Solo Chasing the Wind

[Fallan Windchaser]

Fallan

12 Fall, 513AV

The Windchaser family were accustomed to range along the Syrila border region of Cyphrus; moving South to avoid the worst of the Winter that raged and then North again to avoid the Summer that baked.

It was a pattern of movement that suited them, and suited too those who made their living in the wilderness regions of Syrila for it meant a predictable supply of horses, but not just horses, almost as important was the news and gossip that the horse breeders and traders brought with them.

Fall was the only season when the family could predictably be found in Endrykas as it moved through and matched their own ranging. Sometimes odd members such as Fallan might be found, trading goods and buying supplies, but otherwise they kept themselves mostly to themselves.

Alerted through the web that Fallan had made it to the moving city, the family altered course and drove their herd north, accelerating their arrival by a few days. Too long had the family been apart and there would be a reckoning of that time.

Surdar, the Ankal rode in the van, taking the shortest yet safest route. Only his haste spoke of any desire to see his errant son, but not even for him would he place the family or herd in danger.

Keeping an eye on the herd, Adetse rode behind, a horsewoman made if not born, her gaze that of steel, rehearsing the doubtless harsh words that would be directed at her youngest son.

The family slipped into the city and blended almost invisibly, the pavilion rising with the efficiency of long practice and barely had the dust settled than it was up and the wagons unloaded.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Rumour would doubtless have spread amongst the families that were close to the Windchasers that they had arrived in the city, the movement of family and herd reverberating along the webs, especially amongst the Ankals who shared bloodlines and linked webs, but that rumour did not reach Fallan at all, isolated as he'd chosen to remain with his latest obsession with Tay and the exploration of the possibilities that she offered.

His first clue was Stormchaser for when he went for his routine visit she was not where he had been wont to find her and a short search revealed her in the company of Striders that he recognised immediately, as familiar to him as the faces of his own family. Not all of the family striders were there of course because the herd still required attention, especially here where the city drew the attention of predators from all about the vicinity.

He made quick his time with his horse and set off in search of the family Pavilion, though it wasn't exactly a challenge given that it was always set close to the edge and close to the related Pavilions which he'd already spotted. As he might have expected, Skylar was sitting outside on a low three legged stool, close to the door with tack from the family wagon in his hands, examining it closely, his leatherworking gear open on the ground next to him.

Fallan was oddly close to his reserved brother, though he wasn't entirely sure that anyone was really close to him, though that was likely because few chose to make the attempt when they were dismissed by the apparently sullen eyes. Fallan nodded when their eyes met, a small smile on his lips and was met by a similar nod. When Fallan paused, his eyes sliding towards the open tent doorways, this was met by a smile from Skylar.

"Don't worry, with the herd." Fallan grinned at this, for both knew exactly the cause of Fallans delay and now Fallan knew that his mother was out, where she loved to be the best, with the herd and the horses. That wouldn't of course prevent her from enjoying the attractions of the city, nor from tracking Fallan down if it came to it, though he had no intention of handing her that additional ammunition for her already impressive armoury of complaints. For now though what he wanted was his father or possibly Haydar his eldest brother and their skills in webbing. He placed a hand on his brothers shoulder in thanks and ducked inside the tent.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Inside the tent Fallan paused for it was if he had stepped back in time, so familiar was the interior of the pavilion and the furnishings within were the same as he recalled, each with memories that he had not realised that he recalled. A second glance revealed changes that jarred with his memories. That rug he knew but not the repair, that small wooden table was new. His eyes tracked slowly noting changes but nothing of significance, nothing which would indicate that the family were better or worse off than when he left.

The discovery was comforting for they had survived his time away, seemingly without loss, though of course they might well have been better off had he stayed. The past though was something that he could not change and decisions could not be now undone. Movement caught his eye and snapped him out of his reverie and he started forward towards the now revealed and familiar figure of his father.

Fallan stopped short and dropped to one knee, ducking his head to avoid the expressions which might play across his fathers face. "Father," he said. "It is good to see you again." Any further words were forestalled by a hand on his shoulder.

