PM to join Like Water On Rock (Litani)

[Dasreide]

Timestamp: 63 Summer, 513AV - 8th Chime It had been a long while since Dasreide had first landed in Syliras after his trip up the waterway that led to the Suvan Sea and ended at port in Syliras. He had not stopped for food or rest for nearly four hours before finding an inn to sleep in. When morning had come, he had awoken to the subtle sounds of the city re-awakening alongside him. He had swiftly gathered up his things and set out to walk the streets, a determined look on his face. By the seventh bell, Dasreide found him settling down at the docks again and producing the letter he had kept beneath his shirt in a hidden pocket for the last few weeks. His lips immediately curled into a disdained frown as he re-read the letter, remembering what had brought him to leave in the first place. Litani had not left his thoughts during the journey here and she still held a numb spot deep within his mind. He creased the letter and looked up at the thoroughfare that led to the Nettle District. Alder's shop would be there. He found himself thinking as he rose from the crate he had been sitting on. He knew that chasing the dream he had would only lead to more trouble later on, but he had to know if what she had written was true. If she really did not mean what she had assumed. --- Just after the 8th Bell Dasreide found himself standing on the opposite side of the street, facing the shop that was titled "Alder's Apothicary Shop". He had walked past it a few times before realizing that it was the shop that he was looking for. Almost immediately, Dasreide felt guilt broil up within his gut as he approached the door. At this early in the morning, the streets were pretty much vacant in this part of the city, leaving Dasreide alone with his own thoughts... and those of the Nameless. The Nameless had voiced his concerns with Dasreide's plans, but he did not attempt to dissuade Dasreide from seeking her out. Even now, after Dasreide had been standing outside the shop for almost fifteen minutes, the Nameless remained quiet, a calmness that he rarely exuded washing over the both of them. "She probably isn't even here, you know..." Dasreide spoke to himself, shaking his head as he rested a hand on the frame of the wooden front door, letting his head hang. He wasn't normally fond of showing his emotions to the public, but sometimes the feeling of guilt and denial was too much, even for him. "This was a waste of time... wasn't it?" He asked frowning at himself and letting his head roll slightly to either side in a small shake of his head. Normally, I would agree, Dasreide. The nameless replied in the void of Dasreide's mind, a reflecting sadness to his tone. But even if she did show up, what would you say? "I would have apologized... for being so rash." He paused, pushing away from the door and walking a few steps away from the shop, "For not clarifying what I had meant when I said I was to leave the city... and for allowing her to assume that I meant to keep her only temporarily." Did you mean to? "Of course not." He sighed, frowning again, "She meant a lot to me. I felt as though we had bonded well enough that I might ask her to be mine... but I never thought she would have acted so different..." She said something after your mind closed itself off from our body, Dasreide. "She did?" He let his head rear back as his gaze floated to the roof that seemed to cover almost all of the streets in this city. "Do I even want to know?" "That is not you." The words came from Dasreide's mouth, but they were not his own. The nameless spoke freely through him, a peaceful exchange he had not yet known to be possible through the tumultuous bond they seemed to have up until now. "She wanted to love you... to love us both." Silence faltered his voice for a while and Dasreide could feel the Nameless retreating back into their mind, a loneliness settling about his mental presence that almost made Dasreide mourn for him. "You felt for her, didn't you?" Dasreide's voice was low now, his gaze now on the ground before himself as he spoke in a whisper. "You yearned for her presence... even if you would not admit it..." Dasreide fell silent as the door to the apothecary's shop opened with a soft, yet audible, creak. His heart did a flip in his chest as he turned to face the person who stood in the doorway. His eyes widened and his mouth began to gape as he recognized the soft features of the girl. Litani.

