Closed The Vineyard. A Drykas, And Another Drykas..... [Vanator]

[Zyah'suyakal Songbringer]

"Vanator, you are a good man, I am glad to have met you...." She smiled up at him, then going on the tips of her toes she pressed warm blush lips against the stubble of his cheek, inhaling his scent as she did so. She then fell into a fit of giggles, the sound shook her slender form, she wrapped slender arms around the other Drykas' shoulders, leaning into his warmth. Ever since Zyah'suyakal had lost her sight at a young age she had seen through touch, and being close to someone as she was with Vanator was only natural for her. He was one of her own race and she trusted the seasoned man, more so then she did with any outside her race. She felt strangely safe with the man, and she made it known. "Vanator, can we go down to the beach? I fear I have not gone that way yet so I don't know what route to take, would you do me the honor of escorting me?" She had switched back to Pavi, the language flowed over her tongue with ease as she spoke it.

[Vanator]

The Drykas were a bold people, their women as much as their men. But even considering that, Vanator was not expecting such signs of affection from a stranger. He understood already, from the way she read hisface with her fingers, that Zyah relied on her sense of touch for much more than a seeing person. But the gentle kiss on the cheek, and the warm embrace were unexpected. Not that Vanator found them unpleasant, Zyah was beautiful and he missed the closeness of a woman. Still, Van had enough Winters under his belt to exercise caution.

Vanator gently eased back a step, his hands trailing up Zyah's from the shoulders to her hands, guiding them down from her embrace. His grasp lingered on her small hands for a moment before letting them go. "I will take you to the beach, but the one near my home, I am more familiar with it. Just follow Sirocco and I." Vanator did not ask how Zyah would do that, for obviously she and her Strider were able to find Riverfall just fine. He trusted that she would let him know if he needed to do anything special.

Vanator turned and whistled to his stallion, which galloped towards them, slowing pace as he neared the humans and the woman's protective Strider. The Drykas man stood by though, assuming that the girl could mount her steed herself, but waited until she did so before climbing onto Sirocco. After settling into his yvas, Van urged Sirocco out of the vineyard and back on the road towards Sanctuary, looking back to ensure the Drykas girl followed.

[Zyah'suyakal Songbringer]

As Vanator pulled away, Zyah'suyakal understood his caution, she was a stranger, and to show such affection was something that the Drykas seemed to be familiar with. She let go without any protest, then as he whistled for his own Strider the Drykas female did the same. Ryzan was at her side, pressing his large head against her side. She chuckled and kissed his cheek, then she turned to face his back, swinging onto his back with ease, built from years of riding and experience. Ryzan stood still as a statue, not daring to shift his weight as his Rider mounted him, once he was settled he made quick work of the distance between them and Vanator. Zyah'suyakal simply sat on him, her fingers buried into the hair of his thick mane rather than holding onto the yvas. For ever since she had begun to ride Ryzan she had never had to lead him, he was after all her eyes, going where she asked him two. The two trusting each other, acting much like siblings.

[Vanator]

The blind woman mounted her Strider with the ease of any Drykas, and Zyah and Ryzan followed Van and Sirocco out of the vineyard and onto the road. Once they were headed towards Sanctuary, Vanator eased his Strider back until the man and woman rode side by side. The Drykas man took a long look at his new acquaintance, feeling a bit bold by believing she could not see him observing her. The woman was young and attractive, about the same age that Kashik and Khiara had been. Zyah was not like the thin Konti in Riverfall, possessing the fuller figure of women of the horse clans. Vanator wondered how she got the braids and adornments woven into her hair.

Finally, Van felt Zyah could tell he was staring, and his gaze returned to the road ahead. The Denusk wondered if she had come from Endrykas. He was always curious to hear how the Drykas home was recovering, and any information on those he had lost.

"When was the last time you were in Endrykas?" He asked.

