[Denusk Pavilion & Herds] Will You Walk With Me? (Van)

[Kavala]

Timestamp: 41st of Summer, 511 AV
Location: Denusk Pavilion
Purpose: Trying to Patch Things Up
Status: Vanator

She was waiting for him just after breakfast. Kavala didn't join the rest of the family for their meal because Tasi was fussing and she'd taken a great deal of time to sooth him. Now, though, he was asleep and safely in her step-mothers care. She'd grabbed a quick meatroll to break her fast and was lingering outside the pavilion entrance hoping to spot Vanator to see if he'd take a walk with her.

Kavala smiled when the flap opened and stepped forward, still nibbling on her meatroll. "I wanted to walk the herds today and check to see if anyone needed any help while you had a healer here that wouldnt' charge for services Van. Would you walk with me?" Kavala said, glancing out to where the mass of Denusk livestock mingled, scattered out like bright jewels on the distant grass. "We might even need to ride. There's more than I remember there ever being..." Kavala said, nodding towards the distant herds.

"I thought we could talk. There's a lot we both need to say to each other Vanator." Kavala said softly, finishing off her breakfast and looking thoughtful.

[Vanator]

Van had risen early, unable to sleep. So much was going on, and his mind would not quiet. His family, the ones he had mourned and missed for years, had returned, at least for a time. There was much joy in that. There was also a lot of turmoil, and questions. Vanator had dressed, slipping on his breeches and a sleeveless tunic. He let Khiara sleep, she did not seem to feel well either, tossing back and forth through the night. Someone had set a hunk of bread and a hot, fresh strip of cured meat on his side of the bedpile, and he took a moment to chew the tough but savory flesh and down a mug of water from a small barrel. Grabbing the hunk of bread and his dagger belt, Van slipped quietly out into the morning sun, biting off a chunk of bread. Kavala greeted Van, his sister an unexpected but welcome sight. As she spoke, Van looked at her, maybe too intently. He still could not believe she was here. Whatever duty he had on his mind to perform was quickly forgotten when Kavala invited him to walk with her. For a moment, everything seemed normal. Like it was before. Brother and sister meeting outside the pavilion, doing things together. Choking down the bread as he fastened his belt, Vanator nodded. "Yes, of course Kav, I would love to. The herd has grown, and I would love for you to see my new strider." Turning in the directions of the herds, he began to walk leisurely. His tone dropped to a softer, but mildy insistent tone. "It is good to see you. It has been too long, and much has come to pass, since we spoke, like we used to Kav."

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled quietly at her brother, keeping pace beside him. She missed Tasi's weight in her arms, but knew the boy was in good hands while she was 'home' even though Endrykas didn't feel so much like home anymore. As she walked, she studied Vanator quietly, noting the changes to his face and how much he'd aged since she'd last seen him. It would only grow worse with the passage of time. He'd be an old man one day while she'd hardly look a day older. The thought brought a fierce grief that lodged deep into the pit of her stomach and settled there like poison or a badly conceived of meal.

Kavala swallowed, cleared her thoughts, and studied her brother who was in his prime. She'd enjoy him thusly and remember him always this way. But their lives were different, separate, and they'd never diverge again most likely. It wasn't his fault and it wasn't hers either. It was just how things were. Her kontiness made it so.

"I wanted to speak, Vanator, when you were in Riverfall. But I could tell Kashik took that right from me. You asked no questions which meant you knew enough - her version - and didn't let me. I've been so mad at her, and you too Vanator. It was my pain to share, not hers. And now its my life. Even being here is stolen time. I'll have to look over my shoulder every day and night in and out of the darkness. This can never be home again. Not with my current situation. Riverfall won't ever let me go." Kavala said softly, bowing her head. The anger had all but left her thought in its wake she was filled with regret. "I don't much like her, Van... your new wife. I almost didn't come home this time for a visit. Khiara seems nice though. I just... she isn't Tamar." She said, looking off at the horses grazing in the distance.

[Vanator]

Vanator stole glances of his sister as they made their way further from the pavilion. She was beautiful. Not the same as she was a few short years ago, and not older, just different. Leaner, with a sober and piercing quality to her gaze that penetrated him in a way unlike before. When they reunited in Riverfall, it had startled him, but in the short time visiting there, he grew accustomed to it. The evolution of her personality was what haunted him, even to that very moment. He listened to Kavala's words in earnest, quietly anxious, wanting to have this time with her for a year. But as the topic of Kashik arose, the brother sighed."I don't want to discuss Kashik. I have seen you only once in more than three years, and that time was marred by the subject of my wife. For better or worse, I have chosen my wives, and have fathered my heir. I know neither of them are like..." Vanator's voice hung. He detected the sadness in Kav's voice when she uttered Tamar's name, and his heart echoed the pain he knew she felt at the memory. "Kav, They will never be Tamar. She was the one, I know, the one the gods made for me. I don't know what I did to lose her, for them to take her from me." His gaze wandered as well to the horses, a distinct pain in his stomach and ache in his chest. "I lost her twice Kavala. In the end, I knew, Backlash was Tamar." He glanced again at his sister. She knew his former strider, the one bound to him tighter to any before or since. It had been a year since she was killed on a hunt. After a deeply inhaled breath, Van continued. "Kavala...we are free to talk now." Another glance at the konti, another attempt to see the sister within her. The brother looked to the systematic scarring on her arms. He was not sure, honestly, if he did want to know, if he could bear what she might reveal.

[Kavala]

Kavala momentarily grew angry because there was a time when there was no restricted topics between the two of them. There was a time when no one and nothing would part their dialog and change the way they viewed each other and life. Kavala swallowed her anger though, there was no time for it, and then quietly told him what had happened in her life since she'd left their father's pavilion ages past. She left nothing out, quietly and thoroughly telling him the story of her life and of how it had changed her. Then, very quietly, without hesitation, she told him that this was perhaps the last time she'd come to Endrykas to visit. Sanctuary kept her busy and now that Vanator had a happy life with wives and a family of his own, there was no need for her to interfere, especially if she couldn't get along with his new family. She was sad he'd lost Tamar twice, but it was something that didn't surprise her. Striders did as striders did. So too did relatives.

In a way their walk was closure and even though it was sad, Kavala knew it was necessary for moving on. Bolden, she'd miss, and once he'd set up his own Pavilion, she'd come visit him. But as far as the Denusks were concerned, she'd not come again until their father passed on if and when that happened.

[Bucephalus]

Grading

Kavala

Lores

• Goodbyes are Never Easy
• Severing Family Ties

Vanator

Lores

• Goodbyes are Never Easy

Storyteller Notes

This was a good read, even if it was short. I hope you're satisfied with the lores, I felt they were appropriate to the moment and I hope you'll visit us in Endrykas soon... or send some flashbacks my way to grade. I want to grade more Kavala threads.

If you have any questions or concerns about the rewards you obtained, please feel free to send me a PM about it. If you feel that I've not given you experience or lore for something that you feel you deserve, I'd be more than happy to take a second look at the thread.