Lot of catching up to do (Kavala)

[Bolden Denusk]

Timestamp: 42nd of Summer, 511 AV
Location: Bolden's tent, Denusk Pavilion
Purpose: catching up with Kavala
Status: Kavala

Bolden sat back and looked around his small but nicely appointed tent. A rich deep blue rug artfully cushioned and decorated the floor with its fine weaving. It was a little worn around the edges, it being the last of his mother's craftsmanship. It was immaculate and very well preserved. Large, multi-hued pillows rested on the floor, lined against two of the four walls.

It was spartan but then Bolden wasn't really in his tent enough to bother with silly decorations. He'd take function over form when it comes to being indoors.

The young Denusk sighed heavily, remembering he was out of wine. It had been a long day and the last thing he wanted was to go to someone to beg wine this time of night. They'd give him...the look.

The tent flapped open, admitting a welcoming cool breeze.

Nights were always the worst. Thoughts of grief and his family living and dead haunted him without surcease. The young Drykas was loathe to dwell on the past but this was the time he saved to 'chew what needed it.'

"Tamar was killed and Kavala and that petching bracelet and scars! If I'd stayed here, I wouldn't let it happen! I let them down." Bold muttered darkly.

He scowled fiercely, berating himself much more harshly than his family ever could. He angrily punched a pillow, idly watching it fly across the room and harmlessly bounce off the tent wall to rest on the floor.


http://www.mizahar.com/forums/post92099.html#p92099

[Kavala]

The tent flap didn't push back on its own, ghostly fingers directing its parting. Instead, a Konti was quietly trying to judge the sounds inside to make sure her brother was alone and not entertaining a tent full of young ladies who's father's would later demand tribute from their father for the girls being ruined.

He was muttering. Pillows were flying. And generally that used to mean he was bored, had too much time to think, and was getting upset about something. She hefted the rather large wineskin back to her shoulder and stepped into the tent, kicking off her boots and socks as she did so, letting her bare webbed feet sink into the deep carpet, having missed its design.

"You were always my favorite brother, even though our parents always ignored you for the most part when they weren't trying to get you to be more like Vanator when they were taking a break from trying to get me to be more like Akela." Kavala said, feeling close to her younger brother because she too was a shadow of her sister. The Denusk konti slipped further into the tent and deposited the wineskin at Bolden's feet and then deposited a kiss on his forehead. She sank down in front of him, cross-legged, and simply looked into his eyes.

"I just need to look at you. I hate humans so much these days, only my human family keeps me sane around them." Kavala reached out and stroked Bolden's jawline, marking the changes in his features and the worry and anger in his eyes. "Oh no... don't you dare go assuming all the trouble swirling around you is your fault in some way. It never was before, and it isn't now. Is that what's troubling you, Bold?" She asked, uncorking the wineskin, taking a pull from it, and then firmly handing it to him.

"Drink. It's from Riverfall and its very very expensive." She said with a smile, one edged with mischief. "Khiara is a sucker for babies. She and Van's mother are busy cooing over Tasival and will keep him safe all night. I even left them milk so he doesn't have to drink any soured brew from me after I get done finishing my half of the wineskin. But you'd better hurry... I'm not waiting for you." She said softly, a smile flitting across her lips.

[Bolden Denusk]

Bolden heard the one of a kind step of webbed feet, and knew his adored sister just entered with the breeze. His eyes lit up at the sight of the large wineskin and his favorite sister--person--on the planet.

Like a little boy, he raised his forehead to be kissed by his beloved Kavala. Her face, her words, her graceful movements and her smile, washed over him like soothing waters. Bold had missed her so much it almost hurt to look at her, to hear her words that could have come from his own heart. It was Kavala.

He felt his brow smooth and relax when she touched his jaw and studied his face as much he studied hers.

"As always dearest sister, you read my mind and let if flow from your lips."

He gave in to the impulse and immersed her in a giant, rib-cracking hug. The young Denusk buried his face in her well remembered sunlight hair and smiled.

"There aren't words enough to show how much I missed you!" he murmured fervently in rusty Kontinese.

When he finally took mercy on her delicate Konti frame and let go, he stared into her face as if a drinking in her kindness after six long years.

"Akela never could and never will hold a candle to you. You are the one who is always wisest, kindest, strongest and the loveliest!"

