Flashback Play, Prepare - In Darkest Times of Rest (Aidus)

[Solicah]

Winter 37th, 503

The nights stretched longer, and Syna appeared only briefly each day. Solicah in many ways despised the winter, between the bitter cold forcing him to layer on uncomfortable coverings, and the gloom of hibernation that seemed to suppress all those within the Pavilion except him it seemed a nearly unbearable curse upon his life.

Several layer of leather tunic and pants restricted him as he threw himself forward at the ground, arching his back, neck back, then tipped upward, tail into the air. He thrust his legs up toward Leth with a short "huff," and held fingers strained trying to remain upright. Still, the clothing pulled as his thin body, and the cold numbed his fingers without Leth's lover to warm them. He went tumbling into the grasses, shoots tangling into his unruly blonde hair before the young Moondirge pulled himself upright, not in the least disheartened by the failure.

Again he tossed himself up, constricted his core muscles and taking a step with his hand before feeling the sensation of fleeting balance again. The activity proved challenging in the darkness, coordination alluding the boy with ease, lost in the nothingness.

The layline's were still beautiful, and vibrant even in the winter. He wished to take a jaunt onto the web, to run around their Pavilion within the brilliance of those shining streams of information, free from the gravity and cold. Webbing was the only time he could find true warmth in the winter nights. Still, he had already been on the web earlier that day, and his mother always gave him such a look when he spent too much of his day out of his body.

With a heavy sigh he ;aid in the darkness, in the grass, and reached physical fingers outward to a softly humming line of pure twisting gold running by his face. He couldn't feel the warmth from this side, which just caused the slightest of pouts from Solicah's lower lip. For ever moment he spent laying there the heat his solitary playing had lended him slipped away into Semele's frigid body.

"Well, at least you can stay warm..." He said quietly to the ground beneath his languid form, unaware of the other young man listening from near by.

[Aidus]

oocBy the way, I've decided that Aidus was a bit of brat during this period of time.

The winter was one of Aidus' favorite times of the year. The combination of events which would happen each year were a joy to look forward to. The first frost festival, when the dead were remembered fondly, and where his father would remind him not to dwell on those who had passed, but to be thankful for the sacrifices they had made. The great race, with powerful striders bounding around the Stardowns crater, the massive moving city staked down in the middle where all could enjoy the festivities.

But most of all Aidus loved the warm fires which everyone would gather around in order to protect themselves from the cold days and colder nights. Having their pavilion a little further north meant harsher cold, but that only meant the fires would roar all the hotter. For the preteen Drykas, that represented everything. Everyone had worked so hard the season before to prepare for this one. It was truly exhilarating for the young Drykas to help out however he could. He was going to be an Ankal someday, after all, so it only made sense that he did what he could to make things happen.

Yet this night would not be one spent at a fire, no this was spent looking at the dark skies being illuminated by the hauntingly beautiful lines of webbing laid precisely across the ever dangerous Sea of Grass. Annoyingly enough, someone was bound to ruin this attempt at a quiet time. A struggle at first, and then apparent resignation.

"Well at least you can stay warm," he said in repeat, his voice taking a higher pitched mocking tone. It was Solicah, go figure. "Why aren't you in the web, Soli? Don't you like it here more than out here?" Aidus laid his head down against the cold ground, staring off into the sky, awaiting a reply. He'd been taught to use the web as well, but only because he was supposed to be in charge one day, and if you were gonna be in charge, you had to be able to web. Solicah, well, Aidus didn't know why he loved it so much.

[Solicah]

Solicah tensed at first at the sound, then pivoted, grass rustling around him. Once he identified the boy he calmed, his eyes closing again in a calm almost passive way. Aidus, the great Ankal's first born son, and destined for greatness. Solicah knew his legacy, as keenly as he knew that even the greatest of men could fall to death at the slightest of happenstance. Oh, the older Aidus had attended a burial rite here and there, collected Semele's grace, said his words, and beat his drum like the clumsy child he was. But, Solicah could see it in Aidus' eyes, he was spread too thin, learning his blades and bows, riding and webbing, even his father's arts that remained an expensive and dangerous mystery to the majority of the Pavilion and their people. In Solicah's eye, Aidus could not grasp his own fragile existence, that though his spirit was great, though his baring was strong, his body was like a single blade of delicate grass, just waiting for the cold winter to claim it. Which could happen as easily that night as it could in years from them, when he was to take the name of Ankal.

