Swimming in The Sea of Grass [Van & Satu]

[Satu]

“You sit upon a horse and are comfortable. The animal speaks to you about the world, it moves and you move. You see through your eyes and your ax. Now use your other senses!” Her smile brightened with her voice, “Trust your intuition, Drykas! Try to feel where I’ll be! My thread is so very near yours, it almost touches.” The HeartSeer did not understand the clues her HeartSense offered her, coupled with her knowledge of Chavi threads was something that another person would have trouble grasping. Yet she encouraged him to try again, as she danced out of reach. A smooth arm trailed behind her before she turned again, and worked her way nearer to Vanator, her steps weaving around the man playfully. “You think you are separate from others. But soften your gaze, look with a different sight upon the world…, and you might find we are not so very separate after all.” Satu’s liquid eyes looked into Vanator’s to see if comprehension lay there. But as she searched, a previously unnoticed depth within the horseman caught her gaze, and her feet slowed in their movements. It was as if she took to Heart her own words, and suddenly noticed the Drykas for what he was. A man. The spark of knowledge surprised her, and something fluttered deep in her core, but with a spring in her step the Konti pushed it away quickly, unwilling to follow that strange path of thought. White hair against her face, she spun away, more girl than suvai fighter. And again her face reflected this innocence, though her gaze rested on him more often now. “Why do you not know these things? Of time and the Chavi? Why has no one shown you? Surely your Web… moves in this way… through you…” Satu wished to put him at ease, but it was difficult for her to know what to say. Like a fairy Satu flitted closer, to study him once more from the side, her expression filled with concern or sadness at his loss. This man was a mystery to the Konti, so solid and different. She wanted him to understand, and yet Satu did not know why she wished this so greatly. He was a man after all, and she had little trust for them. A webbed palm reached out to touch his cheek, but she pulled back before making contact, suddenly shy. The air held a charge, as she shied away, this time moving behind him to run a finger along the path of his Windmark, “or maybe it moves through this? Can you feel any of it Vanator?” she asked, while it seemed the sky and grass would enfold her in its wide expanse.

[Vanator]

Vanator moved to trail the Konti, even as his mind stretched to grasp the meaning in her cryptic words. She spoke of her thread and his. Surely if Satu had some strand of djed, it was not of the Web, nor of a similar nature, for surely even the novice webber would detect such a thing. But Vanator was learning the world was filled with many things he did not comprehend, and to lightly dismiss what he did not understand was indeed foolish. So he continued to move as the stranger spun her mysteries around him. She suggested the two of them may not be as different as he thought. Of that Vanator had not been convinced. Satu's steps drew her closer, then away as she pranced lightly around him, his own steps a hesitant dance moving counter to hers, intent on staying near to her but not colliding with her. Again the luminous-skinned woman drew near, and her ethereal gaze fell upon his earthy eyes. For the span of a breath her visage altered ever so slightly, as if she discovered something in his gaze unexpected. Vanator, a handsome man, had had many women glance at him. Satu's gaze had not been like the others. But at that moment, as their eyes locked and the swiftness of her movement slowed, Vanator recognized the look that flashed across her face. If it were so, than the game they played may be become one to which he was more accustomed. Not that it eased his mind any more, for the game between man and woman was a dangerous one as well. The spritely Konti's carefree, innocent countenance returned as she flitted away again. Vanator addressed Satu, his feet shuffling more fluidly through the grass. "I only know what I need to know. Time dictates to me when I rise and when I sleep, when to move the pavilion, when to gather food, when to breed a horse, when a woman should be left alone. It moves but is unchanging in its cycle." Their eyes met more frequently as the dance seemed to shift to circle around Vanator. " Chavi, I am not familiar with, though I have heard the word whispered. But our Web, it does not move through is, we move through it." They seemed to interact in a bubble, the rest of the world of no concern. A new energy had seemed to enter their interaction, and the Drykas' found himself drawn towards the strange, exotic woman. Vanator saw Satu's pale had reach towards his face, then withdraw. Did she intend to touch him? She had not been shy to take his hand, or rest against him as they rode, yet she withdrew her hand in a second thought. Why the hesitation? He had himself almost flinched when she reached for him. The outsider was an enigma, her glances seeming to see through him, her intent still unclear, though the horseman knew well enough she had a purpose. His cheeks flushed as her finger trailed across his back, an involuntary reaction to her touch. "That is my Windmark, I received it when I bonded with my first Strider. It is part of what makes me Drykas." The man paused, watching the lithe Konti, strong and graceful and beautiful. He was concerned. Not only because he did not understand Satu, but because he was alone with her. Vanator's hand reached up to touch the Chevas mark etched on the side of his neck.

