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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]
Lyam had been slung on his bed for two days now and he was already fed up. However, he knew he would not be able to stand up before at least three long days what made him feel depressed. The wound on his back scratched a lot, what Nadya said to be a good sign of cicatrisation. The young boy though could barely find it cool as his mind was continually thinking about the itching and ways to prevent his hands to tear out the skin of his back.
Nadya and his roommate Siriak had been really nice in bringing him some books to read but his snail’s pace in reading was just annoying him a bit more. So he just lay there, immobile.
However, doing nothing was not really Lyam’s lot and he soon grabbed his notebook and a pencil to improve some sketches. He just added some shadows here and there, drew one or two flowers he knew very well with another point of view but soon had nothing more to do. So he just let his book fall and returned to his annoyance.
Exams period, sorry for all the people who are waiting for me!
Midday was coming and with it the sunlight on the room. Lyam gazed at the bright light on the room that was slowly moving, until it reached his two-bladed sword that rested against the wall. The polished blade reflected the sunlight in a beautiful spectrum against the opposite wall while the word itself just seemed to shine. Lyam grabbed his notebook again and torn the last page. Then, pencil in hand, he began to draw lines as he felt it, much of them by hazard. One straight there, here a curve, some shadows, many approximations.
It had been hours since the sun had left the sword when Lyam finally came back to the reality and released his pencil. He barely had the time to have a look at it that someone knocked at the door. It was Nadya – who else? – who came with his meal and some creams and potions.
“Hello boy.” she said gently. “How is it today?”
“Hi. Not so bad, thank you.” he simply replied, half lying.
“I’ve brought you your… What’s that?” she asked while designing his sketch.
Lyam tried to hide it, saying it was nothing, but it went to waist of course. Nadya grabbed it and peered at it with lot of attention. “It’s not so bad…it's a stick?” she just said and brought him back the piece of paper. “Well, you’d better hurry to heal, boy, cause there is a lot of work waiting for you in the lab’.” Lyam made a wry face because he knew Nadya would not do his work for him.
“No problem,” he finally nodded, “I will be back tomorrow.”
“Great, if you wanna destroy all my work… It’s out of the question, Lyam! You knew that, three days more… at least!”
Lyam growled “I know… But there is nothing to do here!”
“Update your notebook.” Nadya proposed “It’s high time for you to…”
“Already done.” Lyam simply answered and he gave her the book for her to check.
Nadya skimmed through it then she took a page by hazard and checked it out. She was impressed. “It’s not your writing.” she said though. She had guessed for some days now that writing was not Lyam’s best skills.
“No. It’s Paul’s. We made a deal together. He writes my notes and I draw his sketches. He is in my herbalism class.” Lyam added seeing Nadya’s interrogating face.
“Oh… I see.” she did not say it but Lyam could feel she was proud of him, what made him grin. “How long have you been drawing?” she finally asked.
“I used to when I was a child, when I still was by my parents. But it has been years I had not taken a pencil. I tried again only to make my sketches but… well it pleases me. I mean, I feel more cool after that.”
“You’re quite good with the flowers...” she nodded “Keep going.”
Lyam smiled: Nadya was nice but she had almost never congratulated him. This day would have finally not been so bad.
Exams period, sorry for all the people who are waiting for me!
Nadya went the same way she had come and Lyam found himself alone with his meal. He took all his time to eat, knowing he had better to loose as much time as he could. Then, no more starving, he began to think of all of that. Why was he drawing? He did not know. It was both new and a childish habit to him. It reminded him his parents, the laugh of his father, the paintings of his mother. It was a kind of luxury he could not have afford for a while: a hungry wolf was not interested in sketches. But it brought him also a feeling of complaisance, a certain peace he had not known for ages. It made him complete, even if his drawing remained quite bad compared to what his mother used to do.
Lyam sighed. Drawing was maybe not the best thing to do. He was a Kelvic, he had to live in the present, not in the past. And all this stupid things reminded him of his parents, of his childhood. He crumpled the paper where he had tried to draw his sword. A stick, Nadya had said. Lyam smiled with disgust: all of that was going to waist.
Exams period, sorry for all the people who are waiting for me!
He saw again the forest burning because of the fire he had wanted to grow – he, foolish boy. He could feel the panic on his heart just the way he did the first time he had lighted the fire... But this time it seemed to be even worse. The long flames were soon around him, preventing him from escaping. After what had seemed to be a while, he finally felt his father’s arms around his waist, holding him in the air. He felt the hard wind licking his face, a suffocating wind warmed by the flames. He could hardly breath; his nose and mouth full of dirt and smoke. He was shaken by his father’s fast running and his vision blurred. But all around them, he could hear clearly the stampede of all the animals of the forest, running for their life.
Lyam woke up in a shout. Nightmare. Once again. Always the same. He dried a tear on his cheek and turned his head before sighing with relief. His roommate was not there… he would never know about it. Lyam pushed back the blanket and tried to sit on his bed. His back hurt terribly but he ignored it. He needed some air. Urgently. He slipped his pan with lots of difficulty and finally pushed on his weak legs to get up. But the wound on his back seemed to catch in fire and he suddenly felt giddy. Nevermind, he thought, I need some fresh air.
No one would certainly ever know how he managed to go out. How he finally found himself in the dark night, sitting in the middle of a narrow street, gazing at the stars over him. Directly from the sewer beside him, some stinking wind came and filled his nose, but he still decided not to move. At least, his body decided it for him. His back was harmer than ever and he suddenly feared that his wound could have reopened. But he could see no blood on the dirty pavement. Lyam surrounded his legs with his arms and put his chin on his knees. Curiously, it calmed the pain down.
The boy shivered, but the cool air was not responsible. He remembered that day, when he almost killed his all family. When he burned a half of the forest. Including his home, all his stuffs… and almost his mother. He shook his head. He had to think about something else. His right arm released his leg and he put a finger on the dirt. Slowly, he traced a perfect circle over the pavement. And stroke it in the middle with a straight curve. He could feel some tiny stones under his skin, scratching his flesh. But he could also see his home gently appearing on the dirt of the street. He spent few minutes like that, drawing the memories he had of his home. When he finished, he was certainly the only one able to say the “drawing” was a house. But he didn’t mind. He felt calmer now. And he understood. Drawing was not a childish occupation, neither a time waist. It was a kind of cure for all the wrong he had done. A way to be a better man. A way to accept his past. The boy smiled. All what he needed was to catch his attention, to be concentrate on something else. Drawing was a first way that could match for a time. But their would certainly be others.
Exams period, sorry for all the people who are waiting for me!
Lore: Ultimate Boredom Sketching a Sword Nadya's Approval Recurring Nightmare
That was quite a nice thread, and I'm happy that you showed off more introspection about Lyam and his past. Well done. Also, the philosophy XP was for his questions about why he draws. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!
by Lyam on April 19th, 2012, 10:08 am 
