When Felih was trying to sneak back to camp quietly, he unfortunately didn't take into consideration that perhaps, other Resistance members were up and awake, the Reach ever filled with people at any hour. He's carrying a bundle, which appears to be wriggling, and he startles when caught.
"Okay, but before you say anything, she was absolutely abandoned," Felih blurts out- and then the tiniest little white paw poked out of the bundle of blanket.
"Hells below, Felih. Must we do this every time?" She says sleepily. She's leaning in the entryway to their shared quarters in the reach, bleary eyed after their latest exhausting mission out in Yanxia.
"Come on then, Show me what you've picked up this time." She reaches both hands out, asking for the cub.
Felih only looks a little sheepish, before he sighs and walks over, settling down next to her and offering her the bundle.
Within lies a very small, very helpless white tiger kit. It's barely got its eyes open, and if set on the ground, it will become quickly apparent that the kit is not even of an age to crawl very well on its own. He sighs and regards the sleepy, tired looking cub.
"It was abandoned. Creatures tend to abandon offspring that do not... 'turn out right,' so to speak. A white coat is a threat, a risk of attracting danger and predators, and even simply just 'unlike' the 'normal' tigers, and so..." He trails off, gesturing at the bundle. "Here we are. It seemed cruel to let it starve to death alone and cold."
"And your heart is too large, Felih." She takes the bundle, checking over the cub's vitals with her white magic. It's not that she doesn't trust Felih to have done the same already, but more out of habit than anything else.
Ah - a lame paw on the back. Felih's already taken the pain away as best he could, but it will need to heal up by more mundane means. Forcing a cub to go through the rapid healing magic provides would put far too much stress on it's already tired body.
"Alphi is going to kill you if he finds out." She looks at him pointedly, but already rubbing the cub's belly, eliciting a small rumble from them.
Felih just grins a bit. "He'll deal with it," he purrs, because let's face it, if Felih whines enough, Alphinaud will give in.
The leg is injured, but it will heal in time, with care Felih will certainly provide. He reaches over and gently scratches behind the cub's ear, and the kit relaxes and purrs, wiggling a little in contentment, especially when Pinya rubs her belly.
"I'm thinking Sasha," he says. "She's really quite sweet. And this young, they're easy to train and tame." Much like Tito had been. "It's a good thing I've still the bottle I used with the other kits."
Piña feels like Felih remembers those times far more fondly than the rest of the team. She'd had to ask Q'uila to help her hide her shoes on surfaces that Tito couldn't climb up onto, which also meant surfaces she Couldn't climb onto. It was a 50/50 that she would get them back at all.
There was also a high chance that whenever she visited the Mists, she'd be mauled by tiny cub claws, which, though adorable, still hurt.
"Hmm. Okay well, I don't know much about animal husbandry, so I'll have to turn to your expertise."
She rubs the small kit's head as she starts to purr.
"Hello Sasha." She puts her nose against the Cubs. She gets a paw bat to the face.
Felih is ever the doting, oblivious mama cat when it comes to his adopted murder wild cats. Having raised them all from kits, they're perfectly agreeable to the party, though they were still mischievous feline babies who wanted to get their claws and teeth into everything.
Luckily they'd all mostly outgrown the stage of chewing up shoes. "Don't worry about it- I'll tend to her just like I did with the others. Maybe I'll leave her with Alphinaud a few times just to make him get more used to them. Poor thing still jumps when my coeurls come by," he laughs.
Sasha, as she has been named, is a content little kit. She is now warm and bundled up, and Felih is using a hand to magically rummage through his pack and procure the old bottle he used to feed the others- flushing and washing it, preparing milk from a skein he has in there too. (One must always travel with some ingredients, after all.)
Sasha does seem to enjoy pawing at Pinya's face, though, little baby tiger paws bapping her nose as she gives teeny tiny tiger roars. Occasionally, she decides to just bump her forehead against Pinya's cheek.
"Hmm. No, this one is mine now." She says, hugging the fluffball closer to her chest. She's returning every touch Sasha gifts her with one of her own, which how she ends up with the kit gnawing on her hand. Good thing those aren't sharp yet.
