Run Rabbit Run!

[Caehli Galesong]

3rd Summer, 512 A.V. "There!" Caehli hissed in hush whisper. Her wan eyes narrowed on the rabbit hidden in the tall grass.It would have been almost invisible if the fleeting sunshine didn't betray it. The light had shone through it's tall slender ears giving them a reddish glow. This was a typical Drykas tactic to track a rabbit. The clever little brutes weren't too difficult to catch in plain sight, however hidden in the plain grass it was almost impossible! She crouched down low in the grasses. She too would have been concealed if her gilted Eypharian skin did not glisten in the light. Caehli scowled and cursed her mixed blood for the millionth time. She pulled her purple shawl over her head and shoulders so it shadowed her nose and cheeks from the sun. She held her breath in wait of the precious rabbit. During the summer rabbit meat was especially tender due to all the sustenance they get from the plentiful flora and herblife. The rabbit was about the width of a small creek from Caehli. It sniffed the air precariously naive to it's terrible fate of rabbit stew. Caehli lied in wait, hungry and anxious to make dinner. Endrykas had traveled far today and some yummy rabbit would be a perfect end to a long day. Caehli notched her arrow on her bow, ready to strike. She just need the little fluffy blighter to hop it's way on over to her. Then it would be done like dinner.

[Telia Daggersong]

Considering the circumstances, Telia should not have been nearly as upset as she was by Caehli's intrusion - if one could even call it that. These were hardly personal hunting grounds, and the other woman had every right to the rabbit that she was stalking. Had Telia spent hours that morning weaving and preparing her snares of rope, grass weave, and thorns from a nearby bush of some sort? Absolutely - and the loss of that time hung heavily on her now as the late afternoon sun beat down upon her shoulders and she felt a stinging sensation radiating from her sweaty palms, the acidic fluid irritating the cuts and knicks on her hands that she had earned in her hours of trapweaving. Even still, in the Sea of Grass, the game belonged to the Tribes, not to any one hunter or trapper, and the nature of snare hunting did lose out to bow hunters on occasion. That, however, was not troubling the brown-haired woman in the least.

No, the mere act of losing the game to this woman was not of any particularly concern. Far more important to Telia were the intricately woven traps that rested a mere yard or so from the feet of this newcomer. She prided herself on her reusable snares - they were fairly easy to reconstruct after being tripped by a rabbit or even a small fox in the case of the bigger ones. Unfortunately, they stood little chance against being trampled underfoot by a human. Yes, the rabbit was irrelevant. But this woman was liable to start bounding about like a young hunting cat as soon as she bagged her kill, moving about to pick up and clean the kill... And likely trampling, or even triggering, some of her snares in the process.

Telia couldn't help but smirk for a moment as she lay stock still in the tall grass, her green tunic and brown hair blending into the swaying fibers of the green sea like some sort of natural camouflage. At the very least, if her traps were destroyed, perhaps this person would learn to look before she leaped, so to speak. Those thorns were nasty and usually proved rather painful to extract. She had slowed her breathing to a near crawl now as she sat and waited. These things took time, she knew - though there was a certain anxiety in waiting this time around, as she was far less certain of her success at snaring something other than a careless comrade.

[Caehli Galesong]

"Come on...just a little closer" she urged the rabbit. Caehli began to become impatient, she huffed irritably. She might as well close the distance between her and the rabbit herself. In low crouch she crept forward. The rabbit seemed negligent as it snuffled the ground before it.Nibbling on grass carelessly and enjoying the afternoon. Caehli mentally laughed at the heedless rabbit and continued crawl.Sometimes it was so sad how creatures couldn't realize that they were about to fall into a trap. Suddenly a snap filtered through the air. The rabbit froze and Caehli did the same. Until excrutiating pain entangled itself around her leg. Since Caehli was crouched she fell to her side when she shifted her weight from the pain. The pain laced through her side like a wildfire. A symphony of snaps and crackles filled the air. Caehli was beside herself as she lied unmoving in the dirt. Her whole left side was throbbing and something was caught in hair.The thorny barbs almost seemed familiar.In realization Caehli cursed herself because she had gotten herself caught in several small traps.They clamped and entangled all up her side, the thorns caught deep in her torso and arm.The one on her leg was most irritating since it she was currently immobile. She looked up slowly for sign of the little rabbit's pink ears in the sunlight. Slowly it started hopping her way, very carefully it passed Caehli.Mindful to step around her and the other traps laid out. It brown eyes met hers for a moment and it almost seemed to understand what was going on. In a moment the afternoon seemed all to unreal. Could a rabbit outsmarted have Caehli? Was it too far fetched to think that the rabbit was aware of the snares and traps and only waiting for a safe escape? Caehli cursed audibly at the rabbit."Oh you better run you little devil!!! I swear if I see your hide again I'll make a nice pair of gloves out of it!" she screamed at it. Off the little rabbit scampered into the grasses. It was invisible to Caehli's eye now, but at this point she didn't care about the rabbit. She cursed herself for her stupidity, some hunter she was.She continued to roll around in the dirt in pain, trying to free herself from her trap.

