Sheng-Shui - Life Water

((Note to all readers : This is an RP based around an NPC (Shanti Behari)'s origins and what they have to do with a life-elixir.))

Shanti stood up when she felt someone approaching. The weight of her concealed blade was much more evident to her as she was approached, but she did not go for it just yet. Avira was watching her from somewhere, surely, or at least Caterva was. She was safe here, mostly.

Turning, she saw and elf. Purple haired and scarred... Avira had mentioned her a few times.

Shanti bowed.

"Namastē, āpa kō pūrā karanē kī krpā."* she said pleasantly, then stood straight.




---


*Hello, pleased to meet you.

Taylor smiled softly as she saw the young one brace herself as she felt her presence nearing.

It seemed Avira had trained this one well.

She also saw a small spark of recognition.

Taylor was somewhat glad she knew the basics of Hindi.

"Namastē, Shanti. Sorry if i made you nervous." She said, keeping he voice soft and nonthreatening.

This child, at first glance, would seem normal...but there was an air about her that wasn't normal...something in her eyes.

she had a bit of age to her that her youthful face contradicted.

It made her heart wrench a little.

Shanti mentally noted that she needed to work on concealing her tension, but then smiled lightly.

"It's not a problem miss. What is it you need? I am afraid I do not know where bare bha'i is." she paused, then added; "I mean Avira."

She blinked quizzically at the older woman, wondering why she had come to talk to her. For someone who was over sixty, Shanti was still just as innocent as a child.

Taylor wasn't one for beating about the bush, so cut straight to the point.

"Avira had told me that you were the apprentice of a martial artist and medicine woman. He told me that you were Immortal due to an Elixer....I was wondering if you could tell me more about it...You see, Elixers of Immortality is heavily regulated by the Fae and Elven races as it can throw many things into chaos...I just want to understand more about the Elixer you took and the woman who took you in." she said, sitting on the grass, crosslegged, and leaning back on her hands.

She didn't want to scare the girl, and so did her best to relax, even with the possibility of finding new information.

Shanti looked momentarily surprised, then plopped down on the grass. She brushed her sari neatly out around her and paused to think, then spoke.

"Adhyapika* is very old, she looks like she is sixty, or perhaps seventy. She hails from China, and that is where I was taught by her and her three other students. So that I could drink the elixir. They too drink the elixir."

She played with the gold circlets around her wrists.

"The elixir stops our aging, we are halted at the age which we have taken it." she continued. "If we stop taking it, we will age normally until we take it again. However if we drink much of it, in a special way, and then stop, it will hasten our aging until we are dust. It is how we die if we grow tired of living."

She spoke of this as though it were a completely normal topic. Her family had been very spiritual, and this idea, that there was a way to live without age, was not foreign.

"The only way to kill us otherwise is to hit us in the heart," she touched over her heart. "The throat." her hand moved up. "Or the head." she touched the crown of her head. "Is that what you wanted to know?"



----

*Master

Yes....it sounded similar to the Elven Elixers.

it granted immortality if you drank it often...and you could use it to kill you as well, and only have certain weak points.

the Fae version meant only one drink and you would live forever, but you still maintain your weaknesses as a human.

"Do you know how it's made? Such as what's used in this Elixer. It sounds much like the Elixer my Tribe made to use on plants...it made them last longer and more resistant to disease. *soft smile* my Tribe hated change" she said, smiling at the girl.

she really maintained her mentality of a child...so the Elixer maybe stops a degree of mental development?

"No." Shanti said, shaking her head. "I do not know how to make the sheng-shui. Adhyapika makes it for us, and sends it every six months with her spirit friends. We will not learn to make the elixir until she is ready to stop taking students, and we are ready for our own."

The little girl toyed with her braid.

"It does not stop sickness, and it does not work on non-human creatures. The only way it will work is if you are trained in the arts. There is much preparation to be able to consume it. I was what Adhyapika called a Tiāncái*, a genius. I mastered the basics in just two years."




----

*That's in chinese, btw.

Taylor Blinked...it was a more complex formula than she thought.

Wow...and this Girl understood the basics in under two years.

Taylor was just a huntress, not a Scholar or Healer in the Tribe, so she never understood things like that. She only knew how to fight and Kill.

"I see...To understand such things in 2 years does mean you have great intelligence. I never understood such things because I'm not an academic in any way. I just hunt and kill things and make basic healing lotions and potions and stuff." she chuckled.

