Thief and Scholar [Hirem]

[Atoll Northwind]

“Glad to be of service.” Atoll replied drily but then shook his head, “Ya are right. I wouldn’t want that but I’ve sailed by your coast. All dead lookin’ for miles. We don’t set anchor there. But how do ya travel without boats?” He was confused as to how someone would travel without the seas or the oceans. How they get from place to place? He couldn’t imagine having to walk from the Northern Sea to the Middle. Well, he could but it didn’t bear thinking about for too long. Atoll did not have to wait long for the silence to end and talk to interrupt his idle thoughts. The way Hirem spoke it was as if he were from another world entirely, and it was true. Some of the words rolled along his ears while other caught his attention. He almost interrupted with questions but held off as Hirem continued. While he listened Atoll began to shake his head in disbelief. Pure? He thinks he can’t never tell a lie? Laviku, the man is fool. And livin’ in a city of warriors, is he thinkin’ they’re pure? If ya kill ya can’t be that pure, now can ya? But again Atoll held off, who was he to tell the land-dwellers if they were wrong? They didn’t need what he needed. Not even a boat. He really couldn’t get past the idea of someone not wanting to ever sail or be with Laviku to at least show him the respect he’d earned. Yahal seemed, to Atoll, to be some sort of distant person instead of someone close. Someone you could just talk to. He demanded certain things instead of taking his people as they were like Laviku did. While interesting Atoll decided he could not care for such a God and he wondered how a man such as Hirem would follow him. Perhaps that was just a part of foolishness in the well-learned man. Hirem continued to describe his own troubles and how the God of purity helped him but Atoll could understand both his confusion and his pain as well as the unwavering trust. Perhaps in their own ways they were both fools to a degree. Atoll then laughed as Hirem finished speaking, loud and long before bumping the man on the shoulder with a little smirk. “Your God wants ya to learn tavern rats to be pure, but he’s a little late, aye?” The question surprised Atoll and it took him a few chimes to think of how to describe something that was second nature. Laviku was a part of life, how did he describe it to someone who’d never been around it. Finally, he heaved a little sigh. “I’ve Laviku. He keeps the sea, my pod, all of us safe. I’ve not known anyone else, don’t need to.” The Svefra drifted to a stop then spoke. “He don’t ask for much but sometimes I curse him. Can’t help it.” Atoll grinned, thinking of his younger sister than never was. She was with Laviku now, her and her baby brown eyes. He knew she’d rejected Laviku with her eyes but he couldn’t understand why, and the pod had sent her to Laviku. Yet, there were some days when he wondered what she would’ve been. “And he forgives me for bein’ a shyke…I always gotta do right for him. He’s our father.” The Svefra gave a little shrug as if this were nothing, then asked the question that had been sitting in his mind earlier. “So you’re a Benshira? What’re those? Ya not human, then?” Atoll stopped walking in order to better inspect the man. He didn’t look much different than any land-dweller he’d seen.

[Hirem]

As their path winded through the streets of Riverfall, and the sun continued to blaze mightily in the sky above, Hirem took a moment to remark upon how far far he had come from his humble origins. Once I stood with my family Tent in the dusty desert and wondered what lay elsewhere in the world, if there was a place filled with life that I might ever get to see. And here I am, in my thirtieth year, standing at the edge of the Suvan Sea in this wondrous city of rivers and domes and beautiful summer days! And here I am, talking to an actual pirate! Did I ever dream that this would be possible? Granted, Atoll didn't strike Hirem as the most competent of pirates, but perhaps all of that changed on the open water?

