To say things changed for Sayifle was an understatement in the boy's mind. Most notably were his now enhanced senses. He could hear more clearly than ever before, smell more distinctly and see quite a bit further than he once had. Yet, it was his ability to sense life that really threw him off. The Humans seemed to pulse with it, and Layrion had explained that what he sensed was their lifeblood. It was something that disturbed him for some time, and he avoided the Humans who lived in Carpathia for awhile. This was on top of no news of Viktor’s apprehension coming in, and an unnerving silence from Rune himself who had gone out to pursue him. Layrion had shrugged it off, saying the hot headed Icchorian tended to get sidetracked by some ‘noble’ quest on many an occasion and would eventually return.

A distinct positive of his change was that most of the Icchorians who had ignored him before now took notice of him, and seemed to give him a respect that was not present before. They spoke with him, answered his questions and asked some of their own. One even confessed that they had wanted to be his friend, but most felt that if they had approached the Human son of the Lady Layrion it would be seen as a threat. Now though, they felt he was able to stand on his own. The Icchorians that belonged to this line of thinking included the ones who spent most their time in the community’s large library, a place that Sayifle had often felt out of place in before. They began talking with him, delighting in what he had learned through self study and were very interested to see things through the Human perspective he could provide. As years passed, they grew to not only accept him, but see him as a sort of leader for the intellectual community, many turning to his aide with any questions they had.

It was as years passed that the starkest difference became apparent to him. His body did not change as it once had. It seemed to have come to a standstill in its development. When he had expressed this concern to Yggdrasil, his uncle had laughed, telling him that aging was something Icchorians did very, very slowly. He'd questioned if Sayifle had really never noticed that in all his life, every Icchorian had seemed to remain the same. When Sayifle had thought about it, they had all seemed to be exactly as they were even when he was young.

Now that he was able to see things differently, Sayifle approached his studies with a new intent. Why was the race of Icchorians, so different and yet similar to the Humans all at once, suffering under a curse of the Sun? He felt that the answer for this lay in their creation, and he was determined to learn everything he could about what the solution could be.

The inhabitants of Carpathia grew use to his questions and requests for interviews, and most thought it was much fun to have him ask about their lives and histories. All this, Sayifle recorded and chronicled, his tomes added to the monumental collection that they had.

It was in this way that Sayifle earned his position as Head of the Scholars, a title that Layrion could not be more proud of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aya had settled quite comfortably into the mountain based home of Carpathia in the years following her rather dramatic arrival. She paid no mind to how the others kept their distance from her, too used to others being wary of her odd behavior. All she ever needed was Terutetsu’s quiet and steady support. She rapped a nail on the stone surface of the table she was working at, glancing up when the door opened to show Sayifle shyly peeking through.

“Excuse me Lady Aya, are you ready for me?”

She nodded, gesturing him in and standing up to cross the room in a fluid motion. “I was waiting on you, come in and settle down in the chair as usual. Has anything changed since we last talked?”

Sayifle took the offered seat in the now familiar room. He came to Aya every so often for her to evaluate him and see if the transition had any effects that had not been present in Terutetsu. Sayifle was actually surprised to see the silent assistant was not present this time. Aya noticed how he looked around and she sniffed lightly.

“He isn’t here right now, I had to send him to gather a few things for me.” She eyed the boy as she pulled out a few tools that she would need. “He’ll be back soon, if you needed to see him.”

Her voice took a strange tone, a glint shining in her eyes that made Sayifle flush.

“No it’s ok. I was just curious. Um, I have a question though...if that’s alright?”

Aya did not answer right away, drawing close to him as she examined his eyes. He didn’t flinch from her anymore like he use too, and instead held still as she inspected him.

“What is it?” She finally asked.

“How did you come to know Terutetsu...and become interested in all of this?”

She paused, her gaze now focused on him instead of the exam. “And which part of that question are you really interested in?”

Sayifle averted his gaze, clearing his throat. “Both actually. I haven’t heard much about you or your Clan and I was just curious as to how you even discovered this method of blood transfer.”

