Unlikely Friends

"So you are from the Volcanic Plains, no?" Irelia was fascinated by the person that stood before her, even as Caitlyn kept her spear at her side. Despite being tutored by the kingdom's best and brightest, there were still plenty of blind spots in her knowledge of who and what lived in the territories that would one day be hers, and meeting one of those gaps openly greeting her was, for all intents and purposes, a significant culture shock. Regardless of that, Irelia maintained her cool demeanor, and entreated the one that slowly morphed to assume her shape and visage, even while her dutitful friend and bodyguard carefully watched.   "We are, though most of us stay within the old magma tubes and remain there for the majority of our lives," the false Irelia replied, with a strained metallic voice. "I just happened to emerge up from the tubes to look around, and to see if the world had changed in the last 100 years. Are the Stillingfleets still the dominant Authority in these parts, young lady?"   Irelia stifled a giggle, even as she held up her other hand to stop Caitlyn before she could begin. "You are indeed talking to one. It is currently my mother, Queen Isana, in power. Does that mean you were potentially alive for Idenia and for Isidia, then?" Irelia's curiosity was piqued - if it was true, then it means that she may have potentially found a suitable historian for herself, and one that shared a different perspective than the many others in her mother's court. "I am Irelia Stillingfleet, and it is my pleasure to meet you."   The silver creature assuming her shape paused for a moment, before dissolving back into a sphere, and flattening itself. "My apologies for presuming the form of a princess." It shimmered and assumed a different form, this one of a dead tree instead. "I have yet no name, so I cannot introduce myself properly, even if I have seen to the passing of ages myself."   "No offense has been committed," Irelia demurred, even as she sat across from the tree, as she also invited Caitlyn to sit beside her. "This is my best friend and bodyguard, Caitlyn Therrien. Please forgive her for being wary - she takes my safety seriously." Caitlyn politely bowed her head, before sitting beside Irelia and waiting for the creature before them to respond.   The tree shimmered, before slowly morphing to the shape of a young man with short locks of hair. "Therrien? Like that of the ancient Armaians, of the traders and adventurers of old?" Caitlyn was caught by surprise by this admission - as far as her grandparents had known, the Therriens were mere fishers, and not as grand as those who pushed the boundaries of knowledge and territory. "May I touch your hand, Lady Caitlyn?"   Caitlyn looked to Irelia, who nodded, granting her trust and permission to do so. With a tinge of hesitancy, Caitlyn allowed the man to grace her hand, and after a moment, their fingers pulled back, and the man swayed with the breeze. "Indeed, you are a true-blooded Therrien, and one that appears to have inherited the gift of potency, too. Your blood also speaks of discipline, of dedication - surely you exemplify the greatness of your forefathers."   Caitlyn withdrew her hand, blushing at the praise being heaped upon her. "I-I... thank you for your kind words," she managed, clearly not used to being the center of attention. She turned around to look at Irelia, wondering what to do next, while the demure princess smiled and stood up, offering her hand to the handsome being in front of her. "You clearly have knowledge of histories past, and you desire to explore further than the tubes that you have long called home... will you honor me with your company, as a member of my retinue?"   The man stood straight, and bowed before the Princess of New, straightening themselves. "I shall, though as I am nameless, I humbly request that you grant me the gift of a name. A gift that will define me permanently, that will separate me from the formless mass that I once was, and crystallized into who you destine for me."   Manifesting a tinge of her Authority, Irelia's eyes ignited as she commanded the flows of the ethereal, the veins of the world's life to heed her and to recognize the act that she was about to perform. "By the blessing of Tio, I hereby will name you Liras, the one who bears the knowledge of the mountains. It will be your new identity, and you will be the one who will guide me in properly leading my people and my home. Do you accept your new name?"   Caitlyn braced herself with the haft of her spear, as a circle manifested at Irelia's feet, enveloping both her and the nameless Silvian. Out of all the rituals and invocations she was tutored in, a renaming was not one of them, not that she would possess the qualifications of performing such an intensive working. Only one possessing Authority would be able to do so, and who better than the example in front of her, in the form of Princess Irelia, the daughter of Tio?   "I accept my new name, and I bind myself to your purpose and to your command, Princess Irelia Stillingfleet. From this day on, I am no longer one of many, but now I am one - I am Liras, and I will bear the knowledge that you require for you to run your dominion." The now-named Liras kneeled before Irelia, as the circle flashed away, the ritual complete. Already, Liras felt his form now defined by new purpose, as Irelia gently tapped both of his shoulders with her scepter, completing tradition and biding him to rise.   "Liras and Caitlyn," Irelia called out, with her new retainers immediately coming to before her. "Shall we head on home?" Both nodded to their Princess, as they began a gracious walk back towards Harton. Liras looked once behind at the mounds he once called home in his old life, before looking forward, his steely heart excited to face a new future with the true blood of power by his side.