Wanderers [Ronan]

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He was a novice yet with the mysteries, but he didn't think he had started a brush fire. All the same, he urged Dohaina to run, and Tairell seemed to catch the hint. Wind whipping in his face, he turned to offer a tight smile at the apology, nodding curtly. Once they were closer to Endrykas and out of immediate danger, he let Dohaina slow them up to a walk so they could talk more easily. "I know I'm young," he said finally, "but I know what I'm talking about when it comes to surviving out there. There's no honor in charging a flock of glassbeaks on the prowl. Nothing glorious in dying just to die..." He wanted to apologize, but he shouldn't have to. He was doing his job. But bossing people around didn't win a man many friends, even if it saved their lives. "I'll just, ah... see that you get safely to Endrykas. You can blame me for not returning home with glassbeak feathers," though he mentally thought, and you can blame me for coming home alive. He wondered if this one had a deathwish as Edalene had, taking her anger for her father and for Eldon out on herself and Sama'el and, incidentally, their Striders.

[Ronan]

"Thank you," Ronan said quietely, bowing his head and he stayed at Sama'el's side. But do you really know the truth of glory Sama'el? Have you been through the tragedies I have...? "When did you learn your Webbing and magicks?" Ronan finally asked, feeling a little more comfortable around this young stranger. The Windsong Pavilion had only dabbled in one strand of the mystic arts - prophecy and divination - a skill he had received from his mother. But people often thought badly of it, and Ronan kept his foreseeing abilities to himself.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el nodded his acceptance, and smiled too, mollified enough for his usual good cheer to return. When an outsider like Luke asked him about the Mysteries, he had to demure and change the subject somehow, but another Drykas could know. It was silly, perhaps, as Webbing was the sacred Mystery, but it seemed appropriate to accept them all as something that should not be shared readily with outsiders if one was going to be sancrosanct. "Oh, only recently. The Web last fall, the fire this spring. To be honest, I use the fire more to light up for cooking in the field or to make witchlights by which to see in the dark of the new moon than I do to deter glassbeaks, but... well, I'm still rather crap with a bow." He wasn't exactly crap, but he was no great archer either. "I spent a long time away from Cyphrus, and they ruined what I knew with longbow training, which... well, it's too difficult to use a longbow from horseback so I switched back once I returned."

[Ronan]

Ronan nodded, slowly listening to Sama'el. "That makes sense... I've never left Cyphrus, though I spend a lot of time outside of Endrykas. Where did you go?" Sama'el's mention of travelling outside Cyphrus had instilled a curiosity in Ronan. He had ideas every once in a while, to go travelling beyond the constraints of his home land. He had heard so many stories.... of the frozen north in Avanthal, to the urban sprawl of Syliras. He had always thought Endrykas to be a large place, a hub for humanity, but the world's great cities were supposedly even busier. "I sometimes wish I'd visited more places. I guess I still have the opportunity." With the Glassbeaks far behind them, Sama'el and Ronan settled into a more companionable relationship. Dare he say it, but Ronan was actually beginning to like the young Webber - he seemed honest, brimming with integrity, but also wisdom. He figured he could learn a lot from this stranger.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"My pavilion liked to trade beyond our borders. I have vague memories of Ahnatep, but when I was on my own... Lisnar, Sunberth, Zeltiva, Syliras... Avanthal... Novallas. Nyka and Ravok were too... not for me. I was alone but for my horse. Those aren't places to go without friends." He shrugged and nocked an arrow, sighting carefully and letting it fly ahead of them. When Dohaina walked close enough to it, he leaned down to snatch it out of the turf, the Strider not even pausing. Then he fired again. He had the technique, but needed practice to make it second nature. And so he fired again, always collecting his arrows. Not being a fletcher himself, he liked to conserve them. "Where would you go?" he asked, curious why so many Drykas wanted to leave suddenly, his cousin being one of the most important.

[Ronan]

"Anywhere. Everywhere." He looked up at Sama'el with a smile. "Avanthal perhaps, just to feel the cold. And Syliras - to see the hustle and bustle of a real city." He watched Sama'el fire his bow, over and over again, picking the arrows up only to nock them back once again. He was training, Ronan thought. But for what? He rarely saw such dedication amongst the Drykas. "I don't know if you'd understand.." he began, "my past. Everything. It's all held here in Endrykas. If I could just leave Cyphrus, it would be like another chance. A second chance." He paused, watching Sama'el fire the bow again. The Webber was listening, Ronan knew. "Redemption," he finally whispered, half to himself. "A chance for redemption..."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Redemption?" he asked, glancing at Ronan. He understood the word, the concept. His redemption had taken a long ten years before he felt worthy of returning to Endrykas, and the gods had seen fit to give him signs that he was following his path. Dohaina had come to him not far from the border between Sylira and Cyphrus, appearing like the eye of a deadly storm while he and his traveling companions had fought of glassbeaks desperate for shelter from said storm. He had seen Zulrav curse a man while leaving Sama'el, his companion, in peace, though Sam wondered what he might have done to earn gnosis in that moment of divine attention. "I understand redemption," he said quietly, nocking his bow again and firing into the distance at some target known only to him. "Well, I understand the path of my own... though I suppose the gods might lesson me in what I think I know." He chuckled softly. "I'll let you know if I get any courier assignments to Avanthal."

[Ronan]

Ronan looked up at Sama'el again. He hadn't even meant to speak aloud, and here he was, spilling his closest feelings to this stranger. He softened. It didn't matter - this man was as weather worn as he was. He was young - yes - but he had stood against the trials of life. "I appreciate the offer," Ronan said, "I really do." He looked around at the Grasses, sighing. "I can't even remember why I came out here... Was I hunting? Tracking? Oh, Semele probably doesn't even know." He looked back at the youthful Webber. "It seems we're kindred spirits. Wanderers through and through."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"I really will," he said with an earnest smile. "You can come or not. It's always good to have someone watching your back." But he laughed at Ronan's confusion, albeit gently enough. "Sounds like you're a bit sunstruck, been out under Syna's eye with your head uncovered for too long." But they were headed toward Endrykas so if it were true, the man could soon lie down in the cool dark of his tent and let his body take care of itself. Sama'el knew many healers, as accident prone as he was, and they all said that sleep was the most adept healer of all. "But yes... wandering is our way of life. Some of us just wander farther from the madding crowd than the rest." But he wouldn't mind a companion. The others seemed to drop like flies. Not into death, but from his side. It was sad, but he tried not to think about it. Instead he smiled at Ronan, a smile full of optimism in spite of everything.

[Ronan]

"Well... I think it's time to head back," Ronan said, wheeling Tairell back around towards Endrykas, "will you be coming back to the moving city?" Ronan had met a lot of people since coming back to Endrykas on a more permanent basis - and he didn't have a bad word to say for them. They were many, they were varied, but they were people all the same. Companions, encroaching on the fringes of his isolation. He had spent too long spirited away in the wilds. He would never find redemption there, he realised. Only Glassbeaks and loneliness. "I know a good establishment for drinks. If you were thirsty?" He was holding out the olive branch of friendship. It was Sama'el's choice whether he took it or not...