Flashback Who Shall I Love?

[Dravite]

Flashback
Summer 508 AV
The Windborne Pavilion

They lay in the tall grass staring up at the blue sky. Fara raised a long elegant finger to point at a lazy cloud that passed overhear, her loosely braided hair tickling the man's sides where she lay with her head on his taut belly. "That one looks like a Night-Lion cub," the young woman chimed; only a year the man's senior, but seemingly all the more beautiful for it.
"Grass-bear," Dravite smiled, "look, it has no tail."
Fara giggled before speaking with a voice like honey, "yes, even better."
"A man knows best."
Fara laughed, "a man, you? Your belly has no hair, nor your face."
"Yet I am marked a man," Dravite argued, glancing down at the fresh wind-marks on his chest as if to point them out to the girl with his eyes.
"Yes, you are," Fara smiled and touched the soft hair on his jaw.

It had all taken place at the beginning of summer, Dravite had been charged with leading his first hunt. The boys had been tasked with tracking and taking down two deer. As Dravite's horse was but a foal, not yet ready for a rider, he had been given permission to take his father's old palomino mare who did not disappoint. While tracking, Dravite had spotted the hoof print of an Olidosapux and marched his team up over the rise in the tall grass to lead them in a hunt that had ended in the successful slaughter of not one, but two of the giant beasts. Needless to say the pavilion would eat well for the next season on dried meat preserves and Dravite had been promised his pick of the single girls; all bar one.

A light breeze whipped through the tall grass, causing the long, golden stems to rustle against one another. "Will you sing for me?" Fara asked softly.
"Sing?" The boy echoed.
"Sweet words, my lion."
"A poem?"
"You choose," Fara smiled

Dravite wanted to protest and tell her that he had a horrible singing voice, but Fara always assured him that to her, his voice held a certain kind of magic others didn't have the power to hear. In years to come he would look back and think 'what nonsense' but a young man in love will do almost anything to please she who held his heart. And so he spoke of love as if no one were listening, low so that any nearby would not overhear the words intended only for Fara.

"Who shall I love?
Asked love;
Day or night?
The days are long
And the nights so cold,
Answered the wind.

But who should I trust?
Asked love;
When the day sings aloud
And the night whispers softly
Light lives by day
At night kept at bay,
Called the wind.

When will I know?
Asked love;
By fall or late snow?
Each dawn a new day
Dear love, ask away,
Sighed the wind.

Who will love me?
Asked love;
Which one will it be?
Dear heart, can't you see?
Sweet fool, I love thee,
Howled the wind.

Love is silent,
Love is a roar.
Love by day,
Love by night.
What is it for?
Asked the wind.

I know,
Replied love.
My love is for you;
Day or night,
Loud or silent,
Then or now,
Dear heart, I love thee."

Fara turned against the young man's belly and looked up at him, "how do you do that?"
"Do what?" Dravite asked as he folded his arms behind his head to look down his body at Fara.
Fara shook her head as if suddenly shy and closed her arms across the young man's bare chest as she bowed her head to press her lips to his skin, "make me want to kiss you," the girl admitted.

Dravite sat up with his arms stretched back behind him. Fara lolled back to rest her head on his lap and smiled up at him. He marvelled at the elegant arches of her dark brows, long pleated hair, and puffy, pink lower lip. "Kiss me then," he encouraged, daring the woman.
"By day or night?" Fara teased and slowly sat up on her long, lean limbs to look across at him.
"Both," the young man smiled.
Fara leaned close and then closer still until she hovered but an inch from his mouth, "Only if you kiss me too."
Dravite bowed his head so that the tips of their noses touched, "three."
"Two...," Fara cooed softly, her voice barely a whisper.
"On-"
"Dravite?" The boy heard his mother call and was forced to swallow the urge to kiss the Windborne girl.

He held his finger to his lips and got up quickly to announce his whereabouts to his mother, "I'm here."
Lazuli turned around and smiled warmly at the sight of her boy, "have you seen Fara?"
He lowered his gaze to see the girl shake her head at him, "yes," he admitted, "not long ago; playing with the late spring goat kids.
"If you see her again, tell her the Ankal is looking for her."
Dravite nodded quickly, "I will," he hated lying to his mother but sneaking away with Fara was no easy feat.

When he was sure Lazuli was gone he ducked down in the tall grass again and looked across at Fara who suddenly seemed upset. The young horse lord edged closer to the girl and pressed his nose to her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"My father knows exactly where I am," she frowned, "I can't do anything without his knowledge. He gets your Grandfather, Taloker to spy on me in the web."
Dravite smiled, "what if I spoke to Taloker..."
"How, you know they never let the blind man out of camp."
"In the web."
Fara's frown morphed into a slow, delighted little grin, "do it now!"

