Closed Semele's Bounty

[Ronan]

Timestamp: 15th of Fall

Summer had passed, but what a glorious season it had been. Warmth, and a feeling of belonging. He had spent the season helping Kavala around Sanctuary, and the isle she willed to construct in the sea. A secret reverie, away from everything else. It had been a season of stolen moments too. Their relationship had been less than conventional, and in some ways it had gone backwards, but it was what they both wanted.

They had both been through too much to waste this time of blossoming. They could cuddle and kiss, and just be content with each others company. Ronan felt he needed to do more though. She had provided for him, giving him money when he had been destitute, but now he needed to find his own calling. He wanted to be able to look after her, not rely on her.

Now, too, he was a Sunsinger. His time was becoming divided, by Riverfall and by Endrykas. He was here, with Kavala. But he was Sama'el's brother, and an apprentice of the Watch now to boot.

That was why he found himself skirting the upper tier of the city. He could see the sea, sparkling in the amber sunlight. It was cooler too, the world turning red and orange, preparing to die - to be reborn in the Spring once again.

He was gem hunting. He had an idea, of a craft, of a business. It was a longshot, but it couldn't harm anyone to try. Regardless, it would keep him busy while he waited for news from Sama'el. The Watcher was going to get back to him soon. Their brotherhood was impending.

Kavala was busy, or so she had said, so he made his way up to the plataeus of the highest point. For a long while he sat and stared out at the ocean. He fell into a trance, slipping into the Web to survey the gossamer strands that wrapped around this point. Not many, but a few. He could sense the Origin in Sanctuary, even from here.

When he came to, he began walking out into the grass, staring down at the ground, looking for a telltale glimmer. He subconsciously touched the back of his hand, knowing a piece of Semele still rested there, in the vestige of the dreamstone.

He planned to gather some gems, as many as he could find, and begin to practise crafting them. Carving them, shaping them, and ultimately, setting them. This was a trial, nothing more, nothing less. But he had an inkling in his heart that working with Semele's bounty in such a way would suit him to a tee.

[Kavala]

It had taken her a while to find someone who was willing to watch Tasival. Her son had burned a lot of bridges in the recent season, finding a fascination with fire and then with setting things free be they towels drying from the wash lines or horses from carefully constructed stone corrals. And while she was patient with him, understanding that the boy was at war with himself a great deal, not everyone was like that. Aweston, though, had seen Kavala's longing to follow Ronan off wherever the young Drykas had decided to go, and had agreed to watch the child. It had given the grateful Kavala time to pack a lunch for both of them, since Ronan was a hard worker and often forgot to take time for himself to eat and rest. A small wheel of cheese, bread, fruit and smoked salmon were added to a pack along with a wineskin and a waterskin. Then, she put on her best thick-soled boots, her leathers, through on her weapon harness, and set off in the direction Ronan had taken.

She left him alone too much. Kavala knew he understood, but with her work at rebuilding the clinic and building the fortress she could not quench the need to have, there was precious little time to do anything but fall into bed exhausted. So stolen moments like this were few and far between.

Kavala hoped Ronan didn't mind the intrusion into whatever he had planned when he hiked out alone.

She hurried to catch up, carefully following his trail of footprints in the knocked down grass and later the scuffs on stone that told her which direction he'd taken. Her relationship with Ronan was complicated. It hadn't had to be, but she'd somehow managed to make it so. Kavala knew it was her fault. She held him at arms length and kept him close all at once. They were both Drykas, despite her white skin, so she was close to him in a way she couldn't be close to others who did not know what it was like to grow up on the grasslands. And yet, there were traditions there to uphold, family honor, and routines of day to day work that left little time for other things. Their dynamic was off, with no set course. Kavala was a nameless Ankal to Sanctuary and she knew Ronan felt his lack of pavilion and funds acutely. She tired to provide him with what he needed without looking like she was providing for him because she knew his honor was a fragile thing. And she knew too that in the eyes of a Drykas, she was a woman only suited for a third or perhaps even more lowly fourth wife. In many ways it shamed her where Ronan was concerned. Such women were not married to be partners with their spouses. They were instead brought into the family because they possessed a skill of certain value to a clan or held a beauty that pleased the spouse even though nothing else was expected of her. Thirds and fourths were extra hands, more help, almost additional staff.

