Closed At the wall.

[Tia'aria]

40th of Spring, 513 AV

Teal eyes were glazed as they stared over the rippling expanse of the Suvan Sea as an unseasonal and unkind wind churned the waves in their own patterns. The clouds in the distance boded rain for the coast, but she knew weather was a fickle thing to predict.

In her hand, she held a sprig of sage she had picked from among the brittle grass. Her mother had been a superstitious woman, and still was, and some of her more unique practices had stuck with Tia even after she had moved out on her own. There were words she could say to ask Zulrav for fair weather, and words to beg from him a storm that would reawaken the wildlands and replenish the life of the prairie. Her mother had prayers for every occasion, her father would often joke after one such prayer. One for every occasion and for every god under her sphere of interests. Tia'aria remembered a good many of them.

She held the sprig of sage up into the heavens as high as she could, emulating a physical offering to the Stormlord. She knew she must look silly, but that was beside the point.

In Kontinese, her most fluently spoken language, she called out to the Storm God, praying for peaceful weather in the days to come. Her mother would have sung the words, or mimicked the fierce howl of the wind, but Tia hadn't yet managed to make up a song to sing to the Gods with. Her mother used a lullaby and altered it to suit the gods she was trying to please. Tia knew it was improper to use the same tune.

She prayed to him for clear skies ahead, both in the world and in her soul. She prayed for guidance as only the wind could offer, free as it was and without master, as Zulrav was. She spoke to the wind of how she longed for a storm but knew in her heart a storm might not be the most beneficial thing at this time. For her. Clear skies, clear head. The storm could come later in it's own time, unbidden by her.

When she was done, she lowered the twig and dug a small hole in the ground, burying it underneath the soil. This step was always crucial to her mother and was one Tia'aria followed most closely. She gave the offerings to Semele, Zulrav's mate, in hopes that the steadfast goddess would in turn give them to Zulrav.

And then, Tia'aria was done. She left her prayer spot and approached the beach. Wind tousled her hair, a good sign that Zulrav may have heard her after all, and sat down in the coarse sand, closing her eyes, and attempting to reach harmony within herself before she began to practice what she had come to practice in the first place: Reimancy. Her prayer to Zulrav would also hopefully help benefit the meditation she was trying to achieve. Her thoughts liked to go rampant when she was alone and trying to be calm usually.

She heard footsteps somewhere behind her but was so engrossed in her practice she tried not pay mind to them lest she lose her current progress. It couldn't be anything bad, though. The sun was out, removing threat of a Zith attack unless the Zith was insane, and Riverfall as well as Sanctuary were in seeing distance, for the most part. Her reassurances kept her from looking about.

[Vanator]

The beach was one of Vanator's favorite refuges. Though he loved the grasslands, visiting them required a ride through the Fringe Forest. The forest itself held no serenity for the Drykas, so closed in, hiding the expanse of the sky and the distant horizon. But the beach outside the Shelter Cave had become a place he could find some solitude. The Suvan Sea and the Sea of Grass both offered the open air above, and the seemingly endless stretch out to the line between the earth and sky. The ocean too, offered the soothing roar of the surf and the fresh winds that seemed to drown out the cacophony of nagging thoughts.

So, it was that Vanator came through Sanctuary's lower cave entrance and stepped out onto the beach, simply to seize a moment to relax. He spotted the the new Konti sitting in the sand, looking out at the rolling waves, assuming she too sought some peace. The wind picked up, and he tried to skirt around Tia, not wishing to disturb her. But as he watched the girl, he saw her eyes closed, her concentration on things within.

Vanator's eyes scanned up and down the beach, seeing no one else in sight. The Drykas looked again at the small figure sitting in the sand. The safety of the people of Sanctuary were his responsibility, one he took seriously. The beach was relatively safe, but not completely. No where was considered safe anymore. After deliberating, Van decided to test the young cook. He tread closer to Tia, walking up behind her. She made no indication that she heard him. The Denusk scowled, disappointed.

"Tia, what have I told you? You have to pay attention, what if I were a bandit, or a wolf, or a randy Akalak!" He piped in, over the rumble of the wind, his tone firm but not harsh, his hands resting on his hips as he looked down on her.

[Tia'aria]

Tia'aria jumped at the sudden voice that rang out, startled out of her reverie with a thudding heart and an audible gasp. She craned her head around, turning her body as well, to look at her intruder. She smiled easily when she recognised the Drykas man that stood there, Kavala's brother. Vanator.

Although she couldn't understand the brunt of his words, she understood the tone and the meaning behind some of them enough. Belatedly, she realised he was what would be the Sanctuary's head guardsman. Her smile turned apologetic.

