Closed Where The Sea Meets The Sky

[Kamilla]

Hearing Jehu's answer, Kamilla was reminded that Chaktawe had an extra water storage organ, something she couldn't believe she'd forgotten. "Well, it seems we have that in common then." Another friendly smile would be offered to the intimidating Zith as she offered him the cool glass, noting exactly how his clawed hands grasped the object. They really did look dangerous, she wondered just how strong they were, whether they were capable of tearing bone or just flesh, she was certain of the latter.

"Really? Looks like we can cover the land, air and sea now."

She agreed, between the two of them there were few places they couldn't explore, a part of her enjoying the thought of them as a team, though she'd argue that Jehu's ability to fly was somewhat more exciting than her ability to breath underwater. Noticing the way the Zith's gaze changed and held her own, Kamilla felt compelled to agree not to return but at the same time couldn't not bring herself to do it. "You don't need to worry, I have no intentions of returning to those sunken ruins, as curious as I am to what is happening there. Perhaps those fish people are responsible for our changes?" Of course it was an unlikely scenario, but so was spontaneously transforming into a different race. At this point, the mage didn't know what to believe.

Kamilla felt an involuntary smile appear on her face as Jehu agreed to stay for dinner, already finding that the overly toothy grin was growing on her, in a predatory but charming way. She was about to turn from him to get started with supper when his words stopped her, a clawed had already reaching for her throat. She took a bracing breath in an attempt to quell the instinct telling her not to allow the sharp talons anywhere near her neck, managing to stay calm yet slightly tense. Jehu would find that the delicate opalescent scales felt surprisingly smooth and cool to the touch, Kamilla quivering slightly under the ticklish sensation, an amused smile on her face.

Once Jehu was satisfied with his examination of the scales, Kamilla would turn in a whirlwind of white hair and gather up both plates and cutlery, setting them on the table towards the far left side of the large opening. She paused for a moment to gaze out over the ocean, noting that the sun had finally set and the sky was now approaching twilight. The view from her mountain home never ceased to amaze her.

Once the table had been set, loosely, Kam certainly wasn't one for formal and fine dining, simply setting the two plates, two bowls and a series of cutlery for each on the table besides a pitcher of cool water, she made her way over to the magic pie cozy, lifting the lid and taking a whiff of the magically created pie. "Pumpkin… I think." The pie was placed in the center of the table before she made her way to the cauldron sitting beside the unlit fire place. She dipped a ladle into the cauldron and chanted, more musically than usual, "I am grateful for Bala's bounty." and watched as the cauldron was filled with a delicious smelling vegetable soup. She filled a large bowl with the soup and placed it on the table before finally taking a seat.

"I hope you don't mind the natural lighting, I didn't think we'd need to get a fire going just yet." After all, the sky was still more than bright enough, in her opinion.

612

[Jehu]

Jehu

The pad of his finger brushed down the column of Kam's neck. It was a gesture he would have desired to make even if she were not so radically altered. Maybe, unconsciously, Jehu was taking advantage of the situation to touch Kam in a way he had desired. But, it really wasn't her skin, not the Kam that was suppose to be. Yet, the feel of her Konti flesh was by no means unpleasant. The scales felt as faint as they appeared to his eyes. With only the slightest texture, they were as supple as human skin to his touch. His fingers lingered only a moment, feeling the soft thrum of her pulse beneath her skin. It was a moment Jehu treasured.

His hand withdrew and Kamilla was off to fetch them food. Her hair was so light, her skin paler, her eyes colorful, it was almost as if the supernatural transition had made a physical opposite of the mage seamstress. As Kam set the table, Jehu pondered their bizarre predicament. He felt very strange, with such an unfamiliar body looking at his friend with totally a different form. But the Chaktawe had not seen enough of the world to know just how ridiculously outrageous it would be for anyone to find a Zith sitting at a table to eat pie with a Konti. Yet, there they were.

He knew by the position of the sun and the shadows within Kam's home what he should and should not see. But his eyes did not comply with his logic. "The lighting is fine. It seems my eyes work better in lower light. I can see everything as if the sun was higher in the sky." Jehu commented, sharing with his friend what he discovered about himself as they were revealed.

