Smoldering Spirits [Taln]

by **Tiaue'a** on April 26th, 2012, 10:45 pm

The Edge of the World – 51st of Spring, 512 A.V.

Half the season had been swept away with the flowing stream of time since that fateful day. Fire walked the world once more in the form of a god with the infinite thanks to two mortals. His eruption back into the world, Ivak’s, forever changed the landscape, especially that of Wind Reach. All of Mount Skynarta’s former glory had been shattered and displaced by his awakening. Now, a city in shambles, a society of a people who already struggled with each turn of Syna and Leth’s bodies, worked toward reconstruction.

The castes had dissolved: chiet, avora, yasi, endal, and even dek now looked at each other as equals outright. It was necessary for their survival in such a time; it was necessary that each and every Inarta contribute toward the reclamation of their home or else should they forever dwell in the ruins of their formal glory, and never rise above it. The guardians of the great settlement, the wind eagles, now so solemn in all their beings, gave back as well. To some, Ivak’s escape was necessary and predictable. They now accepted it as fact, an event that would have inevitably come, and moved on. As the storms over Wind Reach would swell the caverns with water, a localized flood in the crater, so did the waters in the aftermath evaporate into the thin air. They learned to deal with tragedy and moved on. Not all were as fortunate.

Indeed, some eagles knew only to blame themselves. Their sole purpose in their existence, beyond any menial tasks such as hunting, was not burned away. There was no going back, no hope of recovering their former prisoner, and no way of recovering all that was lost in the failed attempt to contain Ivak. So many souls, so many good souls… They had only learned to ruminate on the thought. Though their bodies fervidly moved to aid in clearing the debris and rebuilding the strong pillars of Wind Reach, their true inner spirits were just burning away. Like hot coals on paper, their pain had been a shock to begin with, that was their failure, and then it spread over them, consuming them. Little orange bands of sparking fire spread over their beings and began to reduce them to ashes of their former selves. Although any other could smother the flames with a press of his fingers, the flames still hurt their spirits. Even then, if those coals were put out, there was little hope in repairing what damage had been done. It was a spiraling depression, the whole ordeal.

Tiaue`a was among the later. Perhaps never in her life had she been working so hard, or with such vigor, as she pushed her body’s limits each and every solar cycle, more than she had previously as a cog in the Wind Reach machine. Since her short time in rediscovering her telepathy, Ti`ue had been barking orders back toward the Inarta below her. The cataclysm was over, their mundane forms still standing, but the panic was still in her heart, burning with a fervor that matched Ivak’s in intensity. It would consume her too if she didn’t find the proper outlet.

She had blamed herself at first, and Sira, and the other wind eagles. Since then she had started to displace it, rather to project it on the other Inarta who could have done nothing of the matter. Why didn’t they see them slip away? How did they let an intruder get into the mountain? How did they even… questions of a thousand sorts floating through her mind these days and nights, haunting her with the ever turn of that celestial cycle. The Inarta were easy to blame because they were incapable of doing nothing. They were weaker, physically. It made sense though, especially through her perspective - although it was more of a cracked lense.

Present efforts from the wind eagle went into hunting and digging. Chains and leather made effective baskets to fly a harnessed rock away. When she wasn’t doing either of those actions, she was usually on the other end of the work load revisiting her place in the caste. She was going back to what was comfortable. Was it so offensive? Was it not what they all were working toward, returning Wind Reach back to what it used to be? This line of work included ordering the lazy dek back in line. They stuck out even amongst the mixture of red hair. Perhaps it was their physique. Some were just out of place entirely wondering the ruble rather than helping to clear it. Ti`ue refused to tolerate such.

Flying high over the city, its grounded inhabitants moving over it like thousands of ants, Ti`ue found a place to breath. The rising hot air dissipated this high up and the cooler air could fill her lungs. In her efforts to relax she concealed her true desire to cry. She was so frustrated with everything anymore. It was painful to look at them all working together, all of them. Even with such a great effort it seemed so helpless. They would need skilled reimancers or great followers of Semele for such a project. The heat of the springs seemed to get hotter. She needed to escape the heat, although it was really her own internal burning.

She fled to the Edge. The open valley before her there still blew in cold air. She could fly high over the forested lands and just let the coolness overtake her. Then she could dive down and feel the wind flow through her down. To dive or to fly; to dive and keep on diving could bring a swift peace. She could close her eyes and fall. The thought had come to her mind a few times, but this was a stronger instance. There was some comfort in knowing she could always pull away, if she wanted that is. She couldn’t think of a moment without her wings coherently. Such a life did not exist for her.

Nearing the sight of the Edge of the World, Tiaue`a quickly recognized a spot of discoloration against the rocky terrain. The deceptive appearance of Taln cloaked his rightful place amongst the dek. She assumed him to be an Endal, perhaps still too in mourning at the loss of his companion of the sky. The thought came back to her, so many were lost… and what would one more be? He should be helping clear the city. The hypocritical idea was sharp in her mind. She figured the practice could have mutual benefit: that is working one’s self to near death and cloaking the emotional pain with something physical.

At a glance at the Inarta’s back, a chill shot through Ti`ue’s spine. Her entire down coat felt need to rise up, and she caught more air under her wings. She looked away from him and decided to land. The wind was colder than she figured it would be – probably another effect of Ivak’s carelessness.

