Apprentice (ze_kraken x Peregrine)

[ze_kraken]

​

"Oie, lad," came the gruff wake up call Eswild had grown accustomed to, knowing better than to let Gilan say it twice.

A lifetime ago, just after Eswild had been taken in as an apprentice of the Smith's Guild under the supervision of Gilan, she would have corrected the old bear. Only now, with her hair shorn til it was barely more than a few centimeters in length and with every curve and smooth patch of skin replaced with hard callous and sinew, Eswild no longer felt that anything other than "lad" was appropriate.

It was still dark outside as Eswild pivoted in her bed, planting her feet on the ground before jolting upwards and reflexively stretching, grabbing her leather smock from where it stood hanging by the doorway into her cramped hole in the wall she called a bedroom. It had once been Gilan's pantry before he had taken Eswild on as an apprentice, and Eswild - though short and stocky - struggled to stand without hunching down.

Eswild cleared the doorway and stepped out into the kitchen where Gilan's wife, Eryn, stood fussing over a pot of broth over the fireplace.

"Oh hello deary," Eryn remarked as Eswild exited her hole. "There's a loaf of bread here for you."

Eryn gestured to the loaf, round and almost blackened on the outside. It was likely stale, too, Eswild mused to herself as she nodded and grabbed the loaf along with a drinking horn hanging by the door leading to the outside. Overhead, Eswild could barely glimpse the fringes of the sky beginning to turn a pale and shimmering orange as the sun began its ascent over the tiny village already beginning to stir with life. Eswild threw on her boots by the doorway and followed the main road to Gilan's forges just a brisk walk away from his humble homestead, nodding to passersby as she went.

Already Gilan was starting to light the forges, the old bear handling the process with the steady, calloused, and practiced hands of one who had practiced a lifetime. Gilan made for quite the eyesore with his large, bushy beard knotted and singed at the ends, stern eyes that never could focus on one direction, and barrel chest that in recent years had begun to sag into a large gut. Unruly salt and pepper hair sat in a tangled mane around his square face, his jawline too beginning to sag into jowls. Through the neckline of his smith's apron shown a mass of equally unruly hair, his apron itself scorched and singed and slit in dozens of places.

Eswild bit into the loaf gingerly as she waited for Gilan to speak, the bread crunching not too unlike two colliding stones as she bit into its hard, stale exterior. She washed down the first bite with a bit of water, wiping her mouth with her sleeve as Gilan finally acknowledged her.

"Right," he grumbled, hoarse voice grating against Eswild's ears like the bread had her tongue. "Tomas needs those horseshoes by the end 'o the week. I'll let you handle those while I start on the blades for the lord's brat."

"Got it," Eswild replied as Gilan nodded and went about lighting the second of the forge's fires.

Eswild could feel the heat of the forge pulsing through her as she grabbed the iron ingots from the store room out behind the forge. Tomas' horse was a large beast, one he used to till the fields. With that in mind, Eswild grabbed the largest cast Gilan owned and went back to the forge where she began inserting ingots one at a time into the maw of the furnace, clamping its door shut and aligning the ramp to her pail; when the time came, she would open the furnace and allow the molten metal to pour down the ramp into the pail.

As she waited for the fires to intensify to melt the ingots, Eswild closed her eyes and felt for her Knack. Many had questioned why Gilan, by all means a talented blacksmith, had taken an apprentice so late in life and let alone a bastard girl to boot. That was until they had seen that Eswild could do with her Knack, not that she ever let them see it. She could feel the flames, and knew just how to move the bellows to yield the heat she needed in far less time than it took even journeymen to produce. With deft, practiced hands, Eswild fanned the bellows, stoking the fire and allowing the rush of the flames' heat wash over her. Already sweat formed on her brow as she felt the flames licking at the ingots.

Getting lost in the rhythm of the work, Eswild as if by clockwork removed the molten iron from the furnace and began to hammer it into shape, her hammer's dings and clangs acting as morning bells to the now fully awoken town...

