The Hermit and The Spider (Sama'el)

[Leto Sunsinger]

Arias was a clean horse, if one could call a horse clean. His fur was soft and silky as Sama'el touched it, and Leto made sure every morning to brush him, and keep his coat tidy whenever he could, every morning usually. Today had been an exception, but he had done it the night prior, so Arias was quite content that he could miss one morning brushing and not go grossly ugly. Leto smiled as Sama'el patted Arias' back, and the horse bowed it's head to Sama'el as if knowing he was Leto's friend, and that it was quite all right to touch him, even though he had bonded to Leto.

The man watched Sama'el set out some grain for the two horses to eat, and listened to what he ended up saying about what he did for his personal pleasure. As the question was then turned upon him, Leto grimaced, and then looked down towards the ground a bit. Embarrassed he was, that he did not have anything his pleasure was looking forward to, such as becoming an Ankal. He had never thought he'd become one, or anything of the sort, so he never really thought about doing things towards it. "My fun is mostly from drawing runes, and learning about the many mysteries of the world through summoning things called Memosites..." he said, and then looked up towards Sama'el, a brief smile crossing his face. "It's work and fun at the same time, one might say, and I most certainly get by, by helping out the Reimancers in their own personal works. But I have taken to practicing using the Glaive a bit, at the war pavilion, although, it is far from my strong suite..."

As he finished speaking, he continued to watch Sama'el clean, and feed Dohaina, as well as Arias. Standing up, and walking over towards the two horses, he patted Arias gently, whom allowed his eyes to turn towards him, and bow his head again, out of respect for his brother, if one could call a horse a brother. That's what it felt like between Leto and Arias, brothers in one. Leto would have been very lonesome if he had not met with Arias when he was a much younger horse, having been bread from his aunt and uncle's strider's. It was strange, in a way, how the strider that had chosen him happened to be not a wild strider, but one that had been bred of Leto's family's own striders. But that didn't matter much to Leto, all that mattered was that he happened to have a bond between him and Arias, and that's all that Leto cared about when it came to striders. His windmark, the one upon his breast, was a triangle that represented power. A power he had not reached yet, but yearned to reach in time.

He rarely spoke of it, as Drykas didn't grow older, and he knew that he would never marry, or have offspring of anykind, so he would yearn to increase his own power in the mysteries of the world, as they say, knowledge is power, and Leto yearned for more knowledge, to exchange that knowledge, and to gain it as was something a basic summoner could do quite easily with the summoning of memosites. Those rocks yearned for knowledge, and Leto yearned for their knowledge too, it was a mutualistic relationship, but it wasn't the only relationship Leto yearned for, as he yearned to be accepted for who he was, amongst the Drykas, as he was most certainly an outcast in his tastes, at least to his knowledge...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"You're good at that, drawing runes," he said, ever encouraging. Of course, to his mind, Leto was quite good at it, at least good enough to teach Sama'el a thing or two, though he had never let Sam witness a Summoning. Perhaps someday. Now that he could work the Web with some fluency and could call Fire, he felt a little more grounded in the mysteries. "But what's a Memosite?" he asked, curious, and of course he wondered how Leto helped the elementalists, but didn't want to ask that too, proving his ignorance and, he supposed, his youth. He was trying desperately to prove himself in the Watch, but promotion was a slow-going thing so far. His own windmarks started with a seed rune on the inside of his left wrist and traveled up his arm, growing bit by bit as his experience increased.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As Sama'el asked the question, Leto grinned towards him, and then said, "A Memosite is from another world! The world of Swalden. They are little rocks. And they come from around the planet's ring. The interesting thing about them, is that they can transfer memories to the person whom summons them, in exchange for a memory of your own. This is a way of exchanging knowledge between two people, many wizards use memosites as a respository for knowledge, often encoding them when they put their memories in them, so that perhaps only they could recall that memory from a memosite. I just exchange free knowledge for my limited memories on this world..."

As Leto spoke, he fondly remembered his first experience with a memosite, one of the last experiences he had when it came to summoning, and it happened to be a grizzly experience, the wizard whom had placed his memories within a memosite had nearly died by one of his other summonings. Leto had gained knowledge of another world through that summoning, and would like to summon the memosites again in order to exchange memories once more with them. It would be something he'd have to look forward to in the future at some point in time.

