Down Time?

Nikki was confused about one thing. "What do you mean by 'everything' your not?" As for the friend, she assumed Espen but it really could have been anyone.

Alister shrugs "It;s just that. Humans seem to be the opposite of Mystica in almost every way. We're strong and long lived. Humans are, by comparison, not as strong and that have extremely short lives. Barely a hundred years." he says.

"But what they lack in physical strength and longevity, they make up for it in creativity and compassion. You see, Humans for communities and in that diversity, come strength." he explains.

"That is Humanity's greatest strength. When they come together in a common, no single race can stand against them and I find, that I admire them for that. It's something, we Mystics, just don't seem to grasp. Real strength comes from a multitude of voices." he says.

Nikki nodded a bit. "There's something in what you say. If I had to say what my people's strengths lay, I'm not sure exactly. But yes, they have things of their own."

Alister nods slowly "Any way, what would you like to talk about?" he asks "As my guest, you are free to choose any comversation topic you wish." he says with a smile.

"I do have something of a question. Is there anyone Kylie can stay with in the event me, Vira and Hiromi aren't for whatever reason around? I would also like her being able to spend time with children her age, but you said kids were rather rare here." Nikki said.

Alister nods "Children are indeed rare among my people, but we still have quite a few of them here." he says "Also, if you three have someplace important to be and you find that taking young Kylie wouldn't be a good idea, you may always drop her off here. Just ask for Rosa, I'm certain you're acquainted with her." he says.

He seems a bit deep in thought at the moment "I often wonder to myself why The Mighty and Terrible Galford saw fit to give my people such a low birth rate." he mumbles "If we were to suffer some kind of disaster and many of my people fell to it, I'm not sure if we could ever recover."

Nikki knew Espen didn't exactly have the highest opnion of some of Galford's methods as far as the Mystics went but he never said anything about it for a number of reasons. She remained more netural about it until, and if she learned of why he made them like he did. She suspected Espen was the same to a degree.

"We'll, to my knowledge your people have extremely long life span so it makes sense. However, I don't know why you were given such a long life span in the first place. Even among longer lived races, I have yet encountered any with even half of it." She didn't know why anyone would need to live That long but that was just her opinion.

Alister nods "I, and others, attribute our lack of technological progress to our long life span. We're just not in as much a hurry to create anything as some other race with a much shorter longevity." he says.

"Still, I know of some races with people who are ten thousand years old and they look in their late to early thirties, by Human standards." he points out "And I'm sure they don't have as low a birth rate as us Mystics." he says "Just one more thing to ask The Galford I suppose."

"What races? I never met one that could for ten thousand years personally." Nikki was curious more then anything.

Alister nods "Well, the Edenians. Their princess is over ten thousand years old and she still looks quite young. There are also the citizens of Outworld. The Shokan themselves live to be over a few thousand years old." he explains.

"Interesting. I know my race can live for roughly two thousand years, but so can all the main native races, the Farian, Ralphlim and the dragons of our world, though they're called Draners. We keep our young appearance though out our entire lives though. I know of the Shokans but not the Edenians." Nikki finished.

Alister nods slowly "That's understandable, the Edenians aren't from Outworld. They're from another realm all together. The Realm of Edenia. There's a portal to it in Outworld, but it's Closely guarded. So far only Edenians can come or go." he says.

"It sounds..interesting. If I didn't have other things keeping me busy and I got the chance I'd love to see it. When I was younger I used to take to exploring but now its a lot harder." She shrugged slightly. "I doubt they're letting too many people go there from the sounds of it anyway."

Alister nods "Indeed not. Not even I'm allowed to enter. However, I understand their reasoning. Their realm was ruled by a power hungry and genocidal warlord for over ten thousand years and they had Just gotten their realm back together." he explains.

"A power hungry ruler.." Nikki mumbled. "Do you know their name?"

Alister nods slowly "Yes. His name was Shao Kahn. He was finally defeated some years ago and Edenia has been rebuilding ever since. They are a proud people who have been beaten down for a long time. I feel their trust for other races, aside from the Humans, won't come very easily." he says.

That was curious. Nikki had to ask something else.

"Are humans of earth close to them or are there humans in that realm? I ask just because humans of earth don't have exactly the best record when it comes to other races, we even talked about it before."

Alister nods "It was Humans who defeated Shao Kahn and set Edenia free." he says "And while most of the Human race is unaware of Edenia, there are a few choice groups who know of it and are welcome there." he explains.

Why did that name sound a bit familiar? But she supposed having been around for a minute she was bound to pick up odd things here and there. "That explains a lot then. I'm going to head back to check on Kylie and the others, is there anything you wanted to ask before I left?"

Alister stands to see Nikki to the door "Nothing to ask, but to wish you well in your parting, for it is a sweet-sweet sorrow and looking forwards to your return, may it be just as sweet." he lightly kisses the back of her hand.

Nikki smiled at this. "Charmed. We'll talk again later Alister, I promise." She headed out after that back to where the others were relaxing at; in a much more notable better mood then before.

One of the maids accompanied Nikki back to the gardens. There was still a few parties going on, as well as a birthday.

Nikki went to sit down by Kylie who was hanging out and enjoying herself while Vira was having a conversation with Hiromi, the former which grew a bit curious of the going ons at the moment.

"Excuse me, but who's birthday is it?" Vira asked one of the nearby maids politely.

The maid looks over to the party "Oh, that's one of the Circle members kids celebrating their one thousandth birthday." she says "Most Mystics make a big deal of their one thousandth birthday." she explains.

Vira was curious about that last bit. "Is there a reason for that in your culture?"