The Stargazer (Open)

[Satevis]

17th Day of Spring, 512 AV
Location: Cerulean Pier

The stars shone brightly in the sky above, seeming to stretch on for miles as they spread out over the ocean. Seeing the clear skies that night, it was hard to believe that just over two weeks ago, they had caused a storm the likes of which living memory could not recall. Satevis stood at the end of the pier, his arms crossed over the railing as he leaned forward slightly, looking out over the ocean and the stars. He sighed.

They had seemed closer in Lhavit, so much closer. In the mountains, he had felt as though he were only an arms' length away from Leth, as though his patron would reach down and take him back up to the sky if he could. And Satevis had been loathe to leave Lhavit because of it, but there were so many other Ethaefal that had found their way there--too many. And it ached. Those friends he had managed to make that were mortal wondered why he would want to leave, when so many of his companions were present. They asked him whether the Ethaefal hated each other, and how could he explain? They did not hate each other, they loved each other. They were family.

But when you spoke with your family, you often thought of your home.

And so he had had to leave.

Satevis had always been accepting of his lot in life. To say he didn't miss Leth's company would be a lie--he did, and he missed it sorely. But he had been Benshira before, and the mindset still stayed with him even now. The Benshira were a people of faith, and although Satevis had strayed in the sense that he had followed Leth as well as Yahal, he still held to the tenets of the faith that he had been raised with. He had grown up believing that the gods worked in mysterious ways. So when he had washed up on shore that night--this very shore in fact, he had accepted it as his destiny. He knew that his own descent had been the closest thing possible to a divine accident--the Valterrian had injured his lord and lady's realms terribly, but the fact that he personally had fallen meant something. That there was a reason, some higher purpose, that he had been reborn. And he clung to that, as he wandered the earth. He didn't know what it was, but he immersed himself in study, resigned to the fact that if it was destiny, it would emerge in the course of his existence.

Satevis didn't know if he was content, but if an Ethaefal could be content, he was close.

He frowned as he heard whispers on the pier behind him, not looking back to see who it was. He was used to this by now. He knew that he didn't look ordinary, if ordinary could even be quantified in this broken realm. Now that it was night, and the world was under Leth's domain, his Benshira form had been shed, and he had taken on his Ethaefal form. He had grown taller, his skin had grown paler and slightly opalescent, his hair had shifted from dark brown to a striking lavender gray, and a pair of white horns now arched back and around his skull, almost like the circlet his people were fond of wearing. His eyes were now a deep shade of violet. Anyone who saw him now might have difficulty equating him to the quiet Benshira scholar of the day. Until he spoke, anyway. That accent was hard to misplace.

Although he liked the knowledge and new revelations brought on by his Ethaefal form, and was much more comfortable in it, he would be the first to admit that he much preferred his Benshira form for moving around people. At least then, the only things they noticed were his eyes. Now, the eyes were the least of his problems.

He ignored the whispers though, his musings taking a slightly darker route as he looked out over the ocean. He had come here to watch the stars and reflect quietly, but his time of reflection had been broken once he noticed the twin obelisks that protruded from the water. They had not been there last time. He could feel it, as his eyes locked onto one of them, the steady swirling of djed locked inside the stone. His lips pursed slightly as he looked at the obelisk. He remembered the faint rumors he had heard that surrounded them, something about a theft in the University, and had seen the damage the tidal waves had done to the city.

What has the storm brought to you, city of Laviku? he thought to himself.