A Not So Lonely Road (CLOSED)

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl heard Aaren talking to the man behind him, but he ignored it still formulating a plan in his mind, his emotions hardening themselves getting ready to kill the man and even the girl if nessesary. As soon as he felt the loosing of the arms and legs, he roared and burst out of them rolling away. His hand closes around the handle of the knife grabbing it, he also got his hand around the club bringing it up in a crouch he stared at Aaren, holding a blue man-no Akalak's! Tahl's eyebrows shot up in surprise, then lowered in confusion and anger. Aaren was holding the blue Akalak's head by the hair and had a knife to his cheek. She seemed to know him, he crouched confusion anger, and wariness on his face. He then asked Aaren in common, "What in the petch is going on!?!" He had so many more questions, why did he attack me? Do you know him? What is your relationship with him? Are you an outlaw that is being tracked by the Akalaks of Riverfall. That last thought made him tense; he was attempting to go to Riverfall in an attempt to find out what it meant to be an Akalak, and hopefully find answers. Who were his parents? How had he become a slave? He couldn't afford to be in trouble with Riverfall, he wasn't going to help either side at this point, and if he had to he would kill them both. Both his hands tightened on their respective weapons at that thought. He could always run, but he felt…alive. He hadn’t been able to put a word on it, but now he had he thought it perfect. He felt alive. Always before when he had fought he had only done so for survival and he had felt this way before, but also despair had taken him as he realised that even if he won he would still be a slave. But now he was free and he wouldn’t give up his newly found freedom for anything or anyone.

[Meera]

"I have no idea!" She responded, never taking her eyes off of Aren. Immediately she slid Osri into the side of her pants, between her belt and breeches and ran to his side.

He came.

"Aren...!" Her voice was soft as his name rolled off her tongue. He smiled when he saw her, and Ysane had to admit, his smile did not seem cruel or malicious with ill intent. He had a smile that was filled with relief, of happiness and Ysane's look of anger flickered. It softened just a touch.

It was him. She had hoped, and he had followed and here he was... passing out. Ysane belted her dagger to the side of her hip

"Aren!!" She yelled as his eyes flickered shut. She turned to Tahl'don.

"Wake up, Aren..." She pressed her lips rushed to his hair, her hands touching the sides of his face. "Wake up," she pressed one last time on his forehead before looking up to Tahl.

"He... From Riverfall, reason why... Must have ran to follow..." She trailed, breathless.

"Wake up, wake up..." Was he dying from exhaustion?

"Water... Help me bring to bed..." She held his hands and gestured with her eyes for him to pick up his legs.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

[

Tahl was confused and angry. The girl had told him her name was Aaren, and that she didn't know what was going on, yet she knew this Akalak and she was calling him Aren; Almost identical to her name. The blue akalak fell unconscious seeming from exhuastion. Tahl relaxed slightly, but only slightly listening to the girls broken explanation. So he was from Riverfall and he had followed her, yet she treated him with kindness and fondness; there was more to this than meets the eye. He dropped his weapons, unsure about the situation, but knowing that helping seemed like his best choice, he calmed himself letting his emotions drain away like water, a calming exercise he had used as a slave. He rushed over and motioned to her, "You get the waterskin from my pack, I'll drag him into the tent." He then came around and reached under Arens arms lifting him up, every muscle in his body standing out like taunt cords. Tahl wondered if all Akalaks where around their size and if so was the fact of having another person in your head part of being an Akalak? Tahl had thought maybe he was crazy, with two split personalities that talked to each other, but if his size wasn't just as freakish maybe that wasn't either; this filled him with determination to make sure this Akalak, this Aren, lived. He would find answers and he would survive. He then would drag Aren backwards one step at a time towards the tent, once at the tent he would lay Aren back down and duck inside and drag him in by his hands. Once Aren was on the bedroll he would go looking for the girl if she hadn't already came back with the waterskin.

[Meera]

Ysane dropped her hold on Aren's hands, letting fall dead to the ground haphazardly by the fire and stood. She tied the cut ends of her chemise together under her bust, exposing only her stomach now instead of her entire torso. Her cut shirt had been rather forgotten about.

Ysane tore away to find Tahl's pack laying on the other side of the fire. She rifled through his pack, finding nothing out of the ordinary - razor, some clothes, his own eating knife, and at a quick glance - almost 500 gold mizas? Oh, how this Akalak was trusting, when he shouldn't be - around 500 gm and there! Finally - his water pack and oh, a gold necklace...

Pocketing nothing - yet - she shook the water skin and found it full, which pleased Ysane immensely.

