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Chapter 10: A Shuriman Sparrow and the weight of sand.
The Shuriman Sparrow, known for being free and the friendliest of birds, usually they have a sharp sight that allows them to scavenge for seeds and food on the deserted plains of Shurima. A bird that flies free and for long distances, the symbol of freedom.
Freedom which a little sparrow was lacking right now.
"Come on, I can take care of myself, you know that master"
Taliyah was still trying to convince her master and friend as they walked in the direction of a door with a simple plate on it. Is not like she disliked the mind reader… honestly, she just felt a bit creeped out at the fact someone could just see inside people minds, what if he saw her fears? Or her hopes and dreams and mocked her…
She disliked the idea of someone having such an easy access to her mind. No one should be allowed to just freely get inside the minds of others, it just wasn't natural to her. That and she might just dislike the man a bit.
"My decision is final, you are staying, and he will look out for you until I'm back, I don't trust many, and I'm willing to trust him after watching his abilities"
Yasuo was surprised at how easily he had been able to read their minds, surely someone with such a gift on the field of the mind wouldn't be caught by surprise, and this made him the best choice on looking out for Taliyah as he was gone.
The institute was after all a place for research, and he didn't like the idea of summoners bothering the little sparrow trying to recreate her powers. The world was fine with one stoneweaver, there was no need to go around making artificial ones.
"Okay master…but he tries anything funny and I will put him under the ground"
Yasuo smiled doubting a man like Cid could be one to try something like that.
When they reached the door, and knocked they heard snoring come to a halt, from the other side also came the sound of rushing to the door, Cid opened, his hair a mess and his glasses out of place.
"Sorry, just woke up, is hard to know the time in this place if you ask me"
Yasuo looked dumbfounded at the man, maybe it was a wrong idea… he did look rather messy, had yesterday been just a fluke… it was too late to find someone else though, he would just have to risk it and hope he only was messy in the mornings.
"Greetings Cid, as our agreement I came to leave Taliyah under your care, don't worry, she can take care of herself, don't forget to feed her though"
Yasuo intent of a joke was received by a snort from Cid and a hit to the ribs courtesy of Taliyah. Cid smiled at Yasuo
"Will do, don't worry Yasuo, everything will be okay when you come back"
With a nod Yasuo left looking at Taliyah once again. His eyes highly focused being serious.
"Behave, don't forget what you know"
She nodded before answering back
"Will do master"
With a nod Yasuo left, in the corner of the hallway the figure of Riven could be seen waving at Cid, he waved back seeing the pair leaving their sight. With hope, all would be going well for them on Ionia. Now… now he had to focus on the girl beside him.
"So… where can I get breakfast here?"
Taliyah looked at him and simply made a sign for him to follow, no words were exchanged during the walk to the dining hall of the institute. Cid was taking notes on the many reactions of summoners and people with uniforms who were moving stuff around and cleaning, he could see how they obviously looked at him and heard their small murmurs of gossip of who he was.
"Well, just find something of your liking and get it on a plate, it doesn't get simpler than that"
Cid was impressed with the sheer size of the dining hall, but taking in account probably over hundreds of people were there he guessed it was normal. He saw the many tables separated around, he had the chance to see some familiar faces in the corners.
He had the chance to see Lux waving at his direction, he also got to see Vayne seemingly taking a fruit on her plate before going to a corner in the shadows in the company of a man dressed in white, he seemed to share Vayne aura of being a hunter.
As he approached to get some oranges he was slightly pushed to the side by a man with a captain hat.
"Sorry boy, those are mine"
With a chuckle, the huge figure left taking all the oranges with him.
"Well, I didn't want an orange either way…"
As he sighed looking at the apples he could hear a light giggle behind him, it sounded familiar…
"You already have enough orange in you Cid, I would suggest something more purple or even golden"
Lulu giggle at Cid, he looked at her small figure and Pix who was hovering in front of him making a sort of salute. He laughed a bit before making a salute to him and Lulu.
"Good to see you Lulu, having breakfast?"
Lulu laughed a bit before making a salute to him and pointing to the purple fruit beside him.
"They are nice because they taste purple, so I always have some in breakfast"
"Oh, that's nice, well I need to find Taliyah, Yasuo told me to look after her"
Lulu smiled at him seemingly having started to eat in front of him. It was fun and childish, but for a weird reason Cid felt that Lulu was older than him… call it a hunch.
"Well you won't have a trouble with that, she is in that table"
Cid nodded at Lulu before looking behind him and seeing the table she had pointed, he could see Taliyah eating a simple light breakfast, at her side was a huge figure. He looked a huge figure seemingly reading…was he a dog? As if on cue he could hear the voice of Lulu.
