They always find a way home. (The Eventides)

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

TS: 2nd Cycle of Juntior, Autumn, XIV (pf)

It was a lovely day, but the big city was getting to her. Avrie was born in Aelyria Prime, but her father had taken her and her twin Anora away at a very early age. Lovely days in the city equated to sweltering heat, crowded conditions, stench, filth, and cranky people. A gypsy could barely stand such things, let alone a winery girl... or a bard for that matter. She'd found over the course of the years she had very little tolerance for cities these days. It always had since settling into a new life in Natura. There was something to be said about a forest village, a quiet life of song, and a free reign to not worry over ones person. Avrie enjoyed Natura nad her life there tremendously.

But even staying with relatives in the city had gotten too her. There were always people, always folks coming and going, new faces to meet, old ones to reacquaint.... (she'd visited her grandmother Eventide's grave and some of Alfreds family while in the city). It wasn't so bad though, being a Line Drifter, that she found an easy escape. Close her eyes, relax, feel the Ambarando Line all around her.... a powerful one ran through the city... right through the palace itself... and let it sweep her up. She had, and in doing so let it take her ten miles outside the city towards Portshire... here she could breath, enjoy the Primus Countryside, and take a walk to ease her gypsy restlessness.

It was a beautiful day for it too... truly a lovely one. And so as she walked she sang, keeping her eyes out and her mind open. It was just her, her voice and the blue sky to keep her company.

[Thallius Eventide]

" 'ey, watch out!"

The halfling man threw himself to his left and out of the way of the human's swinging stiletto, which struck the nearby tree trunk with a dull but heavy thud. Several inches of the long blade were now lodged within the wood, and after several moments of rocking the thing back and forth, Thallius placed his foot to the side and began to tug with both of his hands.

The halfling swore.

"What on Telath are ye tryin' to pull, you fethin' nut? I've only two ears an' no replacements, ye know!"

"Pardon," came the human's voice - a pleasant and casual breath of a word. He flashed one of those disarming smiles of his. "I missed."

He immediately turned back to the freeing of his weapon, while the halfling expressed his distaste toward the joke. It was probably obvious to both of them that he had not even the faintest idea of what he was doing - and not a reason nor an excuse besides. He did, however, have a habit of quirky ideas that only surfaced on occasion. If the two had no idea in which direction they should head, a quick and aimless thrust of blade into wood might offer them a decision without the requirement of thought. Whichever way the hilt protruded was the way the human would guide them.

It was a flawed system, but neither of them cared. Save, perhaps, when Thallius got careles and happened to narrowly avoid snipping off his fellow's ear.

But he didn't exactly harm the man, so that was okay.

As soon as he had managed to loosen and dislodge his stiletto and replace it within its sheath, the distant sound of a woman's voice came drifting through the air. The two men shifted their attention in the direction it was coming from, and for a moment their restless souls were lost in the expanse of time.

As soon as they had grown silent the two were shifting around again, turning to exchange thoughtful glances before standing fully to their feet. Devlin took a step back before realizing Thallius was doing the opposite, and began to hurriedly hobble after the taller man in protest.

"What're ye doin', Eventide? Ye lose yer taffin' mind?"

Thallius didn't respond. He tread as quietly as he was able through the expanse of the Primus Countryside, perhaps not so much as to arrive undetected, but to avoid causing undue alarm. Devlin was probably right about seeking out what might be trouble, when trouble just as easily found them both... but he had to admit he was a curious man at times. He could claim it was the Sight leading him in these directions, but he could just as easily claim it was a matter of coincidence and leave it at that. Because misfortune could have been considered as frequent as fortune, for men like him.

Thallius placed himself against a lean and dying tree, his eyes scanning the area for the source of the nearing voice. A young woman could be seen making her way casually in their direction, though at first he could hardly make her out despite the colors she wore. As suspicious as he may have seemed, waiting patiently for her to get nearer, he was a little too occupied with trying to figure out what he recognized about her voice.

A little closer, and he was trying to figure out what he recognized about those eyes.