 

[Peregrine]

On the outskirts of the village, a man appeared from nowhere. At least, that was how it seemed to the farmers working the fields, who glanced up from the soil under their feet at a flicker of movement from the corners of their eyes. A stranger was walking his way down the pathway, his body mostly hidden behind grey traveler's clothes that were made from an unknown leather. A hood covered his head, but it was possible to make out the silver strands that dusted the temples of his dark hair, the full beard that covered his chin, and shaded eyes of the palest grey were half hidden by the darkness of the hood.

The farmers, who had been working diligently in their fields, stopped to stare as the man walked past him. It wasn't that visitors to their little community were that uncommon. As a matter of fact, plenty of travelers, merchants, and mercenaries would pass through on their way to somewhere else, stopping for the night, resupplying, trading, and gossiping. No, what made them stare was simply that they hadn't seen the man approach. The village was relatively safe, and there was a small group of guards present to protect the community should it end up attacked by monsters from the southeast, but that didn't mean the farmers were unwary. The village had long since cleared out the trees that surrounded their town, and besides that, this stranger hadn't even approached from the forested side of town. All of the farmers working out in the fields would have sworn they would have seen him in the distance when they'd come out to their fields. And yet, here he was.

The stranger walked as though he was unaware of the gazes that were pressing down on him from every side. Dust covered his boots, and there was no sign of either bag or weapons on his person. Instead, he walked towards town with a lazy sort of casualness that made him seem more like an indolent lord strolling through a garden than a dust-covered traveler arriving at a town from a journey through the wilderness.

Regardless, his lack of weaponry and heavy, travel-worn clothes made it impossible for even the most suspicious of the villagers to see him as a threat. Gradually, they turned their eyes back to their fields one by one as the man stepped into the boundaries of town.

He walked through the buildings of the village with a clear purpose, as though honing in on something. And without the oddness of the stranger's sudden appearance to draw attention to him, not one of the other inhabitants of the little town took a second glance at him. He weaved through the buildings casually, sticking mostly to the edges of the village rather than penetrating deep into the center of town. Before long, the buildings began to taper off, and a long, low building on the edge of town came into view. Smoke was rising from the chimneys.

The stranger halted. "A smithy?" he said to himself, a faint frown causing his beard to twitch. "How unusual."

Without further comment, the man continued to approach the building, hesitating only briefly on the doorstep before he entered the blacksmith's shop.

 

[ze_kraken]

Gilan's storefront - if it could be given such a lofty honor - was barely wider than three paces and about only twice as long with a low roof made of hardened clay and slate that sent even the shortest visitors into a hunch, wary that their heads would brush the rough ceiling above. A wooden counter separated the doorway from the rest of the smithy, presently unattended, though the sounds of a smith's work could doubtless be heard ringing and dinging from just beyond the counter. Past the narrow storefront, the shop widened to accomodate some of Gilan's larger equipment, though cramped barely began to describe how claustrophobia-inducing the crowded and at times messy smithy was.

Eswild, still hard at work coaxing white-hot metal into shape, had barely noticed the clanging of the doorbell as the stranger entered the shop. Her arm hammered away at the horseshoes, striking with rhythmic precision that entailed years of practice with a hammer and anvil. Though she had not exposed the horseshoe to heat in quite some time, her Knack let her retain the heat necessary to keep the metal pliable as she worked away at fitting the metal just right into its cast.

Just as she finished plunging the cherry-red horseshoe into a bucket of water nearby, Gilan barged into the main smithy from the smelting pit out back, noticing the stranger standing in the storefront and casting a steely glare at his apprentice. Eswild, confused, cast a shrewd glance at the doorway to the storefront and cursed under her breath.

"What was that?" Gilan demanded, brow furrowing into a thick bushy mass. "Didn't 'yer 'ma ever tell 'ya it's unladylike to curse?"

"Oh fuck off," Eswild retorted.

Without another word, Eswild fished the horseshoe from the steaming pail of water and planted it squarely on her workbench before stomping over to the counter by the entrance, doing her best to replace her mixture of scowl and genuine embarrassment from her face as she greeted the newcomer.

"We don't get many newcomers lookin' for a smithy's work," Eswild said in greeting, extending her hand out to the stranger. "Are you the one to see about those swords the grand army wants?"

