2018-11-03: Kindling the Flame

• Log: Kindling the Flame
• Cast: Lily Keil, Xantia
• Where: Nortune Grazelands
• Date: November 03, 2018
• Summary: Xantia meets with Lily while the Black Wolves' transport to Elru is being prepared. Many things are discussed, such as Lily's regrown eye, the strange sound that Xantia keeps hearing, and shared concerns regarding Grahf. And then Xantia sets her hand on fire.

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===========================<* Nortune Grazelands *>===========================

The Grazelands are the last remaining fertile land in the northeast if the Ignas continent. Firmly under control of the nation of Kislev, they are covered end to end with highly regimented farms and ranches, each under strict orders to produce so much produce or livestock, with an eye to maximum possible efficiency. Agricultural experts frequently travel from the city of Nortune to assist landowners, as do so-called "engineers," a nascent profession of individuals devoted to the study and use of ARMs in the Empire.

The southern border of the Grazelands is heavily guarded, tapering off to a single pass through the mountains leading into the Great Aveh Desert. Kislev's forces are firmly entrenched in the area, and travel to the heart of the empire is strictly controlled.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ddOSJ8571M

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

After everything, it probably feels strange to some of the Wolves to be going back to Kislev again. ...But Lily has a feeling that Xantia won't think too hard about it. At the moment, the sorceress stands on a dock amidst a small set of structures, iron at the base leading up into wood, guard towers and supply sheds and so on. There are soldiers all over, walking around on patrol or while performing their mundane duties, and at the edge of the dock is an ironclad ship being loaded with supplies.

...Lily's near the near side of the dock, though. Someone approaching will of course need to identify herself... but Lily's provided descriptions of those who they can expect. For the moment, she is in practical attire, dark clothes in the style of her old field uniform, complete with armored jacket and an ARM at her side. ...She has both eyes, though the color of one is off, a little too light, a muddy blue for the left. She stands out, despite the similar attire; none of these, after all, are Special Forces.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia indeed doesn't feel too strongly about Kislev one way or another. As usual with her, it's hard to tell just how much she actually knows about what's going on to begin with, but it's pretty clear that such things just aren't very important to her. She's more concerned with individuals than nations as a whole. She seems fine with going with the flow in that regard, for the most part.

Identifying herself on approach may be necessary, but is really only a formality. Xantia is pretty easily identified, still wearing the exact same outfit that briefly became popular merchandise when she fought in the Lacour tournament. That fad's been dead for over a year, the only one still wearing it now must be the Real Deal. Anyone who doesn't know about that, or needs more convincing people... well, the unfortunate soldier who stopped her won't soon forget, after having to put up with Xantia's tendency to never stop talking.

The tail end of the conversation can be heard as the pair approach Lily's position. "Is there a cannon I'd fit into, you think? That'd be pretty handy if we get attacked and we need to get off the boat quick, or I need a boost to get to an enemy so I can punch them!" Presumably that's been the level of conversation this whole time, as the poor soldier looks really tired, merely nodding as soon as Lily turns before turning himself, all too keen on fleeing the scene. Xantia waves after him, because of course she didn't even notice the effect she was having.

In a good mood as is so commonly the case, she turns her wave to Lily next, and bounds right on over the rest of the way. "Hi Lily! Wow, sure is some boat you found! I didn't know they made boats this big! Regular water boats I mean, not like the Fereshte." Xantia must not have seen many boats, or at least didn't pay close attention to them. It just hasn't been particularly relevant until now.

But this is Xantia, and ultimately her greater concerns lie with the people she cares about. So the following questions probably aren't a big surprise, even if the phrasing might be.

"How's your new eye? Where'd you get it, anyway?"

Asking the blunt yet innocent-sounding questions, as always. Even though with that phrasing, it kind of sounds like she's assuming Lily took someone else's eye. This may seem logical to her, given that it looks different from the original. If so, she's sure making it sound like the most ordinary thing in the world, rather than anything particularly gruesome.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

For Lily, things are... complicated. The soldiers, Xantia may or may not notice, are giving the black-haired woman a wide berth, despite her attire that is somewhat like theirs. ...But indeed Xantia is highly distinctive, and her sheer level of being talkative...

