Sea Sick

by **Oryani** on April 12th, 2014, 7:32 pm

Spring 3rd, 514 AV

Svefra were maniacs. All of them. Every single petching one of them. Some of them a little more than others, and some for more logical reasons. But the main reason was… they loved the accursed place called an ocean. Oryani couldn’t believe them. It was big, deep, and wet. And it moved. All the time, constantly. Her hands had developed to sense the motion of water when it was rare, but never in these quantities, never like this… It gave her a headache, and if made her feel sick… though those were apparently natural for first time sea riders. They grinned at her distaste.

She’d been dragged aboard this creaky wooden thing, locked in a room, and left alone. Apparently it was called a ‘boat’, whatever that was. The stupid Svefra (it was what they called themselves) had seemed amazingly pleased by her, then went showed that gratitude by enslaving her… it was insulting, and… a little scary. Just a little. But she wasn’t going to say that aloud. She didn’t want to think about Khal or Alaril either, the former filling her with sorrow, the latter with rage. She had to think about… now. Where she was now, what she was doing now… everything else was just… scary.

The room she was in was small, with a funny swinging thing they’d called a ‘hammock’ that only Eywaat knew the purpose of. It just hung there, between walls, a bundle of cord that stretched out. Not that she could try it out so well, since her hands were bound. Her hands… her hands were a cause of a lot of irritation and upset. The constant movement of water that she could always feel made her sick. She tried to keep the palms covered most of the time, to lessen the feeling, but it didn’t do too much…

That was only part of it. In fact, she felt sick all round. The movement gave her a headache, and made her feel a little woozy, then the rocking of the ship made her feel worse…. She’d thrown up twice the previous day, and once so far this day. It was getting… disgusting. At least the Svefra were helpful when it happened… one of the women cleaned it up, then gave her a bucket, a bunch of water, and talked in Common and Fravata rapidly… the last more irritating than helpful. Didn’t any of them speak any Pavi? The Chatakwe was still a little hostile as well, considering their actions… she had a good reason.

Her stomach groaned as they lifted over one particular swell, and she felt bile lift in her throat. The sailors had been surprised at how bad this was, but Oryani was not. She always got sick, it was a fact of life… she was pretty sure this bad situation just made everything… worse. Her upset stomach, her headache, her lack of ability to keep actual food down… apparently it was going to get better, fade, but… she didn’t believe it. How could anything this strong ever disappear? She’d probably die of starvation before that happened. It was a looming thread… yet another one of the things she didn’t want to think about.

by **Oryani** on April 12th, 2014, 7:33 pm

Getting here had been a long story, a long painful one… though surprisingly short on a timeframe. Most of the events had happened over the course of one day, one single day… the first of Spring. Every time the Drykas thought back to it she shied away, not wanting to remember the pain and the anger and the loss. Actually, that sounded amusingly poetic… but it hadn’t been poetic in the least.

It had been fine at first. She’d left Endrykas with a party of hunters, Watch members, and herders, off to chase down a small group of bison. It hadn’t been much. They hadn’t expected it to be so long. It went on, they considered just waiting at Riverfall for the city itself to catch up. They knew where the bison were. No one was too worried, other than for the usual dangers of the Sea. It had all been… fine. She’d had Khal with her, and Alaril flew along beside them all. She’d come with her mentor as well, since he was also one of the Watch.

And then, on the first day of the new year, the new season… Zith. Too many Zith to count. Their group had been swarmed, the flying beasts picking off members one by one. She and her mentor had shot at them, and taken down quite a few, but there were so many… they knew they wouldn’t have been able to stand. Luckily, a pair of Akalak from Riverfall turned up out of nowhere and helped, but they too had been killed, had been murdered… and then… there’d been no one left. Just her, battered, injured. Khal had been cut and collapsed, dying while she killed the monster that did the same to him. Alaril, the coward, had flown away and out of sight. Eagles were supposed to protect you, but this one had been no help at all.

