Closed An Icy Ride (Garran)

[Sliver]

The Kelvic's fingers were growing to be numb as she worked, nose twitching as she smelled the still warm flesh of the rabbit. In truth she could have torn into the meat then and there, but only one of them had the ability to do that, so perhaps it was better left alone, at least until the gods be damned fire started.

With Garran and the pup tent acting as a wind break she continued striking flint and tinder with a renewed frenzy. Once again a bit of orange blossomed, and this time nearly her whole body went over the fire as a protective ward to the tiny embers that could become a comfortable fire. Blowing gently once more she saw the tiniest flicker of flame catch upon some of the brush the two of them had manage to gather, but remained in position until the flame had taken to a larger twig, and had expanded somewhat outward. She realized that in her present pose she must look pretty ridiculous, but so too did Garran, who was laying at an odd angle as another wind break. She looked up and chuckled, and slowly withdrew from the flames. "As long as a pile of snow doesn't fall down from the heavens we may just be alright."

She leaned back and straightened the pile of ever sticks based on size, watching carefully as slow tongues of flames began to expand outward, feeding hungrily upon the tinder which brought them up to the larger sticks.

Sliver was not one to complain about food, of an kind. She was an omnivore and thus literally ate everything. Also, she thought, if she was able to consume the entrails he had set aside it also meant more of the cooked rabbit for the Frostfawn. With this thought in mind, Sliver answered Garran's unasked question. "Do you mind?" She scooped up the now rather cold guts, picking out any that had a lot to do with feces and the like, and chowed down. The bits she didn't eat, bladder, end of the small intestine, liver, lungs, were thrown into the fire, and despite the messy nature of the meat that Sliver was consuming, she did it in a fairly neat way, licking her fingers once the raw tendrils were consumed, and watching the raw meat of the rabbit as Garran stuck it over the fire.

She reached into her satchel and pulled out a small glass bottle, undoing the stopper and dousing the carcass with a collection of herbs, smiling. "Might as well add some flavor."

Then she came to his question. She was a little surprised that the healing of the leg was an if and not a when, but then again, as was strikingly obvious, she knew little about medicine. The Kelvic cocked her head to the side curiously. "You think he will listen to me over someone who he knows?"

This did not seem right to the Kelvic, but if it would mean the little colts life she would do it. She glanced up at the two horses tucking into their bags of grain and then back to Garran. "So, you work with horses then?"

Not very apt at starting conversations, Sliver thought it best to start witht he supremely obvious, and an embarrassed smirk spread across her features as she lay her hands over the slowly growing fire

[Garran Frostfawn]

Well, she did surprise him – in a very good way – and as Garran saw the orange licks of flame moving along and consuming the tinder, he grinned – and not because the Kelvic was angled in such an odd and awkward way. He unfolded himself too, as she straightened, saying, “I’m impressed – and thankful. A few more minutes standing on my head like that and I think I might have lost consciousness. Well done you.” He reached out and gave her a congratulatory and appreciative pat on the arm. Looking upwards, more flakes falling on his face and one sticking in his eyelashes, his good humor deflated a bit. “Yeah,” he added. “We can only hope – unless you have some sort of direct line to Zulrav and can get him to blow this storm to someplace else.” Sliver had her attention still on the crafting of a good fire, and he watched her without further comment. When she was satisfied that the thing was well and truly going, she indicated with her question and her gaze that she was ready to eat – and he could see full well just what she intended to dine on. But Garran was Vantha, and he was accustomed to eating raw whale blubber and fermented seal flippers and moose heart – so a few entrails didn’t seem at all out of place to him – though he’d prefer the musculature of the rabbit she had managed to catch. He grinned and replied, “Not at all – help yourself.” She did so, rather ferociously attacking the innards but also doing so in a fastidious manner – a mix of her animal and human impulses, he assumed. Meanwhile, he rose and found two sticks with forking branches and shortened one so they were about the same height. With a rock, he pounded them into the exceedingly hard earth, enough that they would stand upright anyway, one to each side of the growing flames. Finally, he placed the skewered rabbit over the fire, each end of that stick resting in a fork of the uprights. He sat again, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. By this time, Sliver was pretty much done with the appetizer. Applying some herbal type seasoning, she settled back down to wait with him as the rabbit roasted over the flames. Finally she thought to reply to his earlier question, about trying to keep the injured colt calm, wondering aloud if Garran’s possible solution would work and then asking him more generally about what he did. Garran cast a glance her way and replied very candidly, “I don’t know, but you are Kelvic, right? You haven’t told me as much, but…I think you are. I don’t know if you can communicate with a horse any better than I can – I don’t even know what animal form you take - but I’m guessing it’s some kind of hunting predator.” He nodded at the cooking rabbit and grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a deer or a moose that could catch a rabbit.” He shrugged. “It’s worth a try, I think. I can calm him, but I can’t tell him to stay calm, you know?” His expression wasn’t exactly a beseeching one, but clearly he was hoping she’d at least agree to attempt it. It certainly couldn’t hurt. Then he went on. “I do work with them, yep. I have all my life – I could ride almost as soon as I could walk. My parents taught me, and my brothers. I love horses.” He stopped there, for he knew that he could go on and on for hours about the beasts he loved so well and spent so much time around. He added only, “I work at the White Elk stables, as a trainer. That’s why I was out here. I’ve been training that one to be a pack horse.” He nodded at the colt, then shook his head. “I wasn’t paying enough attention to the terrain. Now he has to suffer for my stupidity.” Garran was frowning – at himself – and he looked over at Sliver again, and asked her thoughtfully, “How is it with the bears? Riding them I mean. It must be quite different, riding a more…sentient being.” He was really looking at her quite directly, pondering. “What’s it like – when you are in animal form? It must be so very different…”

