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 Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 10:07 pm
"Everything," Xerris answered quickly, without thinking. Then she broke into a sheepish smile and whinnied a giggle.
"That's maybe a bit too ambitious isn't it?" she asked then looked up at the sky and gave the subject a bit more thought. Where to start? It was all very simple to ask him to tell her about his gift but she couldn't hope to learn anything very useful very quickly if she just let him ramble..
"Umm...It's hard to decide what to ask first," she finally admitted, shuffling her hooves a bit. But then she gathered herself and set her hooves firmly, flicking her tail as she came to a decision.
"How did you find out you had this power? When did you first notice its existence in you?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 6:38 am
Ah, this was a nice easy story to start out with; good. Dahak gave a lopsided smirk and shook his head. “I was a little younger than you are now,” he began, casting his memory back with a frown of concentration. “I’d wandered away from the fruit tree into the outskirts of Yisi, just to do some exploring you understand. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately in the long run, I ran into a group of Bae colts a little older than myself. The recognized my markings, and decided to ‘deal’ with me. Naturally, I ran away, didn’t stand a chance, and I ended up falling into a river. The current was too swift for me to get to the bank and I was swept away downstream. Spent the next several hours nearly drowning, and at one point I ripped my foreleg open on a sharp rock. I didn’t have time to pay attention to it what with trying to learn to swim at somewhat short notice and everything, so I willed it away and kept going.”
Coming to a pause in his story, the Shaman frowned again, this time at the memory of the Bae. Oh they might have assisted him in discovering his gift, but if he ever saw any of them again they were in for a campaign of long, slow, painful vengeance. He still had dreams about raging, freezing waters pulling him down, of moments of fading consciousness, of the certainty that death would soon claim him. They would pay for that.
“Anyway,” the tall stallion sighed and shook his head, “eventually the river slowed, and I was able to climb out on a smooth bank somewhere in D’ob. When I looked down at my leg, the injury was healed to an almost invisible scar, and the only indicator I had that I hadn’t imagined it was the pint staining of blood I could see on the white of my leg.” He’d hardly believed it at first, he remembered that too. It had seemed to wild, to wonderful, too incredible that such a thing had come to him so young. He hadn’t known then all the work ahead of him, but all in all it was still pretty damn cool in his opinion.
“So, yes, that’s the long and the short of it,” Dahak went on with a nod, “it was quite by accident that I discovered that I possessed the talent, and it has taken me from that day until now to get the magic to work for me reliably.” Humm. It was still very interesting that Xerris was interested in his magic, interested in its details that was. Did she perhaps have ambitions in the area? Well, he wasn’t about to ask; doubtless she would either tell him straight that she did, or ask him enough questions on the matter for him to be sure one way or the other. With her ambition, Dahak considered as he inspected the blue filly, it was quite believable, quite believable indeed.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 12:21 am
"Wow," Xerris murmured at the end of his tale, her blue eyes wide with awe. She'd listened fascinated, trembling slightly at the thought of the terror Dahak must have felt and then the exultation that came with learning of his gift.
"So it was all happenstance?" she said thoughtfully, though it was more of a rhetorical question not really directed at her brother. She wondered...
"Dahak-waru, do you think magic is inherent in all of us, just waiting to be tapped into?" the filly asked, trying to keep the tone of her voice casual but it still held a note of wistfulness. Then her voice became somber as she added, "Or is it something that only shows up once in a while?"
Well, she hadn't exactly painted her ambitions out in giant sparkling letters in the sky but Dahak was clever and could probably tell where her line of questioning was headed..
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:26 am
Ah. So. She did have ambitions of that kind. Poor girl.
Dahak sighed and shook his head. “Perhaps it is in all of us,” he said after a moment with a shrug of his wings, “but it is a rare Nequus that ever finds it in themselves and is able to use it. In all the years that our great herd has existed, the Illusionist Mordre and I are the only ones to have shown such talents. In the wider world, I believe such things are just as rare if not rarer... It is possible I suppose that having one in your family who can wield magic improves your chances of doing the same, but I have no evidence to base that on.”
