no vacancy

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

There’s a light smirk that reaches the corners of his lips as she traces his, expects more of those training lessons, and he snorts as he swallows in the way her pale skin reflects the firelight in the dark hue of the inside of the cave. “Oh, training is never done, Maea.” He offers with a quiet breathy laugh, hand tracing her cheek and neck as she looks down at him from her propped up position.

The question of what day he was born causes a small shrug to raise his tattooed shoulders. “The seasons and what not, back home, were much different than they are here. Leafchange is the equivalent from what I can tell, but i was born earlier in the season. I was born a few weeks after it changed.” He hums thoughtfully. His gaze slides over to her with a wry smirk. “Not in a blizzard, though.” A small shrug to that.

“But I was the first child born to my parents, so they were young as I was growing up. The previous Arbiter died right before I was born and my father had won the position, so it was sort of a big deal when I arrived. Saar is a couple of years younger than me. Each family was to have one boy and one girl, to even it out. One to carry the genes, the other to either die in the trial or become the new arbiter or council members.” He’d been the prized son, aimed to be just as fierce and ruthless as his father — but the boy bore too much of the rebellious nature and caring of his mother, in the end. “They lucked out in having both of us so soon.”

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Humming in quiet agreement, Maea pressed her cheek into his touch. Lifted her chin as the fingers stroked down her neck, the touch causing her to shiver softly. She pocketed the information of his time of birth, saving it for later consideration, and settled in to listen as he went on, explaining his family.

"Your sister sounds like a nice person," she said. "What happened to the families that couldn't have children, or didn't have the right 'set'?" They were straying somewhat from the happy topic, but Maea didn't mind. She did want to know everything, and that included tales of his former home. Sometimes she forgot that he was not a Caido natural... which was not good. Korofi was such a big part of him, it couldn't be taken away. Shouldn't be overlooked or neglected. He even used the language from time to time.

Liefde. What did it mean? She still couldn't bring herself to ask.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

He continues his own idle trails along her neck as she leans into his touch, but the comment about his sister causes a surprising bark of laughter to leave his throat. “Oh, she’d want you to think that. But no, if you thought I was bad enough, she’s worse.” He admits, though the smile on his face is wide, bright, endearing.

It fades as she questions what happened to families that couldn’t, or wrong sets were born and he knows this is where it gets darker. “Well, the people would marry into families that had successful children to find out which one of them couldn’t conceive. And then they’d be marked accordingly.” He looks away from her then, thumb stroking her collarbone. “Then, if two sons or daughters were born, they’d take the second born and give them to a neighboring country to be adopted.” They never stayed in Korofi, and it was lucky if they did even become adopted in the end. “Some families would try to hide the birth of a second boy, though, just as a backup choice if and when their first borns died.” His gaze flickers back to her. “Of course, this was only the custom for nobles of our district.”

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

"Oh, now you just made her sound fun, too," Maea teased him, flicking a finger at his nose. "Would that I could have met her... I wonder if we would have gotten along." Of course, it was unlikely to happen. Better for everyone, if Saartje did not appear on Caido, with all the dangers that lurked her. Though perhaps Sunjata would be less prone to self destruction with someone else there to kick his butt around for doing stupid things.

The topic took a more somber turn as the twisted customs of his homeland was brought to light. The girl shook her head at it, thinking it ridiculous. "What a pointless endeavor. As if men or women would be inherently more suited for one thing or another... Better two healthy sons or daughters to carry on the family name than none. It's not like they can't both have kids, or rule, or whatever else might be desired. Of course, I think the idea of blood ties as proof of ones worth is quite silly too. Being born to a wise parent doesn't make the child inherently wise."

Pursing her lips at the twisted logic, she watched Sunjata from from under white lashes. A noble... he certainly didn't act like one, in her mind. Were they supposed to own bars, lead spyguilds and sleep in caves with the sigh of ocean waves for a lullaby? In her mind, the incessant bedding of lovers and dragon hunting was the only things that fit in with her idea of the 'noble' class. All taken from saucy adventure stories, of course.  

Something in her thrilled at the notion that she now was that. His lover. Maea leaned down and brushed her lips to his, trying out the idea with a soft kiss. It didn't taste all that bad.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

“Maybe.” He muses to her, a slight smile crossing his face at the thought. He doesn’t know how Saartjie would’ve reacted to meeting Maea, wouldn’t know where to even begin. But the conversation shifts to the darker topics, and there’s a wry smile that crosses his face at her thoughts on the matter. “They prided themselves on choosing advantageous marriages. Which would produce the best, strongest heirs.” He hums quietly, focusing on that only bringing a slight falter to his face.

But her lips are there, and he finds the edge to bring that smile back — thumb stroking along her neck and the marks he’d left her before settling back in again, to explain the entirety of the Korofi barbaric customs, though his eyes remain on her throughout, inches away from her own face.

