In the years since sheād come to Kirkwall, Nostariel had rarely had cause to venture too far beyond its walls; save the occasional sojourn on the Coast, or in previous years, her visits to Feynriel, she hadnāt much bothered to explore the wilder areas surrounding the city. There was enough to do in it that she honestly hadnāt had the time.
But with the Qunari gone and uneasy peace restored, she found that she actually did have it now. And so, when sheād caught up with all the work she could possibly do at the clinic, everything outstanding for the Wardens, and still had a bit of time to herself, sheād taken to exploring. Huntress she was notāshe held no illusions that she moved through her environment with all the grace and natural aptitude of someone like Ithilian or Ash, but that wasnāt the point. She did it for the fresh air, and the time alone with her own thoughts. And sometimes, she did it for the opportunity to relax her guard a little, to let down the strict barriers of magic that even she was forced to maintain within the bounds of Kirkwall. If she felt seized by the childish urge to flick little colored sparks from her fingers, or try some spell she had not yet fully mastered, wellā¦ she could do it here, and there was no one around to hurt if she happened to exert a little too much force or something of that nature.
It didnāt take too long for it to occur to her that she was not the only one who could benefit from something like that, and it was watching Lucienās mercenaries practice one day that the idea came to her. Why should practice rings be the stuff only of warriors and roguish fighters, of archers and swordsmen? Circles hardly taught magic for the sake of combat, but that was certainly how she used it. If she was to get the most out of those moments when she practiced, it needed to be less like it was in the circle and more like what the Lions did.
She spent the better part of a week finding the perfect spot, and once she had it, she spent another few days setting it up, moving out the especially-flammable underbush in the large clearing, setting up targets, and marking the path to it with trailsigns, doubtless obvious to people who knew what to look for, but not, perhaps, to anyone else. Proud of her efforts, sheād wanted to share them with a specific someone first, someone who could make just as much use of it as Nostariel herself. So sheād made a bit of a game of it, sliding a piece of parchment under Auroraās door that morning, accompanied by a rough sketch of a map and the symbol her trailsigns used, along with a short note. Surprise for you. Follow the signs. āNostariel
And now she waited. The clearing was on the far side of Sundermont, but reachable within an hourās walk if a person knew the area. The general surroundings were forested, but not thickly, and the clearing itself ran up against the bank of a river that came down the mountain, the falls themselves crashing down not more than a quarter-mile upstream. Perfect in case of fire, which could happen, but hopefully would not.
It might be just the thing.
It took more than an hour to find her way through the forest. Her half-a-year sojourn from the city had blurred her memory of the rarely trekked forests outside. Aurora had never thought of her as the outdoors type of person, and after misreading the map and a set of wrong turns she realized how much of a city blood she was. She could hide from Templars and the like among crowded streets and lonely alleyways, but in not in between trees and in brush. The rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs accompanied every step she took, but then again there was nothing she was hiding from, not out here. Her guard was lowered there among the bushes-- it wasn't like Templars hid behind them after all. Maybe if she was lucky, Nostariel would even hear her coming and lead her to wherever she was supposed to be meeting her.
Every now and then, she found herself backtracking after walking too far without finding another symbol Nostariel had written down. Fortunately, she learned patience while living in Kirkwall and she took these minor setbacks with a click of her tongue and a shrug. It probably didn't help matters with the lax attitude she took to finding Nostariel's trail. Even in those moments where she was lost, she felt relaxed. There was nothing for her to look over her shoulder for and no secret she had to keep from the trees. Had she not found the note under her door, then she wouldn't have ventured out into the woods like this, and then she wouldn't have this sensation of... Freedom.
She'd have to thank her for that. If she could ever find her, that is.
She could, as it turned out. It just took the better part of an hour and a half, but she found her way in the end. She entered the clearing with an enthusiastic wave for her friend. "Found you! Finally. I was beginning to think I never would. I knew I should've kept left at the big rock. You know? The one that looks like Varric." She laughed, it really did. If he was blockier, and rounder... and shaven.
