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 Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:56 am
Humidity was always at it's highest after the rain. There was a light fog dusting the ground that Kahukura walked through giving the ominous lands of Yael an almost ethereal look. Porous earth squished between her toes, but the young teen had long grown used to the muck. If anything it was a welcomed sign; the fog kept her hidden and the rain covered her scent. Any predators in the surrounding would have a harder time snatching her up, while any passerby's on two feet would hopefully leave her alone.
Eventually she came to stand at the base of a dark, gnarled tree whose roots sprang from the earth like nightmarish claws. To an outsider it might have looked like a demon itself, but to Kura it was something else entirely. When she bent down to reach under one of the exposed roots the teenager pulled a leather satchel from a hidden hidey hole and opened it to a reveal a gaggle of items. Looking over her shoulder didn't mean much with the mist, but it gave her enough security to pull a bit of crystal from a satchel on her waist and add it to the bigger collection.
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Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:20 am
Nayyara wandered aimlessly through the mists, amazed at the energy that the forest put off. She spent a lot of time considering this world as she traveled across it with her mother. Was this the land that her aunt spoke of fondly when the days were slow? Sure, it reminded her a bit of the Menehune swamps, but the coloring and the fog was something else entirely. No wonder Pyrrha fell in love with the land.
She had a little bit of time to kill as her mother began to set up camp, so Nayyara explored the landscape while leaving little markers to ensure she didn't lose her path. The young Elaria stood out against the land, so she wanted to ensure she didn't get into any trouble. This trip was just as much of a test as it was a history lesson - if she did well, she'd prove she was ready to take on the title of blade.
Suddenly, the Elaria caught the sight of footsteps in the muck. It was hard to tell, but the indents looked to be bipedal, which meant she was near an Earthling or even an Aishan.
The young girl was curious enough to follow the path slowly, her antennae twitching as she tried to catch sounds of anything in the fog.
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Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:51 am
Something felt off.
Maybe she was just being paranoid, as Kura was prone to be, but the natural noises around her held something else. It was just faint enough that if she hadn't been on edge anyway she may not have caught anything, but as it was....
Kahukura quickly shoved her goods back underneath the roots of the grand tree. As quietly as possible she rounded the tree, sneaking around to it's backside with her body pressed as low to the ground as she could. When nothing immediately sprang out at her she looked up above her to the branches and without a second thought, Kura started to climb.
She didn't get far; just high enough to be out of the strike zone, but low enough that if anyone looked up she would have been seen. Slowly, she drew a slingshot out of her side satchel and loaded it with a...piece of dried jerky. She hadn't prepared for this as well as she should have.
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Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:00 am
Nayyara slowly entered the clearing before the tree, pausing as her antennae twitched. Her emerald eyes looked around slowly as the mist seemed to part for the large tree, and she glanced up to appreciate the strange shape. It looked like a monster, and had the mist been thicker, she might have spooked. Instead, she let herself smile playfully before looking back to where she was tracking.
It seemed as if the sloppy steps went to the base of the tree before going around. Biting her lip, the young Elidae wondered if it was smart to go much further. She could almost hear her mother's call ringing in her ears to head back.
The girl sighed heavily and shook her half-shaved dreads. Tilting her head to the side, her eyes looked back up to the tree through her lashes as she smiled again before beginning to mumble under her breath.
"Right, maybe this tree needs some sort of offering? It looks like a guardian of the woods...what would Aunty Rah do?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:24 pm
At first Kura hadn't hadn't been able to make out anything more than a vague shape. The height alone let her know it wasn't an earthling, which made her think a sister had come out to investigate, but....Leaning forward, she squinted as if the figure making it's way closer wasn't actually real.
She had all the physical characteristics of an Elaria, but the coloring was all wrong. Her skin was the palest Kura had ever seen, even in comparison to the yaeli! Papa's stories of evil spirits cropped up in her mind's eye, and for a moment the hybrid leaned a little further back into the branches.
Of course she stilled the moment those green eyes turned her way. At least, she'd thought the girl was looking at her. Lack of an immediate attack gave her pause, but it did nothing to stall the near frantic way her heart was beating.
Offerings? And an Aunt? What sort of evil spirit had an Aunt?
In her attempt to hide the hand holding onto her slingshot loosened it's grip and no matter how fast she moved to grab it her weapon fell to the ground, right by the stranger's feet.
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:45 am
The falling item startled the girl, and a gasp escaped her lips as she stepped back. For a second, she truly believed what her aunt often taught her, that spirits resided in the woods, before she looked down and realized that the item that fell wasn't entirely natural made.
"Esnea's roots.." she murmured as she bent down to pick up the slingshot, before her eyes snapped up again to look into the branches, "Show yourself!"
Her voice was strong, but she felt her hand quiver a bit as she held the slingshot and moved a few steps back to be out of ambush range.
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:47 am
Kahukura was the epitome of regret and outright panic.
She tried her best to press her spine against the tree itself, even going so far as to move her arms so that they blended better with the branches in the vague hope that her screw up wouldn't come back to haunt her. She should have known better.
Swallowing back a nervous shake, Kahukura steeled her nerves and slowly picked her way out of hiding. There was no way she could stay hidden any longer, but that didn't mean she was particularly pleased about it. Her anxiousness showed itself with a scowl, making her look much firmer than she actually was, and eventually the hybrid settled on a low hanging branch a moment before dropping down to the ground.
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 9:26 am
Nayyara felt herself tense as she heard the branches give, a small groan of resistance as weight moved down from the grip of the tree. The mist seemed to want to shroud Kahukura for a long moment before she finally landed, and for that split second Nayyara's scowl deepened before she realized what she was looking at.
