PM to join [Alements] Drawn to a Dream (Caelum)

[Alaia]

17th of Summer, 514 AV

Alaia’s mind was elsewhere as she entered Alements for the first time, she had heard of the establishment’s fine teas and had always been meaning to make a trip here yet she never quite had found the time. Today she was in search of a place that no one knew her name where she could take out her charcoals, enjoy a quiet corner and just sketch the images that had been pushes at the corners of her mind for some time. Pushing open the door to the tavern she paused only to briefly enjoy the welcoming warmth that seemed to be in the very air. Her noon blue eyes traced the wooden tables and the free seats; she even considered the bar for a brief tick until she spotted a plush arm chair settled at a table.

Adjusting the strap of the pack on her shoulder she tilted her head and bit her lip hoping she could just take a seat when she walked in because she was about to do just that. Shifting her weight on her sandals she let her feet carry her over to the plush chair that just seemed to be calling her name. The konti allowed her petite frame to be swallowed by the cushions and for the briefest moments she just closed her eyes and enjoyed the hug of the fabric. Adjusting her lace dress to modestly fall over delicately crossed legs she reached into her pack and pulled out one of her small canvases and a piece of charcoal not bothering to look around for a waitress as she figured they’d come over eventually. Now that the canvas was out she was single minded on the blank vision before her.

Tucking a few strands of her pale blonde waves behind her ears she leaned over the canvas and pressed her charcoal against the white background with a feather-light touch. Her vision shifted as she stared at the canvas, she wasn’t really seeing the canvas as her mind locked onto the woman she remembered from her dreams. She couldn’t get her out of her head and she honestly couldn’t even remember what she looked like really so she was hoping if she just drew the image of the woman would form with a clearer vision. There was no indication of what this woman meant to Alaia except she had been plaguing the Konti’s dreams since she was a child and as it seemed she wasn’t going anywhere she let her hand arch with the first stroke of charcoal.

Even breaths pushed from her lungs though her heart beat was slightly faster than normal as she started forming the image most known to her. It started with plants that congregated together like that of a jungle; they spread from the edge of the canvas one leaf at a time, just outlines for now. She could practically feel her dream with all of her senses. Scents of the moist dirt and decomposing leaves beneath her feet filled her nose while she would have sworn in that moment she heard an unknown bird calling in the distance. The dream was simply just a memory to her but she had experienced it so many times and wrote it in her journal just as many times it was almost like she was experiencing it again. The frustrating part of it was the fact that she never saw the woman’s face; she could see her limbs move and hear her heart beat. Alaia could even feel the excitement of the hunt flood the woman’s veins but she never did see her face.

The scratch of her charcoal filled the page and she began forcing her hand towards the center of the outlined leaves to begin the outline of the woman with hopes she could force the image onto the page even though she didn’t know the features of her dream-lady. That’s where her hand paused and she felt frustration set in her stomach as she ran her free hand over her face and up into her hair pushing back hairs that weren’t actually bothering her. “Show yourself.” She grumbled at the canvas before her and she forced herself to begin drawing the shape of a profiled jaw that didn’t feel quite right. Erasing it she adjusted the jaw slightly into a stronger line before erasing that too, though it didn’t feel as wrong as the slope of the first. The Konti continued this line of creation with her dream-lady, each line feeling more right then the last but still something was off that she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Drawing and erasing, the process was becoming an endless cycle but each mark caused curiosity to blossom like a flower under the sun as she explored a new way of making this dream come to life on paper.

The woman of her dreams was nothing like Alaia, she knew that much, she had dreams of her killing with pleasure and stalking her prey like an animal of the forest. No, dream wasn’t the right word. Nightmare was a more apt description. They were nightmares; they set coldness in the center of the Konti that made her want to snuggle deeper into the warm plushed chair even as she drew an image that was never before revealed to her in her dreams. Years of overwhelming curiosity about this dream became the only reason she could ignore the bitter taste the woman always left in her mouth when she thought of her. The woman was evil, or at least much darker then the healer herself. Whenever she had woken to the dreams in the past it was always with a cold sweat at the nape of her neck and that was no different now as she confronted the unknown woman with an attempt at drawing her. Even in the heat of the summer Alaia felt a shiver run down her spine and goose bumps parade around the edges of her scales.

