[Temple of Laviku] Secrets Within Secrets (Edreina)

[Ignotus Everto]

49th of Fall, 513AV

Ignotus Everto could not be described as a particularly religious man. But that didn't mean he wasn't sometimes thankful. Laviku was still technically his God, and though he and Sagallius shared a bond, albeit a small one, the Sea King was still the deity he grew up with. Besides, the ocean deserved a little respect. The Nuit was sitting quietly on a bench facing Laviku's portrait, hands clasped together, and a faint smile on his face. The prayer was a short and simple one. Minor thanks for a mild shore, and good fortune for fishermen. Ignotus' world had been long removed from the sea, but he could still be happy that his people weren't hungry. It was really quite nice of Laviku to do that.

Oh, and not filling the Labyrinth of Time with water while he and Wrenmae were in it. That was also quite nice of him. This was not a very long prayer. The wizard had to confess, he felt a touch out of place, with foreign gnosis marks and a life bound to land. Those around him had much more to be grateful about. Their connections to Laviku were most definitely closer. Petch, some of them were absolutely rabid...

[Edreina]

Since coming to Zeltiva, Edreina had gazed upon the towering white Temple of Laviku with barely contained wonder. Long, freckled fingers trembled gently as she lay them upon one of the enormous raw coral pillars that lined the entrance of the temple. Simply standing there, fingers tracing over the lines in the coral stone left by creatures long dead, she felt at home...

The scent of the ocean danced through her hair, fingertips of air raising fine goosebumps across her honeyed skin. Gulls and Avikki cried in high, harsh voices, heralding her approach. Each time she crested a wave, her boat leapt before crashing back down onto the rolling surface of the Suvan, sending a salty spray into the whirling air that was quickly intoxicating Edreina. She could hear her people, their laughs and their voices like music. White sails more grand than the walls of any fortress were awaiting her. They flapped and billowed like arms waving her forward, urging her closer.

How long had it been since she had seen her home? Had set foot upon the smooth boarded decks of the Anchorage Flotilla? The chunk of coral in her hand carried more weight, a memento of her adventures she would soon be giving to her father. The sight of him grinning and pouring over a stone, proclaiming what had made its home and lived its life upon the porous surface was always a treat to Edreina. It was from him that she had inherited her love of caves and of the stones of the sea. Together they would gush about the beauty of a Suvan-worn coastline, while Surai... Surai would just sit and watch them, as would their mother were she around.

The life of a Svefra was liquid in every sense. People came and went, days passed, the ocean turned. But, her father and her brother were always figures she could rely upon, like the great pillars left untouched while their kin fell to time and to pounding waves...

Until now...

The thought snapped Edreina from her reverie. The stone in her hand had not been pried from an old reef; the salt in the air did not belong to the Suvan; the chattering of Fratavan wafting up from the docks did not belong to her people. Svefra they may have been but they were so different from those that inhabited the Anchorage. Had it truly been two seasons since she was last home?

The woman, so far from home and all that she knew, sighed and stepped into the Temple.

Immediately, she was overcome by a sense of awe. It was nearly impossible for her to refrain from dropping to her knees at the sheer strength that pervaded each and every surface. It was hard not to gaze up at the Temple's high ceiling and be anything but reminded of how small and insignificant one was when compared to the Sea Father. And this was all before she was fully able to take in the murals.

Color assaulted her senses, transcending sight until she heard the motion of the waves depicted, the thunder in the clouds, until she smelled the breeze dancing across the depicted surfaces, and until the electricity in the deep gray masses caused the finest haired on her dappled skin to rise like thousands of tiny zealots paying homage to their chief deity.

And then, finally, her eyes fell upon the portrait of Laviku himself. Unlike many of her brethren, Edreina had never been blessed with a visit from the Father and the gift of his second mark. And so, this was likely as close to the face of Laviku she was ever to come. His eyes held a humbling energy, like that of a looming hurricane, but the gentle crinkling around his eyes reminded her that, despite his fierce power, he was still Father to the Svefra. At this point, Edreina did fall to her knees, hands moving in a quick Fratavan gesture that touched her forehead and then her chest.

