What You've Done [Destyn]

[Sivan]

16 Searing 121

Sivan hadn't gone into Jacun's shop that morning. He hadn't taken a day off for illness since his apprenticeship had begun and while he wasn't sick, he needed a day off. The bonding with his aidolon hadn't been traumatic, but joining with it to cast the spell that locked Flower safely into symbiosis with a new tree had certainly taken it out of him. Perhaps he had overstepped the bounds of his power a bit, and now he knew first-hand how using the full power of an aidolon required recovery time.

While the celestial creature coiled within him to rest, the elf puttered about his garden, bare feet treading flagstones and mossy, grassy earth. The hours went by in a state of trance. He communed with his sprites, with the plant and animal and elemental spirits that gathered in the little oasis he had created for them in his back yard. He repotted a fragrant herb that was enjoying its shady home too much. He watered and pruned. Frequently he would touch the bark of the Flower-tree, murmuring to his hibernating spirit much as he would to any other wild thing he encountered.

He could See Flower within it, see how the ensorcelling tree had arrested the progress of the curse and kept him safe for the time being. While he wished he could have gotten affirmative consent from his ward, he told himself that Flower had placed his trust in him that night in the wilds and every day since. When he ceased to be able to rise from his torpor, it fell to Sivan to make hard decisions and at least this one would buy them both more time to find a permanent solution.

The fae'ethalan is safe, Exael reminded him.

"I know," he murmured.

A bird twittered in the Flower-tree's branches. A butterfly floated past his gaze to inspect the tiny flowers of the repotted shrub. There wasn't much else left to do. A constant gardener wasn't necessary for so small a space. Everything had been rearranged to get the most of the limited sunlight as possible to all of the plants now that a tree's branches formed a canopy over most of the place. All that was left to do was let life live. With a sigh, he folded his legs under him and rested his bare back against the Flower-tree's trunk.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

It had only been a few days since Destyn's second visit to Sivan Sunrunner's cottage, which was also his first visit to Sivan Sunrunner's Garden, but he'd been granted an open invitation. It was nice to have access to a private garden, where he wouldn't run the risk of meeting nosey strangers or aught that might frighten him. At least as long as "IX" remained dormant, which seemed to be an indefinite state as far as he'd gathered from Sivan's explanation.

He descended feet first toward the little oasis in the midst of the gritty city and slowed as he drew closer- immediately noticing a difference in both the landscape and the energy of the garden. He saw the tree before he saw him who tended it resting against the bark, and he eyed it with profuse curiosity as he alighted on the flagstone, and brought the foot of his crutch down as well. The garden was singing loudly and cacophonously, with divers moods about the latest edition to the landscape.

He bounded toward the tree trunk, insofar as he could bound with the aid of a crutch, and furrowed his brow in concern as he placed a palm against the bark- Not even seeming to notice Sivan's presence at his feet.

"Col ceathrar!" He wailed, "Cén chinniúint ghruama a tharla duit?!" He put his arms around the tree and pressed his cheek to its rough bark, his wings spread behind him at attention. He knew at a glance that this was no normal tree. It was burdened with a dark aura and its song was weary and afflicted.

"Uaigh bheo..." He moaned the words against the wood, and began to weep.

What You've Done

[Sivan]

From below, through the refraction of Semblance and trance, Destynrael looked like the wilding equivalent of Exael on the celestial plane. Winged, glorious. Sivan rose slowly from the depths of himself, roused himself to full waking, but remained where he sat, Flower's rougher skin cool against the skin of his back. He was so tired. There was the new power of the aidolon within him, but Exael too was depleted.

"Flower, I think, was from the Spring Court," he said wearily. His face was drawn and wan, but in the manner of elves, his weakness only made him look more sharply beautiful, alien—at least to the eyes of a human or other. To Destyn, he had no idea how he looked. It wasn't a thought he had energy to entertain. He spoke of Flower as if he had died, though he had not. He had been reborn, however, into this tree. Someday, he hoped, Flower would be reborn again into his old self, but without the curse that afflicted him.

"The spirits led me to him in the cold, barely alive. I brought him here, did the best I could to nurse him back to health. But he could barely speak, barely think. He grew stronger and more alert for a while, perhaps because Spring was his season, but as Summer came, he went into a torpor. The affliction wormed its way deeper into him and I didn't know how to stop it. But I found the spell to ease him into this state... to hold the thing at bay... to keep him safe... until I can break the curse. Or perhaps he will save himself, wherever his dreaming spirit takes him. In the meantime, I will guard his body and feed it."

It had been impossible to get food or water into him before, but a tree sustained itself more passively.

He almost laughed. The spell seemed something out of a fairy tale, but then Flower was a fae creature.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Words from below startled Destyn, who reared suddenly away from the tree with his wings spread to their full breadth and his arms, too, in a stance of defence. His weight was on his strong foot and his crutch was raised slightly off the ground, as if ready to be used as a bludgeoning weapon. When he saw the sunlight reflecting off of Sivan Sunrunner's flaxen hair, he softened his stance- though his hackles were still up.

