Solo [Library and Kaliara] Cy's Childhood Friend

[Una Tanta]

1rst Day of Summer, 513 AV, Dawn Una had been in Avanthal for 23 days and had spent the majority of those days or nights in the Library. She would spend hours browsing the shelves before curling up on a rug to read the stack she had accumulated. By now every time she arrived Jack Skyglow would fetch a bucket of water wordlessly. The library continued to overwhelm her with its heat and dry air. Sometimes she wouldn’t see him for the rest of the day, other times he would spend most of his time sitting near her listening to her read. When she beckoned him to read he would blush and flee. It was the first of summer, the season Cy had died in. Slipping books from the shelves mindlessly she felt Jacks presence behind her and for the first time his presence annoyed her. She wanted to be alone with her memories. Turning to glare at him she snapped, “Stop following me like a lost guppy!” He smiled sadly at her, “I knew Cy...” Her heart stopped at the words. Reaching out he took her books, “Go ahead, pick some more.” He murmured. “But...” Someone who knew Cy, he had never talked about his friends, she wanted to know more. “No. Please, enjoy your time here. Escape from Cy here. I knew him, I knew how easily he slipped into peoples’ lives and made them think they couldn’t live without him.” She nodded slowly, as much from agreement as from the daze. Taking a few more books from the shelves she watched Jack out of the corner of her eye not looking at the books she drew. “Bears in Northern Taldera?” He mused, raising an eyebrow and a corner of his lips. Blushing she put the book on the shelf smirking when she walked away and saw him pull the book from the shelf compulsively putting it back where it belonged. Following her to her regular position he laid on his stomach next to her placing the books by her other elbow. She turned to gaze at him waiting for him to speak. “Read.” He replied to her gaze. Reluctantly she took the top book and opening it turned her attention back to the words. Within a few moments she was lost in the lull of the ballads. _____________________________________________________________________________ 1rst Day of Summer, 513 AV, Afternoon Darkness began to creep over the ice slowly until all she read by was the glow of the lanterns. “Do you only read?” He asked, interrupting her as she was about to draw the last book towards her. “P-pardon?” She stuttered, they were the first words he had spoken to her since dawn."Do you have any ballads of your own?" "Yes." "But you can't write." "No." "Then how?" She tapped her head smirking. “Well then bring that with you tonight." Rising from his spot on the rug he turned to leave. She replied, “Bring them where?” He matched her gaze, like Cy, unlike any other Vantha she had met. Blinking shocked he smiled, “When the stars are out I’ll be done my work. I’ll see you at Kaliara?”, “O-okay...”, “Good. We’ll talk about Cy, and your writing.” Beaming at his back as he walked away she felt tremors of warm glee in the pit of her stomach. Though she tried to focus on the book in her hand she knew as she slid it into the to be shelved pile that she’d read the same sentence over and over and could still not tell you what it had said. ____________________________________________________________________________ 1rst Day of Summer, 513 AV, Night Having slipped out to eat and ask what Kalianas was she had set out to deciphering the barmaids directions. Finding the Skyglow hold had been easy but as she stumbled around in the dark she began to feel the tug of the ocean, a place where one couldn’t trip. Though she was quite quick and graceful on land compared to the Vantha she felt incredibly clumsy. Someone was at her elbow gently guiding her through the night, turning her head up she saw the elderly face of a Skyglow matron. “It’s alright dear, lots of people get lost their first time to Kaliara. I’ll set you on the right track.” She smiled, the creases of her face prominent in the glowing darkness. The snow around them sparkled under the moon as if the entirety of Avanthal was lit up by blue lanterns. Taking her around the hold Una instantly realized what she was guiding her towards. The hundred foot tall structure was a lance that rose to paint the sky. Una felt sure for a moment that this must be where the sky originated, that this structure must be magic and from it the sky rippled. Of course a few moments later she realized that the notion was silly but the notion still made her heart wobble at the grandeur. Leaving Una at the door, the elder waddled back into the darkness with a cheery smile obviously intent on returning to the warmth of the hold. Opening the heavy door Una entered the narrow stairway lined with warm torches. Sitting on a bench at the bottom Jack rose, “No stars yet.”, “I couldn’t wait.” He chuckled and they walked up the stairs together. “What is this building?” Una asked running her hands along the smooth wood. “Kaliara Observatory” and with that introduction he told her the tale of its creation as the marched higher into the sky. “Beautiful...” She whispered under her breath as they emerged from the staircase. A clear night the observatory had several visitors, couples and artists in odd corners or with their legs dangling over the edge under the fence. She knew from the atmosphere that whispers or silence would be the approved form of communication. Pulling out a blanket from his bag Jack found a corner to place it. Following him she laid down gazing up at the stars. “Can we talk about-“ “Yes.” He sighed chuckling to himself and sat down beside her. “How did you know him?” “We grew up together. He was a very close friend.” “You say was so easily...” “For you he’s only been gone a year...for me....he left a long time ago.” “The Drinking?” Jack Nodded. “How did you know I knew him.” “He used to visit every once in a while, would rip pages out of the books at the library for you. I caught him once and he begged me not to turn him in, told me it was for you. I knew he was in love, and he never stank of alcohol when I saw him. I thought maybe you had saved him, I thought being a thief was the best he would ever be able to be.” Una grimaced hackles rising, but she didn’t want to insult him yet. She still wanted to know more. “What was he like?” They both asked simultaneously, and smiled laughing at each other. “You go first,” He insisted. “I found him in the ocean. He was flying over the sea drunk and spiraled down landing in the water. He stayed a swan fortunately, or I wouldn’t have been able to get him to shore in time. I took care of him, till he was sober. He wanted to fly back to Avanthal but he was too weak, so he floated with me. I brought him seaweed from the ocean floor and when he went to fly home he found he couldn’t. We had bonded. He was....sweet and impatient. He used to sell my coral carvings in Wind Reach once a year. He always managed to get the best deals.” Jack laughed, “That sounds like him!” He seemed surprised, “You thought he would be different?” “Yes. He was different when he visited. Less impulsive and competitive.” “No. He didn’t change.” This suddenly seemed to offend Jack and Una bit her lip feeling guilty. “So he just changed with me. Treated me like a stranger.”