Aurora took the moment to observe just where Nostariel's little trail led her. "Oh, wow. Someone's been busy, hasn't she?" The clearing had been... well, cleared and just recently from the looks of it. "Hey, are those Ashton's?" She asked, pointing at the targets set up near the edge of the space.
Nostarielās answering smile was large and full of mirth, particularly at the comment about the rock that resembled Varric. At the question, though, and the accompanying gesture, she nodded. āWarded against elemental damage now, but yes, originally they were his. Iā¦ might have neglected to tell him what they were for, though.ā It wasnāt that she didnāt trust him with her secretsāthe furthest thing from it. But, in not too long from now, this would no longer be her secret, and out of respect for that, she had kept um on the reason she was lifting several of his practice targets. He had enough, anyway.
āIt came to me while watching Lucienās mercenaries the other day. They have this whole practice ring set up, Iām sure youāve seen it by now.ā It was right there on the docks, after all, next to the barracks building, which was now probably the nicest-looking building in that district. When Lucien undertook something, he certainly did not cut corners. āAnd I know thereās practice with Amalia at the Alienage, and thatās good, butā¦ itās not like we can sling around our magic when we need to practice, you know? And they donāt really teach you to fight in a Circle, soā¦ here we are.ā She looked around at the humble clearing and placed her hands on her hips. It didnāt have to be anything fancy; indeed, it was probably safer if it wasnāt. āNo Templars, no unwary civilians, no pressure to do everything perfectly the first time.ā
Aurora focused on the targets as Nostariel spoke. "I have seen it," she said about Lucien's practice ring, "It's hard to miss." The ring and the building next to it put the rest of the docks to shame, and it'd take a lot more than a good scrub for the rest to match it. Her eyebrows rose as she continued to stare at the targets, but fell in time with the corner of her lips rising. The next series of movement were fluid and seamless as she extended her arm and flung a small fireball that ignited in her hand like she would a ball. It streaked through the space between her and the targets, striking the middle most one and petering out against the wood.
"I was worried I was getting rusty," she admitted with an embarrassed smile. There were a rare few chances where she could practice her magic in relative safety. Anywhere in the city and she ran the risk of alerting someone to her identity as an apostate. She had been legitimately worried that the grasp she had on her magic was beginning to loosen. It was a skill, and like all skills it required study, practice, and time to master. Things she had not been afforded since her escape from the Circle. Instead, she tried to focus her energy on improving her mind and body, but still...
Hands threw themselves around Nostariel's shoulders as Aurora drew her in for a hug. "Thank you," she said with a jovial smile. "What would you like to try first?"
Nostariel laughed, winding her arms around her friendās waist in a brief squeeze before she released her and stepped back. āYou know, Iām not sure. Iāve always been better at ice than fire, so maybe I should brush up, too.ā She lit a small flame in her hand, weaving it delicately between her fingers, the motion almost playful. She snuffed it by closing her fist, though, and turned back to Aurora. āI want you to knowā¦ nobody is aware of this place but you and I. No one at all. If you want to keep it that way, thatās fine by me. But alsoā¦ if there are other people that you want to bring here, thatās up to you. I think there are apostate who could benefit from the practice in control, but not if it compromises what you can get out of this.ā And certainly not if the risk of compromising the location was too great. It was, after all, supposed to be a refuge, of sorts.
āBut enough seriousness. How was Antiva?ā As she spoke, Nostariel tied her hair up into a tail at the back of her head, rolling her limbs out the way Amalia had taught her to do and feeling the fade tingle at her fingertips. Another fireball bloomed with the opening of her hand, but she kept it small. For now, she wanted to practice precision and endurance, not power. Experimentally, she divided the fireball in two midair, and then augmented both until they were the size of the original. Maybe she could hit two specific targets at onceā¦
"You know, perfectly Antivan." The smile on her lips was coy, at least for a few seconds before they parted again. "Did you know I'm rich?" She said, watching as Nostariel experimented with her fireball. "Well, not me specifically, but my family. The DiMerenda Trading Company experienced a boom after the Blight in Ferelden."
