He doesn't like to venture too far from the river, because he regarded it as a lifeline, a link to what life was before he ended up here. Most might not understand why Averin would cling to a life lacking freedom when he could so easily have just that in this new place -- simply by going -- but that life was all he really knew, and there was no purpose to being out here on his own. Alone. It was much too quiet, because Averin had lived among the youths of the caravan, taking care of them, looking after them. He did know enough to understand it hadn't been good work -- not the quality, of course, as he did not shirk on it -- but the fact that the caravan took the youths from their homes to brainwash and reprogram. There just hadn't been anything Averin could do about it, because he had been one of them, and the enforcers had the power to wipe memories and used it regularly.
Getting past that had probably been more of a curse than a blessing where Averin was concerned. Because he knew what was happening, knew what had happened to him, and he did not have it within him to do anything about it. He wasn't built for a fight, and shied away from most any confrontations as it was. He'd probably have made a terrible caretaker of the youths if they hadn't been brainwashed into compliancy, as much as he wished that wasn't the case or extent of his care taking skills. Yet if any of them had stood up to Averin, he probably would have been a doormat, because he wasn't all that strong willed. He liked to be helpful and he was all too friendly, but Averin wasn't exactly what anyone would call a 'strong' personality. That just wasn't what he had turned out to be, though there was always the possibility that the enforcers of the caravan had molded and directed him to be so.
Averin continued to wander along, trying to shake the thoughts of the past that still felt like some looming rain cloud over him. He didn't want to think about all the ways in which he had failed back then, because there was the chance he could be better here, in this new place. The place he honestly had no idea how he had ended up in. There had been no sudden stop, no sudden drop; he had merely blinked in the darkness of the place before this, and it was just as shadowy here when he had arrived. He would have thought nothing of it, if the stallion he had been walking with wasn't suddenly just as gone from his side. Averin had been a nervous wreck since that day -- days ago? Weeks? -- and even now he was jittery in the unnerving quiet of the field. He should go back to the river soon, though he had probably walked the ground worn along each side of it; up and down and across. This change of scenery might be good for him.
I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN
Rivers were always places to find people; it seemed that they, like the wildlife, couldn’t resist the temptation of clean, flowing water, even in the midst of the autumn. She herself had been following its length for days, happily splashing in its shallows during the afternoons, and gently dozing to the sound of its playful babbling in the evenings. Sampling what vegetation she came across as she did so, while trying her best to remember which was which and what had done what (she was, after all, still the same girl who could barely differentiate between fern varieties), it wasn’t long before the bend of the river revealed a most splendid, rolling prairie.
Lured into its vastness, the girl is especially glad to have decided to do so when she comes upon a small family of bison. The majority of the herd, a cluster of a great many animals, could be seen grazing in the distance, but this group was only several females, their growing calves, and a young bull. The bull, upon seeing the girl approach, loudly alerted her to his decision that was close enough with a hot blast of air from his dark muzzle, and Maude haltingly obliges – those calves! They were just so cute!
Lowering her head to coo pleasantly at the animals, hopeful of luring one, the girl is perhaps saved from being trampled by bison by the visage of a man who makes the maiden think, most immediately, of a swan, making his way through the meadow. Turning her attention to him, instead of the warily watching animals some yards from herself, the girl says a quick farewell to the buffalo before trotting over towards the winged gentleman. Maybe he’ll know what these strange animals are called; there certainly weren’t any in Helovia, at least not that she’d ever seen.
Nickering a greeting as she approaches, the girl pauses some feet away and bobs her antlered head hello, smiling softly at the black-featured, ivory stallion.
“Hello sir! I’m Maude,” she greets, looking over at the bison, before looking back to the stranger, “have you seen those things? The babies are really cute. You don't happen to know what they are, do you?”
If you’re tossing & you’re turning,
& you just can’t fall asleep, I’ll sing a song beside you. and if you ever forget
how much you really mean to me, every day,
I will remind you.
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
The stranger which she approaches reacts as most of the rest she’s met have: with a smile.
It’s led her into a strange belief, of course, that everyone in the world around her was kind, and that they meant each other well. Her new friend, the swan gentleman, could tell her that such a perspective was an illusion, easily shattered; one that, perhaps, she should hold on to, or let go of, depending on the type of man that had been left behind by the indiscretions of those who had come before.
It wasn’t to say that Maude didn’t think bad things could happen; she knew they could. Bad things, though, never seemed to be caused by the other horses around her. They seemed to be born of fate, or of Gods; everyone else, well, they were nice, and they were good, even if some of them were a bit more grouchy than the others.
She is glad that this stranger isn’t grouchy, at least not yet, but instead earnest, and somewhat helpful. His curious name for the fur-babies which had drawn her avid focus for the moment draws a smile to her lips, followed by a brief giggle of amusement. Though they were smaller than mountains, for sure, the high rise of their backs, especially the large bull, made them seem mountainous indeed.