Solicah's head rested passively back down onto his outstretched arm, draped across Semele's form, thick leather pressing against his cheek, catching several blades of brittle grass in between. His eyes met with Aidus' broken silhouette close by, cloaked by darkness and scattered grass. He said nothing for a moment, just staring with searching eyes.

Then, with unsettling abruptness he tucked his knees to his chest, and slapped his palms to the ground, catching something insignificant but sharp upon his thumb, for which he disregarded as any tough Drykas child would. He pulled the light weight of his chest upward onto his knees, poising for a pounce before leaning back, toes struggling in boots to catch dirt before projecting himself forward, a grin across his face.

Aidus' attempts to move aside Solicah's pounce was little more than a sprawl all things considered. He grasped at grass near Aidus' head, in the darkness, an energetic smile widening to reveal teeth which shown little more than the pale preteen in Leth's silver glow.

Despite his failed pounce the playful Drykas moved forward again, trying vainly to the pin the older child. Solicah was by no means a large child, but despite what Aidus would one day become, his preteen form hid well any potential he may have, still stalky and lacking the rugged demeanor of a Drykas man.

Words poured from his grin as he tramped more than jumped forward. "Why aren't you in your father's tent, with your bones?" Finally landing a hand on the other boy Solicah grasped his shirt, and tried to roll his weight up onto Aidus to drive him down, back first, into the grass. Aidus rebuttaled as he would, and once the short challenge was concluded, with Solicah or Aidus on top Solicah finally answered the question posed to him.

"Because," he began, his voice still heavy with breath from the sudden exertion, be regardless surprisingly calm and soft, "'there' is magic, brother." A short pause as his mind reeled with intention, grasping to funnel the thoughts into words. "And magic means temptation, like Leth above. Temptation which we should resist." If possible he let his eyes look into Aidus', then in an almost probing manner past them. He was looking at the lay lines cording off of Aidus, outward and back toward the near by tents, just as Solicah's own weaves did.

"Because magic is only beautiful when it is rare, like Leth's trip across the sky each night. If he was not shrouded all day, if the stars always shone, and his gaze always met us we would no understand so intimately," the word came out jumbled with his underdeveloped speech, "his grace. Him." It wasn't rare for a Drykas child of the Sapphire clan to speak such things, it was often how their parents spoke to them. Often what the elders would teach, though it was anyone's guess how much of the lessons the children truly understood. Still, the matter of fact serenity that showed in Solicah's face as he recited his people's beliefs could be seen as touching even by the most cynical of men.

He waited for Aidus' response before spending an additional moment staring into his eyes, then fighting a smile trying to dominate his featured, a smile he willed not to reveal him. Then following his failed subterfuge extending stiffened fingers out to tickle at Aidus' side.

This playfulness woven with an almost mystical respect of the world seemed a common mode for Solicah, and most interactions with him since he has been even younger resulted in this polar transition of moods making consistent contact with him often quite draining. Though, rarely boring.

[Aidus]

Aidus was used to things like this from his Solicah. He was always full of energy and mischievness, at least from the future Ankal's eyes, and never took things seriously enough. So when he was attacked, Aidus was quickly on the defensive. Springing towards him like a grasslands predator, his lunge was far from spectacular. The dark haired boy could do nothing stifle the laugh. Warrior wasn't a word which Aidus would use to describe slightly younger boy, though despite Aidus' arrogance, few would use the word for him either. So when Solicah resumed his assault, Aidus tried to back up, but found success fleeting.

