Freedom?

[Mero]

Part 1 Ymdin 717

Chapter 1, Freedom?

Washed ashore by the whimsical tides of fate the boy arrives waterlogged and alone in a foreign land.

Ymdin 51st, Dawn. Scalvoris's coast.

The small rowboat arrived quietly, the pink morning sky watching the storms recede back into the horizon leaving a clean if waterlogged landscape to look unto the new day. Left by the tide the small boat sat quietly in the sand, half filled with water and half filled with the stirring of a boy rising to consciousness within its wooden confines. As the sun rose and light fell upon the lonely face bloodshot eyes cracked open to bear witness to an alien environment. Sitting upright in surprise the figure surveyed the new place with a look of detached fear. A quick inspection of himself revealed many a bruise from the battering the sea had given, and a cracked lip protested when the small figures frown deepened.
Peering out from the edge of the boat the boy touched the sand before recoiling back into the safety of his beached vessel. He never seemed to tire of eyeing the landscape gazing at anything that moved before looking back wistfully at the sea. He was terribly lost in many ways, unsure of what to do. He wished the Tattooed man would come back, but he’d been lost in the storm. He’d even be happy to see the cruel eyed captain. But as time ticked and the sun rose neither of them appeared.
As time ebbed on the boy tried to drink from the water in the boat but found it salty and spent many a moment clearing his mouth, he wished the tattooed man would bring him water and food like he always had in the mornings but it was apparent that he wasn’t coming. The sun bared down on him as the day dawn turned into day, making him sweat uncomfortably but he was too afraid to leave his sanctuary to make for the cover of shade that was offered deeper in the shore. Whenever seagulls came to close he swatted at them not wanting them to land on his boat, the birds cries were loud and unpleasant but no matter how many times he shooed them away they kept coming back eying him as warily as he did gazing angrily back at them.
If he was smart he’d know that the tattooed man had secured provisions within the boat a small leather pack lashed to the floor of the boat held within it provisions, but the boy was wary of touching it, he wasn’t supposed to touch things and his suffering was not so intense that he was ready to break rules, though he was coming close to wanting to crawl from the boat… but what if the Tattooed man came and he was gone? What then? Who would bring him food and let him free? He always came sometimes he was late… but he’d always come…. Always.

[Kali'rial]

Standing on the Scalvoris Town docks, Kali stood garbed in her linen tunic dress, watching the morning sun rise over the stormy seas beyond the coast. She'd had troubles sleeping of late, and found herself more often than not wandering around just to walk off the anxious tension when she roused. It helped clear her mind and let her wash away the strange feelings that followed her when she woke. Arms crossed before herself, the Sev'ryn moved to walk away from the bustle that would begin to occur as the sun broke over the boats and dock workers. She made her way down to the beach of the coastline, kicking up sand with bare toes as she went. As the dawn swept across the sandy beach, Kali saw something silhouetted against the orange and blue where sky and water met. A row boat, drifting into the shallows and bumping up to settle on the sand. Who would be rowing at this time of day?

Then again, who was fool enough to wander around the beach at this time of day? Oh, the irony.

Squinting, the huntress thought she saw movement in the boat. Definitely yes, movement. The sun burned bright now in the sky and with it came gulls, squawking and flapping down to the boat. The figure inside waved them off with a half hearted movement. Something about the movement flagged a warning bell for Kali, and with frown in place she moved towards the little boat, flapping her hands to scare off the gulls.

"Out of it you rotten sky rats!" She growled, slowing as she reached the rowboat to take in what she saw. It was a man, well it was sort of a man. The top half of him was a pale scrawny thing, with auburn hair and what appeared to be disheveled tawny wings. His lower half was the feathery taloned feet of a bird. Regardless of appearance, he looked as though he'd been in trouble, battered and bruised with deep circles under his eyes. Kali put her hands out to show she had no weapons on her, bow left behind in the docks.

"Do you speak common? Can you understand me?" She hoped the man could, he looked to need aid.

