Aurielle Adravendi

She took a seat with a pile of parchment rolls, waiting expectantly for those who wished to learn more about writing and reading. After the lesson with Rhaegara and Aslaug, she’d left the two women with what amounted to homework, and she looked forward to seeing what they’d produced from the writing practices she’d set up for them. A thought had niggled with her since her talk with Drachen, and she set that thought aside as she waited, and heard the first tread of paws on the sandy ground outside, coming up the ravine. She smiled faintly, setting out the sets of parchment with room and extras for any others that joined. As the pawsteps came up the steps she said, “Feel free to take a spot and parchment to look over while the others come. Once it looks like everyone who will come has arrived, we’ll start the lesson.” Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

The prospect of a lesson was an interesting one for Caelia. She hadn't been the most terribly motivated wolf as of late, but her focus had generally been on fighting - from the few practice spars she'd had as well as the raid they'd participated in. She had no doubt that there were other skills she ought to work on growing, so when Aurielle's call rang out she was quick to respond to it, loping gracefully across the plains to come to meet her. No one else had arrived yet, but she hoped there would be others joining them. She cast Aurielle a glance and a small smile as she approached, doing as she was instructed and fetching a parchment set for herself before finding a comfortable spot to settle down and wait.

Aurielle Adravendi

It seemed Caelia would be the only participant to begin with today, and so, Aurielle turned and settled with her own parchment, nudging the sheet of parchment with the runes and scripts she’d developed with help to Caelia. “These are what I’ve worked out for Valhallan script. With luck, all of Valhalla will eventually know it.” Once Caelia had looked them over, Aurielle ran her through the alphabet, pointing out each letter to indicate them as she went. “Writing can be a little difficult with normal paws; it takes a lot of control to keep the strokes steady and not twitch and send a streak of ink everywhere—believe me, I should know.” She grinned at the younger woman, thinking about her own early attempts. “If you hold the end of the ink-stick in your teeth and slot it between the toes of your dominant paw, it helps. Do get an idea, why don’t you try drawing shapes?” She herself demonstrated the technique, choosing a circle and carefully tracing the shape with a sweeping gesture of her paw and the ink-soaked stick slotted between the two innermost toes of her right paw. “If ever you befriend a primate or a bird, they tend to have a much easier time of writing than typical wolves do. Ardyn and Aoife, with their paws, are quite deft at it. Have you heard Aoife play her lute yet?” Conversation went paw in paw with the lesson, helping it become more casual and less formal. She liked it when Caelia was able to relax. Perhaps she ought to spar her again—it was long past due time. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Caelia wasn't sure if Aurielle expected anyone else to arrive , but after waiting a bit longer it became clear she was the only one who had answered her call. Ah well; they'd make do just the same. She adjusted herself to pull the parchment sheet offered by Aurielle toward her, showing the alphabet she'd created. It seemed overwhelming at first glance, and it didn't help that Caelia was a perfectionist that strove for the best in all she did. Imagining trying to copy these characters seemed difficult, if not impossible, but Aurielle instructed her to start small and practice shapes first.

She nodded as she angled the stick up and between her teeth, wedging the other beneath her toes. The first swipe at her parchment she did was messy - she drew a jagged, rough line before adjusting the position of her ink-stick again. The next line was smoother, and though she'd been aiming to draw a circle she couldn't quite seem to close it yet. "I haven't heard Aoife's lute. I'm sure it sounds nice though." Their strange paws would definitely help, as would a particular sort of companion, but Caelia wasn't sure befriending a companion was for her.

Instead she was pretty sure she'd have to get by on her own, without weird paws or weird companions. Just practice. She furrowed her brows as she picked up her stick again, angling it and focusing carefully until she was able to draw a shaky circle - though a circle nonetheless.

