Closed The Lake

[Nemori]

6th of Summer , 516

Nemori wandered through the snow. It was not a particularly cold day but her cloak was still firmly wrapped around her. Her backpack and spear rattled against each other on her back. Occasionally she had to stop and readjust her belongings to prevent it digging uncomfortably into her back. Luckily the journey was only a short trip. It did not take her too long to reach her destination because of this. A small copse of trees decorated the large lake that she approached. The water rippled softly with the warped images of snow and trees beautifully reflected. For a while Nemori stood on the side of the water, her dark blue eyes watching the images dance. The water was mostly clear and she could see the rocks at the bottom in some places. The water in this lake rarely seemed to freeze over despite the prevalence of snow and Nemori often wondered the caused this. A few fish were swimming below the surface and Nemori watched them. They were ignoring her, or perhaps they had not noticed her. After a while she stepped back from the edge of the water and started to undo the buttons on her coat. She placed it down on the ground, outside against the snow. Her spear and backpack were placed nearby. Next she started to strip the remaining layers of clothing, placing them on top of the coat. Her boots were the last to be properly removed and she flinched slightly as her toes touched the cold snow. Quickly she moved towards the water. She flinched more as she lowered herself into the water, the cold etching its way into her bones. She fought back a shiver as she moved deeper into the water. Each step was slow and clumsy, her limbs unused to the pressures of the water around her. It lapped around her shoulders when she stopped. As she moved she watched the rocks underneath, taking care not to miss any of them or slip against them. She occasionally glanced back at her belongings, checking that they were still safe. She had deliberately left her belongings in plain sight but that was not difficult in the flat wasteland, nearly everything was always in view. After she had started to get used to the feeling of cold water she held her breathe and ducked her head underwater. Her hair sprayed out around her, black strands dancing against the clear water. As she surfaced some of her hair cling to her skin and the rest swayed around her in the waters. She started to rub at her skin, allowing the grime from the day to dissolve into the lake. It took her some time to completely clean herself. The fish she had seen earlier were keeping away from the stranger in their waters but she was not paying them any attention.

After she had finished bathing she remained in the water for a while. Her limbs were slowly getting used to the feel of water around her and her flailing became less hectic whenever she attempted to move. She watched the fishes swimming for a bit in the distance. She considered some of the bigger fish, their scales shimmering against the water as they delicately flicked their fins through the water. Their movements were graceful and hers were uncoordinated and clumsy.

[Aliana Hilt Terras]

☾ Title and Date ☽

Aliana got into push up position and slowly went down to the floor before pushing back up. Counting out each rep only the light burning in her arms made her stop and stand up. Walking over to the door way going into the other room Aliana situated her grip on the frame before curling her feet under her. Pulling up till her arms were at a ninety degree angle, the woman held the position for twenty ticks. Keeping her feet up the dark haired girl let her arms go straight before continuing several more reps repeating the motion. She refused to stop working out just because she was not going in to fill orders that day.

Extending her arms completely the girl released and gently dropped to the ground. Walking on into the kitchen the woman grabbed a little meat to eat, before going to get ready. She needed to get washed up from the last several days of work cleaning the forge and making sure to stay toned up. Aliana knew that without the extra muscle from working out she would find it very difficult to move the heavy pieces of metal. As a smith her body was her greatest tool and it had to be kept up. Going into the bedroom once more the woman dug around finally finding what she would wear to go to the nearby lake. Dressing she grabbed her cloak wrapping it around her knowing that she would need to get something thicker in time.

