Flashback [The Docks] Out for a swim{Lacerta}

[Luhrak Searunner]

Fall, 48th, Year 461 Zeltiva Harbor The young man was standing with his toes right off the edge of the wooden pier. The fresh sea air blew the smell of salt inland. As it brushed past the frame of the young man, his dark hair was pushed back and waved in the wind. He opened his eyes as he exhaled. The empty brown irisses flickered smaller as the light touched upon them. He breathed in deeply. His hands moved to take off his clothes, which he stacked neatly in a pile on the end of the pier, putting his pack on top of it to prevent anything from flying off. Standing at full length, the young man was quite a sight. He wasn't a day over twenty, yet his body showed many signs of pain in the form of scars across his body. He rolled his shoulders and breathed in deeply. The young man's body was well developed, not huge and muscular like some of the guards, but obviously trained. If it hadn't been for the empty look in his eyes and the state of his body, the man's body could have been pleasing to the eyes. He emptied his lungs of air once more and breathed in as much as he could. With a simple dive forward, the young man broke through the waves of the ocean. The harbor was a good place to swim. There were enough places where you could get back up on land and there was nobody to complain. The silence of the ocean pressed on the young man's ears as he swam deeper and deeper. The pressure became harder and the young man reversed, breathing out the air in his lungs as he swam upwards. With a gasp for air he broke through the surface of the water. A flick of his head had salt water spraying everywhere from his hair. Kicking with his feet, the young man kept afloat. Turning around he faced the pier of the harbor and started swimming towards it. He moved at a slow pace, enjoying the cold water touching his body, enjoyed the waves as they lifted him up and pushed him forward. He had learned it from another student, whom he had seen swimming in his own time. He had approached the man and he had learned. He wasn't very good at it yet but he had learned. Now, he was swimming alone and he felt quite happy doing so. He had arrived in Zeltiva almost three seasons ago and had entered the University on recommendation of an old friend. His classes were very interesting but they lacked a certain aspect to it that the young man really missed. At first he had just accepted it, but now, here he was, trying to push himself further and further. The practical studies in Zeltiva were non existant and weren't approved by the University. So in order to learn, the young man had taken time of his study schedule to practice. And here he was. He enjoyed swimming. Unlike running or riding, swimming allowed for certain freedoms and was slightly more dangerous, which made it more interesting. He finished his third lap along the pier and reached up and lifted himself back up onto the pier. He threw one leg over the edge and rolled the rest of his body onto the wood, where he remained still as he tried to catch his breath. He loved to be under water. Barely any sound, nobody to yell at him, nobody to curse him or hate him. He had to admit, though, that Zeltiva had proven to be entirely different from home. Nobody here knew him or what he was, nor did anyone here care. In Zeltiva he was simply Ortal Drykas, a young student expanding his mind on the knowledge of Flux and Projection. He wasn't very social and just blended in with the other students with no outstanding marks or theories. And out here, on the pier, he was even less important. Just another Zeltivan guy taking a swim. He looked up at the sky as his mind wandered off to other places. His hands were resting on his stomach and moved up and down with his breathing. The sun stood low in the sky, the early morning light drying his skin only slowly. His mind focused and turned inwards. Although with no outstanding talent in class, the young man did have a natural affinity for the practical side of things. He focused on his own body and moved his Djed. From the middle of his body and his legs, energy was moved: strength, speed, endurance. He pushed them upwards, through the paths in his body and towards his arms and shoulders. He bolstered them, increased their capabilities beyond what he normally could. It wasn't much, he had to focus to do it and he had to keep focusing to keep the power divided like that. He rolled back towards the edge of the pier and ended on his hands. With seeming ease, the young man pushed himself up as if he was about to stand up, but instead lifted his entire body off the ground. Part power, part magic. Standing on his hands, his fingers curled over the edge of the pier, the young man bent down. His nose touched the wood of the pier. The water dripped down from his nose and body and splashed back into the ocean or hit the wood of the pier. His arms stretched back out as the young man balanced himself on the edge.