She’d thought everything would end then. She’d been alone, weak, waiting for another predator to come finish her off. But the first thing that came was no animal, but rather… these damn Svefra. They tied her up, dragged her off, and tended to her wounds… but it was obvious that she wouldn’t be leaving, she wouldn’t be heading back to Endrykas, but rather somewhere much worse.

Oryani groaned at the memory, pushing away images and rubbing her eyes with bound hands. Repeating over and over in her head was the mantra I feel terrible on the negative side, and Keep going on the more positive side. She’d decided that, wherever she was headed, she would not give up or give in to anything… no matter how much it hurt, or how sick she felt, or… anything. She was told she was stubborn? She’d put it to the test… see how accurate the assessment was.

by **Oryani** on April 19th, 2014, 1:34 pm

While she moped and tried to feel less sick, the wooden door was unlocked and the woman came in. It was the same woman who came regularly, tall, middle aged and strong, but missing several fingers on both hands. She sometimes had trouble carrying things, but was remarkably adept considering her handicap. Oryani was tempted to trade hands with the woman, if it would ease her sickness… but that would be bad in the long run. Instead, she sighed and stared at the newcomer blankly.

“Come, stories,” was the simple request, and she held out a mangled hand to grab the Drykas’ own. The archer was too tired to protest, with little food or water staying down, and stood shakily. When she was up and (sort of) walking, the Svefra led her out of the tiny room, and up onto the deck.

It was completely different there, with salty wind whipping through her hair, only her prized braids keeping it from her face. The boat rocked, putting her off balance, and she stumbled every few steps. However, she felt a tiny bit better… the air was nice, as funny as it smelled, and she was further from the ocean, so she barely felt anything. The Svefra were gathered in a circle, nibbling on fish and other things, with two empty spots for her and the woman. They took them, the Chatakwe feeling much better sitting rather than standing.

She was offered food by the friendly people –okay, maybe they weren’t all bad- but she declined it… she didn’t want to have it end up back on the deck. And the fish smelled… strange. She’d never eaten fish except once in Riverall, and it had been strange even then. Too… soft. They shrugged at the denial, the one who’d offered tossing the piece into his own mouth. The eldest raised a hand for silence… then began.

They spoke in their funny language, so she didn’t understand them, but the tale felt… soothing. The lilting voice and language created an excellent sound, one that showed the tenseness of a plot, the grandness of a battle, and everything in between. Every once in a while the Svefra cheered loudly, though Oryani could only guess why. Still, this reminded her of the campfire stories with her own family and friends. It was a completely different setting, but still… it felt nice to be a part of it all. The sky slowly darkened as one tale after another was told, until Syna’s light was slowly drifting below the horizon.

When she glanced in the direction of the fading light, she was met with a wonderful sight. The sun’s rays scattered over the slowly rippling water, reflecting off it in wonderful colors. At first there was pink and yellow and white, but they faded to red and orange, purple, a blue that slowly darkened, and then… black. When there was finally no light to be seen, there was… quiet. Quiet and peace. It was a beautiful feeling, one that felt like it would never be, could never be, broken. If the sea could show such beautiful sunsets, maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

And then… it was broken. One of the men yelled loudly at another in a joyful tone, swinging a punch at his companion’s face. In moments they were in a raucous scuffle, both yelling and laughing. The fingerless woman beside the Drykas snorted, then pushed herself up. Someone ran into the cabin calling in their own language, and came back a chime later rolling a large barrel. Someone procured glasses while the startled Chatakwe stared around in surprise. Calm stories to suddenly rowdy celebration? She’d have called them strange, but in retrospect… the Drykas did that too. So she couldn’t complain. She stared at the contents of the barrel –apparently some kind of alcohol- and wondered if it would be sensible having some… but no. Probably not.

by **Oryani** on June 1st, 2014, 1:30 pm

The party continued well into the dark, and Oryani sat around feeling rather awkward. She would normally be quite happy to join in with the festivities, but she felt... out of place here. She was supposed to be a slave, wasn't she? In her own culture, she understood that Drykas and slaves could mingle like this. Still, she'd heard from others... Kat, and Nate, that slaves were treated a little differently elsewhere. She certainly had at first. And now? She wasn't quite sure what the deal was. Instead, she simple sat there, watching the Svefra dance and sing and talk, all whilst attempting to not feel utterly miserable and throw up everywhere.

