Reflection, Imitation, Experience [Kavala]

[Cayenne]

Who: Kavala
Where: The Library
When: Spring, 510 AV (Day TBD by Kavala)
What: Eyris Encounter

The cavernous library offered another type of sanctuary to the Konti. This was a place of knowledge, of learning. A place for reading and perusing, to study in hopes of understanding the wisdom gleaned from past experiences of others. Of course, not all books were instructional - some were nothing more than a fantastic tale, fractured figments of imagination woven into a trap that drew you in, keeping you in its thrall until one finally ran out of words on the last page... That wasn't to say, of course, that things could not be learned of them. Even most lies had some element of truth to them, and some stories had morals or lessons to be learned, just as much as their more serious and possibly less entertaining counterparts. Besides, there was nothing quite as nice as curling up with a good book and just losing one's self in the pages and the waterfall of words.

Today was the right kind of day for curling up with a good book. It had been muggy and overcast when she had left the walls of Sanctuary for Riverfall, and the sky had gotten progressively darker as the clouds gathered overhead. It had gone from grey to almost black as the clouds choked with rain. She was pretty sure she had heard the faint rumbling that indicated thunder over the roar of the waterfall that was an impressively swollen Bluevein River, but that could have been her imagination. Fortunately, she was a mere few minutes from the library before the first of the fat drops began to fall as the clouds began to shed their weight. She made it without becoming soaked to the skin - Riverfall was famous for its rainy spring season, and the downpour outside demonstrated why.

There were a few others in the library when Kavala got there - most of them Akalak. Some of them glanced her way appreciatively, and most of them stopped what they were doing to greet her, with a nod or a bow, deep or slight. Konti were respected here, after all, particularly with the low Akalak population, and the success Konti mates often provided... well, it was no wonder why. But there was another reason, too. Kavala was a frequent visitor here - copying recipes, looking other such things up. She was respected here. The young Akalak at the front desk of the library looked up from a heavy-looking tome as he wrote carefully on the pages. He smiled at her, offering a nod of greeting. "Good day to you," he lowered his pen. "Are you looking for anything in particular today? Anything I can help you find?"

[Kavala]

Sometimes she sought solitude and moments away from the bustle of her business and the newly made life she held dear for herself. Kavala padded into the library, looking, seeking, wanting to find something more... something that she hadn't known existed. Kavala didn't mind the weather. She thought she might, for such sudden storms or oppressive endless rainy days often times left life on the grass a sodden mess. But Riverfall was built to withstand water, and there was something solid about the city's presence perched on the edge of the world that made Kavala comfortable. Moisture in the air just made it easier for her to breath, for being a creature of both the land and the sea - rain was a close cousin and thus a welcome visitor.

She entered the library, speaking to those that wanted a word or simply nodding at those who greeted her politely or glanced at her knowingly. Kavala had once felt uncomfortable at the attention in Sanctuary, but having lived here a few seasons she understood the shock of pale skin and femininity in a land where masculinity and deep jeweled skin tones ruled. But her self consciousness still reared its head in how she dressed. Trousers hugged her hips and encased her slim but muscled thighs, more suited for a boy than a woman like her. A sleeveless tunic in pale green that was embroidered with horses hugged her torso, flared slightly over her small breasts, and was buckled at the waist with an unassuming black belt. Her arms were bare and so too was her neck. Her hair was caught up in a braid that fell most of the way down her back. And though she moved with purpose, there was caution in each step as if she saw shadows where there were none.

But she knew the young Akalak at the front desk. He knew her habits, her prowls, and every subject she'd ever read or borrowed or bought from the library. "Good day to you as well." She returned the greeting and pulled a small packet from a bag that she held close to her side. "I brought you some herbs for that cough I heard developing two days ago. It's best to brew them in tea and drink it if its still giving you problems." Kavala said, carefully laying the packet on his desk. "But no, you can't help me today - thanks. I have no idea what I am looking for truthfully. I want to learn something new... perhaps a book on sailing or on making perfumes. I'm not sure which... or if something else will take my fancy today." She said with a smile. "And I'll just browse until I find something ... I needed to get out today." She confessed, turned her head back towards the books, and wandered further into the stacks themselves, leaving him alone unless he had something else to add.

