Kastivi was already halfway through hers, but she was starting to feel the effects. It wasn't often she got her hands on a good pint of ale, and this pint was good. When she was a kid she'd had plenty with the mode of thought seeming to be that if they were old enough to spend a day in the fields, they were old enough to enjoy a bit of alcohol before bed. After all, what trouble did it bring? But the ale there was weak unless what she'd had was something meant for children. But after being taken in by Ara, her lips rarely touched the rim of a mug as a Daughter must always be ready and in clear mind.
She took another swig, sighing happily and moving to make her way through the crowd. “I love the woods as well, though they don't bring back childhood memories, thankfully. I was on my way to my second decade living by the time I first saw them with Ara. By then, I was well beyond pretend. The battles we had were real, though on the easy side for her.” Kastivi chuckled, snorting a bit, and rolled her eyes. “She'd stand by and watch my struggle, stepping in only when she saw that I couldn't do it by myself, shouting orders from the sidelines. Those were the times I learned the most, and I wouldn't be surprised if she did the same for this mission. It seems like one of the easier ones.”
Turning to look at him, she could feel her heart welling up seeing his small smile etched onto pale skin. He was the epitome of what a knight should look like, at least according to her own mind. Knights, after all, rarely came from the southern nations. They were all the fair-skinned blue-eyed northerners. Prior to her rescue with Ara, she'd never seen any of these white men, but now that they were well within the northern borders, her awe at them had subsided some time before. Now, she was more amazed than anything that one of them had not only bothered to give her the time of day but seemed to actually enjoy her company. That sentiment was returned. The pair were opposites, true, but in a complementing way. “And you shouldn't. Ehm, let anything stop you, I mean. You've got the right heart for adventuring, for protecting the innocent from evil. Just have to keep working your way up, right? I mean, there's something to joining this way of life willingly. I stumbled upon it. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it's not something I'd ever dreamed of as a small lass.”
She chuckled, drinking in as much of those blue eyes as possible. “I don't doubt her, as I don't doubt you...My laughter from before was due to you claiming to take on Arabella. Don't get me wrong, she's little—but she's fast and powerful. One day, perhaps, but you, just like me, don't have the experience to take her on yet. We're too young. We haven't seen enough yet. We'll get there. But if you sparred with her tomorrow, just like if I were to spar with Wisp tomorrow—we'd both end up as defeated. Do you understand what I'm saying? Our mentors are strong and, for the time being, it would be foolish to think we can do anything besides learn from them. I guess that's just my own perspective now, but who knows? Maybe it will change!”
Laughing once more, she turned back to the crowd and started in, “C'mon, let's get back to Wisp. We'll have plenty of time to talk on the road, yes?”