"Nasus, he might just be the golden you need in your day, he is big but he is nice…he could use a bit more of purple at times"
Nasus was really a sort of humanoid dog, maybe the drawing Riven had made wasn't so far out of reality, Riven often said he could be a strong force. It was fun to finally see him. Before he made his way, he thanked Lulu who just ignored him in favor of the purple fruits. Pix had done a small wave to him as if to tell him not to worry.
In the end when he sat on the table he could see Nasus looking at him.
"I'm afraid I don't know you, what is your business in this table?"
His voice sounded solemn, as if he carried with him the experience of many years behind. Way too many for him to even imagine. It took him a bit to speak again as he got distracted looking at the golden warrior.
"Sorry, I'm Cid, therapist for the institute…Yasuo told me to look after Taliyah"
Nasus looked at Taliyah who just nodded in disagreement.
"No way, you think Yasuo would leave me with anyone?"
She thought maybe she could use Nasus help to make Cid go away and so she could be free to relax alone without the need of someone looking for her. Nasus was in thought thinking of the veracity of the statement, for one side he knew Yasuo didn't trusted Taliyah with many, he didn't trust anyone really… so what could be so interesting of this man?
"If you don't mind, what makes you so special…therapist?"
Cid smiled and felt the subtle challenge Nasus was making. With quick eyes and attention to detail he saw all he needed to see to answer.
"Nothing special, no need for you to ready your staff, I'm just a therapist, I'm good at reading people, I know you are wondering what makes me so worthy of Yasuo trust"
Nasus eyes didn't show any surprise, if anything he hummed in approval, his thoughts had been right on place. He knew something had to be special on him, and being able to see the obvious signals he showed on purpose showed he was good at details.
"I must say, I hadn't seen someone with keen ability on observation, a therapist… must I guess you are good on the field of the mind?"
Cid nodded and Nasus let his staff again taking back his attention to his book on his other hand.
"I see, people often have problems distinguishing between reading minds and being able to understand the inner workings of the mind… I see why Yasuo would deem you trustworthy then"
Before Cid could ask anything else he noticed Nasus was deep in his book, so any intent on conversation would be futile. As he sat and decided to eat his apple he noticed Taliyah seemingly to stare at him. Seems her plan hadn't worked as she hoped for.
She was surprised, the curator of the sands had just accepted Cid, maybe his years of knowledge made it easier for him to understand, but she felt relieved, seems he couldn't read minds, Nasus had just said he was good at understanding the inner workings of the mind…. Whatever that really meant.
As the silence took control of the table, Cid simply ate the rest of his apple and Taliyah kept in her musings, it was hard to know how much time flew around in the peace of the table, silence was a good company for Cid, and for Taliyah it was nice to simply be without problems. For Nasus silence was a time of reflection.
The therapist, Cid, seemed interesting, not many decided to focus their knowledge on the field of the mind, it was a field that didn't gave as much recognition, it wasn't showy to put in a better term, it was highly subtle and required immense amounts of knowledge and even then, it needed knowledge of other areas to be properly applied.
Understanding the mind was one thing, understanding the mind of someone else was something else entirely. No one was the same, this sense of uniqueness is what brought the problem of mastering the knowledge of the mind. To see someone so young who had seemingly mastered the knowledge was impressive and curious. After all, the look of adventure and physical endeavors tend to be more on the side of young ones.
Still, he was curious about his prosthetic leg. He was too young to require one… still to him most of the members of the institute were young, he had seen his fair share of sunsets go by, and he knew an effortless way to figure things out.
As Nasus left his book down he looked at Cid who seemed to observe everyone around.
"Excuse me Cid… could I invite you for a friendly chat at the library?"
The attention of both Cid and Taliyah got caught at the offer. Cid grinned, he loved the idea of seeing what kind of knowledge could the library offer.
"Sure, anytime in particular?"
Nasus nodded.
"Tomorrow would be a fine time, ask anyone and they will point you to the library, now, I must bid you both farewell, therapist, Stoneweaver."
As he bid them goodbye with a nod of his head Taliyah could only stay in curiosity at what might Nasus want to ask Cid, anyone who had been on the institute for long knew Nasus often questioned people on the library, it just came natural, like if his presence on the library made you speak the truth. Maybe he truly was the master inside the library.
A small tap on her shoulder took Taliyah out of her thoughts. Cid pointed at the hallway.
"So, ready to go? I don't get nothing to do so I was hoping to see the garden I heard of."
Taliyah smiled, the garden, surely, she could get rid of Cid and leave her with the rest of the day free to herself, who knows maybe even reach Yasuo in Ionia with someone teleporting her. She took a running start motioning him to follow her
"Sure, follow me! Is not that hard to find the garden"
Cid noticed how she smiled and a part of him suspected that it wasn't because she loved the garden. He tried to keep her pace, the girl was fast, it was as if the stone floor of the institute helped Taliyah into moving faster.
