Re: Svarik and the company II

[Mirach]

"Did you know her?" Svarik asked quietly. "Or did the pass away before you were born?"

[VisAnastasis]

" No. She passed long, long ago. " Zephir whispered, suddenly smiling a little, with some endearnment, as if he thought king will realize it from the context, but he explained it more openly then. " Sir... She became crimson flower... Crimson poppy flower. You hold her distant descendants in your very hands." His eyes fell on the poppy flowers in king's hands, and more openly, king could notice a trace of emotion, not love, but a deep respect, in his gaze." She knew she will be gone for good if she does it, being a demon that turns Spirit upon death... But she did it anyway. She hated injustice and suffering, and seeing humans fall under darkness of the world, and she wanted to help them. She choose to become this flower, pouring all of her heart into it.. Even if she loved living, she choose that to be her legacy. "

[Mirach]

"Ah... I see now why the flowers respond to you in such a deep way. You are their family..." Svarik smiled.

[VisAnastasis]

Highlander blushed a little, glancing up at meadow king with some surprise at the comment, before looking down at plants anew quietly.
" I guess.. I guess that's one way to see it. The same as with you.If I may say. Sir king. It could be that land sings to you for your ancestry of Morning Dew, Gaya, and Solstice... But ancestry is only part of us. It's what we make from whatever we are given by it, that counts... I think land sings to you because.. because it responds to your affections. I think plants sing to me so on the same way, too. " He noted wisely, though the hesitant following sentence showed a bit of pained cracking of his voice and mind." I, I like plants, sir. I adore them, and respect them, and they rejoice at my touch. Plants... Are trustworthy. They are not like humans.. Or Spirits.. Demons.... " He murmured sadly." I like plants much more, now... "

[Mirach]

Svarik nodded. "That's alright. Would you like to taoe them back? You can keep the bag open, though..."

[VisAnastasis]

" Hmmm.. Maybe.. " Zephir thought of it out loud, before he still shook his head, suddenly smiling a little. " No, no, you can hold them. You're good with them, and I'm glad you have time to hold Bell a little. Your presence will do him good. "he whispered quietly, with little brighter tone - he still seemed of frail health and stature, but even in this little time, king could notice that the better quality of food he would nibble on like a bird began slowly improving his health, and with it, he seemed to slowly give more of that hesitant gentle warmth to Svarik, to whom he felt grateful for employing him and looking out for him. " I'd be... content to see you content... sir. Besides, I can't get... this easily distracted, and flowers distract me too easily. " he blushed a little, but his words held a solemn, more meaningful note, as he suddenly decided. " I promised you a story... I guess... It doesn't have to be strictly a story... You seem curious... You can ask, what you desire to ask. I can answer, if I'm able to. I don't mind... "

[Mirach]

"You really wouldn't mind?" Svarik asked. "I would really like to hear one particular story from you - your own... About your meeting with Riversong and travels..."

[VisAnastasis]

Zephir smiled slowly, as if at some pleasant memories, shining amids the clouds of bad ones.
" About the travels... Well... You'll have to be a little more specific, sire... I traveled way too much to figure out what you're most curious about. " he allowed himself to grin a little, before he added thoughtfully. " About meeting with Riversong? Do you mean the first one? Now, that's a bit more tricky to speak of. I don't mind, of course, there's no secrecy to it. " he explained. " I just met him as a child, but I was blind as kid. I was born that way... You see, my demon ancestress didn't have eyes, because she sow the worlds through her listening, and didn't need them. Through her line, whenever gifted children were born, they were blind. I  was born so. I was a child, when my a slip of fate, I fell into Riversong's river... And in fear of my life, as I was drowning, I desperately sought for help, and in the glimmer of the water, in light of its waves, I felt him... I called his name, and he came, and he saved me. Those memories are all sensations, though. I never sow him, only felt his presence, as I spoke to him. " young Highlander whispered, looking down at the pale white flower with some warmth. " I've liked his presence... He was first Being I met, and I was so curious about him. I called for him again, and we spoke for two more times... Third time, he brought me to his little secluded home in the mountains, amids the white flowers, and he made a pair of eyes and gifted them to me... He was the first person I've seen. "

[Mirach]

"Did he teach you about Spirits and their culture? Svarik asked.

