Closed Ocean to Forest

[Lacerta]

Lacerta was glad her music helped, but quickly grew flustered as Kuvarakh began talking about theory. At first she understood, but the quick speaking and complicated explanations left her confused. She tried to take it all in, but was amazed at the Nuit's knowledge. She hadn't expected this. However, in an attempt to hide her misunderstanding, she simply nodding and made agreeable noises, every once in a while muttering "Yep." However, her confusion really took hold when he mentioned someone or something called 'Andrik', and started speaking even more jibberish than before. It was only then that the Eth finally let her confused expression go, staring at her companion with utter lack of understanding.

"Uhhh what?" she asked, utterly flabbergasted. Still, she let the conversation go, smiling at his excuse. "I don't mind... It was more than a little confusing, but..." She didn't finish the sentence, instead shrugging slightly hopelessly. Instead, she focused more on the next sentence post, trying to think on that. When had she gotten her flute? It had been a long, long time ago... very long.

"I... have no idea. Years, though. I honestly can't remember... it was too long ago..." She scowled into the instrument, trying to force the memory of buying it into her brain. However, it simply didn't come, and she gave Kuvarakh an apologetic smile.

OOCSorry for the short post

[Kuvarakh]

"Andrik was a classmate of mine. We had an accident that caused us to exchange some aspects of our personality and skills. I could actually play the lute for a short while, fairly well, in fact. But he an actual gig in town, so we hurried to reverse the effects...uh..."WE" being he and I, and the class professor, Feldorin. We did it through a transmutation that was a technical violation of University rules, as it involved live subjects, Andrik and I. Anyway, that's in the past. I was just surprised for a moment here to find myself rattling on about music theory."

They sat for a moment, Kuvarakh no longer feeling compelled to sew recriminations against the Nuit experience. He gave Lacerta a direct look, "Have you heard of some place here called the..."Springs of Visions"...or something like that? I've tried to find it a few times, but it seems to elude me. I asked a few of the Konti if they knew where it was, but they haven't been very helpful. Mostly they changed the subject, asking me why I was looking for it, where I had looked, or what was I hoping to see. I get the idea they don't really want me there, but don't necessarily have a law against it."

He shrugged, "A few offered to give me readings, which I gratefully accepted, but it didn't really show anything. It was peculiar, though, a kind of a hazy montage of images, of a city, but I'm not sure which one, or ones, plural, it was. The landscape never seemed to change, but the city itself did, sort of shuffled the positions of some of the buildings around. I've been trying to see if the gods have any particular destination or goal for me. That's why I wanted to look in the pool, or drink from it, or whatever you do. As well, to see if I have disrupted my rebirth cycle by becoming a Nuit. But it's hard to tell. I suppose if i saw myself in a different body, it wouldn't mean I was reborn, just another body switch."

He looked around again, no longer bothered by the somewhat restrained welcomes he received here. It was understandable, and far less severe than other cities had given him. it amazed him that Mura and Sahova could exist so relatively close to each other. Such spiritual opposites, so near to each other.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta didn't really understand Kuvarakh's explanation of his 'transfer', but it made a little more sense now. So they'd switched... personalities? Skills? She was actually pretty clueless. But for some reason they'd switched, hence the theoretical knowledge. She scratched her head once, trying to make complete sense of this, but eventually gave up. There was probably some kind of magic involved that she simple didn't understand. Magic was a confusing and dangerous thing, in her opinion... and this event was just proof of that.

When the Nuit began speaking of a 'Spring of Visions' she frowned. It had an interesting name, to be sure... but she hadn't heard of it. But since it seemed so secretive, she doubted a brand new visitor would be informed of it. The Konti didn't seem to want to share the knowledge either... which was incredibly odd. Of those she'd met, they were friendly and helpful, not hiding anything. They didn't like lying, from her point of view. Or couldn't lie. Or something like that. But, technically in this situation they weren't lying. Just avoiding answering.

His reasoning for wanting to see the pool, however, was even more interesting. He wanted to know if he'd left the cycle of rebirth. Apparently it was pretty important to the man, and such things were important for some. She knew, herself, that her own cycle had been disrupted... by joining Syna and Leth in their celestial home. However, she was unsure if she would be reborn after this... it was a curious question, for sure, but you never knew. Honestly, death didn't mean so much to her... she preferred to stay in the present, travel, enjoy her life on Mizahar.

"I have no idea... I haven't heard of the place before this. It sounds interesting though... interesting and strange..." She paused, wondering where something like this would be, on Konti Isle. Maybe somewhere in this magnificent forest? The green needles, as normal as they were, felt like they held something else in them... something more. It was a strange wood... just like that pool Kuvarakh had mentioned.

