[Various Locations]Riders of the Storm - Aren [CLOSED]

[Meera]

Date Stamp: Spring 1st, 512AV, Riverfall

Meera was grateful that the pain had finally subsided. It had been some time since her injury to be sure, and her healing had been delayed by the last leg of their trip back into town, but it appeared coming back into town was the best decision ever made.

A storm was coming. Quickly Meera was patched up by a local healer and she had heard the call for all the Drykas in Riverfall to meet. It was a bad idea to go to their meeting, being a deserter. Meera avoided them and heard from the other townsfolk. Having that warning saved their lives, Meera was sure. The blonde huddled in an overcrowded basement with Aren as the storm raged on and on above. She was panicking for several reasons - one, being that she was underground and could therefore not see the skies, two, that it was overcrowded and young Meera was claustrophobic. It caused her to breathe quickly and heavily, her heart racing and to latch on to Aren's arm as though the world was going to collapse on her. She was certain she had caused a ring of bruises on his bicep from holding him so tightly for so long. Third, Darksand was not with her. If anything should happen to the horse, she wasn't sure what she would do. Just thinking about the possibilities brought on a panic attack worse than the ones inspired from her claustrophobia.

When she could, Meera exercised her arm with her bow, pulling on the bow string without an arrow. She tested her strength, her ability to hold the bow taut for as long as possible, and to steady her arm. When she wasn't doing that, she was sleeping, and when she couldn't sleep, she was examining her very first scar. It appeared in an inverted V pattern like a chevron, one on top of her arm and a matching one on her wrist. She was actually quite proud of it. It appeared to be healing nicely, and hadn't terribly affected her motor skills.

Meera had little idea how much time had passed. It worried her to wonder where her horse was, if it was still alive. She didn't feel any different other than a high degree of anxious and whatever anyone said in attempts to calm her was found ineffective. Suddenly, there was a commotion that spread throughout their crowd.

It was safe to come out.

Meera gathered her things about her person as quick as she could.

"We can leave," She said, relief so obvious in her voice. "Can see sky, sunlight..." She listed off things she missed sorely. "Darksand, too," she didn't forget. "And we can sleep in hotel room." A good night's rest and comfortable sleep was something she was in dire need of.

[Aren]

Aren rubbed his shoulder when Meera finally latched off, suspecting he might have lost it if this blasted djed storm lasted much longer. Relieved that it did not, he collected his own things, which had progressively been strewn about the place, and followed after her. The akalak had half-remembered a story his father had told him once, when he heard about the djed storm. Tyren had experienced a similar event in his childhood, if memory served, one which he said left lasting effects on Riverfall, and indeed all of Mizahar. Unfortunately, his father had been a child when he experienced the storm, and Aren had been a child when he had heard the story, so he couldn't really be sure what these effects entailed. With djed, anything was possible. "I'm sure he's fine," Aren offered, attempting to reassure her as to the status of her mount. Of course, after a storm like that one, who could really be sure of anything? "How's your arm?" he asked, concerned about the health of the drykas, as they followed the shuffle of feet towards the exit. It still weighed on the akalak to see her wince in pain every once in a while, as she tried to flex or use that arm. Fortunately, she had seen a healer immediately after arriving in Riverfall, so there shouldn't have been any problems, but only his own conscience could absolve him of guilt.

[Meera]

"Better. Might be up to full strength, soon." She hoped. She had never been in a Djed storm, and having limited knowledge of magic the idea kind of... frightened her. She liked to be certain of things, and of Djed, she was certain that she was uncertain about it. A few Drykas knew of magic, but Patros did not and so he could not teach her, but from what she had heard of magic growing up now and then in Endrykas, she was glad for it. From what she understood, djed was throwing parts of yourself away as sacrifice to some god in exchange for certain effects... So, to young Meera, a Djed storm only told her that the earth was throwing itself away.

She flexed her hand to demonstrate, not wincing once.
"No longer pain. Just weak. Always weak..." She muttered to herself, feeling small amounts of pity.

"Tell me," She began a topic change, and added to it by letting her hand bump into Aren's. Just because she didn't have need to hold on to dear life, didn't mean she didn't want to hold him anymore. Holding on to him comforted her, for some strange reason she could likely never explain if she was fluent in all the languages. The fingers of her bad hand slipped between his.
"What is first thing you are going to do now free from under ground?"

