Completed The Name of Desire

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

As Raeyn maneuvered into his seat and began loosening his hair, Narifa couldn't help but stare. He seemed so..serene in this moment. Half-smile tilting up his lips, sunset tresses dripping over his shoulder, cheeks still dusted with a pink reminiscent of his early embarrassment. Her icy gaze never slipped from his image, not even to flit over the less festive decorations of her surroundings. She nodded her head when he confirmed her vague memories of the banquet.

"Oh, you two are a mirror image, don't you think?" Narifa replied in equal jest, building off of the humour in the man across from her's voice, "Whenever I thought I saw one of you in the crowd, it was actually always the other."

But at his follow-up compliment, the Inarta ducked her head under sudden and unusual shyness. She never had been good with compliments.

"B-beautiful?" She stammered, "Your sister is too kind. I was walking around that party like...like a lunatic in a vegetable sack." She hadn't been clad in any kind of finery. Narifa had quite literally stumbled into the building and subsequently bumped into a number of well-dressed guests, providing her nightmares with wonderfully humiliating material.

An interruption to the conversation came in the form of one of the barmaids, and with unbridled glee, Narifa placed her order. The woman really did feel like her stomach was turning inside out. She didn't think twice about asking for a platter of fruit, an assortment of breads, some jam, some meats, a plate of eggs, and a massive pot of coffee. She couldn't figure out what she wanted, might as well try a few things at once.

Of course, as she tuned back into what Raeyn seemed to be confiding in her, Narifa wanted to know more. Nosy? Only slightly.

"Why is she avoiding you? If you don't mind my prying," She asked hastily. She was slightly worried that it was too personal of a topic, and that all she'd done by asking was make Raeyn clam up.

She didn't receive an immediate answer, however, as Raeyn's attention had been drawn to the trinket sitting still in her palm. Narfia gave it an inquisitive glance.

"What, this? I found it this morning on the floor. Accidentally stepped on it. It's so masterfully crafted, I just had to pick it up. Is it yours?" Her hands made to push the necklace back over to its rightful owner, but were stalled in their movement when he prompted her to put it on. It was just a plain old piece of jewelry, wasn't it? Why ever would he want her to put on something that was so obviously his? Despite the question circling around her skull, Narifa complied, ever the trusting one.

As the pendant touched her neck, a brilliant and blinding light flared up from the previously dull stone. The intensity of it lessened after a chime or two, until Narifa was left with a thousand colour rock, coincidentally pointed straight at her companion. The woman let out a surprised gasp.

"Oh, it's absolutely stunning! Does it just light up when it touches one's skin? Where did you find such a thing?" Her excited questions had only just begun. What she didn't see was the analytic gleam in Raeyn's eyes, or the vague seeds of panic steadily marching their way across his face. This certainly was an amulet unlike any other she'd ever seen.

However, her energy came down to simmer as her thoughts ground to a halt. Fingers trembling from lack of sustenance wrapped themselves around the pendant now on her neck to nervously fidget with it once more, "But what am I asking, of course I should tell you more about myself before you pour your heart out to me."

Narifa straightened in her chair to begin weaving her own rather simple story.

"Well, I came here around the 5th, on Okomo Day, I believe. It was the first time I'd ever left Wind Reach. I'm a glassblower," A pause to pull one of the many handmade hair beads into better lighting, "Trained day and night back home. But my master met with unfortunate circumstance on an expedition away from the mountain proper. He was killed, prematurely. So I left. To find a way to enhance my own techniques, and to learn more about the world. It's not a very interesting history, I'm afraid."

"But you? A hunter! Who would have believed it?" Playfully, Narifa tapped one of his hands at rest on the table, "You have such delicate fingers. What is your weapon of choice, Mr. Hunter?"

[Raeyn]

He chuckled lightly at her comment. “Mirror image, eh? I look far more like somebody that’s been painting a portrait of her and suddenly ran out of paint.” Having lived for so long with the strange condition that cause the pigment in his skin to disappear before his very own eyes, Raeyn learned to laugh at it. It was never something that caused him a great deal of emotional distraught. In fact at certain points he though of it all quite charming. The way Syna’s rays twinkled in his lashes at the height of summer could have been considered beautiful even. But the condition had contained itself ’til now and so that was the reason he had never needed to pay it any attention. Seeing it spread however was a whole different matter.

How the tables have turned. Suddenly Narifa was the shy one. Raeyn thought it strange and indeed amusing how his naked form left her completely unabashed but an innocent complement took enough to leave her sheets blending into the hue of her hair. “Hardly a lunatic.” He leant his cheek against his knuckles. “Although do remind me, if this accursed storm ever ends, to take you shopping for something a little more befitting of a woman of your beauty. There’s no reason why all eyes shouldn’t be on you when you enter a room.”

