Closed Where flies your arrow, dove? Where flies your heart?

[Lavira]

How could she describe it when it finally came to an end, the young woman panting into his shoulder, her body trembling and slick with sweat. Her nerves were on fire, a strange feeling when it was not associated with pain, and Vira loved it. She could not even compare Garren to what had just transpired.

His touch had been gentle, alluring, trying to draw the slightly shy Chiet out of hiding to embrace the role as lover. And he had done just that, succeeding at least twice that she could recall in the time that had passed. Their kisses had been thrilling, their touches intoxicating. Every shift seemed to draw a sigh of pleasure from her as they solidified this bond they had made in flesh. And when he finished, the teen wanted nothing more now than to fall asleep in his arms; she did not want to let him go, nudging him over onto his back and moving with him, as if his withdrawal would come too soon. He had, somehow, summoned her courage in a way no other since the accident had. Her disheartened state seemed to lift when she was with him, revealing that girl he had re-met at the archery rangers.

Yet, as she now lay atop his chest, her ear over his heart and her hands stroking lines through his hair, Vira's mind found itself drifting back to what Iosha had said.

She spoke, her words slow and carefully placed as her single orb peered through periphary at him. "Kovac...?" She whispered, shifting her hips gently, the slick feel strange but not unwelcome now. "Iosha said something to me a few days back and....and I was wondering about it." Her gaze turned away, unsure. "Is it true that you...you spread your, erm...you spread your love to many?" She was still unsure how she might react if this proved true, and how would he react, for that matter? She placed a kiss on his sternum, firm, a plea for honesty.

"She said you were hurt badly before by someone and that to protect yourself, you keep your heart close and guarded. Is that true?"

[Kovac]

It had been different. Sweeter, more sensual, on a deeper level. They had flowed together as if in practiced choreography, yet as spontaneous as a Spring rain. While Kovac had drawn out the woman he knew Vira could be, she summoned the loving man he had lost long ago. The consummation was elegant in its simplicity and honesty, long-lived as they seemed unwilling to end the precious intimacy of their first together. But physical bodies were not endless in energy, and finally, the couple, without words, relaxed into the aftermath.

Kovac lightly dragged his finger nails down Lavira's back as she lay atop him, rich with the aroma of their coupling, his scalp tingling pleasantly as her fingers combed through his thick hair. The Avora listened carefully as the girl posed her pensive question, a sharp scintillation shooting through his body as the connected woman shifted atop him. Kovac looked into her eye as she made the inquiry that he assumed would come.

His reputation was no secret. She knew several of the women he had been with. But if Lavira had spoken with Iosha, there were deeper things she would now know. The Avora hearkened back to that trip with the Konti, how he had shared his heart with her. Kovac was not upset that Io shared those thoughts with Lavira. He found it hard to get upset with the quirky Konti for anything.

A hand raised to twirl a lock of her red hair around his finger, his eyes leaving lavira's questioning gaze to look at the strands. He sighed lightly beneath her. "Well, yes. What Iosha told you was true. I have had no one for many years, though a few had thought or wished I had. You probably know I have been with many. I didn't take those lightly. They were all friends, people I cared about."

The fingers slide from the curled lock, combing it back in with the cascade of her mane. "Four years ago, I was in love. She was a glassblower. We had agreed to live together, to be together as one. Then, one day, I came home. She was in my bed with an Endal. That day, I stopped believing in love, the kind of one love that you gave to someone to the exclusion of all others. It wrecked me Vira. I hated Endals, got into a lot of trouble. I drank heavily, I abused Deks. I was a mess, I was unlovable. I wanted to be unlovable. I wanted to be disliked, to never have to deal with getting close, being hurt. I was miserable and thought I was happy in it."

"Then, one by one, people came into my life who began to show me I was not the terrible person I tried so hard to be. Shayth, Aidara, Chemar. I hated that they saw something in me worth caring about, still, I secretly longed for it. Shayth eventually kicked me out, and then the storm came. I worked down at Thunder Bay for a long time. It was a time of refreshing it seemed, even in the wreckage we worked to repair. It changed me, I guess. When I came back, I made my peace. I apologized to friends I had hurt. Then I met Iosha, and Euthisa, and they accepted me without condition. Now, I still did not believe in real love, though I love them, I am not in love with them."

