Down Into the Dirt [Open]

[Laktan Vladmir]

Timestamp: Day #55, Fall of 509 A.V.
Location: Syliras- Laktan's residence/garden
Focus: Unarmed Combat/Gardening

A small, quaint, and square home was the residence of Laktan Vladmir. Where most would use most if not all of their lot of land for their house Laktan used most of it for an elegant garden. Every type of flora you could imagine was present in the fresh brown dirt; from the deadly nightshade to the beautiful daffodil. A year's or more work had gone into the well pruned garden and people occasionally came from different parts of the city to see the strange arrangement of foreign plants.

Laktan, like most days, was to be found in his garden. Stripped to the waist, the Akalak sat upon his knees in the midst of his garden. Sharp pointed years twitched as he surveyed the plant in front of him. Black skin glistened with the faintest hint of sweat, and the stone hard muscles underneath rippled with the sudden strike of a hand dug into the dirt. With an efficiency of movement similar to that of a machine Laktan pulled his hand out of the dirt, and the small weed came with it. Laktan tossed the rubbish aside and stroked the leaf of the plant that he had protected.

"The great Hemlock plant," Laktan muttered, "the killer and the savior of so many. Ingesting the wrong part of the plant in too large a dose can kill quickly. The death is never kind either. When used properly it can be a great medicine and pain killer. So delicate..."

The crunch of boots upon gravel and sand drew Laktan's attention and he turned to see two men in surcoats and leather jerkins. Each bore a sword at their hip and a kite shield strapped to their back, but only the older of the pair had a coat of arms printed on his jerkin. Syliran Knights.

"Good afternoon Laktan. Still down in the dirt like a woman, talking to your plants?" The older asked, placing a hand upon his hip. The younger chuckled and let a sly grin spread across his face.

"Interesting words coming from a man who excels in hiding behind a suit of metal like a coward. When will you ever step away from the protection of your protected city and face real danger like an actual warrior?" Laktan replied, slowly rising to his feet. His leather breeches, tucked into his high-strapped boots fitted a little tighter than was the normal fashion here. He watched as the smiled disappeared from the young one's face and his hand darted for his sword. The older Knight held out his hand though.

"You would be dead before you even drew young Squire. I've yet to meet an Akalak that does not carry that wickedly bladed knife with them at all times. Added to the fact that this particular gardener is an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, and...long friend." He added as he busted into laughter and extended his hand for Laktan to shake. He did so, but his face did not change from the cold stare he directed at the young Squire.

"For what do you come to my home Knight? Winter approaches and I must make preparations for both the garden and my departure." Laktan inquired, releasing the Knight's hand.

"Some of my superiors have found themselves lacking in sufficient help with the training of some of our younger recruits. Our numbers have seen quite a boom recently and the masters are becoming strained. They have asked me to extend their request for help to you in teaching some of their Squires and Pages in unarmed combat. What say you?" The Knight asked.

"I'll consider it." Was all that Laktan would say.

OoC: Feel free to just hop in right here. The conversation is ended and it's just an awkward silence at the moment.

[Nya Winters]

The girl waited until the knights were gone. They hadn't pressed the Akalak to school the squires and paiges - whatever those were - and he hadn't volunteered. But they seemed to part on good terms with a muttered 'think about it and get back to us...' which seemed odd to Nya. Truth be known, she'd been lounging within plain sight but being rather quiet as she watched the man ... garden. It was such an odd sight, truth be known, but she'd enjoyed stumbling upon the virtual paradise in the middle of the stone and dirt fortress city. In fact, she'd discovered the place prowling at night and had made free use of its porch bench and its nicely planted rows of flowers and winter squash because she hadn't had a chance to make it back to the forest to blow off the usual wildness that infused her.

In fact, Nya wasn't certain that being in the city was doing her much good. Abashai had claimed it would do her wonders, but the truth was it was taming her down so much that she was forgetting to respect people's boundaries - like their property boarders. No one had bothered to explain to the kelvic that homes were like territory and people defended them. After all, there was no scent markers, no scratched up trees, no boarders or boundaries.. just gravel and lots of green.

And she appreciated the green. In fact, so did the rabbits that ate the produce the Akalak grew for himself. She'd made quick work of them, cleaning out one or so every other night until they were all but gone. The last one, by far the smartest, had been her latest victim, and she was busy still polishing off its hindquarters when the knights had disturbed her people watching - namely her observations of the Akalak gardening.

