Whether to Weather the Weather: part 2 (Alori)

[Lavira]

Wait.

The very thought was appalling to her as sour memories of the pit were brought back. Bells of laying alone at the bottom of it had been spent, the then Chiet drifting between excruciating consciousness and bizarre dreams in unconsciousness. And then, when Iosha had finally arrived as evening descended onto the pit, she had had to share her misery with the Healer as three days were spent in that wretched place, her suffering ceaseless. In the cave she now shared with Mohya and Alori, the young Endal shuddered and wrapped her arms around her, hands clasping elbows and eyes tightly shutting for a moment. At least, until the other huntress spoke to her again, asking what she talked about on hunts.

"Huh? Oh, uhm...not much actually. I-" Vira tried to smile at her colleague but found it difficult to this time as she hunkered against the great bird that took up so much of the cave. "-To be honest, this is only my second real hunting experience. The first one was with, er, Kovac. I've done some small-game hunts with my harrier, Tulaj, but those were always by myself and Tulaj never really talked back, heh." The teen was embarrassed as she turned her head away and looked upon the ground near the entrance. "It's like they just lost faith in me after the accident. Maybe they thought my inability to see on one side was too much of a handicap for them, that I was a liability or something, I don't know. And now it's just...just expected of me. I'm a terrible shot, Alori, honest. Maybe not so much when I was a Yasi, but now, I'm horrible."

She gestured with her hands as she spoke, maneuvering them in such a way to emphasize her speech. "My depth perception is nil; I know you're a couple body lengths away but the exact distance? I can't tell. It's hard to aim because of that and that I try to compensate for that side by aiming more to the other and it never works." She trailed off on the woe-me topic in an effort to get back to the question at hand, sighing and shifting her feet uncomfortably. "But uhm, I guess if I had something to talk about it would be tracking. I like tracking things as much as I do working with the birds. But then, work has always kept me focused and distracted from...other things."

A particularly intense downburst outside sent a spray of ice and debris into the cave that pulled at the wind eagles feathers and extinguished the fire completely. Ice that had layered on the stone outside cracked under the force and finally broke up until a sizable chunk from the ledge was shoved into the cave, slipping and sliding across the cold flooring until it came to rest over where the fire had been. It had a blue and grey quality to it, though one side had been darkened by exposure to the stone.

"Aww come on, can't we catch a break?" Vira grumbled once the wind eased off again. She moved to where the fire had been and kicked the chunk of ice away so that it slid towards Alori and the moist wood she'd managed to gather which had been blown in as well. The teen stood there scowling at the coals, continuing to grumble a little. This really sucked...What were they supposed to do cooped up in this cave? Vira turned to Mohya, asking aloud of the bird, "Is there any way you can fly in this? The rain's let up, Mohya, maybe we can get back to the city b-" But the raptor cut her off, speaking to both girls through their minds.

~No, girls, the temperature higher up will be more than even I can stand and low flight will be impossible with the rains. You will both freeze before we could reach the city.~

This alone quenched any hopes they might have had of getting back to Wind Reach today and with it, the teen sighed in discouragement. "Well petch..." She went to the ice chunk and gave it another kick, this time skidding all the way to the back of the cave and cracking into several smaller pieces, one perfectly circular and the others in various other shapes, including at least two rectangles.

For whatever reason, as the young woman looked at this, she began to giggle, and then laugh as she peered up to Alori. "Hey did you ever play skeet when you were a Yasi? I used to love playing it over near the Lookout. Me and some old friends back then would take icicles off the cave-eaves from the ranges and use them as sticks and then two others would use some scrub brooms from the Dek storages. We'd play it up hill on these paths and shove it towards the circles we painted with blood from the processing center. It was tons of fun. If it weren't for the rain, we could totally play out there on the ledge."

[Alori Sai]

Alori was starting to feel closer to the Chiet turned Endal more and more as the time passed. She had found the one huntress in all of the city who knew what it was like to hunt alone with nothing but a falcon as her second. It wasn't easy, and being alone all the time was bothersome. Plus, without a mentor she missed out on a lot of tips that could have gotten her through harder times a lot easier. They both had reasons, different faults that had held them back in the past, but they continued on with hope.

