Name: Alicia Cane

Species: Red Fox/Morph

Origin: Élané

Age: Never ask a lady's age!

Gender: Female, obviously!

History: Lady Alicia Cane was from a rather rich family in the north of the Sapphire Ports area. Her father was a staunch believer in working for one's worth, and her mother was a rather picky woman. Both parents traits wound up in Alicia. When she was little more than a teenager, she decided that she required teaching in the magical arts. Her father was against it from the start but before his death some 30 years later he had to admit that his daughter did make a rather good mage. When war between the countries nearby broke out, Alicia was contracted by locals to help protect their lands during the fighting. She gladly did so, realizing that she could make quite a bit of money being a wandering or for-hire magician. This led her to cross paths with a group of more experienced, powerful mages in the distant deserts. Something happened between them, leaving Alicia angry and the wizards mostly dead. Some time after that - no one knows just exactly how long, since she is the only one living who knows - she established a small school for magic studies in the itsy-bitsy town of Fork.

Personality: Alicia is as sultry as her image indicates, however she is more of a tease than she lets on. She truly desires a good partner, but isn't sure how to find the right one without stepping on a few dozen toes in the process.

"Milo, sweetheart," Alicia purred, "could you just raise the level once more? Just one? It's a teensy bit off on this side."

Her 'student' Milo obliged, his russet and ivory fur getting covered in the dust that fell from the big books on the shelf he was helping - check that, he was doing himself, since Alicia was 'supervising' - put in. Alicia demanded a lot of work. But it was any excuse for him to be near her. She knew this. Of course.

She stood back a bit and looked at the wall, and nodded. Her pointed ears swung around a bit and her beautiful face focused on Milo's. "Thank you so much," she said. "I can take care of the books, you've worked hard enough today."

"Thank you, Miz Cane," Milo said, voice quiet and a bit out of breath more than reverently so. He didn't much want to leave: he wanted to watch her stretch to put books up, that little part of his mind that had no tact whatsoever kept him rooted to the spot. Finally, when Alicia noticed he was still standing there, her eyebrow went up. Milo shook himself out of his slobbery daze, and asked, "is there anything else you'd like? I could get you some water..."

"No, no," Alicia smiled and waved her hand gently, as a book and a pair of candles floated up out of a big box and onto the shelf, "I think I have it covered. Besides, after that last water incident, we don't need any more accidents..."

"Ah -" Milo grinned widely. He was at least halfway toward handsome, almost dashing at times with a dazzling honest smile or a sly smirk, and Alicia knew that he would be the right choice in the long run... If he could manage to make anything of himself in the magical community that is. As it stood, he had already gotten himself booted out of his prior Master's school and into hers. It wasn't much of a punishment, of course, at least for Milo. Of course it wasn't a punishment for Alicia either. Having a nice young thing like him around made her heart flutter a little more than before.

Alicia watched the fox mutt (she would never call him that, she was raised better than to do that! but oh how he always seemed to have something of a curious desert kit in him, or the quaint big-eyed look of a puppy at times...) leave her chambers, she almost let off a sigh. He would have to progress and that was that. She should have had him practice his magic on the shelving, but it was too late for that.

Blandly, Alicia drew her hand through the air and sent another batch of books in their proper order up to the shelf, but her mind wasn't really on the subject. It kept drifting back to Milo and ... something.

***

Milo hefted himself back to his quarters and rubbed his sore arm muscles. Mistress Cane was testing him again, wasn't she? The way she would keep her eyes fixed on him while he did something, and then narrow them in thought after he was done told him volumes.

Wasn't like he wasn't working as hard as he could. At least now, with a couple years behind him under her expert tutelage, he could say he was more than just the lowly apprentice to a mage like her. He'd long since been given tasks above sweeping or gathering wood, watering plants and that kind of boring work.

He knew that sort of work was purely to weed out those without the will power to remain on and learn the real skills available. It started simply: instead of lighting the candles with the tinder, he was shown how to concentrate on a glyph in his mind that would produce a spark. Put that glyph in your mind's eye imposed over the wick of a candle and ... poof! Lit candle!

Milo had been able to learn at a rate that apparently surprised Mistress Cane. When he arrived to Fork - the hard way, via an abrupt portal out of his old Master's tower - he had nothing but the clothes on his back and a stunned look on his face. But when his few posessions arrived, and he felt more comfortable, he fell into the routine that the mage insisted upon.

Of course, he kept peeking into things. Looking over her smooth-furred shoulder when she was reading a spell book. Glancing through the ingredients on a list of things he was getting from the herbalist in town and making guesses as to what herb would do which effect. When he could correctly announce those properties as he handed off the items, Alicia would always do two things:

Reward him by letting him perform more of the spell she was working on.

