Into Darkness (Part 2)

by **Zhol** on April 20th, 2015, 4:46 pm

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..22nd Spring, 515

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Preceded by: Undiscovered Country (Part 1)

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As Zhol awoke, everything was wrong.

At first it was just a sound, and at first he didn't notice: after all, the gentle flutter of canvas from above was hardly unfamiliar to someone born and raised in Endrykas. The firmness beneath him wasn't strange either; a bedroll and blankets was the bed he'd grown up with. Other sensations crept in, and those weren't unfamiliar either. There was something a little off about the scent of the air, and the gentle sounds of waking wildlife, but he breathed in grass and heard the chirp of birds; it as how morning was supposed to sound. This was how home was supposed to be.

The weight against his chest wasn't unfamiliar, either. He didn't have to move to know that Khara was lying there, curled as close against the side of his body as she could get, a scruff of his shirt gripped tightly in her fingers thanks to whatever nightmare she had been forced to endure. As Zhol lay still, he wondered if any dreams had plagued him; considering how rested and at peace he felt, he doubted it. The hand that had rested against his stomach all night slid upwards slowly, gently taking a hold of Khara's fingers, careful not to wake her and yet intent on compelling the sentiment that he wished he could have endured a restless night in her place.

It took a few moments more for his mind to stumble across the disconnect: to realise that the two concepts his mind had so readily accepted did not match at all. While home was with Khara now, it was the sentiment that had transferred across, not the surroundings and the sensations. Khara was of Wind Reach, and that meant mountains, tunnels, caves, a sometimes stifling stillness to the air, and the eerie silence of stone. Why was she here? How was he surrounded by Endrykas, and yet somehow in the arms of Wind Reach? Where was he? How was -

His barely awake mind fumbled it's way towards comprehension. The wilderness. The Unforgiving. Their journey beyond the normal scope of Wind Reach's hunters, exploring a valley that Zhol hadn't even thought to discover the name of, searching for new herds, new food supplies for the city. It had been Khara's task, to be flown out here to discover what he valley had in store, and Zhol had merely tagged along; but he'd helped, at least a little. They'd found some sort of small and unusual fanged deer; Zhol himself hadn't understood the significance, but Khara had been overjoyed at the discovery of an animal she had never seen before, and it was impossible not to find that excitement infectious. For one of the first times since he had arrived in Wind Reach, nearly two years ago now, Zhol felt as if he had contributed; he felt as if he had done something for the good of the city - the kind of something that others would recognise as a tangible benefit, rather than the unrecognised good that he did in the stables each day. No wonder he had slept so well; if Zhol had ever felt so fulfilled and at peace before, he could not remember it.

Part of him wished that he could lie here forever; most of him, in fact. His body pleaded for at least a few moments longer, limbs making themselves feel as if they were filled with lead, to discourage any foolish attempts at movement. There were things to be accomplished however, things that could not wait: after all, they had only until fifteenth bell to make their way back down the valley to reach their rendezvous with the Endal who was to fly them back to the city. Zhol hoped that Khara knew how to determine the time out in the wilderness; he knew that it was noon when Syna was directly overhead, but knowing the time only once a day was of little use.

With as much care as he could achieve, Zhol gently loosened Khara's grip on his shirt, and slid himself from beneath her, carefully tucking the excess blankets into her arms to leave her as comfortable as he could. He hesitated, reclined beside her, gazing down at the peaceful beauty of the woman he loved, wishing that there were some way to burn that image into his eyes so that it could be the only thing he ever saw. His heart squirmed, begging him to kiss her awake as he so often did when he awoke beside her; to gently ease her from her slumber so he could see that sweet smile as her eyes opened and saw him. Parts of him worried over whether Khara felt about him the same way that he did about her, but in those waking, smiling moments, there was no question in his mind.

As silently as he could, movements as slow and delicate as he could muster, Zhol crept from within their tent, and stepped out into the Unforgiving. The dimness struck him immediately; not the darkness of early hours, but the greyness of an overcast sky. He tried to work out where amongst the clouds Syna was hiding, but with no success. Silently, he wished that Lillah were here; a prayer from his Stormwarden sister to Zulrav could come in quite handy at a moment such as this.

