Counting Stars [Open]

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The westernmost tip of Kalea, Wind Reach is home to an amazing group of people and their giant eagle mounts. [Lore]

Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Jietrem on February 7th, 2011, 4:08 pm

Timestamp: 63rd of Winter, AV 510 - Night
Location: The Twin Lakes


The while coils of life danced and swirled about his face as he exhaled. The breath wavered, faded, then died away, as if to make room for the next cloudy breath to take its place. Perhaps this is how life was, a cycle of birth, dancing, death, and replacement. It seemed to be so. Jietrem watched his breath as he felt the brisk chilled air passing around him, enveloping his body in cool discomfort, goosebumps, and faint shivering. Yes, it was cold, dreadfully so. Leth offered no warmth upon the people below, not like the beloved Syna. Did Jietrem have a right to complain? He thought not, hence he did not. It didn't seem right to him that he could even be upset over losing something (the warmth of daylight) when he did nothing to bring it about.

The swirling white coils of breath lasted only briefly, and as such, entertained him for only a few moments. Where their swirled shapes were very beautiful, artistic, and never the same twice, he had other beauties to gaze over. The Twin Lakes. The pools of water were shimmering and glowing with bioluminescense. The jellyfish lighting up the entire area in a surreal yellow and green glow as they signaled. Perhaps they too felt the absence of the sun, perhaps they too wished for the brightness, the warming glow of day, to return. They tried to recreate it, and for this Jietrem thanked them. The mood was wonderful, exotic, a place he would never be able to forget if he tried.

Jietrem took a deep breath, his body enduring the coolness of the night and casting off the shivers that infected his body. It was difficult to make music when your body was fighting for stability. And the music came. With the long pipe liften to his mouth, only a small space separating the two, the music dripped from the metallic pipe like a cool rain on a hot summer day. That white dusky breath now flowed with elegance through the pipe, and with each new note, his fingers dance, moved, tapped, pressed. They thrived in skilled motion as the soft playing echoed in the area, and beyond. Jietrem had often dreamed of leaving Wind Reach, just to play music, just to play, to hear, to enjoy. This is one of many things that made him happy. A situation like this was what he loved, where he was himself. Alone, beautiful scenery, and his own music drenching the cool breezy air with a new feeling of comfort. Yes, Jietrem could sit here all night, just counting stars, if it would just be allowed.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Gossamer on February 7th, 2011, 5:43 pm

The old man walked with measured steps. He was bundled in furs and had a head that was shaven except for a patch of long back hair threaded through with silver. The patch sprouted long strands that trailed down the man's back, caught up in metallic and glass fasteners periodically so it resembled more of a horses tail than an actual human ponytail. A cane guided his way, more of a walking stick than an actual nod to old age. It was carved with sheet music, oldly enough, that wrapped up its length and back down again. When one looked at it, the music never seemed to be the same from glance to glance. It was capped with a gemstone as big as the man's fist, a songstone in fact, one of Semele's mele rocks that could record a song and play it back if the bearer knew just how to use it.

The man took a seat beside Jietrem and looked thoughtfully over at him. He didn't speak, just listened to the man's music. He nodded a little, in time to it, and seemed to enjoy staring out across the twin lakes as much as Jietrem had.

When the boy was finished playing, the old man spoke. "You have such longing in your music. There's such desire in you to be out and about elsewhere. Why is that? Do you know what is beyond Skyinarta's slopes? There is such hardship in the world, such dangers, that it saddens me to know people here do not understand what they have. Semele shelters you here, provides for you, makes you safe in Kalea's arms. Skyinarta is like one of her arms stretched to the sky. She shelters you within it. So tell me, stranger, just exactly what the problem is?" He said softly.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Jietrem on February 7th, 2011, 9:42 pm

Jietrem heard the sounds long before the man sat down. That methodical tapping of his cane, though not recognized immediately for what it was. At first it seemed almost strange that such tapping would come, the blunt sound piercing his melodious playing, yet didn't exactly seem out of place. It was like they went together. Jietrem watched with one eye, the other closed in dedication he had to his solo. He saw, though, an aged man come up to him. One such as this, so old, he knew meant many things. Most of which was experience and demand for respect. Jietrem did not stop his playing, to do so would reveal just how nervous he had just become at this new comer, though he had most likely seen at least three times as much life as Jietrem. Calling this elder a new comer was just a little too ironic.

