[Open; Outside the City] A moment of clarity

[Sorian]

Winter, Some day during 509 AV, Afternoon The festering and endless grasslands of Suva had not yet filled with snow, but was blanketed with an chilly air instead. By the time one reaches the eastern borders of the Bluevein river, which cuts across the landscape like a great winding snake upon the wintry tundras forming all around it, one would have grown dejected and bored over what is there to be seen. On the horizons could be seen the towering waterfalls that shelter the Akalaks' tranquil home in Riverfall city, the volume of the water never decreasing despite the frost that surely would have accumulated near the cusp of the peak. Every particle of water that fell from the miles-high drop gave life and vitality to the plains, which nonetheless remained sparse of habitation, the result of the great cataclysm known to all as the Valterrian. Mounting above the desolate grasslands could be seen a huge figure, sitting plain and obvious in the grass by the side of the riverbanks. The pale blue skin on his body seemed to glow with an eerie shade, and yet even though the muscles and tissue matter on his back bristled and contracted with power, his face remained emotionless and straight. It was of a handsome quality, yet somehow marred with some inner turmoil, a personal Valterrian, so to speak. His eyes, which seemed almost blind in their pallor, stared across the landscape, never blinking nor wavering despite the winds that blew right at them. On his hand was a broken Lakan, the edges caked with blood. The giant figure moved very little, sitting as still as a statue, seemingly waiting for something to come. Small, breathy words were coming out from his mouth, and if one would inspect closer he would seem more like a madman than anything else. Perhaps, the state of mind rings true of that sentiment, but it was another one of those rare moments of better clarity. He just sat there, the world going around him without him noticing, and the world noticed him not.

[Kavala]

She was not without purpose, in the broken afternoon light, striding surefooted yet pensive between the blades of tall grass. The grass itself seemed to reflect the sober seriousness of the day for each strand seemed topped with a fading drooping crown of flowers that had long seen their prime. The woman wore a cloak made of white fox fur that sheltered her from the bite of the wind, which never seemed to stop blowing its soft breath first landward than seaward as the day progressed into night and then back towards day. Each stride revealed a glimpse of moon white skin and translucent hair freed from its warm haven by the rhythmic purpose of her steps.

The woman had a bundle tucked under her arm, something large and cumbersome that seemed to move of its own accord. It was the reason she was on foot rather than riding, which felt more natural to her than moving about on her own two feet. However, her fierce little buckskin stallion would not have tolerated the burden she carried, for he remembered with acute clarity the battles of the past and the scents associated with them. She walked on, seemingly knowing where she was going, and paused in the center of Sorian's vantage. Whether he noticed or not, the konti would not see, for she was busy unbundling the burden which turned out to be a hatchling glassbeak on the older side of its modest youth, posed to burst into adolescence terror. It was a bright red color, and its eyes whirled with rage that could be noted even from Sorian's distance. She had its beak bound, and its claws secured in small burlap bags which the Konti deftly unbound. A quick twist of the leather thong around its icy maw released it fully and the girl stepped back, giving it space.

Angerly, it flapped its useless wings, hissed viciously, and launched itself at her feigning ferocity it had no muscle to back up. The woman moved to the side, took a step towards it, and it squawked with sudden cowardice and turned to run. Within seconds it was gone, lost in the tall grass, and only its angry hissing voice growing progressively distant was left to remind the Akalak of what he'd just saw. The Konti gathered the thong, the twin little burlap bags, and turned to head back the way she'd come - back towards Riverfall. It was then she paused, glanced his direction, and seemed to notice him. Held tilting in puzzlement, the girl started to continue on her way before she paused, bowed her head for a moment, and then altered her course.

Light footsteps approached and grass bent slightly as the girl went gently to her knees before him. She paused a long time, studying him, before she spoke. Her voice was soft, unoffensive, the pitch designed to sooth the wild things out in the world. And though she spoke common, the way she spoke it made him think that perhaps she grew into adulthood out on the plains, speaking Pavi.

