Catcher of Dreams

[Taurina]

Early Night of the 5th of Spring 517

“You heading out soon or should I leave the light burning?” Jarorra sounded particularly tired when she spoke.

When Taurina looked over she was unsurprised to see the exhaustion that was written all over the Drykas woman's face.

“You can leave it, I am going to stay a while longer,” Taurina answered softly, signing her best inspired and wide awake, “I want to get this done before going home.”

The Ethaefal gave a small reassuring smile before watching Jarorra just sign alright and leave to go be with her family for the night. Taurina did not blame the woman for being tired. They had had an especially rowdy pavilion to deal with for the majority of the day and the windmarks being given had taken a long time. The male had wanted very intricate ones and had been very picky that they be exactly how he wished. He had also wanted them all done in one sitting which took many long bells. Jarorra had been her chatty, flirty self in the beginning, but by the end the entirety of the Lilacwind pavilion had been happy to see them all leave.

Once Jarorra had left, Taurina turned her attention back to her journal and the charcoal piece in her hand. She was sprawled out across the array of pillows and furs usually used for customers, her torso resting in the curve of a plush cushion. Her legs were stretched out in front of her, taking up the majority of the room and what was not taken up by her body was taken up by various scrolls that she had left open around her for references.

The Ethaefal still struggled with her sketching. Ideas were hard to formulate and images of things she no longer desired to see plagued her mind frequently. Sometimes it was a Zith, sometimes a pool of blood, occasionally that little girl who she had come to realize was just a figment of her imagination created out of loneliness.

Pages of Taurina’s sketch book were dedicated to Zith anatomy. Wings, talons, fangs, faces. All of what she saw. There were some half done sketches of the little girl as the Eth had thought that if she got the little nuisance out on paper the image would go away. She had been wrong. That day that the gods came down to remind their people of who truly reigned, the girl had come back in a dream and ever since then she had refused to leave. She just lingered there in the dark corner of the Eth’s brain where all of Taurina’s deepest emotions dwelled. When they came out, so did the girl.

“Who are you?” Taurina would ask.

“Who are you?” an echo formed by the lips of a nonexistent child.

Sometimes it was just best to ignore the little nuisance. Maybe then, one day, she would just disappear and never return.

Taurina sighed and pushed thoughts of the girl away along with everything else that hindered her creativity. The Zith needed to go, the images of blood needed to leave, the girl needed to disappear. These things had held her back for a season, but she was determined to make it stop. The gods had come down from the heavens and literately torn the world asunder to make the people of Endrykas understand who held the power. It was no false, dual-god and it was no mortal man. It was those who dwelled in a different realm and ruled on thrones mere mortals would likely never touch.

The world, Endrykas, it was a different place now. It was never going to go back to how it had been before they came.

The Ethaefal struggled not to be bitter when her thoughts strayed to that day. Gods she had not known had come down, caused tears to fill her eyes and stain her cheeks, but her god remained silent. Leth remained up in the sky, ruling and reigning from so far away. If she could just touch him… Just see him even or even less than that.. Just hear his voice. She knew it would be enough. Just knowing that he acknowledged her fall and still saw her as one of his own would be enough. Without him and without confirmation that she was going down the right path, Taurina was lost and stumbling around. She just tried her best to fill the gapping hole within her soul.

Still, sometimes, it felt like no matter what she did… it was never going to be enough.

“You’re crying Rina.”

It was that stupid little girl. Taurina curled her hands into fists and wiped the back of her wrists over teary eyes before anything fell. It was silly, she should not cry. It was not like anything had changed really. Leth had not changed from how he had been before. He had never answered her, never made himself known. All she had of him were memories that were more feelings than anything else and a moon to sustain her by night. She should have been out there now, but she was not. She wanted to finish a sketch before all determination and the small amount of inspiration she had left her.

“Go away, I’m working,” Taurina spoke the words out loud in a low, almost growl like sound.

There was no response. Good. That was good.

The Ethaefal wiped beneath her eyes once more before placing her charcoal against the parchment. She began to transfer color from the stick to the page, aiming to create something. Anything that was not made from the stuff of her nightmares.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Taurina]

The charcoal smudged against parchment in circular shapes. The Ethaefal had aimed to create something that resembled a prism, but she repeatedly ended up flattening the charcoal piece on its side and aimlessly twirling it in circles. The result was a page full of circles of varying shades depending on how many times she went around before catching herself. Taurina had no idea what she was doing, where she was going. There had been such a clear picture in her mind earlier, just after the windmarks session had ended, but now it was like all the ideas had evaporated. When she mentally reached out for something that had been there before, it was gone and nothing had been left behind.