That face.

After a moment his brow was knitted in serious contemplation, and the woman before him was now presenting quite an interesting series of questions. She seemed too much like a gypsy in appearance to really pass as a "normal" human traveller, but he had never seen her around before, which made him wonder why he felt he should recognize her. In truth, she reminded him a lot of the members of his kumpania, but he knew all the poeple who belonged within it, and he hardly even knew her name.

He hardly had time to remember he might represent a threat to her. Devlin was glancing between Thallius and the woman nervously, his hands shifting all around the crinkled brim of his faded hat. The human, on the other hand, was still leaning against the tree, his arms crossed over his chest as though out of a reproachful type of boredom.

Devlin took a step toward Thallius.

"Can wake up anytime, y'know," the halfling hissed sidelong through his teeth.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

The day was bright, and Avrie was very much enjoying it. A last one perhaps, or a last series of days of warmth before winter settled in. As she walked, she noted the trees and the thickness of moss on them, the amount of leaves that had fallen and the scarcity of the flowers that remained in the countryside. It was very different in the countryside than in the city, and she was grateful for it. Having left Natura to visit relatives in Aelyria Prime, and to discuss some things with the Regent, Avrie was already missing her forest home.

She hadn't been home much this year, and truth be told thats really all she wanted to do for a while was settle in and finish the pet store, work on the house, and rest. Just rest. The youngest Eventide had been tired lately, irritable, and prone to mood swings like she hadn't ever experienced. She'd also had been plagued with nightmares... dreams that haunted her from a past that wasn't her own and a future that was tied to someone else.

It was all frustrating.

And that was one of the reasons she was here. She needed a new direction, something to focus on that was outside the normal and something that would help her people... the people Anora staunchly refused to acknowledge in her own way. Avrie came to Aelyria Prime to ask Milo to allow her to be the consul and ambassador to the Barbari Air'riela.... and thats why she was out walking... clearing the stench of the city from her head.

And thats why, too, at first she didn't rightly believe what she saw when she came across the halfling and the man with the intense Eventide blue eyes. There could be no mistaking it... none whatsoever. That and the fact that he looked almost exactly like her Grandfather, Evan Larkson. Avrie gasped softly, her own Eventide blues going wide. She stared, rudely.... and the casual ease of the man dressed as an Air'riela with a casual ease of typical Eventide arrogance.

"Well, are you going to rob me or tell me why you look like a far younger more roguish version my grandfather Evan?" She said gently, to break the silence, glancing between the man and his halfling companion. To her mind, the halfling looked far more threatening than the man did... his face was too beloved to her.

[Thallius Eventide]

It was so much more evident now that what Thallius recognized in the woman's eyes was the shade that was his own - and the voice he heard and the face she had were all complements of his mother's traits. It was an unmistakable thing as she stopped, looked him in the eye and spoke, but it was something that only confused him, as he was quite sure any relation was impossible. His mother had never told him of any other daughters he had not met. He knew he was not her son, but beyond that, too many details were left to rust.

His moment of bothered confusion was disrupted by the elbow of Devlin Darrow. The halfling was glaring up at him as though he were considering a severe blow to the head - if only he were tall enough to do so. The reproach in his expression was poison.

"Yer not thinkin' what I think yer thinkin', are ye?" he exclaimed. "By Aslan, she looks like yer old lady!"

Thallius ignored him - slightly - and flashed the woman one of those grins that usually annoyed all hells out of Devlin. "Rob you?" he said, standing upright and pushing away from the tree. "I have to admit, even I would done a better job of it than this."

He also had to admit, her words about his resemblance to family struck a silent chord within him, but he expressed no outward reaction to this and instead maintained his composure. "As for your grandfather, I can't say that I've ever met the man myself."

He paused, doing a moments' worth of thinking. "Name's Sterret Chumomisto." He gave a brief bow, figuring all the while that if she were really a gypsy as she appeared, she might recognize the name. "And this is my fine friend, Mister Devlin Darrow."

