Closed sleep to the freezing.

[Caelum]

I have never known peace like the damp grass that yields to me. I have never known hunger like these insects that feast on me A thousand teeth and yours among them, I know. Our hungers appeased, our heart beats becoming slow. We'll lay here for years or for hours, Thrown here or found, to freeze or to thaw. So long, we'd become the flowers Two corpses we were, two corpses I saw. I’ll be home with you. I’ll be home. - Hozier. Timestamp: 70 Winter 514 AV A rare flower can be found deep in a Cyphrus winter, scattered amid the tall grasses and hidden in the shadow of copses long disfigured by the wind. It is called magtripe and it hibernates in bulb form in the frozen earth. If foraged from the snow and forced to sprout, the pale blossoms flourish with a riot color. Depending on the hue of the petals when the leaves are harvested, a wide range of medicinal properties can be coaxed out the plant by the right herbalist. If they are knowledgeable. If they are daring. The proprietor of Alements in Riverfall was one such man. The day was destined to be a slow one in the city and he found himself unexpectedly freed of a few lingering patients. Treza’bel’s fever broke faster than predicted and another proved to be a kelvic with a condition better suited to Kavala’s more specialized skill set so Caelum had him transported to the Sanctuary’s healing clinic with her permission. It wasn’t that Caelum couldn’t treat animals, but that Kavala was simply better at it with her specific array of gifts and life focus. Caelum had always focused on people. It was where he had begun his training. By the time Caelum realized he was free for the day and that the weather was ripe for a ride – hydrangea blue skies stretching achingly out in every direction – everyone was already scattered to their business. Deciding to go it alone, he proceeded to outfit his oldest friend, a dapple grey Windrunner named Vega, and take off under the sun. He never intended to go terribly far, and planned to be back at the Sanctuary before dark. That, at least, was the promise he made to Cadra with whom he left word of his whereabouts; and Caelum kept his promises. Half the day later the prairie sky was stained slate to the north, in the direction of the spring encampment of the Drykas people and the Moresta River with which he was so familiar. Beyond that lay the cloistered city of Kenash and in the lowering day Caelum almost imagined that his sight could stretch that far. That particular blessing of Syna was not upon him, however, and it had not been in a long time. Yet when the wind swept through Cyphrus and he sat the back of Vega, yvas bags filled with the fruits of his foraging, it was easy to imagine. The earth seemed to stretch out into forever and this, this was true sea of his people. Laviku was mighty and vast, but it was to Semele and the whims of Zulrav this ethaefal owed the greater portion of his heart. There was a time that he dared not venture into this region at all, something in his spirit balking at the thought of walking where the dead man he knew by night had thrived. Here In the flight of a red tailed hawk or the rush of a jackrabbit through the underbrush, Caelum remembered Kasb'el not as man separate from himself or even as someone he had once been, but instead as a version of himself well remembered to be visited still upon occasion. It was Kasb'el's instincts more than Caelum's that were alerted to the presence of glassbeaks. The heat produced by his labor in the copse still burned pleasantly in his limbs, hauling the precious bulbs out of the icy soil. It had been a long, arduous, but ultimately fulfilling process. Now dirt smeared his riding leathers and stuck under his fingernails. It streaked the long sleeved tunic he wore on top of a wool undershirt. The tunic had once been a rich green almost the same pine color of his horns in this season, but countless washing had worn it comfortably closer grey. For a rich man, Caelum looked surprisingly average when it came, at least, to his attire. He dressed in some comfortable cross between Drykas fashions and Riverfall wear. It was lots of leather and riding boots, once bright colors and woven embroidery. He had a sweater he had discarded earlier while crawling all over the half frozen bank of the brooklet, and he had already pulled the comforting weight of his duster over his shoulders, shrugging into it to fend off the encroaching chill. Before he had spotted the glassbeaks, he had been ready to turn Vega's head south and west, home toward Sanctuary. He had visions of hot baths and hot stew and hot cider. Hot everything, plus familiar hands to pass his gift of the magtripe harvest to. Now he sat frozen, gloved hand closed about the shoulder grip of Vega's yvas, staring at a pair of some of the most terrifying creatures to plague Mizahar. The large raptors were spilling an angle down the rise of a grassy hill, but they were not aimed towards the copse or him where he watched a few yards from the edge of it. Instead the flesh-eating monsters appeared to be heading for something else, a figure difficult to discern in the golden light. It was too small to be a person, and was possessed of four legs rather than two; and for that reason the ethaefal shifted his weight, leaning in the direction he wished Vega to turn -- away. Nature could take its course. Tactics were turned swift through his mind. If he could ease back into the copse before spotted, then it would be a quick, quiet trek to the brook where he would convince Vega to cross despite the ice floes. If fast enough, and quiet enough, they could slip right out the other side of the trees and stretch their legs and fly too fast to be caught. The trick was getting that very healthy head start. Glassbeaks could run as fast as striders through these lands, and that was breath-rippingly fast. It was at least three times the speed of an average horse, and twice that of a Windrunner such as Vega. Had Caelum thought to borrow one of Kavala's striders, his chances would be better; but Caelum loved his Windrunner, and it was sometimes hard to ride a strider when he remembered his bond to them in the previous life. More the mere speed, it was also a matter of sustaining that speed. Outrunning a glassbeak? Impossible. Unless, of course, he got that head start. That was he and Vega's only chance. Vega huffed softly, breath steaming, and tension hummed through the horse as he edged towards the copse. Caelum balanced easily on his back and leaned back to unhook the bone colored length of his shortbow from a grip. This he slid up his shoulder while freeing the catch on the top of his arrow-bundle. He had come well armed out into the wilderness, what had once been paranoia long since proved to be realism. Next, as Vega edged step by careful step back, the ethaefal flexed back his shoulders and loosened the springs on the dagger sheaths strapped to his forearms and also those shoved into the tops of his boots. He did all of this while keeping his eyes on the glassbeaks and their progress. They grew larger as they came closer and closer, but still aimed to the south and towards the now aware prey bounding in a panic. It was fluid, though, and as Caelum closed his hand about the hilt of the sword and made sure it was loose in its yvas sheath, he realized it was a cat of some kind. "Easy," he muttered softly to Vega who practically vibrated beneath him. "Easy. Almost there..." Then the cat turned towards them, and the copse, and like a sail chasing the wind, the glassbeaks followed. It was impossible to miss the moment when the bird-like monsters noticed the healer and his horse. The one behind, lagging behind the other to allow for a strike and pounce pack style attack, put on an abrupt burst of speed. Their chittering screeched, high and echoing, over the plains. "Petch," Caelum swore and gripped hard with his knees, keeping his balance as Vega whirled back around to face their attackers. Quickly recalculating, Caelum swung up his short bow and notched an arrow in a quick, learned motion. "Hold," he breathed to his horse. "Hold..." If he could take down one, the remaining two might be distracted long enough by the fall for Caelum to reach the top of the rise. Cover in the copse was discarded as a plan. It would hamper his running, and the copse was too small to lose a squirrel in let alone get lost in himself. Sparks sang in his blood, simmering and wanting to fly. An amber eye narrowed and half a heartbeat more was chopped out of his chest before he loosed the arrow and pitched himself high up Vega's shoulders, signalling the horse to run as he himself bent low.