"If bad things came then bad things happen, not much make different that." She tilted her head. "But bad things do not happen so safe is Sanctuary you made it." She was becoming more comfortable with her stuttering Common, accepting that she wasn't going to be fluent in it for a while. Even though her words were broken, the sentences strange, it was spoken with more confidence. She thought to cover herself and her lack of attentiveness with flattery, although she expected it not to work. Vanator was much more than easily swayed by flattery. She looked back to the sea and the waves on it. "I come to clear thinking, not hear horse and dog and bird. People using other quiet rooms inside so I go here. Wind calms. Sea calms."

She pushed herself to her feet and stretched. She liked the sea, that needn't be said. She was a Konti, the sea was in her blood. She shook her head so her hair lay more comfortably along her back. "You want use sea for calm think too?"

[Vanator]

Vanator tried to stifle the grin that threatened to become a chuckle when he startled the Konti. She had a clever comeback, if not a bit nonchalant and laced with flattery. The Drykas bit on his smile, his arms shifting to cross his broad chest, his eyes narrowing as he gave her a mock suspicious look. Van did not hold the faux consternation for long, and he finally let the smile spread across across his face.

The man followed the girl's gaze as she looked out at the sea. He knew well enough from Kavala the connection the Konti had with the sea, and found it almost expected that Tia would find the beach a serene refuge from the busyness of the Sanctuary.

Vanator looked back to the woman as she stood and stretched, nodding at her question and responding in a heavy accent. "Yes, I do find the sea relaxing, calming. I love the grassland, that is my favorite place. But I have learned that the beach has a very soothing quality. The wind and the endless sound of the surf, seems to help drown out distracting and worrisome thoughts. I also find it a good place to work on things, without a lot of distraction."

Reaching to brush a stray, windblown lock from his face, Vanator added, as if just realizing it. "Sorry Tia, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I can move down the beach, out of sight, so you can be alone."

[Tia'aria]

"Oh no!" Tia exclaimed at the thought she would have to send Vanator away. Propriety was a humbling thing for her and she was so easily swayed to feel concern for others. Urging Vanator to leave her and to meditate elsewhere would be rude, for her, and would leave the feeling of sand in her mouth for bells to come. Not in good conscious could she turn down the favour of his company. "Stay," she said, gesturing an invitation. She had observed a fair amount of the gestures the Drykas-raised inhabitants had used during her time with the Sanctuary and it was one of those oft used gestures she used now with Vanator without much thought about it.

She sat back down about as gracefully as a tired horse, lacking in grace what other ladies might have held in full. She reached and patted the ground beside her as she took out her suvai from its sheath and placed it beside her so he would see she took her own security a great deal more seriously than she would really let on. "Too nice a day to go hog beach ourselves," she said almost conversationally. "Best hog beach over here together yes." She nodded as though he agreed fully.

[Vanator]

Vanator met the bright teal gaze of the young Konti, gauging the sincerity of her invitation. Tia seemed honestly interested in his company, and the Drykas smiled and nodded. "Very well, thank you." He replied politely, pleased to have a moment alone with the new neighbor. It was The Denusk man's desire to get to know everyone of those who take up residence at the Sanctuary. Not only in his role in assuring the physical fitness and martial training of the staff, but because he had an inclination to consider them part of his extended family, as if laying his Drykas way of thinking over the Sanctuary and its residents.

Following the Konti as she plopped onto the sand, Vanator noted her unsheathed weapon as he settled in next to her. The Drykas had seen Tia use that weapon before, when the bone dogs were released upon Riverfall. Her use of the weapon was not polished, but the young woman did not hesitate to wield the suvai in her defense, which goes a long way in effectively protecting one's self.

Van's smile widened as Tia commented, in her broken Common manner, about hogging beach. He idly scooped up a handful of sand and let it sift through his fingers. His gaze turned from the girl to the vast ocean that stretched out before them. The man inhaled deeply of the salty sea air, then spoke, still looking out over the surf.

"And when you come here, what things do you think about, Tia'Aria?"

[Tia'aria]

For Your EyesAsk and I shall deliver/you're welcome P.S I'm sorry. It looks horribly small, and even if I shortened the font to normal size it would look smaller.

Tia'aria's habitual smile was muted as she sat there in the sand, allowing her scaled fingers to stroke through the soft grains as though she found some kind of comfort from the beach as much as she did from the sight and sound and smell of the sea. He had asked her an interesting question, something she didn't often ask herself, and she was mulling over her thoughts.

Eventually she was ready to reply, or at least as ready as she felt she would really ever be.

