Solo A Waved Hand II

[Moritz Craven]

15 Spring 521

It had been awhile since Moritz had seen his master. What had he learned? Had he progressed enough? And what would she thin of him leaving... The short trip out of Lhavit to Aja's current campsite was filled with such thoughts. Once they arrived there and were alone Moritz felt it was time to discuss such things. They had both stayed silent until then, but now that they were there Moritz found himself struggling to find words.

"Master Aja... I..."

Meeting the Kelvics eyes with her matching starburst covered eyes- though only matching in that one regard- Aja smiled at the kelvic. With one hand she petted the head of a large warthog Moritz had seen before, the star eyed animal snuffling at her hand before turning and heading off. The large beast was protective of Aja's herd of Iraso animals, a family as much as any by blood.

And Moritz, reminding himself as he met her eyes which had been given to him by her... Moritz was also a part of that family.

"I am leaving Lhavit."

Aja smiled again, waiting for Moritz to explain, not rushing the Kelvic who seemed to be having trouble explaining.

"Yes, go on. I'm sure there is a tale."

"I... Well."

Looking down Moritz felt a bump on his leg, and saw a goat looking up at him with eyes quite similar to his own. Iraso over a black square pupil. Moritz smiled, feeling at the animals head for a moment as he had seen Aja do, before continuing.

"I am going on a journey. To find Morwen. Or at least to help in it. That is my goal. I had a Vision and... Well I learned of her, and where she is, what happened to her... And no one else seems to be doing anything with that knowledge, even after telling people. So... So I am going to try and find her. Somewhere hot, in a jungle, through a jungle... Or something like that. That is where I must go. And I don't know how long I will be gone, or if I will come back. I will try to some day but... Well I just don't know what will happen. But doing nothing... Well doing nothing seems wrong, as bad as helping kill her."

The read headed Iraso smiled, moving over to Moritz, before pulling him in for a hug.

"Its alright Moritz. I understand. Go do what you need to do. Just do your best to stay alive alright? And no going in until your properly prepared, alright? No half way doing it. Okay? I think if you do that, your chances are better than some would think."

Hugging the woman back Moritz nodded, feeling wetness on his face. For some reason, Moritz was unsure why, he felt more upset now than with his own mother. It had been the same with Kyra his combat instructor.

"I will, I promise."

"Besides, if you go off and die I'll have to find a new Okomo for my family, and that would be way to match trouble."

Meeting Aja's eyes Moritz smiled, seeing the grin on the woman's face. It seemed very Aja to be making a joke as grand things such as death and the divine were discussed.

"Well, before you go, lets see where you are at in your progression. Test time!"

WC: 562

[Moritz Craven]

A smile on her face Aja met Moritz eyes, focusing on them. After a moment her own Starbursts markings as an Iraso bloomed to light, showing she had activated her Iraso sight.

"Now, lets see your activation speed. Turn on your Iraso sight."

Moritz nodded, focusing inwardly to his djed as she asked him to activate his abilities. Each time he did the act he felt a bit easier at doing it... A bit more accomplished. A bit faster. He was certainly activating and deactivating it a lot faster than when he had first been initiated, but still was not doing it at will as Aja had done.

Closing his eyes Moritz took a deep breath and then slowly let it out, trying to cleanse himself. Of thoughts. Distractions. Of everything. Then he began to build an image, a green field. Focusing on a green field with his eyes closed, he pictured a creek running down the middle... Each time he tried it he slightly changed his mental focus, his method of meditation, trying to find a new path that worked better than another. A better mental focus that was more attuned and in sync with who he was. Because of this he had made a large number of slight and big adjustments in how he pictured things.

Picturing the water as a pink and purple mix liquid he imagined a hill, and willed it up that hill. And at the top of the hill was a pool, shaped as an eye... He pushed on the djed, or what he imagined to be the djed, and willed it to fill the pool... Pushed, and then...

Opening his eyes he saw the shifting of his sight, as his Iraso vision bloomed. A moment later Aja smiled and then spoke, confusing the Kelvic as he had just finished turning on his sight.

"Good, now turn it back off."

A bit frustrated Moritz focused again, back onto the stream of colored water djed. Now he pictured the waters cutting off, the flow of djed into the eye slowly and tapering and then cutting off, until it finally... Faded back out. Taking in a slow breath Moritz opened his eyes, to see his Iraso sight fade back out.