The Zith-man settled into a chair as Kam dished out the soup. The pie looked delicious, though he hadn't had pumkin pie. He didn't know people made pies out of gourds. He felt his stomach growl, as if protesting the lack of meat. Jehu would often eat a meal without meat, if none was available or he didn't feel like taking the time to cook it. Seemed a Zith's appetite was more specific. Of course, he would say nothing to his host. He was most happy to spend the time with Kam as they mused over what happened to them.

Jehu drained a glass of water and smiled sheepishly. Everything did look and smell good. He would have complimented Kam on her cooking, if she had actually cooked the meal. He did begin to dine, not eating the pie or soup in any order, but going back and forth between them. His gaze was pulled to Kam repeatedly. It was an urge he had dealt with ceaselessly during the Summer, when a jungle fever birthed a mental obsession with the beautiful mage. He was grateful for that infirmity, for it forced him to become acquainted with the sometimes standoffish and anti-social seamstress. When the fever broke, Jehu had found a genuine like and attraction remained. Now, with her exotic new appearance, he had all the more reason to study and admire her.

His wings folded tight against his back. Jehu thanked the gods that Kam was able to see him through his frightful visage. He was not sure the others would be so accepting. Then again, he might not be the only Zith in Syka after the event. He paused a moment, waiting for Konti-Kam's lavender gaze to meet his. "What...what if this is what we are now, forever? Could you live being a Konti?" It was a question he asked, because he couldn't bear to ask it of himself.

[Kamilla]

Kamilla hadn't noticed it before, with all the excitement, confusion and shock of het day,but the moment she'd sat down she became suddenly, and extremely hungry. In fact, if she recalled correctly, between her change, Sophia's frightful visit, her attempt at using her gills and finally, Jehu's surprise visit, the new Konti had not eaten a single bite of food. She idly wondered whether her new form had anything to do with how much longer it had taken her to actually feel hungry. Did smaller bodies have smaller appetites? It seemed logical.

"The lighting is fine. It seems my eyes work better in lower light. I can see everything as if the sun was higher in the sky."

Looking up with a soft frown on her pale features, ignoring the growl of her stomach, Kamilla scanned dimly lit room with her own lavender eyes, not finding it to be unnaturally more difficult or easy to see. interesting "That's interesting, though I suppose everything about your new form is bat like, and since bats are notoriously nocturnal creatures, it makes sense that Zith would be too." … At least it did to her.

Her stomach growled again, this time louder, irked by the wafting aroma coming from the soup, though Kamilla couldn't help but notice a far stronger craving for fish… even more than usual. Usually the mage would chalk it up to another one of the deceased mage Felius' feline traits seeping into her own psyche, but since she'd gotten very good at suppressing his more unwanted traits over the years, this new craving seemed notably different. If she used the same logic she'd used to explain Jehu's new improved night vision, it made sense that Konti, being somewhat aquatic, would make them partial to fish. In her mind, it made sense.

"What...what if this is what we are now, forever? Could you live being a Konti?"

Returning from her hunger induced contemplation, already cutting herself a piece of pumpkin pie, Kamilla only half heard Jehu's words as she scooped herself some of the delicious smelling vegetable fruit, despite its lack of fish. It was only after she'd stabbed her fork into the pie and was chewing the rather large piece that she registered what was said.

She gulped, hard, swallowing both the large chunk of pumpkin pie, as well as the possibility that she may never be her true self again. The thought caused a deeply unsettling drop of dread to run through her heart, not enough for it to reach her expressions, but certainly enough to jostle her from within.

Lavender eyes turned downward to examine the unfamiliarly pale arms, hands and body that now belonged to her, as if searching for sign that said it wouldn't be too bad to remain a Konti. She looked up and across the table, considering the possibility that Jehu could also remain this unfamiliar new thing, Sophia too.

Stabbing at another piece of pie, but never raising it to her lips, Kamilla let out a soft sigh. "Logically, I want to say that it wouldn't be that bad, after all, I'm still fundamentally me, just with fair features and some gills… BUT, to say it would be easy to lose the body I consider to be mine, would be a blatant lie." She wondered how the nuit did it, slipping from corpse to corpse whenever the previous one become too decrepit to function. They switched skins like they were coats, something Kamilla had never liked the thought of.

