Another Fox in the Hunt(Kita)

[Jaeden Kincade]

85th Day of Winter, 510 A.V.

Jaeden moved through the snow, his feet feeling heavy as it compacted the white powder with that familiar crunching sound beneath his boot. His bow as already drawn as he followed the tracks before his eyes, an apparent sense of disapproval on his face as there were the tracks of both boots, and animals walking in a single line. It annoyed him in the long run due to the fact that when they all walked in a strait line, the number of those that traveled was difficult to determine over all. Luckily he had the nose of someone else to help him with that as he looked down to the small fox that stepped along the ground beside him, her nose sniffing along the tracks themselves. Jaeden quirked his brow as he looked down at Red. “Four different men. You’re sure?” Jaeden asked as he crouched down, moving his fingertips lightly over the tracks in the snow, feeling an almost iced over stiffness to it. Spring would come soon, but it was still cold enough for things to freeze. Snow, partially melted from the heat of moving feet was no exception.

Jaeden began to move forward once again as he shook his head at Red then. “No, I didn’t want to bring Aella. Or Tasha.” Jaeden said as he circled around a tree, his shoulder bumping into it and twisting his upper body slightly while moving. “Damnit, I gotta stop doing that.”

Jaeden paused for a moment, taking a quick drink of his water as he came to another crouch. “In any event. This is yours and my hunt Red. It’s too similar to how we met, so this one is ours to contend with.” Jaeden continued, slipping the water skin back to his waist. “Aella and Tasha can head to the city and sell furs from hunts and loot from other undesirables we’ve encountered. The thought of coin and shopping was appealing enough, despite their aversion to the cities. We can handle this in the mean time.”

Jaeden reflected for a moment, slowly pulling out a piece of dried beef, handing it out to Red. He remembered how they had met, like it had been yesterday. The wagon, the hunters, trapped Kelvics used as game for sport. Both him and Red had taken injury that day, killing the men who had collared her and killed many of her kind all for the reason of creating sport and making coin. The group Jaeden had now been tracking for the better part of a day was different in that they weren’t creating sport, merely collecting Kelvics. They were likely doing so to sell them up in Ravok, or anyone the encountered along the way. Slavers. They were nothing new to Jaeden in the long run, but still something he couldn’t seem to avoid. When hearing about this most recent group from a traveling caravan heading for Syliras, Jaeden and Red both found themselves showing more interest then they let on. When it came to enslaving Kelvics, it was something they couldn’t seem to ignore, specifically because of how they met. It made Jaeden begin to wonder if Jaeden’s common run ins with Slavers was simply fate, or if he made it a part of his life. “I know Tasha is a Kelvic too,” Jaeden said as he gave a frown, lightly stroking Red’s fur, “but she wasn’t used as sport. When we hear of or encounter an abusive bondmate, caging and putting piercing in their Kelvic and generally torturing him or her for their own pleasure, then Tasha will come with me and you’ll go with Aella. Same goes if we come across Aella encountering something that’s significantly wrong that holds similarities to her past. Her and I will go then.”

Jaeden then slowly reached up, running his hand along the beard grown out over his face, something he would be shaving soon. “All of us have events that remind us of bad moments in our past Red, and I’m not saying we will always be facing them without the others, but even with you and Tasha bonded with me, the two of you don’t know each other completely yet. As well, as long as we’ve been traveling and playing around with Aella, there are certain events of her past I don’t even know of yet.” Jaeden said, almost finding it difficult to have conviction in his own words. “Until it’s all out I the open between us, there will be things that we’re not willing to share yet, and I'm not going to force any of you to, but I’m glad to see you are already willing. We’ll let them in on the next one.”

Red gave a simple yelp, slowly wagging her tail as Jaeden gave another quick stroke of her fur then. “Alright, let’s go then.” Jaeden said as he slowly stood up. “By my estimation, we’re still at least four bells behind them still. We may have to camp before reach them. Keep your nose open for lookouts though.”

