Completed Sweet 16 (Shausha)

[Silverrain]

10th day of Summer, 511 AV

Silverrain rode toward the Vaspura river. Bramble could sense her unease, the mare huffing now and then as if to break the young girl's thoughts. No. Not a girl any longer. Today was the dawn of her 16th year. She was a woman now. A woman, ready to be wed, to bear children, to hone her skills in service of her pavilion, her clan, her people. A woman with hips and chest like a boy's. Silverrain leaned down, burying her face into Bramble's mane. The strider carried her forward unerringly, moving gently to avoid dislodging the moaning Drykas, who was now melodramatically slumped over the yvas.

A sneeze caused Bramble's head to shake, catching Silverrain unaware and knocking her off balance. She sat up quickly, grasping for the yvas as she started to slide sideways.

"No, no, no, no." Biting her lower lip in concentration, the young woman barely managed to pull herself upright. A whinny sounded from her strider, and Silverrain could swear it was amused. "Funny, huh? I bet you did that on purpose, you old maid."

Smiling, Silverrain leaned forward and placed a light kiss on Bramble's neck. "Heh, for all I know, we'll both be old maids together."

As touching as this scene may have been, the Drykas was forgetting one of the most important rules of the Sea of Grass. Pay Attention.

[Shausha]

10 Summer 511
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Shausha squabbled over the last bit of deer she and her friends had felled.

"Hey, you guys better hurry back! Your you're gonna get in trouble for straying so far!" she scolded. “Plus it’s nearly sunrise!”

"And what about you?" one of her friends asked, still pawing through the deer's entrails.

"I need to wash myself and my patriarch isn't as cruel as yours!" she teased and added, “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.” Turning from the stripped carcass, she heard the zith that had accompanied her on this impromptu hunt lift into the air. Most were still chewing on bones or pulling strings of tendon from between their teeth. Shausha pried off one more rib from the animal, tucking it into her dreadlocks for later.

Her fur was thick and matted with blood. She had been the first one to land catch up to the deer, clawing and scratching at its neck. After she punctured its life vein was the rest of her group had caught up and had fallen upon the deer as well. Because Shausha had been the quickest, she was able to split open its chest and retrieve her favorite snack, the heart.

Boosting into the air, she glided over to the nearby river. She splashed water on her arms and face, bloodying the otherwise clear water. Shausha was about to take flight again, when she caught the scent of both horse and human. She darted into the overgrowth near the river and carefully peered into the tall grasses of Drykas territory. How many could there be? she thought fervently, Is it safe to rise into the air?

After a few minutes of holding still, alert and tense, Shausha saw a single rider on a single horse. The young female on the horse, indeed, bore the marks of the Drykas people. She examined the girl for any kind of scars or weapon. Finding neither, she supposed this was not a warrior girl. Grinning to herself, she wondered what kind of reception would await her if she returned to Xy bearing the tail of the horse and the mane of the girl.

Her ears pricked up as she heard the girl’s voice float to her on the night air and the horse wicker in response. Shausha bit her tongue, wondering what it might be like to fight a horse. Maybe she should eat it? Her stomach gave a small ache at the thought of eating more. She was already stuffed full from the deer.

Extricating herself from her reverie, she realized with alarm, that the horse had detected her. She pulled the rib from her hair, cursing its scent. Tucking the rib between her teeth, she tried backing out of the underbrush so as to lose them by flying across the river. Sticks and leaves broke and crunched under her feet, alerting the human as well.

Panicking slightly, she rose into a tree and huddled against its trunk, trying to blend in with the tree to no avail; the sun was already brightening the sky.

.

[Silverrain]

Bramble shied beneath her. Silverrain sat up abruptly, remembering herself. Her lips pursed as she peered into the dim light of the early morn. There. The tell-tale snapping of underbrush. I should've brought a spear.