[Sliver]

Sliver shook her head a little. "I can...try, but I doubt your horses will like the smell of me much, and I won't be able to say anything to them you couldn't, less so in my other form." She inclined her head. "And you're right, I am Kelvic...a wolverine."

She wasn't sure why she hesitated to say it, perhaps it was a latent part of her that sometimes wished she was a dire polar bear. They were massive hulking creatures and she but a smallish hulking one. That being said, she wouldn't know what to do with that kind of girth even if she had it. She was happy as her small gruff self, and she realized with a start that Garran hadn't even assumed what she was, merely taking the facts he had and putting them together. This made her smile. Anyone else would have asked if she was a bear first.

Her smile broadened somewhat as he began talking about horses. She could see he was holding back words, knew he could speak more upon the subject but was being polite. A frown crossed her features as he blamed himself for the horse's injury, shaking her head a little. "Anyone, even the most expert of Horsemen cannot know every piece of terrain he is upon." She glanced over to the horses for a moment. "He will not blame you for a simple accident, so why should you blame yourself?"

She turned back with a smile, rubbing her chin at his inquiry. "It is large, sturdier than a horse, and different...you know it is a comrade in arms beneath you and not simply an animal- not that that's how you feel...", Sliver was quick to interject, hoping she wasn't insulting why he rode and how he felt doing so. She rubbed her face a bit absentmindedly and glanced up, hearing his statement about her animal form.

Sliver shrugged. "To those who cannot shift it must seem quite amazing, but for Kelvic...we are animal and human in one. One form is not more true than the other, for they are both a part of who we are. I enjoy my animal form, to rip apart my prey and crush their bones, for playing in the snow and the feel of my fur, but my human form is more flexible...easier to talk in..." She grinned. "It is different I supposed, lower to the ground, but at the same time it is still me, and is just the same...if that makes any sense."

She picked a bit of meat out of her teeth and looked at the slowly sizzling rabbit hungrily. Reaching into the pocket of her jacket she pulled out a couple strips of jerky and offered one to Garran. "Have you met any other Kelvic that are not those massive bears?"

