The soft rushing whisper of leaves against leaves slowly works its way through the woods in the direction of the male cougar standing in a relatively large clearing. As the sound passes him by, the soft breeze generating it ruffles through his slightly long, almost shaggy fur, and passes on by. The sunlight bears the sharp quality of oncoming winter, contrasting oddly with the soft red and organge reflection of the October leaves. The cougar's clothing is folded neatly at the foot of a nearby tree with his pack, having become impractical to wear once his flexability exceeded that which his clothes could give him, and unnecessary in the solitude of the forest. He stands in soni. "Shi-Ho No-Ho Ous," he says, then falls into yoi, pausing for a moment to get the feel of the ley lines around him.

Treth closes his eyes and draws in a slow breath, feeling the warmth of his magic as he begins to channel the natural energy of the area. Small pinpricks of light, outshined by the sun at this point, form in the palms of his paws. He begins to go through his kata, taking a pause at the end of each set to gather the energy more completely. He moves through the front-stance low block, then turns into the front-stance high-block, and then to the front-stance middle block. He closes his eyes again and draws in a deep breath. By this time, light is beginning to shine from the fire energy as it flows through and around his paws, like some kind of fluid glove. He turns into the x-block, then takes a deep breath. He throws his wide u-punch, loads, and throws the narrow punch, sounding the traditional "KIA!!!" At this last punch, he releases the mental dams holding the energy back. It flows rapidly from his fists and forms into a large fire attack that launches itself across the clearing, veering up and away from the land before it burns anything. Treth grins a bit at himself in satisfaction.

Several miles away, enjoying the cool autumn day and the bountiful colors of the season, the old black cat known as Sabbath strolls along one of many trails through the forest. All is quiet and peaceful to her, but the niggling sensation tickles at the edges of her ever alert senses. Something pulls at the ley lines, but for the moment, its of no concern, not on this beautiful of a day.

Treth finishes out the kata, turning around, falling into yoi, and bowing. "Shi-ho no-ho ous," he says, then sits down. He breathes deeply for a few moments, then slowly stands up, falling into horse stance. He holds his paws about knee-level, fingertips pointing down, palms facing. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, beginning to channel as much energy as he finds himself capable of through his paws. Dead-center between his palms, small specks of fire and light begin to rush together, forming a small sphere of fire that grows slowly but steadily larger with each passing moment.

The renewed pull on the ley lines causes the old cat to pause and twitch an ear, curious for all of a moment before she resumes her walk. There are many mages in the world, and each tug and pull at those magical life lines criss crossing over the world. This tug is new, but for now, she finds nothing to worry about, so her walk continues, ever further away from the practicing adept.

Treth slowly begins to raise his paws, continuing to channel energy, not happy with the effect he's having. He wants it to be *more* . . . he feels the ball of flame grow larger, until it's about three feet in diameter. He suddenly lets out a deep, feral snarl, forcing his paws up completely and sending the attack away. He immediately pulls back into another stance, directing the attack out in front of him, then looping it over and drawing it back toward himself. He holds in his stance, perparing to counter or absorb the attack.

Though the pull increases, Sabbath continues her stroll. She is till monitoring the ley lines since this pull is coming from a difference source from the known.

Treth releases his control of the attack and begins to form another in his paw, drawn back along his side. He closes his eyes and senses his previously made attack, forming this one with perfectly opposite spin, so that the two will consume each other. As his attack grows nearer, he suddenly thrusts his paw forward in a palm-heel lunge, the new attack diving dead center in the previous one. The attacks combine, and by the time they reach Treth, all that is left of the magic is a warm breeze.

Like most cats, Sabbath's curiosity gets the better of her, so she turns and wanders in the direction the new magic is coming from. As she traverses the shadows of the forest, she shifts to her natural form, that of a very large panther. Only the tingling edges of that warm breeze tease through her senses and fur as she makes her quiet approach.

Treth lets his arms fall to his sides and chuckles softly, filled with pride in himself. All this, with only his own experimentation for training. His clan didn't know what they were throwing away. Suddenly, his ears perk up and he falls into a fighting stance, silent. He's not quite sure why, but he got the feeling that something nearby has its eye on him.

Expert care is taken as the old cat walks a single circuit around the clearing, eyeing the one performing the the magic. At least she assumes its him, the scent of fire magic is heavy in the area, and Treth is the only one there. Satisfied there is no one else around, she allows the white tip of her long tail to be seen as it flicks between trees before she lets the soft glow of her yellow eyes appear from amid the brush and shadows.

Treth suddenly perks his ears towards the treeline, where he sees just the tip of someone's tail. He tilts his muzzle to the side and just stands normally, a puzzled expression on his face. After a moment or two, he points a finger at the creature, shooting a cherry-sized fireball from his clawtip towards the unknown being.

The softly glowing eyes track the fireball, then, before it reaches them, its doused without so much as a breeze as evidence. Quietly, the lion-sized panthress steps out from the bushes, allowing the sunlight to reflect off her thick ebony coat while she looks this young mage over from head to toe.

Treth nods slowly. "I thought so," he says, quietly, then begins to pad towards the other feline, stopping a few feet away. He still has his head cocked to the side, his ears perked inquisitively.

Sabbath nods once to herself as the feline approaches then, after he stops, she starts a slow circuit around him, sniffing lightly at the air as if testing. The scent is definitely coming from him. Not one to let an unknown mage slip by her without some sort of testing, she shifts as the circuit ends into her more recognizable form.

Treth shivers a bit and feels his fur fluff out slightly. He gets the feeling, though he can't really describe how, that the fur in front of him has a profound influence on the magic of the area--far more profound than he has been able to achieve.