Lily quirks an eyebrow at the soldier, shaking her head. She can imagine what happened.

"C-carry on!" the soldier says as he goes, while Lily looks to Xantia. "No cannons you'd fit into, but with the crew complement we'll have, I'm confident we can throw you if we need to." Is that a joke?

Lily doesn't answer immediately because Xantia is talking a lot. It's hard to get a word in edgewise without trying to force the matter, and honestly Lily isn't inclined to; she's fine with being quiet. So once that blunt question is out...

"Heh."

That's almost a laugh. "They do. This isn't the largest they come in, but it is a warship. ...The Kaiser was able to spare it, given that we're doing something that benefits Kislev, too. There's a large crew, as well. They'll have to... get used to us."

Only after that does she say, "I think I... grew it. When I transformed in Hilton... Well, it's a long story, I guess. But it was there, when I noticed. It took a few days to start focusing properly." Pause. "...So I guess I was wrong. I'm not sure how I feel about that, yet."

Lily gestures towards a little further up the dock, where they can look over a railing. "This way." Lily will lead the way to a good place to stand and look out over the ocean.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Making jokes like that to Xantia is going to have the obvious effect. "Okay, sounds great!" Took it completely at face value, and should it ever come up, you can bet she'll remind people of this extremely good plan.

And that's that matter settled, leaving Xantia free to speak to Lily. In which she quickly makes it obvious how into politics she is. "Oh yeah, the Kaiser's that guy we saved that one time, right?" That's a decent enough summary of what happened, as far as she's concerned. She says 'we', but it's not like she was with the Wolves at the time, or even supposed to be there at all. She'd just followed them. Which, let's be fair, was probably going to keep happening if she didn't join officially.

Either way, that makes good enough sense, the Kaiser must be grateful for that, and they kind of need to save the world right now. But there is a concern, which isn't so much about people having to get used to each other. "I wish there weren't so many other people coming. That's putting a lot more people in danger." Even if they're soldiers, her assumption that most of these crew members don't have any kind of super powers and thus are more likely to run into difficulty is probably fair.

The matter of the eye... well, Xantia doesn't seem very concerned about that. She knows exactly how to feel. "Oh, so it just took longer to heal! That's a relief... I guess maybe after a bit more time, it'll look just like your old one again! ...or maybe not, I don't know if that's how it works. Two different eye colors is pretty neat though, right?"

Readily following along, Xantia folds her hands behind her back, taking a deep breath of sea air as she looks out across the ocean. "Kind of weird to think about, isn't it, how much water there is on Filgaia? Doesn't feel like that when you're going through deserts all the time. Can you even see Elru from here?" She squints, as if this would somehow help her see further than she can normally.

And then her head turns sharply, seemingly for no reason. She freezes up for a moment, now instead straining her ears. Apparently not picking up anything that she was trying to listen for, she asks Lily, "Did you hear anything just now?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

One day, Xantia will ask the crew to throw her overboard. Lily may arrange to be on the other side of the ship when that happens.

"That's right," Lily answers instead about the Kaiser, and Xantia was there and is a Wolf now, so 'we' is good enough. "Ruler of Kislev," she explains, leaving it at that. The concern, though--

Lily shakes her head. "It's their job to go into danger; they all agreed to it, and they all know the risks. ...We may need them; with this ship, we can conduct naval assaults on bases if it's necessary. It opens our options up, and we need every advantage we can get in this situation." A pause, "...War isn't kind."

Xantia's talk of the eye is--well, it's simple at least. "Maybe," Lily agrees, uncertain but having noticed the pattern. "It seemed to heal all at once. I wasn't aware that it... would, or could." She pauses. "Neat, is it? I don't know."

