Completed A Walk On The Wild Side (Kelski)

[Sal Mander]

While Sal's detour may have seemed primarily for the purpose of escaping the hordes of hungry Lhavitians, there was a secondary motive in play. Leaving the open courtyard, the street wiggled this way and that like a maze, before opening out onto a wider road. Here the people were back again, though not in force or a hurry as before. Rickety wooden carts rolled by, drawn by pack beasts with sad faces and drivers with blank stares. They had traveled up and down this route a thousand times, until it was merely habit. Shop assistants and delivery boys sauntered by, some carrying various crates and boxes of wares, while others had small packages containing elixirs, documents or any other such small items that they kept concealed underarm or in wrappings. One lad threw a devious smile Kelski's way, but withdrew his stare when it was countered by a much sterner one from Sal.

Up ahead a group of women dressed in simple garb were trading gossip and news, seemingly all talking at once with increasing volume to be heard. Beyond them, grubby children played in a doorway, tossing what looked like a headless doll with four arms back and forth, while yelling unfamiliar words at each other that Kelski could not decipher. She saw humans mostly, though there others dotted about. A charoda was perhaps the most exotic inclusion in the melting pot of citizens they came across, the sunlight shining on her rubbery pink flesh as tentacles lazily waved in the warmth. A copper skinned Isur came marching past, heaving an over sized crate on one shoulder that looked heavy enough to crush a man flat. The Isur had barely broken a sweat.

As the pair ventured on, Kelski took her chance to ask her questions. First had been the amber stone back at the Cosmos Center. Such was its insignificance to Sal that it took him a moment to catch on, but thankfully Kelski did not have to wait too long for her answer. "Er, actually it's not mine. Or the desk in fact. We just take whichever desk is vacant at the time. Honestly, I'm not sure who it belongs too." The answer was far from what she might have hoped, though for now the kelvic was content to continue with other questions.

In fact her next questions seemed to jar something in Sal's mind. Upon first meeting Kelski, he had known there was something different about her. That pale skin, the way she carried herself, and just a feeling he had. But in truth he had been content to put that down to her being from out of town. Only now were bigger pieces of the puzzle falling into place, with her strange talk of predators and fanning out the crowd to as to better evade the hunters. He was curious that he had not fathomed it early, considering himself quicker on the uptake. But whether or not his new assumption that she was kelvic was correct, he did still have to concede that even so, she remained a unique creature in her own right. Kelvics were far from uncommon in Lhavit, and of those that he had met or at least heard about, none seemed to compare to Kelski. If he had to put it into words, he word say that the young woman at his side seemed, to him at least, more alive than anyone he knew.

"Well..." Sal was trying to put together a decent response, when they finally rounded a corner that ended with a fascinating destination. This had been the secondary reason for the route they had taken, a round that now led to the Koten Temple, the second finest structure in all of Lhavit that played home to Zintila's Anchorite Hayani. While the locale itself had no particular use for Kelski, it was still by far a worthy addition to any tour of the city. For most, it was the sheer amount of skyglass that made it such a dazzling attraction at night, when it shimmered and glittered with such wonder that even those who passed it every time could not help but marvel at it once more.

For Sal, it was the grandest of homes, boasting several floors and no doubt enough rooms to station a small army. But rather than be in awe of its presence, instead he could not help but wonder if its solitary occupant ever got lonely. It must have been hard to fill such a large home with, well, homeliness. This line of thought led him to an important question that needed addressing, the matter of Kelski's own residence here in Lhavit. It was also the reason he had grabbed a particular scroll back at the Center. If she was indeed here to make a home of her own, the kelvic would need a place to live. Luckily for her, finding housing for new citizens also came under the remit of the Cosmos Center, the paperwork for which he carried with him now.

"I assume you'll want to secure lodgings of your own. I have some papers here for various apartments in the city, unless you had plans of your own of course."

[Kelski]

Kelski followed the human trustingly. There was something appealing about Sal that didn’t put her off like most men did. He was not arrogant, not rude, and had a polite quiet strength she admired and if truth be told felt drawn too. The Kelvic wanted to be around him, even though she had only known him a short time. Each new sight they walked passed Kelski took in with a sense of curiosity. Part of Kelski longed to linger long enough to hear what the women were gossiping about in the street or to join the children in their play.

Playing was something she never got the opportunity to do as a child so she watched wide-eyed as the children tossed their morbid doll. The Charoda made her uncomfortable and she switched sides with Sal abruptly so she put him between her and the oddity. The Isur hadn’t bothered her nearly as much since she’d seen them in Alvadas. She knew they were strong, but seeing the crate reinforced his sheet stretching to the Kelvic and she reminded herself not to confront them much.

Before long thin pale fingers reached out and linked with Sal’s as the Kelvic took his hand. Her palm was cool rather than clammy, and the digits trembled a bit, giving away her nervousness. But she gripped his palm and that touch seemed to steady her more than enough to keep up the conversation.

“Do you have anything of yourself in that office? It seems so….. impersonal. Like it doesn’t have a soul.” She said almost as if to herself, disappointed the amber had no story attached to it and that it did not belong to Sal after all. Stones should have stories. They should have souls with lengthy histories and tales of love and woe and all the things that inspired the young Kelvic to be a jewelcrafter. The Kelvic was certain there was something she could have made other than a paperweight from such a lovely stone. “They are what call to me sometimes… the stones. That one should have had a history. It should have a story. It should be coveted and cared for and not just thrown on a stack of papers to weigh it down. That’s what I do… you see. I care for and craft gems… jewelry some would say.” Kelski admitted. It was about the first really personal thing she’d said about herself to him.

