Couplet [Raiha]

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

3rd Fall, 511 A.V. Leaving Horse behind wasn't an option. Surely they would have feted him at the Sanctuary, but he was already a bit trigger-shy after leaving the pregnant Dohaina in Endrykas so as not to overtax her. And so he rode out into the fields beyond the Sanctuary on the back of his tall Windrunner stallion, curious to see if he might find the blue lady where he had found her before. The grasses rustled dryly about Horse's legs, gradually desiccating toward the sere browns and grays of winter. Sama'el wondered if any of her birds would have the plumage to match the Sea of Grass in Winter, thinking how lovely that would be, how subtle. He smiled. Throwing back his head, he loosed a Drykas call of greeting designed to travel over the swaying grasses of Cyphrus' prairies. He knew Riki and Kavala would remain nonplussed if they heard the familiar sound, and perhaps Raiha's hound would alert her to his presence even if she didn't hear it. All the same, he called ahead after Horse trotted farther into the grasses. "Ho, Raiha!"

[Raiha]

It wasn't one hound that greeted him this time, the massive white beast Raiha had introduced to him as Diallo, but another four half-grown pups, followed by a passel of younger ones that were being watched by a large Deerstalker bitch - they looked just shy of weaning, too. “Sama’el of the Sapphire Pavilion,” Raiha shielded her eyes in the light. “Tanroa has treated you well. How have you been?” She had met the young Drykas man earlier in the Spring, and she had liked him - he liked birds, just as she did, and that suited her. The birds were an important part of Raiha’s life, perhaps the most important part, for her, and that someone else liked, admired them, and wished to learn how to form a partnership with one made the Akontak smile. She was happy to teach what she could to those who were willing to learn.

And Sama’el was willing to learn.

The first part of falconry, Raiha knew, was getting the right bird. And the right bird, she had. Kefi and Oanu had produced chicks, and they were just about ready to go. Personally, Raiha felt that the first clutch might be Kefi’s last - and until that was proven, very few of them would be let go - but she had liked the young man, which she couldn’t say about most people, if any. As easygoing as Raiha was, she could be downright particular, and when she had her sister soul offering pointed and painful observations and doubts about others, Raiha had had to agree that she couldn’t trust everyone. But he’d made a good impression on her, and his genuine interest had her approval.

In the warm fall, Raiha had her arms exposed and her hair tied back, wearing her well-worn dark leathers, the vest and pants and boots, though her right arm was scarred from shoulder to elbow, two scars that looked like someone had taken a pair of knives to her at one point and scored her all the way down. Aside from that, she didn't look like she had changed at all. She raised that arm, though, and waved to him as he approached. “Down, down,” she told the dogs, actually grabbing a reddish brown one by the tail and pulling it back, away from horse. For once, strangely enough, she didn’t seem to have any birds with her, but between the pack of dogs, well... perhaps it was understandable.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el laughed at the exuberance of the pups; some would say he had that same youthful ebullience despite the trials and tribulations of his earlier life. Even now life was difficult, but he was an adult, had friends, and could manage the perils of the Watch and the struggles to build a life out of the sere grasslands of his homeland. "My menagerie has not grown as much as yours," he said, beaming down at the pups and the woman as Horse approached, "but I can't complain." Horse was a bit put off by the rush of sharp-toothed canines, but he had learned over the years to take his cue from Sama'el. The bond between them was founded on Horse's understanding that the whipcord lad would feed him, water him, groom him, and keep him from danger. If Sama'el was not frightened, Horse could overcome his instincts. And so he didn't balk at the dogs, but stretched his neck out to whicker at Raiha, whose scent he vaguely remembered, as Sama'el vaulted prettily out of the saddle, carefully avoiding puppies as he landed. He could be a bit of a showoff at times, but his love of and skill with horses was how he defined himself, and he was always happy to teach those who wanted to learn. "It is good to see you," he said.

