Best of Coincidence [Issima]

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He listened to her words with a quiet hunger, wanting so badly to know that her cousin might be his and that she might be that perfect piece to add to the puzzle to his life. A man had to be as self-sufficient as possible, of course, but true happiness came from the fellowship of his peers, and the growth and prosperity of the family unit, wide and sprawling as that could be in Drykas culture. Finally, he smiled, a bit sheepish. "I've spoken to her some," he admitted. "Not as much as I'd like. But it's difficult to know her. It seems like she's trying so hard to impress me, and I am, and I appreciate it, but I want to know who I'm marrying, you know? Dymphna... I knew her..." His eyes went a little sad, the amputation of that part of his heart not clean and cauterized. "I'm sorry. I know women don't want to be compared to others... "I do wish I had someone to advise me. My pavilion is gone, my cousin Eldon left for Syliras... It feels like such a big decision to make, and how can I know I'm making the right choice?" He squared his shoulders, leaning his cheek against the toddler's. "I like her, I think. Enough that I've come to meet the family... I just wish I knew her." He met her gaze for a moment. Sometimes a moment was all it took. "You know?"

[Issima]

There was a moment where Issima was humbled by his quiet sincerity. She felt quite torn. She wanted to give him words to please him, to make him feel sure of the choice to marry into her family. It was a good family, after all. He would not be unhappy with her. But another piece of her, the loudest part, wouldn't let her speak such things. That part thought that Menali might be all wrong for this kind young man beside of her. That part wanted to tell him that Menali was kind and good, but she didn't run much deeper than what he had seen or known. There wasn't a great deal to know about her cousin. Issima felt as if the opposite were true of this Sama'el, who seemed to be such an old soul behind young eyes. Issima opened her mouth to speak, turning her head aside to glance at Sam as she did so. And then their eyes met, and the words froze upon her lips. There was something about those soulful eyes that stunned her to her very core, and she felt heat wash over her. Was there another reason she didn't want to convince him how suitable Menali was? Treacherous thoughts, perhaps. In the end Issi could only smile for him, a soft, feminine expression. "Yes. I know." Issima understood very well. Hadn't she just prompted him with questions aimed at just that? To dip below his name, his title - to learn something real about him? And why? Why should she care? Because, as much as he wished to know Menali, she wanted to know him. For reasons yet to be admitted, unspoken, perhaps, but there it was. "Perhaps the Fall will give you time to consider. Time to temper Menali with patience." The boy cried out in his sleep, the nonsensical whimpers of a dreamer. Issima reached to soothe his damp brow, but found Sam's comforting palm there before she could even reach him. Her fingertips tangled within his against that downy hair, and lingered for the briefest moment. Her eyes met his, and then she dropped her hand. "He doesn't sleep well. I feel such pity for him because his mother is so very busy with all of the others that she cannot afford him all the attention he needs." Issi spoke with the subdued voice of affection. And then, without missing a beat, she continued. "What did you love so about Dymphna?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The boy quieted at their touch and Sam smiled softly. There was a part of him bridling against the urge to propagate the species, as if a spring fever were upon him, the need to rut like a stallion scenting a mare in heat. And there was heat in the glance he sent her before he arrested it, dropped his gaze to the ground, the only safe place for lightning to go. He was quiet for a time, considering. He didn't want to wait until Fall, didn't want to wait until he knew he was making the right decision. The reality of the matter was he was eighteen, his body teeming with the desire to procreate, all quicksilver energy with a sunny disposition. A couple of women, braids adorned with amethysts, looked at them with the warmest of approbation: a man, a woman, a child, their animals. He heard one of them say to the other when they had passed that they made a pretty picture of a married couple. He shot a covert glance at Issima, startled and unsure as a colt for a moment. "I, ah..." She was beautiful, talented, intelligent, kind... "She made me feel safe," he finally admitted.

[Issima]

