Note: Yay! I can write a chapter in about ten minutes~ What fun! Meaning.if
you want me to continue, please review so I know I'm doing something right!
All comments are appreciated! ESPECIALLY the good ones.
Again: ALIRA IS MINE! All mine! Take that, Margie Weis!
Unfortunately: Raistlin is not mine, neither is any of the Dragonlance material I'm using.but at least I still have my dreams! Ahhh, dreams! 4:
Alira woke early in the morning, to find that Raistlin had already been awake. It seemed as though he had been awake for quite a while, judging by the state of their little camp. He had already made a small breakfast, and he had two separate pots of tea warm by the fire. It was a nice surprise.
"Good morning." Alira said, getting up. She wore her traveling clothes when she slept. Alira was modest, and didn't like the idea of wearing just her robes to bed as most mages - and Raistlin - do. She had folded her robes neatly the previous night, and left them next to her as she slept. Now that she was awake, she adjusted her clothes. She tended to toss and turn in her sleep, and her clothes showed signs of being slightly rumpled. But it was easily remedied with a few pulls in the right direction.
She finally donned her robes and secured them with the many hidden clasps and ties that all robes come with.
A mage's robes are an interesting thing. They come in the three colors that show their loyalty to their god or goddess, and every mage gets theirs upon completion of their Test. Of course, mages who don't pass, or choose not to test, get brown robes.
The robes are always made carefully, with special consideration for who would be wearing them. Since most mages don't like wearing clothing under their robes, the robes are all made with a simple idea in mind: keep them on, at all times, unless they are meant to be taken off. Basically, the makers have developed a clever system of ties and clasps that make it easy for them to be taken off by the wearer, but nearly impossible for someone else. Not even the mages who wore them really understood the way it worked, they were just happy with the one-two-three - one clasp, two buttons, and three ties - that made it simple for them.
Raistlin was sitting, with a plate of bread and plain cheese before him, and his usual drink in a cup in his hand. He nodded his head at her, recognizing her greeting.
Alira helped herself to the meal, simple, yet very good. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it was some type of fried bread and something else. All she could tell from it was that it tasted good.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"My brother and I lived on our own for quite a while. One of us had to learn, and it turned out that I was the better at it. His scrambled eggs were famous for their crunchy texture." He replied quietly, huddled in his robes.
"You are really good. I never was much of a cook, and it always bothered my mother that I could tell her the properties of any herb she put in our food, and yet I could never figure out which herb would best accentuate which food. I remember every night I used to identify all of the cooking herbs by taste, and I always knew what she used. But, again, I was never good at making anything but plainer meals." Alira commented, eating daintily all the while.
"Perhaps, then, you will make one of your 'plainer meals' tonight? I don't want to exhaust all of my herb supplies, and the chances we'll find anything good on the way to Qualinesti are slim." He suggested. She nodded her head, a smile touching her lips. He was making an attempt at cordiality, and she had to admit it was heartwarming.
Within minutes, they were back on their horses, and on their away to the land of the Elves. Alira reminisced about her bloodlines.
Apparently, her Elven family stretched back from her mother's side. As in most stories, the beauty of an Elf had enamored one of her relatives. Though in this case, it actually blossomed to love. They got to know each other, and loved each other as much for personalities as physical appearance. As far as Alira knew, the Elf had been a young man, and her relative a young woman at the time.
His name, she recalled, was Therinilion, though everyone called him Therin. Her relative was Irint. It had become a family tradition to, every once in a while, give a longer, more Elven name to a child. Alira was one of those children. Her full name was Aliralintharincalion. It was quite a mouthful, obviously, and so she ended up having her named shortened for human usage. She was known as Alira Lintharin Calion, three names, and of the three, Alira was the one everyone used. As she grew, she rarely even mentioned that her name was longer.
