Anger of the Sea

[Goldie]

Strike.......

Strike.....

Wow....Zarak wasn't sure he had ever seen someone not be able to light a fire with at least the first two strikes of the flint!  It was common knowledge aboard any ship that if you couldn't get fire into your lantern or into your fireplace in your room, there was a good chance you would get sick and die before even getting halfway to your destination!  Or in Zarak's case, to the next cargo ship or some other fancy shmancy boat that looked promising.  Every once in a while they'd stop to deposite their jewels and such, but that was rare....or to fix there ship...that was more common.

But...wait...had he just asked what a pirate was?

The older man could do nothing but stare after that question...completely floored.  Was it possible that he had landed somewhere that pirates were completely unknown?  That...maybe it was...hidden from the world or something?  So that no plunderers could find it?  Or...maybe there were just really good soldiers parading the outskirts, stopping every pirate ship that tries to land.....

Oh man...oh man oh man!  If that was the case then there was no hope for him!  The partrol would be bound to have drawings, pictures, of pirates to look out for and Zarak was sure that his face would probably be gracing at least one of them!  After all, he had been caught before and the nice "P" brand on his wrist was enough to prove to anyone who he really was!

Shit...shit.....this wasn't good...he needed to do something...do...

Wait..he had to be overreacting....had to be!  This kid didn't even know what a pirate was, so maybe everyone didn't know....so there wouldn't be any patrols...nothing....

Breathe...he just needed to breathe.  There was nothing to get worked up about yet.  Besides, he was here on the beach, in a cave for goodness sakes!  No one would come looking, and if they were found it wouldn't be by some boarder patrol...just some random wanderers....

yeah...that was it....wanderers....meanderers....

"Um...Pirates?"  He repeated, then kicked himself for allowing his words to seem so guilt ridden, "Um...ya know...they're seafarin' men....usu'lly men....though ye do see som' 'omen...." crap, he was going at this really badly....really really badly.  Why don't you just throw yourself into the fire now?  It'll save yourself the agony later...."They're...no' much liked." he finished lamely.  If Kiyan asked questions he'd answer then....

[Rhindeer]

Another strike. Then another. Argh...come on, just light all ready! Ah! A spark! Crap...didn't catch. Maybe it was the flint. He couldn't be this inept, it was the flint...yeah...the flint...it was low quality, too...must be...

Zarak's discomfort went unnoticed as Kiyan grappled with getting a fire started, chewing on the small ring piercing his bottom lip in his concentration. Just a sucky old flint. That was all. Ugh...hopefully Zarak wasn't so quiet because he was watching his sloppy progress. He was older than he, after all, and seemed a lot more experienced in so many things. This probably looked so pathetic! Hell, he felt pathetic! This was so embarrassing...

Then Zarak spoke again...and his voice sounded...odd. Maybe nervous? Though, as he described these "pirates", Kiyan couldn't see what he would be nervous about. Sea-farers, weren't much liked. What was so bad about that? And why weren't they liked? Kiyan looked up, raised an eyebrow slightly. Outcasts, maybe? Though, he still didn't understand. It seemed a kind of awkward subject for Zarak, though he hadn't given away much at all by his short, vague description.

"Ah...what's wrong with them?" he asked, blinking green eyes slowly, quite confused by now and the flint for now forgotten. After all, Zarak hadn't given him much to go off of, and his tone was such that he wasn't so sure if he should be asking anymore questions. But, Zarak had also sked him first, and seemed to have thought he knew what they were, so now that he didn't...well, it seemed safe to ask. "I mean...why aren't they liked?"  

Wait a minute...sea-faring folks...not much liked...

Ah!

"Ohhh, wait...did...were they the ones that attacked your ship?" he asked carefully, once again biting his lip, hoping he wasn't prying. But he could put two and two together, and if that was the case, it would only make sense that Zarak was curious about such people, and that it would be an uncomfortable subject.

[Goldie]

Zarak realized after another few moments of silence that he had been breaking up more of the palms eventhough Kyan had told him there were enough.  Setting aside the others, he had to think about not twidling his thumbs, aware even more at the moment of that scar on his wrist that was a becon everywhere of what he had done.

In no way was he being a coward by fearing discovery!  The last time he had been "captured" he had sat in a cell some hundred feet below ground for nearly two weeks.  When they had remembered him, they would bring a stale piece of bread and water that was barely drinkable, filled with contaminents that would make most prisoners sick within a day and then their cells were filled with vomet as well as with urine and sweat, dirt and rats.  When questioned about the whereabouts of his companions it had been with a leather whip that would smack across your back if you refused to answer or whatever you did tell wasn't up to their standards.  And of course "I don't know" didn't cut it.

Luckily for Zarak he had always been good at making up stories and had learned from some mage somewhere how to hide a lie even from a truth spell.  Given, it didn't always work, but he had been extremely lucky this time that the mage present at the interogation had been new and not yet strong in his truth spells.  Since he had "sung like a canary" they had let him off with a warning that should he ever be caught aboard a pirate ship again, his punishment would not be so easy, and down came the hot iron.

"My ship?"  he was pulled out of his memories again, feeling more stupid by the minute for zoning in and out.  God, he should have been paying more attention, "Um...yeah...a group o'pirates.  People don' like 'em much 'cus they attack ships an' stuff....norm'lly t'steal th'cargo.  Bu' not all pirates are bad!" he added a little too quickly.  This was getting rediculous...he needed to breathe and just act normal.  It was obvious that Kiyan didn't know anything so he didn't need to be afraid of being turned in, and he was better than this!  Why was he suddenly getting sweaty palms now when he had been perfectly fine lying his heart away to those prison guards?

Well...actually....he had been pretty damn nervous then...if they had realized he was lying he probably wouldn't be on this beach....or have left that facility ever again....

"Ye get th' bad pirate, th'ones on'y obsessed wit treasure an' gold, an' women....bu' ther're a good few who are jus' there 'cus they don' 'ave anywhere else t'go...."

[Rhindeer]

Now Kiyan was watching Zarak, blinking as he once again started breaking up the leaves and, once again...seemed not to have heard what he'd said. Er...maybe he really wasn't feeling as well as he was playing off? He was really acting strange now, suddenly so distractred, and it looked like he'd already forgotten what he'd said only moments ago. Maybe he really was coming down with something, or just plain exhausted...

He was about to suggest that he go back inside and lay downâ€"he could take care of the rest, and he certainly didn't want him out here helping, even a little, if it was going to hurt him!â€"but then Zarak stopped shredding the leaves and seemed to come back to himself. Kind of. But he was still acting so strange and distracted, repeating the question as if he hadn't rightly heard it before he finally answered the question about pirates. Kiyan watched him carefully throughout as he spoke now, studying him, not out of suspicion but but of concern. People sometimes babbled and acted like that when they were getting a fever, and fevers weren't good out here in the heat. He looked like he might be getting a bit hot...maybe it was the beginnings of a fever, but it could also be the sun.

Someone else among his tribe might have called Zarak's behavior shifty. Kiyan himself couldn't help but start a little as, in the middle of naming pirates as bad, he quickly added not all were. Very quickly.

