All dressed up and no place to go ( Haeli )

[Brig]

”When the tinker came through, always from one town headed to another he told us,” Brig had considered, ”his satchels always rattled and bulged at their tops and corners. He had things in there that my mother called…” The Kelvic hesitated, frowning as if he was testing the air for familiar or worrisome scents. But he was searching for a word half remembered. ”Nonsensicals,” he finally uttered with a smile of sudden remembrance. ”Things made of bits of glass or shells and shining metal that hung from a porch hook or that mounted up on a rooftop or post. He told her they were to tell the direction of the wind and that people in cities were happy to pay their coins for them.” ”She could never guess why, she said she only had to step outside and see which way her hair was pulled in the breeze.” If the tinker had been honest though, it mean that people in cities would buy all sorts of things. Both useful things, and things nonsensical maybe. It was the most Brig had talked for weeks on end all combined. It was more in fact in one stretch than was his tendency when his family was still living. It was beyond him to know why, even if it had occurred to him. Except that it was effortless, he felt completely at ease in her presence and as if he had found a like soul. A place where he belonged when he hadn’t truly known he was looking. What compelled him to seek out companionship and bonding might be out of reach of the Kelvic’s thought processes. But a lack of understanding didn’t at all diminish the compulsion itself. He paused when she asked about his sister, and smiled curiously as he took the crabapple she offered and popped it into his mouth. ”Laire was born at the same time as me. Like a litter of kits,” he considered after he swallowed. ”But she stayed small while I grew much faster. Maybe it was because she was human and I wasn’t. She hadn’t learned to talk much either but it didn’t matter. I always knew what she was feeling, and what she needed.” It struck him that already he was beginning to feel something similar through a connection barely an hour or two old. He couldn’t explain it. It was very different than had been with his sister, there were entirely different nuances at work, more potent some of them and still uncertain. And yet in other ways, strikingly like it. He tilted his head curiously and watched her as her hand brushed his shoulder, and the gesture sent sensations coursing through him that were nothing at all like he’d experienced before. He smiled and dared take her hand, only to have it slip free as she dashed ahead of him down the hill. He laughed and took off after her without a thought. He laughed, and stayed close on her heels, but never passed her on their way to the water’s edge. And when they got there, he was more invigorated by it than he was winded. It wasn’t an easy question she asked him. His mother of course had explained her reasoning for his silence. She could hardly avoid it when faced with his endless questions. But his experiences with humans other than his own family were too few, to fully comprehend. ”She said I shouldn’t tell anyone, because Kelvics are sometimes used as pets by humans. Or slaves made to wear chains and collars,” he considered with a deep frown. Clearly it was a prospect that bothered him a great deal, even if he’d only his mother’s vague warnings to guide him, and no practical experience at all in that case. ”She worried when I was smaller, that I might be taken by one of them if they knew the truth, and sold as a slave.” The very thought of being considered little more than a pet or beast of burden, chained and collared, robbed of the same freedom that any other thinking creature had, was enough to have raised his hackles had he been in his animal form. Surely she could have felt it, seen it in his expression, heard it in the tone of his voice. It was different as night and day, force, or choosing. It was a distraction though that brought him back to a state of fascination when she began to shift. To show him, instead of trying to explain in words what the woman who’d raised her had been. It didn’t take as long this time, but when it was done, Brig was astounded. He’d never seen or imagined such a creature in all of his life and he watched unblinking, and moved around her for a new perspective at every turn. She even spoke differently than any soul he’d heard speak before, but he understood it well enough even if he was left a bit mystified at the same time. Exiled. It was a word he’d never heard before but he got the gist of it from the rest. ”She was sent away because she worshiped the wrong goddess?” There was another prospect that only left him more curious. But first, there was shifting back, and there was the spring. She shifted back and he smiled, nodded and wasted no time in peeling off his breeches to leave them on a flat rock beside the pool. ”I bathe here a lot. The water’s not the same as in the river or the creeks. It’s much warmer but it’s clear and clean, sometimes other animals come here to drink or even swim.” A gesture to make the point, he grinned and waded in first, then offered his hand up to help her in. Surrounding them, rock columns rose up and hugged the water’s edge in places. He turned and pondered them a moment before uttering quietly. ”I like it here. They’re like ancient faces looking down on all the creatures that come here...Tell me about Caiyha?” he suddenly asked, and turned an intense curious gaze back on Haeli.

