Kavala met Riaris' gaze for a moment, lingering, then glanced around at the mess all about. "No, Vanator and I were working in the stableyard at The Sanctuary. We saw the flock fly overhead. It came in from the northeast. It looked like trouble, so we came to help. Isn't that the duty of all Rivarians?" Kavala said, glancing at Vanator for a moment. Her eyes caught his and Van could see the uncertainty in his sister's gaze.
Kavlaa knew Vanator was Drykas. And she knew he hadn't yet opted to test for Citizenship, but she was fairly certain he felt part of the community nonetheless. Still she hesitated speaking for him, using the term 'we' instead of 'I'. But he had come to help... so she knew he felt at least a little bit welcome. That was the source of her uncertainty.
Turning back to Riaris, she could tell with her Rak'keli's gnosis that he suffered from no wounds. She would have liked a quick hug or some sign of familiarity - a quick kiss - but Kavala was starting to realize that when Riaris was in uniform, he was mostly all business. That had been her experience with most Akalak as their Nakivak. They kept business, work, and pleasure all separate. Kavala had that incessant Drykas need to blend them all into one thing. She would have offered Riaris a sign of affection as well, but she didn't want to do so in front of his comrades if it wasn't accepted culturally. She'd lived in Riverfall for four years now, but there were still things about the Akalak she didn't know. And she wasn't going to be the one to embarrass Riaris if a hug or a quick kiss from a lover was a sign of weakness in his society.
From what she'd seen the Drykas were far more affectionate. Perhaps it was the fact that the Akalak lived so long and in relative safety behind their walls. Her own people (the Drykas, not the Konti) died often and of numerous ailments, mostly predatory... so affection was open and quick and often spontaneous.
So she instead turned and gave her brother a quick hug of thanks, mostly for coming with her and for being who he was - the fierce fighter and defender. He didn't have to claim these people as his own or assume responsibility for them. Yet he did. And that meant the world to her. Then she nodded as Riaris departed abruptly.
"Well he said clean up, so I guess we'd better get too it." Kavala cleaned off her weapons and carefully began forming a large pile with the corpses of the snarlwings in the center of the street. The Akalak could either burn them there or opt to take them outside the city and handle their disposal there. But just because the killing was over didn't mean the work was. In army it was gruesome work, gathering armloads of corpses, hauling them like cords of wood, and piling them up in the middle of the street. There was a great deal of entrails as well, blood, and assorted visera around. She stooped to pick up sections of wings, little heads, and the tattered remains of nets that had been scorched or taken from their handlers by the sheer volume of Snarlwings inside. Kavala was just as dirty as the street was while they lingered with the cleanup, moving first up one street to another, leaving a series of piles in their wake along with the other workers.
Citizens poured out to help, and soon the mass populace was scrubbing blood off sidewalks with big brooms and peeling dead corpses out of gardens and off lawns. It was a refreshing sight to see... even the young boys and occasional human girls pitching in.
When Riaris returned, Kavala nodded at his words. They were quite a ways away from where they started from and he'd left them. The cleanup was progressing well. And Kavala had noticed the same thing she noticed fighting them. These snarlwings were starved and had no choice. She said as much to Riaris as well. "It's not a normal behavior of the animals, Riaris. I suspect these animals were severely malnourished and were looking for new prey. So I think coming to Riverfall was a last desperate act for them. We left none alive for me to really tell, but I felt such an overwhelming hunger and desperation while we were fighting them. We might never know why they are starving... but I bet it had to do with the djed storm and lack of food available where their normal colony is." Kavala said, sighing softly and looking around.
There was really not much more to do.... with all the help they had gained from the general population, things were wrapping up fast.
