Completed Dek, Glass & Dreams

[Syveris]

86th of Fall, 513 AV

Syveris sighed, thinking about everything that had happened after the storm once again, as she walked through the Darniva Commonrooms. It was something she tried not to do, so she wouldn't mess up like she had done in the Glass Reverie, letting a piece fall and break because she couldn't concentrate. However, there were times when she couldn't shove the thoughts away, and she had to think about everything, otherwise she would just go crazy.

Sometimes, Syveris wondered if she hadn't got crazy already.

After the storm, she had ran around Wind Reach, trying to find Virat and almost bursting into tears when she finally did. It was more than a relief to know that her mentor was alright. Then, she had returned to her room, and saw that the egg had been quite alright. It was another wave of relief that washed through her, and after that, she could finally focus on other things. Or at least try to.

Later, she had found Azira in the Infirmary, when Virat sent her there to rest and, although he hadn't said that, she knew it was also so there wouldn't be an accident in the Reverie. The huntress had been mostly alright, except for the headaches, but then... Then that man...

Shaking her head, Syveris stomped firmly on the ground. Enough thinking about the storm. Now think about... stones. Maybe stupid, but it worked, as she focused her gaze on the path, concentrating only on that, almost like she was when doing glasswork.

However, voices made her frown, and look up. They were near, but she couldn't see anyone, yet. Probably around the corner. Syveris wondered if she should just go away and let whomever was fighting to deal with it alone. But then, one of the voices were way too angry for that fight to be a harmless one. Besides, she could always look and, if everything was alright, she would just leave. With a sigh, she walked the rest of the distance between her and the next curve, and looked.

Two people were facing each other, one of them screaming with what seemed like all his strength, and the other was apparently trying to be engulfed by the stone wall, as he was pressing his back very hard to it. The frightened man was obvious a Dek, with dirty clothes hanging in pieces around him, and way too dirty to be anything else. The other man was probably a Chiet, as his clothes weren't very special, and he seemed dirty as well. Just not as dirty as the Dek.

The Dek had probably screwed up. They were masters in getting the upper castes angry, although Syveris had to admit that most of the time, they got angry for nothing. Well, she supposed because Dek were annoying could be considered 'nothing'.

She turned, not really willing to interfere, specially since she was almost late, but the next scream caught her attention, and she turned back, automatically. The Avora shouldn't get involved, Syveris knew it wouldn't do her any good, but then... The Chiet had just threatened to kill that Dek. He wasn't really serious, was he?

x Poppy

[Syveris]

Apparently, he was, because in less than a tick he had grabbed his knife and pressed the blade against the Dek. Syveris watched as blood began to drip from his throat. The Chiet couldn't be serious!

The Avora seriously thought about just ignoring everything and going to the Glass Reverie already. She would be late for work, if she stayed any longer. Then she could just forget she had ever seen this scene, and her consciousness would be clean. Or it would be, if it hadn't been because of the storm. The dead Endals popped to her mind and she shuddered. And then, she remembered the Infirmary man's request, for her and Azira to protect his Dek son. Maybe this was his son.

As soon as Syveris thought that, she knew it was stupid. The Dek was too old for being the man's son, and they didn't look alike. Yet, she knew it would be impossible for her to just walk away. Reluctant, Syveris stepped forward, glad that neither of them seemed to notice her, and approached the Chiet from behind, taking his arm and forcing it away from the Dek.

Immediately, the Chiet turned, pointing his knife to her. She growled in response, annoyed by the reaction, even though it was only natural. The Avora was already full of those Chiet who thought it was alright to do whatever they wanted, even if in presence of the upper castes. Crossing her arms, she glared at the man, not afraid of the knife. He would be very sorry if he dared to hurt her. This time, she wouldn't let it slip by.

"I would advice you to lower your weapon, Chiet." she said, her voice low, but firm. "Specially if you're pointing it to an Avora."

The man seemed to believe her, since he quickly lowered his knife, hiding it behind his body, as if it would make any difference. His reaction also told her that he was indeed a Chiet. Good. With lower castes she could deal. If she was sober, of course.

"I'm sorry, madam." he apologized, even lowering his eyes during some ticks. "But this shyke has ruined my work, and I won't let him get away with it!" the respectful voice became filled with anger and annoyance, and Syveris cursed mentally. If the Dek had really done something like that, it would be hard to find an excuse to save him. But then, why did she want to save him? He was only a Dek, after all.

