RP:Igniting New Beginnings

From HollowWiki

Part of the Time Heals All Wounds Arc


This is a Healer's Guild RP.


Synopsis: Penelope finally reaches out to Kailani to begin tutelage with elements. The two make there way to the desert and Kailani gives Penelope the knowledge that the elements balance each other out. There is a fifth element. All elements are energy, and how to feel this energy is to let go.


The Road to Gualon

When Kailani received Penelope's letter informing her that she was ready for traveling, the druid would respond to said note with the request that they meet along the 'Road to Milious' at noon. The timing was intentional, Kailani did not want them traveling too early in the day, that would mean that they would enter the desert when the sun was at it's highest and would feel the brunt of it's heat. Starting their journey at noon would hopefully have them finding their way into Gualon's deserts by sunset, perhaps early evening if their travels were slow. When traveling alone, Kailani would pack considerably lighter but with Penelope in tow...? The druid figured it would be better to bring some extra preparations and to help carry said preparations Kailani has located...a camel! Don't ask where the druid was able to acquire one, maybe she was able to borrow one from a certain sanctuary known to inhabit all manner of animals. It's packed with a variety of essential items for this trip, but it would be hard to pick out each one without rummaging. Blankets are apparent, that much is clear. Kailani would be waiting patiently and in plain sight for Penelope to join her, the druid is typically very hard to miss. That blue hair had her sticking out like a sore thumb in most environments, even on days when the skies are clear and bright.


Several days more had passed and it had taken Penelope those days to stare at a piece of paper for an hour or so before she eventually put the quill down to address the druid waiting in the midst of Sage. The woman had to convince close-knit people around her it was for the sake of Leon Lovik, for without the lessons from the druid, his fate would also become bleak. Leon was growing worse with the internal damage, and the boy had been having spells that made him hallucinate. The thought of having to save the kid’s life in what seemed to be, now blood-stained hands, made her ill, but what was she to do? So the quill addresses Kailani, and a day later, one is noted back to her. The ‘Road to Milious’. Easy find. The healer only manages to grab a few changes of clothes for the pack, a few canteens of water, a rolled blanket, a medical satchel and, well, whatever food she needed for her journey. As she came to the crossing of the road, Kailani would be an easy spot. The blue hair did, in fact, stick out, but it was flattering and admired. At least by Penelope. The freshness on Penelope’s face is only slightly better. Eyes still look tired, but the dark circles faded slightly. Some sleep from the restless nights. It would work. “Afternoon. Hope all is well. Ready for a decent tan?” It was a dry and poor attempt at humor, but it was there.


"More like tan lines..." Kailani corrects Penelope in response to the joke, and given the specifics of what the druid just said...? It was an equally poor attempt at humor back. The druid is definitely not dressed to be able to gain a good line-free tan, just a few too many layers of armor on. Kailani makes a vague motion for Penelope to load her own gear onto the camel before the duo set off. The druid would not actually be riding said camel, it would just be hauling their gear. From the start of this interaction, Kailani has been trying to gauge if Penelope is doing any better than last they met. The druid would not leave this matter, she would offer Penelope a chance to speak for herself by inquiring, "How are doing doing?" Of course the druid would not fault the other healer for answering vaguely, the two still have much to learn about one another. Kailani's feet are put into motion, the druid leading their camel along by the reigns. Just in case Penelope prefers to avoid the whole 'how are you' conversation, Kailani gives the other a very easy out with, "I was thinking, the best place for us to start...? Would be for you to tell me what you know of the elements."


Penelope felt mild ease when the half-elf attempted some humor back. At least the humor was still slightly present. The same would be similar for Penelope, light cotton pants to let air in, a flowy tunic, and a painted light scarf to block the sun when need be. Tan lines galore. A bow that was white and crafted with floral design and some arrows--just in case they got into anything sticky, but that was unlikely. Penelope was paranoid. The extra baggage she carried, however, would begin to be strapped on the camel. “From last time? The same.” an honest answer. “But,” moss eyes linger on the druid, “I’m here, and I wouldn’t be if I thought I couldn’t be. So I’m glad.” Time away from all the faces she had watched suffer would be a… break, to say the least. The girl would then travel near the blue-haired woman as she starts the journey. “As for elements… Not a lot. I was born in a village called Ardelia. And in our village, comes a line of twin heritage that carry the power of druidism. The only ones with magical capability when it involves the elements. At a young age, my father and mother were exiled from our village, yet they smuggled us with them.” Beat. “Not easy to leave children behind, I guess. Either way, Kellin found our village again a while back on voyage." Before he died and slipped away from his own personal reality. "Suppose from there, they knew to discover us in these parts.” A lot of unnecessary words, but she was coming to a point. “So what I was supposed to learn, I didn’t. Kellin was able to, but aren’t all elements different? Either way, Edith was teaching me a lesson one day with a seed. She said… there’s life all around us even if it’s buried deep. It’s our job to let down the walls and feel it. Feel the energy. She also says I overthink and that could be another reason elements don’t really come naturally to me.”