Crouching briefly, he reached into the tent and tugged the bag of fuel from his pack. When the stable hands had first explained to him why they emptied the moss and manure from each mucked-out stable stall into large stone vats, Zhol had believed he was being pranked; but true enough, with wood so scarce in proximity to Wind Reach, the Inarta had embraced alternate fuels, and the mixture of dried moss and dried manure burned as nicely as any charcoal Zhol had ever used, and with almost none of the unpleasant odor that one might have expected. Whatever was responsible for the repugnant scent clearly vanished as the moisture disappeared.

Carefully, Zhol set about rebuilding the fire they had huddled beside for warmth the night before. The process was far simpler than it had been when he'd first learned to set a fire, back when he'd traversed the Unforgiving on his way to Wind Reach in the first place. Then, he had been taught to build structures, to construct a fire with layers and airflow; now he simply piled the fuel into a circle of stones and closed his eyes, wringing out his soul to seep res from his pores, and invited reimantic flames to dance their way from his fingertips into the camp fire. The wisps of dried moss crackled as they kindled the flames into more, Zhol's res and his focus encouraging them to seek out the larger fuel and bring the fire thoroughly to life. The faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of his mouth at the irony of it all; three years ago, his reimancy had been nothing but terrifying, uncontrolled destruction, and now here he was using it for the most trivial of tasks. Quite the transformation, all things considered.

Satisfied that the fire would sustain itself without his attention, Zhol checked the crude structure that he and Khara had cobbled together: a simple frame above the camp fire, made of sticks, and ribbon, and twine; just enough to suspend Zhol's kettle, and boil the river water within. That was something else Zhol had learned on his travels. Boil the water before you drink, one of their guides had always warned. There's evil in these rivers, and the only way to kill it is with fire. A slow chuckle escaped him as he thought of it; strange that, now Khara had shaken loose those memories and he had endured recollections of the worst, his mind now sifted through the past in search of the rare joys that it had brought. In hindsight, the ordeal didn't seem quite so bad.

Once again, Zhol's mind turned back to the clouds above. He tried to remember how they arrived here, tried to recall which direction Syna had set in the night before. It was a foolish habit he supposed, but over there somewhere - a little to the right of where the sun set - was Cyphrus; Endrykas; his family; his lost home. He doubted that there was a sighting lens in all the world that would let him see far enough to witness his other loved ones; but as he closed his eyes, he pretended that he could; he pretended that he could see Dinah grumpily untangling the undergrowth from Niamh's tail, and grudgingly working it into a braid; he pretended that he could see Yahalla stubbornly refusing to let anyone near her with a brush until Etha sighed in surrender and agreed to do it; he pretended that he could see his sisters and brothers glaring angrily at his father each time they passed; he pretended to see Dardanus slumped with regret, staring off in the distance, wondering what fate had befallen the son he drove away -

"Dear Syna," Zhol uttered softly, his voice not as harsh as a whisper, a practised volume he had learned to use to avoid disturbing the sleeping beauty who shared his room. "Please watch over those I love who linger back in Endrykas: let your warmth shine on Dinah, on Lillah, on Yahalla, and on my mother; let them never feel that they are alone. Please watch over those I care for here in Kalea, and keep them safe as they stray beyond Wind Reach; most of all watch over Khara, who I love as much as you love the moon."

"Dear Leth, please watch over my family also; keep them safe from harm as they sleep, and when the moonlight falls upon them, please whisper my undying love into their dreams. Dear Semele, please watch over my family, my friends, and all those in Wind Reach who risk their lives so that I and the rest of the city can survive; let the ground be kind to them, and stay firm beneath their feet. Dear Eyris, please watch over those who struggle with indecision; grant them the wisdom to make the right choices, and to know that they have done, so that they will not be plagued by doubt as they sleep."

Zhol's voice faltered, the upturned hands that rested gently in his lap fidgeting as he reached the last, and newest part of his prayer. For most of his life he had prayed only for others, believing that he was too insignificant to deserve the gods' attention or interest. It was Khara that had changed things; an innocent observation as they had celebrated her birthday, a belief that unlike Zhol's father, who believed him to be some sort of curse from Ivak, Khara saw him as a gift from Priskil; with no knowledge of Ivak prior to his release and the Djed Storm, the people of Wind Reach had come to think of fire as an aspect of warmth and light. His stomach twisted at the knotted requests that always begged to be asked; the divine intervention that he wished he did not want.