[Mero]

When the stranger arrived, it was quietly, or perhaps it hadn’t been to the boy she appeared suddenly and without warning. Shooing away the birds calling them “rotten sky rats” was that there name, beyond birds? Looking at her warily his dark eyes focusing on her intensely like the rest of the world was just backdrop to his new found subject. He’d seen few enough women in his time and those he had seen were far and in between, but she was recognizable as such, a well versed man might even call her features attractive. But her face to the boy at least was her least important feature.
When she held out her hands, he saw them… Tattoos. He’s weren’t all consuming like the man’s, they were one her hand the ink in her flesh winding about reminiscent of those he was familiar with. He could also see inked lines beneath her neck. The sight softened his wariness by a hair, she wasn’t the Tattoed man, but she held a slight familiarity to him. When she spoke he locked eyes with her, his dark amber staring into her lucid blue, like a bird fixing you with it’s gaze trying to designate whether you be prey, predator or something else.

"Do you speak common?”
A blank stare, that showed no other recognition, he heard her words but didn’t respond to them unsure of what response she wanted.
“Can you understand me?"
A slow deliberate blink was his answer to this, she wouldn’t harm him if she knew he was listening. Nobody ever talked to him, at least not with the expectation of a response, beration didn’t need a response and that was the only form of communication he understood.
Her outstretched hands however worried him he didn’t have anything to put in them, his outstretched hands had always been in the form of a request, to show he wanted what someone else had, when food was dangled before him he’d try to grab it. But he didn’t’ want to give away anything he had so when she stretched her hands he flinched back. Pulling the small leather pack in the boat to his chest and pulling his knees up. Defending himself and the pack. It was the Tattoed man’s pack and even if she was Tattooed too she couldn’t have it. He might come back for him… he hoped he would.

He wondered what her next move would be, he didn’t really understand people but people had always been told not to get in his cage, even the Tattooed man hadn’t come into it. But there wasn’t a cage anymore things were different now… he was thirsty… and hungry and the Tattooed man hadn’t come yet. But if he waited he would come… he was good at waiting, he’d waited his entire life for things food water and the visits… but waiting had never been so uncomfortable before.

[Baya]

Baya hadn’t meant to go flying with Stripe. In fact, she was still trying to get home from the day before but the stubborn creature seemed content to do whatever it pleased, heedless of Bayas coaxing and demands to go to the inn. Stripe hadn’t abandoned her at least, that was a positive. But now the Tunawa had no idea where or what was going on. She had rode in the Pantheons talons, nervous but enjoying the slow ride after yesterdays hectic exit, now they were stranded on the beach.

“You, you are a…a brat! Don’t sleep, Stripe! Stripe?” The creature cracked one eye at the Tunawa then let it slide shut. Baya waited a few bits then poked Stripe but there was no response other than a sleepy growl. “I don’t know where we are…”

But the words had no answer and echoed nervously back to her. For a long bit she wiggled her toes and waited but still, it did not wake. Her eyes flicked to the water and away, she still had no desire to board a boat, not yet. More interesting than the waters was the sand anyhow, odd colors that sparkled in the mornings sun and gave ambiance to the voices that floated around her…

Voices?

The Tunawas head snapped toward the quickly becoming a welcome familiar voice. The hunter big one! Kali! She’d be able to help Baya. Yet all thoughts of Baya being helped fled when she took in the full scene. A bird of some kind, a big one bird at that, looked to be flinching away from the hunter. Panicked the Tunawa shook her silly beast until it eyed her with agitation that Baya ignored or didn’t notice. “Come on! We'll sleep over there, come on!”

She tugged that the rope that still connected them and to her surprise Stripe tottered along until they had reached the odd pair.

“Big one hurt! Am fixing, am can, am helping Kali with big bird one. Big bird one is sick?”

At the extent of her rope Baya knelt down a few feet from the odd bird human. He was the strangest big one she’d every seen but he was pretty almost. Wings and talons she thought him more like her mount than the huntress. But he was clearly more scared than Stripe could seem to be.

[Kali'rial]

Kali watched as the creature pulled back, its leather pack held tightly to itself. He - she assumed it was a he - looked positively terrified, curious amber eyes pegging her down in a way that reminded the huntress of the various predatory birds that soared the open skies. She paused her approach, crouching to try and make herself appear less intimidating. If he was more bird then man, perhaps she should treat him a little more like an injured beast.

"There now, it's okay. I'm not here to harm you." Reaching for her belt, the Sev'ryn removed her water skin and held it out to the creature with a smile.

"Water. For you?" Slowly, she opened the top and tipped it slightly to allow some of the clear liquid to spill out, before replacing the cork and placing the skin carefully near the boat. A little voice called out, and Kali turned her head with a relieved smile to see the tree talker and what appeared to be her mount.