They walked on and she said nothing else about herself, only about the city surrounding them. She asked small questions, like which street was which, what business this one or that one was, and what uniforms meant what when they passed the Shinya. .Then she listened quietly and carefully to his answers.

The more Sal walked with the Kelvic and listened to her voice, the more he might start to realize she held nothing back but did indeed put a lot of emotion into her words, moreso than one would think first looking at her. Her eyes were wide, expressive, and took in a great deal around them. She was watching carefully, where she walked, what other people were doing, and how Sal was behaving among them. To her, observations were the key to successful blending in within the city so she was bound and determined to make sure she didn’t stand out.

He didn’t answer her other questions, the more important ones with anything other than a ‘Well…”. He seemed distracted. And then to further that sense of distraction, he led her to a building that was very impressive in terms of human standards. She actually stared for a moment, wondering how someone could live such a grandiose lifestyle. It was as beautiful as some of the other skyglass buildings she’d seen, but it wasn’t for her. Nothing could make her want such material things.

“It looks like a fancy prison… gilded and grand. It does not look like a home.” Kelski said and turned to watch Sal’s expression. He seemed to be pondering something and had nothing of the awe she suspected she was supposed to feel on his face. His next statement caused her to chuckle and shake her head. “No… I don’t need an apartment. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I acquired one. I found a cave that was unoccupied outside the city in the forest. It’s beautiful in its simple way with a good vent for a warm fire. It stays cool in the summer and is easily warmed in the winter. I’ve been saving skins on my kills so I have a nice pile of furs to snuggle down into to keep warm at night. And best of all it has a fresh water supply inside so I never have to leave to go get a drink.” She said softly, and looked up at him with a smile.

“I’ll show you sometime if you are interested in seeing it.” She offered, wanting him to know she didn’t need all the fancy they saw before them to live cleanly and happily.

“And you? Where do you live? In one of these apartments?” The Kelvic guessed having no other reference.

[Sal Mander]

As Kelski's hand found Sal's, he felt his heart skip a beat from being taken genuinely by surprise. It was an unorthodox move on the kelvic's part, but Sal was presented with the dilemma of drawing attention to the situation or running with it. After all, he did not want to appear rude or offensive. As far as he knew, perhaps the taking of a stranger's hand was common where she heralded from. Furthermore, he could not help but deny a feeling of importance that came over him, like he had been honored with the task of ensuring Kelski's safety. Not that he doubted the curious young woman could handle herself - she had an elegant strength about her - but still it was comforting for a man to feel necessary.

He listened as she inquired about the office, cracking half a smile at the mention of the Center having little soul. She was not far from the truth of it. As far as he was concerned, the Center itself was a staging point before venturing off into the city. It was out there, among the twisting streets and fine array of citizens that he felt Lhavit's soul, not in some over sized warehouse for stacks of parchment paper. Some argued that the Cosmos Center was the very heart of the city, providing as it did a wide range of necessary services in order to keep the place running. But Sal knew better. A place was only as functional as the people that inhabited it.

He explained to Kelski how he primarily worked outside, venturing to the Center only when he was required to report and comment on his activities for the day. Thus, he did not really have any part of him in the Center, with the exception of his time perhaps. He hoped she understood, as he clumsily tried to mask his contempt for office work with subtle disguise.

He then listened as she spoke of her dismay about the amber rock. She became very passionate as she went on, leading Sal to suspect she might enter a rage at any moment. But soon enough the explanation was clear to see as a flawless diamond. She was a jewelcrafter! Keep up Sal he thought to himself. Jewelcrafting was one of the things he could say with complete confidence that he knew nothing about. It was not that he disliked stones and gems, but rather he and such things had never really trod the same path. His second eldest brother likely knew a thing or two about them, being a blacksmith. There had been times when he worked gems into his designs, such as a fetching gem in the hilt of a sword for example.

As they stopped before the grand house, he watched Kelski's face as her eyes drank up the details. Whatever the building's use, he had always stopped by it on tours to give newcomers an idea of the grander scale of things here in Lhavit. "It does not look like a home," Kelski commented, causing Sal to nod in agreement.
_____"I was just thinking the same thing," he replied.

With that, they moved onto the subject of Kelski's own lodgings, a topic that by far outstripped any others when it came to truly surprising the man. She had been full of surprises, and it was not even noon. Her talk of caves and furs and such baffled him momentarily, stuck as he was in a human perspective. But he reminded himself to be free of expectations and assumptions, since clearly neither were good allies in this particular situation. The problem was that Sal was a curious fellow at heart. A life of reading and learning did not present much worth without a few questions asked along the way. He could form as best he could an ideal solution to the enigma that was Kelski, but he knew all too well that to really understand someone, you simply had to talk to them.

Mostly he was pleased to hear the woman chuckle, the first time she had done so to his knowledge. Where else before she seemed to douse herself in a serious and resolute manner, that chuckle turned those to rubble that crumbled away, if only for a few moments, while her smile emerged like a rare parting of dark clouds on a winter's day, to reveal the golden hues of sun that warmed the souls of any who looked upon it. The moment did much to relax him, as though they had known each other a great deal longer than a single morning, and he found himself now equipped with the boldness that came with familiarity. So then, he pressed forwards. "A cave you say? It sounds...homely. To each their own though. I do not think I would fare well without my bed. And Corvo of course. Or bacon for that matter." Realizing he was on the verge of rambling, he made a conscious effort to close his mouth while trying to look like he was looking at something close by.

