Closed rain don't change the sun.

[Caelum]

"It is a project I've considered undertaking," Caelum confessed. The mug of ale was clutched between his hands and he nursed it while she spoke, as he watched her with the golden pendant and imagined he could catch glimpses of dreams in the light that sometimes chased across it. "Documenting Denval and it's final days. There is a great deal that went on there that should not be lost to history. As for a key to their chavi, well," and here he smiled, more than a little wry. It was the expression of a man who had been up to something, and was uncertain as to whether or not his mischief would be taken well. "I can definitely help you out there. I have at least a few from those who stayed behind. I thought," he hesitated and then continued. "I thought often about what you told me of Nysel and Chavena, more and more since discovering I am Cytali. I admit that I've gotten into the habit of collecting chavi keys from people that I think might come to eventual use." It was only natural after all. He wished he still had the bloody stone itself. That would have doubtless been the best for knowledge on the magic of Static itself. When Kavala mentioned her sister to him, the ethaefal tilted his head. The line of his mouth settled thoughtfully, heavily, and he took a long drink from the mug. There were three people he had met marked by Nikali. They were gone from him now, as far away as birds could fly, and a part of him wished that it could have been otherwise. "I would love to meet her," he spoke finally. One finger tapped against the mug in rhythm with his heart. "I would like to know her story, to know her. Nikali is tricky, but not always dark." One had to find balance, and to find it again and again. Reconciliation of desire was paramount, and it could be damnably difficult to keep ahold of yourself. But, he was starting to think, it could be done. "There is dignity to be found service," he managed. "And fulfillment..." He trailed off. The question hung within him, words to spill and tell Kavala of his gnosis mark, hidden now by his clothing. Carefully, he packed those words away. He needed to think on them. "Kasb'el lived during the Valterrian." He cleared his throat. "He -- I --" And that was impossible, wasn't it? Because Caelum had been Kasb'el, of course, but he also still was Kasb'el in way that was decidedly corporeal and incapable of being ignored. "I," he settled on. "Was responsible for a training many recruits and the newly woken to the memory of their previous membership to the Cytali. I feel I must have met you. I knew so very many. They came to me and would stay a season or a year and leave again. Sometimes, they would stay for a long while, and eventually would be adopted into my pavilion. I didn't specialize in combat training, but in intelligence." He looked at her again and smiled faintly. "I have learned of one past life, only to find out that it taps into dozens of more. They're tied by more than Syna, but by Nysel too. Should he decide to call me back to him in this life, I will have the opportunity to discover more."

[Kavala]

Kavala hoped someone would document Denval’s last days. Leo had documented the happenings that resulted in the Djed Storm of 512, and she was grateful to him for doing so because all the world could read it now and understand how dangerous the times were they still lived in. Denval was no exception.

“Things like that should not be lost. I don’t know what happened in Denval, Caelum, but whatever it did you say ‘the final days’ like it is gone. People should understand… so we can learn from the past and not let it be lost like so much already has. I think that’s partially the job of the Cytali. You have the tools to do your duty and I think it is your duty to be a witness… for witness’ are useless without their testimony given to the world.” Kavala laughed slightly, sounding more like a priest than she cared too. But she knew that Caelum would understand and keep thinking on it. When the time was right, if not now perhaps later, he’d sit down with pen and ink and record what he knew. T hen hopefully, he’d have the tools to dreamwalk and record what others knew as well. Nysel would not let him down.

“You’ll get marked soon, Caelum. I wouldn’t hope for it, I’d expect it. You are here. There was no need before, but now there is. So Nysel’s test is coming, for sure.” The Konti said, looking thoughtful and reassured both that the same time. She should have looked worried, but she knew what the test entailed and from what she knew of Caelum, he’d pass it with flying colors.

“As for Akela, I hope someday you can. We haven’t seen her since before the Djed Storm. I don’t even know if she’s alive and I have no keys to see if she’s dead. I can only walk backwards to my childhood, find where her life tangled with mine, and see if I can track her that way. I’ve just been… afraid… to look.” Kavala said, smiling softly and running her hand through her straight hair. She blew a strand out of her face, and kept glancing down at the pendant in her hand. The Konti brought it to her lips and then slipped the cord around her neck. It felt better on her than not, she decided, and offered Caelum a smile in case he quirked an eyebrow about her bonding with the piece of jewelry.

