Too Hot to Handle [Solo]
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:02 pm
8 Frost, Year 122
[Closed]
[Legendary]
Hilana headed to the Umbrium after work, having grabbed herself some kebabs from the Port Vasta bazaar to eat on the way down. She wasn’t closing today for once; she had received word from Sentinel Phalendyr that she was to come to the Praetorium for a lesson on Elementalism with Sentinel Ævril. As such, Vasilei had told her that he would close, and she was to go and do her best. Hilana had promised him that she would do so: this wasn’t something she was going to half-ass, not that she believed in half-assing anything. If you were going to do it, then it was worth doing right. By the time she had hit the lift down to the Umbrium, her kebabs were gone and she had a drink of her hibiscus tea from her waterskin. She had hoped to take Hayima’el racing tonight, but this quest certainly took precedence... It was far more important than practicing camel racing.
How times had changed: a few months ago, very little in her life would have been considered more important than getting her behemoth ready for his Glade racing debut in Tertium at the derby, but here she was. If she was lucky, she might be able to still do it, and make the timing work with the evening wyvern patrols that she was using for cover and protection from the shadow creatures when Raithen wasn’t in town. Things were going at an accelerated pace, and she was along for the ride. But as Prince Phocion had said, Deus Avaerys and Domina Varvara would not have given her this task if they didn’t feel that she was up to it. And Hilana was not about to disappoint them.
She stepped onto the lift when the queue moved up, and tucked herself into a corner, her hands in her skirts to keep them all gathered around her so that none of the excessive amounts of fabric got in the way or underfoot. Down the lift went and Hilana headed for the northeastern quarter of the undercity, trotting along at a pretty steady pace. The girl stopped in front of the silvery guards out front of the Praetorium and inclined her head to them. “Sentinel Phalendyr bid me to come here,” she pulled out the note that had come from Prince Phocion’s assistant, passing it over and smoothing out her skirts. Tiaz remained on her shoulders, unbothered as he always was. The sentinel glanced over the missive before handing it back to her.
“Proceed to the lobby. Sentinel Ævril has been alerted,” the veiled and helmeted sentry instructed her. “He is on his way to meet you.”
“Gratias,” Hilana took her note back and bowed her head once more before going into the lobby beyond the entrance. She knew just how much she stuck out here, and it was easy enough to tuck herself away by the wall. She simply wanted to be out of the way of anyone else coming and going. Her concern was short-lived, however, because within a matter of minutes a tall, veiled Sentinel came down the stairs and headed directly for her with unerring precision.
“Miss Chenzira?” Hilana offered a small bow of confirmation. “Excellent. I am Sentinel Ævril. Come with me, please.” He turned on his heel and started off again. He was certainly taller than she was by a good head, though their build was similar enough. She and Tiaz swept after him, her hands on the straps of her rucksack as her long skirts swished about her. They went through a series of hallways, and the sentinel finally opened a door and went through it. The Vastiana followed along and when she went through, the door closed behind her as if on its own.
The room was open enough, and it looked about what she had anticipated. Solemn, practical, and general purpose. Now that they were alone here, Sentinel Ævril removed his veil and Hilana bowed her head to see that he was a Sunborn Re’hyaean. “That will do. Now, I understand that this is your first Rune and you have no formal training in aetheric principles?” he didn’t sound vexed, at least. Just neutral... and perhaps unconcerned that his new discipula was this green in regards to the subject matter. Well, that was a good sign, hopefully.
“Yes, Dom-,” the raising of a gloved hand interrupted and silenced her for a moment. “--Sentinel Ævril,” Hilana corrected herself. He nodded.
“And you are neither a subvigil or in training to enter the Sentinels?” he queried, motioning her to the middle of the room. “Leave your bag on the wall. Your serpent?” he indicated Tiaz. “Will he go anywhere?” the girl shook her head, but she took off her rucksack and reached inside of it for her notebook and pencil. “You won’t need those just yet, Miss Chenzira. What we are doing for the first part of our first lesson is just a study of consistency. Stamina, if you will. As a novice practitioner, and having no other Runes, you’ll not have trained your aether yet to handle complicated, intricate, or extensive tasks, or those that can affect a larger area.”
