Welcome to Desamarai

[Lyra]

Guyabhr looked down at his hands, which he had clasped on the table.
"They're scared is all. Of most people unlike themselves."
The woman came back, bearing a tray with two mugs of ale, which she balanced on one hand. She gently placed them down before the two, standing there expectantly with those dark eyes flitting between the two.
"Ah, yes."
Guyabhr felt about his waist where he carried a small pouch and reached in. Out he pulled a single scale, golden and leaf-shaped. The woman's eyes widened, her bright lips parted slightly. Smiling, Guyabhr held out his hand and she received the scale, admiring as she walked off.
"They're scared of me too, until I give them scales and then they treat me as if I were Rayzaek himself."
He sighed, taking a long swig from his mug and then wiping his mouth. "But I make them sound so...self-centred. They do have good reason for all this superstition...Strange things walk the desert, more dangerous than you or I when they appear to be nothing of consequence."

[Akira]

"So that's what those were...I wondered why they were so valuble.."
Niira cast an admiring smile at the scale as he handed it over then leaned back in her chair, pursing her lips thoughtfuly as she slipped slender fingers around the mug.
"Scared..war does strange things to people but..." she shook her head. "I was asked when I first walked into this town who I followed...when I said..they laughed at me as if I told a funny thing..."
Taking a deep draught of the ale she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and eagerly leaned forwards.
"What is the standing of the country here..if it's not too impolite to ask? I gather that they don't believe in the same gods..."
No, you wouldn't want to step wrong...had you said something wrong, those people looked as if they would jump upon you in an instant.
Shivering at the thought she took another swig of ale and stared, frowning into her mug.

[Lyra]

"Ah yes. People around here value naga scales. Which is what I am if you-"
He cut himself off. Stupid. That's stupid. Of course she'd notice, look at you! You've got a bloody tail! O King!
Pausing, he spoke again, a bit like a stubborn donkey- stepping a bit and then stopping again. "They value the gold ones most because they're...Well, gold. But nagas are quite...sacred...mostly because they're so powerful and-"
I don't even know why...
He put his face in his hand and let her talk, hoping for a miracle in which this girl hadn't noticed him and his idiocy. But at the mention of the new subject, the state of this country, he suddenly perked up. Yes, here was something he knew about. something everybody knew about.
He gave a tight smile and folded his hands together in front of him neatly.
"Well...The people here believe that there is a God of Sun and a Goddess of Moon. And well...I guess for a while they actually existed. And when they did, at first....well for a while they were in harmony with each other. People say their songs were one, and unlike any other...But something bad happened, they had been lovers and they were unfaithful. And they hated each other and so the north and south hated each other. And they still do."
He smiled helpfully, and then added. "The north follows the God of Sun, and the south Goddess of Moon. Things haven't been so bad recently, but people are always suspicious"

[Akira]

"The Moon and the Sun...my mother worshipped the Sun..."
Niira blinked at her words then thought over that memory again...just blurred shapes and dim, distant words. A fragile memory at best.
"Strange I should remember that now...it never occurred to me.."
Smiling gently she laughed at his awkward manner, so like her own. "I've never met a naga before, nor seen one until now, where I came from, they are-were...quite rare...at least around populated places...and you are not quite how I imagined one."
She grinned mischievously, a light flash of cheek beneath the shy awkward manner showing through for the breifest of moments.
"No where I came from...they were very isolated, and not so friendly I think...I don't really know...at least that was what I was told. There's nothing wrong with enjoying your own company."
Scooping up a loose feather that had drifted free from her wing, she twirled it between thumb and forefinger, staring at the mottled brown and cream coloring but not really seeing it, but listening to the sound of the dry wind, whisking sand along the street outside and playing with the shutters.
It's so hot...maybe I'll melt...

(lol *candle shaped niira goes glub glub glub* )

[Lyra]

(Chocolate Niira? Yum.)

What she said made Guyabhr shiver a little. They worship them elsewhere?! Then what if they are real? He didn't want to believe it- this kind of thing he'd always passed off as a human weakness, a fancy of theirs.
He pushed it away, didn't want to consider this right now. He turned his concentration back on Niira. "Yes, well," he said, "Nagas are like that. Humans harass them."
But he was more interested in what she'd said before. "Where do you parents come from, then?"