Taurina groaned, frustrated. When had this gotten so hard? She knew what her hands could create, the ability they had when mixed with a mind full of ideas. She was no where near the best, but she was not the worst. Her first season in Endrykas there had been so many ideas and while many of them had been simple, they had taught her much. Blades of grass taught her shading, moon and stars taught her about negative space, and many failed attempts at a face taught her about not giving up. That she would get better if she never gave up. The Ethaefal sighed. She felt like giving up.

‘What will that help you accomplish?’

Was that the child’s voice or her own in her head? Taurina was unsure. It was hard to tell the difference between the two sometimes.

‘Give up and you fail. Give up and you never succeed again.’

That was her own thoughts, her own voice. The child more pointed out the obvious, asked question while never answering any, provoked thought rather than giving blatant statements. Taurina had no idea where that thought came from, where she had heard it before. It did not matter for the thought was right. If she kept down this path, she would never find her way back.

Taurina exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. Two hands became fists after the charcoal piece was set down so it would not be broken. Taurina cleared her mind and let it become empty of all things. This task was hard to complete for the female, but there was a moment -and it only lasted a tick- where everything was silent. The Eth clung to that moment for the tick that it lasted and then the thoughts started to flood back in.

“You can do this,” was the whisper across Taurina’s lips, “you can do this. Just focus. You got this.”

A breath was sucked in and then released. Eyes blinked open and hands unclenched. Taurina found her charcoal piece and flipped to a clean page. The first image that came to mind was that of a horse. A strider to be exact, a big black one. Taurina knew who it was and the memory brought her a sort of distant pain. What had happened to him when she died?

The Ethaefal placed charcoal against parchment and began to draw. She had never drawn a horse before, but she did the best she could from the faint memory she had. It was so faint, in this form especially, more of a feeling rather than a clear image. She saw him best in her dreams. Big, strong, powerful, and beautiful. He had been so beautiful. Lodai’s horse back at the pavilion reminded her of him, but it was not the same. Her strider, whatever he had been called, had been the light of her world. It was not the memory of him that brought her pain, but the fact that she could not recall more. That he was not with her now. Just like the fall stole her from Leth, her death had separated her from her strider by lifetimes.

Imperfect circles made up the beginning of the head. A large one for the top of his head and then two faint lines that narrowed down and met with a smaller circle. From the large circle, Taurina created an ark like shape to make up the horses neck. Lower on the large circle she mimicked the same ark, completing the shape of the horse’s neck. Once the basic shape was down, Taurina began work on the details. She started with the eye that could be seen from the angle she was sketching the image. It was the horse’s eyes that she was most captured by when she saw him in her mind. They were old and wise, patient and calm, but there was a fire in them. A fire that had never been tamed.

A horse’s eye was unlike a human’s eye. Taurina drew up one of the reference sketches of a horse in her hands and studied that horse’s eye. It was more round than a human eye and the pupil was bigger. The Ethaefal did her best. Circles and shading created the eye of her sketch, but it did not fully capture what she saw when she thought of him. Instead it fell flat, but it always felt like that to her. Especially with eyes. They were the windows to the soul and she could never seem to get them right.

Taurina worked more on some shading and adding new shapes to the sketch. Ears were added to the horse’s head, wide nostrils, shading of his face and neck. It looked like a horse, but it did not look like that horse. There was no wildness to him, no power. The only success was that the sketch did not turn into a Zith. Though her hands trembled with the effort it took to draw something other than the monsters, she did not yield. She was done. The monsters were banished and a new set of sketches were going to come out of this. The Ethaefal was determined.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Taurina]

It was getting late. Taurina knew many bells had past for the fire had turned to ash and embers. The lanterns were burning low as well. The tent city was asleep. The Ethaefal doubted that there were many beside her that still wandered awake. She knew it was time to take her leave and allow the Lilacwind pavilion its rest without her in it. It was kind of Jarorra to not mind her staying late, but Taurina did not wish to overstay her welcome. Despite it being a place of business, it was also their home and the Eth respected that.

Taurina stood from her place among the cushions and furs. She smiled a bit at the memory of Azmere making her deliberately fall upon them this very day last season. How much had changed since then. He had taken her in, made her apart of his pavilion and family. She was a Stormblood now. Just like Jasmine and Rufio whom she had met in the season before Az came to her. Somedays she still struggled with what it all meant, but she understood the basics. It meant she had a family and that meant someone cared for her. It meant she had a home, someplace to always go back to, and was no longer forced to struggle on her own. It was a good thing. The Ethaefal would forever be grateful that it had been her the ankal had approached last season and not another.

