Counting the Days (Malkaren)

by **Dust** on February 20th, 2013, 12:49 am

Winter 74, 512
afternoon

Semele Park was best-known for its flowers, or so Dust had heard, and the idea of flowers -- the idea of spring -- had brought her here in the hopes of seeing something not quite so... wintry... as the rest of the city. But winter reigned still; as the raven Kelvic meandered down the park's paths, she found an abundance of grays, browns, and greens, but no more cheerful colors than those. On the other hand, staring at so many flowerbeds gradually brought a new realization with it: there was an artistic touch in the foliage too. It was more subtle, a composition in shades of green and gray rather than the bold hues of flowers; something Dust would never have noticed in another season, or even on most other days.

It wasn't the same as finding a flower, that classic hallmark of spring, but it was an interesting thought. Even if she didn't dwell on it for very long.

Dust continued on down the meandering path towards the edge of the park, pulling her cloak a little closer as a cool breeze gusted through. The moving air carried sounds with it, muffled but recognizable all the same -- the sounds of Akalaks at training, something anyone in Riverfall likely grew familiar with quite quickly. The source of the noises was a low building with wooden shutters over its windows, ones she knew from prior passes-by were also screened with weavings of some sort. The raven Kelvic paused and cocked her head, listening; though most of the sounds were not words, and those which were, she thought were Tukant, a language she still hadn't learned.

Something else that she wanted to change. Like the season, but Dust had more control over the other.

by **Malkaren** on February 25th, 2013, 5:14 am

Malkaren shut the door to the Kendoka Sasaran behind him as he left for the day, black cloak wrapped tightly around his body despite the sun being bright on the horizon and the snow slowly beginning to clear up as early signs that Spring was just around the corner began to make themselves known. Soon the snow would clear and there would be little left to anchor him to Riverfall and it's citizens. Most days he simply trained or hunted until the sun set in an attempt to make it feel like less time but today he couldn't bother. He was tired, sore and the idea of having to face his parents again in the near future stacked up stress upon the pile. He couldn't think about work or practice without something else itching into his mind with more and more ideas bothering him as the day went on. Some bad, a few good. Most neutral thoughts and planning but it was enough to keep him preoccupied.

As he trudged a few steps into the snow the golden furred puff ball named Coon that had been lying next to the door hopped up, ears pointed straight at the skies as he recognized his master and went bounding off after him in a flash. Mal heard the trotting of little paws in the snow behind him followed by the feeling of something jumping up on his leg and letting out quick little hoots as the kevat treated the akalak's return as if he'd returned from the grave. Such affection made Mal smile and reach down to pat Coon between the ears which sent the little guy into such a frenzy of joy that he even uttered a light chuckle. After a good minute of running circles around his feet the creature calmed down and simply followed at his friend's heels, tongue poking out of it's beak as it panted from all the action.

He took his usual route through Semele Park on the way home, walking slowly with Coon right at his heels. Occasionally he stopped to look at the frosted flowers that managed to stay alive during the harshness of the season but he only looked for a moment or two before heading onwards. He hadn't even headed far enough from the academy to drown out the noise of mock battle coming from the building before he spotted someone else on the trail. It wasn't exactly rare to see people wandering a public park and she looked like a perfectly normal human woman with light blonde hair. Giving her only a brief glance, he stopped and looked at a bed of obsidian colored flowers that were still struggling beneath a blanket of ice and now.

by **Dust** on February 28th, 2013, 10:54 am

Someone came out of the building; big, tall, and blue-skinned, he was most obviously an Akalak. Dust tilted her head, watching as he moved out into the park, something small and tawny darting after him. It behaved like a dog would at the joyous return of its master, bouncy and excited and affectionate, but didn't quite look like a dog should... nor sound like one either. Her interest piqued, Dust started forward towards the man and his companion.

As she got closer, she determined it was a creature whose kind she had sometimes glimpsed out in the forest. Something Dust hadn't encountered anywhere else she'd been in Mizahar. "Hello!" she called to the Akalak in Common; most seemed to know at least a little of that language, after all. Stopping a short distance away on the path, she gave him a cheerful smile. "Your pet, what is he? Or she? I haven't seen one as a pet before!"

Dust crouched down and held out a hand towards the little creature, wiggling her fingers in invitation. She also pursed her lips into an 'o' and attempted to mimic a hoot back at it. The raven Kelvic wasn't sure what the sound signified, but trial and observation usually did okay as a way to figure things out...

by **Malkaren** on March 3rd, 2013, 7:30 am

Malkaren heard footfalls hitting the stone path of the park and assumed the woman he had spotted was simply passing by. Therefore it was quite a shock when he heard a light feminine voice chime up right next to him though he didn't show much surprise besides the quick turn of his head. It was indeed the light haired girl again, speaking to him in Common about what he assumed was Coon. She looked average sized for a human though in comparison to your average akalak she was very petite. For almost this reason alone it wasn't very common for those other races to approach his stern faced people with such ease. He had to give her merit for at least that.

