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 Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 7:31 pm
It was one thing to travel from Zena to Jauhar; the trip was tiring, but if you knew the right roads, and pushed on with a group, you could travel it in a relatively short time. But coming back took... a lot longer than Ygraine was prepared for. Whatever it was that her parents had gone through since seeing them last, it had done a number on them; after only a few hours of traveling, grandma would call for a break, and they'd all stop, heating up tea and resting.
Maybe if they'd brought Morrigan or papa's kinfa, the trip would have gone faster; they could have carried him, so he didn't tire out so quickly. Grandma insisted that if they got far enough into Sauti they could wait for one of her family's trading wagons and hitch a ride back home, but for now they had to go on foot. And. It. Was. Slow.
Finally, though, they made it to the town that grandma had told them about... and now they just had to wait. Papa and Baba were holed up in the inn; Sol was... somewhere, but Ygraine just needed her space. She had gone to the edge of town, and after making sure it was abandoned of people, she began practicing shots with her little bow. She carried this off and on for a time, shooting until her quiver was empty, then going to fetch the arrows.
Only... one shot went too far. And, after grumbling unhappily, she'd run off into the mountainous little wood to go after it. Forests in Sauti were far and few between, populated by hardy little trees that dotted the rocky slopes - but here it had enough streams, and the small lake the town was settled besides, that the forest was thicker and flourishing.
It was... peaceful. Pretty. "Aha!" Ygraine called with a pleased grin, hopping up onto a small rock and tugging at the arrow, which was embedded deep into an old, gnarled tree. Once it was retrieved, and put safely back in the quiver that hung at her hip, Ygraine hopped off the rock and turned to peer around... only to realize she had been so excited to find it that she had no clue where, exactly, she'd come from.
The little clearing was dotted with bright little flowers, vines that curled up the rocks and trees... but there was no path she could recognized.
... Aw geez.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:24 pm
Travel with Jakkoa was a surprisingly streamline adventure in areas Hargitt thought would be painful, and insufferable in ways he hadn't thought possible. Little stops would drag on so much longer than necessary simply because of his companion's need for 'socialization', among other, more sordid, things.
Tired of trying to awkwardly navigate through verbal encounters, Hargitt had declared his intentions for the day and bailed. Hunting was something that came naturally to him; and it was far more peaceful than trying to make nice with strangers. Early that morning he had set off, and so far his spoils were abysmal at best.He worried that since the area was frequented by travelers that any prey worth tracking was already taken, which would make today's venture a waste.
Hargitt stretched his left leg out along a thick, sturdy branch and allowed the right to dangle freely. His back was pressed against the old, sturdy tree's bark, giving him the appearance of leisure. He had chosen the spot to keep an eye on incoming prey, but in all honesty....Hargitt had found himself relaxing. The peace was comforting. It was blissfully quiet, and he didn't have the urge to sit a little straighter because someone was watching him. If only he could stay here...
Catching himself mid yawn, the archer paused, turned his head towards a noise. Had Jakkoa come looking for him already? He leaned forward, holding his bow in a loose grip when he saw a hybrid...just not the one he was expecting.
She wasn't close enough for him to make out a lot of details, other than it was indeed a she. And that she was looking for something that wasn't there, or potentially lost. If he ignored her then he wouldn't have to talk to her and could stay in his tree.
If only Hargitt would be able to relax after doing something so callous.
Groaning aloud, the archer slung his bow over his shoulder, and descended from the tree. Once he got to a branch not too far from the ground, Hargitt swung himself and landed on the hard packed earth with a solid 'thud!'
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:41 pm
One moment Ygraine was standing, craning her neck to peek through the thick trees, the next... she had whirled around, a hand scrambling for her quiver, only to tip it so that a handful of arrows scattered to the grass at her booted feet. A loud 'thump' had erupted from behind the tree, and for a long, heart thumping moment she stared, biting her lip as she finally knocked an arrow--
It was a man. A tall, muscular man who had appeared when she thought she was alone. She should have been alarmed, but the hybrid could only sigh in relief, thankful that it wasn't a sermal. How many times had her papa shown off the scars on his torso, coupled with a warning to his adventurous children not to wonder off into the wilderness?
