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 Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:05 pm
People said that the forest was a quiet place. Thomas thought that people were idiots. It was full of life and motion and sound. Birds, wind, rodents, insects, and beasts larger still. Through all of that, Sigyn's soft breaths and silent hoof-falls were scarcely noticeable. Just as well. If they ever expected to be successful against beasts that made their home in the wilds, they could not afford to stand out. There could be no crashing through the brush with all the subtlety of a drunken bear. They had to melt into the forest with all the skill of a native.
Of course, since Sigyn was a Guardian and Thomas had grown up with the forest, that was hardly an issue. Between the doe's ears and nose, and Thomas's good eyes, they were match enough for nearly any beast. If one were to add in their combined intellect, well. The Wardens made unmatched hunters against any natural beast. The problem, of course, was that the Wolves were not natural. There was nothing in Sunderland that could make a suitable target for practice. Not while the Wolves were away. Still, there was one beast that the forest had to offer that made up for its lack of uncanny intelligence in sheer ferocity and bloody-minded tenacity: the boar.
So, Thomas and his doe were on a hunt, following the trail of one such beast. It was fresh, they were close.
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Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:15 am
She got an image of the beast from her buck; massive, covered in bristling hairs, and wielding a mouth full of curved, deadly tusks. The boar was currently king of this forest, and it was the only thing worthwhile to hunt in Sunderland. Katrana could no longer hunt deer; it didn't seem right, Chosen as she was to a creature such as Grosvenor. And with the absence of any wolves, monster or otherwise, all that remained were the rather elusive wild boars. Gripping her bow tightly, she stalked through the trees towards where she knew Gros to be. The buck had gotten extremely close. From the images and feelings he sent her, it seemed as though the boar didn't realize the buck wasn't normal. With each step closer, she could hear the creature snuffling and rooting around, could eventually hear the muffled sound of its hooves on the forest floor. But she still couldn't see it. Many thought boars to be stupid animals, but she knew better, even if the creature couldn't tell that Grosvenor was something other. It had picked a feeding spot well concealed by the thickest of underbrush, and though her guardian had found an easy way into the little clearing, she would have a harder time of it, and when she contemplated sneaking through, Grosvenor warned her against it. The emotions and images he sent were clear: You will be heard, and you will be charged. Perturbed, she looked to the trees and circled around until she found one suitable, climbing to the fork to survey from her new vantage point. The beast was below, about forty feet away. It had it's rear end to her, which was unfortunate. The angle was awful; she would need a shot to the eye to take the creature down with an arrow, and even then, boars had a habit of being obstinate even in the face of death. Someone is here.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 2:39 pm
Sigyn scented them before there was any other sign - the boar...and a human and Guardian. Thomas narrowed his eyes. Who was it that was hunting his prey?
The sounds were quiet, but distinct. The boar was rutting for some roots, snuffling to itself and kicking dirt about. The human and Guardian, however, were more difficult to distinguish - more difficult, but certainly not impossible. The Guardian was not trying to hide himself, so he was easy enough to spot, standing watch over the boar, anonymous in his buck's body, though his mind was anything but mundane. As for the human...where was he?
They scanned the brush, the trees...there. What was that movement? That sound? They were certain that someone was in the trees, but Thomas dared not call out to him. Not when his quarry was scarce feet away - not yet visible, but certainly just on the other side of those bushes. He hesitated a moment, unsure which to make a priority - the Chosen or the boar - but ultimately decided that the Chosen could wait. The boar could not.
As Sigyn eased around the bush, Thomas fit an arrow to his bow, ready to take on the beast at first sight.
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:22 am
I've no time for someones. She knocked the arrow to her bow, sighting down the shaft. A leaf fluttered beside her ear, eliciting a ridiculous amount of patience and self-control to not knock it away. The beast turned, moving towards her now. It still wasn't the best angle, but she could see the creature's beady, angry little eyes and narrowed her own as she let out the breath she had been holding. The boar lifted its head as it caught wind of something and suddenly two arrows sprouted from the same eye, albeit at different angles. The beast dropped with a sigh, body quivering. Katrana blinked in confusion, but then she whipped her head around and scanned the ground below, furious. Whatever b*****d is down there took my kill, she thought, vehement. Well, part of her kill. From what she could tell, the arrows had hit the target at the exact same time. Grosvenor picked his way swiftly back to her, appearing beneath the branch she stood upon. Securing the bow over her shoulder, she let her body drop, fingers tight to the wood until Gros positioned himself perfectly below her. She dropped without a noise and landed on the buck's back with practiced ease, patting his neck and making sure her mask was in place as he strode proudly through the underbrush in search of their someone."It's not nice to take another hunter's kill."
