The Place I Call Home [Adrain] [[During T.S]]

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Adrain however was well asleep. He had chosen to be shirtless for this particular rest as his long silver hair cascaded down the elevated position he had put his torso at on the bed. An aura of energy surrounded him, causing his hair and loose articles nearby to sway ever so slightly. It would take a more obvious disturbance to rouse him from the deeper sleep.

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When Ally would not receive a response, she would titter in front of the door, unsure of what to do exactly. Lady Vanya had said he may be resting; but she was unsure as to if she was supposed to wake him up or simply leave it alone after one knock... To be on the safer side, she took in a large breath, and knocked again, much harder this time. If he were to answer, she would say as she would have last time. If not, she would return to Melda's room with the lack of response.

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Again, once more, the Archmage would sleep. He was quite the deep sleeper this one, and why not move the scene to something slightly more interesting than a tea party? Serai would keep the elven Mistress company at least. When Adrain woke once more it was deep into the night. He shook his head and cursed himself for not having brought some sort of awakening potion to keep up his fatigue. He assumed that Melda was asleep or something by now, and deciding not to trouble anyone, he stands up and dresses. He wore a black pair of trousers with Steelsilk for durability, brown boots, and a white almost pirate like shirt, rolling up the longer sleeves to his elbow. The normal mage's robe seemed out of place for now as he looked out the window to the ground and then teleported with a quick blink. The fact Serai wasn't around bothered him slightly but since the house wasn't half burned down he couldn't have gotten into that much trouble.

He walked across the lawn to the edge of the woods, knowing that Melda had mentioned there being a stream or lake or something nearby. It was a warm night with a faint breeze making it fairly comfortable as the wind caused his hair to drift. As he approached the edge of the water, he would pause and look up at the moon, his eyes lost in thought for a moment.

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When Ally returned to inform Melda that she was unable to wake their guest, Melda simply sighed and enjoyed her tea alone. As well as her dinner. Melda had spent the afternoon catching up with some of her staff, and then relaxing alone in her chambers with Serai. Once it was decently late, she readied herself for bed, and patted the mattress to let Serai know he was free to join her if he wished. 

It was late in the night when she heard a scratch at her door. She blinked her eyes open to find the large cat wanting to get out. With a sigh she opened her door, allowing Serai to leave, but before she could close it again, the cat was clawing at Adrains door. With another sigh, she made her way down the hall, slowly and quietly opening Adrains door to let the cat in. Without entirely intending to, Melda glanced in the room, and blinked in surprise. The bed was empty! She opened the door further to see if he had moved to the couch, but he hadn't. Serai had gone to the window, which caused Melda to wonder. Knowing him, he'd probably woken up and just left- not wanting to bother anyone. Melda looked down at Serai and shook her head. He calls you a troublemaker, and yet he's the one running off in the dead of night... Alright, wanna help me find him? Melda smiled and moved to exit the room, the cat slipping out ahead of her. She didn't bother changing, as her night clothes weren't incredibly scandalous this time around. She'd brought with her a baby blue gown with long flowing sleeves, and floral lace pattern on the front. The collar was sweetheart shapped, and in her younger days, she may have worn this out in public. ( Like so. )

Melda and Serai silently left the house, and Melda had no idea where they would start looking, so when Serai began walking in a direction towards the the woods, Melda shrugged and followed. She knew the area well, so she didn't see herself getting lost. She followed the cat silently for around half an hour, not minding it, since it was an absolutely lovely night. When they reached the lake she used to visit as a young girl, Meldas's eyes caught side of her guest, staring up at the moon. You know, its common courtsey to inform the host before you run off in the dead of night. Melda scolded with a soft tone.

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Adrain couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit when Melda appeared and began to scold him. He exhaled as Serai came to him and glared at him, seemingly judging him for being asleep. He runs his fingers through the tiger's fur along the neck. "Apologies...I'll stick to a more proper sleep schedule. Why are you up though, you aren't an insomniac like I am I don't imagine." he says smiling warmly at Melda.

"This is a lovely place though, I remembered you had mentioned it and walked toward where I could sense the water elementals dormant." he says, looking at the water and overhead. "It's not nearly often enough that I can appreciate pure nature, even the Arch isn't pure due to mana volume, at least you know, not without too much magical influence." Adrain says as he walks to the water's edge and channels a small water spell, a blue glow surrounding his feet as he begins to walk across the surface of the water.