[Lacerta]

For possibly the fifth time that day, Lacerta decided it was good to be back in Zelvita. She'd visited for six years a while ago, but now that she'd been heading back down the coasts of Mizahar, it would be pretty easy to stop off again... not for that long, but certainly for a year or two. Well, she'd already been in the city for a season, since the Ethaefal had arrived late Summer, but seasons weren't very long periods of time to her. A few years didn't seem like that much either... though she'd only spent less than a year in some places. But she'd had reason to, so didn't regret the choice. Nyka and Sunberth were strange places to be sure.... She sat on the deck of her small boat, taking in the sunlight from above. It wasn't particularly sunny day, but better than a few she'd experienced. There were a number of clouds, but also a crisp breeze that obviously stated the season. But that made the scene equally beautiful, didn't it? It reminded her of a song she'd written long ago... actually, one she'd kept, rather than sold to a bard. It was called... Breeze. A simple name, but appropriate. Lacerta grabbed the music book to her side and rifled through the pages, looking for the song. It was there, on one of the earlier pages. She was really filling up this book... there were only a few more blank pages left... Reminding herself to buy a new one later, she reached for her flute to play the song. It luckily wasn't one of her more challenging ones... a lot of the time, she wrote songs too hard to replicate with her limited skills as a flutist. Taking a moment to gaze at her name engraved into the mouth piece, she blew softly into her instrument. The sound was slightly sharp, so she rotated the flute until her mouth was in the right position. She played several notes, from the middle of her range, as a warm up, before starting the song. It was full of long notes, and changes in pitch, but there was once in a while a bar that had several quick sections. The name fit the music perfectly, since the longer parts were like those huge breezes that riffle the branches of trees.... and the fast ones like quick changing winds that came from no direction in particular. It was one of her favorite pieces, hence the reason why she kept it. Eventually though, she came to a part that was more like a short summer storm, and had to set down her flute. It was too challenging, and even playing the first few bars at the right speed had been a problem. Some days, she might have practiced it longer, but today... something had caught her eye. A man was hanging off the edge of the pier, on his hands, completing a full on handstand. It looked like a massive challenge... his fingers gripped the corner of the wood. Water slowly dripped off him, showing obvious signs of an earlier swim. Lacerta watched him curiously, not quite sure the reason why. The immense physical strength required to do that looked... almost impossible, and was possibly heightened with magic. That was always a possibility in Zelvita, with the University so near by. But... from what she knew, they didn't teach the more practical magics. Or was she wrong? Or had they changed from her last visit? She wasn't really sure, since she'd never really paid attention to that place... magic had never really appealed to her, nor any formal teaching. She liked her way of life, sailing around, composing, playing. It was peaceful, and calm, and required... less people. Feeling slightly like a joke, though not really sure why, she demanded of the man in stuttered Arumenic "What you doing?". She wasn't that skilled in the language, only really knowing it in spots from her past life, and from a visit to the Eypharians many years ago. The phrase was jerky, and had taken several moments to compose, but at least it would be understandable to most speakers of the language....probably. She doubted the man would be able to understand her... but you never knew. It would be interesting to find out. As another test, she finished "How can you keep that up so long?" this time speaking in Fravata. It was a much more common language around, and she expected majority of the sailors around would understand her, though she wasn't an expert at this either. She waited patiently for an answer, whether it be a confused expression, or understanding. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

