Man In The Moon

[Ixzo]

76th of Winter, 515AV

Poem :

The poem is not mine but the author is unknown.

The onions sizzled under her wooden spoon as she stirred the meal in the pan. They were getting brown, but the bits of quail that she had dropped in the pan as well were still pink inside when she broke them in half. Had she remained in her lion form, eating them this way wouldn't have been a problem. However, she was not just feeding herself, but Iollu as well. She couldn't see the child, since she was busy braiding the kelvic's dreads. A mess that was sure to be a pain in the morning when she got around to undoing them. Ixzo pressed the bits of quail into the pan, trying to get the pink to turn white in the dimming afternoon light. She didn't want the onions to burn to a crisp before the meat was cooked, although that looked how it was going to end up.

It was a few minutes, the quail was finally done (with hardly any onions left), and Iollu spoke up when Ixzo moved the pan from the fire, setting into an area of packed earth to cool some before they ate.

"Look, Zozo. The moon!" Her hair fell to her back with a heavy thud as the child pointed up to the lavender sky. The moon had come up a while before, but was beginning to show in the dimming light as the sun set. Ixzo grinned, twisting so she could grab the child playfully.

"You know stories of Leth?" She asked the little trickster who giggled with the tickles and danced from Ixzo's hands across her belly. It was easy to see the fatigue in the child's eyes, which worried Ixzo. The Kelvic had woken in the night to hunt, and returned just before dawn to take the child to the Hunter's Allegiance while she waited for her day's pay. The child had been patient, but she supposed Iollu was far from filled with the energy of that morning.

"Leth loves Syna! Leth loves Syna!" The young Drykas sang to the sky, her rosy cheeks illuminated by the firelight that was quickly becoming their only source of light. Ixzo was a little taken aback when she understood the words. The child spoke as if the Gods were acquaintances, companions that one may tease. Perhaps she didn't yet understand how they reigned above, the immortal nature of a deity and how she many never ever meet one, although they mingled with the mortals frequently. This was not something the Kelvic could hope to explain in the Drykas tongue and signs, so she didn't even attempt to explain, letting the shocking thought slide with a sigh.

"He does." She confirmed. Love, eternal. She added the signs for the child's benefit and Iollu giggled at the concept, young and bashful of the idea of love. Ixzo reached forward, scooping the toddler into her arms. A small rhyme her mother had taught her as a kid came to her mind and Ixzo sang it to the child in Myrian.

[Ixzo]

"The man in the moon
Looked out of the moon
And this is what he said,
'Tis time that, now I'm getting up,
All babies went to bed.'" She sang in the deep and throaty tones of the Myrian's language and Iollu calmed, staring at her lips as she half-sang, half-spoke the words.

"What does that mean?"

Ixzo thought for a moment, tapping her lip. "When Leth comes out… Hmmm… the babies go sleep." She tried to fill it in for the child. Lullaby. She explained, and Iollu wiggled.

Bad Lullaby. The little horse-girl corrected the Drykas and Ixzo giggled. "It sounds better in your words." Iollu adjusted her critique, and Ixzo pinched the cold rosy cheeks lightly.

"Let's eat, little one." Ixzo moved the child from her lap, pulling out two dishes and two eating knives. She handed Iollu one of the knives and then used hers to scoop up half of the meat and wild onions onto Iollu's tin dish. She paused, looking at what little food there was left, but gave the child a little more so she had a full meal, before giving herself the rest.

"I want more!" Iollu whined immediately, before she had even seen her plate.

"Eat first, then ask." Ixzo directed the pouting child, handing her the first dish, the larger one. The child looked at the dish and stuck her bottom lip out to pout. "Big eyes, small stomach." The lioness told the child in a very broken tongue, tapping her lower lip to emphasize the words.

Iollu was silent as she gobbled down the still burning food. Ixzo paused, watching the child not seem to mind the fact that her tongue may be burnt off as she wolfed the food down. Ixzo raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She didn't have more to give the child, and although she wanted the child to be full, she was hardly generous enough to give into her own small portion once Iollu would ask, which she was sure she would.

[Ixzo]

"Done!" The shrill bark of victory rang out after a few chimes of silent eating. Although she had eaten slower, Ixzo was scooping up one of her last bites of the meat meal when she looked up.

"No?" She furrowed her brows more dramatically than she needed to, flattening her free hand over her chest and leaning back in shock. "Not true!" She accused with mock anger, and Iollu grinned the victory at her, tipping her dish over to show that nothing would come out. Ixzo dropped the charade, returning a more encouraging smile. She knew that Iollu was particularly cheerful tonight. Although young, the toddler had witnessed more than she should have at this age, and it gave the young soul a fairly quiet view on life. Sometimes Iollu was so quiet, Ixzo wondered if she had lost her ability to speak. She still cried at night, a habit that the Myrians would have worked out of her far before this age, but Ixzo didn't shame her for it. She didn't know what it was like to lose a sibling or parent, and she thought the child might need longer than the short season she had known her to grieve, it made the lion uncomfortable.

