Teach me Telamon

Lupecyll-Atlon home, afternoon

The weather is... well, it's not wretched, but it's cold and there's plenty of snow. The streets are being laboriously cleared by teams of powerfully built oxen, along with some of the city's resident spellslingers to supply a magical hand as needed. So the roads are passable, but it's clear winter has its hands firmly around Alexandria.

But, that doesn't mean misery necessarily. The comfortable house in the University District is one such place, smoke issuing from its chimney and the porch swept clear of snow. A haven from the biting wind. Inside, Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon is indulging one of his vices; in this case, reading a good book. A pile of blankets sits on the couch next to him, though he's dressed casually in a wool tunic and trousers, with light shoes.

The weather may not be terribly pleasant, but Auranar had braved it in any case. She carries in hand a basket of baked goods as well as a gift for Pothy - as promised. The wild elf is dressed down today. Instead of the bright colors that usually accompany her, she is wearing a dark purple dress, and a cloak of black that is fur-lined to keep her warm. She's even wearing dark gray gloves and shoes.

She hurries a bit as she spots Telamon and Cor'lana's home and when she gets there she gives the door a firm but polite knock. Then waits, humming softly under her breath a half-breathless tune and hoping that she doesn't have to wait too long.

Telamon's head comes up at the knock, and his brow furrows. "Hm." Placing a ribbon in the book for a bookmark, he rises from the couch, crossing swiftly to the door. He opens it a few inches at first, before fully swinging it open. "Auranar!" he greets her with a smile. "What brings you here? Please, come in -- the fire's stoked and I have tea brewing."

Once she steps inside and Tel shuts the door, he says, "I'm afraid Lana's stepped out with Pothy for some errands. She mentioned a new recipe she wanted to try -- something from Mictlan, I believe."

Auranar smiles in relief when the door is quickly answered, nodding her head in polite greeting to Telamon. "Hello!" The word follows her into the house. "I - thank you. That's very kind."

Whatever she'd been about to say is lost as she takes a moment to shake the snow from herself and revel in the warmth. She takes her cloak off and looks for a place for it. "I actually came to visit you. Though I brought Pothy his tithe of course." She lifts her basket a little and flashes a grin. "I hope I'm not intruding?"

Telamon takes the cloak, hanging it next to his own coat by the door. "Aura, I owe you. You are -never- intruding." The starry-eyed sorcerer smiles at her genuinely. "But thank you for bringing Pothy some treats. He'll be thrilled."

Once the snow is brushed off and disposed of, Tel escorts Aura into the living room. He gestures, apparently to empty air -- there's a faint susurrus of motion, and then a pair of teacups come floating out from the kitchen to sit on the table.

The sorceress smiles, but looks embarrassed just the same. "You don't owe me anything Telamon. You or Cor'lana. We're friends." She says this easily, and allows herself to be escorted to the living area where she finds a comfortable seat. There's something almost hungry in her gaze as she watches Telamon's casual casting and the resulting magical force which brings her a tea cup. Carefully she sets the basket aside and watches Telamon until he's taken a seat himself.

"I've come... I've come to beg a favor of you Telamon. I..." She looks a bit upset suddenly, and she looks down to her hands clasped in her lap. "I don't know what else to do. I need... I really need help. I can't keep on the way I have."

The teakettle comes lofting out next, and pours a cup of tea for Aura and Telamon, before floating back into the kitchen. Telamon, on the other hand, lets the smile fade a little bit as he perceives his friend's worry. "First off, you don't -ever- have to beg anything from me, Aura," he says firmly. "So put those words away. I... assume this is in relation to your own talent, as I like to call it? You want to know more, -be- more?"

She nods, looking up finally. "I just... I can't seem to make it any further than my basic studies. I need to learn more, learn better." Auranar is clearly upset, even more so - someone with Telamon's tallent for reading people, who knows her well enough to read her - can tell that _something_ has upset her. Something has happened to bring her to his door in such a state. Something more than a mere desire to learn. "You make it look easy Telamon, and I envy you that. So I thought if you could teach me?"