But it seemed the alchemist had talked himself into a corner from which he didn’t really know how to get out of. And he was almost entirely certain he didn’t want to be in. How could he talk of such personal things as his and Mara’s twin problems to a virtual stranger. It would be a betrayal of the longest lasting relationship he had ever managed. A relationship of a lifetime. This is why you never talk to people, he thought to himself. What the pitch did he go and say those darn fool things for? A need to confide in someone perhaps? Without mara there, such a small need yet such a significant one had no outlet. And so for the first time in his life perhaps Raeyn realised just how lonely he really felt.

He couldn’t speak to the voiced. Of course not. He hadn’t tried but who in their right mind wanted to converse with disembodied hallucinations. Especially as they were saying such wretched things. Even as they spoke he’d more often than once become a little distracted and a little blank as he did his best to waft those voices away.

Thankfully soon enough the conversation took a turn for the curious as the necklace would prove to puzzle them both.

He didn’t answer Narifa’s questions abut the necklace. Instead he only prompted her to wear it, observing very closely. Soon enough it became obvious to him that she didn’t know what the necklace was. If she had any knowledge of magic, detecting it surely wasn’t it. None the less now he was interested. Very very interested. Seldom did he take such interest in somebody he didn’t see in the mirror.

Raeyn watched her fasten the clasp of the chain around her neck and the pendant fall to her chest. And the minute the golden metal made contact with her skin, sure as anything it glowed with rays comparable only to those of goddess Syna. Rays of desire. How very curious?

When she asked if the pendant lit up on contact with skin, as unhelpfully as one ever be, Raeyn simple answered “It does not.”

So it wasn’t just him that the necklace worked on. It was everyone. But it seemed, though his deductions, that one had to know the thing they desired before the necklace would point to it. Thus last night it did not shine when the two Inarta were desperate for shelter from the storm not did it glow when he was searching for the class at the Divine Getaway. Now that Narifa had gotten to know him a little better it seemed the necklace pointed her right to him in it’s odd, unexplainable way.

After a moment of thoughtfulness and silence on his behalf his lips finally parted. And when he spoke it was quiet as if he was telling her some great secret… which of course he wasn’t. But keeping up an air of mystery wouldn’t hurt. All in the name of a little bit of fun. “The necklace shines when you face an object of your desire, Narifa. Therefore, if you turn around and face something you care little for, well, the stone will go dull once more. You may try it if you wish.” He grinned a little, still unsure of his thoughts regarding his belief that he was the object of her desire. Though thinking back to the way she stared at him upstairs he was fairly convinced that he didn’t need a necklace to tell him that - whether correctly or not.

“And I assume, unless you really desire the chair I’m sitting on…” his voice trailed of suggestively. His eyebrow arched, a teasing grin before he stood up and towered behind Narifa, gently unceasing the necklace. As his fingers fiddled with the fastening he continued to speak, a little softer. There was something so very enjoyable about explaining the intricacies of such a magic to somebody other than his dog who could never comprehend such things. “It’s a lie detector of a sort if you really think about it. If I put it on, the effect would be the same. I wouldn’t be able to hide my thoughts from you either, regarding such things as desires at least… But it seems only glows once that object is known to the wearer. How curious.” After sitting down once more the man laid the piece of jewellery ion the table in front of them. “It’s a compass to your dreams… as long as you know what you want.”

Soon enough the drinks and food arrived as Narifa began spinning the tale of her departure from Wind Reach. The home land Raeyn had never known. And just as he had listened to his grandfather’s many stories with thinking in his eyes and a feeling of something pulling him back to the fire mountain, so did he now listen to Narifa.

“I’m so sad to hear about your teacher.” he replied almost sincerely for once. “Did he make those for you? The beads in your hair, I mean. Or are those your own work. My goodness, the craftsmanship is stunning.” By the second he seemed to be warming up to her. “Where else if better to learn the mysteries of glassblowing than the city built of it. Heh, I’m curious though. Do you ever wish you could go back? I’ve never seen Wind reach with my own eyes, neither have my parents but I can’t help feeling not quite at home in the city. Please don’t misunderstand, I do love it here. Its just that… there’s something missing. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.” Hearing the ridiculousness of his own words he shook his head. “Perhaps its just silly sentiments. Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, they say. Please do ignore my babbling”

Soon enough she had as many questions for him as he did for her. And so with little hesitation the alchemist began answering. The tension of half a bell ago almost entirely dissipated. It was so very odd for Raeyn had little talent with women, nor interest, but there seemed to be something in Narifa that drew him in. A kind of kindness and innocence he couldn’t empathise with. And so it interested him tremendously.

