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[Dravite]

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Continued from here.

2 Summer, 515 AV
Morning, 8th Bell

The weather was kind; there had been no rain to start the summer like summers passed, just the boom of threatening thunder, Zulrav’s war-cry. The pelts had cured quickly, cooked in the sun, treated by the thick layer of salt Dravite had smothered into them. But as kind as the sun goddess had been, the young horse lord was suffering from his wound, a patch of flesh the size of his palm around the broken rib was black and blue with bruising. It hurt to breathe, to move, and especially to ride. Every step the horse made under him was agony and soon Dravite had had enough. "I need to stop," he called breathlessly ahead of him to where Lazuli and Belkaia had been making good ground.

Cree wasn't used to the pace his master was setting and tried to get the best of Dravite when he thought the man wasn't paying attention. "Kaia!" The wayward stallion had mistaken for a command to gallop and made and excited sound as he bolted forward. Dravite managed to hold on, but only just. He grit his together, grasped a handful of black mane and slipped from the animal's back only to release and almost fall.

Dravite stumbled forward, buckled and finally went to ground, crawling forward on his hands and knees to a comfortable looking patch of grass before he lay down carefully and rolled onto his back. The sky was a fantastic blue dotted with milky, white clouds. A blur of dark spots hovered at the edge of his vision and Dravite knew he had pushed himself to his limit; the morning’s ride had been exhausting and he doubted they were as close to the summer grounds as he had first imagined.

As the drumming of Cree's hooves grew lighter and lighter there came a loud, panicked scream, that made the man's heart skip a beat. "Dravite!" Belkaia yelled and the noise that had hastily galloped away from him returned, threefold.

She jumped down from her mare and kneeled at his side gently to press her hand to his brow. "You're burning up," the young woman sobbed, "Lazuli get the water!"

Until now he had been content to breathe through his nose, but parched lips pulled apart from each other to drag in a breath as Dravite found the strength to speak. "Save the water; you will need it."

Belkaia took the man's hands and squeezed them firmly. "No, my love; don't speak like that."

Lazuli got down from her horse and took Kyanite in her arms. She went to Dravite's Strider and dug through the saddlebags for the water-skins; one was empty and the other not far from the same. He drank enough to wet his lips and put his head back again, looking skyward. "What do you see, my love? What does the web show you?"

Dravite closed his eyes and drowned out the world, hearing only his wife's voice as he drifted into a deep trance that felt akin to sleep. The land around them seemed so still, no wind, no water, no life. He traversed the Drykas webbing tentatively, almost frightened that his mind's eye would reveal some danger to him that he would not have the strength to run from.

He navigated the land via the webbing, covering great distances in a matter of chimes. Dravite discovered that Endrykas was still a good day's ride from them if not more and he was unable to find any water sources between there and where he had left his physical form. He made the trip back slowly, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous. The small pride of Night Lions they had managed to avoid on the way past the Serenity Tree were nowhere to be seen, though about an hour’s walk from them he noticed some kind of kill site; something big.

When Dravite opened his eyes he had little to share with his loved ones, fearing to disappoint them again. "We are heading the right way but should need to point further south if we want to reach Endrykas in good time.
"What is good time?" Belkaia asked; a question Dravite had felt coming.
"A day at least; two if I am unable to ride."
"Is it more comfortable on foot?" Lazuli spoke up.
"Yes."

Neither of the women said anything, but Dravite could feel their disappointment. "What if I rode on ahead to fetch help?" Lazuli offered and Dravite was quick to respond.
"No, mother; we stay together, you know better than most how dangerous the grasslands can be." .
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[Dravite]

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14th Bell

He awoke feeling groggy but in less pain, numb in his half-sleep like state. Dravite looked around, trying to remember which direction they had come from and where they were headed to. He tried to pick out a landmark and use this as his guide, but the plain was so flat here and the trees were few, forcing him to use the webbing.

The young horse lord lay in the grass quietly for a time, finding it easy to slip into a trance after having slept in the sun for a few hours. Dravite reached out to the light blue strands of the web that weren't as vivid in colour at this time of day. He needed to find out where they were and followed the maze of woven threads in a large half circle, scouting out the direction they needed to travel towards in order to get to the Endrykas summer grounds.

When he came out of the trance he was alone and carefully got to his feet, favouring his left side as he stood. He hadn't been able to work out which way they had come from; the Serenity Tree was too far behind them to see in the webbing anymore. Glancing down at his feet he noticed the mess of footprints belonging to both man and horse. Dravite inspected each one slowly in order to try and work out which way they led.