She bit her lip as she thought. She really didn't know much about her Elven side. She didn't even know how far back it stretched. She knew for certain, though, that she didn't have a lot of Elven blood because she lacked the ears! The ears were the one feature that most with even a drop of Elven blood had them. Or at least a tiny hint of a point to their ears. But Alira didn't even have that! She could fully have passed for human, but for her almond-eyes. Even then, her eyes weren't set at that ever-so-slight slant that gave an even more outlandish look to them. Alira didn't have much trouble with her "Elven-ness" being spotted.
"Alira?" Raistlin asked. She had drifted off, and a glazed look had taken over her face. He was worried for a moment; she wasn't the kind of person to just drift off and leave her body behind.
"Hmm?" she said, snapping back to reality.
"What is it? Is something wrong?"
Raistlin was actually more interested in whether or not there might be any thieves or robbers than whether it was her own personal troubles. He wasn't thinking, though, it should have been obvious she didn't think there were any thieves. If she did, she probably would have taken steps to avoid them, not drifted off into her thoughts. He kicked himself mentally for his mistake.
"No. I was just thinking. Did you know that I have Elven blood?" she asked, curiosity prevailing. She wondered if he knew s much about her as she knew of him.
"Yes. They told me, but they gave no details."
He didn't have to say who "they" were, since it was most likely the same people who told her of him.
"Well, it was my mother's side, that's all I know. As a result, they decided to give 'Elven' names to the occasional child born in our family. I was one of them." She said, not exactly sure why.
"Alira? It hasn't an Elven ring, but not much more." He said.
"Try Aliralintharincalion."
"Ah, much better." He replied, a humorous ring to his voice. "Are you going to insist that I call you by that? I'm afraid I might have another coughing fit if I try."
She laughed openly. "No, of course not, Raistlin."
"My brother calls me 'Raist' for short, that's as short as my name ever gets. At the longest, it's simply Raistlin Majere." He replied, hoping it would make her laugh again. She had a strangely soothing and fun laugh. Raistlin was strangely happy when she chuckled in reply.
They rode on in silence when Raistlin noticed, for once, that the sun seemed dim. He looked up and was surprised to see that, following them quickly, dark, ominous clouds floated menacingly overhead. It was obvious from the scent of the air, and the electricity that permeated it, that rain was coming. Violent, thunderstorm rain. He was surprised he didn't notice it before; it was so obvious.
"Alira. We need to find shelter."
"We'll just dart into the forest then, Raistlin." She said, obviously caught up in her thoughts.
"It's a thunderstorm, we need a cave or something. A shelter. Now." He replied, reaching out and touching her shoulder to snap her from her dreams. It was one of the first times he had instigated contact with another human being, but he didn't particularly notice. She swiveled in her saddle to get a look at the clouds. She cursed, even that foul word sounding pleasant, yet rather more evil coming from her lips.
"There should be somewhere near by." She said, now consumed by the urge to find a cave. She knew the area like the back of her hand, and she was certain there was a small one near. She just wasn't sure how close. Alira listened carefully for the sounds of the forest, using her senses to get her bearings.
"Here!" she cried, just as a rolling bout of thunder shook the ground. The horses were getting nervous, prancing to the sides and shaking their heads and manes.
She darted into the forest on horseback; carefully maneuvering her horse towards the wider gaps between trees to avoid scrapes and bruises. Raistlin followed on her tail, ducking his head down and grabbing hold for dear life. He wasn't much of a horse person, but he put up with it for speed's sake.
Before long, they arrived at a river.
"Just what we need. More water." Raistlin commented dryly, his less- social nature coming through with stress. He coughed, disguising it so Alira wouldn't be alarmed. He thanked Lunitari for his red robes, which disguised blood quite well.
She shot him a dirty look, following the river a few yards before the rains started. They were completely drenched within seconds by the blinding, pelting, fat droplets. It was almost a painful experience, and Raistlin's cough wasn't getting worse. Fortunately, Alira couldn't hear his hacking for the high winds and shrieking rain. Finally, after Raistlin was certain he would never be warm or dry again, Alira found the place she was searching for, and then moved her horse behind Raistlin's to make sure he would get in first.
