OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Five

[brave_kreyu]

In the morning, after they've both bathed, eaten, and they are finally dressed, she's explaining her plans for the morning to Skellig.

"I'm going to be doing two things at once," she explains. "A very overbooked artist has graciously squeezed me in for some henna work, so I'll be gone for a few hours. I'd bring you along, but she's not comfortable around men." Kreyu has her SUSPICIONS as to why, but she doesn't know.

"And since chatting is very much a part of the process, I'll be seeing what I can find out about any recent pirate attacks."

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[brave_kreyu]

Elihu listens quietly to his explanation, picks up the emotion running underneath.

"God touched may be closest to what you are, this side of the sea," he allows after a moment of thought. "A mix of human and not human."

He takes a sip of beer, ponders his words. "There are those that would say amnesia is a convenient excuse to hide one's past. I know my brother, Revenin, would wonder if you were some being altered by an enemy, by magic." His smile turns bitter. "What better weapon to use against my kind sister than a weapon that does not KNOW it is a weapon until it is too late?"

There is no accusation in his tone, in his emotions.

[27_53]

While there is no emotion or accusation in Elihu's tone, this line of thought has brought a great deal of concern into Skellig's mind. It will be easily evident to the other man that this is a distressing thought to ponder, one that had not yet been considered.

"I truly do not believe that is the case," he says firmly. "I...I cannot explain fully, the reasons that I have to believe that. Nor would I expect you to believe it, from a being you have only just met, who is involved with your dear sister."

Skellig swallows hard.

"And I know I am not well-versed yet, in the ways of your Karma. But if there was a way to check if I had been...altered, somehow, and it was found I am a threat to her..."

He does not know if he would be able to live with himself, if that were the case. He would work to rid himself of the poison, the bad magic that might taint his being. But if it could not be removed, then he would find a way to remove the threat - himself - from her.

"...then I would do it, without hesitation. My care for her is too great for that uncertainty to exist."

[brave_kreyu]

"Kreyu is a stronger mage than I," Elihu admits. "The best able to find and remove such things, if she were to look for them. But if I were an enemy, I would have planned for something nasty to happen if she poked about your being in such a way."

"I can tell you if you have been changed, but I can not be certain of my ability to ensure your safety if some kind of trap has been left behind in your being."

[27_53]

"I would rather ensure her safety over my own," he says bluntly, without hesitation.

Finishing off his beer, Skellig shifts his jaw before he nods.

"Could it be done here, in this space? Whatever you would do to check?"

[brave_kreyu]

"It can be done right here," Elihu assures him. "Unless there are traps, none here should even know there is something going on. I do not know what it will feel like to you, but I don't think it will be painful."

Skellig's response has earned Skellig some approval from Elihu, which he might be able to sense.

[27_53]

Skellig senses the approval, but it only faintly registers. His mind is focused on her heartbeat in his ears - steady and strong, relaxed - and he rubs his hand over his tattoo on his arm, briefly hesitating.

"If something should happen, for whatever reason," he says softly. "I would ask that you tell her not to be angry with herself. She would feel anger, first. Then guilt, I fear. I would not want her to bear that burden upon her heart."

He nearly adds on: and I would ask you to tell her that I love her, my dragon but he does not, because Skellig knows that Kreyu knows that as truth, and the words do not need to be spoken for them to be real.

[brave_kreyu]

"I will do so," he promises. Elihu places a hand on Skellig's arm, careful, and then the world disappears as Elihu's power surges over his body. The wind, the rain, the storm, are pressed all around him, seeking for cracks, stains left upon his soul.

It could be minutes later or far longer than that when the world comes back.

Elihu's face is worried, his voice low, and slightly horrified. "No magic has touched you but hers," he rasps. "But what have you two DONE to bind your souls together?!"

[27_53]

Howling winds, thrashing rain, relentless storms - all these are things which Skellig is well-accustomed to, so the discomfort of having Elihu 'search' through the crevices of his soul for any hidden dangers or darkness is minimal. Though it is unsettling, and once the world comes back, Skellig has to take a long moment before he can answer Elihu's question.

(Another round of beer is brought to the table at some point before the conversation resumes.)

"There was a villager who fancied your sister," he says. "Who took great offense to the fact that she did not desire his advances. Once I arrived, he saw me as a threat to his 'conquest'." Skellig's tone is clear of how he feels about Akatan's advances. "And as she would not lay with him, he shot her, with an arrow through the breast."

He touches his own chest where the barb ripped through Kreyu's flesh.

"I am a healer, by nature. I lay hands, give my own Light...Kreyu likens it to your Karma, my energy...it is how I work to heal" he explains. "Her wound was dire...mortally so. I fought to heal her, but she continued to slip deeper."

Skellig's voice is quiet, and it is clear he is simply repeating the facts as they occurred, trying to avoid growing too upset by replaying the images in his mind of her pale face staring up at him, her desperate grasps at his arm as she struggled not to drown.

