Hilana was indeed fortunate - she loved to cook, and she had surrounded herself with friends and companions who enjoyed eating. It may have been considered women's work, tending the camp and making sure everyone was looked after... but the Vastiana had never minded it. Arry had certainly become more discerning; but he had royal chefs that were masters in their craft to cook for him... though he didn't seem to mind her food when the opportunity came for it. Finn had always enjoyed it. Raithen would tackle a meal at any hour of the day or night. Lykos was the same way. Vasilei enjoyed the treats she brought in, and she knew his family did as well. She was even able to get Prince Phocion to partake in her roasted chickpeas, which was one of the highlights of her culinary achievements to date...
But the focus today was not on the array and assortment of comestibles she had had prepared for them; it was on the lesson in front of them. Domina Clelia had made it very clear that she needed to master Scrivening in order to be able to truly successful in the Arcane crafts that she had undertaken, and her attention went back to Lia's lessons. It was good to work on them, and to practice her Semblance at the same time. She could see the way Finn woke his pictographs to his aether, the way it came to life as she studied his work on the parchment. Where he could surely hear such things with Mesmer, she was at least able to watch them, too. She still had her glyph saved that Daemon had drawn for her, of the flower back when they had first met. She had been prepared to use it if she had needed to do so when she went down into the Thalamum Draconum, but fortunately, that had been unnecessary.
And Zalkyriax surely would not have been appreciative if she had brought that in there, considering the Crownwyrm had very much wanted her standing there on her own two feet without the aid of another's Craft... But especially considering who the Scrivener had been that had made that glyph for her. Keeping this in mind, Hilana had decided to do something other than what she usually did when it came to Scrivening. Plants may have been her language, but so, too, were maps. The mirror had become a pond, and the path was definitely not straight - but it didn't have to be. It just needed to be a line. One by one, Hilana had put the intent into the ink.
"Surprisingly, no," Lia began. "What a vortex does is collect any energy that overruns the paths that we make, and draws it back into other pictographs. The vortex usually comes into practice in more advanced glyphs that are tasked with a greater workload than what we're doing here. There's a lot of them in the Cold Room in the Citadel, because with the energies at play in there, they must be safely redirected," the elder sister explained, sipping her drink and setting her cup aside. "Where mirrors, paths, and convergences have more defined forms, the continuums and vortexes can take on whatever shape you desire - this all depends on your own personal style and taste. A continuum usually builds on the convergence, as they are considered the more evolved, or developed, pictograph, and as such can be similar. The convergence is where two paths cross. The convergence and continuums create the focal points that the vortex would redistribute the energy that is flowing into. The continuum can actually be more dangerous than the vortex, since they can get overwhelmed... but that is where the vortex comes in."
As different as the sisters were, in many respects night and day... both of them clearly enjoyed teaching on subjects they were passionate about.
