The Key to Endrykas

by **Ixzo** on October 20th, 2015, 2:16 am

51st of Autumn, 515AV
5th Bell, Morning
Location
A continuation of
The Hunt of Necessity

By the time Ixzo reached Endrykas, The sun was juts barely rising. The sky was a light grey and the clouds accented with a golden orange and pink, the beauty of Syna waking for the day. Ixzo smiled, but didn't have the energy to laugh as she shoved the Ibex into the market place, of which people were just opening their tents for the day. Ixzo had avoided the wind-knotted gates, depositing the Ibex on the edge of the market.

Perhaps she looked insane, standing stark naked over an Ibex. The Kelvic was thin as bone at this point, panting desperately to catch her breathe. Unable to take care of her hear, long dreads fell over her face, dipped in the same crusty blood that covered her face and Ibex. Suddenly aware of this fact, Ixzo attempted to rub the blood off of her chin, bringing her hand up to scratch the dusty blood from her neck. As she did so, the wild woman caught sight of a sturdy looking human who was just stepping out of the tent.

The woman barely had the chance to give Ixzo a strange look before the wild woman lurched forward, desperate trying to sign what she remembered to be a greeting in Pavi. "Goat. Buy goat?" She asked in the broken Pavi she had picked up in Kenash. The woman seemed a little worried as the bloody woman lurched towards her, taking a few steps back. The woman vigorously shook her head to decline but said no more, turning away from her immediately.

Three more people turned her down before the exhausted Kelvic surrendered, curling up next to the stiff carcass and lying in the sunrise. It was then that a present was given to her. A child, perhaps eight in the human lifespan, approached her cautiously. A simple white piece of clothe in his hand. Curious, the kelvic stood, which made the boy stumble back a few steps. Certain she had intimidated him, the bloody woman crouched, lowering her height significantly. After a few ticks of the silent exchange, the boy reached out to her, offering the clothe. Slowly, carefully, the woman took it, pulling it back quickly once her fingers brushed the soft linen. Very much like an animal, she immediately brought it to her nose. It had been cleaned, but that didn't keep the sweat stains from appearing. It must be some woman's night gown. Opening the clothe to examine it, she confirmed the worn linen was a simple shift, meant to cover the necessities but not much more. For the timid humans, it was clothes for a warm night.

"Thank you." She turned to the boy, gesturing gratefulness, but he was already turned away, quick feet taking him back to what seemed to be his older sibling, or maybe even a very young mother, who opened her arms for the boy to run into. Ixzo tried to motion gratefulness again to the woman, but she only nodded and turned away.

She knew the humans weren't comfortable with nakedness, she simply must have forgotten. Of course she was aware of this, Jodoc-- A spasm of pain seized her breathing and Ixzo closed her eyes, clutching onto the linen for a moment, waiting for the pain to release her as she tried to push him from her mind. After a few ticks, she raised the shift over her head. The relatively clean white standing out on her mud and blood stained body. Even her tattoos were so covered with dirt she looked like a plain woman rather than the banded hunter of her people.

Ixzo looked back down at her kill, leaning down to crouch beside the carcass. It wasn't the cleanest of kills, nor did the creature know how to prepare the meat for an easy sale, even if she had the utensils to do so. But someone had to buy it, wouldn't they? Should anyone approach, the Kelvic would spring up from what appeared to be death, offering her messy and thin kill to anyone who met her eye, relentlessly until someone took it.

by **Colt** on October 21st, 2015, 12:29 am

For the first time in a very long while, Shahar had awoke without worry. He had rise before the sun, as per normal, but there was something different about the routine today. A lightness to his chest, perhaps. Or an uncharacteristic cheer. A warmth under his sternum. Or maybe he had just had an unusually restful night, and he was overthinking it.

