Water idly splashes in front of the pair of us.

"Pardon me if it is a rude question, but what are you, Rose'lhia?" Einervaene asks me, drawing me out of my pessimistic thoughts. A convenience I am silently grateful for.

"You are asking about my species?" I ask, seeking clarity as my mind is half-attentive right now, and she nods her head up and down, "I am an aelenvari. Of the Ahnelges Garden-Mont variety."

Admittedly, I cannot recall the details right now as to how to elaborate on this. Her imagination will have to fill in if it can. It's been so long since I've seen a flower of another garden-mont, my freshest memories are all of my Ahnelges cousins. Though, with my loss of revered station and the granting of the freedom of movement with my love. I may see a foreign flower yet.

"Is there anything interesting you can tell me about your kind?" she then asks, and I am quick to see the trickiness of the question. Anything can be interesting, it is simply a matter of the person one is talking to. The basics aspects of magic fascinate my love, so very strangely so, it's childlike, even. I have long since lost the care for the topics but it changes nothing about him.

"Well, that depends. But, I suppose as you are new to this continent, I can tell you about one of its most important moments. As it plays some part in the fact." I say to her, bringing the details to the fore of my thoughts with a sudden, aggressive splash. Einervaene scooches up and away, her eyes following the low-hanging wave.

"The Time of Liquid-Mountains? I am familiar." she interrupts politely, saving me the trouble of making any off-hand remarks about the event. Simplified or otherwise. I guess we'll have plenty of time to talk about it. This place is a vault of pre-horror artefacts. I can still see and sense trace amounts of the power of the ancient humans.

"Good, in which case, I can get to the important parts. My species, the aelenvari, we have our origins in the humans trapped during that time. Our garden-monts, they were once the last hope of survival these people had. But, as populations dwindled for all manner of reasons, some grew desperate for a touch they could find nowhere else." I explain, smirking towards the end as she allowed her eyes to turn white with wideness.

Einervaene's curiosity gets the better of her and she grows attentive despite the deep blush, "Did they do something specific... Your ancestors? I have never heard of human-plant hybrids back home."

"Not as far as I am aware, no. Like most other mortal races, one of the originals decided at some point to pump their nectar into our mother species. As time passes, we aelenvari came into existence, changing as more human blood was introduced into our lineages. Divine blood is truly special, even diluted by our limited lives." I elaborate with a gentle shrug, my tail turning the water in front of me around. So very slightly, a sense of depth grows on the surface.

My finger hovers over the bubbles and steam, my tail whipping out for it. The living string wraps its way around the finger. It slips off shortly after. The filth on its hairs washing away as it snakes across the bottom of the bathtub.

"I see... Thank you for that explanation, Rose'lhia." Einervaene goes, and I nod with a smile.

A short quiet passes us.

"Might.... Might I give you a nickname, Rose'lhia?" she then asks.

"A nickname?" I respond, a brow of mine rising into a fine arch. I do not believe I have ever had someone ask me such a question before. I've asked my love to treat me with the honorific of 'sweerui,' but that is all it is. An honorific.

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I suppose my love's preference for calling me 'Rose,' rather than my full name, is a nickname?

I cannot see any harm in obliging Einervaene's request. She is my superior, after all, in terms of arcane beauty. Just like the Valkinvar my love spent so much time with back at my flower. Of course, compared to this golden woman, the Valkinvar's divine husband-to-be kept any paranoia at bay. Einervaene is not sworn to a god, the ethics of it are not there. I must be careful.

"Y-Yes, please... If you don't mind!" she goes, her electric accent picking up quite noticeably.

"You long for home?" I ask, figuring it out fairly quickly with how I am feeling so often as of late.

"I am... See, I have been trying to learn the common tongue of Jherikra. But, I am not all that confident in it right now. I can hear it when I talk to everyone, my pronunciation is off and my accent is as ear-catching as my looks are for eyes. I've spent much of my time practicing. I've not had much else to do. But, I am still not confident about it. I am not sure either I will be able to remember such strange names either... I believe it will be easier to remember your names if I give them an Eusorochii flair... Only a little, if it bothers you!" she explains, her hands unstoppable in their ability to fiddle.

"You want to name me in a manner that is easier to remember?" I ask, and she lights up quite sweetly.

"Yes!" she goes, her body hopping up and forgetting its naked state. She catches on quickly to her exposed chest and I giggle, getting something like a laugh out of her.

"Will this apply to my precious love, too...?" I ask, leaning forward with a slight glare. The possibility exists that she will start influencing him with something endearing. Her own equivalent of the 'sweerui' honorific. If it exists, it is troublesome.

"I... I don't think so. Maybe... I don't know..." is all I manage to get out of Einervaene before she hides her face.

"So what do you want to refer to me as, instead of my actual name? I am named after the rose flower, if that helps." I ask, clarifying my name if she wasn't quite sure. Assuming they even have roses where she is from. I have no clue as to what might grow in the metallic soil of her home. Pluuit surely has thought of something truly ingenious, however.

"Oh, I see... I'm thinking... Rianta? Rianta-chira. It's the name of a flower with petals coloured like your hair. They blossom in the rain, when lightning fills the sky and if the bolts strike the earth. They'll sparkle like the night sky must have back before the Lunar Gods started their war." she explains and I smile, content with the meaning of it.

"What does 'chira,' mean?" I ask, sensing that, that is an honorific or something close to one. I suppose I can pretend it means what the 'lhia' in my actual name means if I get no answer.

"It is a title given to emphasise the cuteness or youthful aspects of a woman," she explains, her fingers coming together and pushing their nervousness out of her system. Smiling, I see no reason to turn it down and I am quite happy with its meaning. It sounds almost like she's acknowledging my place as the love of my precious love Nin!

My smile grows quite bit, "Thank you, I appreciate the compliment it brings with it, Golden Beauty."

"I am glad you like it, Rianta-chira! But... Again... My name is Einervaene... Not golden... Anything." she reminds me with a stern tone, shame taking over her posture. The rigidity in her shoulders slumps away, her breathing muffles against her wrists. She looks down at the water.

"You are golden though, so I will refer to you as such when it amuses me."

"Golden? My skin is milky-white. Very clear, not golden at all!" she questions, her head shooting up as resentment taints her words.

"I am referring to the magic within you." I clarify and she twitches at what she probably knew, anyway.

"My magic... My magic is not golden... It's bluish, see?" she tells me, her body sparking with static pops. My eyes widen and the water feels cold. I shoot out of the bath with a blast of abrupt magic and put distance between us. A surge of annoyance fills me as the heavy pants take over.

I may not be familiar with lightning magic, but I am familiar with human technology... I am familiar with nature's circumstances.

"Do not cast that in water!" I nearly shout as she realises what she has done. She flinches, a fear-filled memory coming to mind. She freezes up and takes a deep breath, though her body remains shaking. Oddly, her arms act independently, recreating the memory through expressive drama. Someone or thing tried to drown her?

"You do not have to worry! I can control my magic. It won't cause any harm or interact with the water-" she tries to insist and her slipping focus lets it betray her words.