Explaining the differences between an Alkana and other types of deer in terms of size was... Difficult. Well, not really; most didn't even come close to the size of their red coated cousins. But twice as big ? She wasn't sure about that, maybe if only because she hadn't been forced to think about it in such terms before. As they moved, Khara tried to consider how best to explain and finally settled on the only way she could think: visual example.
"Well, most deer, even the bigger ones... they are only maybe my size at the shoulder? Usually a little smaller than that, though. But the Alkana?" She paused mid step and went to her toes and reached her hand up as high as it could go. "They're more up here, I think. Almost as big as a moose but not so..." Her hand lowered as she tried to make some sort of gesture to convey bulk as the word refused to come to mind. "with... heaviness? More springy like any other deer, but like you grew it to make it higher. So... yes? Twice as big sounds like right."
She still wished the print had been more telling. Dung was one thing, but larger animals didn't exactly have dainty feet. It did, however, take her own describing of the animal for Khara to realize just how big of a print they might be looking for. Not that she was very familiar with the rare red deer, she'd helped to track one back in Fall but there had been other scouts then with more experience and two hunters that had seemed to know more about the elusive animal as well. If memory served right, Khara was also fairly sure they had more information to go on than some random drudge rumor in a time when all sorts of stories about the Pass seemed to be flocking around Wind Reach.
At least the print, incomplete as it was, seemed at least marginally interesting to her - trainee?, Khara thought over the word, trying to decide if it was right or if it put too much emphasis on her teaching. The scout tried to listen to what Brandon was mumbling about to himself, wondering if it was some method of memorization, though Khara could have sworn she heard the name of the bird that Drusilla used to refer to her. Yes, because you are clearly the master of the Common tongue. Why would he be talking about birds right now? You're hearing things.
Brandon's vague tale was listened to with the occasional sidelong glance cast his way. His story wasn't exactly like others who had come to Wind Reach, but the theme was the same - it wasn't that they wanted to be there, more that situations and fate had forced it upon them in one way or another. Khara couldn't help but wonder if that was normal for any city's outsiders, or maybe there was a place that people actually went to because they wanted to go.
It wasn't the only thing that he seemed to have in common with other outsiders to Wind Reach, though, and Khara couldn't help but let a clipped laugh leave her at the mention of adapting to Inarta society, especially when this time around she certainly wasn't mistaken in hearing him utter the word Endal under his breath.
"You are not the only one who feels that. I am guessing that in Kalinor or Lhavit, there is no castes? It can be hard to get used to, or even accept. It is just fact for us - The Endal have been chosen and that makes them better than all the rest. We wouldn't survive without the Eagles and their riders, they are the most needed so they are the most respected. Then the Avora are talented, they have real skill that is good for the city and everyone in it. Next come us, and then the drudge. The more important you are, the less… hmm, replaceable… you are, the better you should be treated." She shrugged before continuing. "Though part of that means they can demand more from lower caste people. They are above us, they are better than us, and they know it and they want us to know it. We live to make things better for them, and sometimes that means doing things you don't want to or giving them something you have that you would rather keep. I never really thought it was a bad thing until..."
Her voice trailed off, partially to avoid the memories that tried to push forward that fought for being named as the moment when Khara had genuinely felt wronged by an upper caste member; but also so that she could focus on a few tricker steps where the snow had hidden a patch of loose rocks that Khara hadn't noticed until she had already begun to walk over them. The deer had avoided the hazard and she was starting to wonder if maybe it was better that they followed the animal's steps more precisely. She wasn't sure if the snow helped or hindered her in remaining upright as she tried to keep her balance as the stone shifted under her feet. Her balance was precariously kept and a few stumbled steps later she was clear and Khara felt the comfort of firmer ground under her feet once more. She quickly looked back to see if she needed to warn Brandon about the unsteady ground, ready to point it out if he insisted on following her footsteps exactly.
The bit of rough terrain and the balancing act had seemed to echo within her thoughts as well, and Khara finally settled on how best to continue. "Last Winter, well, not this last Winter but the one before that? Things got bad. Hunting wasn't going so good and the food stores went low and we had to start... ratioing?" The word didn't sound right and caused her to pause, a slightly embarrassed look crossing her features for a second. "The lower castes, we didn't get much of the food because it was being kept for the more important people. The Dek, especially; they began to die from it and the Chiet weren't all that much better, really. People got mad and started leaving scary notes and some upper caste people were killed and then a big fight happened in the city that lasted for a few days."
She stopped walking and let her eyes follow the deer's path that lead down towards where trees finally began to grow in earnest. Hopefully the canopy they offered would have blocked out enough of the snow to make the prints easier to see and maybe the vegetation would be enticing enough to cause the animal to linger. Reluctantly, however, she dragged her thoughts back to what she had been explaining.
"It didn't matter, though. Nothing changed. The Endal and the Avora settled things and made everyone stop fighting. Lots of people died, I think." Khara wasn't sure how she managed to keep herself sounding emotionless about it all, relaying more of a history lesson than explaining something that had been truly terrifying to live through. Maybe it was because she'd spent most of the riots hiding, under the protection of a then-stranger, that made it easier. She hadn't really seen the worst of it, or been subjected to it. "I think that was when Zhol - he's an outsider like you - came to really see how things work here better, he still does not like it though. Hopefully you won't have to see such things. It is not a good way to find out, I think, and it makes it sound so much more bad than it really is. It is not like Endal and Avora are always hurting us, most everyone knows that we all need to work together to make Wind Reach good and that is the normal - the bad stuff is not. If you stay, you will see. It's not so bad, especially if you are in charge of teaching Yasi, Teachers are more respected than some other of us Chiet, so you should be fine unless you go purposely making them mad."
