[ AW ] it's all under the same sun,

Melrose! She'd made it all the way to Melrose! Although it hadn't really been such a long journey, it had been an absolutely exhausting one. So excited and nervous she had been, she'd practically worn herself out just by thinking of all the possibilities, let alone actually pursuing any of them. Still, she'd made it! Days of travel, nights under the moon and stars, meals that consisted of little more than a rat and some berries...Mirabella sighed. It had all been worth it, hadn't it? As she looked out over the meadows and maples, illuminated by the rising sun, her heart whispered assurances.

Any other wolf might have taken pause, might have taken time to collect themselves just a little more, but not Mirabella. No, even with weariness biting at her bones, she couldn't stand to be idle. There was always more to see, more to learn, more to know, and that fact itched at her like nothing else on earth. It wouldn't have surprised any of her kin to know that she had practically thrown herself down the hillside just to make sure she was there for the morning bustle. Travel-worn and wide-eyed, she hardly cared. What mattered, after all, was simply basking in the energy of others as they emerged from their slumber and began preparing for their day. All the while, Mirabella moved among them, gleaming at everything familiar and otherwise.

Still, she was an outsider, and it had to have been plain to see. She might have been born in the Lowlands, might have lived there too, but she had never been a Melrose wolf, and she had never been a vagrant either. Try as she might to hide her uncertainty (and to ignore it!), she could not help but find her heart pounding like the wings of a wild bird in her chest. Then, the moment she dared to look down at her lost paws as if doing so would ground her well and proper, she felt herself collide with something - somebody. Her shoulder glanced theirs, and she felt herself thrown back a foot or so, completely off-guard and bewildered. Several blinks later, but the words wouldn't quite manifest...At least, not rightly so.

"Ahhh... Oh, so-sorry! You were... in the way?" She stumbled through the words, yet they'd been spoken with an unearned kind of conviction - no, it couldn't have been her in the way, surely! Still, a sheepish grin had managed to find its place on her face, though it reeked of embarrassment more than any kind of real apology.

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N

imue was making her way back to the Arboretum after having made her most recent rounds to assist with those suffering from this deathly Summer heat. She needed to replenish what herbs and medicines she could before returning to anyone else. She thought to stop by Haven as well to see now Nephele fared with her garden and stock of holistic remedies.

Completely residing in her one-track mind, she trekked onwards, staring forward towards her destination as thoughts reeled around in her skull. It was so odd that the meadows here had once brightened with the floral buds of Spring only to become dry, brittle grasses due to the drought.

Seeing as water was certainly her element, this thought only perturbed her further. Oh, would this bad stroke of luck ever end for Rionnach? A force collided into her flank, nearly sending her sprawling but she regained her balance and composure, straightening up to turn her widened blue orbs on the culprit.

"You were...in the way?"

Nimue stared for the longest moment, before a slow smile drew her lips up and she chuckled in amusement. "I don't suppose I was, darling. We are all precisely where we need to be in this moment..." Her brows rose, and she began to gracefully glide on long legs as she circled the slightly younger female.

She studied first her physical appearance of coastal blues and grays amidst the pattern of her fur. Soon the churning waves of her deep ocean eyes made contact with a pair pale, icy blue ones and she smiled. "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"

@Mirabella

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Nimue stared, and so did Mirabella. At first, it had been a bewildered stare, but it had just as quickly become one of intrigue. Having met Nimue's eyes, Mirabella had immediately been stuck with a fleeting sense of familiarity - the kind that made her breath catch briefly before it could escape her. Blue, so like her family's own, yet dark like the ocean, stormy even, which was so unlike her family. It had been luck alone had sent her shoulder-first into somebody who did not take offense, and who hopefully did not mind her wide-eyed stare. In any case, she had been well and truly caught off guard, and it took her (admittedly) more time to compose herself than she would have liked to admit.

