[Quill's Rest] Mixed Breeds and New Races (Zarius)

[Srath]

Timestamp: 12th of Fall, 512 AV Srath slowly ambled into the building known as The Quill's Rest, his eyes looking around and taking in the design of the building and the patrons inside. He was instantly drawn to this place more than any other so far due to the quiet atmosphere that held sway here, the only sounds that were clearly evident being the hushed whispers of a couple in one corner and the scratching of quills on paper and parchment or the shuffling of papers. It was a paradise for his studies and thoughts and to write what he needed. The other thing he enjoyed so far about this was the feeling he got that it was designed to faintly imitate a forest, making him nostalgic for his homeland. As he made his way fully into the building, turning his body slightly to ease his shoulders through the door, his eyes fell to the man in charge. Exchanging nods and seeing a hint of excitement in the man's eyes, Srath moved towards the bar. "Greetings. I am Srath." The Jamoura began the introductions and learning the man was named Andus Lectara. They only talked for a few moments, Srath explaining how he had ended up here on his quest for knowledge, at the same time learning that Andus had been to The Spires. With a promise to talk more later about their travels and learning, the Jamoura excused himself on the reason he needed to work on something. Before he left the bar though, Andus convinced Srath to buy a drink that he served, explaining the drink was not always well-liked by travelers but the Jamoura might enjoy it. With a polite thank you and cup in hand, Srath found his way to a table where he set his drink down and pulled out his quill and ink along with the parchment of the stars he had started to mark down four nights passed. Srath choose to sit down on his haunches instead of the chair, knowing his weight would probably be too much for the small device to hold. The sound of the quill slowly rose from his table as he dragged the ink-covered tip along the parchment, marking the Cardinal directions from the other night so others who looked at the parchment and knew what it was, would be able to orient themselves easily.

[Zarius Shine]

Zip sat by himself at one of the small tables, elbow resting on its polished surface, and chin resting in his hand. His eyes scanned the notes he had taken earlier, during the lecture. From these, he hoped to begin an outline of a paper that would be due in a few more weeks. But the words were a hopeless muddle – not because of his handwriting, which was actually very neat, if somewhat tiny. And they flowed in a logical order, following the presentation of the lecturer, the most important ideas headlining with bulleted points underneath. No, the muddle was more in his head than on the paper or his eyes. Or perhaps it actually lay within his heart, for his inability to concentrate or make sense of what he was trying to do stemmed from the completely gutted and shattered state of that organ which some claimed was the repository of love. As he heard the door to the café open, his eyes then of their own accord popped up from the page before him, seeking some better distraction than the sorry ruminations of his weary brain. Turns out, the glance was well worth it, for distraction indeed was just what was walking through the door. Walking? Well, maybe squeezing would be a better word choice, for the creature that was just entering was huge – like, really, really big! And hairy, and…spectacularly fantastic! Zip actually let his hand drop to the table and sat up a bit more, craning his neck to watch as the newcomer made his…her…its (?) way to the counter, behind which the proprietor served his customers tea, but not so much sympathy. Zip had taken to coming here more frequently since he had been given the old heave ho by Simon. Simon had never once set foot in the Quill’s Rest, as far as Zip knew. Too quiet. Too peaceful. Even though he was a student too, Simon was a far, far different person than Zip, and things had to be lively to suit his tastes. So Zip figured that the Quill was a safe place to sit and waste time pretending to do school work and avoid Simon at the same time. Once, and once only, had he attempted to sit at the counter and sob into his steamed kelp tea, and thereby try to enlist Andus as a supportive audience for his emo ‘poor me’ schtick. Andus had told him rather brusquely that he was young and he would get over it soon enough and besides, shouldn’t he be paying more attention to his courses, and then had moved off with a good bit of speed for a man his age, to wipe down some tables. On this day, as on others since then, Zip had chosen a table close to the windows that gave out onto a splendid view of the sea (the more easily to be distracted), so his view of the service counter wasn’t a direct one. But he noted that the Jamoura (for, unless it was an ape kelvic it had to be one of that ancient and distinguished race) stopped there long enough to exchange a few words with Andus. Zip strained his ears but even with the quiet of the room he heard little of what was actually said. Ultimately, the Jamoura left the bar with a cup in its massive hand and made its way to an unoccupied table. It wasn’t exactly close to where Zip sat – not close enough for him to strike up a conversation anyway. Not without moving. Zip watched him for a few moments, and the Jamoura brought out its own scholarly supplies and began to write, or perhaps draw, on the piece of paper set before it. The young man dithered a bit. He was far from shy, but typically he tried to avoid being outright rude. Well, he finally thought to himself, it’s not every day a Jamoura walks into a bar. And he was determined to reap some sort of benefit from this unlooked for stroke of serendipity. Abandoning his things, temporarily, he rose and meandered over to the table where the Jamoura sat, not on a chair but squatted right on the floor. It was so large that it could do so and still easily reach the table, which almost looked like a piece of doll’s furniture compared to its bulk. Trying not to stare over its shoulder at the parchment it so assiduously worked on, Zip cleared his throat, and tried to think of an opening remark that wouldn’t tag him as just a completely nosy gawker. “Um, hello. I’m Zip. Well, Zarius. Zarius Shine. I…I don’t suppose you are a…a Jamoura, by any chance?” Hm, well, both nosy and apparently incredibly ignorant…and rude. Good job, Zip!