The mental link immediately settled upon Taln, an invading voice and thought in his mind. It rang through as though the eagle spoke to him aloud. You should be helping the – and cut off into silence. Tiaue`a was settled a meter or so away from him. She knew something about those eyes, and now the marks. He was one of them. It was almost a pleasure to imagine what she had wanted to do with his body, to match the suffering she had after the initial explosion of the prison’s djed. Now in the presence of that mark, however, she couldn’t bring herself to move against him. It was right there on his shoulder winking her in the face like some eye with razor sharp teeth for lashes. She knew not his name, but his brief history. This man was among the enemies of her home, a traitor to his people, and now a fiend in his being. The intensity of his eyes rivaled that of the eagles’, and that was saying something.

by **Taln** on April 27th, 2012, 4:49 pm

The red haired man sat quiet and unmoving as the rock and earth beneath him, and just as battered. Edge of the World had held the best memories for him and he'd unofficially marked it as his own territory. Normally his skin had taken on a golden tone, but familiarity with utter solitude had left him filthy and uncaring about it. His scars beneath the grayish, dirty skin made him blend in to any human eye, indistinguishable from the broken terrain. It was a natural and uncanny camouflage from Inarta and he needed it. His dreams had been virulent and ripe with meaning, revealing the depth of his new gnosis marks and the vast, raw strength of the beast within.

His new pattern had become to hide himself from a society that had no place for him. They could virtuously tout that they didn't regard caste any longer, but that was shyke of the first order. Since his death, Taln was not a Dek, and most certainly treated as a feared and unwanted outsider. His inhuman, molten glowing eyes separated him as different, and therefore, something to shun and avoid.

Part of him longed to be a Dek again, just to know what to do with himself. Another part of himself enjoyed exploring the limitless strength and knowledge, no longer a victim of repression and abuse. There was a heavy price though-solitude of an extreme nature he'd never experienced before.

A non Inarta didn't understand that caste in Wind Reach was not a negative thing. It was a solid method of classification that aided behavior between strangers. Even the lowest Dek knew and had pride that what they did was essential to everyone's survival, and took pride in their work. An outsider could never understand that caste assignment and identity was a comfort to Inarta peoples.

And freaks like Taln who defied caste, were more than a little unwelcome in Wind Reach. These people preferred order, schedule and routine and surprises were avoided as much as possible. Taln was more than a freak--he was a surprise of the worst kind. They'd let him know without a doubt that his animal eyes and scrabble of terrifying gnosis marks were not welcome.

It put the man in an untenable position. He wanted to help what were once his people, but they literally stoned him on sight. The ex dek had taken to helping out at night while they slept and resting and thinking among the rocks, unseen during the day.

Syna seemed trapped in his eyes that day, a shimmer of heat rising from him in waves. Unknowingly, he created his own warm and unique thermal, rising high in the air. It was warm, comforting and steady to any flying creature that happened by.

His molten eyes, clearly saw the people a couple of clicks away, surpassing even the strongest of Wind Eagle eye sight. Taln sighed and watched. The only good it did him was to help him avoid his people so he wouldn't scare them. He had gone from low life rejected Dek to a shunned and bestial rejected creature.

The breeze carried a scent of feathers and raw meat and the delicate whisper of feathers in flight. A beautiful and graceful Wind Eagle soared and glided effortlessly among the cooler thermals, instinctively mastering the intricate physics of air dynamics.

Taln didn't bother to look at it and hoped its rider didn't fly down to shoo him off as the freak he'd been endlessly dubbed. The six foot man sat cross-legged and stared down at his bare feet.

A pompous female tone, attempted to invade his mind and the Velispar within rose angrily to block it off.

'A mere mortal tries to enter my mind? How -dare- it! Petchin' bird brain trying to--'

'Oh -shut- up Inferno. I'm ostracized enough as it because of you. You didn't give me my life back, you just stole my life AND body! Go away! I hate you!'

Anger surged in hot, simmering waves from his skin, his molten eyes flaring to almost painful brightness. Taln had longed every chime of his life to be near a magnificent Wind Eagle and he damn well wasn't going to have this moment ruined!

A delicate female form, almost ghostlike, wavered just beneath the eagle form to reveal a Kelvic nature. Inferno smirked, glad to have shown this stupid ex dek that it was only a mere Kelvic, not a Wind Eagle of true soul. It made no difference to Taln; a Wind Eagle by any other name was still the revered and incredible creature he'd practically worshiped since birth.

Experience taught him to shift so his right shoulder was obscured, knowing Ssena's mark was terrifying to all who witnessed its disgusting and evil movements. She had already seen his gnosis marks, judging by the sudden slitting of her pinpoint pupils. He was always too hot to wear a shirt and it wasn't like he got to see a whole lot of other living creatures anyway.

Keen fiery eyes noted her feather fluff defensive reaction and he prepared for yet another verbal shove shouting at him fearfully to go away.

"I will not harm you noble Wind Eagle Kelvic. I am Taln and the beast you felt within is Inferno." Taln said aloud and reached out mentally as well. It was a quiet and gentle voice, not easily caught by human ears; his mental tone just as soft.

by **Tiaue'a** on April 28th, 2012, 12:53 am

I wasn’t aware there was much more you could farm or take away from us. I’m glad to know you’ve lost interest in such desires. A clearing of the mind… As I was telling you before your…other half interrupted, you should be helping the others. Surely you agree it’s the least you could do after what your actions have caused otherwise? The trauma, death, destruction… you do regret all of that don’t you? You will try to set it right, won’t you?

With Taln’s back turned away, the krivas guarded from her vision, Tiaue`a’s sense of predation returned to her. Her thoughts sought to cut deep and make him bleed, bleed and suffer, not suffer and die. She sought to draw this out if possible rather than letting him suffer briefly and end like so many others had the mercy of.