She straightened up, and tried to discretely dust herself off, as Nimue began to circle. It made Mirabella's heart flutter with uncertainty, not accustomed to being investigated quite so closely. Still, she managed to grin, Nimue's words having been much kinder than Mirabella probably deserved. We are all precisely where we need to be in this moment... What a fascinating thing to say, Mirabella thought with a rush of excitement that felt much closer to nervousness than she was accustomed to. And to a stranger! Did she really think it?

She had tried to say something in response, but had stuttered into silence instead as she tried to follow Nimue's circular path. It was only when the stranger settled in front of her again that she furrowed her brows, disappointed that she hadn't been able to think of some clever quip in response. As prepared as she might have believed herself to be in terms of being ready to face the world, she hadn't really put too much thought into facing, well, its inhabitants. Nimue spoke again, a welcome distraction from Mirabella's own internal scolding. Ears flickered forward, and she stiffened, blinked in surprise again.

"Oh! I'm - uh - Mirabella." She gave a friendly wave of her tail, and passively hoped she'd not be asked further about her surname or otherwise. Though she doubted her kin had any connection in a place like Melrose, one couldn't always be sure, and she knew just how far messages could travel. "You were where you needed to be but... well, surely I didn't need to be... right there, just now..." Mirabella had a certain skill for rambling, a real knack for getting caught up in her own words. She gave a little bow, a gesture of apology again, but felt foolish doing so.

"And to whom do I owe the apology?" It only felt right to ask in return, and in truth, Mirabella most certainly was curious.

First impressions were important - even if Mirabella herself was not quite adept at making them - and from what little she had observed of Nimue, she figured she must have been a local, or at least local enough to have a tangible purpose for being there (unlike Mirabella, who had been more or less drifting rather than moving about with true direction). For Mirabella, how could she not be curious? Her mind had immediately been flooded with all kinds of possibilities: was Nimue in the army? Was she from the mainland? A highlander? - though, Mirabella had to concede that she didn't quite look the part. But for somebodies like Mirabella, who felt like they were nothing, meeting anybody who was something was like meeting royalty themself.

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@Nimue

"M

irabella..." Her name rolled deliciously off of the mystic's tongue, her smile broadening as she paused to stand in front of the wolfess. "What a lovely name...." Nimue complimented, taking a couple of steps forward towards her acquaintance, her eyes roaming the pleasant female's form before meeting her gaze once again. "...for an even lovelier young woman."

She tilted her head and blinked before a melodic chuckle emerged past her lips in response to the quip Mirabella served back at her. The enchantress smiled, a glint of lightning flickering within her storm cloud eyes as she searched the glacial mirrors of Mirabella's own.

"But suppose you had not been right here, right now...we might have passed by one another unknown to the other." Nim offered her the gift of a warm smile, leaning forward to murmur softly. "I dare say, I do prefer the reality in which you and I have met exactly as the universe intended."

She held up a paw and waved it as though to dismiss Mirabella's mention of an apology. "I assure you, there is no need for an apology." Nimue lowered her front half in a flourishing bow and when she rose once more, she held her head high and proud. "Nimue is what I'm called. Collision or not, it's lovely to meet you, sweet Mirabella."



@Mirabella

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Never had anybody looked at her quite like that, and they'd certainly never talked to her like that before either. Sure, she'd met with some niceties here and there, but Nimue went well beyond simply being courteous or flattering. No, her words were like overripe berries, or honey straight from a summer hive - too sweet, some might have said. As for Mirabella? Well, she couldn't say much about it at all. It took all her focus just to keep her expression from turning into one of a blushing, flustered damsel. She had to remind herself; others tended to speak like that when they wanted something. Or, at least, that had been something her mother and father had tried to instil in she and her siblings in their youth. Don't trust anything that seems too good, she repeated to herself silently, although the words weren't much in the face of her curiosity.

