"There's Gold in Our Eyes" [Open]

[Destyn]

The ratty state of Destyn’s garments— torn, frayed and stained as they were— along with his general lack of concern, suggested he had no such concern for the deleterious effects of blueberry juice on fabric.

“I have heard of Solunarium, but not good things. My friend Avamande said, you know, not good things about it and also my friend Imogen who almost drowneded me by accident. There are, I think I have heard, evil elfs there— is this so? I only know nice elfs.” He paused upon hearing himself, wrinkled his nose and amended:

“Well, no. Laurevere is not nice. Nor was Avamande, truly, but they are, at least I think, good elfs if not nice.” That felt more correct now that it was out and he nodded to himself in internal affirmation of his own self-correction.

“I passed not through your land. We went by boat. Magical boat, so the trip was unnatural quick.” He nodded thoughtfully at Hilana’s sentiment about her own verbosity. He wasn’t sure he agreed, but he didn’t disagree either so he shrugged and said:

“I guess so. Laurevere says that I, you know, also talk a lot, so now I am more mindful of when other people do this also, like you do. Most of my friends are more quieter than I am. If I did not fill their silences, everyone would be, I think, bored. They are, you know, lucky to have me around.” Again he nodded at his own statement, this time more sagely— arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed. He looked almost soulful for a moment, before his eyes snapped back open and landed on the berries, from which he claimed another tithe.

[Hilana Chenzira]

As fiercely as she may defend her homeland and its inhabitants, there were times when Hilana knew there was no point in getting wound up about it. Especially in a foreign land with foreign people. Destyn simply didn't know better, as far as she was concerned, and he had been taught by those who definitely hadn't the foggiest notion as to what they were talking about when it came to Solunarium. Vile propaganda, surely, from Hytori or Siltori that didn't like the place for whatever reason. "Well, everyone has their own opinions about what forms 'nice', right?" Re'hyaeans would not talk very highly of Hytori, after all, and what they felt of Siltori had to do with the fact that Auris was now one of their biggest allies... "They're Elves. I take it your friends are Hytori?" As if that explained everything. But with the old attitudes and arguments, Hilana preferred to leave them to it. They'd be the ones that lived a lot longer than she; her life wasn't much compared to their own. It was simply a fact of life.

"That must have been fascinating, to be on a magical boat like that. Did it take you all the way from Karnor to South Ecith?" she wondered, her eyes bright with curiosity. That must have been some kind of magic, certainly, and she had no idea what sort of thing... maybe a fantastical airship that used Kinetics or Traversion.

But she did understand his thinking there, that if everything was silent, it would be rather dull. "Silence is golden, but talking is fun," she offered cheerfully. "If everything was quiet all the time, nothing would ever happen. It would be pretty boring." She didn't mind his saying that she also talked a lot; he wasn't wrong and she'd been told that enough times that it was water off a water bison's back at this point. "Will you be staying around here for a while longer, or will you continue travelling on your pathways?" Lia gave him another handful of blueberries, and popped one of the remainder in her mouth to eat. He was rather interesting when one didn't try to judge him by conventional manners.

[Destyn]

“I guess so?” Destyn shrugged, unwitting to the hackles he might have raised with the Solunarian.

“My close friends are mixed elfs… the others I do not know. I do not know much about the different kinds of elfs. I know Sivan and Laurevere are half Hytori and half something else, because this was a big deal in Silfanore, but I do not know the difference between the other types…” He paused l, reconsidering.

“Except the wet ones.” He’d encountered Neptori in his travels since childhood, though mostly the fresh and brackish water varietals. He was naive to the seas and coasts outside of his experience in South Ecith.

“A portal taked me to the boat. I do not, actually, know from where it left. Maybe it did not go very far at all…” He trailed off, seeming lost in this notion for a moment.

“I had not thought ahead to make this decision. I came here with not much of a plan. I just wander and wayfind and forage and feast until I am tired and then I go somewhere to sleep. I am, you know, outside of society. That is what I am told, so I do not follow its rules. I just, you know… live.” A bug buzzing by his eye caught his attention, and his head snapped forward to claim it between his chops with a crunch. He licked his lips and smiled— a small insectoid leg protruding from between a pair of his teeth.

“What about you? Will you be done here when you have finished gathering seed pods and that? Are you staying nearby, or will you return to your homeland straight away?”

[Hilana Chenzira]

Water off a water buffalo's back. That was the way it had to be, and that was the way it would be. "Oh, you know Sivan?" she perked up, interested. The Alchemist and Artificer of Sunrunner Alchemy. They had been hoping he had been Sunborn, not Hytori. Maybe the Fae was wrong. He had said he didn't know Elves, after all, and so Hilana would latch onto that and stick to it. Even if he had mentioned Silfanore...

