Closed Prometheus unbound [Aidara please]

[Leo Varniak]

Timestamp: Spring 5, 512 AV (grandfathered thread approved by Gossamer)

Old boots went through the motions of crushing the latest winter snow. The Sanikas road had barely been open for a few days now, and yet the stranger found himself in a terrible urge to leave the settlement and head into the Unforgiving, now infested with wild Djed. For the average mortal, it would almost assuredly prove a lethal journey. Even the stranger would very nearly die in the process, for all that powerful forces walked with him. He was a force himself now. Tapping into the minimum of Ivak's power was enough to make the snow melt around his feet as he walked on, his meager possessions in the worn bag slung across his shoulders.

The stranger's name was Leo Zaital, and he walked in the wake of Ivak's liberation. He preceded and he followed. He had found a peaceful, if savage, corner of the world, and had left it devastated; all in the name of good. It had taken him several days to emerge from the depths of the Underground Forest, and as such he hadn't even been to able to assist the city through the worst of the calamity. Would they even want his help? Would they not desire his death for what he had done, as necessary as it had been? He made the perfect scapegoat for a mob of angry redheads, this much was for sure. They knew of him - he just could feel it in his bones. There was the matter of Ulric. Leo and the warrior had never been able to see eye to eye; they differed in far too many basic aspects. Ulric had a way with words, however, and Leo knew he had been mingling with the natives quite a bit before leaving sometime during the Azenth's fugue from the world. What if he had been spreading lies?

Or truths, for that matter. Both had the potential to hinder Leo at this time.

The road felt unfriendly. He could already sense the hostility in the world around him, ready to swallow him at the first opportunity. The sky still seemed to glow in the aftermath of the storm. The wound may have stopped bleeding for now, but it hadn't even started healing. Dressed in shades of worn non-color, Leo Zaital marched on. Ideally, he would be heading to Sultros first, if he could make it that far. The Isur had lost their ancient King in the battle against Ssena, and once again it had been Leo's doing at the root. It seemed like everything always boiled down to him in the end. All roads led to him these days. Yet, for all that he had so much of an influence on the world, he did not feel powerful right now. He never seemed to be in control. He hadn't grown quite used yet to the ways of the gods, wielding mortals as their precious pawns in their games of chess. He would, in time. Just, not yet.

After several bells on the road, he took a few chimes to sit on the roadside and rest his legs, still unused to prolonged marching after being newly remade from raw energy. Leo Zaital contemplated the ways of the world, his gaze lost in the clouds still tinged with the maddening color of blood. The mark of Ivak burned strong within him, alerting anyone else with the same power to his presence, even a distance away.

[Aidara]

“Petching…” A crust had formed atop the snow, the sun melting the upper layers while the chill of the long nights refroze it back into a hard, glistening sheet over everything. The little foot that swung out at the small snowdrift connected with this tough white layer, a sharp crunching noise to accompany the puff of snowy powder that rose to glisten in the air. It would have been a lovely sight if not for the irate cry that shattered the comfortable silence that a snowfall laid over the land.“Mother petching snow!” Well, someone was cranky.

Probably every scarf Addy owned was coiled around the young woman’s neck, leaving only the wind-bitten tops of her cheekbones, eyes, and forehead exposed. Three or four jackets made it impossible for the little healer to put her arms down by her sides, forced instead to waddle side to side with mittened hands sticking out the ends of the sleeves. As ridiculous as she looked, Addy couldn’t have cared less; She was still cold and far from happy.

“If you were just going to leave me here, WHY DID I HAVE TO COME!” Shouting at the sky and the unseen Wind Eagle that flew above the dark gray storm clouds hanging low overhead, Addy had lashed out at the unoffending snow in her frustration. Sira had set the healer down a bit away from the mountain to set up a few of her traps while she flew off in search of the ever elusive pray. The Winter had been a difficult one, hardly any food in the pantry making for a stressful season, to say the least. The Inartans were used to living on the brink of starvation but…

Spring rolled in with style, bringing with it a live changing event that not only scared off any remaining prey in the forests but destroying most of the city along with it. Devastated and shoved even closer to the brink of death, the gingers had all banded together and redoubled their efforts to survive. And that meant being out in the snow, laying out traps that Addy knew would fail to yield anything of value to anyone. However, it was her duty, so it was with a sour attitude fed by fear that Addy found herself knee deep in snow. “Ugh. Gross.” A last hateful glance was tossed at the sky before the petite redhead began to slog towards the tree line.

