"The color? Oh…." Fiel realized what Lukas was talking about. "Yes. The, um. The color change means I'm—that is to say, it means my emotions changed." He chuckled in embarrassment, and the dawn pink in his aura turned to rose pink. After a moment, he let go of Lukas's hand so his feelings wouldn't be broadcast for all to see.
"Actually," he said. "That reminds me, I was going to apologize for doing this on you yesterday. Technically, in my kingdom, it is unlawful to use magic on another person, or their aura, without their permission, and that includes using magic to look at said aura. I think yesterday counted as an emergency situation, but I still want to say I'm sorry for invading your privacy while you were unconscious. In the future, I'll always ask before doing that, and you have the right to say 'no' no matter what."
Lukas put put his hand on Fiel's shoulder lightly, "It's fine, I don't mind really, and I do agree that it could be considered an emergency situation." he smiled softly. "honestly, I wouldn't care if you did at whenever," he shrugged.
"Well, rest assured, if I do, I'll always ask first." Fiel returned to concentrating on their flight, but couldn't help wearing a smile from the warmth in Lukas's tone. "Mostly we use our magical sight for healing, scientific study, and scouting. My mother will probably ask if she can look at your aura, since she is our most skilled medic and she likes to make sure that no one in her kingdom is suffering from something she could fix. I'm sure your aura is mostly healthy, but would you be opposed to her checking anyway?"
"not at all, I mean, as long as she shares whatever she sees" he smiled.
(I must not have gotten a ping that it was my turn- sorry)
(no worries ^^)
"She will," Fiel promised. "It's part of the process. She examines the aura and then reviews her findings with her patient so any problem areas can be addressed. Of course she only looks at the aura—she never trespasses in your actual mind—and she only shares her findings with you. There was a time when my elder brother came down with a mysterious sickness, and it turned out his aura had been infected by a malfunctioning spell. Mother was able to see this and quickly eradicated the spell and mended my brother's aura before it took any lasting damage. I don't think you have anything to worry about wit your aura, really, but I guarantee she'll know what to do if there is something."
Lukas smiled, "She is just sounded better and better, I wish she was my mother" He muttered the last part.
"What was that?" Fiel called cheerfully. "You'll have to speak up, sorry, this wind is quite noisy."
“Oh uh, just that I wish she was my mother…for some obvious reasons” he said after a moment.
"Ah….yes, I understand." Fiel quieted, thinking about that as he banked slightly to catch another rising current of air. "Well, to be honest—" He chuckled. "—my mother has a habit of unofficially adopting everyone she meets, so perhaps you'll get the experience all the same. I cannot offer you a replacement father, for none of us know who he is, but my eldest brother is already a father himself so perhaps he'll suffice for an honorary position." He was mostly joking around, hoping to help Lukas maintain a good mood. He'd forgotten that he'd never actually mentioned his father before.
"hm, you don't know who your father is?" Lukas asked, not realizing it might be something Fiel might not want to talk about. "uh- i mean, nevermind" he sort of muttered after a moment.
"It's all right," Fiel replied brightly. "It's not a secret or a bad thing. We all know my mother still visits him sometimes, and they love each other very much, but we children have never actually met him. We've asked about him, of course, but Mother will only say we can't know his identity because that would be breaking the rules of some old agreement. Apparently if anyone but Mother sees him, their marriage ends and he leaves forever." He was curious about his father, of course. The whole kingdom was. But the queen had insisted on the secrecy, and no one had ever discovered where the unknown man might live.
"wow, I love that, its like a mysterious romance, like something from a story" he sighed, "I mean, it sucks that you don't get to meet him, but I love the mystery of it all." He said. "you have such a better family then me…I can't wait to meet them"
(sorry for the wait)
"I can't wait for them to meet you," Fiel replied, a bit surprised by Lukas's reaction. A mysterious romance? He'd never thought of it that way before. But Lukas was right, it did sound like something out of an old story. He was suddenly reminded of the burning curiosity he used to feel about his father when he was younger.
But that curiosity was pointless and harmful, he knew that now. Shaking himself, he changed the subject. "Lukas, do you have any myths or interesting tales from your kingdom? Any famous heroes or legends of the gods?"
Lukas thought for a moment, “Well as a very magic lacking kingdom, most of our actual history is just gaining alliances and con Pringle’s lands…but there is one tale of someone who was magically inclined. I used to love it, I mean, I do kind of have a bit of a love for the unknown, and magic.” He smiles to himself.
