Throwing another spell out, it catches the statued corner of a building and my velocity swings me around. Releasing the spell, I spin wildly through the air and with a series of controlled hops, I come to a stop on the roof of another. Looking down towards the communicator, I move to take it off but halt halfway as I inspect the building I have landed near. It looks fancy enough and even with the rain, people are still arriving in their gaudy dresses and suits.

From the cold night and into the homely maw of the establishment.

Leaning forward onto a leg, the lower knee of the other enters the rain and I can't help but sigh. I know for a fact that once upon a time, the rain never got to me like it is now, it was just that, rain. Even the most magical showers didn't elicit anything from me but now that she's gone, it's all I have. She was never responsible and yet...

"Focus, Nin, focus. You're here to be distracted from all of this." I grumble, throwing out another spell and ziplining towards the window of the restaurant. Tapping up against its walls, my claws touch the stone while my feet shuffle along a band of polished metal marking the change in floors. I barely wheeze at the subtle display of wealth its utterly clean state puts forward. Looking after something is always so much more expensive than getting it to begin with even when the buyer's price is what makes our breath vanish.

Peeking in through the crystal window, I lean away from the light and let my cloak flutter in the darkness-drowned wind of the night. Spotting the bronze-skinned woman, all pampered in the care of make-up, I fiddle with my communicator as she idly keeps her attention off of her food and the other guests. It's an interesting dynamic within, I think, with plenty of room to mingle for those who simply don't want to stay sat upright in their chairs. Bringing my focus to my device, I finish performing the task, its contrast being incredibly ironic considering how I got here.

"I'm here." I say into it, using my magic to lean further back anyway to look at the corners of the building. Inerish made a point of specifying that the restaurant is four-edged with well-looked-after trees that have grown quite comfortably into their half-tight confines.

"There's not much commotion at the entrance, then, are you sure you are?" she questions, looking up from her table and towards what must be the dining hall's entrance.

"What ever made you think I'd go through the front door? I'm catching rain by one of the windows on your..." I ask and explain, now waiting for her to turn to just the right angle "Left."

She looks somewhat my way and I start to wave a magic-covered arm so I stick out against the backdrop some more. Her expression brightens like a normal fire and she quickly confuses guests and staff alike with the sudden rush to a window. I really hope this thing can swing open wide enough... I didn't think this through, did I?

The window opens up on a comfortable-assuring swing and the warmth of the building is disturbed. The wind howling all of a sudden.

"Well, get in!" Inerish demands and I do so, bringing the entire hall to an even quieter standstill. Straightening myself tall, rainwater drips from me, disturbing the flat-topped pond that is this awkward silence. Inerish stands back slightly and picks up a napkin to dry her hand and front off, the deep purple amethyst flicker of her magic enters the other hand. Though darkness follows it and light is eaten rather than oxygen, toasty warmth still snuggles its way across me, giving my clothes that crispy, post-radiator stiffness.

She takes an arm with a smile and I find myself guiding her back to her table, letting her down in a way that she thanks me for despite my idleness. Pulling out a chair, I sit down a spot from her and spread my legs out to better accommodate my bulk. Tracking the movements of the room, there's a slow return to normal but the flavour of the chef's special is still very much caution. Thankfully, curiosity is an easily available garnish and the gossip comes back, though it quickly shifts my way.

"You look nice." I say, getting the greeting out of the way while she is still looking at me with intentional angles to her body and expression. She straightens out properly, smiling with a slight blush.

"Thank you, you however look much the same." she thanks with an ending giggle and a sip from her glass. From behind the safety of my lenses, I pay closer attention to what she's wearing. Blood-red satin fabric rimmed and patterned with a sterner, black material that has a laminated shine but is not quite metal. Maybe it is, maybe not, as she's got some golden jewellery on elsewhere I might be able to...

Her shoulders hint at an open back and a fair chunk of her abdomen and all the way up to the bottom curve of her breasts is much the same.

She puckers her purple-sticked lips.

"I'm around helmeted gazes all the time, Dark Crow." she coyly smirks and I nod, tipping my hat a little to cover my already tinted view. My head shakes its amusement on the way back up and I glance the way of some of the other guests, then towards the painted ceiling. A rather haloey day on a clear open-top mountain, like the one beyond the city walls.

"What's the occasion?" I question, not actually all that familiar with my former handler. She was a secondary concern, really, everyone in my life but the eventual corpse of Smiling Jhurack was.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"As Grandguard I make a king's sum in pay but the bank sees it much more often than I ever do." she sighs before taking another sip from her wine. Spotting the bottle, the divine mockery makes my chest feel heavy. A bottle made by aelenvari using the petals and nectar of roses...

"I guess I should apologise for eating into your time over these past five years?" I sincerely ask and she shakes her head, a gentle smile coming to her lips. She takes in a breath but still doesn't say anything, instead, I get a gentle kick followed by the click of heels on the normally clean floors. The puddle I left by the window leaves me a little sheepish.

