What You've Done [Destyn]

[Sivan]

"In the woods, yes," he averred. He might not have been able to point out where on the map they had been, but it would merely be a matter of following the road from whence he came, camping in the same spot, and walking into the woods. The spirits would help him find the exact spot if he needed it. He sighed a little when his innocent question made Destyn think on his lost clan; Sivan wasn't doing well today, it seemed. But he smiled as Destyn snapped up a cicada. At least those were insects that even humans knew were nutritious, though generally they were deep fried rather than raw.

He smiled faintly.

"Perhaps the spirits led me to both of you," he mused out loud. Then, in response to Destyn's musings, "I think you are correct. In human cities, one must work to survive. Even the people relegated to the Middens. Perhaps this family you stay with will continue to house you for the good graces it earns from the Shinsei...? But I don't know that I trust the people here not to think..." He paused, looking for the word in Common. "Hierarchically? Transactionally? Eventually, they will want something from you.

"If you feel as though you are wearing out your welcome, you can stay here. I make enough to pay for the cottage and for food. You could continue to study your summoning. My knowledge should start to increase now I've an aidolon, and I have access to the archives through my master. I'm not a master yet, but I could teach you what I know. You could help me tend this little garden in the middle of this sea of people." He cracked another weary smile. "Attract your favorite sorts of bugs."

They had talked about clan before, and family. Sivan had never felt connected to his own, but perhaps building one might feel different. He didn't know Destyn well, of course, so he oughtn't to make any lifelong commitments, but he could house the fae, or at least give him another option if he felt his options were dwindling. Perhaps that would even help wake Flower up and fix what ailed him. Then Flower and Destyn could go off to do what fae'ethalan did and keep each other alive.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn leaned in, seeming to wait for something further after Sivan suggested that the spirits had led them together.

"Oh!" He tilted his head, when the moment passed without incident. "I just... Many times people make puns with my name, because it sounds the same as the first part of their word, 'Destiny'. With the way your thought began, I expected you to quip." He let out a satisfied sigh, "But I am very glad that you did not." He said, as his eyes scanned the surrounding area for signs of more cicadas in the immediate vicinity.

"It is, I think, strange and sad." He mused, as darting eyes flitted sharply from spot to spot, wherever his ears beckoned or the fields unseen to most were crossed. "To put such weight upon toil. As if it is the most important thing in the world, even when it is often among the most unpleasant things one does in life. Citydwellers should put more emphasis on playtime. They would be, I think, not so cranky if they did this."

His eyes finally snapped back to Sivan, when the elf settled on a few common words with which he was unfamiliar.

"You have been studying much!" Destyn blinked, "I do not know these words, let me..." He paused, "Think." He considered the sounds. After a moment, he realised that 'hierarchy' was a word he'd heard and that it meant something along the lines of 'tiered'. He also knew 'arcane', though, and wondered whether it was a blend of 'high' and 'arcane', but that wouldn't make sense, because they hadn't been talking of magic. They'd been speaking of toil. So maybe it was a blend of hierarchy and arcane, because the people at the top of the society had more magic? That might have been true in Kalzasi, but he hadn't delved into their politics at all in his brief tenure as a resident. He also knew the word 'transaction' so he assumed 'transactionally' meant something having to do with a transaction.

"Oh!" He sussed it out, "Toil for coin! You mean that people think often in terms of toil for coin!" He was excited to have figured it out, and clapped for himself- bouncing a bit on his bum. When he settled down, he replied:

"I agree. We toil for food, water, shelter, clothing. Things we need, or things we want, but... I guess it is not practical for those who wander to hoard." He smiled warmly, seeming touched at the offer of lodging.

"Really?!" He started to push himself up, but winced at the sting in his leg and plopped back down. "Will you come over here, so that I can hug you, please? That is very nice of you to offer."

What You've Done

[Sivan]

Normally poker-faced, Sivan allowed himself to be more demonstrative here in his garden where he felt at home and only people he was comfortable with were allowed. And so he wrinkled his nose at the destiny joke that people brought up, glad it hadn't even occurred to him to make a linguistic jest in a language he hadn't mastered. Then he offered his own version, which mostly had to do with people mispronouncing his name, which was trochaic, the first syllable identical to the sea which was far away, the second identical to the last syllable in caravan, albeit unstressed. And due to the peculiarities of elven languages, his nickname as a child had been Siv, but with a short vowel rather than the longer vowel from his full name. It did irritate him when frequent patrons of Jacun's Alchemical Goods tried to ingratiate themselves upon him with nicknames that jangled his leaf-shaped ears.

He was too tired to get heated about it, but he looked bashful for a moment after admitting it. Then Destyn's gaze grew glazed as he tried to parse his thoughts into Common. At least Sivan wasn't the only one.

The elf smiled back, then winced as Destyn aggravated his injury, then smiled again at the request.

"You injured, me exhausted, we might have to band together just to survive this wild garden." Wryly, he moved over, hugged Destyn, and then was so bold as to lay his head in the fae'ethalan's lap. They were physically affectionate creatures in his limited experience, and he had spent more time with Destyn over the past few days than he had with most anyone else. Strangely, it didn't feel so very strange to seek animal comfort from him, even if he was part plant.