[Satu]

Satu saw Vanator touch the smaller mark upon his neck, and her attention rested there momentarily. “That one does not speak to me,” she said with a shake of her head, not understanding the meaning of the Chevas mark, “not like this one.” And her palm lay flat against his Windmark, her fingers pressing lightly against his back as she skipped around him. Concern filled the Drykas’ Heart, though she ignored it. Tilting her head to meet his eyes, she stopped at his shoulder. “Is time only a passage of days, or chimes for you?” She wondered at his strange ideas. “Something to be useful, without life in it or substance?” Her hand withdrew from his muscled back to touch her own Heart, where Avalis’ gnosis lay upon her chest. Soft fingers pulled against the pliable fabric at her breast, “You do not see as the Konti see,” her eyes were liquid. “For us time runs in the Chavi strands, we walk through them to view all stages of life. I see the past; it is alive, even now, around us. And at times with help, I can foretell the future, though it is very foggy. The past and the present, and future, they overlap, the one into the next.” Humans were such odd creatures. Men even more so! They were hard and earthy. Satu was not entirely comfortable around them, even now. She had seen what men could do with their limited vision, and she had experienced firsthand the evils in their Hearts! But Vanator… he had been chosen to guide her… and his Heart was not filled like those other men. Something about him drew her near. Satu stepped closer, leading with a shoulder, and then stopped suddenly. The Konti, normally so driven was at a loss at how to proceed. The HeartSeer had been raised with women, they were easy to understand. But men? “You are not like those men…” was it a question or a statement she whispered? Those men of Opportunity, she had wanted to say, though something kept her from uttering the words. It seemed the answer was already in her Heart, but the unnamable, horrifying fear of that time in the Wildlands also resided deeply within the Vessel, hidden from awareness. Yet it influenced all her actions. Satu wanted to be nearer to the man, but like a skittish deer, her instinctual fears held her back. The dance had faltered, though she could not pin point the exact moment it had stopped. Satu began again to move around him, her long limbs still graceful, though a wariness shown in each step as she slowly circled. A smoothly muscled arm lifted to brush stray, white locks from her eyes to better watch him. A heaviness rose in her chest, but the sensation was too new for Satu to name. They were alone in the grass.

[Vanator]

Vanator was aware that his hand had lifted to his Chevas mark only after the curious eyes of the Konti fell up on it. His hand lowered in a flash of self-consciousness as she casually disregarded the imaged etched in his skin that identified his marriages. She mentioned again his Windmark, again touching it. He felt the cool press of her palm against his back, even through the fabric of his tunic her touch invoked both a discomfort and an excitement. As she brushed her hand across his shoulders, she ceased her circular prancing, her pale features angled to peer at him as he turned his head to meet her gaze. She was probing his heart, it seemed, through the windows of his eyes. He felt her hand slip from his back, seeing her tug lightly at the fabric at her breast, as if to indicate something personal of herself. As she spoke, Van could see Satu was truly perplexed by his concept of time. As she explained it, the Konti walked this Chavi almost like he walked the Web. His eyes brightened slightly, as if a crack was opening in his understanding. "It is true, time for me is as unchangeable and demanding as the storms of summer or the snows of winter. I cannot affect them, know them or avoid them, I simply must learn to live with them. But I see, perhaps you walk this Chevi as I walk our Web, outside the world of rocks and dirt, where there is no height nor depth nor width." The Drykas paused a moment, beginning to see the implications of exploring time as he explored the network of djed. He did not continue, for Satu and drawn closer to him. Van felt his heart suddenly pound harder as the beautiful white outsider moved to a space that was more personal than the man found comfortable, yet he did not step back from Satu. He heard the stranger's whispered words. Question or statement, Vanator did not know, but he was immediately curious as to who those men were, and how he was different from them. Suddenly the gaze was broken and Satu began her circuit around the horseman, her dance more tentative. The atmosphere had changed, something had entered the space they shared, he felt it as well, It was thick and penetrating. It was an interest, a temptation. Satu may have been disturbed, but her cryptic, lilting words and fluid movement urged his curiosity towards something more compelling. Where once the Konti seemed a curiosity, a strange, interesting person, he now found her to be...alluring. He held to his mental faculties, even conscious of the altering dynamic between the grasslander and Konti, yet he did not turn from her. Instead, he pivoted on his feet, turning as she circled him, attempting to keep her glowing face in sight. Vanator thought for a moment he saw Satu's alabaster cheeks flush with a tinge of crimson. He purposed to delve deeper into Satu, to discover more of her mysterious nature. He recalled her muttered statement. "You see me, I think in a way others do not. Tell me, what do you see, Konti, when you see me?"

