Welcome to Gaia! ::

The spear was stuck in the ground, its owner gone with knife in hand to look for vines to cut. Doesina stood by it, staring down at it. It usually never left Heike's side, but she found it got in the way when she was gathering vines. Some of them weren't as docile as they appeared to be and a quick swipe with a knife was easier to maneuver when there was no extra weight on your back. Specially when she was still a bit unsure about her skill in using it. Doesina thought she was doing fine with it. She herself had used a spear many times growing up. Their grandmother was quite skilled at it, all the more reason to take Heike back to Yael with her. As good as she was getting, training on your own only got you so far. You needed the wisdom and skill of someone more experienced to help you manage it, teach you the tricks of it. Doesina only knew enough to be able to wield it if she needed to, if it was her last resort. She'd never been too fond of it. If it came to close combat, she felt more confident with a short sword or dagger. Something she could easily strike in with and dodge back out. She was quick on her feet.

The sound of chatter broke into her thoughts. The Elaria looked up from the spear to see two young Shifters walking through the forest. The two Aishans were still deep in the rainforest, the canopy above them casting many shadows down on the ground, so it always seemed to be night or twilight. There must be a village nearby, in the opposite direction they had come. Normally, Doesina would have revealed herself and gone up to them to talk, but with Heike gone for an unknown amount of time, she didn't feel like risking a lecture by talking to supposed inferior beings. Taking the spear in her hand, she moved to hide behind the trunk of a tree, watching from around it out of curiosity of what they might be doing out here. They were far enough away that she couldn't hear what they were saying. They appeared to be looking for something, the two of them casting their eyes down on the ground constantly. They must be looking for food, she concluded. Small villages did have to rely on themselves more often than not.

When one suddenly pointed down at the ground, Doesina leaned forward, badly wanting to talk to them. She couldn't help how she felt towards Earthlings, no more than she could help the fact she'd been born an Elaria. She hoped her family could also help Heike with this, this prejudice against them. They all loved and lost, had the same basic needs. No one was as different from each other as they all seemed to think.

One of the Shifters, the one who had pointed, bent down to pick something up. He rose, holding something small between his fingers. The other one seemed very excited by this, waving his arms about until the first put what Doesina thought was a stone into his pocket. Than they continued on their walk, slowly disappearing out of sight, their eyes back on the ground around their feet. When they didn't return after a few more minutes, she thrust the sharp end of the spear back into the ground, using as much force as she could so it penetrated the compacted dirt. She sometimes saw Earthlings doing things like this and it reminded her of the blue-haired Shifter she had spoken to before, Maia. She'd said she did this for a living, traveling around Jauhar, looking for things to sell on the ground. Maybe that's what those two had been doing. They weren't doing enough digging for roots and there'd be more on the ground if it was dropped fruit and nuts, right?

The Elaria straightened up, giving her limbs a stretch. She looked about her on the ground, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary herself. Looking around, there were still no signs of her cousin. She shrugged, deciding this might be a good way to pass some time. Walking around the tree, she kept her eyes down on the ground as the two Shifters had done, making the circle wider and wider, using the spear stuck in the ground beside the trunk as her marker. Eventually something did catch her eye and she bent down, pulling up with her a stone with rough edges, in a dark yellow color. She held it up, moving it around until she found a small trace of light to see it shine and shimmer. Pretty. She was sure this was something important, though she'd never paid much attention to minerals and gems. Beyond her fingers, a shape was moving. Heike returning, a few long vines hanging across one shoulder. Doesina, not having any use for whatever she'd found, tossed it back on the ground for someone else to find and went to help her cousin.