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[Dravite]

Dravite lay back in the grass and closed his eyes, trying to focus on drawing a connection with the web. The long, floating tendrils of webbing moving back and forth at the edge of his vision and soon the young man was immersed in the magic of the Drykas webbing. He traversed the glowing blue maze carefully, making his way into camp in search of Taloker, the pavilion's master webber.
"Grandfather."
"What is it, my boy?"
"Can you see me?"
"Always," Taloker replied.
"Can you se--"
"Fara, yes," he answered before Dravite could finish asking the question.
"Please don't tell..."
"Drav."
"Please, grandfather."
Taloker sighed, "If the two of you aren't home within the next bell Belhaur will go looking for you."
"Thank you," Dravite grinned.
"Now get out of here, I have a slice of rabbit with my name on it."

When Dravite could no longer sense his grandfather's presence in the web he returned to his form, opening his eyes slowly to find that Fara was gone. The boy looked around himself for tracks in the tall grass that might lead him to her location; this a game they often played as children growing up. He smiled when he spotted which direction she had gone in and made a start through the tall grass, crawling on his hands and knees with the stealth of a clumsy young fox still learning his feet. Dravite had only been looking for a chime or two when he felt something soft where his hand fell. The young man looked down to find he had stumbled upon Fara's skunk skin skirt. He tucked the pelt into the back of his belt and went on until he came across her slippers made of deer hide. "Fara?" The boy whispered; this had never been part of their game in the past. He slowly rounded the bend carved into the grass where she had gone before him.

Dravite stopped dead in his tracks when he finally found the girl sitting on her knees in nothing but her skins and a chest-wrap, part of which she held in her hand, gently unfurling the garment. The muscles in his stomach tightened as he crouched a few feet from the young woman who did not stop undressing on his account. Tentatively the teen moved closer until he came to kneel in front of her, their knees touching. Fara didn't say anything, but watched the man's eyes as she pulled away the wrap that covered her breasts before casting it aside. Dravite swallowed, following the line of her long, thin neck, over elegant collarbones to the smooth, ripe mounds of flesh that curved up to pink, rosy peaks, stark against her sun kissed skin.

The sight of her quickened him and left his mouth dry. Fara leaned forwards to press her lips to the boy's mouth. Dravite closed his eyes as he both accepted and returned the kiss. The young woman flicked her tongue against his lips in an attempt to coax his own to come and play, but none the wiser, and with no experience in this kind of kissing, Dravite was out of his depth and could only smile at the strange gesture.
"Like this," Fara coached, closing her teeth over his lower lip to bite down gently and tug until his lip escaped her hold to jump back into its rightful position.
While the demonstration excited the young horse lord, it didn't leave him any less confused, "what are you doing?"
"Just kiss me," Fara whispered, and eagerly he indulged her wishes.

The girl lay back on the soft bed of grass and bent her legs, pointing her knees skyward. Dravite looked down at the bare body set before him, his right hand reaching out to cup the small handful of flesh at her chest before running his fingers down the woman's middle to draw slow circles around her belly button.
The young woman's stomach muscles tightened under his caress as she sucked her lean stomach in to make it smaller still. "Do you think I'm pretty?" Fara asked.
"Very."
"Do you want to lay with me?"

Dravite was quiet and still. Fara led her fingers down over her breasts and the length of her long, lean midsection to undo the leather strap that held her skins on. "Give me my skirt," she ordered and Dravite took the black and white wrap of fur from his belt to hand over to her.

Fara lifted her feet and hooked them through the middle of the skunk skin skirt to pull up the length of her long legs. It sat just below her hips, causing the man's loins to stir. She removed her undergarment and sat up, her hands finding Dravite's belt blindly as she searched his eyes; he wondered what they told her. The man felt his eyelids grow heavy with lust and as Fara undid his belt and tugged his pants down he felt his insides flip, unsure if the butterflies in his stomach were a nice or unpleasant sensation.
"I don't feel well," he admitted.
Fara smiled, "are you nervous?"
"Yes..."
"Then kiss me, you will feel better."

She was right, as usual; as soon as his lips touched hers he felt all his woes melt away, like dirt washed cleaned from his body in the stream. Fara closed her teeth over the man's lower lip again, forcing him to bow forwards as she lay back. Her hands took his hips, encouraging him to lower them against hers. He felt like a new born colt, keen but unsure of the strength in his legs; testing them for the first time. The girl took his length in hand, stroking the taut flesh with the pads of her fingers. Dravite closed his eyes and pressed his lips to the Fara's neck, anticipation turned to agony as he drew dangerously close to entering the woman. That strange, sick, excitable feeling in his gut intensified and when the two of them were finally joined, the soft, breathy sound that escaped Fara caused the man's hips to buck. This was a warmth he had never felt before, a sensation unlike any he could have imagined, even in his wildest dreams.

