Oshynn of Llysgaled - Earthmaster Chaser

Oshynn of Llysgaled is a citizen of Shiran, in Harn. She has had the same recurring dream since she was a little girl, that of visiting the ruins of Anisha in Harn for the first time. In her dream, she is a Grey Mage.
Born in 690, she exhibits unusual psionic abilities at the age of 12, and soon enough learns to take her first steps into Pvarism when she embraces Fyvria - a Convocation diametrically opposed to her sunsign on the cusp of Nadai and Hirin. (Oshynn)
She Awakens as she travels down the Thard from Shiran, on board a trading ship, The Courtesan. At Telen, she befriends a Kuzhai called Mohan Tiwari. Oshynn casts her first ever spell, a Fyvrian spell, to defend herself and the crew of the trading ship The Courtesan. She ends up killing a relative of the Nordaka cousins who run Telen, and leaves Telen in a hurry. (Force of Life).
She comes to live in Coranan for a few years. At the early age of fifteen, she obtains gainful employment, handling and identifying corpses and aiding the investigation of murders. She is in Coranan in 707, the year the Thard bursts its banks. Master Theron of Yisgaraen initially challenges her credentials and her right to be a Fyvrian Shek-Pvar. Undaunted, Oshynn solves a murder and liberates a young girl, Tani, from the clutches of slavery. (Matter Of Life And Death)
When Oshynn is ready to learn Odivshe, she secures two signatures from Virana living in Coranan, and travels with Tani to Golotha to obtain permission from the third, a Master called Obol.
Before she sets off, Oshynn acquires an Ivashu wasp, which she calls Ves. Between Coranan and Geshtei, she and Tani rescue a Tekek from its dying Polan. The Tekek rides along with Oshynn to Golotha. Oshynn is already an accomplished enchanter, and creates a shawl for the Tekek which also doubles as a Fount of Power to offset its psionic talents of Pyrokinesis and Telepathy.
At Geshtei, while staying in the Save-K'Nor Temple, Oshynn receives her most powerful vision yet of Anisha, the Earthmaster site which she is destined to make her home. In this vision, she is a Gray Mage. (Companions)
At Golotha, Oshynn and Tani discover that Obol is dead. They discover that Obol had been attempting to become a Grey Mage using stolen knowledge, and paid the price. Oshynn explores Temple Hill, and learns a life lesson. (Lucky Thirteen)
Oshynn Heads to Cherafir
Later, Floy of Syerix recalls Oshynn to Golotha, with a task. She requests that Oshynn, now a powerful Shek-Pvar of both Fyvria and Odivshe, attend a conference on her behalf, and deliver several letters to the Peleahn Virana. The meeting of minds is to take place in the Peleahn Chantry in Berema, Emelrene.
The Peleahn, having commissioned a ship to take the first leg of the journey to Cherafir, assigns two Shek-Pvar to accompany her - Thara of Kelso, a Savoryan Arcanist on her way home to Cherafir, and Pik of Nef, a Jmorvi on her way to Glenoth to complete her Shenava training, having spent the last two years in Coranan learning her arts and crafting well-made mundane swords for the Thardic Legions.
They fend off a mutiny by a crew who seemed more interested in having the three women to themselves than in embarking on careers of piracy, and Oshynn is reunited with a Kuzhai, Mohan Tiwari, whom she had first met in Telen, and who is interested in becoming an Odivshe Shek-Pvar. Mohan reveals that he originates from Thonia.
Oshynn at Cherafir
The party arrives at Cherafir without further incident. Oshynn is studied and scrutinised by the Masters of Cherafir as a true wonder. Her letters are gratefully received, particularly by the Peleahn Master who had been wondering where her student had gone after becoming a Shenava.
Oshynn presents the Peleahn Viran with a wondrous item - a Peleahn tinderbox, fashioned from Jmorvi-forged brass. The flames produced by the tinder burn slowly, but clean, as though every flame were touched by Zyrgin's Heat to burn without smoke, leaving no residues behind.
Not everybody is impressed by this strange self-taught Shek-Pvar interloper. One Savoryan Shenava, Rakash of Ahl, loathes her on sight. He inscribes a note to pass to the White Hand in Berema, informing the authorities that the bearer of the note is an interloper, a kvikir who has stolen Shek-Pvar knowledge, and that she must be destroyed.
Oshynn Through The Godstone
Realising that Oshynn needs to get to Berema without delay, she is given special dispensation to enter the Godstone.
Oshynn and her companions enter the Godstone, along with Thara of Kelso, the Savoryan Shek-Pvar who'd accompanied them from Golotha. They emerge a short time later in the Earthmaster site in Berema.
Oshynn shows Thara the letters which she is to hand over. Thara is concerned about Rakash's letter, and shows Oshynn Rakash's secret instruction to the White Hand to arrange for Oshynn's destruction.
Oshynn Does The Rounds
Of course, the first Shek-Pvar the party encounters is a Savoryan. Not only that, she is a member of the White Hand.