[Srath]

Srath was deep in his work, carefully looking at the marks he had made and trying to remember the position of the stars he had seen in the eastern sky. He needed to learn more about the stars and how to read them, how they could help him even more, but that might have to wait until his time at the University had started. Brushing the thoughts from his mind, he set his quill down carefully and placed the stopper back into the vial of ink before picking up his glass of kelp tea, bringing it under his large nostrils. Srath slowly smelled the drink, the aroma of kelp and salt filling his nose pleasantly. The scent was natural and reminded him the tea he would drink back home in the Spires that was made from boiled pine needles quite often. As he brought the cup to him lips, he was vaguely aware of someone standing up and moving in his general direction, but not much more thought was paid to this person than that at the moment. It was the warmth of the tea and the unique flavor that flowed over his tongue that held his attention. The flavor was salty, just as it had smelled the taste of the ocean a soft undertone to the dominant flavor of the kelp itself. It did not take long for the Jamoura to decide that he enjoyed the tea and would most definitely be ordering a second cup of it. The sound of a nervous, stuttering human broke the thought and pleasure Srath was enjoying, his mind moving through the past few moments and guessing the voice belonged to the person he had seen stand up and move. Turning his head in a most leisurely manner towards the man who introduced himself as ‘Zip’ Srath nodded his head once in what he hoped was a respectful manner of someone he assumed was equal to him. ”Hello, Zip. I am Srath, and yes, I am a Jamoura.” Srath’s words were slowly spoken and drawn out, his voice deep and powerful but gentle in nature. “What brings you to this building, and to my table?” Srath asked his questions in the same slow and lengthy manner, but with a hint in his voice at eagerness to discuss and learn with someone new, no annoyance to be found.

[Zarius Shine]

Zip tried not to stare, or gape, but he found the Jamoura fascinating, so it took an effort to force his expression into one more of polite inquiry than rude amazement. As soon as the words had left his mouth, he had cringed a bit, knowing he sounded crass. But with relief, he heard the Jamoura answer in a slow, mellifluous voice, and it didn’t seem as if it was affronted in any way by this human’s bald curiosity. He nodded, smiling broadly. “I – pleased to meet you, Srath,” he replied, rolling the sound of the name around in his mouth, testing its foreignness. “I thought you might be – a Jamoura, that is. I’ve never met one before. I…I guess you could say that’s what brought me over. I, well…” he shrugged apologetically. “I’m just very…curious. I’m a student – anthropology is my field of study – with a little history and archeology thrown in. And map making – I saw you were working on some sort of chart.” At this point, Zip allowed himself a quick glance at the parchment on the table, and he tilted his head a bit to see it, as he was on the far side of it. “Oh, but I see – that’s a star chart, isn’t it? I really don’t know much about astronomy.” His gaze came back up to take in that placid, beautiful face and he felt a flutter of excitement in his stomach. Meeting a Jamoura, sat here in a tea room in the boring city of his birth, made all his dreams of travel and study of far flung places and their inhabitants seem more like a reality. He remembered the first part of Srath’s question, and added, “Quite a few students come here, and some of the teachers as well. It’s nice and quiet – a good place to read, or study.” Or avoid ex-boyfriends he thought, but didn’t add out loud. “What has brought you here? To Zeltiva, I mean. Did you come from The Spires?” By this time, Zip had placed the fingers of one hand on the edge of the table top, subconsciously anchoring himself to it and to Srath. Realizing this, he pulled his hand away with a start, and said, “Oh, but you’re probably here to get some work done. I’m sorry.” His eyes darted guiltily to his own abandoned notes. “I – I brought some of my own, but I don’t seem to be making much progress on it. It’s been a bit hard to concentrate.”