[VisAnastasis]

" I was restless child in that time, as I could see the world for the first time, and everything was so new - and world around Riversong was always so full of life. About Spirits? Yes, you could say he was my first contact to that side of Being spectrum. I was already being taught by my family about my demon heritage, but until my birth, my family of past was mosty avoiding Spirits, in fear they'll sense our blood and hurt us... But I was a child when I met him, and he was so peculiar and quirky, I kept desiring to see him, and not understanding binding power of my voice, I called him anew and anew, and he came anew and anew... " Zephir smiled faintly, but he seemed a little thoughtful, trying to recollect such far, early time in his childhood. " He doesn't remember me at all anymore... But he had to like spending time with me, because he never lost the patience. He knew to grow quiet when he didn't feel like answering something, and he was very mysterious, but for the most part, he seemed to feel pity for me, and he taught me lot of things, little, entlre things, about Spirits of the mountains, rituals of eerie folk, and songs of the trees. He taught me lot about taking care of plants, and he... I remember he used to wrap his soft cloak around me hold my hand quietly, as we watched falling sun reflect upon fresh snow, before he'd bring me back home. " he looked at little flower quietly, adding wonderingly. " He seemed not... as close to me, as much as feeling compassion to me. My father died in the war, so I kind of looked up to him that way, and he must had known... But he was always distant. There was always a feeling that in corner of his mind, he was on the edge, and frustrated about something. He knew to get so lost in his experiments, and whole Singing river was his little closed experimenting lab.. He'd get mad when people would fish or throw garbage in the river and mess up his, hm, data, he said. When it comes to mind, only times I've seen him pissed of, was at such ocassions, and it were only times I could see some annoyance at meddling with humans... but other than those few outbursts at people other than me, he never even raised voice at me... He was a good teacher to me for couple of years, until he was... gone. "

[Mirach]

"Didn't he tell you about the binding power of true names when you calmed him by it? I can imagine I would be a bit disappointed, if I would find out that he didn't come because he wanted to, but because he had no choice..." Svarik said thoughtfully. "I would appreciate knowing that, so I could give him the choice..."

[VisAnastasis]

" I was a child, sir. I was, like, four or five.. And I was a very excitable child. Easily distracted by butterfiles or pretty things.. He tried to explain to me on few occasions, before he seemed to give up when I didn't get it - but I only realized it was so years later, when things fell into place, once I understood my gift better. " Zephir whispered, seeming a little embarrassed, shy. " Lot of us, listeners, singers.. It's just, something in us. Part of us. We do it as children without even realizing we're different. I'm sure you used to hum or snap your fingers in rhytm of heartbeats, or such things long before you picked up flute, didn't you? " Highlander inquired hopefully. " It was so for me, with my voice... My feelings, hopes and desires just poured up in my words... I did call him by his true name, but it never came across to me that he was offended by it. It seemed to me he understood longing in my voice, and awe and joy I felt with him. He was not close to me, but he was humoring me, I know. Beings often humor humans they find likable. In a way, to them, with our short lives, we are like stray dogs and cats - it doesn't cost them much, to either kick us if they so choose, or pat us and feed us if they so choose. We're little pets, little breaks of seriousness of their eternity. "

[Mirach]

Svarik nodded, understanding better with the comparison to himself. "And who was the first demon you met?" he asked then.

[VisAnastasis]

" It's funny.. It's actually Riversong's disappearance that prompted me into being more alert about world around me. I was fearful that something happened to him, and I wanted to go find him. It wasn't like him, to not return my calls. And so, I, a kid, in a war striken land, decisive to be a hero that saves him, decided to take upon myself to travel the mountains, to find him. I took my mother's oversized bag over my shoulder, packed some old bread and couple pieces of cheese, and went merry on my way. It was as easy as foolish.  " a slow wistful grin spread across young man's pale face. " I wasn't a love for long.... At one point, I realized, she was looking out for me. I intruqued her. She came to me like a skinny black mountain lion, with matted unsightly fur and eyes straight from nightmare. But Riversong taught me well. I offered and shared my bread and cheese with her, and she was surprised, but she ate. She traveled with me, and she hunted little birds for me, and taught me to skin them and cook them. When I got sick two weeks into my trip, reckless child as I was, she let me ride upon her, and she brought me home.. and she stayed. She was my first Being companions. " he shook his head a little more quietly. " She became my familiar and Semai, - though that already, was couple years later.  At first, I was just a curious hobby to her, I imagine. "

[Mirach]

"Your Semai was a Demon?" Svarik asked with interest. "Would you mind telling how you became Semai?"

[VisAnastasis]

" About the process, or reasons behind it? " Zephir inquired shyly. " The process.... It's the same as when becoming Semai with Spirit. You drink potion to enter second layer, and they go there directly, and you lean your mind against each other's, until they blend into one. But why? " he glanced between lord Falcon and Svarik a little thoughtfully. " I fear there was no one dramatic event that prompted us into it... We just got really close, and we were companions for a long time - and when I learned of the custom at my 18th birthday from my mother, when she taught me to make tatoos from ink of our sacred poppy seeds... I felt no better person would fill such place in my heart. I just gained a master's rank in sword dancing, and I've felt bigger than life, and I yearned to help people of my land by driving away darkness of it. I bid, and she accepted... It was the most thrilling feeling in the world. There's this surge of emotions, and energy, and playfulness... " his look grazed Simbel thoughtfully, before he added. " It's a privilege and special pleasure, such bond. Demons and humans bond especially well through the mind, speaking, of course, if their personalities match and they're good pick for one another. It's a real pleasure for both sides.... But from what I've heard, bonds between Spirits and Demons tend to grow strongest and most pleasant. Their opposities and similarities make for a very strong bond, and fit tight like lock and a key. "

[Mirach]

Svarik nodded and was quiet for a while - for some reason his thoughts went to Lipka's departure again, and he shivered like with cold. "Was she killed?" he asked quietly. "If she would be alive, you would return to her..."