When he turned to face her it was obvious she was simply enthralled by Coon and it wasn't completely unjustified. The little rat eaters were only found in the area around Riverfall and few others warriors would bother taking time out of their training to train such a beast and the few that did used them simply to catch vermin.

"He's a kevat. His name is Coon."

As he said this, Coon himself stared at the stranger's hand with his beady little eyes, trying to figure out if the open hand held food or a pat. Well, it looked and smelled empty so that must mean pat and pat was good. The little kevat practically hopped over to the stranger and playfully nibbled on the tips of her fingers. When the large pink thing suddenly began to hoot he looked up at her with surprise written in his tiny eyes. Well, she wasn't a kevat. He turned his head a full 180 to check behind him. No kevat there. He straightened his head again, double checking the big pinkie was still a big pinkie before forgetting what he was searching for and nibbling away again.

by **Dust** on March 6th, 2013, 10:47 am

Dust giggled as the little creature -- the kevat -- looked to and fro for the source of the hoot. "Oops. Sorry, Coon. Didn't mean to confuse you!" she informed Coon, speaking to the kevat with the same enthusiastic cheer as she had to the Akalak -- not in the overly-sweet tones many might use towards a pet. "I guess I won't do that again." She didn't seem at all discomfited by Coon's nibbling on her fingers, and, crouched down, continued to pet the creature even as she shifted her attention back to the Akalak.

Stern-faced or no, and for all that he outmassed her by a factor of a lot, Dust gave the Akalak a bright, amiable smile. Apparently she wasn't discomfited in the slightest by him. "And I should introduce myself! I'm Dust," she informed Coon's keeper. Though she didn't seem to quite follow through that thought to the next logical statement, and you are...?. No, she continued right on with her topic of interest. "Is kevat a Tukant word, or is it just the name?" Of the species, that is. "And they're local to Riverfall, right? I've been all kinds of places, but I haven't seen one anywhere else!"

by **Malkaren** on March 15th, 2013, 1:09 am

couldn't help but arch a brow as the strange blonde haired woman kept going on and on. Granted he didn't find her interaction bothersome or offensive but he'd become so use to how the majority of outsiders in Riverfall acted towards his race and there was next to no doubt that this girl was an outsider. It wasn't just the bright, cheery charm that she radiated but her curiosity made it obvious that she was very new to the city and perhaps even a traveler. It would be strangely appropriate with a name such as Dust. Deciding that blowing her off would be rude and deciding to sate her appetite for understanding, Malkaren began to answer her questions.

"I suppose you could see the word as both. As far as anyone knows they only live in the forests near Riverfall. Since where they live is so specific, my people are the few to see and interact with them as often as we do."

His legs beggining to grow stiff from standing on the spot, Malkaren crouched down and began to scratch the kevat's side. Coon, already wrapped up in the joy of having a nice, soft hand patting him on the head, barely showed interest in the extra show of affection aside from his tail going even wilder than before. After a small smile crept up on his lips he kept on explaining.

"There are many places with birds or dogs or cats. Different people, different languages and thus different words for said beast. My people gave kevat a name as any race does to identify an animal. With outsiders having never seen them it must have stuck when they heard it."

Realizing how incredibly formal this must have been, droning on about something as mind numbing as the naming of kevats, he looked up with a ghost of a smile still on his face and introduced himself.

"My name is Malkaren."

by **Dust** on March 26th, 2013, 10:58 pm

Dust patted Coon one more time on his head, then paused to kneel on the walkway, crossing her ankles behind her. Since Malkaren had come down to their level, it only made sense -- she might as well settle in. "That makes sense!" she declared, after the fact not seeming all that bored at all regarding the story of the word. "Since you -- well, Akalaks -- named them, everyone else uses the same word.."

She grinned up at Malkaren -- for even crouched down, the Akalak always had height beyond Dust. "I'm pleased to meet you!" she answered his self-introduction, her tone entirely sincere for all that the phrase by itself might seem formulaic. Tipping her head, she watched the blur of the kevat's little tail sweeping from side to side, then reached back out to rub his ears. "He looks a little like an owl," she remarked. "Like an owl and a dog. Does he see in the dark like owls do?" Or like she presumed owls to do, at any rate, the raven Kelvic not having personal experience with that matter.

"It's funny that they only live here. The forests in Sylira look kinda similar. You'd think there'd be kevats there, too," she mused aloud. "There's definitely other forest animals that live in both places! But I never saw one."

by **Magpie** on April 21st, 2013, 1:10 pm

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Dust :

Notes :

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