An Outsider's Arrival [Miharu]

[Siiri]

She shook her head as the girl stammered through an apology.

“Do not,” Siiri said, offering a smile at Miharu to indicate that she was not upset at all, that she understood. “Do not apologize for something that is out of your control. We will hunt tomorrow.”

The Kelvic halted their walk near the stall of the beads merchant and spoke her heart. She brought it up at last, confirming what Siiri was beginning to suspect. A bond between them was forming, or perhaps had already formed. Was it unwelcomed? Was it even a surprise for her that it happened?

As Miharu's words flowed out of her, Siiri watched the contrasting emotions pass through the girl’s face, her eyes. Hope and fear, yearning and pain, confusion and sadness, and, finally, resigned certainty, as if the girl was defeating her own aspirations even before she could grasp them. All of these passed in the space of mere seconds and yet Siiri felt them all, faint though they were, through the tentative bond that had formed between them. Were she to describe them, the Myrian would have said they were like the soft caresses of a gently breeze, though the discordant ones felt more like chill burns, as if from ice.

The girl had raised a lot of good points, logical arguments that could easily dash her hopes to the ground. Siiri could see the merit in each one of them, could never refute any. But she was seldom ruled by logic or reason. A creature of instinct, she was often brash and impulsive.

As she was now.

Like in most times in her life where she found herself having to make a major decision, Siiri did not think things through. There was never any need. She trusted her gut feel - her instincts - and she charged headlong to where they pointed, with never a regret once she had chosen her path.

Squeezing Miharu's hand tightly in hers, Siiri held it up and gazed at the creamy white skin that so contrasted with the tan shade of hers before looking up to meet the girl's amber eyes.

“I have sensed your fear the very first day we met in the jungle,” she spoke, her voice low, husky. “Had I wanted this to stop, do not doubt, it would have ended with finality.” There was no threat in her voice, no intimidation – just simple, honest truth. “Did you think it was a chance meeting? You were searching. You reached out. I did too. And now I am here for you.”

No hesitation, no uncertainty.

“What is there to fear?”

As she squeezed the girl's hand once more, Siiri felt as if her psyche reached out to Miharu’s, cradling the girl's dreams and shattering her nightmares.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu stared at her for a moment could not respond. Her face was thinner from the headlong flight across the jungle, making sun-shaded eyes too wide for her delicate face.

She was shaken by the certainty with which Siiri knew she was ready for a bond with her. She did not disregard Miharu's points or think them stupid - she simply didn't care, her decision already made. It left her trembling as a newly budded leaf before a storm.

And then...

She felt as if something reached out for her, curled itself around her and brought with it some warmth that she had always lacked. Every moment of horror that woke her, every voice that called her unworthy, every creeping vine of self-hatred and shame was merely dust and smoke beneath the welcoming hand of her new bondmate.

"I found you," she whispered, as if she still didn't quite believe that it was true. "I traveled the length and breadth of the world, but I finally found you."

Staggering to think that she'd had to leave all she knew, the cold and comforting home of Taldera and even the bustling familiarity of Sylira, had to venture across the sea, through a god's playground, and over unknown mountains and into terrifying jungles - all of it, every moment of it had brought her here. Even as the wolf's mind within her tried to grasp that, she remembered the words of the Ivaski she'd met before she began this journey.

Every hard time, every problem is a challenge she has given us. Should we face it, we find out our true measure as beings; it makes us stronger and we begin to find our place.

It wasn't simply the distance between them that she'd overcome. Each rejection, every heartache and tear she'd shed in her life had molded her into what she needed to be to truly understand her bondmate. For the first time in her life, Miharu understood something greater than herself - truly understood that there were forces in the universe besides tooth and claw and hand and sword. And all of that had brought her... here.

All of that wonder was easily readable on the girl's face, and in her heart. And even as the Myrian warrior reached out and cradled her mind, she slipped into the dark and lonely places within Siiri's soul and took her place within them. They were already made for her, chiseled out by the tragedy and pain in Siiri's life, and she soothed that pain with cool, pale fingers and laid them aside for now. Later, they would examine them, would find a way to heal the scars within Siiri's heart so she could truly live instead of simply surviving the wounds. There would be no more loneliness, never again so long as Miharu lived. Every need would be fulfilled, every desire answered with love and loyalty, with nothing asked in return but acceptance of it.

Without even thinking about it, uncaring of whatever eyes may have been on them, she closed the distance between them and nuzzled her face against Siiri's, milk-pale nose skimming along her bronzed jaw. She pressed her cheek to hers and made a comfortable little growling noise in the back of her throat.

"I've found you," she breathed against Siiri's ear - but the tone of her words changed completely. No longer filled with wonder; they were warm, comforting, a mother's words for a crying child who'd thought themselves abandoned. It was a welcome home, for all that she was the stranger here, and those simple words promised Siiri she would never be alone again.

[Cayenne]

Great thread! The 'clean sheets' cracked me up, especially imaging the clean sheets in the barracks, and what Siiri's fellow soldiers would think about it. On a more serious note, there was great character development, emotions, writing - the emotion in it was palpable and touching, very, very much so. It gave me warm feelings. However, please keep in mind that while the Myrians do raise a number of domesticated beasts, they do a lot of hunting and fishing as well. The domesticated animals help supplement it so as to reduce over-hunting. But hunt they do. Myri would never allow the Myrians to rely solely on domesticated animals - to do so would be to grow weak and to lose touch with their history and part of what makes them them. I hereby award the following: Siiri: Unarmed Combat - 1 XP Interrogation - 2 XP Lore - Kelvic Bonding Miharu: Medicine - 1 XP Interrogation - 2 XP Lore - Kelvic Bonding