 

[Peregrine]

After entering the blacksmith, the stranger's eyes naturally drifted towards the blacksmith's apprentice, who was working nearby, her attention absorbed by her craft. If her lack of awareness bothered the man, it certainly didn't show. Instead, he seemed to watch her with the same attentiveness she gave to her own work, no expression on his face other than a faint wrinkle that marred the space between his brows. However, whether it was born from confusion or concentration, there was no way to know.

It wasn't until the blacksmith himself came stomping out from the back of the store that the man's concentration was finally broken. His eyes lifted away, skimming over Gilan's bulky form for a moment before his eyes drifted back to Eswild. He didn't take her outstretched hand.

"I am not," he disagreed, head shaking slightly from side to side. His eyes continued to travel across her face, studying her as though she was an interesting puzzle he'd encountered. However, a moment later he sighed, a trace of disappointment flashing across his expression.

"I was hoping to find a mage, with all the fire magic flying about here, but I didn't expect to find a blacksmith's apprentice instead. Bad luck."

 

[ze_kraken]

The stranger's eyes unnerved Eswild - in them she saw pupils the color of cool slate, shining like newly forged steel. Though they seemed disinterested, perhaps even disappointed, the way they seemed to fixate on something that was not present chilled her. Without reason, the hairs on her arms bristled as his eyes came to rest upon her face.

"I was hoping to find a mage, with all the fire magic flying about here, but I didn't expect to find a blacksmith's apprentice instead. Bad luck."

Fire magic? Had there ever been a mage, let alone a fire mage, this far out from the cities? Eswild struggled to recall the last mage she had met. There had been the young, cocky, and downright unpleasant noble's brat practicing wind magic that had stayed for a season. The farmers occasionally could muster the coin to hire earth mages to tend to the fields during the sowing seasons. But never a fire mage. Gilan had often told her of the greatest smiths of legend possessing the ability to bend and shape metal and fire to their will, but such a person she knew did not live here.

The kinds of magic they performed had been different from her Knack. They were more of an active sort, more able to shape and bend the world and sometimes even create things were once there had been none. Her Knack was just that - a knack. Something useful, something outside of her direct control. If she were a mage, she would have known it to be so.

"Bad luck," Eswild agreed, nodding her head in agreement. "No such mages here. Have you tried the inn? Plenty of odd sorts pop in and out there. Might be the mage you're looking for is there? We don't get many magical folk through here, and when we do most of the town knows so I'm sure you could ask around."

 

[Peregrine]

For a second, the stranger seemed to contemplate Eswild's words. However, a few moments later, his head finally shook. "No," he said flatly, voice still tinged with the smallest trace of disappointment. "I have no intentions of remaining in this place that long."

As his words finished, he turned, making his way back towards the door of the smithy. However, before he exited, the man paused, his gaze once more roaming across Eswild's figure. It was clear that she still held some interest in his eyes. "Though I doubt you will heed it, I'll give you a piece of advice anyways. You should spend the night outside the town tonight. It will grant you a boon few others will have the chance to enjoy after dusk today."

Then, without waiting for a response from either Eswild or the blacksmith, the stranger was gone, the door swinging closed behind him.

Outside the blacksmith's, the stranger pulled the hood further up over his head, once more burying his face in shadow. A long repressed sigh finally came out from between his lips. "Bad luck," he said again. "Bad luck. But still..." for a moment, he glanced over his shoulder, staring at the door to the smithy for a second. "What an interesting child."

When his eyes looked away once more, they no longer strayed. Instead, he set off at a brisk stride towards the dark forest that loomed at the far edge of town.

 

[ze_kraken]

"Boon? What sort of-"

The stranger turned, the wooden door creaking shut with the faint dangling of bells, leaving Eswild alone at the counter pondering what exactly the stranger had meant. For one who seemed so interest in finding mages, he had a rather mystical air about him, she reflect as she trudged back to her station.

The words hung over Eswild as she continued to work. They were as present and nagging as Gilan's hushed curses from out back. They felt as heavy as her hammer swinging in her hands. A boon few others would have a chance to enjoy after dusk. Had it been a threat or a warning?

