[Fields outside of Denval] Kinship Calls [Seodai]

[Talen Stirling]

Talen hummed a soft tune, one of the few songs he'd heard as a child. His wrists ached faintly, and his back was slightly stiff, but he wasn't bothered by the small signs of fatigue. A cluster of leaves and buds fell heavily into the basket when he heard his cousin approaching, and he immediately stood and turned to face him. Wiping his hands in his trousers, he answered his cousin with a wry smile. "Oh yeah? Hopefully .. At least I got some quick hands to help me." He reached out and tousled the hair of a boy passing by, who in turn swerved away quickly and stuck out his tongue at the elder pair. Talen just grinned and accepted the offered drink with thankful hands. There was something beautiful about life on the farm, and he joined his cousin in looking over the fields bustling with life. "Ohoh? Sure, I'll take this offer to escape the cumbersome clutches of the tea. " He sipped of the water that had been brought to him, and inspected his cousin with a curious expression. There was something different about him, wasn't there? He seemed a little less awkward, a little more confident. Subtle steps in the direction Talen had always hoped his cousin would go. There had been a time once when he would hardly ever step outside his parents home, and the very air itself seemed to scare him in a way. It was no longer so since Theo and the farm, yet he had never seemed so vibrant before. Talen's smile grew wider and he rolled his shoulders before following his cousin to wherever he suggested. He loved his cousin, one of the last of his close kin living in Denval. For years he had seemed closed in, guarded and protected by everyone and himself. Even Talen had felt protective of him, although he rarely expressed it. If Seo was breaking out of his shell he knew it would be a good thing for both him and Denval as a whole.

[Seodai]

Seodai smiled in good humor at his cousin's teasing. He led them through the dirt path out of the mass of tea, and away to a shady spot. The weather was rapidly cooling, but the kiss of Syna could be intense even in the Fall, especially if one was working hard. Seodai had long since shed his shirt, so that the lovely lines of his gnosis mark were visible on his back. A tree, sprouting up his spine and outwards across his back. "This is my favorite time of the year," he remarked idly as they sat and ate candied plums a little girl of eleven had given to him with a blush earlier in the day. "Because I cannot help but think of it as Bala's time. Everything is so beautiful," Seodai said, waving towards the fields and the workers. "It looks like her." That might have been hard to make sense out of; the farm simply looked busy. But Seodai saw in it color and light, shadow and promise. He would never forget Her presence, and every Fall only heightened his longing to see her again. He didn't speak much more about it as he sat with his cousin under the tree, content to allow Talen to carry the conversation away towards more worldly things. Weapons, training, the strange prophecy at the festival. They mused over a dozen things before Seodai led them back to work. While Talen finished the tea, Seodai helped in whatever capacity he could find to fill. He pulled beans from the vine, he helped dig potatoes. Seodai began the work of cultivating the ground for the next season, already, and answered any questions directed to him. Theo was merciful and, generally, took care of most of that, but Seo had learned to be polite and gentle when he was approached. After all, the people didn't have to come. Sure, the payday was often one too good to resist, in the form of sustenance for their families. But still, he and Theo would never be able to do it alone and all of that waste was enough to make Seo shudder. Soon enough evening had fallen and the workers clustered around the enormous fire built behind the farmhouse. The night had brought a dreadful chill with it, and the heat was pleasant - chasing away the bite of winter that danced on the air. The smell of food filled the entire farm, and a table was set out with grub enough for the slew of folk gathered. They ate until they were content, and still there was food leftover. As night settled hard over their land, the children had mostly fallen asleep in their mother's laps and the men were talking loudly about the good old days. About battles won and lost, about people here and gone. Somehow the conversation drifted to Talen's father, to his own. It was an awkward sort of misery that, at least for a moment, they could share. Seodai still had a living father, but as far as he was concerned, the ruggedly handsome man who was diverting the conversation into safer waters with his easy smile was all the father he would ever need. No one would ever supplant Theo in his life. As they began to discuss, half drunken and loudly, the most recent death, Seodai tugged on Talen's sleeve. He didn't speak, just nodded with his head and slipped away from the crackling firelight and the warmth it offered. Presuming Talen would follow, he didn't look back. He just wound around his home and down through the fields they had all worked for most of the day. It'd take another few days before they would reap the full harvest. For now, he was content to escape the conversation and crowded presence closer to home, so an escape with Talen seemed much preferred. "People have too much to say," he observed dryly as they made their escape. He didn't want to hear heroic stories about his father. The man meant little to him, even if Theo encouraged a better attitude. "Better to keep silent than look a fool." He was grumbling for Talen, too, as he climbed the small outcropping that would lead them to the grapevines and the overlook of the farm. He was a bit moody as he sat, reaching up to pull a grape from it's sleep. It was sour enough to make him pucker and so, distracted and thinking nothing of the possible implications, Seodai touched the whole cluster, invoking the touch of his beloved Bala in order to sweeten and ripen them.

