Timestamp: 5th of Winter, 515 AV
Kavala knew the Festival of Hope was just ten days away. Winter was here and that meant downtime for most of the staff. There were no foals, no calves, and no lambs or goat kids to escort into the world. And there was no breeding schedule, no clientele coming in and out for all of the above things either. They were in a holding pattern of feeding, cleaning, sheltering and doing the much needed repairs or remodeling that needed doing but was put off during warmer months. The Animal Healer was always busy, especially since she was teaching a new group of students new skills, but there was always time for her family.
Kavala had learned long ago that family was important, especially her children. And she had all three of them in tow. Tasi was four and growing fast. He walked quietly along with her. They'd left the pony cart at the city stables and had decided to walk from there. Ral'ac and Ia'del were two year old toddlers that would tire fast, but for now the boy was walking well, and Ia was curled against her mother's side already being carried. Ia'del was small, born extremely premature, while her brother Ral'ac had been born late. The two had been carried together in a twist of natural fate, though they were not twins. Ral'ac and his dark brother Inadan held his sister's hand rather than his mothers. While Tasival and his dark brother Shayru kept his little hand on the small of his mother's back, as if he were escorting the two women all by himself. The boys were Akontak, while the tiny girl was Konti like her mother.
The four of them looked like each other, the females delicate beauties while the males had boyish charm that promised they would grow strong, tall, and be protective. Tasi wore a miniature set of leather's in black patterned like his mother's white set of leathers. It was odd the Konti woman wore warriors garments rather than the long artistic dresses most females in Riverfall enjoyed. However, she did blend into the crowds at the Zhongjie Warren. There were a lot of Akalak in leathers there. And more than one casually glanced at the Konti woman's wrist, as if looking for a Kuvan Tattoo or a Nakivak Cuff. Kavala had the tattoo. Disappointment flickered across more than one tinted male's face. A woman with children meant fertility among a dying race with fertility problems. If she had worn a Nakivak Cuff, they wouldn't have left her alone. But she was a full citizen, and that gave her rights and put her off limits to harassment of certain types, even in crowds.
"I want to do a sculpture!" The oldest boy said, as if he just decided. The younger boy seemed to consider this idea and shook his head. "Not me. I want to make... a poster with blue and glitter and maybe stones or bark or fur." Kavala smiled. Ia'del was asleep so she couldn't voice her opinions just yet. "We'll get you clay, Tasi. And we can make glue for you at home Ralac. But we need poster board or canvas, already stretched... and coloring supplies for Ia and more paper. I thought to get inks too. Maybe even try my hand at entering something. I always feel better if we celebrate the Festival of Hope by entering art. Will that work with everyone?" The children agreed as Kavala waded with them into the crowds. There were several booths that sold art supplies, clay, clay tools for Tasi would need those as well, and paper products deep int he Zhongjie Warrens. She just had to find them.
Opening her senses like a tracker, Kavala had no idea where to find the art supplies and was hoping somehow she could find a way to find them. Aware, carefully placing her steps, Kavala kept herself 'open' to hopefully sense animals that knew where the art supply stands were. Perhaps the owners had pets. Perhaps the birds fluttering around knew where the brightly colored supplies were. She wanted to avoid walking the whole market just to find the one or two booths - art and paper supplies - she was looking for.
Kavala wondered if her Konti gift had been changing lately. Sometimes when she did this she swore she heard voices. Small dogs in the market speaking about treats, snacks, bites of food from the passersbys. A mouse chanting 'drop it drop it' to people walking by snacking on bubbly berry pies. Yesterday she'd even swore one of her patients had hissed in pain and then called her something nasty under her breath as she'd removed porcupine quills from a dog's nose. She half feared the same thing in the market, but opened her senses wide anyhow.
She didn't find talking animals, not at the moment, but instead found a hurting kelvic.
But when she opened her senses, a kelvic's emotions struck her hard. Young. Tinged with grief. Lonely. Somewhat lost. It felt predatory but not on the hunt. Kavala turned her head, scanning the crowd, looking for the source of the emotion. It was a child kelvic, for sure, though not super young.... but it was lost... very lost... and alone. Kavala didn't sense the lost was in the physical, as if the Kelvic didn't know where it was. Instead, the lost feeling came from a core of displacement and of being alone. Wandering.
The Konti changed directions as her Konti gift honed in on the emotions and narrowed the direction she was headed. She increased her speed. Ralac began to skip to keep up with her which didn't seem to bother the toddler. He was a happy boy with a lot of energy.
Cat. Kavala would bet it was a big cat cub. At first she wondered if one of the Akalaks had imported a new kelvic pet. The Akalaks tended to treat them as pets even though they often took them to bed and used them for breeding. She'd be furious if she found one of the men with a young kelvic female with emotions like that. Cats bonded quickly, in most cases, and grew to please their masters. The Akalak almost always imported Kelvics that were animals no one thought important elsewhere on Mizahar. Rabbits, mice, small ponies. Most of them came from the pens of Ravok where they bred kelvics to fight and experiment on. Unfortunately they kept all the predator kelvics though and brought them together to breed if they were good fighters. But they never produced true. Cats might produce birds. Canines might produce rabbits. The excess were sold off, mostly to Riverfall as mothers. More than one Akalak in the crowd had a kelvic mother. They were sturdy, usually carried the large Akalak fetis' well, and survived births.
But this one.... Kavala stretched her senses. No, not exactly a cub, but not an adult. The emotions of the cat circled through her helping her to narrow down her search, looking hard. And as she did so she began to feel the masculine energies around the Kelvics' mind. A boy then. No wonder he felt loss. A male kelvic in Riverfall had no value other than to be a pet. Sometimes they were given to Nakivaks as guardians or protectors, but this one was far too young.
Blue eyes scanned the crowd. She was closer. The emotions were stronger. The four of them wove through the crowd again and came out at the very booth they were looking for... art supplies. The proprietor was demonstrating his skills by working on a painting and a young man was watching him off to one side. Outwardly he looked like an older child fast approaching teenage years. He'd be mature soon, within a year, but until then he was radiating sadness and more than a few feelings of loss. But the artist painting was distracting him, enough so that Kavala confidently approached.
She put her arm on his shoulder and gently got his attention with a soft squeeze. "Do you need help? You are radiating a sense of being lost. Maybe we can help?" She asked, looking into the young man's eyes. "I'm Kavala Denusk. I'm an animal healer. I deal with kelvics too. I can tell you aren't human. These are my sons and my daughter." The Konti said introducing each child carefully. "We were looking for this very booth. I thought to get the kids art supplies to make an entry for the gallery for the Festival of Hope in ten days. Do you like art? Maybe you could join us for a bit and do some art with the us." Kavala invited casually, not wanting to scare the Kelvic, but wanting him to know why they were there and what the plan for the day was. Away from the market, perhaps someplace quieter, they could talk further.
She didn't get the sense he was on the run or in trouble, but there was always that possibility. And as she stood next to him, she was intent on eavesdropping on his emotions, looking for any sign of violence or aggression. There seemed to be none. She didn't want her children hurt just because she felt the need to help someone.
"Hi!" Tasi said even as Ralac let go of Ia's sleeping hand and waved slightly. Kavala's daughter kept sleeping even though she momentarily cracked open an eye and peered at the stranger before drifting back to sleep.
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