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[Starling Frost]

3rd day of Fall, 513

Starling strolled through Knirin park in the late morning hour, feeling the minute bump and weight of her new weapon on her thigh. In truth it was about the girliest weapon available in Riverfell; a delicate narrow stiletto with a square cross section and a grip done in ivory, engraved with climbing roses. Despite this, it made Starling feel tough and dangerous, and she imagined that this day she walked two inches taller than the last.

Addressing a likely flower bush, Starling suddenly whipped the weapon from its scabbard, then immediately lost her grip on it and began to juggle it for several frantic seconds, before stabbing herself in the finger.

"Woooooooouch!" She wailed, letting the dagger fall.

Starling stared gloomily at her bleeding finger before putting it in her mouth to suck. The knife was for all it's frippery a real weapon, made to kill. The blade was of good steel and bore the bluish tint of having been case hardened. Starling bent to pick it up and only then noticed that it had fallen point first and stuck in the ground inches from her foot. Sheepishly she picked the weapon up and returned it to its scabbard.

[Favchean Hronis]

Moving through the gardens at a leisurely pace is an Akalak of some size. While he is considered short for his kin at just over six foot and some inches tall, for many races his height might seem to tower, his bulk however was nothing even an Akalak would sneer at, being corded muscled. His skin is a green that is so dark that in the shadows might seem black, his hair almost invisible so tightly woven against his scalp in a single strip with the sides shaved.

His clothing was simple, a leather vest that laced up the front, leather breeches and leather boots. None were particularly adorned, and all were well taken care of but worn with age. His own Lakan was sheathed safely at his hip, with his dagger adorning his other, though he is not expecting to use either. Not today, today was the dark brothers turn to enjoy the air so to speak, and the dark brother left the body's physical prowess to his light. Instead he was enjoying the simple serenity of the gardens, at least he was until a small voice caught his ear.

Instinctively Favchean Hronis turns to the sound, and spies the child sucking her finger, and catches what she picks up. The dagger smith's pale blue eyes narrow, not in annoyance but in concern at the weapon the young girl handled without care. He searches quickly for parents, looking up the path and down before he alters his course toward the girl child.

His gait was smooth, but quick, wanting to catch up the child before she scampered off, sure that she must have sneaked her parents dagger. It didn't take long for the long legged Akalak warrior to come up behind the girl, and he stopped planting his feet shoulder width apart, his arms crossing. When he speaks, he purposefully kept the volume of his voice low, but his normal pitch was gravelly and coarse. "That's an awful lot of weapon for a little girl."

Satisfied that he got the appropriate attention, he relaxes his stance, and squats easily pulling out a kerchief from his pocket. The eyes of the girl told him she was Vantha, and he gave her a gentle smile as he offered her the piece of white cloth. "My name is Favchean, do your parents know you have that?"

[Starling Frost]

Favchean's search for Starling's parents did not turn up any likely propsects and Starling was not in an particular hurry to be anywhere on this day so that He was able to catch up with her without any real difficulty. She turned at once at the sound of his voice, not entirely startled but feeling the merest smidgen guilty for tossing the dagger around. Weapons still seemed somehow wicked to her.

"Oh," she said, trying to sound casual, "I plan to grow another foot in height, and that will increase the girl to weapon ratio. One likes to plan ahead."

In point of fact Starling was not exactly an expert at planning ahead, but it was a skill she aspired to.

She curtsied with practiced skill in response to Favchean giving his name, bending deeply at the knees to show respect.

"Well met Mr. Favchean. I am Starling Frost. My parents are not to well informed about my doings. My mother is in Avanthar and my father is...well I don't really know."

Starling was superstitiously against mentioning that her father might well be dead.

"What happened is that my father was a merchant and we were on a ship together and then a huge storm came and smashed us into some rocks."

Starling spoke with her hands, making large dramatic gestures to emphasize the power of the storm and size of the waves.

"Some men grabbed me and put me in a rowboat and we had a gosh darn of a time of it, blowing around for ages and no one knowing where we were going. Eventually we ended up in Zeltiva but my father never showed up. I think he got blown to another city. So in the meantime I went to work for another merchant and he took me with him on a trip and in the middle of nowhere he thought maybe he would tear off all my clothes, so I ran away and wandered around for awhile and now I'm here. And then I thought 'gosh, maybe I should have a weapon' because the guy at the citizenship office got all scowly when I didn't. I plan to be a famous actress and then perhaps my parents will hear of me and send a man with a comfortable wagon to fetch me back, and then we'll all have cookies."