[Kelski]

The Kelvic tilted her head and studied him a moment. Her hand gripped his one final time and released its grip in his own, giving her a chance to use that same dominant hand to turn her fingers into an accusing point and bounce it off the center of his chest. “Why do you do that?” She said abruptly. It wasn’t a bossy tone, but more of a frustrated tone. Kelski raked his form with her eyes as if seeking a reason for why he did what he did, and then shook her head once more and shuddered briefly, much like a bird would that ruffled and resettled its feathers.

Kelski felt comfortable with him, emboldened, and because of it she spoke more freely than she perhaps would have her entire short life. Sal was a big man, but he didn’t seem fierce nor did he have the predisposition of a bully or someone that needed to borrow power from others by pushing them around or locking them in cages. He hadn’t raised his voice and had in fact dropped his eyes to the ground once or twice along with displaying emotion that ranged from sheepish to confused to distracted. He was distracted a lot. It gave her the confidence to step up, to question him, and to ask him to stop what he was doing.

“You don’t answer all my questions. You… start to then stop. You get distracted or… I don’t know. Am I going about this wrong? Am I asking too many questions? Do you ever talk to my kind at all? Am I making you nervous? I could ask for another guide. I like you a lot, but you are frustrating me. I’m just as good as a human. I’m just as smart. I can do anything a human can do and probably have. I may not be able to do it better, but I suspect they have had longer to practice. If I put effort into it, I could even look like them. I’ve tried. So if its because I’m Kelvic, then just tell me and I’ll leave you be and find someone else to answer my questions. I want to know things…” Kelski stopped, took a deep breath, and ran her hands through her hair looking frustrated. She stomped a foot, as if seating her foot more deeply in her boot, and glanced up to pin Sal with her eyes. A fierce light glowed in them.

Kelski didn’t know how to laugh. She didn’t know how to be lighthearted. Her life had been too short and too hard to find much humor in things. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Even being here she was trying to change that, to make things better, but it was hard going at times. She didn’t think he could understand such things, being human and being free.

Confusion usually invoked her flight instinct. Predators, for all that they were predators decidedly knew when to retreat. If food or prey - in this case information - wasn't easy to come by, they first and foremost looked for an easier way.

The Kelvic took a step back, dug into her pocket, and pulled out a handful of coins. There were a large collection silver mizas in her hands. “I don’t know how much this tour was supposed to cost. You didn’t say. But will this pay for it? Thank you for your time. I know you didn’t have to take some out of your schedule to help.” The Kelvic didn’t know why she was upset suddenly. She didn’t know if it would bring ramifications. Most of what he said… a Corvo?… or didn’t say… was lost to her because she felt she was talking to thin air. She wanted to understand and she knew she was being unreasonable for the flare of temper, but the man was distracted, looking at something else, showing her things that didn’t matter like big buildings. There were no hints at survival here, no means to act normal, and no guidepost to being a good citizen. It was just awkward… and Kelski decided being alone, quiet, keeping to Li’s shop might be the best for her after all.

The city was terrifying. He’d never know how much courage it took for her to approach him. But this definitely wasn’t working. Buildings mattered next to nothing to her. She wanted to know how to interact with the people, what the rules were, and the Kelvic thought she’d made her request clear. But she knew she was wasting the man’s time and probably making a huge ignorant fool out of herself.

She pushed the coins at him, hoping he’d take them, and thus cut her loose to go back to what she’d been doing before… lurking in corners, watching from the shadows, studying on her own without a guide.

[Sal Mander]

The sun that peaked between clouds proved to be a fleeting moment. Only seconds earlier, he had felt comfortable and at ease, finding that his time spent with Kelski had been a welcome change of pace. She had proved unique and refreshing, allowing him a glimpse at something new and exciting, unknown to him, yet inviting him to explore further and seek answers that must inevitably have laid under the surface.

His dealings with kelvics were far from extensive. Had he spent enough time with them, he might well have been better versed in their ways. Some discarded the kelvic race as a simple imitation of human life, affording them about the same intelligence as their animal counterparts. How wrong those unfortunate few were. Kelvics were anything but simple, drowning in a sea of complexities that stretched as far as even the largest of oceans. It was not simply a case of their being a different race, but rather a myriad of races within a race. Was the kelvic bat to be tossed in the same category as a lion when it came to regarding their race as a whole? Not so. What about a mountain dog and a snake? Preposterous.

To even suggest that any two species of animals were alike was madness. The differences were not only physical. Animal attributes manifested in the kelvic's human form, lending to the personality as well as mannerisms, speech and so forth. But adding to each template of what made a kelvic an individual, was the same criteria that had been making humans and their sub-races just as unique in their own right. Life's choices, experiences and expectations, all served to mold each person in a variety of ways. Endless ways perhaps. If it was a fair assumption to say that humans were diverse, then surely the kelvic by its own definition was something so much more.

The thought was a boggling one, but for now Sal had more pressing issues to contend with. Only moments before he had inwardly remarked at how well the situation seemed to be unfolding. The problem though, one that was pounding on the door, was that he had approached the whole thing as a human. Why he would have done so any differently was testament to his lack of knowledge of the kelvics, though certainly this was merely a setback rather than a detriment to his character. But that mattered very little for now. Instead he stood there like a punch bag, soaking up the barrage of frustrated words that Kelski flung at him.

She stabbed with a finger, piercing at his chest while her words pulled at him, threatening to topple him over before she could bring that stomping foot down to finish the job. If he was surprised, his face did not show it, instead masked in stone as he glared at her, like a soldier being chewed out by a superior officer. With silent indignation, he did not move a muscle. Not even a twitch on his frozen features. Some irony for Kelski, if kelvics even knew of that most human of expressions, was that now Sal was giving her his full, undivided attention.

