Gaining a friend [Avina]

[K'Sabe]

"Well, I've not really planned it," Sabe said, as always amazed over fortune telling, but even as a kid she had never doubted its powers. "But I have this feeling sometimes, more often the older I get, that I want to so more of the world. I don't want to leave entirely though, I know I'll always want to come back sometime." That was the strongest feeling she had, it was rooted deep inside her, that no matter how long she was away she'd return to this peaceful haven. Was there something better than sitting in the sun after a rainfall, the air was fresh, life seemed so much stronger and all colours intensified as the sun hit the remaining water drops. But it was also at these times she wondered just how it looked outside Mura, did it look the same after a rain fall, did it look the same in anyway? "Do you think the rest of Mizahar looks like Mura or completely different, not just the terrain but the feel of nature," Sabe asked, fighting to find the right words to describe her question. "Like after a rainfall or during a storm, things like that? Do I even make sense?" Sabe finished with a laugh. Positive. That felt good, it gave Sabe more courage over the plans she hadn't really planned yet. If Avina said so and the card showed it then it must hold more than a little truth.

[Avina]

"Oh I know just what you mean. My Gift means that I commune with nature very closely. I've never left Mura - not properly - but every patch of ground rumbles differently, the sky is like a quilt of so many different materials, variations throughout. Those differences must be even greater elsewhere." She put the card down onto the deck, and began to shuffle again. The worn cards familiar in her hands. "I watch the harbour sometimes... so many people, from so many different places. Mura will always be our home, but if you want to travel, you should take the opportunity Sabe." Though she felt complete here, Avina wanted to see Lhavit one day. Her mother might keep a rigid tongue, but in the Star of Kalea, she might find out more about her father. The Konti were a maternalistic society, a closely knit network of daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. But she couldn't help feeling curious. An itch. Something she could ignore for now, but eventually, she'd have to scratch it.

[K'Sabe]

Sabe nodded in agreement, a feeling of familiarity settled in Sabe, it was so easy talking to Avina, they seemed to have things in common. That seems like an amazing gift Avina, to be at one with nature." She said, trying to imagine how that would feel, the difference between nature's feelings and people's feelings. "True, and I'd like to paint whatever there is beyond our Island, to capture the nature out there." She was by no means a skilled artist but she wanted to improve that fact by portraying nature mostly, but maybe different races as well. "I try to spend time at the harbour as well, though I try to get the workers to let me help them with the animals or tell stories of their travels." Combining her love for animals with learning of Mizahar fitted her perfectly and her mother couldn't say that she only lazed around all day. Technically she did just that when she ignored her medical studies but somehow Sabe just couldn't sit down and learn about it, she wanted to be outside in the sun, working with animals or anything more physical than studies.

[Avina]

"I've never tried painting," she replied thoughtfully, "do you think you can capture nature?" For a moment, Avina pondered on whether that was possible. Nature was so transient, the dulcet tones shifting so quickly. She didn't think she could ever catch such a thing. "And what is your Gift, Sabe?" she finally asked with a smile. Every Konti had one. A special ability that marked them as a pale seer. She had heard of some interesting ones, but she always ended up thankful for her own. She wondered how dull life would be if she couldn't hear the calling of the ocean, or the singing of the sky. As she waited for the Konti to reply, she realised she was prolonging the conversation. And she was doing that for one reason. If she had no one to talk to, she'd end up going home. Home was a place of disharmony, a place of arguments. Her natural attunement didn't function properly in that kind of environment. Why won't you just give me the answers I seek mother? She found her hand shaking at her side at the thought, and quickly stilled it so that Sabe wouldn't see her spark of anger. It was stupid, she realised, but she had to know the truth.

[K'Sabe]

"I'm far from sure I'm skilled enough to do it, butI've seen the works of masters and that is the closest I've seen for someone to catch nature onto a canvas." Sabe said, thinking back to all the amazing works of art that existed in the world, the people who could see their objective and transfer it to a canvas or paper. "Well, I can sense the atmospheres around people," Sabe said. "As I get older I get a little better at pinpointing emotions but I guess my gift will always be a little vague. It's mostly a good gift, especially here on Mura, but even here the negative feelings can overwhelm me sometimes." She explained, one particular memory always nearby in her mind despite the years that had gone by, of her grandmother and oldest sister. Sabe missed the other Konti's shaking but she sensed something wasn't right but it vanished before Sabe had a chance to identify the emotion and she contemplated asking what was wrong. But she was a bit held back by politeness, wondering if it was correct asking Avina something she'd found out through her gift. "Is everything alright Avina?" Sabe asked finally.