"It's not like that! I did ruin it, but it wasn't my fault! You ordered me to go and get the papers for you, but you purposefully made me trip!" Syveris didn't know if the Dek was truly that brave, to accuse an upper caste, or if it was just knowing that there was no way the situation would get worse that made him say that. But she didn't care. All the reluctance that she had felt about helping him went away. This one was brave enough to face someone who could ruin him. It was different from the usual submissiveness.

"What did you say?" the Chiet face had become totally red, and he pointed the knife to the other man once again, his arm trembling with anger. "Did you just call me a liar?"

"He didn't. Lower your knife. I won't say that again." Syveris voice was more severe than she had thought it would be possible for her, but she didn't want an angry person to be waiving a knife around like that. The Avora doubted she could face another death happen right in front of her. Unless the person was a criminal and really deserved it. "Now, will you tell me exactly what happened?" was she acting as a judge? Well, whatever. Syveris glared some more, for both the Chiet and the Dek. She didn't want any of them thinking they could do whatever they wanted.

x Poppy

[Syveris]

"What happened was that this clipped shyke knocked down ink in my entire journal!" the Chiet screamed, pointing an accusatory finger to the Dek and waving a thick journal in front of the Avora's eyes. Syveris frowned. The book would have a beautiful cover, if not for the giant ink stain that covered half of it. But what bugged her the most was why she hadn't seen it before, in the first place. Maybe she was truly shaken by everything.

"You made me trip!" the Dek screamed, his face just as red as the Chiet. "You told me to go get the petching book in your table while I was cleaning, and put your petching feet in front of me!"

"Stop screaming!" it was Syveris turn to scream, annoyed when she saw that the Chiet was ready to scream again. Lowering her voice, she turned to the Dek. "Refrain from swearing at those above you, Dek, or you will be very sorry for it." Syveris saw the man pale, and his breath began to come out in gasps. The Chiet smiled, victorious, as if her words were the Dek's sentence. As if. "Now, if you made him trip, it's no one's fault but your own that your book is ruined. And the pages are not stained, so your work is intact." the smile quickly disappeared from his face.

"It doesn't matter." the man murmured, annoyed. "He ruined my journal, and I'll have him pay."

"Yes, he will pay. With work. Why do you want to kill because of a simple book?" Syveris was truly curious. She had been angry with a wide range of Deks before, but had never actually wanted to kill one of them. She had threatened some, but never truly intending to carry out the threats.

"What are you? Clipped? He ruined my journal!" the annoyance raised enough for the man to become careless. "Or are you a simple Dek licker who loves this garbage..."

Before the man could finish, Syveris pressed him against the wall, with her whole body, with a strength that surprised even her. She was truly angry now. "Be careful of what you say to me." she growled, low enough for only him to hear. The Dek was eyeing her, worried. "To answer you petching question, I'm not clipped. I made myself an Avora with nothing more than my own skills, and you have only managed to become a mere Chiet. So if someone here is clipped, this someone is you." she grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, making him loose his knife. He was so weak that it was pathetic. "And do not, ever, call me a Dek licker, unless you want to lose a little of your shyke blood."

Releasing the man, Syveris straightened herself, still glaring. Tired, that was what she was. Tired of those lower castes trying to get advantage of the higher ones, as if they had this right. Tired of pointless deaths. She would have allowed him to get something out of this Dek, if he hadn't been such an idiot. Now, she only wanted to hurt the stupid Chiek as much as she could.

"And you know what? I'm taking this Dek as my servant, so you will refrain from ever getting close to him again, if you like your position. And say goodbye to a new free journal." turning around, she grabbed the Dek's arm, dragging him with her until they reached a place far enough from the Darniva Commonrooms.

Syveris released him, and stomped the stone floor as she walked away. What was wrong with all those Chiet? She hoped the ink would end up staining the pages of the book. He sure deserved it. Dek licker? Her? The Avora was surprised she hadn't cut the man's fingers off, with a knife so close.

x Poppy

[Syveris]

She was still stomping when she reached the Glass Reverie, and Syveris finally stopped, trying to even her breath. There were some swears that she could stand, but there were others that she wouldn't, not even if it costed her her life. Not even an Endal would call her a Dek licker. The anger was rising again, and she shook her head, focusing on the work she would have in front of her. It calmed her enough after two chimes, so she straightened up and prepared to enter the place she loved so much.

