Solitary Ground

[Khiara]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m875cWGsWvo&feature=related

14th Of Summer, Late Afternoon

Khiara was tired. She was so tired. Her first night in Riverfall had been spent inside a stable, barely sleeping beside the hurting stallion. Cuddled beside Vsenri, she'd woken at every little nicker or movement. The frostmarch looked worn, faded. He hurt, and if she didn't find help soon, he would die for sure. Even if she did find help, there was no guarantee he could be fixed. But she had to try.

At the first breaking of light, the vantha had risen and taken to the streets, to find someone to help her. The shock of seeing the blue skinned guards had only been a start. As the citizens of Riverfall began to exit their dwellings, Khiara had to keep her eyes on the ground. They were all men, the blue skinned humanoids, and they were walking statues. Tall, and built like warriors, they walked with confidence and no care for a small foreigner on their soil. A couple of them shot her odd looks, too interested for her to process.

Moving through the streets, she asked for guidance, someone who could help her with the horse. Most of the shop-keeps frowned and shook their heads, advising the young woman he was a lost cause and it would be humane to end his life quickly. Khiara fled their words, not stopping until she found someone who could help. There were women here too, white woman beautiful beyond measure, but they were of no better help. One keep, a smiling white haired lady with shimmering skin and a kind face brought her inside and cleaned her up. Khiara had been so focused on the horse, she hadn't taken the time to look at herself. There was a nasty bruise on over her left eye, accompanied by a shallow gash. Her hands were lacerated, and her arms battered. Her lower lip had a small split on the left hand side and she was filthy. The woman dressed her wounds and gave her a cloth and warm water to wash herself. Giving Khiara clean clothes, she guided the dazed and weary girl to a back room in her home - which also served as her shop front. The vantha had changed, brushing her long black hair and staring at herself with dull golden eyes. Occasionally a violet streak would swirl through them, but the gold remained a steady constant. The clothes consisted of a soft almost sheer fabric, layered a few times and made into a long flowing dress. The top was made of a woven gold fabric and tied in a haltered fashion around the back of her neck. On her feet, she exchanged boots for woven gold fabric sandals and around her shoulders she held a sheer white shawl that fell in soft folds from her elbows to her waist.

When she came back, the woman - who had said her name and asked Khiara hers, but to what this conversation held, the vantha was too numb to even recall - asked the girl if she felt better and if she needed a place to stay. Wordlessly, Khiara shook her head and thanked the woman in a low voice. She offered the lady coin for her kindness, but the pale creature only shook her head and smiled sadly and bundling the leather riding gear in a soft canvas bag for the vantha.

Leaving the shop, Khiara had walked with unseeing, uncaring eyes. She passed the dark skinned men and pale women in a sort of daze. The street had begun to incline, and the shops lessened. The houses became more spread out, and the sun had moved over into late afternoon. The young woman walked on, until she could walk no further. A cliff stood before her, dropping off into the ocean far below. Wrapping her arms around herself, Khiara looked out over the ocean as the wind tugged at her hair and buffeted the soft skirts of her dress around her. Turning her head slightly, she could see a building in the distance. It looked to be a farmstead, or some sort of animal shelter maybe? But it was so far away, and she had finally given up. Goddess, there was nothing left.

Closing her eyes, Khiara let the wind push against her, numb to the sensations around her. What was the point now? What did she have left? Nothing. She had absolutely nothing.

Listening to the waves crash against the rocks below, the vantha opened her eyes again, staring at the water. It would be so easy to simply fall into the depths, and it would all be over. No more pain, no more hurt. Nothing.

[Kashik]

Kashik and Vanator had settled in at Van's sister's place - or rather, they'd dumped all their bags and gear there, made sure their Striders were watered and resting, and then Kashik had left her new spouse to make his hellos in a bit of privacy. She'd gotten the impression that Kavala didn't really approve of her, no matter that her reasons might be good intentioned, and Kashik - ever the politician - thought it might be prudent to let them work that out themselves without her around.

And so she'd decided to go for a walk. It was something she's often done when she was training here, walking and jogging and running and climbing, any activity that would keep her moving and keep her body in shape, and so she was rather familiar with most of the city's outdoor spaces. Today she decided to make her way along the cliffs, eager to feel the cool sea breeze against her skin after the rather grueling trip across the plains.