Silverrain hesitated. It could be anything. A deer, a rabbit, a glassbeak..maybe a lost outsider. Adjusting the scarf that held her hair, she squared her shoulders. "Come on Bramble, it didn't sound like there were many of them. Let's see what it is."

Urging the mare forward, Silverrain's eyes narrowed. The pair reached the river and the woman swung down from her mount. Her eyes scanned the disrupted underbrush and soon, lit by the rising sun, she saw the figure in the tree. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. "Winds protect me."

She stumbled back against Bramble, her hand groping for the yvas. A Zith. She had heard of these creatures of the night, these dark beings who feasted on flesh and devoured your freedom. A worried flush took her honey cheeks and Silverrain released the yvas, crouching instead and scooping up a small rock. This she hucked at the tree. Well, actually, she had been aiming for the Zith but her aim wasn't exactly what one would call good.

"Hey! What are you doing in that tree? Shouldn't you be back in a cave or something?" There was a slight waver to her accented common, but she bowled right over it, praying that the thing in the tree wouldn't notice. Dominance. Dominance was the key to dealing with predators. Except for when it wasn't.

But it was too late now. Silverrain set her fists on her hips and set her feet far apart, puffing her chest out. Her brow knit and she took a deep breath before calling out. "I think...I really think that maybe you shouldn't be up there, yes?"

[Shausha]

Blood!
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Right when she detected that this female could not harm her, she should have taken off and flew as fast as she could, back to the safety of Xy. Her instincts clamored inside her heart, willing her to disembark. However, something stronger tied her bare body to the tree’s trunk. The sun was getting stronger now and her excellent vision was reducing by the second, making her feel insecure. She raised a wing, casting shade over herself.

Removing the rib bone from between her teeth, she shrilled in warning as the girl approached. Apparently, the horse was the only one that could hear it because it spooked, unlike the girl who didn’t respond.

"I think...I really think that maybe you shouldn't be up there, yes?"

“I go where I please,” she drawled, “If I were you, I’d be more worried.” Shausha tossed her hair haughtily and began to wring red-tinted water from her fur. While she had rinsed most of the deer’s blood from her fur in the river, her own dark blood was seeping from a wound. The doe’s last revenge was a sharp hoof to her forearm, leaving a moderately long, but not very deep gash. The blood loss was not significant, but she did feel slightly woozy.

She relaxed slightly; This girl was no threat; The most formidable thing about her was the horse that seemed to take a particular dislike for Shausha. Squinting, she attempted to limit the amount of light that met her sensitive eyes. She sat on a branch and crossed her legs, chewing on the bone and looking down at the girl.

"Why don't you run now... While you have the chance." She glared down at the girl, extending her wings slightly and trying to scare her.

oocIf you’re curious, I looked up the hearing range of horses/humans and it appears horses can, indeed, hear a bit better than humans. Link below

(here)

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[Silverrain]

Her brow furrowed as she stared up at the Zith. Silverrain wasn't getting any of the reactions she had expected. At all. A frown tugged at the corners of her round mouth. "Why should I be worried? You're just sitting in the tree getting fat."

It occurred to the Drykas a bit belatedly that perhaps insulting this thing..woman? was not the wisest of moves. She pursed her lips once more, considering her options. She -should- report this. Though, she'd be surprised if her Ankal hadn't already felt it. Will I get into trouble? What do I do?

There was blood coming from one of the Zith's arms. She seemed either not to notice it or not to care and this made Silverrain wonder if the blood was the Zith's own or belonged to whatever that rib belonged to. Her musings were cut short by Bramble nudging her back. Speaking in Pavi, she tried to soothe the beast. "It's ok. It's up in a tree and I don't think it's coming down."

With the rising sun came the dry heat of the grasslands. The river that ran nearby helped counteract this, but it was going to be a warm day or early summer. Adjusting her scarf to try to pull more hair away from her neck, Silverrain sighed. She called up in her thick common, "Does the sun turn you to ashes? Is that true? How long does it take?"

