If The River Fell [Open]

[Vith]

Day 30 of Summer, 510AV

Of course the city of Riverfall was a pearl of post-valterrian architectural beauty, but Vith still hated it.
The city in itself had a lot of points that could count towards a favorable feeling in the heart of the Hooded Charoda, however, the way the streets intertwined and led him first up steep stars, then unto a slim edge threatening to throw him of the side of the mountain, and then lastly had him end up the same place he started out, really got on Vith's nerves.
He had arrived before the sun even dared show it's face on the sky, but now it was almost in Zenith and Vith knew from experience that he would most likely have to hide in some shade if he was to preserve as much water as possible.
It was of course not completely necessary for him to stay out of the baking sun, he could at least walk around for a day, especially in a damp city like this. That was of course one of the more favorable points of the city. With the ever flowing river spreading tiny specks of dusted water all around the city, Vith really didn't have to fear the sun, and his clothes even stayed pleasantly moist.
The river did make some noise, but compared to the brutish sounds of land-dwellers, the thundering roar of the falling water seemed almost soothing to Vith, after all, he was a child of water.

At the thought of the River, Vith tilted back his head a little, shielded his pale eyes from the sun and gazed upon the falling beauty. He wondered how much power was in the falling water. How quick it could sweep a person with it, how easily it could crush a land-dweller against the water below, or drown them, returning them to the peaceful embrace of the sea.
The thought send a pleasant jolt down his spine and he chuckles a bit. What if the river were to expand, become enraged... Could it then drag the entire infested city with it?
Another chuckle left the throat of the Charoda before he continued along.
Being that he was one of the only figures in this heat to be fully cloaked in worn looking clothes, hood held high, covering his head, Vith surely looked curious, or even suspicious to those around him. The mighty Akalak send him glances when he passed them, but figured that if he could get past the guards he had to be of a peaceful demeanor.

The young Charoda continued along a path, but soon found himself lost again. IF this continued he'd never find a weapon-smith to either repair his rusty rapier or sell him a new one.
Vith didn't really care. The rapier was yet another thing he had scavenged from the ship which was once his prison, thus the rapier had for more nightmare-ish memories than nice ones, then again, it had saved him once or twice.

Realizing he could wander this city forever without finding what he was looking for, Vith finally let out a soundless sigh and figured he'd have to ask for directions.

[Orion]

It was not even a full bell since Orion arrived to the city, and his curiosity got him lost 6 times already. Scratching his hooded head, he was now trying to retrace his steps and try to find a way out of this commotion. The hood bothered him somewhat as the weather was sunny, so he took it off in order to let his head bask in the sunlight he worshiped so much. Getting his thoguths back together, he just started walking back the way he last came from, hoping he could find a way out of this mess without having to bother himself with asking for directions. Passing by the mighty looking Akalak people, he was unsure wether to ignore their curious glances or to simply put his hood back on.

He was entertained by his thoughts no longer than a few moments, and than he hit something wet. As he was not looking in front of him, but at the sights of the city at each side of the road, he was unsure what did he hit, but he felt as if his body crashed into a rather slimy puddle, and by the smell of it, there was some fish in the puddle. Orion smiled a bit as he got up, both of his dusky eyes pointed at a somewhat wierd sight, it was a fish, yet a man, he was unusure even how to call this race, but he knew for sure he heard about them before, he just could not bring himself to remembering anything. It took him as much as a moment to lean out his copper shining hand out to the stranger mumbling words of apology: "I truly am sorry, i oughta be more carefull as i walk" he was unsure how the stranger will react, but the time he had spent on earth up until that point made his actions towards strangers friendly, unless given a reason to act othervise.

[Vith]

Vith was troubled. The mighty Akalak all seemed so busy, so important and occupied, he could not bring himself to disturb them. The way they all seemed to devote themselves fully to their work was impressive, even admirable, if only they had not been such war-thirsty land-dwellers, then perhaps Vith could have made friends with them, but he had no intention of forging such bonds with something such horrible.

In the end he would probably have to disturb one of them, and hopefully they wouldn't be too mad at him for disturbing.
Just as he was about to raise his hand, and voice, some thing bumped into him, something warm.

Vith had of course not been prepared to be bumped into, after all most people made an exception to avoid his dripping figure in order to not get themselves soiled, but perhaps this person had had other ideas.
The result was immediate and hurtful.
Vith fell to the ground, completely unprepared and struck the ground rather harshly. The hand guard of his rapier thrusted into his him mercilessly and Vith was sure it would leave quite the bruise.

Vith had been able to protect his head from hitting the ground as the expense of his gloves, which had now gotten little rips along the palms.
Being on top of the rapier was no where near pleasant, and Vith quickly shifted position into something more comfortable.
As he looked up upon the person who had so rudely bumped into him, his eyes suddenly expanded and his mouth opened slightly, perhaps like a fish gasping for air on land.

