Closed setting the board.

[Caelum]

so it goes a man grows cold some would say a man grows strong they say life only grows short I say the road only grows long - avett - Timestamp: 56 Winter 513 AV Memory took shape in the doorway to Kavala's bedroom. Caelum slumped there dressed in a pair of loose cotton pants that he slept in and his hide riddled with seemingly endless reams of windmarks to the tell all the tales of his life long dead. The wine colored stain of Nikali's gnosis mark coiled visibly over the jut of his left hip, the links of a chain that disappeared into his waistband. He rubbed at his face with his hands, attempting to rid heavy lidded eyes of sleep and all that lingered in him. The braids in his hair were half unraveled, loosening from their usual knots at the nape of his neck to tumble halfway down his back. A skinny loop of one sagged against his temple, brushing skin that had not known the light of day in half a millennia. Shadows pooled in the hollows of his cheeks, at his feet to wrap about his ankles, try and pull him back or down when he rolled forward and deeper into his friend's room. On the large bed a long haired, ginger and cream colored cat twitched her whiskers and opened neon eyes. Caelum watched as Cadra sniffed delicately at the air and then slunk her tail up, paws sliding out in a quivering stretch. She mewed softly and the dreamer knew that for the greeting it was. He stopped by the bed, dropping down a hand to give the kelvic a light scratch behind her ear while velvet eyes spilled over the rest of the bed. Caelum blinked slowly and watched Kavala sleep for a few more beats of the heart before he stepped closer to the head of the bed to murmur. "Kavala. Kav, wake up. We need to talk." In the middle of the bloody night, apparently; but behind the slumbrous eyes and gentle hands petting Cadra was a fierce determination that had crossed steel with fear. His heart was still racing and an impossibly mad future still sprouted and churned behind his eyes. He had come running out of dreaming, and somewhere inside he was running still.

[Kavala]

Softness lined her features as the Konti slept, looking more like the teen she actually was. The sheer huge size of the bed lent to this image. It was far large enough for half a Drykas pavilion to curl up on. And it was a good thing. The bed was rarely empty as a good Drykas bed should be. Two Kelvics routinely slept there though they were not bonded to the woman that watched them. Sometimes two infants did as well, though tonight they were tucked in a crib over by the enormous hearth. And almost always a small boy called the enormous place of rest his home. Tonight was no different. The bed held a four lives lost for the most part in Nysel's realm.

It was warm in Kavala's expansive suite, though shadows chased every corner because the kelvics had built up the fire like the Konti liked. Her hair was mussed, half from a ginger cat kneading the back of her neck and half from restless sleep. The pale haired boy was tucked into her chest, sleeping soundly with the healer's white scaled arms encircling him. Tasi wore only soft sleeping pants in the style of the Drykas while Kavala wore an oversized silk shirt that looked like it belonged to an Akalak because its arms were rolled up and it dwarfed the girl in its silken folds.

Larik was perched on the high headboard with his feather's fluffed up in his sleep and watchful without seemingly meaning too. A great golden eye cracked open, assessed Caelum shrewdly, and then closed again, sighing softly. He shifted on his perch, tucked his head back under a wing, and went back to sleep.

There was peace in Kavala's suit though watching the flames reflect off the stone walls, the images there were all but calming. Wild horses, not styled like striders, but more like the Denusk breed danced around the walls, bigger than life, one color flowing into another in a mosaic that made up the whole room. In some places they jumped streams and galloped across fields of flowers equally patterned in mosaic into the stone. On other walls the ran across beaches and down into the sea where they grew scales and traded their hooves for fins. She'd been busy in the suite, her decorating style filling it and giving it a look that most of the long dead queens and kings of Alahea and The Suvan Empire would envy.

Kavala lived well. There was no question about it. She liked her comfort though she didn't flaunt her wealth. An ignorant person would have seen The Sanctuary as a sign of her wealth. A wise one would have known the infants in their double cradle, the kelvics in and perched on the bed, and the young son in her arms was all the woman counted as valuable in her life.