And then laugh musically as he'd fail to pull off the whole thing properly.

It kept him on his toes, and kept him humbled. He didn't know that Alicia could tell he was smart enough to impress her. Or, that she was thinking about him a lot more than he would hope.

Milo dropped to the cot in his quarters after he'd soaked his head in the water basin and toweled off. Hanging shelves. Well, it beat sweeping or dusting. It gave him the opportunity to see which books she'd be putting priority on. She always changed things around once or twice a year. Seasonally, she'd have books about potions or making wands, or the properties of certain dead Fey creatures innards, or even just a bunch of fashion collections of the eras gone by.

Milo knew that everyone thought he was enfatuated with her. Anyone who looked at her would be. But he'd rather be learning from her, than just plying her with gifts and attending parties. He'd been around long enough that he watched her completely dismiss several "suitors" that came calling after this ball or that dance at the governor's mansion. They weren't local, and claimed that she would be so much better appreciated out whereever they lived. They wanted to show her off, to have her dangling off their arm. They wanted her as a trophy.

Milo wanted her as a friend. He hardly realized that she'd long since accepted him as one. Milo's stomach gurgled, and he rose to get something to eat.

***

Dinner in the mage's tower was normally quiet, bland and filled with grumbling about how tired the apprentices were or how much work they had to do before sleeping. This night, it seemed a bit more tense - but not necessarily in a bad way. Milo walked by the group of diners, and then turned to see Alicia walk into the dining hall herself. This was not typical, of course. She usually had the servants bring her meals up to her chambers.

"Milo," she said, sweetly but with a bit of distance, "if you are finished eating, I'd like to talk outside."

"Ah - I'm... Well, I'm not done yet you see," he held up a fork and indicated his plate which hadn't even been started yet.

Alicia turned to the servant near by and said, "could you please bring us a dining tray out to the Fountain? And bring me a glass of wine with my meal. Milo?"

"Huh?" He said, staring at Alicia's face unabashedly. She was asking him something? "Oh! Um, yes, wine. That would be good."

"Of course." Alicia strode out of the dining room, and into the protected courtyard. There, under a dome of dark blue stone magically illuminated by little specks of light, was a soothing fountain. Alicia found her typical seat near it, where she could view outside the dome from a clear glass pane, and merely turn a bit to see the courtyard entrance should anyone arrive.

Milo came by a moment later, and he'd wisely allowed the servants to carry the food and drink. That last incident? It involved a nearly-full pitcher of water, and a new white dress. With the predictably embarrassing results.

While they ate, Alicia watched Milo's body language. He was nervous as always around her, but had that young man's confidence whenever he remembered that she had done this voluntarily. Making him squirm was quite easy and fun, but that wasn't why she'd summoned him twice this day.

Milo meanwhile tried to concentrate on not spilling anything on his lap and making a total dork out of himself. He watched Alicia eat - she was so polite and so dainty, but he knew she could knock back ale and bread just like a sailor when she put her mind to it. He had seen her doing just that one or two times, up at Alexi's - he'd even seen her dancing. Not like the nice "ballroom" dancing that he actually got to do with her a few times. But dancing like she had never wanted to do anything different her whole life. Entranced, he'd watched her the whole time, until Tir pointed out that he was drooling into his beer.

She'd obviously been raised with high class people - and clearly loved to be here in the tiny town of Fork. While he could emulate the behavior of a snooty merchant or a high-born lordling, he was always so darned nervous around her!

She was after all, his superior in every possible way. She was his Mistress at the wizard tower. She was at least four or five times older than he, and with the experience that that kind of age would bring. She was fantastically pretty - and held herself with style. Milo could dress well, and he thought of himself as a dapper young fox. There was that one time before the ball, when he'd been asked to actually help her dress and attended the party with her - the first time he had danced with her, that was magic more than any spell he'd ever cast.

With her reserved smile, Alicia gazed with her vibrant yellow-rimmed black eyes at the young wizard. "Milo, do you get the feeling that something is... missing? All day I've had this inexplicable feeling."

The way that she looked off into the distance again, it was as if scanning the sky - only she couldn't see the sky through the stone dome. Milo wondered if her practiced eyes were seeing something more in detail than he.

"I'm not sure I follow you, Mistress," Milo admitted. This didn't seem to suit her. She leaned back into the stone of the bench, and frowned slightly. "But how can you know you're missing something unless you've had it and lost it?"

