Completed My Words Like Silent Raindrops Fell

[Navisya Curare]

Fall 65th, 512 Second bell. "Good dog." Navisya knelt as Zlynge plodded up to her through the foliage, his mud-caked paws sinking through a layer of wet, damp leaves. He obediently sat when he was ordered while his master removed a bloodied, dying hare from his jaws, holding it by its ears. Steadying the animal against the ground, Navisya closed her clawed fingers around the arrow in its back and pulled it out swiftly. She then straightened and handed the animal to Tevander, who had already strung two birds to his pack. They crossed eyes briefly, and something passed between them that Navisya was unable to identify. Praising Zlynge again, Navisya began to clean the arrow off onto a patch of wet tree moss. The air was biting, promising of the upcoming Winter. After staying in the desert so long, Navisya had become accustomed to much warmer temperatures and felt much colder than she thought she normally would have. Usually the crisp wind, smelling pleasantly of rainfall and distant snow, was one of the joys of the outdoors. Now she longed for her windless cave. Zlynge circled the area while the two worked, sniffing furiously at the damp earth and stopping to mark several trees. Navisya watched him with amusement, wondering if he smelled any recent wolves or other predators. His purpose was always to retrieve and help catch prey, but at every opportunity, he convinced himself it was his duty to protect his Symenestra masters. "You've been quiet, Father," she noted, pulling a clump of brown fur from the arrow head once the blood had been washed away. Tevander did not answer. She hadn't expected him to. After breaking the hare's neck, he pretended to be busy attaching the rodent to his pack. His daughters golden eyes stayed on him, unconvinced. She was certain he could feel her watching him, because he never lifted his head to return her stare. "Is it true Kelswyn is preparing for her next Harvest?" It would also be her last until Navisya or Aessila married. There was no guarantee that Reverin would even be able to sire a third child. The first had been lost. He nodded. Proof that his hearing was intact. "Your sister will be leaving in mid Spring."

[Navisya Curare]

Finishing with the hare, Tevander straightened and began to walk deeper into the valley. Belying his age, he moved deftly over the sloping terrain, stepping lightly across fallen logs and upraised roots while barely making a sound. Navisya watched him with envy as she returned the arrow to her pack, and attempted to replicate his dexterity, but her aptitude for stealth and subtlety was, as always, hit or miss. She had to remind herself that Tevander had been doing this for years. Zlynge, without the slightest care in the world, padded across the thick, damp forest floor at a noisy, happy pace. He passed both Navisya and Tevander, following some invisible trail at the end of his nose. "Where is she going?" Navisya asked in a quiet tone when she finally came up beside her father as he paused to survey the lower valley through a break in the trees. "Lhavit." Navisya accepted the answer with a slow nod and deep breath. The cause of death for Kelswyn's first child had been difficult to pinpoint. Many simply blamed it on the weak choice of surrogate, and she was prepared to take responsibility for choosing poorly on her first Harvest. Her husband Reverin, however, feared the problem lied with him and his blood. Her sister was skilled at keeping up her spirits in the company of others and wearing a strong smile, but Navisya knew she worried her son would be an only child. A Lhavitian astronomer had delivered a beautiful, healthy child on their second attempt. Navisya could understand Kelswyn's inclination to return for another. Zlynge barked suddenly from the foliage nearby. Tevander instinctively drew his longbow and aligned an arrow to the string in the same motion. A chorus of frenzied birdsong echoed through the trees as a flock of falling quails erupted into the canopy above. Tevander aimed upward and loosed an arrow. Navisya soon followed suit and shot at another. One bird fell. Navisya had missed and her arrow fell somewhere deeper into the valley. Zlynge reappeared with gusto and snatched the motionless bird in his jaws. Looking pleased with himself, he brought the bird to Navisya. "Good dog," she said airily, pulling the bird from his mouth. Its neck had already been broken by the fall and hung loosely from the rest of its body. "I love these birds. Beautiful feathers." The arrow came loose with a puff of down. When she handed the bird and arrow back to Tevander, she found he was preoccupied with staring at the dog.

[Navisya Curare]