[Kita]

The chill of Winter was evident all around the Cobalt Mountains. Kita enjoyed the weather, it reminded her of where she was born. She missed Avanthal with all her heart she knew she could not go back. Regardless of whether the people who took her brothers were gone she could not face the city. She had grown older and her parents were still most likely there. She could not face them. Instead, she had made her home in the Cobalt Mountains. It was comfortable for her there and there were not a ton of humans wandering around. She looked around the forest with a bittersweet feeling. She never did meet Morwen when she lived in Avanthal. It seemed as though everyone in the city had but circumstance did not let her. "There is no time for morning the city. Right now I need to hunt." She looked forward to the forest around her and sniffed at the air. She was quite proud of the fact that she had a slight advantage over the human hunters that wandered through the mountains. She could hear, see, and smell better than them so if there was a rabbit hopping or a mouse scuttling around she would know before the humans would. This ability was quite sought after in the Winter. Almost all the prey hid in the winter or perished in the cold. Kita gingerly sniffed the cool air as she walked forward through the forest. She was hoping for a nice fat rabbit but those were scarce in the winter. Even a skinny rabbit would have been a good kill in these conditions. Kita closed her eyes and listened to the forest around her. Where were the animals scurrying about today? When hearing did not tell her anything she returned to her nose, a canine's best friend. Her nose caught a sent but it was not one of prey. It was a human and a fox. The fox had a familiar sent, much like Kita's own. It sparked her curiosity. As a fox she was naturally curious so she began to follow the scents. After a while of walking Kita came across a fox walking with a man. The man was a bit taller than Kita which scared her a bit. She was already afraid of humans. She was not sure what to think of this man. He had that fox with him and chances were that he enslaved her. A man didn't just travel around with a kelvic like that unless she was his slave, right? She did not know how she was going to do it but she had to save that fox. She owed it to her kind. Kita was not a very brave girl but something inside of her snapped when she saw the man with the fox. Before she knew what she was doing she ran out in front of the man, bow and arrow ready. She held the arrow back and glared at the man. "Is that fox with you under her free will?" Her gold eyes were slits as she stared the man down. "My brothers were enslaved by people like you and I will not let this fox go down the same road." She growled and looked down at the fox. "Let her go and we will not have problems." Little did Kita know she was messing with a man who could take her out in a second. She was simply an animal though and animals were impulsive at best.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden’s eyes slowly peered up from the tracks he followed, hearing that sound of approaching steps as snow crunched under the weight of a foot falling along the ground. The shapely form was soon followed upward, until Jaeden saw the point of the arrow pointed in his direction, causing a brow to be raised. As her words began to echo into his ears, his gaze continued to raise, watching those lips of hers move, finding it alluring despite the tone that carried with her words. His gaze then locked with the woman’s own, noting the bright yellow eyes, a certain realization crossing his features.

Before Jaeden could voice any answer, however, his eyes widened when he noticed Red’s sudden movements forward. His hand slowly reached up, but the tiny fox as usual moved much faster than Jaeden could speak when it came to his own well being. Red crossed the short distance between herself and the woman before a quick leap was taken. In mid leap there was that brilliant flash of shimmering gold before the hand of a female swept out, pushing the bow away from Jaeden’s direction. Red’s other shout out, pushing against the woman’s shoulder as her body weight forced her to the ground. Red rested on top of her, her teeth bore and here eyes lighting up with a fire of fury in then as she lowered her face to the one who threatened Jaeden as a slow growl echoed from between her teeth. She stared at the Kelvic woman dead in her eyes, their faces a mere inch apart. “You don’t point a bow at him.” Red said, an angry tone in her voice. “You don’t dare accuse him of keeping me as a slave either! Not after he did what he did for me!”