Allowing his obsidian gaze to look back towards Sama'el, he smiled as he had spoken of them, something of the mysteries that greatly interested him. The other worlds that were out there. One of these days he'd have to learn about poisons, so that he might be able to harvest some of the vilemoss from Kseyden, without harming himself that is, perhaps even have Denen and Sama'el there to assist him with it, so they could make a coin or two off of the price of the vilemoss. First he'd have to find someone that could teach him how to harvest it though, and work with it, so that it wasn't a danger to him or anyone that happened to be with him when he was summoning the portal to pull it through...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el looked on, listening with curiosity. With all that Leto said, he understood the gist of it: magic rocks from another world. He grinned. "Show me?" he asked. "I can help with the glyphs a little bit. Like you showed me, yes? It would be good to help me remember." He imagined absorbing the memories of some great Fire-caller or Web Mage, learning some trick that had been forgotten by the horseclans. His eyes brightened with the sudden surge of excitement his imagination fueled. "We could do it now." They weren't, after all, really doing much of anything important. Otherwise he would just grab up some of his leatherworking and plug away at that. It was slow going, but he was trying to develop patience and discipline with somewhat monotonous tasks.

[Leto Sunsinger]

"Show you?" asked Leto briefly as he looked towards Sama'el, a smile crossing his face momentarily, as he thought about the prospect of showing him an actual summoning. "How about you summon it yourself? I'll show you the circle one has to make to summon the memosite, and then you can copy it, albeit with your own glyphs, and then proceed to do the summoning ritual yourself?" Leto then asked, looking towards him. "The best form of learning anyways, in my opinion, is by doing it yourself while the teach instructs you..." he said. "We'll have the find a nice clear dirt patch, unless you'd like to travel back to my pavilion, and use some parchment? Summoning circles within the dirt are a bit... uhm... haphazard given they can be easily destroyed or disrupted with a simple movement across the actual circle. Perhaps for the first time summoning something, one should simply use some parchment and the quill and ink we had used before when you were drawing simple glyphs and sigils, eh?"

As he asked the question, he smiled again, and the prospect of having a student to teach the basics too, as well as improve his own skills within the realm of summoning would make him happy. He was only a beginner himself, but could certainly show Sama'el the basics of the summoning ability, so that Sama'el could learn from the memosites as he had learned himself. "But just so you know, it's hard to pick and chose what memories the memosites give you, sometimes they'll allow it, other times, they'll just give you whatever memories are within that single memosite, as there happen to be millions, maybe even billions of them within the ring of their planet..." said Leto, his obsidian gaze looking intently towards Sama'el, a gleam of happiness within his eyes as he patiently awaited a response from the younger male.

Depending on what Sama'el had responded with saying, Leto would start preparing Arias to head back to their pavilion, or would start to look for a dirt patch, one they could draw a circle within, about a three foot diameter, enough for a memosite to certainly come through a portal that was opened. Leto would make sure to instruct Sama'el on all of the particulars of basic summoning circles once more, but he'd do that as soon as they decided what exactly they were going to do, whether it be travel back to his pavilion, or to stay at Sama'el's pavilion. Either way was fine with Leto, though he would rather have used parchment if he had any say in the matter, as it was the way he had summoned a memosite during the winter months. Awaiting Sama'el's response, Leto would stand there, patting Arias as the horse seemed more interested in what Dohaina was doing, than what the two men happened to be speaking about at that point in time...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Oh, really?" He blinked and then laughed nervously. Learning the working of the Web and how to call Fire were still so new to him, the idea of summoning something through space from another world seemed another level of power entirely. But Leto had overseen what tiny bit of instruction he had with glyphs, and if he thought Sama'el could do it... "All right." But what he wanted to say was 'as long as you are there with me'. He had to have faith in Leto the way Leto obviously had faith in him. The line of worry between his brows disappeared, eclipsed by another smile that took up the entirety of his face. "You are the master in this. If paper is better..." He called Dohaina over and slipped her yvas on, securing it and vaulting up into the saddle with his usual acrobatic flair. "Lead the way." And they rode together to the Treebearer pavilion.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As they approached the Treebearer pavilion, Leto dismounted Arias when they get around his tent, and then took his Yvas off of him, so as to keep him from being uncomfortable when he sat upon the grass outside of Leto's tent, so as to nibble on it a bit, and await Dohaina's company. Smiling at Sama'el as Leto looked towards him with his obsidian gaze he motioned for him to follow him into the tent. Once inside, Leto motioned towards the little desk that was there, and said, "The piece of parchment we need for this only has to be about a foot and a half long and wide... luckily I still have some left over..." As he did, he pulled out two sheets of parchment, and then set them upon the desk, when he motioned for Sama'el to take a seat at once more, while he stood and instructed him again, as he had done the season prior to spring.

"First thing to know about a summoning circle, is that drawing the circle is the easy part. Just draw a circle as best as possible, i'll then show you how to turn a simple circle into a summoning circle..." he said, smiling, and then drawing a circle using the quill on his own sheet of parchment before handing it over to Sama'el for him to draw his own circle. Once Sama'el finished with his circle, hopefully the same size as Leto's own circle, which was about a foot in diameter on the parchment, Leto gently retrieved the quill to continue the process of showing him how to create a simple summoning circle. "Now, we draw an outer circle around it, this will help bind the creature so that it cant' get out. Then draw a line across the circle to cut it in half upwards, and then side to side," he said, drawing a cross in the center of the circle, after drawing the outer circle.

