Closed We Are (Yuros)

[Alea Davenport]

63rd Winter, 512
Location: Jakobi's Yard

It was roughly midday, and Alea was engaged in the tedious task of pruning the slugsuckle vines which made up the fence surrounding Jakobi's yard. At least, the task was normally tedious. With her Gilding constantly trying to nibble at the exact spot she was trying to cut, it was downright annoying. It was hard enough trying to guide the vines into a fence-like position without Beast tugging at them. It didn't help that Alea was already in a bad mood.

She felt the constant tugging of an absence in her heart. She was used to Yuros leaving to visit his mother for a day or two at a time, but this time he had been gone since that huge ice storm earlier in the season. He'd been really worried when he left, and so of course Alea understood. But the longer he was gone, the more Alea felt the same loss she'd felt the first time she'd been without him, and the harder it was to understand why he had to go.

That was the hardest part of their bond. It was painful and lonely to be without each other, and yet it kept happening. And it became harder each time to pick up where they had left off. Alea was beginning to not bother to tell Yuros some things. It was too much of a jolt to lose a confidant she'd come to depend on. If they weren't going to be together constantly, well, it was better not to get used to something that might get taken away.

And yet, the idea of Alea and Yuros drifting apart was too painful, on top of which it just felt wrong. But it was also too lonely for things to stay as they were. Alea didn't know what to do. She couldn't just ask Yuros to choose between her and his mother, because then what kind of horrible person would that make Alea? It was a problem, and Alea couldn't see any way out of being miserable one way or another.

Alea was pulled from her dark musings by Beast butting her face gently with his head. The thought briefly crossed her mind that he was trying to comfort her, but she had known him too long to seriously believe that. She soon realized that he was just trying to get at some vines that her head was blocking. She couldn't imagine why he couldn't go around, or wait until she had moved on, but that was Beast for you. Finally getting fed up, she sighed loudly and pulled him away from the vines. She would probably have to restrain him if she was ever going to get any work done.

[Yuros]

Breath...

The rustle of leaves and limbs was muffled by the packed snow that filled the Spire, and Yuros felt the chilled touch of white upon his bare feet and shoulders. A smile touched his lips as he moved, pumping his arms as he leapt over a raised root, ducked a low passing brach and sidestepped the trunks of the forest. His mind raced with thoughts, feelings and other strange oddities which had never been there before. For once he SAW the snow for what it was. Small crystals of water that fell upon him and the world, truly he noticed the things in the forest with eyes that were opened to the hidden meanings. Such wonders, such strangeness that had been shown to him... All of this poured forth through the link he held with the Huntress. His guiding light, his bonded.

How long had it been since she had once more appeared within his mind anew? How long? Yuros could not say for he did not count the time in ticks or bells, but rather in passing suns and moons. For him the moons and suns that had passed were still not enough, for even now he felt... What a strange though, to feel. So... human of me...

Shaking his red-speckled head the Kelvics cast aside all thoughts and pondering, letting his mind settle once more in the state of calm nothingness as he sprinted through the woods of the Spire. The sound of his feet upon the ground was near silent, yet the biting cold reminded him that he was alive. Stretchign his legs out the Kelvic pushed his body, urging his legs to move faster as he controlled his breathing. 3 steps in, 2 steps out. Breath... Breath and remember the life of the forest, the spirit of the Trees and Grass. This... This was home.

Tearing through the trees into a clearing the Kelvic pushed his body to carry him through the hidden forest city of the Jamoura, offering a smile and wave to those he passed as he made his way to Jakobi's Yard. These creatures, the Jamoura of the Spires, before Alea had come to this place Yuros had spent little time with them, preferring to keep to his kind in the denser parts of the forest. It was not long before Yuros came upon the yard, and with a smile and chuckle he gathered the strength in the muscles of his legs. Boundign forward upon light feet the Kelvic sailed into the air, leaping up and over the vine fence that Alea was repairing and landing with a roll, returning to his feet to turn, taking deep breaths, to smile at Alea, "Huntress, I have returned."

