Closed [Crystian] I Got This.

[Cephei]

15th Winter 512AV
10th Bell (10am)
South Suvan Sea


Cephei had found herself in the South Suvan Sea, walking along the desolate beach; Syna’s light warming her frozen body. The wind from the sea was frigid, wrapping around her small frame and squeezing the warmth out of it. She had to escape the city of Riverfall, if only for a little while. She started to feel smothered there, as if the city was killing her slowly inside. Plus she was hoping to find a small cave, some sea shells, and maybe even some hidden treasure, if she was lucky enough anyways. Even if she did not find any of those things, the salty air was exhilarating in itself.

The memories of being borned from the sea assaulted her mind, as she slowed her pace, and immersed herself into the vista of the sea. All of her recent past memories of Gill came flooding into view, cutting off the serene vista as well as all her other senses, as she drowned in the memories of what was and could have been. Cephei stood there still as a statue for 20 chimes, lost in her past and what her future and present could have been. She did not hear the pirates sneak up on her, until it was about too late. The only reason she resurfaced from her mind, was the sound of a sword being unsheathed, she knew that sound all too well, and she whirled around.

There was six pirates, wearing shabby clothing that had holes in them, all of them were males, a few of them burly, most were small though, possibly due to lack of food on their vessel. A couple of them were wearing a patch over one of their eyes. They all wielded a different type of sword, probably stolen if she had to guess. But they all looked confident and rough, the one closest to her that unsheathed his blade had it raised, and was approaching her slowly.

Did they think because she was a woman, that she did not have her own weapon? If they wanted to play, she would be more than happy to oblige them. A devious smirk spread across Cephei’s face, her Tulwar sword hidden underneath her cloak. She relaxed the muscles in her body, keeping her limbs fluid and limber. Waiting for the right time to unsheathed her sword, and attack with the art of surprise. The man approached her closer, the other five staying behind, seeing her as unthreatening. Cephei gazed around with her airs, noting all the men, and possible exits if it did not turn out well. Cephei then looked down at the man’s feet, one, two, three… That was enough, he was close enough to attack.

Cephei withdrew her blade from its hidden place, her cloak swinging around her back, as she swung the Tulwar in a fast and strong downward arc, connecting with the man’s wrist, severing it and almost cutting it off completely. She wasted no more time on that man as she side stepped him, distancing her body from the man with the severed wrist, keeping her Tulwar in her right hand, and her left hand up blocking the rest of her body. The other men looked at the man with the severed wrist, a shocked expression on their face, and then they looked at Cephei with anger contorting their facial muscles, and death dancing in the depths of their eyes. Cephei was ready for them though, she would not back down from this fight, she would stand her ground until her life’s blood laid on the white sand of the Suvan Sea, and the Sea tide coming in taking what it birthed back many years ago.

[Crystian]

Light winds bristled from the cool and wet Suvan Sea panning into the long clifflines of Cyphrus’s western shores. The landscape was painted bleakly in a motley assortment of dull greens, yellows, and browns while the sky was hazed with a grayed blue. Dense treelines sat atop the ominous cliffs stretching for miles all along the coast. A lone rider clad in colorful and decadent garb stood out as he made a slow crawl down one of the cliffline's few parting slopes. He stuck out from the elementary colors of the world around him that led to the timid southern sea, slowly making his way downwards atop a strong cherry bay Strider. The rugged sense of pride with which he carried himself spoke to the years he’d spent among the Drykas, yet his decorative clothes brought attention to details more commonly valued in a far more civilized world.

As he approached the sea he began to grow excited, fidgeting lightly in his yvas. His Strider responded symbiotically with a light snort to calm its rider. He had been looking forward to riding and running alongside his bonded Strider in the sands while playfully swimming in Laviku’s salted waters. Light sojourns like this were common for the young Drykas who often felt restless and rarely at home, making him an infrequent part of his Pavilion.

When the sands of the soft shore finally came within a few hundred feet and his horse had traversed the last dip the rider began gazing across the endless beach for a fine place to ride. As the rider looked onward he couldn’t help but to feel as if something was out of place, a soft whisper in his ear brought to his attention the sound of cleaving flesh and bone. His face quickly darted right and left, the right catching the shimmering reflection of steel from a poorly polished sword in its peripheral.

Narrowing his focus the rider made out the figures of six men beginning to surround a lone woman. His Strider lifted its neck ready to make haste in their direction, but the rider gripped its mane hesitantly. A second plea from his Strider came as it lifted its front only a foot off the ground. Clearing his stuffy head the rider began to realize the gravity of the situation before him. The woman needed his help. Loosening the grip on his companion’s mane both horse and rider bolted forward, picking up their pace in rapid acceleration.