The thought on an idea for a moment, before deciding. "Shall we attempt to find this 'Spring of Visions' then? Four eyes are better than two... and it will be interesting to explore the rest of this wood." She pushed herself up from the soft grassy ground, picking up her flute and book as she did so. She used her spare hand to wave in a random direction, generally away from the city. "Do you have a general idea about the location? Say, in this forest? Or somewhere else entirely?"

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh made a face, frustrated and embarrassed to admit... "Uhh...No, I'm afraid I have no idea where these springs are, though I have spent several seasons looking for them now. Well no, I shouldn't say that. I've BEEN here for over a year, but I hadn't actually heard of them until about two seasons ago, I don't know if they are supposed to be completely independent of the sea, if they are fresh water or not. But I have been over quite a bit of the coast, thinking it would be difficult for an island to have a freshwater source, not initially created by rainfall. But then you have Silver Lake." he shrugged.

They walked along. He didn't really know what to tell her to look for. "Thank you for joining me. If it becomes tiring, or boring, don't hesitate to let me know. I really don't know what we're looking for. I mean the odds are pretty long that we'll just stumble across them. If they are volcanic in nature, I suppose they'll be hot enough to steam a little. Not too much though, since people soak in them. I would think they must be by the lake, but I spent quite some time walking around the lake once before and didn't find anything."

The forest was a balm. Kuvarakh knew he had time. Endless time, in fact. But his current body did not. At best, he could expect another year before he needed to start looking for a new one. And he would not be looking for a new one here, on Mura. He would have to sail to the mainland, so he really only had another three seasons at best.

Somehow, it did not worry him. He was able to build up his self-recriminations easily enough, but he found it difficult to worry. And for that matter, his negativity had ultimately been for a positive purpose, so it wasn't truly a negative attitude. He hoped to find this source of guidance, to give him direction. Once he found which way his destiny lay, or at least the next phase of it, he would know where to start searching for a new body as well.

He turned to Lacerta, "Well, I suppose we can see the rest of the sights while we look."

[Lacerta]

Lacerta mused on the various possibilities of where this spring would be. Kuvarakh’s deductions made sense, but it seemed like he’d covered everything. But if they hadn’t found it yet… it wouldn’t have been everything. She didn’t think there were any volcanoes on this island… but you never knew. However, wouldn’t it be a little more… obvious? Volcanoes were supposed to be like mountains, right? And there didn’t seem to be any mountains here that she could see… despite her extra height, she could only see… trees. And more trees. Briefly, she panicked about not being able to find her way out, but let it go. She could go a lot longer without food or water than normal people, and she had a vague idea of the direction she’d come from. And maybe Kuvarakh would remember.

”I don’t mind you going on” she admitted, still watching the green world ahead. It was so different from the blue one she’d spent days and days on earlier. ”As I said… I don’t mind any kind of conversation. Too long at sea leaves me... in need of someone to talk to. I am the only crew and captain on my boat, so things get a little lonely at times.” She shrugged, absent mindedly plucking a needle from one of the trees. She wondered if it would change color if she kept it, but shoved that thought away. If you took off an Eth’s horns, would they still change color? Of course not… though she really had no proof of that, and didn’t want to try.

They walked on in silence for several chimes, until the Nuit finally spoke again. ”Other sights? Like…?” She’d only been on Mura for a few days, and barely knew any of the ‘sights’ to be seen… it would be interesting to know what else resided on this magical island. Other than strange animals and color-changing forests, of course. ”You’re the tour guide here… anyplace interesting near here that you’d like to show me?” She glanced at Kuvarakh, a small smile on her face.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh let slip a small chuckle, "Tour guide...A fish would do better, so many of the "sights" here are off the coast or in flooded caverns. But I HAVE seen some of them. One of the advantages of not needing to breathe."

She looked at him curiously, and he answered the question he assumed she was thinking, "It is true that a Nuit CAN breathe, I mean those muscles DO work, but our lungs perform no oxidizing of blood. We...do not...use blood. I only breathe to converse, since it still takes breath to power our voices like any other person. But I can go underwater with no real fear of harm. I don't stay under for long as I...think my body tends to...uhh...well, never mind, it just makes me need a new one faster."

He would have blushed if there was enough blood. He changed subjects back to the sights. "At any rate, I have seen the Crystal Cavern and Laviku's Grace. The one is south of Mura along the shore of the lake, the other, well everyone knows of the beautiful reef. But until you have seen it from under water, you can't really appreciate it. There's a tower and house on the north coast. It's not like the architecture of the rest of the island. Seems like a human habitation, but it's abandoned. Someone did a pretty good job of it though, but no one seems to know who is responsible for it."

He shrugged, "Then there's the gardens. Well, I mean the Central Gardens. They're not as fancy as the ones at The Starry Night, but they're more...I don't know...genuine? It's more like just a cleared and trimmed bit of the true landscape. Except for the benches and stuff. And the Bridge! Aaah the view is magnificent."