[Alea Davenport]

Upon Yuros' unexpected appearance after such a long absence, the first emotions to well instinctively within Alea were of relief and excitement. But before she could do more than exclaim his name, those feelings were muted by the thoughts she had so recently been having. Yes he had returned, but long after she needed him, and it changed nothing.

And yet, despite her own hurt, she still cared too much about Yuros to be willing to inflict her pain on him. As she had so recently concluded, there was nothing that could be done, and so there was no reason to make him miserable as well. And so she did her best to bury her feelings, a greeted her stag with a slightly forced smile.

"It is good to see you," she said, mostly because it seemed like something that should be true. And then... she said nothing. She had spent the recent days wishing he were there to talk to, but now that he was here, she found she had nothing to say. Since she returned from Denval--or was it even before then?--she had merely been co-existing with Yuros. Feeling his presence as a comfort, feeling lost at his absence, but, not for the first time, she wondered how much they really knew about each other. The most important events of Alea's life, and he hadn't even been there. How could she share such private things with someone who wasn't even there?

After a moment of opening her mouth to speak, only to have nothing there to say, Alea turned abruptly and found a horse that needed grooming. She could at least use work to excuse her preoccupation. She secured the horse so she could groom it without it trying to move, and then fetched the tools. She lost herself in the familiar, repetitive motion of the curry combs. Trying but completely unable to forget her stag's presence. Even without looking she could feel him nearby.

[Yuros]

Yuros smiled, closing is eyes and leaning his head back as he breathed in the chilled winter air. A wave of scents filled his mind. The smell of beasts and leaves, of running water close by, and of course the scent of the Huntress who stood so close to him now. Sighing out the breath Yuros opened his eyes, walking to where Alea was working. He raised a hand to pat the hourse upon the mane, nodding slowly to what he now considered a bearable companion.

Though he be such a simple creature, I would not deny his loyalty to the Hunress.

Letting his hand fall the Kelvic turned his attention fully upon his bonded, stepping closer to rest his hand upon her shoulder. A spark of familiarity rippled through Yuros, and he pulled his hand back, brows knitting together in concern. The huntress was not her usual self. Something... Dark filled her, Yuros could tell that a strange weight held her heart entrapped. His mind tried to work out what could have happened, and he turned his gaze about the yard. The storm that had passed through had been severe, had it harmed his bonded in some way? Was there another threat that he just could not see?

His inspection of the yard brought no answers, and confusion filling his soul once more Yuros looked down at Alea, speaking to her turned back, "Is... something wrong?" A simple question, but one filled to the brim with what the Kelvic was as a whole. His desire to be with her, his loathing to see her hurt, and his unexplainable feeling that something was not right with the Huntress.

[Alea Davenport]

At Yuros' question, a bitter laugh escaped Alea's throat, quite and utterly against her will. Her first instinct was to deny it outright, but that would be an insult to Yuros and whatever it was that they still shared. And yet, she didn't know how to even begin to say what was on her mind. Where did she start? Various phrases ran through her mind, but they each sounded like such petty and selfish concerns, they weren't even worth mentioning.

She was silent for a long time as she brushed along the horse's gray flank. She tried to find a way to express what she felt to Yuros, but everything she came up with would only make things worse, so she ended up just letting her mind wander. She thought back to the early days of when she had first met Yuros. What had things been like back then? It was so easy to just be comfortable with him, without really expecting anything that wasn't there.

Alea was interrupted from her brushing when something shaped suspiciously like a horse-head bumped her lightly in the back. Suppressing a knowing smirk, she turned to see that her Gilding has pushed his way past Yuros to come bother her. "What? What do you want?" she asked, sighing in exasperation. Now that he had her attention, he suddenly went after Yuros' head, trying to take a bite out of his hair. Alea couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Okay, my hair I can understand, but Yuros' hair looks nothing like delicious hay," she said through her giggles. Another strong burst of laughter escaped her as she said, "Maybe he thinks it's apples!" Beast appeared to ignore her, concentrating all of his attention on getting a bite of the stag-man's apple-speckled hair.

