The past comes back to haunt us (Daeva)

[Edalene]

73rd Winter Anyone who had been walking by the Sunblaze pavilion that day, in the early morning - before the sun was even up properly, would have seen a young girl, not even past her middling teens, stumble through the flap of her pavilion, tears torrenting off her face. Gasping, she slid to a halt outside of her tent, standing for a moment attempted to regain control of her tears. She was sick of it, so sick of it. Yartree, being the rude insufferable cousin he was, had yet again complained about her to her father - some nonsense about tripping over his bedroll and smearing dirt all over the man's pillow. Though the trip HAD occured, a grand total of two specks of dust had made their way onto his pillow. Yartree had brought this to her father, who had looked at Eda under heavy, emotionless eyes. Turning to Yartree, he had murmured "You can't expect anything more from a Strider-less, imitator Drykas." She was used to the insults to be sure, but that did not make them any less hurtful. Especially when they came from the mouth of one she used to idolise. She had turned, straight backed with tears threatening to fall, walking calmly until out of her father's sight. She had then broken into a run, tears streaking down her cheeks. Swinging swiftly up onto the back of a mare in their pavilion's pack, she had kicked the horse's flanks and rode off through Endrykas. Though not conciously steering the horse in any which direction, she soon found herself outside the War Pavilion. It was empty and silent at this time of the morning, the sun still making its way into full view. Dismounting slowly, stroking the neck of the horse, she walked into the Pavilion - open despite the lack of people - and made her way to the training ground. Reaching for her beloved broadsword, it was with a thorough dismay and irritation at herself that she realised she had left it beside her bedroll. Walking to the side of the training ground, she sat cross legged on the dusty floor, trying to stop the stem of tears and to halt the barrage of memories of good times with her father in this location.

[Daeva Timandre]

The Akontak was finding it hard to keep herself subtle in a city that held humans normally around 4 to 5 inches shorter than her. And not to mention her skin. Blue was not technically an inconspicuous color, and her breasts made it known that a blue woman was simply a freak factor of life. And that was what she ultimately was. A freak in a freakish city. Of people who rode horses all day, everyday, and considered them their ancestors. The thought brought a smirk to her lips. She was no freak, not when there were people that insisted her 6 foot tall self sprung from the ground like daisies and was obliged to relay her history and facts about her race to all who were interested. She didn’t sleep. Daeva had been awake, wide awake, watching the horizon melt into darkness as Akajia seized the land, fingering the mark engraved on her skin, feeling the heat of it course through her veins like a warm fire. The Fire Lord had been the cause of her reluctant truce with her sister, but the thought of losing control was always on the brim of her consciousness. The paranoia was still there, throbbing at her psyche, itching for sliver of a chance to take advantage of one already weakened by strenuous thoughts. Then morning rose. Syna in all her glory, bathing the lands in light and warmth, and Daeva stood, deciding that of all the places she’d heard of, the training grounds would be a good choice to spend some time. What the akontak found, however, when she crossed the threshold was beyond what she expected. A girl, no older than 17, it appeared, sitting by herself on a less than immaculate floor, crying. Was this not the War Pavilion? Crying in a tent named as such had to be a crime. There was nothing to gain, other than ridicule and chastising. Daeva strolled over to the girl and stood directly in front of her, a hand on her hip with an icy stare that surpassed the cold white hue of her eyes. “Get up.” She barked, “Crying won’t solve whatever problem you’re having today, child. If you’re going to cry, hit something. Anything.”

[Edalene]

Eda sat sniffling, the tears almost dried out, just trying to regain the last of her composure. She was not very upset, Gods, this sort of thing happened a lot in her family. But crying was therapeutic, it helped to release all this pent up emotion. Once Eda had cried her guts out, she would feel a lot better. She reached up and slowly brushed away any remaining tears. The only evidence she had been crying now was the glistening cheeks and the bloodshot eyes. But no one had noticed, so the entire incident might not have happened. Eda's composure process was interrupted and ruined when a woman came and planted herself in front of her. She barked at Eda, some nonsense about hitting something instead of crying. The woman didn't even know Eda, anyway, so how could she know it would make her feel better? Eda was about to chastise the woman and tell her to mind her own business, but as she looked up, all thoughts flew out the window and were replaced with just one, small, inappropriate thought. Blue. The woman was BLUE, for petching sake! A blue woman! With white hair and eyes! Blue! If anyone else had been there, Eda would have pointed it out just to make sure she hadn't gone insane, or color-blind, but being the only person there, she had to go on her own knowledge. Eda took a hesitant step forward, still not really ready to accept the truth of this woman's existance. Slowly, nervously, as if baiting a creature ready to bite, Eda pointed a finger at the woman until it made contact with her shoulder. The poke shed light on the subject. The woman was real. Eda meant to hold a discussion based on what race the woman was and whether or not she was liking Endrykas, all sophisticated stuff, but only one word croaked out of Eda's mouth: "Blue..."