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[Dravite]

Sex was the man's new favourite thing, all consuming; the new ruler of his thoughts, long summer days and cool grassland nights. Fara indulged him daily, sometimes twice. Early in the morning they would sneak out together and part ways only for the night. He woke up thinking of her and come bedtime she was the only thing on his mind; even his mother's stories went unheard, completely and utterly enthralled by the young woman he called lover.

"I want a wife," Dravite admitted one night to Lazuli who smiled as she sat down on the end of her son's bed roll and tucked him in. She had been part way through one of her stories that were meant to convey some sort of important life message, and wasn't used to the boy interrupting.
"A wife? Well I suppose you are old enough now."
"I want a wife; I want to marry this fall."
Lazuli smiled, hopeful as she already had a few girls in mind for her son, "anyone in particular?"
"Fara," he said quietly.
Lazuli's smile fled, "Dravite..."
"Mother please, I love her," he sat up on his bed, whispering the words; looking the yellow haired woman in the eyes, "I'm in love with, Fara and I want her to be my wife."
"Oh my little man, no."
"I'm not little," he hissed, "I'm not a child anymore; please."
"Dravite, Belhaur has promised his daughter to another."
Dravite felt his heat sink, "then he must undo his promise; he has many other daughters he can promise to people."
"A man never goes back on a promise," Lazuli scolded gently, aware that her son was already hurting.
Dravite felt as if his lungs were on fire, "but we love each other."
"You will love another," Lazuli tried to cheer him, "It has been foreseen."
"Spare me the happy ever afters; all this foreseen nonsense clouds my mind" the man sighed.
Lazuli frowned, "I will speak to Belhaur."
"You will tell him I love her?"
Lazuli reached out to stroke her son's face, catching his cheek with her thumb, "I will do my best as always, for you."

The next morning Dravite got up extra early to race over and tell Fara the good news, but when he reached the girl's tent and crept in quietly under the vail, being extra careful not to wake any of her sisters, he realised that Fara was gone. Less careful on the way out, he accidentally shoved Belkaia's shoulder with his foot and apologised in a whisper before racing across the field into the tall grass where the two often meet. Fara sat wrapped in a deer skin blanket with her toes peeking out. When she saw the man she leapt forward into his arms and the two of them embraced for what seemed the longest time.

He kissed her and just when she thought he was done, the horse lord kissed the woman again until she was on her back and swallowed him with the blanket she lay bare beneath. There they made love again in the tall grass; quick, passionate, and all consuming, young, silly, stupid love that left them both gasping for breath and laughing at one another. Still buried in the woman, Dravite combed Fara's hair back from her face and watched her with love drunk eyes.
"Mother is going to speak to your father about our binding."
Those dark eyes tinged with honey seemed to twinkle, "then we can marry," Fara smiled.
"And you will be mine."
"My lion," she whispered.
"My doe."

The two of them lay with noses pressed, unmoving until they heard a rustle in the tall grass and looked back to catch the tail end of Belkaia racing back to camp. Fara gasped and Dravite scrambled to dress, racing like a newly released arrow to catch up with Fara's younger sister. He cut through the tall grass, making a beeline for the young girl on foot. Belkaia wasn't expecting to be chased and when she heard Dravite approaching at speed she squealed as he tackled and wrestled her to the ground, holding his hand over her mouth. "Shh," he hissed, dragging her away from camp.

Belkaia kicked and thrashed, desperate to get free, fear fixed in her eyes, tears streaming down over her cheeks to wet the man's fingers. This was the girl's ninth summer; she was young and scared and utterly petrified of the boy man handling her now. Fara grabbed her sister and held her close once Dravite had returned. She soothed the girl with quiet whispers and kind words, stroking her hair gently so that she would not threat. Dravite sat with his legs folded, slumped forward and huffing after the quick dash and ensuing struggle. Once the girl was calm, Fara started questioning her.
"What did you see?"
"Nothing," Belkaia hesitated.

Fara and Dravite shared a conned look, clearly neither of them believed her.
"Sister you can tell me," Fara encouraged.
"I saw nothing."
"Then why did you run?" Fara asked.
Belkaia was quiet and shy, "because I was frightened, I thought he was hurting you."
Fara bit her lower lip gently and tried her very best not to smile; Dravite was no help, grinning behind his fingers across from her, "he wasn't hurting me," Fara decided honestly was the best course of action, "he was kissing me."
"That's not all!" Belkaia chimed.