The rider had little time to pay attention to detail as he approached from behind the young woman, and even less time to think. Acting out of instinct and foolishness the rider leapt from the back of his Strider haphazardly and into one of the unexpecting pirates. Meanwhile his Strider barreled through another pirate with its full weight, trampling the victim of its size and speed. Midair the rider realized the folly behind what he had done. Through a crude display of acrobatics he managed to reposition himself just enough to dampen his collision with the victim of his bodyweight.

Their bodies met with a loud thud in the sand as the rider carried the man to the ground unarmed. The pirate’s neck whipped back then forward in a quick jerking motion before it too met the densely packed weight of the sand. Force of impact alone was enough to knock the unwary pirate unconscious while the rider stumbled to his feet, struggling to achieve a firm footing quickly on the sanded beach floor. Making his way to the left of the woman on the side closest to the waters he tried keeping himself at less than an arm’s length from the nearest pirate, so as to take away the advantage of his sword. This made sure that the other pirates (at a much greater distance) would be unable to immediately attack him without the risk of cutting through their friend.

[Cephei]

Cephei knew she was in trouble, even though she was competent in her Tulwar skills, she was outmatched. The man with the severed wrist was still moaning at the damage she had done to it, she looked over at him callously, and grumbled, “Better be glad I did not stab you through the heart.” She did not know if the man heard or, or the other men, but she had to say it. She was about to ready a second attack at the man, when the pounding hooves on the sand reached her ears, she dared not to look back at where the sound came from, she needed to keep her attention on the scalawags in front of her.

All of a sudden a young man came half stumbling, half flying off his horse, and landed onto the pirate closest to her, and his beautiful horse crumpled another pirate with his magnificent hooves. Now there were only three pirates left, the odds were now in her favor. She glanced over at the young man that moved to her left side, closest to the waters. He had long wavy hair, and a slender frame, he looked strong to be so young, yet he was younger than Cephei which meant that she would have to protect him from these scoundrels. ”I got this little boy, run on home now and stop playing games.” Cephei bit out, her Konti scales glistening in the sun, as she did not paid any more heed to the young man, it was time to attack.

Cephei lunged forward to the pirate on her right, her Tulwar sword coming in a deep upward arc, but the pirate evaded her with his own blood, a short sword of some kind. Cephei kept calm, not letting her anger or frustrations get the best of her, as she moved her body fluidly in the fight.

The other pirate came forth slashing out with his sword, rather clumsily to say the least, and she barely caught the clumsy swipe with her own Tulwar sword. But she jabbed her left empty fist out, connecting with is Sola Plexus. The clumsy swords man stumbled backwards coughing, as Cephei dodged another attack from the well versed pirate.

Cephei swung her sword, connecting with the other man’s, and brought her body closer to his. Their faces were only inches apart, and Cephei winked at the man. He seemed a little shocked at her behavior and closeness of her body, and she used that brief moment of weakness to her advantage, bringing her right knee up, connecting with his groin. And when he bent over in pain she swung her sword down in a hard downward arc upon the man’s neck, and he fell forward lifeless on the sandy beach.

Sweat started to form on Cephei’s forward, as she looked at the clumsy pirate, ready for his attack. She briefly glanced over at the young man who had attempted to rescue her, to see how his fight was going. She was no damsel in distress, she could hold her own. She could not believe such a young man was trying to rescue her, it made her feel slightly inadequate to say the least.

[Crystian]

The rider was far too focused on defending himself from the assailing pirate only a foot and a half away to give any degree of attention to what the woman was doing. If he were to, the woman’s taunting and playing while she fighting would have seemed foreign to him. Her actions were far different from the serious warriors he had met of the Diamond and Topaz Clans. Furthermore, the words little boy would have seemed awkward and out of place. By most human standards the young rider was only a season and a half away from being considered an adult.

Unable to utilize anything but the pommel of his sword at such a close proximity the pirate moved backward in an attempt to reposition himself for a bladed strike. Reflecting the pirate’s pace the rider moved forward with his foe to keep the distance unchanged. Failing to manoeuvre himself into a favourable striking position the pirate dropped his right shoulder, putting his body weight into a heavy pommel strike directed at the rider’s head. Moving his own left shoulder upwards the rider forced the pirate’s blow to make impact with the hard surface of his Drykas leather shoulder guard, sending reverberations throughout the pirate’s arm. His left arm moved upwards with his shoulder grasping the pirate’s right arm by the bicep, locking the pirate in place and slightly pulling him in. Meanwhile the rider kept his own right forearm close to the centre of his waist and thrust it upwards towards the pirate’s throat.

The jab connected, leaving the pirate sputtering and cursing as his larynx convulsed fervorantly in an attempt to regain control of his body’s airway. While this particular pirate appeared to have a fair amount of combat experience, he was still unable to respond with another blow of his own while his involuntary throat muscles were spastic. Taking this window of opportunity the rider managed to get in another quick shot to the pirate’s throat in the same manner as before. The second blow sent the pirate reeling to the ground, clasping at his broken trachea.

