Fancy Meeting You Here [Merevaika]

[Kyo]

.
.

23rd of Winter, 515 AV
nearing noon

Kyo didn't really know what he was doing. Not anymore.

He just... wandered.
It was like all the vigor of life had gone from him.

He couldn't concentrate like he used to. He had a hard time remembering simple things, important things-- like when it had last rained or the names of the people he met, and it wasn't just names: sometimes he forgot what people said as soon as they had spoken, as if he hadn't heard them at all. His hands seemed to move slower than they usually did; maybe it was his whole body that was moving slowly. He had little interest in anything. He was tired all the time except for when he was supposed to sleep; then his eyes wouldn't close and he went out and stared at the night sky for hours, listening and waiting as if he expected thunder.

He didn't know what was wrong with him, but then again... living like this, it was hard to care.

---

He found himself walking. Sometimes he literally wandered; drifted off from what he was supposed to be doing without a thought. This was one of those times. He was certain he was supposed to be someplace, maybe at the Pride, but somehow he found himself here.

Wherever here was. He looked around.

He was ambling along in some part of Endrykas. He was surprised to see Pack and Lightning; both sleek, spot-splotched dogs were sticking close to his heels. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. Nowadays, Lightning followed him most places he went within Endrykas. And Pack... Pack was his shadow.

The brief flash of affection he felt for both dogs was the most he had felt of anything all day. He stooped to scrub his fingers along Pack's jaw, the puppy nipping at his knuckles, and then he began to walk again.

---

It was only after Kyo was standing outside an unknown pavilion that he came to an absolute halt. Inhaling deeply, he realized why he had come this way. He remembered.

This tent-smell was not entirely unknown.

Conflicting memories struggled to the surface, confusing the coyote-man briefly. But he was sure he was right. This tent belonged to one of the people that he had trailed to Endrykas; the scent was so familiar, especially after having tracked it so faithfully for so long.

It also belonged to the wild-woman. The one who had shot at him for catching a free ram.

He hadn't realized before that the wild-woman had been the one --or one of the ones, there had been a few of them-- that he had followed to the tent-city.

Hmm.

Before he could consider further --before he could sneak away so the wild-woman wouldn't spot him nearly trespassing-- Pack's ears gave a twitch. That was all the warning there was. Belated, Kyo reached out to hook a hand on the dog's neck to catch him, but Pack was already gone. Too late the coyote-man caught the scent of other puppies nearby. No doubt that was what had attracted his own pup's attention. Pack had vanished around the edge of a tent, possibly into the tent itself, Kyo hadn't looked up quick enough to tell.

For a moment he shared a look with Lightning that he thought must be exasperation. Then, when he didn't immediately move, the she-dog snapped her jaws, impatient for them to get going.

No anger friend, he signed to her, and then said aloud, "I hurry, I hurry."

He was just approaching the tent when he heard Pack yapping at someone or something on the far side of it, sounding more like a startled mouse than anything with his tiny squeaky bark. Lightning, ears perked and tail swishing, disappeared around the tent-corner.

Sighing, Kyo followed.
.
.

"Speaking in Common"
"And in Vani{descriptors}"
"And in Tukant [implications, descriptors]"
"And in Pavi" grassland sign

[Merevaika]

Merevaika

Her eye twitched as she stared the hare down, eyes sharp daggers matching the sharp point on the arrow that pointed towards it. The hare looked back at the wild woman, who sunk to a low crouch, moving with feline grace through the grasses. The air was warmer now, enticing the creatures to come out, and after a plentiful hunt the day before, the huntress had emerged once again with her bow, ready for more hunting.

The hare fully knew she was there. She could see its little brain consider and debate, wondering whether it was best to run this way or that, zig-zag, or not. After time hidden away from the biting cold, the creature needed to take time to adjust to its position as prey. One lip curled up, the other remained straight, betraying her concentration. Eyes narrowed, anchored on her target. Her steady hand rose, arrow notched. Her nostrils flared, taking in deep breaths of air. Focus. Focus. Release.

The whiz and thud came as with any shot, and this time it came as a hit, piercing the hare mid-stride. She had been lucky that the creature had leapt into the path of the flying arrow. Stupid creature. Stupid thing. She slinked over to collect it, slitting its throat and retrieving the arrow soaked red. Caiyha, she signed the goddess' name simply, in a sign of respect.