He took a silent moment to collect himself, lowering the crutch and leaning his weight ponderously upon its purchase. It took another moment for him to process, upon reflection, the words that had been imparted in the interim.

"You should have called to me when you found him." Destyn replied, bemused and overwhelmed. It didn't even occur to him that Sivan might have harboured another Fae'ethalan in the time they'd known one another without ever mentioning it. "I might have..." He didn't really know what he might have done, without knowing what condition the fellow Fae was in before he was in a state that Destyn could only think to call... deciduous.

Finally, he folded his wings and placed his palm against the tree trunk once more.

"Where did you find this spell?" He inquired, gravely- looking the tree up and down- branch to root. "Who taught you this?" He ran his thumb down along the ridges of the bark.

"This is a..." He spread his palm, "Deeply sacred thing, yet you say you are not religious? To consecrate a Living Grave, for... was this an elder? A Lorekeeper of Spring? I just... Do not understand how all of this came to be in only three days."

What You've Done

[Sivan]

There were many things Sivan should have done. He should have taken him to Master Jacun as soon as he acquired his apprenticeship. If the man himself didn't know how to solve the problem, he might have directed him to someone else in the city with such knowledge and power. But Flower hadn't liked anyone except Sivan, really. He had been awkward around Arvalyn, who hadn't been by in some time. Perhaps he ought to go to the Velvet Cabaret and see him. Or would that exacerbate things? He didn't really know how to deal with people.

By the time he had met Destyn, things had been worsening and he probably should have asked for help, though he didn't know that Destyn could have done anything. Perhaps his tribe, had they come along with him. And he hadn't wanted to burden him, who was already weighted down by so much grief and pain.

At the question, he rubbed his hand wearily over his face.

"I was in the Archives at the Academy studying for my Master all day. I had gathered many things. Alchemical treatises, and artificing to help IX. I went into a trance at one point to empty my mind... and I encountered a celestial spirit who offered to help, who offered to become my aidolon. We bonded. It helped me find the spell — in Rivach, no less — and we came here and I buried Flower and called upon... many spirits for aid. We burned through a great deal of power, but it was successful."

Blue eyes swept up to sadly regard the green leaves.

"I apologize if I have committed some blasphemy, but I promised I would help him and this was the only way I could buy him more time. I don't even know who he is. Flower is what I call him. He didn't remember much. He couldn't communicate well..." He looked at Destyn now, his mood dropping, though it was the exhaustion doing it.

"Perhaps you ought to avoid me. IX came into my charge and now it is broken. Flower came into my care and now this..." It followed that Destyn might suffer for befriending him, too.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn gazed down at Sivan with an expression the Elf would not have seen him wear before. Sivan had seen him in the midst of deep woe, of bestial fear and of nascent joy- the first sprouting of tiny leaves after a barren, bitter winter. But now he seemed austere- Cautious without being openly fearful. It was not for himself that Destyn bore fear.

"You wield great power for one so young, Sivan Sunrunner." Destyn bade, sounding more grave as he offered the more likely scenario: "Or you have entered into a passing precarious bargain with those who do." A Spirit was not a slave, and for one or sundry Spirits to exert enough will on this plane of existence to merge Fae and Forest into a physical manifestation like this, was no small feat. Such things tended to come at a cost, in Destynrael's understanding.

He withdrew his hand from the Flower Tree, and looked to Sivan- who had always seemed so confident and wise to Destyn, but now looked fragile and crestfallen over past choices. Destyn knew that he had contributed to Sivan's worries and he softened.

"Had I known, I might have..." He shook his head. It didn't matter. The deal had been struck, and this poor Fae was a prisoner in their own bark in the middle of a city, rather than in the midst of woodland energy that might have been bent toward their healing.

"I will not forsake you, Sivan Sunrunner. You have not wronged me..." He was still unsure as to whether he'd wronged this 'Flower' or himself, but for Destyn's part he remained an uninjured party in whatever had transpired here.

"Guím ar do shon, col ceathrar..." He sang over his shoulder toward the tree, before limping his way over to where they'd shared fruit and bugs a few days earlier. He'd have sat beside Sivan, but he'd have had trouble getting up with his wounded leg and, after the incident with his clan, Destyn was still ready for threats to appear from nowhere in any space he inhabited.

"Do you think you are a person of many secrets, Sivan Sunrunner?" He managed to sound more childlike than accusatory in the asking.

What You've Done

[Sivan]

Power. Exael was passing powerful, certainly the most powerful creature Sivan had formed a contract with. It would grow more powerful as Sivan did now, per the terms of their contract. And if they worked together, they could become more powerful than the sum of their parts. This enchantment was proof enough of that. But it had involved finding the spell, weaving the power of several spirits into a cohesive whole, and draining both Sivan and Exael of a great deal of power. It would renew itself with time, of course, but it had been an exigent expediture.

"It was dangerous," he agreed, "but my aidolon has proven trustworthy so far." Dishonesty was not impossible for celestials but, in his experience, they did cling to principles.

