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Character || Kaalnia
Stage || Blade
Battling || Nondwa x 2
Battle Stat || 19
Defense || 7
Roll Needed || 60-100
Rolled || 57, 90
Outcome || Win 1, Loss 1
Experience earned ||

24 exp

+ 15 for taming attempt

=

39exp

Kaalnia rested by a rock in a river, that same river that she often used for bathing. She'd like to have a bath, honestly but – and she never thought she would ever think such a thing, ever – it was too cold for bathing. The strangely harsh winter took its toll on all pleasures, biting into animals, plants, and recreation time alike. Jahuar was not used to the white ice that crusted its branches, and it was the quietest it had ever been.

Kaalnia didn't think it was all that bad, to be honest. She didn't like the cold, of course, but it did mean that there were more sisters seeking the comfort of the home and a fellow warm body, which meant that Kaalnia got a little more lucky than she usually did. Having furs from Zena helped a lot – she had the warmest bedroll in all of Jahuar, she was sure.

She couldn't help but feel sorry for Votzhem, though. Some sisters thought it was his fault, that his ice blood had brought the frost... which was ridiculous but honestly people would blame hybrids for anything and everything and Kaalnia couldn't help it if they decided to make themselves vocal and obnoxious. She could, however, comfort her friend when he was miserable and tell him that it was all a pack of lies and he was not causing this. Something else was.

Damned if Kaalnia knew what, though.

She stretched, wiggling slightly in her overclothes. She was wearing more clothing than usual and it itched like hell, but she'd promised Voshhy that she'd meet him here and waiting in her usual Jahuaran garb would have given her a cold butt. There were few things, in Kaalnia's mind, worse than a cold butt. Battle was only slightly better than a cold butt, and the fact that she had been waiting for her friend for longer than she had expected was only slightly better than that.

Votzhem was late, and she'd even bothered to make him lunch. She poked at the cooled filled rolls of bread and meat. Kaalnia was not a great chef, to be honest, but she had worked on it to help Padma with Ujana and she was proud of these creations. To have Votzhem eat them cold would be a crime, but what could she do? Make a fire? With what dry wood? Everything was wet in Jahuar, and stayed wet because of the cold. It was ridiculous.

She heard a rustle and, for a moment, she brightened. Maybe her friend had finally arrived and she could put an end to this waiting nonsense and start the whole consoling thing. She'd gotten pretty good at consoling the poor guy through his various hassles and hardships – shed had a lot of experience. He'd feel better, she'd feel like she'd done a good thing, and everybody left happy: thus, consoling him was Kaalnia's kind of thing.

The insectoid chittering and fluttering, however, made her realize that it was not her friend. She turned to look, and shrugged.

Just a couple of Nondwa, looking the worse for wear with drooping antennae and tattered wings. “Wow.” she commented, raising an eyebrow, “You two look like s**t.” And they really did. The cold must be hitting the poor bugs hard. Kaalnia felt sorry for them.

They fluttered at the sound of her voice, and then landed and scurried towards her on their slender legs.

“What?” Kaalnia asked them, “You coming over to say hi?” she reached out a hand to pet it's head, “You're cute, you know that?” It lapped at her hand with it's little probocis and she laughed. “Sorry, buddy. I'm not food. How hard is it to find food anyway? Probably pretty hard with all this cold... they don't have much stuff for you in Zena, so I'm guessing that what you eat doesn't survive up there. Or something.” The sound of her own voice sounded nice in the silent jungle. She hadn't realized just how damnably quiet it was. “s**t.” she said, petting the creature, “This cold really isn't good, is it.” Despite having more bedfellows than usual, Kaalnia had to admit – as she looked at the state of the creature – that it just wasn't.

It chittered a reply and then scurried away. “Hey!” Kaalnia called, half rising, “Do you want something to eat, buddy?” Her eyes caught the other Nondwa sneaking away with her lunch. “Oh. Nevermind. Clever bastards...” she sat back down, a little moodily. “You could have just asked.” she mumbled, sitting down to wait for her friend again...

(771/700)