[Litani]

The healing was going slowly. Alder's words, when she had returned from her berry-gathering adventure the day before, had been singularly harsh. It was as if he'd known exactly what she'd done, for how long she'd done it, and even the why. "What were you trying to prove?!" He'd seemed more angry than she'd expected, actually; she'd tried to explain but he wasn't particularly interested in the deeper aspects of her reasoning, only the fact that she'd torn open the blisters and weals that he'd been working so diligently to help her mend since she'd come back to his door three days before. With more than a month in the saddle across the Sea of Grass, under the rain and the harsh sun, Litani was in a sorry state when she arrived and her beloved mentor was trying to help her mend, but she was not proving to be the most helpful of patients. "Look, I don't care what the reason was - you're going to take an infection if you aren't careful..!" And then he'd furrowed his brows and his true concern had come out as his voice softened: "I can't heal you the way you can heal me, Lit..." She'd nodded, understanding, sighing in reluctant acceptance. It was true, both of them knew it, and normally he'd do everything short of actually calling it out the way it was - she was marked by Rak'keli and he was not. She could purify wounds with a touch, he had to rely on herbs. His knowledge of medicine and the body was vast but her power came from the Gods. In the end, staring into Alder's deep blue eyes, Litani had whispered an apology for her rashness and allowed him to tend to her wounds properly... with the promise not to upset the dressings again. And so it was that the next day dawned bright and properly, another long and drowsy day of summer heat that saw the Alder household awake early. The scents and sounds of a family waking up could be heard and smelled as Alder's wife cooked breakfast, the children clambered down the stairs, and Litani roused herself in her basement apartment. She frequently came to the family table but only for a moment; on occasion, she'd stay and eat with the rest, but the unusually tense arrangement often caused her to steal a plate, whisper a thank you to Lysa, and then excuse herself politely to the shop to eat. Today was such a day; since she'd returned, Lysa, Alder's wife, had barely a kind word for her... only stony silence. She'd thought to be rid of the Konti when Litani had left for Riverfall. And yet here she was again. In her husband's shop. Learning, working, sharing a friendship and professional partnership with him that Lysa could not understand. Litani was more than content to eat in solitude if it meant being less of a burden on the family dynamic. When she'd eaten and washed, Litani curled up on her bed to see to her wounds again. The blisters covered the backs of her thighs and the insides of her knees, evidence of too many days and nights in the saddle. She sighed... in pain as well as in embarrassment. My Gods I'm such an idiot... Well... I'm home now. Home. And with that inner acknowledgement, she knew a brief fraction of the peace that had eluded her in Riverfall. Riverfall. Not for the first time, her thoughts wandered back to the paradise that she had haunted so recently. The place of Tromik's death, the place where she'd taught a Kelvic about the harp, taught a human about Laviku, and seen an Ethaefal and a Myrian tiger and... Dasreide. Cringing, she again cursed herself for a fool as she reached for the ointment and wrappings that would comprise her fresh bandages. Dasreide. Part of her heart twisted in on itself as she remembered him... She told herself that her emotions were weak and unfounded, that he was so in need of internal peace that he wasn't yet ready to seek a mate. She told herself that she hadn't a shred of common sense for even considering feelings for the first Akalak to set eyes on her - and set eyes he did! And his blade as well! Around and around, obsessively, her mind wound itself into coiled knots of desperately guilty remembrance and threads of intense memory. Part of her wondered what it would feel like to touch him as he shifted from himself to the Nameless one... if the Nameless wanted her. If he had truly wanted her. Had he? Truly? In the heart of his bones, in his blood... Stop. Just stop there, leave it, he's probably back there beating the living hells out of some young trainee... or else wandering to Zeltiva or gods only knows where. But wherever it is, he isn't here, he won't be here. And yet she thought of the letter. As she smoothed the aching flesh with a healing salve, she thought of the letter - in truth, it was fitting... She'd written that letter as a salve of another kind, hoping that it would soak into the wounded distance between them and forestall infection. She smiled delicately at the simple, naive metaphor. Well... either it is, or it isn't. I did what I could. I meant what I did. There is nothing else to be done for it now... Fate will have its way. Fate will have its way indeed. Tenderly, freshly bound and wrapped, Litani slid a linen dress over her shoulders and let it fall down her back, hiding her wounds. Habit had her setting a foot up on a small table and she pulled the hem of the dress up to her knee, belting a leather sheath around her calf. Inside that sheath was a simply made Lakan... the Lakan of a dead Akalak. Briefly, her fingers ran over it and she thought about Tromik, her father. And then she thought about the last Lakan that was there instead, for all of a fortnight. She smiled sadly, unsure whether to be relieved or pained at its loss. She could still hear the creak of the leather when Dasreide had taken his back... when his fingers had tightened around it as he fought to understand her reactions. Blinking herself free of the memory, she stepped away, let the dress fall to her ankle and hide the blade there. Likewise, its formless shape hid the wounds beneath their wrappings and, with nothing more than a slight limp to her steps, she started towards the door. There was a cane there waiting for her, if she should wish it - Alder had given it to her to help her walk as the saddle sores had temporarily hobbled her, but... she decided against it. Not today. Today, she wanted to see how strong she was. One at a time, she took the stairs. Her hand slid along the railing and she forced one foot before the other - it'll be easier on even ground, it was yesterday, she told herself, gently moving, careful not to break the newly healed flesh. One at a time, each one easier than the last, until she was at the top. At the door. She paused there, taking a shawl off one of the pegs nearby. The Sea of Grass sun hadn't been kind to her skin and, while her burns had started to heal into peeling scales and a bronzed complexion, she still felt subconsciously sensitive of the golden disk in the Syliran sky overhead. She draped the shawl around her shoulders and the crown of her head, letting its delicate linen provide her a measure of shade. The door's lock slid open under her hand. A hand reached up to adjust her shawl one last time and she stepped out of the door, her eyes briefly cast to the ground as she felt herself step through the threshold... She started to turn and close the door again but a dark shape caught her attention and her breath caught in her throat, startled - startled at the presence of another so close, but not half so startled as when she realized who was so close. Dasreide! Eyes wide and color draining from her face, Litani gasped audibly and nearly lost her footing as she felt the strength in her knees disappear. Just in time, she caught the edge of the doorframe, the same one he'd rested a hand on, moments before. The same one she'd leaned on, exhausted, when she'd stumbled into Syliras three nights before. "Dasreide..." she whispered quietly, blinking again, her eyelashes fluttering as she struggled to clear her mind of whatever fever-induced dream had brought this image into her head. But no, he was there. He was still there. A smile, bright and uncertain, faltering and yet genuine, leapt across her features. "Dasreide...." She took a second breath to say something but nothing more than his name came out. It had been more than a moon's turn since last they'd seen each other and she had no idea what to expect of him now. Never predictable, she was even more uncertain now but yet something about the way she looked at him was truly happy... almost relieved. Stunned, surprised, but relieved at the same time. Finally, she found her voice, whispering the words in tones of bewilderment and gentle laughter and welcome, " What in the name of Rak'keli's eyes are you doing here...?" She went silent and the door gently clicked shut behind her. She stood watching him, wrapped in a light linen shawl and stepping forward on hesitant feet, heedless of the broken gait with which she moved. Her eyes were only for him, curious and open and completely focused on his face... listening. Waiting. Patient, this time.