As she reached for his hands, Raeyn didn’t flinch for once. In fact the action brought a chuckle to his lips. ”Is it sincerely that difficult to believe? People tell me I’m skinny sometimes, I don’t see it. I use a bow, but my god do I pray I don’t have to be mr hunter forever. You’ve no idea how scary it can be out there in the unforgiving. Some of the things I’ve seen this season.” Raeyn shuddered slightly at the memories of the Zith. Still he refused to let them destroy the pleasant enough mood of the morning. Gods only knew he needed a good cheer up like this. “No. The sooner I’m deemed competent enough for a different line of employment, believe me I will jump at the opportunity. It must be wonderful to make Kina doing the thing you love, Narifa. I must admit I am a little jealous.”

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

"An unfinished portrait still has room for change," The Inarta woman replied to Raeyn's mildy self-deprecating comment, "Mara is complete. She has no space to grow. You do."

It was one of Narifa's many wholehearted beliefs. Like the wind and the god to which she prayed, change was a fact of life. One only truly lives once they embrace their own capacity for transformation. Without, life becomes stagnant. Boring. Not worth living at all, in fact. In Narifa's mind, Mara was a roaring flame atop a pile of smoldering embers; scintillating and doomed to burn out like the rocks she rested upon. Raeyn, on the other hand, was an adventure left unfulfilled. He was a flickering pile of ashes. A portrait suddenly forsaken. The man across from her was a beacon for change, and had such an immense amount of room for growth it left the woman wobbly-legged and suffering from whiplash.

It had only taken her their first interaction upon his waking to figure that much out.

"And I was definitely a lunatic. Did you see what happened with that one lady carrying a heaping plate of food? It was awful, awful I tell you. My dreams were incorrigible for days." The traveler didn't even want to cast her memory back far enough to remember the embarrassment. She'd had enough of banquets for a long time to come. She did, however, shudder when Raeyn brought up clothes shopping. The last time she'd done that alone...well, it hadn't ended as well as she'd hoped. She was pretty sure she still had a scar from where her assailant had dug his nails into her shoulder.

"If ever you remember to make good on that promise, I shall delightedly take you up on the offer. Although, more often than not it's my eyes on everyone else in the room," She was just a girl fascinated by her people. Scurrying all over the Inner Warrens, getting lost along the cliffs, and pestering the glassblowers until they had no choice but to let her sit beside them, silent as a mouse, eyes peeled back with reverence. No one's gaze had ever been on her before.

As his voice lowered with the weight of something secret, Narifa leaned over the table to catch his every word. It was true she had no prior experience with magic herself. The closest thing she could think of were the abilities of her Master, to spin anything and everything with the finest thread of glass. At least that's what it had seemed like to her untrained eye. He certainly hadn't been an expert in the craft. She didn't' think anyone in Wind Reach truly was. A trivial thought that perhaps she could become the first crossed her mind before being surreptitiously banished.

And was the necklace magical. An object of her desire? What could she possibly desire from this man? The more details he revealed about the oddly pulsing amulet on her collarbone, the harder Narifa searched for something that she might want. Did he mean something physical? Raeyn did have a number of tasteful accessories and tailored clothes...But she wouldn't fit anything. Perhaps he had some kind of knowledge she was subconsciously seeking? She did want to learn more about how to put her little dagger to good use, and he was a hunter. Or maybe....

Maybe he was someone who could help her along with this expedition she'd set out for.

Excited now, for Narifa was absolutely certain she'd figured it out, the girl happily tested the stone's abilities by turning away from Raeyn and back again. It did as he had suggested it would, and she grinned along. When she caught the waggle of his eyebrows, the hint of another blush stained her cheeks, and when he brought himself over her head to loosen the broken chain's makeshift fastening, the girl tilted sideways to give him more access. Her ears were trained all the while on the fascination in his words. She thought nothing of the idea that perhaps the amulet wasn't directing her towards what the man knew. Oblivious, naive little traveler.

The Inarta was only too glad to recount stories of her homeland, graciously accepting Raeyn's condolences and pushing aside the remnants of her sadness.

"Some of them I made, when I was first taking an interest in the craft. Some of them were trinkets given to me by other artisans, in the name of making me leave them be. I was a terror to the Glass Reverie and the Craft Gallery," Narifa chuckled at the memory as she pulled a few more locks from behind her ears to show him. She touched them with a fondness of a mother caressing her children, and sighed.

"I do miss it, immensely so. Sometimes, when I can't sleep, I imagine that I'm still there, still spread out along the cliffs. I imagine that Lhavit's stone streets are as warm as Mount Skyinarta's walls, and that this dreadful fog was replaced with the heat of a Wind Reach Summer," Narifa paused to down an impressive amount of coffee before it grew cold, "But I don't think I would ever change my mind. Wind Reach will always be special. It's out ancestral home. But the world has so much more to offer! Might as well take advantage of it."

Narifa picked up a piece of bread and slathered some jam on it. It was delectable, and she ate it all while paying rapt attention to the other man's tale. She almost made a joke, about how he was almost as thin as her pinkie finger, but decided against when his intonations took a more solemn turn.

"Do you not have anything you love about your work? There must be some reason you were drawn to the bow, besides the fact that it fills your stomach. Or is there another specific occupation you'd rather spend your time with?