"By your glory and your might, Father Laviku..." she whispered in lilting Fratavan. "May my journeys yet to come be blessed. By the fury of your storms and the strength of your tides," her voice caught, overwhelmed by the power emitted by the temple itself. In that simple building, she abruptly felt as if she had been granted an Avikki to the throne of Laviku himself. "May I have the strength to face all obstacles..." She trailed off finally, a small smile gracing her lips. Her journey was not yet over, she knew, nor were her troubles - a certain pierced, brown-skinned face came to mind. But, something about the prayer uttered gave her soul a sense of peace.

[Ignotus Everto]

And hello, rabid... Funny he should meet the fire girl here. Funny... Or a sign? Whatever it was, it would really be criminal not to speak with her again.
"You too, an observer?" inquired a familiar voice behind Edreina. Ignotus was sitting right behind her, a faint twinkle in his eyes and a barely suppressed grin on his lips. "Fancy seeing you again, Edreina Whitewave."

[Edreina]

A startled cry escaped Edreina's lips before she could rein it in; her body twitched awkwardly, causing her to spin in place and fall from her knees to her rear end. A hand flew to her mouth, covering it so that no more sound would escape. Obviously, any more sound was converted into color and decided to take up lodging within her cheeks. "By Laviku's saggy balls!" Some dirty looks were surely sent her way for the ill-placed exclamation as she recognized the one who had managed to surprise her. "Interrupting prayer is very rude," blue eyes narrowed in mock-criticism, "and can be incredibly traumatic, as you've seen." The visage shattered beneath the force of a radiant grin as the young woman collected herself, rising to her feet and attempting to brush humiliation from her pant legs.

Slim, freckled arms were crossed over a bare midsection. In her journey across the continent, the Svefra had managed to blend the pant-wearing customs of those who dwelt on dirt with the nearly nude customs of those who sailed the seas. Leather riding pants were tucked into knee-high riding boots and the mounds that marked her maidenhood were obscured by her normal linen bindings; such was far better than the dress and skirt she had thought herself expected to wear. Then again, fewer people looked at her twice these days; a very different Edreina strode the earth than the one who had returned to the Anchorage two seasons past. This one had a black tattoo slashing down the side of her stomach! And scars! And a leather whip with metal teeth curled upon her hip! Oh, and she had cut her hair! The only thing that was the same, she had realized, was her smile and insatiable need to learn new things.

[Ignotus Everto]

The girl's colorful choice of epitaph elicited a raised eyebrow from Ignotus, as did the number of... Other things. A whip, scars, and some sort of elongated starburst. The mark on the woman's throat was especially intriguing. One only got a scar like that from a blade, and for it to be there... Had someone tried to take her life? It wasn't jagged, so clearly it wasn't a haphazard slash. No, whoever held that knife was able to take their sweet time.

The wizard was shaken out of his analysis by Edreina speaking. It was then that he realized he had been staring at her neck. Nuit didn't blush, of course, but he still didn't much like getting lost in thought. It dulled the senses. "Nothing you can't handle, I imagine." Ignotus said in response to the remark on traumatic prayer interruption. "Besides," he added with a wry smile, "You looked like you were finished."

[Edreina]

"Oh?" His smile was imitated with a more open one of her own as she sniffed out the opportunity to crack a joke at his expense. "And you would know what a woman looks like when she is finished?" Wording was everything afterall, and she was still sore over the fact that he was able to scare her so easily. Getting lost in prayer was not something she was accustomed to. Every once in awhile, she would mutter a quick "Thank you" or something of the like in the Sea God's name. This time, she had been knocked senseless by the sheer aura of the Temple itself. It was embarrassing and she would not allow Ignotus to get the jump on her again.

[Ignotus Everto]

"I would hope so- otherwise I'm in trouble." was the reply. Ignotus' attention soon turned back to that scar of hers. Perhaps it was a touch rude to pry, but the Nuit wanted to know the circumstances behind such a telling one. The walking stick he often carried with him drifted up to touch lightly against Edreina's collar. "I know what a woman who narrowly avoided a slit throat looks like."

The Hypnotist crossed his legs and let the cane fall back to its old position. "I don't, however, know why she would have to." His brow was creased slightly, and a faint Hypnotic nudge was telling the Svefra's subconscious that it was all right to speak on the matter. Wouldn't do for her to stonewall, now would it?