Alira knew there wouldn't be any animals in the cave. It was protected, somehow. She wasn't sure how, but she wasn't about to ask. It was dry inside, but still ice-cold. They dismounted, and she got to work with making a fire.
"Shirak." Raistlin whispered, and the crystal at the top of his staff flared into brilliant light. Unfortunately, this light didn't provide warmth. But it did help Alira with the fire. Before long, it was roaring into life, despite the conditions outside. Raistlin's staff, with its beautiful dragon's claw gripping the crystal, was truly powerful. She could just feel it, the electrical magical energy, and she had never touched it. She smiled up at Raistlin, who was clutching his staff to keep his huddled form from sliding to the ground. Her smile was wiped off her face when she saw that he was coughing so violently he made no sound. Dry choking, rasping, and she knew he was having a bad fit.
"Dammen du, Alira, of course! The rain!"
It was obvious that the damp, cold conditions would ravage him, and with familiar motions she had his tea ready for him. When he could speak again, he thanked her.
"Dulak." He rasped, his voice still hoarse, and his staff's light blinked out obediently.
Raistlin looked terrible. His soaked robes clung to his form as he curled up tightly to preserve warmth. It was a vain effort, he should have known. His robes were wet enough to suck all heat from him, but he didn't seem conscious. He just sipped at his tea, shivering. Alira couldn't take it any longer.
"Those robes aren't helping you. You've got dry off and change into something else.
The horses, which they had brought inside the large, spacious cave, stood firmly with the packs. Alira took a few moments to care for the horses, not wanting them to catch sick. She searched through her packs first, finding clean clothes and a drying cloth for herself.
"Raist, may I?" she said, gesturing to his packs. He turned his shaking, chattering face to her and nodded. He liked the way his nickname sounded on her tongue, but was too cold to even move.
She searched through his packs, devoutly not allowing her attention to stray from finding clean robes for him. However, she couldn't disguise her surprise at one discovery: there were no underclothes whatsoever in the pack. He just had books, robes, parchment and a few other things, packed neatly inside. But she refused to dwell on such thoughts, instead carrying the robe over to him, and fetching an extra drying cloth from her pack for him.
The look he gave her communicated the words he didn't speak clearly. He didn't feel comfortable undressing, drying, and re-dressing in her presence.
"If you think I'm about to strip off these rags in front of you, you've probably taken fever! I'm going deeper into the cave to change behind the horses, you can just sit there and do whatever you like while I'm gone." She said with a laugh. It was so funny, that this powerful mage was as modest as she was. Unfortunately for her, there really was no way for her to stay as modest as she wanted to be in this cave. The horses would offer protection, of course, but the light was bright in the cave, glittering with its shadows across the wall. Nevertheless, she trusted Raistlin.
She stalked off, her own robes dripping and clinging, to dress.
Raistlin didn't want to wait a second more than he had to in order to change. As soon as she turned her back, he began to wriggle free from his constricting robes. Fully nude, he stood before the fire, letting the heat bake his body to dryness. His hair, down to his shoulders and leaking water constantly down his back, couldn't stay wet for long. Eventually, his hair was dry enough that it didn't bother him. He liked basking next to the fire, but didn't want to be caught naked by Alira. He felt guilty for not offering to go in her place, for not letting her nearer the fire.
Raistlin chanced a glance in her direction, and saw that she was behind the horses, with only her bare back and streaming hair showing above, and her long, graceful legs showing below. He realized immediately that he shouldn't have looked when everything he thought about seemed to correlate to her. He had time to dry by the fire, he noticed, since she seemed pre-occupied with her long hair and drying cloth. He enjoyed the warmth, so he cleared his mind and just let the fire bathe him, resisting the temptation to see what Alira did.