Hefting his rucksack further up his shoulder, the Benshira reflected on the evermore tenuous connection he bore to his homeland, dwindled now to the color of his eyes, the language that he spoke, and the shrinking collection of Penita Scrolls he owned. Every step I take from Eyktol makes the distance between us grow threefold. Even when I set my course to return to the Burning Lands, I will not come back as the same man... the Hirem that once lived there is no more. He wondered whether or not this was a good thing to admit, and chided himself for the depressing thought. This journey to Cyphrus has done nothing but good for me, even though it has threatened my life several times over. I will not regret leaving the desert, so long as I never forget the lessons I have learned there. For this, the Penita Scrolls will become infinitely more valuable.

Glancing over at his walking companion, Hirem wondered whether or not Atoll had something to teach him about living through travel. I have heard that Svefra have no true homeland, but instead wander the Suvan Sea, content to drift with the tide and see where the ocean takes them. Any man that thinks my people to be strange because they do not travel with boats cannot be a man ill-adjusted to change. He is younger than I, yet has experienced much more of the vast world than I have managed to... perhaps there is greater triumph in the Svefran way of life than the Benshira? Hirem resolved to ask Atoll later about his many travels, to see if any wisdom could be imparted from this adventurous thief.

“Your God wants ya to learn tavern rats to be pure, but he’s a little late, aye?” Atoll had joked after he had finished his explanation of Yahal, prompting Hirem to smile wearily. "Yes, it does seem fruitless, does it not? Sending a faithful man into a den of crime, asking him to remain at ease... My god must be mad, correct?" He laughed quietly, shaking his head slowly. "Trust me, Atoll, what you say is not new to me. These doubts are things I have told myself, many times over. But I have found comfort; even if I cannot change the view of a man who goes to the Rat Hole, I have still be placed in a position where I may yet do some good. Though you may think me mad for saying it, I am glad that I was working at the Rat Hole today, so that I could step in and help end the brawl before it turned into a murder."

As the Svefran explained his own faith to the Benshira, Hirem nodded slowly and pursed his lips. Laviku... the god of the sea. I wonder if I was not told of his existence because it was not necessary, or because my father simply did not know that there was a god of the sea. Though his tone was reverential towards the powerful Laviku, Atoll's grin and words suggested that there was some strife in the relationship between him and his god. In this, Hirem felt a small sense of kinship towards this wayward thief. Both he and I have struggled with absolute faith, I sense. Doubt, even in one's faith, is felt by all except the most deluded. But fighting past the doubt, to still arrive at that point of complete and total dedication... that is what true worship is. I am glad to hear that both Atoll and I have reached that point. He wondered, briefly, what it was in Atoll's past that gave him cause to dispute with Laviku's judgement.

The Svefra stopped walking as soon as they first caught sight of the Riverfall docks down the street, turning to the bouncer and asking him, “So you’re a Benshira? What’re those? Ya not human, then?” Snuffing his own pace, Hirem folded his arms and thought on how best to answer that question. "Benshira? We are human, but share a common ancestor in Biyram and his ten sons. All Benshira children know the story: Biyram, least son of the great miser Ura, was commanded by Yahal to establish a new tribe in the inhospitable desert. Though the journey was long and fraught with peril, Biyram did what his god had asked him to do, and founded Yahebah in a place of good pasture."

"If you Svefra hold Laviku as your father god, then the Benshira revere Yahal in the same respect. He is our guide, our mentor, our father, our sibling... he stands with us on our journey, yet soars high above us to observe the rest of the path." Smiling softly, Hirem reached out and placed a gentle hand on Atoll's shoulder. "When you embark on your boat, you must offer a prayer of some kind to Laviku, yes? Hoping for good weather, a safe travel? I do the same for Yahal, even though he holds no mastery over wind, water, and earth. Rather, he holds mastery over me. His hand has sculpted my road before me, and I place my trust in him, that it will end in the place where I am best fated to be."

"We are very different, you and I, but surely you can see that our faith is kindred?"

