25 Frost, Year 122
[Closed]
[Legendary]
Part I
She was still engrossed in her work when the door opened and Sentinel Phalendyr checked in on her. “All is well?” He inquired politely, surveying the state of the room.
“All is well,” Hilana agreed, lifting her head at the sound of his voice to smile at him, and soon going back to work. The door closed, and he left her to it. Hilana didn’t know how long it had been that she had been working on this, and she wasn’t concerned about it. She didn’t have any more obligations on her time tonight, though she did consider that she should probably be conscious of Sentinel Phalendyr’s... So she resolved that she had better finish off when he came back next. While she considered making a map of the Commonwealth in order to get them to Drathera, the Vastiana was less concerned, but it would certainly behoove her to make one. That was where the Volumens Errantis would come into play, and with Finn being as ridiculously charming as he was, they would surely have no problems with the temple. Just had to keep the Mask on and active for the lot of them, and then when he was finished... they could go home. The map in her notebook was decently coloured now, decorated, understandable. It looked more like a map than it had earlier, and Asher’s cloth map went back into her rucksack as she looked over her notebook, well satisfied with her efforts. She considered, before getting out one of the older maps of Ecith, one from when the colonies were still active, and she unrolled it, using the coloured stones to weight the corners down and looking between the two larger maps and her own notebook.
The next step on her journey would depend on if they could figure out where Israxa had gone. She did hope that they would be able to find the dragon herself, and maybe she would if she still had the Horn. But for now... any clues she could find were worth investigating. She compared the map of the colonies to that of her notebook before she began to make notes on another piece of paper. She could transcribe them to her book later, but in the meantime, distances, directions, names... all of which went into the book. Most were surely gone, destroyed by now, or maybe they had become, horrifically, Orcani settlements... but she could see what there was to see when she went. She really should look into further lessons with Valerian, too, and get into the skies more so that one day, she would be able to do it on her own. Once she had the map of the colonies, she compared to what was now present-day, seeing what all there was that was left of them, before for the sake of her own curiosity checking out some of the less-recent maps to see how much had changed over the years. She wasn’t an historian, not by any stretch, but understanding what had happened was perhaps instrumental to understanding the future.
When she had gone as far as she could with that, Hilana put those maps away and returned to the most current one of the Ecithian Commonwealth that had been provided for her. She got out a new piece of paper from the stack, and got started. She drew the outline of the Ecithian Commonwealth, looking back and forth constantly to keep her lines and borders as close as possible. Tiaz had had enough of the movement, it seemed, and Hilana let him tuck himself into her rucksack to have a better nap. Especially with how much moving and stretching she was doing, and all of that activity meant that she wasn’t the most comfortable perch for her supremely slothy serpent right then. The Vastiana didn’t begrudge him his luxuries, she just stretched and switched pencils once more. One hand propped up her cheek, her toes curling along the legs of the chair, and inch by inch, the borders were drawn to her satisfaction.
Just as she had with her notebook, the landmarks were next. She worked off of her own cloth map and her notebook there to help line things up further, to get her bearings on the outside of the Ecithian border. Those mountains, trees, and river bends let her start fleshing in the mountains and the other topographic that were within Ecith proper. Bodies of water, hills, ranges, towns, villages... Any waypoints were useful to help navigate, if only so that she could conserve the Volumens until they were closer to Drathera and ready to finish the distance with a real-time map that provided her location on it as they moved. But for now, there were grasslands and rainforests to fill in, and a shocking amount of water sources. Some part of her wondered how much things would have been different had her people been able to stand their ground in the north before fleeing the Orcani menace. They’d had homes and villages and settlements there, after all, and now... it was full of Orcani. She pushed those thoughts away: sometimes it was better not to get caught up in the what if’s and lose sight of what was. But most importantly, Drathera was located, recorded, and double-checked.
With the outline and markers made on her new map, Hilana got Vasilei’s giant book out and began to see what plants she might be able to source and find in those areas of interest. Where they believed Melindranovion had gone down due to Israxa’s efforts, and around Drathera. There was enough there that she could bring back for Vasilei and for herself; and if she was lucky, she could get her hands on some of those pretty little tropicals she was thinking about for Dominus Æros. And chances were, Palaemon might like some too... All of which were useful. They may have been more interested in them from an aesthetical viewpoint; the Fae was enjoying his growing collection of plants, even if he had gone back down to the Umbrum estate due to the split in the Senate. But of the jungle area, there were plenty of species of plants that thrived in lower light, and she was bound to recognize something good for him. Besides, if all went well, it would be part of her ‘payment’ for borrowing Khyan.