Anything in the imagination that could illicit such a strong feeling in someone should be examined and eventually understood. Alaia was often described as fragile and kind but there was always a hunger in her to understand more about the darker side of the coin. The world she existed in was so shiny and beautiful but she knew there was more to it and this woman was part of the shadows that danced just out of Alaia’s reach. Under the weight of her own thoughts she paused in the rough sketches she was doing and looked up quietly for a waitress. A warm tea or even a wine would be wonderful to chase away the unease that wormed its way into her creative self. Perhaps a wine would be best. The wine might even loosen up the stroke of her hand and allow her to push away her personal feelings on the woman. This wasn’t like the dread she felt in crowds at the thought of seeing something in someone she didn’t want to see, this was something inside of her that she didn’t want to see but was drawn to pursue.

[Caelum]

Sunset blanketed Riverfall in color. Clouds gathered on the edge of the sea like bright winged birds, congregating to witness the dying of the light. Water lapped at the feet of the pylons holding up the dock at Alements and in every white tipped crest was a tongue of flame. The atmosphere inside the tavern was made crystalline with this eerie clarity of light, a quality to Syna's swan song that bid the heart be still and hushed even the incessant murmur of business and community egress to and from the port. An elegant, dark eyed girl traveled through the tables lighting votive candles. She fingertipped them into copper and glass lanterns that spread a slow glow against the encroaching night. The multitude of plants tucked into recessed shelves and alcoves quivered and their shadows grew green and long to drip down the corners of the walls in dangerous designs. Elise smiled at Alaia as she passed her, signalling with a polite nod of her head that she would be be with her in a minute once her light-bearing duty was done. The kitchen door swung open to release a dark skinned human, his handsome face grimacing with a cross between hope and dread. Decath was pocketing a heavy purse, tucking it into a pocket with a dangerous creak to the weapons belt slung across narrow hips. Pale eyes scalded the patrons as they slid across them, lingering for a long moment on Alaia out of appreciation for her beauty. He shifted between tables and slapped both hands to the joint of Alements double doors, pushing them wide to the night as he walked back into it. Dark was coming up out of the cracks in the cliff wall, pooling in the alleyways. This was glimpsed before it was gone, tucked safely back behind the doors as they closed. A wine glass, slim and tapered outward at the edges like a tulip, appeared in front of Alaia then. Attached to it was a Drykas horselord, the proprietor of this place, who stood with a fading air of harassed competence as Provedan's third in command departed his tavern. "I'm sorry you had to wait," Caelum apologized, right hand coming out in an eloquent gesture. The winged snakes of Rak'keli's favor glimmered on the back in an answer to the gnosis decorating Alaia's face. He ducked his chin, dark hair half sliding out of its braids and weight shifting. He was still adjusting to skin-shift, and his short sleeved tunic and leather trousers were a touch too loose. "I added hyssop and calgonquit and hint of bay to your drink. It'll help you, I think. May I join you or am I interrupting?" The smile he gave crinkled the corners of his eyes. They were like his hair -- so dark a brown as to almost be black. Yet they held faded hints of daylight. "I'm Caelum." Ledger- 50 gm to Decath Rhodes, employee of Haev Provedan, as bribe and for services rendered.

[Alaia]

Alaia offered the waitress a returning smile and tilted her head forward in a silent acknowledgement of her, she wasn’t worried about waiting she was just glad to have been seen. The piece of charcoal was poised in her hand still and she was about to turn back to the canvas and back to her sketching, but then the door to the kitchen swung open suddenly. Her gentle eyes were pulled towards the dark man and they followed him as he pushed through the tables towards the doors. When their eyes met she quickly looked away, embarrassed that she had been staring rudely after him. The sound of his hands slamming into the double doors as he exited was softened by the sudden appearance of a man offering out a elegant glass of wine.

The Konti’s breath caught unexpectedly in her chest as she eyes traveled from the depths of the wine to the shape of the flowering glass and then up to his face. Soft rose colored lips pulled into a shy smile that offered a pleasurable, but clearly surprised, greeting while a blush darkened her porcelain cheeks. Her eyes drank in his deep brown ones the way she had drank in the vision of the wine she had been silently craving not but a chime earlier. The Rak’keli’s mark on his hand as he motioned and spoke caught her eye and she smiled softly again. Relinquishing her charcoal to lay it upon the canvas so it didn’t mar the table beneath she reached out with her clean hand and moved to take the wine from the man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Alaia’s fingers were naturally careful not to brush his and her voice came out in a breath when she realized she had been holding the air in her lungs since he approached her “Thank you.”

