Down to the Sea to Pray

[Hadrian]

61st Spring, 512 A.V. Having seen a bit of the city, Hadrian left for new perspective, and for privacy to pray. The gods of Nyka were not his gods; he had little knowledge of the demigods, really, and he did not want to offend them by performing his private rites within their demesne. He walked out through the heavily guarded gates, his aura tingling at the other things haunting it. His feet took him past the docks, and down south along the coastline a ways, finding little in the way of beaches among the rocks, but finally he found a secluded little beach, mostly rocks, but perfect for his purposes. Stripping off his clothes, he folded them neatly and set them on a rock. With a wave of his hand, a wash of green res crashed into the rock, reforming it until his clothes and all belongings upon his person were safely encased in rock. He had overheard too many stories about skinnydippers losing their clothes to risk it; he was awkward enough without a naked trek back to his lodgings in the Celestial Square. He looked down at his body, so pale and now more skinny than slender. If someone didn't remind him to eat, he often forgot, and that was an ill thing, for one needed to eat to keep one's aura full of djed. Hadrian sighed. There was so much to keep track of, and so much to do. Arms held akimbo, he carefully threaded his way down among the rocks to the sandiest part and stepped into the swirling surf, feeling blindly for rocks as he carefully waded out until the rise and fall of the swells evened out around his waist. Hadrian stopped there, his hands resting atop the water, his body beginning to shimmer and shine with a mist of blue light. "I, too, am Water," he said quietly, words swallowed up by the sound of the water, "Sea King."

[Xnnn]

The cougar stretched languorously, his belly full, and sleep fast approaching. He had gotten a bit lazy, as far as being on his guard. His job at the slaughtering place kept him extremely well fed – probably more so than even in Sunberth, where he had been obliged to at least track the easy prey he had feasted on there. Here, the offal was piled up to be disposed of and all he had to do was take what he wanted. The longrobe had lifted an eyebrow at first, wondering what he did with the stuff. But she seemed too busy to really care. His wages on top of that bought more of the actual meat, and now that he lived outside the city walls, he could wander down to the docks anytime, in his cat form, and have his pick of the fish scraps they had no need of. Life was good.

So it was with his eyes half closed that he picked up the scent, and knew that he was not going to be alone here, in the little dip in the shoreline that formed a very, very small cove of sorts. His den was on a little rise, formed of a fallen tree and rocks that it had lodged in. It was high enough to let the breeze bring him fair warning of those such as the human now approaching his hidden spot, and sheltered from the other directions by the cliff face above and to the far side. There was no sense of alarm, then, as he peeked his nose out, twitching it the better to smell the one coming his way. His ears swiveled too, for his hearing was actually better than his sense of smell. His great green-gold eyes peered from the dimness of the den and he spotted the man, making his way to the water.

Xnnn had no love of the ocean, besides that it provided fish for him to eat. He didn’t understand the human proclivity for jumping in the cold, nasty stuff and splashing about. But he had now seen it happen often enough to know some humans enjoyed it – especially the little ones. This one was grown though, and therefore potentially a danger. Being a kelvic, however, the cougar could not help but be curious about this being – the type that called so strongly to his instinctual drive to serve – as he stopped, looked about and then began to undress. The magic that then shot from the human’s hand was as much felt as it was seen by the kelvic, and his ears pricked forward, as his curiosity intensified. The Zith had not used magic, and it hadn’t been until he reached Sunberth that he had experienced its effects. It intrigued him – called to him – as one whose own origins lay somewhere in its powers, in the long ago. It scared him, and yet fascinated his senses, like a child drawn to a flame. He watched, and the clothes disappeared – or so it seemed to Xnnn. And the man, now naked, stepped into the water.

As he waded further out into the waves, there was even a part of the kelvic that watched with some small modicum of concern, lest the human be tossed down or upset by the lapping water. But he managed the uneven bottom and the push of the surf until he was waist deep, where he stopped, though his thin body was still tugged back and forth where he stood. His hands touched the water, and he began to glow. He spoke and even his quiet words over the sound of the breakers reached the cougar’s sensitive ears.

Laviku. He had heard the sailors on the ship speak of that one. He was not Elymas’ god though – that was Yahal. A desert god, Elymas had tried to explain. And this other one ruled the waves? Xnnn had wondered – when there is mankind, who needed a god to serve? But apparently his kelvic views on religion did not make sense – and when Elyams had tried to teach him, he had sat and listened quietly and thought, on the inside, that he would just serve Elymas and not worry about the rest. But he had never told Elymas that.

It was hard, to see a human and not move towards him. But they could be so treacherous. And in the end, none of them ever stayed. It was a good thing that suicide was not part of a kelvic’s psychological make up, for if it had been, Xnnn might have despaired, in his loneliness. As it was, he only acknowledged it as some skittering feeling of uneasiness – of being incomplete – and being pulled to remain near this human population. There was some part of him that – though subliminal – could not bring him to totally abandon ‘civilization’ and strike out on his own, again.

