There are Many Colours Within a Flame

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Location: Garden of Light, atop the temple

The Ruferalahuin sat amid the various plants and small creatures, deep in the heart of the garden. This place had an odd, calming effect on Tipau, so when she needed a break from her normal pursuit of adventure, she found herself coming here.

In her slightly cusped hands, a tiny flame danced. It was small, too small to do any damage should it escape her -- not that it would. Tipau liked the garden too much to let one small spark destroy it. Besides, she had a feeling the leader of the Order would probably kill her -- literally.

The flame danced, back and forth, back and forth, while the female was deep in thought. She had not been at the Order of the Grey very long, and hardly knew anyone, but Tipau liked the idea of a group that was affiliated with no one but themselves.

And, provided she didn't eat anyone hear, the Ruferalahuin was welcome to stay as long as she liked.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

"What are you doing..." The woman moved into the spot directly behind Tipau, looking over her shoulder at the flame and raising a brow as her eyes tracked and traced its path. She even let her eyes roll and focus in on Tipau's face now as the question remained hanging in the air. Alex was far differently dressed than normal, not in clothes though, more so in an old style she had long abandoned. While the robes remained, for reasons of not wanting to restrict movement with her now six month pregnancy, but more so her hair. It was tied up into a single mass behind her, only a bang or two loose as they fell infront of her eyes. "Well?"

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau wrenched her gaze from the flame and turned slightly so that she was looking at the woman. "Uh..."

It wasn't often that the Ruferalahuin was left speechless, but something about the way that this silver-haired woman carried herself made Tipau feel like a little kid who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Not that she'd actually been doing anything wrong. The spark hadn't even travelled more than a couple centimetres from side to side. But the newcomer probably didn't realize that Tipau had no intention of burning the place down, so clashing her hands together, she extinguished the flame. "Nothing. Really."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

"Show me that, again." She didn't move an inch, head still hanging in the air over the girl's shoulder as Alexandra's eyes slid over to look at the Ruferalahuin, her own hands awkwardly clasped behind her back though the pregnancy tended to set her off balance at times. For now though she was near utterly still and waiting as she watched the girl's face, smiling at what she felt from the girl. It wasn't true Empathy, but telepathy and body language was close to the real thing.

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau felt the hair on her tail begin to bristle, more out of suspicion than anything else. I didn't do anything wrong! she wanted to protest. But she didn't, instead carrying out the strange woman's request.

Ears flat against her head, Tipau once again assumed her position -- shoulders relaxed, hands cupped as if she were holding water. Hardly using any concentration or energy, she once again brought a tiny yellow-orange flame to life. Half the size of a cred chip, it flickered in response to her emotions.

"See? It's small and easy to manage. It's no threat to the gardens or anything." Despite her efforts, the Ruferalahuin's tone still came off as a tad defensive.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

She looked at the girl and looked down at the flame again before speaking once more as she stared at the flame. She smiled now and straightened up as she stared at flame. "Are you able to create a bigger flame, or would it cause a strain on your energy?"

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

At the woman's question, Tipau relaxed slightly. She wasn't here to punish the Ruferalahuin, she was just interested in the fire!

Holding her hand up so that the woman could see better, Tipau made the flame grow until it was the size of a grapefruit. Now that some of her anxiety had melted away, the flame was still and docile, only flickering slightly. "This is about as big as I can make the fire before it becomes a real strain to create it," she explained. "Good news is, it only takes a few of these to cook a meal, so..." Tipau trailed off, realizing that this woman probably wouldn't like her eating habits.

Making an attempt to steer the conversation to a new topic, the Ruferalahuin shrunk the flame back down to its original size and asked, "Who are you, anyway?"

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

"Alex, thats all i really need to explain, im just a student in the order... can you teach me the fire thing." She moved to sit down, ya so she knew pryokinesis already, but she still wanted to learn what this woman did to create the flame. Even the masters can learn from someone newer to the force, it would be wrong to simply assume you knew everything about everything.

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

@[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau relaxed even more when the pregnant woman, Alex, mentioned that she was just another student. So no big authority person, phew. Moving over so that Alex would have more room, the Ruferalahuin replied, "Nice to meet you. My name's Tipau." As with many other introductions, she left off the fact that she was an Avachei. Besides, she figured it was only fair since Alex just gave one name, too.

When she asked if Tipau could teach her about how to make the flame, she flicked her ears. "Uh... I'll try. But it's hard to explain, really."

She held up her hand with the flame, and with a dash of her other hand extinguished it. "See, when I want a fire, I just... I don't know. I imagine the heat in that little spot coming together, and then I concentrate, and it appears." As she talked, the flame appeared again. "It's rather natural for me, 'cause I've been doing it my whole life. My parents said it was the Force which grants us the ability to manipulate the heat. That's why non Force Users can't create fire with their mind."

