[Stone Garden] A Bit of Air [Cathan]

[Hadrian]

"Of course you are an individual," he hastened to correct himself. "I didn't mean to be disrespectful, but I can't help but draw on what I know of Kelvics while trying to figure you out. Not... figure you out, but I guess, get to know you properly." Later, when his tipsy admission embarrassed him, he just nodded to Cathan's kind replies. He had seen invisible hackles raised and after they had both eaten their fill and he had thought things through, Cathan surprised him by his offer. His mouth opened silently for a moment before he could talk. He took a sip of ale first, which may or may not have been a good idea. "I appreciate the offer, but... your friend Kendall doesn't know me at all. And I don't know... I'm a native of Syliras. Ravok is... the enemy. They might not take kindly to me being there. And... I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable earlier. I was talking out loud. Sometimes I'm lonely, but I'm not... you know... looking for someone to make me feel better. I'm not actively searching for a Kelvic to bond with me. You needn't worry. But thank you for being kind about it." He paused, remembering -- he thought -- a perk of interest when he mentioned a Familiar. "And Familiars... do you know about them?"

[Cathan]

"You are just curious. Nothing to apologize for." Cathan had filtered all meat from his plate visible satisfied he had avoided a good part of the vegetable. "My question earlier might have been misleading," he confessed, pushing his plate back.

"It was also just a... suggestion." The Kelvic seemed surprised the other man had turned down his offer, but he did not seem too upset over it. The mug before him half emptied, Cathan could feel the familiar feeling of haziness seep into his thoughts. Not yet drunken, he could feel he was getting there. One or two more drinks, that was the limit he usually came to enjoy before he came to regret his decision to even drink just one mug.

"I am not sure Kendall would mind," Cathan added after a long moment of consideration. "Back when we left Zeltiva a woman came to our camp side. She was all pale with scales in her face. And she carried a real big hammer. He just invite her to come along before even knowing her very well. Compared with her you look harmless." Already when the words left his mouth he frowned. "...but with sorcerers one never knows about such things, hm?"

When an opponent was strong you could see his muscles, he could not look into a sorcerer's head as easily.

"No one should have to feel lonely," he continued. "You could always go and find some woman, no? Summer is great to have a litt – children."

Grinning he took another sip from his ale, but grew serious quickly. "I did not know Ravok was an enemy. What would they do if they knew somehow you are from here?" From one second to the next Hadrian was eyed curiously. "Are you a famous mage?"

The thought had not occurred to him before. Hadrian seemed able to do a lot of fascinating things, tricks which could draw someone's attention. Eventually Kendall was as famous. He had never thought about asking him. He seemed too young to be famous. But so was Hadrian.

Cathan shook his head. "A familiar... is that like a Kelvic?"

[Hadrian]

Hadrian was glad that there were no offenses passing between them. Cathan was very easy to get along with, very forgiving and all. He found himself wondering whether it would be so bad to have a Kelvic companion like Cathan, or Cathan himself, but it was idle speculation. "I, well... I don't know what Kendall seeks in Ravok. It can't be a pleasure trip. And oh..." He colored at Cathan latching onto what he had said about being lonely, and taking it to obvious conclusions. "Well," he continued, his voice a little choked. A bit of ale didn't even help that. "Women don't seem to care for me. Men either. I suppose I could try harder, but... I'm very dedicated to my work, I suppose." He paused when Cathan spoke, then shook his head. "Not famous, no. I had some notoriety within the University of Zeltiva, and I've traveled, but I haven't really created a masterwork yet. I haven't the money for it, sadly. Someday..." Of course, his father was a rather famous merchant prince as those things went. The Ebonstryfe might have heard of the name Aelius, and certainly they would be happy to enslave a skilled mage to their purposes. He shuddered a bit. "I like to think it's the self-preservation sort of fear that keeps me from wanting to go to Ravok... Oh, but yes. Familiars are... they're beings from other worlds. Wizards can make contracts with them, form bodies for them out of their own spirit, and bring them to Mizahar to inhabit them. So they are bonded at the spirit level, companions. Strange ones, though, since they aren't native."

[Cathan]

"I couldn't say what his business is within in the city." Again it was none of the questions Cathan had asked. The young man had wanted to get out of Zeltiva and their destination of their travel had not seem all that important to him. Nor to the Kelvic, who had been happy enough to have someone to follow along. He was not an decision maker, although it had become better since the time his last bond mate had found his end.