"Well, most deer, even the bigger ones... they are only maybe my size at the shoulder? Usually a little smaller than that, though. But the Alkana?" She paused mid step and went to her toes and reached her hand up as high as it could go. "They're more up here, I think. Almost as big as a moose but not so..." Her hand lowered as she tried to make some sort of gesture to convey bulk as the word refused to come to mind. "with... heaviness? More springy like any other deer, but like you grew it to make it higher. So... yes? Twice as big sounds like right."
She still wished the print had been more telling. Dung was one thing, but larger animals didn't exactly have dainty feet. It did, however, take her own describing of the animal for Khara to realize just how big of a print they might be looking for. Not that she was very familiar with the rare red deer, she'd helped to track one back in Fall but there had been other scouts then with more experience and two hunters that had seemed to know more about the elusive animal as well. If memory served right, Khara was also fairly sure they had more information to go on than some random drudge rumor in a time when all sorts of stories about the Pass seemed to be flocking around Wind Reach.
At least the print, incomplete as it was, seemed at least marginally interesting to her - trainee?, Khara thought over the word, trying to decide if it was right or if it put too much emphasis on her teaching. The scout tried to listen to what Brandon was mumbling about to himself, wondering if it was some method of memorization, though Khara could have sworn she heard the name of the bird that Drusilla used to refer to her. Yes, because you are clearly the master of the Common tongue. Why would he be talking about birds right now? You're hearing things.
Brandon's vague tale was listened to with the occasional sidelong glance cast his way. His story wasn't exactly like others who had come to Wind Reach, but the theme was the same - it wasn't that they wanted to be there, more that situations and fate had forced it upon them in one way or another. Khara couldn't help but wonder if that was normal for any city's outsiders, or maybe there was a place that people actually went to because they wanted to go.
It wasn't the only thing that he seemed to have in common with other outsiders to Wind Reach, though, and Khara couldn't help but let a clipped laugh leave her at the mention of adapting to Inarta society, especially when this time around she certainly wasn't mistaken in hearing him utter the word Endal under his breath.
"You are not the only one who feels that. I am guessing that in Kalinor or Lhavit, there is no castes? It can be hard to get used to, or even accept. It is just fact for us - The Endal have been chosen and that makes them better than all the rest. We wouldn't survive without the Eagles and their riders, they are the most needed so they are the most respected. Then the Avora are talented, they have real skill that is good for the city and everyone in it. Next come us, and then the drudge. The more important you are, the less… hmm, replaceable… you are, the better you should be treated." She shrugged before continuing. "Though part of that means they can demand more from lower caste people. They are above us, they are better than us, and they know it and they want us to know it. We live to make things better for them, and sometimes that means doing things you don't want to or giving them something you have that you would rather keep. I never really thought it was a bad thing until..."
Her voice trailed off, partially to avoid the memories that tried to push forward that fought for being named as the moment when Khara had genuinely felt wronged by an upper caste member; but also so that she could focus on a few tricker steps where the snow had hidden a patch of loose rocks that Khara hadn't noticed until she had already begun to walk over them. The deer had avoided the hazard and she was starting to wonder if maybe it was better that they followed the animal's steps more precisely. She wasn't sure if the snow helped or hindered her in remaining upright as she tried to keep her balance as the stone shifted under her feet. Her balance was precariously kept and a few stumbled steps later she was clear and Khara felt the comfort of firmer ground under her feet once more. She quickly looked back to see if she needed to warn Brandon about the unsteady ground, ready to point it out if he insisted on following her footsteps exactly.
The bit of rough terrain and the balancing act had seemed to echo within her thoughts as well, and Khara finally settled on how best to continue. "Last Winter, well, not this last Winter but the one before that? Things got bad. Hunting wasn't going so good and the food stores went low and we had to start... ratioing?" The word didn't sound right and caused her to pause, a slightly embarrassed look crossing her features for a second. "The lower castes, we didn't get much of the food because it was being kept for the more important people. The Dek, especially; they began to die from it and the Chiet weren't all that much better, really. People got mad and started leaving scary notes and some upper caste people were killed and then a big fight happened in the city that lasted for a few days."
She stopped walking and let her eyes follow the deer's path that lead down towards where trees finally began to grow in earnest. Hopefully the canopy they offered would have blocked out enough of the snow to make the prints easier to see and maybe the vegetation would be enticing enough to cause the animal to linger. Reluctantly, however, she dragged her thoughts back to what she had been explaining.
"It didn't matter, though. Nothing changed. The Endal and the Avora settled things and made everyone stop fighting. Lots of people died, I think." Khara wasn't sure how she managed to keep herself sounding emotionless about it all, relaying more of a history lesson than explaining something that had been truly terrifying to live through. Maybe it was because she'd spent most of the riots hiding, under the protection of a then-stranger, that made it easier. She hadn't really seen the worst of it, or been subjected to it. "I think that was when Zhol - he's an outsider like you - came to really see how things work here better, he still does not like it though. Hopefully you won't have to see such things. It is not a good way to find out, I think, and it makes it sound so much more bad than it really is. It is not like Endal and Avora are always hurting us, most everyone knows that we all need to work together to make Wind Reach good and that is the normal - the bad stuff is not. If you stay, you will see. It's not so bad, especially if you are in charge of teaching Yasi, Teachers are more respected than some other of us Chiet, so you should be fine unless you go purposely making them mad."
"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"