Mist drifted in swirling clouds outside in the most haunting way possible, Keelthy was half sure that some giant carnivorous thing was going to stride out of the forest and start to munch on unsuspecting Obans. There fore as any manly man would be Keelthy was in the shanty on his bed in a huge nest of blankets. They were pulled up to his chin and he felt for the most part safe and warm.
Xarthin and Reillan were out at the training ring, all the power to them, Keelthy thought, he wasn't opposed to working in the rain but today it was far too creepy looking outside. Nope he was staying right here in the relative safety of his home. He idly reached over to his tea cup and sipped it, wondering where his new alkidike friend had gotten off to. He figured her friendship was a pretty rare gift. It was not every Oban who could say they had a warrior alkidike for a friend.
It had been a lucky thing he had Xarthin with him that day, but without him he would never have ventured through the trees and met her anyway, so perhaps it was a moot point.
His thoughts turned to other interesting woman, namely Varinia. Now she too was an amazing creature, with all of that luscious hair, thick and red, then there was her cute little nose and those eyes which seemed to want to swallow his soul. Keel had his suspicions about his brother knowing about his infatuation with their savior. Something about the odd look on his brother's face in the morning; 1 part amused, 1 part startled and 1 part frightened. When Keelthy had asked him about it, Reillan had just shook his head and went outside. His quietness made Keelthy think that perhaps his brother liked her too, he was the letter writer after all, and despite his token title of "Weapon Happy Grunt", Keelthy knew his brother was capable of "charm" and a fine turn of phrase, something woman seemed to appreciate at the least. Maybe he himself should start writing letters or better yet go for a visit and er, present himself in a new light.
Maybe she would like a bouquet, but would she prefer the exotic Jauhar blooms or the more familiar flowers of Oba. Come to think of it the Oban flowers were almost non-existant and not very exciting, whearas Jauhar had all kinds of flowers in all colors and scents.. wait what was that noise? All thought of flowers fled and he clutched his blankets nervously. Yup, the aforementioned monster was coming to get him theourhg the rains and mist. It was hungry and fangy and had a taste for OBAN!
A moment of pure silence tried his fragile nerves. Then there was a thunderous cacacophony of beating wings. Keel screamed a bit hightly, and burried his head under the covers, having no better place to hide. Then when nothing dragged him out of bed, he poked his head above the covers to see a whole cloud of the big mothy things flying all over the shanty and above his head. Hmm, so not monsters then, he would not be eaten today! Elated, he could now properly appreciate the beauty of his floaty, fluttery houseguests.
Apparently he wasn't the only one to get sick of the rain. The large insects proceeded to cover the shanty with glowing blue, purple and silver dust. There were so many flapping about that he gave up trying to count the bugs in the air and instead counted the different shades of dust where it fell and it was falling everywhere; on the dishes, his face, his hair, and OH NO! On his clothes!
He leaped out of bed and waved one of Reillan's tatty shirt around to shoo the beasts back out into the downpour. Staying inside was fine, getting dust on his clothes was simply unacceptable. Keelthy looked aghast at all the mess and upon wiping his face discovered that he probably looked ust as awful. Grumbling about uninvited dusty guests, Keelthy marched aroudn the shanty with his brothers shirt cleaning every surface of dust, finally ending with shaking the bed linens out.
Ridiculous, this rain, this dust, this place, all ridiculous, dirty, muddy, rainy and now buggy! Or was is mothy? He forgot what they were really called. It was a testament to his will and desperation that he still lived in Jauhar at all!
Word Count: 750
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