He paused a moment, not really wanting to acknowledge the depth of her guilt comments. But being with Kavala was like speaking to his own heart--he couldn't and wouldn't ever hide anything from her. Bold's smile faded and he answered quietly,

"There are a lot of things that could have been prevented if I hadn't given in to my temper and left. Kav, you -always- know my mind better than I do."

At the first mention of Van's second wife, he quickly reached over for a pair of goblets. They were incredible works of art with fanciful engravings and imbued with tiny, flawless sapphire gems along the flared bottoms. With ease of long practice, he filled both vessels without spilling a drop. He handed one to Kav and lifted his own in the air.

"Riverfall wine! You're the best Kav. To the best sister anyone could ever have!" Bolden toasted to Kavala, his eyes giving a visual hug to her over the rim of the wine glass.

Bolden could breathe a little easier; Kavala was once again by his side like a treasured twin.

[Kavala]

Kavala froze at the hug. She still had problems with intimacy, especially with human males. Her stiffness wasn't voluntary though, and she cursed herself the moment her form froze up. There was a time she'd welcome Bolden's embrace. Now, however, human touch bothered her. But she closed her eyes, breathed in his scent, and forced herself to slowly relax. It helped smelling the leather and horse on her brother, at least a little, but had he been sweaty, dirty, or boozing she'd have fought rather than froze.

Kavala took small steps, even if they were only in her mind. Standing still for a hug was one of them. In a way, she craved the attention, the touch, the feeling of being surrounded by love. It was something she'd missed for far too long. If she couldn't let her family hold her, then what was there left? Tasival's father was long gone, abandoning her as soon as she'd started showing the child. And there was no one else left in her life, no one but her Drykas family and her newly born son. Even the people at Sanctuary were on a professional level for the most part. Intimacy, even deep friendships, were hard for the Konti now.

"I stayed away too long. So did you." She said softly, smiling only when he released her for a better look. The Konti let him look his fill taking her turn in kind to search his own features as well. Bolden had grown up, grown big, and in some small astonishing way, looked exactly like a darker-haired version of Vanator. It was uncanny. Even the way he stood reminded her of her older sibling, and made her shake her head.

And when he spoke, the sound of his voice was Denusk through and through. Kavala had missed him, the one she'd watched grow to a man, or almost, before he'd left. She took the goblet full of wine and raised her glass to his toast. She smiled, sipped, and shook her head.

"I've learned something in the last few years, Bolden. We don't need to look back, only forward right? The past matters only as much as we cling to it. If we don't do that and move forward, we're freer somehow. It's like the difference of riding a strider to riding a normal horse. There' s no comparison, really." She said then looked thoughtful.

"I never did find out why you left. It was so suddenly, no goodbyes, nothing. Vanator wouldn't talk about it. Neither would father. Why did you leave?" She said suddenly.

[Bolden Denusk]

He sipped gratefully at the good wine and looked pensively at his sister.

'So stiff and withdrawn. Gods what's happened to my sister? Why has she been so brutally treated?'

Bolden watched her meek gestures and guarded posture with unease. All he knew of his past with this family crumbled before his eyes. No spontaneous laughter or quick, heartfelt hugs. Her sky eyes were wary and it hurt him almost as much as seeing the scars on her delicate skin.

Like an exact imitation of Vanator, he frowned and his eyes narrowed as he spoke.

"Looking back is all I have with you right now Kavala. I haven't seen you in six years. It might be like a horse or a Strider--I can still ride backwards and lay down on a long haul. It lets me rest my body and thoughts."

The young Denusk downed the wine and refilled it with alacrity.

"I don't have any recent memories of you Kavala, nor you of me. I don't know if you want to remember our shared memories, but for me, it's all I've had for six years. I can't just let go in a chime and-and I'm not sure I want to..."

Bold dragged a large hand through his unruly curls and sighed, holding his amber eyes on her.

When she asked the question he knew his sister would, he closed his eyes for a brief moment, while burning guilt churned within him. Bold's eyes turned from amber to dark, wild honey as he toyed with the goblet in his hands. He looked down at his hands, now unable to hold her gaze.

"Why?! 'Cause I was mad and stupid Kav. I couldn't stand the thought of going to her funeral. That and with father and bossy Vanator lecturing me not to cry, slump or embarrass the family in public, I ran out. "

He sipped the wine but didn't seem to taste it.