He exhaled and his bones melted as if his whole body would sink into the earth to feed Flower's Living Grave.

"I don't mind toil," he admitted quietly. "But I never seem to feel rested anymore..."

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn offered a good-natured chuckle at hearing Sivan's pet peeves, which mirrored his own albeit without as much encouragement to amateur Common comedians.

"If we get stuck in the garden, Flower might help us by luring yummy buggies!" Destyn noted with a glance over to the tree. It would surely be tempting to the plump cicadas he so enjoyed nibbling on when the opportunity presented itself.

He drew Sivan into a tight, happy hug and rocked in back and forth a few times before releasing him. He found himself pleasantly surprised that the stoical elf didn't draw away at the earliest opportunity, but rather lay his head down upon Destyn's lap. The Fae'ethalan refugee smiled adoringly, and drew a hand down to stroke at Sivan's blonde hair.

"I do not wish to seem rude or ungrateful to my current benefactors." Destyn mused aloud, "But if I see signs that I have overstayed my welcome, I will most certainly flit into your garden and camp beneath Flower until you find me." He worried a lock of Sivan Sunrunner's hair between the fingers of his right hand as he took in the sights, sounds, smells and magnetic fields of the surrounding garden.

"Toil is, I think, necessary. As I said, we all have needs to survive, but... Toil is a means to an end. It should not be the main priority of a person's life. That would make for, I think, a very sad existence. It is probably why so many citydwellers look haunted in the streets. They are, as you say, never rested because they think it is so important to hoard coin. They do not grant themselves enough time in gardens." Which was, to Destyn's mind, the panacea for all such concerns.

What You've Done

[Sivan]

Sivan didn't really have the words to articulate how good it felt to trust someone enough to use their lap as a pillow and revel in the simple affection of Destyn's fingers in his hair. Perhaps a tribe was what he had always needed; the closest he had found to that had been an old elf and an Awoken, who was, ironically, asleep. It had been a fragile peace he had known. But perhaps the spirits had drawn him toward people like Flower and now Destyn who were, in some ways, like him: needing help, needing a tribe. It might actually be something to build toward. He didn't actually know how to dream of the future, though, so it would take some time.

"Khal will keep the garden from growing too cold, even in the depths of Frost, but you are welcome inside, too." He knew now that the presence of IX made Destyn nervous; he only hoped he could persuade him that the Awoken was nothing like the atheist mobs of Zaichaer. In any case, if he ever did figure out how to resuscitate IX, it wouldn't be able to stay in the little cottage. There just wasn't room for it if it was going to be moving around. But that would be a happy problem to work through when IX was ambulatory again.

"Or will you hibernate all winter since you are a summer creature?" he asked curiously. Flower hadn't done well during Frost, but he had been beset by the damned curse, as well. The fae'ethalan were mysterious creatures, but he was going to have to ask stupid questions if he was going to understand them better. And, "This garden requires toil. If the city weren't here, of course, nature would take its course. But to keep things alive here—that requires toil. I'm happy to do it, though. The green things keep me company."

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

A tilt of the head answered Sivan Sunrunner's invitation to the interior of the cottage.

"I like it out here, though." Destyn replied verbally, after a moment's consideration. There was a cold solitude to sleeping indoors, he thought. A detachment from the living, breathing world. He supposed that was what humans enjoyed about it, but it made the Fae youth anxious. Life, to him, was about connection and he was most comfortable when he felt engaged with his surroundings rather than merely enveloped by them.

"I do not hibernate." He replied, knitting his brow and narrowing his eyes slightly, but his expression soon evened out and warmed up.

"We would usually travel North to the warmer climes, like here in Kalzasi. The Northern winters are not so cold as to put us to sleep." He considered their immediate surroundings.

"I could help with the toil. Even if I do not live here, yet, I could help you tend things so you have more time to focus upon your other pursuits. You have so many!" He reminded, echoing the awe he'd often expressed over Sivan Sunrunner's sundry disciplines.

He absently traced his fingers across the soft skin of Sivan's face, trailing over his cheekbones and down the line of his jaw to the summit of his chin and back. It just felt nice, and he wasn't even conscious of doing it or how it might feel to Sivan.

"Do many people visit you and your garden?" When Destyn envisioned what it might be like to live here, he wondered whether his tranquility might be interrupted by interlopers.

What You've Done

[Sivan]

"As you like," he said, too tired to press. When the winter snows came, Khal would be hard-pressed to keep the small garden livable, though he was hoarding aether for just that purpose. Destyn would either stay in the warmth of the noble estate, weather the cold here, or come in for some tea by the fire. It was all the same to Sivan, so long as he was comfortable and safe. "I like it out here too."

If Destyn wasn't here, he might have been tempted to fall into his bed, but it was more serene out here.

