a cluster of boulders that formed an overhang, almost like a small cave. It wasn't much, but it would be dry. She hitched Tsura up with a long lead so he had a little room to move and began to quickly gather some wood before it got wet so they could have a fire.

"Do you know how to make a fire?" She asked Darin as she piled up a stock of wood.

In Dark Seas We Sail

There was sheer glee in those unnaturally blue eyes as Hana informed him that blowing up melons was easy. He liked melons, especially the ones that were red inside and green outside, but he once saw one drop off a cart at a market and since then he'd always thought about how fun it would be to wreck one somehow. Slicing, smashing, dropping, squishing, and now exploding. That settled it. He would absolutely have to track down a melon at the nearest opportunity and give it to her. That was worth swabbing the deck for.

Honestly though, he was a little surprised to hear her say that she couldn't think of a reason for blowing him up. A crab he could understand--who would actually want to blow up a crab? But him? No one had ever tried to explode him, per se, but he had enough evidence in his short life to conclude that someone would. He thought that she knew that. Certainly if she hated vokurians that would be the case--those people looked for excuses to destroy his people. So maybe she didn't? If she couldn't think of a reason to blow him up, maybe she wasn't so bad as he'd originally thought.

Rohaan shrugged, quieting a little as he stared at his grimy toes. "I dunno. Other people do." He said this with a kind of grim certainty that no ten year old should possess. And in that moment it was clear that what childhood innocence he had was long ago stripped away from him. Yet he had come a long way since he'd escaped the Barizians, and under Berlin's care and tutelage he had regained a little of the carefree joy that was entitled to a boy his age. He looked up at her, considering deeply with a thoughtful frown, and then with a toothy smile he stuck out his hand for her to shake. "Okay, deal! I don't wanna eat everybody, just people that try to hurt me. And if you don't wanna hurt me then I don't wanna eat you," he said brightly. "If I did, who would teach me reading?"

Berlin, who had intentionally stayed silent during this exchange, watched the lad quietly with no small amount of pride welling up in his chest. He really had come a long way. He looked to Hana too and gave the tiniest little nod of approval. There was relief in his eyes; clearly he wanted the two of them to work and seeing progress in that direction heartened him. "Lad, there was something you were going to ask her, wasn't there?"
Rohaan thought for a moment, then, "oh! Uh...yeah.." He seemed to get a little nervous again, but only a little. "Do you, um...well tonight I'm gonna go on a long flight to spy on the Bar-i-zi-ans?" He looked to Berlin, who nodded. The word was new to him even though he knew who they were, and his particular dialect of vokurian did not have 'z' as one of their sounds, nor did they have 'p', which was part of the reason he never called Berlin 'Cap'n' and instead opted for 'Ca-mm'. "Anyway I'm sore from training with Wheel yesterday and I was wondering if...uh, do you have stuff to make sore muscles feel better? Annndd....can we do letters again?"

---

Uban had a hunk of very dry bread in his mouth when Wheel took the kettle from him, so instead of actually saying 'thank you' he really just made some muffled noises of appreciation. He held out the mug in one hand; it shook in his grip. Swallowing his mouthful he nodded exuberantly and said, "Mm, yeah! It was fantastic! Man, you missed the finale--between her and me, we made something like grenadoes except they're a bit different. I set them off so they go off when I want them to. And like, I figured out how to arc to a fired ball so it's almost like shooting lightning, but they have to be engraved with this special...rune thing or something, an enchantment, and then I can...can connect to it. I didn't know I could do that at all until she showed me this medallion of hers. I'm doing all kinds of new things! Summoning drunk colossal turtles, making cannonballs explode..." His eyes were a bright gold, giving his expression a kind of wild vibe.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Might be able to this weekend tho since I’ve been off it and it’s omproving.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Sorry again bad tendinitis my body is a wreck. Haven’t abandoned u just can’t use a comp

In Dark Seas We Sail

Rohaan was very interested to hear Hana's explanation, interested enough that he actually approached her within arms reach--something he hadn't recently been inclined to do. He looked up at her with eyes of an impossible shade of blue like two polished rounds of lapis lazuli, bright and inquisitive, and brushed his sloppy blonde curls out of his face. he did not have perfect corkscrews, nor did he have loose waves but rather had a haphazard mix of both. To his credit, he tried very hard to follow what she said and for a while he thought he did pretty well, but at some point she used words he did not know, and while he was stuck trying to piece them out, he didn't quite take in the rest. He did pick up 'wine bottles shatter' and that piqued his interest. Why wouldn't he want to do that for fun? it sounded plenty fun for him.

