Solo The World Wants to be Deceived II...

[Ayszel]

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42nd of Fall, 515 AV

4 bells had passed since they had begun the tour. Four long, agonizing bells Ayszel overdramatized. The tour was exceedingly helpful and she was beginning to understand the layout of the city. The tiered effect wasn’t new to her, she was used to working in that dimension as the caves of Zinrah were also tiered, and there you didn’t have the sun to guide you. However, she was tired of walking. She was tired of the mortal coil and she wished to spread her true coils. He says he knows the perfect place for me to rest my weary bones…and spread my weary tail I hope. A heated stone bench to curl myself upon…mmm she thought as her mind wandered into the realms of hot food, tea and a bath.

“It is 11 now, it is time for rest. We have four hours of official rest throughout the city. The city operates all day and all night and one chooses when they sleep and work and socialize.” He seems very proud of the word socialize… she mocked gently his obvious infatuation with quoting his monologue word for word.

They had moved on to what Oishi declared the largest peak, “It has, by far, the most stores and is the busiest peak, but it looks like it’s time for a break. How does a bath sound? I imagine you need one after being in the peaks for so long,” He offered. Ayszel glanced down at the far shorter child and nodded. “Yes, appreciated. How do you bath here?” She asked, hoping the question wasn’t too far out of the norm.

He didn’t glance at Ayszel when he responded, a habit she had picked up to be characteristic gesture of confusion at an odd statement most humans here had made at her when she asked a question she assumed she was supposed to know.

“Well if you purchase an apartment here then there are usual bathhouses shared by the renters. Alternatively, if you own a cottage like most Lhavitians there aren’t many that have a private bath. So, citizens gather here,” he gestured at the building they had hiked to through the winding downhill streets, “you go in and are given a room to bathe in. It’s recommended you bring your own bathing supplies but there are always some provided. Although it isn’t the best quality so they’re rarely used.” He explained.

As Ayszel entered the small but airy washing room she glanced down at the small warm pool bubbling before her. It was faintly brown from the hard water rushing through the tubes but eased her muscles as she slid her naked body into its depths. It tickled her skin and the wetted the ends of her hair as she laid her head back on the curved top of the baths edge. Though it looked nothing like the hot springs of Zinrah if she closed her eyes she could imagine herself back among the stalactites and echoing depths of the caves. She could imagine the dripping on the top of the water that sent ripples along the surface and created a symphony of tinkling background music.

Ayszel imagined that now as she allowed the water to seep into the thick layer of dirt covering her from eyelash to toenail. Eventually, she drew the roughest cloth and bar of soap. Wetting the soap she rubbed it against the cloth until a thick lather had gathered and sitting on the edge of the bath she on her face, washing the dirt downward in a steady stream until she reached her toes and washed the last thick layers off. She rubbed her fingers and toes again, working the dirt out from her cuticles and the edge of her nails.

The door is locked… she realized, glancing conspiratorially at the door. Easing into the water bowl again, so that only her eyes peeked above the water line, she watched a shadow expand underneath the water as her bronzed skin became covered in the dark scales of her dhani form and her face elongated, her nose becoming a broad scaly rostrum and her teeth sharpened and recurved backward. The colour leached from the dusky inside of the building and all the other senses poured over her body.

Finally…peace… she groaned as she slid completely underwater, letting the water take away all her frustration and aches. When had finished her luxuriating she rubbed the muscle soothing cream over her legs and sides above the wet bandage. Drying herself off with the provided towels she took her time donning the layers of her new costume over her loathed body before donning the gloves and coat that would protect her newly freshened skin from the bitter autumn bite.

“You look much afreshed,” Oishi complimented, rising from his seat.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“A little. You didn’t seem particularly interested in the shops we passed by last time so I thought we’d see the parks on Zintia instead. It’ll still give you a good idea of how the peak is laid out and we can browse the shops so you know where they are if you want to explore more later. But first we should stop by the wizard registry, and get you registered.”

“Registered?”

“Yes, you write down your powers and your level. It’s to keep everyone in Lhavit safe.”

“Hmm…” Ayszel thought to herself as they began to maneuver the arching winding streets. Oishi pointed out several identifying features of streets which Ayszel marked in Snake-tongue in the manual when he wasn’t looking too closely for future reference when she had to maneuver the place on her own.

[Ayszel]

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The Koten Temple, as Oishi proclaimed it, made Ayszel stop. Swaying slightly as she leaned backward eyes stretching the length of the building and taking in the incredible architecture. It was so beautiful it made her heart clench despite herself. The reimancers here…must be truly incredible…this is…this is impossible…Zinrah said humans couldn’t do things like this… She thought to herself as Oishi guided her through a much smaller door to its right.