Nostariel did indeed seem slightly surprised by the revelation, but in the end, all she really did was shrug and attempt to split her fireball again. āWellā¦ that might actually make things a little easier for you. Even the Templars are a political organization to some extent. If your family is prominent, even in Antiva and not hereā¦ that can only help, I suppose.ā Her eyes narrowed with concentration as she tried to control four fire spheres both independently and also at the same time, something which was much more difficult than it sounded. Thankfully, she had practice at complex spell manipulation due to the intrinsic difficulty of healing, so none of them guttered out or exploded.
"It certainly provides some options." Aurora was still watching Nostariel manipulate her fireballs, quietly impressed with the amount of control on display. She could see the gap between their experience, Aurora's formal education on magic totalling only four years in the Antivan Circle. Compared to Nostariel having been born in one, that was very little. She looked at her own hand and dipped into the fade to summon an arc of electricity. It was a small amount, to test her own control, and she let it dance in between her fingers, first arcing in between the digits slowly.
āRegardless, Iām glad you were able to see your family again. I canāt imagine they were expecting you.ā
"They weren't," Aurora admitted, "When I knocked on the door, my second oldest sister opened it. A lot of awkward staring ensued." She said with a chuckle, the lightning dancing between her fingers even faster before splitting off into two arcs. "I didn't know what to say, and she didn't recognize me at first, but it sunk in slowly. I think when she saw the scarf she realized. Then there was a lot of awkward sobbing and crying."
āIāll bet.ā Try as she might, Nostariel could not keep a little bit of wistfulness out of her tone, but she shook her head and let it pass. She had enough gifts in her life that she could not let herself lament her lack of a blood family. It was surely a wonderful thing to have, but it also came with its own issues and problems, she was quite certain. Catching sight of the little crackle of lightning between Auroraās fingers, her smile slanted up a little more slyly.
āSoā¦ how good are you with those? Or do you just punch everything these days?ā
She flung her hand out toward the targets' set up, sending a set of three sparks toward three separate targets. Instead of striking any of them, one hit the dirt yards in front of one, feet to the left of another, and scoring the tree behind the last.
"I'm... Better at punching," She said with a weak smile. But then she clutched her hand into a fist, and electricity began to pop around it. "Much better," she said with a more confident smile.
But with the Qunari gone and uneasy peace restored, she found that she actually did have it now. And so, when sheād caught up with all the work she could possibly do at the clinic, everything outstanding for the Wardens, and still had a bit of time to herself, sheād taken to exploring. Huntress she was notāshe held no illusions that she moved through her environment with all the grace and natural aptitude of someone like Ithilian or Ash, but that wasnāt the point. She did it for the fresh air, and the time alone with her own thoughts. And sometimes, she did it for the opportunity to relax her guard a little, to let down the strict barriers of magic that even she was forced to maintain within the bounds of Kirkwall. If she felt seized by the childish urge to flick little colored sparks from her fingers, or try some spell she had not yet fully mastered, wellā¦ she could do it here, and there was no one around to hurt if she happened to exert a little too much force or something of that nature.
It didnāt take too long for it to occur to her that she was not the only one who could benefit from something like that, and it was watching Lucienās mercenaries practice one day that the idea came to her. Why should practice rings be the stuff only of warriors and roguish fighters, of archers and swordsmen? Circles hardly taught magic for the sake of combat, but that was certainly how she used it. If she was to get the most out of those moments when she practiced, it needed to be less like it was in the circle and more like what the Lions did.
She spent the better part of a week finding the perfect spot, and once she had it, she spent another few days setting it up, moving out the especially-flammable underbush in the large clearing, setting up targets, and marking the path to it with trailsigns, doubtless obvious to people who knew what to look for, but not, perhaps, to anyone else. Proud of her efforts, sheād wanted to share them with a specific someone first, someone who could make just as much use of it as Nostariel herself. So sheād made a bit of a game of it, sliding a piece of parchment under Auroraās door that morning, accompanied by a rough sketch of a map and the symbol her trailsigns used, along with a short note. Surprise for you. Follow the signs. āNostariel
And now she waited. The clearing was on the far side of Sundermont, but reachable within an hourās walk if a person knew the area. The general surroundings were forested, but not thickly, and the clearing itself ran up against the bank of a river that came down the mountain, the falls themselves crashing down not more than a quarter-mile upstream. Perfect in case of fire, which could happen, but hopefully would not.