Meanwhile, Alira was drying herself off, finding the stubborn water was aided by her hair. It seemed as though she would never get dry. She wished she had stayed by the fire. A quick glance showed her that Raistlin had not taken his time with getting undressed and warmed. She saw only his upper body, as the horses covered up that much of him. She was relieved. Alira noted that while he didn't have his brother's powerful, muscled physique, he wasn't as frail as he looked at first glance. Lean, he was, with the muscle of someone who did just enough activity to be fit.
"Stop it!" she whispered to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was to let things turn strange. She quickly donned her underclothes in an effort to start getting warmer. It also helped keep her mind off of Raistlin, near the fire.
She dressed quickly, finally donning her clean, dry robes, and snuggling into the warmth of them. Alira pushed her way past the horses when she realized Raistlin was probably still not dressed. She backpedaled and hid behind the horses, peeking over to see how he was doing.
Nope, still not dressed, but he was holding his robes and slipping into them. She didn't watch.
Finally, when she knew he was done dressing, she peeked out and scurried towards the warmth of the fire. He was sitting on a rock, sipping at his concoction quietly. When she came and sat near, he looked up at her and managed something close to a smile.
"It's getting late, and I doubt the storm's going to abate until morning. I'm going to sleep. If anything changes, wake me." Alira said awkwardly, not exactly sure why she felt odd.
"As you will." Raistlin said politely. "But you owe me dinner."
"Will you take a rain check?" she responded, not realizing it was a pun when she said it. All the same, the two of them laughed as she unrolled a blanket and lay down.
But she couldn't sleep! She was tired, but she just couldn't. Alira was slowly getting aggravated.
"Can't sleep?" Raistlin asked suddenly, as though reading her mind.
"How did you know?" Alira replied.
"Just thought so." He said smoothly. Alira raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, I'd cook, but I was actually planning on something that I can't do in this situation." Her conversational reply was, this time, not lost on him.
"In that case, maybe we should just.talk." He suggested, not exactly one of his smoothest moments.
"About what?"
"Like last time, you told me about how you got into school." He made a wild attempt to get her started, since he wasn't sure of what he wanted.
"Well. I can sort of remember what my schooling was like. Master Ferian. He was nice, but very distant. I remember thinking he didn't seem very talented at magic, though he had earned his robes."
Raistlin understood her feelings completely. His own Master, Master Theobald, had been a nitwit. A foolish old man that Raistlin remembered clearly. He had hated him, and was certain that he only got his robes because Par-Salian bribed him with them. If Theobald would teach, he would get his robes.
"I was the only girl in the class, which made me a bit of an outsider. But the boys were still nice, if distant. In class, I did well. I always did well. I remember when I was first called 'Cat', and when I asked why, the boys replied that I was the teacher's little pet. It would have been funny, if Master Ferian liked me at all. He grudgingly accepted that I was good, but he hated me. Always did, and I never found out why. Hmm." She finished her short tale, leaving Raistlin to wonder what the point of the whole thing was. Then he remembered that he had asked her to talk.
"Nothing really interesting every happened to me, until I was invited to take the Test. Afterwards, I was given time to recover and I was given all of these instructions and things. They also gave me my gift. Every mage gets something from the Test, as you well know. In my case, I, well, I don't actually know what it is yet. That's part of it. They wouldn't tell me any more, of course. They love their little secrets too much. But basically, this is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me, to be taking you to Qualinesti. Even then, the only reason they sent me is that I happened to be nearby and I know this place so well."
"How do you know this area?" Raistlin asked, finding something, finally, to say.
"Oh, well, I needed a job, eventually, when I left my school. I actually left at seventeen, would you believe it? Anyway, I spent a few years traveling this area, and learning all the roads and such from maps. Par-Salian once joked that I'd probably traveled this area more than a kender would." She laughed, as did Raistlin.
Raistlin knew kender very well. He had spent much of his life pestered by one named Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Kender were an interesting race. They averaged four feet tall, and wrinkles were a desired facial feature in their society. They are pickpockets by nature, but the strange thing is they don't realize that they steal. In their minds, things "fall" into their pouches (of which they traditionally have man) and they "find" lost items all the time.
The ensuing conversation wasn't bad at all.
