Tale as Old as Time

He was taking more time to himself these days, spending more hours at the farm with Rory and learning who he wanted to become, in between tragedies and events of great import. He still didn’t go out to explore as much as he would have liked, not least because the portals still made his skin crawl and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about being a Guardian that used them, but he had made a promise to come visit his friend Loren in the Palace Infirmary more often, and he was on his way to do just that…

When he passed by another bookseller in Snowcloak and paused to peruse their wares. Just for a moment. Just to skim a few titles and perhaps trade some fresh apples he'd saved from his Portal toll for a tome or two. And of course, once he’d bought the books he had to crack them open, to see what might be hidden within their pages. Last time he’d learned a children’s tale of mage glass. Who knew what it would be today? As he slipped his Spectacles into place he hoped for some more information about the mountains beyond the Fangs, but one could never tell what these old treasure troves of information would contain.

Taking down histories from the oral tellers had been a fascinating activity, Sam writing feverishly for two days just to try and get the basics - he was lucky to have his never notebook, or he surely would have run out of pages before the end of the days conversation. Only stopping once it was clear the histories for the day were done he had set out from the library, notebook under his arm, excited to put it all down into proper detail later. Before going back to the palace for the night he decided to take a walk, browse the sights of Halo. The cold region was refreshing to him in a way, like a new lot of possibilities rested somewhere between the mountains and the Citadel rooftops. It was while he was on this walk that he spotted Jigano; he had to take a second look, not expecting at all to see the Provost in the Citadel. Looking at another bookmakers stall, no less! With a little smile on his face, Sam went to stand by Jigano and say, teasingly: "I can't believe you've gone to another so quickly." He motioned to the stall, a quiet laugh leaving him. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

The book had been cute, but the tale was one he already knew the general plot of, and the addition of memory snow was quaint but hardly groundbreaking. With a sigh he started to turn away, only to find an unexpectedly familiar friend at his elbow. Blinking over the top of his scarf, the bard realized ruefully that since Sam didn't mind the cold, this was the perfect place for him to be. "You need to write your stories faster," he teased back with a crinkling of his eyes to show the hidden smile below. "Unless you've published a new tale I haven't gotten to read yet?"

Tucking his new book into his pack - he'd add it to the Atheneum when he got back, something nice for the fairy tale section - he gestured for Sam to join him as he headed towards a small tavern he'd found before. It wouldn't be busy at this early hour of the afternoon, and would give them someplace a little warmer to talk. It seemed like much of their time lately revolved around guild business, but they weren't in the guild today and it would be nice to chat for a bit as friends...

"Do you have time?" he asked hopefully. "Maybe we could catch up for a bit? I'm on my way to see Loren, but he's not expecting me so he won't mind if I'm a little late," he admitted with a wry chuckle. "How have you been?"

Jigano looked back at him fondly, warming Sam's heart (it was nice to have friends that were glad to see you, especially after recently old acquaintances had been rather unhappy to see him indeed); he laughed and gently nudged the Provost. "Quality work takes time. You'd rather my books than see the Atheneum full of scribbles on scrap paper." Not that this poor fellows work before them was that, but Sam still felt he could probably do better given the chance to prove himself. He nodded when Jigano asked if they could spend time together; he took a few steps away from the stall. "I know a nice place to talk. Come with me?" If Jigano agreed Sam would begin to take him through the streets of the Citadel, up towards the outer wall. "I've been well. Actually, ah, speaking of Loren..." Sam smiled and looked back, shy and cupping his hand before his face so only Jigano might hear. "We've been seeing each other, in a fashion." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"Mmm. I suppose they are always worth the wait," he agreed back, still grinning. "But that means I do need to fill in the empty hours while you work on your next masterpiece." He patted his pack with its new book ruefully. "Even if they're sometimes, hm. Not quite up to the standard of expectations I've become spoiled with, after reading your work." He chuckled, following beside his friend as they headed away through the streets, and Jigano tucked his hands into his pockets to warm them up as they walked.

He hadn't expected Sam to mention Loren. They'd both been Loreseekers, but it had been so brief a time, barely a season it seemed like, before Loren had left to pursue his grief and new position in Halo. Beneath his hat and scarf both eyebrows rose at the sudden and utterly unexpected revelation, and the bard was momentarily at a loss for words. "Ah... he's... doing better after Abasi's death, then?" he asked cautiously. The last time he'd seen the summoner, Loren had been driving himself in a vicious downward spiral. "And... you're over what happened with Nate?" He knew Sam tended to fly from one romance to the next, but it had hardly been a few weeks, perhaps half a season? Since the bookmaker had broken that news.