"I have no gift to feel people, yet looking up here, I could feel you clearly enough. You radiate something... something that reminds me of broken glass. How is it that one sensitive to the wild things and not people would feel that from you so acutely?" She said softly, as if she spoke of the weather or the time, rather than something so horribly personal. Leather creaked as she slipped a bag from her shoulder and pulled free a piece of linen filled with a small wheel of cheese, a half a loaf of bread, and two handfuls of nuts. A wineskin followed shortly thereafter. "Are you hungry?" She asked, already dividing up the fare. One fed beasts to put them at ease. It was a habit deeply ingrained within her.

"I am Kavala." She added, almost as an afterthought.. as if one normally didn't bother giving their name to animals.

[Sorian]

The squawking of a familiar noise made the giant blue mass stir a little, his ears perking up noticeably as his slow, dulled senses picked up the pace of the ruckus around him. The squawking seemed to grow more and more muffled, and his pallid eyes lifted to the direction from where the noises emanated. Before him was a being of unmistakable mark in beauty, a Konti, capturing the fierce creature without much effort at all. Seeing the bound creature thrash around in its helpless state made his blood race a little bit; he was accustomed to killing these birds already, and it no longer thrilled him as much to bring swift ends to their lives, so he watched it run like a castrated chicken with its beak still tied. The muscles on his massive arms continued to constrict and twist with enormous strength as the beautiful visage approached, yet he took no hostile nor evasive action. His eyes, hard, emotionless and seemingly blind, blinked for once, and a twitch in his lips appeared. It was the faintest of all signs, but it was a smile. "No." he said simply, his eyes interlocking with hers. He paid no heed to the cheese being offered to him, his diet having all but forgotten the taste of dairy products of any sort. The allure of her presence soothed his raging spirit, and the calm was enough to solicit more words than he would usually say. His beastly yet majestic image towered over Kavala's, despite his being in a sitting position. Like the colors in a painter's pallete the orange glaze of the afternoon sun mixed with the color of his body, creating a color unseen in any other sight. "I am... Of no good name, milady." he said in a husky voice that contrasted slightly with the deep pitch of his throat, a tinge of shame and guilt apparent in his refusal to state his name. The hold of his massive hand on his broken Lakan did not waver, but the muscles and veins did. He took a great breath and mustered more words, if only to consume the tiny fraction of time alloted to the meek side of him. A glint of softness made him look like he was in pain, as he indeed was. "But I do have a story to tell. Would you like to listen?"

[Kavala]

Kavala took the time to study him, boldly, though without meeting his eyes. Eye contact was invasive at best, obtrusive at worse, and could instigate a challenge she was neither prepared to meet or willing to fight. The konti, for the most part, where peaceful creatures of deeper insight, though there were often times they could not help.

Releasing the Glassbeak after both healing its broken toe and skin infection had lead to an odd choice of time and place for returning it back into the wild. She hadn't captured it in truth, but it had been dropped on her doorstep, a victim of a trap set out for something else. Kavala hadn't questioned why it was allowed to live, for the traps were often set by the young who fell prey to the cuteness of baby animals not realizing the terror they could mature into. But she healed without question and without judgment, for to do otherwise would break her oath to Rak'Keli which gifted her with the abilities to begin with.

And since Kavala had no belief in coincidence, she did wonder absently why their paths had crossed then and there. Every moment was a lesson, something newly learned. While men held no appeal to her now, even those who took excellent care of themselves and were breathtaking creatures in their own rights, they had already ruined her in ways she was only beginning to discover. Animals were easier - more honest - and unless her sight was off, this one was nearer to the wilds than he was to his own people's civilized culture. It was why she approached, rather than leaving him to his own devices.

She waited, quietly, taking a nut to carefully nibble figuring he would speak eventually. Creatures nibbling food, preoccupied, were less of a threat. Kavala wanted to be no threat in this man's eyes. His sheer size and intensity were already beginning to outweigh the vote her sight had cast, making her nervous suddenly.

He captured her gaze for an instant, but her azure orbs were elusive, glancing immediately away, protecting herself and her own thoughts which could be concealed in pale features but not veiled in her curious eyes. Her gaze had always revealed too much.

