As If By Fate (Part 2)

[Torin Kilvin]

Making his friend laugh brought a solid grin to the tall boy's face.

"I did grow, lots." He didn't sound like he thought it was a good thing but he also didn't sound sad anymore. It was nice to have himself spoken of by someone near to his age in a way that didn't involve mocking him. The teasing at how small he had been pre-puberty had given way seamlessly to harassing him for being suddenly too large.

He managed not to flinch physically at the touch of the elder, but his face showed a flash of fear before resolving into relief.

"Yes." Torin still tried to speak slowly, respecting the effort Destynreal had taken to learn his language and not wanting to overwhelm him by babbling. "I asked all the travelers but not a lot knew Vallasren. "Not Fae'ethalan, Kathar." He shrugged to express that he didn't know how the man had learned to speak the Fae language.

"You eat bugs?" There was a bit of incredulousness in his voice but he tried not to judge. "Like crickets?"
There were several cultures who ate crickets and even his master had taught him that they had been used as food in the years that swarms of them came and ruined crops.

"We eat bugs... sometimes." He figured it'd be too difficult to explain the loss of crops of the idea of substitute food when nothing else was available.

"You eat fruit but not vegetables? How is it different?" This as he sat down and retrieved the bowl of fruit, offering it and then popping a bite into his own mouth. The concept that wolves and other predators kept the populations of prey animals small enough to balance the environment was well inside the country boy's head so he nodded, laughed a little.

"You are a mighty hunter, protecting the trees!" Other questions, ones that had run around in his head for years fought each other to get a chance for an answer but behind them all was a general idea, so he would start there,

"What do you do? The Fae-ethalan, what do you do, with your lives? How do you..." He waved the hand not holding the bowl around to imply the whole tribe and camp, "know where to go?"

[Destyn]

As if by Fate

14 Searing, 121

Destyn nodded emphatically as he, in point of fact, had not grown lots since their last encounter. Or at least he hadn't grown as much as most humans of the same age might have, though he supposed Torin didn't know how old he was. Their ability to communicate had been too limited, back then, to impart as much. Moreover, as he'd since learnt, the humans of this region went by an entirely different calendar than his clan of Old Order Fae who sought to uphold the ways of the Everwilds and the Summer Court that dwelt there.

"Crickets are yummy. Go crunch nice, mm!" He rubbed his belly again, feeling the need to pantomime as he was unsure whether his Common was strong enough to be intelligible to the native speaker. "Alvough best buggies is cicada!" That was one of the first words he'd learnt from Ioliff, as his favourite food was a frequent topic of conversation for the Fae youngling. "Make loud noise so easy finding vem. Slow fly so easy catching vem. Big and fat so happy eating vem." He beamed, his wings twitching a bit behind him, in a manner that might have brought to mind the wagging tail of a happy puppy.

"Is good vat you eating buggies." He nodded sagely. "Should eat vem more." He tilted his head at the question about the plant-based portion of his diet.

"Caedwynn teach vat fruit is gift from Plandaí. Plant make fruit yummy and give to us so we helping, um... spread? Spread seed. Ach vegahtahbuhl is not gift. Is body of plant. It hurt plant to take leaf, root and stem. Vis? Vis what buggies do. Not us." He punctuated his solemn point by popping a berry into his mouth.

"Mmhm!" He nodded, emphatically, gulping down the berry. "Bug-huntoh." He pursed his lips, at first bemused by Torin's next query.

"Um... We live." He shrugged, "We travel, eat, sing, dance. We, um..." He shook his head, "No words in Common: Bainistímid scoilteanna..." He shrugged. It was a concept beyond his ability to articulate in his second language. It was much the same when he tried to answer how they knew where to go. He gestured, but to Torin's eyes it wouldn't look like he was indicating toward anything in particular- just drawing a line in the air with his finger.

"We following... na bíomaí sa réimse." It didn't even occur to Destyn that Torin's eyes might work differently and that a human couldn't naturally see the beams and trails that were apparent to those of his tribe and imperative to their ability to navigate.

