Mostly Work and Some Play, Maybe... (Oriah)

by **Tourmal Firemane** on January 1st, 2014, 3:57 am

Tourmal, Winter 15, 513 AV

The woman's outburst was startling, and a bit confusing. Tourmal thought deeply on the subject connecting the dots. His face was serious as he did. Things took a bit longer for Tourmal to connect than normal people. And about a chime later. “Oh... OH!” His eyes looked like they would explode from his head. After he realized what had happened a look of elation swept over him. Which he quickly subdued, trying not to look too desperate. Afterward he shook his head laughing internally to the thought that she had not known what a Missus was and so easily took on the title.

“Aye it is.” He listened to where she hailed from. “That's where I knew yer accent from.” Me parents are jewelers and took my family to Eyktol when we was young.” He took a look at her stared into her eyes and remembered back playing with some of the Benshira children while his parents were at work. “They got most their jewels in the fall when Cyphrus is closest thar” He paused wondering about the last part she said. “I'm sorry though I hope you don't take offense I do not know much about the Benshira, so I have never heard of these tents you speak of.”

“How did ye guess?” He asked. “Becha has some contact wit me people on yer way up here didn' ya?”

“Yea, they are nice, well most of them anyway.” He chuckled lightly. “The biggest thing is controlling your feelings. They can sense them yeh know?” “We Drykas have a bit of an advantage when it comes to our striders. When they choose us, we connect.”

After that, Tourmal turned his attention back to the Smith and watched his work a bit more.It was at this point that Tourmal noticed he was nodding his head to the older smiths cadence. As the older man shaped the steel he would tap the anvil in-between. Twice about a quarter of a second apart then a third time an eight of a second after the second. Then he would hit the steel one second after that. And the pattern repeated it's self over and over again. That gave Tourmal an idea to change his own cadence. Instead of tapping twice a quarter of a second apart he like the rest of the smiths he would come up with something new too.

“Did ya notice?” He asked her. “How he taps the anvil?” He stopped a tick. “Listen” he said. He took a chime to listen to its sound closer. “I like it... Rest be assured I, could care less about him. I just like his work.” Tourmal got lost in the rhythm again. Then snapped out of it and turned to the Benshira.

“Well now that you have seen Chuck you have seen pretty much everything there is to see here. Do you have any more questions, or do you see anything that I missed that you are interested in?”

by **Oriah** on January 1st, 2014, 10:19 pm

Tourmal's reaction was not quite what Oriah expected, but, then again, it had been a rather embarrassing outburst on her part. The Drykas smith went on to explain how he knew her accent, and that his parents had been jewelers. It was no wonder he didn't know much about Tent life; he must have spent most of his time south within the safety of Yahebah. No visitor in their right mind would try to live anywhere else during their stay.

Oriah smiled at his next question. "Perhaps. Or perhaps it was because of that rather enlightening little conversation you had with the knight from before. Just got back from Endrykas and all. No wonder they're so suspicious."

She gave him a little wink, not being the least bit sarcastic. When he mentioned that horses could sense one's feelings, the Benshira nodded in agreement. She'd always been wary and somewhat frightened of the tall beasts. The very thought of sitting on one unnerved her more than she cared to admit. How could you place your trust in an animal like that? What if it bucked and threw you off and you cracked your head?

Oriah kept her paranoia to herself, though, not wanting to look foolish for being afraid of horses in front of a Drykas.

In the lull of their conversation, they went back to watching Chuck and his rhythmic pounding against the anvil. The girl could see, from the corner of her eye, that Tourmal was bobbing his head along with the older smith's steady rhythm. She found her own foot tapping in sync as well and was surprised by the unexpected musicality of such hard labor.

Beside her, Tourmal made note of the man's cadence and bade her to listen. Oriah did, more so than she was before, already pairing the steady, metallic sounds with various moves in her head.

For a while, they both became lost in the rhythm. Then Tourmal seemed to snap out of it and asked if she had any more questions or interests that he hadn't covered. Oriah chewed the corner of her lip a little. She didn't like to admit it, but she had been rather lonely since arriving in the hustling, bustling city.

