Raiment of the Stars [Kala]

[Torin Kilvin]

2 Glade, 124

Torin had spent the night, and most of the morning, curled up comfortably between the two people he loved most. When he had finally forced himself out of the welcome embrace of both bed and companions past midday he had broken his fast on the vast amount of food left over from the New Year's feast of the night before. The women of the village had been and gone, cleaning the kitchen, straightening the inn and taking most of the food to be shared among the families but there was still plenty enough for a hungry young lord and his friends for several days. Where Timon had gotten to, Torin had no idea, but the boy had a pendant to communicate with anyone in Portions for Foxes if he needed to and he had been moving about as he chose in his life since before he'd met his current master.

When he was done eating and Sivan and Aurin had gone on to about what remained of their day he went up stairs to the only room in the inn that had been locked. Within was a simple bedroom, the smallest in the building, but laid out on the bed was a pair of boxes that required protection. He didn't think anyone in the valley would attempt to steal from him but a part of him worried that what he had made was not intended to be seen or touched by normal people. He stood for long minutes looking at the boxes without opening them before closing his eyes and sending a little prayer out to the youngest goddess. At least, he imagined she was the youngest, because people didn't become gods all the time, right?

It felt a little strange to pray to someone he knew personally but in another way it felt very right. He just let her know that he was available an had an offering to make. Which also felt weird but...it was true.

[Kala Leukos]

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Kala had only enjoyed part of a good night's sleep. No rest for the wicked, they said. No rest for the divine, perhaps

It was later in the day than he anticipated her when she did arrive. Perhaps intuiting what this was all about, she followed the line of his prayer to him, not even needing to utilize Indric's rune to find Stardew Valley. The stars weren't yet visible upon the horizon, and yet the sun was a star. Perhaps she rode that light as well as prayer. Both were patterns of aether, and both resonated with her. She didn't know yet. She only knew a ghost's prayer had allowed her to translocate from Starfall to Zaichaer instantaneously, and she managed it again now. She couldn't vault as Indric did or as Torin's lover did, but she could answer prayers. Omnipresence was not her power, but it seemed as though she had a workaround for the time being.

Suddenly she was there, platinum hair, pale skin, white feathers with a golden patina, and clothed in layers of white, which was an odd choice for her. A fringe of seed pearls dangled across her brow, the idea of a veil. Her eyes were shadowed with weariness; she looked wan, but no less powerful nor herself for it.

"Good morrow, Torin," she said, perhaps surprising him as her sudden presence wasn't one his Semblance had warned him of. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was awoken before dawn for an emergency in Zaichaer. But on the matter of discovery, it does appear as though I am able to answer prayers."

She stepped up as if she were light as anything and kissed his cheek.

If she was weary, at least she seemed comfortable here, the goddess of stars in Stardew Valley. There was a joke in there somewhere.

"I trust the party went well in our absence? Thank you again for always inviting us."

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[Torin Kilvin]

The young Lord Kilvin had not been expecting an instant response, none of them had been to bed early the night before. It was later afternoon by the time he'd been able to settle himself enough to send out his prayer. It felt somehow sacrilegious to offer a gift that might well end up as part of a religion, which didn't make sense. But it also did, inside his head.

He also had not been expecting the youthful goddess to appear in the room with him as though deposited by starlight and he did startle. It was not like when Aurin opened a hole in reality and stepped through it, more like when he vaulted from one spot to another, except also not quite like that. Through his Semblance it felt like light had sufficed the aether of the spot a moment before Kala had appeared in it and made the space become that which she inhabited. Torin could have said these words aloud and known they were right but not answered any questions about them.

"Oh!" Was, naturally, the first thing he said, then, when she spoke, a slightly awed, "Hello."

The urge to kneel was, frankly, difficult to resist, and it was only the knowledge that he would have no clue how to act afterwards kept his knees from bending more than into a bow.

"Yes." Was all he could manage in response to her revelation about the prayers and the kiss.

Gathering himself and trying, to put his mind back in a place to remember that she was his friend while letting his heart and perhaps soul remain in a place of awe because it felt right to be that way while he made his offering, he finally managed a multi-word sentence.

"I hope it wasn't anything...bad?" Was he supposed to say that about an enemy nation? "The party was very good. The people were very grateful for your gifts. I know I usually give mine out during the party and mostly I did but the one I made for you... or the one that I helped make itself for you... Well, I thought maybe that should be less public."

Moving over to where a beautiful wooden box sat on the little desk that each of the bedrooms of the inn Torin looked at it, and then back to Kala, and then back at it.