"But then I met you." A small smile graced his face. "You have made me feel...well, just feel. I never wanted to take care of anyone before. I never wanted to help anyone before. I am beginning to see I don't need to sleep with everyone to show them I care." The Avora still struggled with attraction to other women, feeding that need he had nurtured for so long. But when it came to Lavira, Kovac was beginning to experience something he had thought he had killed a long time ago. "I didn't believe in love anymore. But now, well, I am not so sure." He was not ready to say the words, not yet. The mongrel was learning how to love again.

x

[Lavira]

Vira closed her eyes as he spoke, her breathing deep and even and almost alluding to that she had fallen asleep. But the fact was the girl was listening, and listening closely. He poured it out like wine from the bottle, the strong fragrance of soured grapes aged to alcoholic perfection prevalent until the young woman felt full to bursting. Her eyes opened again to stare at him, deep in thought.

It bothered her some that he had been with Aidara in that sense (or so she assumed by his words), even more when he mentioned the woman from The Dreaming Lady that he had even suggested she go see for assistance with her nightmares. She was not sure who Shayth was, but given what he said about her kicking him out, the pair must have been close. She stopped rubbing her fingers through his hair, bringing them forth to rest beneath her chin and support her head, a finger tapping thoughtfully against his sternum.

She chose her words with surprising care as she stared at him, lifting her torso up some so that it was supported by her forearms on his chest, her hair hanging around her face and neck, still slightly matted from before. "It would be idiotic of me to pretend that the men of Wind Reach did not sleep around. It holds true for many of the women as well. We are too full of passion as a race, Kovac." She moved her legs out until her knees were on the furs and toes able to gain purchase so that she could push forwards. She slid her hips off, enabling him to 'escape', so to speak, and rested higher, her hands now on either side of his face as she leaned in and placed a single kiss on his forehead. Afterwards, her own came to rest over the spot that was kissed, "And too many think that the only way to share that passion is with their bodies."

She sighed a little, moving her feet to rub at the outsides of his legs. It was a comfortable gesture, one that said so much as Vira continued considering hers (and his) words. "It's no wonder so many are born almost immediately into Dek..." This she murmured a little before going on, the obvious reference to the common incestual birth defects of Inartans. Finally, she focused on the last, nuzzling at his scruffy cheek and brushing his lips with a kiss. "Kovac, I am glad that you are seeing beyond the pain you were made to endure. I know what it is to be rejected, to see the shadow of offense in the eyes of another just because you are weakened by a single, miniscule thing. I know how hard it is to overcome it. I am glad that you found friends who could help you through this struggle you've faced, and I am grateful for the compassion you have shown me, and for your honesty." Another kiss, the teen settling back upon him a little more.

"I am glad that I have been able to help you in return, though I didn't know I was. Heh, I thought you were just being a womanizer. But I understand now. And for it, I'm glad. You're far too charming for your own good, but that charm and sly tongue can't get you through life forever. I hope you will not mind me using you as a pillar of strength in return, Kovac. I don't think I could have made it through the rest of the season until you came a-calling."

There it was. She pressed a firmer kiss onto his sternum then relaxed, laying her head on its side and closing her eyes afterwards. How could Vira possibly judge him his inadequacies when she had just as many as him? She understood the common theme of Wind Reach and her people; she understood his pain and what he thought he needed to do to make it stop. She could not ignore it, but neither could she judge it. It wouldn't have been fair. And so, with little else to do about it, Vira accepted it. These were his quirks. If he could accept her pain and deformities, she could accept his history and true nature. If that was who he wanted to be, Vira would accept it. More than that, Vira would accept him.

[Kovac]

Kovac spoke candidly, a rare occasion indeed, not faltering, even as he saw Lavira's eyes slide shut. She was listening. Lavira, of anyone, even moreso than Iosha, had the right to hear what lay deeper in the Avora's tangled heart. There was a pang of guilt as he revealed his sordid past, something he had never felt guilty of in the past. Lavira was not like the others, would she understand, condone, or resent Kovac for his philandering?

