Target Practice (Jaeden)

[Aella]

27th of Fall, 510AV The days passing her adventure with Jaeden and Red had been lacking in excitement or companionship, and Aella found herself rather happy with that fact. Distancing herself, she’d set up camp along with some traps, and hunkered down to rest her injured leg. She slept. She ate what food she gathered or had. Generally she tried to ignore the sinking feeling that maybe she was more miserable alone than she’d originally led herself to believe. Instead she decided she needed to practice her archery skills, because shooting the people trying to help you didn’t tend to make their jobs easier. Plus it wouldn’t hinder her healing. She stood across her campsite from a tree she’d worked an X into. Bow in hand, she took her time paying close attention to what she was doing. First came standing properly. She looked down, scooting her right foot a little until it was in line with her left. Swaying, she checked herself for balance, and finding herself centered she moved to take an arrowhead and trace around her feet like Imman used to do for her. That way she could watch her stance consistency. Next she carefully put the nock of her arrow onto the bowstring. She used the same motions she tried to when rushing, thinking it would gain her better ability to nock quickly. Placing it just under her balance knot, she then let the shaft of the arrow drop onto the rest on her bow. “This is where you always mess up,” she mumbled under her breath. Her index finger was placed above the arrow nock, and she moved to put her middle and ring beneath it. Closing her eyes so she could focus on what it felt like, she shifted her fingers along until her first knuckles were cradling the string. She looked at what she was doing, giving a little scowl. She was pinching the arrow, and with a little wiggle she saw to it that she was no longer touching the nock. She flattened the back of her hand and tucked her thumb into her palm. After fidgeting and fussing, she finally gave the string a tiny pull to set her position to draw. Turning her attention to her bow hand, she checked to make sure that the base of her thumb muscle was resting on the center of her grip – The pressure would all go onto that muscle and into her wrist if held properly. She wiggled her thumb and fingers to make sure they were relaxed, and then she curled them around to touching the bow so when she released it wouldn’t go falling from her hand. She’d done that on more than one occasion while learning. The next part she did even more slowly than the rest, trying to force her body to completely memorize what every tiny motion felt like. She raised her bow arm and drawing arm up at the same time. The latter was kept high in the elbow but low in the shoulder. From there she tightened her back muscles to pull her elbow back, drawing her arm backwards in one smooth motion. Her drawing hand then was resting against her jaw, but upon further inspection she was meeting the string more than it meeting her. She pulled her head and hand back so that her neck was held straight. The art of it was to remember to push equally with the bow hand while pulling with the drawing hand to establish balance – Archery, she’d found, was all about balance. Then came what Imman used to call the Anchor where her hand was on her jaw and the bowstring was touching her face. It used to scare her for some reason, but she grew used to it over time. Index finger to the jaw. Tucked thumb to the neck. String touching the nose. This was the trick to maintaining the force of the bow with each draw. She stood there trying to decide if the draw felt right or if something was off about it. She was pretty sure something was wrong, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what.

[Jaeden Kincade]

There was a rustling in the foliage just to the south of Aella’s camp that caught her ears, even as Aella stood there, her bow raised and the arrow drawn, the sounds came closer. As she spun around to investigate the source of the sounds, she would see a patch of tall grass shifting back and forth as something made it’s way towards her camp at a casual pace. The grass was short enough to ensure it wasn’t a bandit or slaver, and casual pace and constant movement was enough to hint to Aella that it wasn’t some predatory animal stalking her. No, whatever was coming into Aella’s camp either was oblivious to her presence there, or just didn’t seem to care.

About another chime passed before the tips of two ears coated in black fur could be seen. The more of the fur came into view revealing colors of red and white before Aella could plainly see the head of a fox poking out from behind the foliage, looking at her as it paused for a moment, silent and unmoving. The fox was familiar to Aella, but its reaction wasn’t, as Red’s ears dropped down slightly, showing signs of almost sorrow and depression as she stepped into camp. She stayed near the edge, coming to a casual seated position before Aella, neither moving or making a sound, but simply waited for whatever reaction she would give.

[Aella]

After a moment of listening, Aella did in fact turn towards the noise. Her bow remained drawn as she shifted positions, held up in the event she needed to move quickly. It was likely she’d have a better shot this way, after all. Whatever it was didn’t move like a human as far as she could tell. What she didn’t want it to be was a bear. Especially with cubs. She’d seen signs that there had been one around, but from what she could tell it had been a while since they’d been through. When she saw Red’s ears, her bow string was slackened, and she let her arms fall. She rested the bottom of his against her hip as she went akimbo. An eyebrow lifted up as the fox sat down, and for a moment her jaw set slightly to the left as she tried to figure out why she couldn’t just be left alone. Yet she didn’t like the way Red was looking at her. Her expression softened the slightest bit before she finally took a sighing breath and asked, “What?”

