Like the signs that precede an oncoming storm, Brinn's attention was peaked in stages. First, came the cool breeze with the smell of rain: She felt only a mild interest in his words as he deduced that she'd used a spell to gather information.<br/><br/>It wasn't all that remarkable that he'd managed it, given that she'd basically said it straight out. Unable to resist the desire to do so, she bent forward and began loosening the laces of her boots, then pulled them free.<br/><br/>He wasn't finished, however. Next, came the darkening skies: her interest increased significantly when he mentioned his own spell. She hadn't noticed. Normally she could feel the shift and flow of energy when any mage casts around her, but this time she hadn't. She wrote it off to her exhaustion at the time. After all, she'd been near fainting...<br/><br/>It was nothing, she told herself. The knit stockings she used came off easily, exposing feet a stark white from having been strapped tight in her boots so much through her life, the skin currently marked with divets and creases from the pressure of her tight boots. Her long, slim toes flexed, stretched, and danced as the relished in their freedom.<br/><br/>But then, like the thunder clap that announces the arriving storm, he dug in his pack, and she couldn't help but look over at him. He placed a paper on the ground, and a crystal, and her interest peaked. She understood the use of focuses, reagents, and other items of strength of spells, and understood both of these. She had studied the possibilities of written runes, down to the results of particular papers and inks that could be used for specific results. The quarts also caused her to start thinking fast. From what little she could deduce, his spell would be impressive. She couldn't help but watch attentively.<br/><br/>After she rolled up the legs of her pants, her feet slid into the cold water of the creek, pulling a groan from deep inside her, which she of course stifled. Her gaze, however, was locked on the traveler. As he explained, the final stage of the rising storm rose to a crescendo, and horror made her stomach turn to cold iron. He ws going to expose her aura. She saw no way to stop him, and now that she was bare-footed, she couldn't get away in time. He would see what she was, and it would be all over. There would be no way to trick him into trusting her, no way to extract information from him. Yet anther cause would be lost to her black nature.<br/><br/>She knew what his spell would show. The thunder storm of the season had arrived, and she could do nothing to stop it.  Her soul, her nature, her very being, was black as tar, and she knew it. Her aura would be no different. No matter how hard she tried, she would never change that. She was a monster.<br/><br/>When his spell completed, she first noticed that, of course, his aura was a blinding white. Of course it was... but then...<br/><br/>A gasp of absolute shock and amazement tore from deep within her. It was like lightning that struck clear to the depths of her soul. She stared around herself in wonder, tears welling in her eyes. Blinking fiercely, she tried to clear the tears away. She felt as though she were caught in the middle of a magnificent storm.  It was the most amazing sight she'd ever seen in her long years, and she couldn't find words.<br/><br/>It was grey. Dark, sure. But grey! It wasn't black. There was no hope for a black soul, but grey... GREY!! She was not beyond hope! There was some fragment of good left within her! She could nurture that fragment, and determined to do exactly that.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">I'm... not a.. not a monster. I'm NOT a monster!!</span>she thought, almost screaming inside her head.<br/><br/>Reality slowly began to return to her and she became aware of the world outside her aura. She averted her gaze from the mage by bending to pick up hand full of pebbles and toss one into the water. When she sat upright again her expression was as it had been all day.<br/><br/>"Quite an impressive spell." she said, tossing another stone, "Your master taught you well."<br/><br/>She didn't comment on either her aura, or his, unable to think of anything to say. Dark grey was amazing to her, but it would instill horror in him. She wasn't kidding herself. She knew that he would find her repulsive after such a result. It was only a matter of time before he found a reason to part ways.