Startouched Mage

Chapter 2

Callum is excited to finally be in Xadia, and is waving the Key of Aaravos around wildly and exposing it to everything, and not a single thing doesn't make it react. Every plant, animal and insect makes it glow. "This is incredible! Everything here is magic! I can almost taste it!"
Rayla turns to him. "Taste it?"
Callum nods. "Yeah. I can kinda... sense the primal energy everywhere. You can't do that?"
The Moonshadow elf shrugs. "Must be a Startouched thing. I can only really feel the moon, and even then, I'm not exactly a mage."

The mention of it being a Startouched thing gets to Callum and he turns the box over to see the sign for the star primal. Nothing had triggered it yet. They haven't been here long, but still. He was hoping to find something, anything that might tell him who he is, or even what he is.

Seeing Callum's soured mood, Rayla tries to perk him back up. "You know, we're heading for my home village, Silvergrove. The other elves will help get Zym to the Dragon Queen. And if we get there before dusk, I have a surprise for you." She picks a fruit from a tree and hands it to Zym, who burps sparkling dust, getting giggles from the five fingered elf. Relieved at his improved mood, Rayla joins in.

Continuing through the forest, Callum continues to be amazed by the magic everywhere. Even the dirt was magic! They soon come upon flowers that play music. Rayla names them. "Those are melodaisies." And she quickly moves on.
Callum races to catch up. "You know, there's a human saying. Stop and smell the roses. Or listen to them, I suppose."
Rayla looks down at some odd flowers before smiling. "Good idea. These flowers right here have a more interesting scent than anything in the human kingdoms. Try one."

Callum bends down and sniffs one of the flowers, and it promptly farts in his face, getting him to cough while Rayla laughs. "What WAS that?"
"They go by many names. Flatulilies, toot-lips, and etcetera, but at the end of the day, it's a fart flower. How do you like to stop and smell them roses?"
Callum concedes the point. "Alright, you got me." Zym races into a patch of them and they all start going off. "Oh god, Zym no! Oh the stench!" He grabs Zym from the flowers and gags. "Oh, Ezran would love this."

They soon get to the edges of the forest on a high up cliff. Callum himself admires the view, making a note to sketch it later. "How do we get down?"
Rayla turns towards a tree. "By going up."
"That's the biggest tree I've ever seen! What's it called?"
Rayla turns her swords into hooks. "A tree."
"Oh." Climbing, as it turns out, is not Callum's strong suit and he quickly gets stuck. "Really wish I knew a spell for this. I could grow wings or something."

Getting to the top of the tree after a lot of struggling, they move along the massive branches and awkwardly (at least in Callum's case) jump down into a giant seed. Rayla gives a warning. "You're gonna want to hold on." She cuts the stem and the seed floats down over the cliff and into the trees below, all the while Callum holds on for dear life.

When it finally lands, Callum realizes he wasn't holding onto the seed and quickly releases Rayla. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's ok. It was a bumpy ride." Callum turns his head away to hide the stars on his cheeks glowing brighter, and in turn not seeing Rayla's own blush.

A few more hours of walking and they come across a small clearing just before dusk. "We're here, and just in time."
At Rayla's proclamation, Callum looks around the small clearing. "What exactly did you want to show me?" She gently nudged him into the clearing and he walks in.
"I would come to this meadow as a child and make lots of colorful friends."
Callum raises a brow. "Friends?"

In response, she grabs a fluffy blue thing and chucks it as Callum and it sticks to his sleeve. Grabbing it, he looks at it closely. "What is it?" An eye suddenly appears on the thing and Callum shouts in surprise. "Woah!" It chirps and Callum smiles at it.
Rayla sidles up next to him. "It's an adoraburr."

Hearing more chirping, Callum raises his leg from the tall grass to see bunches of them stuck to his leg. "They're. So. CUTE!"
Rayla giggles. "I thought you'd like them."
"I love them." He falls back into the grass, getting covered in the sticky creatures. "Oh, hold on." He grabs the Key of Aaravos out of his bag and holds it up to the clumps of creatures, multiple signs all lighting up.

He grabs a red one and holds it in his palm, the sign for the sun primal glowing brighter than the rest when he holds it close. "They come in all different kinds?"
Rayla nods. "Oh yeah. Earthblood elves love them. They're kind of the Xadian equivalent to dogs. Some of them can get as big as glowtoads."

Callum hums, raising his hand up and down to get a gauge of the adoraburr's weight. "It's kind of warm...can I keep it?"
Rayla chuckles a bit. "Sure."
Callum pumps a fist in victory. "Yes! I'm gonna call you Burnie." He looks down at the clumps still covering his body and hums. "...give me a second."

He deposits Burnie on one of his horns and picks each adoraburr up and holds them up to the key one by one and putting them back in the grass as the signs light up, and as he goes through the fuzzy creatures by the dozens, it's obvious to Rayla that he's not getting the result he either wanted or expected, as his expression almost becomes pained the longer this goes on for. Rayla reaches out a hand to ask him if he's ok, but his expression, and the stars across his face all light up at once. Looking at his hands, she can see why.

On one palm is an adoraburr with various purple shades across its fuzzy body, and on the other, the Key of Aaravos, with the sign for the star primal glowing almost as brightly as Callum's face. "I'm gonna call you... Twinkle."