Teach Me (Leto)

[Xnnn]

The cougar sat on his haunches at the outskirts of the little cluster of tents that was the hatchling phoenix of the Sunsinger pavilion. His tail was curled about his massive feet, like a house cat, and his solemn eyes looked to the north. A thin streak of white lay just on the horizon, and above that the dove grey belly of dawn washed into a darker charcoal and then to the soon to flee indigo directly above. A star or two still blinked here and there, but he smelled the new day, and it was not more than half a chime away – not that Xnnn ever went by the concept of bells and chimes. The tip of his pink tongue darted out from between white fangs and he licked his dark lips, feeling the emptiness in his belly. He had eaten the night before, in his human form. But he was hungry now, and he needed meat – energy – if he was to be shifting back and forth. When the embryonic family had retired, and left the dying fire for the shelter of their individual or shared tents, he had been invited by Leto - the one who had first greeted him on the edge of the traveling city – to share his mobile home, and Xnnn had readily accepted. They had talked a bit more, in the dark, before it was clear the human desired sleep. So Xnnn had removed his clothes, folding them into a neat pile, and then shifted, so as to sleep more comfortably. He had been almost exclusively in his animal form for months, and this way he didn’t have to trouble Leto for a bed roll or blanket. Well equipped for the cool that the night would bring, with a fur coat all his own, he had stood, on all fours of course, over the Drykas for a moment. Leto was already half asleep, and Xnnn had bent to touch his muzzle to the man’s forehead, snuffling, taking in the scent of him – etching it on his brain. It was something of a cat kiss, but its intent was serious – he wanted to always know where to find Leto, even when he was out of sight and hearing. Content, The big cat had stretched out beside the glypher, and cat napped his way through the night. He had awoken before Syna first touched the sky, and left the tent, to sit and look north, to where he had left his cache. In this form, he could cover the distance easily and swiftly. But he would not be back before the rest of them awoke, and he didn’t want to leave without any explanation. So he hesitated, pulled towards his breakfast, and pushed by the wish to avoid depriving Sama’el and his family of their food - he needed much more meat than a human would. But he was tied to the camp, by an invisible string that was already forming, though he was barely aware of it. Rising, he padded at a little jog back to Leto’s tent, poking his muzzle through the flap and entering the dark as easily as if it had been bright day, for his sight was his actually his strongest sense. He paused , then stepped to Leto’s side and lowered his head, rubbing his forehead gently against Leto’s cheek. For good measure, his tongue flicked out again and he lightly licked the Drykas’ ear.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As early as it was, Leto was definitely still asleep. But that didn't stop Xnnn from wanting to wake him up early. The soft lick to the ear was all it took too. Leto's eyes opened, and startled a little bit, he sort of jumped up, before realizing that it was only the cougar that had nuzzled him to sleep the night before. Smiling, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness within the tent, he said, "Oh, Achym, sorry about that, you startled me a bit..." Looking towards the cougar, unsure if Achym allowed touching of him, Leto didn't pet the cougar just yet, even though he kinda wanted to reach out and touch the cougar's furry head, just out of curiosity for how it might feel. But alas, now was not the time for him to do that. Slowly folding the bedroll off of him, he grabbed his undergarments, and quickly slipped them on, along with his leather pants. Slidding his arms into his brown leather vest, he smiled as he tied the vest tightly together, looking towards Achym. "What are you doing up so early?" he then asked him, curious as to why Achym was up this early. It wasn't everyday that one met a kelvic, and Leto was more than happy to have met one. It was like having a big furry friend around, one that was interesting to learn about, and converse with... when he wasn't in cat form. Leto assumed that the cougar couldn't talk like a normal human in cat form, so he decided to say, "I guess you can't really answer that right now, can you... Are you wanting to go somewhere?" The last question was in reference to a possible reason that Achym happened to be up that early, it was possible that he wished to head out somewhere, in Endrykas, but Leto figured most of the drykas would still be asleep nowadays. Smiling, he motioned for Achym towards the exit of the tent, so that they could possibly exit it if indeed Achym wanted to head out somewhere. he figured the giant cat would somehow let him know if he wanted to or not. If he didn't want to go anywhere, then Leto would await some kind of response from the cat, in order to better gauge what to say next to him...

[Xnnn]