"Baya. It's good to see you. Yes, I think big one is hurt maybe. I would love your help." Noticing the tree talker had come up quite close to the boat, the brunette held a hand out slowly.

"Not too close friend, I'm not sure he understands me yet and he looks very scared. In my experience scared is sometimes dangerous." Turning back to the creature she tried another route.

"Can you speak common? Or Xanthean?" Kali tried, hoping to somehow get through to the being that she meant no harm. His broken and beaten persona worried her, and as she glanced over the rowboat it began to show that perhaps he'd suffered through stormy weather. A shipwreck maybe?

[Mero]

"There now, it's okay. I'm not here to harm you."

So she said, the woman didn’t look… too dangerous… but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be, everyone is capable of being dangerous even the nice looking ones… but she had familiar tattoos, maybe she would be alright. Loosening his grip on the pack… slightly he watched her. When she pulled the waterskin out and smiled at him he eyed her warily, but by he didn’t tense up as she approached.

"Water. For you?"

Water… he knew what that was, and her pouring it on the ground momentarily startled him, the thought of wasting something as precious as water made him furrow his brow. But then she tipped it back up. When she placed it outside the boat he eyed it for a moment before hastily snatching it up. Without ceremony he pulled the cork off and proceeded to drain the contents of the skin unceremoniously. It was warm and had the tang of leather to it, but it was wet, and it sated his thirst, he hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he’d begun drinking. As he drank however another voice joined the area. Jerking him back to the moment. His eyes darted about unable to find where the voice had come from. His eyes lighted on a small animal, had it talked? But finally he saw the tiny figure with the animal… it was like…. A very tiny person… did people get that small? She was very strange looking, but walked and talked like a normal human…. She… she didn’t seem dangerous… and her animal… it had feathers…. He wondered if that animal…whatever it was… was like him… he didn’t know anything other than birds and himself that had feathers….. But then the lady talked again.

"Baya. It's good to see you. Yes, I think big one is hurt maybe. I would love your help."

“big one? Were they talking about him? Was he the big one? He didn’t think he was very big… the tattooed man and the captain had been big… but… he was small compared to them… or were they talking about someone else. Again glancing about he didn’t see anyone else, but his neck prickled with paranoia. She held her hand out slowly as she talked, maybe it was him she was talking about. Looking from her hand to the now empty water skin he held he swallowed once before holding it out to her. A bulwark between him and her. She’d given him water like the tattooed man had.

"Not too close friend, I'm not sure he understands me yet and he looks very scared. In my experience scared is sometimes dangerous."

He didn’t think he was dangerous, the thought that she thought he could be perturbed him. She was dangerous like all people except for the tattooed man… but she had tattoos.. too, and not just any she had the special tattoos like the man. Maybe the special tattoo people were safe. But she spoke, that Tattooed man never spoke, that made her different. But… maybe it was ok… He hoped she would be… he didn’t know if the Tattooed man was coming but the Tattooed woman… she was right in front of him.

"Can you speak common? Or Xanthean?"

Again she asked him questions… or something he didn’t understand the second part of her question it didn’t sound like words he knew… but there were lots of words he didn’t know. So he did what the Tattooed man did. Slowly he signed an X over his throat, then cupped his hands over his ears to make them look bigger while looking at her, and nodding. Speaking was bad, didn’t she know that? Making any sound at all was bad, no crying or angry people will follow. Flexing his hands idly while he watched her he fiddled with his feathers plucking a loose on out and eyeing it trying to avoid eye contact with the woman, she was looking at him strangely, it wasn’t the sad look the tattooed man always gave him, nor was it the angry look the crew glared at him with. He didn’t understand her. All people except the captain and the Tattooed man were bad…. Right? Mimicking her gesture he held a hand out his palm facing her as he spread his fingers, his hand at least, was like hers. He looked back briefly at the small person, it was so small, that he didn’t think it was dangerous, and it’s animal had feathers like him… he didn’t think they could be too dangerous… it was the woman that worried him.

[Baya]

The tiny Tunawa waved off Kali’s warning, “Am Tunawa, no break, am strong and big one no fire. Is safe.”

