Private Tales Crossing Over

[Keernan]

Keernan offered a warm smile. The cat had no interest in him now. Their surroundings were far more interesting than him. Perhaps if he had been snacking on the dried meat they had brought then matters would be very different.


The sun had dipped low in the trees. Beams of light cut through the branches at odd angles, but soon that would fade. Keernan had started to weave into the thicker forest, away from the road itself. He was more concerned about any bandits spotting the fire than any wild creatures.

"You live so close to the woods, at least the noises of the night should not concern you," he mused as they walked. He wondered if Mango would stay close to the fire or dare to try and hunt.

A different sound greeted him before the light was too far gone to make camp. The twilight painted the woodlands in such vivid colours before it was spent.

He knew the small river wove not far from the road, but it was a small double waterfall that drew his ear. He grinned when they found it. Looking up the canopy broke above them, giving a few of the first starts to poke through the purple sky. It was nice and clear, no need to build shelters.

"This will do nicely," he observed, sliding his pack from his shoulders. There was always some fresh kindling in his bag, as well as a heft knife and small hand axe. "I'll get a fire going, want to set up here or help me find some good branches?

 

[Syuri]

Syuri hadn't expected even the forest to feel so new to her. She breathed in every way that it was possible to expand: in lungs, in mind, in soul. She had always felt a sense of kinship with the flora, of the ancient soul that stretched into everything that lives. She adored this wild world, from simple seed, with mud, water and sun, comes all this, these towering gentle giants that are so anchoring to all that she was.

Her gaze drifted across the forest floor, so woven with ancient tree roots, speckled with the sepia tones filtered by the bouquet of evergreen foliage above: softened, verdant and freshly aromatic. The sound that caught Keernan's attention had caught hers also, and she made a brief pause to listen and glance toward the heavens with a small frown in confusion. There was no rain.

The moment her gaze fell upon the falls her expression softened. There was nothing like it in 'her' woods, and her lips parted in a temporary paralysis of awe. The sound of rushing water penetrated her mind with a hit of instant calm, blocking out all other sound when she was so used to hearing everything. There was a power and a brilliance in the tranquility, a place of stillness even in the roar of the water, and she was so deeply hypnotised by it's song that she flinched when Keernan spoke.

"Hm?.." she turned to him and let her pack slip carefully onto the floor.. "Oh, I can find us firewood." she smiled brightly..

"Thank you for bringing me here, Keernan. It's really beautiful." she smiled at him and turned on her heels to start gathering what branches the trees had already

 

[Keernan]

"I could pretend I deliberately brought you here," Keernan replied. "I'm afraid I just left the road and followed the sound of water."

He gave a shrug at the admission, finding the situation amusing. Even if he was a strange man who seemed to float from place to place, he also seemed quite resilient to what he had been through.

Syuri was quite right. It was particularly beaituful. Especially with the waning light finding the cracks in the canopy. The light was always perfect in these hours. Not the flat light of midday, not the soft muted shades of the evening. Everything had more colour, more contrast, more life.

"I might have a wash before it gets too cold. And so I have fire to dry off with," he said. He dropped to his knees and dug a small pit for the fire. He collected some stones to go in the fire to soak up heat. An old travelling trick. Another thing he couldn't remember learning. Up above a bird flapped it's wings, shaking the branches.

---

"The hounds?"

They stood around an open bowl of water, watching the scene play out below them.

"No," she told them. "There is no point snuffing him out if we cannot find out if it is - or was - him. Another night or two to recover. Call back the spy. They are not going anywhere until the morning."

---

The bird took off, Keernan paying it no heed as it vanished through the trees. He was quite content, whistling to himself and making a small pile of kindling.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's lips twisted with amusement.. "Somehow you don't strike me as a particularly good liar, Keernan.." she laughed under her breath. She glanced to the water as he mentioned washing and her brow quirked.. "In there?.." she asked incredulously. "You'll freeze for certain!" she blinked and knelt beside him with a bundle of twigs and branches for the fire..

Mango had boldly ventured toward the water's edge to drink, her head lifting to find the source of the flapping wings, and she chattered at the bird before it flew off.

