The Hermit and The Spider (Sama'el)

[Leto Sunsinger]

It seemed that Sama'el might not exactly be comfortable with the thought of using his blood in the summoning of the memosites. Gently placing his hand upon Sama'els back as he knelt down next to him, looking at him directly in the eyes, a smile crossed his face as he spoke softly to Sama'el. "The blood won't affect your magic at all, your inner magic anyways, it's meant to create a link between you and the summoning circle, so as to power the leash you hold upon what you're bringing through, in this case, a memosite. It won't hurt you at all, and is not even prone to overgiving as it's called in some cases of using personal magics, or mysteries... Summoning is a world magic, like webbing, therefore its on the outside rather than the inside... do you see what I mean? And it's not like you need to be gushing blood to summon something, a simple pinprick is all that's needed, that small droplet of blood is what's going to allow you to pull something through the gateway that you've drawn..." he said, and then stood up, walking to the other side of the tent where he had a box of fishing hooks that he generally used to prick the skin when summoning something.

Taking one out that hadn't been used before, he walked over to Sama'el, and held it out infront of him. "I won't pressure you to do it if you're too nervous, it's quite all right, you can just witness myself summoning something if you'd like the experience of seeing what a summoning is like, but if you wish to do it yourself, now is the time. Simply prick your finger with the hook on this fish hook, and dab the blood droplet upon the outer edge of the circle. This will open the gateway to Swalden, and a memosite will generally be interested in the gateway opening, and will come through. They are quite harmless, and only seek to trade memories with you... But be sure to give them a descriptive memory, they can be fickle at times, and if they feel they haven't gotten a sufficient memory, they'll retract themselves, and never give out any memories again. That's the only risk that one runs with a memosite," he said with a smile upon his face, his tone gentle and kind, not wanting to rush Sama'el into doing anything he didn't feel ready for doing.

Awaiting his response patiently, he'd set the fish hook down upon the table, and kneel down next to Sama'el again, his eyes drifing back and forth briefly from Sama'el's summoning circle to his own, to Sama'el, in hopes that Sama'el would gather the courage to take a step forwards and summon a memosite of his own, so that he might be able to gain memories from it, and trade them back and forth with the memosite, as to gain further knowledge of what wizards do when summoning things, as well as learning more about the art of summoning and the mysteries behind it...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

It wasn't irrational fear that gave him pause, but entirely rational caution. These were the Mysteries, not some tricks to show friends will three tankards into a keg of ale after a long hunt. After Leto told him in all seriousness how the blood would affect the magic and assured him that he had nothing to fear from that aspect of it, at least, especially while summoning these harmless memory stones, he simply nodded and reached for the fish hook. It seemed clean enough, so he used it to prick the pad of his thumb. He certainly wasn't squeamish. Setting the hook aside, he pressed his thumb into one of his glyphs and blinked as traceries of red energy spread out from that point, illuminating his inexpert scrawl, bringing the summoning circle to life. Since he had nothing left to do, per se, he was able to watch in wonder as his blood lit the dull fire of this working, and gradually the center of the circle shimmered like the surface of a pond suddenly disturbed, and a small stone appeared therein. The magic seemed stable enough, the stone present, but he glanced to Leto for further instruction. With these sort of things, everything could be going along fine and then... imminent doom.

[Leto Sunsinger]

Leto watched as the stone emerged from the pool that the summoning circle was made into suddenly, as soon as Sama'el's blood had touched the outer edge of the circle. A smile crossed his face as he saw it, and then allowed his obsidian gaze to fall then upon Sama'el. "Well, from my prior experience with working with Memosites, they usually ask for my basic information and a memory along with it, Name, birthdate, age, location, things like that. It will probably contact you through your mind anytime now that it's come through the portal..." said Leto as he watched carefully, wondering what exactly Sama'el would discuss with the memosite. What knowledge he'd obtain, and things of the sort. It was always a wonder as to what a memosite carried within it, the knowledge passed from wizard to wizard.