[Raiha]

Raiha released the dog’s tail, and swatted its rump lightly anyway to send it yelping and caterwauling off behind Diallo for some respite. There was no sympathy from the white whale of a Deerstalker that recognized the Drykas man as a visitor before. Now that he was up close, he could see some freshly-skinned pelts hanging from the Akontak’s belt - groundhog, rabbit, skunk, even a raccoon. One could only guess what she was doing with the pups - starting to teach them the tips and tricks of her hunting methodology. It was something that would work better with two hands, and she would rope someone into it later, even if she had to tie the pups to the fence herself and make them stay - basic obedience was another thing she was working on with them - while she made trails for them to follow. That would come in time. For now, she was teaching them to find burrows and the critters that they would eventually come across. The wily old coons would be the tough part. But she hardly saw them here anyway, not like in Mura. The lack of trees meant a lack of corn-snatching bandits.

“Kavala brought back a host of them from the Endrykas in the last season. Dara, that’s what I named that big bitch over there,” she pointed out the female, who had not met Sama’el before, and was watching him around her puppies anyway, because she certainly meant business. “Had all those pups. Not the older ones, but the younger ones.” She made a little show of clapping when he landed neatly. Graceful on a horse, she was not. Not yet, and she stretched out her hands to Horse, to let him get familiar with her scent again as she offered his long, bony nose some scratching and greetings. “I have something for you,” she told him with a grin as she reached to grab the forelegs of one of the older puppies that was getting too overeager, putting her big black puppy paws on Sama’el’s legs for attention, correcting her and reminding her that she stayed on all fours. “And I think you’ll enjoy seeing them. Where have you been traveling over the last season?” There dogs could use a break, anyway. The first rule of any trainer with young animals was to do it in short, frequent lessons. They were babies. Their attention wandered, and that meant ending lessons on a good note. “Head ‘em up, Diallo,” she told her boss dog, keeping an eye on the wary, rangy female as Diallo was apparently wise enough to leave Dara’s pups to her while he nosed and herded the younger dogs, steering them back towards the courtyard.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el was well versed enough in the care and training of animals to leave Dara and her young to themselves while reacquainting himself with Diallo and meeting the older pups, though he was careful to repeat Raiha's orders when they disobeyed, wanting to support her efforts. He had the good grace to color slightly under his summer tan at her applause. At his age he had not yet learned to play it cool when pretty girls made any sort of a fuss over him. "They're fine dogs," he approved and blinked. "Something for me?" But when she moved on and got the dogs moving, he didn't ask further questions. Instead, he answered her other one. "Criss-crossing Cyphrus for the most part," he said. The Web always needed tending, and the way cleared for Endrykas' seasonal advances. "In Endrykas resting when not riding circuit. I haven't left the plains since I arrived last year. I travel, but it's become familiar territory, though I have not been to Kenash or Claridon, only nearby enough to check on caravans. "You should definitely visit Endrykas whenever we are close. The dogs and Uzima can hunt new grounds. Oh, did Kefi ever come from Mura?"

[Raiha]

She was content to listen to him as they left the pastures and headed into Sanctuary proper heading through the courtyard towards what was essentially no man’s land. Oh, the others could come and go from the mews, but with Raiha bunking in there, if you weren’t looking for her, you were best avoiding it. There simply wasn’t anything stashed in there that couldn’t be found in Kavala’s medicinal storage. Granted, Kavala brought Tasival there often for her to babysit, or Raiha picked him up, but today, he was with his mother. She might go and see him later. But on the whole, it was generally avoided by the others. Especially since Raiha had a habit of leaving Uzima outside of her flight, and that goshawk didn’t like anyone. Chuki she usually contained, because he was even worse. It was up these steps that she led him now, into the mews that she and Kavala had built. Diallo and the older pups raced ahead, and a series of loud, unimpressed honks could be heard from above them.