Syna shone back at her, warming her bronzed muscles. Nearing noon, and someone would be expecting her back. So she assumed. The workings of the Roughblade pavilion were still a mystery to her, but somehow, she knew not to stray for too long. Not without prior warning, and as Merevaika had escaped from the confines of her tent long before the others had awoken, they would have no idea to where she had gone.

---

She passed her sister's husband as she entered, who looked her up and down expectantly. The man had an aura of confidence and authority, and had lost the childhood charm that had captivated Ywana. No matter, for her sister still loved the man truly. He scared Merevaika in this state, but once he spied the hare, took it swiftly. Merevaika let it go, knowing that she too would receive her share of it. That was how she had promised Ywana it would be. Everything she did, she did for the pavilion, despite not being part of it. She didn't want to be part of it, either, but she had too.

The man waited patiently for her to say something, the woman lost in thought. Merevaika had nothing to say, and continued into the circle of tents, before falling behind them, to where her own tent stood, alone and separate despite continuing to be considered as one.

She heard yapping, first of her own dogs, then from a stranger's, tiny, startled squeaks emerging from behind her tent, and Merevaika hurried round, knowing that there stood Tachi, a horse that seemed to still fear the small hairy creatures the Drykas knew as dogs.

A small dog, one of the desert breed, stood tail down, ears back, facing the Strider with fear. The mare stomped and snorted, shifting back as she prepared to rear, and Merevaika darted in, waving her hands round to get the horse's attention. Tachi snorted, but seemed to relax at the sight of the demanding woman. The Drykas kept her cool, moving her hand forward to touch the horse's nose. Tachi relaxed a little at the touch, and Merevaika guided her back slowly, glad the horse was too scared of the tiny pup to think about resisting.

Once Tachi had been moved to a suitable distance, Merevaika spun back around, face angry. She had a disapproving frown, chin tilted up and stepped forward to see who the owner of the dog was. A tall thin man stared back, face covered with freckles and and pale reddish-brown hair. A man oddly familiar.

It hit her like the arrow that hit the hare: quickly, suddenly, and not at all pleasantly. He was the Kelvic that she had attacked last season, desperate to get him to stop enslaving animals. What had happened in that crazy moment? What had happened to make her views change? She started almost growling, teeth grating at the sight of bad memories.

He had to have come about that. He had to have arrived back for some sort of revenge. Merevaika refused to allow herself the thought that perhaps some people were less ruthless than herself. "Leave!" she snapped, waving one hand in a direction far from her, "Coming with your wild dogs, frightening my horse! Crazy man!" She knew she was acting crazy, but the memory clung to her like a leech, draining her common sense, unpleasant. She wanted rid of him.

[Kyo]

.
.

Horses. Of course it was horses. There was Pack, ears pinned to his head, and why did it have to be horses?

Why not, he thought.

His body had paused. He needed to get the pup before the horse could move and smash Pack into the ground with those sharp hooves, but his own body --especially his head-- remembered the feeling of that hoof cracking against his skull, and the pain it had brought. Then he remembered something else: a horse that was not-a-horse, a horse that ate meat, a blood-horse, and his legs did not want to let him get any closer.

But that was the body's reaction, not his own. He forced himself to move, to protect the small, stupid puppy.

At the same moment that he strode forward to snatch the pup, risking the horse's anger, the woman appeared. Once glance of her angry --bewildered? suspicious?-- eyes and he looked away in the canine way, wanting to placate, not wanting to bother with another fight.

Instead of attacking him, though, she went for the horse, approaching carefully, trying to calm it. Kyo held the pup closer to his chest as Pack squirmed, shivering, either trying to get away or get closer to the wide-eyed equine, he didn't know. Pack needed to learn not to bother horses. Especially ones that had eyes like those. Frightened. Wild.

Wild...

He was forgetting what he was doing again... A sudden burst of language woke him up.

"Leave! Coming with your wild dogs, frightening my horse! Crazy man!"

He hadn't realized he hadn't moved. He had meant to go before the woman was able to turn her attention away from her own animals, before she was able to focus her fury back at him. But somehow he was still standing there. And now she was talking to him in that short, hard voice, though he didn't exactly comprehend most of what she was saying. Leave, dogs, horse, man.

Leave horse. He hadn't looked away from the startled animal yet. There was something about it. He reminded himself dully that he didn't like horses, they were big and strong and sometimes blood-hungry in a way he didn't understand. Still. There was something nagging him about that horse. Those frightened eyes...