One thing she could admit, however, was that she felt much better up here. There air smelled strange and even added to her nausea, but... it also helped in a way. She couldn't quite pinpoint it. Though the sea was much closer and much scarier than before, she also felt like the rocking motions didn't upset her as much as she did inside the boat. Still... she felt terrible, and cursed the whole concept of large bodies of water.

Spring 4th

The next morning, Oryani was dragged up again by the Svefra woman. It turned out to be nearly midday when they arrived on deck, though the Drykas had just woken up... strange. She had no idea how late they'd been up the night previously, but it had been late. However, she felt much more rested than the day before, and more willing to get outside. Maybe it had helped before... but at least she wasn't stuck in that room again, uncomfortable and sick.

They stopped in the middle of a wide open space, the sun beating down unhindered onto their heads. It was hotter than inside, and that actually pleased the Chatakwe... the hotter the better, in her opinion. There was one other Svefra on deck, and he seemed to disagree, wearing a large-brimmed hat instead of letting his head soak in the glorious heat. Oryani smirked at him, but the man had his back turned so didn't notice.

The fingerless woman headed over in that man's direction, however, sitting beside him and uttering a short greeting. When the Svefra raised an eyebrow at their captive's appearance, there was a short explanation, then a shrug from the man. He ignored them after that, letting them continue with their own business. They sat there for a moment, staring at the sparkling water, before Oryani's tour guide began speaking.

"He is fishing. I will teach you fishing." Oryani stared at the woman in confusion. 'Fishing'? What was that? She vaguely remembered a kind of food in Riverfall, a disgusting and wet thing... wait... the Drykas had it occasionally too, when they went nearby the large lake in the Sea of Grass. Maybe this was related. A fish was something found in water. Would they be getting the fish, then? She couldn't see how the other Svefra was doing it, holding a long pole of wood out into the water with string dragging the end even further. How did that get you any kind of food?

"That fishing pole. You throw string into water, with food on end. Fish like food, they bite. When fish bite, you pull, fish come out of water and die." She grinned rather happily at the crude explanation, but it was enough for Oryani to understand... that she didn't understand. She needed to see this, how it worked. The fish just... came out of the water? That sounded too easy. And the fish fell for the whole trick, apparently.

Right on cue, the man started pulling on his rod, almost fighting against something in the water. So the fish pulled, maybe? She wasn't familiar with water things. After a few moments of this battle, however, something flew through the air towards them, all tension releasing. Something wet and slimy landed neatly on the deck, and she stared at it with some revulsion.

Killing it with a quick slap on the deck, the man fiddled with the end of his string and launched it back into the water with a flick of the wrist. She had no idea how to do that. It looked hard, and she'd probably break something. She also felt like, if the fish pulled too hard, she'd fall in the water and drown. That would be even worse.

"Easy?" the woman inquired pleasantly, apparently expecting a yes for an answer.

"No," the Chatakwe responded flatly, not feeling comfortable with this at all. Why were they teaching her anything anyways? So she'd be less of a burden on the journey? Probably. The woman looked confused, then sighed and shrugged.

"Okay. We gut fish, then." She grabbed Oryani's hand (which was unbound today), and dragged her back to the middle of the deck. There, there was a basket filled with even more of the fish, though they looked a little dryer this time. Apparently the Svefra had been carrying the fish from earlier, as she added it to the pile. There were also a few knives, and shiny things scattering the wooden floor. They confused Oryani, as she'd seen a number of patches like this around... what were they? They weren't very solid, and if she managed to touch one... more flaky than anything else.