"You have so many. You don't need another one, right? Look! She even matches my hair!" Kind of. She's grasping at straws. Pinya's certainly more of a dog person, but she loves cats too.
"She is not," Felih huffs in protest, pouting slightly. "I'm keeping her like the others." They're practically the closest thing he has to children, and he can't help but be protective of them all. Sasha, meanwhile, obliviously continues to snuggle and play, enjoying the attention. At this rate, she'll be acclimated to humans in no time.
"Besides, I am considering actually gifting her to Alphinaud. Assuming he isn't scared witless of her," he says with a laugh. "He needs a proper mount- and one that can battle, preferably. But that's for later- for now, she'll grow, and I'll tend and train her. Hopefully this time Rhok won't fuss like a kit about sharing a tent with a baby."
Felih is the guy that never has children just 50 million carnivorous cats. Also this guy.
"Uh uh. This one is mine. I call dibbs. Look, she agrees -" Piña maneuvers the kit so that her back is lines up with her stomach, head butting her chin, and grabs her paws.
"Uh yes Mr. Felih, I rather like it her in my Lalafells arms." She flicks her paws up to enunciate the words she's speaking in a really stupid voice.
"You really want to gift Alphinaud... a Coerl... the colour of a ghost. I just say, Felih, that's just cruel."
Felih snorts and shakes his head. "Don't even. And first of all, she's a tiger, and secondly, she's the color of snow, much like his own hair. Don't be ridiculous. As if I would actually attempt to make his life miserable," he huffs, reaching out to scoop the kit back into his arms, snuggling it as it yawned and gave a few sleepy snuffles.
"Look, the poor thing may have finally grown a head taller, but he's still a ways to go before he's full-grown and properly intimidating. And with how he constantly tries to present himself as someone in any kind of official position, he may as well have a battlemount to lend some credence to it."
"Could you imagine Alphinaud getting spooked by his own hair? Maybe I should ask Alisaie to dress up like a ghost so she can haunt him?" Oh lords, she's off on her plotting again.
"What do you mean? Alphinaud is a BABY. Bee-ay-bee-whyy Baby. He's not growing up. Nuh uh. I refuse." He's just so... squishy.
Felih rolls his eyes. "You and your mischief- there's no need to torment the boy so," he says, as if he doesn't also tease the darling just to see him go red. "He's spooked easily and it wounds his pride, 'tis something he's trying to better about himself. Let's not tear down his attempts at progress, hm?"
He strokes the sleepy tiger cub and watches it yawn and stretch, fondly.
"Pinya, surely you can't have missed the fact he's in the middle of his growth spurt?" he laughs. "He's outgrown me considerably. It's been years since we met, after all."
[ The first clue Era has that this Eorzea is perhaps not her Eorzea is a distinct and unsettling feeling of wrongness.
The second - and more obvious - one is how the Ironworks team at Omega's crater do not recognize her and seem utterly confused and mildly panicked by her appearance.
It does not take long for Era to come to the conclusion that Omega tossed her out of the Sigmascape and into another world of its choosing after Midgardsormr thwarted yet another of its attempts to bring out her 'true' power, not unlike a petulant child. This does not, however, give her any ideas on how to convince the Ironworks that she's not a creation of Omega's.
She is aching and exhausted, barely on her feet and likely sporting more than a few injuries from her recent battles that she has yet to heal. All she wishes for in this instant is to be in her cottage, wrapped up in blankets in her own infrequently used bed. Perhaps a mug of hot cocoa would not be remiss either.
Realizing that she was so caught up in her own thoughts she missed something said to her, Era shakes her head to clear it. This turns out to be a bad idea as it causes such a bad bout of vertigo that her vision fades. Shortly thereafter her consciousness fades as well--
-- and she wakes up in an infirmary bed an indeterminate amount of time later.
Era isn't entirely sure where she is. Perhaps Rhalgr's Reach, if it's anything like her own Eorzea. The where is inconsequential in the end. It's the who of this world that she finds herself in dire need of. She needs the Scions, if they exist. Given that the Ironworks does it stands to reason the Scions of the Seventh Dawn would as well. ]
Excuse me, [ Her voice is soft, but she speaks loud enough that whoever is nearby might hear her. ] I need to speak with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.