Once he had spoken his peace, his hands lifted to rest upon the small of her back as she lay atop him. Lavira did not reply in haste, her eyes opening slowly to look upon him, her features pensive. The woman laid out the framework of her response, pausing to slip forward and release him, eliciting a low hum from Kovac as the still sensitive sensation gripped him. The intimate nature of Lavira's approach, the tender kisses, resting atop him, softened what Kovac thought at first was judgements against him, and the accusation that some Inartan's can only express their passions through carnality. But Lavira shared in his pain, understanding trial and misfortune and even betrayal. She did not judge him, regardless of how she may have felt about his life. She accepted him, in spite of it.

Lavira was easy to accept, once he looked past the clouded, dead eye. She was simple and real, honest and humble, somehow both innocent and mature. He like being around her, and now he knew he wanted to be with her more, like they were at that moment.

"Thank you, Vira. I am not perfect, never will be. But around you, I don't feel like I have to be. I think we need each other. Or, at least, we are good for each other. I think we should be together quite often." Kovac offered with a little laugh, a hand sliding up her spine to stroke her hair as Lavira's head laid against his chest. The heady aroma of cooked meat drifted around the fur door, but Kovac was finding it hard to move, to let Lavira go, to lose the warmth of her skin against him. "I suppose we better eat that meat, or Tulaj will be miffed that we burnt up his catch." Kovac joked, the reluctance apparent in his voice. But Kovac knew, it had not been an awkward incident between them, but something deeper, things were different between them now, and Kovac was more than fine with that.

x

[Lavira]

When he returned his sentiments with gentle caresses and honest words, she smiled back at him, sweet and true. It was good to be wanted, to be needed; and that he wanted to be around her more was a sentiment most assuredly shared.

Vira remained in the relaxed position for a time longer, following the content thump of his heart beneath bone and sinew and smiling at the mellow cadence. She could have laid like that forever, held close by him, enjoyed by him. And for a time, she did, comforted until the smell of meat ready for the eating drifted into their little den. It was he that said they should rise, remarking on Tulaj's spite, to which Vira laughed and nodded, sliding off of him and grabbing her bryda from its neatly folded place on the floor.

She pulled it on and eyed the vinati for just a moment, eventually deciding it would not hurt to leave it where it was for now. It was sure to be removed in time again that night as they explored this new relationship more and more. Or so...she hoped. What she did fix was her feather, settling it back into its appropriate place and then exiting the lean-to ahead of him, humming under her breath.

And as she emerged, there was Tulaj, waiting, the crazy harrier glaring at the woman (if such were possible), his wings cocked and tail feathers fanned as if ready to dive her and take a chunk out of her head. "Stop looking at me like that." She muttered to the bird, wondering if he had indeed found what she'd ordered him to find. Her gaze turned to the meat then. The outside was slightly charred, but not overcooked as she pulled it from the flames and eyed it.

Except that she had no tattoos or piercings, one could almost think her a myrian for the wild hair aflame in the late afternoon light, bare from the waist up, with that glinting feather astride one side of her head and holding a pike of cooked meat in her hand. Her sharp features did not lighten in the summer haze and with little mind to how she stood or how she looked, obliviousness at its finest, she called out to him. "Dinner's ready."

So let it be served!

-----------------------------------------

The meat, while unseasoned, was delicious and re-energizing after their exertions in the afternoon and served to fuel them again that night. It was a cool night on the lake, one that saw the couple enjoying watching Leth rise over the waters and mists creep through the ferns, sharing stories and kisses, and eventually the bedrolls once again.

When dawn peeked through the flap, for the first time Vira was unwilling to get up! She found it hard to leave the warm embrace of his arms and the steadfastness of his presence behind her. But, after some woeful convincing, she finally managed to disentangle herself from him, don her clothes completely this time, and grab the shortbow and quiver full of arrows. She snuck back in to see if he still slept, the whole affair of getting ready having taken less than five chimes, gave him a kiss if he wasn't quite ready to get back up, and then slipped back out, murmuring that she was going to scout a little with Tulaj to see if anything came near the stream last night.