When he spoke of the additions to her drink she tilted her head curiously and held the glass up so she could see the firelight burning through the center of the glass “Calgonquit ….” She drifted with a downward tilt to her lips. “…I don’t know that one. What is it?” She lowered her glass and closed her eyes to breathe in the scent and allow the warmth to fill her senses before she smiled approvingly. Pale eyelashes fluttered open again and the Konti turned her smile on him, a mirror to his own when he requested to join her and offered his name. “Caelum, I’m Alaia.” She would wave her hand that was dusted in charcoal towards the seat across from her “Please…you’re not interrupting. You won't get in trouble for sitting with me?” He obviously worked there if he was handing out drinks and she hadn't noticed him as a patron so she didn't think he had bought it for her but she didn't want to get him in trouble either.

Carefully she picked up the canvas from the table she had been occupying and laid it on top of her bag on the floor so that it wasn’t rudely getting in either of their ways but it also wasn’t going to get ruined. The man in front of her was handsome, his braids something any girl should be jealous over but maybe that was just Alaia’s thoughts since the only style she wore her hair in was down like it was now or up in a bun at work. Her eyes grazed over the tattoos on his face openly. Normally the Mura born woman was almost polite to the point of it being obnoxious but she also drank in the appearance of others with an unabashed curiosity. It wasn’t until she finished tracing his tattoos to the hem of his slightly loose clothing did she blush again and capture her bottom lip nervously with her teeth.

“Sorry …” She glanced away then and back to the wine he had brought her, picking it up she looked it over once more before she lifted the glass to her lips and took a tentative sip to see if it tasted as good as it smelt. It tasted better and a soft sound of contentment echoed in her throat as she swallowed. “How did you know I wanted wine?” It suddenly occurred to her that she never actually asked for the wine that he had brought her. She focused on watching his face as she asked the question, her petite frame leaning over her crossed legs and closer to the table and him without her even noticing.

[Caelum]

"Calgonquit can usually be found in the mountains," he admitted, his Common accented by the occasional gesture of his hands. It was a habit of Pavi, the mortal language in which he was most fluent. "It's a creeper among the trees, covering roots. You'll know it for it's dark green leaves with their black ribbing and underbellies. They're worthless. It's the root you want. Tuberous. Macerated or minced, it helps clear the mind. Brings focus, helps ground a center a soul so that it can see farther than it otherwise might." He spoke like a teacher, accustomed to lectures in the summer heat, meandering the rows of an herb garden or fast paced explanations delivered over bleeding bodies. When she invited him with a wave of her hand, he pulled out the club chair across from her and sank into a seat. Dark eyes were curious as they followed her sketchpad when she moved it from the tabletop, setting it politely aside and safely out of the way of any accidental spills. Without warning, humor colored his expression and spurred a fresh smile. "Trouble? No. Well --" He amended, glancing playfully in the direction of the warm marble bar behind which Elise was sliding a decanter out from beneath a shelf to lift the top. He resettled his regard on Alaia, his interest in the lovely konti plain. "Unless Elise needs me to provide a medical evaluation or mix a special tincture, we should be fine. It's a slow night. I, uh, own the place." While she made her study of him, he sat easily. Truth told, he was accustomed to being looked at. If by day, it was for his horns, by night for the wild windmarks in this city of brawny Akalak. It was often for Nikali's kiss, that of his darkest goddess, he knew and had long since been forced to accept. He slumped comfortably, something noble in the slant of strong shoulders. An ankle propped on the opposite knee, revealing comfortably worn riding boots beneath the hems of average black leather pants -- a common style in Riverfall. He flashed her a smile when she met his eyes and tilted his head when she turned her attention to his drink, curious to see what she made of it as a fellow healer. "Calgonquit when combined with hyssop can heat the blood too fast," he admitted. "Hyssop is a powerful warding herb, which is why I added it in, but it needed the bay then for balance. It should help guide your ---" He searched for the word, glancing back down at her sketchpad and feeling against that grasping desire in her. She was a seeker. That was something he understood all too well. "Investigation," he settled on. "The wine?" This time his smile grew rueful. Perhaps for the lie, necessary though he believed it to be. "I guessed."

