Hiding from the Rain

by **Nate Frostfawn** on July 17th, 2012, 4:22 pm

1st of Summer, 512AV

The season change was upon them. Though in Avanthal, one may not notice much of a change. Summer here was much like the spring... and fall, and winter. It was warmer, but the temperature increased at such a slow rate it was incredibly hard to notice. In any case, it still snowed all the time.

However this summer was different. Everyone knew that the temperature was high. The snow was gone and so was the city's usually cheery atmosphere. It rained all the time now, turning the pristine white pathways into dirty brown sludge. The residents feared that it would never be normal here again, and that made everyone miserable, not least their resident Goddess Morwen.

On this particular morning, a young man trudged slowly down one of the streets. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and his head was down; gaze focused on the floor. The rain had let up for the last day or so, which had allowed the streets to dry out. This somewhat pleased Nate, since it meant that he wouldn't get mud up the back of yet another pair of trousers. He had long given up cleaning his shoes though; they were currently caked in the brown stuff.

He glanced up at the sky sharply, squinting. Water splattered onto his upturned face and he sighed. More rain... He was near to home now, not too far from the Frostfawn Hold. All the same, he didn't fancy staying outside for longer than he needed to. The stables were just to his left, so he ducked into the nearest entrance and leaned against the wall, hoping that the rain wouldn't linger.

by **Alea Davenport** on July 23rd, 2012, 3:14 am

Unlike every Vantha in the city, Alea rather liked the change in the weather. Oh sure, she felt bad for the people who had lost the home they loved, but rain was something she hadn't realized she'd missed until it was upon her. The soggy boots, squelching as they got caked in mud, were something that she took a sort of grim pleasure in.

She had decided earlier in the morning to try testing her Gilding in these conditions. Her recent habit of wanting to avoid people had prevented her from riding her horse as much as she'd like, but today was a new season! This, obviously, turned out to be a mistake. In the past, she'd been able to get Beast up to a trot before he pulled his shenanigans... but either summer or the rain must have excited him even more than it had Alea. After the usual challenge of getting onto the horse, she started him at a brisk walk. The sky was almost ominously dim from the sheer number of rainclouds, but Alea was cheered by the soft glow of the Gilding's coat shedding light on her path. Of course, it also shed light on Beast's apparently love of mud-puddles. You'd think he'd never seen a mud-puddle before, she thought. Though, perhaps he hadn't. She had no reason to think he'd ever been outside of Avanthal.

She clicked her tongue apprehensively as she watched the mud splash all up and down his legs, but she knew better than to try to discipline this horse. She would just have to clean him up later. Then she decided, what the heck. Might as well let the abomination of a horse have some fun. Almost letting go of the reins entirely, she gently nudged Beast, attempting to communicate that he could go ahead and go however fast he wanted. At first, much to Alea's surprise, rather than instantly bucking her off and heading into the distance, he merely trotted lightly through the mud, making a few splashes, but at nothing approaching his usual level of mischief.

She should have known better.

The horse took a liking to the fun splashing, squelching, and splattering of traipsing through the mud, and by the time Alea thought to discourage him, it was too late. He pranced through the deepest puddles and the most deliberate speeds, sending water and mud high into the air, with most of it inevitably raining back down on them both. Alea didn't think she could get any muddier if he had thrown her from the saddle; her cloak was soaked already. Furthermore, she could hardly even see the glow of Beast's coat through the layer of mud he'd so happily accumulated. She took that as her signal that it was time to end this... fun little jaunt.

And so it came to pass that Alea was tossing her mud-sodden cloak over the door of an empty stall when Nate came in to seek shelter from the rain. She glanced around to see who it was, but upon recognizing him as a vaguely familiar face of one of the Frostfawn Vantha, she ignored him and went back to finding towels to dry off her horse. It was unlikely he needed something that he couldn't do for himself, and she had much more pressing matters to deal with, like making sure that mud didn't drying into Beast's coat until it was impossible to get out.

by **Nate Frostfawn** on February 1st, 2013, 8:02 am

Nate took a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the slightly dimmer light of the stables. He hardly ever ventured into this building, mostly because he did not actually own a horse of his own, but also because he hadn't the first clue how to even ride one. He sighed and reached up to rub at his damp sandy hair, ruffling it unintentionally. The fact that it was damp meant that it stayed slightly spiky when he let his hand drop back to his side.

Noise caught his attention, and he realised that he was not alone in the building. Glancing round, he spotted a young woman by her horse. He couldn't say he recognised her very well, though perhaps she was slightly familiar. His eyes went next to the horse. He was not too great with breeds, but he could recognise a Gilding easily enough. This one was covered from head to hoof in mud.