Lily places hands on the rail, leaning forward and looking out to the sea as Xantia speaks. "...It never seemed so strange to me," Lily admits, "...But the ocean holds a special place for me. I've never gotten to go far off the shore, but..." She shakes her head. "No, Elru's past the horizon. It's a long way."

Lily pauses short of saying anything else, though--she looks to Xantia, moving only her eyes, and is immediately on alert. "...Nothing unusual. What was it?"

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Yes, that was the correct assumption: Xantia had no idea the Kaiser ruled all of Kislev. "Oh, so he's like a king, or an emperor." She knows what those are. Why do people have to use weird words like that?

Just saying the word 'emperor' reminded her of Rolance, which in turn reminded her of war, strengthened when Lily speaks of this directly. Xantia doesn't look so cheerful anymore after that, casting her eyes down for a moment and saying only, "...I know." As much as she enjoys fighting, she isn't a soldier, is in fact pretty far from the soldier type. Give her a one-on-one fight any day, or a small group against another small group, or a single particularly strong opponent. When it becomes army against army, too big for her to keep track of, too expected for there to be many casualties... not much in the way of enjoyment to be found in something like that.

Naturally, she doesn't seek to get stuck on that topic for very long, and thus avoids saying anything else on it, instead gleefully latching onto the - in her opinion - much more positive topic. "Of course it's neat! Why wouldn't you want to be able to heal from even big wounds like that? It's reassuring, isn't it?" To Xantia it is, obviously. She was pretty distressed about the possibility of that eye never coming back.

The topic of water and Elru is rather quickly forgotten about, upon Xantia getting distracted by... well, by what, exactly? She starts to say, "It's probably..." before pausing and shaking her head. "Well, I'd like to say it's probably nothing, but I've heard it a lot lately. I think. It's like... someone talking, but I can't make it out. I don't know how to describe it, but it sounds really weird. I'm not even sure how I know it's someone talking, it doesn't really sound like words. That's just... what it feels like, to me."

She looks pensive a moment, before shaking her head once more, and smiling again, if more faintly than before. "I was kind of hoping you'd hear it too. But no one else seems to." She's looked around whenever it happened, to see if anybody else reacted to it. Nobody ever did, even though it's such an unusual sound. It wouldn't be so unnerving otherwise. Although she has to admit, "I never hear it when I actually try to listen for it. I thought it might be some kind of Ether thing, is that possible?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Yes," Lily answers. "...Kaiser's an old word, but it's about the same." Lily doesn't bother with an etymology lesson. It's not really that important to her right now. But the war, well--

...Xantia gets it well enough; Lily sees no reason to force the issue for that reason. She knows the difference between a soldier and a warrior, and so Lily lets the matter pass until Xantia leans on something else. Which, well--

"It raises more questions than answers, though," Lily cautions. "It's good that I'm healed, I suppose... But what does it mean? Is there a cost I don't know? Is it temporary, or permanent? Why would I be able to heal something like this? ...It's useful, sure. But I don't... trust it. There's too much that I don't know."

But the sound--the sound... Lily considers, listening as well, but she doesn't know what the sound would have been. Xantia doesn't, either.

"Unfortunately no," Lily answers about hearing it. "Mm... I see no reason it couldn't be some kind of Ether... thing," Lily admits. "I don't know very much about the limitations of what Ether can do. I've seen uses of it that don't resemble one another; it seems like even Gebler doesn't know everything about it. So maybe."

She pauses, "But you should also think about whether you've eaten anything unusual lately, gotten enough sleep, and so on. Given your situation, I'd be willing to investigate anything that seems strange... But in most people, that would sound like a hallucination, a trick of the mind."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia clearly doesn't understand why Lily's so mistrustful of a thing that's so obviously helpful. Or, more accurately, she doesn't understand why that's the thing she doesn't trust. She's a lot more worried about those spreading patterns, being something unknown that might be good or bad. Nothing as unequivocally good as 'having intact, working eyes'. Why worry about reasons or conditions, when fast healing in general is normal for you? She wouldn't.