As If By Fate

[Torin Kilvin]

The life Destyn was describing sounded ideal to Torin, he continued to find it so in the weeks the tribe spent camped near the village, trading, gathering, just resting in a place that was, if not friendly, at least neutrally inclined towards the people they found so odd.

For the first time in his life, the young runesmith had a reason to finish with his apprentice work and chores with impatience, to rush away as soon as he was released from a day's labor. Late afternoons into evenings and free days were spent entirely engrossed in the workings and doings of the little family group Destyn called his home.

Being surrounded by the language had Torin learning faster than he'd believed possible, till he could carry simple conversations with only occasional stumbling pauses of ignorance. In addition to the unintentional teaching of their language, he also learned far more about woodcraft and survival than anyone in the village had ever seen fit to teach him. He grew to know the names of each Fae'ethelan, and most were quite friendly towards the human boy but Destyn was his constant companion. Torin even fell asleep around the slowly dying evening fires more than once, awakening in the bright phase of the moon to see those who bore cardinal runes or other, stranger magics dancing or performing mystical rites of which he knew nothing and would only stare, silently, in awe of what he was being allowed to witness.

When the air began to hint at the cooler season to come and it became obvious that the Fae intended to continue their never-ending journey through Karnor Torin wept. Alone with Destyn in the woods between the village and where the wagons of the tribe were circled, he cried his breaking heart out into his friend's shoulder. It felt like the magic was going out of his world and with it a people kinder, gentler, and wiser than those who existed in Torin's own sphere.

He kept his composure the next morning while everything was packed away, did his best to help however he could. The two boys were never out of arms' reach from each other until they hugged a last time. There were others who came to embrace him, whispering words, leaving flowers in his hair or little snacks in his pockets, and he was grateful for it, but it was Destyn he watched when the wagons rolled away.

-----
Present, Kalzasi

Memories faded slowly from the larger blond but he kept his eyes steady, his limbs still in a relaxed way that said nothing of a predator holding itself back before an attack.

Torin asked where Destyn was staying, if he was being cared for, if he was safe, as much as he could be. He told the Fae where he could be found, made sure the directions made sense, and then they just sat, quietly, being near each other for a little time while he waited to see if Destynreal would ask him for anything, even simply to be left alone.

[Destyn]

Destyn softened considerably after the time and effort were put in by Torin, as reflexes gave way to muscle memory. This was a person he'd known. Someone he'd once been comfortable enough to cuddle against and sleep carelessly. Granted, those were careless days and these were far from that, but still he could tell the years had not made a monster of this particular human.

"Do I look much different?" He wondered aloud. They'd already established that Torin did. Not to the point where he was unrecognisable, but at least enough that it had taken Destyn a moment to register whom he was.

"From last time?" He clarified, lest Torin think he meant different from the first time they'd met when he showed more of the flora in his features than he did today when he might have passed for a human when his wings were not visible.

Whether or not he appeared different, he certainly was. A person couldn't remain the same after losing everything as severely and suddenly as Destyn had. It occurred to him, in that moment, that it was a loss for Torin as well. They hadn't been family to him, but they'd been friendly enough that connections had been made. The clan hadn't forgotten him, even if it had been a few years since they'd spent time in Torin's corner of Karnor.

He might have expressed his sympathies, but it didn't feel right. It would have felt disingenuous for Destyn, who'd lost his kinsfolk, to offer sympathies to a man who'd only lost childhood acquaintances he hadn't seen in years. But, if he didn't offer verbal condolences, at least this understanding seemed to colour Destyn's side of their interaction now. It effectively lowered his defences even further as he settled into their exchange.

"I know I seem sadder, because I am, but I think I physically look mostly the same as last time. Just sort of taller."

[Torin Kilvin]

Watching Destyn slowly unfurl from the tightness of his fear was like watching a flower opening. Torin had say and watched flowers open in his youth, a combination of boredom and fascination leading him to sit still for the hours it sometimes took. When words came they were so normal as to take a moment for the human to understand, and a moment more for him to answer.