[Haeli]

Haeli laughed lightly at Brig’s term ‘Nonsensicals’. Did people really use things that made no sense? The word seemed to indicate that’s exactly what they did. What Brig was describing was more in line with what packrats did or even pesky camp robbing jays or ravens. They stole things, shiny things, and kept them just to admire the gleam. She said so too, smiling slightly as she did so, imagining the people walking around the city with bird heads or packrat cheek pouches brimming with shinies. “I would have liked your mother, I think, since she seems to make a lot of sense to me.” Haeli said gently, her gaze more sober. She missed her own mother, the one that had raised her, and still felt a longing in her heart for the one that birthed her that she’d never known. Gold eyes went amber and she turned her head away to study the path before them, focusing on eating her apples. The girl was a grazer, like most wild things. She ate as she walked, nibbling on this or that, finding leftover berries from summer’s bounty and never passing up food that might be free or readily available. Haeli was trying very hard to ignore her growing awareness of Brig. The truth was it scared her a little. It was a secretly intriguing thing, like the first scent of spiced cider she’d ever had. She wanted more of it but was deathly afraid of the newness it held for her. She couldn’t equate it to a sexual desire either, for such things hadn’t yet crossed her mind in a human fashion. She’d got the dhani version of reproduction education, so her awareness of the opposite sex was rather limited to a snakes’ perspective and completely out of line for what her true form was. But she was aware of him all the same. He made her laugh which was something she probably did maybe once or twice a year. Such eruptions of emotion had always bothered Ozantha who had a reptilian humor at best. Ozantha hadn’t forbidden them or anything, but her emotional set up hadn’t dealt with a human’s mirth very well at all which was why she’d taught Haeli the dhani shape first and foremost and made her wear it a great deal. With Brig though, things were different. He made her heart race a little and her hands want to touch him as if seeking a physical connection to the emotional bond that was steadily growing. When he took her hand, she felt like glowing. But that wasn’t a safe feeling, wasn’t a sane one either. She let her better instincts, that of flight, take over and she raced off down the trail with him at her heels. His words at the bottom of the trail calmed her and she laughed abruptly. It seemed an odd thing to laugh at – the thought that someone would use another living thing as a pet or make them wear collars or chains – but in Haeli’s mind she was picturing someone trying to talk the strong male in front of her into any of that. Her eyes danced as she looked him over and then shook her head. “I’d like to see anyone try to make you do anything you didn’t want to do Brig. They’d be in for a surprise, I’m thinking. You don’t strike me as anyone’s pet. For shame. And to make a living thing wear a collar or chain is just showing how uncertain they are of their own persons. Caiyha’s wrath upon someone who would try such a thing.” The girl said, then proceeded to show him the dhani shape. She picked old and the face of her mentor rather than just morphing herself into one. Ozantha had warned her never to take the shape of her true torso and make it a dhani around other males (she hadn’t been species specific). The woman had said she was comely that way and would cause males to coil which would leave her with a belly full of eggs and an unwanted nest before she could blink since the dhani reproduced year round. This seemed to be the worst thing ever, so Haeli never did it. Luckily human legs were ugly though, and protected her from this so she was far safer in her true form as long as she kept her legs. The rapid shifting made her tired, more tired than she’d like to admit, so when she found her form once more Haeli followed Brig into the water only slowly, after stripping off the rest of her things. She took Brigs hand once more, slipped into the water beside him, and only reluctantly let it go. She was a strong swimmer but didn’t really need to swim as they waded out, warm stones still a decent depth beneath her feet. Haeli sighed in pleasure at the warmth of the water and smiled at Brig. “Do you know anything about the gods?” She asked curiously, then looked thoughtful. “Caiyha is the goddess of plants and animals. She is the daughter of The Goddess of Life, which is the spark that burns in all of us making us living breathing thinking creatures with needs. Caiyha is a nature goddess, one who ran wild over the land glorying in its wilderness. She watches out for people like you and I, Brig. But we have to follower her laws. The strongest and smartest survive. There is a natural course for everything which ends in death. What doesn’t survive goes to provide for those that do… that sort of thing. I suspect you already know her, whether you realize it or not. She is the cycles all around us.” Haeli said, tentatively taking a stroke and then another until she was outright swimming. She moved naturally through the water, which was easily explained by her upbringing. The Swamp witch didn’t seem afraid of getting wet. And in fact, the more they were in the water, the more playful Haeli became, leaving her seriousness behind and frolicking almost like an otter would. She splashed him, then dove deep only to surface, yanking at his toes on the way by. Her laughter filled the spring as she relaxed, treading water and willing to talk more about anything he wanted – but also willing to play.