"Why do they talk so rudely to you, and you to them, and then you act as though you are friends?" The kelvic said, from the boarders of the porch's shadows. She held a raw rabbit leg in her hand, and was nibbling on it quite oblivious to the blood on her chin as she sat on the ground at the gardens edge knees against her chest, arm drapped around her legs, and her hair loose. She wore trousers with no shoes, a loose tunic, and not much else. Nya looked unarmed, and curious as she studied the Akalak's movement. "So you fight? Without weapons? You look strong enough... but I am surprised. Men like swords. Big ones. And bows." The kelvic shuddered. She didn't like any weapons, not really, unless they had Abashai's scent on them.

[Laktan Vladmir]

Laktan watched as the Knights walked away. Humans were always such a hasty bunch and never took the time to do anything properly. They would train young boys to fight and before they even had a real test of their manhood would send them out to die a quick and horrible death. They did not have the discipline to properly stand in the face of danger without being encased in encumbering metal armor. They were fools, but he would help them none the same.

His long pointed ears twitched a bit as they picked up the slight sound of a female voice. Women occasionally visited his garden to view it's beauty in the middle of a city of stone and metal. Few hid in the shadowy corners of his porch though. Despite this rarity, there she was. A little girl hiding on his porch and eating a bleeding rabbit as if she were nothing more than an animal.

"Hello little breeder." Laktan said, turning to face the small girl. His kind was familiar with hers as they were often bought for the purpose of breeding other Akalaks. His species' did not breed well and the shapeshifting creations served as excellent wombs. "Where is the one who has bought you? Or are you a free spirit come to liberate my garden from rodents?"

As he said this he reached behind his back to place his hand on his blade. Though she looked like nothing more than a little girl she could indeed be much much more. Often the creatures were created as large pack animals or ferocious guards for their creator. By this one's eating habits she was obviously a predator.

[Nya Winters]

Nya studied the Akalak, her moss green eyes narrowing. She wasn't sure if the term breeder was a slander or a compliment. "Why do you call me that?" She asked, tilting her head but otherwise making no threatening move. Had she been thinking more like a human and less like a cat, she'd have ditched the remains of the rabbit so the stranger wasn't so acutely aware that she was a meat eater or a hunter. As it was, she hadn't really given it a thought until he made his second statement. At those additional words, she laughed in delight and stretched, polishing off the last of the rabbit leg, bone and all. Nya wouldn't have realized he thought her a child, but to the Akalak her appearance must have made her seem painfully young for one that lived so long. And she got the impression he had her carefully and critically pegged immediately.

"That was the last rodent. I hope you were not attached. They were eating your fine vegetables and digging up the plants to eat their roots. I would have gotten the mice too. I like mice. But they all ran off when I left my scent around the garden chasing down the first of the fat doe rabbits last week." She said, flashing her teeth at him and shifting so she was sitting with her legs folded under her. Though he looked harmless, she knew the warrior was powerful because of the words with the knights, and because of his effortless caution. Oh, she recognized caution all right. And he definitely was exhibiting it. "Can I be both? Belonging to someone and the liberator of your garden?" She said, keeping her movements slow and her posture non-threatening. This was the trial stage of any meeting, and Nya was being careful.

"I like coming here. It is so green and beautiful. I was not sure though if it was against the rules to enjoy your flowers and chase your butterflies. I have been careful where I have placed my feet and have eaten the rabbits dutifully to help you out." She admitted, waiting for him to cast judgment or to reinforce her belief that it might be okay so long as she wasn't destructive.

[Laktan Vladmir]

With a single arched eyebrow, or at least an arching of the space where an eyebrow should have been did he grow any hair there, Laktan did something he rarely did; he cracked a toothy grin. This small creature, and there was no doubt that she was animalistic in nature, was treating him like another beast or one of her kind. It's hard to remember that despite their form they really are wild beasts.

"My people call yours breeders due to the nature of our interaction. Our species does produce any females of our own and so we must rely upon outsiders for mating as you would call it. Because of the trade of your kind and the fact that amongst you are often purchased for the purpose of breeding. Hence the name breeder." He replied with no emotion, and he eyed her carefully.

"You are welcome to my garden young one, but you must be taught what to eat. There are many things in there which will kill even you if ingested. Any dead animals you may find should be disposed of as well. They may have died of the poisonous plants that I keep in my garden right along with my vegetables." Laktan removed his hand from his weapon and held it out the girl.

"Come inside with me. We can discuss terms, I will teach you of my garden, and you can show me your true form." He from the porch to inside the doorway with his hand extended.

"Be always welcome at my home and hearth." He said formally with a slight bow.

