And I would give all this and heaven too

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Valdis and specific starters with some open
Date: April
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: in headers


And the heart is hard to translate
It has a language of its own
It talks in tongues and quiet sighs
And prayers and proclamations
In the grand deeds of great men and the smallest of gestures
And short shallow gasps

But with all my education I can't seem to command it
And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged
And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how
I can't seem to understand it

And I would give all this and heaven too
I would give it all if only for a moment
That I could just understand the meaning of the word you see
'Cause I've been scrawling it forever but it never makes sense to me at all

Comments

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis curled a lip, not in a smile this time, mildly offended by the inadvertent dog joke.

I am a Hound, she replied, We do not abide by the laws of the angels, demons or gods. Why do you?

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita held up her hands placatingly.

"Because, as wizards, we look after Life. Not control it, or destroy it, but help it to live well in its own way, and strive to reduce entropy wherever we can."

She gestured at the graffiti around them.

"Sometimes it's preventing an apocalypse... sometimes it's just leaving the city looking a bit neater."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis snorted, a low laughter rising. That's a rather wide range. she replied.

She walked over to sniff the wall, crinkling it at the sharp smell.

You don't look like a wizard, she continued, glancing back at Nita, But I suppose I wouldn't know what one looks like.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"It is," Nita agreed, tension easing out of her at the amusement, though she still didn't lower her hands just yet.

"And we're kind of rare as it is, so that's no surprise. You can say we're always outnumbered, too," she added, making another wry face.

"You can tell a wizard more by what they do and how they do it than by their shape or species, and even that's not a guarantee."

Given the range of entropy-reducing activities and all.

[redlightgreenlight]

Quality, not quantity, is what matters most. She replied, I know that first hand.

There were only seven of her kind. Well, five now. Four if she counted only the ones without souls.

Is it magic then?

She sniffed the wall once more, wondering how long she should play, or if she should actually introduce herself.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Gotta agree on that one," Nita said.

"But as for that... it depends on how you define magic. Can wizards make what's thought impossible happen? Yeah. Does it come at a cost? Yeah."

She shook her head.

"It's not for free, we're not making something from nothing. But it's not like card tricks, either."

[redlightgreenlight]

There is magic in my world, Valdis replied, Not like yours. The magic resides only within certain races. Humans have no magic.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Hnnn..." Nita said, turning it over in her mind, regretting that she'd stayed up so late.

"It's more than humans don't inherently have magic, in the world I'm from. So I guess that's just a difference between world structures."

[redlightgreenlight]

She snorted. No two worlds are the same.

Valdis stretched back, then shook herself again.

It has been a pleasure discussing such things, she continued, But I'm afraid I must move on. You may stop by the Sentry in the morning to report this incident if you feel so inclined.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita nodded, one last affirmative for the night.

/Be seeing you,/ she replied.

When she left the alley, she did not run, but neither did she shuffle.

This was going to be one for her self-reports.