Fara quickly closed her hand over her sister's mouth and Dravite stood up on his knees to see if anyone was up yet.
"So you did see!" Fara scolded in a hushed tone of voice, "you shouldn't lie to me, sister; sisters should never lie to each other."
"I'm telling father," Belkaia frowned, "he hurt me!" She pointed at Dravite who suddenly looked very guilty.
"Where?" She asked.
"On my knee," the little girl sniffed and folded her knee up for them to see the graze.
Dravite moved close and ripped a sleeve away from his shirt to tear into a long, thin rag that he could wrap around the girl's knee, "I'm sorry I hurt you," he said as he tied the cloth carefully.
Fara looked concerned, "you can't tell father," she warned, "If you tell him he will punish us."
Belkaia was still sulking, "but I saw you."
"I know," Fara hushed her again, "but you must never tell, promise me."
"No," Belkaia refused.
Fara sighed, "I'll give you the braided doll mother made before she died."
Belkaia looked thoughtful, Fara never let her touch that doll, nor anyone else, and she had never known her mother, "all right..."

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[Dravite]

That night at dinner Fara made a point of sitting away from Dravite while she made a big fuss of her little sister Belkaia who sat with a poorly stitched rag doll hung over one arm while she spooned beef stew up into her mouth. The pavilion seemed rather quiet tonight; even the low crackle of the burning fire pit spoke louder than the group of almost fifty who sat enjoying their well prepared meals.

Dravite sat next to his best friend, and Fara's half brother, Belhatir while he glanced across camp at his mother who, like always, had decided to perch herself next to the Ankal, her second husband, Belhaur. The two of them looked to be talking about something that had no place at the dining mats and when Dravite caught his mother's eye, she threw her hands up, set her half empty bowl down and retreated to her bed quarters.

He found her curled up on the bed of furs and crept across the mess of bedrolls belonging to some of the children to lie down next to her. Lazuli pulled her son into her arms and he could see that she had been crying. Her painted eyelids fell closed and she wiped her face with her shirt before pressing her lips to her son's temple, "my strong little man," Lazuli smiled, "what would I do without you?
Dravite stroked his mother's hair and twisted the ends about his finger, "I'm not little, mother," he reminded her.
Lazuli kissed him again, this time on the lips as if to apologise, "no, that's right, you're a man now, but a mother finds it hard to say goodbye to the boy inside the man."
Dravite smiled; he knew better than to ask why she was crying and so, he tried to cheer her up instead, "once upon a time," he began just as Lazuli often started her stories, "there lived a young family of fish inside a big, blue pond."

Lazuli beamed, she couldn't help but smile, whenever her son was down in the dumps she told him stories and now, it was his turn to put her favourite creative outlet to good use.
"A mother and her son, he was just a little fish," Dravite smiled, "who loved to swim and race the other big fish. One day when he was all tuckered out and tired of swimming around the pond he swam up to his mother and asked her if he could go up the river with his older, stronger friends."
"What did she say?" Lazuli inquired softly.
"My little fish, swim upstream with those rascals?"
Lazuli giggled, her voice a song, "not my son; he is too little!"
"So the little fish watched from afar as his friends all took turns swimming up the river into the big lake."
"Ooh, what was in the lake?" His mother smiled.
"Food that would make the little fish stronger," Dravite admitted and Lazuli bit her lip, trying her very best not to laugh, "come on! His friends told him; don't listen to your mother! Come up stream with us and grow big and strong. The little fish was tired of watching his friends have all the fun, so he went up stream, splashing his little tail furiously and by the time he made it to the lake he was utterly exhausted."
"Poor little fish," Lazuli whispered, "too tired to eat I bet."
"Too tired to eat, or swim, he sank to the bottom of the lake and was gobbled up by a hungry crab."

Lazuli stared at her son for a long moment before she burst into a fit of laughter. In less than a tick it had caught on and Dravite laughed with her.
"Stories are meant to have happy endings," Lazuli scolded half-heartedly.
Dravite tucked himself in his mother's arms and whispered, "Or good morals."
"And what is the moral of this story?" She asked.
"Always listen to your mother."
Lazuli kissed the top of Dravite's head and stroked the loose hairs over the nape of his neck, "I love you my sweet little fish."

The young man smiled and closed his eyes, comfortable enough to drift off given half the chance while Lazuli played with his knotted hair and hummed softly. Sleep, however, did not take the man for a question burned in his mind; had Lazuli spoken to Belhaur yet? What did he say? Was the news bad? Is that why she had been in here alone crying?
"He won't change his mind, will he?"
Lazuli fell quiet, "he might," she soon spoke, "give him time."

