First meeting (Sama'el)

[Joss Hawkeye]

Joss had, of course, witnessed this phenomenon of which Sama’el spoke numerous times during his life. The web was such a vital part of the very essence of the Drykas, and all the Ankals could communicate with the great sea of grass and all that touched it through their ability to connect with it. Others too could hone this skill, and so Joss had been fully expectant of the necessity to leave his corporeal self and walk the web in his spiritual form. Still, it was a bit unnerving, now that he was really going to try it. But he swallowed his anxiety and focused on those strong, reassuring hands that held his, watching Sama’el and giving a final nod. He did relax, though it took some effort to force his muscles and nerves to a calmness they weren’t inclined to at the moment.

He saw Sama’el’s body relaxing too, the facials muscles going slack, the body lightly limp. For a moment – that seemed a long one to Joss – there was nothing else that happened. But then, he felt the slightest tug, in his chest. It seemed to pull at him, not uncomfortably but gently, and insistently, pulling him up, and up, a shiver of something unexpected coursing through him, like cold water on hot skin. Right at the moment of panic that threatened to well up along with his spectral self, he also felt those hands, still holding him loosely but steadily, and he heard a voice – or felt it – or absorbed it.

I've got you, Joss. It's Sama'el. Just relax. Open your eyes and see the Web around you

He knew that voice, somehow, and then he recognized it was Sama’el. He felt it in the plasma that flowed about him – about them – for he had opened his eyes as instructed, slightly surprised to know they had closed. Sama’el was still right in front of him, and Joss’ hands clenched tighter, involuntarily, fearful for a brief moment. But he did look around, and it was like seeing the world in triplicate, or double, or sometimes four or five images at once, all layered and wavering and moving. Slowly, the images coalesced and he saw the tent, and its contents, and Sama’el, but he saw beyond the tent too – far and near. It was pretty overwhelming, and he closed his eyes... and gulped.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el was adept at handling the Web energies now, and even the souls of others, that astral body that existed on the Web. This was fortunate for Joss, who was likely overwhelmed. He held the young Drykas' astral body steady, that it not get caught up in the ebb and flow of the energies, lost.

Try to relax, he advised. I have you.

Holding Joss steady, he guided his hand to the nearest major strand of the Web, something to hold onto.

When you touch the Web, open your mind to the impressions that might have been sent along it. Baby steps to begin with, of course, and then he would show him how to travel.

[Joss Hawkeye]

It was an odd, odd feeling, slightly familiar but for the most part very alien to any Joss had ever experienced. The best he could liken it to would be swimming in the Bluevein, his body bobbing up and down with the push and pull of the river. But that was a much more…active…sensation. This was more like…floating. His body felt so insubstantial, and as if it was wavering, like images in the distance seen through the summer heat rising up from the plains. His eyes latched on to Sama’el, who did indeed look translucent and quivering as well, and he felt the Ankal guiding his hand to a strand of energy. As soon as his fingers touched it, he felt a number of sensations pass from fingertip to hand to arm right to his mind, and with it came images – all sorts of them, in a jumble. He thought he saw the ocean, and the desert, but both were like some misted dream of reality – faint and almost nonexistent. Much stronger was the impression of a countless number of animals – all disjointed – some moving about, on the prowl, eating, drinking - others asleep in burrows – and some were dead. Interwoven with these were pavilions and lone riders, and people moving about, but it was too overwhelming and too shadowed to really see – they were all of them just impressions – suggestions, and constantly moving and blending and separating and merging. He felt giddy.

In wonder, he thought his confusion and somehow he knew that Sama’el heard his thought. It’s too much! I see everything – and yet nothing is clear. How do I focus? How do I see so that I can know what I am seeing?

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Now you are initiated, he thought to his new apprentice, for he knew if he was the one initiated Joss, he must needs be the one to be sure the power was used with skill and respect. Later we will meditate until you have the focus to pull yourself out of yourself, and with that focus, you will be better able to sift through the impressions, and then we will begin to teach you to link things to you on the Web, small at first, so when you gain more skill, you can help with the weaving and repair of the Great Web.

Now, let go of that, and put your hand to your chest. We're going to make a link between us, student and teacher, so it will be easier for us to find each other on the Web.

He demonstrated by grasping gently at the energy that made up this form's chest, and began to pull energy away, forming a new strand that stretched toward Joss.