Closed Not a Fighter II

[Dravite]

13 Fall, 515 AV
13th Bell, Afternoon
Sea of Grass
Zeis Lake

Continued from here.

Pearl's second bolt landed even closer than her first and Dravite was starting to feel the pressure to perform. As he raised a second arrow to his bow the man readjusted his stance and went over the mental list of helpful tips his cousin Sparrow had taught him. With his bow and arrow at the ready he took aim, pointing the arrowhead just off centre of the tree, accounting for the light breeze that may have affected the first attempt. When he loosed the arrow it whizzed to its mark and plunged into the tree, sending bits of bark out behind it; it wasn't on the salt bag, or anywhere near it for that matter, but half an arm closer than Pearl's first strike. 'That's right,' his smug little smile seemed to say, "Beat that!"

Doubting he would be able to get any closer to the mark, Dravite worked his hand at distraction; perhaps he could throw Pearl off a couple of her hits. He set his bow down on the grass alongside his arrows and slowly made his way over to the bare form of his wife while she reloaded her crossbow. As she raised the weapon to take aim, Dravite set his hands on her hips and if she protested or accuse him of cheating, he would merely move her a little and make up some nonsense about the new position being better than her last. He smirked and took a half step back from her only to lean in when she took aim and pressed his lips to her shoulder, leaving a trail a slow kisses up towards her neck.
"Good luck," he grinned against her ear and went back to his bow to ready his next shot, but not without watching to see how well Pearl did.

Despite his best attempt at distracting his wife, it seemed she was better at this game than he thought, or perhaps her crossbow was just a lot easier to use than his short bow. Her shot was a lot better than his and once again Dravite found himself wondering if it was he who really needed some more training with his weapon of choice. "One more shot each?" He called to her, one more shot to redeem himself, he thought.

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[Pearl]

She loved her husband, of that there was no doubt. Every time he looked at her with that smug little smile of his, she wanted to kiss it off his face; and all too often she saw that same look mirrored in her husband’s eyes. It seemed they were both a lot like their striders; competitive to no end. Her own smile twisted into a smirk that formed on one side only as she forced herself to look at the tree and the arrow, instead of the handsome man she was bound to.

His shot was impressive compared to her own, and she began chewing on the inside of her jaw as she reloaded her cross-bow and brought it up to take aim. As she did such, she felt Dravite’s warmth nearing her back only a tick before his hands found her bare hips. She let out a slow breath, more so to steady her resolve than to hold her aim; her husband was definitely good at distracting her thoughts with his kisses and affections. The man is up to something, her mind cautioned her. He is trying very hard to win. By the Gods what is that man up to? Her mind raced with ideas, none of which held her thoughts for long. He had just upped the ante, so to speak, for this game of his and she set her resolve to besting him, if she possibly could.

When he stepped away from her, his words still a warmth upon her ear, she smiled and took in a deep breath, lining up her shot using the sights on her weapon as best as she could. Slowly that breath was released; when she felt her center stabilize, she pulled the trigger and let loose the bolt. She smiled when she saw that her bolt had embedded itself in the tree so close to Dravite’s last. She looked at it for a tick longer before lowering her weapon.

One more shot each, he suggested; she smiled and nodded, holding back her goading words lest she cause him to be more focused upon beating her than he already was. Still, she wondered, what in the name of Zulrav, he was up to.

Her body, the traitor that it was, thrummed with desire, and before she realized it, she was taking the steps to bring herself to stand in front of him, cross-bow at her side while her free hand slid up his bare chest. Just the feel of him increased her heart rate and she could feel the familiar thudding in her chest quicken as her hand found its way over his shoulder and to the back of his neck. Once there, she pulled him into her as she met him, her lips at his in a kiss that was not so tender as was the normal for Pearl, but rather let it be known exactly how much he was desired. “One more shot each,” she agreed before stepping away, allowing him room for his next.


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[Dravite]

In the pit of his belly desire burned, his unspoken want fighting to be heard above the goal set in front of him; win. Indeed the two of them were much like their Striders, competitive, stubborn, and loved. Dravite watched Pearl wander away from him before fixing his gaze on the trunk of the tree; she was much better at this little game of seduction than he being that she was a lot more forward in her attempts at distraction.