Just then there came a thumping of heavy feet and when the door hide was pulled aside, Belhaur moved into the sleeping quarters, "aren't you a little old to be snuggled up next to your mother, boy?"
Dravite got to his feet and knotted his fingers behind his back, white knuckled and angry, "sorry," he murmured before making his way to the exit.
Belhaur grabbed his shoulder and stopped him, "if you so much as lay a finger on my Fara, I will cut your hands off, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Dravite growled and shrugged out of the man's grasp to race from the tent.
"She's not for you, Blackwater! She will never be yours!"

The young man wiped furious tears away from his burning cheeks as he ran out onto the plain, cutting a path through the tall grass with his heavy stride. He ran until his legs were sore and his throat was on fire, causing him to go to ground where he lay until the night grew cold and the stars dimmed. Dravite didn't move until his belly hurt more than his pride and by the time he returned to camp most of the pavilion members had gone to bed. He sat down near the fire pit to try and warm up, surprised when he felt a soft little hand rest on his shoulder, staring back to find that Belkaia had snuck out of bed to check up on him.
"Are you all right?" She smiled softly, timidly as if she was afraid he might bite.
"I'm fine," he hissed, "you should be asleep."
"Want to hold my doll?"
"No I don't want to hold your doll," Dravite muttered.
"She's special though; she makes everything better," Belkaia tried to convince him.
"I will never feel better," he sighed, "I am in love yet it is forbidden."
"With Fara?"
Dravite nodded, "she should be mine..."
Belkaia stood up, her doll hung limply from her hand, "maybe you should try and love someone else?"
"Maybe you should keep your nose out of things that don't concern you," he hissed his quick, sharp tongued retort.
Belkaia slapped the man with her doll and raced away before he found the strength to turn and watch her go.

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[Dravite]

The rest of the summer seemed to pass like a song. Members of the pavilion watched Dravite and Fara like hawks; she was a chess piece for Belhaur to manipulate in his little game of social politics, nothing more, nothing less. The time they managed to steal away together was limited and most of the time Fara spent the moments they managed to spend alone, crying.

Under the watchful eye of Belkaia who their father bid must never leave her side, Fara sobbed, "I hate him," her chest heaving against Dravite as he held her close, "I hate them all."
He kissed her jaw and nuzzled her, trying to comfort the young woman, "I hate them too," he agreed, "sometimes I wish we could just pack up, take one of the horses and run away."
Fara's sobbing stopped and when she looked across at the man, she smiled through the wall of tears, "we should!"
"Should what?"
"Run away," she whispered, "I have my Strider, you can hunt; we will go to Syliras and get jobs, make enough money to pay a guide to take us to Riverfall in the spring where we can train horses and buy a house one day."
Dravite smiled, watching his little dreamer as she spoke; Fara had always liked the idea of living in one of the stone cities, "we could," he nodded, "we should."
"We must," she urged, "before summer's end or Syliras will be too far to travel after the hike to the fall grounds."
"We only have two days until the pavilion will start the journey... Are you su-"
"Yes," Fara cut him off and kissed him hurriedly, "yes, yes, yes," she murmured between kisses.
"We need to plan this now while he have time," he encouraged, breaking the kiss, "what do you think we will need?" He glanced at the woman’s younger sister, who seemed to be more interested in playing with her doll than listening in on what they two of them spoke about.
"I can gather some dry meats and go foraging with my sisters tomorrow,” Fara beamed and Belkaia looked up from her game to stare at the woman.
"I will hide some supplies by the old Acklar tree, a bed roll, some of the water skins, and one of the smaller tents if I can take one."
"We can sleep under the stars," Fara smiled, "work on the bed roll and some water, I will get us enough food for the trip to Syliras and pack it into one of the large yvas bags."
"How will we get away?"
"You have a hunt planned?"
"The morning of," he nodded.
"Good, go hunting, find us some meat, perhaps a deer but instead of taking it back to the group, meet me by the tree when the sun is a fist from your elbow on the horizon and the birds are flying home for the eve."
"Caiyha be kind," he smiled.
"She will be, my lion."

"Fara!" Belhaur yelled.
Belkaia flinched, startled from her thoughts and Fara quickly fixed her top and crawled away from the little clearing they had made for themselves and stood up so that her father could see her, "I'm foraging with Belkaia!" She called, "do you need me father?"
"There you are, I've been looking everywhere," he smiled and walked towards her.