"Oh...OH!" she gasped out, letting her tense muscles release and her scowl shifted to a confused blink, "You're Aishan?"
Tilting her head to the side, the prentice studied the girl in front of her, quickly catching on that Kahukura wasn't quite the same as she.
"Are you...of Zinris?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 1:09 pm
The juxtaposition to the lighter aishan and the ominous setting around her wasn't lost on Kahukura. Now that she was closer it just made the other teen seem all the more off. Without her weapon to fiddle with the teenager brought her right arm up and clutched at her left arm awkwardly. Her mother may have raised her to be as 'intimidating as a rampaging limbara', but Kura was far from it.
Oh? Was that...a good thing or something bad? "As are you." She answered quietly. At least she didn't look as stern now, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Curiosity could do just as much damage, if not more, than anger.
Instead of answering with her voice Kahukura nodded 'yes', paused, and then shook her head 'no', then paused again and raised her hand in a sort of 'maybe' fashion. She was from Zinris, but not all of her. "Are you a spirit?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 1:13 pm
The young girl watched Kahukura with fascination - this was possibly the first time she saw a hybrid before. That's what the girl had to be, based on the way her eyes looked. How was it possible to have Earthling eyes in that color? If she had to guess, the hybrid must have been part Elaria and part Yaeli, the skittish locals who she observed on her skip from Kahikina.
How utterly fascinating.
"A spirit?" She was cut out of her thoughts at the question and shook her head with wide eyes, "Oh no, not at all. I'm an Elidae...from Kahikina - Kiros actually. I'm visiting Zinris with my mother to give our thanks to the great mother tree..."
Pausing, Nayyara realized she had the weapon in her hands and gasped a moment, "Oh, this is yours!" Before she stepped closer and offered it out to the hybrid before her.
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Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 1:24 pm
"OH." Now it was Kahukura's turn to widen her eyes. She'd heard of the Kahikina from time to time, but she would have never thought that the locals would look any different from the Elaria. Which, in all honesty, was just silly; the Elaria had changed after blooming on Yael so why wouldn't the Elidae?
Still, the realization did little to quell her awkwardness and the young teen's cheeks darkened a husky grey.
"Thanks..." Kura hesitated at first before hurriedly taking her slingshot back. "Sorry I dropped it. If you were a real enemy I would be in trouble." Now that she had something to mess with the hybrid untangle her arms and picked at the strings. "Was it a long trip? Coming here from Kiros, I mean."
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 1:06 pm
Nayyara smiled brightly at Kahukura as she took the slingshot back, before clasping her hands behind her lower back with a little bit of a rock in her posture. She was very casual in her non-verbal posture now, content to just enjoy the moment with the new Aishan before her. Even the mist that swirled around them seemed to be more of a protective blanket, allowing them a moment alone in this big world.
"Psh, if I were a real enemy, you'd have heard me from a mile away!" Giggling a moment, she watched the hybrid work on the equipment as she answered her question.
"Oh yes, we have to travel across the marshes of Kahikina before getting on a ship to sail to Yael. Then we have to travel through the Earthling territories before we can get to the other side of the island. It's such a long trip...but my mother says that it's nothing compared to our next stops to see Aisha and Azehra on the mainlands..."
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 1:23 pm
This was...admittedly a lot nicer than Kahukura had initially expected. She'd been braced for the worst possible outcome so anything by comparison was a relief. "Sometimes the ones that want to hurt you are the quietest." It was more than a little ominous, but appropriate given their location.
Marshes, ships, earthling territories....That all sounded so big. Kahukura stressed just going into Pajore so she couldn't imagine making a trip like that. "So you're really going to see Aisha?" The way she said it had a little wistful edge, almost as if she hadn't truly believed the other when she'd mentioned it at first. "And Azehra...she's on...Belrea? Right? That's such a long way."
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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 11:58 am
Sure, the quiet ones were dangerous, but Nayyara knew they had the advantage as Aishan-blessed children. They were bred to be stronger, wiser, and smarter, and had the antennae to better hear and sense when danger was around the corner.
But she kept quiet, a little uncertain about the darker tones the other gave of. She wasn't the most optimistic of sisters, and reminded Nayyara a little of her grandmother. Quiet, sullen, reserved. Someone who needed a bit more patience when interacting.
So when the other asked about her trips, Nayyara jumped onto the more upbeat, safe, topic.
"Oh yes. I've wanted to visit all the trees since I could walk. I've only gotten old enough to be able to take the trip...and even then I need to do it with my mother as a chaperone." Her voice was a little bitter, but she still laughed it off.
"Yep, Aisha is across the mainland, and then I get to travel on airships to Belrea. I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to see the earthlings there...but I'm secretly hoping I could meet a few on my trip. Meeting the Kahikinans was such a blast!"
Trailing off, Nayyara moved a little closer, "I've only ever seen my tree...so I'm a bit nervous...do you live in Zinris? Could you tell me what the sisters there are like?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:09 pm
Kahukura couldn't say that she felt the same. She had absolutely no intention of ever going to see any of the other trees, but hearing about them...that was different. As much as the thought of being on a crowded ship and milling through port cities unnerved her listening to tales of faraway lands was just as fulfilling as the act itself. Airships, Kahikinans...It was all just words she'd heard in passing, but this girl was living it...
"Does your mother look like you?" It was rude to ask, and honestly she should have thought it over before blurting the question out. Still, she couldn't help it! It wasn't everyday she saw an Aishan that wasn't at least marginally like herself.
"I don't live in Zinris, but I live close." She wasn't about to say where exactly. "I think...they might like you better than they like me." Maybe not, considering she was the product of a stolen seed, but they seemed much more likely to gloss over that. "Uhm, that is, they're strong, very tough and a little stern sometimes."
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