It was just barely dawn and Haeli had to get out! She simply had to get out of the shop, and the city for that matter and feel the cool sun on her face and be where no people were. East and inland didn't appeal to her. For some reason the swamp didn't call to her like she thought it would have. Part of it was that Roric was restless too, and the other part of it was that it was a beautiful day for Winter and the air was crisp and clean with the promise of spring. It was a day for beaches and the ocean and a little fun if they caught some good waves.
Spring was one of Haeli's favorite times of year. She liked the green buds on everything and the newborns of every size, shape and species that surrounded the world in the promise of fresh life. It was frankly too nice of a day to stay in and too nice of a day to work. So a trip was suggested... one that involved foraging.
The young woman tipped her head back and called out rather loudly.
"Roric? I'm going to go take The Sunflower out and do some paddling. Want to come? The tides going out so it shouldn't be that hard and we can go up the coast and beach somewhere and maybe look for some more cuttings or even catch us some dinner? You can explore and chase gulls!" The witch suggested, calling out into the empty workshop where she'd been at a bench grinding herbs. Roric knew how to make himself scarce when there was herbalist work to do, but he had excellent hearing. If he didn't want to go along, Haeli would go herself. The little outrigger could be easily handled by one person. But it was so much more fun if two went along. And she felt better with her friend by her side.
Roric and her relationship was slow going. Haeli had seen the kelvic wolf at a slave auction in Kenash and had purchased him for an outrageous sum. She'd immediately freed him and the wolf had hung around. They were friends, slowly getting to know each other, and in a way that was good. Haeli was lonely and Roric filled the void she had when Ozantha had died. But in another way it was a negative sort of relationship too. Haeli didn't force Roric to be more civilized. And Roric didn't care that Haeli acted more like a Dhani than a human. In a way, they kept each other company as they both retarded each other's growth in society even if they didn't exactly realize it.
Haeli loved studying people, watching them, trying to figure them out, and Roric often went along with her journey's through town. He, on the other hand, loved to run and play and hunt as his nature demanded and Haeli indulged him on that as well. The two were friends, not bondmates, though certainly that was a possibility that was growing between them.
So Haeli packed a big lunch, filled a couple of waterskins, and loaded The Sunflower with containers they could collect plants and even maybe some small fauna with. She took her hatches, her blowgun and darts and all their fishing gear. Then she waited until the Kelvic piled in and they set off paddling up the coast looking for a likely beach well outside of town to land on.
It was a beautiful day. Cold in the morning, but with the promise of a nice warm afternoon, Haeli shed layers as they rowed until her cloak and boots were down on the bottom of the outrigger's hull and she was barefoot with just a pair of pants and a bandanna wrap around her torso. She laughed and called to the birds that circled them in Nura, asking what was ahead and behind. Nothing threatening was reported and the pair paddled further.
When their arms grew tired, the two beached the outrigger and dragged it well up into the vegetation at the edge of the beach, draping fronds across it that they pulled out of the coastal forest and using a spare branch to sweep the sand carefully to erase their tracks. Haeli was cautious of other people and careful when her and Roric were exposed.
"What do you want to do first?" Haeli asked her Kelvic companion as she pulled out a forging bag. It was obvious to Roric that she was going to go look for berries or herbs to collect for Fire Island Herbs or even their lunch. The witch liked to look around new places, new wilds, and often stood long moments with her hands on a tree or her feet dug into the soil simply existing. She'd forage unless Roric had a more firm idea of something he wanted to do.
Just as she was turning to head back down to the waterline and start there, something caught her attention. A man was beaching a Casinor and then dragging it further up on the shore, almost at the exact same spot the pair had beached their outrigger and stashed it.
"Roric? Look.... what's he doing?" Haeli said, watching as the shirtless man strained to push the boat up onto the sand and then seemed to be trying to gently rock it over onto its back. "Why in the world would he be turning his boat upside down?" Haeli asked the Kelvic and then did what came naturally to her. She started down the sand towards the man to see if he needed help.
After all, he wasn't exactly dangerous looking without a shirt on. He was probably planning on napping in the sun and was turning his boat over so that it wouldn't float away come high tide. He might have had a weapon draped at his side, but it wasn't in his hand and thus to Haeli, it wasn't threatening or dangerous. "Come on... lets go help him..." She said to her companion and did just that.
The young woman stepped out of the shadows of the vegetation higher on shore and headed back down the slope of the beach. She moved with a carefree gait that said that she was no stranger to sand. When she got closer, close enough to greet him without rudely raising her voice, she did so.
"Hello there. Would you like some help?" She asked carefully, maintaining distance but offering up a smile. He was darkly tanned and big, attractive even. She guessed he was Svefra because she knew his kind and had even traded with them before. The svefra were mostly harmless as long as you let things be on their terms, the girl had found.
"I'm Haeli. And that's Roric... " She'd look around to make sure the man was truly alone and then gesture to Roric if he was anywhere close. If he wasn't she'd shrug and vaguely gesture. The Kelvic could have been in human form or in wolf form, at that point. Roric often made no distinction between his forms and slide between them easily.
Haeli herself looked half wild, barefoot and with her torso mostly bare besides the cotton pants. Her hair was unbound, tossed around by the wind like thin silk. The young woman stared at Veer a moment, not meaning to be rude, but finding him very easy on the eyes. She decided it was the muscled dark skin and the bright blue eyes. She hoped Roric wouldn't threaten to bite. He had a tendency to do so with strangers that had gotten them in trouble more than once.
