Closed A passage of peace and time

[Vick]

Vick knew the questions would come as he found acting to be far harder than he thought at first. He never lied before and he still was not lying to her but just trying to avoid the full truth right now.He was not sure how people did this type of ploy as he felt it was draining on him on some level.

“Well...like I said I was near it. Yet it was just quiet. Nothing took place that I think is worthy to note right now at least. As for that trait I picked it up awhile back ago. Rather forgot most of it truth be told but it still holds a place in my heart. I need to look into a few items I think they were called a balm.”

He said with a smile looking at her. It still was not a lie and he really did need to look into getting a few items but his coin purse was lighter each passing day. Yet he would worry about that later as he took up his pad and moved it to a new blank page.

“This will be my first real try at a face so please forgive me. I would keep your hands in your lap or at your side and just feel like resting your body.”

He said as he looked at her. His hand pressing down lightly on the pencil as he formed a soft box on the paper first. His movement was slow and careful as he studied her face in great detail. Yet as he was his nuit traits starting to show again as he was focusing so much at the task at hand he was forgetting to blink his eyes again.

About a few inches from the bottom of the box like shape he made he made two light lines to the inside of it downwards forming what looked like her neck and chin. His own drawing however made the chin more pointed compared to her soft features.

Once the chin outline was made he made a line near the top of the box where her eyebrows would be.The line went from both points of the box. Once it was formed he created a new line going down the draft of the face so that everything now was a semi grid for him to focus on due to the scale of the drawing. He was use to working in smaller fashions and surfaces yet for this one he had to try to break it down into smaller parts just like how he would break down large malediction projects.

He started on the left first. At the line near the left he formed a light parallelogram in the rough shape of her eyebrow. It was thicker than her normal ones and shaped in a rougher manner. Below that he made a smaller oval shape for her eye. A little dot inside but in the end it turned out to be more catlike than he wanted.

Once the left side was done he moved to her right. Forming another light parallelogram for her right eyebrow and another cat like oval shape for her eyes. It was one thing to focus just on shapes but a much different concept to take someone's face and translate that into art on paper he was finding.

Once that was done he made a small triangle that held more of a curve to form her nose. His drawing made it look smaller and rougher edges compared to her real one he found as his unblinking eyes did not leave her face as he kept his focus besides glancing at her and his pad comparing the two.

Bit below that was her lips. His drawing made them larger compared to her real ones. Also, it was lacking real definition that made her human. They were a smaller oval shape with a line in the middle to break them up. It lacked the soft skin details that were on her face and the curve her real lips made. Afterwards he started to work on her long hair and had it as a backdrop along her face. The top of the box forming more of a slope for her forehead.

In the end it took him a longer time compared to what he thought it would. At least half a bell if not more but at last his eyes blinked as he looked down on it. It was a rough draft to him but it would take him awhile to clean it up and make it better as in his eyes it was very rough and not like her in a lot of areas. Small mistakes stood out to him but he was learning a bit more as he made the small mistakes.

He looked back at her and had a soft smile upon his face as he showed her. At least for now he was done with it but was not sure how she would take it.

“First time...Sorry for the wait but it’s a rough draft for now. It will take time to polish it up and made a few more drawings before I can mimic the real beauty of your face.”

[Agnusha]

“You should find one at the Starry Chalice, for sure. It is at the Azure Market, Zintia Peak, the middle one.” She pointed towards the direction of the peak. “It isn’t hard to find the market. You would know you’re there when you find everything blue.” A rather peculiar choice for a child though. What balm did he need? And what for? Well he did need some for those marks on his eyes. It was like he was staying up late and missed some rests.

“Okay… like this? Should I smile?” She adjusted her sitting a bit and put her hands on her lap as he told her. She never had the pleasure to be sketched so that was pretty much exciting for her. At least she knew Vick was good at drawing -- well he nailed the circle – and she was under presumption that it was okay. Things did look well for Vick. As he kept drawing without much trouble, it seemed to her.