Issima hadn't known what answer to expect from Sama'el in particular, but she didn't think she had expected that. Sam had a way of saying things that made her think, made her want to sit and mull over all the possibilities in his lilting words. "Safe?" she said, thinking aloud more than she really intended to probe him on the subject. What did safe mean, in regards to love, companionship? She had seen safe, she thought. In the quiet marriages all around her. The relationships where each fulfilled their role, met with their duties. They were kind to one another, they created life and nurtured it in their children. But, to Issima, it seemed so hollow. Certainly better than the mismatched marriages where bitterness and strife undermined the family unit, yes. Not bad, even. She couldn't say that. Not everyone could marry for love, or passion, especially when fathers were given the power to make such important decisions. But, surely there was something more, wasn't there? Something unsafe, perhaps. Something that swallowed you up, something you drowned in, something that was like a tempest inside your heart. That didn't sound safe to Issima, who felt currents of energy dance along her arm where it brushed Sam's in his stride. But it sounded so very... alive. Having danced along this train of thought all in a blink, Issima decided that this couldn't have been what Sam meant. He seemed different from that. The desire to resurrect a dead name alone separated him from the halls of the mundane, the typical. Perhaps he meant that Dymphna had been like a shelter from the storms of life. Issima knew what the struggle felt like, and she could only imagine the warmth of her father's hug again - those strong arms that told her everything would be alright. What if someone could make her feel that way again? Like everything, really, would be alright? If the light of love chased away fear, perhaps that was the thing Sam had liked about his lost love.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He was quiet for a time, trying to think of a better way to explain it. With Horse, he felt that there was always an escape, because few outside Cyphrus could even catch up with them at a full gallop. With Dohaina, he found the eye of the storm. With Eldon and Kasb'el, he felt like part of that stream of blood that flowed out of the past and into their veins. With Dymphna, he had felt ... home. With her, he knew that no matter the dangers outside Endrykas, in her arms, he could sleep with abandon. No monsters would slouch into his tent and catch him unawares, nor tear from him the people he loved. There had been certainty, but it had been false. Now he was afraid to trust his feelings. He sighed, not having an answer for her.

[Issima]

"My father had two wives before he met my mother," Issima said, thinking it safe to redirect the conversation subtly by keeping it in the same vein, but turning the garish light of inspection off of Sam's own experience. "He was twenty years older than her. Settled, you know? Kids already, two women who cared for him. A busy pavilion. But he always told me ... he said that when he saw my mother, his heart sang." Issima smiled fondly at a pleasant memory, lost in it for a moment as she glanced down. She soon picked up the thread of her thought, though, and carried on. "She would always say that if any part of my father had sang, she'd have run the other way." Issima peeked up towards Sam with a little grin, to see if he was smiling, to see if he could understand the secret humor of her precious memory. "They used to tease each other so. But she loved him, too. Enough to marry into a family with two women ahead of her, and a host of sons. What did she have to offer a man like my father, who had no real need of her?" Issima scratched at the top of the goat's head, who had decided it was necessary to trot between them for a pace. "It was hard, I think. For all of them, at least at first. She was so young and lovely and he probably tried very hard to be fair, to not favor her so much over the others, but...well, I wish you could see how they looked at one another. Even after all those years. It was like... Like they were two parts of the same whole. I swear they could read one another's thoughts." Issima trailed off, as if she had forgotten her point. Perhaps she had. Memories were poignant and bittersweet now, as she considered them. After a moment she rallied, though, and managed to string along her conclusion. "But it was different. He was kind to his wives and he respected them, felt affection for them. They reciprocated, but it was a candle compared to the burning sun if you held it up against what he and my mother shared. My mother used to say that love was as powerful as the web, only blind. Why don't you think more people find love like that, Sam?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

But the young Watchman had no answer to give her. They walked in companionable silence for a while, and then he showed her his small camp. She met Dohaina again and the young Semes he had purchased from Hek Fleetrunner, though the other horses were gone. Even his Windrunner stallion must have been doing rounds with Denen. They sat, talked, he made a bit of food just in time for the little boy to awake with a growling stomach and generally spent a few hours in good company. When she finally left with the boy, he was sad to see her go, but glad to know that Riverfall awaited them next season. That decided, he took a nap. END

[Lariat]

Sama'el

Experience:

Animal Husbandry: 1 xp
Socialization: 3 xp
Rhetoric: 2 xp


Lores:

Running into new friends
Talk of things from now and then
Announcements of Riverfall
A invitation accepted
Holding a babe
Gently nurturing a babe
The pangs of fatherhood.. kinda
Animal Attraction
A fraction closer to her

Issima

Experience:

Animal Husbandry: 1 xp
Singing: 1 xp
Socialization: 3 xp
Rhetoric: 2 xp


Lores:

Seeing Sam
Bunnies are much lighter
Sam and his gentleness
Drawing from the depth that is the watchman
Dreams of Riverfall
The possible fruition of hopes and dreams
Hidden desires
A fraction closer to him

Comments
I enjoy the writing of you both. The detail, tangled emotions, along with goals and different motivations make for a very interesting tale. I hope to continue to read many more threads involving both of you. If you have any questions just send me a pm!