Hiding the Marks

Tahi gave an understanding nod. With her talent with the winds, one of the most frustrating things was not knowing what was going on. But with wind magic, one tended to overhear many different languages - and so it was common for wind magic users to know more than the average person did. She was pretty well versed in languages herself, but her brother was even better.

Thinking of Eri, Tahi bit her lip. The girl was confrontational to be sure, and as her mentor, Tahi was probably going to hear about what had happened from whoever had stopped the fight. She sighed. "Well - I guess I'll be hearing a lot more about this. I'm Eri's mentor... The girl's energetic enough for five students! She has a knack for getting into trouble matched only by myself and Adelphie when we were that age, and that was only as a team." Tahi shook her head.

Jane had to smile slightly. "So you were a troublemaker as well?" she asked. "That's kind of funny, when you think about it. No offense, or anything." she herself had always followed the rules, because of her high expectations in life, and hadn't had time to goof off and break the rules. Well, maybe once or twice...

Adonia laughed and looked at Tahi mischievously. "Really now?" she asked. "I knew you were rather energetic, but I didn't know you ever got into that much trouble. Do tell."

Tahi gave Jane her best mischevious grin. "I don't think were is the best way to describe things. I am a troublemaker. I'm just a little more responsible about it these days." Tahi laughed. "Well most days anyways. And there's a difference between being a troublemaker and being plain stupid. For example, swapping your Roman roommate's plain battle clothing for frilly dresses - troublemaking for sure. Challenging the god of war to a duel because he was making advances at someone else's mentor - plain stupid. Dying your mentor-slash-brother's hair brown for the night of the masquerade ball - troublemaking. Challenging a viking beserker to a duel - just plain stupid."

Tahi smiled as she thought of the pranks she had played in her time at the Athenaeum. There were some good ones for sure.

"You dyed your brother's hair brown?" she asked with a snort. "How'd you do that without him noticing?" Most of Jane's rulebreaking experiences had included a few very persuasive roommates, a party or two, and occasionally some alcohol.

Then the question was; who was Tahi's brother? "Who's your brother?" she asked, wondering if she knew him.

Tahi grinned. "It was easy actually! I just put the dye in his shampoo. He's actually very vain when it comes to his hair - though he'd never admit it. He washes it every day -and I just took advantage. And the best thing was that Amaranth was the one who gave me the dye so it wasn't washable - because obviously sirens would have no use for washable dye. He spent a whole month with his hair that way because of the dye." Tahi laughed at the memory. Kal had worn a towel around his head whenever he could during that month, and had spent a lot of his time in the hot lands of Egypt and Saudi Arabia -where such adornment was common. The peacock.

In response to Jane's second question, Tahi answered. "Oh, he's the other mentor for Hestia - Kallistrates - but that's a mouthful and a half so we all just call him Kal. He's tall - about 6 feet or so - with silver eyes, and white hair - your classic pure-blood nephelae. And he's a pain in the butt. In a kind of teddy-bear sort of way - but he's still a pain. He's the reason there was only one boy in my entire class at the athenaeum - and that was because the boy was interested in a different girl." Tahi let out a small frustrated sigh. "He's a little overprotective..."

"Oh, he was the one who finally made us all go to bed," she said, nodding. "Okay." It was nice being able to put faces to names, and she filed that away in her head.

Adonia gulped remembering the look on Kal's face when he had entered the room and the way he had glare at Eos. "It was... uncomfortable to say the least." she commented.

"Um...yeah." She laughed awkwardly. "What a way to end a party, eh?"

[ sorry for the posting failure ^^; ]

((haha - I just got back from dinner - absences ftw!)) Tahi groaned. "He's not normally so grumpy. We've just been having... family problems lately." She said lamely.

"I should probably go talk to him. I have a feeling I should be the one to talk to Eri about doing stupid things versus troublemaking." She courtesied to each of them. "It was nice speaking with you two. I'll see you around I'm sure. Good day." And with a flourish of her hand she began to head back to the athenaeum. It seemed like she'd been chasing after her brother far too much these days.

