Closed In a Flurry of Feathers (with Sekai)

[Ireth Telemnar]

Fall 55, 513 A.V.

Ireth took the stairs from her floor to the ground floor two at a time, perky and excited for the day. Looking out her window this morning had shown her that the clouds of Nyka's rainy season were heavy, threatening to let loose their liquid misery at any point. Ireth didn't mind though, the rain was a beautiful thing that she was learning to enjoy more and more. It made a wonderful rhythm against the roof of the Safehaven Hostel at nights. She liked listening to it in Savio's arms.

The thought of her lover made a girlish smile grow on her lips. He hadn't been with her last night, he'd slept in his room over at the Iron Fist School that he attended. Ireth didn't know how he did it, juggling this job as a courier, attending the school, and spending time with her. Of course, most of the time that he spent with her was at night, in her bed...

Ireth came to rest at the foot of the stairs and shook her head to clear it of its thoughts of love-making. That could wait. It was going to be an amazing day, and she was going to go make some friends. Some feathered friends.

There weren't too many people in the lobby of the Hostel. It was kinda early, before the majority of the folk who were staying here would venture down for sustenance. A few older men sat around one table, their heads hunkered together and their gravelly voices whispering. Other people were seated about, some with the old tin plates of the Hostel before them, laden with the somewhat unappetizing food that was offered. Vysia stood wiping a mug with her apron, talking to a woman that must have seen better days, judging by her bruised arms and tear-ridden eyes.

Ireth sat herself down at one of the old wooden tables and watched as the old men collected themselves and left the hostel. Vysia came up and gave a sort of a rough grunt that Ireth took as a greeting.

"Good morning Vysia," Ireth gave the old monk a cheery smile, something she tried to do everyday. Ireth didn't know much about the woman, but she knew that smiles were a free way to brighten someone's day.

"I have a sort of a silly request to make today. Do you mind if I have a dozen or so old biscuits? Perhaps the ones that you wouldn't serve to your customers?" That was a bit of a stretch, seeing as the Safehaven only served the food that seemed like the leftovers of the city's produce. "I'll even take moldy ones."

Vysia watched Ireth for a couple of moments as if the girl was deranged.

"What in Laat's name are you gonna do with a bunch of old biscuits, girl?"

Ireth shrugged and smiled again, keeping her doings a secret just for the sake of being silly. The monk shook her head and wandered back behind the bar, returning some clicks later with a ragged cloth bag. She gave the bag to Ireth and went on her way.

"Thank you Vysia!" Ireth called out. Taking up the bag, she strode outside, nearly running into an wealthy-looking woman. Ireth dipped her head and apologized. She angled herself down the road, half knowing the way and half wandering about.

x

[Sekai]

Yet anther day, yet more garbage to Void, along with odd objects.... The mental grumble of one sleepless Sekai. She did not have a good sleep, due to a certain object she found during her Voiding run, which in turn, have her nightmares. "Who the shyke leaves a dismembered arm lying in an alleyway anyways?", she muttered quietly to herself, half out of annoyance, half out of fear.

Walking out of her plain double bedroom door, Sekai moved swiftly down the stairs -Petch...why the fifth floor?!- using her smaller than average frame to slip around the people that sometimes stopped walking to associate with others. Finally making it to the first floor, she put her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths, attempting to recover running down five flights of stairs. Her ears caught wind of a conversation, which Sekai was about to ignore, until a piece of the conversation perked up her ears. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Why would this woman ask for as many biscuits the Hostel can spare..,even if their moldy?, she pondered to herself. Finally recovering, she followed the woman quietly, wanting to figure out what her plans with those old biscuits were. Wincing slightly, as the woman bumped into a wealthier looking person, before continuing on. "What are you up too...?", Sekai asked quietly to herself, as she followed in the wake of the biscuit wielder.

[Ireth Telemnar]

Huge ominous gray rainclouds hung over Nyka in a peculiar way. They hovered and covered the sky, but brilliant beams of golden sunshine shone through the spaces in between them. Big fat raindrops were falling, but they were few and far apart, making polka dots on Nyka's dusty cobblestone streets. As Ireth walked, she tipped her head to a pair of monks that were in deep debate and stepped out of the way of a burly man pushing a cart full of rocks the size of Ireth's foot. Turning another corner, Ireth came to a quieter street with three story buildings surrounding it on all sides. It was beautiful, small flakes buried in Nyka's famous rose pink-red stone glittering in the sun. And on the roofs and windowsills were just what Ireth had been looking for.

Pigeons.

Pigeons of all shapes and sizes and colors were cooing and preening and chatting and excreting from their perches. To some, they might be seen as a pests, dirty birds that left their feathers and waste and nests everywhere. But to Ireth, they were beautiful. Their were feathers soft and colorful. Their coos were calm and relaxing. When she was younger, she dreamed that they were little messengers that delivered love letters to couples that were apart. Whenever she thought about that childish belief, she laughed.

And it was for these pigeons today that Ireth had brought the breads. Once a year, Ireth and her father would go out in Ravok, purchase a bag of pigeon feed, and they would feed the Ravokian pigeons. Zhidynach had started this annual tradition with his only daughter to teach her gentility and peace. Sometimes he worried that his little girl would grow up to be rough and hard, too masculine because of her five older brothers. The patience and calmness of feeding the birds was his solution, and to this day Ireth knew that his plan had worked. Ireth thought very highly of the birds, all birds, but pigeons held a special place in her heart.

