Re: A Time To Heal - Makshim, Shiezin 119 4A

[Kara Winters]

Ah well... crap.... was the first thought that came to Hikaru's mind. As Huron, he never gave any other impression that he was anything other than a Fire Elf healer, and studying magic wasn't under Huron's list of skills. Granted, just because Hikaru never said... doesn't mean Huron couldn't have.

He supposed, maybe.

"Ah..." Hikaru coughed to buy himself a second or two to gather his thoughts, "Well I guess it's to be expected after all these centuries. Besides the bow, I don't have much in the way of fighting skills, so magic helps make my travels just a bit safer."

Which was all completely true.

[Nara-pyon]

"Indeed it does," Cael agreed, nodding. "Myself, I have never been of much use with weapons, in any life."

"Where did you study?" Lancaeriel asked curiously, also waking up now. "To my knowledge, such studies have not happened since the days of the druids, and that was only ever in the Four Lands, never in Arkandia."

Cael was equally confused, now that his wife had brought it up - but she had always been more in the know than he when it came to magical studies - but he didn't press the matter further. His wife's question was clear enough.

Though it did make him wonder if Huron wasn't being a bit evasive.

[Kara Winters]

Of course.... Hikaru wasn't surprise though. Until Cael mentioned about he and Lancaeriel studying magic, it felt like in this world no one 'studied' magic. This might pose a problem though, especially since Hikaru never quite figured out exactly where Huron came from.

"I learned from my family," Hikaru replied honestly, which again was true, "It really was a family affair."

Especially since he didn't study outside of the two most common magicks for race.

[Nara-pyon]

That didn't satisfy either Cael or Lancaeriel. Lancaeriel kept looking at Huron, her brow furrowed slightly with thought, until Cael nudged her ankle with his foot to draw her attention to him. He tilted his head slightly at her, questioning her with his eyes, but she shook her head and turned back to her meal.

A mug of steaming coffee in hand, Kaito came to the table and sat next to Huron. "Haaahhhhh," he breathed gleefully. "This is going to be good."

He grinned at Huron. "You want some? Better than any coffee from back home."

[Kara Winters]

This was worse than when Miyuki was studying him and it didn't help that she was studying him curiously now that Cael and Lancaeriel had asked some really tough questions.

Hikaru blinked, his brain trying to catch up with everything. Feeling a slight headache coming on, the man shook his head. Maybe it was the lack of sleep.

"No thank you," he murmured.

He was half tempted to say he preferred tea, but stopped himself.

[Nara-pyon]

"Your loss," Kaito grinned. He gripped the mug in both hands, lifted it to his lips, and took a careful sip.

From the direction of the doorway came soft footsteps and Kaede pranced into the room, as energetic as always. And she wasn't alone: Amir, his white-rooted red hair sticking out in every direction, toddled in behind her, one finger hooked on his lower lip. He looked around at everyone, and when he spotted Huron, he suddenly looked afraid.

"What are you doing out here on your own?" Wren asked the boy in surprise reaching a hand out to him.

Amir ignored her and sat down where he was, and only when Kaede came and nuzzled his cheek did he seem to relax at all.

[Kara Winters]

Hikaru knew fear when he saw it, but unless the child was very shy he couldn't imagine why the child was at all afraid.

"Is he okay?" Hikaru asked.

He wondered where the kid's parents were.

[Nara-pyon]

"Well, you are a stranger," Wren smiled. She slid out of her seat and knelt next to Amir. This time, Amir put his hands up to her and wrapped his arms around her neck when she picked him up.

"Though he hasn't acted like this before," she added when he put his head on her shoulder. "Then again, he doesn't really speak, so we have no idea what he knows or perceives."

"Actually," Khetal spoke up, looking at the boy thoughtfully, "he's something of a mystery. He is of mixed blood - Fire Elven and White Elven, by the looks of it - but not only do the two bloods show differently on him, he seems to have some innate Gifts from both sides. Unheard of."

[Kara Winters]

"I thought that when two different elves or even an elf and a human have a child there is no Gift," Hikaru commented.

He certainly observed it enough when he spent time in Caras Galadhon, though he couldn't imagine why that was. He wasn't a geneticist after all.

[Nara-pyon]

"And you are absolutely correct," Khetal agreed. "I myself am half human, half Dark Elf, and as you say, I have no magic. But of course, I'm sure you know that," he chuckled. "You've known my sister a long time, after all."

Not that they looked like they were of the same race. Kyrie looked human, he looked elven. It had always been so.

"But only in Arkandia," Wren added with a grin. "I know I don't look it, but I'm also of mixed blood and I have - well, two Gifts, it seems." She laughed. "Though I only recently discovered my second one."

It worked so different for the Firstborn and the Secondborn. It seemed the Secondborn only had a small range of gifts available to their race, while the Firstborn could have just about anything.

[Kara Winters]

"Really?" Hikaru didn't realize that Wren was somewhere completely different, "I wonder why that is..."

He always felt it was sad that innate magic was lost to a child of a mixed race and he also sometimes felt that it only encouraged that separation.

"Though magic can be unpredictable," he added, "That makes him one special little guy."

[Nara-pyon]

"You've no idea," Wren grinned, hugging Amir close.

Amir cracked a smile and snuggled against Wren's neck just as Iorlas came into the kitchen via the dining room.

"There you are," she exclaimed, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when she spotted Amir. She hurried to Wren's side and took her son from her. Amir giggled and hugged Iorlas around the neck, then planted a big kiss on her cheek. Iorlas laughed. "Silly boy. Running off while I was getting dressed."

She turned and smiled at their guest. "You must be Huron," she said warmly, holding out her free hand. "My husband, Daeron, said you were a great help in the clinic today. I'm afraid I'm no good at long sessions, so I was only in briefly. Iorlas Aldrich."

