The Wood Dweller (River)

[Ciera]

Timestamp: Spring 81, 506 AV Ciera walked into the forest at the edge of Wind Reach. The morning sun was high in the sky, it looked like it was going to be a warm day considering it was almost winter. As Ciera ventured deeper into the forest the rays of sun that shone through the trees became less frequent. She had been sent here to collect wood by one of the Chiet, Ciera was a Yasi, yet to be given a class, and therefore had to do whatever chore she was given in between her classes. Still, Ciera didn't object to doing this particular job, she enjoyed being in the forest, especially this time of year purely because of the vast array of colours there. She looked around at the mix of deep green, withered brown, golden and fiery red leaves all blowing in the icy autumnal wind, she shivered and wrapped her fur cloak around her. She could feel the cold creeping in now she was far into the forest, but she carried on regardless walking on ground that looked like it had never seen sunlight. Ciera knew it was not necessary to have come this far but rare birds nested in the heart of the forest and she liked to collect their feathers. Besides, she reckoned she'd have to be gone a good few hours for anyone to start wondering where she'd got to. Ciera sat down on a slimy fallen tree trunk, in the corner of her eye she glimpsed a splash of colour in between the dead brown leaves. It was a bluebell. Amazing, she thought, how something so weak and fragile can survive here without the sun's warmth and light. A spring flower too, it had probably got here on the pelt of an animal. One patch of life on the forest floor full of dead, withered plants. She was still contemplating the matter when she heard a crunch come from behind her. She was not alone. Ciera spun around expecting to see someone else but it was only a timid deer foraging for food, who fled at the sight of Ciera. She slowed her breathing back to normal, it had been a false alarm but it had made her nervous so she left the tree trunk and went to seek out some dry wood to take back to Wind Reach. All went well and Ciera was about to start on her journey back to Wind Reach when she heard a twig crack behind her. It was probably just another deer but she turned around all the same. Ciera let out a gasp as she saw a pair of eyes staring back at her.

[River Mahican]

River Mahican River stood, stubborn as always, set in stone, staring at the girl who was looking directly into her eyes. She really hoped she wouldn't scare her away, River wasn't one of the most 'normal' looking wolves. She could see her brown fur and odd eyes-one bright green and one icy blue-reflected in the girls eyes. River had been traveling for weeks, and a short stay in the forests here seemed like a great idea. She felt at home. The winter had left most of the vegetation blurring into magnificent colours with fallen leaves swallowing the forests floor. The tree's branches flew out, like wild fingers, casting long, ever changing shadows in the sunlight. A cool breeze brushed through Rivers fur as she sat back and tilted her head to the side, taking in the girls appearance. It had been a very long time since she had came across anyone this far out. The girls eyes grew wider as she must of noticed the blood on the fur, an earlier hunt had meant she needed to clean herself up a bit. Trying not to alarm her further, River stood to her full height, and bent to clean her the blood of on a small patch of grass before returning her attention to the girl. River Mahican

[Ciera]

Timestamp: Spring 82, 506 AV A wolf was standing, deadly still glaring at her. The wolf had something unusual about it, it's eyes were two different colours one emerald green, one a piercing blue but it wasn't the eyes that spooked her, it was the way the wolf was looking at her. There was something in it's gaze, no it couldn't be? To Ciera the wolf looked like it was pleading to her not to run, there was something human in it's stare. No, thought Ciera, don't be stupid. What you may see as pleading is more likely to be hunger. The wolf had blood matted in it's brown fur, probably a good thing, in Ciera's opinion, as it meant the wolf had eaten recently. Ciera stood locked in what was turning into a staring contest between her and the brown wolf. Every cell in her body screamed at her to run but Ciera knew there was no way to outrun the wolf and to run now would be madness, the wolf would hunt her down and tear out her insides. She was the quarry. The wolf padded closer to Ciera, Ciera held her breath. Maybe if she was extremely still it would stride past her. No such luck, it stalked right up to her face and began to examine her. She felt it's warm breath on her face , it stunk of rotting flesh. Ciera tried not to gag. The wolf backed off and began to groom itself cleaning the blood from its fur. Strange, the wolf had started to act as if she was invisible but just moments ago it had been a hair length away from her face. Ciera let out a long sigh of relief as the wolf traipsed back into the thick woodland. But why had it gone, she was an easy target for the wolf and yet it had just let her go. Did predators let the occasional victim go? She'd never heard of it cases in which that had happened before but frankly she was too scared to care. All she wanted to do was leave before the wolf returned. She headed back in the direction she had come from picking up what she could salvage from the pile of once dry sticks she had dropped on the forest floor. She felt eyes burning into the back of her head. She turned her head slowly expecting to see the wolf there. But the space behind her was deserted. Then she saw a women walking towards her, there was something familiar about her but Ciera had never seen her before in her life. Or so she thought. Ciera

[River Mahican]