He refused the food. It wasn't uncommon and she was unconcerned. Some creatures would rather starve than eat anything offered. They liked their food raw or acquired by their own hands. She wondered absently which of the two categories he fell into, certain it was one or the other if not both.

Kavala was slightly startled when he formed a whole sentence. It was a small thing, awkwardly produced, but it revealed a voice throaty with disuse, and deeper than she would have expected. His hand twitched then, and it drew her eyes downward where she at last noticed the broken Lakan clutched within. Kavala wondered what that meant. The Akalak, she'd been told, forged their soulblades of their own flesh with their own hands. They were sacred objects that gave each man his own identity. They somehow connected something within the Akalak, though the konti had yet to truly understand what yet. They were secretive creatures, even to her kind, and offered no knowledge to outsiders of their dual natures - something she'd witnessed first hand, but still had a very vague understanding of in the way that it would be inconceivable for a konti to share a body with another soul.

"A man is more than his name... so much more. The name is given life by the man, not the man given life by his name." It was the truth, but in a way a roundabout insult. Had she meant that his name was only no good because he himself hadn't made it so? The statement could have been taken multiple ways, but Kavala did not elaborate.

But she did catch the shift, the softening, and settled before him, sliding off her knees to fold them beneath her. She came no closer than she was, which was just beyond the distance he could touch her with his hands. Her form radiated calm caution, the type that came from creatures that had experienced sudden violence and expected it again.

"Yes." She said simply. "I would be glad to listen."

And then, as if the wind too wanted to ease drop on Sorian's tale, it settled around them leaving them in a peaceful eddie of calm while all the rest of the grass danced.

[Sorian]

The hulking form of the blue colossi continued to stir without any actual movement, the bones and flesh in his body still twitching and twisting with bustling activity beneath his skin, as if there was a subterranean habitat residing within him. His eyes, which now sported a pair of brilliant blue irises not unlike Kavala's, turned towards the direction of the sunset, seemingly so close to the touch yet being so far elevated from his grasp. The mighty voice in his chest continued to be calm, to the giant's slim comfort. As the Konti woman sat beside him he felt a trace of warmth. Cold as her attitude towards him may be, she was the very first sentient being to approach him on her own accord in more than a hundred years, and for but a passing moment he felt alive again. "I am a true child of the Akalaks, whom you could say are beings destined to have two distinct fates." he spoke with amazing clarity, his voice turning almost baritone in its luster. Gone were the salty and dragging words which he had uttered but a moment ago, and his eyes seemingly shone with some distant star lodged between each iris. "I was born... Oh, so many years ago, and it was a time far different from now. Back then, people were what the gods made them to be, not what they strived to be." Despite being centuries older than the Konti sitting beside him, his cold heart beamed to tell her of stories which, judging from the tone of his voice and the placid eagerness that came with it, might have seemed to have taken place only a day or two ago. A lamentable version of glee however, was all that he could muster, having lost most of his old self to the netherworld that runs deep into his blood and core. "The Night Mother Akajia, she of a different sprout and root from our benevolent father Wysar, had bestowed upon us a terrible gift; the gift of darkness. It is something which we feared and loathed as a people, yet I, despite my fame as a great and courageous warrior, feared it more than all the others did, and thus was drawn to it in search of turning weakness into strength." He paused for a silent few seconds, a sudden jolt rocking his body. It was coming out soon, and he had to get it out, and get her out. "In my search for answers I found little but the very same darkness that I had so loathed. I faced it, I fought it, but eventually I came to accept it. And in the end... It accepted me. So I continued to traverse that path, that dark and mysterious path that I should have wisely continued to hate instead of accept." a trail of sadness once again became evident on his gaunt yet powerful face, the vibrant dying sun casting shadows of many hues about his sights. He labored to keep the darkness at bay, for as long as he could last. "Then... I could not return, I could not find solace. I found not strength, but agony... and defeat. She... of the Night, she was too strong. Her hold was... The madness... was... so powerful..." Again a pause and a shudder, and it caused him to clutch the Lakan on his hand even tighter. Blood started to flow from the rent flesh in his hand, and his teeth clenched tightly around his jaw. Still he pressed on, for one last sally of clarity. "I... Need... A song, milady.... Please." he struggled to say, his entire being now quaking with untrammeled power. The request was certainly odd, yet he could not find anything more to say, for it was like some volcanic eruption from the Valterrian trying to come out from within him now. He waited for a few more precious seconds for anything distantly related to music, to soothe the tremors that was elating to wake the sleeping monster within him, and preparing to flee as fast and far as he could should she not be able to acquiesce to the simple wish.

