◈ Mini Chapter ◈ Gathering [JAUHAR]

[Suhuba]

|| Alkidike/Elaria IC ||
Even in Jauhar the people of Tendaji could tell that winter was here. Normally overbearingly hot and humid, Jauhar was relatively mild, leaving the alkidike and elaria to be unusually chill in their rainforest homes. There was a tension in the air that could send shivers down the spine of those without the outright aggression of the more vengeful Sisters and Cousins.

It was with a mission that they all came together today. The elaria, all the way from Zinris with their extremist family and mentors, had travelled to Jauhar to meet with the mainland Alkidike. They had sent word that they would be travelling, and made the journey with their mystics and elders in tow. The threat of the Dretch was upon them, and something had to be done. Knowing that the Dead Forest was the Dretchs’ home made the trip to Jauhar all the more intense. They were putting themselves closer to the danger, and for an unknown outcome. What would happen during this meeting? Many saw the ending as battle, another slash of violence on their history between the alkidike and the extremists; others saw the threat of the Dretch, the terrifying evil that had become all too prevalent in their current events, something that could stand above their bitter history.

There were two masses of black and green eyes staring at each other across the perceivable line of those who belonged in Jauhar and those who did not as the Alkidikes’ visitors finally finished their journey to Andile.


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Characters

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Ceylinae
Danika
Lumikani
Mnyiri
Namira
Naqenni
Nivalis
Pruu
Pyrrha
Rishima
Tyiva
Vermina
Zayana
Zigaran

 

[Orpheus Solon]

Rishima Post 1

It had taken a lot of thought and consideration on his part to participate in the meeting between the Alkidike and those that had been in the past banished to the island of Yael. It wasn't something that he had planned to do at first but he'd decided that he needed to put aside his desire for a more secluded life and actually see what was being planned. He couldn't live as a hermit forever. Especially where the Dretch were concerned. He had to see what was going on and how he could help protect not only his sisters but Gerraden as well if the need for it arose.

It seemed that this was just going to be a planning meeting though so he hoped against hope that weapons weren't going to be required as he didn't carry one as often anymore. He'd been in too many battles in the past and had grown a bit tired of them himself. Instead he carried a tall walking stick in the place of the spear that had been broken in a tussle with some menzuri a while back. The last battle that he'd been in for a while given how it had gone. It might be his age speaking but after as many wars as he'd been privy to he was praying to Aisha that this meeting with their more extreme sisters wouldn't break out into another fight. The last time he'd had to face them across the battlefield left scars on his heart that were still present to this day. He didn't know if he could deal with such a thing again.

For a moment he found himself wondering if perhaps Aselia would be among them. It was her banishment that he regretted seeing the most. If only he'd done more to try to help her he thought to himself idly as he took up a position at the edge of where everyone was to gather. He wanted to observe, to see who all was coming to the meeting, and wanted to gather as much information as he could before deciding how to proceed from here.  

[Orpheus Solon]

Zigaran Post 1

Zigaran had tagged along with his Alkidike mother to the gathering that was going on in Andile, which wasn't too far from where his family lived in Emeka. It had been a bit of a long trip though since before they had arrived they'd needed to bring his Matorian mother to Neued where she'd be safe with her family there. They didn't want her to be alone while the Dretch were roaming about after all. It was important that she was kept safe, especially since she was a singer, not a fighter. Knowing she was with her family in such a busy city was enough to put his mind at ease and allow him to think about what was to come.

He found himself curious what they would learn, who they would see, and he found himself wondering idly if Blondie was going to be present. It was kind of hard to say where he may or may not be but Zigaran really did want to see about meeting with that one again. Especially now since he had a weapon and rank of his own, hoping that he might be able to get in a sparring match with the guy. They were following very different paths but that didn't mean that they couldn't test each others' skills in battle right? His antennae set to twitching in a curious manner as he started to scan those gathering through his deep orange eyes.

He didn't see Blondie straight away but there were others of interest that he wanted to get a better look at. He didn't leave his mother's side yet though. She seemed to be on high alert and he felt that he should follow suit, standing up straight so as to appear taller as he walked along after her.  

[Cornetified]

Vermina post 1

No matter how many times she came to Jauhar, Vermina still found herself missing Chibale. It was better to meet everyone here rather than on the island though. There were a lot of factors here that could harm her home... She stood with her Aunt Pul, the older woman murmuring softly with another elder.

Why she was here... Mina was reluctant to admit that it had nothing to do with the threat of the Dretch. She wanted to see if her mother was with the extremists... With no sign yet, Mina was left to look around at the gathering crowd, and to stare at the Elarians with open curiosity. They looked similar, and yet so different! They looked so strange. Truly twisted versions of Aisha's children.  

