An Unexpected Meeting [Nickolai Marin]

by **Black Onyx** on October 7th, 2014, 7:02 am

Day 81, Autumn, 514 AV
~The Docks, Six Bells

It had been a long night and the sun was only just rising, the yellow ball peeking up over the horizon of the ocean, dappling its waters with many colours. Colours such a yellow, red, peach and pink; colours that the rippled with the water as it gently swayed with the slow moving waves. With a soft groan, Black slowly seated herself upon a crate, an empty crate she hoped, before she returned her brown hues back to the rising sun. Syna, the sun goddess was beautiful, especially when she rose and fell. Not only was the ocean gently coated in her colours, but it also lit up the darkened sky, the dark blue and black chased off by the piercing colours to slowly reveal a light sky blue. A sigh settled upon her lips as she slowly relaxed, her right hand gently pressed against her left that was safely secured in a make-shift arm sling from a simple black scarf. A wince flittered over her features as she applied the slight pressure and she thought against it. Sometimes, not all of the time, she would visit the docks after a long night of doing what she was good at. Stealing purses.

However, it had been a fruitless night, her arm had caused more problems than she had ever wanted. She lightly bit down upon her bottom lip before she shook her head, silently cursing herself. It had gotten bad, her arm was taking its sweet time healing and because of that, it was a lot harder for her to steal anything. Her right hand lifted to brush back the hood from her head, her fingers brushing through her black tresses. She dropped her right hand, only to bury it into the folds of her cloak and she finally pulled out a silver linked bracelet with a small ruby as a charm. Her gaze dropped to view the bracelet, the sun’s razes reflected off of its surface and the corner of her lips twitched. It had once been her mother’s bracelet, a bracelet that her mother had given to her upon her first birthday. Shortly after, she had lost her parents and their killer had not been caught. Silently she placed the piece of jewellery in her lap and her fingers softly drifted over the metal before she looked back towards the rising sun in all her glory.

Half of Syna had cleared the horizon and she closed her eyes for a moment, her right hand now grasping at the bracelet with a tight grasp. So much had happened and it was beginning to whirl out of her control, something that scared her beyond belief. She had bonded with Jadlin, who had been looking for family at the time. Then, he had found family and she had received a burn for standing beside her bondmate, while Jad had soon confronted a bunch of thieves that had tried to kill him, but just sent him to the university’s infirmary. There she had found out that Ricky, was Jad’s brother and she had recognized Ricky because she had tried to pick pocket him. A frown creased over her forehead as she shook her head. There were just too many variables and it was beginning to worry her. Black had told herself to not get emotionally involved, but she had and now it seemed like the dominoes were falling over at a rapid pace, a pace that scared her. It made her feel weak to know that she couldn’t slow the pace, that she was defenseless against the falling dominoes. She could no longer control the events that were happening and that loss of control worried her.

by **Nickolai Marin** on October 7th, 2014, 7:55 am

81st Day of Fall, 514 AV

For those who had spent months traveling across the Wilds, the distinct aroma of salt upon the wind was a welcome change. It signaled the end to a long and grueling journey and the arrival into one of the most beautiful cities known to man. However, for the wayward son of this very city, the aroma only caused the quickening of his heart to a thundering pace. For him, this smell was far from being the key characteristic of Zeltiva...it was a reminder of the mistakes which caused him to flee the city in the first place. In those days long past, he was reckless, cocky, and sloppy. As a thief, Nickolai knew better than to be bold or hasty about his work; yet as a youth, he did exactly that. In the end, he was caught because of it and fled in order to save his hide.

In the years since, the young larcenist had made peace with the fact that he would never see his home again. He accepted the fact that he would simply have to settle somewhere new and begin to carve out a life for himself. However, Nickolai's meager acceptance of this reality came crashing down when he encountered the deceased form of his former beloved. She, Shalita, was his first...and her death shook him from the somber fate he had resigned himself to. Now, he had promised to live out his days for the both of them; and in order to do that, he had to go back to where their story began. When it came down to it, Nickolai loved Zeltiva and missed it beyond words...and now, he was back. However, a return to the city carried a monumental risk...

For someone, somewhere, might recognize his face and make him account for his crime.

Despite this risk, Nickolai sat up from where he laid upon the caravan's rearmost cart; stifling a yawn in the process. Only now had the sun begun its ascension into the heavens, denoting that they had been traveling all through the night. This, of course, was a first; but then again it was to be expected! After all, who wouldn't mind traveling all night if it meant reaching civilization the following morning? With a smile, the young larcenist sat in silence for the remainder of the voyage into the city itself, then promptly leapt from the cart with "sleepy finesse". Stumbling forward a few steps, the young larcenist righted himself before doling out the final payment of his fare to the caravaneer. Half at the start, half at the conclusion: a solid transaction if there ever was one.

