The Wanderer's Kinship (Ari'Yahal, Dhanya)

[Hirem]

OOC :

I guess I have to design the caravan master, which, admittedly, comes from the Big Book of Archetypes.

Hirem winced as he left the tent, knowing that he was paying Dhanya a huge disrespect, but he had also managed to defuse the conflict that was brewing between Ari'Yahal, himself, and the shapeshifting woman. Although, to be fair, it was Raziel that had done this; he managed to touch the hearts of all involved, and would be key in any further interactions between his mother and Dhanya. Hirem didn't want to manipulate him, he merely wanted Raziel around when the two were in any close contact.

He pointed towards the center of the camp, at a reddish tent that was larger than the other ones and had a flow of workers going in and out, hauling crates or food into it. "There is the supply tent, where the caravan master likely is." He indicated for Raziel to hurry on ahead, peeking his head back inside the tent and giving a look at Dhanya that tried to convey his regrets at the situation. Perhaps it wouldn't do anything of consequence, but Hirem wanted her to know that he wasn't against her. He wanted answers, and wasn't liable to take any more magic completely in stride, but he certainly wasn't anger.

Anger was a curious thing for the Benshiran to feel nowadays, as his time alone had certainly dulled his emotions, including rage. But even when Hirem began his mad crusade against the Eypharians, he still treated everything in a casual manner, a spark of his potential fury shining through at occasional intervals. He was a large man, and he had managed to scrap his way through tense battles in a nonchalant manner. He feared what could happen if all his fury was unleashed, feared what monster he could become.

Hirem called the caravan master out from his tent, and there came a heavy huffing and puffing as a small little man with a crinkled face and scraggly white beard emerged from the tent's shadows, observing Hirem and his new friends with an inquisitive eye. Finally, there came a question that seemed to take an age to be formulated, slowly coming out in long, drawn out breaths. "Benshiran, who is this you bring with you?"

The large desert wanderer nodded, gesturing his hands to each person as he spoke. "This is Ari'Yahal, from the tents of Keshet, of the sons of Havid, and her son, Raziel. They are Benshirans as well, and I found them out in the desert this morning. They could use supplies, and would also appreciate a brief stay." He glanced at the Benshiran mother, wondering if he somehow presumed too much from her words with her son.

There was another drawn out pause, and the caravan master stepped closer, eyeing Ari'Yahal and her son with new vision. "What supplies do you require?"

[Ari'Yahal]

His attention diverted, Raziel bounded ahead of the other two, peering into the supply tent and almost getting tangled up in the legs of the workers carrying large boxes and bags. Ari'al let him go, knowing that as long as he was still in her sight he would most likely come to no harm. Raziel was a careful child – it came from learning how to survive in the harsh desert environment – and he was unlikely to pull any dangerous stunts. The most damage he could cause was to bother the workers, and if they were so uptight they were annoyed by a child, Ari'al reflected, they deserved him ticking them off.

She cast one last look into Dhanya's tent, where the goat-woman – she couldn't help thinking of her as such – was frowning and muttering something she was too far away to hear. Well, good riddance. She wasn't proud of the fact that she had made such a scene in front of Hirem, an almost-stranger and the one who had offered them a meeting with the caravan master, but she wasn't about to let Dhanya put her son in danger. A witch-woman, she thought, and with loose morals to boot. Well, at least I could do better than concubine. Hmph.

Hirem was exchanging words with the caravan master now, a wizened old man almost a head shorter than she. She gave a grateful nod to Hirem for facilitating the meeting – she did have manners, and she didn't want him to think otherwise – and then turned to the caravan master. “Falim, master. I am, as Hirem has said, Ari'Yahal, and my son and I have come on...” She swallowed. You really must get better at this whole asking for help business, she chided herself. Say you let the man help you. So what? Where's the harm in that? “We've come on hard times. Our food supplies aren't going to last much longer, and my mare's tack could use some repair.” Now came the part that she wasn't so keen to admit. “And we...don't have much money. But I'm sure there's something I could do to help out around here, if we don't have enough to pay for supplies. If you wouldn't mind us staying for awhile, that is.”