 

[Keernan]

"I am not a good liar at all," he laughed.

He held his hand out over the fire. An intense look of concentration settled on his face. From the shoulder down, a slow ripple changed his arm. Black at first, then a bright glow cracked through.

An intense head radiated from Keernan until he brought his fingertips to the kindle and set them ablaze. A shake of his arm and it was back to normal.

Keernan looked pleased with himself, having not dared to shift since the fae realm.

"Trick is to keep the stones nice and hot and then bury them under your blankets. And are you saying you don't wash in a river?"

 

[Syuri]

Fascination sparked in her crystalline gaze as she watched his arm shift and set the kindling alight. She could feel the heat from his skin just from kneeling beside him, and absentmindedly she reached her fingertips curiously toward his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?.." she asked quizzically, catching herself and withdrawing her hand before she could touch him.

"Hm.." she smiled at the tip and snorted with a quick shake of her head. "We used to play in the creek as children, but I can't say I've ever washed in the river. I... have a bathtub.." she chuckled and tilted her head. She had never travelled, never not slept under the safe roof of her own home, she'd never had the need to wash in rivers or pack her bed with warm rocks. Her cheeks warmed a little, sheepishly so, and she chewed on her lip as she stoked at the fire with a branch.

 

[Keernan]

"It doesn't...or it shouldn't. I'm still tired after whatever she did to me. It has just always come easily. I think you have seen all three ways I can shift now. Drawing on the trees or fire or water. No other magical tricks to show you."

It was strange for Keernan to think that she might actually have known more about him than he did her. There wasn't, when he thought about it, much to him. At least he didn't think so. Since he had died he had floated through the world and offered people help where he could. No family, no friends. Like a note of dust in the breeze. Not choosing a direction, just following the wind.

"It is nice to travel with someone for a change," he said as he stood and began to undress. "Thank you for coming along."

 

[Syuri]

"Somehow I don't feel that the mystery is quite gone just yet.." she grinned with amusement. The elf, shifter, whatever he was seemed to find new ways of intriguing or amusing her.

Syuri watched him stand, a small smile on her lips at his words, but she averted her gaze when she realised he wasn't joking about bathing in the river. Her cheeks were a little more rosy now, and she cleared her throat with a quiet chuckle under her breath. "Hm, I am enjoying the journey so far. I'm glad I haven't bored you yet." she smirked, still idly shifting the branches around the little fire pit, trying her best not to let her gaze wander.

"Do you think you'll ever settle somewhere?.." she asked curiously, her head tilting..

 

[Keernan]

"Well that's a good question," Keernan replied. "I've never really thought about where I want to go."

Of course he thought about exactly where he was immediately going. There was no mental image kept locked away of what a long term future might hold. If something piqued his interest then he simply headed in that direction. Otherwise he chose at random.

"I suppose I should think about it really," he added, as he finished undressing. "I don't like staying anywhere for long right now.

"Too cold?" he asked her, turning the meander to the water's edge. He swore under his breath as his feet hit the water despite this.

 

[Syuri]

"Mhmm.." she nodded, keeping her eyes set firmly on the fire. "I suppose if you have nothing tying you down, then you don't ever really have to settle if you don't want to, and if you do then you can just choose a place that you like most whenever you feel like it." she shrugged. It seemed such a carefree way to live, and Syuri smiled absently at the thought of it, her fingers ruffling through Mango's fur as the cat grazed her face against Syuri's thigh.

Hearing him swear dragged her out of her daydream and she glanced toward him with a snort of laughter, her scalding cheeks having nothing at all to do with the fire. Mango seemed to blink too. "Maybe a little warning if you're going to be wandering around naked?.." she laughed under her breath.

 

[Keernan]

"Why? Oh."

Keernan had barely even considered it. It was suitable encourage to take four long strides and slide under the water. It was painful at first, but a swim to the waterfall was enough to take the edge off it.

There was something special about the space between the waterfall and the rocks behind. A curtain wall of water that kept out the rest of the world, even driving away any sound it made. From the outside, the smoothed out silhouette rippled with the shifting flow of water.

Keernan stood there for a while before getting on with washing his hair and scrubbing himself with a rough stone he found.

