Flashback Sand, Soul and Surf (Edreina)

[Kit Rowan]

Day 11, Season of Fall, 509 AV

The pregnant moon hung, heavy and bright in the sky, painting the shoreline with pale blues, whites and sharp shadows while the ocean waves, dark as the places between the stars, rushed and foamed against fine, shimmering sands.

Kit crept over the rocks, her shoes slipping over damp rocks as she struggled past them and to the irregular, soft beaches. Bala still wrestled with Tavasi as the seasons shifted, left the air pleasantly cool against Kit's skin, but still she pulled her jacket close, peered around her, nervous. She was alone, outside the city, far from Alvadas' protective walls, with Akajia's weight and Leth's eyes heavy on her shoulders. There was a potential for danger, here, from creatures, men and other things that stalked the night. Perhaps, she thought, for the dozenth time, this was a bad time to bow to whimsy's urges.

And for the dozenth time Kit ignored the worry with little more than a wriggle and a bit lip. She crawled over the rocks first on two feet, crouched, then on all fours, peered over a steep, seven foot drop into an enclosed little bay, secret and almost sacred.

She'd scarce seen thirteen autumns and it showed, her body thin and underdeveloped, her emerging girlhood only barely hinted at under shirt and trousers. She could have gone around, found a less treacherous way down, but a little drop like this? She stood, brushed off her legs. This was nothing.

Leaping off the edge of the of the rocks, Kit's blood rushed, one, she waited, watching, feeling the ground come close, two, three . . . she curled her body into a ball as she hit the sand, turned the fall into a roll, kicking up sand behind her. She stopped, kneeling in the sand, peeked behind her at the jagged, looming rocks she had jumped from. In the dark, she felt herself smiling.

There were little places better than a beach to practice tumbling, in Kit's experience. The sand was soft and forgiving whenever she fell, and when she tried her tricks here she risked abrasions and bruises rather than sprains and broken bones. And . . . It helped, sometimes to be away from the city, the jeers and hoots of crowds and overwhelming smell of people. Kit lived with Ionu always, but here she could visit Akajia for a little while. Play under her sky.

Absently, Kit kicked off her shoes a few feet from her and threw her jacket back over them, exposing arms that shone bright in the moonlight. She fell back to her rear, sinking a little in the sand, and put a foot behind her head to begin her pre-practice stretching.

[Edreina]

The funny thing about siblings is that they always seem to make trouble for one another. In this particular instance, after docking, Zindr put her little sister to work helping the rest of the escort party unload the merchant vessel that the Deepseekers (and Edreina and Surai) had been hired to escort from Syliras to Alvadas. But, did Surai have to help? NO. He got to go fish off of the back of his ship. Yes, it was true that Surai would probably pick up one box, flex his muscles at some girl, then go gallivanting off for the rest of the day, meaning that Zindr and Edreina would have to go in search of him before the pod left the next morning. But still. It was not at all fair. He was, after all, a whole 3 years older than his 18 year old sister. The least he could do was be an adult.

When the day's duties were done, Edreina found herself taking a long catnap upon the Syna-warmed deck. The nap turned into a sleep and the Svefra woke to Leth's pale light, utterly re-energized. Nope... this would not do. Someone else needed to be awake. With creaking steps, Edreina made her way from her ship, across a few more casinors and other Deepseeker vessels until she came to the ship her siblings were staying on. After sneaking below deck, she walked over to Surai's hammock and, with a sound like an angry whale, toppled him from the hammock.

Seeing him yell and scramble about was enough to make Edreina's voice ring high as peals of laughter escaped before she could get herself under control. That, of course, woke a very grumpy Zindr. Her short, curly red hair was in disarray as she woke, giving her a wild appearance when paired with harsh, narrowed blue eyes. Instead of cursing them in rather creative ways, the oldest daughter of Illsa and Gnovak Whitewave simply asked what the petch they thought they were doing and why they had woken her.

Unphased by the daunting appearance of her sister, Edreina rattled off that she was bored, and that they should go exploring this beach because she had never ever been to this beach. All was silent for a tick, and then Surai groaned, cuffing his sister on the shoulder before attempting to crawl back into his hanging bed. Before the youngest sibling could return the blow, Zindr surprised her. "Sounds like fun, to me," she said evenly enough, shrugging and rolling from her hammock to the floor.

At this, Edreina commenced grinning and hopping in place until Zindr was awake enough to head above deck. "We should swim to shore instead of walking across decks," Zindr commented smartly, stepping to the edge of her ship. As she nearly always did, Edreina agreed with her big sister and moved to follow her. Just as the sisters were about to plunge into Laviku's cool embrace, there was a thud from below then the distinct wump-bump-ump-bump-wump of someone hurrying up to stairs to the deck. Lips pursed beneath his scruffy beard, Surai appeared and walked over to his sisters.