He forced himself to look away, to look at the wild-woman. He was confused, almost dazed, blinking as if he'd been kicked right in the head again, but this horse had not done that. Not physically. It was some other sort of kick. He held Pack even tighter to himself, mostly now using the puppy as some children used a blanket. Keeping calm.

Lightning, beside him, was staring at the woman with sharp eyes. Kyo knew she was a herding dog, not a hunting one, but the way she was looking at the woman... he whistled once, softly to get the she-dog's attention, and then said, go, "Find Ramsay." When she didn't move, he sighed. Then signed harder in his choppy, ugly Pavi, trying to put a command behind it, No stay. Go. "Ramsay."

The dog stayed where she was, and he thought it was like her not to listen. But then she popped to her her feet and was gone. Kyo had to make himself let go of the offending puppy too, and Pack, for once using his head, followed after his mother and was out of sight.

He looked back to the woman, then. "I sorry," sorry. Please no anger. This was much like what he'd said to Lightning before when she had snapped at him. Then he added, trying to be polite, greeting. "My name Kyo. I come..." He didn't have the Drykas words to explain. He grimaced and switched to Common. "I don't come here to make you angry. I'm sorry. I want to leave. I will leave if you want. But..." He glanced at the horse again, and there was a knot in his stomach. This sudden emotion --was it dread? something else?-- it was almost overwhelming after days and days of bland nothing. It stung. "The horse, is it a Strider?"

He didn't know why he cared so much about it. Or why it had to be a Strider, but even without asking he knew it was. He had never been able to tell most of those strange Drykas-horses apart from regular ones, especially if the horses had similar coloring, that usual tan. But he knew what this one was.

Without much thinking, mainly because he didn't want to think about how angry he must be making the woman, he said, "Please, I... the Strider, I... I don't know but there's... I want to see--"

See what?

"Bond," he said, and the word was almost as frightening as the wild-woman and that captivating --captive?-- look in the horse's bright, dark eyes.
.
.

"Speaking in Common"
"And in Vani{descriptors}"
"And in Tukant [implications, descriptors]"
"And in Pavi" grassland sign

[Merevaika]

Merevaika

The Kelvic was unresponsive for a moment. He stared at the mare with intent, Merevaika unsure what to make from it. Before she could think about it, he forced himself to look at her, confused, dazed, blinking. Was the sight of a wild horse so shocking to him? He clung to the puppy tightly, still unable to recover from something. The scare the horse gave him?

He said nothing to her, but signed a variety of signs, adding some common, to the dog at his feet, finally getting a response. The pup followed, the two dogs quickly disappearing in the mess of tents, calming Tachi that hadn't moved much, still watching the stranger. Merevaika almost sensed what was happening, but did not want to believe it. Whatever she thought, she knew if there was that magical, beautiful bond between the two, she wouldn't be able to break it.

His speech started Pavi, apologizing before introducing himself, giving her the name of the Kelvic she had attacked quite some time ago. Kyo. Did he know her name? Merevaika interrupted before he continued, wanting to make herself even, less wild, more Drykas. "I am Merevaika." Once the simple exchange was done, she let him grimace, continuing in a mix of Common and Pavi.

He wanted to leave, apologizing again, but with the looks he gave Tachi, she knew that he couldn't. Merevaika thought back to her own bonding. Some strange, unexplained, but incredibly strong force, joining Drykas and horse. In this case, joining Kelvic and horse. Her anger grew at this thought. He wasn't worthy of bonding, was he?

He had the nerve to ask if the horse was a Strider. If her beautiful horse was a Strider. His words were a mess, he wanted to see. What? Whether he could get away with stealing that too, as well as her dignity?

"Bond." The word shook her, angry green eyes glaring at his that stared straight past her at the horse, who stared back. This was her horse. Not his. He couldn't just come up and take her hard work and money and horse. No matter if they had bonded. This was no excuse. No excuse at all.

True bond? "She is my horse. I don't care if you think you're bonded - she will remain my horse. You don't even know how to ride!" she guessed, voice almost shouting at the end. He was a Kelvic, as much as an animal as a human. A coyote was not fit to ride a horse. A coyote was not fit to bond. Only Drykas.

But the bond made him Drykas. And the connection was undeniable.

"Pavi"
Grassland sign
"Common"

[Kyo]

.
.

He knew this woman, this Merevaika as she had called herself, could speak some Common. She had spoken to him before, when they had fought. Now, though, she spoke in Pavi, so it was hard for him to understand. Maybe he didn't need to. The look on her face now almost reminded him of back then. That fierceness. That anger.

