Closed Needing a Helping Hand (Ashar)

[Naiya]

Spring day 22, 515 AV
Late Morning

Naiya was attempting once more to find her way to the creamery that was supposed to exist in Riverfall. She was, however beginning to believe that its existance was merely in the minds of all the people who had 'helped' her, because she got an answer that sounded different each time asked after its location.

She was on her way now to the same place she had found Aoren. Well where Aoren had found her, really. Only this time there was a key bit of information that had been added to the directions. The Creamery was outside the wall. That was quite an important tidbit of information.

Not that it would help too much, as she was starting out from their camp near the Sanctuary rather than from inside the city. She was facing the city now, so, if she was correct, things would be on the opposite side from before. A left hand turn instead of right, or a right instead of left, or did it matter for this trip?

She wasn't sure, so she slowed Wildfire to a walk, the shift of her weight backwards indicating to him her desire to slow. She felt her quiver shift with her movement, reminding her of the strung bow that she held ever so gently in one hand. Despite being close to the city, and despite having the advantage of being on horseback, she just didn't feel safe in the Sea without her bow. Not that she was all that likely to be able to save herself with how out of practice she was with the weapon.

She thought she might be approaching the city, the wall was so large though, it made it difficult for Naiya to use it to judge her distance, it was nothing like the pavilions of Endrykas which meant it lent her little help.

Soon enough, the shape of a man met her eyes, perhaps it was two men, yes two Akalak men. Or boys, it was hard to tell with their tall statures and skewed judgment of the proper age of a man. They were a distance away, so Naiya tightened the press of her legs on Wildfire, leaning forward slightly to urge him to a trot. She let her weight change once more, bouncing on his back once, then twice while she found her balance, before putting the pressure of her leg at his girth once more. He sped to a faster trot, not quite cooperating with her silent attempt to pick up a canter from a seated position.

"Canter, Wildfire, come on." She urged him, and with a rather reluctant sounding whinny, he stepped into a smooth canter. She wasn't bouncing any more, allowing her hips to roll in a circle to follow the rocking motion of the horse beneath her, but she felt off, just a little bit not right. The practiced motion was familiar, easy, but this time it was more difficult. She turned her gaze to the horses back, taking a long moment to find her extended bounding on the horse's back had shifted her too far behind his shoulders. She grabbed hold on the yvas with her free hand and used it to pull herself forward, losing rhythm with Wildfire's motion. She bounced again, keeping hold of the yvas to prevent the same mistake as before, and then found the shape of the movement once more so that she was riding smoothly once more.

A snort from her companion was the only alerting to the change that Naiya had before she glanced up and realized they were lined up to canter directly over the two Akalak men, who had been much closer than she imagined they were. Or perhaps she had just been too focused on correcting her riding to notice the distance they had covered.

She turned her head, knowing that doing show would turn the rest of her body as well without the effort of physically trying to stay mounted while turning her entire body ninety degrees at a canter. Instead she let her head lead the way, the body always follows the head, and the pressure of her hip and her leg in the turn was enough to steer Wildfire around and past the Akalak men.

But only just.

Great apology Naiya's hands signed, quickly, unthinking, just knowing that an apology was due. She slowed Wildfire, bringing him to a trot first, then a walk, and finally to a halt as she spoke. "I am very sorry. Very sorry, I was not pay attention. " Her heart was racing over the situation, guilt and leftover fear from the almost collision filling her. Words tumbled out of her mouth, some in Common, some in Pavi.

The men spoke, words she couldn't understand, first to each other, and then directed at her. The taller of the two, a purple skinned man with grey eyes, was nearly taller than wildfire, his head and shoulders falling above the horses back. The other man was blue, from his skin to his eyes, and he looked angry, well really they both did, but something about the second man was worse than the first.

More words were thrown at her in Tukant, but Naiya knew so little of the language, she couldn't understand.

"Is fight now," The taller man said, moving more quickly than Naiya expected him to be capable of, he reached up and lifted Naiya off her horse. Wildfire stirred uneasily, the situation growing tenser. "Dual now, is for honor" He continued as he set her before of the other Akalak, moving her about as easily as a child moves a doll.

"No fight," Naiya began, shaking her head and lifting both her hands in the air in front of her, although she looked slightly less defensive when her bow was clutched tightly in her hand. "No fight, I am sorry, no harm meant."

The man in front of her seemed unconvinced, advancing towards her anyway. Naiya was forced back, step by step until she ran into the other taller man.