But although it's easy enough to tell from the questioning look that Xantia doesn't get that, she doesn't end up getting back to that part of the conversation, having gotten distracted since then. And Lily's views on that... well, it's additional possibilities, but not the clear kind of answer she was looking for. With a chuckle, she admits, "I try to remember as much as I can, but what exactly I ate when... that's a lot to remember." She's self-aware enough to realize that much. It also implies that Xantia doesn't actually care that much about what she eats. She appreciates good-tasting food of course, but in the end... food is food.

The other things, she takes a bit more time to consider. "...How much sleep is 'enough'? I just sleep when I'm tired." Which is not an exaggeration, she's probably been spotted sleeping in unusual places at unusual times. At least she usually sleeps when most other people do, if nothing else because she prefers to be around other people, it would get boring being the only one awake.

On it possibly being a trick of the mind, she wonders, "Even if it happens more than once?" It's because it's happened multiple times that it's gotten to be a little disturbing to her. Although it is possible she's mistaken about that, she supposes. She could be imagining it. She just doesn't like to assume such things. Anything could be a clue to her past.

In the end, she sighs, deciding, "I guess it's true that I'm a little tired. Seeing Grahf again was... upsetting. I just don't think I can beat him, it's like he can predict everything I do." Even though she, too, reacted very well to Grahf's moves. Their styles being so similar probably has everything to do with that. So it's natural for her to keep wondering, "I still don't know if he knows anything about my past. He won't tell me."

Her frustration is such that she resorts to mockery, striking what she considers a dramatic pose, before intoning in a deeper voice from her regular, "If there is knowledge you wish to gain, then grow strong enough to seize it yourself, rather than demanding from those who gain nothing from telling you." It's not even close to being a match for Grahf's voice, but at least she's got the gravitas of the delivery down pat. She still looks miffed though, as she adds in her normal voice, "That's all he'd say to me."

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Mistrust is Lily's way; she is suspicious by nature, trained to see danger and enemies in every corner and beyond. ...The markings she's had time to consider; the patterns, she has known to a degree since she was young. They are still present, for that matter, though largely covered. ...But this? This is new, this eye, this healing beyond what should have been possible even to her knowledge; it's new territory.

Lily doesn't explain, though. She doesn't bring the subject back for the moment. ...Neither does she have clear answers to offer. Of course Xantia wouldn't recall details like that, though. It might've been silly to think. But, "Fair enough. And sleep... If you sleep when you're tired, I doubt that it's that. Even if you sleep less often than others, which wouldn't surprise me with your energy levels."

"The fact that it's happening consistently, more than once, suggests to me that it's something more... But when someone hallucinates, that's often consistent, too. I mention it more because some might assume that. In your case... Well, I'm inclined to question any assumptions we make. Your situation is unusual, and we shouldn't assume that the answers are simple or obvious; not until we know more."

She pauses, though, looks down to the water. "...It's natural, to be upset by Grahf. He was powerful, and callous towards all of us. The only one he seemed to show any real interest in was Fei... And that interest wasn't good. Not to mention, we couldn't beat him even together. Maybe he can predict it. He certainly seems to have very quick reactions."

She considers, watching the impression with a lifted eyebrow. Maybe it's not Grahf's voice, but...

"That's a method that would work," she admits. "Strength... Strength is the only way that we can deflect things like this... Grahf. Power; the power to defeat even something like him." Pause. "But..."

"...I'm sympathetic. He seemed to know something about me, too, or about... the past. He wouldn't tell me, either. And I'm not strong enough to force it out of him. But there's a lot he seemed not to know, too."

"...But there's nothing we can do about that for now. We'd be better off focusing on things we can affect, preparations we can make. ...I'll keep looking for a spell that can slow him down, but other than that..." Lily lifts a hand, and drops it again, as if sand slipped through her fingers.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia always enjoys hearing that she's doing things right, especially from people like Lily who she trusts to know what they're talking about. Things such as sleep, which is not something she thinks about a lot. She's not about to deny her energy levels, but they do run out, she needs her sleep as much as everyone else does. All she has to say about that is, "Okay, that's good!"

