Truth and Trust

Truth and Trust
Date of Scene:	26 July 2013
Location:	Cosmo Canyon
Synopsis:	Kyra finds Alma, who went searching for Riku...
Cast of Characters:	Kyra Hyral, Alma Hyral

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Alma Hyral has posed:
The sudden and abrupt feeling of being dumped back into bed.

The moment of acceleration following by a sharp, jarring impact. Only without moving, just the pressure, the tingling sensation wearing away in moments. Except her bed was more a sandy stone formation, a few hundred feet in the air. It looked somewhat like an hourglass, with the bottom of the column being large and flat, as it thinned out towards the center of the formation before returning to a flattened top. A few feet away was another larger cliffside, one of the canyon walls of Cosmo Canyon.

She sits upright, already in a cold sweat, hyperventilating for a time, allowing her body to ride it out, just allowing the fear to loosen it's grip on her mind, gradually.. except, this time she remembered everything, well.. nearly everything. It took her longer to process all of that. That yes in fact, the dream had been real. That the horrors had all been tangible things, not ephemeral images in her mind. And so she brings up her knees to her chest, leaning her forehead forward, and as her rapid breathing slows, and the shivering begins. Underlying all of this is the slow process of allowing her mind to cope with the jarring macabre panoply of memories that was all too real to her.

It was the start of dusk, and the last images of the sun setting over the horizon came as a sort of beautiful watercolor on the sky and in the clouds. It was a spectacular view. Too bad she couldn't enjoy it. Soon the stars would be out, and that abruptly wracked her body with a new shivering spell. No.. she definitely couldn't enjoy that.

She was wearing an all too simple light red windbreaker, with a white T-shift underneath it, and a pair of denim jeans. On her feet was a pair of boots, and her hair was unbound, and both that tangled mess and her clothing were mussed up and dirty from the experience of sleeping up here.

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Body and soul. Both intertwined yet distinct in their construction. Damage to the body could be easily repaired. Damage to the soul could not. It was the latter that made Kyra hesitant to dabble in that sort of magic-as she had told her sister long ago when the issue of Morrighan came to light. To change a person so profoundly was simply...evil.

Her scrying efforts for her sister were rooted entirely on the young white mage's body. As a member of her own bloodline, Kyra did have a distinct advantage, especially since her particular brand of spell was on the verge of targeting the genetic code itself, providing unparalleled unique identification. Though her method was sound, her effort was still a monumental one. It took her most of the day to lock on and her reward was but a few fleeing seconds of spying Alma from afar, lying prone on the ground. She was fairly certain that her sister was not dead.

What came as the biggest surprise was being so forcefully evicted from her own spell by an outside entity. It was like nothing she's ever felt before at that. She was fortunate, though, because she saw the surrounding area.

She recognized it. It was Cosmo Canyon! She'd been there multiple times! She set out immediately, but not alone, hiring a sellsword to accompany her since she's only traveled to this place in groups. It'd take some time to find the appropriate place, though she was able to narrow her search to the highest of peaks. Though she started in the morning, their search had been ongoing all day. As they scale peak to peak, Kyra makes liberal use of binnoculars until, at last, she spots a different shade of red amongst the scarlet rock. "...there."

Travel was even more difficult to this next spire. As Alma recovers and shivers in the night, she would hear the rusling of rock and stone nearby as Kyra scales her way up the cliff, tailed by the tired-looking sellsword. The man has seen better days, frankly, and Kyra's healing had been rather...rough.

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma wasn't expecting guests. In fact the whole point of her picking this spot was there wouldn't be any visitors. Unless a monstrous bird like say a Roc, decided to share her perch. She hadn't expected to be sleeping either. How long had she even been asleep? She dared for a moment to check her watch, and found out it'd been three days. Which shocked her. Her body felt exactly the same as when she fell asleep initially else.. she'd probably be sunburned all over, dehydrated to the point of death. What had he done to her?

After a while she realized that she was crying. That wasn't entirely unexpected. She'd always been rather emotional in the face of anxiety and fear. And in this case.. the fear was entirely warranted. She dabbed away her eyes moment before she realized the sun had set.

