[Fields outside of Denval] Kinship Calls [Seodai]

[Talen Stirling]

4th of Fall 511 A.V. Talen ran light-footed along the dirt road leading out of Denval, the sun that had shone steadily for several straight days causing him to break into a faint sweat already. He wore a white shirt and trousers, the sleeves were short and fading scars still showed on his arms. It had been many weeks now, yet the burden of all the things that had happened last season still rested heavy upon Talen. However, less so today than so many others. The great weather was uplifting, the morning run was envigorating and he looked forward to aiding with the harvest that they could finally start bringing in. It would be nice to elp bring food and life rather than duty and death. He remembered well the times he had stood besides his cousin reaping corn and stacking hay. He was looking forward to it, the simple pleasure of working with Seodai who was so like him yet at the same time so incredibly different. Related on their mother's side, they both had the same curse running through their blood, although Seo's affliction was worse than his own. Their features were alike, although not to the point where people had any difficulty telling one from the other, their lifestyles and health were too different. In spirit too they were different, although beneath the surface rested a resemblance and a set of beliefs that were quite alike. But, especially in his cousin's case, it could be hard to get there. It wasn't like the two of them were very close, he rarely visited and they did not spend abundances of time and effort with each other. However, he still looked forward to going. There was a simple pleasure and safety in being with his cousin. They knew each other from childhood, from asking their parents and from simply being around each other from the beginning. The way they looked at the world came from a perspective that was so alike and had so much in common he felt it was easier to be around him than many others. No pretences and no falsehood. He panted as he approached Theo's farm where those who would work had agreed to meet, and slowed down to a walk as he approached the entrance. Where was his Bala-blessed shy cousin hiding out at?

[Seodai]

If there was one exception to Seodai's typical feelings regarding the presence of other folk, it was harvest. In harvest time he loved that his fields were overcome with the most gracious of the Denvali; the kind and thoughtful, the generous, the helpful, or the ones who just wanted a share in the fruit of that harvest. Either way, they were all willing to work and usually eager to get it finished, but it brought a sense of festival to the normally quiet fields. The quiet talking and laughter, the general hum of humanity moving about one another in polite fashion. It was lovely. It felt so alive. Seodai could imagine that they were all plants, upshoots of Bala's good blessing, birthed at the time when they were needed most. They somehow, for that day, came to be a part of the farm Seo loved most. And though he was not often found in the center of that little hum of humanity, Seodai enjoyed it very much from afar. He, most often, hovered around the edges - correcting here and there, until he was certain they were quite capable. He almost always assigned familiar tasks, too. If someone knew corn innately from the year before, then corn it would be. By mid-morning everyone was generally settled, ready to work through the warmth of the day, and to celebrate around the campfire and food Theo always hosted with the fall of Syna. That was the goal, though. It was still early morning and Seodai was directing people to their task as they came upon the farm. It was easier to handle them individually than in groups, always. And so it was that Seo was just returning from such work, showing a youth of about fourteen how to pull the sweet pea pods from their vines, when Talen approached. "I was certain you'd never come back, cousin, after last year," Seodai said with a smile.

[Talen Stirling]

Talen coughed, and sent his cousin a nervous, twitchy smile before answering non-chalantly as best he could. "I don't know what you're talking about.. Where do I take up a pitchfork this year Cuz'?!" His desperate evasion of the topic was terribly blatant, deception was not his strength and Seo had caught him by surprise. Who'd expect such a devious comment from his kind cousin? Well, Talen might have. Boys would be boys, and they'd had competition, arguments and fighting back in the day. But hope would have it that he had convinced himself Seo had forgotten.

[Seodai]

"First flush with the tea," he said lightly, walking aside his cousin as they approached the farm proper. It was delicate work, the bushes that would provide leaves for nearly all of the tea the Denvali would consume over the next year. But Talen had proven himself patient enough, last year, and gentle enough too. The tiny buds weren't crushed in his grip, nor were the leaves carelessly torn, as had happened with more than one person Seodai had given the job to. He trusted Talen with the work, even if it was tedious. But wasn't all of it, really, at harvest time? "And I had nothing to do with that mess you'd made for yourself. You can't have all the girls loving you at once, you know." Someone stopped Seodai as they passed, asked a question, which he answered clearly before continuing on. "How is your family?" His family too, even if he hardly knew them.