[ Era twists her hands in the sheet covering her, offering fervent, silent prayer to Hydaelyn that she might find allies in this world. ]
Pina found the Auri right by where Omega usually spits her out after one of it's petty battles, which given she'd never seen the woman before when her group go to fight is... unsettling.
She and and Jessie had worked to bring her back to the medical quarters of Rhalgr's Reach, and then as she was there and she could, intricately wove the Aether around her to heal her up.
She'd been sitting by the patient for lack of anything else to do, The rest of her party was out and there's only so many times she can pester Gailena for wares before the Ananta are called to pick her up and take her away. She loves the Ananta, she does, but Alpa doesn't hesitate to just carry her away. She really needs to stop doing that.
When the woman speaks, it is not particularly the words she's expecting, but so too is she not surprised by them.
"Well, that's certainly a stroke of luck for you, as I'm right here. Though, if you were looking for someone in particular, they're all out on their own missions right now; I can get them on my Linkshell, should you wish." She muses.
Era pauses, turning to the Lalafell she had overlooked in her initial confusion. She doesn't recognize the woman, but neither does she believe her claim to be false. The offer to contact the others via Linkshell... Era isn't certain the Scions she knows are here as well. Hopefully they are (despite how strange it will be), as Urianger might have the best chance of finding a way for her to return home. Cid and Nero would likely be of great assistance as well, but Urianger is the one who has experience with parallel worlds.
Regardless, just the knowledge that the Scions are an organization here as well is enough to reassure her.
"Omega deposited me in the wrong Eorzea," Era explains, straight to the point as ever. There's no use requesting anyone specific if Era doesn't know who exists here. If this Lalafell is truly a Scion she would know who would be best to help her.
"That seems about right." She sighs. Pinya jumps off her chair, and comes round to lean herself on the side of the bed.
"I feel like getting Omega to put you back would be the best course of action, but we're shut out until the next tournament round." She says. "I can get a hold of Urianger for you, if you're attuned though, you're more than welcome to the Aetherite system though -please - you've been pretty roughed up and your own Aether's pretty low. Might be a good idea to rest for at least a little while."
Era has never been good at resting, and if the way she fidgets beneath the sheet is any indication she likely won't be resting for very long. She's always needed to be on the move, doing something, keeping busy, especially during her most trying times. Now, especially, she just wants to be doing something - anything that might get her home quickly. Urianger's presence is a great relief, but it will take time for any concrete plans and theories to be made. Time that her Eorzea may not have if Era is absent for too long.
While not overwhelming, there is still the innate sense of wrongness that she feels under her skin. It leaves her feeling even more anxious to return home.
"...I shall read for a time," she says after some consideration. While Era knows she won't be able to rest now that she's regained consciousness she is also a healer herself and understands that it is important she not exert herself until her aether reserves have recovered somewhat. The best she can do is read one of the books she carries in her inventory for those rare moments she has some time to herself and no desire to rush off to find the next adventure.
"My thanks for your aid - " Era pauses, coming to the abrupt realization that she hasn't introduced herself yet, nor does she know the other woman's name.
Piñara smiles at the Auri in the bed. She's certainly an adventurer alright.
"It is no worry. Your thanks is welcome. Though, recently through trade deals, the Reach isn't as bare of literature as it once was. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. I am Piñara, one of this realm's Warriors of Light. I can feel Hydaelyns light in you too."
She taps an attendant on the leg, getting their attention, asking them to pass a message to Lyse to get Urianger to the Reach as soon as he can make it.
"What can I do to make your time here more bearable, Era?" Piña asks.
Piña's words derail whatever thoughts Era may have had and she looks at the Lalafellin woman with surprise written clearly on her face.
"'One of'?" She echoes, uncertain if she heard that correctly. More than one Warrior of Light? How often had Era herself wished for another of Hydaelyn's Chosen to share the burden? How many years has she kept a horn open for any rumours that might lead her to another Warrior?