Finally walking out into the snow it was not nearly as cold as she would have thought it to be. Not to say it was blazing hot by any means the woman just found that the day was slightly warmer. Wrapping her cloak tight she began to the journey rubbing her eyes yawning. After about a bell of walking or so she spotted the clearing and took the cloak off first. Standing beside a rock just a little ways down from where the woman's stuff was Aliana got undressed and folded everything before walking into the water. Ignoring the cold chill that ran up her spine the dark haired lady dipped under the water staying under for several ticks. Surfacing again she pushed her hair out of her face while whipping a majority of the water away. She was curious of the other person, but did not want to intrude any more than she already had.

hello
hello
hello
Hello
Hello

[Nemori]

At first Nemori did not notice the arrival of another. She was entranced in the water and fish around her. They each behaved differently, some darting backwards and forwards while other seemed to hover in the water leisurely. Fish were some of the animals that she did not understand, having spent little time studying or attempting to care for them. Eventually she did notice the newcomer as they rose from the water, flicking her hair with a spray of droplets. A woman, more toned then she was, with short black hair. One of her arms was purple and Nemori briefly wondered if it would leak into the water around her. It seemed a strange choice. Was she a newcomer? Nemori was certain that she would recognise the arm markings at least. Still Nemori was not in the habit of being impolite.
“Hard days work?” Nemori called out in the singson Nari language, attempting to swim slightly towards the stranger. She flailed as she moved, ducking her head too far underwater as her feet rose from the stone. She panicked as water surrounded her face suddenly and attempted to correct herself. Upon finding her footing again she spluttered slightly, attempting to rid the water from her mouth. Her eyes flashed silver and she looked away, attempting to hide her embarrassment. “Anything interesting happen today?” She continued, attempting to distract the stranger from her lack of swimming ability. She tried to spot a shift in the other woman’s eyes, seeking information about her disposition but found no change. Had she not been paying attention? Was she not a Vantha? Nemori puzzled over this slightly, she had the black hair that many Vantha did, although it did not seem to shine with different colors, not in the same way hers shined green at times.

[Aliana Hilt Terras]

☾ Title and Date ☽

Aliana wrung out her hair some before kneeling down and scrubbing more of her hair. Dunking under again she rose up to hear the woman call out to her. Looking over to the other dark haired girl Aliana stared for a moment not understanding the woman's words. Tilting her head to the side gently she watched her before speaking as well. Though she was unsure of what the other had said.

"I do not understand," Aliana said looking at Nemori confused.

She was certain that the woman had asked about her day, but there was no way for her to know exactly what was spoken. Having grown up among her own people Aliana had not thought about having to learn other languages.

hello
hello
hello
Hello
Hello

[Nemori]

The woman returned her words with a cold and unfamiliar tongue. Nemori was, at first, taken aback from it and hesitation ran through her body like electricity. She wondered if she had missed the words and was being greeted with hostility, had she misspoken or done some unknown offence? When she realised the stranger was speaking in unfamiliar words, a language she did not understand, the feeling eased somewhat to be replaced with curiosity.
Not a Vantha. Definitely. They lacked the red hair and chirp of a Inara. Perhaps a Kelvic? It was impossible to identify them at a glance. Some raven or bird perhaps? Again the arm caught her attention and her thoughts were once more uncertain. She had not heard of any Kelvic or creature with such a strange affixture. Her eyes flashed into deep pink as she stared at the other woman. During her thoughts she felt lost almost lost. Unable to communicate with someone? She could not imagine such a thing, the community was so close that sometimes words were not even needed. What was she expected to do? It would be rude to ignore them now. It struck her after a while that she did speak some other languages. She wondered if the other woman would understand any of hers.

”Am you…” She paused as she tripped over the words. It had been a while since she had had to speak common, taught it as a necessity but never had it really been as such. Did she really remember the words properly? They felt strange and flat as opposed to the beautiful elegance of the Vani tongue. “…Speak the language of common?” She paused, hoping that they would be able to respond, at least in part. Hoping that her words were in the correct order and she had not spoken nonsense at the stranger. The water stilled around Nemori as she stopped moving. She played with some of the wet strands of hair that danced on the water’s surface. They would be little point in wringing it out for her till she reached the edge of the water. Part of her felt a compulsion to copy the strangers action, in an attempt to create some unspoken understand or something between them but she held her actions. She could not be sure of their disposition or cultural variance that spun from this unknown cold language.




