After a moment, she asks Llunet quietly, “did you draw her, while she lived?”

[2:05 PM]Moss: @Morrigan @Jason - Korvok @Frankie @Alyssa ~ Llunet @Sam @Ian Arguilles

[5:56 PM]Moss: Ok lets go - set up a vibe! Gonna put us in a spot, but fill in what your guy would be up to there?

Setting: The night after the party saw Mount Mentiri destroyed in the distance, one day out from arriving at Felderwin. Korvok is still with the party, although maybe acting weird? Who can say.

The party has set up camp - or well, their strange combination of tents, bedrolls and tent-huddles - as normal.  There's a firepit placed thoughtfully between the camp and the woods. It's a quiet moment, before the sun sets. For now, everything is (mostly) ok.

Moss is tending the fire, and trying to fully cook some of the root vegetables she's gathered while travelling. She knows in theory you can wrap them in leaves and bake them in the coals, but it hasn't worked yet on any of the previous nights.

1

[6:17 PM]Frankie: Komani glances mournfully at the roots on the fire. She’s sure Moss will make them taste well enough but the sight of them cooking in such a way makes her miss the taste of the heavy Grako soup her ex-bedmate used to make. She does not wish to think of home tonight.

Komani scouts the nearby area for any meat to add to the meal, her eyes roaming back at regular intervals to check where each member of the group is located and confirm that they are safe. Her eyes are also often drawn to the direction of Mount Mentiri.

[10:18 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet sits with her back against a half-sunken rock, her cloak tucked underneath her and her hood settled around her shoulders in the falling light. She has her sketchbook propped up on her knees, and is filling in the detail of a roughly drawn cavern interior. Or at least, that is what it looks like, the lines are messy for the moment. A few of the crystals gathered from the cave are sat beside her, and she glances to them every so often as she works.

Her eyes flick up too, to the fire, the progress of the cooking roots and Moss' careful tending. Then to Komani keeping watch for any immediate threats, and any that are far off in the distance. And to the others. Her gaze returns to her drawing and a small smile steals across her features.

December 3, 2022

[8:11 PM]Frankie: Komani’s heart is not in her hunt tonight and she watches several small hares bound away without bothering to nock an arrow. The smell of the fire and Moss’ cooking draws her back to the camp and she hopes Korvok has added some of the spice he carries.

The now familiar sight of Llunet hovering over her sketchbook draws her gaze and she ambles over, picks up one of the crystals at her side and tosses it high into the air. She watches it rise, slow, then fall and with a small smile twists herself with practiced ease to catch it behind her back.

For a moment she forgets and scans the campsite for Kenna to see if the little girl had spotted her trick. Her heart sinks and she drops the crystal to the ground, looking out at the looming mountain again.

After a moment, she asks Llunet quietly, “did you draw her, while she lived?”

[8:21 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet may have been too wrapped up in her drawing, and startles slightly as she realises a tall figure has materialised beside her. More so that they pick up one of the crystals and she watches as it is tossed up. "Ah, ah-- Komani. Be careful." A wince completely flattens any trace of a smile, though she tries to press one back to her features. Likely a grimace is not the expression Komani wishes to see in response to her trick. But Llunet seems to let her apprehension go as the crystal finds its way back to the ground. A hand flutters from her sketchbook to briefly touch her fingertips to the smooth surface of the one replaced with its fellows, careful, like she is afraid she might break it herself by coming into contact with it.

After a soft breath has been released, she turns her attention up to Komani once more. It appears to take her a moment to catch the thread of Komani's thoughts. Then she shakes her head, and with her free hand, flips a page or two back. "Not really. I sketched her, but it isn't complete." Tilting the book up for Komani to see, it's some rough shapes, Kenna's face a circle, her nose a scribble, her mouth not even in place. One eye has more detail than the other, though, an almost entire eye.

[8:40 PM]Frankie: Komani doesn’t understand Llunet’s concern for the crystals that were so hard to pry away from the walls but she makes a note to not mistreat them again—Llunet never seems to do anything without reason and if she is afraid, Komani will be careful.

She glances down at the incomplete drawing on the raised page and tries to make out the face of the kid who had died in their care. Her large fingers reach out to trace the air above the drawing, circling the eye with the most detail. If she lets her eyes blur, she can almost see the girl on the page.

“It is good, to remember things this way. Goliath tell stories but we do not make many pictures.”

[8:55 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet watches Komani's fingers move for a moment, briefly button her mouth off to one side. Then she looks up again to the goliath's face. "If you like, I'll try to finish it. Although it might take me a little while to get it right." She flips the page back to her drawing of the cavern, and indicates to the spot beside her. "Are you too restless to sit?"