But tonight Iollu seemed to forget her mourning, caught up in the simple pleasures of what was becoming their evening routine. While the child stooped by the pail of water from the stream to drink from the ladle, Ixzo consumed the rest of her dish, picking up both hers and the child's. Coming up behind the child, she scooped the bar of soap up from the grass beside the pail, dumping it into one of the dishes.

Before she could say anything, the child spotted the dishes in her hand, and groaned. The routine was set at this point, whatever water was left from the day would go to washing the dishes and then the pail would be refilled in the stream for the night's drinks. Ixzo tasked Iollu with cleaning the dishes because it was relatively easy while she cleaned up the rest of the camp for the night. Usually the Kelvic would not have dedicated so much work to cleaning up the camp, although she had been stolen from too frequently this season to risk it any longer.

"Do I have to?" Dislike, boring. The child tried to rush off the oncoming chore as she put the ladle back into the pail, which Ixzo followed with the dishes and soap.

"Don't, nothing to eat breakfast on." Ixzo shrugged, and Iollu crossed her arms.

"That's fine." Ixzo gave her a half-hearted glare. Iollu may be feeling up this evening, but the lion wanted to sleep before she had to go hunt.

"I will gather fire, you clean." Ixzo turned away, not bothering to see if the child would actually do the dishes. She didn't have the heart to punish the poor thing for not listening, so Iollu had gotten away with much that a proper mother would not have accepted. At least Ixzo wasn't her mother.

[Ixzo]

The lioness dug her fingers into the dirt by the fire, flinging it in the pit so that she wouldn't have to worry about the blaze as the embers cooled while they slept. A thought popped into her head when she scooped up her bow from where it lay on the side of the tent. She wasn't this child's mother, although old enough, Ixzo hadn't felt that drive as other women did, not yet. Yet, nagging on the end of her consciousness was the worry that she would have to be. What if she couldn't find the Firstsong Pavilion come Spring? What if this child stopped grieving for her missing family and begun mourning the dead? She was barely holding on with the toddler for the half season she did take care of her, could she help this Drykas to maturity? Would Iollu learn all the things her culture demanded if she was raised by a foreigner?

Ixzo ducked into the tent, hiding her cringe from the child, as she placed her bow and arrows under their dirty garments. She would have to bring those to the stream soon, but it was too cold to have them dry in time, the chore would have to wait. Pausing, Ixzo sighed. She couldn't do it, could she? Would another Drykas take the child? Could she give her up? Shouldering the canvas of the tent aside, she looked at Iollu, who had in fact picked up the dishes. The child was chipping burnt onion off the pan with her finger-nails and didn't realize Ixzo had paused.

No, she couldn't. Ixzo denied the million questions that buzzed in her skull like bees in a hive. She couldn't raise this child properly, nor could she give her up. But she didn't have much of a choice did she? If there were no Firstsongs left, than she would have to. But also, if another Drykas demanded she not be the one to raise Iollu, she would have to give the child to her people. Ixzo didn't want to think about it. She missed the release that curling into her cat form would allow. The vacation from these human emotions that ran so strong and so complicated, only they would return when she returned to this form. Ixzo scooped up the basket of food that remained. Two small wild onions, a bag of rice and a head of cabbage welcomed her for the next day's meal. Iollu alone would down the entire basket in a day, but she would have to make it last two until she could get something to trade at the market.

[Ixzo]

Trying not to think about the stress that bore down on her, Ixzo tucked the basket in the crevice of her elbow, then tossed the rag at Iollu for the clean dishes. The clothe landed square on the child's back and there was a squeal of protest, but the child simply took the rag and began drying the dishes she had cleaned before setting them in the grass beside her.

Ducking back into the tent, Ixzo set the food by the dirty clothes. Beside her bedroll and blankets, there wasn't much in the tent. She had gotten Iollu a ball of yarn, and small braided things littered one corner where the child played with them. The complimenting corner was home to the pile of clothes that had yet to be washed and hid her bow, with what was left of the food beside it. The other end, the far end, of the tent was completely consumed by the bedroll that they shared, and that was it. It was hardly a home for her alone, let alone Iollu as well.

Automatically, Ixzo pulled the animal hides and blankets from the bedroll, shaking them out and then whipping the cloth out to lay it flat over the bedroll. She repeated this until there was a thick stack of blankets atop the bedroll for her and Iollu to stay warm in. Tossing the pillows onto the end of the bed, she grinned. At least she agreed with the child on one thing: Neither of them saw the point in making the bed in the morning, not until they were ready to sleep anyhow.

