The Eagle and the Sailor (Lucy, Daske)

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

The Afternoon of the 43rd Day of Summer 512 Northern Suvan Sea, in the mouth of the Gut More often than not, wind and current sweeping north out of the Gut collided with wind and current sweeping east across the Northern Suvan to produce choppy, unsettled seas even in the best of conditions. The Black Lady rose and fell in a jerky rhythm as she cut through the four-foot waves on a starboard close reach in less-than-the-best conditions. Occasionally her bow would drift to port or to starboard as the wind shifted and the man seated at the stern on the low side of the boat would adjust the tiller slightly to bring her back on course. He was soaked from waves breaking over the Lady's bow at frequent but irregular intervals. Fortunately it was a clear, sunny, hot day, so he didn't mind. In fact, he liked it that way. Wind, water, sail … the three basic elements of sailing. Daske loved the sense of freedom and independence that came with sailing. He was beholden to no one. There was nothing he had to do, no where he had to go. However, on this occasion he was going somewhere in particular. He was looking for the Anchorage Flotilla, which he was pretty sure he would find somewhere around Fang Isle. He had passed Neemi island that morning and was on a southeast heading that would take him there. At least he hoped it would. Daske was not an experienced sailor and he rarely sailed out of sight of land lest he lose his bearings and end up someplace unexpected. But there was no way to cross the mouth of the gut without spending at least a day out of sight of land. He looked to the East, where he could just make out the bluffs of Cyphrus behind him. He sighed and turned his gaze back to the endless sea stretching out toward the western horizon. “Damn,” he said to no one in particular. “I love this.” And he did. OOC : The Black Lady.

[Lucy]

If he looked up to the sky Daske would notice dark feathered eagle approach his Casinor. Lucy was flying around for a long time now. She just left Kalea, deciding to fly to Sunbreth, to see if there's still somebody who would recognize her over there. She couldn't even feel nostalgic about any place. She just didn't fit in. She hated flying over the sea, since she always felt it was dangerous. If something happened she wouldn't be able to fly to the ground and rest, or morph, or whatever she wanted to do. Flying above water always gave her certain anxiety. Her instincts weren't tricking her either. She was to rest on some Svefra pod, but children started trowing things at her and telling her to leave. She didn't know anything about Svefra, but she assumed they believed black bird would bring them bad luck or something along those lines. They weren't first persons she'd meet to believe in stupid stories like that. She escaped, with both sides pleasured, but she found she was hurt. Her left wing hurt, and even nor she didn't have wounds or breaks she felt pain with every swing. She continued forward into the endless sea, hoping to see a boat she could rest on. She didn't even think about going back to those people. She wasn't angry or something like that, but her mind now connected them with danger and she would always feel so if she meets them. She would pray for his follower to sail those seas if she lnew or cared about Laviku, but Gods were something she considered surreal and unimportant. After few chimes of huge pain Lucy was able to see something in distance. She lowered her flight and sped up, aiming to lend on whatever it was. It came to be a casinor. It was decorated in black and red. She couldn't determine if that meant that person who currently sat on it looking at the sea seemed like a type to treat her better than those urchins. The color of his boat wasn't a good sign in her eyes, but she had no choice but to land. She didn't bother standing at teh sails, but landed down on the deck, lowering her wounded wing with pleasure. If Daske was good observer he would notice little piece of fabric tied to Lucy's leg with few coins, maybe enough for plain clothes, few meals and sleepover in a city. She was able to hunt and make nest on her own, so she didn't need it, but she liked to have some just in case. She hid some of her money in forest surrounding Denval when she decided to travel, while she left around 250GM behind her just this morning, in mountains close to Alvadas. She didn't want to carry that much above the sea.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

