A present for Verda

by **Drusilla** on March 14th, 2015, 12:31 am

"You are much as I envision Druvindri's grown into. Or what I hope he has become. I can't help feeling he'd be smitten by Azira if they met... He'd find her anger funny, I just know it..... I miss him." Drusilla's eyes looked on far away, wondering what her brother was doing that moment. "I don't even think he'd remember me... The twins wouldn't for sure... Devaddel, I wonder if he's alright. But Senella and their mother I will send them a trip to Dira herself. The female half of my family cannot be allowed to live." She grimaced at the thought of them.

"Gifts come from the heart, Verda. They don't have to be flashy or frivolous. I believe if you went and simply bought Chickadee a new vinati or sandals, she would be happy beyond belief all because it came from you. Now that you share a space you must know what clothes she needs. How about this, I'll tailor Khara a new outfit for a gift. Nothing fancy but because it's from you it will mean the world to her... Or even get her some new strips for scouting." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Did you know Symenestra love flowers and are very picky about them? I'm confidant you won't pick anything with ill meaning. Stick to well known flowers, Verda. A single rose is always nice. But then daisies or tulips are nice too. I'd be more than happy to pick flowers with you. Just say when, and I'll help!"

"Yes I do! The day I met Chickadee I showed her mine and explained that Kalinor is lit not by candles but by these stones. She seemed fascinated by the concept of Kalinor." She grinned. "This one is small compared to the orbs in Kalinor but I figured that would be good enough for a room in the Commons."

by **Zhol** on March 14th, 2015, 8:01 pm

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Zhol supposed that there had to be someone out there, in the big wide world, who would think of Azira as anything but terrifying, though he had to feel sorry for Druvindri if Drusilla's assumption was true. It also worried him a little as far as what Drusilla thought about him: how could he and Druvindri be alike at all, if her other brother was capable of falling for Zhol's greatest nemesis?

As Dru spoke about her stepmother however, Zhol's mood sobered. There was an unsettling edge whenever Drusilla spoke about them; a dangerous quality that was so unlike the otherwise peaceful and affectionate Symenestra that he had come to know. He understood why, of course, but couldn't help wondering just how badly someone would have to harm or offend Drusilla and her loved ones to incur that same wrath.

As the subject changed to gifts and clothes, Zhol gave what Drusilla said careful and considerate thought. He knew how nervous and self-conscious Khara had been at the prospect of owning any clothes beyond the simple mandatory ones that the city had issued her. As far as Khara was concerned, nice clothes weren't meant for people like her. Yet, Zhol had seen her wearing them, the smile that hid itself behind her nervousness when Zhol saw her; the accidental confidence when her anxiety was briefly distracted. It was like part of her had realised how beautiful she looked, and had gone to war with the notion that she didn't deserve to. Even the few simple items she had added to her wardrobe during the Winter, similar to what she normally wore, except brighter, prettier, and more flattering; even they had been a struggle for her, and Khara had yet to really wear them without hiding herself beneath her katinu, save for a few private moments when it was only the two of them.

"She would look beautiful in a dress," Zhol said quietly, almost timidly, "But I do not know if she would be happy, or comfortable. She does not like people to notice her, even me sometimes. I would worry that -" He frowned, trying to select his words. "I would not want to buy a gift for her that was secretly a gift for me."

A breath of mirthless laughter escaped him. "I am not even sure I have the right to ask her such things. If I am not comfortable dressing like an Inarta, I should not try to stop her dressing as one. She does not need fancy clothes anyway, she is already pretty without them."

A single moment passed before Zhol realised the accidental poor choice of words that he had made; his face rapidly turned pink, and then pinker still as his memory offered flashes of just how much of Khara he had already seen. He remained very quiet as Drusilla talked about flowers, and about her glowing stones, hoping desperately that he would stop blushing before she noticed.

by **Drusilla** on March 14th, 2015, 9:45 pm

"Verda, may I ask what kind of a dress she'd like? I mean I will ask her but I am curious what you think she would look nice in. Confidence can only grow with time and with people who help cultivate it." Drusilla nodded to herself. "Time is plenty and we both wish to see her bloom to her fullest beauty. The flower that blooms late, is the prettiest of them all." She turned to Zhol, "I see you worry about getting something that you are pleased to see her in, but that she would feel uncomfortable in. That is understandable."

