Closed Unexpected Reunion (Shahar)

[Natane Skytears]

48th day of Summer, 514 A.V

Natane drew back, feeling the string pull tight and tension begin to build. She waited, arrow in place. She felt the hot summer breeze in her long hair and watched it dance through the dry grass. The girl was waiting for a break in the wind, as it was blowing in an unfavourable direction today and had become more of a hindrance to her training rather than a blessing, as it had been in the past. Natane had been awake since dawn and was slowly learning how to time the breeze. It was never constant, starting strong but dying out quickly. And it was at this moment when one wave ended and another was readying itself that Natane had found she was able to fire a straight shot.

As she predicted the wind calmed and she let the arrow fly. It struck her makeshift target of grass and rope tied roughly together to resemble some shape. Although off centre and had her target been a creature she suspected her shot would have barely nicked it Natane was pleased, more so by the fact that she did not have to go traipsing through the tall grass in search of her missing arrow rather than the accomplishment of actually striking the target.

She walked the short distance between her starting point and the grass rope bundle, contemplating moving it further away. “No” she said quietly to herself as she removed the arrow, “When I can make five hits in a row, then I can consider moving it” This seemed farfetched as making two in a row was a task she was yet to complete.

Turning back, arrow in hand, Natane cast a brief eye over her small camp which she had set up at a reasonably safe distance from where she was training, so to reduce the danger of stray arrows. She could not help but feel for her strider, having such a dark coat in this heat would have been hell, but at least Niabi had been able to find some relief by hiding in the shadow cast by the tent.

Natane faced the target once more as the wind picked up again and set the arrow in place, preparing for another shot.

[Colt]

The day was thick and hot, cloudless and gasping for rain but drier than a Chaktawe’s waterskin. As the summer had plodded on without a hint of relief, a sense of lethargy had fallen over the plains, the preference to wait out the hot weather until it came to an end.

But now, halfway into the season and with not a drop of rain to be seen, that lethargy had begun to turn into something else––something lean and opportunistic, something that knew that perhaps waiting was more dangerous than braving the heat. Something desperate.

It was this gut feeling of desperation that had Shahar on edge as he made his way through the grass, one javelin in hand and eyes trained on the ground before him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched by something unsavory, something that made the grass shiver here and there and then darted away before he could catch sight of it. It sounded smaller than a bear, and it sounded alone––something clever enough to recognize him as a hunter of beasts, and something he feared would challenge him for the gazelle he was pursuing.

His hunt had taken him farther from Endrykas than he would have liked, but in this weather, it simply couldn’t be helped; the region was parched, earth, plant and beast alike, and prey was becoming scarcer by the day. He needed to bring in this gazelle and get back to the city before something bigger than his current stalker decided that he would make a convenient meal.

The gazelle certainly weren’t too much farther ahead; a single animal was easy enough to track in this environment, let alone a group, and they had been moving at a steady walk since he had begun tracking them. Looking for water, no doubt. But it was as he was tracking the herd that, quite suddenly, he came across a completely unexpected trail directly across his path: a horse, alone, female and carrying too much weight for her size. Strider, then, bearing rider. It halted Shahar in his tracks.

For a moment, Shahar didn’t know what to do. The gazelle tracks called to him urgently, but so did this new trail; the Dawnwhisper looked ahead, trying to detect any sign of other horses, but this one had been alone. He usually wasn’t one to go poking around in other people’s business, but this was different––this was the Sea of Grass, a dangerous, angry place that was beginning to grow desperate with its own thirst. It wasn’t the place for anyone to simply be unless they had a specific purpose, and one that could be done quickly. Shahar was torn; he needed the gazelle, but the hoofprints were recent and their maker couldn’t be far. Perhaps it was another hunter, like him. And if it was, surely it wouldn’t hurt to be sure; he could just find them, make sure they were remaining safe and then continue on his way with only a few minutes lost. With a final reluctant glance at the dewdrop prints of the gazelle, Shahar started after the horse.

[Natane Skytears]

She felt a little ridiculous crawling about in the tall, scratchy grass hunting for arrows. While others hunted rabbits or pheasants, she hunted sticks, and even they could best her. Natane found herself chasing away tiny lizards and shaking buzzing insects off their post as she did. It was difficult sorting the sticks and straw-like weeds from the ones she was looking for, each time something would catch her eye it turned out to be nothing than a thin twig. Natane had taken another three shots, all of which had sailed past the target and had disappeared into the golden fields.

The young woman muttered to herself about her poor aim and inability to control her weapon. She needed more practice, that much was clear, but as determined as she was to improve her skills the sun was rising steadily and the heat along with it. She decided that after this it would be best to abandon training and perhaps seek some shade.