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 10:52 am
Although the buck had disappeared temporarily from sight, Sigyn had been keeping track of him and knew his general direction. Of course, the Chosen's voice was equally good a clue. The pair made their way closer to the boar, circling around in hopes of spotting the interlopers.
"Then perhaps you should have left the beast well enough alone," Thomas drawled. The feminine voice had taken him somewhat by surprise, but certainly not enough to temper his annoyance. How dare this...woman think to claim his kill? The shock of the double-arrows, it seemed, had been too much for the beast. It was quite dead.
Ah. Just there.
Sigyn stopped, standing tall and proud, watching the dark buck emerge through the brush with her one good eye. Apparently, she found him less than impressive. Her gaze remained impassive. Thomas's sharp eyes took in the pair, then narrowed. There was something familiar about that woman...but what was it? He was many things, but forgetful was certainly not one of them. He would have remembered an acquaintance who went around half-masked.
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Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:00 am
"And leave him to you to kill? I think not." Katrana got an image in her head of a forest covered in fresh powder and lifted a brow, staring at the back of Gros' head. The doe truly had the beauty of freshly fallen snow, but she also had the coldness to match it. Even her scarred and sightless eye looked cold. Attention shifting to the man upon the doe's back, she narrowed her eyes as a feeling of knowing wiggled around in her head. If he had been someone she'd met in her travels, she would have remembered him more quickly. No, she knew this man from before, and when the recognition hit her, she nearly fell off of Grosvenor's back. "Thomas?" she breathed, suddenly assailed by memories. Some of them joyous, but others painful. They mixed together so well that she had a hard time feeling good about any of them at the moment, but to see Thomas now, someone she'd had a childhood fancy for, was a small delight that she'd never thought she'd feel again. But he doesn't recognize me, she thought, pained. Grosvenor glanced over his shoulder at her and sent her an image of her half-covered face. Of course. "Thomas Avery. Is that you?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:39 am
His head cocked the slightest bit as she breathed his name. There was something about the softness of her voice that made her sound younger - younger, and more familiar. His eyes traced the curve of her jaw, took in the hue of her eye, the hair that was near as dark as his.
"Kathryn Prestor," he said at last, shock knocking some of the arrogance out of his features. He had not seen her since...well. The spear of pain that shot through his heart made Sigyn shift and offer him feelings of warmth and soothing and revenge. Since before.
"I had not thought to see you again." He had known she was alive, at least. Or thought she was. Honestly, he had not seen her since the annihilation of her family, only heard that she had survived. Tori had been distraught. He tensed against the familiar wave of agony and guilt and rage, and did his utmost to shove it aside for the moment.
Sigyn allowed some of her readiness to subside, realizing that these were not rivals or enemies, but she remained watchful. After all, this person had brought painful memories to her Thomas.
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Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:54 am
He does remember me! "Nor I, you, dear Thomas." She wanted to lurch forward and hug him, but propriety and her own guardedness kept her on the back of her guardian. A different pain filled her now, one that managed to cloak her own. She'd heard of what had happened to little Tori, the sweet child that had looked up to her big brother so much. A mist of tears came unbidden to her eyes. "Oh, Thomas." It was all she said, and quietly at that. An apology for his loss would be inappropriate and most likely unwelcome. She could already see the pain in his eyes. Her face had no doubt brought back unwelcome memories to him, just as the same was happening to her. Grosvenor moved forward and stretched his neck out, more willing to interact with the doe now that he understood his chosen knew the man she was paired with. "Seeing you was the last thing I expected, I will be honest."
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 6:25 pm
At her two simple words - quiet, but filled with a wealth of emotion - Thomas' spine stiffened and he held himself straighter. The muscles of his jaw clenched and he absolutely refused to weep like a child.
Sigyn politely touched noses with the buck, sniffing daintily. Though she was not precisely friendly, neither was she adverse to making a new acquaintance.
"Where did you go?" Thomas asked, as much from curiosity as to choose a topic that should be less painful than others for the both of them. Why she left, of course, need not be said. There was more than one reason Thomas rarely returned to the Tyneworth estate.
"There has been no word of you for years." And, despite everything, he had listened. Or at least, he had until recently.
