A Winter Outing

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"As is the way any love or marriage should be. I do hope that whatever happens, you end up happy with your decision instead of getting a more Nova-esque treatment in that regard." Adrain says in response to the comment about Lucinda's quirks and being accepted as it was. As far as Adrain could tell, that should be very easy as Lucinda was rather pleasant at a first blush. He nodded in response to the apology, not wanting to dwell too much attention on that and to let Lucinda's awkwardness fade more quickly.

"The concern of the gorge's mana is indeed not a worry, though I've always found it odd that sometimes people refer to mages as powerful in the sense that we learn what we learn for the sake of figuring out how to blow up things on a larger scale. The art of magecraft is one where we seek to utilize the power of Mana for the benefit of all, to seek the truth of all things." Adrain says then exhales with a soft smile and a sigh. "But that's just my idealism speaking again, I apologize. I appreciate the compliment, I just do worry quite much people get the wrong idea at times due to the rare bad apples that have been known to crop up."

"I think you will like it, you have an appreciation for the wonder of the world around." Adrain says as Lucinda expressed looking forward to the Arch tour. At this point, a small hole in the container of the gems in Adrain's arms had a small green gem sticking out of it. The mage wasn't quite aware as the whole time, the gem had slowly been sliding out. It is now that the gem finally slips out, bounces a few times and lands behind Lucinda. It cracks as the contained mana erupts and a powerful gale blows behind Lucinda in the direction of Adrain. The petite princess would likely be launched in the air into the direction of Adrain, colliding with the mage and causing both to tumble onto the floor, Lucinda on top of Adrain.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda looked puzzled at Adrain's comment. "That makes some sense but what are you referring to as 'Nova-esque treatment?" she wondered, not knowing much about how Novian relationships and curious as to the difference. She was grateful when he let her apology go, clearly accepting it, but allowing the topic to die out and save her further embarrassment.

Adrain's small idealism speech was an additional welcome topic change that she found she rather agreed. "There's no need to apologize. I've seen magic used for beneficial acts rather than just blowing things up but you're right that it's the latter people usually think of first. It's not fair really. Magic seems to have so much potential, I think it would be great if we could use it more to help our people," Lucinda said, pulling from what little experience she did have around magic and what she'd read in a few books. People feared what they didn't understand so their mindset towards magic seemed to her to be similar to what they thought of the Fated. That was an entirely different line of thought though for another time.

Lucinda smiled at Adrain's compliment. "Thank you. I think I probably will too. It's outside the main city, is it not? I think I remember seeing it on a map of Nova. Is it really a giant tree?" she asked, curious. The excitement on her face was quickly replaced with puzzlement at the sound of the gem hitting and then bouncing along the floor. "Did you hear..?" she managed to get out before it cracked and a gale force wind exploded in the store, right behind the princess. Several of the closest shelves and racks went toppling over, spilling spelling supplies everywhere. The robes fell over, blanketing the floor and cushioning the fall of the potions, though not enough to prevent one or two from likely breaking.

Her efforts to resist the wind were futile and she shouted in surprise as it basically sent her flying through the air, hair and skirts tossing violently. Lucinda collided with Adrain, as they both hit the floor, leaving her collapsed on the mage. The princess pushed herself up into a sitting position and desperately worked to get her hair out of her face so she could see. "Adrain? What was that?" she asked, unaware of her current location with her skirts all tangled as they were.

[Deleted]

"Just the strictly organized betrothal thing that nobility does, that's all." Adrain says with a shrug when Lucinda asked what he meant. Before Adrain could react to the question, the gem had fallen out of the bag and caused havoc to be let loose. Adrain could barely raise one hand to try to catch Lucinda but the bag of gems under his arm was also a concern to not have the whole thing shatter. He is taken down by the princess as he then lays dazed for a moment.

Only after Lucinda asked what it was, Adrain stirred slightly, his hand on Lucinda's waist from the attempt to catch her.

"...That was Sage using a cheap sack and a wind gem falling out and exploding.." Adrain murmurs, looking up and realizing more that the princess was atop him. Her hair was a mess as were her skirts, and he probably was looking at her a moment too long. She was basically a featherweight, and the image was lovely enough at this angle. He snaps out of his gaze for a moment before removing his hand and then laying his head slightly.

"Are you alright?" he asked at long last. After a moment, he shouts to the back.