The halfling flourished with his hat in his hand and offered the woman a bright grin of his own. Whether it was genuine or not wasn't very clear. "At yer service," he chirped, before his grin stretched slowly from ear to little ear. "Fer a fee, of course."

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie raised an eyebrow. Indeed. If he was a bandit, he needed serious banditry lessons. She started to point it out, but then had to remind herself he wasn't someone she knew, despite how he looked. But Gods, he did look like Evan... strikingly so. It was so uncanny that Avrie had to take a step back, study Thallius further, and then nod. When he gave his name, Avrie all but laughed.

"Chumomisto? I doubt that. Your skin is too pale and those are Eventide Blue eyes if I've ever seen them. Just like mine. I'm Avrie Lirelle Chumomisto Eventide Drega." It was a mouth full, but it gave both her parentage and her connections. Then, on a hunch, she switched languages, speaking Air'riela with only a slight accent. "I'm the daughter of Addison Eventide and Nicolesza Rawmie Chumomisto. I belong to both Natura, Cloudkiss Estate in Daltina, and the Chumomisto Kumpania" She said gently, her eyes a challenge for him to give her his linage in return. She'd never heard of Sterret Chumomisto, but there was a possibility that he was a cousin of some sort from another Kumpania.

She glanced at the halfling again. There was trouble, for sure. Avrie was glad her katana was at her side, and she had her voice. She wondered absently if there was time to enter clara and pull vis. She really wanted the truth out of Sterret. There was something... something so Evan Larkson about him that made her breath erupt from her lungs in a painful expulsion. Who was he?

She waited, curious.

[Thallius Eventide]

Ooc: Apologies for the incoherency of my post; have a few RL struggles and it's a little hard to think, but after I relax for a few hours and talk to a few people, I should be back to feeling clear-headed.

It was Thallius's turn to laugh in disbelief. Yes, he had understood. He understood that this woman knew his name. And to make it worse, she claimed to be the daughter of his adopted mother, the one whom he had loved and cared for all his life as though she were his one and only parent. To think she would ever keep the identity of her own true children away from him was difficult to comprehend. Sure, he had siblings who were not his relatives by blood but by relation to Nicolesza herself - and he did know that his mother and father lived somewhere in the Empire, having continued their life without him there. But to think Nicole had had children elsewhere and had kept them from his knowledge... and worse yet, had given birth to them by a man he had never met!

So Addison was his birth father, yes, but that changed nothing as far as he could tell.

"Nicolesza's daughter, are you?" he inquired, his hands shifting restlessly within his pockets. His eyes were narrowed a bit as he inspected the features of her face. As much as his heart denied it, the proof was there in her every expression, every word she voiced. And her eyes - the eyes that resembled his own. It was all there, mocking him, as though through a fierce twist and mangling of fate itself.

Devlin was, of course, surprised. So surprised, in fact, that he let himself betray his own common sense and refer to his companion by name.

"She's Eventide too? Well that'd explain a lot."

"Seems as though even in death people's secrets try to betray them," Thallius remarked, ignoring the halfling man. Despite the nature of the comment, a light smile lit his face. "Very well then - Avrie Eventide. I'll humor you for the moment. I'm not Chumomisto by appearance but I damn well am by relation. Nicolesza was my mother as well - but not once have I seen your face."

He debated, inwardly, for a moment. What to say, what to say....

He breathed in with mild frustration. "Miss Eventide, I've grown up under Nicolesza's care for years. I've heard of your family name, but never of you."

It was hard to know where to begin with all of this.

"I think we're both missing something quite important, don't you?"

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

His words explained a lot, and yet nothing at all. Avrie glanced at Devlin, curious and uncertain. Something didn't add up, and didn't make sense. He was Nicolesza's son? Adoptive? Then who was his mother? Anger flashed through her briefly, tinged by a bit of jealousy... but just a bit and only for a moment. There were times Avrie had wondered what it would have been like growing up within the Kumpania instead of on the home soils of Cloudkiss. Not that she wanted other parents, its just that she'd have loved to have known Nicole too. Moreso than just staring at a cold dead corpse and setting her to the torch.