He gave fair warning to her before stepped out, suddenly self conscious in a way he hadn't been before. He wrapped himself up and sat close by the fire. Steam rose from his shoulders. Not from the heat of the fire. His amber eye glowed faintly, streaks of bright gold appearing across his skin. It was a waste of energy to bring that fire from within but stop the change short of happening. Another test of finding his strength again.

"I expect that some day I might grow old enough that I find the notion of walking from place tom place quite unappealing," he mused. "Maybe if you enjoy the little taste of travel you should try and visit Fal'addas itself one day."

 

[Syuri]

Syuri chuckled and rolled her eyes at his realisation, shaking her head in amusement. She'd have been lying if she said she hadn't let her eyes stray toward the river, and she watched with a small smile as he climbed behind the waterfall. Mango caught her staring and seemed to glare at her with a look of disappointment..

"What?.." she muttered and smirked at the cat as her head slowly tilted. She jumped as his warning came and her throat cleared, her eyes once again fixed on the fire until he sat across from her. She couldn't help but stare again, fascinated by his skin. She hugged her arms, considering how nice it must have been to be able to warm oneself like that.

Her lips curled at his musings and she nodded.. "I would like that, I think. My grandfather was from Fal'addas.." she shrugged and dragged Mango into her arms where she purred happily. "Maybe one day we'll even see the ocean, hm Mango?.." The cat blinked at her.

 

[Keernan]

The magic slowly ebbed away. His eyes returned to normal and the warmth fled from his skin. Goosebumps - plain regular goosebumps - rose in the wake of the veins of liquid fire. Keernan very visibly moved closer to the fire.

"Do cats like water then?" he asked. The little bundle of fluff didn't look as if it would enjoy a swim very much.

The fire wasn't as hot as it could get yet. A little longer and he would remove the stones and hot ash to bury under their sleeping positions.

 

[Syuri]

It was difficult to draw her attention away from his skin. She had an overwhelming urge to reach out and touch it, to see if it felt normal, but his question shifted her focus back to his equally as intriguing eyes with a warm smile.

"Oh..No way.." she laughed under her breath and shook her head. "And I still have the scars to prove it." she mused, recalling the time she'd attempted to bathe the scruffy thing. "But it would still be something to see."

The cat was nibbling affectionately at her jaw now, not that Syuri seemed to mind, she hardly seemed to notice at all as she watched Keernan. "What does it feel like? When you shift like that? What does it feel like to just, become something else like that?.." she frowned curiously.

 

[Keernan]

"No one has asked me that before," Keernan replied. Again, that curious cant of the head followed. Keernan did not think too deeply about who he was or what he could do.

"It hurts a little, I suppose. There's a moment at the start of it where it is...it is like my body trying to resist before it gets swept up in the change. I can become more like water, like magma and more like a tree."

Keernan chuckled at the simplicity of the explanation. It felt like listing a child's fantasy.

"I feel...inert when I shift closer to nature. The act of moving around suddenly feels unnatural. Just like holding a form feels unnatural as the element of water. When I am aflame...I want to consume. To burn hotter and hotter to the point I know even I would die inside there."

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's brow furrowed slightly as he explained each of the states to which he could shift and how it felt, and her frown deepened as he spoke of dying.. "It could kill you?" she asked in a tone of concern. She hadn't been afraid of it until he told her that, but she was sure he was in perfect control of his own abilities.

"I suppose that fae knew how powerful you are. You'd have been quite the prize." she huffed, but her expression eased and her lips twisted into a smirk..

"I guess you're just lucky I was there to save you.." she sighed dramatically and shook her head as she poked at the fire..

 

[Keernan]

"I don't think it would, but it certainly feels that way. It's like a...draw. Have you ever stood on a slope and felt an urge to jump for no reason? Almost like that."

Keernan looked out into the woods. He hadn't feared anything out here. He supposed he should have done. The spirit that had bound itself to him was some raw, primal thing. It was all naive curiosity. It was the core of him now, not some separate entity.

"Very lucky," he replied. "I would feel quite unsafe now if I didn't have you looking out for me. But that queen...I can't see how my powers would be of interest to her.