“I was supposed to have all the directness of my father; the strength, power, and ability to shut out empathy.” He shrugs. “I wasn’t any of that.” There was a lot of resentment in that, in what he'd told Maea that day at the river of how his father handled his misbehaving. But that was a different life, a different time, and he had been soft… scared, broken before he could even be pieced back together, living a life under cameras and people, within a home with a mother too afraid to get attached to him should he perish during his trial. “I was too soft of a person, too many feelings, too attached. I’m sure he hoped I would’ve drowned during the flood tests. Sure he hoped I’d be the first to go in the trial. But I wasn’t.”

No, instead he’d helped kill a dozen other boys who had their daggers and guns aimed his direction.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

She remembered what he had told her before. Of his fathers beatings, his rebellion, the price his mother had paid for his disobediance. Thought of it, and consdiered the man that lay beside her, his arms around her, fingers trailing her neck while he watched her with sword-steel eyes. Oh, he was strong enough, powerful enough, but by some grace of gods he was not cold. Not hard, or cruel... only to himself.

"Thank you, for not being like him," she said, flattening her palm to cup his face. Shifted, raising herself up so she half lay over him, and could take his head between both of her hands. Her thumbs stroked his cheeks gently, wanting to soothe the bad memories away. "I like this version very much."

But as she said that, Maea came to think of the secret. The terrible little piece of a puzzle she held, that could either help or break him. She hesitated, not sure if this was a good moment, if there ever would be one for such a discussion... In the end, she decided that it was for him to decide. She was supposed to keep secrets for him, not from him, too.

"Sunjata... there is something you should know. About your presence here. On Caido, I mean. But.." she bit her lip, "I don't know if this is the right time? I'm not sure you're going to like it."

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

Her hand moves quickly to cup his face, and he focuses on her and the touch that she brings as she rises enough to hold and cradle his head in her palms, a slight smile growing on his face as she tells him that she’s glad he didn’t end up like his father. It was a fear, buried deep within, that one day he’d simply snap and shift into that iron willed, iron hardened man that had done so many terrible things.

His hands slide down her sides until they rest at her hips, pulling her into him slightly as he readjusts the way he lays, and then her words capture his attention. Dark brows furrow slightly with the concern that flashes across her face, lifting himself up on an elbow to better peer at her face. “What is it, Maea?” He asks quietly, confusion wrought along all the features of his face.

Why wouldn’t he like what? What was it about?

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

While intensely aware of his warm body beneath her, how his hands moved down to rest on her hips, Maea focused on his eyes, on the face between her hands. Gods, this was hard. Would she break this moment of peace and calm with this truth? Would it help him, hurt him, bring peace and closure or just more questions to pound his head against?

There was only one way to find out.

"About a year ago... I had a... vision. I was able to see how The Voice bring outlanders here." She kept her attention on his expression while she spoke, keeping her voice gentle. Soft. Serious.

"There exists a machine. Some construct, that reaches out across worlds to gather information. About people. She used this to bring people here to free her from the barrier, but even though it's gone, the machine.. is still active. And the way it brings people here... is by taking that information. And copy it. Creating a second version of the original, to place here."

It was only the third time Maea revealed this information to anyone. Twice before had she held her breath and waited for a reaction, and never had she been so scared to see the response it might bring.

She wondered if Sunjata understood the implications of what she was saying.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

She begins to explain, cradling his hand, and he searches her gaze for the truth and the honesty within them. It’s all there, every bit and piece, and he sighs quietly with the thought before his head twists somewhat in an avian tilt as he recalls the things she’d said previously. “Wait… Is this why you said maybe there was a way my father would pay for what he’d done?” He asks, that moment on the river…

His gaze drifts from her to the sandy cave they surround themselves in, the confusion washing away as he thinks about it. “Hm.” Would he still be hopping from bed to bed in Dorobo? Would he and Saartjie be safe? Or would Lusea’s father have come to kill him at last? Suddenly he’s glad he’s not there, that this copy of himself is here — as strange as it may be.

He looks back up to Maea with a quiet smirk crossing his face, reaching up with both his hands to pull her onto his lap, to peer down at her. “That means I’m either dead or still hiding out somewhere.” He shrugs, as though it doesn’t bother him any. “I exiled with Saartjie after I escaped… So either way…” His lips purse together briefly as he considers her. “I would much rather be here, I think, though I hope Saar is safe.”

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Worried eyes scanned him for reactions, conveying the truth of what she had seen - of her words - to him. She let him mull it over , nodding confirmation to his guess when he connected a dot she thought he might have forgotten about already.

"Yes. You said you tried to kill your father... I meant that you still have the chance to do so. As you're still there, as much as you are here." Not a mission she approved of, but perhaps a well earned one, considering all the man had done to Sunjata and his family.