As the sun managed to get away from the ever present grip of the ocean and start on its journey across the sky, the young man's training continued. With his eyes closed he focused on his Djed, keeping it in place, keeping his arms enhanced. The focus required for this didn't leave any room for other senses to work so the young man did his best to stick to the 'Eye', a place in his mind where everything happened around him but not to him. His breathing became labored rather quickly and, as he refused to fall, his arms started to shake from the exertion. The water that was dripping down his body was quickly starting to mix with drops of sweat as they ran down his back and chest or started from his forehead. They all got slowly drawn downwards and over the young man's arms and face, dripping into the ocean or onto the wood of the pier. The voice startled him. He lost focus for a moment. Kicking his legs in the air, the young man managed to keep himself upright even though, in his mind he already knew that he was beginning to falter. He glared at the person. It took him a moment to realize that the person was a she, as his brain tried to turn the image upside down. His mind wandered further away from the task at hand as he tried to understand what the woman was saying. The first words had passed by him but the second one had obviously been a question. Or at least, it had sounded like a question. "I'm sorry, I don't speeeeaaahhh!!!" As he spoke in common, he started to fall forwards, his feet tumbling over his head and heading towards the water. It was an amusing sight, seeing the young man slowly but surely edging towards the water and then toppling over, losing his balance. A giant splash later he was gone, submerged in the water. He resurfaced, flailing his arms, gasping for air. He held onto the wooden beam of the pier as he rubbed with his hand over his face, pushing the water away. "As I was saying, I don't understand." The waves lazily crashed into the young man as he held onto the beam of the pier. His whole body ached and felt tired. His legs were near useless now, their power having been used up by his arms. He managed to pull himself up towards the pier, his chin resting on the edge, the rest of his body hanging from the wooden construct. "So... nice day to hang out, right? Would you mind giving me a hand?" He tried to grin at the woman standing on the pier but it was obvious from his face that he was indeed in need of help. Now that he could see her properly, she looked quite beautiful. The light of the sun did her justice. The only thing that was off was her choice of hair ornament. The curly design seemed odd. Then he noticed that the woman wasHe managed to pull his way up a little more but couldn't get any higher after that. Adjusting to Zeltiva life had been and still was difficult for the young man. Nobody tried to hate him or punch him and then say it was his fault. Nobody seemed to even know about him. Until a few years ago, the young man's life had been nothing but that. Hate and glaring eyes all around him, people cursing him, wishing he had never been born, other children his age saw him as nothing more than a training dummy or a punching bag. Until recently, the young man's entire world had wanted him dead or gone. Here, people were different. They didn't hate him nor did they like him. They just didn't care. Different, not better. And now, here he was, hanging almost entirely naked from one of the piers of the Zeltiva docks, trying to look casually at the woman in front of him as he desperatly clung to the wooden planks of the pier.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta watched with more than some amusement as the man toppled from the pier, splashing unceremoniously into the water. She barely contained a giggle, and set down her flute to go help him. He really shouldn't have tried something as stupid as that... really, is was going to end in failure from the beginning. Still, her confusion with the languages had basically been the one to cause him to fall like that, so... eh. If he'd been paying more attention, she wouldn't have startled him like that. "So... nice day to hang out, right? Would you mind giving me a hand?" He asked, slightly awkwardly, obviously stuck in the water. With a pretend annoyed sigh, she heaved herself up and walked to the edge of her boat. Kneeling down, she reached down, using her superior arm length to grab his elbow with two hands, and heaved the man up. She lifted his body, which was decently heavy, onto the edge of Starry Sea. It wasn't easy, lifting an entire person out of the water, but it was possible. Turning her back on him, she moved over to her flute and paper. Though they were in the center of the ship, they were still too close to the growing puddle of water developing from the man. Lacerta moved them right next to the steering wheel, not wanting to take any chances with her most precious objects. If he moved close to that place anyways... well, something would be wrong. Once she'd returned, she glared at the sitting man, as if expecting him to do something. "Are you going to get some clothes on?" she demanded rudely, not really caring about her tone. He was on her boat, and she was in charge here. It was something a lot of people didn't understand, not really comprehending the sail boat as a home. If some one was in your home, you didn't want them to sit there, dripping, basically naked. She had perfectly good reason to be rude. Once that was done, she might consider talking to him more. Maybe. She was still curious about how he'd actually managed to start in that position, since it didn't look exactly like it was... possible, for him, without magic. Probably magic, since that wasn't exactly a rare possibility here in Zelvita. "Move, please" She asked again, this time slightly more politely. The Ethaefal pointed to the pier, which was literally only two and a half feet from the edge of the boat. It wasn't like they were going anywhere... she didn't have any plans for the day, so was still tied up in the docks. She had been considering wandering around the city a little more, to check again if anything had changed. But she'd done a bunch of that earlier this season... but there was always more to see. She was considering heading out for a small sail, in solitude, maybe the next day. This encounter, however was probably going to change a few things... you never knew. Depended if the man turned out to actually be intelligent, and not a normal idiot. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