"I ran as hard as I could, wanting to get revenge on the horse that killed mother. I threatened the lead mare and the herd stallion played a Van on me and beat me senseless. I woke up in the Amethyst clan-in the Ankal's tent. I had no memory of anything before Palomino--uh--Laria found me. It's been ten days since I remembered. The moment my memory came back, so did I."

With the practiced flick of a wrist, Bolden drained the goblet harshly and filled it yet again.

"So yea, I came back to uhh let's see. Van's wife got rightfully mad at me and slapped me. I handled it bad and as usual I just didn't think before I spoke. It was late and dark when I left from there and stood by my Strider. Suddenly big bro shows up and calls me someone named Windsong! Meeting him by strangulation was surprise enough, but he calls me someone else's name? I've been away far too long."

Bolden shook his head as he kept looking down. A tumble of chocolate curls fell over his forehead, nearly brushing his eye lashes.

"To sum up: I came back as soon as I recalled everything. Van kicked my ass, I was rude to his second wife, and now you--"

He bit his lip as he broke off the sentence, not wanting to put it all into words just yet. The sight of her broken spirit and stiff posture broke him inside somehow. It was all too raw and new to speak of this new Kavala.

[Kavala]

If she could have read his thoughts, Kavala would have been surprised. She was ten times better than she had been seasons ago. The konti healer smiled now, could laugh, had loved, and found a self confidence that she hadn't possessed before because her soul hadn't been tempered with adversity. Now, she was harder, stronger, more determined to survive than she'd ever been before. Bolden might have thought her defeated, but she was not. There was still lots of fight in her.

"No. You don't just have the past right now, Bolden. We have the right now right now. That's what I'm saying. Those children are dead, gone, long buried. What we are now is living and breathing and right here. We'll make more memories. We'll fill the future with things that can be... not what was. I hate what was, and what could have been. I hate it so much I can't even begin to tell you. It's the Denusk Curse, Bolden. If we live in the now, it doesn't touch us so deeply." Kavala said, her lip curled in a challenge - not to him, no never to him - to the curse itself.

When he fussed with his hair, she took another long deep drink of the wine then stepped forward to set about fixing it. Webbed fingers gently tangled in his hair, setting the locks straighter though a half smile formed on her lips because Bolden's hair had never been a creature to conform to what anyone wanted to do with it. Still she fussed. She'd missed fussing.

The Konti nodded, her eyes darkening at the mention of the funeral. "We can all fall off a horse, Bolden. Especially those of us more Konti than Drykas. I can swim like a fish, but I don't have enough human blood in me to be what you are on the back of a horse. Mother didn't either, especially so far out here beyond anything she knew. Father never understood that. He thought making her a second wife would transform her into the human he wanted her to be. He didn't even want to recognize what she was, even as he kept filling her belly with children and she kept giving him Konti daughters." Kavala said softly, drawing Bolden over to a pile of fur and settling down there with him. They sat side by side, each turned towards the other, like they used to as children. It was the posture of intimate confidants, of co-conspirators, and of sibling love reunited.

She frowned when the story came out of his head injury, of the stallion beating him senseless and him loosing his memory. Her wineglass was drained then set aside where he could refill it as she reached out and captured his head between her hands. Kavala tapped her gnosis hard and really looked into his head, searching the tissues and bones, looking for old injuries and finding exactly what he was saying. The scars ran deep, so too could she see where damaged memory had slowly healed. Warmth from her hands filled his head, and though she was not skilled enough to give him back anything he'd lost - at least not yet - she did soften the tissue that had formed up into scars and encouraged the nerves that were regrowing to keep regrowing even more vigorously. She frowned, her skin going even more pale as she worked, frustrated that no one had recognized Bolden and sent for her, so she could have helped immediately instead of letting his own mind heal itself over years.

"You're fine now, but I see the damage. I couldn't have done much then besides ease the swelling, but it would have helped. Gods, Bolden. How do you stand it? So much has happened. Vanator has tied himself to two women I'm not sure of. One I'd rather drive a dagger through her heart than talk to her, the other is a woman who let a stallion with a broken leg walk on it for miles. Which one did you meet?" She asked. Kavala nudged her wineglass for him to refill then started on her second glass.

