This is the End

[Tinnok]

This is the End
76th of Spring, 514 A.V.

All she knew was that he was stationed at the blockade. It was much too dangerous for her there, helping Evalin had shown the half breed that much. She had the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of how the blockade, operated, however, so she wasn't dead...yet.

Somewhere between the Blockade and the Kandukta Basin Tinnok hovered, traveling by tree tops and sticking to the canopy like most any intelligent creature. From there she could keep an eye on everything and not have to worry about Dhani or Myrians sneaking up on her. Only birds flew higher than she.

Today she was closer to the basin, and chose to practice her acrobatics. She had gotten nimbler and more agile in her time apart from civilization. She knew how far she could walk on a branch before it dipped too far with her weight, could tell when a far branch would hold her and when it wouldnt. She didn't trust any vines, and never would, so instead stuck to branches.

Currently she was running across a broad branch, the balls of her feet barely connecting with smooth bark before they lifted off again farther away. Her yellow eyes flickered one way and another, both to determine nothing was below her, and also to divine which tree would be her next perch. Her longbow often got in the way, but now it was stowed behind her pack,and her spear was out. Though it could be cumbersome, holding it horizontally just the right length from her chest allowed her extra balance. With this she could run faster without worry of what would happen should her balance waver.

Her eyes caught a solid branch reaching from a far tree and almost touching the one she was on now. Her eyes narrowed. It was lower, and she was running out of branch to dash on. She saw her answer below and leapt to the side. She twisted her spear just enough to the side not catch the branch she left, but then returned it to its horizontal form, hands split apart catching tip and butt of the spear on two branches below, the wood of the spear hitting the bark with a resounding 'thwack', her whole body vibrating due to the force. Not letting her body rest she swung her legs forward, the spear and her whole body rolling off the branch to land on the next tree.

A shyke eating grin split her face form ear to ear to think she had pulled off such a feat, but her victory got ahead of itself as her spear tip caught on a set of leaves. This left Tinnok's feet where she wanted them: on the adjoining branch connected to the far tree, but her arms tugging backwards, gripping the spear and quickly losing balance all together. With a curse she wrenched the spear free only to topple down several branches, slamming her elbows, knees and back int he process, and stopping her fall by wrapping her legs around a branch like a bat and hanging upside down, out of breath and red faced. Though no one was around she felt utterly embarassed by her display and the racket she caused.

"Did you here that?"

Tinnok froze, all muscles tightening. The voice was Myrian and echoed from somewhere that was far too close for comfort. She slid her spear behind her pack and gripped a branch one lower with her hands, letting go of her leg hold on her perch above and dropping down as quietly as she could, feet gripping the bark like hands as she stood crouched on all fours. She backed up against the trunk and shrunk her body down small. She had the advantage of height and the dappled shade coming down from the canopy. Hopefully...that would be enough.

[Tinnok]

She heard their footfalls, quiet, but quiet enough, and peered down through the foliage. There were 10 of them, spread out in a proper formation, most glancing high up into the canopy. She slowly, ever so slowly inched backwards, a glimpse of her skin or Goddess, her eyes would be the death of her. She was a good fighter, but she couldn’t take on 10 beings, not all at once. Deciding to experiment a little, even as she drew back she leaned forward, sort of wobbling a little. She had seen certain insects do this when they walked, to appear more like a moving leaf then a bug, perhaps it would work now.
Her height and shadowed perch saved her in this instance, and she heard mutters from below. “Probably a capuchin.”'

“Come on.” Said another voice. It was authoritative and male, which was a sort of contradiction in Taloba. Tinnok’s ears strained, catching a familiar tenor to the voice, and when it spoke again her heart stopped. “We need to bring back food for the main camp or they’ll have our hides.” Murmurs of agreement went up and she could hear them fanning out in the wide swathes she was familiar with. Keep one another in sight, but stay at a distance, and from here you created a good net for catching sight of tracks and prey.

But that voice, she would know that voice anywhere. It was deeper now, with a masculine tenor, but that was Rarik, she knew it. Of course he was the reason she had come here, to say goodbye, but the chances of actually finding him had been so remote…she hadn’t actually expected to run into him, not like this, not in a position where she might actually have a chance to speak to him without getting murdered by the entire Taloban blockade.

When she was certain they were past her tree Tinnok stood slightly and leapt nimbly to another branch, watching tanned back disappear into the greenery. She had to follow them…from above. She had to time this right in order to get a word in with Rarik, even if it was only one. Suddenly, an idea coming to her, Tinnok unslung her pack and ripped out her leather bound journal, ripping a thick fibrous page out of it and taking her piece of charcoal. She wrote quickly, every tick a tick she’d have to make up to catch her brother’s fang again, then when she was done she folding the paper carefully and putting it beside her left breast, secure under the bandages that kept them close to her chest. Replacing her pack and making sure all weapons were secure she lunged to the next branch, hands wrapping around the wood and swinging her bodily to the next tree, her feet landing with practiced ease on a branch thick enough to hold her weight, where she ran to th trunk and inched around it, looking for her next perch before sliding down a level and continuing to leap, jump and hop. This could be a long, tiring day…and there was a genuine chance of being caught, an idea which she didn’t like, but if the Goddesses had sent Rarik directly to her…she couldn’t take that sign and throw it away, not when after she left this place there was a good chance she’d never see her half brother again.