He knew that she couldn’t resist talking about her research and that was proven true when she sat back. “Well I suppose I could answer that. Let’s finish here then we will have some tea.” Sayifle was never one to look forward to these exams, but with the promise of obtaining knowledge, he felt excited to answer her normal list of questions and submit to her prodding. Soon it was over and he found himself brewing tea on a lavish tea set that she had in the corner that he’d never noticed as she put away her things.

He set the steaming cups between them, and she sipped quietly for a long moment staring at the furthest wall in thought before turning to him.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning for it all to make sense as any proper story should. I was born to lowly parents...that is to say - they had no social standing or rank to speak of. They traveled from village to village barely making it by. My elder sister, her name is Riko, was the one who most often took care of me during those days, while our parents took on odd tasks from other Icchorians during our travels in order to acquire the gold we needed to maintain our forms. It was...a pitiful existence at best.” She swirled her tea about in the cup, watching her reflection in the tea’s surface.

“All that came to a shattering end. Our parents were slaughtered by Humans who wielded notable power, and even in that land they were feared. They found my sister and I and well...we lived. One of them, the leader, said that since we were but babes we could be... ‘tamed.’ I believe that is how he put it.” She chuckled and took a long sip of the now cool beverage. “We were handed over to the oldest man in their little troupe, and he was tasked in raising us in the proper Human way. His name was Alan. That time was hard for us of course, but he was kind and patient with us in a way we certainly should not have deserved with how we initially treated him. But we grew to trust him and enjoyed his company. For whatever reason, he was able to make the other Humans stay away from us, and we were left alone for the most part with Alan as the others continued to fight and tear through the land and our comrades. I can honestly say...those were peaceful days for us.”

Sayifle could only stare for a moment before shaking himself out of his stupor. “What happened to Alan?”

“He died. Quite violently too, as did most the Humans in that group. A strong Icchorian had risen up and built a resistance against them. It was very...bittersweet. That day it had been raining and the ground was mush from all the mud and blood. I can still smell it sometimes, if I stay in the silence long enough.” Her voice had grown soft, her gaze distant. “He had stood in front of us, saying we were not Humans that should die. He pled for us… his arms trembling under the weight of his concern. A Human begging the life of his enemies to his enemy. How stupid.” She scoffed quietly, setting the cup down. “He was cut down by that Icchorian, whose eyes were as cold as ice. I would say that it was in that moment, watching Alan fall back onto us as his blood soaked us even through the rain, that I felt a deep pulling need in me. I wanted him to live. To live where my brainless parents had died.” Sayifle watched as one of her hands curled in front of her, as if she were reaching for a body that was no longer there.

“I was weak and helpless then. I couldn’t save him. But that feeling never left me. The Icchorian took us into his Clan, and we were assimilated quickly. Riko, she fit right in. She was always more social of the two of us, more prepared to deal with the creatures and people of this world. I on the other hand was loathed to participate in the drivel. I wanted something more than mindless day to day life. I found the Clan’s source of knowledge in the form of their library and tore through it looking for the answer to the need I felt. I wanted to know why we were so different from Humans but could take on their form with little differences. I wanted to know how to make them live.” She smiled at him then. “You can imagine that was not a popular idea with the Clan. I was shunned outright and you could even say bullied. I never cared though. As long as I was left alone to my studies and experiments I kept out of their way. It had been several hundred years before anything happened to disrupt our lives.”

Sayifle leaned forward, drink forgotten in front of him as he soaked in the information.

“There had been word of some Human forces moving into the Clan’s territory and the Elder decided to make a move on them before they could attack us. For whatever reason, he decided I needed to go, to see what it was to confront the Humans head on. To see why they were undeserving of their lives, I’m sure. My sister protested but was silenced almost immediately. I was sent out with a small crew, but they were certainly enough to take care of the Human filth that we encountered. And filth they were. We found that they had a small collection of stolen Human children with them, and were on their way to sell their lives in lands far from their homes. The others decided to just kill them, to be done with it and see that their misery ended.” Her fist clenched then, the nails digging into her palm.