[Talen Stirling]

No divine mark showed it's face to the world upon Talen's back, even though he like his cousin had taken off his shirt to enjoy the last rays of summer and warmth that were likely to fall upon them. Instead, his body was marked by muscles and practice for war, his skin a slightly darker almost golden tan compared to that of his kin. His eyes looked out over the same field as his cousin when he spoke, wondering at what he thought himself. A candied plum flew into the air with a flick of his wrist, and the gaping maw that was his mouth missed the catch only to receive it from a hand. Only then did he look at his cousin to answer, "I am not sure which season I like best cousin. Spring, when everything comes to life? Summer, where it stands tall and proud? Fall, where we harvest it to create new life, or winter where we rest in peace, living off the bounty of our labour?" He smiled wryly and ate another plum with a relish. "I think I like summer best. The girls wear less when it's hot." Laughter rang out in the place where they had taken to rest, loud and honest, without hesitation or worry. There was a joyous simplicity in talking to someone you trusted, without pretences or hidden agendas. It was a quiet conversation, going from one topic to another as it will when two have known each well and long enough to simply speak their mind. Talen would tell his cousin a little of his worries, his feelings of apprehension and guilt that no-one else had been privvy to hear. For the most part though, it was a simple exchange of common talk, but none worse for that fact. As Talen worked on the tea at a moderate and careful pace, shirts came back on and food was prepared. He enjoyed the finishing touch of carrying the full baskets of tea to storage, their weight a heavy testimony to his and others work throughout the day. He took a joy and pride in such labour, just as he did in piling firewood onto the bonfire. His arms and back might ache faintly, but it was a good feeling. The kind of fatigued dullness that only came after a long day of work. He quickly found his cousin, to share a large meal and few words. His companionship proved to be much more useful than anyone could ever have expected. As the night wore on and the degtine went down, a light tug on his sleeve was all that it took to save Talen from the anger and sadness the conversation brought out in him. Old wounds brought up alongside new ones hurt twice as much. He quickly caught up to his cousin, a dark sarcastic smile and nod answering his grumbling. They walked close, the physical presence and warmth of the other comforting in the night air. "People speak in the hopes of finding answers, instead of listening for them." He mused philosophically, and sat down heavily bumping shoulders with Seo. Talen reached out for a grape of his own, to share with his cousin.

[Legion]

Moderator Interruption The grapes burst sweet in their mouths, but their ripening was echoed on the vine. Color rushed and shoved through the tangled vines, rotting the previously greenish fruit in a long series of miniature explosions that delivered over ripe, putrid fruit to spill over the trellis, over the ground and underfoot. The smell was strong enough to make a man gag while the vines browned and finally blackened, leaves and blooms withering until they crackled and fell into dust. If it was answers they sought, there they were in swiftly decaying evidence at their feet. In the once sky, rain clouds raced free of the horizon, releasing scattered showers of rain in puffs and gusts of a light wind. For an eclipsing moment, both the young men who had tasted the grapes felt disoriented. Their vision blurred before sharpening into abrupt focus on something far out of sight – the Denval Passenger Quay. A new ship from Zeltiva was arrived, crates jostled and unloaded with thuds and bangs to echo through a night.’ The strangest part, however, was not just seeing what was unseeable from here, but realizing that there was frost limning the boards of the dock. What they saw, when they saw, winter was nearly upon them. The vision dissipated beneath the fall of a light rain over them, but the fruit remained rotted at their feet.