“Hello, mister Averin,” she says once her giggles subside, her ginger muzzle bobbing a friendly greeting in time with “mister,” “it’s good to meet you too. It’s okay that you don’t know what the fuzzy mountains are. I’m sure I’ll find someone who does, some day. Have you not been in Novus long, either?”
She smiles, growing more and more accustomed to those she met having no idea where they were, too.
“I just got here a few weeks ago,” she explains, without being asked, “it's okay here, I guess. This is definitely the only place I’ve seen those animals before.”
If you’re tossing & you’re turning,
& you just can’t fall asleep, I’ll sing a song beside you. and if you ever forget
how much you really mean to me, every day,
I will remind you.
If Averin were to know how Maude saw the world, that belief that everyone was kind and meant each other well; he wouldn't know quite what to do on the matter. He would want to warn her that it wasn't so for her own safety, yes, but he wouldn't want to crush that brightness about her in telling her such things, either. At least this was not something he would have to deal with right now, this kind of conflict, because he doesn't know her thoughts on the matter and can remain thinking that she knows what's what out here.
Averin was still trying to digest the mere fact that others would want to tear him apart, as he'd been told by his master. That was a shocking discovery that made very little sense to Averin, because what point could there be to that? He understands harm and terrible things that could be done to him, but any rending of flesh for no reason at all seemed like lunacy beyond anyone he's ever met so far. Certainly there couldn't be those kinds of creatures in common society that he believed of this place?
So he puts it out of mind, for now. Tales meant to scare him into staying close to Only, maybe. He doesn't know, and it's not necessary. He had no intentions of running off. He never had. He does enjoy going off for a little bit with some sense of freedom in the matter which he now has, thanks to Only being his master and allowing it, and therefore he gets the chance to meet others in these lands. Like Maude, who smiles and giggles at his name for the furred things with the horns and their fuzzy babies.
She was saying that it was good to meet him too -- which made him beam happily at her -- and that it was okay that he didn't know what the fuzzy mountains were, and she would find someone who did, someday. Averin nods to this. "Someone's gotta know, yeah. Aren't there books that could have the answer?" It's like a lightbulb clicks in his mind, because he does remember the comment of libraries. As for being in Novus long, he shakes his head. "No, haven't been here long. Seems okay though, yeah." He agreed lightly, shrugging.
I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN
The cheerful smile with which she initially starts to take in Averin’s reply withers at the mention of books. Books? What were those? Certainly not something which had been in the World’s Edge, and maybe not in Helovia at all. Her ears fall back slightly, and her eyes fill with a sudden concern, because he’d said it as if everyone knew what books were. Was that what they called the Gods in Novus? It was the only thing or being which Maude could think of that might have any sort of answer to any sort of question one might have, but something made her feel as if it was a foolish idea while simply running the idea through her mind.
“Books?” she asks, tentatively, fooling blood rush to her skin in embarrassment. Entirely unused to feeling dumb or outlandish, the girl blushes all the more as she clarifies her single word question. “What are books?”
For the first time since arriving to Novus, it became apparent to the girl that she was among a culture that was unknown to her. While the lands were new, and the faces she met new, as well, nothing had seemed truly all that amiss (well, aside from the Court towers she’d yet to acquired the courage to enter) until Averin had brought up books. What else would she be presented with in this strange place that made her feel simple and foolish? It made her miss home, where things were properly as they should be.
If you’re tossing & you’re turning,
& you just can’t fall asleep, I’ll sing a song beside you. and if you ever forget
how much you really mean to me, every day,
I will remind you.
Averin hadn't given it a thought that Maude might not know what books were, because he had come from areas where books were normal enough things. It had been lost on him that so many wouldn't even know what books were, wouldn't even understand half of the things from the other world that he had once known. But that had been so very long ago, and even Averin wasn't sure he could remember it all. He does know that it's strange to find himself able to use some sort of power to move small things; an accidental realization not too long ago after being here.
Averin had been born with other types of abilites, but he had been too young to really understand them or use them, and he had been dragged away from all that too young to really remember how to miss any of it save that one shape he could take before. The shapes he had known his parents to take. That life was over, and it had been over for a long time now. Averin had to focus on what life brought him now, and it was the way Maude said books, the way she had looked saying it that caught Averin's attention and held it. He blinked, and then she was speaking again.
She didn't know what books were? Oh. Oh. Averin looked a little abashed for not taking into consideration that it might not be a widespread notion, these books. He honestly hadn't thought that this place would have books at all until Only had said it was so. "They are like thin bits of pressed bark, with information written in them. Symbols with meaning for letters and words." He responded lightly, deciding that the imagery that he was giving didn't really sound at all like what the actual sight of books were. Yet it was all he had to give on the matter of conveying what they were to her.
I'M WIDE AWAKE AND I CAN SEE THE PERFECT SKY IS TORN