[Brig]

Brig was all too aware of Haeli’s nearness. He was becoming more aware of it with every passing moment. Even if he didn’t quite grasp all the reason behind it. There was none, reason had very little to do with it. It was nature at work, instinct, drive, no matter which form he was in. It was the part that had been crafted into him generations previously, the confusing duality of human logic and animal instinct, that was getting in the way. The thinking part. All of the rest of him knew exactly why he’d experienced a particular thrill when he’d pursued her down the hill. Like a sort of game played by all manner of creatures as prelude to more serious business. He wasn’t completely at a loss though. He was only inexperienced. He’d only come to maturity months ago, but it didn’t mean he hadn’t witnessed plenty and grasped it all. At least amongst his animal cousins. Nature and instinct told him all he needed to know and how to go about it…should the opportunity arise. But he was young, just coming into his own. And while he knew what a female raccoon smelled like when she was feeling agreeable…even if it hadn’t ever occurred to him to do anything about it…How would he know if her time had come and she was feeling receptive, or even inviting him? It was never good to go in uninvited. He might have only observed to now, but he knew what happened when one of his cousin raccoons or other forest creatures presumed to take liberties without a clear invitation. They came away war torn, and all the wiser…if unsatisfied. He wouldn't anyway, not uninvited. Whether it was the humanity that was crafted into him, or human morality as passed down by his mother, it simply wasn't a part of his nature. When he was close enough, in order to help resolve the question, he sniffed the air around her as if it might tell him something important. It didn’t help, and it was just as well he’d got into the water when he did. It didn’t occur to him, but it might have been better if the water was cold. If the reasoning part of him was conflicted and inexperienced, nature insured that his body was more than clear on the question. And incapable of ignoring a bare and beautiful female. It was causing him pains. Suffice to say he was all too aware of her touch, her scent, her closeness. And his own senses were heightened as a result. The warm water was soothing though, and her laughter brought about a wide grin that diminished the traces of tension that had crept in as a result of an ongoing struggle to come to terms. ”It seemed to worry her a lot when I was little,” he said of his mother’s warnings. ”But I don’t know any other Kelvics, my father was gone before I was born. But she said he roamed as he wanted to, and didn’t belong to anyone. She said he went off towards the lights in the north sky. Have you ever seen them?” Brig wondered. He never had himself, but only heard the tinker talk as if he’d seen them. He was still feeling edgy, even if he’d resolved himself to it. Maybe a little exertion would help and while he was standing waist deep in the water he dropped down to dunk his head beneath the surface and emerged again with curls soggy and dropping down low on his forehead. And then took a few strokes in deeper water before turning to face her again. It helped marginally, and thoughts of gods were another distraction. ”I don’t know much about them,” he said of deities, and curiously took in her explanation. He’d never thought much about it, putting a name, an identity to all that he already knew and was. To him it was a simple thing. The laws of nature were simple and clear. You followed them and survived, even thrived. You didn’t, you died and something else thrived instead. He never questioned the cycles, they simply were and he, like every other creature he passed on the trails each day, was a part of them. ”Have you seen her, talked to her?” he wondered. It was as true as he’d said before, nudity didn’t bother him. It was a natural state, one closest to his understanding of the world. But when combined with touch, primal instincts and the chase, it was definitely causing a part of him to assert itself, and working havoc on his senses. She laughed, and darted away through the water, sliding smooth beneath the surface then sending an arc of water back to splash in his face. It made him blink, it was a distraction he needed. But still, though it was hardly a sensible act, one worthy of winning the war with his rebellious nether parts, he grinned and plunged beneath the water in pursuit. And playfully reached out to take hold of her calf and pull her back.

[Haeli]

