ShadowLord_Lith

Gallen looked yo, blinking tiredly at this stranger. He looked around, confused- he wasn't in a corner, so he wasn't the most interesting person, he wasn't overly grouchy- or so he thought- so... he had no idea why the man was bothering him. "Can you leave me to my suffering? My wife died a few days ago." He didn't look happy about it. Not depressed or utterly hopeless, but he was definitely unhappy. Hence the drinking and exhaustion. Still, he looked way better than most men in his position would. He wasn't crying or sobbing or anything. @Ookla the Ninja

Gallen was there, a human man that was very tall- he was even a few inches taller than most elves, meaning he stood out like a sore thumb if he wasn't careful. He had a very nice sword on his hip, and a dagger strapped to his thigh. He looked like a man in his mid to late twenties who was used to rough roads and sleepless nights. At the moment, he was sitting at a table, looking haggard and exhausted, drinking ale slowly out of a mug. It wasn't a table in a corner, but it was a table against a wall. It was empty, and people seemed mildly wary of him. He was certainly an unusual stranger- and his dusty, written clothing and good almost seemed to make him fade into the background. With his large frame, and obvious muscle, that was an impressive trick.

She hummed, pointing to a few sections. "Missing some metal here, a few of the designs on the sudde that look decorative aren't, and those got scratched up, and I need to finish fixing the housing case for the gem. It was way worse last year. I had to rebuild it almost from scratch. We maybe could've bought one, but we had to spend too much on rebuilding and improving our position in the guilds. We're still too new here, and to be any less of a target, we need to get allies to help protect us... we don't have the resources or members to fully defend ourselves yet. It's frustrating... this way the guild runs a bit more smoothly, at least... It would've been easier if that art teacher hadn't gone missing... he would've finished these designs months ago." She sat back, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Are fabrials all you wanted to talk to me about? We also teach the kids about motivators in this class, though we don't have any. The fabrials were have really belong to members of the guild, or we wouldn't even have them. Motivator classes are more theoretical than actually knowledge-based. We teach various kinds of courses on investiture and abilities using it, realmatic theory courses, one or two more research oriented classes that let the kids do their own investigating... what exactly are you interested in?" She turned her chair, removing the fabrial from the work table and moving to put it away in a display case.

Same! But maybe with an elf? Maybe I'll just use Gallen...

How have I not seen this? I'd love to join this. Maybe I could figure out a character soon- I'll ask some friends if they're interested. I'll try to help this not-die.

She sighed. "Come in. You might as well watch." She opened the door, walking back to a table in a far corner where rudimentary welding materials and a blacksmith-esque area was set up. It was very small, though, and seemed barely large enough for what she was doing. Which, by the looks of the table, was the repair or maintenance of a fabrial. "This needs an emerald to function, but can turn various materials into grain. It can't hold a large gem, yet, so only handfuls cam be safely made at a time. It, and the other two actual fabrials were have were badly damaged during the massacre, and I'm still trying to fix this one. If you have any help ri offer, I won't say no- but fabrial studies hasn't been very effective without a fabrial for the children to study. I've been losing sleep over it..." She grimaced, pulling on some goggles and moving her braided hair behind her shoulder as she got back to work, handling the device and tools with an intimate level of knowledge as she started back on repairs. For the most part, she ignored her visitors, focused on her task.

@Ookla the Ninja

What do you guys think I would be? I think some if you know me- I'm curious to see what impression I've left on you.

An older woman opened the door, looking them up and down. She head tan skin and solids black hair tied in a tight braid. "Hello... how can I help you? I have a lesson in fifteen minutes, so you'll need to be quick." She had a mildly stern voice, but it was tempered by an obvious attempt to contain whatever annoyance she may have been feeling. The wrinkles on her face proclaimed her asshe and the bags under her eyes- along with the somewhat tired look in her eyes- said she was stressed and not sleeping well. That she still had self-control was a testament to her commitment to her job.

Failen thought for a moment. "I... I think most of us, the non-Gathen, come from worlds where we've never even heard of your kind. Worlds where names don't tell you who a person was, what they loved, what drives them. Knowing that he was is wonderful, but... what were his goals? What motivated him? What was his family like? Why did he die? What were his beliefs? What were his greatest fears and what were his morals? The title 'Flamesinger' doesn't tell us these things... All it tells us are words that hold deep meaning to you, but not to us. What were his greatest, most unlikely goals in life? What was he planning to do before he died? And how did he die?" He tried to explain, he tried his best- he just worried that that still wouldn't be enough to get through to the man... He hadn't recovered enough of his light magic to use telepathy, but he was regaining it far faster than before, so close to Light.

