Shy Away [Sivan]

[Destyn]

Shy Away

11 Searing, 121

Destyn nodded, comprehending.

"Thank you." He offered, intending to express gratitude for both the concoction and the explanation thereof. "I do not wish to make my trip home any more of a chore than it already is." He elaborated, wrinkling his nose somewhat apologetically. He didn't mean to be such a downer, but his poor sleep, depression and healing leg left the typically energetic Fae lethargic. What once would have been a facile, pleasant flight was now a burdensome slog.

He sidled up close enough to Sivan that their shoulders were touching, as his curiosity drew him to gape at the apparatus with wide-eyed wonder. He lifted one hand and extended his forefinger toward one of the vessels that made up the primary components of the alembic. He'd been about to touch it, when a sidelong glance from Sivan caused him to drop his hand sharply. Hoping he hadn't been caught in Sivan's periphery, he just cast an all-too-innocently boyish smile toward the elf at his side.

When the strange process was complete, he accepted the augmented stone and closed it in his palm, running this thumb along its smooth edges.

"When it happened?" Destyn began, seemingly out of nowhere. Perhaps the effects of the stone had already begun, and somehow permitted him to speak of his day of horrors, "I don't really remember much, but I escaped onto an airship headed here. And there was an Entity aboard." He paused, unsure of how to describe him in Common, "He wasPrionsa Diaga. He emanated with a power that, even right in the midst of everything when I was terrified and angry and bleeding, He made me calm." The memory of that strange feeling of awe that overtook him at the sight of Talon seemed to complement the effects of his 'worry stone'.

"He is why I say I am religious. He spoke to me, and now I pray each night for Him to guide me toward my fate, so I will know why I was spared." He blinked and looked to Sivan, "I do not know why I told you all of this. Sorry."

Shy Away

[Sivan]

A little smile answered Destyn's. He supposed all Fae'ethalan were charmers. After all, Flower had spirits going to find him help, and then made Sivan feel as though he had to help him break his curse or whatever it was, and here he was working his amateur alchemy for another lost boy. In any case, he didn't truly regret helping either of them. It just made him thoughtful.

When the little flood of words was released, Sivan listened gravely even as he took the alembic apart so he could clean its insides and not have to do it when he returned in the morning on little sleep. He wasn't certain if Destyn meant some Celestial spirit had come to his rescue — a cursory glance at his rune didn't show the incandescence of a spherebinding to such a one. Pursing his lips, he turned his runic eye upon the detritus of his work. Perhaps he meant the Shinsei — there were rumors of his apotheosis, though Sivan didn't know about all that. He had been to Zaichaer recently, though, and that made some of Destyn's details fall into a certain sort of order.

If he was a ward of the crown prince, then he ought to have little need of a humble elf's help, but here they were.

"I hope he gives you the guidance you seek," he said gravely. Then, "Perhaps the stone is working already, helping you to speak of things. They say speaking about them helps, though I have never been much of the sort who wants to share too much..." He laughed softly, self-deprecating.

"It sounds almost as if you have a Purpose."

It could be true. What did Sivan know? The Fae'ethalan was a figure out of a grand tragedy, friends with a Divine Prince.

[Destyn]

Shy Away

11 Searing, 121

The Fae'ethalan youth inclined his head, frowning slightly.

"I hope my words do not bind-..." He shook his head, because that was the wrong word, and corrected: "...burden you." The slip of his tongue might have held more significance than a mere linguistic anomaly, given his relationship with the spirit world.

"If I have a Purpose, I have no idea what it could be." Destyn admitted with a slight shrug, "But perhaps with your help," He held the stone up and nodded toward it, "I'll be able to focus enough to seek out answers. The noise in my head has been so loud it has been as a wall to many spirits. I think my grief daunts them, and those that it draws tend to make it worse." He was absently turning the stone in his hand as he lowered it back down to his side,

"That is why you found me where you did. I was able to clear my mind amongst the plants there and... The Tranquil Garden is a special place. There is an unusual energy- Perhaps you felt it, too?" He hadn't been able to place its origins, nor had the local flora been forthcoming on the subject when pressed, but he found it soothing. And clearing soothing was something he actively sought, these days.

"But you are probably weary." He noted, and used his crutch as an anchor to hop around to face the door again. "I do not wish to impose." He started to limp back toward the front of the store, crutch clicking against the floor between the padding of his bare foot.

"I am staying at the Lekivian Estate," He noted, pausing in the doorway and resting a hand against the frame, "...if you should wish to reach me."

Shy Away

[Sivan]

"Your company and your words have been no binding, nor burden," he promised with a slight smile. He finished with the cleaning that would make his life less miserable in the morning. "And you probably know that many spirits aren't complex enough to understand grief. They sense pain and might seek to comfort or... feed. The ones who do understand emotion better... well, they are more powerful. Perhaps too powerful for the likes of us. Yet."