[Dasreide]

Long since had he doubted the probability of this actually happening, but he stood face-to-face with Litani, who seemed equally surprised to see him. Her smile did nothing to help him hide his emotions as he also smiled broadly, his teeth a broad contrast against his darkened blue skin. The smile was short-lived, though, as he realized that she had a weak limp and a burned hue to her skin. "Litani?!" His voice quipped up, mixed with worry that arised from the Nameless as well as he took a swift step forward to grasp her shoulders hard enough to keep her on her feet, yet soft enough to avoid hurting her. "Laviku's Might... I never thought you'd be here either! I..." He fell silent for a moment, his lips seeking the words his mind wanted but finding nothing for an instant. "I need to apologize, Litani." Dasreide didn't get a chance to speak, having been hijacked by the nameless yet again without the quarrelsome change that came normally. "I have been a fool to allow myself to think that Dasreide and I need to be different to coexist... and my foolishness has cost you a friend and I a portion of my own being." He was quiet for a moment, but soon Dasreide realized that it was his turn to speak. "The nameless is right... we both have caused you enough pain as it is and I believe we seek closure..." He paused a moment before continuing. "We left to seek out the truth of knowledge and martial might... and our search brought us here. The nameless and I have not been able to sleep as well as we should because of this..." He brought out the letter from a pocket on the inside of his linen shirt that had been sealed there for at least two months over the journey he had spent in the boat. Water stains tinted the paper brown at spots and the ink had smudged and bled in certain portions, but the vast majority of the letter was wholly readable. "Both I and the Nameless wish to tell you that... we don't harbor any hate for what you said... nor for how you reacted that day on the beach..." his voice fell quiet, unable to finish his thought as he stared into her eyes. They were diamonds in the rough, sapphires against lavastones. The epitome of beauty. He found it hard not to find a solemn calm within himself as he gazed into their vastness, a soft quirk upwards of the edges of his lips. Litani's gift would have her feel more than normal. Dasreide was not wholly in control at this point, but instead he shared a calm bond between him and the nameless; one that Litani could sense was from her presence. Doubt arose within the nameless' mind and his presence quickly faded and Dasreide's presence within their body returned to full force as it had the day they were on the beach. He had regained himself and they had split ways for the time being to allow Litani and Dasreide some privacy. "I am so glad to see you again, Litani."

