[Azura Rayume]

Adelaide | Trolli

"So you're saying you just... found it somewhere?" Adelaide sounds skeptical as she raises the crystal up to the sun, letting the rays spark through its facets. Crystals like this didn't just come out of the ground cut like this, not often. "And it's supposed to react with nature some way? That certainly is a fascinating idea, but-"

The sea breeze whips up around her, ruffling her skirt and taking off with her oversized hat. "Oh, no, Trolli, catch it!"

[1]

[Azura Rayume]

The Nagi quickly springs from her shoulder, darting out fast enough to catch the brim of her hat in their mouth. She honestly should be more careful, and they would gripe about it if their mouth wasn't currently full of fabric and other things were not more important. Trolli hovers close enough for Adelaide to take the hat back, and they scowl as best a snake can.

"I didn't say I found it," they grumble, settling around her shoulders again. "I said there was a man talking about them in the square, and I took one. But you're right about the other part."

[2]

[Azura Rayume]

Adelaide settles her hat back into place, tugging the brim extra tight over her curls just to make sure it stays  properly this time, before turning her attention back to the crystal. It does catch the light in a peculiar way, but it is mostly gray and cloudy. Even when she held it up, the light filtered through it in an odd way. "You're sure this isn't just a piece of smoky quartz? Because it kind of looks like smoky quartz."

"I think I know quartz by now when I see it."

"Okay, fine, but there has to be something missing. It feels like it could be magic, but there's no magic in it now."

[3]

[Azura Rayume]

"Well, I don't know what it could be," Trolli pouts defensively, squeezing tighter around her shoulders for a moment. "He just kept talking about the rocks over and over, like he was trying to figure out something about them. He talked about the ocean and the wind and the crystals, that's it."

"And you're sure he didn't have anything else with him wherever you got the crystal from?"

"No, it was just crystals and-" The serpent gapes for a moment, their mouth opening and closing dumbly for a moment. "There was a little clamp looking thing in the bag, too. I didn't think it was related, but maybe?"

[4]

[Azura Rayume]

Adelaide smiles brightly at no one in particular. That's a lead, she thinks, a starting place at the very least. She turns on her heel, then stops. "Where did you say you saw him?"

"You need to listen better!" Trolli headbutts her jaw lightly, though they clearly do not mean for it to be light. "In the square, I said." There is a long pause, and they sigh in annoyance. "By the fountain? Where that saltwater taffy place you insist on visiting every time we come here is?"

'Oh, the taffy place! Why didn't you start with that?"

[5]

[Azura Rayume]

Trolli does his very best impression of rolling his eyes. "Would you have remembered where it was if I had started with it?"

"Yes," Adelaide pouts as she turns on her heel, making her way back down the boardwalk toward the shop in question. "There are only three places on the Jawan seaside that make saltwater taffy, one only one is really worth stopping at. Not that the others aren't good, but that they don't have the kind of variety this one does. So I always go there because it's always the best." She smiles brightly as the pastel sign for the shop comes into view, all loopy, swirling, colorful letters. "I never forget a good candy shop."

[6]

[Azura Rayume]

Her feet carry her quickly to the front door of the shop, but Trolli headbutts her again, "We're not here for sweets!" they snap, sliding from around her neck to hover in front of her, ineffectively blocking her way. "We're here about the crystals."

"Yeah, yeah, we're here to steal," she pouts at them, holding her position in front of the door for a very long moment before finally turning away, clearly upset about it. "But after, I'm getting candy, and you won't be stopping me."

Trolli rolls their eyes. "Don't say 'steal' so loud. You're gonna get us caught."

[7]

[Azura Rayume]

She can hear the man talking as she gets to the corner of the shop, and she stops right away in case he looks her way. She is rather bright and distinct for sneaking around, so this might be a problem. The man does not seem to notice her, though, instead continuing to explain something about a device to another curious passer-by.

"So... how do we get the thing from him?" Adelaide asks, tipping her head curiously and almost far enough to tip her hat off her head. "He looks like he's holding it."

"Same way I got the crystal." Trolli slips off and makes their way to the ground, keeping their wings tucked away as best they can. "He has more than one. I can slip into his bag and snag one before he notices."

