Stone Forests (Daedalus Dagwood)

[Ainyi]

Light glistened across deep red hair, falling into pine green pools and alabaster skin. A brown leather hunting Vinati hugged her chest; heather dusts of dirt powdered her belly and the slight swell of her abdomen. Leather hunting guards kept her flowy navy Bryda to her legs, hugging her form, guarding her from. Thick fingerpads ran down the string of her bow, like a musician waiting for the overture to begin. The other hand gripped the blue-silver glass handle of Yasa, feeling the notches and carvings with a languid pinky. Her pale pink lips were parted, brows furrowed in concentration.

A bush rustled in the distance. A well fed doe, not too young, not too old, grazed in a clearing up ahead. Biting her lip, Ainyi's fingers played in the feathers of the arrow. They twitched with it's every movement, waiting.

A squirrel above rustled a leaf. The doe lifted her head.

Inhale. The arrow drew effortlessly. The feather fletchings tickled her lips, her chin.

Exhale.

In a matter of moments, the steel point soared from at her side to the target's neck. At least, it should have. The doe moved just enough for the arrow to nick the back of her neck. She chortled in pain, and bucked off.

Cursing under her breathe, Ainyi lept after it, running at full speed. The world was a blur of browns and greens as she dodged trees, branches and leaves in pursuit of her target. The doe gained distance, taking a turn to the left over a stream. Ainyi rushed harder, the quiver at her hip bouncing on every step. Sweat beaded and ran down her face. The powdering of dirt on her body became a painting. Mahogany hair flew behind her like a banner of blood.

She could no longer see the doe. Ainyi kept running anyways. Don't disappoint Turrin, she found herself thinking. He took a chance on you. You should impress Wingard. You're losing him. Faster her feet pounded. The doe was nowhere to be found. She veered west, rolling her eyes to every surface, looking for blood. Nothing. She veered, east, then south, then north again. Nothing. Nothing.

Covering her eyes, the wild huntress finally came to a stop, sucking in breath as a man in the desert would water. She shuddered, feeling her hair graze the nerves at the small of her back. She felt the sweat roll down her neck into her chest, her lips dry. Nothing. She had lost it.

I can't go back. They can't know. I've done nothing. Caught nothing. I can't go back.

Voices crept around Ainyi's ears. Rough, foreign voices speaking Common. They passed by her, at first quiet, until as a busy street.

Raising her eyes from her hands, she looked around. The voices stopped. Ahead, the doe stared at her. Lips pursed in frustration, Ainyi grabbed another arrow, drew, released. It missed. The doe ran. She picked her feet up.

As the trees blurred in her chase this time, something...odd happened. The forest around her grew paler...stockier. Boxier. It was as though the forest itself was no longer a forest. She stared at the sky, watching the virgin, untouched blue of the spring afternoon dirty, dampen, haze. The organic foliage of leaves fell away to the uniform shape of tall buildings. It was so peculiar to Ainyi, she forgot the deer and stopped running entirely. Where...where was the forest now?

The voices came on again. Louder, around her all over. She returned her eyes to the ground, and before her a bustling city unlike any she had seen before. It was dirty all over, as the people were. As she was, to some extent. The cacophony of Common around her ears felt like an assault. She frowned, eyebrows curved distressingly. She gripped her bow tight, as passerbies ran by her on the tight street. They all seemed to glare at her with the same discontent as she stood in the middle of the walkways that locals navigated with ease.

Clearing her throat, Ainyi warbled in her best Common, "Where am I?" to a passerby. Nothing. "I, I was hunting," she tried, as another shouldered passed her forcefully. "Suddenly, I'm here. I don't know what happened-"

She felt a tug on Yasa. A boy was trying to take her bow from her hand?! Ainyi decked him without much thought, tugging it closed to her chest. Determined, she walked on briskly to a street corner.

"Anyone? Please!" She called to the strangers. Her accent would have made the common sound rather exotic and pleasing, were it not for her stressful tone. "I don't know where I am. Can you help me?" Stress turned to desperation. None had heard.

She lowered her eyes to the ground with a defeated sigh. "No," she found herself telling herself in Nari. "No, they can't."

[Billie]

Her dream hadn’t started out this way. When it begun, she was riding Sula through the wilderness. It was a feeling she enjoyed, and she often dreamed of riding now that she’d grown accustomed to traveling on horse back. It had been such a beautiful dream. Then she felt a strange dizziness. Sula was gone and she found herself back in the dangerous streets of what looked like a poorly imagined version of Sunberth. Not exactly a welcome change of scenery, but she did feel better knowing that Sadie still existed somewhere in this fabricated space.

Dirty city streets felt completely normal to Billie. She simply walked past people, without really looking at them. She drifted through the crowd, blending in with ease, trying to find an quiet place, empty of people. She wanted to find Sadie. She must be here somewhere after all. What had she been told to do? There must be some reason why she was here. Some kind of task she had to complete. Some enemy to strike down.

The panicked yells came as a huge shock. No one should draw attention to herself like that here. Was she stupid? Maybe she was new to this vile place. Due to the familiar accent, Billie knew right away that this girl was Inartan. She was a long way from home, she didn’t sound native to Sunberth. She’s been told much about wind reach. It was almost like a whole ‘nother world compared to this one.

Billie found herself changing direction in the crowd. She wanted to reach this girl before she was needlessly stolen from or murdered… most likely both. She couldn’t see her yet, but she was getting closer. Finally, there she was on the street corner, looking stressed and defeated. “Best not to draw unwanted attention around here.” she said in her best Nari. It still sounded off in her ears, but it was understandable. “Don’t despair, I know the way to safety. You wont find any on the streets.” Billie didn’t smile as she said this, but her eyes were soft and did show some concern for the lady. Maybe this was some kind of long lost ‘damsal in distress’ reaction. Although she wouldn’t consider herself the type to have those kind of dreams. At any rate, she’d said it now, and her house was the only ‘safe’ place she knew here.