That done, the Chiet left him and headed back up the trail to the waterway and began tracking once again. She found where they had left off but noticed the smell of the skunk had dissipated since they'd detected it the previous day. "Hm..." She wondered silently, Tulaj resting on her sontav bound arm. "Alright boy-" She tossed the bird, letting it rise smoothly and watched him rise above the trees, circling for a moment then heading west a few wing flaps only to return overhead.

"Okay. West...what's west of here?" She looked at the trees, studying them for a moment. Most of the moss still grew on the north side of the trees, some defecting to one side or the other depending on their exposure to the sun. It helped her figure out her direction in that sense but not what could lie west. The banks they were sleeping on were east of here, so she was already heading west. Whistling for Tulaj to come back, she watched the bird descend through the trees again, holding her arm out to catch him once more. A quick treat from the bag and she studied him. He was well trained, even if he was crazy. "Alright Tulaj, what did you see?" But staring at the raptor wasn't going to reveal anything. She'd have to go a-hunting, and moving that far from camp without her partner was too dangerous right now.

So, she waited, deciding she'd continue scouting along the stream bank until Kovac caught up to her. "Fetch Kovac." She finally told the raptor, tossing him again and watching him ascend then head to the east to return to camp for her first true to heart lover.

[Kovac]

Once the couple had finally curled up together, sleep came and went. Lavira still suffered her nightmares, and Kovac rose with her to comfort and hold her, wiping away the sweat with a rag and consoling her with kisses about her head. When morning came, he vaguely he recalled his dismay as he felt Lavira slip from his embrace, then return to kiss him, yet the fog of content slumber had veiled the girl's departure. Kovac only awoke later, alone. Ducking out of the shelter, a quick survey of camp revealed nothing of the woman, aside from the absence of the bow and quiver he had given her. A slight grunt betrayed his consternation at the woman's foray alone, and the Avora quickly donned his boots and bryda and gathered his gear before heading out towards their path from the day before.

Barely past the perimeter of the camp, a screech pealed overhead, and the white harrier appeared soaring above him. Kovac raised his bow in acknowledgement, assuming the bird would lead him to Lavira. He took up a jog as he followed Tulaj east into the forest. The raptor faithfully delivered the Avora to the Chiet falconer, the sight of the petite teen among the towering trees affecting the man with greater joy than ever before. He gave her a broad smile.

"You could give a guy a kick in the ribs before running off by yourself." He teased, realizing it was kindness that motivated Lavira to let her lover sleep. A flashing wry grin confirmed his jibe, stepping up next to her. Kovac leaned in to press a kiss to her lips, finding himself unable to say anything more until he did. "Good morning Vira, thanks for letting me sleep in." He spoke more softly. "Now," Kovac's gaze lifted to the surrounding terrain, "What did Tulaj find?"

x

[Lavira]

The sweet smell of morning was enchanting, wet and wild in the nose. Earth and water, summer flowers, it was very peaceful. But this was not about peace, this was business and she had just caught sight of a fox trail leading off into the curve up the mountain when wingbeats were heard overhead and Kovac's voice came to her through the trees.

Vira turned, her brows raising and a smile curling her lips in return. "I think you did enough kicking for the both of us yesterday and last night." She teased, accepting the kiss and even one-arm hugging him afterwards. "Good morning; he found something to the west of here, up along that trail, I think." She motioned with the bow to the fox trail she had found. It wove beneath the brush clearly, passing fern and over rocks before the trees hid the rest. "He didn't alert danger, and I haven't seen any fresh tracks. We might be okay, I think, to head up that way."

Lowering the bow back to her hip, she moved away from him and studied the stream for a few chimes, pacing both sides carefully before ah-hahing and bending to pull one out of the water. It was sharp edged. "For the trees. I dunno about you, but I'd rather we don't get lost, heh." She palmed the stone and then stuck it into her vinati for safekeeping, the sharp edge pointing down and out. "Could be some summer berries too if we find a flat spot. You want to lead?"

[Kovac]

Kovac laughed and gave Lavira a wink after her jibe, giving her a squeeze when she wrapped an arm around him, careful of her healing side. He made no mention of the woman's own nocturnal thrashing, the nightmares she still suffered had stricken her during the night, and Kovac had held her until slumber took her again.