[Raeyn]

Perhaps Narifa had a point. From the outside Mara seemed like somebody who had it all; a job she enjoyed, pretty dresses, her youth and a dozen men at her beckoning call at every hour of the day. As somebody that knew her better than her own parents did, Raeyn knew she was content with it all. Ever an extrovert, she fed off of the energy in the room like a flower feed off the sun. A good conversation was enough to keep her happy. Raeyn was different. He was never satisfied. Always hungry for something just outside of the reach of his fingers. And every time he got that which he yearned for he’d only want more. Raeyn was the match that lights a forest fire, burning fiercely and strong in spite of the wind and the rain. He swallowed everything in his path for better or for worse. And once he set his mind to burn, nothing would stand in the path of his destruction, nothing would halt his rebirth into yet a better form than that of the season’s prior. But along with flames of desire there were flames of doubt. Yes he burned with vengeance but would he burn bright enough? Yes he had room to grow but would he ever feel complete and fill out the box?

Raeyn didn’t quite understand the sudden change of mood at the mention of clothes shopping. Perhaps she had some aversion to fashion? A wild soul of alternative dress code to match. Unimportant. If she was going too pend any time in his company he’d make sure she looked the part. With a grin he nodded, pleased that she seemed as eager at the experience as he was.

Raeyn was really rather oblivious to Narifa’s many ponderings about why she might be interested in a closer friendship with someone such as himself. For the moment he had caught sight of that flicker of blush in her cheeks he was rather certain of the correctness of his assumptions. And though his interests in women seldom extended farther than a goof enough friendship, a little passing flirtation wouldn’t hurt; if only just to humour her. It’s been a while since he was able to feel to off his guard around someone. Perhaps the only other person was Mara. The veins of kinship from Wind Reach ran stronger than rivers, it seemed.

Thus politely he listened, eyes paying as much attention to her as they did to pray out in the wilderness. Raeyn couldn’t shake off the feeling of how odd it was that she felt no threat, opening up to him as if her memories were a jar of jam. Soon enough he learned the stories of her beads, her memories of a location in Wind reach he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Everything she told him made the place sound so incredible. So dream like. A perfected portrait of something he’d never come to witness himself.

He didn’t understand why he thought of that city as home even though he had never once stepped foot in it. Lhavit was home just as much after all. But that was the problem; just as much, not more.

“I suppose you’re quite right. If one is always looking back, they will never move forward in a straight line. Especially is there nothing really to look back on.” He mused, quenching the fuzziness in his head with a glass of water and then trailing his white speckled fingers along the round shape of the rim.

“There’s plenty I love about it, don’t get me wrong. Every time I pick up the bow, it reminds me of being very very little when the world was a simpler place. Back then my grandfather used to take me with him for the whole afternoon. Wherever we went was a little adventure in itself. “ a sentimental sigh escaped his lips. “But time passes. The mind grows cynical. We can only stay children for so long”

Raeyn leaned back in his chair for a moment and cast his sight to the window. Within the voids of his consciousness he considered really quite carefully whether he was ready to share such information as his dreams with Narifa. It was mighty comforting to be able to confide in one of his own race, especially somebody other than his sister. But was he really prepared to take such a dive into the depths of emotional intimacy. These topics weren’t just idle chatter to him after all. Alas Raeyn did decide that at least a peak at the truth wouldn’t hurt nor unveil his every secret.

“I dream of teaching one day. Of mastering….. something. Something very specific to a level at which what I learn cannot die with my mortal body but must be passed down and built upon. We all dream of being something great after all. To be immortalised in our work” the passion with which he spoke saturated his every word. Suddenly the Raeyn she was talking to wasn’t the aloof, detached Raeyn anymore. The fire inside him burned in his eyes. “I want to devote every moment of my life to solving secrets, finding out why and how things work. Just like you master glass, I wish to master every inanimate thing around us.”

He hoped that the phrasing he used didn’t quite give the game away but only left her wanting more. And if she was to ask he’d simply grin with a wink and say: “It’s a secret, my dear.” After all if he gave it all away now what reason would she have to come back?

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

The bubbly Inarta soaked up Raeyn's every word like a rag left too long with its edge in a pool of still water. It seemed something she'd said struck a chord in the enlivened man. Narifa was just glad she hadn't put her foot back in her mouth. Her head plopped on both of her fists: elbows on the table, a crooked smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. When he listened to her without interrupting, patiently picturing the city she tried her bes tto describe, she was happy. When he met her oddly philosophical ramblings with his own desultory murmers, she was happy. When he peeled back the first of what she believed to be many layers of history, Narifa was happy.

