Closed Company in Solitude

[Khida]

Fall 20, 512 AV She had taken to spending her time away from the tent city -- in fact, Khida hadn't been back in some days now, overnighting at whatever shelter the falcon might find amidst the grasslands. It was much like that first season, just past spring, when she had gone weeks without seeing another intelligent soul: simple, straightforward, solitary. The second time around, she found it altogether too solitary. She had hunted that morning, and once again felt keenly the lack of her partner's aid. The falcon had thought to look for him, more times than she thought to count, but didn't know where he had gone; and she was no jackal, to follow old scent trails. So instead, she considered her options: continue to wander, or linger where there were other people, even if not him. To the Kelvic's mind, one of those choices was severely wanting. And so, as the sun began descending from the midday heights, the falcon returned to the expanse of savanna which surrounded Endrykas' current encampment. In no particular hurry to cover the remaining distance, she drifted on the air currents her outstretched wings caught, soaring high above the grasses. The people she could see, moving in and out between the tents, even the horses at their grazing around the city -- creatures Khida had never paid much mind to before -- at least promised company. She found herself very much loath to let that go again.

[Ginchoeri]

Gin found herself walking to the edge of the city again. Her red cloak covering her white hair, hiding it from the sight of others. She really didn't like being so obviously different, even her height gave her away. Standing at a height of 6 foot, she was practically a monster compared to most of the Drykas people.

She dodged and weaved her way through the crowded tents till she finally came up to the edge of the encampment. She thought she was all alone except for maybe some field mice. She hid behind a boulder and just sat in the grass. She leaned her head back and looked up at the sky, it looked close to lunch time.

She sighed, she was still alone, after all this time and meeting so many different people she's all alone... She curled into a ball and looked over the grasslands. She looked lonely and pitiful as she sat there.

[Khida]

The falcon banked into a leisurely turn, an arc which roughly paralleled the indistinct edge of the tent city. The air was cooler than it had been at the height of summer, an atmosphere she still noticed and appreciated every day. Small things scurried through the grasses beneath her shadow, largely disregarded by the raptor: she wasn't hungry now. Other motion caught her attention, a larger shape vivid in its concealing clothing -- one of the city-dwellers making for its outskirts. The people went in and out all day, so that was hardly unusual; but it met no horse at nor near the edge, and from what Khida had seen in her time here, that was unusual. She thought there might be something else, as well. Curious, considering, the peregrine watched the red-cloaked figure set out alone... only to stop a short distance beyond the city's apparent bounds, curled up at the base of a stone as if in a nest of grass. Something she couldn't specify about the person's manner struck a chord, and Khida chose to heed the impulse which followed: She gave over her lofty observation and swooped down from the air, coming to rest with a final flurry of wings on the sun-warmed boulder. Proximity jogged her memory, put half-realized intuition into its proper perspective; this is one like me. Khida tipped her head to one side and looked down at the stranger for a moment. Then she did a thing she hadn't done in seasons: the Kelvic falcon shifted, gray light rising and then dissipating to leave a slender, dark-haired woman crouched on the stone. Human skin, for human words. She nodded briefly to the other. "Hello," Khida greeted neutrally, in Common.

[Ginchoeri]

To say the least, Gin had been lost in her own world, haddn't even heard the flap of falcon wings when it landed above her she was so out of touch with reality. When she suddenly heard a hello from behind she practically screamed, as she jumped forward and turned around to see a woman, bare of any clothing. She noticed this feeling in the back of her mind, this sensation as she looked at the female before her.

"H....Hi" she greeted back in common. Cautiously standing up and walking back towards the bolder slowly. As she got closer, the feeling got stronger and her eyes widened, "Y...you are like me?" She was nervous, so nervous that she didn't realise that her quick movements had made the hood of her cloak fall.

Her clear blue eyes stared at the woman on the boulder, that crouching form with beautiful brown hair. The wind flared a bit and made her own white hair flutter. Which made her realise that her hood wasn't on anymore, not that it mattered. Who was this woman who just invaded into her life.

Gin took another step forward and offered her hand to help the woman down from the boulder, "W...Why don't you come down from there... so that we can talk?" She gave a small smile as she waited for a response.

[Khida]

Amber eyes narrowed as the other woman started, clearly surprised by the greeting. Clearly not paying attention to her surroundings. A potentially dangerous lapse, even this close to the tent-city; but it wasn't Khida's concern, and she didn't comment on it. Instead, as the woman rose, Khida lowered herself to sit on the boulder, legs dangling down the side. Her posture remained alert, cautious as any should be with an unknown but entirely devoid of either fear or menace. The breeze which played through the grass-stalks and tugged at her hair also danced across her skin; it wasn't uncomfortably cold, not this early in the season, but it felt very strange after spending so long in feathers. Khida glanced briefly down at herself, then lifted her shoulders in a dismissive shrug, inwardly setting those thoughts aside. That was the least of her concerns. The white-haired woman came closer, and Khida lifted her gaze again to meet the other's blue eyes. She blinked when the woman asked her to descend; not replying immediately, she glanced to either side, considering the landscape. The boulder wasn't so tall as all that, but it did provide a substitute for the view she commanded as falcon, however poor. Down in the grasses, she would see less. That might not be an issue, on the city's edge -- but then again, it might yet. "Why?" Khida asked, turning back to look at the other woman, blinking once. "We are talking now," she pointed out. "It does not matter if I am up here when I talk to you, and here I see more. I would rather stay." She regarded the strange woman thoughtfully, this woman who seemed not to watch the world around her. "If it is a problem for you, maybe you should come up here instead."

