Echos of a fateful meeting

[Sebastian Arcturis]

It was mildly on purpose, but more for himself than anyone else. The man didn't like to dwell on such things. He was used to violence, but it was still traumatic.

Leti's hand intertwining in his brought Bastian back to the moment. He smiled faintly in the dim light and pulled the man closer against him, focusing his thoughts to the impression Leti made against his body amd wanting more of it. He gently tugged the man over im a wordless suggestion for Leti to use him as not just a pillow but a mattress. On his right side anyway, considering.

Bastian hummed in thought. The answer was yes. More than once. Not when he was young but a few times when he was older. Right now, for example. But they weren't serious thoughts. Not matter what he wanted, Bastian had a job to do and a family to serve and protect. It was for the best he had been raised to be what he was.

"Yes," he said quietly. He was quiet another moment and then, as if deciding he didn't want to maintain his usual silence he added. "My father was a guard. He did not give me a choice, but I enjoy protecting people." he added with a shrug. "Not sure what else I would do."

He threaded his fingers through Leti's hair and attempted rather poorly to hum the melody he only vaguely recalled Leti singing before. The soldier didn't sing much or hum, but he could carry a tune. He just didn't remember most of the sounds of the song. "That song. What is it?"

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti let himself be pulled closer, though he was hesitant to put much of his weight onto either side of bastian.
He could feel some sense of the tension easing and that made it easier for him to relax as well.
It made sense that bastian came from a family of guards, there was something about him that made him seem like a natural protector. Leti noticed that Bastian seemed to talk in absolutes often. It was plenty common out here for there to be little option in way of occupation outside ones family but...they bastian had said it felt different.

He sighed into the touch of bastians fingers in his hair. It was a surprise to hear the lullaby half hummed at him.
Even the healer didn't remember it immediately. "Something old, Cain taught it to me when I was young....to calm me down if I got nervous, I think it was a lullaby once. It's written on one of the walls deeper down but the words are too old." He had memorized them but cain said the meaning had been lost long ago. None of the monks had thought it important enough to write down, or maybe they had hid it, who knows.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

"I am alright," he said gently, feeling Leti's slight resistance. "If it hurts or gets difficult to breathe...I know..." He felt fine. Sore and aching in the usual places but he needed to be close to Leti. There was just something about touching the healer and having the man touch him. It was comforting.

The sigh suggested Leti found being touched just as pleasant. Good.

Some sort of ancient language? Interesting. He wondered if it originated here. Or meant something...important. "A lullaby is fitting. Does it mean anything?"

Speaking of the walls deeper down... "What else is in this place?" His tone was honest curiosity and he was curious. He was also...concerned. There had to be more living space and...something to warrant monks. Right? Though...perhaps those monks were just as ancient as the lullaby. "You could give me a tour?" A walk would be good. The stairs not so much but he was attenpting to express interest in Leti's world.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti did indeed enjoy the touch. He felt the need to be close to bastian just as strongly, only it was constantly filled with the undercurrent of fear that he might push too hard and hurt something.

"I don't know. I get the feeling it does but..." If there was some important message it was lost with time as lost as the memory of the people that lived here.
He felt a sense of pride hearing bastian's interest. It had been a past time of his as a child to explore the deeper parts of the cave. A bit of an ill advised hobby honestly, some of the passageways were quite dangerous. Then again was it really safe to let a warden go poking around? He wasn't sure if there was evidence per say but he knew that some of the monks had been mystics. It was why Cain had known what he was before even he himself knew.
Not only that but it was indeed a lot of stairs, no part of the lower levels were easy to navigate.
His voice was hesitant as he replied "well...there are the old storage rooms and living quarters no one uses...maybe I could show you a little lower but..."
The healer was very anxious for bastian not to backtrack on his progress. "If I see any signs of you overtaxing yourself it's right back into bed." He added with conviction.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He did not particularly like dark, cramped, and potentially damp spaces. But he had a natural proclivity to explore spaces. Certainly he didn't do very much exploring with words. Besides, showing interest in things Leti did, in attempting to share a craft, in seeing his home, felt a lot more intimate than talking. Though, getting to hold the man was nice.

Storage rooms and old living quarters were as good a place to start as any. Bastian didn't have much of a room at the castle, but a lot could be gleaned about a person from their living space.

Bastian grunted. He didn't really understand the concept. He needed to push himself a little, didn't he? To improve? The soldier supposed Leti knew better than he did how much pushing he could do while healing. And admittedly the leg was a bit of a frustration. He was restless and just wanted to do something. So what if not resting now meant resting more later, he didn't want to spend an entire day sitting around.

"It will be good practice," he suggested, somewhat avoiding the firm concern in the other man's voice. He felt fine. He could handle a few more stairs. He wouldn't intentionally over tax himself but clearly he didn't know where that line was since he had been hurt.

"Tomorrow?" He asked, with a yawn, shifting to get comfortable with the other man, letting his fingers explore Leti's robes and side and beneath while he settled back to try to sleep. He wasn't sure he would get very much but he did feel a bit of a food coma coming on.