As she just had? Honestly, she had never given his story much credence, but...
Shooting the tall man a glare, Ygraine slumped to her knees in the scratchy, dry grass and painstakingly started plucking the fallen arrows from the dirt. "Didn't anyone teach you not to scare a lady like that?" Ygraine bossily scolded. Her height made her seem like she was ten or eleven, but her chubby cheeks and gangly limbs portrayed her true age; an overly tall eight year old.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:54 pm
From a distance Hargitt had assumed the girl to be much older than she was, but it looked as if she was just tall for her age. Now that he could see her up close her eyes said it all; alkidike. Mixed with several others, it looked like.
Appearances aside, Hargitt rose to his full height and quirked a brow at her. If he had wanted her dead she wouldn't have stood a chance. The sight of the arrows scattered around her feet said as much. She was a green horn; not unlike him when he began his training, which made him moderately more sympathetic. He shouldn't have scared her like that, but part of him had assumed she knew he was there.
And...now she was scolding him. Was it something that came natural to hybrids or just the ones with Wind in their blood? "No." Hargitt's response was blunt, but truthful. With only his mother and a handful of village women in his life Hargitt hadn't had much cause to learn gentlemanly behavior. He treated women the same as men, since the ones in his life rarely did anything that their masculine counterparts did not.
"You missed one. Two paces behind you, to the right." He had seen it fall away from the others earlier.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 2:18 pm
... No? Just a simple no? The brief, yet honest answer made the girl pause, squinting up at him curiously, her lips drawn into a resolute pout. It wasn't so much about being a 'lady' as it was common courtesy not to descend from trees and scare people! At least, that was how Ygraine rationalized it in her head. But he didn't linger on his answer long. Instead he redirected the conversation to her arrow, which she spotted only after whirling around to look over her shoulder.
Flushing in embarrassment, Ygraine pushed herself to her feet and stomped to retrieve it, snatching the misplaced arrow from the dirt. She shoved it carelessly back into the leather quiver then turned back to the stranger and set her hands on her hips, peering up at him as if she had something to say, but wasn't sure how exactly to say it. She could hear her baba's calm, lulling voice in her head pointing out how rude she was being and it sobered her enough to brush the immediate anger away. For a long, drawn out moment she watched him, before huffing out a breath, forcing her shoulders to relax. "... Thanks. ... I'm Ygraine, I'm visiting town and uh..." Got lost. But... she didn't know if admitting that to a total stranger, and one so eerily quiet was a good idea. Swallowing what she was about to say, she instead looked around the clearing aimlessly. "Do you live around here?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:04 pm
Evidently he had upset her. If he had missed the color on her cheeks then surely her stomping feet would have given it away. Hargitt just wondered what he had done, exactly, to irritate her. At first he thought about just chalking it up to 'women' in general, but then he realized even men, most often Jak, acted the same way around him. Not that Hargitt much cared. He wasn't out to make friends or to soothe feelings.
Ygraine. It was a cute name, one in tune with nature. Hargitt could respect a name like that, even if it was no associated with a puffed up little shifter hybrid. "No." He answered once again. He was traveling through, same as she apparently. The difference remaining was that he knew the way to the closest settlement, and apparently Ygraine was lost.
"Do you? There was a chance that she wasn't as lost as he thought. It was possible that she lived in the area and was simply wary of strangers on her families property. Or that she had been abandoned. It was a depressing thought, but not unheard of.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:27 pm
Obviously, he wasn't going to introduce himself. Ygraine shifted, slightly uncomfortable, but set her jaw, convincing herself to straighten up, jaw raised. "No. I'm from Zena." She answered confidently. Swaying on her heels, Ygraine looked around once again, then stepped closer to the tree, peering up into it, trying not to look too impressed. The bark was smooth, not like the thick bark of trees in Zena - she couldn't imagine how to climb it. And yet he had; somehow this man had been up in the limbs.
Heading back to the settlement no longer seemed very important. "What were you doing up there? Spying?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:41 pm
Zena? She wasn't too far from home then, but still out of her native land. Maybe that's where the ears came from; iceling blood. He had just assumed they were alkidike inherited.
