last post today
Author: C
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 523
Story / World: (sing it with me!) Mages, sai'da
Challenges: Pear 05. high & dry + Carrot Cake 17. bow
Toppings / Extras: Rainbow Sprinkles + Butterscotch
Notes: So, part of the desert transit and Aria gets confused sometimes when she drifts off.
The desert was daunting to many, especially those who had grown up in the south. It wasn’t so unfriendly as it could be, Aria thought; the sand was packed hard on the ground, and she could summon water for those who needed it, and the heat... well, the heat was fair deadly, a merciless baking sun that went on day and came up out of the ground at night, but Fire mages would revel in it, Earth would enjoy and tolerate it, Water and Air remedy the situation for themselves if they needed to. A Colorshifter or Shadowmancer could do... something, she was sure, though these were disciplines she didn’t know much about; Aria didn’t do illusory things. D’Tielrát were likely not far enough into the world in question to care. If they were, she supposed she pitied them.
As for Aria, she had a complete disconnect; she may as well not have been there.
It also, she reflected, was not a very large stretch of desert. The only reason it was so irritating was that they couldn’t make camp for more than a night. She would like to sit still a bit, she supposed; she hadn’t had any sleep in the past week and a half.
She couldn’t feel that either, however. She could to a certain extent feel the sand on her face and the soles of her feet, in between her fingers and in her hair, and she could feel the wind, always. But other than that, there was very little near her, because Aria was thinking.
Aria stretched out one hand and turned it over, and eddies in the air started to swirl around her, blocking her off from the worst of the wind and flashing in the light of the sunset with the sand in them. She couldn’t feel what she was doing yet but that was fine; it was the sense of doing something that was important, a handle would come. And she-
The footsteps were audible immediately, hurried crunching and slipping on the red sand, and for a second she thought of a night at some point when he - who she didn’t know, but he - would come to ask her about something like this, but that would be on a cliff, not a hill, she would turn to him and-
Tandel stumbled towards her and bowed, almost losing his balance. “Aria, I have a problem,” he said, and she let his words wash over her, each pulling her slightly closer until she could feel the desert heat leaking out of the ground and count the grains of sand touching her as well as she could count every person in the camp, point out where they were and what they were doing and why.
It was impossible for her to maintain that awareness for long but it was enough, and while she had it she could see his problem faster than he could ever explain it. Aria rolled her head around to get the best view of the situation, drew her knees up to her chest and started, “What you have to do is tell Étteka, first--”
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 523
Story / World: (sing it with me!) Mages, sai'da
Challenges: Pear 05. high & dry + Carrot Cake 17. bow
Toppings / Extras: Rainbow Sprinkles + Butterscotch
Notes: So, part of the desert transit and Aria gets confused sometimes when she drifts off.
The desert was daunting to many, especially those who had grown up in the south. It wasn’t so unfriendly as it could be, Aria thought; the sand was packed hard on the ground, and she could summon water for those who needed it, and the heat... well, the heat was fair deadly, a merciless baking sun that went on day and came up out of the ground at night, but Fire mages would revel in it, Earth would enjoy and tolerate it, Water and Air remedy the situation for themselves if they needed to. A Colorshifter or Shadowmancer could do... something, she was sure, though these were disciplines she didn’t know much about; Aria didn’t do illusory things. D’Tielrát were likely not far enough into the world in question to care. If they were, she supposed she pitied them.
As for Aria, she had a complete disconnect; she may as well not have been there.
It also, she reflected, was not a very large stretch of desert. The only reason it was so irritating was that they couldn’t make camp for more than a night. She would like to sit still a bit, she supposed; she hadn’t had any sleep in the past week and a half.
She couldn’t feel that either, however. She could to a certain extent feel the sand on her face and the soles of her feet, in between her fingers and in her hair, and she could feel the wind, always. But other than that, there was very little near her, because Aria was thinking.
Aria stretched out one hand and turned it over, and eddies in the air started to swirl around her, blocking her off from the worst of the wind and flashing in the light of the sunset with the sand in them. She couldn’t feel what she was doing yet but that was fine; it was the sense of doing something that was important, a handle would come. And she-
The footsteps were audible immediately, hurried crunching and slipping on the red sand, and for a second she thought of a night at some point when he - who she didn’t know, but he - would come to ask her about something like this, but that would be on a cliff, not a hill, she would turn to him and-
Tandel stumbled towards her and bowed, almost losing his balance. “Aria, I have a problem,” he said, and she let his words wash over her, each pulling her slightly closer until she could feel the desert heat leaking out of the ground and count the grains of sand touching her as well as she could count every person in the camp, point out where they were and what they were doing and why.
It was impossible for her to maintain that awareness for long but it was enough, and while she had it she could see his problem faster than he could ever explain it. Aria rolled her head around to get the best view of the situation, drew her knees up to her chest and started, “What you have to do is tell Étteka, first--”