Eswild grappled with the question even as the sun began to hang low in the sky and Gilan returned to the forge. Few had come through the shop in the hours between the stranger's arrival and when Gilan he declared the day to be done. Eswild looked at her finished product - 4 gleaming horseshoes, and smiled to herself: she would have to deliver those on the morrow. She sacked the horseshoes and followed Gilan out of the shop, mindful of the setting sun above.

A boon few others will have a chance to enjoy after dusk, Eswild mouthed the words to herself as she lingered behind Gilan.

"What's the matter with 'ya, boy?" Gilan asked, tossing his maned head over his shoulder to look at his apprentice with a quizzical stare.

"Nothing," Eswild lied, biting her lower lip in hesitation. Gilan saw right through it as he usually did.

"Oh come now, no questions or wanting to show me anythin', you're usually a chatterin' one, out with it."

"There was a stranger that came into the shop," she explained. "Rather strange fellow."

"Aye, it's why they're called strangers. So tell me, what'd this stranger say to rattle 'ya so?"

"It's nothing," Eswild shrugged, the pair resuming to walk side by side now as they talked. "He just wanted a fire mage, told him to look in the inn, he didn't seem to like that answer much and walked off. He seemed to suggest something bad might happen tonight."

"HA," Gilan chuckled. "Probably just some sort 'o thespian fortune teller just lookin' for a quick couple 'o crowns is all, forget it, boy. Just words. Will you sup' with us or head to the inn tonight?"

After dusk.

"I think I'll spare a visit to the inn, I heard there's a talented singer in town today," Eswild said. "I'll be back by nightfall."

"You best be," Gilan clapped Eswild upon the back. "Go on, then, I'll take these off you."

Eswild handed Gilan the sack containing the horseshoes. The two parted ways, Gilan heading down the main road towards his dwelling, Eswild further up to the inn. It was among the largest structures in town, tiled roof sloping high, speared in the center by a stone chimney belching a pleasant-smelling black smoke. It smelt like crackling pine and roasting elk which made Eswild's stomach grumble.

The stranger's words echoed again in the back of her mind as Eswild stepped into the inn, embracing the warmth of the fire and the pleasant voice of the singer that welcomed her. She purchased a cup of stew and an ale and sat listening to the singer's song as she enjoyed her food and drink.

"Beneath the moon and under northern star, he wandered far from northern strands, bewildered on enchanted ways, beyond the days of mortal lands..."

After dusk, the words echoed in Eswild's mind once more at the mention of the moon. As she glanced out the windows of the inn, she noted the sun's light fading faster than it had before. Stew half eaten, drink barely touched, she wondered how much the stranger actually knew. Had Gilan been right - was he a con artist come for a few coins? It was not unheard of for traveling so-called soothsayers and fortune tellers to plague the lesser common folk, but his words had rung with a bit of truth.

Eswild hurriedly finished her stew, leaving her ale half finished on the table as she left the inn, rushing up the main road. True or not, the stranger had not asked for gold or offered much to earn her distrust. Overhead the sun continued to decline into the foothills, the sky tinged with orange hued tendrils of light that faded into inky blackness directly overhead. Still Eswild darted up the road, coming upon the town's edge when suddenly the somber quiet of the town broke...

 

[Peregrine]

As the sun began to sink towards the horizon, the forest was stained with amber light. The tree shadows stretched out long behind them, spreading further and further as the entire forest was gradually swallowed by darkness. And, within that blackness, forms rapidly began to appear.

The beasts had been running since dawn, darting among the trees as they hurtled forward with maddened abandon. Froth foamed at their mouths, bare patches showing among the fur and scales that covered their forms. But, even with their exhaustion, their crazed charge did not slow.

Beast waves were not an unknown phenomenon in this world, but no one had ever seen a beast tide like this. For one thing, countless species ran among the horde. A pale white tiger ran side by side with a giant stag, while black snakes slithered through the trees and crimson wolves darted through the bushes. These were far from normal animals. Every single creature that ran among the horde was a monster, a magical beast capable of invoking simple magic. Even one would pose a danger to an unprepared traveler. This many beasts were nothing shy of a calamity.

