Flashback As Hope Lay Dying

[Tobias]

“Thank you…” and then she was gone, and Tobias was alone in the cabin.

Tobias might have slept - the exhaustion certainly was there - if not for the increasingly angry sea that set Lacerta’s boat oscillating. And then there were his thoughts floating around him like so many flies, angry and hopeful and sad all at the same time. He didn’t know what to think about his bag, his rescue, his fate – all of it. On the one hand, even if he lost the bag, Tobias was already extremely lucky. The Suvan Sea was so wide that one could lose sight of the shore and see nothing but sea for many miles, and yet somehow this child of Syna had come across him and the wreckage.

But on the other hand, he wasn’t forgetting that he had killed the one he loved anytime soon-

Suddenly, there was an exclamation, shattering his reflection like glass. “I found it!” was what Lacerta said.

Tobias looked up. He saw the horned woman standing there, his bag in one hand, and felt relief pour down his throat. He smiled as she approached. In a second the worry and the stress had fled from the lines of his face.

“Thank you,” Tobias murmured, picking up the bag from where Lacerta had placed it. “I, just…thank you so much. For everything.”

He clutched the bag close to his chest. It was wetter than he remembered, but the sharp outlines of the objects within, nearly cutting through the bag – now that was familiar. Tobias sighed in relief.

“Now,” he said softly, turning and sitting down on the bunk beside his rescuer. “Ask me your questions, friend.”

[Lacerta]

Lacerta smiled at Tobias’ reaction, a warm feeling growing in her stomach. She was getting an odd motherly feeling towards the man… and it was familiar. Almost Deja-Vu like. Then she remembered Ortal, and grinned. At least Tobias was a little more sensible than that guy… he’d weirded her out on more than one occasion. Sighing, she adjusted her position, before coming up with her questions.

“I’ll start with the first on my mind… Your father. You mentioned his people worshiped Syna. I’m curious, what race was he? Benshira? “ She let the question trail off, thinking. She couldn’t really tell her friend’s skin color easily, as Syna’s light had given it a pretty reddish brown color, all over really. It was possible that he was Benshira, but what was he doing all the way up here? And he didn’t mention his mother’s people either….”Also, you seem to imply that your mother and father were from different ‘people’. Who, or what, was your mother?”

That set of questions done, she moved onto the more obvious group, a small smile on her face. She’d say these after her first was answered, to not overwhelm Tobias too much. “Anyways… less past, and more now. What were you doing on that ship when it wreaked? Were you going anywhere in particular?” It was said in a nonchalant tone, but the Eth was still quite curious about the situation. Generally those sailing were Svefra, and most of the time they were skilled enough to ride out a storm like this one had been. Most other boats were used for trade and transport, and therefore were much larger than her own, or a basic casino, making them harder to wreck anyways.

After Tobias hopefully told his story about the shipwreck, her next question would come out, even closer to home than the second. “Not to pry, but… what’s in the bag? I mean, it sounds quite precious.” She chuckled a bit as she said this, realizing how badly it was worded. Still, she was quite curious to know what meant so much to this man, and caused him to even panic slightly about missing it. It might have just been that those were his last possessions, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that. It seemed a little…more… than that.

[Tobias]

As promised, the ethaefal asked her questions, and as promised, the bard listened. For a second he was silent as he considered how best to answer.

Blood and sand, that is my history, blood and sand. But that seemed an inadequate answer. So he decided to take them one at a time.

The first question held the fewest heartstrings, so it was that one that Tobias answered first, and freely: “Not Benshira, though close. He was Eypharian. Syna and Dira, those are our gods…sun and death.” A thin smile. “In the Burning Lands, they are one and the same.”

“My mother, on the other hand…I never knew her. Due to my lack of multiple arms, it is evident she was no Eypharian lady, but rather some form of human. But whether Benshira, Svefra, or just plain old Syliran stock…I do not know.” His face betrayed no emotion, but mother was a loaded word for Tobias - a beloved curse, a cautious blessing, an ideal to be strived for and the last desperate wellspring for him to draw from. Mother was a concept, not a real, concrete thing, no matter how much Tobias wished it was so. Mother was hope, and hope was dangerous.

The next question was not so easily answered. Lacerta was his savior, and yet old habits formed in the dusty courts of old Ahnatep drew shutters around his soul, and paranoia sharpened by betrayal caught his tongue and held it fast. He could not tell her the truth…but he could not lie to her either. Not completely, at least. So Tobias took a middle path.

“I was traveling away from home.” He answered carefully. “The captain was traveling to Syliras to sell valuables, kohl and jasper and lapis, and gave me a bunk in return for gold and work. I…I wanted to see the world.” Tobias nearly choked on that last lie, but the lie passed his teeth all the same.

Oh, Father, you would be so proud, he thought scornfully. I’ve finally learnt to blunt my tongue.

As for the last question, Tobias nearly laughed out of relief. “Oh, this…” he murmured, patting the bag. “…this is that last treasure I have in this cruel, cruel world.” His smile was deprecating as he undid the twine lace and slipped a hand inside the bag. It reemerged clutched around a wooden lute.

