A Reunion Too Long Delayed [Kashik, Kavala, Akela]

[Vanator]

As the Drykas brother looked out on the courtyard, his frustration over the stalemate between he and his sister continued to eat at him. He did not want to believe he was wrong. Doing so would be admitting he had wronged his beloved sister, that his wife was conniving, and that he had failed them both. He had failed Pygmy and Hex, even Khiara. He was tired of damaging the women around him. But none of those approached the depth of despair he felt at the notion he may lose Kavala. His precious pride was not so valuable as to risk that, though he felt it was already too late to mend what had been done. Then he heard Kavala's cup settle on the table, the rustle as she stood from her seat. Vanator turned as she stopped next to him and reached out to touch him. That simple contact shattered his hardness. Moved by the sudden contact, Van met her rich azure gaze The curtain seemed to pull back between them, her mask fallen away, the sterility of her features softer, more amiable. She was as beautiful as always. Though the stranger's face had faded, Kavala still did not appear as she did when he last laid eyes on her. Over the past two years, life's experiences had seemed to have touched her face making it leaner, more serious, with something intangible that surely was a testimony to the changes those experiences had made on the woman herself. The words she spoke washed over Vanator as spring rain over a smoldering grass fire. She talked to him as Kavala would, the sister he treasured, the same way she always had, honestly and with truth and compassion. He did not know what had inspired her to give him a second chance, but he thanked the gods that she did. His anger, sorrow and frustration drained from him, disarmed by the Konti, his heart lifted yet humbled as she opened to him in her familiar voice. Vanator's passionate Drykas blood often lead him to anger too quickly, his Grasslander pride to easily threatened. His sister knew his flaws, and as often as she tended a minor wound, she had ministered to heal his wounded pride, or gently admonish him for clinging to it so stubbornly. "Kavala," His gaze darted to Akela, acknowledging that he wanted her to hear him as well. "You have to know, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. Gods, I love you Kav. I have had no dearer friend than you. You have been my strength when I needed to be strong and my confidence when I had been in doubt. I could not willingly turn against you so lightly." His eyes drifted out again to see the lazy Kelvics, then back to Kavala. "I admit I should not have told Kashik so much about you. I know you guard your personal life closely and I have always honored that about you. I can see where I had violated that... and I apologize, Kav, for betraying your trust." The sincerity of his profession was echoed in his gold-flecked brown eyes. "I do not make it a practice to discuss the details of my family with anyone. I had lived most of the Spring with a Kelvic woman whom I did not even mention Tamar too." He paused, realizing how caddy that sounded. If anything, the past season had revealed to him how his easily shared affections could cause others heartache, including himself. The memory of the hurt and disappointment he had caused Pygmy, Khiara and Hex still haunted him. They were all good women, and friends, and he mourned how those relationships had ended. "Kav, you know I have not been...restrained with whom I have given my heart to since we lost Tamar. But when I met Kashik, there was a connection that I had not felt in a long time. She genuinely cared to learn about me, about who I was, about what I thought was important. I had not had someone to confide in for so long, I guess I allowed my affections to affect my judgment. That is why I told her what I did. I deeply regret violating your trust Kavala." His gaze drifted to the pair of Striders penned at the far end of the courtyard. "I believe you, what you said about Kashik and her visit here. But I don't know if I can believe that her intent was as malicious as you describe. Ironically, had I told her more about you, about your private personality, she may have not been so brash and forward with you. Kashik is friendly, sometimes to a fault. She does not know a stranger, and I don't doubt she poured it on here to try to earn your friendship, using what I told her to try to relate to you. She knows how clans work, how bonds need to be made. But her mistake was assuming you were a typical Drykas woman." He looked back down at Kavala. "Kav, I have only known her a short time. Could your accusations against her be true? It is possible. But father thought enough of her and her pavilion to put us together without knowing we had already met. I love her Kavala, enough to ask her to be my wife, you know that is something I would not take lightly. I have not lost my senses, she does not hold unbridled sway over me. She has done nothing but defer to my will. Father has raised me well, though I know I am not perfect in many ways. I have lived my own life for quite a while now, and I am sure my mother and our father are livid that I made Kashik my wife before an official ceremony. But, in the end, I have finally started a family again, which is what they have been wishing for. I will give them their ceremony in due time." He sighed, relieved to have been able to speak his heart to his sister. "I know you and Kashik are very different people, and you may never reconcile with each other, but I do not want to have to choose between the two of you." For now, Vanator would have to live with the regret that his sister could not trust him with her heart. But at least they were at a beginning again. "I will not ask you to share things you do not wish to discuss, but I hope that I can earn back your trust Kav." He could see it was not easy for her to invite Kashik back into her home, Vanator knew she did it for him. He looked down as she surveyed what she had accomplished at Sanctuary. The pride he felt then was in her. "Thank you Kavala."

[Akela]

Throughout the heated discussion, Akela thought she'd never felt as lonely as she did right now. She really could see both perspectives here, but at the moment all she could think about was the sheer amount of words being exchanged. Gods, how much they were talking. They may be pouring all of themselves into this, but after a while all that got to the girl's (probably damaged) mind was a continuous rumble of blah blah blah with the vague aftertaste of a meaning. Why were they fighting again? Akela was feeling drained in their stead. You disrespected me. You disrespected me by thinking I disrespected you. You disrespected me by not seeing you disrespected me. Akela would long have settled this with a round of fisticuffs, exchanging a few bruises that at least meant no disrespect to anyone.

Halfway through the thing she sat down, now firmly convinced that Kavala could handle this on her own. This Kashik woman sure could cause some ruckus with her mere presence. The Konti poured herself a cup of tea and appeared more interested in the ripples on its surface than the argument going on. Vanator wasn't a stranger to her, but unlike Kavala she bore a grudge on the entire Drykas society. Her brother was definitely a good man, but the race as a whole suffered from flaws that ran deep in their very essence. Or maybe not, she was just seeing her own flaws reflected in the horseclans. That was fine too. There was only so much Akela could care about at any given time; any more than that would have required a bigger heart than hers.

She thought she understood the Zith better than she did the Drykas. Akela's mindset was not entirely dissimilar. She had precious few interests, most of which were of an immediate nature - like the Zith. She was cunning and swift of mind, but unwilling to pursue scholarly knowledge - like the Zith. And she judged things on pure instinct - like the Zith. The girl cleared her throat, letting her voice be heard in a quiet accusing gesture that seemed to say "are you guys done talking yet or should I go and take a nap?"

"Sanctuary is Kavala's home, but it is also my own. You said Kashik is a skilled warrior. If she is to step into our walls, she must prove her worth against me. A round of armed combat, real weapons, one rule. We fight until one submits." Coming from another, that might have been sounded like a joke. With Akela, there was no doubt that she meant every single word. Would Vanator shield his wife from the danger and thus prove to her that he'd indeed grown soft? Did he consider the possibility that he might lose his new love like he'd lost Tamar? Akela didn't honestly care - the idea of kicking a Drykas woman around was more than good enough to motivate her.

[Kashik]

Kashik stood with her back against the wall of Sanctuary, listening to the argument going on mere feet away. And crying, silently and carefully, not only from the pain in her heart but because she'd had to bite down so hard on her tongue to keep from joining the argument that she'd spent the last minute tasting blood.

Kavala was lying. Kavala was manipulating him, lying right to his face, making him think it was his fault, and she couldn't say anything lest she become the villain they all now thought she was. She, too, remembered the conversation she'd had with Kavala on that fateful day.

I don't know when it started. I don't think it was with his father though. Perhaps it was his grandfather, because his grandmother's - all three of them - perished. I know life is hard on the Sea of Grass, but occasionally we do have a Drykas that dies of old age. His father lost my mother, who was admittedly the love of his life... a woman he lured to the Sea of Grass because of a plague on the family's horses. She died from a fall off her horse. My mother was a very good rider. And then there's Vanator's first wife, Tamar. She was my best friend. She got killed in a Zith attack. She was too smart to get caught out and ambushed - and she was fierce. But there's no stopping the curse. my sister and I fled it. We fled that whole family, separately. I went to Mura, and she went south. We both were captured by slavers that changed the course of our whole lives. We got off mildly, I think... all things considering.

It had been Kavala who'd told her of the slavers, of her own tragedy. Vanator had never once betrayed that secret to Kashik, and she never once would have asked. It was why she'd been so utterly confused when Kavala had begun accusing her of using Vanator as a weapon against her - apparently Kavala simply didn't remember that she herself had shared her own tragedy with Kashik, and instead assumed that Vanator had committed some grave sin.

And she couldn't say anything, because to say something would be to stand against her just as Kavala said she would.

No, if Vanator was to heal the rift between himself and his psychotic sisters, he would have to bow to their wishes and apologize to them for things they'd only imagined he'd done. Though it tore her heart to pieces and made her blood boil and rage, though she tasted copper and hatred and knew that she would never, never forgive Kavala for what she did here today, she would say nothing. Because the hatred she felt for the Konti bitch was not nearly strong enough to overpower the love she felt for her husband.

She would suffer in silence, and let him think her a loose-lipped idiot. Let him think her too free with her friendship and a stupid child seeking approval and leaving devastation in her wake. He believed Kavala. And he was right - Kashik knew how the Clans worked, knew how bonds needed to be made, and more importantly she knew what would destroy them. If she called Kavala out now, perhaps she might convince her husband of her own innocence... and destroy his tenuous relationship with his sister in the process.

And so she stood with her spine pressed against the wall of the building, tears streaking down her face though not a breath was heard, and hated these Konti women so fiercely that her vision spangled white with the pressure of it.

At the mention of a blade, her temper screamed YES! while the more responsible side of her knew that she might well make it worse by trying to honestly and fervently kill her husband's sister. But he was her husband, and it would be his decision whether he watched two of the women he loved raise their blades against each other - but she prayed to all the gods she knew the names of that he understood that she would never submit to either of his sisters.

Not now, the more responsible side whispered, and she gave in to it instead of her temper and slipped away from the wall. They could decide whatever they liked, but she knew better than to fight when she was nearly blinded with rage. Let them do as they pleased and make whatever decisions they wanted - she was going to actually go for the walk she'd come over here to tell them all she was taking - that is, until she'd heard her name being so thoroughly besmirched and destroyed.

She did her best to keep her boots from making any sound as she pushed herself away from the wall and scurried off towards the path she knew led up the cliffs.

[Kavala]

Note on LocationSince we are all in the inner courtyard of Sanctuary on the Veranda, there's no real wall to hide behind to easedrop. Outside is too far away to even catch the conversation - as per the layout posted in the main sanctuary thread - I'm going to assume Kashik is behind the forge wall which is between the veranda and the arena. She'd be in plain sight of all the horses, whether inside or outside even though outside she'd not hear anything. So we'll go with that.

As Kavala stood besides Vanator, she started to actually feel better about the whole situation. Her brother was talking to her without rage in his eyes and her sister was remaining uncharacteristically calm. As she looked out over the Veranda and surveyed the inner heart of Sanctuary alongside Vanator, she noted the horses that were stalled were all watching something she could not see. Curiously she glanced over at Windsong who had the prime corner spot in his stallion box, and even he too was looking at something that he seemed to be keeping an eye on.

Kavala concentrated, opening herself to the animals' awareness. She'd always had a gift to hear them, feel them, and the ones she was closer too she could sometimes talk to in pictures. Windsong often flashed her images of carrots when he wanted one, but more importantly he'd flash her images of danger. It was how she'd found the mare in the mud last spring, and kept her calm enough to dig her out alongside the Ethafael. And now, reaching out to Wind, he flashed her his clear concern of danger - of predator even. He remembered the fight Kashik had with Kavala and how upset she'd been before. Horses rarely forgot that kind of thing. They would remember one harsh word twice if not three times longer than a simple praise. In fact, almost all the animals remembered - at least the ones that were here for the last round of Kashik's particular brand of 'personality'. So, as Akela began to speak, Kavala frowned as Windsong flashed her a single image. Kashik hiding behind the forge. Ease-dropping. Nice.

Her attention flashed back to Akela, who'd finally decided to stir. She could sense her sister's frustration, no... that was the wrong word... annoyance at the whole thing. The situation was important to Kavala, but it just wasn't that big of a deal to Akela. Kavala understood that and accepted it... but what shocked her was Akela's reaction. In fact, it almost made her laugh. She was willing to believe that Kashik might be as innocent as Vanator said if she apologized and proved herself well behaved on this trip, but obviously that wasn't going to happen if she was already ease dropping. And Kavala felt guilty for a moment - completely guilty - because she wondered if Akela challenged Kashik because she wanted to fight her or if ... somewhere secretly Kavala wanted Kashik down on the ground dripping blood and conceding to Akela. Kavala offered her sister a crooked smile and nodded. "You are right. It is your home too." That was all she said about it, definitely agreement by silence.

And then she turned to Vanator and sighed. "I don't think you're going to get a chance though Akela. Kashik, true to form, has been ease dropping on us the entire time behind the forge. And now shes on the run according to Wind and the rest of the herd. I don't think a truly innocent well meaning person acts all that honorable by listening in on a conversation and then flees. If she is half the person you claimed her to be, Van, she'd have approached openly and forthright, not sneaking around like some Zith wanting to hear everything but not be seen. It's not very Drykas of her, and probably not someone that would face you blade to blade Akela. I'm not sure where she's going... because the horses can't see that far from their stalls." Kavala said softly, shaking her head. She had a disgusted look on her face for a moment before her whole expression went blank.

[Vanator]

Vanator's tension had eased considerably, finally feeling he had connected with his sister once again. The brother knew his sister and wife may never reconcile, but at least Kavala and he could be civil to one another. That gave him hope that their relationship could pick up again after so many seasons. Then the silent sister finally cleared her throat, and Vanator looked past Kavala at the seated swordswoman. As the debate between he and Kavala had progressed, he had watched Akela, curious as to her thoughts, and what the past two years had done to shape the older Konti sister. She was thinner, though no less fit and she had let her hair grow out. But when he looked at her face, there was not the subtle nuances similar to those that had shown on Kavala's face to indicate deeper experiences. But Akela had never revealed her heart in her visage. Where Kavala resonated with the compassionate, emotional aspects of Vanator's personality, Akela had always connected with his aggressive, competitive side. She was more like a brother. There had been a friendly rivalry between them since childhood . Vanator had used their competitions as a way to try to keep his sister engaged in the pavilion, for even more so that Kavala, he knew Akela felt like an outsider in her own family. The family and Drykas society had failed Akela, in his opinion, had failed both of his sisters. Van had suffered many cuts and bruises at Akela's hand during those contests, but he never regretted them. He loved Akela, though their relationship was very different than that which he had shared with Kavala. 'Kela's tone was familiar, one which always seemed laced with sarcasm and edged with an almost imperceptible threat, but its now quiet nature only seemed to render it more foreboding. A challenge? Akela wanted to challenge his wife for the right to enter his sisters' home? He was amazed at Akela's boldness, and her lack of respect for him. His brows knitted together as a scowl lowered across his face. Vanator stepped past Kavala to address Akela. The possibilities and absurdity of the proposition bounded through his mind. He had sparred with Kashik, and she was a skilled Sapphire Clan warrior. But he had seen 'Kela fight and train for years, and did not doubt her talent, fierceness, or her resolve to carry such a conflict to its end. It would be a close and no doubt bloody battle. Van did not believe his sister would kill his wife, not intentionally, if only out of consideration for her brother. Nor would Kashik dare to deal a killing blow to his sister out of loyalty to her husband. But things happened when hot blood met with weapons. "Sister," Vanator replied, his tone even, his features dour again, "I know you are serious, and that you seem to share our sister's mistrust of my new wife. No matter what you believe her true intentions to be, it is an insult to me that you would make such a demand of her. As my wife, she has to prove nothing to you, and it is apparent you have no more faith in my decisions than Kavala. Though I am sure Kashik would take you up on this challenge, If anyone would take you on, it would be me. If you put such a bold demand on my wife, you have done so to me, you know I cannot stay and leave her outside the walls. I have not been lax in keeping my axe busy 'Kela, I have slain Zith in Din's front yard. Do not mistake me for being soft simply because I have taken a wife." His tone hardened and his eyes narrowed, the warrior within him sparked by the memory of the battle outside the Zith colony. Vanator turned as he heard Kavala sigh. Her tone harbored a trace of smugness, emboldened by the thought that Kashik's covert actions could further justify her judgment of the Drykas woman. Looking across the compound for sight of Kashik, he did not doubt the truth of Kavala's words, knew well enough the affinity she shared with the animals she cared for. But his sister chose to think the worst, an indication to Van how deeply Kav was jaded against Kashik. And his new wife was not helping matters. There was a reason why he told her to keep her distance while he spoke with his sisters. Now she had only made things worse for them both. The Drykas' scowl deepened, his head turning sharply to glare as Kavala compared Kashik to a Zith. Did she know what she was saying? Comparing his wife to the beasts that murdered Tamar? The heartless comparison twisted his gut, and he wondered again what now was the true nature of the woman called Kavala. He saw Kavala's mask fall again across her face, the precious headway that had been made seemingly lost. His own grinding frustration abraded against his soul. He gave both Kavala and Akela a glance that faltered again between pain, disappointment and angst, realizing he would never be able to approach his sisters in Kashilk's company. He hated being caught between the wife he barely knew, and the sisters he barely knew anymore. Enough damage had been done for the moment, and he did not want to say or do anything that may forever seal shut the sister's he knew from him. The quality of his voice quieted, but still possessed a confident firmness. "This is not the way I wanted it to be. I didn't come to seek your approval of my wife, honestly, I think you forfeited any say in my life when you left the pavilion. I know that you have left us, and though I hate it, I can't blame you, we have failed you both. I came to see you, because there has been a part of my life missing since we have parted." He glanced at Aleka. "I would love to spar with you again sister, but not to prove anything to you. I simply miss our games, and I think you will find I have improved my combat skills." His gaze returned to Kavala. "Kav, I miss the honest conversations. I know our trust has been damaged, and it seems the past two years has done some things to both of us that has made it difficult to rebuild that. But I hope we can. It is obvious that Kashik's presence is a wedge between us. And maybe I need to take a closer look at the woman I married. But I think it is best that while we are in Riverfall, we lodge in the city." He turned to the courtyard, spotting Kavala's Strider. "Windsong looks well. I lost Zura to a snake bite." He nodded his head towards visiting horses. "I am now with Backlash, the buckskin out there. You should meet her." Vanator turned again towards his Konti sisters. His hand reached out to briefly touch Kavala's arm, though the face of the stranger she wore from earlier had returned. "I believe I need to talk with Kashik." Stepping off the veranda, Vanator walked across the large inner yard, past the Kelvics, stopping to pat Buckskin and Hiloha before heading out the horse gate to find Kashik.

[Kashik]

When Vanator topped the next rise, he would find something he'd yet to see - Kashik Brightsmile in a killing rage.

She paced back and forth across the path like a caged grasslion, fists clenched so tightly the knuckles were turning white, with paler tracks streaming down her cheeks from the angry tears she'd shed. And when she looked up and met his gaze, the green-and-blue depths of her eyes that had never yet been blemished by anything but mirth and love were now flashing with rage, lightning, thunder, all encompassed in the searing glance she shot him as he approached her.

"This is why we are here?" she spat, still pacing, the wild curls of her hair spinning over her shoulders as she moved. "These are the sisters you have so desperately wanted to reconnect with? One who wishes to taste your new wife's blood, and the other who lies and tricks you into groveling and scraping and bowing before her? I have heard what was said!" she yelled, turning with the quickness of a snake and advancing on him until she was close enough to shove him in the chest. "You wave me over as if everything is all right, as if I am welcome, and what do I hear when I approach? I hear Kavala slipping lies into your ears and you accepting them! Think, husband - when have you ever told me what pain she's suffered? It was she herself who blurted to me that she'd been captured by slavers and waved her scars beneath my nose! And I find you begging her forgiveness for something neither of us did!" She shoved him again, infuriated, a gesture borne more from frustration than any attempt to actually run him off or hurt him.

"She twists your heart because she knows you love her. Has she apologized to you for the things she's said to me? Or to you? No, she has simply demanded that you give in and offered nothing of herself in return. And you... you think me nothing more than a foolish child who doesn't know when to shut her mouth, don't you?" she said, sharp eyes narrowing as her temper suddenly focused itself on him. "I hold my tongue for love of you, wait like a misbehaving dog at the gate while you go beg permission for your wife to enter, and what is my reward for my loyalty to you? Doubt and accusations, and excuses from you as to why I might have done wrong without knowing. You are my husband!" she screamed, shoving him one last time as her anger broke and the tears started again. "You are my husband, and you swore to champion my honor! What honor do I have left in their eyes after your sister's lies? What do I have in yours?" she said, voice cracking a little as she stared up into his beloved face. "I held my tongue," she whispered, "because I love you, and I will never, so long as I draw breath, wish to cause you pain. I would not wish to tear your heart to pieces, and I would have gladly stood in that sanctuary and smiled and stood at your side because to hate one you love is to hurt you. Has she paid such a price? Has she sacrificed any part of her ego or her heart in order to save yours? Has she done one thing for love of you, other than ask you to sacrifice yourself so that you can love her?"

Her rage was spent now as quickly as it had come, blown out like a Spring storm, but then she was Drykas and they were known more for fits of rage than slowly burning tempers.

"Would you have me lie and beg and grovel as well?" she murmured, shaking her head as if the mere thought of such a thing was abhorrent. "Because here is the difference between me and her - I love you enough that I would do it if you asked." And there it was. The truth of it lay in the gaze she turned up at him and the fist that uncurled, revealing bloody crescent marks dug into her palms by her nails, and pressed it gently to his cheek. Let the Konti think her weak or somehow less than for not rushing in to defend herself from their accusations - but she held her tongue not out of fear or weakness, but because she knew the words she'd spit at his vile sisters would wound him too.

Tear-spiked lashes closed once, then opened again as she drew a shaky breath. "But if you ask this of me, beware the scars you leave on my heart, husband, for they will not heal quite so easily as the ones on her flesh."

[Akela]

Akela shook her head at Kavala's tidbit on Kashik eavesdropping on them. Why didn't Van take her to the conversation to begin with? The girl thought that was his first and worst mistake - aside from bringing Kashik to Sanctuary, of course. Akela wasn't big on honor, truth be told; she had no qualms about taking someone out from behind or other such things that some would not see as chivalrous. Those who fought for survival knew that fighting honorably did not matter if you couldn't live to brag about it.

Still, everyone who lived in Sanctuary had earned her respect one way or another: some by loyalty, others by strength, and a few through dedication and intelligence. Kashik would be no exception. If she wanted to step into Sanctuary, it'd have to be on her own merit and not simply as Van's wife. There was no obligation, of course - they'd certainly find another place to stay in Riverfall. Harsh? Maybe, but then again the Pavilion had been just as harsh on her.

She frowned at his reply, thinking he had missed the point altogether. It was all fine and dandy if he'd killed Zith - even if he'd killed as many as she'd had sex with - but it was something he had done, not his wife. Arguing the point seemed pointless, though. She merely listened to his tirade, twirling a strand of white hair around her finger as she did, most of his words getting into the left ear and out of the right in that infuriating Akela way. "Probably a good idea," she nodded at the suggestion that they take lodging elsewhere in the city.

"Van," she said as he turned around to leave, "today you tried to please everyone and managed to drive everyone sour, mad or both. Consider this a part of your Ankal training." She meant the advice, and it was her parting gift to him, hoping that perhaps he could draw a lesson that would help him serve his people later on. The way he'd handled this today was a total leadership and diplomatic failure. He'd walked into something he was not prepared for, making assumptions he should not have made, and he was walking out of it battered, wounded in his pride and with his certainties shaken. There were choices to be made in life, choices to stand by, even more so for a leader. Akela had learned that the hard way, sacrificing all she was - to the point that she hardly knew who or what she was anymore.

She watched him off and gave a deep sigh, stretching as the tension left her body like a spring ready to snap. "There, we did it. I suggest getting roaring drunk tonight. It makes a good excuse for overindulging anyways." She wondered if they would be back anytime soon. Probably not today, but Van had clearly not given up on them. Men who wanted everything were charming on a superficial level, though more of a liability all things considered. She leaned back on her seat.

"I petching hate the Drykas," she shook her head as she admitted it to herself as well as her sister, "even I am surprised at how deep the feeling runs. I just treated my brother like a stranger, no, like an enemy and he'd done me no wrong." She grabbed another chair and planted her feet firmly upon its arm rests in a breach of etiquette most foul. "Do they have a Bitch of the Year award in Mura, sis? If so I need to haul ass over there for an easy win."

[Kavala]

Kavala watched her brother and sister interact. She felt detached again, like she could care less, because all and all she knew Vanator would not make the choices that Kavala thought was right. He'd make the choices he'd made all along. And that saddened her. Truthfully she wished her brother an easier road, but his mistakes were his own to make and that as that. Watching him retreat after his wife after Akela's words echoed backwards, Kavala could pretty well lay out the ending.

Vanator would listen to Kashik rage and bawl and scream and throw what already had worked itself into a good tantrum if Wind's view of the beginnings of it was to be trusted. Then, the man would have to do something to salvage his relationship with his wife. Apologize? Placate? Would he put her in her place? No. Of course not. Their father would have had one of his wives so grievously stepped out. No, the blame would have to fall elsewhere. Someone would have to be the bad guy and the easiest person was at least one if not both sisters. It was sad. It was just sad that Vanator had to waste his life with a woman Kavala thought wasn't worthy to lick his boots let alone be graced with his name.

But Kavala and Akela had protected him from such things long enough. The moment they left he'd gone and found himself knee deep in it. There had to be hundreds of women on the plains that would have made him a great wife. Vanator had opted for 'excitement' rather than stoic loyalty and support. Well, that's indeed what he got. She hoped he enjoyed it.

While she was thinking, Kavala stood unmoving letting her thoughts flow around her and Akela's words soak in. She smiled slightly at Akela's words and held up a finger a moment to pause her so she could make a side trip after the suggestion for getting drunk. Kavala set off out across the courtyard at a sprint, her heart feeling lighter as the decision was made. She took the steps to the mews two at a time and found Raiha. She quietly talked to the Akontak, asking her two favors. First, to take the horses Vanator had left and return them to him and his wife with a small message that he'd forgotten them on his way out - suggesting she start looking on the beach. The second suggestion was simply to drop by the training facility in town and find Hatot. Then tell him that Akela and Kavala and anyone else that wanted too were planning on getting rip roaring drunk that night and might possibly need a sober babysitter especially if Akela decided to do any more 'demonstrations' with her blade. Kavala knew Raiha had to take a trip to town anyhow, and that the favors wouldn't be pushing too much.

Kavala was back after that, two overly large flasks of good quality wine with her. She set them down on the veranda table near Akela and smiled just in time to hear Akela's critique of the Drykas culture.

"I know the feeling. It's just not the Drykas thought. It's human men. Each and every one of them are all but useless when they are thinking with their staffs and not whats perched on their shoulders. The curse will get the Denusks anyhow. Do you ever wonder where it came from? If I was more interested, I'd find out, Akela.. and finally figure out whats been making all the humans in our family miserable for generations. I just wonder sometimes..." Kavala said, picking up one of the wineskins and taking a very large drink and letting her train of thought switch. "Raiha is gonna take their horses back to them so they don't have to return if they don't want too. I think that officially retracts my welcome of her. Then I figure by the time we're good and drunk... hopefully numb and under the table... we'll have a babysitter back to make sure you don't run me through with your blade if I start feeling the need for a little ... well you know..." She said with a smile, setting the flask down and gazing off into the distance to where her brother had disappeared through the gate.

Suddenly she looked more serious thank relieved, emotion flooding back into her features.

"Truthfully Akela, you were right. If he can't manage his sisters and his new wife and get them all on the same page, how in the world is he going to manage to run a Pavilion? We are childs play compared to surviving on the Grass. I know father makes it look easy, but its not. Vanator could have handled that a whole lot differently. I'm going to take your advice of it as well, and use it as a lesson." She said, taking another pull on the wineskin. "Maybe though, maybe.. he's not actually that different. He used to be a hero... my hero. Maybe hes always been like this and we just... looked up to him for who he was, not what he actually was. Life has changed us both, a lot... and I think broadened our visions. Has it changed him too? I don't know. I never got a chance to ask him what the last two years have been like for him. I don't think I ever will now." Kavala said softly, shaking her head. She turned to study Akela a moment and smiled slightly.

"I do know one thing though. I don't want to look back and I certainly don't want to go back. Forward is ever so much better." Taking yet a third pull on the wineskin, Kavala decided she'd get a head start because she knew Akela could probably drink her under the table.

[Vanator]

Vanator's long strides carried him up the cart path and further from the walls of Sanctuary, his gaze searching the surrounding grasslands for Kashik. As he stalked on, the Drykas dwelt on the specifics of the conversation, or confrontation, with his sisters, wondering if he had really changed, like Kavala had said. When one did not have a mirror, one could not discern a change in their own appearance. Before she left for Mura, Kavala had been that mirror for him, not physically, but for his life. Since then, there had been no one who would offer that kind of honest evaluation. But Kavala had changed, and the brother knew it was more than Kashik, more than anything he had done. It was clear his sisters had abandoned their Drykas heritage, even though they seemed to still hold him to its tenants. There was still untold mysteries from his sisters' recent pasts, hinted at in Kavala's face and in the scars on her arms. Vanator did not know whether her mirror could be trusted to give an honest reflection anymore. Still, he could not so easily dismiss the sharp criticism she laid against him, and Akela's final words echoed in his head. He had wanted to please everyone, and in the end wreaked disaster. As he marched on, Vanator's volatile mood gradually swung from pensive to fuming. Deep seeded anger at himself seethed and seeped out against the Konti at Sanctuary as he heard his sister's condescending jugdgments against him again and again. Indignation and ire reached out to find his wife, the trigger of so much confusion, just as his eyes sought to locate her. Cresting a low rise, he spotted Kashik, pacing and obviously thinly containing her own anger. He stalked towards her, and toward the first conflict in their marriage, not even two tendays old. Vanator let the storm of Kashik's rage crash against him, verbally and physically, seeing that she argued with as much passion as she did everything else. But as she unleashed her own derision and berating of the Drykas man, his own emotions grew hotter and closer to a boiling point. Vanator had had enough of being belittled, questioned, chastised, humiliated and emasculated. Since Pygmy left him on his knees amid a herd of Striders outside Endrykas, the women in his life had attacked him and all too readily laid open his flaws like wounds to vindicate themselves of his wrongdoing. It was Kashik's unfortunate lot to face the brunt of his wrath. When she laid her hand against his face, and spoke her final threat, Van looked down into his wife's beautiful eyes, set amid her beautiful features, felt the tender touch of her hand on her face...and for the first time since they had met, was unmoved. Vanator's hand shot up to seize her wrist and pulled her hand away, the gold flecks in his dark glare flashing. He had been pushed too far, by too many people he loved. "I will not ask you to submit to my sisters, Kashik." He spat out her name. "I will ask nothing of you, you have done enough. You spout off about things you do not know. I have had over thirty years of life experiences with those women," his finger jabbed in the direction of Sanctuary, "that you know nothing about. What has Kavala done for me? She was always been there for me, she was there when I lost my wife, kept me from riding into the Sea to seek my own death, Akela's katana has guarded me, I owe those women my life!" His voice rose hard and menacing. "I don't care anymore about who said what to who when. The damage is done. I am not going to sit and make judgment between you and Kavala. At this point it is an exercise in futility, you all but hate each other now. I never agreed with what Kavala accused you of, and I didn't speak ill of you before her, and I will not do so of Kavala now. There are deep, disturbing issues between she and I that have arisen, and I am monumentally disappointed and angry at what they have said to me." Vanator took a few steps to seize a handle on his rage before turning back on Kashik. "You dare ask me to compare her love and yours? You accuse her of poisoning me against you, yet you do the same of her. I am fed up with all of it, all of you. You accuse me of not defending your honor, how can I when I have no honor before them? Why is that, because of you! Why did I have to humiliate myself before them? Because of you! Why do my own sisters treat me like a stranger? Because of you! Why did I turn away three amazing women from my life....because of you! Now I leave my sisters' home, possibly forever, because I have chosen to be with you. And you question my loyalty and love? What more do you want me to sacrifice for you Kashik? Where am I standing now? With you. I have turned my back on family to stand with you, I have lost their respect for choosing to make you my wife. I have chosen to accept that, because I love you, and because I have made a vow before Cheva." "I have no more to offer to anyone today. My manhood has been yanked from my loins. Right now, I care little for anyone but me. I am sorry that sounds harsh and mean, but I am at the end." The edged quality of his voice had faded to a firm and matter-of-fact tone. "I love you Kashik, I hope you can see that through the disaster of this day. We will be fine, recover and move on. But for the moment, I want nothing more than to be alone." With his final words, he spun on his heels, moving in a perpendicular course from the road towards the sea, making distance between both Sanctuary and his young wife.