[Telia Daggersong]

Brilliant, Telia thought bitterly as the rather unfortunate scene unfolded before her. She would have been alright with one or two of the traps being lost, but the blasted fool had gone and trigged near every snare she had set. She took a sort of morbid pleasure, she admitted, in seeing the snares work so well - the fact that their victim happened to be a fellow plainswoman was a mere unfortunate coincidence.

Quickly, silently, she rose from her position concealed amongst the wavy grass, her shortbow in hand, already strung. She always kept it ready when in the wilds. Her mother had taught her that the bow and arrow represented more than a simple weapon of war. It could be a tool of mercy, a channel through which a wounded kill could return to the grass more quickly and with far less suffering. If the rabbit were in the same situation as the pain-wracked girl, for example, then she would be under obligation to end its suffering on the spot.

Of course, that analogy did not hold up under scrutiny. Unlike any small game trapped in Telia's contraptions, this woman's death was not a foregone conclusion - she was just in a rather unfortunate amount of pain. As far as Telia was concerned, though, her pain could wait a few moments longer, as the rabbit hadn't discovered the good sense to bolt yet.

In one slow, methodical motion - like the barely-discernable change of the seasons - Telia's hand dropped to the quiver at her hip, pulled a simple arrow, and knocked it against the bowstring. Her motions were practiced, without hesitation or (more vitally) sound. The string pulled backwards as smoothly as the motion of the grass surrounding the girl. A heartbeat passed, one eye fluttered closed. Another moment, the sound of blood pumping through her brain, her face, her limbs - a blip, a singular motion that controlled life and death.

The idea of survivalism, the eternal game that the Drykas played so well, had always fascinated Telia. As the arrow flew into the rabbit's flank, eliciting a series of pitiful squeaks akin to a sort of innocent death knell, Telia pondered her odds of survival for the rest of the day. Untold dangers awaited Telia and her people in these plains, she knew; it was something of a paradox that the same Sea of Grass that ensured their survival could, at any moment, give birth to their demise. Of course, it did not matter - not as much as this particular rabbit. Food for her and her family. A night without hunger.

Only after the small creature was surely dead did she move from shooting position. Telia's eyes slowly shifted from the rabbit's corpse to the woman, still wracked in pain from her traps. "Hold on - I'll get you out of those." She approached with an ease of movement that indicated her familiarity with the plains. She knelt next to the pained girl and began methodically removing the snares from her leg. "What's your name?"

[Caehli Galesong]

She sorta rose out of the plains like a mirage. Caehli wasn't too sure if she was real. Right now the grasses were so tall that they reached a full grown man's thigh. Yet the woman strided across the grass like she was a hundred feet tall. The grasses almost seemed like they were bowing before her. The gentle wind blew back her hair to reveal a very pretty face that was almost serene. In one swift movement she drew her bow, in exhale she terminated the rabbit soundly. It was almost amazing and Caehli was jealous of her confidence and grace. However this was no time to envy what she didn't have, Caehli had to free herself. However the girl then knelt beside her "Hold on - I'll get you out of those" she said and began untangling her leg with ease.It struck Caehli that her familiarity with the traps must have meant she designed them herself. Guilt subsided in Caehli's gut and it was a whole lot worse than the prickly thorns in her skin. "What's your name" the girl asked. This caught Caehli's attention although she could not meet the woman's eyes. "Er...I am Caehli Galesong of the Amethyst Clan " She muttered in embarrassment and shame over the destruction of the traps. "What's yours?" she asked. When her leg was freed she slowly eased herself up in a sitting position. "It must have taken all day to make these...I'm sorry my foolish blunder ruined them..." Caehli pushed her dark hair over her ear. She stared at her lap ashamed like a child.

[Telia Daggersong]

"No point in apologizing. What's done is done." Telia grinned a bit as she set the ruined traps to the side, along with a pile of thorns that had been plucked from the girl's scraped, bleeding leg. "Though I will say that you're lucky it was me lying over there and not something with much sharper claws." She climbed to her feet and offered her hand to young Caehli. "Now get up. Can't have you sitting in the grass all day.

I am Telia Daggersong of the Emerald Clan," she added on, almost as an afterthought. She idly brushed a lock of long hair away from the front of her face, though it did little good as her hair continued to billow in the frequent gusts of the plains. "I'd ask what brought you all the way out here, but judging by the way you were eying that rabbit I think it fairly obvious. Would you like some of him? I already snared several today."

