[Flashback] Favored Son [Seodai]

[Tabarnac]

"You are your Uncle's apprentice as he was his uncle's apprentice before," She said, her simple reiteration holding the cadence of passing seasons, of wheeling stars. "The people of Denval are strong, taking root among the rocks and flowering where there oughtn't be anything so beautiful. He has skill and works hard, so I give him my blessings. Do you enjoy the farm enough to stay and help him? The people of Denval will depend on you for much of their livelihood, for the diversity of their diet. For health. For happiness. Will you toil with dirty hands under the sun for them? For your uncle? For Me? For yourself?" Though She asked a question, She seemed to know what his answer would be. A hand was held out to him, radiant, but not without calluses. She worked always, living in Mizahar's greenbelt most of the time, but coming up to visit Her favored son now and again in his distant home. How did one refuse a goddess? Theo was quiet, reverent, and allowing young Seodai to make his own decisions. There was much that they shared: blood, love of the land, love of the work. This would be yet another thing that bound them together, brothers in service to Bala.

[Seodai]

If anyone could refuse a Goddess, it certaintly wouldn't be Seodai, who had squirmed out of the arms that had become comfort, safety, and security to him. It was rare to find anything that could coax him out of that place, out of Theo's grip, but the Lady was worth it. His young, pretty eyes were widened in wonder as he, stumbling at first, found his feet. A few faltering steps and he hit his knees again, this time because he simply couldn't help himself. The sheer energy of her presence hummed beneath his skin, in sinew and bone and muscle until he felt as if he reverbated with it. In his youth, for lack of words, he'd have said it tickled. His small hand, dirty and sun-kissed, slipped into hers. A small noise, one of wonder, escaped his lips as he did that. His heart fixated on her wholly in that moment, that single touch exceeding anything he had ever received from the earthly mother, the one who had prayed for a strong and healthy son, and had gotten him instead. "Oh, yes, Lady..." he finally managed. Seodai wasn't thinking of pretty marks like Uncle's, of special blessings or skills. He wouldn't have asked for those if he had been. He was only a child, after all, and so he would have asked for something much different if his tongue hadn't been held captive. He would have asked for a hug, to touch her pretty face. He might have asked for a lullaby. As it were, he simply nodded his head at all of her questioning. What did he have, except the farm? Had he ever loved, or really been loved, until he had come to Theo? To the animals and the dirt, the cycles of life and death, the wonder of it all. Seodai couldn't imagine leaving for anything, and the notion of continuing a beautiful cycle of providing for the home Theo was teaching him to love settled well with the young boy.

[Tabarnac]

She smiled with all the ripe beauty of an autumn sunset, fiery colors with the hint of a chill on the horizon, but full of love, always and all love. Why else would Summer bow His head to Winter but for the knowledge of His rebirth, for love of life that would wither and die without a cooling, a reaping, a new sowing. "Then kiss me, lovely boy," She said. "The seasons await you, years and years, days and nights." She bent down to offer him Her mouth, sweet and sad as pumpkin pie and wheat beer. Denval must have its farmer, the man or woman who understood agriculture the way that Caiyha's witches understood the wilds, and Theo had made his decision. Now Seodai had made his. She approved of such, willing to seal it with a kiss more appropriate, perhaps, of her flirtatious brother of Spring.

[Seodai]

The weight of her words felt like promise to Seodai. Promise and hope and all things bright, as the warmth of her exuding love overwhelmed him. He was only a child, fragile and unformed in so many ways. But he was strong in others, and though he had lived only a short while, his heart was already settled in so many ways. He would never love anything more than the farm, never hope for anything more grand than perpetuating the beautiful life he watched his Uncle toil over each and every day. He had no greater aspirations than to be half the man Theo was. And so the skinny frame teetered forward the half step it took to position him just so. And he lifted his head, and received the kiss of Autumn.

[Tabarnac]

To say that the kiss of a goddess was a religious experience might sound like a cliche, but is no less true for it. Their eyes open at first, he could get lost within Her being. Her lips were warm, and some of that warmth transferred into him, tingling all the way down his spine, those strange, adolescent feelings he was experiencing more regularly piqued with a knowledge of fertility but avoiding certain boundaries. He was not a bridegroom mystic. But the warmth was followed by a chill. That warmth of Hers dove deep within him as his skin pebbled with gooseflesh, sending a shiver through him that reminded him of Winter's eventual arrival. But that heat retreated to the core of him, a secret fire to warm him. His lips parted with a gasp when She stepped away, his lips cold, and he couldn't remember having closed his eyes, but they had to have closed for them to fly open. His injuries were miraculously gone, no threat of bleeding out now. Yet he thought he felt a hand traveling down his back, or blood trickling into the crack of his arse. Seeing him twitch, Theo smiled and lifted the back of his nephews tunic. Her mark was there, a sapling growing up his spine, its roots tickling the top of his rump. Proud of his own mark, Theo often worked shirtless in the summer sun, and Seo knew what it would look like if Bala came back to offer him more kisses. "Make me proud, Seo," She said, starting to fade around the edges.

[Seodai]

If Theo had become Seodai's father in spirit, healing the rift created by the emotional negligence of his own, then Lady Bala became his mother, wiping away the tears in his spirit that his physical mother had caused. He had never felt so whole, the healing of his wounds going far deeper than what was visible to the naked eye. And so he was misty eyed when his eyes darted open again, moved to silence. And though he very much did not want her to go, he did not feel sorrow as she began to blur. He felt, somehow, that she would always be with him. Inside of him, that warm place he could feel so strongly even as her edges began to blur. "I will," he promised at last. The last thing he saw of his Lady was her smile. The greenhouse seemed especially quiet in the moment following her departure. Dark, and still. Seodai sat back onto his heels and simply stared at the place she had inhabited for a long moment, and then he turned to attempt to make amends for his selfish mistake. "Uncle," he began, sorrowful eyes darting aside to the broken pottery, the destroyed beauty. "I am so very sorry." Seo half crawled across Theo's lap towards the carnage, and he delicately pushed through the tender petals to retrieve the tiny seeds nestled inside. He held them up to the moonlight, between his own young face and that of his uncle. He had heard Theo speak of how difficult it was to cultivate something so rare and special, but Seodai felt like he could do anything, now, with the touch of Bala still humming beneath his skin. "I will make it better," he promised. His fingers closed around the seeds and he lifted bright, moist eyes to his beloved, the most important living soul in the world as far as he was concerned. Seodai felt, again, the incredible weight of remorse over having caused injury to this kind man who loved him as no other. With a renewed sniffle he lifted his other dirty hand and pressed it against the rugged lines of Theo's jaw. "I'll not disobey you again. Ever. Just please, Uncle. Please don't send me away." And then his strong bravado faded away, and Seodai flung himself into Theo's chest, wrapping his thin arms around his Uncle's neck. He couldn't endure the loss of the land, the plants, the animals, everything that would forever make him think of Lady Bala and peace. And, most of all, he couldn't endure the loss of his beloved. After all, they were brothers too, now.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Seodai XP Award: Botany +2; Floristry +2; Gardening +2; First Aid +1 Lore: Bala (deity); Cultivation (gnosis) Award: 1 Mark of Cultivation Additional Notes: Congratulations on your gnosis! Please add this link to your storyteller secrets in the control panel; it will verify your gnosis, and later your income and expenses and all that fun stuff for other storytellers. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!