Closed A Student's Student (Leith)

[Kaska Villahotes]

"She's new here." Calthus said, eyeing Leith. He could tell she was upset, but he was far too sick to be letting himself out of the city, and it was more likely he'd be killed in a much more painful fashion than fitful sleeps and endless throbbing. Calthus was a gentle soul for a beggar, and he disliked seeing her so upset. "I'll be fine little lady. Been in worse scrapes than this." he chuckled dryly, the sounds dying away into a cough. Kaska considered killing him. Calthus deserved a quick and painless end, but he was just as strong as Kaska. If he had wanted a quick end, he would have asked for it. Kaska picked up his pack and settled it on his back. He knew better than to pity his friend, it was the way of the world and Calthus would have done the same for him. Better to die with dignity than pity and tears. "I hope you're not training her for our line of work." Calthus said with a reproachfulness that surprised Kaska. "I'm not. She wanted to learn how to pickpocket." Kaska said defensively. "I just...wanted to give you something. You probably haven't eaten for days." Calthus nodded. "Alright. I didn't pick you for the pimp type anyway. I'll...see you later, Kaska. One request? Seal up the tent when you leave." he gestured vaguely at the tent flaps. "Damn things won't stay closed." Kaska helped him back onto the small cot, willing himself not to cringe at the strench of infection, and drew the tent flap over the entrance. He looked at Leith. "You alright?" he asked her. "This is the way of things here. You get caught up in a mob, there's no one to help you."

[Leith]

She looked back at Kasha wiping away a tear “I’ll bring you the mushrooms if he can’t be taken out of here. He shouldn’t have his last sights be this place, I saw his eyes Kaska, he’s like you, good even though he’s rough. I wish I could save him for you…”

She was certain the two of them were alike, why else would he not be walking away? He was being kind, he deserved better than pain and a death like his friend. She wished she could offer more, but she couldn’t, she looked back at the tent closing her eyes miserable. When she opened her eyes again she was pale, but there were no tears, something made a sound off in the distance startling her. She moved close to Kaska looking towards the sound “Does this place always growl and snarl so at night?”

She pulled her hand from his sleeve when she realized she had grabbed a bit of the cloth, she moved back against the wall looking up at him embarrassed. She remembered when they had first met how he hadn’t liked her being so close, she ducked her head slightly wondering if he was going to be mad.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska looked back at the tent and led her outside, moving to another corridor where they could be safe for the moment. "He won't last the night. He knew that." he said, his voice sounding a bit flat to his own ears. He would mourn Calthus in his own way; he'd seen friends die before but blood poisoning was a horrible way to go. At least the whore he'd taken his territory from had simply frozen. She'd gone to sleep and never woken up. Kaska cleared his throat and led Leith down more of the narrow streets. It only took them a few minutes but Kaska knew the minute he found his territory. He stopped Leith before a stone wall and put her hand on a very distinctive mark. It was a deep scar in the side of the building, a rent he had worked out with the mace. Inside a crack was a lock of his hair, fluttering softly in the wind. "This is my territory marker. This is the boundaries of safe within this city. There's a gang that shares it with me, but they know anyone under my protection they don't mess with...or I stop sleeping with them. They get freebies, I don't get robbed where I sleep." Kaska told her. He sighed in relief, looking over the small territory. The stand where he got his gutter whiskey, the now burned down bathhouse, the few alleys he selected to sleep in. It felt like some semblance of home.

[Leith]

She looked over the mark then looked up at him “I’m sorry… We should keep watch over him till he goes, at least he’ll know there was company to see him off. Maybe he’d not mind if I sit next to him, he should at least know my name to take with him. I have stories I can tell him, bring him some comfort…”

She didn’t think they’d be able to do it, at the very least she figured he’d say to just let him be, but wasn’t it kinder to stay beside him? “His name is Calthus, right?”

She hoped she had heard him correctly when he had said it, she liked that name, even if the one who was called it wouldn’t be with them long. She’d remember it, it was the name of the second human she had met and the first who she’d never see again in her current life. Would she see Kaska die too? No, she would do all she could to keep her first friend alive, even if he cursed her for a fool. She was teaching him how to live, she’d not let all that go to waste.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska looked down at her. "He wouldn't want us sitting there staring at him, waiting for him to die." he told her. "I know you feel sorry for him, and he is a good man. But he was lost the minute I closed that tent flap. He knows it, I know it. He'll probably end himself when he feels the time is right, but that's between him and whatever gods he believes are real. We can't interfere. It may be different out in the forest...but here when a man dies we let him do it alone. No one wants people to see the shame of their last moments, and with blood poisoning it's never pretty. Come, I'll show you where we can sleep." he put his hand on her shoulder and walked ahead to an alleyway. It looked like a shambles, but Kaska began rearranging things. He pulled out a pile of rags that were at least semi clean and set them against the wall, beginning to make his bed. They were ragged blankets probably thrown out of inns, but he'd collected enough of them to make a comfortable bed. "Sleep behind me." he told her, letting her lay down before he settled down in front of her. This way it wasn't readily apparent he wasn't the only one in the alleyway. He tucked the mace up against his chest, his pack under his head. "Try and get some sleep. I was going to teach you...but in the morning when you're calmer. I don't want you getting caught." he said quietly.

