Beasts of Prey [Miharu Mindi]

[Siiri]

The smile that broke through the Kelvic girl's lips was like the sun peeking through a break in the storm clouds and Siiri basked in its radiance. She felt that there was a sense of fleetingness in it, as if Miharu was only just beginning to learn and use the expression. It was an alien thing and Siiri would know, for the same expression had failed to touch her face or her heart as of late. But it was not unwelcomed.

“I am glad you feel that way,” she said, giving a smile of her own. “Few can make such a claim and with such confidence. Those who disagree, well, Dira take them, I say! Only the strong can survive – and thrive! - in Myri's lands.”

Sated with her meal - five sticks of random horse innards as well as half of the creature's heart (the other half Amir kept for himself, as well as the horse's member and testicles, for which he was teased about by those who saw him save the parts for later consumption) – Siiri leaned back and asked, “Tell me about yourself. Who is Miharu?” Despite sensing reservation and hesitance from the Kelvic earlier, the Myrian was straightforward with her question. In her own mind, she did not consider herself to be prying but she expected an honest answer from the pale wolf-woman, nevermind if said answer was incomplete. “Speak however much or little you feel comfortable with, but I would know of you.” She smiled once more, taking away any sting one might perceive from her words.

They were beginning to relax, much like the atmosphere throughout the rest of the camp. The fang leaders had donned off their leather breastplates and were conversing amongst themselves by the fire while their subordinates, at least those who were done with their evening meal, took to their posts around the camp's perimeter or performed mundane tasks such as force-feeding the captives to keep up their strength or cleaning up after the tigers after they've fed on the dead slavers – but only after the dead's slayers have feasted on the corpses' hearts and brains. Siiri had refused to eat the organs of her kill, stating that she did not want to sully her body with the meat of such a pathetic and weak creature.

The Myrians went about their tasks without fanfare, giving the impression that what they did, they did on a regular basis. Everyone knew their role in keeping the area safe and secure. The massive tigers were positioned in three points on the periphery of the camp, forming a triangle with the campfire at the center. Their heightened senses would prove useful in detecting any enemy or predator that strayed too close. Two warriors accompanied them, one wielding a bow, the other a melee weapon. Each would take turns standing watch until the morning light. Above, sentries manned the trees, in pairs as well. All were unseen from the ground but all knew where each pair were situated after they gave an owl's hoot to signal where they've settled. Like their counterparts at the ground, each member of a pair would take turns sleeping while the other stood watch. Any disturbance, no matter how trivial, would have them alerting their sleeping companions and the main Myrian force below.

No enemy would be able to sneak in camp tonight. Not without a fight for their life.

[Miharu Mindi]

The smile disappeared at the question of who she was, the mask sliding smoothly back into place, and she swallowed harshly as she looked away from Siiri and out over the camp.

It took her a moment to collect her thoughts, or maybe to remember all the words used by a human tongue. "I am Miharu Mindi," she began quietly, golden eyes still roaming the camp, following the movement of the sentries. "My father was Jakob Mindi of Avanthal. He was a great hunter, a snow leopard, and he taught me what he knew." Her voice had softened a little as she spoke of her father, for he'd been a good man, and loved her; her next words, though, erased any warmth or kindness. "He was bonded to... to a woman. He died. She didn't want me."

The words came out thick and rough, as if difficult to say, but her face remained a perfect blank, only the flickering of golden eyes betraying that she was more than a statue. There was more to it, much more, and that much was clear in the way she hesitated at the end, almost said it aloud and thought better of it.

"I was driven out, and I have hunted ever since. Taldera, Syliras... always I have hunted. I have met others, but..." She gave a short shake of her head. Disastrous, those encounters, serving only to drive her further from people. "I met a man in Syliras who told me of Falyndar, of the wondrous beasts to be found here. And that I might be one of the few who could find a place here," she said with a dry chuckle.

And that was it - her life was short, the first half spent in paradise, the second half spent in a lonely personal hell. But it was what it was, and she was animal enough to simply accept that and keep moving.

[Siiri]

Siiri's gaze did not leave the Miharu as she spoke briefly of her past, observing the Kelvic, watching her reaction, her expression, the tone of her voice. However much the shapeshifter tried to hide it, the Myrian knew of one hurt and haunted by past events they had no control over. The fact that she tried to hide it, appear nonchalant about it, made it all the more obvious. In that sense, they were kindred spirits. Only Siiri approached such things with burning rage rather than ice cold indifference. She never knew how to put on masks while this woman-child wore one on her face and tried so very hard to make it her own.

And she does not even know she is doing it.