[Garran Frostfawn]

Her answer was a bit more hesitant than his blunt question had been – but there wasn’t any need to beat around the bush. There might be places in the world where Kelvics were a rarity – Garran didn’t know – but in Avanthal not only were they common, and accepted – they were an integral part of their societal structure – what with the Icewatch bears. Their queen and their goddess herself had taken a hand in the breeding of the huge dire beasts, and though Garran wasn’t personal friends with any of them, he could certainly appreciate just how human their human forms were. He’d had some dealing with the Icewatch, years ago. He knew. So he wondered what lay behind that very faint pause in her admission, that she was wolverine in her animal form. But he didn’t press, and only gave a moment of thought to the beast in question – one of the fiercest predators in the north, pound for pound. An animal a man would do well to steer clear of, that was a certainty. But as Sliver was Icewatch, and Kelvic, and relatively congenial, he was glad to know that half of their strength was so formidable, should any other dangerous beasts decide to drop in on their little party. He took quite a bit of comfort, then, in her widening smile – thankful that she was here and thankful that she was friend and not foe. Giving the spit an idle turn, he listened to her speak of the bears, and being Kelvic herself. Knowing now that she was not a bear member of the watch, he frowned a bit, trying to figure out how that worked – a wolverine Kelvic – would she bond with a bear, like the other Icewatch guards? That didn’t seem likely, for Kelvics didn’t bond to their own kind. So…she’d have to be bonded to one of the other non-Kelvics – who were, for the most part, human, and mostly Vantha. Hmm… His thoughts were interrupted by her question, and he replied with a grin, “I’m sure I have. Whether I knew it or not – that’s a different question altogether.” He chuckled. “I haven’t had the close acquaintance of any, no. I guess I tie myself to my horses and typically I’m not much of a one to be out and about socializing. Though our meeting at the Red Diamond might make you think otherwise.” He shrugged. “But now…yes, I do know one – who does not happen to be a bear.” He smiled and then she was handing over a bit of jerky, and he guessed she was hungry. Garran looked at the rabbit, nodding. “I might prefer my meat a bit less raw than you – feel free to dig in whenever you like.” He took a bit of the dried, stringy meat and that occupied his jaws for a good while. When finally he swallowed the masticated flesh, he asked, “Are you from Avanthal?” It seemed reasonable – that a northern animal form Kelvic would have been born and bred here. Another question popped into his head, and, nosy as ever, he went ahead and asked it. “How old are you, in years, or seasons?”

[Sliver]

She sat there amiably, chewing upon the dried strip of meat slowly, allowing the juices to settle into her mouth. She often felt at a loss with Vantha, such a talkative and investigative lot, and she, more a terse and close mouthed companion. Though nearly a year in Avanthal had done a lot to loosen her tongue, and she seemed not to mind answering his questions, as long as he did not follow the Icewatch train too far...

"I was not born upon Avanthal, but in Sahova, and island dedicated to magic users...most of them Nuit." She scratched her chin. "I left after I was a year of age, and began traveling around Mizahar, but as soon as I heard tales of the Icewatch...of the Everwinter City I knew I had to see it for myself, after all...I am a wolverine." She paused for a moment. She hesitated to share her story, but assured herself that any Vantha worth their salt would never turn down someone's tale.

"I came in the Spring after the Djed Storm melted the city...and it wasn't so wintery. The Icewatch was desperate for Order, and allowed me to join their ranks. I have been a part of them ever since, nearly a year." At that last part Sliver's eyes turned downward slightly. Nearly a year...and she still wasn't bonded. She was still not sure what the Watch would do with her if she did not, but she was sure it could not be good. They would not make an exception to the rule for one guard...one stubborn wolverine.

Her mind drifted for a moment, vaguely hearing his next question, head snapping up in recognition. "Just turned 6!" She said rather proudly, then her face straightened a little, remembering what that meant, nearly a third of the way through her lifespan. A few years more and she would be of middling age...an alarming thought indeed. The Kelvic ran a hand through her hair somewhat worriedly, then offered a smile at the Vantha, who had a long life in front of him indeed.

"How old are you then?" She studied his face. "Are you married off yet? Vantha seem to have a strange habit of throwing their offspring at others of the opposite gender."

Frankly Sliver didn't understand the whole idea of marriage. Bonding was a visceral and real thing....not that she would know, but marriage was something legal and strange, done with gifts and ceremonies. What was the point in that?