He turned to Lacerta, "I'm not sure if I heard you say how long you've been here. I admit I was pretty distracted with my pre-meditative brooding." he chuckled. "Have you seen any of these spots?"

[Lacerta]

Lacerta hadn't known about things being under water. It was honestly incredibly surprising. She raised both eyebrows, watching Kuvarakh intently. He also described Nuits not needing to breath -another new fact to her- though the reason for him not swimming was a little... strange. Need a new one... faster? What did that mean? Still, it seemed like an awkward topic, so she deemed not to poke into it too much. She didn't really want to be rude to her companion, did she?

She didn't know what the Crystal Cavern or Laviku's Grace were, but probably certain locations in Mura. The former was along the lakeshore... while the other was a... reef? She felt slightly insulted at the 'everyone knows', since she was clueless about this, but let it pass. She continued to listen to the rest of the explanations, hoping more details about the sights of Mura would unfold. She would love to visit all these places, and maybe one day she would... she would just have to learn how to swim first... and hold her breath for incredible lengths of time. It sounded like an interesting challenge, to be honest... one she might undertake during her time here on Mura, depending on what she felt like. There were so many things to learn here... she could practically stay for years, if she wanted... she'd done something similar in many other locations... though she'd left Sunberth almost immediately.

He mentioned one... no, two, gardens, both which were apparently magnificent. The Eth listed them down on a collection of places in Mura to visit whilst here, or... even today, actually. On their search for these magical springs, they could head to numerous other locations as well... it would be quite interesting, to be honest. The abandoned house and tower also sounded like an interesting place to explore for a few bells, and those gardens... excellent places to try out some music.

She nearly laughed when the Nuit asked her length of time, but instead she simply shook her head. There was a wide smile on her face when she replied "Literally a few days... so I've barely seen anything, other than the main city. Hence why I asked you to show me around... I know nothing... nothing at all. Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated." She shrugged once, swinging her flute and book to be held in two hands. She tried to avoid taking her usual long strides, in order to keep back with her companion... she didn't want to out walk him. Being taller than most races was a slight disadvantage in the long run.

"So... what's closest now? That house and tower sounded like an excellent place to explore... as long as it's not underwater, of course." She chuckled to herself, before frowning slightly. How close were they to the shore? She was clueless... she hadn't been keeping track of their location for quite some time, so wouldn't have noticed even if they were going in circles. Though she was used to knowing where she was going, recently, working her way through new cities had become usual... but land, wilderness? That was out of her zone... even in such a forest like this. Glancing around, she tried to see any sign of civilization, but failed miserably. "Where are we?" she commented, slightly annoyed.

OOCSorry for the delay on this... I took a day off Miz yesterday

On another note... something else to solo practice! I have way too many of those... >.>

[Kuvarakh]

"Really?" Kuvarakh seemed genuinely tickled to hear that Lacerta had seen so little of the island. "Oh, then we can go anywhere! And you don't have to actually go underwater to see the coral reef, Laviku's Grace. You can see the colors plainly from the surface. But I warn you..." he added with a smile, "...what you see will only HINT at the promise of what you'll see if you DO go beneath the surface. You just might find yourself wanting to dive in and see it up close."

He grew studious and looked around, ."I believe.." he checked some distant landmark and turned to verify others, "...yes, I think if we head straight to the coast from here, we wouldn't be far from the Deepwater Hole. But again, it truly requires submersion to appreciate the florescent effects of the algae...or lichen...or whatever it is that grows and glows along the rock face of the swimming hole. We'd probably need to camp though. It would definitely be past nightfall by the time we got there."

He suddenly laughed "I was there before, and had found some Konti that liked to prank swimmers, but I returned the favor. I dove in, pretending not to know they were there. When they pulled on me, I pretended to panic and sink and get my pants caught on some rock outcropping ten or twenty feet down...Oh, it's actually quite a deep hole...Anyway, they got frantic, thinking they had inadvertently caused a crisis."

He was having to breathe clumsily to maintain his laughter, something he knew must look odd to a non-Nuit, but the memory was too fresh and satisfying, to have turned the tables on a couple of pranksters. "They were gesturing and tugging on me to get me to remove my pants, but of course, I feigned being too modest for my own good, and eventually went limp. Of course, there were no more air bubbles coming from me and then I let it seem as though my pants came loose."

He let his arms float in the air as if he were a washed up corpse. "They sped me to the surface in a panic, but if they were going to try to pump water from my lungs I do not know. It's not a simple jaunt to where you can lay someone out flat to do that. When they got me there, I suddenly sat up and said 'Hello'. OHH, you should have seen them recoil! Their eyes so wide!"