Avrie glanced up at Sterret once more, pain in her eyes. "There are lots of secrets in our family it seems. I didn't know my birth mother until well after Nicolesza was gone. She left me and my twin with my birth father and his wife. I never knew the connections until I was older. You look like my mother Vanessa a bit. I... and you look a great deal like Evan, my grandfather and Vanessa's father. I don't understand it though. You also look a lot like my older brother Austin. I don't understand why. Do you know? Vanessa was gone a while when Nicole was carrying us. I don't think she had a child though. They would have spoken about it, I'm sure of it." Avrie said doubtfully, worried suddenly.

"When I was visiting the Kumpania this summer, no one spoke of you. Why?" She asked suddenly, abruptly changing the subject. Who was this man? What right did he have to Eventide blue eyes? Avrie stamped down on the suspicion suddenly, thinking how unfair it was. If Nicole and Vanessa had secrets, there had to be reasons for them. But obviously they were things they didn't share with their children. Avrie worried about that... really worried. Once upon a time she'd thought the Eventides were some of the closest family she'd known. But now, as time passed, she realized there were problems... secrets... and as she studied Sterret, she suddenly realized something.

"I'm at least your half sister then." Avrie said abruptly, not willing to defend the reasons why she wasn't around the Kumpania in any frequency that Sterret could define.

At that , Avrie reached out her hand, as if to shake Thallius'. "I'd be really glad to get to know you." The bardess said, despite all the questions, and despite the confusion. Sterret wasn't responsible for the actions of parents. Nor was she. They could only be who they were in the here and now.

[Thallius Eventide]

Thallius couldn't help but feel sorry for the pain displayed in Avrie's eyes. It was a pain he had known all too well throughout his life - the longing to know things he had been raised without, and the occasional jealousy towards those who had had them. He could understand the uncertainty that sifted between them two of them now - not only because there was a similarity between their situations, but because the answers were so hard to reach and yet so close amongst the both of them.

"I see," he replied, knowing somehow that the words she spoke were probably true. They made sense to him now, when it came to the Eventide line and the fact she had known Nicolesza only after her death. It would explain why he had never seen her, and why she recognized his face as one she had seen before. But pieces of a puzzle remained untouched, and it was hard to figure out what belonged where.

"You would think Nicole would have told me about you as well," he remarked in response to her musings of Vanessa holding back. "I suppose there's always an opportunity to learn something you might have never known."

He was quiet as he glanced downward, listening to her following inquiry. A pang found itself into the workings of his heart and after a moment he shrugged. His expression was stiff and weary.

"Well I wasn't there," he replied. "That could be one reason why they preferred not to even acknowledge my existence at the time. I just..."

He paused, then shook his head.

"... just couldn't go," he said.

After a moment his gaze shot up to find Avrie's arm reaching outward for him - and he watched in hesitation as though not sure if he should take it. It was in his nature to be suspicious - to be quick to learn and slow to trust. But as things fell into place and odd coincidences proved to be more than just that, he couldn't help but feel as though this woman was breaking through the barriers he so carefully constructed for himself from day to day. At once there was frustration and confusion, so carefully mingled with a growing curiosity.

And as though Devlin had only just then shook himself from his reverie, he too displayed several of these emotions.

"Now hold on a second...." His mouth fell open as though to continue, but not much came out. He lipped a few silent words. "Nicole's daughter?" he said, repeating old news. "Well yeah... I told ye I saw it there. Now isn't this an odd story to tell...."

Thallius accepted the woman's offered hand, and gave it a firm and respectful shake. A wry grin found itself upon his face and after a moment he released her.

"Everyone's got to start somewhere," he replied, already making the best of his situation. "Just one request, though, if you wouldn't mind..."

He ran his hand through his hair, looking a tad bit edgy.

"Could you not call me Eventide just anywhere? My visa says I'm Chumomisto, and... well, you'd understand why I wouldn't want people thinking I went and faked that..."

He flashed another grin, one of sheer amusement, as though he had just made a joke that made perfect sense.