[Daeva Timandre]

The good thing was that the girl had ceased her waterfall of tears, the bad side to the coin was that she seemed utterly stunned by... none other than her own presence. Yet again, Daeva has found that the pigment of her skin and the color of her hair to be distracting to the humans she spoke to. They were instantly driven to find the answers to this odd phenomenon, and once again, she would have to explain her race, her origins, and how she came to be where she was. And petch it all if she had to explain this for the ten millionth time. When the girl poked her, Daeva siezed the girl's wrist in a tight grip, and pulled her in closer, a devious smile dancing on her lips. "Silly child, I tattooed my entire body blue." She released the Drykas girl, and stepped toward one of the target dummies that riddled the War Pavilion. "What's your name?" Daeva asked, mildly curious, "At least you've stopped your pitiful crying. My skin is good for something." She smirked to herself, unsheathing her suvais and holding them lightly in each hand. "Come here, take one." She said after a moment of pause, extending the weapon to the girl. An act of charity it was not, it was more to keep the girl's mind off of the unsettling matters that might have been plaguing her. Some might even dare to call it an act of kindness, although in Daeva's own way. "It's a suvai," The akontak explained, "A weapon of the White Isle. Don't touch the blade, it's poisonous to your kind."

[Edalene]

Eda squeaked aloud with sudden fear and shock when the woman grabbed her by the wrist and got up right in her face. Evidently, then, the woman was real, or Eda was having a really intense hallucination. The woman smiled quite teasingly, though Eda could not tell if the woman was telling the truth. Why in the name of the Gods would someone willingly submit themselves to the pain of blue everywhere? The woman's abrupt attitude startled Eda into answering the question straight away. "E-ed-Edalene. I'm Edalene. Sunblaze. Yes. Edalene Sunblaze." Her rambling was awkward as usual, though her sentences were rather more disjointed than usual. The way in which she spoke wasn't exactly conducive to a conversation with the strong woman before her, so her mind continued to work. "Yes, um, hello!" She accompanied her statement with a little wave - and then wanted to die with embarrassment when she realised how immature that must have looked. Oh well. The woman, even with her unfortunate tattooing, was still there and listening. One more thing bubbled out of her mouth. "Why would you tattoo your body blue? Didn't it hurt?" Her inquisatorial nature satisfied, the stream of words drew to a close. Eda carefully took one of the proffered weapons. They were three pronged and strange looking. The way the blue lady barked her orders made Eda anxious to please, so she took the weapons without questioning - but her uncomfortability with the strange weapon made Eda even more wary of the woman. Her wariness was only increased by the woman's proclamation. "Poisonous?! If it's poisonous, why am I holding it?" Eda started to pass the suvai back to the woman when a thought struck her. "Are you trying to kill me? Is it a custom of the Blue People that you poison anyone who cries in public?" Eda gave her a suspicious look. These Blue People, whoever they are, were not to be trusted!

[Daeva Timandre]

"Edalene Sunblaze," Daeva repeated, working the name on her tongue, "I will never understand Drykas customs and your naming policies." She grasped the suvai tightly in her hand, then smirked lightheartedly at the girl, "You're not only a crybaby but also quite the gullible child. This is not a tattoo, this is the real pigment of my skin. I'm what someone might call an akontak. The medium between an akalak and a konti. Quite fascinating isn't it? I'm my very own race." There was a disparity in her voice that was there and gone in a mere few seconds. Her gaze had lingered on the weapon, but had soon returned to scrutinize the Drykas girl. "It's not the kind of poison that kills you, but numbs you. Unless of course, you happen to accidentally have it shoved down your throat." She winked, "Holding the blade won't hurt you, just focus on the dummy." As if to demonstrate, Daeva twirled on the balls of her feet and sent a sweep down with her blade on the dummy, hearing the creek of the wood as it swayed back and forth. It seemed like a dance more than a maneuver, as the akontak righted herself and looked over the damage she had caused. A deep gash in the wood, but nothing Daeva was proud of. "The suvai is not a weapon one uses for brutality in movement. It can be a dance of death in the right hands." She glanced back at the girl, "Go on. Try hitting the dummy with the suvai." She paused a moment, then added, "How old are you, child?"