[Trista]

Always with the rain, Trista thought, fluttering into the building behind Kavala. Being wet was irrelevant to her, but there was a sort of oppressive feeling about the constant downpours here that she quite disliked. Perhaps it was a function of where she was from -- the time between storms on Akvatar was sometimes measured in years.

The library was an impressive building for a post-Valterrian repository of knowledge. Not as impressive as the Wright Library in Zeltiva, which was the gold standard for these sorts of things, but impressive nonetheless. Certainly it was at least the equal, and probably the superior, of the main library in Abura. Of course, she thought wryly, that might be because the subject selection there was somewhat limited. Poetry, literature, art, architecture -- these were there in spades. But agriculture, culinary studies, animal husbandry...not so much.

She was silent as she flitted behind Kavala, who had invited her to come. She knew none of these Akalak, and she was nowhere near outgoing enough to greet them unbidden. Admittedly, they would probably say something eventually, given that she was female -- not Konti, the type of choice here, but still a genuine 100% female. As was the Akvatari custom, she wore nothing except a black leather strap that wrapped around her mid-torso, covering at least the important parts of her bosom. Fortunately for her, it was designed to dry out quickly. Her satchel, which she carried with her everywhere, hung off one shoulder.

If she had been alone, she might have asked where the poetry section was, or if they had any folio art books. However, this time, she elected simply to follow where Kavala went, and see if anything struck her eye there. Perhaps serendipity would be on her side.

[Cayenne]

The young Akalak smiled at her. "Nothing gets by you. You hear everything, don't you?" his voice had a raspiness to it that confirmed the lingering presence of a cough to the Kontinese healer. "Happens every Springtime," he explained, turning his head away as he coughed, as if on cue, into his shoulder. "Apologies," he shook his head. "Cold and chills and dampness from the rain and the changing weather. I thank you for the herbs... I'll be sure to tell the others. When it works, I suspect you'll have half of Riverfall knocking on your doorstep and asking for some of the same." He understood wanting to wander until she found something that caught her attention. He'd done that before, too - sometimes it was as simple as just walking along the rows of books until something caught your eye. But still, it warmed the heart to see someone with a thirst for knowledge and the will to clench it. "Enjoy yourself. Let me know if you need anything," he told her. He nodded at the Akvatari as she passed, smiling at her as well, and going back to his book, though he was unable to risk sneaking a second glance at her as she passed by in pursuit of Kavala. A bit odd, perhaps, but lovely hair.

The interior of the library beyond the entrance was quiet. Shelves upon shelves, rows upon rows of books waited invitingly. There was a fair number of people, both human and Akalak further inside. Some browsed the shelves, some had found a book already and they were perusing the pages. But Kavala knew from experience that they weren't likely to be bothered as they looked. There had been the rare occasion when she had been approached - she was developing a reputation as a healer, after all, and she was a Konti. But as she walked, and Trista flew, both felt at home amongst these carefully protected and maintained tomes.

The library hadn't disappointed Kavala with its content before... and surely it wouldn't now.

[Kavala]

Kavala laughed at his comment and gestured out into the library. "It's our profession. I hear a raspy cough, and you hear someone shelving a book wrong. It comes with the job, right?" She said, offering him a smile. "But no worries. I don't plan to absentmindedly replace anything wrong today. I learned my lesson the first time you caught me." Kavala said, then left two books on the counter for him she'd borrowed last time. They were in good condition for she was always careful with them even when Sanctuary became a madhouse with all its denizens. "This is Trista. A friend of mine. She's come to look around too. I suspect she'll be curious about your artwork or books on art. But we're really just here to laze the afternoon away and get away from the animals for a little bit. Trista this is...Balinvar, the attendant." Kavala made the introductions carefully. It was nice to have a friend with her. So few people actually liked to go to the library. Kavala figured they just didn't appreciate how valuable it was. Growing up on the sea of grass she didn't have any opportunities for borrowing books. They were either written themselves or held by the Ankal.