The Ethaefal gathered up all the scrolls that she had pulled out for reference and rolled them all up. She did not care much about how they were put back for her whole “pyramid” like system of setting all the past sketches had failed miserably. Now she just tried to keep things neat looking. As long as nothing was damaged and the whole set up looked somewhat clean, nothing else matter. Taurina placed the scrolls she had used down with the others and made sure they were all straight and not going to fall before she gathered her pack from the corner of the tent and then went back to the furs. She picked up her journal and placed the charcoal piece between the pages like she usually did and closed it shut before placing it in her pack.

Quickly, Taurina made sure everything was in her pack that was suppose to be just to make sure nothing had been left behind. There was her journal, extra charcoal pieces, flint and steel, a comb, three sugar cubes, and her dagger. Taurina nodded, satisfied, before she realized that she did not have her waterskin. A quick look around the darkening pavilion revealed it to be over by where her pack had previously been. She must have not noticed it when over there. In Ethaefal form it did not matter as much, but she needed it for Syna’s reign. Taurina released a breath before she slung her pack over her shoulder and then made her way over and gathered the waterskin up in her hands. That was strapped around her waist and then the Eth made her way around the pavilion to blow the lantern lights out.

The pavilion was thrown into darkness besides the few sparks of light that struggled in the fire pit. Taurina gathered up her yvas in her arms and gave a small smile in farewell before she raised the tent flap and exited the canvas building. Her feet carried her over to where her horse was to be found munching quietly on the grass. Melody must had known that this was not home for otherwise she would have been sleeping by this point. The Ethaefal made her way over to her non-strider mare and stroked her nose gently. A kiss was pressed against the top of the soft nose, Melody blew out a puff of warm air.

“I missed you too,” Taurina promised with a smile, kissing the mare’s nose once more, “you see how bright Leth is tonight?”

The Ethaefal lifted her gaze to the sky and saw her lord up there shining bright. Last season there had been so many clouds, so many storms, and he had been taken away from her for so many nights. He was shining tonight though. Strong and bright. Taurina smiled. Maybe he saw, maybe he did not. There was a haunted, lonely look in her eyes as she looked at the representation of him. Her smile was there, but it was sad. She wanted to see him again, like she had when in his realm.

What had she done wrong? Why had he only answered her with silence?

“Leth, please, show yourself,” a pray, a plea, “tell me if what I am doing is right. Show me that this is the path I am suppose to take.”

Taurina waited, just a chime. She gazed upon her lord and when he did not answer, her eyes began to tear once more. The Ethaefal sniffled and brushed the tears away once again. It was silly to think such a simple prayer would bring him down to her. She told herself that it was silly.

“Alright, come on Melody, let’s go home,” Taurina decided with a gentle stroke against the mare’s nose once again.

The Ethaefal reached backwards with the hand not holding the yvas and slid it into the pocket of her pack. She closed her hand around one of the sugar cubes and began to draw it out of the pocket. Melody still liked the sugar treats and they worked in getting her to remain still for the yvas so Taurina was not going to change a system that worked. The sugar was drawn out of the pocket and going towards Melody’s mouth when a sudden sound startled Taurina so much that she jumped within her own skin. Both sugar cube and yvas ended up landing on the ground.

“What was that?” Taurina questioned softly, her gaze shifting over the terrain in front of her.

All was silent.

The Ethaefal bent to gather up her things -besides the sugar cube for Melody had already claimed that after getting over being startled herself- and that was when the noise sounded again. This time Taurina was listening, however, and now she knew what it was. A horse was screaming. But where? What horse?

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Taurina]

“What is that?” Taurina murmured her question, hearing the continuing, but sporadic, sound of a horse’s fearful scream.

Melody was growing distressed herself with the sound. She shifted on her hooves, flicked her ears back and forth as if trying to decide on the sound herself. Sounds came from her as well, but they were sounds of discomfort. Sounds of uncertainty. The Ethaefal stroked her hand down the mare’s neck reassuringly, working to calm her.

“Shh… shh .. Melody.. Shhh.. It’s alright,” Taurina kept her voice at a soft, calm whisper, but her eyes showed her own distress.

Where was this animal? What was happening to it? Why was no one out doing anything? Did they just not hear? The Ethaefal sighed, conflicted for she wanted to help, but she was unsure of her ability to do that. She was no master horsewoman. Riding was still a challenge for her when it came to anything above a walk. She barely knew how to calm Melody, let alone some other horse. Yet… yet, she was drawn to the sound. To the pain that echoed through it. She had to help.