The Ruferalahuin grimaced. "Unfortunately, I don't really know much outside of creating balls of flame; my parents were solely focused on making sure I could hunt with the fire. However, they were going to teach me more tricks for my 51st birthday, but they kind of died, so..." She cleared her throat suddenly, uncomfortable with the conversation now. Her parents' deaths always made her a bit squirmish.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

Alex wouldn't even let her mind focus on that, instead she told her her own story. "I know what you mean, my parents died when i was 8... i spent a few weeks in a gutter crippled before someone took me to an orphanage. But lets just throw the past outside of the door, no need to get trapped in it. Can you try to teach me the fire thing." She knew how to use pyrokinesis, but everyone needed a confidence boost so why not give it to people when she could.

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau nodded, glad to get off that subject. "Sure, I can try."

Turning herself so that she was facing Alex more, she said, "Alright, cup your hands like this, see? For me, this is easiest. Anyway. Focus on the Force, how it's connected to everything, how it influences everything. Once you've got that, imagine the heat in your hand, both from the surroundings and yourself, gathering together really close. Like tiny little humans huddling together. Er, sorry." Actually, Tipau wasn't completely sure if Alex was human or not, but she decided not to risk it. "Then, if you focus enough, there should be enough heat to create a flame. And then it's simply a matter of focus to make it bigger or smaller."

The Ruferalahuin, done with her explanation, studied the pregnant woman closely to see if she was getting it.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

Alexandra seemed to struggle as she let her face slowly slide into a bit of struggling when it came to the fact that she was more so putting on this illusion to study how the other one would react to what looked like someone who was trying to force the air to burst into a flame right here and now, helping with the illusion by letting it warm up in her hands but then dropping the heat and restoring it. As if she were struggling to keep it up.

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau watched Alex's efforts keenly, completely unaware that she was being duped. "Hey, look you've almost got-- aww, you lost it. But keep trying!"

At least she's getting the heat together, she thought.

"It seems you keep slipping in your focus," she said. "You're gathering the heat, but it's not coming together. Um. Maybe imagine the heat being compacted together, really tight?" She smooshed her hands together to demonstrate. "If it's close together, the heat will increase enough for a flame, you know? Try it once, see if that works."

It was odd teaching a skill the Ruferalahuin had known since, well, childhood, but Tipau didn't mind.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

Alexandra pretended to focus harder, even cupping her hands a bit more to have less of an area to focus on and pushing all her focus into it for a full minute before a, purposely, tiny flame about the size of a dime appeared in her hands, a wide and supposedly tired smile on her face. "Like this?"

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau clapped her hands together, her tail swishing. "Yeah! That's great! I knew you could get it eventually." She beamed at the pregnant woman. "Good job!"

Squirming a bit in her seat, the Ruferalahuin cleared her throat. "Now, try to make it bigger. Picture the flame getting bigger. Like a sponge -- the more water you add, the bigger it gets. Except you're using the Force, not water." Tipau chuckled a bit before continuing. "Just don't make it too big; we don't want to burn down the garden. I don't think the Head of the Order would be too pleased with us, you know?" She smiled sheepishly, waiting for Alex to do as she said. Without burning anything.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

Alex smiled and slowly closed her hand around the flame, snuffing it out as she smiled. "You know, you would make a great teacher in the future, i must say i am overjoyed to see the quality of the order's students is not going down... oh and i lied before. Im Alexandra Feanor, Master in the Grey, and Historian on its council. A pleasure to meet you Apprentice Tipau."

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau simply blinked at Alex -- or rather, Master Feanor. "Oh. Hi."

Inside her head, she was thinking. If she's a Master, why come to me for help with fire? After all, she was a mere apprentice, and -- oh! Duh! That was what she'd been lying about earlier. While the Ruferalahuin typically resented people who tried to dupe her, she really wasn't all that mad. After all, no harm had been done, and if Tipau had tried to attack the Master she'd probably get fried to a crisp, flame-retardant fur or not.

"Um. Nice to meet you too. Does this mean you don't need any more help with the fire?"

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

"Well to tell the truth i already knew what you had shown me and could actively use it... but you did teach me how to better center the flame and more easily ignite it by focusing all the heat into one point rather than a number of them and adding it together. So you were a great teacher for the moment you thought i was an apprentice too." She paused to stretch and rubbed her head. "So, has someone in the order already taken position over as your master?"

 

[Ibby]

[member="Alexandra Lianne Feanor"]

Tipau shrugged happily, glad that she still helped. "Oh, okay then. Glad I could teach you something new then."

At her question about Masters, her ear twitched thoughtfully. "Well, Krest is teaching me a few things here and there, though no pyrokinesis. I met him on Tatooine, actually. I was roasting womp rats, so he came and shared a meal with me." Her tail wished back and forth at the memory. "You'll have to try roasted womp rat some day. It's pretty good."

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

[member="Tipau"]

"I prefer roasted tukata myself... they taste darksidey though so i dont suggest it." She smiled as she made the joke and thought over what this girl had just told her. So Krest seems to be teaching another one who he just found off the street. We really were turning into a order of orphans at this rate, so much so it was getting hilarious to her. "Well, i thank you for the lesson either way. Tell me about yourself."