However, a movement caught her eye, and she turning, facing the Dek she had just saved. Great. Everything she needed. She took a deep breath and tried not to scream at the man who was looking at her so expectantly.

"What are you doing?" her voice came out controlled, however it was clear that she was annoyed.

"You said I would be your servant, from now on." the Dek seemed happy, smiling at her with glowing eyes. Syveris blinked a few times, gaping at him. Why he was happy, she didn't know, although it was probably way better to be ordered by only one Inarta than by all of them.

"Are you clipped?" she asked, not even trying to be mean. She thought it was obvious what she had been trying to do. "I helped you, and that was it. I didn't mean it. He was annoying, and I wanted him to shut up." the Dek only kept smiling, and Syveris sighed, feeling the anger she tried so hard to control return. "Go away. I'm not taking you as a servant." with that, she turned, and entered the Reverie, going for her cabinet and taking her tools. She wasn't sure what Virat was going to ask her to do, so it was better to take them.

Looking around, she found her mentor, and walked there. In the way, she sent a glance back, to see if the Dek was still in the door. He was. Growling at the man and mumbling curses to herself, she reached Virat, placing the tools on the worktable.

"You are angry." her mentor stated, and she only mumbled in response. The man smirked, shaking his head. "Well, guess what we will be making today?"

Great. Virat was in a playful mode today. She only hoped that he would leave his remarks to when they had finished working.

x Poppy

[Syveris]

Syveris kept looking at him, until Virat smirked again. The Avora still didn't know why he did that. He knew she wouldn't try to guess, as she hated this 'game', but he sometimes began the instructions with that question. She promised herself that, one day, she would try to understand Virat's sense of humor. It seemed that the only thing that truly amused him was to know things that others didn't know, and let said others know that he knew. It was just plain weird like that. But it was also harmless, so Syveris didn't mind it too much, although she was annoyed by it, sometimes.

"We're making a vase and I'm teaching you a new color. There are many Endals asking for a window to replace their broken ones, but it'll be better to let the more experienced fulfill this request. Neither you nor I can make very good windows." he finally told her. "Anyway, the color will be green. Of course, the glass won't be ready for today, so we will make a red vase."

Syveris nodded, and smiled to herself. Green. It was her favorite color, and Virat knew that. She supposed he had waited to teach it to her only to let the best to the end. It was very likely of him.

"So, selenium makes red, cobalt makes blue, and iron makes green." the Avora turned her attention to her mentor, paying close attention to everything he was saying. "A specific type of iron, this one, can make deep green glass. Another, can make the glass turn brown." Virat put the vial with the compound in her hand. "More iron, more deep the glass color. Try not to put too much, though."

The Avora nodded, and looked at the silver grey powder. It wasn't as pretty as the cobalt and the selenium, but it was interesting. She added a little less than half of the vial in the sand, wondering how green this would make the glass. Well, she would have to see, later. Closing the vial and giving it back to Virat, she put the crucible containing the mixed sand in the Batch Oven.

"Virat... How do I get those compounds?"

"From the metal smiths. You can reach some sort of agreement with them, or you can simply buy it."

"Agreement?"

"Figure it out on your own." Virat smiled, and Syveris sighed. He was a great help sometimes, and others, he just made her even more clueless. "Now, you can start the vase. Do it as you wish, but remember, think before doing anything."

Syveris nodded, and focused on her tools, wondering if she should just make a simple vase or something more elaborated.

x Poppy

[Syveris]

Well, she would just do the vase already. Virat had said to think before she worked, but she would only do a simple vase, so there wasn't anything she had to actually think about. Right now, she only wanted to work, nothing more, even if the resulting piece wasn't beautiful or elaborated.

Taking the blowpipe, she gathered the red glass from the batch, running the small slug on the marver to create a shell. Then, she placed the pipe on her mouth and blew, watching as the slug grew. The Avora repeated the process only twice more, as she didn't want the vase to be very big.

Once she was satisfied, Syveris reheated the glass in the Glory Hole and used the jacks to draw a line in the glass, near the pipe. This technique had been a great addition, making it way easier to break the glass and take it out of the pipe later. Taking the paddle, Syveris ran it on the bottom of the piece, flattening it, carefully.

At this point in the process, she was already totally relaxed, focusing on nothing more than the glass and tools in front of her. Virat was working on his own piece, although he sent glances to her sometimes, seeing if she would do any mistakes. However, Syveris knew that her mentor understood her need of only working right now, so she doubted he would interfere.

