[Thunder Bay] Commiserating Hunters (Azira)

[Kovac]

Timestamp 18th -20th Day of Fall, 513 AV

His braces of small kills, rabbits and marmot mostly, had been delivered to the processing center, which was working at full capacity. The movement in and out of Mount Skyinarta had become almost frantic as the threatenings of an early and severe Winter had Wind Reach scurrying. Hunters were working constantly, riders ferrying Avora hunters between their own forays for game, and the skies between Thunder Bay and Wind Reach were a hastily coordinated freeway of eagle traffic.

Kovac had been dropped off at Thunder Bay two days earlier, left to hunt the nearby hunting grounds alone for smaller game which he could then carry back himself to the settlement. There, he would wait for a ride back home. But word of a pending storm had thrown the village into its own near-panic as it prepared for the pending threatening weather.

Kovac was no stranger to the work at Thunder Bay, having help close up the place for the Winter in the past, and spent quite awhile there as they recovered from the Djed Storm. So again, he had helped drag vessels into storage, secure shudders and prepare Water Reach for the worst. Already, the sky was heavy with gray clouds, darkening as the Avora strolled quickly through the village.

A Dek accidentally bumped into Kovac's shoulder, the young man carrying a stack of cut firewood. The Drudge apologized and hurried off without waiting to see if the Avora would spit a reply. The half-breed simply shook his head. When he looked up, Kovac spotted a familiar figure walking ahead of him. Kovac only recognized the back of the huntress' head by the type of feathers she wore in her braids, and the girl's waifish body. The half-breed only knew of Azira, seen her around, but had never actually met her. Something compelled him to rectify that fact at that moment.

"Hey, Azira!" He called out ahead to the young woman, picking up his pace to catch up with her.

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[Azira]

It had been a busy day for the huntress. She'd hitched a ride the previous day with a young Endal woman. Despite the woman's reluctance, Azira had successfully bartered with her until she had obtained the sought after flight. The Avora would have been eager at any time to have the opportunity to fly on eagleback but that wasn't why she was so keen to procure such a ride. She wanted to get far away from Wind Reach as quickly as possible. She had wanted to escape. Whether it was her humiliation at her lost in the archery competition with the Yasi, Erade, to escape her wounded pride or the doubts in her mind, she didn't know. All that the huntress had known was that she needed to go hunting as soon as possible but her usual hunting grounds had perhaps been too close to the source of her shame. Hence she had arrived at Thunder Bay, yearning for the reassurance that she could still hunt, that she could still shoot. After a restless night's rest, the day had been full of disappointment. She had been incapable of hitting anything, the bow shaking in her hand when she tried to shoot. Her wavering aim was a result of her lack of faith in her abilities but she could find no remedy. No more she had tried to correct herself, the worse her symptoms had become until she had given up, returning in time to help in storm preparations. So dubious was she of her chances of catching anything on another excursion into the wilds that the teen had freed her braids from their tight hunting bun and reattached their decorative feathers. There would be no more hunting for her today. The girl moved at a leisurely pace through the village, unable to force herself into a faster gait. She felt terribly disheartened and it seemed as if the weather was reflecting her mood perfectly. The darkening sky and the unruly storm clouds truly mirrored her depression and inner torment. Sighing, the Avora continued her slow step, totally clueless of her destination. She wasn't even sure if she'd take shelter from the rain. What was the point? Azira wasn't good for anything anymore so what difference did it make if she caught her end out in rain? The teen was just as likely to die when she began work as a Dek (which she soon would be when the Valintar discovered she could no longer hunt) so why bother trying to prevent the inevitable? Running steps and the sound of her name interrupted her morbid thoughts and caused her to look round in surprise to find a man running towards her. He looked vaguely familiar but she had no idea who he was or where she knew him from. He certainly seemed to know who she was. Sighing forlornly, she returned his greeting. "Hello," she mumbled, feeling a little stupid.

[Kovac]

As she turned to him, Kovac could read the apathy in the attractive girl's face, a visage that seem appropriate for the distracted gait she used to move along the path. Her golden gaze hinted that Azira's displeasure was rooted in something besides the pending storm, which had inspired haste in most everyone else at Water Reach.