Over backwards he went, rolling on the ground cold ground, all the while trying to grasp and grab at whatever he could to wrest control of their skirmish, but to no avail. Pinned against the dirt, Aidus let out an annoyed huff as he answered the question. "No lesson for me today." It was true. His father was very specific about how he groomed his son. If it wasn't a day for learning the wonderful magic of the bones, then to be caught even looking at them could incur his wrath. It was a lesson Aidus had only needed to be shown once. Riding. Combat. Magic. It all had its place, and there were times appropriate and inappropriate for them. The struggle was to learn when.

The child had heard the same words which Solicah had regurgitated. His father said the same things. Magic was to be respected, not to be used for the sake of using it. To use magic without purpose not only diminished its worth, but made a dangerous tool even more so. Truth be told, Aidus had yet to grasp that yet, despite the inherent dangers of the craft which he obsessed over so. The words simply spilled over the young Drykas boy's ears as he watched his reverent demeanor. Only one word truly stuck out. 'Temptation.' Oh, there was a temptation, indeed. A temptation to get even. Being stuck underneath this scrawny boy, it couldn't remain this way. Moving in almost unison with Solicah's attempt to tickle him, Aidus pushed his body up and tried to grab for his arm to pull him to the side and reverse their fortunes.

After the brief scuffle, Aidus simply smiled and offered a suggestion. "Well, Solicah. Leth watches over us. The stars shine. Why don't we walk?" There was fun to be had under the darkness. Lines of webbing, nearly invisible to those who not how to appreciate them sang brilliantly to Aidus. Anything could be around them, so why not find what was there?

[Solicah]

Solicah's giggling was put to a deft pause as he felt his arm jerked to the side, perhaps harder then Aidus had intended. Then again, perhaps not. In response to a shot of pain Solicah scrambled back, pushing aside tall grass as he retreated, giving a joyless glare till Aidus let go of his arm. The how cradled his arm, shoulders rolled up defensively as emotions churned inside of him. A wetness gathered behind his face, and he lended a distrustful look through the darkness toward his cousin.

Solicah's body wanted to cry, and his emotions whelmed upward within him, but being a child of Leth and a son of Drykas he did not give way to pain. It was unbecoming of a man. His face froze in it's disgruntled pose till the urge to cry passed, and the throbbing subsided. He listened to the words, and watched the smile on Aidus' face, which did despite his mood brighten Solicah's soul somewhat.

A "walk," perked the child's interest undoubtedly. Of course, Aidus could not mean a physical walk. This could mean sure suicide in the darkness, or at least that is what the elders would have the younglings believe. No, this walk would carry them farther then they could travel on foot, and would let them see more then a lifetime wandering the grasslands could show them. All with the calmness, the sight that their elders gave them.

There was, of course, the issue of his mother to deal with however. How disappointed she would be to find him wondering the web again, and in the cold. No, he could see it, they would be so cold when they returned and his mother would know what they had been doing. She would worry that they might catch the bitterness of cold in the quiet night, away from the fire, and have to do a burial service for them both.

He shook his head, forehead still knitted with disapproval at the arm still aching with ghost pains from the harsh attempt on his dominance. "No. It's cold, we would get in trouble." He really was an obedient child, for all the disapproval the elders of the Pavilion gave him for his rambunctious demeanor, he was truly a good child who would never disobey his parents wishes... Well not without some pushing.

[Aidus]

Aidus showed no remorse as Solicah glared at him for his aggressive moves. No, he hadn't meant to actually injure him. But he'd asked for it, pinning him down like that. No Drykas child would be held down by another if he could avoid it. So wrestle and fight he would. They sat in awkward silence as Solicah fought through the pain. Aidus had no intention of apologizing, but thankfully the idea of a trip into the web could heal up any wounds his friend would have.

As expected, he was worried about disobeying what he'd been instructed to do. Too cold? What a joke. Were they not Drykas? The most resilient people in all of the world? "You worry about a little cold, Soli? Or is there something more? Get in trouble? I'll be the one to get in trouble, if anything. I'm the one suggesting it." It was really an exciting thing to walk. It was beautiful, thrilling, and really, more fun than anything available to them in the cold winter. Besides, maybe he could find a fallen animal close by for his bone carving.