After a short pause, with an almost reluctant tone, she turned the question back on the asker. "What about you?... At least you'd be able to fly whenever you wanted." Despite her words, Kamilla had to admit that she didn't much like the idea of Jehu losing his Chaktawe from either, it had become the form she associated with her friend, one that she could see even now, as she gazed across the table at the dark haired and winged creature he had become.

688

[Jehu]

Jehu

The pie and soup tasted good, if not a bit different than he expected. Jehu attributed it to the slightly different Zith tastes. The food was satisfying though. He tried as best as he could to eat the soup with some finesse, but he was never a delicate eater to start with, and managing the spoon with clawed hands was taking some time to get used to.

He listened to Kam as she answered his questions, obviously taking serious consideration as she examined her own, unfamiliar arms and hands. That was how the seamstress mage was, practical, analytical and matter-of-fact. Only through their adventures and time together had Jehu been afforded a few glimpses of the woman's deeper emotion. That never deterred him, though. He was patient, willing to bide his time as more of Kam was revealed, bite by bite. Bite by bite... a very Zith way of saying something, he thought.

The moment he expected, and dreaded, came when Kamilla turned Jehu's question back at him. He too paused to look at his arms and hands... short, silky purple fur covering them. His hands ending in nails that more accurately resembled black talons. Tufts of more reddish fur hung from his elbows. His tongue rode delicately over pointed teeth in his mouth. He sighed. Being Chaktawe was his core identity. Even after leaving the tribe, and growing more distant from rituals and beliefs since then, He had still been the Chaktawe, the one with black orbs for eyes, who could go a tenday without water, who could find a running stream with the tips of his fingers. Even when he felt the gods of his people abandoned him, he had no other anchor of identity but Chaktawe. But then again, most of those things were mere physical evidence of what his nature was, a child of the Burning Lands.

"I would be very sad, to loose what I am." He finally commented in a low, contemplative voice. "We know our bodies better than we know any other part of who we are. That is entirely changed." His crimson gaze lifted to the lavender eyes he found quite beautiful. "But looking Chaktawe isn't being Chaktawe. I look Zith, but inside is still the man raised in the desert with the traditions and memories of a life among my tribe. The one that calls you friend." A toothy grin spread across his lips.

"And, yes, flying is an incredible thing to be able to do." Jehu appreciated Kamilla's attempt to find a silver lining to a completely hideous situation. He plucked a bite of pie from his fork. "Could you live with me like this?" Jehu asked innocently, only catching what his question inferred a moment later. "I mean, could you see our friendship continuing, if I didn't change back?" It wasn't a fair question, and again, one for which he wasn't sure he wanted an answer. But Kamilla's friendship was important to him. His feelings for her were strong, as was the attraction that lingered after the Summer madness faded. It would be sad for things to change between them because of the unfortunate transformations.

[Kamilla]

The food was good, as usual, but… unsurprisingly, the company was better. Kamilla having guests over for dinner was something that had almost never happened since she'd left Sunberth so many years ago. In Zeltiva she'd only ever had one friend, Faolan, and he'd never actually visited her home. The duo often met in the clearing just outside the city, Kamilla would read or practice magic while Faolan would either silently observe or take a nap in his wolf form. The kelvic had left for Ravok shortly after they'd become friends and he was still the person Kamilla considered the first of her very few friends.

The Konti thought of life on Sahova too, she'd spent almost every meal alone in the cool cramped stone living quarters or outside in the dry heat of the island. The majority of the Citadel's residents, nuit, did not need to eat and the few living that were hardy enough to survive there, Pulsers, we're hardly the type for social interactions and friendship. She thought of Keene, the warden apprentice she'd encountered on several occasions, though he was more of an acquaintance than a friend.

After the living were forcibly evacuated from the Undead Isle, she'd travelled for Riverfall, spurred on by the psyche of Felius that lingered in her mind and she'd met the bard Chrysanthemum whom she supposed counted as a friend, he'd forced her to join him for dinner a few times while she was staying in Riverfall's Kulkukan Inn. After that Yennefer and Roo had come along and become her family, but despite those few significant people, Kamilla couldn't deny that the kinship she felt with some of Syka's residents, particularly Finn, Sophia and Jehu, was something that she'd come to greatly appreciate.