The clinking of the traps in the sack on her back made an ungodly noise in the otherwise silent Winter “wonderland”. Unable to properly move her torso to do any sort of digging, Addy managed to wedge a trap against the trunk of tree on top of the slick snow crust; should she have full movement in her arms, the trap instead would have been set on the ground after clearing some of the snow away.

Once the trap was satisfactorily secured, it was time for the bait. Tiny globules of fat and cheese were taken from inside an oilcloth Addy pulled from her outermost jacket pocket. Her arm, tripled in size thanks to the plentiful layers, almost didn’t fit inside the opening of the trap, but once she did manage to get her hand deep within the cage, it was only a matter of carefully placing the bait on the trigger tray without setting the whole thing off; She had the doors snap down on her arm before and it was not a pleasant feeling.

“Petch!” As loud as the startled curse was, it was covered by the cacophony of metal on metal as the cage flew through the air and tumbled down a nearby snow bank, clattering and yelling its disaster for all the forest to hear. Addy was pulling frantically at the sleeves of her jackets, desperately trying to get at whatever was stinging her flesh. [i]Something petching bit me![/i] The little woman sent the mental shout to Sira as she ripped off her woolen mitten, though no response was to be had. Her bondmate was far out of range.

Though it took some doing, Addy was finally able to get a look at her skin, green eyes observing the area with the concise movements of a practiced healer. There were no bite marks, no signs of laseration or burn that could have caused the flash of pain. In fact, it was practically impossible that had there been an attack, that the animals fangs or claws or whatever wouldn’t have been able to penetrate her thick winter covering.

A frown curled those lips downwards, her brows following suit as she glared at her wrist and hand, at a loss for an explanation but completely positive that she had felt something. “How…OW!” Again, the burning sensation flashed up her arm again, though there was no mistaking the intensity of it this time as her gaze was immediately drawn to the ring of flames that encircled her wrist.

“No…” The Gnosis mark that Ivak had given her had been on her mind since the day of the storm. Not only had this knowledge been quite literally dropped upon the Inartan people, but now she was chosen by the very god she had no idea existed mere bells before. In fact, Addy hid the bracelet like mark from the rest of her people, afraid of what they would say or do. Everyone was so full of fear and panic… But she had felt this before, with the Healing mark on her arm, though Rek’Keli’s had never been so painful.

It meant there was another nearby.

“Son of a…” This was the last thing she needed. Sira was counting on her to get the traps out. If they didn’t catch anything they didn’t eat. Nobody ate. It really wasn’t even a question of what she had to do. Addy knew that she had to continue laying out the traps after she salvaged the remains of the one that lay a few feet away. It was her duty.

The flame gnosis mark seared again, causing the little woman to drop the trap she had just bent over to pickup. Apparently ignoring it wasn’t going to happen. “PETCHING OKAY!” Angry now, Addy flung the trap aside (again) and marched towards the tree line and into the open space beyond. It wasn’t hard for her to figure out where to go; once she realized the mark as the source of her problems, the rest was set up like a beacon within her, directing her away from the city and along the edge of the forest. It would only be a chime or two of trudging through the snow for her to reach the road.

The road. Whoever this other mark belonged too, they were on the road… leaving the city. Perhaps another of her people had also happened across the fire god a few days ago. Addy’s voice carried sharply over the still air as she trudged ever closer to the road.

“Hello! I know you’re there. Who are you? What do you want from me? Are you signaling for me, or something? ‘Cause you can stop petching burning me now, I’m coming!”

OOCUh... Way long then I intended. Enjoy

[Leo Varniak]

The human body was such a weak thing, Leo considered; it did nothing but complain and hold the spirit back. Here was the so-called champion, barely on his way and already tired. The freezing wind slashed at his face, clashing with the hot blood underneath. He picked up a small lump of packed snow and watched it melt in his grasp. The tiny droplets leaked down his fist and dripped down on the ground, where they froze again almost right away. The elements were ever changing; their dynamics knew no rest. Why should people be any different? Wind Reach would fall back into the cycle eventually. It would survive, just barely, as it always did. Not unchanged, no... but stronger for all it had gone through.

