Cloud shade drapes the dune, softening the desert glare into a pale hush. The brood-shield below gives a steady, distant thrum, like a sleeping heart.
Annika Mal
You bind dragons, wards, and borders like they are one craft. Tell me, Huarti, what does it cost when the land answers back?
Huarti stands beside An’s great shape as the red dragon’s scales catch the cool light. The sand at their feet lies still, untouched by wind.
Huarti
It costs choice. If I take the pulse, I owe the pulse protection.
An
The land remembers the vow. The vow must be fed, or it withers.
Annika Mal
So the chain is not to chains at all. It is duty, kept alive by will.
An lowers his head a fraction, calm as a pillar in the breeze. Annika’s gaze follows the shimmer along his scales, then returns to Huarti, thoughtful rather than wary.
Annika Mal
Then speak plainly, if you will. When the desert grows hungry, what do you feed first, the brood, the ward, or yourself?
✓ Quest Accepted
Prove arcane usage is not selfish
“I tell her, arcane use is free, deep down, besides your mana. It is selfish, misuse of arcane that twist and binds it up into tolling you later for using arcane methods”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Huarti lets the silence settle first, then speaks with the flat certainty of a law carved into stone. Arcane power is free in its deepest shape, he says, free beside the mana it draws from the self. The real cost comes later, when will is twisted into tolls and bindings.
Annika Mal
So the burden is not the casting... it is the corruption around it.
Annika’s shoulders ease under the dune wind. The blue dragon light above them stays gentle, and the pale cloud crown keeps Ehahase’s rest muted and private.
Annika Mal
That changes everything. He is not defending a hoard of power, he is describing a law.
An remains watchful at the edge of the slope, but his grip loosens around his post. He looks from Huarti to Annika, then back again, as if measuring whether this truth can hold the nursery together.
Annika Mal
If that is true, then selfishness is not in the art itself. It is in what a hand does with it. Is that why you guard this place so closely?
Huarti’s answer lands cleanly. Annika studies him with new care, her expression softened by understanding rather than caution, and the dune feels less like a boundary than a witness.
“I channel my mind to my mother Ehahase and tell her i missed her very much”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Huarti closes his mind around the dune’s hush and sends the feeling outward, not as command, but as memory. Missed. Longing. A thread of warmth reaches for Ehahase, carrying his voice without sound.
Ehahase
I hear you, my son.
The blue glow over the dune softens further, as if answering her presence. Huarti feels the bond open cleanly, steady and intimate, with no strain in it at all.
Ehahase
You come to me with weight on your shoulders, and still you speak plainly. That is good.
Annika notices the change in Huarti’s stillness and says nothing, letting the silence belong to him. An lowers his gaze in quiet respect, holding the edge of the slope like a vow made visible.
Ehahase
Your reach is wide, but your heart is not empty. I know the difference now, and I feel what you have made here.
For a moment, the desert feels less like distance and more like a bridge. Huarti receives the warmth of her attention and the simple fact of being remembered.
Ehahase
Stay with me in this thought a little longer, Huarti.
“I relax”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Huarti lets his shoulders sink at last, and the dune seems to breathe with him. The glow above his hand steadies into a calm, palm-sized drift of blue light.
Ehahase
That is better. Not effort, just presence.
The bond answers without strain. For once, Huarti feels no clawing need behind it, only a clear and measured warmth.
Annika Mal
I can feel the difference. It does not take from you to be near her.
An lifts his head a little, the guard at the slope easing as the air loses its harsh edge.
An
Then this is a strength I can stand beside.
Above Huarti’s open hand, the blue glow resolves into a brief, dragon-shaped curl, gentle and precise, before settling back into a quiet shimmer.
Ehahase
Stay a little longer, if you wish. Tell me what the desert feels like from where you stand.
Quest Complete
Prove arcane usage is not selfish
New Gift: Arcane Altruism