Full Circle - Aren, Tahl [CLOSED]

[Meera]

DAY 78 - Thread starts before dawn

Meera was the first to wake. The sun had not started its ascension into the sky, Meera could tell from inside the tent. She peeled herself from Aren's side, their warmth had caused her to perspire slightly from having slept alone her entire life. Meera reeked of sweat and death, but the sudden realization of events from last night came rushing to the fore.

She was in bed with Aren. Aren had returned. Meera smiled wide, and her heart beat wildly in her chest as pink dusted on her cheeks. She scrambled from the bed and adjusted her top to hide her shame with her back turned from him, in case he woke up.

Gods, was it cold, Meera cursed into the early morning's light. She retrieved her cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders, shivering mercilessly. The fire had naturally died out and she knew she needed to start it again immediately to burn off the chill that surrounded them. She immediately returned her boots to her feet with Osri the leather feeling like ice. Her long hair was a thorough mess, a nest of tangles, but there was nothing much that Meera could do. She rifled as quietly as possible through her pack for her flint and steel to strike the fire to life.

She needed to bathe, and before she could do that, she needed to wash her bloody chemise so she had something to wear later. She crept to the tent door and found it intact and tied from the inside still. This was good, maybe she could trust Tahl, or maybe he was just biding his time now. With the doorway untied she approached the fire and started to strike the flint against her knuckles of steel, watching the sparks die before they would catch. She sighed after her fifth attempt holding the instruments closer and closer to the firewood. Soot smudged itself on her fingers and sides of her hands and arms and she knew she needed fabric to catch on fire. The wind was too cool and damp to grant the sparks life long enough to start a fire.

She used her knife to further cut her chemise at the tie, just a small square to catch the sparks. It worked on her second try and she immediately threw the kindling on top, encouraging the fire to light. Once she was confident the fire would thrive, Meera unwrapped the frozen bundle of meat to collect her shirt to wash. It was at this juncture Meera struggled to remain quiet so as not to wake Tahl. It was still early, and she hoped to have more of the morning to herself to wash.

She left the bundle of meat exposed to the elements for the time being and Darksand gave a small snort, obviously displeased at the neglect Meera was giving him. She approached and pet the horse lovingly, sticking the chemise between her knees to hold. She undone his braid and let the curls waft on both sides of his neck to add some insulation, and moved to his tail. He seemed happier for that, and even followed Meera the mile and a half to the water. She stripped of her boots, stockings, cloak and chemise, wearing only her breeches soiled with antelope blood and walked into the freezing water, bringing the bloody chemise with her. She scrubbed at the chemise. It had the worst of the stain by far, but its thin cotton was easily cleaned. To aid, she rubbed the chemise against the rough of her thigh. Once the chemise was clean enough, it was cast aside on the shore. Panting and shivering already, Meera returned to the water and scrubbed at her thighs to loosen the blood clinging to the fabric before stripping of them too while in the water. The water creeping up her back and wetting her hair stole her breath as she rocked buoyant. Now naked, she scrubbed furiously under the surface loosing the stains until clean. Birds were chirping now, waking in the grey.

She tossed her breeches to the shore and they landed with a damp thud in the sandy grass. She submerged her body next, already feeling better with wet hair. Her fingers untangled the nest and her jagged nails scraped blood wherever her numbing fingers could feel. Gooseflesh was immediate in the water, and Meera was shivering, but she had to clean. If she was better with the arrow she wouldn't have had to chase after her meal, and she cursed her lack of skill. The reminder of a meal gave her stomach a grumble, and she was happy she had a fire to go back to. If Aren woke up, he'd likely be very hungry and she wouldn't want the steaks to thaw from their freeze too much.

She exited the water much cleaner than how she entered and wrapped her wool cloak around her body immediately. Darksand was grazing idly when she picked up her breeches, almost frozen already, her dry chemise and stockings. Meera slipped on her socks on without waiting for her feet to dry and moved on to her chemise, first removing the cloak then immediately dressing herself in it again, to have the warmth while she tied her chemise ends together. Her hands bundled the long fabric closed as best she could, leaving her calves bare of any garment. She walked as fast as she could - muscles were freezing and couldn't bear to be stretched to run, with plans to settle by the fire, warm up, and dry her breeches and chemise.

