Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ika couldn’t say she loved Zinris or Yael for that matter. It was a darker place, dreary as all get out, but she respected the culture. What rounds of sparring she’d been able to con some of the snottier Elarians into had been satisfying and those that were fine talking to her had been fine. Her earthling features meant that many of the older crew steered clear, but Ika didn’t worry about it. She didn’t have to stick around long for her talents to speak for her.

That being said she did want some time to herself, and imagine her surprise when she went out of the village to find it…only to come across another Aishan. “Well, you’re a brute, aren’t you?” Ika let out a low whistle. She was massive, both in muscle mass and height.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Goddess, how young was she? Now that she wasn’t curling in on herself Ika got a look at the girl’s face and saw little pinches of youth clinging to it. She’d assumed with a body like that that she was at least as old as Ika herself. When she was full grown she’d be a beast on the battle field. “Gonna take a guess here, but you’re Ilsa, aren’t you? Kanai’s daughter?” Reaching for a bag at her side, Ika dug around for a bit before producing a letter. “I got something for her from Chibale but I haven’t been able to find her yet.”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Ika shook her head. “Just a letter from her family checking in I think. They knew I was coming to Zinris as an escort and wanted to pass it along.” She hadn’t asked for details of the letter any more than she usually did when she passed things along. “Told me about her daughter, and I figured those kinds of features were hard enough to miss.” After all, compared to the pure blood Elarian and what few hybrids skirted about Ilsa’s coloration stuck out. Pure Aishan, but of mixed blood. While this wasn’t the first of her kind that Ika had seen she was different than the last.

“Is this area open to anyone? It looks like a nice spot to through morning drills.”

Oooo, so she was being run out, huh? It didn’t look like the teenager was entirely comfortable saying it, despite her size, so it brought a soft smile out of Ika. “It’s alright; I understand. Honestly I didn’t mean to come this way, I was just wandering around getting a feel for the area when I stumbled into it.” Thinking on something, Ika cocked one hip to the side and tapped her chin. “How about this? I’ll leave for today, but I want you to meet me by the training area tomorrow. You know how to fight, right? Someone with arms like that has to know how to throw a punch.”

Now Ika’s features were shifting into a grin. “That’s awful cocky of you to assume you’re going to win.” She was just a little under Ilsa’s height, lither where Ilsa was solid, but Ika was fast. She had a tenacity that often meant borderline reckless in a fight. All she had to do was outpace her opponent, especially one who relied on one hit strikes like Ilsa. “Why wouldn’t you want that? I’ve heard just as much encouragement from Aishans as I’ve heard slurs my entire life. Anything they have to say to me is something I’ve already heard and I’m not here to fight for them. I want to fight there because the ground is level and easier to catch a grip when I’m beating you. We can go to the beach if you want, but the outcome is going to stay the same.”

Now there was a change. The younger girl was starting to loosen up a bit and didn’t look nearly as tense as before. “Not really. When I was a kid I was really bratty, then I got mean and now I’m just this.” She motioned toward herself. “I struggled a lot with where I fit in as a kid, but it leveled out. When you’re born with this-“ And Ika held up her hand with a little flame bubbling in her palm, “-everyone assumes you’ll go into magical training. Books, spells, robes, beads, healing, summoning rain; all the boring stuff. Then I found out I could use it and fight the way I wanted to so it helped.”

“It runs on my mom’s side of the family.” With flick of her wrist the flame went from Ika’s palm to a smaller ember that bounced across her fingertips before disappearing. “My earthling mom. She didn’t inherit it, but two of her sisters have it and so does her father.” As much as she loved them, watching those with magic had just made Ika’s decision not to follow that path of training more apparent. They had a certain amount of restraint she didn’t want nor was she willing to force upon herself.

“Anyway, my name’s Ika. I don’t think I introduced myself and it feels weird that I know your name without you knowing mine.”