"Hey, Sage! Use a real leather sack next time that doesn't have holes in it, you're gonna need to use your reorganizing spells." he says, mildly exasperated.

[Lucinda Noru]

Adrain's explanation made sense but she didn't realize those gems were that powerful.Lucinda pushed her hair out of her face about the same time that she felt the warmth of Adrain's hand on her waist and finally looked down, catching him staring foe a moment, and her face blossomed into a lovely shade of red. "Yes, I'm alright. I'm sorry you ended up cushioning my fall," she murmured, looking around at the mess. "Watch out for these spilled potions," she pointed out in a very captain obvious manner, despite the fact that she still had the mage pinned to the floor.

"Thanks for catching me, Adrain. Ah, here. Hang on, I'll move,"Lucinda muttered, taking in the situation at hand. This was not exactly how she had imagined she would end meeting the Headmaster of the Arch of Ages. She certainly couldn't say it was boring though. As Adrain yells back at the shop keeper, the princess looked back down at him. "This probably isn't how you expected your day to go is it?" she asked. Having somewhat untangled her skirts at this point, she attempted to stand, only to realize her cloak had gotten caught around Adrain in the fall. Lucinda lost her balance and landed flat on her ass, this time at least on the floor beside the mage, and sighed.

[Deleted]

"Oh, it's quite alright. Just glad that you didn't get hurt or anything in the chaos. Unfortunately, the shop proprietor has been known to use cheaper sacks at times to cut a few coins off the costs, but you'd think that ordering a hundred and fifty wind gems for Arch classes, he could afford to make sure we get the durable ones to make certain the potent gems don't have precisely this happen." Adrain says with a small sigh.

He watched as Lucinda tried to get up, but looking down, he saw the robes were probably going to cause a likely fall again. He placed the bag of wind gems down and as Lucinda began to fall, he reached up to grasp either side of her waist before she hit completely hard on her ass.

"Just take your time, don't worry and don't be embarrassed, things happen." Adrain says with a more comforting, softer voice, releasing his grip once Lucinda seemed able to stand on her own. The mage then looked at a patch of shadow in the corner and disappeared, reappearing standing up in the corner. He walks back over and picks up the bag of wind gems as he sighed at the mess. He holds a hand up as things begin to revert to the previous state they were at, as air magic levitates fallen items back into place and the broken potions begin to be pushed into the corner.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda nodded, an annoyed look settling on her face as Adrain explained that the fault was in the shop keeper. "I see. No, thankfully, I am uninjured. Though I agree, you'd think he could have afforded you a leather satchel, at least" she said, working not to let her inner Noru out.

The lost of balance helped with that quite well as she got caught up in the robes and Adrain reached to grab her around the waist, helping to break her fall. "Thanks, again," she said, smiling. Lucinda took a deep breath, nodding when he told her to take her time and not worry, and not be embarrassed.The princess worked to finish untangling herself, managing to stand just as Adrain disappeared. She looked around, surprised, and jumped a little when he appeared up in the corner. "How did you do that?" she asked, before watching as everything magically began to clean itself up. The princess grinned, looking on in amazement. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "It's really good of you to help clean this up, Adrain, considering it's not your fault,"the princess added, smiling. She found his willingness to help a very admirable quality indeed.

[Deleted]

Adrain sighs as he then collects himself to calm from the initial excitement of the windstorm.

"I am probably being a little harsh. I forget sometimes that Sage is getting up there in his age, and as such may have overlooked it. He is a good man, just letting senility begin to replace his eccentricity." the mage says, bringing down his initial annoyance with the shop owner. As the mage startles Lucinda with his shadowstep, he shrugs.

"People are naturally born with an affinity to one element typically, rarely more than one. My natural affinity is with Shadow which covers the domain of darkness, light manipulation to an extent, souls, necromancy, and a few other disciplines. I don't dabble in the necromantic arts though, I find that distasteful...mostly its just darkness abilities I pull from that. I can hop between shadows effortlessly as one example." Adrain says calmly.

As Lucinda expressed approval at cleaning up the mess, he nodded. "Like I said, Sage is a good friend of mine and I don't mind once the initial frustration wears off of a mishap like that. When it comes to magic, there are quite often those who are forgetful of things as with anything else, and Sage will have to deal with actually making the prices and displays right again, he'll probably summon his air elemental for that." he says as he continues to articulate the magic cleaning up the place. A few minutes later, the merchandise and cases fallen over would be back up though the items aren't perfectly where they should be. The destroyed potions and other damaged things are put into a pail near the backroom as Adrain then exhales a little afterward. He rubs his right shoulder reflexively as the pain of using complicated mana bothers him for a moment.