[Kavala]

Kavala listened quietly to the creature before her. She hadn't yet assigned him any sort of humanity, even for an Akalak, because her konti gifts were drawing her to his pain like they would a wounded animal. She had no true gift for people. It was confusing, at the very least, but like the other women of her kind, she had learned that all things in time became clearer if one took the time to reflect upon them and eventually accept it.

And she was a good listener.

His words revealed astonishing things, hinting at a duality that she'd sensed living in Riverfall, but had never before now had confirmation of. His statement of how people had changed brought a fluttering of a smile to her face, but only for an instant - truthfully she was still wary of him in the way that one was fascinated by the beauty of a glassbeak, but knew the creature would rather tear off ones head than let one gaze admirably at it.

So.. in darkness and in light. It clarified quiet a few things for Kavala who knew both of Wysar's nature and of Akajia's. She had never quite understood how the two deities had become so fiercely attached to each other. It made little sense to an outsider, but perhaps there was more to the story that did indeed bring sharp sense of understanding. Kavala shifted slightly, slowed her breathing, and drew in her words even as she drew in the cool air in measured breaths, thinking deeply about what he was saying. It was important, she sensed... incredibly so.

His skin was like its own living thing, dancing as it stretched across tight muscles. His strength intimidated her slightly, though she did not allow herself to acknowledge what she truly felt seeing the evidence of his strength so clearly in the waning light. That she was here at all, sitting before him, speaking with him, gave her hope that she would not always be a coward. But it took time... a great deal of it, in order to forget. And even if she managed to convince her mind that it didn't matter, her body often betrayed her. Even now mouth was growing dry, a precursor to the fear that would come if she let herself dwell on it too much.

The stranger trembled, and that distracted her from her own train of thought. He was slowly loosing some sort of inner battle. She could clearly see it. The Lakan was some sort of focus, for fresh blood laced its surface as he gripped it once more. It was like one of her great stallions, having reached his limit of domesticity, puffing up and getting ready to blow. Kavala knew what to do for them, to sooth them, but she had no such resources for a man.

And then he asked... and her eyes widened in understanding. But she could not sing for him, not sitting across from him facing his turmoil and thinking of him as a man. Her body would not simply allow for it, because his loss magnified into her own loss of bravery. So she shielded her eyes with her eyelids, took a deep breath, and rose slowly. She left her leather pack, and opened her hands so he could see clearly that there was nothing within them - decidedly no weapons. And she slowly paced around behind him where his features were concealed. To do this, she had to think of him as one of her charges, not as what he truthfully was. And as time passed and the chimes slid on indicating the coming of evening... it became more and more clear to her he was anything but tame; anything but harmless.

Small hands reached out and touched his hair, sliding within it to touch his forehead from behind as she knelt just behind him. Surprisingly strong fingers found pressure points and began grooming his scalp. She had no curry comb, though she wished for one, so she used her hands instead. It was personal, when one used ones hands rather than a soft brush, but perhaps it was better that way, the Konti thought. And as she touched him, she began to sing. Her voice was soft at first, uncertain, as she rubbed her fingers through his hair, tracing the lines where she knew the nerves were located, applying gentle pressure. The song was in Pavi, a soft mournful tune about pain, something sung on the Sea of Grass where she was born.

Kavala was no skilled singer, but there was a sweetness in her voice as her fingers found tightness and tension then rubbed to release it. If he could read her thoughts, the warrior might have laughed, for in her mind she wasn't touching the head of a man, but rather soothing the nervous violence in a horse brought in fresh from the Grass, one unused to people but very used to fighting. When she finished the song, she switched to Common, and sang it again, though she knew it was not as beautiful that way. And he understood, finally, what she was singing about as she traced lines through his hair soothingly.

