RP:Secrets That The Ice Holds

Part of the Lies Within Us Arc

This is a Mage's Guild RP.

Summary: After being gifted the sealed tome by Queen Hildegarde, Odhranos has been making strides to try and learn cryomancy so that he might open Satoshi's grimoire. When his own efforts stall, he reaches out to an old friend who breaths winter as if it were her own breath, the Ice Genasi Emilia, in the hopes that she can guide his learning.

Dilapidated Coral Castle, Cenril

Odhranos sits out on the steps of the coral castle, drumming his fingers on the rough stone as he enjoys the feeling of the evening sun on his cheeks. Within the structure, he can sense the hustle and bustle of the apprentices as they cleared away the remnants of the evening meal and set to their free time with gusto. It was heartening to see a sense of normalcy returning to the younger members of the Guild; being driven out of Xalious had been hardest on them, being away from not only their families, but the places they had thought safest. That said, they had taken to Lanlan's improvised accommodation with a commendable tenacity. Odhranos leans back against the warm steps and lets the busy hum resonating through the stone soothe him. It is a good evening for meeting old friends.

Emilia walked along the path leading to the coral castle having receive a letter from an old friend. The Genasi had stopped at the healing academy prior to this meeting to drop her five children off with Edith and to pick up a care package her guildlings had put together. The oversized basket filled with packaged herbal teas and sweets dangled off her arm while the curled haired woman walked with almost a skip in her step. With a smile on blue lips the genasi waved with her free hand when her old came into view, “Odhranos! What a pleasure to see you.” Her steps coming to a cease just before the man on the steps Em offered the basket to him, “Herbal teas and sweets for the students along with anyone else staying here.”

Odhranos felt a pair of footprints skipping across the sand a while before he heard that familiar voice, and he gets to his feet from his prone position to greet whoever it might be, but when Emilia calls out to him, the terramancer breaks into smiles. "Emilia! It has been far too long!" Now that she is closer, Emilia will notice that Odhranos has a silk blindfold over his eyes, a deep violet, embroidered with the sigil of the Mages Guild. Time has not been the kindest to the mage and the last few months have left their mark on him. Ordinarily, Odh wouldn't have realised that Emilia was offering him her basket, but when he looked her way, while his eyes couldn't see her, his terramantic sense could see the strangest of sights; picked out in the silver pinpoints of his magic vision, a skeleton depicted in the finest, thinnest metal, holding its arms out towards him as if to offer him something. Masking his surprise, Odhranos reaches out in turn and finds the wicker surface of the basket, taking it from her with thanks. "They'll be delighted, my teacase has seen more plentiful days, what with a few dozen apprentices raiding it nightly." A fond smirk plucks at the terramancer's cheeks as he holds the basket in his arms. "Do come in, I can put the teapot on. We have a few years of catching up to do!"

Emilia was thankful in this moment that Odhr could not see the look of surprise that flashed over her face seeing the fabric kept around his head to cover the eyes. Lost sight or not he looked healthy otherwise, at least to his outward appearance and jovial tone when speaking to her. A smile plastered on blue lips as she agreed, “Tea sounds lovely while we catch up!” Standing close to him his other senses would be able to pick up on the double beats in her chest, two different hearts working in almost perfect rhythm. He would also be able to pick up on her tension being close to the ocean surrounding the city. As if to make those nerves more obvious the arrival of a stray crab making its way along startled the healer just enough that a sudden burst of sand shot up like a small fountain of sand with then little crustacean perched atop. Uncontrolled terramancing at its finest.

Odhranos pushes open the door to the coral castle and gestures for Emilia to go ahead of him, only to be caught by surprise when there is a sudden upwelling of a familiar magic. Odh had seen the little pitter-patter of crab legs on sand, disregarding it, but the sudden font of terramancy that ejected it into the air caught his attention. Furrowing his eyebrows, the fountain's leading edge flattens, forming a circular disk upon which the crab bounces safely, to swiftly be returned to the ground, where it can scuttle away rapidly. Turning to Emilia, Odhranos fixes her with an intrigued expression. "That's new. I didn't know you'd made a foray into terramancy." Odhranos smile returns, now boyish and gleeful. "I'm looking forward to this chat even more! To the office!" Odhranos leads the way into the castle with glorious aplomb. Apprentices are greeted with smiles and greetings as Odhranos passes, and he encourages them to partake of the sweets that Emilia has brought, earning the genasi many cheerful thanks from the apprentices. Heading deeper into the coral structure, Odhranos leads Emilia to a small cave-like room sporting a single land-facing window. "It's not much, but it suffices as an office for now." Odhranos places the depleted basket on the desk and bustles around, gathering teapot, tea-case and two mugs. "Oh, where are my manners, let me fix you up a chair." Odhranos plucks a soft cushion from the corner of the room and with his free hand, gestures a patch floor upward, molding a stone chair from the packed sand, topping it with the cushion. "I'll start the kettle brewing now, so do tell me, how have you been? It's been some time."

