Closed [Zurex Ruins] Searching for Samples (Niello)

[Naredu]

67th Day of Summer, 514 AV The problem with trying to grow corals in areas that they were no natural reefs was that to get one started, you had to find coral that could survive in those conditions and hope that they took to their new environment. The more experienced coral manipulators of the Charoda could make almost any coral grow in any environment, Naredu however was not one of these masters – he was barely an adult, and he had a lot to learn still about the care and growth of the corals that he needed. What Naredu was hoping though in this trip was that he was going to be able to collect some samples to take back to Riverfall so that he could begin to set up his own miniature coral. He needed his own supplies to be able to grow and practise his skills, but beyond that Caiyah would approve of him helping to perfect the Suavan Seas. Though really it was not his place to question Caiyah’s motives, he could not claim to understand the deity, he was merely trying to serve her in the best way that he knew how. Reaching the shallower part of the sea near to the Zurex Ruins, here there were already several species of corals growing on their own. If he was going to be spending any amount of time, Naredu would need shelter; it was one of the basic skills that all Charoda were taught when they were taught how to manipulate the corals around Charbosi. Building a shelter wasn’t a quick process, nor was it an entirely comfortable process. While his ability to manipulate the corals had become easier to manipulate and he had been able to do it for longer without the exhaustion washed over him. As time passed and Naredu guided the coral, the coral grew and changed shape with Naredu’s direction. It wasn’t a grand building, nor was it complex, but the shelter would keep Naredu safe from any predators that might patrol this stretch of the sea and would see him safe while he was staying here. Naredu’s shelter was complete but the effort put into growing the coral shelter had taken its toll upon him, it was a feeling he was used to, but it meant that he wasn’t going to be able to do much more than do a little exploring around this area for today. Leaving behind the shelter, carrying just the bag that carried his diminutive possessions that he needed with him for today, Naredu began to swim away from the shelter and into the even shallower parts of the sea, it was still deep enough for him to swim, but the currents lessened as he got closer and closer to the shore. Naredu had missed being out in the open sea. While his apartment provided him with easy access to the water, it still wasn’t the same as living properly beneath the waves and nothing would ever be able to change this feeling he had when he was truly in his element.

[Niello]

Niello had come a long way. A long – long way, indeed – his journey from Syliras having lasted a good two months. It had all been by sea, of course, and all done in his seal form, swimming when and where he chose, exploring the east coast of the Suvan, and then from time to time traversing its channel, to see what the west coast had to offer. But always he traveled south, leaving the wide head to enter the narrow gut, hundreds and hundreds of leagues – an adventure of epic proportions, at least in his mind. It was a trip he had long planned on taking, if anything could be considered long in the young kelvic’s brief four years of existence. He had readied himself, swimming for longer and longer stretches, sharpening his hunting skills, and trying to learn as much as he could about the Suvan, from the men and women who sailed its waves. The Svefra were a wealth of information, and, as he had the advantage of being able to meet them in their own element, he had formed quite a good number of friendships with the otherwise slightly clannish sea folk. He also found he was able to communicate and learn from those of his animal form, the occasional seals he bumped into while swimming. All in all, he had taken what steps he could to become familiar with the waters beyond Syliras, before plunging into them. That had paid off, and his trek so far had been one relatively free of disaster or peril. Which is not to say danger did not lurk around every shoal and reef. But he had luck on his side, it seemed, and so far, so good. On this day, he was making a detour to try to find a place a Svefra pod he’d met up with a few days earlier had mentioned. On the west coast of the sea, south of the city of Alvadas, there was apparently a small, almost invisible collection of ruins, hidden by the surrounding forest. Named the Zurex Ruins (and why this was Niello did not know as the Lia he’d been talking to did not know herself), they’d only rather recently been discovered, by pirates, and then sort of…sacked…by some relatives of the Lia in question – in an effort to recover their stolen goods from those who were using the place as a base of sorts for their raiding. It was all rather muddled, and sadly some of the ancient artifacts of the site had been damaged, or destroyed outright. All in all, she had said it was an almost ordinary looking place, though the magic within its very stones veritably hummed in the humid air under the over hanging trees. They said the place was older than the Valterrian – that it had stood on land once surrounded by the two warring countries, and not the more newly formed waters of the inland sea. Niello, curious as always, determined that he wanted to see these ruins for himself – for no other reason than to touch the stone and see if he could decipher their lost message. So to the coast he had gone and hunted up and down for a while, heeding as best he could the landmarks the old Lia had given him. Finally, head popping out above the waves for the hundredth time, he spotted what looked to be it, and he began to swim closer. With his direction clear in his head, he dove under the surface, and came nose to nose with a creature the likes of which he had not yet met in person, but which he had heard about, if indeed he had the species – or race- correct. But from outward appearances, it seemed he must be right. Humanoid and a blue-green-gray skin, large, underwater seeing eyes, and a ridged head. Niello’s own shining black eyes couldn’t physically get any wider, but he opened them as wide as they would go, and sort of back pedaled in the water, staring at the other swimmer with a vastly curious expression, his stiff whiskers twitching.