First he drew some rectangles with soft line all over the page which left Agnusha with the question. Why? But she did not want to interrupt for Vick was very absorbed by his sketch. He did looked up to her many times. Sometimes he stared long enough to make her quite uncomfortable. She often ask here and there is she doing it alright but didn’t seemed to get answer. Around that time she noticed one more strange thing about Vick, he rarely blinked. Two sharp sphere that was his eyes kept staring and glancing but he did not mind to blink. She also noticed that sitting in a long time without switching position making quite a pain for her mortal seeming. If she was in her celestial form she wouldn’t mind sitting in the open just gazing to the Star and Moon. But her mortal seeming was not as sturdy as her celestial form. Soon enough, the excitement she felt started to wane, only to be replaced by tiredness. Vick would see it plain clear as she was shifting her legs position, kept requesting a pause and stretched a little.

At the end of their session, that seemed to last for bells for Agnusha she was brooding over the sketch as Vick showed him. “Wow…” she mused both in an absence of words. The Sketch was rough as he said, but she though it was pretty good. She didn’t know what he meant by ‘polish it up’ but perhaps it would indicated that they will meet again in the future. “It was pretty good you know. My first sketch was herbal leaves as I tried to copy it from my master. The result was disastrous for everyone mistook my sketch as poisonous leaves.” She replied Vick’s smile with her own, chuckled in a bit. “Thank you for sketching me.”

[Vick]

Vick had let her move about as he did forget at times that humans could not just sit in place forever. He forgot what it felt like as he could do one task without ever feeling drained or tired when it came to moving. He once spent days just reading and writing without break and even working on his projects without a care in the world.

Vick wrote a V with a circle around it as he tore the page from the book before giving her the drawing. While she did not know what the V and circle was for it was something that Vick had used for many years for all his creations as his trademark. Granted it meant more to him for his real craft but he knew one day he would get better at all his crafting and art skills so he did not mind this.

“You may have it if you wish. One day it will be better but shall we go to the...Starry Chalice?” He asked as he stood up. While his movement seemed a bit slowed he was not acting in any pain or stiffness as he placed his items in his bag. He would offer her his hand but once she touched him he would know she would learn far more than he wanted right now.

Yet something told him she would learn a lot before they parted. Vick would wait for her as he never did show that he mind her that she had to move and get more at ease due to the body getting stiffed. Vick was not even sure when she had to eat as it was something he never had to do he did not keep track of it. Even in Sahova where he had test subjects he forgot to feed them for a few days at times.

“Do you run the shop yourself or do you have a Master? What are the things you have made with your so far?”

Vick would ask questions as he would let her lead the way. He had to wonder how much the balm would be but he doubted more than a few gold coins or kina as they called them here. Would she probe more into things? If she did he may have to let her know more about him but he had to wonder how she would take that information?

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Agnusha]

“Thanks” she replied absently as she was still drowned at Vick’s drawing. He added a letter V inside a circle on the paper. Once again she noticed the perfect circle and the symmetrical line in “V” was outstanding. It was hard to admit but she knew his skill was far from her. Perhaps he would gave her some advice for her own drawing? She did not need to be able to sketch people. She need to be able to draw plants correctly. She glanced at the boy who has began to get up from his sitting. Perhaps not now... She moved her stiff legs a bit and got up.

“No, I am still an apprentice. My master, Tian J’net is the one who own the shops.” Her voice did raise a bit not in anger but just to make it audible for Vick. He was taking many steps ahead her as she was massaging her leg. It was not painful but she felt like thousand of needle has been pierced her leg. It was more uncomfortable and leave her unable to walk properly.

Yet it was surprisingly easy for her to caught Vick’s step. He was moving quite slow in her opinion. “Oh I’ve made things like balm, tincture... aromatic candle. But Tian has yet to let me make more complex things.” The truth was Tian did not trust her to handle the more complex potion yet. And she could see it clear that her skill wasn’t good enough either. “How about you? What do you do?”. She began to led them away from the Trails, and towards the Zintia Peak. It was quite a walk and she knew she get plenty of time with Vick until they got to the shop. On the contrary with the plethora of vegetation near the Misty Peaks, trees and bushes grew scarce as they walk closer to Zintia.