The rider’s inexperience showed as he hesitated ever so slightly, unsure of what to do with the situation he had made the most of out of blind luck and very little skill. Remembering what little he knew about combat he threw himself on top of the fallen pirate so as to give him no further advantage. As the rider began pummelling his fallen foe’s neck and face in unspecific locations he drew very small amounts of Djed into his upper body to increase the force of each blow. This incessant pummelling made the fallen pirate flail in a desperate attempt to escape the rider’s onslaught. Connecting with the pommel of his sword at the side of the rider’s arm, the futile attempt made for only a glancing blow. The pirate’s flailing only increased the rider’s fisted barrage against his downed opponent until his knuckles had been significantly bloodied and the Djed had been allowed to build up only slightly past the Rider’s comfort zone. At this point the pirate’s movements had ceased altogether.

Looking up and to the right the rider noticed that there was still one clumsy pirate left. Half expecting the man to run, the rider relaxed his adrenaline tight muscles slightly. But before a move could be made by any of the remaining parties, the rider’s Strider had returned to finish the task. Front legs flailing downwards the powerful legs of the horse brought the man crashing down under its weight where he was trampled repeatedly by the heavy stomping of hooves and horseflesh. Spotting his Rapier still tied to his yvas the young and inexperienced rider cursed his hotheadedness.

With the fight having settled down the rider was finally able to shift his attention to his fellow warrior. She was---beautiful. Her pale skin, soft features, white hair, and violet eyes made her appear celestial, nothing like any woman he had ever seen among the Drykas. Just what was she?

[Cephei]

It seemed that Cephei was not the only one looking at what the young man was doing to the pirate, for the clumsy pirates attention was on him too, as he attacked the man like a savage. Punching him repeatedly, making blood fly up from the uncoordinated blows to the pirates face. Cephei felt a little sorry for the pirate, she preferred dealing quick deaths, not making another suffer underneath her hands, unless of course they deserve it. Cephei brought her attention back to the big, clumsy pirate, readying to attack.

Before she could lunge and attack the pirate though, that same horse came back around, pummeling the threat of the clumsy pirate. She had never seen a horse attack another person, so it was something new and foreign to her, making her back away from the horse in slight fright. Cephei finally had time to think, if the clumsy pirates was on shore, that meant there was a smaller boat somewhere, and a larger one. Cephei scanned the shore up the right and left, and found a small row boat up ahead. She walked over to the small boat and kicked it. It was sturdy enough to hold people, but she was surprised she did not notice this, but it seemed when she succumbed to her memories, the world around her melted away.

Cephei sighed loudly, and brought her attention to the young man that joined the fight. He was staring at her with wide eyes, making Cephei frown a bit, but she casted the frown away and smiled brightly at the man, “I had that you know. But thank you for helping all the same. What is your name young warrior?” Cephei believed that no man was an adult until they reached twenty, it was her own personal opinion though. One has not seen a lot of the world when they are fourteen or sixteen, to be considered an adult. But she had been on this land for a while, forever stuck in this body, never was a child only appeared to be one in her Konti form. Cephei was twenty-two years of age, yet in her Konti form she appeared to be fifteen. She would never really understand this, nor cared to.

Cephei casted her thoughts away, shaking her head slightly, and brought her attention back to the young man, waiting for him to give his name.

[Crystian]

The rider watched curiously as the young woman moved about the beach, completely disregarding him. As she kicked the heavy wooden boat that had been dragged ashore, the rider began to wonder if she even cared that he had just helped save her life.

He heard the audible sigh despite the crashing waves and frothing tides. Perhaps she really didn’t---before he could complete his thought she spoke to him. Her words seemed begrudgingly thankful yet interested---in his name at the very least. The rider couldn’t help but notice her getting lost in a thought before he could even respond. The mixed signals made the rider furrow his brow by shifting an eyebrow quizzically.

“Crystian,” the rider spoke while getting up from the body of the bloodied pirate beneath him. He then signalled his Strider in Pavi, “Calm,” as he went to wash his sore and bloodied knuckles in the stinging salt water. Crystian was unflinching as he dipped his hands gently into the cool blue and white crested tides and began to let the ocean carry away the blood in fleeting whorls of red.

Giving some thought to his sentence structure with the Common tongue he paused briefly before speaking again curiously, “I thought the person asking was to give their name first?”

[Cephei]

The young man replied that his name was Crystian, and Cephei nodded a little spaced as her thoughts kept swirling in her mind. Then she watched him wash his hands in the waters, wondering how he could not flinch from the sting of the salt, but disregarded this. His knuckles were obviously ripped open, from punching hard bone on the man’s face, she felt sorry for the boy, but her mind was elsewhere, specifically on where the large ship of these novice pirates were.