The Benshira had done everything she was supposed to: get a room, get a job, and stay out of trouble. Some nights she danced to earn her fare, and others she simply had nothing to do. Sure, there had been a handful of pleasant people she had met, full of interesting tales to tell and skills to share, but they were much busier than her. Which meant that, on the days or nights her newly made friends were indisposed, she was left to her own devices, rotting with boredom.

As unplanned as this tour had been, it was oddly...comforting. There was a solidity, a consistency to everything inside of the forge. Oriah never though in a thousand years she would harbor any interest for something like metal smithing, but the more she watched the more she came to respect it as an art all unto itself. These men certainly worked hard enough to categorize it as such.

A sudden idea blossomed in her head. She thought for a moment longer, than turned to answer, "I did see something, in fact." The girl poked a finger in his direction and grinned.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble to you," she explained, "do you think you could show me how to...make friends with horses?" Oriah wasn't entirely sure what the Common equivalent of that phrase was, so she simply said it word for word.

"Only if you aren't busy, that is," she insisted, realizing how forward she must have sounded. "I have time to wait."

by **Tourmal Firemane** on January 2nd, 2014, 4:31 am

Tourmal, Winter 15, 513 AV

The woman had a sense of humor and evidently understood common well enough for sarcasm. Why then didn't she know the meanings of a few common terms. He smiled back and blushed only slightly, but just enough that if you were looking you could see.

After the two watched Chuck and his work he asked her if she wanted anything else. The woman thought for about a chime and then she mentioned that she would like to be trained in horsemanship. Her words however were much more humorous. “Well now that is quite forward” The man joked. He purposely put a smile on his face and added a wink for extra measure. “Help you make friends with horses, huh...? Well I suppose I can help you with that. The only thing is that I don't normally make arrangements with people without knowing a bit about them first.” He said keeping his smile on. That was a bald faced lie and he knew it. The man was notorious for dropping everything for a pretty face and since the woman who stood in front of him had recently gone from being married to single he was all for it.

“Yeh wanna step outside to continue our talk for a tick? Not as loud” He said motioning with his head towards the door. The large man led her back to the door she came through and pulled it open. The sun was about a bell or two from going down and the shadows were growing rapidly, making it vastly cooler than a few bells earlier. So he walked to the edge of the building where the sun shone and stood with the fading sunlight to his right.

“Well lets see what kinds of things do I normally like to know about people before I make plans with them” He said to himself jokingly. “Got it. You said you were a dancer.” He looked at her “Tell me about it.” The question was vague and he realized after he said it. “When did you start? Who taught you?” He numbered off his question using his fingers. “What brings you up here from Eyktol? Since you work for the Rearing Stallion why haven't I seen you before?” When he was done “There four questions that ought to do it.”

by **Oriah** on January 3rd, 2014, 2:44 am

At first, she was afraid the man would reject her request outright. He was in the middle of work, he hardly knew her, and as a Drykas he would not take the task lightly. But, at the very least, he hadn't minded her brashness.

Once he explained that he preferred to know a bit about the people he worked with, however, Oriah's mind stopped wallowing in unease. It was a sensible request and she would be happy to oblige.

Once they reached outside, the Benshira hugged her coat a little tighter around her. She was still horribly unused to Northern Winters and Syna's light was fading into the evening. Fortunately, she had plenty of subjects to distract her from the chilly weather.

"Well," she answered, smiling at the onslaught of questions, "I guess, to begin, I always danced. I danced since the first day I learned to walk and have never stopped. It is a common art amongst my people and I had many, many teachers. From my parents, to my friends, and finally to my elders. After a while, the master dancer in our Tent offered me apprenticeship, and I learned under her until I left."

Oriah paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Which, I suppose, brings me to why I left in the first place." It was...an uncomfortable subject, to say the least, but if this was about judging her character, then she would not hold back.

"I had a sister, once. A twin. But when Priah died, I changed. Without her, I became...less pleasant, less behaved. She was always the good one, until the one day she chose not to be good." Oriah looked down, cleared her throat, and continued. "Well, long story short, I made many of my elders angry for the way I interpreted Yahal's ways. But his mark of favor remains, even to this day, and they could not punish me for my more liberal ways."