[Garran Frostfawn]

“Sahova!” Garran could not help saying the word out loud, and the rise of his eyebrows that accompanied it. Sliver didn’t seem especially discomfited by the mention of her birthplace, so maybe all the dreary tales Garran had heard were… exaggerations. He hoped so, for her sake. And he wouldn’t press her for details, not at this juncture. That would be beyond nosy. That would be pure ghoulish voyeurism – though at some point, if he ever came to know her better, he thought he would be interested to hear about this island on the far side of the world. So he kept his mouth shut for a moment, biting into the jerky and beginning to soften it with teeth and spit, as he chewed thoughtfully, listening. “So, you are a relative newcomer to the North then?” he said, it being more of a rhetorical question. Though there was the possibility that she had spent the majority of her life in the northern reaches – Sliver hasn’t said where exactly she had passed the years before she had arrived at the city of the aurora a year before. He noted the way she seemed to fold in upon herself, growing a bit more quiet after speaking of joining the Icewatch, and he wondered again how that was going for her. She seemed to make a fine watchman, in his opinion, which counted for nothing. But again, that seemed too personal a thing to ask her directly at this juncture. Instead, she was posing questions to him and he was compliant in answering, for she had been polite enough not to tell him to go shove his nosy face in a snow bank at all the ones he had thrown at her. It was ground he had to cover often enough, anyway – at least, some variation of her questions, which ran more like why haven’t you remarried yet Garran? When will you start a family? Those mostly came from his grandmothers and aunts and some of his older cousins, and of course his mother, though she was more subtle – or so she thought. He smiled, affably, and his reply was in neutral tones, tinged by some sadness. “I’m twenty-five, and I was married, once. When I was eighteen.” His smile was a bit more thoughtful now. “And yes, as you have noted, we are much in love with arranged marriages amongst our Holds. My parents chose a girl for me. A Skyglow. We were married only a very short time though – six months or so. She…died.” Garran’s gaze didn’t waver, and he looked at Sliver, a slight melancholy showing on his features, but not expecting, or wanting, pity. “An accident,” he went on, answering the unasked question he thought she might have. It was a telling sign that she was newly come to Avanthal, in that she did not know his story – though it would be a huge overstatement that everyone in the city had heard it. It would be more reasonable to say many had heard of the girl who had fallen to her death, that year, seven years ago – and the subsequent mild scandal, and the investigation into all of it. Would they know specifically the name or the face of the young man who had been her husband for such a brief time? No, probably not – not any longer, though some had long memories. But all that Garran thought entirely not worth going into. It had all been such a complicated mess. If Sliver ever asked – if she ever wanted to know the details, he would tell her…at least, he would tell her what everyone else already knew, those who cared to remember that is. There were parts that nobody knew, not any longer. Seena had taken some of it to the grave with her. And there were some things he had never told anyone, of course. Not the Icewatch. Not his parents. Not Luca. He reached to twist the spit again, and said, “I haven’t remarried. I’m not sure I ever will. I…sometimes I think it would be nice to have children. A little girl…or…a boy.” He shrugged. “Either really.” His eyes came over to Sliver as he asked, “You? You are bonded? Or no?”

[Sliver]

Sliver couldn't help herself and used one of her skinning knives to pull off a strip of meat. The rabbit was still fairly pink on the inside, but the outer layers of meat were beginning to crisp. Handling the scorching meat in her grasp tenderly, she blew on it before stuffing it into her mouth, grinning sheepishly at her companion. "No I have not been in the North long. Cam last Spring, helped out in the Spires for half a season or so, and the rest of my time has been in the City or the Reaches."

Her smile was warm then. "It has always felt like home though...from the instant it began snowing again after the Djed storm."

She tilted her head curiously at Garran for a moment then, expression sobering as he told his own...much sadder tale. Her eyes were not filled with pity, merely sorrow. Sliver had seen a great many people killed in her short time in Avanthal. From the strangely acting animals, to acts of animosity within the Holds, there was far too much death for her liking...especially when it was her duty to protect the people of the City.

Sliver bowed her head somewhat. "That is hard indeed, Garran, and I am sorry for your loss..." She wondered if losing a spouse was like losing a bond mate. She had never bonded to Khilo, but the thought of losing him when she was in her youth...the thought was unbearable. If she bonded and lost that person...could she even bear to bond again? Strange what ifs flooded through her mind.

And then he asked the question. The question she always dreaded of those that did not know her...but knew what she was.

"N-no." She said simply, not wanting to continue. She licked the remnants of meat off of her finger tips, and let out a long sigh. "I have never been bonded...not in my entire life. I...I am not sure if the Icewatch will keep me within their ranks if I am not bonded by the end of the season...Cohesion is important to them, and the unity that bond mates bring."