For the moment, she squared herself to Taln, shoulders parallel to shoulders and then their feet and talons alike. Her chest was full and bulky from years at flight, and from her eyes came that rivaling intensity. She did not blink. Those eyes sought to be the swords that would pierce him and let the blood flow when her words could not. As much as she desired to peck him apart, make him bleed at the end of pinched off fingers and toes, then from skinless limbs, and soon his stripped innards, she was moved to caution. She did not know what this Inferno was capable of, and, frankly, she had already been burned by fire. That’s not something most people see out twice.

As for you, Taln, and you, Inferno, I cannot offer the same gesture. Given your present lethargic appearance, I’d say you’d deserve the death of any lazy dek. Your eyes of fire do not scare me, Taln, nor does your power. It’s only because of those evil marks that you’re alive, but even I know you cannot fly with them. I don’t believe you can even hunt with them. How is it that you are still so full and fed when you are lounging on the Edge of the World in the mid-spring sun, Taln?

She was sure the words were biting. Perhaps Inferno could identify with her ignorance. It was as much a challenge as any. Taln, still recognized as a dek by her was dust in the wind, but Inferno was among the invaders. There were many invaders over the ruined city at this time, wandering the valley and surroundings. She was unsure of his affiliation with Ivak, that is just how much the fire god had cared for this man, and what consequences her actions could provoke. Her hostility had its courses though, and it didn’t seem in her mind that she would let this opportunity pass without striking a significant blow at this traitor while she could. She had greater matters to attend to; moreover her time might as well be limited in such times as these, such interesting times.

by **Taln** on May 3rd, 2012, 5:55 pm

"I am to defend myself to you who doesn't even offer her name when she addresses me? Back in my day, Wind Eagles commanded respect through their actions--they didn't have to order around strangers to try for respect through bullying." Taln stood up to his full six feet, his ugly Krivas mark writhing obscenely on his right shoulder in loathsome display.

"My ways are obviously unknown to you that questions what I currently do and have done, dear Wind Eagle -Kelvic- woman. I see and know your true form as a woman. Your bird form is a mask you wear when you want to assert unasked for authority or need to feel good looking." His marks allowed the ex-Dek insight to a person's intentions and her violent intent didn't go unnoticed by Taln.

The red haired, badly scarred man stepped closer to Tiaue`a and met her lovely golden eyes with his molten burning ones.

"What do you know of regret? Other than the ridiculous vanity of wanting to be pretty so you avoid human form? And trying to harm me would be the last living thing you could do. I wouldn't advise it. My suffering is of my own making and more than enough without your accusations of -false- blame." His voice was a fine bladed edge of both immense restraint and a hint of scorn beneath it.

"Can't return the same gesture? Use that tone with me when you've lived since 500 BV as Inferno has." Taln couldn't keep the laughter from his tone, knowing that with Inferno's strength, there were very few earthly creatures that could draw blood from him. Since his enlightening dream with Sairque, his perceptions were different and had helped him to stabilize a little more in this uncertain world.

"I'm not sure I -want- to justify myself to you. Your tone is imperious for no reason. You assume I do nothing but you don't know that through personal observation. I have no discernible rank within Inarta society any longer which means you need only order members of Wind Reach. I am a mere outcast of all that you hold dearly to."

His tone had changed to a bit of longing and sadness at his unsolicited situation. He'd been literally stoned when he'd tried to approach his own people to help. Taln's inhuman eyes and disgusting Krivas mark guaranteed shunning and complete banishment of Wind Reach life and the citizens were quick to show how they felt.

Each night, he worked to help restore the city while his former people slept soundly. The moment Syna took her first morning breath, Taln ceased his labors. Thunder bay while inaccessible to most, wasn't difficult for a Velispar to reach and find endless food once every four ten days. Food wasn't needed as often in this form and he was glad of it. However it left far too much time to either sit idly watching his ex peoples working or sleeping beneath the comforting earth.

Even as a Dek he'd never been this soul-breaking lonely and never this outright shunned from everyone. Now this Kelvic had taken it upon herself to be ordering and pompous with him! Didn't she get the word from the entire people of Wind Reach that he was an unwanted creature to be shooed away, not talked to? He shrugged his right shoulder to angle it away from Tiaue`a, protecting her from its piercing ways of revealing weakness. He knew it made people fearful and brought out a cruel side in himself that he didn't like.

Well if the bird hadn't been told the common knowledge that he was to be utterly ostracized instead of talked to, he wouldn't disillusion her. He desperately missed interaction. Even if it was a bossy, judgmental, self-important Kelvic.

"What is your name Kelvic woman?"

by **Tiaue'a** on May 16th, 2012, 12:50 am

OOCI'm not sure what's worse when it comes to these dramatic subjects, my writing with Valorae (Emo-fal...) or Tiaue`a. I guess we'll find out. I hope you enjoy/ed this post.

From the moment Taln shifted, she turned away, and would keep turning away from the Krivas mark. It was…unnerving to say the least.

Still, Tiaue`a stood patiently listening to the man, what was left of an Inarta and more of a beast, speak. She weighted his words carefully, and tried to see through his anger all she could. She had offended him, to some degree, but not as she had hoped to. It was astonishing to find him so changed and guilt ridden, yet with such audacity. Yes, audacity! How ironic of Taln to accuse Tiaue`a as she had accused him.

The truth as she saw it? That was simple. She needed no name to address an outcast, an unwanted abomination – perhaps even worse than she viewed her own kelvic nature. The days of this man, even her own days of the dearly mourned past when things were right, were over, gone. As for her tone, for that same very loss of what was good, by this ignorant man’s choices, she was stricken to the core by what he had done. There was no more Wind Reach as she remembered it. There was no caste to place this outcast in because there was no caste. Her tone of authority was only a desperate hope to restore that order, eagles on top as it had always been. They were, after all yet, Wind Reach’s guardians. How much longer before the Inarta reveal just how much their society has dissolved that even a dek would speak to her like Taln did now? This, this thing had ruined everything she held dear and then dared speak of agony of his own.

