Flashback A Surprising Encounter

[Zynya]

32nd of Summer, 512 AV ~.~ Walking....such a slow pace. Even when you are pushing through a crowd that is full of fast walkers, it's still slow. Zynya would have much preferred running through back alleys, flying over carts and obstacles, scaling walls, skulking through halls avoiding Knights. However during the busy times when more people and Knights were out, it was better to walk, no matter how much like cattle you felt. Zynya fought the urge to moo. "Good evening, dear!" A singsong voice half-yelled as Zynya approached. An older woman walking in the opposite direction caught Zynya's arm and pulled her close to the wall so they wouldn't block traffic. The balmy evening breeze helped fight the stench of bodies that were headed home after working in the warm weather all day. Zynya was sure she didn't smell like a rose but at least she smelled somewhat cleaner than a latrine. "Mrs. Avallen, I was just coming to see you. Here are your letters." Zynya pulled a bundle of paper envelopes from her messenger's bag slung across her shoulders and handed them to Mrs. Avallen, who put them in the basket of dried herbs she was carrying. The woman got quite a bit of letters, she had told Zynya that they were from her nieces. Her nieces must have quite a bit of money to afford the crisp paper they wrote letters on, but it wasn't Zynya's place to question. "I really must get home Mrs. Avallen, Mother and Father are celebrating twenty years of marriage today and the chores have fallen to me for a while." "Of course, dear, I just wanted to let you know I won't be needing you to pick up letters anymore. My nieces and I are leaving Sylira, my husband and brother-in-law have both gotten jobs on a merchant ship and we leave in a week's time. Give your Mother my best!" She patted Zynya on the shoulder, gave a peck of a kiss on her cheek and merged back into the steady stream of people. Zynya stood frozen for a moment, another employer lost, at this rate she wouldn't have any before long. Maybe she should start picking up new skills? She shook her head at herself as she moved with the crowd, she wasn't good enough at the jobs her parents tried to get her into, she was too small for hard labor, and no one needed the skills she did have. Father kept saying that maybe she could be a messenger like him, but they kept putting her off. Zynya ducked into one of the less illustrious taverns, she had neglected to get a gift for her parents, maybe a bottle of liquor would make them sleep heavy so she could leave the house without the constant fear of them wanting to know where she was going so late at night. Zynya scanned some of the bottles on display behind the barkeep, she didn't even know what type of drink she was looking for.

[Kaie]

Just more than a season had passed since the first of Spring. A season since the Djed Storm, that spared few who weren't safely tucked away underground the city. She'd heard word from travelers and merchants who passed through that as far as they knew, the entirety of Mizahar was effected. The savage woman's thoughts immediately went to home, where her clan's longhouse sat proudly in the midst of the jungle. Completely exposed and largely unprotected if any djed assaulted. Yet Kaie did not except the idea they had succumbed to the fates of so many across Mizahar. No, they were too strong, too resilient for that. Her mother, cousin, and the rest of her kin were still there waiting for her return. At least that's what she had convinced herself. As for Drexel Winslow and his daughter Molly, she had heard nothing. Nothing at all. It had been too long since anyone had heard a word from the wealthy citizens of Syliras. To their fate, Kaie was not blind.

Without a young girl to train or her father to give etiquette lessons to an unwilling Myrian, there was only one thing Kaie could think to do with new free time. Drink. Lots of drinking. She'd be falling back into her old habits again. Truthfully, she didn't really care. There were more faces, more memories waiting to be forgotten. Drowning such recollections away hadn't worked for her in the past, but what was that saying they had here? When at first you don't succeed, try again? It was all the justification she required.

Mere chimes later, Kaie had maneuvered through the maze of bodies to the most familiar building in the city to her. As always, The Rearing Stallion sat there sturdily in wait of her entrance. It was almost as if the creak of the open door was a whisper of a greeting to an old friend. The innards of the tavern weren't anything special, that was for damn sure. Musty and dim lit, almost as dim as the men who frequented it. But there was something so homey about the stench of aged ale. Well, it didn't resemble anything of her real home, but it was the closest thing to a home she found for herself in the City of Peace.

It was just when she had seated herself and ordered a drink, that she noticed the woman who stood so quietly behind her. When the savage turned, she found the blonde staring past her at the vast array of alcohol on hand. Kaie could gather she might not have intended on drinking herself. If she had, she probably would've taken a seat. Yet no one stared so intently on their choices without the intention of purchase.

"You want that one," The Myrian finally said with a mirthful grin, her bronzed finger extending toward a darker bottle in the middle of the shelf. "Go down so smooth, not even realize how much you drink until you notice the bottle's empty."

[Zynya]

Zynya ~.~ The Djed storm, that had been a terrifying time. Zynya and her family had been in the caverns, her brother had been one of the ones in charge of patrolling among the people. Zynya had hated that time, cooped up like a chicken at market, not knowing if you would even be able to leave without getting cooked by something beyond your understanding. In all honesty, she had been terrified, absolutely frozen with fear for the whole time they had been trapped. Zynya pushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she studied the bottles, noticing the other patrons in only the vaguest sense. She was just about to select an expensive looking bottle of spirits when a woman sitting at the bar commented on one that her eyes had previously skimmed over. "Why thank y--." She stopped and did a double take. "I beg your pardon, but are you Myrian?" Her cheeks turned a startling shade of red. "Sorry! That was rude." Her eyes took in the surprisingly sparse jewelry as well as the beautiful face that held an intensity that Zynya had never seen. Of course she hadn't really gotten out much. And things rarely seemed to change in Syliras. If possible, her face took on a more crimson shade as she hoped she hadn't insulted the Myrian, she had heard all kinds of ferocious and savage tales about her people. She silently prayed they weren't true.

[Kaie]

Kaie's face cracked into an amused smile as soon as the woman blurted out the obvious question. It seemed to be one that lingered often on the minds of those she encountered. Not all were bold enough to ask, but enough of them had where the woman knew how to handle it. Besides, it was hardly rude in her eyes. Sometimes it was refreshing to know there were some barbarians that recognized the existence of the Falyndar savages. Of course the tales were often a bit exaggerated. Well, sometimes they were anyway.

"Nah, you're alright," The Myrian laughed, eyes taking on a mirthful gleam at the woman's embarrassment. She turned in her chair and tipped the mug back, letting the ale slip through parted lips until the contents went dry. Then she placed it back down upon the counter with a woody tap. "Yes, I am Myrian. Either you have good eye, or! You have seen one of us before, yes?" She guessed, meanwhile gestures with her finger toward the bartender, who hurried over to receive the coin she slipped his way. The mug was taken and for that moment, the Myrian had little else to occupy herself with then the blonde woman.

"I'll answer your next question, too. Yes, stories about us all true. Every one," She said with a sigh, figuring the woman would shoot for the next anticipated question like most did. She knew the drill. Amber eyes flickered to the empty seat beside her own and then to the standing woman. She shrugged her shoulders with a sudden grin. "So yes, I do bite."