With a quiet sigh, Audra closed the dust-covered tome, making her irritation quite apparent in spite of her silence. She had a distinct memory of the last time she had slammed a book shut, and the entire library probably recalled the last time she had voiced exactly what she thought of the place.

Just the thought of the pissed-off master librarian made her ears ring again. That hadn't exactly been her wisest decision there.

A gust of sand kicked up around her feet as Audra swung open the library door, followed by a shimmer of dry desert heat and a multitude of heavily-robed figures rushing up the steps toward cool sanctuary. Audra sniffed in disdain. Hadn't it become common knowledge already that Fellmorn was a desert city? Such showy getup might have won admirers back in the capital, but no one likes a sweating, half-fainted noble-mage, no matter what their title and prestige.

Audra sighed again as she shuffled her way through the city streets, ignoring the ritual component merchants trying to bark their wares over the complaints of their customers. Noble-mages. Not just normal mages, but ones born bending the proverbial silver spoon. Audra was the firstborn child of two highly respected nobles, and as such she was expected to continue in the family tradition.

This meant a proper noble upbringing. Which meant proper etiquette and proper attire and proper schooling and proper scholarly research to properly keep updated on proper arcane tradition and arcane theory. In one fluid motion Audra removed a silk glove from one hand and gestured at the dusty street. An arc of lightning shot past her extended fingers and contacted ground near a scorpion skittering past.

A number of people stopped to stare and mutter among themselves, but Audra just nonchalantly shrugged and continued her walk. It wouldn't be proper to raise a bigger fuss, of course. Not that she hadn't given up on being a proper mage long ago.

Out past the onlookers, an excited squeal shot Audra out of her reverie. She didn't need to look up to know it was Lilasha, an excitable girl from one of theory classes, and for the life of her Audra couldn't figure out why Lilasha adored her so much.

"Look what I have! Isn't she pretty?" The young girl held a squirming pink creature out for admiration, and Audra smiled and nodded politely. It looked like a cat. An annoyed cat... an annoyed, pink cat, but a perfectly respectable familiar otherwise.

"Her name's Stargazer. You know, like the flowers, which you never see in all this nasty desert." Lilasha continued to babble, holding her distressed familiar close. Audra tried to maintain an innocent expression, then reached her hand out to scratch the pink cat behind the ears. Stargazer nuzzled her head against Audra's fingertips, then yowled as static danced along her back.

"Audra!" Lilasha shrieked.

"Relax, she'll be fine. She didn't even get shocked." Audra extended her gloved hand toward Stargazer, hoping to reconcile with some petting, but the pink cat-turned-pink puffball was having none of it. She hissed, then disappeared in a swirling cloud of glimmering pink dust. Audra blinked. Did that seriously...

Ugh, storm magic is so primitive," Lilasha said, brushing the dust from her robes. "You know something, Audra, you'll never be a proper mage."

Audra grinned at her friend, causing Lilasha's scowl to deepen. "I know. I get that a lot," Audra replied. The younger mage just shook her head and pushed past Audra toward the study halls. Audra maintained her stroll, still grinning.