Blood Kin (Eldon)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Eldon would have been fourteen when Sam disappeared from the horseclans, but it surprised him to imagine Eldon being overcome by glassbeaks; he had always seemed so capable, even as a child, but then that had been from the youthful perspective of a child Sama'el. He smiled encouragingly. "Well, I'm sure this time you will show the glassbeaks who runs things in Cyphrus. I'll be there to help." He walked with Eldon to take care of the watering needs of whichever pavilions the elder man was servicing, and Dohaina trotted along behind, pausing now and then to crop some grass before catching up. Sam wasn't worried about losing her. She had found him on the Sea of Grass, and she knew where his spartan little camp was. Striders were too smart, sometimes. Blushing at Eldon's questions, he just shook his head. "Not yet, but perhaps my rags are putting them off. When I've got new clothes and perhaps after we earn a little recognition from the Great Hunt, that will start. It's all right, though. I'm not sure if I could support a wife yet."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon chuckled and shrugged. "Women are too much of a trouble until they mature anyhow. I mean, mature into grown women, not just girls... You get what I'm saying, yeah?" Eldon wasn't even really sure where he was going with it to be honest. He knew it had something to do with older women being more logical, or something along those lines. Regardless, he continued to carry the busted barrel with his cousin next to him. "That's a beautiful girl you have there though." Eldon motioned to the strider that was so diligently following him. "To be honest, I can't image that you'd be able to find a beast like that outside of our lands. How exactly did you find her? It doesn't seem normal that you'd be able to have such a strong connection after your absence from your people." Eldon turned to look at the horse as he walked backwards, always moving slowly towards the Watering Hole. "I'm just amazed at how little I really understand. The striders, I swear they know us better than we know ourselves, and what we know about them probably doesn't even compare." Eldon turned to walk normally again, rather than backwards as that was both foolish and careless, and soon enough, they had reached their first destination. The Watering Hole. "Here we are." Eldon seemed a little less than enthusiastic to be here, but he did need to continue his training. If he was going to keep the Drykas People from dying of thirst, he had to be damn good at what he did.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam nodded automatically to what Eldon said about women. The majority of his experience had been with a beautiful whore back in Syliras. He was happy with how that turned out, but it had involved him paying money, so he couldn't really say that he had something going on that attracted the ladies. But time would tell on that one; there was an overabundance of single women among the horseclans, or so they always said. Perhaps that would make things easier even if he would have preferred not to need such an advantage. He smiled proudly at Dohaina, though. She was a girl he could understand, or at least better than a human girl. Her existence anchored him in his new life, his old life, bridging the gap between his two Drykas existences, helping to sew up the wound cut down the middle of him. "She chose me," he said, a note of reverence in his voice, "she came to me in the middle of a terrible storm. I think Zulrav might have sent her to me, actually, but I have no proof other than her presence and that experience..." He blinked and looked around the Watering Hole.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon excused himself from Sam's presence for only a moment as he went to replace his broken barrel with another, unblemished, empty one. Once returning, he didn't even hesitate to place the barrel down by a nearby crate, which he used as a seat. He motioned for Sam to join him after he did so. "I know you may not feel Drykas, but if that doesn't tell you that you belong here, I don't know what will. Still, you seem like you feel a necessity to prove yourself. I know how you feel." Eldon truly did, in comparison to the hunters of the Drykas people, Eldon was weak, inexperienced, and had even been passed by many younger than he. It was something he hated to think about, and would never admit, but was nevertheless, true. "We are warriors, riders, hunters and survivors. All the above." Eldon muttered softly to himself as he peered into the empty barrel. It wasn't going to rain anytime soon, so without him doing something about it, it was going to stay how it was, empty. "What do you plan to do, Sam?" The question was simple, but wasn't hardly explained. Was he questioning his plans to become Drykas? Was he wondering about if Sama'el was going to stay in Endrykas where, Eldon believed, he belonged? It was simply how Sam interpreted it. The barrel wasn't empty long, though it wasn't particularly his goal to have him arm being the only thing inside it. Eldon had reached into the barrel, placing the palm of his hand on the bottom surface, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Eldon instantly offered a silent gasp as he felt the res in his body moving, slowly, through his arms to his hands, and from the palms the faint green gel-like substance began to spill into the bucket itself. Eldon couldn't open his eyes, it would break his concentration, a disability of his perhaps, but a necessity for him to work. Eldon sat there in silence for a long time, just pushing out the djed from his hand, a little at a time as the barrel began to slowly lose it's emptied state. The barrel wasn't even half filled when Eldon went ahead and shifted the layer of Djed into a third of a barrel's full of water. Eldon opened his eyes and grinned lightly, pulling his now moist hand from the barrel and lifted it to his forehead. "Thirsty?" Eldon asked his cousin coolly as he leaned back on his makeshift seat. A few minutes of break and he would go back to the barrel.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam was silent in thought as he sat and watched Eldon about his business as a hydromancer, an important person to have when out on the grass if one didn't know where to find the natural sources of water. His elder cousin maintained his place on a pedestal in Sam's estimation, even if he claimed to know how Sam felt with regard to being less than Drykas somehow. At the second question, however, he smiled and dunked his hands into the barrel to pull a double handful of water up to his mouth. "It is water!" he exclaimed, pointing out the obvious, but with a boy's wonderment at what his cousin could do. "Pure water!" His eyes shone with admiration; they were of the Sapphire Clan, after all, and such magical abilities were highly prized among their people. Their people. Sam's smile changed aspect, becoming slightly more self-aware. "I must become better," he admitted. "Ride better, hunt better, learn the ways of Webbing, and earn a pavilion so I can marry, start a herd, have children... I have to become what I was supposed to be. That's all."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon chuckled lightly as his cousin almost childishly exclaimed his amazement with the water. He really was a Drykas. Who else would respect water so much besides one? Still, the excitement also helped fuel Eldon's eagerness to continue. You could say he appreciated being appreciated. "Hah! Yes it is. I can only manage small amounts in little time. My father, he's the real hero of water. I'm sure he's around here somewhere, or resting. He's been working so much that it worries me sometimes, not sure why though. He doesn't make mistakes. Have some more." Eldon watched Sam joyously, the smile on his face, the glimmer in his eyes. Eldon was curious to know what Sama'el had gone through, but part of him wanted to just think he was a Drykas forever, even during his storm of being lost and abandoned. "I'm certain you will too. Respect the grass, respect your strider, respect your people, and then you can have it from them all in return." Eldon nodded lightly as he reached into the barrel once again, submerging his palm down to the bottom once again. That saying was his father's, a saying he took to heart, and shared only once every blue moon. Rarely did it seem right to say it, but right then it felt right. He glanced back up at Sam, grinning for a moment before closing his eyes.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

