"Pretty?" The barest twitch at the corners of his lips, before he leaned a little closer over his tome, where the five-inch woman had found her repose. Rubied, transparent eyes set upon her sprawled form. "Shang; such a name for a mischievous, derailing little thing. Are you enjoying my book?"

"Mm, very comfortable yes, yes. Knowledge is not often so." She rolled then, languid as a cat, yet liquid as a droplet, slinking down further so it was her toes that caught the edge of the book and not her knees. Flat hands captured the underside of her chin as she rested on her belly, bright, curious eyes still up at the man. "Pretty, yes, you, Child of Flesh and Magic." She giggled then, a bell-like bite of laughter, small and innocently charming.

"No, not often. Though every so often, one finds it to be just that." He listened to her words, carefully and with marked interest. Such a find was rare, and one so sociable and perhaps, just perhaps, suited. "Not so much as the descendant of Old Magics in such a charming cage of a physical form. From where did you come?"

"From Mother Moon, soil and sky....Shang is a merry met demi from Mother's kiss to a moon's lily." Keeping still didn't seem to be an option, and already the little creature was assuming a new posture. She rose, with a small effort from her wings, up to her toes on the flat of the Mage's book. Standing, she let her wings raise, playfully vain in their display as they fanned their semi translucent, whorling, abalone-colored state for the man. "Yes, yes, pretty, pretty. Charm comes from Mother." At least she was giving credit for her appearance, so it wasn't a reply born of arrogance so much as a guileless pride.

"I wonder just how you work, little Shang." A hand, smooth and crisp and regimented in every way, lowered to rest flat upon the book just before the little Fae. "Is your magic more than reflexive, perhaps" Do you learn as I had once learned" Such things to ask, and you know not even my name." His smile was bright, implacably charming, and scientific in its own magical right.

It was an irresistible lure, that hand, and warm, bare toes obliged as the slight weight of the wee, winged woman padded onto it. She sat down then, all but flopping comfortably onto her rump as she blinked up to the Mage, bits of platinum kissed amethyst for dark rubies. "Work" Work...Shang doesn't work, she helps!" She leaned then, half onto a knee and hand, while one cheek still rested on his hand, crouched as if she meant to crawl up his arm.

"Helps?" The angle of his hand shifted, allowing for Shang to make an ascension, if she so desired, up his jacket-arm. "And how, pray-tell, does Shang help?"

"Whispers from Mother helps Shang's power help others!" Guidance from a Divine of sorts, no doubt; the fairy was god-touched, or in this case, Goddess-touched. A very audible sound of delight came then at the Mage's shift in posture, her silent allowance for further movement. It was a noise somewhere between a purr and a chirrup. Distracted as she climbed. "And, and...This mention of names, yes. What is pretty's name?"

Kairee had somehow managed to get the slip on the both of them, then passed lightly behind Aatma; fingers trailing his shoulders. "Hey babes....It's been a while since I've seen you." She smiled a smile for the Fae as well. "Hello."

Rubied eyes set upon Kairee. "Sexy young things are the least of my worries. There is much to teach, and much yet to master. My methods may have earned me an eternity in which to toil, but it is a far cry from enough."

Kairee took a moment to throw in her two cents. "Most mages, Shang-sweet, take apprentices....We have a need to share our knowledge, it seems. But fortunately, we all don't run around in long robes and pointy hats." The sentiment came with a smirk.

Perplexed, the little creature's wings and long, long ears gave a little flicker. Confusion was a neat, pretty thing across her minute features. "Passing on"...Why not have a child" Babies make wonderful heirs! Yes, yes they do, little balls of life made in their maker's image.." This was all said with glee rolled up into an odd, matter-of-fact tone, as though the crowd needed a lesson on what babies were. Though a small idea was growing in the back of the demi-Fae's mind, ripening quickly, but it didn't have a thing to do with babies.

"Oh yes, Aatma! why don't you have babies?" Kairee chimed in, the excitement in her voice as teasing as could be." She fired off a dazzling smile, and adopted the tone of a daytime television hostess. "We all want to know!" His eyebrows scrunched together in a ponderance; undesirably absurd conversations. "Why don't you, Kairee?" ::The vaguest hint of a smirk, before his attention returned to the demi-Fae. "Apprentices are often chosen not for their ability to succeed, but simply for the want to teach."