That elicited a tiny smile from her, and Alicia turned to look at Milo. "You're right. Maybe... perhaps this was just some ... spring boredom. Or from the dust."

"Well I can tell you I don't miss that!" Milo said, trying to cheer her up. She seemed not so much glum as in some kind of mild distress mentally. Alicia chuckled, rolled her head and returned to eating.

"What do you miss, then, Milo?" She asked, tilting her head along with the wine glass.

Thinking a moment, Milo looked around and blinked. "You remember my friends? The ones I met at Alexi's?"

"Your little group of adventurers... I remember them. Brave big lizard. What was her name?"

"Rictor," Milo supplied. "Komodo - never seen someone that big sleep so much..."

Alicia laughed, "you should have supplied the poor thing with a heat rock."

"She slept over the heating fires in the Cozy Brook Inn," Milo said, remembering their days just forming their group. "And Tir," he rolled his eyes. "You remember Tir?"

Alicia's eyes narrowed, mistrusting the way she remembered him. "Yes, the falcon. That disreputable lout."

"Ah, he wasn't so bad." Milo said. "But I miss them. And Nyina, the raven. We went on that journey for you."

"You did well on that journey." Alicia said, serious. "And you came back heroes."

"Well, heroes here, maybe. And at the Isle." Milo looked down at his plate. The whole adventure was so amazing and strange he sometimes wondered if it hadn't been someone else in his body performing feats and exploring and...

"Humble as ever," Alicia muttered with a grin. "You miss adventuring like that. The thrill of exploring a place you've never heard of, surviving in the wilderness, depending on your friends."

"Have you ever gone out like that?" Milo asked.

"Oh, long ago," Alicia said. "With a group not unlike your friends. I suppose that since I cannot think of what it is that I am missing this night, I could tell you a little about them."

"I'd love to hear about it. I'd be honored." Milo said. He sipped his wine, not even noticing that he stopped being nervous.

***

So many years ago... Alicia had been cornered into an abrupt tour of the icy lands north of the Frozen Falls. If their current home in Fork was in the boondocks, then Frozen Falls was just about in the middle of absolute nowhere. To hear Alicia talk about the place, it was as if a perfectly fine bunch of people took leave of their senses and set up homesteads on sheer ice and flat rock. Alicia had gone there to learn from a local mage.

"We were quite young, though I think a little older than you," Alicia said. "I was barely able to work half the magic you use, and honestly a number of the spells you use hadn't even been created then."

"You're dating yourself," Milo warned. "Don't shatter my illusion that you're my sister's age."

"You don't have a sister," Alicia laughed, and continued with her story.

"We were four - myself, Andnas who was a llama, Kyrell the sandpiper, and Medi." She drew in a long sigh. "Medi was a polar bear. We each thought of ourselves as wizards, but he was the strongest among us in magic and body as well. Andnas had a streak of luck in him that couldn't be beat and he always got into trouble - like you - but he would gamble himself out."

"And into deeper trouble?" Milo asked.

"Always - especially when he wanted to collect on his bets. And who would he get to help him?"

"You," Milo correctly asserted.

"Of course." Alicia sipped her wine, and continued. "Kyrell was a fire witch, she knew tricks with light and the aether that none of us could figure out. So we all thought we were quite the group. No one would mess with us. So we went looking for trouble."

They found it. Alicia told a story of half-doom and half-terror, as the four young mages got deeply over their heads in a battle made by undead. Of course, Alicia survived, but it seemed by her silence that at least one of their team hadn't made it out even of that short stint adventuring.

"Medi got caught in a trap, meant for someone else," Alicia said, sadly. "He fought so hard, but it was snowing - and Kyrell couldn't keep up her warmth spells forever. We had to leave his body where it was, pinned. It..." She shook her head, "it couldn't still be there. It would have been consumed by the wildlife or the Fey."

Milo sat listening to her tale, entranced. Disturbed slightly by the thought that his friends got out alive, in fact well - survivor's guilt.

"...We could find out," Milo suddenly said. He wasn't even sure why. Was he insane?

Apparently not. Alicia turned slowly, and put her wine glass down on the tray.

"Milo, what?" She said, "do you think that ..."

"I don't know - I mean, it wouldn't be safe, and ... well, I don't know how long ago that was... Remains don't last long anywhere..."

He licked his lips, had he really gone overboard? If he had, there was something about the way Alicia's eyes turned from their somber memory-filled gaze into a brightly sparked glimmer.

"Well it may be true, but I know that deserts and tundra serve the same purposes for preserving flesh. It might not be there, but... Milo," she said, standing with authority, "I would like you to come with me. If you would?"

He blinked, and didn't say no.

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