And so she was off.

[Tinnok]

Tinnok had gotten fairly good in the past seasons, firstly at how to keep quiet, and secondly at how to jump and leap from tree to tree, but combining both of these skills into quietly jumping from tree to tree? That was a whole other level of her skill set which she had not reached, and for that reason, she tried to keep back from her quarry, while keeping them at least in sight. She had height, shade, and the breeze on her side, two to muffle her own noises, one to keep her relatively hard to see, even in the daytime, so she used these to her advantage. She crept out to the weakest part of a tree branch that could still support her and glanced around, golden eyes taking in the sights and sounds. When she was sure no one was immediately around she would bend her knees and lunge onto her next perch, sometimes feet first, sometimes on all four so that she could control how her weight landed on the branch a bit more. She would dart on ahead, sometimes able to run smoothly from run tree to another due to the closeness of the Falyndar foliage, keeping an eye on her prey, who was in turn keeping an eye on theirs. As long as Tinnok could see a dark head bobbing in the distance, she counted herself on track, they would have to break at some point, or pause if they caught something to skin it, that would be her chance, if she got lucky.

She proceeded at this pace, leaping, tumbling, trying to create as little rustling as she could as she moved through the canopy. Once or twice she saw a dark cropping of hair turn to reveal a tanned face, and she would crouch down and wait till they disappeared again, then continue on her path. Her legs soon burned from the severe stress put on them, her arms already sore from heaving herself up branches or hanging all her weight from them in a swing, and she prayed that this would not continue into the night.

Her chance came 4 bells later, when she had started taking more frequent breaks, lagging behind in order to catch her breath so that the labor of that simple sound wouldn’t be a giveaway just as the rustling of leaves might. She heard a bird whistle, one that meant circle around and essentially ‘go in for the kill.’ This gave her a little spurt of energy, and as she squinted to see tanned forms racing through the greenery, also gave her an opportunity to be a bit louder. If they were rustling around on the ground, there is no way they’d hear the sounds of branches 30 feet above them and 25 yards behind them at the same time. She sucked in a deep breath and ran forward again, leaping out belly first, arms and legs spread in an X as she flew through the air to the neck tree, she sort of landed on top of the branch belly first, sending the air out of her lungs, but being as tired as she was, grave wasn’t really an option anymore.

Recovering with labored breathing Tinnok heaved herself up and jogged, hoping from branch to branch, knees and back bent to avoid smacking her head on any higher branches as she closed the gap between her and her former Myrian comrades. Another leap and she was as far as she dared go, the grouping almost directly below her, their quarry a pair of Cassowary that were babbling and squawking in fear as the ten fang members created a perfect circle around them and began closing in.

She caught sight of Rarik immediately. The sides of his head shaved, but the rest long, hanging loose around his shoulders and down his back, a gladius gripped in either hand. She watched with a regretful sort of pride as he was the first to lunge, wrapping his arms around a Cassowary neck and using his weight to drag the awkwardly large bird down, his sword stabbing into its neck swiftly, slicing the key artery and letting the creature bleed out as another female held it down to keep from struggling away in its final moments. The other bird was down half a chime later, and the fang had a moment of celebration before setting upon the task of plucking and carving the two birds up to bring in more manageable sections back to wherever they had come from upon the blockade. Tinnok waited until they had built a fire before creeping out, the piece of paper slid out from her breast, slightly smudged because of her sweat, but still intact. She waited, praying, hoping Rarik would come near enough for her to drop the note, for him to see it and know it was from her. But he didn’t. His kill was farther from the fire, and he was studiously plucking away at the kill while others set about making a perimeter. There was a female standing below her, that if she dropped the paper upon would surely see it and read it, but that could mean the end of her. It had to be Rarik, Rarik and no one else.

[Tinnok]

So she waited, a bell, two, in utter agony, every muscle sore because of tensing them due to stress, willing her half brother to walk even a few feet closer to her. Syna dipped lower in the sky, she heard the urgency in the fang’s tones as they began to wrap the meat in leaves and tie it with chords, distributing it evenly amongst themselves.