Emilia watched with amazement to see the sand eventually settle and the crab scuttle away. Turning the wintery woman followed Odhranos into the coral castle making a small comment, “It only really happens once in awhile, mostly when startled and I have no control of it.” Each student was offered a polite smile along with a “You’re welcome” for the sweets. A couple not afraid of touching the frozen woman and her black shadow hand received a hand shake. Inside the office the healer smiled, “Sometimes a small space is the best space to be. Not everything has to be grand. This space is nice with a nice view.” Watching the chair rise from the floor Emilia smiled, “Thank you.” Taking a seat on the cushioned seat the healer gave a shrug, forgetting that he couldn’t see it, as she replied, “I have been nearly killed, kidnapped and tortured, freed and fallen in love, had twins at the start of the year. It has been some adventurous years for me. What about yourself? How have you been?”

Odhranos beams with pride at Emilia's review of his office. "I'm glad someone agrees with me! People have been pestering me to move into bigger offices ever since I became a Provost. Lanlan keeps talking about how "An Archmage needs a room with more oomph to it", but honestly, I have a soft spot for small homely offices." Odhranos fills the teapot with water and cups the metal pot with his hands, slowly urging the metal to warm, until it exudes a cherry red glow and the water begins boiling. Emilia's recount of her year elicits a sympathetic smile from the terramancer. "Very much the same, actually. Kidnapped, possessed, stranded in a desert for half a year, involved in a war, promoted, then kidnapped, tortured and recently freed. Oh, and for some reason beyond my understanding, landed with the responsibility of being Archmage to the Mages Guild. Which is now displaced. And likely going to war soon." Odhranos constructs a chair for himself and sinks into it with a world weary sigh. "This world is tiring… but my news is all gloomy and uninteresting; tell me about this partner and twins of yours!"

Emilia blinked at hearing the tragic news of her friend over the years since they last talked. It was with an outburst of a giggle that brought her response, “Oh, how they say like befriends like.” Even apart the two on individual terms had a knack for finding trouble, or being found by it, and thrust into unusual positions. The wintery giggle turned into a sigh of agreement, “This world is tiring. Leading the Healer’s Guild and now five children, on top of all the chaos in the land. Should you find yourself at war time please keep me informed and the guild will send healers to tend to your wounded during the fray. Irenic is a good man and a even better father. The triplets adore him. The twins are just over a month, so not much to tell about them yet. Their wings are still downy feathers. One was born the ending of last year and the other arrived first moments of the new year. Definitely leaving a mark on the world with that birth story.”

Odhranos grins at Emilia's response. "Perhaps too alike for our own personal safety, but such are the predicaments we find ourselves in." Odhranos plucks a box from the basket and sets about brewing two mugs of herbal tea as Emilia continues. His eyebrows shoot skyward at the mention of five kids. "Sven above, five!? You must have the patience of a saint to be raising such an army." Odhranos' surprise is heightened when he hears a familiar name. "Ah! Irenic! We've met a few times, if I'm thinking of the right person. Metal wings, yes?" Odhranos holds a mug out to Emilia, before taking his own and supping it gingerly. "Mmm, sublime. This is delicious, I must find out where you got it." Odhranos interlaces his fingers around the mug and rests it on his knee. "I would very much appreciate any aid that can be given to us. Though I am loath to put anyone at risk in the coming conflict. There have been enough losses already." Odhranos looks glum, the crisis in Xalious has taken its toll, both on him and the Guild. "That is part of why I asked you to come today. I was hoping you could help me with something that might give us an edge. Or at least, can't hurt to be tried." Odhranos sips his tea then continues. "I am looking to learn cryomancy, as I was lent a grimoire recently that, if I can access it, I might be able to supplement my existing magical repertoire. Were you familiar with Satoshi at all?"