There had been a lot in Lhavit for her to take joy in. For her to take pride in. She'd received an overwhelming amount of compliments on her glass work, peddling the wares on whatever street she felt like as she did. She'd been able to memorize most of the layout of Zintia peak, including all (most) of it's hidden pathways and shifting corners, a feat she felt deserved a pat on the back. Narifa had wandered at all times of the day and met with wonderful and unfortunate circumstance alike. But nothing she'd experience could live up to this moment, seated at this slanted table with heaping piles of food, in a building she barely recognized, with a man she'd only met because they'd both gotten lost in the disaster raging outside.

It was a moment of tranquility that Narifa could never find unless she was staring at the setting sun from her favourite perch: a lone patch of flowers carved at a dangerous slope in the loftiest part of her old home. She knew without a single doubt that she would chase after this feeling time and time again. Raeyn would be hard-pressed to get rid of her now.

"And children can only learn to be cynical from the people they admire. Who did you admire, I wonder?" A rhetorical question, of course, asked to the air and not requiring a response. Narifa watched as he tilted his frame towards the nearest window before following his gaze to the black and purple storm. The candles flickered with a passing gust.

The woman saw the image Raeyn was describing as if she there. She could see him at the podium, in a massive lecture hall, facing down hundreds of eager students with a critical eye. Strict posture and grave voice, but a tilt to his lips that suggested a gentleness beneath his stiff demeanor. He would be wild and full of passion, up to the brim with knowledge just waiting to spill over. His hands would be scarred with evidence of failure. His knees would shake with fear of defeat. But he would stand in the center of that world and he would demand nothing less than absolute obedience.

"Master every inanimate thing?" Narifa blinked with a laugh, "I suggest you start small. Perhaps master that bow of yours, first."

She mulled over what he'd just revealed to her in the ensuing silence. He had big dreams, this man did. Narifa was entirely too curious about what else was simmering just underneath those dreams. Nonetheless, she would never force him to speak of something so personal, and she was inclined to take him at his word. In a show of their newly realized companion-ship, the girl figured she should also tell him something a little too close to her heart. She place her hands face down in front of his, fingers spread wide, and opened her mouth.

"I can already see you there, you know. You'd be good at it too. You wish to master every inanimate thing with some mysterious force, and it's an admirable thing to desire. Do you want to know what I wanted?" Narifa's hands pressed down into the table, showing all the cuts and burns littering her arms, "When I chose to master such a delicate art. I wanted to be noticed. I love Wind Reach with all my heart, but we Inarta live and die in a perpetual state of sharing, knowing everything there is to know about the man living five streets away, but never seeing. We don't see each other, not anymore. Only who others remind us of. Only the secrets that were never kept. I wanted someone to see me, through something that was wholly my own. I put my heart into my work, because I'm selfish. I'm a greedy girl, Raeyn. Best to take that to heart."

Narifa left her hands exactly where they were. She'd already categorized every mark, like counting bricks on nights when her nightmares kept her awake. This was the only way she could think of to show her gratitude to the handsome man.

[Raeyn]

“I admire my teacher, whom I’ve known since childhood.” He replies simply. Such a thing wasn’t a secret to him. It was a point of pride. Having been at the side of the Etheafal for so many years, having attended his every class and seminar and being able to call him a friend of sorts was something Raeyn considered an achievement. To be esteemed in the eyes of Orath. There were few things as important as that. “I admire you. You’re fearless and fun. Certainly qualities worth admiration.”

There was no sarcasm in his voice. No disgruntled twinge of a man who just wanted to see the other leave. Not anymore. With every passing minute Raeyn would seem more human, more personable. Bringing his finger up to his lips, he gently bit down on his knuckle and watched Narifa but not as an analytic scientist of magic; as a new friend only wishing to find out more of the other to deepen their bond.

The remark made him chuckle. To master the bow seemed a bigger feat than mastering any magic he knew of. Then again he didn’t think himself that bad of a shot. And he was certainly brave, that could not be taken away from him. Raeyn didn’t acknowledge the comment with a verbal reply but it was clear it amused him somewhat.

Raeyn watched the woman place her hand in front of him. His eyes trailed every single scar and scratch in her skin of alabaster. He’d make no remark of pity out of respect for the woman but that same part of him that didn’t quite understand how very privileged he was to be the recipient of such a gesture, that same part pitied her just a little. Perhaps this was a point of connection between the two. Both had hands that told their stories.

The alchemist listened to her story and every single word of it ran true. He too wanted to be noticed. To free himself from the shadows of his beloved master and all other mages that came before him alike. He cared not for the live of unity but for the meritocracy that would recognise his achievements as his alone. Both of them strived for greatness, each in the own way, but the result was the same. In both of their Inarta hearts the same fire burned. The fires of ambition and desire, contained enough to not tear their fragile mortal bodies apart but wild enough to fearlessly pursue tinder in their wake.

Suddenly Wind Reach was no longer that utopia of old stories, in Raeyns eyes. She had convinced him otherwise. And how freeing it was to find out that the promise land is beneath one’s very feet at last.