[Aren]

Aren awoke. He had not slept as much as he needed to, considering his accumulated level of fatigue the night before, but hunger beckoned him to the land of the living. The akalak arose from his bed in a particularly groggy mood, his mouth clammy, his muscles sore, and his stomach growling something fierce. One of his arms also felt strangely, but he attributed that to the fight, if it could be called that, against the red akalak. Stumbling out of the tent like if he hadn't walked in ages, Aren noticed that Meera was nowhere in sight. He saw his fellow akalak strewn against the fire easily enough, but there was no drykas girl to be seen anywhere. For a moment, he bit his lip, his eyes closing in renewed despair. After all that he had gone through, she was just gone again. Once his eyes opened, however, he realized that couldn't be. Someone had made the fire in the camp this morning, and he doubted it had been his countryman, soundly asleep as he was. Scanning the early gray morning with his infravision, Aren soon spotted a clump of heat, heading for the camp, that seemed to match Meera. It was far, and he couldn't be sure it was her, but he nonetheless began a determined trot to intercept it. As the akalak grew closer and closer, the chances that it was the drykas steadily improved, until he was not fifty feet from her. As he saw her there, just scurrying through the plains, shivering like a wet calf, Aren couldn't help but smile. He stopped moving forward, however, almost fearful that he would spook her as one frightens a wild animal, and she would run. As such, he could only stand there and wait, heart in throat, for Meera to decide what she would do.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl heard a faint clicking sound and in his sleepy state he opened one eyelid making out the blurry shape of someone stooping over the fire. Closing his eyes content, he attempted to fall back into dark realms of sleep. Rashaud wouldn't let him. Wake up you lazy oaf. Tahl grumbled and attempted to push Rashaud away mentally, Rashaud let it go for the moment, but when he heard a faint rustling Rashaud had lost his patience. WAKE UP! YOU LAZY OAF! Sending a mental kick his way, that set Tahl physically bolt upright. Tahl grumbled, "I'm up. I'm up." Yawning he stretched swinging his arms back and forth so that he hear cracks in his shoulders, and back. Standing up, the fur blanket fell off of him. He stretched, grubbing the sleep from his eyes he caught site of the other Akalak striding away. Curious he switched his vision to infrared and could see another for hurrying to meet him. Shrugging and assuming it was Meera he caught site of the thawing steaks. He felt his stomach rumble and grinned remembering how Meera had cooked the steaks last night. Stalking over to the wood pile he fed some more wood into the fire to make sure it had enough fuel, he stuck his hand out over the flat stone and felt the heat radiating off it. He grabbed the thawing steaks and slapped them on the flat rock watching them sizzle, and he hunkered down watching as the meat cooked. His mind wandering back to his companions; in all rights he should be mad at Aren, but he didn’t it was a misunderstanding, he wouldn’t trust him fully, but he would forive him for attacking him. Meera seemed to not like him, he didn’t know why, but he didn’t care. They were his companions for now, not his friends.

[Meera]

Her eyes were on the grass as she scurried across. She hadn't noticed Aren approach until the last minute when she lifted her eyes up to avoid oncoming rocks. A smile immediately leapt to her face and she ran just a little quicker, her body remembered the warmth he provided, and if Meera had to be honest, she was a little anxious to be by him for other reasons.

She still didn't know how she felt about that. Aren had whipped himself into her life like a torrential downpour - in Riverfall she was drowning in him, as though he were the waterfall and she were simply the rocks. Out on the plains it was dull, the grass a dull yellow, the skies dingy grey. Today was the first day the sky looked like it might be as blue and sunny as his skin and eyes.

She slowed her trot and almost stopped. She wanted to go near him and have him hold her and warm her up, but...

She approached him, but kept a reasonable personal distance from him. It would be good for her, she thought, to take a step back from all the excitement for a bit of time. To further convince herself, she was only wearing socks and a tied up chemise and cloak.

She shivered and continued her approach to the fire.

"Good morrow, Aren." She said through chattering teeth. "Did you sleep well?" She focused on her words. "Why... Why are you here. With me. In Sea of Grass. Very dangerous." Hair froze to her head and she pulled up her hood, exposing skin above her knee for the barest of seconds. It might have been her imagination, but Meera could already feel the heat from the roaring fire before she could see it. Meera could smell the smoke cook the steak, and she was grateful Aren or Tahl had started breakfast. She contnued to walk while she inquired to Aren the questions she had harboured since last night.

Before they returned to the main camp, Meera stopped behind their tent. On the otherside was the fire and the similarly coloured Akalak. Shivering brown eyes stared up at him, waiting for his answer.

