What am I? Where do I belong?(Open)

[Taln]

25, Spring 512 AV At first, it seemed like just another Inarta trudging with his head down and taking in the all-encompassing mass destruction of a once beautiful jewel of a city. On closer inspection, he walked barefoot along the broken chunks of glass-like pumice stone and still smoldering magma. When the red haired man looked up, his eerie glowing yellow eyes showed his inhumanity. Several gnosis marks littered his back and shoulder looking like the other masses of beating scars he'd gathered in his old life. Brutally ugly, raised cicatrix were the only evidence of his past as a Dek near the end of his days. Now, there was something off about his expression, or lack thereof. Taln seemed to be a peculiar mix of intensely alert and indifferent. Long flame colored hair brushed his shoulders in straggling disarray and he tongued at his lip ring, taking comfort in an ancient habit of his previous life. Molten eyes stared unblinking at the scenes of horrific devastation with a hint of confusion. He felt the Velispar stirring deeply within him and then settle back down to finish his slumber. For the first time ever, he felt no fear. No longer did he duck his head and peek beneath his hair to check warily for Endals. 'I'm not hungry yet and I just had a good sleep, so now what? Where do I go now that I'm not who I was? Do I stay? Who would notice if I left or stayed? No one.' He thought to himself. There wasn't another living soul in all of Wind Reach that would even recognize him in the first place. Once an anonymous, cowering Dek ready to do anyone's bidding, he now stood tall. His chin was not raised above anyone else, nor was it tucked into his chin as before. His hair was long enough to pass for an Endal and his manner was as diffident and uncaring than even the highest in caste. He'd done his dues as a Dek and died as one. Now he was a .... In a quiet growl of a voice, he couldn't help but ask himself, "What am I? Where do I belong? I am neither Dek nor Endal, not even human any longer." Taln stopped walking and just looked around the city, feeling strongly confused and not a little bit lost.

[Aerin]

Twisting her way easily through the streets was a younger form, one who seemed certainly too old to be a child and yet perhaps, upon closer inspection, still too young to truly be adult. Her hands, holding a small bundle coarsely wrapped in a square of cloth, stayed close to her body; her eyes studiously, carefully avoided confrontation. There were several reasons for this: first, her caste, for as a Dek the girl had no wish to attract attention; second, the eyes themselves, which marked her as an oddity in the fiery city, declaring a good deal of Vantha blood in her veins. These eyes, together with too-dark hair, had (she suspected and had once even said) a great deal to do with her caste assignment, and were little help in any interaction. This was a fact of life to the girl, whose mind was occupied by other things in this moment: namely, supper. Her own, to be more specific.

With the city in such turmoil, Aerin was in a daze of tiredness, and she had managed to just miss her meals more often than usual. Although the girl was typically quite alert walking through the streets, her defenses were lowered a bit on this day, and she hurried through the streets to find a more quiet corner--perhaps one near her workplace for the next day. Preoccupied, the girl was rattled by the unexpected voice that came from just in front of her.
What am I? Where do I belong?
That much Aerin heard clearly before a chunk of rock caught her foot, sending her sprawling to the ground. Hitting the ground, her ears picked up on one word in the man's sentence--Endal. Fear seized her as she scrambled ungracefully up, taking only an instant to retrieve the item she had been so carefully holding...a stolen loaf of bread. She felt no guilt about having stolen--there had been far more than enough at the store, and far less than enough in her immediate future--but the Endal would likely see it differently, she knew well.

Usually, Aerin would simply have bolted, disappeared in the crowd, but the moment she took to recover herself stopped her long enough to see the man she had tripped nearly into, against her better judgement looking at him with her Vantha eyes. He was an intimidating figure--taller and sturdier than she, of course, but emitting a sense of...not confidence, but an almost indifference. He looked the part of an Endal, in a certain way--the hair, the eyes, all of it seemed so very obviously Inarta, as so many did, and the supreme disdain for worry. Against her will she found herself curious--what caused such a person to simply stop in a street and wonder aloud where he belonged? Even as she wondered at the contradiction of a person she had chanced upon, Aerin was automatically edging away, eyes darting back down. Nervousness making her voice slightly shaky, the girl stumbled over an apology.

"I'm, uh, so sorry, sir, I just...just..."--her voice squeaked a bit, she realized, face turning red, trying to calculate her chances of tripping again if she moved backwards with any speed--"I, uh, tripped, I'll be out of your way now." There, polite enough...no, who was she kidding? It never was. She winced, remembering why her usual strategy involved not needing to speak to these people. Still edging away, almost imperceptibly, Aerin let her eyes dart up for just a moment to check his reaction. So strange, how this overly confident man managed to look almost...lost. And after that instant she scolded herself. You're a dek, she reminded herself, steps backward increasing in speed as her anxiety grew. How dim-witted could she act?--just because of tiredness, she'd been so supremely -stupid- and possibly to an Endal? Habit finally taking over, Aerin clutched the bread and spun around, feet moving to run.