"Would you like to tell me that story?" Fiel asked, scanning the horizon. "I too love old stories, and well, we have plenty of time to kill up here. Is this a true story, or a myth? As far as you know, I mean?"
"well, I have been told it is a myth, but I like to believe it was true" He smiled, "Well many years ago, there was a uh well he wasn't human, nor was he solely a magical creature. He was like a hybrid. No one knows what his name was, but when our kingdom was small and poor, he came and made everything prosper. He made peoples wishes come true, and everything was good…it is not a very good story, but we are all realist so.." he said with a small laugh, "but I like the idea of someone that was able to save everything, and did it expecting nothing in return".
"So do I." Fiel's curiosity was piqued. "You say no one knows his name….does he have any titles? People must call him something if he's still famous." He'd never heard of a magical hybrid before and the idea was intriguing.
"well, more often than not they just call him 'the hero'…i mean, I am sure he had a name, but no matter where I looked I couldn't find anything on it" he shrugged.
"Fascinating." Fiel wasn't being sarcastic. Names were very important to his culture, and he couldn't imagine not knowing the name of a famous historical figure. "So, tell me more about this hybrid. What was he a hybrid of? Human and…..what exactly? I've heard stories of secretive shapeshifters of various kinds that sometimes mingle with humans, but never any stories about an actual child of both races. Or was the magical creature some kind of spirit?" This didn't seem likely, but Fiel figured anything might be possible in an old legend.
“Well, it was never really said, though the hero was said to be blessed by many different species…but mostly that he had the power of luck” Lukas said thoughtfully, “there are a lot of different theories though”
"Luck, hm? Well, I suppose that could be possible. Or perhaps they were in the favor of some more powerful magical being." Fiel realized he was drifting a bit too high, towards the undersides of the clouds, and gently started drifting back down. He had to keep reminding himself that Lukas's lungs weren't as tough as his. "You mentioned this hero helped your kingdom grow and prosper long ago. How could he do that? Was there some obstacle he removed for them, like an enemy kingdom or a drought? Or was he simply very rich?"
"I think the story said something about him teaching us how to be independant and grow our own foods and such…although some say he also led us in battle against our enemies." he said after a moment.
"Sounds like he was quite capable." Fiel thought about that for a moment. "The stories never mentioned where this hero came from, did they? Because now you mention it, we have a story in Tarilon about a traveling stranger with mysterious powers, and to be honest it's quite similar."
"no, no one ever knew where he came from, that could be a possibility, they just say that he showed up one day." He said thoughtfully.
"It would make sense, really," Fiel continued, starting to get a little excited about the idea. "The stranger in our stories was a powerful trickster who loved mortals and often helped them out. You couldn't always trust him, but at the end of the day he was never cruel. He just liked playing games and being called a hero. He was very secretive about his name and face too! I can easily imagine him traveling across the seas and making your kingdom wealthy and powerful. Say, do any of your stories mention him wearing a mask?"
"hm, I think so, although, over the years, his appearance has been changed so many times, no one really has the same idea." He mused.
"He did that in our stories too! Often they called him the Masked One in the older books I read, so that's why I asked. The trouble with the original legends is they're very vague about the details–as if they thought people would always know who the Masked One was, so why bother explaining it? It's no surprise that his looks and supposed powers change depending on who you ask."
As Fiel was saying all this, he was watching the horizon steadily, making sure they stayed on the right course. All at once, he broke off and blinked, frowning. "Um…..did you see that?"
"see what? I wasn't paying attention sorry." Lukas said, looking around, having no idea what Fiel was talking about.
"For a moment I could've sworn…." Fiel peered straight ahead in confusion, but nothing moved over the gray water far below. "…I could've sworn I saw someone out there. It sound stupid but…." He stopped and shook himself. "It was probably just my imagination. The ocean will start to play tricks on you after a few hours, I know that well enough. Now where were we…..?"
But this time he broke off again and his heart jumped in alarm, because he'd just noticed something else that was definitely real. The sky had darkened. The wind had changed direction and become colder, more restless. And when he wheeled around to look, Fiel saw a massive tower of angry clouds building directly behind them, rushing to overtake them with frightening speed.
"Ah," Fiel said, his spirits sinking. "Lukas, hold on tight. I think we're in for a storm."
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