For a moment, she stood in the middle of the street, gazing around in awe at the beauty of this place she'd found.

x

[Sekai]

Just how far are you going...?, Sekai pondered, as she walked as calmly as possible past the debating monks. She had seen with her own eyes around the first week just how dangerous these monks were, and she did not fancy attracting their attention without having a sword somewhere on herself. The only weapons she had was the scythe and the ribbons knife, and she was skilled in neither of those two. Passing the man with the cart full of large stones big enough to crush Sekai, if she so much as to try lift them -Alright, perhaps weight of two or three stones, not one-, she continued to tail the woman from a distance. Turning the corner after her, Sekai stopped as she saw the large numbers of pigeons that were literally lined up on the roof and window sills. Lined up as if waiting for something...or someone. Perhaps the reason why the woman brought all the biscuits, was to feed all these birds. But is moldy bread safe for them? I never read about infected food being processed by birds., she thought to herself, as she watched.

Taking several steps closer, attempting to get as close to the woman as possible, Sekai's luck ran out, and here was where she tripped over a loose rock on the ground with a "Mukyu!", and winced as she slowly pushed herself up in a kneeling position. "...I think I scrapped my hands...", she muttered, as she stood up, dusting herself off, without realizing that the woman probably heard her fall and involuntary squeal.

[Ireth Telemnar]

Ireth had been too stunned at the beauty of this little cul-de-sac that she'd found to recognize that there had been someone following her. She tucked a straying lock of her bronze-blonde hair back behind her ear, being careful not to get the hair entangled in the one silver hoop she wore in that earlobe. Her blue-gray eyes searched her surroundings, taking in all of the birds and the Nykian stone and the moody weather when she heard a sharp cry sound out from behind her.

Turning about, Ireth clutched her simple bag of bread to her chest in an honestly pathetic attempt to prepare herself to be attacked in some form or fashion. She couldn't really be blamed, what with her being in a city that she was still unfamiliar with and the seemingly high rate of her being assaulted or jumped. Sometimes it was ridiculous.

Instead, her sight fell upon a young woman a few years older than herself with a shock of white hair and black clothes. Her skin was fair and her hands scuffed.

Ireth let out a gasp in surprise. "Oh! Are you alright?" She walked up to the woman cautiously and placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. Looking down into the lady's palms, Ireth took in the sight. The heels of her palms were scraped and discolored with the dust of the road. With a hopeful smile, Ireth looked up. "Oh, I bet that hurts something fierce, huh? It doesn't look too bad though."

x

[Sekai]

"Ah....", Sekai sighed, as she dusted her hands lightly, wincing at the stinging pain, as if a large number of tiny, tiny needles were slowly digging into her palm. She probably scrapped it on the uneven rocks, possibly hard enough to break the skin in several areas. 

The woman she was tailing had moved closer, before placing a reassuring and comforting hand on her shoulder. Looking up at the stranger, Sekai nodded at the question of whether or not she was alright. Returning her gaze back to the scraps on her palms, she brushed of the dust, before putting her hands behind her back, muttering quietly, "Not important...", in response to the woman's comment about her minor injury.

Turning her attention to the bag in the woman's hands, she tilted her head very slightly, before asking the question that has been bugging her ever since she started tailing her from the Hostel. "Um...are you planning to feed all these birds with those biscuits?", was the obvious question, asked in a straight tone, as if the fact that she was tailing the other woman didn't matter, or was not important.

[Ireth Telemnar]

At first, Ireth was confused. The woman had just fallen and hurt herself, but she said it was not important? Ireth knit her brows together in thought, surely the injury required some sort of medical attention? Just like when Sayren had found Ireth with her wounded shoulder?

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, not all of the pigeons are going to get fed, they still fight over the bread. But as the seasons begin to change, the rains come, and the winds get colder, sometimes its harder for the birds to find food for themselves, you know? I mean, I can't feed them all the time. But every little bit counts. And besides, I really like pigeons. They're all so pretty and..." They remind me of home...

Smiling softly as she attempted to repress a bout of homesickness, Ire untied the cloth, revealing seven hardtack biscuits. Only two were slightly moldy, which Ireth appreciated. Even though the moldy state of the breads didn't bother the birds in the least, it still made her stomach churn to tough the green growths.

She took one in her hand and rolled it around in her palm to warm it up. And even though she was probably imagining it, Ireth felt as though there was an eager hum in the air, as if the pigeons were going to release their energies at any given moment. That was always fun, watching the birds fall upon the breads in ways comparable to cats falling upon mice.

But instead of crumbling up the hardtack, she turned to her new acquaintance. Holding the bread out to the woman, she asked "Would you like to help me?"

x

[Sekai]

Listening to the woman, Sekai only nodded. Survival of the fittest. Something that not even time could breed out from every living creature. Including humans. It was just like what the books said.

Her curiosity was piqued, when the woman didn't complete her sentence. They're so pretty aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnddddd...? And what?, she pondered to herself. Carefully observing the woman's face, and noticing the small smile, Sekai deduced that the woman had gotten side tracked, and lost herself within her memories.

As her gaze moved from the woman, to the birds, they were drawn in, as the woman open the bag of biscuits. Two seemed to be a slight bit moldy, which would not end well from a human's stomach. But what about pigeons? Or birds in general?, she trivially thought, as she continued to gaze. Her thoughts were scattered however, as the woman asked whether or not Sekai wanted to help, while holding out a biscuit.

"...sure...?", was the quiet response Sekai have to the woman, as reached out and took the offered biscuit. Looking at it for a moment, she started tearing at it with her other hand, while asking, "How small should they be?", without stopping or slowing down her hands.