The men were so much bigger than her, stronger, she would have had little chance against one, but two of them here, she had no chance. Her voice pitched up, fear and stress tightening her throat.

"I am sorry, please, no harm meant, was accident."

[Ashar]

At this point, Ashar was just procrastinating.

That wasn't to say that he'd already made his decision concerning Sonyr's offer, as Ashar still had no idea whether or not to accept it. Really there was no reason not to become part of a squad, no rational reason at least, and had Ashar been in the same state of mind that he had been about a year ago he would have jumped at the chance. Indeed, there were many times before the Fall of 514 that Ashar was wishing that he had a chance to join a stable squad and get the opportunity to rise higher in the Kuvay'Nas. Now that he finally had the opportunity, however, he found himself completely unsure of himself and wondering even that he might refuse the offer outright.

It was difficult for Ashar to think in the crowd of the city sometimes, especially considering his occupation of keeping a watchful eye for any miscreants or mishaps. It was at times like those that he would usually take a patrol in one of the secluded parks littered throughout the city, where the presence of cultivated nature and the lack of bustle made it easier for Ashar to hear his own thoughts. Such became his habit, at least until the events of yesterday, which were anything but calming. Although he knew it was unlikely to happen again, Ashar still felt better trying to find peace to think outside of Riverfall altogether. So it was that he requested to take one of the short patrols north along the Kabrin, not too far from the vineyards but just far enough to achieve some seclusion.

Then, quite appropriately, Ashar decided he was just having a bad season as he saw ahead of him what looked to be some trouble. Two Akalaks, probably a few years from their Rite of Passage, towering over and intimidating a human woman who had been plucked from her horse.

No rest for the wicked, it seemed.

Clucking his tongue in a common Kuvay'Nas cavalry command, Ashar drove his borrowed mount into a rough canter, which had the double effect of a quicker advance and announcing his approach to the unfolding scene. Upon hearing the sound of nearing hoofbeats, both Akalaks that were in the process of bullying Naiya turned to look at the oncoming horse, aware of the incident that had nearly occurred with the Strider. Imagine what they thought when they saw instead a Kuvay'Nas warhorse loping towards them, with an armored warrior mounted and a curious weapon held.

As soon as Ashar drew near, he pulled back gently on the reins of his horse and simply trotted the rest of the distance until he was alongside the two younger Akalaks. Neither of them looked very happy to see him, but it did not escape Ashar's attention that they seemed slightly intimidated by his appearance.

"What appears to be the trouble?" he asked, putting on a few formal airs for the sake of appearances. Whatever helped maintain his authoritative stance would be useful for now.

Turning to face Ashar, the smaller Akalak looked at the mounted Kavran with ice in his blue eyes. The taller one remained behind the woman, likely in an effort to keep her intimidated and keeping her from running off. "There is no trouble at all," he assured, smiling in a way that Ashar knew wasn't genuine. "My friend and I are just talking with this woman a bit."

If Ashar were more dull or less concerned with the woman's safety he might have just told them to carry on. He was neither. "What would you happen to be talking about?" he asked of them, mindful of how frightened the woman seemed.

"None of your business," the purple one quickly spat, but he was shushed by a gesture of the blue Akalak's hand.

"Simply talking about amends being made," the blue one continued, smiling his false smile at Ashar. The Kavran could barely stomach it. "My friend and I were nearly run over when this woman came charging at us from the road to the north. We were simply discussing what a suitable apology would look like."

Such was likely not to be the whole story, Ashar knew. Though he was not as good in Common as he would like to be, he fortunately knew enough to conduct a basic interview. "Madam," he began, "what happened?"

[Naiya]

"No fight?" The shorter man asked, a grin split his lips, making Naiya wonder if perhaps she would have preferred a beating over the new thoughts occurring to the man.

A thunder of hoof beats approached, drawing her attention only long enough to note the third Akalak approaching on his horse. She was beyond out numbered, and true fear began to build a solid lump of cold in the pit of her stomach. The shorter man turned away, facing the new arrival.

A flurry of words were exchanged, none of them familiar to Naiya. She looked back and forward between the mounted man and the others, trying to decide of the man on the horse was friend or foe, but the faces of the Akalak were difficult for her to read, perhaps the mounted man looked slightly disapproving, though whether it was with her was not something she could tell.

She was trying to edge her way back to Wildfire, signaling to the horse with her hands, left, slow hoping he could edge just far enough around the purple man for her to pull herself back astride his back.