"Stand up Fallan, you are not a servant to bow and scrape in front of your betters." Fallan did as directed and now faced directly his father, meeting him eye to eye. Surdar was older, a few lines were on his face which had not been there before, a few more grey hairs and he was just slightly more weathered than he had been before.

His father spoke once more. "I have felt you in the web and tracked your progress from time to time. A message would not have hurt, I'm sure that you could have managed it."

The gentle reproach struck deep into the guilt that Fallan had managed to hide unseen in his soul and he almost ducked his head once more to avoid the scrutiny. "I'm sorry," he managed to say. "I did not think." It wasn't entirely true, and both knew that ordinary messages would not have been easy to send given the roving nature of both Fallan and his family. It went unsaid Fallan noted uneasily that his father dropped the hint that he had been aware of Fallan on the web, which implied there were times that Fallan had been near the grasslands and not far from the areas on which they ranged and yet had avoided them.

"You never do," his father commented. "You never do. But I will not berate you, and we can catch up later on your travels and discoveries. You wanted something?"

It was not like his father to be quite so blunt but neither could Fallan complain so he nodded slowly. "I have a," he hesitated a moment to find the right words, "a companion. I paid for her at the auction." He assumed that his father would know exactly what he meant by that but also realised that it made her sound like a prostitute, and reminded them both that Fallan had not married into the clans and now it seemed preferred the attentions of a bought woman.

He felt colour rise in his cheeks but kept his head up. "I would like her bound to the web. The Auctioneer told me that I must do this, but I would have anyway as I'm afraid that she might get lost or separated from us." He suspected that they both knew what he meant.

[Fallan Windchaser]

His father regarded him intently, and seemed unsurprised by either news or request. He nodded and spoke after a moments thought, "I will not comment on the rights or wrongs of things done, you will live the consequences of choices you have made. This we have spoken of before, but you are right in this. The woman needs all the protection that we can afford to her. Is she aware of what you are asking and of the consequences of it?"

Fallan coloured slightly. "I have not spoken of it with her," he answered honestly. "The auctioneer told me to keep it secret, for the strangers were new to Cyphrus and not to be trusted with our secrets."

Surdar regarded him narrowly and sighed, shaking his head. "Still there are some who live in the past, who do not realise that our enemies have already penetrated all of our secrets." He sighed again, "it is madness in my opinion and I am not pleased. I am particularly unhappy about doing this when she has no voice in it. With a Drykas child it is one thing, but she should be making her own choices, choices which have been taken away from her."

Fallan began to have some insight now into exactly why his fathers reception had been a little bit colder than he had expected. He kept his reservations to himself, not wishing to be drawn into revealing how he had been attempting to manipulate Taylani into staying with him. That in itself was something that he had not entirely resolved in his own mind, for he still in some parts of his mind wanted her to be the abject slave, subject to his whim. Yet he found it hard to treat her in the way that he desired, so hard in fact that aside from that first day he had not done it. Instead he found himself protective and had a strong feeling that some of that was down to the way that she looked, and to the colour of her hair. None of this however was something that he could discuss with his father or with anyone in his family.

His father had agreed to it, and for now that was what he focussed on, putting the rest aside for he did not wish to argue or to explain why he had done what he had done. "How will it work? Do I need to bring her here?" For all that Fallan knew something of webbing, he knew nothing of connecting people into it in a way that could be of use to anyone.

[Fallan Windchaser]

There was a moment in the tent where the atmosphere was strained but then it was time for Surdar to sigh heavily and shake his head. ”I had hopes that you would have spent some of your time in the study of webbing, but it seems that you continue to prove your Mother correct in her assessments.” Fallan shifted uncomfortably, for this was not going at all as well as he had hoped, a vain hope of course and since he could not escape even the smallest part of the responsibility for his actions he held to the tatters of his courage and stood firm, biting his tongue on the excuses which threatened to spill forth.