"I've seen lots of lights in the sky. Stars right? But they aren't just north. They are all over. They even have names, some of them." The girl said, misunderstanding his words. The Gyvaka was south, lowland, and way beyond the reach of the Aurora Brig spoke of. Haeli hadn't seen it nor had she been in Lhavit yet long enough to enjoy the clear spring and summer skies where the heavens put on their show. About his questions on Caiyha, she had a more sure answer. "Yes, I've seen her every day. You have too. I'll explain Brig, I promise. But its hard to understand first without having been somehow touched by Her or to live in the world understanding how it is we live with Her." Haeli added, unsure how to pass knowledge of this kind, of the heart, forward. Haeli had no real understanding what she was doing to Brig or that she could be distracting. Her whole life she'd been taught humans were ugly, even if she hadn't quite believed that they were finding them more fascinating than Ozantha could have ever known. She assumed Brig felt the same way, especially since like Ozantha, he wasn't human. The witch herself though, was under no such constraints. She found him handsome in a way she had no words for. Beautiful if such thoughts would not embarrass him. It wasn't his form, either, that truly caught her. It was the light in his eyes and his quick and easy expressions. It was his confidence and openness and the way he talked to her like he cared what she thought and felt. Had it only been a few chimes? Maybe a bell or two? Ozantha had done her no favors and educated her in the way things should have been. Brig was far more knowledgeable in such things just being an observer of life. Like him Caiyha herself, nature, had been her teacher. Haeli knew the way of things, but felt outside of that circle for more reasons than one. Because of her upbringing and what she'd been taught having been all wrong for her species, there were parts inside of her that were not quite what they should have been; off kilter and misinformed suffering from delusions of inadequacy that her adoptive mother had really had no intention of burdening her with even though it had happened all the same. She'd been raised knowing her mother had wished her to be dhani more than anything instead of the weak little girl with legs instead of a powerful muscled torso. It was one of the reasons she had been taught to shapeshift. The girl had spent more of her life with her lower half in coils than she had using legs, which in all fairness was convenient in a swamp. And had she been in the same mindset Brig was in, she'd have shifted her lower body into that of a Dhani and invited him to view how beautiful her scales could be and to wrap around her and do a dance of power. Haeli had often wondered what it would be like, entwining with a male. The Dhani were as cruel as they were beautiful, so there were times females didn't survive their first dance. Males used females to further their status. The more offspring they sired on important females, especially Queens, the more desirable they were to those females that had higher rank. Ozantha had been broken, in a few ways, for as Haeli grew older, it was easier to treat her as Dhani rather than human, and teach her the ways of the Dhani. Males coiled to dominate young females in a matriarchal society where always females ruled. But those Queens were older, far into their wisdom, whereas the younger females were vulnerable. The males would catch the unprotected ones at inopportune times and do one of two things - kill them or inseminate them. Often there was a battle, for who liked to be slain? Females defended their lives and sometimes promoted the violence as much as their male counterparts. It was inhuman and vicious. Dhani were cruel, and being raised as one, Haeli expected certain things to come cruelty. And she expected them from males, regardless of their race. And in her frolicking, she let Brig's questions go unanswered briefly... the showing him of Caiyha, in exchange for the frolic that expressed her joy of good company and the attention of an attractive male. When Brig's hand captured her calf and tugged her back, Haeli expected violence. He hadn't done more than hold her hand and touch her lightly before and she had no real baseline for playing, but when he tugged, she let the water's buoyancy drag her lighter body to his where she bumped against him. She automatically thought the worst. Their lengths brushed fully and she reached out to grab at his shoulders instinctively. She felt all of him, his interest, his mirth, and knew she'd been taught the moods of males switched gears in a heartbeat and a hair's breath. She froze, the stupidest thing she could have done, truthfully, and let his eyes capture hers. He would want fight so he could breed, and she'd caused it by imitating the play. That's all males did. She was stupid... so stupid... even as her heart began to race at the thought. But then her eyes met his and Haeli forgot about cruelty, about coiling with him though a tiny part of her wanted to reach for the form that could do so the best. Instead she lost herself in his so similarly colored eyes and leaned forward to press her forehead against his. No gaze was deeper or more revealing. His soul was in his eyes and the light she saw from it blinded her. There was no violence to come. There was no forced lover's kiss. In fact, even though their bodies came together intimately, legs brushing legs, hips bumping, breastbone striking breastbone there was something far more monumental going on within them. Haeli took no shock from Brig's form pressed against her own. Instead she was simply welcoming, understanding, accepting. Males showed their pleasure in many ways; she understood this and thought nothing of it. How could she? She was too lost in what she felt. It would have enraged her to know that what happened between them was bred into him generations ago by a man desperate to want answers to his questions and willing to do anything to see blank lines filled in. Her awareness of it was far more acute than an average humans would be due to the gnosis mark that graced her belly beneath her naval and above her pubis. It made her open to him, aware of him, acutely sensitive to his nature and to his needs. They spoke the same language, had blended awareness to do so, and now with this on the heels of that, the bonding that was happening was far stronger than it should have been so newly forged. She was lost in the sensation of the it. It was arcane and spiritual and physical all in ways Haeli would be hard pressed to describe. It came upon them both hard, like icy foreign fingers of what will be invading them both and linking them up. There was no choice in it. The fingers of djed and spirit were coated amber like their eyes, blending soul to soul and linking them in ways that most kelvic bonded pairs only briefly touched on. Hard. Fast. Certain. Nature took no gentleness with them. He was hers. Just like that. Marcus Kelvic had designed it thus, willing slavery in all but name. Had she been anything but a marked of Caiyha's, the moment would have been of as much note as simply passing going to a merchant in exchange for needed goods. But Brig hadn't bonded young or repeatedly. He'd grown into his own and learned to use his mind before the will of others stole it away. His prime cost her something that most humans didn't have to pay to own another living thing. She felt as given away in the bond, handed over, which was something rare for most kelvics didn't bond to followers of Caiyha or grow so old before they bonded. Haeli paid for Brig's ownership with pieces of her own soul that were bartered out like coin exchanged for its true weight in tradegoods. Will. Awareness. Dependence. Some of his became hers, just enough, so that between them there would always be an equality that most bondmates didn't share. The swamp witch who'd never uttered a fearful sound in her life whimpered. She caught hold of Brig even harder, and laid her head on his shoulder shaking slightly, letting the water hold them both up. She knew something had happened even without his body joining hers and leaving his seed. They'd joined alright, but not in the way she'd been thinking or the way Brigs body had felt would be best. But they tangled in a dangerous way, for both of them, because the man who'd played god had never designed it to happen between two such as them. Kelvics were tools, things owned, loyalty unquestioned. They didn't own. They didn't demand. They didn't impose their wills and needs on those who should have been their masters. But Haeli was bound by a higher authority to serve. Her duty was to the wilds and Brigs was part of that which was wild. So he claimed her as neatly as his bond had gifted him to her. And while it felt natural and normal to the Kelvic, something wholly complete, the swamp witch was completely blindsided. And as the bond finished solidifying with her wrapped in his arms by her own doing, he felt his awareness expand outward. His mind long robbed of full humanity, due to the nature of his being only mimicking it, suddenly began to flood with knew knowledge, sharper intellect, and greater potential. A strong bond didn't so much as grant the kelvic his mistress' mind. It rather formed a key to unlock his own. He became something more in that instant, like a new tool finally placed against a grindstone to at last grant it an edge. Dangerously, his intelligence began to expand outward and embrace what he was meant to be. In the beginning they were walkers of worlds, seekers, bent on a quest to find that which was lost and beloved of their Master and Creator. Now though, he was something still much like that, something dangerous and capable, but the missing task was given a name and a shape. He wasn't to seek lost places to find something missing to the Kelvic family. He'd found Haeli. And she was his task. Even if she didn't quite realize it or understand it. Dragging a deep breath the girl opened her eyes and pressed backwards. There was an unwillingness to speak words that needed to pass between them. There was a stark terror of loosing herself, of slavery, of linking to deeply or knowing too much. But it was far too late. The thing between them was already done. Hard, fast, giving both of them no choice and no chance to question. Haeli swam backwards, releasing Brig completely, her face a mask of confusion. And Brig knew instinctively she just needed a moment, some space, for humans weren't as equipped for and capable of what had happened as the kelvics themselves were. She tried to cover for it. The witch drew a deep breath, took two more strokes backwards. Her bravery was false, all bravado, as she plastered normalcy on her features and pretended to look around, taking her awareness from him. But it would never stray far from him, ever, until the bond was broke either by his choice or death. That was the power of the kelvic. "Cai... Caiyha... is... is...." She reached up and brushed wet hair out of her eyes, trying desperately to finish the conversation from earlier. She stopped, closing her mouth before even finishing the sentence. It wasn't the conversation they needed to have at that time. It probably wasn't even one they could have. And secretly, somewhere back in a more reasonable place in Haeli's mind, she wondered if Caiyha wasn't laughing, bright eyed and viciously at the utter confusion in her favored.