"So, did you let him just roll in the mud?" Nate couldn't help himself. He looked back at the girl, a small smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "Come to think of it, you like like you joined him."

by **Alea Davenport** on March 4th, 2013, 12:52 am

Alea rubbed towels all over Beast's back and flanks, with limited success. The horse just wouldn't stop fidgeting, sidling away from where she was trying to rub the hardest. He whinnied, all too pleased with himself. Alea dearly wanted to give him a piece of her mind, or at least tell him to stand still, futile as such a request might be. But she had been mute for over a season, and while she still wasn't used to it, she had learned by now that attempting to speak was punished by a painful coughing fit. So she had learned not to try anymore.

When the Frostfawn boy decided to make a smart comment, she threw a dirty towel at him in frustration. Turning back to her horse, she grabbed a clean towel and went after his head. She glared into his eyes, trying to convey just how annoyed she was with him. He nickered softly, and butted Alea's chest with his muddy nose. Disgusted and fed up with his behavior, and his miraculous ability to make even more of her clothes dirty, she put the towel on his face and rubbed all over his nose. She was particularly rough behind his ears, but she tried to avoid the eyes, not sure if she might damage something important in her current mood. Much as this creature drove her mad, she didn't want it blind.

Beast tolerated this treatment for about three ticks before he got bored and shifted his head around until the towels became useless. Since Alea had gotten about as much wetness out of the Gilding's not-so-shining coat as she could, she accepted this, and decided to move on to the combs and brushes. Unfortunately, the grooming tools were right behind where the boy was standing. Exhaling quickly, she stood impatiently in front of him and waved her hands to the side, as if pushing him out of the way. If he didn't move quickly enough, she'd have to push him for real.

OOCSorry this took so long. x.x

by **Nate Frostfawn** on July 12th, 2013, 9:40 am

Nate watched with a bemused expression as the Gilding continued to fight off the towel the young woman was trying to clean it with. He didn't know if all horses were like this one but if they were he definitely did not want one of his own. If horses could grin, Nate was willing to be this one would be; it seemed rather pleased with it's efforts.

"Ah! Hey, what was that for?!" Nate grimaced as a dirty towel hit him square in the face. He pulled it off, smearing dirt across his cheek in the process, and looked over at the woman. She had turned her attentions back to the unruly horse however. Nate frowned. His comment hadn't been to insult her, he'd just thought it was funny.

The young man dropped the towel unceremoniously onto the floor and kicked it away from himself. He then reached up to rub at the dirt on his face. After a little while he was distracted from his efforts as the woman stepped right up in front of him. Nate took in her stance and decided that for some reason, she was angry at him. When she started waving her arms around, he raised his eyebrows. It took him a few moments to realise she wanted him to move.

Nate rolled his eyes and stepped out of her way. "You know there are nicer ways of getting someone to shift. You should have just asked me instead of standing there waving at me like a crazy person."

by **Alea Davenport** on July 13th, 2013, 2:21 pm

It would be hard for Nate to tell just what he'd said wrong, but something caused Alea to pause long enough to give him a hurt look. If one looked carefully, it might seem like she was about to cry, though no tears fell. Hardly waiting for him to step out of the way, she shoved past him and grabbed the box of combs and brushes, returning to her horse without another glance.

She cringed as the curry comb pulled away gobs of mud in huge chunks. She definitely could not afford to be distracted by the boy in the stables; she could just imagine this mud drying on Beast's fur. If that happened, she'd never be able to clean it out without pulling his fur, which would undoubtedly be painful enough for him to make her life even more miserable than he already did. She was so focused on cleaning his supposedly shimmering coat that she didn't even hear when someone else entered the stables.

A figure wrapped head to toe in heavy furs entered and closed the stable doors behind her. She pulled the furs away from her face to reveal the weathered face of an old woman. "Alea? Are you here?" she called as she removed her fur gloves and set them on a nearby bale of hay.

by **Alea Davenport** on December 7th, 2013, 6:35 pm

Alea did not answer, pretending to be too focused on Beast's coat. In reality though, she just wasn't ready to face her mother. When her parents had arrived from Denval the previous season, at first she'd been relieved that they were still alive. But since then, she'd been terrifies that they would try to talk to her about why she'd left...and that was a conversation she would never be ready to have.

The old woman, spying Nate first, asked, "Oh, are you a friend of Alea?" Before the Frostfawn boy could answer, the woman found who she was looking for. "Oh, there you are Alea. Your father and I were wondering if you'd like to join us for lunch. It could give us a chance to catch up. We haven't really had a chance to talk since..." Alea's mother trailed off, remembering that Alea had lost her voice. "Well, you know what I mean."