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1,031

[Atoll Northwind]

Atoll disagreed, and almost held back his thoughts but he found no reason not to. Hirem was no fool, he made good points and knew himself well enough not to be angered by anything Atoll had to say. “Gonna get yourself killed. Ain’t always gonna get away clean. They might follow ya, ya know?” The question was asked curiously, surely this had to have occurred to the man. If it hadn’t the bouncer would be in for his share of his troubles. “Your God is sendin’ ya, I…know that but not everyone is gonna care, don’t get yourself killed tryin’ to be a…” The Svefra cursed his dismal grasp of Common but continued on, his hands forming some words in Fratava in an effort to make it easier for himself to voice his thoughts. “A…savior. Lots of ‘em are gonna be petchin’ pissed when ya get in the way. Sometimes just gotta come to blows.” When he finished his little lecture the Svefra shrugged, “But ya do whacha like, Benshira. Can’t have angry Gods, aye?” He laughed at that then cast a look out to the docks. In the chatter he’d forgotten about his injury, and it didn’t hurt much at the moment but damn him if was going to be having a lay any day soon. The thought made him snicker as he debated letting Hirem onto his ship. While he thought his fingers danced along the top of his scroll which he pulled out with a smirk. He didn’t need it know that he knew the words, and he’d never be able to read them again. He’s some kind of spirit person. Atoll thought with slight pity, Can’t say I blame him with a God like that. But he ain’t gonna listen to nothin’ I say. His Gods as big as mine. When Hirem put a hand on his shoulder the Svefra held in a flinch, very much aware now that the mans hands were his weapons. But he listened avidly even while he disagreed. “The desert ain’t any place ya’d catch me. Not enough water. So ya are Svefra of the desert! Seems ya land-people got plenty of your own seas. But I hear ya, and I don’t think it’s all the same. Laviku is my father, ain’t my master. I give him offering ‘cause it’s his home. Ya ain’t gonna break and enter are ya? Ya gotta greet a person, give gifts. But he don’t map for me, got my own map,” The Svefra patted a hand over Hirem’s heart, “And so do ya. He watches me and I love him but he ain’t commanding me. If I protect the sea for him, it not ‘cause he ask, it ‘cause it my home too. He don’t make our path, he help us down it if we ask but nothin’ more. We’re the same, Hirem, but different.” Atoll stepped back and held out the scroll, then pressed it the Benshira’s hand with a grin and resumed walking. As he did he called out over his shoulder with a laugh, “We agree to not agree, aye? And ya can have that back, I ain’t gonna known how to read it. It special to ya.” Without thinking about it, Atoll was leading them towards the Sextant. It seems he’d made up his mind about letting the other man aboard. His baby would never let someone steal her, and no one would be dumb enough to take a Svefra ship. And Atoll knew that Hirem wouldn’t be able to steal, it made him itch to get the other to do just that. He wasn’t sure if it was some crazy desire to test the mans faith to his strange deity or if he just wanted to petch with the man. It’s both. The Svefra thought as he glanced at Hirem again. There was just something about him that begged to be poked at.

[Hirem]

Rather predictably, the thief Atoll Northwind was more critical than understanding of Hirem's feelings regarding the Rat Hole. He was a sailor used to avoiding treacherous winds, and the dreaded tavern that the Benshira worked at stank of nothing but treachery. In Atoll's mind, a willing decision to stay at the tavern despite its depravities, its dangers, and its overall corrupting effect on the human spirit was akin to sailing directly into a storm-blackened horizon. "Your God is sendin’ ya, I…know that but not everyone is gonna care, don’t get yourself killed tryin’ to be a... savior." In a way, the concern the Svefra demonstrated for him was flattering, but also infuriating; for if he understood the necessity one felt in obeying their god, how could he ask Hirem to relent in his duties? I wonder if, one day, this great Laviku will arise from the sea to ask of Atoll a monumental task. Will he be so worried then about throwing one's life away?