At their odd looks, he explained rather simply: "Outta be around if y'all get in trouble. Zindr's likely to fight first and ask questions later; your likely to just giggle at them. Y'all need someone smart enough to talk us out of a situation with these land-striders." Oh yes, that infallible Surai-logic and intelligence. What would they ever do without him...

Chimes later, the siblings moved from the water onto the beach. Edreina had to shake the water from her hair, Surai from his beard, but Zindr's smart crop had her drier than either rather quickly. With that, the trio of long, freckled-limbed and red-haired Svefra set off on an adventure to find Laviku-knew-what upon the beach. For Edreina, the discoveries were odd shells, differently colored here than other beaches he had visited. For Zindr, the beach was a place for her to practice her footwork. She darted and thrusted her body about as if in a battle with an unknown pirate, and the shifting, uneven sands gave her the chance to strengthen her ankles. For Surai, the treasure was-

Another redhead? Yes. His eyes were not deceiving him: there was another redheaded figure on this beach. Head cocked to the side, he got the attention of his siblings and motioned to the tumbling figure. After a tick, the trio agreed that they should make acquaintances with her... unless she was Leth-addled or just plain odd... Hm...

Either way, Zindr wanted to know how she was doing what she was doing, for it must require a great amount of strength and agility; Edreina found herself musing how much fun that appeared to be; Surai was just staring at the young woman rather openly. When she noticed them, if she noticed them, they would appear to be three pale, spotted beings with manes of fire and a stride like water itself despite their current setting. Surai and Zindr were nearly the same height, casting twin shadows upon the comparably diminutive Edreina. But, it was Edreina who bounded forward to greet the stranger, introducing herself and her siblings and asking what it was that she was doing out on the beach so late in the span of a single breath.

Luckily, she had the sense to speak in Common tongue instead of the faster, sharper, more melodic and utterly exotic Fratavan.

[Kit Rowan]

Once Kit was done with her stretches she stood up straight, her feet sinking into the sand, the sand burrowing into her toes as she wriggled them. Kit breathed in the crisp sea air till it filled her lungs, flung herself backward through the air. She landed her hand pushed off and completed the flip, sand flying up in showers where she'd made her jump, before landing on her feet, breathing out, and letting her smile spread wide, near luminous with joy in the darkness.

Kit did her work, she rolled and she jumped, spun in the air, ticks and tiredness melting away. Tomorrow she would hate herself, Kit knew, but for now Kit would be happy to be alive. She dove into a cartwheel and kept it going, faster and faster. She went in a small circle, kicking up sand, biting down on her lip in nervous thrill. Kit and ended with both her feet in the air, standing on her hands, her body a perfect line pointing toward the sky, her back turned toward the beach. She kept her balance there for a chime just to prove she could.

She let herself fall backwards into the sand and let loose a happy laugh, covering her eyes with her hands and waiting for the world to stop spinning all around her while her stomach heaved with breathe. When at last everything was standing still, Kit opened her eyes and threw herself to her feet, ready to start again.

Until she saw them.

There were three of them, with fiery hair and speckled skin, dressed in the curious mismatch of clothes Kit had come to associate with the visiting, sea-raiding Svefra, all older, all bigger. Kit took a wary step back, reached behind her back and grabbed hold of her arm. Instinctively she scanned the little bay she'd found for exits; she could climb up there quickly, but she was like to rip up her feet in the attempt. That was safer, but it'd take longer to scale . . .

But Edreina robbed Kit of caution before she could decide how to run; the smile on the older girl's face was too full and eager to fit anything malicious or threatening. Her smile was infectious, and wariness fell from her face like coin from from a slit purse. Though her words strung together, enough of Edreina's came through for Kit to more or less interpret. "I'm working on my tumbles," she said, as though it never occurred to her that someone might not understand quite what she meant. “The sand makes it harder, and makes my falls softer.”

If Edreina was diminutive, Kit was miniscule. Standing next to Edreina as she was, the top of Kit's head could been seen over the older Svefra's shoulder. She peeking sideways around Edreina to get a closer look at her siblings, using the Svefra that had introduced herself first like a wall to hide behind. “I'm Kit, from Alvadas.” She smiled. "Gotta practice somewhere."

