Eye of the Ixam

[Dravite]

It didn’t matter what Mayra had seen, or what she thought Belkaia saw in Dravite. It was true, the woman was the kinder of the two, and forced into an arranged marriage, the pair seemed to balance each-other out nicely. Of course Dravite was a softy deep down, but the man put up a good front in public; he knew how the world worked, if you didn’t make an impression quickly, someone would make it for you. The man was not a fan of letting strangers walk all over him, he had been misjudged for far too long. Now he was his own man, free of the Windborne pavilion and the curse they all believed to follow him; he could start afresh, make new impressions and be exactly who he needed to be for his family.

Presently, the man was completely still, scared to breath in case he gave himself away to the fish that had darted off, only to slowly return to the water’s edge where the man’s feet were half buried in the sand. The horse lord readied his spear, drawing the weapon closer to him as the fish came nearer still. One, two, three! He counted in his head, thrusting the spearhead forward to break the water’s surface in an attempt to try and pin the fish on the point of his weapon. His hands tightened around the shaft, eyes narrowing, hopeful as the sand settled, only to find he had been unsuccessful once more. Dravite kicked the water ahead of him and sighed at his own misfortune.

Mayra had called to him and the man had ignored her cry until she called again, this time seeming a little more desperate in her attempt to win his attention. The horse lord looked over his shoulder and when he didn't see the woman, he shrugged it off and continued fishing. It wasn't long, however, before Mayra joined him at the edge of the lake, stating just how bad he was at fishing. He was about to snap at her, perhaps blame her for the trouble he was having catching any fish, but she beat him to it, intriguing the man with her findings.

His face lit up, he left the lake and quickly picked his sketchbook and ink stick up before following Mayra to the tree she had discovered. He was just about to mention her dagger he spotted buried in the trunk when he stepped on something sharp, causing the man to stop and lift his foot up. The scale caught the soft leather of the underside of his handmade boots; they weren’t hardy like a knight’s boots, but made for running in, with a soft sole. The scale hadn't quite managed to puncture a hole in his boot, but the leather was scratched. Dravite took the scale in hand and held it up in the light, scrutinising it with his gaze for a spell before tucking it away in his pocket.
“Ixam?” He asked Mayra, that same boyish glint reflected in his eyes as it had while they were riding out to the lake.

Dravite moved closer to the tree, examining the scale that seemed to be lodged in the trunk. He stepped back from the root system, looking for tracks, of which he managed to discover the toes; not a full print, but a good start. The horse lord ducked down and attempted to draw the outline slowly; paying close attention to the scuff marks left by the creature's claws. He then proceeded to search the grass for more tracks which led him away from the tree and into the tall grass.

[Mayra]

"Ixam?" She heard the question and nodded. Dravite was just as interest as she was.

"They were probably all over here." She offered her thought, looking around the small patch of shrubbery, fed by the lake. "And I think..." Mayra paused, turning back towards the tree to run her fingers across the stripped bark where the unusual scratches spread out. "I think they must have been shedding." She spoke the words as the realization came to her. It would explain the marks and why the scale was so deeply lodged in the tree. One of the spiked reptiles was probably rubbing against the tree to loosen the left over scales, or maybe to start the shedding process. She wasn't quite sure.

The mixed blood followed Dravite through the bushes, interested in what he was interested, but slightly distracted by her theory. If they had come here to shed, rub on trees and loosen scales. Where would their scales be? Mayra's lightly scanned the grass around her, before turning to the bushes. Surely reptiles scaled didn't just fall off all willy nilly. Maybe the Ixam had to remove them once they were loose, which meant it was likely scales would get caught in or around the scraggly bushes that surrounded the lake. Look in the bushes, look in the bushes.

Mayra glanced back at Dravite who was again entranced in the tracks taht littered the area. Mayra smirked at the man, deciding to see if he would fall for his own trick. She waited a few ticks, aimlessly wandering before suddenly throwing a finger up to point forwards. "Watch out!" She shrieked with mock horror, before jumping back just as Dravite had, ready for his reaction, if he gave her one. If he fell for it she would cackle with her getback, but if he didn't the mixed blood would stick out her tongue at him and pout.

Once the small prank had died down, Mayra glanced around once more, before she decided this may be useless to search the shrubbery, the Isam themselves must be long gone. And then she saw it.