And now you...

"No. No now me nothing. I'm not going to beat you up, scream at you, or make false accusations. Bolden, I'm just here for a visit because my life belongs to the city of Riverfall as one of their Nakivaks. It's such a long story. But I can't stay, not for too long, but while I'm here, I'll help straighten this all out. I'm sure the women can be brought under control and Vanator can be reasoned with. He's been so good to you, Bolden... all your life. I know its hard for you to see, but when Mother brought you home and he took one look at you, I could tell he loved you. He just ... wanted you to grow up tough. There was so much going on in our lives. So much death... the curse... then Tamar falling to the zith just after Vanator married her. He was in so much pain. That's why he picked wives so different from her. I am trying to like them, but its so hard... And Kashik is so arrogant. You'll love her too Bolden. Vanator's all alone with them. That's why I came to visit.. and to get Tasival tied to the web by father." Kavala said softly, reaching out to touch Bolden's arm. She offered him another smile, one more intimate, that spoke of secret promises and agreements not yet made.

She took another long drink from her goblet and shook her head. "Your going to find it hard to fit back in here, Bolden... gods.. I don't even know if they will let you. Best fine someone - maybe a pretty young widow with a vacant clan pavilion - to marry and live in your own pavilion. Vanator's gonna drive you nuts in his." She said gently... humor dancing in her eyes.

[Bolden Denusk]

Although her words riled him up, her magic touch soothed him immensely as nothing else in his life ever did. This was Kavala. This was the sister, no, actually she wasn't even a blood relative was she? But the closeness of the bond still remained. He knew the gesture was more out of fondness than function. Bold learned at an early age that nothing could tame the mop of wild curls.

Bolden felt the strength of her words and the meaning beneath them. The corner of his mouth tugged into a half-hearted grin as she fussed with and got tangled in--as usual--his impossible curls.

' Don't give in, never give up.'

Like a fractious stallion, he soon stilled and gentled beneath her calming, webbed touch. The feeling vanished abruptly at her comments of the curse and the funeral. His birth was what began the curse. He could feel it. Bolden's broad shoulders stiffened and his neck tensed.

"But Kav you really are a Drykas too--and a valid born Drykas at that. Not some unnamed bastard. I've seen your touch tame the wildest beast with just a thought! Few have better hands than you with horses or Striders."

Bolden defended Ay'vata and Kavala against her own words, that is, until she mentioned Eachann.

He gave in and nodded reluctantly, knowing you just couldn't argue with that kind of bare-faced logic.

The lovely Konti shifted into their old habits of trust and he was quick to flash a smile in return that faded away as swiftly. The posture, gestures and nearness healed a part of him that he'd dearly missed and didn't remember until that very moment. Another memory slid easily into place as if it had never left.

The young Denusk sighed quietly, deeply comforted by her usual clean scent and uniquely Konti-silken hair.

He was surprised when she reach out to enfold his head in her hands. Instinctively, he fought for a moment, so used to protecting his injury out of long habit. A soothing warmth whispered across the tendrils of his scarred mind, easing and healing in places he didn't know still hurt.

In a vast moment of startling clarity, more of his memories rushed back in a vivid myriad of scenes. He now remembered some of those first thirteen years! He exhaled heavily and his eyes lightened to amber with flecks of gold, in duplication of Vanator's, his father's own eyes, down to the last detail.

The young man hadn't recalled this much about his life even when he was thirteen. In fact, he now remembered things as a baby, that he hadn't understood then. It was too much, too fast, too soon. He shoved it back with a firm, 'I'll chew on it later.'

Noting her sudden pallor, Bolden quickly refilled her empty glass and handed it back to her. He was on the verge of a funny retort about handling things until Kav mentioned a horse's neglect. His face turned murderous with suppressed rage and his frown deepened into a classic Vanator scowl. In a very quiet voice he said,

"One of them let him walk on a broken leg--for miles?! Kav no one could be that cruel. Which wife would do such a brutal thing?"

The angry Denusk grabbed the nearest bunch of pillows and threw them against the tent wall as hard as he could. He wanted to shout and pace, but Kavala's mere comforting presence quickly drained his temper.

"All I know is I met a Vantha that I was rude to. I haven't met the other wife yet. I hear she's a real firecracker."

