Let's be Friends

[Madeira Dusk]

”We are going to have to run, right now. That means getting down this overhang. I’m going to drop down, and then you jump. I will catch you, I promise. And then I will get Moritz, and then we will run.”

The hunter had her by the shoulders, and his voice was that unquestionable authority she aspired to have. But she barely heard the words. Everything in her was feeling the ground shift beneath their feet and screaming for her son.

Thankfully the hunter didn't wait for her to respond. In a flash he was over the lip of the cliff, hanging by his fingertips before dropping to the ground. His physique saved him from the jarring impact of the landing, but as he held out his arms for her and commanded her to jump, she had to wonder if her brittle body would do the same. But there was no time to think, no time to question the trust she was putting in this stranger. Motitz was down there. She had to get to her son.

Holding her breath, she leapt from the ledge. The fall seemed to take forever, but the landing felt immediate. There was no combat or agility training in her, no instinct to bend her knees and cushion her joints. She fell in a heap, and a hundred pounds of full grown human slammed straight into the hunter's arms. But he caught her. He caught her with a grunt, and both of them nearly crashed to the forest floor, but he caught her.

She back was on her feet in an instant, watching as the first trickles of soil and stone fell from the lip above them. Zach was already approaching Moritz, his tone soft and his outreached hand beseeching as he coaxed the boy to play with him and his mother. He was familiar with kids, she realized. He knew scaring them would make the child freeze up, and that strangers would not be trusted. But he also knew animals. He was approaching low, non-threateningly. He knew what he was doing. But Madeira was his mother, and she knew best.

"Race!" she shouted, a tinge of panic colouring her inflammatory words. "Race us! Motitz, lets run! Run as fast as you can! Race!" The boy was serious and proud, incapable of saying no to such competitive games. She opened her arms, inviting the boy to come to her.

With an eager noise the boy leapt over the crouching Zach and hit the ground running, not the least bit jarred by the drop. He looked back at the kind and funny stranger on the cliff, waiting for him to catch up and play, so this can be a proper race. But Madeira had already seized him by the stub of his horn and wrenched his head forward again, dragging him down the mountain slope until he was willing to run on his own.

"Go, Moritz! Go go go go!" She screamed, pushing him forward even as she stumbled on the uneven ground. Behind her the rumble of the landslide was growing louder, but she couldn't afford to break her concentration to look behind her and check that their savior was okay.

x

[Zach Grasswind]

Zach knew that Madeira was worried about her son, he had felt the rigid tension in her body as he had told her what they needed to do. He had worried that she would freeze up when he called to her from below, but he needn’t have. The woman hesitated for barely a second before leaping from the ledge to him.

Clearly it was not something she was accustomed to, for her fall was not what one might call graceful. But at least she had aimed her body at him, and so he caught her. Zach stumbled back a step as her weight hit him. His arms instinctively curled around Madeira’s body, hands gripping her tight to keep from dropping her to the ground. As soon as his footing was steady, he let the woman go and as she fixed her gaze on the trickle of soil, Zach had worked his way onto the ledge near the boy.

The Okomo was watching Zach curiously as the Drykas attempted to lure him over. It had been a while since his sister had been a small child, but he could still remember how to get through to her. Of course, Kiahara had been stubborn and incredibly strong-willed and he had no idea how this boy thought. But all children liked games right?

It turned out this child did, but Zach had been offering the wrong sort of game. He glanced round at Madeira as her shout rang out, and then quickly back at Moritz as the boy moved. The hunter was astounded by the Okomo’s agility, and he felt his hair ruffle as the boy leapt clean over him. In an instant Zach was lowering himself back down off the cliff, and he noticed Moritz appeared to be waiting for him to catch up. Zach was about to shout to Madeira to get the pair moving, but on this occasion the blonde was ahead of him.

The soil behind him had started to fall thicker, and Zach knew that it was only a matter of chimes now before the slip started in earnest. A crack sounded up the cliff, and the Drykas paused for a tick to whip his head round. He couldn’t see it, but he knew that was the sound of a tree falling. And that was a bad sound to be hearing.

He spun on his heel and ran, racing down the slope after Madera and her son. He had no idea if the boy was worried at all, though it would seem not, but Zach called after him anyway just in case. “Come on Moritz, I’m going to win!”