The little huntress had noticed the woman's eye a season ago, but didn't ask about it. From what she thought and had heard, such an injury would have one labeled a dek then and there, but somehow Lavira was able to become a Chiet. She was inspiring and above that she was a generous and kind hearted woman. "I know what you mean. I love Skye, but he isn't much help during a hunt. I mean..he just flies off and gets his own food and comes back when he misses me. I'm happy he's learned to get his own food but, I like it when we do it together."

She hadn't asked, but she had wondered how the new Endal hunted with one eye. Her aim had to be affected by that fact, and as hard as it was to get an aim while riding an eagle, it had to be nearly impossible for her to pull off. Tracking seemed to be a better suited skill because she wouldn't have to rely so much on her sight to get the job done. "Okay, that's..nice. So it's hard right? What's the hardest thing you've had to track?" To her credit, she had learning to better track, though the faster and smaller animals were harder to follow.

Alori shivered at the downpour and hugged her shoulders while she looked around for more wood, or anything that might burn long enough to give them more warmth. Hazel eyes lowered to the icy chunk that Lavira kicked towards her and the teen eyed her friend curiously. "We are so screwed, this might not let up for days." This wasn't a situation that she wanted to be in, being trapped in the forest in the freezing cold again.

The teen was hopeful when Lavira asked Mohya if they could fly yet and then those hopes were dosed just as they came by the wind eagle. Sighing sat back down and checked the dam wood and stalks that might still be useful. She looked up quickly when the teen started to stump and kick more ice around. "Oh right, yea I remember playing that. That was a lot of fun. Did you ever try climbing the wall? That was fun too."

x

[Lavira]

The bitterness of the wind took a sudden break as the two girls chatted. The temperature rose a couple of degrees (though the steady rain still fell, tiny flecks of ice methodically building more and more and creeping further and further into the cave as the layer grew). With the ceasing of the wind came the end of the soft tinkling of the icicles that hung heavy from the cave entrances ceiling. They did not glint as beautifully as they could have, had the sun been out, but they were still a charming addition to the otherwise stark and drab cave.

The ceasure of the wind did make Vira smile some and shift against Mohya's warmth as she chatted on with Alori. "Haha, Tulaj's not much better, to be honest. He's an ornery git who's just as apt to bite me as he is to bite a prey. He's a very weird harrier, heh." The topic shifted to tracking and Vira brightened some. "Well, it's a lot easier than firing a bow, actually. It can help if you know what you're looking for so there's a lot of memorization and studying involved, but oftentimes it's purely situational. You saw how I was bending and studying the ground and brush a lot, right? Well, I was looking at the different signs. I already knew there were elk around, following the tracks and watching for other things like scat and tree-markings helps to identify if it's the right animal you're looking for. It can also help you idtentify something you may not want to be following...like a bear....which I hadn't seen any markings for. I can teach you some of the basics, some time if you want!"

Her attention drifted to the beat of the rain, head leaning some against Mohya's body and smiling at the cadence. It was, for all its unwelcomeness, very soothing and might have been more enjoyable had she not been freezing so much.

But their chit chat continued. "The Edge? Haha, haven't we all? I was doing it in spring with Aidara. I used to do the lower portion a lot when I was younger, but after aging out of Yasi, I didn't really have enough time to manage it. I go when I can and want to go again, now that I can afford some gear, but will wait until spring, probably. Too dangerous otherwise."

OOCWanna skip us ahead some? Maybe come up with something fun for them to do instead of sit and chat in the cave xD It's still near morning right now, afterall

[Alori Sai]

"We should do it again, maybe we could try it together?"

Alori was feeling better about the turn of the trip, and she and the young Endal were becoming closer, or at least making up from the earlier fight. Lavira offered to teach her about tracking and the Avora decided that in turn, she would help her friend get better with her bow. It gave her hope of more friendly visits and somewhere in the middle of it all, she would get them out to shop and maybe even dance. She smiled to herself about tracking bears, given one had snuck up on them before and chased them away.

"Do you think we're the only one's out there far? Or up this high?"

She wondered, but the teen did know the answer. Inartan weren't known for caution and just as the two of them had ran out into the storm head first, so did many others. They were now trapped too, but what their conditions were, and where they were was hard to say. "So did you always spend all your time with Endal? What Avora's aren't good enough?" it was a silly thing to say, but after Lavira mentioned Aidara she froze up.