The Kelvic lifespan was unfamiliar to her but Siiri guessed that it was based on their animal form. Miharu spoke of three events in her life: living and learning with her sire, being rejected or driven away by her sire's bondmate, and surviving in the world by herself. She knew of nothing other than those things and that shaped her to what she was now and colored her perception on what the world was like. She was still young.

Siiri nodded at the Kelvic to show that she understood the girl's reluctance to expound on her history and to give thanks that she said anything at all. “Falyndar is many things. Beautiful and dangerous. It takes life in so many ways, but it also gives life back in ways just as many. It is our home. Our only home. Maybe it can be yours too.” Her eyes lingered on Miharu a few moments more before she stood up and stretched, locking her fingers together and pushing them forward and up until her knuckles cracked.

“Come. It would take us ten days to reach the city. We should take our rest for the long journey tomorrow. Let us take a tree for ourselves. You do not want to sleep near the other warriors; they snore very loud,” she joked as an excuse for the girl, remembering her dislike for crowds. She led the Kelvic to a tree just within the camp's perimeter, near the largest tiger, one that belonged to Kreesha. Nodding at the two guards beside the massive feline, the Myrian dropped her pack at the tree's base. “I have a sleeping bag. If you do not have one of your own, you may use it. The night bugs are annoying here in the jungle. I will be up in the lower branches.”

She was giving Miharu space, letting her get used to her companions and surroundings. From their short conversations, she sensed the Kelvic would need time to adjust to everything around her.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu made no sound when Siiri spoke of making this place her home, but she did lift huge golden eyes to meet the Myrian woman's stare - and despite what the mask of her face might have portrayed, it was not cold indifference that lay behind them. It was simply hopelessness, utter and complete, and without hope no warmth would find its way to their surface.

She simply followed Siiri over to the tree, looping her own pack over her shoulder as she stood up. When she got there, though, she seemed unsure what to do. She stared up at the tree a moment, but the confusion that dented her brow showed that she'd never climbed a tree in her life, and wasn't even sure how to go about it.

"Um," she said quietly, lip curling a little at sleeping on something so far from the solid earth. What if she twitched in her sleep and fell out? What if the branch broke? In the end, though, she just sighed a little, and pulled a thin blanket out of her pack before throwing it down beside Siiri's. She wrestled it around her shoulders, and then grabbed onto one of the lower branches and started to drag herself up.

She planted both hands on the branch and jumped up, strong arms hauling her up to waist-level. And then she teetered against it, had no idea what she was supposed to do about balancing herself, and tipped slowly backwards. She gave a sharp yelp of alarm, fingernails scrabbling against the bark as she tried to keep herself on the branch, and then tumbled down to land flat on her back at Siiri's feet. She stared dazedly up, coughing as she tried to get her lungs to work again, and just sort of... laid there a moment. "Shyke," she finally whispered, blinking up at Siiri.

[Siiri]

Her lips worked but Siiri did her best not to utter a sound or even crack a smile. Miharu's antics amused her but she thought better of possibly giving insult by laughing. Instead she leaned down and offered her hand to the Kelvic.

“Same thing happened to me first time I tried it,” she commented. “Except I landed on mud rather than soft earth.

“We can sleep on the ground if it will make you more comfortable,” Siiri continued, not mentioning the fact that what she initially meant was that the one who would be doing the sleeping on the tree branches would be her. She pull the bedroll from her pack and spread it on the ground. A blanket followed it soon after. “This should be large enough for us to share, but you can sleep in your wolf form if you prefer. Just do not wander off camp in that form or the archers might mistake you for an intruder.” She pointed at one of the hiding spots of the other Myrians up in the trees, then at the tigers and their human companions.

“We need not worry about taking turns for watch this night. The sentries will be more than enough.”

[Miharu Mindi]

She took Siiri's hand and hauled herself to her feet, and by the time she regained her balance it occurred to her that she wasn't supposed to have tried climbing the tree. Spots of red flared high on pale cheekbones, and then she flushed pink to the tip of her nose.

"I... thank you," she said, fury in her voice, though more at herself, embarrassment at her own idiocy, but this woman was being kind to her even in her stupidity, and it shamed her a little into letting the mask slip. There was something vulnerable, now, in the creases around her eyes, something that confirmed the youth that Siiri suspected. Only just now two years old, and that wasn't near enough to prepare her for the world. "If you don't mind," she said humbly, eyes gliding over the floor of the clearing as Siiri laid out the bedding.