“That makes two of us.” His lip curled up but it wasn’t a passing smirk of small talk. In his deep blue pupils the threads of understanding danced. Understanding on a level he’d understood few others. For Narifa was no longer just another girl he’d met. Not even just another Inarta of fiery blood. When he looked at her he saw himself. A perfect mirror, beautiful and passionate alike. “Greed is admirable. It drives you where few others would dare to venture. That’s why I study alchemy. I too am as greedy as they get.”

For Raeyn such a moment of introspection was something truly out of character. He had little interest in why people did things other than just because they did. The world was always very black and white to him. No questions was without answer. But now, as he was slowly starting to see it in shades of grey a whole kaleidoscope of possibilities and emotions and thoughts opened up before him. One he didn’t even quite know what to do it. But it was too late to turn back and return to his old ways. Stagnation was something he hated even more than the Zith.

The word virtue and fault truly had little meaning to him other than in the literary sense. And this greed was nothing to aspire to be without. As a man of magic he chose to see the world for what it is rather than idealise it in silly ways. And greed to him was a useful emotion. Idealism be damned.

His own hand crept over until their fingertips touched. Around his nails, in the candlelight of the in, the white dots gleamed more prominent. They were not scars of his body but scars of his mind. “Nothing worth gaining is gained with ease. We all have our scars to bare. Our burns from flying that little bit too close to the sun. It’s what makes us different.” His eyes met Narifa’s. “It’s what makes me and you the same. We’re not afraid to fly.”

His fingers gently closed around hers. If she was to allow him to do so he’d bring her hand to his face and press his lips against her knuckles. A gesture of affirmation that, at least in his eyes, she was perfect. After all she was his mirror.

[Narifa]

83rd Summer 518 AV

"Then we are alike in that regard."

Narifa had admired Master to the moon and back. It wasn't love, heavens no, it was never love. He'd been brutally strict about her training, when he finally stopped driving her up the wall as his personal errand boy. But he'd taught her exactly the way she'd needed and wanted to be taught. Master had loved his work more than any of the glass-crafters combined, and he'd passed much of that passion onto little Narifa. At least, as much as he could, given that by the time he'd decided to permit her an apprenticeship she possessed an almost equal fire for the craft.

The Inarta puffed her cheeks, baffled when he admitted to admiring her, "Me? Why, I'm positively flattered, but I don't think I'd ever describe myself as fearless. If anything, it's you who should be admired. You're strength in adversity. You're adaptability. You're dreams."

She thought back to the panic in his eyes last night as she spoke, the memory of his neck straining under a pressure that she couldn't see scorched into her eyelids. The fact that he still stood up and cast his concern for himself aside, making room to care for her instead, brought a surge of warmth to her bloodstream. Narifa tracked his roaming gaze as she finished up her tale, her spread fingers having never even twitched.

"You would consider yourself greedy?" The woman snickered before Raeyn could give a reply, "No, don't answer that. I can already tell."

Curious, that. Because she could absolutely tell. This strange and beautiful man across from her seemed like something the gods had pulled from her daydreams. Not in the sense that he was a fantastical creation, perfectly made for her and by her and everything she's ever imagined. It was more like he existed in the same head-space that her dreams occupied. It was as if she was looking in a mirror and Raeyn was staring back at her, broken and thriving and chasing a wish he might never reach. Just like her.

"You don't have to tell me now, but I'd like to hear you explain this...alchemy to me, one day. Perhaps when you take me shopping?" A sprinkle of giggles tinged her question at the prospect, "I've never heard of it before. Which isn't anything new, of course. There's a lot of things I've never heard of in the world."

Half joking and half serious, with her head cocked sideways and playfulness spilling onto her face, she invited, "I could even be your first student. Refine your lectures with me, oh wise and omnipotent master of insentient things."

They were all statements soaked in truth. Narifa had never heard of alchemy. She wasn't at all versed in the intricacies of magic, and couldn't begin to understand the undercurrent of djed in this world. Wind Reach, while quite open to trade and foreign relations, had kept a surprisingly secluded society. And the library was as much a strange land to her as Lhavit had been when she first arrived. But what need had she for a library when a fountain of knowledge was currently sipping water right in front of her?

She was only mildly thrown when his own hands flattened in front of hers, albeit in a much larger and slightly darker fashion. She began to pick out as many white spots as she could find once it registered that those were what he was referring to. They were everywhere, clustered in some places and spread out in others, like colourless freckles. Their spacing reminded her of a clear night sky as she traced imaginary constellations in her mind. She wondered what they were, and where they came from. What kind of histories swam in the darkness beneath Raeyn's confident posture? Her head twitched up to glance at the same mark of white on his face. Unguarded azure met clear slate blue, and Narifa was caught in the hunter's sights.