[Cornetified]

Pruu post 1

The trip from home had been quiet on Pruu's end. It had been hard to leave Elzira behind, but knowing that her twin and the mystic were going on the trip.. well, she couldn't stay home. She had little interest in the discussion itself that was cause for the trip, and did not trust anyone outside of her Zinris family. She could only hope that something good would come of it.

Her mother Fassala was there as well, and she could see the woman's excitement. There had been nonstop talk about going home, and now the woman was practically chomping at the bit to go greet those weaklings left behind... Pathetic. Pruu stood as stoic as ever, observing the gathered crowd with her arms at her sides, ready to grab her blades if the need rose. Weaklings and hybrids... Why did the elder want to bring them here again?

One had to make due with what was given to them though. If nothing else, Pruu was intent on using the time to learn about the environment here. When they eventually returned to take the land for their own, it would be good to have more knowledge about the landscape.  

[Elf Princess Flannery]

Namira post 1

Namira kept close to her grey sisters as she traded cold stares with the locals. This was her first time she had been back on the mainland since her sisters' banishment. Namira kept her fists clenched, her nails making little moon shaped impressions on her palms. She had many feelings about coming here. Initially, she hadn't wanted to come. She doesn't care what the Dretch do to the earthlings and the traitors. When she first heard about them she thought they might have been a blessing. A plague to wash away the filth from the mainland. Namira would have been content to stay on her island with Elzira and the others if Aisha hadn't been in danger. As much as she loves Elzira her heart still ached to see Aisha's branches once more. She likely would never see them again. Even still, just being so close to her parent tree filled her with anxiety, and hope, and sadness.

She had to be here, not for the earthlings or the hybrids or her fallen sisters, but for Aisha. If Namira had any hope for the future she had to be here to help protect Aisha. If she were left to be damaged or whithered it would surely weaken Elzira as well. And that, simply could not be allowed to happen. She knew deep in her heart that the true alkidike would return here and reclaim their home. Namira just needed to make sure that on that day, her kin would have a home left to claim.  

[Fluffesu]

NIVALIS
Post: 1

The trip had been long. While it wasn't Nivalis' first venture from her island, nor the farthest (since she had traveled to Sauti so many years ago), this one felt significantly more grueling. She'd been young, then, and journeying with only a handful of her sisters for reasons more light of spirit (and quite questionable, now that she thought on it). None of them had ever experienced the world, and it had been more about the adventure than anything else. Now, there was nothing 'light of spirit' about the situation.

So many of her sisters were tense and displeased, and Nivalis couldn't rightly blame them. They had been raised to be fearless, hardy, loyal to their tribe, and above all else, proud. The entirety of this venture spat in the face of that, and Niva's sisters felt it like a needle to the soul. The Dretch were 'not an Elarian problem' she'd scoffed the mere instant the Matron had told her they'd sent a letter to their mainland cousins asking for help.

For what? Why for?

They had lost a sister and a smattering of cousins, but it was surely nothing as compared to the numbers Chibale must have lost. There were enough of them that if specifically Alkidike were being nabbed, a larger colony would make for easier targets. If anyone needed help, it ought to have been the weak mainland Alkidike her extremist cousins had left behind on Chibale. With their numbers, Nivalis had to assume that they were losing sisters by the boatload, and clearly incapable of doing anything about it.

Requesting the aid of weak sisters who were in as much as, if not worse of a predicament than her tribe was seemed foolish and unhelpful.

She'd already expressed as much to the Matron, and had been told quite bluntly, 'You're selfish, Nivalis.' Selfish because she did not want to send her sisters to places that would not welcome them asking for help no one could provide and that Nivalis didn't think they needed.

No, selfish because there were already so few of them. Selfish because she had small, conceited thoughts concerning only what was immediately around her. Elarians may not be the Dretch's current targets, but their tribe was still small. The extremist Alkidike were still the primary teachers and caretakers for Nivalis' sisters, being that no Elarian had yet requested children of their own. To lose those few that they had could mean extinction for them. True, pride in their strength and community had always been emphasized in their teachings, but it meant nothing if they were incapable of continuing the line. Nivalis should be able to see this. She wasn't a child, anymore. She was selfish.

It still didn't sit well with her. Nivalis still did not want to be trekking through the forests of Jauhar after having journeyed across ocean and desert, only to be met with dozens of pairs of black eyes staring back at her. But what other choice was there?  

[Miss Chief aka Uke]

Naqenni | 1

Naqenni did not want to be where she was.