She held up her left palm, showing Tourmal the simple, elegant image of the first letter of her god's name. "Since then, I have vowed to travel and learn in the name of Yahal. I believe he has allowed for me to honor him through understand and appreciate the life I have been granted. Perhaps he has something planned, or perhaps he merely enjoys my antics. Whatever the case, I trust in his favor and live as I see best fit."

Oriah breathed in slow and deep, realizing she had just unleashed a flood of information. A moment later, she added, "And as for the Rearing Stallion, I've only just arrived not ten days ago, and old Kevith is still trying to find me some proper musicians for my opening night."

She gave the Drykas a toothy grin. "You should come and see Benshira dance for yourself! I can talk about it all day, but I do it no justice with mere words."

Oriah bit her tongue. Now she'd really babbled for too long. "Was that to your satisfaction? Perhaps you should tell me something of yourself as well, to make this a fair trade. Why did you have to go back to Endrykas, and what brought you here to Syliras in the first place?"

by **Tourmal Firemane** on January 3rd, 2014, 6:08 pm

Tourmal, Winter 15, 513 AV

The man listened to her story about how she had learned to dance. Copying her parents and other older people as a young child, later being taught by the same along with her friends and family, and eventually being taken in as an apprentice to a master. Tourmal was impressed by her. She was likely very good, unlike him.

When she mentioned a sister he listened closer, then she said it was her twin and that she had died. 'Woah' he thought to himself red flag. He listened to the rest of her story mentioning her journey to grow with Yahal, which seamed believable, along with the job at the Rearing stallion. But the twin seemed phony. He looked at her with suspicion. “I would like to see the dance some time.”

“Orion put you up to this didn't he? Ha ha ha, very funny Orion you can come out now.” He waited for a few ticks. “I know you sent this woman with a sad story about losing a sister for me to fall for her and just when I least expect it you would come and tell me its a joke.” He waited a bit more. When he didn't come out. Tourmal started getting angry. “Orion this isn't funny anymore seriously I oughta give you a punch to the mouth.” A few more ticks went by and still nothing. Tourmal's face grew grave. He started to realize that he had made a bad mistake. The man looked back to the Benshira'n, he wore a face of regret. “Oh I am so sorry.” He walked to her. “Really, I didn't mean to make light of your loss. It's just I... When I was 13 I lost my twin brother in a storm and...” He looked at her. “And your loss sounded too coincidental to be true.” The man pleaded, and got onto his knees looking up to her. “Please, really I would never knowingly make fun of a lost sibling. I know what it's like.” The man paused hoping that she would accept his apology. “Please forgive me?”

Then the man changed his approach. “Tell you what. You wanted to know something about me. So here it is.” The man looked away. “You already know my name, I come from the Drykas as you know too. Me family are jewelers, And I worked as one up to I was 22.” He looked at her suspecting it was not enough. “Me brother, right. Me brother and I were twins as I said. And the two of us were inseperable. When we were 13 there was a storm a very bad one, as though Zulrav was there himself twisting the air and striking the ground with lightning. Me brother was outside at the time. We were playing a game of hide and find. I was hiding inside he was outside looking for me. I wasn't supposed to be inside, see I was breaking the rules... And the storm hit. Out of no where. He was so far from home that he didn't have enough time to get back before a large gust of wind picked him up and took him away.” The man started to tear up. And his voice caught. “Me father stayed in and kept the rest of us safe until the storm ended. And when we it was over he and a number of others formed a search group for those lost in the storm.” He looked away “But he was never found.”

The man's head hung low as he tried to recoup. His eyes were puffy from the pain he had brought back by telling the story. He had tried to forget it. “On the first anniversary I bonded with Aurus, which helped me a lot. Then after a number of years me older brother, who is in line to be head of our clan, and I got into an argument and I left home to come here. I figured it wasn't too far away and I could always visit when I had the chance. I worked here for two years as a jeweler, then took a break, and started up as a blacksmith around four years ago working on my weapon smithing on the side. And now I am doing that.” by then his eyes had cleared and his face grew less flush.