"Dear Priskil," Zhol continued, a tentative falter in his words. "Please watch over me. Please guide my hand, and let my fiery nature bring warmth and hope to those I care for; let me be like your towers, bringing light, safety, and security into their lives. Dear Ivak -"

He hesitated, his throat trying to fight against his words.

"Let my love for Khara burn as hot and as eternally as yours for Kova, and grant me the strength to unleash an inferno of wrath against them -" He faltered again, an image of the blacksmith forming in his mind. "- he who has done her harm."

by **Khara** on April 24th, 2015, 12:10 am

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It wasn't fair. The day before had gone so well that when evening had finally come and Khara had settled down for the night she had expected to sleep deeply and dreamlessly. Instead her mind had spent the entire night running, hiding, and cowering from unseen threats that were constantly looming just a step behind her, the possibility of being caught ever reminded of as clawed fingertips would catch a few strands of her hair. She had heard before of people having the same nightmare over and over, but that had never been the case for her. Sure, they were similar and the fear itself felt familiar enough each time but they weren't the same. The Chiet girl wasn't sure if that was a blessing or not, though. As horrible as it might have been to relive the same terror night after night, at least the repetition would have made it so she knew what was coming.

Not that Khara was particularly fond of such dreams to begin with, but there was something about waking in an unfamiliar place that made it all the worse. The ground under her was harder than normal, there was more light than she usually could perceive from closed eyelids and the sounds and smells of the outside - while not unpleasant in the slightest, they were almost calming in a way - at first told her mind that there was something very very wrong. It had been dark in her dream, however, an endless expanse of blackness and shapeless terrain. The morning light as Syna began the day was far preferable, even if it was muted by the fabric of the tent.

It was only as sleep finally pulled the last of it's tendrils away from her that Khara became aware of something soft being uttered amidst the birdsongs that were already piercing the cool morning air. The voice was familiar, but the words were not, and there was a great many of them. Pavi, her mind slowly realized. He's speaking in Pavi. It wasn't all that unusual, but Khara rarely heard Zhol speak so much in the language. It wasn't the first time she had heard this particular quiet tone; it happened sometimes when he would wake before her and she would be on the edge of consciousness. She never asked what he was saying or who he was talking to, her only partially conscious mind found it far easier and preferable to snatch a few more chimes of dozing than try to understand or question it. By the time she would be fully awake, the entire incident would have left her and so her curiosity would be entirely forgotten.

This morning was different, however. The lack of a good night's rest had her feeling more bitter towards trying to catch a few more moments of sleep than tempted and she sat up slowly, pushing blankets away from her as she shuffled to the small tent's entrance. A flap of fabric was pushed aside as she peered out, squinting against the light but far less than she had expected to. A quick glance upwards was enough to give the reason as an overcast sky muted Syna's rays. And warmth, Khara thought bitterly and pulled one of the blankets around her shoulders as the chill air hit her skin.

She sat there, just inside the tent, waiting patiently as her eyes roamed their small campsite before they settled on Zhol as he continued to softly speak. The unfamiliar sounds seemed to leave him in a struggle and Khara felt drawn to him, to leave the slight warmth the tent offered and wrap her arms around him in an effort to make those reluctant tones end. It was the reverence she heard in his voice that stayed her and kept her from interrupting.

It was only once he was finished that she even dared to move, even if it was only to raise her hand to rub the lingering evidence of sleep from her eyes and slightly lick the spot at her lower lip that her teeth had been determined to scrape against. Questions lingered on her tongue; what were you doing? Who were you talking to? What did all of that mean? Yet when she finally spoke it wasn't any of those that came forth, but rather a timid, "Is all okay?"

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on April 25th, 2015, 8:56 pm

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One of these days, there would be a time when Zhol would look at Khara, and smile when he should not. He simply could not help it; trying not to smile when he saw her was like falling into the ocean and trying not to get wet. His lips tugged into it as reflexively as his eyes opening after a blink; there was too much joy to ever resist it. Today the smile was even larger than ever, not just because each day he loved her more than the one before, not just because he had awoken with her in his arms once again; but because they were utterly alone, with each other and no one else. Zhol didn't know how many miles away Wind Reach was, but it was definitely miles; there wouldn't be another human soul within sight of them for hours; and they were here, out in Khara's world, the place where she was comfortable and free and uninhibited.