For all that she had heard the various sides of the ‘story’, different perspectives from different sisters and cousins both before they had departed and over the course of the long journey to the foreign homeland of their cousins, no one yet — not even her mystic — had convinced her it was a good idea that they be here. ‘They’ specifically being she and her sisters, her mystic — as opposed to their alkidike cousins who had more direct ties to this mainland, their enemies, and their problems rooted in some history that had nothing to do with she or those from Elzira.

The forest was, if she allowed herself to look past her issues with the place to begin with, almost beautiful — in its own way. A different set of colors from their homeland. Different and thereby never so perfect as their own soil. But lovely, in an exotic sense, when she found herself too tired to care about the rest of it. Soft rolling purples and blues, iridescent. Similarly soft underfoot at the jungle floor and rich with the sounds of native life—even if the exact sounds were distinct, too, and alien.

That, though, wasn’t this moment.

Finally, they had made their way fully in, to the heart of the jungle and to the meeting place with the sisters of their cousins’ once-enemy, and here she stood, waiting as near to Nivalis as she was permitted, for she was still the reason Naqenni at least was here. At least she, while calmer about it, still did not seemed pleased with their presence either.

As Naqenni settled in her stance, her gaze scanned the gathering crowd before them—and it was one thing, she realized, to imagine staring down the enemy of those that had raised you in their territory, and quite another thing to live it. Their numbers—her numbers, their entire band—was pitifully small. And there was no way it couldn’t have been by comparison. But it was still unsettling in a way that crawled under her skin and made her long antennae curl.

She folded her arms, and resigned herself to wait.  

[Painted Moose]

Cornetified

Pyrrha l 1

The subtle chill was the only reason Pyrrha had chosen to bring a shawl to the meeting. It was by far the thickest garment she owned, likely only because it wasn't worn thread thin, and as sheer as it was, it provided little more than security for her. The tension that radiated around the open gathering space was far more chilling than the air itself, but the young elarian didn't allow that to stop her from observing Jauhar.

She came to the conclusion rather quickly that her mother's stories didn't do it justice; it really and truly was a beautiful place. Passively, she reached out to touch several bits of glowing fungi, mutely aware of the swelling group behind her. Somewhere in that crowd was her mother and sisters; she knew Kou had remained behind to help guard Elzira. She'd as much heard the woman proclaiming that someone had to do it, loud and proud, in the middle of Zinris. Not that Pyrrha minded; having to see only a few members of her blood here would make things a little easier.

She had come because of Nivalis' request, and even if she hadn't been invited to travel among her sisters, Pyrrha would have come anyway. Her toes were soaked in the crisp, porous ground, and for the thousandth time she wondered if her cousins ever wore sandals here or if they dealt with the wetness as it came upon them. When she looked up, many of her sisters and cousins were looking at....still more cousins across the way. Am I related to any of you? Still, as her mind did wander, Pyrrha remained semi-crouched, stroking and proding the tendrils of a local fungus until talks were sure to begin.  

[Painted Moose]

Quote:

Open to interaction.

Mnyiri l 1

If Mnyiri had known there would have been a day that the Elaria would come to Jauhar she never would have gone to Yael to study them.

Then again, if she had known that then she would have also known about the Dretch and one of their sisters would still be with them....

The Guardian stood tall among the native congregation with one hand on Mvua's head and the other passively holding onto her spear. As 'sheathed' as it was, strapped to her radaku's side, the weapon could be easily accessed should she have need of it. Mnyiri just hoped that she didn't. Hopefully they could come to some sort of a solution without another war breaking out, but she didn't trust them. Mnyiri had seen first hand what sort of mindset the elaria possessed, and the alkidike that nurtured them were by far some of the most vicious women she'd ever laid eyes on.

Mvua's warning growl had been what alerted her to the arrival of their 'guests'. She'd shushed him, taking extra care to massage the tender skin behind his ears to calm the beast. Mnyiri was no happier than he was to see them, but it needed to be done, and with that in mind, she stayed put, near the back of the congregation.

Having a hybrid so close to the front lines would surely upset them, and while she normally didn't give two hoots about it, Mnyiri knew today was important. The less they did to antagonize one another the better off everyone would be. At the very least, looking out over their own grouping, she wasn't the most obvious of hybrids, especially considering that they had some men among them. Mnyiri's lips quirked into a grin; you know what? Let them see Aisha's children in all their glory, male or female; rub it in their faces, but subtly, from a distance. A passive aggressive distance.  