Finishing up her food just in time to catch Jehu's question, lavender eyes searched the unfamiliar features of her newly Zith friend for anything that may provide insight to the reason behind the question, was he truly that concerned about his new form? Or perhaps, she wasn't concerned enough about her own. Kamilla had to remind herself that her new form would obviously be a lot easier to live with than Jehu's form which was widely feared and hated.

Would she be able to remain friends with him in his current form?"

An subtle but amused smile spread across the Konti's fair features, "Of course… It would take a lot more than some claws and a pair of wings to make me avoid you… after all, you did save my life." It was true, but Kamilla knew that the answer wouldn't have changed even if she hadn't owed him for the rescue. There was something there between the two, she'd picked it up since the day they'd met and it had only grown throughout the season, more so after she'd discovered who her father was. "And if it bothered you that much, I'd find a way to help you…"

She already had a pretty good idea of a magic that would be helpful, Morphing, although she had no knowledge of how to actually do it, she did however, have both the deceased mage Felius AND the warden morpher Kinnapak as good references of what the magic was capable of.

"I do think it's too soon to be worried though, we still don't even know what caused this…" She paused noticing that her bathtub was still full of water, a ball of glistening lavender res beginning to form ae the palm of her webbed right hand. "... I think we should just give ourselves some time to find answers. Surely someone in the settlement should have an idea of what happened." While she spoke, Kamilla flicked her wrist, sending the ball of res toward the bathtub where it began to draw the water into the air before sending it flying out over the cliffside.

"... We'll be fine either way." She offered him what she hoped would be a reassuring smile. The moment was interrupted by a soft meow as Yennefer weaved her way between Jehu's legs, brushing up against them before hopping up onto the Zith's lap. Kamilla let out a soft laugh, "At least Yennefer seems to like you this way… she usually avoids strangers…"

730

[Jehu]

Jehu

It was a ridiculously bizarre thing. Jehu found some aspects of his Zith body so instinctual, he didn't even think about it, while others he had to literally learn how to do, like function with claws upon his fingers, or manage a pair of wings in a straight back chair. It meant moving slower working a soup spoon and fork. It was frustrating, and he wondered if some mischievous god was looking in from the Ukalas, laughing and patting himself on the back for such a clever joke.

Kamilla was a comfort, having gone through a similar experience and her practicality helped Jehu gain perspective. There was no good in sulking, they were what they were, and effort would be better spent on finding out what happened and if it could be reversed. Jehu nodded as he took a bite of pie. Things tasted different, he noticed, though he had never had pumpkin pie, so he could enjoy it with a Zith tongue and not know the difference.

He watched as the mage idly balled up the bath water and expelled it out of the cave opening. Would he ever see the use of magic to be as mundane and common as it seemed to Kamilla? He was still woefully ignorant of it, though Kam had worked to dispel much of Jehu's misunderstanding and superstitions. Still, he had a habit of romanticizing magic.

Jehu welcomed the yowlwing to his lap with a laugh, stroking the winged-feline creature's soft fur. "Maybe she can teach me how to keep my fur clean." He teased back, enjoying the simple act of petting the yowlwing. His gaze lifted to the familiar yet unfamiliar Konti woman. There was no mistake though, from her mannerisms to the thing she said, that the Konti was very much Kamilla.

"Imagine what it will be like to go on a hunt, like this." Jehu pondered, trying to find any sort of boon to his condition. If Kamilla could be practical, he could too. "And flight...imagine all I could do. Scout out approaching ships, patrol the beaches, Buraga will piss himself when he sees what I can do." The colloquialism was one he picked up from the settlement guard himself. Urine, like any form of liquid, was never a laughing matter in the desert.

Finishing up the pie and soup, some of the pie was fed to Yen in tiny bites she licked from his finger. "Thank you, Kam. I feel better about this. I mean, better that I am not the only one, and that maybe there is a way to fix it. Really, you make a fine Konti." Jehu added with a grin. He wasn't fine yet, but he knew he wasn't going to go mad now. "I should let you get some sleep. I have a feeling my body is build for night, so I may try out this flying thing some more."