End of Lessons [Open]

[Xanthe]

Xanthe smiled as her tutor her released her, earlier than she had expected to be let go. She disliked that particular tutor, mainly because it was for needlepoint; a skill Xanthe had never taken much interest in and didn't really think she needed, but her parents insisted she learned anyway.

She made her way through the halls, and through a small door close to her bedroom door, and, after locking the door behind her, climbed up the stairs within the chamber she'd entered. It was one of Ridgehold's taller spires, the rooms in which no one had been using for years. Xanthe had made it her own, after finding the key to the door, and the top room became the place she came whenever she had a bit of free time.

There was a not a large amount of furniture there-just a desk and a comfortable chair that had been there when she had found the room, a chair she'd sent up there by magic, and a smattering of cushions, rugs, and blankets that she'd scattered about the floor. On the desk sat a small bowl with a pitcher of water. On the floor, she had carved four circles containing symbols with magic. The bowl was for scrying; the circles for teleporting, one for a location in each of the four kingdoms. Both were used for communicating with, and meeting, the prince of Veren. The crystal would glow if he wanted to meet her, or if he wanted to talk with her. She had begun to study magic after her capture, and she quickly found an application for it.

Xanthe walked across the room, settling down on the comfortable chair, and peering out of the small windows of the room, looking out over Taiel, wondering if anything would be happening today.

[Jane]

Oh man, oh man!

Jane thought as she ran on all fours in animal form, on her heels two Lynx guards were snapping at her retreating form. She didn't understand how she got into this mess actually, she just happened to test one of her new concoctions. There was a accident, a very blue accident, involving a cloud of blue smoke. And then everyone that was around her actually turned a dark blue, both animal and human form suffered the effect of the strange position that turned the skin and fur that certain color. The guards yelled for her to halt and she just scampered away, anyway she didn't have time to be in a mess like this.

The doe gave a high pitched sequel as one cat sharply nipped her, and she turned her head to see even more were pursing her. Moving her legs more faster she was able to use her natural speed that was useful when evading predators. Turning a sharp corner she was able to make it to a very narrow ally way. Turning back into a young women again she effortlessly made her way down it. The guards, now in their human forms as well, were having a bit of a difficult time though. They were trained to be muscular, big and menacing, but it looked like small and petite won the battle when it came to fitting threw small spaces.

Panting now she placed her back against the smooth wall and gave wary glances at the men demanding her to stop. Jane's eyes widened as she noticed a small detail, they were turning a light blue now, the effects were wearing off. It wasn't permanent! Thank heavens for that. After sliding sideways she was able to reach the end of the ally, brushing off her back and fleeing before the guards realized they could have cut her off on the other side. She glanced back to see one of them turn into a smaller species of Felidae that soon came running toward her.

"Ah!" She jumped back and ran for it, her feet carrying her as fast as she could possibly go.

Soft soles meeting ground soon turned into small hooves once again, her use of her animal form needed now. Jane soon panicked and made quick decisions while attempting escape, but they didn't worked so well, so it wasn't long before she found herself surrounded on all sides. How she hated cats! They were predators to deer, and so were dogs, and now she was caught up in this mess. Stepping back cautiously as they cornered her on the wall of the castle she stood bravely, not surrendering or turning back into her human shape until she was certain there wasn't any options left. Maybe she should give up, those narrowed eyes were slowly filling her with the feeling of dread.

[Xanthe]

Xanthe watched, with rapt interest, as a pair of lynx chased after a deer, changing back and forth between their human and animal forms as they pursued her. Oddest of all, all three were all a deep shade of blue, but the shade was growing lighter as time went on. It was the oddest sight she had seen in a long time.

She wondered what was going on, why the guards were chasing such a terrified looking girl, and so hurried down the stairs and across the courtyard, slipping out a small, well guarded door in one of the castle walls.

She made her way to the group of guards and the deer girl. "What is happening here?" She demanded, her voice loud and firm, knowing that they would be able to hear her. "Who is she, why are you chasing her, and why are all of you blue?" She crossed her arms and waited for her response.

[Jane]

Jane jumped in surprise to the sudden appearance of the women, a quite beautiful women that any girl would wish to look like when they were older. The sudden scare caused her to return in human form, making herself appear female, adolescent and being the one with a more darker tone of skin then most.

"Your majesty!" One guard said, halting and bowing his head in her presence.

Your majesty? Oh no, looks like I really disturbed the peace now, she thought.

She frowned as they started to explain.

"Well, ma'am, this little witch here turned half to citizen's blue with a little spell of hers."

"It wasn't a spell it was a postion! And it was meant to turn everyone red not bl-"

Well damn me, she thought as she snapped her mouth shut. She didn't mean to hurt anyone, it was a tiny experiment, maybe she should have waited to use that new ingredient of snake venom. It wasn't dangerous, it had been modified by a old witch she bought it from. A little more relieved when both fur and skin of the guards started to turn slowly back to normal as the seconds passed by she backed away while they were distracted.

[Xanthe]

Xanthe looked at the girl as she protested the guard's accusation. She was a bit out of the ordinary looking, her skin a darker shade than most. tIt made Xanthe wonder, for a moment, if she or her parents were not native to Zalia; the only people she'd seen with such dark skin were dignitaries from far off lands, and some immigrants and merchants from those lands. She soon cleared her head, remembering what was important at the time.

She sighed and shook her head, looking to the guards once more. Did they have nothing better to do with their time? "For one thing, all of you are no longer blue,"She pointed out, not sure if they'd noticed the fact that they were normally colored once more. "For another, there are no laws against turning things blue. You should be focusing your energy on finding real criminals. Not harassing witches for simple mistakes."

[Jane]

Jane gave a smirk at the guard who looked momentarily confused after looking over himself.

"But, disturbing the peace..."

He shut his mouth and glanced at the smiling Jane who looked away with her lips pursing as she restrained the urge to laugh. After a short growl the guard turned, "go back to your posts everybody."

Body and skin changing until he found himself once again in the shape of a rather large lynx he trotted off with the others following close behind. The crowd who took interest to what was happening was now going on with their schedule as they saw nothing more would happen. Glancing at the women again then back at the castle Jane's eyes widened, did she live in this huge place? It looked like she came from inside the building when she entered, and the way she ordered the guards showed she was a authority figure.

Could she be...?

Well, for now that didn't matter, she should at least thank her for the help.

"Thank you," Jane said as she walked until she found herself at the womens side.

Jane looked up and down at her, interested in her clothing then looking back at the people who lived in this large kingdom she noticed their strange style of clothing to. This was defiantly going to be interesting.

[Xanthe]

The head guard tried to protest, but Xanthe gave him a stern look, and he soon backed off. True, she had been disturbing the peace, but they only amplified it by chasing her. If they'd merely talked to her instead, she may have been able to reverse whatever she had done, or at least explained what she had done.

As the girl walked over to her, and thanked her, Xanthe smiled gently at her. "Its no problem," She said, "Though I would suggest no testing out new magic in the middle of a city." She looked to the guards, and the dispersing crowd, than back to the girl. "I'm sorry about the guards, this isn't the first trouble we've had with them as of late," She told him.