Usually he would have hunched in on himself, the human-form way of tucking tail. But then he glanced again at the horse, watching him, and his shoulders stayed straight and his heart was beating hard and steady, he could feel it in his chest.

He was aware he was doing something... wrong?... but not exactly what it was. Bond, his mind said, but what did it mean? He had had a bond before. He had had a boy. His bonded. His bondmate. Soul-brothers. This bond... this was not like that, nothing like that. He couldn't feel into the horse, couldn't feel her emotions, couldn't hear the whisper of a thought. There was no silver inside them, shining, tying them. But there was something, like the weight of the sky that kept his feet on the ground, something that made it hard to look away from her. And for the first time, he thought that another sort of animal --not coyote or canine or human-- but a horse could be beautiful. In her own way.

His gaze, wary before, softened. He looked to Merevaika, still as lost as to why this was happening.

What had she said? Something about the bond. Horse, bond, horse again and then you. And something he thought was ride. You ride? Looking at her, he knew that wasn't right, and even without knowing the words he understood the tone: she was possessive of the Strider. It was her horse. You don't ride, maybe? You never ride?

Did he want to ride? He had only ever ridden a horse once and he had not liked it. At the time he had been hurt and almost sick to his stomach from the motion of the powerful legs underneath. And that was when the blood-horse had come and made everything even worse.

He didn't like horses. He didn't want to ride them.

But then, if that was what this horse wanted, needed...

Yes, something was wrong with him. The bond. He could see how much trouble this all was. He felt a need to stay near the horse, maybe to make her eyes be less frightened. To feel her close to his side. But if he stayed, there was the wild-woman, Merevaika, and she didn't want him to stay, did she? She might tell him to leave, and then what? He didn't know.

But he felt certain he would end up returning.

It was all so much more than he wanted. He tried to turn away from the horse's silent gaze, but only ended up taking a few steps forward, towards her-- and unconsciously his mind reached out to call her sky. He didn't have any other word for her, other than that.

For the first time he realized why human-forms always wanted to deal in names, rather than in scents or mere sight. Because they liked words, yes, but also because some things, like people, like some animals, like this sky-horse, they deserved to be named.

Abruptly he folded down, legs bending in front of him until he was sitting on the cold, slightly wet ground. Then he gave Merevaika a look-- determined, jaw locked, arms crossed. I stay Strider. His signs were adamant. Then, to the horse herself, to the sky, he said, "I see you. Do you see me?" You, he signed, gentle, I.

When he next looked back at Merevaika, however long later, it was with that same gentleness, having lost some of the defiance and filling it now with exhaustion and the barest gasp of hope. He signed more humbly, I sorry. I stay, please? Strider, bond sister. Here he made a fist and placed it softly to his heart. Today he was only wearing the coat and pants and shoes, not the shirt beneath, because the sun was out and the air warm. There on the bare flesh of his chest was a large scar, under his fist, still bright from the end of Fall where a skinning knife had carved the shape of a U into his flesh. A mark for his lost bonded.

A Drykas looking at it might think it was a horseshoe. I Strider bond brother. He looked up earnestly. "Merevaika." Please, friend.

Kyo put a hand to his face, rubbing at his eyes, at the dark marks from no sleep that were there. He was just so tired. So tired of everything. And this, all of it, was enough to make him more tired yet. He didn't even know if he wanted this bond. In a way he didn't. It terrified him. That was part of the reason his heart was pounding so hard and sure.

But he couldn't abandon it. He couldn't turn from those frightened eyes. Maybe he wasn't strong enough or good enough or ready for this at all.

But there was something here that made him feel, if not stronger or better or ready... something that told him he would try. For sky.
.
.

"Speaking in Common"
"And in Vani{descriptors}"
"And in Tukant [implications, descriptors]"
"And in Pavi" grassland sign

[Merevaika]

Merevaika

Kyo seemed lost, deep in thought, and while Merevaika was too, her thoughts were furious, angry pieces of flame inside her, only growing with the time he waited. This wasn't fair. She wanted Tachi for herself. A mighty Strider to make her known, make her respected. Not a Strider that bonded with the same kelvic that had forced her thoughts to go inside, that changed the fire inside to madnesss.

The same kelvic who now crouched on the ground, steady look. He signed, not the most fluently, but full of emotion, of meaning. Signs, unlike with a lot of Drykas that used them only to make themselves more Drykas, that meant something. He wanted to stay. Merevaika wanted him to leave. But neither would listen to the other. Both were at the mercy of the horse,, both in different ways.

