A Magical Date

      It was a quiet day in the quaint little town surrounding the Northern Church of Aventus, and people of all kinds, humans, dwarves, elves, bustled about their daily business. Some paused for a moment to acknowledge the arriving line of carriages, full of trade goods, coin, and a few people seeking transportation. They all soon found themselves performing a double-take on one passenger in particular, seated in the front carriage. They stared in awe as the cart passed by them, the strangers shiny plate mail armor glinting in the midday sun, and when the cart had reached its destination, he thanked the carriage driver and hopped off. The man’s massive size, combined with his armor, and the weight of the two impressive, enchanted hammers on his belt, caused the carriage to wobble as it’s burden was relieved. He was a phae-rho, a jackal person, and when he got down from the carriage, he took a look at his immediate surroundings, his muzzle turning down into a frown as he scratched his head and swished his tail quizzically.

Only now did he seem to notice everyone staring at him, and he gave them all a cheerful smile and a wave before beginning to stride down an empty street. Everywhere he went, gazes followed, some people even followed the man where he was going, they knew not who he was, but someone with such impressive armor and weaponry is clearly someone powerful, too important to be in their little town, so why was he here? He continued meandering throughout the streets, awkwardly waving at some of the onlookers as he became increasingly exasperated. Finally, he sighed, and approached a local. Towering over a little old lady, he gently bent down and everyone nearby awaited with bated breath to hear what this stranger had to ask.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” came a gentle voice as the old woman gazed up into his blue eyes, “can you direct me to where the church is?” The old woman adjusted her glasses and pointed down a somewhat crowded street, “just down that way a bit dearie, you’ll be able to see the top of it somewhere on the right.” Rising back to his full height, he thanked her and excitedly made his way down the street she showed him, smiling as he half-ran to his destination. Seemingly unphased by his arms or armor, the old woman chuckled to herself, saying “ah the energy of youth,” before continuing to water the flowers in her pots.

Meanwhile, outside the church, they had just finished their service for today, and the priestess was locking the great oaken doors behind her. She was a ka-rho, a cat person with a calico fur pattern and a tabard bearing the image of a sun, the symbol of Cahoki, her patron God. Suddenly, she noticed the people near her had ceased their normal chatter, speaking in hushed whispers as they all gawked in one direction. Turning, she momentarily narrows her eyes in confusion as she looks in the direction everyone is facing, but shortly after gasps at the sight she sees. The giant phae-rho in his shining armor, and his twin hammers crackling with energy, is hurriedly making his way to the church, waving at her. Placing a hand over her mouth, she chuckled, remembering the last time she saw him several months ago. At the time he was just a wandering trader, on his way to Alderth with his friend to trade with the dwarves, wearing only simple, undyed clothing and a scruffy patch of black hair on his head. Now here he approached, seemingly a warrior, bearing a tabard with a flickering candle of Aventus, and still a rather scruffy patch of hair on his head.

Removing her hand from her mouth to wave at him, the villagers nearby, their mouths still agape, noticed she recognized him, and parted to make a better path for them to meet. They needed to know every last bit of info they could, this was surely going to be the talk of the town for weeks! “Navi!” The warrior called out to her, and she responded, “Timur!” they closed the distance from each other, and Navi and Timur embraced each other in a warm hug, as old friends greeting each other. “So good to finally see you again!” Timur smiled down at her, bearing a large, goofy grin, causing her to chuckle once again. “So good to see you too Timur! What brings you back to town again?” The townsfolk continued to look on, but now they tried to seem inconspicuous about their business, hoping the pair wouldn’t notice and try to leave. Timur scratched the back of his head, “well,” he started, somewhat nervously, “I came to see you again!” Navi was about to respond, until she noticed the townsfolk eavesdropping. “Come on!” she said, grabbing his hand, “let’s find somewhere more private to catch up!” She led him towards the church, “I was only locking up for a short while to grab some supplies anyway, I live on the second floor,” She grabbed her keys, which, in her surprise, she had left partway turned inside of the lock, and the two entered the church together, shutting the doors behind them.

The two of them could barely hear the groans of the townsfolk as the doors shut; the thick doors and old stone of the church offering them a private chance to speak. Navi let go of Timurs hand and spoke somewhat absentmindedly as she strode towards the back of the church, “let’s go upstairs, I can get some tea brewing, I’m sure you’ve had a long journey back from Alderth, if that even is where you’re coming back from?” She finally turned back to him again, noticing he was still by the doorway where she left him, blushing as he looked at his hand. Chuckling once more, she smiled sweetly, “Timur?” finally he looked up, putting his hand down, “want to come up for tea?” he shook his head, smiling as he made to follow her, “um, sure!” They went up the rather new stairs, the second floor being a relatively recent addition to the building, and entered a simple living space. There was a small bed in one corner by a window that had a table with a stack of books and an extinguished candle nearby, a small but packed bookshelf, a few scattered chairs, a table with some writing utensils on it, and a cleared oven space for a fire with a small series of pots, kettles, pans and a stack of firewood nearby. She hummed to herself as she gathered firewood and grabbed a jar of tea leaves off the shelf. “Could you grab that kettle for me?” she gestured to a covered kettle, “I filled that one with water already a bit earlier, just place it on the top part of the oven please.” Timur paused for a moment, removing his focus from looking around her room. Clearing his throat, he spoke up, “actually, if you were ok with it,” she turned to look at him quizzically as he began to teeter on his heels, looking away, “I was thinking we could go somewhere, somewhere special I had in mind…” Navi cocked her head to one side as she asked, “Oh? Where to?” Timur produced a scroll from his satchel and, with slightly more confidence said, “it was actually a bit of a surprise if that’s ok?” He looked at her again and smiled, hoping she’d say yes.