[Caehli Galesong]

Caehli laughed softly "Well met Telia " Caehli mirrored the girls grin " It certainly is a relief I am grateful that you have thumbs and no intention of eating me " she laughed in good nature "Although I've been in several scuffles with the creatures of the plains..so I would not be surprised had it been wolf or glassbeak lurking in the grasses " Caehli said as afterthought but shrugged of her careless mistakes, it was in the past so she cared not to tread on her encounter's with death. When Telia offered some of her precious rabbit she shook her head furiously. "No not at all my friend! You've helped me enough today" she indicated to her leg "All I've given you is trouble it wouldn't be fair or right" Her eyes earnest although appreciative, "Thank you though for everything you have done" She grinned wide like a cat " Your kindness and mercy is much appreciated " she said in good manner. Caehli stood up slowly mindful of her leg, then dusted off herself as if the incident never happened. She was happy that dressing plainly had paid off in the end. Those pesky thorns would have torn fine material since they were so prickly. Her eyes fell upon Telia's hands and she grinned again. "A elder in my pavillion makes and excellent salve, Please come with me so we can tend to your hands! " She offered earnestly hoping it would be good gesture in thanks of the entanglement of Telia's traps.

[Telia Daggersong]

Telia smiled as she placed her kill in a game satchel at her hip. She had little money, and poultices and other such luxuries were a rarity at best, usually to be saved for far more serious injuries. However, this girl seemed good company, and as if to aid the huntress in her decision, the cuts on her hands seemed to throb more painfully as if reacting to Caehli's gaze. "Very well," she responded. "Just let me call my strider."

She pursed her lips, releasing a shrill whistle. Soon enough, Yndra came galloping towards the two of them, releasing a gleeful whinny upon coming into view of her partner. The horse, a gray dun with pitch black legs and mane, appeared like a herald against danger, its very presence sending comforting sensations through Telia's consciousness. Yndra was here - she was safe, and they were together. It felt like nothing in the world could possibly be amiss. She rubbed the creature's neck affectionately. "Call your strider and we'll be off, then," she called to Caehli, promptly leaping onto the back of her Strider.

[Caehli Galesong]

It amused Caehli greatly, the way the silver horse whinied in joy of her rider.Like all Drykas Telia had a very close relationship with her Strider.It reminded her of her Din, and she nodded at Telia's suggestion. She too whistled out in beckon of Din. Unlike Telia's pretty high note Caehli's sounded over the plains in a soft low tone. At first it was silent, the only audible sound was the brush of the grasses and the gentle wind caressing the earth. Then suddenly light footfalls caught Caehli's ear and a smile came onto her face. Din rose over the horizon and when he drew near he slowed to a canter.This golden palomino was Caehli's closest friend and always came to her call. Now only a foot away Din immediately started snuffling at his little rider. He was big for a Drykas Strider, standing at seventeen hands. He and Caehli often looked like an odd pair together. In sort of a big brother like fashion he nickered at her injured leg, almost as though he was scolding her. Caehli laughed and brushed his black mane "Oh it's nothing, just a little scratch " she chided however the horse protested tossing his head. As though he did not want to be touched by Caehli, that however wasn't the truth he was just sulking. "Hush ! You silly thing!" she eased the horse and climbed gently up on Din. She was lucky he was bareback it would hurt far too much to wear a Yvas at this time. Din whinied once she was settled, her hands firmly placed on his massive muscular neck. She then jerked her head in direction of her encampment only as indication for Telia because she and Din obviously knew their way home. Din galloped off in direction of home, because he was a very impatient horse. "Don't get ahead of yourself you silly beast, Sorry he's er...a character " Caehli called out to Telia laughing at Din's expressive body language.

[Telia Daggersong]

"Aren't they all?" Telia chuckled, releasing another whistle - this one of a middling range that rang like a melancholy chorus through the open sky. Its meaning was clear to any who understood the connection between a Strider and her rider - Fly.

Like a bolt of lightning, exposed, vibrant, and beautiful on the stormy Sea of Grass, Yndra broke into a dead gallop, quickly gaining ground on the horse and rider in front of them. Telia was decidedly less graceful on horseback, Caehli might have noticed. In the grass, she embodied the predator, a silent, deadly stalker with vicious eyes and a wicked sting. Mounted, however, she was reminiscent of a young child, bounding and leaping with every movement of her horse and rarely staying in her saddle. Truth be told, Telia found that horseback was one of the few places where she truly felt at peace and safe. Borne on the back of her most trusted confidante, she felt neigh invincible.

Before too long she had caught up to Caehli, where Yndra promptly eased her pace ever so slightly to match the other Strider's. "He's beautiful, and so large!" She calls out, her voice barely carrying through the whipping wind.