The Glyph for Love

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

4th Fall, 512 A.V. The stone was vaguely egg-shaped, and needed both of Sama'el's hands to hold it properly. It would make a small Origin, but it would be enough. Hodei was drowsing on a pad that she had shredded up a bit for a makeshift next on one side of him, and the bearcub was half sprawled over his opposite knee and snoring a little. He cradled the stone on the free knee and continued to draw his careful glyphs upon it. It was nearly complete, he though, and if Leto wasn't busy, he would ask for his input, and then etch the glyphs in with Fire before weaving the Web into it. The sun was arm on his bare shoulders, and he was soaking it up while he could before Winter came and stole some of Syna's heat away. It wouldn't be too cold near the Stardowns, so close to Eyktol, but he would have to travel the length and breadth of the Sea of Grass, per usual, and the farther north, the colder it got. He closed his eyes as a breeze tousled his lengthening hair, the beaded braids, and all. Then he opened them to look out at the horses. Dohaina with her foal, the young Seme, the other Striders, and even Daejyn's ugly pony. Though he missed Issima terribly and the shame of his curse remained a clear paw-shaped bruise upon his shoulder, there was much for which he was thankful in his life. A distinctive pattern of hoofbeats sounded in his ear and he knew that Arias had brought his brother home, and with such perfect timing. He smiled quietly, awaiting Leto, but not wanting to wake up the bird or the bear.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As Leto was riding Arias towards the pavilion where Sama'el would hopefully be waiting for him, a grin riddled his face, and he slowed Arias down to a trot as they approached the pavilion. He was a Sunsinger now, and that pleased him more than he could ever think. He had given up the name Treebearer, after the death of his aunt and uncle due to the Djed storm, and taken on a new name, one that carried a long history of torment with it, but also a great history of rebirth with it. Leto had learned about Sama'el's history, the destruction of his pavilion, the bandits that had come and taken him away, the beatings, rape, and everything else that accompanied slavery, and still he was proud that Sama'el had come as far as he had come, raising his pavilion from the ashes to be reborn under the name of Sunsinger. And Sama'el knew of Leto's history, the immensely powerful creature that had utterly destroyed his parents, caused his brother to go missing. He knew what had happened to Leto, and where his scars had come from, and still he accepted him as a brother to him.

Approaching the Pavilion, Leto dismounted Arias, patting him on the back, as he passed him, and Arias neighed a bit, but then went to rest on the opposite side of the camp as compared to where Dohaina happened to be. He knew he wasn't supposed to stay near the foal, as Leto had warned him plenty of times, and thus he didn't. Leto made his way over to Sama'el, and knelt down beside him, careful of the bearcub that was sleeping upon Sama'el's knee, and whispered, "What are you up to Sama'el? Sorry for the whispering, I don't want to wake your son up..." He sounded a bit apologetic, in the fact he didn't want to awaken Sama'el's son, but he figured babies needed their sleep, even small little balls of fur that the goddess Oriana made Sama'el produce rather than a child...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el grinned up at Leto with that unfettered joy that was most likely the thing about him that attracted so many to his pavilion. He had suffered, but he had not lost his joy. There was a lesson in that, and something, perhaps, irresistible in it. He looked from the kestrel, who woke up long enough to assess the possibility of a threat, then go back to dozing, to the bear cub, who just didn't give a fuck. He rolled over and his snoring softened into heavy breathing. "He's dead to the world," Sama'el promised, his own voice not loud, but not a whisper either. "And I'm making an Origin," he said, holding it up. They had worked on them before in tandem, for Leto was much his superior where glyphs were concerned, but Sama'el was more practiced with the manipulation of the Web. Together, they were quite efficient at this, the best evidence of which was the stream of information that now flowed from Avanthal to the Sea of Grass. "Would you look my glyphs over?" he asked, holding out the stone and the hunk of charred wood with which he had marked them out. He knew that a great deal of glyphing was personal to each person, but Leto had taught him just about everything he knew about them, and so his own style closely matched his mentor's. "I want to drop it under our camp today, so we are better anchored when working with the Web from here." Of course, eventually they would move on, but the sunken Origin would help bolster the great Web.