She knew plenty of regret, doubting Taln, years of self restraint, years of bitterness that wasted away her youth. Kelvic or wind eagle, she was still a wind eagle. She had been born a wind eagle, raised as an eagle, and acted as an eagle. It was her birthright to act so pompous and judging if it meant the continuity of her people. Inartans were still her people, not his, if he truly believed what he spoke of, if every drop of Inartan blood had been drained from his body. She was a wind eagle more than Taln knew, and that was a second strike.

The third and final strike of his words, so equally assuming of her, was to dare her own hand, to compare himself to her. She smiled inside, back turned, listening to him as he spoke, a smile well hidden even from Inferno. Ti`ue had put her life on the line to protect wind reach with each break of the sun, from starvation, invasion, and most recently, cataclysm. She, and so many of her brothers and sisters – if she dared separate wind eagles from Inarta – had put their lives forth to defend his, and his people’s. They exposed mind and body to the flames of a burning god of immeasurable power, pure power that changed everything it had touched, for the sake of his people. The wind eagles now share the mental scars of draining their entire essence to the storm. Some of them were changed forever by the events: bodies morphed, their minds at a loss of power, or some other unspeakable occurrences. And through it all, some were just dead, and there was nothing merciful or graceful about it. She remembered the first bird that dropped through the pillar past her, utterly stunned by her own sacrifice to rebuild the barrier. Did he know what it felt like to be removed of everything that he was, and left to merely watch as he fell to the earth, only to never rise again? Probably not; especially not with that infernal beast inside of him. That didn’t even account for those who died in the initial eruption. The force that propelled her across the sky in seconds also pushed others to their deaths. Their skulls were smashed to crumbled upon contact with the rocky mountain side, torn asunder against the jagged rock, instantly taken from this world and entirely unaware of why. Then there were those who met the hot metal that flowed through the earth and burned alive, or worse those caught in the terra-shrapnel as the earth popped underneath them. Imagine, a mass of the world smashing into your body with godly force and then smashing you into the side of Mount Skynarta. You can’t, nor will you ever. Ti`ue’s survival in any sense, the sheer luck that she had been upward from the blast, was miraculous. Ti`ue felt it though, for the split second that they – the eagles – were drawn in and then ripped apart. Each and every crawling inch of skin that wiggled as the air hit them live a wave felt it.

And Taln? All of this, her every pain, loss, and fruitless effort, was his fault. It was Taln’s fault!

There was nothing left to justify. She didn’t want justification. She didn’t need explanation, or excuses. She had no ears to hear of his suffering, the pitiful existence of one soul long spent – only by some means of intervention still tethered to this world – who had cost the lives of hundreds of others. How dare this insolent excuse of a man accuse her of anything? How dare he weight his life and suffering above the rest? What right did he had to say that what he did was right when it was not his task? (What did Fate truly have in store for either of them – wind eagle or Inarta?)

The ethereal form of a woman under the feathered form was still. Her shoulders, here and there, both moved with such significance of bodily speech. She had learned some control of her breathing, but even now it just pumped her up, a balloon to be popped. Her beak ground itself together, her mind black and assessing. Taln’s shift in tone only validated her thoughts. This man knew nothing. He was blind to her treatment. It would never be enough. Nothing he could do would undo the events set forth long ago. Nothing she could do would either. Nothing in the whole of Wind Reach would relieve them of the experience. It was be an unnatural grace to be revisited with the geis, to have Ivak never exist again, to forget it all.

She wanted to weight her words carefully. She doubted herself, and naively believed what he had said for a moment. She bought into the thought of her own ignorance and disgrace of the group she strove to represent. Then his audacity continued, and he dared again to demand of her. Her name?

She had intended to apologize, and to let him slip back into the shadows from which he crept, to live out what ever existence abominations like him do. It might have been the proper thing to do. His words were more than sparks on her soul. They were a volatile flame that consumed her, catalyzing the self destruction. Tiaue`a had let out all of her old frustrations and pains out to Sira the same day of the storm. In their place, new ones had collected, and since then had melted away her sanity.

Her body was quaking, here and there, bird and woman.

Tiaue`a snapped her beak back at Taln, her beak touching his nose, her cool, hard beak, his hot, soft nose. Her eyes met his. The fire of his words burned through her entire existence, and that of all eagles, burned right up and through the pillar as if to turn them to ashes. Her clamped jaw twitched against his body as she was shaking with such indescribable feelings. The intensity of her avian stare blocked out the ethereal appearance at this distance from Taln’s eyes.

You murderer. You flame bathing murderer. You still speak to me?

I am Tiaue`a…

I am mother, father, son, daughter…eagle, endal, chiet, avora, yasi, and even miserable dek when I speak to you. I am Wind Reach.

I stand before you now on behalf of every tortured soul who now works day and night to put back the pieces of our home. I represent those who go on in this world, in this life –oh this miserable life – clinging to what world we have to remember: the places, the times, the people…

Do you know how many died that day? Do you understand what you have done?

Her entire body vibrated with unease and infuriation before the exposed krivas mark that easily met her eye at such an angle. If he focused he could see her for what he truly believed her to be, a weak and loathed woman of self inflation. That woman was standing before him, fully exposed to Inferno’s wrath and power, fully exposed to her every fear reaching out from the krivas mark, and still staring him down, standing for what she believed in, for what was right in fact and thought.

The thoughts that flooded his mind from her, infused with the screech of eagle and the pain of a woman alike, flowed further on, only in greater rage and distress. Even in her mind she was just growling each thought out at him like the wolf: snarling, ready to kill.