They had left things unfinished and in a bad way. For a normal no body Avora and an Elect Endal, this meant nothing. But for a girl who had saw Aidara as a mentor and a friend, it was still hard to take. She would never know how it could have been, or what would have become of them if things had worked out. The teen quickly pushed the thoughts from her mind, seeing no reason to dwell on it, even though she was doing just that.

"So how many boyfriends have you had? How many..guys?"

Alori was fishing and they both knew it, but what else was she going to talk about. She really wanted to stay off serious subjects and keep the mood light. Their girl talk continued, and she would chit chat until Lavira was tired of hearing her voice. "How do you deal when you're stressing? What helps to calm you down?" They talked on and off for a while until the eventual silence took hold again.

The little huntress thought she might fall asleep during this time, but she found that she couldn't in the end. Time passed and she could only guess at what the time actually was. One thing she did know was that she was getting really hungry, and her stomach was growling. "Hey, you doing ok? I'm starting to get hungry." Looking outside again, it looked like the rain had settled and maybe it was possible for them to go out, or check on that lump they had saw before.

x

[Lavira]

The cold was all-consuming and the only thing for it was to huddle in the little warmth that they could find. For Vira, it remained that she stayed against Mohya, comforted by the great birds presence and glad for the company of Alori even if at times their conversation set their tempers on high. Being miserable was never fun when one was still new to the other.

"I'm sure there are others out and about, too. Brave souls like you and I who thought they could beat the weather. But I've been wrong before!" She gave a weak laugh and sighed, pressing her face into the giant birds breast, soaking up her heat. "I'll definitely know now to risk it again. I dread thinking how the flight back is going to be."

Many chimes went by before either said another word, as though the need to conserve their energy had finally settled over them. And when Alori spoke up again, it was about her remark on the Endal she'd met. "Wha? Alori, I used to work in the nesting aeries; I saw Endal all the time, but I didn't hang with all of them. Most didn't give attendants even a second look unless it was to make sure we fed their nesting birds properly-" She muttered under her breath after that, "As if I need to be told what their birds do and do not like; it wasn't as if I worked among them every single day."

The worst of it had been that Vira had watched two sets of eggs grow into fledging, including the year that she'd join the ranks as an attendant. And every season, Yasi would come in droves to meet the fledglings in hopes that one would choose them. But the birds never looked to the ones among them the most. It was as if they never even saw the ones that fed and scratched and cleaned and bathed and taught them every single day. They were just mindless labor, 'unworthy' of their noble attention. The unbonded adult birds were a different story, though. These eagles were very much aware of the attendants and would let hai break loose if things weren't just perfect.

That need for perfection had been the perfect incentive for Vira, of course; it served as a means to keep her focused and prove herself to the birds. And eventually, exemplified by Mohya's presence in the cave, one had. "I never really tried to seperate caste from one individual to another. Heh, I'm kind of weird like that. Besides, it's hard to tell sometimes if one is Endal, Avora, or Chiet. If the chiet's clothes are clean and well cared for and they carry themselves like most Endal, it's impossible to tell."

But after several more chimes of silence and a new, unexpected question was presented, Vira jerked into alertness. "Wha? I hardly think that's any of your business, Alori!" She said tersely, burying her crimson face into the raptors feathers in an effort to hide her embarrassment. For nearly a chime she sat like that, her face hidden and her eyes closed. When she finally did peek out, however, the teen replied simply, "Besides...I've only had two." It was weird talking about relationships, something Vira knew virtually nothing about. Her first experience had been an absolute disaster; her second one was intense but generally shallow waters still. It was one part physical and two parts extremely emotional as the company she kept with Kovac teetered between romance and friendship. She loved him, say true, but he meant more than just love to her.

He was her light in the darkness, a symbol of hope that things would not fall to ruin around her because she needn't stand alone to bare the weight. He was her illumination.

"Work actually helps me calm down, usually." She replied to the de-stress question. "Probably silly, eh? But before Mohya came, that was all I had was work and home. I couldn't afford to go to places like the Inclement or Thunder Bay all the time. I would save up all season for a nice meal down at the Clam, but otherwise, I just spent my time at home, at the aeries I worked in, or with Tulaj. Kept me focused. What about you? What helps you to relax? I remembered you were looking for some nice clothes that day; were you going out?"