It was the smile that made her begin to relax. A quiet breath of relief that he wasn't freaking out about it, that this was the reaction. Even an admission that he would rather be here than there, which was quite the difference from what he had said before; that he wanted to escape Caido and never return. Or had he simply referred to the Grounds, and his problems there?

The girl shifted, settling in more comfortably on his lap. Felt rather small sitting there, cradled against him.

"It does mean that Lusea never came back to life," she told him, rather quietly. Bringing up something that had been on her mind, ever since she heard of the 'resurrected' woman. "When she died in Korofi... she really died, Sunjata. The one you met here was the copy of who she was before she passed."

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

There’s the briefest of a frown that crosses his face at her understanding of his home, of what he’d said. But he purposefully had left information out, had hidden it away. There wouldn’t be a chance to kill his father again, he’d missed it – blown it for escaping through the arranged marriages. At least Phoebe knew that much, perhaps that’s why she feared it so. “I… Well, I guess that makes sense. When I came here I wasn’t even in Korofi at the time.” His frown remains, however, as she continues and his steel gaze flits toward her.

He scans her face, holds her close as he focuses on what she says, a slight nod of understanding though it wasn’t much of an understanding to begin with. The whole thing was confusing, and he was getting used to the idea of people popping in randomly.. Even those previously dead. “I’d much rather that, I think.” He offers quietly, searching her gaze for something though he’s not sure what yet. The fact he’d mourned her twice, thought her dead twice.. Perhaps it brings some relief to him, some of the grief released at the idea of it.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

Maea offered a questioning look, not quite following. "I... thought you came here from Korofi" she said. "You never mentioned the bit about exile before, I think." Though she couldn't swear on it, now. Perhaps her memory wasn't as good as she thought.

The quiet response to her remark about Lusea is met with a soft smile. If Maea could offer even a bit of release from that mourning, then... she was glad to have helped. It was obvious how big a part the woman had owned in Sunjata's life, how much he still missed her. The gaze that looked back at him was peaceful, calm and full of sympathy, but there was no jealousy. Why should she be, when the woman was dead and there were plenty enough of living rivals of his affections to waste those feelings on?

"It seems that the souls of outlanders are just as real as those created naturally," she offered him. "Which means that she is still resting with Mort, now. But as Delphia was able to discover her fate, this should not be much of a surprise.

"You can still make lanterns for her come Leafchange, and Ludo might let you see her again, if you wish it."

She brushed the back of her fingers across his cheek. Soft, tender; understanding of any such lingering wishes, and supportive of them.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA

save your eyes for someone brighter than i will ever be

The questioning look is granted with an almost boyish half smile before he shakes his head. “I, no, I spent around two years after Lusea died and the whole thing happened in Dorobo, the neighboring country.” There’s a puff of air that leaves him at that, searching her face, wondering if he should tell her or not – wondering if she’d believe him or not, wondering if it would ruin the wonderful night they’d had. There’s a brief moment of pause before he shakes his head and looks over to the fire to avoid her gaze. “I tried to kill my father, and that didn’t work out… So when Saartjie and I were put into a room a few months later to greet our arranged marriages, well, things didn’t go well. I took her and we escaped the house, all while Lusea’s father reigned his attack upon us all too.” A purse of his lips as he finally does look back to her.

“Her father thought I was a sort of double agent, thought I’d been the one to give the information over to my father. So when I say that I’m probably dead or still in hiding, he’s why.” A shrug of his shoulders at that.

But she continues on, listening until she mentions the lantern and there’s a soft smile that crosses his face at the thought of that. “She already has a lantern.” He’d made her one, the bronze one on the wall that he’d picked up when Phoebe had destroyed the bar, the one with the chip in the side of it now. There’s a brief moment at the thought of seeing her again that has him stilling beneath her soft fingers and he shakes his head with a quiet laugh. “Well, she’d likely have a lot of opinions on what I’ve been doing here so… Might be better to leave things as they are.” He offers, giving her hip a gentle squeeze, a soft amused smile along his face.

don't hesitate to bring me to my knees

SUNJATA

You're so cold

but you feel alive

"Aah, that explains it better," she said, content to have the gaps filled in. With the tension of the moment draining away, Maea settled down against his chest again. Relaxing into the warmth, relieved to have the secret made a secret no longer. A half decent decision, for once.  

The suggestion that it might be better to leave the womans opinions on his living hade her raise a brow, however. Gaze turning a touch cool, though there was twinkle of a hidden smile in her eyes.

"Oh, really. Actually, it might be a great idea to call on her then... I'm sure I'd love to hear what she has to say about it. Unless you know what it might be already?"

There was a slight challenge to her words, daring him to suggest this night was any kind of mistake.

lay your hands on me

one last time

MAEA