[Una Tanta]

Una stared at her feet in response. "He treated everyone like a stranger, even me. Sometimes he resented being bonded with me. He was a bird at heart, I'm sure he longed to fly as high and far as he could but I was his shackle..." "That's not true. Even if he was bound to your side he was no longer shackled by the alcohol. Besides..." He chuckled, "that boy needed to be bound to keep out of trouble for more than a day." Una laughed because it was true. "What was he like before he met me?" Jack thought silently for a moment, "As a boy he was loud like most of us, he vandalized and caused trouble but he was a terrific hunter. Everyone, especially his parents, believed he would make a wonderful member of the Icewatch if he could learn to focus his energy in one direction. He loved to play pranks and...well he was a permanent child." Staring at him shocked Una turned her gaze to the stars. Since she had come to Avanthal she had thought of everyone as children and it had made her feel spectacularly old and had left her reminiscing about the man she felt Cy was compared to everyone else but here was his best friend denying her claim, making him into something he wasn't....or was he... She bit her lip, since Cy had died she had been molding him into what she wanted him to be, into what she wanted to remember him as. However, she denied this to herself, so distraught over his death she couldn't bear to think of him as anything less than perfection so as he reminisced about their shared childhood antics she watched with blank disbelieving eyes. He was not speaking of her Cy, he couldn't be. As the silence fell around them again they both laid back gazing up at the tapestry of stars. They danced on point like ballerinas spiraling around each other without daring to touch. "You said you write?" Una ventured quietly. "Yes. It's my job." "What do you write?" "Other peoples words." "Oh." "Do you write?" "In my head? All the time." She replied sticking her tongue out at him when he met her gaze. It was a gesture she had seen Vantha children do to each other and was dissimilar to anything she had seen before and she found the gesture ridiculously amusing. "You should write it on paper, to preserve it. Thought can change many truths and details when it isn't recorded and the beauty of stories is the details and insinuations." Little did he know the irony of his statement. "Maybe...Paper is so permanent in humans mind but it's so fragile to me when I know what even a drop from my water bucket in the library could do." He tilted his head pensively, "hm...how do Charoda achieve permanence?" She blinked blankly not understanding, her understanding of Vantha was fluent but she had only spoken it with Cy whom hardly used words larger than four or five letters. "How do you create things that are present after you die?" "We have children." She replied instantly. His eyes widened before they laughed. "I could teach you." He ventured, "maybe a different kind of permanence would suit you better?" "No, I could never ask you to do that." "Whose asking?" Una laughed disrupting the couples around them. Lowering her laughter to a whisper, "yes, I would love that." "Tonight?" "Oh?! Sure." Together they scrambled together the blanket and belongings and silently descended into the dark throat of the pillar.