Hilana nodded as she followed him out to the middle of the training room, and when he stopped, she did a few feet away. She stood still, her hands folded in front of her. Tiaz may as well have been asleep on her shoulders, because the python was completely unmoving. His eyes, however, were on the sentinel that stood a few feet in front of her. “When I start with someone new, I like to see a few things,” he continued. “How well, for example, they can stand the heat.” He brought a hand up to the height of his chest, arm outstretched, palm up, as if he was offering it to the girl. She looked from him to his hand, and to him once more and stayed quiet, but she was clearly curious to see where this was going to go. She had little doubt that fire was going to be involved--
All of a sudden, there was a ball of fire in his palm, perhaps the size of an apple. It was perfectly spherical, perfectly controlled. “Bring up your hand,” he encouraged her. The girl obeyed, and the fire reflected on the molten gold sun-shaped rune of her right palm. She brought up the left as well, and the sentinel moved his over hers, transferring the ball of fire into her palm, holding it aloft for her. It levitated over her cupped hands, and Hilana could feel the heat, feel the energy, and she looked up at the paedagogus. “Now, the fact of the matter is is that because I brought this into being, you cannot actually alter it yourself. You could extinguish it with water, or make it hotter with air, or smother it with dirt, but you cannot actually affect it such as it is. Focus your aether, and imagine your own fireball. Will it into being, let the aether go through your Rune. This is called manifesting. You are manifesting a similar orb to mine,” the fireball that he had warming her hands was lifted, coming back to his own and watching as blue fire began to burn, first the size of a grape, and gaining layers as it grew to be similar in size to Ævril’s own. But while the core was blue, the rest of it was more of a myriad, from cherry red, to white, to orange, to yellow. The colour was not consistent, but as Hilana bit her lip, the sizing did stay where it was supposed to, aside from the occasional ripple.
“Now, your task, Miss Chenzira, is to keep that ball exactly as it is now. Not to let it go out or get bigger.. Just the same size that it is right now,” Ævril instructed her as his own faded out. “You can hear the fire, surely?” he looked into her eyes, and Hilana nodded. “Offer them some aether. Not much, not to start. You are a dam that could burst at any moment, so all you need is a little trickle. A thread of a tapestry, yes?” she nodded again, focusing on the orb of fire. So controlled, and yet hungry. Ready to grow, ready to burn and consume. But Hilana did as Ævril told her, offering the spirits that composed the orb of heat and flame some aether.
“Slowly,” he told her. “That is a bit too much right now, isn’t it? You can feel that head on your hands now. Draw it back, before you burn yourself and your snake. Sentinel Phocion said you were an herbalist, a botanist. Too much water too soon does what?” The Vastiana was concentrating on the orb, on the slow, steady thread of transferred aether from herself through her Rune to the fire. Tame it. Control it. Shape it.
“It can damage and drown the plant,” Hilana answered automatically, her eyes leaving the orb briefly to look back up at the Sunborn.
“Exactly. So remember, overwatering this plant will get you burned, damaged, and drowned. That’s better, just a steady, constant trickle.” Hilana had calmed it down now that she was paying attention to the flow between fire and aether more. She could see that more than anything, control was what he was stressing today. Discipline, steadiness, consistency. The very basics. Palaemon could be freer with the lessons that they had, and this Sunborn Re’hyaean was looking to build on it and enhance what was there. Both were needed in all aspects. Getting started was one thing, and sharpening that control was yet another. It went beyond seeing what she could do, and into conditioning her stamina to continue.
Minutes continued as Hilana stayed focused on the ball of fire. Tiaz was watching it and the Sunborn, who was quiet and content to let her continue the exercise until she either started wavering or losing it. So far, the Vastiana was holding her own. She did seem relatively determined to go as far as she could, as long as she could, and prove that she could stand the heat. There was something to be said for determination and stubbornness. “How do you feel?”
“I am fine so far,” the girl answered him, looking up from the ball in her hands, as aether steadily, slowly made its way through her Rune to feed and fuel the fire in her hands. The heat licked gently at her, and she listened to the spirits who were hungry for it. Encouraging her to keep going, to let them shine brightly for her. “Warm, but fine. I’m not feeling a headache yet.”