Initially he had been reeling on the inside, feeling wounded and abashed at this seemingly unfair treatment. But as the woman continued her tirade, he began to feel that old feeling creeping on the outskirts of his mind. It trod lightly at first, testing the ground for flaws and weak spots, as though it might cave in under its weight. But slowly it grew more bold, clambering over the edge and wading through a swampy marsh of uncertainty. Even here, it pushed on cautiously, but its purpose was growing more confident. Before he could think to take a breath of his own and dispel the rising anger, it had set up outposts and camps around his thoughts, preparing for a siege on his conscience whose only remaining defenders were reason and rationality. But even they were wavering, stepping back from crumbling stone walls that were no longer resolute, but instead brittle and weak.

Anger stormed on, now some great and terrible beast that blasted through any remaining pockets of resistance, cascading down onto the land in a fiery inferno that rose higher and higher. It raged violently, enough that had it been quenched that very second, it would have taken a thousand years for the lands to no longer bare the scorch marks left in its wake.

Without realizing, he knocked Kelski's hand away with brutal and unfortunate efficiency, sending the coins scattering across the paved street. He took a solitary step forward, unleashing a finger of his own in order to direct his worded response. "You listen here girl." Even now, the kelvic before him was just that, and would be until she turned into a cat, or a parrot, or whatever it was that she was. In his angered state, he could only deal in cold hard facts, and those only went as far as what he saw standing before him. "And you listen good, because this is the last thing I'm going to say to you. You want answers? I'll give you answers. In spades! You come to me, for help, and then this? And for what? Because I did not lavish you with every answer? I'm doing the best I can here, and let me tell you something. Humans are not perfect. We are flawed, we make mistakes, we sometimes choose poorly. But you take people for who they are, not what they are. If you go around complaining, you will not get anywhere in this city. It's just not... It's not... POLITE!" The last part came out in an unintended yell, half relief on finally settling on the right word, half shock at how stupid he sounded.

Of course, it might well have been the first decent piece of advise he had given Kelski, at least in terms of how to treat people. She might even have appreciated his more direct approach now had he not been shouting at her. Meanwhile, passersby glanced awkwardly, some noting the scattered coins on the ground while others looked on with morbid curiosity, wondering if their time wasted lollygagging would pay off after all with something to gossip about when they got home.

Sal meanwhile seemed to have fired out his anger in that single torrent. He visibly sagged, as though the sheer effort alone had left him spent. The burning rage of anger had in fact cleansed him to a degree, leaving him now unashamed or unconcerned with how the kelvic now regarded him. In that moment, he was at his most honest. Vulnerable too, in that she was seeing him for the first time without the pauses, or him being distracted. Just honest. So then, it might have been pleasing to him if he had the mind to give it any thought, that in that moment he was still capable of compassion. Though still glaring at Kelski, he could not help but feel he was being unjust, as well as quietly furious with himself for allowing his temper to escape him.

"Look. I honestly know nothing about you, or kelvics I mean. If the tour was a barrel of pig shit, then fine. I was just going through the motions. You know? It is a..um, a human expression. It means that I have done it a hundred times before. His face now reverted to one of a pained expression as his more logical mind floundered in its search for the right thing to say. But realizing that he was about to frustrate her once again with silence, for perhaps the first time in his life he ignored logic and blurted out the first thing that came into his head. "Ask me a question. Quickly. Right now. Ask anything you want and you shall have your answer."

Of course, he mostly expected her to turn and march off, maybe slapping him first for being such a human, making their mistakes, being flawed and just generally, but without intention, managing to take a simple situation and somehow making a real mess of it. That took more skill than perhaps humans gave themselves credit for.

[Kelski]

Kelski watched Sal’s reaction fascinated. She tilted her head as his face suddenly animated with a tirade of emotions she couldn’t read before his features settled into absolute blankness. The man stood rigid, which was a shock to her, because she’d expected him to ball up his fist and hit her, push her back, chastise her and threaten her with more time in a cage. Instead, he stood stoic, giving her his utter attention instead of dismissing her like one would dismiss a child having a tantrum.

His face still showed nothing but that wasn’t what caught Kelski’s attention. It was his eyes. There was some sort of mad storm brewing in them and the man seemed caught in it. His gaze was bold, hot, and burned. And while the pupils didn’t glow, the Kelvic started to take a step backwards to give him space. She knew anger and saw it in his eyes. Her own quicksilver orbs blinked away, not able to meet his for long, not with all that power in his once soft pupils. She didn’t mind loosing this once. For all her boldness, the Kelvic was leader of nothing and in charge of no one but her own life. His hand reached out, slapped hers away and she lost the valuable metal all over the ground. The ringing of the stone and metal of the mizas across the cobble of Lhavit’s streets was an unholy soundtrack to the rage in Sal’s eyes.

Kelski hissed, birdlike, and at the same time partially crouched, fluffing up her clothing automatically like a bird would fluff its feathers. She hated the reaction in herself. It was wholly inhuman and something her previous owner would have given her issues about, mocking her bestial nature and how it was near impossible for her to hide her inhuman nature. She closed her eyes on his follow through; bracing herself for what would come next. His hand would surely strike her face, open palmed if she was lucky, close fisted if his temper rang true to the rage in his eyes. And she braced for it, even silently taking a wider stance, bending her knees, and getting ready to take the energy of the blow and absorb it. Kelski hated being indigently knocked to the ground. There was something soul killing about that… especially when the blows came from a misunderstanding or were utterly undeserved. She almost enjoyed them when she had actually earned them however. And maybe, just maybe, this would be one of those times.