They had their sanctuaries back in the city, true: Khara felt safe together in their room; there was the Hideaway; the lakes, if no one was around; the riding cave when they practised their archery; places and moments where Khara could simply be, without the weight of castes and obligations and expectations crushing down on her. It was seldom for even a single full day though, and yet here he was, awaking to a second. Better yet, their mission was accomplished; all they had to do was wander to their rendezvous, and enjoy nature and each other's company along the way.

"I am alone, and with you," he replied gently, a quick glance into the kettle to check on the progress of his water-boiling efforts before he clambered back to his feet, ambling slowly but eagerly back towards the tent. "All is perfect," he added as he dropped into a crouch, guiding her head towards his to place a soft kiss against her forehead.

He wished that were all, he needed to say. A fleeting hint of worry tugged at his expression however; not enough to drain away his smile, nor even to noticeably diminish it, but the concern in his eyes was obvious as he sought out Khara's half asleep gaze. "You did not sleep so well," he said quietly, more a statement than a question, the hand that had taken gentle hold of her head slipping downwards to cradle her jaw, his thumb gently brushing her cheek. "Do you want to talk about it, or did you dream of things you do not want to speak of?"

by **Khara** on April 25th, 2015, 10:24 pm

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Khara wasn't quite sure how to react to his question and while her eyes had remained focused on him as he had come back toward where she sat at the tent's entrance, now her amber gaze fell away. Did she want to talk about it? No. There was no doubt of that, no questioning the answer, it was pure and simple truth. Should she talk about it, though? No secrets, her thoughts reminded her. It hadn't been an explicit promise that they had made to one another, and Khara knew Zhol would never force her to talk about something if she didn't want to, but that alone may have been reason enough to talk.

Her eyes closed as she just barely leaned her head to the side towards where Zhol touched her. A small sigh of resignation left before she made herself speak, even if the words left her far softer than they should. "Things in the darkness. I do not know what they are or why they come for me. I don't see where I am going or where I was been, but they know and they wait or they are just behind."

Slowly she let her gaze meet his and a small smile managed to tug at the edges of her mouth. "But I am awake now, and it was just a dream. It cannot hurt me." There was honesty and certainty in the soft statement, even if it wasn't entirely true. Lack of a good night of sleep wasn't exactly harmless, especially when they still would need their wits about them to make the return trip to where the Endal had left them. Success one day didn't necessarily mean it would be easy the next, as the wilderness of Kalea's name so often reminded all who would dare enter it.

She was prepared to answer any questions he had, or accept any words of comfort and reassurance that Zhol would no doubt offer, but with her admission had come her own want for information in turn. It wasn't like Zhol owed her, but curiosity still tugged at her, chirping and hopping away in a demanding manner in her subconscious. "What were you doing, a little ago? You do not have to say if you do not want."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on April 25th, 2015, 10:58 pm

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Zhol's hands slid down to take gentle hold of Khara's, bringing them to his lips to adorn her fingers with delicate kisses. He wanted to offer some sort of reassurance; wanted to say that she should always remember that she was never alone, that he was always with her, that the emotional connection that tethered their hearts together could be used to draw strength from him no matter where he was. He wanted to say that; but he already had, at other times, in other situations. Khara knew. Khara believed. But dreams were different; dreams were the darkness that plagued you when your rational mind was nowhere to be found. Perhaps there was some magical means that would allow Zhol to confront those nocturnal demons at Khara's side; but for now, all he could do as be close by every time she awoke.

"I was praying," Zhol admitted, strangely embarrassed about it. He and Khara had discussed the gods before, but never in any real depth; or at least, not that he could recall. Everything she had told him about herself he remembered in vivid detail, but anything he had told her was little more than a blur, making every fact she remembered an unexpected and pleasant surprise.

He frowned, wondering how best to explain, without transferring any of the emotions that threatened to turn his face a few shades redder to her. How did one say I pray to the gods to keep you safe, and to grant me the strength to do the same without having to say those words? How did one diminish such a gesture? "I pray to the gods to watch over the people I care about," he generalised; a true enough statement. "Semele to look after my family; I ask Syna to watch over them, and over you when you are outside the city; I ask Leth to watch you all while you sleep -"

He faltered at that, wondering which god or goddess he should be praying to in order to ease Khara's nightmares. Prayers to Leth did not help in that regard; but then, under canvas, or under a mountain, there was only so much watching over that the moon could manage to do. With his family in Endrykas, at least Leth could be asked to keep watch over the entrance to their tents, to stand sentry against any dangers that might creep into their camp; but inside the warrens, in the caves and tunnels of Wind Reach, anything that transpired was beyond Leth's sight. Who then should he pray to, for the protection of those he loved in such places? To Priskil? To the earth mother? To the lord of volcanoes?

