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 Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:04 am
Aaricia nodded firmly. "That's what I'm hoping." She knew things would change after leaving Zena. She could only hope he change would be for the better... Change could be scary, but it held hope as well.
"Frik would like you, I think," she assured, smiling lightly. She hoped that both Frik and mama could meet Kian! Maybe not now, but soon.
Looking at the unknown path, she grinned and resumed walking forward. Walking through the forest was a bit more comfortable than walking along those steep ledges. More places to hide in case the town came to take mama back while they were getting away..
Brow rising, she looked up at Kian. "You're traveling? Do you know where you're going?" She lit up again. "Maybe when I leave with mama and Frik, we can go where you're going, an' then you can meet them!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:18 am
"I would hope so." Replied Kian with a small smirk. Not that he would be around to meet Frik or her mother because when the sun settled in the sky he would be gone from Zena. He would take the youngling if he could, but he knew that his traveling companions would be too dangerous for a young hybrid. The sorcerer he traveled with would be the only one with some decency. The rest were wild rogues focused on business and play.
And he wasn't he best role model either.
Nor could he promise her safety when all he did was seek trouble. At the thought his gaze slid through the trees. So far it seemed safe. It was a quiet day that was for certain. Like everything else the forest floor was covered in snow and it was their footprints fresh on the snow. Other than them none had tracked through here in a while, "It looks like this curves up ahead. Maybe we will end up in the cliffs again after all." If the forest hugged the mountains then it would be likely that they could find an overlook of the main trails this way.
"I'm not certain actually." Kian shrugged at the question, "I'm traveling with another and so it's possible Jauhar is our destination. Honestly, I doubt we'll ever have a 'destination' since we tend to be wandering types." He smiled at the suggestion, "Perhaps we will meet up again then. If you travel as far as Jauhar then perhaps I'll still be there. Or maybe we could cross paths in Sauti or Tale..." It was such a big world that even he couldn't guarantee anything.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:44 am
Aaricia was carefully marking her map as they walked, doing her best to copy the path onto the paper for later use. When she glanced back, she looked at the footprints with a frown. "The cliffs have more wind ta hide tracks," she grumped. She'd been excited about the forest path, but leaving tracks like this simply would not do!
The mention of Jauhar made Aaricia's eyes widen with dismay. According to people around here, Jauhar was on the other side of the world! Would mama want to travel that far? Sauti or Tale... Those were a bit more realistic in her view. Delight returned to her face again. "Sauti or Tale! I wanna see you again, and let them meet you!"
The forest had been sparse, and they were soon to the other side of the thin strip of trees. The wind made her squint her eyes as her braid fluttered about. The path was covered by the snow drifts... "Can you get through that?" she asked Kian, brow knitting slightly. The path was promising, but not if they couldn't get through!
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 2:45 pm
Kian raised an eyebrow, "You want to hide our tracks?" He could easily do it with the help of some magic, but it wouldn't be fair to the child. Glancing around at the thick trees, the hybrid frowned thoughtfully. There had been a trick he used when he had sneaked away while growing up. Finding a lose branch on the ground, still full of green needles, he brushed the ground behind them. A few needles may have fallen off, but their prints were brushed away and covered with fresh snow.
"Better?"
At her excitement, Kian chuckled. "Okay, okay. So when you're older I'll try my hardest to keep an eye out for you in the future. If you hear of a handsome musician then you'll know it was me in the area." She truly was so innocent. It truly was adorable.
As the trees thinned Kian gazed about them. So it did cut out of the trees and back into snows. "Can I get through this?" He glanced at the drifts before them. A strong enough wind with some extra heat may do the trick...sighing Kian placed a hand on Aaricia's shoulder. "It may be possible, but you have to close your eyes. I think I can play a melody to get the snow sprites to help us, but they're super shy so you can't look at them. Can you do that?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:06 pm
Aaricia nodded slightly. "When I leave with mama... I don't want tracks for the town ta follow." In her mind, the town would be upset to lose someone as wonderful as her mother. Surely they would pursue... Her attention perked when the tree branch did its job. "Oooh~" she cooed with approval. She would have to keep that trick in mind!
