Blissful Indifference

[Sage]

In the space of time between the tasks handed out by his master, Cambria had always been allowed to pursue his own interests. This generosity was usually repaid by the young man doing small chores around their compound, or furthering his studies in Sieg's private library. Recently, after a particularly impressive display of competence on Cambria's part, he had been ordered to take a leave of absence, and take time for himself abroad.

It is to laugh, that a tool such as the boy would be made to take a vacation. In fact, he did allow a shallow grin adorn his pale face for only a second, though it was completely eclipsed by hard steel and glistening obsidian. He trudged through the gritty mixture of sand, dirt, and grass that was sparsely covered the ruined coast that used to serve as the base of the cliffside border of Algeroth and Xexoria. Stopping to observe his surroundings, the stoic warrior could not help but wonder what had compelled him to come here. There was nothing for miles here now, not since The End, and yet his body screamed to travel further inland if he was not needed by the Lord.

Hours passed, and his equipment felt heavy, an odd sensation as his vitality had been hardened over the years through rigorous training, all in the hope that he would be more useful to the man who he knew had always planned to kill him. His hands seemed to act of their own accords as he loosened the straps around his waist and legs, dropping his equipment in the sand as he strode along, sweat forming behind his haunting guise of black. Blades, potions, and documents slid out of various leather bindings as they clattered to the ground. He was left only with his signature armor, created to protect him from his powers, as well as augment them. Two spring-operated blades, his mask, and a cloak with the Torynian seal were all that remained, and though he felt somewhat naked, he also felt as though leaving behind the majority of his trappings added to the freedom he had been granted.

[Igraine]

The Bocan didn't really think too much about what it was after until it saw the bundle of armor sitting in the sand. It sniffed and made a pecurliar snort as it found something rather unpleasant about the smell of the armor. The creature was female, and took on the shape of what would lure it's prey most effectively. A Bocan had one purpose in life and that was to mutilate travelers. Usually the Unseelie King drove the hand of the Bocan, but today it was free to do as it pleased.

She picked up the bits and pieces of armor and lifted them to her nose, sniffing out the scent of a male. A strange male. Curiously she sniffed more, along the inside armpit of the armor and along the neckline. She plucked at the strings that were made to hold these pieces together and she snorted again, crouched like a large wild cat over the remains of some man's belongings.

He smelled familiar. That didn't usually happen with this Bocan. She grunted as she stood, partially disgusted with the way creatures left their belongings just laying about. The Vilas living not too far from here, in the jungle, wouldn't like the pile left behind. A Dryad might come and secret it away, but it was more than the Bocan wanted to carry. She liked to travel light.

In her natural form the Bocan wasn't exactly beautiful, but she wasn't exactly dull either. She seemed to have pretty features but her skin was a pale shade of grey that allowed her to hide in the shadows as needed. Her ability to transform was perfect, because she could become just about anything she wanted. Except for certain powerful individuals. King Pendaran had warned her about such charms surrounding the powerful. He happened to be one of them. Oh the fun she could have coming to her prey as King Pendaran himself. She cackled with glee as she wandered forward toward the man walking away in the distance. Her speed was quick, quicker than any human was capable of, and as she moved she seemed to shed skin and rebuild in ways that would make any human that saw her balk and promptly spill his guts all over the sand. It wasn't a pretty process, transformation.

As she got closer to the prey she sniffed his scent and frowned. Still, that familiar scent, perhaps his armor hadn't been touched by others of her kind. She blended in with the sand for a few moments as her form completed it's transformation. There would be a single sickening wet pop noise from behind Cambria as the Bocan completed it's change in form.

Behind him stood a tall man of indescriminate age with bright hazel eyes and a mop of sandy brown hair. He was wearing clothing fit for a traveller and he looked as if he had no weapons. A Bocan needed no weapons. Her hands were her best weapon of choice, her nails becoming long and razor sharp.

"Hullo there, Stranger. I saw you come from the Jungle and thought you could use a drink." The Bocan offered the man water. It was not a trick, it was truely water, and nothing that would cause him any harm. He looked as if he needed it, and she didn't want her prey to taste like dried jerky. As she extended her arm, the arm of a well muscled man, she smelled the prey's scent again.

