The Shaman and the Nomad [Chelsea/Izzy]

[Isabel]

Isabel slinked along the wall of a building, doing her best to be super-secretive. Solomon stood at the edge of the building, looking around. Earlier, when Chelsea had left the building, Isabel had sent the black cat out after Chelsea, and, when he returned, the shaman had excused herself, and here they were, taking a direct path towards that red-haired woman! Hopefully. Solomon could just be taking them to the nearest person selling fish... But the prodigy had full faith in her newfound pet, even if they had just met a couple hours ago!

Of course, half an hour later, Isabel wasn't feeling so confident. Solomon was, however, happy and full of bass. Now, where could that Chelsea be...? Think, think... Isabel clenched her nose as she passed the ever-horrible smells of a stable. Blast, why did they have to put those in the city proper? Isabel suddenly stopped walking, and stared down at Solomon, who stared back at her. "Horses! Of course! All right, let's check all the stables! And wish we had had the foresight to buy nose plugs..."

And yet another half hour later, this time searching for and in horse stables, Isabel finally found that red-haired lady. She poked her head into the stable, watching silently for a moment as Chelsea interacted with her horse. And then the shaman entered the stable, Solomon at her heels. "Hello." she said simply, smiling. "You have no idea how long I've been looking for you! So I'll tell you. It's been about an hour of horrible, horrible smells."

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea stood in Spirit's stall, grooming her while humming to herself quietly. She had been pleasantly surprised when she had gone to visit her and found the bow Val had made her in her sidebag. Clearly, Spirit knew her better than she knew herself. Which was good. Such a strong bond between a horse and a rider was a fantastic thing to have if they when they finally get into a battle together. So, in thanks, Chelsea had decided that Spirit deserved a good groom.

As she worked, her thoughts drifted back to Kelvin. Up to very recently, she had been unsure who her feelings had been stronger for, Kelvin or Karina. Now... she knew. It just felt right. She'd always have feelings for her best friend, but her heart belonged to Kelvin. Every once and a while she'd peak down at the ring on her finger. It was so beautiful. She wondered how long Kelvin had had it for. How long had he known he was going to ask her? He was so confident about it when she had wavered, and it made her love him all the more.

She was distracted slightly by the sound of soft approaching footsteps. Not acknowledging, but keeping her ears fixated on them, she kept brushing Spirit until Isabel announced her presence. Definitely not who she was expecting, but after catching her staring early, she guessed she shouldn't be surprised. Putting down Spirit's brush, she turned to the girl. "You've been looking for me?" That seemed odd. Why would she want to look for her? And what horrible smell? Chelsea only smelt horses.

[Isabel]

"Indeed I have, future Mrs. Calderon." Isabel said with a grin, leaning her weight against a convenient wooden beam. Solomon sat on his haunches, almost completely vertical, looking noble/full of himself as he stared at Chelsea unblinkingly with his big green eyes. Isabel tilted her head ever so slightly to the right, staring at Chelsea for a moment before shifting her gaze towards the woman's horse. "You have a very nice horse." You know, aesthetically speaking. It sorta smelled of, well, horse. Not a pleasant smell for the sapphire-haired prodigy.

"Well, I might as well cut to the chase... I came here to ask some questions, about you, your soon-to-be, and Valcrist and Valorian. At any time during our discussion, if you are willing to take part in it, you can ask me a question about myself or the group I am a part of, which I will answer to the best of my ability and or without giving up classified information." Isabel explained, rambling a little bit. "If this sounds like a good plan, I ask you this question... Where are you from?" Oh god, she hadn't said where she was from earlier, had she? The shaman mentally cursed for not remembering.

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea listened as Isabel talked. She felt her face go red slightly when being called Mrs. Calderon. Did she want Kelvin's name like this? Not the time to be worrying about it. She was about to open her mouth to start talking about Spirit, but Isabel just kept talking. She had to smile a little. This girl was very confident in herself and not afraid to speak her mind. She gave a little nod the first time she paused. "I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have." She listened to her first question. "Well, as I said back at the tavern earlier, I'm from Sacae."

[Isabel]

"Right, of course." Isabel said, a little bit flustered. She had said that, hadn't she? Curse her memory for omitting those trivial little details! Curse it, curse it, curse--- Oh right, conversation. "Well, even though you did not ask, I believe it is only fair that I should tell you that I, Isabel LeFury, am from Etruria." the shaman said, flourishing that by circling her arm in front of her and bowing. "Now, another question for you..." Hmm. Truth be told, Isabel was slightly surprised that Chelsea had actually agreed to this. This meant that she had to actually choose one of the countless questions she had. 

"How are you feeling?" No, wrong question! "Err... I mean about being engaged. I recall you saying that Kelvin proposed to you today." Good save, Isabel. Good save.

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea pulled over a stool and sat down on it as she listened to Isabel. Her legs were starting to get tired, so might as well sit down for a while. "Excited, I guess. And a little nervous, you know? I mean... I love Kelvin a lot. I know that. But still... it's a big commitment. It's scary..." She shook her head. She hadn't really had much emotions about her engagement so far besides pure happiness. Should she be more concerned about it? Again, not the time to be worrying about this. "Now, Isabel, I have a question for you. I noticed you staring at me during introductions earlier. Why was that?"

