[Flashback] Lets go....Climb a Tree.

[Sairque]

Aw, poor Fen! He could do it! He would do it. At least he had Addy to soften everything. She was providing a nice shoulder, she would go first and show him how safe it was. Sai loved her twin.

The bark was rough under her hands, and she gave the strong trunk a pat before reaching up to start pulling herself up the tree. Viewing from the ground, Sai's lithe body flowed upward as though gravity wasn't a factor. Movements smooth and sure, her hands grabbed, arms pulled then pushed, her feet provided stability and her legs provided propulsion. Her body snaked between branches, around the trunk, in search of the easiest route up.

Up so high while still attached to the ground was an odd feeling. Not bad, or unwelcome, but different. It wasn't even the same as when climbing up a cliff...this was safe. It was like climbing up a ladder. If she fell, she had plenty of opportunities to save herself. It wasn't like a cliff, where one slip could been free falling through open air. The tree was hugging her, cradling her, supporting her. It was accepting and nurturing in a way that the stone of the mountain couldn't afford to be.

Lost in the green needles, about forty feet up, she settled onto a promising branch. With her back against the tree, and her thighs gripping the wood between her legs, ankles hooked together on the far side, she started pulling out various bits of equipment. First a leather loop was wrapped around the branch once, one end then fed through the other so that the loop tightened around the branch and weight could be hung off it. A second loop was done up just the same. A metal device was hooked to both ends. The rope slung around her back was shrugged off. After a few minutes of finding the ends, and making sure the rope was coiled correctly, Sai fed one end of the rope through the metal loop. There, one lovely anchors. With this end firmly in hand, she put the rope back around herself so that as she climbed down, the rope would uncoil.

Now to test them! Thighs loosening, one hand holding the rope to either side of the anchors, she rolled to the side. Bark tore at her bryda, and it wasn't graceful, but after a second she was dangling from the branch from her knees and from the rope by her hands. The leather didn't even creak, they bit down on the bark and settled into the place. Just to make sure, the muscles of her shoulders and arms knotted, her abs contracted, and she carefully lowered her feet to meet the branch beneath her.

"Hah," satisfied with her handywork, Sai carefully balanced on the thin branch and tied the loose end of the rope through one of the straps of her harness. Now the rope would feed through as she descended. Shortly after the whistle, what was she, a dog(?), they would watch her use the rope to lower herself the remaining ten feet to the ground. It had been slow going, making sure the rope fed through and didn't become caught up on the bark, but there she was. And grinning quite happily.

One crash course in climbing coming right up.

"Well, you guys don't have to wear the harnesses if you don't want. You could climb up the whole way just grabbing the ropes with your hands when you need to," Sai informed them cheerfully. "But if you want to use them for safety, you could," she told Fen after just one look at him. Poor guy. Maybe this was a horrible thing to do to it. "Honestly, it's not a straight line, with all the branches in the way, but it will keep you from falling far."

"All you have to do is pull it up, put your legs through the smaller loops, cinch it around your waist, and I'll tie you to the rope." If Addy opted for the harness, Sai would feed the rope through a thick metal loop on the front of it, attaching it firmly with a special knot. The other side of the rope would be fed through the different device at the front of her own harness. As Addy climbed, she would pull the slack tight.

If she chose to just climb the tree, as Sai hoped she would, using the rope for tough spots or comfort, Sai would just stand back and watch.

[Aidara]

