Life Isn't That Simple (Sam)

[Anchoa]

61st Day of Spring, 510AV

The streets bustled with noise and motion, a swirling, dizzying way of life. It was worse than Endrykas, this city. Crowded streets, people moving in large group, chattering and laughing. It gave the poor young man a headache, hands rubbing his temples and along his brow ridge. Even the scent of food, spiced, fried, grilled or otherwise made him feel nauseous. Why had he even come here? Oh, that’s right. He was going to prove (mostly to himself) that he was indeed independent and that he could make life as he very well wanted. But did he really want this?

Walking along the particularly food scented street, the Drykas held his forearm to his mouth and nose. It smelled almost like someone was cooking a rotten glassbeak carcass. They weren’t actually cooking one, were they? That would be disgusting and just downright wrong. A small sneeze broke his line of thought, eyes squeezing shut for a moment. And he wanted to find work here. Bah! Actually, speaking of jobs, he had better get around to finding one.

Behind him, Skylight lipped at his hair, snorting. The Drykas brushed away the animal without much thought, placing a hand on his hip to glance around with a scowl. “Honestly, Skylight, I can’t take you anywhere,” he grumbled in Pavi, striding along with purpose. It seemed everyone was staring at them. Anchoa didn’t see why it was such a big deal.

It was rather frustrating to have people stare like that. It made him feel self conscious about himself. Was there a giant bug on him or something? A hand slapped onto his shoulder, just in case. Or maybe he had charcoal stains on his jerkin. What an odd thing to stare at. Strange people here, in Syliras. No wonder his father had advised to going to such a city.

Pausing again, the young man turned, idly stroking skylight’s unbridled face. Things were so different here. Perhaps, maybe, he was lost? No, he was a Drykas! Drykas men did not get lost. It was that simply. Then why did he keep looking around, confused as all Zulrav’s winds, having no idea where to go? Someone bumped into his back, causing Anchoa to tense up and spin around to confront whoever had done it.

To his surprise, he found a small boy with wide eyes looking up at him, curiosity swimming in their liquid depths. Aww, what a cute child. He honestly didn’t know how to react to this new situation. For a few long seconds, to two stared at each other until the boy’s mother came, pulling him away while scolding away like there was no tomorrow. Poor kid. “I don’t suppose you have an idea of what job I should get, do you?” the man questioned of his strider, idly standing in the middle of the street.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam was back in town from another venture out into the wilds, taking his time in the marketplace and enjoying the view from his windrunner's back. Everything in life was sort of all right now, though he still felt like he was waiting for something. He wondered if he went to Lillis right now and asked her to draw a card for him from her fortunetelling deck, if his old friend, the Hanged Man, would smile beatifically up at him.

As soon as his belly started growling, which it often did like a wild thing, he rubbed at it as if a bit of a massage would calm it down more than a meal. His clothes were just a touch too big; his frame was still all bone and whipcord muscle. Someday, perhaps, if he lived far into adulthood and ate more, he might put on weight, but he could not see the future. He only had this premonition to work with.

When he saw the strider, his stomach lurched. No longer hungry, what he felt was more like nausea. Then he saw the Drykas man who belonged to the beautiful stallion--the lines so like his lost Hasieran--and two urges warred within him: to run away and avoid the discomfort of speaking to one of his old people, or to meet the man and see if this was that thing for which he had been waiting in Syliras.

As Horse followed his subtle lead and approached the Drykas and strider, Sam tried to banish his stricken look and dredge up one of his usual thousand-watt smiles. It would be safe to speak to the man. Sam had not been Drykas for ten years and no longer looked it. His braids were long ago shorn off, his windmark hidden like a thief's brand beneath a leather cuff on his left wrist, and his clothes were thoroughly mish-mashed from whatever had come his way over the past few years.

"Ho, stranger," he said in Common. "I thought Drykas weren't supposed to get lost."