[Akira]

Niira was somewhat distracted, her foggy thoughts trying to collect as she made patterns on the table amidst a small pool of spilt ale.
"I'm not sure. It's always been rather...hard to remember."
Sighing she straightened up, flexing her wings slightly until the returned to their former position, shivering.
"I never knew my father, nor my mother. There was a woman..an old woman, I remember, we used to call her 'gramdma' but she wasn't really...I was very young...me and..my sister..at least I think."
She frowned, touching the feather like a quill into the ale and drawing on the table again.
"I certainly remember that something happened, we were cast out...I was always the weaker..yes..we were twins...I must have been...six summers old. There was a lot of shouting...I think some of our people did not want us there...but grandma didn't mind..."
Shaking her head she let her hair fall across her face, casting it into shadow again.
"She used to tell us things of our mother, but never our father..and...the people I remember were so colorful..they had wings like tropical birds...so pretty..."

We were twins..how it hurt to separate...and in the fragments of my memories...I lost more than I first thought..maybe...

"It's hard to explain...I don't remember much because somewhere in my youth, I lost my memories, although sometimes I think perhaps for the better...I may have lost who I was then but...if I was as weak as I remember...perhaps it was for the best..."
She smiled faintly.
"I don't want to rely on people..to be a burden..."
Veronion.
"I'm sorry to unload on you like that...you..you're very easy to talk to..."
The woman ducked her head, hiding her embarrassment as she lifted the mug to her lips again. How long had it been since she had spoken to someone simply like that?
The last person was...
Unconciously she gripped the mug harder to stop her hand shaking.
Don't think.

(Bwah! I'll be back later to do more posts, just been sooo uninspired lately ><)

[Lyra]

Quietly, Guyabhr listened, watching her draw on the table with the quill rather than dare look into her face. Her words rose with unhappiness and then she was shaking and embarrassed and Guyabhr didn't know what to do, now looking at her rather than the discarded quill.
"No, it's- don't be sorry. I feel that that's what I'm here for, right now."
He could guess what her mind had come to- that man who she'd been talking about. Vero...Verno...Ver-something. Well he had an idea, because there wasn't much else to do, because he felt like he had a proper friend now, because he was nice really and because he liked adventure-
"Listen. I can help you, if you want. You're no burden and I want to help you. You being unhappy makes me unhappier than most people being-"
He cut himself off again. Stupid.
"Ach, my words. Listen."
You're repeating yourself Guyabhr...
"I can help you find him. I know this desert very well, and there's nothing quite as noticeable and loud as a naga bull in all his glory."
He smiled at her.

[Akira]

Niira slowly raised her eyes from the mug and stared at him, her mouth parting a little.
Here she had been probing the innkeeper for information, walking the winding dusty streets, tight with people, asking them if they'd seen him, if anyone could help..but none had. And here was one willingly offering to lay down whatever his task had been here to help her find him...
A wide smile broke across her face, like a ray of sun splitting through heavy cloud.
"You'd do that..for me?"
His smile was infectious and she found hope blooming brighter than ever inside her, a newly rekindled flame, growing and pushing back the dark thoughts.
"Thank you..friend Guyabhr.." She clasped his hand lightly in her own, the grin still fixed to her lips.
"Where should we start? I have a map in my room although the man that sold it said it may not be accurate because it is years old..shall I fetch it?"

[Lyra]

A smile spread onto his lips, stretched itself over his face.
He felt her hand slip over his and tried to ignore but couldn't really. It distracted him when he talked, he kept slipping over his words, hiding his cheeks by looking down so his hair was in his face.
"If you'd ri...like, but I know the desert very wer...well. I think we'd start by going down the coast, south."
He drew his hand away, pretending that he needed to scratch his face and his flush faded, he looked up, smiling normally.

[Akira]