The bits about the magic boat were fascinating, and Hilana, if she had known better, might have liked to quiz him more on it. But this was the first time that she had met the Fae, and as such... she wouldn't have liked some stranger poking in about something magical that was going on in her life like that, either, so it was best not to push too much. Especially since he didn't seem to understand the details, and she didn't want to vex him about it.

She rather liked the freedom that Destyn had in his lifestyle, and a part of her truly envied it. Hers was full of structure and schedules and things to do, and cramming ever more activities into what time she had. Hilana had to remind herself that she chose that - to stay busy so that she avoided missing the wilds that sang to her, that whispered in her bones and encouraged her to come dance upon the endless sands and skies.

"We're expected back at a friend's house in Kalzasi," Lia supplied. "We may stay there for dinner or we may head home, depending on how the rest of the day goes. Knowing Hilana and her desire to find those seed pods, we may be too late for dinner by the time we return." If that was the case, so be it, but they should still have some time for Hilana to trek them through the forests to chase the enormous seedpods that she wanted...

[Destyn]

Destyn’s eyes widened,

“Know Sivan??? Why, I live much of the time at his house! He is one of my very favourite people! But but but, how do you know Sivan is my question? Do you have much friends in Kalzasi?” He tilted his head sharply, as would a bird or a mantid.

“Oh, well if you are afraid of missing dinner and being, you know, famished? I will show you things to eat!” He pranced over to a shrub and plucked a small red berry from the midst of its branches.

“This is safe to eat, but not very yummy. It is dull tasting, but good to quiet your tum. Do not eat the berries if the bush has white flowers, though. That is a different, tricky plant and it will give you berries that taste wonderful but make your tum ache. If the berries taste too delicious, spit them out. Down here…” He crouched and brushed his hand over some bristles sprouting from the soil below the bush.

“This is not grass, it is tiny onions. You can gobble them. They do not mind and they taste good if you like raw onions, which you ought to because that is how onions are made. Raw. Umm, what else what else what else… oh! Do you know how to catch cicadas? They are delicious and safe to eat and easy to capture. Just follow the noise until you see them and when you do, they are quite slow at flying. Even slower than Avialae! So, you can just grab them with your fingies and munch! But there are not many this time of year so keep your ears listening, yes?”

[Hilana Chenzira]

“We met him at his shop,” Hilana explained to the Fae. “I’ve bought some things from there before, and we have some shared interests. I try to visit every time I come up here now and buy a few things; he’s been lovely. But as for friends up here, we do have a couple.” She was cheerful. Talon and Aoren. Rickter and his family, close and extended. Sivan. There were a few others, as Hilana was a friendly and sociable creature, except when it came to Orks. Those, she wanted nothing to do with, and neither did Athalia. It was of course impolite to say such things up here in Kalzasi where Orks were highly respected and many of them were considered teachers and spiritual advisors. The sisters would just avoid where possible and keep a polite distance where they couldn’t.

Hilana wasn’t about to interrupt Destyn when she might well learn something from him, and so she nodded solemnly, studying each plant and connecting them to the ones she had seen in Vasilei’s books. Dull tasting berries with no white flowers were safe. Sweet berries with white flowers were not. The tiny little stems were onions, which she was delighted to see. She closed the distance between them, her skirt swishing along long legs, and crouched down where she could see. She still kept a bit of respectful distance; she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

“I love scorpions. They’re delicious once you remove the venom sacs. How do you catch cicadas? I’d imagine using the wind, but what is your method?” The Vastiana wanted to know. She might not care to eat bugs raw, but in a pinch, waste not, want not.

Lia would have preferred to start walking back. Berries, fine. Onion, well, when they were young they couldn't be super harsh on the taste. But bugs? Even Hilana's roasted scorpions was pushing it for her, and she didn't understand why she liked them, but that was one thing she absolutely was not partaking in.

[Destyn]

"Oh, I see, I see!" Destyn replied, nodding emphatically, but not looking up from his foraging as Hilana explained her relationship to Sivan and, to some extent, the region of Kalzasi in general. The mention of an unfamiliar food source, however, was enough to inspire the mercurial Fae'ethalan to lift his gaze to Hilana once more.

"Scorpiums? I do not think that I have had these before, unless they are called something else in my language. Sometimes things are called something else in my language and I do not know what they are called in this one that we are talking, you know, right now." He paused for a beat, a rare thing for Destyn to do, but after that moment elapsed an afterthought found his tongue.

"...venom sacs?" Head tilt.

"Oh, I usually will catch them while they are landed, but if they get spooked and fly before I can catch them, they are still easy to nab. I do not think it calls for, really, a method. It is very easy. You might have a problem only if they fly out of your reach, but I can, you know, fly too, so this is not a problem to me. Is nature not, you know, amazing?" He mused half to himself, finding it remarkable the way Mother Nature provided him with a delicious snack that was so easy to obtain and, during certain periods of the year, quite ubiquitous.

