[PRP] Diamonds are a Mare's Best Friend (Fai/Mjoll)

[Ice Queen]

Thinking things through--it was a new thing for Fai, of course, he'd been ignoring little details for a while--but now that he had so much time and not enough wine, he'd been forced to confront some of the things he'd come upon as he'd worked his two gardens.

Such as the small stones he had found when tilling the ground. They were pretty, he thought, holding one up to look at it curiously. Not diamonds, of course, but he had a nice little pile of rather pretty stones next to his grapevines and it seemed a waste to the Famine horseman to just leave them there.

Perhaps they were worth something to someone? He could be wrong, of course, he wasn't much into stones--but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask around. He packed the stones into a pouch and headed into the clan, heading for--what else? The Death Clan's area.

After a few questions and a bit of direction change, Fai found himself looking for a mare named Mjoll. And he found her place, pulled his pouch from his waist and knocked on the door. "Excuse me, my dear, might I have a bit of your time?"  

[LP]

Mjoll was standing at her sewing table looking at a new outfit she was working on now. Her backwings twitched, she hadn't expected a visitor and she frowned a small pin cushion attached at her wrist and measuring tape around her neck she paused and peeked out the small window at the visitor before opening the door.

She brushed some hair from her eyes. "Hello, how may I help you?" She asked as her wings twitched; moving back into the room; "You're free to come in if you'd like." She went back to the table where she was working, before pulling out a couple of chairs and moving her work, "I assume you have something you'd like me to have a look at?" She offered him a chair, "Would you like some tea?"  

[Ice Queen]

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Fai said. "I am Faiyum Riaz, Alchemist of the Famine Clan--well, of the Lost Clans, now," he introduced himself, bowing to the mare. "My specialty is plants--so please forgive me if I am wrong in my evaluation," he went on, stepping into the room. "During my time here I have put together two humble gardens--well, one garden and one vineyard. And when preparing the soil, I came upon some interesting stones."

He held out the small pouch of stones. "If you would?" he offered.  

[LP]

Mjoll smiled, as Fai explained who he was and what he did, "Plants? That sounds like a fascinating subject." Mjoll mused as she took the pouch and poured the stones on the table.

She began turning over the stones; as she looked at them. Pulling out a small glass before looking at the stones and turning them over. "Hmmm, Looks like a few of them have bugs, it's hard to tell without them being polished but I kind of like them like they are." The crafter stood up and moved over to her small library, "Pity I lost all my books." She started searching through the few books she had. "I think... these are a type of amber, honestly."

She sighed, "There's a few odd colors though;" there was a frown as she thought. "Perhaps we should raid the school's library maybe we could find more on them."  

[Ice Queen]

"Amber?" Fai said, his interest becoming aroused. "Amber, created from fossilized tree sap? That amber?" He had been sitting them to the side of his vineyard, ignoring their existence, and they were amber?

"I would very much like to learn more about these stones," Fai said. "I understand your pain, of course," he said, looking at the lack of books. "So many scrolls lost... it's a terrible thing. So much of the information could have been useful now. I managed to bring several seeds from the isles--but they are not the same as the information that has been written down."  

[LP]

"Indeed," Mjoll answered. "Though I'm a little fascinated that you found it so far above ground. I mean for what I know of it you normally have to dig quite a ways to get good amber."

She nodded, "Yes valuable information lost, it's quite a pain when trying to identify and count worth to such things as these. The ones I know, I can work on polishing." She picked out a few of the odder colors and a couple with bugs, "Unfortunately, I'm not sure what sort of creature this is in here. Nor how old it is, it could be very young."

"Though what I know about it, Amber's actually a resin." She handed the pouch back to the Alchemist and pulled out one of her own, a rather striking blue velvet. "Let us see if we can get into the library. I'm sure the school will have information on what I'd like to know about these."  

[Ice Queen]

"Well the ground really wasn't appropriate for what I had planned," Fai said casually. "So I did do a bit of... reconstructing, I suppose you could say. "Importing elements from this section and that, you know how gardening is." Probably not, considering he'd just as much as admitted he'd dug far deeper than most gardeners ever would. "A proper PHEAR balance in your dirt is a necessity for well grown wine grapes."

He tucked the pouch into his belt again and motioned for her to lead the way to the school's library. "I was, of course, drunk at the time, so I am not quite certain HOW deep I went, but I know that it was well worth it. The grapes I've grown are quite magnificent. Tell me, do you enjoy wine? Or... grape juice?"  

[LP]

Mjoll's brow lofted as Fai began to speak about what he did to the ground. The more he spoke the more her brow's lofted until they disappeared into her bangs. "I believe, we should keep you off some of that wine."

She said as she began to walk to the school library, "I enjoy a good year." She admitted, "Grape juice is good too, permitted that it's made from sweet grapes. I prefer white wine though with a good meal."

She gave a small shrug as she walked, "Just depends on what sort of wine I suppos, though I prefer to know what I'm doing. I can't craft proper if I'm not sober."  

[Ice Queen]

"Ah, but my dear, I am very good at what I do," Fai said, and surprisingly it didn't sound as arrogant as it sounded confident. "You see, mere gardening, basic wine making, while an art form, I will not deny, are simple enough things once you have done them long enough. But I am able to say I have been sober for... two days now. It's a very enlightening thing, although I have yet to decide whether I like it or not."

He was being perfectly serious. That's what the scary thing was. Casually he offered his arm in a gentlemanly fashion. "But the true shame is--since I am, apparently, going sober, I fear all my grapes might go to waste."

LP