Garden of the Lost {Renate}

[Looty]

Date: 39th of Winter, 513AV
Location: Garden of No Return
Time: Late Afternoon

Getting lost is just another way of saying "going exploring" - Justina Chen, North of Beautiful

At first when she had roused herself from sleep, Looty had been confused. This was not her home in Zeltiva or in Syliras. The Kelvic was in Alvadas. A city that was stranger to Looty than the colorful people. She have not gotten use to the ever-changing streets or how nothing was where it was supposed to be. Looty was a clean, orderly Kelvic; it was too much chaos. She got lost frequently. However today she would not be the only one.

The room was quiet. The air was cooling. Looty what is racing around the room in order to get ready. She pulled on her boots and cloak; neatly folded by the door. As was customary the main communal area was sprinkled with an array of animals and people. Looty passed them all: the fire pit, the people, and the boulder near the entrance.

Rows of hedges blocked her view. Vines bled into the ground. It was paved with golden leaves. They stuck fast heedless of the gentle wind.

Looty considered the path before her. There was a gap between that hedges that beckoned her. Through it her gaze wandered over the sea of greenery. Tufts of grass leak between the cracks in the walkway. With the tip of her boot she toed the edge of the street. To Looty's relief she did not fall through. She took another step.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And finally breached the entrance between the hedges. This is the city? she questioned. There were no people, and behind her there was no exit. She sniffed the air. A soft floral scent invaded her senses. Looty stepped forward again.

One step.

Two.

She blinked slowly. The hedges had moved. There was now a tree, and just behind it, a bench. Her nose caught the scent of wood, and something else. Just go, she snorted through her nose. Stupid city does what it wants. Looty shivered. The strangeness was broken. The Kelvic stomped through the hedges uncaring of the changing landscape.

[Renate Winterflame]

By the time Renate had set a flame on her little pile of sticks and weeds, she had entertained every combination of every swear in every language she knew. Her fingers were chafed beneath the weight of flint and steel, her knuckles screaming with the effort. But when the little line of smoke lifted toward the bright blue sky, she threw her head back and laughed. The familiar smell of ash was like water to her thirsty nostrils as she went about lighting a few other spots in her makeshift campfire.

"Ionu, hold the rain," she mumbled between the grunts of her working arms. "I know how you like to play games, but I pray you leave me dry. I'll dance through a hurricane if you give me sunshine, just this once..." A small breeze passed like a reply, tugging at her little fire and washing its smoke through the tall hedges around her. But the sky did not change, not for the better or the worse. The sun promised to set in a few bells, but even that was not guaranteed in this city.

Renate would not be able to say how long she had been lost. When she first saw the maze, she thought it would be a fun game--she should have known that it would become more than it seemed. The time of day suggested it had been at least two hours, but the stars had come out for a few minutes at one point and messed up her whole perception of time. Resigning herself to a decent night's rest and a better search on the morrow, she opted to bunk down in a little nondescript corner of the maze. Should anyone pass her, it would be difficult not to stumble physically over her makeshift camp.

In half a bell, her little hearth was burning nicely. She had no tent, but the hedges seemed to shield her from the elements well enough. She pulled out her busking pot, the one that collected coins when she danced on the street, and emptied her waterskin into it. There were enough stray ingredients in her bag to make a little stew, and maybe the smell of it would attract a friend with whom she could spend the evening.

The thought had only just occurred to her, when she thought she heard the sound of feet stomping nearby. Suddenly, a new threshold opened in the thick green wall before her. "Hello?" She called blindly, making to stand and investigate.

[Looty]

The Sun continued to fall. The maze continued to change. Hedges ripped open to reveal new paths while the ones behind her close ominously. The Kelvic had spent most of her bell of walking sneering, shouting, kicking, and groaning at the hedges. Her hair matted at the base of her neck. A sweaty knot. Her palms raw from clenched fists. Looty was not happy.

But she walked on. Beneath her foot was a softness. Reflexively she pulled her foot back and away scurried a possible dinner. Looty snorted. Her teeth flashed. A soft whoosh of air alerted her the path was changing. The Kelvic stilled. Her hands curled in false claws. Her eyes roved. Her nostrils flared.

Smoke.

Ash.

Spice.

Salt.

A voice.

An exit.

To Looty's left gap was revealed. Looty dove for it. There was no finesse. She landed hard on her stomach. Air spilled out of her with a grunt. But the Kelvic did not pause. She rolled and face. More hedge. It was not the exit.

"No!" Looty screamed. Her wild gaze landed on the voice. A female. The female had long dark hair. Little meat on her bones. Narrow eyes. The Kelvic rolled her whole body away as if to say, you aren't a threat. Don't care anymore.

Looty pushed herself to her feet. Her gaze locked on the meal. It returned to the female. "Where's the exit?" Her shoulders were hunched as she stalked toward the female. Her brows touching. "Why are you here?"

Looty turned her returned her gaze to the food. Why's it always cooked?, she thought sadly. She reached a hand into the pot and--

shrieked. "That hurts!"