Towards the mare, his words and signs were softer, gentler. It was a true bond, a miracle before her eyes, She felt herself soften at the bonding, knowing deep down how important this was. How beautiful this was. An image flashed across her eyes, of her charging towards him shrieking with animalistic noises. An image that caused her fury to grow and her teeth to grind.

He spoke to her next, with the same softness as directed to the animal. Like with a wild horse, the words soothed her. Hope echoed through them, asking to stay. No, begging to stay. His hand moved to his chest, and her eyes landed on something she hadn't noticed before.

A horseshoe, carved into his flesh. A mark for pain and sorrow, sitting where the feelings originated. He hadn't had that day. He wasn't marked with the sign of a horse - he was the horse's enemy. Dark eyes. Thin, scrawny. Tired. Injured. Alone. Yet he had a bond now. He could be free of all his troubles, for he had found his Strider. Who was she to say no?

Merevaika turned away, his last sign lingering in her head. Friend. No. This wasn't right. This kelvic had once again turned her upside down, made her go against her nature, made her think back. Merevaika never thought back. She never looked at the past, only to the future. Fearless, brave, ever-moving.

This kelvic was on the verge of changing that, bringing back bad memories. And now he made herself doubt everything she knew, everything she believed, everything she hoped was true. She couldn't give him her horse. She had paid for her. She had suffered training her. She still bore the marks of Tachi's first bite.

But she couldn't deny him his bonded Strider, for that would kill both of them. And herself. Abusing the Strider, denying her of her bonded one, could violate one of the Seven Laws. Kyo, somehow, had earned the right to windmarks. Had earned the right to be Drykas. Who was she to deny him of that?

For the first time in what felt like forever, Merevaika was forced to think, torn between right and wrong - no, not right and wrong, but beneficial to her or not. And for the first time, doing whatever came instinctive, whatever would be better for her, wasn't what she did. She thought, back turned to the kelvic.

Her heart pounded at the decision. The only reason it existed was because it was a Strider. Merevaika had utmost respect for the beautiful beasts. She would give her life to help Eryunt. She understood that feeling of needing the other. Right now, she needed help.

Turning back slowly, steady breaths, the woman sighed, starting a million signs but stopping before any became recognizable. Bond, was all she could form without her hands collapsing into trembling monsters. She sunk to her knees, almost crying.

My horse. Your horse. Our horse?"No, you have twice the claim I have. She is your horse in every way but one, but my horse in a way known to man. My horse. My horse more than she is your horse. Then her words turned to sobs, "But you are hers. You belong to her. So you must be with her. What do I do Kyo? What do I do?"

Rather, what had he done? What had he turned her into? A nervous, trembling wreck. Merevaika pulled herself together, rising, tears gone. I have no right to separate you. Yet I still own her. Kyo, if you want her, you must earn her from me, too. Give me back what I will give to you, show me you deserve her."

A stupid thing to say. Of course he deserved her, or Tachi wouldn't have bonded with him. Eryunt didn't deserve Merevaika either, but he had bonded with her. He had chosen the reckless, fearless lone ranger, despite being worthy of much more. Striders did crazy things. But everything they did, they did for a reason. She couldn't separate them. She couldn't.


"Pavi"
Grassland sign
"Common"

[Kyo]

.
.

Whatever he was expecting, it was not this.

Merevaika turned away, and he shook his head, slowly, thinking that in a moment she would look at him with dislike, with distrust, and then he would have to go.

But how could he stay away? The Sky, she was here. Though he was scared to be bonded to anything or anyone after all that had happened with his boy, he realized he was more scared to be away.

This horse made him feel again. And what he felt, thinking about leaving her, made his mouth dry and his throat felt like it was jammed with a rock.

And then Merevaika turned back to him, and he saw something different. She tried to make signs, but her hands were shaking. If she made any, he didn't see them, didn't know them, except for the last. Bond, she said, and then sunk to the ground across from him, chest heaving.

And it wasn't from anger. No. She looked... she looked sad. Upset. He didn't know what he had done to make her this way, but immediately he regretted it.

She was signing again, then speaking. He tried very hard, harder than he'd ever tried before, to make sense of the words. My horse, she signed, You --or no, it was different from you, your?-- Your horse. Then something he didn't know coupled with horse again.

Then she spoke aloud, and the words he picked out were No, you have(?), I have(?). Your horse way, my horse way to(?) man. My horse. My horse more your horse.

