Flashback [The Hymnal Caverns] History lessons and Adventuring

[Delani Denusk]

"I don't know." The child said in awe as she looked up at the fungi. The luminescence was hypnotic and Dela couldn't help reaching up to the tables that clung to the wall in thick clusters, curious to what they were exactly. They had a moist, earthy smell, that reminded the girl of mushrooms. Anchor-points of the shelfs practically covered the wall where the clusters were thickest, hiding the old stone and sea-carved cave from better examination. Except in one spot.

It was about eye-level to Dela who approached it and reached out to touch the cool rockface. The clear patch was surrounded by the molds, as if whatever had touched the spot before had discouraged further growth. She couldn't have known why that was, of course, for her interest lay in the image that was etched upon the spot in long-left alone charcoal. "Hey, Vanny lookit." She traced a finger slowly, following the contours in a studious way. When she removed her finger, however, no streak was left, no smudge on the stone made.

The image was simple, really. A charcoal sketch of a figure with radiant lines branching away from it. Beneath the figure was a what looked like a trail, or a cliff maybe with a hole in it and more tiny flecks coming from that hole. Dela tilted her head, wondering at the figures and what they could mean. She touched the figure with the sun-lines around its head and speculated to him, looking up at her cousin. "Looks like Syna, doesn't it?" She tapped the cave/hole and specks coming from it. "But what's that? It looks like something coming out of the ground..."

There was a reason Malkar had brought his daughter and her cousin out this way. The Ankals brother had a love for knowledge and history. His inquisitive nature had been passed on to his only child and, though duty often saw him away from the pavillion to run scout-trails, he always tried to full her curiosity so that she could understand the world better as she grew. And one of the best lessons he could teach her at this age was how the Drykas came to be in the sea of grass and the importance of these caverns and caves by the sea. The children could not see him standing at the entrance, listening to the soft echo of their voices, waiting patiently for one of their curiosities to rise high enough to simply ask the questions he knew would come. He knew of the picture in the cave, something he'd stumbled upon as well when he had been a child himself and one of his relatives (not his departed father, though; he was a proud man who did not favor knowledge above other talents) had brought him too to the caves for a similar lesson. Dela was getting close, though, Malkar could sense it.

Though still curious of the sketch, Delani turned her attention back to the glowing fungi. She had enough interest now to want to investigate the molds and without hesitating, the child pulled one (grunting as she did so) free of the wall. It was thick, she realized first. Or was it dense? Was there a difference? Dela didn't yet know as her fingers explored the striated top. The teal and black shade created a pretty melody of colors that was amplified by the luminescent quality. The rich, earthy scent was equally pleasant, while the underside of the fungus made her think of rock moss, soft and springy. The wonderful odor made her think of Semele in all her gemstone beauty. But why cast it in the darkness of a cave?

Dela brought the fungus up to her nose and closed her eyes as she smelled it, drinking in the pleasant aroma with a childish smile. "Vanny, it smells like Semele. I wonder what it tastes like..." She didn't hesitate to bring it to her lips and take a bite! Chomp! Nobody ever said knowledge wasn't gained without risk.

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[Vanator]

The young Denusk heir stepped up behind Delani to examine the curiously bare section of rock. The strange glowing fungus surrounding the stone cast an eerie light on the primitive markings, as if to illuminate them for the children. Vanator leaned over his shorter cousin, squinting at the figure and the strange designs, his own finger reaching out to touch the ancient art.

"I suppose it could be Syna." He added, almost offhand. "But I don't know what that is," pointing to the path and the speck-spitting hole. The images were almost mystical, leaving their meaning and intention a mystery. "Who would put it here, where no one can find it, and why does it look like something a kid, or you, would draw?"

The boy's examination of the cave drawings drew his attention away from Delani, who had turned her interest to the luminous fungus. He inhaled deeply, agreeing that it did smell rich, unlike the entrance to the caverns. The whole place took on an atmosphere that was nearly supernatural. It slightly unnerved the boy. Not until the girl spoke to him again did Vanator turn to see the mushroom-thing in her hand. His eyes widened in horror as he watched his cousin sink her small teeth into the fungus and bit off a chunk.

"NO!" Vanator yelled at her, batting the fungal shelf from her hand, grabbing fistful of her tawny hair in one hand and shoving his fingers into her mouth, trying to scrape out the mushroom. "Are you crazy, that might be poisonous! It glows for Caiyha's sake! Your father should be in here, to see this, and to give you a whooping for being so foolish. "

[Delani Denusk]

"I do not draw like that!" She said scornfully, glaring at him before taking a bite from the growth. But no sooner had a bite been taken from it than her cousin had swatted it quickly from her hands, shouting in disapproval.