Telamon rubs his chin. "Maybe. I've done a -lot- of studying, and working with the Shining Chalice. Talent... varies from person to person. I can give you guidance and suggestion, but I don't know if I can teach you like wizards can teach each other. Some of the work has to happen in here." He taps his brow.

"But, if it comes to 'would I teach you?', the answer is yes." Tel sits back, thinking a bit. "How do you cast a spell? Don't cast, just... tell me how you conceive of it."

Auranar nods. She understands this and she knows that there's no 'easy' solution. His question however makes her think very seriously. One hand moves as she talks, weaving through the air. She doesn't cast anything, but rather she can't help but move a little thinking about how the spells come to her. "It builds up inside at first. Like a light inside my body. I feel the energy thrumming through me and I... I let it come out my fingers and my lips." She thinks about this description and she looks down. "It's no wonder that I don't know many spells, I'm just acting on instinct. None of the motions or words that I read in theory seem to be _right_ when I do it."

Telamon looks pleased. "A good start, though. You're realizing what the problem is. You need to be shaping and focusing that light. Like..." He pauses, groping for an image. "Like you're cooking. Forming a dough. I know this seems silly, but... well, if it works, is it really?"

He grins, leaning back. "When I started, it felt a lot like I was flailing a bit. Over time, I learned to 'reach for the stars' mentally, plucking down the ones I needed to craft a spell. It's not the same, but it's not -too- dissimilar."

The sorceress thinks about Telamon's description for a moment then smiles. "I like that description. Most people don't know how hard it is to form dough. But... I think I know what you mean. That makes sense really." Auranar hefts a smile and relaxes subtly. "Honestly I was starting to think that I was hopeless. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that feels like I'm just flailing about." She chuckles.

He takes a sip from his tea. "I never thought you were hopeless. But talent, as I like to call it... it's like art, really. There's some interesting treatises about how bardic magic works versus sorcery, and the similarities. Doesn't hurt that many sorcerers do have artistic bents -- Lana writes some very good poetry, after all."

Tel continues, "But the point I'm somewhat laboriously getting to is that it requires practice. Releasing power uncontrolled and unshaped may -look- impressive, but it's not really all that effective."

Auranar nods to this as well. "I guess... I've done so much _research_ and I should have been trusting my own methods. Practicing as you said. I should have realized that my magic isn't going to look like someone else's." She hefts another sigh and then laughs. "All I need now is to find someone who worships Eluna and I'll be on the right path!"

Telamon grins broadly. "Don't knock research. It's a good way to get your mind moving in new directions. But you have to balance it with practical experimentation. Guild jobs are a good starting point -- see if you can tag along and try to shape that light into more tangible effects."

He raises an eyebrow at the last bit, and coughs. "Well. Ah..." He reaches into his tunic, and removes a small silver chain. Dangling off it is a small silver pendant, a crescent and sphere. "...I won't pretend to be as well educated as, say, Sir Seldan Padaryn, but I did take up Ni'essa Sky-Singer's mantle recently."

"I'll do that!" Auranar nods, ready and willing to take Telamon's advice. That's why she'd come here after all. She seems about to say something else when he pulls the chain out and her eyes widen. "Ni'essa's blessed light!"

It's a mild expletive, but she doesn't seem to realize that she's said anything. "I... You know what Telamon. Sometimes you think that you're not meant for anything, that you're a failure and that everyone around you is foolish for propping you up and then..." Her eyes water a little. "The gods reach out and tell you that you're special."

She coughs her tears back and reaches into a pocket. From it she pulls a little wooden statue and places it on the table between them. It's a statue of a lovely woman. "It's the totem made by Eluna, and it was entrusted to me... I'm sure now so that I could entrust it to you."

His reaction is... perhaps not all that's expected. Tel's brows come together in puzzlement at Aura's declaration, and he opens his mouth to probably argue, to insist that such talk is absurd -- and then she plunks down one of those statues.