Sam grinned at the compliment about his work - it was one of the only things in his life he could take pride in without feeling guilt. "I have a extensive backcatalogue of work you could look into." He teased, unable to keep a straight face and laughing. They reached the steps up to the wall and Sam turned to look at Jigano, hearing the tone of his questions and responding with an awkward smile that was more a reflex than any kind of actual happiness. "This is...why I said in a fashion. We're not...in a relationship, as such. We're trying something new, I suppose? I don't know. But...no, he's not over Abasi. He shouldn't be - it has not been long." As much as Sam wished things could be easier, he was at least emotionally intelligent enough to know Loren would need more time for that. As for Nate...he tilted his head side to side and shrugged. "I'm trying not to let it hurt me. It...is a show of his own poor character, I think, and not to do with me. Besides the whole thing was...likely ill advised, anyway." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"You've been keeping that from me?" Jigano teased, mock-outraged beneath his muffling hat and scarf. "Sam, I thought we were friends!" Indeed, what sort of betrayal was this, to find his fellow bibliophile hadn't been sharing his books? Outrageous! ...If not for the laughing undertone of the Provost's voice and the merry twinkle in his blue (definitely blue) eyes.

Humor that faded as Loren was brought up, the summoner a subject of some concern. Sam's explanation raised a brow in surprise, Jigano shocked to hear that his bleeding-heart, romantically-inclined friend was playing the field, so to speak. "Ah... I see...?" He said, mentally off-balance and not sure quite what to say at such a revelation.

Hearing how mature his friend was being over his cheating former lover was almost as big a surprise, though a far better one. "I'm still sorry that it happened the way it did," the bard managed, finding his tongue again. "But... I'm glad that you're not blaming yourself for it." He followed Sam up the wall curiously, wondering where they were going. "How far away is it?" he asked, intrigued in spite of the bitter cold that felt so unseasonal in Longheat.

"My dear Jigano, I've a whole shop full of books. There's a sign on the building." Sam laughed, putting on a slightly jokingly patronising tone. "It was hardly a secret." He could see the surprise on Jigano's face; it had been a surprise of sorts to himself as well, that he'd wanted to try and find some casual comforts for a while...but people changed, didn't they? Given how problematic love connections had been for him, he wasn't sure it was a bad thing he'd decided to take it a little less seriously for the moment. "It makes us both happy, at the moment, which is...all I'm looking for, any more." Sam looked up, where a few more steps lead up to the top of the wall. Whether he chose to ignore Jigano's comments about Nate or just had nothing to add, he said nothing more on the matter. "Not far. Just up here." Up the stairs, under a little archway, and they were on top of the wall. "Loren showed me it up here. There's a wonderful view." He lead Jigano up to the edge, where the vista of snow and mountain lay out before them, all of Halo's wilderness on display. Sam let out a happy sigh. "Beautiful." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"Yes, but I've already read all of them," Jigano teased back. "There were those delightful little pocketbooks of poetry in particular that I quite liked..." The bard had helped Sam get the place ready, and had assisted with the sorting. He was familiar with all the titles in there save the newest penned during the most recent season.

"Ah... well... as long as you're both happy?" he agreed tentatively, letting it sink in until it seemed like a less alien concept. Could Sam engage in intimacy without emotional connections being forged? Based on how he had spoken of it before it seemed a fairly sharp departure, but he wasn't going to judge if the bookmaker was able to take some solace in a friends-with-benefits sort of arrangement.

Gods least fortunate, though, if Remi found out...

He didn't want to think of how much more damage the shattered alchemist could take.

Admittedly, Jigano had been hoping for a place that was warm and sold mulled cider or hot tea, but he smiled beneath his scarf and nodded at Sam's comment. "Deadly things often are," he observed, rippling a thick coat of white fur beneath his winter clothes to keep himself warm against the wind. "But it is impressive. It remind me of my world... at least in winter," he amended wryly. Given the Longheat sun overhead, the difference in seasons was stark, and Halo's ancient curse was never more apparent.

Sam huffed out a little quiet laugh. He'd made the poetry books so long ago now it felt like they had been penned by someone else entirely. They had been good first projects, small and often short. "I've actually been considering remaking those. Now that I'm more experienced...well, sometimes I look at my old binding and I'm horrified." It was probably a good thing, he liked to think, that he was so improved he could see his old errors. "I hope I can help Loren feel a little better. He's had a hard time recently." He mused, though he wasn't really that confident about his potential success with Loren's mood. The man seemed to carry the weight of hundreds of years on his back and a couple of nights together was not enough to lift it away - even Sam, with his romantic inclinations, knew that. Jigano was right that the Halo landscape was deadly, though Sam rarely thought of it that way, not having come across much danger in the mountains yet except Amalia, and well, she was no Ursur. "Reminds you...in a good way?" He asked, looking out to the mountains. While he couldn't feel it's bite he was well aware of the cold too; turned to look over the city to think of somewhere they could go. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"Oh, they weren't bad at all! Though perhaps you could make a consolidated book of the smaller volumes? An omnibus, of sorts, that you can rebind with your new skills?" A little harder to carry around as easily than the pocket-sized folios, but easier to read them all and not worry about missing one of the collection that way!