“So you see, I didn't mean to upset you.”

by **Oriah** on January 4th, 2014, 1:14 am

Oriah flinched, eyes wide with surprise as the Drykas blatantly accused her of trickery, burst out laughing, and then dared some Orion or other to come out and admit to all of this being a ruse. Her back hit a wall and she stared at him, unsure whether she should convince him she was being honest or simply storm off in indignation.

Silence. Tourmal called out again, more desperately, but no such Orion appeared. The man's face went from jovial to grave within a few ticks, and suddenly he was walking towards her, apologizing.

Oriah shrunk away, at first. But something about his tone convinced her to listen. As he explained himself and his strange outburst, the Benshira slowly began to understand. It was a startling coincidence, after all; she would have acted with the same suspicion, if the situation had been reversed. When he asked for her forgiveness, an answer rolled to the tip of her tongue, only to be swallowed back as he changed his approach.

The Benshira listened, rapt in attention, as Tourmal revealed his painful past. When he mentioned the game of hide and find, and how his brother had been swept away in the wind, her heart twisted in on itself. How sudden death always was. How unprepared they were as children. It took her breath away, as though it too had been swept by the very same wind that stole his twin, to think of the pain and guilt he must have felt, must still feel.

Just like her.

Oriah watched as he hung his head, eyes rimmed with red and lost in a void of sadness and torment. She reached out and touched his arm gently. "You have nothing to be sorry for," she assured. "I know we can't help feeling responsible, but..."

She swallowed, fighting back her own wave of painful memories. "but we could not have changed their fates. And they would not have wanted us to have taken their places, no matter how strongly we wished for all these years that we could have."

"Tourmal," she murmured, placing her hands under his face so she could bring him out of his shamed posture. "Look at me. You did nothing to offend me. And we accomplish nothing by opening our old wounds. We can only live twice as full, twice as richly for the other half we lost. We must live enough for two, because they would have wanted it no other way."

Before she could convince herself otherwise, Oriah wrapped her arms around the towering Drykas. It was a bit awkward, what with there being a lot of him to try to embrace, but try she did all the same.

Sometimes all a person needed was to know they were not the only one in this world who bore the agony of loss.

oocsorry I was listening to a sad song as I replied and it got me all touchy feely :((

our poor PCs...

by **Tourmal Firemane** on January 4th, 2014, 3:46 am

Tourmal, Winter 15, 513 AV

Tourmal listened to her as she consoled him. His face turned away trying to hide his grief. He did feel responsible, not for his death but responsible that he wasn't outside to help his brother. Maybe the two of them could have survived if they had been together. He had always believed that he could have made a difference. His older brother Zirconus saw him as foolish for thinking so. His father let him grieve and along with his mother comforted the boy. Aurus saved him. Now here he was drudging it all back up. Only to remind himself of his loss.

She touched his arm but he was so distracted he didn't notice. “I would have taken his place. He wanted to be a hunter, he at least could have helped the clans. Me... I only care for myself. Look at me selfish moving away and chasing me own dreams.” He started shaking. Not with grief but with anger. “And my brother, I know he wished that Perido had been the one to survive. With the needs of the clan coming before anything else.” The man shook his head in disgust. “Guhg, What an arse! Petching...” He said lurching free from her grasp.

The woman placed her hands under his chin lifting it up. The Drykas looked her in the eyes, her deep beautiful blue eyes. Suddenly he had forgotten what they were talking about, and was lost in her eyes. She was talking but he couldn't hear her. He just stared deeper and deeper memorizing every line every cut of her beautiful sapphire eyes. The man was speechless, and then. She hugged him turning her head away. Tourmal didn't know what just happened. At first he was shocked unsure what to do but after a second he realized that all he wanted was a hug and someone to tell him it would be alright. And after so long some 14 years there she was.

The man slowly wrapped his arms around her and sobbed. He cried tears of joy, finally someone who understands him. Someone who can help. He held her tight against himself never wanting to let go.

by **Una Tanta** on January 26th, 2014, 7:07 am

Tourmal :

Oriah :

Please don't be afraid to PM me with any questions ^-^ and please don't forget to edit your grading request to "graded".

Closed Mostly Work and Some Play, Maybe... (Oriah)