The young man did his best to help the woman to get him out of the water. All he could do was think about it. His arms were tired, his legs were tired and the rest of his body wasn't very useful when it came to climbing on board of a ship. So, the young man was lifted on the boat. The water was dripping off of him and quickly seeping into the wood of the deck. His eyes were closed as he was safely out of the water. His stomach disagreed as he felt it urge up. The swaying of the boat wasn't something he enjoyed. He opened his eyes with a flash as the woman spoke. "A moment..." He replied, not even noticing the rude edge to her voice. To him, it sounded quite pleasant. He looked around. The boat was not very big but it was by far larger than anything he had ever owned in his life. He managed to stand up, a little wobbly on his feet, due to the motions of the boat on the small waves and the lack of power in his legs. His hand grasped onto the railing to support himself. His sight spun around and he felt dizzy. It wasn't helping with his stomach. He followed where she was pointing at and saw the pier, together with his clothes and pack. "Right, just a moment." He climbed up on the railing and, carefully, tried to cross the very short distance between the boat and the pier. He edged forward a few times, as if ready to go but then changed his mind. His foot crossed the distance while he held onto the railing of the boat with one hand and reached out for the pier with the other. He crossed the gap and fell, rolling on his back on the pier. Steady land under his feet, the pier did not sway with the waves, the young man's stomach settled down a little. He took a deep breath as he just lay there on the wood. From the little exercise he had just done, the young man was still obviously exhausted as he was lying there. He didn't speak. She didn't speak. There was only the sound of the dock. Seagulls, waves, wind, the creaking of wood. He enjoyed it, it was not quiet here but, until a moment ago, he had been alone and had enjoyed the verbal silence. It had been right. Now he was aware of the silence and how it was not right. He turned his head towards the boat, to see if the woman was still there. "Euhm... Thanks for... helping me." He sort of attempted a smile but it didn't really work. Still almost entirely naked, he rolled on his side and pushed himself up in a seated position as he looked at the boat and the woman. The boat was the most interesting, really. He had seen women before. He had seen boats before, but boats didn't hate on him or tried to blame him for everything. "Nice boat." He was obviously not at ease in the social situation. When he had been in the water, trying to get her to help him, he had known what to say. Now, not so much. The last of the seawater was rolling down his skin and staining the wooden pier underneath him.

[Lacerta]

The Ethaefal sighed deeply as she watched the man move. Up... step onto the pier... hey, he might actually get there! Or not. She scrunched up her face slightly as the man flopped onto the wood and didn't move. What an idiot for using up all his strength. At least he wasn't on her ship anymore. But now he was lying face down, basically naked, on the pier. Would he ever move? Well... he was rolling to sit up, but that was as far as he was appearing to go. She raised one auburn eyebrow to him, as if silently asking if he would push himself to go further. "Congratulation. You sat up" She muttered to herself sarcastically, until he heard his next comment. Until then, she'd just ignored all the random thing he'd been saying, but now... "Nice boat." was what he said. That simple statement caused her to warm up. Sure, people could just say 'nice boat' as a frivolous thing, but... well, it didn't seem like that to her. It seemed more like he genuinely liked boats, and her's in particular. That was always something Lacerta appreciated. If anything, she loved boats. Well, and music. And the sun... but that was mostly everything. Anything else was... less important, to say the least. Feeling that she had to reply, she did so, in a much nicer tone than before. "Thank you... her name's Starry Sea." Though the tradition of calling a ship 'she' only based from men sailing it (they got lonely on the long voyages without women), Lac still followed it, for no particular reason at all. The name just seemed to fit, and she didn't really know why. Returning back to the situation after he short muse, she focused on the man. "Clothes. Now, please." She stated simply, pointing to where his garments were piled up. They weren't too far away, so even for him, that wouldn't be a challenge. Then, as an afterthought, "If you want, you can talk after you do that." She blinked in surprise at her statement, and mentally berated herself for actually inviting him to a conversation. At least the tone had been slightly sarcastic... then it wouldn't sound too strange. And she still wanted that question answered... this would probably be the best way to do it. And thinking about it... he'd probably want to ask about the horns. They always did... Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