"Is something wrong?" Navisya was still holding out the bird and arrow. At his own pace, the way he always operated, Tevander eventually shook his head and realigned his attention back to his daughter. He took the items gratefully, then began the meticulous task of tying the bird to his pack. He was building a macabre skirt of dead animals. This was an image of her father that Navisya had always beheld warmly since her younger childhood. He'd gotten so much older since then. His hair had once been almost black, and now it lightened with age. The lines on his face had become deeper. Like Navisya's mother, Tevander was getting older. It frightened her. While he was busy with the bird, Navisya plucked the arrow from his arm. She cleaned it for him on her cape. "Father, I know communication has never been your strongest talent." Ironically, all of his daughters were brilliant at speaking their mind, whether invited to or not. That was all Lissith. Just went to show that not all things were inherited through blood. "But you've barely said a word to me since I returned to Kalinor. Not even about the dinner party. It's maddening. I missed you terribly, but you have nothing to say to me now that I'm here." She handed him his arrow, now free of debris and any trace of blood. Tevander sighed. It was long and drawn out, a slow, strained breath that could have fueled words had he known the proper things to say. For a moment, it looked as if he were about to manage something substantial, but he simply finished with the bird, took his arrow, and stood. "Really? Nothing?" Navisya balked at him, frustrated, watching as he began to step away from her. "I shot that bird," Tevander mumbled, glancing down at Zlynge as the dog followed after him. Navisya eventually drifted along behind him as well. "And he returned it to you instead. That was the third time." Her expression scarcely changing, she looked down at their dog, a tall muscular animal. His brindled fur matched remarkably well with the browning foliage around him. "Zlynge?" Irritating that Tevander was deflecting the topic, but Navisya knew to start with that she wouldn't be able to forcibly open him up like some bivalve. As always, he did everything at his own pace. "He's just gotten used to me, that's all. While we were away, I was all he had." The pair of them reached a steep incline, fraught with jutting rocks and exposed tree roots, that walled them off from the next portion of the valley. Tevander effortlessly began to scale the hill, and Navisya followed after him. Zlynge had a more difficult time finding foothold, and used the tree roots where they were available. "It was a challenge hunting without him," Tevander said, once they reached the top. His much smaller daughter rose up next to him, joining him in absorbing a decent view of the valley bed before them. This terrain looked perfect for rabbits and quarter deer. Navisya waited for her father to decide their strategy. "Aaliyon makes a poor tracking hound." "I bet his barking sounds terrible." Navisya looked at her father sidelong with a smirk. "He's back now though. Better appreciate him." "Perhaps he shouldn't have gone in the first place."

[Navisya Curare]

"What?" Navisya molded her face into a look of bewilderment, her brow creasing. Where the bloody Hai was this coming from? She hurried her pace to close the gap between them, hopping up on the same fallen log her father was deftly moving upon. "You told me to take him. You said I needed protec—" He held up his hand. "Quiet," he whispered, then took his bow from around his arm. Navisya lowered herself and stepped back, allowing room for her father to draw an arrow if he needed to. Zlynge wandered forward and disappeared into the foliage again, following some exciting new scent. Taking the cue, Navisya unleashed her own bow as well. They sat for long, quiet span of chimes, waiting. Navisya continued trying to read her father's stony expression. Barking sounded from somewhere unseen. A brown blur burst into view, too small to be their dog, exploding from the underbrush and darting across the small clearing. Both Symenestra unleashed their arrows at it. The hare took both of them and rolled off to the side from the force of their momentum. Navisya let out a triumphant giggle. They hopped from their log and made their way to the hare. Zlynge reappeared and crossed their path once, trotting victoriously, before Tevander stopped and picked up the animal by its back feet. Two arrows—one longer for the other as it was meant for a longbow—protruded grimly from the creature. The shorter arrow, fletched with two red feathers and one gold, was buried in its flank. The longer arrow, fletched with two black feathers and one red, had entered through the eye and erupted from the animal's nose. Amazingly, it was still alive and struggling feebly. Navisya swore out of grim astonishment. "For the love of Viratas, Father." That was a lucky petching shot. He smirked. "Indeed." It was not a statement of agreement, but the precursor to a short prayer of thanks. Navisya bowed her head respectfully. Tevander then snapped the animal's neck. "We should be heading back," Tevander said quietly after the arrows had been removed. With the last animal attached to his person, he was starting to look burdened by their weight. Placing two clawed fingers in mouth, he produced a sharp, piercing whistle. It was a signal to his brother, Aaliyon. A few ticks later, the whistle was returned from another part of the valley. "It was a good hunt." Navisya said coolly as they began to make their way toward the direction of the sound. Aaliyon and Dominyon were the better navigators and would know the way back. "The djed storm seems to have affected the grouping of some animals." "Yes. It is divine mercy." She sighed. He was pretending to have forgotten their earlier conversation. "Father…" "Hm?" "Are you angry that I took Zlynge with me?" Something that sounded like a laugh came from the taller figure in front of her. His lean form flitted up the side of a tree in order to get onto a nearby cliff. Navisya followed him cleanly. "Of course not," he answered finally, once they reached the summit. He let out another whistle which Navisya wasn't prepared for. She winced and covered her ear, then ate her petty contempt. It was such a maddening noise. "Then what precisely is the matter? Stop avoiding my questions. I want to make amends if you're upset with me." "I am not upset with you, Sya." Further attempts to decrypt her father's wretched silence were similarly unsuccessful. Eventually Navisya gave up the task and stopped asking, likely much to Tevander's relief. No point in holding onto a lost cause. Convincing herself to appreciate the bounty of their hunt, more than worrying about the downright childish avoidance of her father, she forced herself into a better mood. When they met with her cousin and uncle, she was all smiles. The four them returned to Kalinor, all but Navisya draped in small, dead animals, retelling stories of their day's hunt. Zlynge patrolled with them, walking ahead as he knew the way back to Kalinor better than any of them. After a visit to the Sickle and Arrow to turn in their game, and dropping Zlynge off at Navisya's home, it was a matter of course that the four of them would be found at the Hunter's Gather in the early morning hours.

[Poison]

THREAD AWARD!

Skills: Animal Husbandry 2, Observation 2, Hunting 1, Bow 2, Acrobatics 2

Lores: -

Notes: I enjoyed the interaction between Navisya, Tevander and Zlynge!

If there are any issues with the XP I awarded you, send me a PM!