Emilia accepted the tea from him, though she sat the cup down on his desk to allow it to cool before she would be able to drink it and enjoy it. A chuckle left her at the mention of metal wings before she corrected him, “Thamalys, my brother, is the avian with metal wings. Irenic is a phoenix avian with fiery wings. Thamalys is a wonderful brother and we have had many unique adventures. You might ask him about the teas. They are one of his mixes.” Waving her fingers over the cup of tea a cool breeze left her fingers speeding up the chilling process. Picking it up the healer took her turn to listen while sipping on the cup of tea. “Ah, I met Satoshi once, when I was human. I asked her what it was like to be so cold as she was and then to zap me with the cold so I could feel it. Of course, she said no. And now look at me. Definitely not human after all. Otherwise, I know little about her and even littler on how to teach someone the art of ice and cold. It is as much apart of me as breathing is to everyone. However, I am more than happy to try to teach you! If that can be a means to ending the war with less losses than who am I to say no? It will be a grand adventure for both of us.”

Odhranos blushes slightly. "I knew I remembered someone with metal wings, but I must have mixed them up in my head. But if he is the artisan of such fine tea, then I shall have to meet him properly to thank him for such a wonderful brew. I always have time for fellow tea connoisseurs." Odh places his mug aside and reaches behind his desk, seeking around for something, before producing a large midnight blue journal, encased in a layer of crystal clear ice, so pure and perfect it may as well be glass. "Hildegarde gave this to me, for safekeeping, after Satoshi's mansion became overrun. She thought I might have more use for it than letting it gather dust. My hope, is that reading Satoshi's notes might assist me in my learning, but the Ice Queen was clever with how she sealed her knowledge away." Odhranos holds out the book for Emilia to take, his fingerprints leaving a smokey fog on the ice, but not so much as melting a drop from its surface. "As far as I can tell, it is impervious to heat and any moderate damage. I believe that if I can learn some measure of cryomancy, I might be able to open the seal."

Emilia accepted the frozen book from him as she listened to him explain. In her hands the book felt like any other surface, it was just as cold as the woman was. Flipping it over in her hands she traced a line with her finger over the ice. It was an intricate working of magic and ice mixed to lock away the writing inside this journal. Lifting the book up to the light from the window she turned it this way and that as she studied the ice lock around the book. “I am by no means a magic expert and I know you cannot see the intricate working in the ice, but I think with some team effort we could get it so that you could open it. It feels like there is a recognition lock mixed in with the ice magic. It won’t just let any ice wielding mage open it. Satoshi was very sophisticated in this wonderful binding spell. And with Hilde giving it to you I believe that is one part of unlocking it. Only one to be trusted by the writer will be able to open it. Hilde was trusted by her and you are trusted by Hilde. Good intentions not evil malice behind opening it. I can see the little lines of the workings in the ice. They are complex, but two great and a master mage should be capable, no?” A small chuckle as she placed the frozen book back down on his desk.

Odhranos nods quietly as Emilia explains. How fascinating, that such a complex magic could be woven into the ice, as if it held a spirit of its own. "I had suspected something profound about the ice Satoshi used to seal her grimoire, but certainly this is beyond what I imagined." Odhranos listens intently as Emilia continues, smiling gently when she comments on how Hildegarde's trust in him paved the way for him opening the book. "We should be capable indeed. I remember your resourcefulness keenly, so I defer fully to you in this area of expertise." Odhranos grins and recalls a similar occasion, years ago in Larket, that involved a sewer delve and a disembodied arm. "Where would you suggest beginning?"

Emilia flushed a light shade of blue briefly at his comment, but easily dismissed it. Then she went on, “One as skilled as Satoshi it does not surprise me the lengths she went through to protect her words from the wrong hands. In order to get started in cracking this code I would suggest we get started on teaching you the wonderful world of the frozen world. I don’t know the extent of your magical skills, but the basic building of ice for those not already frozen over is water. Can you manipulate water?”

Odhranos laughs sheepishly. "I'm afraid not. Hydromancy has never come to me easily. My mother tried teaching me as a child, but I couldn't wrap my head around it then nor have I managed to recently. Makes me think I've developed a mental block about it." Odh gestures out towards the strand, where the waves drag and pull against the sandy beach in flowing sinuous waves. "It's the flowing and changeability that gets me. I'm used to rock and crystal, things that are static. Water… eludes me." He turns back to Emilia and grimaces apologetically. "Probably not what you wanted to hear, I'm afraid."