[Aren]

As Meera approached him, the akalak was certainly relieved that the girl did not seem inclined to suddenly turn tail and flee from him. The thought warmed him more than any blanket ever could. "Good morning, Meera," Aren replied cordially. He made a point of not using that fake name that she had given him, to show her that he was no longer willing to accept the possibility that the time they had spent together was a lie. "I slept better yesterday than I did the three days before it," He had slept like crap yesterday, what with being in a crowded bed while sore, tired, and hungry. The statement, however, was not false. On his search for her, he had barely been able to get a few hours of restless sleep here and there. The night he found her, at least, his dreams had been pleasant ones. When Meera asked why he was here, Aren's eyes softened, and he merely smiled for a moment. Suddenly, he took a few bounding steps towards her, and promptly found his face just a few inches from her's. As he looked down at her freezing form, the akalak wrapped his arms across her still wet body like a blanket, exuding a thin coating of res around them, "I just wanted to warm you up," at this, an odd heat began to emanate from his skin, which Meera might have recognized as reimancy, if she knew anything about the subject.

[Meera]

So warm... Meera nuzzled her face against the soft leather of his vest. Meera gave a shuddering sigh and brown eyes screwed tight. She moved against him, and found the holes in her cloak for her arms. Meera couldn't think about this. She couldn't over analyze it. Her stomach flipped, and her bluing lips dared to taste his.

In a flash - for she couldn't stand to think on this any longer - her arm lifted up and firmly grasped the back of his neck, pulling him down to meet her with all the strength she could muster. Cool lips ushered forth a bruising kiss, almost like an insult. Furiously, with sudden passion as though she wished to suck out all the warmth he had, Meera applied her face to his, stealing tiny kisses against his bottom lip. Her hand tangled into his short hair. Meera panted heavily, and she couldn't be sure if she was shaking because she was nervous or because she was cold. Somewhere inside she knew the answer, somewhere knew the reasons why he showed up. As sudden as she kissed him, the hand at his hair moved to his face and pushed him back from her. She couldn't decide, but she knew her excitement, her happiness would come to its fill and soon she would burst.

Without a word, Meera turned from him, almost itching to run away. But she did not.

"Is what fire is for. Come, I smell breakfast." Without him watching, she gave a wide smile as her cheeks were the colour of the bright red sky.
She bundled the cloak in front of her and turned the tent, situating herself directly beside the fire. Her eyes was curiously avoiding Aren's.

"Good morrow, Tahl. Sleep well?"

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl sat cross-legged by the fire, a long stick with a blacken and burnt end that he kept poking into the fire. The skin he used as a blanket was draped over his shoulders and back over the top of his cloak. When Meera and Aren came around the side of the tent, Tahl glanced up smiling widely addressing Meera in Common, "Good Morning to you too, Miss Meera. Good enough. A few sores spots, but that is to be expected." He glanced across from Meera towards Aren, and he continued smiling. "Good morning, Aren. Hope you slept well." He looked back to the fire, last night wasn’t forgotten but it was forgiven. Rashaud on the other hand was watching Aren closely, ever suspicious and ever out for himself and Tahl. Tahl glanced at the steaks, lifting one up gingerly he juggled it from hand to hand, blowing on it all the while to cool it down. Once it was cool enough, he glanced at Aren and Meera giving a cheeky grin and he took a bite out of it and chewed on it slowly, a chief judging his food, the greatest critic in one’s life. Smiling broadly, he nodded affirming and grabbing another one for him and walked over to his pack and sat down munching and glancing over at the two. He inspected the two as he ate not speaking much watching their body language and overall appearance, he noted that Meera seemed to not look Aren in the eye. Where Meera was thin and petite, Aren was tall and muscular, maybe not as much as himself, but still much more than the average human. He inspected them visually taking in each detail and filing it away. Having peased together what had happened last night and going it over in his head hea had remembered everything that had happened clearly. These two confused him, they seemed to act like friends yet they also acted like they were enemies. Meera had after all pulled a knife on Aren, and Aren had after all attacked Tahl who was helping Meera, but he had to admit that would have looked odd to anyone else. Aren had come after Meera even when she had left him in Riverfall…it was just very confusing. Tahl shook his head and let the thought drop. After he had finished his food he sat staring at the two for a while, unconsciously he reached into his pack and started to rub the broken gold torc, when he caught himself he jerked his hand out a picture of disgust on his face. He then sat his hand running through the dirt picking it up and letting it run through his fingers as he watched the sun rise, and occasionally glanced at the two. Finally he slapped his hands into his knees, dusting off his hands, his eyes on the akalak and the drykas. "I make my way to Riverfall are you two headed that way?...And if so may I travel with you?" Rashaud was wary, but didn't throw away the fact that there chances of getting to Riverfall alone where much slimmer if they went alone.

