Meeting the family: Vartan
Outside of the city of Baccarat, spring was in the air. The air was calm and smelled of various flowers. A few fluffy clouds filled the sky, but there were no signs of upcoming rain. It was a cool, but pleasant day. Perfect weather to visit an outdoor flower display with a date. This was the plan for Vartan and Karina when they had their last date three weeks ago. It was going to be her mother's birthday and she wanted to introduce him to the family.
Vartan waits nervously at the botanical gardens near while Karina gathers her family. If my favorite café wasn't serving the coffee here I'd be a wreck. Time to be your charming self Vartan. He takes a calming sip from the cup in his hand. The flowers glazed onto the outside nearly matched the ones he was standing near. He had transported Karina and himself to Baccarat before the two separated. His free hand moves to his pocket, rubbing his thumb over the carved stone hairpin he had bought when he went to an art market in Arcadia. Finding a stone carver who happened to specialize in making flowers almost immediately after they entered the market seemed like a sign from the Great Shepherdess. Sandstone petals with a rough orange calcite in the middle made a rather nice facsimile of the desert globemallow.
"Is that the man you were talking about Karina? The one in the giant hat? He better hope the desert wind doesn't pick up. It'll carry the poor boy away." A bespectacled man with a cane stepped out of a group of five. He wore a short sleeved dress shirt under a red and gold vest. A short salt and pepper beard covered the lower half of his face while the top of his head contained no grey. A woman moved to his left side.
"I assure you it won't. I made the thing myself." Karina says while rolling her eyes. She looks to Vartan. "As I'm sure you've figured out, this is my father. Father, this is Vartan." The man slowly looked the sorcerer up and down. "You're so young, but your hair is like an old man's. Were you possessed by a ghost at any time in your life? Cursed by a witch?" A woman significantly shorter than the father steps forward and whacks him lightly behind his knee with her cane.
"Don't insult the boy Tanan. Magic affects people in different ways. Karina said he was a sorcerer. What magic do you specialize in?" The father chuckles and rubs his leg.
Vartan took another sip of coffee. "My talents lie in sleep and dream magic. Making people fall asleep, sending messages in dreams, divining information from dreams, those sorts of things. As for my hair, it's been like this since my magical talents awakened. I don't know why exactly it did that. Maybe the stress the magic puts on my body affected me, maybe it's something else entirely. I'm so used to it now that I probably would've forgotten it was light brown before if the family portrait didn't show it." The sorcerer extended his hand, which the father clasped. Vartan did not flinch as the man squeezed tightly.
The mother smirked. "Now that you two are acquainted, I'll introduce one of my other daughters." She points her cane toward the other woman with her. She was as tall as Vartan, with sharp glasses and red hair shorter than Karina's. "This is Zara. Unfortunately, my other daughter, Amada, couldn't come because of a meeting for her job. She will join us at home after she is done there. She works with the local government and helped design the water delivery system that keeps these plants healthy." Zara stepped toward Vartan. "Your accent... are you from Peregrin Quay? I used to work with someone who spoke in a similar way who was from there." Vartan shook his head.
"Port Prospect, but the accents can sound similar if you don't hear them all the time. I've been away from home so long I thought I'd lost my accent, but you picked it out right away. It's nice to meet you Zara."
He takes the hairpin out of his pocket and presents it to the mother. "A gift for your birthday courtesy of a fine artisan of Arcadia. No, I didn't make it myself. Karina and I came across the artist while wandering the market after our last date." Her eyes widen in surprise. "You're trying to butter me up aren't you? It's working. The Desert Globemallow is a beautiful plant." She places the pin in her bun. Zara crosses her arms. "How's the coffee? It's The Desert Drop catering this event I think. I haven't had the chance to get any yet." Vartan finishes his cup.
"It's their standard blend with chicory. I love the stuff, but I don't get to have it that often. You can't get coffee like this in Port Prospect."
Karina smirked. "So much that you tried to recreate the cold brew with that rig in your house last summer. How'd that turn out?" Vartan sighed. "It was good, but nothing like how the original tasted. It's surprisingly hard to find cheesecloth in Arcadia. It did give me a use for two empty wine bottles though." Karina chuckled and wrapped her arm in Vartan's. Zara raised an eyebrow."You didn't just use magic to make it taste like what you wanted? That's respectable. You seem like a decent enough guy." Tanan cleared his throat. "Remember we are here for your mother's birthday, not just to question the boy. Come along Vartan. I'm sure you don't want to just stand among the lilacs all day. Not without more coffee at least."
Vartan was internally relieved. It seems he made a good impression on Karina's parents and her sister.
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