"Hey!" Dela shouted back, looking at the forlorn bit of fungi before her lips closed and tongue got a good taste of what she'd bitten off. "Oh!" It was not dismay or pain or disgust, but genuine surprise. The earth-scented morsel was not toxic of taste, and certainly didn't make the child's skin glow, but it fulfilled a surprising hunger! She quickly reached for another from the wall and shoved it up to Van's mouth. "You must try it! It tastes like the those brown mushrooms with the big gills mommy puts in dinner sometimes! It's really yummy, Vanny!" Whether he took a bite or not, Dela was already chomping again, calling back to the entrance with a mouthful of the stuff now.

"Daddy, daddy! There's food back here!"

Malkar must have expected this for his merry laughter echoed through the cave to them. "Come out here, kids, and bring a handful each of you. I'll explain on the way back to camp."

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[Vanator]

The young Vanator's valiant effort to keep his cousin from poisoning herself had failed, Delani retaining a bite of the strange fungus even as Van had knocked it out of her hand. He watched in a wide-eyed tentative horror as she chewed, but she did not choke or gag, or even grimace. In fact, the girl's face brightened along with her eyes. She deftly snagged another low hanging fungus shelf from the wall and thrust it at Vanator's face. He grabbed her by her slim wrist, taking the hunk of glowing stuff from her hand.

"Dela, this stuff will probably make your poop glow, and everyone will know where you went." He scolded. But his ill words were clipped short by the sound of his uncle's voice, responding to his elated daughter. Malkar did not seemed concerned that Dela was eating the fungus, even insisting they gather more. Van hesitantly lifted the shelf to his mouth, taking off a small bite. His cousin was right, it tasted like the mushrooms their mothers used in cooking. Van then heartily chomped on the fungus, shoving his mouth full before helping yank some more from the walls until his arms were full and he made his way back out to the cave entrance, looking over his shoulder to make sure Delani was following.

"Look what we found!" Vanator announced proudly, as if he had anything to do with the discovery that the fungus was edible. "And there is a weird drawing on the wall. Have you ever seen drawings on cave walls, Uncle?"

[Delani Denusk]

After taking another hearty bite from the shelf she had, the girl stuck her tongue out at her cousin and said, "If mine does, so will yours. Don't be such a piss-mist!" Dela countered on. It was an awful big word for her to know, and her pronunciation of it was awfully off besides.

Then her father was calling and likewise, the girl began collecting some of the fungi from the wallface, looking at the funny drawing only in passing once more before following her relative out. She was just about to show Malkar what they'd found when Van spoke up first, as if he'd been the one to make this profound discovery of edible cave mold. "Hey!" The child declared, dropping a few of the pieces in order to give him a half-shove. "I was gonna show'm! Daddy, they taste like what mommy puts in dinner sometimes."

The man beamed at the two and reached to take the stuff from his daughter first. "They are very like them, darling." He gestured for her to sit on the edge and scoot down carefully. He told Van to do the same before he followed the kids down and began to lead them back up the trail to the waiting camp. "You see, a very long time ago, these caves provided shelter to the Drykas during a time of great trouble. We hid as the world was ravaged. Storms of such immensity, even Zulrav would quaver!" Malkar explained, exmaining the fungus shelves that had been collected.

"The storms changed the surface of Mizahar forever from what it once had been, creating the lands we know of today." The scout continued. "Taldera, a land of ice and snow; Kalea, the land where sky meets land in mountains higher than you could climb; Syliras, home of the knight order and our immediate neighbors to the north; Falyndar, a place of dense jungles lies to the west; and Eyktol to the south, sometimes called the burning lands. This is what was created as the gods raged and the storms ravaged everything. Our ancestors waited in the caves beneath Cyphrus and the Sea of Grass, riding out this period of devastation. It was discovered quickly that the molds that grew in the caves were actually edible!" They crested the trail and came in sight of the camp, the striders that were with some grazing peacefully ahead. The lowering of Syna had begun to paint the land red and gold; but the horses were lying in shadow. One of the mounts was being rubbed down by its rider, dust pulled from its fine coat. It gave off a faint glow, a gentle luminescent barely visible in the fading light. "Not only did these shelves which you two found provide sustenance, but lichens and cave-plants in vast underground lakes helped sustain our ancestors for nearly two hundred years. It affected our horses as well." He nodded to the horse being groomed.

