Sharing Mysteries [Sama'el]

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon breathed slowly, intentionally slowly. As the time ticked by, he found himself more and more uneasy about doing this process, but looking at his cousin now, he knew it wouldn't take much longer. Sama'el was doing great, better than Eldon imagined, much better than he could have hoped. Perhaps Eldon just remembered the experience as being much more terrible some decade ago when he was initiated. There was an age difference. Perhaps, even, a difference in character as well. Eldon knew Sam was the stronger of them, he just had a hard time toying with the very realistic idea that reimancy, too, would come naturally to his clanmate and kin. Eldon smiled. "Alright, I'm going to retract my res now. Try not to hold onto it. It isn't yours and you can't use it. Keep yourself relaxed." Eldon reached up and placed his hand on Sam's cheek, holding his face for a moment before nodding. If something happened to Sama'el, Eldon wouldn't be able to live with himself, literally. Living with the ideas that you killed both your parents and your closest remaining family, it would be too much. Eldon moved his hand from Sam's cheek to his mouth, cupping over his lips as if trying to block his breath, then, gradually, the red started to pull itself from the corridors of Sama'el's body, through the chest, the throat, the mouth, and into Eldon's hand. "Breathe through the nose. This will be quick." And a minute later, his promise was fulfilled. Eldon pulled his hand back from Sama'el's face and grinned victoriously, his brother was alive and well. Whether he could generate his own res yet, Eldon wasn't certain. There was no way he was going to allow his cousin to practice today though, not unless he fed himself, nourished himself with water, and rested beforehand. "How do you feel?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

While he had managed to steel himself against the initial pain, his dark eyes went wide when the hand over his mouth pulled the res out of him again, and there came a gurgling scream against that hand, though it cut short, and his eyes remained locked on his cousin's as the res seemed to take some of Sama'el's insides with it. Not wanting to frighten Eldon, he again steeled himself against the pain and even managed a reassuring smile when Eldon pulled his hand away. But at the question, he realized that it was far too hot out to be early Spring, and then he was stumbling forward into Eldon, his sense of balance all awry, his skin on fire, and all his muscles suddenly clenching and shuddering. "I'm all right, I'm all right," he rasped, a litany against fear. But his breath came like a dry desert gust against Eldon's shoulder. "Water... please... water... Blessed Ivak... so hot..."

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon caught his cousin in a solid embrace as he fell forward into his chest. It worried him, but he knew it was natural to feel this way. Eldon remembered sweating up a storm, even vomiting violently. Sama'el was burning up, even Eldon could feel that. He didn't recall himself obtaining such a sudden, high fever or violent hunger for water, but Sama'el was. It must be different for different people. Eldon could accept that. Eldon took his waterskin and lifted it to Sama'el's lips, pouring the water into his mouth. Eldon was amazing that his waterskin, only filled up personally this morning, was draining quickly at his cousin's insane thirst. Before long, it would be gone. "Sam, let's get this shirt off of you. You're skin is too warm." Eldon felt like his cousin probably wasn't hearing him, or at least was so out of it that he couldn't really move towards stripping off his own clothing so Eldon got to work doing it himself. Grabbing at Sam's clothing, he pulled it upwards, over his head, and tossed it to the side. With his own Res recovered from Sam's body, Eldon was feeling great once again, well enough to even to rinse his cousin with water. Eldon, refusing to let go of his cousin for fear of him falling set him on the grass in a sitting position, then sat behind him. Res to water, Eldon rubbed the green res liquids across Sam's shoulders, which would moments later turn into water, running down his thin toned body like several tiny streams. Eldon sighed softly, feeling the worst was over. Perhaps Sama'el was going to be ill with a fever, something Eldon was probably fortunate enough to avoid in his own initiation, but he wouldn't die, not now. He had Eldon, and soon Dymphna and Denen once again, to watch over him. Eldon smiled, not pleased with his cousin's painful experience or uncomfortable situation, but he felt like he was returning the favor to his beloved family for rescuing him from the plains the day his father died. It was a small, but sure step, to feeling like he was once again useful. "Talk to me, are you still awake?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el struggled feebly with his clothes, trying to help Eldon remove them, but he was weak as an hour old kitten. The experience had taken all his energy and he hadn't even done anything but persevere through it. He was flushed down his back and down his chest, and the impromptu shower helped only a little. Even with all the water he had drunk, his belly feeling full, slightly distended, he wanted more. Out of it, he wanted to weep, but his body would not spare him the water for tears. The exhaustion and the malaise made him emotional, and though he felt safe in Eldon's arms with Dohaina looking on, there was a shiver of fear. This didn't feel the same as Eldon said it would. He tried to bite back everything, be brave, but it was difficult. The strength of his cousin, the sun and water smell of his skin up close, it reminded him suddenly of a very old memory, dim for a long time. His father. He barely recalled what having a father felt like, or an elder brother, though Eldon was now that. "I... I th-think there's a fire... a fire inside me..." His voice was tentative and slurring. "Oh gods... Ow..." His body tensed up against some internal pain, the pathways of his djed changing, channels opening wide that had been latent before. "I'll be all right," he said, beginning a new mantra to focus him on getting through the pain. "I'll be all right, I'll be all right... We can roast the Zith for dinner." The last, at least, sounded like a desperate promise.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon smiled despite picking up on Sama'el's weakness, his subtle fear, his surfaced vulnerability. He knew, and now understood what was going on. Eldon had assumed that, by nature, Sam would be a reimancer of water, like Eldon himself, like Eldon's father, and as far as his father told him, every mentionable reimancer in their family history. Eldon, however, wasn't pumping molten lava through his veins or breathing steam or having his innards boiled. On the contrary, his own experience was the polar opposite. He felt like he was drowning, like when you inhaled too much water through the nose and you tried desperately to blow it out despite it already flowing through your body. He felt a chill through his body as if his very blood turned cold. He sat by a fire for hours, certain he would die of frostbite otherwise. Eldon continued to massage Sama'el's body with his hands, leaving the res behind, water dripping eternally from his palms. Even his fingers worked to apply faint pressure to his cousin's body, the muscles felt tight, tense, like if everything locked up tight for those several minutes of the initiation. "I never told you about my own initiation did I? Not in detail. It's not so different from yours, except very much so. That's why it is the same really, because it held such a different experience. I'll tell you some other time. Keep talking to me." Eldon nodded, he knew Sam wasn't over-exaggerating, Eldon knew better, experienced it even. Still, seeing it like this now that he was older and understood made him feel strange, like he was in fact his father now. He was mature, finally. "It's just your own Djed. What you feel is the element your body is most attuned to. It will be uncomfortable for a while, then it becomes natural. The worst is already passed. You did well. My father is proud of you. I'm proud of you." Eldon didn't know whether his father had any knowledge of events now, whether he returned to a knew life yet or somehow just understood the recently occurring events because his own child was involved, but still, Sam might need to hear this now. It was all for Sama'el at this moment.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"You never did," he said, shaking a bit, pushing his body against the cool wetness of Eldon's hands wherever they went with their hydromantic power. It would have looked strange to anyone who had not been initiated into these mysteries, knowing how he burned with his own fire even as Eldon had drowned in his own water. "I w-wanted... to have water, like you..." It sounded strangely pathetic, as if he were asking Eldon's forgiveness for being different. "So I could learn from you..." It was difficult to talk against the pain. Though Eldon seemed right, and it was receding, it was still not a happy place in which to reside. He attempted to keep his breath working slow and steady, but he had to speak so Eldon would know he was not slipping into some coma or other trauma. "Ah, I hope... I hope you are... brother." He was rather like an infant in strength then, cradled by a stronger man of his family, what little family remained. The gods had not been merciful with his dead pavilion, nor with the Sunkiss branch. His burning hand encircled Eldon's wrist and pulled his watering hand to Sama'el's forehead, holding it there as his lengthening hair began to soak up the excess water. "Have to... to keep my brain... cool. Can't spare... the few brains I have... have left..." He chuckled a little, a dusty desert of a sound, but it was likely a good sign that he still had his humor.