"Now back on, but faster!"

Letting out a groan, but realizing what Aja was aiming for, Moritz tried again. This time he threw out all of the extra details, closing his eyes and focusing on just the stream. Instead of being on a background of grass he pictured an empty black pitch of night space, with a glowing river of djed colored and glowing within it. Rather than a stream it was a flow, and one of its outflows was to his eyes. Focusing on the "point" he felt was his eyes, a small circular swirl with a eye emblem in the middle, he willed his djed to move again. Willing the djed in he diverted it slightly, filling in the small creek, and surging back into his eyes.

Opening his eyes he felt the blaze of djed and saw with his Iraso sight aglow once more.

"Good, and again! Faster. That one was better, maybe half a chime, but still too slow!"

WC: 537

[Moritz Craven]

After that was several chimes of repetition. On. Off. On. Off. On. Off. Aja drilled Moritz back and force, trying to get him to go faster and faster. He was unsure what exactly Aja was aiming for, but continued her directions.

By the end he was keeping the mental image open, coming to sense when it was going on and off and confirming it by opening his eyes and checking to see if his Iraso sight was working or not.

A flow of djed, liquid colored purple and pink down a stream... He flowed the djed in, picturing the eye filling with the colored liquid.. Opening his eye he saw his Iraso sight flowing... Cutting off the stream he pictured the eye drying out, and opened his eye to see his Iraso sight slowly fading away. On. Off. On...

Suddenly Moritz tensed up, hearing Aja laughing as he did. This time he kept his eyes open, picturing the eye and flowing djed into it. His Iraso sight flicked on and he could see in it. It had only taken a moment. Now he pictured the eye being cut off and drying up, and willed his Iraso sight off. A moment later it was off. Once more he willed djed in and his Iraso sight on, and almost right away it was back on. On, off. All by will.

"I... It...."

Patting Moritz on the back Aja smiled, her eyes glowing back at the Kelvic.

"I know. I could tell you were close just by watching you a few times. You just needed some drilling. That is a mark of one of the first steps of proficiency in using Iraso sight. Now you just need to keep working on it."

Pausing for a few moments Aja watched Moritz, considering something. Finally she did speak, having come to a decision.

"Now along with that proficiency... It also becomes possible to initiate others into Iraso. If you are strong enough in it to turn it off and on at will, then you are probably also strong enough in it for what the transfer of djed requires. To spread the gift. But I would advise against it for awhile. You are still new to it, and even skilled users with years of practice sometimes make mistakes. And I've told you before what mistakes in such initiation can mean. "

"Since I don't know when I will see you again, I will explain the process to you, in case you need it... But first, I want you to focus on your Iraso sight. Look around and check on all of the trails around here. What do you see?"

Focusing his attention Moritz looked around, spreading out his awareness. Around him was a field of djed, everything including the mountain aglow. The mountain was a dull low glow, whereas the animals walking around where alive and much stronger still was his own djed and Aja's, the unique signatures of which Moritz had spent time on memorizing. He only knew a few on sight, his own, Aja's, his mothers... And perhaps one other at most... Others he could differ from those, but had not been able to or taken the time to do further recognition on them.

Beyond that, the sea of light that was the djed overlaying everything, Moritz began to focus on the trails.

Turning he could see his own trail moving out behind him. Likewise looking at Aja he could see her trail looping around and joining with his own on their trek to the camp, running parallel to each other.

Focusing again he could see the trails of the Iraso animals, fainter than their djed trail but still bright as a living being. These criss crossed and covered each other, merging and overlaying and splitting in a way that made Moritz have trouble distinguish one from another.

"A lot. I see a lot. Though I don't think that has changed..."

WC: 656

[Moritz Craven]

Smiling Aja met Moritz eyes as the Kelvic turned to her. "That's not quite what I meant Moritz, but good enough. I meant more... As in are you seeing more? Or better? The better you get, the more you are trained, the older the paths are you can see and the better defined they will be. I can even gain some information about what laid the path if I try. It'll come in time."

Moritz nodded, willing his eyes off, and then back on, smiling at the feeling of near instant change. It was such a recent threshold that it still felt amazing and new, and he wanted to try it out as much as he could.