A deep rumbling was building, and Zach could almost feel the very bones of the earth shuddering beneath his feet. They were nearly out of time and he had to do something about it quickly.
He caught up to Madeira and kept pace with her. “We aren’t going to outrun it.” His voice was raised so he could be heard over the rumbling. “You need to grab hold of Moritz. Encourage him back, tell him he’s won.” He knew from speaking with the hunters who had gotten stuck earlier in the season that there was only one option left for them now. And there was no way the Drykas would let the mother and son take the brunt of it.

As he ran, Zach risked throwing a glance over his shoulder. The landslide was coming at them now and gaining speed as it did so. Whether Madeira managed to get a hold of Moritz or not, ticks before the slip hit them Zach would grab Madeira and force her to the ground. “Curl yourself up, protect your head.” With his back to the slide, the Drykas held the woman to him with one arm and covered his own head with the other, putting himself as a barrier between her and the earth. There was nothing more any of them could do now, apart from wait for the soil to cover them.

It only took ticks before Zach felt it hit his back. A little at first, and then more and more. The earth was heavy and he grunted at the weight of it. He prayed to any God that might listen that they wouldn’t end up too deep. His rational mind told him that they wouldn’t, for the slip had looked small, and the slope should continue carrying most of it away. The Drykas closed his eyes against the soil, clinging to Madeira and waiting for the rumbling to stop.

[Madeira Dusk]

Dira, Madeira prayed as the first of the loose soil raced past her. Give us the courage to live through this hour. And if we must die today, let us do so gently, and meet you gladly on our feet.

Madeira's breath was hot and sour as she flew down the slope as fast as she dared, her eyes always on the flagged tail of her son as it bounced ahead of her. Zach behind her was shouting, goading on Moritz with talk of victory. The words seemed to give the boy a second wind, lengthening his clumsy leaps even as his mother started to slow as exhaustion crept up. She dared not look behind her, lest she trip and fall, but there was no mistaking the rumble of the earth as it closed in behind them.

Zach caught up easily, his heavy tread smashing through the forest debris. “We aren’t going to outrun it", he said damningly. Madeira could only nod, as her breath was needed for more important things. But Zach wasn't done. “You need to grab hold of Moritz. Encourage him back, tell him he’s won.”

If she had enough breath left she might have cursed him out, or laughed. No they can't outrun it, but that didn't mean she was going to lay down with her son and die. That was not how she meant to meet Death again. At the very least Moritz deserved to fight for his life. She was about to tell the hunter so when she caught the look on his face. From the corner of her eye she saw the determined set of his jaw and the intent in his eye and knew this man wasn't giving up.

Well, there was nothing left to lose. She would trust him one more time.

"Moritz! Come back! You won, baby, come back!" She huffed, her volume petering out with her breath. But the sharp ears of the Okomo heard her, and turned at the sound of his name. By now there was no disguising the flood of mud and dirt behind them, and Madeira saw Moritz's ears flatten in terror. Thus frozen in panic, the two adult were on him quickly. Madeira seized Moritz's head to her chest and Zach forced them both to the ground. And like that, with the hunter's broad back to the flood and Madeira curled protectively around her son, the landslide hit them.

The mass was solid, but it moved like water. It around and against them, and for a moment they were carried along with it. But Zach dug in his heels and Madeira was pushing for all she was worth, and together they were able to hold their ground. A flotsam of logs and stone rolled passed them, some missing them by centimeters, but it missed them all the same. Soon it became harder and harder to breath as the soil crept up their crouched bodies, flowing over their legs, their hips, then their chests. Moritz, screaming a disturbingly human scream, struggled to stand as the flood crept up to their collars but Madeira held him down. If they stood up now they'd only get swept away.

"Deep breath, baby. Count of three, deep breath", she coughed, choking on the dust. "One", the soil was pushing hard against their throats. "Two", the flood was at their chins, and she held Moritz's head tilted back for one last breath. "Three!"

Darkness.

Madeira remembered watching her fathers dogs drown themselves in the backyard pond. They were small things, those dogs. A pair of jivatalus ghost hunters with watchful blue eyes and crooked ears. A vindictive spirit made them do it, her father had explained afterwards. She had nightmares for weeks.

They all started out the same, with that heavy feeling in her bones. Then the darkness would close in, pressing down on her, and her breath would come harder and harder. She would try to escape, try to move, but the darkness was everywhere, and every breathless scream for help would turn into the howl of a dog.

