Three Days After

E

EquinoxSol

Guest
Original poster
It had been three days after the magicians had been exposed. Everyone was in a panic, it seemed, distrusting people they had known for years and trying to disprove what people were thinking. But it hardly ever worked. If you weren't one, you were in league with one, if you were one, then you were trying to corrupt the minds of those around you. Families had been torn apart, children taken from mothers. And the sad thing about it all was that those who weren't magical were the ones who most often were persecuted for it.

Aurelia was part of neither group, the persecuted or the accused. She had been able to keep her head down, thankful that she lived with only her mother and father, both of whom weren't important enough to draw any attention to their family. Still, she ran the way home, carrying a bundle of food in her hands.

Her dark hair trailing behind her like a flag, Aurelia was careful not to trip over the hem of her long dress, knowing that the apples she had bought would get dirty if she did. And the action might be seen as 'devil's work.'

Still, even through all of her hard work, Aurelia's foot caught on an uneven stone on the ground, and after her initial shock she was quickly scrambling to retrieve the food, hoping no one stepped on it. Her family didn't have the money to pay for more food this week.
 
"Get him!!" The guards yelled at each other as Kestreel ran trough the streets of the city. His light robes, of white and strong fabric, with small blue stains and marks, gave him the edge he needed to run away from his captors. The multiple pouches and little vials clattered gently against each other, as Kestreel climbed a building. His barefoot feet helped him and in a blink of an eye he was on top of the construction and jumping form one building to another like a cat.


What was his luck when he found out that there were also troops on the roofs. What kind of army put troops on the roofs of the buildings? Loudly cursing the Gods he pushed harder the rhythm, but he was starting to see that there was no escape. He ran towards the next building, but it was too low and too far, he would probably end up dead if he jumped. But he did it anyways. In the middle of the air he closed his eyes and muttered. "Levitatem gravitatis." And all the mass around him was lighter, which allowed him to reach the next building. But he was still too high, and his still amateur domain of the space / time arts failed, and he fell into the building, breaking the roof and several floors until he reached the lower floor.


A little bit hurt he got up as fast as he could and ran out of the building and mixed himself between the people of the city. Once the guards were misleaded he took a deep breath. Too close... thought him, when he saw a piece of fruit rolling down the street. He picked it up and looked around.
 
Seeing the man pick up one of the stray apples, Aurelia straightened herself up and moved to the man. "T-that's, um, mine..." she said, looking up into his eyes. She was nervous, afraid he might claim it as his and not give it to her. Worriedly, she dropped her gaze, trying to appear subdued and innocent. Maybe that would help her in the retrievement of her food.

Her heart beat in its chest. With her father sick, she needed every extra bit of food to help him gain his strength back. They hadn't the money to buy the services of a doctor, and were left trying their best to help him get better. But it didn't seem that was going to happen any time soon. And if he died, then her mother and she wouldn't have anything left.

((Sorry for the short reply ^^'))
 
He smiled and looked around. Only people minding their own business, no guards, no curious people. He put the apple in one hand and extended both hands. In one hand an apple, in the other, nothing. He looked at her and muttered. "Spatium duplicabit." The space around his hands blurred and then, almost magically, another apple appeared on his empty hand. Then he gave to her the original fruit and bit the other one. "Thank you." He winked and kept walking, his robes still a little bit dusty from the fall and the glass vials making little sounds.

(( It's more than allright ; ) ))
 
Her eyes widened as he duplicated the apple. "My God," she whispered, her heart increasing in pace. He was a magician. A magician. She had to repeat the words several times in her mind, as it refused to connect them and the man who stood before her. Frozen in her place, she numbly took the original apple in her hands, feeling both awestruck and fearful at the same time. When he thanked her, it was all she could do not to turn around and run away. Instead, Aurelia nodded, now thoroughly keeping her gaze upon the ground, even as he turned and left her.
 
Kestreel was a little bit arrogant, and he knew it, in the en he was young and was capable of bending time and space. Who would not be a little bit haughty? But he always tried his best to be as humble as he could, his masters taught him that. Taught him to be respectful with all the people, magicians or not. He finished the sweet cloned apple. The duplicated food always tasted somewhat different. True was that both pieces of fruit were identical, but the original one always tasted more 'real.' He reached the main 'piazza' of that city. Lot's of things to do, but first, I have to find a place to rest, thought him.
 
