Savith:Weeks crawled by as the glider recovered under the watchful eye of Starsong. As Savith recovered, the ash continued to fall, a soft silken dust that turned everything into a dull dove gray, until the rain began. It started out as a drizzle, but soon became a heavy downpour of hot rainwater, falling from the lowhanging clouds in large charcoal colored droplets. It was raining soot. It did little to wash away the ash and grim on the surface of the world, but by the time the rains began to let up two weeks later, the survivors were greeted by their first sight of the night sky since the catastrophe.
StarsongThe land was dead, no sign of animal life was to be found, The huntress had no job to fulfill, she salvaged as much of the meat they brought with them and gathered all the berries on the bushes. Filling her water skin she returned to Savith and looked skyward. Though she had seen it for a few nights now, the sight still sent a chill down her spine and an uneasy feeling in her heart. **We now know the way back, We should leave soon.**
Savith:Savith's eyes relunctantly pulled from the heavens above. Giving Starsong a glance, the glider nodded, **Yes. Let's.** What was he hoping, in that monosyllabic send? What wish seemed to flavor it? The taste of hoping they'll find Starsong's holt whole and in one piece. The taste of praying that they'll find warm furs to crawl into and in the morning,when he woke, this all would have been just a bad dream.
StarsongShe held out a hand to help Savith up, his wounds were healing, but slowly. she knew this journey would be difficult for him. She nodded in understanding at him, she too longed for home and the comforts it may provide, but her mind now was set on the task at hand. **Two, maybe three days travel on foot, we should keep watch out for any other signs of life** She summoned Shine who was pawing at the ground and packed what she could on his back. Her bow was in one peice, but her arrows had snapped beyond repair.
Savith:Savith's whip, however, did not fare well. The strong silk cord had tangled and the delicate spring inside had fractured in his fall. The claws remained stuck closed, the useful sharpened edged sheathed within itself. His spear was no where to be found. He took Starsong's hand after his first futule attempt to manage it alone. He leaned heavily on the shorter elfess, body light-weight for all his height. **Good,** was all he replied, the thought curt as he struggled to keep any more emotion or feelings spill free.
StarsongThey set off, the forest path she had been traveling on had long been obliterated. Four days walk it took till something looked familiar. The landscape had changed drastically from the valley where they had awoken. Now on the outskirts of her lands, she looked around, heartfallen. The land was black, scorched and dry. Heat eminated from the earth in geysers and crags. The forest, the river, everything, was gone. She tried desperately to send to her tribesmates but no answer returned. She was angry, she looked up at the broken moons and cursed the high ones, kicking a nearby pile of scorched land.
Savith:Savith ached with each step, his long lean glider's body not used to being bound tot he ground for so long. As Starsong grew angry and began to curse, the glider surveyed the landscape, pushing away his fatigue. A frown pulled at his lips as he saw the desvastation. From here, his mountain home should just be visible on the horizon, but he refused to allow himself to even look. Instead, he resumed his march toward what once was Starsong's Father Tree. **Come, huntress,** he called with a mind voice gentled by exhaustion. **Perhaps we are not yet close enough for survivors to hear you.**
StarsongStarsong wiped the angry tears from her eyes and followed Savith. She could not tear her eyes away from her home, the place of her birth. She saw destruction with each step she took, leathers and pots littered the charred ground, she looked for bodies, but she did not see any until she was a stone's throw away. "No...." she whispered audibly and began to run. She could see a pile at the base of the father tree, she knew it to be once elven but the misshapen forms were no longer such.
Savith:Savith drew to a stop as Starsong began to run. He stood still, expressionless, for what must have been hours, before he finally took his eyes off the sight of the charred bodies and disarray. Forcing his mind into 'work mode' the Chosen looked about for anything still useable as he sent, mind disturbingly emotionless, **Find what useful items you can, then check the food stores for anything that's still edible, and see what you can do about replishing your arrows. We leave at dusk.**
StarsongStarsong had sat huddled at the small group of bodies as Savith sent, she had tried to distignuish who might be who. The chief, her lovemate, her recognized, her son? Were any of these bodies theirs. She could not tell. She felt numb, all over, she didn't want to leave, she couldn't. She turned a tear streaked face to Savith and shook her head. She had to give them a proper burial, a proper howl, a proper death. Not like this, not in this manner.
Savith:Savith's eyes narrowed at the shake of Starsong's head. **Get up and check the food stores,** the glider repeated in the same emotionless words-only send as before. **If they are empty, then there is nothing left here.**
StarsongNothing left?? His words echoed in her head, the numbness began to fade, and replaced by anger. Her hands clenched into fists, her brows narrowd and her jaw clenched shut. She willed herself to get control of her anger, nothing good would come of lunging at the tall elf and attacking him over and over again until the pain subsided. Intead she stood, and turned her back to him, she wouldn't let him see the angry tears rolling down her face. She summoned Shine and began to arange the charred remains in fashion for her tribe.
Savith:Burial. It's a custom the glider still doesn't quite understand fully. His tribe doesn't die, and the few that do... well, no one ever hears of those, so his tribe don't seem to die ever. Plus, as a full blooded elf, his soul is bound to the Palace of the High Ones - the original craft that carried their ancientors to this time and place. Once his soul has left his body, there's nothing useful left to it. Discardable, in a fashion. But he waited, squashing down all emotion as he watched Starsong pay homage to her tribesmen.
StarsongAfter many hours, her hands black with ash and soot, she kneeled down by the remainder of her tribe and howled into the dying light. She could not leave them until she had. She howled and payed respects to all that she saw, and all that she didn't. Once finished she gently climbed the remains of the father tree, and looked into the stores. She found nothing much that could be salvaged. A few unbroken pots filled with dried fish and fruits, some slightly damaged furs, a few more water skins and a handful of arrows. She then went to what remained of her den. She did not see anything she recognized, everything she had was burned to cinders. Once finished, she placed the supplies in the pack on Shine's back and started towards the east without a word to the Glider.
Savith:Savith had slowly begun searching the remains of the holt himself while Starsong howled. The song was all too eerie and heartpulling for him to watch her sing it. Even just listening to it, brought primal chills to his spine and threatened to shake his emotions free of his control. Inside, he glided himself a bit here, and a bit there, moving silently, if unsteadily, about the holt. But little was salvagable, and when Starsong turned to go, he paused once, looking back at the pile of dead elves at the base of their once glorious tree-home. The stony mask crumbled for a moment, brows pulling together. He had known some of these elves. He had lived with them at one point. And elves, no mater how impure their blood, are still elves. Turning, he once again locked out any feelings of remorse. Grief will come when the work has been done and he can allow himself to rest.
Come with us to Savith's home
