Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sauron smiled happily..until his gaze landed on Ruelash and Sezarra who had their heads together talking about familiars. That was a sure way to earn his daughters undivided attention. This was somewhat worrisome, not the least becuase Sezarra sometimes came up with ideas that were well a bit reckless, sometimes involving sneaking around out of her father's sight.

Not that he thought Ruelash would injure her at all but the activities she started might injure herself. Maybe it would be a bit of a relief to have her grown up a little...less snack sized. He watched over them benevolently nodding at the newcomers with some of his attention.

"I wonder if we have enough for a game..although he might be the only one interested considering the look Iroia was giving the man called Votzhem, and how Sezarra seemed to be blocking out the world. His daughter was good at that.

”Why thank you.” Dyakida said. She assumed the slightly harsh but youthful voice was the Leaf woman. ”I do try to make my weapons aesthetically pleasing.” Not that she would know, but she had always felt that it added something. There were blades and bows and spears, and then there were Blades and Bows and Spears, things unique to their owner and honed to a terrible edge.

”Well, Kaa was a little put out when we left her...” he said, not a little wickedly, ”Otherwise, she's fine...” he raised an eyebrow. Was she interested? Nah. That was pretty much established on our first meeting. he thought, remembering how that had gone. Kaalnia's usual 'ministrations' had gotten all the 'not interested' responses, not that Kaalnia had cared.

Dyakida's attention turned to the older, male voice – the shifter, likely. ”I would be interested in a game.” she commented, facing in his general direction, ”Though for obvious reasons, the choice of games would be limited...” she smiled, ”What is the game here?” she asked Votzhem, tapping his arm.

”Er...” Votzhem had been looking at Iroia. Her attention was not lost on him, and he had to wonder... but the artisan had asked a question. He looked out at the game, with it's merchant patiently cleaning the equipment. ”You throw balls at targets and rack up points to win a prize.” he said. ”Simple enough.”

And then he remembered who he was talking to. ”Er... I mean...”

”If it's simple” Dyakida said, smirking, ”I will give it a try.” she unhooked her arm from Votzhem's, ”On my own.”

”But you can't...” Vosh protested, surprised.

”I can give it a good try.” said Dyakida, amused, ”And if I fail the round, you are permitted to throw for me.” She would at least try something once, even if it was something she wasn't supposed to be able to do. Just to prove it to herself.

Plus, what if she did well? It would rub salt in the faces of the youths that disparaged her rank. If not, no harm done.

”Er...” Votzhem could see that this would be... interesting. ”Sure.” he called the merchant over and looked hopefully at Iroia. ”You... want to play this too?”

'Roia grinned up at her friend. "Yes I would love to play, I need to work on my aim, why not in a game." She wanted to pat his arm but was too chicken to. Her attention was now off of Rue and Seze entirely. There was a game to be played! She wondered if Dya would surprise them all with some super secret skill, if the woman could craft fine blades as she did then Iroia thought with a little practice she could do whatever she wanted sight or no.

Her father always told her, never underestimate a person's determination. She dug in her purse for her entry fee, handing it over to the proprietor. She hefted her ammo. Hmm descent balance..but it wasn't a knife which was was at least average at. Throwing was useful in the right circumstances but she preferred to be up in someone's grill right proper when she attacked them. She rollled it around trying to figure out how to adjust her hand to toss properly..she hand't thrown balls at people in ... years. "Hrmmm." She tossed one in the air eh, wasn't too much different then a knife.

She squinted her eyes slyly at Vosh, trying to see how he was adjusting to this. Then Dya caught her gaze and Iroia watched respectfully.

Sauron swallowed hard. Kids, they just did crazy things. He waited and watched, waving the other three off to the game, he had bigger and smaller concerns at the moment.

He would stay placid and try to follow them throught the crowd...who was he kidding he would body check people out of his way to keep them in sight, if he had too. He also thought he knew where the aldabuck might be over in the pens but he could be wrong. Ruelash could have tethered her out of town to graze so he would have to stick to them like sap in order to be sure of the destination and that his daughter got there. He felt a bead of sweat roll down his back. He had heard of Ruelash, how strong and ruthless he was, a fantastic warrior. Maybe he and Iroia could give his daughter self defense lessons, but Sauron would have to be sedated during it. He hoped if that happened it would be when she was older.

Dyakida threw her first ball. Her second. Her third. One after the other, in quick and precise succession. Blind she may be, but she was also agile and apparently good with her arms.

”Let me guess.” she said, with a chuckle, ”I missed.” She was expecting no less. Just trying it was enough for her, and she'd heard no sounds that meant that she'd hit a target, and no sounds before that were the targets being set up, so she had no idea where the damn things were in the first place.

Actually, she had hit one on the margin, and the other two at about the same spot – precise indeed.

”Well...” she exclaimed, eyebrows raised as the man set the prize in her hands – a small, cheap wooden toy. ”I... wasn't expecting that.” neither was the shopkeeper, who was a little peeved about a blind woman doing anything in his game.


