13 Ashan Arc 721
Stepping out of the structure she and Balthazar shared with the guards (and Fuego, and presumably Nimue, maybe...) Elisabeth had a goal for that trial. It wasn’t often that she woke with a clear idea of what needed to be accomplished but, on that trial, she did.
She was a mage. Balthazar had initiated her into Defiance and since then, they had been traveling and wrapped up in all manner of things. Even confinement and secret trials. Training hadn’t been much of a priority, especially since arriving on Faldrass and she blamed herself. Distractions. So many distractions. But the truth of the matter was that she, in asking Balthazar to initiate her, had taken a silent oath to be a student of the elements and learn what they had to offer to the best of her abilities. Elisabeth hadn’t done that, and it was time to rectify that mistake.
She had learned about deference and calling already. At her skill level, those were the two things Balthazar had wanted her to focus on. Deference was a special type of respect the elements grant defiers, somewhat lessening their impact upon them whereas calling was her ability to hear the voices of each element. That trial was being devoted to practicing the abilities.
Starting just outside the tent, Elisabeth noted two sources of natural fire – a campfire and a small torch. In the early trial breaks, sources of fire were plentiful but as she had learned in Viden, her range of sensing elements was a bit limited. She didn’t have an exact idea what that range was but her experiment in the snowy city had given her a fairly good idea. Moving into the range of the torch, but out of the range of other fire sources – at least in her estimation – Elisabeth closed her eyes and began the process of listening for fire’s voice.
Listening for the element voices had been tricky at first. A new defier didn’t ever know how an element would sound and Balthazar could only tell her how the elements sounded to him. Elisabeth remembered the very first time she heard fire and while the young mage had been relatively certain what she had heard that trial, it had taken a few more times hearing fire for her to be certain.
As she stood there, she cleared her mind and reached out, looking for the voice she knew she would find….and she did. It still wasn’t easy but a bit easier each time she practiced it. Smiling, she heard the warm whispers of the torch, filling her with the same warmth, strength, and affection that the owner of said whispers always imbued her with.
For when she heard fire’s voice, it was Balthazar.
Moving on, she swiftly made her way to the campfire, smiling as she recalled the mage’s reaction when she had revealed to him that he was the whisper of fire for her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. It was time to try a different source of fire and compare. Closing her eyes again, she sought out the voice of the element once again, blocking out everything else. Elisabeth noted that fire’s voice came to her a bit quicker…and noticeably louder. Interesting. Letting go of it for the moment, she thought about why it would be louder. Perhaps because the campfire was larger than the small torch? A larger natural source of the element meant louder voice? It seemed reasonable to her but perhaps she would ask Balthazar later that trial.
Kneeling down against the ground, she instantly noticed the softening of the soil beneath her knees, causing her a bit of surprise. For some reason, she always forgot about earth. It had been the last one to make itself known to her, but she appreciated the subtle deference it gave her knees right then, considering their struggling relationship. Elisabeth would have to work harder on that particular element…but at that moment, she wanted to continue her work with fire.
Slipping her hand out, Elisabeth recalled the experiment she had done at Balthazar’s home in Scalvoris Town with the candle. On that particular occasion, the flame had moved away from her slowly advancing hand, as if not to burn her. Balthazar had seemed perplexed by that as fire always reached for him but again, the elements had different relationships with each mage. The young woman had wondered if, for some reason, fire had simply been protecting her that trial, trying to keep her out of danger as a very new defier.
As she allowed her hand closer to the flames of the campfire, it again, slowly retreated from her touch. It wasn’t a violent movement in the least, almost playful as if it wanted her to catch it. Smiling a bit, almost instinctively, she shoved her hand into a nearby flame, anticipating a burning sensation but instead, the small flame simply ceased moving away, wrapping around her hand lightly, dancing against the skin with a teasing tickling sensation.
Remembering what Balthazar had said about her only having some protection against fire, after she had run into the burning tent a few trials earlier, Elisabeth quickly withdrew her hand, not wishing to push her luck with it. Smiling, she stayed with the fire for a moment, closing her eyes yet again, but this time, it was simply for herself. When she was with fire, she was with Balthazar. It had been that way for…well, since Rharne. After the Ball, after Storm’s Edge…watching the flames of her fireplace, she had always felt he was watching over her. Fire and Balthazar were forever linked in her mind.
Rising, she gently let go of the voice and decided to move on. There was more work to do.
Noting a rising wind, she decided that it would be the next element to greet. Walking slowly out to the beach, she had wanted to be where the wind would be greatest. Within the settlement, there were structures that offered windbreaks, but she didn’t want that. Elisabeth needed a place where wind could flow freely.
Repeating the process from earlier, the young mage closed her eyes. It wasn’t fire’s voice she was listening for this time – it was wind. It took had made itself known in Viden and while Elisabeth was relatively certain she knew the source of the voice, she was unwilling to reveal the information just yet to anyone.
Searching for a few trills, the voice came to her, louder than previously heard. Of course, that stood to reason – the wind was fairly strong that trial. The soft laughter that always accompanied wind rang within her mind. Before, it had shown deference to her by simply swirling around her instead of straight into her and things were no different that trial. Playful to a degree, the young mage herself could only stand there and enjoy.
But that wasn’t the only surprise wind had for her. Something…there was a subtle shifting in the wind. It seemed, important? Drawing on what she knew of Defiance, she remembered the warning she had received when the tent caught on fire a few trials earlier. It felt different though. There was an ominous feeling to it and her spark seemed to respond, making her a bit edgy. It had a habit of doing that from time to time, making her feel like it was jumping around. She theorized that, in part, it was because the sensation made her feel off-balance to a certain degree. She couldn’t be sure, but the wind was trying to tell her something.
Making a note to check in with Balthazar after she was done to see if he felt anything, wondering truly if it was a warning or if she was making something out of nothing. That was possibly too…but she didn’t think so. It felt too much like the warning fire had sent her although wind was a bit more subtle. Fire had been aggressive with its alarm, sending flashes of red through her mind. Sighing softly, Elisabeth wished sometimes that Defiance was easier to interpret…or that Balthazar could explain things more definitively to her, but it wasn’t his fault. It simply was what it was.
Magic, as she was beginning to understand, was tied to the wielder in incredibly unique ways. Very few things about what she was experiencing in learning to navigate her way through the very first steps of the discipline were like what Balthazar had experienced. He had been initiated with earth, for example. Elisabeth had been at the mercy of Balthazar’s kin element – fire – for hers. He hadn’t been able to prepare her much for what that experience would be like, having never been through a fire initiation himself. It was frightening and exhilarating – all at the same time.
At the end of the trial, she knew that while most of what he could offer her was emotional support as she crawled through the process towards a better understanding and command of the elements, he was there for her.
And that was all that really mattered.
OOC Note
Elisabeth is sensing the incoming storm that will arrive on the same trial. The wind is warning her.