“Being her sister for so long, Caelum, I know what it was like for her, at least a little. It was incredibly hard and painful and so very fulfilling. But she lost her sense of self at times, and that was the hardest part of it all. I do not know how you handle it, but I do know that it was hard for her at times. Basically she’d follow me around fixating on my needs rather than fixate on some pervert who wanted something from her that wasn’t altogether sane.” Kavala spelled it plainly out for Caelum, wanting him to understand. “She thought of it as a curse though… because it was never a blessing to her because she was never … that I know of.. .enslaved.” Kavala said, looking thoughtful.

When Caelum got into his explanation about Kasb’el, she listened carefully. What he said sounded right. And when he said it and it sank in, relief flooded her. It was such a tangible relief that he would feel it as a need etching through her being. “I had wondered who to tell people about us and how it was done in the past.. so that our members stayed together and stayed as a family. Gods it’s a relief knowing you are here and can do this and know how. I’m good at certain things, but this whole… revealing things to others.. I am not so good at. We should talk further when things calm and you get settled on how people were awakened and integrated again. That’s going to be a hard thing, Caelum, selling this life to others.” Kavala offered, worried about it on one hand, but telling herself on the other hand that if they were Cytali before and could be made to remember, then they’d understand the need for it without too much emotional upheaval or suspension of belief.

“Intelligence. That makes so much sense to me.” She said, smiling slightly. “But the combat must come with the intelligence too. Brains only gets you too far unless you have a strong body and a knowledge to use it to back your nefarious back alley information gathering tactics.” Kavala said, teasing her friend slightly.

“He’ll call you back. He already has. You came here didn’t you?” Kavala said, reaching up to finger the necklace at her throat. She looked like she wanted to say more but instead remained quiet. Being with the Akalaks had taught her that sometimes it was easier to listen than to speak much beyond a question or two. But those she had plenty of to prompt him to keep talking.

“So what is it you really want now? A Nysel mark, sure, and the resurgence of the Cytali. That’s coming. There’s to be a Healer’s College too, built here, for animals. I’d like to use it to not only train healers but as a front for our workings here and to cherry pick the best of the best for the Cytali.” Kavala said, throwing the idea at him. “But I can’t run it alone. I need more muscle on the ground and more healers to teach classes and mentor young healers.” Kavala said, her azure eyes changing color to a soft soft blue, the look she got when she worried and an answer to a question she just asked was vitally important to her. This was vital. This was the future.

[Caelum]

"We believe Denval is was completely destructed in the djed storm," Caelum confirmed. "We witnessed a massive explosion from the water." He fell silent again, letting it wrap around him like a shroud. Denval followed him on several levels, and even the mention of the city's name was like a conjure to a dozen heavy, god haunted thoughts. As he listened to Kavala speak further about her sister and what Akela had struggled with, the sensation only deepened. Nikali had bound him to Denval for the breadth of a season, so short a time in all history, but one over crowded with impacting events. He smiled faintly as Kavala bonded with the keyhole pendant, gaining a simple, but deep pleasure from the fact that he had been able to find it for her, to bring it here. He had come to her empty handed in the past, and he had not wanted to do so again. Carefully, he set his emptied beer mug aside and paced the distance back to her that he had traveled. One hand slid down, long fingers gathering the hem of his tunic to tug it up. With his other hand he pulled the waistband of his leather riding pants down a little as well, the result being the revelation of a muscled abdomen and the sharp jut of his hip. It laid bare the gnosis mark of Nikali coiling in wine colored chain links over his hip and part of his lower stomach to disappear into his waistband. "I've been keeping it a secret," he explained, understanding now that Kavala would recognize a ranuri mark when she one. "It makes me a target for slavers as well as every day manipulation, even more so if known. I don't want it to be. You're the only person I think I can trust, Kavala." And something in golden eyes was again so terribly sad, old suffering freshened with more misfortune. He was much healed since she had seen him last, but he was still far from whole. As he let his shirt fall back into place, he considered the rest of her words and, eventually, he smiled again while meeting rich blue eyes. "If that's an offer, then the answer is yes. A thousand times yes. I haven't given up on helping Syna, on finding a way home again, Kavala, but I need a place to belong here. On Mizahar. I need to make a place for myself, somehow. Some way. Returning to the fold of the Cytali, helping rebuild us, and building a place of learning with you --" He raised his eyebrows a little. "It's the best idea I've heard in a really long time."