[8]

[Azura Rayume]

"Okay, fine." Adelaide crouches down beside them, concern in her eyes. "Just be careful. And fast."

Trolli makes a teasing face. "When am I not?"

Quick as they can, the snake makes their way across the cobblestone square, the bag on the ground squarely in their sights. It doesn't take them long to slip inside the bag and rummage through the notebooks and pens and random things to find one of those clip looking devices he's busy showing off. Trolli wraps their tail around the thing and slithers away, opening their wings as soon as they are free and hovering away as quickly as possible. From the sound of it, the man is deep in conversation and doesn't even notice them.

[9]

[Azura Rayume]

Adelaide squeaks in excitement as soon as Trolli is back in her hands. She can't help it. "Clever little serpent!" she says as she trots away as quickly as she dares, the device in her hands and her familiar around her shoulders where they belong. "And now all we do is click the gem in here, yeah?"

"We should get away from here," Trolli says, gently tapping their tail against her arm. "Like maybe down to the beach? Try it nearer to the water, like how he kept talking about elements and nature."

"Sounds like a plan!"

[10]

[Azura Rayume]

Adelaide quickly makes her way down to the water, practically skipping down the steps to the sand below. She plops herself down in the sand, quickly whipping her hat off and setting it beside her along with the device, and starts to undo the laces on her shoes.

"What in the world are you doing?" Trolli asks as they slide off her shoulder to curl up in her hat to keep it still. They move over when she sets her shoes on the hat as well, curious if perhaps a little spooked.

[11]

[Azura Rayume]

She simply laughs. "Taking off my shoes, of course! You can't expect me to practice new magic with my shoes on." She buries her bare toes in the sand with a sigh. "Much better. Now, let me see that thing..."

Adelaide lifts the device, fiddling with the sliding bit for a moment before the crystal clicks into place, and she makes a satisfied, if surprised, squeak. That wasn't very hard, actually, and already she could see a blue glow starting to build in the center.

Trolli slips up her arm to look at it closer. "Fascinating," they hiss, their pupils at first wide, then narrowed to slits as the glow gets brighter. "What do you think it does?"

[12]

[Azura Rayume]

"I think-" A wave catches her off guard, crashing more forcefully against the beach than the others before it. The next one surges up high enough to drag the sand from her toes, and she has to snatch her hat away to keep it from filling with water. "I think it does that."

"That's-" Trolli wraps around her arm, trying their best to not sound nervous even though they squeeze tighter. "That doesn't seem like a lot."

"Right." Adelaide gets to her feet, stepping back from the shore. Even still, that doesn't keep her dry; the next wave sweeps up high enough to cover her ankles even on the rise. "It certainly isn't nothing, though."

[13]

[Azura Rayume]

Around her, other beachgoers have clearly noticed as well, some starting to move up the beach more with bundles of blankets and umbrellas under their arms, others herding small children out of the water and away from the waves. A few turn their attention skyward, clearly confuse about why the waves have started acting like a storm is rolling in when there is hardly a cloud in the sky. None turn their attention to the brightly colored witch standing at the point the water seems drawn to, at least for now.

"It's drawing the water," Adelaide whispers, staring at the device in her hand with delight. "It's pulling the-" The surf surges up, washing over her up to her waist, and drags heavily back down, threatening to pull her with it. "Oh, no."

"Turn it off!" Trolli quickly coils around her neck, hiding their face under the collar of her shirt. "I don't want to go swim, turn it off!"

[14]

[Azura Rayume]

"Okay, okay! I will!" Adelaide backpedals up toward the boardwalk, turning the device over in her hands as she looks for an off switch. It doesn't seem to have any switches at all, no actual way to turn it on or off. She changes tactics, then, taking hold of the gem and twisting it hard to pull it from the socket. It feels like it resists, pushing back against her strength until she channels some of her own magic toward it. The crystal pops loose, one of the smaller spikes cracking in the process.

Even with the crystal in her hand, the waves keep coming, as if they are reaching up to the jewel to claim it without regard for what might be between the water and it. In a panic, she throws it out into the waves, and the water immediately recedes as if the sea is chasing the crystal down into itself.

[15]