Stumble Upon (Conrad)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"I think I will be fine," he said, though he didn't protest being sat back down. "I have a thick skull." At least, that's what his grandmother had always told him. His Strider craned her neck to whuffle through his lengthening hair, then bent her head down to crop the turf. The Windrunner trotted over to feast in companionable silence, ever the herd animal. "Well," he continued after a moment to assess the state of his brain, "I can show you to the Whitefeather Pavilion of the Opal Clan. They are herbalists and healers and they know the local flora better than most. The Opal Clan has our best healers, you know." It felt strange to be speaking in Common again now that Aiken was gone. "I can give you directions if you don't think I can show you, but I can ride without falling." In fact, he had kept in his saddle with worse injuries, and Horse had not let him fall. Though with Dohaina he only rode with an yvas, he was sure that she would be even more careful not to let him drop. Now, of course, they were both bareback for his acrobatic stunts, but neither would mind that for a while.

[Conrad]

Conrad chuckled as the boy mentioned having a thick skull.
"I think I can vouch for that, you fell of a horse and only had a light head wound, thank your dad or mom for that tick skull later when you meet them again." He smiled at the boy and patted him on the shoulder. Happy sama'el decided to sit down for a while. his intrest peaking when the boy began to talk again.
"I can show you to the Whitefeather Pavilion of the Opal Clan. They are herbalists and healers and they know the local flora better than most. The Opal Clan has our best healers, you know." A wide smile spread on Conrad's face as he heard that. He had to restrain shaking the boy in his excitement.
"I can give you directions if you don't think I can show you, but I can ride without falling."
Conrad began nodding so fast even the most open minded people would have looked at him like he had grown a second head.
"Sure you could ride while I walk beside you. I doubt that you would fall out of the saddle." Conrad continued to say, having not noticed the lack of a saddle on the horses, or whatever would have counted as one by the drykas.
"So lets get you up on one of those horses of you and get going?"
He grabbed the boy's shoulder the lessons of his father still hanging around in his brain.
"of course only if you feel good enough for it, you got a headace? fussy vision? anything other that isn't normal?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Just a little achy," he assured Conrad, manning up as it were. With the other lad's help, he stood up. "You can ride Horse," he said, indicating the Windrunner stallion, "while I ride Dohaina. That way you won't have to walk." If the man couldn't ride, it was no great thing. Sama'el could teach him enough that he wouldn't fall off of Horse's back as they ambled around the Opal Clan's tents. "We have to ride through a few other clans to get to the Opal Clan, so I can point out other things to you..."

[Conrad]

Conrad sweated a bit at the prospect to get on a horse again, his last memories not really that soothing.
"I really don't have a problem with walking really. Besides, I doubt my little buddy would like that I would sit on a horse, that or he will mock me when i fall off." Conrad gave an embarrassed chuckle as he said that. Knowing how pathetic the excuse sounded, though he really wasn't about to try again to climb upon a horse. Falling off hurts like hell.

"We have to ride through a few other clans to get to the Opal Clan, so I can point out other things to you..." Sama'el continued to speak and conrad gave him an interested look.
"You said the opal clan where the healers right? Then what are the other clans and what do they do?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el didn't push young Conrad into climbing back on the horse, even if that was how one learned to do things. Risk, fail, risk again. In order not to overly concern his erstwhile medic, he said, "Down," to Dohaina in Pavi, and she quickly knelt down low so he could throw his leg over her barrel without risking another fall from dizziness. "Up," and she rose again. Sama'el patted her shoulder and offered an only slightly discombobulated smile to Conrad. Nudging Dohaina with his heels, she started off toward the huge Drykas encampment; he whistled, and Horse followed. "There are seven Drykas clans," he said, almost in a sing-song as he had memorized things as a small boy. "Topaz keeps the laws, Ruby crafts, Emerald hunts, Opal heals, Diamond fights, Amethyst raises the herds, Sapphire keeps the mysteries. Of course," he added after a pause, "there is a lot of intermixing. We all have to do everything, especially when pavilions leave Endrykas for any amount of time, but we do specialize somewhat. We're coming up on the Amethyst pavilions..." He was trying to impress some of the Amethyst breeders with the skill of Dohaina and Horse as much as his own, hoping to earn stud fees for Horse, which would help him afford his new pavilion.

