Closed [Mightnight Gem] Of Eating and Evoking[Anja]

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Morning 9 Spring 519 Rising early in the day, Crylon slowly crept out of bed. The sun had risen, peaking into the edges of his window, but that was enough for the Isur to see by. Donning most of the outfit he had worn at the party at the end of the year, dark linen pants and a vest without sleeves and open at the chest, along with some simple sandals, Crylon headed out of his room. The Gem had slowly tweaked itself and his room since he had arrived, though most of the dramatic changes he had seen occurred right after he arrived when the room was completely overhauled. He had a long day before him, and before he did anything else he needed a meal to break his nights fast. It would give him the energy for the days labors, which as usual were many and strenuous. Heading into the area where the food was kept, Crylon silently headed over to the hearth. It had gone out, and would need to be rekindled before any cooking could be done. Not that he had much planned, not much of a cook, but it would aid others if it was already going. Crylon took some wood that was set aside, odd bits of wooden refuse not good enough for building or that had been oddly cut or changed in such a fashion that they could not be used for anything else. He also brought a wood planer of sorts with him, meant for shaving off excess bits or layers of wood, from his tool kit. Using it on some of the wood he was able to get some thin bits of the material, more wood shavings than actual wood but which would be good for starting a fire. Piling the bits of wood shavings atop some actual wood in the hearth Crylon took out a bit of flint and steel kept nearby for starting fires, and began to strike so as to angle the sparks at the material. Once. Twice. A third time, and the shavings began to smolder and catch. A few more and they began to burn, the fire spreading to the wood. After a chime he added some more wood in, pushing it about with his left arm like a human would with a poker. That done, Crylon headed to the cupboard and pulled out some bread and cheese, cutting off a chunk of cheese and pulling loose a bit of grainy bread. And with that Crylon headed into an area with some seating, muttering a prayer in Isurian before beginning to eat. “Izurdin, my Lord, this day I pray you will give me the strength to do your will. Guide my hand, and help shape me into your tool. Priskil, my Lady, this day I pray that you will show me your light and your path and help me have hope for others in this city. Strength. Endeavor. Hope. Vigilance.”

[Anja Nightwatcher]

It was said that routine and habit were good for both the mind and the soul. It certainly brought Anja peace to start his mornings much the same way every day, and the young dogs under his care certainly seemed to appreciate the consistency of habit that allowed them to live their mornings much the same from day to day. Anja had let the pups out at dawn to relieve themselves, and cared for the horses in the meantime, making sure they were fed and watered. They day was clear enough that the Drykas had let them out to run in the field and eat the long grass that had, over time, become considerably less long. While the pups played, and the sky's rosy pink and deep azure faded to a pale blue, the man rested on the edge of the long grass with his legs crossed and counted his breaths. Inhale, exhale. The scent of grass mixed with the comforting stink of horse and dog, and Anja felt his mind reach a comforting numbness where the world drifted away. Every so often, Anja's mind would seize on a thought with all the force of a vice and gently, oh so gently, he would let them fade away. Thoughts could be like passing clouds; given a glance, then casually drifting away.

As he meditated, Anja reached inwards to the pool of power resting deep inside him. He pulled it upwards, tracing a path from his core and up his spine, towards his skull and with two little points of power settling in the back of his eyes. Anja took his time with it. The movement of djed seemed to work the best when his mind was blank from meditation. Several times a passing thought pulled at his attention, and Anja felt the djed sink back down his spine and into that pool at his core. Patience. Fortunately, Anja was nothing if he was not patient. Several time he pulled the djed forward until he was content it was within place. Then, with an exhale, the man opened his eyes.

Auristics gave the world such a rainbow of brightness. The Spiritist was still far too inexperienced with the magic to make much of what the auras meant, but he enjoyed the colors spilling forth into the world around him. There was, as always, that familiar line linking himself and oldest and dearest companion. Maisa even lifted her pale white head to look at Anja's before returning to her grazing. Her pale white form was deceptive, for between the horses, chickens, and the pups, Maisa's aura was the most intricate of all of them. The shine trembled as the strider looked at Anja, and the Drykas thought, perhaps, it was affection that made her aura tremble as such. A sharp pain struck Anja's temple, and he immediately severed the connection of djed to his eyes. The glow around the animals faded, and Anja felt that line leading to his eyes slowly recede back into the pool inside him.