Because of what you’ve done hundreds have died. Some of them don’t even know why. Some of them will never know how. I’m not even sure if they’ve passed on freely. I’m not sure if their essence still exists.

Because of you we labor harder than I can ever recall. I am feeding less mouths now, yes, but am still pained with the work of burying the dead. I still am here clearing the ruble of my beloved city that you helped destroy.

She traced back through his argument shredding each flaw, and in turn, she hoped, him this time around. She was yelling, just shouting what sounded like nonsense. It was far from such. In such short time of calculation, she gave weight to each word, and not for her own sake.

The days you knew are dead. They are the same damn days I remember, and even I know that. How dare you insult me for my birth, for who I was born, as something anything less than a full blooded eagle? I have acted in every way since I can recall as an eagle: I have fed your starving body, I have sheltered you from what evils might dare come near. I…I tried so hard to help contain Ivak for the very purpose he was placed here. I have proved myself time and time again to be one of the best. Kelvic or eagle, I have devoted my life to my home, and you’ve betrayed it. What fool inhabits your corpse that you, a traitor, would dare to demand respect of me?

That thing inside of you, if you really are you, knows nothing in all his five-hundred years of what we’ve strived for. That fiery dog kept his master company while you were used for his bidding. Look where you are now. You’re going to tell me you’re actually happy to be alive? Look around you and tell me how you’re happy.

She pressed closer to him, her crest perpendicular to the ground, and her head well above his own at six feet, only to heighten her indignation for this being.

How…how dare you to even compare you to myself? How dare you even fathom to compare me to that thing within you? How do you compare a mortal life to an immortal’s? I see it in your eyes, the…the magic of him. There’s nothing natural or beautiful there. I need not suffer one more day to compare to the life he has lived, whatever it may be. If he’s been through so much, how exemplary of him to bring you here and not cast both yourselves over the Edge… if he truly knows what we know, and what we feel, while you mope around here. You… You- you’re nothing! Without him you are nothing!

She lost herself to her anger. As much as she barked in her mind she squawked as an eagle. Taln could see and hear what no one else could in her mundane form as an Inarta, deep within. Her body moved in a way no eagle form could, with such vigor and life. The smoothness of her curves shook with Edge if it could in that other world he saw her in. Tears streamed down her face, her nails reaching out just to pull back from hitting him, and her mouth wide and tensed with the anger of her words. Tiaue`a’s quaking form sought to embody the purest emotion it could for her and all others. She wanted to speak for those who no longer could.

You sick walking corpse, pale as the ash that covers you, serves you right for what you’ve done to me! To everyone around you, all of Wind Reach! How dare you! Suffering of your own making! Suffer, suffer you abominable freak! You have no caste, you have no place here because you are not one of us. The moment you sided with Ivak you went against everything we were meant to be! Inarta, wind eagle, take your petching pick you damnable... I’ve lost everything. Everything! It’s your fault! No one elses’! How dare you! How dare you question me! How dare you insult my beliefs, my knowledge, my life! How dare you act like you mean anything here! Anything! How dare you raise your voice to me, laugh in my face for my sacrifices, and then sulk in your own self inflicted pity. How dare you…

“How dare you accuse me of being anything less than a wind eagle, after all I’ve done. How dare you compare yourself to any of us who have suffered for what you’ve done! How dare you demand anything of me, my respect, my manners, my name, after all that you have done to me! You have no rank here because we don’t want you. You are nothing to us! We don’t want you! We don’t want you!! GO! Go away and die with the rest you’ve stolen from us!”

Her right hand, like a claw honed from years of hunting, retracted, and then moved to rip his face off, nails aimed to dig into flesh and peel it off his left cheek.

Somewhere in it all she lost herself. She changed in that glorious light back to the fleshy being Taln accused her of hiding. Regardless of right or wrong, she believed her every word and felt every pain. Ti`ue’s hair was swept back in the wind, a breeze that did nothing to dry her already soaked cheeks. Tears traced their salty patterns down her cheeks, neck, and bosom before they fell to kiss the earth. The whites of her eyes raged with blood vessels, both splattered with blood from all the stress. It was an unfortunate truth to attribute all her stress to Taln’s actions, or least the aftermath of such. It was true though, and now the effects of the stress on her body revealed themselves, more than he could have imagined seeing through her other form.

She had meant to swipe his whole head off if possible. She was so…angry, angry and… It was so cold here on the Edge, naked to the winds. it was far more than she had anticipated. Sweat started down from her hair and brow. It was cooler to have the wind sweep over her wet skin than normal. She was still burning up. The light of the sun broke over Taln’s body and shaded her.

“How dare you…” she settled, at a loss for words. She had thought of this opportunity since the storm. Now in the moment she knew not what to do. She was overcome by the krivas mark, more than her sulking could overcome, now that she was drained of all passion. Words could never describe…

by **Taln** on May 16th, 2012, 6:28 pm

These Ivak damned marks showed Taln far more than he wanted to see and it almost physically hurt that so much was revealed. The vicious, razor sharp beak snaked through the air and struck his nose with scalpel precision. Hot, viscous blood seeped from the bridge of his nose like lava from a volcano's side. It was welcome compared to the verbal onslaught that Tiaue`a screeched in his mind.

Her words ached with pain and agony, and worse yet, the acerbic sting of utter veracity.

'She needs this release. Too long under personal duress, her natural outlet must come. We help her as no other has done, allowing her to express the lifelong pent up emotions. Don't bleed like an idiot mortal Taln. Draw our heat to your hand to coagulate the blood faster and place it over the small wound. Gently, gently, don't burn your own face, stupid.'