"I think of things, much things," she began, "Water and family and life and horses and myself and the sea." She tightened her fingers in the sand, digging the digits in. "I like thinking here, it brings calm to me. Even water magic or suvai practise comes easy like how to breathe."

She looked to the Drykas to see his reaction to the words she had spoken. She smiled at him, much less subdued. "What things on your mind when you're here, Vanator?" She asked him, with utmost politeness.

[Vanator]

Vanator drew up his knees enough to rest his crossed arms on them, his gold-flecked dark gaze drifting from the endless tide to the young Konti. The opalescent scales only hinted at as she turned were smooth and healthy, her teal, almond shaped eyes vibrant Tia appeared barely out of her teens, but she was certainly older than that. The Denusk understood the way Kontis aged, watching his sisters as they all grew up together. While Vanator's appearance aged like men, Kavala still retained a youthful beauty, though the hardships she had endured etched themselves into her features.

Tia's lilting voice seemed to barely reach his ears before the seabreeze dragged it away. The things the girl pondered by the water were not so different from the Drykas man. Family, horses and the sea, though his sea was covered in undulating waves of grass. It made Vanator smile. He too, found the beach the best place to practice his fire magic, and even his weapons.

"My thoughts are like yours Tia. My family who is not with me, where my life has taken me. I find it a fitting place to train with my weapons..." He held out his hand, facing upwards, with a soft muttered pavi word, he urged a small pool of etheral res to accumulate in his palm, igniting it into a small flame that fluttered wildly agains the wind, "...and to practice my fire. Show me your water magic Tia."

[Tia'aria]

The teal eyes that watched the forming of fire from the sliver of gaseous res he emitted were curious and wary. She knew of the volatile nature of fire, of how easily it could leap and run and be free. It was why, despite her adoration of fire and it's freedom, she chose the smooth and turgid force of water to work with, because as a Konti she familiarised herself with the many moods of water.

She nodded when he asked to see her water magic, although uncertainty in herself and the thought she would look foolish were able to make her hesitate. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. That trance that she sought could only come from the sound of the waves lapping against the coast and each other, and so she was able to find her own sort of peace in it when she pretended that Vanator was not present.

With a quiet murmur of words that weren't actually words, merely sounds that she associated for magic, she exhaled her res before her, strained to keep it gaseous and under her control lest it take itself into its own command and transmute when she wasn't ready for it. She raised her hands to form a sort of bowl and transmuted the res into the water that Vanator wished to see, feeling the tugging sensation of unfamiliar strain at even that small thing.

When she opened her eyes she looked down into the cup of her folded hands to see her own gaze returned, and she smiled.

"This is it," she said, almost cheerful as though she had not expelled part of herself at his request, and to her, she might not have realised how important djed was. She parted her hands and allowed the water to escape onto the sand, staining it darker. She could not do much with water aside from creating it, but she was certain that one day she could dance with the water she made and called to her as she had seen done before by others, greater practitioners of the craft.

[Vanator]

The Denusk allowed the res in his palm to be consumed by the small flame and then extinquish, so he could observe the young Konti's reimancy. Vanator did not look at Tia's face, out of respect for her need to focus, but drew his attention to the small cup formed by the girl's ivory fingers. He suddenly realized how fitting it was for Tia to handle water. Having been raised with two Konti sisters, Van knew their affinity for water, the traces of the race's aquatic ancestry revealed in the gills slits at their necks, the subtle sheen of scales across the skin in some areas. And, most notable at the moment, the webbed fingers that made holding water in Tia's hands far easier than in mere human palms.

Hushed syllables reached is ears, mostly stolen by the sea breeze, but her small feminine voice audible enough for the Drykas to hear the strange words Tia muttered, much as he repeated Pavi to help him draw forth djed for larger feats with fire. Vanator watched the bowl of her hands as the carefully pooled res took on the form of water, a small puddled cradled in the cup of her hands.

Once the quiet whispers stopped, Van looked up at the girl with a smile. "Well done, it looked good enough to drink!" He laughed, honestly wondering what magically created water tasted like. Maybe next time he would have a sip of Tia's water and see for himself.

"I am still pretty new at fire, though with the Kavala's wind, we were able to use it to help bring down some of the snarlwings that invaded Riverfall last winter."

He gave Tia a wry grin. "Want to try something? Lets see what happens if you make some of your water and pour it on the fire I make." Vanator went ahead and held out his hand again, staring at it, concentrating just enough to summon djed for a small trickle of res, then igniting a small flame again, the tiny fire flickering above his palm. He knew the Konti was only beginning to learn her magic, and he wanted to encourage her to flex her talent and allow it to grow. They could have some fun doing it. "Now, make some water and pour it over."