When Caelum's voice reached out into the darkness, the Konti shifted without being really awake. Power flared and a long wicked blade materialized almost unthinking in the Konti's grip which had released her son. It was razor sharp obsidian and gleamed wickedly. Tasi cracked an eye open, not unlike how Larik had, and grinned into the darkness. His teeth flashed equally white like the whites of his eyes. "It's Kasb’el." And then he signed family in pavi and closed his eyes again. The blade in Kavala's hand vanished in a puff of air as the Konti glanced down startled at her son and transmuted her newly formed res from stone to air. She rolled, sitting up, and moved back against the headboard. Tasi muttered in protest, shifted, and curled into a ball replacing his mother's warm body with that of one of the numerous pillows.

Kavala yawned, scratched at her hair, and beckoned Caelum to come in. Cadra jumped up, stretched and padded over to the newly awakened Konti and inserted herself under a hand to get a good pet. Kavala obliqued and began stroking her niece without thought. "Come on in... what's on your mind?" She said, patting one of the dozen's of pillows near her. It wasn't as if there wasn't room on the bed. The Drykas, after all, tended to all sleep together.

Cadra transformed then, still crouching under Kavala's hand, and grinned. "I'll go get something for everyone to drink. I've been thinking about that milk in the ice box for a bell now anyhow." And without a stitch of clothing, the Kelvic scampered off her long hair trailing around her body like a robe in and of itself. Kavala yawned again, folded her legs under her and grew more serious. Her facial expression loosing the softness of youth. She frowned down at her sound asleep son another moment, and then with a puzzled expression on her face looked up at Caelum as he entered.

"How did Tasi know your other name anyhow?" Kavala asked, curiously, waiting for Caleum to join them.

[Caelum]

Stillness sluiced over Caelum when the blade appeared in Kavala's hand, and he waited patiently for it to disappear. It was wisdom rather than fear that informed his actions, for he knew well enough that Kavala would wake ready for a war much in the same manner he would if so unexpectedly disturbed. Tension eased out of his muscles and he dropped down to the bed at his friend's invitation, crawling onto the massive mattress to haul across a few pillows and ultimately sprawl diagonal with his face stuffed into a blanket. "I don't know," came the night-time Ankal's muffled mutter. "Maybe he heard me tell Elise when she asked if my night face had a different name from my day face. Or maybe he's just bloody brilliant. I'm betting on bloody brilliance, Kavala." Caelum remained face down and defeated for a chime, the unearthly scars that stripped his back told a tale of flogging. They did not show in the daylight, no scars daring to grace the luminence of ethaefal skin; but as a Drykas, oh, between ink and scars entire novels were writ upon him and they were far darker than most people would ever guess. "Bring wine!" He lifted his head to call after Cadra and velvet dark eyes settled on Kavala. He propped himself on an elbow and pulled a face, squinting through the soft dim at his friend, all mussed and heavy-lidded with sleep. "I had a dream," he told her. It might have sounded like a complaint save that there was something in his face, in his eyes, in the very hour that wove around them that bid heed. "And I have had such dreams before, dreams in which I met people who later crossed paths with me at the end of worlds. This one had much the same feel."

[Kavala]

The konti couldn't help herself. Even as Cadra's feline agreement echoed back down the stone hall in the form of a purr at Caelum's request, the Konti reached out and ran her webbed hand across the Eth's back. He was in human form, and she knew he thought his brilliance was much reduced. But it wasn't. He was still luminous and unearthly, but in this form his vulnerabilities showed too and reminded her of his frailty too.

"A dream?" She coaxed, running one finger over and across a scar that licked his back to drop it back down to another. In this time and place, together, they were Drykas. The horseclans had very little boundaries and almost no privacy. There was a closeness to their family that others would be hard pressed to match. Kavala suspected it was due to their hard living and the harsh realities of their lives. Touching him made him seem more real, brought his concern into clarity, and linked them as something more than family.

They were far more than family... though there was that too.

But here, things were different, and they were striving to build another way. She ran her hand up his back, trailing his spine until she slipped her fingers into his hair and stroked his head reassuringly, much like she'd do to her son or to Cadra or Larik when they were truly scared and woke up terrorized in the night.

She didn't think Caelum was afraid. But she knew that look, that unsettled look, and it made her sigh softly with worry.