Raziel trotted back then, his face smeared with some sort of sweet a kind worker must have given him. Ari'al couldn't help but smile. “Raziel, what do you say to the caravan master?”

The boy inclined his head slightly. “Falim, sir,” he said, popping his thumb into his mouth as soon as the words were out. Ari'al marveled once again that Yahal had seen fit to give her such a well-behaved child, when she had been nothing better than a screaming hellion at his age, if her parents' stories were to be believed.

[Hirem]

The caravan master nodded as Ari'Yahal spoke, paying great attention to her and the antics of her son. Hirem simply watched the scene unfold as an outsider, confident in his hope that Ari'Yahal would get her supplies. She seemed a woman that got what she wanted, and Raziel was innocent enough to draw the sympathy from the caravan master... hopefully.

Hirem didn't know nearly enough about the man that ran this expedition, but his first impressions were good enough to let Hirem hedge his bets on Ari'Yahal. Surely, the caravan master would let a starving woman and her child into the stockroom? Surely, this man had a heart. It seemed so as the caravan master opened his mouth again, exhaling deeply before speaking.

"I will give you your supplies, Ari'Yahal." Hirem smiled, and was about to thank the old man when the caravan master raised his small hand and continued, attention still focused on the woman in front of him. "But you're not going to get it all today. You're not going to get all the supplies you need the next day, either. If you want me to reimburse you, you'll have to work for it."

Hirem knew he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear, and he knew that he was going to be of no help in this conversation. He had no influence with the caravan master, or indeed, any influence at all. So he quickly excused himself, and slipped away quickly, heading back to Dhanya's tent. The caravan master didn't seem to notice, turning his back to the woman and pointing towards the western horizon. "We're heading to Yahebah, and you're going to come with us. You'll work in the caravan like everybody else, and when we reach the city, I'll give you all the supplies you need to venture forth on your own again."

At Dhanya's tent, Hirem stopped just before entering the thing again, closing his eyes and running through what he was going to say, what he was going to do. Nothing came to mind, so instead he simply barged into her tent and sat down before her, staring her straight on with stone eyes. "I want to know what you are, Dhanya. I don't want to skirt around the subject for much longer. I want to know why you can be a goat, and I want to know. I'm not angry, I'm not furious, I just need to know why this can happen. Please."

[Ari'Yahal]

Ari's palms grew damp with sweat and her heartbeat began, once again, to speed up as she listened to the caravan master. Travel all the way to Yahebah? She? But they would...she couldn't stand to be...

“I am an honorable woman,” she snapped, feeling the need to fill the silence with words so she wouldn't come off as afraid. “And I don't expect you to give me anything for free. Believe me, sir, I know that nothing is truly free. Don't insult me by insinuating I don't understand that.” Don't make a fool of yourself, Ari'al. You'd better calm down, and do it now, or you won't get anything and you'll just have to leave right away. And then where would that leave you, in the middle of the wilderness with a child to feed? Hik, woman, use some control. She took several deep breaths, steadying herself. “I'll be honest with you, sir. I'm an honorable woman but I'm a proud woman, and the idea of working for you doesn't exactly thrill me. But I have a son to keep warm and fed and happy, and he's my responsibility and mine only. If that doesn't convince you that I'll do whatever work you need done, I don't know what will.” Behind her, Hirem was disappearing back into Dhanya's tent; she saw him from the corner of her eye but paid hardly any attention. “I grew up raising livestock, so I can help care for the horses. And if that isn't enough, nights I can entertain. I can dance, and sing too.” She crossed her arms in front of her breast and raised her chin. “You have yourself a deal, caravan master, and I won't go back on it, with Yahal as my witness.”

