The Magic is Relative (Private)

Hargeon Town was an everyday sight for Kara by now. She was used to the hustle and bustle of the town, its busy streets, the market stalls that were always drawing in endless crowds of people from all over Fiore and the ships constantly passing by, letting off their horns as they arrived and departed. It had gotten to the point now that she'd become completely oblivious to it all, simply weaving through the townspeople, blanking out any noise that had become 'regular' to her. Today however would prove to be very different. A new stall had been set up overnight, selling small and cheap lacrima. Nothing there was notable to Kara, nor to most wizards. It was all simply for home use, something Kara had little or no use for. The thing that caught Kara's attention was a man who was stood in front of the stall, his face growing red with rage while the merchant was calmly trying to defuse the situation.

"I don't want any of this cheap crap, you've got something here which I can use and I know it! You wouldn't travel all this way just to sell this trash. We all know what you Lacrima dealers are really selling, so why don't you just show us." The man was almost yelling now, causing many people to look around. Kara was intending to walk straight past, and very nearly did so. That was at least until the man suddenly gripped the merchant and pulled him over his stall. The crowd of people spread out, not wanting to get in the way. Kara however was a whole different story. Seeing the merchant cowering filled her with anger towards the man who'd been so violent, and she immediately stepped into the open space the crowd of people had created. "What the hell are you doing?! He told you he has nothing else, so let him go!" she yelled, receiving looks of surprise and concern from the people around her. The man was considerably larger than her that much was true. However, Kara noted there wasn't any kind of a magical aura emanating from him, meaning he was all brawn and clearly no brains whatsoever. This was further proven as the man walked over and gripped Kara by the arm, before throwing her into the middle of the clearing. The merchant had ducked behind his stall again by now, cowering in fear. One member of the crowd called out for the man to stop, but he didn't listen.

Kara got to her feet and dusted herself off. Now she was pissed. "Not so tough now are ya? I'll teach you to mouth of at me little lady!" The man sneered as he brought his arm back and balled his hand into a fist. The crowd all gasped and held their breath. Kara however was more than a step ahead. As the man's fist started to move towards her she quickly put both her hands in front of her. Amethyst Make: Jagged Wall!" Immediately a large wall of jagged amethyst appeared before her. As the man's fist made contact he struck one of the many jagged edges of the amethyst and screamed in pain. Despite that he kept punching repeatedly, causing Kara to simply giggle to herself. Eventually the man wore himself out and began to slow. The wall disappeared and Kara took a couple of steps forward before suddenly bringing her leg up and performing a roundhouse kick, smashing the man straight across the face. He was sent sprawling to the ground with his eyes swirling. "Stupid..." she mumbled to herself, before simply walking away, leaving many of the crowd stunned. A few of them by now were chattering about Lamia Scale. "Is this the power of Lamia Scale? Thank goodness we have them around!" Although she kept her head down, Kara couldn't help but smile. Marick would've been proud. And so would her mother.

Wandering around Hargeon, she felt a little restless, the place was a lot more crowded than Clover Town was most of the time, but she was only passing through so it wasn't a big deal. She went down one of the streets where market stalls were, she approached one which she looked at the wares. She heard of the commotion, but decided to ignore it. Until she heard the name of the spell. "Amethyst Make..." she frowned, looking up, her eyes widened at the sight of the jagged wall.

She stood there for some time, watching in shock. The man at the stall looked at her, "Hello? Are you gonna buy something?"
She gasped and bowed slightly, apologizing, then left, running towards where the girl went. She had to know who she was, there was no way it would be mere coincidental that her magic was like hers. She gained up too much speed and eventually bumped into her, she gasped slightly, falling to her butt, "oww...." Her green cloak covered most of her, appart from her hair and red scarf.

Kara had gotten away from the crowd of people, and sighed with relief as life around Hargeon returned to normal, with the exception of a large lump in the center of the marketplace. She was just preparing to return to her guild when Kara was sent sprawling to the floor as someone seemed to tackle her from behind. With a growl she rolled onto her back and sat up. "Watch where you're going! You could've killed me!"