"Hmm, I should get these rocks out of the fire now."

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's lips twisted as he entertained her with his agreement. She was good with a bow, but Syuri was no warrior. Their little village had been so peaceful that the rangers never did have much work to do, she certainly hadn't shot anyone before. And those fae, she wouldn't have known where to start with those...

She nodded with a warm smile and got herself up, settling the cat down before she turned on her heels to wander toward the water's edge.. "Just how cold is it?.." she muttered to herself as she pulled off her boot and gingerly dipped her toes in. She grumbled to herself and glanced over her shoulder at him. "Could you.. turn your back?.." she called over to him and chewed on her lip as she started undressing..

 

[Keernan]

"It is cold," he replied "I'm not going to lie about that."

She was smaller than him and not powered by an otherworldly spirit that had been drawn into his heart. He quickly threw another log onto the fire in the hope it would give off more heat by the time she was back.

Keernan turned away, catching just the pale and slender outline of her back as he twisted away. He felt a warmth that had nothing to do with the elemental spirit. His eyebrows rose and fell as he looked to the stars.

He wasn't naive to such things, but it wasn't a feeling that had exactly driven his actions for some time.

"Well..." he muttered to Mango, who seemed far more interested in the warmth of the fire than the water.

 

[Syuri]

It felt weird being outside without her clothes on. She'd never felt the cold breeze against her bare skin like this before, nor had she ever been in water so cold. She glanced over her shoulder before she waded in slowly, sucking in air through her teeth as she stumbled and staggered on the rocks.

Eventually she reached the dip where the water blackened, the bottom barely visible where it grew deeper. She pulled in a few deep breaths, and let herself slowly fall forward into it's icy clutches. The moment the cold water touched her stomach she gasped, and by the time it reached her neck she let the air tumble back out in a shuddered squeal.

"SHITITSFREEZINGSHITSHITSHIT!!"

 

[Keernan]

Keernan didn't catch the word freezing in the middle of her string of expletives. He stood bolt upright and took two steps past the crackling fire.

His form shifted ever so slightly. It was very much like dipping a toe into the water. He felt the shudder of magic, like ice at his core. He didn't dive in, but his body remembered the shift.

It started at the ends of his hair, the black strands becoming a cascade of water. A flow with no end. His right eye shifted into a bright violet, quickly followed by the other.

"Are you alright?" he called out sharply.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri flinched at the sound of his voice and spun around to face him, dipping down into the frigid water and wrapping her arms slowly around her chest to grip on to her shoulders.. "Oh.." she laughed awkwardly as she stared back as his body seemed mid-shift. She blinked in fascination and glanced down into the water, but it was pretty damn crystal clear, and her cheeks blushed despite how cold she was..

"I'm fine just... cold.." she answered with a clearing of her throat..

 

[Keernan]

"Ah," went Keernan. A shift was like running uphill, it was very easy to stop that journey and snap back to his usual elven form.

Typically quite oblivious to the regular pursuits of his kind, Keernan remained stock still. He rather obviously took in the right before him.

The fire crackled.

"Yes! The fire," went Keernan, with no further explanation of what that meant. A warmth had spread across his own cheeks as he tore his eyes away.

 

[Syuri]

Syuri's lips twisted as she tried to suppress a grin that caused her jaws to ache. He had always been a little awkward, but she had never seen him flustered before and she fought the urge to laugh. There was a definite blush on his cheeks, and she bit down on her lip as he stared..

"Keernan--" she barked suddenly as he was turning away, hoping she hadn't made him feel uneasy.

"Thanks, for rushing to my aid regardless.." she smirked, and sunk below the water to cool her cheeks.

 

[Keernan]

Easily distracted, as Keernan had turned away he had tested his abilities but turning one arm to water from the elbow down. Shifting to the water elemental had him keep almost a physical form, yet he still flowed as a transparent liquid. It fascinated even himself. It was so much more elegant than his other forms.

Keernan turned back towards her at the admission. There was less awkwardness to the motion, but he kept his gaze just a little high.

"Of course," he replied. He wore a wry smile as if he was remembering something. "It was a little hasty."

Then, without further warning, he dissolved into the water completely.