When it was finished, she waited for the Myrian woman to settled herself, and then she simply curled up on the bottom part of the blanket near Siiri's feet with her own think blanket still looped around her shoulders. She shifted a few times, like a restless pup trying to find the perfect spot, until she finally settled in a little ball, forehead perfectly fitted to the curve of Siiri's ankle with her pale nose tucked against her brown calf.

[Siiri]

She remained motionless as she felt the Kelvic shift restlessly around her feet in her quest to find the most comfortable pose for sleep. The girl finally settled down, nesting her forehead against the Myrian's ankle. Siiri leaned up to peek and found the girl curved into a ball by her boots. There was something tender and protective about the pose that reminded her of the riamm she had when she was younger, when the little puffball would lie flat on the top of her head and latch its little paws on her hair whenever it rained.

Siiri shook her head at the memory the Kelvic invoked. As she settled back down and closed her eyes, a faint trace of a smile touched her lips. The last image she saw in her mind's eye before she drifted off to sleep was a similar expression that lit up Miharu's face earlier.

---------------------o--------------------

She woke up the same time she always did, two bells before the break of dawn. Miharu was still curled at the base of her feet as if she hardly moved at all. Siiri slowly pulled herself off the from the Kelvic so as not to disturb her rest. She covered the girl up with her blanket to keep her warm from the chill wind that blew down from the Northern Pass at night.

The camp was quiet, hardly moving. Apart from the usual noises made by nocturnal insects, and a few faint croaks of distant frogs, no other sound could be heard. The sentries were still up, albeit a different set this time. It had been a peaceful night.

A familiar face up in the trees caught Siiri's attention. Garou flashed one of his crazy grins at her again as he saw her turn his way. He was working his knife on what seemed to be a long and thick rope but turned out to be a fat, dead snake. “Breakfast,” he mouthed at her as he skinned the serpent. He worked fast, even in his awkward position. Or perhaps it was his natural position. The man was hanging upside down from a thick branch again.

As soon as he was done, Garou swung backwards and tucked his knees to his chest, flipping rightside up and landing lightly on his feet. He nodded at the still slumbering form of Miharu. “Looks like the wolf girl likes ye. Keeping her as a pet?”

Siiri grinned but shrugged. “She's her own person. Creatures like her decide their own fates.” Taking the limp serpent from the man's hand, she carved off two thick strips of flesh with her dagger. Blood still dripping from the meat, she popped one in her mouth to chew on. The other she hanged off her belt to give Miharu once she woke up.

“Ready the fang. Kreesha's is already up. We'll be moving at first light.”

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu awoke immediately when Siiri moved, unused to sharing a bed with anyone, and was careful to keep her breathing even and her muscles still while she muddled her way out of sleep and tried to remember where she was. Once she did, she kept quiet to hear what might be said of her, and sharp ears picked up their comments.

She waited a few more moments before stirring, and then stretched mightily as she rolled over onto her back and looked up at the canopy of the tree. No chill touched her body, for she was used to the high, cold winds of Taldera, and the evening breeze here felt good against human skin.

She finally sat up, dirty blond curls tumbling over her shoulders and down to her waist, and immediately shoved them out of her face. "Morning already?" she said, and then bounded up to her feet. She immediately folded all the blankets, separating Siiri's from her own, and packed both of them away in the proper bags before jogging over to the Myrian woman's side.

Amber eyes stared unabashedly at Garou, and her nostrils flared a little as she identified him by his scent. "I don't suppose there's anywhere near enough for a bath?" she asked, a little wistfully, for it'd been too long since she'd trusted any source of water as safe enough for such things - but perhaps these natives would know.

[Siiri]

“A…bath?” Siiri and Garou said in unison. Both looked at Miharu, their expressions as if the Kelvic had just said something completely alien to them, and then turned at each other before sniffing the air as if trying to catch a scent that wasn’t there. Their actions were simultaneous, each one’s movement a chain to mirror that of the other. Garou broke it by pointing his lips at his fang leader.

“What?” Siiri asked, puzzlement and surprise in her tone.

The male warrior cackled. “Wolf girl thinks ye stink and should bathe,” he said in common for the benefit of the Kelvic. He cackled once more, coughed and spat a thick wad of phlegm and saliva on to the side.

“I do not!” came the indignant reply.

“Take a closer look at yerself, girlie.”

