Closed Consecration

[Ronan]

Timestamp: 14th of Fall, 512 AV

Once Ronan had returned from his walk in the fringe forest, he got some things to eat, and took them down to the beach in his pack. It was late afternoon, the sun just beginning its long descent. Amber, molten promise wavered on the horizon.

It seemed the beach had become a common place for his practise with geomancy. He sat not far from the large Sanctuary doors that opened out onto the beach, but he was settled atop a rocky outcrop rather than the fine grainy sand beneath.

He bit into an apple, chewing a chunk thoughtfully as he gazed out at the waters. They were relatively calm for the time being, though the tide would begin coming out again within the bell. Small waves crested and splashed onto the shoreline, before retreating back out into the vast dominion of Laviku.

He found himself smiling at the beauty. Kavala had built herself a home among spectacular sights. Though Riverfall had held its shackles to her in the past, he was constantly amazed by her resolve, knowing she had still found this beauty among the chaos.

Grinding the apple down to its core, he raised his arm and threw it out to sea, before rubbing his hands of the juice. Soon after, he grew still, meditative almost. He began to source the energy inside of him, compelling it to shift and in expulsion move from his skin. After a moment of balance and counterbalance, it came close to the surface, and there he mentally pushed it out in the form of green res. Brilliant in its intricacy. He began to visualise Semele's world. The dreamstone harboured in his hand helped. Images of great halls of stone, caverns of brilliant glistening gemstone and stoic earth filtered through his mind.

Finally, the res began to transmute, and he shaped it as it did so. Soon, res turned to fine sand, which turned to grains, which turned to a rounded solid rock in front of him. He shifted it about, smoothing the surface until the falling sun caught its glimmer.

[Leo Varniak]

The Sanctuary was still showing some scars from the brutal Zith attack. The creatures had assaulted the fortress by land and air, seeking no more than to spill blood on the Sea of Grass. It was a half miracle nobody important had died. Every now and then, the residents were still chancing on the odd crossbow bolt landed way off its intended target. It had been a rather messy affair, but the Sanctuary would not fall to something this mundane. Still, one had to wonder how often such attacks were taking place. To be in the middle of one within seven days of his arrival here didn't feel exactly like an unfortunate coincidence. As for Leo Zaital, he had been spending the last few nights planning and starting his chronicles of Ivak's liberation, which he didn't expect to become a best seller anytime soon. It was something that needed done and something he needed to read from his own hand, no less and no more. His memories of the wonderful and the transcendent faded a little with each passing day, his recollection turning just a bit more normal as if his limited, limited mind could not contain it for long. He was chasing the beast of inspiration for the second chapter, perhaps, when he decided to take a short stroll outside; or maybe there was no particular reason at all, and he just succumbed to the puzzling force of whim. The scenery was beautiful, after all, and no excuse was needed to enjoy it for a moment or two. It surprised him a little, but not so much in retrospect, that someone else had had a similar idea. He did not recognize the man in the distance, and even as he approached the figure did not ring a bell of familiarity. A Drykas, Leo guessed, if nothing else because they were most common in the area and Kavala herself was one (apparently a non-human could be Drykas too, which had forced him to revise his notions of that society.) Leo was not fond of climbing - certainly not after Kalea! - and felt much more comfortable on the sand, so he made no attempt to join the other man on the rocks. He caught a glimpse of the transmutation, though, which surprised him even less. Everyone here was more than they appeared, and Reimancy abounded. "Mix in some fire with that earth and sand and you can make glass if you know the trick," he greeted Ronan with his right hand raised in a sign of peace - you always had to signal your friendly intentions when you approached a stranger in the open. Always, especially in the Sea of Grass. "The Inarta in Wind Reach truly have that skill mastered. Forgive me for intruding, I just happened to see that you, too, practice the art. I am Leo Zaital, a recent guest of the Sanctuary." He kept a respectful distance from the Drykas man, standing still but making no motion to leave, either.

[Ronan]

The stone bounced onto the rock as Ronan lost focus, head flicking down to the sand. The man that stood there had a hand raised in peace. A slightly off version of grassland sign.

His words came with interest, and Ronan blinked, listening closely. The Inarta... he knew little about them, only the stories that passed between the campfires in Endrykas. He wondered exactly what this Leo was referring to. If he passed his reimancy over flame, would that enable him to work it into glass?