Looking down briefly at the memosite, Leto grinned, and then patiently awaited a response from Sama'el, once the communication between him and the memosite had finished. He would be glad that he could work with Sama'el on summoning, and practice it together. Hopefully he'd be able to summon his own memosite soon enough as his circle had been completed as well, but first he wanted to see how Sama'el faired with the memosite...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Memosites," Sam parroted quietly. His head canted to the side and almond-shaped brown eyes peered curiously at the extraterrestrial rock that apparently had thoughts and memories, some of them not its own. He was about to ask if he had to reach out and touch it when he felt a faint nudge along the borders of his mind. A wordless question. 'Sama'el', he thought, trying to think loudly, if that was possible. He thought then about his birthday, and how old that made him, thought about Endrykas and where on the run around Cyphrus it was now. But when he tried to think of a memory to share, something shifted in his memory and he silently relieved the sick horror of waking up to screaming and battle, crawling out of the pavilion in time to see brave Hasieran rearing up to protect him with hooves and teeth, only to be cut down by the superior numbers of the bandits. The loss of his Strider. His family. His freedom. When he returned to the present, his eyes were clamped shut, his lip bleeding between his teeth, and tears burning his eyes.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As Leto watched Sama'el, he saw the pain in his face, as he clamped his eyes shut, bit into his lip, and then began to cry. "Oh no..." whispered Leto to himself as he watched Sama'el begin to cry. Uh uh, what do I do now? thought the beginning summoner as he looked at Sama'el's tears streaming down his face. Placing a hand upon Sama'el's shoulder, he said, "Sama'el! Sama'el! Are you okay?! What was it that the memosite did? Did it bring up a terrible memory? I'm so sorry if it did, this wasn't at all what I was expecting... Are you all right Sama'el?" As he continued to query Sama'el if the man before him was all right, he placed his other hand on Sama'el's other shoulder.

"If the leash is still attached, which it should be, try to remain calm, and pull the memosite back into the circle... and then close the circle with your sheer force of will if you wish to stop now... if not, allow the memosite to give you a memory, as I'm guessing it has taken one from you..." he instructed as he watched Sama'el very carefully, both of his hands upon Sama'el's shoulders in an effort to calm him down a bit...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Steeling himself, he tried to will the cursed stone back to where it belonged, a strange world, half-veiled through the portal he had created with Leto's help. Whatever it might have to offer, he didn't want it. It had taken what it wanted, and that was that. There was a flicker of something from the stone, panic, maybe, as it shimmered and disappeared, the ink drying out and the paper warping as the magic left it, and left no readable trace of what had happened there. Sama'el turned into the touch on his shoulder, hugged Leto tightly as he tried to keep his crying silent. It was not something he brooded over anymore, but when the memory came so vividly and out of nowhere, he was not prepared to hold it. Leto would likely think him crazy or weak when he pulled away, and he would be sad to lose a friend, but he needed someone to lean on for just a moment, and Leto was there, had offered a touch of concern. "I need you to teach me," he said shakily, still holding Leto tightly so he couldn't see the gleam of salt tears on his face, "how to choose which memory they take."

[Leto Sunsinger]

Leto watched as the memosite was cast back into the portal, back to the world it existed in. Turning his obsidian gaze to Sama'el as the man focused on closing the portal, Leto didn't give a smile or anything of the sort, he was quite concerned for Sama'el's safety, and thought that perhaps they had gone too fast, and he didn't give enough instruction, which was always a possibility, he was new to this thing called "teaching". Then Sama'el did something unexpected whilst Leto's hands were still upon his shoulders. He turned onto Leto and began to hug him.

Leto hadn't felt the touch of a human like this since he was younger, and his mother would hold him closely, before the accident. It felt... good, to have someone holding him closely again, even if it was for the comfort of Sama'el, and not Leto himself. Moving his arms around Sama'el's body as he held Sama'el close, he said, "I'm sorry for what happened, I should have instructed you more on it before we started. It's my fault that you didn't have enough instruction on how to force a memosite to have a specific memory..." He spoke softly to Sama'el, and there was a gentleness in his voice unknown to most Drykas. They were a strong people, and to be seen like this... well, Leto wouldn't tell a soul. If Sama'el was to be Ankal someday, he'd have to learn to deal with the unexpected, and this was one of those situations.

"I'll help you to learn to focus on a specific memory, and allow it to go into the memosite. Otherwise they will just take whatever they can find... It's all about control with them, and because you have the leash on them, you can control what they take, and how the utilize it in your mind. That leash is the key to controlling what you've summoned. Give it too much leeway, and they might go out of control... I should have warned you, you have my sincere apologies..." he said, still holding Sama'el close to him, almost not wanting to let go until Sama'el was ready to be let go...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el nodded into Leto's shoulder, gradually regaining control of himself. A warrior could weep. They were an emotional people. But dredging up old memories should not so unman him. Finally he sighed and pulled away, rubbing the slick of salt tears from his face with the heel of his hand. With a sheepish grin, he shrugged and nodded. "I'll do better next time, teacher." Then he nodded at Leto's circle. "Show me how it's done."