But, he had also just survived a shipwreck and was also babbling, probably from tiredness or the heat.

"There's good and bad in everyone, though, right?" Kiyan offered as he shifted closer to Zarak until he could reach out and touch his brow. "Huh...well, you don't have a fever, that's good! Are you alright, though? Sun's not getting to you, is it?"

Nowhere else to go...Kiyan could relate to that. It wasn't always your fault when a trap is set and you get snared. Not everything that happened could be avoided, or was your own doing or wish, and sometimes, things could just kind of...spiral downhill. Like him! Heh, he'd broken like...a lot of laws now. First the deal with Marichaâ€"not his fault!â€"then he'd run away from his sentencing, then he'd stolen stuff...yeah, things had gotten messy, and he wasn't looking forward to cleaning it up. He'd have to eventually...but he hoped it was far enough in the future that some of this could be blown over and that he could make amends some other way.

He shifted a bit, suddenly awkward. "I think I know what you mean...um, about them not having anywhere else to go. That's understandable...I should feel sorry for them..." Sure, attacking ships and stealing cargo, they committed bigger crimes than he, but maybe they'd started out like him? A few small mistakes, and then it had gradually grown and grown until they didn't know what else to do but just keep running. That thought made him cringe a little. He knew he didn't want to keep running...nor did he want it to escalate more than it already had.

[Goldie]

"Wha?  Fever?  Oh!  No no, I don' 'ave a fever!" he replied, slightly shocked before he realized that his shift behavior had come off as feverish.  "An' th' sun's nice..."  Oh man...well, at least he hadn't been called out.  If Kiyan had given him even the slightest of weird stares that clearly said, 'you're acting very shifty', Zarak would have spilled his heart out.  He hadn't realized until now how much of a burden it was to keep who you are a secret.  But then...he had never had to hide himself before now....

Hmm...he supposed that he should feel sorry for those who were roped into the pirate life, but that would require him to pity himself and that was no where in his make-up.  He took life with a grain of salt and pity was one luxiory he couldn't afford, even with all of his stashed gold.  But now even that was probably gone forever, sunk to the bottom of the ocean, or on an island miles and miles away in what seemed like a completely different world then the one he had landed on.  For all he knew this was a completely different world and by some higher power he had been dragged into it...

pfft...right....he hadn't believed in a higher being since the day his parents had died.  Every hope and prayer he had put into his deity had been crushed, shattered into a million pieces and he had never had enough time to pick up the pieces, so instead he swept them overboard....with the rest of his morals he supposed.  But what morals did a seven year old have?  So in a way he had forged his own thoughts and beliefs into good, even among a pirate's ship.

Maybe he hadn't done the right thing?  Perhaps he should have run away when he had the chance...but he had learned what Kiyan had just voiced, that there was good and bad in everyone, even plunderers and thieves.  Oh well, there was no use crying over what he couldn't change!  He'd been a pirate for fifteen years and that was who he was, no questions asked.

Looking up at the ocean he imagined himself back on the Sand Grave, the sun shining on his face, walking around the open deck, checking on everyone to make sure that everything was ship shape....

It was funny, but that seemed like a dream, like those long years aboard that ship had faded into just a dream that he had woken from and was desperately trying to remember the details.  Sailing came second nature to him now...but looking back, it seemed like that was a completely different life and now he was forging a new one...given the chance to start over...

If he wanted that is....and he didn't.  Zarak liked who he was and wasn't about to change it.

A small twang in the back of his mind brought his eyes to the sky, the small weather magic that flowed through his veins warning him that those white clouds on the horizon held quite a lot of rain and would be arriving in a few hours.

"Rain's comin'" he told Kiyan, still watching the sky.

[Rhindeer]

"It is? It doesn't look any different from how it's looked all day to me..." What clouds there were were light and fluffy and white, not the ominous dark clouds of an impending storm. Of course Kiyan knew from a life lived by the sea that the worst of storms brewed out of nowhere, that a perfectly clear sky could be split with lightning and roaring with thunder and rain and wind without even a moment's notice; that was a given, and he'd seen it actually happen time and time again. But to predict a storm, one usually needed a little something to go off, something more substantial that just your average white clouds drifting lazily by.

Zarak sounded confident in his prediction, though. There was no "I think" in that statement. And, sure enough, a ligt breeze began to blow, whipping out loose strands of his hair. Kiyan closed his eyes briefly to focus on just the feel of the living air, then glanced up at Zarak. The wind was coming from the sea. Zarak could very well be right, and if he was...

"How...how did you do that? I mean, know that?" Damn...maybe his people were just really intuned with the weather? Kiyan wouldn't have been able to make such a guess as that just based off the breeze. A darkening in the sky and an increase in the choppiness of the waves would have been his first clue that something was about to happen, and here this man had made a prediction even before the breeze even arrived! Some of the elders were gifted when it came to the natural world...but not like that! And the weather was so unpredictable, it was just impossible to spot any sort of pattern to it. There was none.

Er, wait...what if it was some secret among his people? "Well...you don't have to say if you don't want. Sorry...don't mean to keep prying about stuff." He might be badgering him with all his questions, and it wouldn't be the first time. He was naturally inquisitive about anything and everything that caught his fancy. If something interested him, he would ask question after question until he knew the subject inside and out if the poor soul he was interrogating had patience enough to keep talking. While he might not mind badgering someone within his own tribe that he knew, the last thing he wanted was to offend his new companion, whom he had just begun learning about. It was almost a bit painful to keep himself reined in; there were so many things he was curious about, and if he hadn't been afraid of annoying the man or bothering him if he still wasn't feeling well, he'd have long since drilled him about all the details of his travels and the people he'd seen.

"Guess we should hurry with the mussels, then," he said, suddenly remembering his flint and quickly setting himself back to work. After all, they couldn't have a fire inside, unless they wanted to be choked out by the smoke. And anyway, once night came, it was best to be inside.

Safer.

[Goldie]

"It's a...sorta talen' tha' I was born wit."  He replied, tearing his eyes from the sky.  He didn't know how well Kiyan would take to him saying that he had some weather magic and he most certainly didn't want to scare the poor guy away.  "It's no' a secre' or an'thin' an' I don' think tha' I can teach it t'an'un.  I've met sumothers wit th' same talen', bu' they're a whole lo' better then me.  I can jus' predic' what th'weather's gonna do, but there were sum on th'ships tha' could act'lly control it"  Myabe he was giving away a bit too much information, especially if Kiyan guessed it was magic and was suddenly spooked...but hell, he liked talking to the kid, it was refreshing.

Before all he would hear about were different women every night and which taverns provided the best enjoyment for the least price.  Of course that was when they were on land.  Some of his shipmates brought along some of their wenches, but they normally didn't last long under the straining circumstances of the sea, and when they did, they ran off at the next port.  They had always joked about it then, that the crewmember who brought her hadn't been good enough.  

Or the ocean...that was another topic that was always bouncing around the ship.  The ocean and the ship.  Were the ropes tied up for the sails?  Was that choppy water coming up?  The wind is picking up, be prepared to lower the sails.  Zarak?  Do you feel any strong winds a comin' this way?