"Tsk...because the only two men who I would have wanted to sire my children are both dead. Thank you for reminding me." "Teaching" Teaching....Shang likes teachers, they answer many questions." The shine, the pretty apple in a sage's eye; it seemed this was something the little creature enjoyed, learning things. Most magics came very naturally to her, for they were a very noticeable thing in the air about her. Raw magic, ancient stuff, the kind that Gods and Goddesses bestowed to their children. Atmosphere and Earth sang sweetly in her scent, but a child's hunger was evident in her eyes. "Mayhap Mistress Kairee is right, Aatma" Maybe one could be two"!" A very animal-like purr vibrated charmingly through her throat.

"It was only appropriate, considering that you've reminded me that my only choices don't exist." A tease for the strong woman, before he turned his attention, though not his head for lack of ability to meet that angle, towards Shang. "Are you volunteering to apprentice yourself to me, little Shang?" "The choice may not be there, but the chance is" You just have to work for it." Kairee wound up sticking her tongue out at Aatma, surely to teach him a lesson.

"You seem to be hinting at something Kairee, dear." The dashing turn of a grin was a hard thing not to notice.

She was quick to respond. "Only what haunts your dreams..? With a smirk.

The valley of Tar'sall was nothing short of a monumentally glorious sight to behold. All of nature within had taken to the rubies, and everything was elementally aligned as it should have been. From the blades of rubied grass, to the deep, incredibly purple waters of the lake. Even the wildlife, with traces of ruby throughout their anatomy, and some fully shifted into a more natural, elemental state. A bear, every fibril of its hair shimmering bright red and transparent, moved past them as the rush of flame heralded their arrival. Rubied trees rustled and tinkled in the wind, and Tar'sall itself stood at the Westernmost point of the valley. It nearly disappeared into the sky, as did the emerald tower to the Northeast of their position. "This, Shang, is Tar'sall: The Ruby Tower. And its valley."

Such colors, nature's most vivacious play of bounty. Shang's senses were under a beautiful assault. The most pleasant of curls began to keen low and sweet in her throat; a sound somewhere between a kitten's purr and a child's delight. Shang stole all the concentration she could to keep her form from growing or shrinking, her power a thing that quivered across her very skin in the presence of such a place. Wide, almond eyes in all their amethyst pride stretched wide as they could, her head of milky, tumbling curls turning this way and that to drink in all they could. Finally, she turned her star struck wonder towards Aatma, the rosebud of her mouth curled excitedly as she retook his hand in her joy. "Such beauty...Truly, so truly. Aatma, pretty Aatma, you've created this?" Awe and adoration were ripe in her voice.

"From the smallest blade of grass to the tower herself, I've wrought this land from what it once was to what it now is. I take it you enjoy the scenery?" The dashing splash of his eyes were nearly glowing in this land he'd brought to life. His hand was clutched within hers without resistance, as a rubied butterfly landed upon his shoulder. "And when you have mastered your craft, I will create such a place for you as well." He gestured to the North. "Such as Kur'thul." The tower was visible, though not complete in its construction. Unlike Tar'sall, it didn't pierce the clouds.

"Master my craft"...Craft, oh! Shang's power, yes?" The demi-fae burst into a small bout of laughter, the hand not preoccupied with her Tutor's hand coming to rest on the bare curve of her belly. Wings flickered, restless things at her back as her laughter died. "Shang does not mean to laugh, oh no, no she doesn't. But...Mother's power has always been here, to know it was capable of such....Beauty though. So much.." Little lips parted then, half caught in a gesture of awe yet again. Aatma had quite the 'world' here, who would not be enraptured by the site of it' Fae or no, Shang did not often see such places outside the Mounds of the Homelands to her Sidhe Kin.

