Closed Thistle and Weeds

[Mealla Stormsong]

2nd Fall, 512 A.V. Spare me your judgements and spare me your dreams, Cause recently mine have been tearing at the seams. Mealla had barely slept. She’d spent the entire night being haunted -tormented- by doubts about herself, about her dreams and her hopes, and about whether or not she had truly chosen the right path. She still wasn’t entirely sure whether the Watch was for her. She couldn’t do what they wanted. She couldn’t be an apprentice. She didn’t have the patience or humility for it, and she was bound to fail, she knew, and that couldn’t happen. She couldn’t be seen as a failure; knew that she wouldn’t be able to bear it. She would give it a few more days, and then... Well, Sama’el would be glad to see the back of her, she was sure. Too glad. She pulled her tunic over her head and then pulled on her trousers, before moving to scoop her hair back into a messy ponytail. She didn’t particularly care how she looked; she just needed to get out of the tent and out doing something before her thoughts drove her insane. And so with one last minor adjustment of hair, she grabbed her scimitar, her bow and arrows, and headed out, letting the tent flap shut behind her. Andraste raised her head from where she grazed not too far from the tent, and pricked her ears forward, but Mealla paid the Strider no mind, ducking her head instead and hurrying past. Sometimes she wondered if the horse could read her thoughts, and her current thoughts were not ones that she wanted to be heard. People would judge. Even horses. What she need to do, she decided, was to distract herself, and what better way to do that than seek out Sama’el and spar? He was good for that, if nothing else, and he’d judged her unworthy, so it didn’t matter how else he thought of her. She didn’t have to worry. Didn't have to fear. She kept walking, searching, seeking for him, until she finally she came across another person – one of his Paviliont. She stopped, hesitating, shy, and pushed her back behind her ears before she summoned a breath. “Excuse me?” she said, biting her lip as she took a step forward. “You haven’t happened to see Sama’el, have you? Do you know where he is? I was... I was hoping to spar with him.”

[Leto Sunsinger]

That brightening, Leto was delved deep within the web, working on trying to utilize it to gather information of things around him. Arias stood there besides Leto's inert form, guarding it, and looking over towards the oncoming woman. Leto himself could sense her intrusion into the web, as soon as she came near where his ethereal form happened to be. Slowly but surely, crawling back towards the physical body that was within stasis, and a trance, he would push his ethereal form back into it, fingers into fingers, toes into toes, body into body, and then pushed himself upwards, grabbing ahold of Arias' yvas for steadyness. His strider paid him no mind, other than a gentle nudge as Leto walked passed him towards the woman. "You say that you are looking for Sama'el? He's not hear at the moment... I believe that he's out with the Watch right now," said Leto, looking towards her. He had not met her before, and a certain curiousity was sparked within him as he looked towards her with an obsidian gaze. "Forgive my rudeness, My name is Leto Sunsinger, Sama'el's blood-brother. He might not have mentioned me to you, as I know he never mentioned you to me... but who might you be to him? And what is your name?" he asked, introducing himself to the newcomer, a woman he had never seen around the pavilion before, and one he was sort of wondering as to how she knew Sama'el, and what reason she wanted to spar with him happened to be...

[Mealla Stormsong]

Mealla felt a slight stab of annoyance at hearing that Sama’el was out with the Watch. It wasn’t the only emotion she felt, but it was the only one that she was willing to acknowledge as she lifted up her hand to push her hair behind her ears again, an outward sign that she wasn’t at all appy. She would’ve thought that if Sama’el was on Watch business then he would’ve taken her along too, given that she was his apprentice. Likely he thought that she would only hinder him, and that made her frown in displeasure. She swiftly hid the expression, glancing down and wiping it from her face, summoning up her strength as she pushed aside her wounded pride. She then looked up again, and forced a smile. “I know you,” she said pleasantly, conversationally, though her voice sounded as forced as her smile. Sama'el really didn’t think she was good enough, did he? She was never going to become a full member of the Watch. Never. “At least... I... I saw you become his blood-brother, because I was there. At the ceremony.” She had had mixed feelings watching that, too. It was funny how you could be surrounded by people and yet feel so alone. An outcast. She let her hand fall to her side, and smiled once again, awkwardly. “I’m Sama’el’s apprentice. In the Watch. I was assigned to him some weeks ago. And I should really say my name right about now, shouldn’t I? It’s Mealla. Mealla Stormsong. It’s a pleasure to finally meet one of Sama’el’s blood-brothers.” It wasn’t particularly – she was still set on sparring, her attention on that -, but Mealla always liked to be polite.