"I really should go to the springs soon...I'm still feeling it from when I destroyed that damn cloud." he says with a slight sigh, partially explaining why he winced a little.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda made a small sound of understanding as Adrain explained about the shop keeper. "Well, He certainly cannot help it if his mind is not as sharp as it once was then," she said, sympathy coloring her tone. She casually fluffed her skirts, brushing them off along with her cloak and running her fingers through her hair.

The princess listened, at first intrigued with Adrain's explanation, but visibly tensing when he mentioned souls and necromancy and relaxing quite considerably as he assured her that he found such things distasteful. "That sounds fairly useful, overall. That's all people though? How does a person know what element they might be affiliated with?" Lucinda asked curiously. "You must be a powerful mage, though, to be the Headmaster at such a young age. Surely, you're proficient with other elements as well?" she added, unknowingly giving the man two compliments.

Lucinda noticed as Adrain winced and moved stand closer to him, looking at him with worry marring her blue eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, then looked surprised when he explained why he was hurting. "You helped with the red cloud?" she asked, surprised. "I wasn't kept informed on the details of what was going on here while I was away in Palico," she added, a sort of bleak look coming over her.

[Deleted]

"Well those who wish to pursue the magical arts can undergo various exercises to learn information about their magical aspects. For some, meditation works to bring them to a mental state that aligns with their element. Others have it manifest dramatically in a moment of desperation or great need. Others yet simply try various spells and figure it out by trial and error. A method I invented is a device that one wears on their hand, a mana amplifier. It makes it far easier to manifest mana when one does not know how to do so but relies on a strong enough will to look inside themselves and allow it to surface." Adrain says then approaching the second question.

"As arrogant as it may sound to say it aloud, I am something of a prodigy with magic, yes. I can utilize all elements. Once a mage has mastered the basics of magic and their inherent element, they can learn other schools by figuring out how to convert mana to another element. This is a somewhat challenging task at first but grows easier with effort, but a renewed effort must be made for each additional element a mage wants to master. My title previous to becoming Headmater was Archmage, which is reserved for those who attain that level of mastery." he says, then feeling very self conscious. He wasn't one to brag if he could help it.

As Lucinda expressed concern, he smiles and waves it off.

"That whole affair was unpleasant, I doubt you want to hear a lot of the details. The short of it was that when I identified the fog was creating the undead, I realized that the only way to not have the kingdom end up overrun was to destroy it. Thus...I did so with a spell of a power one alone isn't suppose to attempt. It was a touch painful as the sheer volume of mana halfway ripped my body apart in a few places and all of my muscles were worn in a way such one were doing strenuous labor for a full week. It is better though, all things considered. A skilled healer was able to undo the worst of the damage after the fact. At the very least, the town is pleasant enough for a pleasant woman like yourself to still come to it." he says, shifting the subject from seriousness to flattery, complete with slightly cheesy smile.

[Lucinda Noru]

Lucinda looked rather interested as Adrain explained about how a person finds their element. "It sounds like a lot of hard work for those that choose this path, though I can see it's clearly not without its benefit. So, this device, this mana amplifier, you invented it yourself?"Lucinda said, sounding rather impressed.

"You know, I didn't realize you had two titles. I'd say that makes us about even honestly, though yours are, admittedly, more impressive. You earned yours, through very hard work it sounds like," the princess said, smiling gently. She was attempting, in her own way, to help him feel more comfortable. Clearly, she wasn't very good at it though.

The topic changed seemed to be a welcome one as Adrain told her a summarized version of the events which had plagued the city. It wounded quite disastrous. "That's terrifying! As horrible as it is to say, I'm very glad I wasn't here. I would have been less than useless and in the way. You though. it sounds like you helped save the city, at great risk to yourself. I'm grateful to you and that healer. Really, you wouldn't know at all by looking at you that something so violent had occurred," Lucinda said, "Speaking of this pleasant town. I haven't seen much of it, honestly," she added. The princess gave Adrain a playful grin to complement his cheesy smile.

[Deleted]

"Yes, it was a novel invention to try to simplify the process of screening apprentices and those who wanted to know their elemental potential. It also provides a small boost to spellcasting and the concept can be scaled up to have more output on those lines." Adrain says, then laughing slightly when Lucinda poured more praise on the Archmage.