That was, of course, assuming that the High Sentinel agreed that a Master could accomplish what was required. It wouldn’t be the longest trip, not with Finn’s ability to make portals and if anything, Khyan could be sent back to his Dominus early while Finn and Hilana brought the wyvern back home. Or, at least, once they had completed their studying at Melindranovion’s site, he could head home and she and Finn would continue on to Drathera. The less time she kept Khyan away from his comforts of home and his lover, the better. She already knew that this venture was not going to go well when she asked him. He didn’t strike her as being one for adventure, not outside the walls of his city... and even then, hardly beyond the pubs, nightclubs, and tabernas. And that was fine. Each of them were different, and that was part of what made life interesting. It meant that she could do different things with different friends amongst her group, and variety was the spice of life.
When the door opened again, Hilana had tidied up and replaced everything back into the position it had been in when she had first come. The coloured pencils were sharpened and back into the box, the maps had been organized as they had been before, and Hilana was still looking over the current map of Ecith, working to commit every bit of it to her head with Vasilei’s own book. What kind of plants could she expect and where, the samples, what she’d want to bring back with her... “Good progress, Miss Chenzira?” Sentinel Phalendyr greeted her. It had been over four hours since she had gone into that room, and he wasn’t certain whether or not she was done. But she smiled at him, closing the book and rolling up the map to put it back in place.
“Great progress, and done for tonight, I think,” Hilana told him, tidying up the table and putting the enormous book of plants back in her rucksack. “I thank you for your time, Sentinel.” She got up, easing her rucksack over her shoulders and adjusting Tiaz, tucking the chairs back into the table and coming towards him. Everything was where it had been when she had gone into the room, to judge by a glance.
“Very good. This way, then,” her stepped aside to let her out the door in order to see her out of the room and the Praetorium itself. It was plenty late, but that didn’t bother her at all. She could grab a drink, take in a bit of a show, and head topside to get ready for the next day. “Your next lesson with Sentinel Ævril,” he handed her a piece of paper as they emerged into the lobby. “Have a good night, Miss Chenzira.” She thanked him and he watched her check the date and time, nodding, and tucked the paper away in the rucksack. Waving and smiling at him, she headed out into the Umbrium. Once she was out of sight, he headed back in.
[Closed]
[Legendary]
Part I
She was still engrossed in her work when the door opened and Sentinel Phalendyr checked in on her. “All is well?” He inquired politely, surveying the state of the room.
“All is well,” Hilana agreed, lifting her head at the sound of his voice to smile at him, and soon going back to work. The door closed, and he left her to it. Hilana didn’t know how long it had been that she had been working on this, and she wasn’t concerned about it. She didn’t have any more obligations on her time tonight, though she did consider that she should probably be conscious of Sentinel Phalendyr’s... So she resolved that she had better finish off when he came back next. While she considered making a map of the Commonwealth in order to get them to Drathera, the Vastiana was less concerned, but it would certainly behoove her to make one. That was where the Volumens Errantis would come into play, and with Finn being as ridiculously charming as he was, they would surely have no problems with the temple. Just had to keep the Mask on and active for the lot of them, and then when he was finished... they could go home. The map in her notebook was decently coloured now, decorated, understandable. It looked more like a map than it had earlier, and Asher’s cloth map went back into her rucksack as she looked over her notebook, well satisfied with her efforts. She considered, before getting out one of the older maps of Ecith, one from when the colonies were still active, and she unrolled it, using the coloured stones to weight the corners down and looking between the two larger maps and her own notebook.
The next step on her journey would depend on if they could figure out where Israxa had gone. She did hope that they would be able to find the dragon herself, and maybe she would if she still had the Horn. But for now... any clues she could find were worth investigating. She compared the map of the colonies to that of her notebook before she began to make notes on another piece of paper. She could transcribe them to her book later, but in the meantime, distances, directions, names... all of which went into the book. Most were surely gone, destroyed by now, or maybe they had become, horrifically, Orcani settlements... but she could see what there was to see when she went. She really should look into further lessons with Valerian, too, and get into the skies more so that one day, she would be able to do it on her own. Once she had the map of the colonies, she compared to what was now present-day, seeing what all there was that was left of them, before for the sake of her own curiosity checking out some of the less-recent maps to see how much had changed over the years. She wasn’t an historian, not by any stretch, but understanding what had happened was perhaps instrumental to understanding the future.