[Alaia]

Alaia soaked up the description of the herb as he spoke trying to memorize it so that she could look it up at a later date and actually get a visual of the herb. She bit her lip as her head tilted unconsciously when he spoke, the plants out here were very different from her home – or rather - it would be safer to say Mura was very different from everywhere else. She picked up on how natural it was for him to explain the herb, as if he had done it a hundred times before and the shift of his tone as he described it to her made her smile. It had been a while since she had been in a true classroom and while herbalism hadn’t been her favorite class, mainly because of how tedious it was, she couldn’t help the feeling of nostalgia that coursed through her veins. For a brief moment Alaia was a child again and she tried to absorb his words like a sponge.

“Thank you for explaining it…” She offered the thanks in its purest form, there were no strings attached to her tone but rather it was full of gratitude at the brief lesson she was offered. He seemed to find delight in her question in regards to being in trouble and her eyes shifted with his to the woman she had had briefly noticed just before he appeared. “Oh …” she blushed at his words and though it seemed to take a moment for her to grasp exactly what he was saying. He owned the place. “Oh!” She blushed deeper and laughed then, embarrassed with herself, her hand came up to cover her mouth to hide the moment of awkwardness. Her blue eyes glimmered with her own amusement that she had asked if he would get in trouble with his boss when he was in fact the boss, not that she could have known that.

Settling back in her chair the Konti’s laugh faded gently though the twinkle never left her eyes even as he taught her about the drink he had made her. Caelum’s eyes tilted back to her drawing she had placed gently on her back pack and then when his gaze met hers again she leaned closer once more, inquisitiveness getting the better of her. Her teeth caught her bottom lip in thought over his words and she reached out to pick up the glass again looking at the wine with more interest now that she understood what was in it. His words were captivating to her - he had known she was investigating something and he had guessed she wanted the wine? Perhaps the drawing wasn’t so hard to figure out considering the amount of lines she had erased in her frustrations of trying to envision the woman in her dreams. An observant person could have easily figured out something was missing in her mind’s eye when she couldn’t draw what she set out to draw.

Slowly light levels of suspicion ebbed and flowed in her system until it settled contentedly into an easy acceptance; she could either question him or welcome the oddity of his words and actions. Mentally stepping back from the situation at hand she knew she should be less trusting but her desire to understand what she had been seeing over the years seemed to be more important in the moment. “I hope I do not offend but …you are very curious man to me Caelum.” Her words came out in slow practiced common as she studied him under the light of the lantern. Finally she pressed the cool edge of the wine glass to her lip and took another sip, this time not simply to taste but to enjoy. Taking the drink after her words was a silent nod towards her own trusting nature and her own ability to convince herself on whether she should listen to the rational or irrational side of her mind. She had been listening to the irrational side a lot more than usual lately.

She found interest in the man across from her and in his wine as the bigger sip seemed to flame in her throat before settling in her stomach like warm embers. “I’m trying to see a woman.” She finally offered in explanation to the canvas she had noticed him looking at earlier figuring she’d let him know that he had been right on the investigation comment. “I just can’t draw her right, it’s frustrating.” A frown teased the corners of her lips as she looked at the canvas full of floral outlines and a smudged mark where she had been trying to capture the jaw. “I could draw you with you sitting right there – your face would be beautiful on canvas … but she evades my charcoal.” Glancing back up at him she shrugged a shoulder clearly unsettled and not enjoying the fact she hadn’t been able to construct the woman’s visage. Maybe his wine would help. With that thought she took another sip before turning the conversation towards him “You said you do medical consultations? You’re one of Rak’keli’s healers … how long have you been a healer?” Glancing around at his business she looked back at him approvingly “Why Alements and not a clinic?”

