Open promise not to fade.

[Caelum]

sunny days, sunny days, don't you trick me into stayin'. don't you throw me in a cornfield just to take the corn away. sunny days, sunny days, don't you trap me in your rays. you gotta cut me loose or promise not to fade. - danny schmidt. Timestamp: 32 Fall 513 AV The west pasture glowed in the autumn sun. It joined hands with the wind rushing across the grasses to dim and glow in swift fleeing shadows. Above the sky was stretched thin as silk between the hands of gods, allowing the soul breaking blue of the Ukalas to bleed through. The air was redolent with the sharp scent of lemon grass and sea salt but heartened with the denser aroma of fresh turned earth and the warm fur of sleepy Imperial Watcher puppies. It was the sort of day in which all souls moving within the boundaries of dusk and dawn were possessed by an acuity of promise. Hope buoyed in the bones of men on days like these and every beat of the heart could be heard like a lion's roar through dreaming heads. It was this day, this perfect day fashioned from what too often felt like a half burned patchwork of scraps in life, that Caelum decided to claim for himself. It began as little more than a selfish thought as he walked beneath the sky the night before, moving from between the barns toward the healing clinic and, eventually, below to bed. He had been setting his feet in a fighter's stance and aligning his bones in preparation for an attack by imaginary enemies, every curled fist and every slow, tight turn in the steps of kata. The choreographed patterns of self defense he practiced religiously, driven at last to these lengths by the vagaries of suffering he had been showed and ultimately endured since his return to Mizahar. Between throwing a punch -- straight on, thumb tucked, hips shifting and shoulder rotating a quarter of the way -- and springing back from the sliver of moonlight dropped by Leth at his feet like scraps from the table, Caelum thought about dogs. Up until recently, Caelum had probably spent less than a minute of his life thinking about dogs. He had never had a dog, never particularly known one closely, and never been in a situation where his patient was a dog. But the Sanctuary boasted of a kennel that was full of dogs. Big dogs and small dogs. Fast dogs and lumbering. Cute and frightening. To the last, the dogs were healthy. After all, they were the dogs of the Sanctuary. Every living creature here was healthy or well aided along their way toward health, else he and Kavala would undoubtedly have something to say about it. A serious worshipers of the goddess Rak'keli, they both had issues with caring for the lives of every one and thing that crossed their paths. Therefore, all seven Imperial Watcher puppies, fresh weaned from their mother, were ridiculously prime examples of glowing doggy healthy. As dogs, the puppies required little more than love and attention beyond the more basic template of their banal needs -- food, water, light, shelter, air. Further, as dogs, the puppies also desired very little beyond these things. Standing in the shadows and starlight, dressed in the skin of the Drkyas ankal dead half a millenia before and feeling tired to the marrow of his bones, Caelum had drawn the night air deep into his lungs. By the time he blew it out again with nothing and no one around, the only eyes on him that of Leth and Zintila's diamond bright stars, he realized that he needed to look after himself a bit better or begin to fade. The sun had been up for a few hours, but Caelum had slept in. More specifically, he had woken with the first gasp of dawn and in the infancy of light turned right over and gone back to sleep. He managed half a bell, in all truth, and little more; but he spent the rest doing little more than puttering and reading and lounging before crawling clear of the belows and out into the open air. He went straight to the kennel and right down the clean and orderly aisle, stopping at every dog to have a pat and a word. Then, post haste, he had collected five sleeping puppies into his arms, delivered the snorting mother a jaunty grin, and marched right out of the kennel again. The remaining two puppies were already awake and bounced at his heels, tails wagging with furious curiosity, and ultimately followed him and their brethren into the west pasture. When anyone wandered by, they would see the stunning and dignified ethaefal of Syna rolling around in the dirt and grass with a pack of playful dogs like a child. In some ways, it was probably a better sight than most.

