Open Where the Sea meets the Shore

[Ashka]

21 Summer 517

Ashka felt the rhythm of the swell change under her feet as the ship rounded the point and headed into the cove. She adapted to it with the ease of someone who has grown up aboard ships, and quickened the pull of the brush through her hair as she wrestled with the last of the tangles. Finally satisfied, she wrapped a scarf around her hair to both keep her mane out of her way, and to keep the sun off her head and neck. She stowed her brush in her pack, fastened it shut with deft hands, and looked round her own and her sister's bunkspace to see if she had forgotten anything. Most of their possessions had already been packed into the storage spaces of her canoe in anticipation of arrival, so all she saw were the empty hammocks, the swinging lantern, and her pack. She swung it up onto her shoulder, and left to join Chaya on the deck.

She picked her way along the rail, dodging the cleats and rigging, and being careful to stay out of the crew's way, until she reached Chaya's side. For a moment, she stood there with her back to the railing, and stared up at the mast. It was probably the last time she'd get to stand on a ship that smelt like and yet unlike home, and sitting alone in the crow's nest had always been her favourite place on board ship. She sighed, and turned to her bouncing sister. "Well, here we are."

The Veronica pulled up to the simple dock, and Ashka watched as the crew used the hoist to swing her canoe packed with all they owned, plus a stack of town goods that she'd agreed to ferry onto the beach, over the side into the water. Chaya followed a moment later, then Ashka herself slid down the rope from the Veronica's deck and landed with a thump and a splash in her canoe. It rocked under her, despite the outriggers helping to stabilise it, and she hastily sat down before either it or she overbalanced. At the other end of the canoe, beyond their bundled belongings, Chaya's face was bright with excitement as she pointed toward the beach. Ashka followed the line of her sister's finger and saw a handful of buildings scattered along the shoreline. So this was Syka...half over water, half over land. Just like she too was both water and land. She dug the paddle into the water and started the canoe towards the shore as her mouth curled into a smile. Perhaps they would fit in here after all.


WordcountWords: 438
Running Total: 794 words

[Ashka]

The veering of the canoe as Ashka paid more attention to the shore than her task pulled her back to herself, and she scolded herself inside her head for not pulling evenly with her paddle on both sides of the canoe. Pulling harder on one side made the canoe turn in that direction, which was fine when you wanted to steer that way, but not nearly so fine when you found yourself accidentally paddling in circles!

In the bow, Chaya continued to squeak and point with excitement, and Ashka could feel in thrumming in her own veins too, as if it was catching. In her though, the anxiety remained stronger than the excitement, and twisted in with it. She wanted to make a good start here, and leave a good impression. Everything she had heard about this place suggested it was growing but still very small, and like a small ship's crew, they would need to get along and rely on each other. Not getting along with the rest of a crew was a sure way to have to leave, as she knew all too well. She suspected it was the same on land.

The canoe grounded on the sand of the beach and Chaya leapt over the bow to help Ashka haul it up high enough that the sea wouldn't drag it away again. Ashka found her gawky limbs an advantage for once as their length gave her more leverage to haul, but that was soon done and she turned her attention to hauling the town goods out of her canoe for they got mixed up with their own stuff - or before someone who didn't know which was which tried to "help".

She dragged her first load down the beach a short way, towards the dock, and dumped it above the high tide line close to the goods coming directly from the ship, then jogged back towards the canoe. The sand dragged at her feet and slowed her, but she persisted. Chaya was still staring around, wide-eyed. Ashka gave her a light clap on the shoulder to get her attention. "You can stare later. Come on, it's all hands on deck to get unloaded. Take some of the lighter stuff."


WordcountWords: 372
Running total: 2958

[Karin]

Karin grinned, her teeth unnaturally white against her tanned cheeks. Her bleached blonde hair flew in waves around her face as the breeze whipped cheerfully across the waters and through the settlement. Yet she didn't care about what she looked like, never had and probably never would. All her interest as of that day was focussed on the arrival of the Veronica.

Of all the ships she had known, which admittedly wasn't many, the Veronica was her favourite. There were quite a few reasons for that. Firstly, it was the ship that had transported her to Syka, back in Winter, when she had first decided to travel to the budding settlement. Secondly, it was neither too big nor too small, and seemed to dance through the waves with such a skilled sailor piloting it. Thirdly, the frequent trips it undertook meant that any time it arrived at Syka it was likely to be carrying something of interest. Mostly this was foodstuff, or new equipment, or even sometimes new people.