[Caelum]

“I’m not offended.” It was bare truth given as he peered back at Alaia, eyes tracing the delicate swirl of Rak’keli’s gnosis over her cheek. He had felt it before he had seen it, a warm pulse in his chest, communicating to him that another follower of Avalis’ dark sister was present. Of course, Caelum had sensed Alaia before even that moment thanks to the frustrated current of her ambitions white-capping in the river of him. It was what had led him here, slumping with an almost noble indulgence while she entrusted a perfect stranger with her dreams. “A woman? That’s not very specific,” he questioned, curiosity aroused. He canted his chin so as to gain a better view of her sketchpad and the compelling if incomplete details of her investigation. “Every investigation requires a certain speci-spec—“ He fumbled the word, forced to slow his speech down. “Specificity in storyboarding. That’s what you’re doing, really, by attempting to draw the woman. You’re trying to make the details communicate themselves to you in tangible form and with a language you are already versed in.” He gestured to her sketch – the language of drawing. “This is common practice amongst learned researchers and investigators. Mystery solvers?” The slant of his smile grew daring, as if he could taste an adventure. “You could draw me? I admit I’m used to it. I was married to a painter. As for why not a clinic—“ He leaned back again, boneless and grace, to look over the glowing interior of his tavern. “That’s a question with a great many answers.” The confession came as he looked back at her. “Some of them more true than others. I have an infirmary.” He tilted his head in a sag of heavy braids towards a door at the far end of the bar, opposite of that which obviously led into the kitchen. “And I wanted a place where people didn’t just go when they felt bad, Alaia, but also when they felt good. Does that makes sense?”

[Alaia]

“I’m not offended.” The words set the Konti at ease and she let a soft smile across her lips while she took another sip of the wine he had given her, the heat filling her like a blanket warming places she didn’t know were cold. “Yes I know that’s not specific, that’s what’s frustrating me. I don’t know who she is.” A sigh escaped her parted lips and when he looked back at the drawing she finally reached down to pick it up again and just as she was about to place it on the table he began stumbling over a word that made her look up at him in her own confusion. Specificity? She hadn’t heard this word before. Slowly her mind worked around the surrounding phrases he was using and she decided it must be an unknown form of the word ‘specific’ though she was more than sure if she tried to say it she’d stumble much like he did.

Carefully she set the wine to the side and let her canvas sit as far away from it as the table would allow while she spoke “I suppose you’re right … I need to see her.” She nodded lightly and picked up the piece of charcoal so that she could start working at the jaw again quietly trying to recall any specific reflections she had seen in dreams but she couldn’t remember anything of use. Instead this time she gave way to let her hand move and her mind stop forcing what it thought she should see. Perhaps the herbs in the wine were already starting to work or perhaps it was the ease of the man across from her that settled her into a comfort zone.

“I’m do enjoy a good mystery …. or rather I do enjoy uncovering a mystery.” Her smile matched his briefly and for a moment the daring smile spoke to something inside her that she had been trying to explore her entire life and her eyes filled with a subtle thirst to understand things beyond the reach of her everyday life. At the mention of a previous wife who painted her smile softened, not into pity but simply an acknowledgment that she had noticed his use of past tense. “Of course I could try to draw you, I don’t know how well it’d come out … I’d have to watch you more to capture you right I think.” Alaia chuckled lightly “You would certainly be harder than some of the people I draw; I can’t put my finger on why.” She could draw him sure, but she couldn’t capture him as easily she noted as she watched him shift gears towards his establishment. There was plenty under the surface of the Alements owner across from her, she decided, and it would not be easy to contain to canvas.

Alaia listened to him talk as her hand shifted in pressure and angle on the canvas when she began to draw attempting to ignore the limitations of mental images she naturally wished to pull up as references for faces. She wasn’t trying to draw anyone she had seen before; the illusions of others would be of no use to her. She paused in the heavy curve of a jaw to look up at him when he asked her if his words made sense, at first she didn’t answer and instead she watched him for a long quiet chime – a calm settling deep within her. “I think anything other answer would have left me unsatisfied.” She smiled softly then, a reassuring tilt of her head “That’s what we’re supposed to do, heal people.” She nodded towards where his Rak’keli mark graced his hand before she continued “Healing doesn’t just mean needle and thread to sew a physical wound …” She paused and watched him carefully and then nodded to her canvas and to the wine he had given her “This is healing just in the same as this…” she touched her own gnosis mark with a light brush of finger tips before she shrugged and blushed, slightly embarrassed but also fully believing her words. Something about Caelum set her at ease and made her words come out easier then they usually did. Normally they were carefully censored, giving just enough to make others feel comfortable – bed side manner 101 was her life. “…I think that’s a beautiful explanation as to why you are the owner here.” Maybe it was the wine.