Part II
[Closed]
[Legendary]
Hilana headed to the Umbrium after work, having grabbed herself some kebabs from the Port Vasta bazaar to eat on the way down. She wasn’t closing today for once; she had received word from Sentinel Phalendyr that she was to come to the Praetorium for a lesson on Elementalism with Sentinel Ævril. As such, Vasilei had told her that he would close, and she was to go and do her best. Hilana had promised him that she would do so: this wasn’t something she was going to half-ass, not that she believed in half-assing anything. If you were going to do it, then it was worth doing right. By the time she had hit the lift down to the Umbrium, her kebabs were gone and she had a drink of her hibiscus tea from her waterskin. She had hoped to take Hayima’el racing tonight, but this quest certainly took precedence... It was far more important than practicing camel racing.
How times had changed: a few months ago, very little in her life would have been considered more important than getting her behemoth ready for his Glade racing debut in Tertium at the derby, but here she was. If she was lucky, she might be able to still do it, and make the timing work with the evening wyvern patrols that she was using for cover and protection from the shadow creatures when Raithen wasn’t in town. Things were going at an accelerated pace, and she was along for the ride. But as Prince Phocion had said, Deus Avaerys and Domina Varvara would not have given her this task if they didn’t feel that she was up to it. And Hilana was not about to disappoint them.
She stepped onto the lift when the queue moved up, and tucked herself into a corner, her hands in her skirts to keep them all gathered around her so that none of the excessive amounts of fabric got in the way or underfoot. Down the lift went and Hilana headed for the northeastern quarter of the undercity, trotting along at a pretty steady pace. The girl stopped in front of the silvery guards out front of the Praetorium and inclined her head to them. “Sentinel Phalendyr bid me to come here,” she pulled out the note that had come from Prince Phocion’s assistant, passing it over and smoothing out her skirts. Tiaz remained on her shoulders, unbothered as he always was. The sentinel glanced over the missive before handing it back to her.
“Proceed to the lobby. Sentinel Ævril has been alerted,” the veiled and helmeted sentry instructed her. “He is on his way to meet you.”
“Gratias,” Hilana took her note back and bowed her head once more before going into the lobby beyond the entrance. She knew just how much she stuck out here, and it was easy enough to tuck herself away by the wall. She simply wanted to be out of the way of anyone else coming and going. Her concern was short-lived, however, because within a matter of minutes a tall, veiled Sentinel came down the stairs and headed directly for her with unerring precision.
“Miss Chenzira?” Hilana offered a small bow of confirmation. “Excellent. I am Sentinel Ævril. Come with me, please.” He turned on his heel and started off again. He was certainly taller than she was by a good head, though their build was similar enough. She and Tiaz swept after him, her hands on the straps of her rucksack as her long skirts swished about her. They went through a series of hallways, and the sentinel finally opened a door and went through it. The Vastiana followed along and when she went through, the door closed behind her as if on its own.
The room was open enough, and it looked about what she had anticipated. Solemn, practical, and general purpose. Now that they were alone here, Sentinel Ævril removed his veil and Hilana bowed her head to see that he was a Sunborn Re’hyaean. “That will do. Now, I understand that this is your first Rune and you have no formal training in aetheric principles?” he didn’t sound vexed, at least. Just neutral... and perhaps unconcerned that his new discipula was this green in regards to the subject matter. Well, that was a good sign, hopefully.
“Yes, Dom-,” the raising of a gloved hand interrupted and silenced her for a moment. “--Sentinel Ævril,” Hilana corrected herself. He nodded.
“And you are neither a subvigil or in training to enter the Sentinels?” he queried, motioning her to the middle of the room. “Leave your bag on the wall. Your serpent?” he indicated Tiaz. “Will he go anywhere?” the girl shook her head, but she took off her rucksack and reached inside of it for her notebook and pencil. “You won’t need those just yet, Miss Chenzira. What we are doing for the first part of our first lesson is just a study of consistency. Stamina, if you will. As a novice practitioner, and having no other Runes, you’ll not have trained your aether yet to handle complicated, intricate, or extensive tasks, or those that can affect a larger area.”