[Leto Sunsinger]

"Ah, I should have realized it earlier just seeing what you were doing... I'm a bit distracted today... still kind of thinking about my old family... but it will pass," he said, a smile breaking through the slight frown that had formed. It was true that even though he was a Sunsinger now, he couldn't forget the past that had brought him to where he happened to be now. And he knew Sama'el probably wouldn't let him forget his origins. They were what made him into the man that he is today. Taking the piece of charred wood from Sama'el as Leto began to examine it at the younger man's request, he noted the curvature within the glyphs, and how Sama'el made his glyphs. They were personal to him, so Leto couldn't decipher them entirely, but they looked decently formed, and properly executed, so he was happy that Sama'el was continuing to learn the proper form for glyphing, and even adding his own new ways of glyphing in, such as utilizing Reimancy to char the glyphs into wood, or melt them into stone.

"'You've come a long way from just drawing glyphs in the dirt," said Leto, smiling as he looked towards Sama'el, remembering when he had first shown him how to draw a summoning circle in the dirt on the outskirts of Endrykas. "You're glyphs look fine Sama'el, now all you have to do is continue to hone your skills. I've taught you about barriers, focus's, and triggers... there's only two more techniques to teach you, once you become competent at glyphing, that is paths and switches... but those are a lot more difficult, and usually only done by people who are competent or higher. I'll teach you them as you get faster in creating your glyphs... just remember, Practice makes perfect in glyphing," he said, grinning and imparting a little bit of knowledge to Sama'el for future reference.

"Is there any glyphs in particular you'd like me to assist you in creating today for your origin stone? It seems like you have them all pretty well set up, and after reviewing them, I think they'd work well for what you're trying to do with them... but if you need any help, all you need to do is ask," he finished, and looked down towards the charred wood that he handed back to Sama'el in order to allow him to finish setting up his Origin for the web, to strengthen the web around where their pavilion happened to be placed at, at this current point in time...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el's smile was kind and understanding. He hoped Leto didn't find it condescending, for the details of their separate tragedies were different, but he could empathize with the loss of the last ties of blood. They had taken their destiny in their hands now, though, binding themselves to each other and, through Sama'el, Leto was bound to Denen and Ronan, and the Web connected them all. "I have the best teacher," he said simply and honestly. There may have been men and women among the horseclans better at glyphing than Leto, but his blood-brother always found the best way to make sure Sama'el understood, and he appreciated the skill and care of his teaching. "But if you would add a glyph or two of your own," he said, darkening a line and adjusting a curve connecting two glyphs in the grander sigil, "and then help me weave the Web into it once I've etched them in Fire, I think it will be more effective for both our work on it. Then you can help me bury it," he said and grinned, though his jaw soon cracked with a yawn. "Then I need a nap. Stupid bear cubs who sleep all day and play all night..." But even that was said with good humor and love.

[Leto Sunsinger]

"Sure, That sounds like a good idea," said Leto, as he continued to kneel down next to Sama'el. Utilizing the charred wood, he began to draw in a glyph or two that looked like circles with varying crosses inside of them, and cuved lines within them as well. After he finished with the glyphs he drew in, he smiled, and then passed the stone back to Sama'el in order to allow him to etch them in with his fire Reimancy. Once that was completed, Leto would look to Sama'el, and say, "Ready to weave the web?" he then asked Sama'el. He had indeed assisted Sama'el in the creation of origin stones on their trip to Taldera, but now it seemed even more personal as they would be doing it together in Cyphrus, their homelands. Whenever Sama'el was ready, Leto would start by entering the trance required for weaving his djed into the webbing. Along with Sama'el, he would start to weave the djed into the Origin stone, the runes, as well as the surrounding Djed around them, and would start to turn it into webbing. Careful not to overdo it, as he didn't want to overgive by utilizing too much of his Djed to create the web, he would work tandem with Sama'el to lay the origin stone into the web around them.

