The Reflection in a Blade

by **Tazi** on March 6th, 2014, 5:40 am

Tazi of the Scattered Bones

5th of Spring, 513 AV

Zaza, her sturdy Zavian mount, had been dragged to the city gates with all her tack equipped. She had left her gear in a safe place at the Medicine House. Traya knew her and knew she would come back for the equipment. Besides, it stayed out of the way from the house activities. Today, she was going to begin to learn how to ride. Zaza was a good horse, and had been with her through many short travels from the clan lands to Taloba. Now, she wanted to learn how to ride her properly for an extended journey. For soon, she would leave for Mura and the prospect of learning more in healing.

”Alright Zaza,” Tazi cooed, cupping her long nose in her hands, rubbing the soft skin between the nares. ”I know I have never ridden you before, but you have carried more weight then me. I just want to go a little ways out of the city so I can practice with some weapons. You can eat all the fresh grass then. Does that sound reasonable?”

Whether or not her faithful companion acknowledged her or not, Tazi would never know. Moving close to the large animal, one hand always present on her body somewhere, she began to move to the side. She trailed her fingers along the neck and then along her shoulder until she reached the tack. Gripping the top of the saddle, Tazi pulled herself up. It wasn’t graceful, but it wasn’t as awkward as more. She didn’t fall over the other side, which was a bonus. Zaza flicked her tail and threw her head around a little bit as she got used to the unfamiliar distribution of weight. Once she was on, she waited for Zaza to get comfortable. The animal took but only a moment before Tazi reached down and stroked her neck. Pulling the reigns up slightly, she pulled her heels into Zaza’s abdomen to urge her forward. Beyond that, where they went was up to the equine.

Zaza didn’t take off like a powerful horse. She cantered along the main path with her rider. She was used to carrying heavy weights and being led, so a soft walk was normal for her. Nothing would scare her this close to the walls of Taloba. Tazi looked over her shoulder as the main gate got smaller. The Tiger rider’s and their mounts scared away more awful creatures deeper into the forest. It was not surprising to her that the was how they stayed safe. Myrian Tigers were formidable creatures. She wondered if Myri the Merciless would even go up against one of them.

Tazi turned her gaze forward, admiring the sunlight cutting through the canopy and landing on soft ground. Bugs flitted back and forth between the rays of light, and this caused her to smile. Why couldn’t her mother see the beauty in innocence and nature? Not everything required bloodshed and war. Asar lived up to her dreams of having a warrior daughter. Why couldn’t her mother respect her for her choices?

Tazi had practically been disowned by her mother after she served her time in the army. Having not made much of herself, Forai had continued to look down on her youngest daughter. The forest moved along as she pondered her mother’s choices. Sure, she wasn’t a skilled fighter, but healing those that could fight was an honorable job. Wasn’t it? Why couldn’t she understand that medicine could save lives? It could save Asar’s life, or another loved one that Forai actually cared about.

Tazi huffed to herself, shifting in her saddle. Zaza whickered back, somewhat annoyed at the shifting. Packs never moved, so this was unusual for her. Tazi leaned forward, petting her mount again and murmuring a polite apology. Pulling the reigns to one side, she began to lead Zaza off the path, so they could find appropriate practice grounds for knife throwing. The last thing Tazi wanted to do was hurt an innocent because she lobbed a knife too far.

When there were a few paces from the main path, she pulled Zaza into a halted position. Dismounting, she guided Zaza toward a tree that had a low hanging branch and tied her up. She had brought her extra rope with her to give Zaza some more freedom while she practiced. Once she was sure her steed was safely put up, she pulled three throwing knives from one of the saddle bags and proceeded into the trees a little further.

Without warning, she took one of the knives and threw it just to guage what her aim was life. It spun forward and then arched to the ground, landing about five paces from her. Her shoulders slumped. Apparently lobbing a knife was not going to get her anywhere. Pulling it from the dirt, she gazed at it. It was cheap steal, something she had borrowed from a friend within Taloba with complete intention of bringing them back. She would of course pay for the ones she had lost. Hopefully, she would be able to track them appropriately and keep them in her possession. They were unique items, properly balanced. Their handles had thin rope wrapped tightly around them for a decent grip.

Staring down a tree, she took a moment to aim, then pulled another knife quickly over her shoulder and threw it. This time, it got farther, but landed at the base of the tree. Apparently she was not putting enough force behind it. Of course, this was not surprising since she did not have the will to throw knives. Why should she learn to protect herself? She could just as easily run and hide. There was no reason to slaughter one another. Peace could be achieved. Everyone had the right to live. Didn’t they?

She pulled another knife from her stockpile of three and lobbed it towards her practicing tree in a similar fashion. This time, it flopped from her hands and landed in the dirt before it could even get to the base of the tree. Half-heartedly, she threw the last one. To her, this wasn’t important.

Plopping herself down, she stared at her victim. The tree was an old gnarly thing, although it was still a living creature. It had done nothing wrong, and here she was trying to gouge it. Tazi signed, leaning back until she fell onto the soft dirty.