[Brig]

Of kelvics, Brig’s mother had known precious little. Considering the isolated existence she’d led with her two children, even before then, how could she know more. What she’d understood of her son’s origins, what made him different than his sister, she’d learned from a lover who she’d known from the start would be only temporary. A passing interest for him, even if it had meant more to her. She’d accepted it, knowing from the start that he’d slip away with some early morning sunrise and never look back. Or at least she’d believed he wouldn’t. There’d been affection, but no bond. He hadn’t belonged to her or to anyone. She’d suspected he never would and would rather the air of melancholy that clung to him like a second skin, than to be rid of it through genuinely connecting with another living soul. But what she knew of what her son was, had come from him, what little he’d shared. And scarce bits and pieces more along the way. Ultimately she’d worried about the wrong thing. She’d worried when Brig was younger that if others knew, he’d be dragged away and forced into chains and slavery. She’d never anticipated that he’d unknowingly search for the master or mistress meant to be his. Then give himself away body and soul, freely and absolutely. She hadn’t realized that until he did, a part of him would stay missing. He’d never know his potential, he’d remain incomplete. Brig didn’t realize either, or couldn’t name what it was that had been pressing him to search for something that was as mysterious as the aching need that had grown stronger with each passing season. The thing that had lured him closer and closer to civilization day by day. That had made him watch humans pass along forest paths with a yearning that was closer to compulsion than simple curiosity. But he hadn’t approached any of them. Instead he’d let them think he was no more than one of the forest’s wild creatures. As if something deep inside him said, No, not this one. Until today, until just now. It was something more than a simple want to breed. There was that, certainly. The press of their bodies when he pulled her back to him was a physical jolt. But the one of the soul made it seem almost inconsequential in the moment. It was an instant knowing when he held her fast in his arms while the warm water lapped around them. When she rested her forehead against his, and when their gazes locked. He couldn’t name it. He couldn’t begin to realize that it was much more than what Marcus Kelvic had planned or intended. But it didn’t matter. He became hers in a handful of heartbeats, simple as that. She took ownership, he gave himself to it completely, all in a locked gaze. He couldn’t have broken it if he’d wanted to, but he felt no loss of freedom, choice or will. It was just the opposite. He felt it inside and out, its pulse thrummed through his mind like a pulse and even their heartbeats seemed to merge for a moment, matching beat for beat where their torsos pressed together. In an instant her needs became his, even if he couldn’t know that his, also became hers. He might never know or understand Caiyha’s part in it, or that of her mark where flesh had met flesh. But he didn’t feel as if anything had been taken or torn from him, that he’d lost anything. Instead, he felt to be much more than he’d been before, what he’d been looking for but couldn’t name. It wasn’t a choice made by logic or forethought, of knowing, it was a choosing of spirit and soul. And his belonged to her, so long as she wanted it. It had come with a vengeance and not gentle. But he hadn’t feared what was happening to them both. To him, it was a wonder, but it was the most natural thing in the world. He’d been self aware already, Marcus Kelvic had made sure of that. But suddenly, as his mind expanded and as his senses danced with Haeli’s, Brig felt more aware than he’d ever been before. He was colorblind, but the world that he saw was nonetheless brighter than ever. Scents and senses were sharper, and the air around them was crisper. She trembled, and a shudder ran through him. But it had nothing to do with the chill of the breeze on his bare skin. But when she drew back and pushed away, he could tell that whatever had happened, had frightened her. He released her, sensing that she wanted distance between them. He didn’t follow her, but instead stayed where he was and watched her. He couldn’t explain what had happened, or why. He couldn’t name it or say if he’d caused it. He only knew that it was right. How could it not be? But as he watched her and listened to her faltering explanation, he couldn’t help but think she wasn’t as sure as him. He didn’t close the distance between them then, but left the space between them so long as she wanted it. He expelled a long breath, he was strangely exhilarated, but spent at the same time. And he tilted his head curiously and found a flat rock near the water’s edge to perch himself upon. After a moment, he smiled and ventured quietly, ”The tinker told me once that he’d seen the lights in the north skies up close. Not the stars, he said that it was as if a god was busy painting in bright moving colors across the night sky. Maybe it was Caiyha?” He sat then for another moment in silence. Still grappling with what had happened between them, and worried that what he’d found natural and right, had hurt or frightened her beyond repair. And that he’d somehow caused it. He looked up at her, following her with a dark, wondering amber gaze. ”I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know if I caused it. I only meant to…Did I hurt you?” he wondered.