"The arts section is in the back, you know? Dark dusty corner. There's other things here too. A weapons section up front well lit of course. And everything in between. I have no idea what I want to read today but I was thinking of something on magic or religion. What about you?" Kavala said softly, pausing to see what Trista wanted to look at before she continued onward. Once Trista had spoken, Kavala could direct her to the section and go find a book she wanted to read herself.

Kavala wandered down the stacks, curious but not too determined to find one thing or another. There was a lot of books here, most of which she'd find interest in for one reason or another. But there was another more comforting feeling coming to the library. It felt like... home. Kavala smiled to herself, turned a corner, and found herself in the religion section. She ran her hands over the books there, noting whole volumes devoted to singular gods, and smiled. How about one volume that contained a list of the Gods, suspected Gods, and what was known about them? It seemed like an obvious choice. So she kept looking until a large red leather volume stuck out. She plucked the book off the shelf, tucked it into her arm, and made her way to the reading alcove to see what the book contained.

Reading was her passion, and time away from Sanctuary made it doubly important. So as she settled down and tucked her feet up beneath her, and waited for Trista to make a selection as well. The first section was an introduction to the gods, a discussion on the Ukalas, and then there was a master list of known deities. Kavala settled in to absorb as much as she could about the Ukalas before moving on to the first entry on the Goddess of Night.

The Ukalas is a weave of energy that touches all things from the stones of the earth, to the plants, to the animals, the very sky, and unto the stars themselves. The Ukalas even links planets to other planets in a giant web of interconnectiveness. Both animate and inanimate objects; the living and that which has never been touched by life are effected by it. This weave connects all things, and provides the power source for such things as gnosis and djed. While the normal life forms on Mizahar are not aware of The Ukalas, the divine beings that grace Mizahar certainly are. The Gods and Goddesses move within the weave, pulling their power from it and traveling along it, using it as a way to keep in contact with each other and indeed their followers.

The Gods and Goddesses call The Ukalas their home, and create within its essence whole places they then call their own. These secret places are strongholds and fortresses where the divine children take their rest and find their peace. When a new god or goddess is born, it is within the Ukalas that they come into being - whether newly birthed or having transcended their former lives. When a God or Goddess dies, it is just a simple journey home to the Ukalas that the Gods and Goddesses undertake. There they become part of all things once more, loosing their individual identities and desires. The Ukalas, however, is not a series of different planes of existence. It is one enormous structure that touches all things - bringing to the world the basic essence of the world.

So the gods dwelled in another realm? They shared the mortal realm when they wanted something, but each had a place in the Ukalas. And the mortals couldn't touch the realm. Interesting. Kavala wondered if there were other realms and what they were or how even someone accessed them. She suspected there were, and then turned the page to begin looking at Akajia's entry.

[Trista]

Trista nodded politely as introductions were made. When Kavala asked what she was looking for, Trista had to stop and think for a moment.

"Probably something in the dark, dusty corner," she said wryly. Certainly the weapons section wasn't going to be of any interest to her. Trista's intellectual curiosity was restless, but it didn't have any use for combat.

She flitted over to the corner, which was as dusty and dark as advertised. She ran her thumb carefully along the spines, reading each title. There was a volume on Konti sculpture, and one on notable architectural features of Riverfall, but her eye finally settled on a slim volume of illustrated poetry by Marie Sendlant, translated from the original Alahean.

Trista knew of Sendlant, of course. A Zeltivan, she had been one of the premier poets of the Alahean Empire in the three decades before the Valterrian. Most of the literature of the time had been lost, of course, but pieces of Sendlant's work had survived, largely in a few anthologies that had been in the possession of the Zeltivan nobility whose homes were in the Old Quarter. To the Akvatari, Sendlant's name had an additional resonance, given that she was mentioned, albeit only in passing, in the Codex of Xalz, that strange fragment of ahistorical history that claimed to shed a spot of light on the darkness of her race's past.