[Litani]

Litani stood in stunned silence as Dasreide spoke; her eyes worked swiftly over his features as she tried to read him, tried to feel through the connection that his body gave her when he caught her shoulders. He was healthy, none the worse for wear for his journey but tired from it... But he felt... different. Very different, actually, so much so that the Konti caught herself wondering what had happened to change him. It hasn’t been that long... She could not quite tell the difference between him and his other side - certainly not like before. Where once she had felt the Nameless one as a function of the primal fury that he brought to Dasreide’s body, now there was... something else. Still, she listened, she nodded faintly, and she watched him. As the shadowed soul spoke to her, her blue eyes blinked in stark surprise. He had never spoken to her like this... certainly not in anything but anger. Or chiding her for a fool. Or mocking her failed attempts to explain. Apart from those things, he had never spoken directly to her. Except... perhaps once. Once, at the edge of a blade, on the day when they had first met - the day when she thought she felt something much different from him than fury. Something more complex and more... carnal. He said, then, that he’d lost part of himself. Litani got the sense that the Nameless one was referring specifically of himself and it made her curious, drawing a brow up on her forehead slightly. “A portion of your own being...? How is that possible?” Her eyes carried intense concern at that moment and she hoped that her sense was mistaken, for how could one lose a part of themselves... and what would that even do to one such as the dual-souled Akalak? And yet she could not deny that Dasreide seemed more stable, that the pair within one body seemed more at ease with one another. Whether or not that was indeed true, only time could tell. Suddenly it occurred to her that he may be a deep well which she might never fully understand. And, suddenly, it occurred to her that she might owe him an explanation. With a subtle smile caught halfway between elation and embarrassment, Litani turned to check that the door behind her was closed and then let her eyes find Dasreide again. "Walk with me... please? We should speak..." she asked him softly, edging carefully closer to him on the newly wrapped legs that she was honor-bound to protect. "I cannot believe you are here... I am happy to see you, as well." She lingered for a short time, one hand perched atop the railing which supported her, smiling quietly into his eyes. And then, in a quietly abrupt manner, a thought crossed her mind and compelled her to speak it aloud. She glanced shyly at the ground, then looked from side to side as if to indicate the city itself, before finding her way back up to his eyes as she murmured quietly, "Welcome to my home."

[Dasreide]

It was hard to imagine that he could have broken up with Litani and have returned to her in little less than a season's turn, but his time apart from her and his feelings towards her just couldn't be held at bay. The milling he had done over his thoughts and feelings over the trip had brought a false sense of security to himself enough that he ended up asking the Nameless what he could do. He wasn't much help, but he did remind Dasreide about one of their teacher's whimsical sayings. Teachings of such fervor are meant to be kept to one's self, but sometimes the precepts simply cannot be obeyed. It was common for their teacher to say things like this, but rarely did it have any actual use in the real world. Fortunately, though, the meaning of this phrase was quite clear to Dasreide before he ended up in Syliras to the point where he realized that even a vengeful hate could have been derived from lust and it was quite true that Dasreide had lusted for Litani in a way very few get to experience. Dasreide allowed his hand to gingerly slip off of her shoulder as she began to canter off only to shyly reveal her homestead as Syliras. A soft smile was brought to Dasreide's lips as he followed after her, nodding. "And what a fine city it is." He nodded in agreement, smiling at her even though he had a lingering feeling that she really had something dire to inform him. Dasreide wasn't one to simply forget about things and he surely would not assume as swiftly or as rashly as most humans ought to. "I am curious, though... what do you wish to speak to me of?" He had that fatherly air again, but he knew it was only a matter of time before that air changed for the better. His words were chosen carefully as he spoke again, his voice suddenly a bit hoarse as he danced his way onto the new topic. "I can only assume it has to do with your views on me... and I hope they have not soured to the point that I cannot redeem myself." He followed along behind her, silent now as he thought about many things. Perhaps she had found a new suitor and wished to challenge them both to a game of wits and physical challenges for her hand? Perhaps she had let her assumptions get the better of her and now she viewed him as just another of the Akalak Warriors so commonly found in riverfall? He didn't know. Nor did he wish to think any further on the subject as he awaited her reply with abated breath.