"They began to glow. As for the painting, well...that is mine, actually." The older man grinned to the kids. "My your great grandfather brought me here as well when I was your age, Vanator, and he showed me that cave, too. He told me the history of the Drykas, how we survived the Valterrian by eating the lichens, fungus, and lake-plants found in the caves. He taught me the importance of remembering our heritage and the gifts the gods give us. I wished to remember it better for the future and left my own mark so that others, in time, would remember the generations that have come and gone. That is why I brought you here, kids. Remember your heritage and give thanks. I want you both to make a sacrifice in the morning. We will return to that cave and you will both give back to Semele what she gave to us. Plan well and pray well, and take these to the cook; he'll add them to the dinner for tonight."

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[Vanator]

Vanator obeyed his uncle, giving over his armload of fungus, restraining himself from retaliating against Dela for shoving him, at least for the moment. Van accepted Malkar's help from the ledge in a marginal manner, needing it but not wanting to appear as if he did. He was the Ankal's heir, after all, and shouldn't need the help.

As the trio meandered along the seaside trail and back towards camp, Uncle Malkar captured young Vanator's attention. He had never really heard the tale that his uncle told, and he found it fascinating and horrifying that the horseclans had to hide in caves and tunnels for so long. How could storms be so strong that they changed the very land itself? Were the gods at war, to rip it apart? The places Malkar spoke of were unfamiliar for the most part, the children's education focused more on practical skills that the pavilion needed to survived. What would the Kalean mountains look like? He had never seen mountains. What would the Falyndarian jungles be like? He had only been in small copses of trees. Syliran knights, with their armored horses...how could they ride with any speed like that? Burning lands, frozen places, it all sounded mythical. But certainly, if his uncle said they existed, then they did. The youth was a bit disappointed to learn that the cave drawings were made by Malkar, and not from those ancestors who had to hide underground.

As the camp came into view, the collection of tents already erected, evening meal fires burning, Vanator's stomach grumbled. But once again, the older Denusk drew his attention away. They were to make a sacrifice the next day to Semele, in the cave. Vanator wondered what they would offer, and how he would pray to the Mother that night.

Finally, Malkar released the children to deliver the fungus, and Vantor took an armload from his uncle. He dashed towards the main cooking fires, wanting to beat his cousin to the cook. He dropped several of the mushroom-like shelves, and had to stop to gather them again before taking off again. His delay brought him to the cooking fires about the same time as Delani.

"Look what I..." Van glanced over to his younger cousin, "...what we found! Malkar said to cook them with dinner."

The foodstuffs were dropped in a pile near the pots, and Vanator turned to Delani. "Your dad knows a lot about history and stuff. Maybe that's why all you care about is learning about things." He gave her a playful shove. "That's not always a bad thing." Vanator revealed his hand, clutching one of the strange fungi. He broke it in half and gave one chunk to his cousin while he started to shove the other into his mouth.

[Delani Denusk]

"That's not all I care about, Vanny. I like the horses, too. And the grasses. It'd be really neat to get up high and look over it all some time, you know, like the birds do? I could see forever and ever then!" This said as she handed over her haul. Then, while the teams dinners were being readied, Dela went to watch the men working with the horses. "What about you, Vanny? You like brawling with Akela and stuff." She teased lightly.

The dialogue would wane as the adults slowly began to gather, Delani summoned by her father then so that the meal could be shared together while Van was invited to sit with them, too. There would be talk of the days travel and the ease of passage along the trails; some talked of the jackals and wild dogs that had been observed ahead or behind, scouting their trail for snacks that could be found; the older riders discussed the hunt for tomorrow while the youngers proposed they go fishing at one of the creeks nearby. Malkar entertained the two youngest Denusks with old legends of Riders from generations past. He told them of the first Strider, a story that all Drykas knew and were taught at a young age. He told them a few scary stories of Zith coming to carry little Drykas away if they did not mind their parents. And as the fire began to lessen and the adults began to move on to more grown up talk. It was time for the kids to get to bet.

Delani's father reminded them both to have a sacrifice ready in the morning for Semele. He would wake them early so they could visit the cave again. His daughter was already on the verge of falling asleep and he smoothly lifted her from the stone she'd been sitting on to carry her to the tents. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder, sighing tiredly.

"Now, Vanator, remember to think hard on what you wish to give back; the gods are always listening." He clapped his nephew supportively on his shoulder and then pulled the flap aside to let him in. Afterwards, he followed and laid his child upon her bed roll, kissing her gently on the forehead. "Goodnight, you two. May Nysel keep your dreams sweet."

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As dawn crept over the horizon, Delani was up and at'em, dressed and peeking out of the tent to watch the sun rise over the horizon. The fire had died out in the dinner pit and only the glows of the fires surrounding the encampment to ward off glassbeaks were lit. Chewing her cheek, the child hurried out to the firepit and stared at the still hot coals. What would Semele enjoy as a sacrifice? Her first thought was for something from the earth, but that seemed silly. Then, she thought of coals; they were and weren't part of the earth. They came from trees that were burned down. What if she gave her some coal?

