[Sanctuary] Winters Breath [Kavala]

Serrif is a half days travel from The Sanctuary when he takes a rest.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Sanctuary] Winters Breath [Kavala]

Postby Raiha on June 30th, 2012, 8:35 pm

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“Sounds about right to me,” Raiha nodded her assent, squeezing the little boy gently before leaning backwards and then lurching forwards, carrying Shayru over to the playpen, scooping up the toy he had thrown deftly. She paused there, looking at him solemnly, “We’ll be back,” she told the munchkin quietly. “Nothing will happen to you here.” She lowered him into the play pen with the toys, sticking a beanbag ball into the little tyke’s lap before going to get started on the dogs with Kanrath’s help. The deerstalkers tended to bed down in the mews - and Raiha was particular about those dogs, and liked them not under the watchful eye of the kennelmaster, but under her own gaze. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Rath spent more and more time in the mews, but still. Those deerstalkers were important to her, even if they all piled up on a bed of furs in her room.

She drew her hood over her head, going into the blizzard to go and get Rath, waking him up and getting Diallo. The deerstalkers would be fine where they were, even though there were no more deerstalker pups, not yet, but maybe in another season or two, but Raiha would take along her boss dog, and Rath would bring his Fidens, just to ensure that the canines toed the line. Dara had had to be discouraged from coming as well, and howled her complaints about being left behind as Raiha raised her eyes to the Ukalas and closed the door. No. In the kennels, the small pups were gathered up into blankets, each of the Akontaks taking one litter at a time, their dams disapproving about this shenanigans and having to leave the cozy - compared to the outdoors! - dens, but Raiha soothed and shushed, clicking her tongue. “Along with you, lets go,” she told them, and tucked her head out into the storm. Diallo and Fidens followed, and with their precious pups crying from the bundle, the bitch dogs didn’t leave their sides as they got into the tunnels. Once they were far enough along, they let the pups down, and urged them to come along, clapping her hands against her thighs and whistling. The pups followed eagerly, and Raiha led the first instalment of the pup parade into the safety of the insulated cavern. Diallo kept a respectful distance, just encouraging the pups into following, not allowing any of them to tarry.

They were blocked off, and snow shook off into bowls - it would melt for water. No point in wasting it, and Raiha and Rath headed for the next round. Another trip of puppies, then the rest of the dogs, and then they could help with the horses. She scratched Diallo’s neck as they headed back out into the storm, her hands in her pockets against the cold. The blankets had been left down there with those litters, and now they just had more to retrieve. More pups, more blankets. They were almost back at the kennels before Raiha forcefully hipchecked her mate into the snowbank, and hurried inside, laughing, before he could fight back. Another round of pups, then a third and fourth trip for dogs, and then they were helping with the horses. “You would be cold if you stayed up here,” she told her mare with a pat as she led Yakini down.

With everything down there that they were going to move for the time being, she did a count of the supplies and made sure that they had enough for now, should they be stuck down there for a bit longer than they would like. Then and only then did she remove the heavy sweater, wet with snow now, and hung it up to dry for a little while before she would head back to the mews, and lifted Shayru, heading back to the cushions with the sleepy child, lowering herself onto the fluff-filled pillow and letting him stretching out a little on her torso while she stroked his hair and wrapped her blue arms around him, curling her hands up a bit, and watched both Kavala and Serrif. Kavala out of interest - she liked to watch her method of shielding, to see how she chose to do it, and Serrif out of suspicion.

Satisfied with the efforts of the evening, she inspected her fingernails, whispers of Makath in her ears telling her what was going on in the library with the dogs - that they were fine, and Diallo had settled one fight - that the snow was continuing to fall - no surprise there. With that, she closed her eyes, and began to meditate, pushing away the idle thoughts that clouded her mind and kept her from attaining the clarity that she needed. The little boy on her was quiet and hardly a distraction now that he had been picked up. Even Kanikra was silent, recognizing the need for quiet time for both of them, and to allow Raiha to focus. She would listen to the Makath, and take care of anything that needed it while Raiha concentrated, listening to the beat of her own heart, feeling herself relaxing, her back supported by the chair, her arms around Tasival, her feet on the floor. As she breathed out, Raiha felt the worries, fears, angers, and annoyances leaving her in a black haze, casting them out. When she inhaled, she envisioned the beautiful white light filling her, simple and clean.

The world around her began to fade, and all that there was was her, looking at the core deep inside of her that she used with Reimancy, glowing gold and all her. Even now, she was beginning to separate that feeling of being one with her physical shell and becoming two separate parts. She focused on her djed in her nails, and willed it to change, to lengthen and sharpen, to become as hard as diamonds... just like the beak of the glassbeak she had scavenged when she and Mao had killed one all that time ago. Morphing was pure trial and error - there wasn’t much theory to it, not like some other schools, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. When she opened her eyes, the sharpened fingernails had doubled in length, and were now pressing into her palm. She didn’t smile, just observed, and in her mind’s eye, in her quiet space, pulled her hand out of the wellspring that was her Djed, encouraging the nails to become normal once again, smooth and flat.
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The first rule of Akajia is you do not talk about Akajia.
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Raiha
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