Taking another sip of the wine he had brought her Alaia glanced back at the canvas and let the silence stretch for the time as she tackled the image again. The strong curve of the jaw turned slowly into a set of high cheekbones and pointed chin that squared off briefly before flowing into the other side of the jaw. Soft outlines, that’s all she was drawing but the image beneath her hand was new and unknown to her as she began defining a pair of full lips and a wide nose. It was only then that she paused, her hand unsure on how to proceed when it came to the eyes “How are you supposed to draw the eyes when you can’t see them?” The question was more to herself then to Caelum but she’d look up at him after a breath “How did you become a healer Caelum? Do you mind sharing the story with me? What do you do for fun?” His accented voice was soothing, it made her forget about forcing her hand so she figured that asking about how he came to be one of Rak’keli’s and what he did in his sparetime might get him talking long enough for her charcoal to find her dream’s eyes. However, the truth of it was she was genuinely curious and she wished to learn more about him.

[Caelum]

When Alaia admitted that Caelum would be harder to draw than most people, his eyebrows rocked up. It was with curiosity and some surprise. Leth's moon was a scythe in the sky, cutting through very fabric of the night as it ascended and dark swept over River Fall from the grasslands like an outbound tide. For that all the grace that had strung the ethaefal together in this world was vanished, exiled until dawn to leave the far less compelling horselord behind. This was the body that made the immortality of him shudder, the skin that layered him in memories of the Valterrian. He had died like stars, that many times, and had little understanding of the fascination and attraction others occasionally found in this face, the face of a dead man.

"I couldn't tell you," he told Alaia honestly.

He glanced up when Elise appeared at their table. His dark-haired assistant gave them a shy smile and set a plate of food -- an artfully arranged selection of fruits, nuts, and cheeses -- on the table. She also placed a glass of water in front of Caelum, a few slivers of ice floating in it to help keep it cool.

"Thanks, Ellie," Caelum murmured, quietly amused.

The fact that he rarely drank anything and almost never ate anything while the sun was in the sky bothered Elise. It didn't matter how many times he tried to explain to her that Syna sustained him while she ruled the heavens, and he never grew hungry. He could, feasibly, spend his entire life never eating so much as a bite of food because while he might get hungry at night, as soon as dawn broke he would be satisfied. Though Elise was certainly intelligent enough to understand this, it seemed to make her nervous. She could be strangely protective of the man who had lifted her out of the black hell of Rattling Chains, and that often communicated itself in subtle ways --- like her bringing him food first thing in the evening.

Elise smiled and whisked away to assist a customer and Caelum gestured at the plate, nudging it closer to Alaia in a wordless invitation for her to help herself. Taking up his water glass, he nosed in for a swallow and considered both her quandary with drawing the woman as well as her series of questions rolled through like a string of prayer beads.

"I've always been a healer," he said finally, a hint of self deprecation finding his face. He found himself imparting pieces of personal information to her that he would not usually offer a stranger, not so swiftly. The fact that he was an ethaefal was of course well known, but going into detail about what all that meant for him was incredibly rare. "It's part of my wiring. I'm an ethaefal, Alaia, and was returned to Mizahar over a decade ago. Memories of my previous lives were wraith like and difficult to sustain, but strong elements of healing, of fixing, of doing are impossible to ignore even when they pose more questions than they answer. Early on, I met a priest of Rak'keli who helped turn me more properly back onto the path and I haven't left it since."

Dark eyes dropped once more to her sketch pad, studying the charcoal and the eyes she was struggling to form.

"What do you know of her," he probed, voice quieting in an attempt to guide his fellow healer in self revelation. "You are focused on what you don't know, and nobody has ever found what they were looking for in a void." Strong shoulders pitched forward and he reached out to close a hand gently about her wrist, calloused and warm. It was a bid for her to stop, to be still. His eyes were on her face even as all of his insides braced themselves in preparation for the flood of her needs and desires.