Which caused her to look up abruptly. Even Kyra might have heard the sudden, "OH <GOOSEHONK>!" echoing across the canyon as she came to the realization that it was night.

Reflexively, Sigils sprang into being around her and she frantically touched them each in turn. A moment later, all light in the area around her was bent away, creating an area of null-light, a sphere of complete darkness, for her to take refuge in. She was afraid not of the darkness of the night, but of it's guiding lights. The light of the stars burned her. The light of the moon scoured her. And then she just sat in there, curled up into a ball. Thinking she'd be entirely safe... safe in the dark. She trusted in it. She trusted in him. So long as her spell lasted...

Kyra Hyral has posed:
In this environment? The poor fair-skinned Alma would fry like a fish. Kyra had taken precautions beforehand to slather up with the strongest suntan lotion she could synthesize. It served Kyra very well throughout the day and she has made it to the night without her skin reddening too much.

The swearing almost makes Kyra lose her grip. She could pick up on just the faintest of sobs but the sudden shouting was entirely unexpected. Especially from sweet little Alma! It was a shock to hear her /swear/!

The white mage scrambles over the edge to where she was certain that Alma was lying, but once she arrives, she finds herself faced with a dome of darkness. "..Alma?!" she says, reaching towards it, but recoiling, instead opting to lead with a libra spell.

The sellsword hauls himself up shortly after Kyra and looks on, wary and confused by the scene.

Alma Hyral has posed:
For a moment, the Libra spell probes the sphere, then the occupant inside. Kyra would probably realize that the spell wasn't one of darkness, just one in which she was controlling the light to create an area of pitch inside. And then it probes Alma. Bodily she's unharmed. There isn't even the slightest hint of a burn. If she really was sleeping for three days, then she really was in some extreme form of stasis.

Kyra might detect the faintest hint of that. But what's more disturbing are the traces of what occurred to her soul. While her spell mostly scans the body, she realizes that the soul just was not there, for an extended amount of time. Then it just snapped back. Almost like a rubber band effect.

After Kyra calls her name there's a time where she sits mutely in silence. Even the sound of sobbing ceases. There's a full minute in which Kyra might hear nothing but the sound of breathing. And then finally comes the sound of an eerily calm voice, "Kyra.. I appreciate the thought, really I do, but I didn't want you to come looking for me for a reason." There is a measured pause before she states, "...this isn't something you can protect me from."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
Grimly, Kyra reviews what she sees with the spell, letting out a small gasp of alarm when she realizes Alma's soul is NOT THERE. Panic immediately flies through her. A body cannot exist without a soul. It would fade, wither, die. Alma couldn't last much longer like that. But how would that soul come back? Kyra didn't know. She didn't mess with souls.

Maybe if she had a necromancer...Helena maybe? Maybe Kyra could coax her to help...!

But in an instant her worries are dispelled as Alma's soul returns. AS sigh of relief follows when she hears her sister finally speak her name. The crying had been enough but hearing Alma being of sound enough mind to speak was comforting.

"It never is, is it?" Kyra sighs, settling down on the ground with her feet dangling over the edge of the little plateau. "Is he alive? Did you find him?" It goes unmentioned that Kyra would feel pretty awful with herself if it turned out that she got Riku killed.

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Yeah." There's a short pause, as she considers how to answer that. "Yeah he's alive. And I think he's back. I'll have to check once the sun rises and I can get ahold of a new Ma Belle." She didn't see Kyra, from inside her little sphere, but from the sounds of her movement she noted what was likely to be her current position.

"No. No, it never is." She curled up with her knees up to her chest, hugging her arms around them. "....but you always asked that I respect your choices. And I have learned to do just that. And I chose this life. All of this, when I chose him." There's a short pause, before she chuckles very softly, "I know you want to protect me Kyra, but you can't really protect me from myself."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"That was a stupid thing to do, smashing your phone like that." Kyra mutters. "But good. I'm happy to hear that he's alive. After I awoke and didn't see him with us..." Not to mention that Alma had drawn a similar conclusion if her long letter was any indication. "...I had worried he'd..." she trails off.