[Ginchoeri]

Gin blushed and put her hand down, but she still looked up at the brown haired woman. "I... I can't.. I don't have a way up there, and I certainly can't climb something so smooth." she sighed. She knew she sounded like she was making excuses but it couldn't be helped, it was the truth. She couldn't help what skills she hadn't trained in. She was focused on the skills she already knew, and even those were pretty poor.

She smiled a little, "but, I guess if you are more comfortable up there, I can deal." She meant it. She liked to try and make other people comfortable before herself, since she hated conflict. She stepped back a little bit so that she didn't have to crane her neck so much to see the other woman.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I don't know your name.. my name is Ginchoeri, but you can just call me Gin." she gave a short giggle. She came off as sweet, though something about her actions weren't exactly innocent. Like she had a past occasion which struck great wisdom or some such thing into her.

[Khida]

At the woman's response, Khida contemplated the stone she sat upon, a shallow line creasing her brow. Its dull brown sides were worn by wind and water; shifting her gaze to the bare olive skin of her own fingers, she could imagine how it might give the non-winged pause. "I suppose I would not want to climb it either," she allowed, nodding briefly. Khida regarded the other woman -- Gin -- steadily as she continued speaking, her own manner intent and focused. Her self-introduction passed without comment, although it was certainly noted. The falcon Kelvic missed her cue entirely, the implicit prompt that she reciprocate with her own name. Instead, once Ginchoeri had finished speaking, Khida twisted around to glance towards the city of tents her companion had come out of. Incidentally, she scanned a portion of the grasslands at the same time. "You live here, in the city?" she asked a moment later, facing Gin once more. "Or do you travel with the smaller groups that come and go?" She had seen some of them come in and others depart, though the falcon had not been in Endrykas long enough to realize how volatile the city's composition truly was.

[Ginchoeri]

Gin smiled at the other womans question, "I've been here for 3 seasons I believe. In the city, so I guess you can say that I live among the Drykas people instead of just being just a random traveler. I've never trusted the plains enough since the insident to ever consider leaving. Scars, physical and mental are tough things to heal. It's a wonder I'm even alive today. If the Drykas people hadn't saved me that day.. I wouldn't be here. I'd have been fodder long ago."

She didn't look sad or sound it, nor did fear cross her mind, it was her simply telling a story.. though not all of it.. and as if it's main center weren't really her. Like the story had a bigger meaning in it. She seemed, almost proud, of not only herself but also the Drykas people. It was altogether probably a sight that most people would have found strange.

Gin realised she hadn't gotten the womans name and resisted the urge to slap her hand into her forehead. She'd been talking to fast. Didn't give the creature before her enough time to speak. She decided that it would be best to restate her question. "I'm sorry, please forgive my rudeness, but what is your name ma'am."

[Khida]

Khida listened to the other Kelvic's words with evidently interested silence. The steady regard of her amber eyes might easily be found unnerving -- though she blinked, it was not often, and she didn't look away until Gin finished speaking. So many words the pale-haired woman had to say, in answer to what Khida had thought was a straightforward question. A small frown gathered on her brow as she sorted them out. That Drykas were the people here, she noted and filed away, a piece of information previously unknown. But the rest of Ginchoeri's remarks... "Why would you think to trust the plains?" she asked, unable to fathom the idea. "There is nothing to trust. Trust is for people, between people. Out in the grass, there is only yourself to trust." Unless one were fortunate enough to be in company, but Khida felt that went without saying. "It is good to be wary," she allowed, approving in that much, "though I think you are not wary enough." Her name, the pale woman prompted, a query which gave Khida pause. It seemed almost a foreign concept to dredge out of the halls of memory; it hadn't been used in seasons, near to a fifth of her life. "I was called Khida," she finally replies, shoulders lifting in an indifferent shrug. "You can call me that too."

[Ginchoeri]

Gin chuckled at the comment of her not being wary. "It is not that I am not wary... It is that I am too focused watching for one or two predators in the grass." she looked down at the ground, "so I'm sorry I didn't notice you really, all I heard were medium sized wings beating.. I just didn't expect a human voice all of a sudden. Though yes.. in some respects I don't truely pay attention to my surroundings. Plus it's not like I really trusted the plains.. I just... had to get through it at that point in time.. and I got attacked.. Basically that's the end of the story."

She contemplated the name the woman before her said she'd been called before. "Really? Khida it is then. So.. Khida, are you just passing through then? Or are you going to stay for a while?" She smiled sweetly and waited patciently for an answer, but she was begining to twich because she wasn't moving around. It was one of the things she still had difficulties with.