[The Sanctuary] Glimmer (Kavala)

[Oluse]

Fall 512, 76th

He had been so hopeful as he fled Avanthal, endured the grueling travel through the storm's aftermath toward what he had hoped would be a glimmering city of change. He had at no point thought to stop and contemplate what that might mean, however, what he felt so strongly in his heart would be somehow fateful.

It felt empty, Riverfall. So much was fantastical, striking even. He had never thought that he could be more taken by a place than he had been Avanthal, but Riverfall had been more exotic even than the frozen tundra and glistening ice sculptures of the north. Still, as he admired the impressive warriors, and indulged in serene natural settings he felt a dark coldness within, a stillness where he thought the city would move him. So much he had sacrificed to travel half the world, that seemed a hundred times larger than Oluse would have guessed, just to land in a place that seemed to be just that, a place - nothing more.

He would not travel again, it was too dangerous, and hard, not to mention expensive. But, he could no longer stay in that dank inn room, he could no longer spend his days and nights among the Akalak, listening to the rhythmic gushing sound of the falls upon dark and vivid stones. Every pleasure there was to have seemed just another disappointment to the young Denvali man. He had to leave the city, had to escape the purgatory his ambitions had left him with. So he went searching for reprieve, for Sanctuary.

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Velox shifted uncomfortably beneath the novice rider, his white coat growing dingy from the lack of proper grooming, itching at the tightly applied straps of the heavy saddle. The two had bonded sufficiently enough, enough that Oluse hadn't tried to sell him once arriving. In a way Velox was the only piece of Avanthal Oluse had retained, aside from the mildly aching episodes of chromatic shifts that still had not faded from the storm, but instead grown more frequent with the turn of the seasons. It had been several days since the last, however, for which he was very grateful.

The morning dew, edging on frost crunched softly beneath Oluse's weighty boots as he awkwardly dismounted Velox, the horse taking a step from him as he tried to steady himself upon the horn of the saddle. The air had been growing cold, and winter approached with a bracing swiftness. The pungent autumn air had adopted the element of clarity which could only mean Morwen's distant approach. Oluse felt no fear of the winter, not after witnessing Morwen's people burn through their perpetual cold as if not a day passed that did not prove as forgiving as a spring day in Denval.

"Come on." Oluse urged in Vani, grabbing a hold of Velox's reins and heading forward toward the structures before him. He felt nervous, the place seemed so private, even though it set out for all the world to see, as if he were treading on holy ground. People lived there, made their homes, and he came uninvited to them, and had so very little to offer for his trespass save for a request that might seem to them an insult. He admitted in silence that he came of selfish accord, with no incentive but his own comfort. He had anguished over the decision, but in some cases such as that one pride must be temporarily laid aside for happiness to bloom.

The clinic struck him deeply as they approached, enough to halt his exploration, stretching upward from Semele's strong base, which seemed to the young man as solid as any ground, unaware of the caverns below holding even more wondrous sites. It was new, but built with old clinic influences, parts of the architecture reminded him of home, of the clinic that had been brought to them from abroad, the one his father would have never let him set foot in. The vision stirred unwanted sensations in his chest, to spot the similar structure after seasons of seeing only the subterranean hallows of Riverfall and the empty expanses of wilderness.

Part of him advised he leave the Sanctuary, to brave the stifling city for a season longer and return in spring. But, another part, a stronger part held him fixated, eyes steady on the building before him. It was so deliberately functional, not overly ornate like the clinic in Avanthal. It seemed so simple, yet so pure. It reminded him of something, something he must have dreamed once, that strong and familiar sensation of Déjà vu stealing his mind from him again, his body fading from his senses as his attention plunged into a place he could not recall if asked, but still inspired a profound response in his heart.

[Kavala]

The gates where open when Oluse rode through. His horse's hooves clattered onto cobbles that were both smooth enough for a horse to safely walk on and yet had small ridges around each cobble that allowed a good grip for both shod and unshod hooves. They looked fresh laid and glimmered with pyrite buried deep into the stone. The resulting shimmer made the place look rich and inviting, without being over the top in terms of creating a glare.

The cobbles themselves looked fresh laid, none bearing that many scuffs or the warn dull look of age. They laid out in a fan pattern that circled around a courtyard fountain that dominated the entrance of the horse gate. Normally a groom or someone in the area hearing hooves on the cobbles would come running. But this morning, with the cobbles being freshly laid, Kavala was occupying the courtyard, on her hands and needs, crafting them one by one. Djed oozed out of her hands as she formed the cobbles into their fan pattern, going namely by eye rather than measurement. The stone flowed more freely that way, each cobble taking on a slightly bronze appearance as it solidified into being through Kavala's will. She grouted them with sand, making sure it was wet enough by dipping a dipper into a bucket she ckept nearby and adding moisture. The mix became a sort of cement and the cobbles sealed firmly glued together.

When Oluse came in, she lifted her head, brushed off her hands, and rose to her feet. She greeted him pleasantly. "Hello there. Can I help you?" She glanced at his horse, feeling for it, deciding it needed a good grooming almost as much as it needed a good meal. "Here to board your horse?" She asked, halfway hopeful. It really did need some serious attention.

[Oluse]

The glistening new cobble stones went predominately unnoticed by the intruder, who rarely spent his time peering down at the ground. Likely why he had been bitten by snakes so many times as a child. Once his father told him if they kept having to bleed him of poison and ministrate fevers he was going to end up slow in the head. He sure was happy that never happened.

"What?" He asked timidly. He had lost himself again in thought. "Oh," His eyes set on the women, her hands, the cobble stones.

She seemed to glow in the morning light, shining brighter than the stones being set down. Through her hair shone orange emanating from post sunrise, poised quite picturesquely. Oluse's mouth closed again, as his eyes caught on her's. The looked like sapphires set against a white gold, rippled with tiny broad scales patterned much like those set in the ground below them. Oluse's head spun at the sight, almost losing balance. He could not be sure at first what was happening to him.

His eyes flicked over the mark upon her right hand, a tattoo? Perhaps, it seemed an odd place for one, and then he spotted the first line. Like spotting an insect on the ground or the first star of the night more began pulling themselves into Oluse's awareness. Scars riddling her skin, faint, old or shallow wounds? Oluse wanted to ask suddenly but he couldn't, as his eyes fell on the women's hands, shedding the last of her res down before giving her full attention to Oluse and Velox. Oluse drew a quick breath in, a mage. A women.

Oluse had never met a women who practiced magic before, it put him on edge, but there was something about her eyes that soothed him. Something about the scales along her tanned skin, and gills within her neck.

Oluse bit his lip softly, nervously before realizing once more a question had been posed toward him.

"My name is Oluse Fortis-Saro," he still cringed slightly each time his introduced himself.

He let the reins in his hand fall, leaving Velox to his own devices, as he walked with loud cladders along the cobbling to Kavala. He reached out his hand, and looked her in the eye. A proper introduction. Velox naturally gravitated toward the women as well, rather upset there was nothing around to grace upon. The horse's nostrils glared at the slight breeze, smelling Kavala's promising scent.

Oluse's hair was still short from his trim when he arrived in River Fall, and skin still tanned from all of his time outdoors and away from medical rooms. He had grown slightly taller than he had been in Avanthal, the trip encouraging his young boy to grow, his body had begun to bulk up slightly from it's younger slimmer form. his jaw slowly widening only making his face look even rounder at this point in his development. To an observer he couldn't be any older than fifteen at the most.