Rohaan gave Hana an earnest but very lost expression before glancing questioningly to Berlin, who gave a brief explanation in rapid vokurian, which the boy seemed to take in better. The language had a 'jagged' feel to it, with odd breaks in the middle of words and prominent, hard vowels. Berlin had learned vokurian better than Rohaan had picked up Carisian, and so the man was reasonably fluent, though he had his shortcomings too.

The boy nodded, thinking, then asked, "Oh! Soo....can you...explode Berlin's spyglass?"
A look of mock alarm brushed the man's features. "No, please no."
This made Rohaan smile. "What abouuuuut...." he cast around with his eyes, searching for things to be destroyed. "Umm..." Idly, his finger poked through the bullet hole in his shirt and twirled the fabric around it, unraveled it, then wound it up again. "Wheel's boots? A melon? A crab?" he froze suddenly, eyes going wide in sheer horror as he realized something, then as he looked at her again he seemed almost a little more withdrawn than he was a second ago. "You...wouldn't explode me.....would you?" Nothing about his tone or expression suggested he was joking; in fact, he was gravely serious. Clearly, it was well within his scope of understanding that if someone could, it was very possible they would.

Uban stretched, feeling like he'd just done a hard day's work in the fields or up aloft. It was satisfying in a way, to feel like he had labored for something productive. Except his muscles weren't sore, he just felt shaky and hungry and like he'd earned himself some reclining. He was still laughing to himself softly, absolutely giddy with what he (and Hana) had just done. There were so many things he hadn't thought of doing with his ability, and this was one of them. He turned, silently watching Hana as she spoke to Rohaan. Damn, she's smart. Hell of a lot smarter than me. Uban caught himself grinning and, shaking his head as if to clear something away, went to go down to the hold and find himself some food. He rejoined the rest once he'd pilfered some salt pork, the last of the bread (which was now fairly dry) and some tea to wash it down. He needed to do that kind exercise more often, he decided, because he felt wiped out now.

"That was absolutely incredible," he said. "Maybe next time you could teach me the runes or draw them out with charcoal first and I could help you carve them? I dunno what kind of tools you got, but if you need proper ones Rohaan here can get you some next time we dock." Uban slid one hand over the boy's head to sweep pale blonde curls into his face.
Rohaan playfully slapped Uban's arm and 'fixed' his hair, which only meant sweeping it back so that some strands lay back down and others stuck straight up. But he looked at Hana and, taking pride in his renown as an...obtainer of things, he stuck his chin up proudly and with his arms folded across his chest he boasted, "I can get anything."

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Sorry for the delay in posting! My wrist has been kinda banged up from strain and has been in a brace which makes it hard to type, but I got one out!

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Ridahne's eyebrows raised as she nodded, though she seemed surprised by the information Darin gave her. Ridahne had heard the term 'old maid' and knew it referred to an older, unmarried woman, and she knew that it held some vague negative context. But she'd pictured that to mean someone who was quite a bit older, gray haired, wrinkled, aging. Not 25. "That small a window of time for you humans, then? You must have to marry someone you grew up with, or else you don't get to know them more than a few years before you commit to marry them. Do you really feel like you can know someone in that short a time?" The idea seemed alien to her; her parents had known each other for many, many years before they actually wed.

"Well if it makes you feel better, I am one hundred and three years old, and I am not married. I am still young by elvish reckoning, though I suppose I am expected to find a partner by my age. Hadian, my brother, already has. He is older than me by about ten years, but ten is not so far away, when you think about it." She gave a slightly wan smile. "You will meet him when we come to Azurei. He is another that knows of my quest and so will know who you are when you see him, but he was told to keep silent about it. He married quite recently, actually I...I missed his wedding. About three months ago." She fiddled with her reins a bit as a note of sadness crept into her voice, and then almost visibly she hardened a bit and sat up straight, her expression somewhere between impassive and determined.

"You're not missing out on much though, not being married. Love is...well it sounds like a nice idea, but really it's complicated and messy and can actually be quite painful so..." She stared straight ahead, her lips pursed in a thin line. Ridahne shook her head gently. "It's almost better not to get involved. Less chance of you dragging someone else down with you when your life goes wrong, or vice versa."

Subconsciously, Ridahne was convinced that there was nothing Ajoran could have ever done that would make her feel ashamed of him, of her tie with him. And yet she felt with strong conviction that such mercy did not apply to her. If she had kept ties with him like they had done for so long, she would only sink him, and together the two would crash and burn in their own shame. In her shame. She remembered that guilt the most from that fateful day. She resolved that she could not--would not be the stone around his neck when he was otherwise doing so well. And by leaving him, she allowed the ship that was his life to stay afloat while her own little rowboat went straight down to the watery depths. "If I must go, I will go alone," she had told him. And it had hurt to do so. But she did what she had to do, no matter what it cost her.

