swallowing the moon.

[Caelum]

"You have to love them, Caelum," She said in his soul. "All of them, without judgment or attachment. That is the paradigm, the wholeness, of the healer's path." - Rak'keli, upon marking Caelum. The moon was caught in pond water. It was fat and yellow and every time the slender fish surfaced to steal a tadpole the water would ripple and the moon would wiggle in the night. Cicadas sang a haunting song and the only other whispers belonged to the wind that walked through the tall grasses and bent them beneath its steps. Propped in the crack of a rock easily as old as the moon was a fishing pole and a bit of twine coasting at an angle into the water. Not a single fish was stupid enough to bite. The fisher sat cross legged on the bank with a star in either hand. The one in his right pulsed like a baby's heartbeat, too fast to follow with breath alone; and the star in his left hand did not flicker so much as it grew and waned and grew again, plodding and deep. The right star was a whirring puff of pale yellow light and the left a blood red reminder of death. The fisher sat up a little straighter and canted his chin to the right, studying the infant star intently. All of the light in his hands reflected off of the gold flecks in otherwise velvet dark eyes. His hair was brown but seemed colorless in the black. Night had crawled up out of the ground hours gone, placing hands of pitch all over the sky. It streaked the fisher in places, but it was unable to consume him. There was a star inside of his skin, after all, the sun of Mizahar that gave his skin a golden glow despite the human frailty of his form. He wore no horns. The moon wanted nothing with the ethaefal and was interested only in the Drkyas whose windmarks were stories otherwise long lost to the world. If this was not dreaming and the fisher not a dreamer, then perhaps the collection of gnosis marks he could claim in this life would have been evident upon his flesh. He was bare to the waist, strong, lean muscle and handsome with vitality. There were a few broken blades of grass sticking the soles of his feet. The left star -- the old and weary red one -- was tossed into the air and allowed to bob and float so that he could better examine the right star. It fluttered and whirled about his hands, chasing its comet tail the way a kitten might. The fisher's ancient eyes narrowed and his young face came further into the light. He caught the flying star with a quick-snapping fist and in a single, graceful motion, he leaned forward to slap it down onto the surface of the pond. It solidified beneath his touch, turning to shining ice. The moon's glow seemed to brighten and the whizzing little star settled into its place in the mirror of the night sky. "Eight billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine stars to go." The fisher smirked. The pond rippled into water again and he cupped his hands around his mouth and called the red and weary star back down.

[Tazi]

She felt lost, more so than ever before. This feeling was not strange to her, but the amplification of hopelessness was concerning. Tilting her head up towards the blanket of stars above her, she pondered what was out there. All her life, she had known only what she had been taught. How to eat, how to talk, how to walk, and various other basic lessons. Even the knowledge she had gained on her had been taught in some fashion. Everything had a purpose, yet why did she lack such purpose in the world. The hopeful woman dreamed for more.

Standing in the nude seemed strangely appropriate at this moment. Her feet fell upon the earth with little feeling as she meandered through the tall grasses. This place was different than the jungle. She could see for great distances around her and the stars shined above her like billions of people from the past looking down on her. Somehow, she knew that each one of those stars had a purpose. Would she somehow shine, flicker, and glow like those above her? Or would she fade into the dark blanket around them?

As she wondered, a star fell from it's place, shooting in the direction she had been walking. Curious to see if it would have answers for her, she found herself running after the tail. Eventually the grass gave way to a sandy bank around a lake. It was here that she noticed she was not alone. A blip of red light glowed from the strangers side of the lake, drawing her in. She couldn't help but step into the water, letting the liquid drift up to her ankles as she followed the bank around to the light. Like a child, innocent and naive, she approached in all her glory. Eventually she stopped a few feet away, the ripples she generated disturbing the pictures that were reflected in the lake.

"Are you the star that just fell? Do you have wisdom to share?" Her voice spoke neither Myrian nor Common. She simply spoke what felt right, and in a tone filled with curiosity and desire.

----
Dream Language

[Caelum]

"The only true wisdom is that we know nothing."