"The craft of which I speak is different than the power of nature herself. Though I suspect with your inclinations, you will have prodigious skill and more ease than others in whatever disciplines you pursue." He began to lead her down the way. Despite the natures of ruby, the grass felt like grass though it clinked and tinkled beneath their feet. The leaves fell and twisted in stronger breezes. It was nature and yet not in so many ways. "Your apprenticeship will take place here, within the walls of Tar'sall. You will spend your nights there or within the valley, if you're more inclined to spend your evenings in nature's embrace. Though for now, we will simply spend a few days acquainting you with everything. Ensure you have what you will need. Things of that sort."

The long, slender points of her ears gave a little inclining tick to each sound, for her body was eager and strung tight, excited by the new surroundings. Being a child of the moon, as she'd called herself, one would think she would be used to the strange and new, then again....That mentality, that adorable demeanor of youth for all the womanly ripeness of her body. Fairy were strange creatures indeed. Slowly but surely, Shang's fingers uncurled from her Tutor's own, and wings took to life, flickering swiftly to accommodate her weight. She hovered and flew where he walked. "Aatma does not stay beneath the sky at night, hm"....So strange, so strange! Such a world he's created, such the touch of a God in this land, yet the splendor does not coax Pretty Aatma to roil beneath the stars?" A slow, sweet chirp of a response, half lilted with a tease.

The feeling seemed to alight in the Mage's face, bringing to it the rare point of expression in which he was learning something new, yet again. The sights and feelings, they were all so different from flight upon something else. It was so exhilaratingly empty, and dangerous, and filled with life. "Some things, even a touch the likes of those given by the Gods can't grant."

Guileless, carefree, born for the wind, her face gratefully absorbed each tickle of air that striped across her flesh. Perhaps it was another reason for her nudity, the exhilarance of flight' "Shang is young yet, yes...Still young. Sisters of greater years can grant temporary wings to their consorts born without during the fuller of night's for Mother's moon." A little nod was given as a reaffirmation of her words, and those silvery bits of purple drifted back down to the Mage's face, bright with amusement. "There are many things yet to learn, so, pretty Aatma, to be an apprentice..." Her tone drifted off then, words were not needed to finish the meaning, only a little squeeze of her dainty hands to his larger ones. Their flight was not without direction, of course. The destination was the tower, and it was nearly full grown from what it was in the distance.

"There are many nuances within the meanings our actions and words hold, little Shang." He held his council and let his head rest against her for the remainder of their flight. The wind was a fitful thing to grow used to, and with her ability not to suffer the fright of a mundane woman in such a state of disrobe, he had no qualms with resting so close to the demi-Fae. "When we land, I shall display for you a small token of what I have gained in my years. I have spent more time than most have dreamed to live in study and the pursuit of hard-earned knowledge."

That coo returned, or perhaps it was a chirp? Some inhuman sound that rumbled sweet and velvety from her throat, an approving, contented croon. "Oo, such speak, such speak....Aatma's heart is truly a thing wound tight with his studies. That Zeal for learning...such a beauteous thing, so forthright and proud." One hand slipped about the Mage's waist while the other rose, free, to wiggle a finger at the man as though he were a naughty child to be scolded. "Careful, careful though, pretty Wielder....All work and no play." Feet were things soon meant for the ground, and there again their heights would differ greatly, as Aatma's shod feet would touch down before Shang's. Slowly she release her Tutor, chuckling all the while.

"Makes Aatma who he is." When they settled upon the ground before Tar'sall, Aatma's hands rose up slowly. The sounds of nature grew strange, symphonic, as the small, unattached things began to rise from the ground, branches, their holdings, and into the air. Her position in facing him, rather than Tar'sall, was a happy coincidence. "I may not be able to fly in the true sense of what you've gifted me the experience of, but I've the power to defy that which holds all else to the world, tethered and in bondage." The branches of trees began to twist upwards with what little pliability they had, the grass all standing up straight. The waters of the lake could be seen over his shoulder, rising as one mass into the sky, perforated by droplets on all sides, holding fish and life and making birds feel as common as squirrels. Then from behind her, the mighty Ruby Tower itself began to rise, bringing the first unnatural sound into the chorus, like thunder underground, calling all to watch it. Aatma's eyes glowed as if fires had been lit behind them.