Still grinning like an idiot as she felt, Niira stood, stretching her wings. It would be good to be moving again...it was not that she didn't want to setlle, she just wasn't ready. This place was nice enough with its lazy heat, perhaps if she could find Veron she would bring him here, introduce him to Guyabhr, and they could be friends, talk and laugh and while away their hours.
Or was it a futile dream?
No, he had to be alive.
"I can listen to the wind as we travel...if you could excuse me a moment, I will change...a dress is not the way to travel in the sands, it will just encumber me, and in turn, you. I won't slow you down!"
WIthout waiting for the answer she dashed off up the flight of stairs, hovering with slight hesitation outside her door, slender fingers searching for a latch that wasn't there amidst wrecked splinters.
A small ball of dread formed in the pit of her stomach as she nudged the door open with her toe, sighing as grey eyes flicked across the mess. There was perhaps a flicker of thunder in those eyes as she felt a faint stirring of anger within, letting it subside gradually as she picked her way across the floor.
Clothes, the few that she had, had been pulled off the drying frame and scattered across the floor, the matress had been slashed and straw littered the floor, mingled with the fragments of a porcelain vase that had been set on the tiny lampstand. The candle was broken and in pieces amidst the reflection of the street in the shining puddle of water, strewn with blossoms from the vase. The destruction made a little knot of sadness in her chest as she gazed blankly at it.
Shaking herself she glanced along the hall, where she noticed several other doors had been forced too. Turning her attention back to the mess before her she gingerly stepped over the threshhold, picking up the cleaned clothes and checking that they were undamaged and had not fallen into the puddle from the vase.
A little worn but undamaged overall, Niira swiftly pulled the dress over her head and started pulling her clothing on unhurriedly, still gazing at the mess and wondering what to do about it. She should probably notify the roofmistress...
Stooping she lifted her sandals by the laces, standing barefoot with the toughened leather sleeves she wore on her bare legs slung over the other arm. There wasn't much she could do except tidy up and tell someone...

[Lyra]

"Alright then."
He watched her leave, his eyes following her up the stairs and sat there, waiting,
His hands cradled his tankard, ale swirling within. He finally looked up at the others from here and realized he was drawing gazes of wonder from all in the tavern. He shrugged it off, tipped the remnants of the drink into his mouth and stretched.
Time trickled on, he realized Niira was taking a while to change and frowned. He couldn't exactly go upstairs, being built as he was. So he looked about nervously, trying to think of exactly how this whole journey would go and what he would do if they couldn't find her Veronion on the coast but his brain was fuzzy and clouded for some reason. He grimaced.

(Ehhh.)

[Akira]

(Whoops I totally forgot about his tail n all xD I dunno. I don't even remember posting lol.)

With a burst of energy she turned and leapt out along the landing, vaulting over the top step and drawing her knees up as she fell, barely missing the bottom, wings half spread so that the feathers scraped the narrow walls as he landed barefoot with a light 'thud'.
The spark of anger stirred in the pit of her belly again, like the soft light as thunder rolls gently through an oncoming storm.
Dropping her sandals onto the floor she seated herself carefully and slipped her feet into them, bending over to tie the laces while remarking tightly, "When do you wish to leave..? I can't stay here tonight.."
Tying off one lace below the knee she shook out the toughened sleeve from the table and pulled it swiftly, almost harshly up her leg, all the way to the thigh before starting on the other.
"Someone wrecked my room...everything was..." she waved a hand vaguely. "Broken, ruined, in pieces...and I don't think I was the only one. Some of the doors nearer the stairs were broken..someone was looking for something I think...I hope..not something of mine...not that I own much after the storm anyway..."
Standing again she pulled up the second sleeve and crouched several times, walking in a small circle to settle into her sandals.

[Lyra]

(Awh, our avatars like...match. :D)

Guyabhr blinked at Niira's sudden, surprising re-entrance.
He responded casually at first- "We can go now, if you want. Well, after some preparation."
But then he realized her anger rolling up in her, tight like swollen storm clouds. His brow furrowed in sudden seriousness.
"Well...was anything missing that you could tell?"
Not that it was much use- the thief could easily have escaped and could be far into the desert now. Tracks were easily covered in the shifting sands- nothing ever stayed the same for long.

[Akira]

"No..I don't think so...I'm sorry...it was a pretty room..I shouldn't lose my temper...but such acts.."
She shook her head, unable to explain the reason for her anger, boiling unsettlingly inside of her. Ever since she was little she'd disliked theivery, perhaps something bred into her before she had become a slave in the belly of a ship, but she couldn't remember. To see it so casually excersized..she swallowed painfully, pushing away the retributional thoughts.
After all, she had committed her own crimes, she couldn't so easy judge something as light as theft against murder. In truth, she was probbaly no better than the rest of them.
The disturbing thought settled heavily on her mind like a black oppressive cloud, almost smothering the brief ray of hope.
And of course there was no catching them now...this place..shaped and created with the dance between the earth and the wind, a constant motion...
Rolling her shoulders she stretched out her legs, wiggling her toes.
"Is there anything I need to bring before going out..there? I've flown once around teh edges of a wasteland, similar, but not nearly the same as this..desert..."
And truthfully, she probably wasn't ready for flight right now, her wings had ached with stiffness, encrusted with salt and brine when she'd washed up. Not enough to carry herself, let alone two of them.
Water, she presumed. More precious than any shiny metal or stone here.