"It is Azira, right?" The hunter quipped, wondering for a moment if the woman's malaise was a result of being called by the wrong name. Kovac was pretty sure he got it right. "Well," he proceeded, in spite of the lukewarm welcome, "I am Kovac." He pulled his katinu around him tighter as the wind picked up, carrying a foreboding chill. The darker clouds were rolling closer, driven by the insistent breeze.

"Look, do you have someplace to shelter, it looks like its going to start coming down any chime now." An overloaded young boy staggered by, dropping a large coil of rope from his heavy load. Kovac motioned him to go in and picked up the coil, slinging it over his shoulder. Then he felt the first cold drops, just a sprinking at first. It was starting. "Hey, come with me, you don't want to get caught it this stuff." He nodded to her to follow him as he changed course and headed towards a series of small storage shacks. The wind blew stronger now, frigid with a particularly cold bank of air from Taldera. As he walked along quickly, he shot Azira a glance. "So what are you doing here?"

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[Azira]

   

The huntress eyed the man with disinterest. Did he really have to come and annoy her now? She was feeling bad enough as it was so why make matters worse by talking to this man. He had the look of a hunter but she only had a vague idea that she'd seen him somewhere before though she couldn't think where. Regardless she wasn't in the mood for this right now. Azira nodded in reply to his question in the hopes that whatever he wanted her for would be sorted more quickly if she cooperated. Then maybe he might go away. But no he was introducing himself which meant that he was going to start talking, a prospect that filled the Avora with dread.

"Yes, Kovac. I am Azira," she sighed. She couldn't exactly ignore him now especially as he seemed to be interested in making her take shelter. It was as if the Avora had sensed her intentions and was no determined to prevent her from catching her death. Exasperated, she followed the hunter(who was strangely bossy) towards a group of small storage sheds. That was his idea of shelter she supposed but it looked far too small, far too intimate for her liking. If it had been a large and somewhat crowded space then she would have been able to avoid conversation with anyone. The space he was leading her to however, would give Kovac the opportunity to talk to her as much as she wanted. 

The conversation immediately took on a worrying turn as the teen found him asking about her reasons for being in Water Reach. She couldn't say that it was to escape her shame of being beaten by a Yasi. There was no point bringing her source of shame to the one safe haven that she had. So pulling her katinu tightly around her to keep out the cold, the young woman came out with the safest answer she could think of.

"I came out here for the hunting," she murmured, carefully avoiding his gaze. It wasn't a lie exactly but it felt like she was being terribly dishonest. Kovac might see the deceit in her eyes and probe her for further information and she couldn't have that.

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[Kovac]

Kovac's sidelong glance at the young woman, who would not look at him, caught the exasperated sigh, Azira's short reply and uninterested countenance revealing a temperament as foul as the storm clouds gathering above them, her sharp attitude as fiery as her mane. She was Inartan after all. It was obvious the huntress was not in the mood for company. That was fine. But she also did not seem concerned with seeking shelter, which was unwise.

In spite of her apparent irritation at Kovac's company, the girl followed him towards the sheds. Kovac had stored his gear in one of them. It was perfectly plausible that Azira was at Thunder Bay hunting, he was. Maybe she answered so shortly because it was a stupid question to ask a hunter. The half-breed felt no need to suck up to the teen. Sure, she was a fellow hunter, and nice to look at, and getting acquainted would help pass the time as the storm moved by. But if she didn't want his company, no feathers off of his back. Who needed to deal with attitude at a time like this? The wind had already picked up, strong and cold.

"Look, you do what you want, shelter or no. I was just trying to make conversation and offer some advice. Stomp off if you want, defy the weather with your hard arse mood. We'll see who wins that stand off." He gave the moody girl a smileless wink and headed for the shack where his belongings waited. If there was time, he would find somewhere else, if not, the storage shed would have to do.