[Leith]

It was pretty much as she figured would happen, but it still saddened her. Still she knew he was right, it just didn't make it any easier to accept. She didn't bother with thinking about what ifs, they would change nothing. When he told her to lay down, she did, she didn't argue as she was very tired. It was cold, she would have changed forms, but she didn't want to cause a fight. He was warm and still smelled like the forest. She leaned her forehead against his back, he might not like it, but she fell asleep thinking of home.

Her dreams were restless, she curled close to him mostly because he was warm, the shadows of pain in her dreams making her cling to the only warmth she could find. It was the sound of the rhythmic thumping, faint, that she heard that greeted her as she opened her eyes a bit. She didn’t move, she recalled what and where she was, but she was warm something she didn’t remember being as she slept. Her head was pillowed on Kaska’s chest, she didn’t remember that either, she could tell he was still sleeping. Oddly she was comforted by how she woke up, drifting off again a smile touching her lips, she decided as she fell back in to blackness that humans made good pillows.
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska fell asleep quickly. He was an opportunist, and peaceful sleeps didn't come often. He slept like a stone, barely moving, though he had one quirk. One eye stayed open, the golden orb unfixed and glassy. It was a rare talent he'd picked up as a child. Having one eye open while sleeping could make an enemy hesitate if only for a second, or give warning. He was still dead asleep, but the eye could get unnerving. He woke quietly when sun streamed into the alleyway and lit up the pile of rags. He was accustomed to sunlight sliding over the eye he had open, and he blinked. He looked down to see that the mace and the girl had switched places. His mace was now digging painfully into his back, and Leith was settled up against his shallow, bony chest. Kaska stretched his long, lanky body out and put his arms around Leith, sighing and resting his chin on the top of her head. He dozed quietly, letting her wake up naturally.

[Leith]

It was a chortling sound that made her open her eyes, on the other side of the one who she was sleeping on a raven stood on the ground its head tilted to the side curious. It made the sound again, her being where she was confused the poor thing. It coughed a rough call, satisfied that she had spotted it, but flew off a few breaths later secure in knowing she was at least alive. She would have moved, but she didn’t want to disturb her companion, but she kept watch. She’d never woken up in the position she was in, especially with a human before, she remembered seeing her parents tangled up in their blankets. Maybe that isn’t just what they had done, but she at least understood a little now. She did know one thing, her home was much less bright, it didn’t reek of too many humans either. She guessed that humans flocked together much like her own kind, though there were so many of them that it made their territory hazardous.

Yet humans were fascinating creatures, even if they were also very cruel and unsettling. She wondered if she’d find others that were of like kind to her first human. She hoped so, if she could turn them in to a flock and teach them how to live in the forest then maybe she wouldn’t be so lonely. That idea made her smile, a pack of humans all her own, then they could protect each other, hunt together and have fun. Since spending time with Kaska he had brought out new things in her, even if he was incredibly silly and stubborn. She wasn’t lonely, she had someone to talk to, someone other than herself to amuse her. It was nice, but would he disappear after she had taught him? She didn’t want to lose her first and so far only friend…
|
|
|

[Kaska Villahotes]

Kaska lifted his head when he heard the crow, scowling at the intrusion to his lazy morning. He sneered at the bird for a moment, resting his cheek back on his backpack. His gold eyes were open and he looked at Leith for a moment, the way she was cuddled up against his skinny body. She had kept him warm during the night, he hadn't been shivering as much as he normally did. "How did you get there?" he asked with a yawn, reaching behind him and with some effort pushing the sharp spikes of the mace away from pressing into his back. He yawned again, looking out at the bustling street outside of his alleyway. He sat up, looking at the stand where Baldur was opening the bar. The man saw him and gave a grin, his eyes raking down to Leith. Kaska rolled his eyes and got up, stretching and looking down at the girl. Liquid breakfast could be a good start to the day.

[Leith]

Leith sat up yawning, then stood stretching looking down at him “Dunno, just woke up that way, it was nice. You make a good pillow, when we sleep again can we curl together for warmth again?”

She noticed the strange human watching them and moved slightly behind Kaska watching him. “There is a human watching us, want me to call for help?”

Calling for help meant a flock of protective birds, she looked up at the sky and already saw a few looking around for food. She went back to watching the stranger, she wasn’t wanting a fight nor to risk her cousins getting hurt, but if this one was a danger she’d kill him. While she didn’t like hurting others without need she knew that in this city she had to be prepared to do so or end up dying alone in an alley.
|
|
|