He moved a large, hot hand over his nose, cauterizing the wound with the ideal temperature. Although it no longer bled freely, the remaining blood stain smeared a macabre crimson across one cheek in the ever present wind of the Edge.

The Wind Eagle was magnificent in her towering rage and Taln's eyes gazed breathless at her fury. Her pain burst open like a building sore that finally found relief. She'd found herself in her release of thoughts, words and feelings. Tia had found herself, completely and truly for the first time. And it was beautiful to witness her transformation.

The kelvic was indeed a fine representative of the Inarta people, but only now in her towering anger and vulnerability did she realize this culmination. He watched her realize and thought-speak the truth of her real existence--that she didn't -have- to prove herself to anyone. Tia's own life was proof of her worth and now, without a doubt, she recognized it. In that chime, he wanted for nothing more than to just be a mortal and claim Tia as -his- Wind Eagle mount.

The six foot Inarta watched the massive beak grind in anger and innately he admired the subconscious display of fearsome strength. She was the ultimate culmination of strength, beauty, and everything it meant to be Inarta. His strange eyes blazed as he locked gazes with her, his face showing just how many years he'd looked up to and practically worshiped her kind his entire two decades of life.

Taln wanted nothing more than to fall to his knees and just stare at her, as of many suns ago. For a chime and an eternity he remembered every exquisite, powerful, admirable, noble Wind Eagle he'd ever had the privilege to see. Inferno stirred within, pulling him back in order to pay full heed to Tia's words--and changing appearance.

Her furious words battered the inside of his scull with no place to hide from them. A part of him knew the truth of her words and withstood the brunt of their intended pain. He knew and accepted what she thought-spoke. No one could lie in thought-speak, making her concepts all the more powerful in their pain. Worse than the numerous beatings and whip lashes, her word-thoughts tore through the tenderest parts of his mind, leaving no part untouched. He answered the kelvic through a barrage of mental anguish,

'I know you need someone or something to blame. Sometimes bad things just happen Tia. Please don't hate Ivak for wanting to escape his imprisonment. He was not the only God involved. If you must fear or blame an immortal, send it to that cursed bitch Ssena, not Ivak for merely wanting his freedom. Leo needed this to fulfill his destiny no matter how many place false blame entirely on Ivak. He marked me and saved me as best he could because I gave my life for him. Now I keep the memories and shell of a Dek I once was, but can never resume. You now know who you are--thanks to this confrontation, thanks be to Ivak.' he finished the thought-speak reverently. Three flame marks arose in bright blue along his back, looking like they were alive and actively searing down his spine.

The eagle's form shook and shimmered, changing, morphing to eventually reveal Taln's ultimate undoing--tears. The deadly savage claw whipped toward his face and he stood silent and still as the rock beneath his bare feet. Inferno, Ivak, and in some small part Ssena, had gifted him with an uncanny ability to stay calm despite impending physical confrontation. He'd already become djed, form by form eventually leading to an agonizing death and even more pain-wracking re-birth. Mere physical pain was no longer something he bothered to fear or avoid.

Tia stood before him naked and stripped of all mental and fleshly clothing, vulnerable and .... crying. Taln's old mortal weakness of women in tears undid him completely and he wanted only to soothe the crying, anything to ease the tears.

Taln moved swiftly forward to try and stop the waterworks underway. He silently cursed the Krivas mark that did this to any who dared defy him. An errant thought crossed his mind that this was cathartic, and Tia had desperately need, no, -wanted- this extreme release. Inferno reminded Taln of what he needed most to remember.

'All moments are a lesson you must heed and learn from Taln. That was how you were as a Dek. Feeling you always had to prove yourself -to- yourself in an endless circle of not good enough. Break the Dek chains and learn from Tia's emotional release.'

He encircled the terrified and emotional woman in his large, well muscled arms, attempting to hold her closely. His six foot frame easily sheltered her from the sharp wind of the Edge and he smoothed down her hair. Taln said nothing else, but continued making comforting sounds to Tia as best he could.

OOC: Your sig rawks.

by **Tiaue'a** on May 21st, 2012, 10:21 pm

oocColtyn’s handiwork. Check it out. He’s always enthusiastic about new customers, of sorts.
P.S. This post gave me goosebumps. NOT A LOT, but it has its moments.

Was it wrong to say she actually felt...comforted?

Taln, a man, whose actions in conjunction with others, actions which cost the lives of many, finally revealed himself to Tiaue`a. So long she had waited for the moment to wipe him clean from the earth, now failed to do so, and lost herself. She closed her eyes, her body still trembling and frozen with fear, and still streaming tears from her eyes. Despite all the sniffling and crying, the mucus filled cough that was brought on but such frustration and, why such hatred, it was just something to see. But to feel, to experience it all was revitalizing. The cool touch of fear that traveled along the icy winds of the Edge was blocked out by Taln’s body. Warmth, this heat and security, radiated from his body onto her, warmed her blood, and freed her spirit. She felt belonging, wholeness, purposed. Her whole life, all that she had ever known, had been swept away by the actions of this man– he’s just a man isn’t he? All of her loneliness had left her, and Wind Reach now worked as one. Endal no longer fed dek; Inarta fed Inarta as an Inarta was best meant to. There wasn’t a reason to hide anymore.

Still shaking, Tiaue`a let her body waver in Taln’s strong grasp, strong as the mountain Skynarta, which stood eternal even after catastrophe. What rocks were shook loose were now being gathered away with the rest of the rubble, unearthing a new city. Her head curled into his chest, smooth and hot, and nestled against him. She had been sleeping, figuratively, and dreaming of what this would feel like. She was so wrong, all along, in her assumptions. Taln’s comforting words, his gentle touch, the hot heart in the cold uncaring world, it felt divine.

