The Magic of Relaxing (Ember)

[Elissa Vuronia]

Ferelden's beating heart was of course the Bannon a place of widespread fields and farm lands. Here nature thrived in its full glory and splendour to allow any travellers to admire the scenery around them, out in the distance was pathways ranging in different directions that lead onwards to a desired destination. Villages and farms littered this bright but large land, as always the white stallion trotted alongside Elissa as she made her way northwards to continue her quest to discover what Life really is, luckily the weather was cool and fresh so she didn’t have her cloak on as always but her garments still consisted of a silver tunic, soft brown boots and trousers.

As she followed a slightly dusty path onwards, a growl came from her stomach which made her rub her stomach a little. With a smile she looked to Amity and gently stroked his nose that made him quite happy, gently the teenager put on a bright smile and soon guided Amity off the road and walked just eastwards of the path for about forty centimetres away from the road. From there she dropped her best friend's reigns and gently spoke to her friend as Elissa rubbed is nose.

"How about a break Amity? You must be hungry! Go on enjoy yourself a little but just give me a second here to grab some food...there we go! Go on Amity, I wont go anywhere".

As Elissa dived into her saddle bag she took out a wrapped piece of cotton and watched as Amity gently trotted just near the teenage noble, there he happily began to eat the grass. Gently she sat down on the grass and unwrapped the cotton which held some freshly cooked bread and a few slices of bread, she kept an eye on Amity as she quenched the hunger in her stomach with the soft crust of the bread and a lovely taste of cheese. It was so nice to just kick back and relax with your friend while at the same time enjoying the scenery and enjoy a fresh meal, but no matter what she had to learn the truth about life and find out what it really means. Pretty soon Amity gently walked over to Elissa and stood next to her as the two friends enjoyed each others company.

[Ember Griswald]

Sod it all. It took Ember 3 years to finally decide she'd pack up and leave Ferelden, once and for all. To finally decide that she travel up to the Reach with all the other mages. Why it had taken her so long? She didn't even know, herself. What made her finally decide to go? It was a long story. To make a long story short, she saw opportunity. Not for herself, but for the mages all together. This could be a way of uniting the mages and bringing things back the way they were before. Was it hopeful thinking? Maybe, but one would never take risk without wishful thinking.

And she had a long way to go, as well. She wasn't even half way across te country yet, still traveling across the flat prairies of the Bannorn. There was an Inn a ways back that she stayed at over the night, but who knows when she'd find the next one. For the most part it was wide open land, and not many places to keep to the shadows. Only when she passed the occasional tiny village or group of trees.

She walked along the path. The very tips of the Imperial Highway peeked over the horizon to the South, the Sun's rays spilling around it. to the North, nothing but endless farmland for miles. She just approached a grouping of trees where she decided to stop for a bit and rest. There was shade and it was cool, with only a slight breeze forcing its way through.

She rested her back against the bark of the tall tree, taking off her staff and placing it next to her to get rid of some of the weight as she relaxed. Ember reached into one of the large pockets on her waist, pulling out a canteen of water, ready to press her lips against the tip. Just as she did, however, a sudden force hit her face at full strength, sending her to the ground, while her canteen flew in the air with air spilling out every which way. She tried to recover from the impact, turning over to get a look at whatever it was that had attacked, only seeing a larger man coming up behind her with a dagger.

Bandits. It wasn't uncommon seeing them out here. They knew the land the well, it was easy for them to hide and hard for passerby's to stay out of sight. His hand came down at full force with is long dagger, but Ember dodged his attack as she lurched to the side. Just as she did, her brought her foot up and slammed her leg against his, making him fall forward into the ground next to her. Seeing the perfect time, she got up and ran for her staff, grasping it in her hands and turning back to the man who was now hot on her tail. She ran forward, holding her staff across both of her hands as she went at full force at the man, the staff impacting his neck and then slamming him against the tree behind him. She pinned him there as tightly as she could so as to not let him escape.

"You better not fight, Scum, lest I turn you into a toad like the rest!" Of course, she was lying. She had never turned anyone into a toad. Hell, she didn't think that was even possible for a mage, but still, she liked threatening others with those tall tails. Especially if they believed it.

The anger on his face slowly turned into fear as he stared into her flaming ember eyes. But then it slowly turned into a sly grin. What? Why was he smiling?

That was when a small crushing of leaves could be heard behind her. And as she turned around, another man was slowly coming up behind her with a dagger in his hand as well. Before either of them could think another thought, she swung her staff around and smashed it against the new guy's legs, sending him to the ground. She then returned to swing back against the other guy still in front of the tree, but he ducked out the way fast, trying to grab a hold of her staff. He did grab it, and his grip was tight as he shoved her against the tree, now pinning her. Her knee just as quickly rose upwards fast, hitting him right between the legs and sending him to the ground, one last time. It already seemed at this point that his friend had already taken off, while this one at her feet was busy tending to his broken manhood.