OOC :

That's actually really neat! I kinda figured they probably could, being prey types and all.

[Shausha]

asdfasdfasd
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Shausha wasn't listening anymore. This girl was a royal fool; If her horse was not nearby, she would be lying on her back, throat slit. Yet she stood, talking casually. Her instincts kept mewling their desire to kill; Shausha calmed them by reminding herself that she had never fought a Drykas horse, and she had seen the devastation their hooves could cause when the broken bodies of her brothers and sisters were brought back after an unsuccessful hunt.

Shausha began to strike an imposing pose. Maybe it would knock some sense into this oblivious child. Her lips retracted as she unsheathed her fangs; She brought her wings’ peaks up and together for full display; Her skin shivered as she brought her hackles up.

“The way I see it, is there’s only one of you,” Shausha pointed at the horse, “and eleven of me.” Extending her long, sharp talons, she began to count them slowly, “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...” forgetting what came after “seven” in Common, she finished by shredding a long tract of bark off the tree.

The sun warmed her back, sending its debilitating rays over the land as it hoisted itself over the horizon. Shausha’s fur prickled as it dried in the light. This tree was thin and its leaves did not provide much shelter. Eyeing a patch of shadow that stretched from the tree westward. Like her, it yearned to to escape from Syna’s glow.

Fixing eyes with the foolish girl, Shausha suddenly leapt from her roost, flying directly towards her, but pulling out of the dive early she landed among the shaded brush. She sauntered towards the girl, careful not to step in Drykas territory. The girl was a good foot taller than Shausha, but that was hardly a problem. Humans were inelegant and clumsy with their bodies, lacking any kind of natural defense.

“So what are you doing all alone? Have your people gone mad? You know, we have a couple tattooed slaves back in our cave. I wonder if you’re related. Want to see them again?” Shausha asked with a smile, keeping full awareness of the horse’s movements. Her arm had begun to clot as dark blood dried within her fur, but it was still oozing.

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[Silverrain]

Irritation nagged at the edge of Silverrain's mind. She's ignoring m- A cry burst from her mouth as the Zith puffed out. She stumbled back into Bramble. It occurred to her, belated she would admit, that perhaps she was playing with fire. Suddenly the thing of stories seemed real and threatening. Suddenly she was aware of her Strider's panicked breath and nervous sounds, the restlessness of her hooves as she nudged at Silverrain's back.

All this was sealed when the Zith leapt at her. The Drykas muttered another 'eep' and fell back against Bramble who also complained loudly, her hooves rising high off the ground. The mare took a protective stance, trying to nudge Silverrain aside.

“So what are you doing all alone? Have your people gone mad? You know, we have a couple tattooed slaves back in our cave. I wonder if you’re related. Want to see them again?”

This bristled Silverrain and she pushed past Bramble. She was about to snap at the Zith when her attention was caught by the woman's arm. The blood was still flowing. It was hers then. The drykas inched forward a bit, her accented common slipping past her lips before she thought too much about it. "Your arm is bleeding. I can.I can fix that. Sort of."

Silverrain could feel Bramble's unease as she dug through one of the pouches attached to the yvas. She always packed it with her..you never knew when you might.. Aha. Pulling a tiny bundle out, Silverrain unwrapped it on her open palm and displayed a small kit with needle and thread.

[Shausha]

Wait...what?
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Pleased at the reception her landing received, she puffed herself up again. The horse who reared made her heart beat faster and muscles tense, but it was restrained. Tossing her head back, she prepared her body to convey another scare tactic by drawing attention to her strong wings. She was running a palm along the length of her wing proudly when she heard something that made her choke on her own spit.

"Your arm is bleeding. I can.I can fix that. Sort of."

The wind went out of Shausha's sails. Her wings drooped behind her as her face froze in an incredulous expression: one eyebrow raised, one nostril driven upwards, mouth open slightly. She's psychotic. She is a raving lunatic. Shausha decided that this must be why she was alone; Her clan had probably outcast her. Even the horse seemed less imposing as it submitted and returned to stand behind the girl.