Natane continued to search the plains, hearing the grass rustling and snapping somewhere in the distance, she was too distracted by her task and far too wrapped in her own thoughts to consider the possibility of others roaming these grasslands. Of course she knew of the deadly creatures living in these parts, but it had been many years since her last encounter with one such monster.

It was a while longer before she found the last of the three arrows sticking out of the dry dirt. She let out a relieved breath, plucking it from the ground, and sat back.

[Colt]

The trail became sharper in the grass as he approached its source; the horse couldn’t be much farther ahead, of that Shahar was certain. The hoofprints were spaced together, suggesting that the horse and rider had been unhurried––something that put Shahar even more ill at ease.

The trail led to the base of a small rise in the earth, then around, then up––and it led Shahar, quite distressingly, to a camp.

It was a small camp, rough and barely large enough for a single person. The tent was tall, though, tall enough to cast a shadow and tall enough for a Strider to dwell in that shadow. A Strider Shahar recognized.

The flash came quickly and unbidden, of a time years ago when he was still young and nameless. It was the same mare, the one who’d thought it a good idea to get into a horsefight with Akaidras. Was her rider the same one, then? Did this camp belong to the woman who’d thrown a rock at him?

Growing more distressed by the minute, Shahar signed a vague worried, nonviolent greeting at the mare to let her know that he meant no harm before turning to examine the ground. It didn’t appear to be a very old camp, and there was only one pair of feet that had made any prints here. Those feet were definitely human and female, and it didn’t take long for him to find where she had been standing a great while. The shifts in stance suggested… combat? Heavy lifting? No, the stance was similar to his when he threw his javelins, only straight-backed and unhurried; she’d been doing something with a ranged weapon, it seemed, but without any real urgency.

He turned and followed another, more recent trail that led away from the camp, past a thing made of grass and rope and into the open plains. This, he knew, was a trail that couldn’t possibly have been made more than five minutes ago, if the telltale snapping of underbrush wasn’t enough of a signal.

Here she had bent over and moved aside some rabbitgrass, although for what purpose Shahar could not fathom. There she had picked up a stick and just as quickly discarded it.

There. He could hear her now, quite clearly rummaging through the foliage in a manner that had the hunter baffled. Without anything else he could think of to do, Shahar threw caution into the wind and made his way through the grass towards her.

She was, indeed, examining the ground, as if it held some great secret that she was trying to uncover. Then, as he watched, she leaned forward and unearthed the long, unmistakable shaft of an arrow from the earth and sat back.

Shahar took care to make noise as he finished his approach to alert her to his presence. He didn’t want to startle her, but neither did he want to take too much time. He wanted to get back to the gazelle, but her presence here made him leery of such a thing being possible; he knew that no one should be out here alone, much less set up camp alone, and that was something he intended to let her know.

Hurried greeting, he signed. Urgency, worry, your location, why? Out here, dangerous, too dangerous to be alone.

[Natane Skytears]

The stranger gave her more of a fright than it should have, considering he had made his presence fairly clear. But once she saw that the man was Drykas, and most likely less dangerous than other creatures in these parts, Natane let out a slightly relieved breath. The girl watched him sign, mentioning his concern for her solitude.

“I don’t quite understand all social conducts…” she replied standing and dusting herself off, “But I believe you are meant to introduce yourself before you start talking” the girl did not mean to come off as rude but she realised once the words had left her mouth that it may have appeared that way. It was hot and training was frustrating, so she was not in the best of moods, she hoped her irritability would be forgiven. She then said as she straightened to face him, “I am Natane of the Skytears Pavilion. And I will add that it is not nice to sneak up on people”

Looking the stranger up and down Natane thought she sensed something vaguely familiar about him, and he had a look in his eye that she thought she recognised. Although she could not be sure of where she had met him before, perhaps she had come across him during one of her visits to Endrykas?

Either way, his concern was appreciated and he had bothered to stop so Natane owed him an explanation.

“I’m training” she answered simply, “I will be moving along soon enough”

[Colt]

“I don’t quite understand all social conducts…” said she, “but I believe you are meant to introduce yourself before you start talking. I am Natane of the Skytears Pavilion. And I will add that it is not nice to sneak up on people.”

Shahar absorbed every word that she was saying, examined it to see if there was anything of import to their current situation, and when he found none he let them go from his mind. Social conducts and being nice did not matter to him right now; they were on the Sea of Grass, for Zulrav’s sake, and there were more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

“I am training,” she offered in way of explanation. “I will be moving along soon enough.”

Training? Shahar echoed. Out here, why? City, safe to train, has “War Storm Pavilion.” Shahar couldn’t imagine any reason someone would want to train out here. Danger, he reiterated. Great danger, training out here, extremely foolish. Sea of Grass, bad place to be not moving. He gestured to the sky. Heat. Drought. Great thirst, for everyone, for Drykas, for Strider, for animals. Even more dangerous now, all is desperate, less scared, hungrier, thirstier. Bad, extremely unsafe to be here.