[Kavala]

Kavala wasn’t sure what Caelum was doing as he lifted his shirt and loosened his pants revealing an abundance of midsection flesh to her. She ran her eyes over the mark he revealed and her hand immediately went to her head, fingers digging into the hair there to sweep it back off her face. She didn’t need to move closer or to reach out and touch the mark to know it as real. It was the same as her sister wore. Exactly the same. Kavala ran through a mired of emotions all at once, knowing what Akela had to do day in and day out to avoid the pull of the Ranuri. She’d once described it to the young healer, but now older, Kavala understood that words were only words until one lived through an experience.

She started to speak then closed her mouth and licked her lips. White teeth captured pale skin and worried it between a perfect bite. She released the lip then captured it again, still uncertain what to say or how to react. Finally after more than two chimes, Kavala spoke.

“Nikali is a blessing to most. Capture is hard on the soul. Slavery is impossible. We are inherently creatures of free motion, free thought, and free will. I believe the Gods created us that way using bits of their blood and power. But what does a Ranuri who is free do? You are so vulnerable, Caelum. The first one that comes along that has a strong enough need you’ll want to fulfill it. Akela found herself… many times… doing things she didn’t want to do or was horrified about because someone had a need. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but I don’t want you to fall prey to anyone either.” And it was ironic because Caelum could feel Kavala’s need wash through him at that instant. Unattached as he was, and alone in the room with her, the current needs she felt flooded through him. Sure there was the reinvigorate the Cytali need and a decided ache in her lower back due to the pregnancy, but at the same time, a washing his detector was a strong almost fanatical need to protect him. And that protection was from everyone, herself included. It was the foremost in her mind, the one need she projected like Syna shone rays of light down on the world.

“You need someone to bond to, Caelum, someone with needs that will wash away your desire to fulfill anyone else’s. Be that a woman, a child, a Kelvic or even another man. You will need someone to stand by you to buffer you from the needs of all those around you. Because you won’t be able to say no, Caelum. Ever. Not to yourself, but not to me or even students when you get them.” Kavala said, her eyes haunted by the experiences she had with her sister and what she’d caught her sister doing all in the name of fulfilling the needs of those who surrounded her. “We might even need to go to… Rattling Chains and pick out someone for you. A slave, maybe even a child, who needs help getting back on their feet. Gods Caelum… why would Nikali mark a freeborn?” Kavala said, letting her words trail off…

She knew why.

Even if he didn’t know, she did. Caelum was beautiful, the kind of exotic exquisite beauty that came along in humans only rarely. As an Eth, he was somehow larger than life, and that beauty he wore so naturally was augmented by the immortality that clung to his soul from living in Syna’s realm. In Kavala’s experience, the Gods were jealous creatures who coveted many things. Her beloved Nysel and Rak’keli were no exceptions. Had Nikali somehow seen Caelum’s face, perhaps through the eyes of one of her priests or priestesses, and desired him for her own?

“I’ve had… years of experience dealing with Ranuri because of Akela. She used me, in fact, many of those years as her ‘master’ even though I was the younger sibling, focusing on me and my needs to protect her from the outside world. My needs were simple then... study, learn medicine, practice webbing… all I wanted was calm, quiet, and with Akela’s swordwork it wasn’t hard for her to deliver that to me and at the same time keep herself from say someone’s bed or from licking their boots and liking it. I know without a focus, a center of your Ranuri, you are at the whims of so many, Caelum. Have you been okay so far? Or do you… “ She let the words trail off. It was none of her business and she knew the answer anyhow. Caelum was alone. Of course there were times he acted on the needs others having no choice of his own.

“Yes, it’s an offer. I can’t do things alone. And there is far more work for one person and one mind. Your help will be greatly appreciated. We can even start work on the college buildings as soon as my new child is born. Reimancy isn’t something I mind doing while pregnant, but it is something that needs someone less fragile to throw around.” Kavala answered, watching Caelum, hurting just a little for him because in him she saw her sister. And Kavala missed Akela terribly.