"I am not sure that the gods listen," he admitted, a sheepish hesitance to his voice. "But for those I love, I could not forgive myself if I did not at least try."

Zhol's mind became distracted as he heard the faint whistle of steam beginning to rush out from the tiny valve on the kettle's spout. He offered one last kiss against Khara's lips, and a doting smile before he eased himself back to his feet, talking over his shoulder as he returned to the fire. "Thirsty?" he asked, retrieving a scrap of rag and using it to grip the kettle's handles without burning his fingers. Carefully he lifted the heated water out of reach of the fire, and set it down on a large flat stone, not wanting to risk harming the grass by placing the hot kettle directly on it. "I have some tea in my medical kit that will help relax your nerves," he offered, "Or we can fill our water skins, and dunk them in the stream until they cool down enough to drink?"

by **Khara** on April 26th, 2015, 12:43 am

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Religion and the gods weren't something that Khara usually considered most days, or at least, she didn't think she did. It seemed more and more lately that they wandered into her thoughts, but then again it seemed more often lately that she was put into some sort of danger that she felt obliged to ask for divine help. Just as Zhol had said, she wasn't entirely certain that they listened to the prayers and pleas of a little insignificant game scout, but she wasn't dead yet, despite a few impossible situations, so she wouldn't exactly say they were entirely ignoring her either. Actual purposeful prayer, though? That was a rare thing and only seemed to come in times of honest need. Khara had never considered simply doing it as part of a routine of sorts. Maybe you should, she considered.

The whistle from the kettle disrupted her line of thought and the kiss helped to finish the job, leaving her with a bit of a stupefied smile as she watched Zhol move the container of boiling water from the fire to the stone. His offer sounded good, both, sounded good, actually. The second was far more prudent though. Boiling water - it was something Khara had never considered doing when out in the wild. She had been warned of the dangers of drinking from just any water source and there was something that could be added to a vessel to make the water drinkable, but Khara couldn't remember what it was. But boiling the water? That was easy, all you needed was a bit of fire and something to put the water in that wouldn't melt away. Not particularly difficult knowledge to understand, but definitely something worth noting.

Noting! her mind chimed in as if it had suddenly sprang from a place where it had been lurking and fully captured her attention. Khara hadn't brought her journal with her, even if there was plenty that could have been documented within, she had been too worried about it getting lost or ruined on the excursion. But that hadn't stopped her from thinking ahead.

She shuffled back into the tent a bit to retrieve her pack and began rummaging through it for the scrap of paper she had torn out of the back of the journal that remained safely within Wind Reach. There wasn't much she could make note of, not really, it wasn't like she had the ability to draw the beautiful waterfall they had come across or the actual small strange species of deer, but she did feel confident enough that she could draw a few circles and other shapes to capture the strange print they left behind.

"You go to the river? I have something I need to do before we pack up camp today," Khara said from within the tent as she continued to search her pack. "Maybe tea when you come back?"

A small annoyed breath left her as objects were pushed aside or removed from the backpack. She had found the paper but... Of course she didn't bring any ink with her. The tiny vials were too fragile and might have broken and that was a mess that Khara didn't even want to think about having to try and deal with so they had been left behind. So, what were you planning on drawing with then, Sparrow?

She emerged from the tent with the piece of paper in hand, a quick glance was enough to confirm that Zhol had gone off as she had suggested, which left asking him if he had anything entirely out of the question. A small huff left her as she sat down next to the camp fire and for a few ticks she simply watched the way the low flames licked at the charred wood. Charred? Like... Charcoal? Coal happens with fires too, right?

Khara wasn't about to try and pull a piece free from the fire, though. That was just asking for trouble. Instead she looked around her and picked up a twig that seemed just about the size of a quill. A soft hum left her before she reached forward and stuck the end of it into the flames. It caught quickly, a bit more so than she thought it would and she pulled it away and sharply waved it until the flames diminished. The end smoked for a bit and she waited until it finished before she set it down on a nearby rock and smoothed out the piece of paper on another stone.