Drusilla stopped to think over Zhol's words and find the best answer she could give to his comment about dressing as an Inarta. She herself found it hard herself to dress like one. She pursed her lips still thinking. "But you are not trying to stop her from dressing as one all the time... Just once in awhile. New fashion can be fun. You are right though, she is pretty even without fancy clothes on. She has a natural beauty that shine through no matter her garb." She stopped for a moment, "If I was an Inarta, I would hope to look much like Khara.... Many of Inarta have sharp features where as Khara's are softer... Delicate and soft... Verda I believe I know what flower to get Chickadee! A flower so delicate and beautiful only a true gardener can grow and sustain it." Drusilla smiled, "The Orchid."

"Verda, in honor of what my people would call your Vezanya. Or your being with Khara, allow me to find you an orchid as a present of my blessings for your home. At least allow your sister to do this, to honor your love and I shall do nothing else unless asked." She bowed her head, this was a formal request.

by **Zhol** on March 15th, 2015, 10:39 pm

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What kind of dress? Wasn't a dress just... a dress? Wasn't a dress just one long clothes thing that started on the top half and just kept going all the way to the floor? Zhol had seen dresses, maybe, once or twice in passing. Some people wore them for weddings or parties or such things in Endrykas, but mostly people wore practical clothes, suited for living in tents and travelling on a regular basis. Wind Reach was much the same: aside from Drusilla, the only people he'd seen wearing anything other than a bryda and vinati had been passing glimpses; barely enough to notice that they were wearing a dress at all, let alone appreciate the subtleties well enough to discern what kind it was.

"I don't think I know enough about them to know what she would like," he admitted, sheepishly. Or about her, a cruel voice in his mind added, making his gut twist with guilt, and leaving him wondering if even after all their endless evenings spent learning more about each other, he still did not know even the simple things that he should.

He shuffled a little at the rest of what Drusilla asked; what he thought she would look good in. That he could answer, at least a little; though thoughts of the way they'd celebrated the arrival of the new year flashed through his mind and brought colour to his cheeks once again. "Her shoulders are pretty," he explained, nervous, conscious of how strange a thing it was to say. "Her neck and her shoulders are -" Elegant? Beautiful? Perfect? Carved by the gods? Wonderful to kiss? Addictive. "- nice."

Zhol was glad when Dru's mind wandered to something else, the thought of his shortcomings as Khara's... whatever he was - they really needed to think up a name to describe them - weighed on his mind far more than he liked. He puzzled at her mention of orchids, not something he had ever really heard of before; but delicate and beautiful was a description of Khara that he agreed with wholeheartedly. "Vezanya?" he asked, frowning; wondering if it was a word he could actually find a use for. "What does that mean?"

by **Drusilla** on April 17th, 2015, 11:29 pm

"In common just simply 'tied together' but it means much more than that... It.. Well, when you love someone a part of your being is tied to the one you love, and I don't mean sexually or anything. Like something more, something not even physical or even visible! It's hard to describe it outside Symenos." She sighed.

"When a male Symenestra finds a girl he wants to be with and they've dated and such. They tie ribbons on one another." Drusilla pointed to Zhol's wrist, "Much like that except higher on the arm it means they intend to marry. You can understand how growing up with that custom and then seeing your wrist with a ribbon I could be confused. As I know very little of your culture's rituals."

She smiled and gave a nod, "So you'd like to see Khara wear a sleeveless dress then? Or maybe a wrap dress... Khara could pull it off with her body shape... I'll have to ask her if she'd like to try this idea."

Getting up from her seat Drusilla made her way to the colt in the closest stall, Solo. After giving the colt some deserved attention she looked to the strange horse that had made noise when she had entered the stables. "That angry one, what sort of horse is he?"

by **Zhol** on April 19th, 2015, 8:39 pm

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Tied together? Zhol turned that notion over gently in his mind. He didn't know anything about ribbons or anything like that, but the sentiment those words seemed to convey was familiar. He felt as if he was tied to Khara. Every time he thought of her, he felt a tugging on his heart as if there was a rope around it, tied to her; a rope that pulled him towards her, dragged him to be with her; drew him into her arms at every opportunity; one that he had to fight against every single time they parted. Maybe that was just how love felt. Maybe that's what people meant when they said that their heart belonged to someone - that their heart was on the end of a leash, the one they loved drawing it along in their wake. Maybe it was more than that; he'd heard people talk about how their souls were intertwined, or their fates oven together. Either way, it was a sentiment that he liked, even if it did sound an awful lot like a betrothal, which was far more committed and serious than he was willing to even hope that Khara believed they were.