Battle and Sayeth came to Anja, whining softly to be let back in. Chuckling, the Drykas shoved himself back to his feet. “All done playing then?” Anja asked. He gave both Moth and Maisa a pat on their noses, then proceeded back into the Gem with the two pups following at his heels. The two had tired themselves out enough that Anja was able to proceed with the next habit of the day; making soulmist. Anja lit a spring of incense on his shrine to Dira before beginning his craft. Anja had made soulmist so many times by now that it was as natural as breathing to him. He meditated here too as he shaped the particles of food and blood and imbued them with power. The scent of lavender filled the room, and when his craft was complete, Anja pinched the incense out.

The Eiyon stashed his three fresh vials of incense in his sash and assured his bastard sword was slung against his chest sash, then headed back into The Great Room. The Drykas stretched and sighed, feeling the kinks in his back pop back into their proper alignment. Battle and Sayeth both leapt onto the couch and settled down for a nap while Anja wandered towards the kitchen, feeling strongly the familiar morning gnaw of hunger. As the Drykas rounded the corner, he paused.

Anja had a tentative understanding of the residents of the Gem, but several had come and gone with time, and rarely was the Eiyon around enough to have the chance to get to know all of them. The man seated at the table was unfamiliar to him, but he had at least been briefed on the appearance of a new resident and knew the man to not be an intruder.

“Good morning,” Anja greeted him. “I don't believe we've met. I'm Anja Nightwatcher.” By nature of being a Drykas Anja was a sociable person, particularly when it came to involving his fellow residents of the sentient jewelry store. Anja trusted Kelski to properly veto those who lived here, and he had no reason to think anyone living here wasn't a good person. Anja headed into the kitchen and emerged a moment later with a slab of bread and some cheese. He sat in place across from the unfamiliar man and slowly began to eat his fill of his simple breakfast. “Might I know your name?” the Drykas asked. Mealtimes were meant for socializing, and Anja was happy to oblige the instance.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

As Crylon ate, focusing on his chunk of cheese which he washed down with some bread, he noticed another member of the household stirring. As he was greeted by the human he simply nodded his head covered in bluish black hair, his face bluish tinged to match and marking him as distinctly non-human. Well that, Crylon considered, and his slight size, great density of weight, and the arm on his left side forged in Izurdin's own personal smithy of an unknown black gem-metal. The human on the other hand was tall even for his race, but especially compared to Crylon. He also had a flat brow, without even the slightest sign of a proper Isurian brow ridge in sight. That was something Crylon still pondered, how those poor non-Isur got by without one. It just left their faces appearing... Off. But, he supposed to himself, they made do with what they had, not having been lovingly forged by a God as great as Izurdin. Anja Nightwatcher was his self professed name, another resident of the Gem it seemed. Feeling a desire to show respect to his fellow resident, what with how nice he was being, Crylon nodded and spoke in his best common, divulging not only his first name but his family name as well. Common, a tongue he had not perfected but was growing ever closer to grasping in full. “I am Crylon. Crylon Stonecraft.” Giving the man some time to chew, Crylon then met his eyes. “I am help Kelski with new building, on new land. I make. Design. Is do. What is you do?”

[Anja Nightwatcher]

Crylon. Anja nodded to show his understanding. Now that he was taking time to properly observe his housemate, Anja noted his unusual appearance. Crylon was most certainly a species that Anja was not familiar with. His language, too, was stilted both by a heavy accent and an unfamiliarity with words. Anja had been in a similar place at one time, when he had first left the Sea of Grass.

Anja was pleased when Crylon responded to his greeting with a question of his own. Even through his broken common, the man made himself clear enough with his explanation and question. Anja answered cheerfully enough. “I'm a Spiritist,” the Drykas explained. “I work at Sunberth's graveyard, the Dust Bed. I find ghosts and help lay them to rest, or I send difficult ones back to the Dust Bed. I also construct protective zones for those who need protection from dangerous spirits.”