"We are coming into our own here, Caelum." Her voice was soft, almost whispered, as if she too was afraid the shadows had ears and someone would hear her doubts and give them a reality if voiced aloud. "We are finally getting strong enough and in a position to do real and true good. We are finally ready to awaken and bring the Cytali back. You know that. And that means we will be drawing attention to ourselves.. from our ancient enemies, from those that resent what we've achieved, and from even the Gods themselves. Things won't be easy... not now. Even if they weren't ever 'easy' it will be even less so now." She offered into the darkness between them, watching how the light from the fire refracted through the room and played off his loosely tousled human hair.

"Will you tell me what you saw?" Kavala asked, her voice raw from sleep and her mind just now slowly sharpening into a more willing to understand frame of mind.

[Caelum]

Breath left him in a sigh. The trace of Kavala's hand was an unexpected balm, but one against which he initially tensed. There was a part of him still unaccustomed to touch, or to kind touch. He was capable of being the most welcoming and warm person, but despite even the divine pull of ranuri there was yet a part of him that remained terribly private. It was glimpsed in those moments in which he might watch the sky or have a care of the shadows, sadder, darker, colder. He made a low, content sound in the back of his throat when her fingers threaded into his hair and he sprawled out his arm so as to lay on his side, facing his friend. "They'll come for us." Words were low and murmurous as he met her eyes, a mutual understanding of their condition and the state of their future spreading. "And we'll be ready. This dream, Kavala --" He sighed again, this time with an edge of frustration. A hand rose to gesture, to support the words his mouth formed. He didn't often think of himself as eloquent. "There is a plot to take over cities, to breed war and bring death to half of Mizahar. It didn't feel like the petty imaginings of a weak and ineffective soul, but more like the ultimate ambitions of a true fanatic. He saw me as his opponent, at first a symbolic force to practice his tactics on and so string together a stronger strategy. By the end, I think we both understood the other was real." A pillow was stuffed under his head and he grimaced, returning his gaze to Kavala who was pale like moonlight in the dim. "Destruction breeds a very rough road, but it also breeds creation," he quoted. "A follower of the some darker gods in our flawed pantheon once said that to me. This man, he believes in it. He wants to construct the perfect civilization on top of the bones of the last. And, i think, should the right gods, the right groups, begin to pay him attention, Kavala, well." His smile was faint, sunlight faded in the night. "It isn't impossible."

[Kavala]

The Konti took Caelum seriously. He was not prone to drama and rarely voiced concerns unless they had backbones. As her fingers continued to rub at the base of his skull, working the knots above his atlas and axis vertebrae, she stared off into the distance, eyes watching the shadows dance across the stone mural in her chamber.

Her sigh was soft, more like a long expulsion of a controlled withheld breath. “Will we ever have peace here? I go to bed worried every night. They are concerns that seem displaced until I Dreamwalk back and view Crescent’s life and my other incarnations. I stare at the wall surrounding this place and wonder if I went high enough. I look at the crossbow we mounted up there that I brought back from The Kingdom and wonder if I’ve practiced enough. Do I have enough magic to protect everyone? Are the horse bloodlines good enough? Is there a flaw in my training program? Do my children understand how deadly the world is they live in? Will Vanator stay here with me behind walls when his spirit longs to wander the grass? And I see enemies everywhere. I have too. I was trained too. And as much as I try not to hate… I still do.” Kavala said gently, her tone far different than the words she spoke.

“They will come for us. You are right. There was never any doubt in my mind. And if not this group you dreamed of, another one will for certain. People covet what they haven’t earned. Everyone wants power, but they don’t understand until they have it how corrupting it can be.” She removed her hand, laying it along one of her knees which she brought up to her chest and rested her chin on. The Konti looked young again, only barely out of her teens by Konti standards. She’d lived a lifetime though, in her thirty some odd years. And though she had more to go, so many more, there was no guarantee she’d survive to live them.

“It sounds like Nysel linked you two together in His realm as a warning.” Kavala offered into the night kissed shadows. Her voice was thankful, echoing with a reverence that had been steadily growing within her.

But she noted his flash of white teeth in the dark and knew he was smiling. It wasn’t a beautiful smile, but the kind one flashed when one was at odds with the whole ethics of a situation and failing horribly to see the sense on other’s actions. Kavala understood that smile. It had flickered fleetingly across her face a time or two as well.