"What's that?" Mayra strayed from Dravite's side to near a bush, a silvery blue scale was resting in it. But when Mayra got closer to pull it out of the bush, three more scales tumbled out. "Four..." She looked at them, only one of which was cracked.

Spinning on her heels in an instant, she looked at Dravite with a mischievous and slightly proud glint in her eye. "Do you want to get some scales?"

[Dravite]

After following the prints for some time and finally finding a full one, Dravite held out his hand and compared the Ixam’s foot size to that of his palm. “Shyke,” he murmured. “The Ixam are big…”

Quickly he flipped the page in his book and started tracing the outline of the print, taking time to get the claw scuff marks right. He double checked to make sure he had the right amount of toes when Mayra wandered past him, stealing his attention for a spell before he returned to what he had been doing. The mix-blood skulked around quietly just out of view and Dravite had almost managed to forget she was there when the woman piped up, pointing out into the shrubbery ahead of them. “Watch out!”

Dravite was on his feet in less than a tick and stepped back from the direction Mayra had been pointing in. When he caught a glimpse of the rather satisfied, amused look on her face, he laughed at the thought of the worried scowl she must have seen on his own. “Dog teeth!” He scolded in jest and gave her another sideways glance before going back to his work.

When he crouched down to look at the print he found it had been ruined by his big, clumsy boot-print. Dravite fumed quietly and looked around for another print, following a couple of half-marks into the shrubs when Mayra held up a scale and summoned him. His book was tucked away in the back of his belt and within a chime Dravite had moved to join the godless woman.

She hadn’t been wrong; there were scales everywhere, many littering the ground in singles or pairs while some seemed to be joined together in bigger clusters. Dravite snatched up a scale and examined it in the light, beaming across at Mayra when he noticed something standing up in the grass. He edged towards the strange item that looked like a pelt of hide left in the sun to dry, but found on closer inspection that it was a blanket of scales almost as big as his own chest.
“Look!” he called out to Mayra and held it up excitedly as if he had found an Ixam in the flesh, “come!”

The horse lord ducked down in the thick undergrowth and started gathering scales, tossing them into the bowed hide he had come across, which looked like an upside-down tortoiseshell. As he worked a thought came to his mind that he found himself unable to shake; what if the Ixam returned to this spot? Where did they go from here? As soon as Mayra was within earshot the man spoke up, “We come here. We camp; watch for Ixam before summer end.”

Before long the man had collected enough scales to fill the makeshift dish and no doubt at least one of his saddlebags when he caught up with Cree, who was still happily grazing a few metres away where the shrubs grew thinner and the tall grass was king. “Think Ixam skin strong?”

[Mayra]

"Oh no. No, no, no. We are not staying out here overnight! Do you have any idea what is in the wild? We'd be dead by morning." Mayra tried to stop the mans train of thought before he got too far. Did this man have a death-wish? "Madman." Mayra shifted her hand of scales and grumbled.

Unlike Dravite, who seemed to be harvesting the scales as if they were useful, Mayra paid attention to the various colors. The selection wasn't wide, mostly greys, greens and blues, but the half-Zith figured she could investigate the differences later. After she had picked up merely six different colored scales and decided there weren't any other variants for her to collect, Dravite spoke up again.

"Do you think Ixam scales are strong." Mayra found herself correcting his sentence properly, but then just shrugged in answer. Mayra nudged a scale by her foot over to a rock that was poking out of the grass and stepped on it, pushing all her weight into crushing the green scale. She could feel the uncomfortable sound of it grinding on the rock, but when she stepped off of it and picked the scale back up, mere scuffs from the rock were visible. She brushed the face of the scale off and the scuffs speared to be a product of the rock, not the scale.

"Very strong." She answered, flipping the shard in her hand to examine for any other marks. With so many shards, it only made sense that the broken ones were the result of the Ixam, and likely not much else. "What's your word for 'scale'?" Mayra waved the object to show her meaning.

[Dravite]

It amused him, how scared Mayra was of the sea, and rightfully so, she was new to Endrykas and had done little more than traverse the fringes of the city, keeping it within sight at all times; he wondered how she felt now, out here alone with him and not a tent in sight. "Godless woman afraid of the dark," he teased, smiling a rather cheeky little grin only friends had witnessed up until now; Dravite had surprisingly nice teeth for someone that had worked with horses most of his life, and had no idea what a toothbrush was.