Several more chimes would go by and before long, lunch bell had come and gone and Alori was complaining about being hungry. At this point, Mohya opened one eye and looked down at the girls, listening. "Yea, me too..." Vira replied, her own stomach growling in protest now that it hat been brought to the front of her mind. "But there's nothing to eat in here. Except ice...and that doesn't sound very appealing.

~All you have to do is ask, girls...~ Mohya's voice filtering through their minds, the unasked question prevalent.

[Alori Sai]

Alori shook her head and looked to her boots. She was sure that Lavira was right, the teen was sharp. Thinking about the situation more, Alori remembered doing things in the past that she thought were crazy, only to find out that a bunch of others had tried the exact same thing. Inartans were like that, boldly stupid. "I hope by the ride back we have something to show for all this. At least then it wouldn't be a waste you know?"

The teen rolled her tongue between her teeth as she giggled at the other. Lavria was serious to the point where it could be scary at times. She didn't get most of Alori's jokes, and that just made her want to laugh more. If she didn't know any better she would guess the teen had to be from out of the city. But she had her good points, and Alori found her quirks adorable. She was glad that the teen didn't care about caste, it made her an odd Endal, but a better person at the same time.

"You know I was joking right? I mean, yea I was asking but.." She smiled then and shook her head. It wasn't important to talk about and it looked like Lavira was having a moment, so she decided to drop it. Alori knew hoe cruel others could be, and for Endal it had to be that much worse. "I rather not care about that either, but whatever." Another wave of silence came after, and since it didn't seem that Lavira was going to start up another conversation, Alori did.

"Wow..okay. I'm just trying to make conversation. Relax." She signed and looked to her boots again. They had been nice at one time, but after enduring all of this, she would be lucky if they were still useful. "It's okay really. I mean..if you were seeing a chiet, or dek. I won't judge you." Alori peek at the other teen, hoping that had gotten through to her. She wasn't trying to be nosy, she just wanted to get to know her friend better, even if she was being annoying.

"I don't think it's silly." She replied to the question about work helping her calm down. In a way they had that in common, Alori did feel a sense of peace when she hunted, at least until a cougar or bear showed up to chase her away. "Yea I was going to the weather, I go some time when I can. It really helps me to unwind, and depending on the night, I sometimes get free drinks. heh." Alori thought for a moment and realized that she didn't see Lavira there.

She figured that if they made it back home, she might ask her to come with her sometime and party. Several chimes later she felt a mild stomach ache coming on from being hungry. Alori didn't eat much which was why when she was hungry it didn't take long for her belly to turn on her. She looked up suddenly when Mohya spoke, the teen didn't know the bird was listening, though she should have guessed.

"Oh..umm.." Alori started, her eyes fixed on Lavira for support. "I guess..we need to hunt?"

x

[Lavira]

“I don’t like the Weather, that much. It makes me uncomfortable.” She said concisely, unwilling to go into details about it other than an anxious glance away. The last time she had went in there had been an absolute disaster. And yet, if she hadn’t, Vira very well may have been dead now. Mohya probably never would have bonded with her, she never would have taken the trip with Kovac to the Loch; they never would have gone clamming. They never would have even kissed. Had she not gone to the Weather that night, practically forcing herself out of the infirmary, she would very likely have let herself be demoted from her then clung to caste and put as a Dek because she would have given up.

Everything had changed that night and the tiny flame of hope that she had clung to those three miserable days in that pit had been fed a little kindling. Each day thereafter was a struggle, of course, but it had all started with the courage to answer Kovac’s request for something so small and simple as a date with a woman who thought herself unworthy of anyone’s affections all because of how she looked. The image that Wind Reach forced upon its citizens to be perfect of body and mind, strong, was horrendous and it took a special kind of someone to endure that and make it anywhere in that world. Truly, only the strong survived in Wind Reach; everyone else was left behind.