"Close your eyes," he instructed, competent and calm. "Don't try to picture her. Examine instead the elements of her that have compelled you this far. Not just images, but thoughts, feelings, mood. Go with your gut and just... tell me what's there."

OOCIf you would be so kind as to either PM me Alaia's needs and desires or inform me of them via your reply I would be most grateful. They can be detailed or broad, small or large. Hunger to conquering the world. Your call.

[Alaia]

Alaia’s eyes shifted from Caelum to Elise when she came over, she’d offer the woman a polite smile but otherwise the Konti’s attention was brought to the food and her stomach rumbled at the thought of it. She had a tendency to forget to eat when her mind became obsessed with something as it was now with her dreams and with the man across from her. When the food was nudged closer to her she blushed subtly wondering if he heard her stomach rumble though she reached out with a delicate hand and plucked a piece of cheese off the platter and nibbled it in thought.

He had seemed surprised a moment before when she said she thought he’d be harder to draw, did he not see himself? There was something about him that she felt only a skilled artist, maybe even not then, would be able to capture. There was a mystery there and she wanted to reveal it, capture it and put it on a canvas – maybe then he’d see it. The Konti believed she only had one talent outside of healing and that was drawing and even then she was nowhere near being great at it, but when she did draw, and it was always people, she did everything she could to capture them and not just what they looked like.

The sound of his voice pulled her from her thoughts and she took another small bite of the piece of cheese she had claimed from the plate, it was delicious all sharp and smooth on her tongue. Blue eyes widened unconsciously as he explained what he was, she wasn’t familiar with the Ethaefal but each word he spoke put a few puzzle pieces in line. “That explains it.” she murmured under her breath while watching him. Her head tilted as she explored his face again with her eyes, almost as if she was seeing him for the first time. She was studying him quietly, he was beautiful but it was his eyes she was mostly focused on. “That’s why you’d be complicated to draw. I’ve never met an Ethaefal before.” There was a moment of awe in her voice unable to help it, she had a dozen questions slamming into her brain but she decided she’d hunt down the information later so she wasn’t staring at him under a magnifying glass.

Her eyes tore from him reluctantly then, glancing back at the sketch she was working on as he asked her what she knew of the woman. She was about to claim to know nothing about the thrill of the hunt and the forest but as her lips parted to speak his hand came around her wrist and she gasped. Fear shot through her in an instant like lightening and her eyes became locked on him but they were unfocused as images flooded her vision. Usually she could brace herself, normally she knew when someone was going to touch her or vice versa but his hand on her wrist had been unexpected and her heart rate doubled. The first intentions that revealed themselves to her was his desire to help her, it was almost over whelming to her but as quickly as that crossed her mind another image replaced it. There were men, she couldn’t tell who even if she wanted to but she could tell they were having an important meeting and then there she was again but these images were more confusing to her, he needed something from her? They were clearer then the men but she didn’t understand them or what they meant she just knew she wanted to know absolutely none of what she was seeing.

Alaia fought the urge to pull away from him and instead she forced her eyes to focus on his, her cheeks rosy from her increased heart rate and her breath coming out a bit faster. She could still see the images rolling and shifting but she found an anchor in his dark gaze and the longer she looked she began to notice little drops of liquid sunshine sprinkled about the iris’s. His voice broke through to her next and hesitantly she did as she was told, not because she didn’t trust him but because she knew she would be assaulted by the unwanted images again. With her eyes closed she could see the images again and there was nothing to focus on and draw her away from them except his voice and the warmth of his hand on her. Normally she could focus on her healing but now she was forcing slow breaths through her lungs rather than the quick ones and she shifted her thoughts around his images to focus on the woman.

She pulled the dreams she remembered back into the forefront of her mind and a frown crossed her lips, most of the dreams were nonsense and useless for what she wanted but there was always the constant of this woman at some point showing up. It was almost as if Alaia could smell the earth again and feel the heat of Syna on her skin “It’s the same, every time … no matter what she is doing she has the forest around her …” frustration thrummed just under the surface of her skin as she battled his visions versus her own dream woman – she just wanted to understand everything laid out before her, including him. There was a long pause before she spoke again; she was patiently picking out the right words that would explain to him this mysterious woman. “She’s always hungry, not for always for food but she’s hungry to hunt, to …win.” There was more to it than that, there was the thrill of killing that filled the woman’s veins every time she stepped into the forest but Alaia censored this from her answer because she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about it.