It would be so easy to justify himself, as he had done so many times before when this conversation or variants of it had played through his mind. There was a substantive difference this time though, something that had not been present before and he realised faintly, in the back of him mind, that the difference was a question of responsibility. He had ducked out of the family, avoiding the duties of his position with a weak justification that as the younger son he would never be more than a glorified helper to his elder siblings and that perhaps he could make something of himself elsewhere.

Unfortunately that wild and great dream had proven false because of course it merely highlighted his flaws rather than allowing his strengths to play forth. Play was of course the operative word there, a fact which was clear to everyone but him. Now he was starting to pay the price, starting to finally grow up a little and how odd was it that it was his own lack of foresight which had brought him to this very pass?

One thoughtless phrase uttered in the wrong place, a phrase motivated by his own sexual desires to have that woman for his own, and now, here he stood, being rebuked by his father. Previously he might have been tempted to walk out, but now there was no choice. In order to get what he wanted, he had to pay the price, a price perhaps long overdue. There was no time though to dwell on his maudlin and self serving, self pitying thoughts for his father continued after a moments pause, to speak.

”There is no need for her to be aware and I will leave you to explain it to her when you see fit. You will however come with me and be a part of it. It will not be enough to tie her to the web, I want you to be able to feel that connection as firmly as you can feel your own.” Fallan ducked his head in acceptance, not wishing to speak or to argue for fear that the wrong words would come out and spoil the moment or even perhaps cause his father to refuse to do what he had already agreed to.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Silence reigned for a moment between them and after a moment Fallan raised his eyes back to meet those of his father in case Surdar was waiting for some response from him. His father however was not paying any particular attention to him and instead stood with his eyes closed, apparently contemplating something. After a while his eyes opened, cleared and then refocused on Fallan.

Still there was a moment before he spoke, his eyes inspecting Fallan as though he had never seen him before and he was some curious new breed of horse. ”I have inspected your line and the connection seems strong enough to me.” The words meant little to Fallan, and though he grasped at some meaning there he could not be sure. He nodded regardless in agreement or acceptance, he wasn’t entirely of that either but in the face of his fathers certainty there seemed little other option.

Surdar pointed at the space beside where the fire basket of coals threw out a little heat into the warm interior of the tent. ”Make yourself comfortable there and connect yourself to the web, you will find a line running under the pavilion.” Fallan moved over and sat down, then lay down where he was not too close to the coals and yet was not in the way of anyone who might pass by. It seemed obvious in retrospect that the pavilion would lie close enough to the web, or that portion of it, that Surdar could tap into it. It caused a moment of wondering as Fallan lay there and his father fussed about about just how much the Run was tied into the way that the web was laid, or how much the web had been enhanced as it lay along the path of the Run. It was even more obvious in hindsight that the two would be very highly interconnected.

He pushed the thoughts aside and made himself comfortable, closing his eyes so that he could concentrate a little easier on his breathing. The sounds of the camp came through to him clearly now. The ever present noises that normally no one would ever hear as they went about their daily lives. He spent a moment listening to them and then one by one took his attention away from them and back onto the sound and feel of his breathing. Now the ground dug into his back even through the rug on which he lay for the camp was still newly laid and not yet flattened out. Again he allowed himself to become aware of that and then took his attention away. Slowly he worked his way though all of his senses; becoming aware of what his senses told him and then pulling his attention away so that he as aware but not paying close attention. It took several attempts but eventually he had a close enough control over his awareness that his breathing dominated his awareness. Then it was time to pull his attention in closer and become aware of his own personal djed.

[Fallan Windchaser]

Once he was aware of his djed, the process was familiar and he quickly reshaped some of his personal djed that he could use to link into the web which now became visible in his vision. This though was no minor web of the sort that he had practised with when away from Endrykas or had used out at the frontiers of Cyphrus. Compared to them the webs were a minor trickle whilst this was a torrent, a wide river along which flowed a vast flow. He hesitated but linked anyway and soon found himself in over his head.