He looked over the man, dark hair, and eyes that had seen so much. He had heard of a newcomer to Sanctuary, Kavala had mentioned him, but he hadn't met him yet.

Ronan smiled softly, hands falling back down to his side. "Ho there, Leo. I am Ronan Sunsinger." He was unsure how else to describe himself, since he didn't know the answer himself. Kavala's... friend? He held out a hand, hoping the man would come closer to shake it. "Then you practise reimancy also?" His voice lilted with hope. "I could really do with any advice you might have, if you have the time of course."

He looked down at his hand, realising he had offered the marked one. The swirling brown dreamstone was impossible to miss. Buried in his flesh, a testament of Semele's visitation.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo was getting used to this physical contact thing. He had been shaking more hands in these few days than he had in years. It took him a second to decide what to do with Ronan's proffered hand, until he pushed himself in his direction and shook it with grace. Leo's hand was very warm, almost hot enough to make one wonder if he was in a high fever. He did look fine, though, for all that he seemed to be still putting back some weight after hitting on hard times. He noticed the gnosis mark on Ronan's hand, but he had never come across this particular type yet and felt it was too soon to ask. "I do, actually," he nodded casually, "looks like it's a popular magic around here." His head shifted marginally in the direction of the Sanctuary, pretty much a product of Reimancy in its current state. "I don't do earth yet; I'm hoping to get the knack for it at some point." He suspected it would come to him long before water did; it would take a half-miracle for him to get water at all, given the nature of his powers. "Fire is my primary and air my secondary. I saw a few glass tricks in Wind Reach, but I only helped with the heating part, so I'm not sure that I can repeat it the way they do it." Still, he stretched his arm and picked up the small stone Ronan had made, closing his fist around it. "The basic idea is that red or yellow fire can't do this. It's not hot enough, you see," he explained calmly as he formed fluid Res on the palm of his hand, "but fire comes in many colors. If you press your Res more tightly, much more so, it will take far more of it but the flame will burn hotter and glow with stranger colors, blue or even white." He did it as he spoke, enveloping the rock in tiny blue flames that danced on Leo's naked skin. He seemed completely unaffected by the heat. Finally, he put out the flames and held out the still steaming stone. It hadn't become glass, not truly, but there was something vitreous to it nonetheless; it had turned darker and shone in the fading daylight. "See, I just botched it," Leo noted thoughtfully, "I suppose not just any earth will do." He looked up at the man. "Are you a resident here or do you just come and go? I am new to the place, myself, but from what Kavala told me I understand there are both sorts." Leo himself would have been hard-pressed to say which type he was.

[Ronan]

Leo looked strangely uneasy at first, as if this were the first time a hand had ever been offered to him in greeting. Ronan tilted his head ever so slightly in curiosity.

The man did shake it in the end though, and it was a firm shake. A warm shake also. Ronan wondered if the man was running a temperature, his flesh was baking as if it had been near a kiln for a length of time.

He followed Leo's gesture, looking at the complex of stone Kavala called Sanctuary. A home beside the waves. He nodded with a gentle smile, "there are a few of us, yes."

His words were interesting. It seemed he had ambitions beyond whatever his current element was. Ronan quickly realised it was likely that Leo was a manipulator of fire. It would explain the warm hands, if perhaps he had been using his reimancy lately. At least, that was the only explanation he could fathom.

The confirmation led to another nod from Ronan, and his curiosity was piqued further by the mention of the crafts he had witnessed in Wind Reach. "I assume the sand has to be heated to a relatively high temperature, and then shaped somewhat? I never even considered reimancy could be used in such an artful way..."

Ronan watched with keen eyes as Leo picked up the stone and demonstrated. Packing the res tighter... these were concepts Ronan was yet to try, and excited him greatly. He was awed by the blue flame, and its legacy was a darker, glamorous stone, steeped in the first phases of glassmaking. It glimmered in the autumn light.

He laughed lightly. "That didn't look botched to me - it is very beautiful." It led him to think on the other elements, and what they could achieve in combination. They were not single acts. The elements could come together to achieve even greater things, he realised. "I am a friend of Kavala, and I come and go. I am currently an apprentice of the Drykas Watch, and Endrykas is my home. But Sanctuary is... special too."

