"It sounds like a familiar story to me," Caelum admitted quietly, having matched his strides to Aoren's as he listened. "And one for which I am unendingly grateful." Aoren's story was one that Caelum had partially seen in his nightmares, and he recalled now the balicani with a cold shiver easing down his spine. A hand rose to scrape back pale brown hair and he moved unconsciously closer to Aoren as they walked, so that their arms brushed and he remembered what else the story had conjured to his recollection. A part of his mind occupied itself with sifting through the needs that had been drifting off of Aoren since he had approached Caelum in the stables, and with utmost care he sussed a few of the threads out of the tangle. "The second time was here, or nearby," he explained, voice low and he wove his way slowly toward the center of what he ultimately intended to convey. "I set out to attempt to heal Kavala from a very old wound, one that was more psychological than physical but it manifested itself physically and cast a pall on her life." He did not go into greater detail as to the nature of the wound, because that had been a secret entrusted to him and though it was no more, though they had succeeded in healing her, Caelum did not feel right telling it to another without her express permission. "I was foolish. I thought too highly of my abilities not only as a healer but as a... a trapeze artist, almost. I almost failed miserably, but Rak'keli came at Kavala's cry and saved us both. She was angry at first. I got no kiss --" Here, he laughed. It was a ruffle of fire, that sound. "She slapped me," he explained. "And she had her rakinvas with her. She told me that what I attempted was impossible, but then she did it for me. For both Kavala and I. And she reminded me that she would not always be here to catch me as I dance upon the knife's edge." He paused and his voice lowered in reflection, thoughtful. "But that still I must dance." Unexpectedly , the ethaefal stopped walking. It was in the sun dappled shadow of the path, beneath the tracework of branches against the sky. He caught Aoren's hand and tugged him back to bid him wait and he searched out the seer's regard. "But the first time I saw Rak'keli in this life, Aoren, she gave me a gift beyond measure. One that I can carry with me through all my years, and into every dawn and nightfall of my life here. And the truly remarkable bit about it, though, is that you're the one who gave it to me first. Rak'keli merely expanded on your present, on all you gave me before you even really knew me." A single, aching string of need was mentally tugged free of the tangle, and let it float away on Zulrav's wind as Caelum offered a wry smile. "Aoren, she gave me more of my names. Out there in the grasses --" He gestured toward the forest land and the Sea of Grass they both knew sprawled beyond it. "She found me when even Syna would have nothing to do with me. And she tested me and she named me Kas'bel, and Josef, and more. And I knew I could believe in the word of a god again because I had heard Kasb'el first from you." |