Ink Forged

~Rules~

Maevus followed as Letya skipped down the hall toward the stairs Vraylor had led her up last night. The morning was still young and most of the rooms were quiet, though Maevus could hear as some of the guild's denizens began to stir.

"Most of them tend to be night owls," Letya chattered happily. "But I like the early morning sun. The light's so crisp it's like playing with water."

To demonstrate, she wound a few strands of sunlight coming into the stairwell from one of the many windows around her fingers. 

The casual display of magic was still a bit shocking. Lox leaned over, trying to play with the strings of light that Letya wound around her fingers in a cat's cradle.

Letya giggled and sent the strands of light squirming around the dragon, who growled in delight and launched himself from Maevus' shoulder. He tumbled through the air, wrestling the strings of light which had turned to the consistency of thick jelly.

The tiny girl beside her was apparently an extremely talented Encant.

Letya kept up the game until they got to the bottom of the staircase, which spilled them into the grand hall that had been packed full of Encants last night. Now Maevus could practically hear crickets.

A handful of Encants were scattered around the room, enjoying breakfast with friends or shoveling down some food before they were running out the door.

"Come on," Letya said, looping her arm through Maevus' as she pulled her along to the solitary man standing behind the bar. "I'll pay for breakfast this morning."

"But—"

"No buts!" Letya cut her off, hopping up onto a stool. "You can pay me back after you've taken a couple jobs and have more to wear than an old shirt and pants with holes in the knees."

Maevus peered down at her legs with a frown before sitting down. "They don't have holes."

Letya just waved an unconcerned hand, her attention turning to the guy behind the bar. 

"Letty doll, you can't expect everyone to be a morning person," he said, his voice tinged with the rolling accent of eastern Escana. He reached below the counter and set a chipped but clean mug in front of Maevus, then turned a stern expression on Letya. "Don't start in until the poor girl's had some tea, yeah?"

Letya rolled her eyes but crossed her heart.

The man turned back to Maevus. He was maybe a few years older than her. Pleasant-looking if not handsome with tan skin and hair the color of ripe wheat. His blue eyes sparked as he winked at Maevus before he disappeared behind a door into what Maevus assumed was a kitchen, judging by the smell. 

"That's Gil," Letya said fondly. "He's a Fire-Charmed Encant, but he prefers cooking to fighting so Master put him in charge of the kitchens about four years ago. We've all gained at least ten pounds because of it."

Maevus snorted, eyeing the girl's petite frame dubiously.

"Let's see," Letya said, twirling around on her stool and motioning Maevus to do the same. Lox hopped over to Letya's lap, purring as she gently scratched behind his ears.

Her eyes scanned the few people in the hall, and she blew out a small sigh before launching into a stream of names and Charms that Maevus quickly stopped trying to keep up with.

The guild hall was home to every sort of Encant imaginable, from every race and nation around Escana and the world. Maevus supposed skin tone hardly mattered when you were all tied together with the thread of something as deep as magic.