[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/241208/a04161052c56932d95d6bf9168fcef02.png[/img][/center][hr][i]The Eye of the Beholder[/i][hr]
Nesna nodded softly at Nathaniel’s observation.

[color=DDA0DD]“I’ve only just arrived last night,”[/color] she affirmed. Her black lips formed a restrained smile as Nathaniel expressed his gratitude for her presence. It felt odd to hear such a thing. Evidently Nathaniel must have recognized it himself, for before her expression managed to change to show the mixed sentiments the thoughts had inspired in her, he moved to ask directly: [i]Why?[/i]

Her expression settled into her rather indiscernible, vaguely melancholic resting face as she retreated inwards. She inhaled softly, her lips producing a small click as she moved to speak, only to close her mouth again, furrowing her brow, as the salience of the question quickly revealed itself to her. Why had she wanted to be a Sage, back before all of this? Magic had this fascinating, gripping mystery about it. It was powerful, and yet made such little sense. Yes, there had to be rules to it, and yet they were entirely different to the rest of the world in so many ways. Magic could change, transmute, make things that weren’t there, move things from afar, infiltrate the most sacred recesses of the mind—all sorts of things that regular tools had no capacity for. Nesna had always been entranced by rules, compelled by some desire she herself could not rightly ascertain the source of to follow even the most evidently ridiculous of them, simply because the rules were the rules. Rarely did anything feel more alien and dreadful than to breach some yet unknown rule. And the cosmos had rules—rules that could be followed effortlessly because they were not choices. And so too did magic, but in no respect did people yet understand all of the rules of the world. Rules, rules, rules—they were where things made sense, and finding a new rule made the world make just a bit more sense.

But why not go into law?

Law was the rules of men—rules whose reasons could endlessly be questioned and whose confines could be endlessly quibbled. If the world had a rule, however, that was simply the rule. That was that, and the only questions were what other rules there were.

As these thoughts ran through Nesna’s mind, she tensed her mouth, realizing how the matter might sound patently absurd. Or possibly induce a philosophical discussion in a tavern—which would just [i]feel[/i] absurd!

[color=DDA0DD]“It’s…well I suppose it’s simply that I’d always imagined I’d work to become a Sage, or at least some manner of scholar,”[/color] she offered. She bobbed her head from side to side indecisively, before continuing, [color=DDA0DD]“It’s…a hard question, only in that it’s—well—it’s a silly thing, I suppose, but I’d for the longest time banished the very idea of being a Sage from my mind. After all, of what worth am I in such a sorry state? And Mother had already conducted my funeral by the time the thought crossed my mind once again…”[/color]

Nesna sighed and shook her head as she trailed off. Her ears perked up, and her eyes glowed a bit more brightly.

[color=DDA0DD]“But never mind that. It’s an old dream of mine that I’ve only recently had the notion I could ever even aspire to approach once again.”[/color]

As she prepared to speak on Nathaniel’s second point, Nesna drew her hand to her cheek slowly. Her eyes dulled in their glow, and her ears slumped.

[color=DDA0DD]“What else am I to do, though? All I’ve spent six years doing is hunting and cloistering myself with whatever book I could sneak from the family library that week. It—it, heh, it took the blight seeping into the home itself to oust me from my little rat-hole!”[/color] Nesna’s hand moved to her hair when she let out her small, forced laugh.

[color=DDA0DD]“I used to write stories about myself just to pass the time. But now…it’s here. It’s almost real…”[/color] There she was, all but talking to herself more so than to Nathaniel. She caught herself and paused, bringing her hand back down. She cleared her throat, and continued.

[color=DDA0DD]“But I digress. I wish to be of some use in my life, or, I suppose, whatever one might call this state I’m in. Even if I don’t end up being of much worth, I should hope I might at least make a halfway decent scribe—and I suppose, be able to tell myself that I tried whenever that final death comes. Tried to live out a shadow of what my former purpose might have been…”[/color]

Nesna tightened her lips, almost frustrated with herself.

[color=DDA0DD]“Pardon me. I’m what one might call a melancholic sort. And still returning to the land of the living, so to speak. I’m…heh,”[/color]—she let out a more sincere-sounding laugh than the previous one—[color=DDA0DD]“only on my second day of conversation in six years! I do hope I’m not that out of practice!”[/color]

Nesna closed her eyes and let out another laugh as she brought her fist to her mouth for a moment.

[color=DDA0DD]“And I realize once again, I’ve neglected even to introduce myself! Oh, how I really am out of practice indeed!”[/color]

Nesna offered a deep curtsey to Nathaniel, saying [color=DDA0DD]“Please, it is a pleasure to meet a Sage. You may call me Nesna.”[/color]

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Nathaniel [@Echotech71]