[Edreina]

At the mention of her scar along with the pressure of the cane upon her collar, Edreina was reminded of the circumstances under which such a wound had been dealt. She actually had not expected the slim wound do leave any sort of scar, but the pale white line was a start reminder of how close her life had come to ending that night. The funnier part was that the scar on her neck was not the marker of how chilled she had been by the proximity of Dira's veiled hands.

While Edreina did not know the Ignotus was a Hypnotist, he did not know that his efforts were wasted upon her. Dodging so simple a question was not in the Svefra's nature. She saw no need to worry over hidden agendas in the words of Ignotus; he had already saved her life, what did he have to gain here? "I travel with a Myrian named Razkar." The details of their relationship were known only to those that shared a wall with the vibrant young couple, so Edreina had found herself slipping back into the guise they had worn while traveling to Zeltiva. Despite the fact that she trusted Ignotus, to the degree that she would trust any acquaintance, she had learned from Razkar that some things were best kept a secret. Well, learning it from Razkar was a shade general. She had actually been made aware of this ugly truth in the same moment as the scar had appeared upon her neck.

"He was stealing business and repute from some local mercenaries and, when they came looking to exact their vengeance, I happened to be in the wrong place entirely. Razkar is not one to go down easily and he, to put it mildly, angered my captor to the point that he was not entirely aware of the amount of pressure he was exerting upon my neck with his knife." A shrug of the shoulders ended her tale, and a smile reclaimed her lips an instant later. Lingering upon the ugly moments in life was not something she preferred to do and that night was, by far, the ugliest she knew.

[Ignotus Everto]

Sadly, Edreina wasn't a very good secret-keeper. While she didn't explicitly mention her relationship with the Myrian, she provided all the information Ignotus needed to put the pieces together himself. After all, why else would one try to harm what seemed to be a very vicious warrior through her? "Oh, my poor Edreina!" exclaimed the Nuit, "How that must have hurt!"

Though he was feigning most of his concern, there was something that struck a chord in the wizard. He was familiar with attacking the man through those closest to him. But that was a different man, from a different time. Nothing could hurt him now.
There was, however, a betrayal of emotion. A small slip of the mask. A brief flicker of something darker in Ignotus' eyes. One that was soon gone. "It's good to see that it's not a burden on you, though." he said happily. "Though the strength of one who leaps into burning houses for strangers is self-evident. I suppose you met Razkar in a similar way?"

[Edreina]

At the strange man's exclamation, Edreina actually rolled her eyes but refrained from uttering the words that bit at her lips. It was not as if she had been in the position to notice the bite of a blade, not with everything else that was going on. Gods, Edreina did not even remember the pain of Razkar's gladius piercing her skin, only the warmth of her blood spilling out and the cold that lingered in her bones for days after.

"There is little that burdens me," the Svefra admitted a touch sheepishly. So often she was chastised for how quickly she would flit from one subject to the next, lingering on a trouble for only a breath. There was no need, she felt, to waste her time mourning or regretting what was now out of her control. His next statement allowed a rosy blush to creep across her high, freckled cheeks. Again she felt the urge to remind him that it was nothing and that she had only done what was necessary. But, that would be like beating a limp sail in hopes that the wind of the blow would propel your ship forward. Slowly, she was reconciling with the fact that her thoughts followed a current different than that of the average land-strider. "I actually met Razkar on the Anchorage Flotilla, my home and that of every other Suvan Svefra. He was stopping there on his way to Syliras. I realized that there was much he could teach me and all but demanded to go along and be his apprentice." The story was, admittedly, a touch warped, but it was what they had decided on when conceiving the apprentice ruse.

The Svefra was not one who liked to talk about herself; there was nothing for her to learn from such. So, she quickly shifted the subject back towards Ignotus, hoping to learn a bit about the man that had cleared her lungs after the fire. "What brought you to the Temple today?" Edreina resisted the urge to imbue her words with a touch of Hypnotism, still unaccustomed to the possibility of influencing another's decision as to whether or not they should respond and to what degree through the use of anything other than her charm.