But, for all their differences, there was an unnatural commonality between every monster. All of their eyes glowed with a red light, and foreign runes were scarred into their hides, circling their bodies like chains.

When the beasts finally burst out from among the trees, the sun had fallen below the horizon, the far sky already turning dark. The moment it was freed from the confines of the underbrush, the tiger roared in pleasure at its freedom. Yips, howls, and growls followed its cry, echoing through the air. However, freedom from the forest did not slow the tide of beasts. Instead, they only seemed to speed up, saliva flying from their mouths as they charged towards the village.

 

[ze_kraken]

Eswild first heard the trees suddenly creak and groan and snap as she ventured past the village's edge. She twirled on the spot, head swiveling as her heart thudded frantically in her chest. Up above, the wind sent the tops of the trees ebbing and flowing this way and that, but something felt off. Again the sounds of cracking wood and snapping branches filled her ears, and from the rise upon which Eswild stood overlooking the small town she could see things darting out from the darkness of the treeline and into the village below.

At first she thought it was a bear, perhaps one agitated and protecting its cubs that had wandered into town. But Eswild knew no creature - bear or otherwise - that possessed such runes. They were difficult to track, seeming to shift and swirl with each movement of the beast as it set upon a group of villagers stumbling from the tavern. One beast became two, two became four, four became eight... Suddenly the village was swarming with a menagerie of rune-inscribed beasts. Eswild spied rampaging bears, charging elk, and even pouncing tigers all rush into the village, butchering all in sight.

Suddenly, even as she watched on in horror, Eswild found her feet dragging her along the path further from the village and deeper into the wild beyond. Time slowed as she wrenched her head away from the sight of her former neighbors and friends being mauled and skewered, seemingly both captivated and horrified of the grisly display. Dragging feet gave way into a staggered run, and Eswild soon could only hear the sounds of her feet pounding upon the tamped earth trail below. The screams of the dying, if they were even still ringing through the woods, receded as she ran.

Body worked independent of mind as Eswild turned a fork in the trail and veered left into the woods. Her heart thrummed wild with adrenaline, eyes pried wide open and senses attune to her surroundings. Eventually the sounds of her feet gave way to the babbling of flowing water, and Eswild collapsed to her knees before a small brook in a forest clearing. Try as she might, the sounds of struggle and strife from her village had either gone silent or she was too far away to hear them anymore. Swallowing back the hard lump in her throat, Eswild shifted on her knees to the edge of the brook and doused her face with the cool, cold water.

This must be a dream, she told herself. Soon you will wake up, and Gilan will call you "lad" again, and you'll be back at the shop.

Even as she attempted to wake herself from what must be a wretched nightmare, Eswild heard the voice of the stranger. A boon. This was her boon. She knelt before the brook, watching her reflection shimmer in the running water. A shudder broke down her spine as she felt the weight of the stranger's words crash over her with new meaning.

I'll kill him, she hissed. So help me, I will find him and smash his skull in for doing this.

 

[Peregrine]

"I'm glad you survived."

It was impossible to tell when the shadows had transformed into the figure of a man, or if he'd simply been standing there all along. What was undeniable, though, was there was now certainly a man standing next to a tree, leaned slightly to the side as his shoulder rested against the bark. His arms were folded across his chest, and his pale eyes stared out from under his hood.

"I truly wasn't expecting you to heed my words, but it looks like our fate with each other was not destined to end so shallowly."

 

[ze_kraken]

"You." Eswild spat, jolting up to her feet and turning to face the stranger.

Her eyes glinted with fiery steel as she stared down the hooded man. With a fierce roar, Eswild lunged forward, arms outstretched as if to tackle the man to the ground. Unarmed as she was, it would have to do. The distance between the two narrowed. Eswild's arms extended, aiming for his shoulders. She propelled herself off the ground and...

...stumbled over an exposed root, landing face-first in the dirt a good two paces behind where the stranger stood. She tasted blood as she bit her tongue with the force of her landing, kicking up mud and dirt, smearing her tunic. She spat blood out and wiped her chin, hauling herself to her feet. When she turned, the stranger stood there, looking faintly amused as he wheeled about to face her in turn.