[Natane Skytears]

It was not the first time someone had brought this to her attention. Natane could see their point. The girl had gone from her pavilion to Endrykas, spending very little time in the Sea of Grass. Perhaps she was being foolish, acting like the naive child she had hoped to leave behind, living out here in these deadly grasslands.

"You are alone" Natane noted snidely. She disliked being spoken down to, even if his accusations were valid. For too many years the young woman had been told she was incapable of fending for herself, that she would never survive on her own. Of course she knew the difference between herself and this man. Judging from his darkened skin and fading scars Natane assumed her was no stranger to the Sea of Grass and the dangers it possessed. If she had to guess she would have said that he had been wandering these plains for some time.

"It is strange to find people this far from anywhere. I have not come across many who are foolish enough to be in these grasslands alone, myself excluded" Natane had spoken to very few in her time away from her pavilion and remembered them all. Although the one that stuck in her mind was the wild man she had come across while in the Sea of Grass. The man had said nothing and although she had been unnerved by the stranger there had been something rather intriguing about him.

Studying this man now Natane knew she had met him before. But could not for the life of her remember where she had seen him.

"Would you mind telling me where you are from?" maybe if she knew that then she would be able to figure out where she knew him.

[Colt]

“You are alone,” said the woman, as if they were somehow in the same situation. “It is strange to find people this far from anywhere. I have not come across many who are foolish enough to be in these grasslands alone, myself excluded.”

Shahar let out an irritated huff; he was already far from home, much farther than he was comfortable being, and if he hadn’t stopped he might very well have brought down something to bring back by now. The woman was drawing out his discomfort with her stubbornness.

Am am not here alone, he said before he realized that his point might be unclear. He turned and gestured back at the woman’s camp. That, he signed, is foolish. Living. Sleeping. Alone is foolish. Alone is vulnerable. Beasts know that. Alone, no defense. Was there any way he could spell it out to her any more clearly?

“Would you mind telling me where you’re from?”

Shahar blinked. Was that really an appropriate question for the situation? Endrykas, he answered curtly. Where else would he be from?

[Natane Skytears]

"Endrykas" the man signed. Natane studied him a moment longer. She decided that despite his claims the Tent City was not where she had seen him.

But choosing to address his earlier complaints the young woman muttered, "I realise the danger" she then went on to challenge, "But tell me how I am supposed to learn to survive on my own if I do not take some risks?"

She may have been foolish, yet saw no other way to further her understanding of this land. And, just like the creatures that waded silently through the Sea of Grass, she too was desperate. Desperately clinging to the vow she had made upon leaving her pavilion all those years ago.

Natane agreed that solitude out here may not have been the wisest of living arrangements, but she had always preferred her own company and felt more at home out here with her strider by her side than she ever had whilst living with her clan.

She felt the volume in her voice rise as she continued, Natane disliked being spoken down to as if she were still a child, "I have no food, and barely enough skills to support myself. To hunt, I need to be where the game is, don't you agree?"

Natane took up her bow once more, forgetting the fierce sun and her thoughts of finding a shady patch to spend the rest of the day, and aimed at the target. Staring down the arrow shaft she mumbled, while keeping the course of the wind in mind and shifting her stance, "To hunt, I must train"

She did not deny the fact that this man raised some good points, and she knew she really should not have allowed his words to anger her like they had. After all, this stranger had gone out of his way to voice his concerns for her safety. Perhaps she was acting rashly but Natane was not willing to give up yet.

[Colt]

“I realize the danger,” she continued, although she almost certainly did not. "But tell me, how I am supposed to learn to survive on my own if I do not take some risks?"

Those words were what sent a realization crashing onto him, one that almost made him reel. He was not going to sway her. Nothing he could say would convince this woman to save herself. She was going to leap into the jaws of death blindly, and refused any directions otherwise.

An understanding settled upon his shoulders; he watched her turn, speak one more with raising volume. "I have no food, and barely enough skills to support myself. To hunt, I need to be where the game is, don't you agree?" And with that, she raised her bow and returned to her practicing.

The clanless hunter stared. He couldn’t help it, at such a loss was he. He was looking at a dead woman who looked happy to be so, and it went against everything he knew to be true about the world. No matter how strange or ludicrous their actions, all things acted as they thought best. All things acted to survive. All things wanted to continue existing. But this woman… didn’t?

“You…” he said, breaking his own silence. “If you continue, you will die.” There was no insistence, no trying to convince her of anything––his words were emotionless, completely without agenda. He was simply stating fact, and nothing more. She would die, and did not want to avoid it.

“If that is what you came for, then I will leave.”