"But what plans would the universe have for somebody like me to meet a somebody like you?" She hadn't meant to speak the words aloud, but they had slipped out nonetheless in the form of a murmur. Nimue's sudden closeness had caught her off guard, and the filter between her brain and mouth had been temporarily disarmed.

She met Nimue's flourished bow with her own curtsy, though it had been half-hearted as she reeled from the embarrassment of having let her words escape her.

"The pleasure's mine, Nimue," she said, though her mind had quickly grown tired of focusing on formalities alone. "Were you... On the way somewhere?" She couldn't help herself, or the grin that played across her face, curious and hungry. She looked over her shoulder - the direction in which Nimue had initially been traveling - but nothing stuck out to her as an obvious destination.

"I know you don't want my apology, but perhaps I could... be of assistance, at least?" Because how else, Mirabella thought, could she find her way into an adventure of some kind? Nimue had mentioned the universe having placed them both there for some reason, hadn't she? Well, that was as good a reason as any to make a reason, wasn't it? It made Mirabella practically giddy, and she couldn't stop her paws from tip-tapping just ever so slightly beneath her - a dance of sorts, anticipation released through the soles of her paws.

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@Nimue

A

single brow rose in response to a question that to Nimue felt oddly worded, or at least it required more context for her to make sense of it. She put a bit of distance between herself and the coastal blue maiden to see if that might help at all with her clarity.

"And just what sort of somebodies are we, you and I? Don't tell me you've already decided for yourself who I am..." She was still uncertain how the phrase was intended....anyone could have taken it as an insult, but she could feel that Mirabella had only the best intentions.

Introductions now aside, curiosity reigned supreme for her acquaintance. A few more inquiries fell upon her ears drawing out an upturned smirk that slowly spread across her face. Wouldn't you like to you know..." Nimue hummed a gentle tune to herself, turning away from Mirabella as she started out towards the direction she was headed in.

She sauntered slowly, hips waving in an easy sway as she paused to look back over her shoulder. "I'm on my way to the College of Eólas. It's the hidden gem of Melrose. I suppose I could use the company if you were to tag along." She gestured with a tilt of her muzzle towards a cluster of trees at the edge of the meadow and offered Mirabella an inviting smile.

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Mirabella felt herself flush immediately: her face felt hot, but her entire body ran cold. "Oh, no! No! I didn't mean anything by it... It's just that..." She couldn't stop herself from scrambling, trying desperately to pick her words more carefully all while trying to pick them quickly. "You seem so... put together, Nimue. And I'm just... well..." She motioned vaguely to herself, ears back and smile guilty. She immediately wondered just how badly she'd messed up those words too. But as far as Mirabella was concerned, it was nothing but the truth. Nimue seemed to speak and move with a purpose, or at least a kind of knowing, and Mirabella simply felt that she... lacked anything of the sorts. If the universe had wanted them to meet, Mirabella couldn't fathom why it'd want somebody as unprepared as her to meet... just about anybody, truthfully.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever recover from that misstep. Nimue turned and started to hum, and although her words hadn't been unkind, Mirabella could not help but feel a dagger of rejection slash at her. Her ears folded back, and she swallowed hard, her mouth dry.

But then Nimue seemed to change her mind, if she had ever made it up in the first place. In any case, she had called back to Mirabella, and her words had caught her off guard at first. When they sunk in her tail waved excitedly for just a moment before she held it back, trying her hardest to channel a cool, composed persona. That, she thought, would do better than herself.

"The College! I've heard a little about it... But never thought I'd actually be anywhere near it..." Her excitement was palpable in her voice, in any case. On anxious, dancing paws, she inched up towards Nimue and took her place just off to the side of her, still feeling the sting of her former faux pas. As much as she wanted to ask more questions, she dared not make any other mistakes... If she assumed Nimue was a student, could it be perceived as offensive? She might, after all, be a teacher, or an attendant, or anything else for that matter.

She had been biting her lip, and her face had been unintentionally tense. Anybody might have guessed she was holding bees in her mouth, and she felt like her nerves were just that.