Though Bayas definition of safe was a little different than most she was sure something this scared couldn’t be dangerous. Dangerous were pirates with fire. This was a bird that wasn’t flying, if it didn’t want help it would fly off…wouldn’t it? Baya cocked her head as she watched the bird big one drink greedily then plucked a flower from her head. For a trill she struggled at the end of her rope but Stripe was not to be moved from sleep, so she tip-toed at the end of her rope and held it out to the bird big one.

“Is good. Eat for tummy…” Baya stopped short when he made the X motion over his throat, “You is broken? Kali, am thinking is broken, need doctor.”

Absently Baya touched her head, she didn’t have anything that would help someone talk, Moseke help her, she couldn’t even grow something to help. The Tunawa pursed her lips and stared at the him.

“You is having home? We take.”

She gestured between her and Kali though it would be more likely that Kali would be taking them both. Unable to do much else but hope he took the flower Baya scooted closer to her mount and sat in the sand, her fingers trailing through it. As she watched the small designs Baya found herself jumping right back up, “Oh! Oh! Am have idea! You draw, no speak, you draw we get, yes?”

As if he was deaf as well as mute the Tunawa drew more random squiggles in the sand then gestured to the bird one with a wide smile. Now they could talk to him!

[Kali'rial]

Taking back the water skin slowly, the brunette tied it back to her belt, watching the creature in the boat make signs across his throat and behind his ears. Can't talk but can understand? Kali could only hope that's what it meant. Glancing down at Baya, the Sev'ryn couldn't help but smile at her tenacity. Always rely on Tunawa to be the brave ones.

"I think you could be right Baya. He does need a doctor." Watching the creature spread its hands out in a mimickry of her previous actions, the huntress smiled with an encouraging nod. Something about the way the battered thing held itself and moved reminded Kali of the slavegirl from Immortal's Tongue. A horrible suspicious realisation began to form in her mind. Was this creature, this boy, a slave? Had he escaped on this little boat and been lost at sea? The thought made her sick. How many people in this world would she meet like this? Husks broken down by those who 'owned' them.

"My name is Kali'rial, but most people call me Kali. I'm not here to hurt you, neither of us are." Looking down at Baya's actions in the sand, the brunette nodded.

"Good idea." She said, before chewing her lip thoughtfully. They needed help, and although Pash was only back on the docks, Kali realised they needed someone special for this.

"Baya, do you know who Faith is? At Cally's? I think we need her here." The question was, who should go fetch her. Kali didn't mind the run, but wasn't sure she wanted to leave Baya alone to deal with the bird..boy..person. She didn't doubt the Tunawa could fend for herself, but it was also not hard to actually step on them by accident.

[Mero]

Watching them, the woman and the tiny figure Mero flicked his line of sight constantly between the two of them. Where the tattooed woman was quiet, the small one was loud but didn’t seem scary. It approached him after pulling something, a plant out of it’s hair and holding it out. Looking at her suspiciously, he took it, but her words and what she handed him didn’t quite sync up in his mind.

“Is good. Eat for tummy…”
“You is broken? Kali, am thinking is broken, need doctor.”

Eat… the.. flower? That seemed… odd… and, was he broken? He didn’t know what it meant to be broken, was it bad? For that matter what was a doctor? Whatever it was he wasn’t sure he liked the sound of whatever that was, he didn’t like people and if they were bringing more people or doctors he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

“You is having home? We take.”

What was home? He knew that much, his home was his cage, in the boat with the captain and the tattooed man, but he didn’t know where his home was anymore, or if the Tattooed man was coming for him.

“Oh! Oh! Am have idea! You draw, no speak, you draw we get, yes?”

Then the small figure went to work making small shapes in the floor, he didn’t know what she was doing so he watched her pensively but couldn’t gleam any understanding from her actions, what was it she was doing, he still held the flower looking at her strangely. But he couldn’t allow all of his attention to go towards the small one, the tattooed woman still looked at him strangely.
He’d heard her agree that he needed a doctor but that didn’t make him feel any better. He didn’t want more people unless it was someone familiar. People were scary, and new people were especially so. Then she spoke again, and her words for the most part registered. She was again

"My name is Kali'rial, but most people call me Kali. I'm not here to hurt you, neither of us are."