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie's eyes glanced between Sterret and Devlin confused and elated all at once. New family, their friends... as she reached her hand out, the tattoo of the blue-green eye on the pulse point of her wrist would be obvious to Sterret... especially to someone who grew up in a Kumpania and had been around Line Drifters all his life. It explained why Avrie was out walking alone, and wholly unafraid. Here, near Prime, were some of the most powerful Ambarando Lines in existence, and it was here a Line Drifter need never be afraid. As soon as he shook her hand, she felt his energy, met his gaze, and knew him to be someone who was going places. She turned, offered her hand to Devlin in the same manner.

But Sterret's words stopped her, and she turned. Blue flashed with temper for a moment, and she advanced upon him to stare deep into his eyes, nose to nose. "Never be afraid to be an Eventide. We are winemakers, some of the best there are around. If your of our blood, you are of our family, and any piece of gaje paper in your pocket that you wrote a fake name on can mean nothing when compared to having a name like Eventide. Is Sterret your only name? I have so many it makes my head spin, and I am proud of each. You should be proud of all of yours too... even Eventide. Our family has a winery on the edge of the world, outside of Daltina. Waves crash against our own beach, and the mist nourishes our vines even as the sun ripens then, by Carmelya's grace allowing some of the best wine to be made anywhere in Aelyria. If your an Eventide, and truthfully you look full blooded to me... then its as much your legacy as it is mine, Anora's, or Austins. You should come home some time." She said, going wholly on instinct this time... on what she felt through the palm of his hand.

She stepped back then, surveying them both. Sterret was taller than she was, build exactly like Austin, with his eyes but lacking his arrogance. The humor was there though, and something else... a sense of lost direction. Avrie, though raised on the winery, was Air'riela through and through. She let her instincts guide her as the bardess sensed this brother's dangling wayward direction in life. She stepped closer then, and wrapped her arms around him uninvited.... opening herself to his pain. As a Drabarni in training... a seer, such things were good for her, to go with her instinct, that is.

"I'm sorry we didn't grow up together. I'm sorry there are lies upon lies and deceptions among our parents... all of them. Someday we will find the truth, but fate cannot help but bring us all back together. There is strength in numbers and in being surrounded by that sort of love." She said, pushing him gently away and studying his face.

[Thallius Eventide]

Thallius stepped back upon reflex as Avrie began to vent at him, realizing that he had said something offending to her. Of course, he had never meant such a thing, but he felt as though she had taken his response in a way he had not meant it. He shook his head, not avoiding her gaze, but appearing a bit half-hearted in recieving the information. Still, if he could have avoided bothering her the way he had, he would have done so from the start.

"Not so much ashamed," he said, his hands still shifting in his pockets. "But Vanessa didn't raise me. In fact, I've never heard a word from her, or seen her face.... How could I not consider myself a Chumomisto rather than an Eventide? I know nothing about your - my - family. What do you expect from me?"

He chewed on nothing, his eyes intense. For a moment his temper rose with hers. It didn't stay long, though, since Thallius often did his best to dismiss such powerful emotion, preferring instead to avoid it in any way he could. He didn't like to dwell on things. After all, what more could he do about things that had already occured ordinations ago? It was a lifestyle of his, and of Devlin's, to make the best of what little they had.

He wasn't sure what else to say, but words weren't needed. Thallius was taken by surprise by Avrie's hug, but made no effort to push her away from him. As a child, displaying love to one another wasn't a difficult thing amongst his family, but as the years had tread by - especially since his mother's death - family matters had always seemed so far away. The feeling of another person's heart reaching out for his own had been fading. And now it was almost new again.

"Well," he said as she moved away, feeling rather helpless about the matter, "I'm not sure I need to know each detail anymore. But maybe you'll understand I'm not good with this sort of thing. Still..."

He paused, searching for the right words. Not that it helped.

"I don't mind having more family. Just don't expect me to visit every time a holiday comes around."