Her attention returned to the drift ahead, feeling a nervous pluck at her belly. While it wouldn't be much of a problem with both mama and Frik, The drifts went well over the youngling's head. I idea of trying to tunnel through and losing sight of the edge of the cliff... was far too scary.
Looking up at Kian, her eyes widened with awe. "Snow spirits?" she gasped with delight, golden eyes darting from side to side. Kian could talk to snow spirits? They would help him? Nodding eagerly, she squeezed her eyes shut and slapped her hands over them to make sure she didn't accidentally peek and scare the spirits off. 10th post
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:13 pm
He just hoped teaching her a few of these tricks wouldn't get her into trouble. Still it was best to leave those who needed it with a few extra options. So many things that he wished he had known while growing up...perhaps his life would be completely different if so.
"Yes. Now no peeking, I have to play a melody for them first~" It was then that he reached out into his pack and brought out the small flute. Raising it to his lips, the hybrid played a bittersweet melody that swirled in the air around them. Of course it was the glowing stones that he clutched between his fingers while he played that created the warm winds that swept around them.
As his melody stopped the winds ceased to blow around them and a narrow path now twisted through the snow."Alright I think they've done their work." He whispered leaning over towards the child. His flute and runes were secured back in his pack while only the faintest glow lingered in his gaze.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:23 pm
With her eyes closed, Aaricia felt nervous that she couldn't see anything, but she wasn't about to upset the spirits and open her eyes too soon. As the music soared, felt a hint of sadness in her belly. The tune was lovely, but, also, something bearing an ache... With her eyes closed, she felt like everything else was more alert. The song in her ears, the warmth of the strange wind... She pressed her hands tighter, biting her lip from anticipation.
Even as excited as she was, she waited for Kian to speak before flinging her hands down to look at the drifts. There was a path now! Laughing with delight, she ran forward and skipped along the new path. "Thank you, snow spirits!" she praised, voice open but not too loud. Even snow spirits wouldn't be able to help much if she started a snow slide! Giggling more, she turned and held out a hand to Kian. "Come on! They must be leadin' us somewhere good!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 4:49 pm
Perhaps his magic wasn't such an awful gift after all. It was a haunting thought that Kian quickly had to shove away. No matter how much his new companion praised magic and tried to get him to see better options, Kian was stubborn. This magic had stained his hands already and he was far from feeling truly freed of his old chains.
Blinking, Kian realized he had been lost in thought. "Alright then." Smiling ever so faintly the mage reached out and grabbed the youngling's hand, "Let's go find out~" He was wary, however. The older paths seemed to be more dangerous and the last thing he wanted was to lead the little one to a cliff's edge by mistake...
"Just watch your feet, alright? The snows can always have a surprise or two hiding for us."
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:18 pm
Aaricia wasn't sure what it was, be it the hybrid status or not, but she found herself quite comfortable with Kian around. She felt secure when his larger hand engulfed her smaller one, and the walk didn't feel so daunting.
She looked up with surprise when Kian mentioned surprises in the snow, and then looked quickly back down to throw a few suspicious glances around. The snow spirits wouldn't hurt them after helping them, would they? Her ears twitched a tiny bit, and she looked back up at Kian. "So the snow spirits are like those little sprites? They like to cause trouble. Do you really think they'd do something tricky like the sprites?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:24 pm
Moving slowly forward, Kian kept his eyes open for any snow drifts or hidden openings. The last thing he wanted was for the little one to slip and disappear for good. I'm sure her mother would not appreciate that either. It was strange thinking of a youngling that had a mother to truly care for her. Despite the scorn of the villagers, he felt a little jealous. Her life held more promise than his.