He closed his eyes through Destyn's short song, letting the music and the words he did not know seep into him as well. He could recognize it as Vallasren now without knowing so explicitly beforehand. It sounded almost like a prayer in Rivach, although more exotic and wild. For all the wildness he sensed in Destyn, the fae'ethalan was normally quite composed. He found himself wishing the fae elf would worm his way under Sivan's arm as he had before, both for warmth and for comfort. But he didn't know how to ask for those things and he thought perhaps it might make Destyn uncomfortable now; he said Sivan hadn't wronged him, but he still looked disturbed by what Sivan had done.

"Secrets?" he pondered. "I suppose. Not because I am particularly secretive, but because I rarely have someone to talk to. Things just stay in my skull most of the time." He paused, considering. "Do you ask because you have questions for me?"

He whistled and Khal appeared, hovering close so Sivan could cage his fingers around the glow and soak up the heat.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

A moment elapsed before Destyn replied and when he did, it was succinct and one might even say dismissive.

"May it thus remain." And, with that, the Fae'ethalan thought it best to move on from the subject as not to further burden Sivan with worry over that which was now forged in the aether.

He leaned forward a bit, slipping nimble fingers beneath his bandages to scratch at one of the constant itches that assailed his leg.

"I think some people would share more if they had fewer with whom to confide, but you feel that for you it is less? That is interesting to me." He didn't sound critical in said interest. "I think I, perhaps, over share with you because I am lonely. So I ramble, sometimes, and do not realise until I see your eyes glaze over." He offered with a self-deprecating giggle.

"I... suppose I do have questions, yes. I wonder after the time you spent with this Fae of Spring. Most people I have met in Kalzasi have never before met one of my people- even them of other courts, who are different." He said, with a vague gesture to the Flower Tree.

"You say they could not communicate well. Did they speak as I do?" It would have almost certainly been another dialect, at the very least, but very possibly another tongue entirely. Some of those who had left the Everwilds adopted more Ranseran means of expressing themselves, than the Old Order Fae amongst whom Destyn had been reared.

"And you say you call them Flower, but... know you not what they called themselves?" Even people who didn't share a language could usually identify themselves by name. Destyn wondered whether Flower's affliction had come into play with the communication barrier, as well.

What You've Done

[Sivan]

Sivan frowned. He could not remember being bored in Destyn's presence, so he didn't know how his eyes had glazed over. Perhaps something one of them had said had sent him down a rabbit-hole in his mind for a moment, or he had been weary as they both had suffered from insomnia. But the fae'ethalan was laughing and he was here, so the elf had to hope he was joking about it.

"At first he didn't speak at all," Sivan said slowly, remembering. "Then he spoke a few words, very softly. He decided on Flower because he didn't know his name. He couldn't recall anything before meeting me in the winter woods... then he could only recall shadowy things that didn't amount to anything. Thinking was difficult, and speaking. As though he had hit his head or something... but there was no wound. It was a magical affliction."

That much was visible to the runic eye, though he couldn't afford to waste any more aether for a while, not if he wanted to recover himself.

"He was... is... a mystery." He wished he had better information to share with Destyn, or that he would have uttered some key to which he was ignorant but a fae'ethalan would recognize, but alas; such was not the case today. "If you happen to know a talented curse-breaker, or meet one... I would take out a loan to pay for their services..."

He couldn't really see another way to deal with this. While he could see the corruption, he didn't have any context for what had caused it, so no clues to cure it. Sivan worried he might have to take on the rune of Affliction to have that context, but feared the deterioration of his own soul.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn knitted his brow, considering the information presented and nodding slowly along.

"That must have been very concerning." Destyn acknowledged, with an ostensibly empathetic nod. "And you met him in the woods?" Sivan might have noticed the shift to a male pronoun, when moments earlier Destyn had been using the neutral. Now that he was satisfied that Flower had been able to communicate enough to choose a name, he was confident that he might have been capable of identifying his gender.

"I... don't know any curse-breakers. Not anymore." He replied, a bit wistfully, pursing his lips into a slight grimace and turning his gaze from the tree to the Elf.

"He is fortunate that you found and tended to him while he was still conscious. It seems you have a knack for nurturing wayward Fae'ethalan." He noted, as the grimace gave way to a gracious smile. His eyes darted sidelong, as a juicy cicada made its slow, awkward course into his line of view. As the hum of its wings drew closer, he snapped his hand out to grab it and pop it into his mouth, where it met its end with a satisfying crunch.

"Mmmmm! Buggies..." He munched happily and swallowed it down in a large gulp, before returning his attention to Sivan.

"You have been very busy since last I saw you, it seems. I have mostly just sat in my room with my thoughts. I do not know what to do with my life, though I think long and often on the subject. I believe, if I remain here, it will be expected that I adopt some occupation or another. And if I were to leave, I know not what I would do abroad of Kalzasi either. I think, without a clan, I would not last long in the woods."

What You've Done