Ronan studied the man a little further. There was something immeasurable there. Wisdom? Experience? He wasn't quite sure, but the man gave off a presence unlike any other. Sanctuary was odd... so many found their way to its doors. It had a pull, he figured.

"May I ask what brought you here? Did you know Kavala beforehand?"

His eyes fell on the stone, still held in Leo's palm. It steamed, but the man's flesh did not burn.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo nodded at Ronan's hypothesis. "Yes, that is the way I have seen it done, but I had no affinity to earth and the details were lost on me. They were less than eager to share their secrets with a foreigner, as well. One of them said something along the lines of glass being rock that 'flows inside'. Some people even think it is no solid body at all, but a fluid. Truly a fascinating material." The sheer force of transformation could turn something heavy and rough into something light and so fine you could see through it with perfect clarity. So the Drykas was one of the wanderers, the semi-permanent cast, living in the night, but occasionally drawn to the fire. The thought gave him an idea, a question that was never very far from his mind. A question that had become a habit of his wherever he went; and the answer was never overly pleasant to hear. How many of you have I killed here? The Drykas were not known for their mighty constructions, and Leo was not sure he wanted to know the magnitude of their casualties in the storm. The question had only begun to form in the antechamber of his mind, when Ronan asked one of his own. The knot of tension dissolved, allowing Leo to relax momentarily as he answered. "In the first place, a ship. What forces made it so the ship had to dock in Riverfall, I do not know. I didn't have a lot of choice at the time. The very day I docked, I came here looking for a horse to eventually move on with my journeys... and I just ended up staying a little longer. To tell you the truth, I had pretty much forgotten what living with others feels like." The Sanctuary was a community of former strangers united by something he could not place his finger on, but that did not make it any less real. The weight, the vague strain on his expression, came back as the question made it way to the forefront of his mind. "How did the pavilions fare in the Djed storm, if I may ask? I know the damage has been considerable elsewhere. I hope you have made a swift recovery." It never hurt to hope, but it always hurt to expect. Leo looked more emotionally invested on the question than should have been the case had this been a matter of idle curiosity. No matter how much he had rationalized the concept that he had been a mere executor of plans laid long ago on the tables of divine politics, he still considered it all to be his personal responsibility. How many lifetimes would it take him to possibly get even? Hopefully the Drykas had weathered the storm. Hopefully.

[Ronan]

Ronan nodded. Glass was intrinsically beautiful indeed, and it seemed understandable the Inarta were cagey on the details of their craft.

Leo looked lost in thought for a moment, considering something. Ronan blinked, the last wisps of steam dissipated in the air, the legacy of the burning stone. The world held many wonders indeed.

"Fate is strange," he replied with a smile. They had something in common, it seemed. "And I was like that once. I lived on the fringes of Endrykas. The life of the wanderer is a harsh one though, I am thankful for the friends and family I now have."

Leo's next question struck Ronan right at the back of his throat. No matter how many times he thought on it, the gravity always struck him. They weren't recovered yet, not even slightly. There was so much work to be done, so much. The Drykas would survive though, he thought. They had weathered worse.

"Not so I'm afraid," he said, looking out across the sand, "We lost nearly half of our peoples. And if you know of our magicks... they lay in tatters. It is a difficult time for the Drykas, but we will get through it I'm sure. We always do."

Little did he know the effect his words would have. Little did he know the man that sat before him had triggered a chain of events that had decimated his people. It was a thread more tangled than he and Kavala's.

[Leo Varniak]

