A Drifter's Life Is Not Black & White - Rather It's Blues & Greens.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Basic Ambarando Line Drifting - Self Mod

TS: late in the second cycle of Aperitus, Summer, Era II, XIV (pf)

It was later in that cycle after so much had happened in regards to meeting new family and seeing a whole other aspect of life that Avrie was perched upon a rock outcropping above their makeshift camp. She couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like, indeed who she would have been, if she hadn't been left with her father at Couldkiss. The Kumpania she traveled with would have undoubtedly been her home, with its plethera of mixed family and ages. It was already beginning to feel like a second home. Everyone had been so welcoming, so patient and understanding with the Fettered girl among them.

Luca though... seemed to understand. She wasn't sure of his history, but she'd taken to spending a lot of time with him. He was related, somehow, though she'd failed to follow the twisted recitation he'd laid on the group about how indeed he was related to the Chumomisto's and not just via Gitana's real father. Hanzi was related too, for all that he was adopted in. Since she'd been with the group it'd been like being adopted by a whole part and parcel of them, which was a good thing because she missed Venn terribly. She'd been too recently married and far too attached to her husband to spend this length of time away from him. But funerals needed to be seen too, and a corpse needed to be found. It was north somewhere, and though they could travel part of the way via the Ambarando Lines, the way they wanted to go deviated from the lines too much to make their travel easier. So, they were once more returning to Natura where they'd swing by and perhaps gather one more person... Avrie had yet to know if he would come... before setting off for the camp north of Vortex where the burning would commence. She hoped the journey would go quickly... there was too much on hold in Natura for her to be gone long.

The bard glanced at Uncle Luca. She'd taken to calling him that because it seemed thats what everyone called him. Though youthful looking, someone... Gitana maybe? No perhaps Jehan had let it slip that Luca was well over a hundred. It didn't seem possible, but in so many ways it solved a number of her problems. One of those problems consisted of being married to a man that would outlive her by hundreds of years. That situation just didn't suit her. The second problem was that Avrie wanted to do everything in her power to assume the role she felt Carmeyla had laid out for her. Who protects the protectors? Someone had to do it. Someone had to make sure those that gave of themselves didn't give too much.

This was one of the ways she could do it. So she blinked, realized Uncle Luca had asked her something, and then nodded once she realized what it was. "Yes" She answered simply to his question. "I'm ready for The Ambranti." She said firmly as the man smiled brilliantly, reached out, and grasped her hands in his. Then for a moment he concentrated and Avrie felt the familiar non-painful burning that seemed to fill her each time they started to phase. Only this time it was instantaneous, and she was flung far from her form and into a blue green world that swirled around her with a fury. Avrie tried to scream even as the world disolved around her. It was indescribable. She wasn't herself and had no form, yet she could think and feel and move. And Luca was there, firm and restraining her from struggling.... thats what she wanted to do she realized.

Last time they'd phased hadn't been like this. It'd been a heartbeat no more and then they'd been to their destination. This however was different. It went on forever as Avrie felt herself dissolve away to nothing and shriek with the very bones of her body before they too were gone. She could feel Luca's energy all around her, firm, strong, knowing.

It was a sensation a lot like a person being held under the water and forced the remain there as their lungs screamed for oxygen. She screamed for her humanity, struggled to find it, thrashing like a drowning woman until suddenly she jerked hard in her conscious, kicked out once, twice with no form behind the motion, and drew in the essence of the Ambarando line much like one would draw in water when submerged two long. It coursed through her non-form, burning her without pain, opening her awareness and reforming her from its exposure. She tried to scream and only ended up aiding its infusement as Luca held her there, his presence firm and knowing. He held her there so long she began to relax and take in more of her awareness, which flowed out of her like a river. It was no longer a physical thing, but more intangible as energy whipped up and around her... an energy that made her almost drunk with its power. It felt so good, so pure after the initial trauma and wrongness. It was like her soul was washed free of its taint as the line around them flowed passed in two directions, strong, powerful, and seductively. She tried to laugh and Luca felt the change in her, from terror to overwhelming joy and slowly began to bring her up, reform her substance and pull her out of the line. He did it slowly, painfully so, because she didn't want to be parted from it. It was too luring, too seductive, calling her name and offering her a freedom she'd never experienced before.

