This choice: the adventuring part will consist entirely of women • Go Back...Chapter #6the adventuring part will consist entirely of w... by: Unknown Another traveler plops down at your table just as the server brings you your beer. Your first reaction is to tell the traveler to find another table, assuming that they've joined you with either moochery or lechery on their mind.
The words die in your throat as the traveler pulls back their hood, revealing the most beautiful face you've ever seen.
The woman sitting by you has the light olive complexion of the sea people who come from the equatorial region of your world. The light blue grey eyes that instantly draw you in mark her as one of the Verbay, a tribe of sea people famous both for their ingenuity and their ferocity. The gentle face that those eyes are set in looks anything but ferocious. It looks like a young maid, just coming into the flower of womanhood, who has somehow gotten separated from her brothers and father. The face has that kind of beauty that lets you know those same brothers and father are the burly, violent type who are incredibly overprotective where the owner of that face is concerned.
Normally, this is the type of young woman who, if she sat down beside you, you would take a few minutes to reunite her with her guardians before going about your business. But then there is her hair.
Her long, slightly wavy burgundy colored hair makes you wish you knew her well enough to run your fingers through it. But it is the tuft of white hair at the woman's left temple that draws your eye. You've seen that tuft a few times before. A few of the mages who instruct at the Heroes' Academy have that same tuft. It means they have survived the Rite of Hopden. But all those mages were old and powerful. The only time you've ever heard of someone as young and beautiful as the woman before you having that same mark is in the songs and tales bards tell. Never in real life,.
The young woman seems to be unaware of your rapturous stare as she finishes removing her cloak, revealing a lithe, feminine form in traveler's clothes. When she looks up at you and smiles, you blush like a young schoolgirl caught out by her first crush.
"You must be Udakova," she says in an accent that speaks of exotic spices and sea breezes in the evening. She extends a delicate hand as she introduces herself. "I'm Helbia, the one who has been corresponding with you."
Helbia is the name of the mage who has been corresponding with you. But if it wasn't for the white tuft of hair at her temple, you would dismiss this young woman's presence at your table as either a jest or a ruse of some kind. Even with that white accent on her hair, you find it difficult to believe Helbia is a mage of any sort, much less one who could survive the Rite of Hopden.
You belatedly realize you've been staring at Helbia for a full minute while ignoring the hand she has extended. Embarrassed, you take the hand, feeling a little thrill of something undefined.
"I know you must have a hundred questions," Helbia continues as she withdraws her hand, "But perhaps that can wait until the rest of our band arrives."
Before you can respond, you and Helbia are joined by the  | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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