Stepping out of his den, he sat, quietly, tail curled around his feet almost like some huge, tawny housecat, and watched the glowing man in the water.

[Hadrian]

He wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer. Eyris had blessed him and then hidden all memory of that blessing for almost two years. Ionu had come to him in the form of a boy, playing the victim that Hadrian might play the pale reflection of a Syliran knight, but other than its blessing, the faceless deity had not made its attention otherwise known. And then there were his dreams... But Laviku, whether paying attention or not, had become his confessor. The cold water swirling around his hips brought a chaos of images, much like the early days of being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information floating around in people's auras. The water knew things, but Hadrian didn't know yet what the water might give him. Going under the water, he came up with handfuls of wet sand and scoured at his skin with it, the stuff of Semele mixing with the Sea King's element. There was so much to clean away, but none of it was on his skin. When his ablutions were done, he bowed at the waist to the vast expanse of water before him, then turned to wend his way through the surf and hidden stones to shore, the aura of blue res still clinging to him. When his narrow feet were once again upon the more solid sand, that energy transmuted to pure water, sluicing the salt from his skin. He froze. Nobody had followed him; of that he was sure. But while distracted by the ritual bath, the communion, albeit one-sided, with deity, something had sneaked up on him. His keen sense of aura told him it was a Kelvic, and he sensed no ill intent, but he was naked in more ways than one. Nobody watched him pray. Finally his eyes caught up with his more magical senses, locking onto the Kelvic's. "Hello."

[Xnnn]

Xnn watched the human with a mixture of wistfulness and wariness. The gestures and actions of the young man did not signify anything to the kelvic. The only prayer rituals that he had ever seen, and known them to be “praying,” were those of Elymas, and they certainly did not involve water or scrubbing the body with sand. So his attention centered mainly on simply observing a human doing one of the various things they tended to do for no readily apparent reason. And then the man was done, for he returned to the shore. Xnnn had no intention whatsoever of trying to make himself known, though his heart did beat a bit faster as the man drew closer to his perch. He also had no intention of shifting to human form, for Grayson had warned him that the longrobes were probably not too kindly disposed to his type. This young man reminded him of Grayson in a way, and Xnnn’s cougar form would have let out a sad sigh if it had been capable of that sound.

But unlike Grayson, there was magic humming about this one’s body that felt almost like an electrical storm on its way in over the fields. When the man’s gaze came to rest on the kelvic, Xnnn wasn’t surprised. He knew nothing of magic, but he felt simply that pull again – there was some bond between what the man was capable of – perhaps something that was even a part of him – and his own essence. When the man spoke, Xnnn regarded him openly with those large green-gold eyes. It seemed entirely reasonable to the kelvic that the man somehow knew who he was – what he was.

As well fed as he stayed, and was at that very moment, Xnnn shifted easily.

“Hello,” he replied, having nothing to add.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian nodded to him at the response, when his eyes verified what his other senses already knew: a Kelvic. He waited a moment, eyes as unblinking as the cat-man's. After seasons spent with a chattering lammergeier, he could appreciate a silent Kelvic. The part of him that was always eager to exercise his magical muscle wanted to reach out and charm the beast, draw him into the wizard's orbit like a moon. That was their purpose, after all. The part of him that clung still to the honor code of his native Syliras rebelled against such obvious systems of dominance; whatever Marcus Kelvic had meant when he fashioned beasts into men, they were sentient creatures and deserved respect. "I have no quarrel with you or your master," he added finally, possibly without need. "If these are your hunting grounds, I'll soon be out of them." That said, he waved his hand over the rock, another surge of green-tinted res peeling the rock away like the petals of a flower, and he retrieved his clothes. His power, casually used, returned the rock to its original shape, form once again matching the aura it had developed over its many years of existence. All was back as it had been before. That this was a Kelvic before him made his mind forget the societal strictures against public nudity, and he dressed without paying much mind to the eyes on him, no more than he would the eyes of a house cat. He was even skinnier than he had been, the long trip from Avanthal not really making up for those weeks of intense reimancy, from the overgiving. His reserves would not stick, and while his magical efforts seemed effortless, that was a false show of strength. So he tightened his belt an extra notch to keep his breeches up, and he tried to make a mental note to eat as soon as he got back to town. It wouldn't do to suffer unduly for want of meals and sleep. "I'm Hadrian," he offered when he noticed the man still watching him. He touched his fingers to his brow in a sort of salute or farewell; no harm, no foul.

[Xnnn]

The sight of the magic was less intriguing than the sight of the man himself. And it was not his state of undress that held the kelvic’s eye – but simply that he was a man. A human. And all that entailed, good and bad. He watched the man dress and made no immediate reply, until he gave his name.