He was usually the only weather mage aboard the ship so they always consulted him about docking, or starting out on a new expidition.  If a storm was on the way, they'd wait to ship off, or they'd stay out at sea and ride out the storm.  It was always better to go through a storm on the open waters then at dock, otherwise the other ships tied up would knock against yours and sink one another.  Given, it was no easy picnic in the middle of the ocean, but if they had sunk, the dock would have been close enough to swim to...with some effort.

"Yeah...." he replied to the mussel comment.  His stomach was rumbling and he couldn't wait to get hands on some of them!  Just thinking about it made his mouth water!

"Um...d'ye need an'elp wit tha'?"  he asked, trying not to be rude, but feeling slightly impatient to get the water boiling and the mussels in.  That would probably take a good half an hour to a hour, depending on how long it took for the fire to get hot enough.  The sooner it was lit, the sooner those damn mussels would get cooked!

[Rhindeer]

[teehee...I keep getting all transfixed by your icon and just staring... ^^;;;]

Talent...it took Kiyan a few seconds to decipher a few of the words Zarak had used, because his accent was so heavy and Kiyan had certainly never heard one like it. But hed gotten used to it a lot since metting him and talking to him, even if he did still get hung up on a word here and there. Heh, and heck, maybe his own way of talking was funny to Zarak, who knew!

Talent, though...man, that was some talent! When Kiyan thought of talents, he thought of things like how far someone could throw a spear at a target and how accurately it would hit, or how skilled someone was at making some trinket, or how well someone could sing or dance or play an instrument or weave or paint with dyes. Those were all talents...very physical, tangible things that took a lot of practice and skill, and that some people were better at than others. Some were just naturals at it, as if it was what they were born to do and their body knew the way even before they fully understood it. Accurately predicting the weatherâ€"or, as he said some people could do, controlling it, that was...that was...

"It's like magic...can your people do magic, Zarak? Is that what it is?" he asked, trying hard to keep his excitement toned down. After all, he might be wrong in his assumption, and he didn't really fully understand what magic was himself; he only knew what he'd been told, which was vague at that about some people having the ability to do things that no ordinary human could naturally do. Controlling the weather certainly qualified as that!

He nodded absently when Zarak asked if he needed any help and passed the flint over to him without even really realizing it. "My people can't do magic at all, you see. We used to, apparently, but something happened...I don't really know the whole story, but it was something about a sickness a long, long time ago, one that killed a whole lot of people and only made those sick that had magic. So, no one's ever had any since. That's all. I've never met anyone before that had any, though Maricha once saidâ€"" He stopped short, gave a grimace. "Ah, never mind. That's really neat, though! It must make things easier, I imagine. Is it really rare where you come from? Or can a lot of people do it? Andâ€""

He realized he was talking a lot and quickly dammed up the flow of words when he also realized he was assuming a lot. It might not be magic at all...but it was still interesting!

And he really liked talking to the man. He was different, and didn't seem to get at all upset when he asked questions, answering each one honestly. That was just really...refreshing. Even if he was still a stranger he'd just met he already knew he liked him.

[Goldie]

The pirate couldn't help but grinning as his young friend started going off about magic, and about the slight history of his people.  It was pleasent to know that his life was at least interesting, where most people would call it a 'waste' or 'immoral'.  Not that he listened to those people, he was just glad that this guy wasn't flipping out about magic.  It was also really reassuring.  Zarak couldn't count how many times they'd docked somewhere and been chased away because of their magic.

Fun times.....

"Yeah, magic." he replied with a sheepish grin as he took the flint and started right away with the fire, conjuring up a spark in the matter of two swift strokes and on the third one the spark caught on the kindling that Kiyan had put in the makeshift fire pit.  Leaning down he blew expertly on the small flame and started slowly adding the smaller sticks and palms

"I didn' want t'say anythin' at first 'cus o'a lot o'people I've met.  Not all o'em are so keen t'ear 'bout magic.  Wouldn' wan' ye t'attack me wit yer clay jars or nothin'." he added with a grin, looking up when he was sure the fire wouldn't go out with a few gusts of wind.  Now all it needed was to have sticks and larger branches added to the flames.

"A lot o'my people 'ave magic." he added in response to one of the many questions thrown at him.  Well this would certainly keep him occupied for a good while, conjuring up answers to these questions that would make even the slightest bit of sense. "Most o'us on'y 'ave simple magic...like predictin' th'weather...or knowin' when there's a good fishin' day....pract'cle stuff and very small at tha'.  I've heard tha' some people act'lly 'ave power t'create fire an' things like tha'....or shoot power from their 'ands....bet tha' comes in 'andy when ye find yerself in a bit o'a tiff...."

He added a few more larger pieces of wood to the now beautiful looking fire and leaned back on his hands, letting the sea air whip across his face.  If he let his mind wander, he could almost imagine himself back on his ship....

"But none of yer tribe 'ave magic?" he asked, cracking his eyes opened with curiosity, "Tha' musta been some sickness...t'kill off all th'magic users.....d'ya think tha'...'cus I 'ave magic...tha' I migh' get it?"  That would be just his luck too...to show up completely stranded on this beach, island...thing...whatever it was...he wasn't even sure it was an island, and then get sick and die just because he had magic, "It sounds almos' like some'un purpos'lly killed th'magic in yer tribe..."  Of course it was just an observation, but as far as he knew, sicknesses spread the same between the magically gifted and normal humans...unless you had healing or something....but to have an illness just focus on magic...it seemed fishy...

no pun inteaded.

[Rhindeer]

It as an effort not to blush when, after two strikes, the man already conjured up a spark. And then, on the third...it caught. Oh...jeez...um...well...he...he had just got it warmed up for him! Yeah, that was it...he'd gotten it warned up for him. That didn't make sense even as Kiyan thought it, but it did make him feel a little better. Nonsensical as it was, it was a lot better than thinking he totally sucked! And it was a lot better when he was trying to start a fire without someone watching, because then he didn't have to watch his tongue. For some reason, muttering obsenities while going about the business always seemed to make it work faster.

He wondered what the trick was...

But he didn't have to focus on the embarassment very long, because soon his focus was back on magic and this man that possessed it.

"Heh, yeah...I could cause a lot of damage with those pots, you know!" he grinned, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as he remembered how cautious he'd been when he first approached Zarak. Oh man...if Zarak really had been dangerous, he certainly would have been kidding himself to think he could have been a match, now that he thought about it. He probably did seem kind of pitiful with only a small dagger and a bunch of jars.

And not being able to properly use a flint...

"Hey, about that magic...why wouldn't people like it? Or be scared of it?" he asked, setting himself to helping Zarak feed the growing fire. At least he could do that much; maybe he wasn't good at starting it, but he could keep the fire alive! "I mean...it's useful. Man, if we could use magic to predict the weather...or even control it...that would be great. I mean, if you can predict it, you can avoid a storâ€"ah...well...I mean, if you're not too far out at sea!" he added quickly, suddenly remembering how Zarak had gotten here to begin with and mentally slapping himself. "Erm...well...maybe not too much..but if you coud control it, you certainly could, right? What's bad about that? And making a fire with just your hands or...or...however you would make a fire with magic...just thinking of the fire and it would appear..." He blinked, unsure, really of how that would work. But, then, he knew nothing about how magic worked. "Heh...then I wouldn't have to worry about stupid flints..."