Aidara had begun arranging the climbing equipment as her sister clambered back down the tree. While Addy wasn't a climbing expert, she had gone with her sister enough to know what when where, which buckles were strapped first, so on and so forth. "So, Fen darling. I'm doing this for you. You need to actually watch me as I climb up the tree, or you're not going to be able to do it properly. Hey..." She reached out and placed both of her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look her directly in the eyes. She smiled " You can do this. We are not going to let something happen to you this time." And with that she leaned in towards him, placing a small kiss on his cheek. Encouragement, check. Job done, Addy moved back to the gear. Sai had reached them both by now and had launched into her explanation. For Fen's benefit, Addy put on the gear as Sai explained it piece and how it worked. First the harness was taken up, and her legs were slipped into the holes. Jumping a bit, and wiggling her hips back and forth, Addy eased the straps up over her hips and secured it around her waist. A tug here and there just to make sure she'd done it correctly. It would be a poor example if she plummeted to her doom whilst trying to assure Fen that he was going to...plummet to his doom. The thick climbing rope was taken from her sisters hand and threaded through the thick metal ring at the front of her harness. After a few fumbles, Addy managed to tie the knot....wrong. A sigh and she picked at the rope with her fingernails until it came loose. Attempt two was a little better, the rope was slightly tighter but the tie was wrong, as Sai carefully pointed out. Once more, the knot was picked and retied. "Perfect, or as close to as I'm going to get." Addy beamed at her sister, awaiting conformation and approval. When she got the awaited nod, Addy watched as her twin secured the other end of the line to her own harness, rubbing her hands down her bryda in attempt to remove the sweat. Awesome, clammy hands totally make scaling things easier. "How...did...you...reach this thing?" Her sentences was punctuated by her jumps, pausing each time she flung herself into the air, hands scrabbling uselessly above her head as she reached for the branch. Finally, after six or seven tries, Addy felt the rough bark scrape her fingers as she finally made contact with the branch. A whoop of success and Addy swung her other arm up, and hung there for a moment to revel in her success. Feet were placed against the trunk of the tree, using the momentum she gained when she pushed off to pull her selfup, over, and onto the branch. Face flushed, green eyes sparkling, Addy grinned down at her sister and her friend. Winking at Sai, and extending a smile to the man, she turned her attention back to the tree. The bark tore at her soft fingers, but she didn't complain, as it helped her grip. Hand over hand, Addy shimmied from one branch to another. Up and up. Reaching a particuraly thin branch, Addy looked around in minor panic. Was she stuck? What should she do now. The only other option was to magically scale the trunk like a lizard or something, or reach the thicker branch just above her head- just out of reach. Brow furrowing, lips pursing in concentration, Addy carefully examined her options. Well, option as there was clearly only one. Sliding along the branch towards the trunk, Addy carefully placed her hand against it for balance, fingers wrapping around a small protruding knot. Up to her tip toes she went, fingers reaching above her head as she stretched and stretched for the branch. "AH!" shre gasped, as the very tips of her fingers made contact. But it wasn't enough, as her grip quickly slid away. Drat. There was only one option. Before Addy could really think about the risk she was taking, she bent her knees, coiling her strength under her, into her legs. With one massive spring, the small woman flung herself towards the branch above her head, the thin branch beneath her feet bending and acting like a mini not-as-helpful springboard. Success. Her hands made full contact with the branch. A grunt, and Add hung there for a moment, her feet dangling in thin air. It took all the upper body strength she possessed to pull herself up on the branch. But she did it, inch by painful inch, until she was seated on the stronger limb. Taking only a moment or two to revel on her success and catch her breath, Addy descended the tree the same way she came, landing lightly on her feet next to fen. "There." Was all she said, panting heavily from her climb.

[Fenilen]

As Addy began speaking, Fen's head turned down towards the ground, and her words became nothing but a hum in the background. He was safe, even if it was oly for a few moments. He wasn't going to climb the tree just yet. Maybe he could come up with something before it was his turn, that... he... hurt his ankle? No no, that wouldn't work, they had been here the entire time, they wouldn't fall for something external that they hadn't seen happen. Maybe he cou-

Addy noticed his lack of attention, and rectified it. Before he knew what was going on, Addy's face came back into focus due to the combination of surprised blinks and her hands on his cheeks. A few moments later, his cheeks burned red, and he fidgeted, but he didn't recoil, as he normally would. No, this was probably too important. Ears that had been deaf moments ago began listening, as his eyes observantly studied hers. Deep pools of green, not dissimilar from his own or his sister's. However, despite this familiarity, there was something different about them. Something beautiful, something that seemed to be-

His thoughts were once more interrupted as he felt soft lips against his cheek, a comforting kiss from the woman that had been talking to him a moment before. Cheeks that were already burning burned even brighter, and his gaze once more danced back down to the ground in a quick, awkward movement. Her feet moved away. She was gone to begin climbing. His eyes studied his feet once more until he heard the harness.

The jingling shook him from his entranced state, and once more his green eyes turned to something meaningful to people other than himself. Eyes studiously observed as she tied the knots and buckled the buckles. He would be doing the same in a few moments. Then, she began her ascent. She carefully reached into the nooks and crannies that decorated the trunk of the monstrous tree. Finally, she came back down to his side, looking no different from when she had disappeared. Well, apart from disheveled hair and sweat, but that was besides the point.

Ugh. His turn. The man uncertainly approached the harness before him, holding it gingerly. He could do this. He wouldn't fall this time. He would prove his strength and bravery! Uncertain hands fumbled foolishly with the many ropes and buckles, and only after a few long minutes did he finish. A deep sigh. One final time, green eyes looked up at the tree before him.

He wasn't going to climb a tree, he was going to... He was... Walking up a ladder, yes. Walking up a ladder to reach the unknown reward at the end! An uncertain hand slid into a handhold, followed by his other hand. When his foot slipped in as well, he was committed. Slowly, step by step, he began to scale the tree. Slow, shallow breaths passed through his lips, and eventually, managed to hoist himself up onto the thick branch Addy had been on moments ago.

