Open [The Sanctuary] The Fragile Peace We Make

[Ragnor Matlian]

3rd of Summer, 513 AV

The sky erupted before him in a variety of warm colors as the Syna made her way across the horizon, splitting apart the grey with a variety of orange and yellows. It was strikingly beautiful to behold, yet Ragnor struggled to appreciate it as he once would have. Seeing it should have brought him joy, or at the very least some measure of peace, but all it did bring about was a hollow feeling inside him, reminding him so much of how much he had lost. How could it bring him joy after all when he would never feel its warmth on his skin, and never be brought to squint at its rays.

He'd secretly hoped that with the presence of his wife that he'd some how banish this hollow feeling that pervaded his being, that made everything so much harder to do, but that had been a misguided hope. His only consolation was that his family was safe and sound now, he had Kavala's kindness to thank for that. He had much to thank Kavala for, much more than he felt he had to give in return. After all, he was yet but a whisper of a person, and hardly a whole man. The only ways he knew of that he could help was through the manipulation of his soulmist, the ethereal substance that made up his form, and possession, the later he was reluctant to use because the very nature of its use.

Materialization was only useful for making him appear real, hardly a talent to be of use for help around the Sanctuary. The latter way he knew to be of use was possession, and he felt was so invasive for the possessed that he was reluctant to use it on someone without express permission from the would be host. It left him little option but to practice the manipulation of his soulmist in the wee hours of the morning when he figured no body stirred, lest they be disturbed by his appearance out in front of the Sanctuary. They had already done so much for him, he was loathe to trouble them any further, for as he practiced, his concentration shifted less from his form letting it revert to looking as it was when he died, with a fierce stain of red showing through on his chest and back through the white shirt he wore. It was an grisly appearance, and one that he most definitely did not want his children to see.

Concentrating on his mist as he would during materialization, he willed the ethereal substance to coalesce around his form he'd worn in death, before settling himself against the ground so that his eyes were just inches above the reaching blades of grass on the ground. Back and forth he moved his hand, trying to move the blades of grass even just a little bit like he managed the pages of that book so long ago. He tried remembering what he had been doing that had allowed him to manage such a feat that he'd never accomplished before, yet that time had been long ago, and in this eternal twilight of life, he was finding it hard to remember things that had not been ingrained in him before death.

Kavala had been there, of that he was sure, his memory of her in the Sanctuary that day slowly coming clearer, and slowly other details about that day, like how she'd provided him with soulmist, that was her own. He could see the book, lying there open on the table as she explained somethings to him before allowing him to see for himself, only he couldn't read. In frustration, he'd concentrated on the tips of his materialized hand, and managed to move a couple of pages before his concentration wavered, weakening under the strain of what he was trying to do. What had he been trying to do? Desperately move objects like he would have in life?

He certainly had that desire now, but to his frustration the grass blew with the wind despite his efforts. Perhaps it had been because of the soulmist Kavala had allowed him to absorb, it had certainly helped with his concentration after all. He knew he could do it after having done it once, and yet, still the grass failed to move with his hand. It was as stubborn as his form proved to be.

Resisting the urge to cry out in frustration, he released his concentration on his form, becoming translucent once more as he floated back towards the Sanctuary. He was approaching this the wrong way, he was sure of it, and perhaps one of Kavala's books could enlighten him. If he could find some way to know what they said, that is.

[Kavala]

Kavala was mounted up on Ghost running the stallion through his paces. She was drenched with sweat as too was the stallion who's flanks were white with the foam if his efforts. On a good day Ghost was a deep dappled grey, but today he was almost snow white except where the foamy sweat had liquified and left trails down his legs. The Konti gripped the warhorse with well-muscled legs and boots that coated her calves giving her a grip against the stallions heaving flanks. He wore a y'vas which was no more than a girth around his middle, and nothing more. No head gear adorned his face, and that meant there was no reins to tangle in Kavala's hands. His tail was bound up in a braid that made it one long deadly whip as the stallion lashed it back and forth. The Konti was making him trot hard in place, almost canter, as she leveled a crossbow at a series of targets and took aim. She let one bolt fly at a stuffed dummy and released her restraining pressure on the stallions side launching him forward. The bolt struck wide, but still grazed the dummy's shoulders causing the Konti to curse.

She reloaded the crossbow as the stallion exploded forward. This was obviously part of her practice, for she shifted her seat, leaned forward, and pulled a bolt from a holster of them strapped to her far leg. She shoved the bolt into the crossbow, cocked it, and lifted it just as the stallion hit a maze of standing poles and began weaving in and out of them. Kavala hung on, trying to get a good aimed shot off at the dummies that lined the riding arena, but she was having trouble keeping her seat on the swerving stallion and firing the arrow at the same time.

She got one shot off and it flung itself well to the right of her intended straw target. She grabbed another bolt and reloaded just as the stallion thundered out of the line of poles. She wheeled him around, was able to bring the crossbow up, and shot one of the straw targets straight in the head right between the eyes as the horse paused and did a half halt that ended up in a small rear. The Konti slid backwards in her seat, used her free hand to grab a the y'vas, and then sent the stallion in a tight hind pivot. She spun him two laps brought him to a halt facing the line of poles again, and reloaded her crossbow. She took aim and fired at the same instant she drummed her heels into the stallions side and urged him back into the pattern. Her crossbow bolt went wide, striking the neighbor of the target she actually had in mind, and burying itself in 'his' straw filled thigh.