He laughed uncontrollably for several seconds, the inhales and laughter growing more natural in the process. "Ohh my. I have to admit, they were good sports about it. We all had a good laugh. They seemed to appreciate the taste of their own medicine."

He didn't head in that direction, since Lacerta had indicated that she didn't want to see any underwater sights. It did prompt him however to give her some insight into what to expect when she DID choose to see them. So he headed towards where he believed the Forgotten Tower would be, based on his assumption of the swimming hole's location. He mentioned that if they passed a few miles to the east on their way, they could pass by the Central Gardens. He told her it would take them a couple of days to reach the northern coastline.

[Lacerta]

Kuvarakh's description of Laviku's Grace sounded almost... enchanted. Lacerta rarely thought of what went on under the ocean's surface, instead always thinking of what she could see. She'd sailed around a coral reef once or twice, but had always been too afraid to break it (or her boat) to get too close. Still, she'd seen bright colors from afar, as long as the light was good...

The Nuit mentioned another place, by the name of 'Deepwater Hole'. It sounded like another place for swimming, but it had... glowing algae? That sounded... strange. Incredibly strange. But again, magnificent. Instead of commenting, she listened with en-rapt attention to her companion's description of one of his times there. She quickly began chuckling along with him, then full on laughing. She had to admit, the poor Konti... they must have been so freaked out by the 'accident'. And that last bit... she would have never thought up something like that. And probably would never have been in a similar situation, either.

"Poor Konti" she admitted, voicing her own thoughts on the story. "But if they did try to pull you down..." She chuckled again and shook her head. She didn't really know if they deserved such a scare, but it was a funny tale anyways. A good story to tell at times... at times like this, really. That brought another grin to her face, before she sighed quietly. She honestly didn't know where they were going, but Kuvarakh's comments about the location...

She thought on the central gardens, musing for a moment. "Several days? Oh. I've barely brought anything with me... so it might be more sensible to put that off. Lets head to the Central Gardens then, and decide what to do next..." She frowned, then thought for a moment. "The tower... it's at the coast, right? Would there be any good placed to anchor? I could always sail us around the edge, and save the effort of walking." She smiled at the Nuit, glad to be able to come up with some idea. She didn't entirely feel like getting back on the water again, but if it was to explore some mystical place she'd never seen before... it was probably worth it. Totally worth it, actually.

[Kuvarakh]

He shrugged, still chuckling, "Well, they hardly pulled hard enough to actually make me sink. That was my own doing. I think what really did it is my overall clamminess and lack of body heat. But really, I can't stay underwater that long for too many days in a row. I learned that in Riverfall...Gods...thirty or forty years ago. Water is a fundamental solvent, and regardless of a Nuit's actual sentience, he's still dead flesh and doesn't have the...physical dynamics of life to give it cohesion. Simply put, we won't last that long with repeated, extended spans in the water."

He decided to change the subject, She might ask him about his stay in Riverfall, and it had not really been any sort of warm and fuzzy ordeal. He liked her suggestion of diverting to the Central Gardens. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. If you still want to go north to the tower, it would probably be good to head there. I assume you have a room in Mura?"

He commented on the central east-west road through town which features a near perpetual bazaar. "I suppose I will buy a souvenir or two sometime before I leave this island. I don't go to the far east end of the road, the end that goes into the lake. As you can guess, it begins to slowly submerge, and most of the goods to be had at that end are for eating. Oh, in case you didn't know, we don't eat. We don't digest, and...uhh...well, I won't go into details, but it doesn't end well for us."

Again, he felt compelled to change the subject, "But you may be interested to know there is a woman there..." he laughed and shook his head. "Well I guess it goes without saying it's a woman. It IS Konti town after all. Anyway, her name is N'ijua and she will give you a proper tour if you wish. Really, don't feel obliged to stick with me. I can show you around, but I can't give the historical insights she can."

A thought occurred to him. "There IS a second garden here. It's called the Starry Night garden. It's a far more landscaped and elaborate garden than the Central. To be honest, that's why I like the Central better. It seems more genuine, more natural. AND there isn't the crowd of poets around, asking if you believe "that the visual structure of 'concrete poetry' is the higher imperative than the actual verse" or if you "don't truly prefer the Iambic pentameter variable to the standard quatrain to close out a villanelle." he adopted an exaggerated artsy pose, and then got a look of mock horrified realization. "OH, never mind. You don't DARE go. You have a musical instrument! You could give an accompaniment! You'd never get out of there alive!"

He laughed, recalling his own experience there, being pressed to give a heartfelt soliloquy on the latent realization of the loneliness of immortality. He rolled his eyes, "It was just what I wanted to hear right then. Actually, we could go to the winery, it has a splendid second story overlook, with a great view of that garden."