Completed Ceira's Story (Ceira)

[Tsaba]

Tsaba didn't interrupt Ceira's story. She waited until the woman stopped speaking and dutifully recorded everything that she said. IT took an odd kind of person, in Tsaba's opinion, to look at something so ridiculously dangerous and declare it to be their favourite place in the entire world. Tsaba tended to think of 'deadly' as bad, but then, she'd seen her fair share of people die in a healer's hut from everything from cave-in to infection to hypothermia, and she'd seen their loved ones hold their hands and cry, have to be dragged away. She'd done it herself, a long time ago. Too long ago to remember all that well, or care about any more. And the joy, the exhilaration in Ceria's eyes and voice as she spoke of her brush with death... Tsaba had seen such a thing, in the eyes of children who had never faced true danger, or people telling the stories of great legends fighting terrible monsters. Not stories of their own lives. But then, Tsaba hadn't heard many people detail their own close encounters. Perhaps that was how living people reacted to danger. Perhaps she had forgotten. "Do you get injured often, in your travels? Are you afraid of dying on the road?"

[Ceira Everwood]

39th Day of Summer, 513 AV The small tidbits of food Tsaba had placed out onto the table when they first started the interview was slowly dwindling. Ceira was the main cause for this - ok, she was the cause for why the food was being devoured bit by bit. What can I say? I like my food and Tsaba has chosen well. Sometime during the conversation, she had turned to lean against the wall and she could now survey the room. It wasn't as full as she expected it to be, which was a relief, but it wasn't peak time yet it still had time to fill up. Ceira watched as a sailor walked in, making a beeline for the bar - and the Kelp Beer. I still cannot believe people drink that... That gunk! She eyed Tsaba's mug, trying not to smell it, though the faint vestiges of salt and kelp reached her sensitive nose and she shrunk away slightly. "Do you get injured often, in your travels?" "Erm..." Ceira didn't know what to say to this, though Tsaba brought up a good question that she never really thought about. Actually, there seems to be alot of things I haven't given a look at... "Well, I guess I do a little. Not so much by the travelling part, more from people or things you encounter whilst travelling. Did I mention that just the other night I was minding my own business when, out of nowhere, some sort of lead bullet hit me in the rump? Shocking..." Ceira gave Tsaba a knowing look, sharing their inside joke once more. "Though, I hurt myself more than anything - I'm about as clumsy as they get. But I have been trying to be less uncoordinated... Not that it's helping. She decided not to talk about her other injuries, like the thin and faint scars that were situated on her back, for that was also a taboo topic for her. "Are you afraid of dying on the road?" "Yes." This time, Ceira didn't hesitate to answer. "I am indeed scared of dying, I would be somewhat petching stupid not to be, thats for sure!" Her tone rose a little at the end, but she controlled it once more, lowering it to suit the distance between Tsaba and herself. "Though i'm not as afraid of death as much as I fear what will be left behind if I die. Life, is wonderful. You have family, friends and all manner of people that you are forced to leave behind when you die. Sights, sounds, experiences and memories will vanish and fade out when you die. Its scary to think of all the ways life will stop for you, the meaning dying out with you. Whats worse is that other's may miss you, mourn you. So I fear what my passing would do to them as well." Ceira drew patterns on the table as she said this, thinking of a way she could sum it all up for Tsaba in one clear-cut statement. "Essentially, I'm afraid of dying. But I mostly fear what the consequences of my death will have in this world - however insignificant it may be."

[Tsaba]

