milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The Bar has been remarkably sane to Therem these past weeks. It had been refreshing. And then... this. All of a sudden, no amount of tugging will free his feet from the floor.

It's very odd. But only mildly worrying. As long as there continue to be rats and patrons, Therem is relatively certain there will be someone who can help eventually. Even if his feet must be cut from the floor. He will worry later about the possibility of spending the rest of his days with wooden soles.

In the meantime, the small, dark-faced androgyne stands where he is in front of the observation window, looking up in puzzlement at the plant hanging above his head -- too high to reach for someone under five feet tall, alas!

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"Perhaps I shall ask Miss Bar for a reading on it, then." He pauses, shifting a little on his feet. It's the kind of pause that suggests he means to add something, but the silence just... keeps... going.

Perhaps it's a vague implication of a hint that she might suggest how he could do something about the fact that he can't get to the bar.

Or perhaps he's just looking for a rat to ask for the book while he waits.

Like most things about him, it's wholly impossible to be certain.

"Well, I could help you with that as long as you don't mind a kiss from me."

She has no problems with platonic kisses between friends.

Therem bows his head with a smile. "I would be grateful, Mia."

Mia bends down just a little (she's not terribly tall, but she is over five feet) and gives Therem a kiss on his cheek.

Therem takes two small stepcs back from her, clearing himself of the area below the plant. He presses his hands together as if praying, nodding to her as he does so. It is a gesture of close friendship. "Thank you, Mia! I shall be cautious from now on not to walk beneath these plants."

"Well, not all of it is bad," she says, pulling a sprig of mistletoe from her ribbon, one that she has been wearing since she found out what it was used for.

"But I think that is probably a good idea while you're here."

"It is not a plant that grows on my world, and here, if it is poisonous, I shall avoid it -- unless I should desire to be kissed," he adds, a spark of mischief in his eye. "But that trick would be of little use to me as a game of seduction unless I was in kemmer. Still, I can see that it might be of use to others, if implemented properly and not abused. It is an amusing custom."

Another smile.

"Quite a few Christmas traditions seem a little amusing. I learned about Christmas trees, which are brought into homes and decorated, and of Father Christmas, who comes once a year to put presents under the trees. I thought it was a little odd at first, but all of it is really charming."

"Gifts under trees?" That is indeed odd. "I should like to explore the reasons behind these customs. This is a holiday many people from Earth celebrate?"

"It does seem popular. Draco described it as a holiday with lots of parties and, for the most part, people tend to like parties. Specifically, it is from a religious holiday, but it is widespread even with those who do not have the same beliefs."

She stops to think about that for a moment.

"I wonder if that's part of it? Bringing people together in spite of their differences..."

Therem grins. "To bring people together in spite of differing beliefs is something I feel all people should strive for daily. The mindset of they who created a holiday to honor such a purpose is honorable indeed. Then what better place to spend such a holiday than here?" He turns a little to glance out the window, at all the worlds beyond all the stars he cannot see but knows are there. "It is sad that I will never celebrate these things with my family. But lucky that I am able to do so with just one of them. He will bring this back home with him when he returns."

Mia nods a little.

"I understand that, to some degree. Though, I hope in the years to come, I will have more family to call my own. This place has already brought some to me."

Three guesses who she's talking about.

"You are very young," Therem tells her, "if you will forgive me for saying so. You will certainly have many opportunities to build whatever manner of family you choose to persue. You will gain love, and lose it, as we all do."

He's being sage, now. But he misses his more than he has words to tell.

"I agree that I am very young, with hopefully a long life to live, though there are no guarantees. Though, even in my youth, I have felt some loss and I have wondered about my origins."

"Then you are wise; you think; you wonder. Many do not. Many refuse. There are no guarantees, but I have found that a life lived to its fullest potential is a life worth living. I am strangely fortunate; I have learned my end from my own future's shadow here, and I have time to make peace with it, though I may not fully understand it until the time comes."

A grim topic around Christmas, mortality, but Therem and Mia are not the first to tread these waters.

"I've never really had certainty about that, not unless I was looking into the face of who or what I thought would deal that blow," she admits quietly. "There were many times when I thought I would meet my end. If not for the strength of my friends..."

The sentence just sits there, unfinished.

"...Come and sit with me," Therem says, nodding towards an empty booth out of the crowd. "I never thought about my own death when I was young. Even recently, I only considered it as a logical possibility when my dear friend and companion Genry and I were faced with a journey no one in all the history of my world has ever survived. And indeed, I shall not ultimately survive it. This I know now. But my eldest child at least will, and has. I see him, and I know that a part of me goes on. So it is with us all, I believe, Mia."

He sits in the booth, having led the way there, swift and almost snakelike as he moves through the other tables.

"I wonder what will become of the others, but I trust my child to find and care for them, and Genry."

"I've had reason enough to think about it, I'm afraid," she says, following him. "The war that was at home, the one I mentioned to Sorve, it was a war that I fought in myself."

She takes a seat.

"It was almost a year ago now, when it started. Well, no, that's wrong," she says, backtracking a bit. "It started months before I knew it ever did. It started in my very home."