[Srath]

Srath was, not excited, but…pleased…to have someone to talk to since arriving here. The young man before him was inquisitive to some degree, not a bad thing by any means (after all, how is one supposed to learn much without inquiring about places, objects and people?) Zip was also stumbling over his words a bit, something Srath attributed to an unavoidable character trait or just nervousness at the situation. Regardless, it did not bother the Jamoura. ”I am honored to meet you as well, Zip. You should join me and take a seat. It may be that I can satisfy some of your curiosity this evening.” Srath continued listening the whole time to the human ramble on in his nervous parade of words, not paying any mind after the initial comment for him to sit. ”It is a star chart. Amateur at best right now, but we all have to learn and start our knowledge somewhere. I ultimately seek to have a chart for each city I come to, and to maybe identify more about the stars above us. For now though however, I just wish to mark their position in relation to the same spot over the next couple weeks.” Srath slowly set his quill aside and out of the way completely and turned the chart to be oriented with the cardinal directions and pointed to eastern most mark, ”This eastern most mark is the star farthest out over the ocean to the east, as seen from sitting outside the Temple of Laviku. The mark in the middle is directly, as much as possible, above my head where I was sitting. You can see the rest of the pattern of how I marked each direction?“ Srath’s was steady, no over-excited tone to it or eagerness, just a heavy tough of scholarly knowledge in it as he discussed something he was interested in with another soul who recognized part of his work. At this point, Srath noticed Zip was still standing, the point made clear as he withdrew his hand and started to excuse himself to leave. ”Please sit with me, Zip. You are not bothering me at all, though if you need help in your work I might be able to help you unlock a path to your goal. Bring your stuff over here. And yes, I did come from the Spires, though it has been a long journey to a few places. I came here on the rumor of knowledge to be found here in the University, especially in a couple of fields I have interest in. Sit and we shall discuss all of these things in more depth.“ Srath waited for Zip, his eyes gentle and patient. Though Srath would not begrudge Zip for not joining him, Srath did want him to join his table so they could talk more and exchange knowledge.

[Zarius Shine]

Clearly Zip had been gabbing away too excitedly to hear that first invitation to sit. But he surely heard the repeat of it, for he nodded, happily and enthusiastically. “Oh, that would be great. I’d love to join you. Thanks!” He was already heading back to his abandoned table, to the accompaniment of a few upturned faces and scowls of disapproval at the noise he was emitting. With a sheepish duck of his head, he swept up his things into his arms, and returned quickly to Srath’s tiny table, where he sort of half slid his notebook onto the very edge, precariously balancing it there. His writing things he shoved into the backpack which he let slide to the floor. Seating himself, he looked down at the notebook and made a face. “I doubt you can help me. I don’t even know where to begin,” he said, with a wistful tone of defeat. “But it’s not due for ages,” he added brightly. Any reprieve in a storm, right? Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow – possibly not the best philosophy, but a handy one, and very common amongst many students. “So we can talk about you – or your journey?” He was smiling happily, like a child thinking of some wonderful treat to come. “How long did it take you? Did you take a ship across the Suvan? What cities did you stop at?” He paused long enough to say with a dramatic sigh, “I’ve never been anywhere!”

[Srath]

Srath sipped his tea patiently as Zip went to retrieve his items with an eagerness and haste not often seen among the Jamoura, but it was a pleasing sight to see another creature as eager about learning. As Zip came to sit down with his backpack and notebook, dismissing his work in a tone of resignation, citing that he doubted Srath could help him. I might be able to help you Zip. I might not be knowledgeable in what you are studying, but I have often found that talking things out, or meditation, can often reveal new paths one did not see before. As far as my trip Srath continued after listening to Zip inquire with enthusiasm as to his travels, I left my home twenty-five years ago. I did travel the Suvan, but that was only after I had made my way across the rest of the wilderness and came to Riverfall. I spent several years there learning before I set out to Syliras. I spent little time there before I left by caravan and came here. But we will have plenty of time for that later, The tone in Srath's voice shifted just slightly, a firmness there that was not there before as he continued, But it would see that your school work does not have as much time. I would like to help you if I can, and in return I shall share some of the travels with you. His voice became softer again, losing the slight firmness as he agreed to share more with the eager young man in exchange for his continued diligence in his studies, something Srath considered much more important than the stories of a travelling Jamoura, but importance was relative. What is your assignment? What must you learn or accomplish?