Hallucinations, though... that's a bit more complicated than she thought. Not so easy to confirm or dismiss something like that as she thought. It visibly frustrates her that she's probably not going to be able to figure this one out just yet, but... it is what it is. "...I see. Then, I'll pay closer attention to it, and let you know how often it happens, and if there's anything else I can make out about it." Given her experiences so far, she doesn't have much reason to believe this will just suddenly become more clear, but you never know. It's good to have someone to discuss it with, at least.

As for Grahf, that topic makes her agitated, causing her to pace around more as she talks. "I know, he wants Fei to help him kill some kind of God. But, I feel like if Fei went with him, I'll never see him again, so I won't let that happen." There's probably no point in asking her why she's so sure about that. It's probably reasonable enough to not give Grahf what he's after, either way.

"I'd ask why him, but..." Xantia abruptly stops pacing, and turns her head to Lily. "Did you notice? Their fighting stances. They're the same. Mine is similar, but... theirs is the same, completely the same. I don't know if Grahf knows anything about my past, but he absolutely knows about Fei's. I'm sure of it."

And then there's Lily's situation of course, prompting a slow nod. "Another person who knows that language... Zeboim. You know it, and Fei knows it, and Leon knows it, Grahf knows it too... that's a lot of people who know a supposedly dead language, all in the same place. Kind of a big coincidence."

That might have felt a bit confrontational, as if somebody was letting it show that they know more than they've been letting on. But this is Xantia, and as such, she quickly shrugs, and moves on to the next thing on her mind. "...That fight did give me an idea though. Could you do some fire for me? Nothing big, just, you know..." She extends the palm of her right hand forward, covers it with her left, then raises her left hand with a 'woooosh' noise. "...like that?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

"Good," Lily answers. "If you can, carry something with you to write down what you sense; if you can compare the details you can make out, you might be able to make sense of it over time." Nothing is going to come just by hoping for it, right? It's Lily's way, to focus on actionable items. But... Well, she can discuss, right?

"We don't know what will happen, or why Grahf wants it. ...And that's not the sort of person that Fei wants to be." She pauses, though--she turns to Xantia, hears her assessment--and has to agree. "He knows things about Fei--I'm certain of that much, too. There's no question. But what's the connection? ...I see what you mean. It's the same style. The same approach. And yours..."

But Xantia proves insightful in another way--a part of Lily does wonder at its confrontational nature, just for a moment; she knows Xantia, but hearing it? It's hard to say. ...She dismisses the idea, though.

"...That's right. I don't believe it is a coincidence. But I don't know the connection."

She looks down--but then pauses, studying Xantia. "...Sure," Lily answers, and extends her hand towards Xantia. She holds it palm-up. "...Fire coming!" Lily calls, "No need to be alarmed."

Flames shoot from her hand, a big burst that starts as a column a few feet up and, if it gets the chance, coalesces into a merrily roaring ball of flames hovering above her hand.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Carry writing utensils? Xantia blinks blankly at that, that's something she never would have thought of. But if Lily thinks it'll help... "Okay, I'll do that then!" This should be an interesting experiment. If she writes the way she talks, she might need a lot of paper once she gets going...

Regarding martial arts... well, it's true that Xantia knows little about the specifics of what she does, but it's just as true that she has a sharp instinct for it, and tends to be surprisingly observant about certain details, if she's paying close attention to it. This is something she already noticed that time in Lacour, and she feels it bears repeating: "Completely the same." She felt as if she were looking at mirror images, their stance was that identical. Her best imitation of Fei's stance is pretty close, but it could never match to that level of detail. Whatever it means... it's important.

Xantia's tonal shift for a moment there... is not followed up on, at all. It's a reasonable assumption that she didn't realize how that sounded. Either way, she seems satisfied by Lily's acknowledgement that this is a bit much for a coincidence.