[Taln]

"Hold." Said Taln in a quiet gravelly voice, just noticing the trembling child before him. Her ragged filthy clothing and dark matted hair marked her as just another Dek. Just another repressed soul desperately trying to eke out yet another torturous day to day existence. She glimpsed up at him and her eyes held him with their strangeness. They whirled and changed colors! It was no Inartan Dek, that was for sure. Aerin's stuttering, edgy demeanor marked her as a new Dek--couldn't be more than a year into the drudgery that other castes called life. The girl child was entirely too jumpy, energetic and vocal to be a 'good' Dek. She wouldn't live long with that kind of attitude. He watched her with molten yellow eyes that flared brightly as she turned on the verge of darting off like a frightened deer. An Endal would kill her for running away once eye contact had been made, but she dared to move without permission. The six foot man watched the fumbling girl for a chime longer and reached down to take the entire loaf of bread from her to stop her antsy behavior. He'd never met Dek that showed so much energy. It would make the other castes make you work harder to show so much reserves! "Why do you steal in bright daylight foolish child? Calm your impulse to run and just breathe. Any caste would have beaten the skin from your hands or back for blatant stealing by now. Especially another Dek." Aerin looked painfully thin and terrified which touched a chord of memories from so long ago. Now he had a dilemma in the form of Dek in front of him. A young, idiot Dek at that. 'You were that young and foolish once. And beaten into the ground for stealing large items during daylight. For someone who was a Dek for twenty something years, you've grown a big ego.' Flame bright eyes watched the whirling twin pools of Vantha colored eyes. Showing compassion to his own kind would just scare them, but maybe he could help her a little. But how? He had no caste for her to address him by, which would confuse her even more. As a Dek, he knew her place would be to obey without question. A trickle of guilt ran through him at being with another Dek, now that he was removed from it. Aha! Taln could take her to his old hidden niche and give her a place of safety. A place to stash her food for winter. Spring was the time to start hoarding food that would last and she'd have to hurry to have enough to make it through an Inartan winter. "What's your name Dek? Follow me if you want to keep your stolen bread." Taln listened for the girl child's reply and motioned for her to walk with him. He walked slowly to allow for her much shorter stride, knowing that a Dek was made to obey as he had once done.

[Aerin]

"Hold," the man ordered.

She should have known he wouldn't just let her pass. She had known it, really, but perhaps the tiredness--no. Making excuses for herself was no good. Stupidity, she thought angrily, could get you killed. She forced herself to turn back around, not to run, but carefully kept her eyes down this time. She could feel his stare, and it made er want to shrink away, leave, evaporate into thin air--to, however it would happen, simply not be where she was at that moment. It was in this manner that the pair of hands entered her field of vision, and she couldn't stop the involuntary shudder that ran through her body--but he only took her prize, the bread. It had been too much to hope she'd keep it. Thinking now, she wondered what had compelled her to stop--perhaps, just perhaps, without retrieving this she could have made it away. Or perhaps not. The Endal--she thought he was, at least, but certainly a high caste--was true to the type: angry. Always angry.

"Why do you steal in bright daylight, foolish child? Calm your impulse to run and just breathe. Any caste would have beaten the skin from your hands or back for blatant stealing by now. Especially another Dek."

Aerin froze completely as he spoke again, concealing a slight frown of bewilderment. He didn't speak like an Endal, as far as she'd always heard them, and she couldn't help but to wonder at his odd phrasing--as if he himself were outside "any caste". He wasn't saying anything that wasn't perfectly obvious, but he was saying it--why? It just gave her more time to be frightened. Then again, that was likely the point. But she had to answer him, and her voice seemed hardly to work. What could she say? To deny stealing, confront him, would make her situation infinitely worse; to agree, admit it, would likely seem like open defiance. She hardly knew how to address him, anyway; she knew no caste, nor name, and her guess of Endal was not necessarily right. She tried to speak, though with little idea what to say, but she knew she had to reply, as he had asked a question of her; a squeak from her mouth tried to become a sentence, but with so little material, she was almost glad to hear his voice cutting her off, giving the order she had been waiting for--to follow. He didn't seem inclined to beat her here in the street, so she supposed he wished to complain, or to get a whip, or...she didn't want to think about other reasons a massive Endal man would order a dek-girl to follow him. Her feet moved, her strides quick to try to keep up with his longer ones.

"I'm called Aerin, sir," she answered him, wondering why he still pretended that she would leave such an encounter with a stolen loaf.

[Taln]

He plainly heard her tiny footfalls just behind and to the side of him--as a Dek should place. Maybe it was just her newness at being hungry that made her dumb enough to steal large things in broad daylight. "Do as I do and try to stay quiet Aerin." Taln whispered to Aerin, almost wincing at the undeserved term of 'Sir.' Carefully the large but agile man walked lightly on the balls of his feet and ran his left hand down along the wall. Every few strides was a small indented dot as his own handmade Warrens marker. He glanced back at the girl with literally glowing yellow eyes in the semi-dark tunnel. "Feel your way along the wall because eyes won't help in the dark Warrens." his voice was barely audible in the dark. After several twists and turns, the small marks on the wall showed north south east and west as they traveled the dim corridors that only Deks knew existed. This was their world, their safe haven from demanding castes keeping them on the run or out for their hides, literally. It stank and it was dark and dirty, but to a Dek--it was home and safety in anonymity.