Raistlin was surprised.
He began to think he might enjoy having a friend.
Again: ALIRA IS MINE! All mine! Take that, Margie Weis!
Unfortunately: Raistlin is not mine, neither is any of the Dragonlance material I'm using.but at least I still have my dreams! Ahhh, dreams! 4:
Alira woke early in the morning, to find that Raistlin had already been awake. It seemed as though he had been awake for quite a while, judging by the state of their little camp. He had already made a small breakfast, and he had two separate pots of tea warm by the fire. It was a nice surprise.
"Good morning." Alira said, getting up. She wore her traveling clothes when she slept. Alira was modest, and didn't like the idea of wearing just her robes to bed as most mages - and Raistlin - do. She had folded her robes neatly the previous night, and left them next to her as she slept. Now that she was awake, she adjusted her clothes. She tended to toss and turn in her sleep, and her clothes showed signs of being slightly rumpled. But it was easily remedied with a few pulls in the right direction.
She finally donned her robes and secured them with the many hidden clasps and ties that all robes come with.
A mage's robes are an interesting thing. They come in the three colors that show their loyalty to their god or goddess, and every mage gets theirs upon completion of their Test. Of course, mages who don't pass, or choose not to test, get brown robes.
The robes are always made carefully, with special consideration for who would be wearing them. Since most mages don't like wearing clothing under their robes, the robes are all made with a simple idea in mind: keep them on, at all times, unless they are meant to be taken off. Basically, the makers have developed a clever system of ties and clasps that make it easy for them to be taken off by the wearer, but nearly impossible for someone else. Not even the mages who wore them really understood the way it worked, they were just happy with the one-two-three - one clasp, two buttons, and three ties - that made it simple for them.
Raistlin was sitting, with a plate of bread and plain cheese before him, and his usual drink in a cup in his hand. He nodded his head at her, recognizing her greeting.
Alira helped herself to the meal, simple, yet very good. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it was some type of fried bread and something else. All she could tell from it was that it tasted good.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"My brother and I lived on our own for quite a while. One of us had to learn, and it turned out that I was the better at it. His scrambled eggs were famous for their crunchy texture." He replied quietly, huddled in his robes.
"You are really good. I never was much of a cook, and it always bothered my mother that I could tell her the properties of any herb she put in our food, and yet I could never figure out which herb would best accentuate which food. I remember every night I used to identify all of the cooking herbs by taste, and I always knew what she used. But, again, I was never good at making anything but plainer meals." Alira commented, eating daintily all the while.
"Perhaps, then, you will make one of your 'plainer meals' tonight? I don't want to exhaust all of my herb supplies, and the chances we'll find anything good on the way to Qualinesti are slim." He suggested. She nodded her head, a smile touching her lips. He was making an attempt at cordiality, and she had to admit it was heartwarming.
Within minutes, they were back on their horses, and on their away to the land of the Elves. Alira reminisced about her bloodlines.
Apparently, her Elven family stretched back from her mother's side. As in most stories, the beauty of an Elf had enamored one of her relatives. Though in this case, it actually blossomed to love. They got to know each other, and loved each other as much for personalities as physical appearance. As far as Alira knew, the Elf had been a young man, and her relative a young woman at the time.
His name, she recalled, was Therinilion, though everyone called him Therin. Her relative was Irint. It had become a family tradition to, every once in a while, give a longer, more Elven name to a child. Alira was one of those children. Her full name was Aliralintharincalion. It was quite a mouthful, obviously, and so she ended up having her named shortened for human usage. She was known as Alira Lintharin Calion, three names, and of the three, Alira was the one everyone used. As she grew, she rarely even mentioned that her name was longer.
She bit her lip as she thought. She really didn't know much about her Elven side. She didn't even know how far back it stretched. She knew for certain, though, that she didn't have a lot of Elven blood because she lacked the ears! The ears were the one feature that most with even a drop of Elven blood had them. Or at least a tiny hint of a point to their ears. But Alira didn't even have that! She could fully have passed for human, but for her almond-eyes. Even then, her eyes weren't set at that ever-so-slight slant that gave an even more outlandish look to them. Alira didn't have much trouble with her "Elven-ness" being spotted.