The young larcenist then procured his modest sum of belongings, which amounted to the whole of his world stuffed inside a backpack, before striding off down the main road of the city. For awhile, he was simply content to wander about and lose himself to the memories of old...until one invaded his thoughts quite soundly. 'Twas the day he had met his daughter, Black, whom he had left behind all those years ago. Nickolai had adopted the child during the early stages of his adulthood and taught her everything he knew about larceny. When the time of his mistake came, Nickolai struggled with the choice of taking her with him or not...But ultimately chose to leave her behind. He was confident that she could survive, for she had the potential to become a better thief than he...and he was not even sure if he would survive as it was.

He only hoped that, now that he had returned, he could make things right...

Driven by these thoughts, the young larcenist made for the very dock where they had met. Slow, sluggish steps bore him along the way until coming to an eventual halt upon the sea-battered wood. Yawning aloud, Nickolai lowered himself to the ground and stared out across the waters...before noting that he wasn't alone. Turning his attention upon his "company", Nickolai decided to be a touch approachable this morning. "Good morning." he began, speaking in that same tone of voice that had remained unchanged over the years, "How are you?"
.

by **Perplexity** on October 8th, 2014, 3:49 am

.
Zeltiva.

The City of Sails.

It had many names but one thing remained true about the city that so rightly claimed to be beloved by glorious Laviku, it never forgot and seldom did it forgive. Where one journey came to an end another always began. The journey ahead? Who could say where it would lead. Only Lhex knew. The fact remained that as the earthy haired larcenist departed the caravan he did so under the watchful gaze of a quiet observer.

This individual had been waiting. This one had been silent taking careful note of the journey as they always had. A woman of advanced years she sat upon the bench of a wagon drawn by two horses. The reins rest in her hands lazily as she had no reason to worry her faithful horses would scurry off. In her other hand was a bleached bone pipe that she puffed thoughtfully watching the young man return to the city he so loved. A curious glint sparkled in her eyes as Syna’s blessed warmth caught her hazel hues. She smiled slowly bringing the pipe to rest between her teeth. Taking hold of the reins she nudged her horses in the direction of East Street.

She had work to do.

NoteDon't mind me...-whistles innocently-

by **Black Onyx** on October 8th, 2014, 3:55 am

A yawn fell across her lips while she simply watched the sun, quietly tucking away the bracelet that she had been holding, back into the folds of her cloak. She was somewhat tired, seeing as she had been up all night, but she didn’t want to sleep, not yet for she knew that Jadlin would be up doing whatever it was he was doing and if she went to sleep, her nightmares would return. While they were a repeat of an event, some details changed and the killer of her parents would chase her, or he would realize that she had been hidden away and kill her where she was, a rose pressed into her own hand. She shook her head as her right hand rubbed her face, trying to stay awake while the sun rose higher and was beginning to crest the horizon. The young thief heard the footsteps as another early riser, or so she assumed, came to sit upon the docks as well, but she didn’t tear her gaze away to view them, not yet. The docks were beginning to get busy with sailors rising themselves to prepare to set sail, some men even held their heads in shame as they stumbled to their ships because they had drank more than they should have the night before.

Her brown gaze turned to view the commotion and she was reminded of when she had slept upon the docks when she was just a child soon after her parent’s death. This had been the normal, she had also begged them to give her whatever they could, often going hungry instead of receiving anything. It was a time in her life that she would rather forget, but she just couldn’t, for her past shadowed her footsteps. It haunted her, reminded her why she had originally travelled down the path that she had. Suddenly, she heard a voice, a voice that she had thought echoed from her own memories, a voice that belonged to a man that had willingly adopted her as his own and had shown her the way of the thief. He had given her the tools to survive and she had never forgotten it when he had been forced to leave. Which was why she was slow to react, for she had thought that she had heard the words said within her own mind as she dwelled upon that fateful day upon the docks. That was until she realized that that was not how NiNi had approached her in her memory.

Slowly, she turned to face him, her brown hues widening as she spied the man beside her. He hadn’t changed that much, in fact, he had probably only aged a couple of years since she had last seen him. His voice still sounded the same and her gaze flickered over his form briefly. He appeared like he had been on the road for a bit and he looked tired, probably just as tired a she was at that point. However, he was as she thought he was, NiNi, her adoptive father, the one that had picked her up into his arms and showed her his way of life, taught her to survive. Happiness seem to flood over her features at seeing him and suddenly, the weight of everything that she had been feeling, had been lifted and no longer matter anymore. Her family had come home, something that she had thought would never happen. Slowly she moved to stand from her crate, only to sit down beside him and throw her right arm around him in a hug. She softly whispered her words so then no one else could hear them, for she didn’t want people to hear her when she called him by his name. ”NiNi… You’ve come home.”