Aurielle Adravendi

Aurielle took her time, letting Caelia work through the motions, and nodding with approval at the final result. “It’s an interesting instrument, and quite lovely in sound.” She kept an ear open for any sounds from outside that might signal another arrival as she settled in, practicing her own shapes – it was always good to practice – forming a triangle with strokes that were still not absolutely perfect, with faint curves, though with repetition the lines straightened out with each fresh shape. It was down to the younger woman to follow suit if she wished, or to keep practicing circles. Once Caelia was ready, she'd give her the template of the alphabet to practice if she wished, and that would be the task she'd assign to Caelia and any other who happened to come, to practice between this lesson and the next. “You fought well in the raid. Chrystaloria, Cairo’s owl friend, mentioned she saw you beat your first opponent. Well done.” Her tone was warm, proud, even, and full of genuine approval. Caelia may have lost her second fight, but Aurielle had lost both of hers. She wasn’t ashamed—you couldn’t win everything, and there had been no major stakes in the raid. It merely showed her where she needed to improve, and showed her where Aerie was strongest. She thoroughly approved of the two she’d fought, and hopefully, she could track them down and thank them for the fights. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

She nearly grinned, pleased with herself and her work, however small her progress might be. For a moment her thoughts trailed away from Aoife and her lute and toward the lesson they were engaging in. Mostly she wondered what greater purpose writing could have - leaving records for ancestors, for example. She wondered how long such artifacts would last, and then whether they could be easily understood or not by generations to come. Regardless of the longevity of these lessons or what they produced she still intended to practice, and so she did, carefully drawing a few more small circles. Her progress was not linear though - she was sure she'd perfected her stroke, but the next was shaky and uneven. She replicated the shape with varying degrees of success, but overall she thought she was doing better overall.

She paused, resting her paws as Aurielle complimented her work in the raid. She grinned a little, pleased with herself. She hadn't won both fights but she didn't expect to come out on top all the time, as nice as that sounded. "I feel like I'm getting better. Slowly but surely," she nodded. She didn't lack practice; what she really thought she lacked was motivation, but that was more a feeling than something she could conjure up. At least she knew when it came down to it, she could hold her own, and fight for herself as well as for Valhalla. Fortunately they hadn't needed to defend against any real threats yet but she felt prepared in case she had to. "I wouldn't mind another lesson with you sometime soon though," she mentioned offhandedly. There was no such thing too much practice, right? "I think I make a better fighter than an artist." She let out a little laugh as she angled her stick between her toes and practiced another, different shape this time.

Aurielle Adravendi

Aurielle smiled softly as Caelia’s features lit with the compliment, glancing down to assess the woman’s work. It was wobbly, yes, but Aurielle’s had been, if anything, worse, in her first attempts. “You are. I think you’re almost ready to rise to Dauntless. Why don’t we spar later?” Her head cocked as she studied the Adravendi, a half-smile touching her features as she added, “I think you might also find a good opponent in our newest member, Drachen. He’s not primarily a fighter, but he does show some skill and innovation I think you might find useful in testing yourself against.” Her eyes lowered to the new shape Caelia was trying, grinning at the woman’s self-assessment. “You never know—my first tries were worse than yours. If you stick with it, you may become quite elegant in your quill-work.” She rose and padded out of sight into one of the alcoves, returning with a roll of pigskin, setting it on the stone floor and unrolling it next to Caelia’s work. The messy doodles and marks were indeed chaotic, sloppy and streaked where a paw might have slapped across it in frustration. Aurielle grinned ruefully at the marks and the streaked paw print. "Figuring out the runes and such was testing my patience, if I'm being honest." Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Aurielle suggest she might be ready to rise in rank and Caelia found a proud smile touch her lips. She'd like to think she was ready for Dauntless but at the same time she wasn't completely sure. In theory she felt motivated, but the reality of things was different. She hadn't trained as hard as she could've but she had been steadily improving, and intended to keep working at it. "Sure, a spar later sounds good," she agreed after a moment of careful thought. She just hoped it wasn't going to be another muddy fight like one of their previous ones. "And I'll see if Drachen wants to spar too."

Caelia let out a laugh at Aurielle's admission, though continued practicing, brows furrowed and nose wrinkled all the while. She slipped out of her sight for a moment only to return, showing off some of her practice runs. "I think I'll work on more complex runes another time, so my work doesn't end up like that," she gestured toward the streaked ink with a chuckle. She thought herself a pretty patient wolf but this writing thing was harder than she'd suspected, and she could see herself getting agitated once she tried tackling harder designs.