"The pain I can control
The pain that makes me whole
The pain that stops and brings some tears
The pain that erases all my fears
The pain that I inflict with this knife
The pain that might be last in my life
The pain that brought me to my knees
The pain that woahed me full of pleas
The pain that made me see the light
The pain that is bringing me home tonight
The pain that is wrong and bitter
The pain that makes me feel fitter
The pain that my friends say is wrong
The pain that makes me feel so strong
The pain that robs me of strength to even cry
The pain that makes me sometimes want to die
The pain thats not just pain to me
The pain that makes everyone see
The pain that thats tearing me apart
The pain thats ripping apart my heart
The pain that I'm addicted to
The pain I can't give up. Not even for you"

Kavala worked bits of debris from his long locks, tiny twigs, a piece of leaf here, a small piece of bark there. She could tell he'd been living a rather feral life, just like one of the horses would have that had been running out on the grass. He needed some attention, for certain, and a new set of clothing. The healer in her absently noted his pale skin, not the lustrous rich color an Akalak should have been. Her mind, having transmuted him into something he wasn't just so she could cope, instantly decided on the herbs she'd start putting into his grain to augment his nutritional deficiencies and bring back the deep rich color she was certain he once was. When she couldn't stare into a face that was a moment by moment reminder of humanity, it was easy to pretend something was a thing that it was not.

She'd continue working her hands through his hair on his forehead and scalp, touching him no where else, quietly soothing him. If he needed it, she'd also give him one more song, though she was indeed no bard.

[Sorian]

The monster within him was truly powerful, and it was--to the more conscionable persona's bitter chagrin--winning over it again, preparing to lash out a huge arm or two towards Kavala's direction. Adding to that was the raging fuel which Kavala's true thoughts had fed its always fuming mood. The darkness was always particular and more sensible to the emotions that swirl around people's moods, and was becoming savagely eager to show Kavala how right she would be in the notion that he was truly little more than a feral beast. The touch which fleeced around his hair was a truly new, if not long forgotten sensation for the monster, and like a cold bucket of water that was splashed onto a burning soul, it began to release its hold, the fury surging within his twisting sinews growing less and less tormenting. There was something kind and gentle in the woman's touch that thrust him back to many fonder memories, memories which he had all but lost to his darkness for the longest time. The song which he had requested, one which he truly did not expect to be given, slowly wafted in the wintry air around them, plugging the final stake onto the dark one's claim on his sanity for the time being. Every Konti verse she melded into song, regardless of his lack of understanding, pulled on his heartstrings with a gentle, warming force, and his eyes, which had been devolving into a more feral and brutal form for the eternal last few seconds, began to snap out of the carnage turn back into the bright azure it had been a few untrammeled moments before. The quaking in his body having stopped, the blue giant began to enjoy the caretaker touches which were being placed on his hair, his eyes closing in a few nostalgic moments of release. Another curl came over his dark lips, the only smile he could have managed for her. "Thank you, milady." he said, almost in a purr. He was grateful for the warmth and attention, and cared not if it was but a move she made for self-preservation. He could have turned his face to show her the pathetic rendition of a smile he had on, but he was enjoying her lithe brushing too much. So he simply started to talk again, his voice becoming more lustrous and rich than it had been. "You sing of pain... As if you had experienced it in full." he commented, his arms moving slowly to encase his curled-up legs loosely. In this position he looked more sentient than he had previously been so, and there was a sense of inhuman beauty to it. He continued, "There is a deep emotion that runs through your spirit. It troubles you, I can tell. I share the same sentiments, if I may be so assuming." While he would have not been able to feel how she truly felt about him, unlike his monstrous side, he was still sane and alert enough to get it in her touches. But he refused to acknowledge her sentiments, and let the back of his head slowly lean towards her body, the wild entanglements brushing against her fair white skin. Whether she pulls away or not, it did not concern him, for he had not felt such comfort, such company, in a lifetime. "I have been running full tilt from myself for more than ten decades now, lost in the wilderness that is my true nature." he spoke in a lucid, somber tone. "I have lost my battle to the darkness, and yet I had not earned favor with the Night Mother Akajia. I am abandoned, forever lost in the fight that continues to ravish me, despite the fact that I had long been defeated." He twists his head to the direction of the eastern skies, where the sun was flaring out of its power and sinking back into the horizon. The night brings many changes within him, changes that would not bring pleasing results for anyone or anything that might catch his fancy. Realizing that this conversation must now end, he closed his eyes once more, his limbs starting to inch away from Kavala. "You should go your way, milady. Thank you for your kindness. Tell them not in Riverfall that you had seen me. I am Sorian." He opened his eyes with a heave of a breath, his heart brimming with an emotion that Kavala would have only recognized in a wounded or abandoned animal. It was sadness, for he wondered deep within his mind when such a gentle event would ever grace his twisted life again.