She reloaded on the fly again, while the big horse wove through the poles. This time she got off two shots mid pattern before the horse was clear of the line of poles and was at the fire side of the arena with his rider, wheeling by the wall to stare at the poles again. Kavala hadn't stopped reloading and firing since the horse had excited the pattern. She was on her forth crossbow bolt when the horse stumbled, knocked a pole over, and wove his way out of the pattern to trot off to one side, blowing.

"Easy.... easy..." She said carefully. The stallion stopped, took a step forward, then was obviously limping. Kavala sheathed her crossbow on Ghost's y'vas and slide off. Shen then bent to examine the hoof he was limping on. Picking it up, she pulled a hoof pick out of her belt and began to dig into the stallions frog. She found the offending stone, yanked it out and held it up in her palm.

A moment of concentration and the res in her hand pooled where she cupped her hand, coated the sharp stone, and dissolved it into sand. She smiled at the handiness of a geomancer, and gently set the stallions foot back on the ground. "Enough for today, Ghost. We're worn down. We'll get this right, for sure, with enough practice. Tomorrow is soon enough. Let's walk and cool down, shall we?" She asked, and without remounting, she set off at a walk to the edge of the arena. She'd' pace there with the stallion at a walk until he wasn't breathing hard anymore and had his coat completely dried.

They didn't notice any onlookers or any unseen presence. Had one of the ghost dogs been around, they might have. But as it is, nothing or no one was aware that Ragnar was there.

[Ragnor Matlian]

In moving through the Sanctuary, he was reminded of how much since he'd first arrived here so long ago. Where once there had been wood, there was now stone, the storm had changed much of what he knew, even him he suspected but didn't dare admit. After all, what did he know of unearthly storms that changed the landscape as they raged across the surface. Never before had he seen such massive destruction and change, even with all his years at sea considered. It was not something he like to think a lot about.

Thankfully he didn't have to, the sound of hoof beats distracting him from his contemplations. Realizing the direction they where coming from, he willed himself to float in that direction, and as fate would have it, he managed to find Kavala before he found one of her books, though the konti seemed quite preoccupied for the moment with managing a course of sorts. It awed him that she could manage to stay on the horse and still get a shot off with her crossbow, and accurately at that. He had no experience with riding horses, but he knew it certainly didn't look easy when one was using all of one's concentration. How much better would she be on a boat, he couldn't help but to think as he reflexively referenced what he knew best. She would certainly be worth as much as any other sailor, of that he was certain.

Her voice drew him from his contemplations, yet she was not speaking to him he recognized after a few moments of observing her walk with her horse around the arena. At last seeing her no longer busy racing around the course, he willed himself to float towards her. As he did, he concentrated on manifesting his form more exactingly, fitting himself to a form fitted with fresh and unbloodied clothing. It was one he figured Kavala would likely want to receive him in, and less likely to spook anyone else that might happen by, though he wasn't too worried of such a thing.

With a bit of extra effort, he even managed to will his feet to look as if they might have been walking on the ground he floated across, though it taxed his concentration greatly. Still, he would be able to manage for a little while at least, he'd learned that much during his stay here.

"Kavala" He spoke simply at first, having quickly decided to reveal himself from slightly afar so as to not startle her or her horse if they had not noticed his approach.

"How does the day find you?"

[Kavala]

The third trip around the arena walking the stallion, and Kavala heard the voice. It was a familiar voice, but one she hadn't heard for a long long time. She paused and the stallion snorted, halting as well to look around. He lightly pawed at the arena dirt and glanced around then settled with only a slightly shake of his shoulder where he dislodged a fly that landed to explore his sweaty form.

"Ragnor?" She asked cautiously. Her eyes picked him out across the arena and she relaxed slightly. She turned, moving towards him and offered him a small smile.

"The day finds me well. And yourself? I haven't seen you since we sent the Drykas party north to get your family. I suspected you went to rest then, knowing that your family was going to be seen too." The Konti said, looking puzzled. She didn't exactly ask him where he'd been, but the question was implied with her comment.

[Ragnor Matlian]

Having attracted her attention, he released his materialized form, allowing himself to once more to revert to his wispy natural state. He felt less human looking like this, but it was far easier to maintain a conversation when you weren't constantly concentrating on how you appeared. Besides it wasn't like he looked to realistic in that form anyways. "I thought about it, even almost convinced myself of it, but no.." He replied after letting her move in closer, his tone suddenly somber. It was a shameful truth, for after the leaving of the drykas party and put much into perspective. So many of his past mistakes he suddenly recalled with the safety of his family put out of mind, and he was still quite troubled at the recollection. He could dare take such a retreat though, not when there was so many things to make up for. His family needed more than who he was, they needed someone they could be proud of, and if he left things as they were, the discovery would break their hearts. It would be hard, but he'd find a way to make up for past transgressions, no matter how long it took. "Sama'el leaving caused me to think about much, about things better left forgotten, and I had much to consider.." He hesitated, not sure how to continue. Almost imperceptibly, his soul mist started swirling around him faster, more erratically as he spoke, becoming more anxious with every word. It didn't feel natural to be so nervous around Kavala, but he worried she might think him unstable for what he had to say, and he wasn't used to feeling this emotional. "I spent a long time sorting it all out, keeping to myself in the shadows until I knew who I was…" His form floated slightly up and down at this, in a manner that would have been considered shifting his feet had he been alive, or materialized for that matter. "Now I am here, and it is good to be back in the light"