[Talen Stirling]

Talen smiled with relief and nodded agreement of his task. Honestly, he found flushing the tea to be both difficult and, well, boring. Not more so perhaps than patrolling and standing watch, but the responsability of picking off the buds was one he could live without. He'd much rather scythe corn and load it into stacks, instead of carefully plucking the tea. He didn't like it, he felt too clumsy and even though he was as careful as anyone he still ended up ruining at least a dozens more buds than his cousin, and collecting fewer if they worked the same task. He winced embarrassed when Seo suddenly reminded him of last years drama, putting his hopes of sweet oblivion to shame. In spite of it, he couldn't resist speaking up in a low voice. "But why? I can love all the girls." He smiled rogueishly, but wiped it away as he waited for Seo to instruct another Denvali in his tasks. His cousin seemed cheerful, even more so than usually around harvest time. It was contagious, when someone who was usually quiet was so lively. Not contagious enough not to annoy Talen with his rather uncomfortable question. His cousin knew perfectly well that Talen and his mother didn't speak much anymore, and that his dad was buried. "They're fine.. I sent mum a letter not too long ago. Dad hasn't stirred in his grave and everything is quiet." He spoke a little airily, and also weavingly. How he could have answered that question without sounding at least snarky was beyond him. "How are you, Cuz'? I haven't heard from you much, although you look well, although everso skinny as usual." He smiled at him, and tried to change the topic and tone of the conversation as quickly as possible as they walked towards their destination together.

[Seodai]

"Good," Seodai murmured just as lightly as Talen had answered. Family wasn't something golden or beautiful with either of them, and so it was easier dismissed. Seodai certainly didn't want to go into a lengthy discussion about the well-being of his estranged mother and father, anyway. Mercifully, he knew that Talen wouldn't ask. "I'm good, Talen. Busy. That time of year, you know? And things are all... I don't know... clogged up with Bala. It doesn't feel the same. I've spent more of my life with her than without her, so it's just..." Seodai remembered, then, that Talen possessed no gnosis, and so his words might have been falling upon deaf ears. How could he describe divine presence, or the lack thereof, to someone who had never really known it? "Weird." He sighed lightly, but when his blue eyes lifted to the land before him, the bounty of their harvest and their hard work, he softened again. It was difficult to spoil his mood on harvest days. "I've made a friend," he said, thinking of Syllke. "Or two," he added, thinking of Lysander with a flush. "Weird, right?"

[Talen Stirling]

Talen sent Seo a curious glance, a puzzled expression that wasn't all too foreign when people spoke of magic and gnosis. Perhaps, if they took the time to explain instead of giving it up he wouldn't be assumed not to understand, yet that rarely happened. The knowledge of magic and the divine often ended up in the hands of only those who already had it, as with so many other things. Not that he had a problem with not being told more of it, yet he couldn't help but wonder what he meant. How could a relationship with a diety be clogged up?. His mild worry and wonder was soon washed away by a smile as Seodai related this latest news. He had always thought that his cousin should meet more people, instead of carrying on the closed in safety that their blood curse had inspired. Neither he nor his cousin deserved to be trapped by their own blood. "Doesn't seem weird to me Cuz', It's good to be your friend." He grinned and made the compliment seem less significant by following it up with a good natured jab to his cousin's shoulder. Men didn't get all mushy, and surdently didn't have to tell each other that they were important to have around. Perhaps his cousin would find a nice girl too, or perhaps one of these secret friends was one. "You can still ripen the food, 'rite? 'Cause after today I'll have a hunger fitting for wolves." He flashed Seo a hungry smile, confident in his ability to turn what might otherwise be a bitter meal into the best of food. Every year there were vegetables and fruit that wasn't ripe, and volunteer harvesting work on the farm was not paid with mizas.

[Seodai]

Seodai fixed his cousin with a sideways smile, and then turned his attention back to their journey. He seldom spent time with Talen outside of the farm, but his was company that was not nearly as difficult as the general public. Every year Seodai found himself thinking that, just maybe, he'd have to make it a point to see his cousin outside of the work of harvest. Every year he failed to do so. Perhaps this year, with Syllke and Lysander both changing the frame of his worldview, he actually would. "I think so," he said, carrying the conversation onwards quickly. To be truthful, he wasn't entirely sure of where he stood in relation to his goddess. He hadn't used his gnosis in weeks, just because things felt so strange. "There will be a fantastic feast when we've finished, as there always is." Theo was a wonderful host, if never ostentatious about it. Another trait Seodai was learning from his uncle. By now they'd reached the long rows of tea, precious leaves rustling in the light breeze and just waiting for the careful attention Talen was equipped to give. "I've got to get everyone started. But, if you'd like, I can come help you when I've finished with that..."