[Leto Sunsinger]

"Very well then," said Leto, nodding to him, and smiling as he allowed Sama'el to pull away from him, and dry his tears. Letting his obsidian gaze shift from Sama'el to the circle he had drawn before him, Leto moved around the table, leaned over the circle, and pricked his finger with the fish hook. A droplet of blood was all that was needed, and Leto smudged it upon the parchment on the outer circle. Immediately the circle gave off a slight reddish hue, and then the pool like surface appeared, a smell of oil filling the tent once more. Out of the pool like surface a memosite, a rock from the ring of Swalden appeared.

"Now that i've summoned the memosite, when it asks for a specific memory, you have to focus all of your willpower into giving it one single specific memory from your mind, and also focus on holding tight onto the leash, lest the memosites will go on a rampage looking for..." he began, but then the memosite interrupted him by asking for his information. Turning his head towards the memosite, he said, "Pavi, Leto Treebearer, born on the Day 43, during the season of Summer, in 483 A.V., I am 28 years old." Turning his head towards Sama'el, he then said, "Giving it all of your information like that will allow it to process the memories you give it specifically so that it will understand the memories given to it..." Allowing his obsidian gaze to shift back towards the memory stone, he then began to think of a memory to give to it.

As he did, he began to feel it sifting through his mind, and Leto turned to Sama'el, and said, "I think i'll show it when we first met, this past winter..." He smiled at Sama'el, gave him a pat on the back, and then focused on the memory of their first meeting, himself falling off of his strider as it skidded to a stop infront of Sama'el, their introductions, Leto showing Sama'el a basic summoning circle, and then showing Sama'el how to draw glyphs, finally their journey into the web together after drawing glyphs upon their hands. When all was said and done, and the memory was transferred, Leto's eyes unglazed and he looked up towards Sama'el, breathing a bit heavily as the transfer of the memories can be a bit ajarring sometimes, and all of the focus Leto put into giving it one specific memory. "Now that i've focused on giving it my memory, i'll generally recieve a memory from it..." he finished, and then his vision was turned into a bright white haze before the memory began to present itself.

It was simply of a wizard standing over a desk, writing in a book. The title of the page was listed as Vilemoss, and the man was writing about it. Looking through the eyes of the wizard towards the planet's name that vilemoss came from, he wrote down Kseyden. And then he wrote down the astral coordinates of 3893849280160001. After that, he wrote down what Vilemoss was used for, a poison that could be crafted out of it. After the brief memory was given, Leto's vision returned to his own, and he was leaning against the table, to stabilize himself. Thanking the memosite, Leto then pulled upon the leash, and allowed the stone to sink back into the portal. Looking up towards Sama'el, he smiled, and said, "I think I have a new goal for us to work up to with our summoning practice, a new world to explore, a bit more dangerous than the memosites, and once we've become more competent at summoning as well as perhaps poisons, we might be able to explore the denizens of this world, called Kseyden..."

Smiling, he awaited Sama'el's response, before the lesson was ended for the day. He hoped that Sama'el would be happy to try to learn more about how to control the summoning circles, the memosites, and that even though his last experience happened to be a bit rough, would learn to overcome the pain of his memories surging to the surface. "Any questions on anything i've said to this point?" he asked finally, eyes completely on Sama'el, providing him with all his attention as the last of the mysterious pool faded out of existance, the ink with it, and the parchment curling up and becoming further unusable...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Leto's process allowed Sama'el time to recover his aplomb, and of course it was all very interesting. He wondered if strange beasts from other worlds might be tied into the Web as guardians, to help the Watch with their work. Perhaps he would learn these things, as he learned about this new world of which Leto spoke. "Kseyden?" he asked, tasting the world. It was as strange on his tongue as Swalden had been. Surely these were not names given in Pavi. But to a young Drykas, a teacher was as a god while working within their bailiwick, so he just nodded. "As you say, Leto." Poisons were not something of which he knew much, but certainly he could learn about them, and then learn about curing them from Denen. "We will try to learn about poisons, then." END