Was there only ever a given amount of magic in the world? Could a new user of it only be formed when an old one died or was the finding of magic merely a rare thing that could happen at any time? Was there really magic in all Nequus, waiting to be found, or did the magic choose to inhabit a given body? Did it even choose, or was that chance too? Perhaps if a ready mind was pulled through a strong patch of magic it latched on and the Nequus discovered talents? What, for that matter, decided if you were Shaman, Illusionist or something else entirely? He wished he knew, but Dahak had a funny feeling that he would never get an answer to those questions. Some things, he supposed, just were. May as well ask why the sun rose every day or why the seasons turned.
The Shaman sighed again then and shook himself from his pondering to look back down at his sister. “I am sorry if my words were not what you wanted to here, Xerris waru, but from what I have seen I believe them to be true. Dormant in all of us or no, it is a great rarity for magical talent to express itself.” He did not add that he felt the chances of there being even the two magic users within their herd that there already were were so tiny as to be almost impossible; he had no desire to crush her hopes any more than the simple truth probably already had.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:43 pm
Xerris was prepared for such an answer. She knew the rarity of magic users. The evidence was right there. Before Dahak there had been only the Illusionist. Still, disappointment left a bitter taste in her mouth.
However, Xerris was not one to simply give up when things looked grim.
"Don't apologize, Dahak-waru. I expected as much," she admitted, cocking her head to the side in a half-shrug. "In fact, I was hoping for that to be so. It will be all the sweeter if I discover the talent within myself. The challenge makes it worthwhile," the filly added philosophically, smiling warmly up at her older brother.
"And if not, well, there are other important, more easily attainable positions in the herd to strive for. A docotor in the employ of the great Shaman Dahak, for instance," Xerris suggested, her smile widening into a grin.
"But back to magic," she said, quickly reverting back to the original subject. "You said that when you'd gashed your leg, you just willed it away. So I'm guessing concentration is a big part of it. Do you think some kind of meditation might be a good training exercise?" Now that her motives were out in the open, she was all business.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:30 pm
The tall stallion paused but was soon forced to shake his head once more. “No, I doubt it... I think it would be like trying to fly with no wings, or to breath like a fish by will alone. I suppose I do meditate myself, when I find a spare space in my day and a place rich with magic, but my focus is the feeling of the magic itself, of the flow of it on the winds and the feel of it in my blood. A mind that knows how to meditate, how to put the world aside, might be more prepared to learn the ways of magic if it ever did some to them but... well, once again I must say that I do not know. No magic user that I know of, or have even heard stories of, has ever sought their power. It just... happens.”
It was a shame to have to tell her this, but there was no sense lying to shield her feelings; that would only make her angry with him in the end. “I am sure you would be welcome in the ranks of the doctors, though,” the Shaman went on after a time with a nod. “You may as well have a useful occupation to focus on in case you do not develop magic and if it does to occupy you in the interim; I know our mother would be proud of you... as would I.”
Dahak smiled then and looked about at the carefully cultivated plants. He could half see it even when he didn’t focus; the goodness that came off them. Without concentration it was just a general feeling of healing and vitality that made everything seem right with the world. If somebody came to him ill, he was almost sure he would soon have a plant here to aid them no matter what troubled them.
Aware that he had been gazing for some moments, the Shaman chuckled at himself and returned his attention once more to his sister. “It would be nice to have a family member in the business of healing; I feel somewhat cut off these days... and the doctors don’t work for me.” The Jala gave a grin this time and shook his head. “I’m sure any of them would be most displeased to have that implied. They speak to me, and send those they cannot help themselves to me and are happy to hear of the new plants I see to be useful but they do not answer to me.” He was more powerful than any of them; politically and in matters of healing.
Dahak knew that fact rankled with many of them, especially the older doctors, and it made him smile a bit inside. He would prefer their respect to be pure, but better respect tinged with bitterness or resentment than none at all. His days of being defined by his bloodline were well over, and he well understood his sister’s desire to similarly distinguish herself. It was always better to know you had got to where you were on your own virtue, and better still to be... special, he suppose. It seemed a childish way to look upon it, but there it was. He liked being special, and there was no sense denying that fact to himself.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:06 pm
Xerris knew Dahak's candor was not meant to sting, that he was just trying to save her further disappointment at the hands of what seemed likely to be an impossible task. But just because he'd heard that no magic-user had ever gone looking for the talent, that did not mean just stumbling across it was the only way. Maybe a stubborn, willful streak was all one needed to prove the theory wrong..