Looking past her he noticed a few important signs. While she seemed content to inspect the tree, Hargitt made the few steps towards a small, gnarled bush. It was dry and weathered, but what limbs had been broken off weren't natural. Something had bitten them off. And the track, buried in the shade of a nearby stone spoke of capramel. He would have known the sight anywhere.
Hargitt bent at the knee and touched it with his fingers. Fresh. If he left now he could catch it, but the girl...He straightened his back and turned to look at her. "Yes." Spying for meat, anyway. "I can lead you back to the settlement, but not until I've tracked my prey. Stay here." Maybe she would climb the tree like he had and take refuge in it. Whatever she decided, so long as Ygraine stayed put she would be safe enough until he killed the capramel. It seemed simple enough to him.
Nodding his head, Hargitt maneuvered his bow off his shoulders and went out on the trail.
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:30 am
"Huh?" Ygraine brilliantly responded, turning to watch him when he spoke. Yes, he had been spying? She wrinkled her nose, eyeing him with renewed wariness, but then he mentioned tracking something, and her face slackened, instead taking on a curious expression. "Oh-- you're hunting? I can--" She began with excitement, but then stopped and lowered her voice to a hushed tone, tapping her hand against her bow. "I hunt with my baba, sometimes- can I come? I'll be quiet, promise!" Before waiting for his answer, she was already picking her way across the small clearing after him, her footsteps careful.
Besides, even if she didn't bring a capramel back to the settlement, wouldn't her parents be proud to see how much her hunting had improved since they went missing?
[5/10]
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 9:55 am
Eyes as light as shards of ice looked towards the young girl skeptically. He had never taken anyone hunting with him before save for his Uncle. The older man was experienced and wouldn't need supervision like she would, however. She had a bow, yes, and she said she hunted, but how good was she?
Either way, Hargitt couldn't leave her alone and a part of him was already soft to children. He quirked his mouth in the small shadow of a smile and nodded his head towards the trail, even as she was picking up her feet to follow him.
"Hargitt," He stated bluntly. The mountain of a man moved his way through some gnarled brush, trying to imagine where and how a capramel might move through this terrain. "My name." He wasn't sure what use knowing his name would be for her, but most 'polite' earthlings shared that kind of information right off. She had and now it seemed 'polite' to share his in return.
Stopping in an open area, the huntsman motioned out in front of them. "Where do we go from here?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 6:57 pm
When Ygraine reached the man's side, she held her bow tightly, bouncing on the heels of her feet impatiently while he decided. Finally, though, he answered with his name, and her eyebrows shot up, smiling hopefully and expectantly. She took him turning and walking away as approval, so she followed after him, tiptoeing carefully.
She wasn't really sure what he was tracking, honestly... she didn't know much about Sauti creatures, and was more used to Zena beasts, like Raptrix or parak. He'd been looking at bushes though... and then a track, so whatever it was had to be tiny, right? Raking her mind for the different beasts in Sauti, Ygraine followed, only to bump into him when he, quite suddenly, stopped.
...Oh. Oh! Well... it wasn't something that her father had never done before, putting her on the spot and seeing if she'd been paying attention. But with a total stranger, she worried that getting the answer wrong would mean she was sent back to the clearing to wait. Inhaling deeply, the girl stepped gingerly around him, squinting, trying to pick out the little detail that had made him stop. Because he HAD to have seen something in order to test her, right?
There weren't any tracks here. Unlike the other clearing, the land here was increasingly rocky, and didn't have much soft ground for footprints to settle in. There wasn't much to eat here... the bushes were untouched, not a broken limb in sight, and it didn't look like there were any places to hide. She didn't think they were tracking sailscale or moracker, if only because Hargitt was so big that such little game didn't seem important enough for him to take time to track... so... capramel? Or a sermal, but she doubted he'd agree to take her along to hunt something so dangerous. ... She hoped. Shivering at the prospect, Ygraine squinted at him as if weighing whether or not he'd do such a thing, before looking closer. The trees were bare, and there wasn't much here that a beast could snack on, except a handful of brush that peeked out from the rocks.
... Oh! Looking down, she saw it- what looked like stones dragged in a line, toppled over, then feet away it happened again! Did that mean... ? Hesitating, Ygraine lifted her hand and pointed, looking back at him for approval. "This... this way?"