The choppy water made for a rough ride, but the combination of the up-down motion and the hot sun were putting Daske to sleep anyway. He let his hand hang over the side of the boat and drag in the water, which was only inches from the gunnel because the boat was heeled over to port at about a twenty degree angle, which was exactly as it should have been. He was startled awake by a shadow flitting over him and looked up just in time to see a large bird soar overhead. He guessed its wing span at two meters. It circled once and set down gracefully on top of the cabin, ruffling its feathers briefly as it folded its wings into its body. “Damn,” he said. “An eagle. Ya don't see that every day. Least not out here in the middle of the ocean.” His visitor was about a meter in length, mostly dark brown and had a wicked looking hooked beak. Daske remained where he was. This looked like a creature he didn't want to get into a fight with. He loosened the port jib sheet and pulled in the starboard jib sheet, which put the jib on the opposite side of the boat from the mains'l. Then he let go of the tiller so the rudder was free to do whatever it wanted to do. The Black Lady was now hove-to, with the jib and main counter-balancing each other. In this position, she would drift slowly backward in long sweeping arcs at about 1 knot of speed. Heaving-to also had the benefit that it flattened out the wave action, resulting in a much smoother ride. He stood up slowly and spread his hands out in a gesture of peace. “Well that's dumb,” he said. “The damn bird's not gonna to know what that means.” He stared at the bird. The bird stared at him. “You're a beautiful specimen aren't you? Huh … what's that.” He noticed a piece of fabric tied to the eagle's leg. “Needin' a little rest I suppose. Well I don't blame you for that. It's a long way to fly. Tell ya what, I won't bother you if you don't bother me. An' when you get your wind back, you can be on your way. Meanwhile, I'm gonna fix myself somethin' to eat.” He cautiously stepped over to the companion way hatch and went below deck.

[Lucy]

Lucy stared at the man who was surely acting strange. She didn't bother when he spoke to himself, she felt it was normal, speaking to whoever there is to hear you. Yet, when he spoke to her she began wondering if he recognized her as Kelvic. She remembered she had some gold tied around her leg, but she wasn't sure if he would notice and assume her race. She met people who didn't know about Kelvics at all, so she couldn't imagine him already realizing it. She lift a short tweet at the peace sign, hoping he would take it as a positive sign. She didn't want to morph now, she was comfortable as she was and she didn't know how will her injury react at reshaping. It wouldn't change, but it tended to get bigger in her human form and hurt more. Eating sounded good. She didn't taste any food since this morning and wasn't in shape to hunt and her chances were already lower in the middle of an ocean. Perhaps she would have to morph. When the man went below the deck she stood up. It took her a while to remove fabric tied around her leg by her beak, but she was glad when she did. It would probably end up torn apart during morphing, since it was pretty loose, but she didn't want to risk anything. In front of Syna's watchful eye eagle reshaped into maiden. Her arm felt tense and her shoulder hurt when moving from certain position. She didn't have a lot of knowledge in medicine, so she couldn't identify type of her injury, but it was actually a harmless hematoma which would disappear in few days. In this form she also realized sweet slow melody of the sea pushing the boat slightly up and down didn't satisfy her stomach. She didn't notice that man adjusted boat for smoother sail, perhaps because changing forms confused her sense a bit. She observed the docks with her sensitive eyes. She didn't notice anything to wear or eat, so she shrugged (which was followed by more pain) realizing she'll had to head downstairs naked. During the days she spent in human form she learned that's not appropriate and felt anxious doing so, but she reconnected much more with her animalistic side recently and her awareness disappeared. She picked her so-called bag with Mizas, but in the end left it there. The worst that could happen was for it to fall in water, which she didn't consider much of a tragedy. Money, as if it mattered. She didn't knock or give any other sign that she was coming. She counted for the man to hear her anyways, not considering the fact that he might have not realized she was a Kelvic and that he might be alert for intruders. Stealing a ship in the middle of ocean with no one to witness it must have been a popular sport. However, it was really weird being below the docks. To tell the truth, she was never sailing, except for her little breaks from flying in eagle form. She felt a bit claustrophobic. Here and there she always liked to be able to fly around endlessly and being trapped here with the boat shaking with waves was scaring her a bit. "You got any spare food?", she asked without hesitation. "I think my wing- erm, arm is hurt."