When they were completed with that, he would return from the entranced state, a bit woozy, and worse for wear, tired, and definitely ready for a nap of some form. Looking through semi-glossy eyes towards Sama'el, he said, "I'm sorry, I know i'm not as experienced as you in laying down origin stones, even though i've helped you from time to time... I'm still in the process of learning..." Even though he was sorry, though, a small smile broke through as he looked down towards the Origin stone they had just imbued with the web. "I guess all that's left to do is bury it," he then said, looking towards Sama'el, hoping he had a way of digging up the ground in order to bury the origin stone...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Holding the stone out for Leto to make his glyphs, he called out to his servant, Jyn, who came and collected the bear cub to dutifully carry him to Denen, who would want to fuss over him. With the goat, the rabbit, and Sama'el's ursine son in Denen's care, it was a wonder he hadn't come from the Amethyst Clan. When Leto was done, dribbles of smoldering red energy snaked from his hands over the surface of the stone, the which he set down in a bare patch of dirt. Sensing the magic, Hodei cast him a withering look and flapped up to perch above his tent and watch suspiciously from that safer distance. Stepping back, Sama'el willed the energy to become fire, and the drawn lines were suddenly glassy smooth grooves where the magic had vaporized stone. He and Leto went into their trances, and Sama'el met him outside their bodies. The astral form of Leto was beautiful; in person, he was rather easy on the eyes, but whereas he was quiet in person, he shone in this form. A smile made Sama'el's own form ripple, but then soon enough they were at work, spooling out gossamer threads of their own souls, the which Sama'el wove into the structure of the Origin. Leto could not yet manage that part on his own, but his assistance made it all the easier for Sama'el, and with the two of them creating it, the Origin as almost doubly stable. The glyphs flared to life as they were infused with energy, and it was unlikely they would ever disappear unless the stones or the Web itself were greatly damaged. Otherwise a steady supply of Web energy would keep the enchantment alive. He wondered if this was what those cave spiders had felt like when creating their webs... But when the work was done, he climbed back into his tingling body, flexing fingers and toes to get the circulation back. Leto looked so weary and he had been such a help that Sama'el took pity on him. He spun out more of himself now, but this was a blue colored energy. He wished his cousin Eldon could see him working Water as he had always wanted to do. It only took a few minutes to inundated the dirt around the Origin with water-charged magic, and then transmute it, creating an instant sink pit. He stood up, his own knees a little shaky, and carefully put his foot on it, and used the weight of his body to sink it into the mud. Satisfied, he walked back and crouched next to his woozy blood-brother. "We'll put up the cairn to mark it later," he said, "when the mud dries. Come on." He pulled Leto's arm around his bare shoulders and helped him to stand, one hand holding his wrist, the other arm around his middle. Though he could help Leto walk, he didn't want to make undue trips, so he just guided Leto over toward his tent and helped him inside. He let the lanky man ease himself in, and Sama'el had a comfortable little nest in there. He crawled in after, lying alongside Leto. Once supine, he felt content, eyes heavy lidded, and luxuriating in the ability to sleep in the middle of the day. But sleep didn't come right away, and so he rolled over onto his side, head propped up by his hand. The other traced lazily along Leto's skin, following the windmarks.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As Sama'el assisted Leto into his tent, the elderly drykas managed to lay down without much of a problem. It felt good to lay down next to Sama'el, and even better when the man began tracing his hands upon Leto's Windmarks, the triangle that was upon the middle of his chest. He felt quite lazy, but something told him this was as good of a time as ever to actually... well, to let Sama'el know how he had been feeling for the past year. "Sama'el..." he started softly, as his obsidian gaze shifted to the side to look towards Sama'el's own eyes. "Theres... there's something that I need to tell you..." he stated. Closing his eyes, he breathed in, and out, slowly, but surely, and awaited any brief response Sama'el might have before he went on with what he was going to say.

"Ever since... Dohaina and Arias mated... well, you see... When you held me back then, after I broke down because of what had happened in my past, and you shared yours with me... that moment, was the moment that I began to love you, deeply, and truly..." he finally said, his words spoken without hesitation this time, unlike when he had told Ronan and Kavala his secret. He had felt unsure when he had spoken of it to them, but now he was sure. Laying here next to Sama'el, within his tent, his hand caressing the scars that laden Leto's body, his windmarks that he bore, the glyphs meaning Power and Stability. Kavala had said that Sama'el might not return the love he so desperately sought... but Leto didn't know about that.