[Kavala]

"Yes." She said simply to his question, slightly startled that he began to speak again. Kavala was unused to her charges talking back. "I am sorry then, if we both claim kinship through pain. Such ties are better forged through joy and mutual admiration." The konti said softly, addressing the back of his head as she knelt there. She would have liked to tell him something of her sorrow, for in his statement there seemed to be a question, but it was a life-changing event that she'd spoken to no one about. Truthfully, she often wondered how it was that she ended up surviving when so many others had died. And day by day she understood more acutely how deeply her own scars were etched - on her very soul it seemed at times - when they should have mattered very little. Konti were tough, as a whole, for all their fragile natures. Their strength came from within, forged of deeper insights and higher understandings. The creature sitting before her was an exact opposite, and it struck her how acutely transverse he was actually aligned.

His words filled her senses and she listened carefully, saying little. When he was done speaking, she had not only his name but the source of his pain. And while it should have been just one more fact she gathered about him, it somehow seemed more like a precious gift than anything else.

When she did speak it was still in her quiet gentle voice, heavily laced with speculation.

"I wonder, perhaps, if the ore does not feel the same way when it has been stolen from the ground and melted completely down and mixed with other things, to make raw steel. I wonder if it cries its anguish and defeat to the world, not knowing that the weaponsmith is about to reform it into something with more beauty and power than its narrow world could ever bring it to envision."

The konti softly moved again, sliding around him to kneel and gather her things. When the little pack was filled once more with her meager lunch and shouldered... she dared meet his eyes again. She seemed to weigh something within her and make a decision that seemed to come to her with some great effort.

"I would have you see something. Will you follow me? There will be no obligations or expectations." She added softly, meeting his eyes then with her own briefly, her peaceful face not quite hiding the damage he could read clearly in them even as she glanced abruptly away.

[Sorian]

Her brief replies to the story of his life's great quandary came awash with a feeling of relief, yet he felt a tug of sadness in his iron heart when she confirmed what he knew he felt from her. Her next words were vague to him, yet he somewhat understood that the words were appropriate for application with both of them, serenading them both with some light of hope that is merely hiding, yet ever present. His vibrant azure eyes watched her carefully as she gathered her things; they still didn't blink, despite the obviously more kind persona which was staring at her through them. Instead, they roved with her every movement, taking note of every flick of her fingers, and every breath that escaped her vibrant lips. A calm rushed over him as her magnetic gaze turned around to stare back at his, yet he could sense that she was preparing for something which was not so elated, that her eyes spoke volumes about a soul previously in tortuous reticence. A spark flared up within his heart when she gently tossed the invitation to him. "Follow... you, milady?" he repeated the question, confused that she hadn't turned to leave yet. Perhaps she did not take his abrupt conclusion of their conversation as a hint of terrible danger, and needed a better and more concise warning. Or maybe, perhaps she did not care, sincere in her wish for him to accompany her. A tiny vestige of a smirk came across his cold lips for a fleeting moment, somewhat hesitant to give her an answer that he might regret later. Nevertheless, for the first time in a century, Sorian felt complacent and... Wanted. As if what she had in store for him was something that only he besides her was allowed to see. He turned his eyes to the dying sun, gauging how much time he has before the blackness of his soul and the whispers of the night breaches the temporary bastion which she had created with her presence and song within him. It was surely burning low now, the orange giving way to a redder palette, but there was still time. He could flee before it does give way, or maybe just once, just this once, he could hold it in until she is done. The voice in his throat greased slowly into hearing range, the noticeable sound of clearing pressing out before the words did. "I will... Follow you." he said, his massive form finally pumping some well-coordinated strength into his limbs. He stood up slowly, his form towering over Kavala, the wind dividing against the breach of his girth. His gait was somewhat slow, as if his muscles were still trying to regain composure from sitting too long. He couldn't remember when he had just sat there, nor can he remember if anyone else had seen him there by the wayside. Still his eyes were transfixed into Kamala's fair form, and he began to move right beside her. "Let us depart." said Sorian, his massive arms just a foot away to her left. He had but a few moments more, an hour maybe. He could sense the demon screaming in fury at his defiance, but he was determined to hold back. Setting his eyes on the horizon ahead of them, he waited for her word before he started to walk again.