[Feleti Eidothea]

"Tomorrow" Leti replied back settling in to sleep. He found sleep easily as usual. Even if he had woken before bastian he now knew to wait for bastian to also wake lest he run the risk of the screams returning.
The next morning the healer insisted on breakfast before any exploration could take place. Once they had both had a portion of leftovers he set aside their dishes and helped bastian up onto the crutches.

Feleti lit a lantern to carry down with them as past his own room even in midday the cave could be hard to navigate. The light didn't penetrate very far down the passage as there was a downward slope away from the cave mouth. His eyes watched bastian carefully as he made his way down the steps. He never strayed out of arms reach should the man lose his footing or more accurately, misplace a crutch.
A little further down the tunnel was a larger bedroom/study, cain's room. The man had left for the morning already. Leti didn't venture in but one could see a desk cluttered with tomes and old scrolls. There were more desks and beds than there should have been but it was obvious only cain lived there from how the others were clearly unused.
Leti explained that there were many rooms with a similar lay out but with no one to live in them the beds and desks had rotted. He had lived with cain in the other room until a few years ago when cain felt a moody teenager was better off in his own space.
further down he showed bastian one of the many storage rooms. It's doorway actually held an old heavy wooden door but seeing as this was the closest storage the door was held open with a few large rocks. Inside were many wooden shelves lined with unmarked earthen jars, big bundles of dried herbs, scrolls and a few odd knick knacks.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Sleep came and went easily enough, but even with a companion, Bastian still moved quite a vit in his sleep. The remnants of his dreams of the fight and drowning while surrounded by air were difficult to shake off, but he didn't awake screaming and he was quite content waking up with Leti's eyes on him.

He would have enjoyed breakfast if not for the dreams, but he didn't argue the point, considering he was rather excited to go spelunking. He asked for some nettle tea beforehand considering everything still sort of hurt and he hadn't moved yet.

He took his time on the stairs, reminding himself he would have to go back up eventually. He kept his swearing to himself this time, though he couldn't cover up his heavy breathing. He slipped once a little on some loose stones but it was more a little scare than anything.

"Has cain ever considered taking students?" There was plenty of room. It was clear from his tone he was impressed with the space. Even unused and in disarray. The work it must have taken to construct this place...

Bastian took a break at the storage room door, leaning against the wall and looking inside. He imagined this was where Leti had fetched the theriac. And likely where more of the powerful medicines and herbs were kept. The smell was a mix of a lot of things. "No wine cellar?" He teased, almost approached teasing in his tone for once as he caught his breath.

He glanced down the steps leading further into the dark and grimaced. A strange shiver ran down his spine. And then he realized thag was probably just sweat.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti was quite happy to show bastian arround though he did spend a lot of it worriedly hovering close by.
He had never thought of cain taking someone else in. The nearby village wasn't exactly big so it was pretty rare for someone to need taking in honestly. "I don't know...not sure who he could take really." He doubted there were all that many people that knew about this place either.
Though with how generally benevolent cain was Letti imagined he wouldn't have turned away anyone wanting to learn.

He stood nearby bastian as the man came to lean and chuckled. "We don't make enough wine to devote an entire storage room to it." He motioned to some barrels in the corner "Cain does brew a bit of it when the fruits are in season." He himself hadn't quite gotten the knack of that craft. Guess you couldn't win them all.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Sebastian was used to Leti keeping a close presence and close eye on him. It was still a bit strange having someone so invested in his wellbeing. Or just invested in him in general.

He couldn't imagine all that many people dreamed of being healers. Not so many was being soldiers, anyway. And Greyshollow was small.

At the notion there was no wine cellar, his shoulders fell a bit, but it had mostly been a joke. A few barrels seemed more than enough for the old healer anyway. Sometimes, he got the feeling the guy didn't like him. Call it instinct. But besides asking a few questions, he had saved his life, so Bastian certainly didn't hold anything against him.

Leti knew far more crafts than the soldier. Bastian wondered if maybe he ought to take the idea of doing something else more seriously. For just a moment. And the he remembered he really couldn't. Allarick would mostly certainly not approve.

"What else is down here?" He asked, gaze lost to the black abyss beyond the lantern light.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti was handy mostly out of necessity. Sure there were traders that came out this far but it was much more practical to go about making or growing things yourself. Well that and everyone had to have something to pass the time of course.
If he had grown up in the capital like bastian had then he imagined he wouldn't have bothered to learn half the things he knew.
The healer had to think for a moment to answer bastian's question "well, just more cave really." He replied with a shrug, knowing it wasn't a very helpful description. "There are some more rooms and passages but we don't use them so they're a bit dangerous." The further down the carved maze went the less it was kept up with and the more likely there was remnants of a cave in or some spiders that had taken residency. Leti hadn't often ventured all the way down before. He certainly wasn't going to risk taking bastian down to anywhere that the path itself was unsteady.
He thought for a moment more "Oh well some of the rooms have some interesting bits left I suppose." He gestured vaugely at the dark. "There's a room a ways down that has one of those big carvings, sort of like the one in the bath room. No idea what it was for though." If there had been a distinct purpose it was gone with the monks.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The more time he spent with Leti and Cain, the more he appreciated how self sufficient and knowledgeable they were. And the more it made him realize he was significantly less useful by comparison. Perhaps, if given the chance, he should fix that. At the very least he could do to leaen more than merely how to hunt and track. Well, he supposed he could read and write and dance and a plethora of other things, but they weren't nearly so useful here.