"Lucinda, I thank you for your generous praise, but you need not swoon over my magical abilities so much. I'd much rather hear more about you than rattle on about my achievements, it makes me sound narcissistic to go on too much about it." he says with a small smile. "Do you have any other skills or abilities you haven't mentioned so far? Any hobbies of note?"

"I'm glad you weren't here, the sights that day are unfit for eyes such as yours whom deserve naught but beauty. As far as my contribution goes...well, lets just say I did what had to be done to avoid the worst fate for the innocent here." he says, trying to shift attention away from it. He didn't want to really state the fact and draw more attention that he essentially broke the siege by denying Helena her reinforcements and animation as well as attacking the Goddess herself to a point she was vulnerable to a physical blow from a sword fighter which ultimately led to her retreat. The pain of that day and that spell's backlash on his body was hard to state, but to simply do so what likely evoke sympathy or some other similar line of thought from Lucinda. He didn't want the princess to worry or think about that too much, but rather for her to feel enjoyment.

"Well, the town is just coming off of Midwinter's formal holiday where gifts are exchanged. The decoration and festivities will likely last a bit longer yet in varying capacities. You can potentially get some of the holiday dishes such as the Peppermint Cocoa from some of the shops in the area." he says, glad to move on to the subject of the city in the non undead sprinkled light.

[Lucinda Noru]

"Well, who knows, maybe I'll end up needing one of your amplifiers some day," Lucinda said, smiling. All this talk about magic was very intriguing. She certainly wouldn't be the first Noru to take interest in magic but. "It's a real shame, Uncle Noku's take on magic. Even him and Jeon don't really get along because of it, you know," she added, carefully stepping around the freshly picked up racks to join Adrain on the opposite side of the shop.

Lucinda cringed a little on the inside when Adrain pointed out her swooning. By the gods, she was too! Like some lost little school girl with a crush on her teacher. "Please, accept my apologies for making you feel uncomfortable, Adrain. Aside from Aria, I don't generally get to hear about such exciting things or know really anyone else that's done much more than plot and dictate to others. You might not believe this, but nobility are very boring overall. but, ah, don't tell anyone I said that," the princess said, lowering her voice a bit towards the end and looking up at the archmage.

Adrain's reminder of the holiday had Lucinda going blank faced. "I did forget it was still, technically, midwinter. Oh but you asked about my hobbies didn't you? Hm and a peppermint cocoa does sound good. Perhaps I could enlighten you over a hot cup? Do you know of a good place for one?" Lucinda asked, then seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh but you came here on a mission of sorts too. The wind gems right? You probably need to get back." she said, sounding somewhat disappointed. At this point, she casually made her way over to the counter to pay for the cloak and two potions.

[Deleted]

"Perhaps you will." Adrain says with a small chuckle, then exhaling slightly when the subject of Noku's take on magic came up once more. "Hopefully, he will open up and be more accepting of it if he can see the infinite potential".

Adrain laughed at Lucinda's extravagant reaction to being accused of swooning. "Oh it's alright, really, I just don't want you to feel like you have to lavish me with attention and compliments, isn't it supposed to be the other way around when dealing with a beautiful princess?"

Smooth.

"I suppose I could indulge my lady in a cocoa, the trip back to the Arch can wait a little bit since there is Winter Vacation right now, this is just trying to get ahead of the curve and have everything out of the way before the entrance exams for the next semester." Adrain says, waiting by the door for Lucinda. "There is a bakery shop a short walk away that also sells cocoa so that should work."

[Lucinda Noru]

"Perhaps," Lucinda replied simply in reference to her uncle. Only time would tell and only with more exposure, the good kind. She let that subject drop, though, smiling as Adrain laughed at her reaction. She blushed at his compliment but laughed anyway. "I suppose you have a point, at least as far as all the fairy stories go," Lucinda agreed lightly, realizing perfectly well what Adrain did there.

His next words had her face lighting up though, despite the tiny bit of guilt that showed for a second as he mentioned delaying his trip. "The bakery sounds wonderful, but, I'd hate to keep you if you really need to go," Lucinda says, biting her lip a little as she exits the shop. "So these entrance exams. They're for new students applying to the Arch?" the princess guessed, then seemed to remember something. She turned to her guards and made a backwards wave with her hand. "I don't want to draw attention to us, don't follow so close," she instructed.