[Kavala]

She hadn't expected a yes. Though she hadn't expected to encounter such a creature on her brief journey to release the juvenile glassbeak back into the wild either. And rather than scare her, it somehow pleased her, though she was startled. The world was circular. She had relieved herself of one ferocious companion, setting it free out into the world, only to seem to have acquired the company of another almost instantly. And Sorin wasn't nearly as tame as the glassbeak. Kavala thought speculatively of the trade off, wondering if it was such a wise switch.

She nodded. "Thank you." And started walking. The direction might have alarmed Sorin, for it was straight towards Riverfall. They weren't too distant of the city anyhow, though in truth most of the population lived either within the great mountain or on its wall, not at its summit where the Bluevein transformed from a sleek river to a massive angry falls. The konti's stride was a surprise. She walked with purpose. Her long legs were well muscled and her slight form had an aura of fitness about it, for all that she was delicate otherwise. He found she matched his long almost lethargic stride easily, stretching her legs. And as she walked, she hummed, a soft tune that reflected and echoed a lullaby. The tall grass and scattering of trees didn't bother her. She wove through them easily, occasionally reaching out to touch his arm as if to steady herself or to reassure him. It was the same action she'd take with a colt, on his first walk around, wide-eyed and wondering at his surroundings beyond the tents and pastures of his birth. It wasn't a light touch either. It was a hearty stroke, from halfway up his arm, nearly to his shoulder, that stroked down towards his elbow. Occasionally she held tighter, to leap neatly down into a dry stream bed, cross it, and climb up the other side.

Kavala was used to touching wild things. They calmed beneath her hands, though again, she had no idea why she felt compelled to treat the akalak as something he was not. And as she walked, hummed, and looked around, Kavala started to smile. She started to relax and enjoy the walk, and even something of the company, as dangerous as he was. And when she relaxed, she opened up slightly. Her eyes grew more luminous and her scales along her neck shimmered in their opalescence quiet clearly where they twinkled as she walked, partially concealed by the fur cloak. She turned to him then, in one of the moments she reached out to stroke his arm, and asked him something softly, something personal. And while other people could not deal well with difficult topics with a light heart, Kavala found herself wanting to know something... Something that might help her deal more easily with her own inner turmoil. The man beside her had obviously been through a great deal, and even she felt his sense of defeat. She didn't want that own sense for herself.

"Will you tell me... though I have no right to truly know... when you first started to realize there was a battle within? And how... how did you know... how did you feel... when you knew you'd lost it?"

Her words were soft, asking for clarity on things he'd already revealed to her. She asked her question as they came upon a fence line, newly created, that opened into a large overgrown pasture that ran the length of the clearing they'd just entered. If he spoke, she'd keep walking, keep listening, and hear him completely out. If he refused, she'd understand. It was a deeply personal thing to ask.

They were very near Riverfall now, near its summit, though Sorian couldn't hear the roar of the river, which meant they were well on the outskirts. Kavala ducked through the fence, her lithe body bending and sliding through the middle rails like a silvery white fish slipping between two rocks in a bright waterway. She waited just on the other side. The fence was designed to hold stallions, but as big as Sorian was, he could easily climb or slide over.