In any case, Shahar was in relatively high spirits as he made his morning rounds, stepping into the gray pre-dawn air and followed by his two companions: Tuka, who had been waking with him since she was old enough to know what such a thing meant, and Snow, who somehow managed to wrest herself free of the tent she shared with her partner and his two wives. Snow was getting bigger now, and was nearly a hand higher than any dog her age and testing the upper limits of even the heaviest wolves. An easy three feet at the shoulder, and twice that nose to tail, the pup was rapidly becoming larger than Shahar had previously imagined; even though she was young, she was too big to be dog and almost too big to be wolf, and she was taking up more and more space every day. And every day Shahar was reminded anew of their need for more space to house their growing family, especially with the knowledge of Seirei’s oncoming pregnancy.

Despite the cramped nature and Seirei’s announcement, Shahar was not panicking over food today. Yes, perhaps that was the cause of his cheer; the clanless hunter knew in his heart that, at least for today, no one would be going hungry. He had more time on his hands than he could remember having for seasons, since before he had married Naiya. No, even before that, before Hope, before even Slither, when it was just him and Khida and Akaidras. When the only ones they needed to look after were themselves.

Shahar returned from checking his traps and paused at the edge of the camp, just to gaze absently at the expanse of his home. So much had changed since those innocent, nameless days. One tent had now become four, one horse had now become… many, many creatures. Horses, zibri, cats, a goat, a dog; so many things had altered his definition of ‘home’ since he had first made his way to Endrykas, and now, looking at it all, Shahar couldn’t have imagined it being any other way. He had Lale to help him with the heavy work. He had Merevaika to hunt with. The season had been started with such difficulty, but now he could claim some sort of ease; things had changed and he had people to share his burdens with.

The morning routine was warm and familiar, completed without hurry and speckled with smiles and greetings and relaxed signs as the Dawnwhispers’ fasts were broken and each went off to their tasks for the day. Shahar had nothing to sell this morning––one trap had been empty and the other had held their breakfast––but he still wanted to go into the city all the same. Perhaps he wouldn’t even go straight to the Hunter’s Allegiance, as he so often did; the laid-back morning still held him tight in its grip, and he decided that he had time to go to the market beforehand. Perhaps he could get something for Seirei, as a gesture of acceptance in regards to her new pregnancy; he could tell that she had been nervous about letting them know, since new children were always a burden on the pavilion that supported them, but Shahar felt no ill will towards the news. If anything, he was excited; it hadn’t occurred to him until Seirei had joined their family, but he really liked children.

Shahar made his way to Akaidras to brush and tack him, and then summoned Tuka and Snow to his side before setting off into the thick of Endrykas. The market was a bit closer to their camp than the Hunter’s Allegiance, so he had no need to go out of his way; by the time the four of them found themselves between the multicolored tents of their destination, it was mid-morning.

And since they were coming in from the outskirts, they were also treated to a rather bemusing sight.

The existence of a bloody, naked woman was not in itself something that revolted Shahar; indeed, she held herself in such a way that he might not even have noticed her, had her presence not so distressed those in the surroundings. She stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the Drykas passers-by that hurried around her, and their almighty attempts to look at anything except her made the woman seem almost like a beacon, one that drew Shahar’s attention immediately. Snow, too, noticed the bizarre scene, and sent an unfocused curiosity what I can’t even…

I don’t know, was all Shahar could tell her.

He brought Akaidras to a pause, well outside the blank space around the woman and a space that the majority of the crowd skirted around. For a moment, he simply observed her as she crouched over the mangled corpse of… something. She was thin, hollow-bodied with hunger clear in every line of her skin. She moved like an animal, following the world with her eyes but remaining motionless unless motion was necessary.

When someone happened to venture too close, she would rise and bark broken Pavi at them, apparently trying to sell whatever it was that lay dead at her feet. She was quickly turned down and left behind with haste.

Shahar averted his eyes from what was happening and tried to focus on the task at hand. Something for Seirei. Yes, he knew what he wanted; soft things were good for children, and he wanted to get Seirei a sheepskin. Something the twins could play on and enjoy, and soon enough could be shared with a brother or sister.

