“The fires, anyway. There’s less jockeying in terms of social advancement out there, because what you can do is more important than whom you were born to,” Hilana admitted. “That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen, because it’s nature… but it’s easier to ignore and avoid it. You’ll see it in the towns and cities, on a lesser level. Few elves and fewer Patricians out there.”
First of Sundered Rise… she made a mental note in her head, storing that information away for later. She’d missed it this year, but there was always the next one. “Did you like it?” She was wondering about the honeycomb. These seemed to be inane questions, but it was information Hilana could squirrel away for later and come back to when the time was right. As personal as her inquiries were, they seemed benign enough.
When he spoke of Tertium, she nodded. He was right - the outside was better than the city, though she despised it as a whole for what it had represented to her. Which she knew was irrational, and it was unfair to the place. It has more to do with her father than the city itself, and as he spoke of barges, she raised her teacup again, one eyebrow rising, but he could see that smile behind the cup of hot tea. “You are Vastii. Barges are cheating. Shame, shame,” she teased him, only to cut herself off and lower the cup the moment he mentioned Wyverns.
That really shouldn’t surprise her. He was, well, had been a Patrician, and the wealthy people here had access to Wyverns. Not just the military. “That must have been incredible. What was that like? Did all of your family learn them? Was it a class at the Academia? Or private tutors?” For her teasing about the barges, she made no such comments about the flying mounts. But that was understandable, considering her love affair with all things reptilian.
“I grew up on camels,” Hilana smiled at that. “Horses, too, but camels are my favourite. Horses feel a bit easy in comparison… especially if you’re racing.” That small smile and the look in her eyes may have suggested to Khyan just what her vice was, or had been, when she had said there were worse vices than alcohol. “I have Hayima’el, my bull camel, stabled by my apartment. He’s the son of Sakima, my first camel. But I couldn’t justify bringing both, not that my father would have allowed it, there is hardly any need to pack around here. Better for her to be back there with the herd, though I miss her. Have you ever ridden a camel? Would you like to?” She offered. “We could go saddle him and go see the stars.”
She was attentive as he answered her inquiries about the magpie. His own pun started up the giggles in her again, and she didn’t even attempt to act like she didn’t like it. “You did chirp at me, but when I think about it, I think it was a good start of trying to talk in that form. Have you had the opportunity to transform since? Practice makes perfect…otherwise you’ll just have to wing it.”