Tazi's star man looked up, a smile illuminating his face. It was impossibly charming. The red star bobbed above his head, fat and languid with waiting even while a brand new yellow star popped eagerly between his hands. Pale sparks shot out through his fingers to fall into a revolution there. He considered her for a long while in silence, studying even the water that lapped at her ankles and the alluring shape of her skyclad form. Appreciation warmed his eyes and he tilted his head in invitation for her to come closer to where he sat cross legged on the bank.

"I am the star that fell," he agreed. "And at dawn maybe I'll rise again. Come sit with me. Tell me what you call yourself."

Interest rippled through him even as the wind responded in kind, rustling a chorus through the canopy of gnarled branches. It dropped fistfuls of leaves upon them and two landed in the water and lit like matches. They elongated as Caelum watched, smile faded with focus on what he shaped here, elongating the glowing leaves into twisting snakes whose wings sprawled out and up in abrupt triumph once their formation was complete.

"We have company," he relaxed again, smiling contently over at his visitor while continuing to cup the infant star in both hands. It spat a fresh round of sparks and he gave it an absent shake as if to chastise it.

[Tazi]

She felt like she was talking to a God. He had come from the heavens, and had the looks that were stunning enough to have fallen from the stars. His smile made her blush, and the red hue made certain spots on her skin darken. Slowly, she approached as she was bid to . The water, having never been higher than her ankles ebbed away as she pushed up the pebbly beach towards him. She eventually settled herself down before him, sitting on her knees and staring up at him. His features captivated her a moment as she took him in, before reverting the eyes to the playful stars he had about him. It was these stars that confirmed her suspicions that he was a god. Only gods could play with the heavens so freely.

"I am Tazi, formerly of the Scattered Bones Clan," She started, her voice trailing as sorrow crossed her eyes. She had no home, no place in this world. There was nothing here for her, even in a place as pure and light as this. Turning her head to focus on their 'company', Tazi was somewhat alarmed to see flying serpents. Having only known Dhani her entire life, snakes were evil and vile creatures. Yet, it was not fear that gripped her as they twisted to life. Boldly, she reached out a hand for one, which crawled upon her open palm towards her shoulder.

"I have no home. I am a lonely wanderer with no purpose. Do you by chance know what my purpose is? Or maybe you are so wise that you know nothing of my purpose." Tazi purred, reaching her other hand to stroke the winged serpent beneath it's head. Such a strange and deadly concept, to give snakes wings.

----
Dream Language - Myrian

[Caelum]

"Some call me the Hierophant," Tazi's dreamer offered.

Dark eyes watched as one of the rakanivas went curiously to Tazi, climbing and exploring. It was clear that an investigation was being performed with every delicate flicker of the snake's tongue against her bare skin. The creature was scenting her, mapping her even, interested in all of the details that made up Tazi, formerly of the Scattered Bones Clan.

"But to be honest I have a lot of names, some of them more real than others. The Hierophant is one of my truest, but it seems rather formal to me." A smile flickered in the infant starlight sparking up from his hands. "There's a little girl in a place where the wind walks through great fields of grass who calls me Hiero in her dreams. Still another, a sailor with the salt of Black Rock like grit between his teeth, named me Singer a few nights past. Perhaps you'll name me too. I wouldn't mind. Then we'd have a common calling, wouldn't we?"

The second rakanivas slithered elegantly through the grass and into the dreamwalker's lap. Elegant and strong, the winged snake began to twist up his torso and over his shoulder until its head could slid down the length of one muscled arm towards the star still gripped in the dreamer's hands.

"The rakanivas are friends of mine here," he told her. "I have never met one outside of dreaming, but I like to imagine that if I did they would be as curious and fond of me as I am of them."

Slowly, he opened his hands. It was like a day flower blooming, fingers painted gold in the star's light. It sizzled and vibrated as if preparing to fly, but instead the rakanivas struck swift and deadly, jaws closing. It swallowed the star and began to glow from within.

"Why do you wander? What happened to your home, Tazi? It seems to me perhaps you too should be renamed." Eyebrows rocked gently upward and his eyes remained intent upon Tazi's face as he laid out his questions in a series of investigative chords, gently but purposefully probing his way to the center of her. "No one ought to be called by what they used to be. There should be no formerly in your name. You deserve a name that represents what you are now. I don't know how wise I am --" And here his smile sharpened with self deprecation. "But I know this much. You are what you make yourself, and you make yourself in accordance to your purpose. Let's find it, shall we?"