"Are you scared, Soli?" He asked, a mocking tone in his voice. "I always thought people who could use the web were supposed to use it for the city. So that's what we were doing." He smile turned into a wicked grin. Even if they were just enjoying themselves, it could be of use, right? "We won't get in enough trouble for it to matter. We're gonna be the best webbers ever. We've gotta practice to do that." Made sense to the child. They were roughly the same age, so they both had a lot to practice. "What do you say?"

The Ankal's son was more than ready to go. When he had a chance to do something, he would frequently do it. It was a problem which would plague him his entire life. Do everything, master nothing. Could an Ankal really lead if he could do nothing will a high level of skill?

[Solicah]

Solicah loosened his grip on his arm as the pain subsided completely. Aidus gave a wicked smile and began his rant, and to that Solicah gave only an anxious look. Solicah felt bad for Aidus, he had so much pressure on him all the time, and noble treated him like the golden child his position would suggest. No, if anything the elders were as hard on Aidus as they were on Solicah, granted for juxtaposing reasons.

Still, Aidus' words did make sense to the mind of the boy who was half convinced at the mere mention of wandering. As always his mood was dynamic, and a smile was infectious to him twice over. By the time Aidus finished his goading Solicah was grinning and struck out with an awkward and untalented punch aimed at Aidus' arm but really only glancing off.

The punch was really more a formality then anything, having to respond in some way his suggestion that Solicah might be scared. He wasn't scared of the web, and perhaps that was the problem.

"Fine! But we have to find something important ok? Mom will know later when she reads me. So it is really important that we do something productive." He honestly feared that Aidus might get in trouble. The worse his mother would do was lecture him. Which granted was perhaps the most uncomfortable think Solicah could imagine at such a young age.

With that he hoisted himself up then sat cross legged with his back turned to Aidus, expecting Aidus to do the same. This would keep both their bodies upright at they traveled, and was considered a position of power and companionship to travel from. The pose would grant stability to their anchor and help ease the proses of returning to their bodies.

Then, arms symmetrically out on the grass to his side he closed his eyes and looked out over the lay lines around them. He watched the light flow around him, then slowly began to decern the lines running through him, from him. He felt the familiar sensation of tugging on his spirit, as if the web were his true home. He always felt this and when he meditated to leave his body he focus on this. Freeing himself from the small package of flesh a travel slowly in each and every day.

"Leth guide our steps, Seme'el set our trail." He said quietly, lips wrapping around each word clearly as if without them he would never know how to find his way home. His true home.

Light trickled naturally from Solicah to the web and he traveled along it, and his sense of balance dissipated, his skin dissolved away, and his senses distorted beyond the touch of grass below him or smell of damp dying grasses.

He became the light, he flowed without direction, spanning outward as the tension between him and his body began. He felt it distantly there behind him, and he turned to observe it before light began obscuring it, pulling him away from the physical, from sight, and into the land of lights and knowledge. It excited him and his whole being smiled at the warmth of it all. The cold has been left behind, the darkness gone.

It was true. He had no fear here.

His ethereal fingers reaches out, groping through the sea of liquid information for the shape of Aidus, his kin, who ought to be close behind.

[Aidus]

It was too easy. Taking charge and getting people to do what you wanted them to do. Especially if they really wanted to do it themselves. People did what they wanted to do, and all it would take was a little bit of a shove. Though Aidus would use this knowledge selfishly at times, it was a good bit of information anyways. Solicah wanted to make sure they did something of worth while they walked the webbing, and Aidus couldn't disagree with that notion.

"Alright, we'll find something, I'm sure!" Whatever it took to get them in the web. They could deal with the consequences later.

He joined his kin on the cold ground, legs crossed and back to back. They would support each other in both the physical and ethereal realm, and it was really an important thing they did. The cold was dangerous, but the desire to never leave the web could be even more so. If either of them felt too strongly about staying, gods be helped the other would convince the other to return to his real body.