Anja took a sip of water to we're his drying mouth. “What kind of building are you making for Kelski?” The Drykas had become aware of a handful of construction projects that had been going on at and around the Gem, but he didn't really know the specifics of them. He was frequently out of the house working, and it wasn't unusual for him to return home to see some new project had popped up during the period of time he had been gone. Much of this was the Gem stretching her metaphorical legs, so to speak, but some of the projects Anja couldn't be sure had been done by her. Perhaps Crylon was responsible for these.

While he waited for his housemate's answer, Anja cut a few more slices of cheese from his plate and ate them slowly. The Drykas’ diet had improved considerably since he had stayed in the Dust Bed, but his breakfasts still tended to be light unless there was someone up to cook for him. Anja didn't quite trust himself to attempt to cook anything resembling a real breakfast.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon furrowed his brow ridge at the mans response, trying to ponder out his meaning. He was not overly familiar with some of the apparent technical terms the man used, but he felt he half understood them at least. Spiritist. Working at the graveyard, which was the place of the dead... Spirit. Dead. Perhaps, Crylon reasoned, his translation was off, but was he saying he worked with the dead? An undertaker so to speak, digging graves and putting bodies in them? Funerals? The like? He thought this was it, until the man went on to explain further, speaking of putting protective "zones" for dangerous "spirits". Spirits, being in the name of the job he had earlier said. Where dead bodies then dangerous? And he also made spots safe from those dangerous elements getting out? Perhaps some sort of sickness? He had not heard of such, but perhaps it was less common in Sultros and caused by unclean bodies or some such? So he... Buried bodies, and... Cleaned them? Or areas? The more he tried to reason the mans meaning out, the more he felt he was missing something. Which did not help that the man was only using the same word over and over, and referring to specific technical terms related to that, rather than changing his word usage to perhaps chance upon one Crylon understood. Or no, he had used a few others words, but they had seemed to be of the same meaning, and one or two which he had not heard in common before. A small bit of confusion clear on his face, Crylon spoke with more hesitation than he had before in his use of common. A side effect of that was his gestures becoming broader and more exaggerated, as if the extra hand motions would make his meaning more clear. “Ah, you work with dead, at place of dead? So you... Dig holes, put dead bodies in? Is spirit place?” “How dead be dangerous? Is because city not clean, they make people sick? Not heard of afore. Maybe is not happen to Isur.” Spirits, it seemed, was a new word for dead. Perhaps a kinder usage than referring to them as corpses, or some such? Turning back to the topic of the building, Crylon shook his head before responding. “Is not building. Is say, help with new building. Not say is make building. Help build, and build, two things, yes? Help prepare land, for when building go up. Is need strong foundation, base, for building to go on. And other things when need. I more design, than build, still learner of build.” Looking at the man, Crylon pondered for a few moments, wondering on what he did besides apparently clean up dead bodies and bury them. For a moment he considered asking on the mans hobbies, as quite a few humans had for some odd reason asked him, but he shuddered at the idea. He was not quite clear on what a hobby was even, and certainly would not be asking someone else on what theirs was. Instead he settled on a topic he felt confident in, and which he felt he had not yet had any issues explaining in common. “Isur, people of Izurdin. Is our God, who make us. Is follow Izurdin, but also my lady Priskil. Is you have... Divine, you follow?” WC: 560

[Anja Nightwatcher]

It seemed there had been a serious misunderstanding at some point in Anja's explanation. He had suspected it when the man's strange looking forehead had creased with concentration, and had his suspicions confirmed at the man's further request for clarification and offer of his own explanation based on what he had been told. The Drykas could have kicked himself. He, of all people, knew how difficult it was to struggle over learning language and piecing together words. He had had a near constant headache after he had left the Sea of Grass as he was given a crash course in the Common tongue. The Drykas had been lucky enough that Pavi had some commonalities with his new language, but it had still been rough learning to speak with only words and not having hand gestures to add emphasis on things. He still signed on occasion without thinking about it. It was a hard habit to break.

With that in mind, he tried to stifle his amusement and Crylon's misunderstanding and properly explain his job to the man. "I do not bury the dead," Anja said. He tried to keep his word choice to common words, so that the housemate would be better able to understand him.