Glancing back towards Alori, Vira offered her a half-smile. “I know, Alori. I’m not upset, honest. It’s just a sensitive subject for me, that’s all. I’m glad to know you wouldn’t judge me on it and I promise I will never judge you.” She took a breath and shifted out from Mohya’s feathery warmth to frozenly walk towards the other. The Endal hesitated for a moment, her hands tucked beneath her armpits and her teeth still chattering; but the moment was short and before she could change her mind, Vira reached out and hugged Alori, tight and sure. “Any other that might have come on this trip would’ve left me alone in this cave or out there when that bear attacked; especially after missing that elk when it should have been a clean shot. They all think I’m weak and unworthy of the position when they forget that they have assuredly been in my shoes a little before themselves. Weren’t they new to being a rider once? Weren’t they new to hunting once? Falconry is drastically different, we don’t need a bow or spear with that and well…thank you, Alori, for sticking through it right now. I think you’re a good friend for that.”

Then the hug was over and she returned to Mohya’s warmth. A moment later, the bird was saying they needed to ask, but Alori had misunderstood.

The giant raptor adjusted her position so that her head was pointed out of the cave now, tail feathers over the girls and a mental eye-roll given to them both. “You stay; I hunt.” That was all that would be said for the moment as the massive bird moved out onto the ledge in the icy rain, gave her feathers a shake, opened her wings, and leapt into the air. It was a beautiful sight to see, normally, but the slick grip on the ledge had made the takeoff look a little clumsy before Mohya found her natural rhythm and disappeared into the hazy cold, leaving the girls behind.

“…Guess it’s just you and I now.” Vira said, a bit surprised that the bird took off like that. “Then again, what on Mizahar would we be able to catch out there? Everything’s frozen and our bows would be ruined!” Without the eagle to warm herself by, Vira was forced to the back of the cave wall to sit and shiver with arms against her belly and legs drawn up tight to her chest. Her breath fogged with every exhale and her teeth chattered noisily as she sat there. There was nothing more to do except wait and try and keep warm.


It was nearly night again by the time Mohya appeared once again. Without any way to make a fire, food had to be eaten raw, and the elk-meat would not be good for that primarily because it was frozen solid too. When Mohya landed, she had in her talons a massive tuna. The large, yellow finned fish was dragged into the cave and placed against the wall for them, the bird telling them to move it back near the entrance when they had finished. Tuna was one of the few things that could be eaten raw without consequence, the rich and flavorful meat high in protein and perfect for getting your energy back just like these girls needed.

Vira gave an excited cry at the sight and hopped back to her feet as soon as the bird had re-entered, hurrying over to stand beside the giant fish with knife in hand. “Talk about a feast! Mohya, where’d you get it?”

~Kavinah Bay; the weather was lighter down that way and the fish were schooling near the surface, mostly smaller schools of sardine; then that big boy appeared. Seemed a shark tried to get at him too. See the tail?~

Vira looked at the tail, where a portion of it had been bitten off, teeth marks on the underside. “Whoa; well great catch, Mohya! Will you eat some?”

The bird gave a mental shake of her head and showed both girls an image of the elk. “Will eat that.” She followed the image with just half the kill, the part that the two girls had already cut from, going on afterwards.

~Weather over the water is clearing to the north, too. The rain should stop sometime tonight. Eat up and rest up, girls; we’ll fly home tomorrow, Lhex willing.~

[Alori Sai]

Alori didn't bother to ask why she didn't like the weather. Some people didn't go as much, and she could remember a time when she hadn't. It wasn't until she turned 17 that she first went to the place and started to really like it. For some it took longer to get into it, but by most, everyone had been there at some point. The teen figured if things went well enough they go at some point, though no time soon.

She smiled and hugged the girl back and held her close. If there was ever a time to form a bond of friendship this would be it. They were cold, hungry, and the future didn't seem all that bright. Perhaps Lavira was a bit calmer with her wind eagle near by, but Alori was the type to get emotional outburst, and she didn't always see things on the brighter side, although she tried. "Aww, you don't have to thank me. We're friends right? I wouldn't leave a friend behind. Besides you really weren't that bad...and Mohya had all my stuff." she added with a laugh.

The little huntress was surprised and relieved when Mohya suddenly stood up and left the cave. Wind eagles were a strange breed and they always seemed like they were in a bad mood, or perhaps that only happened when someone asked them to do something. Alori followed the other to the back of the cave and settled in next to her for warmth. The Ivak blessed teen, would be giving off more heat than she was getting, but she would take what she could get.