“Did you see anything unique about this group? Maybe something that would set it apart from the general riff raff? Were there any symbolisms in the dream or divine influences you could readily recognize? Did it feel like chaos or corruption? Did it feel like someone wanted to pull someone’s strings? Was there a sickly feel about it? I think, sometimes, our greatest enemies are also the greatest enemies of our Gods. Nysel walks the line, but most discount him utterly though his hand is in almost everything. Vayt opposes Rak’keli and we are Her healers. Rhysol is chaos recognized and we are trying to create order in the world, especially here, with the college opening this fall and ….” Her voice trailed off. She glanced down finally at Caelum where he was sprawled out.

“What else can we do to be stronger?” She asked suddenly, running a mental check – like she always did – of what she did to keep everyone safe and what the vulnerabilities potentially were. Kavala shifted as if she were going to get up then and there and check doors, locks, and think of something else to build out of stone to make them safer.

[Caelum]

Caelum was quiet a long while in the darkness, listening to the pattern of Kavala’s words and the gentle metronome of Tasival’s breathing. When he felt her shift and the spike of anxiety prickled through him like nettle bush, he reached out a hand to clamp it gently on her thigh. It was at once a bid for her to be still and a touch to clarify the smoky susurrus of Nikali’s divine power channeling through him. Dark eyes went blank as the holy magic swamped his senses and he ushered it through the colder, more analytical parts of his brain like a familiar house guest. In truth Nikali had long since made a home of him, mounting her mirror mask on the wall of his soul and wrapping her chains thickly through him. Now and again she would attach it personally to something, such as the hour they first met and she bound him to the very bedrock of the doomed town of Denval. If such overwhelming tasks were set before him when he bore only Nikali’s first mark, he was not entirely encouraged to seek out her favor. Only he knew with almost painful awareness at every sun set and rise that he walked toward it, even demanded it and therefore better tools with which to do battle on the wounds of a devastated world. He couldn’t help it. The constant beckon and tug of his gods was transforming all of the bitter determination in him into purpose and form. He would keep on. The road kept rising up behind him. Kavala’s need to protect her family and her home from all the wrongs of the world poured through him, fogging up the corridors of his mind until he closed his eyes. Yet in it, wading through the steam that smelled of sea salt and a healer’s surcease, he smiled. He had found a way. His eyes opened and he surfaced, muscles in his abdomen tightening as he abruptly sat up. “It will help if you induct me into reimancy as we’ve discussed before,” and he therefore set aside his reflexive dislike of acquiring any more magics of his own. “That is another weapon at our disposal. Further, Nysel is going to want me to have it. I wielded it before, as Kasb’el.” And it was time to try and be courageous in all things and not merely a few. “It reeked of Vayt,” he went on to confess. “Or at least Vayt’s dominion. If he is not already paying attention, he will. I would imagine the fact of Rak’keli’s ranks being the core presence in the returning Cytali more than enough to make him notice. Unfortunately.” He rolled back a shoulder in an almost shrug. He certainly was not dismissing the god of pestilence. He had struggled and fought with disease and with poison altogether too much, and had lost himself in thrall to Rak’keli following her first gnosis mark upon him warring with sickness for seasons and seasons. Suddenly, he flashed Kavala a hellhound grin. “So at least we’re familiar with that enemy, and already further preparing ourselves with the healing college. It's a good tactic.”

[Kavala]

Kavala heard his words and expelled the breath she held tightly in her chest. She’d thought he would ask for something hard, something that would be a struggle for her to give to him. She hadn’t anticipated that his request would be this thing… this simple easy thing. The Konti blinked at him, met his gaze and looked thoughtful. That would be easy, almost too easy. Induction would be something they could do tonight, Kavala thought, her body growing still under Caelum’s touch. She had inducted so many into the art since her own induction. It was a legacy that needed to be passed on despite the fear that people harbored for power. Magic, if used correctly, was an incredible tool, one she suspected even the Gods feared being in the hands of mortals more than a little.

And yet, without it, so much couldn’t have been achieved. If Kavala hadn’t had the resources, the power, the bloodlines and the faith she would not have been able to build the fortress that stood around them. What would Caelum do with the same power? Would Alements grow into something vast? Would he pass the power onto his daughter and she to all her daughters that came after? All this flashed through Kavala’s mind as she slowly met Caelum’s gaze and nodded.