Leo frowned at the strange tingling on his back. The feeling was impossible to explain to someone without gnosis. It was painful and it wasn't, it was an itch and it wasn't, it was ticklish and it wasn't. After a while, one just knew what it meant and how it should be interpreted. Marks had a way of greeting each other when they met, and it had been a long time since he'd experienced the sensation of crossing paths with a kindred soul. He still frowned, though. He was positive Wind Reach was Azenth-free. He had stayed there long enough to be able to make that statement with confidence. For someone to have come this far from the outside world seemed impossible in this weather and season. That only left one plausible explanation. "Someone's been busy..." Leo murmured, curiosity caressing his heart.

He stood up, shaking off the numb feeling in his legs. He stretched his neck, eyes squinting to make out anything in the landscape around him. He was growing weary of all that shiny whiteness. He suspected it could drive someone blind in the long term; the Inarta just didn't live long enough, on average, to get to that point. A breeze carried the hint of a female voice getting closer to his location. The tone didn't sound hostile, just exasperated. Leo decided there was no immediate threat to it. Surely there were better ways to hunt him than to announce oneself one mile away? The tingling of his mark intensified as the voice got closer, firmly linking the two occurrences together. He thought the speech was in Nari, and he could actually make out a large amount of swearing. Nari was a tough language for a foreigner to grasp, but Leo strangely found it more natural than he had anticipated. That was unsurprising, given how the Inarta shared a special link with Ivak, his very flesh and blood.

A figure that Leo thought was human finally emerged from the woods. He couldn't be sure at first; the odd quality to its movements and the strange contraptions it carried made it hard to decide. A few more seconds confirmed his suspicion that the figure belonged to the same woman who had been calling out to him. She was there - somewhere underneath uncountable layers of protective clothing. Leo blinked and stared down at his own garments: a shirt, trousers and boots, all in various shades of non-color. It made a peculiar contrast for a moment or two, then he realized he was the abnormal one, not she. Not everyone possessed a virtually unlimited amount of body heat, after all. And despite not knowing the first thing about hunting, Leo supposed it was traps she carried.

He hadn't seen a single specimen of wildlife in several bells. He wasn't even sure anyone would want to consume animals just recently exposed to a Djed storm. Still, if it came down to eating that, eating snow or eating Dek, he supposed he could see the reasoning behind such a desperate hunt. He caught the general meaning of the woman's excited speech. Her mark of Ivak had been guiding her to him and the experience was being a little more intense than she might have hoped. As for who she actually was, Leo found it hard to guess from just the few inches of skin peering through the chrysalis of fabric she had woven around herself. He tilted his head and reviewed his memories of the Inarta. You always wanted to know who was who in Wind Reach, just so you had a grasp of who you could order around, and who was allowed to order you around.

'She's hunting... Endal? Avora?' But still, while the voice didn't feel entirely unfamiliar, he couldn't place it next to a name. What to do? Caste, he supposed, meant nothing outside Wind Reach and he'd never been a true citizen to begin with. They shared the quality of being human as well as the gift of the fire god. "You'll get used to the burning," he called out, waving one hand as soon as she was within comfortable hearing range. His Common was almost devoid of accents, though a well-versed traveled might have inferred his Syliran origins. "Nothing can truly burn you now."

His breath was hot and the resulting cloud of steam reminded of smoke from an active volcano. His eyes were on her, black and hard, tired and tireless, but not unkind. "I am sorry for what happened to Wind Reach." It was all he said to this stranger he'd never shared a word with, but still belonged to another world that he had brought to its knees. This, and many others alongside it.

[Aidara]

“Petch that, I will.” Having gotten close enough for the wind to carry his voice to her, Addy began to take a more direct path towards what she knew now was a man. “I don’t know how anyone could get used to this. Searing my skin off. It’s like a whole thicket of brambles is caught underneath my gloves, petching…”

The snow grew deeper the closer she got to the road, thanks to the wind blowing the drifts higher against this natural barrier. Saving her breath for the struggle she had ahead of her, Addy cut short her swearing and ducked her head as she plowed her way through almost waist deep snow. Why she so willingly approached this stranger, the little woman didn’t know, but she did know that the closer she got, the better she felt about the mark that encircled her wrist; the burning lessoned and the deep-seated need to follow where the mark lead her began to relax its hold on her frantically beating heart.

