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(( Gus, Spawn, Lysius, Kryos, and Satou :: Feb 08 09 ))

The walk had taken several hours, including the occasional pauses to double-check their trail. Spawn offered little conversation--he wasn't much for talking, it seemed--but replied readily enough if Gus struck up a chat. He seemed to be in a good mood, for the most part, but occasionally grew frustrated by the antics of the trees. The forest was being especially difficult with them, but sticking to the hidden path helped; the path was meant as a means of shortening the trip by days. One step was something akin to a hundred yards or more, and thus it was much more difficult for the trees to change about to divert the hikers. But they certainly tried.

Thus is came as something of a surprise when homes did appear through the trees, scattered at first, one every several minutes, and then more frequent, lined up on either side as path bled into road. However, their arrival had not gone unnoticed; at the foot of the dirt road which opened to the Village main, a line of Sargtlins awaited their arrival. Their poses were casual, unconcerned, but it was nonetheless a rather intimidating picture--especially when several Uuthli dropped to the road behind the pair, forming a line parallel to the Sargtlins.

Klu'chud, for all the world as unconcerned as the Sargtlins, gestured Gus forward. "Perhaps you should introduce us."

Gus had walked along behind Spawn, uncomplaining and offering obsevations of the obvious kind whenever a plant or rock struck him as odd. The poor guy knew very little about the woodlands and survival, and he knew even less about the village and what went on there or how to get there. He trusted his new friend though, and walked along complacently behind him, stepping where he was told and doing as he was prompted.

When the village appeared, Gus smiled to himself. He'd been here before, but only briefly and that was years ago. His smile faded as the Sargtlins faced them down and broke into a deep frown as it became apparent that it was his move. Gus took a tentative step back and stammered...

"I'm ... Um... Gus Kalhoun, I'm..." He thought about the last time he had been here with Jack, and figured that maybe to the point was better. "I'm Gus... Kalhoun.... Saty... Satou Kalhoun... mysisterthough.... She's not Kalhoun anymore... Satou is my sister." He stopped and let out the breath that he'd been partially holding. glancing back at Spawn, he realized that he was proabbly not helping them any with all his stammering.

"I... we... came here looking for help from the village. We have news for the villagers, and I wanted to talk to my sister, Satou." He nodded. Sure he'd already said half of that in his stammering, but it felt good to get it all out in one sentance.... kind of.

A distinct ripple went through the group at the mention of Satou's name, but just as quickly they recovered, stoically holding their positions in line. One, however, obviously in charge of the small group, stepped forward to direct the conversation. His eyes slid briefly over Gus, quickly dismissing him as no threat, before passing on towards Spawn. He smirked. "Your mother's been looking for you, Klu'chud."

If the jab was taken to heart, Klu'chud gave no sign. He kept his tone calm as he replied, "By this warm welcome, I had anticipated as much. I would assume, then, that rooms will have already been prepared for us, for I trust her visit offered no cause for alarm?"

A long pause followed, during which the tall Sargtlin considered the pair. Lysius had informed him that he was to intercept the Daewl, to interrogate and disarm him if necessary, but there seemed no need to subject the Afya to the same. Zelda had been all but frantic when she spoke with the Sargtlin Council member, Lysius had mentioned, rattling on about how her son was a madman, how the Village was in danger--but could give no real examples to verify her claims. Certainly, he was the son of Scion, and that alone was cause for caution--but Scion had also been possessed, and had offered no further trouble in the time since.

"We have news for the Council," Klu'chud added to break the silence.

Coming to a decision, the Sargtlin nodded shortly and, gesturing to his men, turned on a heel and led the way down the dirt road, the others falling into line on either side of the pair as the Uuthli disbanded as silently as they had come.

Satou smiled as she leaned back against the countertop, arms folded lightly across her chest as she thought for a moment. Gus was here, alive and well for the time being. She'd had a few worries about him when he hadn't met her in the forest weeks ago like he'd said he would, but all that was dispelled at haveing seen him and even given him a quick hug before he was taken off to be questioned. She knew they wouldn't hurt him, he was Gus... it was difficult to even think of hurting Gus... he was... too.... cute? She laughed and looked up at her husband with a genuine smile.

"It's so good to see him again... he hasn't changed at all!" She let her arms fall to her sides as she stood and strode over to Lysius. "Of course it hasn't been 70 years for him, just for me." She reached up and touched a slightly greying lock of the man's hair. "It's good to see someone exactly the same as the way I left them." She didn't mean it as an insult or even a barb, just trying to let him know that she was sorry for making him wait for her all those years... even if it wasn't all her fault.

Then she stepped back with a grin. "And now you've met my brother! I've two of them, though as I've told you, the other one isn't a jivvin, he's adopted..." She faded off. "We used to be the same age, Gus and I ... hatched on the same day even... not anymore..." She smiled up at Lysius once more, "Funny thing? We all figured Gus would get married before I would."

She faded into her own thoughts again, finding it reasonably difficult to focus on anything other than the fact that she was seeing her brother again for the first time in over 70 years.... "It's just... so strange and wonderful to see him!"

"You'd think you were Mejari, with how you go on," Lysius scoffed in reply, capturing her about the waist with an arm to draw her to him. "Seventy. You haven't aged a day... That I were seventy again!" With mock-despair he let his arm fall, instead running his hair through his graying hair. Truth be told, however, he looked years younger--the Sargtlin had undergone a vast improvement since his wife's return and recovery. Saty had brought happiness and youth back to his life, a welcome change both for him and everyone under his command. He hadn't seemed so alive in years.

"Gus will be staying with us once Kyros is done with him," he offered, diverting the subject from the time lost to Satou. He could easily see why the subject would trouble her; one family hadn't missed a day, and the other had passed hundreds of years. There was time to recover on either side. "Which I doubt will be long, knowing the Vhaid. They've been traveling all day, Kyros will send him away as soon as he starts to droop. We haven't decided what to do with the Daewl, however."