Like slipping into a favorite old pair of pants, he leaned in and offered his shoulder to the Konti so she could rest her head on it. In turn, he rested his chin on the top her head as they talked. There was unspoken difference now though. The new knowledge that Kav wasn't his sister made things seem a lot stranger. While old physical habit asserted themselves, his mind felt the change and wasn't sure how to adjust just yet.

'She's not my sister anymore. Who is she really now?' the thought flew swiftly as a bird through his mind.

"Are you and Tasival happy there? You know my tent's always open for you both anytime, day or night."

He drained his cup rapidly at the mention of Vanator and refilled it automatically topping off Kav's goblet too.

"Why do you defend him? Seriously Kav, I'm nothing but a slur on Van's honor. He hates me and wouldn't trust my word if I said striders exist. I'll always just be his stupid, ugly secret." Bold sighed and took another deep drink of the wine before continuing in a calmer, huskier voice.

"I liked Tamar. She was a good person and her and Van made an amazing couple. I'm not sure he's fully recovered from her death. He still has that look like he's waiting for her to come back from the market or enter the tent..."

He put an arm around Kavala and gave her a gentle squeeze for her compassion.

"You're right about that. I haven't met Kashik yet, but I do need to apologize to Van's second wife."

Bolden attempted a chuckle and failed, not wanting to rehash yet another blunder he'd made. Time to change the subject.

"Tasival is a beautiful baby Kav and I'm sure fathe--Eachann would be proud to tie him in." He reassured Kav how proud he was of his her son. Bolden didn't ask about the father. She didn't volunteer, so he didn't pry. When he was meant to know, Kavala would tell him and not a chime sooner.

When she touched his arm and gave that unique Kavala smile, he never knew what to think. Her connection to him was unspoken and innate with a wisdom that often surprised him with its depth.

"Yea don't I know it? I talk with both feet in my mouth at Van's wife and and got a strangle as a welcome back present from him while he called me someone else! No one but you trusts me and doesn't talk down to me. I got no wife, no money, no legitimate family, no real status to speak of, an abandoned education and six years absence to catch up on. I think a charoda would fit in better here than I do!"

When he drank down the wine and moved to refill it, he was surprised the skin was already half empty. He'd have a bangin hangover tomorrow. He refilled his cup and his Kav's, no longer caring what tomorrow might bring.

"I do have a couple prospects on that end, but I'm still unsure. Palomino--uh--Laria saved my life. I would've died without her care." Bolden paused, picturing the golden haired woman. Her kind touch, agile mind and quick laughter teased his memory like her voice whispering in his ear. He missed her, missed her a lot and it startled him to realize just how much he did.

"But then again, I met a lady and her Strider recently, Jalen. She lost her entire clan to a Zith attack but she's like you Kav--chin up, shoulders back and carry on with grace." Jalen's strong expression flashed through his mind, and he remembered her long shiny hair whipping in the breeze and her face still flushed from sleep.

"Yea Van will make me insane--I'm half way there already. But I feel like you do Kav. I can't leave him when I just got here after being gone so long. It's my -duty- to be here Kav, whether anyone wants me around or not. Anyways, Van hasn't grieved for Tamar--I still see that pained expression like he's still waiting for her voice or her face. Or maybe that painful look is coz I'm here now. I might have needed healing physically, but he needs it emotionally. You've got my support when you want to talk to him, but us being near each other right now just doesn't work."

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled at Bolden. "I know... I feel Drykas. Everything about me feels Drykas, but then I glance down and see my scales and webbed hands and uncertainty fills me. I'm something else. Living here was living a lie, in a lot of regards, because Akela and I were both so different. It was like mother's Call wanted the Denusk blood to strengthen the Konti race... if that even makes sense." Kavala said softly, shaking her head and taking another sip of her wine.

At this rate she'd be drunk before too long.

She wasn't surprised he had a head wound. She wasn't surprised he had a limp. All the Drykas faced such danger daily. The Sea of Grass was a lush paradise in the winter that was full of creatures that wanted the same paradise for themselves. Most of them had fangs or stung and by and large the vast majority of them enjoyed the taste of Drykas flesh. But she was surprised that he'd gotten such poor healing. Kavala fanned down the anger for a moment, took another drink, and gave her brother a long interesting look. She'd missed him and he hadn't abandoned them. Somehow, that thought gave her more comfort than anything else had in her whole entire world in the last few years.