He was able to follow the tracks to the edge of the sandy plot of ground where the grass grew thicker, hiding any track of his strider's prints. He examined the grass carefully, hoping it might offer some form of clue but this part of the plain got so windy sometimes that it was impossible to tell who had done more damage, their horses, of Zulrav's breath.

Belkaia and Kyanite where crouched down in the grass up ahead and Dravite went to join them, standing over his son to see what he was doing. The boy in his shadow had been foraging with his mother and clasped a fistful of white berries. "Look," he piped up, holding his hand out to Dravite who swiftly struck the berries from the boy’s palm. "No!" Dravite scolded; they were poisonous berries that would give them all one hell of a stomach-ache, if not worse.

He got down on bended knee quickly, ignoring the dull pain in his sides that was starting to flare up again, to stick his finger in Kyanite's mouth until he gagged and threw up the little dinner they had managed to scratch together last night, before setting off to ride. "What in the mother's name are you doing?" Belkaia screamed at her husband, snatching their son away from him.
"He had a handful of these," Dravite pointed, "What did you expect me to do?"

Belkaia looked worried but was more concerned about the berries now than staying mad at Dravite. "I'm sorry," she mouthed, "I didn't see him find them!"

Kyanite was screaming, tears streaming down over his rosy cheeks. It took them at least ten chimes to settle him, both parents cooing to and holding the boy. "I'm sorry, little lion," Dravite whispered and kissed his boy's cheek to calm him.

Dravite held Kyanite close while Belkaia rubbed his back. As Kyanite sobbed against the man's shoulder, Dravite felt terrible; they were already hungry, and thanks to him they could add miserable and tired to that list. The man suddenly looked about their make-shift camp having not seen his mother since he had awoken. He rasped, "Where is Lazuli?" .
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[Dravite]

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They followed the tracks her strider had left, losing them once or twice only to fold back and follow them again. Dravite was a clumsy tracker, distorting the trail with his own movements; walking over prints and ignoring clear signs a competent tracker would have no trouble picking up on. "She couldn't have gone far," Belkaia kept trying to reassure him, "Only a bell or two has passed."
"Why did you allow her to go?" Dravite yelled, beside himself with worry.

Belkaia stopped and watched her husband push on like a mad man, searching for something he wouldn't find with his eyes alone. "The Watch hired you for your abilities to find things in the web... Why aren't you using it now?" Belkaia asked, stopping Dravite in his tracks.
"I can barely think straight; how am I meant to trance at the moment?"
Belkaia bit her lower lip and tightened her arms around Kyanite. "What did you see this morning? She only went to look for water."

Dravite hissed and pulled back a handful of grass in search of prints, “I told her there was no water around here. I told you both!”

He was furious, why hadn't they listened to him? He felt something wet on the vegetation. Dravite froze at the sight of blood and his stare pointed north; heart pounding in his chest, "No," he cried and hurried forwards through the tall grass that whipped against his legs and aggravated the little bites he was covered with.

When he came to the clearing he closed his eyes and slowly dropped to his knees, his upper body bowed forwards until his forehead met the earth. "Caiyha... You have forsaken me"

Ahead in the dirt lay the hollow carcass of Lazuli's stallion, the thin strips of flesh that hung off his legs already drying in the sun. Belkaia had lied to him; Lazuli had been gone a lot longer than two bells. He heard his wife gasp when finally she stepped into the clearing behind him. A coyote was making the most of the scrapes the small Night Lion pride had left to him.

Rage filled the young warrior who tightened his fist about his spear as he got to his feet, rolled his tongue over cracked lips and pointed the weapon at the lone creature. He heaved the spear forwards at the coyote, watching it cut through the air to pierce the earth, landing a few feet from the strider’s corpse. The coyote jumped back from his meal only to tear at it again, hardly phased by the weapon. This only served to anger the man more; why did this creature not fear him?

He closed the gap between himself and the scraggy, old coyote until he stood so close that he might have almost been able to kick it. Again it shied away, its face painted with blood to the ears; eyes bigger than its stomach. Slowly it found the courage to return to the kill and Dravite did not let his chance go twice. The man caught the skinny coyote by the scruff quickly and closed his large, burly hands about the animal's throat.