He collected a few more scales, watching Mayra test the strength of one under foot, her findings causing him to grin again. Scale, he signed the word before speaking it in Pavi; Dravite had a swift tongue, even as far as Drykas were concerned, most of which were very quick speakers. The man had bitten the tip of his tongue off when he was younger, after his mother had punished him for doing something reckless; it wasn't noticeable, but elders among the horse people often struggled to understand the man the first time round.

"Dravite come back here to camp before summer end, find Ixam, no Mayra," he waved; fortune favoured the brave, now that he knew where to start looking for the strange, overgrown lizards, he was determined to see one in the flesh with or without the woman who had brought them to his attention. "Use scale for craft," he repeated the word in Pavi so that Mayra might be able to commit at least one word to memory.

Satisfied with what he had been able to collect, Dravite got to his feet and lifted the scales to carry them back through the undergrowth to the clearing beyond the trees and walk along the lakeside to catch up with Cree who was still enjoying the long grass. When he caught up to the stallion he opened one of the large saddlebags and tipped the scales into the leather bag in order to secure them for the journey home. They hadn't found anything to hunt, but at least he would go home with something.

Once the large bit of scale was tied to the yvas, he looked around for Mayra and spotted her floating about not too far from where he stood; she really must be scared of the grasslands, he thought to himself. "Home?" He called to the woman as he got up onto his Strider and nudged the horse's side in order to get him to walk on towards the woman from Kalea, "Mayra can navigate Strider home; work on riding." He bounced against the saddle on the horse's back as if to mock the woman and the way her body jumped around when the Strider was set at a full gallop; and with that he laughed, if only the girl could see the look on her face.

[Mayra]

"I'm not afraid of the dark." She countered, ready to explain that his wild was not her wild. She wouldn't have minded spending a night in the mountains of Kalea. She lived with the monsters that stalked the highlands, she wasn't afraid of them. But in his wild, she was clueless. She didn't know what was out there, and it was only more dangerous under hte watch of the moon. But when Mayra caught the cheeky grin, she waved the man away. "Oh shutup." She turned her head to suppress her smile. He was messing with her. Typical.

She listened as the man made up his mind to go back without her. She was hardly going to let him, but it wasn't worth an argument. Was it? The mixed blood was so caught up on her obsession with the Ixam, would she allow this man to go out and search for them without her? When he spoke of making things with their scales, Mayra's mind flew to the first scenario. Would he hunt them? Her heart sunk in her chest and she mutely followed the man back to his horse, almost like a magnet. She would not wander far, he was her way back.

Plopping down on the grass by her boots, she slipped her socks back over her muddy feet and slid them into her boots, tightening the buttons. When she stood back up, Dravite was mocking her again. She grimaced at the man, her mind blank with something to mock him back with. It was then that she remembered what he said. "Wait what? Steering the horse? No way." She adjusted the pack on her shoulders and crossed her arms, refusing to get on the horse.

[Dravite]

If he knew nothing else about Mayra, he knew that she was stubborn, reserved when it came to sharing her thoughts or knowledge, and mindful. The short-tempered man wasn't good at dealing with stubborn, but he knew ways around that. Within seconds he was off his horse and moving towards the woman who had settled in the grass to fix her boots over her socks. Dravite leaned down, took the woman's hand and in one swift movement, he had her up over his shoulder. Instantly his injury complained under the weight of the girl, who really was nothing to lift in comparison to day to day chores, but any struggle put forth was met with a low growl; fuelled by the extent of the dull pain he felt in his ribs which sharpened every now and then.

The horse lord set his captive on top of his Strider and closed her hands over the yvas under his own. "Steer," he explained, taking the heel of her boot clad, left foot in hand, "use back foot. This foot turn left, other foot steer right."

He moved around the back of the horse and checked where Mayra's foot was positioned, fixing it so that she held them forward. "Keep feet here, move them back to soft belly and Strider will kick," Dravite explained; he didn't want the woman flying off in her first lesson.
"Squeeze gentle to make Strider walk forward, click tongue to run," the man demonstrated, smacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth to create the clicking noise Cree had been trained to listen out for.