He muttered that last bit, shoving another dried strip of palm frawn into the growing fire. Man, he couldn't see why anyone in their right mind would think magic horrid. If they could change the weather, people wouldn't die so much out at sea. Right now, in the warm months, people didn't have to go out fishing, because so many sea creatures basked in the shallows, seasonal creatures taking advantage of the warm waters. But as the days grew shorter and colder, they were forced to go out with their nets, out onto the open water far from shore...and that was when it got dangerous...

If they could predict things like that or control it, his da would be alive today.

Not that he'd cried any tears over him...Kiyan couldn't remember him, because he'd been so young when the sea had swallowed him. But it would have been nice, still, to have known him.

And then it was Kiyan's turn to try and come up with a plausible answer to one of Zarak's own questions.

"Ah...the sickness? Um..." He hadn't thought about that. After all, nobody had magic here, nor had they had it for centuries, so...he couldn't say if it still even existed! He didn't know...all he knew was that it had killed only people with magic. "I...don't think so? I mean, we haven't had magic here for...for ages. I don't know if it even exists anymore. I don't think it does...it probably died out?" Not very convincing. And that thought was suddenly very disturbing. He'd never thought about it in the slightest until now...he'd never had a reason to, after all! It was simply history, an unfortunate part of his peoples' history that explained why they no longer had magic when older records claimed it had once been an ordinay part of their lives. And he'd never met anyone with magic before, either, so he'd never even had a reason to talk about it or explain the reason for his own lack of it. Not until now.

"...It was a long time ago," he finally said, offering a smile. Oh man, he didn't want to scare Zarak! Especially if it wasn't something to worry about. "And...and it might have just affected us! I don't think it would be alive today, because, well...a predator can't survive if it doesn't have prey, right? If it doesn't get prey for hundreds of years, all its kind die off." Whew. That made sense to him!

Glancing over at the jar of mussels, then at the fire, he frowned a little. When they normally boiled stuff, they had a special pot that could be hung over the fire, and he certainly didn't have the right tools here. Erm...guess he just had to do the next best thing? Looking over at Zarak, he lifted the jar and, slowly, began to just ease it right into the fire, carefully so as not to burn himself and slowly so that Zarak could stop him if he was doing something stupid! He hoped he wasn't...

"It is weird, but...but I don't know why anyone would do that...or who...or how...we don't have any enemies. I don't think."

[Goldie]

Zarak didn't take any offense when the conversation about weather predition and control turned to the sea.  He knew the benefits, but he hated not being able to do anything about them.  Even with his powers, this storm had been hard to predict, like it had been hidden, or was so spontaneous that not even the best of weather mages could have predicted it...

Or...what if someone...somewhere had changed the weather?  He had heard stories that weather mages couldn't destroy a storm, but could only displace it, move it away from where they were in order to stay clear of it and by sending it away....the storm had landed right on top of them.

Damn!  No wonder he hadn't been able to predict it!  It had basically been created...summoned...by magic!  He was no mage, he couldn't tell if there was any magic laced in the rain, but thinking about it now...it all made perfect sense....

"Most o'th'time ye can predic' storms." he replied as he noticed Kiyan's sudden relucance to mention it, probably because he was afraid Zarak was scarred by the shipwreck and abandonment on some barren beach..."On'y, this time, I think tha' th' storm was made by magic...I can't control weather, but I've 'eard tha' when ye change it, ye just flip flop it wit sum other weather sumwhere else."  He wasn't sure if he had done a good job explaining it, or even if it made sense to someone who had never encountered magic before....

But he was sure that if he was unclear, Kiyan would probably ask about it.  It was nice, to be able to talk to someone who was actually interested in what you know...

"A lot o'people don' like magic 'cus they think it's evil.  They don' understan' it, so they fear it.  An' then there are others hoo don' like it 'cus of their 'istory.  Like...if in th'past a horde o'mages came an' attacked th'village, they'd see magic as sum kinda...evil trick tha' on'y 'urts an' destroys."  He leaned back on his hands with a sigh, watching the fire flicker away merrily as the wind fed it with a constant supply of oxygen, "Th' people 'hoo hate magic norm'lly don' see tha' ye can 'ave good an' bad people wit magic.  'ell...ye can 'ave good an' bad people wit swords and rapiers, or bows an' arrows.  I think it's just ignorance fer those 'hoo don' like magic 'cus o' th' bad people 'hoo use it."

He listened intently to the story of Kiyan's history.  It always intrigued him how certain people became who they were, or how a place evolved from the past generations.  It was strange though...to think that these people use to have magic but then they just suddenly died?  Every single one of the mages, or would be mages, in one area just...got sick and died....it still seemed strange and he wanted to learn more about it.

"D'ye think tha' yer tribe elders....erm...or leaders or whatev'r ye got would know an'more 'bout th' sickness?" he asked, watching his new young friend through the flames, "I think it'd be interestin' t'see wha; they say..."

Or what they're hiding... he thought to himself.

[Rhindeer]

As the water heatedâ€"Zarak hadn't stopped him, so he must have done it right; now all that was left was to hope the jar didn't splitâ€"Kiyan listened intently as Zarak spoke, absorbing it all with interest. Everything was new, and...he just really liked this man's openness. He'd just met him, but he hadn't once taken offense at anything, didn't even seem annoyed, and was answering questions with a sincerity and earnestness that no one else he knew of had. Well, unless it was something that interested them, but no one seemed to want to talk about stuff that happened outside their tribe. And even though other tribes might trade with foreigners, they weren't much better.

But Kiyan's mind wasn't on all that.

You couldn't really control weather...you just exchanged it with a different weather pattern from somewhere else? He didn't understand how exactly it worked, but he understood the idea well enough, and...yikes...that did sound kind of dangerous, not something Kiyan would want to mess with if he had the ability! And Zarak was living proof of its danger; someone exchanged weather with where he'd been off the coast here somewhere, and he'd gotten the nasty storm that shipwrecked him! And probably swallowed up all the other people with him...nothing else had washed up yet that Kiyan could see, and he was a bit glad. If they were alive, that would be different, but most bodies that washed up, if they ever did, were dead and...and deaths by drowning were not pretty. Man...if stuff like that was the consequence for controlling the weather, it wasn't worth it. Well, unless you could do it without sending bad weather on some other unsuspecting person accidentally, but...

"Erk...yeah...I guess the whole controlling weather thing isn't too good of an idea, huh? It'd be nice to predict it good, but I don't know if I could ever live with the idea of even accidentally getting some poor fishermen swallowed up just so I could have sunshine," he said with a small shiver. "But I guess people don't really think..." Or maybe they just didn't care? If they couldn't see the bodies, if it was out of sight and out of mind, how could they? Kiyan could, but...that was just the kind of person he was. "But then, if it could also save lives...if switching out the weather could save your boat and all the people on it when the weather would otherwise drag it under...but you still don't know who'd be getting the bad weather you exchanged for the good..." He gave a grimace. Ugh...that was confusing...he could see both sides, but they all had benefits and consequences.