Her tears were making the words even harder to understand, and he wanted to do something to make her stop crying, it was hurting her, it was hurting him. Worse, it made his own eyes prickle, and he had to swallow hard past that rock in his throat.

He knew if he started to cry he would not stop. He would think of his dead bondmate and be truly lost in himself again. He had only gotten past those great waves of bad-feelings into this dry and empty place not long ago, and he did not want to go back to that. To that place of no-control, just agony.

So he focused instead on her words, on what he could now understand. Trying to fit them together so he would know what had caused her pain. No sad, he signed, without knowing if it was meant to stop himself or her, Please, relief. The rest was specifically aimed towards her, though he didn't know if she would see him through her turmoil. I sorry-sad, please I sorry, I help. Whatever she saw, Merevaika went on.

You, you her. You her. There was a heavy significance in what she was saying. He remembered signing to his sky-horse, You, I, and this, he thought, was much like that. What I, Kyo? and his name in this moment made him feel even sadder, What I?

Suddenly she seemed to come back to herself, and she was much better at making the bad go away than he thought he would ever be. He tried to copy her, coming up to his feet much as she had, blinking hard to keep his eyes dry. I no right to(?) you. I her. Kyo, you want her, you her me. Me what I to(?) you, show(?) --or was it tell?-- show(?) me you her.

It took him a while to struggle through. Not only to stop his own aching heart from breaking him again, but to go through what he remembered of her words and put it all together the best he could. In the end, he thought that Merevaika was saying that she saw the bond between him and Sky; her first sign, so upset with those shaking hands, had been bond. Like he had signed to her, before.

The rest was a little more muddled, but maybe that was because she had been so confused when she said it. He thought she had said that Sky was his, but also hers. Now he realized what it was that he had done wrong: this bond was not supposed to be to a horse that was not his to take. People had animals in a way that he didn't quite understand yet. It was more than just being near them or with them, as he was with his dogs. It was something else. It was why Lightning had been following him around-- because she was Ramsay's, and if a dog that was Ramsay's was with him, then no other Drykas would try to take Kyo --an outsider
-- away. No one would be mean towards him the way that Sunshadow at the Pride was mean to him.

It was like protecting. Ramsay had the sheep that were his to protect, not only from animals but from other people, too. Those sheep were his to keep.

And Sky was Merevaika's to keep, to protect, to have. Even if she said that Sky, now, was also in some way Kyo's.

The last part of what the Drykas had said was the hardest to figure out. But he thought, in the end, it was that he needed to show that he could be good. That he could take care of his Strider, like Merevaika could.

Suddenly he felt that fear rise up in him again. Fear at being bonded, at being connected to something --to someone-- that meant so much. Fear at being tied to the Sky.

He didn't know how to do anything good for her. He knew how to care for dogs because he was a coyote, it was something inside him, like raising pups. A horse... he didn't know anything about. He didn't know how to ride. He didn't know what to do if a horse got hurt or sick. He didn't know the things they needed, every day. Or how to keep them out of trouble. Or even how to read the language from their body, like he could with his dogs.

He was shaking his head again, the fear evident, especially when he said, I fear. He managed to grate out a mess of spilled, quick-flash words, "I bond to Strider, I" no, no, fear, "I sorry bond-brother, I" no "what." He had to give up on the Pavi to make her understand as much as possible. "I'm not good for her. I don't know... I don't know any-know for horses. I can't care for her like you can. I don't know what you know. I can't... I will never{ever!} hurt her. How is she mine{confused, friend, bonded}, if I don't know, I don't know!" He looked over at Sky, who had seemed to startle at the sound of his raised voice in that other language, and he instantly signed sorry towards her and dropped his voice back so he spoke low.

Seeing her fear again was what he seized on to make Merevaika understand. "I can't help her not be... not be" no fear, he signed. "I'm not good for her like you."

Because if one thing was obvious, it was that Merevaika cared for Sky-- more than cared. And Kyo had nothing to give the Strider, while Merevaika had everything to give. He didn't know what Merevaika thought he wanted to do, maybe take the horse away with him, but he wouldn't. Sky was better here. Safer. He remembered how she had settled when Pack had scared her and Merevaika had needed to calm her down. That was something he did not think he could do. Not on his own. He didn't know how.

He needed to learn.

Please. You help? "Strider stay," he wished he had a word for Sky, to make Merevaika understand how important this was, "Strider stay you. You" help "me show I good bond. I learn horses. I learn Strider."
.
.