She dashed to the tent where Tahl had set up Aren in the bed. She climbed on top of him and propped his head up, tipping the now open water skin to his lips. As water trickled out the spout, Ysane turned her head to the red Akalak.

"Name truly M...Meera. My name is Meera. I thought you were going to kill me earlier. Gave you fake name." She turned her face to Aren again.
"Drink, beat of my gallop..."

[Aren]

Aren's eyes flickered to life, for a second. He saw Meera in his view, and simply could not help the faintest of smiles, as he heard her talking, as he felt her hands on his skin. The akalak' wanted so badly to reach up and touch her, to caress her skin, but he had not the strength for it. His arm would simply not heed his command, and unconsciousness threatened once more. As Meera brought the water-skin to his lips, Aren drunk, intermittent fits of coughing assaulting the attempt. He did not have much strength to swallow, at the moment, as he used all his remaining fortitude to stay awake as long as he could. "Hey there... young drykas... " He barely managed to get out, before he had faded once more. At least, Aren thought in his final moments of consciousness, she's not gone yet.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

[

Tahl watched as the girl came in and sat on the Akalaks chest; there is defiantly more here then meets the eye. He raised an eyebrow as she explained her deception. So she is hunted. We should leave now. Let us wait and watch. He watched the exchange between the Drykas girl Meera and the Akalak Aren. This is a confusing situation. Indeed. Tahl'dhon sidled out of the tent, and stood by the fire. After a moment of staring into the flames he walked over to his pack and grabbed some branches of the pile; feeding them into the fire, he then reached into his pack and took out some flat bread and dried meat, eating; after all in the excitement the food had been forgotten so he thought it best just to eat his own food. He glanced around into the night listening to the waves lapping at the shore, the sea bird squawking, the wind coming off the sea of grass smelling of earth and other faint smells, the salty sea breeze, and he could hear the trees groaning as they bent to the wind. He could see stars all colors and shapes, constellations, even a shooting star here and there, and as he ate he calmed down from what had happened the adrenalin going. He waited there until Meera or Aren came out, as soon as one or both of them came out he looked up and spoke calmly in common. "Would you like to explain what happened here?" His emotions where raging; anger, confusion, frustration, but his mind was clear and he wasn’t about to let his emotions rule him. He very much wanted to just walk away, leaving this people to themselves, but that was childish and he would be above such impulses. He had survived through control and discipline, and he would continue to survive with control and discipline.

[Meera]

She gave a goofy smile when Aren spoke to her. He had coughed most of the water up, likely to be expected. She did rather pour it down his throat and she gave a small frown for forcing it on him. His eyes lulled back to sleep, and she decided it was for the best to let him rest. She hadn't much to go on how he arrived to her location, far off the main road and into the middle of the Sea of Grass, so her suspicions were that he simply walked. It made her swell with pride when she thought that. Perhaps Aren was sincere with his kiss and the sweets. His voice was so quiet. So weak.

She sighed and peeled herself from his unconscious form resting on her bed roll. There would be little space for herself, regardless of how tiny her frame was.
The cool night had threatened to freeze her solid, and after the excitement had passed she had begun to notice it. Meera stood and tucked her blanket over Aren to keep him warm as the night progressed.

Meera draped her cloak over her shoulders and bundled the fabric in front of her body as she passed through the flap door. The steaks were reduced to hard bricks by the time she reached them. Meera sighed and fell to the cold ground and sat crossed-legged.

She eyed Tahl, and she supposed she owed him the truth. He had helped the guy that just attacked him into bed.

"My name is Meera," She recapped. "I am running from my Drykas clan. They do not know if I am dead or not. When met Aren, I prepared for worst. I ran from Riverfall, met you. Did not trust. Aren followed. Did not think it was in..." She looked away from the red man as she tried to find words. "Good intentions. I was wrong. Hold special place. Why he attacked you, I sure. Found me," She opened her cloak at this point and gestured to the cut chemise. "Like this, only could think what he thinks of that."
Meera smirked as she speared the steaks with Osri. She tested the steak and found it quite tough, tougher than she would have liked. She set the other steak aside for Tahl, gesturing the steak in his direction. There was no need for him to eat his rations now that the steak needed to be consumed. Leaving it out would lure animals, and was quite wasteful.

