WHO: Fela and OPEN WHAT: Finding the name of Stone WHERE: The Railroad Cut WHEN: Wednesday morning WARNINGS: TBD, Likely Low STATUS: Open/Ongoing
Fela missed school. She'd loved it, always loved it, ever since she was a little girl taking lessons from her tutors. There was something...equalizing about learning. Something fascinating. And no matter how much you learned, it seemed like it was never enough, that there was always something new and exciting around the corner, just waiting for you to find it. It was full of surprises, full of new things to do with your mind, new ways to think, new ways to look at the world.
That, she thought, was why she loved Naming so much.
The discipline of Naming, she'd discovered (and while she was no Master, and never claimed to be, she thought she was right about this), was unlike any discipline she'd ever known. It taught the importance of words, the importance of Calling, the importance of looking at things from an entirely different angle. While she loved working in the Medica, and the Artificery, none of them made her think so...creatively as Naming did. And Elodin was right - you couldn't use words to explain a Name, because the Name held all of its definition in itself.
She'd risen early this morning, and made her way down to the railroad cut. It was a long walk, but it was the place in Madison Valley with the most exposed stone. She'd been studying a bit with Elodin, but she was well aware that a successful student had to study on her own, as well, and she didn't want to lose the Name of Stone through simple laziness. She didn't think she would - but it was too precious to her not to be sure.
Reaching her destination, she sat crossleggged on the ground, leaning her back against one sheer stone cliff while facing the other. She closed her eyes, centered herself (which she'd heard the better Namers didn't have to do, but she wasn't among their number yet) and spoke the Name of Stone. She felt it tremble around her, and power rushed through her as she realized once again that she could bend it to her command.
Opening her eyes, she stood, holding out both hands as she commanded the stone to move, to part, to create a staircase from the bottom of the cliff to the top. And it did.
Exhausted, Fela smiled and walked over to her work, placing a foot on the bottom step, the perfect size for her delicate foot, and started climbing her way to the top. Perhaps later, she would show this to Elodin, although she doubted he'd think much of it. It wasn't really his way.
As she came nearer to the top, and to the houses that stood there, she heard voices.