[Edreina]

"Well hello, Kit from Alvadas," Edreina said through a grin, not taking into account that from Alvadas might not be her podname. These land-walkers always had weird names for their teeny-tiny pods. Shaking herself lightly so that her coppery hair danced, she took a step back to stand with her siblings. "What you were doing was..." the Common tongue failed the Svefra as she rifled about to find the right word. Eventually, she lapsed back into her native Fratavan, hoping that the lilting, emotion-packed words would do the trick, "Utterly marvelous. I'm impressed that you can do that outside of the water."

Following her younger sister's awed statement, Zindr stepped forward, hands on her hips as she inspected the girl. She was lean and nimble enough to be mistaken for a Svefra, but lacked the tell-tale dancing blue eyes of her people. Her hair suggested that, like her own ancestors, Inarta may be mingled in her lineage. It was the only place she had seen such a vibrant tone of hair aside from some Kelvics. That led her to beg the question of what exactly this girl was... perhaps some gingery house-cat? Those were acrobatic creatures... "You must have great strength to be able to attempt such feats. Would you mind... explaining how you do it?" The short-haired woman paused, tapping her fingers on her hips in a motion that must be hereditary. Such a question might be seen as intrusive, but in that moment, curiosity was another thing obvious in Gnovak's line. "I'm sorry. I'm just always looking to get better and I think that maybe... you might be able to help me? I will teach you something in exchange?"

Up until this point, Surai had been utterly, silent, admiring the lithe female from beneath his brows. When she looked at him, even for a second, he felt a blush warm his cheeks. blending into his scruffy beard... But it was a very manly blush. Stepping forward, the brother intoned, "Please forgive my sisters. They are not often among civilized folk." Despite the boiling glares emanating from both of his siblings and the plans for revenge bouncing about in their fire-clad-skulls, the Svefra flashed the woman a knowing wink. "I am sorry that we disturbed you. If you would like, we can leave you be?"

After a tick, Edreina realized her brother's game. Eyebrows coming together, the tiny Svefra leaned to the side and elbowed her brother sharply in the ribs, muttering in rapidfire Fratavan, "You know not her age, Surai! These land-dwellers do not age as we do. They... develop-"

Quickly, Surai growled out a response in their father tongue, "Are you sure you're not one of them? ...dead fish..."

Were they not in front of a stranger, Edreina would have tackled her brother to the ground and pulled his beard out hair by hair. Instead, she sighed deeply, attempting to rein in her annoyance. "This is not the place to plant your kelp! Don't be a fool and botch this!" With that, Edreina turned back to the young woman, smiling apologetically. "My fool brother left our... nets in the water... Fish might get away." It was a lame excuse, but hopefully it would curb the girl's curiosity. "Are... you still willing to at least show us how you do... that?"

Because Zindr would be annoyed if her siblings had ruined this for her, and that would give Surai a chance to "make his move"... Petching male.

[Kit Rowan]

Though Kit could not understand Edreina's words, she knew the smile on her face, the dazzled, happy wideness of her eyes. They'd seen? They'd liked it. Her cheeks flushed, and her grin went wide. Kit straightened to the full extent of her height—which was still not much—and propped both hands on her hips, all the better to bask in their praise. "Practice," she declared, proudly. "I've been practicing, one way or another, most of my life. Clamoring over rooftops, any way I could. Then, practiced with an acrobat. Then, did it on my own."

The man, for his part, seemed eager enough to leave, though his sister quickly took him to task for it in a tongue that said nothing to her but rebuke.

No matter how often Kit heard someone ask, it still blew her away. Kit had heard the question often when she'd practiced on the streets; how do you do that? How? How? Where did she even begin? Kit looked the Svefra over again, this time tried to measure their limberness. Each of the three were well-defined, built strong and, if not lean, then at least well. Kit doubted she would have to start from scratch; there might be something that she could teach. "I can try," Kit admitted, scratching at the back of her head. "Never really taught it before."

Darilava would make unreasonable demands and mutter scathing comments under his breath. That approach seemed like it would turn sour here, with three others she didn't know, so far from anyone that if Kit screamed Akajia would be the first and last to hear it. "It's a little about strength. It is." She said, pacing across the sands, nervous, afraid of getting it wrong. "But it's mostly about flexibility. Like . . . Like . . ." Kit bit down on her lip and thought. Demonstrate? Demonstrate.

Kit slid down, her right leg forward, left leg back, like a pair of shears opened wide before the cut. Her body served her well, still warm and nimble from her tumbling, and brought her down, her body completely flush with the sand from one foot to the other . . . There was sand in her trousers, now. Kit made a face. "I try to stretch and practice . . . Often," Kit said. "When I get up, before I go to bed, a few times between, before I ever try to do any serious tumble. A body can bend itself in all kinds of neat ways, if you convince it too. But if you ever stop reminding it, it'll forget. You gotta at least stretch all the time. You can't ever stop. Um . . . Where should I start?"