“This cold burns. The sun burns… do you see this skin?” Having pulled the sarf down frm around her mouth, skin almost as pale as the snow around it was exposed to the nipping air. “I find it hard to believe that nothing will burn me now.” Though she didn’t completely understand, Addy knew that he spoke of the mark Ivak had given her. The one that they shared.

Snowlogged and panting from exertion, Addy found herself wondering where this mans mark was stamped as she stumbled onto the road not far from where the stranger sat. The hair that she had so carefully secured away from her face danced now like an auburn cloud around her face and head, the sharp bursts of wind pulling it this way and that as she stamped the clinging snow from her clothes. When she did look up through this haze of red, the long strands stinging at her already exposed skin, Addy could hardly make out the man that so patiently waited for her to finish.

“What? Not going to help a lady out?” Mittened hands attempted to push the wayward locks behind her ears, a futile attempt as another gust swiftly undid all of her handywork. “It’s okay, don’t get up. I got it…” Shifting her weight to take a step forward, Addy hesitated and glanced up at the man’s face for the first time. “… and I think we’re all sorry for what happened.” Though her hair and the wind partially blinded her, Addy caught enough of a glimpse of him from the distance to startle her voice into almost a whisper. Those were haunted eyes.

“Who are you?” Intrigued, the little healer stepped through the snow, angling for the rock next to the man that could serve as a seat for her as well. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before… How did you know I was out here? How did you know I had a mark? I barely know that I have a mark.” The thin layer of snow crunched noisily between Addy’s pauses, her eyes wide and focused intently on the man she approached, no longer watching where she was going or on what she was stepping. “How do you- PETCH!”

Her foot came down just right on a slick patch of ice, her weight already shifting to lean heavily on the leg so that she could step with the other. The natural shift in her balance was the all slick patch needed, yanking away her footing as the sole of her boot slid on the ice with a gleeful screech. Addy’s screech was not nearly so gleeful when she found herself flailing through the air to land hard on her butt, a string of swears once more filling the crisp Spring air.

“Son of a petching… mother shyking…” Embarrassed beyond the point of feeling the pain of her fall (yet), Addy settled for simply crossing her legs and burying her face in her hands. “Yeah… I’ll just stay right here. Good enough, right?”

[Leo Varniak]

Leo blinked several times, not finding an opening for a reply to the young woman's frenzied speech. This had been a dramatic entrance to be sure, even by Inarta standards. Still sitting and forced into silence, he studied her with his eyes and was once more reassured that she had not been sent here to kill him. He tilted his head and still couldn't recognize her, but his money was on her being an Endal. Every other caste knew a token amount of restraint in their speech that she probably did not need in her everyday life. Leo watched her inch her way through the heavy snow, stumble, complain, adjust her scarf, shoot a volley of questions, slip, fall, and surrender, in that order. All the while he was basically motionless.

Finally, the Azenth cleared his throat. "Ahem."

Seeing as he could hear his own voice, he was not talking over the girl's voice. He took it as his cue to begin. "I advise against sitting there," he said in a soft tone of voice, "if you lose feeling in your legs in this weather, you are as good as dead." He stood up, and as he did so it became awfully evident how lightly clothed he was. The snow steamed lightly as he took a few steps forward in her direction. In this cold, Aidara would certainly become aware of the intense warmth his freshly marked body gave off. It struck a contrast with the constrained quality of his attitude.

He made his way to the woman's temporary resting place and extended his hand to help her up. "You belong in the skies. You shouldn't be roaming the land right now." He wouldn't take no for an answer, and even if Aidara refused to stand he would have her do so by any means necessary. His hand was downright hot. He still hadn't learned how to fully control the heat-multiplying powers of his newly acquired mark. "If you must sit, it is best to find a seat that won't kill you too fast." The man was quite controlling, this much was for sure. He led the Inarta girl to his former seat and eyed a nearby rock, giving a low hum as he pondered his options.

"Nothing can burn you now," he turned to repeat his earlier statement which she had contradicted. "Those other things... don't count." Way to demolish an epic statement, Endal. He stretched his palm and closed his eyes, conjuring a ball of vermillion fluid in the air - Res. Leo ignited it and sent it crashing against the rock, where it flared in a shower of hot sparks. The rock was left smoking and steaming, the snow all around melting from the heat. The champion sat down where he had until now and motioned for Aidara to make herself comfortable on the newly heated rock. "That won't burn you, at the very least."

