Dreadful Kingdom

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Burkhardt gritted his teeth as he heard her story, speaking of how long she had been away from home. He breathed slowly to calm himself down and had to work to prevent himself from sighing when she sniffled. He decided she needed a distraction.

"I come from a forest to the south of here." He stated softly, "My whole village is my family. We live in the trees, jumping from limb to limb. I've listened to traders passing through, they think we're forest spirits, protecting the forest from men with axes. That's partially true. The forest is our home and we protect it, but we're as human as you." He explained, laughing at the idea that his people were spirits, "We don't leave that often and we only learned metal working a hundred years ago." He stopped himself before he said more. This girl was as much a victim as his people were, but he didn't know if she knew it.
 
"It's all for my own good I suppose. If they hadn't taken me in, I wouldn't have been able to control my magic, and my family would have ended up hurt." she whispered to herself as she heard him describe his up bringing. How did they control their magic? Did they have a different teaching system?

Smiling at him she pulled out a few of their provisions for their 'dinner'. "Your home sounds lovely. I'm glad you had a nice home and such. Though I wonder how you were able to keep the adolescents magic from getting out of hand."
 
He shrugged, she did seem to need to learn more control over her magic, but he wondered how much of that lack of control was trained into her rather than a natural part of her being.

She asked how magic was taught where he was from, "Well, the most common forms of magic my people have are nature magic, something I don't have any aptitude in. It's hardly something too dangerous in the first place, a slower contemplative form of magic. And then there's self enhancing magic. Which works very simply and is easy to focus, it comes natural to a person since it is essentially using your own body to its fullest potential with magic. For all else..." He held up his hands in front of him, and a pulse of energy glowed between them, "Focus is the first discipline taught, before a child even discovers what their natural aptitude is."

He pressed the pulse of energy into the ground and grass grew up around it, "Magic power needs to go somewhere, so we learn how to bring the power out, and where to put the excess if we pull too much. The safest spot being the ground. Seedlings and other similar things will grow off the energy and absorb it in a safe way. After all, there's not much more it can do then grow. But once you learn how the feel of the pull of magic is, you don't need the motions, they just help, and you can draw on that feeling." He set his hands down and his body momentarily radiated with energy before it drained into the ground.

He jumped up, "Ouch!" He shouted, a small sapling having sprouted from beneath where he was sitting. He sat back down next to the sapling, "You try it."
 
"I-i'm not sure I can." Tesa said. She sat down beside him and held her staff with her legs. "B-but I will try." just as she began to pull on the energy, the tent collapsed, startling her and the energy was released instantly, burning her hand as fire erupted. She cried out in pain as it disappeared and she looked at him. Tears were overflowing and she placed her burnt hands on her legs to keep from touching anything. "I-i'm sorry. I-i'm not very good at pitching a tent."
 
Burkhardt jumped a little as the explosion erupted. He winced because watching it was painful. His clothing glowed a little as it absorbed the heat energy and the compression wave from the explosion. He saw her burnt hands and frowned, finally pulling off his hood and face cover, "Let me see your hands." He said, holding out his own hands for her, "You got burnt, I can help." He said softly, chewing the inside of his cheek as he tried to focus his energy for the small amount of enhancement magic he knew. He pulled on his knowledge of healing, speeding up the process, his skin began to glow as he built up the energy, and he waited for her.
 
Sniffling, Tesa did as she was told. She was stupid, stupid stupid STUPID for trying that. Obviously the magic was different where he came from. Though, she was lucky she didn't burn him as well. This was sure to scare him away. She trembled, both from pain, and from the fear that she would never see home again. Though she probably wouldn't find it anyway. The only reason she knows where to go to get back to the tower is because of an enchanted stone around her neck under her clothes.

"I-i'm sorry." she sniffled "Y-you must hate me now, and not want to come with me." another sniffle "I-i understand if you do." she looked up at him then, into his eyes. Her own were a bit heartbroken. It wasn't just because she would not see her home again for this, it was failing at doing something that seemed so easy for him, and not being able to do it herself. It hurt her deeply, perhaps even more than her burnt hands.
 
