The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [68] Reprimand

Tanisha woke up early in the morning long before the sun could crest the mountains. She wanted to continue the journey the sooner they could cross the Chaos Lands the sooner they would hopefully find Joha. She wouldn't let her training slip either so she performed her breathing and stretching exercises. During one of her standing leg stretches, Aurelius descended from the near vertical mountain side next to her.

"Woah, sorry didn't know anyone else was awake." Aurelius said. "That is impressive flexibility and balance."

Tanisha lowered her leg. "Thanks I would hope so by this point. My teacher had me doing this every morning for the past few months now."

"Your teacher? I am assuming it was your combat instructor and not a dance team." Aurelius said.

Tanisha snorted a laugh and then remembered that during the farewell party with the Jackrabbits Joha did look graceful with the woman he was dancing with.

"You know what, maybe when we find him we can form a dance group." Tanisha chuckled to herself. "It might attract some customers, but yes it is a part of a combat technique."

"Ah, when we find him. The person we are out here looking for is the one that taught you." Aurelius said. "Well hopefully you got some rest. I know the storm was a setback so we can make up for lost ground."

"I slept well, but did you sleep at all? We didn't go over guard shifts or anything and Fuyumi." She looked over to the Ghostborn woman still in the same spot she drunkenly fell asleep in. "I don't think she was fit to help out with that."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I can go weeks without sleep in the Chaos Lands." Aurelius said with a wave of his hand. "And the Ghostborn can control that drunkenness. If something happened she would sober herself up pretty much instantly. I am confused why you wanted a bodyguard when you have someone like that here. Honestly, while I appreciate the work I feel kind of redundant."

Tanisha didn't want to tell him that it wasn't her choice and that she probably wouldn't have hired him because of his monstrous aura. It still left her feeling unsettled even though he seemed to be nice. She had always been taught that she would be able to tell a lot about a person by their aura. Of course until recently she had Bjorn she only had the most basic ability to sense aura. Now with her magic under her control she could pick up the finer details of a person by their aura alone.

Aurelius had an aura unlike anything she had ever felt. It was almost as if she were in the presence of the Jeweled Winged Monarch again. A chaotic recreation of the power of a mage through the body of a being that was alien in all aspects. No, it wasn't fair to compare him to that thing. His magic while similar to that of monsters was categorically different. It had form, and even those parts that seemed chaotic had an ebb and flow.

"Well," she said, keeping her tone light, "it's safer to travel with more people, right? Besides, you both seem to know your way around. How do you even navigate this place? If the terrain changes overnight, maps must be useless."

"True enough," Aurelius replied. "The Ghostborn have an innate sense for it, from what I've seen. Me? I stick to the sun and stars. Even the Chaos Lands can't blot those out entirely."

Tanisha nodded thoughtfully. She heard about people using the stars to travel. Mat mentioned that many people from the Force Isles had navigation tools like that because the different floating isles didn't have landmarks between them. She filed that information away to ask about later but it made her head hurt just thinking of trying to figure out stars for navigation when paper maps were already her bane.

"Makes sense." She said her focus shifted back to her exercise. "We'll get started soon. Just let me finish up first."

She leaned back with her belly in the air until she could finally reach to grab her own ankles. Aurelius watched her for a few more moments utterly bewildered at the level of flexibility she had. His eyes flicked down briefly, his gaze catching on her tail as it flicked idly in the cool morning air. His expression was unreadable, but Tanisha didn't miss the way his focus lingered.