"During it, maybe, but, since you did what you did, I couldn't be more willing to have given it all up. My hindsight only wishes you came to us sooner so that I would be lacking however many stressful memories it is I have..." she explains, her mind taking her places she really shouldn't be going on a night like this. She's meant to be enjoying herself, but, I suppose that makes me a hypocrite given why I am here.

"I don't think me fighting Smiling Jhurack sooner would've done much if anything." I explain, thinking about how it was ultimately that piece of music Jhurghdak encouraged me to make that revealed it all. I don't really know how to feel about that, still, knowing he and Jhurack were one and the same despite me being led to believe otherwise for an eternal-feeling while.

"Still, I owe you, more than you could possibly understand, Nin. I know our relationship has not been the best but I would like to offer you my friendship out of respect." she explains quietly and I nod, smiling a little at it.

"Sure... I could do with some friends. Though, I will warn you, I'm not too good at respecting them in turn." I answer, trying to be hopeful about it before two major moments flash through my head. Their grim reminders set my mood back a thousand years. I was willing to abandon Lari when she was alive and the others for a chance to go back to Tobaballe and I came so very close to losing them all the moment I held her in my arms one final time. If it weren't for the theological texts and scripts I've been finding myself reading, I'd think it's divine intention.

But the gods aren't like that, at worst, they can't be like that because of other things happening out of view.

She smiles, most certainly brighter than her dark-fire magic, "I've put up with you these past five years, I can handle you now just fine. Don't you worry about a thing."

"Oh, there's nothing I would love more than to not worry." I say with a shrug, reaching for her bottle of wine and disturbing the ice water home I've abducted it from. Reading the label and markings closer, a thumb claw gently goes along the characters moulded into the bottle itself. Gitdoa. Not Rose's flower, unfortunately, she's Ahnelges.

"The bottle is mine completely, you can have some, Dark Crow." Inerish offers, showing off how little need she has for a top-up.

"No thank you, I've had enough magic-rich drink over the past few years." I explain, slightly stiff in the jaw.

"Wine's a little different from that concentrate you've had us supply you with." she rightly points out but my head stays disapproving much the same.

"Maybe after some work." I shallowly promise and she gently shrugs before getting back to her food.

"Is that not cold?" I question, knowing how long it's taken me to get here. She wasn't eating when I arrived at the window and I can't imagine she'd have stopped then, it's too coincidental.

"Learning to control heat is one of the first things any fire witch must do. Even someone like me of mixed race and in turn, mixed magic." she explains, her teasing example making me shiver at the sudden cold flickering from behind.

"You're a long way from home, do you ever miss it?" I choose to ask, focusing in on her differences with the people she's been charged to protect. We're the same in that way, foreigners with powers atypical of the land as well.

"Of course." she answers, taking a forkload of something saucily meaty into her mouth.

"Errakur, right? I knew someone from there, once." I answer, recalling Omb, if only for the fact he and Lari got along with such cheer and innocent ecstasy... The two complimented each other quite well, both being jollu and happy with life.

"My dress is Errakurdic in its inspiration." Inerish draws attention to as she shows off a thigh-high boot and the well-toned leg it is covering up.

"Mmmm, it certainly stands out a lot from the rest of the people here." I say and she holds her head up well, a smug curve coming to her lips. The people of Thrurstradtur probably understand it better than I ever could, but their obsession with clocks and all their components in everything they can is overwhelming. Though, when you have a home city like this, built atop and deep into a mountain, constantly turning after the Orbital-Halo's light. There's reason to be prideful, there really is, it's a mechanical marvel.

Tobaballe once had a similar meaning to me, its great towers that only grew prettier and grander as you went up the floors. Though, now, that can't really be done, my failure that long-gone day has made it nothing more than ash and rubble. Its people are much the same, even their bones are barely amongst the ruins. The whole land I came from, really, that wyvern scorched it all and my lack of skill helped it.

I'm a bit useless, aren't I? Aren't I...

Every time I have tried to save something dear and important to me, something I know well and hold close to my heart. It's been taken from me, burnt or cut, the difference matters little. My great failures have defined me completely even in the simplest of ways. The magic I used to get here, for example, was born out of my terror when Tobaballe fell and tempered by my... Dance partner.

"Nin-"

Blinking, I shake my head.

"-are you hungry? I don't mind ordering you something if you'd like, I'm nearly onto the next course."

Looking towards Inerish, I reach for my beak and guide my face so it can motion an answer.

"You sure? Again, I don't mind, I have more than enough money to pay for whatever it is you want." she insists and I start to consider it.

"Get yourself something, I'll cause you grief that way." I chortle out with my chitters and she scowls her amusement.

"Well, at least this way I can comfortably go for something larger and be sure it won't go to waste." she oooooo's at before she brings a finger along the writing, her lips pursing at each option that seems to catch her delighted mind. Idly, a claw comes to my stomach and I try to recall the last time I ate anything. Even though Tobaballe's recently been through my mind, my inability to get over how magic has affected my usual habits is still not something I've moved beyond. It's hard to let go of memories of breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and then suddenly shifting to not feeling the want.

Bloody magic!