[Aerin]

Aerin's confusion grew and grew but she obeyed (what else could she do?) and stayed silent, matching his pace to stay just behind-beside him and moving silently, a skill she had learned early from the others. But why...why was he taking her here of all places? He shouldn't even know of this place. Nobody but the Dek came here. She placed her hands obediently on the walls when ordered, not meeting his eyes. Apart from showing the polite deference expected of her caste, it was almost a relief. His eyes were too intense, as if they actually had some of the fire these Inarta seemed to love so dearly.

Aerin kept her silence as ordered, but her confusion fed a growing fear. She almost wished that the Endal would just stop this charade and give whatever punishment he planned already. She hated this type of prolonged fear, and she hated the confusion. At least usually you knew where you stood.

[Taln]

If Aeri blinked, she would miss that Taln ducked into a blind corner concealing a small, forgotten storage room. It had been abandoned a while back because of the small myriad cracks in the corner. The ex-Dek had claimed it as his own and his meager possessions were neatly organized if somewhat dusty. An abandoned bird's nest lie snugly in the corner, loose feathers and jumbled bits of cloth falling over the sides. A bit of falcon scat near the nest, easily identified the species to any Inarta that saw it. One large clean Lontev was folded neatly, unused and ready for wear. Two long strips of dried marmot meat (a treasure trove!!!) were wrapped in a large plant leaf. A dirty but warm blanket was on the floor in the fashion of a very comfy Dek bed that had seen years of use. The light was dim at best, but it was cozy, warm and had food and clothing in it. Though a bit dusty, it was a veritable Dek palace that offered the rarity of safety and privacy. A bit of the Dek he had been, had Taln turning to Aerin with a proud smile as he held out his hands to show he could literally stretch out in there. It took him a couple chimes to realize that the main thing the girl would be focused on was the hard stolen loaf of bread. He made a tight hole in some debris that looked like a combination of beach sands and bits of shells. "This crushed shells and stone from Thunder Bay will preserve your bread longer. There's something about it that keeps out mold." 'It is diatomaceous earth you twit. It is a crushed silicate that prevents excessive moisture.' reproved Inferno from within. 'How can you possibly use advanced techniques and not know their properties?!' 'Coz I'm a stupid Dek now go away.' he thought back defensively. How do you transition from twenty years of being a big, stupid, worthless Dek to an ancient creature with six petchin' gnosis marks?! 'You are not a Dek any longer Taln. We are a Velispar of ancient lineage and you need to shake off your old ways. Vast power sleeps within you, untapped and waiting.' Taln blinked at the brief internal conversation and returned his attention back to the nervous and skinny Dek. He used his Talon sword to slice a bit off the loaf and handed it gently to Aerin. Then the tall Inarta grabbed a strip of savory, deliciously scented meat and held it out toward her. "Here. Have a strip of marmot meat to go with one slice of bread. If you over eat when you're that hungry, you'll puke like a dog."

[Drusilla]

Drusilla, who by no means should of been wandering the rubble in her current condiction was doing just that, walking aimlessly, crutch in hand. How had she snuck past the healers? She'ld never tell. But perhaps it was the fact she wore Inarta clothing or because her flowing white hair had but cut savagely short.

Finding a nice chunk of debris she carefull sat and held her head with her good arm. She was still having trouble speaking anything but Symenos. Had that fall messed her up permantly? She had trouble even thinking..But she was alive, where as so many others were not so lucky. In a way she kind of envied them."I wonder how long it will take them to find me? Can't stand them hovering over me..." She spoke aloud in her home tongue. It didn't matter only two or three Inarta understood Symenos, she could sit out here and yell herself hoarse. Which she planned on doing, for the sake of doing something.

[Taln]

When the girl proved to be unresponsive, Taln left with a large decisive stride. He thought he heard something from very long ago, but couldn't quite place why it was familiar. There was a hissing, sliding sound that teased the memory of a language within him. Symenos?! It couldn't be. The only one he knew that spoke it was the one who taught him the sibilant sounds. Drusilla! She'd been so kind and even clothed him in fine materials when most had scorned his presence for being a mere Dek. But not her. She was an Avora and she'd given him her entire tray of food! Hand made silk clothing for him and gave her own bed to him to sleep in for a night! Taln enlarged his already impressive stride, trailing a hand along the wall out of habit. He needed no signals to know exactly where he was going anywhere in the Warrens. The braille bumps he'd made long ago were no longer needed as his vision was now supernaturally acute. Drusilla's voice was soft and spidery in a delicate Symenos that almost tickled his ears to hear it. It brushed across his skin as lightly as a spider's legs, the tone distinctly feminine. The frail form was hunched over, looking so unlike the dignified woman he once knew. It looked like Taln wasn't the only one to change in the cataclysm of Mizahar. Although the tables were turned now and the ex-Dek looked to be the one to take control where it was needed most. "Who will find you Drusilla? There's no one hovering over you. Except me." Taln answered in his best Symenos, remembering well her lessons. "You're hurt! What happened?" He asked in concern, the Symenos S's hissing properly.