Echos of a fateful meeting

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti was surprised by that question but he supposed the guy did seem to have trouble with the concept of doing nothing. So in a way he should have known that Bastian would ask for something to occupy his time.
He thought about that for a moment and then stood to go rummage in the nearby desk. There was indeed some graphite and a spare bit of parchment. The graphite stick was even held in a grip to keep the users fingers from growing black. He had used them long ago when helping Cain transcribe some old recipes and his skill with ink wasn't very good. He gathered them up and placed them down in bastian's reach with a curious expression. had he decided to write a letter after all?

"What are you planning to write?" Feleti asked brightly seemingly pleased with the turn of events. Though he fully intended to make sure that bastian didn't over work his arm, the man would likely run out of parchment before he could do any real harm.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian didn't have trouble with the concept of doing nothing, he had trouble with the practice of it. Which amounted to the same thing he supposed. He did his best not to fall asleep while watching Leti rummage through the desk but even with having just slept and not wanting to, he felt tired. Some combination of not eating enough before and having a full stomach now.

He considered the parchment for a moment, almost not hearing the question.

"Not planning to write," he mumbled. Had he said it that way? Probably. "Much better at drawing than writing." As a soldier he probably shouldn't even know his letters but he'd been...very well educated. Best to avoid writing, not that he had been inclined to. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to draw either, but that was okay. He had a lot of time to think about it and until then he didn't bother with picking anything up. If he only had one piece of paper he could wait for a while.

Bastian would quietly consider the blank page for a while, perhaps an awkwardly long time unless Leti wanted to talk. He wanted to draw something that wasn't from his nightmares but those images kept invading.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Bastian really was full of surprises. Leti's expression showed that he was delighted by the idea of bastian drawing a picture in the graphite. He himself wasn't actually very good at that sort of thing. well....he could draw some plants, that was important for the recipes but other than that he would have described his abilities as crude at best.

He watched with some interest as bastian gathered the materials. It was perhaps a little awkward as Leti quietly waited with anticipation to see what bastian might be planning to illustrate. After a long silence he found himself unable to contain his enthusiasm. "....what are you going to draw?"

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian frowned slightly as the young broke his contemplation. But it softened as he met Feleti's eyes and became a mixed of embarrassed and resigned. He should probably stop staring at the paper and just...let his hands take over. He was a little unnerved by having an audience but he tried not to think about it. The point was to relax, to let go, to just...draw.

He started with the cave entrance and the rocks above it. Then the some lines that eventually coalesced into stone stairs with perspective and some convenient rocks in the way so he didn't have to merge them with the face of the mountain next to it. The soldier hadn't seen the steps from below, but he had seen part of them from above and climbed them enough times in his dreams to be familiar with A stone staircase, if not THE stone staircase. Some sage leaves, which were simple enough that as a small detail, they were rather nondescript. It wasn't heavy detail, just a sketch on a side of the parchment, but it felt good to just...put the image down. Better than any words, anyway.

Sketch One

And then he built up from there. A larger rock over the cave, then some of the mountain rising above it. A few more disjointed lines later, and the top of the mountain ceased to be the peak but a face. A familiar one, maybe. A...decent if rusty attempt at one. And the rocks above the cave a shoulder or hood maybe.

He paused there for a moment without looking up from the parchment. "Been a long time since I drew anything," he noted. And after this, it would probably be a long time again. He didn't often find the downtime to pursue the hobby.

Sketch Two

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti watched him draw with complete unawareness to how unnerving it might be. Seeing Bastian slowly flick lines and shapes together into a picture was mesmerizing. Watching the rocks and sage come into existence was sort of fun.
Even more was seeing how well Bastian managed a human face. He himself could barely draw leaves let alone humans.
He was still looking at the portrait with a beaming smile when bastian made his humble admission.

He shook his head before looking over to the man. "It's way better than anything I can do! It looks like our mountain." It was clear he was genuinely delighted by this turn of events. "Who is the person?" He asked oblivious that it might be of him. His grey eyes looking to bastian with innocent wonder.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

It was supposed to be Leti. But while he mostly understood proportions and face structure, making the lines do what he wanted and getting the right shape and shading was...not something he practiced enough. It helped having a model, he supposed.

Bastian shrugged noncommittally in answer. Whether Leti recognized himself or not wasn't something Bastian was worried about. His skill with drawing wasn't going to capture the man well enough and he doubted the white haired man looked at himself everyday. Bastian certainly didn't see himself much. He considered making a joke. Or insinuating something. But he was too tired to come up with anything smart.

"Just takes practice. Painting seems more...fitting here." He said, leaning back for a moment to give his wrist a break. And then suddenly struck by some other need to continue, he leaned back over the paper and added a few more curving lines, softly at first and then more firmly, a flowing shape arching over the page and encircling the portrait. The tongue defined it as a snake of some sort before he added any other details. Bastian wasn't sure why, but he had always liked snakes. And they had always haunted his dreams. He wasn't sure which had come first.