She smiled ear to ear at the prospect of Gus sharing a house with her for a little while, and loved Lysius all the more for allowing it. "well," she was thinking out loud, "Gus did introduce him as a friend, but in all honesty Gus doesn't always make safe friends." She rolled her eyes slightly as she remembered Gus's first real friend, Fen. That was about as good a friendship as a cripple mouse and a lion cub... though Fen had done a good job of protecting Gus so maybe...

"I'd like to say that I don't mind where the Daewl stays, but you saw his mother earlier. I don't know who's the saner, but if he stays here then he gets watched and watched well."

"He is not staying here," Lysius replied firmly. He had lost her once, he wasn't about to risk Saty's safety again. While Satou was recoving from her injury, there had been no talk of her potentially resuming patrols, and the topic had not arisen in the time since. Already he was dreading the day that the subject was breached--and he wasn't entirely certain about how he would respond to it. "I have already spoken with Kyros on the matter, and he seemed to think the Daewl should stay with him...but I am hesitant to leave him that close to our Vhaid, harmless though he may be."

Sighing, he shook his head. "Zelda seemed so concerned over his arrival. It's hard to put that aside, but he hasn't done...anything. We can't condemn him for that." Lysius had learned, in recent years, a fair bit about passing judgment prior to crime. "But her fear has me cautious."

"I talked to her once a long time ago...." She paused and smiled as she realized what she'd just said. "Actually it was a long time ago... before she was with Scion and before she'd had a child... she seemed sane to me then." Saty nodded and silently aproved of the Daewl not staying in her house. And it would be easy enough to explain to Gus by shrouding it in rank traditions.

Over the last month or so, part of her had been watching her husband as he attempted to keep her out of danger, and make sure that there weren't harmful factors too close to the Satou. She didn't have to try very hard to not be offended, after all she did realize that he'd been through a lot... and the matching scars on her back and abdomen from a piercing sword wound prayed on her mind enough to keep her docile for now. Besides, it wasn't just Lysius who worried about her, she was almost sure that Jack worried, and several of her and Lysius's close friends... not to metion the Sargtlins under Lysius's control. She sighed inwardly.

"I'm sure the Vhaid will be find. He can more than protect himself. He's got all those Uths and loyal vhaids backing him up... and with Zelda's proclomaiton no one's going to let him step out of line with more than a little toe." She shrugged. "It's fine." And Gus was staying here. she grinned.

"Sane enough then," he agreed dryly, but chuckled. "I don't know how anyone could maintain sanity living with a cannibal. Let's hope the son hasn't inherited his father's tendencies." Only the widespread knowledge of the workings of Scion's abilities had convinced Lysius to leave him alive. The white Daewl was essentially harmless now, and had supposedly set aside his ways once he and the Valz'hin had been separated. But his son?

"But you're probably right," he continued with a nod. "Kyros is already so heavily guarded, Klu'chud couldn't argue that we were setting a guard specifically on him. He couldn't get away with anything in that house." He paused, satisfied with Satou's reassurances and his own conclusion, then diverted the conversation once more.

"Did Gus happen to mention what held him up when you spoke with him? My Sargtlins have been watching for him for weeks with no sign."

"He said something about being held in the forest by another jivvin... " She nodded, knowing that the whole story would be being given right now, and the information would be better sorted by someone else, than hearing it straight from Gus's tired battered brain. She knew he was in good hands.

"But he was babbling so much, it was hard to understand anything. He said something about demons and something about fires, and something about Scion and Zelda and Mother and Ranald and all the family back at the cabin." She shrugged. "I'm sure it wasn't as bad as Gus thinks it was..."

"That's a lot to fit into a few minutes," he laughed, the sobered. "But most of it not good, it seems. We'll have to get the story out of him...or have Kyros explain while Gus rests. Speaking of whom," he added as a knock sounded from the front door, and abandoned his perch against the counter to answer it.

It was Kyros who led the way inside, with Gus just behind him. The Vhaid offered a nod in greeting for the Sargtlin and a smile past him for his wife. "Good evening Lysius, Satou. I hope you'll pardon me for monopolizing your brother."

Satou grinned and shook her head as an answer, staring at Gus for a moment before speaking "Did they tell you Gus, you'll be staying here with Lysius and I while you're in the village?"

Gus smiled in return, noting the marked changes in his sister for the second time that day. She not only looked older, she looked happier, and it made him smiled to himself. The Satou that left his family had been stoic and grumpy and generally unhappy. "Yeah." He smiled at Lysius, "and thankyou." He motioned to Kryos with a tired smile. "I've met the Sargtlin, the Sargtlin's wife, the Vhaid himself, and several dozen soldiers all in one day." He laughed. "It's been more of a welcome than I ever could have imagined."

Satou grinned and spoke to Kryos. "Are you done with him then? And Scion's son is behing housed with...." she paused. "You?"

Lysius offered a nod in acknowledgment for Gus's thanks as Kyros went on. "Klu'chud will be remaining with me until we decide upon somewhere more suitable." He paused to give weight to the word, then continued, "Though, I do not imagine that he will complain. He, on the other hand, is free to go," he added with a gesture towards Gus, smiling towards the Afya. "Thank you for your time, Gus. I'm sure you must be tired, so I'll leave you to your sister. You, on the other hand." Looking up, he fixed Lysius with a frown and gestured back outside with a nod. "If I might have a word?"

The Sargtlin again nodded, waving Kyros out before glancing back to Satou with a smile. "I doubt we'll be long. Make yourself comfortable, Gus." And he followed the Vhaid out, closing the door behind them.

Satou grinned and grabbed Gus by the arm, pulling him to a chair and pushing him down into it. "Are you alright? Tired? Thirsy?" She pointed to a teapot. "There's tea and weak coffee and pretty much whatever that's natural." She grabbed the teapot as Gus pointed to it with a knowing grin himself. "Gus it's.... it's just so good to see you here."

He grinned and accepted the cup she handed him. "It's good to see you too, though, I have to admit it's strange too." Taking a sip of the warm tea he looked at her face. It was easy, relaxed... it looked like she hadn't frowned in years... "You look the same and yet so different." He set the cup down with a grin as she settled into the chair across from him. "Your hair's longer.

