Open The flow of the city

[Sheaya]

9th of Fall Morning Sheaya knew it was past the 9th bell when she had awoken in the small inn bedroom she had rented out the night before, but she felt little motivation to get up and face the day at the current moment. Her heart was heavy and she had finally been able to acknowledge that it did hurt after burying a husband and two kids even though it had been spread out over two seasons now. For the first time in ages she had been able to get a full night of sleep and in a bed none the less, which had been quite the first experience for her. She fell onto the mattress at sunset and had slept through the night, catching up on what felt like a season's worth of rest. It was a rare treat as she had never had this luxury before, but with such heavy sleeping she had dreamed many things. At first they had been happy memories, but as her contentious started processing things they turned into her feeling as if Yahal had turned his back on her and watching her husband and children die over and over. By the time morning had came and she awoke her pillow was heavily stained with her tears and she felt more along then ever. She was in a strange city with no one she knew, no family or friends, and now she had to be stronger then ever to face it all. While the idea was daunting when viewed as a single large task, she kept going over in her head over and over the small steps she needed to take to survive and to make it home. In the smaller pieces she found herself feeling calmer about it all. She waited as long as she could before rising out of the bed and washing her face and braiding her hair before covering her head with her shawl before heading out for the day out of habit rather then necessity before slipping out for the day to join the bustle of the city. Yahebah was a bustling city that Shea had visited and lived in for a good potion of her life, but anything she had experienced there was nothing like what she was facing here. She felt dwarfed by the native men, and all around her she could hear the chattering voices of people which was more annoying then usual as she kept trying to catch on to what they were saying as it normally took her a moment with Common tongue to catch onto what was being said. She kept pulling out the map that had been given to her when she had entered town, looking to see where she was going. It seemed like every time she would slow down to look she was blocking traffic as people would start moving around her like a rock in the middle of a stream. So far no one was being ugly towards her, no one had said a peep to be exact, but that was part of why it was so strange to her. It was a cultural shock as the manners themselves were foreign to her here, there wasn't even kind greetings in passing as she often remembered receiving elsewhere. She tried to not let it bother her too much as she tried to locate some sort of weapon smith or weapon vender. She was no warrior herself, but she did know she had lost her slingshot in the migration to Riverfall, something she would feel safer with as it was something she knew how to use, especially once she started traveling. Not to mention she had a feeling that the vender there would have an idea of possible swords for hire, someone who she could negotiate price with on a possible journey in the seasons to come with her. She kept trying to navigate the place on her own, but she was having a harder time understanding this thing then she imagined. She kept looking up and seeing people who didn't seem busy, and for a split second she would consider going to them and asking them for directions, but in the end her stubbornness would win out and insist to herself that she could figure it out herself, that she didn't need it. Instead she was left standing in the middle of the street, studying the map closely just trying to make heads or tales of where exactly she was suppose to be on this and where she needed to go.

[Hirem]

It took a few ticks of startled staring for Hirem to realize that he was looking at a ghost.

She didn't look like what he imagined a ghost to be, as the woman lacked mist, wraithlike appendages, and a haunted visage that cried out of past torments. Indeed, she looked fairly mundane, appearing to him as just another Benshira woman, familiar to him as the taste of sun upon his brow. But perhaps that was the trick, meant to entice and captivate him with visions of the past, before snuffing out his life in a cruel and deadly trap. Or maybe she wasn't a ghost and instead a figment of his imagination, born out of some deep, recessed memory that he had long forgotten of. He had been suffering from night terrors and hallucinations for the past few years now... perhaps this was just the logical extension of his illness. The third option presented to him was, of the three, the most fanciful: she might just be real.

He had first caught sight of her while heading back into the city from the beach, having just completed his morning run and exercise. Drenched in sweat, he had been hoping to pick up some refreshment from the Zhongjie, his tired eyes scanning the crowd idly, searching for... what, he did not understand. He had been doing that often as of late, letting his mind wander and his gaze tremble and sway until it found something interesting to fixate to. There was little in the real world that he could latch to, for the world he lived in was mundane, drab, and filled with emptiness. He didn't even understand why he bothered with the morning runs anymore, when he was clearly strong enough to handle himself. I am sharpening a blade that's already been to the whetstone, he would think, always shaking his head. At this point, I am training for the sake of training, and that is pure folly.