Hands laying beside his body, Aidus' body visibly shuddered as he exhaled and attempted to reach far and pull himself from his body. He could feel the warmth of the threads in his hand, as he too would begin to lose himself in the joys of the web. Inch by inch he felt himself separating, tearing forth from his Drykas form into something more than he, into something more pure, more primal, more true.

Every time Aidus would go into the web, it was a spiritual event, little as he would want to admit it. The young Drykas could feel the souls of those who had returned to the web, those who were yet to be born again, swirling all around him. Echos of Solicah's words were a distant memory as finally he felt at one with the light, able to rush freely along the laylines. He wouldn't leave Soli behind though.

"See, Soli? Isn't this much better?"

[Solicah]

*
Solicah adored this view of Aidus. He glowed softly, and sifted through layers of webbing with a deliberate solidity. Yet, for all of Aidus' boldness, that could be seen on the outside, he settled like a heavy mist when traveling the web, with a meaningful deepness to him. Solicah playfully indulged in this, he rushed forward without warning filtering his own essence and light through the heavy blanket of Aidus. The sensation was unbelievable, and if not so overstimulating may have been intrusive. Like a thick liquid Aidus filled him and shared the most assorted of thoughts and emotions, and from Solicah came a blinding burst of thought and feelings.

Pressed grass along the soles of his small feet, the taste of tears, the smell of smoke and drug clung to his father. There was a mix of safety and fear, but also ecstatic excitement. His energy echoed through Aidus as he pressed his own weightless essence through him. Aidus felt, if only for the shortest of a moments the energy and power of Solicah's elevated state, the anxious yet energetic space he operated on, and with it came one extremely short yet unsettlingly vivid vision.

"Baby," the soft and hushes voice of his mother came with a ring of comfort, "Taur'el is very sad, because his brother died. He didn't mean that, and you have to understand that so you can help him. When people are sad sometimes they hurt people that try to help them."

Aidus could feel the warmth of her pressed again him as he reclined in their small sanctuary, thin hide smelling of herbs, yet containing no bones like his own pavilion tent. Her long yet strong Drykas fingers brushed slowly and gently through Solicah's short locks, and stimulated his scalp underneath, flaking off old skin, and sending a pointed pressure through the length of his body, ever so careful not to catch on the matted locks which Aidus would never have to groom in his life. Aidus felt it as the world tip as Solicah turned to his side, and pressed his wet cheek into his mother's chest, a tremor and sniff sending air through his body, an unexpected sensation upon the web.

Her voice came again, as reassuring as before. "Give them love, and do not stop loving them even when they try to hurt you, my Baby. They need it because when people are sad they do not know how to love themselves, or others. They need a guide, just like you do to ride a horse. You are Drykas and so it's natural to you, but at the beginning of this life you still need to be shown how. Love, and riding, these are as natural as the other to us all. Our loved ones are our guides for these things, and when they die we need to find new guides, new love. Help them back onto the horse, baby, raise them back up even when they fight it.

Do you understand, my baby?" The question came with a soft embrace and the memory slipped away quietly and softly with a pouting nod and wet slip of warm skin against warm skin.

Solicah vibrated at a high and excited hum as he felt what Aidus shared then circled around, not touching any more just covering like a sheet, then responded.

"Yes, Brother, this is better. I like you here, because you don't have to lie. Now, let's help our Pavilion, like two Sapphire Clansmen ought to!" He reached out to Aidus again and took his ethereal finger tips and projected them out along with his own, guiding them. The boys were limited in distance, and more so in skill of search. Solicah sook, too obviously so, for a problem to fix, a person to aid. As wished a frantic yet deafeningly small line of silver azure thread whipped with one open end through the grasslands around them, too small to spot without such a purposeful search, and it begged any willing to aid to follow along it. Solicah hesitated, and looked to Aidus for leadership on whether to peruse or not. His gift, the web was the one place in which the child already knew at such a young age to exercise caution. Many times he had stumbled upon knowledge surpassing his innocence.
*