[scoarta] the mountain | zviad

Every day I'm just survivin'
Keep climbin' the mountain
Even when I feel like dyin'
Keep climbin' the mountain

June 2004

Having broken up with Lev in December, and thrown herself into work in the following days, Mihaela felt like she hadn't looked up in months. Hadn't looked forward to anything, had barely even realized the day until the summer came. And as the temperatures started to grow, and the rains came, Mihaela realized what it meant: Zviad was graduating. With Valda traveling the states, and Lev in the rearview, Mihaela clung to his friendship even more than before. Zviad had been one of her closest during Durmstrang, but it was hard to keep up long distance. A theme she was becoming all too aware of.

A theme she hoped would burn to the ground now that summer was here, and Zviad was out of school, and headed for her mountains. It had surprised her when he'd written and informed her he was following her in the Dragonologist profession, but she had been quick to invite him to stay in Scoarta. The rural farming down was only a short trek through the Carptathians from one of the best dragon reserves in the world, and served as a base camp for adventurers heading into the wilderness. Especially in the summer months.

June was rainy, but it didn't stop the work. Members of the town, like Mihaela, spent much of the time preparing the way for the influx of researchers, dragon trainers, and hikers that came with August and September. And she hoped Zviad would help her in this. Hoped so much that she'd packed them both over night backs for a trip into the forest without giving him a heads up. She figured she would explain when he arrived, which should be any moment.

Mihaela paced in front of the monumental hearth her uncles built in the middle of the town's tavern and waited for him to arrive.

@Zviad Gogoladze

After graduation Zviad had visited his mother in Sukhumi for two days, but the muggle woman could not really relate to her son anymore and Zviad felt that despite the fact that they were family they wouldn’t see a whole lot of each other anymore. Their lives were too different. Yet, he hoped that one day he’d make enough money to be able to convince his mother to quit her low income job and enjoy the rest of her life.

As he apparated to Tbilisi to get to the magical centre of the Georgian capital, Zviad suddenly felt a lot different from before. He was a proper adult now. He had graduated, could use magic, could make his own choices. It was funny how his choice had been influenced by more than just his own hopes and dreams. He was so eager to have his partner in crime back that he had applied for a job that he had never really seriously considered in the past.

However, as he went to the streets of wizarding Tbilisi, he felt excited. He just had his small travel bag with the most necessary items  with him. He didn’t own a lot of things anyway, even less that mattered to him. He went into the local owlery and took the floo network from there, travelling all the way to Scoarta.

As he stepped out of the fireplace in the town’s tavern, he immediately spotted Mihaela and grinned at his friend. Dropping his bag on the floor he stepped closer to her and pulled her into a brief embrace.

“Hey,” he said, still smiling as he pulled away. “I’m so thrilled to be here. How have you been? We have so much time to catch up on.”

Being patient had never been Mihaela's strong suit, she could stalk a bear in the woods for days, quiet as a mouse, but if she had to stand still for a minute she usually gave herself away. The young witch had a problem with stillness, she always had to keep moving. So, as she waited in front of the massive hearth, the Romanian paced back and forth on the old wooden floors of the tavern. She moved so fiercely, boots scuffing the worn down planks every turn, that she could practically hear her mother's voice in the back of her head. You'll wear a groove into the floor like that, but Mihaela's mother wasn't who she was waiting for.

After not very long -- and entirely too much time to pace -- Mihaela saw the familiar green flicker of the fireplace and clasped her hands together in front of her chest. The excitement grew on her face as the shape cut into the flames was her best friend, and she squealed. "Zviad!" Mihaela was quick to wrap her arms around the wizard's shoulders, and it was impossible not to notice the muscle tone he'd developed. Her smile grew as she realized his new athleticism likely had something to do with his animagus form. Mihaela expected birds to have superior shoulder muscles to fly.

