Samoka: Fire meets Air

There was a tepid knock knock knock at the door of Samoka's house, which surprised her off of her couch, causing her to stumble quite a bit. “Coming! Give me one second!” Sam calls out from the living room as she straightens herself out from how comfortable she got. A quick check in with the mirror proved that she still looked presentable, so she finally answered the door.
It’s the woman with the very white and poofy hair she saw in the Hearth a while back? How did she figure out where she lived? Who did she speak to? Before Samoka could even ask her questions, the woman finally spoke up.
“U-um, hi, you are Samoka, correct?”
“Yes– Who are you? How did you find out where I live?” Sam looks suspiciously at the woman.
“Oh where are my manners– Dewdrop. But you can call me Dew if you like… Er, Serj gave me directions to your house and drew a little map.. See?” She hands over the sketchy map that Serj whipped up to Samoka and her facial expression seemed to experience quite the journey with just a stare.
“Of course he did that, I am not surprised. You did ask.” She lets out with an exasperated sigh. “--But I’m sure he did it for a good reason. There must have been something you really wanted to talk to me about, huh?” She chuckles. Dew seemed to be a bit confused with Samoka’s reaction towards the mention of Serj, as she seemed to be annoyed.
“Yes– he mentioned that you came from the Fallen City? And that your mother was part of a- er, defensive force and she was the leader?” She already said it outloud but it escaped her mind that her mother passed away since she was in research mode! Dewdrop witnesses the flames in Samoka’s hair dim out at the mere mention of her mother, as if it was a terrible memory. That’s when Dew recalled the passing of her mother and, immediately, Dew regrets her question and feels like she just kicked this woman in the gut. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I completely forgot tha-”
Sam shakes her head and does a motion to let her know that it was okay. “Knight guild. She was the leader of a knight guild and she wanted to train me to be in it eventually. She wanted me to be under her wing and be second in line for it in case of her passing.” Sam chuckles yet looks saddened. “It’s alright, Dewdrop. Dewdrop…Wow, your name is literally perfect for a water genasi, and yet you’re an air genasi! What were your parents thinking?” They both laugh.
“I’m not sure! My mother always said it was my father’s idea. I get that a lot actually! There was one person a long time ago in Vareholm who made fun of my name..she could not get over it. But it’s not a problem, I suppose..”
“Honestly, genasi parents tend to be very fuckin’ literal when it comes to names. I mean Samoka? Dude, it literally means smoke.” They both laugh again.
Then there was an awkward silence. Dewdrop fidgets a little bit as if it looks like she is trying to gather her thoughts. She hesitates constantly, like she’s rewriting and erasing all at the same time without rest. Samoka hadn’t met a person quite like Dew before. She seems to be incredibly shy and very into her own head in stark comparison to herself.
“S-so uh..um…about the fallen city..”
“Yeah? What about it?”
“My own parents actually were there for a little while? My father was a bard and was a very well known author back in Waterdeep while my mother was an adventurer..they were always out on the road. That’s why I sought to meet you because I wanted to know your first-hand experience living there. I have yet to meet an adventurer who was actually raised there before.”
Sam takes a moment to process what Dew said, leaning back a bit and glancing off to the side until she was able to gather her words. “...I see. Hm! Well I’ll happily provide. I lived pretty lavish. I was considered a noble. My mother was pretty well off because of her high ranks in the knight guild. I had 4 other siblings but an absent father. The Fallen City was thriving as I grew up. It had so much life and charm.. I was always picking fights with the other elementals and kids though, so that kinda made my mother want to put me in the knight guild in case she passed away, to control my rowdiness. Everything was amazing. It’s probably way different than what it used to be after the calamity, I haven’t gone back after the loss of my mother and whole family, really.”
Dew was diligently taking notes, reminding Sam of one of those super studious kinds back in school. Dew looked up here and there whenever Sam paused to make sure she was doing okay. Although the whole ‘absent father’ part caught her interest.. Sam notices and decides to elaborate a bit more on him.
“Oh I know that look. I know I mentioned my father in passing- Never heard from him much though. So I don’t really consider myself to have a father at all. He was there for like…4-5 years of my life but then I never saw him again. I never knew what was up with that.” Samoka shrugs. “But I did perfectly fine without him for all these years so who cares, really.”
“I know this may be an odd question but it’s been bubbling up in me this whole time..” Dew gulps nervously. “....Was….was he from Waterdeep too?”
Another silence. “I…I think so?” Sam manages to say.
Then both genasis made eye contact with each other, a twinkle appearing in Dew’s eyes while a slight tinge of anger appeared in Sam’s eyes. Of course! No wonder why this woman caught her eye as soon as she saw her. Her mother always made off hand comments about how Samoka looked a lot like her dad and saw several pictures of him and with that in her memory, she can see the resemblance. Samoka immediately stands up and turns away from Dewdrop, the flames of her hair suddenly reigniting more than ever. Of all the things for Sam to discover, this was NOT one of the things she wanted to figure out today. After going over it in her head, she now realizes the connection they had...but Dewdrop never knew about it until now. She didn’t deserve to be blamed for causing her father to abandon her. “Samoka…I-I’m sorry that my father did that to you. I…I didn’t know it was even possible for him to act like that.”
“It’s whatever. The damage was already done..you were surrounded by a father figure, you should be grateful for that. It just…hurts.” There was a third silence. Dew didn’t know how to salvage this situation and felt terrible that this woman got the shit end of the stick of her father’s actions. “...At least ya got what you wanted out of me, right? Information about The Fallen City before its ruins. I’m glad to have been able to give you insight on that.” Sam sounded resentful but grateful at the same time…she was very conflicted. Dew felt relief but she was still very regretful. “I’m happy to have met you Samoka..even if it brought pain back to the forefront. I…would love to get to know you better as your….half sister.”
Samoka looks at Dew after a while and smiles awkwardly. “Honestly... I would love to as well. Just …approach with caution.” Dew nods in agreement. “Well…I-I’ll leave you be! I don’t want to hold you up at the door any longer..I hope you have a wonderful day.” Sam nods. “Take care, Dewdrop.”
Then Sam shut the door and locked it, staring out the peephole and watching Dewdrop walking away. “..Holy fuck.” She breathes out before going back to doing whatever in her home for the rest of the day while thinking about this encounter. Another thing to think about in addition to her already stacked pile of emotions for the past couple of months...