She held her son tight and braced against the flood, praying for it to end as the darkness did its best to beat the last breath from their bodies. And after an eternity or perhaps a few chimes, it felt like the gods might grant her wish. The river solidified around them, and the flow ground to a halt. There was a flash of light, so bright it hurt her eyes, and Moritz in his panic shifted into his smaller state. An enormous pocket carved itself out of the earth as the hundred and seventy pound Okomo became a year old human infant. The ground above them caved in, turning loose and crumbly around them. Madeira clutched her son and took this chance to stand.

With the help of the dip of the cave in, she broke through the dirt that buried them and stood head and shoulders above the motionless landslide. She sucked in greedy lungfuls of air, holding the crying Moritz high, and reached back down to try and dig the hunter out with her free hand.

"Zach! Zach are you okay?"

x

[Zach Grasswind]

Zach’s shoulders bowed against the onslaught of soil, curling forwards around the slight form of Madeira. The landslide was heavy and relentless in its journey down the slope and it was all the hunter could do to stop the trio going with it. He barely paid attention to the logs that passed them by, not even flinching when one came within a whisper of his head. All that mattered was stopping them from following it all lest they collide with something else. It took everything he had, and he could feel Madeira pushing against the tide too, but slowly they ground to a halt while the soil continued to pour round them.

He was tired, his back had gone numb, but he had both mother and son protected in front of him so the Drykas set his jaw and squared his shoulders as best he could. The scream that left the boy caused the hairs on the back of Zach’s neck to stand on end, the noise unlike anything he had heard before. Madeira’s voice, while rough from dust and pressure, was calming and even though it was not meant for him he listened and took his last breath with them.

And then they were swallowed by the ground.

Zach had never imagined before what it would be like to be buried alive. The rumbling was still there but it had changed. Softened almost, as if he were listening from underneath blankets. He could feel the soil moving past him, feel it catching on his clothes and skin, but it no longer hurt. And it was warm, within the soil.

Ticks passed, and Zach’s mind came back to itself. The soil at his back was one more bone-crushingly heavy and his chest was tight as he struggled to hold on to his breath. His hand was still clutching Madeira to him and he could feel the tense set of her muscles as she similarly clung to her son. Around them the rumbling stopped almost as suddenly as it had begun. The soil had reached its destination and the ground returned to slumber once more. Even through his closed eyes, the flash of light that followed still felt blinding.

Had he died? Has his breath finally run out? No, the sudden shift of dirt around him told the hunter otherwise. Madeira pulled herself away from him and Zach felt fresh air hit his face. Instinctively he gulped in great lungfuls of it, coughing as he did so. The Drykas forced open gritty eyes to see the lower half of Madeira in front of him. He was still half-buried in soil, and ever so slowly he shook himself free till he was standing in front of the woman. Eyes fell on the boy she held, the human boy, and Zach nearly laughed as he realised the cause of their release from the ground. ”I’m okay.”

The hunter pulled himself out of the hole they had found themselves in, and then helped Madeira and her son out too. Eyes scanned the pair for any obvious injuries, not seeing anything immediate. ”Are you both alright?” Zach coughed between sentences. ”Is Moritz okay?” The hunters foot slipped a little on the freshly turned soil, his legs a little weak from holding back the flood of dirt. ”We need to get off the landslide…” Zach cast his eyes over the ground, in the direction of the city. ”Go careful.”

The Drykas guided Madeira over the uneven ground as best he could. He’d offer an arm if she needed it for balance now that she had the weight of her son. It was slow going as they had to avoid bits of broken trees, small rocks and large dips where the soil had crumbled away faster than it had been replaced.

The landslide had not been a large one, and soon the trio had reached the end. Zach carefully climbed his way down, then held out a hand to assist Madeira or briefly take Moritz, whichever she found easiest. With his feet back on more solid ground the Drykas took a moment to stretch out his muscles. His back felt battered and his left shoulder had a deep ache. The joint had been weakened a couple of seasons before and he gingerly rotated it to try and ease some of the tension.

Zach rubbed dirt out of his eyes and turned to Madeira again, casting his gaze over her and Moritz once more to check for injury. ”If we can get back up to that game trail, we should be able to follow it back to the city.” All the hunter wanted now was a drink and a bed. But first he had to make sure that the pair before him returned home safely.

