Staying in the Meeraz

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I ran down the stairs, avoiding a patron that was using the stairs, towards Azura, who was talking with my sister. Naela was fully equipped, ready to get out, and Azura had a frown as she heard her talk. It was quite early in the morning and the tavern was unusually empty. I slowed down as soon as my sister looked at me with illusion but Azura looked at me with... anger? That was surprising, and a bit hard to read in her starry night face. "Did something happen?" I asked when I was close enough.

Azura sighed and signalled Naela to speak with a handwave. Naela, impassive to Azura's anger, grabbed my hands and with a giant smile started speaking. "We have a new job! Azura doesn't really like it... It's about travelling in a ship! They made a ship that can travel across islands and they are searching a couple guards to deal with space animals in case they get too close! They also preferred if the guards knew anything about magic, which felt a bit of a trap, but Azura explained to me that magic is not forbidden here, so I signed up us both!"

Surprise quickly went to confusion when Azura break us and took a deep breath before speaking. "I was explaining to Naela why this mission was a horrible idea. Firstly, it is a prototype, something that hasn't ever seen action and has, so far, only worked on paper. This is extremely dangerous, not only because we don't know how animals will react to such a massive non-organic thing leave an island, but also because they cannot assure it will properly work! The job mentions the possibility of getting stuck between islands, which is the tame of the two dangers, and also that there's a possibility of instability, which that means, for scholars, possibility of exploding!"

Azura grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it. She put her hands on her face, covering her mouth and nose, closed her eyes, and strongly breathed out on her hands. She clearly hated that idea, and I wasn't too fan of it either. Naela grabbed me by the arm, "Should we go? They leave tomorrow but wanted to instruct us on something today." I made her let go of my arm and replied. "No." The answer surprised them both, Naela looking at me like a puppy that was denied food and Azura looking at me with relieve. Saying 'no' to her felt freeing.

"Naela, we need to talk." I made her sit on a chair and I sat on another, all near Azura. I took a deep breath. "When we left home, I made a promise to Dad. To take care of you. You are making this impossible. That job is awful and I know you are smart enough to realize. So please, I beg you, stop letting your emotions cloud your thoughts anymore. I love that you are enjoying doing these adventures and that you are discovering a lot of the place and yourself. But you keep talking in singular and then dragging me behind, which I reluctantly do because the promise I made. But I don't want to live anymore by what you want. I want to have happiness for myself, I want to do something I also enjoy." Azura looked at me proudly while Naela looked at me with dismay. I took another deep breath.

"You made your choice. Adventuring. You are an adult and the only responsible of yourself. I don't want to leave your life, but I cannot keep running behind your heels and doing what you please. I am also a person and I deserve my own life." Naela gulped and looked down, hiding her sadness. "This is hard for me as well as for you, because taking care of you has been all my life and I love you dearly."

Naela took out her armour and left it next to her chair, next to her backpack, and stood up to take a glass of water. I could do nothing but stare at her as she did that until I felt Azura's hand on my shoulder and I saw her smiling at me, prompting me to keep talking. "Arriving to Meeraz has opened my eyes to many things I was unaware they existed, it has brought me to a new culture that's the other side of a coin than ours. And I've decided I want to learn more about the world. I want to learn about the magic we've always been told it's evil and that shouldn't be used, I want to learn about how all the machines we see in town move on their own, and maybe one day, once it's more safe, how they can move ships across islands."

No one said anything for a bit. I saw Naela finishing the glass of water and then pouring herself a shot of one of the alcohols. She, then, came back to her chair and dropped heavily on it. A deep breath left her mouth before she said anything. "I... I never realized I was pushing you. I never realized that I was forcing you to do things you didn't want, I thought we wanted similar things if not the same. We always enjoyed imagining adventures as children, and finally being able to make mines clouded my mind. I didn't stop to ask you things..." she looked at the paper that, I can only guess, holds the job's information. "Creator... I've been such a horrible sister." she said, rubbing her forehead. "I feel horrible... I will go cancel the job...."

She tried to stand up but I stopped her and left her sitting in the chair, a bit confused, all the usual light out of her eyes. "We'll work throught this. You aren't horrible, I still love you dearly. Our paths might change a bit, but I still wanna be in every part of your life. I don't enjoy going adventuring, but I enjoy being with you, and I want you to know, that, if a job ever becomes too difficult you can always ask me help and I will. You can count on me, I can count on you." I stood up and made her stood up as well and gave her a long hug. I could hear her trying to stop a cry that wanted to leave her.

"I'll go cancel the job. Can we talk a bit more after I'm back?" she asks while drying her eyes and gathering her items. "Of course. And leave those items, I'll put them on your room while you are out, don't worry about it." I replied, seeing her stop and drop everything but the job's paper. She turned to me with a forced smile and nodded to me before slowly leaving.

"You did great. I'm proud you finally said something." Azura said as she put a hand on my shoulder and looked Naela leave. I turned to her. "I didn't want to ask this in front of Naela, but, can I stay working with you in the tavern? I enjoy the place.", my question confused her a bit, "Working in the tavern won't teach you anything about magic or machines." she mentioned. "Well, I can learn about people and the culture in here, and people are really nice to me. It's also fun to make the weird drinks they sometimes ask." I replied, but then added "Maybe you could teach me some magic...." in a whisper, not daring to properly articulate the question.

I saw Azura's smile grow bigger. "Yes, I can try. But you'll have to find someone else to teach you about machines."

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