That was when he approached the edge of her tree, and Tinnok fumbled, breath caught in her throat and instantly dropped the piece of parchment, petrified as she had never been in her life as it fell lazily down towards the ground. She watched it progress in terror, and nearly screamed when a gust of wind took the piece of paper and swept it into the fire they had made to sear the meat. She watched it float and land perfectly in the center, a stray flame reaching up to gulp down the paper, and her eyes lit with fire, a moan no louder than a whisper escaping her throat from sheer frustration with the whole situation.

That was when she glanced down at Rarik, and saw…that somehow, he and only he was staring right back up at her, bright hazel eyes locked dangerous on her golden ones. She gulped, instinctively shrinking away from a myriad of emotions she could feel radiating off of his gaze. Then he turned to his fang mates, the look gone.

“Alright, let’s start up, I’ll take the right flank, and Serrat, if you lose me for a moment in the bushes don’t worry, I thought I saw some old Tapir tracks on our way here, I just want to make double sure they’re not fresh.”

“Tapir, oh that would go great with the bird, sure thing Rarik, just call if you’re in trouble.”

Another pang entered Tinnok’s chest. There was an easy camraderir between Rarik and his comrades, they were relaxed and smiles, everyone seemed to perform each task without question. If she hadn’t been so stubborn, so prideful, could her fang ever have been like that? She sighed, it was useless to think of the past, of a different life from the one she had chosen, she was here, now, and what was most important was that Rarik had given her the chance to talk with his words, and she would not waste the opportunity.

So when they set out she noticed he almost purposefully didn’t look back. A strange nervous energy filled the half breed then, giving her the strength to try her acrobatic regime again, this time skewing her acrobatics to one side so that she found herself directly below Rarik, every leap allowing herself to go down one branch further, then again, getting lower and lower until she was in the understory. To warn Rarik of her approach she gave a capuchin squeal before her hands hooked onto a thin low branch, her weight making the wood creak before she let go and fell to the ground, rolling in a forward somersault and jumping up to see Rarik standing motionless before her. He was barely an inch shorter than her, tall for a male, and handsome. Tinnok knew he must have females craving his blood for their children, even if females often didn’t like the idea of attaching themselves permanently to a lesser male.

“You’re good at that.” He said, and though it was a compliment, Tinnok could hear an insult behind it.

“I just wanted-“ She began, but he cut her off.

“Just wanted to stalk my fang? Get yourself killed? Remind them that I’m the half brother of a known skurak traitor who would kill her own blood in defense of them?” She knew who them was, and her head hung low. She hadn’t expected some glorious reunion, but this…this was altogether different.

“I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye.” She said softly.

“That’s what you came all this way to say?” His eyebrows raised high. “You left without nary a word, basically confirming your guilt in the death of our brethren, and you came here just to say that to me? Not going to apologize for anything else?”

“It would not be an honest one.”

“Of course it wouldn’t be, because in the end you’re the monster everyone thought you were, weren’t you? Did you even love me, Tinnok, ever?”

She felt water brimming. “Of course I did Rare, I-“

“Don’t you dare call me that. Don’t you dare. You’re lower than filth, your name has been stricken from the clan, it was as if you never even existed, probably for the best too, the Tempered Steel will never make the mistake of harboring a fucking skurak again, I’ll tell you that much.”

These things he said were not new, but the venom, the hate that was behind them was so real she could almost feel the physical blow of the words on her soul. “I would never have been one of you.”

“So instead you murder the people that raised you?”

“I…” She trailed off. It would be no good to argue with him, and she couldn’t find it in her heart to be angry with him, everything he said had its own kind of truth in it. She had betrayed the Myrians trust, but she had also found herself and her own purpose there, in the end…it had been a life she thought she wanted, but could never attain.

“Goodbye Rarik, I know you’ll never forgive me, but you were the only thing that got me through when we were kids, and I did and always will love you.”

He was already walking away, but she saw his back stiffen and knew he had heard all of her words. He set off at a sprint to re-join his fang and Tinnok stood their in silence, surrounded by the birds and the trees, and the wind, alone, but simultaneously one with all around her. There was a sadness in her heart like a wound cut open anew and bleeding, but all wounds could heal, and this one would too. She had done it, said what she needed to, and even if he hated her…it was done. Yellow eyes turned up to the canopy, and a drop of water fell upon her face, then another, then tens, then hundreds. Her lids closed and she felt the water cleanse her spirit and mind. She was free of all of it, once…and for all.

[Voodoo]

Your Powers Grow

Tinnok

Experience :

Climbing: +1
Acrobatics: +3
Planning: +1
Stealth: +1
Socialization: +1
Endurance: +2

Lore :

Spear: Helpful in Acrobatics
Camouflage: Use of One's Surroundings
Rarik: A Reminder of a Sad Past
Rarik: Forever loved by a Half-Breed

Loot :

Slight soreness of all muscles from over exertion for a few days.

Comments :

As usual, it was fantastic to read Tinnok. That last post made me feel for the half-breed.