"The only reason they might feel that way is because they know you are their superior and don't appreciate it being pointed out. But you are the Shaman which essentially makes you Master Healer," she observed thoughtfully, turning from her thoughts and addressing the subject of the doctors, those that used only herblore and envied Dahak his gift. "But they can't fault you either because they know you are superior." Flicking her tail, she smirked up at her brother.
"Anyway, if you would have me, I'd very much like to be your..apprentice in the healing arts. Magic may or may not be involved; we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you for answering my questions anyway."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:26 pm
Dahak nodded his head approvingly; he himself wouldn’t have kept actively trying to gain magic in her position but he respected her stubbornness all the same. Though magic wouldn’t have occurred to him as a thing to aim for if it hadn’t come to him, he had no doubt he’d have kept striving to find some way to become more than his father’s son.
“Yes,” the tri-coloured Jala said after a moment, “to all that you said. Still, best to keep on their good side I suppose; so long as we all know the truth there’s no point in going around shouting about it.” It might bring a petty kind of satisfaction to make them admit he was their superior, but that satisfaction would be temporary. The hatred that such a thing would spark would be for good, and for all his talents the tall stallion was aware that he would be more effective in his job so long as the doctors remained at least vaguely friendly to him.
“I was a bit out of touch with the world at your age,” Dahak went on with a lopsided smile, “but I believe that you are about the right age to start seeking a vocation. Speak to mother and father about it; I’m sure they’ll approve but they’ll appreciate being told your plans, and once you have their approval come back to me and I’ll start teaching you the basics of what I know. For many things I think you will need to go to the doctors for lessons, I am far less experienced in the healing techniques that do not involve than they, but I can certainly teach you everything I know about plants. You might even come to find yourself knowing more than the doctors do on that score after a while; I never know what they know and what they don’t because, well, I never learned any of it.”
That was another thing that no doubt annoyed them about him. Knowledge they’d spent a lifetime memorizing he could discern with a glance and uncover more with ease. Couldn’t be any fun being outdone by some skinny upstart, he considered with an internal chuckle.
Still, daft doctors aside, it would be good to have Xerris working with him, good too that one of his younger siblings had decided to make something of herself. He suspected his parents were beginning to despair on that score a little. “Well then,” the Shaman said to his sister with another smile, “unless there’s anything else you need of me today, you might as well go and tell ute and then find trie. If you’re lucky you might even get their approval tonight and be able to start tomorrow.”
He hoped so. Much as he valued his times of solitude, and would see that he preserved a good chunk of them, it still got lonely up in his little herb patch or wandering in search of new plants. Virgil was often with him, of course, but there was only so much company a slave could be no matter how loyal.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:12 am
Xerris had to laugh. "Well of course I'll stay on their good side and never actually point out the truth of things. It wouldn't be worth the trouble it'd stir up," she said wisely with a solemn nod of her head. She might not be the smartest but she was capable of being quite diplomatic.
"In any case, thank you for agreeing to teach me! I'm looking forward to learning," she said enthusiastically, flexing her wings before setting them back to her sides with a snap. This seemed like a good first step to take. And, even if she didn't have any magic, being a doctor would be worthwhile. If nothing else, she'd still make a difference to the herd.
"Ute already has a good idea of what I'm about. She did help me find you after all. But I will go talk to her and ask her permission now. Then we'll go track down trie..." At this point she trailed off into thoughtful silence, her bottom lip protruding in a slight pout. Should she tell her father the whole truth? She knew his disapproval of magic.. Would it be worth upsetting him over an ambition that was so unlikely that the numbers were unthinkable?
Shaking her head, she returned her full attention to Dahak and grinned. "Thank you again for agreeing to be my teacher. I'll take my leave now, Shaman Dahak."
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:58 am
The tall stallion chuckled and nodded his approval. “Right, good, with luck I shall see you tomorrow then. You’ll find me up here from around sunrise onward; if I’ve had to go off anywhere I’ll leave Virgil here with a message for you.” With these words and a smile, the tri-coloured Jala turned aside from his sibling to run his eyes over the assembled plant life.
Giving a satisfied nod at the sight, Dahak set off at an easy trot to check on the patch of mosses he had growing on the shady side of some rocks a little way away and silently sent good wishes to his younger sibling. So long as she worded things right and didn’t make too much mention of magic he suspected she would do fine, but good wishes were, after all, never wasted.
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