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Daske was rooting around in the storage area under the cockpit collecting the ingredients for a meal. He had found the salt pork, the onions and the last of the dried tomatoes. “Ah!” he said in Pavi. “There you are.” He pulled a sack of dried beans out from under the storm sail. He stored pretty much everything back there. He was backing out of the small space when the girl spoke. “Ouch!” he yelled as his head connected with the opening separating the storage compartment from the main cabin. He scrambled out and collided with the naked woman standing at the bottom of the companion way steps. “Whoa!” he said trying to back up and give her a little room. Unfortunately there wasn't much room to be had. So he edged past her and stood in the middle of the cabin staring at her with his mouth open. He closed it with a snap. “Where the hell did you come from?” he said, switching to Common. “Who are you? What ...” He stopped. A naked woman standing in the cabin of his boat nonchalantly asking if she can have something to eat. Daske wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but this had happened to him once before. “I d-don't suppose you're the eagle?” He asked tentatively. “Oh ... Wait ... Your arm ... Wing ... Ha! Yes! You are the eagle. You're a Kelvic.” He was pleased with himself for having put the clues together. “Damn, a mighty fine lookin' one too.” He said as he unabashedly appraised her body. Then he realized what he was doing. “Oh crap. Let me get you some clothes.” He rummaged around the V-berth and came up with a pair of pants and a pull-over shirt. “Here.” He handed them to her. “We're about the same height but you're a lot thinner than me so they're gonna be baggy.” He sat down on the starboard side berth and continued staring at her. “Wow! An eagle Kelvic. How cool is that?”

[Lucy]

When she first entered man spoke in some language she couldn't understand. She wondered if that was language of Svefra, the sailors. He perfectly matched what she picked up about them: blond and blue eyed. On the other hand she would expect to see the man in Sunberth rather than on the open sea. His confusion reminded her of dozens of other situations she lived trough by now, so she couldn't help but lift a sigh. "Yes, I am", she responded when he asked about Kelvics. She already lived trough compliments too, so she just remained bored, with no intention of forming a relationshipI'm trying, Lucy is stubborn XD with someone who lived on a boat. Letting him get what he had for her she observed the room. Some would call it a bit messy, but she only considered that the man tried to put too many things in too small space. However, it was big enough for a person to live in there, even nor she couldn't imagine herself being alone on the boat without her wings. Why would being as human leave freedom ground gave him for the sea? She just couldn't understand. OOCThis is thought to write, since I have supposed-to-be-a-sailor character too.TTwTT When she got the clothes she just clumsily put them on, muttering: "Thanks". When she was done she looked up to see what was he preparing. Her carnivore instinct wasn't satisfied, but this was food too for her human form and she reminded herself that the man was going trough trouble to help her. He probably didn't have much food stored in here. She would give him few Mizas she was carrying, since this situation was ideal example of reason she was carrying them for. Meaning of word 'cool' was always mystery to the Kelvic. She wasn't aware of the fact most humans, at least as children, would give up a limb to be able to turn into an animal. Also, her flying was natural to her, but other Mizaharians had to travel few seasons to reach the city she was able to reach in dozen days, mostly. However, it was all normal for her and she couldn't understand what 'cool' referred to. "I guess", she responded shortly. She had to boost her mood a little if she wanted to be accepted well. He was a nice man, it was obvious by now, so she was supposed to be nice to. But it was one thing she was extremely bad at. Pain in her arm distracted her from thinking and she didn't like it in here one bit. She just hoped it was safe to sleep upstairs. "I'm sorry for landing like this, I really had no choice..." It was obvious by now, but she just hurried to say something so atmosphere wouldn't get awkward.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Daske kept two barrels of fresh water in a compartment opposite the head. He poured some into an iron pot and tossed in some beans, some chunks of pork, chopped onion and the dried tomatoes. He lit the oil cooking stove and set the pot on the burner. Then he turned back to his visitor. Not the most sociable person in the world, he thought. Not that he had grounds to complain. He was one of the least sociable people he knew. “Lemme look at your arm,” he said. Without giving her a chance to object, he took hold of her hand and pushed the shirt sleeve up, a little more roughly than he had intended. “Damn, you've got an ugly bruise there.” He poked and prodded at it a bit and got the expected sounds of complaint from his patient. “Nothin's broken.” He went back to his V-berth and found another shirt, which he cut into long strips and fashioned into a sling to hold her arm secure against her chest. "Try not to use it for a few days." The smell of the stew-like concoction he was cooking had permeated the small space, reminding Daske that he was starved. A few minutes later they were sitting opposite each other eating dinner. “I'm Daske,” he said. “Baggywrinkle pod. Svefra. In case you hadn't figured that out.” He produced a hint of a smile but it looked more like a grimace because of the ugly red scar running down one side of his face. “I hope you don't mind goin' where I'm goin', 'cuz I don't think you're goin' anywhere else for a while.” He stared into his bowl for a few moments and then looked up at her. "Let's get somethin' clear right up front. This is just a temporary arrangement, okay? Until you're better enough to fly. Then you can be on your way again." He got up and got himself another helping of stew. “What the hell you doin' out here in the middle of the ocean anyway?”