She's much more enthused by appearance of FIRE, looking downright gleeful as the burst of flame condenses itself into a smaller form. "Yes, okay okay okay, that's good, ball is good. Now hold it just like that, I'm going to try something. Don't move, or make the fire go away, or anything like that, okay? No matter what happens." That last sentence suddenly sounded a lot more serious than the rest of it. She means it. This is important to her. And her being so unspecific probably implies that she's going to do something very stupid.

Lily doesn't have to wait very long to find out what that stupid thing is, because without any hesitation, Xantia sticks her hand directly into the flame.

Obviously, this is painful. Xantia can't bear it entirely stoically, but she holds back from crying out, grimacing and gritting her teeth. As the seconds tick away, Xantia's hand starts shaking, a strained noise escapes her, and she starts to sweat... but her eyes briefly glance away from the fire to meet Lily's eyes. A determined look, to silently reiterate her earlier plea. Making clear that she knows how this must look, but... let her do this. Please.

This remains painful to watch, for what may seem longer than it actually is... before there's a change. A shift in the ball of flame, a slight drop in temperature, a slight decrease in size... then shifts in the opposite direction. Xantia's expression changes too, gaining focus and concentration as she realizes she's making something happen. Tuning the fire, the Ether... and attuning it to herself.

The first sign of the degree to which she's managing to do this is that she seems to have stopped feeling any pain. But also, Lily can likely sense that she's losing control. Or, more accurately... control is being taken from her. Until eventually, Xantia withdraws her hand... along with the ball of flame, which continues to surround it. Fascinated, Xantia regards this for a short time... before, with a hand gesture, she disperses the flames, as easily as if it had been hers to control to begin with.

...Her hand looks to be burned pretty badly, her glove having melted under the heat. But Xantia just looks at Lily in wonder, wordlessly requesting an assessment of what she just managed to do.

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

Lily, of course, is the type to write most things down, given the chance. ...But mentally, she already starts budgeting the Wolves' finances to include the paper Xantia is likely to go through. She leaves it at that. Some things... Just are as they are.

Lily is detail-oriented herself, though not the martial artist Xantia is. If Xantia is this certain about the details, then Lily can give that weight. "That's... strange," Lily admits. "Very strange. You would expect, after however long Grahf has been alive, for the details of his style to drift some, before Fei could learn it." And yet... Could they? What's the real link? ...Id, too, knows Zeboim. So whatever that means...

Well, Lily isn't going to forget Xantia's moment there, but she doesn't follow up on it now, either. It's just another detail to be recalled. Another to add.

Lily keeps the flame out, though. It doesn't seem to require much concentration from her, or maybe she's just good at concealing it. But the instructions... Lily lifts an eyebrow at those. She considers all the ways in which this could possibly go wrong, not least of which are the many soldiers around who could get spooked by strange things happening with fire. ...It doesn't take her long, however, to reach a decision.

"All right. I won't, unless the dock is endangered." This is her condition; she has to think of more than Xantia, after all. But a moment later--

Yes, it's something stupid, from a perspective, but Lily doesn't so much as blink when Xantia thrusts her hand into the fire. It's impressive enough that Xantia doesn't cry out; Lily watches her face throughout, not even looking at the flames, even as the smell of burning cloth gives way to burning flesh. It has a particular scent, roasting skin and muscle, but it is one familiar to Lily. Seconds continue; Lily's eyes are solid when Xantia looks. She is stoic, and her only motion is the slightest inclination of her head at that determined look.

Someone else would hold back; someone else would urge Xantia to find a way that wouldn't cause so much pain, or damage. Lily Keil isn't that someone. She waits... and something is curious. She can feel the difference, all right; the way the fire shifts without her willing it. ...The way Xantia focuses...