Aurelia left hurriedly, keeping her head down and trying to get home as quick as possible. When she got back, it seemed that everything was relatively fine. Her father wasn't dead, but he looked worse off than when she had left earlier this morning. Setting down the food she had bought, she went tot her father's bedside, speaking to him in soft tones and gently holding his hand.

"Are you feeling better today, Papa?" He was too weak to even nod, let alone speak, but he gave a small squeeze of her hand to tell her that he was coherent. "It's gonna be okay," she told him, even though she wasn't sure herself. Leaving him, she went to the other room, washing her hands in the small basin and helping her mother clean the house as best they could, silently wondering about the magician in the market.
 
The city had too many guards. They were a little bit 'dumb' and easy to avoid, but, damn! There were guards even on the roofs! Kestreel thought about staying in the city or leaving for good. Well, I guess I can give it another chance, thought him when he saw a very nice looking woman leaned on the wall near the entrance of the inn. He looked at her closely as he entered the inn, her curves called him, begging for him to take them in his hands. The woman winked and followed Kestreel inside, there both of them sat in some stools on the counter. "You are not from here, am I right?" Said the woman. "No, I'm not." Said Kestreel, still unable of look away from his skin.


"Hey, up here!" Said the woman smiling. She was not only beautiful, she was also really nice. She probably was a hustler. Kestreel may be young, but he was pretty smart. Anyway, nothing bad in enjoying the company of a beautiful woman once in awhile, thought him and even invited her to a drink. He always wear very few coins on him, and if he needed more he always could duplicate the few he had. His teachers repeated several times not to do that, it was bad for the economy. But what harm could do a couple of duplicated coins every once in a while?
 
After several minutes of this, Aurelia left her home once more, to go to her father's job. Since he was sick, she had pleaded with the owner to allow her to work instead, and was overjoyed when he conceded. It was tiring work, and most nights she wouldn't get home until late at night and would go to sleep as soon as she did, waking up long after midday the next day. But at least it kept her family alive and well, more or less.

Taking the short back-alley walk to the place, the already setting sun casted long shadows. When she finally made it to the armory at the edge of town, she quickly checked in with the man who owned it, and began working. It wasn't important work, just making sure things were kept clean and the forge was kept at its constant temperature, but soon her face was flushed with the exertion. Still, she pressed on, not wanting to make the armorer unhappy.
 
He had a good time with the woman, and finally she offered him to go with her to her room in that same inn. "No, thanks. I don't want all my things stolen." We winked as her face turned red of embarrassment and anger. Then he put some coins on the counter and left singing a pretty sticky song. It was getting late, he had to find some place nice to sleep. During his search he noticed some of the pieces of leather armor on his robes were more loose than usual. He looked at them and cursed the guards again. That fall was pretty heavy and that armor had taken all the hits. It would probably take a couple of hours to get fixed by an expert.


It would be rather easy for him to hide in some alley and get it fixed with his magic, but yet again, if those armor pieces got that bad with a 'simple' fall, he may need to reinforce them. And that, he didn't knew how to do it yet. It was true it was getting late, but he was already minded to do so, so after a couple of minutes he made it to what it looked like an armory, almost outside of the town. "Hello?" Said Kestreel. "Anyone home?"
 
Aurelia was dozing off, leaning against the back wall of the armory while Mr Ardovini, the armorer, wasn't looking, when she heard the sound of someone entering and calling in, wondering if anyone was there. Ardovini was in the other room, and wouldn't hear him, not with his shoddy ears. She was surprised to find him to be the magician from earlier. Coming out from the shadows, she approached him. "Um, h-hello," she half-mumbled, keeping a slight distance between them.

"What--what is it you need? Repairs, a weapon, new armor...?"
 