[Favchean Hronis]

Favchean smiled in amusement at the girl as she spoke, "A whole 'nother foot huh?" He rumbled, eying her height judging her to be a good two foot shorter then he was but then again she was also a child and likely to grow some more. An entire foot maybe, but it was amusing to the Akalak to listen to the child's wit, and apparent charm as she sketched a curtsy. Immediately he rose from his squatted position, and bent at the waist theatrically. "Well met indeed Miss. Starling. Frost..that is not Vanthian." He speaks matter of factly, having known a few Vantha, but his tones were still light.

When the girl tells her story, Favchean did not change his expression for the most part he kept the neutral amused expression on his face. However he wondered twin thoughts, was she telling the entire truth or was she having a bit of fun with the imagination. The second was if she was telling the truth who was caring for her now? The only time his expression changed was when she spoke of the merchant she had worked for, and his expression clouded with anger. Not at her, but at the merchant, at the situation. It was momentary slip of self control before his face assumed his normal demeanor.

"Who takes care of you? Until your parents send for you?" Surely there were someone to care for her, a child as young as she should not be out here in the world alone. He had unconsciously returned to his squared stance, his feet positioned under each shoulder and his arms crossed.

"You look well taken care of for a child on her own." Yet Favchean did not like the idea of this little girl fiddling with a dangerous weapon. "Perhaps you wouldn't mind a scruffy old green man showing you how to hold that man-killer you have there without slicing off a digit or two"?

[Starling Frost]

Almost imperceptibly Starling seemed to relax. She had thought at first that the large man might be coming to yell at her, but he seemed nice after all. She favored him with her generous smile.

"Oh no, not really a Vanthian name, I sort of made the last part up. The Vantha usually don't use last names but instead say the name of their holds. I guess I’m not really in a hold just now so I made up the "Frost" part because it seemed best to have a last name like everyone else. I live over at Nia's boarding house, and the women there supply what momming I require."

In truth, Starling wasn't entirely sure about that. She enjoyed living on her own, it made her feel quite grown up and cosmopolitan. Night times were lonely though, and she often had the nagging feeling that she ought to be doing something else if only she knew what it was. On some level she knew she was only play acting the responsible adult part.

"Oh! Yes, it would be lovely if you could show me how to do my daggering. Dagging? However you say it. I have a lot of fingers but I'm sort of attached to the whole set."

She removed her dagger from the scabbard again, more carefully this time, and showed it to Favchean in case he needed to see it first.

"See? I got one with flowers because I always say if you don't have style, what do you have?"

[Favchean Hronis]

Deftly returning the unused kerchief back into a pocket, the green Akalak mused about the little girl in front of him. She seemed exuberant and even a little playful, but behind those becoming eyes lay something else, something he could not quite place a finger on. He had no doubt that Starling Frost would get quite a bit of 'momming', Riverfall being a city that boasts of its hospitality, and he can not imagine any Riverfall woman forgoing the chance to care for a lost child. However there was much more then just 'momming' that children required.


"Frost is a fine name, it do go with Starling quite well. Did you know that Starlings are birds? They are also quite fond of the cold, unlike most of their bird kin." His voice still remained low, very few ever heard his speech at normal level when there is no need for a shout. His low growling voice was far too gravelly for that.

He did let a laugh loose when she speaks of "dagging", and he shifts instinctively when she draws even though she was a child, and obviously untrained. His body moves to angle itself toward her, but he stopped there, instead he smiles and relaxes once more. Moving to stand beside her. Her smaller form made this a little awkward for him, but he bent so that his torso hunches over her, and his arms could align with her arms. He did not take the stiletto from her, instead his very large hands engulfs her hand that held onto it.

"Ok, your first lesson Little Bit, is this" His fond name that he called his small Konti cousin rolled off his tongue naturally. "Grip the handle firmly, but not rigidly." To show her, he squeezes his hand around her being extremely careful not to squeeze hard enough to hurt her much smaller fingers. His other hand, reaches around her and grasps the wrist that supports the hand that she held the dagger in, and wiggles it gently. "Firm wrist, but don't lock it. This will give you control, this will let you decide when the dagger leaves your hand. Too stiff and it will jar your fingers, too loose and the dagger will fly out." He lets go of her hand, wrist and arm but does not move away. "Try it, but away from us, just one stab."

[Starling Frost]

"Oh yes!" replied Starling. "I have seen a starling, they have speckles on their bellies like stars, so I guess that's where the name comes from. I think perhaps it is a lucky name for a girl who wants to become a star. Either that or an adventure princess."

Starling stood still as Favchean bent over her, letting her hands go loose so that he could demonstrate the dagger hold. The closeness and the method of teaching reminded her of her father, even though he was a much smaller man than the Akalak. A wave of sadness washed through her out of nowhere, but she choked it down by picturing a baby rabbit.