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red shook her head, the shake eventually rattling down her entire body as she stood up on all fours and began stepping around Aella’s camp. Soon the shift came as the golden shimmer of light surrounded Red’s body, the proportion growing larger as it extended upward before it faded away and Red’s human form appeared in front of Aella. She was naked, and made no attempt to move for some clothing. The chill of the fall air didn’t seem to bother her, at least not in outwardly way that Aella could see. Her face turned away for a moment, that look of slight depression in her eyes as she looked to the tree she was shooting at. “You shouldn’t use the trees.” Red said idly as she ran her hand over the trunk. “At least not live ones. Jaeden told me Caiyha isn’t greatly fond of it.”

Red’s hand then slipped down from the trunk as she continued to step around the camp. “Of course, she wouldn’t smite you for it or anything, but he says it helps to keep on the goddess of nature’s good side if you are spending most of your time in nature.” Red continued to walk idly around, looking over Aella’s camp as her hand slipped behind her back, grasping each other. “If you would have stuck around with us, he had a practice target you could have used.”

[Aella]

Aella stood there, patiently waiting for Red to shift. If she was bothered by the woman’s nudity, she didn’t let on. She didn’t scream for her to put clothes on. She also didn’t leer, though she may have taken a peek below the neck when Red wasn’t looking. “He’s probably right, but don’t tell him I said that,” she said in a calm response. “But in this case it was self-defense. This tree is clearly trying to attack me.” With a tip of her head away from Red, she hid the little smirk and put her bow down. She moved over towards the fire, motioning for her to follow. She had food and water to share, and she was much more generous than she let on. “Jaeden didn’t really want me there. And to be honest I’m not exactly thrilled with the thought of being around someone that knows what I want all the time. I don’t even petching know what I want all the time. So what’s with the face?”

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red slowly shook her head, looking at Aella with the slightest hint of pleading in her expression. “It is not about what he wants right now,” Red replied suddenly to Aella, “it is about what he needs.”

Red remained motionless, almost firm in her stance, conviction in what she had just said. Eventually her gaze fell, as she finally moved over towards the fire. She crouched down, hugging her knees as she gazed into the flames while they danced around in a hypnotic display, singing their crackled song. “I only came to bond with him last season,” Red began, her gaze still fixed upon the campfire, making no motion towards the food or water, “but you should have seen him back then. He was so full of life, of conviction in what he did in that life. I was a slave when I met him, stuck in animal form with a collar around my neck. Me and others like me were forced to run for our lives while those who captured us set hunters who paid upon us. They made a contest, a game out of our lives.”

Red then slowly shook her head, looking up at Aella as a mixture of sorrow and anger appeared on her face in recollection of those days. “Jaeden refused their game. He was true man of the wild, and never hunted for sport.” Red then said, a small smile appearing on her lips. “I ran from the first hunter I came across, and eventually came to him. He didn’t know I was a Kelvic at first, though I believe he suspected after a moment. Either way, where so many had turned down aid to us, he didn’t. Eventually killing the hunter who was after me when he did not have the sense to leave after it was suggested that such was in his best interest. Jaeden then ran with me for a short distance, and freed me from my collar where so many before would have just shot me with an arrow or tossed me into a cage. He didn’t stop there though. He helped me free the others and got so many terrible injuries in the process.”

Red lowered her head slightly, resting her chin along the top of her knees. A slight shrug rose along her shoulders then. “I learned of his mark after, and of course thought that it might be the reason why he helped me and then allowed the bond,” Red explained before a shake of her head was given, “but I soon learned from others that the mark would have only compelled him to do what would have been natural in that case for him. He had been helping others in similar situations long before he was touched by a Goddess. So when it came to helping me, it only made him become more true to himself. My time with him so far has been short, but because of our bond, I have grown to know him well. He was generous, kind, always willing to help those who really needed it. He never liked violence, but didn’t shy away from it when the time called for such. He would help those who were victims like myself and others captured to be slaves. He also had a perverted nature to him when it came to women. He loved their touch, their embrace, but would never force it if it wasn’t what they wanted.”

There was a long pause then as Red remained silent, closing her eyes as a slow rocking motion was taken in front of the fire. “Then, he came back, revealing that the only family he had had left in his mentor was taken from him. It broke him in ways I never imagined could be done.” Red explained, as her eyes began to water up slightly. “He became so distant, changed. He didn’t want to get close to anyone anymore, felt that his very presence threatened those he would come to care about. I could feel the pain he had within him, and it hurt me, pained me so much that I couldn’t make him happy. He wants to waste away alone now.”

Red then shot a glance towards Aella. “But he only wants to do so to protect those he cares about. He feels cursed, despite having no mark from a god to prove such. He even punishes himself in his selflessness.” Red explained, her tone almost as pleading as the look she gave. “That’s why I said it is not about what he wants, it is about what he needs. He needs to become his former self. He is destined for so much more, even a Goddess said so according to one of the women he used to work with at the Bathhouse in Syliras. I have tried to convince him of such, even brought others to do the same, but none of them could get through to him, and when they tried to touch him, he would evade them and run. You were the first who managed to touch him. I didn’t want you to at first because I wasn’t sure if you would take advantage of him, take everything he had after you realized how generous he would be after you touched him.”