Still, she was acutely aware of his hand on her. Caelum spoke through touch a great deal more than he realized. But more than his touch, the words that came from the Eth’s mouth soothed her. She knew of Vayt, only from her reading, and understood a bit of his domain. She wondered why he was involved, here of all places, where weakness was weeded out repeatedly even before it could spread like disease. The Konti listened to Caelums words, keeping quiet, wanting to fully understand the entire course of Caelum’s thinking.

Would Nysel want him to have it? Perhaps. Kavala frowned at Caelum’s resumption to know what Nysel would or would not want. Did he speak to Caelum? He never spoke to Kavala, not like she would have liked for him too. Sometimes her memories whispered of things, and she often felt his presence when she prayed… but direct words? No… but the Ethaefal were immortal and children of the Gods. If he did speak to the Healer Spy, it would not surprise Kavala.

She tried to tamp down her jealousy. It was a surprise emotion in her, especially regarding Caelum. He had his immortality and he had his utterly breathtaking beauty, but for all that he was so… alone. And he was pain filled too, and sometimes Kavala wondered if he had reconciled with his past at all. She had put hers to rest. There was pain there and the acute knowledge she’d made mistakes. But moving forward she did what she could to make sure she treaded carefully and took patient steps. Caelum seemed to wear his trouble close to his heart, worrying at it like a dog would worry at a kneebone given to it after the meat was carved off a cow.

No… Kavala had no right to be jealous. If Nysel spoke to Caelum so be it. It meant that he was more worthy, that was all, and that she should try harder or accept that the life of a Konti wasn’t exactly the life of someone like Caelum.

And so with that thought fresh in her mind Kavala nodded and she herself rose. The woman carefully navigated the bed, edging off to the side past sleeping Kelvics and little boys. She pulled on a robe, but only for warmth. The Within was cool in its depths despite the heat above. Kavala felt no modesty in front of Caelum. Which was a good thing since she decided if he wanted reimancy he’d best be inducted.

“Well, lets get you inducted then.” Kavala said with a half smile, belting the robe shut and picking up a lamp who’s flame was banked by the bedside. She walked it over to her large sprawling desk and lit a second lamp there using the first. The second lamp she turned up, illuminating the cavernous stone suit that was her chamber. Light flickered off the walls revealing the mosaic of etched horses running the grass circling the room. Then, once she had the second one lit, Kavala returned the first to its bedside location, so that if the children or Kelvics happened to wake in the night and find themselves alone, they would not be in the total dark. Holding the second lamp close, Kavala nodded, beckoning Caelum to go with her.

The Konti lead the way, opting first to exit her chambers and turn right heading down the next section of quarters where everyone else mostly lived. The hallway ended where it spilled into the bath past all the living quarters for easy access. Each room shared a privy beneath it, so there was no one about on a night restroom run as they walked down the hall in those wee hours. Kavala was counting on it. Inducting someone was personal, private, and merited no audiences. She also didn’t want to answer any questions nor have to feel obligated to induct anyone whom may or may not be ready for the ritual.

Together the pair passed through the arch that was at the far end of the hall, and entered the chambers. The bath was huge, built for multiple people, and more of a pool than naught. Kavala had cleverly designed it so fresh water continuously circulated, brought in by the power of an underground current, and heated as it passed through a device that she’d picked up in town. The device instantly heated the water to bath temperature and since the water circulated through it, there was no need for the device to maintain the heat since the stream carried the dirty contents or cool contents away. A more knowledgeable mage than Kavala would have known the hidden gem was magecrafted. All the Konti knew was that she’d paid a fortune for it and that it had been worth every penny.

They paused at the benches just inside the arch. Kavala pulled curtains back, blocking the entrance to the baths from anyone seeking to join them. Then she unbelted her robe and tossed it into a hamper to be laundered. Her blue silk nightshirt was next leaving her skin bare to the cool Within air. The Konti moved with efficiency, walking passed the changing area and over to a large wardrobe. There she took out two clean robes, hung them up for when the pair was done with their bath, and collected a tray. She moved to a large cupboard and began drawing out soaps, creams to clean ones hair, and even an defoliant. Then she added perfume and set the tray next to the water’s edge.

Finally, she removed clean towels from shelves designed for that purpose and laid them out on the edge of the pool as well. Next, and perhaps finally, Kavala wandered the parameter of the bath and lit the columns and columns of candles that resided there. Some were freestanding, but others were housed in alcoves and recesses that cast shadows in oddly patterned displays. The flickering light cast a glow upon the whole place, lighting it up in an almost sacred welcoming way.