The way the fire goes on without her. In the moment, Lily calculates how much force she'd have to exert to extinguish it, just in case, but doesn't make a move to change. When Xantia withdraws her hand, takes the flame--

"...Fascinating," Lily remarks, looking over Xantia; down to her hand, then up to her face. "...The same is true for me," she says. "I have no immunity to my own flames, though it may be different for you. Do you know, now, how it feels? Do you think you can reproduce it?"

She pauses. "I'll heal you, if you're all right with that. It'll be faster than waiting for it to happen yourself... and you've probably damaged the nerves in your hand." She considers. "...Have you taken magic from others before?"

Regardless, she makes a note to herself, not to needlessly use magic on Xantia. "...Hmm." She conjures another ball of flame, with the other hand, just long enough to see if there are any differences, if Xantia can do the same thing faster. If nothing happens, it winks out.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Today's experiment....... a great success?! It doesn't look like Xantia was even expecting it to work the way it did, given her bewildered look at what she just managed to do. The questions thrown her way seem to kind of bounce off, Xantia initially not getting further than, "I... I..." She's still processing things herself. She needs a moment.

The following offer of healing already prompts more of a reaction, a nod and the word, "...please." Knowing Xantia, this would likely heal faster than it should, but it can't be exactly comfortable. Even dulling her pain, which she is actively using Ether to do at the moment, even if there's no outward signs of it, she can still feel that her hand's a mess. Better to have that handled sooner rather than later.

Still a bit subdued, she starts to respond, "Taken... you mean, like I took the fire just now?" She pauses briefly, then shakes her head. "Never. I was just going to... try to make the fire go out. Then suddenly I got a new idea, and I... did that."

She stares at her uninjured hand for a moment, then turns it palm-side up. She must be trying to reproduce the fire as Lily suggested earlier, but... nothing at all happens. "...I guess making it happen myself is still different."

She turns to stare at Lily's other hand, creating a new ball of flame. She hesitates a moment, then reaches out with her hand... and makes a gesture like she did earlier, to make the flame on her hand goes out. It doesn't do that this, prompting a slow nod. "I figured... I need to touch it to do anything with it." With a faint smile, she adds, "I think I'm okay doing that only once today."

An encouraging result... yet also somewhat frustrating. Grahf could take control over her Ether powers away from a distance. Even if she managed this much, is that actually a practical way to do it?

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

A very great success. ...Here, though, is where Lily's iron nature is clearer; in a way, she's harder even than the siding of the ship they plan to take. She knows full well the sort of pain that Xantia is in, and yet she speaks calmly, does not rush to support or help her. ...Not until Xantia agrees, at least.

With that, Lily reaches out, gently takes hold of Xantia's wrist, and places her hand over the burned palm, not touching but close. Almost like an afterthought, the sorceress stares down, and the remnants of the glove simply... Dissolve, gone as if they'd never been. But that's a brief moment, and the next comes quickly.

Like exhaling, Lily manifests a brilliant crimson light; Xantia will feel warmth, an instant of pain as her nerves regrow, but then peace as Lily forces the other woman's flesh to take its proper form, her eyes intent upon the skin. Only when it's healed does she look up again.

"Hmm. I admit that's a relief for me, but it could've been a useful ability. ...Still, even this is impressive. It came to you intuitively, then?"

Lily notes; the fire isn't there. She notes that nothing changes with her own flame. After Xantia stops, Lily lets the fireball disappear, lets it go out like it's out of fuel, faint smoke the only remnant.

"That's fine, though--once is proof of concept. It could be a potent defense... and it makes sense; most of your abilities seem to center around your body, your 'self'." She pauses, for a moment, and then relents, setting her hands down.

"...It's difficult, I know. I sustained similar injuries when I was learning to control my magic. Just an instant's loss of concentration was enough. ...But the pain has a purpose; it can teach you, if you let it. You've done well."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Lily's brand of healing certainly is... unique. Not that Xantia's an expert, but it's easy enough to tell the difference between healing like she's received from clerics before and this kind. Not even thinking about it now, she reacts to the touch of Ether - Lily feeling a slight tug, but it quickly relaxes. It's not like it would've been very helpful to try and take control of that, but... she's only just done this for the first time, and it seems that already this has become part of her instincts.