The room was large, despite the small indistinct door, and reminded Ayszel of the Cosmos Center dress. Ferns, paintings and designs decorated the walls. However, the room here was far less busy and only one man stood at a desk scribbling notes. Chewing the tip of his spectacles he raised his head, a smile blooming charmingly over his lips as he welcomed the two to draw nearer.

“I’ll wait,” Oishi bowed politely and excused himself to a lounge chair, affording Ayszel some privacy. Approaching the desk slowly Ayszel smiled an anxious grin, I still haven’t decided what to say…Oishi didn’t say anything about punishment but what if they force me to serve the city in times of trouble? The only magic Ayszel knew anything about was Reimancy and so it never occurred to her to lie about the kind of magic she possessed, besides the spikes on her arm would have betrayed her.

“I suppose I needn’t ask whether you are a sorceress or reporting a sorceress?” Hanei asked cheekily, glancing at her shoulder. Ayszel knew the others in Zinrah who practiced magic themselves had mixed reactions to her overgiving ranging from impressed to judgement and disrespect.

“Yes, Reimancy,” She explained, still working out how she should lie. It seemed second nature now, in the body of a fictional character with a fictional past.

“Geomancy…I was told to register here,” She offered, speaking the word register awkwardly, as if it was a foreign thing wiggling on her tongue.

“Yes indeed, I can see that. Well I am glad you came…seeing as you have a history of overgiving…” He murmured afterward as he scribbled down what she had said. One of the judgemental… Ayszel thought to herself, expanding her chest and lifting her chin in response.

“Level?”

If I say very advanced I become a threat and more attention will be drawn to me…I should be honest…I needn’t tell him all I know how to do…or I could respond evasively… “Depends. Compared to your h-…” She hesitated, realizing what she was about to say would betray in inhumanity, “Compared to your hands…probably a very new novice,” She stuttered out, thinking on the spot.

“Well,” He said smoothly, taking her hand between his soft long fingered ones, “These fingers are at your service if you are so compelled,” Compelled? Ayszel giggled, I hope this ends soon… she growled to herself. She hated Litka. “And what’s a noble creature like you called?”

“Litka. Litka of the Blooded Fangs,” She introduced.

After much flirtation and sickening giggling Ayszel finally made it out from between his fingers and back to Oishi who was watching with a impish boyish grin and blush at their exchange.

[Ayszel]

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Ayszel barely felt the ache in her legs as they scaled the side of the mountain toward what Oishi had insisted were Legendary Hotsprings…that someone of her nature was sure to enjoy. If only it were for any other reason than that my legs are completely numb.

I am sure I do not know what he could possibly mean by my nature… she growled low in her throat. It was obvious that the common folk of Lhavit had no notion of what she really was, and so long as she kept her tail under wraps it was likely to stay that way. As they rounded the edge of a particularly narrow and uneasy path Ayszels breathe stopped.

The entirety of Zintia peak lay about her, framed by the other glowing mountains that curved around the ocean like a pearl necklace draped across a woman’s neck. The ocean was a shock of silver from the brilliant glow of Syna above, the same warmth that banished the last vestiges of cold from her bones and warmed the back of her neck.

For the first time since Zinrah she felt pleasantly warm and could very easily have coiled up upon a rock and slept. The pool were quite busy now, having come upon it at the end of a break, and so Ayszel and Oishi moved away from the others and toward the ornately railed edge to look over the sea. From here you could see the tipping bobbing black shapes of the boats out fishing, like a myriad of black holes torn in the silver tapestry.

“This is Kinell Hotsprings, it’s marked in your book with the shape of a bright red bird.” He indicated and she leafed through the pamphlet. “The springs are named after those birds, they’re called Kinell Kingfishers. They’re one the smallest and brightest birds in Lhavit but they’re also one of the most beautiful singers. Unfortunately they’re nocturnal, so they’re only out at night when no one is here, they quiet down after dawn. It’s usually pretty busy here around noon but you can pretty much guarantee yourself a pool to yourself if you come at dawn or after dark, that’s when only the tourists come usually.” Ayszel gazed down at the brilliant maya blue whose depths hid a rocky bottom worn smooth by centuries of visitors.

“The plants and animals found here haven’t been found anywhere else,”

“They’re probably isolated by the heat, unable to settle roots anywhere within range that is suitably warm.” Ayszel reasoned to herself as she ran her fingers over the mosses.

“The kids love the Star lizards though,” as if he was much too grown to be associated with the children, “They’re tiny lizards that live here, about as long as my middle finger,” He gestured, “They don’t come out when it’s busy like this, but they’re a blue like the dusk sky and they have little white spots all over them that reflect any light and glitter, so they’re pretty easy to spot at night.” He explained.