"Thanks for stopping by," she said, waving her hand slightly. Well, at least that solved Adonia's problem, and she knew one more person in the Athenaeum. A person who she thought might be useful to know, too. The day was looking up.

"Good day to you as well... and thank you" she said with a small smile as Tahi rose and left.

Jane sighed, staring after Tahi. "Well, that solves your problem," she said after a moment, returning her attention to the here and now.

"Yes it does" she smiled. "Its a great weight off my shoulders, that's for sure," she said with a stretch, looking out over the lake. "Were you still interested in that swim?" she asked.

"Sure," she replied, standing up and brushing herself off. Jane was wearing her baithing suit beneath her clothes, so it was no problem to make her way back through the willows and towards the water.

"All right then." Addi rose to follow Jane, allowing her water skirt to dissolve as she did so. Her clothes were made form the same scales she had be trying to use to cover her bruises, so, upon reaching the lake's edge, she walked straight in until the water was up to her knees.

Jane pulled her green shirt over her head, revealing the light blue one piece beneath. She folded the shirt, setting it down on the beach, and soon her pants joined the pile. The suit was part of her old uniform, the light blue denoting her as a new recruit with the breathable black sides. It was a marvelous suit, and she wouldn't have left it behind for the most expensive one she could find. The government liked to outfit its servants with the best of everything.

Stepping into the water, she waded out to meet Adonia. It was a bit chilly, and goosebumps rose up her legs and down her arms, but Jane kept walking, stiffing it out. She couldn't help but rub her arms a little though.

Adonia looked over at her friend with some concern. "Are you quite all right?" she asked watching the girl rub her arms as she waded. "I sometimes forget how cold water can be for humans. If its too cold we could go back." she offered.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm used to swimming in the cold." She smiled at Adonia. "It just takes a second to get used to the temperature. At home, we had to wake up each day at six and immediately go for a swim, and you were lucky if you only had to swim 400 meters. The pool wasn't as warm as it could be either. I like the lake better though."

To get used to it she just plunged in, ducking under and feeling her body instantly react. But it felt nice, and she soon became accustomed to the chill. Pushing off the bottom with her feet, she felt it press against her face. The feeling was so familiar that she could almost think that when she came up again it would be to find her coworkers all around her, starting their morning swim and joshing her for not being very fast. The way most of her mornings started out. But when she did come up, touching her feet to the bottom again, she was still in the lake. And really, she liked it that way.

Adonia smiled, reassured. "Oh good, then We can go ahead I guess" she said cheerfully, diving into the water and lazily circling about for a moment, enjoying the feeling of the cool water moving though her hair and across her bruises. She loved the lake. It was the only place here that truly felt like home... minus the saltiness.... she rather missed that. But there were things here that she loved too, she thought as she resurfaced by her new friend. "Where do you want to swim to?" she asked

Brushing her hair back away from her face, she glanced around. Spotting one of the small, sandy islands, she pointed. "That way sound good to you?" she asked with a smile.

Now she was really ready to go swim, and she started with a few strokes towards the small isle anyway.

"Sounds good to me" Adonia said setting out after Jane, swimming alongside her on her back lazily. Looking up at the clouds as she swam she smiled a bit before diving under the water again, swimming about under the surface near her friend.

Jane tried opening her eyes under the water, as she'd done in the pool. But this time the water was less green, it was clear and beautiful, and it didn't make her eyes burn at all. Grinning and letting her breath out in a long stream of bubbles, she pushed herself up towards the surface to get a fresh supply of oxygen and to see how fast they were swimming towards the small island.

Adonia smiled as she watched her friend swim. "Enjoying the water?" she asked, still under the water, but her voice traveling above the water with complete clarity.

Pausing for a second to catch her breath while she replied, she felt the energy coursing through her body. Good thing this place had a lake, or she would have forgotten how good it felt to be in the water. "Immensely."