I'm not as afraid of death as much as I fear what will be left behind if I die. Life, is wonderful. You have family, friends and all manner of people that you are forced to leave behind when you die. Sights, sounds, experiences and memories will vanish and fade out when you die. Its scary to think of all the ways life will stop for you, the meaning dying out with you. Whats worse is that others may miss you, mourn you. So I fear what my passing would do to them as well. Tsaba became aware that she had stopped writing. She forced herself to push on, to complete the speech on paper. Every word felt like a lie. No... a confession. Tsaba was ninety-three years old. Tsaba's mother had died when she was four. Her father had died when she was six. Her sister had died when she was eighteen. The girl with the strawberry-blonde hair who she'd kissed behind the inn that one time had died when she was sixteen. The man who used to rub her head and call her "scamp" had died when she was thirteen. She didn't know when the old innkeeper had died, or the woman with one leg who paid the healer in pies, or the boy whose broken arm she'd reset, or the young man they'd held back from the brink of death for four days as he fought infection, only for him to walk out of the healer's hut alive. She didn't know how old she'd been, because she'd left beforehand. But they were dead. She knew that, because she had been a child at the time. And so much time had passed. She had died. And she had put down new roots with dead people, people who didn't care, whose lives her leaving Sahova had had no impact upon. Only her foster father was left. And he was so old... did he really care either? Perhaps that was the true reason that she had returned to the mainland. Perhaps she hoped that even after death, she could be meaningful to somebody. That she could help somebody. That there was something to fear by complete and total death. That the was some reason not to simply bleed her ichor into the dirt, some reason beyond apathy and narcissism. The smell of kelp beer stung her nose, and reminded her of the last time she'd ordered the stuff and attempted a foolish, dangerous experiment. She'd known that it was foolish and dangerous at the time. Why had she done it? Had she, on some level, wanted a fatal accident to take place? Why hadn't she cared more for her own safety? Tsaba went to swallow around the lump in her throat. But of course she didn't swallow. Not any more. "How long," she said quietly, "do Kelvics live?"

[Ceira Everwood]

39th Day of Summer, 513 AV What Tsaba didn't realise is that whilst she had been conversing and interviewing Ceira, she too had been studying the Nuit. She didn't miss the break in concentration, nor did she miss the pause and the strain she placed on herself as she continued to write. It seemed that Tsaba wasn't putting anything into her writing, instead every stroke of her quill seemed forced, like there was some added weight that had been placed onto it. What happened? Ceir was, to say the least, confused. Tsaba had seemed fine ealier in the afternoon, but that had changed in moments - though little did she realise that it was because of her own answer. "How long, do Kelvics live?" Ceira's head shot up at the question. Where did this come from? Why was she even thinking about these sorts of things? Frowning once more, she tried to think of an answer. I age a lot faster than most... A good few years within one proper year. Giving Tsaba a sidelong glance, she wondered again what was going through the Nuit's mind in order to ask such a question. Though the other girl looked deep in thought, almost like she was daydreaming, if it wasn't for the nervous and sad look on her face. Even so, she went so answer the question. "I'm not sure exactly. I haven't met a great deal of Kelvics at all whilst on my travels. Though, I do know one thing - We age quicker than normal." Shooting the floor with a dark stare, she felt insecurity bubble towards the surface once more. "Believe it or not, I am currently around two and a half years old, but here I am, looking like a young adult. So I doubt we live for a great number of years, for us, life is even more fleeting. All the more reason to appreciate it whilst we have the chance." Ceira let out a grin face, not liking where this train of thought was leading to. "Why all this talk about death? I mean, I don't understand why you may talk about something so... morbid. And why are you looking like I just signed your death certificate?" It seemed to Ceira, that the tables had turned somewhat and the interviewer was now being asked the tough - not really - questions. Whilst waiting for a reply, she snagged the last piece of meat, though she still didn't know what it was, only that she liked the taste. "What is this anyways?"

[Tsaba]

"Two and a half years?" Suddenly, Tsaba was a lot more interested. From Arvan's personality and Ceira's childish treatment of her when they had met, she'd been operating on the assumption that Kelvics were, well, not very bright. But Ceira seemed approximately as capable as she herself was, and if she'd had less than three per cent of the time that Tsaba had to gather her knowledge and hone her skills... "The meat is known as venison," Tsaba explained. "It's game meat. It see,ed like the sort of thing you were trying to hunt, so..." she shrugged. "As for being morbid, well, I was mostly curious about the differences between us. I was raised by a healer. And thanks for answering my questions so well, by the way. I think we're just about done here. Just one more question... where do you intend to go next, and why?"