“She is protective, careful in what she chooses to do and how she chooses to do it…” Alaia drifted off and then if Caelum didn’t stop her she’d try to remove her hand slowly from his touch, her charcoal abandoned on the canvas and her hand in her lap while the other one unconsciously covered the spot he had touched. It was like an unseen brand on her skin and her thumb rubbed over it slightly as if that would stop the sensation. A frown pressed against her lips, claiming them while she thought in silence for a moment and attempted to force her heart rate into a slower beat. “…that’s all, it’s always brief before other dreams come to mind. I don’t ever see her face, I’m always her in my dreams and I don’t remember any reflections. I just remember hunting.” Chewing her bottom lip she settled back into her chair as a way of putting space between them, she wasn’t used to talking about things that she deemed as part of her private life and the fact they so easily fell from her lips for Caelum ruffled her scales a bit. “Why do you want to help me Caelum?” The question was innocent enough since he was clearly trying to help her but it was more than that – it was the images she saw when they touched that spurred the question. She didn’t sense anything that would make her think there were strings attached and that only made her more curious.

[Caelum]

Divine chains tightened deep inside of him and pooled knowledge like heat through his core. Lashes sunk low even as Alaia peered into his eyes, not hiding so much as his focus turned inward to the tune her desires were playing on his bones. The konti's great need to understand her dream and, indeed, to undersand Caelum himself was a rising chorus of strings. It left notes littered across his intentions which only then worked to inform Alaia's gift. He wanted to help her because she needed to help, and she knew that he intended now to do it. The self feeding frenzy of magic gently collapsed to the floor of him.

Unconsciously, his fingers tightened on her wrist for a pulse like a hearbeat and then released. Both palms slid back on the table, pulled toward him even as he pushed his chair back a good foot from the table. It was not to stand up, but to slump back and to place all of that haste Alaia had of being released between them so that it would go away and cease to snap its fingers in his ears -- let her go, she wants to be let go, you want to let her go.

From that fresh distance, he peered at her. He looked quietly dazed. To say he was shaken would be going too far. He had expected at least this much, but it never mattered. He always required a little time to recover. Her desire to find her place in this world caught in his throat and he coughed a little around it, reaching for his glass of water for a long swallow. He could feel Elise's eyes upon him from the other side of the tavern, and knew without looking that there was admonition in her eyes.

But the thing was, power demanded to be used.

"May I?" He managed after a chime and he gestured with one hand to her sketchpad and charcoal. He wanted to borrow it. When she nudged it toward him, he carefully turned to a blank page and pinched the charcoal between his fingers. He held it as if he already knew what it was to draw, and to feel the compulsion of bringing what was envisioned to life on the page.

"I want to help you because I recognize you," he told her, words soft but something rasping in them now like ashes. His eyes were on the page and he began to sketch the jagged tooth outline of a forest canopy. "You're a seeker, like I am. You want to live, to learn, to know, and do all of these things while bettering the state of the people and the society around you. That's why you're a healer. Rak'keli values people of conviction."

The charcoal stick continued to move, shading in foliage and giving a harsher line to the wing span of a bird in flight. Dense leaves and dead fall, vines and bracken crowded the path through this forest he was creating. Branches stretched across and threatened to trip up the unwary. It was a dark image of a road that would be difficult to traverse, but beyond he drew the outline of a large keyhole at the path's end. It was blank and clear in its middle and suggested a fulfillment of desires.

She could make it there.

Done, Caelum turned the page around to face Alaia and nudged it toward her. One hand closed about the wooden handle of the little cheese knife that had come with their plate of food. It was still clean, as of yet unused by either of them, and the proprietor gave a careful squint to its tip before reaching out to set the knife too down before Alaia.

"Prick your finger," he invited. "Press the blood to the middle of the page, inside of the keyhole at the end of the path. If you then give it to me, I will be empowered to find the answers to your questions in this dream forest on this dream hunt. I know you want to know how, and I will tell you when I'm done. Not yet, however."

His smile crawled back like a memory dusted off. "You'll just have to trust me. Can you do that?"