The woman was still in her spot after Shahar had found and made his purchase. Someone had seen fit to give her a simple linen shift to cover up her nudity, which she had put on. She had sunk into stillness, and might have been mistaken for dead if not for the roaming of her eyes and the sudden burst of life that would spur her to her feet whenever someone came into talking distance. Time after time she was refused, usually with a degree of uneasiness, and it was then that Shahar decided to approach her himself.

Bidding Snow to keep close at the flank and signalling for Tuka to remain follow, behave, Shahar urged a reluctant Akaidras towards the crouched, bloody woman.

Hail, he signed.

The creature she was standing over was an ibex upon closer examination, albeit a very… battered one. Massive claws had ripped the animal into a red, crusted mess, entirely ruining the hide and making it nearly unrecognizable. What intrigued him, however, was the fact that there had obviously been no weapon involved in the event; the ibex had been mauled to death.

This, he gestured to the ibex. “Yours, you sell? How much?”

by **Ixzo** on October 21st, 2015, 2:18 am

Ixzo hadn't watched the Drykas long. If they were like their Paille relations, then she wouldn't be surprised that people were avoiding her. But if these horse people were like the ones she had come across nearly a season ago, wouldn't someone have approached her by now?

Did she look that wild? Even to them? Crouched, with her back leaning against the carcass, Ixzo wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin on the bony joints to watch the people pass by. She hadn't realized how busy the market had gotten until silver eyes grazed over the bubble that surrounded her. children, where the only ones willing to meet her eye through her cape of dread, probably intrigued by the blood. But she couldn't sell to children.

And so it wasn't long before Ixzo found her eyelids drooping. Lashes lulled in front of her vision and Ixzo realized it would be easy to sleep in the middle fo the crowd. No one would bother her, would they? What if they didn't? Would she wake?

Ixzo's stomach growled to remind her that she was, in fact, very alive, with meat just at her back. She could shift now, eat and be quenched for two more days at most until she had to do this again. But if she shifted right her, she would likely be killed. And she couldn't very well drag it back to the grasslands to eat...

Worst case, she begged for Priskil's forgiveness and stole. Her stomach rippled once more, reminding her to flutter her eyes open once more, looking for the energy to beg the new person approaching...

There was someone approaching! Like a hunt, she lept to her feet, but was taken off guard since he was actually looking at the goat. At her feet. For a moment, she forced her slow brain to acknowledge that the man was already interested, but he spoke before she could form the proper words in the foreign language.

"Yes, sell!" Her fingers twitched, but she couldn't find the proper sign. Grateful? She wanted to be grateful, but that wouldn't flow right in a conversation. But before she could answer his question, her thoughts were distracted by a peculiar scent. Slow senses dragged down towards the cat the dog that hung back. Forgetting that she was in fact giving the creature away, not keeping it for herself, the Kelvic found a small snarl rip from her mouth at the threat of competition. Not thinking straight, she lowered defensively, before realizing that she had gotten distracted very easily.

"Dog." She snarled in Myrian, trying to snap herself out of the obvious insanity. "Dog." She straightened herself, repeating the word in Pavi. Scared. She signed across her chest, taking a step back from the man. It had been so long since she had really conversed with a human, that for a moment, Ixzo just wanted to marvel at the man's face and that he was paying attention to her.

