Iolair nods, "In addition, some Bjornaer are simply incompatible with others. It would be rare indeed to find one with the heartbeast of a wolf apprenticed to a magus with a deer as a heartbeast, for example. And since one's heartbeast cannot truly be known until...the Gathering of Twelve Years, it is possible to learn that the one who had been teaching them up to that point was not the best match for them."
Eilid squeezes Talia's hand briefly.
She looks around. "Where would you like to sit, Iolair?"
The revel hall is between a quarter and a third full, and many of the trestle tables are leaned up against the wall.
Iolair shrugs and motions to an empty table, "That seems as good a place as any. So tell me, is the salmon still as good as I remember? It's been so long since I've had good loch fare."
"Join me, maybe?"
♫Ripped leggings, skin was showing, cold night, wind was blowing...where you think you going, baby?♫
((In fairness, I'm only thinking of the USA Swimming Youtube video of this song. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.))
Iolair grins like a little boy, "Ah, wonderful, I have definitely missed that."
"As long as it doesn't inconvenience you," he says as he gives a questioning glance to Eilid to see if she wanted to speak with him alone.
"Go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow," Eilid says with a knowing smile. She will sip her ale for a few minutes, looking off absently into the distance with an occasional glance over at Iolair and Talia. If all goes as she suspects, she will quietly get up and slip out eventually.
"I...okay," Iolair says as Eilid walks away. He'd thought they would all sit together, but perhaps there was something he was missing? Shrugging, he took a seat with Talia and waved someone over to get some food.
"So Talia, how long have you been here at Insula Canaria?"
A couple of kids come over, one with a couple of plates of salmon on a bed of boiled vegetables and some bread, and the other with a pitcher of ale. Could be brother and sister, but definitely look like they're related.
"I've been here for a bit longer than a year, when a call for new magi to join was issued. I was interested in settling down. Living a life at sea is rewarding, but it doesn't lend well to study. How long have you been away?" Talia moves in close to Iolair, so she doesn't have to make a lot of effort to keep up a conversation.
Iolair leans in slightly, so Talia can hear him better of course, "Hmm, well it's been...well I guess it's been about 20 years. I haven't really been a part of any covenant since, pretty much just seeing the world and living life."
"So, you are from here, originally, I guess? You were discovered nearby?" Depending on how close he gets, he may find that his Parma is bumping up against something. ((Maybe. I'm not sure how Talia's imaginary outfit would interact in this area, and it's not really a huge big deal for me.))
((I'm thinking that your Parma only protects/affects you unless you extend your Parma over someone else. Especially in this case, since it's a CrIm, and the spell is creating natural species or whatever that aren't magical.))
"Yes, I'm from a small village not far from here. Eilid discovered my Gift when she walked by me on the road. A chance happening that changed my life forever. What about you, where are you from originally?"
(out of curiosity, would Iolair's Second Sight be able to see through the clothing (with a roll of course)? Is Second Sight an 'always on' effect or do I have to consciously 'activate' it? Would that be considered scrying under the Oath?)
((My interpretation is that Second Sight is basically a sensory ability, like seeing or hearing, and thus Always On. The Second Sight description on p. 167 leads me to believe that Iolair would be able to "see through" the illusory clothing if he makes a Second Sight vs. an Ease Factor of 7 (6 + the magnitude of the spell). And it wouldn't be "see through" as though it weren't there...he'd be able to see the illusion and the everything else at the same time, if that makes sense.))
((edit because I put would instead of wouldn't in the last sentence.))
(Well, it looks like Iolair can see through Talia's clothing...that makes things more interesting)
((But Talia doesn't know what Iolair can see, unless he comments.))
"I'm from A small village not far from Naples. I spent a few years sailing the Med and then came through the Pillars of Hercules, slowly making my way northward. Most recently I had been ferrying cargo between Edinburg and Bruges. "
Iolair nods, doing his best to look Talia in the eyes, as opposed to her other assets, while she talks, "Wow, I've always wanted to see the Mediterranean; is it as beautiful as they say?"
(Guile+Pre roll of 6 to hide the fact that he can see through her clothes: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3780331/)
(Moving this over here, because I don't want to derail whatever Peregrine has planned, and I just feel like I'm interrupting Peregrine over there... If something interesting happens otherwise, Talia will speak up about it over there, but for the conversation with Iolair, I think continuing it here is best. At best, what she'd be doing over there is creating conflict, for fun.))
Talia notices Iolair seeing through her illusion and trying to hide the fact. "I'm sorry, would you like for me to put on some real clothes? I haven't worn real clothes for well over a year, since I learned this trick from a neighboring maga who does much the same. Answering your question," she continues on, without making an effort to really cover up or do anything and not giving it much of a thought until he says yes, one way or another. "Answering your question, the Mediterranean is beautiful. It's almost like a gentle lake compared to the Atlantic. Indeed, my original ship was ill-suited to the storms, and we were shipwrecked soon after wards. We spent a winter in Lisbon. I had the means to conjure another ship, but not her sails, rigging, anchor or other attendant parts of the ship. Nor did I have the means to pay for those things. Fortune later smiled on us, after our winter in Lisbon." When Talia says 'Fortune later smilled' she's making it very clear, without stating it explicitly that she came by those things in a less than honest method.
"It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you," he says with a wink and a smile. "Although depending on how long I'm here, I may ask you to teach me that; it would save me from having to...borrow clothes like this after a long flight."
"Well, they do say that fortune favors the bold," he says with a sly grin that articulates that he knows exactly what she is implying. "At least it sounds like you've had an interesting life. It seems that many of our kind prefer to spend their lives holed up in dusty laboratories and never experience the world outside their covenant."
"Me? Mind? Certainly no. This is for the comfort of everyone else. There was one time I walked to the library without my raiment, if you will. And the poor librarian sputtered something awful. It took me a while to figure it out, because I've gotten used to there being nothing there, despite appearances to the contrary. It's also of great utility when one of my sailors needs a morale boost. He never has to mess with my fussy garments." She smiles, as if she's thinking about one of those times.
After a moment of reverie, "I expect to find myself holed up in a dusty laboratory for quite a while. But I'm also not afraid of a little adventure. I'm certainly hoping that I won't spend the rest of my life in a laboratory or in a shipyard, whether Hermetic of mundane. I'm sure my men will convince me to take them out to sea now and again. Unless they all settle down and marry and deny themselves my charms, that is."