[Edreina]

Surai had to avert his eyes at the young woman's display as uncountable filthy thoughts made their way through his head. And he was told that these land-striders were not as much fun as his kin. Unaware of her brother's predicament, Zindr cocked her head to the side and admired the young woman. "My people are much the same. But, we stay limber so that swimming will not cause us to cramp as easily." Smiling, reached back and caught hold of a raised ankle so that she could pull it upwards whilst leaning forward, straining her body ever so slightly. "Reina is more nimble, but I'm stronger." There was no bragging in her words, she was simply stating a fact that the siblings had come to accept as reality.

"So... How do you do it?" Edreina piped in, cocking her head to one side. A cascade of unshorn, vibrantly red and tumbling hair followed the motion, trembling in the gentle breeze coming up off the Sea. "If you show us, we can teach you a trick to swimming! Or... something." There was no hiding how eager Edreina was to learn. Zindr, on the other hand, hid her enthusiasm rather well.

OOCSorry for the shyke post. I was having trouble finding inspiration for this, but it'll likely get better as we go on... Hopefully.

[Kit Rowan]

"Swimming," Kit said, tested the word on the tip of her tongue. She supposed it would take a lot of practice and strength to do it well and often for long distances. It wasn't something that Kit had given much thought too in the past, but she could see it. Kit pressed her hand against the sand, scrambled up from her splits and dusted off her trousers. "Good!" She said, "I'd no idea how to start, if you weren't."

"That, sounds real keen," Kit said to Zindr, clapping her hands together and smiling real wide. "All I know about swimming I learned from the Conundrum, and I think that's cheating!" The sound of waves against the beach. "Ha . . ." Kit rubbed at the back of her head, chewed on her lower lip. What was she doing? Talking with strangers, with Svefra on the beach as though there was nothing wrong! She bit back a frantic little giggle. ". . . I come here sometimes, but never saw you before." Or any other Svefra. Kit had thought that they had their own beaches to play and flourish on, away . . . "Do you usually come here?" If they did . . . Perhaps it was best for Kit to find some more secret place to practice.

Even with three fully fit persons . . . Where did Kit start? She shook her head, a little voice saying I can't DO this! Except she had too. Kit shook her hands out and breathed in deep. "Okay. It took me years to learn everything, but maybe some simple things . . . simple?" Kit turned her head to the Svefra, a spider trying to crawl its way out of her stomach. If none of them were nimble enough, if trying really hurt or tore one of them up in any way, she doubted they would blame themselves for pushing too hard. "Simple, first." Kit said, more firmly. " Don't do anything. Just . . . Watch me."

She held up her hands up in the air. "Reach up," Kit said, "like your trying to stretch up and grab a star. Keep your legs apart," she demonstrated. "And then . . . Then you gotta reach back toward the ground like . . . like . . ." Kit's face twisted in inarticulate frustration. How was she supposed to teach, if she couldn't even say how she did it?! "Just watch." She turned around so that the three Svefra could see her from the side, legs spread apart just so, hands held up . . . Kit pushed her hips forward and bent back, reaching toward the sand. Her legs remained nearly straight, while Kit's upper body bent sharply, almost painfully at the belly while from shoulder to hands splayed out in the sand she held her body in a line. She had fashioned herself into a living arch.

Kit held the position for a few seconds before pushing off the sand, standing up straight and letting her arms fall to her sides. "Can you try?" She said, plucking at her sleeve, looking uneasy. "I'll try to correct you. I just don't know how to say it . . ."

OOC :

I'm not sure if this going to work, but I'm trying to give you more things to respond to between the actual training parts. Let me know if it makes it easier for you to respond or just makes things awkward. We can make this work.

Normally I'd just let the description speak for itself, but since this is supposed to be teaching something, I don't want to give the wrong impression of what Kit's doing by accident. In the case my description wasn't enough to demonstrate what Kit just did for the three Svefra, what she just pulled off was a Backbend.

[Edreina]

Of course, Zindr was the first one to attempt it. Short red hair became spiked as she attempted to muscle her way through the stance, tossing her arms backwards and over her head. The result was a disgruntled Svefra on her back, lips pursed at the sky above. Standing, she shook the sand from her body and turned to a giggling Edreina. "Oh? So funny. Let's see you try it, then!"