The horse lord took a deep breath to steady his resolve and lifted his short bow, arrow at the ready. He pulled back the string, listening to the spine of the bow bend under the tension, lined up his shot and let loose the arrow. It sped towards the tree like a hawk dive bombing a mouse on the plain, and clipped the bark on the left side before bouncing off the trunk and into the tall grass nearby. Dravite scoffed, he would be able to find the arrow later with webbing but he had lost at his own game and that was a little harder to live down.
"You better take that last shot," he smiled despite his loss and set his bow down with the remaining arrows.

Dravite cast the deerskin aside and returned to the water, wading in up to his hips before diving into the depths. He resurfaced a few feet away and turned to see how Pearl's last shot would go, treading water while he waited. Before he saw Pearl lift her crossbow, however, Dravite noticed something glinting on the lakebed beneath him and took a breath which enabled him to sink down beneath the surface to get a better look.

He came back up for air not half a chime later and took a deep breath to drive down further, kicking his legs to propel him further away from the water's surface, but every time he got almost close enough to snatch at whatever it was buried in the sand, he was forced to return to the surface again to refill his lungs with air.

One last attempt, he promised himself, starting to get a bit red in the face with all the energy he was exerting. The watchman filled his lungs and dove down quickly, wasting no time this round, he spotted the shiny object and kicked hard towards it, chasing it down the sandy slope before snatching it up into a tightly closed fist. When Dravite broke the water's surface he gasped, desperate for air. and swam away from the depths of the lake to rest in the shallows.

It seemed he had missed Pearl's final shot, but as she drew near to join him, Dravite opened his hand carefully to stare down simple, gold ring. It was too big to dress a finger or toe, but not quite big enough to slip over the hand of a child. "What do you suppose this once belonged to?" He asked, staring up at his wife, "I just found it in the lake," the man pointed, eyes full of wonder; as a boy he had always fantasised about pirate ships and treasure, letting his mind run away with his grandfather’s stories. What if this ring and come from a pirate?

Dravite offered the gold ring to his wife and pulled the woman into his arms, "how does it feel?" He smirked, "knowing you're a better shot than your husband."

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[Pearl]

The look on Dravite’s face after that kiss was burned in her memory. She recognized the desire she saw in his eyes as it mirrored her own. The two of them seemed so easily matched that she sometimes found it difficult to recall why she had been resistant to the marriage. She watched her husband line up his shot, smiling as his muscles rippled with his movements.

When his arrow clipped the tree she pursed her lips into a fine line. She couldn’t decide if she was happy his shot had fallen away to the side, or if she was saddened by the fact that he hadn’t won a game he so clearly wanted to win. His smile warmed her heart, each and every time she saw it though, and soon she was offering her own to him as he set his bow down and told her to take her last shot. “I love you,” she said to him as he headed back to the lake. She was competitive, that much was clear, but she loved him more.

Pearl brought up her cross-bow and loaded it; the process becoming easier for her the more she actually did it. At first the tension of the bow was too much for her to handle. Now the bolt snapped easily into place as she drew back on the bow. As she brought it up to aim, she tried to block out the sounds of Dravite’s splashing around in the water as she focused; though it was difficult. Several times she had to breathe in and out and force herself not to look back, but to focus on her aim.

Once, she failed and lowered her weapon, turning to watch him as he dove beneath the water’s surface. Satisfied that he was indeed swimming, and not drowning and flailing for his life in the water, she returned her bow to her shoulder, turning to face the tree and taking aim once again. With her sights lined up on what she thought was the perfect shot, she released the air in her lungs slowly, letting the weight of her center settle into a heaviness that anchored her to her weapon. When she squeezed the trigger to release the arrow, she watched it as it struck the tree, embedding itself deeply into the wood. What she was not expecting to see was that she had nicked the salt bag. Not in the body of it where the salt was held, but at the very top of the where it was tied to the tree. Pearl stood there a moment, staring.