The eagle returned much later, and during that time Alori had fallen a sleep for a few ticks at a time, before the cold woke her again. She stood up as Lavira did and moved to collect her hunting knife as she moved towards the huge fish. She wasn't very good at fishing, but she had learned to remove the scales much better. "Wow, this looks great. Thanks for helping us."

Alori offered the wind eagle smile, though she half expected another eye roll. Settling on the ground, she went to work helping to remove the scales and cut up the fish so that they could eat it. "You really like fish Lavira? Or are you juts hungry?" she added with a giggle. "Gods I'm starving, lets eat!"

x

[Lavira]

"Yes, I'm that hungry! I haven't eaten since yesterday morning and the little tough bit we had last night." Considering how much they'd done the previous day before the storm hit, it was well within reason to say that she was still quite famished.

With her hunting knife in hand, Vira wedged it behind the gills of the giant fish and began to methodically cut away the meat from the body. The fish was too big to try and cleanly filet in a few easy slices, so she asked for Alori's help. "Hold that piece up, we can just peel the meat completely off instead of trying to scale and skin it on the fish." This would open it up more easily than they might otherwise be able to accomplish as well as keep from accidentally wasting meat on the underside of the skin during the scaling.

Once Alori helped her here, Vira would begin to methodically cut the meat away from the body cavity and ribs. Each hilt to tip slice would peel a little more of the meat each time, exposing the ribs of the massive fish. Vira took care to get as much of the meat cleanly sliced off as possible. If they could do that, they might be able to save the rest of the carcass for the processing center so that the trip would not prove to be a total waste.

With her free hand, the teen helped her newfound friend to lift the meat higher while she moved alongside the tuna, continually slicing until they reached the tail. This took a little more saw work to free it, and then some grunt work to get it rolled onto the scales so that it was meat-side up. "We can scoop the guts later, let's eat for now." Eventhough it was raw, VIra felt at east cutting away a hand-size filet from the head-end of the filet they had just removed and biting into it. The sweet red meat was absolutely delicious and Vira mumbled her delight around a grin. "Thath uud!" She added around a second bite.

For the next thirty chimes, she remained kneeling on the stone beside the filet, eating her fill (around a good four pounds of the raw meat) before finally shifting to sit on her side and pull her legs out from under her. The young woman would then extend them alongside the eaten-into portion that probably weighed as much as the two women combined. The knife was left between the fish and her leg and her hands reached behind her to hold herself up. Though she was still bitterly cold, having a full belly helped make up for some of it. "Mm mm mm." She hummed, watching Mohya standing at the caves entrance with a quarter of the elk carcass beneath her massive foot. The sleek black talons gripped at it and her beak tore at the fatty meat, biting it away and lifting her head to throw it down her gullet.

The sight of the bird enjoying her own food made Vira grin. They may be cold, tired, and stranded, but at least there was some light in the situation. "I wonder if that thing has any roe in it. We could smoke it in some of the fern from the basket for the flight home. I heard that they're pretty fatty and good for energy."

[Alori Sai]

Alori preferred Lavira's direction to what she had planned to do, which was butcher the fish. It was another sign of a girl who had taught herself how to hunt and fish. Everything was a quick and dirty job made with a hit and move approach. She held up her end with one hand and hacked at the fish with the other. The teen was probably the worse food in the city, but she was desperate and hungry.

After another moment and glare from Lavira, the teen held her end only and let her friend do the rest of the work. Once before it had been her to remove the scales and prepare the fish for herself and the company she had that day, while fishing in thunder bay. The male had been blind however, and wouldn't have been able to do the job which left it all up to her. The work came smoother this way and Alori helped to hold it in place, then lift it so Lavira could get to the under side as well.

"Okay, let's dig in." She was glad when Lavira started to eat and took a portion for herself. It was a good thing that they were the only one's in the cave because Alori pigged out. She was hungry, cold, and didn't feel much like herself anyway. She put her knife to work and cut away more to stuff into her mouth. Alori glanced up at her new friend a few times, but mostly just are and enjoyed having food. "Oh this is so good! I should have tried it raw before."

For thirty chimes the teen ate like a man, and by the time she was done, she laid on her back, hands resting on her belly, as she stared upward at the ceiling in the cave. "I really miss my bed right now. Any time I pig out, which is rare, I always lay down like a beached whale until my pregnancy goes away. What about you? You probably don't eat a lot huh?"

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