Karin wondered which it would be on this day. She hadn't put any orders in, and she was not friends with anyone else to know if they had requested anything interesting. So she watched and whittled as it sailed into the bay, and began the disembarking. Her hands were busy with the knife and the strip of wood she held. It was going to be a spoon, and she began carving it as such, her knife first dealing with the handle. Little flicks of wood spat from her blade as she carefully smoothed out the inconsistencies, her eyes alternating between her craft and the ongoing saga of the Veronica's arrival.

Finally, as she was just finishing smoothing down the handle, she began following the approach of truly unique-looking boat. The spoon was put to one side as she glared closer, straining to make it out, and who it was ridden by. It was a canoe, that seemed obvious. But there were struts hanging from it, projecting outwards... What could it mean? Her ship builder's interests were well and truly piqued. The Svefra stood and pocketed the half-made spoon to finish later, and she headed towards the arrival point of the mysterious canoe.

When she got closer, she could see who was inside it too. Or at least, who had been inside it, for the two of them were now standing on the sands of the beach. One was a young woman, with a bright scarf covering her hair and obscuring most of it from view. The other was an even younger girl, visibly excited. Karin approached slowly, but could see that they had gear to unpack. It was considered helpful to assist in matters like that, and so she closed the remaining distance and asked, "Do you need help at all?"

Word count: 470

[Kaiu]

The Jamouran sat in the water, his legs crossed under the surface. His thick, dark fingers idly fished through the water in front of him, as if he searched for some particular item, yet had have not located such a thing thus far. Every so amount of chimes he made his hand into a cup and raised it closer to his face and examined whatever he happened to net, then resumed his activity after he'd scattered the contents back into the water.

He had waited on the beach for a few bells at this point, and none had approached the large, bestial figure to find out what exactly he sat for, if for any reason at all. Kaiu waited on the Veronica, in fact; he wished to see if the ship had returned with any preservation salt, or even a preservation kit, perhaps even both. The fact that Syka lacked much of a settlement meant that there was good chance that any meats that had been hunted a few days prior to the present had became spoiled and uneatable, posing a problem for the inhabitants, himself included.

After a few more chimes, he concluded his idle search, and focused his eyes and mind, instead, on the large boat in the distance. He made out the figures on the seafaring vessel, the deck abuzz with activity. Kaiu cocked his head slightly, his face entirely passive as he watched a smaller boat disembark with two figures. He'd never seen such a vessel before. Granted, he wasn't the leading mind on sea-worthy transportation, and had only seen few in his life, but it was still a decently odd sight.

He waited, again, as the smaller vessel landed. From where he sat, he could see the two figures, girls, in greater detail. One was older than the other, and seemed less.... Excited than the younger girl. He assumed they were bandmates, and focused his eyes on the older girl, before watching as another girl, blonde this time, approached the two. He watched her greet the two others, and figured that this was his best chance to enter the line of sight and ask his question; everyone there would be less focused on the items, and he'd have a better chance at being spotted at a distance, so as to not scare any of the young.

The primate rolled over with a deep, chest-centered rumble, and got onto his knuckles. He moved on all fours with an ease that could only be attributed to his extremely long and powerful arms. As he got closer to the trio, about twenty yards, he stopped, raised one hand, and moved his hand to wave in an unmistakably friendly way. He waited until at least one person among the three had seen him, then moved closer, now within a distance that each could hear his spoken word.

"Greetings," his incredibly deep, tumbling voice intoned. He sat into a more peaceful posture: his legs were pressed to his torso, and his hands gripped his hairy shins. It was as if he attempted to make himself seem smaller, and less likely to threaten them as he spoke. "Is there any chance you know whether the ship has returned with preservation salt?"

[ Word Count ] 540

[Ashka]

They were too late to get everything divided and the town things clear, someone was already approaching. A girl or young woman with blond hair, a deep tan, and a bit of wood sticking out of her pocket. She came slowly enough to make it obvious she was peaceful, and she offered to help. Ashka got as far as, "Some of it is for the town and that had better go first..." when Chaya burst out with a torrent of questions. What was it like to live in Syka, had she been here long, what was there to do, what other people were here?