Starling gripped the weapon and held it in front of her, rather in the way she might grip a hammer. She turned to face the bush that had served as a substitute bad guy, giving it a haughty glance. She turned to present her narrow side to it as she had seen fencers do, and said "My purse you say? Not on this day, vile topiary."

She lunged valiently forward, thrusting enthusiastically into the leaves. She held the dagger more or less as she'd been directed but telegraphed the move to a theatrical degree, lunging forward before moving her arm, feet moving in every direction.

[Favchean Hronis]

The girls exuberance did not fail to put a smile on the green Akalak's face, both light and dark brothers enjoying children immensely. Their innocence and joy lighting up the city, not to mention that here in the city of the Akalak children are considered precious be they Akalak or not. Favchean inhaled at her enthusiastic description of the bird and speaking of lucky names, but he didn't say it hadn't been so lucky thus far.

When she starts lunging and dancing around, he laughed but also brings his big hands forward, hoping to land on her small shoulders to settle her down. "Easy there Little Bit, that will do." Moving around her now, until he stood in front of her once more, crouching so that he was more or less eye level with the Vantha child, his lips smiling.

"You have the right of it in some ways, this is a stiletto it does not have a sharp edge. It is made for stabbing, not slicing." His hand once more closes around hers, being gentle but since this demonstration demanded precision his grip a little more firm. "It is not a stage prop, and knife fights are very rarely as ...colorful as you might see in the theater. They are quick and deadly, get in..get out."

His pale blue eyes do not waiver from her own, and his hand that controlled her arm wielding the dagger pulled it forward until the tip pressed to his breast bone. "Precision is key. Too low and you hit bone, too high and you just make them mad. This takes practice, they are called dagger forms. No extra movements. No unnecessary noises." Each sentence was marked and demonstrated by a move of the decorated dagger to exactly show the girl the meaning of too high, too low. "I will teach you these forms. If you promise me you will not use this first choice. Always run if your legs can run, run as fast as you can. This.." He moved the dagger away from his breast in a show of emphasis, "is as dangerous to you as it is to any bad man out there until you are well practiced. Promise me this, and we will continue."

[Starling Frost]

Starling once again found that she enjoyed the fatherly contact with the large green Akalak, and considered making more mistakes on purpose in order to have more of it. She allowed the idea to settle into the back of her mind. There was always a fine line with people, and she didn't want to cross it and become annoying.

When he brought the knife near his chest Starling subconsciously pulled back on it, trying to keep it away, but soon she saw he was only going to use the weapon to point rather than do some gruesome tough-guy warrior thing that involved blood.

She nodded slowly to Favchean's words, although she thought it somewhat tragic to not get to make a big display. It made it all seem so mean.

"Well gosh, I don't really want to stab someone! And when you're a girl it's OK to run away and no one says rude things about it. And if the bad guy grabs me I will say "My friend in Favchean and if you don't let go he will use your bones to stake up his tomatoes!"

[Favchean Hronis]

Favchean wanted to grin at her words, but a grin would ruin the effect of his own words. While he was no word smith or dramatic actor, he was able to keep a mask on his face as he growled seriously, "Bones as stakes, and his flesh will fertilize my potatoes." His hand released hers once more, raising now to fondly tweak her chin before raising once more.

"When you have trained, and practiced, then you won't have to worry about bad men grabbing you. Most bad men only try to attack the weak, once they find you have fangs Little Bit most will run from you." Now he moves beside her once more, and his hand reaches into his left sheath, the one that holds his simple dagger. He left his Lakan sheathed on his right hip.

His dagger was no where near the ornate dagger of the other, it was simple in design and make. Functional, like so much about the Akalak himself. "These will seem silly, but once you learn them you will be able to connect them. Then they become deadly. Attend Little Bit, watch and repeat." His feet turned so that he is posed sideways, once again feet shoulder width apart, his left in front of his right.

His left holds his dagger gently, lovingly almost, and he pushes forward. "Do not lock your elbow, gently thrust. This is just to ..pink the bad guy. Make him think twice.." He then moves easily into the second, bringing the dagger up, bending his elbow so that his arm was "L" shaped in front of him, his dagger twisted and pointed down. "This is a deflecting pose, to stop a blow..or another weapon. You try Little Bit...carefully, hold the dagger the way I showed."

Pale eyes regard the Vantha, who already caused him concern, though he had only known her for half a bell. She was a reminder of what he will be needing to work for in the next few years, but more then that she was a beautiful girl child alone in the world.