[Litani]

He had such an... odd... way of speaking, sometimes. Litani pondered Dasreide quietly, still intensely surprised at his presence and distantly wondering at all of the various reasons that had brought him here. And with such timing! She’d scarcely been here two days, three at the most... Her lower lip slipped between her teeth and she worried it thoughtfully for a moment. She also noticed that he had an odd way of not speaking sometimes. Such as not answering her question when he - or the Nameless - had remarked at losing part of himself. Perhaps it was because when one was speaking, the other wasn’t aware... she didn’t know, to be honest. There had been some overlap, some of the time, and yet not others. On occasion, it is wisest to let things go but... if this was one of those times, then she decided to ignore wisdom. “Dasreide,” she said softly, stepping off of the small porch of the shop and - slowly, limping faintly - moving to walk along the street with him. “What did the Nameless mean when he said that he lost part of himself? That concerns me.” A low sigh moved through her body as she walked; where normally her gait was smooth, subtly graceful, now she had almost mincing steps that directly reflected the wounds which were healing beneath carefully tended wraps. However direct a reflection they were, though, they were hidden - she wore a flowing split-skirt in a feminine, loose style, leaving the truth of her injuries to speculation. “You both concern me, to be honest,” she went on, murmuring the words with a gentle chuckle of lightness but yet they carried the gravity of sincerity as well. “You have told me at least twice to be wary of you... you have told me that you cared for me and yet... sometimes I wonder if the Nameless one hated me in truth.” She paused for just a heartbeat, then looked up at him and added, “...or you, for speaking with me.” Confusion, but also an attempt at serenity, were both evident in her voice. “I came a long way across the Sea of Grass, Dasreide, I had a lot of time to consider and... I believe there are some things you should know. About me, I mean... ” She was starting to stammer, almost, struggling faintly to say the proper words to describe the thoughts in her mind. But before she continued with what she had to say, she yielded the conversation back to him, saying softly, “But first... you. The two of you seem different now, than before. Why did that change? What happened to change it? ...or is it even a change at all, or simply that I do not know you well enough to tell yet...? ” The softest laugh of self-depreciation whispered through her then; she perceived much, she could intuit a lot, but some things were beyond even the reach of her Gift to explain.

[Dasreide]

Dasreide tried not to tilt his head when she asked of what the Nameless had meant, but found his vision canting off to the side along with his head, his dreaded locks of hair dangling to the right a bit. He pondered for a moment and seemed to be contemplating what his other half had meant. "A... man is normally bound heart, body and soul to the one he thinks he loves. Perhaps that is what the Nameless had meant?" Surprisingly enough, Dasreide actually sounded like his mentor, giving out whimsical statements that pertained to the topic, yet never really gave out the whole truth. Still, it was not Dasreide who should be the one to spill his feelings out to the woman. It was then that she spoke of concern. Dasreide had noticed the harbored, yet obvious wince to her steps and he could only guess so much. "You are concerned about the both of us?" It brought a wry smile to his lips as he allowed her to continue to reminisce upon their shared past, however short it was. He nodded every now and then, his smile fading and returning with each worrying thought that flicked through his mind. "You wish the truth?" He asked, turning to face Litani, after she finished speaking."You will not like to hear this, but yes... you do not know me or the Nameless well enough to tell. And it was true that, a while ago, the Nameless did indeed loathe you with a fervor unrelenting to the point where I found his feelings reflecting into my own." He paused, clasping his hands behind his back and taking a few steps forward as silence wrapped around them as he thought quietly to himself in that always-contemplative style he so adored. "But the truth of the matter is that we have changed... not drastically, but it is change nonetheless. I have gained clarity and the Nameless has gained... relief. He's been contemplating naming himself now that he is finally being acknowledged as something more than a caged animal." Dasreide's tone was warm, but his words were cold as steel. He then turned to face Litani, stopping her in her tracks with a smile, his hands still clasped behind his back. "But you said you wished to speak to me about something. You should elaborate, for both our sakes."