Alma will hear more movement. The faint sound of wind blowing back and forth as Kyra swings her legs in the air as they dangle. There's also heavy breathing, but that comes from her nameless sellsword companion.

"Misgivings about my family, Alma..." Kyra sighs, "It doesn't change the fact that they're still my family. And right now, you're the only family I've got. Understand, Alma, that I'd rather not lose you to whatever dark force was trying to prey upon you. Perhaps this can be payback for all the meddling in my life. I am a scientist, Alma. I do not accept 'can't'." More shifting. It sounds like Kyra is standing.

Leaning over, she pushes her hand into the dome of un-light that Alma has surrounded herself with. "Come on. Let's go home."

Alma Hyral has posed:
"When I tried to cut off all contact, I kind of meant it, Kyra. I didn't really figure that I'd be able to find him, or come out of this so soon. I was pretty much ready to walk straight into the darkness and /ring ding ding/ the dinner bell for the Heartless if it meant the slightest chance of finding him. That's how much I love him."

She takes her time to think about that, her comments on family, before finally replying, "Yeah, we're family Kyra. And in the end there's nothing I wouldn't do for you but.. understand that I can't really talk about whatever was /preying/ on me. Or him. If you even knew half of what occurred then you'd do everything in your power to keep me away from him. Because, guess what? You just frame me as the perspective of someone to protect, but keep me at arm's length." She sounds quite sad as she speaks, "....there's not really much trust between us, is there? So you might not accept that you /can't/ protect me. And that's fine, but I can protect /you/ by not talking about it." An arm extends into her sphere. She feels the sensation of her spell being minutely disrupted by the presence of something breaking her field, "I'm not sure if I can yet, Kyra. In.. wherever I was, he made the light of the stars, the moon. All of it. Well when I see the world from his eyes..."

Kyra would hear her swear again within the cube, beneath her breath, "....look it's tough to explain but wherever I was... the light of the stars /burns/ me. And I'm not sure if it's still going to here."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
She holds her hand in the bubble, rooting around for something to find purchase on. Though she'd feel much better about it if she took hold of her hand so she could pull her up. "Those accusations hurt me, Alma. Unless Riku is intending on physically harming you, I have no intention on keeping you /away/ from him. It's pretty clear to me that he means an awful lot to you. That he makes you happy and that you love him." Her hand stops reaching and holds there. "But I see how it is. Not much trust."

Shehe pulls her hand away, frustration on her face.

"If it burns you, then maybe you should blindfold your face." she mutters, wrapping her arms around herself and turning to stare up at the night sky. Stars are out tonight-each some world, far away, that had yet to fall to the darkness, "Are you ready to come back to civilization or do you want to be alone here for a while?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
The silence is almost palpable for a while. Kyra might have the distinct impression that she had pretty much hit it right on the nose on why Alma didn't tell her. But then Alma states in a quiet voice, "I didn't trust you with most of the details about him for a reason Kyra. A very good reason." Another measured pause, "There was a time when I tried to talk to you about everything I guess because I hoped you'd be interested in my life, but you didn't really ever.. reciprocate. Figured you weren't interested. So I just stopped trying until Riku came along and I suddenly was just flailing about so desperately. Helena once told me that I just needed to listen to you, but you never talked to me about yourself. So I figured there was no trust. I don't blame you for that.. it was really my fault."

She is mute for a time as she thinks about it, Kyra hears a shifting as if she'd just stood up. "I guess its worth a shot. Though other lights.. literally set the world on fire." And then another pause, "No.. I don't really want to be alone ever again, Kyra."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
That following silence is pretty telling. It might be easy to dismiss it as Alma shutting her out more but Kyra has the distinct feeling otherwise. Great. So Alma would /literally/ lose her own life while loving this boy. Just what exactly did this judge cadet get involved with? Would Kyra have to make good on her threat over dinner? Killing Alma certainly merited some face-breaking.

She'd have to step up her own studies elsewhere.