At any rate, he certainly traveled more than she did. Granted, from Mura to Riverfall was a big enough journey, and she made it once. Sama’el spent his lifetime moving. It was in his heart and soul, she was sure, that he kept moving. Maybe it was because his roots were in a pot, and that pot could be moved wherever he wanted to go. She was more inclined to sink her roots into the ground and stay put for a lot longer. “Maybe one of these days. I haven’t seen it before, but I think it would be good to visit.” She wasn’t sure how well she would fit in with them. Not at all, she suspected, but still. It would be a good experience, just to see something new... and learn more secrets. Perhaps she could pick up something on Webbing, learn by watching. She would find out more one day. But her roots were firmly entrenched right now - she certainly wasn’t taking a whole flock of raptors with her to do so. She led the way up the stairs, and through the open door. He heard the mixed calls of raptors, and a shrill chorus of “killykillykilly” that came from more than just one bird. More than two. It came from a host of them from one of the flights at the far end. Three flights held different birds in different states of disrepair. Two more opposite held Uzima at the furthest end and another goshawk in the one beside it. On the whole, the mews were businesslike.

“And she did, not long after you left,” Raiha grinned. “Why do you think I said I had something for you? This is where the magic happens.” She didn’t mean it literally, but to her, birds had a magic of their own. This was the magic of nature, a magic that went beyond Morphing, Reimancy, Auristics, beyond all of those arcane arts. She led him down the row of flights. It was clean, sparse, and wooden. Everything was in its place, where it should be, and put away. Raiha ran a tight ship up there, it seemed. At the end of the hall, he could see the bed, a table and chairs, a chest, and some shelves with a few books, bottles and bundles, herbs hanging from the ceiling in various stages of aridity, and a few perches near the bed. The source of the honking was revealed as Diallo glowered at the four half-grown pups who were gnawing on driftwood or playing tug with rope, because three fat, snow-white geese, who had been piled into a box in a corner, were now standing in it, honking their fool heads off and flapping their wings at the dogs. The white deerstalker was nonplussed. The pups had taken to ignoring them. The geese had eventually started to settle when the dogs went over to the other side of the bedroom. They radiated their disapproval, however.

Menagerie indeed.

“Uzima you know,” she pointed out the hen, who was sitting on her perch and looking quite unimpressed at the shenanigans going on outside of her flight. “This is Chuki,” she indicated the other goshawk, nearly the same size as the goshawk hen in the flight next to his. Like Uzima, he seemed to be glowering. Though it could have been disinterest - it was hard to know. The Akontak really did collect grouchy birds, didn’t she? “He gave me this one,” she ran her fingers down the impressively parallel scars that ran from shoulder to elbow. “But in here...” she stopped at the flight opposite Uzima’s, which had a nestbox perched at chest height. “Wait here,” she warned him before opening the flight and stepping in, closing the door behind her to open the lid on the very natural-looking nestbox that had been made out of a hollowed-out chunk of log. Huh. It sealed well enough that you couldn’t even see the way it opened from the aisle. The shrill killykillykillies came even louder, as Raiha pulled on her gloves and reached in with her hands, clucking her tongue and making a quiet, but fast chittering sound.

From the nestbox rocketed one small raptor, mostly reddish brown, striped, with longer wings and a tail, followed by a slightly smaller raptor. This one was coloured far more brilliantly - it had plenty of blue on its head and sides, with a much brighter chest. It stood out. The more colourful one perched on the edge of the nestbox, while the red-brown one latched onto the fat, carved sticks that were jammed through the thick bun of white hair at the base of her neck, chittering in unison with Raiha. She sucked in a breath and turned back to him, then, holding two even smaller raptors. Both were slightly more fluffy than the larger ones, but they did resemble them. “This pretty boy on the nestbox,” Raiha began as she returned towards the doorway, “is Oanu. I found him at the beginning of the summer in the long grass. He’d gotten hit by something, lost his tail feathers and was having problems flying... bit of a concussion, too. So I took him in, and he and Kefi bonded. This one,” she turned her head so that he could get a good look, “is Kefi. She is my first hawk. These are two of their five chicks. There’s three more in the nest box, but these are the two I wanted you to pick from.”