The news about Loren was still... strange. But the bard was generally quick to catch his mental balance and he nodded in agreement about the summoner's hard times. "Not just recently," he added with a soft sigh. "I hope you can both help each other." Loren wasn't the only one dealing with difficulties lately, after all.

Jigano had come across dragons, cannibals, and cultists so far, not to mention rockfalls, frost giants, and the bones of those who had not been so lucky in surviving. Though at least he, too, had avoided the Ursurs. "Mm. Not in a good way or a bad one, I suppose," he mused thoughtfully. "Though... yes, it does make me miss those I left behind. More so now than when I first came through the portal," he admitted with a hint of wistful sadness in his voice. He shivered in spite of his fur and layers, tucking his hands deeper into his pockets. Isuma peeped a soft protest and wriggled out from his hood, blinking owlishly in the bright light reflecting off the snow. "In the winter, from a top of Torch's hill, you could see the plains spread out all around, gleaming white with the smoke rising from the town's chimneys but the roofs all covered in snow. Numeria is a northerly land, so the winters were cold and the snows were often deep..." he trailed off with a sigh, remembering hunting with his mother through the snow, and warming his hands by the fire in his father's forge after trekking back from Khonnir's Temple school in the heart of the small city.

"That's not a bad idea...though I'm sure, like most of my projects at the moment, it would quickly become too big to handle." Sam had found he'd really moved on with creativity and his craftsmanship in the last year, but that had resulted in an ambition that was often hard to actually satisfy in his work. "Maybe I'll do it in the Loreseekers hall so I can feel the pressure of eyes on me to make me finish." He could tell Jigano was still off-kilter over the news about himself and Loren, but he was glad that the bard accepted it. Jigano was still his best friend despite their differences and it was important to him that he approved of what went on in his life (Voice excluded). Jigano had spoken of his old friends before, those he missed...Sam tried to give him a sympathetic smile, his heart hurting a little for the man; he had often thought the hardest thing to cope with, if he had been an Outlander, would be the separation from friends, the knowledge that you would never be able to tell them about your new life. "I'd never seen snow this deep until I came here. ...Did you play in it, when you were a child?" The thought made him smile. Speak of snow was relevant to their increasing cold and he stepped back towards the stairs. "Loren showed me a lovely cafe in the Citadel in an attic with bookshelves all around...would you like to go with me? There's a warm fire and views of the Citadel." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"I'll make sure to nudge you about it regularly," the Provost teased agreeably. "That sounds like an excellent project for the Hall. Something personal and fun to work on in between the Chronicle and personal journals. I know those can often contain records of tragedies and loss," he added, his lighthearted mood dropping somewhat at the reminder of Adam and Coffee's recent deaths.

The wistful twist on childhood memories brought the smile back to his lips, though it was still tinged with sadness as he looked out over the snowy land beyond and let it shift in his mind's eye to a different place and time, decades and worlds away. "Oh yes," he agreed. "I don't have siblings, and I was somewhat of a weedy academic even as a child, but after lessons at Brigh's Temple I'd still join the other children sometimes, throwing snowballs or building snowmen. Or mother and I would play hide-and-seek in it in our fox shapes. I get my white coloring from her side of the family," he revealed with a rueful smile. He wanted to ask if Sam had played in it, as well... but he knew enough of his friend's past to know the bookmaker's childhood had been difficult while he lived with his parents, and Deepfrost was often a frenzy of preparations for LongNight. "Have you ever been sledding?" he asked instead, an activity that could be done alone and with minimal tools. A large enough strip of bark would do in a pinch.

The offer was met eagerly, the bard nodding as he turned to follow his friend back out of the worst of the wind and back to street level. "Oh that sounds lovely. Rather like the reading room in your shop, it sounds like?"

The chronicle did often contain deaths and hardships, that was true...though over the years as he had recorded many histories, Sam had become more adept at distancing himself from the topics he wrote about. Of course, if he knew the people involved it was infinitely harder, but as for Adam and Coffee, he'd never met them: it was just another name. "Mm..I'll need to take over yet another table." He said with a small smile, attempting to raise the mood a little. The thought of baby foxes playing together in the snow was one that would cheer anyone up and his smile grew as they headed down the stairs. The question made him look back, not having expected it, then he shook his head. "No, um...I've always been too scared to do it. I suppose I could try this Deepfrost." Sam had been a cautious child (and a cautious adult) and when he had spent time outdoors, it had been mostly sat looking out at views or studying plants and animals he found. "I suppose it is like my reading room. I never thought of that...maybe I am a little homesick." He agreed as they began to weave once more through the crowds, the little cafe not too far from the wall - before long they were at a warm looking entrance, orange candlelight illuminating a small hall and stairway within that led up to the main cafe. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child