The illustrations had been done by a Konti artist whose name Trista didn't recognize. She curled up in the corner and turned over the first leaf.

The ships extend their oar-arms past
the breakers at the bay's edge.
Wooden beasts, crawling away,
swallowing alive those who will not see this coast again.
Suva's smoke swells in the distance,
and even the mountains cannot block it...

[Cayenne]

The Akalak laughed, but nodded – she was right. He did hear people shelving books wrong, and had a sixth sense about where those books were being misplaced. People had much to fear from an organized mind. Balinvar inclined his head gravely in greeting to the Akvatari, and could certainly point her towards the section she was interested in.

A pale woman, another Konti, carrying a book, smiled at Kavala as she approached where she was studying. “Do you mind if I sit here? It’s always nice to see someone reading and actually learning... one would think it was an art that died out, and that books had nothing interesting to say.” This one had shoulder-length white hair, with white braids strewn almost at random in her locks, each of those braids closed with a single shell-carved bead. She was dressed simply, in a cotton dress that went from her shoulders to her knees, the material as blue and pure as Kavala’s eyes, and fastened with a silken silver cord at her waist, each end furnished with a collection of five round different-sized shell beads, going from smallest to largest. In contrast to her blue dress, her eyes were a startling violet - but the colours went well together. Her skin was as white as the foam caps on the waves, but despite that, she bore a number of tattoos on her exposed arm, from shoulder to wrist. The normally white skin was tattooed blue and swirling around and around from her wrist upwards was plenty of brilliantly coloured fish – some gold, some red and white, some silvery… it was a rather random mix. “May I ask your name?”

[Kavala]

Kavala nodded and made room on her bench, offering a smile. "My name is Kavala. Well, Kavala is fine but its really Kavala Denusk of the Denusk Pavilion, Sapphire Clan." She added. "I'm a healer of animals and kelvics, Nakivak, and complete loner here. I don't know many people at all." Kavala said softly, then gestured down at the book in her lap. "They are like substitute friends. They tell me stories, fill me in on things I didn't know, and help me to grow. Once you start coming to a place like this, its peace often infuses you and you keep coming back. Even if your mood is not that of peace - there are sections on war, weapons, magic, history, and theory. I think there's a book for any mood, any need, and if I lived a thousand lifetimes I'd never be able to read them all. I want too though. As crazy as it sounds." Kavala said softly.

Then she turned and glanced around her. A soft smile of contentment filled her features as she gestured to the book in her hands. "The Ukalas. A world within a world. Untouchable as far as I know to our kind, yet vital to our existence. It resembles the library, in many ways, doesn't it?" She said with a smile and then leaned back. The woman would respond with an introduction in kind or she would not. Regardesss, Kavala would continue to humor her and speak her thoughts aloud. It was nice to see a friendly face, especially another Konti.

[Cayenne]

"Well met, Kavala Denusk, of the Denusk Pavilion." she smiled and seated herself on the bench beside her. She lowered the book to her lap, and the simple action revealed the silver bracelet on her wrist. The manacle-like silver band was much like Kavala's - though the one of this Konti was quite plain. It had been forged recently, it seemed, and like Kavala, it denoted her as a Nakivak. Maybe she was new - with the tattoo on her arm, it was surely a woman that one would remember meeting before. "There is so much knowledge out there... so much lost, so much to be found... so much that will never be found again." She shook her head slightly, as if the idea filled her with sadness. Her violet eyes, so friendly and warm, had an surreal light to them, a wisdom that seemed to have gone beyond anything attainable on Mizahar. "The only friend that turns its back on you and yet can still counted as a friend... a book on a shelf," the Konti looked at the shelves, all of them lined with books of all shapes and sizes, their spines facing out. "The best books have no end to them. A bit like our lives, don't you think? We write our own stories. Others may think they hold the pens from time to time... but at the end of the chapter, when we step into Dira's boats, we are the authors."

