Roses (gxg) (PAFP)

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    Dove sits demurely, her back straight and her smile genuine at Pasha's kind words. "Thank you. It is very nice to meet you both. I am Pr- I- uh, Dove. I am Dove." The simplicity of the greeting is foreign on her tongue, so she looks to her stew instead. Shyly, the princess reaches for her wooden spoon and eyes it with an odd expression. She's only ever used silver in her meals. Did people really eat with wood, of all things?


    Shoving her awkward observations aside, Dove takes a spoonful and delicately takes it in her mouth. Her eyes widen at the exotic flavor, a sound somewhat like a moan and a sigh slipping from her. "This is... this is unlike anything I've ever had," she admits after swallowing her mouthful and spooning another. "This is what commoners eat?"

    They all chuckled lightly.


    "Not exactly," Faya said.


    "Sure, some commoners might eat this, but most commoners buy their food from a market or a farm. They don't have to labor over it to get it. This is actually one of the best meals we've had in a while thanks to the warmer seasons," Kyson continued, "We eat what we can catch. Deer, rabbit, birds, fish, sometimes squirrels if food is low enough."


    "And we have to grow our own vegetables if we want them," Pasha added then shook her head, "The winter months are a hard time on all of us. We can't grow our food and animals are scarce. If it weren't for Faya and her ability, we would all be starving."


    "Pasha please," Faya groaned and her face flushed. While she didn't mind her shape-shifting, she didn't like it brought up often, especially when it came to hunting.


    The old woman smacked Faya's hand with her spoon, causing Faya to hiss lightly at the sting but she hung her head regardless. "Still ashamed are you?" Pasha teased, "Come, you should know better by now."


    Faya sighed then deterred the conversation, "Anyway, what we mean is that food is hard to come by. We aren't commoners. We are outcasts, rebels. Most of us can't even show our faces in the kingdom without getting assaulted by guards so there is really no way for us to buy food. Plus, none of us have money. We make and work all of what we have."

    Dove listens, and watches, with fascination visible in her expression. She couldn't often go out in public either, though it was mostly because she was royalty, and a princess never walks through the markets like the commoners. She'd never known people grew their own food to eat, rather than sell. At the mention of both Faya's abilities, as well as the claim of guards attacking anyone who entered the kingdom, Dove's expression shifts to one of curiosity.


    "You can do magic beyond fire?" She asks, then frowns. "People are attacked for entering a simple market?" She'd never heard of any attacks like that. Her father, long ago, was quite welcoming to foreigners who wanted to trade amongst the stalls. She didn't realize so much had changed during her mother's rule - especially in such a negative way. "I... I am sorry, I didn't realize..."


    Once again, Dove feels like she is in entirely new territory. In a way, she is. She'd lived her whole life assuming that her kingdom was nothing less than happy and healthy, the idea of purging magic seemingly nothing major. She'd simply assumed they would be regulated, or at the very least under careful watch of several guards. But attacked? Maybe even killed? It was something so alien to her, she couldn't believe it. Has she really been as sheltered as Faya had, apparently, initially thought?

    Faya nodded slowly. Dove really didn't know what was happening outside the kingdom. Her mother had kept it all a secret after all. Faya sighed and ran a hand through her own hair.


    "Yes, I dabble in a few other magickal abilities other than fire. Common spells and the sorts, fire however is what I am most practiced in" Faya said and waved her hand producing a small flame in her hand, she waved it again and the flame was gone. "I'm called a witch back in the kingdom." Faya glanced over at Pasha who gave Faya a small firm nod. "I can also shape shift. It's how I was able to learn about your ability. Ever remember a barn owl sitting in the tree outside of your room?" Faya gritted her teeth and groaned, leaning forward so that her forehead touched the table. "That was me," she muttered.


    She sat back up and took a breath and glanced at Dove. "Well if your a Nightingale, your automatically an enemy of the kingdom. So yeah, just one of us entering can be very dangerous, especially if we are well known."