"Do you know magic? Djed?"

Anja used the old word for the innate power within all people. It was one of those rare words that did not change between languages because it was said in the old tongue.

"I use magic that allows me to...interact with the souls of the dead. Do you know the word 'ghost'?" Anja suspected he didn't, and was struggling to think of how to explain to him. "Sometimes when someone dies, their soul does not." Best to keep things simple. "Their soul returns and wanders and can hurt people. I talk to them and try to help them...go away. Or I fight them and put them in places where they can't harm other people if they can't be spoken to."

It was an extremely simple explanation, but Anja hoped that it would be enough for Crylon to understand. He had tried to use words that he knew had commonalities between Common and Pavi. Perhaps the roots of those words were found in the tongue of Crylon's people as well. The 'Isur' Anja guessed, based on the man's explanation. He was sure that ghosts existed among this man's people, even if Crylon was personally not aware of them. It was charming to think of a world with no ghosts, but just as death found all regardless of race or creed, it was inconceivable to think ghosts could not be found among his housemate's people.

During his attempts at clarification Anja had forgotten his food, but now as Crylon spoke further on his job Anja remembered his meal and returned to it, taking a bite of bread. He nodded thoughtfully as Crylon's explained what he was doing. "I don't know very much about building," Anja admitted. The Drykas were not one for permanent structures, and the idea of building a base for a house to rest on was peculiar to him. As far as Anja could tell, it sounded like Crylon was more an architect than he was a builder. Such a job was artistry in a way, and something Anja could appreciate. The Drykas loved their practical arts.

The sudden topic change drew a raised eyebrow from Anja, but he plunged forward into the conversation eagerly enough. Religion was understandably a topic that the Eiyon had quite a bit of passion towards. As Crylon spoke the names of the deities he followed, Anja engraved them on his memory. Izurdin, who made Crylon's people, the Isur. And Priskil, a lady goddess. Anja wondered idly for a moment if any of the Gods had a hand in making the Drykas. If they had, he did not know them.

"I follow the Lady of Death," Anja explained. "Dira. I carry her mark with me as well." Anja turned over his hand and showed Crylon the mark embedded on his palm. Like a tattoo, but not entirely, the vantablack mark of a scythe shone darkly against his skin, raised slightly and seeming to swallow the light around it. "The mark allows me to better work with the souls of the dead," Anja explained.

Anja turned his focus back to Crylon. "What work is Izurdin and Lady Priskil known for?" Anja asked. He couldn't think of a more simple way to ask what aspects they empowered.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