She looked at the scroll, curious and somewhat concerned, and Timur reassured her, “I just need you to trust me right now, please?” He held out his hand for her to grab. She hesitated for a moment before standing, “ok,” she said, grabbing his hand, “take me where you want to go!” Opening the scroll, she expected a map, but saw instead an arcane sigil and unknown words around it. Timur closed his eyes, took a deep breath, spoke an incantation, and crumpled the paper. It blazed with energy in his hand, the paper consumed as the energy worked outwards and surrounded them, blurring the world around them. Navi felt her feet suddenly removed from the ground, unanchored, then she was on stone again.

She fumbled, but Timur caught her before she could fall, “I got you! Sorry, I should have warned you about that part, I was queasy my first time as well…” Timur smiled at her sheepishly as Navi looked around at a completely different area. They were now on some sort of stone balcony, stone rails surrounded the rounded platform they now stood on, and the wind whistled around her. She turned around to see a vast city sprawled out for miles around them, the tower they were now on in the midst of a ginormous stone structure with several other, shorter towers scattered throughout it, with pointed roofs, an observatory, and a courtyard she could barely make out a group of individuals practicing various magicks. “Welcome to the Arcane University in Carthage!” Timur held his arms out to emphasize his words as Navi stared around her in awe, she had never gone so far to travel to Carthage before! After a while she finally composed herself, crossing her arms and smirking at Timur, “Teleportation? You must have made some powerful friends over the last few months.” Timur’s face shifted, no longer smiling, as he looked down at the courtyard below, “yeah… that scroll was… let us say a parting gift from a good friend.” He seemed to age as he stared wistfully into the distance. After a moment, Timur sighed, and smiled again as he saw Navi’s concerned expression, “but that’s a story for much later! A lot happened in the last few months, we have the whole day ahead of us before we need to return here and I want to tell you everything that’s happened!” Beckoning her to follow him, he rushed to the door that led into the main part of the tower, “where we came from there is a special way-gate, the scroll allowed us to go there and if we return in twelve hours we will be taken back to where we were!” Navi nodded her head as she followed him, “ok, but what do you-” she was suddenly cut off by a gruff voice, “hey! Where did you two come from, this area is off-” Timur pulled out another piece of parchment and handed it to the guard, saying “can’t stay to chat, I’m a friend of the former Prime Sorceress, this has everything you need to know. We’ll be back in twelve hours!” The man stood dumbfounded as he looked over the paper in his hand. The Prime Sorceress? Navi thought to herself, he really has made a powerful friend. What did he mean by former though? “I’ve got a special idea in mind for where we can begin!” Timur answered her previous question before she could try to ask it again. Rolling her eyes as she smiled at his antics, she followed him down an impressive flight of stairs, through a series of hallways, and stopped in front of an open doorway.

There was a sign above it that said Restorative Magicks. “This is it! The University has the most impressive magical museums in all of Agora! They have one for every school of magic, and, well,” Timur looked away nervously again for a moment, “I thought we could spend some time here, starting with the healing magick, since we’re both interested in learning more!” Navi simply looked at Timur, eyeing him up and down as he stood there, teetering on his heels again, and chuckled, “you know, I just realized something,” she began to say. Timur froze, “what?” “I never caught your last name the first time we met?” Timur smiled, “Of course, my last name is Ohr’al, Timur Ohr’al!” He paused for a moment, “Why were you wondering that now?” He tilted his head at her as she stood there thinking. She seemed to really weigh the words he said, reflecting on something, before she blushed, letting out a small chuckle as she shook her head, “no reason in particular. Ready to lead me on our date?” She held her arm out for him, and he smiled, blushing heavily as he wrapped his arm in hers, taking her on a tour of the museum, enthusiastically chattering about the displays and artifacts. As he rambled about every ancient staff, early forms of magically imbued cloth, and animated displays of historic individuals, she gazed deeply into his eyes, laughing and enjoying his smile as he spoke of his favorite things. After touring the various museums on magick, Timur took her on a small tour of the predominantly human town. They had a lovely meal and conversation at a local restaurant, Timur asking Navi first of her last few months, and as they wrapped up began regaling her with tales from his adventure, and the new friends he had made along the way. Finishing their meal, they travelled to a park, feeding ducks and other small animals, all of whom seemed to have an innate trust of Timur, who, despite his size, treated them all with profound gentleness. Finally as the sun began to set they returned to the University and climbed up another, smaller tower. On the roof they had a spectacular view of the cosmos above, and Navi pointed out various constellations and their meanings to Timur. While she explained the workings of Cahoki in-depth, he listened with bated breath as he stared into her eyes, shimmering as emeralds in the light of the stars. The entire day was filled with joy and laughter, and the entire time as Timur was excitedly showing her around, all she could think about was how much she enjoyed the sound of Navi Ohr’al.