[Satu]

Vanator pivoted, following Satu as she circled her way around him slowly once more. The Konti could not stray far from him, so strongly was she now drawn to him. He seemed to match her movements with ease. A wave of awareness filled her body, and she flushed to realize suddenly how sensitive she had become. The grass caressed her legs, and caught at her ankles to slow her. And still Satu circled, her Heart leading her nearer to the man as she tried to see him from every angle. But he moved smoothly and comfortably, more experienced in this game of attraction than she. His shoulders and his torso turned, he was a powerful man, both physically and emotionally. The Konti was lightness and grace next to him. Emotions filled his Heart and an unexpected need rose within her. Where these feelings came from, the HeartSeer did not know, but they caught her off guard. Moistening her lips with a soft tongue she thought of his question. “I see a man.” She said, “A man who leads, and directs. And governs those in a caravan by word and example. Others see this too, I have watched them. Some are proud-Hearted as they look upon you, and some Jealous.” Satu took a step in, and felt the leathers tight against her skin. “But there is also your Curiosity. The contained excitement, you hold back and rein in. You live in two worlds, Vanator. The life in the grasslands and the world of the web, the expanded life…” She used his words then; ones that held insight and a promise of what could pass between them, “No height, no depth, no width... This is my world also… without boundaries.” Satu drew even closer. It was difficult to stay far from him, though she tried. And the Konti took Vanator’s hand softly, almost reverently and placed it upon her breast, over the gnosis mark from Avalis on her Heart. “My Chavi, your Web, they live here… where the answers are. Follow your Heart. It guides you, now let it expand you.” Satu hesitated, the battle to break away from him lessened with each moment before him. The HeartSeer said again, “I feel what you feel... everything touches me.” And that truth was apparent in her gaze, as her sapphire eyes held his, searching the depths. She tried not to become lost in his gaze. Her feelings towards the man confused her. Yet the rhythm of her Heart beat against his palm and it was not confused. It was life and life again. Her breast swelled at his touch, and her mouth moved, but no words were left to say.

[Vanator]