He begins walking a fair bit over the water, seemingly directed to a specific spot.

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Melda smiled and shook her head. I'm only teasing, you know that. She got closer to him, looking out at the water with him. Serai woke me up- he wanted out of my chambers to see you, but when I let him into your room, you werent in there. So I followed him to you. Melda shrugged, not wanting it to be something they dwelled on. Her face was mildly flushed, so she kept her eyes on the water.

When he began speaking again, she nodded, understanding what he meant. I mentioned to you before that I always meant to come back here, I just never do... This is why. Though I do miss the people here, its area's like this one... its purity... Now Nova has its beauty, but I dont think any of it stands up to this. Not even the Castle Gardens- and that says a lot coming from me. Melda laughed lightly, bringing a hand up to move from hair from her face. As he walks out on the water, Melda smiles to herself, patting Serai on the head once as she passed him, following Adrain out onto the water. Rather than a blue glow, Melda just controlled the water with her left hand, to keep it from letting her fall in. Should she need her left hand, she would just turn the water to ice under her feet.

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"Yeah yeah, sure." he says with a soft laugh as Melda defended herself a little by indicating that she was only teasing. He listened to her talk about how she missed her land and her people and shrugged. "Well that is a problem I can probably help you solve with a teleportation item of some sort...though since the King is very...particular regarding magic it'd probably have to work like you can teleport to the Elven Lands, but to get back you have to come to the Arch and have me open a portal that way since the King at least somewhat tolerates me opening a temporary portal outside the wards." he says, walking to a spot and kneeling.

"But I do agree...I think I am very fortunate I can teleport to and from as needed. Sitting in a castle isn't really something I would enjoy particularly and the Arch is a place of splendor that I'd be loathe to spend less time at outside of something like this trip." he says with a small smile. "The land here is beautiful, in more ways than one.." he says as he reaches into the water and channels slightly, as a current of water comes from the bottom, pushing up to Adrain's hand a faintly enchanted chain, perhaps a bracelet or necklace.

"I couldn't help but to sense this, does this look familiar to you?" Adrain says, turning to Melda whom had followed and showing her the item.

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When Adrain offered her an option, she arched an eyebrow before waving him off. Oh stop. I happen to like the trip out here. Believe it or not, not everyone enjoys the destination more than the journey. But thank you for offering. She smiled at him.

Melda looked curiously as the chain emerged into view, her reaction slow. She blinked a couple of times, moving closer to get a better view. Her eyebrows furrowed and she moved to take the necklace from his hands, but stopped midway, her eyes widening and her mouth falling open slightly. It was a dainty silver chain, a medium sized locket pendant resting at the bottom. The locket was an oval in shape, a cameo decorating the top. It was a light baby blue around the rim, darkening as it reached the center, though the focus was on the white portrait on top of it. It was of a lovely woman, her long radiant hair wrapping around her shoulder down her back, an Elven ear peaking through. Her face was soft and kind, but intelligent and proud, her chin up in the air. Her eyes seemed to glitter, despite it only being a portrait in white and blue, as though they were smiling for her. Melda looked away from the locket and up at Adrain, her own eyes glittering, but with a sheen of tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.

That... you couldn't have been drawn to that... it holds no magic... Just memories. Melda sighed, resigning to the fact she would have to explain herself. She took the locket from Adrain, holding it up in the moonlight. It was from my father, originally intended for my mother. She wore it for many years before passing it down to me... I cherished this locket. But I was young and foolish, and managed to lose it many many years ago... I searched these waters for days, along with other places I frequented. She stopped, letting the locket swing in under the moons shadow. She stopped it with her other hand, cradling it in her palm as she clicked it open, a worn, faded and water-damaged photo of a couple on one side, an engraving on the other. "To my Beloved; Our love shall be eternal."

I just... I can't believe you found this. Melda spoke ever so quietly, staring at the locket with awe.

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When Melda seemed legitimately stunned at the item that he had caught from the lake. He took a look at it when Melda first motioned but hesitated, seeing the figure inside. Even without the explanation, the reaction and astonishment would indicate this was a relative, likely the mother. When she took it and explained, he nodded, handing it to Melda when she once again reached for it and looked at it.