Sabbath stands in front of Treth, watching his every move with a rather stern expression. Its nothing against him, just her normal look when she's working. After pushing back an annoying lock of hair, revealing the white star in the center of her forehead, she crosses her arms and quicks a brow.

Treth tilts his head to the other side. "Hello there . . . what might your name be, and why have you come here? You obviously had some purpose . . ."

Sabbath allows a brief smirk to appear, then answers the question with a soft purring voice, "Why... I'm Sabbath Silverclaw." Her answer is simple, leaving the rest to sink in on its own, and to see which rumors this feline might have listened to, if any.

Treth blinks, his head coming up straight, his eyes going wide. "Ahh . . . oh."

Sabbath assumes nothing by this reaction, for she has seen many in her time. In return, she asks, "What might your name be, youngling?"

Treth blinks again and shakes his head a little to regain his concentration. "Ahh . . . eh, Treth."

Sabbath starts to drum her fingers on her arm while she smirks, "Interesting name you have, Treth." then starts to walk around him again. Without waiting for a comment, she asks, "Why were you performing pyromagic out in this lonely glade?"

Treth smiles a little at his own nervousness, forcing himself to relax, but still not quite sure how to react to this reputedly powerful and vindictive mage. "Because I'm less likely to hurt anyone while I'm this far away from them. It's better to turn a tree into a crispy toothpick than to turn some innocent fur into a smoldering meatpile."

Powerful, yes. vindictive... that remains to be seen, though she has had her moments in history. Still giving the young mage a stern look, she nods then says in a rather hard tone, "You'd rather burn the forest and destroy the homes of its inhabitants rather than attack directly? Very interesting, but not something that looks good for you."

Treth shakes his head some. "That was referring to the instance of me losing control. If you look around, you'll notice that there is no burn damage to anything. It is not my wish to destroy any form of life . . . but here is where I will have minimum risk. Even better would be to have someone such as yourself to take control of anything I released, but I don't exactly have many powerful mage friends."

Sabbath mmhmms, nodding curtly just one time as she speaks in that same hard tone, "And yet... you still perform one of the most dangerous magics known in the natural realm."

Treth smiles a bit to himself. "And I have completed them without causing any damage to the world around me." He makes a bold move now, knowing that people in power often hate blind submission as much as they hate substanceless bravado. "Might I ask what qualifies you to judge me like this?"

Sabbath smirks a little before she turns around and faces him fully, "Let me replay for you." She holds out a paw. Just above it, a clear sphere appears, and inside it, the few moments play from her arrival to the clearing, and the small fireball that was quickly snuffed. "That was your first mistake. What qualifies me is this. I've spent far too many lifetimes tracking down each and every mage that tried to do more damage than good with their abilities. Perhaps you're not aware of the Mage Wars from several thousand years ago."

Treth nods slowly. "I am. To some level, at least. And I might mention that, had you not stopped that attack, it would have extinguished itself before it touched you."

Sabbath nods, "Were I normal fur, or even a novice mage, I wouldn't have known that. Some are far more sensitive to fire than you might suspect, youngling." Though she doesn't let it show, she is rather pleased with this young mage.

Treth nods a bit. "You have your methods of determining the threat of a stranger, I have mine. After all, I needed to guage what threat you posed to me, just so that I could determine whether to continue on with my training or not." He lets his arms fall to his sides. "Do you have more tests for me, or may I return to my training?"

Sabbath smirks, "Point taken." She then reaches up and cups his chin, tilting his head just enough to look directly into his eyes, "My tests are far from over, youngling. As you grow stronger, I'll be there, watching from the shadows to make sure you keep to your word." There's an almost grandmotherly sense about her as she lets her paw drop then chuckles softly, "Your first task should be to learn to not let that little attitude appear when there are stronger mages around."

Treth smiles a little, finally. "There is more to you than meets the eye."

Sabbath grins and raises a brow slightly, "There is always far more than what is seen on the surface, Treth."

Treth smiles a little more. "The question just becomes how much. You intrigue me . . . your reputation is utter bullshit, as I'm sure you must know. You are far, far too intelligent to stoop to the levels the commoners would have me believe you would."

Sabbath nods, chuckling as she turns and looks off into the forest, "My reputation was well earned. In my job, you have to be tough when the situation demands. What the commoners recall are the times when the cat you see now, was far more aggressive and dark in nature."

Treth nods a bit, then grins a little. "Well, you should know the dangers of piquing a feline's curiosity thus . . . you're going to drive me crazy if you just leave now."

Sabbath chuckles softly as she nods, "I know full well the dangers of that, its one of the reasons why I was chosen for the job of Guardian." Then, as she turns, she purrs, "But, you seem to be on the right path as an emerging power, so there is little need for me to stay."

Treth smiles a bit. "Ahh, now. Don't make me turn evil just to see you again . . . is there any way I can get in contact with you besides incurring your wrath?"

Sabbath mmms, "I'll buzz by now and then to check up on you. Remember, I'll be watching, so there's no telling when I'll appear."

Treth smiles. "Well . . . at the very least, it was good to have my suspicions about you erased and replaced with facts."

Sabbath smirks as she regards the young cat once more, "Don't go tempting Fate. She has ways of turning the tables when you least expect it. Take it from someone that knows."

Treth smiles. "With furs like you in the world, a lot of my fears are assuaged. Until next we meet?"

Sabbath smiles, "May our next meeting be on just as good terms." With that said, she looks skyward then takes off. Not a leaf or blade of grass is disturbed by her sudden exit, only the quiet from the wildlife being startled.

Treth continues to smile to himself. "Ahh . . ." he murmurs, as he turns around and pads over to the tree where his clothing remains. "Perhaps all is not lost. Perhaps, with such furs in positions of power, peace can reign." He picks up his clothing and puts it back on, then begins to walk home.

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