Winter 20 512 AV
Alva disliked the quiet. She likened the calm moments in her day as the gentle ones during a fierce storm. Every whisper of calm threatened her, she felt it. It promised a gale when there was truly only a breeze, heralded a change when there should be none.
Patrolling the newly carved trails was maddening. The jungle itself was never quiet, but the people were. When it was still, the moment so breathless she could imagine hearing the heartbeat of the man behind her, she wondered if this was what it felt like to lose one's mind.
Boredom, it was called. Alva rarely felt bored. There was always something to do in Taloba, some small way to be of assistance. On patrol, she had no choice but to be merely wary, to follow the Fang as they walked. They were long past the point where noises would rouse their tensions. It wasn't appropriate to jump at any odd shadow anymore. They could investigate hissing, perhaps find something to eat or make a boot out of, but for the most part they were lax, even loose. To an outsider, they may have still appeared to be hardened warriors, tense and suspicious, likelier to take a bite out of someone first rather than ask questions. You had to be on the inside to see it, to feel it.
Alva walked in her own eerily sinuous way, hand clasped about the handle of her hook, yellow-green eyes lit with a dark flame of predatory awareness. Her red hair hung damp and heavy against her shoulders and down her back, her pale skin was slicked with sweat. With her leather armour on, she matched the Myrians of her Fang. With her pale complexion, freckles, and lack of real bulk, she looked like an unbound prisoner. She knew the image well.
Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air and tried to get something out of it rather than the smell of sweat off the backs of her Fangmates. Nothing so troubling. If this were a hunting party, they would have some use for the creatures hiding in the dark. Anything from jungle wolves and cats to snakes, scrawny deer, and birds lingered nearby, watching the procession in their stealthy scouting. They were heading North, towards the Suvan, hoping to cut a wider path through the bush towards a coastal village while keeping their eyes out for evidence of invaders.
Alva disliked the quiet. She likened the calm moments in her day as the gentle ones during a fierce storm. Every whisper of calm threatened her, she felt it. It promised a gale when there was truly only a breeze, heralded a change when there should be none.
Patrolling the newly carved trails was maddening. The jungle itself was never quiet, but the people were. When it was still, the moment so breathless she could imagine hearing the heartbeat of the man behind her, she wondered if this was what it felt like to lose one's mind.
Boredom, it was called. Alva rarely felt bored. There was always something to do in Taloba, some small way to be of assistance. On patrol, she had no choice but to be merely wary, to follow the Fang as they walked. They were long past the point where noises would rouse their tensions. It wasn't appropriate to jump at any odd shadow anymore. They could investigate hissing, perhaps find something to eat or make a boot out of, but for the most part they were lax, even loose. To an outsider, they may have still appeared to be hardened warriors, tense and suspicious, likelier to take a bite out of someone first rather than ask questions. You had to be on the inside to see it, to feel it.
Alva walked in her own eerily sinuous way, hand clasped about the handle of her hook, yellow-green eyes lit with a dark flame of predatory awareness. Her red hair hung damp and heavy against her shoulders and down her back, her pale skin was slicked with sweat. With her leather armour on, she matched the Myrians of her Fang. With her pale complexion, freckles, and lack of real bulk, she looked like an unbound prisoner. She knew the image well.
Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air and tried to get something out of it rather than the smell of sweat off the backs of her Fangmates. Nothing so troubling. If this were a hunting party, they would have some use for the creatures hiding in the dark. Anything from jungle wolves and cats to snakes, scrawny deer, and birds lingered nearby, watching the procession in their stealthy scouting. They were heading North, towards the Suvan, hoping to cut a wider path through the bush towards a coastal village while keeping their eyes out for evidence of invaders.