And Telamon actually shrinks back a little from it. "Aura..." He coughs, grabbing his teacup and knocking back the contents. "Aura, why are you offering me this? Did... no, you might not have heard about what happened."

He makes a rather sharp gesture, and the unseen servitor drifts back in to refill the teacups. "I found one of these. Well, Dirk found it, then Zalgiman took it from him, then Cor'lana got it away from Zalgiman, and then it landed in my hands." He bites his lip. "But... we hadn't exactly been -subtle- about it, and Zalgiman started raising hell over it with the authorities. I didn't want them coming after Lana, so I brokered a deal with the Watch to have the totem placed in the Temple of Daeus for safekeeping, until we could determine its pedigree."

Tel stares into his teacup with a bitter expression. "And someone walked in, and walked out with it. Wearing Lana's appearance, I might add. Some guardian I was."

Auranar looks intently at Telamon. "I'm not wrong Telamon. The goddess came in a vision saying that I should be entrusted with it, but only until I found the right person to have it. I thought that there was no one I trusted who worshiped the Sky-singer. I thought I'd have to give it to some stranger. But here we are. You're one of the people I trust most Telamon. Who else could I possibly give it to?"

She picks up her cup of tea and firmly takes a drink. Unswayed by his explanation of why he shouldn't be trusted with it. "You learned from that experience didn't you? Besides, I'm giving it to YOU. Not asking you to give it to a temple, not asking you to entrust its safe-keeping elsewhere. I'm giving it to you. And I trust that as long as it's in your hands that it will not be taken by the forces arrayed against us lightly."

Telamon's eyes move from the teacup, to the totem, and then to Auranar. "I..." he starts, then stops. It's been a long time since anyone has seen Telamon this discomfited and vulnerable. He swallows, and his voice is a little rough. "Don't you ever run yourself down, Aura. Not ever again." Reaching up to rub his hand over his face, before he continues speaking.

"I met her, you know. I mean, not -her-, but her avatar. In the Desolation, where she'd fallen." Tel offers a slightly wry grin. "She was sleeping, and Lysos awakened her with a kiss. Ever since then, I've felt it was a matter of time before I came to Ni'essa. Not as a priest, but as someone who would venerate her."

He exhales. "She came to you in a vision, and told you to bear it to one of her faithful. The least I can do is take you off the hook, I suppose." He reaches out, and places his hand on the totem.

"Seldan actually." Auranar has the grace to look embarrassed at the slight misunderstanding as to who had been given the vision. She glances down at her tea, silently promising to try to listen to Telamon's advice. Too often did she think little of herself. Nothing big or strange happens when Telamon touches the totem, and Auranar lets out a little breath and a nervous laugh. "I... I think you have to attune it to yourself to... get a reaction. The totems seem to require a bit of mortal sacrifice to get going. But you may want to wait until you're alone. I also think that they react more strongly if there is more than one person who worships the deity in close proximity. There was a... very powerful vision when I gave the totem to Seldan. - We were both touching it and I had attuned it."

Telamon looks embarrassed. "Oh. Right. Well... thankfully, Lana follows Vaire, so we shouldn't have that kind of feedback. But I'll wait for her before I try this. It might be safer to have her around, rather than just Jyndei."

Wait, what?

At that, the blankets on the couch shift a bit, and a small orange head pokes out, large luminous eyes gazing at Auranar curiously. Telamon gives Jyndei a firm look. "No discussing this outside these walls, Jyndei. It's serious." The little faerie dragon nods, and replies in a squeaky voice, "As you will it, Lord Lupecyll."

Tel's eyes meet Aura's, and he grins. "Sorry. Houseguest."

Auranar blinks at the little head that pokes up and then she grins widely at the little creature. She doesn't have the best view of it, but it's large luminous eyes make it look _utterly_ adorable. "AWE!" She declares, placing her cup on the table and clasping her hands together. "Hello! I didn't know you were here! Do you eat scones? I brought scones!"

She hasn't in the least forgotten about the totem, but she's at least distracted from the conversation for the moment.