"Speaking in Common"
"And in Vani{descriptors}"
"And in Tukant [implications, descriptors]"
"And in Pavi" grassland sign

[Merevaika]

Merevaika

No sad, he signed. No sad. She wasn't sad, just confused and angry. He wanted to help her and apologised, but what for? Kyo had done nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing. The horse was to blame, if something had to be blamed. Not the Kelvic.

He copied her as she rose, blinking away his own tears that she hadn't even seen. He had cried a little? She supposed so. There was so much she didn't see, didn't realise. She hadn't realised that he struggled through her words too, having forgotten how it was the last time they had met. She could see now, watching him, he struggled through the words, piecing together the pieces.

However, she didn't repeat herself in common. She didn't even think about it. He was left to consider the words alone, without any help. If the Drykas tried to attempt to translate, she would only make a mess of things. Her words had been a mess anyway, with or without the struggles of understanding a foreign language.

He started shaking his head, fear in his sign and in his face. His words were a mess like her own, repeating fear, repeating bond. She struggled to understand it how he understood her. It made no sense, before he shifted to common, making both more and less sense. Not good for her. Something about don't know, don't care for her, don't know again. Then he spoke a language she didn't recognise, finishing with a signed sorry.

His voice shifted low, evident at the fact Tachi had startled at the loud foreign shouts. Signs that he did care for her, that he could learn. He claimed he couldn't help her not fear, but Merevaika was seeing how he did that right that moment, how he was soft, with a low voice.

He cared for his bonded horse, more than Merevaika did at times. She couldn't separate them.

Then Kyo spoke of asking to stay, asking for her help. He wanted her to teach him horses.
"You want to learn about horses. You want to learn about Striders. I will teach you." Her voice was an echo, soft and gentle, repeating what he said in a different language, in her language and now his language.

"You make your voice soft, to help Tachi," she explained her reason for helping him,
"You care for her. I can see that. Kyo, I will help you. But you pay me for her, you show me you care well for her." Of course she needed to add that. This time, in common, so he could understand her.

Merevaika moved to Tachi, placing her hand on the horse's back and walking forward, guiding the Strider nearer. The horse snorted a little, staring at her new companion. "Tachi is wild - scared of many things. I have tried to help her, but natural instincts are strong. I have tried to train her, as best as I know how to. If you want to be her bonded, you must help me with the training. Understand?"




"Pavi"
Grassland sign
"Common"

[Kyo]

.
.

His fear, frantic before at the thought of having to take the horse, to have her all to himself, at how he might be not-good for her all alone with them together, soothed at the Drykas' words.

He didn't get it all, but he got enough. She was agreeing to help him, to help him learn Sky. Relief, thanks, he signed, some of the aching tiredness coming back to him now that it was okay, now that he didn't have to be so afraid.

"Help Tachi," Merevaika said, and he grasped at the name, thinking it was a ground-name given to a Sky-horse, but then again the tent-people were very much a ground-people. And maybe it was good. It would be good. "Tachi," he repeated.

"But you pay me for her, you show me you care well for her."

Yes, welcome-help, happy-you, thanks thanks. It was a shamble of rushed and loose-fingered signs, each almost stumbling over the other in his haste and relief. At the word pay his eyes went down and his hands to his pockets, and he dug in to find whatever might be there, whatever might help him pay in that indistinct and ever-confusing human way. A few golden coins fitting snug in his palm, and he held them out towards Merevaika, looking up...

And then the Sky herself was before him. He dropped the money in the dirt without thinking, hands gone slack and nervous, looking into those dark eyes. "Tachi," he said, then in his song-language, "Sky{good-friend, safe}."

Merevaika led the horse ever closer, calm beside the animal's cautious, lingering steps and snorting nose. Tachi, he heard Merevaika say, fear(?), no not fear, but it was close, scared. I have try(?) help her, big(?). I have try(?) work(?) her, I. You want her bond, you help work(?). Something not exactly like yes.

Yes, he signed, then said it too to make it heard, "Yes." He tried to say the last thing she had said but he didn't think he got it all the way, his sharp coyote ears telling him that the sound was not quite right. But it was the best he could do. "Yes. I help. I help Merevaika, I help Tachi-Sky."

Then the talking was over, and he glanced uncertainly at the not-wild-woman before looking up again at the Strider.

