[Flashback] Journey through the Grass (Closed)

[Aren]

Aren's gaze followed the movement of the tumbling glassbeak as it fell past him. From this new angle he noticed that Patros and Meera hadn't gone anywhere at all. His jaw tightened, unable to understand what that drykas was thinking, putting himself and his ward in such unnecessary danger. "Why didn't you run?" Aren shouted, as he approached the downed glassbeak, which was already in the process of erecting itself. The akalak noticed that the other glassbeak was down too, dead, by the looks of it. It was riddled with arrows, but the one in it's neck was new, and probably what finally did the beast in. As Aren approached his prey, he was fuming. If those glassbeak had killed him, Patros and Meera would have proved too tempting a target to ignore, and they'd probably have joined him shortly. As the beast finally found it's feet, the blue skinned akalak promptly made it lose them again. With a kick, the glassbeak's already unsteady legs buckled beneath it, and it plummeted back to the ground unceremoniously. The bird squawked it's frustration, but Aren wasn't having any of it. He had a particular hatred for these creatures on the best of days, and he currently found himself of a mood. Every time the poor glassbeak tried to get up, Aren would push it back down to the ground with his scythe, safely out of range of it's beak. Eventually, the animal was too tired to continue the endeavor, and merely slumped there, warily. The akalak's hatred for the beast was evident in his eyes, which held no pity for the creature. It was only after he had tired of seeing it struggle for it's life that Aren decided to finish it. Placing his foot on the exhausted glassbeak's neck, which nonetheless provoked attempts to snap at him, the akalak brought the snaith (staff part) of his scythe to hover above it's head. The wretched creature squawked pitifully, but Aren had no mercy for these monsters, as they would have none for any unfortunate enough to encounter them. Swiftly bringing his weapon down, the akalak crushed the glassbeak's head in one rapid blow, demonstrating the only kindness he was willing to show. As blood dripped from the blue skinned warrior's face, a few drops landed on what was left of his foe's skull.

[Meera]

Meera whooped and hollered as Aren finished the beast. Patros grumbled as he finally slayed the bird, tiring of stretching out the bird's death. Why toy with it, he couldn't understand. Dignity was high on the list of importance to the Drykas. No warrior died without it, and to Patros it translated to every warrior. Having Aren play with the cruel beast was torturous to the beast and it showed Aren in a bad light.

To Meera, the young girl was impressed. It made Aren seem cocky, great, impressive, but then again the blonde already liked the Akalak.

"Why run? Running would teach her nothing." Patros stated grumpily as he turned around to gather what arrows he could salvage. They couldn't carry the carcasses to Kenash. The smell would attract other fearsome predators, and their mission was to send a message, not to hunt. He certainly couldn't in good conscious leave them with their beaks and shaky, nervous hands stripped the glass from the animal. He hated that part the most. Even dead, he was always terrified they would wake up and snap his hands off.

Meera watched how Patros collected his arrows and she eagerly jumped down to collect hers. It was a smart idea, and when she was done she examined the dead Glassbeak - Aren's kill - closely.

"Why do you use a scythe?"

"In Common, Meera, how many times do I have to tell you..." Patros trailed off.

"What this?" She grabbed the scythe handle. "What this word?" She made a swooping motion after she removed her hands from it, to demonstrate the scythe's use.

[Aren]

Aren recognized the value in teaching children about the dangers they would face when they grew up, but glassbeak related matters tended to provoke an irrational response from him. This response usually manifested itself in the form anger or guilt, and sometimes both. As the akalak walked past Patros, in a effort to calm down, he finally noticed the blood dripping from his cheek. Running his fingers over it, instinctively, he realized it didn't hurt. Or perhaps he simply could not yet feel the pain. After a few moments, his breathing relaxed, and Aren hesitantly returned to the carcass of the glassbeak he had felled. He plucked a few clean feathers from the corpse, depositing them in his pack. They would fetch a good price in most places, and he could certainly use the money. Meera lingered around the body, talking to Aren in her native tongue, seemingly unable to comprehend the fact that he did not understand her when she spoke in that language. Patros soon told her she needed to speak in common, and she managed to muddled through a question the akalak could understand. "It's a battle scythe. It's the symbol of my... my father's house," Aren replied, hesitating for a moment. There was not much pride in the statement, as he didn't much care that it was his family's symbol. He used the scythe because it was what he had been taught to fight with since the day he could walk. Aren knew this particular weapon he carried like the back of his own hand. Every nick and scratch was a window to a moment in his past, to a memory he could only remember by passing his fingers over the imperfections. Even then it was vague, but it was better than nothing.