[Nya Winters]

Nya frowned, thought about what he said, and tilted her head sideways. While it was slightly disturbing to be suddenly told your race was bought and sold simply for the purpose of producing children, the way the Akalak said it soothed her somewhat. He was factual, forthright, and something in his mannerisms was the right combination of dominant and neutral that she decided almost right away she liked him. Besides, it was something her mother had already warned her about, only not with the Akalak, instead with the Ravok denizens.

Plus he gave her permission to be in the garden, so long as she followed rules. He didn't actually use the word 'rules' but he outlined a series of things she had to do to comply to his wishes - none of which were unreasonable - and for some reason that soothed her even more. Nya was a creature of structure. Without boundaries, the kelvic wasn't truly comfortable because she made blatant mistakes that gave away her nature to those that were unaware of it. She had a desire to know her place and to be treated respectfully within that place. Laktan did that, and it put her almost immediately at ease. Indeed, he was used to kelvics, obviously for the boundaries were established immediately.

"Alright. But you must call me Nya. That is my name. I would very much like to know yours. I am not interested in being a breeder and am not in heat right now, so unless you meant that as an affectionate name - a nickname - you should call me Nya instead." The forest cat said, rising slowly and wandering up to him to take his hand. Her first impression was that he was big. Nya thought Abashai was big, but the akalak was imposing where Abashai radiated calm reliance. Nya wasn't small herself, at five foot seven. But she was slight and moved with a feline grace. There was a playfulness about her, a happy peacefulness that surrounded the kelvic rather than the aura of tragedy or submission that normally came with most of the Kelvics the Akalak purchased and populated Riverfall with.

She went with him gladly, curious to see the inside of his house and wondering if it was just like the garden outside. "Terms? I will follow your rules. But my bondmate does not think I should shift within the city unless it is an emergency. He says humans won't understand forest cats in Syliras." She said, looking thoughtful. "I would like to know more of your garden, especially which plants will make me sick. I do not eat your plants. But I like to lay on them, especially the grass or underneath the tree when its warm. This is the closest grass to where I live in Traveler's Row. There is nothing there but a stone courtyard." Nya said, frowning. Truthfully she loved Matilda but hated the small room she sometimes shared with Abashai. The cave was so much more comfortable with its pile of furs rather than a bed.

She smiled at his formal welcome and followed him inside.

[Zaira]

The jingle of coins was the herald of the quickly moving dancer. The chilling weather was reason enough for her bare feet to be covered with her travelling sandals. Beside the woman was the common sound of hooves about the stone cobbled streets. Zaira led the horse down the street by its reigns, the beast packed for more than merely a walk about town.

A sneeze shook the desert flower her watering eyes closed and her hand pressed to the side of her nose at the painful pressure that built from her nose, to her forehead, and even by her ears. The woman was freezing, even nights where the fire did not die left the woman shivering and then she had fallen strongly ill, with a cough and a sneeze, and painful pressure, all new and strange to the Benshira. A cold, a doctor told her. Just a cold.

It was like death, the medicine man had no idea. To have never experienced anything of the sort. It was freezing, yet people went about their business like nothing was wrong, saying it was warm still, but promising it would be colder yet. The dancer was willing to move finally, into the city, into the strange dwellings, if that meant she would be warm from the cold, if only for a little while.

The woman sneezed again, coming to a halt once more and pressing fingers gingerly to her face. She was lost indeed, but it made no difference, the city was only so big thankfully, and eventually she would come to the ‘Inn’ and see to finding a place to sleep. Voices came to her muffled ears not that that was something new or strange, even in this strange section of the city. What were interesting were the familiar tones of the voice that reached the dancer’s ears. A familiar person was a rarity, and something precious on such a quest. A quest for sleep.

“Hello?” Zaira winced at the sound of her own voice, but raised a hand to wave at the familiar form of Nya, the woman she had danced with nights ago when the music had been loud and sweet. She looked to be heading within a dwelling following another, much larger man. To both she bowed her head slightly before pressing her fingers to her forehead lightly, but nearing in familiar, telling steps.

“It is pleasant to see you again. Hello.” The dancer spoke to Nya and eyes shifted to Laktan with her greeting extended, she was hesitant to approach the pair, with her ‘cold’ but it was perhaps easier than wandering when there was someone of familiarity, at least for her, who seemed to obviously live within the city, to ask a question.

“Do you know where, ‘Traveler’s Row’ is?” The accented words, muffled were spoken a touch louder than her usual gentle tones, to make amends for her distance from the pair. It was a curious thing, blue eyes sweeping from the pair to a waving stem of green that brought the look of surprised recognition to the woman's face.

