4th Wall Shenanigans!

[markofthebrave]

[Whelp. Katara has no idea what's going on here. Suddenly, everything is crowded and there are people without wings and this isn't madness - it's LUCETI. So. She's just going to shrug and roll with it, basically.

Saturday has Katara out running errands and visiting friends, then making dinner for the house and practicing by the river in the evening.

Sunday has Katara sneaking away for a little bit and winding up in the hot springs. Masaomi's party had been a great idea, okay? And surely nothing weird would go on there, right?]

Comments

[thebellthatbinds]

[There's no response at first but sensing something or someone close to her body in Life, Sabriel returns to her body. The ice cracks as she shivers, brushing bits of icicles from her face before Katara catches her attention.]

Oh-ah-aaACHOO! [She holds the bell still through the sudden sneeze, taking a deep clear breath before looking up at Katara.]

Forgive me, I didn't think anyone was out here.

[markofthebrave]

No, that's fine. [Um. What?] Why were you all... frozen like that?

[thebellthatbinds]

I had gone into Death to make sure the thing that is chasing me has not followed me here. Which, thankfully, it has not.

[Sabriel gives a mild smile of relief although Katara's confused look doesn't escape her.]

Death is a very cold river, so that is why my body freezes over when I enter it.

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[Wait. What?]

2/3

[markofthebrave]

But you... didn't go into anything. I would have sensed it if there was another river here and... you were standing right there.

[markofthebrave]

Unless you mean you were going into some kind of spirit world?

[thebellthatbinds]

A spirit world...I guess you could say that. [she gives a soft chuckle, slipping the bell back into her bandolier and letting herself relax. The girl didn't seem to be a danger, certainly nothing Dead or Free Magic.]

The river carries the spirits of the Dead through the Nine Precincts of Death past the Ninth Gate. At least it normally does but this area is remarkably free of the Dead which is both wonderful and slightly puzzling.

[markofthebrave]

[/processing.]

Maybe that's because people don't ever really stay dead on this world. They just come back missing something a week later.

[thebellthatbinds]

...They what? [Now's her turn to be confused. Frowning softly she crosses her arms.]

It would take a strong necromancer to do that-and the people who have returned, they are...properly alive? No strange behavior or aversion to running water like this river?

[markofthebrave]

It's... not any sort of magic. It's just the way that this world works. And the people who return, they're completely alive, they're just... missing something. But after a while, they can even go and get that restored.

[thebellthatbinds]

I...well...that's good. Now what do you mean 'this world'? I'm in the Old Kingdom aren't I? Or very far South...

[Not that she recognizes any of the landscape or Katara's Asiatic features.]

[markofthebrave]

No, you're in Luceti. [She frowns and tilts her head to glance at the other's back.] But it looks like you're one of the ones who came in without wings, so you won't be here for long. You'll probably just be dropped off wherever the last place it is that you were before you got here, without remembering anything of this place.

[thebellthatbinds]

Then this will be kind of like a dream then. [How very odd, and now that she mentions it Sabriel looks curiously over Katara's shoulder at her wings.] Forgive my questions Miss, I'm a little out of sorts I'm afraid- more so if I've forgotten the basics of good manners. [With an apologetic smile she extends a hand to Katara.]

My name is Sabriel.

[markofthebrave]

Oh, that's all right. [Katara's learned how to handshake in World Sharing class! So she takes Sabriel's hand with the intentions of doing so. Hopefully that's what Sabriel was also intending.]

My name's Katara. It's nice to meet you.

[thebellthatbinds]

[Indeed it was, Sabriel shakes Katara's hand wit ha smille.] Likewise, forgive me for worrying you earlier Katara.

If I may ask, what were you doing by the river? I thought everyone was still in town milling about.

[markofthebrave]

[Oh yay, she did it right!]

Oh - I'm stuck here a bit more permanently. So I've got a house here and everything. I was just practicing.

[Like she does every night.]

[thebellthatbinds]

[Well done Katara, gold star for you!] Stuck here? Well...it's pretty nice here from what I've seen so far. There are worse places to be stuck.

What were you practicing? [Now that you've mentioned it you've got her all curious.]

[markofthebrave]

[She's sure there are, but Luceti still seems pretty bad to her. She's got a war she needs to end back home, after all.

Soo she'll just... answer the question.]

I was working with my waterbending.

[thebellthatbinds]

[Young women and wars, if it's any consolation at least Katara doesn't have to fight against the Dead when she gets back.]

Waterbending? I've never heard of that before...how do you do it?

[markofthebrave]

Well, you have to be born with the ability to do it, and then train to learn the movements, but basically it's like this...

[And so, drawing from the nearby snow, Katara converts it to water with a graceful arm movement and causes it to hover in front of them.]

[thebellthatbinds]

[Tipping her head curiously she watches as Katara explains, her eyes going wide with surprise as she draws the water up from the snow.] Wha- but you just- that's amazing! I don't even think the Clayr can do that back home! [Curiously she reaches out to give the floating water a poke.]

[markofthebrave]

[When Sabriel pokes the water it will feel just like poking water in a cup... without a cup. Katara hasn't altered its consistency.]

It's something that's pretty unique to my world. I've seen other elemental users here, but it's not the same.

[thebellthatbinds]

In my world we can use elemental spells but nothing so intricate as this with as much ease as you displayed.

[With a soft chuckle she shakes the water from her finger.]

The only thing similar that I can think of is when the Clayr sent a flood down the Ratterlin river from their glacier in the North.

[markofthebrave]

[She streams the water into her open waterskin.]

Who are the Clyr?

[thebellthatbinds]

They're a race of Charter mages, almost all of them women who have the power to See into the future and the many variations of it. Although from what I've read it's more in fragments than full visions and they often get confused as to when they are.

They live in the great glacier and the two mountains surrounding it.