[Madeira Dusk]

"We're both okay, he's just scared", Madeira sighed in relief, rubbing soothing circles into the Moritz's back. The baby was bawling, showing off the fine pair of lungs he possessed. And for once she was glad of it- it just showed that he was scared and uncomfortable. She would have worried more if he was quiet.

With Zach's help the Spiritist was able to clamber her way out of the hole and together they picked their way carefully across the unstable cap of mud and stones. And if she was exhausted, Zach was worse. The hunter, having taken the brunt of the force of the landslide, was stumbling a bit as he walked. Watching him she concluded that while nothing looked to be broken or strained, he was sure to be hellishly bruised under all that mud.

Both of them caked in dirt, their hair wild about their heads, Zach and Madeira could be mistaken for siblings simply by virtue of their similarly blue eyes. Well, that or a pair of startlingly civilized Yukmen. She would have laughed about it if she wasn't so tired.

Zach pointed up the hill, saying that if they could make it back to the game trail, they'd find the city again. Madeira looked up the slope, and the overhanging shelve that interrupted it, and already felt her legs cramping.

"Actually, lets... Lets take a look at that shoulder first. I can see it's bothering you. Look, there's a stream a little further along. Sit down and remove your shirt, I'll see if I can help."

Without waiting for his consent Madeira turned away and headed to a shallow, fast moving stream that threw itself off the shelf half a kilometer away. The stream was swollen by the rains, but even so barely came above her ankles. Despite the unseasonably warm spring it was still icy cold.

The Spiritist found the deepest eddy and knelt in the cold water, still fully clothed. The water whisked away the thick layer of dirt on her legs in billowy clouds that raced downstream. Moritz's sniffling crying took on a whole new vigor as Madeira began to splash the babe as she laid him across her lap. Under all the dirt the babe was plump and naked and red faced with screaming indignity. He only suffered the cleaning for a few cold ticks before a flash of light replaced that helpless child with a less helpless goat, which staggered to its feet and wobbled from the stream, shaking out its wet fur like a grumpy dog.

"Stay", Madeira warned. Though she needn't have bothered. Three shifts in less than a bell had exhausted the rambunctious babe, who folded his spindly legs and laid down several meters away.

Madeira took the opportunity to splash her own face and arms, scraping away a thick layer of squelchy mud until she felt almost human again. When she got home she planned to run a hot bath with every perfuming oil she could find, lock the door, and not come out again until the stink of the forest had left her very soul.

"Have you thought any more about it, Zach?" she smiled wryly, looking under her arm as she untied her braid and tried to run her fingers through her caked hair. "About that proposal."

It might have been an odd time to bring it up, but something about the look in her eye spoke of just how serious she was being.

"Let's be friends, Zach Grasswind. Let me hire you, and look out for you. I owe you at least that much for saving my son. And when he's older, and he understands what you've done for us, I think he'll want to know you too. I don't expect a Drykas to have much family in Lhavit. But maybe, in some way, you can be part of ours."

That was the answer she was looking for, to the question that had been eating her since Laird turned back on her. How could she make them stay? Nothing she could offer would buy loyalty. Even Laird, who's greed was what got him tangled up with her in the first place, gave up on her money when she became too inconvenient. Throwing her wealth around, finite as it was, just made her toothless. But Zach was a different breed than Laird. He was kind of person who puts himself between danger and the lives of complete strangers. She wanted him. She wanted his expertise and his selflessness. She wanted him in her web, to support and protect her. She wanted Moritz and Amelie to learn about the wildness of their race under his guidance. She wanted him.

And she finally knew what would make him stay.

"I mean it", she laughed, like it was all so silly. "Let's be friends, you and me. My family is from all over the place, and of them I'm the only human, but we have a good, comfortable life out here. If you ever... If you ever need a home again... My group od misfits would welcome you with open arms."

x

[Zach Grasswind]

The Drykas was about to turn and start the slog back up the hill when Madeira’s voice stopped him. He watched her for a brief moment as she turned on her heel and headed directly for a stream a little way off before following. If he was being honest he desperately wanted to sit down, though he was worried he might simply fall asleep right on the forest floor if he did so.

