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Zephyiote snorted when asked what she studied. "If I spent the rest of the day talking to you, I would not be able to explain all that I study...give me a minute to think..." She pondered a way to give a synopsis on the matter. "I suppose you could say I study origin, and conciousness...but neither of those is quite right either..." she sighed. Knowing it wouldn't be possible to put to exact words what it was she was trying to do.

Zephyiote watched the little Mimicgryph. They certainly seemed popular as familiars. Many a painter had them. Maybe one day she would find a companion like that. And then she wouldn't be so lonely. Surely a mimcgryph wouldn't hate her because she was different? Oh well, she had no time in her life for companions now. She was traveling, and the things she intended to do would probably be best undertaken alone.

It was rare Zephyiote ran into the standard painters. Up in the mountains, it was mostly Chi'Lin for her, whom she did a LOT of business with, to garner gems etc. from. She used them frequently in her studies, and she was obsessed with carving statues etc. Silk she liked even more. Both the bandage on her arm and the cord around her neck were her crafted by her own hands, simple though they were. They were imbued with a lot of aura, a lot of energy.

"So Florica, what is a girl like you doing here?" If this other painter was allowed to ask questions, it was only fair she should be allowed to ask her own.

}~{It's fine ^_^}~{

Zephyiote was glad the question wasn't push further. Discussing her studies could be difficult, because some of her experiments were...of questionable moral. And frowned upon, if not enough reason for her to be shunned of exiled other for something other than her appearence. "It is quite a feat he can keep up with you. Congratulations Besnik, you have earned a gleam of respect in my eye, I did not mean to frighten you earlier, or to eat you." She wasn't sure whether Mimicgryph's were capable of advanced thought, but rather Florica think her silly for talking to a dumb beast, than to scorn an intelligent being by demoting its status. If Zephyiote valued anything in life, it was equality. One of the things that seemed permanently out of reach for her.

"I am curious...where do you meet him? I have encountered many a painter with familiars, but...where do you, 'acquire' them, though that feels a poor word for what I am trying to describe...how do you 'meet' your familiar? How did you come to be a companion to Besnik?...those sound better."

There were clicking sounds as Zephyiote drummed her talons against the sandstone. Ears flicking a little, indicating thought, and her tail swished, as if to swat away some invisible fly. "Indeed, familiars are captivating. What compels two or more creatures so unbelievably different to form such close bonds...what is behind it? Who was the first. I mean, do not take this the wrong way, but if they were not familiars...mimicgryphs, owls, coyotes...they would be food... Zephyiote sighed. "Indeed...very fascinating..."

Zephyiote sat up, stretching, extending her wings for a moment, working out the little sores from lying still. "You would not happen to know where could get some water, would you? I find myself quite thirsty."

Zephyiote leaned her head down, sniffing Besnik over. Not trying to intrude or anything, but she was curious. One of the distinguishing freatures that definetly showed her personality to be Pan'Lun. Maybe she would get a familiar sometime. If one would have her. Mimicgrpys certainly WERE pretty. She lifted her head, and stood up straight. "Well then, should we go look for a source? Surely you would be thirsty, from flying in this heat?"

Heck, she herself hadn't even been flying, and she was thirsty. My my, how much effort it took to relax! What with all the lying still, getting drinks of water, lazing about, moving to be in the sun...honestly. Zephyiote wasn't sure how some people did it.

Florica seemed nice, she decided. At least she was polite enough to minimize staring, and she didn't gawk or state obvious things, or rude ones. Too often people's ignorance and insolence showed when they said things meaning the best, that in turn just showed their biases. They didn't see a painter. They saw fifteen eyes. They saw torn wings. They saw excessively sharp fangs and horns...oh well. Who needed them anyways?

Zephyiote nodded, a bit suprised that this girl, Florica, was willing to come and seek water with her. Of course, there could be a misunderstanding. That was always possible. Not many others willingly communed with her. She glanced over her shoulder at the pretty beige and cream painter, with the little flower on her head. What a pretty bloom. She couldn't recall the name of such foliage though. She didn't spend a lot of time researching plants. Astronomy was her natural science. The rest of what she did was complicated. Hard to fathom concepts.

She smiled at Florica and Besnik, before snapping forward, throwing her wings open, and surging forth, legs flexing as they threw her off the ground with incredible force, a couple dozen feet in the air, as she twisted, writhed, and slipped around, like a snake in the water. But a dragon in the air. She was so free up here. Not restrained. How glorious it was, to be a creature gifted with flight! She couldn't imagine the horrible feeling that must go with being a flightless being. What did Chi'Lin think, to see all of the other painters roaming the skies? Was their agility really compensation, in their eyes? Zephyiote would sooner die than remain earthbound, she thought.

She didn't rise too high off the ground. Assuming there was water close by. This foliage couldn't survive long without some nearby source of water. Then, a little ways off, she spotted it. A thin ribbon of blue. A smal stream branching off a much larger river no doubt. But it would do. "You see that, Florica?" she questioned, not sure whether the other painter was following or not.