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[Azira]

The Avora regarded the hunter through narrowed eyes as he set off for the sheds. How dare he just make up his mind about her and then dismiss her! She didn't like to be judged and dismissed and she wouldn't allow the man to get away with it. No, Azira wasn't going to have that at all no matter how bad she was feeling. How dare he suggest that she'd stomp off like a child having a temper tantrum!

The teen marched after him, her previous depressed demeanour replaced with anger. Drawing level with him, she shoved him hard towards the shed wall. Pushing her braids away from her face, the young woman squared up to the man, crossing her arms across her chest in an effort to keep warm as well as show her displeasure.

"I'm sorry but who are you to judge me? You don't know anything about me. You don't know if I want the company of a strange man or what I intend to do," the huntress snapped, glaring at Kovac. "You have some cheek to comment on my mood as well, or to suggest that I'm trying to defy the weather. You've absolutely no right!" She stomped off into the shed, sitting in the corner in an act of defiance.

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[Kovac]

Kovac's only reaction to being shoved against the shed was the balling up of a fist. It was more an instinct than any conscious consideration of actually hitting Azira, and it slowly relaxed. The huntress did take him by surprise, and he held his tongue as hers lashed at him with indignation and Inartan fury. My, she is a feisty one. The hunter harbored a new respect for the barking woman, she was fiery. Kovac would not underestimate her again.

As Azira gave Kovac a dressing down, neither seemed to note the change in weather. Icy cold rain had started to fall, or rather to bite, as the fierce wind had begun to whip it into a stinging wall, the pitter patter of the icy precipitation audible against the ground and sheds. Somewhere, in the distance, voices lifted as all ran for cover, But Kovac didn't notice, focused on the woman yelling at him.

As the braided redhead stalked to the shed door and disappeared, Kovac's eyes followed. He wasn't sure if he really liked her or despised her. But she was intriguing and attractive enough to make an effort to figure it out. Pulling his katinu tighter around him, he ducked his head and made his way through the door as well.

Once inside, he shook his head, chilled droplets of water flinging out in a ring around him. "Just in time." He commented as he shut the door behind him, closing out the frigid wind. The shed was apparently used to repair fishing nets and lines. There were several nets hung on one wall and a stack of coiled fishing line with a tarp folded on top. Beneath the window was a workbench holding a number of small tools. There were a couple chairs as well, one with a coil of rope hanging over it. In a corner was Kovac's gear; bow case, quiver, talon sword and pack with bed roll. A small iron brazier sat in another corner. The hunter looked out the window at the driving rain, and hoped Lavira and Moyha had made it in before the storm hit Wind Reach.

Shaking out his katinu, Kovac looked up into the golden-green eyes of the sharp-tongued huntress. "You know, you are beautiful when you are angry." He flashed a wry grin, goading her, testing her temperament. The storm was strengthening, the sound of the icy rain louder now on the roof as the wind beat against the wood plank walls. The male Avora looked up at the ceiling. "I have a feeling this is going to be a bad one."

He was wet and chilled, and assumed Azira was as well. Digging through his pack, he dug out flint and steel, then went to the corner with the small brazier. He pulled it out from the wall a ways. Under the table was a crate with some tinder and wood. Kovac took some of the flammable material and set sparks to it until it flamed up, then he put on some kindling. "It is not a raging furnace, but it will have to do."

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[Azira]

   

The Avora hadn't noticed the crystalline droplets hanging from her hair until one dripped down the front of her katinu. Shivering at the sudden icy drop, she shook her hair dry, scowled briefly at the other hunter as he entered and then turned her attention to the contents of the shed instead. Her gaze skimmed across the various nets, ropes and tools and alighted on the supplies in the corner. Her eyebrows raised. The man had certainly come prepared to settle in here. Her own supplies seemed meagre by comparison but then she hadn't really been thinking straight the day before.

Azira shot him an icy look at him for the pseudo-compliment. "Petch you!" she spat venomously. The huntress knew that he was goading her but she hadn't been able to hold back the biting remark. The girl rolled her eyes at his remark about the storm. It had been clear when they'd been outside that the squall would be a bad one so there was no need to say the obvious. She hoped the look she shot him conveyed that to him.