But as grueling as it'd been, she was a Drykas, accustomed to the Sea of Grass and all it's trials - and had had someone with her to watch her back.

As she crested the hill and stepped up onto the cliff, the first thing she noticed was a dark-haired woman standing rather close to the edge with her back to the trail Kashik had followed up. Teal eyes widened a moment as she realized just exactly what might be going on. The woman was swaying with the wind, as if she was simply waiting for Zulrav to toss her from the cliffs.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she jerked into motion and ran forward. She knew that silhouette, recognized the violet sheen to that dark hair as it flickered in the setting sunlight. She knew who this was, and there wasn't any question of what Vanator might feel or think, what the repercussions might be, what might be most advantageous or politically sound. She just ran.

As she did, she raised a hand to her mouth and breathed - and a thin black smoke poured from her lips and caught against her fingers like syrup. She immediately raised her hand, palm-out so that the small amount of Res she'd conjured was facing Khiara. When she was about two or three yards away, she used her Reimancy to pull on the winds that swirled around the cliff, and they immediately swooped in towards her outstretched hand. Attracting the element of Air was nearly the only thing she could do; she'd tried creating winds before, but it always left her exhausted and sick, and she preferred not to do it if she could help it.

To Khiara, it would seem as if the winds themselves had suddenly shifted and plowed directly into her, driving her back a few steps. And a moment later, a pair of arms curled around her, one at her waist and another at her shoulders, and dragged her back even further from the edge.

"What are you doing?" Kashik hissed into her ear, hugging her against her chest a moment as it finally hit her what had been about to happen, and what she'd done. "You ridiculous girl, you could have been killed! You scared me half to death!" she said, loosening her hold on Khiara enough to roughly spin the Vanthan around and get a good look at her face - and her own eyes widened even farther. "You look like shyke, girl, what's happened to you? Gods," she sighed, and immediately pulled Khiara into another hug. Because while Kashik often said whatever popped into her head when she was scared, she also tended to stop being scared through a liberal application of hugs.

[Khiara]

Khiara leaned over, looking down at the swirling foam against the rocks far below. Reaching up to hold her hair out of her face, the vantha welcomed a quick ending. Swaying slightly, she was suddenly thrust back by a powerful gust of wind. As if the breeze itself wanted to stop her. What for? What was there for her? Closing her eyes, she waited for the powerful wind to cease, and suddenly there were arms around her, jerking her away from the edge.

Shocked by the grip, she fought against strong feminine arms, hearing a familiar voice in her ear. Before she could answer, Khiara found herself spun around to face her attacker - her rescuer. Blinking, she found herself in another hug. Standing with her arms limply by her side, she frowned.

"Kashik?" The vantha said softly, confusion in her voice. Her dull golden eyes focused on the woman and she remembered the cut on her head.

"I fell. Vsenri fell..." Khiara felt weak, and her voice was flat. There was no fight left, no urge to go on. Only the suffocating grief of loneliness.

"He broke his leg, and no one will help me. He's dying, I can see it. Goddess, he's dying." The vantha didn't notice the tears on her cheek, they came without sobs or hysterics. She simply stared past Kashik with a blank expression. Something in her clicked, and she focused on the woman again.

"What are you doing in Riverfall?" The young woman had though there was a wedding to organize. The memory tore at her heart. She couldn't hate Kashik -she'd done nothing wrong. Khiara had done the wrong thing, she'd let herself care again. Self loathing consumed her, it was all her fault. All of it.

[Kashik]

Kashik stared at Khiara, trying to fit together the pieces of the story, a little shocked to find the girl in such a condition. So far as she knew, Khiara had chosen to leave Vanator at Endrykas - but she'd know idea what could have left her in such a state.

"Vsenri... your steed?" she asked, a little confused by starting to stitch it all together. "Gods, you fell on the High Trail, didn't you?" she murmured, reaching up to gently trace the line of the wounds on Khiara's forehead. "You poor thing... we'll take care of it," she said firmly. It was, perhaps, the first real glimmer of hope that Khiara had heard since she'd discovered a broken leg on her poor horse. "I swear, we'll find something. Kavala is an excellent healer. If you take me to Vsenri, do you think he could make it back here? We might be able to convince Kav to follow us, but it might be better to get him here anyway so he can recover."