The charred piece of stick was picked back up and with far more focus than was probably necessary but seemed fitting with how much luck she was hoping for, she scraped a bit of it at the edge of the paper. It left a mark, but it wasn't a very stable one. Her finger ran over the line she had created and smudged it far too easily. Another line was made near the first and she tried to keep the pressure lighter, again the mark showed up easily enough but it didn't blur quite so much when she wiped at again. It certainly wasn't ideal, but it would work good enough.

The piece of paper was carefully folded, creating a simple square in the center that the edges covered. She doubted it would be enough to really protect whatever she drew, but hopefully it would keep it clear enough so that she could redraw the shapes when she got back to Wind Reach into her journal properly. Once the paper was unfolded she used the imprints created as a boundary for where she could replicate the print within. First she drew the two curved shapes, their points reflecting a similar shape to similar prints she had drawn before. That much seemed right, even with the way they were a bit more circular than the elk prints or moose prints she had practiced before. Next came the two smaller shapes, simple circles that had to be placed back and away from the other shapes, not underneath like normal.

Khara wished she had kept the drawing to be made until they were near some of the actual prints so she could have copied it more accurately, but the shapes were enough to that at least she recognized what it was supposed to represent. Good enough, she thought to herself.

Carefully she refolded the paper along the scored lines she had already created before with painstaking slowness she folded it twice more, hoping the delicate way she handled it would be enough to preserve the print. Her attention was drawn up as movement in the bushes caused her to tense slightly before the familiar sight of the horse boy emerged.

She smiled at him and waved the small folded piece of paper at him. "Got what I needed. I will show you later," she promised before glancing upwards towards the sky once more. Another thoughtful hum left her and the bridge of her nose scrunched in displeasure. "We should probably pack quickly. It looks like it may rain today."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on April 26th, 2015, 1:58 am

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"Well of course it will, now you've mentioned it," Zhol shot back, half teasing, half genuine superstition. Baiting Lhex was the way his father had always referred to it, but in Common, Zhol had more often heard it called tempting fate. Either way, Zhol had absolutely no desire to invite bad luck upon themselves that the cosmos might not have thought of yet.

With a trudge - exaggerated as part of his pretend outrage at Khara's flirting with danger - he crossed to the fire, a few moments of careful meditation taken to smooth his raging thoughts enough so that the flame of his imaginary candle went from frantic flickering to a gentle wave. He blew out a slow breath before he opened his eyes, and then extended a hand, allowing res to seep from his skin and collect in his palm. There were many uses for res and reimancy, and while many - Zhol included - used it mostly to create fire out of almost nothing, it could also be used to control it, pulling it from place to place like an iron nail chasing a magnet. Carefully, Zhol enticed the flame towards his hand, drawing it away from the flammable fuel, and onto the distinctly inflammable stone. Little by little the fire flickered out; deprived of anything to burn, it quickly disappeared into nothingness. The embers still smouldered though, tiny sparks of burning fuel glimmering in the fire. He almost left it - after all, if it was to rain soon, there was little danger that the unattended embers might cause - but he wasn't ready to pit his luck against Khara's; wasn't ready to find out whether fate would rather answer Khara's temptation, or avoid it entirely just to spite Zhol. With his boot, he stomped out the last of the embers, wiped his sole clean, and then stomped off to the tent, in search of his tea supplies.

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May rain. May. When Khara speculated, she certainly didn't screw around with it. An hour or so into their descent back down the valley, the heavens had opened, a violent shower descending upon them. Zhol's boots slipped in the soaked mud; a terrifying few moments followed, as Zhol descended a few feet of slight incline a little faster than he'd intended.

"I told you this would happen!" he quipped, hunching his shoulders as if that would somehow protect him as he strode as fast as he was safely able to join Khara beneath the rocky overhang she'd found. Not that it offered much protection, of course: the air seemed to be soaking into their clothes and flesh, never mind the rain.

Zhol peered upwards at the sky, ominous and overcast as far as he could see in each direction, the cloud hanging terrifyingly low above them, rolling it's way over the peak of the mountain and chasing them down into the valley like some sort of slow motion avalanche.

"I don't think this is going to stop any time soon," he speculated; despite himself, Zhol couldn't stop a grin. It was the strangest thing, but for the longest time he'd loved the rain. Not the pitiful drizzling rain that was barely more than a half-hearted mist; but this kind of rain, an enthusiastic shower, a frantic downpour; he loved being out in them, loved the feeling of ice cold falling on him. It felt refreshing and revitalising; the same effect on Zhol as it had on the lush grasslands of home, and the greenery of the Unforgiving. There had been ominous moments during his journey to Wind Reach in the first place, of course; terrifying moments on narrow pathways on the edges of mountains where slick surfaces and assaults from above were the last thing you wanted; but this, now?

