As they stepped off of the bridge, Lolo took a deep, deep breath. He loved La Noscea. The rolling hills, so like the dunes of Thanalan, but green and redolent with the sticky salt smell of the Rhotano. Too often the crush of people in the city crowded out the clean smell of the sea, but mere steps outside the gates and the island rushed into one's lungs in an intoxicating way. He continued walking, his student following, out into a wide open area just east of the road from the Zephyr Gate. He looked around and nodded.
"Here. Those rocks," he pointed, "right over there."
He turned and spoke directly to Joz. "What you felt, Miss Joz, was the aether that fills you, whether you were aware of it or not. It has always been there, and it always will be, like your blood or your breath. It wells up inside of you and if you are cognizant of its flow, you can express it, manifest it outside of yourself. The purest, the simplest of these techniques is Ruin, the symbol you've been practicing." He paused and squinted seriously. "Do not think of Ruin as destruction, and the Twelve take its name. It is simply unrefined power. Raw power is dangerous, yes, but it does a disservice to the aether and its wielding to be satisfied with such."
He breathed, loosened his expression, and smiled.
"Now that my speech is out of the way, would you like to try?"
"Here. Those rocks," he pointed, "right over there."
He turned and spoke directly to Joz. "What you felt, Miss Joz, was the aether that fills you, whether you were aware of it or not. It has always been there, and it always will be, like your blood or your breath. It wells up inside of you and if you are cognizant of its flow, you can express it, manifest it outside of yourself. The purest, the simplest of these techniques is Ruin, the symbol you've been practicing." He paused and squinted seriously. "Do not think of Ruin as destruction, and the Twelve take its name. It is simply unrefined power. Raw power is dangerous, yes, but it does a disservice to the aether and its wielding to be satisfied with such."
He breathed, loosened his expression, and smiled.
"Now that my speech is out of the way, would you like to try?"