“Leth, grant me strength,” a gentle prayer as she gave Melody another soft pat on the neck, “stay my love. I will be back soon. I must help.”

Taurina swung her pack off her shoulders and drew out the dagger before replacing it. She was not sure what she was going to do with the tiny dagger, but she did not have her bow so it would just have to do. Hopefully she was not walking into any sort of trap.

The Eth gather a deep breath before she released it and began to walk. She did not know what the correct direction was or where she would find this creature. She hoped it was not out in the sea of grass. That was a place she did not think she could follow. Fear gripped her too fiercely when she even thought of the possibility. The Eth’s steps became shaky and then stopped altogether. Maybe she couldn’t do this.

“Come on Rina, this way!” the child appeared, beckoning Taurina to follow.

The Ethaefal looked at the form of the child. It looked near a ghost with translucent skin and a white glow emanating from it. Taurina’s breath picked up. This was… this was not right.

“You’re not real… why are you…” the question did not finish and the child giggled.

“Come on! You are needed..” the child beckoned as another shrill sound pierced the air, “follow Rina. Follow.”

When fear gripped her heart, the girl came out and acted as bravery. An extreme emotion echoed by the opposite extreme. The Ethaefal balled one fist and gripped the knife tight with the other, determined to make the image go away, but there was that animal screaming into the night. While better judgement and instinct told her to dispel the creation of her imagination, there was a stronger pull coming from deeper within her. A pull to help, to rescue, to save. A pull to end torment and suffering even if she did not know how. The little girl asked her to be brave and Taurina, despite all of her thoughts, gave in. The Ethaefal walked out onto the Sea of Grass.

It was not something that came with ease. Extreme fear gripped her, told her to turn and run back. The little girl continued to beckon her forward, but everything else screamed at her to turn around. Two forces were at war, but the lavender haired Eth followed something greater than both.

“Leth protect me. Leth, give me strength. If this is what you desire, show me the way,” whispered words filled with the choke of tears.

Her tears were not of sadness, but of the terrible fear that gripped her. Taurina question what she was even doing. How far out was she? How was she even going to help? Others were better equipped. Others knew how to handle horses better, how to handle danger and the grasslands better. Taurina’s hold around her simple dagger began to tremble with the effort she was releasing into it.

“Closer Rina, closer. Hear? It’s louder,” the child continued to progress further away from Endrykas.

The Ethaefal did not look back for fear that she was too far away now. Perhaps a Zith would come and swallow her whole. Maybe some other creature would come and just tear her down, leave her to drown in her own blood. A shiver ran down the woman’s spine. She should turn back and run home. She knew she should go back. She could get someone else to go out and help. Someone else would be better. Taurina forced herself to breath. She was already out here and had come to far. Another breath. She could do this.

“There Rina, see? There!” the fantom girl was pointing and suddenly the world became more clear.

In front of her was a creature she had seen only once before. In a vision. It looked like it had been touched by Leth. A coat white like snow covered it, a dull luminescence made it look like a faint star that still fought to twinkle as bright as it could in the night. It was beautiful. It was looking at her and she looked right back.

There was a pull, a feeling of certainty and calm. The horse did not scream and Taurina felt her fear melt away. If the image of the girl was still there, it went unnoticed. Though she did not remember willing it, the Eth’s legs carried her towards the magnificent creature. She was slow, taking her precious time. There was no desire to startle it. No desire to do anything but reach it. To understand it and know it like she knew herself.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Taurina]

There was nothing but space between the Ethaefal and the strider. The creature did not panic, did not run. It was still, calm, its tail only occasionally flickering as it waited. Taurina looked into the beautiful creature’s dark eyes. There was a patience in them, but also something else. They looked old and knowing. Like this horse had been waiting here for her all this time. She did not know if she believed that, but there was something familiar about this animal. It was like she had known it forever and she had not even gotten close enough to reach out to it.

The dagger was dropped somewhere along the way, just left in the grass. Taurina was unconcerned about it. She was unconcerned about near everything now. There was little understanding over what this was, but it was like pieces to a puzzle were being fit together. Like the world had been wrong, but now was becoming right.

“Hello there…” Taurina murmured softly in the tongue native to this land, raising a careful hand out towards the strider with her palm facing towards the sky.

There was hesitation, a pause that made the Ethaefal believe she had assumed wrong. Maybe the puzzle pieces were not fitting together. Worry began to build up, tears started to form. It was a soft blow of air, a low whinny, and a gentle muzzle placed in her palm that banished all doubt. No, this was right. This was everything she had been waiting for. Tears of happiness sprang forth rather than tears of sadness.