[9:09 PM]Frankie: Komani shrugs at the question, she is always restless.

“We did not know Kenna well, it is…fitting that we do not have a full picture.”

Komani considers the invitation for a moment before sitting, her knees bending awkwardly as she tries to get comfortable on the low rock. Her eyes fall on Morrigan in the near distance.

“Do you believe we are to blame for her death?”

[9:14 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Settling her eyes, and her pencil, back on the page before her, Llunet pauses at the question. It takes her a few seconds to begin to fill in her sketch again, and the soft scrape of lead on paper seems as though it may be all Komani will get in response. Then, "I do not know." Followed by what may be considered to be an abrupt question, "When goliath die, where do they go? What do your stories tell you about life beyond this world?"

[9:26 PM]Frankie: The question makes Komani’s brow pinch in confusion. She turns to look down at Llunet.

“Beyond?” She shakes her head, making the collection of items tied in her dreadlocks rattle. “Death is the end.”

[9:30 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet twists in her seat then, to look back and up at Komani on the rock, her brows drawing together. Her lips part as if she might immediately speak. Maybe it is something in the goliath's face that stops her. The frown dissipates, and a strange look of saddness replaces it. "Truly?" she asks, genuine. "Do you believe this for goliaths alone, or everyone?" (edited)

[9:38 PM]Frankie: Komani can’t be sure if she’s ever seen the look on Llunet’s face before. “Why would I believe my enemies might live on when I have killed them?”

She waves a hand to take in their companions around the campsite. “The herd has been all I knew before this, what do you believe?”

[9:54 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: "I thought, maybe, that you might believe those in your herd become stars. Or something like that." Disappointment, that's the quality that seems to hedge around her tone. She shrugs a little, turning back to her drawing. But she speaks as she does so, "I suppose elves are a little different to the other mortal races." Her head lifts a little, like she's looking for something, someone. A glance to make sure Harmut isn't listening too closely to their conversation to evoke an explosion about heresy, and Llunet lowers her voice to go on, "I think all elves believe that when they die in this world, they return to another they have been to before. Then, after a little while, they're able to come back to this one, reborn again."

[10:02 PM]Moss: Subtlety, over the other side of the campsite, Llunet might notice Moss' ears and cheeks flush pink.

[10:05 PM]Frankie: “My herd has always been wary of you elves who live so long.” She tries for a smile and is partially successful. “If it is true that you live again, do not tell my people you are even more unnatural than we thought.”

Komani mulls over Llunet’s words and finds a strange feeling forming in the base of her throat. She coughs to try and clear it but her voice still comes out lower than it had before.

“Perhaps I died in my world, only to be reborn here, below the mountains. Perhaps if I die again I will return to the Kithkavaki.”

[10:11 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: "I don't think it is something that is often shared with other races, especially not in the Empire." If Llunet has clocked Moss' flush, she does not immediately seem to give it away. Her head tilts a bit to get a better angle as she continues her drawing.

"Perhaps," she allows for Komani's outward musing, not looking up toward her, as if conscious that looking at the goliath might spook her from the conversation. "... And if that is true, then maybe it is the same for the child. Perhaps she has been returned to this dirt and earth, and has quickly been reborn elsewhere. I think that is what I believe. In that way, she has not died." Her gaze flickers up to Moss and Morrigan across the campsite. (edited)

[10:32 PM]Frankie: “I do not think that is what happened to me, although my leaving was a sort of death. But I hope you are right about Kenna,” Komani shifts so that she can look straight ahead, staring over the smoke of the fire and into the darkness behind it. “She was not kin but to be responsible for the death of a kid…” her voice trails off and her face hardens. “I have already had my name changed once, if I was found guilty of—“

She shakes her head, visibly struggling with self-directed anger. Her jaw hardens. “The Hornlord would not need to exile me, I would leave before he could. Walk into a dragon’s lair for my final battle.” She leans toward Llunet and her voice drops to a low rumble. “And I would not wish to return again.”

[10:42 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet starts a little again at the low rumble so close. But there is certainty in her tone as she speaks, "Whatever happened to Kenna, I do not believe you are guilty for her leaving us, Komani. Even if your Hornlord might have exiled you there, no one will exile you here. And I would hope you would not wish to leave by your own choice, either..."

She returns her to her drawing with a nod, beginning to give more weight to the lines that give shape to crystals jutting from the cavern wall. A heavy breath leaves her as she settles again. "... Do the Kithkavaki believe in accidents?"