As Anja spoke, Crylon came to realize he had misunderstood the man. Of course he was not too surprised by this, his odd wording being what it was. This, Crylon knew, was a common problem when dealing with another tongue. Particularly when getting into specifics and technical words. He had learned many related to building, but in other aspects of the tongue he had not been overly exposed and so did not always understand them. The word magic Crylon knew. Magic was... Magic... Like the Reimancy and Auristics he knew a bit of, along with the other more technical magics he could do. He had not heard of one involving the dead, or in this case souls of the dead being ghosts, but he did of course know of magic. Unfortunately Crylon did not quite follow the mans entire line of logic, taking the first as a question of if knew how to use magic not if he knew of magic. Which he did. The second more confused Crylon further. Djed, from his mind reaching into the smattering of Ancient Tongue he had learned years past in Sultros, was a word in that language. He did not quite see its connection to the first, which made him assume that sentence was meant as two different questions. “I know bit magic. Talk of with Kelski. She seem maybe know bit more than I. Only... Initiate, of magic. New to magic. Not hear of this magic of non-bodied dead. Ghosts, you call. Is know of ghosts. Not hear called dead fore. Is alive, just... Different alive, suppose. Know of, in Sultros. In Isur, is called... Well, not direct translation, but call...” What followed was a word or term in Isur, which more or less seemed to equate to the ghosts Anja spoke of. But in much more detail and specificity, as was common in Isur. Isur as a language was meant to express detail, and some of those qualifiers and describers did not have direct relatives in common. “Common, seem make general. Not specific. Closest translation to what say, but in common would be... One who has passed on from body, but still alive and not reborn, with lingering reason for remain. But not exact translation, common not have right detail words.” Pausing once more, Crylon pondered the mans words further, understanding that he worked with these ghosts. But his other words... “What is magic have to do with djed? I know djed. Is word in old... Ancient Tongue. Is mean... Bone... No.... Is mean...” Pausing Crylon tapped the top of his spine on his back with the palm of his hand, at the spot just between his shoulder blades. “Djed. In common, mean backbone. Spine. Thing which support. Like column. Why is want know what word mean? How is know word, to ask what mean, if not know what mean?” If the human had not also been admitting he was a magic user, Crylon might have been more defensive due to his explanation by Kelski and others about how Sunberth felt about magic. But he felt no need to hide it, and assumed if he was also living here was somewhat acceptable and thought over by Kelski. His explanation of how death worked required a small effort to not shake his head and roll his eyes at the woman. Isur did die, even if they were not as skilled at it as humans who seemed to do so in short order and at the drop of a hat. But they still died, and he of course knew of how death in general worked, and the idea of ghosts if not in such a loosely defined way. While his words might come off as mocking, Crylon would state them rather matter of factly like he was speaking of the weather. The sun is hot. Rain is wet. “Isur do die, just not as quick or often as humans. Dying, is one thing human seem have more skill at than Isur. But suppose Isur cannot be best at all things, and maybe is thing not want be best at. We also have... Ghosts... Though not seen many, not seem common in own experience. Is maybe more common with humans? How many die, become ghost with humans?” Perhaps, Crylon reasoned, it was humans short lives or commonly inferior deeds that caused more ghosts? Crylon was still young, and would have many a great deed and skill to his name before he died. Humans though, perhaps not? “How is learn of ghost magic? Or... How is work? And when say interact mean... Let touch ghost or... Other thing?” Ghosts were something with the Isur, but seemed... Different, too Crylons mind. Or at least, the ones he had heard of. He vaguely recalled a relative who had died while building a grand building in honor of Izurdin. He had however stayed on, focused on helping complete the structure. Once it was done, he had passed on as his personal rune had been laid down on the cornerstone along with the others who had led the structures creation. “Why some ghosts dangerous? Not met one those, think. What do, when dangerous?” At hearing of the humans deity, Dira, Crylon nodded. Dira, the goddess of Death. He felt ambivalent to such a divine. He felt no animosity towards her, would not fight her when it was his time to die, but neither would he rush to greet her before it was his time. He was more interested to hear he was marked by her, as not everyone carried a mark from a deity. “Is not know much of Dira. I not in rush to die, but neither I rush away from when time. Isur, live longer humans. But also, not many Isur as is human. SO maybe not same.” Turning to the topic of his own divine, Crylon smiled at the human, gesturing with his left arm as he spoke of Izurdin, and his right as he spoke of Priskil. This was something he had the words for in common, having explained it several times before. “Izurdin. He of Strength. Patience. Industry. He make Isur, and we in turn make and build. Is show of worship, when make. Is special arm, is part of his mark, his touch, on Isur, just as yours touch by yours marking.” “Priskil not know of as long, but is come respect. She of radiance. Hope. Vigilance. Is honor her, by spread hope. Not let others give up, lose hope. Same as for Sunberth, see good within, even if not easy find. Know, have hope, is there, annd so keep look for.”

[Anja Nightwatcher]

Anja settled into his seat, rapt with attention as Crylon spoke to him, all but forgetting the food in his hands and on his plate. He nodded in agreement as the Isur spoke of Kelski. Anja knew for sure that his kelvic friend worked in the magic that allowed their house to have life breathed into it. He would not be surprised if the woman practised other magics too, although he might not be aware of them. Crylon didn't know of Spiritism but that was not terribly surprising. Spiritism, unlike other magic, had one very specific use. Unless one spent a great deal of time dealing with ghosts, it was unlikely one would know of Spiritism. But it did seem that Crylon knew of ghosts, or at least something of them. The Eiyon listened carefully as the Isur spoke the word, but it was too fast and too foreign for him to memorize. Still, he held onto a few of the syllables, running over them through his mind.