"Madam," the polite sounding common startled her, and she jumped, distracted from her escape. She was sure her body screamed guilt, and likely fear as well. "What happened?" The mounted man asked her.

A swell of relief hit her, she could explain.

"I was riding, then was distracted, slipping. I came close, very fast. It was accident." She explained as best as she could, hoping it was enough to convince the man she had meant no harm. "They say we must fight, but I do not want fight, I do not mean trouble."

The man behind her snarled, angry, perhaps at her mention of the fight. As close as he was behind her, she heard the rustle of cloth as he moved, and she pivoted and ducked, throwing her hands up to block a blow. The bow in her hand caught the joint of her thumb in a painful collision, but her face was protected from his blow. A blow that didn't come.

Or perhaps it had never been coming, but fear was quite the motivator in such situations, and she had plenty of that. Her movement put her closer to the mounted man, enough so that his horse snorted and she could feel the warmth of the horses breath against her skin.

She looked up at the mounted man, worried more so now than before. Had she offended him? He certainly seemed to be the man in the position of power. Upsetting him would likely be the worst of the choices available to her.

[Ashar]

Even before she spoke, Ashar could tell that the woman was not at all comfortable being talked to by two large Akalaks, even if they were young enough to be warranted having just grown out of adolescence. She likely didn't have all that much experience handling such encounters; Ashar could recall several women who could handle themselves quite finely against the uncouth brashness that seemed to be rampant among so many young Akalaks these days.

"I understand," Ashar told the woman, wanting to convey that he had grasped her explanation. It was clear neither he nor she could speak Common very much beyond a basic level, but they could communicate.

Which was fortunate, because so far Ashar did not place a lot of trust in the words of the two Akalaks before him. It was clear they had something in mind, and were trying to get their way by maneuvering their way around the presence of a Kavran. Another fortunate circumstance in Ashar's favor, though: he had the bladed weapon. If it came down to it, he wasn't averse to frightening the two kids off in order to protect the woman from whatever they had in mind.

When the man behind the woman began to lift his arm for whatever reason, she threw her bow up in fear so that any blow aimed at her would not land. Ashar's eyes watched the offending Akalak closely, who as clever enough to at least not go through with a blow that would have done nothing anyway. As for the woman, her defensive movement brought her close to Ashar and his horse, another fortunate occurrence.

The Kavran lifted his naginata in a way that brought the woman behind him and his horse, the butt of his weapon pushing her farther away from the two offending Akalaks. Neither looked very happy, but Ashar had a steely look in his eyes.

"I think," he said, "that you two had best be on your way."

[Naiya]

Naiya found herself pressed further back from the first two men, the blunt end of a strange weapon in the mounted Akalak's hand forcing her further away from the grasp of the two men. The first man looked mildly repentant, or at least so far as Naiya could tell, and following a nonsense string of what must have been more Tukant, he appeared more than willing to do whatever the mounted man had said.

His friend, however seemed less willing, and he barked out a line of words in the harsh language the only one of which she recognized was a curse. A rather pointed slur that was not a kind way to refer to a person, though it was, in Naiya's opinion, especially rude towards a woman. Although he seemed to be angry with his friend, not Naiya. Or perhaps both. It was hard to tell.

All the same his next motions were easy to interpret, the angry gesturing was obviously an order for the armed man to leave, the angry sounding words and the violent posture.

The blue Akalak seemed to catch on, beginning to search the ground while the other man yelled and gestured wildly. A distraction perhaps, or at least is served as one. Seconds later the man had loaded on hand with rocks and was pummeling the Kavran and his mount with the stones.

Naiya was forced to move, taking cover from the fist sized stones. She ducked, moving away, but not towards Wildfire, in fact she sent him back, away hoping that she could follow him at a distance and rude away. If he was hit with the stones, well she didn't imagine he would be happy to have a passenger, even his bonded Drykas. A stone struck the horse, and on its bounce struck Naiya in the shoulder, not as bad at a direct blow might have been, but she didn't want to imagine how the rider fared.

How had she gone from seeking a path to the creamery to being attacked by some crazy natives? It was no way to improve her opinion of the city or it's inhabitants, not that they seemed to care. She felt guilty, hiding behind the man in his horse while the blue man threw stones, so after a few ticks' hesitation she drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it on her bow.

She aimed at the man throwing rocks, his large ammo carrying arm her target, in hopes of stopping him, but not harming him too badly. She loosed the arrow, and the projectile went wide, missing the man by a large margin, the shaking of her hands a likely cause. She had never shot at a person before. Her poor aim had little effect on the man, instead it seemed to make him more determined, and his next stone went flying right at the mounted Akalak's head.