[Orpheus Solon]

Ceylinae - Post 1

Ceylinae lifting a hand to toy with her braid for a moment before deciding that crossing her arms showed a greater strength then fidgeting. This place was the last place that she wanted to be, the last place that she'd ever planned to be. In her mind she'd always thought that she would be the one help protect the home front during the times that her sisters and cousins decided to venture forth to poke around the rest of the world. She'd wanted to maintain the line, protect the village from any who would think to get too close. That was what she wanted to do but it wasn't what she was called to do.

Being who and what she was it was only right that she went along with the others to help look after the Mystic. There was no saying what those who banished them might be thinking, what they might wish to do, and she didn't want Nivalis to be harmed. She'd protect her with her own life if that was what it came to, that was her job as a warrior after all. She just hoped that it wouldn't come down to some sort of bloody battle between the two groups because she was certain those disgusting Dretch would take advantage and probably see it as a chance to finish them all off or something.

Taking a couple steps closer to the others, there was Naqenni who was one she trusted, Nivalis she wanted to protect, and then those that she liked after spending time with them like Pyrrha and Pruu. There were many here that she cared for and would fight for, but she prayed to Elzira that it wouldn't come to that. She just wanted them to get in, get their information, and get out before blood was shed and another war between the factions was started. Such things could be saved for later when their numbers weren't so sparce.  

[Orpheus Solon]

Painted Moose

Zigaran Post 2

Upon spotting someone that he knew within the crowd of others Zigaran perked up a bit, his antennae giving a little bounce. He'd met with that sister before in the past, talked with her, dueled with her, and now that he spotted her off to the side he found himself watching her a moment. Looking to his mother he told her where it was that he'd be before drifting over to where the white haired Mnyiri stood. She was an interesting sort, had given him a lot to think about when he was still a prentice, and she was on that he wanted to chat with again if given the chance.

Given that the Blondie wasn't about to hassle, at least not that he noticed, he felt that she was a good one to approach. She was easier to talk with after all while Blondie was more fun to just butt heads with. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn't around since things were already tense enough. Once he was close enough he in greeting, "It's been a while and I was never able to thank you for the duel, Sister." Something he was grateful for since she was more experienced then him and he felt he could learn a lot from her if she let him.  

[Cornetified]

Pruu post 2

True to her habits, Pruu started pacing around her group of sisters and cousins of Yael. The perimeter needed watching. Who knew if these cowards would plan anything tricky..? She wouldn't have been surprised to see something set up to trap them. ..She liked to think they would have done that on Yael for security reasons... After all, look at how they stared! Gawking like a bunch of Yaelians...

With one hand always near a blade handle, Pruu turned her gaze from the weaker cousins and toward the forest as she walked. No one would sneak up on them if she could help it.

On her walk, she found Pyrrha crouched with eyes bright and alert and hands.. touching things. Did she have to touch? Honestly, she was surprised that Fassala was not taking advantage of this time away from Kou to give Pyrrha attention. Apparently, returning was that exciting. Pressing her lips, she gave Pyrrha's shoulder a light touch of acknowledgement as she passed behind.

Painted Moose

 

[Painted Moose]

Orpheus Solon

Mnyiri ll 2

Mnyiri had seen him, of course, who wouldn't have been able to notice that blue skin, but she'd been too busy keeping Mvua still to properly greet the boy. Man, now, she noticed. Young man; somewhere in the middle. "Looks like you've had a few more duels since then. If your muscles get any larger, Zigaran, you'll be uprooting trees with your bare hands." He was certainly putting more emphasis on his physical training than she ever had, and in a way, maybe that was making him more of a 'sister' than she ever would be.

Mvua craned his head around her hip to look at him, not snarling so much this time, but giving him a droll stare instead. Having to 'behave' simply wasn't in the radaku's list of favorite things, and for that, Mnyiri was slipping him treats from a special little pouch on her waist. "So, what do you think about our 'cousins'? That's what we're supposed to call them, right?" She motioned vaguely towards the elaria. "I know we could use help against the Dretch but this seems a little...far fetched."  

[Painted Moose]

Cornetified

Pyrrha ll 2

The fungus was smooth to the touch, and Pyrrha couldn't help the wandering eye she gave to the surrounding colony of flora. Would there be time to explore Jauhar before they left, or would they be expelled once again immediately after discussing the Dretch? Maybe there would be time enough for just one walk, just long enough to see if there were villages of talking frogs or maybe little pixies that could live inside the giant mushrooms-

Brought out of her musings she looked up, noting Pruu passing by. She gave a light, 'dopey' smile in return. There were still a lot of...unsaid things in her family, many of which had almost prevented her from coming, but somehow, having her twin so close helped.