Watchful Eyes [Khida]

[Naiya]

Rue

Wildfire drew his head up, arching his neck and stretching through his body. On another horse, the stance would have been elegant maybe even beautiful, but Wildfire instead looked prideful and strong. He had his own sort of majesty lingering in the lines of his body, however his youth disguised it well. He only managed the look a moment, chin tucked and eyes alight, before he broke unable to wait for the standoff between the woman and himself to end. He whinnied, taking a few prancing steps closer to her before striking the pose once more.

Across the water Rue bit her lip softly to contain her laughter. The woman looked almost ready to flee, but the horse, he was looking for touch. The gentle bite of scolding, or the playful shove of friends, even the hesitant brush of fright. These things were usual, understanding, comforting. Distance was not. She willed her breathing to slow, her body to still, as though in a hunt. She hoped not to disturb the moment by distracting the two, though whether in hopes of benefit to the woman or to the horse was unclear.

When neither further commands nor the reassurance of touch came to soothe the stallion his head dropped low. He called more softly to the woman, nudging her hand ever so softly with his nose.

OOCI don't want to presume too much so this is a bit shorter. Hope it is okay.

Nightsong

[Khida]

The Strider drew himself up proud and tall -- then cried and danced a few steps closer. Khida flinched slightly, out of surprise more than anything; she didn't fear the horse, for no horse had ever even appeared to menace her. Not even this one with his pride. But she didn't understand what he wanted or intended now... and a questioning glance towards the girl provided little more insight. She was utterly still, watching avidly, but didn't seem very concerned that Khida could see.

The Drykas trusted Striders. That was axiomatic. No, Khida didn't fear what this Strider would do, and she would wait a little longer to find out. He pranced nearer still, the Kelvic staring at his ears, his eyes, his tail, his tentatively stepping feet... anywhere that might give her a sign of his purpose. All she could say was that he now seemed much less certain of himself than before.

She had expected him to turn around and go trotting back to his rider, after that display. What did he expect her to do? Confusion, she signed towards both horse and human, the Kelvic's all-purpose query. The horse leaned out to nose her signing hand, something closer to the greeting Khida was accustomed to getting from Striders. She hesitated, then touched her fingers against his muzzle, still entirely at a loss for what he wanted.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Naiya]

Rue

"He seeks reassurance." Rue called softly to the woman, then remembering herself she followed with the explanation in sign, not having the words in common. She searched for the right signs, struggling even with her own language as she tried to find a sign to encompass something that meant so many things. "He wants understanding." Her hands flicked through other things, position and rank, dominance, unfamiliarity, but the signs were discarded as quickly as she made them. None offered the explanation she sought.

"Challenge" This came with surety, for it was obvious to her that his actions were exactly that "Dominance." Yes these were words that explained, if not the complexities of hierarchies within a herd, that he was questioning the woman's authority, her place.

Wildfire pushed more firmly against her hand, growing impatient with the two women and their stillness, though he had turned his attention to Rue as she spoke, he waited on the woman once more to pose her response.

Nightsong

[Khida]

The girl spoke, but only unfamiliar words; Khida turned to see signs not much more comprehensible, except want and maybe... understanding? It had the same root shape as confusion, but without the negative inflection. He wanted understanding?

What was there for him to understand?

Khida shook her head, dark hair flying about her ears; as the Strider pushed forward more, she let her hand fall sharply away and took a step back, implicitly distancing herself from the baffling situation. The baffling horse. Water his, her hands shaped, angles sharp and emphatic. Her posture edged past stiff into brittle, shoulders rising as if she possessed wings and could poise them for an instant leap into the sky.

She understood the spray of water as rejection, which was fine. But then he came over and acted friendly... and the Drykas with him could not clearly explain what was going on. The seemingly contradictory signals, the continued pressure he put on her, crowding her: these turned confusion into something altogether overwhelming. It was too much.

She hissed. Another step back, and a third, one wary eye on the great red beast and one on the girl across the pool. Water why, Khida's hands asked, not directed at anyone particular, but echoing her inner bewilderment. Close why, bad, water friend not! she finished with sharp intensity. The woman held there, spine rigid, chin slightly raised, on the edge of flight but not yet pushed across that line. Not quite.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Naiya]

Rue

The rising tension in the other woman caused Rue to grow concerned. Reassurance her body shaped the word as she signed others Confrontation, no, curious. Looking for your reaction. She wasn't sure the words were enough to make the other woman understand, but the rising hostility of her posture would surely speak to the horse, if nothing else, that was clear.

All the same...

"Wildfire, enough." She called sharply, her hands signing sharply Stand down, disapproval. Rather upset in her own right, Rue turned to the woman, having forgotten that while she signed wonderfully, she was not a native speaker of Pavi.

To me she signed to the horse, and he plodded back through the water as Rue stepped forward to meet him, she smacked his shoulder on his arrival, chiding him for his behavior.

Apology, misunderstanding She signed, hoping to calm her before the woman ran off.