The other man, the shouting one, he saw her, and grew further angered by her attack on his stone throwing friend. Abandoning all pretenses, he charged at the Drykas woman, shouting in Tukant.

She abandoned her bow, it was not a close range weapon and was more likely to break if she used it as one. The Akalak charged her like a bull, head tucked arms reaching, obviously lost to anger. Perhaps this was what they spoke of when people mentioned two souls. The rage filled man had little sight on the woman, relying more on her fear to keep her in place. She however, would not be still while he attacked her.

She pivoted, swinging her front leg around to the back, putting the charging man at her side and in front of her, she used his momentum the angry race forwards, to turn him over her hip and throw him to the ground.

Or she would have, maybe, if she had accounted for how heavy the giant sized man would be. She had been rushed, not set up properly to account for the weight of the man, so instead of him flipping over her hip and onto the ground, he sort of hovered in the in between, gravity fighting Naiya's motion, and his weight slowing his arc over her hip and onto the ground.

He was surprised at first, but the long moment of balance gave him ample time to figure out a way to grab hold of the Drykas woman. When he finally fell, he managed to drag Naiya to the ground with him, the two landing with a thud and a groan from the woman as the air rushed from of her chest.

Pure luck found her beside the man rather than under him, though as she scrambled to find her feet, his grip on her arm halted her. He smirked, obviously pleased with himself.

Rather than allow that to be the end of it, Naiya closed her hand in a fist and slammed it into the man's chin attempting to stun the man into releasing her.

He did seem stunned, but rather more because she had actuallly hit him than because she had hurt him. In fact, if she had hurt him at all she couldn't tell, and her punch left her with only a sore hand to show for her effort.

[Ashar]

After issuing a veiled threat, Ashar was mildly but pleasantly surprised to find that the blue Akalak, the one who appeared to be the most manipulative in the current circumstance, was beginning to maneuver away from the slowly boiling conflict. His eyes communicated it all - his trepidation, his caution and reluctance - even if his mouth didn't. Whether or not it was based on any regret wasn't for Ashar to interpret, but at least it appeared that the bully knew when to fold them.

"Apologies, Kavran," the blue Akalak said. "We didn't mean to cause any disturbance. If you'll let us, we'll just be on our way." Once his eyes darted to the naginata, making it clear that the weapon was as intimidating as Ashar himself.

However, the other delinquent seemed less pliable to the suggestion of just giving up. It was clear that he didn't know when he was beaten. These types were the ones who gave Ashar the most trouble. "Bullshyke we are. You can't just come here and threaten us because you're a Kavran and pretend that you're in the right just because the government recognizes your violence. Helioc, there's no reason we should listen to you. This woman nearly killed us! Nearly ran us over on her horse and you're going to defend her as if we're the offenders? You're a shit Kavran!"

Ashar couldn't help but marvel at how he himself had matured in less than a year. Last Summer he would have been struggling to keep himself contained, but now he was suspicious and calm enough to notice that the other offender had knelt down to gather some rocks beside the road.

"You two really need to know when it's over," Ashar replied ominously. As soon as the words left his mouth, he kicked his heels against the rib cage of his sturdy warhorse and charged at full gallop at the blue Akalak as he was about throw his first rock. The stone projectile was dropped before it even left the blue Akalak's hand as he dove to the side to avoid getting actually trampled rather than almost trampled - for the second time. With his left hand on the reins, Ashar readjusted his grip on his naginata as he passed the blue Akalak, getting ready to take the fight seriously.

Still at full gallop, Ashar had to make a slightly wider turn than he would have liked to get back to the action, allowing the blue Akalak to get back to his feet and start picking up and throwing stones.

The sound of a bow snapping a shot caught Ashar's attention, and he looked to see that the woman had just fired at the blue Akalak about to throw his second rock. Although the Kavran admired such bravery, he still silently cursed at her to remain inconspicuous. He could handle these ruffians - it was his job to handle ruffians. It'd be easier to do so without heaping additional worry about her safety.

"Petch," Ashar exclaimed as the other purple Akalak whipped around at the woman and began advancing on her quickly. Yet another thing he had to keep track of.

"Now you're blatantly trying to kill us?" the purple one shouted angrily, stomping in a position to rush at her. "You hag, you should never have come here at all!" Then he charged, causing Ashar to curse again and push his warhorse to gallop faster towards the blue one.