Emilia gave a soft chuckle when her friend admitted his lack of calling to the water element. After a moment of soft laughter the healer cleared her throat, “Well, if it makes you feel better I went from having absolutely no connection to the magical world then suddenly ice became my world. I only recently grasped it and water eludes me most of the time. I tend to freeze it. I also have the ground suddenly against me with no understanding of it. So, it sounds like we will have one grand adventure together learning the finesse of water and then getting you all mastered into ice. Or, perhaps we skip water and start with ice. It is a bit more solid than water. Closer to rock?” Scurrying into the castle on its own accord following along behind the Genasi in a delayed arrival was the original right hand of the woman. The tips of the black ice fingers making a unique clink against the coral castle as he joined the party. Entering the office Righty leapt up to land on the desk in the office, waving at him with an index finger. Unlike the skeletal system of the genasi the hand sported no metal, just bones encased in black ice and alive by magic.

Odhranos breaks into a beaming grin. "I couldn't imagine anything better, it's been forever since I've been able to focus on my own learning rather than teaching. I relish the adventure!" Odh nods in agreement with Emilia's suggestion. "That would make more sense to me. Ice seems more approachable, it's crystal, and crystals are something I'm more accustomed to." He is about to continue when he sees something clattering along in the genasi's wake. While he can't see it directly, the little pitter patter it makes on the stone floor is enough to give him a sense of what it is. A hand. A disembodied hand that jumps up onto his desk. Behind his blindfold, he squints at it, and from the little cryomancy he has been discovering, he gets a sense of the hand's dimensions and whereabouts, just like he could if it were stone, but fainter, as if seen through a foggy window pane. He turns to face Emilia and chuckles. "Now that brings back memories. Not the first time we've dealt with hands that go wandering on their own. Is it… are you in any kind of pain, having it seperate like that?"

Emilia smiled, “Oh, good! I have never taught anyone before on the magical world. Healing and farming only. So, I like the idea of working with ice much better than water.” It was then her hand was joining them, dancing on the desk as if it could sense the reaction of the other. The healer gave a shrug at the question posed to her, “It has been many years since I chopped my hand off. I was frozen then and didn’t feel it. Definitely weird to learn things one handed, but recently it is almost harder learning to have two hands again. Or well, having three hands. The necromancer magic in Righty is what it is. I have grown to accept it. I do find that perhaps learning to sense the ice of Righty may help you begin learning it. There is some bone in there to give it structure behind the ice. I can leave it here with you to practice sensing the ice until it becomes more familiar in sight before we meet again.”

Odhranos smiles and tugs at the hem of his blindfold. "I can somewhat sympathize. If I got my sights back tomorrow, I don't know what I'd do with it. Seeing by stone has started becoming so second-nature to me, even though I was as helpless as a newborn calf at first. Having that part of myself back so suddenly would be… jarring." Odh shrugs and offers a lopsided grin, it's not something he's expecting to go through anytime soon. His sight is likely well and truly gone. At her suggestion, he sets his chin on his hand and faces the glacial appendage directly. "How would you suggest I start? I have the barest of senses of the ice, but it's like trying to picture a painting from a drunkard's description. I'm almost not even sure what I'm picturing is accurate at all." He chuckles, reaching out with his free hand and offering his index finger to "Righty". The thought of Emilia leaving her hand behind sends a slight chill of discomfort down the terramancer's spine. "Are you sure? There's something that feels awful wrong about… having someone leave their hand behind for you to study." He laughs sheepishly. "I'd never make a good necromancer, that's for sure."

Emilia nodded along in understanding of the moment as he talked about losing his sight. Losing her hand was one thing, but she could not imagine losing her sight without having a way to adapt like him. Righty lifted an index finger and tapped it against the finger of the man. It was a cold feeling, but not as cold as the woman across from him. Smooth like glass against his flesh, but indeed a small finger. Em flashed a smile at him, “Well, Righty is a hand with a wrist and a two inch stump protruding from the joint. It is the size of my left hand and it moves just like any other hand. This limits the options in which it can pose for you and you feel it up without it melting from body heat to feel how close you are.” Standing from the chair the healer reached out with her left hand holding it out to him, “Here, feel my hand. Flex it, bend it, get to know it because Righty is the mirror of it.” Her gaze then turned to her hand on the table, “I can take it with if you are uncomfortable with it, but I am used to it wandering off.”