Nightsong

[Khida]

The girl gestured, her manner communicating more to the Kelvic than her actual signs did: regret, concern. She called the horse back, and he splashed across the pool again, this time not getting Khida wet. Khida watched him go; once he was on the far side with the red-haired girl, the tension began to seep from her shoulders and posture. The Kelvic had her space again, and the horse, whatever his intentions, was across the water.

She could deal with that.

The girl gestured again, apology now made explicit. Khida knew that sign well. She didn't really know what to do after it, not in this case. The girl stood there, and the Kelvic stood here, their conversation lost and broken. She didn't want to talk about the horse anymore. She didn't have anything else to say, either.

Khida shook her head, slow motion which drifted her hair from side to side. Not a sign of negation, but a reflection of her uncertainty. No, she didn't have anything else here. Perhaps it was time for her to go.

oocShort post, but Khida's conversation starters are run dry. She'll stay and talk if Rue wants to spark something, or we can start wrapping up.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Naiya]

Rue

Uncomfortable silence fell and Rue shifted her gaze to her clothing, only really seeming to remember them at that moment. They were dry, or mostly so, and that more than the slight pruning of her skin told her she had stayed here longer than she really intended to.

She needed to bathe, dress, and leave. She hadn't even touched her soap since washing her clothing, and she had been chatting with this woman entirely nude all the while. It may have made sense if she had actually been bathing, but now she wondered if it was odd. The other woman didn't seem to think so, although she also had arrived here as a bird, which was odd in itself.

Things could hardly get stranger, she presumed, and so she began signing once more before she realized that she didn't even know how to address the kelvic.

Query, name? The question was simple but direct so she tempered it by shaping her body into Curiousity. She didn't wait for the bird woman's response before signing Wildfire shook dirt water on you. Unsure of her signing was clear to the other she added messy.

Then she gestured broadly to the water, and with scrabbling of fingers behind her she found soap and held it up. Need bath? Bathing in groups was common enough among the Drykas, with large families and dangerous lands, it was often safer to take all the children, or just the boys or the girls as they aged, to bathe at once. So the offer she extended was only slightly strained by the thought of inviting a woman who's name she didn't even know to join her.

Nightsong

[Khida]

The girl moved, then, refocusing Khida's attention on her. The Kelvic stopped in her nascent departure, blinking at the other. She asked name, which was comprehensible; signed something about water, which was not. Khida blinked again before the girl held up soap, the wave of her hand inviting the Kelvic to bathe.

Khida looked down at herself, skin damp and spattered with drying speckles of mud. Undoubtedly her hair was as well. She didn't mind, really -- it would all dry, nearly was already, and it would come off when she preened. ...although she couldn't easily preen the top of her head, that was true.

Khida glanced over at the horse, who seemed content to give her distance, at least for the moment. She looked at the girl, who seemed... hesitant. Maybe about whether Khida would accept her offer. Washing first probably would be a good idea; there was more water here than back at the camp. She bobbed her head and stepped forward, moving through the shallows of the lake towards the girl. And the soap. As Khida drew near, she noticed the girl looked... expectant. Like she wanted an answer.... an answer beyond the simple fact of Khida's movement.

Oh, right. Name.

"Khida," she supplied, a simple and straightforward reply.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Naiya]

Rue

Rue could almost watch the woman think, first watching Rue intently, and then studying her mud splattered body as though considering whether a bath was needed. A flick of her gaze to the horse that had so bothered the woman, and then a sort nod of her head. She had apparently come to a decision about bathing.

Rue waited still, wondering if name was not a sign the other woman knew, or maybe she did not have one? Did birds call each other by name? Or was that something only humans did?

Her wondering was answered as the woman said a single word, though not one she was familiar with. It was her name? Rue found it easier to just assume it was so.

"Khida?" She tried out the word, unfamiliar in it's sound, but nodded anyway Well met. She offered in sign, lathering the soap in her hands before offering the herb scented bar to the other woman.

Nightsong

[Khida]

The girl offered a sign, and then the soap; Khida took the soap. She stepped further into the water, until it reached halfway up her thighs. Funny how water seemed to get colder as you went deeper, as it covered more skin. Her arms broke out in little bumps, the human skin's vain attempt to raise insulating feathers it didn't bear. Khida decided not to go any deeper. She didn't want to be soaked... she just wanted to wash off dirt.

She caged the slippery soap in one hand, cupping the other and scooping water up over her skin and hair. Then soap, lightly applied; it smelled green, and a little smoky, but Khida couldn’t name the herb permeating the bar. Just water for her hair, though, and a check for residual dirt with clean fingers. She didn't feel like taking the time to rinse soap back out.

The Kelvic's bathing was quick and to the point; where a human girl would likely chatter and gossip, she focused on her task and left the red-haired girl to her own devices. On the other hand, it wasn't long before she handed the soap back to Rue, completely finished with it; no need to share further. An offer of gratitude came only after she had rinsed her hand for the last time, a very belated nod to courtesy.

Khida fluffed her hair out, encouraging it to dry faster. Her gaze drifted up to the sky, then back in the direction of Endrykas. Horse watch, you watch, Khida signed to the girl, turning towards her. Home soon?

Common | Pavi | someone else