Dravite ducked low and crawled away on his belly like a hunting cat stalking its prey, staying as quiet as possible. Once he was out of sight, he got to his feet and ran home to the main pavilion, going in search of the water skins and supplies they would need for their journey. Inside his mother's healing tent he found a pair of empty water skins and some rope. He opened his mother's healing kit and plucked out a lengthy roll of bandages and one of her special healing balms she would often rub on his bumps and bruises. Dravite stashed the gear in his backpack and looked around quickly for anything else that might be of use.
"Drav," Lazuli smiled as she walked into the tent, startling her son.
"Ma, you gave me such a fright," he admitted, "I need something for... My head really hurts," he lied.
"My boy you should have come and seen me sooner; have you been drinking enough water?"
"Yes," he nodded, "I was playing with the horses and tripped over; I think I knocked my head."
Lazuli looked at the young man, holding his cheeks as she turned his head from right to left gently, "does that hurt?"
"Not too much," he smiled, "I think I'll be all right."
"Go and get some rest," she cooed, stroking his face.
"I will."

Dravite snuck off to the sleeping quarters and hid his backpack under his winter blanket in the storage chest. He dug through some of his things, folding up one of his shirts to stow away in the pack along with his flint and steel, and a small hatchet. That should do, he thought, but just in case Fara struggled to gather enough food for the two of them he would try to take a rabbit during the hunt, something that would get them through the first couple of days of their journey.

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[Dravite]

On the morning of the hunt Belkaia had come to Dravite with a coded message, and when he looked up to see Fara standing near the group of young men that had gathered, she smiled at him and offered a curt nod in his direction; she had gathered the food, enough to see them through to Syliras. Dravite smiled, both excited and afraid by the prospect of them running away together. They would need to be quick and cover as much ground as possible before someone discovered that they had disappeared and sent a search party after them.

Dravite took his father's horse for the hunt, climbing up onto the heavy set palomino with a leg up from one of his friends, Fury, a boy two years his junior who had just earned his windmarks. "Aren't you coming hunting with us?" Dravite asked and noticed that the group going out today was a lot fewer than usual, made up of a lot of the pavilions young men.
"No," Fury smiled, "I'm staying for the party."
"What party?" Dravite's brow furrowed.
"I don't really know; mother said another pavilion has travelled in from the Sea of Grass to join us for a feast tonight."
"I guess we're in charge of providing that feast?" Dravite inquired, gesturing to the other young men who were all getting ready and climbing up onto their Striders.
"It would seem that way," Fury smiled.
"Nice of them to let us know," Dravite smirked, "I'll see you this afternoon," he lied, hopefully by then he would be well on his way to the stone city of Syliras.
"Until then," his friend waved, "bring back a big buck," he grinned, holding his hands above her head like makeshift antlers.

Dravite smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth to command his mare to follow the other boys out of camp; they trotted at a steady pace for half a bell until one of them up font caught sight of a small pig darting through the tall grass. Dravite steered his mount left of the group to try and cut the pig off, raising his spear at the ready when one of the older boys got ahead of him and shot at the pig using his bow; a cheap, skill-less weapon the man thought to himself and let the boy take his kill, there was bigger game to be had.

The day seemed to drag on and four hours in the boys had only managed to take down a small pig and two rabbits with Dravite remaining empty handed. He decided to break away from the group while they stopped to rest, choosing to hunt closer to the Uvic Lake where the concentration of animals tended to be a lot greater. With a nudge of his foot he coaxed the palomino mare to gallop, headed towards the large body of water he could see in the distance when not a hundred metres in she came to a sudden stop, rearing up after almost throwing the boy overhead. Not expecting the sudden outburst from the horse, Dravite was thrown from her back and heavily winded by the fall which managed to snap one of the leather shoulder straps on his backpack.

He clawed at the bed of dry grass around him and tried to draw breath, finding the task impossible. Panic set in, causing his muscles to tighten as adrenalin flooded his form. He slapped himself on the chest several times, slamming his open palm over his heart until finally he was able to suck in a breath and roll onto his left side, right into the path of the creature that had caused his horse to spook and bolt away, bucking and kicking from the area. Snake, his mind registered, constrictor, he managed to conclude, judging by the size and weight on the animal. It moved slowly through the grass, seemingly uninterested in the young horse lord; equally spooked by the horse that had stumbled upon it.

Dravite got to his feet quickly, still only able to draw shallow breaths, he stepped to one side, following the snake in what he conceived to be its blind spot. The large boa looked to be about nine feet in length and was a sandy colour with beautiful, red markings on her tail that looked a lot more prominent than the brown splotches up her back and closer to her head. Though startled, Dravite was surprised to see the snake out in the day time as the snakes his grandfather always talked about in his stories only seemed to venture out at night. Perhaps she has been sunning herself, Dravite thought, the nights were growing cooler the closer to fall they were getting.