She got to her feet and sighed before putting her hand out to help the young woman up. The woman looked to be her age, perhaps a year or two older, with hair that looked almost black, and silvery eyes. Her body was covered by a green cloak at the moment, with the exception of a red scarf around her neck. "I'm sorry, I was just a little shocked..." she said calmly, attempting to smile. ...although you're still stupid for running into me in the first place. she thought to herself.

She gasped and jumped up, not taking her hand, "My apologies... I didn't mean to knock you over... I just..." she got lost in her eyes, she blushed slightly in embarrassment, "My name is Reiki... Reiki Kireikaji..." She looked at her.

"Is your magic a family trait?" she looked at her, looking very hopeful in what she said, "Because if it is... we might be family..." she looked at the floor slightly, a little nervous in what she spoke. She pulled her cloak off the reveal a brown leather jacket with Blue Pegasus emblem on the arm. She wore a white shirt and white trousers and brown boots.

Kara simply stood and stared at this woman for a moment. She'd just run straight into the back of her and knocked her over, then suddenly announced that she thought they might be family. Today had to be a full moon. It was the only possible explanation for all of the crazy people around Hargeon so far. After a few seconds she laughed nervously and shook her head. "No...I'm sorry, I'm an only child and have been all my life. As far as I know my parents had no siblings either. There's no way we could be relatives." she replied as calmly as possible. This announcement had completely thrown her, and she was struggling to gather her thoughts now. "My magic is a family trait that was taught to me by my late mother...although I never really used it until I re-learned it recently...and my mother said she was the only one who knew this kind of magic. So it's just not possible."

She looked at her, "Its as much of a shock for me as it is for you.. I mean.. I didn't know my mother... and your magic is so like mine its unbelieveable... the magic that I have is Crystalia... Crystal Make... I didn't know I had a family... but if you have a magic like mine... then its possible that you are family... My mother died when I was born... My father is out there somewhere... but with darkness in his heart... I just want to know if I have a family..." She took a step back and formed to hand signs.

She swiped her hands out to either side of her body and two amethyst coloured crystal sword appeared in her hands, she looked at her, "Now tell me our magics aren't alike in some way..." she looked at her, her eyes slightly saddened.

Kara watched Reiki as she created two crystal swords from her hand, with very little difference in colour from Kara's own magic. She looked down nervously at her own hands for a couple of seconds, then closed her eyes. "Amethyst make;...Twin Sabres." she whispered. Upon the completion of her words a pair of long thin sabres were produced from her hands. She slowly opened her eyes and looked from her own sabres to Reiki's blades. This was insane.

"How is this possible? My mother never mentioned she had any other relatives..." she said sadly, before remembering something. "But...she always did seem a little sad whenever she saw me using my magic. She rarely used it herself..." she continued, before looking up at Reiki. "...we should find somewhere private to talk about this..."

Nodding softly, she let go of her twin swords and they shattered and disappeared, "Yes... Let's find somewhere private to talk..." she adjusted her scarf slightly, feeling a little warm, but didn't remove it, what she did so however was take her black fingerless gloves off and placed them in a pouch on her belt. Her right hand bared a deep scar on the back of it, which seemed to disappear up her jacket sleeve. She looked around, "Is there a place you know of that we talk? I have only been here for about an hour now and I don't really know the area..."

Kara forced her own blades to vanish and took a moment to take a deep sigh. On one hand it was kind of nice to know she wasn't the only mage in the family, but on the other hand it was certainly not the way she'd planned to find out. She looked up at Reiki and forced a smile on her face. "Sure. There's a cafe just around the corner, or we could sit near my guildhall. We don't have many members right now, so it'll be quiet and fairly private. It's your choice which we go to." she replied as calmly as possible, before turning to walk away. "Both of them are in this direction, so you can decide while we walk."

She gasped and nodded, slowly following her, "Maybe going to your guild would be the best option... there would be less people there..." She rubbed the back of her right hand where her scar was and looked around, taking in the sites of the place. She looked at her, not knowing really what to say.