She took a deep breath, then another, and finally a third. When she was calmer, she met Caelum’s gaze once more and shook her head. “You are so full of surprises. I’m glad you are back. And honestly, if there are any suggestions you’d like to make or things you want to get started on immediately, we should talk. It sounds like in the recruiting business, you have far more experience. Maybe we should start there. I have several really good healers at work here, but they are young and of fragile races. Maybe you should get to know them and see if any of them would suit the Cytali. I’d also like to recruit Vanator and Sybel, when you meet her. I think they both have qualities we need.” Kavala took a short breath and looked pained.

“But as to whomever else, I’m not sure. It would be nice if Riaris fit the bill, but I don’t know where he stands. .and he’s marked by Krysus. And with that comes certain… issues.” She said, admitting for the first time to Caelum that her lover had something potentially dangerous going on with him. “He’ll be in and out of this facility, so you’ll need to know, Caelum. He has needs to hurt people daily, often, due to his mark. Usually he takes it out on criminals being Kuvay’Nas, or even on the trainees he teaches causing them physical pain as he pushes their bodies. But there are times with no crime and holidays for the recruits and it gets very bad for him.” Kavala said, knowing without saying it outright that Caelum would be susceptible to Riaris’ need to hurt people. And if he was in a specific situation, he might want to hurt for the Akalak and not even care how messed up that was.

[Caelum]

Caelum listened, his expression grave, golden eyes intent. He watched the expressions move over her face and felt the inbound tide of her desires. She needed his help rebuilding the ancient order of dreamwalkers and that was not in the least bit an ill desire. It correlated with his own need to belong again to something and to someone. He needed someone, specifically, he knew even as Kavala expressed to him her concern about the consequence of his unbound ranuri; but in addition to that Caelum’s very construct required things vaster than himself, greater than even one special person, to belong to and to serve. It should not have been at all surprising considering that he was an ethaefal and, therefore, sprung from a series of lifetimes utterly devoted to greater causes. Indeed, greater goods as Syna was a gentle, joyful goddess largely disinclined to the harsher ventures in the universe. Therefore, it was Kavala’s need to protect him that both startled and jarred the ethaefal. It was so potent a desire that he imagined he could smell it and it was scented with warm and welcoming things like hearthfires; but among them were the more brutal glint of sharpening steel. That was a thing Caelum understood. Very few considered the ancient healer and imagined him to be much acquainted with violence. They were woefully wrong. He was a man of violence. Violence was what spat him out of the sky. Violence was what decided that his heart ought continue to beat. Violence is what he had been thrown in, and violence did not so much as litter the path of his lives as it blazed its trail. To suggest otherwise was to diminish the consequence and integrity of his choices, for in the midst of all this violence, twisted and trialed and tested, he had possessed enough strength of character to choose a path of healing, of fixing and righting and creating, instead. He had stumbled a time or two, for violence’s shadow was long; but he had learned to walk with it now, and to do so without holding its hand. A quiet shudder rippled through him and his feet found themselves walking a path toward Kavala’s seat without prior thinking, drawn by the startling truth of her desire. It was rare enough for him to discover a need that was focused on him, but he had never come across this one in particular. Since being cursed by Nikali’s five fold blessing, Caelum had not come into contact with anyone who not only understood what ranuri meant but who also cared about him enough to want to protect him from it. From anything at all. “Kavala,” he murmured, stopping to hover at the arm of her chair. Her name sounded a little different now in his mouth. He had cared for her for a long time, but this was first her name housed an understanding of a friend’s love. “I have not been okay. Not entirely,” he confessed. He hesitated. “I’ve been among strangers too long. I came here as fast as I could, but Nikali tugs me, turns me, delays even Nysel’s summons.” He shook his head, not wishing to remember and relive the worst of those turns and tugs. “They weren’t all bad,” he told her instead, preferring to spare her what he could. A smile feinted. “I think I managed a lot of good in the midst of it.” And he took satisfaction, even pride, in that. “You’re right. I do need someone. Somehow. I hope to find them here. I hope,” he hesitated. “Well, if it won’t bother you too much, I might take a page out of your sister’s book and run to you from time to time.” His smirk was self deprecating and he hesitated before stepping back, glancing around before he lifted a cushy throw pillow off of another seat and carried to where Kavala was sitting. He raised his eyebrows at her and the crooked his fingers, gesturing for her to lean forward so he could tuck the pillow behind her back to help relieve some of the ache. He continued to listen to her all the while, nodding a little at the end. “Who’s Riaris?” He asked. “A friend of yours? I’ll keep that in mind. It might be best to dodge him when I can.” Though, he was likely not to do a great deal of dodging. His mind immediately turned toward how to potentially help Riaris. He had a great deal of sympathy for people struggling with the gifts granted them by the gods. “I’ll be happy to work with the new healers, and the gods know I’ll be keeping an eye out for recruits.”