Suddenly a heavy hand fell upon Red’s bare shoulder, giving a soft squeeze. “Red, honey,” Jaeden’s soft tone echoed out, causing all of the tension in Red’s body to suddenly melt away as she slowly looked up at Jaeden, a soft smile crossing her face. “It’s a little cold our for you to be walking around naked, don’t you think?”

Red slowly looked up at Jaeden in a bit of surprise, realizing the meaning behind his words before she looked back to the woman she rested on top of. Her gaze shot back to Jaeden. “But she…” Red began to say.

“She’s simply under a misconception,” Jaeden said, offering Red a smile as he crouched down. “I’ll agree that she did a little of the jumping to conclusions, but like you did, she has a past. One that’s apparently not to great when it comes to human and Kelvic relations.”

“But…” Red said, giving a little further protest.

“Red, please get off her.” Jaeden then said before his head fell a little bit. “You’re naked, on top of another woman. It’s a little…………..distracting for me.”

Red then simply frowned for a moment, looking down at the woman one more time. “Fine.” Red said with a hint of protest still. “You’re too trusting.”

“Yes, that could very well get me into a spot of trouble one of these days.” Jaeden said as he offered Red a soft smile while she moved off of the woman, shifting back into Fox form. Jaeden looked down to the woman then briefly, offering her that same soft smile she was giving Red.

“Sorry about that.” Jaeden said as he slowly reached to the side, picking the woman’s arrow off the ground and handing it out to her. “Red get’s a little protective sometimes. To answer your question, however, she’s as much with me of her own free will as I am with her.”

Jaeden then slowly stood up, offering a hand out to the woman to help her up. “My name is Jaeden Kincade by the way, her name is Red.” Jaeden said in quick introduction. “I wish I could talk more and convince you of this, but Red and I are actually in the process of tracking down such a group ourselves, and we’re still about four bells behind them.”

Jaeden the slowly looked to Kita as Red went skittering by the two of them to resume her tracking. Jaeden gave a slow nod to her before starting once again along the trail himself. A few steps forward, however, found Jaeden pausing in his steps as he slowly turned, looking back to Kita. “Unless of course,” Jaeden said pausing for a moment before motioning his head along the trail, “you wanted to join us? Red may have a little bit of a spat about it, but she’s more concerned about free the Kelvics that have been abducted before they’re transported to Gods know where.”

[Kita]

What was this Kelvic doing? Kita was meerly just trying to help her! In a flash the fox in front of her apeared as a naked woman on top of her bearing her canine like teeth. Kita's heart raced in her chest. She had not expected the kelvic to get mad at her, even less to defend the human! From what Kita had seen humans rarely wanted to help or befriend Kelvics. They were just trophies to show off to their friends. There had been Grayzdo who had paraded her like some prize he had found in the wild. Next there had been Lookos, who seemed to understand her a little bit but in the end he had turned out disapeer as fast as he came to her. The worst case of all were the humans who kidnapped her brothers. She did not believe humans could ever truely want to help Kelvics. They were too selfish and they rarely would give up a chance for a slave. The raw anger from the woman growling on top of her showed that possibly this man was different. Normally Kita would have growled back, maybe even turned into her animal form. She was too scared though. She had finally found someone like her and she had made an enemy out of her. Kita layed there and shook at the hands of the fuming kelvic woman until she heard the man's voice. He was helping her? When the woman had finally gotten off of her she dared to open her eyes. The man stood there looking down at her and Kita could not help but feel a little bit of thankfulness toward the man. He was surprisingly kind unlike Kita had expected. "Thank you for helping me. I... I did not mean to offend your friend. I... I don't know. I guess I just jumped to conclusions seeing her with you. I'm... I'm sorry." She could barely talk as it was. Fear still head tight to her voice. What little volume that was able to squeek out came out more as uncertain studders than actual convorsation. She could not even make eye contact with the man. She was far too embarassed. "N-n-n-nice to meet you Jaeden. I'm Kita..." She concidered giving him her sirname but it was a bit pointless. She had dropped it a season ago. She was never going to see her family again and what family that still lived in Avanthal wanted nothing to do with her. Besides, she was an animal and what did animals need with full names. If people were doing to treat her like some stupid scrap of red fur she would be one. Since the loss of her brothers Kita had lost all self esteem. For a while she thought it had come back but it was just hopeful thinking in the brief times she was in the eyes of random men who decided they wanted to keep her around. At the mention of freeing kelvics Kita perked up. For the first time in the convorsation she almost looked Jaeden in the eyes. "You hunt traders with... Red? I did not know Humans could hunt each other. That is so interesting. Do you sell them when you find them?" She looked down and pondered the thought of it. Selling humans to other humans? It was such a strange concept. There was no way it could be true was there? "I do not want to impose on your friend but I would like to come if that is alright. I would like to help you hunt these people." Kita could not help thinking about her brothers. "Poor Jeran and Tayn. I wonder where you are." Kita bit her lip and decided to ask this Jaeden man about his quite interesting past time. "Do humans normally hunt each other? Have you been doing this for a long time?" She could not help but bombard the man with her questions. She had never met a human hunter! "I wonder if he ever came across my brothers." Kita kept the thought to herself. It was her most precious thought and she was not sure if she was going to share it with the man or not.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden began leading the way, his eyes looking down along the trail of tracks on the ground. He gave a slow shake of his head. “Don’t worry about Red,” Jaeden said as he took a quick moment to look up at the sky, “she just gets a little twitchy when it comes to others pointing their weapons at me.”