Their night of grieving, for the lost Issima, and the lost Treebearers had brought things into an entirely new light. They had held each other until Leto fell into a deep slumber, and even then they had awaken next to each other. Sama'el had given Leto the affection that nobody else in his life had even dared to give him. It was a strange thing in Drykas culture, for a man to lie with a man, but Sama'el seemed to do it with Denen all of the time, they loved each other... could Sama'el truly love Leto in the same way that Leto loved him? Or would it just be a forced issue? Leto didn't want to force anything upon Sama'el, and he hoped that Sama'el knew that. He was first and foremost a teacher to Sama'els unborn children, and to Sama'el himself. But if he could become one of Sama'el's many lovers... then... why not? Especially if Sama'el was willing to reciprocate the feelings, truly, and deeply...

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el didn't interrupt Leto, nor did he take his hand away from the scars he had one declared holy, for they mapped out Leto's story as surely as did his windmarks, and had a beauty of their own, like the Web stretched across the land of the horseclans. And he didn't speak at first when Leto finished, not because he wanted to leave him in suspense, but because he had trouble articulating things sometimes and didn't want to misspeak. But finally, "We live in a strange world. I don't always understand it. Usually I don't understand it, but I make the best decisions I can, and I hold to them unless I prove myself completely wrong." Then he actually looked at Leto, his almond-shaped eyes serious and questing, as if the answers were in Leto. "I don't... I don't know if I can make this pavilion thrive, not if the goddess curses me to lack children. I don't know..." He paused. "You have been a friend and a teacher, a companion in travel... And now you are my blood-brother." His hand moved with more determination now, his palm sliding over skin, downward to see if Leto's body would react as to a lover's. It was strange. He never looked at a man with lust, but when there was an attachment, an affection, sometimes lust came. When a man looked at him with lust, it got his back up with a primal reaction to old crimes against him, but when it was a man he loved. Well, there seemed to be an endless well of love within him. "You are beautiful, Leto. Strong, wise, loyal. I love you, and I could be your lover... I don't know if that is the sort of love you have for me. But every love is different, isn't it?" There came a pause in his rambling monologue, and then his hand came up to cup Leto's cheek and he leaned down, kissed him tenderly on the mouth. He didn't know what it was other than it was that ill-defined word: love. But they could figure it out, couldn't they?

[Leto Sunsinger]

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years

As Sama’el spoke, Leto listened intently, his eyes never once wavering from Sama’el’s gaze that was locked upon him. Then his hand began to slide downwards, over Leto’s stomach. There was no innate carnal lust within Leto, even though everyone could be an animal at certain points in their lives, Leto included. But he had never felt the way he felt now. Sure he had been lustful before in his life, but never allowed it to overtake his senses. But this was different. It wasn’t lust that drove Leto, but a love for a man that he had grown to respect, and grown to feel for, a great deal. Moving his own hand to grip onto Sama’el’s arm, when Sama’el leaned in to kiss Leto, he returned it, feeling Sama’el’s hand rove down his stomach, towards where the buckle on his leather pants happened to be.

They were starting to feel tight around his waist now, his bare chest tingling with excitement, as were his nether regions. As he kissed Sama’el, he wrapped his arm around Sama’el’s waist, pulling them closer together. When the passionate kiss had ended, he moved his head to be next to Sama’el’s ear, and whispered, ”If you love me, then it is enough… That was all I was ever looking for…” As he continued to pull Sama’el closer to him, he felt his bare chest touch Sama’el’s, and his legs touch Sama’el’s legs. Softly kissing Sama’el’s neck, he would move his hand up and down Sama’el’s back, caressing it, as a lover would, and then pulling Sama’el into a deep embrace, a very sensual feeling coming over him as he did this.

The feeling was like nothing he had ever truly experienced before, and in experiencing it, he knew what he wanted, all he wanted, and that was Sama’el. The man he had grown close to, as Arias had grown close to Dohaina, their striders had produced a child, and even though Leto knew in his heart that him and Sama’el could never produce a child, they could still love each other, and that’s all that counted. Feeling closer to Sama’el now more than ever, Leto didn’t stop whatever Sama’el might do next, all he wanted was to be held within his arms, to feel that love that he had never had before, and to become Sama’el’s next lover. Denen had already approved of it, gave Leto his blessing, and in doing so, Leto felt no ill will towards Denen, and agreed with him. He wanted to be Sama’el’s as Denen was, and it seemed like things were heading that way, after a year of Leto feeling this way for Sama’el… it was finally happening…