Now completely at a loss, she slumped her shoulders and watched as the tall brunette brought out thread. One of the most prized slaves in Xy had the power to heal, but did not use string. Shausha wondered what kind of magic this tool might possess.

When she reached for Shausha's arm, she didn't even care anymore. She was so bewildered at this odd girl that was both defenseless and fearless.
.

[Silverrain]

She was genuinely shocked to see the Zith deflate so readily. Maybe it's a trap. Pursing her lips, Silverrain pushed forward anyway. The woman was hurt and really hadn't done her any harm. Who could blame the Zith for being so frightened by the truly formidable figure of a Drykas and her Strider. All right, so at this point Silverrain was exaggerating things. But the point remained. All the Zith had done was act on the defensive.

Silverrain reached for the wounded arm, those pale brown eyes of hers narrowing as she looked down at the other. "Bite on the rib. And if you try anything I'll put a...grass curse on you."

She'd believe that, right? In an attempt to make her threat seem more real Silverrain muttered and gestured in Pavi. In truth she was saying "Please don't eat me." but she was praying to the winds that the Zith wouldn't know any better.

I should be in bed, just waking up to my sixteenth year. I should be worrying about silly things and doing chores. I should most definitely not be sewing up some Zith's arm. I probably shouldn't mention I'm not very good.

Threading the needle, Silverrain took a long, deep breath. She studied her 'patient's' face for a long moment before advising, "Brace yourself." And then set to work.

Her needle was sharp and clean but she hadn't fire to heat the damned thing up, nor alcohol to ease the sting, nor any root to numb the area. She worked as quickly as she could, but she had never stitched a wound before, only seen it done, as such her best pace was still slow. Her stitches were uneven, unprofessional, a bit unsightly, but they did close the wound. She's going to bite my face off. I'll ride back to my pavillion and my mother will say "Silly girl, today you are a woman, but I see you've lost your face." And then no one will care that I have the hips of a boy because everyone will be talking about my lack of face. And -that- will be why I'll never wed.

[Shausha]

MORE BLOOOOD! __________________________________________________________________________________ For a moment, Shausha was left to wonder what a grass curse was. She was in the middle of imagining her fur turning to blades of grass and her hair becoming thick stalks of wheat when the girl took her arm again. Shausha watched suspiciously as the Drykas girl examined her little cut. When the needle neared her skin, she released a low, thrumming growl in warning, but did nothing. As the girl pulled the thread through her skin, she snarled, biting down on the rib bone as instructed. She had never had magic worked upon her, but prior to this, she had the notion that it did not hurt. When the final stitch was pulled tight, Shausha held her arm before her awkwardly. The pain was incredible. Trying her best not to rip the thread from her arm, she began to jump around sporadically. She itched the surrounding skin that was painful and inflamed. She howled her displeasure. After a few more seconds of torture, took a claw and tore the stitches from their anchors. The small wound reopened in force, now larger than before. Shrieking, she jumped into the air and careened through the brush, back to the river. When the Eastern light hit her eyes, she blundered in her flight path, tumbling out of the air and crashing into the shallow water. The surface of the river was shining bright with light as well. Shausha floundered around in the bank, falling over and trying to get back up. Finally, she buried her eyes into the crook of her uninjured arm, and plunged her injury into the river's icy water. After a few moments of squinting, she peeked out to look at her arm. The water was carrying a significant amount of her blood away from her arm and down the stream. Worried, she yanked her arm from the thieving river. She backed out of the river and held a hand over her fur, trying to stem the flow of blood. Her head felt light and dizzy. Stumbling over to lay on a nearby clearing, she shouted at the girl, wherever she was. "What did you do to me! You made it worse! I'll get... you..." she trailed off, trying to focus on keeping the sun out of her eyes and blood within her arm. .