Keen eyes followed the tip of the falconer's extended bow, indicating the narrow fox trail leading away into the trees. The Avora nodded, adjusting the quiver on his back and switching the recurve bow to his left hand and drawing an arrow from the case. As Lavira turned to study the stream, Kovac laid the arrow to his bowstring, nocked, holding it there with a finger of his grip hand hooked over the shaft. He could have the weapon raised and drawn in the twinkle of an eye, if necessary.

Watching Lavira pluck the rock from the water, and tuck it into her vinati, Kovac raised an eyebrow, but did not question the purpose of the stone. "Actually, getting lost with you sounds like fun, If it wasn't for the threat of being torn apart by a raksasha or something." He grinned, stepping beside her, peering down into her cleavage at the rock, then moving towards the little path through the underbrush.

Kovac assumed his typical hunting modus operandi, a half-stalking with measured steps to reduce overt noise, hunched a bit, eyes darting from the ground to the surrounding terrain in a constant cycle. He sought any indication of prey, movement amid the stationary flora, the shift of a fern's leaf that did not jive with the course of the air, the sound of alarm from birds or small creatures. Left hand still clutched lightly to the bow's grip, arrow held in place, fingertips of his right hand touching the string around the missile's nock.

The hunters moved through the woods, keeping roughly to the fox trail, with few words between them. Suddenly, a rustle to the left lifted over the song of the forest birds, Kovac's bow instantly raised, horizontally, iron head pointed in the general direction of the disturbance as he froze in his tracks. A glimpse of a shape was revealed moving amid the trunks, concealed mostly by a fallen tree, disguising its size. It was larger than the marmot Tulaj and Lavira had bagged the day before, but the obstructions prevented the half-breed from determining if what he saw was most of a small creature, or a little of a larger one.

Kovac's gaze shifted to his newly declared lover, then to the forest canopy for signs of Tulaj. In silence, the half-breed motioned with his head for Lavira to circle to the left, then indicated that he would move right, ahead of the sighting in the direction it seemed to be moving. Another darting glance upward questioned the woman if Tulaj showed signs of seeing anything.

x

[Lavira]

Tulaj was circling the area the movement had been spotted in, his broad wings tight and his eyes fixed on the unseen presence in the shade. He did not call but every once in a while during his circlings, the bird would tuck his wings and drop a few feet before flapping to regain altitude. Vira watched this with a frown as she moved slipping as quietly as she could through the underbrush to the left as the other hunter had indicated.

Most of Tulaj's training had been in advanced hunting techniques including the albino being able to alert his handler to the types of prey he spotted that she might not be able to. What he indicated made her unsure. She came to an outcropping of grey and black granite jutting from the soil, overhangs of vines covering it. Vira reached over her shoulder to fetch an arrow and nock it, aligning the tip with her finger as she searched the shadows for what it was that had been seen. The consistent pattern made it clear enough that whatever he could see that they could not was small enough to be considered prey-material in the harrier's eyes, but too large to actually attempt. Big enough that if he dove for it, it could hurt or kill him in return. That meant a predator of some kind.

Pressing a knee into the ground, the woman raised the bow and began a slow sight down the arrow and into the shadows beyond, her single eye constantly adjusting to the variations in the light in an effort to see what was obscured.

"Come on boy...what is it..." She spotted the movement from this side then and squinted, slowly drawing the string to her cheek, its tension making the slow pull hard as she felt her side flare in distress. She was naturally right handed and though the last few years her abilities had begun to slowly migrate to the left side, this sort of thing remained favorable to the right. Her nostrils flared and she forced her mind off the pain to focus. What was it? She could see grey and some black...a bit of cream in its fur and the glinting of bared teeth. It was about the size of a dog, she thought. Way too big for Tulaj to tackle, that was for sure.

Her arm was trembling now, unused to hunting with more than just Tulaj as a tool and it took all her concentration just to keep the arrow lined up with the moving mass. That was when something brushed her shoulder and made the Chiet jerk in surprise. The string snapped forward, releasing the projectile through the old growth and into a tree several yards to the left of the creature. Sparing a glance for what had startled her, Vira saw it was nothing more than a petching moth.

The distraction wasn't going to last long for the moment after the arrow hit the tree, all hell seemed to break loose. There was a righteous snarl from the creature and a screech from Tulaj and the sound of breaking twigs and crackling leaves as whatever it was came hauling ass to where the owner of the offending missile had stopped.