"Yeah. But in all fairness to me, it's been over 70 years Gus, 70 years since you last saw me."

"No, more like a year... if that even ... months really." He nodded.

"Since I saw you then." She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him, showing more of her old self in the action.

The conversation went from there, Satou more interested in the family and Gus and Gus temporarily distracted by seeing his sister so different, that the matter of Bay and the kidnapping didn't come up.

The discussion did in fact take a while, as Kyros divulged a shortened version of all Gus and Klu'chud had told him. Which, really, wasn't much. Gus hadn't known the identity of his captor, and seemed to think that his captor had been two people in one--one of which had briefly been part of Gus beforehand. He had spoken of the sprite's death, and of the stranger's dismantling of his legs, both of which led Kyros to several suspicions, but nothing he could verify just yet. He and the Sargtlin had agreed, however, that this captor could not be allowed to wander the forest, lest they be subjected to a second Scion.

Aleda had been informed. Captains, Sargtlin and Uuthli alike, had been called to arms and sent out with their respective patrols. And there was little more that could be done tonight. A Council would be called, the Uuthli and Sargltin heads were informed, to discuss the arrival of Gus and Klu'chud and the messages they had carried. With this said, Kyros somewhat reluctantly sent them on their way. So much to be done, and so little information to go by. More would be decided with the meeting.

Lysius returned home some two hours later, considerably more subdued than when he left. He brightened somewhat, however, when he opened the door to find Satou and Gus still chatting away in the living room. "I had expected you both to be asleep by now," he admitted as he closed the door and moved to join them.

Satou pushed her hair back from her face and smiled warmly up at Lysisus. "We were just talking of home, old home that is. Join us." with her statement she patted the seat beside her and turned her attention back to Gus with a smile. "it's been such a short time in reality, but so much has happened. Gus was telling me of Jen's new children and new adopted siblings that I've never met. I was about to ask him about Rusty and Booker and Shade.

Gus's face suddenly turned dour and he quickly changed the subject. "Did Kryos tell you everything that Klu'chud and I said? What do I call him by the way? Is it ok that I say Kryos? or do I have to say sir or highness or something?"

He gladly joined her on the couch, sinking back in his seat and stretching an arm out behind her along the couchback. "He gave me the short version. We've spoken with Aleda, the Uuthli, and have patrols out after your captor. I don't think we'll have any immediate results, but..." He shrugged. "You shouldn't worry."

"Kyros is usually fine," he admitted after a pause. "Though it's generally good practice to call the Council members by their titles unless they tell you otherwise. Aleda and Soyala can be stuffy about it... and I require it of my Sargtlins while they are on duty. Jatin might get a kick out of 'highness'." He rolled his eyes. "But names are fine."

Gus nodded slowly. "I've met Jatin before, and I'll bet you're right."

Saty started and furrowed her brow at her brother. "When did you meet Jatin?"

"When Jack and I came to the village... with Fen, the day I got my crystal."

This time Satou nodded. "I remember that. I was so mad. You got a crystal and I didn't." She waved her hand as if she were dismissing it. "It all worked out in the end." if this is the end, her brain suddenly threw in... and she waved her hand again dismissing the invisible thought. It was distressing to think that this might not be the end of all her troubles and that she might end up leaving behind a lonely husband again... or him leaving her behind... she smiled up at Lysius and leaned into his arm more to comfort herself than him.

"It's amazing to think of how far you've come Saty, Keppit will be happy to know that you're not dead, let alone happily married and everything." Gus suddenly stiffled an unexpected yawn and blinked his eyes tiredly at the two Sargtlins. "I'm glad to know that they're out there looking for him though, he could do real damage I think. Anyway, do you mind if I... " He pointed at the guest bedroom and covered another yawn with his hand.

Saty shook her head and smiled at him. "Good night Gus... sleep well."

Gus nodded his goodnights to both of them and shuffled off down the hallway. Satou watched him and then snuggled closer to Lysius. "Thank you for letting him stay. It's really nice to have family close by."

"Sleep well," Lysius echoed as Gus wandered off down the hall, then sunk down in his seat and propped his feet up on the coffee table. His arm slipped down to settled around Satou's shoulders as he offered her a smile. "Mmn. You'd better be grateful," he joked. "You've already got my Sargtlins thinking I've gone soft. Now I'm encouraging travel between the Center and the Village, and allowing potentially murderous Daewls to hang around without question... I can't even complain that Jack's passing around crystals, because he's how you got one."

She smiled. "Actually my crystal was legitimate. Jack brought me to the village and introduced me to people here, I met Kryos and he gifted me a crystal." She could remember that day very clearly. That was the day she started to realize who she was. "But it was still because of Jack that I got the crystal... I wonder how he's doing lately... I haven't seen him in two weeks now, at least." She always talked fondly of Jack, and after everything that had happened to her and him and Lysius, Jack was still a very good friend of hers.

"Besides..." She said, poking him in the stomach. "You have gone soft. All squishy and lovable... like a squishy lovable rock. And you can't complain about encouraging travel between the village and the center either, because that affects me as well." She nodded.

"So complaint is out all around. No complaining."

He frowned briefly with the admission, but then slowly nodded. "I remember. Kyros explained it to me after we ran into each other and I scared you off." He grinned faintly. "But I was right." His smile faltered slightly as she spoke of Jack. He still wasn't altogether fond of the once-Uuthli, though he was thankful to him for his part in returning Satou alive. "I've seen him around here and there. You never know who he's working for anymore, but someone always seems to have some use for him. I think he's been staying with Raechel."

He grimaced with the poke. "Don't tell me that. First I'm gray, now I'm squishy. I'm starting to miss inspiring terror. And that was a complaint."

She could have said that he was perfect, or that he was terrifying, or handsom, or that gray really sutied him, or that she loved him.... but that was the beauty of Lysius and Satou. She didn't have to say any of that in order to make it known that she meant it all. She simply smiled up at him and poked him in the stomach once more for good measure.