[Tazi]

Hierophant. Such a strange name, but he was a star man. It seemed fitting for a creature that had been in the heavens only minutes ago, sat playing with stars in his hands, and allowed great, winged snakes to join their company. From where she came from, snakes were fearsome things, to be killed on sight. They were not to be trusted, yet here she was, a snake entwining itself about her arms. Although she barely felt its tongue play with her skin, every once in a while it would bend one of the light hairs on her arm in a way that made her skin crawl. Of course, it was in a good way. While the snake slithered her way around, she played with his name on her lips, feeling it on her tongue without emitting a sound. Tazi had difficulties, and settled to pronounce it as ‘Hero.’ With his invitation to call him Hiero, she felt more comfortable with her decision.

“I shall have to come up with a name for you, Hiero. Something near and dear to my heart as your are my first star man,” Tazi chimed in lightly, playing with the winged serpent. A rakanivas. She had never heard of the species before, but clearly her star man had. He knew them, almost like they were his pets. He mentioned that he had never met them outside of this place. Outside of dreams. ”Dreaming? We are dreaming? This is the first time I’ve had a dream in such a long time. Maybe they are special dream creatures then, and serve you, great Hiero. As a star man, one must have some loyal worshipers. Maybe these rakanivas are your humble servants. Or maybe they aren’t.”

She toyed again with the one she was playing with while the other serpent sat on Hiero’s lap. With fascination, she watched as it opened its great mouth, unhinged its jaw, and swallowed the glowing blip whole. The light did not go out, and she watched it slide down the length of its body that could be considered the throat. As he spoke of her home, she lowered her gaze. For the first time this evening, in the complete nude, she felt cold. Even the water had been warmer than the feelings of home. ”I was disowned and exile for my unnatural ways, your Brightness. I had a calling, but in a society that is built around bloodshed, war, triumph, and murder, how can a lone healer make a difference? Thus, I have no purpose for that flower cannot bloom the way I would like. Instead, it withers, and dies.”

The serpent, as if feeling her chill, crept further up her body until it draped itself around her neck. As if understanding she was nude, it covered up her breasts for her. It made her smile, to think that the serpent was trying to be decent for her. Lifting her eyes again, they glimmered with a dying sadness. ”I am sorry to lay my sorrows before you. If your Brilliance will forgive me, maybe you would continue to have my company. I am sure you will be entertained by my naïveté.”

----
Dream Language - Myrian

[Caelum]

The dreamer watched his companion with acute interest. A hand flowed lightly over the body of the rakinivas and it glowed beneath his touch, still pulsing with the star it had swallowed. The glow began to imbue even the serpent's wings, traveling slowly up through the arch to the pinions to spark and gutter in a way that caused the dreamer to grin. The expression was horribly bright.

"I think, Tazi, we have found your proper calling for me," he said slowly as the pieces of their puzzle began to fall into place. Behind the Myrian, the pond shimmered and glowed and the fat yellow moon reflected within it began to pry itself up. It bubbled and squirmed, flapping a little at the edges, and made slow but proper progress.

He watched this for a minute before returning his regard to Tazi. "Healer," he said simply, and spread out his hands to her, reaching for her own. "These snakes don't belong to me. They will only obey my commands if it is their will to do so, but are in no way otherwise compelled. I know this because they are from the Ukalas, crafted by the divine hands of the goddess Rak'keli. She is the dark sister of Avalis and her domain is that of healing and health. She holds concepts of conviction high in her regard, and I daresay she would like you very much did you seek her favor."

He turned his right hand over in hers and upon its back writ a swirling gnosis mark in opalescent gold. It depicted one of the winged snakes, coiling about his hand and spiraling down his wrist.

"As a healer, I have her regard," he explained. "This is a mark of it she's laid on me. It gives me permission and access to a small piece of her power so that I can use it to heal what is wounded in this world. And she asks --" He met her eyes, his brows rising to underscore his words. "Only that I heal without judgement or reserve. All are deserving of good health. Even the darkest and most volatile of hearts deserves to a willing healer."