Once on the other side, a buckskin stallion lifted its head out in the middle of the pasture, snorted a greeting, and pranced proudly a moment before galloping off across the pasture, obviously showing off for the visitors. Kavala laughed lightly, musically, and turned to Sorian. "Wind is dancing for you. Telling you this is his pasture, but he will settle in a moment." It was true enough. The buckskin calmed itself and stepped in behind them, following but not joining them, keeping his distance. They were walking towards a stone building - a large one - that crouched low in the distance on the far edge of the field. Two massive gates could be seen on either side of twin buildings that stretched out east and west, flanking the gate. The entire structure was a single story except for the far end which appeared to have a long second story that must have had an incredible view of the Suvan Sea from its upstairs windows. The closer they moved, Sorian could see doors that indicated turnouts for horses.

Kavala didn't pause, but passed through the fence on the far side near the gates, then turned to wait for Sorian. "This place is called Sanctuary." She said simply, then moved to walk through the double gates that spilled into an inner courtyard. A large white dog - more wolfish than dog really - stepped forward out of the shadows. Its growl was low, menacing, as Kavala stepped aside to let Sorian through before closing the gates again. The dog backed off however, at a soft word from Kavala, and then settled leaning against a delicate fountain that was devoid of water in the center of the complex. It was... a construction area. A square block of stables on either side created an enormous inner courtyard that was now home to a large riding arena and a circular round pen, obviously used to work on training young horses. The dog, obviously an Ivaski, kept its distance. But Sorian's sharp eyes would pick out an owl having only one eye dozing on a hanger designed to suspend a wind-chime hung off the second story building. It was a lovely place, clean, and stacked with supplies - mortar, blocks, gravel... though he could tell by the state of things, it was almost done.

Kavala turned then towards the right and opened a set of double doors just off a small stone patio. She picked the structure on the right as opposed to the structure on the left because of the furniture. Everything within this room was larger, built strong for a man Sorian's size. It was expected, this close to Riverfall, that there should be quarters for an Akalak.

She pushed the drapes open, revealing a spartan but very clean and spacious room. There was a door to the outside on the back wall. There was a large hearth, enormous bed, desk, and a trunk at the foot of the bed. There was an oil lamp on the desk as well as an ink well and what looked to be a package of parchment wrapped in oilskin on top. A fresh vase of flowers was resting next to the bed, which was covered in a bright quilt. The floor was stone, but made warmer by a worn deep blue rug made of tied strips of fabric. All the furniture was stout, solid, and built to be used. Other than the flowers in the vase, there was nothing truly delicate about the quarters.

"This room is not being used at the moment. It probably won't be for a time. There is not another living soul here at Sanctuary that speaks Common or any of the other language spoken in Riverfall to tell anyone that you are here. And I do not know enough of the people in the city to have anyone to reveal your presence too. You could come and go as you wished, and if you have the spare time or inclination, I could use your strength once in a while in return for a fair wage." The woman said softly. "But staying here will cost you nothing, no debt will be owed and no coin charged. By you being here once in a while, I might be able to sleep at night... at least sometimes. Now, I hardly sleep at all." The Konti said softly, thoughtfully.

"And you do not have to decide now. I will leave the outside door unlocked. If you want some place to rest... and to take a warm bath once in a while... this place will suit you well." Kavala said gently. She stepped back, allowing him to look, giving him a choice to remain on the stone patio or take the two steps forward that would allow him to step in and look around. Kavala was quietly thankful for the high ceilings and large guest quarters.

"And there would be someone close to sing, albeit poorly, when the mood might strike you. I just stay across the courtyard, upstairs, though there's no furniture right now. " The truth was she'd been sleeping in a free stall, often times falling down tired from all the work she did throughout the day. But there was no one else, and Kavala didn't like being dependent. "Most of all there are locks on the doors, from inside. And Sorian... most everything living here has something in common with you. Something dangerous or not acceptable to the outside world." She said softly, hesitating again.

Sanctuary :

The Sanctuary



The room Kavala offered him.