Lights In The Darkness II [Khyan]

[Hilana Chenzira]

44th of Searing, Year 122

(Closed - Khyan)

Hilana listened with keen interest. She may have been looking at the Patrician, but at the same time, she kept sight of where they were going with her peripheral vision so that she could lead him to his destination. They turned a corner as Tiaz lifted part of his body off of his owner and kept reaching out towards Khyan, his tongue flickering. He wasn’t interested in a hungry way - the snake’s body condition was right where it needed to be, so he was fed well and likely a few days ago - but he was curious in him, too. Had it been someone else, Hilana might have moved the python away, but the young man hadn’t seemed bothered by him. She didn’t interrupt him as he indulged her by answering her plethora of questions, not wanting to dissuade him from continuing.

She had been nodding along as he spoke, silent agreement and encouragement. “Those are good choices,” she remarked. “Asp, cobra, crocodile… all good choices. Strong, too… but you make a very good point about untimely ends.” It wouldn’t protect him, really, because a venomous snake could still be killed by yet another venomous snake, if you struck first…

“You must be a very solid student,” she offered. It wasn’t empty flattery, she did mean that. “I guess it is a good thing you went with the asp rather than the crocodile. Those teeth are very uneven and they don’t retract,” Hilana was smiling. “Do you have plans for a fourth totem?” she inquired. “Or is that some time in the more distant future?” Some of her questions, particularly about the basics, suggested this wasn’t something she had any training on, formal or otherwise. And if she was from a prominent family in Tertium, something was up. But perhaps her family wasn’t anything to speak of… “Are you able to produce the venom of the asp or cobra without a full transformation? Just by calling on their fangs and venom sacs?”

In the shade of the buildings, the sun still had a way to go to take the crisp edge of the night’s temperatures, even if it was mid-Searing. But as they continued down the streets, they were getting closer to Khyan’s home turf. “Thank you for sharing this with me,” Hilana told him. “I know you have so much on your mind with everything else going on.” Her inane questions likely were not helping with all of the other stressors he was going to have to deal with… including stepping into a space where he would be judged even more wearing what he was. But if she could distract him a bit from the trial and its accompanying tribulations… perhaps it might be a tiny sliver of respite.

[Khyan Nykara]

"Not particularly..." Khyan confessed in response to her suppositions about his time in academia. "I used to vex my classmates, because things would just come to me more naturally. I scarcely ever studied, I just retained what interested me and had the luxury to focus on those areas..." He trailed off as his attention was drawn to Tiaz. He extended his hand and straightened his arm enough to proffer purchase, should the python wish to put weight onto him. Whether or not Hilana would allow her pet to perch upon a relative stranger, he knew not, but she would have plenty of opportunity to belay that if things headed in that direction.

"Heh... Who knows what I would have ended up with if I'd started crocodilian?" He absently slid his fingertips over the smooth skin of his cheek, glad that it wasn't scaly and tough.

"Oh, no. A fourth totem would be well beyond me, at this point. I mean- Of course, I've considered other options, but..." He shook his head, "As I said, I'm pretty new to full body transformations and they aren't easy. It's slow, agonising... It demands your full focus, and challenges you to focus on anything but the pain." He looked at bit harrowed at the sense memory of his shift from man to magpie. He may not have recalled much of the evening, but he did remember the pain. Odd that he shouldn't recall anything of reverting back to the present form...

"Of course! When I was just starting out, that was just the sort of thing I focused upon. The details like, you know, skin texture... New sense abilities." He caught a glimpse of Tiaz' explorations sidelong, "That tongue, for instance... If I just conjured a tongue like that, it would be purely aesthetic. I needed to learn to conjure the organ that makes it function as a stronger sense. And then I needed to learn how to process senses I'd never experienced and, well... make sense of those senses, for lack of better phrasing." He chuckled, a bit bashfully.

"Pish posh." He grimaced and waved a dismissive hand in her direction, "I should much rather talk about this than any of that. Sometimes when you've a lot on your mind, none of it is the stuff you'd prefer... it's merely the stuff that asserts itself." Khyan glanced about. He knew where he was now and he thought to tell Hilana as much, but he decided against it. He appreciated the company. Besides, he had no money on him to tip her for her troubles.

"So, why such an interest in Anima Reptilius?"