Zhol didn't have an answer as Drusilla speculated on the kind of dress that would best suit Khara. Any kind of dress, all kinds of them, would look absolutely beautiful on her. He knew that unlike his sisters, Khara would not be worried so much about how much of her a dress might put on display: like the rest of Wind Reach, Khara was more or less comfortable to be seen wearing nothing in the baths, so a little extra shoulder or collar bone revealed that a vinati would otherwise have hidden didn't seem like something that would phase her. The very concept of a dress though, the very notion of wearing clothing that was intended for beautiful situations and beautiful people, would require Khara to admit that she was one of those; and that seemed like it would be the far greater obstacle. He only hoped he'd be able to find a way to help her climb over it. For Zhol's sake, he didn't care what she wore: just that she felt as beautiful wearing it as she was through his eyes.

It took Zhol a moment to decipher which angry one Drusilla was referring to; his shoulders sagged a little as he realised who. "That's Bucky," he said with a hint of tiredness in his sigh. "He's not a horse exactly, he's a mule. That means his mother was a horse, but his father was -" He smiled a little at the visual of how awkward mating between two such mismatched sizes of animal must look. "- a donkey, which is a short, stubby animal. Donkeys look like horses, but they're a little different. It's like the difference between a human and a Symenestra I suppose: they look similar from the outside, and they're similar enough on the inside to reproduce together, but they have very different traits. A mule is supposed to be the best parts of both, but Bucky is, well..."

He trailed off and sighed. It wasn't quite the correct terminology - not in Common, at least - but it suited Bucky so well. "He's an ass. He's one of the pack animals that helps carry food up from the hydroponic gardens, but he's been a little stubborn about it lately; been causing trouble for the Dek and Chiet that are supposed to handle him."

by **Drusilla** on May 7th, 2015, 11:20 am

"Ah! I see! Bucky is the worst of the ass horses! He sounds so strange. An Ass Horse... Bucky is an Ass Horse, I shall remember that." She nodded to herself. "Are there many Ass horses? I mean in general. Are they frowned on like Dras? That's what a half Symenestra is called..." She informed Zhol.

Curiosity got the better of her. Leaving her shoes where they were, Drusilla skittered up the side of the wall and made her way warily to Bucky. "Versda, how do you say 'ass-horse' in Pavi?" Drusilla asked innocently. "I cannot greet him properly unless I know how to say it in Pavi."

The mule brayed at the strange creature on the wall beside him. Cocking her head Drusilla tried to mimic the odd noise with an odd noise of her own. "MMMRRRAAAAAAAAHHHYY!!!" The sound echoed in the stables and the mule backed away from Drusilla. Whatever this thing on the wall was it was crazy and noisy. Bucky lowered his ears.

Once she was satisfied with her mimic of Bucky, Drusilla went about greeting the horses in Pavi as she had last time. "Greetings! Greetings! Greetings!" With each a hand sign. While she came closer to the horses, Drusilla was still unsure of most of these horses. However she did get to her feet in Solo's stall. Solo was trustworthy and could be touched without worry of getting trampled. She began to play with the horse's hair. "Pretty~ Pretty~ Solo~"

by **Zhol** on May 20th, 2015, 12:01 am

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It was a real struggle to stop himself from chuckling. Ass-Horse wasn't quite the right usage of the terminology, but it was too perfect an insult for Bucky, and he couldn't bring himself to correct Drusilla on it. "Ass-Horse," he offered, as Drusilla asked how to phrase her new term of insulting endearment in Pavi. Zhol never spoke to Bucky in that language, as a deliberate show of disrespect to the stubborn ass; in a way though, that made ass-horse all the more delicious.

The mirth didn't fade from Zhol's eyes as he watched Drusilla making her way around the stables, trying to communicate to the mules and horses in their native language - a full laugh escaped from him as Drusilla's horse impression echoed around the stables - before reverting to her pigeon attempt at Pavi. Bucky seemed genuinely startled by Drusilla's outburst of noise though, and Zhol wasn't so utterly heartless and devoid of compassion towards the creature to simply stand there and let it suffer. As Dru moved away, Zhol stepped over to Bucky's stall, offering a gentle stroke of his hand down the side of the mule's neck. The animal flinched at first, but Zhol persisted. "Easy there, Buck," Zhol reassured softly, continuing his rhythmic efforts until the tension in the mule began to visibly fade. "No need to worry, it's just Drusilla."