It's enough that Era almost misses Piña's question, though she does and answers after a moment's thought. Was there anything this diminutive Warrior of Light could do to make this easier on her?
Era cannot think of anything. Perhaps a place to train once her aether reserves have recovered somewhat? Access to literature from this realm, that she might compare it to what she knows?
"Mayhaps some tomes of the history, geography, and magic of your realm?" Her voice trails off into uncertainty, for Era knows that it isn't always easy to access magical tomes - at least in her Eorzea. They are dangerous in the wrong hands after all.
"...And a visit to the nearest Chocobo stables once I've regained some strength, if it isn't too much inconvenience."
Era can smell the distinctive odour of Chocobos in the air (otherwise she wouldn't have asked), which is an indescribable comfort to her. It was something she missed in Othard the few times she was without Peki on the continent.
"I - yes, one of." Piña repeats. "There are not multiple Warriors in your universe?" She looks at Era with surprise.
Magical Tomes? She could probably ask Urianger to bring some with him, mayhap...
"I could ask one of the adventurers near the Gubal Library to being some up, but the Scions here have kept detailed documents of the recent years, and I believe that should satisfy you for the first couple of subjects. Was there any kind of magic you wanted in particular? I myself have a couple on White and Red. Actually. Wait here."
She trots out to the open archway that peers into the Reach, and whistles.
The bright white Chocobo lands neatly and chirps at her. She guides him towards the end of the bed, and he happily follows along. His barding is more of a portable alchemy station than anything protective, and two large bags are saddles there.
"Fel'han, this is Era." She gestures the small, Lala sized bird to the guest bed. "If she would like to use my books, please allow her, okay?"
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valoirs
Piñara Conada - WoL Shooty McHealerson
She's pretty much up for any shenanigans, especially playing pranks and music.
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"Okay, but before you say anything, she was absolutely abandoned," Felih blurts out- and then the tiniest little white paw poked out of the bundle of blanket.
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"Come on then, Show me what you've picked up this time." She reaches both hands out, asking for the cub.
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Within lies a very small, very helpless white tiger kit. It's barely got its eyes open, and if set on the ground, it will become quickly apparent that the kit is not even of an age to crawl very well on its own. He sighs and regards the sleepy, tired looking cub.
"It was abandoned. Creatures tend to abandon offspring that do not... 'turn out right,' so to speak. A white coat is a threat, a risk of attracting danger and predators, and even simply just 'unlike' the 'normal' tigers, and so..." He trails off, gesturing at the bundle. "Here we are. It seemed cruel to let it starve to death alone and cold."
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Ah - a lame paw on the back. Felih's already taken the pain away as best he could, but it will need to heal up by more mundane means. Forcing a cub to go through the rapid healing magic provides would put far too much stress on it's already tired body.
"Alphi is going to kill you if he finds out." She looks at him pointedly, but already rubbing the cub's belly, eliciting a small rumble from them.
"So, What have you called her?"
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The leg is injured, but it will heal in time, with care Felih will certainly provide. He reaches over and gently scratches behind the cub's ear, and the kit relaxes and purrs, wiggling a little in contentment, especially when Pinya rubs her belly.
"I'm thinking Sasha," he says. "She's really quite sweet. And this young, they're easy to train and tame." Much like Tito had been. "It's a good thing I've still the bottle I used with the other kits."
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There was also a high chance that whenever she visited the Mists, she'd be mauled by tiny cub claws, which, though adorable, still hurt.
"Hmm. Okay well, I don't know much about animal husbandry, so I'll have to turn to your expertise."
She rubs the small kit's head as she starts to purr.
"Hello Sasha." She puts her nose against the Cubs. She gets a paw bat to the face.
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Luckily they'd all mostly outgrown the stage of chewing up shoes. "Don't worry about it- I'll tend to her just like I did with the others. Maybe I'll leave her with Alphinaud a few times just to make him get more used to them. Poor thing still jumps when my coeurls come by," he laughs.
Sasha, as she has been named, is a content little kit. She is now warm and bundled up, and Felih is using a hand to magically rummage through his pack and procure the old bottle he used to feed the others- flushing and washing it, preparing milk from a skein he has in there too. (One must always travel with some ingredients, after all.)