[Edalene]

Edalene could not help but be confused. Was the girl insulting her name then? She thought through it. Edalene ... Sunblaze. What was so strange about that? She bet the girl has a stranger name, one with too many constanants that only looked good on paper. The woman then went on to insult her, calling her a crybaby and gullible. Okay... so Eda was gullible. She felt pretty stupid now that she looked back on it and realised that she had genuinely thought the woman was tattooed blue... but just because she was crying did not make her a cry baby! She drew herself up to her full height and snapped at the woman. Around men, she turned into a quivering mess. Women were easier to stand up to. "Edalene Sunblaze is a perfectly sensible name! Sun blaze. Did you know that the sun blazes, or is your vision blue too?!" She paused for a moment, realising that didn't make any sense. But that hardly mattered to Eda - she had been insulted and she was annoyed. She stamped one foot as she answered back to the mean blue lady. "Akontak is a stupid sounding race. I think you made it up. I bet your name sounds stupider than the stupid word Akontak. I'm not a cry baby, either. Just because I was crying doesn't make me a baby. You don't know me, you don't know anything about me! I had a legitimate reason to be crying you... you... bitch." Petch. Eda just said 'bitch'. She had never said bitch in her entire life. Her cousin would WHIP her if he knew she said it! How had she said it? Despite what had crossed her mouth seconds before, apologies spewed forth. "Oh my Gods, I am so sorry. I'm sorry if that offended you. I didn't mean to call you bitch... well I did... but not because you are one! You are a little bit, actually... but ah. I'm sorry." She cringed as she waited for the blue girl's response. She swallowed as the girl described just what the poison could do. Since her anger and her apologies, she had wound back down to the timid girl she usually was. "Oh... I'll, um, not shove it down my throat then?" The way she phrased it made it sound like a question. It was as if, if the woman was irritated at her enough, she would shove it down her throat if she got told to. She watched in amazement as the woman twirled, dancing towards the dummy and making quite a sizeable dent. She was not this graceful when she fought. "I use broadsword, but it is never this graceful..." She blushed, feeling stupid for inadvertently complimenting the woman when perhaps, it was not wanted. Having been asked to do what the woman could do, she swallowed. She could do it. If the situation was reversed and Eda was teaching her broadsword, she would be just as impressive. She nodded and stepped determinedly up to the dummy. She lifted it as if to strike first, but was halted by the woman's question. "I'm 16." Without waiting for a response, she held the suvai with two hands, knees bent and apart, blade centered before her body. With a powerful thrust of the arms forward, she swung the blade from left to right, aiming to slice the dummy in half. She was completely baffled when the first prong hit the dummy, but halted the other two. The blade shook in her hands, and fell to the ground. She jumped away with an awkward squawk, fleeing from this poison the Akontak had told her about. She hesitated to look up at the woman, feeling awkward. Instead she looked at the dent she had made - it was barely a nick on the dummy's side. She coughed, clearing her throat. "Um. Sorry."

[Daeva Timandre]

Daeva stared at the girl. It was nearly half a chime before she blinked then the silence was broken by her abrupt laughter. Was she shocked, surprised, impressed or a mixture of it all? Her expression after her fit of laughter was difficult to discern, but there was no doubt there was a new respect for the young Drykas, as she definitely had more guts than she let on. “And here I half expected you to weep a trail of tears. You surprise me, Edalene. Maybe it’s the fire inside you Drykas that make you so spontaneous. Nice shoes.” Daeva smirked at the girl and watched her perform a rather crude technique, gripping the Suvai as if it was a two-handed sword. She snorted when the girl dropped the weapon and ran as if it was a rattlesnake ready for a launch of its fangs. This is hopeless. Human children have no concept of grace and power. This is clearly a waste of time, Daeva mused, watching the girl inspect the dummy she barely nicked. Perhaps you shouldn’t have mentioned the poison, or at least found another weapon for her to use, Citlali remarked with an undertone of amusement. The light twin obviously found Edalene to be quite adorable, and the fleeting thought made Daeva roll her eyes. You’re right, I shouldn’t have mentioned the poison so when she fought and nicked herself she would’ve had a panic attack. That definitely would have made my day. I should have listened to you sooner, the morbid amusement was there. Daeva was capable of not being as heartless as people assume her to be, but the akontak did enjoy watching others struggle. Just another case of taking the mind off the underlying conflict hidden within. “Pick it up, the poison will do practically nothing as long as you don’t penetrate the skin. The suvai is not a longsword, so don’t treat it like one. You hold it in one hand, like an extension of your arm,” Daeva demonstrated, holding the suvai’s blade down, handle gripped against her palm. “The Suvai is a dance. Treat it as such. A Suvai Fighters techniques are fluid, like the ocean, a river. So when you move, you sway, not jerk.” And Daeva demonstrated again, twisting her body and her arms to send a strike down at the dummy’s head. The suvai tore at the wood, splintering it further, from the forehead to the chin. “You try.” As she stood and watched, Daeva said curiously, "Do you enjoy life here?"

