[AW] illusion never changed

[Averin]

averin ILLUSION NEVER CHANGED INTO SOMETHING REAL The draw of the flowing water was a danger for the very same reason that it lured those with thirst to it, because predators knew this, and enough times Averin had seen what happens when one would lie in wait for prey. The caravan life had a lot of downsides, but it also gave Averin insight into how the world worked around him. Traveling in a group held safety in numbers, but that didn't stop everything out to get a meal. Aside from danger, however, Averin learned good stuff as well. Herbs and salves that could help and where to find them, what they looked like. Averin had spent time watching the healers work their 'magic' -- medicine rather than any magical abilities for the most part -- and tried to soak in as much knowledge as he could. The more skills he was able to acquire, the more valuable he would be to the caravan and it's enforcers. For a long while, he had fed off of that value, but all things ended, and so did his part there. Drought and lack of business had caused the caravan's numbers to dwindle, and so when the right offer for Averin had come along -- much to anyone's surprise, but mostly Averin's -- he was sold off and that was that. At least he could still find the silver linings in most things, and that was how he lived his life. Looking for the good stuff in the darker times. Hard to do that when a nervous mess without any purpose, lost out here like this, but he was trying. He wasn't panicked, though admittably he had to wonder how long he could hold it together in this new place and the lonliness. The sheer confusion that gripped him like a vice that he couldn't seem to shake loose. The silver lining here and now was how serene this field was. Mostly quiet right now, but there were bison in the distance and smaller critters underfoot; birds chirping along. A lovely day, really, but the pull to return to the river stayed in the back of his mind like an ache. He worried that he would miss the meeting he'd been waiting for -- praying for -- since he had ended up here. 'Meet me by the river.' Averin wasn't sure how long ago that had been, and if there was real hope that it would happen at all. But he wanted to hope for that. Just as he hoped for company and found himself all too cheerful and bright when it finally arrived in the form of a mare approaching and greeting him. Maude. Averin sent a friendly smile her way. She was then talking about the bison, asking if he had seen those things and that she thought the babies were really cute; asking if he knew what they were. He shook his head. "I'm not really sure what they are called. I just call them fuzzy mountains." He said with a happy little grin. A pause; "It's very nice to meet you, Maude. I'm Averin." And the name feels strange rolling over his tongue, because he hadn't used it in a long time, not out loud. He always knew it was his name, certainly. But the enforcers had always called him by another name. He no longer had to use that one, though. He could be himself here, at last. I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN

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@Maude