Telamon picks up the totem, staring at it a moment. What's going through his head is hard to say, he's good at hiding his thoughts when he's not completely discombobulated. But he exhales again, and sets it back down on the table. Smiling at Auranar's reaction to the 'houseguest'.

Jyndei, for his part, wriggles out of the swaddled blankets, revealing himself to be a very small, orange dragon with butterfly wings that flex a moment before folding against his back. His voice is pitched high, as Jyndei responds to Aura, "I eat many things, but scones are very good. I do not wish to eat them all, though, because Pothy is a good friend and he likes to eat good things too."

Auranar beams at the little dragon, "I brought a whole container of roasted peanuts just for him, so I bet he wouldn't mind _too_ much if you had just one." She unwraps the top of the basket and reveals a large selection of scones as well as the promised roasted nuts. The wild elf smiles a smaller smile at Telamon. "You're welcome to one as well Telamon, after all I brought them for you and Cor'lana."

Jyndei settles on his haunches, peering into the basket and sniffing with interest before deftly picking out a blueberry scone. He doesn't retreat with it, but instead bobs his little head, and says, "Many thanks to you, friend Auranar!"

Telamon quips, "He's really well behaved. I'm all right, Aura. This is just... it's a lot to process. Can we go back to when I was giving you suggestions on sorcery?" Trying for a joke, before he remarks, "How is Verna doing these days? Things have been... tense. Dangerous, even. Hopefully she's keeping her head about her."

The wild elf nods politely to Jyndei and then turns her attention back to Telamon though her eyes often flicker to the little fae dragon. His effort at a joke draws a quiet laugh and then she almost immediately draws quiet at his question about Verna. "She's... taking things hard. I was... Ah." She glances downward at the tea. "Attacked the other day and she blames herself. She blames herself for so much of what's going on lately. Kol reappearing. The fact that she was... killed. I worry about her."

Telamon scowls. "I've heard some of that sentiment. Nobody's tried anything with me or Lana yet, but knowing our fame, it's only a matter of time." He picks up the teacup, thinking. "I found it rather convenient that suddenly we're seeing incidents perpetrated by 'adventurers'. A countermove against those of us who've been a thorn in someone's rump."

Ah, there's the name again: Kol. "I keep thinking about that, and the more I do the more it bothers me. I have nothing but respect for Verna. But ... the whole idea of her somehow accidentally 'resurrecting' Kol from the Dreamlands? We're missing something here."

He squares his shoulders, and looks to Aura. "If you need anything, you need only ask. Lana and I can come by, you can teach us some tricks in the kitchen, I can teach you some tricks I've learned about magic, we can have a nice dinner together, and forget -- at least for a while -- the perils we face."

"I agree. I thought at the time that they might be after the totems but... They were dressed like those that belong to the Guild Telamon. I'd have thought them adventurers myself but... I don't think they actually knew how to use the swords they were carrying. If they had..." Well Auranar might not be here. Best not to think about that. She's glad of the subject change.

"I'm sure we are missing something. It feels like we are. Or maybe it had something to do with taking the totem into the dream with her. It's possible that if we experimented with the totems more we might determine how to use them more effectively. I guess part of me feels like we've been too tentative." She looks at Telamon. "Research is sort of my thing, and not knowing irks me."

The wild elf hefts a sigh. "You're quite right. Both of us, and our better halves would do well to have a night that doesn't circle around the negative. We'll set a date and make it happen. We need more happiness and light in our lives lest we forget what we're fighting for."

"Maybe. But there's a difference between taking something into dreams with you, and bringing something back out." Telamon nods. "Don't be afraid to play to your strengths, Aura. As my mother said to me, if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'. If they're gonna play hard..." Tel deliberately flexes his fingers. "No reason we shouldn't."

"But yes. Absolutely. Let's set a date, and have a no-business-allowed dinner." He pauses, looking over at Jyndei, who's polished off the scone and is looking at him hopefully.

Telamon chuckles. "...Maybe make sure we set a place for Pothy and Jyndei too."

-End