[Seodai]

The whole thing happened so quickly that there was hardly time for reaction or response. Once it had passed, Seodai gasped as if he had not breathed for the duration of the strange encounter. He wiped wearily at his eyes, as if that might fix his skewed vision. He could still taste the sweet pulp of the grape on his tongue, but the scent all around them was as foul as death. Seodai glanced aside towards the vine he had cultivated from a seed. Talen could not understand the way it made Seodai feel, to see it in ruin. No one could, perhaps save Theo, and even then Seodai wasn't certain his uncle internalized the plants in such a familiar way. They became family to Seo, somehow, and the dust that had once been a healthy vine shattered him. His throat was tight as he stared at the terrible spot. It was death, again. All around them. Insanity. Everything was mucked up, and where life was supposed to flourish and grow it could only shrivel. It seemed symbolic to Seodai, of something. He only wished the Symenestra was here to muse over it, to toss out cryptic words in regards to all of the possibilities. Seodai wasn't certain what the ship had meant, the fall of winter in the vision that passed all too quickly. He didn't understand it any more than he comprehended Noc's bloodhounds. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Talen had experienced anything. All he knew was that his connection with Bala was a crackling, disconnected mess, and the touch of his hand had destroyed something he cherished. With lips pulled into a thin line, Seodai glanced up towards his cousin. "Talen..." he said simply, though all the question in the world lay in those syllables.

[Talen Stirling]

While his cousin's reaction was sadness and anguish, Talen felt terror and shock. He jerked away from the bushes, only to suddenly see what he could not see, and all of the world to turn into something else. As the vision faded, he understood nothing. Had it been the future, had it been now, and what had been on that ship that was so important? Even as all of those questions raced through his mind, a swift hand grasped his cousin's wrist firmly as their eyes locked with questions and fear. Of course, Talen knew nothing, but the moment his cousin asked and he saw his fear he calmed down and focused. He had to think and be strong, not panic and simply curse it all. The destruction of the plants did not pass unnoticed, but the significance of it was lost on Talen. Seo's very own goddess had failed him, and his work was ruined. "D.. Did you see it too? The ship and the quays?" His gaze turned focused, and as Seo formulated what could only be an affirmative reply he got up on his feet and pulled his lighter cousin with him. The apalling stench and ominous sight of the rotting vines was disturbing, but Talen forged himself a steel intent to find out what had just happened for himself and his cousin. As Seo answered, Talen walked them both a few feet away from the ruined vines. Their blackened, rotting husks screaming imminent death and failure at them.

[Seodai]

The fall of the rain, too sudden and too surreal, finally roused Seodai from his horror. He swallowed thickly, the taste of bile unpleasant upon his tongue. Bala had seemed far away for some time now, but this... this was a kind of heart break he'd never known. If there had been one constant in his life, it had been Bala. With his gift apparently destructive instead of life-giving, Seodai was visibly shaken. "Yes," he replied, his voice almost too low to hear. His blonde head, not so dissimilar from his cousin, swiveled back to meet that familiar gaze. "From Zeltiva." Seodai wasn't certain why it needed to be stated, or reiterated. Nothing made sense. Had anyone else seen it? What of the host of people gathered around the fire behind Theo's house? Was this a shared vision with them, too? All of Denval? Or had it been strictly associated with the failing of his magic? Seodai thought to try it again, if only to see, but he couldn't find the heart. Once was crushing enough. "We should go ask Theo if he saw it, too." A thoughtful pause lingered, with Seo staring at the ashes in dull horror. It took Talen's hand upon his shoulder to move him. "I give life, Talen... I don't do that."

[Talen Stirling]

Talen nodded grim agreement to asking Theo if he had seen anything as well. Not that he truly expected him to know anything, it seemed as though everything Talen experienced lately was beyond his understanding. He could only try to not be swept away by all the madness, and keep a grip on the things that he could understand. Perhaps work his way out of it all from there. His gray eyes swiveled to his cousin' face as he spoke again, his ashen stare reflecting his dead work saying more than his words ever could."You do not. This was something, or someone, else entirely." He gripped his cousin's elbow in an earnest grip, then placed a hand on his shoulder and spun him around forcibly from the ashes of his labour. "And we're going to find out and stop it, cuz'. We're goin' to endure, Priskil and our people will have it so." He attempted a courageous smile at his cousin before starting out at a rushed pace back towards the farmhouse. Despite all his bravado, the doubts that had haunted him ever since The Road where back, and he felt the chill hand of fear claw at his back as they fled the tiny piece of carnage upon the farm.