"Alira?" Raistlin asked. She had drifted off, and a glazed look had taken over her face. He was worried for a moment; she wasn't the kind of person to just drift off and leave her body behind.
"Hmm?" she said, snapping back to reality.
"What is it? Is something wrong?"
Raistlin was actually more interested in whether or not there might be any thieves or robbers than whether it was her own personal troubles. He wasn't thinking, though, it should have been obvious she didn't think there were any thieves. If she did, she probably would have taken steps to avoid them, not drifted off into her thoughts. He kicked himself mentally for his mistake.
"No. I was just thinking. Did you know that I have Elven blood?" she asked, curiosity prevailing. She wondered if he knew s much about her as she knew of him.
"Yes. They told me, but they gave no details."
He didn't have to say who "they" were, since it was most likely the same people who told her of him.
"Well, it was my mother's side, that's all I know. As a result, they decided to give 'Elven' names to the occasional child born in our family. I was one of them." She said, not exactly sure why.
"Alira? It hasn't an Elven ring, but not much more." He said.
"Try Aliralintharincalion."
"Ah, much better." He replied, a humorous ring to his voice. "Are you going to insist that I call you by that? I'm afraid I might have another coughing fit if I try."
She laughed openly. "No, of course not, Raistlin."
"My brother calls me 'Raist' for short, that's as short as my name ever gets. At the longest, it's simply Raistlin Majere." He replied, hoping it would make her laugh again. She had a strangely soothing and fun laugh. Raistlin was strangely happy when she chuckled in reply.
They rode on in silence when Raistlin noticed, for once, that the sun seemed dim. He looked up and was surprised to see that, following them quickly, dark, ominous clouds floated menacingly overhead. It was obvious from the scent of the air, and the electricity that permeated it, that rain was coming. Violent, thunderstorm rain. He was surprised he didn't notice it before; it was so obvious.
"Alira. We need to find shelter."
"We'll just dart into the forest then, Raistlin." She said, obviously caught up in her thoughts.
"It's a thunderstorm, we need a cave or something. A shelter. Now." He replied, reaching out and touching her shoulder to snap her from her dreams. It was one of the first times he had instigated contact with another human being, but he didn't particularly notice. She swiveled in her saddle to get a look at the clouds. She cursed, even that foul word sounding pleasant, yet rather more evil coming from her lips.
"There should be somewhere near by." She said, now consumed by the urge to find a cave. She knew the area like the back of her hand, and she was certain there was a small one near. She just wasn't sure how close. Alira listened carefully for the sounds of the forest, using her senses to get her bearings.
"Here!" she cried, just as a rolling bout of thunder shook the ground. The horses were getting nervous, prancing to the sides and shaking their heads and manes.
She darted into the forest on horseback; carefully maneuvering her horse towards the wider gaps between trees to avoid scrapes and bruises. Raistlin followed on her tail, ducking his head down and grabbing hold for dear life. He wasn't much of a horse person, but he put up with it for speed's sake.
Before long, they arrived at a river.
"Just what we need. More water." Raistlin commented dryly, his less- social nature coming through with stress. He coughed, disguising it so Alira wouldn't be alarmed. He thanked Lunitari for his red robes, which disguised blood quite well.
She shot him a dirty look, following the river a few yards before the rains started. They were completely drenched within seconds by the blinding, pelting, fat droplets. It was almost a painful experience, and Raistlin's cough wasn't getting worse. Fortunately, Alira couldn't hear his hacking for the high winds and shrieking rain. Finally, after Raistlin was certain he would never be warm or dry again, Alira found the place she was searching for, and then moved her horse behind Raistlin's to make sure he would get in first.