[Meera]

"Siii-the. Sigh-thhh." Meera tried to replicate the sound to no avail. The last sound sputtered over her tongue to make a funny noise. It was a tall staff and large, hooked blade. She knew what it was for, for cutting down for harvest. She had never seen anyone use it for battle.

"Why no, uhm... arch?" She mimicked the act of firing an arrow using an arrow she had collected. "Uhm, good for far."

"Bow, Meera." Meera looked at Patros with confused eyes, her head cocked to the side and her face an odd expression with jaw hanging, and a lip curled.
"The word. It's not 'arch.' This weapon is called a bow in Common."

"Bow, yes. Why not bow? You need close no." Patros sighed, shrugging his shoulders. His patience was running thin from his frustration with Aren.

"Why don't you use the bow, you don't need to be so close then," He translated the gist of her question. "I'm sorry about her. She's so nosy."

"Hey!" She shouted, pointing at Aren's face, looking at hiim again from the scythe. "Red! Uhm..." Her eyes looked up as she tried to think of the word. "Blood! You blood."

"Bleed. He is bleeding, Meera."
"Yes!" She repeated, excitedly. "You is hurt. You is bleeding, Aren." By this time, Patros had collected all the arrows he was going to and held them in a bundle in his hand as he made his approach to Aren.

"Ah, looks like the bird clipped you a bit. I don't have much in the way of aid, and I'm certainly no healer, but I'll keep a look out for some root for the pain." Patros looked up at the warrior, doing his best to examine at a lower view and at a slight distance in case the Akalak was irritable enough from the child.

[Aren]

"I have... other skills," Aren replied, on the topic of why he didn't use a bow. He doubted Meera would understand, but he also wasn't willing to say any more on the subject with people he barely knew. "Yes... a valiant attempt, from a worthy foe," the akalak commented, realizing that he had been unnecessarily cruel to the beast. Glassbeaks were animals, and as such, they had no malice in their heart. They did what they did to survive, and Aren suddenly felt shame that he had acted in such a way. It was hard to separate the hatred he felt for the creatures from his actions, sometimes, but that was no excuse. The minds of akalaks were supposed to be disciplined at all times. They were supposed to remain in control, but that wasn't always easy. It was in those moments that he came closest to the edge of the abyss. "Don't trouble yourself. I feel no pain," Aren explained, though he doubted that was going to be the case soon enough. Still, pain was his reward and his teacher, both. It would remind him keep his head next time, and perhaps he would keep his honor along with it. The akalak swiped the blood from his cheek away, absentmindedly. He recognized that even though he could not stop hating the monsters that had killed his friends, he could give them the respect a fierce enemy deserves.

[Meera]

"Ah, well," If Patros was upset before, the emotion was gone. Instincts had gathered up inside him, on overdrive due to Meera.
"Regardless or not, I'll still keep an eye out. Come, Meera." He shooed her away from the Akalak, mouthing a "sorry" to him. He was sorry. She was curious and nosy and though she had always been that way, with the arrival of the Akalak she had been more so. He assumed it was because she had never met an Akalak before and left it at that.

"You can't be so nosy, child. Do you have your arrows?" Meera nodded and lifted her fistful to show him.
"Good. Say you're sorry to Aren and get on your horse, let's be away from this place."

"Do I have to?"
"Common, Meera." She pouted, and stomped a foot. That wasn't fair! Patros was talking in Pavi, why did she have to talk in Common? It was so hard...! She sighed.

"Have to?" Patros nodded, and Meera ran over to the giant blue man.

"Uhm, Aren? I so--, ah, sorry. Am... nosy." For good measure she smiled her toothless grin and wrapped her arms around his leg. Poor child went from being too nosy to being too friendly.

"Meera, on to Miss Filly now."
In a quick moment however Meera darted away and struggled to climb onto her horse as ordered. Once up, Meera put her arrows in her quiver and ensured she still had her bow, which Patros had passed up to her. She must have dropped it, she figured. Patros parcelled his used arrows and mounted his Strider, signalling to Aren they best get moving.