[Faryon Whiteflower]

Faryon stretched until a little audible pop could be heard originating from her neck and shoulders. Little bits of hay and straw clung to her clothes and undoubtedly was all in her black hair as well. A soft nicker of an equine 'Good Morning' came from her side as Kachal, her bonded Strider, began to awake as well. The teen had a hard time falling asleep the night beforehand, tossing and turning in her bed unable to find peace. So Faryon had gathered her blanket and made her way to Kachal's stall in the stables. The stall had a sliding divider if the stall needed to bigger in case of an emergency or for one of the bigger horse breeds. Rhyni was on the adjacent side and Faryon needed and wanted the company of both of her horses so slid open the divider and laid down to rest in-between them. It seemed as soon as her head hit the makeshift pillow of straw, she was asleep and dreaming. Syna's rays came all too soon and it felt like she had just fallen asleep but Rhyni was nudging her awake. She demanded to be brushed but she had to be settled on being quickly massaged instead. The Drykas had no intended chore to do today but it is always expected to help out somewhere on the grounds. Only thing she could think of off the top of her head as to where she haven't committed time to was the kitchen and the kennels. She was a really bad cook so it was probably for the best of everyone that she stayed out of there, so it was the kennels. Faryon had been avoiding that section of the healing center, because in all honesty she didn't really care for the creatures. They stink, too much energy, drooling everywhere and amongst other gross things. But in the decision of between the kitchens and the kennels, the kennels won ten fold. Faryon could have cut through the main courtyard but instead chose to take the longer route to the stallion barn then to the broodmare barn then eventually the kennels. She wasn't in any way procrastinating.. Well perhaps just a little, but it was worth it in the end. The path between the stallion and broodmare barn open up and gave a pretty good view of the western pasture. The sight that the Drykas teen encounter however was not that of what she was expecting. Simply put Caelum was romping around with what seemed like seven puppies. It wasn't something she expected to see the ethereal man ever doing but then again she didn't know him all that well. Other than meeting him on her first day coming to the Sanctuary, Faryon had only seen him in passing. He did not make a bad impression on her but something about him, put the teen off and made her slightly frightened of him. She suspects its the horns.. Without realizing it, the Drykas had moved into the western pasture. It seems in amidst of gawking rudely she had inched forward to investigate further.

[Kavala]

Kavala was tired. Well, tired perhaps was a bad word. She was out of sorts and achy, feeling awkward, and her spirits were a bit low. Aweston had taken over working the young horses now that Kavala was late in her pregnancy. That time slot Kavala had used to use working horses was spent wandering around trying to feel useful, but in most cases what ended up happening was that she wandered around and had people suddenly jump in and take over the tasks that she was attempting when she finally found something that needed to be done. Cleaning? Nope. That was too much to shovel rakes full of manure down into the compost beneath The Sanctuary where it could be turned into usable soil. Repair work? No swinging a hammer was again too much. Building anything from fences to stone walls was out of the question too. Every time she started someone wandered along and took over for her, concerned that she should rest.

So instead, Kavala decided to clean tack. It was the one job she could sit down and do without too much fuss. Cleaning tack could be done resting in a comfortable chair or with her legs folded under her outside on the ground. It was the perfect task for a pregnant Konti in a situation where NO ONE was letting her do anything strenuous or lift anything heavier than a feather. All she had to do was make the leather conditioner and drag it and the tack outside under the late year sun to enjoy the beautiful day.

The Healer spent the day, after a quick trip to town, rending beef fat into tallow and then creating the leather conditioner. Once she’d finished with that, Kavala had collected a large basket full of tack – namely headstalls and yvas’ as well as her pony cart harness, and dragged it all outside along with a blanket she had tucked under her arm. She was shocked to find Caelum and Faryon out under the sun as well. Spreading the blanket near where the two of them were playing with puppies, Kavala arranged her tack, and with a smile began to work. Her smile was bright as she joined them, Tasival trailing behind carrying polishing cloths and the large jar of conditioner she had. The young boy dropped off his burdens and began chasing puppies along with Caelum.

While Tasival was distracted, Kavala turned to Faryon. “You know, it makes me uncomfortable that you are sleeping in your horse’s stall. You know there are plenty of great rooms down below all furnished that you could move into, right? You can have your pick of them.” Kavala said, trusting that the girl would believe her. She didn’t mind the teen sleeping in her horse’s stall if the animal was sick, but just moving in there because you weren’t comfortable elsewhere was no excuse. The Konti was willing and able to make anyone more comfortable if they just told her what their needs were. She’d even let Faryon pitch a tent in one of the pastures and live in a small personal pavilion if that meant getting her out of the barn.