Raziel took his thumb out of his mouth. “I'll work too,” he said. “D'you have any goats? I like goats.” His attention began to wander again, back to the bustle of the caravan. It had been a long time since he had been with so many people, especially people who weren't from Eyktol.

That reminded Ari'al of another subject she should probably address. “Raziel won't be a problem, sir. He's a very well-behaved child, and he doesn't cause trouble. He knows his way around animals, too.” Speaking of animals... She cast a look back at Dhanya's tent, but could see nothing but the broad expanse of Hirem's shoulders and a sliver of Dhanya's face beyond. Ari hoped that neither of them could see how pale she had become, or how her fingers shook. I never thought I'd be going back to Yahebah, not ever, she thought, becoming resigned to the fact. It won't be so bad as all that, will it? I can go by a different name, wear a veil over my face. Perhaps no one will recognize me. Hirem hasn't, as far as I can tell. That's a relief, at least.

[Dhanya]

Hirem was not graced with one of Dhanya's smiles when he looked into her tent. She was still sitting, legs crossed at the ankle and arms folded, as closed off as she could have been. In a world of Gods and monsters, he wanted to know how she could become something else? It made no sense to her, even those who hadn't known what she was had been aware of things like morphing or had, at the least, heard rumours.

"Why can't you change?" She asked, annoyed. "What's wrong with you, that you're stuck like that all the time? Maybe you're deformed. All of you."

Now, this thought had not actually occured to Dhanya before but as the words left her mouth they settled in her mind and took root. Why was it that humans didn't know how? A person could train for years before being able to change their shape properly and she could do it without thinking. She'd been able to since birth.

"You men are all the same, one of your own women shows up and curiousity abounds where there was none before." She spat because frankly, he'd been her rescuer up until an hour before and now a human woman showed up and all bets were off. "Why were you alone in the desert? I didn't ask. Why is she alone? What did you do?"

Suspicions arose in response to what she felt was being directed at her. An old defence mechanism but not the worst one. She noticed things when she was feeling more paranoid.

"No one travels alone in this world, that's the quickest way to die." or so she'd been told.

She would have let him have his secrets but he'd pried. Her secrets were few and her influence small. She was sure that out of the two of them, he was the more dangerous. If she extended the circle, she guessed the two Benshira outclassed her in that regard. She wasn't going to tell him a thing without reciprocity, it was her new motto.

She wasn't going to give first, not in any facet of her life. The wounds of past mistakes hadn't yet healed.

[Hirem]

Hirem had spent far too long in the desert, it seemed. Already, he had successfully alienated the woman that he had saved just a day before, and it was very likely that Ari'Yahal would follow suit, Hirem having atrocious relations with women and such. Then again, he couldn't think of any friends he might have at this moment, or indeed at any moment in his past.

It was actually troubling to think about, once he put thought into it. At no point during his life had he really developed a long and lasting friendship. Kihur was the only one even close to this moniker of friend, but he had been effectively brainwashed by his friend's horrible ideas of a holy crusade. Liviya had been an ally in the walls of Ahnatep, but he had never delved into her personality, her life. And the people that aided him once he escaped Ahnatep, Shena and Kuhani... well, it was impossible to say what they thought of him now.

And now, here he was, about to lose the respect of Dhanya thanks to his own stupidity. He wasn't going to run away from the caravan, but he realized that the longer he spent with her, the more likely was the chance that Hirem would condemn himself to further antagonism. He had clearly angered Dhanya enough as it was, it was time to leave.

Hirem nodded, and tried to offer up a reassuring smile, but it was far off. Instead, he just ended up backing up from Dhanya, nodding to himself like a fool. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, Dhanya. I didn't mean to anger you." He had a problem with backing out of confrontations, it seemed. Every time that someone stepped up to his challenge, he would back away and run like the coward he was. He was starting to become an enigma to himself, something that Hirem didn't like one bit. In any case, he wasted no time in leaving the shapeshifter be and slipped away into his tent.