[Vick]

What did he do? That was a question with so many answers he thought as he let the answer roll on his tongue like a sweet candy. He was a wizard, researcher, writer of a book for his craft, crafter, artist and at times a teacher.

Would she understand him if he told her? He had to doubt it as he let her lead them to where they had to go. She would know more of the city compared to him in the end so he did not mind at all. He kept doubting his words in his head as he thought of it but in the end he would just have to tell her the truth.

“Currently...I am not doing anything in the city. I have thought of going back to my roots or maybe even try to see if I could teach my craft in the city. Yet I worry about different things like that.”

He said as he looked at her. His words were tainted with sadness on some twisted level as his eyes looked like they were looking past her lost in thought. He was worried he would slip back into his old habits and ways if he did focus on Malediction or even as a Teacher. He teaching style in Sahova was rough and hard. You would die or live enough to learn for that was the way in Sahova as a Master and student. It was how he learned and how he passed on his information to others.

“I guess I am not like most people in a lot of things.”

He said softly yet even he was not sure if it was to himself or to her as he smiled faintly at her as they walked on. Lost innocence from a time he almost forgot about. Something that he would never get back in the end as he was twisted and molded at the end of the day once everything was said and done. Just another broken doll cast to the wind but a small smile that could tell her everything almost as he let it fade away as he looked forward to where they were going.

“Tell me something. What do you want to do in your life?”

It was a simple question but something that could lead to so many things. He had all the time in the world it felt like and as long as he could transfer the host he did have all the time in the world. Yet he was not sure how he would answer that question himself but he would see how she would fair.

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Agnusha]

It was quite early for her to head straight to the Starry Chalice. Perhaps it was still the ninth bell or so she thought. She was out there for a while now but Syna still hidden by the heavy snowcloud above. They could made there before the noon rest began. They will find balm for Vick there, she was certain of it. She looked to her strange companion, Vick’s expression seemed to be clouded. But that was all she could saw from his dark and mysterious appearance.

They walked together through the empty trail. They didn’t see anyone else out there. Clearly Lhavitan wasn’t in a good mood to stroll under Morwen’s last touch. Here and there they were slowed by thin layer of ice but Agnusha simply break them with her staff.

“Ah…” She wasn’t sure how to react on Vick’s statement, but a distant memory flashed behind her eyes for an instance. He was reminding her to herself several winter ago. After she thought about it for awhile, she stumble upon a conclusion that Vick was struggling with the very problem as the new citizen of Lhavit. A need of occupation and didn’t know where to start a new life here. But he got his “craft”, she knew nothing back then and still very little now. “I’m sure you’ll find your way here. Lhavit appreciate knowledge, above anything else.” She paused.“When I was here for the first time… I was lost. I got nothing I could do.” She smiled, a bitterness escaped from her mouth. “It was hard to know nothing in a city where knowledge was something expected from the citizen.”

“That makes the two of us then.” Strange thing was she did not surprised at all. Chimes they spent together, she always felt that he was different from normal human. The way he moved his hand, blinked, and walked was… strange and out of place? She didn’t sure. She restrained herself not to poke into the subject from the very first. But It seemed that the answer to the innocent questions she asked was tied to the very topic she wasn’t intended to discuss. She didn’t meant to do that, and felt guilty toward Vick. Was he felt like being scrutinized by her? A shiver ran down to her spine. Leth save me… She impulsively looked up to the sky, but the God wasn’t there. Chime or two passed in silence as she was thinking what should she say to lighten up the mood. Yet she ended up believing it was better for her not to add some more to her statement before.

Vick was the one who broke the silence between them with a question that led her to the unknown. It was such a question that would never be asked to somebody she just met. Perhaps it was the strangest thing that came out from her companion so far. Strange… but intriguing. If they had met five winter ago, she would simply answer “To survive.” And that answer would not going anywhere. But now when she was able to survive after her second dawn at mizahar –at least in Lhavit. What did she want? She grinded her teeth as a pile of sadness urged to be recognized.

