Welcome to Gaia! ::

BarAmal looked back at the scaly creature he had behind him it wasn’t to long ago that he had found it battling a crystal spider in the jungles and since he had helped it on a whim wondering if it had an owner nearby as it had a bag on it. Since then it had followed him and he was starting to get accustomed to it, thought the first few nights he had stayed awake and watched it form a tree. Still after a few days he figured it wasn’t going to kill him in his sleep so traveling with it following him became a bit less disconcerting. Now he had made it to the Oban boarder and was skirting it quietly learning and doing a bit of learning about the terrain and plants before he made his choice if he wanted to venture further or not into it. There was sand of course like his own home of Tale, but the heat was a whole other beast.

At the whistle BarAmal turned dropping low in instinct. To his surprise it was a shifter girl moving down toward him. He realized he had an arrow knocked and the bow in a quick draw position. The beast had stopped as well and stood waiting. Since the beast hadn’t been hostile there was no reason to assume the girl was. Slowly he relaxed himself and when the girl started to talk to the beast like an old friend he was a bit confused but finally put his arrow back into the quiver. Was the girl insane perhaps, a threat, unlikely. He watched for a moment as the beast sniffed the air before moving up in front of the girl and doing the strangest thing BarAmal had ever seen. It raised its head and rubbed the top of the girl’s head with its jaw. Raising a brow he looked between the earthling and beast wondering what this was all about. “I take it you know him?” BarAmal tried to think of all the information he had about the beast. A slip of hide in the side bag had Valdor and the beast had responded to it. BarAmal had thought it the name of the creatures owner but wasn’t so sure. Perhaps this girl would know.

The little one had grown finally. Valdor finished his greeting and took a breath exhaling in her face approving that she wasn’t so small now, before hearing his master speak and turned to face him so he could be given instruction.

Watching the two BarAmal was surprised how gentle the large beast was. BarAmal had gotten near the beast but he had never been as affectionate as this girl was being. “I don’t know about how well trained he is just that he does take care of himself and isn’t threatening toward me at all.” BarAmal tilted his head just abit. This little girl was a beast charmer. “BarAmal. Archer. I’ve seen quite a few tracks but I don’t know what kind of tracks they are or how old.”

He moved up next to Valdor and gently placed a hand on the creature’s back looking at him. Trained in the war? Did that mean this beast could actually be ridden? It was big enough, but BarAmal had been leery about the idea of jumping on the back of a large creature that could turn its head and just snap at him. “You don’t seem very old.” He looked at the woman hoping she wouldn’t take offense, but how could this creature be helpful and just how old was she?

Valdor chuffed but stayed still. It seemed the little member of his lounge was able to converse with his master and the two did not appear hostile at all. That was good. He would hate to have to fight one of them to protect the other.

Valdor grunted but did as commanded lifting his leg while BarAmal watched in fascination. He knew nothing of this creature that had been following him around and yet this slip of a girl was handling the beast with ease! There was something almost off-putting and yet inspiring about it. Watching Valdor kneel so she could get up BarAmal had to ask. “So then if you already know how to handle him and know how smart he is why didn’t you choose to keep him yourself?” He moved to the side looking up at her riding the janarim. He had seen her do it with such ease and a small part of him wanted to try it himself, but he couldn’t do anything to detract from that bright smile she had at the moment. He was also surprised the beast was so calm. If he was it’s ‘master’ shouldn’t taking orders from another bother it at all.

Remaining still until otherwise ordered Valdor stood at attention with the now not so little one on his back. He was tempted to look for the little white pest but refrained. His master seemed to have no difficulty with the presence of the small female and thus Valdor was exceptionally pleased thinking his choice of lounge even when she was small was compatible with his new master’s choice of earthling group. He liked this new master more and more though he did not yet give proper commands. Valdor was sure he could be trained as the young female had.

Taking her arm BarAmal did mount feeling a bit uneasy being on top of something that could crush him and eat him for a meal. He had seen Valdor eat before since the janarim had done its own hunting for as long as it had followed him. “That’s quite young to just go prancing up to some strange janarim and hoping he’s docile enough to not want to take a bite of you.” It seemed more than a bit reckless to his mind. More over wouldn’t her parents not want her near a death trap of teeth and claws? BarAmal had no children of his own so he really couldn’t criticize the choices of others, but this seemed a bit worrisome.

Not having much of a place to hold while on Valdor’s back he was currently gripping behind him on the plates of the creature’s natural armor. The other option he considered was the waist of the woman in front of him but he didn’t want to give her a reason to be upset with him and given the fact he hardly knew her it seemed like it might be reason enough to get mad at him. Her hair was infront of him bouncing just a bit while she gave him instructions. Leaning to the side just a bit he ended up squeezing Valdor’s side with his legs making the beast start forward at an easy lope. This was new and unexpected to BarAmal so he clung on for dear life while trying not to look panicked as the girl in front of him seemed to be in perfect ease with the situation. “For the few nights I was more worried about him trying to eat me. It’s not like he came with instructions and with him following me for reason I can see it was more than a bit unnerving. “

“A bit rash seems an understatement.” BarAmal decided not to comment on her perception of beauty because he rather thought Valdor was an imposing figure bordering on scary while the shifter before him was someone who could well be considered rather beautiful. Though it was clear she was rather young. “A radaku seems like that would take some concern from your father I suppose. Still my hair would have fallen out where I your father trying to keep up with you I suppose. He instinctively looked around trying to catch a glance of the radaku and hoped that it and Valdor didn’t fight one another. The last thing he wanted was to end up in combat on this creature’s back. He gave a non committal noise about her poor father just finding her playing with them. He could well imagine the male’s horror. His hands gripped the hide of Valdor a bit tighter. The ride wasn’t to uncomfortable but he was clearly not familiar with the process of riding a beast like this one. The fact his new eager and chatty guide was so familiar and talkative made BarAmal worry just a bit hoping she wasn’t the kind to have ended up growing into a bandit and even now leading to a trap of sorts.

“Well he did a few times the first few nights he followed me whenever I was stoking the fire… actually I think he was growling more at the fire because now that I think about it the fire was sparking at me during each time. “ He balanced at the thought of ridding like this often. “No. This is a bit new to me.”

The small amount of contact against his chest sent shivers up his spine from her hair tickling his chest. Trying not to laugh he couldn’t help but smile. Still Valdor slowed to a stop which likely saved BarAmal from falling off. The smile slid off to one of surprise when the girl just turned and held onto him making him tense up instantly.

As she demonstrated relaxing and breathing he did try to mimic it but he couldn’t get quite as relaxed as she could. The touch at his hands made him look at Valdor curiously. “Hurt his armor?” He was surprised thinking that anything he could do would actually hurt this beast. After all the creature had stood claw to fang against a crystal spider. Granted there was some help from BarAmal’s arrows but still the idea he could hurt such a ferocious beast with just his hands by holding the plates wrong was a bit.. unsettling. He shifted his position and tenitively grabbed a hold of her waist ready to pull off or move if she gave any sign of being uncomfortable. “Is this ok?” He couldn’t stop a blush from deepening his already dark skin.