Meanwhile, the caravan master seemed pleased to hear that Ari'Yahal was acquiescing to his request, and didn't seem to notice the dread she was facing at the prospect of going to Yahebah. He nodded, and gave a tight, controlled little smile. "Good...good." He then turned to Raziel, and a more pleasant look crossed his wizened face. "Ah, yes. We indeed have goats, over there in the fence."

OOC :

If you guys want to end the thread here, we can post our closing thoughts and I can end it with my post, considering I started it. Sounds good?

[Dhanya]

Dhanya was not used to slightly heated conversation ending with the other party apologising and walking out. Her sense of drama had been thoroughly thwarted.

A shoe went flying out the entrance to her tent, after Hirem. It missed him by a significant margin.

"Come back here so I can yell at you, Hirem!" Dhanya shouted after him, almost sounding bereft.

She hadn't actually wanted him to go away.

[Ari'Yahal]

Ari nodded slightly, pulling her head covering up from where it had slipped down. “Well, glad we've gotten that straightened out, then. Just let me know what you want me to do, and when.” She liked being useful, at least, and felt pride when she accomplished tasks she had been set. And they did say that the journey was the reward, or some trite horse dung like that. Better to face her fears head-on then spend the rest of her life wandering the desert, ostracized by none other than her own pride.

“What do you think, Raziel?” she asked her son. “Guess we're going back to Yahebah after all.”

He looked blank. “I don't remember a lot of Yahebah, Momma.”

She sighed, taking his hand to lead him back to Zefirah, where she would pull out the materials necessary to set up their tent among the multitude already swaying in the breeze. “Every Benshiran remembers Yahebah, in their hearts. It's the holy city."

Ari busied herself with erecting the small tent she and Raziel shared, her nerves jumping as she did so. Whether she liked it or no, she had committed herself to returning to Yahal's city.

What she would find there – well, that only the god himself knew.

[Hirem]

It was certainly a strange day, Hirem thought as he ignored Dhanya's protest, keeping his head high and concentrating on the future, rather than the past. It seemed he was now bound on a course for Yahebah, which brought up conflicting issues in him. The things he had done almost closed the doors to the holy city for him, but perhaps redemption lay there too. The actions he had taken in Ahnatep had lay dormant in his mind, but instead of them tormenting him as before, they were simply an unpleasant truth, but one that had the chance to be removed.

Redemption was enough for him to stay the course, it seemed. He hoped that Yahal would guide his path to a brighter future, though he couldn't tell why the god had sent him the shapeshifting Dhanya and the prideful Ari'Yahal as companions on this journey. They were currently the only people in the caravan that wished to associate with him further than passing comments or commands to be issued to him. Ari'Yahal was refreshing to have around, a reminder of his heritage and home. Whether she was to be a friend was to be seen however. And Dhanya... well, a goat would hopefully prove to be a forgiving woman.

Whatever happened though, Hirem could tell that this was a new chapter in his life, that he had escaped from his Eypharian crusade with his life. He stood on the edge of the camp, staring off into the bright horizon, feeling the warm air wrap around him like a blanket. The sands stretched endlessly before him, full of opportunity and danger at the same time. The Benshiran man had traversed these sands all his life, and yet he still had new things to see, new things to experience and new things to live through. He had survived Ahnatep, and now it was back to Yahebah for him. The trail, however, would definitely prove to be a new undertaking.

THE END

[Colombina]

The XP Wand Is Waved! Thanks for a good read, guys. I like it when not everybody gets along at first. Props for fueling the fire, Dhanya. I also appreciate the Benshira staying in character in regards to their suspicions about magic. Hirem's Loot Lore of Kelvic abilities Lore of women’s cunning 1 XP Rhetoric Ari'Yahal's Loot 1 Lore of Kelvic abilities 1 XP Tracking Dhanya's Loot Lore of Benshiran superstitions Colombina is pleased.