For long moments they just looked at each other. There was that feeling, that bond that made it so there was no space between them even as they stood apart. There wasn't exactly fear between them and there wasn't exactly concern. More like measurement. Each taking the other's measure. Seeking. Seeing. He had said that too, earlier: I see you. Do you see me? Now they looked at each other and the sister-horse stared back at him without looking away how a dog might if it was frightened or unsure or cowed. Her head was up and her eyes just at the height his were.

He thought there was something there that wasn't-really-there, or at least not yet. For a moment he thought he understood it: something like bravery but more like wildness, something like pride in how she held her head high, something special and intangible and untamed, unashamed and not-changing, free, happy even. Happy. It made him happy. He signed it to her, a flash of fingers, and then reached out a hand.

Then the long moment was gone and she pulled her face back, ears flicking, eyes wide. He pulled his hand away, and all at once realized what he must smell like. Coyote. Canine. She had not liked the dogs, she had been frightened, and she pulled back now at his approach with that scent.

For a moment he was lost, he didn't know what to do. He looked over at Merevaika, asking. "What--?" Then he stopped, not having the words to ask, trying to think.

In a moment he moved, slowly reaching out to the dark-haired woman, and if she allowed he would take her lightly by the hand, grasping palm to palm. He stayed that way for a moment, more, more, then released. No fear, sister. Brother-greeting, he signed, then held his hand out to Sky again.

She dropped her head and let her nose flick over his palm, then whuffed out a breath and pulled back again. But her eyes were better, not so wide and staring.

"Tachi don't like coyote," he explained, bringing his hand back close to his body. "So I make no-coyote for her." He bent to pick at the coins in the cold dirt, and made sure to jingle and rub the money and dirt-layer against his palm, helping to dull his scent with the dust and metal before holding out his hand and letting Sky nose at it again, this time her eyes not frightened but curious as to what he was holding.

She didn't seem to think much of it from what he could tell, pulling her head away and giving it a shake. His face, lined with tiredness and dark circles before, lit briefly with a real smile, eyes crinkling. Then he looked back at Merevaika and held out the coins, offering to drop them in her hand.

"Merevaika, what do I need to know for Tachi to be no-scared? What horse-care?"

OOCFeel free to take the coins. ^_^ It's probably a few, I'll say like maybe around eleven GM? Let's make it random, so I'll take 11.1.0 from my ledger.

Receipt-11 GM, 1 SM
.
.

"Speaking in Common"
"And in Vani{descriptors}"
"And in Tukant [implications, descriptors]"
"And in Pavi" grassland sign

[Merevaika]

Merevaika

Rushed signs of thanks came from him, the kelvic digging through his pockets. He saw Tachi in front of him and dropped the money in his hand, surprised, shocked, nervous. He said her name, then something in a strange language, words that sounded beautiful like words he had spoken before, but uncommon.

She repeated them, twice, curious as to what he said, "What language is that? What does it mean?"

He wanted to help, he really did. He made a sound, of no language that she understood, but it sounded like understand. He said he would help Tachi, then said the word from before, the musical, beautiful word. It soothed Tachi too and when they stared at each other, into each other, they became connected as one.

He judged her up, she judged him up. While the two learnt about the other, Merevaika was to simply observe this magical moment, ignoring his sign of happy, ignoring the horse's body language, simply watching them.

Then something happened, Tachi stepping back in fear. Kyo pulled his hand back, turning to Merevaika with confusion. Something had broken the moment, something involving the coyote man. He reached out, grasping her hand. She stood there shocked, letting him hold it. Then he released, asking Tachi not to fear him again.

The strider sniffed him, before moving back, scared. Kyo spoke, taking the coins from the ground and outstretching them to the horse. What was he doing? Then she realised what his common had meant. He smelt of coyote, of dog, of something Tachi feared. So he wanted to mask his smell, be be no-coyote.

He offered the coins to the Drykas woman after being refused by the horse, asking for help.

"You had the right idea. Mask your scent, hide the fact you are coyote. But she will get used to you in time. Show her to trust you, and she will no longer fear you." Merevaika moved forward, grounding Tachi with her arms around the horse. She took her own hand, pushing it forward for Tachi to smell, before grabbing Kyo's. She pulled him closer, mixing her scent with his.

The strider was confused, ears pricking up a little and letting out a snort, but Merevaika refused to let her move. Instead, she guided Kyo's hand up to the groove in the strider's forehead, pressing his finger in it. "She loves being stroked down that line," she explained, releasing the hand and moving it to keep Tachi's head steady.

Was this the right thing to do? She didn't know, but she was willing to give it a go.


"Pavi"
Grassland sign
"Common"