Hugging his knees together against the horse, the Kavran clutched the staff in his right hand and lifted his torso off of the bouncing saddle so as to get a somewhat more stable position from which to wield his weapon. As he drew close to the blue Akalak, whose stones were bouncing off his layered leather and lamellar armor, Ashar swung his naginata down from above and before him, timing it so that it slashed at the blue Akalak's right shoulder.

There was no way for Ashar to have aimed how deep he wanted the weapon to go, but apparently it went deep enough that the blue Akalak cried out in pain and grabbed at his wounded shoulder. It seemed like he wouldn't be throwing anymore rocks anytime soon.

Ashar looked back at the blue Akalak and saw the red beginning to trickle down his back. It wasn't gushing, but it was certainly a real injury. A rush of satisfaction flew through the Kavran's body, knowing that he was emerging on top and protecting people properly. These ruffians were only the latest to be stupid enough to challenge a Kavran. They certainly wouldn't be the last. And Ashar was okay with that.

With the warhorse at full gallop, Ashar began to steer towards the second fight, where the purple Akalak and the woman were on the ground and in a hand-to-hand struggle. Kicking his left heel gently into the horse's ribs, Ashar turned toward the fight and was approaching it at nearly breakneck speed. He wasn't heading right at them though, as he didn't want to risk running them both over, but before long he was nearly right next to them. This was good enough.

Yanking on the reins, Ashar brought the horse to a sudden stop, causing it to rear up and whinny loudly as it had to cut short its forward momentum. When it was back on all fours, Ashar was pointing his naginata down at the purple Akalak.

The offender, who had seen Ashar's approach, tried to get up and prepare himself, but he couldn't do that easily while also contending with the woman and trying to keep her in his grip. By the time the Kavran was there and pointing his blade at the offender, he was only kneeling with his hand in a tight grip around the woman's wrist. He looked up the length of the weapon at the Kavran, whose eyes were burning with anger and focus.

"That's enough," Ashar said, glaring at the brute. With a motion of his weapon, he indicated for the offender to let the woman go. "You've had your fun. Now take your friend to the Gilia and get out of here. Or I might have to take you to the Gideon."

OOCControl is in your hands again. Feel free to have them do whatever. Just keep in mind that they're likely not suicidal.

[Naiya]

The man, the mounted Akalak had come full circle, leaving a bleeding miscreant behind him, clutching at his arm and swearing so vigorously that even Naiya recognized the words for what they were if not for their specific meanings. The rider was fast approaching, but Naiya didn’t have attention to spare for considering whether or not she would be trampled.

She was busy contending on her own, the man had wrestled himself the his knees, his vice like grip ensnaring her wrist and dragging her with him, kneeling the man was still tall, perhaps as tall as Naiya was standing, but she couldn’t quite tell crouched as she was to keep him from dragging her away. She turned her hand, angling her thumb towards the same appendage on her captor, hoping to use the blade of her arm to break against the weakest part of his own grip.

It was a tried and true method, assuming that she was strong enough, or that she could get the right leverage. The method was far easier when used against a person who was closer to her own size, or who wasn’t quite so much stronger than her. The Akalak was much more difficult to manipulate to give her an angle to pull against, she was finding she had to do all the moving herself. The hoofbeats of the man grew closer. Naiya ignored them as best she could, searching for her own escape.

There, she had the angle! She made a fist, gripping it with her free hand and pulling it against the man’s thumb, he growled angrily at her, his grip grew stronger. She ignored him as well, dropping the entire weight of her body against his thumb.

The hoofbeats had ceased, replaced with the heavy breathing of the horse and another string of incomprehensible Tukant.

She felt his grip falter against her wrist, and then she was loose. Loose, and falling. She landed unceremoniously on her butt, her momentum bouncing her once and onto her back. She scrambled waiting for the man to advance, but after a moment she realized he wasn’t coming after her. In fact, things had grown far more quiet, aside from the continuous grumbling from the disarmed blue Akalak.


Naiya turned her attention away from herself and back to her Akalak attacker, who it seemed, was trying very hard not to sway forward onto the pointed end of the mounted man’s strange weapon.

After a long moment, the purple man shuffled back, away from the sharp weapon, and went after his friend, angry sounding shouts at the wounded man followed their departure.

The mounted man turned his attention to her then, once the other men had disappeared from sight. Naiya, who was still sitting in the dirt, threw her weight back, her hands following her momentum, and rolled backwards coming to her feet as soon as the aforementioned appendages had cleared her head and found the ground.