He took her hands and pressed the healing energy into her, sweating as he did. It was very draining on him. Her hands were covered with the scars of the burns healing and he shook his head with a sigh, "Sorry I couldn't do better, any one of the village elders could have healed that without leaving a scar..." He said with a frown. She began to cry and he took her into her arms, holding her tight.

"Shhh shhh shhh." He said softly, trying to comfort her, "I don't have a problem with you, not at all. Things will be all right. I live in probably the largest society of mages in the world, we have more mages than your kingdom has, I would wager. We've been doing things like this for hundreds of years and we often learn to control magic and talk at the same time. You just ned more, better guidance." He assured her.
 
Tesa sobbed into his arms. She didn't know why, but she found herself feeling very comforted by his words, and his arms. Pulling herself closer, she layed her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as she cried. She soon found herself calming down. His arms and heart lulling her into sleep. She felt it unwise to be off her guard, but, she wouldn't be able to cast quickly anyway. She also didn't want another mishap. And so, she fell asleep in his arms, ear to his heart, the wind blowing soothingly through the trees. It was all in all, a very peaceful setting.
 
He kept holding her close, feeling her falling to sleep. He breathed softly as she did and fell asleep himself, staying sitting up, his training in the hunt staying with him to keep him from falling over. Falling out of trees while running through the forest was alwas a troublesome worry, so they made sure they were able to sleep without falling over.

*******

The sun rose and he felt the light heat on his face and blinked slowly as the sun rose, waking up before her. He hemmed and hawed for a moment before deciding he needed to both get them breakfast, and not wake her up in the process. He pulled an arrow out of his quiver and pressed his thumb against it, enchanting the head with a seeker enchantment as well as a notification enchantment. He released it and it flew off, going after the closest non-human wild animal.

Soon he felt a tug in his head and he waved his fingers, calling the arrow back to him. The arrow had impaled a quail and he sighed, realizing that he couldn't do much else without moving. He tried to be gentle with her, lightly picking her up off of his lap and setting her on the ground.

He started a fire much in the same way he did the previous night and then set to plucking the quail.
 
Slowly, Tesa felt the sun. The day before struck her hard and she quickly sat up, almost falling over in the process and making herself light headed. Sitting still for a moment, she blushed as she remembered her behavior from the previous day. Clearing her throat, she finally looked back at Burkhardt. "I-i'm sorry for my behavior yesterday. It should not have happened and it was very unprofessional of me." she looked down at her now scarred hands. Such hands would make her undesirable, should she ever wish to marry. She couldn't complain though. He had healed her. "And also.... Thank you, for healing me. It's much appreciated." after she said her piece, she stood up and went to tend to the horses, giving them food and water, while Burkhardt took care of breakfast.
 
Burkhardt nodded as he finished plucking the quail, "It's all right. We're only human, we get emotional sometimes. Life is difficult enough without having to worry about the judgement of a stranger." He said softly, pulling a small knife out of his robes and gutting the quail, tossing the gizzards out past their campsite for some other wild animals to eat once they left.

He quickly constructed a spit and spears the quail on it, placing an enchantment on it to rotate on its own slowly over the fire.

Once that was set up, he sat down near her and patted the spot next to him, signalling she should sit down too.
 
Tesa nodded, and sat down. After making sure the horses care was done. It wouldn't due for them to loose such valuable assets. Especially since she starting to really love her dapple mare. Her temperament was perfect for Tesa's style of riding. Not to mentuon her personality amused her. And loosing the horses would add days to their journey.
 
Burkhardt leaned against the saddle on the ground, staring at the Quail roasting on the spit and his gaze turned to her, lingering. He remembered her smell, the feel of her body, her warmth. It was so comfortable, a comfort he hadn't felt with someone outside the village. She said home was a small cottage and a field of flowers, he hoped to change her mind by the end.

"Do you love Teutonia?" Burkhardt asked.
 
Tesa had to pause for a moment. She wanted to think about his words carefully. It was a question she had never been asked before. Did she love her kingdom? She had been born here, raised by it's people. But that make her love it? No, she decided. She had love for her family, not for those who kept her from them. She looked at him again, starting to tear up again as she thought abot her family. "I have love for my family, and our home. But no, I do not love this kingdom."
 