He smelled like family.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, Sir. Where are you from? You don't look to be from this wilderness." The Bocan was non-chalant as it questioned it's future prey. If it wasn't family, wasn't Unseelie, then it was going to be dinner. She could wait until it slept. Oh, she could wait. The Bocan let her transformation smile, the man's white teeth shining bright, but it wasn't as sinister as she felt. She was good at composing herself with her prey.

The Bocan could hardly wait to taste the crazy man's flesh, she thought she might start with a forearm, but she was getting ahead of herself. She waited patiently, with the features of a man, for this creature to speak.

[Sage]

It probably should have occurred to Cambria that the boy before him was strange, perhaps even that he was a shapeshifter, given that his Master was one. It should have occurred to him that drinking water from a stranger in the desert might be a bad idea, and yet, the same compulsion that brought him here eradicated any fear or suspicion of this very strange bird before him. With a slow, casual motion his gauntlet hooked into several small spring-loaded latches around the sides of his mask, causing the rear half of the entire piece of armor to retract into itself, leaving only the area that covered Cambria's face. He pulled the remaining piece of metal and glass away from his porcelain features, and silky locks of platinum blond hair fell rebelliously every which way.

Cambria was an exceptionally handsome boy, with intensely green eyes like dark, glistening emeralds. The mask found it's way to his side, where it hooked into his strange garb, and he tossed his hair about as an unnatural breeze swept the moisture from his skin. Partially refreshed, he outstretched a hand to receive the gift he was being offered, and drank sparingly from it. Not so much as to keep from seeming rude, but it had never taken much to sustain the aeromancer.

" ...don't I? "

The boy had a hard time imagining that he looked like he belonged anywhere, much less the wilds of Xexoria. He had an even harder time imaging that anyone would know what he was talking about if he told the name of his remote village. He took another small sip from the container and refastened it, holding it back out for the stranger.

" I'm from the West, where it's very cold. I appreciate the drink...Mister...? "

[Igraine]

The Bocan was in her element, a name flew to her lips before she had really thought too hard about it. As she accepted the recapped bottle, a male voice spoke.

"Conor Jameson. I've been living in Xexoria for some time now." A lie, but it sounded completely sincere. The Bocan's true name was known only to King Pendaran. It was how he had control over her so completely.

"Very cold, you say?" That the Bocan could relate to. She enjoyed the cold when she wasn't on the prowl. She was able to hide in the snow so much easier with her grey skin. Without seeming rude the Bocan inhaled deeply and let it out slowly, almost light a sigh. She was smelling him now that she was closer to him. This man-creature was strange but so familiar it almost hurt. The Bocan tilted it's head as it looked at Cambria.

"I don't believe I have had the honor of your name, sir." The man had a sincere smile as he tucked the water back on his person. The Bocan looked at the stranger with some sense of knowing and then let another smile light it's face.

"You seem to be searching for something, if you don't mind my saying." The Bocan realized that this man creature wouldn't be her dinner, but he could be quite a prize. All she wanted was a little information.

[Sage]

Cambria nodded as he heard the boy speak his name. Regardless of the fact that it seemed insignificant, it was unlikely that he would remember it for very long. Much of the rest of his comments were ignored as the aerokinetic felt a slight tugging around his form. The inhale did not go completely unnoticed this time, as he felt the feeling he'd felt before when hunting the fierce predators and supernatural creatures prevalent in the Torynian Mountains.

" I am called Cambria, it's...a pleasure. " What little luster was present in his words faded as he reached the end of his sentence. Whatever information she had been calculating after processing his scent, it had changed something about him. His eyes narrowed, and he struggled to maintain a neutral expression, though he was sure he was failing.

" I'm usually looking for some thing or another, it's what I'm good at. I think the problem is, today...I...don't know that there's anything to be found. This just felt like the place to go. " It was an unusually contemplative response from an otherwise decisive and somewhat quiet errand boy, and yet he felt there was no danger in expressing his doubts and confusion to the person before him. There was no secret to protect, no information that could be leaked and used to harm his Master, there wasn't a shred of evidence to go on other than the fact that Cambria had woken up today and had a hunch.