“I am . . . “ The kelvic thought of the name given him by Elymas, and it only made him feel . . . abandoned. He paused, thinking of his origins with the Zith. Well – in the end, it seemed that was indeed who he was, not Achym.

“Xnnn.” The sound was like a snarl and a hiss and a groan, sibilant and animalistic – almost unpronounceable for a human tongue.

“And I do not hunt. I work. You may be here. I don’t mind.”

[Hadrian]

Hadrian's attention was as intense as a cat's, and his head canted to the side at the name. Mouth closed, his jaw worked as if he were practicing the movements of tongue and teeth to produce such a sound. The Kelvic, Xnnn, had hesitated, and Hadrian always wondered what secrets hid in the silences and the dark spaces. He nodded, accepting that he had free access to these parts, at least insofar as Xnnn was concerned. "Xnnn," he said, but it wasn't quite right. There was a flash of irritation on his face; he didn't like not being right, but he didn't want to repeat it endlessly until he got it, not right in front of the Kelvic, even if he was only a Kelvic. "What is your work, Xnnn?" he asked, and the name was a little bit closer to what it should be, though Hadrian lacked the fangs and the viciousness of a Zith.

[Xnnn]

No human ever got his name right. That’s one reason Achym had been an alternative he had used. But a mispronunciation didn’t bother the kelvic and he never tried to correct anyone who tried it out. If they called him, he would still come, regardless.

“I work in the slaughter house.” He pronounced the word carefully – it was harder for him than the similar word in Zith, though there had been no ‘house’ in the colony he was from originally. It had been more of an open air pit. He would simply wait for the one in charge to pick out the one or ones to be eaten that day and bring them out from the pens, usually having already beaten and bound them – they rarely went without some fight, even the young ones. Then Xnnn or one of the others who were allowed to wield the knives simply took them the short distance to the pit. A slice across the throat, tie them upside down, catching the blood for other uses, and then an hour or so later, cut them up. Even the bones and innards had their uses. Working in the slaughter house here was no different, though it was easier to do this to animals. It had always pained Xnnn to end the life of a human.

“What do you do - Hadrian?” He asked, sniffing. “You are not a long robe. You aren’t from this city.” The latter two were statements and not questions. His ears had picked up the accent of Hadrian’s voice – they were sensitive enough to easily differentiate the quarters in which the residents of Nyka lived. Hadrian was not from here. And his nose told him this one bathed far too much to be one of the smelly long robed monks. Right now, he had a crackling, energized smell to his body, which Xnnn associated with the magic he had wrought, and which he found both exciting and a bit scary.

[Hadrian]

His first instinct was to obfuscate; not to lie, exactly, but to deceive, perhaps. But his agile mind recalled quickly that he had little to fear from a non-violent Kelvic outside a town that wasn't his own. This was no foot soldier of the Ebonstryfe. He shrugged off his reaction, answered. "I travel now. I've stopped here with my friends for a few weeks, waiting on a ship to Zeltiva, where I think I will start teaching at the University. This is my first time in Nyka." He had traveled farther than Nyka, of course. Even as a boy, he had accompanied his father all the way to Avanthal, but when they made port in Nyka, he had been confined to the ship, his father fearing kidnapping, and Hadrian had never known if that was likely, whether the monks would want a studious boy to feed. But now he tried to apprehend the creature's train of thought, what logic led from one question to the next. Ethan was always up front and forthright about what he wanted; Cathan hadn't needed much, but he had tended not to stare like this. Kelvics were as different as could be, though. Individuality complicated by the magic that created them. "Do you need anything, Xnnn?" he asked, each reiteration of the name closer to a Zith's pronunciation and delivery. It didn't hurt to lend a helping hand, and though Kelvics could be largely self-sufficient, there was a need built into them, it seemed; an itch they could not scratch by themselves.

[Xnnn]

“I have traveled a lot too, Hadrian,” he said, tilting his head a little to consider the question put to him. Did he need anything? Not really. Not now, that he had a way to eat, a place to sleep – though sleeping with Grayson had been far nicer. The weather was much warmer now, too. So that extra bit of body heat wasn’t missed quite so much. But something else was . . . The same thing he felt every time someone walked away from him. The thing that had stopped him from killing Elymas – he touched the scar over his hip. The same thing that had prompted him to attack the other panther that had stalked Tarn – he touched the scars over his ear and on his scalp. The same longing that he had felt since Grayson had disappeared – there was no place to touch for that scar because Xnnn did not perceive his heart as the seat of that emotional bond that had formed there. And it was not just love, or affection. No, the need went deeper than that, and diverged from those more typically human emotions. He needed . . . he needed . . .

“I need someone to need me, Hadrian. I need to belong to someone. But otherwise . . . “ He shrugged. “No, I don’t need any thing.” He shook his head slowly, as if was still considering his answer.

And as long as there was a human standing before him, some inner urging prompted him to ask, “Do you need anything? Is there any way I can serve you, Hadrian?”