Common

[Aliana Hilt Terras]

☾ Title and Date ☽

Aliana watched the woman's face contort into what appeared to be nervousness. Continuing to watch the other lady try to come to terms with what ever was bothering her. The dark haired woman kneeled down some while the girl was silent just seeming to stare. Aliana continued to wash herself of the different soot and dust from the forge. Checking over her arms for any small cuts or burns the Isur was happy to find no such injuries. Now of course several of her fingers were cut from testing the sharpness of the blades. Looking over when words came from the other that she understood, Aliana stood up.

"Yes. It is.... scattered though," the woman said having to think about her words before looking to her, "what is name? I am Aliana."

It helped to know that the two could finally understand each other. At least to some extent that is. Several times the young woman found herself searching for her words before actually saying the word. Aliana knew several easy words that she could piece together in order to make full clear sentences.

hello
hello
hello
Hello
Hello

[Nemori]

“Nemori” Nemori gestured to herself. “Frostfawn” She paused once more. Did the name mean anything to Aliana? Nemori was so accustomed to her last name describing some much about her she was not certain how to explain that in other words, especially in another language. She hoped that the woman had been around long enough to grasp the concept of Vantha holds.
”You new?” The tilted end to the sentence felt strange against Nemori’s throat and she hoped the questioning tone was clear to the other woman. She started shuffling slightly towards the waters bank, the cold was starting to nip into her flesh. She did not wish to rush and have Aliana think she had been scared off by her. Although she was not certain she would be able to move very fast within the softly swaying liquid. It was nice to meet someone new, even if the language barrier posed difficulty to their communication. ”Staying in Avanthal? Which Hold?” Her jarred, broken speech continued as she attempted to gather information about Aliana. Her location within the Hold’s would provide much of that information. Her eyes showed pink as she talked.

[Aliana Hilt Terras]

☾ Title and Date ☽

Aliana knelt down keeping the water covering as much of her as possible. Listening to the woman's name she tried to think of what Hold Nemori was a member of. However her indifference to the name most likely spoke volumes about her indeed being new to the city. Scratching her arm some the woman worked on getting the soot and dirt out from under her nails while listening to the woman speak a broken common as well. It seemed that neither of them was very well versed in a second language after all.

"I am new to city. From Sultros," she said looking at the woman once more. Thinking some the woman was trying to remember what Hold she was currently employed under until she could get her own forge opened up.

"I take residency at The Savintar Warrens. Currently working at the Iceglaze. Weaponsmith and Blacksmith," Aliana said looking at the woman.

hello
hello
hello
Hello
Hello

[Nemori]

“Metalsmith” Nemori considered the words, converting them into her own language. Iceglaze made sense for such a profession. It also explained the physic on the other woman, such a strenuous job set would quickly tone you. Crafting was never something Nemori had turned her attention too much and as such she knew none of the intricacies involved.
”Smith is good? I mean…” She hesitated over her words once more. ”Enjoyable?” Uncertainty crossed her face as she considered the word. Was it correct? Flashes of grey danced through her eyes. She continued to move towards the shore despite their conversation, it slowly getting closer within her grasp. She soon reached it and started to climb out of the water. The cold air hit her and she shuddered, attempting to fight it back. She had not realised just how accustomed she had become to the cold water and she wished her clothes were closer to the edge. She always forgot quiet how unpleasant the changeover was. Her footsteps across the snow were fast as she reached her belongings, pulling a towel out and wrapping it around her in an attempt to block some of the cold air. She used another to begin drying her feet. Leaving herself wet for the travel back could negatively impact her health but not getting dressed fast enough could provide similar negatives.

[Aliana Hilt Terras]

☾ Title and Date ☽

Aliana waded a little to the left of the woman heading to shore herself. She was ready to get out and get dry before heading back to her apartment. Making it over to the bank the woman put both hands on the edge before lifting herself out. Putting her knee under her the woman got out and walked over to where her towel was. Grabbing the towel she began to dry off while talking to the woman across the way.

"Yes, to craft is joy. What of you?" Aliana asked looking to the woman wrapping a towel around her body.

She had finally managed to meet someone outside of the Hold and Warrens. Most days the girl went from work to her apartment for the evening. Many of the Vantha was uncertain of the outsider unless they needed her to craft something. Though she kind of preferred it that way.

hello
hello
hello
Hello
Hello