"Chaya!" Ashka scolded, half laughing, half exasperated, "Slow down! She can't answer everything at once! I'm sorry about my sister," she added to the newcomer, "she bubbles over at everything."

Meanwhile, Chaya had spotted Kaiu's approach, and curiousity and excitement won out over caution. When he waved, she waved back, bouncing up and down on her toes. At his greeting, Ashka turned to respond, expecting to see a face her own level or lower, and found herself looking up instead. Still, huge and hairy wasn't that different from huge and bright blue, and she'd had to learn to cope with other races recently. "No, I don't, sorry," she said, her mouth running on autopilot as her brain scrambled to catch up. "We were only passengers, not crew, hardly more than talking cargo ourselves. I don't even know what's in the packages I offered to carry ashore." She turned back to the canoe, tapping each of the town packages in turn, unsure what she was looking for and clearly doubtful that something that dissolved the way salt did would have been sent ashore in a way that got it wet.

Behind her back, Chaya started towards Kaiu, her mouth opening to deliver much the same flood of questions as Karin had received.



Word count317 words
Running total: 5190 words

[Karin]

Karin brushed her hair from her face and scrutinised the two that stood there, unloading from the boat. Her eyes quickly grazed over their features. Both seemed young, but the elder one had an air of authority about her. Then she took a closer look at the boat, which had been the main focus of her attention. It was a curious thing, like a canoe but with parts that poked out. Why would they need those? For extra carrying capacity they could surely have just bought a bigger boat. For balance? Her thoughts trailed off as the younger girl burst into speech.

She was a virtual torrent of questions, and Karin could only stand and gawk unattractively as she scrambled to figure out whether she actually wanted all those questions to be answered or whether she just couldn't help herself. Moments later, she closed her mouth and nodded towards the elder of the two, and smiled tightly. "So, do you want some help? We can take the settlement things to the Mercantile, which is probably where they are destined for. As for Syka, I've been here since Winter." Winter, gods. That seems an age ago. She left it at that, deciding to answer the other questions later, but mostly because of the arrival of the... well, whatever he or she was. She gazed upwards, finding thick fur and finally alighting on deep-set eyes. It was a massive ape. Karin swallowed, and then immediately widened her eyes as the creature spoke in deep, base tones. That she hadn't expected. Was he some product of magic? Did he come from the jungle? She had never had much interaction with the wilder, deeper creatures that one could find in the jungle. She made it her goal to avoid such things, knowing innately that she would probably end up dead if she ventured too far into the depths.

The younger girl, Chaya, obviously couldn't contain her excitement though, and Karin relaxed at the normal question that the beast asked. Perhaps it was rude to consider the stranger as a beast or a creature, but he was the first of his species that the Svefra had ever seen. If she took the time to think about it, she might have remembered rumours from several Winters previously in Alvadas, of a girl riding such a person into the battle of the undead. But in the moment, she had forgotten such a thing, and so she merely clamped her lips shut as she started to manhandle a bundle of somethings onto her shoulder, checking if it was indeed for the Mercantile before doing so.

"If you like, I can lead the way." She tossed her head in the direction she would be going. "I'm Karin, by the way. As for other people in Syka... there are a few." Truthfully, she was unsure of the actual numbers in the settlement. People came and went. Some seemed to fade into the thick jungle that settled like a thriving sea of green to counter the rippling tides of blue behind them. She only knew a few... Nya, for one, and Linie the wild Svefra woman for another. There were others she had seen at a distance, but never spoken to. And it was clear from the arrival of the huge ape that there were some she had never even seen before. But then she had little contact with anyone except herself for long periods of time. Truthfully, her social techniques were rusty, and she spoke little as she waited to see what the others would do, and as she pondered on was on Mizahar this ape creature was. Even as her eyes couldn't resist dragging back to the canoe-type boat.

Word count: 620

[Gossamer]

Ashka

Experience: Observation + 3, Body Building +1, Childcare +1

Lores: Syka’s Location, The Veronica: Being A Passenger, Syka: Everyone helps Unload ships

Karin/Kaui - If you return let me know and I will grade for you.