"She offered me one of her items of Karma to aid my Light," he says. "I...I took her blood within my own lungs. That gave me enough time to heal her wounds."

Lifting the mug to his lips, he drinks to wash away the taste of iron and salt, the memory of her blood on his tongue and in his lungs causing him to shudder.

"Over my lifetime...lifetimes...I have walked many to meet Death. But I would not allow Them to take her on that day. I was able to heal her before my grip on her was lost, before this connection with her world was broken."

[brave_kreyu]

"She would have returned in time, even if you had lost your grip," he reassures Skellig. "But I am glad that you did not, for the wait for her return is always painful for us." He ponders what he's been told a moment. "There is power in blood, power in what is given and what is taken. The bond might have sparked there, true enough, but I do not believe it would have been enough on it's own."

"The villager, what became of him?" The question is asked too casually, too easily, to be entirely innocent.

[27_53]

"After I was satisfied that my work to heal her wounds was complete, I left her in the care of a trusted elder - it was in her home which I did the healing - and went to find him. It was not difficult; he was cocksure, and left himself vulnerable."

Skellig pauses, looks straight at Elihu.

"After I was certain he was well-aware of his mistakes, I ended him with my bare hands, and left him to meet Death alone. Then fed his body to the crocodiles."

A brief pause, and he smirks slightly. "So his existence was not a complete waste."

[brave_kreyu]

Elihu's expression is satisfied at the description of events, and he smirks slightly when Skellig does. "At least he was of some use, at the end. A man who tries to kill ANY woman for rejecting his advances deserves no better." His victim being Kreyu only compounds the severity of his crime, in Elihu's mind.

[27_53]

"That is a point which you and I can agree on," he says. "I realize fully that she is a far stronger mage than I, and her other abilities lend themselves in her favor...she could easily take care of herself, against most. But regardless, I have sworn to your sister that so long as I am able to aid her in defense, I would seek to keep harm from coming to her. It is just what is right."

He might be a bit 'old-fashioned' in that regard, but it is what it is.

[brave_kreyu]

Elihu nods. "One protects those one cares for." He smiles. "I see no reason why sexual congress should change that foundational truth."

He sips his beer.

Yes, Skellig. He DOES know you've been banging his little sister.

[27_53]

Ah, yes. That detail. He was wondering if and/or when that subject might join their conversation...

(To his credit, Skellig only slightly chokes on his sip of beer at Elihu's words.)

After clearing his throat, he shakes his head. "It does not. If anything, I would say it actually strengthens my respect for her, and deepens my desires to protect her from harm. For not only has she given me friendship and partnership, but she has offered to me some of the most vulnerable and sacred parts of her being, and I do not take that at all lightly."

[brave_kreyu]

"It is good that you do not," Elihu replies. "For all my sister is uncomfortable with worship, we are as close to gods as any a mortal is likely to meet." The words are stated simply, as fact, a truth of the world.

A young woman brings them another pitcher of beer.

"Which makes it all the more curious that your souls have bonded so. Has anything else....odd happened between the two of you?"

He smiles reassuringly. "You need not fear for my sensibilities. I have seen most things humans can get up to with one another at some point, sexual and otherwise."

[27_53]

"It is...not quite your sensibilities I fear," Skellig says, his tone wry. "Moreso it is the look on her face I will have to contend with once she realizes that you and I have had this discussion. And some of it I feel should remain private, between her and I."

He sobers slightly at Elihu's original question, and nods.

"After her injury, as she was still quite weak, she needed to hunt." The emphasis on the word 'hunt' will be enough for her brother to understand. "We sought refuge on an island for a few days. Once she had recovered enough to shift back into her form she wears here...she had other desires which needed to be fulfilled."

Skellig will leave those for Elihu to understand on his own, even with the disclaimer.

"During one of our sessions, she and I..." He pauses, considering just how best to explain this. "My true form..." he motions at his 'wings' in the empty air behind his shoulders, even though they are not visible (nor will he reveal them in this space) the hint may be enough. "Is that which is part owl. I have kept my wings well-protected from all, and during one of our sessions...she put her hands into my feathers, and it was as if..."

He looks away at a point on the table, because this is a mystery that still he cannot describe fully in words that make sense.

"It was as if I was no longer lost," he settles on. "I gave myself fully to her, held nothing back, for she is my mate and I am hers. And from that moment forth everything has been...clearer. I said her name and it just...made sense. Her Karma and my Light were joined, our energy. I had not felt that way since I was given my name."

There is much power in a name.

[brave_kreyu]

Elihu nods in understanding at his explanation of Kreyu's response being the issue.

He hums thoughtfully. "There are tribes of Winged Folk on this side of the sea. They look like humans with large feathered wings." Could Skellig be somehow related to them?