His gaze fell down from sky, looking to the tracks again with a slow nod. There was only partial clouds covering the sky, so there wouldn’t be any snowfall anytime soon. He looked over his shoulder for a moment to Kita, smirking a little over the misunderstanding she had over what he was moving towards. “No, I won’t be trading them or selling them.” Jaeden said crouching down for a moment, his fingers slipped along one of the tracks, feeling the texture of the track itself. “They’re slavers Kita, and I don’t really like slavery. So I‘m tracking them to where they are and I‘m going to attempt to free who they‘ve taken. Most don’t give up the slaves they’ve caught though, in fact, they’ll likely try to add us to their collection thus far.”

Jaeden then stopped, turning as he stepped up to Kita. He was close, only about a foot of space separating him as he looked into her eyes, his hand falling to his waist. “I only do this when I catch wind of it first. Most often I come across slavers by accident when traveling through the forest. This is the important thing though.” Jaeden then said, leaning in a little. “There’s going to be a fight. If you’re going to be looking to help me with this, you should of course know. Considering you were pointing a bow at me there, I suspect you have some knowledge how to use it.”

Jaeden then slow began circling around, looking over Kita and assessing what other weapons or equipment she might have had. “So, what would you prefer?” Jaeden then asked, facing Kita once again. “You want to go to help free those that they have capture, or fight the asses that caught them?”

[Kita]

