Peace and Quiet

[stelmarisa]

"That would seem to be the logical thing to do, but I've lived all my life in Serendipity, it would be hard to leave. And who knows where I'd go?" Linna spoke of things that troubled her almost constantly, but she found herself feeling oddly calm in this situation, in this forest with this stranger who seemed so... unaffected by any troubles. It was refreshing.

As they reached the pool, she moved ahead and went to sit by the edge, dipping her hands into the cool water. "I guess you are... that must feel quite special." She smiled up at him.

[Anonymous]

"Hm... I guess you have a point, but you don't really have to take it quickly. You can... try looking at another place for a little while before coming back here where you're comfortable, or something like that," he suggested thoughtfully, his eyes wandering upward to nothing in particular for a few moments. Not long after he wandered over to the edge of the water a little ways from Linna to, without much incident or spectacle but after a few moments' apparent planning, simply snatch two fish out of the water. Their lives mercifully ended but a moment later, thanks to a single claw each. And with no risk of them flailing their way to suffering or back into the water, he set them on the ground for now, before wandering over to take a seat by his current companion.

"Hehe... I guess you could say that, though it is a little odd never seeing anyone else like me. Not that I mind, really... it's not like I'm the only unusual person around, like you and your wings, for one," he commented, chuckling lightly and returning a friendly smile.

[stelmarisa]

Linna nodded vaguely whilst Kai spoke, not really paying attention. Instead she played with a small flower on the bank of the pond, causing the petals to close with a single stroke to the stem. "Hey, look at that," she mused, more to herself than anything. "I haven't been able to do that for years!" Impressed and intrigued, she continued playing, opening and closing the flower rhthmically.

She looked up from her game as Kai returned, smiling as he sat down. "That's true, I suppose! You know, I can't fly though." As if to punctuate her point, the gossamer wings batted together once.

[Anonymous]

"Huh? Why not? They too small or something?" he asked, only after a few moments able to distract himself from the activity of the flower that had easily caught his almost child-like attention. "Well, I'm sure there are things you can do with them, anyway, like... beat them to give yourself a little cool breeze when it's too warm out, or... something," he considered thoughtfully, his eyes temporarily wandering upward. Carrying on with that thought - or at least, something similar - he casually flicked a hand to the side, sending a little bolt of fire toward where the fish he'd retrieved sat, only for it to lightly engulf them. "Oh, and at least they probably don't catch a lot of leaf scraps and such like my fur tends to," he said, chuckling lightly.

[stelmarisa]

"I'm not sure, they are pretty small. I guess maybe it's because I'm only half-Fae?" she said thoughtfully. Here in this quiet forest, it didn't seem frightening or taboo to talk about her heritage, or have her wings on display. It seemed a safe place, and talking to someone who was also... out of the ordinary made her braver, too. She laughed as he joked, watching the fire wrap around the fish.

"Nope, I don't have that problem! They tuck up pretty small too, so they never get in the way." She chewed her lip, considering. "Most Fae have some kind of magic too, and I didn't seem to inherit anything like that. It's a shame!"

[Anonymous]

"Think I have heard something like that, but... well, I dunno much about magic, except for what I have myself," he admitted, giving a little shrug in turn. Shifting his tail over to his lap, he leaned back a little on his arms, perfectly content to relax since there seemed nothing around to disturb them. "Hm... well, you'll probably figure it out if you try, I guess? Though you seem nice enough, so maybe you might be able to find someone to teach you?" he suggested, glancing over to her in thought.

[stelmarisa]

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot." She pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged, aimlessly messing with the flower again as she spoke.

"Thing is, I think I used to be able to do some small, basic things." She frowned, searching her memory. "When I was a little girl, I mean. But that kind of got squashed out of me as I grew up... maybe I could re-learn."

[Anonymous]

"Why just 'maybe?'" he asked, tilting his head a little to the side, quite as careless as ever. "I mean, if you can remember what you were able to do, I think you should be able to do something from there," he suggested, giving a little shrug before his eyes wandered over to the side.

"Oh, right... and fish is done. I dunno exactly what people usually do to serve it, but, well..." he muttered, picking himself up to walk over and tend to the fish he'd roasted. A slit was drawn down one of them, before the still-attached bones were carefully drawn out. The other he didn't bother with such a thing with, but it was the one de-boned in such a way that he offered to Linna. "I know how to take the bones out at least," he proclaimed with a little, slightly proud grin, plopping himself right back into his seat to take a bite.

[stelmarisa]

She turned to look at Kai, head tilted to one side. "Well... because..." she paused. He didn't seem to understand her problem at all. "Well, I was.. kind of not allowed to use it. It'd be hard to just - suddenly do things again." She blushed, tripping herself up as she tried to explain, and was grateful when the de-boned fish was offered.

"... Thanks."

[Anonymous]

"Hm..." he muttered thoughtfully, taking another bite of his own fish as his eyes slightly wandered Linna, though mostly staying on her wings. "Well... I can't say I'm completely unfamiliar with that sorta thing, admittedly. I don't really remember much about my family or where I came from or anything like that, but... the main thing I do remember is something about a 'family curse' or something like that, back when my flames woke up when I was five. Haven't seen any of that stuff since, but I've survived, at least," he explained, partly dismissing it with a little shrug.