Once the part that would be the bottom of the piece was completely flat, she prepared a punty. Syveris used it to transfer the glass, easily breaking it off after only applying a small pressure with the shears. Taking the puffer, after she had heated the glass once again, she made a very small hole where the blow pipe had previously been. She wanted it to be small, only wide enough to put some flowers, for example.

With the jacks, Syveris widened the hole only a little, adjusting it so it would look smoother. She made her final trip to the Glory Hole, heating the glass and taking it back to her workspace. With the paddle, she flattened the borders of the hole, then taking the leather and polishing the finished piece.

Syveris looked at it. Very, very simple, just a rounded vase with a small opening. The whole piece was small, so if it was used as a flower vase, it would only fit small flowers. But she enjoyed it.

"Virat." she called her mentor, showing the finished work. "Do you like it?" he nodded, and Syveris smiled. For the glasswork placed around his room, his preferences were small things. She also knew that he liked small flowers, so it was perfect, even if simple. "Good. It's for you. A present."

"It's not my birthday." he said, but there was a smile on his face. Syveris smiled back at him, knowing this was a 'thank you', and went to the Break Box, to take the vase out of the punty. Then, with gloves, she took the piece and stored it on the Annealer.

With a sigh, she took the blow pipe again. Virat glanced at her, curious, and Syveris only smiled. Normally, when her work time was up and she had already finished her work, she would leave the Reverie to do other things, but now, she wanted to make simple pieces. Maybe she would even do some red beads to go with the vase.

Humming to herself, Syveris began to work again.

x Poppy

[Syveris]

It was already late when Syveris finally reached her room, tired. She had spent the whole day in the Reverie, doing some vases for some Endals that had requested them, to replace those broken by the storm. That, and she did at least five beads to her mentor, as a way to say thanks for everything. The Avora felt guilty she had never thought about it before, and had worked hard to compensate.

The result was her missing food throughout the day. When she reached the Kitchens to dine, she was more than just hungry, and ate at least double of what she normally did. Well, she had missed lunch, and she had been working hard all day. The Avora thought she deserved it. After that, a quick trip to the Tisuma Baths, to clean the sweat and to relax at least a little, and now, she was finally able to sleep.

Before she closed the door, she thought she saw the Dek she had helped earlier in the far corner of tunnel that led to her room. However, he quickly disappeared, and Syveris wondered if she wasn't only seeing things. Probably. She was exhausted.

Taking off her clothes, she threw them in the chair, not really bothering to fold them. She could do it later. Walking to a corner, the Avora looked at the egg inside the crate, smiling quite foolish at it. Each time, she cared for the egg more, and sometimes she wished the incubation period would be longer, if only for her to look at it more.

Yawning, she decided it was time to sleep. Syveris threw herself in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position. She was more then eager to just sleep a dreamless night. There had been some nightmares plaguing her the last nights, but she hoped that, since she was really tired, maybe this night she wouldn't dream at all.

Rolling over and facing the wall, Syveris closed her eyes. It just took five chimes for her to fall asleep.

[Syveris]

She was in the Mud Flats, on the exact same place Lavira had taught her about falconry. There was a peregrine falcon on her arm, and his claws were digging on her skin, drawing blood. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt. In fact, the feeling was pleasant. The falcon was completely free, not a single leash tying him to the Avora.

Syveris raised her arm, and the peregrine took flight. His wings were translucent, the sun passing through it and shoving colored shadows in the ground. The Avora watched, amazed, as she realized the falcon's wings were made of stained glass. She watched the light pass through the bird's wings and draw beautiful patterns on the ground, unsure how much time had passed, until she was brought back to reality by the sound of a small prey moving around.

She gave out a whistle, and the falcon dived, stretching his talons and grabbing the small animal with precision. However, as soon as he closed his claws around it, his whole body became clear glass, and the bird shattered.

Syveris felt like this was exactly what it was supposed to happen, but she was feeling sad, anyway. It was such a beautiful falcon, she wished that she could look at the bird for a much longer time. Her musings were interrupted, though, by a giant shadow that clouded the sky. Looking up, she saw it wasn't a shadow, but a Wind Eagle, beautiful, all covered with deep black feathers. Syveris watched as the Eagle landed, and faced her.

"Do you wish to ride the storm?" he asked, a deep and grave voice.

"Yes."

"It'll be dangerous. You will see who you truly are."