Finally, she lay down her cross-bow near to her husband’s short bow and the bolts and arrows. Leaving them, she headed for the lake and her husband. The feel of the warmed sands beneath her feet as she met the water’s edge was something she paused to enjoy; curling her toes down into the sand and watching as the water pushed its way up over her feet only to withdraw a tick later with the small ripples of waves her husband was causing in the water.

A few more steps into the water carried her towards Dravite and she settled in against him as he drew her into his arms. The ring was turned over in her fingers as she held it up, letting Syna’s light shine upon it as she mused over its possible origins. His next question, teasing as it was, caught her in a chuckle, her nose crinkling in the process. “You have no idea,” she said before turning to nuzzle a kiss to his neck then another to his smirking lips. “But I think we were at a disadvantage to one another. Both were bows, yes, but very different. I don’t think I could have done quite so well had I been using your short bow.”

Turning the ring over yet again, she returned to studying it, “Perhaps a ring from some sort of tack?” her mind obviously not privy to the pirate treasure which her husband was envisioning. “How did you manage to find it in the lake?”



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[Dravite]

"I was swimming out over there and caught something twinkling in the water," he admitted before looking over his shoulder to see where Pearl's last shot had landed, "on the bag!" He laughed and fell back against the shallows, submerging his face as if to drown himself and end the misery of losing so badly to his wife at a game he had set up for them.

When he sat up, the tight muscles in his midsection rolled beneath the narrow sheath of flesh; Dravite had lost a lot of conditioning since he and Pearl had been bound but it had all started at the end of spring when he and his first wife were abandoned by their old pavilion, one they hadn't seen since. Of course it wasn't just the stress of starting over or providing for more than he was used to; work had played a big part and his injuries. Fall was shaping up to be a relatively good season, the season of the feast. His goal was to pack on a bit of weight before winter hit, but as it was so easily melting away from his bones, resorting what he had lost was proving a challenge all in itself.

"Well winner," he smiled, not just happy for Pearl, but proud; knowing she could use a weapon put his mind at ease, "you promise me you will find some time this season to hone your skills? We could always set up a lesson with the Diamond Clan too, or cousin Sparrow; I know she doesn't use a crossbow but I'm sure she can still give you a few pointers."

The sun ducked behind a few stray clouds and the slight breeze that whisked by them caused the man's shoulders and arms to horripilate. Dravite turned the woman out of his lap and twisted his body to lay in the shallows with his head rested on Pearl's left thigh, his arm stretched lazily over her right as he reached up to kiss her belly, "you get to choose the night's activities," he offered, just as promised, but to put her mind at ease he divulged what he had planned, "I hoped we could spend it on the lakeside under the stars, watching the sky for a while and telling stories by firelight," he pointed to their little campsite, the dark lion's mane of ink that decorated his back glistening under the blanket of water that came up to touch his shoulder blades.

Dravite looked up at his wife, grey eyes fixed on her; if she had any other suggestions he was more than willing to hear her out and his soft, warm smile seemed to propose as much. No one could argue that he was not taken by her, for every time he caught a glimpse of her face he found it hard to look away and to do so without kissing her first seemed as insulting as being touched by a god without offering a lifetime of worship as thanks. He lifted himself up on one elbow and stretched to press his lips to the underside of her jaw. I love you the gesture seemed to say in place of words.

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[Pearl]

The look on Dravite’s face when he saw where her shot had landed, was priceless; the way he dunked himself into the waters as if trying to escape. She smiled, shaking her head as she watched him. He was the perfect mixture of passion and aggression, mixed in with a little playfulness that she knew full well he held in strict reserve for his family and allowed very few, if any, outside of their bonds to witness. It was for these reasons, and many more, that she found him so easy to love.

A small crease formed when she thought of his appetite; though it had returned somewhat after the blood poisoning he had suffered, she was still concerned. She had little to compare to as she had only wed him the summer past, but it still didn’t seem right that he was as thin as he was. She would definitely have to work harder at getting him to eat more. Perhaps in preparation for the feast she could talk with Yuki and they could plot together to get Dravite to try out some of the new recipes. Just the thought of that brought a smile back to her face.