After a moment, Alea gave her mother an exasperated look and jerked her head toward Beast. She couldn't leave him half-groomed. But, almost as if she knew her mother wouldn't leave her alone until she was finished, she put a little extra hurry into her strokes. Meanwhile, Alea's mother settled onto a nearby bale of hay and endeavored to fill the silence with everything Alea could possibly want to know about the departure from Avanthal. A year go, Alea would have been bored out of her skull listening to gossip like this, but everything had become a lot more serious lately, and she listened more carefully than she let on.

"We were three days out to sea when it happened. It was quite a sight! It lit the sky like the noon sun, and the sound was loud enough to rock the ship! Thank goodness Astrid got everyone out in time. Do you know, she said it was caused by a cache of weapons from before the Valterrian! I did not even know we had such a thing in Denval. But of course the Captain would know, and she ordered the evacuation (and so soon after giving birth! What a remarkable woman). So, we packed everything we had into your father's boat and followed Astrid's flagship here. She called it the Star of Denval. Doesn't that name just inspire hope? She means to take it all the way back to the city of Zeltiva, where it was built."

Her mother went on about the details of early last spring long enough for Alea to finish with the curry comb and be half-way through brushing before silence fell. Alea almost gave into the hope that her mother had finally run out of things to say. Unfortunately, it was only that she'd moved on to a sadder topic. "If only Astrid could have predicted the day of the storm as well... Your sister was in the Academy when it collapsed. She never even had a chance to run." Her mother's voice was quiet, almost hollow as she spoke of her dead child, and Alea had to close her eyes against the burning in them. She and her sister had not exactly been close, but the thought that they would never meet again was not something Alea had been prepared to face.

They both went silent for a time, Alea concentrating on getting the last of the mud out of Beast's coat, and her mother lost in painful memories. Neither spoke until Alea had put away the grooming tools and was leading Beast back to his stall. Her mother said in an almost cheerful voice, "In a way, it's good you left when you did. Even if I wish you'd said a proper goodbye."

Alea winced at her mother's implied accusation. It was true Alea left her family with no more warning than a hastily scribbled note. She'd been afraid they would stop her, or that she would lose her nerve if she stopped to think about it too hard. All she'd known was that she couldn't stay in Denval forever. But...she'd always hoped she would have the chance to go back...

by **Alea Davenport** on December 7th, 2013, 7:13 pm

Alea finished putting Beast into his stall, and was getting ready to follow her mother to lunch when suddenly a sharp pain dug into her leg. "Yeowch!" she yelled involuntarily as the cat clawed its way up her leg and jumped onto Beast's back. With a sense of dread, Alea waited for the horrible coughing fit to ensue, as had happened every time she'd tried to speak since the storm at the beginning of spring.

"Are you all right?" her mother called. Alea hesitated. She wasn't coughing. In fact, her throat felt fine, better than it had in ages! Could it be, she could talk again? She started feeling just a touch more cheerful. But... if she could talk... did that mean she'd have to talk to her parents? The prospect made her feel slightly queasy, and she decided to keep her recovery to herself for now.

She hurried out to her mother before the nosy woman could ask too many question, and nodded her head in the direction of the door, signalling her readiness to go have lunch. She left her muddy cloak in the stable for now. She could wash it later, and Avanthal was still relatively warm.

They met her father at the Winterflame Hold, where, between the three Davenports they'd made enough friends to get a good meal out of the best cooks in Avanthal. She let her parents take care of the small talk. She got the impression they were happy enough just to have her presence, the tangible proof that they still had a child left.

Her mother, somewhat redundantly, let her father know how much she'd already told Alea. Though, when mother began discussing Astrid and the Star of Denval, father interjected, expressing concerns for their Captain' safety. Most of what he said was political jibberish to Alea, and therefore too boring to retain, but she did get the impression that a man named Adarin was a major political rival to Astrid, and just an all around bad guy. She couldn't fully grasp what made Adarin a bad guy, and she wasn't sure her parents had a good idea either. They just knew that he opposed Astrid, and that he was a dangerous man, even by Denvali standards.

Alea wasn't sure it mattered. They weren't likely to ever see this "Zeltiva" place themselves. They were cut off from the rest of their Denvali brethren. Her parents seemed committed to making a new life in Avanthal. That was all well for them, but Alea wasn't sure she could let Denval go. She had abandoned it so easily before, and its destruction now felt like partially her fault. She had to do something to remember her Denvali heritage, to in some way repay the lost city for the crime of her abandonment. She surreptitiously clutched the compass she always wore under her shirt; one engraved with the inscription "Denvali forever." That promise meant something to her, now.

by **Una Tanta** on December 26th, 2013, 7:14 pm

Alea :

Nate :

Please don't be afraid to PM me with any questions ^-^