The animal's ears shot up and he danced gently on the spot, ready to go; held back by the Drykas man who had closed his hand around the yvas to get on behind Mayra. He edged forward to sit snug against the girl and point her home, using a landmark he had committed to memory on their way in to guide them back to Endrykas; though the lay of the land wasn't too hard to work with out here and so close to the lake.

"Squeeze," Dravite encouraged, threading his arm under Mayra's to take hold on the yvas and stay on, not trusting that holding onto a novice would do him any good; or at least he assumed she was new to riding.

When Mayra did as she was told, Cree stepped forward and Dravite clicked with his tongue to get the horse to trot lightly, "turn, turn, turn!" He laughed, amused; riding hadn't come naturally to him either and the man recalled the first time he had climbed into Cree's back and ended up flat on his own. It was easy to forget the time when he was imparting with the kind of experiences that made him the person he was today; riding was in his blood and everyone should know enough to get them by, especially if they chose to call the city of tents and its golden sea home.

[Mayra]

"Wh-No!" Her immediate reaction was to punch him, but instead of landing a hard knuckle in his back, she opened her palm for a slap, hoping the sting would prove her point. "Dravite, you put me down!" She yelled in return to his growl, but her struggle was cut short at the barbarian sound. Instead she remained satisfied with how quickly his skin welted under the print of her palm.

Fear constricted the thought of further retaliation when he finally let her go. But instead of her feet touching the safe ground, she felt the warmth of the animal beneath her, her hands on the leather of Darvite's saddle-thing. Shock, more than anything, trhew her hands up as soon as he let go. She growled at the man when he grabbed her foot, but his words seemed off. Instructions. The mixed blood didn't bother to try to understand what he meant before he continued, when she finally understood what he was trying to do.

Left foot, turn left. Right foot, turn right. Squeeze to walk, click to run. Easy enough. She tried to absorb the information, latching her hands onto the leather saddle-thing before her to keep them from trembling at the prospect of what he was trying to explain. "You are crazy! Why am I on this thing! Are you trying to kill me?" She shrieked as soon as she could, forgetting the last of his lesson. But then he swung himself onto the beast behind her with grace of a practiced rider that she could never hope to acheive.

"Perhaps he will kill us both this way." She muttered, looking out in the direction he pointed. Everything around the lake looked the same to her, but she figured he had the directions down enough to get them home.

"Squeeze." He told her. Hesitantly at first she tucked her toes in, and the horse only seemed irritated, which sent a new shake of nerves through her shoulders. When that didn't work, she tucked her knees in and the horse lurched forward. The distinct click from Dravite behind her made her gasp when the horse lurched forward. Click to run. She remembered. But how to stop? Could she stop this thing? She didn't want the beast to run!

"Turn, turn, turn!" He guided and she kicked with her left foot. Like his nose was tied to her foot the horse immediately turned, much sharper than she had expected and she found herself turning in a circle as she kept her left foot tucked into his side.

"Draaavite!" She shrieked, panic fueled her right foot which turned out to be more of a kick than a nudge. "Oy, I'm so sorry!" She shrieked in her mother's tongue, speaking to the horse as she would any other animal. "Stop! How do I stop?" She tried to keep herself from shouting. There was not doubt she was overreacting. Acting on some unreasonable instinct, Mayra stuck her feet out to the sides to keep from touching the horse and let go of the Yvas, tucking her hands into her chest.

[Dravite]

The skin on his back stung, but Dravite could do none but laugh; poor Mayra was in such a state that she now refused to guide the horse at all, who dipped his head to try and look back at the noisy pair as if to say 'what in the world do you want me to do?' Dravite spoke the Pavi word for slow and explained its meaning to Mayra before repeating the word so that she might catch on. "Lean back, tell Strider slow; he will stop."

The trot had been nothing to worry the man but the zigzagging from left to right made the exercise a real work out. Once Cree was back under the man's control, he put his left hand on Mayra's shoulder and offered a reassuring squeeze. The woman felt tense under his bear-mitt and Dravite quickly stole his hand away, not sure if it was him or the horse, or maybe a mix of the two that had her so ill at ease. "Slow!" He said again to Cree and the Stallion came to an abrupt halt.

Dravite sat for a few ticks to make sure that Mayra wasn't too upset; he wasn't the most endearing soul, but that wasn't to say he liked to make his friends feel uncomfortable. "Move back," he told Mayra as he got down from the horse and switched places with her.