Tobias laughed again, though this time there was sadness in his eyes. “My voice still sounds like the squawk a crow makes…” he said somewhat apologetically, though now he no longer seemed to speak to Lacerta but another person entirely. Eyes glazed over and looked past the ethaefal towards something in the distance. Tobias was talking with the past.

“…but hopefully my playing now makes up for it,” he continued softly.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta listened to Tobias’ explanations without a word. So he was half Eypharian, and probably half human. But he didn’t know his mother’s side… at least she knew her ‘parents’, as odd as it was. Syna and Leth, moon and sun. They were her real parents now, the god and goddess who had taken her into their celestial abode. It wasn’t their fault she had fallen, and it would be silly to blame them. It was the crack she’d fallen through, and whatever created the crack. She didn’t mind this world however, with it’s variety of people and open seas. She could easily find what she wanted on the water, with Syna’s light on her head, and music in her ears.

But that was getting off topic. What caught her attention was the contents of the bag. A lute… so he was a musician. Not a singer, from his comment on his voice, but a musician nonetheless. Well, it seemed like she met the right person. Smiling, she pushed herself off the bunk and grabbed her flute and book, bringing them to Tobias. “You play the lute? I play the flute!” She winced at the accidental rhyme, but settled down on the bed again, legs crossed. She raised the instrument to her lips and blew a fingerless note, something that required nearly no skill at all, and waited for her answer. She wondered if the man would copy her note, or start a song of his own.

The Ethaefal tried another note, playing a short practice scale, up and down. That done, she waited for Tobias’ answer to her notes, hoping he would join her in the music. He seemed to really enjoy it, from his earlier comments, so maybe this would make him feel better. He’d seemed a little depressed when he’d answered her questions. And being in a shipwreck… it had probably been a pretty traumatic experience, considering.

[Tobias]

Tobias smiled, closed his eyes, and drank in Lacerta’s playing. The music was manna, simple and plain. Without any sort of conscious thought, he answered her first foray into a song with the same note, and then some, both a half-step up and down and then back to the first note. His eyes fluttered open again as the ethaefal went up and down a scale, and with a jolt, Tobias remembered a song written in the same key. Eyebrow cocked, head tilted, Tobias began.

Was this a svefra song or a Zeltivan one? Tobias wasn’t sure. Both sung their praises to the Sealord as did the ditty he strummed. There were no words, or at least none that he knew, but the playing more than made up for it. Low split chords evoked the deep dark of the sea, and the twang of plucked strings interspersed between these ominous low strums alluded to a sense of danger, of shipwreck and storm and kalvikasi, all the dangers of the open sea. But then, when the song shifted into a triumphant diapente, it was clear the sea had been bested, the battle won, and port beckoned. It was a song of dissonance and unison, tension and triumph, the simplest of melodies yet evocative of many memories.

As Tobias played, he expected to hear the flute join him in the song. It was a common enough tune, and Tobias had seen it played across many different instruments. Even if Lacerta hadn’t heard it before, she knew the scale and could doubtless improvise it well enough. But he had a feeling that Lacerta knew it and would join in.

Eventually, the notes would fade, he knew. The song could only be played for so long. But from the very first moment that Lacerta had picked up her flute, the pain at his back and the uncertainty of his future had faded away, replaced only with Rhaus’s blessed relief. Later, Tobias would have to think about where to go and what to do next. Later, he would have to consider what had happened and what he had done. Later, he would be uncertain and afraid. Right now, well – right now, he didn’t very much care.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta smiled as well when Tobias began his own music, playing a piece that sounded vaguely familiar to her. Not because she had written it, but because she'd heard it... from someone, somewhere. She couldn't quite name the location, but she felt like it was... important, somehow... though Syna knew why. Or possibly Laviku, or Rhaus, while thinking on it.

Once she fully remembered the tune, she raised her own instrument and blew in a note, matching the lute's. It was a long, slow one, before another part arrived. She played in general companionship with the man, filling the cabin with the combined music. She didn't entirely remember the song, nor was she exactly the best flutist, so sometimes her notes died away in an attempt to remember what to play. However, overall, she succeeded, and played along with Tobias.

The song was fuller and more meaningful than anything she'd ever written... though it would have been a nice challenge to try and beat it. However, it felt like an old, well thought out song, one that had lasted generations of musicians. She let the meaning pass her by though, just enjoying the simple combination of notes from the two instruments. It was a long song, longer than most of her own, and by the end she was out of breath. However... it had been worth it. Entirely worth it.... since when was music ever not worth it?

[Taylani]

-Tay Grader-

Tobias

Skill	Award	Notes
Swimming	1	-
Socialization	+3	-
Musical Instrument:Lute	+2	-

[googlefont=Cinzel Decorative]Lores

• Shipwrecked
• Adrift at sea
• Rescued
• Blessed Fresh Water
• Bag of mysteries.
• Burning lands : Sun and Death are one and the same

Lacerta

Skill	Award	Notes
Sailing	+2	-
Throwing	+1	-
Medicine	+1	-
Socialization	+4	-
Cooking	+`1	Cracker soup!
Musical Instrument:Flute	+2	-
Observation	+3	-

[/googlefont]
Lores

• A sailor that can’t swim
• Tobias: Rescued man
• Medicine: Dangers of being out in Syna too long..for those not considered to be children of Syna
• Cooking: Cracker soup
• Of Flautists and Lutists

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