[Kavala]

Kavala nodded at Caelum’s words. Nikali was a hard burden to bear. And while she couldn’t pretend to understand it not having one herself, her experiences with Akela had shed some light on the situation so she knew, at least a little, how bad things could have gone for Caelum. And in a way it made her hope that her sister wasn’t actually alive somewhere suffering due to the slave goddess’ whims.

“Caelum, I think you feel what each of us feels for a time or two in our lives. I haven’t been okay either, not really, not since coming into the awareness of the Cytali’s existence. A quite lifestyle is hard to achieve when everything about you is hardwired for a good fight. And while I cannot imagine what you have suffered and will suffer due to Nikali’s interference, I do believe there is much good you could do with a Ranuri mark as a healer. You… you have a free pass to always know what people need. That you are forced to act on that and assume those needs as your own can be worked around, I suspect, by buffering your own life. But look at all the good you can do as a healer, or even as a sort of life coach or councilor. But I do think you need to permanently attach yourself to someone that has only your best interests at heart. I think… you should start looking for a kelvic.” Kavala said softly, looking thoughtfully at him. She wasn’t sure how open he was to the idea, but if one thing was true, it was that he would need to bond to someone or attach to someone sometime and in some way.. and Kavala knew that she herself was not the best candidate.

“You can use me, Caelum, but there are things you need to know if you do that. I feel physical pain, sometimes, as pleasure. And sometimes I crave that. My brain got all screwed up when one of the men that captured me on the way home from Mura messed with me. He didn’t like his pleasure slaves whole you see, he liked them bleeding, and he sure liked to cut.. so he’d pattern our skin and smear our flesh with blood before he liked to take us sexually. He particularly liked the way red looked on white so I was his first choice fairly often. Its why I have the small scars all over my skin. He was the one that took my innocence, and he used a knife first before he did. My body and mind got confused somewhere along the way.. and so I could bear his touch, it started to crave the pain and feel it as pleasure. I’m.. not the best sort of person to attach to if you are Ranuri. You’ll find yourself with a knife in your hand and the strongest urge to carve patterns in my skin before you know what you are doing. So if I get cut.. my body starts warming up. It’s worse than foreplay.” She said very candidly, not wanting him to know her secrets, but knowing he would know just by association before too long. It was better she tell him outright than to leave him guessing as to why he felt the need to cut Kavala every time she was upset just to make her bleed.

Her words were delivered like it was a clinical fact and she was telling another doctor about a third party patient. But Caelum could feel the roaring rage and pain inside of her because even at the mention of it, she wanted and longed for a blade in her skin and it disgusted her wholeheartedly. And yet… she’d give anything for it. If sex was performed simultaneously, then the situation was all that much better. Her entire countenance denied it, but her mind, in deep damaged parts, wanted it badly and it shamed her to her core. To an outside healer, the damage to her psyche from the capture and tortured rapes was evident.

But it wasn’t about her, not this moment, and not the situation. But Kavala did reiterate something immediately before the need vanished and she was able to damp it down. “A Kelvic would be far better. I think you can see why.” She said, leading him to believe that regardless of how much she wanted that abuse, Kavala never let herself have it.

Kavala was glad for the tangent.

“Riaris is a giant of an Akalak, not the tallest, but hes built like a brick wall. Deep purple skin, and hes covered with tattoos that depict zith, dark hair, pale eyes.. you can’t miss him. I’m utterly and hopelessly in love with him, and he probably thinks I’m a pretty little toy he can dabble with whenever he gets the notion. He works with the Kuvay’Nas as his primary job. He is from a prominent family, has an Akontak sister that often comes here to visit Tasi who’s just an absolute doll, and by and large is a good guy. I haven’t had much interaction with his Krysus mark. He keeps it away from me. Some secrets, its best not everyone knew, if you know what I mean.” Kavala said, still thoughtful about what she’d already revealed.

"But as for the college, I hope to get it open in the fall for registration. That would all give us something to do for the fall and winter. I think teaching new healers would be a joy, though /I am going to focus on animal healing because I don’t want to compete with the Opal Order who helped train me.” She added, glad for the subject change and to talk a little about her current project.