Kailani and Penelope would hopefully not encounter any trouble, but it was always a risk when traveling. Bandits or even wild animals could be a real threat, though one might hope traveling with a druid would put at least earn a party a few advantage points in the wild animal area of things. The druid is completely silent while she listens to Penelope's explanation. The question on elements was posed not because Kailani was looking for any answer in particular, she was just hoping to gain clarity on how much Penelope already understood about what she was trying to learn. "Edith is not wrong," Kailani confirms. "The first thing to understand is that we are engaging in this discussion from the perspective of the druids. There are always...cultural twists...on the conversation that we are having. For the druids, there are five elements. You have actually spoken to me already about all five of them. Four you seem more familiar with. Earth. Fire. Air. Water. Some like to try and put the elements in some form of strength ranking, or they like to analyze which element might be weak or strong against that element. In my opinion, this is a really base way of thinking. To think of them in these terms is to neglect the fact that even without one element...? Life as we know it would probably cease to exist. Which means they need to exist within balance, for they are all equally important. All of the elements are different, yes, and yet they are very much interconnected and related. They create everything that you see before us." Even only touching on four of the five elements, Kailani feels like she has thrown a lot at Penelope. The druid attempts to let Penelope process everything so far, while leading into the fifth element. "If I were to inform you that the Mage's Guild did not permit druids into their ranking, do you think that you would be able to guess why that might be?"


A moss gaze falls on the half-elf as she explains that Edith is not wrong which she never questioned in the first place. “I’ve yet to get a history of the Ardelian cultural perspective on druids, since… Pakellin has been—away and hasn’t been able to fill that gap until… now.” Away would do, for it was not a lie. How does one say ‘he died and now he has risen again’? She was still trying to wrap her brain around that one. Around it all. Penelope’s gaze faces forward on their trail. The rest of the time, she gives Kailani the patience she deserves with her explanation on elements. How there is a balance between them all, but what was the fifth? What had Penelope guessed? Then, another question was thrown her way. Although the novice was witty, magic had been a difficult subject for her to grasp. “I mean, I never understood why the Mage’s Guild never given druids a chance. It probably would have benefitted me a long time ago,” there is a small hint of a smile from the beginner druidic witch. “I guess life works out in other ways.” There is a pause. “But, if I had to guess… druids call more on nature. Where, of course, mages use arcane, but isn’t it all an energy source?” Perhaps she was wrong or perhaps it was a generalized statement, but that was what tutelage was for.


Kailani does not spend much time analyzing Penelope’s comments about her twin being away. The words as accepted as truth, the druid assumes that the brother must have spent time away traveling. “Hopefully your brother will be able to share his own knowledge now that he has returned.” The answer that Penelope provides about why druid’s cannot join the Mage’s Guild is met with a nod. “Exactly. There are probably some lessons that druids could benefit from...but for the most part we access our magic in a very different way. Mage’s use the arcane and are capable of weaving a number of spells. Some of them may be elemental in nature to an extent, but many of them I have no hope of being able to recreate because they are accessed through arcane means. Druids, we tap into our abilities by means of this fifth element. When Edith was trying to explain that your mind is too busy to connect to the energy? She was referring to that fifth element. It does not manifest as obviously the other elements. Once we manage to feel this energy? We have to continuously work at strengthening and deepening our relationship with the energy. Druids who devote more time forming this deep relationship and demonstrating their respect and understanding for the balance of it all tend to have more influence over the elements. This respect and understanding is what tends to give us an edge when it comes to elemental magic. That is to say, if a mage were to to wield a fire-based spell against a druid, so long as that druid has put in the work that they need to? The fire will be more willing to answer to the call of the druid than it would be the mage.”


Penelope nodded slowly and kept her attention focused, all-the-while keeping her gaze forward. The girl sort of lingers behind Kailani for a moment or two to touch the camel gently and feel the texture of the hair it had before wandering back near the half-elf. The pieces that Kailani was explaining was slowly starting to piece together in the Ardelian's mind. Penelope had felt that energy once with the seed Edith provided and helped her with. As for her own personal growth of establishing her own elements, well, like they discussed, she was not able to control it. “So in other terms, correct me if I'm wrong, I should understand the connection and the place I have in the balance of the elements?" She would wait for Kailani to clarify, if need be. Then, she would proceed. "Do you feel different energy to different elements or is it all the same?”