After all, their relationship had spawned from mutal hatred, and then blossomed into that wonderful stage where they picked at each other mercilessly, each not only unsure of what they were feeling, but also unsure of how to express it. Somehow it wouldn't be right if she couldn't pick on him fondly. "Well, I think you complain too much." She didn't mean it, of course, Satou herself was a champion complainer.

"I complain about your complaining."

"I complain about enduring your complaining," he countered, words quickly trailing into a yawn. "And I complain about rallying troops after dark, and having to track a madman tomorrow." All of which he really had no complaints about. Lysius lived for his rank, and he lived for his Saty--complaints and all.

"I think it's time for bed," he decided, somewhat reluctantly freeing his arm and climbing to his feet.

She clutched at his belt as he stood, forcing him to also drag her to her feet at the same time. Then she linked arms with him and shuffled down the hall to their room, just about as tired as he was.

But she was also smiling. "My brother came to visit." then she opened the door and motioned Lyrus inside.

(( Satou and Kylara Continued from above ))

Satou smiled to herself, even though the information wasn't quite helpful, it was something and she was proud of it... She pushed the book out a little further and turned a page with her nose, giving herself a papercut at the same time... SHe gave a small yelp and licked her nose... "Damn." She crossed her eyes trying to look at it, but realized she probably looked stupid and stopped.

She looked down at the page... nothing really and so she turned the page with her tail.

Kylara looked up at Satou's yelp. "Oh, dear. Here." she reached into one of her pockets and grabbed a small navy blue handkerchief. "You'll look a little funny with this on, but at least it'll stop the bleeding."

Looking down, she continued to translate. As she became used to the terrible grammar of this particular scholar, the reading became easier, and much quicker. It didn't take very long to reach the end of the text.

Satou sat there with a frown on her jivvin face... this sucked (excuse her vocabulary ^_^ ) here she was sitting on her hind end in the library with a blue handkerchief tied around her nose because she'd been attacked by a stationary book of all things... she sighed... and on top of that she wasn't very good at finding information. By the time that she'd reached the end of a sentance she had already forgotten the begining... she glanced over at Kylara... heaven knows how she was doing this in old french...

"Kiblara, Whad exagbtly ab I looging for again?" She sniffed and pulled the handkerchief off her nose... "I mean... am I looking for things on crystals or on wild jivvins, or royalty? ... " She paused... "Which would be more helpful do you think?"

"Well, I'm not sure." Kylara chuckled helplessly. "I think we'd be better off searching for info on the Wild Jivvins. That would include things on when the Wilds first left the humans and established their own conclave. I'm pretty much keeping an eye out for mention of any and all of those things."

She finished up the french manuscript -ugh, the grammar had been horrible!- and started on the text she had found alongside Satou's current book. She had a really, really good feeling about this one.

Saty turned the page... page after page after page... she was trying but she didn't really think that she was taking in any important information... wait, this page had a picture on it.... "Ewwww..." Who knew a Jivivn could do that? .... She turned the page... then with exasperation she pushed the book aside, letting it fall off the table open onto the chair below it, and then she started on another book....

Kylara glanced over at Satou's sigh. "Tell me if you need a break, okay? This sort of thing can be really boring and monotonous when you're first starting out. And we've been at it for . . ." She looked at her watch, and blinked. "Wow. We've been working for a few hours already."

She stared back down at the last few pages of her text, then flipped back to the front. Frowning, she stood and began searching through the books stacked on the table. "It wasn't with it . . ." she muttered to herself. "I know there wasn't another like this. If it's part of a series, why wouldn't they be together?"

Turning toward Satou, she nudged the younger Jivvin to get her attention. "Satou, could you help me look for something? I think the book I just translated is part of a series. But I'm not seeing any other books here. It's called Historia Jivvinorum. That means 'A History of the Jivvins.' There's a reference to a group a Jivvins that left their royal 'masters' and took off with their children, right around the time of a series of peasant uprisings in France. I think this could be the group that started the village out in the forest."

She left the table and began searching the shelves not yet sorted. "The text is part of a series. But I haven't found the next book."

Saty just stared at Kylars with a crooked expression... she was about to say ... What? ... when the words Find book History of Jivvins , struggled through the other stuff and hit her brain... she hopped down and walked around the table looking for the other parts of the serries.... they probably looked like the one that Kylara just had.... There!, no wait that WAS the book that Kylara jsut had... Saty sighed... They searched the whole table and in the end Saty had one book that was similar, but she could tell it wasn't what they were looking for...

"Could it be somewhere other than this table?" Why would te jivin center have one book in a serries and not the others?

Kylara blanched at searching the rest of the library. "I still haven't done anything with the books over on that wall. If you could start searching the shelves that you can reach easily, I'll . . ." A thought struck her, and she jumped. "Jack! He worked a bit in the library while he still lived here. He was the one who told me about it in the first place. If anyone knows where that book will be, he will. I'll go give him a quick call."

Carefully, almost reverently, she placed the first book of the series on an empty shelf, so that it wouldn't get lost. "I'll fetch us some drinks, and a bit of food while I'm at it."

Saty looked over at the shelves and surpressed a wimper... but the thought of a drink kept her going... She took on the first shelf and then the second shelf... nothing really though there was a book there that she might like to read later... ....

Kylara stopped in at the kitchen first. She poured herself a tall glass of juice and found some fresh veggies in the fridge. That, plus a little mustard, dill, and sour cream for a dip, would be just fine for her. Staring into the cubboard, she swore at herself for not stopping to ask Satou what she liked to drink. Well . . . there was water, and she'd just bring the juice along in case. And there was a bag of chips . . . and she'd slice up some extra vegetables.

Leaving the tray in the kitchen, she ran to the phone and quickly looked up Jack's number. She dialled, and waited eagerly for someone to pick up on the other end.

(( Kylara, Jack and Satou :: Continued ))

(( May 05 2006 ))

Satou turned and looked into the mirror on the dresser. With a heavy heartfelt sigh and sad smile to herself she turned to her journal and began to write... Sure she was happy and sure she was more than adjusted to this life, not really a new life, but this life. She really liked her family, Keppit and Ran and Gus and Jen... They were all great people. But there was something missing and she felt that she knew what it was... but how to tell them.