"But, yeah, still, even if some people use it foolishly...it's kind of silly to call it bad and get mad at everyone that has it. I mean, I could use a knife to kill someone, but I could also use it to carve a toy for a kid. Not the knife's fault, it's just a tool. And, uh...I wouldn't kill someone in the first place..." Well, that was a given. He didn't even know why he had to throw that in there, but, eh, he just had to make sure the man knew that, he guessed. Still, he did find it funny to label something as purely good or purely bad. Anything could be used for either. At least, that's what he'd always been taught. Maybe someone just had to show the people that believed magic to be all bad the good in it? Easier said than done, of course...especially if they hadn't been taught to see the duality of all things.

"Sounds like there's a lot of battles where you come from. Erm, well, not where you come from, but...in general?" He had to keep reminding himself that Zarak didn't come from a single place! Ack, that was confusing. "We haven't had any here for a long time. I don't even know why we had any to begin with. They don't make much sense to me."

And then came another question that took Kiyan by surprise.

"Um..." He shifted a little and fixed his skirt so he could sit cross-legged, and absently fed another leaf to the fire to give his hands something to do. Erk. He really, really hoped this wasn't going to lead to a question Kiyan would not be looking forward to answering: if they could visit his tribe. Really, really hoped...agh! He shouldn't have talked so much! But...it probably would have come up eventually...maybe... "Well...maybe...I don't know...they're not too good at answering questions...they get annoyed, say I'm too young. Uh...we have leaders and a shaman that helps advise and does other stuff, too...and her apprentice and stuff...ah, water's finally boiling!" he added suddenly, and immediately wanted to kick himself.

Hoo boy. That didn't sound nervous at all, nope.

[Goldie]

The older man couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Kiyan's sudden discomfort and the blatant change of subject.  It was almost amusing to think that he was just as bad at lying as himself!  But of course, it seemed like he had just taken it as feverish ramblings and Zarak had been saved akward questions....

Perhaps he wasn't the only one with secrets, but of course he wasn't going to call the bluff he felt was present, he would simply go along with it.  After all, if you keep pounding questions about a specific area that seemed a bit...sketchy....they'd eventually break, or hit a wall that they can't come down and then the secrets are revealed.

But...

Was that something that Zarak wanted to do? Make the poor boy uncomfortable just to find what he was hiding?  Wasn't that a bit...mean?

Pfft, right.  He was a pirate and this boys secret was his new gold.

Well...sorta...he supposed that if he did manage to get the truth, he'd have to give up his own secret and let the boy know that he was housing a pirate, even if he wasn't exactly keen on what they were.  It just made his resolve to get answers even stronger.  If he didn't know what he was, then he'd have no reason to be afraid of being killed or something along those lines.

"No questions, eh?" he replied, leaning foreward to look at the water that had begun to boil.  The mussels would be terrific!  He could basically taste them...."Them sure look good." he replied tearing his eyes away after a few moments of silent thought and turned his attention back to his friend.

Time for objective discomfort to progress.

"Well, even if I can' ask 'em any questions....I'll still need t'get sum supplies and stuff, an' ye too!  I can' believe ye've been livin' 'ere witout even a good pot!"

Now to see how he responded.  Maybe there wasn't anything to find, maybe he didn't like the elders or whatnot, or maybe they just weren't people to talk to.  Hmm..well this question would certainly answer his questions well enough....

[Rhindeer]

Oh crap.

For a few seconds, all Kiyan could do was stare and try with all his might not to cringe. The man did worse than ask to see the othersâ€"he used irrefutable logic! He didn't have much here, and it was true, he had been planning to sneak back soon. Agh! Stupid, Kiyan! Stupid! But, then, what did he expect? Even if he hadn't blabbed so much about his tribe, Zarak was bound to ask, right? He'd want to know if he was alone here, he'd want to get supplies, even find a way to go home. But, then, it might not have been so soon if he hadn't blabbed about magic and why they didn't have it; he'd probably spooked him, now! But...but it had been bound to come up. He just had hoped it wouldn't come up so soon, that he would have had a believeable excuse or explaination worked out beforehand, one that could make it possible for him to somehow help Zarak with whatever he needed without exposing himself.

How? Well...he hadn't gotten that far. But it had sounded good at the time!

"Uh..." Aw man, he'd never been good at lying! He'd never liked to, either! Especially since it always seemed he got caught. And especially since this wasn't really something he could even see a way of working around in a way that would make sense and not make him sound guilty! He did need supplies. What would prevent him from going to his own tribe and getting some, and why was he even out here to begin with?

He bit his lip, hoping his expression wasn't as pained as he felt. "Um...well...you see..." Think!

Ah! Idea!

"I...I'm kind of on...a...a vision quest!" he said finally, and let out a deep breath. "You see, I'm...I'm supposed to be out here on my own for a week or so, can't have contact with the others for that long, and...I'm supposed to meditate out here, wait for a vision from my spirit guide, and fast." GYAH! Crap! Did he just say "fast"? No! Stupid, stupid! Hopefully the guy didn't know what that meant, he was hungry! Well, he could just say fasting didn't include fish... "It's a traditional sort of thing, for when you reach a certain age. Um...I shouldn't even be talking to anyone right now, but...I already know my guide, and it's just tradition to go the full span." Okay, he just needed to shut up now. Some deity was going to beat him for this, he just knew it. The age was twenty-one, and he was barely seventeen. And it was only seven days, not "a week or so". And it wasn't something you went about unsupervised! The shaman came with you!

Aw, damn...already he felt awful about saying all that...he hated lying! Ugh...what possessed him to say all that?!

[Goldie]

"Wha?" Zarak replied, completely caught off guard with the answer that was thrown out there.  At first he had thought that he had caught him in his bluff...that his gut feeling that there was more to Kiyan's stuttering than the kid let on...

But what he said was completely plausible.  The pirate had heard of such rituals from the many different lands he had traveled to and each time he had continuously thought it was all a joke.  But that didn't matter.  Lots of tribes went through this trip to manhood...like a rite of passage or something.  So...perhaps...perhaps there really was a reason he was out here, by himself, with next to no supplies...and....

Waaaaaait a minute!

"Fast?"  Zarak raised his eyebrow, leaning back on his hands so he could look down his nose, a look that he had found gave the new cabin boys the shivers because they had apparently received the look a lot from their parents.  And it also seemed to make him look like he could see directly through them.  That was probably the reason....he sincerely hoped it wasn't just because he suddenly reminded them of their mom...that would be...weird...

"Ain't ye eatin' mussles?  Or did ye just 'appen t'collect 'em 'cus yer animal spiri' told ye I was gonna wash up on th'shore?"  Then he decided that the interogation needed to take a different turn.  He didn't want to weasle the truth from the poor kid, he wanted the truth to be told to him instead of stolen.  He respected peoples' personal privacy, but he still wanted to know what the hell was going on.