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon's hands were moved to Sama'el's head, the water he was conjuring following in suit. His younger cousin's head became soaked in mere moments, but continued to drip and fall down his face, his shoulders. Eldon nodded slowly. "You'll be fine, I promise." Eldon grinned despite thinking a grim thought. 'Don't make me a liar.' "Sam, don't be ashamed of what you got. There's a reason for it. I'm sure you've noticed recently that I can do more than water now. Even the earth, it bends to my will Sama'el. I've grown in the reimancy. If you work at it, master it like I know you can, then you will get the ability of water. You just need to know that it will come. Just work with me on that." Eldon moved his hand to Sam's cheek and patted him gently with a little smirk. "I am proud of you. Don't doubt that." OOCI've got no idea what to do.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el fell into quiescent silence, allowing Eldon to cool his brow and give him comfort with his presence while his body and his soul processed these new changes. Hours passed that way with Eldon checking on him, occasionally having a bit of conversation, and then lulls. The fever broke finally, and a more coherent sense returned to Sama'el. His hair was soaking wet, and water had dribbled down his bare back to soak the back of his pants, which would have been embarrassing in other circumstances. With help, he sat up, though Eldon didn't seem to want to risk him falling and so kept his hands on him. Sama'el looked down at the cuts on his arm, the blood already dry though he would probably ask Dymphna to have a look at them all the same. First the Web was given him, and now fire. The more he thought about it, the more he grew accustomed to the idea. Creating water during a dry spell was an enviable skill, but creating fire during a bitter chill was too. He could find a way to make that work, and even his feverish mind had latched onto the idea of burning Eldon's Zith tormentors... There was still that. "Are you sure I can't try yet?" he asked. "How long did you have to wait to try?"

OOCDid that help? If not, you can end the scene. I'll just demand another, though...

[Eldon Sunkiss]

Eldon nodded slowly. "I want you too recover first. My father made me wait days, I'll only make you wait until tomorrow. Then we can see if I did the initiation correctly. For now, I want to get you home to Dymphna. She can take care of you, clean you up. I'll come by tomorrow and check on you, and we will test it out." Eldon walked Sama'el over to Dohaina and helped him take a seat. "You think you can ride slowly? I'll be right beside you. Hey! Follow!" Eldon called out as the four Deerstalker dogs came trotting through the golden waves of grass from four different directions. It was time to go home. Eldon mounted Vanah and walked her next to Dohaina, close enough to wear Eldon could reach over and place his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Chin up little cousin. I'm sure your uncle would be proud as well." Eldon nodded, Sam's uncle obviously was Eldon's father, yet it was easier to call him "Sam's Uncle" than his father. He had come a long way, but still a long way to go. "Let's go home. Your woman will be worried sick until she has you safe in her arms again." ENDWe can start another thread as soon as you get your initiation approval. I'm not sure how it works, but I assume you need a point in reimancy before you can perform it.

[Ganmedo]

Blessings from the Cupbearer Eldon Sunkiss XP: Reimancy + 3 Lore: Being his own man Preparing for the pain of another Concern for others Explaining Initiation Cutting relatives Sama'el XP: Reimancy + 3 Lore: Reimancy initiation The excitement of something new Being cared for Understanding the need for seriousness COMMENTS: D'awww! Cousins! The cuteness! Let me know if you have any comments, concerns, questions, whimpers, or whines.