Odhranos grins when his index finger is met by another, there's something very weighty about that gesture. The extending of touch, an invitation to know and understand. There's also the curiosity of a fingertip that is hard and cold, more like marble that's been left out in the cold than flesh. When Emilia offers her hand, Odhranos takes it lighty in his own. The terramancer's hands are large, long-fingered, warm and dry, and Emilia's feels rather alien by comparison. He cups her hand upright in his left palm, while his right explores each finger in turn, curling it, then straightening it, wiggling it gently side to side, holding the knuckle between index and thumb. Odhranos' blindfold creases as his eyebrows furrow behind, and an intense studious air descends upon the man, the kind his apprentices would recognise as his "artefact studying" habits. His touch is gentle, but thorough in its examination, he traces the lines of her palm, gently squishing the heel of her thumb before he seems to surface from his inquisitive daze, relinquishing her hand with a smile. "Fascinating. And, when you move, is it the same magic that you would use to say, shape an ice sculpture? Just, more unconscious?"

Emilia kept her hand relaxed in his hand allowing him full control over her small hand with slightly long fingers compared to others with hands her size. The flesh was soft, but chilled to the touch with a mix of delicate and mysterious with the metal coated bones beneath the flesh. As he worked over her hand as if it was something other than a hand she allowed the magic beneath to slowly surface coating the flesh in a thin layer of ice. Allowing him to go from seeing her hand in his to seeing the formation of ice beneath his fingertips. Flexing her fingers as she took her hand back the ice melted away. “Winter flows through me like blood flows through you. I would have to say that, yes…it is the same magic that I would use to sculpt ice. I would like to say that sculpting ice is much like sculpting a sandcastle out of wet sand, only much colder and more solid. If that makes any sense?”

Odhranos initially had focused on the bones, being the part of her hand that he could see easiest. But as he studied the volume of her hand, where the flesh lay between bone and his touch, he began getting an understanding of where the ice was, what it felt like, what it was like to see it, to picture it. As Emilia lets her magic permeate her skin, the slight crackle of rime has a profound resolving effect on Odhranos. This is ice, his mind's eye says, and where before he only saw metal bones in shades of silver, now the faintest penumbra of blue swathes Emilia's hand. Odhranos' face lights up with this leap forward and he smiles up at Emilia happily. "It does. When I work with sand, I have to hold it in place manually; its generally dry and weathered, but fundamentally it is a collection of little crystals. Ice is… it seems much the same. Little crystals making a larger whole." Odhranos breaks into a shining grin. "That helps immensely. This really feels like an approach I can understand."

Emilia beams an ear to ear grin watching the way Odh's face changed through the expressions of his experience. Seeing something new where he couldn’t fully see it before hand. “Yes, this is Ice,” she whispered softly as his face lit up like a child getting the gift they asked for the holiday. It was not everyday she could share the wonders of the frozen world with another. Few understand it and fewer see it in the way the Genasi does. "The first step to working with an element is being able to tell it apart from the rest. To truly see it. Now that you can see the ice it will make it easier to work with it over working with something invisible on your radar. I am happy we are able to find a new world for you to experience. At the moment, I am needing to get back to the children. We can meet up again soon, if you would like."

Odhranos sits back in his chair, rosy with the glee of broaching the surface of this new discipline. "This is absolutely fascinating, thank you Emilia." Odhranos turns back to his desk and rather surprisingly, finds the faintest outline of a book there. Satoshi's tome presiding over his desk with the smug icyness of a snowfox, as if it has been waiting for him to notice. He reaches out to tap the icy book, acknowledging it before turning back to Emilia. "Ah, yes indeed. I had best get back to my own flock of apprentices too." Odhranos stands from his chair and holds the door for Emilia, walking her to the front entrance. "I suspect I won't be able to meet like this for a little, there's going to be a conflict soon and what little time we have left will have to be spent preparing for it." Once they reach the door, Odhranos glances out and westward, where Xalious looms on the horizon. "But once things settle…" Odhranos leaves the sentence hanging, there is evidently something he is not saying, but now isn't the time. "Emilia-" he starts, then he stops, settling into a gentle smile. "-thank you. For everything. Do stay safe, won't you?"

Emilia stepped up to walk along with Odh as he escorted her from the castle. Though she left with him he would find that Righty had chosen to stay behind in the office playing with the items on his desk. As they came to the exit Emilia turned to embrace her friend, should he allow it, for a tight squeeze, “I will be as safe as I can be, but you best be safe too. If you need the Healer’s do not hesitate to send word to us. We will be there.” Stepping away from him to start of her path back to the clinic she paused to turn around, “If it gets in the way send it home. If it vanishes don’t worry it will turn up eventually. If not, enjoy having a third hand. Comes in handy sometimes.” A wave, “I do look forward to seeing you again and hopefully there will not be so many moons between visits again.”