Sasha does seem to enjoy pawing at Pinya's face, though, little baby tiger paws bapping her nose as she gives teeny tiny tiger roars. Occasionally, she decides to just bump her forehead against Pinya's cheek.
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"Hmm. No, this one is mine now." She says, hugging the fluffball closer to her chest. She's returning every touch Sasha gifts her with one of her own, which how she ends up with the kit gnawing on her hand. Good thing those aren't sharp yet.
"You have so many. You don't need another one, right? Look! She even matches my hair!" Kind of. She's grasping at straws. Pinya's certainly more of a dog person, but she loves cats too.
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"Besides, I am considering actually gifting her to Alphinaud. Assuming he isn't scared witless of her," he says with a laugh. "He needs a proper mount- and one that can battle, preferably. But that's for later- for now, she'll grow, and I'll tend and train her. Hopefully this time Rhok won't fuss like a kit about sharing a tent with a baby."
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"Uh uh. This one is mine. I call dibbs. Look, she agrees -" Piña maneuvers the kit so that her back is lines up with her stomach, head butting her chin, and grabs her paws.
"Uh yes Mr. Felih, I rather like it her in my Lalafells arms." She flicks her paws up to enunciate the words she's speaking in a really stupid voice.
"You really want to gift Alphinaud... a Coerl... the colour of a ghost. I just say, Felih, that's just cruel."
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"Look, the poor thing may have finally grown a head taller, but he's still a ways to go before he's full-grown and properly intimidating. And with how he constantly tries to present himself as someone in any kind of official position, he may as well have a battlemount to lend some credence to it."
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"Could you imagine Alphinaud getting spooked by his own hair? Maybe I should ask Alisaie to dress up like a ghost so she can haunt him?" Oh lords, she's off on her plotting again.
"What do you mean? Alphinaud is a BABY. Bee-ay-bee-whyy Baby. He's not growing up. Nuh uh. I refuse." He's just so... squishy.
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He strokes the sleepy tiger cub and watches it yawn and stretch, fondly.
"Pinya, surely you can't have missed the fact he's in the middle of his growth spurt?" he laughs. "He's outgrown me considerably. It's been years since we met, after all."
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The second - and more obvious - one is how the Ironworks team at Omega's crater do not recognize her and seem utterly confused and mildly panicked by her appearance.
It does not take long for Era to come to the conclusion that Omega tossed her out of the Sigmascape and into another world of its choosing after Midgardsormr thwarted yet another of its attempts to bring out her 'true' power, not unlike a petulant child. This does not, however, give her any ideas on how to convince the Ironworks that she's not a creation of Omega's.
She is aching and exhausted, barely on her feet and likely sporting more than a few injuries from her recent battles that she has yet to heal. All she wishes for in this instant is to be in her cottage, wrapped up in blankets in her own infrequently used bed. Perhaps a mug of hot cocoa would not be remiss either.
Realizing that she was so caught up in her own thoughts she missed something said to her, Era shakes her head to clear it. This turns out to be a bad idea as it causes such a bad bout of vertigo that her vision fades. Shortly thereafter her consciousness fades as well--
-- and she wakes up in an infirmary bed an indeterminate amount of time later.
Era isn't entirely sure where she is. Perhaps Rhalgr's Reach, if it's anything like her own Eorzea. The where is inconsequential in the end. It's the who of this world that she finds herself in dire need of. She needs the Scions, if they exist. Given that the Ironworks does it stands to reason the Scions of the Seventh Dawn would as well. ]
Excuse me, [ Her voice is soft, but she speaks loud enough that whoever is nearby might hear her. ] I need to speak with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn.
[ Era twists her hands in the sheet covering her, offering fervent, silent prayer to Hydaelyn that she might find allies in this world. ]
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She and and Jessie had worked to bring her back to the medical quarters of Rhalgr's Reach, and then as she was there and she could, intricately wove the Aether around her to heal her up.