Vith did actually gasp slightly when he saw the magnificent shining Ethaefal standing before him, reaching out towards him.
The figure, who seemed to reach into the sky, was surrounded by a shine so magnificent it seemed to warm the innermost areas of Vith's cold body.
The skin like a golden copper and hair like a cornfield, radiant in the basking sun, Vith could not help but to stare for quite a while.
Though he had heard about the Ethaefal before, he had never encountered one, at least not while they were truly Ethaefal.

Then Vith's expression saddened as he remembered the unfortunate stories of how the Ethaefal had gotten to the world.
He reached out and let himself get pulled up. The being seemed to be quite a lot stronger then Vith himself, and simply touching the shining skin made Vith shiver with excitement, even though a thin layer of clothing covered his hand.

"I... " Vith paused and tried to look the being into the eyes before he continued "It is fine, my apologies" He said, feeling almost compelled to apologize for making the being worry.
Vith could only imagine how it was being trapped in a world you hated, being ripped from a safe and warm place and thrust into the harsh world of Mizahar.
In fact, it reminded him a little of himself, though he could easily endure the hardships of Mizahar as long as he knew it would lead him to power, he knew in his heart that this was a test of Laviku.
The Ethaefal was trapped however, they were not on a divine mission, but simply stuck.

Realizing he was staring, Vith quickly shifted his gaze and let go of the warm hand, beginning to adjust his clothes.

[Kavala]

Kavala had dropped off medicines for the woman at Godvia's that had the bad cough, and had stopped in town to pick up cloth. There were ritual robes that needed to be sewn and she'd chosen a deep midnight black along with a large assortment of colored silks to line them with from the market. Kavala also had to do some clothing shopping. As much as she enjoyed the Akalak's in Sanctuary, they did tend to be hard on a woman's clothing either through training or other miscellaneous recreational activities. And because of that, she'd brought a mountain pony along with her, leading the creature through the crowd. The little white mare held a little packsaddle with packs on her back, designed to help the konti carry her burdens back to Sanctuary. And it was on her way from the big market to a particularly lovely women's clothing shop that she ran into something unusual in the streets.

She always came to the market prepared to see new things, but never once had she ever seen a Charoda. At least, that's what she thought the creature must be. Bluish green skin, interesting facial features, and all attempted to be covered that did nothing more than draw attention to is form since he wasn't indeed Akalak in an Akalak city. As for the other, Kavala recognized his features immediately having met two others of his kind. Ethafael. The Konti paused, looking curious, and approached thinking the Ethafael might be her friend Caelem. They looked, however, a little confused and lost - especially the Charoda.

"Good day to you both." The Konti said softly. Kavala was dressed in a pair of white leggings, a black sleeveless tunic, a black leather belt that was embroidered with horses. Black boots rounded off the outfit and her hair was gathered and caught up in a ponytail. On her right wrist, she wore a silver bracelet revealing her status as a Nakivak in the city.

"Are you two looking for somewhere specific? Maybe I can help you find your way." Kavala offered helpfully, finally drawing close enough to realize the Ethafael wasn't in fact Caelem. She still looked curious though, wondering why such rare creatures were gathering at Riverfall so frequently these days.

[Orion]

Orion felt awkward as he just caused the stranger to fall down, so he did not mind the being staring at him, even tho it was not really pleasant. The creature was rather curious about him as it would seem, so Orion returned his curiosity. There was no questioning it anymore, it was a Charoda, one of the fish folk, so to speak. Orion stared back at the creature for a bit before doing the same as the stranger, just looking away to avoid that awkward feeling that one gets while staring. His eyes fixed onto the Charoda were inspecting his rather shrimpy body, still unsure what to do, Orion was about to ask the Charoda for directions. That thought somehow left his mind unchecked as he realised that the creature was just as lost as him, maybe even more.

He needed to weave some sort of an apology, he was sorry for hitting the stranger after all, but as he wanted to say something, he heard a voice, and he was pretty sure it belonged to a woman. His thought broken in half, he was now turning around to see who this newcomer was. His eyes fixed onto her face, her legs, her body.... there was no doubt about it, she was a Konti, and a rather beautyful one for that account. Orion suddenly found himself staring at the newcomer, and somewhat blushed before turning his gaze away, after all he had no right to stare like that since he was the first one to dislike that sort of behavior. He opened his mouth almost in slow motion and lyrical common started flowing out: "My apologies lady, me and my friend here seem both to be lost" he stopped while taking in some more air before continuing: "I`m simply wandering around the streets, so i guess i am not really lost until i decide so, but as to his purpose here, i am not sure" he ended his sentance with mild confussion on his face and a simple hand gesture towards the Charoda.