"Aie..per'aps I should just leave ye t'yer meditatin'" he changed his tactics with a sigh and started to rise to his feet, brushing the sand from the blanket that was wrapped tightly around his waist, "I don' wanna be th'un t'break yer tribal traditions"  strange as they may be "An' I certan'ly don' wanna keep ye from yer fastin'."  He walked over to his clothes, ignoring the rumble that echoed in his stomach.  He was hungry, but was sure that if this kid could find that many mussles, he'd certianly have no problems.

Ah....but he didn't have anything to boil them in either....well that made things a bit more difficult.  Maybe they weren't that bad raw?  He'd seen some cultures eat raw fish...but...maybe mussles were the same?  Some delicacy somewhere in the world.

He picked up the pants and was slightly annoyed to find they were still damp and would probably cling in all the wrong spots....not to mention his underwear was covered in sand...

That could NOT be comfortable....

Damn, he hoped that the kid would come and stop him...he didn't want to be walking around with sand scratching his ass.

[Rhindeer]

Kiyan knew that look all too well.

It was the sort of look his oldest brother used to give him when he knew something he wasn't supposed to know.

...Like that Kiyan was hiding something. And then he'd usually go and try to get Kiyan to tangle himself in his own lie, rather than smack it out of him like his mother usually did, which he prefered much more than making himself look like an idiot!

Kiyan swallowed, and quickly averted his eyes to the boiling water, leaning over the jar a little and acting like he was checking it to see if the mussels had opened yet. Oh man, oh man...what possessed him to even start saying all that stuff?! Well, he had to think of somethingâ€"he didn't wanna go back to his tribe, and he didn't want his new companion to freak or think less of him or anything, because he really liked him, but...agh! Hadn't he screwed all that up by lying? Lying wasn't exactly a good way to start out a friendship. But...but what else would he have done? Oh man. Maybe it wasn't the same kind of look. Maybe it wasn't intentional. Maybeâ€"

The next question made Kiyan flinch. He knew that tone of voice all too well. Zarak knew...

"Fish...it...we...we're only not supposed to eat the unclean animals...like...like land ones...and stuff..." he said with a weak smile, wincing at the sudden meek note his voice had taken. And there he went again, keeping up the lie! Agh...he was stuck, now...he'd really screwed things up...oh man...Zarak knew about fasting...he'd travelled a lot, hell, he probably knew all about the tradition if it happened anywhere else! He knew...he probably knew. But...but...if he admitted wrong, then he'd have to tell the truth, and...and...

And then Zarak got up, said he would be on his way, and got his stuff.

Kiyan started with a small gasp, but then he quickly stopped himself. He could just let him go. He really liked him, but he still didn't know him that well, and...and he'd be fine on his own! Right? Maybe not...there...there was stuff out there...land animals that could be pretty dangerous...and then he might get lost...and he'd leave thinking he was a horrible person or something probably! And even if Zarak didn't know the truth and really thought he was out here fasting for real, and just wanted to be respectful, and if he got lost...Kiyan couldn't live with that idea! Any of them! Of putting someone in danger just because he was being stupid! And...and he'd been dishonest to him...and Zarak was nice...and...and...

His moral deliberation lasted all of a few seconds.

"Wait!" He was on his feet in a second and racing toward Zarak, quickly skirting around to stand in front of him. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I...I'm not really out here fasting, I'm too young, and I can't go back to my tribe, not now and...I'm sorry and...and...okay. You...you gotta promise not to tell anyone or anything, alright? Please? I...I swear I'm not a bad person or anything, it was all an accident!" he let out in a breathless, urgent rush, as though he was afraid that if he didn't speak it all quick enough he just wouldn't say it, all the while looking up at Zarak imploringly, almost torturedly, and nibbling his bottom lip nervously. Somehow, he kept his hands still at his sides though he really wanted to fidget. Ugh, he didn't even know who Zarak could possibly tell, but you never knew! And mostly, he was just afraid of what Zarak himself would say...

Oh jeez...he probably just incriminated himself right then and there. But it was his guily conscious speaking, and he never had been able to hold out long against such a feeling. Keeping a secret was hard when there were others around, especially someone he'd come to like and respect...and lying? Well, it was always only so long before that feeling of guilt and awfulness broke him and he was begging forgiveness and spilling his heart out.

He'd really created one heck of a tangled mess...

[Goldie]

Zarak tried his hardest to look stern, like the responsable adult he was...er...should be.  But his adultish behavior lasted only a few moments before his face lit into a large boyish grin, a small laugh escaping his lips as he shook his head and looked at the sand.

The poor boy!  He was so worried that he wouldn't be accepted after revealing his secret...and the plea that he wasn't a bad person...it was all too much!  There was nothing that this kid could possibly have done that would match anything to Zarak's past, but of course, he didn't know that, otherwise he wouldn't have worried about telling a small secret that got him kicked out of his tribe!

"Don' ye worry yerself." he replied, laying his clothes back on the sand and slapping Kiyan lightly on the back, "I won' say nothin' t'anyun in yer tribe or anythin' an' ye shouldn' worry so much!  Yer face is priceless!"  And it was!  He looked so panicked that it was comical!  As if whatever he had done was the end of the world, or the end of his life if anyone else found out about it.

"An' I don' think tha' whatever ye're gonna tell me'll be tha' bad." he added, putting his hand around the kids shoulders and leading him back to the fire where the mussels were starting to crack open, showing that they were nearly ready to eat.  "I 'ave my own secrets too...an' I promise ye tha' I'll let ye in on sum o'them once yer done yer explainin'.  Then we'll both be relyin' on eachother t'keep a mighty secret.  If one o'us tells, th'other 'as full rights t'tell on 'im."

Nearling the fire, he took his arm from Kiyan's shoulders and took his place by the fire, leaning back on his hands so he could watch his new friend throughout the story.  He was pretty sure that there would be no falsities in the story, but just to be sure, he wanted a full view of his face.

Not that it mattered...

It seemed like they both were horrible liers when it came to simple things, and Zarak assumed that Kiyan knew that.  And considering how desperate he had been when imploring him to keep a secret, the pirate was pretty damn sure that it would all be truth.

Well...here he was, about to hear a troubling secret from some boy he had been rescued by on the beach and was about to tell his own.  

Oh well, it was just another adventure.  He just had to hope that the boys secret was bad enough that he wouldn't think about turning him in....

[Rhindeer]

Kiyan wanted to melt with relief when Zarak's stern composure broke, turning suddenly to that grin that Kiyan was familiar with, and he gave a small, weak laugh of his own when Zarak slapped his back and told him not to worry, that he wouldn't tell...and that his face was priceless. "Heh...yeah...really?" Probably was now, too, he was so damned relieved; Zarak's face seemed more suited for grins than sternness, and seeing him so suddenly suspicious and stern had been really disconcerting, because it didn't seem like he was the type to get that way much, and...yeah, the change there had been scary. That look had reminded him of the adults of his tribe far too much, and that was a look he'd come to associate with "I'm screwed".