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Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:11 am
"I..." A rush of emotions hit her just as they had him. She looked down at her hands, clenched so tightly around the shaft of her bow they ached. When she lifted her head again, her eyes shone. "I needed to leave. I couldn't stay here after..." They had both suffered unspeakably, and both at such a young age. The world had been particularly unkind to them both, but there was a small saving grace for each of them. She dug her free hand into the soft wolf tails strung about Grosvenor's neck, unimaginably grateful that she had him in her life. He sent a rush of warmth to her, soothing her hurt once again. "I left the country. I've been roaming the east for years, coming home only because the tree, and this beast here, called to me. We only returned recently for the Masque." She said the last word with a bit of contempt; both herself and Gros could have done without that little affair. The spirits belonged in the woods, not at the side of her Queen. But she was a warden none-the-less, and the rumors she'd heard lately of a wild woman leading a band of dissenters had her on edge. She nodded towards the icy doe. "She is beautiful."
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Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:26 am
Thomas smoothed a hand down Sigyn's neck, remembering what she had looked like before. Oh, she was still as lovely to him as ever, but it angered him on a primal level that a female under his care was wounded so heinously. She had chosen him, and so far all he had managed against the Wolves was making a too-late rescue and gaining a debilitating injury. He would not make the same mistakes again.
"Thank you," was all he said. "Her name is Sigyn. I must say that your buck looks very competent." For indeed he did appear strong and steady, though perhaps not quite in possession of Sigyn's particular brand of poise.
"But come," he said, nodding to their forgotten prize. "Let us get this beast back to my estate and you can tell me about the east on the way." He dismounted, then glanced sidelong at her. "Unless another topic catches your fancy."
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Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:38 am
Her guardian looked pleased with himself at the compliment, lifting his head a little higher. For all his lack of humor, the buck made up for it with vanity. "Don't tell him that, it'll bloat his head. Won't it, Grosvenor?" The buck snorted at her and turned to bring her to the felled boar. She slipped from his back and knelt beside the creature, taking in its size. It truly was a massive thing. "Might as well talk about both," she said, grabbing a length of rope from the saddlebags across Gros' hindquarters. With little preamble, she began gathering fallen branches of varying lengths, trussing them together into a sled of sorts. "I've been to Gallia, Othonia, and Belastrana to name a few places. Belastrana was by far my favorite, but to be honest, I didn't go there originally to see the sights." As if they had done it a hundred times before, Grosvenor let her loop the rope around the front half of his body, making a harness that would distribute the weight evenly. With the other end currently round the boar's head, the buck began to pull, showing only a small amount of strain at the massive dead weight. He pulled the beast onto the sled as Katrana held it in place. Then she untied the head and attached the rope to the sled. All of this was done with a quiet precision and patience. When finished, she stood up and fingered the wolf tails again, remembering. "Gallia just reminded me of home at first, though the Gallians themselves seem a little less stiff-necked. The wine is better there at least."
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Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 4:07 pm
"Oh?" he inquired as he helped truss together the sled. "If not the view, what was it that drew you to the country?" From his understanding, there was little to be found in Belastrana but wilds and snow and ice, though their great cities were said to be vibrantly colorful.
"Yes," he mused, an aristocrat's disdain for inferior quality showing through. "Sunderland could stand to learn a thing or two about quality vineyards, though I am attempting to remedy that."
Though she was more than capable of carrying the load, Sigyn allowed the buck to take the burden. At any rate, she preferred to remain free, that she might move more quickly in the event of an emergency.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:07 am
She was silently thankful for his help and once they had finished, the remounted her guardian, gesturing for Thomas to lead the way. Grosvenor could more than pull the weight of the boar and herself and showed little strain, and then only at the very start as he got his burden into motion. "I wanted the wilds, for hunting things that don't room the woods of Sunderland any longer," she said quietly. Belastrana had quite pleased her with its abundance of wolves for hunting, and also the chance at solitude. She hadn't had Gros then and traveling the wilds of that massive country on horseback had been a battle between finding inner peace and being controlled by all-consuming grief. At his comment of vineyards, she raised a brow. "Oh? You're becoming a vintner?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:33 pm
Though the idea of hunting mundane wolves had its merit, he found that it did not appeal to him nearly enough to bother with. Not when more worthy prey lingered in the north. Oh, how he longed for the day when next he saw that black beast. "Is that how you have been whiling away your years? Hunting wolves?"
Sigyn picked her way through the forest largely on memory alone - it was, after all, her haunting ground. Rarely did she have to rely on Thomas's good eyes; though such a thing was, by now, second nature.
"I inherited mother's estate," he told her. "You may recall that it has a vineyard - albeit one that has been sadly neglected under my father's care. I have been attempting to restore it these past few years." If there was any bitterness when mentioning his father, it was hardly new - though perhaps more vehement.
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