“Don’t want trouble.” Naiya explained great apology unconsciously overtaking her posture. “This all accident, mistake.”

She was afraid. Terrified that he might come to chase her off next, yelling at her in Tukant that she couldn’t understand. She was separated from her horse and her bow, the racing of her heart pushed ever faster by a cocktail of adrenaline and fear.

"I will take mine things and leave. Very sorry to cause trouble."

OOCAs a note here, I know we discussed riding together, or some sort of escort to her destination, and all of that is still fine. But it is ooc knowledge. IC Naiya has just watched you yell at people in a foreign language, maim a man, and put a sword to another man's throat in threat. You are rather terrifying. She assumes she is next in the line to be maimed or beaten, so you could either reassure her and continue on with whatever friendly thread we had in mind, or threaten her and send her running home (which is really equally appealing to me, so whatever suits your fancy)

[Ashar]

Fortunately, it appeared that the two offenders weren't so hot-headed as to risk any further consequences. To lose in the Gideon Arena was a dire thing, and when a Kavran made the challenge it wasn't to be taken lightly. Even though justice was blind, the Kuvay'Nas had its reputation, and even a victory could result in some repercussions down the line. So yes, wise of them to take their anger somewhere else.

Many Akalaks seemed to be more easily enraged these days Ashar noticed, although perhaps this recent discovery was simply him looking at his job through a different lens. Regardless, his job here was nearly complete, and it was nearly as satisfying. All that was left to do was ensure that the victimized woman was tended to.

Surprise wrote itself across the Kavran's face with massive strokes as he regarded the almost kneeling woman who looked at him in terror. Why was she so afraid of him? He'd come to help her after all, it was his duty. Chasing off the unruly Akalaks that had attacked her and caused her so much grief, he was clearly in the right.

The warhorse shook its head in boredom while Ashar watched silently as the woman continued her frenetic glances around. His wine purple knuckles gripped the reins tightly. Indeed, upon further reflection, he could easily understand her fear. He'd just arrived quickly and entered a loud shouting match with her two assailants before attacking one with a sharpened blade, leaving behind a wound that drew blood and possibly cut flesh. Just a moment before, he was pointing that same reddened blade at the other Akalak beside her, and still hadn't made any move to remove what made it unclean. Without any way to identify him as a Kavran, what reason did she have to trust him?

"It okay," the hulking purple male tried to say, his unpolished Common shambling out of his throat and into the air. "Not angry. Soldier. Here to help."

At times like these, Ashar really wished he had some way of disarming himself. It was unfortunate that he hadn't thought to purchase a harness for his polearm when he'd first acquired it, nor in any of the time he had it until now he realized. Odd how he never before thought of it as a problem. The best he could manage was turning his horse in the other direction, tugging on the reins as it did a little rotating trot, so that his weapon fell on the far side of the steed and an open, unarmed palm was held up to signal peaceful intent.

"Nothing gone?" Ashar asked, willing to butcher grammar and conjugation if it meant getting his message across. He wasn't being scored or anything. "Have horse?"

[Naiya]

Her back found Wildfire, the horse coming to her side as soon as she was no longer ensnared in the grasp of another. She watched as the man turned to watch the others depart, and when his attention turned to her, surprise moved across his features so clearly that she had not difficulty reading. Perhaps surprised that she was still there, and she began to apologize again, scrambling in her fear.

His voice cut through her lack of reason, his common as rough as her own. She missed some of his words, but help came through clearly and his actions spoke loudly as well, giving her his back as he turned his mount so that his weapon fell on the other side, and offering his hand in apparent peace.

She was hesitant in her acceptance that he meant her no harm, and Wildfire reflected that, tossing his and snorting loudly.

"Horse, yes. I have. Safe." She answered what was surely a question meant to be reassuring, she searched for the word she needed next, but couldn't remember it, if she did indeed know the word. She lifted her arms, the one reaching the most forward mimed a fist, the second joined it, then pulled back like the draw of a bow. "Missing." She repeated the motion.

She hesitated another moment, watching the large man, before turning to soothe her mount, the fiery creature breathing heavily with wild eyes. "Easy, boy, I think we're safe now. This man, he's here to help, or so he says." She patted his cheek and scratched softly at the base of his forelock. When he was somewhat calm, she turned back to the Akalak.

"I, no trouble? I, do bad, man say."

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Naiya space Pavi | Common | Tukant
other space Pavi | Common | Tukant