[Aren]

When Meera's lips touched his own for the second time, Aren again felt that clarity of emotion he had experienced four days ago. He had been right to chase after her, and he would gladly do it again, if the need were to present itself. The drykas once more was the one who found the strength to stop herself and the akalak suddenly wondered if she would run from him a second time. If she did, however, he wasn't just going to watch it happen again, even if Seros decided to repeat his earlier performance. When she pulled him away, Aren's gaze could not help but lock on her's. As she turned from him, however, her eyes averted his, maddening him to no end. At least she wasn't running again, he thought. "Y-yes.... good morning," following her to the fire, the akalak seated himself not too far from Meera, opposite his crimson kinsman. A curious grin appeared on Aren's face every time he stole a look at the girl sitting nearby, and it was obvious his thoughts were not entirely centered. He composed himself, however, long enough to correct a mistake he had made in the throes of confusion and exhaustion, "Though I do not know your name, brother... I apologize for my actions last night. I misjudged the situation, and you as well." With that out of the way, Aren suspected that he might owe the man more than an apology, as he realized that it would have been difficult for Meera to have dragged him from where he fell to where he awoke, "And, perhaps, I owe you thanks as well." The blue skinned akalak did not seem inclined to answer his question, however. The only reason he had stayed in Riverfall more than a couple of days had been because of Meera, though he did not realize it at the time, and Aren didn't know if she intended on returning there. Of course, he suspected that he might be inclined to go back, if she was.

[Meera]

Meera spread her breeches across the grass once frozen now made damp by the fire. The legs of her breeches hugged the fire pit, pressing her inseam at the closest point. From a quick glance, it seemed as though Meera's pants might survive the blood stains, but her chemise, she regarded it with a heavy sigh that threatened to interrupt the conversation around her. Meera had held the shirt in front of her face with a look of disappointment in the cotton. She moved it to the side of her face to give a glance to Tahl, and once she caught his eye she moved her eyes back to the bloody cloth.

She shivered again as she placed the shirt as close to the fire as she could, and then Tahl mentioned Riverfall.

"Will need chemise." She said matter-of-factly. "Do not wish to return so soon, but suspect by stars us closer to Riverfall than Kenash." She was not exactly thrilled at the idea of staying in the Sea of Grass another few nights, but she couldn't risk returning to Riverfall so soon, in case someone had picked up her trail. Staying in the Sea of Grass, without her being Webbed, could mean that her mobile birthplace may very well stumble upon her.

Having started to thaw and dry her clothes, Meera rose to kneel before the fire to keep the cloak in front of her. She tested one of the remaining steaks, deemed it hot enough and chucked it to Aren before she could burn her fingers. The last steak she had for herself and nibbled in silence. If she kept herself distracted, she wouldn't be thinking about Aren.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl smiled, “I am Tahl’dhon Rashaud.” He shook his head, “It was a misunderstanding, it is forgiven, and as for helping drag your blue arse into the tent…that was nothing.” He paused a curious look on his face; maybe he could get some information out of Aren before he went to Riverfall, he shrugged it was the least he could do for attacking him. That would definitely be helpful. He glanced at the sun, equal parts impatient to get going, curious for answers, as well as wishing for companions on the road to both fill the loneliness and to have safety against danger. He summarised that three people had a better chance of surviving then a lone traveller. Steeling his impatience, he continued to sit and listened as Meera talked, wincing when she mentioned her chemise. He smiled when she mentioned distance, but didn’t say a word; he had just left Kenash behind not long ago, but he was not going to say anything in the hope of traveling companions. Standing up he dusted of his pants a smile on his face he hoisted up his pack onto his shoulder getting ready to leave no matter if they came or if they stayed behind. He pulled his cloak about him trying to ward against the cold. He paused looking at Aren a pained look in his eye his voice matter-of-fact, "You should know. I am an ex-slave and know nothing of our people. I travel to Riverfall in hope of finding answers..." He paused a smile coming back, "Maybe you can repay me by giving some." His eyes went south to the city of Riverfall, he had travelled for so long to arrive at the city and it was so close. He just wanted to have a home of some kind.