Alira knew there wouldn't be any animals in the cave. It was protected, somehow. She wasn't sure how, but she wasn't about to ask. It was dry inside, but still ice-cold. They dismounted, and she got to work with making a fire.
"Shirak." Raistlin whispered, and the crystal at the top of his staff flared into brilliant light. Unfortunately, this light didn't provide warmth. But it did help Alira with the fire. Before long, it was roaring into life, despite the conditions outside. Raistlin's staff, with its beautiful dragon's claw gripping the crystal, was truly powerful. She could just feel it, the electrical magical energy, and she had never touched it. She smiled up at Raistlin, who was clutching his staff to keep his huddled form from sliding to the ground. Her smile was wiped off her face when she saw that he was coughing so violently he made no sound. Dry choking, rasping, and she knew he was having a bad fit.
"Dammen du, Alira, of course! The rain!"
It was obvious that the damp, cold conditions would ravage him, and with familiar motions she had his tea ready for him. When he could speak again, he thanked her.
"Dulak." He rasped, his voice still hoarse, and his staff's light blinked out obediently.
Raistlin looked terrible. His soaked robes clung to his form as he curled up tightly to preserve warmth. It was a vain effort, he should have known. His robes were wet enough to suck all heat from him, but he didn't seem conscious. He just sipped at his tea, shivering. Alira couldn't take it any longer.
"Those robes aren't helping you. You've got dry off and change into something else.
The horses, which they had brought inside the large, spacious cave, stood firmly with the packs. Alira took a few moments to care for the horses, not wanting them to catch sick. She searched through her packs first, finding clean clothes and a drying cloth for herself.
"Raist, may I?" she said, gesturing to his packs. He turned his shaking, chattering face to her and nodded. He liked the way his nickname sounded on her tongue, but was too cold to even move.
She searched through his packs, devoutly not allowing her attention to stray from finding clean robes for him. However, she couldn't disguise her surprise at one discovery: there were no underclothes whatsoever in the pack. He just had books, robes, parchment and a few other things, packed neatly inside. But she refused to dwell on such thoughts, instead carrying the robe over to him, and fetching an extra drying cloth from her pack for him.
The look he gave her communicated the words he didn't speak clearly. He didn't feel comfortable undressing, drying, and re-dressing in her presence.
"If you think I'm about to strip off these rags in front of you, you've probably taken fever! I'm going deeper into the cave to change behind the horses, you can just sit there and do whatever you like while I'm gone." She said with a laugh. It was so funny, that this powerful mage was as modest as she was. Unfortunately for her, there really was no way for her to stay as modest as she wanted to be in this cave. The horses would offer protection, of course, but the light was bright in the cave, glittering with its shadows across the wall. Nevertheless, she trusted Raistlin.
She stalked off, her own robes dripping and clinging, to dress.
Raistlin didn't want to wait a second more than he had to in order to change. As soon as she turned her back, he began to wriggle free from his constricting robes. Fully nude, he stood before the fire, letting the heat bake his body to dryness. His hair, down to his shoulders and leaking water constantly down his back, couldn't stay wet for long. Eventually, his hair was dry enough that it didn't bother him. He liked basking next to the fire, but didn't want to be caught naked by Alira. He felt guilty for not offering to go in her place, for not letting her nearer the fire.
Raistlin chanced a glance in her direction, and saw that she was behind the horses, with only her bare back and streaming hair showing above, and her long, graceful legs showing below. He realized immediately that he shouldn't have looked when everything he thought about seemed to correlate to her. He had time to dry by the fire, he noticed, since she seemed pre-occupied with her long hair and drying cloth. He enjoyed the warmth, so he cleared his mind and just let the fire bathe him, resisting the temptation to see what Alira did.
Meanwhile, Alira was drying herself off, finding the stubborn water was aided by her hair. It seemed as though she would never get dry. She wished she had stayed by the fire. A quick glance showed her that Raistlin had not taken his time with getting undressed and warmed. She saw only his upper body, as the horses covered up that much of him. She was relieved. Alira noted that while he didn't have his brother's powerful, muscled physique, he wasn't as frail as he looked at first glance. Lean, he was, with the muscle of someone who did just enough activity to be fit.