The more Atoll spoke of this Laviku, the more intrigued Hirem became. He had never particularly revered a god that controlled a natural aspect, other than Priskil who served to brighten the world's evils with light. He wondered what it was like to pledge oneself, so totally and completely, to something as easily defined as the sea. What if I worshiped, instead of Yahal, a god of the sky? Must I hold disdain for all land-bound creatures and become as flighty as the prevailing winds?My feet touch the ground; must I call myself sinful for not being able to soar with unshackled feathers? But it wasn't just Laviku's domain that interested him... it was also his temperament. How can a god amass followers if he asks for nothing? Is worship in him meaningless, then? What influence does he hold over the Svefra, if not the threat of washing them away with one of his terrible storms? Despite his disbelief that one could adhere to the principles of a god that, apparently, held no principle, Hirem was curious and wanted to know more. Perhaps Atoll would be willing to explain more of his faith to me, and I to him? It seems clear now that we are dead-set in our ways, but that does not mean we cannot learn from each other.

Startled, Hirem suddenly realized that the scroll - the whole reason the two were now walking together on the warming Riverfall streets - was now being pressed once more into his grasp. "We agree to not agree, aye? And ya can have that back, I ain’t gonna known how to read it. It special to ya." Smiling softly to himself, thinking perhaps this was evidence that trusting in the god of faith did have its advantages, the Benshira slipped the scroll back into his rucksack with a shake of the head. "Agreed, though you must understand that I can never stop trying. It is in my nature."

Glancing back down into his pack, and the plentiful scrolls rustling quietly within, Hirem turned his gaze back to Atoll intently. "And yes, it is beyond special to me. The Penita Scrolls are written directly by those blessed of Yahal, that have been given the honor of hearing his words directly. There can be no... lies?, in the Scrolls - every word must be truthful to Yahal. Those that are untrue or deluded, find themselves struck by their own corruption. It is my dearest wish, one day, to be able to write a Penita Scroll... without the words becoming tainted with an impure heart." Based on the path that I've trod throughout these past ten years, I doubt that'll be possible for another thirty. Letting the rucksack hang down from his shoulder at his waist, the Benshira took a low breath and glanced up towards the blue sky. "Does your Laviku have cherished words that the Svefra are expected to read? I'd like to take a look at them, if possible."

They were nearing the docks, Hirem could tell, judging by the way the breeze was now tinged with the scent of the sea, and the crashing of waves against the foundations of the city. Such sensations were alien to the desert native - the presence of water, so clear and brisk in the air, was strange enough for him to deal with - but he wagered that they must feel extremely comfortable to the sea-bound Svefra. The Benshira's eyes danced from ship to ship, each wooden hulk moored next to each other in the expansive bay, struggling to make sense of each strange boat... until one vessel in particular caught his attention. It struck him initially because it was the smallest boat that Hirem had ever laid eyes upon, even smaller than the barge that had taken him across the Bluevein when he first arrived at Riverfall. It looks like the dwarf child of the larger vessels here. How is this seaworthy? His surprise only became more pronounced when he realized that Atoll's steps were angling them towards the ship. Could this be... the Svefra's boat?

It took all of his willpower to avoid laughing at the sight. Here I thought my thief was some great pirate of the high seas, an experienced cutthroat and plunderer. Instead he traverses the Suvan in little more than a fisherman's boat! How can he claim to worship Laviku when the slightest push of the tide will end up capsizing his boat?

Admittedly, Hirem knew little of seafaring and knew even less about the practice of the shipwright. But compared to the larger ships that crowded the Riverfall docks, the Svefra's vessel looked puny in comparison. Hirem did not comment on this fact, though, and instead pointed up at the boat, smiling at Atoll. "A fine vessel... yours, I take it?" Part of him feared the fact that their course seemed to be bound for the ship - though Atoll's boat was currently moored, he still didn't think that he could withstand the constant rocking and waving of ships. But he would follow the Svefra anyway onto the boat if Atoll wished it, perfectly willing to entertain the thief... even if he dreaded the experience.

Word Count :

1,035