As they talked, the short two miles passed quickly, and they entered the outskirts of the Fringe Forest, but did not proceed to Sanctuary. Instead Vanator veered off another wider path pitted with hoof prints. The path came out in an open area at the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, and began to descend towards the beach. Van pointed to the walls of Sanctuary set back a bit in the woods. Eventually, they reached the strip of sand that ran along the foot of the cliff.

"Well, this is it!" Vanator announced as he dismounted, his voice raised over the crash of the surf and the stiff sea breeze.

[Zyah'suyakal Songbringer]

Zyah'suyakal could feel Vanator's eyes on her figure, yet she said little about her knowledge. She quite enjoyed being watched, after all her looks were known to turn heads of both med and women, and she loved it. She felt Ryzan bristle underneath her as Sirocco maneuvered his way beside Ryzan, Zyah'suyakal's Strider tuned his head to snap at the other, he then shifted his weight, moving away from the others. Zyah'suyakal smiled, allowing Ryzan to have tree reign, her Strider pitched his head forward and sped into a hard run. They ran hard, down the path, it was evident that Ryzan was leading them, and then once they reached the beach, Ryzan headed straight for the surf. He pitched head-long into it. The warm water rushed over both the Drykas female, and her beloved Strider, Zyah'suyakal held onto Ryzan tight, her head thrown back as she let out a hearty laugh. It was warm and free sounding, just like the female's spirit.

[Vanator]

Vanator's smile widened as he watched the woman and her steed enjoying themselves, Zyah laughing so freely while Ryzan pranced beneath her in the surf, the waves splashing against them. Giving Sirocco a pat on his strong neck, the Drykas man trodded through the sand to the water's edge, letting his Strider wander the beach. Van paused where the tide touched the sand, flowing around the soles of the man's boots. He looked up at Zyah, shading his eyes with his hand. Seeing the girl so happy elicited a bright laugh from the Denusk.

"You weren't lying, were you? You both seem to enjoy the beach!"

Vanator stood on one foot, lifting the other and tugging off the boot as he hopped to keep his balance. The other boot followed, landing in the sand by the first. After rolling up his pant legs, the Drykas man strolled deeper into the surf, until the swells of water topped his knees. Van admitted it was a beautiful sight, the lovely young Drykas woman atop her noble Strider, dancing amidst a cascade of sea spray, the sunlight making the scattering droplets appear as diamonds falling around them. The woman had captured his attention, and his curiosity.

"Tell me, Zyah'suyakal Songbringer of the Amethyst Clan, from where have you come, and why come to Riverfall?"

[Zyah'suyakal Songbringer]

The serious and cautious Strider that had been Ryzan was gone, now replaced by a spirited and wry colt. He pranced through the waves, tossing his head back, and rearing happily, by this point Zyah'suyakal had left his back, and was treading through the shallows drenched. She grumbled slightly, then as her water-logged boots met sand she sighed. She walked a few feet away from where the waves washed up onto the beach, she removed her boots, her, untied the brightly colored sash at her waist, then she peeled away her tunic, and her chemise, left in a simple wrap to cover the flesh of her breasts, it clung to her like a second skin. As she now stood in nothing but her trousers, and her top undergarments, she turned her back to the male, picking up the soaking garments, and attempting to fold them, this revealed the Windmark that was a series of dark swirls, and knotted scroll work, it ran the length of her spine, sloping over her shoulder, and disappearing into the waistband of her trousers. Her skin seemed to shimmer as the sun reflected off the water droplets on her skin, her hair clung to her form, trailing down her back. Once she had made her clothes in what could have been called a presentable pile she turned to the voice. "I am a wander, I go wherever the Wind, and the Web take me, I am free, and so is my spirit."