Vecerem.

Wide eyed, Vira got to her feet, not bothering to get another arrow and hauled her own butt to the closest tree. SHYKESHYKESHYKESHYKE!! Vecerem were notorious for their viciousness. They were one of the few animals hunters tried to avoid because the mustelid would stop at nothing when something set off its temper. Relative to the honey badger, the grey-banded vecerem in particular was infamous for harassing wolves and even bears off of kills, claiming carcasses for its own. It was almost exclusively a burrowing animal, evicting other creatures from their dens and taking it over. Honey badgers had nothing on this bully.

"Kovac! Vecerem!" She shouted to where the Avora had slunk around to. The bow was temporarily abandoned on the ground as she reached a warped old oak, its trunk nearly as wide as she was. Her hands threw upwards to grab at the nearest branch, feet scrabbling for purchase on the craggy bark. "Shyke shyke shyke!" The slobbery snarl behind her had passed the bow and was making a mad scrabble for her lowest foot. "Petch, Kovac, get it!" Tulaj would be useless except to get himself killed in this fight, a vecerem more than capable of tearing a raptor to shreds.

[Kovac]

Kovac stalked through the underbrush, just ahead of the spot where he saw the creature. Emerald eyes darted to the left, seeing Lavira move off the fox trail as well, her bow ready. A quick glance overhead revealed Tulaj observing with a bird's eye view. The Avora knew the albino harrier and falconer worked together, the raptor well trained, but Kovac was not privy to how they communicated, other than the woman's curt commands. But the hunter suspected that Tulaj's behaviour was telling something to his mistress.

Sifting visually through the flora, Kovac sought again for signs of their potential quarry. From the corner of his eye, the partially veiled figure of the huntress disappeared, though the upper limb of her bow was spotted. Turning his attention back to his own efforts, the mongrel heard the twang of Lavira's bowstring, followed almost immediately by the solid thunk of an arrow embedding in wood. Suddenly a vicious snarl ripped through the air. Not the throaty call of a big cat, nor the deep hollow growl of a bear. The threatening sound was joined by the din of snapping twigs and tampled plants, coming from somewhere between the two hunters, and heading away from Kovac and towards Lavira.

Then Lavira's voice pealed through the air, desperate and loud. Vecerem! "Petch! Lavira! I'm coming!" Kovac called back, instantly lauching into a run, dodging trees and vaulting over the fallen tree. He growled loudly as he ran, hoping to draw the beast away from his lover. Lavira called again, a plea for him to save her. The Avora raised the bow, finger to strings as he wove through the trees, his heart pounding, his pulse deafening in his ears. If the vecerem caught her, she would already be shredded before he could stop it.

Ahead, Kovac saw Vira scramling up the tree, seeing the burly monster slavering as it strained to snag its long claws into the flesh of her scrambling legs.

"NO!!!! You petching son of a Dek, come here! come and get me you piece of shyke!" Kovac bellowed, in one fluid motion raising the bow, leveling the arrow at the attacking beast and releasing the missile. It streaked through the air, puncturing the vecerem's thick hide between its shoulder and neck. It released a coughing bark and abandoned its pursuit of the woman to turn towards the yelling man. The creature pawed helplessly, trying to reach the offending shaft, the fur around the wound already darkening with blood. But the vecerem were notoriously tenacious, and Kovac knew one arrow, if not spearing the heart or brain, would not bring down the bloody beast.

At that moment, the animal's ferocious reputation didn't matter to Kovac, saving Lavira did. That meant everything. The vecerem shook its bulky, low body before starting to a charge towards Kovac. It took a few steps for the monster to build up steam, and the skilled avora backpedaled as he reached back, drew another arrow, laid it to the string and drew again. Years of practice allowed him to aim quickly, and a second projectile was released to soar at the charging vecerem. The arrow thudded into the beast's chest, the force of the composite bow's attack causing it to falter and stagger several steps.

Kovac turned, hoping to gain some ground as the vecerem recovered, drawing it away from Lavira. He headed for a large fallen trunk, glancing back to spot the animal's progress, and to see Lavira.

x