Sea of Sands

Realistically, Penelope and Kailani should probably be nowhere near the desert...but sometimes our writers have to take creative liberties in these areas. So...! The longer that Penelope and Kailani chat, the more the scenery begins to change from the lush green of Kelay, to the open plains of Southern Milous, until finally the lands become barren and the fertile dirt becomes drier. "It is technically all the same, but it is not uncommon for druids just starting on their path to be called more to one element or another. Or...in your case, from what you have described, I would not be surprised if your twin are essentially two halves of the same whole. You said you lean toward earth and fire while the elements that come most naturally to your twin are air and water. His elements balance your elements." Kailani might have speculated further were she aware of their history, would Pekellin's death have had any influence on Penelope's own abilities? The druid comes to complete halt at this point, when they are in a space that seems open and with a very sparse number of trees around -- they were still there, just few and far between when compared to Kelay. It was a good place for the firey Penelope do attempt to find that connection. "First thing is first, it is bound to get chilly to night, so we'll need a fire. Sometimes it is better to do things the hard way, if you would gather rocks to help build a fire pit..? I will gather the kindling. The camel will mark our spot." Which said camel seems quite happy to do, for it is already lowering itself to a comfortable little sit.


Penelope’s narrator certainly agrees, so when the drier terrain begins to come into the clearing, Penelope is blown how their conversation made the time go fast. As Kailani talks about the balance that the twin bonds share, the girl nods. She had felt whole with her brother, for when he died, there was a hole that was inside her for those years that passed by. Now that Kellin returned, she felt filled, though strange as if she had not been standing on her own all those years. “That’s what they say for us twins… some sort of thick connection.” As for if Kellin died, there was a possibility for Penelope to inherit all the elements, but it would require ritual which was what Penelope’s uncle had done when her father had died. When the blue-haired druid requests that they build a fire, a nod is given and instantly Penelope is moving. It would not be hard to find some medium sized rock in the dry terrain. The twin breaks off from the woman with an eye that looks aware of her surroundings. Time passes, and the Ardelian had weaved back and forth to gather all sorts of shaped rocks to create the circle barrier for the fire. As the girl puts the rocks in place, tired eyes land on the animal that carries their belongings. She then begins to kind of talk to the camel until Kailani returns. “I bet you she’s gonna try to make me start this thing, isn’t she?” The camel sort of makes a snorting sound, but really it’s just breathing heavily for a moment. “I mean, I could be wrong, but…” She shrugs.


Penelope was not entirely off base with her guess of what they would do next, and if Kailani had heard this comment she would have confirmed said suspicions...but she is out of earshot and will continue to be for another minute or two. When the blue-haired druid returns it is with a very sparse amount of overly dry kindling. The druid does not have much in the way of logs to keep the fire burning, so the fire is not likely to burn throughout the night. "Sit," Kailani gently instructs as she places the gathered wood into the firepit that Penelope built for the two of them. "Take your shoes off. Dig your toes into the sand, feel the dirt between your fingers. Close your eyes, meditate, and try and open your mind. Let your guard down." While Penelope presumably follows the latest set of instructions given, Kailani herself is the one who ignites the fire. She does not do so via any druidic abilities, rather utilizing one of the more manual methods of creating a fire. In this instance, the druid uses a flint stone. The end goal is to ultimately get Penelope to control/ignite the flames...but in order to achieve that goal they need to get her to start feeling that connection to the energy. The druid is not certain they would overcome this block tonight, this could be a process that takes time. Kailani herself does not make herself nearly as comfortable as she instructs Penelope to do. The reason is simple, at least one of them should be prepared in case some desert creatures pays them a visit. Though there are nothing but empty horizons right now, and plenty of clear sight lines to observe anyone or anything approaching their makeshift camp.


Penelope watches as Kailani returns with the kindling and sits on soft demand. Hands inch forward to unravel the sandals that were wrapped around her feet before sliding her feet forward where her toes would inch underneath the warm sand and cautiously leaning her hands back to also dip them underneath the minerals. ‘Let your guard down,’ eyes shift around the area before they rest again on the druid before her. A timid aura envelopes her at first, but she eventually closes her eyes. Her breathing is low, and shaky at first, for well, personal reasons, though she presses herself to hold her breath for seconds at a time before releasing and counting her breath in exhale. Meditate. Opening the mind would not come easy to the woman, for fear was beginning to get in the way. She adjusts herself in the sand before inhaling thickly again. Concentrate, so instead of focusing on trying to physically open the mind, she focuses on different parts of her body. First feeling the sand between her toes and mentally telling her mind to pour light into her feet. That way she is focusing on her body rather than her mind… which would actually help let her guard down. Her mind would then begin to focus on her hands and the grain against her fingertips. The same process mentally would move to each arm, each leg, and so on. Eventually Kailani would begin to notice that the the firm, closed expression that lingered on Penelope’s tired face would begin to lighten and soften. It took quite a bit of time, but it had passed.