It might be just the thing.
It took more than an hour to find her way through the forest. Her half-a-year sojourn from the city had blurred her memory of the rarely trekked forests outside. Aurora had never thought of her as the outdoors type of person, and after misreading the map and a set of wrong turns she realized how much of a city blood she was. She could hide from Templars and the like among crowded streets and lonely alleyways, but in not in between trees and in brush. The rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs accompanied every step she took, but then again there was nothing she was hiding from, not out here. Her guard was lowered there among the bushes-- it wasn't like Templars hid behind them after all. Maybe if she was lucky, Nostariel would even hear her coming and lead her to wherever she was supposed to be meeting her.
Every now and then, she found herself backtracking after walking too far without finding another symbol Nostariel had written down. Fortunately, she learned patience while living in Kirkwall and she took these minor setbacks with a click of her tongue and a shrug. It probably didn't help matters with the lax attitude she took to finding Nostariel's trail. Even in those moments where she was lost, she felt relaxed. There was nothing for her to look over her shoulder for and no secret she had to keep from the trees. Had she not found the note under her door, then she wouldn't have ventured out into the woods like this, and then she wouldn't have this sensation of... Freedom.
She'd have to thank her for that. If she could ever find her, that is.
She could, as it turned out. It just took the better part of an hour and a half, but she found her way in the end. She entered the clearing with an enthusiastic wave for her friend. "Found you! Finally. I was beginning to think I never would. I knew I should've kept left at the big rock. You know? The one that looks like Varric." She laughed, it really did. If he was blockier, and rounder... and shaven.
Aurora took the moment to observe just where Nostariel's little trail led her. "Oh, wow. Someone's been busy, hasn't she?" The clearing had been... well, cleared and just recently from the looks of it. "Hey, are those Ashton's?" She asked, pointing at the targets set up near the edge of the space.
Nostarielās answering smile was large and full of mirth, particularly at the comment about the rock that resembled Varric. At the question, though, and the accompanying gesture, she nodded. āWarded against elemental damage now, but yes, originally they were his. Iā¦ might have neglected to tell him what they were for, though.ā It wasnāt that she didnāt trust him with her secretsāthe furthest thing from it. But, in not too long from now, this would no longer be her secret, and out of respect for that, she had kept um on the reason she was lifting several of his practice targets. He had enough, anyway.
āIt came to me while watching Lucienās mercenaries the other day. They have this whole practice ring set up, Iām sure youāve seen it by now.ā It was right there on the docks, after all, next to the barracks building, which was now probably the nicest-looking building in that district. When Lucien undertook something, he certainly did not cut corners. āAnd I know thereās practice with Amalia at the Alienage, and thatās good, butā¦ itās not like we can sling around our magic when we need to practice, you know? And they donāt really teach you to fight in a Circle, soā¦ here we are.ā She looked around at the humble clearing and placed her hands on her hips. It didnāt have to be anything fancy; indeed, it was probably safer if it wasnāt. āNo Templars, no unwary civilians, no pressure to do everything perfectly the first time.ā
Aurora focused on the targets as Nostariel spoke. "I have seen it," she said about Lucien's practice ring, "It's hard to miss." The ring and the building next to it put the rest of the docks to shame, and it'd take a lot more than a good scrub for the rest to match it. Her eyebrows rose as she continued to stare at the targets, but fell in time with the corner of her lips rising. The next series of movement were fluid and seamless as she extended her arm and flung a small fireball that ignited in her hand like she would a ball. It streaked through the space between her and the targets, striking the middle most one and petering out against the wood.
"I was worried I was getting rusty," she admitted with an embarrassed smile. There were a rare few chances where she could practice her magic in relative safety. Anywhere in the city and she ran the risk of alerting someone to her identity as an apostate. She had been legitimately worried that the grasp she had on her magic was beginning to loosen. It was a skill, and like all skills it required study, practice, and time to master. Things she had not been afforded since her escape from the Circle. Instead, she tried to focus her energy on improving her mind and body, but still...