That, of course, ceased the younger sister's amusement. Her? Try it? Gods. What a way to make a fool of herself. But, the little Svefra was a stubborn creature prone to attempt to prove others wrong however she could. Her thin shoulders were squared defiantly as she remembered their instructor's words. Freckled hands reached for Leth for but an instant as she started to lean back, bending at her knees and her back at the same time. Her face contorted for an instant as she nearly fell, but was instead able to shift her weight forward, resting it upon the balls of her beet. With her stance altered, she was able to lean back until her hands felt powdery sand.

But her back was arched too sharply and quivers of exertion quickly danced through her muscles. A groan escaped her lips as she twisted, stumbling so that she ended up on her knees. But, a triumphant grin touched her lips as seh peered up at her sister. "Wasn't too bad." An azure gaze turned to Kit, smile following. "How was that... y'know... for my first-ish time." As children, they had assumed the same position to play a game known as "Crab and Cave", but had started out on their back and not standing. So, she still counted this as her first attempt.

Surai, who had remained oddly quiet, assessed his sisters and the pretty little stranger. This was not really his type of exertion, and so he refrained from joining in the practice even as his elder sister back-flopped once again into the sand with a rather unladylike grunt; she would not be outshone by flippant little Edreina tonight. The rivalry between the siblings was, of course, all in good fun. They loved to test one another, but truly Zindr loved to win. For Edreina, this was all just another game.

[Kit Rowan]

Kit raised a hand over her mouth to hide her smile as Zindr collapsed into the sand on her back. But when Edreina took her stance Kit mainly frowned, squinting, trying to get a better view of what exactly Edri was doing. She bit down on her lip, dug a circular trench into the sand with her heel. "It's okay," she said, but there was an edge to her voice that said but . . .

"You're bending your knees, though." Kit said. She stepped sideways, repeated the exercise. She let her knees bend in imitation of Edri. "You wanna make your legs as straight as you can." Her voice was a little strained, now, but audible and clear. She pushed her belly further upward, straightened her legs, and the difference was obvious; her body arched just that much higher, her torso turning so sharply down that was almost painful to look at.

Kit stood herself back up, turned around so that her back was facing her students. She reached behind, ran a hand along her spine. "You want your back to be doing all the bending."

Kit made her way to Zindr as the larger girl flopped into her imitation of Kit's technique . . . This girl was a piece of work! She'd managed to stay upright this time, and Kit took advantage. She stepped on the Svefra's feet and Zindr made a sharp, aggressive sound in the back of her throat. "Easy," Kit said. "Try not to bend your arms, or let your hands slip in the sand. She squatted down, put her hands on Zindr's knees and pushed.

The Svefra's face flashed, unsure whether to deny the indignity of being cheated out of a proper victory over her younger sister or allow Kit to help better her, but whatever her decision was it came too late. As Kit pushed Zindr's knees in and pride kept her arms straight, there was nowhere in her body to bend except the back, and it did, her stomach jutting towrad the sky, her spine bending at the same painful angle while Zindr hissed her strain.

If Kit had tried this with any in Alvadas, they would have folded over like a napkin. The Svefras' physicality had never been meant to endure this sort of work, but her athleticism made it possible all the same. "There!" Kit said, cheer in her voice. "Just like that!"

[Edreina]

From her seat on the sandy ground, Edreina could not help but grin as her sister finally managed the back bend. She was not the competitive sort, but it was always fun for her to make her sister push herself. Zindr always did that for Edreina, so it was only fair that she return the favor. After a tick, Surai plopped down in the sand beside her, obviously lacking the innate grace of his sisters. Long, toned legs stretched out before either sibling, though Edreina's were a fair shade paler and sported more freckles. Then again, Surai's could easily have been hidden beneath his bushy copper leg hair.

As was the habit of a woman who did not enjoy finding herself idle, the youngest sister's fingers roamed the sand beside her, hunting down small shells, disregarding the fragments. Each intact specimen was lain carefully in her lap in a straight line though her eyes remained upon the instructor and her new student. "Now... I believe it is time that we return the favor," the Svefra mused as her sister recovered from her first competent back bend.

Her grin flashed sharkishly for an instant before she stood, forgotten shells falling silently to the sand. A freckled hand made an errant motion towards Kit's clothing before she continued. "You can swim in your clothes, if you like, but it would be easier if you were undressed and will keep you from catching sick from wet clothes. In any case," she shrugged to punctuate her words, turning to step into the sand left wet by tide. It was cool beneath her toes, and the sucking, slurping feeling of the sand as it spread up through her toes and round her feet was a comforting one. Without pausing, she would walk out until the surf danced around her hips.

Only then would she turn her eyes from the glory of Laviku to see if Kit had joined her.