But his blow never came. Instead, his voice filled the air where the Kelvic had been taught men’s hands usually followed.

Her eyes popped open at the sound of his voice and she narrowed her vision on him, sweeping her eyes up to study his moving lips. She would have liked to have met his gaze, but there was a burning there, and the Kelvic was smart enough not to get scorched.

She flinched at his last word, not really understanding his meaning. Humans were flawed? No, Kelvics were flawed. They were imperfect, born to be slaves, cast out by the Gods, available for servitude and nothing more. Their masters, the humans, were above that. Didn’t he know that? Didn’t he understand that in the world nothing and no one was equal? His race was the superior one. That had been drilled into her mind since she was little. But in knowing he was owed his anger and right in his reaction, she still didn’t understand why he hadn’t hit her. And so she watched, bewildered, as his face lost its stone structure and became animated again. He ran through some emotions, some of which were new to her and settled on pained.

Pained? Had she hurt him? Then he said she could ask him anything….anything at all quickly… and he’d answer. What? Now? She felt instantly bad, like she’d forced a mouse into a corner and instead of promptly eating it, she’d toyed with it perhaps taking its vision and making it bleed so she could enjoy a delicious meal with her food screaming in pain.

Kelski reached out and caught his hand, the one with the mark, and stepped closer to him, unafraid now that he’d not hit her. Her gesture was intended to comfort, regardless of how he took it. And while her mouth obeyed his orders and asked him a question, a very simple concise question, her body did something else. She pressed into him, suddenly and abruptly offering him comfort. It was a soothing gesture that crowded the side his hand was on and caused the kelvic to wrap herself partially around him in a comforting gesture, almost a hug. Her words were counter to her suddenly soft regretful expression.

“Your hand… the mark on it. What does it mean… which god does it represent?” She asked. The free hand that didn’t hold his ran up his back, against his spine, in a soothing gesture. So her lips asked a question, but her body offered him an apology on a primal level. And that close, her eagle senses could smell his emotion, taste the soap he cleaned his skin with, and filled her senses with his pure essence. He was clean, well worded and bigger than she had first even assumed. Sal slouched a lot, but the man she touched was firm with muscle that was hung on a tall frame. Kelski suddenly wished he’d stand straighter, taller, more in his pride as a human.

Sal would find Kelski’s form fit beneath the leather and worn clothing she wore. Her hair would smell like the lavender soap she used to clean it. And beneath that, deeper, she would smell like clean sand, fresh salt air, and the wilds.

[Sal Mander]

Kelski had likened Sal's final reaction to that of a cornered mouse, pleading, begging. But while she found a hint of regret nibble at her, in fact she had inadvertently kicked open the barn door, allowing the mouse to escape into the vast and great unknown. It was not often that people called Sal out. Not because he presented an intimidating demeanor that commanded respect, but rather it came through years of cultivating a standoffish persona that encouraged people to tolerate his quietness.

With a feeling like that of a great weight lifted from his shoulders, he had demanded her next question for fear that his now lubricated responses were only temporary. He held her gaze expectantly, a glimmer of excitement flickering subtly on his face. He hardly seemed to notice when she took him by the hand, as if at this stage nothing she did would be unexpected. He had perhaps given in to the fact that she was unpredictable, and that he liked that. He liked how it was affecting him. He felt challenged, awake, and alert.

But then the rub. Of all the questions, spiraling around in the maelstrom of Sal's life, she had to settle on that one. As she uttered her words, he became suddenly aware that she was holding the hand with the mark, as if surprised as to how she had come to get so close without his realizing. For the briefest moment he wanted to jerk it away, feeling almost naked, but her grip was resolute. Not too hard to invoke a feeling of imprisonment, but just enough to give the impression his withdrawal would be disappointing for her. Then she stepped in closer to him, breaching an invisible bubble that had managed to keep people at arm's length for so long. Despite his default impulse to retreat, Sal marshaled his courage and stood fast.

Tall as he was, he craned down his neck to meet the kelvic's searching and inquisitive eyes. Her other hand stroked his spine, her delicate fingers following long pathways like she had trodden them countless times before. He realized then that his free hand was hanging impotently by his side. Like someone who had become aware they were being watched, his hand longed for something to do. Daringly he brought it up to her waist, as though taking Kelski for a dance to a slow beat. His mind was a confused mess of feelings and thoughts, mostly pertaining to the question she had laid at his feet that threatened to undo him there and then. But other thoughts swam in and out like hungry sharks hunting for a feast. The smell of lavender that filled his nose might have been blood to those sharks. Meanwhile, the shimmer of the light dancing on her hair could have been moonlight on a molasses colored lake. Her frame seemed to slot within his like it had been carved specifically for that purpose. Instinctively he pressed back into her so that the almost hug had become almost reality. He lamented the inclusion of her leather apparel, wishing secretly that she would have omitted that piece of armor for this day at least, wanting to feel all of her against his body.

It might have been a most pleasant of moments, but the pressing matter of a certain question brought Sal quickly back to reality. At this point, to turn and flee would have been an admission of defeat, from which there was no coming back from. While this current revolution was a fledgling one, he was determined to keep it fueled for now, feeling the excitement that came from entering new and unmapped territory. It was compulsion, though from where it came he could not say, but he chose to shed his cloak of silence and lay bare the secrets that had been thrust upon him so many moons ago.