"I wanted to make you something... worthy, I suppose, of who you are, and who you are becoming. At first I thought it would just be a gift, like the other years but it sort of... got away from me. When I realized what it was becoming I felt a little bad because its the sort of thing that maybe you'd want to design yourself, or at least choose to have it made but..."

He shrugged one shoulder in a sort of apology,

"By then I couldn't really stop. I tried, a few times, but it was sort of talking to me, the magic, and teaching me. I don't think I can explain it. I just hope you like them."

If she didn't like them he wasn't sure what would happen since the gauntlets entirely believed they already belonged to Kala.

[Kala Leukos]

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The young woman before him was still Kala. Perhaps she was more Kala than she had been before, and Kala was more than Kala was before. Or perhaps she had always been this; perhaps the seed of this had always been there and Naori merely quickened it within her. There were some things that were truly a mystery to mortal minds, some things beyond full understanding.

For her, it felt as though a part of her always existed there beside Torin, and a part of her existed always within Torin, as if she was also the resonance of affection that had grown up between them as friends. Perhaps that was part of everyone, but a young goddess could inhabit that more fully. And so her appearance there was less akin to Traversion magic and more that her consciousness and her form flowed from where she had been to where she was needed--first Zaichaer and now Stardew Valley. When the need subsided, she would return from whence she came because that was natural and right, not because she made a conscious choice about it.

Her Semblance, too, was the same, although she dimmed herself lest she overwhelm. Her aura was more powerful, more complex, more intense, while strangely still much the same as it had always been. She shared just as he shared, and she indicated without words that kneeling wouldn't bother her, and that she would just pull him back to his feet if she wished it. Whatever the case, permission was granted to be fully Torin when in her presence. Perhaps that was part of divinity, as well, becoming more fully herself and inviting others to do the same in their own way.

"An Avialae was born to unsuspecting parents," she said, keeping the Dornkirks' name a secret if not the trouble. "They are, of course, Atheists, but their souls called out to me all the same and I answered. I think all will be well in the end."

The weariness in her smile faded a bit to hear that her gifts had been well received. Perhaps someday she would cease to eat and drink and subsist on worship instead, but even she didn't know about that yet. But she was quiet through his explanation, eyes wide and interested as they always were when he was sharing his latest wonders with her. That she inspired them was touching, as well. Was that worship of a sort?

"Lord Torin Kilvin," she said with mock formal surprise, as if clutching a necklace of pearls to her chest. A playful smile flashed, then softened. "I do believe you've made a muse of me. But, in all seriousness, I think this is how it is supposed to be. And, theoretically, only the most legendary of runesmiths--as you will surely be--can change the enchantments of another, but I think even now... my new nature has changed those gifts you have given me. They are more awake in the sense that you describe, and they grow and evolve a bit to better become mine. I think that will only become more true in the future."

She paused, glanced at the beautiful box on the desk and then back at him. Power notwithstanding, she had chosen not to endart her senses deeper than the surface of the box, allowing him his surprises.

"Show me?"

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[Torin Kilvin]

The information that flowed between them was similar to the level of thoughtless shared things that occurred between himself and the other high-level Semblance users in his life, but there was something more with Kala. With Sivan and Aurin it was thoughts that were shared, wordless at times, but still the processes of the mind. With Kala somethings were shared on another plane of his personhood. He thought of it as a spiritual connection but he hesitated to call it so even in his own mind. With a religion in its infancy, anything could be sacrilegious and even though he knew Kala would forgive him and explain it to him if he did commit an undesired act he still shied from anything he didn't know. Which was, in the case of her godhood, almost everything.

Still, when granted the chance he did fall slowly, gracefully even, to his knees. It was something he had significant practice in though he was not thinking about how he had gained it. A part of him knew that Kala could, and most likely did, already know, but that wasn't where his head or his heart was in the moment. It felt right, to make his offering from a position of worship, however much it might embarrass him to think about it before or after, when he was with Kala, it felt right.

While he listened to her tale with his conscious mind, the subconscious part that controlled the very best of his Runeforging was awake and paying full attention in its quiet way. It observed the aura of a goddess with utter fascination, watching how it affected the world simply by its existence. A wonder and a wonderment entered into that space inside Torin, asking questions as to the nature of aether (a substance that it used and manipulated daily), how it was created by life and what that could mean in the hands of a Runesmith of exquisite skill.

While this passed unknown into the young lord, he listened and answered what he did know was being told him. His expression was at first surprised and then sad, the life of an Avialae child in Zaichaer would not be an easy one. If the parents had managed to summon Kala then perhaps they would not be cruel to the child but the possibility for a great deal of cruelty existed in the brand new life. Questioning her was not in him, his trust was all but utter, yet his own experience with a harsh start to life pressed worry lines into his brow.