"No, I guess we're not so afraid anymore." The statement was a whisper, a strand of smoke on her lips, and as his speckled hands covered up her burns and scars, Narifa finally lessened the pressure she was putting on the table. His touch was soft, hesitant, but it had no need to be. She trusted this man. The realization was enough to shake her to her core. She trusted him, and it wasn't the superficial assurance she often gave to people. Extrovert though she was, Narifa knew when her faith in others was misguided. This was not the case now.

The butterfly kiss he pressed to her knuckles burned a promise into her skin, adding to her growing collection of scars. Narifa turned her palms up in his grasp to tighten the hold, to show him that it was okay. Everything would be okay.

[Raeyn]

She understood him. What an alien feeling it was for somebody who until that moment had been a complete stranger to pass the line of friendship and then some. For a man who felt so very detached from the world, so very different in every aspect, this feeling of being understood was both frightening and exhilarating. A part of him wanted to spill out everything there and then. To share every thought he had ever hidden both light and dark. But common sense screamed at him. The brain was the barrier between the heart and reality. It had always been this way.

Raeyn contained his excitement over finding a new friend in the world. Albeit not entirely successfully for the alchemist’s eyes glowed like two hot blue embers in the night, brighter even than the flames of the candles that illuminated their conversation. He found himself wondering what thoughts precisely went though her head. What little gems hid in her words. Suddenly Raeyn found himself wondering what made Narifa tick, what little mundane things she enjoyed and what the names of her parents were. Such thing seemingly innocuous, for anyone else he’d simply not had the brain space in the vast filing system of his mind. She was the exception.

Her words made him blush a little. “Flattery will get you a long way, dear.” He chuckled in jest.

Soon enough the conversation turned a corner for topics he was really quite passionate about. Fashion and magic. What a better combination could there be? Though it came as a little bit of a surprise to him that Narifa had never heard of the magical art before. Spoilt by the open-mindedness of the city, Raeyn had gotten quite used to it’s knowledge being shared among the masses too.

“I’m sure I could show you a thing or two.” He smiled, then bit his tongue.

What on Mizahar was he saying? Raeyn never did such things. Not only due to the magic he practiced being exceedingly dangerous - for such a thing was lowest on his list of priorities - but Raeyn really did fancy himself a man of reservations and this was one he’d never before crossed with anyone else. Half a bell ago he’d have rather stripped naked in front of her and done her every bidding than induct her into the art of the nature of materials. Could things have really changed so quickly?

But not a tick later a smile would follow the assertion of his words. A mind made up. They could help each other. She could make beautiful things from the materials he provided and heaven knows, Raeyn was a glutton for beauty.

Eyes locked as their palms touched. Between them a single thoughts on their minds and lips. A moment magnetised with the kind of intellectual intimacy few others would ever know. Over at the bar Terence peeked at the two Inarta from time to time, shining his fine glassware, making a mental note to change the sheets once the storm ends and they could finally disperse. For to any onlookers Raeyn and Narifa would certainly look like new found lovebirds, entranced by each others beauty, halted in such a love affair only by propriety and social expectations. ’Twas a pity Terrance could never quite find out how wrong he was.

Raeyn felt her touch as soft and comforting as the petals of a poppy in spite of the many scars gracing her skin.. The return of his gesture. The acknowledgement of his feeling without even a word for no words were needed. Pity no moments of bliss ever laster forever. There’s always silence before the storm.

“Hair as red as blood. Hair as red as blood. Blood as red as hair…

The dam burst open at the seams and a barrage of voices flooded Raeyn’s ears. Some mere whispers, some muffled screams. They jeered and mocked him. Tongues of poison in his mind.

”Kill the princess, take the throne. Let her bleed out, all alone.

For a prolonged moment, Raeyn stared at Narifa blankly. Why now? Why did they have to speak out right now, when his guard was at his lowest?

It was as if her hands were suddenly burning embers, so abruptly did he pull his hands away. Scolded by the skin he was afraid he’d harm if he didn’t grasp so desperately at the edges of his mind, trying to hold it all together for a little while longer. His body felt numb, cold. Adrenaline flooded his veins as if he had just seen a ghost. His tongue felt twice the size in his mouth, tied and useless. How could he even begin to explain his sudden change of decorum?

He didn’t really know what to do in that moment. The waitress noticed how pale had had suddenly turned, as if he had just been told by a lover that she was done with his shake. Having been good friend’s of Mara’s and thus feeling obligated to look after her brother, the waitress walked up tot eh table and asked. “Are you ok, mr?”

The words sounded distant in his ears, obscured by a cacophony of destruction. But they were enough to snap the Inarta from his paralysis. In one fell swoop, before managing to embarrass himself anymore, or worse, he lifted from his chair. “Yes… I’m sorry.” He just about managed to mumble, shaking his head before disappearing up the stairs and back in their room. There Raeyn collapsed into bed, with his face hurried in the pillows, doing his best to block the voices out. He wanted to scream but felt nothing coming out.