"I hope this isn't going too fast for you," he said to Same'el, and handed him back the quill as he watched him carefully, his eyes drifting towards Sama'els taller form, even as he sat in the chair at the desk, Leto had an urge to lean forwards and touch his back gently, but allowed the urge to dissipate as he would continue to instruct him, rather than flirt with him in any sense of the word. "Once you finish up the outer circle and then the cross, we'll have you draw your barrier glyphs around the outer circle, in an effort to help contain the memosites that we summon. They are not dangerous by any means, but it's always better to keep a solid leash upon them as we summon anything..." he then said, and smiled, allowing Sama'el to work upon his own circle, whilst he watched diligently and carefully, as any teacher should be doing with a prospective student...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The camp desk was strange to Sama'el, but he sat where Leto bade him. He had long ago learned to respect his teachers, even informal ones. If one did not give them respect, it became difficult for them to teach. He nodded, focus intent upon the paper and Leto's words, content that Dohaina was safe outside with Arias. Under Leto's watchful eye, Sama'el drew the most perfect circle he could, which was not very perfect. The quill looked awkward in his hand, and truly he could not read or write, and had little skill with the thing. He relinquished the quill as soon as Leto reached for it. "No, not too fast," he said, smiling. "I mean, we'll see, but it seems like the pace is all right." He added the protective circle, and crossed the inner circle. When the time came for barrier glyphs, he glanced at Leto's own, but then intuited a new version for himself as the elder Drykas had taught him. His will scored the channels in the djed, and the form of the glyphs mattered more insofar as they carried the structure of his will. "I'd want a leash on anything that doesn't belong here," he agreed wholeheartedly, then handed the quill back. "Does that look right?"

[Leto Sunsinger]

As he handed the quill back, Leto smiled, his hand brushing Sama'el's briefly as he gently took the quill from him, and said, "That looks great for a beginner's circle, You'll get better at it as you practice more with the quill and such, just takes some getting used to..." As he spoke, he looked down towards his own creation, and grinned. "And yes, most definitely want to have a strong leash upon anything that we bring into this world. Otherwise who knows how out of control they could get depending on how strong willed they are. Now, to add the finishing touches on our circles, we need a code, or a numerical code that speaks of which world we are going to be summoning from, in this case, the world is Swalden. The coordinates for this world are 8492841047291777, and we'll be drawing them in a clockwise fashion around the inner circle, like this..." And with that, he began to write each of the coordinate numbers on his circle, so that they went around the inner circle, nearly equidistant from each other until he finished writing them at the north portion of his inner circle again.

Once he was finished writing in the coordinates, he'd hand the quill back to Sama'el, and nod for him to copy the coordinates into his own circle. After he had finished the copying of the coordinates for the planet Swalden, Leto looked at him through his obsidian gaze, and patted him upon the back. "There you go, that is the basic summoning circle, now the most important part of summoning, to create a leash between you and the creature that you're summoning, in this case, a memosite, is your very own blood. The djed that flows through your blood when it is dripped upon a summoning circle, will create a leash between you and the summoned creature. The barrier glyphs will help contain the creature you're summoning through, but the true leash is the djed used when you drip your blood onto the circle. A mere smudge of blood is enough to activate a circle... I have a needle that you can use to prick your finger when you're ready to activate it, unless you have any other questions before hand?" he asked, his obsidian gaze resting upon Sama'el's face once more before he said anything further, studying him, almost as if he wanted to lean forwards and peer at him more closely, but he didn't allow his feeling to get in the way of his personal teachings.

There would be time in the future for him and Sama'el to bond, if indeed Sama'el was able to bond with a male. If nothing else, they would just be good friends, even if Leto wanted more as time went on. But he didn't let his feelings get in the way of his teaching, he'd explain what he had learned to Sama'el, and hopefully the younger man sitting before him would be able to learn from him, and they could increase their skills in the mysteries beyond what they already happen to be.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el smiled, pleased to be doing well. He wasn't sure what he would use this for, not knowing what manner of creature he would want to summon from another world, but certainly any practice with the glyphs would help him sink origin stones to bolster the integrity of the Web, upon which their people survived. "Swalden," he repeated quietly, and then the chain of numbers. He repeated them both one after the other several times, attempting to commit them to memory. The fact of the matter was, he could not read, and so things had to be memorized by rote. He knew his numbers, or at least the ones Leto said. "8492841047291777," he said, rather slowly, as he scratched them into the sixteen little nodes in the simple circle. "Wait, blood?" he asked, squinting at Leto. "Will that... mess with me... my blood, the magic?"