Then, they were back on the rocks perched, and Avrie bent over to cough, as if she could pass the energy out of her... or as if she had started to really drown. Luca was there, thumping her back, looking amused. His soft light-hearted words filled her ears. "You did very lacho miri Paleska. You'll make a fine tatcho drifter yet. One would think its adrey ozi y rat." She smiled, a bit tired, and responded gently. "That was the Ambranti? What does it mean?" He grinned at that. "Its literal translation is to drown... I just drowned you in the lines until you were forced to take in there essence. Now they are a part of you that can't ever be changed." She blinked in surprise, and nodded.

It was then that Luca pulled her to her feet, and turned her head gently with a hand under her chin... making her look out and around them. Avrie gasped at the sight...

[Hanzi Ambarando]

Avrie could finally see the rivers of energy, the Ambarando lines passing not only through where she was, but in front and in back of her. Blueish green in color the glowing, thick mass of energy could visibly seen brightening and fading, constantly illuminated irregardless of the time.

-------------------------
The aforementioned and aforepondered Hanzi Ambarando had observed everything from a nearby rock outcrop. Luca had seen him of course and gave a little wave to stay back. After all Hanzi was a special case, he had already once underwent that process when he was really young- only special circumstances prevented him undertaking further training when he was a youth.

The family chalked it up to breeding in the end. After all his mother, a very respectable Ambarando married a Belegtur. The Belegturs are family of warriors, krisnatoryia, and Ataa masters. They were on the opposite side of the spectrum from the drifters and builders of the Ambarando. They were a much more physical type of person compared to the more thoughtful Ambarandos. Hanzi in his youth and to this day resembled his Belegtur relations rather than his Ambarando.

Anyways, when he was young instead of continuing his drifting lessons he concentrated on his Ataa lessons- much to his mother's chagrin, but it was his decision. A little after the drowning part he left after seeing a close friend of his not survive the experience. The shocked Hanzi could not be convinced to continue and instead he lived for awhile with his Belegtur relatives, learning Ataa. Now that he was older, it was time to bury old fears.

He jumped down from off the rock and approached the pair.

"Ah, sasitmos Hanzi," Luca greeted the young bruiser of a gypsy. "Come, join us. Lirelle, we'll have a friend for you to learn with. Let us continue...

"What you see is the actual line that one drifts upon. Not only can we see them, but we can feel them as well. Look within yourself, think back to feeling of the Ambaranti. The joy, the fear, the distinctive experience you had. Block out everything else and focus on the Ambaranti."

Hanzi knelt and listened. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The various naughty thoughts and devious schemes melted away and he pushed his dady-to-day existence away. He thought back to that unforgettable day and that distinctive experience of his Ambaranti. He focused on the first time he saw a line, his sense of wonder and amusement. Suddenly, he could feel the current, within the pit of his stomach pulling him here, there, he had butterflies in his stomach.

"Hold on to that feeling and it can pull you to the nearest one, since we are within one you might get a....fluttertummy? I think they call it. All right breath out and open your eyes...."

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

It was like a slow flowing river of blue and green that bisected the valley blow and around them. She sat on the rocks, staring, intrigued that before now she had really no idea it had been there. But in looking at the land, reading it, she could see now why it would be. All the features of the topography pointed to it. Before, she'd been blind to it, ignorant, but now she saw it for what it was. "It's like Telath's Blood... just exactly like it." And it was as blood was... full of energy, life, and incredibly potent. She rose to her feet, still in awe of it, and turned in a circle. There were smaller lines, distinct ones, that ran down from the mountains like water would, flowing into the big stream of power. Then there were others that flowed from it up hill, defying the natural course of water. She asked about them. "Uncle Luca... what are those? They look different from the big lines." She said, her arm automatically coming up to point to the others.

It was then that Hanzi approached. She hadn't heard him coming, too lost in the river of power they sat within. It was a beautiful sight too... looking at him and then Luca, she noted immediately how connected they felt to the Ambarando Line. The 'water' of energy didn't part and flow around them, it seemed to flow through them. She glanced down, and realized the same was true of her. One with the world.... Drifters were one with the world. Avrie smiled, and Uncle Luca endeavored to fill in the lack of her knowledge. He reached out and clasped a hand on Hanzi's shoulder even as Avrie gave him a "Sastimos Hanzi!". His look to Hanzi was apologetic, as if to say... "we need to get through the very basics with her.... and I know you know this stuff.... already".... Then he spoke, filling Avrie in with a gentle explanation to her question.