Her name… he knew about names, though he didn’t know very many…. And he knew about hurting… the woman said they weren’t here to hurt him, and she was being so nice… maybe she really wasn’t going to harm him, she’d even given him water like the tattooed man. Timidly when the woman spoke again and stopped looking at him to look at the little one, and neither of them were gazing at him he hugged his pack to his chest again still holding the little flower the little one had given him. Fearfully glancing around, once more at the sea, praying for the tattooed man to appear, and when he didn’t sighing sadly. He stood. Shakily he came up, looking around cautiously. Tentatively he put a bare foot on the ground, and finding it hot and gritty feeling he frowned… but it held his weight. With one foot on the ground and one foot in the boat he looked at the woman fearfully as he panicked, he didn’t want to leave the boat… but… the tattooed man wasn’t coming… so…. Maybe he had to… maybe… he could find the tattooed man himself. His eyes teared up as panic tried to force him back into the boat. Holding his free hand out to the woman, again in the gesture she’d made to him. He didn’t know what to do, he was stuck not physically, but within his own mind and spirit the chains of his upbringing dug hard into him. As tears began to stream down his face as his face contorted into a mask of distorted emotions, fear sorrow and confusion all pulling him apart.

[Pash Raj'oriq]

Kali’rial had slipped away with the dawn, her warm body missing from his bedsheets, his arms sleepily searching to hold her only to find himself alone. She’d had trouble sleeping lately, she said. Nightmares. Childhood memories. Things she didn’t feel like explaining, and though Pash could put some of the pieces together, the rest he would have to wait to be told when she was ready. Whenever that was. He stirred, objecting to the angle of the suns' light at this break that seemed to filter through his portholes, which were open to the ocean breeze.

With a sigh, he forced himself up from the cozy nook of his berth and the comforts of bed which lacked a certain appeal when who he shared it with was missing, running calloused fingers through his hair in some attempt to tame it, tying it back against the later Ymiden heat he knew lurked outside. He tugged on his pants, eschewing both shirt and vest and sandals as he took the steps up out of his little cabin and onto his deck, the silvery scar on his left bicep a strange contrast to the dark patterns of tattooed lines and shapes that decorated his skin.

Kali was not on deck, not even nestled near the bow quietly sitting, meditating or thinking. The tall Biqaj dropped with practiced ease over the gunnel on his port side, bare feet landing on the worn wood of the dock—the farther, quieter parts of the docks away from merchant ships and travelers. He much preferred not to be nestled in a crowd, generally, and was always willing to pay extra coin to the harbormaster for the luxury of a hint of privacy. Making his way toward the beach, he passed taller ships, deckhands and mercenaries, merchants and passengers, loading and unloading cargo from places far away, swapping stories, or haggling over profits bright and early.

Of course, Kali’s footprints couldn’t possibly be the only ones in the sand once he reached the shore itself, and the seafaring minstrel was forced to pick a direction and walk in it, guessing, hoping it was the right one. It was a worthwhile gamble, thankfully, for as he walked where the surf met the sand, wet up to his ankles, wishing the waters at the end of the world were much, much warmer as his toes ached in the cold even as the end of Ymiden drew near, he saw what looked to be something washed ashore in the distance. It was clearly a ship—he’d built them, he sailed one—or at least parts of one. Kali was there, but her back was to him and there was at least someone else in or around the wreckage.

Once he was close enough, he whistled, loud and clear, followed with a wave and a shout, completely ignorant of whatever had happened, and even more ignorant of the frightened boy cowering in all that was left of his world, though of course Pash didn’t know the details one trill,

“Oi! Kali, ’s everythin’ a’right?” A few long strides of the tall Biqaj up into the warm, dry sand of the beach proper with the tide out, and he stood next to her, in front of the winged—wings? what kind of creature had wings?—boy he surely surprised more than he should have, and—oh!—Baya. Attempting to take in the scene as it unfolded with his loud, sudden appearance, the boy not making a sound so much as visibly afraid, though he seemed unhurt at first glance. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around except for the four of them—had there been no other survivors? Did the boy have a family?

“Hey … er … what’s goin’ on?” Lagoon blue eyes swept the wreckage with his skilled understanding as a shipwright’s son, one hand straying to the dark-haired Sev’ryn’s to hold it, making sure she was okay first before noting the winged boy who may have been cowering and Baya’s diminutive self. He realized he’d interrupted, crashed into something no one seemed quite prepared for. He was unarmed, somewhat dressed, but still entirely available, “Shipwreck, eh? What can I do?”