The pair turned the corner and, upon Reiki's request, Kara began to direct them towards Lamia Scale's guildhall. Although her master could be a little eccentric and may not agree with having a mage of a different guild around, she was sure Zuo Cii would understand why Kara had invited her to the vicinity. As the two of them walked Kara caught sight of Reiki rubbing a scar on her hand. At a first glance it was merely a small scar, probably from a job. However, she noticed the scar ran up her hand right up to the sleeve of her shirt, and probably went higher still. "I don't mean to be rude but...where did you get that scar from?" she asked the Blue Pegasus mage. Trying to make conversation after such a shocking discovery was more difficult than Kara ever imagined possible.

She looked at her, the mentioning of her scar sort of made her seem a little more distant, she took her leather jacket off and pulled the short sleeve of her white shirt up, showing the deep scar ran from her hand all the way up her arm and on top of her shoulder. She didn't show it off long, she replaced her jacket back on her body. She looked away slightly, "When I little, I had a guardian whom was dark... he tortured me when I tried to run away at the age of 16... as punishment... I have no feeling in this arm at all... I could be stabbed or burnt or anything... not even be able to touch things to see if things are cold or warm... or feel items of clothing or objects..." she sighed deeply, then ran her hand through her hair, "Sorry.. that sounded pretty depressing..."

Kara almost regretted asking now as she listened in silence to Reiki's short story. This girl - apparently her cousin - had had a rougher time of life than she had. Both girls had lost their mothers. But Kara's father had been loving from day one. Reiki's guardian had hurt her beyond repair. The thought of it made Kara feel a little ill as she looked at the ground. "All my damage was done to myself...nothing physical, but mental and emotional damage that I dealt to myself after my mother passed." she began, but stopped for a moment as they arrived at the Lamia Scale guildhall. She sat down leaning against the wall and smiled.

"I was a mess, but then I met a man who helped to pull me out of my horrible state. He's not in a guild so you probably wouldn't know him. Anyway...were it not for him then I wouldn't be here today, nor would I have used my magic...I guess I owe him thanks for helping me find my family." she said happily, looking up at Reiki. She'd said enough about herself. Now she wanted to know more about her cousin. "So...what are you doing in your life now then? Which guild are you in, and what's it like?"

She smiled, "I have someone in my life like that even when I go back into my dark hole inside of me... he is always the one who drags me out..." she blushed slightly, thinking of the one she loves. "He even saved me from the one who gave me this scar... but I let him get away..." she sighed and smiled, "I am part of Blue Pegasus... a fair distance for here... My guild members are kind and good and I feel good being there..."

Reiki mentioning a man she liked made Kara smile softly...until she realised she may have mis-interpreted what Kara had meant when she said a man had saved her, causing her to go bright red in embarrassment "N-no, Marick isn't that kind of a man. H-he's just a friend." she quickly spluttered, before turning her head away slightly. "Besides, he's too old." she added quietly, before turning the attention back on Reiki. "I'm sure you'll find that man again though. If he helped you out before then he won't just leave forever, I'm sure of it." she said with a happy smile, winking at her cousin.

It was peculiar how, despite having only just met, they seemed to be able to relate and talk to each other so comfortably. "Blue Pegasus...the most powerful guild in Fiore right now...you're pretty lucky. Lamia Scale hasn't been back for very long, but I plan to be one of the top wizards in the guild and be at the front of its rebirth!" she declared happily. "Of course, to do that I'm going to have to work hard and do lots of jobs..."

She giggled slightly, "I didn't mean that the guy who helped you were someone you liked... although with the way your blushing..." she giggled a little bit more. "He is part of my guild now... he is someone I love very deeply... It worked better than I thought it would..."

She looked at her, "I am not that strong... I joined Blue Pegasus because my second Guardian used to be part of it... when he was my age... he showed me the beauty of this world and when my first Guardian killed him, I joined Blue Pegasus to be closer to him... he was like a big brother to me and thats why Blue Pegasus is my home..." Her hand gripped onto the red scarf as she thought about her second guardian.

She smiled, "I hope you succeed with your goal, I really do... I don't really have a goal... I just want to help people and prevent them from having to childhood I did..." She sighed softly.

Kara blushed furiously as she realised that defending herself had only resulted in her making herself look worse than she thought she had in the first place. "H-he's not...I mean...he's a great guy and all...but he's more like and awesome uncle that's completely different from my dad..." Eventually she just sighed and gave up, before looking up at Reiki and smiling. "Whatever. I'm glad you're still with your love though." she replied happily, before nodding.