Red crept into Hadrian's cheeks and the Kelvic wondered if he had done something warranting the man's anger. Quickly though he realized that was not at all the case. "I don't know much about human women. Or men." He studied the young man over his near empty ale mug. "Can't really say I know what's attractive for your kind either but you don't look bad or do you?" Half thoughtful Cathan scratched his neck. "All tall and pale and lanky. Some do call that cute to my knowledge. Heard some girls in Zeltiva say so at least."

Later they had turned, running and screaming when he had shift form before them. He figured he had not cut a cute figure. It had also remind him to not change before human again. What one could forget in just one season.

"I have seen the University, it was an... impressive building. But I have not been inside," he admit, emptying his mug in one go. There had not been a lot left. "I suspect there fit many books into it." While he was able to read, slowly and with a finger dancing along behind the words he read, he had never found a book able to mesmerize him. Not that he had ever possessed one.

"Self preservation is always a good thing." He was not keen on the city himself, too much water and little places to hunt, but in the same turn he knew Kendall would not allow someone to take him as a slave. The kelvic trust his travel companion.

Familiars. So it was some sort of magic. He had come to know so many in so little time. "Are they doing what you tell them? So you can give them orders and they obey?" It did sound a bit like his own breed. Maybe without changing form, but Cathan bit back the appropriate question. Hadrian seemed just to willing to answer, yet the Kelvic felt bad about his own curiosity.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian nodded glumly; he hadn't expected Cathan to divulge Kendall's plans even if he knew them, though he wasn't sure whether to admire or chastise him for following the pyromancer into Ravok and the threat of peril without knowing what was at stake and what were the reasons. When things moved to Hadrian's attributes or lack thereof, he continued to blush, looking down into his ale, which he began to drink, probably too fast. "Well, I lived in Zeltiva... for four years... I don't know which girls you mean. It's more likely they would have taken a shine to you..." He looked up briefly, then down. In those instinctive changes back in the cold, he had seen more of Cathan than most with the shifting of his form and clothes. "At least, if you didn't morph in front of them. Or... well, they might like you even more if you were naked..." He laughed then, shaking his head. "Human mating rituals." The University was actually more than one building, all of them replete with books, but it didn't seem important to correct Cathan on that score. "As for Familiars, well... nominally they owe some allegiance to the mage that brings them over, but there have been many accounts of Familiars becoming the ones in charge... if the relationship isn't carefully nourished. Or if the mage is weak-willed. "It doesn't sound like the best idea when one remembers those stories, but apparently there have been plenty of mages who get lonely or power hungry, and think it worth the risk."

[Cathan]

"Nah, I can't imagine," Cathan said with a sour grin. "You know, when a female Kelvic changes in front of a crowd men will stare and one or two of the women will hurry to get her something to dress. If now someone like me changes before a crown, woman scream and men laugh, at least until the noise from their wives get to them and they shoo you away. Far away preferably."

Cathan weighted his empty mug in one hand. "Well, usually at least."

Again he smirked and this time his smile was mischievous. "Sometimes it doesn't hurt to be bold." He eyed the sad remains of his ale, few drops gathering at the mug's bottom. "Most of the time however it does," he admit, still grinning. "That one time with the girls was a mistake. There are times I forget the whole affair with clothing and modesty and etiquette everyone seems so concerned with. It seems rather... useless to me."

The Kelvic licked his lips. Overall the shapeshifter seemed in a good mood, better than before. His voice was a little heavy, but not out of the ordinary. "Maybe... I should get us some more," he observed with another look in the emptiness yawning into his face. He did not yet make a move to get to his feet though.

"Familiars do sound... useful." Not as much as his own breed, but still. He was allowed to take a little pride in what he was, for whatever it was worth. "Can they do magic?" It seemed a mage would be interested in such things and he had never meet one of his own breed capable in the field of the arcane. When Hadrian mentioned the dangers however he tilt his head to the side.

"You do not seem so power hungry," Cathan observed quietly. "And I never found it would be a good idea to do something only because everyone else does. Suddenly you are expected to wear shirts around women and open them the door and no one knows why that's supposed to be polite or when it started."

[Hadrian]

"Well, I'm sure if I looked like you, I would be much more popular with the ladies," he said, laughing ruefully. Some people found his own eldritch looks pleasing, but Cathan definitely had a more universal appeal. Hadrian could admire that about him. "Anyway, they probably shooed you away because they were afraid that once the shock wore off, their wives wouldn't want to mate with them anymore... "Clothes are rather silly," he admitted, though it might have been partly due to the alcohol and the sudden heaviness in his stomach slowing down his thoughts. "I mean, we're born naked, after all. I wouldn't want to go to Avanthal in the dead of winter without proper clothes, but... I suppose humans are just adapted to a different climate than Syliras'. "Familiars are very useful, and most of them do magic. There are several kinds, of course. I don't know if I'm power hungry, but I'm knowledge hungry... perhaps wisdom hungry... But if I ever do become all-powerful, I'll make sure nobody has to wear clothes anymore. How does that sound?" He grinned, then went for another sip of ale, only to find his mug empty. "Blast. I need more to drink."