“Yes, husband,” words followed with her hands in promise, appreciation. “I would like that very much, actually, and I need to get a bit more practice in with my dagger. Rave always worked with me on that, but since he’s gone, I haven’t picked it up.” She gazed upon her husband, an adoring smile upon her face that sealed the emotions and delivered them to him without necessity of words.

As he positioned them anew, she let her fingers trail over his shoulders, tracing the line of muscle and the curves as they formed into his arms and biceps. He truly was a remarkable man. His kiss to her stomach caused a fluttering in it that she couldn’t quite place. She listened to his proposal for the evening; her smile never faltered. What woman wouldn’t want to spend an evening like that with her husband?

Pearl let out a small sound that wasn’t truly a whimper, but something alike one, as the front of his shoulder pressed in against her breast as he leaned up to offer that cherished kiss to the underside of her jaw. The sensation was a sharp tingling through her that turned into a dull ache without affording any real pain; it was simply something she had not expected to feel. As he lowered himself, she smiled and brought her hand up to rest at the back of his head; fingers entwined in the mass of dreads he wore. She seemed lost in the moment for a chime before she responded, “You must have read my mind, but I have only one request, if you wouldn’t mind?” Fingers twisted around one dread, smoothing the hair into pattern with the others. “I’ve been learning a new technique for healing at The River Flower, and I could use the practice, if you wouldn’t mind letting me practice on you?” She could only imagine what went through his mind when she made such a request, but she waited for his response before she let him in on the secret of what she had been learning, after all, he did say she could pick any activity.

His very curious though somewhat confused look caused Pearl to smile even more than she had been, and when he finally agreed with a nod and his spoken confirmation of “sure,” she leaned in to kiss his temple. “Come on, up up up,” she urged and then led him over to the blanket. “Now lay down, on your back,” she instructed, “get comfortable and think of a story to tell me while I work.” Settling herself in to sitting cross-legged at his feet, she lifted his legs and placed his feet to rest in her lap. Starting first with his right foot, she moved her hands so her thumbs were placed at the instep of his foot where it curved and began applying a gentle pressure there. Slowly she moved her thumbs up and down, rolling them over his foot in opposite succession so the motion was gentle and easy but felt like it was bringing on a calming effect right in the pit of his stomach. “How’s that feel,” she asked in nothing more than a whisper?” curious to know if what she was doing was feeling good, or if she should stop.


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[Dravite]

The man gave his wife a perplexed look at her unusual offer but agreed to let her demonstrate whatever healing technique it was she had been working on. He braved the trip from the water to their camp, collecting the weapons on the way so that he could bring them back to camp. He lay down on the blanket and propped his hands up behind his head to watch the sky while Pearl sat with his legs across her lap, playing with his feet. While the strange kneading was not uncomfortable, it felt peculiar and made his toes curl as if she had tickled him.

"A story?" He smiled; the muscles in his right leg tightening as Pearl thumbed a soft spot on the leathery sole of his foot.

As a boy, Lazuli, Dravite's mother, had told him countless stories; she seemed to have something for every occasion, be them for entertainment or life lessons. It wasn't often, however, that Pearl and Dravite were able to get away for a while, just the two of them, and so he decided that she would probably like to hear something a bit more factual; something from his past. While he spoke, he folded up part of the blanket under his head and busied his hands, working on one of the Satalu that he had brought along on their trip in the hopes that he would find the time to finish weaving it.

"When I was just a boy my father Cyprine brought home two Night Lion cubs that he wanted to raise to guard the livestock. He had worked with Night Lions before, believe it or not, and being that I was now old enough to sit on the back of a horse and speak somewhat coherently, he decided I must also be old enough to help him care for these two cubs," Dravite shook his head.

"We called them Rōon and Valē after my mother and her brother, my uncle. I don't know why people called Raven, Rōon, but I remember my mother telling me that her family had lived away from Endrykas when she was young; that she was raised in a valley with a river that passed right through the middle, and the name just kind of stuck after that," he signed different, strange, interesting.