It wasn’t fair. Asar and her were twins, yet Asar was loved more by their mother. At least Zaso loved his daughters equally. Even if he did not show his love outright to her sister, he never publically shamed Asar like Forai did Tazi. She brought her hands to her face, blocking out the rays of light and grumbling to herself. Here she was, twenty-five years of age and stuck in her home province. She should be out learning new trades, meeting new people, and getting new skills. Philtering, herbalism, medicine. All of the things she knew she could use to prove herself.

Rolling over, she pulled herself up to retrieve the knives. Pulling them from their places, she went back to her place and threw another one. This one promisingly landed at the base of the tree again. She narrowed her eyes, not satisfied with this performance. Taking a deep breath, she spun around and whirled the knife toward the trunk of the tree. It landed with a thunk solidly within the bark. Tazi smiled. See, anything she put her mind to, she would be able to do. Pulling her arm over her shoulder, she tensed herself up to try and hit the tree again. Strength surged through her muscled as she followed through, releasing the knife towards the tree.

It was an extremely high release. It landed, with a dissatisfying sound, several paces above her head. It was secure in there, which was somewhat encouraging, but Tazi frowned. She didn’t want to pay for that knife. She was going to have to get it down.

”Petch. How am I supposed to get that down?”

Shoot for the stars they said. That really wasn’t helping her right about now.

by **Tazi** on March 12th, 2014, 3:58 am

”Shyke, shyke, shyke,” Tazi kept chanting to herself as she moved towards the base of the tree. She pulled the one out of the ground, throwing it to the side casually. Then she worked the knife she could reach out of the bark. It joined the other one shortly after it was free. Then, Tazi looked up, grumbling some more curse words to herself. This was going to be tough.

For a few chimes, she walked around the tree, trying to figure the best way up. Climbing was certainly not her forte. There were a couple of knobs to grip onto, and one very treacherous, low-hanging branch that she could reach. Of course, it didn’t help her courage level because it seemed to be dry and rotted from the inside out. Tazi reached forward, feeling the rough bark. The chance of her being able to wrap her legs around its wide trunk was slim to none. If she had been riding all her life, maybe she would have the muscle mass to grip the tree between her thighs and haul herself up that way. Sadly, that was not the case.

”Well, Tazi, you dumb animal, you are going to have to try something…”

Since the best bet was the dry limb, she figured that would be the best place to start. Tazi reached up, pulling on it ever so gently. It creaked just a little under her weight, but it did not break. Placing both hands around the branch, she hung there for a moment with her feet barely off the ground to see if it could support her weight. Gravity, and her skinny figure, seemed to be on her side for the branch held. Tazi placed the toes of one of her sandals into a small hole on the side of the tree, pushing herself up over the branch. Again she paused, checking nervously for sounds that the branch was going to give way. It still creaked, but for the most part, it held strong. Her other foot found one of the knots on the tree, allowing her to swing a leg over the branch clumsily. There she sat, anxiously waiting for Caiyha to strike the branch from its position and send her plummeting the mere four feet she had already pulled herself up.

Taking a deep breath, Tazi pushed her back against the trunk, slowly bringing herself to a standing position on the strong part of the branch. The next branch was healthy, which was comforting, and she reached out to grab it for support. Similar to how she got onto the first branch, she managed to drape her body over the second branch. The bark of the tree dug into her midriff, and as Tazi squared herself up to pull a leg over, she felt a small piece of flesh snag a sharp point. The sudden yank caused her to twitch, but she was able to complete her mission to the next level. Again she stood up, backing against the trunk of the tree. Then she gazed up to figure out where the knife was in correlation to her position.

The knife was just above the next branch, but she was not going to be able to reach that branch without jumping. That thought made her nauseous. She closed her eyes for a few moment, breathing in deep to keep her anxiety levels relatively low. With one last breath, she managed to turn herself around so her front was facing the trunk. Then, she took a small leap of faith.

Her fingers barely clipped the branch and Tazi felt her stomach clench as she started falling back down. Thankfully, since her jump had been pitiful and relatively straight up, she landed back on the branch she had been on. Unbalanced, she wobbled for a second, her arms swinging wildly at her sides to regain some composure. When she did, she hugged the trunk of the tree, grumbling again to herself.

”Petch this. My life is not worth 5 Bikka…” Tazi hissed. Then she made the mistake of looking down. Damn she was high up, at least from her perspective. Only about 8-9 feet in the tree, it felt like she was standing on the tallest peak in Falyndar. ”Oh Myri, I am going to die,” Tazi started rambling, drawing her gaze back towards the trunk. ”This is not how I thought I was going to go. I wanted to die of old age, maybe have a couple of children. I wanted to outlive my mother. That would have been grand. But nooo…I’m going to die by falling on my head to my death for a stupid throwing knife.”

Tazi pushed her head into the bark, contemplating what to do next. Well, she was already over half-way, and at least she would perish having tried to do something important. Sorta. Looking up again, she mustered every ounce of courage that she had left, pushing up with more gusto then before. Her hands connected with the limb, allowing her to hang there for a moment before she twisted around to swing her legs up. Now she was hanging upside down like a strange animal, her ponytail swinging in the light breeze. Preventing herself from looking down, she began to shuffle forward towards the trunk again, pulling herself slowly along the branch like a lazy animal.