The stallion was gentle, kind. His muzzle was warm and soft, but Taurina saw a passion in his eyes. There was a connection, an understanding. A wholeness that the Ethaefal had not felt since before her fall. A void filled that not even becoming a Stormblood had filled.

“You… I have been waiting for you zulkina.”

The horse made a soft, reassuring sound. Taurina imaged that he knew. He understood what she felt. Perhaps he felt it as well. This connection, it was foreign to her and yet it felt so right. Like this was what she had been waiting for all this time. The tears still fell and the horse came closer. Close enough that Taurina got brave enough to rest her forehead against the middle of his face.

The Ethaefal had no words. No more feelings and no understanding of how this had happened. Had the shrieks even been real? Had he made them or had it been another? How had he found her? Where did he come from? So many questions, but none of them seemed to matter. Nothing seemed to matter besides the creature whose face slowly became soaked with the tears that fell.

“You have come. Leth has sent you. He has not forsaken me,” more whispered words of assumed, but unknown truth.

There was a smile. A true and full one as a happiness came and swept through her, surpassing ever other emotion. That thought, that assumption, it was all she needed. If he had come as a sign from the heavens, than it was true Leth still watched her. It was confirmation that this was her right path and it was hope. Hope that one day he would make himself known to her again.

“Come, zulkina,” Taurina drew her face away, motioned a sign of follow and home though she did not know if he understood, “Let’s go home.”

The Ethaefal wanted to get home, tell the others. They would surely be happy for her. She was Drykas now, they would be happy. Right? Taurina did not let herself guess or question. She just decided that they would be and she wanted to get to them. To share the good news with the abundant excitement that now filled her.

Taurina did not turn to go, but instead walked backward away from the horse. She wanted to assure herself that he would come with her. Her heal clanked against something in the grass. She looked down to see her dagger which she had dropped earlier. The Eth knelt down quickly and gathered it up. She did not wish to scare the strider so she brought her pack down once more and slipped the weapon back inside of it. As she was putting her pack back on her shoulders, she noticed that the stallion had moved. Now she saw more of him and realized the cause of the screams from before.

Blood coated his side in speckles of crimson. There was no wound as far as she could tell, no entry point, but there was blood. It looked as though one had taken a paintbrush full of blood or red paint and splattered him with it. She did not know the cause, but she knew it was not supposed to be there. Something had happened to him or he had done something to another. Whatever it had been, she did not care. Her concern was over him now. They were connected by an unbreakable chord. Surely there was much to figure out from here on, but they had found each other. This was the beginning.

Taurina reached out, gently stroking his warm neck under his long, wild mane. She smiled softly and beckoned him to come with her. His only answer was that he did not move. Not at first. He remained still, staring at the one he had chosen. Taurina looked at him with confusion before he shook his head, forcing her to draw her hand away. His tail swished, coming up and covering his back before falling back down. She had no yvas, but perhaps it didn’t matter so much. Taurina sighed gently and gave into what she believed he wanted.

“Go easy on me, I’m not so used to this,” she told him as she climbed onto his form that was much larger than what she was used to.

Taurina settled onto the stallion before she released a breath. A mix of fear and trust rushed through her. Took another deep breath to prepare and squeezed her thighs against his body as she gripped on tight to the end of his long mane. That was all it took. He began to move.

Strider and Drykas began their journey home.

NotePermission for all white strider and soloed bonding given by Prophet and confirmed as still allowed by Meadow via pm. Proof can be provided if necessary.

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Rufio]

G R A D E

xp

Rhetoric +2
Sketching +1
Meditation +1
Observation +3
Socialization +1
Organization +1
Horsemanship +2
Endurance +1
Riding, Horse +1


lores

Sketching: Drawing geometrical shapes as a guide for complex images
Sketching: The soulfulness of eyes is hardest to capture
Socialization: Not outstaying one’s welcome
Stormblood: Family and home
Horsemanship: Sounds a horse makes when they are uncertain or uncomfortable
Horsemanship: The call of a horse in distress
Overcoming fear to save another
The Mysterious Girl: Gives Taurina courage
Taurina bonds with a strider!
Striders: The depth of the bond


rewards

+ Strider stallion

YAAASS, strider bonding! A lovely thread that, I felt, captures where Taurina is, and how much she has grown and is still perservering through her fears and uncertainties.

If you feel I missed anything shoot me a PM.
Don't forget to edit your grade request here -