    Dove watched the flame with fascination, blue eyes wide. At the mention of the barn owl, she can't help but smirk. "You were watching me in my chambers?" She giggles, then gasps. "You can turn into an owl? That must be amazing!" She says earnestly. "I didn't realize magick could be... well... practical." She'd always heard of the dangers of magick but never its uses.


    Dove takes another spoonful of the stew, her hand that isn't holding the spoon running through her white hair. "I suppose I cannot enter my kingdom, either." She thinks that should make her sad, and in a way it sort of does, but not nearly as much as she's sure it should. She's never lived a life outside of her responsibilities and duties. This world is new and unfamiliar; she's never lived a life she could choose for herself. It suddenly seems like a heavy weight on her shoulders has been lifted. "I... I can use my magick here..." She says, moreso to herself, though it's loud enough for others to hear.

    Kyson took the empty bowls and padded away, his hoof-steps fading. Pasha and Wistari got up as well. "We'll leave you to it," Pasha said softly and laid a papery hand on Faya's before wobbling away with Wistari bouncing at her heels. The dining tent was slowly emptying, a few Nightingale people glanced curiously at Dove as they left.


    "Oh yes, magick has a lot of practical reasons," Faya said with a nod, "My fire magick can light fires and provide warmth and it can raise my own body temperature as well as others. With my spells I can cast protection magick and healing magick. And yes, my shape-shifting comes in handy as well when I need to disappear."


    Faya shook her head. "No, you'll still be able to enter the kingdom. After all no one in the kingdom knows your a Nightingale now. They all think you've just been kidnapped. Our plan is to actually send you back to the kingdom." Faya waved her hand. "I'll tell you more about that later though, we still have a lot of planning to do." Faya smiled at Dove's small realization. "Yes," she said gently, "You can. You can practice it and perfect it and learn about who you really are." Faya's eyes glimmered for a moment.


    "Look, Dove," Faya said and she stood and gestured Dove to follow, "Living here isn't going to be easy. We are under constant threat, in the past 4 months we have had to move our camp 3 times. We are lucky that we haven't been found yet. We don't always have food, and," Faya turned and looked firmly at Dove, "We don't have many luxuries. Its a tough life, but its been my life for years and I'm happy with it. I can't see myself being anywhere else."

    Dove nods thoughtfully. "I suppose I'm not surprised." She pauses, and sighs. "I am not just a spoiled princess, you know. I'm sure it will take time for me to adjust, but I will, and I am determined to do so." She says this with a confident smile. "I've never tried to use my abilities on purpose, before. I don't even know where to start," she admits shyly. "I've only ever healed myself when I would fall off of my horse, or if I pricked my finger in the garden."


    She watches the people around them for a moment, eyes lingering on a small group of laughing youths. "I suppose I have never been somewhere that allowed me to be... well, me."

    Faya nodded, glad that Dove actually wanted to put in the effort to become a Nightingale. She had to admit that she was a little surprised. Faya had been expecting some bratty princess and instead she, they, got this determined girl who just wanted to be accepted. "Good," Faya said and led Dove to another tent.


    Inside, this tent was fairly simple. A tree stump stood in the center of the tent, making a makeshift table. Two piles of fur laid in the back, each on opposite walls and each making makeshift beds. The one on the right had a ragged brown bag tossed next to it. There were other, more odder things in the tent as well. The makeshift tree stump table held a journal with a golden sigil painted across it. The cover of the journal was black leather and decorated in blue cloth which sported equally strange black sigils written cross them. A few pale stones decorated the spine in a neat line of three. There were also two black candles burning steadily, and each wall of the tent had a large sigil painted across it. A few other items littered the table like herbs, a mortar and pestle, a few crystals, a more colored candles that were not lit. There were dried herbs hanging in the tent as well, giving the tent a warm smell.


    Faya gestured to the room in front of them. "Dove, this is where you will be sleeping, " Faya said with a smile, "My room."