EP - The Sweetest Blood Mage - OTA

[st_illsabrae]

Merrill knew where a handful of things were for sure. Her room. The kitchens. Anders' room. Rey's. The café. The pool.

Everything else was basically a coin toss, something interesting she'd found and then probably never see again. It was how she'd treated Kirkwall for the most part.

The day was lovely and sunny in a way Kirkwall rarely was. She sat int the middle of a manicured field, eyes closed as she sprouted flowers around her instead of just hacked off grass. She hadn't ever been shy about her magic. What was the point? People saw her vallaslin and assumed anyway even if she didn't have her staff on her.

This place was alive and healthy as far as she could tell. She wasn't a healer. She'd have to ask Anders and that would be a battle in and of itself.

She wanted to work on connecting better with this place, on figuring out what it wanted. If she knew what it wanted, maybe they could all get back home and she and Anders could help Hawke and the rest of the world. She didn't want Anders to get to the point where his hope started decaying and there was nothing any of them they could do about it.

Maybe... Maybe somehow she could figure it out...

Comments

[st_unning]

"Is it magic?" he asked, returning her smile.

[st_illsabrae]

She nodded. "Yes. It's quite safe though, you can touch them if you'd like."

[st_unning]

Alcuin took this as enough of an invitation to join her, sitting on the grass in front of her. He ran a fingertip over one of the flower petals. "Lovely," he said. Then - "I'm Alcuin."

[st_illsabrae]

"Merrill," she said, smiling pleasantly at the Orlesian sounding young man. For all the vitriolic snarling of 'blood mage' she usually got in her direction, it was rather pleasant to have met a few people who didn't seem to mind magic in general. Or at least might not be inclined to see her as some kind of monster. "Were you out doing something with the horses? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where you were coming from." Or if there were really horses. She was sure there had to be though. She could smell them when the wind caught things right.

[st_unning]

"No, I was in that field just over there." Alcuin pointed. "I was practicing forms. I'm learning to use a blade properly, though right now it's more about... mindfulness and knowing my body."

[st_illsabrae]

She looked over in the direction that he'd pointed. "Oh, are you training to be a warrior, then?" she asked. She wasn't sure this place truly needed that, but it was something to do.

[st_unning]

"Ah... not exactly," Alcuin said, particularly when she worded it that way. "But I am finding value in the training, and I was learning before I came here."

[st_illsabrae]

Merrill tilted her head to the side a little in confusion. If he wasn't going to use it for combat what was the point? Well, whatever. His business was his own, she supposed. "Where were you before you came here?" she asked instead.

[st_unning]

"My understanding is that it is a world different than this one," Alcuin said. "But I come from a country called Terre d'Ange. There is not really magic there, or... well, not like this." He gestured to the flowers.