Failen nodded. "And how did he die? Tell us who he was... a person is more than their title, and more than their position. If I say my grandmother is the fairy queen, and that she is solitary in ruling the fae court, you have learned nothing about her. If I tell you she loves daisies, her greatest accomplishments were when she fought back the demons with her husband and trapped them in an eternal prison in order to save not only her people, but every magical race, and that her greatest loss was when her husband was taken captive during that campaign, and that she is a mother of dozens of children whom she loves more dearly than her own life... you now know much more about her. Tell us about who he was... not just his positions." He looked at John, hopeful. He really had an almost unearthly look about him sometimes- right now, this close to Light, his unicorn traits were more obvious than they normally were, making him look inhuman and almost ethereal, and far more innocent than normal.

Failen shook his head. "I'm not sure... but Light told us we'd know what to do after we asked you... she emphasized that we're should know who you are... who was flamesinger?"

Failen also wanted to know, and literally stood behind his friend to support him. "I would also like to know who you are and whom you used to be."

Thank you!

He nodded. "Alright, have a nice day.I hope you enjoy the guild." He smiled, letting them leave and turning to look around for another blueprint or map. Maybe he'd ask the old art students to try making some maps? That would hopefully help them keep up their skills.

He smiled. "Alright... if your friends feel the same way, I'll let you be on your way. We have a religious seminar in the cathedral lasting for an hour or more later on today- though Selish religious groups meet in the school house in the art room and surrounding classrooms, This religious meetings are in the garden, Scadrian ones are on the green, and Rosharan meetings are held... in the science classrooms, I think... We can offer you a room to yourselves if you have other beliefs, but I'm afraid we don't have room to give every religion a place... We will once we get the resources to expand though- we're a very new guild, and we're still establishing ourselves. Hopefully we can start getting some more funding soon... if you have any major questions or concerns, I can always direct you to The high priest, Erlend- he knows almost everything about the guild. I just wanted to let you know in case you stayed that long- we try to avoid interrupting religious meetings whenever possible. It's disrespectful to others and their beliefs." The man smiled, hoping he was being helpful.

The man smiled. "Of course... there should be one in this room here. I hope that helps you." He smiled, pointing to one of the classrooms in the school building. "If you'd like a guide, I can have once if the children or priests excused from their current activities to come lead you where you want to go." He smiled, hoping they appreciated the offer.

The man smiled. "I'm not certain... you could probably ask some of the science teachers. I'm pretty sure they'd have one or two fabrials as examples to teach the kids how to make them. Anything else should be catalogued by the teachers. If you meet anyone in need, we take in anyone. Even if they only need a place to stay for a while, we'd gladly take them in. Thank you for the work you do. Feel free to stop by the cafeteria if you stay past lunch. It's normally just for refugees, kids, and staff, but I'm sure they'd make an exception for you. You'll need this to find your way around, so you can keep it. We have extras elsewhere. If you need any help, ask anyone- the kids are especially helpful." He smiled, holding out the blueprints of the grounds that he'd been using as a map- offering it as a map for them to use. It didn't have anything overly valuable marked on it though- nothing the guild needed to keep secret or safe, other than the kids dorm. Not that there were many secrets, but these plans only were useful if the guild didn't change its layout with the special defensive stamp they'd used during the invasion. There weren't many valuables to steal.

The man at the desk, literally only there in case they had visitors, beamed. "Of course! It's wonderful to have you- I'll give you a general idea of where things are and call someone over to help guide you around- thank you for coming today." He smiled, turning and leaning down, humming to himself as he looked through a small box next to his chair. "Ah, perfect. Here." He pulled out a rather nice looking layout map of the buildings. "I'm afraid we only have blueprints right now- we we're hoping to have the art teacher make some better ones for public use but... I'm afraid that something happened to him and we haven't been able to find him. it was so soon after the genocide too..." He seemed to grow quiet for a moment, shaking himself before smiling. "Anyways, as you can see here, that is the main cathedral. It's where most religious services are held, where we hold public meetings for the guild, and where I believe most of the offices of the governing body are held. This building to the right, and the one's next to it, are the dorms. The larger one is for the children, of course, but we always find room if someone needs a place to stay. Now, this building on the left is the school. The art room is out of use until we can find a replacement or find Shae, but the other rooms have various courses on mathematics, languages, handwriting, various magic systems, and anything else a child requests. Their future is everyone's future, so we try to make it a bright and happy one. Right behind the cathedral we have the gardens, where most of our fresh produce is grown- as well as various other plants and herbs we sell in town in order to buy meat and such for the children. The teachers and staff have their own paycheck, so they buy their own food. I'm not sure which office specifically is the therapy and mental health offices, but we do have a small group in charge of that- they became absolutely vital for the children after the attack." He stopped again, blinking and shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Umm... Do you want a guide, or is this enough for you to find your way around? And if the nurse of first aid teacher don't have what you're looking for, maybe the library would be of use to you..." He forced a smile, but it became genuine again as he pushed away the memories of that dark, dark day...