Sure that her measly belonging where prepared for the night, Ixzo stepped back out of the tent, just in time for Iollu to finish up the last eating knife. With practiced timing, Ixzo scooped up the pail as Iollu finished drying the dishes. She would put them in the tent, but Ixzo left to the stream to go clean the pail and fill it so they may have something to drink that night.

[Ixzo]

She was determined not to leave herself with her thoughts any longer so when she ducked by the stream, letting the icy water run through the wood pail a bit before scrubbing it with her hand, she let the tune from the earlier lullaby hum through her lips. When she had scrubbed the pail and hummed the quick tune twice over, Ixzo realized she was not alone. Standing a little ways on the other side of the stream was a horse. The strider was watching her warily, and she immediately recognized the signs of fear on it. The ears were straight up, listening to her gentle lullaby, and his nostrils flare. The chilly evening was creating tunnels of mist as he worked to take in her confusing scent as much as possible. Standing as a statue of shock, the horse watched her as she refilled the pail, slowly standing up once more.

But before Ixzo could turn to go, she hummed the tune once more. The horse barely moved, still watching her. It was clearly confused. Surely it smelt, sensed, her predatory form, and yet it seemed confused to watch a human that smelled like a lion. Carefully, although she was nowhere near the thing, she stretched a fist out. Once, long before her parents had given up on teaching her to ride, they had taught her to always offer your scent to a horse. Or course, her scent was not as welcoming as a human or other Kelvics, so it usually worked opposite to what her parents had intended, sending a horse fleeing in the other direction.

This time, Ixzo was curious though. Would the horse come closer to sniff her, or would he simply bolt away as the rest of his kin did when confronted with her kind?

Not to her surprise, the horse danced back at her movement. Ixzo stopped humming, preparing for the muted disappointment that followed most encounters with the Drykas' domesticated creatures. When the horse finally gave it, trotting briskly back around his Drykas' tent and out of her view, she let her arm drop. Perhaps it was simply because the beast had not gotten close enough to truly understand what she was, but she was almost hopeful to see the horse did not bolt.

No doubt she would be reminded of why she feared the beasts at her next encounter.

[Ixzo]

When she returned to the camp site, it was empty. Any light of day had long passed by now, although the lioness had little issue seeing. Before ducking into the tent, she swept her eyes around the campsite. The stakes were still fast in the ground and the fire was quickly going out, reducing the fuel bricks inside to embers, glowing with what was left of the heat. She hadn't much to leave out, but she made sure before she brought the pail inside anyway. Once she had set the water down by the food and dishes, placing the ladle back into the pail so they could sip. Iollu was still messing with her yarn things while Ixzo tied up the opening of the tent.

"The man in the moon
Looked out of the moon
And this is what he said,
'Tis time that, now I'm getting up,
All babies went to bed.'" Ixzo repeated the lullaby, feeling calm, despite her earlier philosophies on the fate of her relationship with the child. Iollu looked up, but Ixzo flopped on the mattress as soon as the rhyme was done. Iollu finished whatever craft she was engaged in for a few more ticks before setting it down and crawling over the sheets to join the Kelvic. Yawning, Ixzo pulled the blanket around them, tucking her toes into the edges of the furs to keep them warm.

"Night Zozo." Iollu murmured into the pillow as she burrowed into the blankets.

"Night Lulu." Ixzo copied the phrase, stifling a yawn as she edged back so her back was up against the child's, grateful to share the warmth as the night's chill settled into her bones. No more words were spoken, since they were both exhausted. Yet, after a few chimes, before Ixzo could turly dive into unconsciousness, Iollu spoke.

"Ixzo?"

"Mhhmmm?"

"Do you miss your mother?" Ixzo opened her eyes with worry. She knew where the young Drykas' thoughts had wandered before sleep, and she felt bad. She wished this child could fall asleep easier, with less to think about, but she didn’t know how to ease her pain.

"Always." The Kelvic finally replied, thinking of the elephant. She was not so torn by the separation, since her mother still believed her to be happily bonded with the exotic man aboard the Mischief. Her parent's didn't know what had happened, so it didn't bother her, she knew they weren't worried. Yet, she still missed them, even if she was at peace with the thought of their ignorance at her situation. While waiting for the child to say more, Ixzo finally fell asleep. Elephants and bats danced in her dreams.

[Dove Brown]

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Ixzo

Skills

• Cooking 1
• Singing 2
• Childcare 3
• Socialisation 3
• Observation 2

Lores

• Iollu: tasked to clean dishes
• Meat cooks slower than onions
• Childcare: giving Iollu the greater portion
• Song: the man in the moon
• Iollu: cries at night
• Dilemma: Can't keep Iollu, can't give her up

Comments:A nice read. Enjoy your grades.