[Vanator]

Zyah's rambunctious stallion splashed and traipsed through the surf, his elation unhindered by the coating of sea water that dampened his flanks. But the joyous abandon the strider's rider had displayed seemed to have waned as she trudged towards the beach, her clothes sopping wet. She seemed to ignore Vanator, until he remembered that she, in fact, could not see him. The woman, though, no doubt knew he was there, which brought a small measure of surprise as she stripped off her tunic and left only a clinging wet undergarment wrapped around her breasts. Vanator's inaccurate assumption that Zyah could not discern his overt attention meant his eyes lingered longer upon her drenched feminine form. The Drykas man found an appreciation for her figure, young and strong. The woman's Windmark was beautiful, accentuating the contour of her back as it snaked from shoulder down to disappear into her trousers. The study of which he abruptly ceased when the girl answered his question.

Though Zyah's lilting response was whimsical and poetic, it did little to assuage Vanator's curiosity. This woman was at one moment as open as a book and as closed as a clam. The Denusk emerged from the water and onto the sand, brushing a windblown lock of hair from his face. "That is very lovely, but it really doesn't answer my question. Perhaps you are one of those mysterious type of women? Likes to keep a man guessing?" He teased, the smile on his face evident in the tone of his baritone voice.

[Zyah'suyakal Songbringer]

The female Drykas could feel the other's eyes on her form, yet she said noting to interrupt his glances. In fact, she quite enjoyed being looked at like she was a woman and not someone that needed to be treated as if she were different. She shivered as the breeze picked up, causing goose-flesh to rise on her pare skin. Despite the warm weather the breeze made her slightly cold, although she ignored it. "My answer is the truth, however, if you want details, I left my family's Pavilion because my brother Zven became Ankal and he now has children, it was time for me to move on, and as for choosing Riverfall.....I wanted to come here, I am living for the twin I never had." Her voice had taken on a slightly serious tone, she then turned towards the water, and rising her fingers to her lips she whistled a high pitched keening tome. Ryzan came bounding through the surf, his body drenched. He came up beside her, and nuzzled his wet body against hers. "Hey buddy, did you have fun?'' She asked him in a soothing and warm tone, Ryzan gave a soft sigh as an answer.

[Vanator]

Vanator studied Zyah, not just her physical form, as distracting as it was, but her demeanor as well. The lack of sight affected her movement and momentum, the swivel of her head not intended to aim her sense of sight, now dead, but to allow for better hearing, even smelling, he imagined. Zyah was not awkward in movement, the motion of her head graceful, as if practiced in its revised use. Action was peformed with fluid caution, but not stilted, as her other senses took over for the lack of vision.

The man caught the sightless gaze of the woman. It was....unusual, to see vision so void, the eyes being so readily connected with one's soul, emotions and the expression of such. For Zyah'suyakal, no such window to her being existed, the glassy orbs blankly staring with nothing behind them. To Vanator, for whom the reading of one's gaze was something of a talent, the drykas woman's blindness left him a little disadvantaged at gauging the girl's true intent and feelings. For this reason, his inquiries had been more pointed.

The attractive woman did revealed information more meaningful. She had left her family. Vanator chafed slightly at the news, looking down to dig his toe in the warm sand. It was not supposed to be the Drykas way, to leave one's family. Yet the Denusk could not chastise his new acquaintance for her decision, his own family was rife with members who left to pursue their own ways. After Tamar died, Van himself had left several times alone, trying to cope with her loss.

Still, her words inspired more questions. Living for a twin she never had?

At the piercing shrill of Zyah's whistle, her Strider left off his revelry in the shallow surf to return to her. Faithful he seemed, always nuzzling her, very close to Zyah's side most of the time. Van could see how the horse was more than her mount, he was a protector and guide.

"There is much to see in Riverfall, and care to be taken." Vanator urged caution with his tone. She would not be mistreated by the Akalak, but he was not sure how they would take to her blindness. "If you need assistance, I can help you find a place to stay. Do you plan on staying long, or just a short visit?" Vanator had ceased to raise his hand to sign as he spoke, breaking the habit that was useless as he conversed with the woman.

Sirocco, as if to appear as loyal as the woman's Strider, trotted back towards Vanator, snorting, brushing his nose against the man's muscular arm before lowering his head to nip as some clumps of sea grass.