Her naivete was the best she could do as she reached for a stick on the edge of the pit and pulled a few especially large pieces out, kicking dirt over them to further cool them. It would have to do. Were the others up yet?

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[Vanator]

Malkar was a fine storyteller, at least in the young Vanator's eyes, and a pavilion historian of sorts. As Eachann taught his son about riding and responsibility and leadership, it was Malkar that schooled the heir on matters of Drykas culture and heritage. Even after his uncle's unnerving stories of the Zith, Van felt his eyelids grow heavy after the full day. Reluctantly, he followed the older Denusk into the tent, where he crawled into a bed roll, Malkar laying the sleeping Delani next to him. When she was unconscious, his cousin looked almost angelic, Van thought, a dirty one, with dust smudges on her face. But soon enough, morning would come, and Dela would start talking again and ruin the serenity. Still, he admitted only to himself, he really did like her.

Morning. Malkar had insisted the children take sacrifices to the cave for Semele in the morning. Vanator stared up at the heavy fabric roof over him, only faintly visible in the meager fire light that slipped around the tent flap. What would he offer? What could a boy with few belongings have that meant anything to The Mother? Vanator drifted off to sleep pondering the question.

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The sounds of the early risers stirring around camp aroused the boy from his sleep. Looking over, he noticed Delani's bedroll was empty. With a yawn and a stretch, Van slipped from is blankets and tugged on his boots. Pulling back the tent flap, he stepped out into the misty morning, the sun already burning off the moisture. Delani was digging through the fire pit.

"Coal? You are going to offer Semele coal? Not yet fully awakened, and too often not giving his perceptive cousin credit, Vanator shrugged off her sacrifice as silly. Still, he had none. What of value did he have? Nothing, nothing that had value to anyone else. But, he did have things that were of value to him. Wasn't that what a sacrifice was about?

A thought struck him. Reaching his fingers behind his belt, the pre-teen pulled out a folded piece of soft leather. Van did not open it up, but he looked at it and nodded in resolution. He knew what he would offer. Carefully, he tucked the piece of leather back into his belt.

[Delani Denusk]

Young and naive, the girl couldn't know what was yet right and what was not when it came to sacrifices. It was part of the lesson. When Van startled her, the piece of coal was dropped and Delani gave a yelp, jumping and turning to stare at her cousin before scowling and sticking her tongue out at him. "Yea well, at least I have something." It was the best she could come back at him with.

Turning back to her sacrifice, she scooped it carefully back up and held it carefully once more in her hands. About that time, Malkar appeared, dressed and ready. He stretched long and went around the tent to check on his horse before coming back and calling the kids over. "Okay you two, come on."

Delani squealed in delight and hurried to her father, holding up her hands to him for evaluation and grinning from ear to ear. The older man gave her head a stroke and then looked to the heir and likewise smiled approvingly. Then the lesson began as he led the two off to the path leading to the caves.

"Semele gave Mizahar life." He began, taking care to lead them along the part of the path safest for both kids. "Or rather, she gave life a place to live. She works hand in hand with Ivak to craft the earth and stone while Zulrav changes her surface as he sees fit. She is a goddess of beauty and strength. You should count yourself blessed should ever Semele come to you for she favors those who tend her and respect her work. They reached the first set of caves and he gestured inside. "These caves are as much her blessing as they are Laviku's to the Drykas. Were it not for her softening the stone, Laviku could not have worn it away and provided your ancestors with a place to shelter when the old storms ran rampant. We're going to go into the biggest one here. You two are going to place your sacrifices on the ground and give Semele a prayer."

Malkar squeezed both of their shoulders and urged them forwards to the great opening of one of the larger caves.

Once inside, he let them move ahead further if they wished but stayed back, watching for the most part, saying only, "And remember, a prayer is as much one of reverence as it is a request. The gods are always listening, kids; just pray from your hearts." And with that, he let them be, watching quietly.

Delani moved ahead as urged and knelt, looking at the coal in her hand with reverent curiosity. It was such a simple thing, but it was so interesting! That Semele had made this was fascinating to the girl and she wondered what the earth goddess would think of her tree-wrought sacrifice. At last, the item was set before her and her hands knit together afterwards as she bowed her head and began to pray in what she felt was right.

"Dear Semele, please take this sacrifice. I picked it just for you like daddy told me. I hope you like it, eventhough it's kinda dirty and made my fingers turn black. Oh, and take Vanny's too! I'm sure he thought really really hard on his and that it's really good too. Uhm...Thank you!" When her prayer was over, Delani kept her head bowed and eyes closed, like a child waiting for a present. She didn't know what to expect!

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