Indeed, why did he call Vith a friend, not even he knew the answer to something like that, but after all, everyone was a friend until proven otherwise, or at least so he was acustomed to believe. Thorn between 2 large unknown shadows, he was unsure who to devote his attention to first, but never the less, he kept looking at the Konti, while toning down his staring as much as it was humanly possible. But he was not a human, therefore it was not enough, his efforts needed to be doubled, or so he thought, no beauty is the same after being gazed at for too long after all.

He was too curious in order to wait for his next question, or his turn to speak, as he simply cast out a most simple of questions off the top of his tongue: "What are your names... fellow strangers?" he just needed more names, some people collected gold, some did the same with books, but no, he had a rather strong fixation on names and their safe keeping. It was a strange, impulsive and selfish feeling, yet he just wanted an answer whatever it may be, as his line ended he gestured his hands to both of the strangers, and shrugged lightly while awaiting.

[Vith]

Having realized his staring just a second ago, Vith seemed overly fixated with fixing his clothes. The worn clothing was pulled and flattened several times until they were as comfortable as possible.
His hip was hurting quite a bit now, but the fact that he was still standing assured Vith that it was not broken, just damaged.
Had it been broken he would have been troubled. The Akalak were a people of war not healing, and Vith was sure that if his hip had truly been broken, not a single one of these bloodthirsty beings would have been able to help him, thus he was throughoutly releved to only have it bruised.

Vith's embarrassed fixing of clothes was interrupted by the voice of a woman and he quickly looked up, hoping he had not attracted too much attention by being hit by the Ethaefal.
Once again his eyes widened in surprise, though his mouth didn't open this time around.
Yet another representative of a race Vith didn't mind had shown up, and this one was a child of Laviku himself.
The beautiful Konti would undoubtedly be one of the survivors once the will of the sea was evoked, and Vith thought them somewhat sacred as they were even more treasured by the gods then himself.

The Ethaefal began talking and Vith's gaze abruptly shifted to him, Friend?, Vith had no recollection of them becoming friends, but could not get himself to correct the beautiful creature, after all, it might have sought friends out of loneliness.
The two creatures seemed to almost fight for the title of most beautiful being, but to Vith the divine aura of the Ethaefal was irresistible, and while he respected the Konti more, the otherworldly presence of the Ethaefal would not be denied.

Vith was about to open his mouth to speak, as the being spoke again, cutting his words short before they had even left his lips.
Normally he would have been annoyed with a person cutting him off, but at this time he was still a tad confused and the pain from his hip had yet to subside.
In the end he gave up his name in his usual raspy voice: "Vith Kaveri"
He was unsure what to do, and ended up letting his eyes go from the Konti to the Ethaefal.

[Kavala]

Kavala raised an eyebrow at them both. She was safe in Riverfall and approaching strangers was not a dangerous endeavor, but the fact that neither of them seemed to have any sort of organization struck her as rather awkward. The whole thing was awkward, them both standing in the street - one gazing at the other as if he'd falling straight from the heavens, which he probably had - really accomplishing nothing. Kavala was busy, constantly working, and truthfully had no time for exchanges that were less than fruitful. She liked people to be to the point, that way she could quickly help them out and get them sorted out of whatever trouble or diversion they might be tangled in.

But they both seemed to ignore her question, giving her no specific destination, so she decided to quietly leave them both to whatever they were about... once they decided what exactly that was.

"I am Kavala. A Nakivak who runs Sanctuary outside of town. It's a stables and animal hospital. Feel free to visit if you have any needs for your mounts or wish to acquire one. We also have kittens currently and puppies." Kavala said then glanced around. "Since you both don't seem to know where you are going, I'll leave you to your making acquaintances. I have to pick up an a final store order here and until I do, I cannot return home and there is a great deal of work waiting there." She said softly, almost apologetically as she turned to go. The blacksmith that had her fasteners wasn't too far and she hoped to have her nails and hinges picked up before the nooning hour so she wouldn't be disturbing his lunch. With a slight kiss to the horse that followed her, Kavala set out again down the street, willing to leave the two strangers to each other and to find their own way once they decided why they were in town or what they were looking for.

[Orion]

Growing out of the curiosity that enveloped him at first, Orion soon came to realize that Kavala is moving away, and once again, he found himself staring down the road she took while moving away. He did not want to stare, but he did, it was hard to explain even to his own self as he slowly turned back facing Vith again. Vith Kaveri, just who was he, and what the hell was a Nakivak? Were all the Konti women so beautyful? Why was there so much more men? What was wrong with this city? So many questions started to pile up inside his head but he did not feel like answering any of them, so he turned to Vith letting him answer some of them. He spoke, silently as if it was a secret, yet he did not care even if the whole world heard: "So who are you? How come you are on land? I thought you Charodae live in an underwater city full of harmony and peace? So what brought you here?" it may have been more than he wanted to ask, but he was always the impulsive one, so he just went with the flow, hoping Vith does not mind his chatiness.