"Half of your people... gone?" The small vitreous rock dropped to the ground. Leo could not prevent the surprise from coloring his skin. He should have seen this coming, but to hear the statistic brutally tossed his way was another thing entirely. How long would it take them to recover from something like this, of Valterrian-like proportions? "And the Web too." He knew of the Web and the magical techniques behind it from a book left by his predecessor in Syliras. In fact, he had the theory down and would only need the experience, if only the Drykas weren't so jealous of their art. He stood there, as if transfixed, for a long moment, absorbing the news. Vanator hadn't mentioned this, and Leo hadn't asked. He could see now that Kavala's brother might have wanted to withhold the information from a stranger who had so quickly invaded the inner sanctum of the Sanctuary. Ivak's words rang true in his mind. 'It won't be easy, many will blame you.' That sounded like the understatement of the century. Even worse, Cyphrus was among the most distant areas from the storm's origin. Should he expect even larger damage the closer he marched? He shook himself suddenly, remembering he wasn't alone. "I'm sorry," he murmured, "this looks like it will never end. I... couldn't have imagined. So is this why you are involved with the Sanctuary, to help rebuild your Pavilion?" Certainly Kavala would not turn her back on her people should they come to her for assistance. "I'd like to help, too, if there's anything I can do for the horseclans." Leo did not interrupt Ronan's answer if there was one, but afterwards he could not suppress the next question. "What would you do if I told you I know exactly what - who - caused the storm - and how to find them, Ronan?" His voice was low as his eyes scrutinized the Drykas' figure with intensity, as if gauging his reaction. "I was there in Wind Reach when it broke out, after all. It came from there and spread to the corners of the world like madness." There was a certain rigidness to him now, the stiffness of resolve towards something unpleasant. No more secrets. It was just that it would sadden him more than a little if Ronan should fail to understand and instead opt to attack him, forcing Leo to turn his powers against an innocent once again. Kavala had understood, but then again Kavala hadn't lost everything.

[Ronan]

Leo's shock was evident, as the stone clattered to the ground. It was hard to swallow for anyone. Ronan hung his head in sadness. The Drykas had lost much, and more than most others because of their lifestyle. Cloth was no match against stone. He nodded at the mention of their magic. So Leo knew of the Web...

"Partly I suppose. Sanctuary is a great ally of our people. But it is more than that. Despite all her Konti looks, Kavala is Drykas." Ronan smiled brightly. "Thank you. Just to offer is kindness enough. Unfortunately this mess can only be fixed by our people. It is the Web that lies at the heart of our problems. It is our warning system that has allowed us to reside amongst beasts which would kill us in a moment's notice. Zith have been stirring more frequently of late, and they have been more adventurous, attacking more openly than before. We need our defences back."

Almost as soon as he finished, Leo spoke again. His voice had a new tone. Something darker beneath it. Ronan frowned, feeling uncomfortable in the man's presence all of a sudden.

Ronan fell into that same rigidity. Startled, eyes wide and acquisient. "I had... I had heard it began in Wind Reach. But you know? You say that you know? How is that even possible? If you knew I would return to the Clan chiefs. We would... we would have to do something."

He blinked, confusion washing over him. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know. Something about Leo's stance wasn't right. He had given in to something, and Ronan feared his next words.

[Leo Varniak]

He didn't perceive direct hostility coming from the Drykas and it reassured Leo a little. That man spoke of the future rather than empty vengeance for what had befallen his people did him honor. Still, there was no telling what he might do if presented with the entire story. Leo felt conflicted on that point. Should he tell Ronan in full? On the other hand, there were things he felt were best conveyed to the horseclans in person. He knew he would have to visit them at some point, perhaps when they had finished dealing with the acute portion of the emergency. He studied his counterpart carefully and eventually gave a short nod of comprehension and agreement. "Knowing will do nothing to restore the clans, I'm afraid," he explained, "but at least it'll give them a sense of conclusion and reassure them that nothing of the sort is going to happen again. I have a feeling I'll have to speak to your people about this. They deserve to know. Meanwhile, you might perhaps pave the road with the short version of the tale - the long one is really long, I assure you." Leo's eyes fixed on the horseman. "If I may ask this of you, I'd like you to relay a message to the chiefs. You should tell them that the storm was the work of divine forces moving their pawns across the board. As a result, the fire god Ivak whom some mistakenly call the World Destroyer, was freed from his prison deep beneath Wind Reach. Unsealing his fiery cell brought forth a wave of pent-up energy better known as the Djed Storm of 512. Ivak himself has nothing to do with it, this much I can guarantee. Kavala already knows." He hesitated a further second or two before bringing his short tale to conclusion. "Before you ask for my sources, my knowledge is first hand. I was the one who freed Ivak, as a fulfillment of a grand plans centuries in the making. There were... important reasons for doing so. I am truly sorry for what happened to the Drykas, and I will take responsibility for it. I did not know this would happen, but I would have had to do it regardless. Even bigger things are at stake..." He had a solemn look on his face as he expected Ronan's inevitable reaction. He only regretted mentioning Kavala; in retrospect, he shouldn't have involved her, perhaps including her among the targets of the Drykas' wrath.