“I don’t claim to have a lot of compassion, but I saw myself in those children. They were me, just cursed to be a different race that was in the wrong place. I stopped them, I remember standing before the children with my arms spread so wide my shoulders ached for days. I shouted and shouted and raved that I would take responsibility for all of them. They would be mine.” She gripped her cup once more. “It was little Teru that latched onto the back of my legs...I nearly fell. The others relented and informed me I would have to ask the Elder for permission. Well...that didn’t go as well as I had hoped. He consented that I could have just one.” Her gaze met Sayifle’s then, and he felt his breath catch.

“I had to play the role of Originator to these children. I had to pick one to let live, and condemn the rest to death. I realize now that the Elder is a cruel and sadistic man. I should have denied him, I should have taken them all and ran. My mistake was staying and listening to him. It should be fairly obvious who I chose…” Aya sighed, her nail absently tapping the cup. “Teru never left my side after that. I raised him and watched as he grew into a fine young man. Of course in those years, we had to live in isolation for his own safety. He was never able to speak but we developed a way to communicate using various motions of our hands.”

Sayifle grew excited. “I’ve seen that! It’s very fluid and seems quite practical! How wide is the vocabulary in that manner of speaking? Are you able to generate more abstract thoughts in that way or is that more difficult?” He noticed that Aya’s brow had risen and the look she gave him seem rather unimpressed. He flushed once more. “I’m sorry, please continue.”

“I can teach you sometime, so that you can actually talk with him you know.”

Sayifle tried to bite back the excitement he felt at the offer, but knew he failed when she smiled. Aya waved her hand. “Later though.” He nodded and sat back.

“My next mistake came from being too soft towards him. He often asked me to go out to see the rest of the Clan. To meet my sister who had all but forgotten about me in my isolation. Naturally I caved. I planned an outing to the Clan’s main complex, thinking perhaps we could slip in at the busiest time to take a look around, perhaps gather a few materials I needed in my then blossoming field of research. I was on the cusp of a breakthrough but had been lacking something that I would soon discover. We did get in unnoticed, and were able to spend some time moving around the crowded halls. At one point Teru had been trying to get my attention and found himself running into a very notorious Icchorian of the Clan. He was well known for his intolerance of Humans and any who sympathized with them. Teru never did have the best of luck.”

“Was he....attacked?” Sayifle could feel the pang from the scar that still covered the length of his stomach. He knew that pain.

“Oh naturally. He tore right into Teru like he was nothing more than a misplaced bale of hay. I can recall even being impressed with how he managed to slice through Teru but not strike any of the other bystanders. I can’t remember very much after that thought, but the next thing I knew I was holding that…” She nodded to the long bladed spear that she favored. “And that bastard was dead. The others had given us a wide berth for what must have been the shortest fight in the history of that Clan. I could see he had his weapons drawn, but no more beyond that.” She sniffed and primly straightened her skirt once more. “I was a mess. Hair absolutely displaced and blood on my new dress. My Teru lay bleeding on the floor. I flew into a rage. Destroyed the entire hall, and created quite a different reputation from my previous one.”

“Did the Elder banish you?”

Aya laughed, covering her mouth with two nails until she stopped. “No of course not. He wouldn’t dare after that. I single handedly destroyed his strongest warrior. It was quite the embarrassment for him. I was given status and my living conditions certainly improved.”

Sayfile narrowed his gaze in confusion. “That’s...strange.”

Aya lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. “It’s how things work in my Clan. Teru’s wounds were quite problematic though. I certainly had a hard time keeping him from death. Those days were dark for me, I spent more time covered in blood than I ever had in my life up until that point. My methods were barbaric and untested. He suffered quite a bit I’m sure. But in the end...I succeeded. Not only did I keep him alive, I was able to give him the proper amount of my own blood to seal his life in place.”