He moved to collect his spear and stalked after the snake again, who didn't seem to be interested in starting any conflict with the curious Drykas boy. Dravite had only killed a couple of snakes in his time but never anything this big. Go for the head, he told himself, and don't miss. He took aim, lifted the spear skyward and then drove it down against the snake, clipping the right side of her neck, which not only sped up her movements but seemed to aggravate her tremendously. The second shot of his spear slammed into the boa's neck, pinning her to the earth. She wrapped her body around the man's spear in an attempt to squeeze the life out of her attacker; a fruitless last ditch attempt at freeing herself.

When the life finally ebbed from her bones her tail went limp first, falling to one side. Dravite used his hatchet to cut the animal's head away from her body and slowly unravelled her taut skeleton from the shaft of his weapon. She must have weighed a good fifty pounds and the young man struggled to lift the snake onto his shoulder, feeling the muscles in his arms and back complain under the strain of it all. His horse didn't want anything to do with him and so Dravite filled his water skins at the lake before starting the long walk to the Acklar tree where he had planned to meet Fara; it would take him till dusk to walk all that way he imagined, but believed he could make the journey in good time.
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[Dravite]

When he finally reached the tree Dravite was sunburnt, achy and the backs of his feet had been rubbed raw by the leather of his boots. Twice he had considered ditching the snake during the journey, but knew the fresh food was far too valuable to pass up. It was late in the afternoon but he still had an hour or so to kill until Fara was due to meet him. He cut a clearing in the tall grass large enough to build a fire and stripped some bark from the tree before hacking away at some of the low hanging branches to use for kindling and firewood.

The young horse lord built the fire up; piling the twigs over the balled dry grass he had collected before striking the flint and steel together in an attempt to light it. With the fire a roar, Dravite got to work on skinning the snake. He cut down the sleek, creamy coloured belly and spent a good deal of time peeling back the skin carefully in order to try and preserve it for later. He rubbed some salt into the skin from his pack and set it wet side up in the sun to start curing. With the grill like piece of equipment he had stolen from the pavilions kitchen, he lay thin slabs of snake meat out, trying his best to cook the meat slowly, smoking it so that it might keep better for the journey. His belly soon got the better of him and Dravite started eating every second piece, picking at the well cooked parts that had turned white and in some cases... Black.

As the hours passed the man began to grow restless, pacing back and forth around the tree. He held his hand up, the sun barely a finger from the horizon; something must be keeping her, he thought, she will be here. The thought would soon become a mantra, first of hope and later just to keep him from falling asleep with the stars high above him and the world basking in Leth's light. "She will be here... She will be here... She will~" Dravite froze, a familiar sound causing him to get to his feet quickly and head for the tree.

The heavy breathing and distant growl of a grassland bear was hard to mistake. Dravite slammed his hatchet into the trunk of the tree and used it as a foothold to boost himself up high enough to grab one of the higher branches, one that was strong enough to support his weight. With all his strength he managed to slowly lift himself higher into the tree and kept climbing until he was satisfied that he was well out of reach to any bear; one that would struggle to climb after him in the half dead tree.

The tantalising smells of cooked snake had brought the lone bear to his location and the young man cursed himself for being so naive. There goes dinner for the next few days, he thought with a sigh, watching the bear sit and scoff every last bit of the snake, including the salty pelt, down in front of the dying firelight. It was a good two or three hours before the bear moved on, though not without scratching his rear against the trunk of the tree and loosening the bark with his deadly claws. In the pitch black, Dravite found it hard to stay awake but didn't want to risk climbing down from the tree in case something else stumbled upon him in the night. He opened his backpack and felt around for the rope he had packed, blindly, pulling it out of his bag to wrap around the tree and tie about his middle; something to keep him from falling if he wasn't able to stay awake.
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[Dravite]

Come morning the man was groggy, half frozen and stiff. His feet hurt, his backside hurt, and his lips were dry and cracked. It was still two hours till sun up and Dravite spent the early hours of the morning fighting sleep and trying to move around enough to get his blood circulating to his feet which seemed to have gone dead during the night. As he climbed down from the tree he slipped and knocked his head, grazing the right side of his temple against the sharp bark. When he saw the claw marks the bear had left on the trunk of the tree, he knew he had made the right decision in choosing to spend the night up in the uncomfortable treetops.