After pausing much longer than she needed to, she grinned at the man, sharp white teeth greeting him through her jittery thoughts and movements. "Thirty-Five." She answered in Pavi, thinking the number was high. In the Bikka she knew, it would be impossible. She didn't know the Miza price, but she knew they were different. Yet, the Kelvic was still thinking of Bikka, forgetting that most of the world used the strange Miza. "No... Twenty. Twenty, yes." She backed her price down before he could answer. The most Bikka she had ever owned at once was thirty-six, so asking thirty five for a poorly killed goat, was insanity. Not to say she was making much sense today.

by **Colt** on October 23rd, 2015, 5:40 pm

There was a moment’s pause as the woman regarded him through an obvious haze, but it was shattered when she realized what was happening and surged to her feet, startling Snow and causing Tuka to coil back with a distressed bout of clicks. Yes, she wanted to sell; her hands carved rough signs in the air, betraying her identity as a foreigner. Automatically, Shahar tried to reassure her with calm, friend, comprehension, willingness to take.

From up close, she was in an even worse state than she had looked from a distance. Her skin was tight on her body; at least some of her muscle had begun to atrophy, and she was covered in filth and blood. There was also her previous behavior to consider; quick bursts of energy had punctuated otherwise motionless periods of malaise, when she had done nothing but what appeared to be rest. She wasn’t on the brink of starvation, but neither was she far from it; this woman needed things she did not have, and she appeared to have nothing.

Another sudden change overtook her; her nose curled as if detecting something foul, and then her eyes landed on Snow. The woman snarled and dropped into a crouch, backing protectively towards the carcass at the sight of the white she-wolf.

Snow was immediately on edge, but her fear was overtaken by the blinding desire to protect! She pinned her ears and raised her tail, taking a single defensive step in between Shahar and the woman she interpreted to be threatening him. She, too, pressed backwards to mark her claim––not on the animal behind the woman, but on the Drykas.

Night lion. The image of the animal flashed into his mind. Night lion fear scent not human predator danger!

Snow. The thought wasn’t commanding or piercing; Shahar said her thought-name gently, letting every inflection of love and guard and accept shine until Snow was listening intently.

Back down, he whispered.

Night lion fear scent danger!

To my side, he coaxed. No threat.

Not human predator!

Better protect, at my side. Night lion predator, you will defend.

She didn’t like it at all, but Shahar’s calm certainty was enough to smooth her pricking scruff; slowly, the she-wolf’s ears returned forward and she stepped back, coming to sit at her partner’s hip. Shahar placed a loving, grateful hand on her head and stroked her, feeling her adrenaline slowly leech away.

“I still wish to buy,” he said calmly, apologetically. The woman had carved the sign for scared across her chest, which explained her knee-jerk reaction to Snow.

“Snow,” this one, non-threat, intend no harm. Silently he explained the woman’s fear to his partner, which left the she-wolf somewhat bemused.

After the scene had settled, the woman named her price.

Thirty-five.

Shahar blinked. At first, he wasn’t quite sure he had heard correctly. Did she mean mizas?

Twenty. It was twenty that she settled on.

“Twenty” what? Surely she meant silver. It was impossible that she meant twenty gold; a live goat was only worth five. A dead one was worth three. And a dead one that had been shredded… twenty silver was on the high end of reasonable.

But the woman was clearly in need, and if her reaction to Snow was any indicator, she was not in the best of minds. Shahar didn’t need the goat; it was curiosity that had drawn him to the woman in the first place, and closer examination made him want to help her. But twenty gold for a goat was sheer madness.

“Twenty silver,” I give you exchange. But, in addition, “You help me, skin, cook, I give you one gold too.”

by **Ixzo** on October 28th, 2015, 1:23 am

"Ummm..." Ixzo thought process fractured once she realized her estimate on the money was farther off than she originally expected. Why did people barter with gold coins anyway? Golden eyes flitted across the goat. Of course the damn thing wasn't worth anything, but what did she think it was worth? A hairbrush... maybe.

A thought popped into her head. She could actually think up something she was worth. A thin hand reached up beneath her dreads to scratch behind her ear. The hair that she usually kept well shaven in respect of a traditional mohawk had grown back to fluffy tufts of hair. She wouldn't have minded a razor.