He looked at Melda in the moonlight, overcome with emotion. She was a lovely woman, far removed from her Duchess facade right now. There was no reason to protest whether there was a magic influence or not, he distinctly sensed a magical object but it could have simply absorbed a small amount of mana over time from the water, and even the Delthalian Theory of Soul indicates objects with strong emotional and psychic attachment can gain magical properties over time.

"Well, then at least this trip will prove at least worth it to some extent." he says with a soft chuckle, not really having much else to say since Melda was overcome.

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Melda marveled for a few more moments before blinking out of it, realizing that Adrain was still there, and there wasnt much to say. She cleared her throat and brought the pendant up against her chest, a small smile on her face. T-thank you. I dont know how you found this, or what truly drew you out here, but... thank you. Her face was flush with colour, even in the dark of the night, as she moved to put the chain around her neck. After a moment or so, she brought it back down, unable to clasp it on herself.

Can you... can you help me for a moment? She asked softly, hesitantly a first. If he agreed, she would hand the pendant back to him, and turn away from him, moving all her hair over to one shoulder, exposing her elven shaped ears, slightly tinged with colour.

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"Sure..." Adrain says when Melda asked him to help her put it on. He reached around her front with the locket, resting it just below her neck as his fingers navigated around. In the dark it was a little challenging, but after a few fumbled attempts he finally gets it by glowing his eyes for extra light. As he seemed to finish, his eyes looked upon Melda's ears, the first time he may have had a very good look at them. He smiled mischievously and traced a finger along the tip of it for just a second, taking a step back to see the reaction from the elf.

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Melda stood as still as she could, her heartbeat audible to her own ears, though she couldn't figure out why. She'd only asked for his help, it wasn't like it was a big deal... She held her hair firmly over her shoulder, taking in small shallow breaths as she felt him fumble slightly with the clasp, a small smile on her lips.

When he finally let go of the chain, she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding but didn't move from where she stood, nor did she release her hair. Suddenly she felt something soft move along the top of one of her ears, causing gooseflesh to rise over her arms and neck. She turned her head, face turning pink and released her hair from her hands. It fell around both shoulders, framing her face again and covering her flushed ears. W-why did you do that? She managed to ask, bringing a hand up to touch the ear he'd touched.

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Adrain had a sly smile as he saw Melda get flustered. "It looked pokable, I wanted to see what would happen." he says simply, looking at her and chuckling a little. She was cute when she was flustered. However, the distraction of messing with Melda caused a bit of distraction, enough to lose the concentration on the spell and he suddenly submerged, abruptly flailing and having to swim to level himself at the surface, a bit shocked looking.

"...I suppose I deserve that." he says, treading water while still a bit shocked from the abrupt change.1

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Melda shook her head, flushed completely. Well, are you satisfied with the outcome? She asked sarcastically, turning her head slightly away from him. When there was a sudden splash and Melda was hit with a few drops of water, she looked back in shock, finding Adrian submerged in the water, having lost his consentration. Upon hearing his comment, Melda giggled before bursting into a small fit of laughter, her own consentration slipping away from her, landing her in the water beside him.

Ahh! Cold! Given she had been freezing the water she was standing on, the part she landed in was a bit frosty.

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In the water Adrain notes Melda was freezing a bit from her particular way of water walking. Not wishing his friend to get ill, he chuckled a little and shifted closer to her.

"Now you weren't supposed to fall in for my own mistake, let me get you out"

With that he wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her firmly against him. While brief this would be the closest their bodies had been til now. His body was firm as was his grip. Adrain thought he may have felt something small poking his torso but it could be his imagination.

In but a blink and a purple flash the two would be teleported to the shore of the lake. Adrain exhales and released Melda while at the same time conjuring a number of warm balls of fire in the air nearby. He steps away and feeling uncomfortable im wet clothes removed his shirt, beginning to try to dry it suspending it near the fire leaving his bare chest exposed to the elf. Modesty seemed less than entirely needed at least that far.

He would likely see Melda turn away and damp, noting that due to the gender standards she couldn't do the same. He would silently hold his hands up and begin to use water manipulation to slowly extract the water from Melda's gown, likely causing slight movements and rubbings as it happened.