Ember didn't waste time, though. Taking her staff back onto her back and then taking off from the safety of the trees and into the open air.

[Elissa Vuronia]

After a good fresh meal to satiate her stomach, Elissa literally laid down on her back and look up to the heavens as she spotted the blue sea like sky and the white fluffy clouds. She felt quite relaxed as her back was being cushioned by the grass, her muscles were completely relaxed and all she could do was place both arms behind her hand so it rested on her hands and just sighed in complete satisfaction. She turned to look over at Amity who was more then happy to just graze right beside her, at least the beautiful stallion was getting a break that he truly deserved, it was truly good to just kick back and just rest. She could a cool breeze sweep across her as it brought fresh air to her skin, her eyes nearly fell asleep but she just sat up and happily laughed as Amity pushed his neck into her for a cuddle.

She slowly got back to her feet and gave her friend a gentle stroke of his nose and even gave him a gentle pat on his neck. With her friend looking ready as ever she took his reins and soon continued her journey through the Bannorn, it was not the first time being she was here. She could remember her brother taking her here and used the field to train so no one else could get injured during their sword training, of course Erik didn’t hold back as a instructor and Elissa's lessons in using the sword was ruthless while also being a bit painful at times. But after training had finished for the day he went from being a really tough mentor to being her older brother as Erik would sometimes look at any injures she sustained during training or he was just talk to her.

A smile crept up on her face as she remembered the first time her parents learned about what Erik was doing. It began late at night after another days worth of training, and as they came home Erik decided to tell their parents of what they had been doing, both their mother and father were completely gob smacked and the looks on each of their faces was just priceless. It was like they saw a ghost, luckily Erik persuaded them that it was all for Elissa's own good and they soon blessed Erik to train his sister in the art of battle, she even made a toast to painful muscles and of many more trainings to come.

Years later, before her journey had begun Elissa happily spared with her brother and just like as before they would even go at it in close combat. She even accidentally nailed her brother in the groin area between his legs with her left foot! But in retaliation Erik slammed his fist into her face with a right hook, despite the pain the teenage noblewoman would just smile at Erik and knew he would never do anything to hurt her. It was just a friendly sparring match, now here she was on a journey that possibly no other Ferelden could do...to find the answer to life.

However something caught her eye, she looked over at a tree which had several people who looked like there were in pain. Quickly the two friend ran over towards them, Elissa knelt down and examined each person who described their attacker to be a mage, but she soon recognised the rugged clothes and weapons. These guys were bandits and had recently attacked a young mage, as one of them was about to stand up she punched him right in his face to knock him out and soon headed past the tree.

Luckily the mage wasn’t too far behind and immediately she ran at full pelt with her steed. As she got within talking distance the teenager called out in concern to the female mage, her voice was filled with respect.

"EXCUSE ME? Excuse me? I apologise for calling out like that but are you alright? Did those bandits hurt you?"

[Ember Griswald]

The last thing Ember wanted was to start a wild fire from her magic. She had been practicing a big on her one-on-one combat using her staff as a weapon itself instead of magic, but there was only so much she could do. Before things got worse, the best thing was to just run, and hope that they didn't caught up to her. She didn't care about where they went or what they did. They could go back to their small village and talk about the mage that just kicked their butts. She figured that they'd probably run to the Templars with some made-up story about how a mage attacked them out of nowhere while giving them an in-depth description of her looks.

Let them. She ran and ran, her staff strapped to her back as she left the lost comfort of the trees and out into the wide open. The sun's rays hit her features, lighting her hair like the fire that spit from her staff, and giving her skin a sun-kissed hue. Ember quickly looking back at the trees to make sure they weren't quick behind her. She didn't see the men, however, something else caught her eye.

At first glance, she only saw a flash of white, but when she focused her eyes, the white blob turned into a horse. A horse?! This made Ember stop in her place, trying to get a sight of the owner within the trees from her position. It was only until a few moments later that a woman emerged and took to her horse before riding in her direction at full speed. At first instinct she thought to grab her staff, but she held back, keeping her hand from grabbing it. Instead she took off again, only until the young girl on her horse finally approached her while calling out to her. Ember stopped and looked back in their direction, finally able to fully see the features of the girl.

She was definitely young, couldn't have been over the age of 20. What was a girl so young doing out here on her own? She didn't look defenseless, though, which counted for something. Still, she was surprised that the woman seemed to show concern for her. "In better shape than them. Thanks for your concern though. I think I scared them enough to leave me, or anyone else alone, for that matter." Ember hesitated straightening herself out and gazing at the beautiful horse before her, "What's a young girl like you doing out here on her own? Do you live nearby?" Ember made sure there was mostly concern in her voice than anything else. She didn't want to scare her away or make another enemy.