Goats are People Too (Pygmy)

[Dhanya]

Pygmy found it interesting that, even in the face of potential grizzly death, people would still find the time to get her clothed. Her mounting fear as Khiara slipped further behind was replaced with a moment of bleak humour. She laughed, a high and fragile sound that Van would have been able to see fear in. Pygmy tugged the tunic on, finding it difficult to get over her head with her hands shaking so badly.

She'd always wondered if she was going to die as a meal. At least she had some friends with her. Or would it have been better if she'd been alone? She felt better having them there but it wasn't like she wanted them to get eaten and if she'd been alone she might have been too scared to move was it better to die running or just go quickly and cleanly she felt guilty that Khiara was there with her and...

We're going to be alright.

Even if it was a lie and Pygmy did suspect it was a lie; it made her feel better. She almost believed him. In fact, she wanted to. She leant back into him for a moment, eyes clenched closed and thought a prayer to whoever was listening.

There was physical and verbal reassurance and then there was the giant predatory bird. She told herself she'd be good forever if the balance tilted their way just this once. Terror made her promise a lot of things that turned out not to be true but she at least meant them at the time. The Time a Handsome Man Rescued Me had a better ring than The Time I Died, anyway.

[Khiara]

Khiara almost cried out with relief as she saw the strider turn on her heel and return to them, unable to make Vsenri move another step. He stood with his feet spread apart and his head hung low, breathing in deep laboured snorts. The vantha found herself trembling, clenching her teeth together to stop them chattering as adreniline coarsed through her veins. Her gold eyes looked to Pygmy as Vanator handed her a tunic, realizing the kelvic might be more frightened than she was. Putting on a weak smile, she nodded to the girl.

"At least we weren't alone." Khiara said feebly. It sounded small even in her own ears. Vsenri nickered as Backlash nuzzled him in encouragement, finally moving forwards in a trot, tossing his head in protest. He knew they weren't entirely safe, and instinct urged him on, but it was all to easy for him to overheat here, and all to hard to keep on going. Only fear, for himself and his rider, and the safety in numbers forced him to continue. Once they were safe, the white stallion would be almost impossible to move. But that would be then, this was now. Khiara stroked his neck, leaning down and speaking vani softly to him. Words of love and thanks.

[Vanator]

With the urging of the Strider mare, Vsenri had mustered the strength to move on. As he guided Backlash next to the muscular northern horse, Vanator had given Khiara a reassuring glance, a promise in his amber-specked dark eyes that he would not leave her again. The Drykas urged Backlash into a trot, the wise Strider finding a pace that did not overtax the large Froshmarch. With every yard of grassland that passed beneath their steed's thundering hooves, the more confident Vanator became of their safety. Finally, having reached one of the many low ridges that rise from the plains, Vanator signaled Backlash to halt. They came to a stop just on the other side of the rise, high enough for the Drykas to see the dark line of the river in the distance, but low enough not to draw attention. There was no sign of the glassbeaks. Caiyha had smiled on the trio today. The sun had begun to sink into the hazy green horizon behind the distant river, painting an array of colors across the early evening sky, the whispy shreds of clouds marring the vast canvas like dark scars. "I believe we are safe now," the horseman announced as he slid from the yvas, careful to keep Pygmy in her seat. "Now, to find this caravan of yours." He held his hand up to help Pygmy down from the tall Strider. Vanator stood quiet and still for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the grasslands. He was getting his bearings, discerning the direction towards their original meeting place. Then his eyes narrowed in concentration as he studied the land in one particular direction. The luminous lines of webs became visible to him as faintly glowing smears that focused into threads buried in the tall grass. There were only a few nearby, but he believed a couple were large enough to give him access to the information he needed. Glancing over at Khiara, then back at Pygmy, he turned to walk down the low rise. "I will need your help though."

[Dhanya]

Once she was off the Strider, Van found himself momentarily embraced by Pygmy. Her grip around his waist was firm, even though her shoulders were shaking. She'd been intimidated before but never by a real monster. It had trickled down to some of her worst and best hidden fears. It wasn't just death that she was scared of, it was the manner of her passing and the idea that her friends could go the same way. She didn't know too many people in the world and in the corner of it she was in, barely more than two.

She tired to say something about how scared she was and how relieved she was that they were alright but the words stuck in her throat. They were birthed as a whine and then Pygmy was no longer by Van's side. She tripped over to Khiara, curled into her side and looking for succour, mumbling apologies that were stilted spoken syllables that made no sense. It was not difficult to grasp the gist, which was remorse over anything and everything that had brought them to that lake.

She heard Vanator ask for help but was unsure of how to give it. She looked to Khiara for guidance, golden eyes red around the edges, sniffling through the tears.