"They are pretty tricky." He commented with a slight smile, "But thankfully they find my music and appearance attractive so they like to help. It's a give and take situation." Like usual any story came quickly and easily, "Some nights they would pester me until I began to play my music and once I had bad luck a week straight for trying to ignore them. They don't mean us ill, but that doesn't mean that the path isn't full of traps itself. Anything outside of your village can become dangerous quickly."
His gaze was firm as he glanced towards the youngling, "So always tread lightly no matter where you go." People could be vicious, but it was nature that also held no qualms about what it took from life. Its gift of life or death held no prejudice, it would just simply take as it gives.
As the snows got deeper Kian made certain to help the child and it was a relief to see a wider path with less snow hiding the ground from view up ahead.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 6:54 pm
Aaricia held tight to Kian's hand, watching the ledge but not afraid of it like normal. Her attention remained split between Kian and the path, making it that much harder to give in to her worries. She was in awe of someone who could ask such powerful spirits for their aid!
Seeing Kian's expression turn serious though, her own did the same, and she nodded. "Lotsa people go missing from not bein' careful," she said softly with a little sigh. "Michora says it only takes hybrids and people who like hybrids. Mama says it takes whoever it feels like." She wasn't quite sure what "it" was, the gods or something, but "it" was always the reason for crumbling paths where one person stepped, or the misplaced patch of ice for another. She glanced up at Kian. "Do you know if Mama's right? ...I really don't want Michora ta be right."
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 5:43 pm
Such people could go missing in other ways... Kian frowned, "I agree with your mama. The snows will take any who stumble along the way." His chest clenched at the thought. If he could be in the area longer than a day then this Michora may really have seen what else the snows could do to someone like her.
Shaking the dark thoughts away Kian glanced back towards Aaricia, "Hybrids are rarer and more unique than any full bloods. If there was something watching over the lands that decided who the snows take then I doubt that they would want to get rid of something as pretty as you." He smiled faintly, "Some are just afraid of change so they don't want to accept that we can exist, but yet we do."
"So what do you think, captain?" Kian glanced around as the path started to slow down and broaden out, "Is this worth mapping for your quest?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:35 pm
Aaricia sighed and nodded slowly. She wasn't sure if that was a comfort or not... But, in the end, it was. While mother wasn't a hybrid, she did love a hybrid. The snows would take her mother just as easily as herself if Michora was right.
Kian's words piqued her interest, and she looked up with a smile. Meeting another hybrid was the best thing ever!
Being reminded of the task at hand, she turned to focus on the path again. "Of course it is!" she announced, pulling out her sketch pad while freeing her other hand from Kian's hold to grab her pencil. "Gotta get lots of the map. Don't know which one we'll be taking. We might need to change paths during the trip, too." Flipping a page, she made a few lines to mark where they'd been, and where they were about to go.
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:46 pm
Ah, there was a smile. Kian was relieved to see it. The last thing he wanted was for the little hybrid to live in the shadows because of another's scorn. His free hand, hidden at his side, clenched in anger at the thought. Perhaps he should linger in Zena...no Nerio would have none of that. What a pain. If the sorcerer had just left him in the snows then he wouldn't have to be so torn about situations like these.
Aaricia's reaction distracted him from his thoughts, "Good to hear then." Smiling Kian watched as the girl started to sketch, "Take your time. There's also a weird twisted tree right there..." He pointed to the obviously older tree, withered by the snows and the toil of years. "That should be a good marker. Do you have a destination in mind? It'll help you to know which paths are best as well."
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 8:12 pm
Aaricia looked up at the indicated tree, and nodded firmly. That would definitely go into her sketchbook! She stuck her tongue out a little while she focused, trying to copy the tree as best as she could.
The question of a destination made her frown. "I don't know... Just not Zena anymore." She looked back at Kian with a smile. "But I do wanna see Sauti and Tale, in case you're there, like you said!" While it would be nice to have a place in mind... she just didn't know enough.
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