Alexander, on the other hand, was out walking in the woods behind the jivvin center. He had been taking brief walks out here almost everyday for the last month, but he'd never been THIS far into the woods. Truth be told, the purple jivvin was looking for something... for someone. There had been someone out here that one day. He was sure it had been a jivvin... He had just never learned it's name.

And then somewhere nearby... in a bush, or perhaps a tree, maybe even a hole in the ground.... someone watched Alexander plod noisily through the forest. Watched in thought. He wasn't very old, but E'layeth had plans for this king...

Gus walked by the blackjack counter with a bag of coins slung over his shoulder. It was grunt-work, but at least he wasn't selling cigarettes to foul breathed old ladies anymore... now when they asked if they could pet his ears or stroke his tail at least they didn't always smell of tobacco and alcohol... it was a little better. He adjusted his red vest on his thin torso and started off towards the slot machines where, surely, there would be people waiting to cash in bills for quarters.

(( Satou, Eos and Eleos :: Jan 01 2007 ))

Saty puffed out her cheeks as she held her breath. This was hard work, but she was here... she was in the village and she was allowed to be here. That was all that mattered right?

Her hands ached from all the blisters that had popped up, but they had told her to dig up this flower bed. So dig she did...

But it was hard work. "This sucks."

Shaking his head he walked though the village heading for the gardens. Eos was once again proving his power in the arena and he'd decided to let the other have his fun. He could only put a dent in the other Uutli's pride every so often without repercussion.

Humming softly he fluffed out one wing before tucking it back behind him. He would have to clean them later if he didn't want them hurting.

Satou looked up for a brief moment, and in that moment she saw a light haired wild jivvin man walking down the path... this was normal... but she had happened to look up at just the moment that he had spread one wing out to inspect the pinions there... and that was something that she'd never seen before.

The ruffling feathers caught her attention and snared her eyes from her gardening. The wing was amazing in both size and ... and size! But then it would have to be, it had to carry a grown jivvin man...

She was staring... Staring with her mouth open.... staring with her mouth open and dirt on her hands and face.

He almost hadn't noticed the female kneeling in the dirt but after looking past her and then back he smiled. She was, well gaping, at him as he tucked his wings back to where he could walk easily.

"Hello. Are you another they've gotten to dig in the dirt for them?" His voice was as sweet as he looked but there was something under there that spoke of the trouble he could get into.

"I uh..." She stammered. "It's..." Wait... what was she doing? "Can you fly?"

And then she realised that she was acting insane. She scrambled to her feet and hurridly brushed the dirt off her (or at least tried to) "I mean... um... Yes." She sighed and gave in. "Yes I'm digging in the dirt. I was told to dig in the dirt and here I am. I'm kind of new here in the village and so I get the nasty tasks." Digging wasn't particularly nasty, but when the area had played 'litterbox' to some unspeakably large animal, then it became nasty.

"I'm Satou." Her face said plainy that she was both amazed at the size of his wings, and embarased at being caught in the dirt starring at the poor man.

"Yes as a matter of fact i can." He spread out his wings for a moment. The gold on the feathers glittered slightly before he pulled them back. "Though i would not suggest it in such proximity to buildings. I am Eleos'dikidi, though you may call me Eleos"

That was always kinder than letting people suffer trying to pronounce the whole thing. No one ever got it right for the first few hours. "Digging in the dirt can be productive. Nothing would grow if there was no one to tend it."

She nodded slowly, eyes wide. His wings were... Damn. "Satou..." A small part of her brain kicked her as she realized that she'd already told him her name. "Saty... Satou, Saty... Saty's the short version... um... obviously." she sighed inwardly, and looked down at the dirt. Nothing would grow... "So they tell me. I'm just trying to do it right. Just to make sure that I'm not... you know... considered lazy or worthless or anything." She flexed her thumbs... thumbs were nice.

"You're Uuthli right? Do all Uuthli have wings like... um..." She pointed "Like those?" She hadn't been very social back at the Center, and the only Fourther Uuthli she'd talked to there was Jack... and Jack's wings were... not there any more.

He walked over and picked up a seed from the grass beside the flowerbed. "They are rather picky about who they let stay in here, i would take it then that you were not born here? Perhaps born to that little building out of the forest?" He had met one from that place. A rather nastily tempered red Daewl.

"Yes, we all have wings like this though the size depends on our size. My friend Eos's wings are larger than mine." Then again he only came to Eos's shoulders so that made perfect sense.

"Yeah... um... the Center." She paused. "I came here to live in the village since I'm unbonded... They asked me a bunch of questions and then they gave me a crystal." She smiled, it couldn't be helped. "I've always wanted to... to have thumbs." Her grin widened as she flexed her thumbs cheesily for him to see.

"It must be nice to be able to fly.... But I bet your wings are heavy. And if you say that your friend's wings are even bigger I bet his are even heavier." She watched his hand with the seed in it.

"Ahh so they changed you." He nodded at that. He'd heard that it could be done but he'd never met one of the ones who had changed though the crystals.

"Actually they are rather light. Then again i also was born with them." He'd always figured that the Uuthli were lighter than the others since they were able to fly. It would make sense for their bones to be lighter. "Were the weight taken away i would be rather unbalanced"

She laughed quickly as she pictured him falling over forwards and then stopped just as quickly as Jack popped into her head. That was rude of her. One shouldn't unintentionally make fun of one's friends. Especially when they had as few as Saty did.

"I think I would feel vulnerable with wings." The thought came to her suddenly, and she said it before she could think about it. But she really did feel that way. "I'd be scared to lose them... or break them, or damage them.... they're so pretty." They might be just as harmful as helpful in a dangerous situation... "Have you ever been in a fight? A serious one?" She was interested in knowing if he thought his wings gave him an advantage.

He chuckled. This was the exact same conversation he had taken part in with some of the younger Jivvin training to use a sword. "They can be both an advantage and a disadvantage." He nodded. "They give you extra balance in strange positions but yes they can be damaged easily."