When he finally made it there, a deep breath was let out, and he looked up. Don't think about the tree, think about the ladder. He was on a ladder. Not a tree, a ladder... He tried as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough. The reality was that he was on a tree. He was on a tree and he was climbing it. There was simply no other way the put it. Pale skin turned paler, and eyes shut tight. He couldn't be that high up, could he? He could unhook now and jump down and run, run as fast as he could, run as far as he could until he made it back to Wind Reach. Then, he could hide, and never have to climb a tree again!

One glance over the side told him that jumping was not a good idea. It appeared he was stuck. Curses he didn't even know he knew flew through his mind as he shuddered in fright. The reaction would have been more violent, but his fear was overridden by his body's built in instinct for survival. Shaking uncontrollably and screaming generally wasn't good when you were stationed on a thin, precariously placed object.

[Sairque]

"Follow the rope," the flight leader suggested firmly, indicating the path it wound through the branches, the path Sai had taken down the tree. After double and triple checking her sister's knots, her buckles, the placement of her harness, an affirmative nod was given. While Addy tried to get to the lowest branch, which would have been easy had she looked to her left and noticed she could scale the rock face up, Sai backed away to pull the rope out from the midsts of the branches. Not only did she not want to stress the rope, but Addy would not appreciate the way she would erratically bounce side to side should she fall while the rope was caught on something.

Sai slowly pulled the slack out of the line, a messy circle of rope forming at her feet. Only when she could tug Addy up by the harness did she call up for the girl to start climbing in earnest. Despite the familiarity of the actions, Addy was climbing so fast that Sai had a hard time keeping the rope taut. There always seemed to be a sag on either end, not that it would hurt Addy to fall an extra five feet. But she didn't stop trying, yellow eyes watching her sister's progress, hands busily retracting the rope, body planted firmly on the ground in the event the girl should fall.

"Awesome Addy! Keep goin'! Pull!" encouraged her sister with a wide grin, which became an anticipatory wince when she jumped for that one branch.

"Good job, Addy! How's the view?!" inquired the redhead, reversing the feed for descent. Addy was disconnected so Fen could finally get his turn. After a second of double checking Fen's harness set up, Sai put her hand on the man's shoulder and looked into his eyes understandingly.

"You've got me holding you up, I won't take my eyes off you, and you've Addy here to catch you," there was a confident twinkle in her yellow eyes, fingers squeezing before the hand dropped away and pushed him toward the tree. Assuming the same position, out from beneath the tree, she watched his shuddering form pick its way through the branches.

"Poor guy," she commiserated, keeping a tight pull on him. He would notice that he was lighter than usual, and that his weight didn't quite shift the 'right' way when he moved any direction other than up. If he made a move up and aborted it half way, he would be stuck, Sai holding him up with ease. No worries, though, the knot would hold, the rope would hold. Hopefully the tree would hold.

"You're doing great, Fen. I've got you, keep going up!"

[Aidara]

Addy plopped herself down on the grass, leaning back on her elbows and stretching her legs out in front of her, crossing her legs at the ankles. As her gaze followed Fen and his slow progression up the tree, a yawn escaped her lips. Shew, her own climb wore her out. She lifted a hand to stifle the yawn, the tired muscles in her other arm unable to keep her propped up any longer. Collapsing completely on her back, Addy closed her eyes and was asleep before she knew it. Green eyes fluttered open, blinked owlishly and lit upon the figure standing over her. Ah, that's right. Sai is the anchor for Fen...who was still in the tree? Stretching and rubbing a bit of sleep from her eyes, Addy struggled to her feet. Odd, why did a few minutes of tree scaling rob her of all her energy? And why was Fen still in the tree? Her gaze found him at the top, perched upon a rather tiny branch, and seemingly stuck. Well, he would definitely need some encouragement now. Getting to her feet was a struggle for the healer, but she managed it, thankful that neither her sister nor the man stranded in the tree noticed. Weakness was always an embarrassment for Addy, especially when she was around her sister. Although she tried to hide it, the woman constantly sought her sister's acceptance in everything she did. Sairque was more than aware of this fact, so rarely did Addy actually have to seek such acceptance with words. Her twin was gracious enough to grant her approval silently over their link, or hidden in sly remarks and jests. "Fen! To your left! There is a thicker limb there that I used to get back down!" Addy shouted up at the man, using her hands to cup her mouth. She panted when she finished, her hand on her chest. Very, very odd. Shaking it off as just being out of shape, the healer ignored the symptoms of sickness that she would have jumped on in any other patient. She never even considered that she, too, can get sick. Addy waited long enough for Fen to begin a safe decent before trudging back towards their picnic. It needed to be cleaned, before animals got to their left overs. Catabasis was no where to be seen, when she reached the edge of the grass where they originally landed. The giant, immature specimen of an eagle wasn't kidding. They really were walking back. A sigh, and Addy stooped to collect their trash, shooing away various bugs that meandered across the food.