[Leto Sunsinger]

Leto didn't notice the frown upon Maella's face before it turned into a sweet sincere smile, so he didn't think anything of what he had said to her about Sama'el being out on Watch business for the moment. Then she stated that she happened to be at the ceremony. Leto didn't know that, then again there was quite a crowds, so he couldn't have remembered everyone that happened to have been there. Looking at her through obsidian hued orbs, he smiled, and said, "Ah, then you do know who I am... yes, one of Sama'el's blood-brothers... we've been through a lot together, and the rest of my pavilion perished in the storm, so it's only natural that I joined his to strengthen his pavilion as much as possible..." As he spoke, he grinned, and then awaited her response to his next question before continuing onwards. "I see, Mealla, well, if you're Sama'el's apprentice, then you must have some experience with him as well. What made you want to be his apprentice? Or was it not your choice, but the choice of someone higher up within the Watch?" he queried her then, curious as to the nature of her apprenticeship with Sama'el, and wondering what exactly she wanted from him while she was here. If he could assist her, he would, but if he couldn't, then obviously he wouldn't. It would be up to her in the end to show whether she needed assistance from Leto or not, he wouldn't try to pry too much into her business if at all possible, but if it had to do with Sama'el, then he wanted to know as much as possible...

[Mealla Stormsong]

Mealla had always been a bit of a loner, and so she wasn’t entirely sure what to say when he answered her back. She hadn’t come to have a conversation but only to ask where Sama’el was. That was, after all, her one and only goal, and now she knew the answer, but it would be rude to simple dismiss herself so quickly, and, besides, she was genuinely curious to know more about the people in Sama’el’s life. If she could figure out what made him tick, then she could use it to her advantage against him to get what she wanted. Never say that she did not plan ahead. Did not think. “I’m sorry to hear about your Pavilion,” she said quietly, politely, though there was awkwardness in every word. She really was not good at this kind of thing. “But I’m glad that you’ve found a new one.” Her eyes darted to the side, and she once again had to resist the temptation to fiddle with her hair, before she looked back at him, a small, amused smile on her face. If only he knew. “And I can’t really say that I wanted to be Sama’el’s apprentice, nor that he wanted me. It was...” She searched for the right word, frowning. “...It was forced upon us, you could say. I never met him before I was assigned. I’ve only known him for a short time.” She hadn’t been very happy about the whole thing. Still wasn’t. She had hoped to be a fully ranked member of the Watch, but instead she had wound up in Sama’el’s care. She saw it as his fault, and she could not help but feel slightly resentful towards him. He was everything that she wanted to be, and a constant reminder that she wasn’t there yet. She hated him for it. “And you? How long have you known him? How did you meet him? Where you forced upon each other?”

[Leto Sunsinger]

Leto was a bit taken aback by Mealla's words. Was he forced upon Sama'el? Not in the least, he thought, his obsidian gaze shifting from her to the ground a bit, before shifting back up to look her in the eyes. "Actually, i've known him for almost two years now... we met in the Winter of 510, I was riding Arias, my strider, and actually fell off when I came across him towards the edge of Endrykas. Arias stopped so fast as to not run into him, whilst he was delving into the web, and I hadn't seen him as I was looking behind myself at the time, but when Arias stopped, I ended up flipping off him, and nearly landing atop of Sama'el. That's how we ended up meeting," explained Leto as he looked towards her. Brushing a hand through his short multicolored hair, he looked at her, and then continued with what he was saying. "Sama'el never forced me to be around, as a matter of fact, you could say it was the opposite, though in the end, he just was around because he enjoyed my company. I ended up being his teacher in the mysteries of glyphing and summoning," said Leto, looking directly into her eyes with his obsidian gaze. Smiling, he then said, "And Sama'el has been a good friend for me and now a good blood-brother... And I feel he'll continue to be, so long as we live in the same Pavilion... You don't sound too happy that you were "forced" upon him in your training in the Watch, but I can assure you... there is no better teacher than Sama'el..." Nodding at that, he then would patiently await her reply, in order to see what she thought of how Leto and Sama'el had met, and the fact that they were definitely not forced upon each other and in the end had become true Blood-brothers...

[Mealla Stormsong]

Again, Mealla found herself struggling for a reply. It was hard to think of Sama’el as someone who could have friends and people that actually cared for him. No. It was hard to think of him as a person.He was, to her, someone she didn’t care to be near, someone who had been forced upon her, and, most of all, he was someone she didn’t want to like. Maybe she was just a resentful pupil, but her hopes and her dreams, her expectations, her very confidence, had come to a screeching halt the moment she’d been assigned as his apprentice. She hadn’t wanted to be an apprentice, hadn’t thought she needed to be one, and so, of course, she directed the blame at him. It wasn’t him, it wasn’t his fault, she knew that, but, and it was a long but, but... She didn’t have anyone else to aim her frustration at. Sama'el was the only one. “You know glyphing and summoning?” she said, latching on the one thing that did not make her feel uncomfortable and awkward and at a complete loss for what to say. “I don’t really know what they entail. It’s probably why they’re mysteries.” She gave a lop-sided half-smile, before her eyes darted away once more. She again had to resist the temptation to fiddle with her hair. Her hands twitched. “And I’m sure he’s a good friend and a good blood-brother to you, and I am glad of that, and I am sure he’s a good teacher, but...” She shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing why she was talking. Sometimes it was better just to keep quiet. “I’m not a very good pupil. I’m not used to taking instruction or criticism. I didn’t expect to have to have a teacher, so of course I was not happy. Am not happy.” She gave into the urge and pushed her hair back behind her ears once again – a nervous habit – before she realised what she had done and quickly folded her arms, weapons still clasped in one hand. “Besides, I don’t think he particularly cares for me. I doubt he was happy to have a student forced upon him.”