Taking note of Athalia's expression, he softened his smile.

"Do not worry! If we find any that are flying out of your reach I will, you know, share. If, uhm... if there are enough to, you know, go around."

[Hilana Chenzira]

"You might have come across some here, they are native to this area as well. They're insects, they have pinching claws and a curved tail with a spike on the end," she demonstrated with her hands, pinching her thumbs to the other four fingers, and opening and closing them a few times before curving two fingers to replicate the scorpion's tail. "The tails can inject venom into you if they get you, so they have venom sacs, which holds the venom, inside of them. You don't want to eat that part, they'll make you sick," Hilana explained. "So I remove them and then they can be eaten."

She listened to his method. That was sound, really, especially since he had wings. And cicadas were not the most agile of flyers, and once they were within reach... it shouldn't be too hard of a task to snag some of them. "Nature truly is amazing," Hilana agreed. "Aedrin blessed us all with His bounty. I wonder how many times we've gone past Him and never saw Him."

At Destyn's words, Lia smiled at him. "That is very generous of you. Thank you, Destyn. Make sure you get your fill first if they come. I quite like the berries as they are," the elder Vastiana assured him. She'd not have it any other way, and if she could avoid them altogether, perfect. She wouldn't say that aloud, of course, everyone had their treats.

"There were some good mushrooms back the way we came, if you like those," Hilana offered, considering Destyn had given her some interesting information about the local goodies. "I understand that the Avialae call them nameko and matsutake." She had the Solunarian names for them that Vasilei had written down in his book that she remembered reading about, but such words would have been useless to Destyn. "I'm pretty sure I saw enoki mushrooms to the north, too."

[Destyn]

Destyn’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ but he did not phonate the eponymous sound through it.

“Scairp.” He translated, after the critter was described in great detail. “Scorpiums is scairp.” He clarified, lest his meaning be lost for the uncharacteristic brevity of his initial comment.

At the mention of Aedrin, Destyn shrugged. Not particularly theologically inclined nor the least bit cosmopolitan, he didn’t know enough to be surprised at a Solunarian lauding the work of unsanctioned gods. He just saw things as they were and didn’t wonder overmuch at their origins, whilst appreciating their cohesion and convenience.

“Suit yourself!” Destyn replied to Athalia, resolving not to give her buggies. She seemed dispassionate at the prospect of enjoying their crunch, so it would have been, to his mind, a waste for him to part with any of his favourite snack for her benefit. If berries were good enough, then so be it.

“I do not want any mushrooms, thank you. I think I will, actually, be on my way. Perhaps, though, if you visit with Sivan I will see you again. I stay sometimes with him. If you are at his place look to the gardens. If I am there, I will likely be in the gardens.” Probably doing the same thing there that he was doing here, albeit writ smaller. He led a simple life, when he wasn’t being bestowed divine Emblems or going on grand adventures, whether intentionally or by accident.

“Good fortune on your forage, daughters of the South!” His wings spread and began to beat loudly as he rose from the soil and hovered a few feet off the ground, to wave goodbye before launching up toward the canopy.

[Hilana Chenzira]

"Scairp," Hilana tried the word and nodded. That was close enough, she figured. Scairp, scorpiums, scorpi-yums, if one asked her. Of course, no one really was.

Lia nodded at Destyn's words. Berries were good, her sister would know what else she could eat around here, and she didn't mind the onions and plants and berries... but the buggies were a step too far unless she was desperate, and out here, with Hilana, she was not desperate. If she ever went out without her, then she would want a Traversion ring in order to get back home, or to some place of safety. Both of them had their skills, and each of them knew what the other could do. They trusted each other in that regard, and they could go back and forth and listen.

"Be well, Destyn. Next time we stop in, we will ask after you. In light or shadow, go in grace," Hilana smiled at the Fae as he headed off, waving. Considering they usually stopped in at the shop, she would just have to talk to Sivan there instead about the funny blond bark-skinned wildkin. Perhaps their paths would cross again. Athalia echoed the farewell, waving after him.

"Back now, or do you want to go find those pods?" Lia had a feeling they were going to go looking for them. If anything, they would likely get a good meal at Maze Manor, and if they were too late getting back, there was plenty of street food available. Or just head home.

"Let's go hunting," Hilana grinned. "I'll get you more berries as we go, soror. I promise."

"Oh, good," Lia sighed. "You wouldn't let your sister starve, would you?"

"No. That I could not do," Hilana laughed, as they started off in the direction that Destyn had pointed to. The trees had said that they were that way, and surely they were. She wanted another couple pods for the project, and if they couldn't find it, then there would always be another time.