River Mahican River decided human contact would be good for her, it had seemed a long since she had walked on two legs and she stumbled a bit as the air became colder against her human skin. Out of habit she ran her tongue along her teeth, the long wolf canines still in place, as always. Getting dressed into her normal dress, cloak and boots she made sure all her beads and jewelry were in place and itched at the latest ink tattoo markings on her arm. Grabbing her bag she walked back towards where she had left the girl waiting, she was there trying to pick up the sticks she had dropped before in shock and as she spun around again they scattered everywhere. Sighing, River collected them in her cloak and picked up a few more as well then handed them to her. "You should be more careful, most firewood is damp this time of year, you need to keep hold of all the dry stuff you can get your hands on. Don't keep dropping it all over the place!" She smiled showing her teeth, the girl juggled the sticks in her hands almost dropping them once again when she saw Rivers wolf teeth still in place. Great, so much for a normal conversation. She thought, perhaps a normal conversation wasn't something a kelvic had with anyone else. Really River should have had a master or mistress by now. But she was waiting for the right person that she could stay by. She shifted awkwardly from foot to foot and smiled. With a closed mouth this time. "Sorry if i scared you before, i should clean up sooner after a hunt" River tried to explain again. River Mahican

[Ciera]

The woman was tall, had beautiful, long, light-brown hair that fell down to her waist and decorated herself with an array of tribal looking Jewelry. She had olive coloured skin that made Ciera's skin colour look even paler than usual when they were this close. There was something familiar about the lady, Ciera was certain she had encountered her before. Ciera gasped, shocked, the woman had startled her causing her to scatter her bundle of firewood over the soggy leaves on the forest floor. She was full of questions she wanted to ask the woman, like Why was she walking around this deep in the forest? And why was she following her? Ciera couldn't be sure that the woman had been following her but she had felt like she was being watched earlier. Maybe that was where she had seen her before, thought Ciera but she wasn't convinced there was something else. The woman spoke, interrupting her thoughts. "You should be more careful, most firewood is damp this time of year, you need to keep hold of all the dry stuff you can get your hands on. Don't keep dropping it all over the place!" She handed the wood she had managed to save from the damp back to Ciera. Ciera began to thank her but stopped when she saw the woman's eyes. They were two different colours; one a piercing blue and one emerald green, exactly like the wolf's eyes. Ciera began to back away, afraid of the strange woman. It was only now, when she was alert, that she noticed the woman's breath smelt of rotting meat. The woman smiled relieving animal fangs, Ciera shuddered. They looked razor sharp, sharp enough to rip her into bloody shreds. River stopped backing away as the woman shuffled her feet and smiled, this time keeping her fangs hidden. She spoke again, this time making sure to keep her voice kind and level. "Sorry if i scared you before, I should clean up sooner after a hunt" HuntCiera wondered what the woman ate, meat, judging by her scent but what worried her was what type of meat. Ciera hoped she didn't eat humans but she wasn't expecting much in the ways of good fortune, she hadn't exactly been lucky so far today. Ciera did her best to calm herself. If she was going to hurt you, she would have made her move by now, Ciera told herself in a desperate attempt to convince herself everything was going to be alright. She wasn't fooling anybody, least of all herself. She took a deep breath and turned to face the wolf woman. Scraping up what little courage she had left she began to speak. "What do you want with me?" She spoke with confidence but was sure wolf woman could see the fear in her eyes.

[River Mahican]

River Mahican River truly was resisting the urge to shout out something along the lines of, "I come in peace!" As the girl stood frozen under her gaze, she dropped her eyes for a split second, making sure when she looked back up her eyes were soft and friendly. But still, River could hear the acceleration of the girls breathing, and how she tried to take longer, more drawn out breaths to steady herself. Slowly she raised her chin and looked down on River the best she could, her knees shook slightly, "What do you want with me?" she asked, though her words were confident, the fear in her eyes was giving away her feelings. The girl was petrified. This was a bad idea. She should have just walked away when she had seen the girl, not stand and wait to be noticed! Without a word she took the remaining wood out of the girls arms, hitched her bag on her shoulder and began to walk, "Come on, i will take you back to the edge of the forest, we don't want you stuck out here now do we?" River spoke quietly, trying not to scare her even more... Though, she wasn't sure the girl could get any more scared. "If we walk towards the west there should be some dry wood there, its more covered by the trees." Rivers boots crunched over the leaves as they entered the western territory of the forest, the sun didn't ever reach the ground here and rain water ran between the cracked valleys of the trees bark and straight back into the ground. Much of the fallen branches were dry. When the two of them had finished collecting the wood, River found some long pampas grass to tie it together with, making her journey easier. "I guess that's all your gonna get from here at this time of year, though you have alot there to last you for a while." She began to turn away, but then remembered something else, "Don't wonder that far out into the forest again without expecting to meet the unexpected, okay?" She walked back towards the edge of the forest and turned back towards the girl when she didn't answer, "Okay?" she repeated. The girl nodded eagerly but looked like she wanted to talk to River, but she just couldn't. Sighing, River sat on the thick, entwined roots of the nearest tree. River Mahican