During her speech, she'd taken Khiara firmly by the shoulders, and there was no question of her intent - she would take care of this, fix it, make it better, and the gods themselves would have to contend with her stubbornness. "Show me where he is," she said, reaching up to swipe away Khiara's tears with a calloused thumb, "and don't you worry about me. I'm where I'm supposed to be," she chuckled, and considering who she found herself in the company of, in that moment she truly believed it.

[Khiara]

Khiara nodded a little as Kashik spoke of High Trail. Vaugely, she reached up and touched the ugly cut on her forehead.

"I think so...it was a ridge, the only was past was to climb over. Climbing up was hard, terrifying. I thought getting down was easy but..." frowning, she recalled the event.

"Vsenri started sliding, and pulled me over. I hit my head, and woke up on the ground. I found him, and he was bleeding. His foreleg is broken, you can see the angle is wrong. I.." Her voice cracked slightly as a slow feeling of relief began to seep in. There was a register of emotion on her face.

"I forced him to walk to Riverfall. I couldn't leave him out there, not like that. And I couldn't kill him. He was Eliac's horse. He's all I've got left now." Khiara wasn't sure if Kashik even knew her whole story, or even who Eliac was. She was simply justifying her actions, to herself and to Kashik. Any other person would have been less selfish and simply ended the frostmarch's suffering..but the vantha couldn't. Dropping her hands in defeat and shame, she began to walk past Kashik, asking her to follow. Walking back through the city, she retraced her steps to the small quiet stable she'd left the stallion in.

Entering the low lit stall, she knelt down beside the white horse. He lay in the corner, breathing hard through his nose and barely responding to his riders presence. His coat was dirty and blood had dried on it where he'd been cut or grazed by the sharp gravel. His foreleg was visibly swollen and an angry red under his coat. If Kashik were to get close to it, she would feel the heat of injury coming off it. Khiara looked at Vsenri and stroked his muzzle.

"He won't eat, or drink. I don't think he can walk anymore. He could barely stand."

[Kashik]

Kashik had no idea who Eliac was, but she could guess who he might be from the desperate way the poor girl was wandering around. As Khiara began to lead the way, the Drykas woman slipped up beside her and snaked an arm around her waist for comfort and support on the walk back. "He is not all you have," she murmured softly. "You still have friends, Khiara. And I will do everything I can to help."

When they made it to the horse's stall, she gasped a little to see his condition. She let go of Khiara so the girl could go kneel beside him, and stepped closer herself to inspect his condition. "Khiara," she said softly, reaching out to hover careful fingers over the break without actually touching it. "You understand how serious this is, yes? Without a goddess-touched Healer, he will die. And it would be a mercy - the pain alone must be terrible," she murmured, reaching out to stroke the horse's long nose. "He must love you very much to have followed you this far. Well," she said, her voice suddenly going a little more firm, as if she'd made a decision and would see it through.

She suddenly rolled back up to her feet and grabbed Khiara by the wrist, dragging her to her feet as well. "Enough! Enough sadness, both of you. It's time to try and fix this. Get up, you," she said, turning her attention to Vsenri. "If you could make it this far for her, you can make it a little further. Up, up!" she said, clapping her hands before she circled around and began shoving the horse's rump, trying to get him up to his feet.

Then she switched to Pavi, her tone still unforgiving as she tried to encourage him to keep fighting, to keep trying. "You've come this far, Vsenri! Who are you to give up now, when help is in sight? Would you leave your mistress here, hurt and heart-sick and alone? Get up, you! If you love her, show her how you will fight!"

[Khiara]

The muscles in Khiara's jaw twitched as Kashik pointed out the harsh reality of the situation. She knew the drykas was right, everyone was right....she just didn't want them to be. Eyebrows furrowed, she continued to pat the stallion without answering the woman.