She was close to the door now, displaying them for him to look at while three more chicks, another two girls and a boy, poked their beaks out, joining their father on the edge, chittering away at their clutchmates and the falconer. “This one is the boy, and this one is the girl. Given a choice, I would go with the girl. They’re bigger, more assertive... and they’ll blend in a lot better. Off, Kefi,” she shook her head a bit, and the bird shrilled out in protest, staying put until she worked the male chick into the same hand as his sister and reached to dislodge the kestrel from her hair, setting her on yet another perch before easing out of the flight, holding the bright-eyed, curious chicks out towards the young Drykas man. “He’s prone to nipping,” Raiha warned, grinning as Kefi started up her killykillykilly calls once again.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The mews proved to be a revelation for Sama'el; every detail seemed to cast Raiha in a new light, and he felt that on some level, everything he knew about her fell into a sort of order, a clearer picture, and he smiled at that. The bemused smile lingered as she showed him around, for the careful, clean condition of everything to the rambunctiousness of the dogs. He followed her around and tried to take everything in. He found that he agreed with her earlier statements about the goshawks. They looked like too much trouble for a beginning falconer, with a whole lot of violent attitude. Her promising grin elicited the same from him, and he waited by the entrance to the flight, feeling almost as nervous as if he were waiting to meet a prospective bride for the first time. "Oanu," he greeted, as if the bird would understand him. Only Eywaat knew for sure if he did. "Kefi." He could not understand the chatter and calls of the raptors, nor the honks of the geese, but he figured that eventually, with enough familiarity, he would begin to catch their drift. "They're all beautiful." He pulled a rough leather gauntlet he had made out of his bag, donning it now because he was fairly certain he would not be able to keep them as calm as Raiha did just yet. But he waited patiently enough, keeping out of reach of beaks and trying not to look threatening. "Should I do the choosing or let them?" he asked. Striders, of course, chose their riders, but other horses could be ridden by anyone if properly trained. But he was a Drykas and they had funny ideas about animal training.

[Raiha]

Raiha eased the male chick back into her free hand, as Kefi’s calls increased in pitch and speed. That was her offspring out there. And while there were others in the nest box, well, nest log, rather, her focus was on the two outside of her flight. Even if Raiha had them, Kefi was being particular. Both chicks were looking at him, even though the male latched onto Raiha’s leather-covered thumb as his little talon-tipped toes dug in. She held the female out to him. “You choose. Try both, see what you think, but in the end, you choose. They’re too young to choose for themselves,” she explained. “Because if I asked them to choose, they would stay with what they know. To get her to step up, use your middle finger, touch it against her stomach, above her feet,” she coached him, her grip loosening with his other hand there. “She knows what that means - it means to step up.” He could see that the young chick was gripping Raiha’s middle finger, and she kept the bird from flapping around with the light pressure of her thumb.

“And a word of advice, do not put your face near them. I know they look soft and sweet and and cuddly, especially now since they’re fluffy with the little bits of down that you can see, but don’t risk it, not yet, and certainly not for a while. You’d be surprised how many people think that that is a good idea,” she shook her head. “All it takes is one quick lunge and then you won’t be seeing out of an eye, or your lip will be sliced in half. Remember, kestrels may be small, but they are vicious,” she could not stress this enough. “Not one of these chicks is mild-mannered. This fellow is probably the worst of the bunch, but he has attitude, which is good, because he won’t grow to be as big as she will. Once you’ve got her on your finger, close your others around her, and once you get your thumb in place... then you can use your free hand to start petting her. She won’t mind that, because she’s used to being touched, aren’t you?” she smiled at the little hen. “Hand shy birds are difficult to work with. That’s why I try to teach them to get used to hands and being handled and being touched, so that you can tie the jesses and put on the hood. Try that with a bird that has never been handled, and you will be in for the fight of your life.”

She held the male up towards her face as he was still grinding down, or trying to, get through the leather to get to her finger. “See? This is determination. Single-minded ‘I’m going to get you’ determination that you generally see in little raptors. He does the same thing if I turn a mouse loose in there, or take them into the stables. They’re learning. But the important thing is is that they’re still young enough for you to imprint on whichever one you choose.” The female let out a soft killykillykillykilly from his hand as Raiha began to stroke the little male in her hand, caressing his wing feathers. “She’s curious about you. Isn’t sure what to make of you, but she’s curious. That’s a good start--” Raiha was interrupted by a frenzy of honks that were followed up by a sudden squalling as Diallo jumped on the offending young male, grabbing him by the neck, and shaking him what looked to be rather viciously. Raiha was not alarmed. “Dynm likes the geese far too much. We’re working on that. Diallo is a very good teacher.”