[Anchoa]

He could always be a tattoo artist. He may not be all that good at the art, but he could be cheap. At least until he got better at it, at any rate. Maybe even seek to learn body piercing too. Yeah, he could be a body artist. That wouldn’t be such a bad job. Get to draw pictures in people’s skin. And he could charge a lot for the more difficult techniques.

The voice broke his train of thought. Well, this was a new development. Anchoa turned at the youthful voice, eying the young man -boy?- that had spoken. It took a moment for the words to translate into his mother tongue before the Drykas truly understood what was said. Yes, he should have practiced his Common more as a child. But one couldn’t change the past.

A brow arched high on his forehead, eyes sweeping over the stranger. After a moment, he seemed to relax, the muscles along his shoulders loosening into a comfortable drape. A small grin crossed his face. “So we like to think,” Anchoa said, jutting out one hip in a rather casual stance. “I have not been here long enough to get my bearings. I would not have a clue as to where I am.”

Alright, so maybe talking to strangers wasn’t as hard as he thought it was. And it likely helped that this boy -man?- was fairly easy on the eyes. Not the most attractive person he’d ever seen, but certainly not the ugliest, either. “Do you know where I can stay cheaply for a few days? Finding a job in such a confusing city will most likely take me a while.”

Skylight, curious about the stranger, promptly walked up to him and began nosing at his side for attention. Barely containing his chuckle, Anchoa raised his brow again, shake his head. “You attention hog, Skylight,” he muttered in Pavi.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

There was a slight tremor to his hand as he patted the strider stallion, but he didn't dare speak to it in Pavi, or let on that he understood. Not in front of another Drykas. He just smiled and let Horse go nose to nose with the other stallion, hoping neither of them got uppity. Some stallions were like that. He smiled.

"Well, Traveler's Row..." he pointed, "down that way, they have housing for however long you want to stay. And, well," he grinned, pointing in another direction, "the Golden Dragon's over that way. If you want lodging and... companionship."

There was also the White Swan, but Sam didn't have the mizas to afford that type of place and didn't imagine this man did either. Perhaps he was judging a book by its cover, or perhaps he was just following his instincts.

He leaned his lanky body down to pat lower on Horse's shoulder.

"I'm Sam," he added. "I've only been around here for the season, but I've explored a lot."

[Anchoa]

Stated with a pat, Skylight turned his attention to Horse, whom of which he sniffed before lipping at. Apparently, he liked the other stallion and wanted to befriend him. Then again, the strider would befriend a Glassbeak if the bird wasn’t going to try and eat him.

Following the male’s gesture, Anchoa almost felt stupid. He had walked past that direction not twenty minutes ago. Maybe he was just looking at the city in the wrong way. Yes, that had to be it. He was looking at it the wrong way and was just being blind to a new culture. Again, his eyes followed as the stranger pointed in another direction before he blushed furiously. Companionship?! He most certainly did not need companionship! What self-respecting person would work as a… well, a whore?

Coughing politely, Anchoa decided to ignore that particular comment. “Nice to meet you, Sam,” the Drykas said a little too fast. “I am Anchoa.” Yes, this city was definitely a strange one. “I am curious though. If you have only been here for one season, where did you come from before? I do not recognize your accent or manner of dress.” It wasn’t a detail he needed to know, but it was making small talk. It was good for getting to know someone, or so they said. He personally didn’t see the point of chatter.

Brushing his hand against the material of his pants just to feel the familiar texture, the man clinked his tongue at Skylight, murmuring something about being enough in Pavi as the stallion came over. Silly horse was too curious for his own good.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam got the impression that the idea of whores made Anchoa uncomfortable, which gave him a slight sense of satisfaction. At least Sam wasn't the only one who got so stupid in such situations that people like Doc could so baldly rip him off. He frowned slightly, wondering what had become of Nel. And, perhaps, just a little, Doc.