Jietrem finally ended his piece, a musical song, one without lyrics or human voice to taint it. It was both made and memorized by himself, though it most likely showed his inexperience as well as his natural love for the sound. Jietrem looked in the man's hand, the strange stone that he was drawn towards, just to stare at it. He was curious of it.

"You can hear my longing through my music?" Jietrem considered this a moment. Sure, it was a slower tune, one that might fit in at the typical funeral or in place of mourning, but to read his mind? Jietrem exhaled slowly, that swirling smoke-like breath twisting outwards from his lips and dissipating into the cold dark yet oddly bio-illuminated area. Jietrem, though never thought anyone had any such ability as to read emotion through music so accurately, found himself accepting the man's words. It was true. "I was born as raised her. Fatherless since I remember, raised by a motherly sister of mine. I was alone most days while I grew up, and though I love this place with all my heart, I wish to know what lies beyond." Jietrem exhaled again.

"I know it is foolish to want it. To leave Wind Reach, to leave the mountains, the eagles, the Inarta. I am curious though, curious if my pains are felt elsewhere or if I alone harbor them. I wish to hear the musics of foreign lands, to compare with my own sound." Jietrem felt a twinge of pain in his chest as he admitted he wanted to leave, and it was for no good reason. At least he assumed so. He had never flown by the wings of the Great Eagles, never shot down any prized creature. Even his glasswork was amateur compared to the rest of Glassblowers. If he left, the environment would be so missed he would ache for it daily, but as he stayed, he could only wonder and wish to know, to see, to experience that which he had not. "I fear leaving Semele's protection as well."

Jietrem's eyes pierced into the bioluminescent waters of one of the pools of water nearby, the reflections of the stars shimmered just as easily upon those waters as they did in the night sky. He smiled softly, knowing that many Inarta never saw something in this way, and was completely at peace with it.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Twik on February 8th, 2011, 5:14 am

Though Twik was tired, it was a lovely night and the weariness in her young muscles allowed the beauty to seep in to her without resistance, to fill her until she felt like she might dissolve into the universe and become a breeze. For this reason she walked the long path down to the twin lakes, her mandolin held protectively in her hands. From somewhere ahead came the sound of flute music, and Twik listened to it without allowing her mind to consider where it might be coming from. Let it be part of the scenery, that is enough, she thought.

Two male voices rose from below, moving through the night air, and she saw that she was approaching them. Perhaps she should sing to them, to let them know that a fellow musician was on her way. She touched the tuning pegs of her mandolin gently with her fingers as she might one day do to her child, but she did not adjust them as she knew they were already tuned.

Twik began with a tremolo, and then moved into a song that was written to be sung by a young woman to the stars. It was full of love and longing, and Twik hoped to one day feel that way herself. Her voice, though hardly the most professional, was full of sweet youthful innocence that went well with the song and she raised her eyes up towards the constellations above and set her words free.

As she entered the chorus, a rock rolled neatly out from underfoot, and with a startled yelp Twik fell and went rolling down the hill, desperately holding her mandolin out so that it would not be smashed. While this turned out to be more possible than she had feared, it meant that she could not stop herself from rolling, and so a moment later she found herself looking up at the two seated men from the ground with one leg in the frigid waters of the lake. She opened her mouth, wondering what explanatory noises would come out, and then vented a racking sneeze.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Jietrem on February 14th, 2011, 4:56 pm

Jietrem was utterly surprised to hear something from above them. Music, not of a woodwind instrument as his own was, not even strings at that. Jietrem, rather than seeking the sound or questioning the older man of who it was, as he suspected that he might just be responsible for the music, he just made guesses. He knew the sounds to most common instruments, those taht sing with breath, those that sing with a flick of the wrist and the careful pressing of fingers, those that sung with the drumming of hands or sticks, but no, this was an actual voice, a young woman's voice calling out through the night. He wasn't sure of the words sung, if there were any to be heard, but he was able to hear the mood with ease. It was just that of his own music, as the man called him out on. Jietrem turned and peered into the darkness, he saw not but a brief squeal of terror, and then saw a body rolling, past them and nearly into the water.