Anger forgotten in momentary disbelief, Eswild swiftly remembered her purpose and knelt to pick up and throw a rock at the stranger. It, too, phased through him as if he were made of air.

"What are you?" She asked, horrified of what he might answer.

 

[Peregrine]

The stranger didn't blink at Eswild's caustic shout, nor so much as twitch as the figure of the young woman suddenly charged towards him. It was as though he couldn't even see her rapid approach. That, or he simply couldn't be bothered to care about something so insignificant.

Indeed, her assault had absolutely no impact on him at all, passing through his body like she was passing through an image in the water, rather than an actual person. If it wasn't for the faint scuff marks his feet had left in the detritus on the ground, it might have been possible to imagine that he wasn't even standing there at all.

By the time Eswild had gotten up, the stranger had already turned around to face her collapsed form. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he'd somehow flipped, his casual figure still leaning against the tree a perfect mirror image of the pose he had been occupying before Eswild's poor first attempt at assault.

Her second try proved no more fruitful than the first, the rock she'd thrown passing through the man in the same eerie manner as Eswild herself had only moments before. The stone clattered against the ground somewhere behind his figure, before rolling to a stop.

The stranger was studying Eswild as though he was looking at a puppy attacking his shoe, with mingled exasperation and affection in his gaze. However, not a trace of a smile touched his lips.

"I am a mage," he replied, flatly. "And are you done being disrespectful, or do you wish to continue to vent for a while?"

 

[ze_kraken]

A mage. Her lips curled up in a soundless snarl as she stared down the stranger. Wishing to not look foolish by picking up another stone, Eswild spat at the ground by the stranger's feet. As she opened her mouth to speak, she eyed the fringes of the trees surrounding her in the hopes she could spot the real stranger, not this parlor trick apparition.

"The fuck you wanted a fire mage for, then?" She snapped. "Seems to me, with those beasts and..."

She gestured at the stranger.

"Your ability to just pass through things you didn't need help. Did you want me to help you set fire to the houses after you were done telling your little animal friends to kill everyone?!"

 

[Peregrine]

The stranger lifted a brow. "The beasts aren't mine," he replied, a trace of derision in his tone. It was clear he looked down on the monsters, or perhaps whatever force it was that had driven them to attack. However, whether his attitude was born from the fact that he considered the technique crude, or whether he found the act itself unpalatable, was certainly not made clear through any nuance in his expression.

"As for you, if you'd had any formal mage training, you probably would have had enough strength to convince the beasts to go around your town, instead of straight through it. But, if the strongest warrior that town had was nothing but a blacksmith's apprentice, there was no hope for it." His head shook slightly from side to side.

"Bad luck."

 

[ze_kraken]

"Bad luck?" Eswild let out a sharp bark of laughter, but there was no mirth in her eyes. "Bad. Luck? You knew, and you let it happen. All those people, they could have been saved!"

Eswild gestured wildly at the stranger, picking up and tossing a rock through him again as if to demonstrate her next point.

"If you can do that, I think you very well could have handled them. And what's this about formal magic training? I'm no mage!" She snapped, glowering at the man. "You said it yourself. I'm just some blacksmith's apprentice, nothing special. I couldn't have saved them."

The words seemed to tug at Eswild's shoulders as she spoke, dragging her back to her knees. The words ran through her head again - couldn't have saved them. Just a blacksmith's apprentice. Gilan. Gilan was dead, too, or dying it made no difference. She looked up at the stranger, swallowed back a hard lump in her throat, and spoke once more.

"Tell me why I shouldn't find you - the real you - and see if I can't crack open your fucking skull?"

Her words had all the energy of an inert rock - though her diction was fierce, she sounded hollow, defeated, empty.

 

[Peregrine]

A faint breath of air passed between the stranger's lips, although whether it was a sigh or a laugh was hard to tell. He pushed away from the tree where he'd been leaning, standing up straight with his hands hanging loosely down by his side. With slow, casual steps he walked over towards the grounded Eswild, before abruptly leaning down and flicking her on the forehead. It was little more than a tap, certainly not enough to cause her any lasting pain.

