Legends of Belariath

Keani

Keani stepped further inside the illusion room inside What she had in mind would likely not be considered appropriate use of the powerful magics inside Unigo, but she needed to clear her mind, and her old mentor often said that it was important to review one's past and remember the lessons to help continue one's improvement. So with a wave of her hand, she drew forth her memories and bore witness to her own past.

The mermaid was an only child, quiet and kept to herself, prone to explore the deep seas west of the empire. During one of her long travels swimming through the seas around her home, she became tangled inside a fishing net and was pulled out into the sea and into captivity.

Lesson: Watch where you're going and pay attention to your surroundings.

A mermaid taken from the deep sea? The men upon the vessel could not believe their fortune and quickly caged her, bringing her to a port and put on display in certain markets to be sold. Even though she was still young at the time it sounded like she may catch a fair price and many eyes upon her were cruel and only saw what she could become under their possession and older.

Lesson: There are many cruel people out there who only listen to the voice of money.

The night before the auction, an elderly man approached her cage, white hair clinging to his head, soaked in seawater and hands that of a fishermen. The men guarding her cage tried to chase him off, but after taking one look at her the old man waved his hands in the air, fingertips trailing through the air and leaving some sort of glowing markings before the markings suddenly leapt forward and the guards dropped, knocked out. With them down it was a simple matter of unlocking her cage and helping her to the sea to escape.

Lesson: Not everything, or one, is what they seem at first glance.

Months after her rescue, Keani was once more swimming near the surface when she spotted a small fisherman's boat out in the deep sea. She was about to fall back down to deeper waters when the waves calmed enough for her to see just who it was upon the vessel. The old man who had rescued here. Steeling her nerves she swam up and surfaced, to thank her saviour.

Turned out the old fisherman used to be a traveling mage before settling down back in his home village, and after a few more meetings began to teach her magic. It was inside a cove of a small island that he introduced her to fire magic, magic both terrifying and exhilarating for the child of the sea.

Lesson: Sometimes it is worth taking a risk, even a small one.

Her lessons continued on for two years before one day, he did not show. Nor did he the next, nor the third. Finally on the fourth day she saw his boat drifting in the cove, with him inside, passed away from old age. Her mentor was gone, there was a book inside his boat, something he never brought with him before due to water washing away inks, but she did not know how to read and so put the book in a safe place and wished him farewell.

Lesson: Life is fleeting, cherish what you have while you have it, for it may be gone the next day.

It was just a week after that did something even worse happen. Still mourning the loss of her mentor Keani was swimming on the outskirts of her home when suddenly, in the heart of the city, a blackness formed, a circle that spread and grew, consuming everything inside it and even where she was at she felt her life begin to fade. She escaped, swimming as fast as she could with others fleeing the area, and in a desperate hope made their ways to the shores where she wound up in Thallis port.

The day was from there on known as the Day of Exodus, she survived but many, many others had died.

Lesson: Luck sometimes is the greatest decider of all.

With a heavy sigh Keani dismissed the illusion, the last of the images, of Thallis port, fading away. That was her life, before she came here to the empire and Unigo. While she was uncertain about learning anything new, refreshing the memories was more helpful than she realized. Before she gets into any trouble however it was time to resume her duties and training, and so without wasting any more time the mermaid slipped out of the room and back to the tower proper to see if anyone needed assistance.

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