"Not much, but some, enough." There was certainly still youth in the Fae and Torin could not have said what it was that was different but he did not look like an actual child anymore. "I wouldn't mistake you for the child I last saw you as." He clarified gently, not sure how it would be taken. Perhaps it was his grief, or perhaps there was something inherent in the race that let a mind know when one was talking to an adult no matter how young they appeared. The runesmith hoped it was so, the mistakes one might make otherwise in interacting with the delicately featured ethnicity otherwise might be... bad.

Sorrow creased all the lines of the larger body sitting in the grass, even if he tried with half success to keep it from his face. His own grief was a pale shadow to that of his friend and he would work through it later, when he was alone.

It was hard to tell if Destyn was taller, partly because he had been using crutches or sitting since Torin had encountered him, and partly because the human was himself significantly taller than he'd been even in their second meeting so putting together how much the other man had grown, in comparison, was difficult.

"You are taller and..." Wrapping his mind around the differences took time, "You're wider too. In your shoulders and hips, your bones have grown." It probably sounded odd but Torin thought along lines of structure and support, how something was constructed.

"I know my body is different but it's hard to think about it, because I was inside it while it happened. I'm sorry I startled you, I was just so happy to see you. I haven't seen anyone I knew before coming to the city in a year."

[Destyn]

As if by Fate

14 Searing, 121

Destyn smiled wearily,

"Yes. I am now grown. I even experienced my Rite." He pulled his lapels apart to reveal the Rune etched into his sternum. "I can commune now with the spirit world." Which would, perhaps, be advantageous... even consoling in the coming days of mourning. A connection to that which was that hadn't died. That couldn't die as mortals understood it.

"I know this feeling, as well. For us it is, um..." He struggled for the word, "...gradual? But to those who did not see us in the interim, it seems abrupt. To me you were, yesterday, but a child. Today you are a big, brawny man. I am... I apologise for how I behaved earlier when I was startled. It was not seemly. You did not do anything wrong." He furrowed his brow and glanced down, regretful.

"But, um... How have you, in all of this time, been keeping?" His gaze lifted from the grass to the human. "You are now a city boy. I would not have forecast this for you, given how fond you seemed of woodland life..." He trailed off. It was always strange to meet someone outside the context in which you knew them. Torin had been, if not a creature of the woods, at least one who seemed at home amongst the trees. He'd spent more time amongst the clan than any other human. At least since Destyn had been born. When the tribe had intermingled with others, they had mostly been other Fae or, occasionally, elves with similar concerns and priorities. They might have permitted a merchant to camp with them overnight, but never for more than a day. Torin was quite singular in that regard.

As If By Fate

[Torin Kilvin]

"Ooh." Torin said when shown the rune softly blazing across Destyn's chest. His hand came up without thought and reached out as if to touch it before he remembered himself and pulled it back to his side.

"Wow. Did it... hurt?" Torin knew almost nothing about the application process of a rune except that it caused a kind of sickness afterward that could be quite dangerous. "I hope it wasn't too bad, you know, after."

Not wanting to dwell on his own feelings of discomfort about how others reacted to him, nor make Destyn feel any worse than he seemed he already did, Torin didn't say anything more about the manner of their meeting. He waved a hand to imply that all was well between them and moved on.

It was the larger blond's turn to look a little to one side and contemplate the grass.

"I've been...well enough." There was no hiding how much negative emotion the sentence held; pain, sorrow, discomfort, and loneliness suffused the attempt at deflection. "I didn't want to come to the city but, my master, do you remember him? He thought I could learn more than he could teach and arranged for me to apprentice to a master runeforger in the city..."

His lips pressed together hard, as though refusing to let more words on the subject out. How could he express grief over the loss of one person while Destyn had lost so much more. After a moment he made himself finish his tale in brief.

"I have learned a lot and my second apprenticeship will be finished when the season turns. I'm trying to set myself up with a little forge of my own. A city allowed for more work but I do miss... the forest, the trees, the open space. Kalzasi is huge but somehow it still feels cramped." He shrugged one shoulder and then tried to push away from the topic of himself.

"How have you been keeping, since you came to the city?" He wanted to ask why the Fae had come at all but it seemed likely that would involve more of the painful story the other young man wouldn't want to tell.

[Destyn]

As if by Fate

14 Searing, 121

Destyn nodded sagely.