Then, with a glance to Caelum, she knelt by the stone edge, gave a slight twist of her body, and slid into the steaming waters where she was able to swim a lap of the blissful water without surfacing. Kavala took her time, lazy, letting Caelum prepare himself mentally. She’d be playing the priestess here, purifying his body to receive the gift she was about to offer him. He’d need it, for the rite to come would be intense, even if Caelum had walked the path of power many times before.

When she surfaced, she was at the edge of the pool where she plucked soap from the tray and then moved towards the center of the pool. Her long hair, now wet, actually had a color to it that made it golden in the candlelight. The surface of the water reached the undersides of her breasts, gently splashing her as she waited for Caelum to enter the water. When she spoke, it was with a sacred undertone.

“My Lords. My Ladies. Hear us tonight. Caelum is going to cross a boundary he has yet to cross in this world. Though he’s been beyond its line many times and in many lives, we still recognize the significance of his soul deepening its power and influence in this life. Be with us on this night, as we prepare our bodies for that which is holy and take another step on the journey you have plotted for us.” And with that, she dipped the soap into the water and started stroking it across her skin. Kavala was not a dirty person. She bathed frequently between the hard work she did and the love she held for water. But this was more than that. This was an utter celebration of her body, of cleansing it so it too could become sacred space and be washed clean enough to touch Caelum and lead him over the threshold from one who did not control the elements to one that indeed did.

She took her time, covering every inch of her skin with soap. And in doing so recognized within herself that this was a meditation, a walk along a sacred inner path that was going to open up and give way to her transition from friend to priestess. Caelum was wiser than she was in many ways. He’d lived as many lifetimes if not more. But in this rite she had to take the leadership role because it was going to be her gift or res she was going to give him. And it was up to her to make sure he was absolutely ready.

“Every rite, I imagine, is different Caelum. You will be inducted by me tonight, but it will not be the same initiation you experienced before. The one you will have in the next life after you die in this one will never be the same as this one will be. They each will effect you differently and your body will respond in all kinds of unexpected ways. It is my hope that you welcome the gift I give you, which is a part of me given to you forever. You will not make res the same way you’ve made res in other lives, for the res you are going to be given will be my own, not that of previous teachers. Make sure you are ready. Make sure your body welcomes it. Mine is strong and fierce. Mine cares not for morals and sides. It is a living thing of its own will and well being. Understand that before you agree to this. Then enter this pool and let your body be purified if that is still your desire.” Kavala said,, her hands continuing to work soap into her body.

She looked better now… stronger. One would have never known that she’d been near death from starvation and illness just a short season ago. There were no bones showing and no gaunt spaces of ill health. Instead of flesh was firm and strong, chorded well with muscle and glowing in the candlelight with what could only be described as good health. She would induct him, as he asked, and the way she stood there fiercely purifying herself, he could tell it would be with all the powerful passion she contained.

Count: 1,950

[Caelum]