"I'm sorry again, Nimue. I am from another place, and my kin are..." She frowned. She had to pick the words carefully. "My kin are loose with their words. An unfortunate habit to pick up, I suppose."

Not free, no, but loose. Or at least, she and her siblings had always been as such. Her family lacked much in the ways of formal education, and she'd only ever spoken to vagrants and extended blood-relations to expand her own knowledge of the world... Oh, why had she thought herself ready for any of this? And to think! She was so close to the College...So close to so many clever minds, all the while feeling like hers was little more than an unhatched egg at times.

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@Nimue

N

imue observed Mirabella quietly as she began to stumble over her words. It was plain that the embarrassment caused by the prior statement being misinterpreted fueling her to erase it all and start again. What was unclear, what she did not entirely understand, was this ideal that she, Nimue, had everything together and was some image of perfection.

She blinked at Mirabella in disbelief before letting a chuckle rise in her throat. She gazed upon the coastal blue femme with a mixture of curiosity and sympathy in response to her deliberation. "You're what, dear?" Nimue asked gently when she'd trailed off. She moved ever closer to the young woman who seemed uncertain of herself.

"In truth, Mirabella, I am far from put together. I was born a Lowlander, raised as a noble and my mother taught me to move in strides of confidence and sure-footed steps. I can owe my mastery of illusion to her. Perhaps it's something I could teach you..." Deep blue orbs waded across her form and posture in an agonizingly slow manner before meeting her icy blue gaze once more. "...if you so desired..."

When she took to her travels again, for a moment, she thought the fair maiden would have gone her own separate way. Nimue was pleasantly surprised as mention of the College seemed to catch her attention and she sidled right back up to meet the mystic as she sauntered now more slowly across the plains. "I am only recently the wiser. I met a professor at the Winter Ball and met him an entire season later before I found myself in attendance as a student." She gave the briefest of backgrounds, understanding her companion might already be wondering what her role was within the grounds of the school.

Nim glanced over at Mirabella as she spoke and had to do a doubletake noting the girl's expression. "Are you alright?" She let the faintest of laughs slip past her lips, pausing in her gait to place her full attention on the other. Another apology was blurted out at her and she remained silent, patiently listening. The corners of her mouth eventually drew up into a smile of compassion and she gave a nod.

"If you insist on apologizing, I humbly accept and honor your explanation." She stated respectfully, then turning back along her designated path towards their destination. "I have not been bothered in the slightest by anything you've said, if you're fearful of that. I've had slander spat in my face from unpleasant sources. Compared to them, you are a charming angel, sweet Mirabella."

@Mirabella

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Really, she had thought herself completely prepared for it all, but every second that passed seemed to prove that she had not been at all ready. It was sobering, to say the least, but disheartening all the same. Truthfully, Mirabella felt trapped between two options: accepting defeat and returning home, or having to accept that she had much to learn, and that she had to learn fast. Ultimately, her stubbornness prevailed, but on a less stable foundation.

She had debated - quite obviously at that - how to respond to Nimue's question of what exactly she was. A child? Lost? Hopeless? The words struck her and she twisted her face into an uncertain expression, shrugged, but quickly tried to think of... well, anything else. "I'm just... getting started..." The words had been weak, but they'd been better than any of the others at least.

Truthfully, what Nimue had to say about herself had lit the tiniest of fires in Mirabella's belly again. It was small, but it was the fire of inspiration nonetheless. She listened eagerly, coaxed out of the shell she had been trying to retreat into. She was even able to endure the slow, deliberate way that Nimue looked over her -- she even tried to straighten up just a little, enough to give the illusion of confidence. See? She wanted to speak without words. I'm already learning!

"I would be more than grateful for any lesson. Truly! I learned just enough to handle visitors and vagrants, but never nobility and beyond." She chuckled, and it felt better than surrendering to embarrassment. "I did, at least, learn to hunt and forage well enough too," she added with a determined nod, sure that Nimue would understand the underlying offer. Or at least, hoping she did. Mirabella really did not want to accidentally suggest that Nimue looked like she could neither hunt or forage, or that she needed the food.