This job seemed more in her range of skill, working with the corpses rather than getting them. It was like what she'd seen any other Drykas do with less slimy and shiny things. In fact, it seemed rather simple. "Okay," she said, more accepting of this work. The fingerless woman grinned widely and passed her one of the knives, grabbing a fish for herself.

"I am good at this! I can teach you."

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by **Oryani** on June 1st, 2014, 2:06 pm

"For fish, you take of scales first. Use knife. Lightly... drag knife up side of fish. Tail to head. Don't touch fins, they pointy. Don't scratch skin, make cuts. Scales will come off, do both sides." She demonstrated on her fish, tapping certain points. Then, when the explanation, she slowly slipped the blade across the fish's side. The scales came off, creating the shiny things from earlier. That was what they'd been... fish scales. The brief explanation of anatomy was nice too, namely the word for 'fins'. The job was beautifully perfect, and the woman did the other side at five times the pace. It seemed she'd just been doing the first thing as a demonstration. She dumped the fish in another basket, mentioning "We wash off later."

Now it was Oryani's turn. She stared at the fish a little blankly, still finding it a little disgusting. Still, she was almost curious to try. These scales were funny things, becoming flaky and sparkly when they came off. The fish were a little shiny as well, probably because of that. Knowing the woman was watching her, the Chatakwe pressed the knife against the fish's tail... and dug into flesh. She winced, and moved it a little higher and rested it more lightly on the scales. She then moved softly up, watching with some marvel as the scales flaked off, covering her blade, her hands, and the deck below them. They were almost too pretty to be annoyed at... yet.

Her knife dug into the fish's flesh a few more times, and it was nowhere near as smooth as the Svefra's. Still, it was rather simple, and she quickly got the hang of it. She had to do a few more spots, mostly on the wider part of the fish, but in a chime she had one side done. Hopefully it would go much faster later on. She flipped over the fish and repeated, with about half as many mistakes as before. She glanced up to see the woman's reaction to all her problems, but the Svefra was nodding happily. When Oryani was done, the woman grabbed the fish, adding it to the done pile (which now had one more than when Oryani had last checked), and passing the Drykas a new one. It didn't seem like there were too many fish, and the basket passed by rather quickly.

When they were done, they moved onto the next lesson... the actual gutting. Before that, however, the Svefra grabbed a bucket of sea water from somewhere and rapidly washed off the fish in there, leaving them much less shiny, but filling the water bucket's surface with floating scales. It seemed they got everywhere with this job. The woman sat back down with a scaleless fish before her. this time with it's belly facing Oryani.

"So to gut, you cut at bottom. From near fin to near head. Shallow cut, don't break things there. It easy to break." She demonstrated as she explained this, making a long slice along the bottom of the fish. "Reach in... pull out insides." This was done faster than all the steps, but the fish's innards came out quite easily, before being dumped into another bucket at their disposal. The woman then washed off the fish again, rapidly chopped off the head and tail, and put it behind her. "Now... you try."

This step was less pretty than the scale removing, and a little more gross. However, it reminded her of hunters gutting their kills, and she was usually willing to help with that. How was a fish that different? There was normally less of it, at least. She took the knife and ran it along the fish's stomach, carefully at first, but then moving faster. She was left with removing the guts. She sighed, then reached in, pulled them out remarkably easily, and added them to the 'gut bucket'. The fingerless woman washed it and repeated her process... and they continued on until there were no more left.

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by **Traverse** on June 9th, 2014, 11:03 pm

Oryani

Skill	XP Earned
Endurance	2 XP
Observation	4 XP

•	Lores Earned
•	Sickness on the Ocean: Common
•	Remembering the Horrors of Losing Everything
•	A Strange Camraderie with Svefra Captors
•	Learning How to Scrape and Gut a Fish