Sivan nodded at the mention of the Tranquil Gardens. There was a reason he had sought them out as well. When Destyn moved to go, Sivan collected his own vial of boosted valerian and matched his injured pace.

"Weary, but not sleepy. With hope, the valerian will help us sleep." Pausing at the door, he considered. "Would they let some strange elf in to see you?"

It seemed a reasonable question to him. He was a nobody here or, if anything, only had any sort of clout as an extension of Master Jacun's.

"If you would like, we could walk to my house. Not far from here. Then you would know how to find me also. If you want." The last was tacked on diffidently. Sivan didn't know if he had a Purpose or if he believed in Purposes, but it did seem an awfully fortuitous coincidence that they both sought peace from insomnia and other anxieties in the same place at the same time in all of Kalzasi. Perhaps it meant nothing at all. Perhaps nothing had any meaning. Perhaps his sudden nihilism was just proof that he needed to find sleep somehow. Sometimes he was so negative that he made his own eyes roll.

[Destyn]

Shy Away

11 Searing, 121

Destyn smiled warmly, relieved that Sivan Sunrunner wasn't pulled in by the gravity of his woes. Some were more prone to taking on the grief of others, and Destyn was a bottomless cup pouring and pouring his plights, at the moment.

"I have not Summoned a spirit since before the incident, but..." He furrowed his brow, "I am not the only one who grieves the loss of my clan, though I may be the only mortal." And he would leave it at that, not wishing to unwittingly beckon to those of whom he spoke.

He tilted his head, considering Sivan Sunrunner's question.

"I... do not know if I am permitted to have guests. I do not know anyone in the city, except for the Prionsa Diaga and I imagine He goes whithersoever He pleases..." Destyn trailed off, as he pushed off the doorframe and made his way out into the evening air so Sivan could lock up.

"Sure." He smiled wanly at the invitation. "It is not as though anyone at the estate is waiting up for me. I can take a little detour. As long as I'm back in time for breakfast, I doubt anyone will notice I was gone." He'd left through a window in his room, after all, so he hadn't bumped into any servants or woken anyone with creaking doors in quiet hallways.

"Will anyone be waiting up for you, Sivan Sunrunner?" Destyn wondered aloud, as the Elf led the Fae down the dimly lit street.

Shy Away

[Sivan]

And lock up he did, watching through his runic gift to see the magical wards reset themselves per Master Jacun's mastery. It was impressive and reminded him that he was well positioned to learn a great deal about magic from the man, even if they would never be as close as he had been with his former master.

"I hope the stone helps you temper your grief enough to start living again," he said gravely, "and to take care of your clan's spirit friends. When you are ready, if you would like me to hold vigil while you commune with them, I will."

He held his hand out, indicating the direction they were going to walk, then settled into a sedate pace that oughtn't to be difficult even for an injured man.

"Nobody will be waiting up for me," he declared. Flower was practically in a torpor these days, regressing into a state similar to that in which he had originally found him only now it was Searing, not Frost. He couldn't be hibernating in this heat. He glanced down, noticing again that Destyn was barefoot. He had forgotten.

"I hope your feet are surviving the flagstones. They aren't quite as soft as the grass in the Tranquil Gardens." There was nothing chiding in his tone. Most people would glance askance at the both of them for being out and about at this hour, and he certainly hadn't been in the best frame of mind when he had left home. Destyn had even more reason to have forgotten something like shoes, especially given he had wings. Not for the first time, Sivan's mind started to toy with ideas for clockwork wings, perhaps animated through artificing, even. It would be a fine thing to be able to fly, he thought.

[Destyn]

Shy Away

11 Searing, 121

"I hope so, too..." Destyn conceded grimly. There was a beat before he remembered himself and added: "Thank you." It had been a thoughtful sentiment, after all. It would be an uphill road for the young Fae to start living again, as Sivan had put it, for practical reasons as well as sentimental. When he'd been with his clan, he never really had to question what he would do with his life in the long run. He had bucked against his lot in the short run several times- Wishing to explore cities like this one, and make friends of other races, but he always imagined he would return to his clan and continue their work until they succeeded and he could explore a whole new world and make new friends of races that didn't even exist in Ransera. It seemed his short term aims had become his lot for the foreseeable future. Here he was- exploring a city and making friends of other races. If one could call the situation bittersweet it certainly favoured the former.

Destyn glanced down at his feet. One was barely grazing the ground as his weight on that side leaned on the crutch more than the splinted leg, but the other carried his full weight. Thankfully that wasn't much. He looked to Sivan bemusedly, not realising that it was atypical to walk the streets of the city unshod. He shrugged.

"I'm fine. If my feets get tired, that's what wings are for." Sivan might not have caught onto his linguistic error, but he didn't seem to have a grasp on some pluralisations. "But it will be easier to talk with you if I am walking. Even if I fly low, it is rather loud and makes much wind. I would certainly mess up your hair."