Fortunately, Salin of Tuvara is not just any Savoryan - she knows of Oshynn through correspondence with a Shek-Pvar called Riffen of Sharis, a Fyvrian who set Oshynn on her path to becoming a Grey Mage by helping her to grasp the Fyvria Principle within her.
Salin enquires into Oshynn's health after her sojourn through the Godstone. Travel through one of the Earthmaster portals can change the traveller, sometimes permanently. Oshynn reports that she is fine. Thara asks Oshynn if it is proper to hand Salin the White Hand letter. Oshynn hesitates, but quickly catches Thara's intent from a look on her face. She hands Salin the letter, her expression innocent.
Salin reads the letter and chuckles. 'I see,' she tells Oshynn. 'By rights, this letter would be grounds for an investigation.' She glances at Thara. 'A good attempt, but I can see your auric imprint over this little palimpsest of yours.
'However, I trust Riffen of Sharis a lot more than I trust this Rakash.' She tears up the letter. 'This never happened. Carry on, Oshynn of Llysgaled. Thara, I would speak with you.'
Oshynn asks Salin for directions to the other Chantries in Berema. Salin directs her; and one by one, she delivers the rest of the letters, including the Chantry of Arcane Lore. Her errands pass without further incident, and she meets Thara and Salin, who inform her that she will need to return to Harn before the end of the month, to take the responses from Berema back to Cherafir.
Until then, she is free to enjoy the next ten days in Berema.
Oshynn On The Town
The following morning, Oshynn is out and about, spending her tiny allowance on food. She is visiting the Jmorvi Chantry in Berema, when she senses an animal in distress. She feels the pain of a horse nearby, and follows the smell of burning charcoal to a small smithy, where Mavari are attempting to control a horse.
Oshynn sends the horse reassuring thoughts, and tells it to be calm, because the men are trying to shoe her. The horse directs Oshynn to the source of its pain, and Oshynn realises that the Mavari haven't trimmed the horse's nails properly.
The Shenava approaches her. His manner is brusque at first, until Oshynn points out the flawed work. 'It's not the metal that has the problem,' she explains. 'It's the animal.'
With that, Oshynn asks for a hoof file. She files the horse's hoof properly, until it can walk without pain. She then spends the morning going among the other horses, checking them for signs of disease and ill health, trimming their hooves and even examining their dung for signs of parasites. All the horses are in fine health, and Oshynn goes back to the Shenava, exhausted but satisfied that all of the steeds in the stable are fit and well.
Impressed at her facility with horses, the Shenava writes up a letter to the Shenavas of the Fyvrian Chantry, explaining the situation and commending Oshynn for her selflessness. The Shenava is unaware that Oshynn is only a visitor, and mistakenly believes her to be some Fyvrian Shenava's Mavar. Oshynn takes the letter and heads back to the Fyvrian Chantry, as the Shenava orders the Mavar to begin mucking out the stables ...
Salin and Mohan meet Oshynn as she arrives at the Chantry. Oshynn shows Salin the letter, and the Savoryan expresses her admiration.
'The horses were grateful, too,' Oshynn replied. 'I was thinking that perhaps the Shenava here can send a few of their Mavari over to the Jmorvi stables to tend to the horses, and of course to muck out.
Salin chuckles at the thought. 'I think that's a good idea,' she told Oshynn. 'The Virana and Shenava of both Chantries would find that to be agreeable.'
In the Chantry, Salin introduces Oshynn to a Fyvrian Viran, Valona of Sharis - the elder sister of Riffen of Sharis. Valona and Oshynn sit, and enjoy a herbal tisane while Oshynn describes her encounter with Riffen, before her awakening as a Fyvrian Shek-Pvar. Oshynn tells her everything she knows. She then says that Riffen left her with a gift; a puzzle to solve.
It is then that Oshynn drops a bombshell, when she explains that she solved that puzzle, which was understanding the Fyvria Principle and becoming a Shek-Pvar - and that she solved that puzzle on her birthday, the 8th of Agrazhar. Right on the cusp of Nadai and Hirin, the two worst sun signs for someone wanting to learn Fyvria.
Salin and Valona look at one another, exchanging a knowing look, because they know what this means - Riffen has identified Oshynn, by her Auric signature, as a potential Gray Mage.
Oshyn Solves A Problem
Oshynn is brought into the Fyvrian Chantry's garden, and invited to describe the few Fyvrian spells that she knows. She asks Valona for a bird egg - the species did not matter, as long as it was freshly-laid. Valona sends for a speckled goose egg from the Chantry's refectory.
Whilst waiting for the egg, Oshynn explains how she uses her abilities to speak to the minds of animals, calming them and explaining that she is there to help. At the mention of her mindspeech, Salin gasps - telepathy and psionics are topics of interest both to Savoryan mages and to the Guild of Arcane Lore.
Oshynn explains her Fyvrian spells to Valona - a spell to detect edible forage in the wild, another spell to sense whether a fungus is poisonous to eat, a third spell which she describes as "like being able to taste something without putting it in your mouth," and her spell to remove diseases by transferring them to bird eggs, or ordinary poultices if no bird eggs are available.