Heck, if any person weighed twice your weight and jumped on you and shook you for something you knew you weren’t supposed to do, it might be best to consider that a lesson well-heeded. The kestrel chicks’ volume increased, and the female tried hard to flap her wings. “Thumb down,” Raiha advised, “and bring her in a little closer to your chest. That’s warmth and safety and security. We listen to what they want, and then we give it to them. That’s how the partnership works.”

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The gauntlet he had made was of rough, serviceable leather that should be difficult to puncture with talons or tear through with a beak. He had spent some time watching the Drykas falconers back in Endrykas, and knew a thing or two, but he didn't mind the matter-of-fact drone of instruction from Raiha, figuring it would be good to help him remember everything. Per those instructions, he nudged the little hen gently with the knuckle of his middle finger, crooked out for her to step up, the which she did, allowing his other fingers to secure her successfully. He grinned. "No, I know they're not," he agreed. "They aren't exactly affectionate, nor submissive." Still he grinned, though he was careful to hold her far enough away that his face was not in danger, that most everything within easy reach was covered with the long, wide remains of his gauntlet. But he nodded along with all she said, observing how she worked with the tiercel and attempting to carefully copy it as she had when he had long ago shown her how to give proper affection to her Firemane mare. Holding her closer to his chest, he carefully pet her with his free hand, trying to be as non-threatening as possible, and confident at the same time. He kept his chin up, though, just in case she got a bit shirty with him, though that only left his throat open to be torn into. He was glad she didn't startle too much at the shenanigans with Dynm and the geese, but he was rather sure her mother wanted him dead the way she was watching him. "How do I know she doesn't want petting? I mean, before she tears into the offending hand?"

[Raiha]

“You watch and you listen,” Raiha raised her voice only enough to be heard over the angry geese and the caterwauling of the dogs. “Birds will give you warnings. Sometimes they will hiss, but not always, so do not rely on sound...” as if on cue, Kefi began to hiss from the flight, where she clutched the closest perch to her offspring and glared rather menacingly for a tiny bird at him. There was no calming her down, not with a perfect stranger handling her chick, and as such, Raiha didn’t try. She was able to hold them, and had daily since Kefi permitted it, if only because anyone who acquired one of those chicks would soon have brought it back to her as a bird that they could not work with.

“Visual cues are what you should be paying attention to. See their eyes? When they do not want to be touched, or are warning you, their pupils will shrink. It’s called pinpointing. This is pretty much the main way to tell before they're going to get you," the Akontak was calm. "Sometimes they’ll fluff up. Sometimes they will flatten their feathers and tighten their muscles. Sometimes they’ll draw up and sit upright, other times they’ll spread their wings a bit and prepare for takeoff. They may duck and weave when you try to touch them. For a bird that’s not used to being touched, that’s normal. For these birds, that means ‘petch off’, in no uncertain terms.” The tiercel was calming down as Raiha spoke to him and stroked along his back and neck before removing the gauntlet and working a finger against the young bird’s throat and cheek coverts. He liked the scratching, that was for sure, though his beak grabbed her finger without grinding down when she got too close to a pinfeather for his liking. She clucked at him, working her finger back out and into the feathers once again.

She watched and listened to the little hen as she squirmed against him, and reached out with her unprotected hand to adjust the way he was holding her against him, shushing her, finally gently folding the bird’s wings into the proper position and tucking her against his chest. She stopped struggling so much, then, and Raiha smiled faintly, stroking the chick’s head before drawing her hand back. She couldn’t put into words what she knew and how she knew it. It was just a bird sense. It was what they needed and wanted and she just understood that. She went back to stroking the male, tucking him against her chest in a similar fashion. The little hen didn’t mind quite so much now - Raiha had cradled her like that, and while it was different, it wasn’t an altogether unfamiliar sensation. “If you wanted affectionate, you’d get a dog,” her lips twitched. Hawks were killers. They were predators, who could be trained to work with you. But pets, they were not. The scars on her arms were a testament to that. "Falconry is not a master-servant relationship. It's a partnership. At the end of the day... they have to want to come back to your hand."