[Hilana Chenzira]

Tiaz stretched himself enough now that an arm was offered in order to comfortably rest the upper third of his body along the Patrician's arm, moving along to his shoulder, still investigating and checking him out. The woman didn't seem to mind, especially since Khyan was comfortable with him, and the last part of the python was still tucked around her neck and arm. She did raise the arm between her and Khyan, helping support the python's body that was suspended between them. In some ways, she was surprised, because while she had raised Tiaz from a young hatchling and made sure he was used to being handled, but he was also not prone to going and investigating strangers.

Hilana nodded along as he explained about his time at school, along with the limitations of his practice to date. "It's fortunate that you managed it with the indulgence, because you'd think that might make it harder than it normally would be," she commented. "But that you can produce venom without having to do a full-body transformation... that is a brilliant use of it, especially out here, and I never really thought of that as a way of using it before. You can never have enough antivenin on hand, no matter where you are in Atraxia. You have wild serpents outside the walls, and domesticated ones inside." Whether that was Hilana's take on the political commentary of the day, or if she was talking about snakes like her own that were kept as pets, well, that was for him to judge.

She glanced at him at his question, the curiosity about her interest in it. "I've never met an Animus that focused on reptiles, and certainly not on such beautiful snakes as you have. When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time outside the city walls, and snakes are something you have to think about each day. Because if you're not careful, they can do so much damage to you and your wards. Not because they mean to, really, but to defend themselves... and when you're traveling, sometimes help is very far away," she explained. "Even if you're not the one struck... someone's going to lose a limb, or maybe their life. Or you could lose a good camel, or a cow. And that's a lot of money to lose to carelessness. And if you lose your mount in the desert, unless you've got companions with spares or you're close by... you may not make it out alive." Hilana was quite matter-of-fact about it. It was just a fact of life. It was nature, and one had to respect that outside the walls of the cities... you were at the mercy of nature. And she was not particularly kind in Atraxia. "I do love snakes of all kinds," she admitted. "Lizards. Crocodiles. Wyverns. The Dragons... I love them all. There's a beauty to them, a grace, a power... Something small and thin can fell a man easily. Something ancient and primordial can devastate massive creatures... and they all command respect." She knew that she was talking a fair bit now, but it was only fair - she had asked a great deal of him, and what had a girl like her to hide?

[Khyan Nykara]

For Tiaz' comfort, Khyan fell into step closer to Hilana, granting his shoulders in lieu of just the one arm.

"That's the thing about indulgence. It may have been harder, but the pain was mitigated a bit and I don't remember the bulk of the transition, so it's rather a wash." He'd have shrugged to punctuate his thought, but the weight of a python was pressing his slender shoulders and he didn't wish to jostle the friendly constrictor unnecessarily for the sake of an idle gesture.

"Mm." Khyan didn't really respond to her expounding upon the usefulness of venom. He thought of it as something that would be useful in a pinch, or if he wound up in some sort of clandestine intrigue. It was a fun little novelty and, at times, a party trick, but little more. Any practical uses beyond his immediate purview seemed to be of little concern.

"Well, dragons are sacred." Khyan replied firmly, "And, if the Founders be kind, I shall someday reach a level of skill at which I can adopt such lofty forms as wyverns and basilisks, but if that's to be my goal, it seemed wise to start small, innit?" He chuckled, slightly. He supposed dragons had been on his mind when he'd selected his early totems. They were as grand as the elves in their ivory towers, and even more aloof. They might have ruled this realm, if it were their desire, but instead the stalked their chamber in the Umbrium like a failsafe. It was an unspoken threat for all who might hazard rebellion, that the Crown had allies who might raze their realm to ash before brooking dissent.

They'd all grown up on stories of the days when high dragons were abundant in these realms. And many hoped to see those days return.

"So..." His interest was perked now, "You grew up outside the city?" His eyes lit up with the possibilities, "Are you of one of the nomadic tribes? I've always found that to be a fascinating lifestyle. I suppose we all hang onto ancient traditions, but wandering the brutal desert is such a queer one, I think. I should love to know more."

[Hilana Chenzira]

When Khyan fell into step and closed the gap, Hilana lowered her arm again, not at all minding. He’d woken up in her bed, after all; this was hardly out of order. They were equally matched in height, and Tiaz’s long tongue flicked against Khyan’s cheek, scenting him, tasting him, as he moved around his neck. He was soon draping there as easily as he had the young woman with the brightly-dyed skirt, and settled comfortably between the two of them. Hilana did keep an eye on the young man to make sure he wasn’t too bothered by the weight and presence of the snake; she didn’t want to irritate or vex him in the meantime. She was also enjoying his company, though she did imagine once they hit the Sorokyne District, he might be done with the two of them. While he had spoken of a tip, she hadn’t expected one, much less it be followed through.