Elihu's expression is solemn when Skellig finishes his explanation. "There are echoes in your recounting that are familiar to me. Some dragons find themselves drawn to each other again and again, life and after life. Over time, their souls become entangled. The feelings you describe of not being lost, of things being clearer, they were far slower, more subtle, a process of centuries, but I felt them all the same when I was becoming broodbrother to Kreyu."

Elihu sighs. "And that makes me fear for both of you, for such a bond will draw you together whether either of you would have it so or not." He takes a drink. "I have seen sweet love turn to the bitterest of poisons, seen it curdle into hatred. I do not even know if a soul such as yours was ever meant to bear such a thing."

"Revenin and I HATED each other at first, killed each other repeatedly, and it changed nothing."

[27_53]

Skellig listens with interest to Elihu as he speaks of his past with both Kreyu and Revenin (and also files away in his mind the mention of the tribes of Winged Folk, for that is something he will definitely want to ask about later) and drinks his beer slowly, contemplating the words and the concern behind them.

"I appreciate your honesty," he says. "It is a legitimate concern of mine, some of the things you have mentioned."

(What if she was to tire of him, wish to cast him out and shove him away for something fresh? Someone more powerful, another dragon or a stronger mage? What if she discovered a better way to satisfy her needs and wants, to feed her desires?)

"That night, when my soul bonded with hers on the beach, it was as if each star in the sky overhead seared itself directly onto my soul. A brand, marking a constellation by which I would never be lost again. And even if at some point our paths may diverge..." Skellig shakes his head. "I know with my whole heart that what I want now is this. Regardless of the chances of any risks in the future, or if my soul is meant to bear this...I want her at my side. And I am willing to do whatever it may take to make it work, for as long as the Fates would allow it."

A pause. His conviction is strong, his resolution unwavering.

"And then I would argue with Them, if they try to take my wife from me."

[brave_kreyu]

Elihu tilts his head, considering. "I truly believe you would. Trust my little sister to dive head first into marriage without bothering to tell me about it AND manage to find someone who might be able to handle being married to her." He smiles. "You'll likely need every ounce of that conviction and resolution at one point or another."

He sighs. Takes several glugs of beer. "I'm going to need to break the news to Revenin somewhere that needs a good forest fire." He grimaces, drinks more beer. "Maybe SEVERAL places that need a good forest fire."

[27_53]

Skellig is going to take that as a vote of confidence from Elihu, and it is one he is grateful for!

"I am certain that I have not yet seen her at her most stubborn," he adds. "But I have seen her in a fight, and I suspect you are correct, in regards to my conviction and resolution. She is...not one to back down."

From anything.

Finishing off this beer, he nods and reaches for the pitcher, to refill for them both.

"There were several reason she wished to tell you first," he adds. "She cares greatly for you both, but she was...concerned, about your brother's possible reaction." Not only to the news, but concerned for what Revenin might choose to do to him.

[brave_kreyu]

"No, she is not," Elihu agrees, chuckling.

"She is right to be concerned," Elihu tells him. "If this had been sprung on him without warning, with his temper and how protective he is of her, he would have killed you when you stated you did not remember where you were from, if not earlier." There's dark humor in his tone. "His fire burns hot enough that it would have been quick, but it's still death by fire."

He takes a few more sips. "That you are having sex with her, THAT won't be the major problem once he's passed the initial shock of it."

[27_53]

"Death by fire is not on my list of preferred methods," he replies bluntly, though there is a hint of humor in his tone. "Regardless of the speed at which it occurs."

Feathers burn quickly, but the flesh beneath them...not so much.

"And I am...glad, of that. The sex not being a problem," Skellig adds, clarifying. "Though I would ask, as I am sure at some point after he has been told, I would meet him eventually...would you have any tips, for how to best prepare?"

[brave_kreyu]

"Have your wings where he can see them," Elihu says after a moment of thought. "My brother is old enough to remember a time before there were such creatures as humans and is prone, when angry, to think of them as little more than animals."

"Her being your wife will be the sticking point, for him. He would never accept a human as worthy of being the equal of ANY of our kind, even such a vile creature as Heka. I do not know if he is capable of accepting someone as an equal who is not our kind but not human either."

[27_53]

"Having been the only one of my kind...I am used to scorn," Skellig says. "It does not make it any less painful, but for Kreyu, I would bear it from him if it would be required. And I will make note, of having my wings visible."

He would try desperately to convince her brother that he was worthy of being called her husband, that he was worthy of acceptance...

At the mention of Heka, his mood shifts, and he lifts his eyes from his beer back to Elihu.

"On the way to Amikaya, we traveled to the Lost City," he says. "With the news of Heka's death, Kreyu wished to...visit, see what we might find among his hoard."

[brave_kreyu]

"It is my hope that the scorn will pass, in time. He can be reasonable...eventually."

"Hah!" Elihu's grin is fierce, predatory. "I hope the two of you robbed him blind. Did you find anything of interest?"