Kavala picked up a bridle, wiped down the bit, and slowly grabbed one of the rags Tasival had brought. She opened the jar of leather conditioner and began to apply it liberally to the leather on the bridle. The healer knew that when conditioning leather, warm cloths were best. The ones Tasival had brought had come from resting inside the baking oven at The Sanctuary in the kitchen and were damp with water. Cadra had obviously sent them along with him. She also had warm water to dip the cloth in, res provided of course. Kavala was very serious about her tack conditioning. Once she wiped the leather down with the warm wet cloth, she dipped her fingers in the leather conditioner. Then she ran her conditioner up and down the leather, rubbing it into the firm tack by hand. By putting the damp water on first, it acted as a medium to help the conditioner penetrate the leather, soaking the fats right down into the dehydrated flesh fibers. Kavala knew the flesh side was far more porous than the grain side, so she always applied more to that side than the finished side. The grain side always seemed to soak up the conditioner better and make the leather strong but soft and malleable at the same time. So once she had the conditioner on the leather, Kavala left it to soak in and moved on to other tack. The tack she was working on today was not that dirty, but if it hadn’t been conditioned in a while or was very dirty, she’d often let it sit for three or four days coated in the conditioner and then began to rub off the remaining conditioner that hadn’t soaked in.

Once she had all the tack coated and soaking, she went back to the first piece she’d worked on and began to rub it. Taking old loose woven cloths, she began to rub the leather with a rough towel, the bumpy bits acting like miniature polishing stones. This was where the hard work began. Kavala needed a lot of arm muscle to scrub and scrub at the leather like she wanted it worked, bringing it back into condition. The technique was to rub the hide fast and just hard enough not to scratch it. The friction heated up the fats she had left on the hide and begins causing them to soak into the fibers.

She finished off her conditioning with cod oil bought from the fish market down at the docks. She rubbed the oil across the leather in a very light film, coating both sides. Once she’d done that she wiped off any surplus and gave it another gentle polish to buff it up. Once the leather was buffed with a clean dry towel, Kavala was completely and utterly ready to move on, calling the piece done.

She repeated the motion with another bridle, glad she’d made her own leather conditioner and that it was working so fantastically well. Meanwhile, Tasival was romping around the grassy space, chasing one puppy after another, then Caelum. The boy was having a good time, eager to hold his own in a sea of Imperial Watcher puppies. Kavala watched him as he played, proud of her son, and wondering where the time was going. He was now in a place where he could be more independent of her and that in many ways made her sad. Riaris was spending time with him, perhaps in practice for the birth of his own son. But Kavala was hopeful that the big Akalak truly loved the boy and was teaching him for the sake of the fact he liked Tasival. Kavala hoped and rather thought that was the reason. For the big warrior did not hold back, giving her son weapons and teaching him to fight and even how to defend himself. It was a good relationship. Or so the Konti thought. Watching Caelum with Tasival and the puppies, she hoped Caelum would be good for the boy too.

Turning to Faryon, Kavala smiled, awaiting her answer and the excuse as to why she wasn’t sleeping in the fortress along with everyone else.

[Caelum]

Caelum sat up long enough to flash a grin at Faryon and Kavala. Broken blades of grass fluttered down from where they clung to his tunic. A puppy chose that moment to scramble into his lap and make a valiant attempt to crawl right up his chest, little tongue lapping at the strength of his jaw. He slid an arm under the dog, giving a pat to its fuzzy head, and then rolled up to his feet in time to catch Tasival when the child made his next mad dash past him. The boy’s momentum swung them both around, Tasival’s feet leaving the ground as Caelum curled his arm tight, lean muscles tensing as they turned. When the dust settled, the boy was laughing, bubbling and arms flailing dramatically. It left the ethaefal smiling as he plunked the boy down, gently dumped the puppy into his arms, and dropped to a crouch so that they could all be on eye level. “What do you mean?” Caelum prompted Tasival, meeting bright eyes with sun blasted ones of his own. "Oh," he chuckled when the boy's elaborately phrased question worked itself out toward sense. The sound warm and lazy, in tune with the daylight. His mouth quirked to one side and he bobbed his head a nod before settling himself into stillness. His wrists rested limply at the bend of his knees and a puppy rolled between his feet, wriggling in clear desire to scratch its back against the grass. The ethaefal, however, just crouched patiently and watched as Kavala's little boy set the puppy in his arms down to step closer to him. Tasival lifted both his hands and with extreme care touched the golden bright curve of Caelum's horns. He traced his little fingers down to the end where scarlet colors streaked and blinked widely at the ethaefal. "It's fine," Caelum reassured him. His smile twisted toward a smirk and Tasival grinned before dropping his hands. "C'mon," Caelum encouraged and unraveled to his feet, scooping a puppy up to snuggle to his chest as he turned toward where Faryon and Kavala sat. The boy followed, peppering him questions. "No, I can't take them off." That one had the ethaefal chuckling again as they arrived. "Ladies," he greeted. "Kavala, there's nothing wrong with horse cuddling." That was delivered deadpan. "I cuddle my horse all the time, but I do my actual sleeping below. It's safer there, Faryon."

