Arriving at the shore|Ronduin

[tatsu]

A day's walk with little time to rest had brought Tatsu and her friend to the shores of the Great River. She raised her clouded and troubled blue eyes to the deep and beautiful waves in front of her. She listened to her heartbeat and breathed long and hard, the wind whipping her hair and then letting it fall, only to be picked up again by the breeze. Closing her eyes she resisted spreading her arms out because one was injured, but imagined for a second how it would feel like to be able to urge the wind to sweep through her hair, to wind it around her finger and to control it. Amazing, she mused, kicking a pebble nearby grumpily.

[Kender Bard]

Ophelia looked around curiously. "I wonder where the water elemen-"

Before she could finish speaking, a figure popped out of the water, sending spray everywhere. She was a young woman, armed with a gleaming sword. "Who goes?"

[tatsu]

Tatsu jumped and gave a squeak of surprise. She leaned over and bowed politely as a gesture of respect.

"Tatsu, from the mountains."

She thought the title hardly did her justice, but she had no element or home to specify herself by.

[Kender Bard]

"Ophelia of the Beastlands," her companion states proudly. The other woman shifted slightly on the water she was standing on and eyed the two suspiciously.

"And what's your business with Ronduin?"

[tatsu]

"I - er, we - wish to cross the Great River." said Tatsu weakly. She watched the woman with wonder, for never had she seen anything like it before. It was almost as if the water were the ground beneath Tatsu's own feet, as if she were weightless. Like air.

She frowned, thinking of this. Why did her thoughts always return to the same thing?

[Kender Bard]

"And my friend needs a healer," Ophelia adds quickly. "Might you assist?" The woman frowned and stepped off the water and onto the sand cautiously. Sheating the sword in a beautiful scabbard, she steps closer and closer.
"What needs healed?" she inquires slowly.

[tatsu]

Guiltily, Tatsu shrugged off the left sleeve of her cloak where the piece of bark had been tied to her arm.

"Most likely it was sprained when I fell. I'm not good with injuries - so I don't know what I did to it exactly."

[Kender Bard]

The woman nodded, understanding suddenly settling into her features. "The healing water works best on injuries that can be seen," she explains. "So I'll do my best." She reaches out and strokes the arm softly and tenderly, careful to not jar it and cause further pain. Soon a crystal clear water seeps from her fingertips and washes over the arm, relieving Tatsu of any pain. "Just to be safe, you should probably drink some of the healing water. Do you mind?"

[tatsu]

"N-No." Shuddered Tatsu, watching as the cool water covered her arm, a numb feeling like ice coming over it, but not painful in any way. She was careful to bend it, not really wanting to healing sensation that tingled down her arm and to the tips of her fingers to leave.

[Kender Bard]

Forming her hand into a cup, the woman holds it up to Tatsu's lips and concentrates, until her healing waters trickle into the young woman's mouth. The water is crisp and cool, like the purest waters ever created.

[tatsu]

Tatsu tried not to seem like it, but she drank the water greedily as it sent a shiver down her spine. Trickling down her throat with a strange and refreshing sensation, the water tasted a barely-there sweetness, unlike water from small springs she had been surviving on for the past month. Whether it had worked or not, Tatsu was no longer paying attention to her arm. If it was hurting she would not have noticed.

She wiped her mouth with wide eyes, breathing the air heavily.

"Thank you." She burbled greatfully, cheeks flushed.

[Kender Bard]

The woman gave her a crooked smile of understanding and said, "You're welcome. Is that all you need?"

[tatsu]

Tatsu nodded dizzily.

"How do we cross the river?" she babbled, her tongue still numb with pleasure from the magical taste of the healing water.

[Kender Bard]

On guard again, the woman inquires, "Why do you wish to cross The River?"

[tatsu]

The question seemed to take her by surprise, although Tatsu admitted inwardly she had been prepared to it.

"I am on my way to Mentis and am too impatiant to go around." She stated quite truthfully, although she had not wished to appear rude.