Kita felt a little better thanks to Jaeden's words. "I can understand it though. I'm sure if someone pointed a weapon at one of my brothers I would do the same thing." Kelvics were creatures of instinct and Kita could barely blame Red for getting so defensive. She would have done the same thing in her position. Kita did not know they relationship between the two except that Jaeden had saved her. Kita gave little nods as Jaeden spoke. "What do you do to these slave traders? Do you kill them?" She would if she had the chance. She would have used every last arrow she had to get revenge for Jeran and Tayn. "I would make those petching kidnappers pay for hurting my brothers!" Kita stared at the ground with an angry look. She wanted her brothers back more than anything in the world. She would walk to the ends of Mizahar for them. The only problem was, she did not know where to start looking. This man seemed to know a bit about finding stolen Kelvics though. Maybe he could help her. Her heart skipped a beat as Jaeden asked if she would like to join him. "I would love to." Kita debated whether or not she should tell the man about her brothers. Maybe he had seen them. "Mister Kincade, along your travels have you met a wolf or a wolverine kelvic? I imagine they would look a bit like me." She looked down at the ground and pondered if she should add that they were her brothers. It was quite obvious that they were considering she said they looked like her but in her mind she did not make that corrolation. "They are my brothers. They were taken by traders when I was little. I do not know where they are now. They were taken in the Northern Reaches, right outside Avanthal. I used to live there but I had to run away. They wanted to catch me too." She sniffled as the words left her mouth. She had not talked about them in what felt like seasons. "I just hope they are okay. Maybe we will see them if I help you track down these traders." She held tightly to her bow and looked at Jaeden. "I'll do anything if it means helping others not have to go through what I did. " She meant it. If this man was sinceer about helping the Kelvics then he had a ruthless ally in Kita.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden slowly looked back up towards Kita as she mentioned killing the Slaver’s Jaeden was currently tracking. A brow slowly raised as he took a moment to study her body language and such as a silent though appeared to move through her mind. “If they give us reason to.” Jaeden then answered as he raised his hand slowly, rubbing a slight itch under his lower lip. “Make sure you keep something in the forefront of your mind though Kita. We’re there to free who they’ve captured, not to just hunt them down and kill them. Chances are we’ll have to kill some, but if one of them decides to just drop aggression and run, let them.”

Jaeden then slowly reached out, laying his hand along the top of Kita’s head for a moment. “Fight with this first.” Jaeden said before lowering his hand and then lightly tapped along her sternum near her heart with his fingers. “Then fight with this. I’ve been on more than my fair share of revenge hunts Kita, and every one of them has given me new scars that I’ve nearly died from.”

Jaeden then gave a nod and then went back to tracking as he moved forward, his eyes shifting over each track to discern their shape, deepness, and how long ago they had been made. Overall, he kept searching as to whether or not they were still heading relatively strait forward, or had backtracked at any time. Jaeden paused for a moment, sensing what Red was feeling. No panic or anxiousness. She was still scouting ahead and hadn’t encountered anything dangerous yet. Jaeden slowly looked back to Red, looking up in contemplation for a moment. “I’m afraid nothing comes to mind. I’ve been to almost every corner of the world, but haven’t encountered any Kelvics of that description however. Sorry.” Jaeden said, actual sympathy in his voice as he paused in his forward motion, looking to Kita. “They were taken up in Avanthal you said. How long ago did it happen? Did you see what the slavers looked like or which direction they were heading?”

Jaeden then began moving forward once again, giving small tugs to the string of his bow to ensure frost wasn’t beginning to form over it or the notch in his arrow. “After all, while it may not be able to track where they went by following their physical tracks in the ground, there are other trails that are left behind to follow.“ Jaeden said as he took a moment to climb a tree and spy ahead. A moment later he dropped from a short height, landing along the ground with a heavy thud in front of Kita. “If it hasn’t been a great deal of time, there’s a chance we could still find them. If we manage to catch one of the slavers up here alive, we can question him or her about it. Sometimes the groups run into each other or hear about each other.”

Jaeden looked up to the sky for a moment, noting where Syna currently stood in the sky. It wasn’t getting to late yet. He then looked over to Kita, studying her for a moment. “Hypothetically speaking, if you were to discover a lead, would you want help in rescuing them?” Jaeden asked, taking a moment from tracking to wait for Kita’s answer.

[Kita]