No, she hit the water, her leg. The various bioluminescent life in the pool scattered from that part as if the very ripples pushed them away so violently that they didn't even dare to reapproach the disturbed waters. Jietrem stared down at the girl for a moment, too shocked to considered helping her or checking if she was alright. Then she sneezed? Jietrem felt his lips curl into a grin as he tried to fight laughing, but it was of no use. His voice picked up, his laughter came forth without restraint. It was probably wrong of him, considered she could very well be hurt or whatever was cradled against her chest destroyed, but it was just too comical, too out of the situation to make sense, that he had to laugh. He gave a quick shrug before standing up and walking over to Twik.

"Quite an entrance you made there." Jietrem chuckled again, though finally got control of his laughter. He offered hand to the girl to help her up. "What were you doing up there anyway? Was that you singing up there? You've got a beautiful voice, and sneeze at that." Jietrem chuckled again as he teased Twik. She seemed to be quite younger than he himself, wondered what she was doing up this late, but thought it was useless to ask. People grew restless, like himself. Who needed to make sense of the urge to be musical anyway? Some things were better off, not analyzed.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Gossamer on February 22nd, 2011, 6:30 pm

NoteA thousand pardons, nudge me if more than two days go by without a post!

The old man nodded to Jietrem's words. "I understand. We always long for what we do not know. It's humanities oldest curse. Why does fire burn? What truly are the stars? How can an eagle really fly? Our minds are filled with burning questions that demand to be answered. I suspect yours just manifest with a need to know what lies beyond the mountain's flanks." The man said, softly sighing. "And of course, my word would not be enough. No man's would. Hearing about cake and its deliciousness is not the same as tasting it. Not ever. And a thirsty man must drink." He added, chuckling lightly.

When the song started, out in the darkness, the old man tilted his head and looked thoughtful. He smiled slightly and took a deep breath to join the lovely woman's voice just as the mini rock and cheit slide began to happen. There as a splash, and the creatures of the night scattered. "I think she missed the medley in the middle." He commented dryly as he stared down at the redheaded child and smiled. He reached out and took her mandolin from her, saving it so she could thusly save herself. As the girl regained her composure, the old man smiled. "Good girl, Twik. Bones heal but if you broke her back she'd never recover." The man said of the mandolin and turned it gently in his hands. He ran a thumb over its strings, made a minor adjustment, and then began to play.

There was a rush of water from her damp leg even as she climbed to her feet. The old man made the mandolin sing out, and its warmth encased Twik and seemed to squeeze at her leg, driving the water out of her clothing and chasing it back down into the dampness of the lake. He smiled then, and once she had her composure back, offered her back her Mandolin.

"I can do nothing for the bruises, child. I think your backside is going to be about the same shade as your eyes tomorrow."
He said with a grin and a chuckle. "Next time I suggest a lantern if you are going to wander this way after dark." He added.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Twik on February 23rd, 2011, 4:28 am

The darkness of the night hid Twik’s blush, or at least that was how she preferred to think of the scene later when she went over it in her head. She relinquished her mandolin readily and took Jietrem’s hand so as not to perform any further acrobatics and pulled herself out of the lake.

“Um..yes, that was me singing. It’s a little number I’ve been working on called ‘Song to the Stars, with Sneeze and Suicidal Plunge.”’ It’s sort of an experimental piece, probably not to everyone’s taste, and for a fact it makes for difficult practicing.”

She made a small “eep!” As the music twined about her, wringing the wetness from her soaked legging. The man beside Jietrem had called her by name, and he seemed familiar, but it took a moment for Twik to remember how they had met before. It had been ten year ago, when Twik was only four, but the man’s hair was distinctive and it had been quite a memorable occasion. Twik had only sorted out later who he was, and only then because of the mark on her shoulder.

“Thank you Sir. Or is it ‘My Lord?’ I want to say it right. As I recall my backside was a richly colored tapestry of purples and greens after our first meeting as well, once my parents got ahold of me. I swear I usually take good care of it though! Why just the other day…”

Twik realized with a start that nervousness was driving her to babble about her rear end, and her blush renewed itself.

“...I…was thinking about how few people were interested in the history of my rear, and that’s why I won’t be reciting it now. I mean, not any more than I already have…”

Twik had an internal voice that acted something like a conscience, something like a mother, although usually not enough like either of those to keep her out of trouble. This voice spoke now, saying you can stop talking any time now, and that seemed good advice and so she let her voice trail away. Then she realized she was still holding the second man’s hand, and so she shook it up and down.