Her Kontiness got in the way of her Drykas nature in this instant. She could give Ronan no sons for his future pavilion nor offer him anything but a place of stone walls and a permanence that Drykas could rarely abide by. So while she remained at his side, supportive, she withheld things from him that were potentially damaging to the man. Kavala knew it, but could not change the truth of what was. And while she held his hand and kissed him like every kiss would be their last, she never offered her body to him nor told him how she felt. In her mind she was tainted, ruined, and while she loved him dearly, she loved him enough to make sure he had options in his life for when he recovered enough of himself after the trip back from Avanthal to really know what he wanted.

In her way Kavala offered a refuge of healing and rest for Ronan until such a time as he was ready to let his inherent wanderlust seize him more fully by the soul. It was another reason Kavala was close to Ronan but not bridging the distance between them. He would leave. Maybe not today, but someday soon. He was a Drykas and her heart had broken enough. But she couldn't stay away from him, not really, so she followed him out into the wilds not knowing what he was up too.

She caught up after a while, only because he was wandering, searching for something as he walked, not determined to get from point A to point B like she was.

"Hey... do you want some company? I brought lunch." She added, catching up to him to match his stride. Dressed as a warrior, the Konti didn't resemble the healer she actually was... at least not then.

[Ronan]

Ronan did not start at Kavala's approach. Instead, he took a short moment to gather his wayfaring thoughts, then turned to her with a grateful smile. He was glad she had come.

Kavala was in her more hardy gear. There were no flowing robes of Konti white here. She was all leather and Drykas. And yet, she fitted it so well. He remembered their time in Nysel's realm, when Kavala hadn't been Kavala. It seemed old habits died hard, even after death.

"You found someone to watch over Tasi? I'd love the company." His eyes fell to the pack she carried, guessing at the food within. Ever the hostess. "Thank you. I'm hungry, now you mention it."

Turning back, as if to scout the grasses, he let out a small laugh.

"I suppose you wonder what I'm even doing out here? I'm gem hunting, Kavala. It's just a little hunch... a business idea I had. It might come to nothing, but then again."

He faced her again, laugh shifting to a companionable smile.

"I'm glad to be back, at least for a little while. I feel like I'm being shared at the moment - half my time in Endrykas with Sam, half my time here. Thank goodness for our Striders."

[Kavala]

Kavala would have chuckled if she had heard Ronan's thoughts. She had no flowing robes of Konti white. She liked bright bold colors when she dressed up, lots of scarf dresses and patterns that accented her own coloring. White was never practical. It was, after all, the first thing she'd stripped Serrif of when he'd arrived. His white silken wholly impractical body suit was just ashes in the ash pit above ground. She'd always been practical. Besides, leathers were far more comfortable than silk in her mind.

Kavala smiled. "Yes, Aweston is watching him for a while in trade for some of his chores. I'll be up late tomorrow." She said with a laugh, then nodded. "Lunch is for later.. its still early." She said, as she swung the bag off her shoulder and pulled out an apple to hand to him anyhow. No use letting him be hungry when she had food. It was something he could munch on as they walked.

Kavala was graceful on a horse, but walking anywhere seemed so slow to her. She knew after Ronan explained that he was gemhunting, which cleared up the fact he hadn't set off with a strider. They would need, she assumed, to be close to the ground to see what he saw.

"Business idea?" She asked curious. She knew the Coalinga Mines were controlled by Riverfall and they provided much of Mizahar's gemstones. But there were gems to be found out here too?" Kavala looked intrigued. "I didn't know they were just out here, gemstones I mean, for the picking." She said, completely surprised knowing nothing about gems or rock collecting. She met his smile, returned one of her own, and looked around.

When he spoke again, she looked up, nodded to his words, and frowned slightly. "You should never feel torn. It will wear at you, Ronan. But the Striders do make it nice. I've learned a long time ago you can't split yourself into multiple pieces and live in multiple worlds. It just doesn't work. That's why I haven't been back to Endrykas since the storm. The Denusks are gone." She said softly, almost to herself.

[Ronan]

“As are the Windsongs...” Ronan said quietly. A moment of reverie faded, and he suddenly looked back up at Kavala, blinking and smiling. “I am a Sunsinger now, regardless.”

“Yes, business. Oh, they lie everywhere Kavala. Beneath our feet, there are veins and caverns of crystal laden rock. You only have to look properly. And dig. Maybe.”

Ronan looked thoughtful. The truth was, he didn't really know what he was doing.

He accepted the apple graciously and took a bite of its sweet, juicy flesh. It was welcome. In actuality, it could have been an onion and he would have bit right into it. He was hungry, and he had gone out without food.

“You know... Since Semele marked me, I've had this strange desire to just dig a great big hole in the earth and delve down into its depths. I need to be close to rock or crystal at all times. Isn't that strange?”