[Lucy]

She instinctively tried to avoid Daske's attempt to help her, but he was too fast. "Petch", she muttered. She hoped injury wasn't that bad, but she'll obviously have to keep her feet on the ground for a while. "Thanks", she said with a smile when he fixated her arm. It helped a lot, since she couldn't accidentally move it and cause pain. She sat down silently wondering what to say, ask. The man was so nice to her, that rarely happened to the Kelvic. "My name is Lucy Keln", she tried out her surname on her tongue. It didn't feel good. Her feelings towards her family faded slowly and surname was just additional burden to carry. Baggywrinkle. She tried to memorize that. "Erm, pod? What's that? Sorry, I don't know much about Svefra..." She didn't even notice she slightly changed her behavior to what she was trying to act like. "And where are we heading to, then?", boat was slow and probably those few more days won't create more than an additional day to her fly, but she still hoped he was going at least a bit in south-eastern direction. After getting few bites of food she concluded it wasn't as bad as she thought so. Her way of eating would probably be considered either weird or messy, maybe both. "It's a deal", she agreed immediately without getting it as possible insult. "Thank you for your help. I have few mizas by myself, I left them up there, I'm willing to pay for food and sleepover..." Where does she begin? Shall she tell him the whole story? "Well, I honestly have no idea what to do with my life anymore, so I mostly travel, searching for something... I even don't know what. Now I decided for Sunberth. I lived there for couple of seasons and wanted to try again. It's the only chapter which isn't completely finished." Or was it? It was interrupted by Bryan, another huge chapter, but she wasn't willing to search for the boy. She was sure he was fine by himself and she was tired of searching for people already. She spent half of her life searching for Luna and Galio, only to realize that wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want revenge anymore. And she didn't want to waste time anymore.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

He ate while he listened. She was the second Kelvic he had met. Urezzko too had seemed to be searching for something without knowing what it was. She had stayed with him for a while and then vanished without a word. Daske decided Kelvics' natures must give them a wild side that makes them restless. It was probably only be a matter of time before Lucy disappeared too. “We’re goin’ to the Anchorage Flotilla if I can find it,” he said. “It’s kind of a floating city. Mainly Svefra. I need a new set of sails. Mine are are pretty much blowed out.” He put his bowl on the cooking surface and retrieved a pipe from a drawer in the nav station desk. He settled his large frame on to the settee again and stuffed tobacco into the pipe's bowl. Soon the aroma of pipe tobacco had replaced the smell of pork stew. “A pod's kind of a family, 'cept its members aren't necessarily related to each other. Each pod has a Lia. She's the pod leader. My Lia is Sable Baggywrinkle.” Daske looked Lucy over. Tall and thin. More sturdy looking than feminine looking, although there was no doubt she was female. She had short black hair and dark eyes with a flash of yellow in them. She struck him as a no-nonsense girl with a mind of her own. He decided he liked that. “Don't know that I can help ya much findin' whatever it is yer lookin' for,” he said. “But you're stuck with me for now. When we reach the Flotilla you can decide where you want to go. There'll be boats comin' and goin'. Shouldn't be too hard to crew on one goin' your way. Or I guess you can just up and fly away, for that matter.”

[Lucy]

"Floating island?", she asked in surprise. "That sure sounds like an interesting place to visit", she decided, wondering why she never heard of it. But, after all, there was so many things young Kelvic never heard of. There was no rush to get to Sunberth and she might get to see something new. Yet, the fact mainly Svefra occupied the island bothered her. Even nor she realized she can't generalize all of them after meeting Daske, she was still not over her wound. If she ever sees those petching brats they're gonna be sorry for this. "What's the point, when you're separate all the time?", she asked. "Sounds like a formality." She wasn't aware she was somewhat insulting one whole culture. "Deal", she muttered again while eating. She was sad that she couldn't help him find the island he was looking for. She would probably be able to find it and come back withing few hours, letting him know exact direction he should take. Thinking about that, an eagle could be useful thing on a boat. If she wasn't kind of seasick or claustrophobic or whatever this feeling was she would go and visit some more Svefra, trying to fit in somewhere. Maybe she would like sailing if she was able to fly. She had no idea.