Those ethereal eyes looked about the library, quiet as she observed and found a sort of sanctuary in the quiet room. It wasn't busy today, not in the slightest - Kavala had seen it far busier, but it was marvelously quiet today. "There are more worlds than we know. There must be. The Ukalas are but one of them. This world is God-touched, all of it, but even us mortals leave our own impressions on the landscape, on everything we touch. Did you know that one day, long since you've put that book back on the shelf, someone will know that a beautiful Nakivak touched that book that you are reading. And they, like you, will find the passion that you feel for it," she smiled at that.

"They say that there are three ways of learning, Kavala," she leaned in, one arm resting on the back of the bench, like they had been friends for years. She spoke softly, quietly even, but in the quiet library, she fit right in. Her slender fingers, her skin shining in the light like crushed pearls, stroked the blank cover of the leather-bound book that rested on her lap. The leather was aged, but uncracked, worn but smooth. "Do you know what they are?"

[Kavala]

Kavala looked at the woman and smiled. She'd never had a hard time making friends, but for some reason in this moment there seemed to be a whole lot more at stake. Kavala was lonely, perhaps for all the wrong reasons, but Riverfall was such a male dominated society with its strict rules and bracelets that it was hard to make contact at times. Yet here was another Konti, a Nakivak unless Kavala misunderstood the bracelet, and someone the healer could related to because it was obvious the woman loved books as much as Kavala did.

And she had such wise words. Books were her friends. The Konti lifted her hand and brushed a lock of pale hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. She set the books down beside her, opposite of woman and turned so she was partially facing her. It was a comfortable seat and the atmosphere was companionable. The woman had a soothing quality to her voice which made Kavala wonder if she was a Nakivak by choice or by debt. It was a highly personal question, one that Kavala wouldn't ask, but couldn't help but wonder about. Most of the Nakivak she'd met were broken things, easily manipulated and used, unwilling to look past the next breath and into the future. It was especially sad seeing the human Nakivak's in that sort of condition. One knew they were signing their own death warrants every time they lay down with an Akalak man.

Kavala brought her eyes to the womans and nodded, listening. She smiled at what the woman said and then shook her head. "How amazing would that be? To touch something and know its history - who's hands its been in - what it meant to someone or how much it was loved. Do you think its true? That someone will touch a book after me and know me through it?" Kavala shook her head, lost in the possibility of it. The conversation was interesting, that much was for sure, and unexpected. Usually the library was quiet.

When the stranger got comfortable, so too did Kavala. She propped a foot up on the bench and wrapped an arm halfway around it. Leaning her chin on her knee, she thought about the strangers question. "Well, I imagine there's a bunch of ways to learn, but if your talking scholars dissecting everything like they do, I'd imagine they mean learning by reading about it, maybe by seeing something done, and maybe by actually doing it. I've taught a few people things, and I know from experience that you can read all you want about say foaling a horse out, but until you actually attend a birth, not much practical knowledge sticks up in your head. I learn by doing. It's not easy for me to see someone doing something and then immediately know how to do it. I have to wrap my hands around the issue." Kavala said.

Then she continued. "But reading can help enormously. Sometimes though its not much help getting a written explanation until you work on it in the physical. I know when I first learned how to put stitches in flesh, reading was no help at all. Doing - now that got me trained. I'm an animal healer, you see... but its funny really. The more I say that the more I know its not exactly true. I can heal animals, but I am more of a seeker. There's so much more out here in life. I'm so curious about it. And I want so much from life. Sometimes I think that's a little wrong of me, perhaps even greedy. But I want a family, to be loved, to know the unknown, and to be strong enough to defend everything I see as worth defending." Kavala said, then glanced over at her new friend and gave herself a shake.

"May I ask your name now in turn? It's so nice to meet someone here that... well, understands. That knows how to think. I think that's the hardest challenge for people ever... understanding what they are seeing and really thinking about things." Kavala said softly. She glanced around, laid her hand down on her armrest, and rubbed it gently wondering who'd been sitting there last and what they'd been thinking. The womans words had her curious now.