"So... you're not alone, really. If I could get past that and figure out how to use my fire, I'm sure you can do the same with whatever power you have," he suggested, another friendly grin emerging upon his face.

[stelmarisa]

"A curse??"  Linna's mouth dropped open slightly as she turned to look at Kai, eyes wide and fascinated, her wings trembling. "What kind of curse?... If you don't mind me asking." She watched him curiously, head tilted to one side. "And what do you mean, your flames waking up? That sounds fascinating."

She twisted round to face him, holding her fish loosely between her hands as she waited for a response, still watching Kai thoughtfully.

[Anonymous]

"I dunno... all I know about the 'curse' is that it has something to do with my natural-born fire magic. It's the only sorta magic that I know of that I have, and I guess it just... came out a little way back then, and I had to figure out how to use it over time," he explained as best he could, giving a little shrug as he took another generous bite of his fish.

"So, I'd say it's not so bad, since it's been pretty useful. Kinda like being born part Fae will be in time, I'm sure," he suggested, giving another friendly grin.

[stelmarisa]

"Sounds... strange." Linna shrugged at Kai's part-explanation. "There's nothing like that in my family I don't think. Of course, I never knew my mother, or her family... there could be anything lurking on that side, I guess!" She smiled, tucking her legs further under her.

"Yeah, it would be nice if it turned up being useful, somewhere. Not as good as being able to cook your own food from scratch though!"

[Anonymous]

"Strange? Hm, I guess... I dunno much about magic, really, so I guess I couldn't say," he admitted, taking a final bite of his fish. "It is pretty useful to be able to do stuff like that, though, and I can work with metal pretty well. Kinda like this sorta thing, which people seem to like..." he said, drawing out a silver bracelet with a few aquamarines in it from one pocket, only there for his habit of carrying around a few such things for those times they proved useful for this 'payment' people talked so much about. He even went on to toss it lightly to Linna.

"Guess it's about all I can do when I dunno much about people."

[stelmarisa]

Linna's eyes lit up as she saw the bracelet, and as she caught it she turned it over gently in her hands. "Did you make this? It's beautiful" She traced the lines of the aquamarines gently, admiring the work. "Kai.... can you fix things like this as well?" She asked hesitantly, passing the bracelet back and digging in the pocket of her skirt.

She produced a necklace - more like a collar, really, as it no visible fastening. It was a thin band of silver, with a teardrop jade set into the centre. It was deceptively heavy as she held it, and matched the bands that she wore around each wrist - except that this piece was snapped, the ring of the necklace broken cleanly at the back.
"It broke, and I haven't been able to find anyone to fix it," she held up the injured jewellery mournfully.

[Anonymous]

"Huh? Sure I can," he said, blinking once and tilting his head a little to the side in curiosity at the question. When she held out the necklace, he reached out to carefully take it, bringing the broken area up closer to his eyes. "Hm... well, doesn't seem too hard to fix, to me at least. Though I guess I do do things a lot differently than anyone else I've seen..." he admitted, holding two fingers up. Around them steadily coiled a thin line of crimson fire, and a few moments later it was wrapping tightly around the broken area, occasionally shifting slightly. A short time passed of him being silent (which was not always so common, in truth), before that little fire faded away and he placed a few fingers over the tended-to part to cool it down a little less naturally but just as efficiently.

After all, to him his power over fire was not just about producing heat, but removing it as well.

"There... should be 'good as new,' as people say," he proclaimed with a little grin, offering it back to her.

[stelmarisa]

"That was so clever!" Linna exclaimed gratefully. She took the necklace back and lifted it over her head. Now lying against her collarbones, it seemed to shrink, ever so slowly, until it fitted her neck perfectly again. "And it's come out so much cleaner than if you'd had to use solder, or something," she marvelled, running her hands over the smooth metal.

"You could make a fortune doing tha - Oh!" she broke off and blushed. "How can I repay you?"

[Anonymous]

"Hehe... just a little trick I came up with when I got interested seeing other people working with metal. Dunno how a lot of people manage when they can't even really control fire..." he considered thoughtfully, soon shrugging off the thought. But one of many things he didn't understand about 'civilization,' after all.

"Anyway, well... I think people've paid me before, or something... I don't really understand it, though I usually just use the coins and such to make more stuff anyway..." he admitted, scratching a little at the back of his head. Another thing hopelessly lost to him. "But, well, I don't really need anything in particular. Except maybe at least one friend around, or something," he replied, yet another grin forming on his face.

[stelmarisa]

"I don't know the ins and outs of it, I just know that I spoke to lots of grumpy - and dirty! - blacksmiths when I tried to get it fixed before," Linna wrinkled her nose slightly, remembering her less-than-stellar reception at these places. "It must make a lot of your life easier, I must say."

She smiled warmly at his last answer. "Well... I think I can provide that much, at least. Honestly... I wouldn't mind a friend, either," she continued shyly.

[Anonymous]

"Hehe... yeah, lotsa them seem to be like that. Maybe because it's hard for them or something... I dunno, really, but I guess that's their problem. It makes things fun for me, though, I do have to admit," he said, chuckling lightly.

"Anyway, guess that works out for both of us, then. And... well, here. Friends give each other stuff, right?" he offered, reaching out to take one of her hands gently and slip the bracelet that had been passed back to him around it. "I usually make this stuff to give other people anyway, so why not keep it? Looked like you liked it."