The water was as bright and beautiful as the deep hotsprings in Zinrah and reminded Ayszel delightfully of home. However, they had little time to enjoy the water and were soon moving onto what Oishi called, “Alheas Park".

[Ayszel]

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Decorated with a crown of golden tinged rose and Syna inspired reds and oranges, the peak was a autumnal dance of colour. Ayszels mouth hung on its jaw, reminiscent of her reptilian jaw. Ayszels djed within her, ripples dancing across its surface in response to the pooling wild djed found in the forest. She had never experienced a place that caused such an internal sense, as if someone were stroking her soul without touching her skin. It was eery and she balked before the left hand curve. Oishi seemed completely unperturbed by the thing, as if he walked through a half of ghosts and was completely ignorant. I have no excuse for not following him…but my soul quells at the thought of going.

And yet, very aware of each footfall, she followed him around the bend. The place was rife with life, as living as the jungle. She felt the press of life against the back of her skull where Caiyhas voice reached her, it was the voice all living creatures spoke. Her gnosis was more than communicating with the fluffy and charismatic of the animals, and more even than protecting the entity within which they lived; it was a peeping hole into Lhex itself, life itself. A doorway to the language which all creatures spoke. Perhaps Caiyha and Lhex were once lovers, they must have been for him to infuse her creatures with this overarching (new word?) language. she pondered.

She didn’t recognize the presences babbling within the back of her mind, and couldn’t pick up one string from the other. Once under the lush boughs of the fadeong Syna disappeared from overhead and was filtered through the prism of leaves.

“This is one of the most popular tourist locations in Lhavit, although it notably never feels busy. People come to meditate, enjoy the beauty, and watch animals that might otherwise be unapproachable or scarce and is home to creatures that don’t grow or live anywhere else, so it’s important that we keep it large enough to accommodate all that want to see, and secure enough that none of the animals leave or are disrupted.” He explained, obviously a warning too overly enthusiastic individuals who might use the park inappropriately.

“Alheas park is also home to the Fadeong, our multi-colored tree, that which hangs above us right now. But you’ll also find a lot of other animals and plants.”

A menagerie…like a natural zoo…created by the fadeong. It became obvious now, that deep scintillating thrill that rolled up her spine. It was the same feeling her own djed made when it moved out from her core, this one was flowing the opposite way. Up the downstream banks of her arteries. “You can see a lot of bobcat here, but otherwise its mostly small animals; mountain cats, mice, squirrels. That kind of thing.”

[Ayszel]

.

Ayszel followed the boy along a wide cobbled path, arching its way in what Oishi described as a wobbling circle. The image in her pamphlet was marked by a ruby red tree, whose size and enormity belayed its true self in the park. The long trunks were very narrow and reached precariously up toward the sky. The thick undergrowth was trimmed back near the walking path and in several areas beneath various other trees it was a low mossy carpet. However, the sight was clear throughout the park as the boughs of the tree didn’t begin until well up into the skies. Ayszel followed the long trunks curiously. Leaves from them littered the paths like tiny pebbles of skin. Closing her eyes Ayszel pressed her essence against the creature as her fingers danced along its rough bark.

It was a warm presence, dark but with flashes of light. It moved more quickly than the essences of the plants in the mountains but was still remarkably slow compared to the trees of home. But more than that, its presence wreaked of Djed. She could tell nothing of up, beyond a faint stream of magic that flowed through the ground of the land and into the trees core. She shuddered, coldness blanketing her shoulders like an unsettling shawl. They may be gorgeous…but… She didn’t know how to finish the thought. It might not be that the plants are wicked, for how can a creation of Caiyha be wicked unless it has wickedness thrust upon them through poison or disease…perhaps this vein of magic is simply unsettling to me… but her reassurance did nothing to sooth the hairs that stood up on the back of her neck.

As they neared the center of the park Oishi pointed out the pond, sparkling at its heart Ayszel murmured to herself. Shimmering glass benches lined its edges, carved with exquisite detail. Her heart almost wept for the beauty of it. If there is one thing I must say of Lhavit, it is certainly beautiful. But what was beautiful in Zinrah was also the most deadly… she thought, as the growing promise and shiny veneer of the city rubbed her raw with its offensiveness, as every nerve was raw from the promise of lurking danger.

Perhaps Lhavit would be enamouring and impossible to leave for an average human that came from far less beautiful cities, but for Ayszel the more beautiful Lhavit became (although that was of course the goal of a tour, to highlight the beautiful and shield the ugly) the more unnerved she felt, as if she stood out like a raw fish floundering in a flowery meadow in which cats slithered.

The benches divided the cacophony of colours and shone them out across the lake like a shattered rainbow. At one edge lurked the large bearded face of a bobcat whose gaze followed them as they neared the water before deciding witch or not the human was too close and darting into the woods before Ayszel had a chance to sense his identity.