[6/10]
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:20 pm
While Ygraine worked it out in her head Hargitt followed suit. He wanted to have their trail mapped out as much as he could so as to avoid as many unnecessary detours as possible. Standing still, he allowed her to move through his line of sight, and Hargitt watched closely to make sure she picked up on the right signs.
The barest hint of a smile brightened his features. He stepped closer to Ygraine, and nodded approvingly. "Good...we're tracking capramel, can you tell me what's wrong with it? Why these tracks look this way?" Granted, they wouldn't know for sure what was wrong with the creature until they actually found it, but any hunter worth their salt could make assumptions.
Drag, lift, step, repeat...
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:30 pm
What's wrong with it? Oh-- well, they probably didn't walk that way normally, did they? Ygraine made the barest of sounds, uncertain on just what the cryptic hint meant. Lets see... capramel were those tiny creatures, with humps and thick, stubby paws. So they probably walked like Sol's raptrix puppy when it was little... stubby little feet, and a pronounced waddle. But even then, would the steps look like this?
But then what was it? Was it dragging something, in its mouth? She'd seen Morrigan, baba's raptrix', dragging tree limbs sometimes, making a similar mark in the snow. But she did that to play .. did wild familiars play?
Would a capramel even drag a limb with it? Did they build things? No... no, that would be silly. Thinking, Ygraine knelt by the rocks, poking at them to see how easily they shifted; not easily, so whatever made the sign was heavy. "It... its leg is... messed up." She pointed out. But normally, dragging a leg behind it was because it was shot or had been hit... but there was no blood here. And what, in the Sauti wilderness, could have injured a capramel without drawing blood? "Why wouldn't it be bleeding though?" She asked, looking back up at him, heart hammering in her chest. Hopefully he felt to be in a giving mood, and would explain it to her.
[7/10]
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:54 pm
Hargitt crouched low to the ground and balled his calloused hand into a fist. Gently, he pressed his knuckles to the ground as a capramel might it's hoof, and mimicked what he thought the creature might do as it walked. Press, drag, press, drag. Since his family professionally bred and tended the creatures he was used to their movements, and the particular tracks they left behind.
As he moved his arm, he looked up to the girl and nodded once more. She was smart; still a greenhorn, but there was potential there. "My guess is that it was spooked, and sprained it's leg trying to escape." Not enough to cause lasting injury, but just enough to give them an edge. In the craggy terrain it was enough enough to twist a muscle, or even to break a bone while escaping larger predators.
Hargitt pushed himself back up to his feet and motioned for her to follow. "Have your bow ready." They may not find it soon but if they did he wanted to be prepared to take it down.
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:23 pm
Ygraine watched with growing interest as he re-enacted the footsteps, beaming in pride when he finally made some sign that she'd been right. But... what had spooked it? Her grin dropped, and instead she looked concerned, looking over her shoulder at the surrounding trees. They were set far enough apart that you could see deeper into the forest, at least the parts that weren't obstructed by rocks or brush... and she couldn't see much of anything.
"Spooked? Spooked by what? You?" She sounded hopeful, but at the same time she was worried. Sure, he'd spooked her before also by descending from the tree, but she doubted he would have surprised a capramel, then climbed back up into the tree just to surprise HER. So if it wasn't him, what did it? Again, the reminder of sermal stalking these lands came back to her, and she felt sweat beading at her shoulders, a knot of discomfort lodging in her throat.
She stepped a bit closer without realizing, but obeyed, scrabbling for one of the arrows she'd dropped before, knocking it and following, her footsteps not as silent as they'd been before.
As they moved onward, Ygraine grew more and more nervous - peering around as they walked. More bushes and smaller trees grew here... a younger part of the forest, it seemed. It felt like an eternity before, almost too suddenly from her right, she heard a sound-- a crunch. Yelping, the girl jumped and had shot off an arrow before she'd thought about it - a half drawn, hasty shot that sailed above the bush, and into a tree behind it.
A startled sort of honking sound erupted from the brush, and there it was-- the capramel, trying to escape as fast as its injured leg allowed.
[8/10]
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