[Kara Winters]

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Hikaru greeted shaking her hand.

He was a bit surprised she already knew his name, perhaps this Dareon had over heard Ahkshi introducing him.

[Nara-pyon]

"Likewise," Iorlas smiled. "You look surprised. Well, if you stick around for any length of time, you'll soon find out that news travels very fast here and we have very few secrets from each other."

"Though the percentage of us who are family is decreasing with everyone who joins us," Wren added, "sometimes it feels like we're all family. Even if we did mostly start out as strangers."

[Kara Winters]

Hikaru nodded, "That's good, everyone can use family, related or not."

It certainly would make traveling a bit less lonely, though he hadn't thought about it in years.

[Nara-pyon]

"What about you, do you have family?" Wren asked curiously. "I mean, unless you're like Kyrie, I would guess that you're not married at the very least, but ... anyone?"

Kyrie was rather a unique person, truth be told.

[Kara Winters]

"Hmmm.... yes, I have family," Hikaru nodded, "They're just far away."

Which had always been the excuse Huron had given, and left it at that. He often let people make their own assumptions as to what that could mean.

[Nara-pyon]

"That must be difficult," Wren sympathized. "Do you ever get to see or communicate with them? My father is on a different continent, and I know it was hard for me until Lancaeriel showed me how I could speak with him."

"Where is your family?" Iorlas asked. She hadn't been there earlier when he had evaded the question about where he was from.

[Kara Winters]

Hikaru didn't know how to feel about people asking him about his family. Most people rarely did, but then again most people just assumed he was from one of the nations of Fire Elves and left it at that. Kyrie didn't count, she was by nature a private person he found, unless you asked first and offered the information (or did something suspicious) she wasn't going to out right ask.

Though he was a bit touched by it.

"My family actually lives in another place all together, so I haven't talked with them in a long time," Hikaru admitted.

It actually had been a very long while.

"Speaking of origins," he looked at Kaito who was still enjoying his coffee and then Miyuki "Where are you both from?"

[Nara-pyon]

"We're aliens," Kaito grinned, his yellow eyes gleaming cattily. His tail flickered back and forth. "We're from another planet!"

Rolling her eyes, Wren reached out and smacked him upside the head - and just as hard as Shiro would have, too.

"Ow!" Kaito protested, ducking and rubbing his head where she'd hit him. "Come on, it's not that far from the truth!"

"But still isn't the truth," Iorlas giggled at her cousin. Turning to Huron, she explained, "Kaito and Miyuki - and a few others in our group - are from a place called Gaia, very far from here. I'm sure you won't have heard of it."

[Kara Winters]

"Why you are not brain damaged yet...." Miyuki sighed at Kaito.

Hikaru admitted to be a bit amused by that though, even though the reason was a lot of Gaian reference. Speaking of which.

"Never heard that place from anyone during my travels," Hikaru agreed with a nod, "And I've traveled around a lot, though not for as long as Kyrie has been."

It was probably the first reference to Gaia he had heard since he started living here. Though that provided a chance he was going to have to file away for later.

[Nara-pyon]

"I don't know that anyone has traveled for as long as Kyrie," Lancaeriel laughed softly. "Even Cael and I used to live in one place at a time."

Cael looked at her thoughtfully. "We could settle down again, if you like," he told her. "It might be a bit awkward at first, but I'm sure my new family would love to have us stay with them. Or Caras Galadhon, interracial couples are welcome there. Or we could go back to the Four Lands."

Lancaeriel smiled and put one hand on his arm. "Thank you," she murmured, "but these people are more like family now than we've ever had around us. And honestly, I do like this life - at least for the present."

Cael smiled and relaxed. Clearly, he liked their nomadic lifestyle, too.

"Well, I'm going to put on some tea for myself, and some hot chocolate for Amir," Iorlas announced, heading towards the counter. "Anyone else?"

"I'll have some tea," Khetal nodded.

[Kara Winters]

"Tea for me as well please," Hikaru spoke up and perked up at the idea.

Miyuki blinked for a moment before replying, "I would like some tea as well please. Do you need any help?"

The kitsune swished her tails lazily.

[Nara-pyon]

"I wouldn't mind any help at all," Iorlas smiled at Miyuki. "Thank you."

Lancaeriel was looking at Huron, very confused. "You're familiar with tea, not the medicinal drink?" she asked him. "It's only since meeting Miyuki and Kaito and their family that I've ever heard it called that."

Cael frowned. Now that he thought about it, it was known as an herbal drink on this continent, no matter the language.

[Kara Winters]

Miyuki hummed happily as her tails continued to swish, she liked making tea. Mainly because it allowed her to focus on other things. Like picking apart what Huron had been talking for the last while, or the magic he gave off. She out got the kettle and began to fill it with water.

Hikaru blinked, he recalled his first run in with this world's version of tea, that was a bad run in now that he thought about it. Thankfully he learned from it, but he also learned to not call anything but that thing tea. So a part of him wanted to just groan and hit his head on the table. Clearly he needed more sleep, or tea, but sleep was good too. Besides, most places it was just herbal tea, not the tea plant, and certainly no place produced green tea.

It also worried him because he read Miyuki's body language as her having figured something out or being pleased. Both was never quite good when it came to kitsunes. Besides he actually had no good excuse for knowing the term 'tea'. For reasons not known to him, the tea plant here was know by it's part by it's Gaian genus name caemllia, which explained why no one called a drink made from the tea plant tea, because that's not what people called the plant here. How the medicinal drink ended up being called tea, was another thing he had no idea how that happened.

"I am.... I've called it that for a long time, but that's because the plant used to make the drink is called tea by my family," Hikaru explained, "Though most people would be more familiar with caemilia plant."

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