The vantha jumped as Kashik suddenly yelled at the horse, clapping her hands and pushing on his rump. Vsenri nickered, flicking his tail nervously and his skin twitching under her hands. As the unfamiliar language came from the darker woman's lips, Khiara moved to crouch behind the horse. Pushing on his side, she encouraged him on, urging him to move. The white frostmarch snorted, whinnied in pain and protest, each slap or push shifting him slightly. Finally, he made a long strained noise and struggled to his feet, snorting heavily. Stumbling as he stood, Vsenri trembled all over, ears pressed to his skull. Khiara moved to the front, stroking his face and comforting the white horse. Looking over at Kashik, she shook her head.

"Where does he have to go?" It was obvious the horse would go very slowly, if he could even walk at all. As it was, he swayed back on his legs, avoiding the broken one.

[Kashik]

"Not very far," Kashik said, giving the poor horse a few comforting strokes before she put a hand to his shoulder and began leading them both out of the stables. "Sanctuary isn't far from here. Luckily it's on the upper tier, so he's no need to go downhill."

They moved in silence for a few minutes, only the sound of Vsenri's struggles and the occasional encouraging whisper breaking it. And then - "You should know, Vanator is here," she murmured, peering over at Khiara. "I know you didn't part on the best of terms, Khiara, but he loves you. He and I will always be here for you."[/i]

[Khiara]

Looking up as they walked, Khiara realised Kashik was taking them back the way she had found her, past it and towards the building she'd seen in the distance. It made sense, having an animal sanctuary away from the main city itself. Distressed animals would be at peace there. Sadly, she stroked the stallions flank as he walked, hooves dragging in the dirt. The broken leg didn't move, it simply hung as he moved, providing support briefly so he could take a painful step.

The silence was almost welcome, as the vantha didn't have the heart to talk. What would she say anyway? Looking at the ground as they took each slow step, she felt her heart skip a beat as the woman spoke of Vanator. He was here? Of course he was here. The man had said he was going to visit his sister, but....Khiara had believed there was a wedding to organize. Perhaps he had come to invite the woman personally. As Kashik continued, Khiara closed her eyes in pain, turning her face away.

"It was my fault, our last words. My own stupid..." Shaking her head, she frowned.

"He loves you Kashik." Her voice was flat. Opening her eyes again, she looked at the woman over Vsenri's back.

"Thankyou, for being so nice to me." What could she say? Every time she wanted to speak about Vanator, and her feelings for him, she could feel the sting of tears. Her heart was heavy and her mind exhausted. How could he love her, she didn't have anything to offer. She was a shell of a woman...and everything she cared about either left or got hurt.

Petting Vsenri, she urged him onwards, ignoring the fear that crept up on her as they got closer to the building. Was this going to be the last time she felt his warmth, scratched his cheek? The thought was almost to much to bear, like a knife driving into her very soul. The horse was her one last refuge, her everything. The last living hold she had on Eliac.

"Almost there..." She whispered to the horse in vani.

[Kashik]

Kashik watched the girl carefully, as she spoke, and saw the empty desperation within her. How lost she was, and how much she still loved Vanator. And it was in that moment that she made a very quiet, very private decision.

"He loves us both," she corrected softly, smiling over Vsenri's shoulders. "We are Drykas, remember? We know best of all that the hearts of our men are big enough to hold more than one of us, just as their arms are strong enough to protect more than one of us. He does me no dishonor in loving you - just as he did you no dishonor in loving me," she murmured. "Perhaps our ways are different than yours, and you hold your honor differently, but by the traditions of our people he meant no harm in giving his heart to two worthy women instead of just one. Just... remember that when you see him, and that your parting wounded him as greatly as it did you."

For a moment, she considered warning her about Van's sisters, but that was business of the Pavilion and the girl would simply have to figure those two out on her own. But she had a feeling Vsenri would distract Kavala from the worst of the things she might say to Khiara.

"Just keep heading towards the paddock," she said, pointing to the fenced-in portion just ahead of them. "It's... it's better that I not join you. Kavala and I aren't exactly the best of friends," she grunted, not quite able to keep a tremble of anger from her voice. Even so, she flashed an encouraging smile to Khiara and leaned forward to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "But you should go. As I said, she is an excellent healer. Later, though. I'll find you again, yes?" she murmured, reaching up to trace the wound on her forehead once more. "Now go," she said, giving her a push towards Sanctuary. "Go and get Vsenri the help he needs."