When she had gone as far as she could with that, Hilana put those maps away and returned to the most current one of the Ecithian Commonwealth that had been provided for her. She got out a new piece of paper from the stack, and got started. She drew the outline of the Ecithian Commonwealth, looking back and forth constantly to keep her lines and borders as close as possible. Tiaz had had enough of the movement, it seemed, and Hilana let him tuck himself into her rucksack to have a better nap. Especially with how much moving and stretching she was doing, and all of that activity meant that she wasn’t the most comfortable perch for her supremely slothy serpent right then. The Vastiana didn’t begrudge him his luxuries, she just stretched and switched pencils once more. One hand propped up her cheek, her toes curling along the legs of the chair, and inch by inch, the borders were drawn to her satisfaction.
Just as she had with her notebook, the landmarks were next. She worked off of her own cloth map and her notebook there to help line things up further, to get her bearings on the outside of the Ecithian border. Those mountains, trees, and river bends let her start fleshing in the mountains and the other topographic that were within Ecith proper. Bodies of water, hills, ranges, towns, villages... Any waypoints were useful to help navigate, if only so that she could conserve the Volumens until they were closer to Drathera and ready to finish the distance with a real-time map that provided her location on it as they moved. But for now, there were grasslands and rainforests to fill in, and a shocking amount of water sources. Some part of her wondered how much things would have been different had her people been able to stand their ground in the north before fleeing the Orcani menace. They’d had homes and villages and settlements there, after all, and now... it was full of Orcani. She pushed those thoughts away: sometimes it was better not to get caught up in the what if’s and lose sight of what was. But most importantly, Drathera was located, recorded, and double-checked.
With the outline and markers made on her new map, Hilana got Vasilei’s giant book out and began to see what plants she might be able to source and find in those areas of interest. Where they believed Melindranovion had gone down due to Israxa’s efforts, and around Drathera. There was enough there that she could bring back for Vasilei and for herself; and if she was lucky, she could get her hands on some of those pretty little tropicals she was thinking about for Dominus Æros. And chances were, Palaemon might like some too... All of which were useful. They may have been more interested in them from an aesthetical viewpoint; the Fae was enjoying his growing collection of plants, even if he had gone back down to the Umbrum estate due to the split in the Senate. But of the jungle area, there were plenty of species of plants that thrived in lower light, and she was bound to recognize something good for him. Besides, if all went well, it would be part of her ‘payment’ for borrowing Khyan.
That was, of course, assuming that the High Sentinel agreed that a Master could accomplish what was required. It wouldn’t be the longest trip, not with Finn’s ability to make portals and if anything, Khyan could be sent back to his Dominus early while Finn and Hilana brought the wyvern back home. Or, at least, once they had completed their studying at Melindranovion’s site, he could head home and she and Finn would continue on to Drathera. The less time she kept Khyan away from his comforts of home and his lover, the better. She already knew that this venture was not going to go well when she asked him. He didn’t strike her as being one for adventure, not outside the walls of his city... and even then, hardly beyond the pubs, nightclubs, and tabernas. And that was fine. Each of them were different, and that was part of what made life interesting. It meant that she could do different things with different friends amongst her group, and variety was the spice of life.
When the door opened again, Hilana had tidied up and replaced everything back into the position it had been in when she had first come. The coloured pencils were sharpened and back into the box, the maps had been organized as they had been before, and Hilana was still looking over the current map of Ecith, working to commit every bit of it to her head with Vasilei’s own book. What kind of plants could she expect and where, the samples, what she’d want to bring back with her... “Good progress, Miss Chenzira?” Sentinel Phalendyr greeted her. It had been over four hours since she had gone into that room, and he wasn’t certain whether or not she was done. But she smiled at him, closing the book and rolling up the map to put it back in place.
“Great progress, and done for tonight, I think,” Hilana told him, tidying up the table and putting the enormous book of plants back in her rucksack. “I thank you for your time, Sentinel.” She got up, easing her rucksack over her shoulders and adjusting Tiaz, tucking the chairs back into the table and coming towards him. Everything was where it had been when she had gone into the room, to judge by a glance.
“Very good. This way, then,” her stepped aside to let her out the door in order to see her out of the room and the Praetorium itself. It was plenty late, but that didn’t bother her at all. She could grab a drink, take in a bit of a show, and head topside to get ready for the next day. “Your next lesson with Sentinel Ævril,” he handed her a piece of paper as they emerged into the lobby. “Have a good night, Miss Chenzira.” She thanked him and he watched her check the date and time, nodding, and tucked the paper away in the rucksack. Waving and smiling at him, she headed out into the Umbrium. Once she was out of sight, he headed back in.