[Leto Sunsinger]

"Yes, I know glyphing and summoning... my last pavilion was a pavilion of the Ruby clan, which excelled in their glyphing techniques and scribing glyphs into wood, stone, parchment, paper, and other such objects. I've been an instructor to Sama'el in the ways of glyphing and summoning as he's taken a keen interest in it, given he can utilize glyphs to help sink origin stones for the web. That's another thing i've done, is helped him out with certain webbing projects, along our way to Taldera and back, to help expand the web network along the northern face of Mizahar..." he said, thinking back on how they would place origin stones along their path, and how he'd assist him with the creation of the glyphs for the stones, as well as the webbing to tie them into the web. Not that he'd be able to sink an origin stone on his own yet, until he was more than a novice at webbing, but for now, he'd be able to assist Sama'el within it. "And yes, it is precisely the reason they are mysteries, not much is known about them in the Drykas society, especially summoning. It was taught to me by a passing wizard when I was younger, in an effort to teach me how to summon memosites, creatures that assist wizards in passing on their knowledge to others..." he said, and then looked down towards the weapons within her hands. "So, you said you were hoping to spar with Sama'el, eh? Do you two utilize live weaponry when sparring with each other?" he asked slightly, his eyes shifting towards hers, also noticing the nervous habit of her pushing her hair back behind her ears...

[Mealla Stormsong]

Mealla forgot about some of her awkwardness as she listened with interest. She had never dabbled in magic, though it had always had its draw; she could well imagine the things that could be done with glyphs, and how it could be used to help her accomplish her goals. She opened her mouth to speak – to frame a question – and then swiftly closed it. It was much, much too early to ask this Leto to teach her. They didn’t even know each other, and, besides, her time was taken up with Sama’el. Perhaps she could ask him. Or demand. Perhaps she could demand that Sama’el teach her in order to make her more useful to the Watch. Now that was a thought, and she bit her lip as she stored it away. She’d ask him, and he would give. He would. “Why where you taught how to summon memosites?” she asked, stumbling slightly on the unfamiliar word. “Was it hoped that you might become a wizard too?” She knew nothing of wizards. The Drykas did not have them as far as she knew. “Why? Did the wizard randomly pick you, or have you always been interested in magic?” Her questions probably sounded rude, prying, but she was not aware of this one little fact. She was simply curious, and she was Drykas, You did not learn if you did not ask; it was just the way of things; how it had always been and always would. “And, yes, we spar with real weapons,” though she wished Sama’el would spar with her properly. She knew he held back, and she hated it. “Wood is not going to teach you anything.” She smiled suddenly, her eyes mischievous, holding a spark. “He had me on my back the first time. Can you imagine? He's very... fit.”

[Leto Sunsinger]

"You see, Memosites are utilized to trade memories with one another. You give them a memory, and they give you one in return, that's they're usefulness. Plus they are possibly the most harmless creatures out in the world, even though they can choose which memories to give you... some are a bit tricky that way," he said, remembering when a memosite that Sama'el had summoned had given him the precious memory of why Leto was all scarred on his upper body. "And, the wizard chose me, because I had asked him about what else one could do with their glyphs... he said that summoning was a good way to utilize the glyphing I had learned from my aunt and uncle. Thus, he taught me summoning." Frowning slightly as Mealla told him that they sparred with real weapons, he sighed. "That's a good way to hurt yourself if you don't know how to utilize the weapon properly... at least when I was learning a bit about the glaive at the diamond clan's pavilion, they had me use a wooden practice glaive to start off with, before switching to my normal glaive," he said. And then she said that Sama'el had her on her back the first time, and that he was very fit. Leto grinned slightly and said, "That's Sama'el for you, always trying to top a decent looking woman, if that's what you meant anyways." Not that he particularly cared for this woman's looks, his heart was already placed in Sama'el's hands, not that Sama'el knew it yet, but he would, and soon. But Leto also believed in polygamy, as all drykas did, in a better way of producing children for their race. Not that Leto would ever produce any children, it just wasn't in him to want to be with any woman, but he knew that Sama'el would want to produce children, given he was the Ankal of their pavilion now. And possibly he was wanting to produce children with this Mealla woman that he apparently had on her back the first time...