Zach was not entirely sure what the woman could do for his shoulder, but if it turned out to be nothing he could at least dunk himself into the water until the cold made it numb. He paused at the waters edge, eyes following the clouds of dirt winding their way downstream from Madeira’s dress as the cries of the child grew louder. A flash of light from her direction drew his gaze and from her lap stumbled Moritz, an Okomo once more. He wondered if anyone ever got used to witnessing Kelvic transformations.

As Madeira began to scrape the dirt away from herself, Zach pulled off his shirt and shook it roughly. The soil had worked its way up under the fabric and his back was more mud than skin. When he had shaken as much out of the shirt as he could the Drykas stepped into the stream, leather boots shielding his feet and legs from the worst of the cold. He hissed through his teeth though as he started to splash water up his arms and across his back, the sting of the freezing water aggravating what he imagined were dozens and dozens of cuts littered across his skin.

"Have you thought any more about it, Zach?"
The hunter looked round to meet Madeira’s gaze from under her arm. He had almost forgotten their conversation from outside of the Guild - it seemed like it had taken place an age ago. He stilled as she spoke, and if she was watching carefully, Madeira might notice something behind his eyes that looked a lot like realisation. The woman had figured out something that the Drykas himself had yet to.
I don't expect a Drykas to have much family in Lhavit. She was correct - Zach had absolutely none. And that, that was what he had been missing. Not the grasslands, though he was incredibly attached to the vibrant expanse of his home, but the people. He needed those connections. He needed people around him that he trusted and loved.

Zach blinked, drawing himself out of his thoughts at Madeira’s laugh. The corner of his mouth quirked upward in response and after a pause he nodded once. “Okay.” He let himself smile, despite the aching, stinging pains and tiredness. “Let’s be friends.” The hunter cupped his hands into the water and bought them up to his face, wiping downward to try and remove some of the dirt before rubbing more gritty soil out of his eyes and wading back to the bank.

He might not know Maderia at all, and she might not know him either, but the Drykas could sense that she was true to her words. He had seen the worry and the love she had for her son and that was the thing that made him want to say yes to her. Anyone who could love like that was a good person in Zach’s eyes. He turned back to face Madeira, offering her a hand if she wanted to step up and out of the water too. “Goodness knows I could do with a friend here.” Another smile and his eyes flicked briefly to Moritz, still lying a little way off. “Let’s get you both home.”

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!

Madeira Craven

Skills

• Intimidation: 1xp
  
• Negotiation: 4xp
  
• Acting: 2xp
  
• Weapon- crossbow: 2xp
  
• Logic: 3xp
  
• Teaching: 1xp
• Tracking: 1xp
• Wilderness Survival: 1xp
• Agility: 1xp
• Running: 2xp
• Endurance: 1xp

Lores

• Intimidation: the subtle threat
  
• Negotiation: ultimatum
  
• Laid: rebellious free spirit
  
• Acting: cool under pressure
  
• Negotiation: working out the details
  
• Zach: a Drykas in the mountains
  
• Teaching: the concept of malediction
• Lore of paralyzing fear
• Zach: a good person
• Wilderness Survival: how not to trigger a landslide
• Lore of being buried alive
• Negotiation: play on their secret needs

Awards & Retribution
+Item gained
+Trait recieved
-Injury
-Mizas spent

Notes
Notes here.

Zach Grasswind

Skills

• Observation: 5xp
  
• Socialization: 2xp
  
• Logic: 3xp
  
• Negotiation: 1xp
  
• Weapon- shortbow: 1xp
  
• Rhetoric: 3xp
  
• Running: 1xp
  
• Tacking: 2xp
  
• Investigation: 2xp
• Wilderness Survival: 2xp
• Leadership: 4xp
• Agility: 1xp
• Persuasion: 2xp
• Running: 1xp
• Endurance: 2xp

Lores

• Laid: not friends with Madeira
  
• Madeira: not an outdoorswoman
  
• Logic: simple deduction
  
• Madeira: wields a crossbow
  
• Observation: reading people
  
• Negotiation: working out a deal
  
• Malediction: basic overview
  
• Lore of Kelvic shift
• Wilderness Survival: conditions for a landslide
• Leadership: taking charge in a crisis
• Persuasion: gentle coaxing
• Wilderness Survival: how to survive a landslide
• Lore of being buried alive
• Zach: loneliness

Awards & Retribution
+Item gained
+Trait recieved
-Injury
-Mizas spent

Notes
This was great fun. I can't wait for more dangerous adventures with Zach. <3