"Actions have consequences," he said, straightening back up and offering Eswild a hand to help her stand up. "The larger the action, the larger the consequences. I could have 'handled them'. Slaughtered the beasts one and all, and redirected that town's destiny. But when the source behind those beasts came looking for them, what fate do you think would await your town then? When someone truly nefarious showed up and wanted to know who killed all the beasts? Unless you think it better that I stay in one little village forever, protecting them from all harm?"

He studied Eswild, watching her face as though he was reading words off the pages of a book. "And you. Right now, you are indeed no mage. But had you ever gone to the city to get yourself tested, it would not have taken your testers long to notice that little trick you can do with heat marks you as someone with such an extreme aptitude for magic that it would send all but the most powerful mages scrambling to make you their disciple.

"Then you would have had more than enough power to save that town, assuming you even still wanted to at that point. Instead, you were content to grow up and live your life within a smithy. Actions. Consequences.

"As for 'finding me' and 'cracking open my skull', you're welcome to try if you think you can. I altered your fate with my words, and will take the repercussions of my actions. But what will that really gain you, in the end?"

 

[ze_kraken]

"Mage?" Eswild smacked the stranger's helping hand aside as she hauled herself up off the ground and began to brush the mud and dirt from her trousers to little avail. "I'm no mage - I mean, even if I did go get tested, I don't think..."

Her words trailed off, and recognition suddenly flickered across her face.

"You mean my Knack?!" She exclaimed. "No, I've just always been good at smithing... I don't..."

Even as she spoke, Eswild knew the stranger's words to be true. After all - he had been right about everything else, why should it be that he was lying now? The way he had examined her, like she might examine an ingot ready to be shaped into an iron rod, spoke of a trained eye seeking... something, something Eswild knew to her... what had the last mage to visit had called it? Mana? Essence? One of those words.

"I might still kill you," Eswild said. "But I'm interested - so you better find a compelling reason why I shouldn't own up to following through with it."

 

[Peregrine]

"You've been good at heat," the stranger replied, casually taking back his hand and placing it at his side as though he hadn't even noticed Eswild smacking it. "Fire. Not blacksmithing. There are plenty out there able to unconsciously use mana to strengthen their own bodies, but those who can use it to unconsciously control the world around them are rare beyond counting."

He smiled at her then, the first time any true emotion had ever really crossed his face since the moment they met. "I'll teach you. I may not be one for scrambling over anything, but you listened to my words when you had no reason to, and that shows that there's some fortune between us. It's a rare opportunity, albeit not one I'll force you to take if you'd still prefer trying to kill me instead."

 

[ze_kraken]

"I... I don't," Eswild stammered, considering the stranger's offer.

The wounds of losing Gilan and her home would take time to heal, but what was done was done. If this stranger truly had no part in it, even if he had not acted in defense of the village, Eswild knew she stood only to gain from his tutelage. If such a time came that she learned of some hidden intentions, then he would have to die, but she wagered she was a ways off from being able to kill him. If he had a physical body, that is, she reflected as she eyed another rock by her left boot.

"I accept," she finally said, glancing around. "Where do I go to find you? Seems I'm still very much alone in the woods with no food, mount, or money."

 

[Peregrine]

"Good," the stranger replied, another touch of a smile crossing across his face before his expression went back to its usual calmness. All the same, his eyes continued to observe Eswild with satisfaction. It was clear he was quite satisfied with this new apprentice of his. Or, at least, mostly satisfied, as he shook his head with a trace of exasperation at her next set of words.

"Flicking your forehead wasn't enough to prove my presence?" he asked, reaching out towards her again. Apparently neither that nor her slapping his hand away earlier was enough to break the misconceptions she'd formed that he wasn't real just because she couldn't hit him. However, rather than flicking her again, he simply patted her shoulder with a small sigh.

"I have no intention of wandering around with you until you've learned at least the basics of self-protection, so we'll be settling in these woods for a while. However, I want to move further away from the village. Follow me." A small orb of light appeared near the stranger, before it rose into the air, illuminating the dark forest around them. In the distance, it was still just possible to make out the animalistic cries of the attacking beasts.