Once Taliyah motioned him into a door he saw a marvelous field full of life in front of him. It was incredible a garden so big was inside the wall of the institute, but in a way it felt good to know something like this could grow surrounded by walls of stone. As he kept walking into the garden amazed by it Taliyah was following his steps. Not close to him of course.
She was expectant of waiting, she knew she would surely be reacting soon, probably… in just a second… where was Zyra?!
Taliyah ended up kicking a flower in her fit of rage and suddenly she found herself surrounded by vines. As she yelped in surprise Cid amazement of the garden faded to turn into surprise at looking at Taliyah on the ground. Before he could ask he heard a female voice closing by.
"Take careful steps next time Stoneweaver, I don't enjoy people stepping on my garden"
Cid could totally hear the emphasis on "my garden" he observed the woman in front of him, she had with her a feeling of ethereal beauty, he didn't need to ask Taliyah to understand that the woman who seemed to have the features of a plant wasn't human. He wasn't as surprised as he would have felt had he not seen someone like Zac and Nasus.
Zyra looked with boredom at the Stoneweaver surrounded by vines, she should know better than go standing in her domains. She didn't like the fact people came into the garden and messed up with it, she didn't needed champions destroying it either, it was enough with the rest of the humans.
She let her sight go away from the Stoneweaver and looked to the man who entered to the garden, she had a bit of trouble feeling his steps in the garden, he seemed to be light on one of his legs and didn't put as much pressure into the soil. She wasn't sure why was that, it wasn't common for people to walk lighter with a leg, plus she didn't remember seeing him before…
Cid felt the heavy stare of the woman and decided to simply present himself.
"Hey…Cid, therapist for the institute, I was just checking your garden…is really impressive"
Zyra simply laughed a sarcastic laugh if Cid had ever heard one with more disdain before, he couldn't remember.
"I don't need humans to tell me how impressive my garden is… I know how impressive it is already"
She decided to simply go away and leave them, no need to lose her time with people who didn't understood the beauty of her garden, few could even mention what flowers grew in it like
"That bush, is full of Thorn Spitters, they don't grow easily, they require a lot of effort, and even then, they feed of insects on the underground, is impressive you got them to grow in here since is surrounded of stone"
Cid smiled when he noticed the slight look of surprise that flashed in her eye.
"So, you know a bit of plants? Then please tell me what is the plant surrounding your friend…"
Zyra smiled, an honest smile, she never knew someone who understood of plants, most just said they were all the same, but they didn't understand of the sincere effort that came into the garden.
"They are Grasping Roots, they grow from the Vine Lasher, both from the old Kumungu Jungle"
Cid smiled approaching to touch the small bud in the soil of the garden. He carefully moved some leaves away of it and saw it open when it received the light of the sun coming from the top of the glass roof of the garden.
"A seed of Thorns… they are insanely strong once they open up and grow, but while they are just a bud on the earth they can easily be killed by stepping on them. I heard they often grow all around, those that manage to survive and reach the maturity become the infamous Stranglethorn of Kumungu"
Zyra was impressed, and found herself smiling openly. Once she took notice of what she was doing she took back her serious expression. Taliyah who had been on the floor removing the vines from herself couldn't believe it. Not only her plan had backfired and found herself being the one trapped by Zyra, no, no, Cid had just seemed to become interesting in the eyes of The Rise of Thorns.
"Well, I must admit you do know of plants. You are acceptable then"
As Zyra snapped her fingers Taliyah found herself free of the vines.
"Feel free to take your friend with you, my plants don't need to eat her"
Before Taliyah could ask what did she meant Cid looked at Taliyah and said in a whisper.
"The plants I mentioned…are all carnivores"
Taliyah felt the color drain out of her face. As Zyra smiled in satisfaction at the fear of the girl, she also found herself interested on the man who knew of plants.
"Well…Cid was it? I'm Zyra"
She stretched her hand at him. Cid noticed how she let her hand hanging downwards. As Cid looked confused at the hand pointing downwards Zyra spoke.
"Isn't common on your kind to kiss the hand of a lady?"
Taliyah found herself surprised. Didn't Zyra hate contact in general? Cid himself was surprised but decided to act polite, even if Zyra had acted rather… not exactly humble, he didn't want to disrespect her. He kissed her hand and Zyra hummed in acknowledgement.
"Well Cid, I hope you come to the garden soon. Is rather enjoyable to speak to someone who knows of plants, you can go now"
Cid looked surprised as he understood. She had just told them to go away.
As Cid and Taliyah went away from the garden Cid could only let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Well… this place surely is interesting"
Cut!
Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews and everything, I really appreciate them! Hope your week is going fine, to answer the guest who are as kind as to leave a review, yes, I do accept suggestions of champions, in the end I have planned to include every champion on this story. So, feel free to tell me what you hope to see.
Till next time!
Chapter 11: What the institute offers.