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[Khida]

Spring 19, 513 AV late afternoon What with the... commotion... which had resulted from the last time Khida shifted and walked among the Drykas, she hadn't been inclined to essay another venture. Not for a number of days now, as she retreated into the ease -- the simplicity -- of falcon form, of watchful attention and observation. But she had observed the Drykas in the city for seasons, and merely watching did not seem to bring the Kelvic much new learning. Not anymore. Eventually, her need to understand more brought Khida back down from the sky, relinquishing the intrinsic warmth of her plumage and putting human feet to the ground. This time, she was not in the midst of the city, but on its very outskirts, where there was an abundance of open sky and a shortage of people. One person, in fact: a comparatively heavily-built man slightly taller than the Kelvic's human form. He seemed to keep birds of prey, or others in his pavilion did, in a way different from how the hunter had always regarded her. That difference piqued Khida's curiosity. He was out now in the company of a falcon, a type different from and smaller than her own animal form. Warily respectful of both the strange man and the bird, Khida halted her approach with a wide distance still remaining between them. "Hello," she greeted him in Common, somewhat diffidently, attention very direct upon the man. With no items (never mind weapons) to her own name and a distinct reserve in her posture, the slender woman wasn't likely to come across as a threat. Just... very peculiar, in her lack of windmarks and clothing alike. "Your bird," she went on, forthright in her curiosity. "The things you have with it. What are they?"

[Fox Starseer]

Fox turned to see the woman standing behind him. "This is my falconry equipment so I can look after the birds, well help my mother look after them" he said. He stroked the feathers of the bird that was on his arm, a young kestrel who was holding it's wing a bit away from it's body. "I'm Fox, and you are?" he said, extending his hand he was petting the bird with to the girl. The kestrel chirped softly, occasionaly extending one wing, the other it couldn't move that well.

[Khida]

Khida tipped her head to study the hand he extended, but made no move to take it. She was more interested in the other one, the one supporting the bird -- and perforce gloved. The funny little strips of leather he used to tether the bird, holding them snugly in his fist. Mindful of the small falcon, she remained on Fox's other side, leaving the bird what she thought should be sufficient distance. "Khida," she supplied, getting the introduction business out of the way. "That part is a glove," she said, providing the Common word. "I do not recognize the rest. What are the Pavi words?" She eyed the jesses again, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Why do you hold the bird with the ties?"

[Fox Starseer]

Fox lowered his hand when Khida didn't shake it. Something is strange about this woman...what is it... he thought. "There are the jesses, they keep the bird with me while she's training, or sitting here on the glove" he said. He looked closely at the wing the bird had extended out slightly. "This poor girl hurt her wing on her first hunting flight, I just have to think of the best way to help her" he added. He looked at Khida. "So are you interested in falconry, or birds?" he asked.

[Khida]

He answered her second question, but not the first. Khida frowned slightly, considering whether it was worth... no, she wanted those words. It wasn't a matter of whether. "Jesses. Glove. And they are called in Pavi?" she prompted. "This is?" the woman iterated in that language, a single gesture including bird and equipment all together. The things he said in response to her other question made sense as words, but as concepts... "Birds are for flying," Khida stated, eyeing the Drykas man askance. "Not for holding." She paused for a beat. "What do you train the bird to do?" And then there was the rest of it. Falconry? The root of the word was clear, but the exact connotation escaped Khida, its elusiveness bringing another mild frown to her expression. "I do not know 'falconry'. If it is something to do with falcons, then maybe I should know it. You will tell me?"

[Fox Starseer]

Fox said the words again in Pavi. He listened to the statment and two questions. "I only hold the bird so I can see whats wrong with her, or while she's not flying or being trained. These birds me and my mother train to help with hunting, and scouting. That's what falconry is, training and using birds of prey, like kestrels, falcons and other, similar birds, for hunting and scouting" he explained. Both in Common and again in Pavi, anticipating being asked the Pavi version of what he said. "This one, we've been told by the hunter who took her out, has an injured wing, so I have to see how bad it is, as far as I know is she can't fly very well right now" he said.

[Khida]

Glove, jesses. Khida leaned in, keeping an eye on the kestrel's demeanor as she did so, to take a closer look at the jesses. "The glove makes sense," she observed offhandedly to the bird handler as she straightened. "But I would not wear the strips, the jesses." The tight bands around the bird's legs were distinctly unsettling, when she thought of them applied to herself. But they weren't, and she had more immediate concerns. The man spoke a long string of words in Pavi, which made her eyes glaze over and her expression blank; then repeated himself in Common, which Khida actually understood. "Too many words, in Pavi" she said after, shaking her head. "I do not know that many." Falconry, birds of prey, hunting and scouting. The Kelvic fell quiet as she mused over this. She did not think he used this falconry, because he did not act like this one did, carrying the little bird around, or have the gloves and jesses. Maybe the gloves would be good for him to have. With that tentative conclusion reached, Khida returned her attention to the Drykas and his bird, tipping her head to one side. "It holds the wing up, she observed. Truly broken wings, if her past prey was any good indication, tended to drag down rather than be raised. "Maybe it is bruised, or... tense, tight." Or maybe not. Khida shrugged; she was not that bird, to know intimately what it felt.

[Fox Starseer]

Fox nodded at this. "So just wrapping the wong up should be fine then" he said. He walked over to the box of medical supplies and pulled out a bandage. He wrapped it around the wing a couple of times, then tied the ends around the bird's body.

He looked at Khida again. "So are you one of us, a Drykus?" he asked. He looked her up and down again, still wondering what was strange about her, the strange feeling he was getting.

[Khida]

She couldn't offer advice on the care and tending of such an injury, but watched with interest as he took out materials from a box. "It must trust you a lot," Khida remarked as he began wrapping the pale cloth around the bird. She wouldn't want to stand there while someone tied her wings down against her body -- and she was pretty sure she understood rather more of what was going on than the kestrel did. Khida walked around the man and his bird, coming over to the box's other side and peering down into it. There was another roll of lightweight fabric, which she lifted out and turned over in her hands, fingers teasing at the edge of the cloth but not unwinding it. "Bandages," she prefaced in Common; the demand which would follow was eminently predictable. "What is the word? And... to mend, to fix?" Amber eyes blinked over at the Drykas man. "I am not Drykas," she answered. "Drykas would know Pavi." At least to the best of her present knowledge. Or, wait, what the others had said... "And a Strider, yes? I do not have that either." These were simple facts, plainly stated. "I am here with..." How did she describe him? Humans would give a name, but he used none. And their relationship... well, she'd keep it simple. "...my partner. He is Drykas."

[Fox Starseer]

Fox repeated the words in Pavi. "Yes, to stop it from moving so it can heal, mend, be fixed" he said. "And the bird does trust me, she has been cared for by me and my mother since she first hatched, raised by us, trained" he added. Not a Drykus...I thought as much but it was worth asking...she can't be Zith or Dhani...not a Nuit from what I've heard of them, after all she doesn't seem to want to eat me like I heard they did from the travelers... he thought. He placed the bird back on it's mews and closed the cage. "Well it's good to hear you have a Drykus as your signifigant other, I'm sure you make a nice, strong partner for him" he said, smiling. "What shall you do now? Anything else you wish to learn about what I do?" he asked.