It was in one of these listless moods that his eyes, filtering past the anonymous blue giants and pale-faced woman, finally fluttered to the most discrete of forms, a small woman whose skin was bronzed by the heat of the desert. That, by itself, was not a curious sight, and he would have glanced away... had he not caught a look of her eyes. Bright as a gemstone, he had remarked, the breath leaving his lungs and the heart stopping in his chest, and worth more than all the gold in the world. This woman was no mere Eyktolian... those eyes belonged to the Benshira, and were of Yahebah more than even his own. A Benshira outside of Eyktol? That is... that is... inconceivable. Hirem was no fool, and knew that his people drifted far and away from the reset when they were of a mind. This wasn't even the first Benshira he had encountered since originally arriving in Riverfall in the spring. But they were very rare, and very unsuited to this place that brimmed with life. Benshira are the wellsprings of creation, and from them life flows outward and changes the hostile world. Riverfall, by contrast, is already teeming with life, and so we are instead dwarfed by the majesty already present here.

He must have looked like quite a fool, stopping by the side of the street and staring obviously at this newcomer to the city. His mind was trying to comprehend her existence, shut out memories of the desert that were already flooding back - and snuff out the sudden desire to run that overcame him. I must be away before she sees me! He thought, feeling panic begin to radiate from his heart. She will look at me, and stare at me, and then the holy word of Yahal will come spilling forth from those lips and she was condemn me! I have no wish to sleep with the adder tonight! And try as he might, memories from his years in Yahebah did come stirring to mind... memories of the stones that pelted his back as he fled from the city, of the foul insults lavished upon him and his family from sternly-minded mothers, of the fearsome threats delivered to him by his former comrades. His fists clenched without reason to, and his teeth ground together as the sight of this unwelcome blight from the past.

I will not run from my past. Only a coward would do that, and I am no coward. I will take my history and meet it head-on, and laugh in the face of my so-called 'exile'.

"Falim," Hirem announced in Shiber as he approached the girl, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It is good to see another Benshira in the city," he lied, "for it has been too long since I've seen the eyes of our people reflected back at me! Pleasure to meet you. My name is Hirem." His tongue wished to add, "from the tents of Alachi, of the sons of Rapa", but the customary greeting no longer tasted sweet in his mouth. Such old and incomprehensible trash. Why bother? "You look lost. Are you trying to find something? I can help you, if that is the case."

[Sheaya]

Sheaya didn't have to study the map and the streets to realize she had no idea where she was going or what she was looking at, navigation like this had never been her strong suit and nor would it ever be at this rate. All she could think as she looked at the streets lined up on the scroll was that she would be at this for days to just walk the streets and to cross reference everything that was on this map, but knowing herself she was much more likely to do that then to bother someone else with her problems. Use to she would have considered it a waist of daylight, but as she saw it right now, what else was she going to do with her time with no miles to travel, children to tend to, goats to milk, or wool to weave? She was a woman with nothing to her name but a stubborn horse and her family tent, she had nothing to keep her hands busy but she didn't dare let her mind dwell on that. She had not noticed she was being watched by this point, she was so focused on her situation now she could not feel the eyes of her kind upon her. If she had just simply looked up she might have met his eye, but she was widely unaware as she spoke to herself. "That is just the way it will have to be." She sighed as she rolled up the scroll to move on and wonder aimlessly, but a voice in the crowd rooted her. For a split second she denied herself that she had heard someone speak in her native tongue in a greeting, quickly telling herself that she was just trying to make sense out of the collective chatter to avoid getting her hopes up. She would have kept on denying it to herself, but when she felt the hand on her shoulder and turned to find herself looking at a fellow Benshira she found herself feeling a sense of relief. "Av-berkaven! Priase be Yahal!" She found herself exclaiming in simple relief to be with her own again as she covered her mouth with her hands. She could still count on her fingers how long it had been since she had lost her cousin from her husband's tents, but after being in the company of family your whole life and use to that community mere days felt more like eternity. Truly this was a comfort sent from god in such troubling times. "It's such a blessing to see and speak with someone of our own kind again, I thought for sure I was going to be swallowed up by this very city and the people within it." She said with such heartfelt earnest, "I am Sheaya from the tents of Rapa, sons of Basalom." She responded back in kind, joyous to have such a rare taste of home where she had not expected it. In her moment of relief and joy, the questions that might have normally came up in her mind of how he had came to be out here so far from their homelands never rose to her mind. His question only seemed to lead her farther from such questioning thoughts and instead just focus on the moment. This was surely a blessing of Yahal that he had seen her and approached her when there were so many in this vast city. "I am quite lost here I'm afraid Hirem. I'm still new to this city and I can't make sense of this map they gave me." She gave the scroll a small wave as to add to her story, "If it would not be a trouble to you, might you point me towards a weapon supplier? I find myself in need of some supplies." She asked as a smile of relief crossed her lips at just the idea things would be okay here in this city, she was not alone here after all. Feeling more relaxed in the presence of another Benshira she pulled back her shawl and allowed the heavy fabric to hand loosely draped over her shoulders still so that she wouldn't have to look at him from under the shade, glad for the morning light to help her get a good look at his features so that she could commit to memory of the man that was already proving to be such a savior of her mental state and keeping her from any sort of a mental break down for quite some time.