He walked on, the Konti at his side. His eyes scoured the ground for something. Anything. A glimmer? He searched for a long while, but his quest was not fruitful. He slumped down on a bank of earth, throwing the apple core as far as he could. He looked to the clouds, wispy, and moving endlessly.

“Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps the gems are only accessible in the mines.”

[Kavala]

Kavala tilted her head and smiled slightly. "You take my words too literally. The Denusks are gone, but I am still here and as long as I am their name will live on. I won't let them be forgotten. I'm going to call the breed of horse I'm developing The Denusk in their honor and for as long as I am alive, I will keep the last name of Denusk. Tasival has it as well. That's how I am going to honor my family. I won't let any of them be forgotten." She said fiercely then watched him search.

Ronan moved methodically around, his eyes scanning the ground, and she followed him, curious as to what he was doing and what he would find. The Konti knew Riverfall was rich with gemstones. They had The Coalinga mines here, and Kav knew they were created - if rumors were to be believed - because of the great pressures during the Valterrian, and not becomes it was some ideal local. But finding them, identifying them? That was not something she had any experience with.

When she saw how hungry Ronan was, Kavala thought twice about making him wait for lunch. Didn't the Drykas take time to do anything like eat? The Konti kept up, following Ronan, trying to look on the ground to see what he saw. Rocks, gravel, dirt, grass, plants.... she wondered if auristics would reveal gemstones. Kavala concentrated while they walked, but viewing the ground with auristics just gave the plants a weird life-filled glow and made her stumble more than walk straight. She was glad when Ronan stopped, for she let down her overlaid auristic vision and took a seat beside him, not crowding him but joining him companionably. She'd followed Ronan out here in case he wanted to talk. And so it seemed he did.

"It doesn't seem strange at all. I've been dreaming a lot, lost in Nysel's world and talking to him a great deal. Maybe Semele is your true hearts calling, Ronan. Maybe the stones can speak to you like real people cannot. Maybe your ears are designed to hear them." She said softly, looking thoughtfully at him. She hated to see him give up so fast though and look so forlorn.

"I've seen them washed up on the beach sometimes, when I go out running in the early morning. If they are there, I don't see why they wouldn't be here. I know next to nothing about gemstones, Ronan. I don't even own a single piece of jewelry. I wouldn't know a sapphire from an emerald unless we're talking Drykas and they are standing side by side arguing. The Sapphire will be getting read to throw magic around and the emerald will be drawing a bow or ready to skin the sapphire if the argument escalated. That's as far as my knowledge goes. You'd know more about this.. .where to find these stones you feel are out there. I would trust your instinct. We rarely lead ourselves astray." Kavala said softly, tracing a finger through the dirt and wishing for a moment it was water. Water would reveal the truth of the dullness of the rocks. That's how she found things on the beach, because they were wet and glinted in the sunlight.

[Ronan]

Ronan nodded at her words. Perhaps he had misunderstood her. But he felt different, he truly did. He would never forget his brother or his parents, but that's just how he saw them. As Darus. As Michaeus and Jakeyna. They were the people he remembered - not the Windsong name, nor the Pavilion.

When he sat down and nearly gave up, Kavala's pep talk got him to stand up again. She was right, and he was wrong. He had come out here to find gemstones, and that was what he'd do.

"You're right. Let's go, there's still time enough to find something."

So he rubbed his eyes, psyched himself up again, and began to walk amongst the grass again. It sloped up and down, and sometimes in those bluffs were small hollows of earth. It was these that caught his attention, since they seemed to expose the most earth beneath. They had been pockmarked by fierce winds, and perhaps, burrowing animals.

He searched one, and then another, moving between them methodically. In his minds eye, he began to map which he had peered into, and which he was yet to explore.

When he came to the fourth small hollow, he crouched down. There were clusters of rock and earth, and roots of long dead plants. He unsheathed his dagger, using it to help him carve some of the earth away, pushing it aside. He nearly gasped when he saw a glint. A glimmer in the sunlight.

He worked at the grass and earth, and finally broke free what it was that shone. His heart sank a little, but he knew he was being silly. There was no need to be disappointed. It was a cluster of rock. A geode. At one point it had been in two halves, but now it lay split. A cluster of dirty quartz shimmered inside, embedded in the rock. With a little craftsmanship, this was something he could work with.

He turned to the Konti, showing her his find with triumph.