They wouldn't pat him on the back and tell him not to worry, or that it probably wasn't a big deal! And they certainly wouldn't let him in on any of their dirty little secrets from their younger years. After all, they were supposed to set a good example. Or something like that.

And they most certainly wouldn't hear him out on the full side of his story. Not when he was so obviously in the wrong.

"I promise to keep any of your secrets," Kiyan told Zarak softly, still reeling slightly from the whole situation, as he was guided back to their fire. "Thank you, by the way..." Maybe if the others in his tribe were more like Zarak he'd be more inclined to tell the truth. But there wasn't much incentive to be honest when truth or lie bore the same results. He still couldn't believe how different the man was...understanding, easy to talk to, non-judgmental, and here he was promising to let Kiyan in on some of the dirt from his own life, relating to him! He liked him more and more by the second. He just hoped he didn't do anything else in the future that would invoke that stern streak; seeing that was enough to give him a mini anxiety attack!

As Zarak took his place by the fire, Kiyan took a seat across from him with his legs folded beneath him. Guess it was time to spill everything, then. The sooner he got it all out, the better he'd feel.

Once Zarak was settled, he took a deep breath. "Alright...um...this is sort of embarrassing, to be honest..." he began, shifting his eyes down to his lap. "But...alright. So...a few months ago, I, ah, met this girl, Maricha. She wasn't from my tribe, but from one way further up the coast, a week's travel away, and she came with a small group of her people sent to trade. Normally, they'd only stay about a week or two to trade, rest, catch up on any news, and then be on their way back to their families, but one of them got bit by a mosquito and got real sick and feverish, so they decided to stay until he was better and could make the ride back. They stayed about five weeks total...our shaman had to work with the sick guy a lot, and he almost didn't make it, but she'd seen that kind of thing before...it doesn't happen a lot, but...ah..." He realized suddenly he was rambling. He didn't need to give a whole lecture on the history of trading and strange illnesses! "Ah, anyway...

"Maricha. She was my age, and pretty and smart, and she came with her uncle to trade her baskets. And...we hung out a lot...she was the youngest one that had come, and...we had a lot in common...and...yeah. So...while everyone else was busy doing their thing, not paying any attention to us, we'd go off together...I'd show her around...we'd talk...and...well..." He cleared his throat. "She always told me her uncle couldn't see us together, because he was overprotective and said she was too young for stuff like that. I was fine with that...even when...you know...things got more serious...because I liked her, and she said the same, and she promised she'd come on more trading trips to visit and when she was considered old enough by her family we could tell them and everything, and until then it'd be a secret and...well...one thing lead to another and eventually...a few days before she left...um..."

Kiyan hadn't raised his eyes once, and his tan face had darkened considerably by now in embarrassment. "Well...uh...yeah...we were together and stuff...alone...you know...like that...and...and..." He grimaced, and his voice took on a miserable, almost violated note as he bowed his head even lower, his cheeks burning. Ugh, this was so damned embarassing. "Her damned uncle had followed Maricha because he'd been wondering where she'd been disappearing to, and he found us! Like that. It...it was not pretty..." He cleared his throat again. "Anyway...he dragged us both back to my tribe, yelling the whole way, and somewhere in all that I found out that Maricha was...engaged. To a hunter back at her tribe; couldn't make the trip because he was needed. Arranged marriage sort of deal. I guess she didn't like him. She never talked to me after that, but...I like to think that...I guess..." It was better than thinking she'd played him for no reason!

"But...but then she started going off about how I seduced her! At first it sounded really funny...really ridiculous...I mean...I trusted her, and I don't think I look that type, or act it or whatever...but, uh...joke was on me, the uncle bought it of course." With a bitter sigh, he glanced briefly up at Zarak. "My tribe did too...bloody shaman's a woman, and Maricha put on the tears, and the man's supposed to be the responsible one because the woman's the meek one so...so...but like I would have thought she was engaged! Or thought to ask! She didn't bring it up and she told me that uncle story and all that other stuff! And I didn't 'seduce' her into nothing! But they wouldn't listen.

"So, long story short...the leaders and shaman of my tribe worked out a solution with the uncle that the uncle thought would work for him and Maricha's man, and that woud punish me. They'd take me back to their tribe...I'd belong to their tribe...and...well...among some of the things I heard, one of the last things I heard was...that they'd marry me off to, ah, some older lady that lost her husband recently! I don't know if they were joking or what, but the servitude part sounded better! Even getting the crap beaten out of me by Maricha's man sounded better! Well...that idea was never 'officially' posed, but...I know it'd happen! They were going to tell him when we all got to their tribe! A hunter!" Kiyan shivered, fidgeting with his necklace. "He'd kill me and make it look like an accident!

"My brothers weren't any help, either...they're all I have left anymore, but they're all married and have their own business to worry about...they thought the marriage thing was funny, and that...yeah...I'd put myself in that situation, so I had to deal with the consequences...they probably just want me out of their hair. But anyway...that was the night I left. I was kept under watch of course...because that was kind of a big issue, certainly doesn't look good on my own tribe...but everyone falls asleep eventually, and no one's used to keeping watch like that, so once my watchers fell asleep, I grabbed a few things that were in the room with me, slipped away and ran. And...I found this place. But...I didn't have much with me...and...well...I've had to go back a few times...get some supplies...and...so...I've been here since...about a week."

Long story finished, he looked back up at Zarak. Whew. He hadn't meant it to turn into so much of a rant, but...but he couldn't help but be bitter about a lot of that, of not being believed, and of being backstabbed to begin with. He wasn't sure which part bothered him more. "So...that's why I can't go back...and then I'll probably be in even more trouble because I ran away and stole stuff. I didn't want to, but I'll bring it back. Whenever I can go backâ€"and not worry about getting given away. If I'm not found first. I'll...probably have to move from this place soon...dont know how long before they look, if they even are looking..."

In a strange way, while he hoped they weren't looking, he would also be hurt to know they weren't. Odd how that worked.

But whatever the case, now that he'd spilled everything, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He didn't have to hide anything from Zarak...and that was a great feeling.

Even if it didn't make any of this any less embarrassing.

"To be honest...I'm not even sure how much I really want to go back..." he muttered at length, lowering his eyes down to the sand.

[Goldie]

Zarak listened intently to the entire tale, making mental notes of certain comments that he wanted to make after Kiyan finished.  He knew very well how trying it could be to relate a terrible secret so someone and it was best not to interrupt the teller.  Getting everything off of your chest in the beginning was far better then having to tell it in chunks.

Well, at least to him.

But he couldn't help thinking that that Maricha girl was nothing more than a whore.  From the sound of things she had used him for her own pleasures and whether or not she had meant for it to go so far, the fact of the matter was that she had just as much responsibility in the situation.  Zarak couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of women being "meek"  or the "weaker of the sexes".  He had been aboard too many ships to ever think that again.  Sometimes, it was a woman who could be a man's ultimate downfall.  Where she lacked in physical strength, mental strength they tended to have in spades.