"I am glad," Therem says slowly, "that I shall not live to see war for myself. But it pierces my heart to wonder if my children will, and Ashe... he is a silly, wonderful fool; he could not survive a foray, much less what I understand war is." He describes Ashe with a mixture of nostalgic fondness and regret, almost disdain. But he fixes her, then, with a stare that is startlingly intense. "How did it begin in your home?"

"With my stepfather. He had his ideas of how the world should be, which are not always a bad thing, but the way he tried to enforce them..."

She bows her head a little.

"It started small. He attacked my mother first, hurt her mind, locked her away. And then the others that live in my city, then the people in the neighboring city, and it continued to spread until he had hit practically every point of the world. Many were killed, and many were hurt, both in body and mind. Not even a good idea can justify that."

"Her mind?" Therem asks, eyes narrowing a little. "Do you, then, also practice mindspeech?"

"Mindspeech? Not in particular, though there are some who claim that they can read others in a way that could possibly be called mindspeech, but I'm not familiar with the term."

She brushes some hair out of her face.

"My city is one of magic and most everyone there studies it. Mother was placed in a magic mask, a torture device banned many years ago that blocks memories by making it physically painful to remember. The mask has long been destroyed, but she does sometimes have headaches if she remembers something too suddenly or if it is a particular subject."

Therem is visibly disturbed by this idea.

"Genry's people use mindspeech. It is to speak from one mind to another, without voice. Yet when Genry would bespeak me, I heard my brother. He taught me, then, to make shields from any who would use similar powers in an invasive manner, but it is not a power I care for. I would say, most people fear great powers which are beyond their understanding. Genry tells me that people in other worlds would consider the Handdarata Foretellers to be magicworkers, for according to Genry, ours is the only race of humans in 84 known worlds that has this ability. It seems logical and sensible to me to distrust an invasion of minds; yet to others, it seems logical and sensible to distrust an invasion of planets, and so progress cannot be made through fear. I do bespeak Genry, when it was necessary to us. I would do so to another, if it was necessary. What other magic do you do, Mia?"

"Ah, those powers of mind shields and invasions were used by my step-father. I borrow the words from Draco's home to describe them. Occulmency for protecting your mind and Legillimency for invading another," she briefly comments. "Most of my magic is tied to the elements of the world, specifically fire and ice. I can use them to suit pretty much any need, and my study has continued since coming to Milliways. I have spent the past month turning one of my ice barrier spells to a fire one to better protect someone who is strongly connected to fire."

"Those would be useful powers indeed!" Therem declares. He does not try to repeat the words Mia uses for studies of psychic powers; he does not believe even his best efforts would let him pronounce them recognizably. "I should like very much, here, to have the power of ice. It is often far too warm for my comfort. Even now; I see most people wearing heavy coats out of doors. My child and I hardly find even long sleeves to be necessary. And in my world... my world was named Winter by those who first found it from the Ekumen. It is very cold. The power of fire would be useful indeed."

Well, Mia can solve the lack of ice here, and promptly summons up a good flurry of snowflakes for Therem.

"Your world sounds like a good place to practice both. It is easier to learn ice magic when you know its mate and easier to learn fire magic when you know its opposite."

Therem leans back, closing his eyes, spreading his fingers to feel the snow drift past them.

"That is beautiful, wonderful," he says softly. "Although I cannot understand how it could have developed as an initially useful skill. Fascinating."

"There are always uses for ice beyond its refreshing qualities, even if that is a good use for it. Ice magic, when used carefully, can eliminate weeds without damaging crops, and it can be used to preserve food when staying or traveling in warmer climates. And, again if used carefully, it can stop someone who means you harm without the injury that weapons cause."

Therem is beginning now to understand the scope of her abilities. He is intrigued.

"I see! Those must be treasured skills indeed, and I would imagine then that fire would help protect against an early or late frost, and of course to hunt, to heat food and drink, to heat oneself in travels or during a storm..."

The possibilities are endless, really.

"Are your people born with the potential to use these tools? Or must you be taught them, as Genry taught me his mindspeech?"

"A little bit of both. Almost everyone in my world is born with the potential to learn magic, but the skill has to be developed, either through self-discipline or lessons with teachers. There are many different branches of magic, used to many different ends. There are some who study at the church instead of the school, and their magic is used to heal and purify. Some study swordsmanship, and the power that would have been used for traditional magic is put in their sword attacks. Some swordsmen can even use that power to make an energy sword, eliminating the need for a physical one. I've even met someone who can channel her magic in her singing."

"What an exceptional planet yours must be!" Therem says, shaking his head a little. "But to use such incredible power must be draining, is it not?"

"It is when exerted too much. For the most part, resting will naturally restore it, but it can be hard to get such needed rest on long and sometimes dangerous journeys. But we have found and made supplements that can help us carry on, and there are blessed statues of our goddess that can heal most any ailment."

"That is astounding," Therem replies. "I am one of the Handdarata; I have learned certain skills from the masters in the Fastnesses, but none such as that. It requires much rest and food afterwards. One may sleep for days."

"That would be more like going through the war without any assistance. Even with such help, I've been out for days at a time then. But that usually isn't a worry of day to day life. And the more a person studies and practices, the greater their endurance. But then, I'm of the belief that a lot of what can be done every day doesn't need magic and that sometimes it is good to live without it."

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