[Caelum]

Some stories surface like splinters, expelled from the flesh of you like the harmful invaders they are. Not all expulsions are easy or swift. There are those that take years and still others require lifetimes of infection before they can be worked out, pinched free, and released. From time to time Caelum had watched the skin of a person be reluctant to relinquish its story. He did so again in listening to Kavala tell him hers. He was seated by now, finally having taken a seat beside hers that angled him so that he could watch her face. Long legs stretched out with his boots propped atop each other, the mug of ale turning one way and then other between long fingered hand. He slumped indolently and his eyes were heavy-lidded as he heard her, and he processed, and now and again he nodded because somewhere between in the midst of all of this warning and revelation, Caelum realized that her story was calling to him as insistently as Nysel had hauled him to Riverfall again and as hotly as Syna had beckoned him to Denval before that. It was impossible for Caelum to ignore the damage to Kavala’s psyche. He too was hardwired, though his wiring took on a different hue than hers. He was hardwired for the good fight, shaped by the hands of far too many gods into a healer of a world badly wounded, and ultimately stamped by even more with the indisputable evidence of their ambition. Rak’keli herself had come to him over the desecration of a child, and Avalis had squinted at him through a vision of his death in the brutalized eyes of his lost lover. He imagined even Laviku had done some small bit of mumbling when he sent one of his daughters to drag him screaming and cursing onto the shores of Black Rock. He and Kavala shared a lot of gods, and their paths and purposes crossed again. “Yes, a kelvic,” he heard himself say, agreeing with the implication it was obvious to him she had intentionally made. But his eyes were unwavering from her face. The sheer weight of his regard was daunting. “Kavala –“ He leaned forward, forearms sliding to his thighs, strong shoulders loose and his expression utterly empty of judgment. “When you decide you’re ready to heal those wounds, tell me. Okay? I will help you. I can help you.” He opened his hands to her in display of his offer, of the patience he would have in waiting. He knew that this was a journey she would need to decide to take herself, and until then all he could do was attempt to honor her wishes and avoid a clashing of her damaged desires and the call of his darkest goddess. Settling back, he allowed her to change the subject with an easy nod. His smile flashed, sure as sunfire. “It makes sense for you to focus on healing animals,” he agreed. “My focus has always been on people, but as you know that is certainly not my limit. I worked for a time at the clinic in the Univerity of Zeltiva -- ” He absently gifted her with another one of many scattered pieces of his life since the fall. "I know a thing or two about dealing with students."

[Kavala]

Kavala had no idea why Caelum had the ability to draw darkness out of her and expose it to the sunshine he always seemed to surround himself with. It was like the man oozed a light that could not be denied. It chased shadows from corners they had claimed residency in and made them scream in defiance at the exposure. Kavala felt like screaming. While her mouth was moving and the words were tumbling out, somewhere within her invisible hands were reaching forward trying to draw them back in and gather them close back around her heart where secrets lingered safely.

She felt so alienated from her own skin as she talked. The Konti had rarely experienced the feeling of not being in control and even worse, as if she were standing outside her skin when the pale haired sickly woman finished speaking. It was like she had become a third party standing at Kavala’s shoulder unable to interrupt her or get her attention, but bearing witness to everything that was going on at that particular moment in time. She desperately wanted the scaled pale creature to shut up. She wanted to turn down Caleum’s light. She wanted the scars etched on the woman’s skin to not be so noticeable in that moment. And she wanted, above any of that, to feel clean… the kind of clean you can’t even get from scrubbing your body in a hot bath with handfuls of soap sand.

And to his credit, Caelum simply listened. He didn’t pass judgment and he didn’t offer the woman seated partially facing him sympathy or horror. He let her speak uninterrupted and unhurried.

The Kavala that was immaterial was screaming at the one that was physically sitting there calmly spilling their darkest secrets to one of their oldest friends. But there was nothing she could do but watch and listen and wonder why this was happening. And even as she kept talking, moving the conversation onward, changing the topic, the reason became clear.

Caelum could help.