Again Dravite's foot flinched involuntarily with Pearl's work and he smiled across at her, amused. "There was a boy two summers older than me called Huntley Seeker; I remember he had two younger brothers and that his father Tasman was good friends with mine. Huntley was enthralled by the young lions and Cyprine promised him that if he helped me take of them, he could feed Rōon of an evening. Of course, I was only in my fourth summer of life, I didn't know anything about responsibility and Huntley would shadow me every day, making sure I ran around after those damned cats."

Anyone that knew Dravite well also knew that he was not a fan of big cats, for war, hunting, guarding, or otherwise; they made him nervous and put him on edge. "In the end I got so tired of the animals that I marched them out into the tall grass and tried to lose them. Poor Huntley got in so much trouble for letting them out of his sight, how could a boy my age do anything so cunning? they argued. They never found the cubs and you know I still feel terrible about what I did," Dravite laughed, though it seemed almost a sad sound, "even to this day."

He lay there thinking about his father then who had died the following spring. "I often wonder what became of Huntley. After my father died Tasman Seeker left with his wives and children; Lazuli told me that he was loyal only to Cyprine and the Morningsong family. I should ask my uncle some time, I'm sure he will remember them as he too lived with us when I was very young."

Dravite hadn't realised that he had stopped weaving and looked at the mess he had made of the Satalu band. He unpicked some of his work and started the row again, weaving and tying the knots a lot more carefully this time, "did you have any strange pets as a child?"

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[Pearl]

As Dravite told his story, Pearl continued to massage the areas of the foot, as she was learning, and hoping that she would be perfecting the technique so as to help with her healing in the future. However, each time Dravite’s foot twitched as if he’d been tickled, she winced herself, knowing she hadn’t performed the massage correctly.

“Vale?” she questioned when he mentioned the names of the Night Lion cubs, something about the name sounding familiar stuck in her mind, but she couldn’t quite place it. The thought continued to niggle at her brain even more so than the thought of someone, anyone, wanting a small child to work directly with Night Lions.

As he continued, she found herself smiling more. Even just the sound of her husband’s voice was comforting to her, and along with the story he was telling of his younger years caused her to feel closer to him. Times like these were too far and few between, she thought, as they were both so busy with making sure the pavilion and their family had everything it needed.

Pausing the massage, she looked up to him when he laughed and told her about feeling terrible about losing the cubs in the tall grass. The sound seemed haunted and sad to her, and she sought only to lend a touch of comfort to his remembered pain. “We all do things like that when we are young,” she offered in reassurance along with a loving smile.

Fingers began their work once again, massaging and pressing over the points that she was learning helped the rest of the body to heal. She began applying gentle pressure to his toes, one at a time, which she was learning helped a person to relax their neck and relieve the tensions there, even helped to ease the pain of a headache without medications. With each toe, she soothed her fingers in at the base of it and then slowly up the toe.

“We had a yowlwing. Nothing special or strange, but I loved that little thing,” she said fondly. “Rave hated it. Darkness was just that, black as night. I wasn’t very creative with names,” she chuckled. “It was Rave’s own fault for teasing Darkness, and every chance he got Darkness got back at him, sneaking up on him and springing out of nowhere to claw at Rave’s leg or arm, or anything else he could reach. He also stole Rave’s things and hid them from him. But they always showed back up in the woodpile, eventually.”

She smiled, remembering her childhood friend and pet. “Darkness used to go with me everywhere. He even saved me from a snake once,” involuntarily shivered at just the mention of it. “We were out gathering water when the thing slithered up close to me. From out of nowhere, Darkness swooped down and clutched the thing in its paws and took off with it again. Just like that. I never knew what happened to the snake, and didn’t really care either. He used to bring me back some of his prey, as a gift. I was just glad that I never saw that snake again. I think Darkness knew that, and that’s why he didn’t bring back part of it.”

Pearl was terrified of snakes, though she never really knew where the phobia came from, it was if it was simply there and part of her for as long as she could remember. Her mother, Willow, has said she used to wake up screaming in the middle of the night about snakes being on her, but of course, they never were. “Not sure why I am so afraid of snakes,” she admitted aloud to her husband as she recalled what her mother used to tell her about the night terrors.