[Kalina]

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It was a good day, the day that Kalina chose to travel farther afield from Riverfall. Her confidence slowly returning, since the upheaval of he life, once again, to lead her even further away from the Master she has accidentally left behind. The Agent of the Black Sun, however, had slowly began to sift through the holes in the sieve of her mind, as other people began to take his place. Unbeknownst to Kalina, Annalisa’s curse, in particular, had made her the focus of the little kelvic’s mind for a long time. And now a white-haired woman, perhaps one of the more normal looking individuals of this new city, gave her shelter. Never the same face for long.

Still determined to bring down anything larger than a rabbit, Kalina travelled from the city in search of a trail. The first true scent that she stumbled across, however, was not one that the grey ocelot was familiar with and Kalina’s steps slowed to a halt. With a small mewl, she raised her head, and eyes, to scan the surroundings. In the grass, the dwarf-leopard was mostly hidden, but not entirely camouflaged, especially when she craned her neck to see what might be close. Pupils shrunk into slits against the slight glare of the sun’s rays, before she saw them.

There were two of them, both almost eight feet in height. Like birds… were they winged? They were too far for her to tell, but they were on two legs. And they were moving fast. Even though she had never encountered these new animals, experience had taught her that the beasts hurtling towards her were bigger than her, and were therefore not her prey. Pivoting on the spot, she did not even consider that she would stand her ground: she fled.

Without the delay of removing clothing or having to morph forms, the giant birds’ advantage on seeing her first was negligible, but she was travelling at little more than half the speed. Her footfalls on the hard ground sent shock-waves reverberating up each leg with each step. In front, silhouette forms of humans were growing larger, but with each tick the pounding of the beast’s strides grew louder and louder. Desperately, she snatched a look behind: her fleeting, blurred glimpse told her all she need to know. The pursuer was catching up.

The little feline felt her lungs begin to burn each time she drew breath; the result of the effort of pushing her body faster and harder than she ever had before. She had no choice, however, and she forced herself on. There! She saw it. A horse. A man on the horse. Possibly even an armed man. Karina had evolved since meeting Annalisa, and this time she did not look upon the man and horse as saviours. No, they were help. Two against two seemed like a much fairer fight.. The grey ocelot altered her path, forcing her legs to fight through the ache that they were beginning to suffer, forcing her lungs to overcome the burning tightness that she had associated with pushing herself too far.

The giant birds were closing in on the distance, and the thumping of their feet on the ground now echoed the fast beat of her heart, which pounded in her ears. She found not outrun them, but she might at least reach the man-on-a-horse, where a distraction for the big birds would give Kalina a mere tick where she was not the focus of the birds’ attention - enough time for the kelvic to spin and launch an attack of her own. All of her attention was focused on the man who had not turned and fled, she realised as relief flooded her body. Was that a bow in his hands? A few more ticks, more impossibly long stretches of her limbs, and, when the arrow was let loose, she finally lost momentum as she spun.

OOCI so sorry <.<
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