[Fenilen]

You're doing great! I've got you, keep going! The terrified man heard these comforting words only in the back of his mind. His fear and sense of utter despair were simply too overwhelming at that moment to divert attention to her sentence. The branch beneath him felt like it was bending precariously, the end making a steeper and steeper angle with the ground. Panicked breaths, eyes darted from branch to branch, from crag to crag, trying to find something that was within reach. Nothing! Nothing! He was going to fall, and he was going to die, unless he went up, but then he would just fall and die later! There was no escaping it! There was no getting down! This was the end! He would fall and break every bone in his body and lay there in agony for no more than a few moments before passing on! No! It couldn't end that way, it wasn't fair!

To your left! Eyes filled with fear and a raw, primal panic danced to his left. There! A branch! The way the light fell upon it, it was almost understandable how he felt it was a gift from the Gods. Shakily, without thinking, he lifted himself back up to his feet. "Give me rope give me rope give me rope!" he shouted frantically as he felt the harness tug against his waist, preventing him from going back. When he finally did get slack, he sprung from his perch, landing on the thicker branch. Metaphorical weight was instantly lifted from his shoulders as he made it to the safer branch.

The industrious man wasted no time. His hands dug into the crags of the bark, followed by his feet. The Inarta descended three times faster than he had climbed, obviously overtaken by the primal urges that screamed for him to free himself from the tree. Solid ground met his foot. He was safe! No longer could he fall! No longer would his end be met by a slip and a collision with the hard ground below! Shaky, sweat-covered hands fumbled with the ropes and belts of the harness, stripping and untying them with haste. When the death-trap was finally off, the man collapsed into a sitting position against the tree.

Fenilen pulled his knees to his chest, burying his face into the cavity between the two. Whatever happened while he was like this was his own business, his own private world. Everything around him ceased to exist for the duration of it. Nothing could hurt him now. No one could hear his terrified sobs. Surprisingly, he recovered quickly, being back on his feet in under a minute. New record? Yes, indeed it was. Fenilen slowly and shakily approached the picnic, face red due to a mix of the fear and the embarrassment that always struck after one of those little episodes.

"I'm sorry," was all he said. Even this was hardly audible. After his small apology, he set about his work silently, cleaning up the mess they had created without comment and without complaint. Halfway through his work, he paused, and looked back to the tree. He had said he was going to face his fear, and he had. He had succumbed to said fear, but he had faced it. That was an achievement in and of itself.

[Sairque]

The trembling man, perched precariously in the tree, was regarded with serenity by his belayer. She could stand there all day holding his cowardiced butt in the tree if he couldn't manage to climb up or down in any kind of efficient way. Though, once Addy took a nap, Sairque almost got bored. She didn't have to worry about keeping the rope taut, she didn't have to worry about him falling, she didn't have to worry about anything. All she got to do was stand there holding him up. Both she and Aidara screamed encouragement at any hesitation in his movements, any time he needed a little boost.

Finally! Finally! He screamed for more rope, and Sai was tempted to not give him any, to leave him dangling there until he realized that he wasn't going to fall. However, she had the distinct impression that he would promptly pass out and create a whole lotta work for the twins. When he started scurrying down the tree, Addy left the area but Sai kept carefully feeding Fen line to descend with.

When he had alit, the flight leader unhooked herself from the rope, leaving it dangling, and crossed to Fen. Her scarred hand closed over his upper arm and she squeezed softly. "Way to go, buddy. You did it all on your own." Lie. But she breezed by and grabbed both ends of the rope to pull herself up to the lowest branch, it was the only time she touched the rope until she had made it up to the anchor and started disassembling the safety system.

He was left to gather himself in privacy, not only did Sai not want to intrude but she had something productive to do while he made peace with himself. Every now and then she would glance down at him from between the branches, just to check on him. Overhead, Catabasis made a pass, having found a small tuna to enjoy for his own lunch.

By the time she jumped from the lowest branch, rope gathered haphazardly around her torso, Fen had shakily pushed himself to his feet and stumbled toward Addy and the picnic. He had done well. Maybe someday he would look back on this and gather some courage from it. It took her as long to store the borrowed climbing gear and it took her companions to clean up the picnic. When she made her way back over to them, it was with a large grin. Fen was clapped on the shoulder again. "Good job, Fen! How do you feel?"

[Dreamcatcher]

Character: Aidara Experience: +2 Riding (Eagle), +2 Climbing, +5 Socializing Lore: Getting to the food before your sister Character: Fenilen Experience: +2 Riding (Eagle), +2 Climbing, +5 Socializing Lore: Having Fun with Heights Character: Sairque Experience: +2 Riding (Eagle), +3 Climbing, +5 Socializing Lore: Having Fun with your Eagle Additional Note: If you feel that I missed something please PM me with the details on what I missed and I will review it.