After spending most of the day shopping with Amira and her new guard friend, Zarya needed some time alone. She loved her friend, dearly and truly, but the amount of chatter coming from her…sadly, it seemed she fancied the boy, which actually wasn't all that bad. She really did deserve happiness, and watching the way Amira brightened and got slightly flushed while talking to the guard made it all worth putting up with. She couldn't spend all her time around a lowly thief, after all.
But Zarya still needed her break. And this time, she wanted to be completely alone. So while Amira was unknowingly distracting the guard, she slipped away as they returned, turning back the way they had come. A few minutes later saw her safely outside the palace walls, hoping to lose the tail she knew was following her. Palace people really didn't like watching a thief…well, steal. She spoke to Abhan as she walked, her home language falling from her lips with an almost musical sound to it.
There were times when Mishal had to expel the chaotic energy that built up inside him over time. As much as he hated using magic, it had to be done. There was a place on the palace grounds that was far away from most everything else. It was also far away from anything flammable. Once properly concealed in his nook of fire, Mishal sat as if to meditate. Instead, he became engulfed in flames. To the unsuspecting viewer, this would be an alarming sight, but to him, it was taking a deep breath after being smothered.
Zarya spent a little while wandering, slipping items and money from people's pockets and bags. There wasn't anything specific she stole, and sometimes she even swapped the item out with something else. She didn't have to steal for money anymore. Now, she did it because it was what she knew. It was right, and it was familiar, like an old lullaby a mother sang to a child.
After a while of the wandering and thievery, she found herself farther from the bustle of the town surrounding the palace. It was quieter, technically on palace grounds, but not surrounded by the walls.
Mishal sat in his cone of flame letting himself let go of his stress and worry. Well, at least as much as he could. He was lost in his memories, in his thoughts and emotions. He was dead to the world, only truly alive with himself, and even then he hid himself away, not really allowing himself to be real.
The only thing he could hear was the rushing of flame and the war in his head.
((questiooon. would his fire create smoke?))
(Mmm, I did not imagine it to. I think it’d make it more magical if it didn’t. SoI’m going to say no.)
Somehow, lost in her thoughts, Zarya failed to notice the fire until the heat reached her, a sudden yank straight out of her mind and into the real world, only for a brief time. Because soon enough she was going to be panicking. Coming to a sudden halt, she found herself frozen, unable to sing for her water, or even to think. She could smell smoke. Even though the fire in front of her wasn't putting off any smoke at all, something thick clouded her lungs, choking off her airways and bringing up memories she tried so hard to keep down.
The fire Mishal conjured was an extension of himself in many ways. Like a field surrounding him, it responded to his environment. He felt the air bend as someone approached. He opened his eyes, looking for the interruption. Then he saw Zarya, shock and distress clouding her face. She didn’t move. He dispelled the flame and stood. He waited in silence for what would happen.
She knew now. She new his only secret. Clearly she thought he was a monster. He felt the earth hold it’s breath, the wind stop. His heart beat louder as the seconds ticked by like hours.
"You-" Zarya couldn't talk. It felt like her airways were shrinking, her throat being held, choked by the imaginary smoke swirling around her. Even her affinity for water couldn't help her, her incessant panic too much. Her thoughts were…less than straight, to say the least. "You called my magic something untrustworthy. And yet-" She shook her head, hands shaking horribly at her side. "Here you are, surrounded by something-something that does nothing but destroy and kill."
Mishal tightened his jaw.
“I do not hurt anyone,” he spat. “Do you think I am pleased with this?” He flung his arm to the side allowing for a short burst of flame to appear before extinguishing. “There is only one of me, yet so many of you. Do not pity yourself, Priestess. Your kind are not regal creatures. They are a plague in the water. Luring people into falsities for the hell of it. This is my kingdom. Magic is forbidden here. I am barely tolerated. You should have stayed home. You will learn to regret your choices.”
He walked past Zarya before turning back to add, “If you dare utter a single sound about the events that transpired, I will destroy everything you have, material or intangible. Everything.”
Then he marched right back into the castle. This was the end of any diplomacy he was going to show that wretch. She was an enemy to the state, and she had to be removed as soon as possible.
"Your kind have been killing mine for so long I am one of twenty. Twenty left in this godforsaken world. Remember that, next time you call me a monster." Zarya managed to get out, just before he left hearing range. Her voice, however strained, came out strong and clear. "You do not get to decide when and where I find myself." She spun, eyes fixed on him even as he walked away. "Good luck getting rid of me, shaytan alnaar, you will find the world works more in my favor than it ever will yours. That is the upside to being a monster. Where there is fear, there is control." With that, she strode after him, turning last minute and heading along the castle, instead of into it, needing desperately to let herself panic until she broke. Sometimes, when a bone wasn't healing right, the best thing to do was break it and let it heal again. And Zarya had broken herself so many times she wasn't even the same bone anymore.