“I wanted something I’ve lost. Something that could not be found, but must be given to me. Something impossible.” She surprised she got the courage to said it outloud. Her eyes looked for Vick’s and waited for any reaction from her friend.

[Vick]

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It sounded like she knew what he felt and was going through with this city as he was still so new to it. As she spoke it felt like they may have had more in common compared that what he thought at first. Maybe this was fate he thought as he looked on her.

Yet deep down he knew they could not form any bond. It was too late for him. Right? It was so much doubt in that thought as he looked at her as she spoke about something being lost and something being impossible. Doing the impossible was a fun game for him at times but maybe that would come up later.

Yet as she spoke about it he looked at her and smiled for once. It was no longer forced like he did over the years but for once felt more at ease as they could understand something or at least he had hoped they could form a bond of sorts.

A few chimes had passed before he would talk as he let her words sink into him. He did not want to talk quickly after that and make it seem like her words did not matter. He wanted to understand more in the end.

“I understand well on things that were lost. If you asked me that question long ago I would have told you power. Yet now? I want to start something new. Yet I feel most lost now but I get the feeling you understand that well. In a different life it may have been a different outcome.”

He wanted to hug her and tell her it would be all right but that would look odd he thought since he was still in the form of a child but also the fact she may freak out knowing what he was. Plus she would not understand why. Yet she did remind him of himself when he was first turned into a nuit on some level.

“I apologize...I am not used to being social. It’s new.”

The words were in common but the word apologize was not. It was a slip of the tongue by him as he did not even catch it but the word was in the ancient tongue. Something he was more fluent in but when you knew other languages the slip of a word or two was a bit common.

“My craft...It’s Zapatl.”

Another word in the ancient tongue but the true name of his craft. If pressed he would use the common word Malediction but even then he was not sure if it would mean anything to her. He did not know if she knew magic or what her view was with it but this was a risk he was willing to take and share.






e

[Agnusha]

Her words echoed between the two of them, only to be disappeared in a matter of ticks swallowed by an obstinate silence. She did not tell him what exactly did she lost, or why would she even wanted such an impossible seeming things. Yet Vick did not seem to be bothered to ask. A smile bloomed as a reply for her cryptic message. A simple gesture that showed consideration between the two, she guess.

Both of them strode lightly as they entered Zintia’s region within the absence of words. The stony pavement they had followed from the Trails wasn’t change much, yet now they found their way through lines and lines of houses and building with skyglass roof. Syna’s light was not on the full strength and there were no wonderful light play as it was common occurrence on the city. Yet the glass still looked like liquid fire frozen into a mere block, a sight to behold . She led their way through the ever arching pathway, always ascending. She slowed he steps purposely so she won’t leave Vick behind, though slower motion seemed to toll her body more than her original speed.

A somewhat bitter smile blossomed in her face as she caught Vick’s empathetic remark. He even added a piece of his past as a notion of comparison. “You…do?...” Her tone raised slightly in question, but still a careful enough not to poke into something sensitive. It was their first meeting after all. “Everything that happen have a reason behind it. I hoped it was for the best.” A bit of her melodramatic Ethaefal side broke through her mortal seeming. “The best for both of us.” Another chimes passed in silence as they continued to walk the pavements.

“I’m sorry for being melodramatic so suddenly. The truth is, my inner side sometime came up and messes things around me.” She chuckled and exchange a gaze with Vick. She meant the word literally. But she knew he would not have the idea of she being an Ethaefal. People tend to treat Eths different here in Lhavit. Vick wasn’t accustomed yet with Lhavit’s culture, she knew it, but she didn’t want him to treat her different. It was better like this.

“Za-what?” She turned to him with furled brow. She had been speaking in Common Tongue since his second dawn in mizahar. She was sure “Zapatl” wasn’t in any of her vocabulary list and she did not know what was the meaning behind it. People spoke different language for sure, perhaps it was a part of a language from Vick’s hometown. She also caught another foreign word among Vick’s common tongue. “I beg you pardon, I don’t know what that means.”