[Haeli]

Brig gave Haeli space because she needed air to breath and time to absorb, but once she had it she acutely felt his loss. He also felt her feeling his distance. It was an odd double overtone of his awareness mixed with hers. She watched him freeze, not pursue when she moved away, and then admired the grace at which he neatly slipped out of the water to perch on a large flat rock beside the springs edge. Water dripped off his bare form, staining the rock beneath him dark but bringing out hues the dry sun washed stone hadn't revealed before. Their meeting was like that, revealing, like water washing the dry stones of their lives and unveiling colors no one knew was there. Haeli watched Brig with eyes that were as liquid as the water that gently held her up and cradled her. Her arms stretched out, stroking the soothing water, holding her body upright as her legs gently scissored. She could have stood up, but she did not. Haeli reveled in the liquid warmth and of being clean and of staring at a man who was no man at all and trying to understand what her relationship was to him. He was beautiful to her and now that he was a span or two a way she could breathe a little and think. Bondmates came in all shapes and sizes. Some Kelvics drew the short stick and got children who loved them but never saw them for themselves but rather as glorified playmates and protectors. Others got true masters who cared nothing for them save the coin the kelvics would bring. Some, however, gained partners and people whom they owned as surely as the people owned them if one could believe in such things. Haeli did. Those were the people with hearts wide open, good hearts, ones that wanted to explore the world and could thrive with new experiences and had more to share than could be contained within themselves. His comment about the stars through her and she blinked a little. She looked thoughtful but shook her head, not having seen what he described. "No I haven't seen the lights. It sounds beautiful though. I've seen only stars. But where the Gyvaka is, there are a lot of mountains to the north that block out the horizon there. Maybe here we can see them because we are so high." She offered, finally putting her feet down and standing on her own. Bare toes dug into pockets of silt caught between the bedrock that primarily formed the pool. Her blond hair had gone dark with dampness fanning out around her. She looked as wild as a kelvic in the water, and as unashamed as well not wearing a stitch of clothing. She moved forward, closer to him, until she was at the water's edge, and then leaned out putting her arms on the stone he perched on. She rested her chin on her arm and let her body sink into the water once more so she was with him but not touching him. Looking up, she met his gaze and he knew his question was unnecessary. He hadn't hurt her. Not one bit. Scared her? A little. Surprised her? A whole lot. But she wasn't harmed. Haeli reached out and touched his leg with her other free hand, stroking it for a moment before letting it slip back into the water. She didn't say anything for the longest time. Instead, her eyes roamed his form, as if learning his shape. She'd done it before, almost constantly as if falling back into a comfortable pattern. There was a curiosity about her gaze and also an acceptance as she looked her fill of him and found him absolutely perfect. Her acceptance filled his awareness so too did her approval. She liked him. She accepted him. And she accepted what was between them even if she didn't understand it. "I won't pretend to understand it, Brig. But I know it is alright." Haeli said softly. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and took another breath. What did one say in the face of what happened? How did they even talk about it without having any words to describe what seemed impossible? "Someone knows something about this somewhere." She offered. "I don't think its something common or Ozantha would have told me. But I don't think its something that hasn't happened before. There is a library in the city I will investigate and see if there's anything in there that could tell us more. I'm sure there will be something written in a book somewhere. But I trust in the unseen as well as the seen. And I know whatever this is it isn't bad. Not at all." He could feel her pleasure, her excitement, her growing awareness of him and above all her approval. "But I think I need to get back to town. I think we both need to breath and think. I know you said you had things you needed to do. Brig, will you follow after as soon as your things are done and look for my building with the glass domed roof? I think we just need a little time and uh..." She didn't say distance but he knew she meant that. Unsettled. They were both a little unsettled. But the truth was she didn't want to leave him alone now. In fact, she didn't want to go back to town without him. But she thought she needed too. Their bond was raw, brand new, and would need time to grow. Haeli sensed that even if she didn't have words to put to voice. She reached out and touched him again. Truthfully, she wanted to crawl out onto that rock and crouch down beside him so they could touch again, but she didn't. The situation was already strange enough.