She nodded in understanding. “Alcohol has a tendency to do that to the body and mind, doesn’t it? Pain is lessened, inhibitions vanish. The instincts towards self-preservation are numbed. I’m just glad nothing broke on the way down, hollow bones or not. Whatever you had last night served you well, by all counts,” Hilana laughed. She was not unfamiliar with drink; she had had her share and she enjoyed a good party, too. There was a reason, after all, that she had multiple hangover treatments in her pantry. She might have been teasing, since she seemed to be, even if they’d really only just met. Perhaps etiquette wasn’t her forte. She wouldn’t be the first peasant like that, and she wouldn’t be the last. But the grin turned into a smile when he spoke of the Wyverns and Basilisks. “You can do it. If you keep at it… I have no doubt you could become one of the Dragons, too. What do you need for a totem? A piece of them? A scale? Is observing them enough?”

When he inquired about her own history, she nodded. “Both sides of my family have always been nomads, along the River Vasta and sometimes into the mountains,” she explained. ”The different clans have their own routes, their own places, their own secrets. But when my father was a boy, his parents chose to settle in Tertrium. They maintained ties with the different tribes that traveled, with their own family that chose to stay in the Expanse, and started a trading business out of it. My mother’s family have always preferred the sands to the walls, and they still travel now. When my parents married, my father continued to travel with my mother and her clan, expanding the business and ties that way. But after my mother and what would have been my younger brother passed away, my father moved my sisters and I to Tertium.” The smile faded a bit. It didn’t vanish entirely, but it was diminished.

“I was about two, and by all counts a horrible child. I was a terror, and they didn’t know what to do with me; I didn’t settle in like the rest of them did. I have what nomads call Wildness. My aunt couldn’t manage with me, and my grandparents didn’t approve of their hiring a Mesmer to… well, calm me down,” her lips quirked, like it was perhaps a bad joke. “When I was four, they couldn’t take it any longer. My father sent me outside of the city to travel with those that ran the livestock herds and on the journeys beyond that. I couldn’t disgrace the family or our name if I wasn’t in the city, could I? Out of sight, out of mind,” the smile was back, and there was a resurgent brightness to those dark eyes of hers, just as there had been when she talked about snakes. “And I loved every bit of it. It is a hard life… but you will learn about yourself when you live it.” Despite the smile, she was quite serious. “You will see what you can do, how far you would go. What limits you think you have now… what would you do to survive? Who can you count on? Who can you trust?” She gave a weight to each of those questions, it was not in jest, nor said lightly. ”But it’s not all as horrible as it sounds. They say that the bonds forged in those sands transcend this lifetime, and that you will find them again and again as the cycles of life and death go on. There’s a rawness, a beauty, a freedom. I’ve seen different shows that have been enhanced by Arcana… in Tertium and in here… but have you seen the night skies when they turn all colours and the stars shine overhead? When all of the lights and lanterns fade, and it is you and what is above? Or when the lightning dances in the sands? I think that you might like it.”

[Khyan Nykara]

Khyan giggled a bit at the feel of Tiaz' tongue upon his smooth cheek. His ears may have been round, but his Elven grandfather's influence might be noted in his relative hairlessness in addition to the paucity of blemished adorning his skin.

"Well," The Patrician boy chuckled, "If memory serves, and I'm certain it does not, I at least fluttered somewhat on the way down so it wasn't a complete freefall. Just a faulty first flight..." Did he remember making it a yard or so before dropping? No, he did not, but his mind told him he did through sheer force of will.

"I would need a totem, to be sure..." Khyan actually blanched at the prospect of taking on so lofty a form. It felt almost sacrilegious. Perhaps it even was! He was no expert in scripture. He relied upon what he'd been told by theologians, and somehow the notion of appropriating the form of a royal wyrm had never come up. "There must be some fossils or summat from the Epoch of Aværys- His be the Blaze and the Glory- at the Museum Draconum..." There had of course been many a dragon in days of yore whose forms might be wiser to adopt. The last thing he wanted to do was rouse the ire of the Crownwyrm.

Hilana would have garnered his full attention with her talk of a tribal background, if he weren't partways focused upon Tiaz. He lifted his left hand to stroke at the scaly side of the python, though his eyes remained on the woman to his right as she detailed her path from the sands to the cities. The bit about her parents was downright fascinating, but when things got too personal the patrician grew a bit uncomfortable and shifted his focus to the ground below and the path ahead. In his circles it wasn't common to highlight ones flaws to perfect strangers, and the familiarity it implied was somewhat alien to his frame of reference. It wasn't that he was disinterested, so much as it felt almost rude to listen... As though she were saying things that he expected her to regret confessing, so it seemed more polite to seem as though his mind might have been wandering to give her plausible deniability about his having heard it.