Bolden hadn't left. He'd only forgotten.

When he asked about the horse that had to walk on the broken leg, Kavala just shook her head. "A Vantha woman, Khiara? I'm not sure. I know of her but haven't met her. Maybe she just didn't know." Kavala said. "The horse is fine now, but it suffered needlessly." She added, not wanting to poison Bolden to all of Vanator's wives.

She continued to touch him, her knee leaning against his as she poured another round of drinks.

"Happy? Are Tasi and I happy?" Kavala laughed abruptly and shook her head. "Yes and no. We have a fabulous home, pretty much all we want, a great job, and yet I'm a broodmare for the Akalak race. Who'd be happy with that? So yes and no. I can't leave though. I'm under contract with the Akalaks and if I break that contract - which was nothing I made of my own volition, their Cerulean will hunt me down and drag me back if I flee. Even if I stay here overlong. They rescued me from the slavers and because of that I owe them a debt. I can only pay them with my body. I'd rather it be coin. Its the worst feeling in the world to want love and know all you can have is sex contracted. Father and Van doesn't know. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell them, at least not yet." Kavala said, shrugging. She hoped Bolden was right about Eachann not minding tying Tasi to the web. If he knew the truth, he might not want to do so. It made it easier for him to be found if lost, even in Riverfall.

Kavala scanned the inside of the Pavilion and leaned against her brother again. When he spoke of the women, Kavala simply smiled. "You can have them both, Bold, if you choose. That's the beauty of being a Drykas. I wish, so many times, I' was born a man." The healer said, sighing softly. "You'll make them, either of them or both, a good husband. Our bloodline has always had great males, very protective and very strong. Your just as strong as Vanator is." Kavala said softly, shaking her head. "I'd give anything to have a choice with my life in that regards these days." Kavala added.

She listened to him talk about their brother and smiled suddenly. "Why are you two so at odds? You've always been. It never made any sense to me." Kavala sighed and refreshed both their wines. It was nice to speak so frankly, to be so open, letting her brother know her feelings. It was a time for honesty for both of them. She'd speak frankly to him about her life.. her feelings.. about the things that had been haunting her recently. But never would she speak frankly to Vanator because he wouldn't' ask her.. hadn't asked her and that had hurt. In fact, it still smarted. Her brother had picked his wife over his sister. She didn't blame him really. Kavala glanced down, staring at her webbed fingers and the scales on the back of her hands.

For the first time in a long time she hated them and what they meant.

[Bolden Denusk]

Kav was always the rock he could cling to, the one person he could fully talk to and for the briefest chime, he relished it. Bold didn't want to think about his family issues, but her sympathetic ear was there for him--per usual.

He slouched his large frame against the wall, his knee resting against hers with the ease of remembered habit. For the first thirteen years of his life they'd sat like this for countless bells. There was never anything they'd held back from each other. It would be foolish to do so anyway. You couldn't hide what your left half was doing from your right half, could you?

Bolden nodded to acknowledge her comment about the horse and Vantha. That whole relationship was shyke from the start and now that he knew his -real- standing in the family relationships, he'd rather just avoid Van's wives entirely.

The young Drykas took the refilled cup from Kavala and leaned into her calming touch. Her webbed fingers in his curls were a deep, soothing comfort and something he'd grown up with since birth. It was also her secret 'tell' of her intense moods. The more the Konti fussed with his hair the more emotional she was.

He frowned at her answer, not meaning to have opened up a scab on her situation. He'd meant it as happy now that they were here, but of course she'd need to vent the completely repressed life she was now forced to live. Bold silently cursed himself for such a careless and stupid question to an obvious breeding slave to the Akalak brutes.

"I don't agree with it. However, I promise I won't tell them, but only because it's you that asked." Bolden winced at her ugly words and the flat, hopeless tone that went with them. His amber eyes darkened to the color of wild honey and he scrutinized her face closely.

"If they won't listen to you, maybe I should talk to them? Kind of a man to dumb beast thing, ya know. I mean, they're Akalaks for Gods sake; they have no honor so of course they treat women that way. Do you want me to go over there with you and talk some sense into those brainless blue brutes?"