He blushed furiously at the teasing but it didn't last very long and he was smiling shyly to show that his embarrassment was more pleasure than anything, he even managed,

"A goddess as a muse, what more could any craftsman ask for than that?"

He had hoped that it was her influence, intentional or otherwise, that had guided him. It was a journey for them both and that felt right too. They had both taught each other and learned together before, this felt like a continuation of what they had always been.

At her request, without rising, he reached out with Air, wrapping it around the box and lifting it over into his own waiting hands. Holding it so the lid would open towards him, revealing the contents to Kala he used another strand of the element to do so.

Within lay two pairs of gauntlets made from a very fine silvery metal chain. One was larger than the other, though Torin knew it was silly, they had just happened that way. He waited, hands slightly uplifted, letting Kala examine the magic within with whatever senses she chose. An attempt could be made to explain everything that was inside, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as precise as the information Semblance would give a master of the skill and the smith suspected there were things within that Kala would sense that even the rune would not tell.

[Kala Leukos]

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It felt like life had coalesced into a painting around her: a young lord on his knees, holding magical gloves up to a goddess. With the chest opened, she looked and Looked, sensing the fine metal, the finer enchantments. The Negation resonated of Aurin, though all of it sang Torin's song, as well as her own. The gloves were alive in that strange way they had discussed, and she could feel them recognizing her with a sort of joy that was not at all like human joy.

Air responded to her will, lifting the gloves out of their setting. She held her hands up and they seemed to melt over her like a second skin. They fit to perfection already, and the fine mail soon began to warm from the thrum of the blood under her skin. From the look in Torin's eyes, he could sense the strange meeting between demigoddess and masterwork of runeforging. His work neared the level of the gods, perhaps, and so it only made sense it would be strange and unusual, though it also felt entirely right.

Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Gifts like these given by men like Torin made her new life feel more real, especially given it was a secret to most. Torin, her quiet, dependable, wondrous friend, saw her in ways perhaps nobody else did.

Without thinking it through, she stepped forward, placing her magic-sheathed hands lightly upon his cheeks. For once taller than him, she leaned down and kissed him gently on the mouth.

Kala had no emblem to offer. She didn't even know how a demigod went about fashioning such a thing. For those who followed her, she had offered a rare gift made divine by her own divine nature. She offered him a tenuous Bond. He wanted to worship her, and she wanted to be worshiped. She had been his liege lady's daughter and his friend. Now she was also his muse and the goddess for whom he crafted wonders. She had given him gifts of asterium, but now she offered him her Unity, a gentle unity with her, spiritually intimate.

If he pulled away, she would not force it upon him, but she thought that he would not, that he would welcome it, perhaps even be awed by it in a way that was good for both of them.

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[Torin Kilvin]

The second pair of gloves, crafted for Kala's champion with Kaus in mind but suited to whomever she chose to wield them, lay still in the box. They emitted an interest but it was not the same as the pair created for the goddess herself.

The smith watched in wonder as his gift fitted on to its owner, the song he had heard them humming to them since he'd began pouring magic into their creation thrummed at the connection, the final piece of their making complete. His eyes shone with awe and his own unshed tears, in mirror of Kala's though he did have the attention to spare to realize it.

Thoughtlessly he lowed the box when she approached so it was not in her way. The kiss of acceptance of a goddess was no little thing and something inside Torin rang like a gentle bell at the press of her lips. Understanding flowed between them of what was offered, of what was wanted; they were the same.

The smith did not immediately accept what was offered, but also did not pull away from it. Searching himself for the true answer before opening eyes that had closed at her touch to met Kala's, saying, simple and sure,

"If you would have me, I would be yours."

A mortal's offer to their chosen divinity. She was the only deity he had ever felt an affinity for, the only one he had ever worshiped. Even in his youth when he had been desperate for something larger them himself to put his faith into, when he had tried to choose a god all he had felt was emptiness. Now, on his knees before her, felt as though he had been waiting for her all his life. Torin wanted what she was offering not as a friend but as a disciple.

[Kala Leukos]

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Even from the box, the other pair of gloves sang of Kaus. They were not for her, and so she would be present when Torin offered them to her twin. But for now, there was something else that needed doing, saying, deciding.

Pale blue eyes peered at him, wide and limpid as the sky, but rather than being empty of thought, they held an infinite vastness. There was a flicker of something like fear, but no, it was merely cautiousness. She was new to this, and she wanted to do right by her friend even if her evolution would require an evolution of that friendship. A friendship, or any relationship, would evolve that way. If one piece changed, the whole was changed.