“Oh, hello! My name is Twik. I hope I’m not interrupting your conversation irreparably.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Jietrem on February 23rd, 2011, 6:04 pm

[ooc: I'm in no hurry for posts. Take your time if you need it.]

Jietrem's eyes danced through the night as the older man spoke of such necessities as knowledge. Fire, why does it burn. It was a very good question, and even from that unknown answer there were several more questions spawned. Why did wood burn, but a stone did not catch flame? Why did water not catch fire, when oil was quite the opposite? The stars, that was something he had contemplated often before. What were they? Like suns, but smaller, and rather than being up at day, it was night when they thrived. Perhaps they were moons, even though they did not move through the night. He smiled to himself as he glanced up at the night sky. Clear, sprinkled with lights beyond his reach. "Exactly. But one can't touch a star, to feel it in his palm, to find its warmth or coolness, or hardness or softness. Perhaps, it's just a matter of strong will to stay and accept what I do know, and adopt the knowledge of the wise as my own."

Sure, Jietrem had to admit that he hated that idea, to accept something without finding out first hand, but if you thought about it logically, it could save so much heartache, or worse, to just believe what you were told. Jietrem had done that for a majority of his relatively short life, perhaps, even in his adulthood, he could obey these beliefs. "Perhaps I don't need cake to survive. Survival is what we all strive for, right?" Jietrem looked at his new friend and smiled, a half-assed smile. It wasn't meant to fool anyone into believing he was satisfied, but he offered it regardless.

Jietrem took the young girl's arm and hoisted her out of the water, he couldn't, or at least wouldn't even try, to mask his soft chuckling. "A beautiful song nonetheless. Might I suggest dropping the sneeze and plunge part? Seems rather dangerous." Jietrem's little smirk faded slowly as Twik started rambling on and on about her rear. He was confused, but allowed it to pass by as embarrassment. His smirk returned as she vigorously shook his hand.

"Beautiful entrance by the way, Twik. I'm Jietrem."

Perhaps the night was playing tricks on him, but Jietrem swore he saw something at the ground, water, moving, unnaturally. Jietrem turned his head to face the older man, someone Twik obviously knew. He stared a moment, wondering if he should nibble on the cake or not, but how could he not? He was still in Wind Reach, he was safe here, hopefully. "How? What did you do?" Hopefully Jietrem wasn't rude for asking.
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Counting Stars [Open]

Postby Gossamer on May 4th, 2011, 8:10 pm

The old man smiled. "No one needs cake to survive. But it certainly puts the glow in one's face when it is baked right. I prefer mine covered with wild raspberries and the cloud berries that grow high up on the flanks that the eagles sometimes bring me so I'll tune their chimes." He said, smiling. "You never know what someone's cake is all about. Rarely is it truly cake."

The old man smiled as the young man helped the girl out of the water and offered his advice. He smiled knowingly at the Jietram's question and shook his head. Once Twik was settled, he handed her mandolin back to her carefully. Funny, he'd worried about the instrument first and foremost, trusting the flesh and blood to take care of itself.

The old bard tilted his head strangely, white teeth flashing in the near dark, as if he'd heard Jietram's thoughts first hand. He glanced around and as silent for a few moments before speaking once more.

"Safety is an illusion. Everything is dangerous here in the wilds. Even Wind Reach. Careful where you tread girl and what time of day you decide to do it. Even sleeping giants harbor secrets both horrible and glorious. We live upon and among fire. And there's one Ukalas of a boiling series of emotions here. Everyone longs to break their earthbound bonds and roam yet only the eagles seem to have done so as yet, and only through death were they released. Tell me truthfully, do you both want to fly the skies or is there some other truth waiting out there for you to explore?" He asked, picking up a rock and gently tossing it out so it skipped across the water. Bubbles struck the surface and erupted as luminous bodies started bobbing to the surface - jellyfish feeding.

"Ahhh.. if we are lucky, they'll sing to us. Have you ever heard their songs?" He asked. The old an seemed full of questions tonight, both mysterious and mundane. And of course, no sooner had he mused about it, an eerie music could be heard ghosting across the surface of the lake. Deep tones, pinging across the stone of the shore, echoing upwards and bathing them with a medley of unique sound. It was almost as if the jellies were welcoming the stars, who slowly began to burst forth as darkness stole the light.
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