Hilana nodded as she followed him out to the middle of the training room, and when he stopped, she did a few feet away. She stood still, her hands folded in front of her. Tiaz may as well have been asleep on her shoulders, because the python was completely unmoving. His eyes, however, were on the sentinel that stood a few feet in front of her. “When I start with someone new, I like to see a few things,” he continued. “How well, for example, they can stand the heat.” He brought a hand up to the height of his chest, arm outstretched, palm up, as if he was offering it to the girl. She looked from him to his hand, and to him once more and stayed quiet, but she was clearly curious to see where this was going to go. She had little doubt that fire was going to be involved--
All of a sudden, there was a ball of fire in his palm, perhaps the size of an apple. It was perfectly spherical, perfectly controlled. “Bring up your hand,” he encouraged her. The girl obeyed, and the fire reflected on the molten gold sun-shaped rune of her right palm. She brought up the left as well, and the sentinel moved his over hers, transferring the ball of fire into her palm, holding it aloft for her. It levitated over her cupped hands, and Hilana could feel the heat, feel the energy, and she looked up at the paedagogus. “Now, the fact of the matter is is that because I brought this into being, you cannot actually alter it yourself. You could extinguish it with water, or make it hotter with air, or smother it with dirt, but you cannot actually affect it such as it is. Focus your aether, and imagine your own fireball. Will it into being, let the aether go through your Rune. This is called manifesting. You are manifesting a similar orb to mine,” the fireball that he had warming her hands was lifted, coming back to his own and watching as blue fire began to burn, first the size of a grape, and gaining layers as it grew to be similar in size to Ævril’s own. But while the core was blue, the rest of it was more of a myriad, from cherry red, to white, to orange, to yellow. The colour was not consistent, but as Hilana bit her lip, the sizing did stay where it was supposed to, aside from the occasional ripple.
“Now, your task, Miss Chenzira, is to keep that ball exactly as it is now. Not to let it go out or get bigger.. Just the same size that it is right now,” Ævril instructed her as his own faded out. “You can hear the fire, surely?” he looked into her eyes, and Hilana nodded. “Offer them some aether. Not much, not to start. You are a dam that could burst at any moment, so all you need is a little trickle. A thread of a tapestry, yes?” she nodded again, focusing on the orb of fire. So controlled, and yet hungry. Ready to grow, ready to burn and consume. But Hilana did as Ævril told her, offering the spirits that composed the orb of heat and flame some aether.
“Slowly,” he told her. “That is a bit too much right now, isn’t it? You can feel that head on your hands now. Draw it back, before you burn yourself and your snake. Sentinel Phocion said you were an herbalist, a botanist. Too much water too soon does what?” The Vastiana was concentrating on the orb, on the slow, steady thread of transferred aether from herself through her Rune to the fire. Tame it. Control it. Shape it.
“It can damage and drown the plant,” Hilana answered automatically, her eyes leaving the orb briefly to look back up at the Sunborn.
“Exactly. So remember, overwatering this plant will get you burned, damaged, and drowned. That’s better, just a steady, constant trickle.” Hilana had calmed it down now that she was paying attention to the flow between fire and aether more. She could see that more than anything, control was what he was stressing today. Discipline, steadiness, consistency. The very basics. Palaemon could be freer with the lessons that they had, and this Sunborn Re’hyaean was looking to build on it and enhance what was there. Both were needed in all aspects. Getting started was one thing, and sharpening that control was yet another. It went beyond seeing what she could do, and into conditioning her stamina to continue.
Minutes continued as Hilana stayed focused on the ball of fire. Tiaz was watching it and the Sunborn, who was quiet and content to let her continue the exercise until she either started wavering or losing it. So far, the Vastiana was holding her own. She did seem relatively determined to go as far as she could, as long as she could, and prove that she could stand the heat. There was something to be said for determination and stubbornness. “How do you feel?”
“I am fine so far,” the girl answered him, looking up from the ball in her hands, as aether steadily, slowly made its way through her Rune to feed and fuel the fire in her hands. The heat licked gently at her, and she listened to the spirits who were hungry for it. Encouraging her to keep going, to let them shine brightly for her. “Warm, but fine. I’m not feeling a headache yet.”
Part II