Though they walked through the halls of Within and roamed about the cavernous baths, praying all the while to many gods, between them quite a few who were beloved, Nikali was the constant within him. Her velvet hands pulled down the inside of his skin and he felt the quiet note of want for the great Dreamer. Jealousy made it a little sour and he smiled, apologetic, despite himself and let it pass. There were ever so many better desires to embrace tonight. When Kavala traversed the baths lighting candles, Caelum lifted one into his hand and carried it in the opposite direction. He touched flame to wick over and over in an echoing pattern to that which his friend was performing until eventually they met back again at the bath's edge. He sank into a crouch, a different man somehow when lit by fire. He had so many faces through so many ages and was well accustomed to transition of flesh with every nightfall and daybreak and churning change of a season. His lives piled so high that Death might break her claws on those he kept, and so she had and would again. But tonight he was alive, whatever his face, whatever his name, and in candlelight it could have been ever so many. Kasb'el, Ankal of the Sunsinger Pavillion in the Sapphire Clan. Yosef from the tents of Gowan, of the sons of Basalom. Ares, Gentris, Brigid, and the nameless ethaefal of Syna who had fallen into the first waters only to be slain by the Ruv'na before he could know land. They were only the beginning, and he did not yet known even all of their tales. But he would. He would seek them. He would remember. And Kavala now praying to all of their gods was the priestess who had turned him onto his rightful path like a key fit into the door of his destiny. He had smiled at her when she slipped into the bath, proud of the woman who wore candlelight like a cloak in the water. It seemed to make the world recognize her as the illuminate Caelum had long since known she was. One knee bent down from where he crouched, shifting him with fluid strength into a kneel so that he could add his prayer to hers. "Gods and goddesses of our hearts, we ask that you witness this evolution of your daughter and I's kinship into that which should exist between a priestess and her soldier. Ready and sustain us. We vow to use this magic in your service." Caelum did not often choose to pray aloud. In fact it might have been the first Kavala heard him to do it. He was a man who kept his orisons private and made worship with every piece of himself, the evidence of his devotion and dedication to the causes of his gods glaringly obvious to the initiated did they but gaze upon the paths he followed -- where he was going, where he had been, and where now he was choosing to make a stand. Nonetheless, Caelum's prayer came easily, reverberating through the baths not in the least bit rusty with ill use. Once he had sung so many of his prayers. His days of singing may return, but his days of battle had beat them to the start. He watched as Kavala bathed and purified herself both outward and in. It was in respect for herself, her magic, and the rite they were about to perform, but he knew it was also done out of respect for him. She wanted to be a worthy priestess to him and that knowledge rose up from the bottom of him, buoyed with hope. With her suggestion, he let his eyes close and drew air deep into his lungs. It was scented with beeswax and water and Kavala's chosen soap. He exhaled and located the center of himself, a quiet eye in the intricate storm weave of his soul. He imagined it to be his soulcore, the place from which he often braced himself in order to break his mind in sharp and perfect pieces to handle the multiple processing of thoughts and magics and situations so often inflicted upon his day to day routine. It had helped him not just with ranuri, but with the analyzing abilities of his mind. Once in that place of peace, temporarily not hounded by the questions that had ridden him for years, he examined the willingness of his instincts and self to accept such a wild gift as djed from Kavala. After a few minutes of contemplation, his eyes opened and a new smiled dawned. What minor reservations existed were laid to rest. That smile therefore was fierce and willing. He rose and hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his cotton pants. They were removed easily and some fastidious part of him even had him folding his pants before setting them aside so that he could slide into the water. There were muscles roping his lean limbs though he was not quite as tall as his ethaefal half. It was the strength of hard labor and years on the road, horseback and travel, fighting and toiling. Nikali's gnosis was finally fully visible where Kavala had seen only the piece that curled over the just of his left hip before. It unraveled all the way down, disappearing in the front into his groin and in the back curving down a buttock to twine once about his upper thigh and end. "I'm ready," he promised her.

[Kavala]

Kavala watched Caelum undress and enter the pool as she herself finished rinsing, letting the water in the pool slush itself away. The Konti was a fast ritualistic bather, but she had no idea how long Caelum tended to linger in the bath. It was personal for each individual for sure. And so as she replaced what was left of the glycerin soap she’d used in the basket, she lifted it and waded over to where he was to offer him his choice of soaps. She’d replaced the stock recently, adding a lot more masculine scents and things that reminded her of leather and oil and the outdoors. The men tolerated flowers and vanilla, but she had wanted to give them a bigger scent selection.

“The idea is to get the physical dirt off and let the mental dirt wash away for a time as well. Your body is sacred space tonight. Don’t forget that, Caelum, and treat it as such. I’ll be waiting when you are ready.” She said, letting him choose his soap and then replacing the basket on the edge of the tub in its place. Then she picked a comb from another basket, a bit of oil that was designed to condition, and began working out the tangles in her long hair, plaiting it wet and elaborately around the crown of her head.

Caelum could sense Kavala’s needs almost acutely in these close quarters as he took care of his cleansing. It was not her normal set of internal desires. She wasn’t hungry, thirsty, or anxious. She had no overwhelming need for protection and she certainly wasn’t aroused or feeling protective. In her she seemed filled with the overwhelming need to connect to the divine. It was an odd need, a unique sensation, until one realized that to Kavala the magic was like a divine experience and to her it was a form of worship of the land, the elements, along with their primary deities.

