Leaf settled into the chair, her tunic with embroidered flowers wrinkling a little as she did. She took the mug of cider she had just filled, and downed it in one fell swoop. "Man, this stuff is good,"
she said, eyeing the barrel of cider next to the other, more alcoholic beverage barrels. "Rafe, you want... Oh, right," she caught herself before she asked if the man who had the tastebuds of a rock wanted some cider. "Er, Rafe," she continued, standing up and heading towards him across the carpeted floor. "Did I ever tell you about the time with the Enclave that I almost burned down a forest?"

Rafe shook his head, turning from the weapons rack adorned with well-maintained, but simply made swords and hammers and axes, to face Leaf.

"Yeah... It was one heck of an embarrassing time. It's kinda why I stopped practicing pyromancy for a bit! So, I was working on my orisons, and I had made a little fire in a stone circle," she narrated, "and, once I had the fire, I was practicing shapes with it. You know, squares, circles, then more advanced things! Like little birds of fire, flitting around the fuel. And, me being me, I tried to push it further and further, until I made this HUGE dragon! Okay, maybe not huge huge," the five foot tall half-elf said with a chuckle, "but I wasn't even a teenager at that point. It looked big to me! And I was making it fly around the fire, fun and such, and then I tried to move it further away. The whole dragon and the fire it was based on exploded when I tried to push it that far, and the little circle of stones I had prepared was NOT enough."

Rafe leaned forward a little, accidentally looming over the short Leaf. She didn't care much, though-she knew Rafe was a friend, even with his menacing aura. "So I'm freaking out-desperately trying to put out the fires, and doing... Well, not the best, but it was progress. Just not enough. I'm tossing dirt and trying to stop it, but it just keeps going, and eventually, I realize the best way is to smother it with my own body. I leap onto the fire, and! Vines shoot out and catch me, before a small flood of water extinguishes the flame. I didn't notice, but Velguardr-I've told you about them before, right?-so Velguardr had followed me to make sure I didn't cause trouble. Thank the gods they did, because, well, fire. They change out of their animal shape, and I'm expecting a huge admonishing about responsibility and being careful and all that. But... All they said was 'You messed up. But you were trying your best to fix it. Just remember, you're never alone,' and left."

"That... You know, that left an impact. I stopped working on fire magic just to be safe, but they had a good point. My whole life up till then, I'd tried doing things on my own, and I usually succeeded! But... I had support. I had friends, I had family, I had support from the Enclave... I needed to work with them, not just on my own," Leaf said. "So... I guess the end of the story message is-thanks Rafe. You've been there for me too."

Spoiler: OOC
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