Panic reigned and then he got to grips with himself for this was not a river and if it was a river then he was perfectly capable of swimming in it. As the panic receded slowly so did he become more comfortable and become more aware of his surroundings. It reminded him of his earliest attempts at webbing for there was far more information here than he could hope to understand, but equally he applied the same technique to it that his father had taught him in order to mediate well enough to achieve this level of awareness. He accepted the flow but allowed it to pass him by without overwhelming him and merely watched it go by while he freed his mind to see what else there was.

He became aware of his father at this point and a degree of approval from him, though as ever in the web there were no words spoken even if they came into his mind in that way. Surdar moved off and Fallan followed, shifting away from the main channel and down a smaller link where things were less hurried and the pace was slower. Here Fallan was more easily able to see the world around him. Most clear were thing things Drykas that linked into the web, but he avoided them but also the web was djed and the world was djed for all things contained it.

They paused and information flowed into Fallans mind that this was one way to link, but not the only way and not how Surdar would normally link. It was not unusual to link something into the web that had no choice in the decision for that was the way of most things that the Drykas cared for. Even the Drykas themselves had no say in it for it was done when they were too young to either understand or make a choice in the matter. Adults as ever were different for they were not generally possessions nor did they have other adults ready to make the choice for them. As he considered this Fallan began to appreciate the issue with slaves and captives in general for the web allowed them to be tracked and yet they were not in a position to give approval, and in the case of captives it probably could be expected that they would refuse. It was something to think about and an angle that he had not considered before.

[Fallan Windchaser]

It was a basic principle of web creation that the webber avoided making the web entirely from their own djed for that was a recipe for disaster. Personal djed was easily used up and the consequences for the webber of doing so were severe. Webbing was considered world magic because it didn’t use the djed of the webber but instead drew djed from the world in general, or as in the case of the webber from particular objects which tended to anchor the web to that object. Had Fallan been more aware of djed workings he might have realised that webbing was somewhat unusual in djed working for the way it combined personal magic with world magic, but he knew only what he had been taught and that nugget of information had never been relevant enough to him for it to stand out.

For this part of the journey he knew that he was an observer, for he had not the knowledge to complete what needed to be done, but some parts of it were clear to him. In order for the webber to use the djed of other objects then it had to be possible for the webber to use the djed of other objects. It was a truth that was so self evident that the had not seen it before and he mulled over the implications of it.

His experience with the creation of webs had always been with inanimate objects such as boulders and similar parts of the landscape and it had never occurred to him that using the djed of such an object to power the web was in any way wrong, but he had never taken the next step in his mind which was to realise that there was no boundary, no barrier which prevented the same action being done with something that was alive.

Of course that wasn’t what was being proposed here, but in the examination of his own, if limited knowledge of webbing he sought to understand how that next step could be done. It was a disturbing thought, if he was right, and he wondered if such a thing was possible and if so if it had been done. He imagined that if it was then it must have been and what were the controls on it? Surdar had never mentioned it, so perhaps it wasn’t possible. Fallan decided that it must be the case and turned his mind back to the case in hand.

With that distraction out of the way he continued to ponder. Of course to use the djed of an object it had to be possible to be able to see and interact with the object even though it was not, and could not be part of the web already. This was something that it had taken him some time to get the hang of when he first attempted webbing for he was out of his body and did not have eyes to see. He could now for example determine that they were at his tent now and could see within it that Tay was still there. What happened next he couldn’t be sure for either Surdar decided that it was best that Fallan did not see or Fallan simply did not have the ability to understand, the latter more likely he thought.

In either case, Surdar turned to him and the knowledge was passed that it was done. Fallan gave his thanks and retraced their path back to his body.

[Taylani]

Fallan Windchaser

Skills :

+1 webbing
+2 Socialization
+4 Observation

Lores :

Windchaser Family: Ranges Along Sylira Border
Windchaser Family: In Endrykas during Fall
Webbing Taylani to avoid loss or separation

Notes :

Just a small note. Its Sylira not Syrila. And you go from calling Fallan’s Strider Stormchaser to StormDancer.  I gave you 1 point in webbing since Surdar included Fallan in it partially. If you have any questions concerning your grade feel free to PM me. Don’t forget to delete/edit your grade request