Xantia is a good patient otherwise, remaining still until Lily releases her hand, upon which she inspects her hand and flexes it a few times. Good as new. Just lacking a glove now, but she has so many spares, that doesn't even count as a price to pay.

"...I guess so," she responds to the question whether this was something intuitive. Honestly, most of her personal discoveries happened in the heat of the moment. This time she just sought out the heat on purpose. "Just... felt like something I could do." That feels a little lame, putting it that simply, but she's at a loss on how to explain it otherwise.

She inclines her head when it's noted her powers usually affect her own body... and soon proving it when she grins sheepishly when the notion of pain comes up. "Well, I did sort of just... turn the pain off for a while. I couldn't do that while I was still figuring things out, but once it stopped burning me I could." She puts it a little clumsily, but what she means to say is that the flame didn't burn her anymore once she took control of it, at which point she could use her powers to stop feeling the pain in her hand. She may be able to bear pain better than most, but that doesn't mean she's a fan of it. Which leaves her with one important question. "...Is that bad?"

<Pose Tracker> Lily Keil has posed.

It is, that; Ether healing, supposedly, is 'water' according to Gebler... and priests use different methods still. It's effective, at least, and apparently functioning again despite the troubles Lily indicated before. As for the tug, though--

"Hmm," Lily says. "Didn't take you long to make a habit of it," she reflects. She doesn't try to 'pull' back, though she may want to practice it sometime for that reason--though...

Lily considers, thoughtfully. "You know, if you do it this way... I might be able to hand you one of the weapons I make. Though, it would hardly be necessary in most situations." Already however Lily seems to be considering new possibilities, ways to combine their abilities effectively. It's... something she does.

"It's a good sign, though. You sought this out yourself; you needed to put yourself in a difficult situation, but you managed it. Done carefully, this could be a good way to understand herself."

Xantia's sheepish grin actually gets a faint laugh in return, as Lily shakes her head. "I noticed that; it stopped hurting. I wasn't sure if that was because of the control, or not. Seems like... partly." She shakes her head after that though. "It's not a problem to do now and then," Lily says. "But I wouldn't make a habit of it--pain is the body telling us what's wrong. If you force out pain too often, you can injure yourself very badly. But in general...? No, it's useful."

A beat, "I only figured out how to deaden pain with my magic relatively recently, though I can do it for others. I just... let the pain fuel me, instead, usually. Regardless... good work."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

When it becomes evident Lily noticed her reaction to the more beneficial exposure of Ether, Xantia just goes, "Ehehe..." much like a child being busted misbehaving. She didn't mean to do that. But that's... what tends to happen with her powers. As soon as she knows how to do a thing, it just starts happening when appropriate. ...and sometimes when not appropriate, as in this case. She's still new to this one, so it's not too surprising.

Though relatively subdued up until then, her enthusiasm returns with a vengeance when Lily mentions the weapons. "Oh, that'd be great! I can do weapons, they just sort of... explode right away." Because they never become a physical thing - they're pure energy constructs. Which suits her style, really. Single powerful strikes is what she does best. But it might not always be the most practical. "If I need something that sticks around longer, we should try that!"

As for the rest of the assessment... Xantia pretty much all takes it as positive. Even though she knows it can be risky to overdo it on the pain ignoring, as she already found out the hard way, she's choosing not to focus on that, instead beaming brightly at the final 'good work'. "Thanks! I wasn't sure if it would go well, but I guess it all worked out!" She definitely is more than willing to try anything to better understand what she can do - in hopes that it'll help her understand who she is one day.

And lest we forget, "Thanks for helping me!" Just letting her burn up her hand like that. Such a good friend. ...No really, that's a quality Xantia thinks makes a good friend. Sometimes you just have to be stupid, true friends understand that.