The young man flexed a bicep playfully, in attempt to get Kav to smile, at least a little. At her implications of having both women and indirectly, marriage, he shied away from the topic like a green horse at an ascending Oxer. He shook his head no vehemently. Women were getting to be more trouble than they were worth and he was fairly sure he'd stay a bachelor rather than end up like Vanator.

Envy strongly tinged her voice and he watched Kavala's features as she spoke. That is until she mentioned his father and he frowned darkly, draining his cup harshly at being compared to Van in any way. With her usual flawless timing, she refreshed their cups with a generous hand. He took a smaller sip before answering that last scab of a question. Bolden stared into his cup and his tone was heavily saturated with strong disgust.

"Why? No sense at all? Kavala you're the smartest one of all of us so you know that your mother is not my own. There is no blood between us and never has been. I'm just Van's dirty little secret bastard. Remember back at the pavilion gathering we had? He couldn't even bring himself to say it in public." He spat out the last sentence like a mouthful of bad food.

"If I could pick and choose blood family Kav, you'd be the only one. You've never lied to me. You've never held back the truth from me. Never secretly manipulated me-ever."

Bolden took her delicate webbed hand with his own large, calloused one. His gaze locked on the always fascinating webbing between the slim digits. Her scales flashed vibrant colors in the dim tent lighting and it drew his eyes as it had over his lifetime. When he finally spoke again, he left no doubt as to the conviction of his words.

"I don't want to get married. I don't ever want to be like...my father, and given the choice, always know that I choose you first over anyone else. Ever."

[Kavala]

She stopped him right there. "Wait? What? The Akalaks have no honor? They gave me my LIFE Bolden. I am alive now because they rescued me. Without them I'd be Zith food or whoring for one of them. They asked me for a child or two. It seems a small price to pay for my life, Bold. Don't you think?" Kavala said softly, defensively. She had feelings in her eyes. "Tasifal's father is a good man. It wasn't rape. He's just not in our lives right now." Kavala said, denying the truth really, because Hatot probably wouldn't ever be in her life again.

Bolden spoke on and Kavala listened. She wasn't angry with him, but she wanted him to understand. Riverfall was her prison, but it was a gilded cage and one that suited her very well. No Drykas would ever understand being bound by walls though so she didn't even try to make him see.

When he spoke of himself, she took pause.

"No blood between us? Vanator is my brother and now your saying hes your father? Eachann's blood flows through each of us. He's my father and you are ... grandson to him? That makes me... your aunt of a sorts. Gods... Bolden did you just find out? My mother raised you though. She has ever right to call herself your mother.. living or dead. That makes you my brother in truth, even if the blood is a little thinner than that." Kavala said shaking her head. She still had more to say, more so by far.

"You are not a bastard, Bolden. Eachann gave you a name and a place and a chance. Its the same as blood. It always has been among the horseclans." Kavala insisted, rubbing his arm and looking at him concerned. "Vanator is a private person. He's always been reserved. He's a lot like father that way, Bold. You had the outspokenness of your sisters and our mother's shining personality. You know it. Everyone saw it. Don't blame him. How old was he anyhow? Old enough to bring you home instead of leave you with whomever birthed you certainly. You are a Denusk. We take care of our own." Kavala said passionately. Her wine was certainly infusing her head now because she grinned and toasted him.

Kavala shook her head. Bolden was confusing her. Choose her first? What? "Bolden, the best way you can win in life is to live it to the fullest. Take lovers, take wives, build your herds, own the Grasslands like no one but the Drykas can. If I were you I'd find yourself some willing Drykas ladies and build up your wives and show Vanator what it means to be truly happy. That man is miserable! He's married to two pit vipers that can't hold a candle to Tamar. You were gone, both his sisters are elsewhere... he has no one and father is slowing down. You know that as well as I do. He's being crushed under the weight hes got yolked around his neck. He married women that were too headstrong and too independent to be good wives. You need to go find yourself a softer sort and create an island of peace in this sea that is worthy of envy. Most men don't do it... can't do it. They want the horses they are challenged to ride instead of the ones that they can ride for hundreds of miles and always trust never to let them down. They are out there all over Endrykas, Bolden. You just have to look for them and gather them to you." Kavala said, still insisting he get married, settle, try to form more cohesion for the pavilion.