Walking alongside Nimue had given Mirabella a chance to better take in their surroundings too, now that she did not need to worry about her destination so much. However, her ears remained focused on Nimue even when her eyes drifted, and she grinned broadly - excitedly - at her brief tale of joining the college.

"I'm alright, Nimue. It's just a lot to take in is all." She had taken her time to respond, and felt proud of the fact. "I imagine meeting a professor or attending a ball, and I wonder how I would handle it. I admit the thought makes me nervous beyond belief, but excited too."

She paused following Nimue accepting her apology. Even her legs stopped for a moment, though she quickly composed herself and returned to the other woman's side. Still, she frowned, and inadvertently gave their surroundings a scornful, disappointed look - anybody within her line of sight had received it too, but she felt no urge to apologise to them. Who, she wondered, would speak slander so brazenly, and to somebody that Mirabella struggled to imagine being anything less than polite?

"How disturbing to imagine the type who would be comfortable speaking slander... I hope they are not of this area, lest I get the itch to teach some lessons of my own!" She huffed, her ears having flicked back with agitation. Even Mirabella couldn't imagine speaking out of turn intentionally or openly! Thoughts, perhaps, but even Mirabella knew to keep those quiet and at bay.

In any case, she felt just a little more herself after making such a declaration. Mirabella strode a little more confidently, stood a little taller, though it could have simply been for the fact that she had found herself in the company of somebody who seemed to keep her mind busy.

"But... the art of illusion, as you call it, sure has its own way of teaching such lessons, am I right?" she mused with an almost mischievous grin.

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@Nimue

T

he girl was absolutely darling, even though she couldn't be too much younger, Nimue could tell that her words were truth. She was just getting started. The brilliance shown in her crystalline orbs as she leapt at the opportunity to learn. It was refreshing. This one had not yet been touched by the cruelties of the world and against her better judgement, Nimue found herself wanting to protect the brightest star that was Mirabella.

She chuckled as her newest friend shared her expertise, nodding in return to acknowledge it. "Then it seems you're well on your way to greater accomplishments already." Nim mused with a warm smile and she moved to slightly press her flank against the other's briefly in a comforting gesture. "If I told you attending the ball and meeting a professor was the most nerve-wracking portion of that evening, I would be lying through my teeth."She snapped her fangs together for effect and then proceeded to elude to a tale that in actuality could have been assumed fiction.

"That was mere child's play compared to what followed...after all, you wouldn't expect joining a protest, being arrested, then sharing a cell with a murdering mistress would be a part of that experience, would you?" She took a deep inhale and then glanced over to seek out those striking icy blue eyes as she smiled mischievously. "Though, that is perhaps a story for another time..." Nimue couldn't simply dish out her entire life's saga after all, she had to keep the lovely femme coming back to her for more.

There was the slightest falter in her smile after she'd mentioned the slander among wolves. It returned swiftly as Mirabella piped up, ready to fight anyone who ever spoke an ill word against her. A melodic laugh rose from her throat and she leaned closer to Mirabella, batting her eyelashes playfully. "My hero! Glad to know someone would defend my honor." She gazed upon the girl with admiration for a moment and nodded. "You seem more sure of yourself already. It's when we view ourselves as larger than life that we inherently are."

When she straightened back up she then gave the girl a more serious look. "It's best not even to give those types the time of day...there will always be those who look down at their noses at practicing witches and I refuse to pour any of my energy into worrying over the likes of them. I would advise you do the same." They now crossed into the wooded outskirts of the meadow, their conversation making the travel pass by quickly. "We're nearly there. Perhaps I can introduce you to a few of my colleagues and if you are interested in becoming a student, I'm certain one of them could enroll you."







@Mirabella

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck