She watched him with eyes that missed little. Ice blue orbs darted to his hands, back to his lips, and watched the way he sat his chair, straight up or slouching… or even somewhere in between. He struck her as someone who needed a lap full of puppies or children to teach him about how some things didn’t matter as much as others. Because he truthfully seemed locked in the past and lost about the future and prey to anyone who came along willing to take a nibble of the bait he seemed to be dangling on a hook.
Kavala sipped her juice with much more enjoyment than Shane did his. Apples had a good harvest this season and that was the most frequently found liquid in the city. Hard Cider was next because everyone was gearing up for fall and that stored the best. She contemplated what else was available while Shane gathered his thoughts and began talking about his own experience with beverages. “You should expand out your experiences. There’s more out there than fruit juices. There’s wines, ports, whiskey, hard ciders, ales, a whole host of everything that if drank in moderation are extremely good for you. Wine is incredibly healthy, more so than that juice you just drank.” The Konti assured him, having known a great deal about nutrition in her medical practice.
When she asked him her question, Shane seemed to be taken aback a bit. That was, after all, something of the nature of the game wasn’t it? But he was right. She had assumed he wasn’t willing when evidently he hadn’t made up his mind to come home with her. Kavala puzzled over this a moment, ran her hand through her hair, and focused on his answer, curious in and of itself why he was letting her lead him into questions. The alcohol was going to her head, though the juice helped, and she was getting tired. Home was starting to sound better and better.
Games. Two could play them.
Kavala stretched and gained a softness in her eyes that was somewhere between the look of a woman in love and the look of a mother for her child. “My home runs along the sea for miles and miles…” Her voice took on the slight lilt of Common spoken by a native Pavi speaker and her hands lifted to include the grassland sign in her words, even though she kept her language one he could speak. One sign she kept repeating over and over out of habit. It was the grassland sign for “love” crafted in a way that meant all encompassing or like the way sunlight bathed everything. Kavala’s motions were unconscious to her, because like her eyes, her mind was lost in what she was trying to tell him.
“The cliffs divides two worlds. One is a vast sparkling inland sea that covers the aftermath of love destroyed and etched in death that happened so long ago people have begun to forgot. Those of us that swim remember it. We remember it because the world below the shimmering blue is fraught with wreckage and dreams gone twisted and now drowned. The cliff runs the whole of my world, my home, propping up a forest that stretches inland for a short while. It’s like a creature perched on the edge of the water, looking over, wanting to jump in. It’s thick and green and the trees grow impossibly large. It makes me happy to walk them, happier still if my skin is still coated in salt from the sea. But as you move east, the trees thin and grass rushes up to meet the sky. Then you can ride for a thousand miles east and never see another soul or another body of water. Eventually you’ll fall off the land and out onto the eastern sea. But until then, you won’t find much else but tall grass and cool blue sky. I love my home… her name is Cyphrus and she provides well her for children.” Kavala said softly, her accent thinning and the look in her eye becoming more focused, returning back to Shane.
“I feel the need to head home soon. I’m tired and there’s small ones and kelvics that do better when I am home than when I am naught. I cannot ask you the same question I have already asked, one you refused to answer. But I can promise you more than you have here, in the now, if you agree to come with me.” She said suddenly, abruptly, as she rose to grab her cloak off the back of the chair.
“Do you want more, Shane Wallsly?” Kavala asked, reaching down to toss a few coins in tip on the table, thought the remaining whiskey would be a considerable tip in itself.
Kavala sipped her juice with much more enjoyment than Shane did his. Apples had a good harvest this season and that was the most frequently found liquid in the city. Hard Cider was next because everyone was gearing up for fall and that stored the best. She contemplated what else was available while Shane gathered his thoughts and began talking about his own experience with beverages. “You should expand out your experiences. There’s more out there than fruit juices. There’s wines, ports, whiskey, hard ciders, ales, a whole host of everything that if drank in moderation are extremely good for you. Wine is incredibly healthy, more so than that juice you just drank.” The Konti assured him, having known a great deal about nutrition in her medical practice.
When she asked him her question, Shane seemed to be taken aback a bit. That was, after all, something of the nature of the game wasn’t it? But he was right. She had assumed he wasn’t willing when evidently he hadn’t made up his mind to come home with her. Kavala puzzled over this a moment, ran her hand through her hair, and focused on his answer, curious in and of itself why he was letting her lead him into questions. The alcohol was going to her head, though the juice helped, and she was getting tired. Home was starting to sound better and better.
Games. Two could play them.
Kavala stretched and gained a softness in her eyes that was somewhere between the look of a woman in love and the look of a mother for her child. “My home runs along the sea for miles and miles…” Her voice took on the slight lilt of Common spoken by a native Pavi speaker and her hands lifted to include the grassland sign in her words, even though she kept her language one he could speak. One sign she kept repeating over and over out of habit. It was the grassland sign for “love” crafted in a way that meant all encompassing or like the way sunlight bathed everything. Kavala’s motions were unconscious to her, because like her eyes, her mind was lost in what she was trying to tell him.
“The cliffs divides two worlds. One is a vast sparkling inland sea that covers the aftermath of love destroyed and etched in death that happened so long ago people have begun to forgot. Those of us that swim remember it. We remember it because the world below the shimmering blue is fraught with wreckage and dreams gone twisted and now drowned. The cliff runs the whole of my world, my home, propping up a forest that stretches inland for a short while. It’s like a creature perched on the edge of the water, looking over, wanting to jump in. It’s thick and green and the trees grow impossibly large. It makes me happy to walk them, happier still if my skin is still coated in salt from the sea. But as you move east, the trees thin and grass rushes up to meet the sky. Then you can ride for a thousand miles east and never see another soul or another body of water. Eventually you’ll fall off the land and out onto the eastern sea. But until then, you won’t find much else but tall grass and cool blue sky. I love my home… her name is Cyphrus and she provides well her for children.” Kavala said softly, her accent thinning and the look in her eye becoming more focused, returning back to Shane.
“I feel the need to head home soon. I’m tired and there’s small ones and kelvics that do better when I am home than when I am naught. I cannot ask you the same question I have already asked, one you refused to answer. But I can promise you more than you have here, in the now, if you agree to come with me.” She said suddenly, abruptly, as she rose to grab her cloak off the back of the chair.
“Do you want more, Shane Wallsly?” Kavala asked, reaching down to toss a few coins in tip on the table, thought the remaining whiskey would be a considerable tip in itself.