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Characters: Kori, Olinda, ??? (thread jacking welcomed)
Open: y
Where: the Monastery
When: 12th of Rebirth's Height, mid-morning
What: Olinda follows up on King Erasmus' advice to meet with the head mage
Warnings: none!

Because Olinda stubbornly refused to accept that there was no other way home besides fighting 'thorns', she left the second throne room in a hurry, detouring only to draw herself a copy of the kingdom's map in the library. It was by no means stellar, but for her purposes, it would do.

She had no idea what a monastery was or what it looked like, but when it became clear that the building matched the general location of where the monastery was labeled on the map, Olinda rolled up the parchment and tucked it into her sleeve. Marching onto the property, she called, "Head mage Kori? Are you here?"

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There was a moment's pause before a blond boy of about 12 stuck his head out of a door frame. "Looking for Kori?" he near chirped curiously.

"Yes," she said, swiveling in his direction.

"Why?" The boy asked before stepping out to walk over, taking a bite of the already half eaten muffin in his hand.

"King--" Oh, shoot. What was his name again?

"The king referred me to him," said Olinda, glossing over Erasmus' name entirely, for she had already forgotten it. Aside from a short glance, the muffin garnered no special attention from her. "My name is Olinda. I am one of the persons summoned by the blue book."

"..Blue book?" the boy blinked a few times. "Kori's spell wasn't blue! Kori's a White Mage!"

Her brows lifted. "What is a white mage?"

White hair? White clothes? White skin? Why was there a color attributed to him at all?

The boy stood taller, adjusting his near blindingly white robes with a sudden smugness. "White Mages are the forces of order and good in the world, using their magic to destroy the darkness and evil of Chaos," he recited, voice losing it's childish tone from just earlier.

Order and good. Good! Surely this Kori would be able to send her back.

"Your clothing reflects this, then? That you are a white mage also?"

You see, Olinda hadn't quite realized that Kori was referring to himself in third-person.

Very few people did at first.

"Of course! Kori is the most powerful White Mage in all the world!" the boy puffed proudly, looking almost comically smug.

"I am pleased to hear that," she said, smiling at the boy's confidence. A student, perhaps? "Is he present? I wish to speak with him about returning."

"Kori's standing right in front of you!" the boy laughed, the smug tone vanishing.

Again with the lifting of brows. Olinda paused for a moment, wondering why a boy was the head mage of a kingdom and, more importantly, why he referred to himself by his name instead of "I." If it was magic, then his perceived age and his true age could definitely be questionable.

All in all, she took the revelation in pretty good stride. "Hello, then, head mage Kori. Will you return me to my sister?"

The boy blinked a few times. "Kori doesn't know your sister. Can't send to someone if you don't know who the person is!"

Well, that sounded fair enough.

"Can you return me to where I was taken from?" she asked, approaching the matter from a different angle.

The mage's face fell. "Something keeps getting in the way..." he admitted, kicking at the ground. "Kori's trying! Kori doesn't know why it won't work, it always works when Kori tries hard! But it went all wrong!" It sounded almost as if he were on the verge of crying. "I want Kori's magic to work right! Don't like it when it doesn't..."

Oh dear.

"What do you mean, something gets in the way?" she asked gently, not aware enough to attempt comfort, but not so oblivious as to plow through without a change of tone. "Is it the 'thorn' threat the king speaks of?"

"Kori doesn't know... Something changes Kori's magic and makes it all wrong and Kori doesn't know...."

Somehow in the middle of this, the muffin had morphed into a cupcake and the boy started eating it, as if seeking comfort from the food.

That caught her eye.

Muffins, the king had said.

Food could definitely fall under the 'good' category. Order, however, was debatable.

"Can you turn any item into something else?" she wondered. It was a smooth transition away from the topic, she thought, and a question whose answer she truly wished to know besides.

Kori blinked once before perking up again. "Almost anything! Somethings don't change because of how they are, but most things are easy!"