[Igraine]

"It is often hardest to search for something personal, than it is to search for a master." The Bocan said with a knowing look around the shrinking desert of Xexoria. The hazel eyes fell on Cambria and shrugged. She was very much capable of understanding how that happened. She was an "errand girl" for her King after all. Kill here, maim there, eat this carcass so there is no sign of a disappearance. It could give a girl a complex!

Ah, but the Bocan enjoyed it. This day was one of the few that she wasn't sent around the world looking for travelers to dismember. This was her day, to choose who she wanted to kill, but she wasn't doing that now was she? She was standing here communing with a stranger that felt like family.

"I was sent here by a King a few years ago and have been sent on errands for him for quite a while. Now, I have a day off, and I find myself wandering the deserts like a wraith." The hazel eyes were knowing again, looking at Cambria for a moment. "I'm sorry, I often wax poetic when given my freedom." He chuckled, his handsome features crinkling into something mroe friendly than before. A lure of the Bocan but she wasn't going to kill Cambria. She wanted more information.

"Maybe I can help you figure out what you're looking for. Are you looking for friends or...family perhaps?" The man rested his hands on his hips and glanced around the desert. there were no houses for miles and the coast was hardly a mile behind them with a few weather worn houses and a port. Nothing spectacular, and it looked as if he might have come from there already so that couldn't possibly be what he was looking for.

[Sage]

The bitter-sweet smell of ocean air blew in from the coast, kicking up sand and debris in the faces of the mismatched pair. A shimmer of green light flashed both in the eyes of the aerokinetic and at a small area directly in front of him. His powers seemed to react naturally, as he made no attempt to split the breeze around him, though it happened anyway. He tilted his head slightly, a quizzical look on his face. Could it be a clue?

" Well that's new. Maybe I'm here because of my powers. " He sighed, none of it made any sense. His parents were supposed to have been from the Uncharted Lands, well north of Algeroth, and certainly nowhere near Xexoria. If what he was looking for regarded his gifts, or his origin...why had he been compelled to go the opposite direction?

The breeze passed, and Cambria remained completely untouched by the blast of sand that had come their way. His emerald gaze followed it as the wind whipped further inland, stirring the loose ground as it went. His expression became more and more neutral as the hope he'd had of acquiring a definitive destination faded. Where for a moment he had experienced a tingling of curiosity and excitement, he was now filled with utter blankness, a sense that he was in the wrong place.

" I don't have any family, I never knew my birth parents, and I've killed my foster parents. Your words have wisdom, Conor Jameson, but I think I may have made a mistake here. "

[Igraine]

"Are you certain?" The Bocan said as it looked past Cambria into the distant sands. She smelled something that wasn't the young man before her. She motioned toward the treeline where the armor had been shed.

"There are some homesteads here. There could be something here that you're missing. Would you like to come back to where I live for some shelter for the night? Night falls rapidly here in Xexoria since The End." The Bocan was getting a little nervous at the wind, but Cambria wouldn't know that. Her shapeshifting was solid, and the man had an easy going devil-may-care attitude going. He wasn't exactly being indifferent so much as he looked mildly excited to make a new friend.

The air swirled about them but didn't touch Cambria. The Bocan figured he had some affinity for the element. The creatures that harbored that element were exceedingly rare in the Faerie Realm and the Unseelie Court. They were precious. In fact, it was quite sad how the elementals were losing more of their kind every century. The air creatures though, they were something to behold. The Bocan was getting exceedingly nervous as the wind picked up, kicking the sand up around her ankles. This wasn't Cambria's doing. He looked entirely too much at ease.

"I trust you are going to let that traveller go, Bocan." The voice that spoke was as icy as a deep winter wind. The man that was the Bocan frowned and narrowed his brows, looking for the source of the voice. When the sand shifted in an unnatural way and a woman stepped out wearing what looked like a cloak of pure air, the Bocan balked and took a step back.

"What...what are you talking about?" The Bocan said, narrowing it's eyes at the tan woman. She was pretty for a desert savage. It was a shame she hadn't been around instead of this wayward child standing next to her. It was only when the hilt of a weapon was angled at her that she stepped back a few steps, hastily. Another air elemental, she cursed in the voice of the man.