"The main lines are called Major Ambarando Lines. Think of them as big rivers. We call them Ambardis in Aire. Most, like this one are a mile or more across. But the smaller ones, the minor ambarando lines, are called Ambis. There are two other main features on these likes... Nexus points.. both major and minor. Nexus points, or Kalbaka, are pools where these rivers pause, gather, and have incredible power. There are smaller nodes along the Ambis as well, called Baki. When you advance in your studies, you can phase from Kalbaka to Kalbaka easily, and draw from them at will. At this level though, we can only teach you to phase along the Ambardis... because thats the function that takes the least control and the most energy." He smiled, and glanced at Hanzi to make sure he understood this all as well.

Avrie smiled, nodded... four words she needed to remember Ambardis, Kalbaka, Ambis, and Baki. It made sense. She committed the terminology to memory and took a moment to do as Luca had suggested... she reached out and felt the line with her mind. It was like receiving a drink of ice cold water on a blistering hot day. "Hanzi, your last name is Ambarando isn't it? Whats the connection there?" She knew there were really no coincidences in Aire. And admittedly she was curious. If he indeed was an Ambarando, why didn't he drift now? She left that one unanswered, figuring it would come out in the course of her training. After Hanzi had answered Avrie, Luca continued.

"The first and most potentially important of our gifts isn't the ability to line drift or phase... though thats one of the most interesting. The most important of the gifts is to sense whats along a line. To do that, you have to give yourself up a little to the line, let it sweep your conscious up and down its length. This takes concentration and timing. If you know the art of meditation, it comes even easier. We are on this big line that runs roughly from Medonia to Natura.. it runs north and south. Now... this test for you... Hanzi, you sense southward.. tell me what major features run along the line that way. Avrie, you sense north... let it sweep you towards your home. You both should have about a ten mile rage. Take all the time you need, but when you're sure you know, tell me what you see." He paused, laughted lightly, then nodded. "Once we do this, we shall call it a day. Tomorrow though I will phase you within sensing distance of Natura's Kalbaka and let you see what one looks like from a distance. We are quite a bit further than ten miles from it here but with me, and if your training advances, one day with you, distance won't really be a problem." He added.

And so Avrie sat down and quieted her mind. It took a considerable amount of time to actually figure out how to slide her conscious into the energy. It was more a question of 'how alike' she was to the energy instead of how different she was.. and as soon as she wrapped her mind around the concept of being 'fluid' it worked out much better. Soon, she found herself slowly and almost mindbogglingly so moving her awareness up the line northward. There was a huge sense of disconnectedness from her conscious, and she moved with a snails pace, viewing the land in shades of blues and greens as the lines painted out the topography for her. Slowly, she began to speak, passing on the information to Luca as she did... until she reached the absolute end of her ability to push any further. Was it ten miles? It might have been, but she wasn't sure.

"There's a small lake just north of here, and a large stream that flows out of it. The land is easy to pass and rolling until it comes to a narrow valley, but there's a trail through it. It opens up on the other side, and there's a series of ... three?.... farms. Then there's more forest, and it gets really rugged, but there is still a road, though its a muddy tract..... I can't feel any more after that... Its like I'm too tethered to my body?" She said, coming back to herself. The bardess realized then that she was exhausted, and sweat pooled down her body from beneath her arms and the small of her back.

[Hanzi Ambarando]

Hanzi walked forward with a polite nod to Avrie and Luca.

"Sastimos to you as well. Both of you."

Hanzi sat patient, a little embarassed. His flushed face was rooted in the fact that he was taking the equvilant of a young child's course. He sighed and followed along, remembering the old lessons and relearning those forgotten.

"Well yes, Ambarando's are reknowned for their practice of drifting. In fact Ambarando's are the line drifters of the Queen, it is our familya's home kumpania. In fact we take our name from Ambarando, the famous traveller whom taught us to travel through the World's Gate and along the Rivers of the World." Hanzi explained with a sort of seriousness befitting a gypsy giving his family's rundown. "Alas, Baba Ambarando said I am much more of a Belegtur than Ambarando. I showed little desire to continue," Hanzi whitewashed his true past, not wanting to revisit that incident and get Avrie nervous. "I was much more at peace covered with mud from wrestling and training with my cousins, who train as protectors than I was sitting still and concentrating." Hanzi laughed.