Some might make the choice to attempt to nudge Penelope closer to this connection, one way this might be accomplished is by attempting to 'lend' Penelope some of Kailani's own energy. This is not something that Kailani does, it might help in the temporary and provide some instant gratification, but long term it was better for Penelope to take the longer route. This was a bond that needed to be built, a relationship that was meant to be worked at. Penelope would be left to meditate in peace. Kailani would still be nearby, but the druid understood that it could feel unnerving if someone lingered too closely and watched too intently, that it could create an added pressure. The blue-haired woman tried to play the role of watchful guardian, with her gave fixated on some point off in the horizon. Some might grow bored, feel the itch to talk, to putter around and find something to busy themselves with...but Kailani was content. It brought her peace to stand in stillness and simply observe nature around her, it helped to keep her own connection with nature strong. The same connection that they were working on getting Penelope to feel. From time to time, the druid would steal a glance at Penelope. After a considerable amount of time has passed, well after she has observed that serene look on Penelope's face, the druid finally issues further instruction. The instructions are whispered out, but the wind carries them easily to Penelope despite the hushed nature. Were there others in their presence, Penelope would be the only one to hear these whispered words despite the odd way the wind seems to carry their sound, "And now concentrate on the flames before you. It's light becomes stronger...It's heat becomes more intense..."


In the back of Penelope’s conscience, there is a very faint voice. One voice that feels as if the wind had pushed it against her ear, and for that, she does not startle. ‘Concentrate on the flames’. The warmth of the flames before them radiates against her skin. Mentally, she could sense the outline of the fire and create a faint image in her head on what the fire looks like. How high it ranges to the width-span that she could feel against the length of her body. Both legs feel warm, so she knew the span had to be, at least, that wide. With her knees that remain angled towards her chest, she can still feel the same heat, so at least, the fire is that tall. Her chin tilts where she can sense the same kiss of fire on her cheeks. Although eyes were closed, the light had created the darkness an orange tint behind eyelids. She continues to breathe and focus on those breaths before continuing further focus on the flames. Penelope had been taking her time again, but it seemed that Kailani would not mind. After moments, she then lets herself focus on the light behind her eyes. The energy on her face. Her mind trails where she begins to focus on the light as… energy. And with the light and heat Kailani tells her to focus on, the Ardelian realizes that was where the energy source was placed, and suddenly, she begins to feel warmer on her cheeks. Kailani would begin to notice the flames rise, and there would be a bit of blue flame in the kindling signalizing the heat source growing. For how fast Penelope did this, might have been a shock, yet… she had been able to produce flame before without knowing about energy. As for learning about earth in the future, that would be more of a difficult issue. Also, as for igniting flame at her own will, that would also be slightly more difficult for her. Whatever tools, however, Kailani would give her, she would take with her to practice because what was tutelage without homework?


"The best way to continue to form your connection is to do exactly what we are doing now. Carve the time out for yourself to commune with nature. If you do not, then you will likely continue to struggle with your abilities. The truth is, there is only so much that myself or Edith would be able to teach. We may be able to offer guidance and wisdom, but in the end it is on you to open yourself up to the connection." This statement might reveal why Kailani is so reclusive in nature and why she feels uncomfortable in larger, walled off cities like Cenril. "But I think that you are off to a very promising start." Kailani almost sounds proud of the aspiring druids efforts, why a smile has even graced her lips. "My intention was to have us camp here for the night, as we have already traveled a very long way. If you do not object to this plan, then I think you should make yourself comfortable, practice to your hearts content, and after we have rested then we will travel back out of the desert."


Penelope finally breaks the bond with nature. The flames settle back into their regular ignited state, her eyes open. The evening was beginning to cast a shadow, for night was soon to come. Kailani breaks the silence. “Practice makes… well, better, I am sure.” The healer did not mind a bit of homework, yet Kailani’s next statement was one that would twist the girl. All of Penelope’s life had been set on books. Logic. Structure. There had to be answers to everything, yet… this was one answer she could not just read in a book and automatically compel. Kailani’s statement makes the girl inhale and stare into the flames before nodding in agreement. “Then, I’ll practice. Try my best to… let go.” Her mind reflects on the travesty that had happened a week prior. It was still raw. Let go. How? It was hard to let go with anything with the Ardelian, but perhaps one day, she would find that balance with the practice Kailani suggests. “Thank you,” she smiles. Actually smiles. A small one, but one that had purpose. “Truly. I needed this.” To get away. To learn. To grasp onto something new. The girl then shifts herself in the sand. “Best hydrate because it’s about to get hotter tonight,” she smirks—that meant she is okay with camping out. She then begins inhaling and closing her eyes to connect to the flames once again.