[Hirem]

"Av-berkaven! Priase be Yahal!" the woman crowed as he introduced himself, Hirem forced to resist the urge to flinch. Many blessings and praise lavished to our god... wait until she finds out who I really am. She didn't look too young, meaning that there was a chance that she might have remembered hearing of his story in Yahebah. But more than just concern for what she might believe for his past, there was something... instinctual in Hirem that made his skin crawl at the mention of Yahal. His mind unconsciously fled from his mortal form and carried itself to the Burning Lands, where he had suffered and squandered nine whole years trying to understand that devilish god's will. The Akalak of this city would never continue to worship Wysar if he had done the same misdeeds that Yahal had wrought unto me. Why do I keep paying him tribute, then?

The fellow Benshira identified herself as Sheaya, from the sons of Basalom. Basalom the beautiful, he thought, staring at what he could see of Shaeya underneath her shawl. She lives up to the reputation, but I wonder if looking pretty isn't her only skill? Brushing that thought off, he nodded slowly and said, "I too thought that I would end up getting sucked away by the current of Riverfall, but do not worry. That will pass over time." He might have ended the comment there, but a strange, bold desire to speak whatever was brewing inside his heart led him to add, "Well, it might end up passing. You might get lost forever if you cross the wrong side of the Akalak. If you were a man, they'd just beat you up and leave you to the Gilia Medical Center for healing, but seeing as how you're a daughter of Basalom... You would be well advised to learn either how to run away, or how to suffer through it." It wouldn't even matter if you were beautiful or not; the Akalak are hungry for flesh no matter the quality of it.

Letting this dark aside hang in the air ominously between them, Hirem then turned his attention towards her request. This woman needs a weapon supplier? Has a daughter of Basalom finally grown some teeth? That led him to a bit of a problem, for he had never frequented a weapon supplier in the city. I never saw the need to. My bare hands have solved whatever problems I have faced. Closing his eyes and straining for a memory, any memory that involved a weapons shoppe, he waited for a few moments before finally giving a breath of satisfaction. "The Arma'Drex Smithy should service your needs. It is somewhere on this tier - let me guide you there." He offered this not because he particularly cared about where Sheaya was going, and not because he desired company this morning, and not because he felt some command from Yahal compelling him to do so... which, in itself, was alarming behaviour for him. Instead, he offered to become her guide because he felt emboldened by spending more time with a Benshira, feeling a hidden thrill light up within his heart at the thought of proving the terms of his self-exile wrong.