He could sense her deep love of Eyris flowing through her and a need for a connection to her knowledge, which was something that was not often in the forefront of Kavala’s mind. Nysel was there too, and after his experience in the Ukalas, Caelum could easily tell Kavala was one of those Nysel had to steal to get her affection. For it was there. She was in full seeker mode, but what she sought and needed was Caelum’s imitation. She longed to see him control the elements and gain the strength that came with that control.

After a time, Kavala rose from her reclining position on the edge of the bath – her hair elaborately braided around the crown of her head – and dried off. She pulled out a plain white robe and wrapped it around herself. Then, when Caelum was done, they both headed to The Sacred Circle.

Kavala left a light burning in the ritual space all the time. Some tended it, and others just added enough oil to the lamp to keep it going for days. Kavala lit a punt with it and carried the punt around the room lighting the incredible host of candles throughout the room. Then laid offerings at the feet of her Gods – flowers that someone had left on the main alter in the middle – and quietly said something to each. “Nysel… I do as you ask of me and induct Caelum. May his new found magic serve your needs well and keep him safe in the times that are to come.” She intoned, moving about the circle of stone pantheon on the wall. She stopped at Eyris and lit candles around the Goddess and flowers at her feet. “Eyris, lend Caelum your wisdom so he can always use that which he is about to receive in the best way possible. Give him the knowledge to know what true power is and when it is truly powerful not to use it.” She said, rising and moving on finally to Rak’keli. “Rak’keli, assist Caelum in the balance here so that he may never fall from his convictions and always be compelled to do the right thing for the right situation. May his hands and heart always be powerful in the healing they can do and the medicine they can perform.” With that she lit candles and laid flowers, inviting all three of her patron deities to join in the rite that night.

Then she walked to the center, waited for Caelum to do the same. When Caelum was done Kavala slipped off her robe and carefully folded it so she was naked before Caelum. Then she laid it over the alter and picked up a razor sharp blade. She spun the blade in her hands expertly, taking a moment to enjoy its weight and grip.

“I must give you Res. To do that, I must fit myself against you and open portals in our flesh for that to happen through. My res will teach your djed how to produce it. Without this sharing, you cannot learn. This sharing can kill you because sometimes Res will not be easily accepted. I do not give you a choice in this. We must do this… so I will not ask your permission. Nysel has requested it and I also know that it is what you want in y our own heart.” Kavala said, waiting for Caelum to slip his own robe. When he did, she carefully picked up his palm, linked her fingers in his in the hand that was not holding the blade, and when their hands joined, she arched her palm enough to slip the blade between them and simultaneously parted their flesh together with razor precision. Then, once the blood was flowing, Kavala pressed her palm against his. Instead of the wounds starting to close, they began to burn and res flooded from Kavala’s body into his.

There was pain from the cut and a burn from the res, but it was not like anything he’d expected to experience.

Kavala stepped closer, gently nudging his knees apart so she could step one half step to the side and slide a knee in between his legs next to one of his legs. She reached down between them, where the flesh touched and cut another big gash. Her opposite leg slid against his on the outside and her blade was there too making a slash. Their bodies sealed together where the blood and res touched as Kavala slipped against him. Their pelvises bumped together and the knife was suddenly digging into their bellies. Flesh parted, blood and res flowed, and their bodies sealed together.

Where her soft round breasts pressed against his hard pectorals two more cuts were made. Then finally, in a motion that had to be practiced, she grabbed his remaining free hand in hers – still clutching the dagger which was now inverted so she was holding it by the blade, and cut the remaining palms. The knife clattered, discarded, to the floor. Kavala took a deep breath as their remaining hands sealed together to feel every inch of his body with hers. It was the most intimate they’d ever been with each other. Kavala could feel his sex pressed into her lower stomach, his body utterly fitted against hers, and their hands clutching each others. The res flowed freely from her into him but she could tell it wasn’t enough. It never was.

The Konti looked up, caught Caelum’s eye, and rose to her toes without breaking the seal their bodies had formed with each other. In an almost aggressive motion, Kavala took Caelum’s lips with her own in a forceful demanding kiss. She wanted him to open to her, to relax, and if he did, he’d find himself inundated with res that flooded his mouth, spilling down his throat and into his stomach causing a fire to ignite deep and within him. Fire was perhaps the wrong word, for it burned hot and powerful, but it was explosive in nature and burst somewhere from the center of his body outwards as he absorbed more and more res from the Konti that held him to her.