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie took a breath, her identical blue eyes meeting his identical blue eyes. "I expect everything, Sterret." She said simply. Part of her wished she'd met him months before... even seasons when she was softer and laughed more. There was a time when she had been unafraid of the world and laughed joyously at all of it, before rushing blindly headlong into whatever it was that entertained her.

Not so now.

He had his own share of pain though. She could feel it as she wrapped her arms around him and held him for a moment. There was a strange familiarity about him, nothing she could put a finger on though. He should have been familiar. It all seemed unfair... that Vanessa robbed them of such pleasures. Had she? Really? Or was there more to the story.

Avrie had no way of knowing until she was in earshot of Vanessa and could ask her mother herself. "I know what your saying... I don't know that I would have considered myself a Chumomisto even as I do a Eventide, but I met my family and realized all of it was true. I even helped bury our mother. I'm sorry you weren't there." She said gently, shifting her feet then glancing at Delvin and offering him a smile.

"So, tell your sister about yourself... and I'll share with you anything you want to know. We've got... what... twenty years to catch up? It's sounds cliche, but I really do want to know about your life, and what you've been doing." she asked

[Thallius Eventide]

Thallius was not so experienced with situations so tense with full of uncertainty. Even more so, he was not used to sharing critical bits and pieces of his life. Perhaps this was because those critical pieces were full of illegal activities and questionable morals, but still - such knowledge of the deeper workings of his life put him a bit on edge. She was his sister, he had to admit by now, but he had hardly known her for even half a candlemark.

He sighed. "Well, I uh.... had siblings of my own when I was growing up with Nicole. I had a good home and a good family there. I suppose I always stood out in some ways but in others I was just like they were. Gaje or not, they accepted me all the same.

"People began to drift away, though. Siblings left, family members grew ill, things changed. There was tension after a while. I just left after that, and found my living in gaje cities, scrounging a bit to survive. But I didn't mind. And then I met Devlin."

He glanced over at the halfling, who shrugged a bit and nodded in acknowledgement of the statement. But he didn't continue or explain.

"So we moved around a bit. Traveled. It was better for us, I guess. We stumbled on my kumpania once and he got to meet several of my family. Then we went on again and ... just wandered. And then we ended up here."

He shrugged. "We just support each other. It's a mutually beneficial thing. Between the two of us, we get by."

Devlin nodded again. "Satisfied with the way it is now," he said, as though the woman needed some convincing. "Anyway, hasn't been doin' much, I can tell ye. Look at 'im, as accomplished as I am."

Thallius chuckled. "Ah well. I try."

[Avrie Eventide Drega]

Avrie studied the pair, puzzled. Something was awash here. "Why did you leave the kumpania, just because there was tension? There's always tension in a family. Always. You couldn't get along or couldn't stand what was going on? I don't understand, Sterret, what kind of tension? Why did your mother leave us with mine, and my mother give you to Nicole? It's not making any sense... nor that you wandered. Did you even ever do anything with your life?" She was curious. It was the first question Addison or Vanessa would ask, though in truth it was none of their business, any of them. "Your whole family are vinters, and even Austin, our older brother owns a winehouse. He'd help you get started... help you do something, whatever it is you wanted too... to learn a trade and get going. I'd help you too. Both of you. Wandering without a purpose will get you killed. We have a need to serve, Sterret.. .either the family, or the Empire. We owe it to them. Even Milo would probably help you find a path. Thats why I'm here in Prime.. to see him, to apply to be a consul to the barbari..." She said softly, concerned, not knowing how someone could drift without purpose, without skills.

"You aren't a thieves are you?" She had to ask. His... mannerism and nonchalance sorta pointed that way, and she hoped to Carmelya it wasn't true. An Eventide, a thief. If so, she needed to get him back to Cloudkiss.. back to her father... Addison would set him straight. "If its coin you want... there's so many better ways to make it without stealing it... to make more and do so honorably..." Now she was worried... and going with her gut. Avrie was well on her way to training to be a seer. Even now she itched to read her cards for him.

"You need to come home... to Cloudkiss. And meet your family...." She said softly.