"Anchoa," he said, committing the name to memory, nodding. At the question, he waved his hand in a vaguely northerly direction. "I holed up in a village up north for the winter. Someone had an injured horse that I nursed back to health for room and board for me and for Horse."

He patted Horse's shoulder again.

"But I've been all around Sylira, some of Taldera. What brings you out of Cyphrus?"

[Anchoa]

Not quite the answer he had expected, but then, he hadn’t been very specific. Oh well. He was sure to get over it. Still he nodded in approval. It was smart thing Sam did, or at least in his own opinion. Why spend Mizahs when you could trade a skill in return for something you needed?

“You named your mount ‘Horse’?” he asked arching an eyebrow. Well he couldn’t say it didn’t suit the animal, but surely it came with its own complications. Oh well, the stallion wasn’t his, so the name shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did.

A shrug pulled at his shoulders. “Too many memories I’d rather forget. Besides, it was time I moved out of my family’s pavilion. According to my mother, I should be married by now.” It was either that or leave. He obviously chose the latter. Anchoa was not marrying some woman his mother lined up for him. They were either, ditzy, wanted children right away or they were just that. Women.

Tilting his head back, Anchoa squinted at the sky. The climate was different here. It was colder than where he had spent the most of winter. But then, he was further north than he was used to. “So is it just you and Horse? I think it’s a lonely existence, just a man and his horse.”

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

I haven't been a man in ten years, he wanted to say. Whenever he met a Drykas, there were the competing urges to seek approval and acceptance, and to completely deny his roots for the shame of failing his pavilion and being taken away into slavery. But he just smiled; perhaps he was learning to be a man in the non-Drykas sense, where the truth was hidden when it was too painful. Where one needn't be oneself.

"It sort of stuck, the name," he admitted. "I guess I'm not very creative."

It didn't have the noble ring of Hasieran, dead Hasieran. But Horse wasn't a strider. Which wasn't to say he wasn't a beautiful specimen of a windrunner, but he wasn't a holy gift of Semele either. Well, maybe he was such a gift of sorts.

"Is it lonely?" he asked. "You could be married and part of a pavilion, but you're here; just a man and his horse."

[Anchoa]

A half grin pulled at his lips. “It’s a better name than some I’ve heard on my travels here.” Indeed, ‘Horse’ was better than one particular name he didn’t wish to repeat. The poor animal was skinnier than a branch and looked old and worn. Well, didn’t he rip into the owner of the poor creature.

The grin slipped away, giving way to another shrug. “I am. Just a man with his horse. Marriage doesn’t appeal to me, to be honest.” A soft shudder ran down his spinal cord. “I’d have obligations to have a wife. And children.” Heavens forbid should he have his own set of twins. That would absolutely kill him. “But it won’t be just ‘Skylight’ and I for long if I have anything to do with it (which I do). I’ll find myself a job, make some friends and then we won’t be alone.”

The buckskin stallion perked his ears at his name, snorting softly. Anchoa glanced at him before turning back to Sam. “I can’t really say it’s lonely, though. I’ve never truly been alone.” He paused again, allowing his eyes to wonder about the street they stood in. “So what do you do for a job? Or are you in between jobs?”

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam smiled and shrugged. There were loners among the Drykas, too, but he had grown up in a pavilion of the Sapphire Clan, where bloodlines were even more important. Not that it mattered anymore, of course.

"Oh, I know. Horse keeps me company. He's better company than most people. And, well, I'm still not sure if I'll stay, so I haven't gotten any permanent work, but I go to the Windmount Stables to ask about contract work. I trade riding lessons and such for goods or mizas. Might help some people pick out horses. I have an eye for good horseflesh. Maybe do some training if I get connected with the right people. I also do some hunting and trapping for food and furs and such. More bartering, you know."

He nodded and shrugged again. That was what he was up to these days.

"What about you? What are you looking for? I'll bet the Syliran Knights need a good Drykas to teach them how to ride a horse."