Looking around, the people in the street were all moving around quickly, faces shifting so fast, as if someone has made the time move faster, yet there it was, flowing normaly without any visible changes. As he was not used to having so many people around him and not know any of them, Orion kept turning around in hope he could take a good look at the face of every single passerby. It made some of the Akalaks flinch, some even gazed back in a disturbing matter, but it still looked as if his curiosity knows no bounds. Turning back to Vith again, he looked at him, hoping it does not feel like staring and awaiting for some sort of a response.

Even though no one noticed it so far as it would seem, the amount of the time that passed them by was already enormous by now, looking around again Orion wondered should he stay some more or go deeper into the city, deeper into the curiosity that kept driving him.

[Vith]

Being unused to conversation, and especially with more than one thing at a time, Vith had become rather confused.
The Konti seemed to be leaving and as she said a whole lot at once Vith seemed to close down a little. All the information, all of it irrelevant to his cause, passed him by as she spoke, but he did know he would have to stop her from leaving if he were to ask for directions, she seemed to know the city.

Vith shook his head lightly and stopped looking after the Konti. Looking at her wouldn't help him the slightest, he would have to make her notice him again, he had to ask directions.
Once again Vith was about to yell at her as the Ethaefal spoke.
Looking back at the divine creature Vith rose his brow. Being cut off once was fine, but twice was a bit annoying, and while the Ethaefal didn't seem to notice, and therefore wasn't doing it on purpose, it was still a bother when it let the Konti get away.
Staring at the divine being Vith realizes that it too had been looking after the Konti and thus had not seen him open his mouth, it was a little better than being cut of on purpose.
More annoyingly the being asked him a lot of questions as well, and while Vith was still somewhat spellbound by the heavenly creature, he was not fond of sharing information.

He looked around, not wanting to look the Ethaefal into the eyes.
Instead he placed his webbed hand on the hilt of his Rapier, the same rapier that had caused him to be in pain still, and muttered: "My....Needs... ixing... usty...".
His words partially drowned in the noise of the city, but he didn't feel like repeating it.
For some reason he felt embarrassed to be standing here, wasting the Ethaefals time, had he not been in the way he would surely had been able to find a swords smith by now.
Instead he was a nuisance, and while Vith truly hated the land dwellers, he could still feel insecure in their midst, perhaps a trait left behind from his past as a not too appreciated being.

Vith kept his eyes down and shifted his weight to the other hip. The pain was subsiding and had left an annoying hurting numbness instead, one that would surely bruise.

[Orion]

Orion had no idea what in Syna`s name kept him bound to a dead scene like this for so long, and than he remembered as his turned back to Vith, Vith Kaveri. Who was this guy? Something told him that his curiosity is well placed even beyond the point of the race to whom Vith belonged. Maybe it was his inability to speak straight? Maybe it was Vith not answering any of his questions? Was he mysterious as he seemed, was he maybe unable to talk normally, was he......? And there the course of thought that Orion was chasing got broken off leaving him somwhere deep inside his mind, with no exit out of that dark, thoughtless place in sight. Shrugging absently he spoke again trying to look calm: "Yea, you could use a new sword" he stated simply as he gazed upon the blade that seemed as if it was falling apart, he may not have been much of a swordsman, but even a blind old man could see what he saw. Orion was not calm, his nails scratching his glimmering skin, his curious expression getting back, and sticking onto his face.

Even thinking about saying the man his name, Orion just shrugged to himself again while waving his hand close to his head, almost as if he tried to shoo off a fly, or another bothersome critter. It did not banish the thought from his mind but he still seemed too distracted to further his inner discussion on something so simple. He continued to investigate Vith`s appearance, after all, this was the first time he saw... or was it the second? Nevermind. He had not seen any of his kind anytime soon.

Another question pierced him as he was unsure of the reason for Vith being here, but he still wanted to ask something, or say something, as the silence became a hindrance to him. "I know how i got lost, you could even say i planned it to happen to some extent i guess, but how about you how come you haven`t found your way around yet?" the words flowed out carelessly leaving a bad taste in Orion`s mouth, he was thirsty, and it took him quite some time to realize it.

He turned his back to Vith for a while, and scoped the surroundings for some place where he could get some water, as his waterskin was almost empty, and it was not enough to sustain his thirst. Turning back to Vith was the right thing to do, as he did not want the Charoda to get the wrong idea, he was not ignoring him or anything after all.