"I was. You came to me, confiding all of your problems. I remember trying to giive you advice several times but...apparently that advice was not good. After a while I started to feel like I was just a dumping ground to hear about all the horrible things happening to you. Horrible things I couldn't help wi-"

Someone clears his throat. The sellsword.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, feel free to go wait at the bottom of the peak for us." she tells the man. Once he's rested up enough, he starts climbing down. It isn't until he's left that Kyra continues.

"But you're right. I really didn't talk about myself. I didn't know if it'd draw more admonishment and lectures. Or jealousy. I closed up." She sighs.

Kyra falls silent for a long period of time afterwards, mulling over her thoughts, leaving stretches of silence between the pair. Though she's mostly waiting for Alma's response on whether or not she'd be going back with them or if she'd be staying here.

"Then we should go. We've both been out here for at least over a day."

Alma Hyral has posed:
There's a moment's hesitation, before the sphere begins to dissolve like it was water, the light shines in and Alma cringes, with one hand shielding her eyes, worried that it would burn her. But then two fingers move, and an eyelid opens. And she breathes out a sigh of relief. "...good. I was worried.. that..." She actually laughs bitterly at first, but then it becomes almost light-hearted, "...really, he knew just what to take away from me to try and make me lose all hope."

BGM Change: http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=dE1eCoj2D1s

There's a short pause where Alma has a ruminative look on her features, debating, before finally deciding on something, "...well most of the problems came from the fact that I was so worried about rejection, that I kept up a facade. And that facade just drew a lot of people to dislike me..." She puts both hands over her face like a mask, then smiles as she removes them, taking them off, "....but there were other reasons too. So I piled on half-truth, after half-truth, and just didn't let anyone see the real me. I actually have a real sense of humor, I swear. I like almost all sorts of movies, except most horror movies. Especially not zombie movies. All kinds of music too. And I don't really hate anything you do in science... and once I came to see more of the world, guess what?" She steps over towards the edge, smiling at her, "I realized that Mom and Dad were kind of full of shit. Cosma doesn't care about us getting married. Having a few dozen kids to celebrate life. She doesn't care about black magic, or darkness, or Chaos, except in the most extreme examples. She's just a primal force of light that loves all creation. And Chaos is sort of the opposite side of the same coin. They're supposed to stay in balance, that's kind of the point. Just like light and darkness."

She grins at Kyra, "Do you think if I really hated Chaos so much that I disliked all examples, that I wouldn't have asked Helena if she worshipped him on day two at the company? I'd have been too scared to ask. As it stands I've /known/ for a long time."

There's another pause, "So yeah. Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression too. I tried to tell you so many times.. but every time you kind of just closed up on me. Probably because you were afraid I'd just lecture or admonish you... ..the jealousy though? That was real. And I've got to apologize for that. But... yeah, this is part of the real me. And maybe if I'd shown it sooner we'd have not had all these problems.. or maybe we still would have.." She shrugs her shoulders, walking over to the edge that leads to the next outcropping. "...maybe we still will now. I don't know. Riku's the only person that really knows me, so I don't know how anyone else will react."

She hops over to the next ledge, before looking over her shoulder. "....yeah I think I'm ready to go home, Kyra."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
She can feel the magic changing with her back turned-dissolving away-and this is what gets Kyra to finally turn around to face her sister. She watches curiously, not entirely sure what she meant by lights too bright and waits to see if she drops to the ground, writhing in pain. This, fortunately, does not happen. It is some consolation that she wouldn't have to lead a blindolded sister down the slope. Then again a well placed float spell made that easy.

"And how. You were well on your way to alienating yourself." Kyra notes bluntly, but she falls silent after that, just letting her sister talk. There's a distant smile on her face.

"I love science. It's my passion. I want to make breakthroughs and do them impossible. I want to challenge our accepted norms and legends. I want to advance white magic and meld it harmoniously with science and I dislike that Cosma Naturalis has kept the field at bay for so long. I like making things and I like making the best of a bad situation. It's why, even after all this time, my cooking skill still sucks and my food is weaponized. I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks of me when I do. I'm enjoying myself."

Silent again, she nods, and offers a hand to Alma again.

"Let's go home."