After a while, the talk turned back toward more familiar ground. Beauty and nature. At her talk of the night sky, his eyes turned to the canopy of the morning and squinted.

"Aye... I think I might, at that." He conceded, with a faint smile. "So, um... How do you and Tiaz find the capital?" There was a bit of nervousness in the question. He was uncertain what floodgates he might be tempting open.

[Hilana Chenzira]

“You did flutter. You flapped pretty well, so it wasn’t like you sank like a stone,” she agreed. He just hadn’t been able to stay aloft. But practice makes perfect, after all. So he just needed more practice.

The way his expression changed at her suggestion told her that she might have been out of line with it. “I suppose asking a priest about something like that is how you get yourself watched,” Hilana admitted. She hadn’t considered the religious aspect, but he was right. The Dragons were sacred, after all. They were holy, they were awesome, and they were terrifying. Maybe in this case, imitation was not the most sincere form of flattery.

And when he looked elsewhere during her litany, she knew she hadn’t only been out of line, she had started jumping up and down and stomping on that line. Asher’s parting words to her came unbidden in the silent aftermath of what she had said. Too much honesty, too much information, too much everything. “Keep your mouth shut here, Hilana. There are many rules for this place, and the safest way to abide by them is to say nothing. Keep your ears open and your mouth closed. You’re not amongst your pack anymore. Saying the wrong thing in this city can get you killed, or worse. You don’t know who is watching and who is listening. Avoid the nobles and the elves, but don’t cross the streets to avoid them unless everyone else is doing it. Keep your head down and blend in with the crowd. Do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do. Your Wildness will not serve you well in these walls. They won’t understand it, and you’re going to offend people who aren’t used to it or you. Offend them enough, and there’s going to be trouble that you’re going to have a hard time getting out of… and we are not here to help you. Attention in this place is not a good thing.”

And like an idiot, she’d forgotten that too.

But Khyan had handled it well, changing the subject. That hesitation was not out of place, but she at least took the time to compose her thoughts rather than letting herself speak this time. She smothered the fire, and what came out was not the anticipated bursting of a dam. Hilana had reined herself in. “It’s very different, even to if one compares it to Tertium. Tiaz likes it, though… I don’t have to trap or snare prey for him, I can just go somewhere and buy something, and it will almost certainly be cheaper here than it is in the sands. More variety, too. There is so many people here, but the planners do well at keeping it organized, I think. Depending on where you go… there’s something for everyone, isn’t there? There’s a lot to see and do here, though. I’ve heard about the Museum Draconum, but I’ve never been there. Would you recommend going? What about the Menagerie? Where are your favourite places to go?” This was his turf, and while there were bound to be places her kind wasn’t welcome, she was curious about his experiences, too.

[Khyan Nykara]

"I did flap rather well, didn't I?" Khyan said, with a far too enthusiastic smile for his actual showing as a bird. He had a lot of work to do, in truth, but he received the compliment with relish.

"Aye," He chuckled, "That would seem unwise, but I suppose that's a bridge I can cross when I've earned the skills to require such allowances... Admittedly, I'd sooner ask a priest than one of the wyrms themselves." And it occurred to him that a fossil might prove even more offensive than an imitation of a living dragon. Founders forbid he should use one of Zalkyrion's scales and beseem the dead Paterfamilias of the surviving Draconic Dynasty.

"The Museum Draconum is splendid!" Khyan lit up at the question. It was the most animated she'd yet seen him, since he'd been flapping around the prior evening- as if his enthusiasm had overcome at least a bit of his hangover. "When I was a child it was my absolute favourite place to go. There are scale models of some of the smaller dragons, and- Have you walked by it? The entrance is a full-sized recreation of Zalkyrion's maw through which you need to step to get inside." He bit his lip,

"As for the Menagerie, well... That is only for guests of Her Divine Radiance to enjoy. My father got to visit once, when he was still actively serving as Consul of the Senatus Minor..." His expression darkened a bit there, "But he wasn't able to bring my mother or me. I should love to see it someday, though that doesn't seem likely these days..."