He rolled one shoulder and remembered when Eos had caught his wing with his sword and almost broken it. "Every advantage has a disadvantage and vice versa"

Satou nodded. So he had been in fights... and probably training as well. "I look forward to some kind of training." She hadn't asked about if and/or when she would be consisdered for training, but she hoped... "I'm hoping that digging up the flower beds is just a set up for bigger and grander things." She ached to learn anything and everything about Jivvins, especially fighting. But that was in her blood.

"Everyone must start somewhere." He looked around at the other flowers. "Some of the richest people have come from nothing but dirt." He smiled at her for a moment. "If you do seek training do not let Eos's slivery tongue sway you."

Eos would have smacked him for that but thankfully the golden Jivvin was not around to hear him.

"Eos's slivery tongue"... She wasn't sure what that meant. "Eos is your friend with the bigger wings?" Surely this angelic looking Jivvin had no trouble making friends - he was probably not even refering to the same person as he had been earlier. "Does he like to fight then?" She couldn't help but think that if anyone would offer to teach her to use a weapon and think quickly in situations then she could put up with silver tongues.

"Yes that is the same Eos. We have a rather .... unique relationship." He looked back in the direction of the arena. "We have known each other for a long time. I helped train him with a sword and now he keeps me on my toes. He would hate it if i lost my touch and he had no one worthy to spar with"

"Spar..." Someday. Weed more dirt and then someday. She promised herself to ask the Sargtlin next time she saw him.

"Funny that you should want to be one your toes when you could fly..." It was supposed to be a joke, but... enh. She really wasn't at her social best today. She felt awkward here in the village and meeting angelic jivvins with huge muscular wings, made her feel all gawky. She wanted to be powerful and self assured like Eleos seemed to be. Then maybe... No. She wouldn't allow herself to dream about things that couldn't be. A jivvin's bond was ultimate and sacred.

"Is that where you were just now? Sparring?"

"I much prefer walking to flying. Though it is nice to float around when the sun is not too bright." He walked around the flower bed and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"No, i had not gone to the arena today but perhaps i should. Would you like to join me? I'm sure no one would complain if you were to watch them swing their swords at each other"

Saty jutted her head forward slightly as if she had misheard what had been said. "you... What? Seriously?" She started to walk out onto the path and then realized that she was still carrying the hoe. quickly she turned and lay the tool at rest against the side of the fence nearby and stepped back out onto the path. She made a valliant effort to wipe away some of the caked dirt and mud on her hands clothing and face, but no actual progress. Still.... "Is it far?"

"No it is not far." He chuckled as he leg her though the village. "If they are practicing hard then you may even hear them before we get there."

If Eos was there it would be almost certain that they would hear the sound of swords before they reached the arena.

(( Satou, Lysius and Soyala :: Apr 23 2007 ))

Satou found herself walking briskly across the village. She was a woman on a mission, and she wasn't about to be stopped. She was on her way to see Soyala, and though the prospect of seeing Soyala again was daunting, her mind was made up. She crossed the path in front of Bonnit's house and waved to the man as she passed.

The only time she stopped long enough to talk to anyone was when her boot came untied and she had to stop and fix that dilema.

Soyala's little house was, unfortunately, not only clear across the Village, but a short ways into the forest as well--not to mention invisible unless she wanted you to see it. However, she was actually quite looking forward to Satou's visit; the Daewl knew her guest would arrive shortly, even if Satou hadn't warned her of the visit, and was presently preparing some tea for her visitor's pending arrival.

Meanwhile, in the village, Lysius was just bidding goodbye to Raechel after a brief visit of his own to the Afya's. After a wave to the healer, he turned and started down along the road towards his own home to check in briefly before continuing on to the arena. Life in the Village had been comfortably dull of late, which meant a storm was undoubtably brewing somewhere. He would ensure that his Sarglins, at the very least, were ready when that storm arrived.

Initially he noticed Satou only out of the corner of his eye, and, crouched as she was to lace up her boot, he continued on past her without so much as batting an eye. However, only a brief moment later, her appearance clicked, and he froze in place. For the first time in who knew how many years, the Sargtlin looked....scared. Slowly Lysius turned in place, eyes narrowed in confusion as they fell back to the should-be stranger, for the moment simply watching her.

Satou finished tying her boot up and stood slowly giving herself time to stretch out her leg which had cramped slightly. She turned a little on her spine to try and get out a kink, and in the process she noticed Lysius staring at her... It startled her a little and she tried to pretend that she hadn't notcied... but that didn't last long...

"Can I... Can I help you?"

Fear gave way to complete and utter confusion as she spoke, and the moment she fell silent the Sargtlin started over, hesitating briefly just infront of her before placing his hands on her arms. "Satou?" Lysius seemed completely and utterly out of his element, not at all the strong,self-assured Sargtlin of moments before. "Saty? Wha... what are you doing here? Where did you come from? Where have you been?!"

Satou backed up slightly... a very confused look on her face.... "I don't.... how do you know my name?" It was a straightforward question and also a cheesy one. She knew it was cheesy when she said it, but she couldn't think of anything else to say....

"I don't think I know you..." Said with confusion...

"You are Satou," he mumbled aloud, more to reassure himself than to actually have her verify. There was no mistaking her. She was...different than when he had last seen her, certainly, but that had been...how many years ago? "Where have you been? Of course you know me." He paused briefly and what little hope had risen in his expression faded away once more. "..Don't you? Saty?"

She shook her head slowly... back and forth... back and forth... but she stared back at him. Meeting his eyes without faltering, somehow trying to tell if this was a joke.

But by the look on the man's face, it wasn't a joke. He really thought that he knew her... "My name is Satou... people call me Saty... but not many people, because only my family calls me that... I haven't seen them for months... " she stared back at him for a second. "You're very handsome... but I've never seen you before."

"You're joking with me," he insisted with a weak laugh, and gave her arms a little squeeze, smile returning ever so slightly. "You have to be. You couldn't just forget... That's impossible." Despite his words, he seemed far from sure of himself. It wasn't as if situations of the sort happened just every day. People didn't come back from the dead. "It's Lysius, remember? We... we're married, Saty."