[Vick]

Vick did not even blink in surprise when she did not understand the word. It was something that even he did not know at first and took him a lot of time to really find out by research and study on his own in the halls of Sahova where magical research was so detailed. He doubted that he could learn that word outside of Sahova.

“Again..I am sorry. Common is not my best...skill? Zapatl is the true word for Malediction. Malediction is a world magic that I know and use. It helps me and others in a way at times by using bones and the remains of people or things since everything has Djed even in death. Rocks, trees, plants, water, fish, people, dogs and even monsters have a djed. I can tap into that and help control it and bring it out to make magical artifacts that can help. Such as using a rabbit's skull you can use it as a necklace and gain the sense of smell like a rabbit.”

It was the first time Vick showed clear passion as he went into detail and gave her a bit of information about Malediction and showed on his face about a joy that he held close to his heart. It would make sense since he was very skilled and even called Master of Bones in Sahova but he would not use that title here.

He had spent so much time working with the magical research that his passion for it ran very deep. He could really not spend a lot of time without thinking about new creations, new ideas or trying to see if he could find a way to improve something. He did not meet anyone else outside of Sahova yet that shared his passion for it so he could not see if he could learn tricks that he did not think of but everything about his joy with it showed clearly on his face as he lit up and talked to her about it. It was like a young kid getting a gift on his birthday after people forgot about him.

“I am sorry...I did not mean to give you a lesson in it as I am sure most people do not like the idea of what it does or can do.”

He said after a bit as he looked at her and it dawned on him that he was acting childish. Clearly more times than he could count he was put down for things like this in his past as Sahova was somewhere where this feeling did not last long in front of other masters.

His eyes moved to the ground as he looked down and just shook his head. His expression reverting back to being less emotionless compared to before as he did his best to smile. For once showing it was just a mask as he was trying to hide his feelings and emotions but now a smile that held cracks in the foundation.

“Inner side? I guess that could be a problem at times”

He said clearly not understanding her meaning behind the term. Yet even if he knew her real race he would not care due to his history with Sahova and his view of different races. Most of them were research study or play toys in the past. Would he go back to his ways? In the end, he felt like he was locking something up that would show itself after a while but for now, he did not need to show that side.

*Credit goes to Tanith Sitai

[Agnusha]

Her first reaction was frowning. First because the sudden mention of a craft not only far from her recognition, but also alien. She knew the towers and Shinya practice some kind of magic of their own. Yet the mention of the craft in Lhavit was sheldom reach the Lethaefal ear. Vick’s magic seemed to be brutal in her ears. Secondly she was surprised because her new friend was talking eagerly about the subject she barely grasped. She couldn’t guess what was tap into zet. Or was it zed he talked about? But she nodded to his analogy with the rabbit skull necklace.

“No it sounds unique. What else could it do?” She said truthfully, partially because she couldn’t find any words suitable for malediction. She also couldn’t remember where else in Lhavit she could find someone who’ll provide a rabbit skull necklace or something similar. “I’m afraid I’m not good enough for this subject.” She grinned her teeth to Vick. “You’ll find magefolks in the city. In the library… perhaps they have some tome regarding magic.”

“You bet.” The stony pavements brought them to upper area of the peak. Agnusha realized their surrounding has changed, more blue, and crowd. She was at Azure market more times than she could remember, the place was like her garden. Her legs steered through lines of people, merchants, buyers and the likes while keeping Vick nearby. She wouldn’t have it to lost him. At some point they stopped, she moved aside. She gestured Vick to followed her lead. A Son of Syna glided through the market, gallant and proud. His horn caught Syna’s radiance and shone just like skyglass. He donned accordingly to Lhavit’s upper class citizen, yet the fact that he being an Ethaefal was the one that made common people gave him the way. “More time than often.” She directed her word to Vick while her eyes switching from the Synaborn to him. It was obvious Vick could see the Eth from where he stood. Curiosity pinched her as she wanted to see his reaction to the procession which just took place.