Like a hurdling force of evil, something shook her again, and awoke her from this dream. Her body jolted briefly and only slightly In Taln’s firm grasp. Sweet dreams of beautify beyond explanation were overcome with seeping thoughts of fact that permeated the delicacies of her mind. The thought consumed her attention: she was embracing an exile, the most hated exile she could imagine, a destroyer paralleling Ivak’s handiwork – one that left Mizahar in ruins and forever changed, forever scarred. Her eyes opened and the dream was over. She locked her eyes on the fine texture of his breast, and then the heat got to her.

Her sobbing had quit. Tiaue`a pushed away from Taln as gently as she could, and he, only meaning to comfort her, accommodated her. She returned a hateful stare, in spite of all Taln’s efforts.

The truth was playing back through her mind,
’I know you need someone or something to blame. Sometimes bad things just happen Tia… Please ... He was not the only…must fear or blame an immortal, send it to that…not Ivak for merely wanting his freedom… (Freedom?) …needed this to fulfill his destiny no matter…false blame entirely on Ivak. He marked me (Marked us… We can never…)…I gave my life for him…a Dek I once was, but can never resume. You now know who you are…confrontation(Go away…), thanks be to Ivak.’ Fly away!

She knew the words entirely and clearly, but only now could she bear to know parts of it. It was unacceptable. It was all incomprehensible.

Tiaue`a caught glimpse of the krivas mark, and now realized what it had been doing to her. It was this marked man that plagued her. She placed her hand up to block the glare of the krivas, keeping her eyes on Taln’s. They burned with fire like the fiery mountains, bellowing molten rock… Was this just a man, or more?

Ti`ue shook her head disapproving. Of what? Apparently of Taln. She turned on her toes and headed for the Edge. The drama was long over. He knew what she had to say, and it had been said. Maybe he’d leave now? They? Inferno? The words played back through her mind. Who was Taln?

She glanced over her left to make sure he wasn’t doing anything funny, then leapt out into the sky and let the wind catch her. In a shimmer of light, Ti`ue’s wings took form and she rode on the wind in higher spirits than ever. She’d been bleeding out since that day, and this encounter – not a confrontation - had sealed all wounds. She could heal, now.

***

She had always been a child of the sky, Tiaue`a. Kelvic birth or not, she was raised an eagle and it was only there, in the sky, amongst the clouds and stars, that she found peace on her own. The breeze so high up was cooling, but it wasn’t enough. She was burning. Gods she was burning up. No longer a suffocating, smoldering hunk of ash, a chuck of volcanic rubble tossed back to the surface in disgust, but… just burning! New passions were taking root in her heart. The world was flourishing again, life begot life, even after death. The remnants of the dead would forever be with them, with Wind Reach, but the city lived on. Tiaue`a lived on. She was alive. Gods she was alive!

She climbed the clouds and rode the wind at all altitudes, living in the rushing moments of the fast paced flight. Her looping, her spirals, her strides, everything failed to just express. She was far from the Edge of the World, far from sights or scent of the Colony of Wind Eagles, near a peak opposite the Sanikas Valley.

The thought struck her as daring, but maybe, just maybe…

Tiaue`a climbed to the pinnacle of her flight, where the air was thin and it was numbing to breath the cold air. She was high, floating right above the clouds, and then she fell as an Inarta falls.

The bitter cool winds were rushing against her skin in the decent, but still she was burning up inside. She felt the molten warmth in her, flowing; her face blushed red with excitement. She was screaming in joy the whole while down, down, down. Was this what it was to be alive, not knowing when or if life would take everything with you (take you?) and yet watch as you can do nothing about it? There’s still time, she thought to herself, for once in a long time. No one else was around to hear her, or bounce thoughts in her direction. There was her and the open sky. She was free of all chains now. She was… this was mortality, this was freedom, this was living. She was all of these things from now and onward.

She brought her free falling limbs together and tight against her body. Tiaue`a fixed her burning gaze on the ground, squinting sharply as she rushed past the wind. She was going faster, and faster! The ground was coming. It would be the end, a spec on that wide open plain of emptiness. The valley was littered with hundreds…thousands of trees, and animals, and flowers, and…life! She’d be a speck of mashed up guts against the rocky ground in an instant and it’d be over.

Tiaue`a let out her victory cry. She’d finally done it. She had overcome herself restraining bonds of trying to be something she wasn’t. That mask, it was a part of it, yes, but there was so much more that Wind Reach hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing. She was beautiful in more ways than the Wind Eagles could be alone. It was a beauty that could not compare to the Inarta or Wind Eagles, there was no parallel. She was…beautiful, breathtakingly…

She fanned out her wings and beat her shimmering feathers against the wind and brought herself out of the dive. The ground was moving so fast below her. Everything had been so quick, come and gone. it wasn’t Ivak who took it away from her, it was her own doing. Years spent being something she was not, spent focusing on how she carried herself and acted; it blotted out the details of life. She had time to see it all now. She knew herself. Tiaue`a had been fulfilled.

Tiaue`a was perched on a far off peak, some slope opposite Skynarta that allowed the wholeness of the mountain to be observed at once. She tried to rethink what Taln had said in a clearer mind. The thought of having praised Ivak after all she had said was astonishing. Was it not he who had done this? It was not. He was imprisoned, like her in some ways, and now was free. There was so much she did not know about that day. Taln did. He was there. The Wind Eagles did not know either, nor did the Inarta. They needed to know. They all needed to know the truth. Legs crossed on the smooth rocky perch, she buried her head back into her palms and shook it back and forth disapproving. She was wrong. She was right, but she was also wrong. There had been so much she didn’t know before, so much she shouldn’t have said, and still Taln had… His words just played back through her head, again and again:

’I know you need someone or something to blame. Sometimes bad things just happen Tia. Please don't hate Ivak for wanting to escape his imprisonment. He was not the only God involved. If you must fear or blame an immortal, send it to that cursed bitch Ssena, not Ivak for merely wanting his freedom. Leo needed this to fulfill his destiny no matter how many place false blame entirely on Ivak. He marked me and saved me as best he could because I gave my life for him. Now I keep the memories and shell of a Dek I once was, but can never resume. You now know who you are--thanks to this confrontation, thanks be to Ivak.’