The young man listened as the woman told him about the boat. The word she had spoken earlier, he had ignored, since he hadn't understood them anyway. He wondered why she called the boat a she. It wasn't alive. Why would she call it a she? Or why even name it? Wasn't 'boat' clear enough? He tilted his head slightly as he looked over the ship. It was well made, even he could see that, but it was also worn, which told him that it had seen quite a bit of action already. He wondered how far the woman had gone with it. He was about to open his mouth to voice a question as the woman pointed at his clothes. She was quite the leader. The young man obeyed without question, leaning over to the side and stretching his arm to grab his clothes. As he was still a little wet, he simply put on his pants again, leaving his shirt under the pack. "Clothes enough?" He said as he buttoned his pants. Not wanting to soak his pants from the start he sat himself a little to the right, closer to his pile of clothes and away from the wet wood where he had been sitting before. He rolled his shoulders and grabbed onto the left one with his right hand, kneading it under his fingers. The pressure felt nice and relaxing and it helped to flow the blood and to regain stamina. He closed his eyes for a moment. "How long have you had the boat?" Feeling slightly less fatigued, the young man looked at the woman, letting his gaze slide over her frame. She was tall and, as he had noticed before, pretty as well. He still wondered why she wore the strange headdress but didn't mention anything about it, not wanting to insult her or agitate her even more. Her tone of voice was confusing. It sounded like she wanted him to leave but at the same time it didn't. Not that he planned on leaving. The pier was a public place and he had been here first. "Where are you from?" He asked her after she had answered his first two questions. Having spent his life on the sea of grass and having only arrived in Zeltiva a few seasons ago, the young man hadn't seen much of the world yet. In Zeltiva he had discovered the joy of knowledge, the joy of finding new things. The world of Mizahar was quite wonderous. At the age of 16, the young man still had his entire life to be surprised and impressed byt what the world had to offer. He sat cross legged on the wood, his hands resting on his knees as he stared at the woman, interested in her answers and her stories.

[Lacerta]

Lacerta relaxed visibly as the man finally clothed himself, though left off his shirt. Probably didn’t want to get it wet, considering that he was still dripping quite a bit. That’s what you get for swimming… To answer his question, she nodded, with a simple “Yes” as an answer. It wasn’t like she didn’t see shirtless sailors every day… it was like a fashion for them almost. It got annoying at times, but she was used to it. The next question surprised her quite a bit. How old was her boat? That was… a hard question. At least a hundred… hundred and fifty? Two hundred? She wasn’t quite sure. Well, she wasn’t quite sure how old she was exactly anyways. Over the few hundred years of her life, stuff sort of blurred together. She had a general idea of maybe 300, but she wasn’t sure. But Starry Sea? The boat was a little younger than she, bought a few years after her friend’s death… that was when she was about… fifty? So… the boat would be maybe 250 years old. Considering that, it was really old for a ship. But she tried to keep it in good condition, so it was lasting quite a long time. To answer his inquiry though… she wasn’t about to tell him such a massive number, especially for a human. Instead, she narrowed her eyes slightly, stated “Old. Quite old, actually.” When he heard ‘old’, he’d probably think she was talking about fifty something years. Then he’d assume that it was her mother’s, or father’s. That was what she would think if she was in the same situation. Most of the younger-lived races thought in smaller terms like that. His next inquiry also required quite a bit of thought. Where was she from… no place in particular really. She’d spent most of her days sailing around the Suvan Sea, until she’d decided to head out on this trip. So, in answer to this question, she answered simply “The Suvan. And can I assume you’re from Zelvita?” It made sense, really. It looked quite like he lived here… obviously, most people did. He also looked like most humans, so that worked too. She had a feeling that he was going to berate her with more questions, so the Ethaefal settled herself down on the edge of her boat, feet hanging off the edge. Her shoeless feet were just touching the water, mostly because of her incredibly long legs. Sometimes being tall had its advantages, sometimes not. “My turn for a question, I think?” She asked, a rhetorical question, before continuing. “How were you able to do that? The handstand and all….” It was something stuck on her mind, which she was quite curious about. She would certainly not be able to complete that feat… Well, she could try, but probably fall over in a few seconds. Though her balance was quite good, from being on a boat for long periods of time, it was more focused on her legs rather than arms. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else