Votzhem stared at the Artisan with awe. ”Whoa. I... guess I'm not throwing for you this round...” he said, shaking his head. Her prize was cheap, and he was sure the shopkeep would have thrown a fit, but even the bravest merchant would hold off on a fit when her victory was witnessed by several strong warriors who might take offense. Offended warriors tended to cut off bits people needed.

”Iroia?” he turned to her, watching her adjust to the ball, ”What about you?”

Sauron followed along sedately it was kind of nice to watch his daughter from a distance for once. He hadn't caught the gift that was a rare smile from Ruelash, but he did notice the man let her take his hand, for that he would forever be grateful. If Rue had refused the innocent gesture he was sure it would break Sezarra's heart. It seemed that his little charmer had managed to charm the seemingly uncharmable...so Kres wasn't the only charming one, but where he used his clever tongue, Sezarra did it with a passion for all things creature.

As they walked Sauron tried to remember if he had ever seen an aldabuck..maybe in the beast pens of the battle? He didn't think he had been paying too much attention to anything not carrying some form of weapon. Which in hindsight of his recent beast battles had been quite foolish of him.

His mind wandered off to his wife, and what she might be doing at that very moment.

Direk stood as far away as possible from any other animal in her stall, looking at them sourly as she chewed her feed. She hated them about as much as she hated the people but what could she do? They were slightly preferable, and they at least left her alone.

What she wanted was the open Tale again, to run on sand and through tall grass under an open sky. Or, alternatively, to crash through hoards of useless humans and stomp them until they understood their own uselessness. Which required a lot of stomping, usually.

But no. Her stupid brush man had left her in this paddock with all these idiots who only escaped some sparing bites and kicks because it was a group of mammu and were several times her size. Not that she was afraid of the big lugs.

She scented her brush man on the breeze and made a loud, imperious croak, trotting towards him. What had taken him so long?! Were they going? Furthermore was that barely tolerable leaf female going too? She stopped short as he came into view, her graceful face crinkling into a sour leer, showing her long, ivory crushing teeth as she glared down, yellow eyed, at the child.

And what was THAT.

So the Shifter man as following them. Whatever, Ruelash didn't care. If he caused trouble Ruelash could handle it, though even he knew that stabbing the girl's father would not be kind to her. And he didn't want to hurt her. He supposed that counted.

Well, I can just rough him up a bit. he said, glancing back again to check Sauron's position, Teach him to mess with me without upsetting the kid too much. It was odd how much he cared about that.

He didn't bother to think about it as they approached the paddock. ”There she is!” he grinned, gesturing to the inky-furred Aldabuk. Noting that the kid had to stand on tiptoes, he picked her up so she could get a better view. She was lighter than he had expected, and he realized he'd never picked up a kid before.

Huh.

”Here.” he said, awkwardly digging in his pocket until he found one of Direk's treat bars, ”Give her this. Careful now, she bites.” his grin showed that, in normal circumstances, he'd be happy to give the kid a demonstration. But not on her hand. Maybe her old man, if he caused trouble. ”Lets see if she be as pissy after you give her that.” he smirked at the Aldabuk. They had a complicated relationship.

Direk snorted incredulously, but she sniffed at the treat, her ears flicking in haughty demand.

Votzhem clapped politely at the target strike, though he winced inwardly at the complete miss of the third throw. ”Nice feather.” he commented to Iroia, ”Looks Kinfa.”

He shrugged at Dyakida, though it was a useless gesture. He had some coin, and it looked like fun. Why not? ”I'll give it a go.” he said, putting the entry fee down on the table and receiving his throwing balls in turn. He tested them in his hand. They were awful, but what did one expect at a sideshow? Fair play?

He threw his first one, striking a target on it's edge. His next, he aimed more carefully, weighing the ball in his hands intently before he threw. At first, he thought it was all for naught in a miss, but it was such a forceful throw that it bounced, striking the target dead center before coming to a dead stop on the floor.

”Woo!” he cried, ”That was a good one.” The gamekeeper opened his mouth, but Votzhem had already thrown his third ball. It struck one of the top targets before sailing off over the edge. ”Heh. Sorry... but it was a good shot anyway.” he grinned at the keeper, ”Well, whats my prize.”

The man brought out a set of scarf-like cloth. They were not of the best make, but were at least colorful and likely Oban in origin. Votzhem watched them with some interest, only to see them shoved aside to make room for... feathers. These, the keeper explained, were the prize for one and a half points. He could pick one.

”I got two and a half” he said, half growling.

The second target didn't count.

”It sure as Aisha's roots counted.” protested Votzhem, ”You know what, I'll have another go.” he said, ”Just to show you.” he plunked the money on the table.

The man shrugged and put the prizes away. He was fine with taking more money. He handed Votzhem the balls and waited. It wasn't a problem to not be out a prize, after all.

Votzhem looked at Iroia and Dyakida, aware that he was doing this in front of them and thus aware of his need to impress them. ”I bet I can make all three throws hit their mark.” he said to them, a personal kind of challenge.