"However, as I age I figure it'd make my Baba happy for me to help uphold the familya tradition."

------------------------------------

Hanzi concentrated, forcing his ever moving mind to a screeching halt. He concentrated on each breath, each sound, each smell nearby. After awhile he started to feel his sense of being detach and begin to travel southward. At first he was nervous and hovered around where Luca, Avrie and himself gathered. He remembered his friend. He remembered that funeral pyre.

That fear faded and curiousity prevaled. Hanzi took a mental breath and was off! Scenery flew by as Hazni sensed back and forth, to and fro. Forest, forest, more forest, a river, a deer, nothing that great, boring...oh? that's curious...Hey, that's kinda hot!

And everything stopped and Hanzi found himself back within himself again.

"Ah, that's interesting. Didn't know there was a bathing spot nearly nine miles that way!" Hanzi cheerfully reported and pointed south. "She sure does work out..." He muttered under his breath as he fell lazily to the ground. He considered a nap, seeing he was too tired, too tired even to check out that spring.

"So Avrie." He began to talke conversationally in Common, he took the opportunity to practice his second language. "Tell me about your sister, more about her I mean. Not like her secrets of course. First of all, you are twins, no? But not look alike I see. What was she like as a child?"


OOC: Wanna say next post=next day?

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

ooc: Many apologies. I've been really under the weather.

Avrie listened to Hanzi's explanation, then nodded. She understood enormously how a family member might not want to continue a family tradition even though the rest of the family carried that tradition out. Hadn't that been the case with her as well? "I know what you mean, Hanzi. Our family wanted us to be winemakers... both my twin sister and I. But it turns out that neither of us I think will be into the business." She said with a smile, then turned her attention onto Luca.

Sensing the Ambarando Lines were fascinating stuff, and when she returned from her journey, Hanzi was commenting on how interesting it was as well. When he got to the point where he asked her about Anora, Avrie simply smiled. "My sister is a mystery for most. I could try to explain her, but I doubt you'd do anything but stare at me. Anora is very loving and very self sacrificing. She surrounds herself with ice and fancies herself cold-hearted and unworthy of a lot of things. It's all in her mind though. She's very warm, loving... she just sees those things as weakness and walls them up inside of herself. What she needs is a child to melt the ice." Avrie said, laughing slightly. Her sister would be horrified if she heard the youngest Eventide's talk.

"How about we both make camp here?" Luca added, already gathering firewood and ringing up scattered stones to form a nice firepit. "We can continue in the morning, and introduce you to the next phase after we get you both some rest." Their uncle commented. Both nodded, and soon they were settled into their makeshift camp and talking deep into the night before sleep claimed all three of them.

In the morning, Luca woke them, fed them, and was ready to continue his lessons. Once their camp was cleaned up, the fire banked and stones scattered, Luca was ready to continue. He set them to drifting then phased them down the line so they were well within the ten miles limitation to sensing the Kalbaka near Natura. Then he left them hovering in a stalled drift and quietly began his explanation. "The Kalbaka are pools in the Ambarando Lines. They collect and gather the energy, and can make powerful sources of energy for a drifter once they are tapped. It's important you know what these things feel like when you start learning to drift. They can, with new drifters, give them the feeling of being somewhat drunk as they tap them the first time. So close your eyes, use the skill I taught you yesterday of sensing the line, and push north on it until you find the Kalbaka. Try to give me a really good idea of how big it is and how it effects the Ambarando Line... and then we will move on to teaching you how to transmit messages down the line." He said, smiling gently.

Avrie did as Luca bid and used her new skill of sensing the lines to look northward. It wasn't an easy process. She had to fold her legs, relax, quiet her mind, and open her awareness. The process was time consuming, taxing, and difficult to get her mind around the first few times. She managed though, merging with the line, and pushing her awareness northwards. It was a slow process, relearning the sensing, getting used to the terrain, smiling as she saw someone she knew out gathering herbs in the forest in the line's territory.