[Conrad]

Conrad just watched in amazement as the horse listened to sama'el's every word. He glanced at his parrot a questioning look on his face.
"Why aren't you that well behaved little buddy?" He poked the parrot in the ribs, who just gave an annoyed squawk and inched a bit away from the offending finger.
"Hands of the good's pall!" The parrot said, giving the finger a rather hostile glance. Snapping his beak shut, clearly stating that he would bite if he did it again soon.
"Sheesh! Don't ruffle your feathers now." Conrad just held up his hand in a gesture of peace, hoping to calm down his buddy.
"You sure are cranky today, didn't sleep well?" He carefully asked his parrot, hoping not to set him off again. Conrad sighed when the parrot just tucked his head under his wing, not willing to hear him out.
"Yup, not enough sleep." Conrad just walked after Sama'el and listend as he began to tell him about the clans.
"Topaz keeps the laws, Ruby crafts, Emerald hunts, Opal heals, Diamond fights, Amethyst raises the herds, Sapphire keeps the mysteries. Of course there is a lot of intermixing. We all have to do everything, especially when pavilions leave Endrykas for any amount of time, but we do specialize somewhat. We're coming up on the Amethyst pavilions..."
Conrad just looked at the strange tents not really getting the meaning of the symbols on the tents. "They where the horse breeders right? Those who raised the herds. But what does the sapphire clan do? You said they keep secrets what kind of secrets?" A giddy grin spread upon conrad's face as he began to think about possible secrets. "Do they know a magic form that the rest of the world doesn't know? Or have books that they saved from before the valltaran? Come on tell me."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Breathing the last of the clean air before catching hints of manure and campfires, Sama'el felt his head clear a bit and he smiled at the antics between the other young man and his parrot. He himself felt a similar kinship with his horses, and perhaps someday he would take up falconry or something. Yes, that was an idea! He smiled wider at the thought. Sama'el was always looking to the future with gleeful anticipation these days. "Yes, Amethyst Clan breeds the best bloodlines of horses, and they are good with raising most animals. Sapphire Clan works magic. My cousin, Eldon, is a hydromancer. He can create water out of nothing." This was not exactly accurate, but Sama'el was only nominally versed in Webbing. Reimancy was another can of worms. "If there are secrets, I surely don't know them."

[Conrad]

"Yes, Amethyst Clan breeds the best bloodlines of horses, and they are good with raising most animals. Sapphire Clan works magic. My cousin, Eldon, is a hydromancer. He can create water out of nothing."
Conrad got a slight twinkle in his eye when sama'el mentioned that they where magicians.
"that is interesting, I am a bit of a mage myself." He held up his hand focusing his djed on it and the fingers slowly began to stretch, the slight sensation that was comparable to a hundred ants walking over his hand setting in again.
"I only know a bit of it though and am not nearly skilled enough to be called competent, but it already pulled me out of a few tight spots."
Conrad just continued to talk not really minding that he got a few suspicious glances at his morphing hand. He just held it up towards Sama'el to see, the claw looked like it could do a lot of damage if you hit somebody with it.
"Its handy that you always have a weapon handy. Though you really don't want to overgive with it, nearly lost my lunch when master told me what happened to those poor guy's." Conrad just smiled at sama'el, "Maybe you should introduce me to your cousin once, Maybe he could teach me a bit." Conrad just gave him a sly grin at the last remark.
"Or you just don't wanna tell it to an outsider, don't worry, you really don't have to. It isn't like you gotta hang out your clan's most dark secrets out to dry." Conrad just grinned at sama'el a boyish smile on his face.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el's dark eyes went wide at the sight of Conrad's partial transportation. He had never really seen anything like that up close, though he had heard about shapeshifting magic, and seen some things from afar a time or two. He almost clapped and bounced on Dohaina's back at the sight, he was so excited. Clearly, as a member of the Sapphire Clan, he delighted in all things magical. "How did you do that?!" he asked. "I'll introduce you to my cousin if you show me how," he added, throwing in a little bit of the horse trader's savvy.

[Conrad]

Conrad just scratched his scar on his face with his good hand.
"Well I can't really show you, you gotta do something before you can begin morphing." He looked at sama'el. "Besides, you can permanently mutilate yourself with this type of magic, my master called it the most dangerous of them all. And I barely know something, so I am surely not going to teach somebody else, what if you screw up and turn yourself inside out?"
Conrad released his grasp on the djed in his hand feeling the the sensation again when the claw slowly reverted back to his hand.
"Besides, you are going to introduce me to your cousin anyway won't you?" Conrad just shrugged. his parrot just gave him an irritated squawk when he was woken up by their babbling. He irritatingly flapped his wings a few times and gave a glare at the boy sitting on his horse.
"Easy now little buddy, don't dare to work out your bad temper on sama'el, His horses would probably crush you under their feet if you tried."
The parrot just ruffled his feathers looking away from sama'el.
"I am really sorry about my parrot though, he is rather a handfull." Conrad gave an embarased chuckle.