So this chinese woman knew how to make a highly complex Immortality potion, and this child's intelligence allowed her to understand the basics quickly.

"What would happen should you miss taking some of the Elixer? would you start aging again?" Taylor asked, arching a pierced eyebrow.

"It depends on how long we go without it, and what condition we are in." she said. "We take some extra when we are seriously wounded, so that we can heal much quicker. But if we miss some for months at a time, we begin to age again. I am happy at my age now, so I try not to miss too often."

She hummed thoughtfully, and then added;

"The elixir plays off of our energies, our chakras. To even be able to begin mastering the techniques, you must be able to open and use your chakras correctly. But even after that there are special ways in which to do it, you must rearrange your chakras... I am sorry, this is probably very confusing."

Taylor hummed quietly as she tried to process everything, leaning forwards now and steepling her fingers just in front of her lips and scowling as she concentrated.

"I wouldn't worry about me not Understanding it. Many won't. Me less so than others. The most academic I get is learning Smithing, Forging, and Mechanics. Other than that, I just know how to kill and use my abilities to their fullest. For example," She said.

She then put her hands together out in front of her, and opened them up like a book, letting Fire Butterflies flit up from her hands and then disappear.

"But yes...This Elixer is quite interesting. When you next get some in, would it be alright if I take a look at it? I'm just curious is all." She said, placing her hands on her knees.

Taylor also wanted to test its properties a little. She wanted to see how much of it is magic and test the stability of it.

Shanti stood up, and skipped over to a small leather pouch. She rummaged through it and, within a moment, plucked up a small bottle. Skipping back, she sat before Taylor again.

"I cannot give you any, it is measured specially...I though probably drink mine soon. Bu this is it."

The liquid inside the bottle was a pale blue, which glittered almost green in the light. It was a little thicker than water, but altogether seemed completely harmless. Of course, as inhuman beings, surely Taylor could see the soft white-blue glow coming off the bottle.

Taylor arched and eyebrow and reached out a hand to it, the soft glow instantly grabbing her attention.

She placed her fingers against the glass of the bottle, letting her Elven Blood sense the kinds of magic and the stability.

The air seemed to bend around her fingers as she 'scanned' the liquid and gave a small smile.

quite powerful, highly complex, a fair amount of magic, but perfectly stable.

"Your mentor must be highly skilled. This has been blended perfectly...Has this one been specifically made to you? As in, no one else would be able to drink this safely? Taylor murmured, withdrawing her hand.

The feeling from the liquid was strange, but not unpleasant.

"I have no idea!" Shanti laughed. "As I said, I am not yet even close to skilled enough to brew this on my own."

She turned the bottle over in her hands, cocking her head to the side.

"I believe it has something to do with our charka. I think it is specified to that, but brewed the same way. Or at least that is the feeling I get, it feels like chakra."

Taylor nodded.

Hmm...The Elixer was powerful....

She looked at the glittering substance again, and studied it.....it didn't seem like anything she'd seen before.

"Okay then. That explains the odd feeling I got from it. I'm not really all that in touch with my Chakra. But this Elixer is very unusual." she mumbled thoughtfully.

She just hopped that the woman wasn't an Illegal distributer. it would do a lot of damage otherwise, especially with the Elixer being as strong as it felt.

"Adhyapika isn't bad."

The girl had suddenly grown serious, seeming to age intensely in mere seconds. Her large brown eyes blinked calmly at the elf.

"She only takes in students who she has saved, none that come to her wanting to learn. She brought me back from the brink of death and gave me a chance to find Avira again. She is not bad."

Taylor blinked a little at the sudden seriousness.

"I didn't imply otherwise. Anyone who does what they can to save another is to be respected. I'm just curious about this. It appears I have no need to stop this for any reason, as distrabution is being controlled. I won't harm anyone." Taylor asured.

It was true.

The elixer wasn't being given out like water, and seemed to be heavily regulated by the maker, so Taylor didn't have to worry about anything.

"Apologies if i upset you." Taylor murmured, bowing her head a little. "One more question. Does the Elixer have any side effects at all?"

Shanti thought about this a moment. She narrowed her eyes slightly, scrunching up her nose.

One side effect was obvious. She was still a child. Or mostly still a child, it was like someone had twisted a child in with an adult's mentality. It was strange.

"Uhm....I cannot become a vampire, or werewolf, or any other creature." She said at last. "It would interfere with the elixir and probably kill me. I suppose the only other side effect is that I can have my guts ripped out and live but that's sort of the point, I think."