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Ruebon 08, 312 (11:00 AM)
It had only been a few months since she left the academy, having graduated as a full Storm Sorceress, and now here she was, back again. Somehow it had seemed she had learned more in the few weeks on the open ocean than she had in the entire time she had spent at the academy. Still, learning was the reason she was back. Learning, and possibly guidance.
The place hadn't changed at all, but then it hadn't been all that long since she left. It just felt like a lifetime ago. As she walked through the courtyard, she saw some first years playing with some cantrips. She remembered when she first arrived here, just a child and ready to learn. She had always kept to herself, though. And her classmates were more than happy to leave her alone.

All her life, Ouragana had had difficulty connecting with anyone. Even her foster family, who raised her from a baby, were almost like strangers to her. But there had always been one person she could relate to--someone who she could always talk to--her mentor, Mage Colette Parish.

And so it was to her office she went first, before anything else. Assuming her office hours hadn't changed, she wouldn't be teaching any classes right now. Mage Parish only taught what was commonly known as 'utility spells.' These were non-violent, non-combat spells that were useful in day-to-day life like Mending, Light, and Mount. A pacifist, she was quite the rival with Mage Blackwell, who taught destruction spells; spells of flame, lightning and frost that so many new students were eager to learn as soon as possible.

Knocking at her door, Ouragana waited a moment before a voice spoke, "Enter!" Stepping inside, Ouragana found Mage Parish sitting behind her desk, going over some scrolls. She was a sour-looking woman, despite her sweet personality. "Well now," she says upon recognizing Ouragana. "What a pleasant surprise to see you again." She glances over to a calendar. "And on your birthday, no less?"

A smile lights up Ouragana's face. "Oh, you remember?" she asks. "But it is pure coincidence that the ship I came on landed today."
She waits to be asked to sit down, then continues. "I found life outside it much more difficult than I had thought" she confesses. "Most of the time, I felt quite useless. I never seemed to have prepared the right spells, or was able to use the magic creatively in cantrips. I had the impression that the people around me had to do all the dangerous things, and I was but a burden."

She begins to tell of her adventures, but because of her chaotic nature, it's a helter-skelter tale without much coherence, and it takes a lot of questions from Mage Parish to get it ordered enough to make sense of it.

When her discourse is more or less sorted out, Ouragana takes out the arrowhead she took on the island of the "primitives".

"Here, look, Mage Parish. I obtained this on the island we went, from the people that were seen as savages by the other members of my group. Even the priestess of Ocanthus wanted to press on and try to get the gem they were revering. But I couldn't do it, because in all likelihood, it would have meant to kill so many members of the tribe that their culture could not have survived.
Yes, it was true that they were honoring an evil cult. We had captured one of their shamans, I was trying to communicate with her, and I admit that I used harsh methods, such as withholding water, to get her to cooperate. I wanted to find out if they were being evil out of their free will, or were being forced by evil magic emanating from that stone. But one of the others just broke her neck."
Ouragana's hands play with the arrowhead, then she places it on Mage Parishe's desk.
"I coulnd't go on, and the rest of the group, except one, and out employer were very angry at me for that. I still think it was right to back out of there, because we would have destroyed that culture."

She leans back and goes on, thoughtfully. "On the other hand, not being able to fight at all is very dangerous, too. We investigated a series of murders that the local authorities didn't take seriously, and if I hadn't been given a staff with magic missiles, we would not have survived the attacks of the murderer when we had cornered him" she confesses. "On the ship that brought me here, the storm sorcerer was a disciple of Mage Blackwell, he tried to teach me the spell, but I couldn't grasp it, which you know is a rarity."

(OOC: Ouragana felt drawn to Thaddeus, too, and enjoyed working with him, though because of the rivalling schools of magic they both come from, she wouldn't admit it even to herself.)

Colette listens carefully to everything Ouragana tells her. "It sounds like you fell in with a bunch of murderous ruffians to me," she says. "I think you should be more careful with what jobs you accept. Killing is never an option, no matter the circumstances. After all, look at me. I lived most of my life on the seas as a Storm Sorceress, and never have seen a single battle."

She harrumphs as she thinks more on it, becoming a bit upset--her metaphorical feathers becoming ruffled, so to speak. "To think, those monsters wanted to wipe out an entire culture just for a gem. Outrageous. Well, you did the right thing. Those greedy monsters may well go and wipe out the culture anyway, but at least your hands are clean of it."

And investigating murders? That sounds more like the work for the constabulary, not a storm sorceress. We are not a group of hired magic-wielding thugs, no matter what that pompous Blackwell might think! Speaking of which, you were learning spells from one of her pupils, were you? What was this student's name? Hmph! Well, it's no surprise to me you couldn't learn it. You are more civilized and kind-hearted than those brutes that idolize Blackwell. What does surprise me is you would even try. That's a slippery slope to go down, my dear. Sure, you might try and justify it as 'self-defense' or some other such claptrap, but before you know it, you're murdering and killing left and right just to line your pockets with gold. I've seen it happen, more than once!"

"Well, I would prefer to navigate the seas peacefully, for all my life, but after my first job I was unceremoniously dropped off at Narin when the Captain could take up a more experienced storm sorcerer, with very little money. I had to find something to pay for my room and board before I could catch a ship back. And on that trip, we were attacked by a ork pirate ship that had three young dragons fighting for them. I don't know how I could have evaded fighting" Ouragana says, a little defensively.
"What I did then was using a spell to send some of the enemies to sleep, so they couldn't continue to attack. Would this kind of spell be acceptable for self-defense, in your opinion?" she asks.

"Oh, dearie, once you get some more experience, you won't have the problem of being dumped like that," Colette says, ignoring the fact that one cannot earn experience without taking what jobs they can get. Then again, Colette was raised with great privilege in a wealthy family and so has never gone without in her life.

"A sleep spell? Tell me then, what became of these orcs you put to sleep? I'm going to go ahead and guess that they were killed, too. So yes, I'm afraid their blood is on your hands, as well," she points out.

Ouragana looks at her hands. "i did my best to keep them clean" she sighs. "It was all I could do there and then.
What course of action do you recommend, then?"

"Perhaps take some time off here to study and learn more spells," Colette suggests. "Once you add a few more to your repertoire, you'll become more valuable and less likely to be replaced. Then you can choose any non-violent job you like."

Ouragana nods. "Yes, that's what I have planned in coming here" she says. "And I also need to go to the library, look what can be found there about the winged folk I have met, and add to it if needed. And warn about that remote island with the evil tribe, so no one ventures near."

She rises and after saying goodbye, makes her way to quarters where she can leave her heavy backpack, and then to the library, deep in thought. Her past experiences had shown her that she was not going to be able to lead the peaceful life her mentor had, she simply couldn't choose from jobs as the offspring of a wealthy family could. And, to be honest, now that she had gotten the taste of adventure, such a life would be boring.

She would not go as far as offending Mage Parish by learning attack spells, but there must be other spells like the sleep spell, which incapacitate attackers without killing them.