Then suddenly... she was caught in a giant whirlpool of energy that writhed and swirled and calmed. It had been disturbed by her awareness pushing across it, then it had settled just as easily. The bardess could tell it was a lot like an aquifer, vast and endlessly deep. They'd taken their vineyard water on Cloudkiss from an Aquifer that one could walk via caves down into. This was absolutely no different except it was a pool of blue-green energy that called to her, taunted her, and didn't want her to leave. She sighed in pleasure as the energy washed her, refreshing her, seducing her.

But she couldn't stay... she could feel the tiredness creeping up and pulling at her, forcing her away. She didn't want to leave it... not at all, but she couldn't stay either. Not really. She had too much flesh and bone and too many reasons to stay alive rather than stay with the energy and let her body die.....

She came back to herself, gasping....

[Hanzi Ambarando]

Hanzi listened to Avrie with a slight smile on his lips.

"Well, mysteries are meant to be solved, no?" Was all Hanzi said with a sly smile on his face. He turned over and fell asleep.

-----------------------------------

Hanzi ate breakfast and drifted in silence. His mind was elsewhere, wandering amongst the hallways of memory, regret, old friends that he buried and would never see again. Hanzi went back to that day when he was 10, him and Lusha his friend, excited about the possibilities of drifting, of joining the Dromi, living within the Queen's Kumpania! A stepping stone to glory in all it's forms! Both bragged about how well they would marry, how many sons they would raise, all sorts of silly child talk.

But Lusha never awoke, the power overwhelmed him and drowned him. Hanzi sat and shook as their teacher tried to rescue the skinny boy. Nothing worked. Lusha was dead, it was a tragedy, and there wasn't a damn thing Hanzi could do about it.

With great difficulty Hanzi lost himself again and cleared his mind. He could feel his being float and then drift along the line. He did not dawdle doing touristy things, instead he went as fast as he could down the line, singleminded and focused on his task.

The Ambardis came suddenly and swept Hanzi up. A whirlpool of glowing energy, he could almost see Avrie drifting around it herself.

It was comforting and Hanzi, still in deep sorrow, felt it pull him down. He allowed it and felt a sense of relief that everything would be over. No more travelling, no more fighting, no more death... A decade's worth of rage washed away as he made his decision. But then a face popped up within his mind's eye. A reason to wake, nothing more, nothing less.

"Anora..." He coughed as he returned to the land of the lving.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie found the Kalbaka sensing rather disturbing, in a pleasant way... it was nice being able to sense such a writhing pool of power swirling just beneath the surface of her awareness. It was addictive, seductive, and something she wanted more of... it was like vis, only richer more powerful and she loved the feeling it gave her... even though in the end it left her tired.

Avrie, being gaje raised, had no idea about phasing, and only a hint of a clue that drifting was possible... but before they got to any of that, Luca meant to teach them about transmitions. He started slowly, letting them recover from understanding the Kalbaka and what it meant to them as Drifters, then he launched into his explanations.

"Drifters need to keep in contact with each other. They need to send messages, both audio and visual. Its possible, using the energy of the Ambarando Lines, to send verbal and visual messages of a very complex nature between two Drifters. We keep in contact that way, and as we go up in skill, you are able to move faster and faster further and further down the line until when you reach a certain point, you can get a message anywhere a line is at any speed. Its a powerful tool. We can warn Kumpanias of trouble, bad weather, earthshocks... and send messages to family no matter how far away they are." Luca said. "Now, stay here a moment, and I will show you how its done." Lucan then vanished... just simply disappeared. Within moments, both new drifters could hear Luca's laughter in their mind. He gave them a picture of him, burned bright in their minds, of him standing on a stone above the Line miles up it, northward, where he was watching a herd of deer. His message was clear. "There's game here... good fat hunting." And then, like that, he asked them to send him something back. He didn't explain the how of it, nor why...

It would be up to them to determine how to transmit. It was clear the Drifter wanted them to show some effort and figure this one out on their own. Avrie looked thoughtful, took a seat with her legs folded under her, and began to concentrate... trying to figure it out on her own.

[Hanzi Ambarando]

While Avrie watched in fascination, Hanzi had an air of polite boredom about him. All this sitting still and think hard by not thinking hard made the Air'riela restless. He longed to run around and get drunk or something remotely more fun than this! This pit in his stomach, these butterflies remained in his gut since Vortex. Something was stuck in his craw, but could not understand what that thing exactly was.

