Shadows of the Past
Fourteenth Day of Olweje-hamba (Olweje Descending) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Origins..." you muse as much to yourself as to the woman riding at your side. "What do I truly know about the origins of those powers? If Zaia had told me that the potions and pilthers he makes use of are magic, could I have gainsaid him of my own lore in such matters? No. To judge thus one must know a thing far deeper than I know either herb-craft or sorcery and both are best judged by what they are used for than some inherent abstract substance, a poison in the right dose might poison of the flesh heal and if that is so can you still call it poison?"
Esha laughs, not the silvery enchanting sound, but more of a sudden guffaw that seems to surprise even her. "For one who claims ignorance first and foremost you have certainly given this a good bit of thought."
"Well if I knew all the answers I would hardly need to ponder the questions so closely," you reply reasonably.
"If you had all the answer in the workings of sorcery you would be a god, or a dragon I suppose." She shakes her head amused. "My father used to tell the most wondrous stories about dragons." Catching your expression she cuts herself off and seems to draw back into herself. "He was a monster yes, but he would tell the grandest of tales. Some of them were probably even true."
You are not sure how to take that. What would it even do to a child to be raised by such a creature? The question is not one you may speak this night, or perhaps any other an so you return to the first thread of the question "Eririan had done no harm and been of much help, if for his own reasons and gain. If he should use his powers for good works or at the very least not evil ones than I am content. It would besides be hypocrisy pure and simple to hold him to some abstract standard of purity while we sail on the Marcella. She too has proven itself to have done no harm to any but foes, but at the same time, which would you rather encounter at midnight without a candle in hand?"
"I do not need a candle to see at midnight," she says dramatically, head tilted skywards and this time it is you who laughs. "Well I do need some light to see by but not as much as most would."
She pauses a long thoughtful moment, then launches again into a much deeper telling: "So it is with my magic, it allows me to straddle the precipice of life and death and cast by hands this way and that and trade from one hand to the other the power that in such liminal parts dwells. The chill and the fear of death, the fascination of life new born, the sight that passes beyond flesh and the focus that can be found in the contemplation of both, these are not merely spells as Zaia the scholar would have them be, recipes and incantations that upon any lips would do the same things, they are outward expressions of my soul. When I cast fear into the mind of a foe it is the fear that I myself felt when first I saw my father drag a corpse into the inn room we were living in and then in a fit of mad whimsy made it dance. I actually laughed when I got over my surprise you know, maybe some day I shall be able to distill that into a spell and force upon a foe so that they may be helpless to be captured.... or slain. Is that something you can live with sir knight? That little girl did a great many things to please her father because he was her father before she finally realized that perhaps laughter had not been right and even when at last she did... when at last
I did I do not fear death and its signs as others do. Is such the company you wish to keep?"
It seems to you as though her words had conjured a chill wind that blows down the street and yet the leaves of the old olive tree not twenty peaces away are still. The chill is not upon the air. Esha might not have done any evil in your company and by her own words she did not wish to do such evil as her sire had taught her, but she had in the past for, if the hunter is to be trusted, perhaps more years than you had been alive. Is it your place to forgive such things... and even in the realm of the merely practical is it wise to take on so many potential vengeful foes sight unseen?
What do you answer?
[] Your words stand, she has been a good friend to you and a leal ally in battle, if she wishes to continue to sail upon the Marcella you will welcome it
[] Ask her more questions about her past
-[] Write in
[] Perhaps it would be best for you to part ways
OOC: Here we are, a bit of metaphysics and a lot of character interaction. Hope you guys enjoy this was fun to write. Not yet edited. 
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