"It is the mark of Ivak," he informed her in almost a whisper, craning his head a little closer so that his lips could offer her ears his secrets without the risk of passersby catching a hint of what he had to say. After all, she was the first person he had ever told that to. Today was the first day he had said it out loud.

[Kelski]

A soft inhalation filled her. It was one of those long indrawn breaths of cleansing that offered her a momentary respite from something she’d been feeling since almost the day she was born. It resulted in a sigh of pleasure that was utterly contrary to her fierce nature. She found herself touching someone she suddenly realized she admired in an intimate way that bespoke of connections and interwoven energies. She learned him in that brief moment, hand on his spine, one interlocked in his other. And she leaned into him when his free hand settled at her waist. For her, it was nothing sexual, but something far more primal. There was a need in her, born and bred for more years than humans currently marked that said she must choose someone to serve. And in that serving, then and only then could she be complete.

But he was ignorant of such things and Kelski knew it. A bond could not form unless both parties wanted it. Had he wanted her, one would have snaked between them as fast as a thought and interwoven itself in lines of power older than even the Valterrian. He could have had her with one singular thought… MINE. She didn’t know that her question had affected him so deeply, caught in her own thrall of what might be for her someday. She also didn’t know how tightly he held himself back from the world and how controlled he had made his life. If she had, small perfect white teeth wouldn’t have reached out and caught a loose fold of the fabric on his shirt and nibbled at it, much like a bird would preen another’s feathers and in doing so convey security, companionship, safety. It was her inhuman offer of comfort because she was surrounded by Sal - his scent, his warmth, his control – and because of that she still knew instinctively that not all was right with him.

Teeth released fabric and her head tilted back until her bright quicksilver eyes met his own. She knew this feeling. It was like being perched on the edge of discovery. It was the moment the sunlight crawled up a rock face and exposed it, chasing away the dark. It was a letter suddenly ripped open with a dulled knife and read aloud. Kelski held her breath, watching him take his own breath to speak. He held the first breath, contemplating, took another, as he broke eye contact to draw closer and leaned down so his lips brushed her ear.

Sal whispered his answer.

His jaw moved where their heads were pressed together and she felt the warmth of his breath and then a brief brush of lips against velvety ear. Kelski shivered. Not because of the answer, though that was as important too. She shivered because she had no choice. The gesture, the intimacy, pushed her needs further and she wanted to tighten her arms around him once more. Instead, she forced herself to loosen her hold. Kelski couldn’t take much more, not from him, not with what her psyche wanted.

So she released him gently, stepped away a half step, and then with caught his hand with the mark and brought it up to her lips once more. She kissed it gently, without hurry, and then released it. The quicksilver gaze was back on his own.

“Voicing it doesn’t make it any more real. It was already real.” The Kelvic said, starting to let Sal’s hand go and then thinking better of it. She took her other hand and pulled cloth out of her leather pants where it had been tucked neatly in, and drew his hand under her shirt. She guided his hand to her back, across the smooth skin to the small indent before her hips flared outward and downward, to where he could feel with his much bigger digits, the raised impression of a triangle. Gnosis marks, unlike tattoos, were raised and had an appearance not unlike embossed stationary or where a lord has pressed his sigil ring into wax.

“Akajia.” Kelski said. She never talked about her mark either. It was rare she even shared its existence with someone else. But in this case she did and with good reason. “We are not so different, Sal. Some secrets are worth knowing though. He would not have marked you if you did not have fire within you. My master who teaches me how to appreciate stones, says that all the ones with fire inside come from your Lord. That nothing he touches, in fact, is without it. While mine… mine is of the night and shadows and secrets kept secret. I will keep yours and speak to no one of it.” She said suddenly, releasing her hand holding his to her mark, and stepping back so he had no choice but to disengage from her skin. Then she tucked her shirt back into her pants neatly and shuddered slightly.

Kelski met his gaze then, smiled, and then let laughter fill her face. “I did not know it, but a tour was the last thing I wanted from you. I’m sorry about that. Had I known my own mind, I would have been more honest of my needs.” She said, knowing now that she had wanted the intimacy more but not being sure how to share that tidbit of information. Maybe it was something he had already picked up on. Maybe it was something that didn’t need said.

Kelski dug her fingers into her hair, ran them through it in a manner that seemed to be a way for her to reset her thinking, then she studied him thoughtfully a moment. “Do I get more answers as clear as the last? I will buy them if I must, though I would prefer to trade them if we can reach an agreement on the terms.” She said, half expecting him to profess that she had just got the one and only question she was going to get from him. If he refused her, she’d not be too upset… and let him know this by the playful way she asked. Then she began to carefully pick up her spilled coins. She might need them, after all, especially if he named a high price.

[Sal Mander]

The eagle was perceptive, attentive and alert. Even if Sal had wanted to, there was no hiding from Kelski's piercing vision. In that close proximity, she had accessed his soul and left him with nowhere to hide. But that was okay. He was tired of hiding. He was tired of moping around with the burden of his secrets, like a grumpy teenager convinced the world was against him. Sal could argue that his concerns in life were genuine, but there came a point where self-inflicted misery just became tedious. Well, his was not self-inflicted as such, but certainly he could have approached the whole ordeal with a more suited perspective.

What would he have asked Ivak right now if the meddling god dared to show his face? Sal most likely would have been obliterated into a thousands pieces if he had shared what was really on his mind. In truth, it was not so much the life changing experience of not only meeting, but being elected by a god to do his bidding, but rather it was the vagueness of that second part. He had labored long and hard at the library in search of clues and information regarding the Azenth, but those had proven to be little more than a collection of accounts and hearsay, none of which could be proven to be grounded in any degree of truth. With that in mind, what was a man to do? That part he was still figuring out. At least he could say he was trying. Others might have given up long before.