"Listen, Cambria. We should go. This woman is dangerous." The Bocan was taking a few steps back as the woman advanced on her with the sword. Cambria would see it for what it was, being familiar with air magic. The entire blade of the sword was made of tightly compressed air currents -- but to someone without the knowledge that they both shared it would just look like a sword hilt. A deadly mistake, because the air that created the blade was turbulent and capable of cutting through flesh and bone without effort. The Bocan knew that, obviously.

"Who are you to challenge me?" The Bocan's hold on her glamour was slipping until there was nothing but a scantily clad grey skinned woman standing in the shadow of an outlying tree. She had sharp teeth and dark green hair so that she could blend in with the jungle underbrush. She was pretty enough but in a savage sort of way. "What sort of desert savage even knows I exist?"

"My name is none of your concern. Get away from here and that boy or I'll cut you in two and send you back to your king a piece at a time. Let him deal with you!" The woman jabbed her sword at the Bocan who hissed loudly and scampered into the woods. The woman then sheathed her sword, which rang clear as a bell as it entered the scabbard, and she turned to look at Cambria.

"I think you should be glad that she only wanted to talk. You intrigued her. You didn't happen to tell her your name did you?" The tan woman pushed her long black hair back from her face, a tattoo running down the side of her face in blue whirls. She was indeed exotic.

"Oh, wait she called you Cambria didn't she? Please tell me that wasn't your real name. That Bocan is beating a hasty retreat to her King to tell her of the indignity of being bested by a descendant of an Air Elemental. He will be curious if you carry any sort of magical trait." The woman tucked a stray lock of black hair back from her face and tilted her head. Her eyes were as blue as the sky itself and capable of great storms.

"My name is Aerillia Khisu, by the way. If you tell the Bocan or anyone else I'll have to kill you. I do apologize for that, but it's important if that court doesn't know that I'm alive." In truth, many people believed that Aerillia had died after being abducted by a harsh slave mistress. Kahlan had broken her free though and given her a new lease on life. Aeri had been living in Xexoria for some years now, feeling at home in the desert. She had come from a desert tribe long ago, stolen from it in fact by a rogue pirate that she no longer ached to think about. Theoren Roullier had been her lover once, before he had been Kahlan's intended. His death had rocked them both but they had both come to terms with that a long time ago.

"Tell me, son, where are you from and what the hell are you doing here talking to a member of the Unseelie Court?" There were things learned in Kahlan's court that couldn't be learned in other places, after all. Cambria would no doubt be in shock that standing before him was a person with similar talents as his, but Aeri had no way of knowing that.

The Bocan glared from her hiding spot in the tree nearest the pair. She was unfortunately too far away to hear anything that was going on. She doubted she would be able to anyway with a creature that controlled the air as well as that black haired witch did. The Bocan would get Cambria. Oh she would, yes, yes she would. Soon. She cackled low and watched the pair as they talked. One didn't have to hear things in order to get an idea of what was going on.

[Sage]

Cambria shook his head. He couldn't escape the feeling that the place he had been drawn to had nothing to do with what he was looking for. Red flags went off in his mind, however, as the man spoke of the encroaching night. It was one thing to talk to Cambria in the day, even to share water. But it was something of an entirely differently nature to invite what essentially boiled down to a magic-wielder in assassin's armor home for the night.

" I don't know that I'm really comfortable with... " Conor was the first person in a long time he had seen and then not immediately killed or severely wounded, aside from Sieg. The decision, however, seemed destined to be made for him. He had already recovered from the natural reaction of his power seconds after the strange display, when a strong feeling of uneasiness washed through his already chaotic and scattered thoughts.

Bocan. The word lingered in his mind as it was spoken aloud by the girl who had materialized before them. It was not a word he had ever come across in his studies, broad though they were. What have I gotten myself into?

He was torn between siding with the new girl, or the creature. The 'Bocan,' at least as it had appeared to him, had been relatively friendly and altogether not a threat to his safety. Despite the betrayal of it's true form, he was more inclined to draw steel against the woman who had fell upon them from the shadows, brandishing magic and threats.

Thin black blades swung from Cambria's forearms, as he reconnected his mask with the rest of his armor, so as to prepare himself for a possible attack. Bold green eyes narrowed from behind the newly re-formed helmet as he slowly backed to a neutral position, making a triangle with the two women, rather than presenting with either of them in a unified front against the other.