When he gave her arms a squeeze she wanted to pull away, but when he said they were married she did pull away... quickly and forcefully. And the look on her face went from confusion to fear.

"I'm not playing with you. I grew up at the Jivvin center, and I lived in the woods with a human and other center Jivvins... I just petitioned to move into the village two months ago." She stammered the whole explination fearfully, as if saying it faster would make it easier to resolve this.

"I swear I've never seen you before..." She cowered from him... "You're scaring me."

Her sudden retreat stunned him, and he released her arms with complaint, hands hovering briefly in the air before falling back to his sides. "But..." He cleared his throat and ran a hand throat his hair, hesitating a moment longer before turning his back on her. What had he been doing? He was going somewhere--the arena. No, he didn't need to go there, the arena could wait. Saty had been in the Village for two months? And no one had told him?! No one had questioned it?! ...Maybe he was imagining things? He glanced back over his shoulder, half expecting her to have vanished, and when she hadn't he fought to control his expression and nodded slightly. "My...mistake. I apologize."

Saty just stood there clutching her arms where he'd held them. He looked so flustered, and it just scared her more... He really thought he knew her. But she DID NOT KNOW HIM.

She just nodded slowly "It's ok..." whispered the comment and turned back on her path to Soyala's... she took three or four steps before turning back to make sure he wasn't following her, and then she ran...

She ran as far as she could towards the Daewl's house before she had to stop and catch her breath. Saty stood there panting resting bent over with her hands on her knees... "I've never seen him before..."

Then she straightened and walked quickly the rest of the distance to Soyala's house... she was about to knock on the front door, but she turned back for one last look down the path... just to make sure.

nothing... *knock knock*

He hadn't followed, no. He had considered it, and it was incrediably difficult to force himself to remain in place, but he had. She didn't know him, why should he follow? But why didn't she know him? Did anyone else know her? He needed to talk to Kyros... And he needed to talk to Jack.

Forgetting the arena completely, he hurried up the road in the opposite direction that Satou had gone, face drawn and pale as he made his way to the Vhaid's.

Come in, came the odd, echo-y voice of the Daewl from, apparently, directly above the Sargtlin a split second after Satou's hand left the door. The door in question swung open to admit Satou through, hovering patiently in place before closing behind her. The room hadn't changed in the least since Satou's last visit so long ago, save perhaps for the tea set carefully arranged on the coffee table and the white Daewl nestled in a chair beside it. The Daewl offered Satou a warm smile and lifted a hand towards a second chair, gesturing for Satou to join her. I've been expecting you. Have you been enjoying your stay in the Village?

Saty smiled slowly and nodded. "I have. It's what I've always wanted..." But there was something wrong about it... she couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud to the villagers who had helped her so much in the last few months... but she could probably tell the white jivvin. That was after all why she was here.

"You knew I was coming?" She had heard strange things about Soyala, and it was true that her name was the one to drop if you needed to inspire sudden awe... "I knew you could do that, I jsut didn't think that I was worth your 'knowning' things about me." She grinned... something about this woman made you admire her. "Do you know a Jivvin Villager with red and brown spotty ears and... gosh dangit, what did he say his name was?" She tried to think for a second... but she'd been so frightened over the experience that she couldn't remeber what he'd said his name was... "Started with an L.... But he said he knew me..." Said they were married.... "She looked up at Soyala, bitting her own lip in her confusion. She wasn't scard any longer, rather she flet safe here.

Good, good! she praised with a smile, lips moving only as she took a sip of her tea. I'm glad you are happy. And of course I did. I always know when someone nears my home... If I didn't, you wouldn't be able to find it, she pointed out as if this made perfect sense. To the Daewl, after all, it did. The wards around her home had been up for who knew how long. Unless she wanted someone to find the tiny cottage, actually entering it was impossible.

The white Daewl lifted a brow curiously at the question, though she didn't seem particularly surprised by Satou's words. Lysius, she supplied immediately, with a pitying air in the unspoken voice. She sighed softly, this one an audible sound, and set down her cup, instead helping herself to a cookie from a bowl on the table. He's the head of your rank, actually. Poor soul... Hasn't been quite right since his wife passed, I dare say. A brief image of amusement passed across the Daewl's face, but just as quickly it was gone, replaced by the same sorrowful expression. He said you were married, you say? she asked without lifting her eyes from her snack, even if Satou hadn't verbally said such a thing. Pay him no mind, he mixes people up sometimes. He lost a lot of friends to the massacres.

"Lysius! That's right that's what he said his name was." She stopped again to think, picked up her cup of tea and stared down into it for a second before taking a sip. "I've heard so much about him." She'd actually been meaning to find an excuse to meet him, because surely that was what Village jivvins did... they introduced themselves to their rank heads... "But not in this day and age is seems." She said the last bit outloud. It's been so long since she had lived with a personal bond that she'd been out of practice talking telepathically... she knew that Soyala would get most of it anyway. She'd read some of the public journals lef t behind by villagers that had told all about how the village was run, and satou found herself dissapointed by how much different the village she was living in seemed from the one described in teh journals... She wasn't sure it it was her, or the descriptions, or if the village really had changed...

"He was so scary..." He thoughts flitted back to Lysius...

Lysius probably would have saught you out sooner had someone spoken of you directly to him, Soyala admitted quietly, and set down her half-eaten cookie on a napkin. She folded her hands on her lap and sat back in her seat, eyes returning to Satou while she explained. He is very devoted to his rank... I believe your arrival was somewhat glossed over, which may or may not have been a good decision on our Vhaid's part. I believe your similarities to Lysius's late wife had many of the Council worried as to how he would receive you. We rather expected a reaction of the sort.

He can be intimidating, she continued, sliding into the next subject with ease. Though he rarely means to be. A byproduct of being the head of the Sargtlin rank, I'm sure. Once he comes to his senses, he will probably seek you out and apologize for his behavior. It was a rare day indeed that Soyala would actually defend the Sargtlin head, but for the moment she seemed genuinely concerned for him...and for his appearance in Satou's eyes.