Hanzi sighed at Luca's passing and plopped down across from Avrie. She was a funny girl, so earnest, very good, very hard trying to be Air'riela, to understand that part of herself. He thought this with an absentminded smile on his lips.

Transmition, of course he knew what that was. His Ambarando family festivals were usually basically drifter seminars where elders would lecture the childfolk for a long time. That and they told a lot of the old tales of the Air'riela, since they were also storytellers. Hanzi listened, but this bored him as well. His Belegtur reunions were better, wrestling tournaments, races, and other contests of strength.

"This is similar to sensing up and down lines." Hanzi added helpfully. "But let the power carry your words, not your conciousness- that's what my Baba used to say. But beware, transmissions are heard by anybody listening." *

Hanzi silenced and began to clear his mind. He allowed the flowing rivers of the Ambarandos grip his soul and he felt as if he were floating. All sense of feeling disappeared and he merely was. He tossed his thoughts into the power, hard to actually describe unless you are doing it. It was if you were on a ledge tossing pieces of paper into the wind. Finally, Hanzi's reply came back...

"Well then, I guess dinner's on you..."

*- Don't know if this is true, but what the hell, it sounds good and I tossed it in.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

She would have never gotten the hang of it if she hadn't been sitting next to Hanzi when he transmitted his message. It was so loud and clear and she could feel the parts of it trickle off into the stream of the Ambarando Line. Avrie didn't want the deer shot, for certain. The picture Luca had sent was of beautiful animals, young and strong. So instead, she sent back an image of warm bread in her saddlebags, thick honey, and a wheel of cheese with dried meat.

"How about this instead? Bread, cheese, honey.... dried beef." Her message was clear, and she laughed as she realized how easy it was to set thoughts out into the stream. It was beautiful, liberating, and she turned and laughed, smiling brilliantly at Hanzi. "Beautiful! The green blue river is beautiful!"

Moments later, in a swirl of blue and green speckled light, Luca appeared once more. He was grinning, pleased that his pupils were doing well. "Alright... All the way through your training, I want you to send messages and transmit. Its an important skill and must be honed, or its lost." Avrie nodded, understanding this. The skill would take time, effort, and energy.but she knew she could do it.

"Now, we need to learn to Drift... this is the core of our work. At your skill level, just beginning, you can easily cause yourself to drift and whatever you can carry... even a small animal like a dog in your arms or a babe. But its important to learn concentration and do so successfully." Luca smiled, paused, and let his words sink in... then he continued.

"The art of Drifting is a delicate one. Its the ability to take the energy of a Line and focus it, asking it to buoy you up. At first, we will just learn this... floating. Just inches at first, then feet and higher. The line is limitless. Then, we will move on to forward and backwards movements, first slowly then instantanously. So I want you both to stand relaxed, and think of the lines of energy.. think of them forming a cushion beneath your feet and pushing you upwards.... To a mundane you look like your floating. To another Drifter, we can easily see your standing on line energy or held up comfortably by it." Avrie nodded, understanding.

She moved a few feet away from the group, bowed her head, and began to concentrate...

[Hanzi Ambarando]

Hanzi was beginning to overcome his considerable fears of drifting. Each small brought him farther away from all the memories and sadness of his youth. The gypsy held his hands out, palms up and closed his eyes. He knew better than to try to over think the proceedings, drifting was a calm art, not an active one. As an Ambarando he knew he just had to give himself to the flow of the blue-green energy that rippled through him right now.

His breathing slowed, and his head hung loose to his chest. He could feel himself slowly rising, slowly floating in the air. He breathed out and opened his eyes. A smile reached across his face and he turned his head to face Avrie.

He gave her a joyful wink and exclaimed.

"Never been this high without a pipe!"

OOC: short post to nudge this along. Sorry about me being away for a bit.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie had a difficult time concentrating on the task. It was all so new, so complex and as she stared around herself lost in the sea of blue and green energy, it suddenly came to her that her vision would never be the same again. Ever. The world was full of powerful forces, and these were things she'd learned over and over this year. Spirits walked in the form of animals, the plane of music called out and fed power to whomever asked, and now this... the Ambarando Lines... crisscrossed the world a force unto themselves... much like rivers. The energy surged around her and she wanted to sing to it, though in its own way it was already singing. She reached down, though in truth she couldn't actually touch the power that was all around her, and called to it with her hands. She scooped it up in fistfulls of blue green energy and laughed. She felt lighter with her laughter and the bard started to rise up. The energy of the Ambarando Line cradled her, and she let it, giving herself up to it.