" You should feel lucky I do not turn on you as you did her. " The bindings around his tensed muscles squealed as he gripped the supports of his blades tighter and tighter, ready to pay her in kind if she decided she would try to 'cut him in half' also. " I told her a name, the one I have been called most of my life, does that not qualify? "

The indignity was his, his friend had turned out to be a shapeshifting monster, and scared off by an aerokinetic desert witch who seemed to be very interested in whether or not Cambria had been giving a fake name to strangers in the desert. The kinetic's visage faded under her gaze, his entire form shimmering in the fading light. He seemed to be fading in and out of reality, unable to be focused on as he drew upon his power to become completely incorporeal.

" I did not ask for your name, is it really necessary to threaten me over it? " His arms drew low, to either side of him, causing the tips of his obsidian blades to graze the sediment around his feet, causing it to stir and whip into miniature dust devils which moved around and through him. He was as coiled as a snake, fully prepared to strike if she showed further hostility, but something told him she didn't want to cause him harm. Aside from the fact that she had threatened CJ and then him, the uneasiness he had about her sudden arrival seemed to dissipate the more of her he took in.

" I don't know what the Unseelie Court is, and I'm certainly no one's son. If you must know...I'm...on vacation. " The words seemed almost comical, considering his assassin's garb, his threatening posture, and his audience of savages.

[Igraine]

Aerillia raised her hands and took a few steps back, trying to seem less threatening. It was flattering, really, that this kid thought she was a threat. She had come to his apparant rescue and he found her to be the problem.

"That creature was a Bocan. They are members of a...Dark Faery court known as the Unseelie Court. It is her job to shred travellers and eat their remains. At the behest of her King, of course." Aeri looked at the treeline, narrowing her eyes to make sure the Bocan was far enough away that she would pose no threat.

"We have to get somewhere before darkness falls. She can travel easier that way. You have a place to stay?" Aeri gestured around her. "If not I suggest getting back to the fishing village. That's where I'm headed." Aeri moved past Cambria and headed for the treeline. She wasn't afraid the Bocan would attack her, but she wasn't going to wait until nightfall when she was at a disadvantage visually. Besides, who knew how many of the creatures were in the area?

"I apologize for my behavior, but I thought you might want to know what you were talking to." She called over her shoulder, pulling her cloak back up to obscure her hair and she pulled cloth mask over her nose and mouth to obscure her features. It was smart to wear such a mask in the desert for all the sand and sun. She winked at Cambria and started walking toward the path leading to the coastal town. He could choose to go with her or abandon himself to fate. Either way she knew his element and might know something of what he was looking for, even if he was disturbed by her presence.

[Sage]

Cambria shook his head, and with a flick of his wrist, retracted the deadly blades attached to his forearm guards. He usually found high ground during the nights, when out in the field, but then again he was used to the frigid and sometimes temperate climates of northern Algeroth. The treelines were sparser and less protective here than what he was used to.

He sullenly began following her, taking care to step directly in her footprints, both sets of which seemed to disappear behind his heels. There was a lot that could be done to prevent his tracking by typical predators through use of his aerokinetic powers. Who knows how effective it was against whatever a Bocan was, and it was unclear even to Cambria whether he'd want to make contact with them again. There was one thing that he knew, though, and that was the paranoia he felt when leaving behind the potential to be followed. It was instilled in him as a child living among the carnivorous monstrosities of the Torynian Mountains, and reinforced through his teenage years that it was unacceptable to allow anyone or anything to track him back to his Master.

" So what exactly am I talking to, now? " Cambria couldn't imagine that a typical human could possess the power to identify and frighten off a shapeshifting maneater by wielding air magic. Even though he considered himself to be human, usually others who were magically inclined had a darker story involving their magical ties than accidental magic affinity. Perhaps if she was something other than human, if she could tell that the creature had been something less than mortal, she might be able to tell him more about his own origin.

[Igraine]

Aerillia shrugged and chuckled a little as Cambria asked his question. Who was she really? She was an ex desert nomad, ex pirate, ex Priestess of Avalon, and ex Council Member of Ulster following the death of her lover and her child. Aerillia was a lot of things, but she knew he was referring to her powers.