[Aren]

At Meera's apology, Aren smiled, sincerely, and patted her on the head. He glanced at Patros for a second, to make sure he was far enough away to prevent any overhearing, "You can be nosy anytime," he whispered, then winked at the girl mischievously and let her return to her guardian's side. The akalak took one last looked at the bodies of the fallen glassbeak, wanting to, but unable to feel anything but loathing for the creatures. At least it was a kind of respectful loathing, he acknowledged, and returned to join his companions. Aren took point again, instinctively, scanning the Sea of Grass constantly, as he had been doing before the glassbeak attack. "Let's hope we find that road soon. I'd rather not have to fight any more of those bas-" he caught himself, realizing that he could not attribute malicious characteristics to creatures that were simply beasts, if cunning ones. "Those animals," Aren corrected, feeling pretty good that he had managed to restrain his hatred even that much. He would work on it, knowing it would take him some time to master the art. Perhaps in a couple of decades he will have made some decent progress towards that end, he told himself.

[Meera]

Meera was thankful that Patros was teaching her Common, as it seemed the only language this blue man called Aren the Akalak was in possession of. And Aren had a lovely habit of speaking clearly and without offence to him, in small words as well, which helped Meera decipher his dialogue.

"Road's not too far ahead, but we'll likely hit it by morning now." Patros called out as his mare restarted its pace. He looked over to Meera on the other side of Aren, making sure she had a firm grip and good posture.

"Why mad at birds?" Meera asked sweetly, her voice carrying clear. If Patros refused her the chance to speak Pavi, she would do her very best with Common. Meera understood now the trouble the birds caused, but it was no reason to hate them with such venom as Aren did. A tightening on the filly's flanks caused her to pick up the pace to match Patros, as Meera was falling behind. She dared herself to remove a hand to brush hair from her eyes, holding on to the yvas with only one hand. It was successful, and Meera was very proud of herself.
She wasn't going to ask the question, but Aren said it was okay for her ask him questions, much to Patros' complaint about it. Besides, she justified in her head. She liked Aren a whole bunch of lots, and she wanted to know him better. She couldn't really do that without asking him questions, and it was asked in Common, so Patros really shouldn't give her any grief for it.

"Why are you mad at the birds, Meera. You have to say all the parts of the sentence." Patros corrected her. She chewed her lip and tried again. At least he hadn't yelled at her for asking the question. Patros had simply smiled and shook his head, giving up on teaching the young girl manners around someone she was so clearly infatuated with.

"Yes. Why are you mad at the birds." It wasn't repeated as a question, and each word was stunted as though she said the words individually rather than pieced together as a sentence. It was good enough for Patros.

[Aren]

Aren walked along a few feet in front of the two riders, his eyes alert for any potential danger. Meera's question had a complicated answer, to say the least. "Because they killed my friends," the akalak replied, although this was merely a simplified response for the little drykas' benefit. The truth of it was that the members of the particular pack that had killed his friends were probably all long dead, especially considering the fact the he personally killed at least one. Aren hated them because they were a visceral reminder of his greatest failure, and his loathing for the creatures, after almost a hundred years, was almost involuntary now. As he matured, however, Aren realized that he was slowly coming to grips with the event. Perhaps one day he would no longer hate the beasts, instead feeling a sort of intense dislike for them. That would be a good day, he thought. "I hope we don't see more of them, but I feel I have to inform you... with my luck, we could run into another pack of them before morning," Aren didn't particularly enjoy giving bad news, but he felt this was something his traveling companions should be made aware of. At least the akalak was clearly in a better mood now than he had been immediately after the fight, despite the fact that his injury was now starting to hurt quite a bit. It still bled profusely, as well, which Aren had to swipe at constantly.

[Meera]

"Oh," Meera started as she processed his simple explanation. "Sad..." She said. She didn't want to attempt forming a sentence, so she knew if she stuck to as little words as possible she could get her meanings across without having to think too hard on Common.
"Why?"

"Meera!" Patros scolded. "You don't ask something like that. It's rude."

"...Why? I need Common, I need know him, why no ask?" Patros was rather defeated. He couldn't scold her for being curious, and she was speaking Common, but he could tell her to ask something else instead.

"Ask him something else, Meera." Having a ward like Meera was going to prove challenging, but at least she survived her first Glassbeak encounter. He couldn't say that about some of his other wards, three in particular being his own sons. He was starting to develop a reputation in Endrykas, and not a positive one. But this time with Meera would be different, he could feel it.
Meera thought long and hard about a new question when finally she decided that the simple questions were probably the best for Patros' sanity.

"Where you from?"

"And don't worry so much about the glassbeaks. If we get them again, we get them again. I collected my arrows for a reason, Aren."