Trade. She signed the man. She didn't want to admit she didn't know about his currency, nor did she want to embarrass herself by asking what the difference between silver and gold were. To her they were both rare metals that she didn't get her hands on. However, the Myrian-raised kelvic understood bartering, and she was almost certain he did too. Dropping her hand from the short hair hidden underneath her loose dreads, Ixzo decided what she wanted from the man. The goat, poorly killed, was about worth a hairbrush. If she could help this man with the butchering, she could ask him to help her trade for a razor. Just a razor, it would be the bare minimum to help her restore her dignity a bit. Food, food she could hunt. Autumn was setting in and even though she had gone south to find Endrykas, the prey would be scarce either way. But she had survived this long. A few more hunts couldn't hurt.

"I help cut." She extended a finger nearly to his chest, but refrained from touching him in fear of the reaction before taking her digit back to motion the sign for please. But either way she thought he would understand. "Then, help me trade for... knife." She scratched her chin, trying to think of the word for razor. It was like a knife, but how did she get across it's specific purpose. "No hair knife." She tried to explain. Coming up blank. Now that she was talking, her scattered brain was starting to come together a little bit more. She lifted a section of dreads showing her scruffy hair that had grown in. She wasn't sure she could explain the honor of a certain hairstyle to this man, becuase she wasn't sure if his culture would appreciate something so trival as that, but she would try.

"Mohawk." She spoke the word in Myrian. Home, Honor, Title. Her crudely signed expressions were rushed as she tried to explain her reasoning for a razor, hoping he would understand. "Want back." She stated, covering the scruffy hair. She would have to work on her hair to return the importance of it, and it likely made no sense now. But it was one thing that Ixzo felt was truly important enough to her. And if a goat was worth a razor, the razor was worth her honor.

Myrian | Pavi "Speech" Sign | Common | PC/NPC "Speech" Sign

by **Colt** on December 17th, 2015, 7:15 pm

His hesitance was noticed, and noted; the woman’s golden eyes flicked back and forth from him to the goat, before she carved the rough sign for trade.

He nodded. I’m listening.

“I help cut.” She reached towards his chest with a single slender finger, and he baulked with what are you doing, leaning away from the digit alongside a cautious growl from Snow.

“Then, help me trade for… knife.” No, that wasn’t exactly the word she wanted, evidenced by the perplexed scratching of her chin. “No hair knife.”

Huh?

Deciding to show rather than tell, the woman rifled through her dreadlocks and raised them to display the side of her head, which was covered by a short layer of young hair. She gestured at it, speaking a word Shahar did not understand and following it up with the signs for home, honor and title.

The hairstyle… it was clear that it had once been short, but the hairs were too uniform in length to have been cut. It had to have been shaved. No hair knife, shaved head… did she mean a razor?

“Razor,” he supplied, nodding with an I know, understand, willingness to help, agreement. “Twenty-two silver, one gold and a razor.” Complete, plan.

Stepping around the woman’s space, the hunter made for the mutilated goat and slid the silver out of his coinpurse, holding it out to the woman. With his free hand he made to lift the goat off the ground; it was small enough that Akaidras would have no issue with the weight, and it was a short trip back home, where the Dawnwhispers had the fuel and resources necessary to process the animal.

Come, he said. Other place. “I have what we need, somewhere else.” And then, on second thought, he removed his cloak and offered that, too. This, “Warmth.” Take it.

by **Jasmine Stormblood** on March 16th, 2016, 7:35 pm

Let me know if i missed anything guys.

Ixzo

XP

Socialization: 3 XP
Observation: 1 XP
Negotiation: 2 XP

Lores

Pavi:hard to remember without constant practice
Ixzo: pavi slowly returning
Miza is more common than Bikka

Shahar Dawnwhiper

XP

Socialization: 3 XP
Observation: 2 XP
Animal Husbandry: 2 XP
Negotiation: 1 XP

Lores

Shahar: really likes children
Ixzo: appears small in weight and slightly unhinged
Simple days gave way to a big family

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