"You owe new chemise." She laughed. "But thank you. It is cold and has been long day." She would bathe in the morning to scrape the blood of her skin. "Fur for you use as blanket or cushion for now. Bed will not hold two let alone three."
Meera stood, having finished her softer-than-jerky steak, the muscle and sinew stuck between teeth.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl listened no emotion showing on his face, though his head was a whirlwind. She was Drykas? One of the horse folk? From the stories he had heard he had half expected to meet a half-human half-horse. Why was she running? Again the thought of crimes past hid head, those thoughts where just shrugged away as soon as he thought of them. It didn't matter; at least for the moment. He was digesting each phrase as best he could, her broken common was slightly hard to understand and he needed to let each sink in. What he could understand is that Aren was Meera's friend and she had run fearing that he wasn't actually caring for her, but actually was searching for her from her people. That fact was wrong and he had come after her, and now he had seen Tahl in a very condemning situation. Tahl nodded fully up-to-date on the situation. Grabbing the burnt steak he shrugged and chewed on it, smiling through it at her comment about the chemise. He nodded at her as she told him about the purpose of the skin, waiting until she had gone into the tent he walked over and unrolled the skin slinging it over his shoulder he glanced over at the strider, but put the thought of sharing warmth with the beast away; he had no clue how the beast would respond, besides he had a fire. Feeding some more sticks to the fire and checking that there was sufficient fuel for the rest of the night, he lay down next to the fire draping the skin over himself and using his arms as his pillow. He stared into the flames until he fell into a deep sleep. OOCHey can one of you start another thread for the next day?

[Meera]

Meera heaved a sigh in relief. She entered the tent and stripped of her boots, doing her best to not disturb Aren. He must need his rest, to have passed out like that, just like Meera needed hers. It had surprised her that she had injured her head that badly to warrant a blacking out. She could feel no injury on the outside of her scalp, the only blood was from the antelope clotting her tangled hair. Tomorrow, she told herself, she would go down to the water and bathe, and do her best to wash out her bloody chemise wrapped around the steaks. It was her only good shirt now. It looked like they would need to make their way to Riverfall or Kenash - whichever was closest, and Meera suspected Riverfall - just so she had clothes to wear.

The idea of washing her hair appealed greatly to Meera, who had a thought that she might be worthy of her braid once more, now that Aren was back. From that thought, Meera wondered if Tahl was satisfied with the explanation she had given him. It sat ill with her that she had told this stranger so much and now he was sleeping just outside the tent. She had told him of her status vaguely, that she might be hunted down for the kill. This not-knowing set her hackles to rise. She needed to sleep, but couldn't, knowing that the red Akalak could easily enter her tent and slit her throat. She tied up the flap for the tent door. It would at least delay him, and hopefully if she had fallen asleep, would be enough to rouse her.

In stockinged feet she nudged Aren gently in the bedroll. The bedroll was big enough for two people if they were small, or one like Aren. His wide chest took up the majority of the bed, and he hadn't really tucked himself nice and straight. Meera was grateful for his warmth under the blankets, but she couldn't get comfortable. Her back was turned to him first using her cloak as a makeshift pillow, and she laid on her side as straight as she could, before trying to crook her legs up closer to her chest for the warmth. Just like the bedroll not having enough space, the blanket too was stretched to its limits. When she bent her knees her legs stuck out and fell off the roll to the hard ground. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but it was directly exposed to the cold ground. She shifted and fumbled for her cloak in the darkness and spread it out over top of them. Now that she had the warmth of the cloak to cover what the blanket could not, she was more reasonably comfortable, but damn it if Aren didn't give her enough space. Meera was still cautious of Tahl'dhon's sleep, but she could hear the faint snore over the fire's crackle and pops. Thankfully, Tahl would cast a shadow upon the tent. Meera struggled to get comfortable, and her eyes were threatening to close for good every time she blinked into the grey of the tent. She didn't want to do it, but she did anyways, turning her body around to face Aren. His arm was by his side so she moved it to use him as her pillow instead, almost hoping the constant pressure would make his arm go numb and cause discomfort.

She didn't particularly want to sleep for she was nervous about Tahl, but Aren's rhythmic breathing soon lulled her.

[Aren]

In his current state, Aren could not register Meera's presence, even when she crawled into bed with him, or when she used his arm as a pillow. His body, however, absent the discipline of his conscious mind, felt the winter cold keenly. The akalak, in his sleep, instinctively attempted to find a more comfortable, more warm position, ignorant of his fatigue. In so doing, his body shifted to it's side, his free arm stumbling into the drykas girl that shared his bed. Detecting this new found warmth, Aren could not help but bring it closer to himself, as his arm cradled around Meera's petite frame. Much better, his sleeping mind thought, as the cold seemed to lessen. For TahlYou can close this now Tahl. The next thread is called Full Circle