"Yes. It did hurt... but I do not remember it much. Just little shards of memory. Sharp little needles." Not like the daggers of more recent trauma that assailed him, but still not pleasant either.

Destyn pursed his lips in concern at Torin's qualified response to his question about how he'd been keeping. 'Well enough' was not the same as 'well', he knew.

"Ahh." He nodded slowly, "Then we are both of us reluctant city-dwellers, now." Torin didn't need to ask, it seemed, as Destyn volunteered the information:

"When I was fleeing the brutality of the South, I landed on a..." He tried to recall what the people aboard had called it, "...sky skiff? Cloud catamaran?" He shrugged, "A boat that floated in the air. It was heading here and I was hurt, so this is where they took me. I have no where else to go, so I stayed." He shrugged one shoulder,

"I do not know what to do, still. I cannot, anymore, imagine the future at all. There is, I think, no point in keeping up the work of my clan. Not unless I found a new one who wished to return to the Everwilds, but... I worry if I got there it would be even harder to adjust than Kalzasi. And wandering the woods on my own, seems... sad, so..." He sighed heavily,

"I am like sky skiff floaty boat just letting the wind take me wherever fate wishes. I have no wishes of my own. None that can come true."

As If By Fate

[Torin Kilvin]

Thinking about the ordeal of receiving a rune frightened Torin, but he tried not to show it. Destyn had survived, Sivan had, Aurin had twice. Semblance wasn't one of the more dangerous runes to receive, and Aurin would look after him. Still, despite spending his entire remembered life as a runesmith having magic etched into his flesh and soul felt like what the older woman of his village had called 'messin' with dark forces better left alone'.

The story the Fae told made the large man think of the stories he'd concocted for himself as a boy, adventures filled with adventure and unexpected circumstance. Since leaving the village of his youth Torin had learned that when things like what storytellers wove into their tales happened in real life it caused only pain. There was no glory in defending your home when it cost the lives of those you held dear, nothing romantic about being orphaned, nothing of fate in needing to be rescued by strangers.

Risking the pain of rejection he reached across the small space remaining between them and wrapped one strong arm around his friend's thin shoulders. Being alone was a fate he wouldn't wish on anyone, most especially not his first friend.

"I'm here. I don't have any family anymore either." He was sorry he'd said it the moment he heard it, knowing the last thing a fresh wounded heart needed was a reminded, but he went on quickly.
"But I'm you're friend, and you don't have to be alone among strangers if you don't want to be. I don't have a home yet but I will. By the end of the season. The place you are now sounds grand, and I'm sure you'll want to stay there but... I know it's not much, but so long as I have a home, you do too."

If Destynrael pulled away Torin would let him without hard feelings, if they stayed sat as they were for a time, that would be good too. If the other boy turned and wept into his shirt, Torin would hold him, keep him close, so long as he should want to be held.

[Destyn]

As if by Fate

14 Searing, 121

Destyn wasn't conscious that he'd been starved for physical affection until it was offered him. The gentle touch of a friendly hand or the warmth of being enveloped in an embrace were simple pleasures that had been denied him of late, but he accepted them gratefully- nestling easily against the larger figure.

He didn't seem to take offence at Torin's slip of the tongue. It wasn't a reminder, when it was constantly on his mind and so hearing him acknowledge it and even empathise to what extent he could wasn't any more unwelcome than his touch.

"It is grand, I suppose..." Destyn acknowledged, "But this is, for me, not so comfortable. I am accustomed to the grandeur of the mighty river... The majesty of the mountains. They may be made of the same stone as the great manor houses of the city, but they are made by the hands of gods rather than men." The Elves, he knew, incorporated such things in a more cohesive way- pairing nature and civilisation into a more seamless marriage than one found in most human cities, or even Kalzasi.

"That is to say I do not know that I will wish to stay there. It feels cold and lifeless compared to the surroundings I am used to." He added with a sigh, "If fate sees fit that the winds waft me back in your direction, I am not opposed." That might have sounded pleasant, if his delivery wasn't so haunted. Instead he sounded resigned to an existence over which he held no power.

As If By Fate