She'd been sitting by the patient for lack of anything else to do, The rest of her party was out and there's only so many times she can pester Gailena for wares before the Ananta are called to pick her up and take her away. She loves the Ananta, she does, but Alpa doesn't hesitate to just carry her away. She really needs to stop doing that.
When the woman speaks, it is not particularly the words she's expecting, but so too is she not surprised by them.
"Well, that's certainly a stroke of luck for you, as I'm right here. Though, if you were looking for someone in particular, they're all out on their own missions right now; I can get them on my Linkshell, should you wish." She muses.
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Regardless, just the knowledge that the Scions are an organization here as well is enough to reassure her.
"Omega deposited me in the wrong Eorzea," Era explains, straight to the point as ever. There's no use requesting anyone specific if Era doesn't know who exists here. If this Lalafell is truly a Scion she would know who would be best to help her.
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"That seems about right." She sighs. Pinya jumps off her chair, and comes round to lean herself on the side of the bed.
"I feel like getting Omega to put you back would be the best course of action, but we're shut out until the next tournament round." She says.
"I can get a hold of Urianger for you, if you're attuned though, you're more than welcome to the Aetherite system though -please - you've been pretty roughed up and your own Aether's pretty low. Might be a good idea to rest for at least a little while."
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While not overwhelming, there is still the innate sense of wrongness that she feels under her skin. It leaves her feeling even more anxious to return home.
"...I shall read for a time," she says after some consideration. While Era knows she won't be able to rest now that she's regained consciousness she is also a healer herself and understands that it is important she not exert herself until her aether reserves have recovered somewhat. The best she can do is read one of the books she carries in her inventory for those rare moments she has some time to herself and no desire to rush off to find the next adventure.
"My thanks for your aid - " Era pauses, coming to the abrupt realization that she hasn't introduced herself yet, nor does she know the other woman's name.
"I am Era," she offers.
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"It is no worry. Your thanks is welcome. Though, recently through trade deals, the Reach isn't as bare of literature as it once was. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. I am Piñara, one of this realm's Warriors of Light. I can feel Hydaelyns light in you too."
She taps an attendant on the leg, getting their attention, asking them to pass a message to Lyse to get Urianger to the Reach as soon as he can make it.
"What can I do to make your time here more bearable, Era?" Piña asks.
sorry for the slow!
"'One of'?" She echoes, uncertain if she heard that correctly. More than one Warrior of Light? How often had Era herself wished for another of Hydaelyn's Chosen to share the burden? How many years has she kept a horn open for any rumours that might lead her to another Warrior?
It's enough that Era almost misses Piña's question, though she does and answers after a moment's thought. Was there anything this diminutive Warrior of Light could do to make this easier on her?
Era cannot think of anything. Perhaps a place to train once her aether reserves have recovered somewhat? Access to literature from this realm, that she might compare it to what she knows?
"Mayhaps some tomes of the history, geography, and magic of your realm?" Her voice trails off into uncertainty, for Era knows that it isn't always easy to access magical tomes - at least in her Eorzea. They are dangerous in the wrong hands after all.
"...And a visit to the nearest Chocobo stables once I've regained some strength, if it isn't too much inconvenience."
Era can smell the distinctive odour of Chocobos in the air (otherwise she wouldn't have asked), which is an indescribable comfort to her. It was something she missed in Othard the few times she was without Peki on the continent.
You think you're slow :') Apologies!
Magical Tomes? She could probably ask Urianger to bring some with him, mayhap...
"I could ask one of the adventurers near the Gubal Library to being some up, but the Scions here have kept detailed documents of the recent years, and I believe that should satisfy you for the first couple of subjects. Was there any kind of magic you wanted in particular? I myself have a couple on White and Red. Actually. Wait here."
She trots out to the open archway that peers into the Reach, and whistles.
The bright white Chocobo lands neatly and chirps at her. She guides him towards the end of the bed, and he happily follows along. His barding is more of a portable alchemy station than anything protective, and two large bags are saddles there.
"Fel'han, this is Era." She gestures the small, Lala sized bird to the guest bed. "If she would like to use my books, please allow her, okay?"
"Kw-eh!" He says in agreement.