That laughter had cleared her mind of the dark thoughts, and she was able to remember things without them being colored by bitterness. Yuros had become a part of her life when she started taking care of him. Their relationship as she had seen it had never been about what he could do for her, always the other way around. Things only started getting worse when that expectation changed. Alea could handle herself, had been doing so since before she met Yuros. She'd lost sight of that when he had disappeared, followed closely by most of her other friends. But there was no reason she should let old weaknesses poison what they still had.

She finally came to Yuros' rescue, grabbing Beast's muzzle and making him face her. "That's enough of that now," she said, looking him in the eyes as sternly as she could while there was still mirth struggling to escape. Then she turned her grip into a hug, pressing her face into his forehead. Thank you my friend. She let him go and shoved him off in the direction of the pasture. "Now go play somewhere else, and stop interrupting me when I'm working!" The Gilding took about two steps before deciding to munch at the grass at his feet.

Alea sighed with a smile, and caught Yuros' eye. She remembered his question and finally said, "No, no, nothing's wrong." And, for that moment at least, it was the truth. She went back to brushing the gray horse. "How was your mother?" she asked, partly to change the subject, but also out of genuine curiosity. All the kelvics she'd ever met had been young. It was hard to imagine one maturing enough to raise children.

OOCI'm backpedaling on the angst. Sorry for the emotional whiplash ^^;

[Alea Davenport]

OOCYuros retired, so I'm finishing this with a tad more work-thread-i-ness to it

Yuros was too busy being distracted by Beast to answer, so Alea went back to work.The rhythmic strokes of the brush lulled her into a dream-like state as she cleaned the mare's flank of dirt and sweat. Really, this horse wasn't as dirty as some of the others tended to be. Brushing her was really quite pleasant. When Alea moved on to the mane-comb, the mare merely shook her head once, lightly, and then stood still.

Alea wondered for a moment why it seemed like every horse in the world had better manners than Gildings. Then she chuckled to herself when she realized what a stupid question that was. She was distracted from further thoughts when her comb got stuck on a particularly ugly knot. She frowned, and focused on pulling the knot apart without pulling the mare's mane too hard. She'd learned that horses got irritable when you pulled on their manes. Not that such wisdom counted with Gildings; they were irritable when they decided to be, and their reasons were unfathomable as far as Alea could tell.

A bell later, she was finally finished grooming the mare's hair. Yuros had long-since said goodbye and left her to her work, after she pointedly teased him that he was distracting her from her job. The only tool left in the grooming box was the hoof pick. Jakobi had shown her that there was a trick to getting a horse to lift it's hoof, but so far she hadn't been able to pull it off. Being a fairly understanding boss, he understood if something was beyond her abilities, and would pick up the slack if there was something she couldn't handle, but she felt small and useless being less competent than, well, than she theoretically could be.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down. She remembered that you had to be calm for the trick to work, but she could not for the life of her remember why. Breathing wasn't helping though; she still felt as nervous and desperate to prove herself as ever. And she put her hand on the mare's front hoof, somewhere in her heart she already knew she would fail. But she tried anyway, pulling up as hard as she could.

After a few chimes of being completely ignored by the otherwise polite mare, Alea gave up, feeling dejected but not surprised. Sighing in resignation, she untied the mare from the grooming station and sent her back into the field. It was getting late, and she was tired enough that she decided to be done today. Maybe Yuros would be waiting for her at home...

[Capricious]

Alea Davenport

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Socializing	1	• If We're Not Together, Why Try?
Animal Husbandry	1	• Yuros Is Back
Skill Name	XP	• Failing to Lift a Hoof

As Yuros is retired, I will not be grading for him.

Alea, this was an interesting thread. I enjoyed seeing her work through emotions and come out on top. Not a lot to award as it was mainly mental. It's a shame this was not continued!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.