Kita wanted to kill them. If they were keeping slaves they deserved to die and die painfully. She had to follow what Jaeden said though. He was, at least in her eyes, the leader of the hunt and the alpha male. [i]"I hope we kill some. I would give the clothes off my back to make them pay."[/b] From her lips a small growl rumbled out. Her yellow eyes burned from behind her black hair. She would have to keep her ferocity to herself though. It was best not to upset the alpha male. Her golden eyes peered up when the man's hand set upon her head. She turned her nose up to sniff at his wrist, wondering why he would be touching her. He smelled as most men did, a bit like sweat and woodsmoke. She cocked her head at his words. She was unsure about how long ago her brothers were taken. "Very many nights ago. More than I can count." In reality it had been about a year and a half. Kita really did not know how to tell time though. She knew the seasons changed and the moon often traded places with the sun. She did not know what years or days were though. She scowled a bit at the fact the man had not seen her brothers. She missed them with all of her heart. In truth, they were the only thing she longed for. There was nothing more that she wanted expect the occasional meal when her stomach grumbled. "It is too bad. Maybe they are dead. I would have hoped that they would have been stronger then that." The events of Kita's life had not left her with much of a positive attitude. The fact her parents hated her for her Kelvic nature was simply a mistep. They were too far back in her memory to even worry about. Her brothers were what really bothered her. They had raised her. Since fleeing Avanthal she had been batted around from person to person, never finding ground. She was unsure if this Jaeden man would even stick around after she helped him. The others had claimed to be her friends and they accepted her help but when she was no longer needed she was alone once again. Her ears pricked up when Jaeden asked if she wanted help. She did want help, more than anything. He must have wanted something in return though. No one ever offered her something without expecting something else. Still, the offer was just too tantilizing to ignore. Maybe this one last time she would give it a try. If her brothers were in the balance she would do anything. "Yes Mr. Jaeden, I would like that a lot. I want them safe but I am afraid that I could not rescue them on my own." Her eyes flicked over to Red. Although she was happy to know another Kelvic was happy in Jaeden's hands she still felt a little warry. She would have to trust him though. It seemed there were not a lot of other options.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden crouched down for a moment, inspecting the tracks along the ground once again before taking a slow sniff in the air. It was likely Kita would already smell it, that ever faint linger smell of smoke in the air, barely caught by Jaeden, likely strong to Kita’s enhanced senses. The feelings of anxiousness seemed to linger in Jaeden as well, flowing into him from Red’s own feelings. He knew she would wait for him before making any moves on a camp, but every now and then he grew concerned that she would act more on instinct and just go.

Jaeden then looked over his shoulder, standing up from his crouch as he looked to Kita. “You shouldn’t give up hope that they’re alive. Still,” Jaeden said, giving a tilt of his head and sympathetic look to Kita, “wouldn’t you want to know either way for sure, rather than go on just wondering?”

Jaeden then held out his hand to Kita, offering it freely in likely a gesture she might not have understood considering her isolation, but he offered it all the same. “I will give you the aid you want then Kita, provided you just call me Jaeden from now on.” Jaeden then said with a smirk. “Adding ‘Mr.’ to it just makes me sound like some old guy who’s supposed to be, I don’t know, taking confessions or something.”

Jaeden waiting to see how she would answer before he would give a nod and give a small tug along the string of his bow to ensure it stayed loose against the colds of the season. “Alright, I’m assuming you caught the smell of the smoke in the air. Based off the freshness of the tracks there’s a camp about a kilometer away.” Jaeden explained as his fingers fiddled with the arrows in his quiver, making sure none of them were tangling together. “Provided we aren’t rushing and exhausting ourselves, it should take us about twenty chimes to get there.”

Jaeden then looked to Kita, that serious look crossing his features again. “If it is the camp we’re looking for, and since you’re anxious for a little harm to befall slavers, Red will set to releasing any of their captives while you and I battle any resistance.” Jaeden explained, reaching down to his waist and unclasping a strap that settled over the hilt guard of his sword. “Don’t go at it on instinct alone Kita. I’m not saying you won’t have to kill anyone, because it’s very likely you will, but at the very least if you see a guy I’ve dropped still crawling around on the ground alive, it’s because I left him that way. If you want to get a lead on who took your kin after such a period of time, others in the same line of profession as those who took them are going to be your best source.”

“First, use your head…” Jaeden said, slowly raising his hand and resting his fingers lightly along Kita’s brow to signify her brain. He then slowly lowered his hand, resting his fingers lightly along her sternum then, just below her clavicle. “Then act with your emotion. Understand?”