“Kill the princess, take her head. Fill her heart with steal and led.”

Downstair the waitress looked just as shocked as Raeyn did but a tick ago. There were a million questions on her mind, none of which she dared to ask and so she settled for simplicity. “Is he ok? Should somebody check up on him?” There was something a little accusatory in her voice. Clearly she had assumed things about Narifa that would prove to be very very wrong. But what else was the poor girl suppose to think when was to an onlooker was a moment of romance so quickly turned sour.

[Narifa]

83rd 518 AV

Narifa didn't see any of it coming. There they were, conversation flowing smoothly, emotions ebbing and flowing where the pads of their fingers had intertwined. Silence comfortable and easy. The woman had decided that existing around Raeyn was like sipping on one of her favourite brews of tea; at first too dangerous to touch, but when cooled it brought her back down to the earth in a swirl of flower petals and leaves, leaving her calm and craving more.

She cared entirely too little about the pace of the world around them. The staff could think whatever they wanted, and so they did, staring at the couple with a mixture of interest and confusion. This was not their time to shine. It was a minuscule bubble of air surrounding the two Inarta, and them two alone. Narifa never liked thinking too hard about others' opinions of her. Doing so just brought a weak sadness into her heart. It shouldn't matter to them how she interacted with people anyway.

But then the spell was broken, like an unpredictable volcanic eruption. Raeyn practically threw her hands away from him and the traveler watched them hit the table as if from afar. Those weren't her wrists slamming onto the wood. That wasn't her throat despair was clawing up. And it certainly wasn't the Raeyn she'd just been holding hands with that was turning white as last night's bed sheets. When the waitress sauntered up to the table, unusually concerned, Narifa's fury at being so caustically accused knew no bounds.

Raeyn wobbled out of his seat as she whipped her head up to stare the new arrival down. It took every ounce of discipline she had to shove that unnecessary despair back down, for her to shout in her mind that something was obviously paining her mirror image. She had done nothing. And she didn't think she could do anything to help him, either. The face he'd made as he turned his back to her and headed up the stairs was the same face he'd made curled against the wall of cold wet stone in the middle of the worst storm Lhavit had ever known. Worried was an insufficient word to describe the terror coursing throughout her veins.

His fiery locks, so similar to her own, disappeared into the ceiling before she opened her mouth, "He is absolutely not fine. I would suggest you turn right around, get another worker to bring him a mug of tea, and keep. your mouth. shut."

The punctuated anger in Narifa's voice hit home, and the waitress, though with no small amount of chagrin, stomped away to do what she knew would have been the best course of action either way. With a sigh, the woman pushed her chair back and plotted her next step. Another staff member came out to clear the empty plates away from the table.

The tiny glassblower had never let anything like this get to her before. She was incredibly difficult to deter once she'd set her mind to something. She'd said it before and she'll say it again: Raeyn would be terribly hard-pressed to get rid of her now. She would crave his presence and his soft caresses. She wouldn't be able to go without seeing the little half-smile that hung off the corners of his lips. She'd gone too long without the platonic affections of another individual, and now that she had it in her grasp again, she wouldn't let go for the world.

Narifa would give him some time alone. He looked like he needed it, now more than ever. Mind made up, the girl nodded to herself and pranced away, down the closest corridor she could find. Time to go explore.

[Saiyin]

Grades Awarded

Please let me know if there's anything I've missed, and remember to edit your grading request to show it's been completed.

Narifa

Skills
Observation: +4
Acting: +1
Socialisation: +5

Lores
Raeyn: Gorgeous and captivating in the nude
Raeyn: First met on the night of the banquet
Acting: Fabricating absurd stories
Socialisation: Reading social cues
Location: The Shooting Star Inn
Raeyn: Mara’s brother
Raeyn: A hunter but dreams of teaching
Socialisation: Making an introduction
Lore of the Necklace of Desire
Belief: “An unfinished portrait still has room for change”
Raeyn: Narifa’s mirror in more ways than one
Raeyn: Suffering inside

Notes
Oh my god, Narifa is so lovely. I'm going to be watching with (wind?) eagle eyes to see what these two get up to next. What a lovely read.

Raeyn

Skills
Observation: +4
Socialisation: +5
Meditation: +1
Cosmetology: +1

Lores
Socialisation: Attempting to function in a hangover
Raeyn: A vow to become teetotal
Narifa: Somewhat of a teaser
Observation: Associating aesthetics with a place
Location: The Shooting Star Inn
Narifa: First met on the night of the banquet
Narifa: Single in Summer 518
Narifa: A potted personal history
Wind Reach: Mount Skyinarta and imageries of the home of the Inarta
Goal: Become master of every inanimate thing
Narifa: Raeyn’s true twin

Notes
So beautiful. So haunted. So cute! Like I said to Narifa, I'm going to be keenly watching for what these two get up to together. I hope those voices let Raeyn have his moment of happiness though. :|

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