[Avina]

"The works of the masters, now that's something I'd like to see." She listened to K'Sabe explaining her gift - it was an interesting one. People often kept emotions close to their chest, but Sabe could root those feelings out from afar. "I understand what you mean about being overwhelmed... imagine your gift in one of the great cities, like Syliras. That would be quite unmanageable I would imagine." When K'Sabe asked her if she was alright, Avina looked up to see the Konti watching her concernedly. She mentally chastised herself for being so careless with her emotions. "I'm sorry... I'm fine. It's just my mother. We don't see eye to eye, and I was just thinking that we'll probably end up arguing again later. Say, K'Sabe, do you know of your father? Like, who he was, and where he came from?"

[K'Sabe]

"I recognize that a bit," Sabe admitted, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a small smile. "My mother, I suspect, often wishes for me to be a more traditional Konti, one who will fit perfectly into her view of our society." Only her oldest sister had understood Sabe and had always allowed Sabe to be herself and now she was forced to take on her mother on her own. Her father, that was a question mark that never really left Sabe's mind, always hovering and ready to attack when she wasn't prepared. No, mother has never told me much. I have managed to find out that he was an adventurer of sorts," she answered, her green eyes clouded over slightly. "The only other thing mother will say is that he was in Sunberth before visiting Mura." "I can understand it may be painful to talk about a lost love, but I believe we have a right at least knowing what there is about our fathers if we want to." Sabe said, a bit jealous over other races where fathers often was a constant member in families.

[Avina]

"There are so many shades of perfection though," Avina said slowly. "Mothers make unreasonable demands." She felt the jealousy in Sabe's voice, and it was a feeling Avina often shared. When she argued with her mother, she wanted someone else to turn to. But her grandmother had passed a summer back, and she had no sisters. She wanted a father to wrap his comforting arms round her and fight her corner. But he was in Lhavit somewhere, an unknown entity wandering obliviously. "You're right... but I don't think that's something we can change in a hurry. The Konti are the Konti, and they will probably always be like this. They reproduce to sustain the race, but the father has no importance in our society." She traced a finger down below her top, lighting touching the mark at her waist. Avalis had laid her kiss there, forever marking Avina with the abilities of divination. She looked back up at K'Sabe and pondered on viewing the woman's past, but she thought better of it. Sabe seemed like a nice person, and she didn't want to break that trust. "Well... I was thinking K'Sabe, why don't you draw a tarot card for me?"

[K'Sabe]

Sabe leaned back more in the sun, nodding in agreement to Avina’s words, still no matter if mothers had unreasonable demands their daughters mostly followed suit, at least Sabe did, now a days at least. As a child she suspected she had been an annoyance but as she grew older she had learned to behave to keep peace home and to ease the friction when Sabe’s oldest sister and grandmother had died, after all the sorrow wasn’t only Sabe’s. But inside she disagreed a lot with her mother. “It’s too bad though, a father can be important in a family. But if I ever leave Mura maybe I’ll find some clues to who my own father is.” Sabe said, shifting her position a bit so she sat more comfortably. “At least mother can’t keep me from searching, though it’s harder without her help.” A merchant or traveller once living in Sunberth wasn’t much to go on in Mizahar, too many people fitted that description despite the small populations. “Draw a card for you, you mean I can draw a card but the reading is for you? Is that possible?” Sabe hadn’t heard of that before but it wasn’t so strange as she had no mark of Avalis and barely no skill in fortune telling.

[Avina]

"Of course it's possible," Avina smiled, "anything is." She began to shuffle the deck rapidly, and then handed it towards the other Konti. "You don't need some kind of skill. As Konti, we were birthed near the Vision Water. We have skill enough in such endeavours. Go on, think on me, draw in my energy, and pick a card. I'll help you read it." K'Sabe seemed nervous about the whole thing, but there was no need. She felt comfortable around this Konti. The cards would work in her hands, she was sure of it.