Friday blinks at the raven. "... what's 'media'?"
"General purpose term to cover the various forms of fictional works - plays, novels, bard tales, a senile old coot telling a tale to the children, etcetera."
Lia follows you up the stairs and back to the room you share with Koya. As you approach, you hear the sounds of her praying from behind the oaken door.
She's finishing her prayers as you enter the room. "Kasha! You're back safe & sound." The old lady gets up from the desk in the room with a warm smile. "And who's this now? Poor girl looks like a spooked rabbit, she does."
Ameiko listens attentively to you once you get a table for yourselves. "...huh. If Longthews was abusing his servants as you described, I'm pretty sure no one's going to miss him or his wife."
"Now, as for this funeral ship you want to board--yeah, I hear ya. Trying to board in the middle of the day would be like just brazenly waltzing up to someone's closed casket during their funeral and flipping it open, wouldn't it."
"You have a plan for getting aboard?"
Friday nods his head in understanding. "So because she knows a lot about them, they can't be involved?"
"Well it turns out that our 'visit' with Longthews went....more violently than expected.....we're all okay...but apparently the bastard was abusing his servants and his witch of a wife wasn't much better." Kasha says darkly. "Lia here was one of those unfortunate enough to be a part of their household. Staying here probably wouldn't go to well for her, and she'd like to come with us."
She turns to give Lia an encouraging smile. "Lia, I'd like you to meet my mother,Koya Mvashti, priestess of Desna."
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Lia nervously clears her throat and smooths out her shirt before stepping over to Koya and holding out her hand. "It's, um--a pleasure to meet you, ma'am."
Koya tenderly shakes her hand. "Likewise. It's a damn shame you had to put up with that son-of-a-b@%~$, but I'm sure we can find a place for ya on our caravan."
Lia's cheeks turn slightly pink and she looks back at Kasha. "So, uh... do you follow Desna as well?"
"I do...not as stringently as mama does.....I found the Green Faith while travelling in the wilds and it sort of speaks to me...but Desna will always hold a special place for me as well." Kasha says with a smile, trying to hide her grin at Lia's adorable blush at her mother's choice of words. "Especially the exploring."
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Lia tilts her head at Kasha and her eyebrows arch. "Ooh, really?"
"How far in the wilds have you traveled? And where? Is that where you got your magic from?" She starts, clasping her hands together. She's starting to look a bit starry-eyed.
Koya glances over at you and gives you a smirk.
Kavell quietly made his way towards Kelda, to simply tell her of their travels so far and the battle with the thane Longthew... it wasnt to brag really ... well maybe a little, he wanted of course the lady of his affections to be impressed with him.
He also wanted to ask her more about the politics of this land, and funeral ship. After all she was the local.
Kelda is currently drinking down her fifth horn of mead, and showing no signs of slowing down. There's two men passed out under the table she's seated at.
She pulls out a chair for you to sit down in. "Kavell! Word's gotten around--Thane Longthews lies bloodied and dead in his own home, and good riddance!" She laughs. "Come--get this man a horn of mead!" She waves at one of the waiters who promptly scurries off to do so.
"Mostly the hinterlands around Sandpoint, where I grew up, though I have been through Sanvos forest and as far as the Ashwood, to the East," Kasa replies smiling as she sits on one of the beds. Casthing her mother's expression she gives a quick smirk of her own, turning her attention back to Lia and inviting her to sit as well.
"It is where my magic comes from I suppose. The more time I spent in nature the more I could feel and communicate with the different natural spirits of the world. While nowhere near as powerful as the gods there is a life and intelligence in a lot of the world, trees rivers, lakes...even things like mountains have their own spirits each with their own purpose and power. My magic mostly lets me communicate with them to gain their help or borrow some of their power and affect the natural world."
Whispering a word in Sylvan, she makes an intricate gesture as little balls of soft pulsing light, wink into existence bobbing around the room and dancing around them happily.