"Ah. The stubborn ones, yes?" Stubborn ones. She understood perfectly.

It was a shame Olinda could not think of anything she needed to be changed. Her clothes were fine, even if their quality left something to be desired, and her cloak wasn't the warmest, but warm enough. She foraged for food and water. The unicorn needed very little else to survive.

"It is called alchemy, in my world. Your magic," she said, mentally crossing the head mage as a ticket back home. 'Thorns' was the only thing left. "Humans have spent many years trying to do it, and yet so easily you do it here."

How did one fight thorns, anyway? They were immobile. Why not cut off their water source? Cut them, dig them up? Were they truly as large in person as they were in the map?

"Not just alchemy! Kori summons!" the boy boasted with a small gesture. Where there had been only a dusty path before was now a wood table, heavily burdened with sweets and snacks. "Kori's magic does all sorts of things!"

She let out a surprised "oh!", automatically taking a step back from the table.

"But from where did this come from?" she asked, approaching the table. Olinda had never seen so many sweets in her entire life. In Tyrol, they had been reserved for only the wealthiest of people.

Her eyes fell on a particularly sticky looking pastry. It appeared to be covered in marmalade. Ah, but why stop at 'appeared'? Olinda plucked it off the table and bit into it.

It was quite possibly the sweetest thing she had ever tasted. She had not known it was possible for food to be this sweet.

"Kori made it from magic!" The young mage chirped, quickly finishing off his cupcake before starting in on the pile of sweets.

Well, that was a little strange. She was eating magic. She had never done that before -- at least, not wittingly.

Maybe that was why the pastry was so sweet?

"Do you mind if I take a few?" she asked between bites. "I will go to see the 'thorns.' "

It was the only option left to her, what the elderly gentleman had told her when she first woke up. Olinda couldn't help feeling frustrated, even if there was a table of sweets and a cheerful mage in front of her.

"Can take lots!" Kori nodded cheerfully in between sweet breads. "The thorns are a long way away, you should get someone with a horse to bring you there! And be careful, they eat!"

"The horses, or the thorns?" she asked, and only because it struck her as odd to warn someone that a horse would eat.

"The thorns. Kori cast all sorts of spells on them, but they ate them all..." The boy pouted, kicking his feet slightly. "Kori tried real hard too..."

~~holyshit~~ Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Perhaps...they absorbed them like water," she said, more to explain the phenomenon than anything else.

Perhaps she wasn't giving the thorns enough credit. The king had seemed so carefree... But she had no magic to cast, anyhow, and so none for them to eat.

Troubled, she lifted a plate. "Could you turn this into a sack for me? Something with a long strap," she added hastily, in case he start a spell too soon. It wouldn't do to have a bag she couldn't carry around her neck as a unicorn, as that was how she planned to do the bulk of her traveling to the thorns.

The locals reaction to her kin, when asked, had been surprising. No mention of hunting, no mention of disbelief. They spoke of them as if they were pests, actually. (Olinda would be lying if she said she hadn't found offense at that.)

And now that they were apparently around town... Well, she would take her chances. The sooner she could get back to Moonsong, the better.

"Easier to make it new!" Kori smiled, making a circular gesture with two fingers. Suddenly there was a bit more weight around Olinda's shoulder as the bag materialized, strap running from her shoulder to her opposite hip, sack full of carefully wrapped snacks and sweets.

Another noise of surprise, then one of delight when she lifted the flap to see what was weighing the bag down.

"I shall be full for several days," she said, casting him a broad grin as she set the plate back down. The dipping temperatures were good for something. "Thank you, head mage Kori."

The young mage grinned. "Let Kori know if you find anything about the thorns, okay?"

"I will."

She took a few steps away and lifted her hand to wave good-bye, then turned completely and left the way she had come. Hopefully he would not remember the suggestion of a horse or a rider -- not, at least, until she was a ways away, with a safe enough distance to travel by hoof.

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hjsdjkfs kori you are the cutest

You only say that because you haven't seen him tantrum yet :D

crossing fingers