Alma Hyral has posed:
There's a sad smile on her expression as Kyra speaks of how she was alienating herself, "I know." It becomes cheerful a moment later, "...but hey, maybe it's not too late to change that. Riku kind of helped me realize that I shouldn't define myself by the expectations of others. And that's what I was doing. Letting people see what they expected to see. Acting as they expected me to act."

But her cheer truly does pick up when Kyra speaks on herself, as she begins to brush her fingers back through her long hair, trying to work out the dust and the tangles, "...Maybe I can even help you with that. I know you don't really want your little sister getting involved in everything you do but..." She shrugs her shoulders, "...The offer is there. And if you don't take it, then I understand. I'll just enjoy seeing what you come up with."

She taps her head, "I know what I said before about what I did being a sin against Cosma, and in a way I still believe that; I can tell you why if you really want to know.... but I think it's time I make the best out of a bad situation too. And I'm not going to be able to do that by sitting here, not using my magic to it's potential."

She grins in an almost infectious way, "...and hey, I can live with your cooking. There's always sodium hydroxide to clean it up. I've always found it pretty funny really. If you want, I can even make you a few dishes to experiment with. Max will throw a fit if he finds out but like you..." She tilts her head to the side, "I think I'm ready to stop giving a damn about what anyone thinks of me too."

Alma looks at the hand for a while, before finally reaching out and taking her hand, "...Yeah, let's. I think he's waiting for us."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"It'll take a little work...but I agree. With one exception. No maybe. I think it is definitely not too late to change that. It is never too late to change. Never."

She looks over her shoulder at her little sister, a faint smile on her face. "I would not mind an assistant in my research. Of course, should we ever get published, you realize my name will be listed first~" her expression grows a tad more serious, "Though there is more. I have been dabbling in other things-Helena offered to show me some dark magic and I've taken her up on the offer. Know that I am proceding carefully and Helena has no intention of turning me into a Chaos-worshipping dark wizard."

She does remember when Alma confessed her "weakness" to her-specifically, the thought that all she had done was a sin. "I know. And I still disagree."

Kyra's hand closes around Alma's but she doesn't step forward. "How about you take us down with your magic. We can fly together, right?"

Alma Hyral has posed:
"Do or do not, there is no try." She teases Kyra, "I'll need to actually show you that movie one day. You're like a scientist version of Yoda sometimes."

She chuckles at Kyra's little research joke, "Hey, I've never been into science for the recognition, Kyra. I don't mind if you take /all/ the credit. But yeah, if you want you can put your name first."

And then Kyra reveals that she's dabbling in dark magic, and Alma's expression becomes a little whimsical at that, "Kyra.. while I can't tell you everything, I've experienced more of the darkness than most people would ever care to know. Riku literally created /Ramuha/ for me out of the darkness and made it real just to show me that it doesn't have to always be frightening or destructive. Do you really think it bothers me that you're learning to use it in moderation?" She grins at her, "...there's nothing wrong with the darkness, as long as it isn't taken in excess."

But then the smile fades slightly as Kyra does take her up on that offer to tell her their reasons. And she taps her head, "...Well, I've told you a lot of half-truths along the way just to gradually work up to this. Let's just say I'm pretty sure what I found is Cosma, but I'm not /entirely/ sure. The problem.." She looks up towards the sky, her expression abstracted, "...the problem is that my light from my magic is a borrowed light, without the filter of human emotions or expressions. It's like a primal force. And if I lose control for even a moment.. then it can take over. The higher I turn up the volume of the song, the more of my conscious mind I turn off.. the more I allow myself to be subsumed by it, until there's nothing of me left that's in control. The first time I heard it and had no idea how to control it... I lost three days of my life." A wan smile comes onto her expression, "...Riku actually calls it goddess radio as a joke."

She sucks in a deep breath, like this hurts even to think about it, "And sometimes, like the old myth from Olympia in which someone flew too close to the sun.. I wonder what /actually/ happened to me the day I stumbled over it. What it did to me to allow this. Whether I was consumed and remade. Whether I just can handle it when no one else can. I don't know. It scares me to think about it. But anytime I share the song with anyone else. It only /hurts/ them. It's too much light. And I don't know why I can hear it without as many ill effects."

She looks towards Kyra finally, staring at her evenly, "But my sin was that I kind of did this for the worst reasons. Because I was jealous of you and Tira. Because I wanted to be special, when I was nothing special. And guess what? Being special kind of sucks, and I found that out just a little too late. So sometimes I wonder if some of what happened to me was a sort of punishment for touching upon something I wasn't supposed to."

She's quiet for some time after saying that, and then a radiant yellow corona forms upon her, limming her body, before spreading over to Kyra. "Yeah. We can do that." There's a short pause, "You know, I've never actually flown for fun, since the first day I found out I could.. and then I only tested it indoors." She considers impishly, "It's too bad you hired someone and brought him along, or else I could fly us all the way back home, for fun."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"I had noticed that boy had some control over dark magic." Kyra muses, drawing from her experiences in combat alongside Riku. "Though I hadn't really realized his power was that...formidable." Maybe she ought to start casting libra on her allies from now on to study them. This is put in the back of her mind. "I accepted her offer long ago, though, and I believe before you had come to peace with Helena and magic not of Cosma's making. Granted, I've only had a few lessons and no opportunities to really apply them. It's difficult to use darkness against creatures already steeped in darkness."

Which Heartless seem to be cut from. Doesn't stop some people it seems.

"It sounds to me that you are tapping into a power source far more greater than yourself, Alma. Frankly, your fears of losing yourself or losing control are quite founded." she looks over at her sister, worry flickering across her face again. "But if it's Cosma..how? Doctrine across all of the sects states that Cosma sacrificed herself so that the universe may have life with the strength to stand against Chaos."

She sighs, "I am reminded of Helena's warnings to me when we first started the training. It is easy to lose oneself to darkness. Perhaps it is just as easy to lose yourself to light."

Then Alma admits that her motivation to search was jealousy and the need to feel special. She cannot help but laugh when Alma declares that being 'special' kind of sucks. "Only if the forces of Chaos actively moved to work against you, Alma. Raw power knows nothing about retribution."

She waits until they lift off the small plateau. "As much as I would like to ditch him, I did hire him and it would be rude to leave him behind." she says sadly, "Take us down."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma just smiles at her in a sort of secret fashion when it comes to Riku, "Well...part of why I don't talk so much about it. Most people wouldn't understand why there's darkness so deep in a boy so young." There's a short pause before she nods, "Well, I came to make peace with it earlier than you think. With Cid mostly, and with Helena. I really did try to make peace with her but she always just..." She shrugs her shoulders, "...Oh well. It's not worth talking about. I don't really care what she thinks of me anymore, wrong impression or not."

She considers her words for a time before shaking her head, "I don't know, I wish I did. Maybe everything we were taught is wrong? Or maybe it's not her. Or maybe it's just that she's really something we can't comprehend. Or maybe in her sacrifice, she lost /something/ of herself that allows her to understand or communicate with her creations. Who knows? I sure don't. But now you know why I was a pacifist. Not just because I hate hurting people... but because I'm afraid of what might happen if I lose control, even for a second. You knocked yourself out with that display of light and dark." Then as an aside, "...that was pretty cool by the way." Then she continues, "...so you didn't see what I did to Lord Ombra. You and Will weakened him to the point where I annihilated him outright, not even considering that Riku might still be inside of him, because I let it take control. Because I was just /so/ angry... so yeah, it's just as easy to lose yourself to light, especially if you're not one of the people /chosen/ to use it. And I'm not one of those people." She shrugs her shoulders, "...at least I don't think I am."

She shrugs her shoulders again, "I don't know if they will or if they won't. There was a time that I thought they might, but you know what? I have far more important things to worry about than Chaos except for the most extreme examples. The one Feige loosed on the world for example, or Garland. What I've learned Kyra.. is there are far worse examples of the darkness than Chaos lurking out there. Darkness so deep that it might actually end all light that exists. Something beyond /Chaos/, or the Shadow Lords." For a moment, she looks very haunted, but then she smiles, "...but you know what? I think I've dumped enough trouble on you for three lifetimes. I'm ready to start living, rather than to just keep focusing on that which will kill me."