[Khiara]

Khiara didn't know when she'd started trembling, too terrified and worried to notice. As the horses slowed, she sat up slowly. Turning to scan the landscape behind them. Her breathing came as though she'd run the whole way herself and her heartbeat pounded in her ears. As Vanator spoke, she turned her bright golden eyes on him - not hearing him. Feebly, she slid off the exhaughsted white stallion, leaning against him. Her legs shook at the knees and her hands were trembling violently. The raven haired woman scarsley believed it had only been moments. The whole event felt like it had gone on forever.

Pygmy's bolt into her woke the vantha up and she blinked rapidly, focusing on the kelvic and wrapping her arms around her. Both for comfort and to give comfort. The woman looked up at Vanator, smokey wisps of violet swimming through the gold as she calmed down. A sudden protective streak grabbed her. What could Pygmy help him with that he couldnt do himself?

"What sort of help?" She asked quietly, clutching both the kelvic and her clothes to her. For all her travel and her protectiveness she was still a young woman in a strange and dangerous world. She might not display her emotions as openly as Pygmy, but she was still shaken and scared.

[Vanator]

Vanator paused, looking back at both women. At first he did not comprehend the amount of fear their flght had set upon them, even after Pygmy's strong embrace. But he saw now, as they trembled in recovery in each others arms, how terrified it had been. He turned back and approached them carefully, stretching out one had to lay on Khiara's shoulder, the other the rest at the back of Pygmy's head. "I am sorry, maybe I should not have brought you this far out. I would never have endangered you intentionally. We are safe now, I promise." As safe as one could be in the grasslands. He let his hands slip from the women, taking a few steps back. " I actually need both of you to help me. I am going to find out where your caravan is so I can safely get you back. But to do that, I will have to search the web. When I do that, my body kind of, well, goes to sleep. I need to you keep watch over me." He turned and gestured towards his buckskin Strider. "Backlash will help, she knows whats going on." Khiara and Pygmy noticed that Van often talked about and to the horse as if she were more human than animal. The Drykas paused, allowing Pygmy and Khiara to compose themselves. Daylight was quickly burning, and the only thing more terrifying than facing Cyphrus' monsters was facing them in the dark. In fact, you rarely saw them until it was too late.

[Dhanya]

Pygmy closed her eyes as Van's hand came to rest on her head. She turned to listen as he spoke.

In all honesty, she didn't know where the caravan was. They had travelled too far off her original path for her to smell it again. She nodded her head as he asked that they watch over him.

It was unlike anything she had seen before. She kept her hands wrapped around Khiara's arm.

"They are stranger than me, these Drykas." Pygmy whispered, looking up at Khiara with big, strange eyes.












((I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!))

[Khiara]

Khiara gaged Vanator for a moment, before nodding slowly. It was not something she liked - their somewhat guide completely out of it whilst they hoped no monsters sprang to the attack, but frankly the vantha didn't see any other option. The sun was setting and night time was not travelling time.

Looking down at Pygmy, she smiled a little.

"Nothing could be stranger than you my friend." The woman said, trying to ease the tension they both felt. Still, her arm closed a little tighter around the kelvic and her eyes scanned the grassland, unsure whether they wanted to be gold or violet in her worry. They shifted constantly not unlike the skylights of her home.

[Vanator]

Giving his new friends a reassuring smile, Van walked out a ways and concentrated again until the few strands of webbing, visible only to him, began to illuminate and shimmer. He sat cross-legged near one of the larger strands and began to breath deeply. Once he had calmed himself, Vanator reached down to lay his hands on the glowing strand of web, his eyes slipping shut. His body remained motionless as Van's consciousness entered Cyphrus' web. He traveled down the strand in the direction he had suspected his friend's caravan was located, guessing from the distance they had traveled, and how far Pygmy could have wandered where to start looking. He paused at certain junctures, looking for indication of the passing of a large group. A caravan would be readily identifiable, large, but smaller and slower than a moving Pavilion, yet more organized than the herds and flocks of widlife. Eventually he saw the trace of what he surmised was the caravan, having passed earlier in the day. Jumping to a smaller cross-strand, the Van's identity moved in the suspected direction of the caravan until he found another large strand. Again he traveled down it until he detected the crossing of the merchants. That information was sufficient, giving the Drykas a direction, speed and timing. He raced back to his present location, heeding the ever present dangers of lingering among the webs, and joinded his corporeal body once again. Van had been gone only about ten chimes. His eyes opened slowly, then he rose and returned to Pygmy and Khiara. "I know where they are. We had better get going." He flashed another grin as he helped Pygmy once again into Backlash's back, and climbed up to sit behind her. He watched the Vantha as she mounted the lathered Frostmarch, then led them off, the glowing globe of the Cyphrus sun setting slowly behind them.

[Tundris]

Khiara +2 Riding +2 Tracking Lore: Perils of The Sea of Grass Pygmy +3 Rhetoric +1 Observation +1 Riding Lore: When the Heart Leads, Friends Follow Vanator +2 Riding +2 Webbing Lore: Tales of a Vantha: Khiara