"I'm sorry to hear about your second guardian...he sounds like he was a great person. But from the sounds of things he helped you out greatly, and even though he's gone you're still looking forwards. In a way...maybe he's still around...you know?" Kara thought back to the words Marick had spoken when they'd first met, about how those who have passed are still watching those they care about in the world.

"I'm sure you'll be able to achieve your goal...you seem like you have a strong resolve...I guess that's another family trait that we share." she giggled, once again smiling broadly. "And now you have me too...so we'll both get stronger for each other and for our resolves..."

She smiled, "I like to think that he is still here... my Guardian..." She looked down at her red scarf, "This was his... he wanted me to have it the first year I was with him... I was very low in confidence and easily got frightened, I always took hold of his scarf as we walked, I don't know why... but it felt right... He gave it to me after I first picked up his twin swords to defend myself, he had gotten himself hurt and I didn't want anything to happen... so I defended myself to protect him... He was proud and we didn't have much, but his scarf was a gift to remind me that it didn't matter if I was scared... what mattered is that I did what I had to do.. Its a peice of him that will always be close to me..."

She giggled slightly, "I guess that means we are definitely family... there is no other explanation... but if it is possible... could you tell me a little bit about the family? I know nothing of my mother... a tiny bit about my father and nothing about the rest of my family..."

Kara felt both warm and yet sad at the same time upon hearing Reiki's story. She'd been through a lot and had come out the other side to become the woman she was now. Sure, Kara couldn't be perfectly sure of what her cousin was like. But from what she could tell, the girl was everything Kara wanted to be. This gave her renewed confidence and determination to become a better person herself.

When Reiki asked about their family, Kara wasn't sure how to answer. The only family she'd known were her mother and father. "Well...my mother was a kind woman...the most loving mother you could ever hope to have. My father is a businessman but he tries his best to find some time to spend with me. I know he's busy, and I know he feels guilty for not being here when everything happened in Era, so he tries his hardest to make up for it all...but I think he tries too hard to be both a father and a mother..." Kara replied, frowning as she spoke. She quickly turned the frown to a smile though as she continued to speak. "That's all the family I've ever known. You should meet my father sometime though. He is your uncle after all!"

She looked slightly saddened as she smiled, "Your parents sound wonderful, I am sorry you lost your mother..." she looked at the floor, "I know my father is out there... but..." she put her hand over her scar once more, "He is in league with the man her gave me this... all I was told when I was little was my mother was incredibly happy with carrying me... my father treated her pregnancy as an experiment... because of his dark heart... now I fight the darkness within me... I am doing good... but I fear that I will become like him..."

She cleared her throat, trying to make light to the situation, "I would love you meet your father... my uncle... maybe he would know of my mother..." she smiled, "I have my mother's eyes and thats all I know... so I would love to see if he knew more..."

Kara placed her hand on Reiki's hand and smiled at her cousin warmly. "I've been tol, and have learned from experience that, if you're aware of what you don't want to be, then it's easier to prevent yourself slipping to that level...you'll never succumb to darkness Reiki."

"Well next time we both have a couple of days free you should come here to Hargeon, or I'll have my father travel with me to Clover to visit you! I've always wanted to visit Clover and see what Blue Pegasus is like anyway."

She smiled and nodded, "You two would always be welcome at Blue Pegasus... My Guild Master should be alright with it... I don't see him that much anyway.." she stepped forward and hugged her, "Thank you... I am happy to know I have a family now... please make sure you stay safe... I don't want to loose any more loved ones..." She stepped back, blushing slightly, feeling a little embarrassed.

OOC: Sorry it took so long and that it is pretty short, my brain is not working

At first Kara was rather taken aback by the hug. It wasn't often that someone hugged her, with the exception of Marick when she moved out of his house and of course her father. Having Reiki hug her was a surprise, but a nice one, thus she returned the warmth happily. When Reiki retreated in embarrassment Kara merely giggled. "You won't lose me!" she winked. It was nice to know that there was someone in the world who she could connect with...well, someone who wasn't an old man anyway!

~End