Flashback First Friend? (Xyliana/Open)

[Ki'toka]

3rd of Spring, 498 AV The Silent Garden Flashback - 5 years of age Ki'toka had never seen anything so beautiful as the Konti Isle in all of her short little life. At age five, she'd been mostly exposed to unclean, violent environments while she'd been a slave. This new world, with its trees and flowers, all the smiling friendly faces, was completely new to her and it honestly scared her. Even though the harsh life she'd had before wasn't good for her health and she'd nearly died, it was the life she knew. Nel'fi, the older Konti woman that had rescued her from the slavers stood at her side, her hand gently holding onto the young scared Konti's. It had taken nearly half of a season to heal Ki'toka back to perfect health. She had been underweight, had suffered from malnutrition and was suffering from a sickness on top of that. The elders of their race had quickly taken care of the illness she was suffering, but it had taken time to build up her weight again, fill her with healthy foods that would build up her strength. Today was the first day that Nel'fi had deemed Ki'toka healthy enough to explore outside. Up until now she'd been held up in the Opal Temple then in Nel'fi's own personal house. It was still early in the Silent Garden, perhaps only 15 chimes after the 6th bell in the morning. The day had the potential to turn beautiful already; the sky was crystal clear without a cloud in sight, with it being early Spring, the air still had a chill to it this early in the morning, but as the sun rose higher and higher, it was sure to warm up. It had been raining heavy for the past two days, as was normal for Spring so the air was heavy with the scent of rain while the grass underfoot was soft and squishy. Dressed still in her winter clothing so as she wouldn't fall sick again, Ki'toka followed Nel'fi, hand in hand as the older Konti lead her through the garden toward the high arched bridge over the waterway. Their pace was slow as Ki'toka pulled them off the path to walk through the wet grass to smell the newly blossoming flowers. When they finally got to the waterway, Ki'toka let out a loud little squeaking sound at the sight. She'd been too sick to really notice the boat ride over the ocean they had taken when Nel'fi first brought her here, so this was practically the first time the young Konti had seen the water. Pulling free of Nel'fi's grasp, she ran down the grassy hill, slipping on the moist grass a few times before she stumbled to a stop at the waters edge. With bare hands, she knelt down then dipped her fingers into the water.

[Xyliana]

-deleted

[Ki'toka]

3rd of Spring, 498 AV The Silent Garden Flashback - 5 years of age Nel'fi, still a relativly younger Konti herself, had released Ki'toka's hand as she started running toward the water, opting for a more graceful decent instead of the frantic style of the 5 year old. She had guessed that Ki'toka would react that way seeing as she'd rescued the young girl form a slave camp far inland. She had doubted the girl had seen any sort of large body of water at all in her life. She, herself, had never really been drawn toward the body of liquid like other Konti. She did know how to swim reasonably well and did worship Laviku whenever she did submerge herself, but she preferred to stay on land, dry and in the sun. Making her way down closer to the edge of the water where Ki'toka had come to a stop, she eased herself onto the grass, took a deep breath then closed her eyes to relax and enjoy the cool morning stillness. Ki'toka was so transfixed by the little ripples that her fingers created in the water that she didn't notice the Konti hidden in the water directly below her. Her fingers swished back and forth, flicking water this and that way as she giggled. She often looked back toward Nel'fi, checking to make sure that the older woman was still actually there and she wasn't alone. 'Though, maybe this place wouldn't be so bad to be alone...' She thought as she pulled her gaze away from the relaxing woman back toward the water. Leaning in closer, she touched the tip of her nose to the water and sniffed at the liquid's surface. Five year old's do strange things sometimes. It was during this time that her eyes started to adjust to the darker depths of the water and the Konti below her started to come into view. At first she thought it was her own reflection, her head tilting and turning trying to match up with the image in the water. Her brows knitted together in confusing as the reflecting image didn't do the same. "Is the water... Different... Backwards?" She asked in common. She hadn't been exposed to a lot of Kontinese once the slavers took her away from her mother so she'd grown up learning common. "No. Water is water, Ki'toka. Except the vision waters. Those are special but this is not vision water." Nel'fi said in responce, her words spoken slowly so the younger Konti would work out what she was saying in their native language. Ki'toka scrunched her brows together even more as it took her a moment to process what Nel'fi had said. She hadn't liked the idea of learning a new language at first, but after hearing a group of Konti women talking in it in front of her and not knowing what they were saying had changed her mind. Besides, it helped that the language sounded pretty. "But I don't see me right." She said, her head turning to the side again as far as it would go as she tried to line herself up with Xyliana. "I'm backwards..." Nel'fi cracked one of her eyes open and couldn't help the little snort that escaped her at the scene the young Konti was providing her with. "Ki'toka, have you considered that its not you. That the image in the water might be someone else? This is a public place, not private like my house." She said, always speaking slow and clearly. Ki'toka pulled back a little from the edge as she felt the edge of the bank starting to slide under her weight as she looked back at Nel'fi again, pondering what she said with her young little mind. Looking back at the water, she moved as if she were going to shove her arm down into the liquid to find whoever was down below, but a sound from Nel'fi stopped her. "Take you heavy clothes off first, they need to stay dry if you decide to get in." The older Konti did not want little Ki'toka catching a cold again. Ki'toka obliged and took her little cloak off and tossed it in the grass at Nel'fi's feet before she turned back to the water, a look of deep concentration on her face now as she decided if she wanted to try going under the water to see who was down there, or just stay on the bank where she knew it was safe.