He looked up and gave a quick smile. "They call me Leo Zaital. I came to Wind Reach last year on a ship called the Blue Horizon. I came here to free Ivak from his prison, and as you can see on your own body, I succeeded. The rest is history in the making, I'm afraid." His expression darkened as he spoke of these things. "I did it for the world's future, but I couldn't have anticipated all the trouble this would cause. You have my apologies. Hopefully you'll come to understand why I did it, being an Azenth yourself." He wondered if that was truly the case. Fire could just as easily drive to revenge as to forgiveness. He fell silent, hoping she would make the right choice.

[Aidara]

The awkward silence that followed her tirade and the gentle, pointed clearing of his throat brought Addy’s attention up from the palms of her hands and back to his face. A ginger brow arched into a delicate curve that rode high onto her forehead, a sarcastic Can I help you? tickling the edges of her lips. “Yes?” The single word beat the snarky response to the finish line, but paired with the brow it wasn’t better by much.

“Tell that to the Wind Eagle that dropped me from the sky.” Had she not been abandoned in the snow, left to lay what traps she could and ultimately make a fool of herself in front of a stranger, Addy’s mood would have been leaps and bounds more accepting of this man’s good intentions. It was obvious he only meant to help but Addy, who was well aware that the regal bearing that most Endal wrapped themselves in was severely lacking on her end, tended towards over compensation. “I think I know how to survive in the snow and ice. Far better than someone who seems to have just rolled out of bed, anyway.” She snapped, her words as razor sharp as the cold wind that carried them; he had stood, barely clothed, in front of her with his hand extended for half a dozen chimes before Addy made any movement to take the help up.

When his fingers closed around her hand, Addy yelped on pure instinct and tried to pull away, but those fingers held strong around her wrist and she was pulled to her feet, guided, and sat. The warmed stone hardly registered beneath her seat as she cradled the hand Leo had grasped to her chest. Her mind knew that it should have burned, but the heat that she had felt left no mark on her skin whatsoever. In fact, it had been almost a pleasant sort of jolt between them when he had touched her. Green eyes lifted and brightened, turning up to this strange man that now stood over her, and saw him anew.

He was hot. Quite literally scorching. Smoking, thought not literally. Fiery herself, Addy thought nothing of this sudden turn of emotion as her eyes tracked Leo from top to toe and back up again, her sullen frown curling into a smile flanked by dimples. A flirty response coated her tongue now, replacing the sour snark that had been there only moments before as she leaned forward on her perch, crossing her legs at the knee and her wrists on top. “Endal Aidara, it’s a pleasure, Leo. I…”

But her batting eyelashes slowed and finally stopped as the rest of his words sunk in, the coy look from beneath her lids now hiding the shock that jolted her into silence. Ivak. Of course, it only made sense if they shared a mark, even if her own was so new, so fresh. “Wait, you…?” He had been responsible for the destruction of the city? He was the reason why dozens of Wind Eagles were dead, and even more were deformed? He was the reason why she was sent out into the snow alone, to try and trap anything she possibly could to feed the hundreds of starving mouths and wailing children.

He was the reason why Sai was gone. Possibly dead.

The attentions of a God she had, until a few days ago, no idea existed did not make up for the suffering the storm had caused. In fact, she resented the fiery bracelet that encircled her wrist, ignoring it and whatever benefits it brought with the stubbornness of those truly in denial. “How dare…” Unable to choke the rest of the sentence past the anger that rose in her throat, burning like bile, Addy found herself off the stone and up against this strange man, her finger poking into his chest as if she wished it were a dagger instead.

“I don’t understand any of this. I don’t have too, and I don’t want too. All I know is that my people are suffering because of you?!” It was almost a question, as if she hoped that he would smile and toss his head back in laughter. Then they could move on and, one day, laugh together over this funny, funny joke. But he was too hot. Much too hot. And Addy knew, deep down, that she was threatening the almost-divine. If she had been marked once by Ivak for hardly doing anything at all… How would he treat those who freed him?

Jabbing her finger a bit harder, despite the fact that every other nerve in her body told her to back away quickly, Addy turned those hardened emerald eyes up to meet Leo’s own, a tear glistening at the corner of her lid despite her best efforts to stop it. Her tone was no less hard when she spoke again, though so soft that the wind nearly stole the words away before they reached Leo’s ears.

“I don’t want this, if it means I’m going to do this to someone elses family.”