"Oh, good, good," Mihaela had been an absolute mess after the break up with Lev, but she didn't feel like getting into all that right now. Surely after a few bottles of Romanian fire whiskey, she'd bore him with all the details, but she didn't feel like crying now. "Very busy, you've come right before the active season," which was good news because he'd witness Scoarta and the mountains in all their beauty before the research teams and tourists arrived, and also because it meant she'd have help with her assignment.

"Let's get your things settled," Mihaela lurched forward to scoop his bag from the ground and then spun on the heel of her boots. "Oh, right, also, how are you?" Mihaela spoke to him in Russian versus any other languages they had learned over the years. She preferred it to Swedish, and Mihaela barely remembered Bulgarian anymore.

Beaming at his friend, Zviad took in her appearance. She looked good, like a real woman now. He was so relieved that he was a graduate now himself. Finally he was free to live his life without any adults interfering. Well, almost without interference - he was going to have to learn from experienced dragonologists. Nonetheless he was his own master to some degree now. He could make his own decisions, he had made his own decision in coming here.

He nodded as he said she had been very busy and that he had arrived right before the active season. He felt a rush of adrenaline as he thought about it some more - his new life was about to start. Everything was new and exciting and he hoped that he wouldn’t regret his choice once it didn’t feel new and adventurous anymore.

Getting his things settled sounded good and it amused Zviad that Mihaela picked up his bag. It wasn’t heavy but still, he felt that he ought to be the one carrying it. He didn’t say anything about it, though, especially because Mihaela had just asked him how he was.

“I’m great,” he said, “free at last,” he added with a grin. “It still has to sink in properly that I’ve actually graduated. Hard to believe that I won’t be returning to Durmstrang after the summer.” He was only half serious about this and laughed at his own comment. “Seriously though, I am excited to start my life as a proper adult. But enough about me, you have to tell me everything that you’ve experienced in the last year. Meeting up for a few hours every now and then and writing letters just isn’t enough.”

"Oh, it'll hit cha' soon enough," Mihaela informed him with a smile that reached her eyes. Mihaela had gone to work the day she left Durmstrang, so she'd felt like an adult from the start. It took a few months before she realized she didn't have to do the work her parents assigned anymore -- and that was quite the revelation indeed.

"I will tell you everything, but I don't want to talk about Lev." Even saying his name aloud was still painful, but Mihaela managed because she was always clear about what she wanted. Mihaela wasn't smart enough, or patient enough, to beat around the bush, and she wasn't ready to talk about her broken heart yet.

"Deal?"

Carrying his bags up the rickety staircase at the back of the tavern, Mihaela led him down a dusty hallway and passed numbered doors until they reached the end. At the end of the corridor, a small thick paned window covered in spiderwebs lit the door numbered "Eight," and Mihaela used her wand to unlock it. "Home sweet home, well, for as long as you'd like it to be."

The room wasn't much, but as they entered, it was clear that thanks to magic, it was a little bigger on the inside than it ought to be. Large enough for a poster bed, small cast iron stove, and a table near the window. Moth-eaten tapestries and stuffed game trophies collected dust and cobwebs on the walls, and the floors creaked, but the linens were fresh, and the view of the mountain was impeccable.

“I guess so,” Zviad agreed, grinning. It would probably just take a few days or weeks to sink in that he wasn’t a student anymore. It felt like the end of an era but it was a change that was bound to be good.

“You don’t want to talk about Lev?” Zviad asked, eyebrows raised. “I guess I need a little explanation there but then, sure, whatever you prefer.” He felt that he wasn’t quite up to date and would rather want to know a little more than to allow his imagination to go wild.

He followed his friend to room eight and entered the room with a growing smile. It was dusty and everything in there seemed to have passed their best times but, nonetheless, Zviad was more than pleased.

“I love it,” he admitted, turning around to take in everything. “It’s almost as big as my mother’s entire flat in Sukhumi,” he admitted and then wrinkled his nose before sneezing loudly. “And I can really stay here for as long as I want?” he asked, thinking that he might try out some cleaning spells if he stayed here for longer.