Thread: Light in Shadows (Fates and Flame)

Kaia blushed, embarrassed when she registered Aezons response. Leave it to her to go blathering on, acting a fool in front of him. She gave herself a mental kick, trying to break out of her bad habit of prattling. To make matters worse, he didnt seem very happy with the way shed spoken of his spirit. She chewed over an apology while she finished cooking up their meal. Yet she was surprised to find him the one apologizing. She couldnt imagine how awful it must have been to be hated everywhere you go. It struck her with a pang of empathy though her instincts told her Aezon was not the kind of man who welcomed pity about such things. She chewed her lip to keep more questions and random nonsense from spewing out while silently wondering about him. All her life Kaia had a fascination for learning new things. Shed read every book she could get her hands on which was unfortunately never enough. Even the grand library at the college in the Breath probably couldnt sate her thirst for erudition. But of all those countless books, none were like to have any information on Aezons people. Their purge from history meant this could be her one chance to learn about the Shadow Tribe, and she was doing a fine job of mucking it up so far. She died to know more. Sensitive though it was she wanted to know what life was like for a nomadic outcast. And even more still, she longed to hear the story of how one just happened to make friends with a spirit. Surely that was the sort of tale you only heard of in legends. Oh to think the journeys he must have been on. It was a surprise and delight then, when he explained how Shadow Spirits could shape shift. To just hear about it might have been hard to believe, but her eyes went wide with wonder when Leiku actually demonstrated it. Thats incredible! Kaia exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She could feel another wave of yammering bubbling up to the surface, but managed to suppress her excitement this time. Shed become so enthused in the display however, that she failed to notice the flames of the fire licking their meal a little over long. Ive never seen anything like that! Not that shed seen much outside of the Mist anyway. Kaia however, became taut when Aezon brought up Radiance. All at once, her relentless chatting was brought to a dead silence. It wasnt like she wasnt used to being called out as a foreigner. Kaia stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the average Mist affair. Few however, had been so accurate in assuming where she came from. Radiance was on the other side of the continent and its citizens were notorious for remaining within the safety of its borders. It was unlikely anyone would come from so far just to end up at her shop. She could recall a lady from Florana making the connection once. Thankfully, Kai had not been around to witness the comment. He may very well have treated the woman just as unkindly as he had Aezon. Kai and Lenas warning came rushing back to her, stoking her fears. Stuck up fancy Light Ascendants? Was he trying to say something? Did he already know about her secret? Was this some elaborate trick to get her out here alone? Maybe her father was right maybe he was using Shadow Magic after all! Who knew what Shadow Ascendants were capable of? A million terrible thoughts swarmed her all at once. And yet, as she looked into his unquestionably soft eyes, her anxiety began to melt away. Kaia had always been something of an empath. Maybe it was all a part of her Ascendancy, she really couldnt say, but she had a particular way of sensing peoples emotions of feeling their intentions. She couldnt really explain it, she didnt even fully understand it herself, but her keen intuition of people had served her more than once. And right now it was telling her that Aezon harbored no ill intentions. But still. Could she trust him with her secrets? Um, she stammered, not entirely sure what to say, Ive never actually been--Oh! Oh no! Kaias attention was stolen by the smell of burning meat. She promptly rounded on her heels, returning to her job to salvage what she could. Luckily, their snake skewers hadnt suffered too much damage. They had some questionably blackened crispy bits by the time they were off the fire, but were otherwise edible. She took one in each hand before turning back to face him. She took a deep breath, trying to swallow down her nervousness once and for all before she approached him. S-sorry, she apologized for the fruit of her efforts, Its a little overcooked but still good to eat. She handed him one of the skewers with a shy smile before moving to sit down next to him. She took a big bite of hers, chewing on her thoughts as well as her food. Finally, she decided to just be upfront with him about a few things. Maybe he would do the same in return. After all, was that not how strangers became friends? Ive never actually been to Radiance I mean. I was born there, but my parents died when I was too little to remember any of it. This is the only life Ive ever known. And what a life it was. The high class society of Radiance would be in for a culture shock if that saw her sitting in a swamp, munching on charred snake with hands still bloodied from her kill. No doubt the fine ladies in their beautiful dresses would find the girl a lost cause if she ever saw fit to return to her original home. So, she started, smiling as she sought to shift the topic off of her past and on to something more interesting, How does one become friends with a spirit? She looked up at Leiku perched above them. The small bird looked like a puffy little ball of darkness with tiny red jewels inside. It was hard to shake her amazement over the fact hed just been a great, spectral wolf just moments before. The other villagers probably wouldnt believe her if she told them. If she hadnt seen such a thing with her own eyes, it would have been difficult for her to believe also.