Sketch Three

He set the paper aside again and leaned back, feeling like the drawing was a little more complete now.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti indeed rarely saw himself. He occasionally saw himself in the reflection of still waters but he didn't own a mirror. Despite the very well stocked storage, it seemed mirrors weren't something monks cared to own. He hadn't ever found one while digging around.

He wondered based on bastian's noncommittal answer if maybe it was someone from the capital, or even more mysterious no one at all. Leti considered the advise thoughtfully and wondered why painting. But he supposed he might be better at painting if he tried. His attention was drawn back as bastian began once again drawing.

This time as bastian finished instead of a a beaming smile his expression was one more lost in thought. The snake seemed oddly familiar. He had already forgotten his own nightmare but some notion remained. He too thought it belonged, it made the sketches a group somehow.
He continued to look at it for a moment as bastian set it aside but decided to put it out of his mind for now. It was a fairly nice way of getting bastian to rest. "do you draw much? back at the capital?"

[Sebastian Arcturis]

There was a sort of...unsettling connection for a moment, as Leti considered the sketch with a bit more of a somber expression. None of the piece made much sense, but it also meant something. Not that the artist really knew what it meant. Sure, there was a hell of a lot he could read into it - Leti in the center, the stairs leading up to him, the snake above and encircling, who or what the snake might represent, the sage leaves overlapping the beast...all manner of it could be analyze or studied and likely some of it was right. But that hardly mattered. What matter was that he felt better. Having drawn it. Looking at it. Much better.

He flexed his wrist and fingers again. If he wanted to do that again, he should ask for a slate or something to draw on. OF course, there wasn't anymore paper unless he filled in the edges later.

"No," he said, covering his mouth to yawn. He frowned. He hated feeling so worn out. "I don't have much free time. When I do, I train." Maybe taking some time to draw might help clear his mind.

He wanted to ask for more paper. Or a sketchbook. But paper was expensive. And while he had had some coins on him before...well, those belonged to the healer and his father already, as far as Bastian was concerned. It had been enough to cover room and board and food for his travels, but not much beyond that. Certainly not enough to pay for healing. "Besides the sword, you and your father...should keep anything I had on me," he said softly, likely a bit out of the blue. "I can't repay you for..the help." Speaking so much at once was difficult.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti thought that was an awful shame considering he quite liked the drawing. Then again he couldn't fault the man for focusing on his work.
The yawn didn't go unnoticed, even given how much sleep the man had gotten he wasn't surprised that Bastian felt so tired.

He was just about to start getting ready to turn in for the night when Bastian made his comments about payment. Leti blinked in obvious surprise and confusion. "That's very.... kind of you...but we don't usually take much payment. don't need it really. " He and had served the village alongside his father his whole life and rarely seen people hand over coins, they did barter for things sometimes. Usually people gave them food, or the tools if it was a family of artisans. It wasn't the first time he had wondered if healers were different elsewhere but perhaps the first time he realized how different things might be. He had been taught that healing was a service which belonged to all.
Seeing bastian in pain he placed a hand on bastian's chest, though this time it was more out of habit. " Don't fuss about it too much. If you haven't anything to trade now then perhaps our paths will cross again. After all it's no small twist of fate I even found you, eh?" He replied with a comforting smile and a chuckle. People did seem to get antsy if they didn't give anything in return for the healing. Leti didn't like the idea of bastian, or anyone really, feeling guilty for having been healed. In his mind he did this sort of thing because he wanted to. It seemed cold hearted to drag a man into ones home and then demand his few possessions. The journey back to the capital was nothing to sneeze at. Leti would feel a lot better if Bastian left with the supplies he needed.

Feleti stood and moved to blow out the lantern. " Right, I'm going to turn in. You should try to get some more rest." Then he came back to snuggle into the bed beside bastian. Once he'd made himself comfortable it was his turn to yawn.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Where Bastian grew up, healing wasn't a right, it was a privilege. Certainly there were herbalists and healers who didn't charge so much or might barter like they did around here, but those were largely inferior (and had less magic) than those one had to pay for. Bastian hadn't been raised privileged, just by the privileged. He'd had his fair share of both and seen his fair share of both. Sometimes the men and women he worked with were nobles. Sometimes they weren't.

It wasn't entirely painful to breathe, not to the degree it had been before. This was more...tiring. Bastian realized he was probably going to end up sleeping on his back for a while. Not his preference.

What he had to trade was whatever money he had on him. But a favor was fair enough. Fate had been rather kind to him and from the sound of it, Leti was more of a believer in that sort of thing than Bastian was. If the white haired man said not to worry about it right now, then he wouldn't. He didn't have a problem returning a favor or something later. "Alright, Leti," he said. "No, I suppose not."

Besides, he would prefer to have some coin for the journey home, especially considering it had been quite the walk to get here. He wasn't yet certain if he would be walking back. The soldier glanced at Leti. He hadn't realized what time it was. He supposed it hadn't been midday yet when he's passed out. And then he'd slept for a while. Bastian nodded and shifted back down onto the bed. He didn't mind the snuggling so much anymore.