The majority of the day Dravite spent in stubborn denial. "She will be here," he kept telling himself but by the time the sun was looking to set again, he decided it would be safer for him to make the trip home and try and catch up with the Windborne Pavilion, if they hadn't already left for the fall grounds; in which case he wasn't quite sure what he would do. Perhaps another pavilion will let me tag along with them until we reach the fall grounds, then I can look for everyone.

Windborne were a large, fairly strong pavilion that didn't usually wait for anyone, but when your mother was the Ankal's wife, the rules changed slightly. Lazuli screamed when she saw her sun battered boy stumble into the pavilion and raced across the clearing to embrace him, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I thought you were dead," she sobbed, "what in the world happened to you?"
"Where's Fara?" Dravite asked.
Lazuli tightened her hold on the boy, "Shh, come inside, get something to eat and drink."
"Ma?" He frowned, why wouldn't she answer him?
"I'll talk to you inside," she whispered.

The tent smelled of wine and cooked pork, the same way it always smelt after a big celebration. People were packing up the tents and folding away the last of their belongings to pile up on the pavilions wagons to cart away. "Are we going tonight?" Dravite asked while his mother tended to the graze on his head.
"Yes, Belhaur wants to travel through the night to make up time."
"There you are," Belhaur boomed, "we waited all day for you, boy."
"The main thing is you're safe," Lazuli smiled, cupping her son's cheek.
"And more importantly my daughter is safe from you," Belhaur smirked like a man far too pleased with himself, "I'm surprised you missed the wedding, Blackwater."

Dravite's heart sunk, wedding? what did he mean wedding; had Fara been married off while he was away waiting out in the cold for her to show up? His heart started to pound hard in his chest and his face felt hot all of the sudden; Dravite couldn't quite understand the strange feeling that came over him and before he had time to ask any questions he found himself on all fours throwing up.
"What in the world is wrong with him?" He heard Belhaur, still half drunk on wine, slur.
"Just a bit of sunstroke," Lazuli surmised, holding her son's hair back from his face.

Belhaur left the tent just before the tears of Dravite's anguish started to stain the young man's sunburnt cheeks, "she's gone?" He managed between sobs.
Lazuli rubbed the man's back and tried to calm him, "please, my son, calm yourself; not here, not now."
"Not here?" He yelled, grabbing the wall of the tent to pull himself to his feet, "not now! Is my heartache too much of an inconvenience for you?"
Lazuli looked taken aback, she had never seen her son raise his voice like he was now, "no my sweet, it's just--"
"Sweet!" He cut her off, "Sweet! Why didn't you tell me?" He pushed a table over, throwing his mother's healing tools across the ground when he heard laughter coming from outside of the tent; the noisy clatter of metal tools and broken glass soon put a stop to that.
Two men came into the tent and took hold of Dravite, dragging him out into the open, "no!" Lazuli cried, "Don’t hurt him!"
Dravite struggled and tried to wrestle free of their grasp on him, knocking one of the hunters in the mouth with a closed fist before elbowing the second man in the side, "get off!" He bellowed, but they would not free him.
"Please!" Lazuli followed them, "let him go, he's fine; he won't hurt anyone!"

When the Windborne hunters finally let go, Dravite stood staring at his mother for a long few seconds, a look of utter disgust pointed her way, before he swiftly turned to race away with his things to take his father's horse who had a young foal at foot; his bonded Strider Cree. The three of them raced away together in the direction of Endrykas, there was no way he could face his mother or anyone else from the pavilion for a while, but he knew exactly where to run to.
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[Keene Ward]

Grades

“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”
-Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

Dravite

Skills

Singing +1
Flirting +2
Persuasion +3
Subterfuge +4
Negotiation +1
Investigation +3
Stealth +3
Tracking +1
Running +2
Wrestling +2
Medicine +2
Storytelling +1
Philosophy +1
Unarmed Combat +1
Larceny +1
Planning +1
Intelligence +1
Wilderness Survival +2
Hunting +1
Endurance +1
Cooking +1
Climbing +2
Tactics +1

Lores

Singing: "Who Shall I Love?"
Medicine: Makeshift Cloth Bandage
Medicine: Jumpstarting a Winded Breath
Cooking: Skinning Snake
Wilderness Survival: Sleeping in Trees

Rewards/Consequences
Flashback! Minor wounds and illness that would have healed as long as he was back in his pavilion with his doting mother. Nothing permanent here.


Notes
Sex? Escapism? Futility? Humor? Bitterness? Please. This was an awesome solo that was just the right length. You have a gift for pushing a plot without rushing it, and your interactions between characters is spot on. Very, very nice work. I may need to grade in Endrykas more often. (Even if I wasn't suppose to grade this one! Whoopsies!)

If you have any questions or concerns, please send me a PM!