“Litka, look here,” he called, waving her over to the bench. She didn’t respond immediately, but caught his gaze scrutinizing her through long locks when she ignored what was meant to be her name. “Oh! Sorry, distracted.” She replied, hoping it hid her lack of familiarity. The name was equally piercing as it was delightful, to be called by the name of her mothers murderer was jarring, Perhaps I should have thought it through more… but there was something delightful in knowing she was protected by a false name, and an internal reminder to be just as fierce and ruthless as that woman had been. This city would and could kill her at any moment, no matter how shiny their trees or benches were.

“You like plants and animals then?” Oishi asked, seeming to have adapted to her broken common with fair ease, speaking to her as he would a small child.

“ Mhmm…”

“There,” he pointed at the pond, “is Zujin,” he gestured toward the lily pads whose centers were marked with large green bulbs. “Oh!” Ayszels eyes widened, it was the same plant whose petals she had eaten on the mountaintop that had caused such a sick stomach. Fortunately, it had been brewed into a tea, which seemed to have lessened the affects if Oishi’s response was any indication. “I eat those. On the mountain. I got very sick and have sights that aren’t seen.”

“Oh…well Zujin causes upset stomachs for days, we see it in the animals sometimes, the ones not smart enough to stay away, but rarely for only a day if you just eat it. And it doesn’t make you hallucinate. That’s what seeing things that can’t be seen is, hallucinating.” He explained.

She nodded slowly. So steeping them diminished their effects apparently…but what plant had she added that would make her hallucinate? She was distracted for such a long minute she almost missed what Oishi was saying.

[Ayszel]

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“The Catholican uses the leaves for something though, when put in tea. They say it calms the stomach.”

It’s its own antidote... She considered, the little sentence settling the anecdote into her memory, as some little sentences are want to do.

“Why are no flowers here. Flowers in the mountains. Purple and spiky!” I feel like a petulant twelve year old speaking like this… she muttered to herself.

“They bloom when it freezes, and it freezes earlier at higher altitudes. The other flowers on the water aaaaaare…” He said slowly, searching for the much less prominent Arums.

“Those leafy bunches on the edges are Arums. They aren’t flowering right now but they make food for the ducks during the Spring, so you’ll find plenty of ducks here then. The only other one I know is Blue Vervain, cause I use it to bring butterflies to MY garden too. It’s too late for butterflies now, but you see them a lot when it’s warm. It’s too bad you didn’t get here during the spring and summer, it’s far more beautiful in Lhavit then.”
Is that a tour technique to try and get visitors to remain, or is he being facetious. I don’t believe this place can get anymore perfectly groomed than it is now…

Wandering down a separate path on the tail of a fleeing bobcat Ayszel split up from Oishi for a moment. Around a mask of trees the pawprints of the bobcats embedded themselves in a gentle trotting pattern. She followed it curiously, having never seen such tiny paw prints like this before. The only feline pawprints she had seen in the jungle were the giant prints of the Myrian tigers. While the pattern chilled her heart instinctively their relative size was sweet and fragile. But before her was not revealed a bobcat, but instead a tiny ramshackle cabin, its roof bending precariously in the middle.

Ayszel glanced around her to regain her sense of direction, to no avail. Where did Oishi go? Perhaps this is where the gardener or caretaker lives? she wondered, approaching to knock on the door. Maybe they can show me back to the path or even tell me a little more about the plants here… She wondered as her knuckles rapped firmly on the unsteady wooden frame.

The door moved under her fist, opening of its volition. Well that’s unnerving… Ayszel thought. However, Lhavit had not yet rubbed off on her and she stuck her head in to the den, crossing the threshold slowly as she allowed her human eyes adapt to the dark. It was uncanny and unnerving to see with human eyes, to see in colour rather than heat and movement and to be affected by the presence of light.

Inside, she would have spotted the movement in her dhani form but as it was she moved through the dark hut blind to the figure in the distance until it spoke. From the depths of darkness came the first tendrils of a whisper, “Ssssalutationsss Sssserpentling,”

Her heart echoed, hammering through the fragile inner ear bones of her human form. Serpentling?! How do they know?! Her face betrayed the violence and hatred she was capable of in that moment. “Oh ssshush shusssh little one,” The far older Dhani spoke, as she slithered into the room, her tongue flicking out at the end of the soothing shush. “No one elssse knowwsss,”

“How do you know?” Ayszel asked, stepping back towards the door, still open behind her.

“Why don’t you closssse the door behind you and take a ssseat?” She gestured to the shrouded table before her as she slithered about the room, lighting candles about the room until it was bundled in warm yellow light. Ayszel glanced about the room warily before the door was closed with a soft creak behind her.

She’s dhani…what’s the worst that could happen?