[Brig]

Brig knew that if he didn’t find his old friend before the days turned and stayed as cold as the nights were now, he’d never make it through another Winter. That one was a prideful coon and it would take some talking to lure him back to the deep borrow the Kelvic had made, and to get him to accept a far easier source of food than most places in these mountains. One look at him and Brig had known he’d been a formidable one when he was younger, and had hardly accepted that he wasn’t anymore. He was covered with the scars of dozens of battles and one ear was notched. And there was a sizable piece missing from the other one. Maybe if he could be convinced firstly, it might be easier to lure him up the mountain later before the hard freezes came. But first, Brig had to find him and it wouldn’t be easy. Now things were different, they’d become different in ways he couldn’t explain. But he didn’t need to. He felt it. And it was right and what it ought to be. He’d have already been reluctant to see her go before it had happened. He’d already known that with his new friend gone, the days ahead till he followed would be quiet and lonely ones. Now, she was only a few feet away and he felt the distance like a aching void in desperate need of filling. He'd make sure she got safely back to the trail that would lead her up the mountain. He'd show her the way himself. But he didn’t want her to go. And he didn’t want to stay behind. When she reached out and touched him a second time, Brig reached down and took her hand in his. He marveled at flesh paler than his as he traced his finger along the delicate lines of her palm. The long graceful fingers as he explored them with his own. In his eyes she was the most wondrous creature he’d ever seen. ”I don’t want you to go.” he said quietly, and solemnly found her gaze with his own. He knew she was right. He had his friend to find, to get settled for the Winter. And like her, however completely right what happened felt to him, he was still in a state of wonder himself. She was right, he told himself. But he still didn’t like it. ”I’ll find my friend and convince him,” he finally agreed. ”and as soon as I do, I’ll come and find you under the dome.” Then, in spite of his resistance to staying behind, he found a smile. ”I think now that no matter where you were, I’d know where to find you.” Something told him it was true enough, that somehow what had happened would ensure that no matter where she was, instinct would guide him. And the bond between them would show him the way.

[Haeli]

The kelvic immediately voiced what Haeli herself felt. She didn't want to leave the fascinating creature that she hadn't yet decided was wholly raccoon or even a completely believable man. He was something in between and yet something more than both creatures. Haeli spent a long time silent, simply looking at him, feeling an odd combination of his protectiveness and needs through the raw newly formed bond. It was a confusing thing, feeling what he was feeling while dealing with her own emotions. When he traced her palm it made her shiver slightly even still submerged in the warm water. He touched her like she was a wondrous delicate precious thing that his words backed up with actions. She didn't want to go either, not that she could explain why. Haeli knew Brig could take care of himself and probably had a good life in the woods without people. But he shared her loneliness and her desire for someone to talk too and that alone was enough to convince her he'd not be far behind. She closed her fist on his hand and tugged gently until he braced himself and she pulled free of the water with his help. The need to touch him was overwhelming so she slipped into his arms and without an ounce of shyness hugged him. "It will be fine, Brig. Keep yourself safe, find your friend, and I'll meet you in town." She said, letting her arms around him stroke up and down his back. He was warmth and strength and security unlike anything she'd ever felt. And for a moment, she resisted the urge to shift to her coiled form and slide them around his body sensuously. Brig could feel the echos of her feelings within his own psyche. Even ignorant, they'd done everything right and carefully solidified their bond tightly by voice and touch and open emotion. Brig was old, far older than was normal for a kelvic to have their first intense bonding which made his bonding stronger than it would have been had he been passed from owner to owner. Ferals were like that. Hugging him, even touching him at all, made the world feel somehow right in Haeli's mind. Then, as if to reach a new level of intimacy, she tapped the gnosis mark on her lower stomach and filled his mind with her warm voice again. "I promise you. Somehow things are different. Somehow we are together. I'll be waiting and you'll find your friend and come in a day or two. This can't be something bad... this can be only something good." Haeli said to him in her voiceless manner, as if her spirit washed over him. Leaving a kiss on his forehead which she reached on her toes, Haeli then she pulled away and slowly began redressing. Once she was firmly clothed and her bag full of gathered vegetation shouldered, she unerringly set her feet on the trail back towards Lhavit and only turned to give him a little wave on the last switchback before the trail took her out of sight. NoteIts been wonderful threading with you. Shall we end this one?