[10:56 PM]Frankie: Komani straightens to give Llunet space as she speaks, a small smile beginning to grow on her face before the elf changes the subject.

“We believe in mistakes.” She tilts her head to watch the lines form on the page beneath Llunet’s hand. “Some mistakes can be changed, like the lines of your drawings.” Reaching for her belt knife, Komani runs her thumb quickly along the blade until it slices through the skin. She lifts her hand to show Llunet and slowly moves her hand toward the book, telegraphing the action of staining the page.

“Others cannot.”

[11:01 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet is quick to move when she notices the hand coming into the view and the growing bead of crimson. A quick intake of air through her teeth, she jerks away, taking the sketchbook with her, turning it so the leather backing might protect the pages from the blood. She looks up to Komani properly with her brows high. The breath is slowly let out, but Llunet does not move just yet. "But do you believe in accidents? Things that happened with no ill-intention?"

[11:11 PM]Frankie: Komani tilts her head, frowning as she chooses her words. “You do not need to intend hurt to cause it. You choose your actions though, as do each of us.” She wipes her thumb on the edge of her breastplate and nods toward the sketchbook. “I was careful not to ruin your drawing but if I had misjudged my movements and stained the page, that mistake would have caused you hurt. And that would have been my fault.”

[11:25 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: A faint line has made a home between her brows, though it seems Llunet is trying to fight the oncoming frown. With great care, she closes her sketchbook, the pencil trapped between the pages. She sits a little straighter, no longer leaning against the rock, her movements slow and measured. Her expression clears. "But I would not have placed blame upon you. And I think that the situation with Kenna is a little different, isn't it? We helped her get away from someone that might have used her for their own gain, didn't we? Maybe it is more like you had taken my sketchbook from a burning island and while wading out into the ocean, accidentally dropped it in the water. Your intent was good. That makes the difference." (edited)

December 4, 2022

[7:51 AM]Frankie: “I would not wish to ruin your book,”

Komani’s lips quirk and her eyes flick to the north, toward home. “I have been afraid of history repeating itself but one kid who died in battle is not a massacre or betrayal.”

She looks down at Llunet again and this time her face shifts into a smile that makes the marks beneath her eyes crinkle. “You may not sing but you are Dawncaller in your own way I think,” she raised her hand to indicate the Iron Lot “Watching for enemies while we sleep and keeping record of our history.” Her fingers twitch as she tries to stop herself from clapping a hand on Llunet’s knee or back as she would to indicate her thanks to a member of the Kithkavaki. “Your wisdom is sound and I will accept it. If I think too long, my enemies will have the advantage.”

[11:43 AM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet's eyes narrow, with curiosity at the forefront of her expression. Her fingers curl around the sketchbook settled safely in her lap, closed, and she cocks her head a little to one side. But she doesn't ask about the 'massacre' just yet. "What is a Dawncaller? A sort of position in your tribe?"

[3:35 PM]Frankie: Komani nods. “They keep watch. Keep us safe in the night and sing us to waking. They keep our stories; our songs and our histories. Some can even read.” Komani looks down at her knees and her fists clench subconsciously. “My father, Skysinger can speak and write in many languages.”

[6:50 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet glances down to the fists being formed in Komani's lap. "Can you?" she queries. "Read? Write? Were there languages your father taught you?" She looks up again to offer the goliath a small, but slightly encouraging, smile.

[10:12 PM]Frankie: “My father saved his lessons for my sister. I may speak well enough with an Orc and the language of our forebears, the Giants, is in my blood.”

Komani holds out her arms to show the wide bands of her skin markings.

“These are the only marks I know how to read.” She glances down at Llunet with curiosity. “Where did you learn your words?”

December 5, 2022

[3:53 PM]Alyssa ~ Llunet: Llunet sits up a bit again to peer at the markings that decorate Komani's skin. Her hands move atop the binding of her sketchbook, like she means to open again. But she stills her fingers and offers Komani a small smile in stead. "My mother." The pair of words are said lightly, simply, and she is immediately asking, "What do the markings mean? On your arms? Are passed down or earned?"

[5:43 PM]Frankie: “They are the marks of fate, given by Kavaki when we are born. It can take some time for their shape to complete—that is the growing time, the time before kids earn the right to a name.” Komani runs a palm along the marks of her left forearm. “Limbs are easy. There are no breaks in these marks and the lines are wide and even: these mean I am strong of arm.” She leans down to indicate the similar bands that wrap around her legs. “These mean I will stand strong in battle and my step will not falter.”

Komani shrugs and waves toward her face.

“Faces will tell you more. You may read an entire life on a Goliath’s face before they have even lived it.”