[sylvanSpider]

Oh, this woman is infuriating, Arabella thought, clenching her teeth and watching the dark mage mock her. Her countenance, however, did not change and she kept a steady neutral look in her eyes, releasing little more than a sigh. “Then you have not been paying attention. You're spewing downright lies in order to seem somehow better. Pity, I would have thought you would have had something better than that.” Arabella smirked pulling out one of the aforementioned books, though her reasoning was unknown to Kastivi who, like Christoval, was paying the utmost attention to the exchange. Arabella continued, “Oh, they have. But you see, my books also said that dark mages will keep whoever they find necessary around and you certainly are not going to take away another pair of hands to do your slave labor, now are you?”

Kastivi pouted down at the top of Arabella's head, not liking the idea of her being used like poor Christoval was. The poor lad wasn't so much of an apprentice as he was a pack horse for the more experienced veteran. She raised her eyebrows, however, when the packhorse dared to step between them in favor of his master. When he tried to say that he could take her on? Kastivi burst out in a fit of laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was a rich laugh, one that filled the room and drew eyes before Kastivi clapped a hand over her mouth to stop hersefl squeaking a small “sorry” before bowing her head. Arabella gave a small smirk at the apprentice in an obvious dismissal and turned her attention back to Wisp, “You'd have to be able to read the book to get any use out of it, mage.”

Kastivi exhaled and flashed an apologetic look to her fellow apprentice. “Your father sounds like a kind man,” Kastvi said with a sheepish grin, “Mine tried to get the town elders to ram a stake through my heart.” She looked down at the ground, looking up at the knight before turning her attention back to the ground and kicked her foot. “It sounds like you were made for adventuring. I just sort of...fell...into it.” She was found, in the nick of time by the halfling before her. Brought to be a Daughter of Ash for the very thing that almost got her killed. It was strange how quickly one's life could change. She wondered if meeting these two would be one of those life changing things. She laughed with Christ's honesty, “Well, Ara can be kind of mean as well--”

“I heard that, Kas. Your strength session has been moved one half hour forward tomorrow. By the time these two roll out of bed and ready to leave, you will have worked yourself out of breath. I'll look forward to it,” Arabella responded with narrowed eyes now looking up at the dark skinned woman.

Kastivi sighed. She was always good on her word, too. She'd punish herself too if need be. “Yes. We might as well try to get along,” the halfling growled. “Kastivi, I will be in our room,” she said, tossing the key to Kastivi who caught it without even thinking, “You can stay down here for a couple of drinks, but don't forget. You've got an early morning, and being hung over is not the best idea for what I have in store for you.”

Kastivi groaned and watched the halfling move to the stairs and she turned to the mage and the apprentice, “I'm ah...I'm sorry about that.”