Saty nodded again, something she was doing a lot today. "It was good to meet him I guess... Makes it less daunting if I ever ahve to talk to him again." She blanched at the thought of another Jivviness living a long time ago who looked like her and shared her name. Maybe Lysuis's wife had been her mother or her grandmother! But that was sad becuase that meant that her biological mother or grandmother was dead and that she'd never get to meet them.

She sighed and let herself sit back and enjoy the tea. "Soyala... I haven't gotten a chance to thank you... for allowing me to move into the village." She really meant it. "It's mostly what I always wanted." but... "i never dreamed it would be this slow moving and hard to get Jivvins to teach me things... but it's still great."

The white Daewl laughed softly, a sing-songy, musical note to the sound, and shook her head. It was my pleasure, I assure you. I have never quite agreed with the Council's tradition of secrecy. Had my friends and I behaved as they do now, this Village would have never been established; the strangers would have been chased away from our forest. If we were kind enough to allow them into our land, they should offer the same privileges to the so-called Center Jivvins, such as yourself.

Soyala smiled fondly over at Satou and straightened up a bit in her seat. Jack shared your curiosity when he first arrived here... He wanted to know everything there was of the Village and its customs, of its history and need for secrecy. However, I would not encourage you to take his route. He was foolish, as he has realized in the time since. She paused briefly, eyes falling to her cup as she leaned forward to refill it. It will likely be some time yet before the Villages warm to you to the point that you truely begin to be one of them... There is a great level of distrust between the unbonded and those raised by humans. However, there are ways of getting around that...

Saty sat forward slightly... "You're talking about when they took his wings, aren't you...." She remebered the rumors that had gone around when Jack had returned, sans the beautiful uthliti wings. "He wouldn't talk about it... but it must ahve been bad." Bad for Jack and whoever it was rumoured that he had killed to earn the punishment.

But there were ways to learn more quickly, do the things she longed to do, meet the jivvins she needed to meet, and be the jivvin she somehow knoew she wasn't living up to... "How? What do I have to do?"

Mhm. Soyala frowned faintly, closing her eyes briefly as she lifted her cup to take a sip. Had circumstances differed slightly, he would have undoubtably been killed instead. He is lucky the situation played out as it did.

She said no more on the subject, and instead summoned back a smile, though her eyes remained focused on the rim of the teacup. Strangers have not been welcome in this village for many years now... Towards the last of the massacres, the Village was sealed off, and, under the formation of the Council, newcomers were strictly forbidden for some years to follow. During that time, with so few Jivvins, the village became extremely close-knit. You'll find almost everyone here already knows everyone else, if only by name in some cases. Back when the massacres were only just beginning, now... everyone was much more welcoming. Ironic.

"So you're saying that everyone here knows I'm an outsider, and because they've been here for hundred's of years, it's going to take a long time for me to fit in..." She sighed and relaxed again, taking another drink of her cooling tea. "You got my hopes up for a second there, that's not very nice." but she was smiling as she said it. "I supposed that since I'm unbonded I have all the time in the world to work out my problems... and let's face it, I'm not brave enough to get myself killed by being stupid." She laughed.

"A hundred years from now I'll be everybody's best friend... I'll be where Lysius is now. Going crazy, seeing my dead wife in every jivvin that passes..." She knew that wasn't true. "he must be so sad."

That's precisely what I'm saying. She chuckled softly as she listened an utterly disregarded the comment about Lysius and his sorrows, brushing it aside with only a nod. A hundred nears from now? Or a hundred years from then? Setting her cup down, she rose to her feet and stepped over to the window, drawing aside the curtain to peer out. The Jivvin House, have you heard of it, Satou?

Satou furrowed her brow and nodded slowly. "Yeah... my mom used the doors there..." then it all started to click.. at least... she thought it had started to click. "But I thought we weren't allowed to... to travel... I thought there were rules against it."

"Wait... we are talking about me going back right?" She said it out loud for her own sake... just to better understand.

The Council has long been confused as to the exact abilities of the doors... The center door, after all, is, for all intents and purposes, perfectly normal, then right door sealed away against any but my Daewl. But the door to the Past... Pausing, she turned away from the window and made her way back to her seat.

The concern in using the doors has always been the threat of altering the past. Attempting to change things that have happened by undoing them before they could happen, in a sense. However, this is impossible. The Past has already happened, it cannot rehappen. Everything that will ever happen in that time has by now, and nothing that has happened can be changed to change life today. Anyone who goes back to the Past has already been there. Do you understand? The Past is unalterable. If you go...you have already been there.

"So..." she was grinning... "So I can go back and see if the village I dream about is the one that existed hundreds of years before my time, and there's nothing stopping me but me..."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think badly of the village now... it's just." Why am I trying to explain this when I don't have to? "what am I waiting for?

The Daewl only smiled. Folding her arms across her chest, she lifted a brow, inclining her head ever so slightly in the general direction of the House. I don't believe I'm the one you should be asking that, Satou. What -are- you waiting for?

Satou suddenly leapt out of her chair and threw her arms around the Daewl... She wrapped the white jivvin in as tight a hug as she dared and then let go just as quickly. Thank you, friend. "thank you so much!" She downed her tea and headed out the door... she could be heard calling out from the path a moment later. "Thank YOU!"

She walked all the way back to the small cabin that she had been sharing with two other young jivvins. She spent a short while chopping up firewood in the front yard of the cabin, simply because she had said she would before... and then she packed her bag, said her goodbyes and she headed home.

She knew that she had to say goodbye to Keppit and Ranald... and Gus and Jen... and then she was headed for the Jivvin center...

A hug was quite an unusual experience for the Daewl, and the surprise was clear on her face even after Satou released her and ran off out of the door and down the path. Chuckling softly, the Daewl shook her head, and with a wave of her hand sent away the tea set to wherever it had come from and went about her business. The little cottage blinked out of sight, and the forest was still once more.

Things were proceeding exactly as planned.