Lia looks quite entranced by the pretty balls of light Kasha conjures. "Wow..."
Her awestruck expression gives way to one of worry and discomfort. "...so, it's nothing like Helva's magic. That's good to know. I still can't believe she's dead..."
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"It's more that what she does know - tempered with a degree of deduction - that the odds of them being involved are about on-par with the chances that Nethys'll walk through that door and do a sexy table dance and stripshow for everyone here."
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"Yeah; we'll row out to it in a smaller boat, should let us slip aboard quietly."
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Kelda is currently drinking down her fifth horn of mead, and showing no signs of slowing down. There's two men passed out under the table she's seated at.
She pulls out a chair for you to sit down in. "Kavell! Word's gotten around--Thane Longthews lies bloodied and dead in his own home, and good riddance!" She laughs. "Come--get this man a horn of mead!" She waves at one of the waiters who promptly scurries off to do so.
"I ... we... well we ran across him, crossed words and blades. Friday took out most of his guards and the witch."
He began telling the tale of their excursion against Thane Longthews.
He did his best to make everyone elses actions seem more pivotal than his own, though he did his best to describe the fight against the thane as well as he could.
"If they're widely known, and more and more is pointing to them, then it is likely them, rather than not being them, that is how it works, does it not?" Friday responded to the Raven. He didn't know who Nethys was so he didn't bother commenting on their exotic dancing.
"Ninjas are widely known, but few in number and probably in high demand in their homeland. The trick's trying to work out what parts of the stories are real and which are just artistic license. And Valeria's of the opinion that it's more the latter than the former and they're really just freelance spies. The only covert activity we know they've done was smear that stuff on your cloak, and it doesn't take an elite spy to pull that off - just a talented pickpocket. And there's a lot more talented pickpockets in the world than there are spies."
"No it's nothing like hers." Kasha says softly putting her arms around Lia's shoulders. "She was a horrible woman who got what she deserved. She'll never hurt you again, I promise, as long as I can help it, no one will. You're safe here Lia."
"True. But how many Minkain princesses are there in the world?"
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Kelda listens as you explain what happened at the Longthews farmstead. She chuckles and hands you a horn of mead. "Your valour is without question, and yet you're worried about something. Come, what is troubling you, eh?"
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Ameiko's hand slides into your own. "Well, when you do set out for that ship, try not to take too long. Ever since Longthews' farm got knocked over, I've been hearing whispers that Stone-Eye's family wants to have the funeral as soon as possible."
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Lia swallows and nods. "I know..."
She leans into your hug, her head resting on your shoulder. "...I barely even know you, and you freed me from her anyway..."
She clears her throat before looking up at you. "...how do you get your magic?"
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In the middle of his conversation with the raven Friday suddenly begins smiling. "Oh! Sorry to have kept you Miss Zaiobe, we just returned from the Longthews estate. I'll be right up." With that he bows to Xel along with "If you'll excuse me."
He then begins heading upstairs. "Has everything been going okay while we were away?"
"It's great to hear your voice, I had missed it."
"I'm glad to hear that." his mind happily thinks as he ascends.
Silly question, but you wouldn't happen to know anything about ninjas would you?"
Friday stops at Zaiobe's pause, before continuing onward. "Are they that intimidating? Miss Valeria thinks they might be involved... so to her that means they can't be involved.. it was a confusing conversation."
"Good to know." he thinks as he reaches the door. Waiting for a moment he knocks on the door before entering.
"Hello, Miss Zaiobe." he happily says.
Smiling at seeing her face Friday bows as he's allowed into the room. "We killed a bunch of people. The person we were looking for wasn't there, he's set to be burned alive on a funeral ship so we are going to go rescue him when we have the chance. We also met a kid that had been paid to spy on us, and someone rubbed a cabbage on me. We're probably going to kill a couple more people. How has your day been?"
"My apologies." he thinks about the cloak. Looking over at her books as she points them out he nods. More or less, we freed a girl who had been abused the Longthews, she is with Kasha right now. Those ravens also keep following us. There's probably more I am forgetting but that's what sticks out to me."