[Cathan]

"Humans have strange habits when it comes to mating. All complicate." It seemed easier out in the wild, even though wolves had a tendency to stay together for life it was more more simple on many levels. And wolves did not tend to talk so much either. Conversation, he had come to realize, was the point he usually failed at. People asked for honesty, but they did not actually appreciate to hear about the truth. He tend to get along with others until he decided to exchange more than pleasantries with them. And at times even courtesy was hard to manage.

"And I would not want someone's else mate anyway."

He started to play with the mug in his hands, passing it from one in the other. "Wise men keep their hide save. Theirs and those of others. Yet, familiars do sound interesting." The way he pictured them, they seemed like pets, powerful pets for powerful men. Not really the sort of thing which would ever come to bother him.

"You just have to pick something harmless. When the come in different breeds there is such a thing, is there not? Like the rabbit among the Familiars." A strange concern was swinging in the Kelvic's voice and he might not have agreed with the other man's plan had he not felt the warmth of the liquor course though his body. "Just... try to be careful," he grinned.

An empty mug was lifted to the mage. "On the day we shad all useless clothing!," he proclaimed just a bit too loud.

Rising Cathan stood, taking his mug and Hadrian's if the man let go of it. "This round is on me."

With that he walked off, his steps halting, but not ungraceful. Carefully he avoided other tables and the man sitting around them, his instinct still dictating his route. Somehow he even managed to pay the girl at the counter handing out the ale, only transportation he had his trouble with. A little ale swashed over when he returned, running down the mug's side. He did not seem to mind much.

[Hadrian]

"Too complicated," Hadrian agreed vehemently, as if trying to persuade himself that it was all too, too complicated for him to waste time with it. "Oh, and who knows if I will ever actually sign a compact with some creature from another world? A rabbit among familiars might be easier to, I don't know, play alpha male to... but if they are entirely weak, then they might not be all that much use. Well, other than companionship, though the price seems a bit steep for that... Then again, it could be argued that men give up a bit of themselves in order to keep a mate around forever..." He was left in a thoughtful state after the toast of empty mugs and Cathan's generous offer. If he was representative of Kelvics in general, then Hadrian could see how easily it would be to form a sort of bond with one. They were obliging and rather smarter than most people seemed to think, if Cathan was any indication. He watched the serving wenches react to him, and the wolf-man didn't see their admiration. He almost laughed. How odd! But others had told him he was as oblivious as that to what other people thought of him. But he shied away from that realization, not wanting to accept that he might be the one responsible for pushing people away. Grinning, he accepted the mug, not worrying about the stickiness from spillage. "Thank you, thank you." He laughed. "How do you hold your drink? Perhaps you should tell me where Kendall is staying so I can help you home when the evening is over."

[Cathan]

"I am sensing a challenge."

Cathan took seat next to the other man, careful not to spill liquor all over the table. The noises of the taproom had turned into something distant, a nuisance easy ignored by the Kelvic whose senses had diminished in a haze of happy drunkenness. In more than one way it made the inn a more comfortable place to be.

"Pretty sure I hold my drinks better than do you, my friend." Hadrian did not seem the type of man who spend his evenings drinking, or better, the shapeshifter was not willing to admit he was far less used to drinking than most every man regularly visiting the Rearing Stallion. He had met men taking pride in their ability to drink and while he was uncertain what such a talent would prove in the greater scheme of things, Cathan felt he should be able to drink more than a mug. Or two. Ideally without the need of a dark, unwatched corner to come to an hasty agreement with his stomach later.

He inclined his head to Hadrian. "However, if I should loose – Kendall and I are staying with a woman named Sondra. She is really pale and has scales. She is...," at loose for the term Kendall had called her, he instead rose a hand into the air, "… this high. Her place is in the... third tier of the castle. Never able to find the stairs up there, but should be able to find her room." Maybe would even be able to pick up her scent or Kendall's. It was so much easier than actually memorize the way he had taken.

"Can not see me loosing though." Or at least his petty amount of pride would not allow him to. Cathan just hoped his pride would be able to win out against his stomach in the end. "Eventually I will have to bring you home in the end." Mug still in his hand, he pointed a finger at the mage.