The teen watched as the older man set about starting a fire, no doubt hoping to chase the chill from the small and draughty shed. She wouldn't admit it but she was grateful that he was taking the time, though it was for his own benefit as well as hers. Desperate for the small bit of heat the blaze would provide, she moved closer to Kovac and the brazier. 

He was obviously trying to start a conversation but she wasn't rising to the bait, she had nothing to say. To be honest, she had no idea what to say. What could she say to him, especially after the tongue lashing she'd given him outside? There was no way to talk to him without sounding awkward but what other choice did she have? They were going to be here for a while by the looks of it so she might as well speak to him.

"Well we won't quite freeze to death," she murmured, pulling off her pack, bow and quiver and placing them on the floor beside her. Sifting through the pack's contents, she pulled out a blanket and wrapped it around herself for extra warmth. "Did you intend to shelter in here?" she asked.

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[Kovac]

Kovac grimaced as Azira snapped at him. She was certainly not the friendly type, only rolling her eyes and scowling at the half-breed as he went about stoking the small fire. He chastised himself for insisting that the foul-tempered wildcat shelter with him, now stuck with Azira's stormy mood until there was enough of a lull to run somewhere more suitable to stay, if a lull ever came. Getting caught out in the freezing rain, with no dry clothes or a sure place to make a fire, could mean serious sickness or death.

Once the brazier fire was going, Kovac shed his damp katinu and spread it over the stack of fishing line, he too pulling a blanket from his gear and wrapping it around his bare chest, warding off the hint of cold air forced through the seams in the old shed's planks. Luckily, the roof proved to be waterproof.

Finally, the redhead seemed to simmer a bit, getting her own blanket and managing to ask a civil question. Kovac looked up at her and gave a small laugh. "Stay here? Shyke no, I have some sense. All this stuff was already here, I just stashed my stuff here until I got a ride back to Wind Reach. I wasn't planning on staying in here. I wish I had bought one of the sea shanties, would make a nice little hideaway about now." Kovac leaned to look out the window. The ice still pelted the shed, wind causing the old wood to creak. He could see ice beginning to glaze the few trees, window sills, and about anything else left to the elements. Looking up, he hoped the roof would be able to bear the accumulating ice. "But for now, we are stuck here, so, like me or not, you better get used to it."

Kovac stole another glance at the damp woman. Azira was about Lavira's age and similar in stature. Though normally pale of skin, the huntress was especially so now, her flesh cold and damp and bearing a blue tint, though the fire was warming that away. Kovac, of course, found her physically attractive, though her ill-tempered mood was much less so. Both he attempted to ignore as he started to arrange the room into more of a living quarters and less of a junk hole. He set a chair on either side of the brazier, hoping the fire would keep the snippy hunter from reaching out to slap him or something. The table was cleared, if it came to it, someone could sleep on it.

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[Azira]

   

The Avora stared moodily into the fire. She didn't want to be here at all. She regretted coming to Water Reach at all now. She was going to be stuck here with some hunter and without any opportunity to use her bow. Not that she wanted to use her bow, so certain that her ability was gone and would only get worse. 

The humiliation of her defeat by Erade still stung and she couldn't think on it without feeling sad and bitter. It wasn't something she could admit to, though maybe talking about it might help but there was no one she could confide in. She didn't have any friends, there was nobody she was acquainted with to who she could entrust the information so what could she do? Azira sighed and propped her chin up with her hand, watching Kovac setting up chairs.

She rose and dropped into one of the chairs by the fire and regarded the man sitting across from her critically. His features suggested that he was only half Inarta, his hair was dark with only some reddish highlights in it and his skin was darker than hers. He was attractive she supposed in an exotic way but she wasn't going to think like that; she'd sworn off men. The teen had no idea how to talk to him though, not exactly used to conversation.

"Well...I'm not good at social niceties so there's no point waiting for me to start a conversation. I don't talk much and when I do...I realise I was better off keeping my mouth shut," she explained, not making eye contact. She must seem very mopey to her fellow hunter but she couldn't stop her hunting failure playing on her mind.

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