The coyote yelped, struggled, kicked, and scratched with his hind legs in a fruitless attempt to break free. Dravite was not a cruel man, having taken lessons all his life from Lazuli, who told him all Caiyha's animals were to be protected and treated with unspoken respect. All his life he had worshiped the goddess, taken only what he needed; killing the weak and leaving the strong just as he had been taught. As he squeezed the life from the dog-like creature and watched its eyes widen with fear, showing more white than colour, he felt no remorse, in fact, he felt nothing but hate.

Sure it was dead; he spat on the animal's face and got to his feet, leaving it there on the earth, broken and limp. He had taken a life for something he did not intend to use. Waste; the biggest disrespect to his chosen goddess, one he would follow no more. .
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[Dravite]

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18th Bell

When they found her body it had been only metres from camp, bloody and wounded. It looked as if the woman had fallen on her dagger when the stallion had been taken down, and though she had managed to escape the lions, the walk back to camp had seen her lose too much blood to survive. Lazuli looked peaceful, as if she had closed her eyes to sleep and dream about a time before this.

Dravite swallowed the lump in his throat and felt his eyes burn, not knowing the tears that wet his hands belonged to him. He touched her golden hair tentatively and stroked her icy cheek. It didn't take long for the warmth to leave a body; that much he had learned long ago. It wasn't rare for men to live short lives on the Sea of Grass, but he never imagined he would outlive his mother who had always lived her life so carefully, surrounded by those she loved.

She had died alone without her pavilion, without her husband or son, her grandchild, and daughter in law. Dravite was utterly numb. He didn't feel the pain in his ribs or the scratches on his stomach and thighs; the insect bites on his limbs no longer itched, and his empty belly no longer sang for food. He had never felt more alone in this world than he did right now, even with his wife and son at his back.

Belkaia set Kyanite down beside his grandmother and reached her hand out to touch Dravite in an attempt to comfort him but decided against it before her tapered fingers touched his skin. Kyanite had seen the Windborne pavilion preparing their dead before; laying them out in the grass with one of their treasures, hands together on their chest, chins tucked, and eyes closed. This, however, was the first time he had seen his father mourn for one of the dead and he leaned against the man's side, holding his shoulder and smoothing his palm over Dravite's wet cheek.

Dravite closed his eyes, acknowledging the tears he realised now we're his own and let out a pathetic groan which sounded like a pained man half attempting to laugh with disbelief. He closed his arms around Lazuli's shoulders and held her against his chest, kissing her cheek and painted eyelids. He stroked her hair and pressed his face to hers, his palm against her cheek and felt a slow tear roll away from the corner of his left eye. "I'm sorry," the man mouthed, whispering to the wind, "May the gods be kind."

He sat with her for a long time, longer than was right in their culture. There was no bringing back the dead; the Drykas strived to harden their hearts to death and the passing of loved ones, such was the life they chose out here in the grasslands. "May Syna take you in her arms and lift you high, so that every time I feel her light I think of you. May Zulrav make you swift as the North wind to race with his children, and may The Mother keep you, for in her arms I trust." .
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[Naiya]

Here's what the Fox says

Name:Dravite
XP Award:

• Acrobatics +1
• Animal Husbandry +1
• Childcare +1
• Endurance +3
• Hunting +1
• Land Navigation +3
• Leadership +3
• Logic +3
• Medicine +1
• Observation +4
• Poison +1
• Riding +1
• Socialization +4
• Tracking +2
• Unarmed Combat +1
• Weapon, Spear +1
• Webbing +2
• Wilderness Survival +2

Lore:

• Animal Husbandry: Coyote are daring scavangers
• Caiyha: No longer Dravite's goddess
• Dravite: Forsaken by Caiyha
• Endurance: Lower when injured
• Kyanite: Dravite's little lion
• Lazuli: Gone in peace to join the gods
• Lazuli: Never forgotten
• Medicine: Purge ingested poisons
• Socialization: Speaking in anger
• Tracking: Following a blood trail
• Tracking: The wind cam lay paths as well as a living creature
• Wilderness Survival: Preserving water
• Wilderness Survival: Recognizing poisonous berries

Award: Additional straining of broken rib, will add three to five days of time to healing. Scuffed hands and knees, minor, will scab and heal in one to three days.
Notes: I feel like I should be giving you my condolences. This thread was so touching, to filled with emotions. I might have cried with Dravite, so well written was his anger and grief.

Really quite beautiful, and quite sad. I awarded what I could as far as lore and skills. If I missed anything please let me know. Don't forget to edit your request in the grading thread.