"You are a medicine maker as well?" The surprised tone carried even with her muffled voice as Zaira looked back upon the pair. Zaira was by no means a herbalist or a gardener, but a flowering plant looked familiar to the same the one who said she had a 'cold' had given her in exchange for a few glinting coins. It had eased her throat and the pressures of her face when made a tea. Yet she had not been able to find the doctor, or remember the plant's name again.

[Nya Winters]

NoteGoing ahead at Laktan's request.

Nya paused, her fingers still entwined with the midnight-skinned mans. Her gaze shifted out across the garden and spotted the figure standing at the edge of the green expanse. Moss colored eyes surveyed the woman as Nya inhaled deeply and drank in the scent of the newcomer. Her gaze shifted up to the Akalak, looking for a clue as to what to do, and saw him waiting as well, eyes fixed first on Nya and then back on the Benshira woman waiting for Nya to respond.

She bowed her head for a moment, though her gaze didn't leave the figure in the street, searching her memory. It came, swiftly, for Nya had grown sharper at remembering details since she'd moved to the city. Two instances where she'd met the woman before came into her mind. One where she was with a Symenestra and the other where she was dancing in the street. It was sometimes a struggle for Nya to remember important details unless it was something familiar to her... the swiftness of a stride, or what another liked to hunt or how they hunted. Human things, like names, she knew was important, but they were still hard in coming. "You two.. very brave. I am Zaira." There... there was the memory she needed, the one that contained Zaira's name and a match to the voice she heard from the street. Nya glanced then at the akalak and raised her voice. But she gave her first words to the stranger she was standing with... the one who knew how to treat her people. "She is a dancer. Zaira. From the south, benshira I think, though I am not certain. She has unusual friends, but more than that I do not know." Nya said simply, used to giving information she had quickly to Abashai when he needed additional information. "She looks ill." Nya added, noting the sneezing.

Then she raised her voice. "Zaira. You do not look well. Traveler's Row is built into the city wall near the castle, east of the main gates. There is a woman there, one I really like, named Matilda. She is Konti... and can give you a room." The Kelvic said, in what was a fairly long speech for one of her kind.

Truthfully she had no idea if the Akalak was a healer, but she released his hand and stepped back, more in his shadow, to let him say what he would. As far as Nya was concerned, that was all she could offer the woman. She figured the akalak would warn the woman some of the plants were not good to eat.

[Laktan Vladmir]

Laktan sighed a slight sigh. Nya had not expressively stated that she did not particularly care for this nomad woman, but her mannerisms stated otherwise. There were too many that did not understand her kind but in his eighty some years of life he had been around them for nearly all of it. They were beasts, not the human form that they chose to take for other's convenience. They could not truly be tamed either, and only chose to do what they did usually for the sake of their bondmates.

"I am not truly a healer, but I do have a few things in my garden that will help with your cold. A hemlock tea, if properly prepared, will knock you out until morning and should cover any of your symptoms for at least a day or so." Laktak said, reaching into a pouch on his belt for a small bag that contained proportioned bags of hemlock tea.

[Zaira]

There was silence for so long the woman grew self conscious. Perhaps she said something wrong, something foolish, perhaps her common had not improved as much as she had thought, or the other woman did not recognize her. Perhaps she was the wrong one. The worrying ball that began to form in the pit of her stomach began to grow as the pair spoke quietly amongst themselves. The urge to smile, wave, and press on was strong, no harm done, no harm meant, and continue upon her way.

Yet crystalline eyes blinked as the woman spoke her name, and indeed knew where the woman wished to go it seemed. Going as far as to give the woman a name to seek out. All she had to do was find her way back towards the main gates, and simply go the opposite way she had went in search for the doctor from before. The dancer smiled her thanks nodding her understanding of what Nya spoke. “It is freezing here, and I am toId it shall only worsen so I choose to leave my tent for the city. A man I saw before said I had a ‘cold’. My thanks to you, I shall search for Matilda.”

It was only when her partner spoke that the woman had slight trouble but only slight and only to herself it was a glaring missing fragment of what was said.

As Laktan reached into his belt, the dancer turned to her horse deft fingers reaching into a pouch to retrieve a small palmful of mizas to trade for the medicine the tall one had to offer. She was interrupting something, and she would go if it were not the appeal of being able to sleep, warm, and pain free till this illness ran its course.

“My thanks…” the woman spoke as careful steps neared.