[Ceira Everwood]

39th Day of Summer, 513 AV Watching Ceira intently, she was a bit confused by Tsaba's reaction to her age. Why is she so shocked? I am two and a half years old... whats so bad about that? She decided that maybe the Nuit was just surprised at how young she actually was, even though she looked and spoke completely different to maybe a toddler of her age. Surveying the room once more, an uncertain look crossed her face she realised that the room was filling up quicker. From the small window at the front, she noticed that the sky was dimming, fading to dark as the night started to take over. Have we really been talking for that long? Time flies... "The meat is known as venison. It's game meat. It seemed like the sort of thing you were trying to hunt, so..." Ceira was brought back to the conversation as Tsaba informed her about the meat she had Huh. So thats what it is.. Venison. Ceira shrugged, she was fine to let t thinking that she probably wouldn't remember the name of it anyway, she wasn't fussy, as long as she could eat it and it tasted relatively fine, she didn't care - the result of this could be seen in the crumbs she had left on the table. "As for being morbid, well, I was mostly curious about the differences between us. I was raised by a healer." Ah, so she's curious as well... I guess maybe in that regard we're not so dissimilar after all. Being raised by a healer also explains a good deal as well. Not voicing her thoughts, she kept quiet shifting slightly only to make herself a little bit more comfortable on the rough wooden walls of the Kelp Bar. "And thanks for answering my questions so well, by the way. I think we're just about done here. Just one more question... where do you intend to go next, and why?" Ah, another difficult question. Once more, Ceira had no clue as what to say, she didn't think about these things beforehand, she was more of a spontaneous person, moving and doing things in the spur of the moment. "I'm not sure yet, I don't even know when I will leave Zeltiva either... As you probably noticed, I don't plan things." Frowning, which seemed to have been her favourite pastime for the past couple of hours, she continued her rambling. "For all I know, I may go anywhere. Zeltiva has alot of boats, they could take me somewhere else, then again I could always go by land... Sorry Tsaba, but I have no clue as of yet." Once more she felt bad about not being able to fully answer the question, but she was glad that it was the last thing Tsaba wanted to know. Her nerves were now acting up, she was constantly shifting around, her fingers were either tapping, flicking, moving, or doing something in order to keep her mind off the amount of people that were in the bar now. Right now they were fiddling with a piece of her auburn hair, twirling the end around her fingertips as she smiled at Tsaba. "So I guess this is the end of the interview?" Ceira stood up, a bit more abruptly than intended, though at the moment she ignored her own rudeness. "It was nice meeting you again Tsaba, I hoped I could have been of some service to you, though I'm sorry if I left any gaps in my answers." With a small nod and a smirk on her face, she started to make her way out of the bar, ignoring and avoided any of the other people in the bar whilst making a beeline towards the door.

[Tsaba]

Thank you, Ceira. this has been very informative." Tsaba gave the young woman a nod and started to pack up her things, although her mind was already wandering. Ceira was young. Short-lived. She was adventurous, in a hurry to explore what she could, while she could. But Tsaba... Tsaba would live for as long as she was lucky and careful. Why should she seize the day, when she had so many? Why should she value life, when it was so transient. Except... Except that wasn't right, was it? Longevity shouldn't be thought of as a curse. She was no more compelled to waste her time than a rich person was compelled to spend all their money. She should be able to fit more adventure into her life, not less. Tsaba walked out into the evening air and took a deep, completely unnecessary breath, filling her lungs with the sensation of air and her nose with the smell of fish. Unless her memories had been corrupted over time, she couldn't quite feel things like a human, detect sensations as well as a human... but did that matter, really? Was a blind person's life empty because they couldn't see? No. It was up to her to find life. It was up to her to find reasons. It was up to her to spread new roots, new connections. And when the living people she made those connections with ceased to exist, it was up to her to do it again. Anything less was a failure of willpower. Tsaba headed back towards the university. She had intended to learn from Ceira's stories, to delve into the minds of others and gather facts about the modern world. She had not considered that she would be learning from ceira's example.

[Abstract]

Tsaba

Skills

+ Investigation - 5
+ Socialization - 1
+ Philosophy - 1

Lores

+ Kelvics: Bonding is like a pull
+ Ciera's reasons for travelling
+ Ciera's favorite Location
+ Contemplating being a Nuit
+ Kelvics: Shorter Lifespans
+ An Interesting Interview...

Other:

Ciera

Skills

+ Observation - 1
+ Socialization - 2
+ Teaching - 2
+ Storytelling - 1
+ Philosophy - 1

Lores

+ Tsaba keeps her promises
+ Telling a life story
+ Tsaba is a healer's daughter

Other:


Notes

Tsaba... that entrance... the best Ceira, same thing. Mizahar never has enough mess-ups... Just a quick reminder, there are no weeks, or months, etc. in Mizahar! Otherwise, decent thread! Not much to give at some parts, honestly I could only really give Tsa investigation... but good anyways! Enjoy!

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this grade, please PM me and we can work it out!