[Faryon Whiteflower]

Faryon watched on in fascination as Caelum romped with the puppies. It was such an odd sight to see the grown man act so carefree. He always seemed to be heavy with thought or worry. As she continued to watch the puppies tumble and bark at the Eth, she can definitely see the appeal in the slobbering creatures and maybe (not really) could see owning one, one day. Faryon was so engrossed in watching Caelum and the puppies that she almost didn't notice Kavala and a young boy approach. Well more like Kavala waddled and the boy ran. He bypassed the Drykas and straight for the puppies. A grin spread across the young girls face just watching the excitement on the boy's face, it was too cute. The teen had no idea how Kavala found out that she had slept in her horses' stall last night. A slight blush replaced the grin. She was unsure what to say and was afraid she might be in trouble with the Konti woman. So opted to sit in silence while she worked up the courage to speak her mind. Her attention was split between watching the cute little boy and Caelum play with puppies and what Kavala was doing. Maybe if she helped in the endeavor she wouldn't be in as much trouble. Taking up a halter and old rag herself she tried to mimic Kavala's movements. Faryon moved slowly in circles, she couldn't tell if she had worked enough of the conditioner into the leather so went over the leather a few more times just to make sure. Caelum approached and confirmed what Kavala had mentioned before, it wasn't safe. What wasn't as safe as sleeping with two horses that would protect her as their own? But she had remembered what they both had stated on her arrival. Perhaps its for the best she didn't sleep with Kaval and Rhyni. "I'm sorry didnt mean to offend your hospitality. There is nothing wrong with my room just had a restless sleep last night and my horses always calm me down. So I thought it would be ok to sleep in their stall for the night. Didnt mean to cause any trouble." Faryon looked down in hopes to hide the blush that had returned.

[Kavala]

Tasival had been fascinated by horns ever since Caelum had made his reappearance asking all sorts of questions about them and even demanding a pair of his own. Kavala had trapped morphing into a glyph and gave the child the glyph to read thus transforming some of his hair locks into horns until the magic had naturally decayed and the boy had loved it. Ever since then, she'd used that as a reward because the boy so loved pretending to be an Eth. And Kavala knew, deep down, Tasi had been working up the courage to ask Caelum for weeks if his horns came off and if he could touch them. So in a way she was really proud her son had worked up the courage to talk to Caelum himself about the items in question.

The most puzzling part for the child was why Caelum looked different and hadn't even remotely had horns for half the day depending on the light. The child had been very very confused as to why human Caelum and Eth Caelum were both Caelums and evidently the same one. So Kavala had kept to keeping Tasi near her during sundown and sunset and finding excuses to run into Caelum where eventually the boy could see his transformation and put two and two together.

He had. But now that he grasped 'celestial form' as a concept, Tasi wanted one too. And there was no talking him out of it. He'd even went so far as to draw pictures of Syna all over the compound thinking faith would make him appeal enough to her to give him a celestial form. Kavala, not knowing to do with that one, decided to let fate take its course and just removed the symbols when she found them and when her son was not looking.

But today it seemed Tasi was working on his 'horn' problem all on his own which freed up Kavala's attention to turn to Faryon. "You aren't offending me, Faryon. I just want to see you comfortable. I see how hard you've been working around here and it makes me want to see to it that you are extra comfortable and have a nice soft place with a feather pillow to bed down with at night. I mean our gardens haven't looked better and its coming on winter now. I'm fussing... I take it you aren't used to people fussing over you much are you?" Kavala asked

Then she grinned at Caelum. "I'd worry if you didn't cuddle your horses. But sleep between their forelegs? No... they need their rest too much to deal with that kind of snoring all night." The Konti said, picking up a leather rein and balling it up to throw at Caelum playfully. She was almost flirting. A puppy saw the bit of leather and grabbed it out of the air, trailing a bit of the rein behind him...

The little thing growled and the fight was on with all the other puppies chasing the one with the new leather 'toy' trying to catch the trailing end of leather as the first pump. Kavala just smiled and went back to cleaning tack. The rein was no good as it was, wearing thin halfway down where the leather rubbed against other leather. If not today, ten days from now.. maybe beyond, the thing would be puppyfood.