Satu continued to encircle Vanator with a graceful sweep that at times was dizzying as he spun to keep her before him. The answer to his question did not come quickly, and he found himself anxious for her response. She seemed to be assessing him, as she surveyed the length and breadth of his physical presence. He felt a twinge of self consciousness at first, though he was not unused to being examined in such a way. But this stranger, she saw more than his flesh and bone. Her gaze was penetrating, knowing. It gave him a sense of exposure, though the Drykas did not feel exploited. The deepening interaction with Satu stirred his curiosity, even as the logic of his earthy mind warned him against the path the travelers tread. As their feet moved in a dance about the grass, the dance of words continued. The Konti responded to his request, a question the horseman knew was leading, even as it passed his lips. Vanator's guard had been compromised by Satu, caught unawares. She had watched him with the caravan, and those who surrounded him. She saw how he saw himself, how other saw him too. Again it was as if she peered into his heart, revealing the curiosity that he himself strove to ignore. She saw the intrigue that she inspired, he had come from seeing her as a foolish and unstable woman to something of a fascination. He hid it from himself, to guard against moral failure, only to have her speak it in his own ears with her soft voice. The white woman pressed on, luring him to open his consciousness, but the touch of her hand and the press of her breast against his palm served to elicit a quicker pulse as much as philosophical revelations. Chavi, Web....Satu indicated with his own hand the source of her motivation and existence. Vanator, wrestled with her words even as he struggled to make sense of her, of what was happening. But he understood more now what Satu had been trying to reveal. One's awareness was expanded in the Web, much like this Chavi that the Konti spoke of. The man drew his attention back to the moment, his hand pressed against her. "Yes, our Chavi and Web seem alike, but, in the case of our Web, there is danger. The lure of that dimensionlessness, the freedom from earthly needs, the beauty of the strands can be so strong, one can be seduced, get lost and not return. " He hesitated, caught off guard by her next words. I feel what you feel... everything touches me. It was if a bubble had formed around the pair, a dangerous barrier that made all else irrelevant beyond the circle they traced in the grass. The contact between then became the center of Van's focus. He felt the subtle beating of her heart thrum against his calloused palm. The sentiment of her words, the implication was both puzzling, concerning and admittedly exciting. An excitement he found required more and more effort to subdue. Vanator met her gaze, still wondering what enchantments she possessed, what talents among the daughters of Mura Satu may have at her disposal. The man did not feel as though she plied him with some magic to draw him in, though she seemed to read the intentions of his heart adeptly. Nevertheless, he found he had not stepped away from her, averted his gaze, or removed his hand from her breast. Witch or guardian, some benevolent god's servant or complexly insane woman, Vanator found he cared less and less which it was. The grasslander wondered, as the stranger seemed to insinuate, that their meeting was not as random as he had believed. Was he supposed to learn something, to do something? Then images flashed unbidden across his mind's eye. Bold, brash and gorgeous Kashik; soft, gentle and beautiful Khiara. His gold-flecked eyes slid from the deep blue pools of Satu's gaze, and his hand slipped from her breast. A moment of confusion passed over his face. Conflict arose, as he stopped the motion of his feet. He recognized clearly his attraction to Satu, reaching beyond the desire physically to something resonating in his soul. He felt on the verge of understanding something, not wanting to turn now, not ready to walk away from the edge of some epiphany with Satu. The world outside of the circle in the grass seemed distant, subdued. Satu was vibrant, intriguing and very near. No amount of effort could pull his eyes away from the leather-clad Konti.

[Satu]

“There is always danger when the path leads away from the familiar…,” she agreed, with a new huskiness in her voice, “but there is beauty also, like the sun shining upon sparkling waters.” Satu leaned in questioning once more, her leathers creaking softly and her breath fragrant as she moved. “Could you, just for this moment, live in both? Not this world or that world, but a walk between them? Can you open your mind to your Webs, but remain here. With me?” Her words were hypnotic, urging him to go farther, to see this moment in time. She wanted to catch him expanded, as he captured the curiosity he strove so hard to contain. “It is in you…” She searched his eyes as white hair threatened to fall into her own. “It is here too…” the Konti reached out a deceptively delicate hand, but this time, she placed it not upon her own breast, but upon his. Over his Heart her fingers moved, feeling the warmth beneath his clothing. The excitement within him intrigued her. “Oh…” Her eyes flew to his face, at the new feel of emotions, but the impossible blue of hers matched his inward show of excitement. “Feel your web. But also feel me, grounding you here…” Her hand pressed more firmly, but there was something sensual to the touch if he could only let go and experience it. “Close your eyes and see,” she urged. More than anything Satu wanted Vanator to understand. But was it more than that? What unnamable connection was the Konti looking for? A look of uncertainty crossed her face quickly. If only for the briefest time, the HeartSeer wished to connect with someone who truly understood the world as she did. But was the Drykas that person? And while the Konti tried to show him her Heart, and the ways of Time and the Chavi, it was Vanator who most readily understood the instinctual dance between males and females. Satu wondered aloud, “What has transpired already between us in the worlds of Time?” She felt so strongly about him, that the Konti was certain they had first met lifetimes ago. Eyes large, she wanted to understand what he had done to her to make her feel this way. The heat through his clothes warmed the skin of her palm where she touched him. Time flowed around her long, pale limbs, and her ethereal beauty. The world woven between them began to contract, and it was only the two of them, with strings and webs, and desires and the ever present grass.