[Luhrak Searunner]

It seemed like the conversation would remain stuck in their one sentence back-and-forths for now. The young man was quite happy with that. Yes, he was wearing enough clothes. The boat was quite old. No useless details, no chatter. He had seen students do that, especially the female one, they talked and talked and talked. Whenever he tried to listen in, he became more mystified as to what they were talking about. So he was happy to have found a conversation partner who seemed to be on his level of interest in the social aspects of things. He stood up from his seated position and simply started stretching, in the middle of the 'conversation'. It didn't seem to bother him nor did it strike him as awkward or weird. "You're from the sea?" He wondered how that worked. Didn't she have a city where she was born? Or had she always lived on a boat. His stomach bubbled up as he thought about it and he had to take a moment to calm it down. He had never been very good with transportation, especially not boats. Solid ground under his feet was what the young man prefered. "You can assume so, indeed." Not a yes, not a no. But then again, the young man wasn't quite sure he knew the answer himself. Where he was from, nobody wanted him to be from. And here in Zeltiva, he sort of felt like he belonged but he had only been here for a very short while. He turned left, planting his feet firmly on the wood before starting to stretch his muscles. He felt rested enough for that at least. He raised his eyebrow slightly as she mentioned taking turns asking questions. Who did that? Were there rules for talking? He just let it pass. "Sure." The fact that it was rhetorical passed him by as well. He wouldn't even have known what it was had it bitten him in the nose. "Well, there's a lot of practice, first of all. You need to learn to balance yourself. Use your legs to keep up straight, train your arms to carry your weight." It didn't occur to the young man to mention the use of flux. Everyone knew magic, right? Either in some active form, like the Crone, or as a passive connection to the web and the Striders, like everyone else in his Pavilion. He sort of fell silent after that as he rolled his shoulders and stretched the muscles of his arms. He grunted softly as he hit the right spots. "My turn? Do you swim?" A strange thing to ask of the captain of a boat, really. But you never knew. He liked water, especially under water. There was no excess sound, no loud noise. And he was free as a bird there.

[Lacerta]

Was she from the sea? Well... yes. In every sense possibly. She'd fallen from her home into the sea, she lived on the sea... even when she was in cities, she always came back to her boat, and the water. It was just a habit of hers, and one she didn't feel like breaking. Since it would be too complicated to explain how she was 'from the Suvan', she deigned to ignore that question instead. Though her answer had been vague, the man's was equally so. So she could assume, could she? How descriptive. So basically he was sort of from Zelvita... but not. That was as close as the Eth could get to an answer, and really... it was his business, wasn't it? The answer to her question, however, was a surprise. So there wasn't anything involved in it... at least from what he'd implied. Just plain balance and strength. In reply, she raised one eyebrow, to make it obvious she doubted his explanation. Maybe he'd forgotten about it? That she sort of doubted. Most of the magic users she knew bragged about their skill. Not that she knew many, but you could always find someone here in Zelvita... Finally, it was the man's turn for his question. Did she swim? Well... the Ethaefal had never tried. She'd seen others do it, but other than that... well, it never seemed to come up. She was happy out of the water, warm, and dry. Really... as a person who was sailing often, she didn't really touch the liquid she lived in. "No... not really. Never actually tried... why ask though?" She stated simply, voicing her thoughts completely for once. What to ask? She had no inquiries planned, but she had one idea...."What do you do here in Zelvita?" It was a simple one liner, but she was genuinely curious. It was probably something mundane, but you never knew. From the move he'd pulled, for all she knew, he could be an acrobat! Often you couldn't find out about a person just by looking, you needed to ask.... OOCApologies in advance, but I wont be able to reply for a week! I'm so sorry, and I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience. Common Fravata Arumenic Someone else