Always.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Ridahne studied Mitaja, watching the way the cat leaned into the human's hands. Usually she was only like that with her or Hadian, and perhaps with Ajoran too. There was something to this girl. She might doubt any significance that she had, but Mitaja knew, Talbot knew, Ridahne knew. And unfortunately Mark had too. She really did hate him. The elf shrugged and gave an easy smile--something that didn't come out unless she was in good company. She looked less dangerous when she smiled like that, and part of why she did intimidate people was that she was often aloof and closed off with most people. That and the ever-present blades she wore. "If it makes you feel better, Mitaja did not tell me anything. I had to guess on my own. But yes..." she sighed as if realizing the task she had ahead of her as this girl's protector. "We will have to be wary of people's pets and things. But Mitaja and Talbot will be your protectors there. They know their own kind better than we do and they will defend you. Talbot already has."

If it was at all ever possible for Ridahne the elf-warrior to look petulant, she did then as she looked back up at the sky. "I was afraid of that..." she mumbled. "I hate the rain...well then," she sighed, raising her hands up and letting them slap against her thighs. "I suppose we should get as much road behind us as we can before we have to set up camp. I think we should reach the tree sooner rather than later..." Not that she was particularly eager to get there--it would be hard for her and she knew it. But they needed to go and there was no use dallying.

When they did finally get back on the road, Ridahne maneuvered Tsura so that he strode beside Talbot, her body swaying and moving with her horse's steps like she'd been born on horseback. In the small village of Atakhara, those who weren't busy fishing for their food were out hunting it in the Dust Sea. Ridahne's family did both, but since Hadian was older and destined to follow the family line of fishing, he had gone to sea and that left Ridahne to raise ithali kits for hunting, and to break horses that would tolerate long days in the sands alongside a predatory cat. In some way, she had been born on horseback.

"So I never did ask, how old are you anyway? My judge of human age is..." she teetered a long hand back and forth, "not so good. But you are young for your kind, yes?"

In Dark Seas We Sail

Berlin strode over, his steps casual, slow, and a bit wandering; he had things to think about today. He arched a brow at the gathered 'crowd' beside the cannon and looked between them. He thought that Hana seemed to come out of her shell a bit, if he wasn't mistaken. That was good. That woman needed to relax a bit every now and then. Uban, as always, was in good spirits but even more so now that he'd been practicing his ability. Berlin could see not just his golden eyes but the kind of intensified energy that he exuded. That and the sweat on his brow. Rohaan seemed to be off and he allowed himself a very soft, very quiet sigh. If it was Hana that was bothering him, he would need to speak with him and set him straight. After all, she was a member of the crew now and he needed to understand that. There was little he could do about her and Wheel and the tension there, but Rohaan was his responsibility and often needed some prodding in the right direction.

"Why are we electrifying my cannons?" His tone was more curious than upset, in fact he was very interested to see what would come of this. He'd heard the bang and seen the smoke from the previous test and he had a guess as to what was coming next, but he wasn't sure exactly how it would happen or what it would do.
Uban beamed at him. "Scholarly research, Cap'n."
"Aye, I'm sure. Well go on..." Berlin crossed his arms and shifted his weight casually onto one foot, watching.

Uban grinned over at Pieter. "I'm fine, mate!" He looked down at his hands and realized they were shaking slightly. He blinked and then added, "someone feed me after this eh?" Preparing for the cannon fire, Uban shook out his hands as if trying to loosen up a cramp; blue trails of lightning lagged behind his hands as they moved and sparked around them. "Alright, let's do this..."

Uban watched Pieter light the fuse and as it sparkled, he reached out with this extra sense of his and felt for the cannon ball. It was there. He fired the pistol just a moment before the cannon blast sounded, bluish lighting streaking after it like a comet. The large ball arced out over the sea and when it had reached a sufficient distance, Uban flicked one wrist and the lightning around the little bullet abandoned its host and found the cannon ball instead.

Rohaan, ready for the explosion this time, found himself on his toes, peering over the top of the gunnel. Normally he'd have no problem sitting on top of the railing, but for once he actually liked the shield the rail provided since he was still a little nervous about the thing. Nervous, yet undeniably curious. The thing went off with a spectacular bang that the boy felt resonating in his chest. Something about the grand scale of it ignited his love for wanton destruction and he found himself grinning, eyes wide with wonder. He even laughed a little. That was pretty cool, after all. He turned, the scent of sulfurous gunpowder in his nostrils, and looked at Hana. "Um...how did you make it do that? Do um...do all cannon balls explode...?" If they did, then they had clearly been using theirs wrong all this time. And then another thought came to him. "What else can you make explode?" He might have been leery of her magic, but he couldn't deny the siren call of starting fires or smashing things.

Berlin clasped Hana's arm with a wily grin on his face. "Damn, that's good. Your idea?"