Leto stirred and his eyes popped open. Xnnn shifted back, to give him some room and time to come to full wakefulness, gratified that he seemed fairly lively already. When he had been in Nyka, there was a lady monk that worked at the farms and she often fell asleep after lunch. Xnnn occasionally had need to wake her for this reason or that, and it was like trying to bring back the dead into the world of the living. Usually when he did finally rouse her enough, she came up swinging and he had to be very quick to dodge those ham sized fists. Then it would be another few bells worth of snorting and coughing and rubbing of eyes and cursing. Leto did none of this. He simply smiled, after first sitting up rather quickly, which was also very satisfactory. Xnnn sat on his haunches again, to take up less room, and Leto spoke in his friendly voice, saying the wake up call had been a bit surprising. Xnnn tucked that away for future reference, should he ever need to get Leto up in a hurry. Lick to ear – fast response The Drykas proceeded to pull on his clothes, and Xnnn watched his every move. But the question Leto posed was of course not one he could answer verbally. Luckily, Leto went on to make a guess and it happened to be a good one. Xnnn rose and rubbed his head on Leto’s thigh, hoping to confirm that as indeed exactly what he wished to do. He could have shifted, of course, and simply told Leto what was up. But each time he did that, it used a good deal of energy, and he really needed to conserve that to get out to his day old kill. So, as they seemed to be communicating after a fashion anyway, Xnnn felt like he would now at least have alerted Leto to the fact that he was leaving. But then Leto went to the tent flap and motioned for Xnnn to follow. Perhaps he needed to do something himself, or…as Xnnn exited the tent on Leto’s heels, he thought perhaps the Drykas would be of a mind to come with him! That seemed a great idea to Xnnn – he was enjoying Leto’s company, in his own kelvic way. Leto made him feel…in place – like he belonged here, in Endrykas. As soon as they were outside, the sky already another shade lighter in the east, the dark weanling nickered and came up to Xnnn. Apparently it was well aware that this huge cat that would otherwise be trying to eat him was actually his chosen buddy. The little horse lowered its head to touch noses with Xnnn, and then it gave a sharp little whinny and stomped its tiny hoof. It must have found this nose touching amusing. With tail flicking back and forth, Xnnn looked at Leto. He then moved a few steps – north – and stopped, looking back over his shoulder. He waited patiently to see if Leto meant to follow him, or if he had other things to do, in which case, Xnnn would head out alone and be back as quickly as he could.

[Leto Sunsinger]

As Leto exited the tent, followed by Achym, he smiled and looked towards him, watching him trot a little ways north. Picking up the yvas that he'd place upon Arias, he mounted the horse, and Arias himself turned towards the weanling, neighing a bit, and then turned back towards Achym, prepared to follow him, possibly out of Endrykas. He seemed to feel comfortable with Achym, but hoped that they'd be back before Sama'el awoke, so as to not get scolded by him for leaving the city boundaries without his assistance. He knew the Sea of Grass was a dangerous place, but he had to learn how to deal with it eventually. Having grabbed his glaive before leaving the tent, and with it now in his hand, as he had one hand on Arias' yvas, he would urge the horse forward to follow Achym and the weanling to wherever it was they happened to be going. As they traveled, Leto wouldn't utilize Arias to his full potential, so as to not outrun the cougar kelvic that he was traveling with. Even though a strider could potentially run up to 60 miles per hour, Leto didn't know where they were going, so he'd just follow Achym and run as fast as Achym was going via Arias, so that he was better able to keep pace with him. They'd have to be careful of the weanling too, if it decided to come along, or stay in place, for if the weanling came, they'd definitely have to watch out for it, so as to now allow it to get into any sort of trouble out upon the sea of grass. Last thing they needed was for Achym's bonded strider to get killed, and have Achym not necessarily be considered a drykas before the kelvic could even recieve his windmarks...

[Xnnn]

Xnnn watched as Leto picked up the Yvas, and it became clear that the Drykas was intending to accompany him. He waited until all was ready, which was really no time at all, and then Leto was up, on Arias’ strong back, and Xnnn turned his muzzle north again and trotted off. His shadow skittered and hopped a bit and then seemed to fall in beside Arias, as they all wound through more tents before reaching the absolute outskirt of Endrykas. Setting a steady pace, Xnnn called upon his instincts and senses to lead him back to the cache. He and Leto could not speak back and forth, of course, but the kelvic was certainly keeping an eye on him. In fact, he felt especially alert and cognizant of the other three in the little party and for any signs of danger. He didn’t perceive the great sea of grass as being more dangerous than the wildlands of Syliras. But he was well aware of the many predators that hid in its dense, tall camouflage. At the moment, they were in an area where the fall grass was not as high as it would be in other parts – not over a man’s head. So visibility was better. Still, it was a wary four that proceeded on full alert, four sets of senses all straining to detect the first hint of danger. As they were, on hooves or on paws, it took less time to reach the cache than it had taken Xnnn to walk in human form from the carcass to the city. In perhaps a half a chime, he knew he was close and his pace increased, his stomach demanding food. Reaching the little basin at the foot of a low swell, he slowed and approached cautiously. Though he hadn’t seen or heard or smelled any other predators, a cache would always be a draw for other carnivores. But all was quiet and he finally reached the half eaten deer. Uncovering it a bit, he shot Leto one last look before turning his attention to eating. It was not the prettiest sight, and the smell of the day old dead animal would have been most unpleasant for a human. So Xnnn ate hastily. The meat and entrails tasted good on his cat tongue and he swallowed large chunks. His stomach acids would do a lot of the work, more so than his teeth, which were mostly for tearing and ripping, not chewing. He ate and ate until his hunger was sated, and the carcass was now mainly stripped of that which a cougar would eat. He would not approach Leto in the state his face and fur were now in. With a pointed stare, he caught the man’s attention and then rose and turned to walk slowly towards the stream that lay beyond the knoll. Reaching the fresh running water, in a flash of light he shifted and then waded in, up to his knees. He sank down to a kneeling position and began to splash water all over – face, hair, chest, arms. The blood and gore was swept away by the current, and when he was clean, he rose and came back to the bank.