Fantasy The Mage of Mountain

[Imaginiaria]

"I didn't think you'd tell me anyway," Melora said, looking forward as they walked. Had he always been this rude to people? It was no surprise for her to ever meet someone like that, considering the nobles and other high classes back in the kingdom. Hemset, despite some of the things he's done to her thus far, was rather tame compared to them though, so Melora felt that she was in no position to complain and just had to deal with it.

 

[silenttiger43]

Hemset rolled his eyes making it out to the garden which had a pretty nice irrigation system that lead from the lake. Hemset just had to make sure it was taken care of and he could grow just about anything here but it was a lot of work for one person to maintain. In fact, keeping this whole monastery from collapsing in on itself seemed like a lot of work for one person.
The boy knelt by a few of the plants, checking out the strawberries to see how they were coming along and picking a few of the riper ones for now. He continued his way through the tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce until he'd collected enough for two and handed some of the things to Melora, "get these washed and make a salad. I'll be right back" he ordered before turning and heading towards the lake.

 

[Imaginiaria]

Melora nodded and headed into the monastery. She couldn't believe she was doing this. She was taught how to cook things like this by her parents though, so it should be fine. Kinda a step up from home at least anyway.. Walking into the the kitchen, she looked for the necessary supplies. She quickly found what she needed- a bowl and a knife- and set them on the counter next to the sink. Melora turned on the cold water, put the lettuce in the bowl, and began washing them out and breaking off the leaves. When that was done, she began cutting the other veggies as she prepared the salads.

 

[silenttiger43]

Hemset went to the lake, his eyes trailing to the side where the burnt leftovers of the bonfire still lay. Pausing for a moment to look at the scene. He had been lucky that she was there to pull him away from the embers. Some part of him knew that he should thank her and yet, the words never seemed able to form when he found himself face to face with the girl. It was easier to be angry than to have to deal with the ever gnawing pit of despair in his stomach, the one that threatened to swallow him whole whenever he stopped reading or cleaning or working on keeping this place level. It was easier to snap at people and keep them at a distance rather than to let them in and risk having them leave and break his heart again. It was easier to push his magic and spells to the brink until the effort forced him to pass out, rather than to fall asleep normally and risk nightmares invading his dreams.
Most of the time it was easier, right up until he paused long enough to let the dead silence wash over him and with it a lonely ache that throbbed in the back of his throat and threatened to bring him to tears, like now.

Swallowing back the lump in his throat, Hemset shook his head and trudged onto a shallow dock, at the end of it was a little trap for fish and by the looks of things he had managed to catch two. Hauling them out, Hemset brought the fish back to the kitchen to clean and cook them up. Anytime he thought Melora wasn't looking, he shot a glance her way. Although they hadn't spoken much it almost felt right to have another person there, someone to share this place with. He hadn't had that since Lakar...
Hemset gripped the knife he was holding a little tighter as he cut the bones out of the fish and held back the wave of emotions that threatened to come out at the thought of his old teacher and friend. He needed to redirect his thoughts and so he shot Melora a glare, "Is that really the best you could do with the salad?" he demanded, regardless of the fact that it actually looked pretty good, "uhg, whatever. I guess I'll still eat it."

 

[Imaginiaria]

"Yes, yes, I'm finished," Melora replied. She handed him the salad.

 

[silenttiger43]

Hemset let out an exasperated sigh and once they had a decent meal made they went to one of the tables in the dining hall to eat. Hemset plopped down in what was probably his usual place near the window and began to munch on the salad which really was pretty good. "So. You gonna tell me about what happened to you or what?" he demanded in his usual blunt manner.

 

[Imaginiaria]

Melora thought she already explained that, but she nodded. "Those soilders were trying to catch me because of that book I gave you," She said. "Aside from poor people like me being forbidden to learn magic in the first place, I can't really imagine why that book in particular seemed so important to them and the king..."

 

[silenttiger43]

"Well it probably has something to do with the fact that it's about the long-dead race of Djinn" Hemset replied, "I was only able to decipher a few bits and pieces of it but it seems to be a recording of the Djinn race, where you used to be able to find them and their various powers. A lot of people believe that the Djinn were the ultimate beings of magic made flesh and if you learned to tap into the same flow of magic the way that they did, suddenly you could become unstoppable. Djinn supposedly were able to connect to the magic of the earth, meanwhile humans can only access the magic within themselves." this was the most the boy had ever said to Melora at once and now that he had started rambling on about the subject, it wasn't clear that he was going to ever stop, "Every human's magic is a little different but even those not born with an innate talent to it, can learn it if they try. But there is an end to the well of magic within oneself. Reach too deep and you'll run dry to the point where it could kill you. Since Djinn connect to the magic of the earth, it's a never ending supply really. But the book is written in a really old language and even the guides here don't have enough to translate it all."

 

[Imaginiaria]

Melora thought for a bit. Not only was she surprised that he talked this much to her, even if it was just to explain why the book seemed so important, she recalled seeing that mage who carried it around town other times to. She'd catch him actually performing some spells from the book in the dead of night. She would occasionally see him doing so from her window and he'd be gone the moment she even blinked. But when she told anyone about she saw or if they saw it as well, no one knew what she was talking about. Yet not being able to notice any of that would be impossible. Melora felt that it was important to bring up and spoke when Hemset was done.

"...When I found that book," She said. "It was just left in front of my house by a mage who assumingly dropped it and didn't notice since he was in a rush to get somewhere, and when I tried to give it back, he was gone. I remember seeing him before and actually using different spells from it without any problems. Yet no one else did..."

 

[silenttiger43]

Hemset frowned a little as she spoke, "I'm not sure what to make of that" he admitted, "I guess he was trying to decipher it as well. Maybe he had another book for decoding it?"

 

[Imaginiaria]

Melora shrugged. "If he did, it was probably hidden, because I never saw him with it when he used magic," She replied.

 

[silenttiger43]

"hm." Hemset thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "do you have think those guards are still looking for you?" He asked, "did they even see your face?"

 

[Imaginiaria]

"I don't think they saw my face, but there's a chance they'll try and look again," Melora said. "The king of where I'm from is always hell-bent on catching any criminal, wether they did do it, or if he just flat out assumes it."

 

[silenttiger43]

"All we have to do is get back into town, if they didn't see your face then they'll never know it was you and you won't have anything magical on you this time" Hemset gave a shrug as he finished up eating.

 

[Imaginiaria]

"that could work," Melora replied, finishing her food also.