He turned to Khara; caught a glimpse of her shivering, rubbing at the chilled portions of her exposed skin, her face bright red as her body tried desperately to stave off the cold. An idea formed in Zhol's mind, and couldn't stop himself; next thing he knew, his fingers had threaded themselves into the game scout's sodden hair, her body pressed up against the cliffside, Zhol's lips pressed passionately against hers. Maybe it was residual urges to do that from yesterday, left here to be collected on their return journey; maybe it was the thought of Khara's clothes clinging to her a little more than they normally did; maybe the rain had just left them both cold, and he knew the kind of warmth that Khara could make him feel. Either way, his kisses didn't stop with just one, those that followed even deeper and more eager than the ones before.

"Sorry," he whispered between them, but wasn't; not really. He forced his forehead to rest against hers, forced himself to catch his breath.

"We should get out of this rain," he added, steering himself back on topic. "We're nearly at the waterfall again, and I -" He hesitated. Almost lost you once. Don't want to risk losing you again. Those were the things that Zhol wanted to say, but he didn't; he let the worried look in his eyes do that for him. "I don't want to risk it while the rain is so heavy."

by **Khara** on April 26th, 2015, 2:42 am

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She should have known better than to say anything. The fury with which Zulrav had begun the season wasn't entirely forgotten, but the rain she had predicted hadn't been expected to be quite this insistent. The only comforting notion was the fact that she was fairly certain Zhol wasn't actually cross with her, he seemed in far too good of spirits for that to be true. He almost seemed to be enjoying the rain and the maddening thing was that Khara was fairly certain she was as well.

If she needed further proof, it came without any room for argument when he kissed her. Not just any light playful kiss but the kind that left her breathless and unsteady, feeling as if she were secretly a Kelvic and would shift and take flight at any moment after. Such a thing would take her away from him, though, and as far as Khara was concerned that was the last thing she wanted.

His suggestion was conflicting, however. They really should get out of the rain, they were already quite soaked through so it wasn't entirely on account of trying to keep themselves dry, but rather that the terrain had changed quite dramatically from what it had been the day before. Unsteady ground had turned into slippery patches of mud, rocks that had once been sturdy and in place enough to use for leverage now fell and tumbled downward in a reminder of just how steep a climb they had made to make it to where they had the day before. The rain made the return of the Endal questionable as well, but she much rather have been waiting for his possible arrival in the field they were supposed to be in rather than miss the meeting entirely on account of rain.

It was mention of the waterfall - not the icy one that had captivated them, but the one where she had nearly fallen as they had ascended the climb alongside - that halted all thought of actually trying to make it back to the rendezvous site. Attempting to get back down that particular patch would have been tricky even in the best conditions, but with the river's gentle course suddenly seeming all the more violent thanks to the added water and the terrain even more unforgiving than normal, it was practically suicide to consider such a thing now.

Her lower lip was tugged at by her teeth as she tried to think of what they could do. The tent could be set back up, she supposed, but in the rain it would be a rather difficult task and no doubt the water that had already soaked through their clothing would make any comfort or prospect of keeping the inside of it dry nearly impossible. Khara felt her gaze fall away from Zhol's, glancing to the side and down the unmarked path they had ascended as her mind continued to try and retrace their footsteps from the day before.

It dawned on her then, she had used one of her red strips of fabric the day before, hadn't she? It had been at that shallow cave they had come across. There hadn't been any sign of animal activity within that would have suggested it was being used as a den and the brief time that she and Zhol had rested there had been more than enough for her to mark it as a place that could be considered safe.

"The cave," She stated even as she took one of Zhol's hands in her own and tugged him after her as she lead the way. They had to be close! All she needed to do was look for a scrap of sodden red linen tied to a tree branch just outside of the entrance.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on April 26th, 2015, 3:10 am

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A few more kisses peppered Khara's lips, cheeks, forehead, and anything else exposed that Zhol could see, before he finally mustered the resolve to let her lead the way back out into the rain, and to the cave they'd peeked into the day before. It wasn't easy going: the awkward rock formations where Zhol's feet had proven too large to fit comfortably had become especially treacherous; a misplaced step had turned into a stumble, and then a slip. His hands had broken his fall, but the heels of his palms had taken punishment for it, grazed by the rough surface, tiny fragments of grit and gravel from the cracks in the rock clinging to the smattering of blood that oozed into the shallow, superficial wound.

