Within My Grasp [Ronan]

[Delphi]

Timestamp: Sixty Second Day of Spring, 512 After Valterian Location: The Northern Reaches Purpose: Hunting A twig cracked somewhere in the distance. Inaudible to human ears, the noise echoed through the trees and burrowed itself into Kipcha’s ears. Limbs tensed and the fair gold hackles stood up at the base of his neck. Ears pointed forward like individual guards at the ready. His muzzle swung round in the direction of the noise, and Delphi was careful not to make a sound. Her breath was jailed in her lungs. Slender fingers grasped a shortbow at her side. A light breeze blew a section of hair loose from the pin used to hold the face around her hair back. The strands tickled her nose. Kipcha inched forward, stalking like a wild cat, his body low to the ground. Delphi followed suit and made her way to a line of leafy brush where she crouched. Kipcha sat beside her as she peeked through the branches. A buck deer fed on a patch of grass before them. As she reached back over her shoulder to her quiver, she smiled. Drawing an arrow from its place, she patted Kipcha on the head. He was no hunting dog, but he was learning fast. She hoped that her companion would one day learn to drive the game to where she hid, arrow notched. One day. She drew the string taut with the arrow notched in its proper place. Carefully, she aimed the tip through the break in the bushes. It was a clean and clear shot, without a doubt. She waited, limbs growing hot with the friction of the bow pulling against her hold.

[Ronan]

Foraging. Though the idea did not sit well with him, it was necessary. For when he had assimilated himself back into Endrykas, he had done an awful lot of it. Much vegetation had died in the storm though, and animals too, who had been caught in the open when the divine cataclysm had struck.

In some ways, it was a new world they had awoken to. Something felt different. In the air. In the ground he walked. He felt more attuned to everything than before the storm. Had people felt like that after the valterrian had struck?

Rustling through the foliage, his eyes flitted about, trying to find something to eat. Anything. They were running low on supplies. The original plan to restock and recuperate in Avanthal had gone awry when the storm had brought ruin to the world.

That was when he broke through into the clearing.

That was when he found an arrow aimed his way. A sharp arrow. A deadly, sharp arrow.

[Delphi]

A movement in the brush sent the buck charging off through the woods. If she had had time to stop and curse, she surely would have, but instead, she released the tension built up in the bow string. The arrow whistled out from between the bushes, soared through the clearing, and found itself facing a man. The arrow grazed the man’s upper arm and fell somewhere in the brush behind him. Delphi squinted, parting the bushes with a hand in shock, her mouth half open. Her brows furrowed as Kipcha growled and darted out of the bushes towards the man. ”Kipcha, wait!” But the animal had gone, barking loudly at the intruder. He snapped at the dark headed man, growling and snarling his animalistic warnings to stay away from his human. Delphi dove out of the bushes behind her companion, waving the bow around to call him off. ”Kipcha! Leave him!” The golden dog huffed and paced around, eyeing the man defensively. Delphi shooed him away and glared at the man before him. ”Are you stupid or something? Got yourself a nasty little present running around in the woods like a chicken with its head cut off.”

[Ronan]

Ronan took a moment to realise what had happened. The pain came after the realisation. "Damn!" he cried out in Pavi.

Suddenly there was a dog barking at him, fiercely too, but he was barely aware, hand going to the wound. There was a little, nothing deep, but a wound all the same.

As if I need more scars, he thought wryly.

When the girl that came into view finally called off the dog, he pressed his other hand on the ground and pushed himself up off the forest floor. A little powder coating of snow had returned, after the icy famine of the storm.

The woman spoke in common. He looked at her tumbling blonde locks and winced. Firstly, for the pain. Secondly, because she reminded him of Kavala.

"Stupid? I'm stupid? I'm not the one running around with a rabid dog and a bow I can't control!" he lifted his arm up, making sure she could see the blood. He'd probably need to do something about that - bind the wound at least. "I was foraging for food. I presume you were doing the same?"

[Delphi]

Delphi’s jaw slackened at the man’s words. With a thin finger aimed at him. ”He is not rabid. He’s just making sure the strange man wandering through the forest knows his place.” She snapped. Kipcha planted his feet at Delphi’s side, where she reached down to scratch his ears. ”And for the record, I can control my bow. It’s when people come running through the clearing and startle me that accidents happen.” She eyed the blood across the man’s arm and sighed. ”We’ve been out her for a couple of days now. There’s barely anything out here. Just when we thought we’d found something, we lost it.” She gave him a half-accusing glare. But she did shoot him. A few inches over might have proven a much more terrible situation indeed. She gestured at his arm. ”I’m not particularly adept with medicine, but if you need help dressing that, I suppose it was my fault.”

[Ronan]

The woman pointed at Ronan, indignant that he had insulted her dog. He blinked heavily and slowly, sighed, then looked back towards her.

He really hadn't been expecting this.

"I'm sorry," he said, deflated, "it wasn't your fault. Accidents happen. My head's a little crazy, and I took it out on you." He looked to the dog and smiled wanly, "and the dog."

It was a faithful hound, sitting by the young woman and nuzzling up to her tender touches. There was an intimacy that could exist between man and canine. He had seen it often enough in Endrykas. It wasn't far removed from Ronan and Tairell. The bond between a Drykas and his Strider.

"You're right... the storm killed off so much. The animals and the plants. The ground is scorched everywhere, and the climate isn't what it's supposed to be."

He looked to his arm. The blood was still coming, though the stream had slowed a little.

"Do you have anything I could bind it with? That would help a lot."