"Ah, I see. Yes... Hmmm... I'm not sure, I think I might be seeing a bit more now than before, but its hard to say. The changes are so gradual as I improve, there is no sudden doubling or paths or such. Also I would assume that travel over an area would change depending on recent foot traffic... So I am unsure. But it does seem a bit clearer than before. More... Fine."

Inspecting one path in particular Moritz looked at it, focusing his gaze. He ran his eyes along it in one way before running into a clump and loosing track of it. As he ran back and force he felt an... Impression... Moritz was unsure how to describe it, but he felt akin to understanding a secondary meaning or seeing a second layer beyond the first of the trail.

"A male... Goat... Goat? I think I can see... On this path... It was laid by a male goat. Is that right."

Pointing his finger along it Aja was able to trace the line he was pointing at, and after a few moments of following it nodded. "Yes, that was laid by a male goat. Good, you are starting to grasp more detail from a trail. More will come in time, but this is a good sign you are progressing. And I mean, anything is an improvement over the nothing you could tell before right?"

Moritz smiled and nodded at Aja, flexing his shoulders and neck for a moment before turning back to the line. He tried to follow the trail the other way, but soon lost track of it among more mixing and overlapping trails. Clearly Aja with her greater skill was better able to tell such things.

Pausing for a moment to let Moritz look things over Aja got the Kelvics attention once more.

"Alright Moritz. Now, initiation. You have been the recipient of this, but have not performed it. So listen closely, for when you eventually attempt it. As you know, Iraso sight is passed on through the eyes, and moves from eyes to eyes. You transfer it from your eyes into another pair of eyes. That is the basic requirement for initiation, eyes. Functioning eyes that can see. Without it you cannot perform Pathfinding, nor transfer to or from them."

Pausing for emphasis Aja took in Moritz attention, the Kelvic focused on the witch.

"Initiation will not happen by chance, you must be actively working your djed to do so. The way it works is the Initiator will lock gazes with the initiatee, and then link by djed your gaze to theirs. I advise sitting like we did, and being close to each other. Close proximity is a must. And being free of any disturbances or distractions is a must. Someone running into you mid initiation could prove fatal or at least result in failure. So I would advise against initiation any place unsafe or non-secure."

"Once that is attained, and you link your eyes with your Iraso djed... You must send your djed into the others eyes. This link, or bridge of djed, must be maintained. Not too long, nor too short, and not too intensely. Any of those can result in failure or damage to the recipient. If must be for the correct duration, and the correct intensity. I cannot really explain what those are, you will have to get a feel for it and come to understand how to do it through practice. Once their eyes have been changed and bear the starburst of an Iraso, the process is done and has succeeded. "

Moritz continued to stare into Aja's eyes as he digested the directions, nodding along as she spoke while keeping her gaze. Somehow it felt right to be explained the process while staring eye to eye with their twinned Iraso sight, a pair of Iraso. Initiator and initiate passing on the knowledge... Both had their Iraso sight active, and Moritz knew that even as he could see Aja's djed body she could see his, something no Non-Iraso would be able to understand. They could truly see each other, Moritz knew, and he was gladdened to be a part of such a family.

As ever Aja appeared bright in his sight, though not bright as his mother had been, but still brighter than most any other he had met and certainly much stronger than a normal person or a beast.

"Thank you master Aja. I will do my best to perform it will when or if I do, and wait until the proper time to attempt it."

With a smile Aja gave Moritz a pat on his back, looking into and through him.

"Good. And make sure not to run off and die, or I'll be annoyed at you."

WC: 915

[Moritz Craven]

Grade Award!

Name:Moritz Craven
XP Award:

• Meditation 2
• Observation 3
• Pathfinding 3
• Persuasion 1
• Rhetoric 1
• Storytelling 1

Lores:

• Aja: Understanding and Attentive
• Aja: Making a promise to survive, prepare, and commit
• Teaching: Practicing by repetition and drilling
• Pathfinding: Initiation should wait until user is skilled
• Pathfinding: Can gain information about the trail layer
• Pathfinding: Initiation steps and procedures
• Pathfinding: Initiation things to avoid
• Pathfinding: Initiation a balance of duration and intensity

Penalties & Awards: N/A
Notes: Congrats on reaching Competent Pathfinding!