[Edalene]

Eda waited tense for the slap that was sure to come, or worse. Or even just a verbal smackdown. She expected some sort of disapproval from the woman, some sort of harsh comment. She did not expect silence. Nor did she expect the laughter that exploded from the woman's lips. She looked up, nervously, trying to figure out if the laughter was a good thing or not. "Thank you?" she said, confused, not really sure if the spontaneity was a compliment. Nor was she really sure where the shoes comment fit into anything. It was all she could do to nod and agree with the Akontak and just hurry along. She did not want to change the woman's mind in case the slap did end up coming. But she needed to know one more thing before she continued. "Excuse me, Miss, but what's your name?" She hoped she wouldn't mind her asking. She didn't want to be too pertinent. It was just awkward thinking of her as 'blue girl' in her head. Her cheeks flamed as the woman snorted at her, after her rather embarrassing move with the suvai. It was not her fault she was not graceful. It's why she used the broadsword. You didn't need an excuse to be elegant with that, as long as you made a bloody dent in something. She watched her carefully, confused as to why she rolled her eyes - then she realised it was not entirely unheard of for someone to roll their eyes in despair of Eda's antics. She did TRY. She just wasn't very good at succeeding. She scrambled back towards the suvai, slowing her speed half way there in order to look more mature than she was acting. She nodded along with what the woman was saying, but not really listening, as she figured out the best way to pick up the weapon without being poisoned to death. No matter what the woman said, she was still hesitant. Finally, she lifted it gingerly, trying to hold it the same way the woman did it. It made no sense to her. Wouldn't it be uncomfortable to have it as an extension of your arm? Then one of your arms would be longer than the other. A smile rose to her lips at that though, a smile which she quickly vanished away, trying to look serious and mature. Disappointment sunk through her. The suvai was a DANCE. Eda had never been able to dance properly, her cousin laughing whenever she tried. How was she supposed to dance with a poisonous weapon in hand if she could not even dance unarmed?The woman looked so graceful when she was attacking the dummy, so ... feminine, even as she splintered a large portion of the dummy. She watched the movements carefully, watching every move of the hips and arms, trying desperately to commit it to memory. She knew she failed. It was with dread that she stepped up to the dummy. She was about to start the 'dance', when the woman spoke to her again. Not wanting to lose focus while dancing, she replied. "It's okay. I don't know. I've never been anywhere else," she looked disappointed at that. She'd always wanted to travel - she needed a Strider first. "Where have you been?" she asked curiously, waiting for an answer before she moved in to the dummy. It was clear as soon as Eda stepped forward that she had taken the 'dance' thing too seriously. She stepped forward, slowly, purposefully, and shook her hips as she did so. Didn't people shake their hips when dancing? She had once seen her cousin doing the same movement, but he was grinding against a girl when he danced like this. She did it anyway. She moved her arm fluidly, up and down, still approaching the dummy. She had no clue what on earth she was doing. She hadn't even attacked yet. Sighing, she stopped. She looked back at the Akontak. "I look stupid, don't I?" Without waiting for confirmation, she stepped forward, this time only a step away from the dummy, ready to try again. She paused, weighing the suvai in her one hand. She took several deep breaths, her eyes closed, just feeling the grip. Slowly, she raised the suvai so that it crossed over to her left side, her arm almost hugging herself. With a precise movement, done with speed, she moved the suvai out again, back towards the right, her left arm following naturally, giving her speed and power as her hips turned to the right too, following the trajectory of the suvai. She watched with pleasure, as from the gliding movement, Eda made a sizable dent across the sternum of the dummy, splintering the wood there. She turned back to the blue girl. "How was that? Did I look graceful? I felt kind of graceful!" She was grinning, as if waiting for an affirmative response from the woman, words of praise, even.

[Lariat]

Edalene

Experience:

Weapon (Suvai): 3 xp
Observation: 2 xp
Rhetoric: 1 xp



Lores:

Akontak: What one looks like.
Suvai: They are poisonous

Daeva

Experience:

Weapon (Suvai): 2 xp
Teaching: 3 xp
Observation: 2 xp
Rhetoric: 2 xp



Lores:

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