She demonstrates the spell on an ailing cat, a tabby brought in from the street. Oshynn gently reassures it that she means no harm, and rolls the egg over its body to transfer the disease which was destroying its kidneys into the egg. She also removes a cataract which had been forming in its right eye, and restored strength to its failing right hind leg.
By the time she has finished, the cat is hale and healthy. It still bears the scars of many long battles, but it is now as strong and supple as it was in the prime of its life. Valona casts a Fyvrian spell to eradicate its internal and external parasites - its ticks, fleas and lice rain down from its body in a shower of dead dust, leaving not so much as a louse nit behind, and its body crawls as its internal parasites die.
The cat purrs at its renewed lease on life, gently batting its head against Oshynn's hand, and a servant takes it back to its life on the street, as Oshynn looks for a spot of soft earth in which to bury the egg.
As Oshynn digs the hole in the loam, Salin and Valona look at one another, exchanging knowing glances. Oshynn has the potential not only to become a Grey Mage, but a Viran in every Convocation.
'We can't just send her back,' Salin whispers to Valona.
'We must,' Valona replies. 'But we can keep the door open for her to return.'
'If they sense what we sense of her, the Shek-Pvar of Cherafir may never let her go,' Salin says.
'We'll just have to trust Oshynn's judgment,' Valona says.
Oshynn and The Fox
Oshynn spends the day in the garden of the Fyvrian Chantry, where Valona and Salin leave her alone. Mohan, the Khuzan, joins her and they share a small meal in the grounds, in a section of the garden which is partly-bound with high walls covered in climbing plants.
The centre of this enclosure houses a pleasant water fountain, a gift from the Odivshe Chantry; its flowing waters keep this area cool and tranquil even in the hottest Summers, a place of quiet contemplation.
They speak of their lives back home on Harn. Oshynn describes life in Shiran as the daughter of a former courtesan who quit the game. Mohan tells her of Kuzhai life, the work ethic, the almost-religious belief in a mechanised society, where everybody was defined by the function they performed for the State. Mohan mourned the fact that they realised that their function in Kuzhai society was to be the grit in the gears. Mohan has a vast Aura, but apparently no aptitude for Jmorvi magic whatsoever.
They go for a walk in the gardens, and Oshynn points out several species of plants which she has never encountered before. She identifies a blight beginning to spread in a far corner of the garden, a rust slowly consuming a fruit-bearing climbing herb. She scrutinises the rust, and determines that its presence is an accident, something brought in on a seed, perhaps, by a Mavar. She spends a moment creating the form of her favourite Fyvrian spell to draw out the rust into a container of some sort. Mohan digs up the goose egg she'd used previously, and Oshynn transfers the fungus into it.
Realising that the rust could break from its confinement and spread from the egg if it is reburied, Oshynn resolves with Mohan to take the egg out of the Chantry and dispose of it in a place where it will do no harm.
The river seems like a good choice. Oshynn and Mohan head down to the banks of the Es, and look for a suitable spot.
They see a silvery shape on a grassy bank, taking a drink out of the river. It's a young fox, weaned and on its own. It looks up as Oshynn approaches. They both look at one another. Oshynn even cocks her head to one side. The fox glances at the river, as if to explain what it had been doing. Oshynn looks at the river again.
The fox takes a step back, and leaps into the waters. There is a splash, a blur of motion, and the fox emerges onto the grassy bank with a fish in its mouth. It looks at Oshynn once again, before scampering away with its meal.
Oshynn looks at Mohan, but the Khuzdul is looking at something else. A short distance away, three Berema citizens had watched the whole exchange with awed expressions. As the bystanders look on, Oshynn digs a hole into the dark river mud, drops the rotten egg into it, and replaces the mud, giving it a stamp down to crush the egg beneath.
'I hope they don't think that I did some sort of act of witchcraft or something,' Oshynn asked Mohan.
Mohan looks at her. 'I think they're probably more interested in what you did with the fox.'
'In what way?'
Mohan glances in the direction where the citizens had stood. 'You don't know?'
'No,' Oshynn replies. 'I've never been here before.'
'Did you notice anything unusual about that little fox?'
'Its fur was silver,' Oshynn replies.
'Silver-furred Jerinalian foxes are sacred animals around here,' Mohan replies. 'To hunt or kill one is abhorrent. But to befriend one is unheard of, and you just made a friend of one.'
'Why are they sacred?'
'Silver foxes are said to be some sort of spirit folk,' Mohan says. 'The people of Berema prize quick wit and charm, and you just helped a fox to catch a slippery fish.'
'I wasn't even thinking,' Oshynn replies. 'I just ... saw the silver in the water, and it saw it and jumped in and caught it.'
'By the time you get back to the Scholarium,' Mohan says with a grin, 'the rumours will have it that you all but bewitched that fish to jump out of the water and into its mouth.'
Nice tale
More please! :-)