[Aren]

Aren gladdened of her answer, though he had guessed it before she had even replied. He doubted Meera would say it still hurt, even if it did, for his sake. The akalak certainly did not agree with her self analysis that she was weak, but he believed that she would have to realize that for herself. If he attempted to dispel the notion, she would likely see it as kindness out of pity. The truth was that it was only her body that was weak, and that was the less important half of the equation. As the fingers of her wounded arm snaked around his own, Aren had to remind himself not to squeeze, for fear of causing her pain. When she asked about what he was going to do, however, he merely smiled, waiting till they were fully out of into the sunlight. When the sun shone brightly on their face, Aren looked into her deep brown eyes for a tenuous moment. Suddenly, his lips had closed the gap in an instant, giving Meera what was intended to be a light peck, but which unwittingly transformed into a full blown kiss. Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted by the encroaching squawks of a djed affected bird which had decided to end it's life by slamming into them. Aren looked up just in time to lower Meera's head out of the little dive bomber's arcing trajectory, but the insane bird wasn't willing to give up that easily. It soon found some elevation as it continued down the street, and had promptly reset it's course towards them, as if it had some pressing grudge that required settling.

[Meera]

When Aren did not give a playful squeeze of her hand, she gave one to him. It was a firm squeeze by her small amount of strength, one he might feel was a gentle increase to a peak of strength similar as one would find shaking a confident handshake.

It was as though a breath of fresh air washed over her face when the sun decided to shine, her skin appearing to glow with the grace of the sun's rays. Instantly she felt a surge of happiness. She could see the sky, feel the warming air, and most importantly, the people were quickly dispersing from their underground chamber, leaving her and Aren with their personal space. She had a wide smile, which Aren sought to immediately claim for his own.

She kissed him with such fervency one might think would save a man from dying. She refused to break the kiss again, her good hand flying up to scoop him by his neck as though she had a thought to hold him to her should he decide to break it - again.
A bird called, and she realized that was something she missed - the sound of nature. There had been no nature underground.
It was no use. As suddenly as he kissed her she was forced down and away from him. Small bits of anger were born in her mind in her confusion, but knew somewhere inside this was something he hadn't particularly wished to do.
She brought her head upright to see the commotion. A bird... was attacking them?

"What the petch is that?!" She exclaimed, seeing the malformed avian with distress. "What the--" Meera grabbed her dagger with her good hand, not trusting her skill with the bow yet. As the bird made its second attempt she swung wildly in the air, hoping to slice the damn thing in two. How dare it disrupt her passionate, freedom-fueled kiss! Still with her bad hand ensnared in Aren's hold, she loosened her grip in her excitement, allowing him to remove his hand should have need of a weapon or his djed, of which she had little knowledge of him possessing.

[Aren]

"There's something wrong with it..." Aren noted, oblivious to the obviousness of the statement. The street was full of onlookers now, who were leaving their underground sanctuary when the commotion started. They looked on curiously as the crazed avian attempted to attack two random people on the street, for no apparent reason. Meera had drawn her jade dagger, but the akalak doubted she would be able to actually hit the bird with her clumsy swipes. He himself had a dagger, but Aren was likely as adept in it's usage as the drykas was. Instead, he figured that he might be able to down the bird with some timely use of reimancy, but the large crowd around them made him hesitate to use magic. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much choice, as none of the bystanders seemed intent on doing anything about the animal. Aren figured that if he was quick, most people wouldn't even realize what had happened, busy as they were keeping an eye on the sky. The akalak separated himself from Meera, thinking that it was her that the bird was after. Confident that a flying rat wouldn't get the better of her, he kept his eye on his prey, waiting for the opportune moment. "Get down when I tell you to," he told her, only then informing her of her intended role as bait. As the bird dived yet again, it'a target, it seemed, was not Meera at all. Direct on a collision course for Aren, the akalak had to admit that he had misread the situation, and now he found himself his own bait. Well, this was even better, he figured. An enemy that was coming straight at you was easier to deal with than one coming at someone else. A small amount of res dripped out of his fingers as Aren centered his target. It was supposed to be a minuscule gust, just enough to force the animal to the ground. Strangely, however, what he released wasn't a small gust, but a full blown blast of wind. A large amount of res had suddenly leaked out of Aren, without him even realizing it, resulting in the poor bird having it's neck broken and the feathers sheared off it's body. As the crowd murmured at the odd happening, the akalak wondered what had just happened, somewhat troubled by this random loss of control.