When the top of her head connected with the trunk of the tree, she felt a little more at ease. Of course, she had zero idea how to right herself so she was on top of the branch and not hanging underneath it.

”Augh…”

Climbing was hard.

by **Tazi** on April 2nd, 2014, 3:47 am

Tazi hung there like a sloth, waiting for the hand of a god to reach down and right her or even be kind enough to lower her to the ground with throwing knife in hand. She waited a moment, hoping that a miracle would happen. She wasn't even remotely surprised when it did not. Breathing in and out slowly, she tested her muscles. They were tired, and some were already beginning to cramp from hanging upside down. Wiggling from side to side, she tested to see if she was strong enough to simply pull herself over. Then she went back to hanging and plotting. If she were more flexible, she probably could hike her leg up further over the branch and pull herself up that way. If she were stronger, sheer manpower would be able to do it. Other then that, willpower was not going to get her very far.

Lifting her gaze to something more solid than her thoughts, she noticed just how close the knife really was now that she was closer. Relieving her body weight on the left arm, she paused to see if she could maintain her position with her legs and right arm. Only the breeze seemed to sway the small branches just below her feet. Reaching forward, she batted her hand back and forth, stretching as far as she could. Her nails barely touched the tip hilt of the knife before she withdrew. Tazi pressed her head further into the trunk of the tree, scooting her body forward to try and close the distance. Reaching again, she batted like a kitten playing with a ball of grass, clipping the metal more then last time.

"Come on..." Tazi hissed, tilting her head back to press her face into the trunk to give her arm just a little bit more reach. Then she felt it, two of her longest fingers around the actual knife. Like a child that just got a new toy, she waved her hand back and forth wildly, trying to get the knife out of the trunk. It wiggled, and then tilted down, and then she felt it loosen. Pulling it from the bark, she sighed with relief. Lowering her arm, she let the knife fall to the jungle floor. Then she looked down.

Now that was a mistake.

Her stomach did a sickening flip and she felt the incessant need to vomit. That was the last thing she wanted to do. Desperately, she hugged herself to the branch until her knuckles turned white. Now how on earth was she supposed to get back down? Surely she would fall. Then again, if she fell, she would maybe land on her feet. Then again, she could land on the knives, her her head, or a variety of death dealing blows.

"Well, I've come this far..." Tazi grumbled, slowly working the courage up to let her feet hang. She released her leg grip on the branch, allowing her body to hang now by her arms. Remember that she had to jump to get here, she realized she was going to have to let go to get to the next branch. With a silent prayer, she did, landing lightly on the branch below.

One down, one to go. She lowered herself to her belly on this branch, swinging both her legs down to find the first decaying branch. Slightly more confident then she should be for having overcome many obstacles already, Tazi was less careful. Once the tip of her sandals touched the branch, she practically let gravity guide her down. And guide it down it did. Carelessly she let go of the branch, thinking the new branch could support her like before. This time, it did not.

A loud SNAP caused her blood to run cold for the mere second. Then she was plummeting down towards the earth. With a THUD she landed on her toes and teetered backwards to her rump. One arm retracted safely to prevent injury. The left one was stupidly placed backwards to try and break her fall. A sharp pain ran up her arm from her wrist as she completed her hard landing.

"Aaaaii!"

by **Tazi** on April 16th, 2014, 3:02 am

Gripping her left wrist, she breathed deeply. The pain seemed to die with every exhale and revived itself with a new fire with every inhale of fresh air. The pain made her dizzy, causing the jungle to spin in small circles as she stared up into the canopy.

I made it...

When that thought started to become clear amongst the waves of pain, Tazi began to smile. The world slowed down until she stopped having double vision. The decaying branch that could not bear her weight lay at her feet, the pile of knives a short distance away from that. The Myrian was laid out on her back, clutching her wrist. She found herself staring at the tree, and although it was a tree, see saw a conquered mountain. Previously it had been a tree. Now it was a monument to her success at not dying on her decent. Sitting up, she looked herself over from toe to torso. There were some red blotches where she had hugged the tree more enthusiastically then she had anticipated. Nothing appear to be broken, just raw and sore. Her muscles were trying to relax, but the tension was hard to let go.

Working herself into a standing position, she rolled her shoulders back. She was proud of herself for making it out of this situation alive. Quietly, and gingerly, she collected the throwing knives. Then, she picked her way through the jungle, away from the monument, to find her horse.

Zaza was still there, idly chewing on the grass. Tazi undid the rope, flicking it to catch Zaza's attention. The horse picked up her lazy hooves, falling in behind Tazi. The sun was beginning to descend in the sky as she slowly made her way back to Taloba.

OOCAnd that is all I have...muse died for this. I hope the grader enjoys!

by **Catastrophe** on April 17th, 2014, 8:36 pm

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Tazi :

Notes :

Solo The Reflection in a Blade