[Una Tanta]

Una's feet pattered lightly against the sound followed by the resounding echoes of Jack's heavy feet. As they slid into the night several eyes from the hold watched them leave faces stern. The trek was warm despite the cold as the two exchanged contented glances. She felt gloriously at home in Avanthal and gazing about the gorgeous city alight from the moon's gaze she couldn't imagine a more beautiful place even beneath the sea. It took Jack several minutes to pick the ice off the door and open it and as they crept inside Una gasped inwardly. The once small and cozy library felt cavernous in the night shocking the woman. They immediately diverged into a smaller room to the right where scrolls and ink covered every conceivable surface. Even the air was dry and rough as parchment and the wooden floor stained black from spilled ink. Ushering her in Jack gathered materials before them both. Sitting beside her he pulled a piece of rough low quality parchment to them and removed a splintered quill. "We'll start with less expensive supplies hm?" He joked. Taking her hand he placed it around the quill showing her how to hold the implement. "If your hand is too high," He explained guiding it upward and wiggling the grip, "you wont have any control over the tip. If your hand is too low," He guided her hand down to the top of the nib and the base of the handle, "You will have to much control and no flow." With that in mind he placed her hand where it should be on the shaft and made a gouge in the surface. "Your thumb shouldn't go lower than this, and no higher than," He made a gouge above her hand. "this." She nodded concentrating on the lesson and wiggled her fingers awkwardly. "Dip the tip in the ink like this, you don't want too much but you don't want to refill it all the time and interrupt your lines either." Una nodded again, beginning to feel redundant. "and you write like this..." He ran his own quill, flat side down, along the paper making a bold straight line. Una copied him slowly her own line as bold but wavering. Grinning at her line proud as a ten year old she turned to him expectantly, "This line is too thick for the illuminations in the books I read, do you use a smaller quill for those?" "Yes, and no, we do have different size quills, but angling your quill..." He demonstrated with the edge of his own gently, "will also make a thin line." Hovering over his own paper his hand moved in staccato before he handed her the sheet with a crude design etched on it. "Try replicating this, you'll have to use the edge of your nib, that's the tip," Jack explained pointing, "and the flat end." Una nodded obediently and moved around awkwardly trying to find a comfortable way to hold pen and lean over paper. "No no no," Jack quickly interfered, "You don't want to learn to write like that when you might end up writing for hours on end. Sit proper like this..." He explained touching her thigh and guiding it straight and placing a hand on the small of her back to straighten it. Her skin tingled deliriously turning pink. Without a word she held the position and craning over her work set quill to parchment. Jack left her side to her relief to work on his own work. Able to concentrate now she made tentative little lines on the parchment trying to copy the circle he had drawn. Frowning Una looked at her replication with dismay. His circle was one bold thick line hers was a hairy little egg. Dipping the quill carefully into the ink she ran the tip against the parchment to get rid of the extra ink she had accidentally acquired. Her next circle was more circular but her lines were large and bold on the top and narrow on the bottom. Sighing with frustration she beckoned Jack over, "How did you make it so constant?" "If you hold the pen loosely," He demonstrated with his own quill and parchment, "Then it can roll in your grip, and guiding the roll you can make a circle..." "I never anticipated writing to be so complicated..." Una muttered staring hopelessly at his perfect circle. "It isn't...it's just about the right amount of tenderness..." He said touching her hand and easing it off the pen slightly, "and control..." His hand guided hers over the parchment, creating the perfect circle. Bright pink Una stumbled backward and away from him, "I should go home, it's late." "okay?" He replied with what Una interpreted as feigned confusion. Leaving him immediately she ran from the library breathing a little quickly. He was very much like Cy.

[Lullaby]

Una Tanta :

Experience:

♪ Writing: +1

Lores:

♫ Finding Another Who Knew Cy
♫ Using Books to Escape the Memories
♫ The Wonder of Seeing Kaliara's The First Time
♫ Story: History of Kaliara's Observation Deck
♫ Learning About Cy's (Real) Childhood
♫ The Library At Night
♫ The Proper Way to Hold a Quill
♫ How to Make a (Shaky) Thick and Thin Line With a Quill
♫ The Proper Way to Sit While Writing
♫ Jack Skyglow: One Much Like Cy

Notes

This an endearing thread, Una, and had a nice rhythm while reading. I would recommend proof-reading your posts as well, to improve spelling and grammatical errors that are present, though do not hinder the reader. Additionally, when a new person speaks, try using a new line to start it, to keep it cleaner and less confusing. It doesn't have to be widely spaced, but just hitting enter can add a lot of clarification. I felt you got more confident as a you wrote closer to the end of the thread, which was wonderful to see, and I look forwards to seeing your writing in the future as well.

A quick run-down of my skills was writing for practising with Jack, though I only gave one due to it being one skill she was practising.

I have one issue with your Character Sheet, but it wasn't large enough for me to withhold grade, so I'll just put it here. You list your housing as a one-day travel from Avanthal, so I'm assuming you don't flint between the two places constantly as that would make your time in Avanthal a lot less. I just wondered where you were staying in the interim days of not in your coral house, or if you actually constantly travelled between the two, since leaving at night to travel for your house would be extremely dangerous with the skill level you have in Wilderness Survival.

A quiet song to soothe the heart

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.