[Vanator]

Had Satu been like any other women, Vantor may have seen the invasion of his personal space, the intimate tone of her soft voice, the penetrating gaze of her cerulean eyes as simple flirting. But an aura of mystery, intrigue and allurement encompassed the beautiful pale woman that was disarming the Drykas. She desired something from him, he sensed, though he could not discern what it was. Even as he was drawn to her, he found there were things he wanted too. Satu continued to inquire about the Web, about his ability to leave the temporal world, much as it appeared she did. "I, I don't know. To enter the Web, my consciousness leaves my body, I do not know if I can straddle both places at once."Vanator's voice had dropped, softening some as the outsider leaned closer. Van was still a novice webber, but Satu's seductive suggestions opened his willingness to explore the possibilities. The stranger did not relent, and his gold-flecked brown gaze did not leave hers as the delicate hand pressed against his chest. The contact sent a charge coursing through his nerves. The Konti was luring him into a world that already seemed out of place and time, a sphere in the middle of the grass where only the two of them existed. As the electric touch of the woman pressed firmer against his chest, the world outside of them faded. His eyes closed at her command. The Drykas did not see the flash of doubt cross the seer's face, focusing for the moment on the Web. He strove to ease his breathing and his pulse, both of which had risen as Satu drew him to her. With some effort, Vanator forced himself to loosen his grip on his earth-bound existence. The strands of djed eventually appeared in his consciousness, the sensation of lifting from the cold ground only subtle at the beginning. The feel of Satu's hand upon him was still very real, and it wavered in his perception between the physical contact between flesh and fabric and some esoteric connection that she had anchored to him. Vantor felt a fleeting wave wash over him, something that was difficult to define, other than it came from Satu...it was Satu. The lilting words she cooed would have faced a scoffing horselord had they been spoken yesterday. But now, as his soul was expanding, Satu so close, so enveloping, the man considered the possibility that the two of them may not be strangers after all. Vanator was losing himself, the simple grasslander at least. The spirit and being of the man surfaced, like oil atop water. Satu had been the catalyst, the closed man seduced to open himself to her. The physical dynamics were unmistakable, his own body reacting to the beautiful Konti's presence, a more base desire ignited as she stood so palpably near. Now, as he hovered tentatively between two existences, his curiosity peaked, could he find what dwelt within her?

[Satu]

Satu stared at Vanator’s closed eyes. How long the Konti gazed at them, she could not say, but she noticed his awareness drawing away into the Web. The HeartSeer thought that his Heart lightened, and her fingers pressed against his chest, as if to say to his expanding mind, “I am here. I feel you. I am your link between the real, and the hidden worlds. I know you...” But the Drykas man, whether he knew it or not, also linked her to the world, and Satu let her own consciousness fly into the Chavi. A small surge ran through her as the welcomed threads surrounded her, causing her hand to give a little push upon Vanator’s muscled chest. Her eyes remained opened, but Satu no longer saw the man before her. Instead she saw a piece of his past rushing in to fill her expanded Sight. The Konti’s slow intake of breath was audible as her mind filled with Vision. Her head tilted back and the Konti’s chin lifted as she was unprepared for the pleasurable emotions that filled her sensitive Heart instantly. Vanator lay with a woman near the water. He was injured. The woman had nursed him. They came together dripping river water. And their lips pressed together. Their arms and legs strained and intertwined. Mouths kissed hungrily. Satu experienced it all, each touch and each teasing sensation. Wild abandon filled their actions, and Satu fell deeply within its pull. Wave upon wave of delicious feeling carried her to a new place deep within herself. Pleasure! The Konti trembled to feel this same man against her now, and her body automatically responded by moving closer to brush against his torso. Lightening ran through her, and ignited every nerve, burning a want into her core. She lifted the other hand to press both palms against his chest, and the two lingered side by side. It was not enough! Satu forgot both herself and the outside world. This man was before her, and everything else slipped from her mind, washed away with new desires. But Satu, so aware of time and its flowings, knew that this moment was but a ripple in the Chavis, changeable and transformable. Time moved ever on and she whispered secrets so lowly that her breath caressed his check, “Our threads lead away from one another. One this way, and one that. But in this Now, they are connected...” Tenuous was the hold of time as it united them, “In this fleeting moment, we are linked,” she said as fact. Her hands softly traced the hard contours beneath his shirt. She could not stop her hands from moving. Heady emotions drifted in the air around her and she was unable to fight their strong effect upon her Heart Center; she was Weak against it.