Relief washed over them as they found the ribbon, and with safety and potential dryness now in sight, the urgency faded from Zhol's step. He halted in place, closing his eyes as he turned his face towards the sky, letting the rain water wash over his features, and trickle it's way through the roots of his hair. Back in Endrykas, back when his hair was a lengthy tangle of braids, rain was a nightmare; his hair had taken uncomfortable centuries to dry. Now, with the way he kept his hair cropped - and with the warm air of Wind Reach helping things along - it dried in minutes, with almost no effort at all. It was strange, the silver linings that he allowed himself to discover; some enormous and overwhelming, like meeting Khara; some small and trivial beyond belief. They all added together though, merging like stones in a wall. Perhaps if he found enough of them, if he built his wall of silver linings tall enough, he wouldn't even see his former home hiding behind it.

Zhol followed Khara into the cave, quickly shrugging off his pack and rifling through the pockets, from a small parcel he retrieved a handful of candles - some of the myriad left over from Khara's birthday celebration back in winter. Calling forth his res, Zhol conjured a small orb of fire, letting it levitate above his palm as he quickly scouted the small interior. In turn, each candle was held over his reimantic flame, base first, enough to soften the wax and allow the candle to stick itself to convenient structures of rock, before Zhol lit them each in turn. With daylight flooding in the front of the cave, the candles didn't make all that much of a difference; but even if it did nothing to actually make the cave any warmer or brighter, it at least felt it.

Returning to his pack, Zhol retrieved one of the scraps of fabric that had become of his old shirt, torn into bandages when Khara had needed them, and began to use the carefully cleaned cotton to dab away at the heels of his palms.

"Need a hand with that?" Zhol asked, glancing over to see what Khara was doing.

by **Khara** on April 26th, 2015, 3:33 am

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There were three things that had been emphasized and had managed to stick out from her training as a Yasi when they had gone over surviving in the wilderness for any length of time: Find shelter, get water, start a fire. The first two they had handled, the cave offering more than enough cover for the time being and the water they had refilled in their skins earlier would last them another day easily, so all that was left was to try and make a fire.

Gathering the bits of dried plant material that had blown into the mouth of the cave at some point wasn't exactly the most productive thing she could have been doing, and it seemed a bit overbearing on account of a rainstorm, but they were going to be stuck for a little bit and the warmth Zhol had already started with the candles seemed like a good idea to continue. If nothing else it would help them dry out a bit until the rain stopped.

Khara didn't really think about how much the trivial task was almost meditative in a way when accompanied by the constant sound of the rain falling. She hadn't exactly been on edge - especially thanks to the tea that Zhol had provided before they had set out for the day - but she felt entirely at peace just moving about. The rain had even been ventured into once more as she struck out to get some more substantial material with which to build up a small blaze.

Slowly she set about setting everything together, trying to remember how best to place the material to keep the fire going but keep it small as possible. She didn't want to cause a lot of smoke either since it would certainly make staying inside the cave almost more unpleasant than weathering the downpour outside. The small bits of dried leaves and moss was placed at the bottom and spaced out among the larger twigs and branches she had collected, though she wasn't entirely sure if that was the proper placing for it.

She had barely started when Zhol called out to her and she glanced up from the meager beginnings of a new campfire. "I just thought it would be nice," she offered meekly, feeling a bit foolish when they could potentially only be waiting a few chimes for the weather to clear.

"Wet clothing can make you feel cold, so even if we are only here a little bit, I thinked that it would be good to sit near something..." Khara wasn't sure why she was so embarrassed at having been caught or even that Zhol had asked if she wanted assistance. Maybe it was that a fire made it seem like she was giving up on returning to where the Endal would be waiting for them all too easily, or maybe it was the fact she was certain that it wasn't entirely survival instinct that was leading her towards making some sort of plan to be able to spend just a few more bells alone with Zhol.

Whatever it was, she felt precious heat rise and leave her as her skin turned a deeper shade of pink. "You are better at fire than me," she conceded and timidly looked up towards him from where her gaze had been lingering on her attempts so far.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

Closed Into Darkness (Part 2)