Also, and this was another rare thought for him to have, but Sheaya lived up to the heritage of Basalom. Her eyes, no longer just bright, had become startling for him to witness, and he found the enormous height disparity between them to be intriguing. It had been too long since he had seen Eyktolian flesh, where the sun had stripped away the baby fat and replaced it instead with hard muscle. Endearing himself to her wasn't the worst way to spend a quiet morning. Though, the chance of something coming out of this relationship was slim to none, for while he might find Sheaya comely, there was little hope that she'd see him as anything other than a brute. I wonder if she prefers ugly bastards with old skin and weary eyes, his face scarred from cheek to neck and his arm shredded by the jaws of a long-dead tsana?

"Follow me," he said, turning about on his heel and heading into the flowing crowd of Rivarians, clearing a path with his immense size and beckoning for Sheaya to come and follow him.

[Sheaya]

She never would have imagined the inner turmoil that the man was experiencing from her words and by her simply being there, nor had the thought ever occurred to her that he was a man she had only heard about in passing in her days in Yahebah. To her he was simply someone who she felt she could relate to and felt comfortable around, he was at the moment someone she felt she could trust in this city. She could feel herself relaxing by his reassuring words and joking, not having even realizing how much tension she had been carrying in her shoulders and neck until now when she released it. "That really is a relief to here, I never realized cities could feel this different from one another until I entered here. This place so far has nothing that reminds me of Yahebah." She said while glancing around the surrounding once more. The scents and sights were still something she was trying to get use to, it seemed almost dull to have everything so vibrant where they all just melted together. To her the desert and the cities within all had the same color pallet that allowed everything else seem to pop. Food (while gritty) always stood out, people could be distinguished and admired for the colors they wore, and it was easier to spot other in the distance, but here she felt everything blended in together with the softer colors that the city's very walls and buildings were constructed with. About the only enjoyable thing she could think of since entering the plains of this region was the fact that her skin and lips were no longer dry and cracked from the added moisture in the air, and the food here had more noticeable variety of textures with no sand laced wind kicking things up. "I may carry Basalom's blood, but I have been taught better then to just look away if there is a problem. If they have a petty problem I will not stand by that and take it. I'll teach them that they could not last in the lands of our fathers as we can." It sounded as if he had experience with the people in this city, but she responded boldly with her head held high all the same. She was more bark then bite as her spirit was the only real thing she had to wield as her slingshot skills were not about to save her against anyone with any battle skill, especially not against any Akalak as they were all warriors here. Regardless she stood by her courage and her will to survive that had yet to be broken even by loss of her family; she was out in the city and far from her pillow now and she refused to let herself break down or show weakness. She felt pleasantly surprised by his offer to lead her to the smithy himself, having imagined he would be too preoccupied to help her that much. "That is very kind of you Hirem, I deeply appreciate that." She smiled, feeling some relief that she wouldn't have to worry about getting lost alone at this rate. She kept close to his side as he lead the way through the streets her bells chiming and announcing their passage, feeling safer being by someone she felt she could trust in this land of giants and pale complexions. She kept her shawl close around her neck and arms with it lowered, using the rare moment to keep her upper body warm as this city so far was proving to be a little chillier then she enjoyed. She would have to find warmer clothes if she was going to be here in the later part of the season or even winter it seemed. She was not bothered by his appearance as she had seen all sorts of complexions from new to weathered in her years of living as a nomad. The desert was not a kind place, and even while living in numbers there were always accidents causing burns and cuts on people. She had so far escaped without any real damage to her body save for her hands which were that of a hard working woman, but she had seen plenty and was far from bothered by the man beside her. Beyond that she didn't dare let herself really look at him much closer or let her thoughts linger on his appearance, afraid of getting thoughts that would lead her towards lust. The only thing about him that had her mind whirling with questions was where he was from and what he was doing here, questions that as she simmered on them seemed too imposing to ask up front given they had just met, fellow Benshira or not. She glanced up at him from the corner of her eye in their silence, wondering if he himself had ended up here by mistake as she had or if he was trying to get back to their homeland as she was desperate to. It already seemed unlikely that his family tents were here as he had already said it had been awhile since he had seen another one of their people. "Have you been here in Riverfall long?" She asked innocently enough, genuinely curious if he was settled in this unusual place.