Red then leaned to the side, her hands planting along the ground as she inched closer towards Aella, her eyes widening a little. “Your touch, while seeming artificial because of his mark, actually began to cause him to act a little like his former self again, to allow him to begin to remember what he was like before.” Red explained, moving closer still. “It is not something that I can do. I only want him to be happy, but I can’t make him happy if all he wants of me is to keep my distance. I can not force him personally thorough my touch to remember. I can’t force him to live for others again when all I do is live for him. He’s sent me away again, so it has to be you. He needs you, just like you needed him when you first touched him. You may want to deny it, but you wouldn’t have came back to camp with him if it wasn’t true. You have to help him realize what he wants, and you might come to realize what it is you want along the way then.”

[Aella]

Aella sat and listened to everything Red said with a careful ear. There may not have been eye contact, but she clearly had her attention on what the Kelvic was saying. Even as she leaned over to poke at the pot of mushrooms and meat she was cooking together, she nodded slightly. “Grief does strange things to us, but he won’t be that way forever. He won’t go back to the man you knew before over night. Think on the way a stream flows and cuts into the land in the path it wants to go. It changes slowly, moving bit by bit of dirt and rock, until eventually the water takes over… The will to live and return to a normal life is like that. Stay with him. Stay safe. And eventually he’ll realize that if he was cursed, you’d be gone.” She had a lot of time to think, and not a lot of practice getting her thoughts out. But sometimes she was lucky enough that what she meant managed to leave her mouth instead of making her sound like an idiot. And loneliness and grief were two things she considered herself quite the expert on. “I’m sure everything you say is true. I can tell he’s a good man. But he doesn’t need me. He needs…” Red slipped closer, and Aella moved to wrap an arm around her, pulling her close. This time, though, she didn’t try to kiss her. She just pressed a cheek against her shoulder in some weird attempt to comfort her. “Petch, I don’t know what he needs… Ideally someone who doesn’t shoot him. But…” She let out a heavy sigh, and her eyes turned to Red. She gave a little scowl. Gods, she hated herself sometimes for being soft-hearted, and that was likely one of the main reasons she didn’t want people around. “Fine. He’s sent you away. So what’s the plan?”

[Jaeden Kincade]

A smile appeared on Red’s face as she looked to Aella, her hands suddenly grasping Aella’s one. “Just time, time with him.” Red explained, quickly standing as though she were ready to lead her to him right then and there. “He‘s just staying away from others, others that he knows. He‘s still unfamiliar with you. Spending time with someone new, getting to know them. I know that will help him return to the way he was.”

Red then began tugging lightly at Aella‘s hand slightly. “Can we go?” She said, almost excitedly. “Can we go now? If we leave now, we may reach him in time to help him with that creature he‘s currently fighting.”

[Aella]

“Right now? This very minute?” She looked around at her camp. She was pretty settled in where she was, and she had a nice stew cooking. Her eyes returned to Red, lips pulling to the side as she thought over what was being asked. “… Why didn’t you just tell me right away that he was fighting a monster? I probably would have said no, but…” She let out a horribly heavy sigh and started to stand. “If it’s not bad enough that you weren’t right in to fight with him, then it must not be that bad… I’ll need to pack up at the very least.” She was starting to think maybe a city actually did look good.

[Jaeden Kincade]

“Well, I would have been, but he told me to leave.” Red suddenly said in her defense as she crossed her arms and almost pouted. “The only reason we fought together with those bandits back there was because you were already affecting his mark.”

Red patiently waited for Aella to grab whatever she needed for the moment, sniffing their air occasionally as she looked around the forest. Before long, she settled up next to Aella, leaning against her as she observed what she was currently working on. “Is there anything I can do to help? If he kills that thing before we reach him, you’ll have to sneak up and grab him then.”


_____________

Jaeden stood between two trees, staring up along the trees with a grumpy expression on his face. “I should have slept in today.” Jaeden muttered under his breath as his fingers slid along the feather’s of an arrow, currently nocked into his bow.

His body spun around when he heard the sound of tree branches rattling, aiming his bow towards the source of the sound, as his arm drew the arrow back, his muscles going tense for a moment. Leaves, knocked prematurely from their branches before the Fall season could do so, fell in a swaying motion towards the ground. It was on this day, in the fall, that the woodsman known as Jaeden Kincade, was being hunted. It had been stalking him for the better part of the morning. In retrospect, sending Red away was likely a poor act in judgment on his part. With her nose and instincts, she likely would have smelled the creature coming close to a mile away, but in the end he didn’t want to put her at risk.

Jaeden’s body twitched, catching movement. Movement that caused his body to react as he ducked down and leapt forward, just as something swung, digging its claws into the bark of one of the trees he stood between. Jaeden’s body rolled along the ground, coming to a one kneed stance as he drew his bow once again, aiming it towards where his stalker would have been. Once again it was gone, however. Shuffled up into the trees for cover. Jaeden simply released a sigh, gazing once again to the trees above for movement. “This is going to be a long day.” Jaeden finally said.