He was looking around at all the weapons and pieces of armor that were exposed in there. Then a girl appeared and asked him what he wanted. "Some pieces of this armor " He pointed at the leather pieces of his robes. "are too loose, I would like to get them fixed and reinforced..." He looked at her. She looked somehow familiar. "Wait, I remember you..." He snapped his fingers. "The girl of the apples!" It was good to see a 'friendly' face, even if he didn't knew her it was the first person he saw for a second time in this city, and that made him smile. "Are you the armorer?" Asked him, kind of puzzled.
 
Aurelia nodded as he pointed to the parts on his clothes that he wanted repaired, making a mental list of everything she'd have to get for Mr Ardovini. However, as soon as he looked at her, she could tell that he had remembered her, and a light dusting of color creeped upon her cheeks. When he exclaimed that she was the girl of the apples, she indignantly muttered, "I'm not a girl, I'm practically as old as you are..." under her breath. Still, his smile was contagious, and she couldn't help but allow the corners of her mouth to twitch up for a second. At his question, she shook her head before saying, "No...he's in the other room. I'm just--I'm just helping out until my father gets better..."
 
He payed close attention to what she was saying, looking at her directly to the eyes. Yes, she looked as old as he did, but he was always like that, he called girl to almost all the young women he meet. "I'm sorry... For your father, I mean. I'm sure he will get better soon." He smiled warmly, just wanting to be nice to her. "By the way, I know it's a little bit late, but I was wondering if I could get my armor fixed and reinforced tonight." He cleared his throat and looked at her with a innocent smile. "Please?"
 
"Tonight?" she exclaimed. That was pushing it for even Ardovini. Still, she'd be there most of the night. From what she knew of metalworking from him, she could probably repair his armor, but she had no idea how to reinforce anything. After a moment's thought, she said, "I can repair it tonight, but you'd need to come in the morning for a reinforcement." Her demeanor was slightly wary, not sure what to make of him. If he was like the magicians everyone was talking about, then he would be unfailingly evil. Quickly, she made sure of any potential weapons within reaching distance, just in case.
 
He loked at her, she was indeed a beautiful young woman. He took a few seconds to answer, lost in his thought. "I'm confused. You told me that you weren't the armorer. Right?" He noticed her rather rude behavior. But he understood her, in the end she knew he was a magician. He sighed, at least she wasn't attacking him or running away from him. "Look, I can go to another place if you feel... Uncomfortable." Magicians had gained a reputation of being a greedy assholes, always looking for power, no matter what was the cost. Of course not every mage was like that, but Kestreel understood why everybody looked at him with hate and disrespect.
 
As his silence grew longer, she began to feel uncomfortable, wondering what sort of magic he might be preforming, but shook the thought away as he spoke once more. She shook her head at his question, "I'm not. But I can repair things, no problem. Besides, I might actually get Mr Ardovini to take me seriously if I do it correctly..." Aurelia told him, a slight smile upon her face. When he told her that he could leave if she wanted, once again she shook her head. "It's...it's fine." Her figuring was that he had done her a kindness earlier, so it was time to repay it. Even if she was admittedly scared of him.
 
"Okay, thank you." Said him with a smile as he took off the pieces of armor, leaving his strong chest and arms on sight for a couple of seconds before Kestreel could rearrange his robes to cover himself again. Then he took a small leather bag and put in there all the small glass vials, filled with liquids of all kind of bright colors, so the armor pieces were empty. "By the way, I'm Kestreel." Said him with a smile as he offered his hand to her for a handshake.
 
A light blush creeped upon her face as she caught a glimpse of his chest and arms, but she quickly shook it away, instead focusing upon the damages of the armor. When he offered his hand and introduced himself, she took it, smiling slightly before she said, "Aurelia." Gathering the things she would need for the repairs, she soon got to work, sitting herself down at a table and making a quick assessment before working on the biggest problems first. Out of the corners of her eyes, she would watch him, waiting for him to make some unexpected move towards her.
 
He took a few steps towards her, but didn't get too close. "So... When will it be finished?" He looked a little bit worried, since the girl gas pretty young to be a master armorer. In the end, those pieces of leather where the ones who protected him from the enemy blows. Anyway, he could always do a little bit of magic here and there and the pieces would look like new. "Oh, an how much will it cost?"
 
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