[Baku]

Thou has written, and thou has completed, so I award thee the following.... Vanator: +1 Riding, +5 Observation, +1 Interrogation, +3 Debate, +1 Negotiation, Lore: Awe of Seeing Riverfall for the First Time(Cause it’s really cool), Rattled Nerves For the Family Reunion, Sanctuary: First Sights and Smells(Mmmmm, Manure), Greeting Akela After Two Years(Well, I Can’t Hug Her, Should I Go For a Gut Check?), Greeting Kavala(If I Go to Hug Her, Will Akela Kick My Ass?), Sensing a Heavy Feeling, Finding A Sister’s Greeting to Be Just Lukewarm, Guess What Sisters? I Got Hitched, Envy of Akela and Kavala’s Closeness, Nice Kitty. Don’t Bite Me In Half, Regretting Delayed Visit, Dyrid: Big Honkin’ Kelvic Kitty, Flick: Tiny Fox Kelvic, Discovering Kavala’s Changes, Awkward Pauses, Suspicion: Who Be Messin’ With My Sistahs?, Cutting to the Chase, Surprise in Kavala’s Reaction, Is This My Sis?, Whoa! Check It, My Sis is Buff!, Conviction Over Choices Made, Defending One’s Wife to Sisters, Disbelief Over Kavala’s Words, Trying to Make Peace, Apologizing to Kavala, Reunion Conclusion: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back, Defending Sisters to Wife, Kashik: +4 Observation, +1 Riding, +1 Animal Husbandry, +1 Stealth, +1 Interrogation, +2 Rhetoric Lore: Touring Riverfall Again, Encouraging A Husband, Gaining Courage From A Kiss, Conviction: Stand By Your Man, Feeling Unwelcome, Sensing Tension, Conviction of Van Being Manipulated, Sacrificing Disdain for Love of a Husband, Excitement of the Chance at Battle, Choosing Discretion over Violence, Defending Honor in the Eyes of a Husband, Kavala: +4 Debate, +1 Herbalism, +1 Animal Husbandry, +5 Observation, +1 Hosting, +1 Teaching, +1 Tactics, +1 Interrogation, +1 Negotiation Lore: Reasoning With Akela: The Brick Wall, Treating Stiff Horse… Tendons, Pointing out the Positive of Keeping a Crippled Foal, Hoping For a Crippled Foal, Unease At the Similarities of Vanator and Some Slavers, Borrowing Courage From Akela’s Presences, Sparing Akela Scrutiny, Van Got Hitched(Ugh, Inlaws), Celebration: When You Feel Awkward, Just Party, The Life Before and The Life Now, Holding Back What you Want to Really Say, Explaining Sanctuary and It’s Purpose, Avoiding a Eye Contact With Angry People, Reflexive Training: Moving Without Thinking, Using a Chair as a Shield, The Results of Training and Building: Check Me, I’m Buff!, Venting Misgivings, Regrets Over Sibling Quarrels, Realizing the Costs of the Call, Feeling Betrayed, Family Rules to an Argument, Wishing Apology, Human Men: The Gods Gave Them Two Heads and Only Enough Blood to Run One at a Time, Akela: +1 Weapon Maintenance(Katana), +1 Debate, +3 Observation, +1 Negotiation Lore: Sharpening a Katana(Because When You Gotta Cut a Foal, dull won’t do), Pointing Out the Negative of Keeping a Crippled Foal, Taking Surprise Reunions in Stride(and with a bit of Wit), Rattled Nerves of Possible Outcomes of the Reunion, Awkward Family Reunion Beginning, Whatever Happens Don’t Bring Up the Curse, Kav and Van’s Quarrel: Seeing Both Sides of the Coin, Drykas Flaws Through One Own’s Perspective, Proof Through Combat: Because Diplomacy is for Pussies, Thinking How Things Could Have Been Handled, Realizing When an Argument is Pointless, Pointing Out the Flaws of Van’s Approach, Drinky Drink Time: Let’s Get Fit Shaced, It Works For Everything, Additional Notes: Um, wow. Drama filled and intense. After reading this thread I am convinced that someone needs to make a character for Miz modeled after Jerry Springer.