"I know that I am descended from an Air elemental. I was born to a tribe in the desert, stolen by a pirate, trained as a priestess, and given a position of power in a country that would still welcome me. I guess the question is, what am I not?" Aerillia kept her hand on the sword at her waist. She carried only one true sword, though Cambria would notice well placed daggers sticking out of a boot, along her belt, and he could presume down inside her bodice.

"I have always had an affinity for the air. My name, Aerillia, was given to my by my long dead mother because she saw the gift in me. I believe it meant Child of the Air in my tribe's native tongue. I have spent a lifetime learning how to perfect my gift for many things, but Tae'riss is my most prized possession. Aeri indicated the sword with a gently pat of the pommel. Her sky blue eyes were watchful as they passed the short distance between the trees. She heared the scuttling of the Bocan, could hear the anger in the creature's breathing, and with minimal effort concentrated the breeze already blowing into a more fluid and concentrated force to knock the creature out of the treetops.

Cambria would hear a muted thud and a vile stream of obscenities as the Bocan fell out of the tree, pushed as she was by the creature of air walking before him. It was so much easier to utilize a breeze that was already existing, forming it to one's whims, than actually creating a breeze. That took a fair amount of power depending on the power of the breeze.

"I see you have the talent for Air as well." Aeri spoke as they cleared the treeline and walked toward the small town by the sea not too far away down the hill. "Where do you come from? It is my understanding that our kind aren't very prominent anymore. There are quite a few water elementals out there but it seems like Fire and Air are falling to the side." Aeri spoke as if she were letting Cambria in on a little secret -- when in truth he probably didn't know this information at all.

[Sage]

Cambria could hardly fathom having so much purpose in life. Aerillia was a lot of things to a lot of people. She was probably loved by many, and perhaps hated by just as many. Cambria was one thing, a tool, to Sieg. How could he compare himself to her, when his entire existence was that of a blade being sharpened.

" It must be nice to have such worth. To know one's birth-given name, and have it mean so much. " The boy felt as though he were being strangely contemplative yet again. What was it about this whole scenario that caused him to have these strange thoughts of curiosity and depression. He hung his head as he walked, trying valiantly to ignore the miniature battle of attrition going on between the elemental and the Bocan.

He slumped further as she mentioned his abilities, mentally comparing them to his own as she touched the hilt at her side. What powers he had were more refined, that much was immediately clear. Her abilities seemed primal in nature, where he was able to perform specific, refined attacks and defenses. But she was stronger, if she had been poured over by a master tactician and mage such as his Master, she would be tenfold his superior...were she not already.

Elementals. He'd read about them, but there were very few in Algeroth. The Descendants were similar, but their origins were purely human. Cambria long though himself to be a Descendant from the aerokinetic Sage, much like the Ravenshields. But his inability to react with Descendant artifacts had long since disproven that theory. It was was yet another fact that made him useful. He could be charged with retrieving magical artifacts for his Master without fear of squirreling them away or turning them against him.

" I am from a remote mountain range in northern Algeroth, an area called Toryn. " Cambria's mood lifted slightly, as he had a thought, an exciting one. " How would one tell the difference between an air mage and an elemental...should the distinction not be clear? Is it possible that we are alike? "

[Igraine]

Aeri smiled as she looked over at Cambria. They were just clearing the first out buildings of the small coastal town and thus marked their safety for the night. His excitement was refreshing, though he seemed to hold it in check as he did with most of his physical emotions.

"An Air Mage and an Air Elemental, descendant or otherwise, would be quite similar. I would wager that if you're a Mage you probably have a more refined way of approaching things. An Air Elemental is more primal and works though raw emotion some of the time. An Air Mage can be taught by an Elemental and likewise a Mage can teach an elemental Descendant. We both work throught he same element, it's just how we approach it that's different." Aerillia paused and motioned to Cambria.

"Watch this." Aeri's face went blank for a moment as she conjured a ball of air between her hands. She spun her fingers like an expert, as if weaving various strains of fabric in order to create the ball. In reality she was controlling fine threads of air. After a moment she had a nice almost solid looking ball of air contained in her hands.