Shy Away

[Sivan]

Sivan just nodded at the thanks. While he didn't really know how to handle his own feelings, let alone someone else's grief, it seemed as though whether Destyn went through the motions of polite society or not were unimportant.

"You can mess up my hair if it makes you more comfortable," he said with a smile, then continued walking at Destyn's pace. He fell quiet and hoped it felt like a companionable silence to Destyn. He didn't know what to say and filling up the silence with words just for speaking's sake wasn't really his style. Of course, he didn't know if it was Destyn's smile. He didn't know if his clan had been a bunch of chatterboxes or if they had been majestic and often silent. The Fae'ethalan were a mystery to outsiders.

It wasn't so far to his little house. The green roof looked silver in the moonlight.

"This is where I live," he said quietly. "So you are welcome to visit me at the alchemist's shop in the day, or here in the evening. When the sun is up, the roof is a faded green. If you get lost, you might be able to ask the spirits, though. I have a reputation now." He chuckled softly. "They find spots that are friendly to them in the city and I have a little space in the back for growing things. Nothing that wants too much sun because the walls are high, but... a little green of my own." He paused. "Do you think you can get back to the Lekivian Estate from here?"

He didn't really know where the rich and famous lived, having little to do with them, but he supposed he could at least point him in the direction of where the rich people lived. On second thought, he ought to be able to see that from on high. Perhaps Sivan's offer for help was silly in retrospect.

[Destyn]

Shy Away

11 Searing, 121

Destyn nodded, acknowledgement. A windswept look might have complimented Sivan Sunrunner's fair features, but the Fae was also a tad nervous that the loud humming of his rapidly beating wings might awaken and alarm the Elf's neighbours. It was a quiet night and terribly late, now. The last thing Destyn wanted to do was irk some volatile human who might exact some disproportionate response to the annoyance of being woken that could have dire results for Sivan and himself.

Destyn let silence pass between them, save for the click clacking of his wooden support, for a spell. There had been a time when silence was a very comfortable state for him, although it was never truly silence to him. In the forest and along the water where his tribe tended to remain, his senses picked up on all sorts of stimuli that other races might miss. It was quieter here, though, and his mind filled the gaps in with aught he'd prefer not to remember. He rolled the gem in his hand feverishly, but ere long he found that they'd reached their destination.

"It is cute." He said, appraising the cottage with a slow, approving nod. "Worry not." Destyn smiled weakly, "I am very good at finding my way." He wasn't really sure why it was the case. It might have been the experience of travelling nomadically across the North for his entire life, or it may have been some additional sense or boost to his senses intrinsic to his race.

"Have a nice evening, Sivan Sunrunner. Please extend my greetings to your garden. Let the plants know I will come visit them soon to make sure you are tending them well." His eyes darted skyward, off toward the direction of Cloudhaven.

He took a few hops back from the door and shifted all of his weight to his good leg as his wings extended out of the flaps in back of his Avialae bed robes.

Shy Away

[Sivan]

The silence was fine by Sivan. He spent a great deal of his time alone and he rather preferred it that way. When he was with people, it was nice when they were less voluble, even now as his grasp of Common was coming along. Being social was taxing even when it was worthwhile. Of course, true silence was not real. In the wilds, the elementals were always singing. Even in winter, though many of their songs became like the drone of sleeping bees. In the city, the sounds were just different. The elementals were more spread out, and the other sorts came, those attracted to different sorts of people. And the people themselves — certainly parts of the city never slept from what he could tell, though he tried to keep respectable hours himself, just so he could jive with his master's schedule. Tonight notwithstanding.

The tap of Destyn's crutch was like a musician's metronome, slow enough that it helped to slow down the wheels in his head in their turning. He thought the valerian ought to be enough for him to finally rest, though waking would still be a challenge.

The elf smiled vaguely at his modest home when the Fae'ethalan offered his modest praise, then looked back to Destyn, curious if he sensed the elementals that existed inside, bound by their seasonal contract, which he had recently renewed. Khal had returned, blipping out of Jacun's shop and blipping into Sivan's home much more quickly than they could travel. He only vaguely understood the manner in which spirits traveled, as most of the spirits he communed with communicated more with images and concepts and feelings than the helpful abstractions of words.

"I will give the garden your greetings so the spirits will welcome your eventual arrival," he said, a touch of pride in his smile. His 'garden' was exceedingly small, but he thought a Fae'ethalan summoner would appreciate how he had created a little haven of the green dream in the middle of the city without having the space or the resources of the Tranquil Gardens. "May it become a sanctuary for you as well," he added in Rivach, which may have been slightly intelligible to Destyn. The accompanying gestures and tone ought to have been enough.

"Good night," he said. "Fly true." And then he too stepped back to watch the marvel of the Everwild take flight.