Hands threw themselves around Nostariel's shoulders as Aurora drew her in for a hug. "Thank you," she said with a jovial smile. "What would you like to try first?"
Nostariel laughed, winding her arms around her friendās waist in a brief squeeze before she released her and stepped back. āYou know, Iām not sure. Iāve always been better at ice than fire, so maybe I should brush up, too.ā She lit a small flame in her hand, weaving it delicately between her fingers, the motion almost playful. She snuffed it by closing her fist, though, and turned back to Aurora. āI want you to knowā¦ nobody is aware of this place but you and I. No one at all. If you want to keep it that way, thatās fine by me. But alsoā¦ if there are other people that you want to bring here, thatās up to you. I think there are apostate who could benefit from the practice in control, but not if it compromises what you can get out of this.ā And certainly not if the risk of compromising the location was too great. It was, after all, supposed to be a refuge, of sorts.
āBut enough seriousness. How was Antiva?ā As she spoke, Nostariel tied her hair up into a tail at the back of her head, rolling her limbs out the way Amalia had taught her to do and feeling the fade tingle at her fingertips. Another fireball bloomed with the opening of her hand, but she kept it small. For now, she wanted to practice precision and endurance, not power. Experimentally, she divided the fireball in two midair, and then augmented both until they were the size of the original. Maybe she could hit two specific targets at onceā¦
"You know, perfectly Antivan." The smile on her lips was coy, at least for a few seconds before they parted again. "Did you know I'm rich?" She said, watching as Nostariel experimented with her fireball. "Well, not me specifically, but my family. The DiMerenda Trading Company experienced a boom after the Blight in Ferelden."
Nostariel did indeed seem slightly surprised by the revelation, but in the end, all she really did was shrug and attempt to split her fireball again. āWellā¦ that might actually make things a little easier for you. Even the Templars are a political organization to some extent. If your family is prominent, even in Antiva and not hereā¦ that can only help, I suppose.ā Her eyes narrowed with concentration as she tried to control four fire spheres both independently and also at the same time, something which was much more difficult than it sounded. Thankfully, she had practice at complex spell manipulation due to the intrinsic difficulty of healing, so none of them guttered out or exploded.
"It certainly provides some options." Aurora was still watching Nostariel manipulate her fireballs, quietly impressed with the amount of control on display. She could see the gap between their experience, Aurora's formal education on magic totalling only four years in the Antivan Circle. Compared to Nostariel having been born in one, that was very little. She looked at her own hand and dipped into the fade to summon an arc of electricity. It was a small amount, to test her own control, and she let it dance in between her fingers, first arcing in between the digits slowly.
āRegardless, Iām glad you were able to see your family again. I canāt imagine they were expecting you.ā
"They weren't," Aurora admitted, "When I knocked on the door, my second oldest sister opened it. A lot of awkward staring ensued." She said with a chuckle, the lightning dancing between her fingers even faster before splitting off into two arcs. "I didn't know what to say, and she didn't recognize me at first, but it sunk in slowly. I think when she saw the scarf she realized. Then there was a lot of awkward sobbing and crying."
āIāll bet.ā Try as she might, Nostariel could not keep a little bit of wistfulness out of her tone, but she shook her head and let it pass. She had enough gifts in her life that she could not let herself lament her lack of a blood family. It was surely a wonderful thing to have, but it also came with its own issues and problems, she was quite certain. Catching sight of the little crackle of lightning between Auroraās fingers, her smile slanted up a little more slyly.
āSoā¦ how good are you with those? Or do you just punch everything these days?ā
She flung her hand out toward the targets' set up, sending a set of three sparks toward three separate targets. Instead of striking any of them, one hit the dirt yards in front of one, feet to the left of another, and scoring the tree behind the last.
"I'm... Better at punching," She said with a weak smile. But then she clutched her hand into a fist, and electricity began to pop around it. "Much better," she said with a more confident smile.