Still looking at her books he then finally turns to her. "What types of stories do you like to read anyway?"
Friday didn't really know how to respond to her first comment, he protected his friends and killed their enemies. But, maybe he had gone past that back in the house. Valeria had gotten annoyed at him for killing the witch too soon. Had he? He didn't think so. "You freed yourself, Zaiobe. Without your aid we would not have been able to slay him."
"Mysteries? Oh, that does sound fun." he commented, he knew the basics of reading of writing, enough to read letters and sign his works, but he couldn't remember if he had ever read a book before.
"I....I don't know that I've ever tried to put it into words before." Kasha answers thoughtfully. Smiling as she looks down into Lia's eyes she tries he best to explain.
"I guess I...commune with nature, sit and let my mind relax, and my spirit reach out the really feel the world around me until I reach a point where I can perceive the spirit world. Sly is a part of that, he helps to connect me to the spirit world." she says as the little weasel hops up into her lap and looks at Lia for a moment before rubbing his head against her hand. " Nature is the one I can touch most clearly, but there are others. I talk to them, learn from them, and they lend me so me aspect of their essence."
She trails off, trying to find the words to describe the experience. "If you like you can sit with me in the morning when I commune next and see what it's like. "
Lia's ears perk up as you explain the origins of your magic. When Sly starts rubbing his head against her hand, the young half-elf smiles and carefully cradles the little weasel in her hands... she handles him with great care, and with a surprising sureness.
"I... um, I think I'd like that." She glances up at you, scratching Sly behind his ears. "Where do you usually commune?"
"When I can, I prefer to find a quiet place outdoors, a glade or pool, or even just an undisturbed clearing....usually when we're on the road or I'm out in the wild.....while we're in town, probably just in here on my bed." she replies with a rueful grin.
"Heh, he likes you...that says more than you know...though I'm not in the least bit surprised." she comments, watching Sly interact with Lia.
Lia offers a slight "Hmm." She continues to pet Sly, occasionally trying to tickle his belly. "I've had a way with animals ever since I was a little girl. They're less... judgemental than people."
"I know what you mean." Kasha says smiling. "I think you might have a talent for nature yourself."
The half-elf looks over at you with a curious & starry-eyed look. "...really?"
She stops petting Sly.
"Really." Kasha says with a warm smile, noticing how the light dances in her eyes now that she was intrigued by something. "If you want to explore it.....I'd be happy to help you."
She gave Ameiko's hand a reassuring squeeze. "We'll be careful, don't worry."
The details of Ameiko's remark registered after a moment. "If they're wanting to step up the schedule, then we'd best grab an early dinner and head out soon."
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Lia looks between you and Sly, glancing over at a quietly-praying Koya before looking back at you. "...I don't know how good a student I'll be, but I'll try."
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Zaiobe walks over to her books and puts them back into her backpack. <They are, if you're into them.>
<They pass the time well enough.> Her expression turns a bit sorrowful. <Though, I'd much rather be flying around in the night sky right about now--but knowing my luck...>
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Ameiko flags down a waiter. "What sort of dinner do you want?"
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"I've never really read a book, but I'll keep an eye out if I come across any." he responds at first before she continues. "We should be free of this town soon enough."
While he had admired her in flight, he had never stopped to think about how glorious such a gift of freedom could be. "Have you eaten?"
"That's all anyone can ask." Kasha says with a warm smile. "And only if you want to. When ws the last time you ate something?"
Zaiobe glances at her backpack again. <Only some jerky I brought with me. I'm a bit hesitant to order more food in case the staff find out what I really am.>
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"...about a couple of days ago." Lia rubs her stomach and winces. "That... royal harridan of a witch thought I was sleeping with her husband, so she decided I wasn't worth feeding."
"Oh, right, sorry. We could go down and get some then? Or would you rather I just go and get something?"