That was the secret.

It wasn't how much you were different or how closely you clung to your identity. It was how much you gave yourself up to the energy. Once she did, the bardess understood intimately how easy it was to move around within the line. She floated straight up into the air and laughed in delight. Her legs dangled, and she lifted her arms out.

"Look! It's like flying!" She rose higher, then dove, then moved slightly back and forth, her control tenuous at best. She looked like an out of control marionette doll that a child was making dance.... but she didn't fall. No, not her.. not at all.

Luca tipped his head back and laughed full throated. He remembered his first time and the very same discovery Avrie was making.... only his discover was hundreds of years ago. Should both his pupils live so long, they'd understand the same joy he felt when they taught their own students. When she'd calmed and Hanzi had settled back closer to the ground, he laughed and continued on with the lesson. "Once you figure out how to drift, you can learn how to phase... it takes time, so lets drift down to the campsite, call it a night, and tomorrow work on our phasing?" With that Luca rose into the air and began slowly drifting down the line itself... Avrie watched in astonishment, still not used to seeing this particular skill performed. She rose though, nonetheless, and followed him, the effort in concentration difficult though the physical effort was nonexistence.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie drifted with Luca and Hanzi south, down the line towards where they'd picked out their spot for a campsite. Her control was still tenious, and her floating not relaxing as Luca's appeared. Instead, she dipped and weaved laughing as she gained height and lost altitude, sometimes touching down to leap up drifting off again. It was liberating, exhausting, and a new sensation... one her body was unused too. But she loved it, taking to the line like she was born to it... the freedom of drifting coursing through her.

They reached the campsite before nightfall, pitching tents and setting up a campfire. Luca seemed not to need a tent or even a real place to sleep. When it was time to bed down, he simply disappeared in a swirl of blue green light that Avrie was slowly growing used too. She crawled into her tent, snuggling down warm and comfortable, and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of colors in blues and greens.

In the morning, when she awoke, Avrie found herself all alone in the clearing. Hanzi's tent was gone... vanished, and Luca was nowhere to be seen. The Ambarando though... was all around her, deep blue and green in her sight. She remembered Luca's words, and released a message into its streaming energy... "Luca.... Luca.... Hanzi.... where are you?" Her words tumbled off, lost in the energy of the Line. But instantly, Luca's echoed back at her. "Hanzi had an emergency. He's gone back to the Kumpania. You, however, my dear... are going to finish your training." Just like that a picture came to her mind, tacked onto the message. There was a valley a few miles distant. It was sharp in her mind, tacked on to the end of Luca's words... visual attached to audio. "Come to me there. Don't drift. Become one with the Ambarando and ride the stream. You've already done it once with the ritual.... do it again, only this time control it yourself." Avrie sent a message back, releasing her thoughts in both visual and audio as Luca had sent his own. "Let me pick up camp, and I will be there." She said softly.... releasing the words and the image of her taking down her tent carefully.

It took her a good half-candlemark to clean up everything and repack her backpack. Then she drifted upwards, catching the Ambarando and melding with it. Avrie hung there floating, remembering her ritual. She'd dissolved into nothing during that time... driven by a power she hadn't understand... one she'd barely tasted up until now. Avrie floated upon the Ambarando, inherently understanding she was a part of it, that it was apart of the world.. and that the natural order of things was fulfilled through it. How then, did one 'phase' from one location to another? It was the same as the ritual. Luca had said so.

Avrie drifted on, floating... thinking. Time wasn't measurable within the Ambarando. As she drifted she let her mind go back, to the first learning... to the first time she understood inherently that it wasn't about how to work within the Ambarando... but rather it was about how the Ambarando worked within all things. In that instant, Avrie pictured the meeting spot... the small valley and almost instantly felt herself dissolve into the Ambarando. She ceased being herself for a moment as she disappeared in her own swirl of blue green light. Suddenly, she was all things and everywhere. The sensation was heady and invigorating. It