Then the boy spoke again, his common tongue coming out a bit rough, stating that she did not give her name. Cephei blushed a little at her rude behavior, just now noticing that this boy did in fact attempt to rescue her, even if she assumed she had it, when in fact she probably would of died. She owed him kindness, instead was brushing him off, like she would a bug on her shoulder.

Cehei brought her full attention back on the young man, smiling warmly at him, ”Forgive my previous rude disposition. I was lost in thought. My name is Cephei, it is a pleasure to meet you Crystian.” Cephei approached the young man, gracefully walking in the sand, standing before him she kept her warm smile, as her soft musical voice floated on the breeze stroking his ears, ”Thank you for your help. I would have been killed had it not been for your bravery.”

[Crystian]

Seeing the woman’s pleasant smile perked Crystian up ever so slightly. Rolling his shoulders back as his neck straightened upwards with attentiveness Crystian returned her kindness with a light smile of his own.

As she spoke, Crystian took note of her fluent use of common, attempting to imitate and incorporate her sentence structuring before formulating a reply of his own. “You do not need to thank me. In my Clan we have many jobs. One is to help Drykas in need. You may not be Drykas, but I felt the need to help anyways. It is part of who I have been raised to be,” he spoke with slight improvement and a proud face. Her kind words had meant a lot to him.

Recalling the attention she had given to the ship just moments ago, Crystian couldn’t help but to give the boat a quick glance before resuming giving his undivided attention to the celestial before him.

[Cephei]

A slight salt laden breeze brushed Cephei's long silver white hair, making it dance in the wind, she brushed some of her hair behind her ears, looking at the man and listening to his rough common intently. He was a Drykas, must be from the Sea of Grass not too far from Riverfall. At least that was Cephei's assumption, whether she was correct or not she did not know, nor would she pry into the man's personal life, no matter how much she wanted to.

Cephei glanced over at the small boat, wondering how six burly pirates had fit themselves onto it. It was small, it looked more of a three person maybe four person boat, not six people. This just made the pirates look even more novice than they did before. She looked over at the six dead bodies, her heart twinging with the slightest of guilt. They were who they were brought up to be, just like she was. What she saw as lack of morals, they saw as a different set of morals. Cephei's face was a mask of regret and pain at seeing the men's body just laying in the sand. She needed to bury them in which they loved the most, the sea.

She walked over to one of the smaller bodies, and grabbed the man's limp arm, cooling now from the lack of blood flow. She gulped down the lump forming in her throat as she drugged the man the few feet to the sea. She made it there with a beaded sweat upon her brow, submerged in the water to her knees. Cephei needed to find a way to get the body to sink, she glanced around at the cliffs lining most of the shore, and the rock formations that merged with the waters, then back at the young man.

"Do you mind bringing me some rock? These men need to be given back to the Sea, no matter how cruel they were, it was how they were shaped by their environment and lifestyle, just as we are. They deserve this much respect from us, their killers." Cephei spoke in a light tone mingled with a small amount of regret, but she kept her face emotionless, not giving away to the turmoil she felt inside, like the crashing waves of the sea at midnight.

[Crystian]

Cephei had absorbed herself in something else in the world other than Crystian once more. Unsure of how to best to interact, Crystian once again assumed the role of the silent observer, carefully following her with his eyes as she mused about the dead bodies and began to drag one of them into the Suvan. For a second Crystian’s body almost lurched forward to help, stopping short with a fragment of the motion. He could see how dutiful she felt about the task and mentally distraught over the dead pirates. Although it was not a sympathy he shared, Crystian felt a silent respect for her strong personal beliefs.

“You do not ha---,” Crystian began with a whisper, fading to silence upon hearing Celphei’s voice.

Rocks? She had intended to sink them, guiding them to sea as their final resting place. It seemed a bit wasteful to the young Drykas. Yet Cephei’s body language breathed her determination into the very air around her. Not wishing to disturb her Crystian began to turn hesitantly, but stopped himself to voice his opinion, “We respect and honor them as fighters but to think the sea or sands has more right to their corpses is not for us to know. It is good for us to take what we can use from them and leave the rest to the gods.”

While Crystian’s Drykas ideologies of wasting nothing challenged Cephei’s ritualized sense of respect, he moved to bring her a heavy rock anyways. He couldn’t help but feel conflicted by the extraneous nature of her actions and the palpable emotions inside her that yearned for an outlet. After a few trudging steps through the soft moving sands, he reached down feeling his muscles tense with light strain. Picking up a fair sized rock he began to bring it back to Cephei, taking care to maintain his balance with the extra weight in his arms.