"You could certainly help make this place more attractive to the cicadas." He smiled, sure that Destyn didn't seem cute to the cicadas that he snatched and gobbled fast as any striking snake, but it warmed parts of his heart to think that his humble garden attracted the fae'ethalan, even if the Living Grave that sustained Flower was a somber monument in its way. "If that's toil. I don't know what you would do to attract them, but best feast while they are about." Different types emerged from the ground at different intervals, so it was rare a summer went by without some cicadas, but some years were a veritable bounty—at least if one considered them a delicacy.

"I had a person over awhile back to help me learn Common, but we stayed indoors. I think Flower—or perhaps IX—were offputting. I haven't seen him in a while. I was thinking of inviting my friend Torin over to see the garden." And also IX because the runeforging apprentice seemed intrigued by the clockwork and artificing that Sivan knew but wasn't exercising so much while focused on alchemy. But he didn't mention IX again because it seemed to trigger memories of Zaichaer, though he didn't think the atheists would approve of creatures created by magic. "He's another apprentice. Kind. Polite. You might like him, though he is also very busy in the forge most of the time."

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn nodded.

"I can tell." A garden like this didn't simply appear in the midst of a city like Kalzasi. If Sivan didn't enjoy the space, Destyn couldn't fathom why he'd have spent time and expended toil tending to it.

"That is true. Also, the grass can help me find grubs sometimes." He noted with a little smile and licked his lips at the thought.

He listened as Sivan Sunrunner spoke of his visitors, blinking in astonishment at the last on the list.

"Torin?" He gaped with saucer wide eyes at Sivan, "Torin Kilvin?" He asked for clarification, "But that is remarkable! I know him. I met him when I was a little Fae and again just two days ago!" He exclaimed, straightening his back in such a way as to jostle Sivan's head slightly where it rested.

"He even got to meet my clan, when they were still alive. We passed by his village two times. I think he wanted to leave with us, but he was already an apprentice the second time we came through. He is very big now. It was kind of scary to see him again, at first. Before the memories flooded back and I recalled how he used to be and that not all humans are alike in wickedness. I think, when he was young, he wanted not to be human. I think he would have become a Fae, if he was able." He realised he was rambling,

"Anyway. Strange coincidence in so large a city, if it is not more than that."

What You've Done

[Sivan]

"Geb might even drive the grubs up to you so you don't have to go digging," he said with a smile. The little earth elemental seemed almost proud of the work they had done in the garden, if pride wasn't too complex an emotion for the little wisp. None of his little friends were particularly powerful, which made their ongoing contracts little in the way of burden to him. But over the months, they had come to understand each other fairly well, and they used their subtle influences steadily, and the house and garden had quietly evolved from the cheapest thing he could find near Master Jacun's shop to a little sanctuary for wild things—a home.

He wondered if, when the time came to leave, he would miss it. Who would tend the garden in his absence? But that was a worry for another day.

His blue eyes widened at the exclamation and the jostling, but he smiled once Destyn settled down and explained.

"Kalzasi is a mysterious place, truly," he said. "It threw you and me together, Torin and me, and you and Torin. But you must be the one with the great destiny. Torin and I are merely craftsmen." He paused. "But if he likes this place, perhaps I can make sure you are both here at the same time, as well. It will feel more like a party. More like a tribe..."

Sivan hoped that wasn't overstepping. He knew Destyn desperately needed something to assuage the loss of his tribe. Sivan was rather lost as well outside the stability of his apprenticeship, though Torin seemed to be moving at a steady pace toward opening his own forge. That wasn't the sort of thing one could throw on a cart and wheel about the countryside

But time would surely tell all things, and it was early days yet.

[Destyn]

What You've Done

16 Searing, 121

Destyn pursed his lips, bemused at Sivan Sunrunner's forecast of greatness in his future.

"Must my destiny rise to meet my tragedy?" The Fae didn't really follow the Elf's meaning. In Destyn's estimation, Sivan Sunrunner was far more than a craftsman and, beyond that, he didn't comprehend why being a craftsman should be an obstacle to possessing a great destiny.

"You are the one to whose orbit so many flock." He glanced about at the spirits who lingered in his midst, and those that swirled about the Flower tree. "The cursed..." He glanced to the cottage, "...the broken..." and down into Sivan's eyes with a wan smile, "...the afflicted." He stroked Sivan's cheek gently.

"And you mend us. We are not crafts, well... perhaps your IX is a craft, but by and large I would say you are something far beyond a craftsman." He sounded awed as well as adoring. As if, in their nascent para-tribe, Sivan was an elder if not the chieftain.

"I would..." He paused his tongue, considering. "...I would be unopposed to such a gathering, if it would make you happy. I could bring more fruit and Geb can help me gather buggies." Because what was a party without protein?

"And do not worry- Torin is not squeamish around buggies. As I mentioned, he has spent time amongst Clann na Feithidí Uisce." Destyn nodded sagely, and considered the possibility of Torin- an odd, old connection to his former life. Someone who actually knew the people Destyn was mourning, with whom he could grieve in true, if not consummate, understanding. Perhaps Torin could get what he'd always wanted in bygone days- A tribe of his own. And Destyn could get what he desperately needed- A substitute for the tribe he'd lost. And Sivan Sunrunner could get what was missing from his life. Destyn didn't know what that was, yet, but he recognised the longing.

Fin

What You've Done