Carrying on until he was satisfied that Bucky wasn't about to wig out and start braying and donkey-kicking frantically, Zhol eventually stepped away, following Drusilla over to where she had stopped, beside Zhol again. Her demeanour towards him had changed considerably; rather than wary of the towering mammal, she had begun idly playing with his hair. To his credit, Solo stood there, patient and tolerant, letting the strange spider girl do whatever she wanted. As their eyes met, Zhol understood why; Solo would be expecting all manner of treats and special treatment to repay him for his good behaviour.

"It's a shame he's not a strider," Zhol said aloud, aiming his voice at Drusilla. It was meant as an idle comment, but the words twisted around and stung at him. It really was, in a way: the relationship that Zhol had with Solo was as close to the relationship between a strider and a Drykas that Zhol had ever had. Were Solo a strider instead of a more conventional horse, perhaps Zhol might actually have found the one creature that would make it so that his old family back in Endrykas would have thought of him as a person, instead of a failure.

Zhol's tone softened as he came alongside Drusilla, managing to keep his thoughts completely hidden, and drawing on his amusement at Dru's actions to maintain the smile on his face. "Striders have hair almost as long as yours," he clarified. "You can do far fancier things braiding a strider's mane than you can with a horse like Solo."

by **Drusilla** on May 28th, 2015, 1:09 pm

"Ass-horse! Bucky is Ass-horse! Solo is horse! Ass-horse. Horse." Drusilla repeated over and over practicing her Pavi. She stuttered the next word as it was a first attempt at saying it, "P-pruh-pretty Solo. Solo is pruh-pretty horse." Stopping she focused on the word, "Pru-pretty... Pre-pretty... P-pretty... Pretty... Pretty! Solo is pretty horse!" It was a small victory, but a victory none the less. Every new word spoken was a victory.

Drusilla idly played with Solo's mane as she thought over her Pavi. It gave her fingers something to do, as they were always moving in some way. The idle playing slowly became braiding as she listened to Zhol speak about Solo and a thought formed. "Versda, did you not say that Solo had a mix of heritage? That he was far from a pure blood? If that is so, could there be any chance that somewhere in that mix... There is Strider blood? Maybe not close, but his great grandparents perhaps? I don't believe it would be that hard to have happen." She smiled at Solo and reached out and patted him softly on the nose.

"My own hair would be longer had it not been cut after my injuries acquired during the Djed Storm.. I had a broken wrist and my hair got tangled and had debris stuck in it. I couldn't properly take care of it, and had it cut." Drusilla shrugged to herself, "Who knows how long it would of been if that had never happened... Or maybe it wouldn't of changed anything, that's possible too."

by **Zhol** on June 25th, 2015, 2:15 am

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Zhol almost disagreed; almost pointed out that Striders were from a world away, and that Solo was more than likely something far more mundane. He stopped himself however; there was a Strider in the Wind Reach stables, Nadar, the regal old stallion that belonged to the Stablemaster, from whom Hansi had echoed the occasional Endal tradition of adopting his mount as his last name. Zhol had interacted with the old Strider rarely; Nadar was advanced in years - perhaps more so than Zhol, even; quite a considerable age for a horse - and Hansi was fiercely protective of him, rarely trusting anyone but himself with the Strider's care. Hansi did not regard his stallion with quite the same reverence as a Drykas would, nor did he revere it as equal to a wind eagle in prestige, but he certainly considered it superior to the other stable residents. Often, Zhol had wondered how a Strider had come to be in Hansi's ownership, and if the Stablemaster had named him - something he withheld from the other, more expendable horses - or if Nadar had possessed a name already. Any attempts to ask such question had always been grunted away however, leaving Zhol none the wiser.

Zhol remained silent as Drusilla spoke about her hair, and the forced amputation it had undergone after the Djed Storm. He fought the urge to wince as she spoke of it; to Drusilla, it seemed to be something that she could shrug away, but to a boy from Endrykas, the loss of hair was not nearly so trivial.

"Well, next time you find yourself entangled, come and find me. When you grow up with as many sisters as I did - particularly adventurous ones like mine - you learn a thing or two about unravelling tangles and liberating errant twigs and such. Hair is how the Drykas display their status; if it needed to be cut off every time one of them stuck their head in a bush and turned their hair into a bird's nest, our father would never have let them leave the tent. An array of short-haired daughters would be quite the scandal."

Closed A present for Verda