She knew the truth, now. She weighed the gravity of every word in the solitude of her mind here in the mountains. Her eyes were closed, and now opened.

Tiaue`a looked back to Wind Reach, some series of tunnels or…or the Edge of the World just over that way, some cliff over that way, smiling. She placed her cheek on her hand and rested it on her knee, noting the warm touch, something she now longed for.

“Thank you, Ivak… Thank you – “ Tiaue’a never knew his name, Taln’s, and couldn’t thank him here. Her lips fell loosely back on themselves at the thought of not being able to even thank him. Then, she grinned, and grinned some more. Wind Reach was just a short flight away.

***

Tiaue`a had been circling the city for some time before she could think of where he’d be, this mystery of a man, just to thank him. She remembered what he had said about being an exile, how he was treated. There was only one place he could be, and she felt so stupid for not checking back there first. Ti`ue flew to the Edge.

The majesty of the Wind Eagle, Tiaue`a, swept the dust up from beneath her wings to land. She had not thought of how she’d thank him. Would just saying “Thank you” ever suffice? He had opened a whole new world to her, perhaps unknowingly, showed her the truth and error of her ways, and even comforted her regardless of her rash behavior. Thanks be to Ivak and… Ivak was a God worth praising. It was a shame her purpose in this world had been to imprison him. Now was a time to set things right. She still had her duties.

Tiaue`a found Taln – or maybe it was he who had found her – and flowered herself to him. She extended her wing to him, looking with the full intensity of her eagle eyes, and then looking back toward the horizon. She dared to peer back over her shoulder to Taln. She dared the krivas mark to stare him right in the eyes, those molten eyes that glowed with the gift of a God. If Taln looked hard enough, he saw her, and that grin. Tiaue`a’s actions could only mean one thing. What was he waiting for?

by **Sphinx** on July 4th, 2012, 3:25 am

Through it all, the wind was witness to the Kelvic and the Outsider. It sang through her tears, her fears, her rage, and rose in the heat of his long patience, his gentleness, and his unnatural presence. What witness was there to this instance while all men and women laboured, and all eagles of pride and strength fought against the looming thought of starvation?

The wind heard it all, and it remembered the emotions as it died in the embrace of the Bay, replaced by something cooler and newer that gave life to the sails of some far away Svefra ship.

The wind was different when Tiaue'a returned to the Outsider and spread her wings, an invitation to her most closely guarded parts. The Outsider, he smiled, and the woman inside Tiaue'a smiled as well. There was relief in her, a calmness that she had only realised thanks to this man, and the fire burned within her soul as a pride for herself and her place in this, in the world around her.

However, not all felt the same.

She descended from above, the reverberation of her wings beating the air into placid submission resounding around the duo, whithin them both. Her mass jolted their bones, pushed into them, and it would feel like she was shoving on Tiaue'a, pushing her away.

The Wind Eagle and her Rider were a magnificent sight. Streaming red hair that framed the deepest blue eyes one could ever know ignored the Outsider and focused solely on Tia. The Eagle, a beast of pure size, power, and untamed fury that only nature could possess, shrieked her words at Taln, words that would only be heard by him, that even his Rider would never know. Together, they were a formidable duo, tried and tested by the ferocity of Ivak's release and near death. Their gaze was piercing and appraising, their voice melding in both thought and sound. What life they lived was often dreamed by the young at night.

What is it you do here, Tiaue'a? The Rider, a Flightleader of her own right, sharply said. I see no rock to be lifted, no buck to be felled, and no attacker to be pursued. Is this what is important to you? The accusation of laziness was quick to come. The flightleader knew what buttons to press when it came to others, and no generous kelvic wind eagle was going to escape her harsh words. She had seen the sacrifice of Tia with her own eyes, of course, but the woman felt the Eagle could do so much more to make up for the lives lost.

What greatness Taln would have seen and shared with Tiaue'a would be lost as the Eagle and Rider swept their wings, both physical and mental, and chastised the Kelvic until she left. The Flightleader, paying no heed to the Outsider did not do him even the courtesy of an insult, but as she left, Tia apologized solemnly, a wordless murmur that sounded through thought and was heard by the wind, and more.

All the world was listening, not just the wind.

Thread Award!

Character Name: Tiaue'a
Skills: Intimidation +2 ; Interrogation +1 ; Unarmed Combat +1 ; Acrobatics +1
Lore: A Moment of Self Discovery ; Facing One's Fears ; Wind Reach: Equality in Disaster ; Krivas: Fear Personified
Notes: Intimidation for the seemingly failed attempts to intimidate Taln (and Inferno), interrogation kind of tied in with intimidation there, and unarmed combat was awarded for the wounding of Taln, however slight. I really pushed for these awards lol.

Additional Comments: Okay, I really loved this thread, even if it was short. I'm sorry to see Taln go, for this thread had promise to be so enlightening for you both. I loved the emotional rendering here, on behalf of you both, and would love to see more from you, Tiaue'a. It was awesome.

Of course, I didn't grade Taln, however if he returns and PMs me, I will be glad to post his grade.

If you have questions or concerns about how I graded you, feel free to PM me.