"That's very interesting," Anja admitted. "That you have a word that is such a direct translation of all those things." Linguistics wasn't a speciality of Anja's, but it was difficult to find something that the Drykas wasn't interested if told with enough passion.

As Crylon moved on, clearly puzzled by Anja's use of the term, djed, the Drykas chewed his lip briefly. "Backbone," Anja said. "That's the direct translation. But it is also the word for the power that you harness to cast magic." Anja tapped his chest. "Either inside of you, or outside of you. It's in everything."

When Crylon spoke, matter of factly, that humans were better at dying than the Isur were, Anja couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe so!" the Eiyon chuckled. "I haven't met any Isur ghosts yet, if that means anything." Anja remembered his meal again and took another bite. "I wouldn't say that ghosts are extremely common most places," Anja said. "But Sunberth is an exception." The Drykas remembered for a moment what Jeb had told him on his first day in the city. "A lot of people in the city die suddenly, angry, with regrets, out of violence. And they have a much better chance of becoming ghosts."

He felt a little pleased at Crylon's clear interest in his art. "There is a...material that I can create," Anja explained. "Anyone can with the right ingredients and recipe." Anja removed a vial from his sash and showed it to Crylon. Inside, an off-white, gel-like substance swirled.

"It's called Soulmist," Anja said, tapping the vial. "If used on a weapon, that weapon can hurt a ghost. If used on protective items, you can defend against the ghost. It can do other things if used in the right way with the right things. Keep ghosts out of places, or trap them in places." Anja set the vial down the table. "I can do one of two things, usually," the Drykas explained. "Either I can hurt the ghost enough that I drive it away, or I can talk to it and convince it to move on. Moving a ghost on is the only way for it to leave forever."

Anja smiled faintly at Crylon's matter of fact mention of not fighting Dira when his time came. "You likely won't become a ghost when you die then," Anja said. Many people feared death, so it was always a nice change of pace to meet someone who didn't. It was a very practical state of mind. That was the general sense Anja got from Crylon. Practical.

When Crylon spoke of his gods, Anja nodded and memorized everything the Isur had to say about them. Knowing the types of Gods one chose to follow said a lot about them, and Crylon's choice of Gods were noble ones. That spoke a lot to the man's frame of mind. "They sound like gods worthy of following," Anja told him.

Without Anja realizing it, something in the Gem was shifting. If Anja hadn't been so engrossed in the conversation, or perhaps if he were capable of understanding the Gem the way Kelski did, he might have had reason to pause. There was a song beginning to hum on the edges of his conscious, but it was so faint and gentle that Anja hadn't noticed it yet.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon shrugged at Anja's comment, not fully agreeing or disagreeing. “Have word, is close enough for what say, but still in common seem... Limit. Is not so much direct, as I try other words to get close to what say in own tongue. But suppose, would have some words similar, since have... Ghosts... In both places. So will have similar word to describe, even if different somewhat.” He was interested to hear the mans explanation for his use of the word djed, and in it being the word he knew for explaining the power used when using magic. Like wood was the fuel for a flame, djed was in somewhat simpler terms the fuel for magic. But the spiritist went on to explain further, how some magics used it from inside or outside, and that everything had magic. Crylon understood bits of this at some level, being a user of magics that took djed as the human called it from both himself and outside of himself, but not in such a succinct fashion. Djed. A new word in the sense of his understanding of it, a word in one language but used to mean something in several. His explanation to Crylon of why there were so many ghosts in Sunberth made sense, when paired with his explanation of how or why ghosts occurred. He was also further interested when Anja showed Crylon a odd sort of white substance which he made, which was used in the magic. Soulmist. He was not clear on how exactly one used it, but apparently once used it allowed one to attack a ghost or defend from a ghost. Offense and defense all in one. “If not worth follow, then done think would follow. Izurdin, follow since born, is of my people. Priskil newer, but no less devote to by this.” Pausing for a moment, Crylon let the words that had been said mull over, before considering something. While the human had answered many questions, one had not been. “So, is have master, who teach how do ghost things? Ghost magic? Or how learn? And how long been do ghost magic?” Perhaps there was another proper term other than ghost magic, but if he had been told it before Crylon had forgotten, or he had not been told it. WC: 384