"Stop it!" she whispered to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was to let things turn strange. She quickly donned her underclothes in an effort to start getting warmer. It also helped keep her mind off of Raistlin, near the fire.
She dressed quickly, finally donning her clean, dry robes, and snuggling into the warmth of them. Alira pushed her way past the horses when she realized Raistlin was probably still not dressed. She backpedaled and hid behind the horses, peeking over to see how he was doing.
Nope, still not dressed, but he was holding his robes and slipping into them. She didn't watch.
Finally, when she knew he was done dressing, she peeked out and scurried towards the warmth of the fire. He was sitting on a rock, sipping at his concoction quietly. When she came and sat near, he looked up at her and managed something close to a smile.
"It's getting late, and I doubt the storm's going to abate until morning. I'm going to sleep. If anything changes, wake me." Alira said awkwardly, not exactly sure why she felt odd.
"As you will." Raistlin said politely. "But you owe me dinner."
"Will you take a rain check?" she responded, not realizing it was a pun when she said it. All the same, the two of them laughed as she unrolled a blanket and lay down.
But she couldn't sleep! She was tired, but she just couldn't. Alira was slowly getting aggravated.
"Can't sleep?" Raistlin asked suddenly, as though reading her mind.
"How did you know?" Alira replied.
"Just thought so." He said smoothly. Alira raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, I'd cook, but I was actually planning on something that I can't do in this situation." Her conversational reply was, this time, not lost on him.
"In that case, maybe we should just.talk." He suggested, not exactly one of his smoothest moments.
"About what?"
"Like last time, you told me about how you got into school." He made a wild attempt to get her started, since he wasn't sure of what he wanted.
"Well. I can sort of remember what my schooling was like. Master Ferian. He was nice, but very distant. I remember thinking he didn't seem very talented at magic, though he had earned his robes."
Raistlin understood her feelings completely. His own Master, Master Theobald, had been a nitwit. A foolish old man that Raistlin remembered clearly. He had hated him, and was certain that he only got his robes because Par-Salian bribed him with them. If Theobald would teach, he would get his robes.
"I was the only girl in the class, which made me a bit of an outsider. But the boys were still nice, if distant. In class, I did well. I always did well. I remember when I was first called 'Cat', and when I asked why, the boys replied that I was the teacher's little pet. It would have been funny, if Master Ferian liked me at all. He grudgingly accepted that I was good, but he hated me. Always did, and I never found out why. Hmm." She finished her short tale, leaving Raistlin to wonder what the point of the whole thing was. Then he remembered that he had asked her to talk.
"Nothing really interesting every happened to me, until I was invited to take the Test. Afterwards, I was given time to recover and I was given all of these instructions and things. They also gave me my gift. Every mage gets something from the Test, as you well know. In my case, I, well, I don't actually know what it is yet. That's part of it. They wouldn't tell me any more, of course. They love their little secrets too much. But basically, this is one of the most exciting things to ever happen to me, to be taking you to Qualinesti. Even then, the only reason they sent me is that I happened to be nearby and I know this place so well."
"How do you know this area?" Raistlin asked, finding something, finally, to say.
"Oh, well, I needed a job, eventually, when I left my school. I actually left at seventeen, would you believe it? Anyway, I spent a few years traveling this area, and learning all the roads and such from maps. Par-Salian once joked that I'd probably traveled this area more than a kender would." She laughed, as did Raistlin.
Raistlin knew kender very well. He had spent much of his life pestered by one named Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Kender were an interesting race. They averaged four feet tall, and wrinkles were a desired facial feature in their society. They are pickpockets by nature, but the strange thing is they don't realize that they steal. In their minds, things "fall" into their pouches (of which they traditionally have man) and they "find" lost items all the time.
The ensuing conversation wasn't bad at all.
Raistlin was surprised.
He began to think he might enjoy having a friend.