But here he was, enveloped in what was essentially a complete stranger, allowing his guard down like he had known the woman for countless centuries, like age old stars who shared the same quadrant of space, winking at one another for what must have seemed like an eternity. He had let her in without question, wondering what sorcery she had harnessed to accomplish this, but fully aware that he maintained his clarity of thought and sense of what was real. There was no denying it. The kelvic's search of intimacy had in its own way been the key to unlocking Sal's guardedness.

Had the want of a bond been mutual, it might have been a perfect solution to their current situation. Without the bond, this was an occurrence that later down the line he might have felt the need to explain, understand and justify. But while she had the need to serve, Sal lacked the need to be served. The concept of ownership, being master over another, servitude even? These were things that simply did not occur to him. If he was to enter into a spiritual or sexual coming together with another person, it had to be as equals. As such, the unspoken and undeniable strands that formed such a bond as that between the kelvic and its master were for now absent.

When she stepped back from him, there was a moment of dread as to how she would react. Had she moved back in retreat, as if his revelation had disgusted her or offended her? Before the seed of such thoughts could be watered, she caught his marked hand and planted a kiss upon it. Her velvet lips caressed his hand, in a precious manner like that of a mother on a newborn. It served to dispel his fears, instead leaving him in a hazy middle ground somewhere between calm and curiosity. The latter was fueled further when she took his hand and guided it around her waist. But as it skimmed by her soft skin, warm to the touch, answers were revealed as it came to rest on the tattoo. Unspoken realization set in, a feeling of relief that for the first time he felt he was not alone. That there was no bond on a kelvic level mattered little for now. Instead, though by no means a measurable substitute for what Kelski longed for, there was still the basis for something special and sacred. While their knowledge of each other was but hours old, there was something unexplainable in moments such as these, shared randomly by just as random people, were two souls came to one another on middle ground and, when looking upon one another, saw a little of themselves staring right back at them.

Akajia, she had said, though Sal had heard little of that god. Kelski proved well versed in Ivak, and for a moment he wondered if he might press her further for more information. Could it be that this master she spoke of knew more? Were there answers to be found under the stones he had taught the kelvic to appreciate so? His train of thought was broken as she stepped back again, forcing his hand to retreat. He pulled it back, as though having been hung onto a cliff ledge, finding it hard to give up the contact with her skin. But once he was disengaged, Sal felt a sudden sobering feeling, realizing for the first time that they had been stood in the middle of the street for goodness knew how long.

She commented on the tour, laughing suddenly as they both regarded the events that had led here. Sal could not help but issue a laugh of his own, breaking free from within as though it had been pinned down on a bed of springs, unable to bear the pressure anymore. "Honestly, that was the worst tour. Ever", he managed to get out in between bouts of genuine laughter. As the moment subsided, she spoke of finding more answers, or rather Sal's willingness to offer them up. Why stop now he thought, realizing that he would be hard pressed to deny Kelski her wants. Besides, this new policy of being straight forward and candid had so far proved a rewarding experience.

There only remained the matter of Kelski's fallen coins, remarkably intact despite having been laying on the street for several minutes, save for one that a grubby little urchin had plucked up in a greedy hand. Sal grabbed the arm of the would be thief as they went to run past, like a skilled bitch grabbing one of her pups who had been heading towards danger. "Oh no you don't, you little scamp," Sal proclaimed triumphantly.

The thief in question was a little girl with messy auburn pigtails, no more than six years old. Her face was freckled and dirty, her clothes worn and ragged. It was fair to say that Lhavit was not without its poorer parts. The girl looked utterly miserable when Sal held out his hand, reluctantly opening up her fist and letting the solitary coin escape her grasp. "This one belongs to my friend here," he said with a stern look as he nodded towards Kelski. The girl looked up with a guilt plastered to her face, as if expecting some kind of punishment for her wrong doing. Sal flipped the coin to Kelski before turning back to the little girl.

"But you know what? This one I found and I think it might be yours." With that, Sal brandished a kina from his own pocket, presenting it to the girl whose eyes widened, as though having been presented with a medal. Tentatively she reached up for it, taking it in one hand while glancing at Sal and Kelski, half expecting this to be some foul trick. But once she had the coin in her hand, she turned and ran off, disappearing down some alleyway weighing one kina more than she did just a minute before.

As Kelski watched, a genuine smile of happiness rested on Sal's face for a moment, before he turned back and gave a more purposeful grin to the kelvic. "I'll give you your answers Kelski. But it will cost you." With that, his grin grew wider. "How about you give me a tour? I've no doubt you know your way around the wilds better than I."

[Kelski]

If someone would have asked Kelski what her greatest strength was, the Kelvic wouldn’t have had to go much further than her sight. It wasn’t just in regards to vision though. The girl was awkward in almost all things social and physical, especially in her human form. But when it came to seeing the truth of things, she had a perspective that was usually clear to the point. It was, after all, the way a Sea Eagle lived. They relied on their eyesight, their intuition, and their instinct. And when it came to the man beside her, all of those things were clutching hard at her. He was asleep, she saw, in so many ways. He went through the motions of his life, but there was so much more to living out there. She knew it, and Kelski suspected he knew it as well.

Be that as it may, she had no idea the effect her presence had on her companion, nor that he wasn’t often so open or so responsive. Akajia’s children were all recruited and encouraged to ferret out secrets and peer through the shadows into the depths of things – be those things the darkest nights or blackest souls – and uncover what lurked beneath. Unconsciously she was attempting to do that with Sal, though wholly not by purpose or design. It wasn’t because he needed it or Akajia asked her too. Instead it was because he was a unique person, one that fascinated her, and she wanted to wake him.