[Brig]

Brig had never feared being alone in the forests, not in the bright light of the scarce open places or in the darkest shadows of trees and night. He watched occasional human passersby from treetops or underbrush without them knowing, or observed other wild things in packs and clutches or small family groups. But in the weeks since losing his mother and sister he’d grown to be more and more a solitary creature than ever he'd been before. He curled up alone in the burrow he’d dug beneath the fallen tree. He hunted alone, aside of select friendships and rivalries he remained apart even from his raccoon cousins. It wasn’t that he didn’t want company though, to hear the sound of other voices or to know the touch of another. He knew what loneliness was and it dogged him. It had even pulled him closer to the base of the highest peaks, towards a place he had never seen or known before. But whatever had drawn him closer and closer to others had also told him, not yet. Until now. And now he stood alone on the stony platform at the edge of the pool and watched her disappear around the switchback at the end of the trail, and the hand that he’d raised to mirror Haeli’s own dropped back to his side and he huffed deep from his chest. It was a solemn thing that was lost on a slight breeze and he felt a chill. Not from crisp air on bare skin, but from knowing he was alone again. Her touch when they’d embraced, the brush of her lips against his forehead and their thoughts and emotions coming together as one had warmed him more than the waters of the hot spring. And now that she was going he felt more alone than he ever had before. He wasn’t afraid of it, he was more than capable of surviving, even thriving in the wilds. It wasn’t fear exactly. It was like dread, a feeling much like mourning and an aching void that wanted nothing more than to be filled again by following her. Things were different. When she’d said it, he knew it was true and he’d nuzzled his cheek into hers and wrapped her in an embrace that might never let her go. He watched her every move while she’d dressed, drank in every feature and absorbed every thought and emotion to hold until he found her again. Finding her, had suddenly become as much a part of his nature and instinct as was surviving in the wilds, the bond that had connected them in an instant, as sustaining as warmth, shelter and food. He couldn’t name it, but it didn’t matter. He belonged to her. He was her kelvic. In spite of him not wanting to see her leave, to be left behind, he managed a smile when she looked back. ”I’ll find you,” he said, but so quietly that the sound of voice must have been lost on the curl of the breeze. But maybe she heard him anyway. Still, when she was out of sight he shifted. Colorful light danced and swirled like autumn leaves caught in a gentle whirlwind and left a raccoon perched where a man had stood. And then he was off the way he’d seen her go, nose to the trail and the underbrush beyond the switchback, following scent but more the lingering sensation of his new mistress. If she knew he was following her, he remained always behind and out of sight, to the edge of what he knew and a ways beyond it before he slowed and paused on the trail. Then taking to an evergreen he climbed to its spindly top and searched for a glimpse of her. And having it, watched protectively until she was finally out of sight. And then a little longer. A rattle rose up from his throat. I’ll find you, it seemed to say again and after a while he climbed down again. Back the way he’d come, off to search for the old raccoon that needed a helping hand through the winter. But it wouldn’t be long till he’d take this trail again, further than he’d been before and up the mountain to find his mistress. FinA wonderful thread, I've enjoyed it very much!

[Kelpie]

Haeli: +1 land navigation, +1 Cooking, +1 Wilderness Survival, +3 Rhetoric, +4 Morphing, +1 Botany, +1 Swimming Lore: Telling an Abnormal Animal from the Rest, The Nature of a Raccoon Kelvic, Proper Frog-catching Techniques, Brig's History (Partial), Basics of Kelvics, Kelvic Transformation, How to Pee Like a Man, Why a Kelvic should Not Reveal Why They are Kelvic, Kelvic Bonding Brig: +1 Hunting, +3 Rhetoric, +2 Land Navigation, +1 Tracking, +1 Swimming Lore: How to Communicate without a Voice, Proper Frog-catching Techniques, Being a Raccoon-ly Gentlman, Haeli's History (Partial), Basics of Morphing, Haeli's Morphing: Derek Salvi, Haeli's Morphing: Ozantha, Haeli's Goals, The Goddess Caiyha, Bonding with Haeli Mod Note: Oh that was beautiful. I loved it, absolutely. You too make such an incredibly cute couple! I'm sorry if points may be lacking here, I might have been too distracted by the story itself, please PM me if anything is off. Keep writing, it was too lovely to end here!