There was no small amount of hero-worship in Sam's eyes, enough perhaps to make his cousin uncomfortable, or aware of his place as Sam's elder despite his own relatively tender years. The Sea of Grass required its children grow up and become self-sufficient so as not to be a burden upon their pavilion. The circle of life business that city folk scoffed at was of life and death importance to the horse people of the plains. "I must learn to Web," he said in all seriousness before taking another cupped handful of water to his mouth. "At the very least to Web so I can make my pavilion..." It seemed he had decided on his course, even if he still vacillated from time to time, unsure of his own potential. "Anything else... hydromancy, all that... That would be gravy." Curiosity and clan loyalty brought him back to something else Eldon had said, however. A vague frown of concern bent his brow. "Is your father all right?"

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon gave another glance at Sam, he was watching him so closely. It was like Eldon was the older brother for once, which both made him smile in realization that he cared for his cousin as his own brother, but also worry because he now realized just how dangerous everything he did would be not only to himself, but for his cousin. If Sama'el was easily influenced (which Eldon assumed to be likely since he was trying to fit in with his people again) then even the slightest of faults or flaws of his own would distract or even cause Sam to stumble. Eldon smiled and nodded, as if they didn't even need to speak to understand each others' positions. He would just have to be perfect when around his little cousin, that's what Sunkiss decided. "I know what you mean. I've yet to begin training in the Web, although I know I should. My father is reluctant though. I guess when I was a child, I had an older brother, much older than me, who never came back. But my father is as strong as an Olido, fast as a Glassbeak, and as fierce as a Drykas could be. At this rate, I think I'll die before he does." Eldon offered a hearty chuckle at this, he personally neither wished or expected his father to die, ever. He was his role model, everything he wanted himself to be, and the thought that the old man could ever be frail and weak in death was so painful that he actually was in denial that it was possible. But for the present, all was well, Eldon was happy. "Still, I think you are on the noble path. I try to walk as close to the path as I can. I'll do my best to stick to it with you."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Mollified by Eldon's jests, the frown disappeared as quickly as it came, and he laughed along with his cousin. He didn't speak of his own father, though. Such memories were best left alone for now. Sam would do what he had to do in order to fit in with his people, but there was still a streak of leadership in him; it only required time, maturity, and opportunity to blossom. He clapped Eldon on the shoulder, delighted to have made one connection with his more distant relatives that was not quite so awkward as the rest. "I will be honored to walk the knife's edge with you, coz. And hopefully both of us will prove able with the Web."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

"The honor is mine as well, but I'll not leave fate to hoping and chance."[/color] Eldon glanced at Eldon. He knew that he didn't mean that he was only going to hope for his future, but still, he had to poke at it. "We'll master the Web. Our names will be spoken with the same reverence as the Greats of the Sapphire." Eldon grinned, he had plans to do quite a bit more before touching Webbing, but still, someday, it had to happen, it would happen. Eldon peered back down into the barrel, he hadn't pumped any more Djed into it, no more water to continue filling the container. He frowned lightly as he closed his eyes, and once again felt the energy, the djed, pulsing through his body like violent throbbings of blood through his veins. Once again, the almost surreal green substance pulled itself through the skin of his palm. The Pure Djed rose to the surface of the earlier-created water in bulks of bubbles, collecting into a thin, yet gradually increasing layer. Eldon began to mutter something in silence to himself. His lips moving, mouthing words, but speaking nothing out like. It was his way of concentrating, chanting some phrase that cooled his mind, kept him focused, alert, and most of all, self-aware. It was so important to know your limits and monitor your body. Anybody with decent training knew that much. Overgiving, he had experienced mild versions on a few, or multiple, occasions. It was not something he wish to experience on a severe scale. Yet he had never heard of a reimancer that hadn't tasted steel at least once.