"Any'un who tells ye tha' a woman is meek ought t'be stabbed." he remarked after Kiyan had finished, "I've seen enough women t'know tha' they can be jus' as manipulative as any o'th'men.  I think tha' yer tribe needs t'learn tha' they are jus' as involved in some situations as a man."  He sighed and pulled a fistfull of sand, the lighter grains mixed evenly with the darker ones.

"It's like th'sand.  They all feel th'same, an' they all do th'same thing.  Th'on'y diffrence is in th'color.  She did ye wrong.  I can' believe tha' yer people though' ye were capable o'sumthin' like tha'" he remarked with a wink, "Yer far too trustin' t'be a seducer.  Not t'mention I've met quite a few o'tha' type in my travels....an' they were norm'lly complete bastards, th'whole lot o'em."  He sighed and watched the grains slowly sift through his fingers and back onto the beach.

"I don' blame ye fer any o'it.  Though most people'll see sex as a 'orrible crime afore marriage...it's a fantasy world they live in, if they think it don' 'appen.  But like magic, ye can' change peoples opinions.  Jus' gotta live wit th'closed minded."

"An' I don' blame ye for not wantin' t'go back.  Yer people treated ye wrong an' that'll stick ferever"  He rubbed his wrist, feeling the bump of the brand that would forever mark his tanned skin.  Where Kiyan would be able to go anywhere and start over, he had that mark and it would stay with him forever.  Any hope of starting a new life was completely lost to Zarak.  Maybe that was why he kept going to back to the pirate business?  Or perhaps it was just the pull of the sea, the want to be on its choppy waters and be able to say that he lived through storms again and again....and then this last one.  So far he was the only survivor....that he knew of.

"Bu' next'ime ye feel like lettin' yerself loose....I'd 'ave t'recommend a tavern girl.  Migh' save ye future trouble"  The boyish grin was back, marking his statement as merely in jest, but it was also true.  You could pay for good service if you really wished it....but something told him that Kiyan wasn't the type of man to pick up random girls off the street just for a few hours of pleasure.

Hell, Zarak had gone through that phase, but after a few turns he realized that it wasn't anything like it was talked up to be.  In fact, he found it more annoyingly expensive then anything.  Not like he needed to watch his spending much....but he still felt like he was throwing his money into a river just to see if it would sink or float as it was swept away.

Nah, he was finished with girls.  He had found that most of the time they were plotting something and always found ways to gain followers.  Most of the time they could be more of a seductress then a man!  There was no way that he would blame any man for getting in trouble just because a girl is supposidly weak minded.

Bah...that stereotype needed to be tortured slowly out of existance.

[Rhindeer]

Kiyan couldn't agree more with Zarak's commentary on women. He'd never bought that stereotype, and had rather resented it; his mother had been strong, mind and body, for as far back as he could remember. She'd raised he and his three brothers, practically all by herself after his father had died, and she certainly had never been afraid of giving anyone a piece of her mind, man or woman alike. Maricha hadn't fit the mold, either; she'd been an independent spirit, unafraid of taking chances, and that was what he'd liked about her. And, as he had learned all too well...she'd also been manipulative. But...had she been? She'd sold him out to save herself her end of the punishment, and she'd lied to him, but had she meant it to go that far? Or had she really just been using him all along, a form of rebellion against a marriage she hadn't wanted, or just a toy for her own desires? He wrestled with those ideas a lot.

But it was exactly as Zarak said. Men, women...they had the same capabilities. Like the sand, they were all built with the same basic structures; there were just some differences here and there. And yet, women were always painted as the vulnerable ones...and yet hadn't he been taken advantage of? Well, he wasn't going to pout over it, though the wound there was still tender. All he could do at this point was lay low. Not that he minded at all at this point; he had a new companion, and he actually understood what Kiyan was talking about, and, what was moreâ€"he didn't look down on him for any of it, nor did he fault him or patronize him. He sided with him.

Kiyan grinned as he winked and assured him that he knew the seducer type and he didn't fit it. Well, that certainly made him feel better...

This whole conversation made him feel better, freer.

And something about the way Zarak talked made him think he probably knew a lot about women. Pfft, of course he did! He was years older than him, had travelled lots, so of course he had a lot of experiences with women and would know these things!

Still, one thing was certain, though, at least for the while: Kiyan was taking a break from women. Wasn't like he'd been with many to begin with, and definitely not in the same way as with Maricha, but after that...he was in no rush! And he'd definitely make a point of finding out certain bits of information before doing anything.

Like if she's already taken. Though, come to think of it, if he'd asked Maricha to begin with, what if she'd said no?

Ugh, the whole thing hurt his head. Why couldn't people just be honesâ€"ah, crap. But...but he'd had a very valid reason not to have been honest! He'd been scared! A lie to protect yourself wasn't bad...and he'd fessed up, anyway!

Kiyan shifted a little, stretching his legs out in front of him as their folded position began to grow cramped. "Yeah...my tribe's very traditional. They don't like the idea of...ah...sex before marriage...they consider it a sacred act...the final step of dedicating oneself to a single person for life..." Which also meant it wasn't something to be talked about openlyâ€"which made this particular conversation rather awkward, if oddly relievingâ€"but was to be kept private between lovers. Kiyan didn't agree with a lot of that, obviously. A lot of that just sounded silly to him, and after Maricha, well, the way he saw it, it was a special thing, but not sacred. It wasn't something he'd do with just anyone, but he didn't see why it should be held on such a pedastal.

"It's special and all, but...you can be dedicated to someone and not be married, and unfaithful to someone while married, right? As long as there's a strong bond there, it doesn't matter when...that...happens, right?" Well, so long as they wouldn't turn around and stab you. "But...I think they were all most angry because, well...they considered what happened to be on par with adultery. On my end. I think." He sighed, raking his fingers through the sand in front of him absently, leaving five small rents in the soft sand. "I wish I'd known...I wouldn't have gotten involved if I did...but...I guess in an odd way it's kind of good. If it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have been here and you'd probably be wandering around aimlessly, huh?" he added, flashing an optimistic grin as he looked up from the sand and at his friend. It was always best to look on the positive side!

"But I have no idea where I'd go...all the tribes here know each other. I'd be found out in only a matter of time, no matter where I'd go, and I don't know if I'd want to go back or not...it's all mixed and...what? Let loose...?" He blinked green eyes, suddenly confused by Zarak's sudden recommendation. But Zarak was wearing that mischievous grin, and something about that, and their earlier conversation, made him guess it had to be some bawdy reference. Which in turn also brought a new, involuntary flush to his cheeks. "Ah...tavern girl?" Yeah, that also gave it away. He didn't know what this "tavern" was, but he could only guess. And he wasn't quite so sure if he should ask.

Scratching the back of his head, Kiyan gave a sheepish laugh. "Well, jeez, if I ever meet another girl, I know now who to run her by," he commented jokingly, though, heck, maybe he wasn't joking and really would try that approach! Heh, didn't sound too bad, actually.

A few moments passed, and then Kiyan added, suddenly serious again, ""Thank you, Zarak. For hearing me out and everything..."