[sylvanSpider]

Kastivi surveyed her mug's innards seeing that she still had half left. Christoval had drained his. She'd been in parties with deaths before, but she'd been given the leisure of starting off at beginning level quests, working her way up. She'd been with Arabella five years before she saw anyone belonging to her group die. She thought then that she'd never recover, and then it was only one. But then it had happened again, later, and still again after that. At some point she'd come to recognize it as a fact of adventuring, a fact of life. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry, though she didn't know for what. It wasn't her hand that claimed his friends' lives. But then, he spoke of their deaths so casually, perhaps he was simply saying that he'd seen plenty—which she didn't doubt, even as an apprentice. Hells, she'd been an apprentice for a decade. She'd seen her fair share as well. It was his next statement that made her look from her half-full mug to the knight, hearing that bitterness, “Well, starting tomorrow we'll be making a dent on that undertaking, yes? We're going to make the world a slightly better place, in our own small way, until we can do it in a larger way.”

Kastivi pressed her lips together, feeling the tension that emanated from Christoval's person and waited for it to subside before offering a grin and a what-can-you-do sort of shrug, “It isn't like Ara is lazy. Just the opposite. But on those missions that are easy enough for a beginner, she saw those as good opportunities to take off the training pads, so to speak. Let me struggle so I could learn in real time. She'd never let anything bad happen to me, believe you me. Besides, when she let me fight on my own, it was more rewarding than anything, and she worked just as hard observing and giving advice.” She shrugged again is if for emphasis, “But, I'll be sure to pass the word.”

She looked down fiddling with her hands, that smile lighting her up brighter than any flame and she tried to bite back her own schoolgirl-crush smile, “Ara says the same thing. Smarts is where it's at, though I still don't think I can beat her though. She's incredibly strong for coming in such a small package. I'll never forget seeing my shock at seeing my rescuer--” Kastivi's voice trailed off when she saw what, or rather who, was waiting for them with Wisp. She'd never seen anyone quite like her, though obviously Wisp knew her.

She blinked at Christoval, “Do you know her?”