[Caelum]

“Poor Faryon,” Caelum intoned, humor clear in bright eyes. “You’ve come to the wrong place for a solitary soul.” The line of his mouth gentled, his teasing easing up when he noticed the young woman blush. “We’re a pack of meddling healers and nosy, boisterous Drykas. You’re really just lucky nobody joined you in the stall. I got pounced on by the cat –“ He fondly referenced Vanator’s kelvic daughter Cadra. “Second night here. Let me tell you, that was unexpected.” When Kavala tossed the bit of leather at him, he guffawed at her and watched the puppies swirled and set to chase. Tasival bounced after them and Caelum dropped to a seat in the grass. He had one wriggling bundle of puppy still in his arms, licking furiously at his jaw. He patted it absently, utterly content to cuddle a dog. “I do not snore,” he told Kavala, smirking now. “Cadra’s lying. Oh, look --” And he reached out one hand to snap playfully at the rein in Kavala’s hands. “You’re working and I’m doing nothing. You’ll make me feel bad. We should play a game.” The ethaefal was in a relaxed, playful mood. It was undoubtedly the puppies. His limbs were loose and his smiles were easy this morning as he gave Faryon a considering glance. “Know any games?”

[Kavala]

Kavala laughed, jerked her hand back to free the rein from Caelums playful grip and watched her son get tackled by a pack of puppies that were a bit more coordinated than he was at the time. She tipped her head back, enjoyed the cool sun on her face and didn't want the moment to end for a long long time. It was as if that note of her laughter held, mingling with Caelums and Tasivals and even Faryons... and the note stretched out forever filling the world with a lighter kind of happy.

Puppies where magic. Puppies with little boys were even better fun. And puppies with big boys and little boys were beyond measure in terms of fun.

"I do know a game.. just one." She said with a grin, looking around at her companions, but unsure if they wanted to play. She coiled the rein she was oiling and est it aside picking up another. "It's a game of questions. I used to play it with my sister a great deal. I ask a question, you both have to answer it, then you get to ask a question, the others have to answer it... the rules are simple. You cannot ask the same question you just got asked.. you have to wait a round if you want to ask it as well. And you must always tell the truth. The game ends when someone calls Ankal and refuse to answer anymore. It's ... a really good way to get to know one another quickly." Kavala said, dipping her rag in conditioner and starting in on the next rein.

[Caelum]

OOCI'm going to continue. Faryon, if you're still around jump in again whenever. While Kavala explained the rules of the game, Caelum set the puppy down with a little push. The Imperial Watcher went dashing after its brethren, tail wagging with excitement. Caelum watched the puppies and his friend's little boy romp and spill through the grass and after a moment tilted his head back, turning his face up to the sky and the sun within it. After a few ticks, he released a long breath and opened his eyes. A hand was lifted casually after Faryon when she made a polite excuse and wandered away, probably toward the privy. Caelum returned his regard to Kavala and straightened his spine while drawing one knee up. "Well, I'm game," he offered, humor still a glow behind his skin. After all, Kavala knew no small number of his secrets already. Of course, she might be surprised to learn he had twice as many more still stored inside. Besides, he could call 'Ankal' whensoever he wanted. "But I'm going to go first," he interjected before the konti could spill her first question. He leaned forward, deciding now was a good time as any to work on his kata stretches. Muscles shifted and he stretched out an arm toward his foot, ultimately closing his fingers around the toe of his riding boot and straightening back out his spine. It was from this position that he tossed the first stone into the pool of mysteries between them. "Did you want to have another child?" He didn't start off easy, did he?

[Edreina]

Kavala

 

Skill Points

Skill	Points
Investigation	+1XP

 

Lores Gained

• Cleaning Tack: Perfect for a Pregnant Konti
• Fayron's Reason for Sleeping in the Stable

 

Notes

I'm afraid I did not really find anything here to award by way of skills. If you think I'm mistaken, please point out the error and I'll be sure to update your grade.

Caelum

 

Lores Gained

• Perks of Playing with A Pack of Puppies
• A Game of Questions

 

Notes

Can I comment that I love the song on your CS? Yes? Good. Because I do. It brings me joy. ^,^

I'm afraid I did not really find anything here to award by way of skills. If you think I'm mistaken, please point out the error and I'll be sure to update your grade.

Fayron - Should you choose to return, please update your CS and then send me a PM in order to receive a grade.

~Please be sure to edit your grade request!~