He gritted his teeth and breathed in sharply at that as he decided to venture a bit further, "Teutonia may have a war on its hands soon. A war it will assuredly lose. A war that will destroy the homes of the innocent, one way or another... Their opponents will seek to protect the innocent, to give them refuge... Teutonia has been kidnapping citizens that belong to their opponent... The citizens visit, and then disappear, coinciding with someone of their description joining the Teutonian army." He paused, "The people that have been getting kidnapped are from a place that has no normal folk, all are excellent mages... All about at your strength. Many more powerful. One like a god." He said, remembering displays of the Minister's power. He had great power to begin with and has had hundreds of years to hone his skills.

He clenched his jaw, awaiting her reaction.
 
Tesa blinked. For a moment the world went quiet. The thinks he was saying. They couldn't be true could they? And yet, the more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that he may be telling the truth. After all, there had been a large influx of other mages recently, including one's who only had minor talents. Though she had yet to see any mages who seemed to have been kidnapped, some did seem to be in a trance like state. And the more she thought, the more she began to realize that Burkhardt was one of the magic users he spoke of. Though he was here of his own free will. To her, this meant he was sent here to spy, or retrieve his fellow companions. Was he just using her then? If so, why would he tell her these things. Her eyes teared up a bit at the thought.

"W-why tell me this? A-am I just your ticket in? Someone to use and then toss aside? Or do you have a darker plan for me? I-it's obvious that you are a better mage. Will I even live through this?" she was upset, her thoughts a bit scattered and a little irrational. She pulled away from him a bit, her body shaking a little.
 
He shook his head when she asked if he was just her ticket in, "That was the original intention, before I noticed you're as much of a victim as my people are." He explained softly, "I want to find my people, free them, and take them back home. You're obviously a talented mage, we can protect you, we can protect your family. Once my people are free, we can go to your family, and bring them to my people. We can keep them safe." He explained

"The more of my people we free, the more innocent lives we can prevent from being lost. Teutonia seems to realize the power that an army of mages can hold, we bring my people back home, we can show them just how true their assumption is, and protect the innocents along the way." He said, finishing his explnation, hoping that he hadn't frightened her off.
 
Tesa really wanted to trust him, though she didn't know what to do. She felt loyalty was one thing that you must always possess. Loyalty to your companions, family, Kingdom and heart.

Yet, this kingdom showed no loyalty to her or her family, much less it's other subjects. She had lost herself to her thoughts for a few minutes before comming to the conclusion that, if this were truly her kingdom, if wouldn't hav limited her in the way it did. Nor would it have taken her so young, and allowed her no contact with her family. Loyalty, for her, was a two way street.

"O-okay. I will help you. B-but my family must remain safe through this or I shall never forgive you." she finally said, looking deeply into his eyes, she decided to fully trust him in that moment.
 
He drew his sword and swung it at the forest, his blade a silver streak in the air, cutting through a few rows of trees with a blade of wind streaking through the air, causing them to topple over. He sheathed his sword as the trees began to fell and turned back to face her, "If I can't keep just your family safe from your kingdom's armies, the world is doomed. There was a reason I was the one sent." He sat down and crossed his legs, regretting the demonstration he had done and wishing it had been done in a rocky field.

"I kind of wish I hadn't done that now... I'm not one of the members of my village who has nature magic..." He said softly, "So may trees killed because of a careless thought..." He said pensively, "The Minister's words make sense now." He said with a chuckle, "I am an axe, they are oaks." He laughed a bit before realizing she wouldn't get it without hearing the whole extended metaphor.
 
Tesa shifted closer to him. She was a bit startled by his sudden display of power. From what he had showed her so far, she knew he could enchant and at least manipulate the energy. But this, this was dangerous. "I-i had no idea something like that could be done. I-i thought you were only and enchanter." she blushed a bit then. She didn't know him, and yet she had talked to him about his magic that way. Hopefully he wouldn't get mad at the tone of her voice. It was still a bit timid as she was only just starting to get used to all the new information comming her way. Most of all though, she wanted her family to be safe, and she had to trust him to keep them that way.
 
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