Bastian smiled faintly. More cave, carvings, a bit dangerous... He was curious but Leti didn't seem to want to go any further. As reasonable as that sounded, it wasn't particularly thrilling.

"And the song?" He nudged, still interested in that. "Where is that?" Leti had mentioned it was on a wall somewhere. He had his breath back finally and while he was hesitant for personal reasons more than health ones to venture further alone, he wanted to push a little.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti himself had no idea how to hunt or track and especially not how to dance. He only knew how to do so much because he had to.
He had almost forgotten that their little spelunking adventure was started because of the lullaby. He thought for a moment and then eyed bastian's crutches. It was a bit far down but knowing bastian wanted to see it made it hard for him to say no. He sort of wanted to show it too...but he wasn't keen to have bastian over exert himself to see some writing on a wall.
After some hesitation he replied "mmm...I think we can make it down but....make sure to take a break if your leg starts to hurt." He picked up the lantern and waited for bastian to seem ready to move one.

He lead them deeper down the cave a ways, keeping an eye on how bastian was keeping up. Luckily it didn't seem to be too much further than the storage room. It's doorway was a little more elaborately carved than the others with some decorative flowers carved around the frame. As he guided bastian in to the room, truly the only light down here was the light of the lantern. He focused on using the lantern to guide bastian in first, it wouldn't be good for the already injured man to trip in the dark.
As he hoisted the lantern up to show the room the warm fire light danced in the carved crevices of the room. From wall to wall there was an intricate mural carved in, wrapping around the room. There were waves, various moon phases and a large depiction of a woman with long hair decorating what seemed to be a very long story. In the center of the room was a large inlaid bath, but it's green stagnant water was now home to algae and moss.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The soldier nodded. He understood the look even before Leti voiced his concerns. It was doubtful it would be his leg that bothered him most, but Bastian could read the writing on the wall, as it were. Do something reckless, and Leti would not be happy. It was still a little odd that the man would care so much but he didn't question that he did care. They had let their relationship go far beyond that at this point. What he found even more odd was his desire to ensure Leti was happy. Or at least not to be the reason he was unhappy. Even if it meant doing things he nornally would not.

Bastian still wasn't sure how to talk about that. But he found himself wanting to. To recognize it beyond what they had been. It was a strange feeling. Coupled with his...lack of performance, he had no words. Only to hope that never happened again despite knowing full well it would.

Bastian took his time on the steps but stayed close to Leti and the light, silently appreciating the attention. He paused outside the doorway, examining the carvings. There had been something important about this place. The old occupants had spent a lot of time just on the entrance. Sacred then?

"It is like the wash room upstairs. Only...fancier." Even under the dirt and grime and algae, he could see that much. He moved past the door o ly slightly but some subconscious force willed him to avoid the dark depths of the water. Knowing it was likely shallow did nothing for nightmares of the well that clung to him.

Water and the moon were ofte associated with healing. And that mother figure...some goddess, perhaps? Or an enchantress? He frowned slightly, more in thought than any judgement. He took a moment to lean on one crutch and give his bandaged shoulder a break. "She seems important," he murmured, glancing over to the text on the wall. It seemed very likely Leti's lullaby was also a prayer or ritual chanting.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti watched bastian as he inspected the room and wondered what the man was thinking. He himself had always felt a certain gravitas to the room when he was exploring the caves as a kid. Seeing the lullaby written out had always made the room feel special but it wasn't as though he could read it since it was written in their language.
He nodded in agreement "It seems like maybe there were a few wash rooms. Makes sense if a bunch of people used to live here..." He replied with a shrug. The washroom up top was fairly small compared to this one so perhaps it held a different purpose before.
Leti shone the lantern more squarely toward the carving of the woman as bastian contemplated it. His own eyes fell on it with a soft reverence "Yes...I think so...Cain says she was some sort myth the monks told but he never told me the story. Only her lullaby." Part of him hoped it wasn't a sad story but he had the feeling it was.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian studied the writing while Leti spoke. He had had a more than in-depth book education. More than his commoner rank suggested or had any right to. Being the son of royalty had some perks. It was enough that even in the dim light and from across the room, he could make out words of the ancient script. He imagined, given time and closer inspection, he could probably understand a lot more. But he didn't suggest as much. It was hard not to keep trying to decipher words though. For his own curiosity and for Leti.

Partly because it would bring questions he couldn't answer. Mostly because he couldn't shake the queasy feeling in his gut just from being here and he didn't like it.

It did seem a fair bit larger than strictly necessary. But it didn't seem to be a public bath either. He glanced at Leti briefly. Cain knew more, from the sound of it. But Leti hadn't pushed him for it. So Bastian decided he wouldn't.

"Myth, huh?" His gaze drifted over the space again, and then back to Leti. "I do not think I will ever like caves," he noted after a short silence. Or maybe it was just this one. Something about the room, the deeper they went, made him uneasy.