"This could knock a hole in someone's chest, or blow a pretty big hole in something, or it could be set free to dust everything in the house at once. I wouldn't suggest that last one, unless you want every fine little piece of china or book you own to be shredded -- but you could do it if you wanted. See how easy that was for me to conjure?" Aeri tossed the ball of air back and forth between her hands and held it out to Cambria.

"You can do the exact same thing, only if you're a mage you would most likely have a brief incantation to say, or a specific stance to take. If I hand it to you as I am doing now, you can take it from me with ease and utilize it -- because it is already made. The same would go for you creating something and handing it to me. What one creates, the other can use. Fascinating isn't it?"

With her free hand Aeri indicated a small building a few houses down. "That is the Inn here, it's small and quaint but they serve the best fish in all of Xexoria, no matter how it's made. Oh, and this ball of air if you wish to keep it you can squeeze it into a container. If you want to get rid of it just squish it and dust your hands, it will disperse."

[Sage]

Cambria was as annoyed as he was fascinated. She was telling him things he was very familiar with, as well as following up with things he had never known. And he realized she had mistaken his meaning when referring to Descendants.

" We don't have elementals where I come from. In my country, we refer to people who are born from the bloodlines of one of the famous mages who founded our capitol as 'Descendants.' It's a mark of distinction that generally marks someone as a mage. It's a title I do not hold. "

He went completely silent however as she began her trick. Were she paying attention, she would find that he was not even taking in breath during her entire display. Cambria had seen Sieg do things like this. And while he was not nearly as adept as his Master, he had always thought such displays were outside of his element. A manifestation of air, something completely sustained by itself, practically a source of perpetual energy, collapsing in on itself and exploding in different directions, giving the illusion of a solid spherical object.

His mind seemed to answer her question automatically as he took the sphere from her, carefully examining it in his palm. " I can't do anything like this at all, but what I can do, I don't need incantations, talismans, or hand signals...nothing like that. "

Cambria was an aerokinetic, or so he had always thought. And as such, he had always been trained that as an aerokinetic, he would never be able to create or manifest his power in the way he had just seen, that was what mages...aeromancers did. His brow furrowed behind his obsidian guise, as he began manipulating the object through the influence of his power. It warped and warbled, it's shape becoming deformed whenever he tried to alter it. The gentle sound of it's breeze whistled into high-pitched squeals as he prodded and pulled magically at the thing.

" It most assuredly is. " Cambria carefully spliced the swirling currents in two, finally succeeding in his goal to duplicate the thing if he could not recreate it. It's intake of air shifted dramatically as he took one orb in each hand, causing dust and sediment to flee from his feet. He tested his weight on the objects, as he attempted to use the force of air to hold himself upright to some success. He managed to pick his feet off the ground, hovering for a mere moment before his concentration waned at the orbs disappeared with a 'pop.'

Cambria grew more excited and anxious by the moment, as he slowly pulled away his mask once more, revealing a sheen of perspiration and a cautious expression on his face. His eyes seemed both mischievous and nervous at the same time, almost afraid of the reaction she might have to what she was about to see, to experience.

" I'll show you my favorite trick, just be very still. " Cambria's reflexes took over, as he worked a small lever at his wrist, causing one of the jet black blades to swing out from his armor. It quickly gained a shimmering green aura as it reacted to the currents of air he began to force around it. The translucent emerald haze began to take over his body, as it had before, allowing her to see the reflections of light through his entire form.

" Not even Sieg can explain to me why I can do this, arcane knowledge and magical science both tell me it's unrelated to control over air, and yet I am no mage, no wielder of miscellaneous spells. It has to have some coorelation. " Cambria carefully extended a hand toward her, his blade reaching her as he took a stepped forward. It plunged through her chest, along with his entire fist as he closed the space between them. He continued until his arm was protruding at the bend from her, and he slowly moved his hand to the side, causing his hand and the attached blade to cut right through her without resistance.

She would feel a cold sensation on her skin from the direct contact of the air, but otherwise be completely numb to the piercing of her torso. Cambria's body shimmered back into existence, and he set the blade back up against his forearm, hoping the display wouldn't have scared her away. " It comes and goes, but if I focus, I can become completely intangible along with anything touching me for up to a minute until it becomes taxing. The blades augment magic, and help to sustain me for the duration. "