[Isabel]

Isabel smiled as Chelsea talked about how she felt about her engagement... And then was slightly shocked at the Sacaean's question. Had she really been that... Oh, right. She had been that obvious. Though she was a prodigy in magic... Stealth and discretion really wasn't where her skills lay, clearly. "Well... Umm... Heh heh..." the shaman started strong, rubbing the back of her neck as Chelsea, Solomon, and wait was the horse looking at her, too? Dear goodness gracious... "I... Suppose... Well, I could lie and say I was either studying you for amazing arcane reasons or I was staring off into space and you just happened to be in the way, but, hey, honesty, right? I dunno... I guess... What, I'm jealous? I'm Isabel! I don't get jealousy." The sapphire-haired prodigy sighed. "I guess... You seem to have your life ahead of you. I have to go back to Etruria in a month or two, and then I'll have to leave all this behind for my studies... You? You've got looks, a fiancé, and, if that doesn't work out, you're a plainswoman! Me? I have a life of studying elder magics, take on an apprentice, and then die. Whoohoo."

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea was taken back. Jealous? Of her? She felt herself go redder. "You make me sound much better than I am. True, I do have a fiance. But I wouldn't say I have 'looks.'" She almost laughed at that. Her, good looking? "And I'm not sure if you know it, but in a lot of parts of this world, people hate me just cause I'm a plainswoman. It's not as glorious as it sounds." She looked over at Spirit and started to absently stroke her coat. "Besides, who says you have to do that? You never have to let anyone bind you down. If you want to study while traveling, why not do it? Who is everyone else to say what you should do?"

[Isabel]

Isabel rubbed her temples slowly for a moment before resuming talking. "Chelsea, I don't think I've told this to anyone else... I left my mentor in Etruria four months ago now. On my honor as a LeFury, I promised him that I would return in six months. Six months. I would never be able to live with myself if I failed to return..." The shaman gave a hollow little chuckle. "So, I guess you could say it's my fault, really. And honestly, this prodigy has learned a lot more on the road than, well... Anywhere else." She looked up then at Chelsea and grinned. "You pick hard questions. Was this a satisfying enough answer for you?"

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea gave a sad little smile back. "It was. And sorry for the hard questions, it wasn't my intention for them to be so." Maybe she didn't have it as hard as she thought. She knew she wouldn't be able to sit in one place and study for the rest of her life, so it was understandable that this girl wouldn't want to either. "I believe you had some more questions? Please ask away."

[Isabel]

"Don't worry about it... It's good to talk about this type of stuff. I don't want to go insane by keeping all this in." Isabel said with a half-hearted smile. "All right, let's see... Okay, next question. Now, this is an... Odd one, I suppose. What do you know about our friend from the desert?" The shaman grinned as she asked. "I don't know much about him, other than that he used to have longer hair, hails from Nabata, and doesn't like looking at himself in the mirror. Oh, right, and he gave me a gift..." Isabel pulled out the sapphire-colored scarf Valcrist had bought her.

Solomon was, at this point, stealthily making his way over towards Chelsea's horse, where he stood, out of range of the horse's hooves, staring up at Spirit's right eye.

[Chelsea Dagger]

Chelsea smiled at the scarf. "That's Val for you. He's really sweet, but shy about it. He made me a bow once, actually that one there," she said, pointing to the one in Spirit's sidebag, "just because I had asked once." She smiled at it before turning back. "He can be shy, but he has a good heart. If he does travel with you, you couldn't ask for a better friend. He'll always be there for you, no matter what." She wasn't sure what else to say, so she fell quiet for a few seconds, before adding, "Plus, he's smart. That's never a bad thing."

[Isabel]

Isabel smiled at the description of Valcrist. Sweet, generous, smart... The shaman pondered about what kind of relations the two had shared in the past for a moment before continuing. "Well, what I know about him pretty much matches your description, so he's still the same old Valcrist, it would seem." she said with another smile. "And if I do travel with him, it'd be a nice change of pace to have someone other than the bard to cover me. I've already gotten hit with one arrow, and I think that's more than enough!" The shaman chuckled, and then stopped to think. "Actually... It was a woman named Tara who was covering me at the time. Hmm. Well! Your turn to ask a question, so fire away!" You know, this conversing with strangers thing was pretty easy once you got into the swing of things. Didn't take her long to do so, of course.

[Chelsea Dagger]

Same old Val. That was good to hear, despite everything that had recently happened between them. Maybe he would be able to be happy with this new group in a way he had never been able to be happy around her. She'd like that. Oh, her turn to ask a question? Hm... What else did she want to know about this girl. Anything she had really wanted to know had already been answered. Except... no, she shouldn't ask that. But she couldn't help herself. She really wanted to know. Chelsea leaned forward, resting her head on her hand with a little smile on her face. "Do you have a little crush on our friend Val?"

[Isabel]

Isabel snapped to surprised attention. Well? Did she? "Well... We only recently met. That's sort of a deterrent on those kinds of feelings, isn't it?" she said with a little chuckle. "I've got more than a few things on my mind, and relationships aren't one of them. You know. Monumental quest thing going on with Valorian and whatnot..." The shaman shifted her weight to the side and faced away from Chelsea. "Well... Maybe a little bit of a crush. Maybe. But... I don't know." the sapphire-haired prodigy shrugged, and turned her head back to face Chelsea. "I say it again; you choose hard questions."