She smiled, her quiet smile that contained a multitude of things.

Holding one hand between her breasts, she placed the other over his chest. She could feel his heart hammer against her palm and, strangely, he could feel the pulse of her heartbeat through the radial artery of her index finger. Perhaps it was Semblance; perhaps what was happening brought their consciousnesses to new levels of focus.

Torin could sense the aether responding to her will, creating a resonance akin to that between her and Kaus, albeit more tenuous. Those things had to be nurtured to grow. But it was something more than that, as well. The familiar was overlaid by something that was now familiar to him as well--divinity. He had learned to channel it somewhat with his work, but divine magic was--in addition to being merely powerful--so densely complicated that it could take lifetimes to suss out the simplest bit of it.

He could sense the foci of her aura as well as his own, the wheels, the whorls at crown and brow and throat and... His heart bloomed like a flower, as did hers. And then he could feel her thoughts, her feelings, but they weren't patterns he sensed without. Rather, she was in him, and he was in her.

Mine.

Or perhaps it was Yours.

Though she had initiated bonds with her Silver Wings, with Marda Ahtivan, this was still new for her, being a goddess. It was a religious experience for the both of them, and quite a bit of it was ineffable even for her.

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[Torin Kilvin]

Torin did not look away, if he blinked even, he did not notice. It was as though the expanse of the night sky had been hiding behind the eyes of the diminutive woman who he knew and could not know. Suddenly the hidden part was open to him, a little, enough to recognize it, but not so much to be overwhelmed by the infinity of it.

Though he could not understand what she was doing he knew the intention, could sense it in everything around them, centering on her, and now, on him. Opening himself, even that secret part that felt too big to live inside him that only woke when he was wielding strong magic or communing with it, and he added his own aether, his own will, to the crafting. Kala must weave the spell, but Torin would lend what was his to offer.

Things became hazy, Torin became hazy, the concept of him blurring at the edges. For a moment he thought he could see himself kneeling, see aether in ways that did not fit into his mind. The disorientation faded before he became frightened instead of filled with wonder, and he settled back into knowing himself. Even then he remained in the shared space that was theirs for a long time. Perhaps it was a long time, perhaps time didn't exist in the place they were joined.

He didn't want to leave, but it was a distant thought, and he knew that in another way he never had to leave. It wasn't clinging that he did, it was curiosity and the stretching of a whole new set of senses that were the same as his own but decidedly also not his own. Which was to say nothing of the explicitly female nature of Kala, at least physically. Torin learned a great many things that didn't have words, as far as he knew, that he was both excited and a little embarrassed to know at all.

When she gently pushed him back to mostly being in his own consciousness again he was still kneeling, still holding the box, low on his lap. The sun had set and it was dark in the room, which meant that he could easily see, even with only his mundane sight, that Kala was glowing a pure white around the edges of her.

Reaching through the rune that she had gifted him he mixed air and fire and threw a half dozen tiny little balls of light about the room to illuminate it. He might have wanted to stay and bask in Her Light, but he had been that whole time and, also, his knees hurt rather a lot. Standing was a process and once he had accomplished it he said, quietly,

"I feel as though anyone who looks at me must know, must see that I'm different." There was no desire to hide his choice, or hers, it was just how he felt, as though he too must be glowing.

[Kala Leukos]

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"Who can say?"

Her smile might have been coy, except she didn't rightly know if her chosen were marked in some way that could be seen. As he got to his feet, she regarded him, remembering The Smith he had been in the Aetherium when struggling back to himself.

The Starsmith. sounded in his mind or, perhaps, his soul. She had changed him, though perhaps they wouldn't know exactly how for some time. But her glow dimmed in the light he conjured, and then she was just the diminutive, winged lady he knew.

Kala considered him still. A part of him had responded to her feminine nature, and it had made her consider him and his masculine nature. Her lips pursed slightly, but whatever she was thinking, she kept to herself for the time being.

Her hand slipped into the crook of his elbow, and she admired the glitter of her glove, which became a mere shine on seeming satin. She laughed.

"It could look like an opera glove and if I struck someone it would still feel like a hammer blow." She rested her cheek against his arm. "Thank you, Torin. I have always valued your friendship, and while the idea of worship is still strange, this feels correct and gives me hope that perhaps I won't fail as a goddess. Oh, and... I think you should offer those to Kaus yourself. I would like to be there, of course. But for now, let's see what Timon is cooking...?"

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