She sat their, sullen all of a sudden, appetite somewhat lost. A thought popped into her head about Garran's story, and she opened her mouth, hoping to change the subject. "Your wife, did you-"

Whatever she was about to ask was suddenly and most assuredly cut off by a biting howl that pierced the veils of wind that eddied and swirled around their partially sheltered camp. Sliver's ears pricked and her nose snuffled, as if she might smell the creatures approaching.

The Kelvic looked to the horses, the older of which was pawing the ground impatiently, nostrils flaring. Had the mare sensed the approaching pack and the Icewatch guard had been too caught up in socializing to notice? It mattered not. Sliver was up, hood down and long mohawk swept up int he breeze.

"Company, little ways out by the sound of it." She glanced at the fire, wondering if it would be better to douse it, but it was doubtful that the light had attracted the predators...more likely the smell of cooking meat. Couldn't be long now.

[Garran Frostfawn]

So it was as he thought. Sliver was still very new to the north. Her comment there made Garran think about the freakish storm and the aftermath – the previously unknown warmth and the damage it had wrought on their homes and city – the deaths of the minors, and others. Truly, it was good to see snow again. Her short, but sincere sounding sentiment given in response to his pretty bald statement about his own sad past, was accepted with his own philosophical silence. Words could not erase what had happened, or how he had felt about those events. But time was already softening the edges – something he could never decide whether he was glad for or not. He was glad to move on to the Kelvic’s own situation, though he felt her heaviness when she confessed that her fate with the watch was uncertain. Even more than humans, who seemed for the most part compelled to seek out some form of partnership or other, Kelvics typically pined for a mate – a bond mate – and those he had known were only truly content when they had that connectivity intact. He felt her frustration, and her discomfort, at the fact that she still had yet to find the one she should bond to. Sliver began to pose another question to him, when she stopped, abruptly, interrupted by the unmistakable call of a wolf. Garran’s eyes went wide with concern and his head snapped about, in the direction of the call. He was no hunter and had few talents or skills with weapons with which to fend off the fierce predators. Suddenly he was doubly thankful that Sliver was here, waiting with him for his friend’s return with the sledge. As she rose and threw back her hood, Garran rose too, his gaze going to Falla, who skittered nervously, before it returned to his companion. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, his voice low, as if he would somehow delude the wolf from knowing he was there. It was clear, he was more than happy to place their safety in the guard’s hands – or perhaps her paws, claws and teeth, should she choose to shift.

[Sliver]

Sliver glanced from Garran, to the horses, to the darkness bringing some hungry predators. She could tell him to ride off...leaving her and foal here, but that would surely be madness. If it was a whole pack, though she surely had no chance of protecting the Frostfawn and his horses...perhaps they would pass by, perhaps the call was farther away than it sounded, perhaps-

She shook her head, hair whipping around her face and growled, more to herself than anyone else, drawing the wood chopping axe she had recently come to know as the weapon she used in human form. It would do good as a defensive weapon at first...her animal form could come later, a good surprise tactic to warn off the predators if it came to that.

She glanced back at Garran.

"Make sure your horses will stay...and if that mare wants to protect her foal with a good kick...I would be thankful." She grinned, an expression that she hoped conveyed a little bit more confidence than she felt, and stepped forward, her back to the fire light, axe in hand. Many had died as they both knew...she wasn't about to let horse nor man die either.

They came as shadows over the hill, one, two, and three. Sliver hoped there wasn't more, but at the very least she didn't see any other silhouettes and that...that had to count for something. She swung her axe experimentally in her hands and gave a barking growl that simply did not hold the right tone in her human throat, a warning for the wolves.

They waited for much too long before streaking down the hill, Sliver charging up to meet them as she heard one of the horses let out a fearful bray.

She still did not know much about using her axe, but she did know how hard it could hit if she put all her weight behind it, and there was a yelp and a crunch of bones as the dull side of the axe head smashed against a wolf's back. Teeth bit deep into the arm of her jacket, and suddenly the Kelvic found herself rolling in the snow, coughing and spluttering, hoping Garran was all right. Yes that was a really good thought to have...wasn't it?

One of the three wolves seemed far more interested in the horses than the strange female, however, so perhaps her worries were not so ill founded after all...