[Vanator]

The state of being Vanator was experiencing was unprecedented. Familar was the otherworldly tug of the Web upon his essence, it's djed strands pulsating in his vision. But he had never hovered between the two existences at once, as if caught in the moment when his consciousness left his mortal body to enter the expanse of the vast network. Even as he entered the realm of djed, the Drykas could sense the earthy world, Satu's physical touch still very real as her hand pressed firmly against his chest, her consciousness probing him. The man did not know how she was inside him, not fully understanding the ways of Chavi. The webwalker refrained from moving along the tempting strands that ran across the grassland, even in this remote place. Vanator still did not know by what powers the Seer did what she did, and he could not risk allowing her gleaning any of the ways of Drivankali. But the precarious nature of his current state was intriguing, even exhilarating, and Vanator strove to maintain the delicate quasi-corporeal state of being. Then he felt something in the Konti's essence brush against his soul and images sprung to his mind's eye. He saw again Hex by the stream, memories of a most intimate encounter. He knew Satu saw it too, her body reacting physically to the graphic recollections she had conjured, a fleeting touch of their bodies drawing the horseman closer to his solid form in response to the woman's contact. He was startled at first, knowing the white woman had somehow tapped into his being, reliving one of his most private memories. But with the unexpected intrusion also came the real sensations of that memory, shared most uniquely for a moment with this stranger, sending an involuntary surge along his nerves. Van was acutely aware as Satu's second hand joined the first, pressed against his torso, their heat spreading across the skin of his chest through his tunic. The atmosphere in their physcial world thickened, pulling the webwalker's self towards his flesh, alive with energy from the alluring woman's immediate bodily presence. The Konti's voice carried her hushed words on a sweet scented flow of warm breath and her hands moved smoothy across the contours of his torso. Satu spoke again of her thread, but now, heady with the ethereal connection with her, Vanator believed her. A sudden, intoxicating rush enveloped the Dyrkas. Never had he been joined to someone like this. His body grew warm and flushed. There was nothing else in the world as enthralling, as important, as Satu at that moment. Even as his conscious uttered words of warning, Vanator found himself breathless as he experienced the Konti's invasion of his personal space, both physically and ethereally. There was no mistaking the desire that kindled at his core for the woman, but the existence they shared elevated the sensation beyond mere carnality. Anticipation, passion, curiosity, needy urge and a flicker of fear all licked at Vanator's soul like flames of a dangerous fire. Vanator caught the woman's eyes, fathomless blue and rich with emotion. One hand, movement hindered by his half-presence, slowly lifted to brush a stray pale lock from her alabaster face. This close, he could see the scales, the hint of gill slits at her slender neck. The sight of the non-human traits did not put him off. On the contrary, he found them fascinating. His half-sisters had those Konti scales, and they were both beautiful. Still gazing at the flesh of her neck, almost luminous in the morning sun, Vanator spoke in a husky voice. "What is happening? Tell me, Satu, how I can feel you in me?" He swallowed hard, feeling the heavy emotions surround the them. "How did you see that.....memory?" It was not asked in alarm, but with a curiosity, a sense of wonder. Though the Drykas should have felt a sense of violation, Satu offered no judgment, no threat, so Vanator simply savored the strange bond.