Siiri did and, realizing the man was right, flushed a deep red beneath her tan skin. After all the excitement the previous day, she forgot to take time to clean herself up. While most Myrians did not when they were in the field, oftentimes covering themselves up in mud or even animal scat to mask their scent from predators and prey alike, Siiri was vain enough to always clean up whenever such camouflage was not needed. So tired was she the day before that she had neglected her ablutions. And, if her appearance was any indication, Siiri was in dire need of such now. The blood of the slavers still stained her clothes; it coated her skin with reddish-brown powder and caused the stray strands from her braids to clump together, forming stiff knots in her cornrows. Bits of dried leaves and loose earth glued themselves on patches where the blood had been thickest, cemented there when it dried while she was sleeping. Siiri tried to scratch off the dried blood that caked her skin but the flakes only stuck themselves underneath her fingernails.

With a resigned sigh, she turned to Miharu. “A bath then. We have time enough to soak ourselves before we move to Taloba. Where’s the nearest stream around here?” she asked Garou.

The veteran scout gave them directions to a shallow stream whose waters had flowed down from the mountains of Kalea, one that wound around the jungle before emptying out into the Basin. It was only several hundred yards away, quite close to the camp that they could take their time before getting back. “I have the girls go with ye,” he offered. Siiri was about to thank him for the thoughtful gesture when, with mock haughtiness, Garou pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger before marching off with exaggerated precision.

“Oh, ha, ha, laugh it up,” she called at the retreating man. Picking up a small stone, she aimed it perfectly to hit him on the head. Garou shifted to the left at the last instant, neatly dodging the meager missile. Siiri just shook her head at her fangmate. She would swear the man had eyes on the back of his head.

“Come, we go,” Siiri beckoned at her pale-skinned companion. She pulled out the strip of meat from her belt and offered it to the girl. “Snake? It’s good meat.”

She considered the Kelvic. Miharu had been reserved and guarded the night previous, her answers to Siiri’s questions clipped and concise. Perhaps it was the presence of so many Myrians around her, a people not known for their hospitality. Or perhaps it was the tigers, natural predators of wolves. Hopefully, the more private setting might encourage the girl to lower her defenses and reveal bits more of her true self. At the very least, it would give Siiri the chance to observe the shapeshifter further.

As they made their way to the stream, silent shadows in the trees accompanied them every step of the way.

[Miharu Mindi]

"Oh, I didn't mean you!" Miharu said as she realized how they were taking her comments, and she flushed pink once more, at almost the same time Siiri did. But then Garou was harassing his Fang leader, and she felt suddenly awkward trying to explain herself in the midst of pack business. So she just blushed quietly and waited for Garou to leave - and if she glared at him a little through her lashes, she at least kept quiet while they worked it out. For all the welcome she'd been given, she was still a guest here.

She took the meat when offered, though, and nodded her thanks as she padded along just behind Siiri's shoulder. Once the trees closed in behind them, she glanced at her from the corners of her eyes. "I didn't mean you," she said again, more quietly this time as she swallowed the first mouthful of snake meat and popped the rest of it in her mouth. "I just... human skin, it... sweats, and blood cakes on and won't rub off, and it's not like I can lick it off. It always feels itchy," she sighed, as if being in human form were the worst kind of annoyance. "It's worse here, where I sweat all the time," she murmured as golden eyes darted up to the trees.

She was talking more, at least, now that they were away from the camp. It wasn't so much that she was intimidated or shy in front of the other Myrians - it was that Siiri was the alpha of her pack, and it wouldn't do to prattle on at her while her packmates were there, listening and possibly becoming angry that their leader was sharing things with an outsider. Pack dynamics were complicated and delicate things, for all that the rule of the alpha was absolute, and she didn't want to cause problems. But here, with no eyes on them but their guards, she felt much more comfortable taking up Siiri's time and attention.

Once her hands were free again, and she could no longer feel the presence of the Myrian camp as a weight pressing against her sense, she immediately began struggling out of the blouse. As she pulled it up, the necklace that'd been hidden beneath it tumbled between her breasts, and the tarnished silver ring bounced once against the smooth plain of her stomach and then settled. It took her a moment of struggle with the tight clothing, but she finally yanked it off over her head; she heaved a sigh of relief as the cool morning breeze tickled against her skin, and she let the shirt dangle from her fingertips.

"It's beautiful here, though," she murmured, peering around once more, noticeably more comfortable when they were alone and she was able to get rid of the stifling clothing. "I'm starting to sort out the smells of it. I'm used to pine sap and snow and berries - here I don't know what it is that's assaulting my nose. Those creatures," she said, tipping her head back towards the camp and it's bevy of tigers, "they smell like predators. I don't think I've ever smelled one before, besides humans." A wry smile twisted her lips as she glanced at Siiri again, at once both shy and self-deprecating. "I've gotten used to being at the top of the food chain, I suppose," she chuckled.