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[Dravite]

The horse lord listened, smiled, and watched his wife as she massaged his foot and told the tale of her childhood pet, Darkness; the name reminded him of something his grandfather used to say, and when there was pause, Dravite sang the words half-heartedly, his tone low, no better than a whisper.

“Storm into the fray,
Tread the path unknown,
Night forgets the day;
Light without a home.
Stray beyond the walls,
Forge what others fear,
Dwell with the forgotten,
Rule the darkness here.”

He closed his fingers where he found them against his chest and pressed his fist to heart, “A yowlwing called darkness,” he grinned, “sounds like an interesting pet; you know I plan to visit RiverFall this spring, and I hope you will join me, perhaps we can pick up a yowlwing for the boys?”

Dravite was quiet then for a spell, happy just to sit contently and enjoy the company of his wife, even if she was no expert at her newest craft. He wiggled his toes playfully but would not deny that her touch, no matter how soft or firm, caused his innards to knot excitedly; the muscles in his legs tightening to draw hard lines down the lengths of his lean thighs and calves.

“I don’t think I really ever cared for pets,” the man confessed suddenly as if Pearl’s story had caused him to give it some thought, “I was never made responsible for anything, even with the cubs I had that poor boy to fall back on,” Dravite nodded slowly as if he had come to terms with the idea of his children taking on some form of responsibility; something they as adults could watch over, “A pet would be good for them.”

“When Cree was born, I refused to acknowledge him; though it was clear to everyone else that he would be my bonded strider one day. His mother was my father’s palomino mare, charged with the death of my father… or so they say; she crushed him during a hunting trip when I was only a couple of summers older than Kyanite. It wasn’t that I wanted nothing to do with the horses associated with my father’s passing, I often rode Kel’mi as a boy,” he glanced across at Pearl, “I guess I just hated the fact that he was a constant reminder of someone I lost… and now look,” he grinned, “we’re hardly ever parted.”

He heard the buckskin stallion snort from somewhere behind him and laughed; sometimes it were as if the horse were listening and understood what was being said.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to fly by and soon enough it was time to build up the fire. Dravite felt a light breeze against the small of his back over the lip of his leather trousers where he crouched down to add wood to the fire pit he had dug out by hand, with the help of his hatchet to loosen up the soil. The watchman pushed another piece of wood into the flames and moved some of the ash around so that the fire could breathe without smothering itself.

With that job done, Dravite readied a line to try his luck at fishing and set up at the edge of the lake. It would be nice, he thought, if he was able to catch something for them to eat rather than falling back on the dry food he had brought along, which he currently sat fixing to the hook at the end of his line; hoping it might do the trick to tempt a fish or two. The horse lord cast his line out into the water and played the waiting game, looking back over his shoulder to see what Pearl was up to.

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[Pearl]

Of course Pearl would go to RiverFall with him in the spring, though she knew nothing of his intended business there or why he wished to go; she simply knew she would be with her family, regardless of their location upon the map and she nodded her agreement of such when he expressed his interest in having her join him. “I think a pet would do wonders for the boys,” she agreed.

The moments of silence between the two of them seemed to be filled with conversation that needed no words. Pearl continued the slow ministrations of pressure applied to the points of his feet before dipping her head down and kissing his toes playfully. Every moment spent with her husband was a moment to be treasured, and she did so to the fullest extent possible. His stories were taken to heart and memory, as if they were her own.

Pearl walked along the banks and tree line of the shore of the lake, gathering small bits of wood for the fire, a few berries for a snack, and then a few cattails as she had read in her herbalism book that the plant was good for several medical purposes; which she intended to test out with the plants she gathered. Her book had also told her the flowers and shoots were edible for people but that they could be poisonous to grazing animals, and so when she returned to camp with her gatherings, she was careful to store the plants where Knox and Cree would not be tempted to snack upon them.

As she was stowing them inside the yvas bags, she turned to look to Dravite; a smile curving her lips as she saw him looking over his shoulder to her. She raised her hand up to her lips and kissed her fingers, then gently blew the kiss to him.


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