"Hold on," he said quietly as if someone had sapped all of the playful teasing from his voice.

Perhaps he had upset her but at least she would be able to laugh at her handy work on the man's back that was now glaring her in the face. It didn't bother him, but Belkaia might have something to say about it later that night long after he had forgotten it even existed. "Good find," he offered in regards to the Ixam scales, "find Mayra Ixam next time."

Dravite pointed his stare to the horizon and used the position of the lake to guide them home, processing the information slowly; if they were on the west side of the Uvic Lake it meant Endrykas was southeast of their location, but pointed forwards, southeast was northwest. Whatever it was, he was royally starting to confuse himself but managed to take them home before it got too late in the day.

The horse lord had no trouble remembering where to find Mayra's camp and dropped her off right outside of her tent, careful not to run over any of her chickens. "Need help, tent that way," he pointed in the general direction of his pavilion's setup; attempting to tell Mayra that if there was anything she ever needed, all she had to do was ask. "Sorry no hunt today, next time Mayra take home meat of deer," he smiled as if to promise that their next outing would be more eventful, that was if he hadn't completely shattered the woman's trust in him.

Dravite used his feet to guide Cree backwards once Mayra was well clear of him and handed the woman her share of the scales before leading his house out of camp. He signed for goodbye in Pavi and slowly disappeared down the grassy road on horseback, glancing over his shoulder just before moving out of sight.

[Pearl]

MAYRA

Experience

• Planning 2
• Logic 5
• Observation 5
• Socialization 5
• Rhetoric 5
• Flirting 1
• Teaching 2
• Bodybuilding 1
• Riding Horse 2
• Botany 1
• Tracking 3
• Hunting 1
• Zoology 2
• Intimidation 1
• Investigation 1
• Unarmed Combat 1
• Endurance 1

Lore

• Dravite: Has his uses as a grassland guide
• Hunting: Requires preparation
• Cree: An intimidating horse
• Hunting: Ixam
• Pavi: The basics of Grassland Sign
• Riding Horse: Getting on a horse safely
• Riding Horse: Easier with a partner
• Ixam: Live where there is lots of vegetation
• Ixam: Like fresh water
• Dravite: Shyke-head
• Ixam: Like to eat the tops of shrubs
• Belkaia: Crazy for being with Dravite
• Ixam: Shed their scales once every summer
• Ixam: markings and tracks
• Dravite: Horse lover
• Dravite: The Barbarian
• Ixam: Rub their old scales off against trees
• Dravite: Seems to have a death wish
• Ixam: Color and size of scales
• Dravite: A comedian
• Riding Horse: How to ride a Strider
• Riding Horse: How to stop a Strider

Loot

• 1 x yvas bag of Ixam scales

DRAVITE

Experience

• Animal Husbandry 3
• Grooming 1
• Weaving 1
• Detection 1
• Logic 2
• Teaching 5
• Zoology 1
• Organization 2
• Planning 2
• Intelligence 1
• Land Navigation 3
• Riding: Horse 3
• Horsemanship 1
• Rhetoric 1
• Webbing 1
• Scouting 1
• Stealth 2
• Intimidation 1
• Tracking 2
• Drawing 3
• Weapon: Spear 1
• Hunting 1
• Fishing 2
• Philosophy 1
• Foraging 3
• Investigation 1
• Body Building 1
• Endurance 1

Lore

• Animal Husbandry: Caring for animals is a lifelong task
• Grooming: Combing out dirt, dust and loose hair
• Grooming: Pulling a horses main and tail
• Mayra: Scared of horses
• Mayra: Has strange shoulder blades
• Mayra: The Godless woman
• Striders are hyperaware of their rider's emotions
• Common: Basic social words
• Location: Wind Knotted Gates
• Location: Uvic Lake
• Riding Horse: Long rides leave the legs sore
• Tracking: Ixam print
• Ixam: Size, gait, habits
• Mayra: Dog Teeth
• Mayra: Doesn't feel safe in the Sea of Grass
• Mayra: Defiant and stubborn

Loot

• 1 x yvas bag of Ixam scales

Hunting Ixam is definitely hard work, but the two of you made it most enjoyable to read! Thank you both for allowing me to grade your thread. If you feel I have missed something, please do let me know.

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