[VisAnastasis]

Zephir lowered his head with a pained wince. He smiled through the light grimace on his face, trying to keep up a brave face.
" Everyone was afraid... of the Emperor. And those that weren't as afraid, felt that they wouldn't allow him to possess them through blood, so they stayed aside...But she did not. She remained with me, and we defended my village together, side by side... " he shook his head quietly, before smiling a little sadly, almost as if in apology, despite the lonely feeling of loss seemed to howl in his heart. " I am sorry, sir... I wished to cheer you up, but alas, you've not picked... a particular happy story for me to tell you, sir. She was wild and she was gentle, she was playful and she was meek, and she fought like a beast, before she fell like a butchered  swine before my eyes...  " he seemed to, like always when shadow of dark memories would pass over him, nibble on his fingernails lightly for comfort, as he admitted quietly. " During long nights of my imprisonment, I used to dream... I used to think, to think of her - of a vague, so distant idea, of a playful little spirit, running through the fields of Spirit world, freely, happily, as she always missed, in that enchanted world... At least she died first, and didin't have to watch those... people... take... take a piece of my life anew, every day... her demise was quick, at least, and.. she didn't have to see. " he whispered, almost as if in a lie he convinced himself in. " Knowing she's not suffering anymore, and knowing she is safe from all this, even if she's not her anymore... It's comforting... "

[Mirach]

"I'm sorry..." Svarik said quietly. "I wonder... what happens to demon Semai who die and become spirits? Do they still remain Semai? Did anyone try to reconnect such a bond?"

[VisAnastasis]

" In theory, they should still be compatible to bond, I think... But nobody that I know or have ever heard of.. " Zephir just shook his head quietly. " The thing is... You'd have to know which exactly from the reborn creatures is one that was your own, and while sometimes in some way similar, more often than not, reborn Spirits are almost completely different, in hundred ways... You can't recognize, which creature was once your Semai. You could just walk past it million times, and neither would know... Besides, they'd also, as Spirit, need to be willing to reconnect too. That's a complete stranger, a blank slate, that'd have to, first, believe a complete stranger is so close to him, and act on love that's not there.. " he shook his head quietly. " Probably not there. Besides... Seeking for someone... For one specific  little Spirit... it's like seeking for a needle in haystack. I'd never be able to find her, and without her memories, what would she see in me? I'd be just a human, like thousands other humans, to her.. " he smiled sadly. " A very bemusing puny human, at that... No... She was sickly, and her fur was matted, and her body scarred... And as a new page, she'll be pure, and clear, and free from pain. I doubt I'd be able to recognize her, even if she were to stand in front of me. I just wouldn't know, which is it, little spirit, that was once my little demon familiar, even if I count travel to Spirit Kingdom like I can not.. "

[Mirach]

"You wouldn't know..." Svarik whispered. "But Death would."

[VisAnastasis]

" He erased her memory. He erased everything she is. Do you really think he'd remember one little neglectful, faint demon? It's not exactly like he specially announces rebirths like parties or something.. He keeps identities of reborn Spirits sealed shut upon his lips. What makes you think he'd open them for me? He doesn't even remotely like me. " he murmured, as if trying to beat his hopes up, harshly, so they wouldn't dare appear, and so he wouldn't hurt for nothing. " It's.. it's just that, one thing pulls another... First, it's one guy seeking former Semai, than, another asks for a father, for a sister, for a mother... and it's endless pit. There'd be too many, asking, and most of newborns don't even know they used to be demons. Bbut... but I guess... I do admit I never thoughts... I this city, after all those years... that I would find myself face to face with Death... "

[Mirach]

"Don't you want to ask, though?" Svarik encouraged him gently. "In worst case, he will just refuse and nothing will change. But you never know unless you try."

[VisAnastasis]

" I guess... It's a guaranteed no.. But at least I'll make him feel bad about taking away my loved one from me, so... " he smiled faintly, setting himself up for failure in advance, but shyly seeming to begin considering the idea, daring to harbor the foolish, crazy hope for it. " So... I guess it'll be worth it, anyway, if at least for that... "

[Mirach]

"There's nothing to lose by it, even if the chance of gain is slim," Svarik said, feeling better ehen he could ficus on someone else's problems than his own.