[Meera]

Meera jumped back at the gust of wind that flew from Aren's hands. She had noticed the gel that gathered and dripped off his fingers and thought that it was all very peculiar and likely just her eyes playing tricks on her. But she could not ignore the odd bird with its neck snapped and feathers flying down slowly.

"What was that?!" Meera had never seen the magic Aren could perform, and she hadn't really seen magic performed by anyone else in her life. She knew it was possible, but she could never remember what it looked like, and especially didn't know there was a gel involved. Was it a natural gel that oozed out of him, or was it an external source hidden up his -- Aren wore vests. He had no sleeves. So the gel was a natural ooze. Her mouth turned slightly into a frown, unsure what to make of this new knowledge of Aren. Her... boyfriend could leak at will.

Oh, no, she said to herself. Did I just call him my boyfriend? Gaaaaah, Meera had no idea what to make of that, surprising herself with her own thoughts. At least he couldn't hear that. Dignity saved.

"What...?!" Meera repeated, the surprise obvious in her face as she stared at the Akalak. "How did ..." She mimicked his movements and followed it with a whoosh sound for the wind. "Do you have Zulrav?" She asked excitedly, referring to the Wind God for his gnosis. After her outburst of questions Meera returned Osri to her boot, mainly to free up her hands so she could examine his hands for that odd gel.

[Aren]

"What was what?" Aren did his best to play dumb, all too aware of the stigma magic carried in most places, and amongst most people. Meera looked at him oddly though, and the akalak wondered what was going through her mind at that particular moment. His display didn't seem to frighten her, it was more like excited confusion. As the drykas continued to analyse the moment, making sounds and gestures to combine with some questions, Aren tried his best to settle her down before the people around them actually started paying attention. Taking her healthy hand, the akalak rushed out of the crowd, trying to dissuade her from asking any more questions before they were some place more private, "No Zulrav. Poor bird just plum fell out of the sky all on it's own," his lies weren't very convincing, but they were only words meant to muddle the sound of what she was asking. Hopefully, the Kulkukan had survived the djed storms, because that's where Aren was headed, Meera in tow. They could discuss the topic of magic there, within the confines of a locked room, if he hadn't managed to distract her from the subject by the time they got there. The thought that she might want him to teach her now troubled the akalak to no end, so he was going to do his best to make sure she had as little interest in magic as possible, even if he had to lead with the most gruesome aspects of the subject. Hopefully, however, he could distract her enough that she simply forgot about the matter, and it wouldn't come to that.

[Meera]

Aren took her good hand and began to lead her from the underground entrance. Her fingers intertwined with his readily, and became set on a mission of feeling for any grease or oil on his hand. It was dry, as though she had been hallucinating. Maybe the renewed presence of the sun on her face caused her to see things? She had been told as a child she had an over-active imagination...

Aren's lie was very unsuccessful. Meera knew what she saw and what she saw was wind pummelling a bird to death. Birds' necks didn't just snap mid-flight. It had to be magic, she concluded. Djed. All that wind was a little excessive, wasn't it? Why would Aren even think to use djed after a sharding djed storm walked through town? That was probably the stupidest thing Meera had ever thought in her life. There was no way that was magic. Aren wouldn't be so dumb.

That left only two conclusions: Meera had either accidentally eaten a hallucinogen, or that Meera had fallen head over heels for Zulrav himself.

"But what about Semele?" Meera asked, without thinking as Aren led her through town. The woman was so wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the effects of the storm around her.

[Aren]

"No, not her either," Aren said, basically just trying to distract Meera as they rushed through the streets. "The world is a very mysterious place, you know... sometimes things just happen," the akalak mumbled, attempting to keep her thoughts occupied on anything other than what she had seen. After what seemed like an eternity, finally the inn was in sight, and the blue skinned warrior breathed a sigh of relief to see it. The Kulkukan had weathered the storm fairly well, but it hadn't escaped completely unscathed. As Aren now took a moment to look around, he noticed that "unscathed" wasn't really a word one could apply to anything in Riverfall at the moment. He was certainly glad, though, that he at least had a place to sleep. As he rushed in with Meera, Nys was already there, cleaning the place up. The younger akalak barely even took notice of the two entering, as they headed up to the second floor of the inn. He likely figured that they were in desperate need of some intimate time, and left it at that. As the pair finally found themselves alone, behind a locked door, Aren gazed into Meera's deep brown eyes, "How bout that weather, huh?" he smiled idiotically, hoping against hope that the drykas had a short attention span.