He chuckled, his humour brightening his visage a bit,

"My favourite places are mostly tabernas, these days." He considered, "The Noctis Ærternae neighbourhood of the Sanctine District is really exquisite, if you haven't been. I'm not sure if you've spent much time in the Umbrium, but it's the place to be for nightlife. I know there are a few places that will admit people of... Well, whatever caste you're in. I oughtn't assume."

[Hilana Chenzira]

She smiled at his pleasure at the comment. It was nice to see him brighten up, all things considered, despite the axe weighing over his and his family’s heads. If she could distract him from some of that stress, if only for a little while, then she was happy to have done so. She hadn’t ever been in the same situation that he was in, and couldn’t in truth imagine how he was feeling… but she could make a bit of a guess as to the despair and distress. She wasn’t without empathy, and while they’d only just met… she knew it couldn’t be easy.

“You will get there,” she had confidence in him, at least. It wasn’t like the worst they could say was no, but that was up for the Patrician to navigate. The joy at the mention of the Museum Draconum was contagious, though, as her eyes brightened as though she was preparing for another burst of words. “I haven’t yet had the opportunity. It is in the Palatine District, right? I’ve heard of it, but I’m still getting my bearings around here.” Had he not been of his Caste, she would have asked him if he would go there with her: fortune favoured the bold. But such as he was, it wouldn’t have been wise. She did have a feeling that once she saw him to his destination, she likely would never see him again. Between her prior outburst and the fact that he was of Gens. Nykara, to say nothing of the trial and what could become of him and his family… better to avoid the nobles as Asher had said, and do what she had to do. But some little part of her said it was a pity. That same part didn’t do well with self-preservation sometimes, either. Like scaling rooftops to go see the dread mists and try to catch sight of the dragons’ flight…

“That’s too bad,” she agreed. “I’ve heard stories about it; even in Tertium… but you never know. Maybe one day you will. Things can always change. Not many things are truly set in stone.” He was more likely to experience the wonders of it than she was, of that she was certain. It wasn’t from self-deprecation, it was just the reality of their situations.

She nodded as he mentioned the Tabernas, Tiaz resting comfortably along Khyan’s shoulders. The Sorokyne entrance was coming into view, but she didn’t know where he lived within it. “I don’t look like it, and I know I don’t particularly act like it… but I technically belong to the Populus Equestris,” she was grinning. She seemed like she might be a harder person to offend, all things considered. “When I first came here to continue my training, I was advised that it would be smarter to keep a low profile in the Capital,” Hilana admitted. For a number of reasons, some of which she’d already revealed in her embarrassing overshare. Formal manners -or lack thereof-, not always thinking before she spoke… the list went on. But further, because Asher had wanted to do what he could to ensure her safety, and it was solid advice. “I’ve spent very little time in the Umbrium, truth be told. I came to stay here at the start of Searing… and when I have gone down, it was mostly on errands for my employer, to get something for him from suppliers there. Most of my time I’ve spent up here, between work and exploring some areas of Luxium. Where would you recommend in the below?”

[Khyan Nykara]

"Quite right. It's set against the mountain, East of the Palatium." That was rather prime real estate, but dragons were sacred and beloved in Solunarium. Particularly those descended from Zalkyrion, who were deemed as royal and divine as the elves of Sol'Aværys themselves. The awe was widespread and well-justified in Khyan's opinion. He was, after all, himself inspired to take on the Rune of Animism out of reverence for the great beasts and their lesser kin.

"Perhaps not many things are set in stone, but many are cast in lava..." He noted, a bit grimly, but moved on from that dark line of thought promptly enough.

"No, I can see that..." He replied, looking her over as they approached a familiar archway. A lot of Equestrians put on unearned airs, in Khyan's opinion. Their desire to breach into the Patrician Caste made them more ostentatious than those born to old and renowned families. They were more prone to show their wealth of in wanton displays, but he respected those, like Hilana, who weren't such try-hards.

"And that is probably sound advice. If you don't have established protections in place, it's easy to be taken advantage of..." He was starting to brighten back up somewhat at the talk of the Umbrium.

"The Noctis Æternæ neighbourhood is the place to be. There are many lounges, clubs and cabarets with performers who ply arcane Crafts to enliven the senses of their audience... Mesmer, Masquerade and more are employed in ways that might teach you to pleasure senses you didn't know you had. It is downright decadent. I've seen plenty an Equestrian in those venues, but there do tend to be dress codes..." He glanced sidelong, "Just so you're aware."

He gestured ahead toward the volcano.

"I'm up this way. If you'd like to walk me to the door I can pay you now for your assistance, or else I can have a slave walk it over to your domus or place of employment later..."