Bond Breakers

The Beginning of the End

The Aradian morning dawned bright and warm as usual. Merran stood with Targun in an uncomfortable silence. The others two members of their travelling party had yet to join them, which gave Merran time to analyse the young man she had helped enter the tournament. On first glance it was obvious he was devoted to the Sulphite religion; he still wore the attire that many of his brethren had dismissed given the climate. The olive-green silk made it difficult to tell if he was muscular or skinny, however, he was taller and tanned in comparison, and his eyes were striking, a band of gold going around ebony, and as Merran looked closer she found the young Sulphite attractive. Behind the devote worship and religious attire there was a bronzed baby face that was somewhat angelic, with a small straight nose and thin mouth, however, the distinction ended there. Targun seemed to wear a constant frown, a look of annoyance or... Merran detected confusion, but there was no point in breaching the religion of Sulphites. Especially, one so close to the High priest. Even if the pain in his eyes was a result of the material brushing against the wounds Shakur or he would have inflicted, this was a belief etched into their minds, scarred there by their elders. Sacrifice was rule one, two, three... and so on. So, she simply stood there waiting, she didn't mind the silence actually, it wasn't like she expected the Sulphite to thank her outright, not when Shakur was so close, his face blotched with anger, and his eyes never left Targun, as, if he could shoot the disapproval out of them. Every now and then they moved over to her, but she simply stared at him with what she hoped was unfazed nonchalance.

"He's not happy with me," Targun broke the silence.

"I gathered," she said, "but it's not like he can do anything to stop you. Kava is another place completely, a chance to rediscover yourself away from his reach."

"And what makes you think I want to rediscover myself," the Sulphite erupted.

Merran shrugged. She already knew there was more to him, that he had been kept close, watched, and scrutinised, maybe even beaten, manipulated into serving a man, a religion, but she knew, there was no point using that argument. Most Sulphites were brain-washed into believing they deserved lesser lives, that their purpose was to give themselves to a greater being that demanded from them their lives, their children live, their everything, and in return they received powers, stones that were kept from them, that most of them never got to hold, use or be used on them.

"You wanted to leave; I just assumed you needed to get away. To find something different."

Her argument calmed him somewhat. "It's not that. It's just, um," he struggled.

She decided not to push him. "You don't have to tell me anything, all I'm saying is I hope you get what you need when you decided to leave."

He stood next to her, the sun making his eyes look as if they were bleeding molten gold. She could see the way she had approached him had stymied him. The zealots always had an argument if you attacked their religion out right, however, if you didn't, if you let them discover what was out there, if you let them make their own choices, which wasn't something the Sulphites did. They did one of two things, they carried on worshipping what was ingrained in them, only they shared it, the beliefs, the stories, and they listened and respected what else was out there, or they moved away from forced practices. But where they were going, she would encounter the most devote of them all. Those who forced, who punished if the gods were ever disappointed by their people, where they took from their own to sate themselves.

She had spent the rest of the night learning about Kava from Kaijan. The Sulphite was wonderfully different from his brethren. Witty and sarcastic, often joking about serious matters. Merran found it quite refreshing and was oddly sad that he wasn't going to be there to show her around.