It was like no other feeling she’d ever experienced.

Sal might have felt that a kelvic bond was a need to serve, but the Kelvic would have laughed at that sort of interpretation of her desire. There was no slavery in what she was feeling. There was neither a need for obedience nor desire to lie down and do his bidding. He was not Kelvic and therefore perhaps could never understand the needs of one searching for a bondmate. The bonds went deeper than friendship, were more complex than a master slave relationship, and happened in a way that was purely indescribable. She was ready. She’d been ready for the whole of her life. She just hadn’t met anyone whom had made her want to be better, more whole, stronger, and smarter than she had allowed herself to be up until this point.

And while he had the potential to be all those things, he wasn’t ready, not right now… and maybe never. The Kelvic understood this fact as clearly as if someone had pointed to the lightening sky and asked if she knew the sun was rising. It didn’t make her sad. It didn’t leave her regretting touching him or meeting him. Instead it gave her hope. Someone here would be right for her. Someone would be awake, living inside the whole of their body, and their spirit would be filling their form and overrunning the world with its presence. Sal Mander could be that person. But right now he was a banked fire, with the potential to burn the world down, but without the air or fuel feeding his spark. And where there was one, there would be others. No one in Alvadas had felt that way to Kelski. No one in the world between her past and her present had either.

But here and now, in Lhavit, there were those that could. And that made her extremely happy… so much so that she smiled, tipped back her head, and drank in the clear sky even as she released Sal completely and turned to look for her coins. Words filled her lips and she eased herself back into the world of the living still glowing from the moment of visiting the world of spirit with Sal’s touch and their revelations to each other. And while she watched him deal with a child and then placate the little human with a coin, Kelski couldn’t help but think herself the lucky one. The child was delighted in the coin Sal gave her. And there was a time before the here and now that Kelski would have enjoyed gifting the child with money as well. But life was distracting the ombre-haired woman, causing her quicksilver grey eyes to glaze slightly in distraction. Kelski felt something far deeper than delight in that moment. The emotion she felt filled her near to overflowing, and that light shone in her eyes. She was only just coming to understand. And that realization was filling her body with a heady sense of joy. Sal had offered her something more than a precious coin. He’d opened up to her and gifted her with what she suspected was her first taste of friendship.

A friend.

She’d never had one before. Kelski knew of the concept. She understood that it could be possible. She’d even dared hope for such a thing in Lhavit with a new life before her. But she hadn’t anticipated that it would come about so naturally, so unexpectedly. Sal was going to be her friend.

A friend.

Kelski kept the thought close to her, hording it like a child would horde a rare piece of candy, perhaps not eating it all at once but instead taking teasing little licks of it so the flavor would be enjoyed longer.

A friend.

She said the term several times in her mind and then glanced back at him, almost missing what he suggested. He would answer her questions for a price. Her lips curled upwards, ready to deny him until she saw his grin as he named that price. A tour? A tour of the wilds? The Kelvics grin rose to match Sal Manders and she nodded once, twice, then gave up all pretense of trying to form a coherent answer.

Instead, she glanced at the direction the little girl had ran off in, then right left and finally to the sky. There she could not take Sal. But there were other places and other ways… ways she’d found in the short time she’d been in the city. She then turned to Sal, eyed him carefully, and nodded finding him fit enough.

“We are on Zintia. There are five mountains here… connected by four bridges and one gate that leads down. If you are a man, that is the best way to walk to the sea is from here. But there are other ways down. I make my home near Sharai. I know the woods there best. I chose that place because the Amaranthine River comes down and forms the bay there. Fish are plentiful in the waters just there, sometimes so much so that you can walk across them when they are awaiting their spawn. And where the wilderness curls around Lhavit, near Sharai, it curls in on itself which leaves that side of the world sheltered. It gets less rain, less wind, and is better… softer… if that makes sense.” Kelski said, turning then. She wasn’t quite sure where they were, but she knew heading west they’d find the bridge to the Shinyama peak and then the bridge to Sharai. The view there was astonishing because that bridge crossed over the Amaranthian River which fell in a series of waterfalls to the sea.

Kelski lead Sal through the streets, obviously lost a few times because she walked them into dead end alleys until she found a main road and took that through to the bridge crossing from one peak to the next until they were next to the sea. Sharai peak was less populated. It made agriculture its focus. The Okomo grazed pastures that were divided by stone walls that flanked the road through the peak. There were hothouses everywhere made of skyglass and folded into the most interesting little private family ran squares. The peak was the center of where food came from so open market stalls were not uncommon as they made their way across its land. There were ducks and geese as well, though Kelski steered clear of them seemingly annoyed at their presence.

Finally, she lead him off through one pasture after lightly jumping a stone wall and setting off through the overgrown property that looked like it hadn’t seen an actual grazer for decades. At the back of the property was a trail that started out in the center of the overgrown grass.

Kelski began to follow it south as it gently slopped downward leading them directly into the Misty Peaks surrounding them.

“What do you want to see first?” She asked, pausing at a break in a far stone wall where the path continued past a small wooden gate that looked to have not been on its hinges for years. “There are waterfalls, big trees, very astonishing views, the beach below, and even my home.” She said, offering him a choice before they set off very far into the vegetation that seemed to grow denser the further the trail descended into it.

“Or I could just surprise you.” She said softly, glancing at him and hoping he was about to have as much fun seeing her world as she would have showing it to him.