[Kavala]

The Konti rose when he did, nodding, and brushing off the slight earth remaining on the rump of her leathers as she did so. Her eyes tracked Ronan, watching him, studying his face as he thought things through and watched the way he put together his search pattern. She tried to help, bending often to pick up unusual looking things, but mostly they turned out to be pebbles of no value other than having a streak of some sort of foreign mineral running through them. Kavala cast them aside, gently, almost embarrassed because she didn't want him to know how little she knew of what he was doing. One or two of the things she picked up looked interesting, and she longed to rush and show him, but in the end she with held them in her hands, not sure the odd colored but otherwise mundane rock held any interest for him.

Kavala watched the way he moved among the grass. The Drykas were one with it, born of it, and it showed in her friend's stride. He was better on a horse, of course, but here beneath the sky out in the open the two of them were free in a way that was hard to describe. She found herself smiling, not really meaning too, and trailing behind him really giving up her own search in favor of watching him enjoying his.

The ground was not flat, but instead the land rolled and pitched like waves frozen in time. Ronan carefully searched these hollows and contours, investigating the hidden and seeking out the extraordinary among the ordinary. Kavala felt like in just being with him she was catching glimpses of a stranger, a part of Ronan she'd never met. She enjoyed it, enormously, because it was different than her life and her work and how her days normally went. Every move for her usually had a purpose, a reason, with nothing left to chance.

Here, it was all chance, and it was refreshing.

And even though the odds were against him, Ronan dug down and found something Kavala found beautiful. It was a beautiful clear cluster of rock that looked like it had been round at one time but was only half round now. Kavala didn't know terms like geodes nor quartz but she saw the potential in it.

"I think its beautiful. How in the world did you find it there, hidden in soil. I never would have seen anything like that or known where to dig." She said, astonished.

[Ronan]

"It's only a small piece... but yes, it's beautiful isn't it."

He held it up in the light, turning it in his hands so the different facets reflected the rays. He pondered on the things he could do with it. The hand that bore the dreamstone felt cold. Earth and earth.

He was beginning to understand something about himself. He was intrinsically connected to the earth. Semele had told him a little... fragments of his capabilities. He felt ice on his spine. Things that were so much bigger than him loomed.

When he thought about it, the stone was part of him. And now the land around him, and the rocks beneath were his kin. It was strange, and yet comforting at the same time.

He shook his head, looking up at Kavala. He hoped she hadn't noticed his reverie. In the end, he decided to talk to her about it.

"Since Semele marked me... I've felt pulled towards the earth. I'm not saying I knew the gemstone was there, but when I looked at the hollows I just felt like it would be the right sort of place. Does that make sense?"

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled slightly and nodded. She understood what it was to be intricately connected with something and to feel a pull in one direction or another. That sensation was part of every Konti no matter if they had Drykas blood flowing through their veins or not. It was not something that could be voiced though or easily explained unless it was a shared feeling and then only a look or a nod or a quirk of an eyebrow could be used to communicate such things. Kavala watched Ronan, knowing he was finding his feet and understanding his calling like a Konti getting a Call.

But she wondered what he would do with it, ultimately, and where it was leading him. It was times like this she wished she had something of Rak'Keli's light sister's traits of Divination. But she was of the darker sister, The Healer. With a sinking heart, Kavala thought she knew, ultimately, that it was leading him away from her, far away. He was already split, committing to Sama'el and the Sunsingers. Brotherly bonds were strong. He was already of the Watch now, Sama'el's apprentice. And now Semele wanted a piece of him too.

It left almost nothing. And Kavala was extremely aware of that.

"It's never the quantity that matters really..." By Nysel she was a hypocrite. She almost choked on the words, saying them. "...but the quality." She finished softly, glancing down at the ground and then reaching out to stroke a blade of grass. She had her own fascination with stone, but it wasn't in finding them. It was in creating them.

"It makes perfect sense to me, Ronan. Even though I don't know anything about Semele other than the legends of our people. I do know about Calls and the drive to do something in your life." She knew all about that, maybe too much. She met his gaze then stared out over the grasslands.

He was at a crossroads in his life. Change folded around him as if he were clay and a river was flooding him reshaping and remolding him. It was fascinating to watch and yet painful at the same time. And she wondered if this was their one chance to acknowledge the differences in each other. And if this was their one chance to say goodbye. His new Pavilion, his duties to the Watch... she knew he imagined riding across the Grass and being all things to everyone, but she was a realist. Duty always came first.

And if she admitted it to herself she hated that. Kavala usually never made it about herself, but in this case watching him it really drove home the fact that if Ronan made a place in his life for her, it could only ever be a small one.

What she'd have to decide is how okay with that she'd be.