She gives Kyra a whimsical look, grinning, "As you wish." And without another word, she subtly alters the pull of gravity and their momentum, starting their descent down to the canyon floor at an alarming pace, before slowing them for the last hundred feet. She looks upwards on the cliffside, giggling a bit, "I think we beat him down."

Kyra Hyral has posed:
The thread of making peace is discarded as Kyra focuses more on what Alma has to say about Riku's set of skills. He was young-and would be the youngest judge magister once his training was completed. Assuming they found him alive again-ah, Kyra's pretty sure he's alive somewhere since Alma told him not long after waking up. Tough kid, that.

"...it is possible that in her sacrifice, Cosma lost her consciousness. It has been said that Cosma exists in all of those who live. All life is Her doing. Perhaps it is the raw lifeforce you find yourself channeling. Just a thought."

Kyra looks a little flustered, "That spell...to be honest, I'm not sure what it is tapping. I wouldn't say it is light and darkness but...something else entirely. Some other entity out there."

Kyra discards the thought. She doesn't like thinking too much about where that spell comes from because it gives her the worst of feelings.

"But at least if you get in trouble, give me a chance to help however I can. I wouldn't be much of a sister or your hero if I couldn't help you out every now and then." Kyra smirks, her hand tightening on Alma.

They beat the sellsword. Kyra looks innocent. "Well, we could have a little recreational flying to pass the time."

Alma Hyral has posed:
Alma just gestures with one hand towards the sky before bringing the other hand to tap her head, "I wouldn't know. And it's something that I'll probably never find the answer to. Even if it could outright tell me, /I am Cosma/ then would I trust it? I can't even decipher what I'm hearing. It's sublime, it's serene. It's one voice that's also everyone's voice. And it lets me process so many things at once in my subconscious mind. Without it, I couldn't even do the magical equivalent of /walking and chewing bubblegum/ at the same time. It's why my early research had so many stumbling blocks. But.. everything has downsides."

Alma laughs, and clasps her other hand against her sister's, grinning, "....well that makes two of us. Kind of funny huh? How little either of us knows about the forces we wield. Part of why I started experimenting in the first place. If our Church hadn't restricted it, who knows what might have been accomplished? And if such /shame/ hadn't been instilled in me for trying, maybe.. I would have tried a little harder to understand it already."

She smirks back at her in reply, "Alright. I'll just try to make you feel a little less like I'm just dumping all my problems on you. Fair?"

She is silent for a bit, like she's considering it. Then just, out of nowhere, starts to fly them around the inside of the canyon, at a pretty rapid speed, light trailing behind each of them like they were a binary comet, or a falling star as she does things like barrel rolls, spins, twists, changing their direction abruptly and any which way that catches her fancy. It's completely chaotic in the pattern of movement, but she does it with an ease that defies description, over the rush of air she tries to call out, "Just tell me if I need to slow down!"

Kyra Hyral has posed:
"Just more of the mysteries of life." Kyra says, sotto vocce. "But such a disappointment how ancient traditions get in the way of progress-oho, I shall hold you to that, Alma. I really will!" Kyra even looks Alma in the eye as she announces this.

The time for deep, philosophical and theoretical discussion on the nature of Alma's mysterious power seems to have passed. Though they have ideas, talk brings them no closer to uncovering the mysteries of the stars that Alma so loves. All that's left is flight. Pure, unadaulterated flight.

"Slow down? No! I say you speed up!"

Alma Hyral has posed:
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't!"

She stops abruptly in her flight, and then suddenly starts up again so fast that Kyra would be moved along at dizzying speed. To Alma, time was passing at a pretty languid pace. And her voice as she spoke was drawled out by the time dilation effect she was keeping over just herself. "YOOOOUUUUUU AAAASSSKKKKEEEEDDDD FFFOORRRR ITTT!"

On occasion she ended the effect for just a few seconds, as there was little danger of her slamming into something in the open sky. The rest of the sounds from her were pretty indipherable squeals of joy from just finally taking the time to enjoy this.

Below, a wide eyed mercenary just gawked and stated. "...I really need a better asking price to put up with this <GOOSEHONK>."