Thought tired, it took a lot longer to fall asleep. But he made it there eventually, with much more muted dreams of climbing mountain stairs while holding his breath. At some point, he ended up with an arm around the man next to him.

[Feleti Eidothea]

In deed it might not have been midday when bastian fell asleep but it had already been well into the evening when Leti came to bring him supper.
Leti slept soundly, seeming to cuddle bastian more in his sleep than the previous nights.
He dreamed of a place he had never been before, with cobbled alleys and buildings clustered together. The sun was wafting down in the slow thick way that it can only do in dreams. Before he knew it he was walking in a garden very unlike his own. One where instead of healing herbs and tea flowers, there was an abundances of flowers grown for their beauty alone. He wandered aimlessly for awhile until he reached a bench. On it bastian was sitting there, dressed in armor. He was saying something but Leti couldn't make it out. He kept moving in closer butthe words never got clearer, until his face was only inches away. Suddenly bastian reached out and pulled Leti into a warm embrace, kissing him tenderly as a knight might kiss a princess.

In reality Leti stirred awake, his eyes wide orbs of confusion.It was still sometime in the night. In the night one of the healer's arms had draped itself over bastian's waist. He knew it wasn't as though bastian had actually done that, or could know what he had dreamed about but all of a sudden he felt immense guilt.....but not guilty enough to move the arm around him. Slowly he calmed his heart and willed himself back to sleep.
His sleep was less deep until morning came and he woke again a bit groggily.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

His dreams shifted from the struggle of endless stairs to something more akin to a pleasant stroll through a park or garden of some sort, a soft fog rolling in around him. The shift corresponded to whenever Leti's arm settled around his waist. Not that Bastian realized that.

The gardens were hardly pristine, but they were clearly well cared for, the paths well worn. He paused in the middle of it, as he heard what he thought was his name being called in the distance. Only it seemed to be coming from all over in the mists and not matter which direction he went, he seemed to get no closer. Bastian never stopped trying. But even then, he slept comfortably, only shifting a little in his sleep.

Bastian woke slowly, half mumbling a qurstion of where something was under his breath. It seemed a trend, that waking up always interrupted his dreams, peaceful or not. He noticed the extra weight around him rather quickly. Leti pressed against his side was normal. His arm around him in a casual sleepy embrace...not so much. But he...he was starting to understand hr had slept better with Leti than he ever had on his own. So he didn't dispute the contact. His arm around the other man seemed just as acceptable. It was...comfortable. and he needed that right now to distract from how generally uncomfortable he was.

"Morning, Leti," he said gently, feeling the man move against him.

[Feleti Eidothea]

"good mornin bastian" Leti mumbled sleepily and was for a moment reluctant to move from their warm comfortable position beneath the sheepskin blanket. He hesitantly disentangled himself and sat up in bed. Maybe it was the strange dream from last night or simply waking in the night that made him feel not so rested. He tried to put it out of his mind.

Leti groggily stumbled out of the and stood up to stretch. "I won't be far, just call if you need something." He said before leaving the room to do a few chores and gather up some breakfast. He knew it was about time to undertake the massive task of giving bastian another soak so he set some water on to warm over the fire.
After a short time away the healer came back to the room bearing a bowl of goats milk, and some bread.
"Fancy a bit of breakfast?" He asked hopefully.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

He too was reluctant for the man to leave. Which surprised him a little but he wasn't about to fight the feeling. As Leti stood and stretched, Bastian caught himself wanting to do the same habitually but even the slight shifting to wake himself up strained a lot of things so he elected not to move.

It seemed Leti wasn't always a morning person. Bastian gave a soft, sleepy hum of understanding. While Leti completed his chores and breakfast, the soldier tried to relax. It was difficult to hold still though. He finally felt rested for once and he wanted to be awake. He also had a need, perhaps brought on by the closeness of another handsome person he cared about. Only he certainly couldn't do much about that right now.

Breakfast. His stomach growled more than it rolled over and he smiled faintly. Best to try at least. "Yeah." He took the bread first and tried a few hesitant bites since it was more solid than anything he had had in a while. His mouth was happy at least. He did miss food. The milk went down a bit easier but he still took his time.

"You eat already?" He asked considering the guy looked a little tired. Maybe that was hypocritical. Bastian didn't care.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti sat next to bastian pleased to see the man attempting to hold down solid food. He had brought some bread for himself and was nibbling at it passively. "I don't always eat that much in the mornings." He replied with a shrug.
Considering his thoughts usually went to what the needed doing for the day, he often found he forgot it entirely. Not the best habit he admitted but he ate heartily enough at noon and supper.

"I've put some water on to warm, it's best time those wounds had a wash soon." His gift will have staved off the minor infection he had been developing but he wasn't about to risk his work sliding back. He also wanted to do it in the day time so he could see how the wounds were doing better. He knew it was going to be tiring and hard work for both of them but the sooner they got through it the faster bastian could rest again.