"I am not afraid." Syveris felt the words come out of her mouth, involuntarily, as if the giant eagle was controlling her movements and her words. The Avora approached the bird, climbing to his back, and enjoying the feeling of the wind that passed through her when they took flight.

They were flying among the stormy clouds, as everything around her was grey, wet and cold. The powerful wings were the wind of the storm, and Syveris wasn't afraid of anything, as she rode the powerful bird. The Wind Eagle entered a dark cloud, so dark that the Avora couldn't see anything. They kept going forward, though, and soon, she felt stone under her naked foot, and the cloud dissipated.

The Wind Eagle was nowhere to be seen, but she knew the place. It was the Aeries. Why she was there, she didn't know, but she walked forward, nonetheless. The walls were trembling, and large pieces of rock fell from the ceiling, but even then, Syveris wasn't afraid. Somehow, she knew the rocks wouldn't hurt her.

And then, she saw three Inarta gathered around a small girl, who was screaming in pain and suffering. She approached the group, focusing only on the child in the ground, and kneeled besides her. However, it wasn't to help, as she closed her hands around the small throat, pressing. The girl tried to fight back, but she was too weak for the Avora.

"Mommy, why are you killing me?" the girl cried, and Syveris noticed her face for the first time. It was her. The Avora herself, when she was a Yasi. The realization hit her, and she was frightened by it. Pressing even harder, she felt the girl grow still. When she removed her hands, the child wasn't breathing anymore.

Syveris looked around, to the three people around her. Instead of faces, they had beaks and eyes. Beaks that opened, to scream at her.

"Murderer." it was an echo, that kept going and coming back, while the Inarta morphed into full Eagles. Their bones cracked and twisted, and their skin elongated to become feathers. They took flight, going after her, and she was running, feeling their talons on her skin. "Murderer!"


Syveris awoke, twisting so much in her bed that she ended up kicking the wall. Her mouth was open on a scream, although no sound was coming out. The Avora panted, eyes wide open, the faint light of the oil lamp in the corner the only source of illumination. She buried her face into her hands, and was surprised to feel tears.

[Syveris]

If she allowed herself to dwell on that nightmare, she would break down, cry alone. It was weak, and Syveris didn't want to. She had cried enough for the season. Taking the blanket from her bed, she dried her eyes, and thought about whatever or not to go back to sleep. The Avora didn't really want to, anymore. In fact, she doubted she would be able to. The high pitched caw of the eagles still hung in her ears. Murderer. She hadn't killed anyone, but she hadn't even tried to help the girl trapped inside an Aerie, a girl that could have been alive. But no, she was to busy worrying about others to help. She was obviously guilt of the girl's death.

Swallowing a sob, Syveris tried to focus on anything else. She didn't want to think or sleep again, but there really wasn't much to do in her room. Looking around, her eyes fell on the falconry book her mentor had lent her, and wondered if she should read it to pass the time. Well, it was better than to just sit on her bed, doing nothing. Grabbing the blanket, she threw it on her couch, and used all her strength to push it to the corner where her egg was. The lamp was her only source of light, and while it was normally enough, it was too dark for her to read far from it.

Taking the book from bellow the clothes she had thrown on the chair, she sat down, covering herself with the blanket again, and looked at the cover. It was made with dark leather, with a thin silver line making the silhouette of a falcon, and also the title. Raising a Falcon from the Egg. She had never noticed how it was a quite beautiful book, and Syveris spent some time just appreciating it, watching the designs on the cover.

The Avora opened the book, Syveris passed the pages, slowly, not really trying to find anything, just appreciating the illustrations and the neat handwriting, very different of her own. She only wanted only to distract herself from her dream, because she was afraid to think about it. Syveris wished the nightmares would end soon. She was already getting tired of them.

[Skerry]

Grades

Syveris

Skill	XP
Diplomacy	2
Glassworking	2
Interrogation	2
Intimidation	4

LORES :

• Diplomacy: Mediating between a Dek and a Chiet
• Selenium makes red glass
• One type of iron makes green glass; another, brown
• Iron compounds come from the metal smiths
• Glassworking: The use of the puffer
• Nightmares: The manifestation of guilt

Notes:
Well that was certainly an eventful thread. That nightmare was... something else. That’s all I’ve got to say about that. You didn’t get a huge amount of XP in glassworking because some of the glasswork was fairly easy for her to do but I gave some XP for explaining new parts of the process.

Remember if you have any questions or problems with your grade then feel free to PM me.