[Renate Winterflame]

Renate could only watch as a little girl appeared suddenly, glaring and fumbling around her makeshift camp. Stunned, she forgot to speak for a few long moments. The girl seemed angry, though perhaps that was to be expected in a place such as this; Ren herself had endured various stages of frustration before she had finally broken and settled. She offered a consoling smile that quickly evaporated into a sympathetic hiss when the young one hurt herself.

"It's hot, like the fire," she explained patiently. "But once it cools, all it is is water with some tasties in it. Garlic, salt, thyme, a bit of cheese. No meat or vegetables or anything."

It had been a few years since she had had to deal with children of any age, but those she had encountered seemed no better or worse than this one. At least she was dirty enough to have some sense about her, if not some common decency. Most of the children Ren had nannied were little brats in their own right, spoiled rotten by wealth and inattention. She found herself wanting to reward the girl simply for not screaming until she was placated.

Still, not all could be granted to this one. Her wandering attention and demanding tone were endearing now, but promised to become tiresome fast. But it wasn't as if Renate had anything else to do. "I don't know where the exit is," she admitted. "And I imagine I am here for the same reason you are. I don't know how to get out."

She shrugged instead of pouting, looking fruitlessly at the colorful sky. Ionu had thrown a bit of auroral green into the young sunset, sprouting tropically from thin clouds. When she looked down again, it was to take her pot off of the fire and stir it cool with a wooden spoon. Then she reached into her bag and retrieved a small fraction of a bread loaf which she carried with her everywhere, for occasions much like this. She tore it in half and offered one piece to the girl. "Are you hungry?"

[Looty]

The Kelvic had never actually been around her mom when she cooked. Sulking was more suited to the child’s nature. For nearly a full season Looty had stubbornly insisted she could eat raw meat in both forms. It was not so. However, it did nothing to quell her repulsion of cooked meat. Hunger forced her to, at the very least, grow accustomed to it.

Looty testily sucked on her finger. The warmth from her mouth made it hotter, more hurtful, although the spit soothed the raw skin. She pulled her finger out and shook it to ward off the feeling.

“No meat? Why?” Who makes food without meat? Looty thought with dissatisfaction. “Cheese? What’s cheese? Yes. I’m hungry. Whens it gonna be done?”

“Why do they gotta have a place if no one gets out?” The Kelvic muttered. Her eyes watched the dimming skyline. Yet, the prospect of sleeping outside didn’t trouble her. It enticed her. The Wolf’s Cave was a comfort. It almost seemed to be outside with the many different animal peoples but the city was unstable. Looty could sleep here then wake somewhere else. “Who are you? How did you get here? Where is your outside house? Where is your fur?” The Kelvic demanded. She was not worried about the female. Such a person couldn’t harm Looty, they wouldn’t get close but the human might get sick. She huffed loftily as if to say, humans can’t do anything without me. She toed the ground while she waited for answers. She squatted. She used a nail to scratch the ground, she made a claw and scrapped at it. Dirt pinched under her nails. Looty pulled back with a hiss. It was not solid. But she couldn’t dig it in her human form. I’ll have to change. She tilted her head this was and that. Inspecting the ground. Her gaze fell on the female, considering. Do I gotta make her a burrow too? Mom and Dad never slept in a burrow.

A thought broke the Kelvics concentration, “Do we gotta stay here forever? Without meat?!”

[Renate Winterflame]

Renate's hand retreated from its offering, curling toward her bag and stuffing the crumbly loaf back in its place. It reemerged with only a pinch of bread between two eager fingers, which she dunked into the hot, meager soup and popped into her mouth. The little taste was delicious but hungering, containing little in the way of nutrition. It had served less as a meal and more as a thing to do to pass the time. She sucked on it hungrily, waiting to be sure that the girl had nothing else to asked before she tried at answers.

"It's... done," she admitted meekly, sloshing the yellowish, watery soup in the quickly cooling pan. "I don't have anything else to add. If you want meat, you'll have to find it yourself."

There was a sort of wink in her tone, punctuated by a suggesting smile. Ren held the pot out to the girl in one hand, the spoon in the other. Hopefully the food would help her concentrate, or at least cure her of the furious anxieties that pulled her to and fro around the camp. Despite her obvious distress, the dirty little creature did not seem entirely unaccustomed to wandering around in the wild. And this was as wild as it got, behind city walls; Ren had encountered many fantastic settings in her short time here, but none as hard and hopeless as the maze.

As her expression faltered, she entertained the idea that her company might be a member of some sort of children's gang, who roamed around the city and kicked cans and climbed on rooftops. "Think of it as a game. Alvadas likes to play games. Getting out is not impossible, only hard. But I got tired so I decided to sit down and rest up. Ionu seems to have fended off Lady Morwen this Winter," she observed, a sad look crossing her face. "So it should not get too cold to sleep. If you join me tonight, we can look together for an exit in the morning, hm?"