[Talen Stirling]

Talen smiled boyishly and wiped a calloused hand through his messy hair before answering Seo with a cheerful voice. It was funny, how his usually calm and introvert cousin often made Talen that much more energetic and boisterous. "Then we'll see if you can keep up cousin! Perhaps you can get more of a workout running about teaching everyone than me picking leaves" He slouched and looked at the lazily waving rows of tea with mock disapproval, and sighed dramatically. "Woe is me, for having such a cruel cousin, who weighs tea higher than bonds of blood." He laid a heavy hand on Seo's shoulder for a moment, and smirked fiendishly as he stood up straight, walking towards the rows of tea as if they were lines of enemies in his path. "You better come help me, 'lest I be overwhelmed by this insurmountable challenge!" He turned around while walking to flash a great smile at his cousin, took a few steps backwards and turned around to pick up one of the large baskets on the ground next to the plants. The green leaves and buds were green and thick with life, and he let go of the basket with either hand to wipe them clean of perspiration in his shirt before touching anything. The first leaves to leave the branches were picked carefully, Talen's calloused hand fitting softly and slowly around the leaves before he snapped it back, pulling it off with a swift motion. It was all in the snap, in how that movement was remembered by muscle-memory. If the branches were pulled or the leaves crushed, the tea would be worse and the plants damaged. Blue-gray eyes moved slowly, as he worked steadily. Each stolen leaf and bud was dropped into the basket immediately, the drop into it part of the fluid motion of stealing it from the bush. Talen was not fast, his free hand did not move in a blur, but in a firm pattern that had gained some speed since he began. His eyes smiled with quiet concentration, and a peace that was too often stolen from him.

[Seodai]

Survival in Denval was a community task. Just as they were all bred to protect and serve, so too did a certain spirit of joint effort pervade days spent like this. Even children were on hand to offer their aid, though Seo directed them away from the more tedious work and busied them serving the adults instead. Little feet scurried along row after row of plants heavy with harvest, carrying water to the parched workers. When their services weren't immediately required, and sometimes even when they were, they inevitably got distracted by the games that children play. Games Seodai had missed out on. Their laughter combined with the pleasant chatter of those who had gathered to create a sort of soundtrack for the day. It was life, teeming forth and overflowing on Theo's farm that day. Busy, happy life. Life that celebrated, however indirectly, the fact that they could go on. Thanks to the harvest they were pulling in now, the winter would not crush them. Seodai was busy, and regretted that most of his work was supervisory. That, of course, put him in direct contact with people, which was never a comfortable thing. It also kept him away from the dirt and vegetation that he loved so very much. He'd have preferred to pick tea with Talen, more than his cousin could ever know. But it took both Seo and Theo to keep everything in order; to answer the questions that always came, to direct people to the right place, to gently correct mistakes that would damage the bounty of food they were all working so hard to collect. As Syna reached her peak, Seodai found the opportunity for a brief reprieve. After cooling himself with a ladle full of water, his ambling steps brought him back to the place where he had left Talen. Just as he had expected, his cousin had been very efficient in his absence. It might have been a job Talen didn't relish, but it was one he performed well. For all of the brute strength the guard possessed, Talen seemed to doubt his abilities in the more delicate things in life. Seodai saw past that, at least in regards to this, though - and was thankful for someone who could treat these plants with the same care he would. After all, every bush was like a brother or sister to him. He spent time, effort, and great spirit nursing each and every plant to life. It would pain him to see that wasted. "You'll have it done by nightfall," he said, his tone warm with praise as he approached Talen from behind. He held a crude jug in his hand, filled with cool water. Undoubtedly the children had taken good care of Talen, too, but it seemed a nice gesture. He offered it out, and then wiped the moisture from his palm against the fabric of his hip. With a squint he glanced out over the half emptied fields around them. Already some of the older women had banded together behind the small house and were cooking up a celebratory meal that the workers would all share once Leth stole away the skies. It would be nice to be finished, to rest. "Would you like to rest a while? I can find something more companionable to do while your fingers recover."