The Kavala that was sitting there and standing there like two separate beings merged back together in one almost audible snap and peered at Caelum without any ability to speak any longer. He commented on the other things she said and paused as if waiting. Kavala paused as well, leaning back. She was silent so long and still so long that one might not have been able to see her breath. The Konti took frozen in the moment far too literally as her mind whirled on with her body disconnected completely from it. When the two finally reconnected as her mind ran its course, a pale webbed hand reached out and took his. She didn’t comment on what he was saying about teaching. She didn’t smile at the fact she always knew his focus was on people. The conversation hadn’t happened because of the plans for the future of The Sanctuary. The conversation had happened all for this one pivotal event.

“Gods yes, Caelum. Please.” Her voice was soft but her grip was firm and strong. She didn’t elaborate on what she was saying. He would have to know. Kavala didn’t ask how he knew he could help or why he could. She believed him. And in that belief and hope she reached out because words wouldn’t be enough of an answer. The touch was, the sudden latching on to him. Kavala had been drowning in her own shame for years, treading water in a Sea of Sorrow longing for pain. And he was land, sighted off in the distance, giving hope where there should be none but death.

[Caelum]

The depth of Kavala’s faith was breathtaking. It left Caelum gazing at his friend with an almost stricken expression, it not yet registering that the fact of her hands closing about his own intensified their connection. His fingers flickered beneath hers and ultimately his hand twisted, capturing her own so that he might weave their fingers and reassure her with his grip. It was the line that drew him forward, to the edge of his seat and next to a stand. His elbow crooked with this fluid movement, urging Kavala up in the same moment. This was so he could step up to her and wrap both arms around the small konti, gathering her to his chest and the promising beat of his heart with a sigh. It was the second real hug had given or received in a very long time. “After you’re delivered of your child, sweertheart,” he clarified, breath stirring her air. She had not told him she was pregnant, but he knew. Between his physician’s sharp eyes and the translation of underlying desires beneath those that sang the loudest, it was near impossible for him to miss. “We will begin. It won’t b easy.” It was not so much a warning as it was an acknowledgment. Kavala certainly did not need to be warned that healing in an capacity might be hard. “But we’ll get through it.” He loosened his grip on her to lean back and catch her eyes, seeking. “Why don’t you show me where I get to crash?” He opened a smile back up for her. “Unless it’s in a stall with Vega. You wouldn’t be so cruel to my horse. I snore.”

[Kavala]

The hug was unexpected but not wholly unwelcome. If she had to guess she'd just overwhelmed him and his Ranuri, but he acted as if it were nothing at all. She was glad because the last thing she wanted to do was make one of her issues one of his driving goals. But he didn't seem about let that happen, and the hug reassured her of that. His next words went even further to comfort her.

"Gods.. I can't keep anything a secret. A Konti in Riverfall... the Akalak find a way to make us pregnant whether we want to be or not. It's half the fun of being here." She added, laughing, and gently pulled away from him. She was glad he didn't balk at it or perhaps ask about Ronan, whom she knew he knew was a factor last time he was around. The Sunsingers were gone, as far as Kavala knew, and she didn't want to upset Caelum by mentioning them... that's half why she threw her joke out there, letting him know the father was Akalak and probably a stranger to him in case he wondered.

Not that it was any of his business... but the Eth sooner or later seemed to find out everyone's business anyhow. Kavala suspected it wast he Cytali in him going strong, even after all the years and multiple lifetimes.

"Okay okay... how about a grand tour, then you'll have to feed me because I get hungry a lot, and then if you have time I have a ton of clients, some scheduled back to back to see today in the late afternoon. I have only guest quarters beneath the cliff currently, though I think I can come up with something more suitable to your sunny nature given some time. Larik has been hounding me for a place in the sun too. He says its wholly unnatural for eagles to sleep in caves. I should take him to wind reach sometime. I hear some very big eagles there would disagree with him. Anyhow... tour, food for me, and clients. How does that sound?" She said, then if he agreed she would march him off to show him around, getting him reacquainted with some old sie morning, ghts and familiarized with some new things. The tour would take almost until the end of the morning, causing Kavala to skip a sit down meal and instead munch on seaweed and a bit of dried fish. Then, the backup started and clients filled the clinic. It turned out that there was more than enough work, even for two well versed healers, and before long both Caelum and Kavala were knee deep in medicine. Kavala knew animals weren't Caelum's forte, but the rush definitely demonstrated to him how much an animal healer was needed and how much one could make in Riverfall if the need ever arose for him.

Wrap It Up?Shall we turn it in for grading??