Closed Sometimes the Small Things Matter (Taurina)

[Turrin]

Turrin nudged the horse with his heel of his boot, but Muncher, who seemed to have a mind of his own, hesitated for a moment because he was currently focused on eating a large clump of grass. The inexperienced rider was slightly embarrassed at his lack of control over the four legged beast. He gave his brown haired companion a smile of reassurance, and he tightened his hands on the reins and lifted the head of the horse from the grass. Muncher clearly wasn't happy since his meal was interrupted by the hunter. The horse snorted loudly and shook his large head, but the burgundy haired rider wanted to move. Turrin nudged the flanks of the horse with his heel of his boots and Muncher started to move forward. Keeping the reins tight, the Inarta directed his horse through the ever growing crowd of people by moving the reins from left to right. When he needed to stop, the novice horseman gently pulled back the reins. It was a tedious process, and the former endal started to miss how easy it was to direct his wind eagle. Eventually, they made it through the center of the city to the vicinity of white tents with multicolored around them.

The former endal was quiet as he maneuvered the horse through the tent city. He wasn't trying to ignore his traveling companion. He was just concentrating on his riding. When they made it out of the city, Turrin grip of the reins started to relax when he saw the wide open prairie. Pulling out his compass, Turrin flipped the metal lid. The red arrow was pointing north, and it looked like they were facing east. He needed to ride north till he hit the shoreline of the Bluevein River. Turrin thought about it for a minute and wondered if he went east since the Arale river flows south to north. Ronir told him a roundabout way of getting there, but he figured it would safer to have landmarks around him. Also it could be nice to have a water source since it starting to get hot out on the plains. Also being unfamiliar with the terrain, it would be safer to have the river next to them since it was a water source and source of food because he could always fish. Looking at his brown haired traveling companion, he said with a nod, “We will ride northeast till we hit the banks of the river than we will head east along the Bluevein to the Arale River. Supposedly the valley is not to far from the banks of the Arale River.” Putting his map in his boot, the former endal said, “Going east would be the most direct way, but there would be no landmarks to guide us or water source. With the heat, I don't want to take the risk of hurting the horses or ourselves. Speaking of heat!"

Taking off his katinu, Turrin instantly felt cooler with the slight wind on his well muscled bare back and chest. He might have to put the katinu back on, so he won't get Syna-burned, but for now, it felt good. Keeping the compass in his hand, he turned Muncher to the left till they were both facing a northerly direction. Looking at Tuarina, Turrin knew the woman was nervous to be out in the Sea of Grass, so he gave her smile and said, “If you feel more comfortable, you can ride next to me instead of behind me.”

Turrin nudged the horse with his foot a little harder. The horse moved forward to a trot. He wasn't going to push it. The ride was bouncy because regardless that it was a large flat plains. Their were a lot of dips and rises in the terrain. As he was riding, the hunter noticed the grass wasn't as green as previous seasons. Normally regardless of location on the continent, the grasslands would be a vibrant green with the melting snow, but this year since Morwen shirked her job. Mizahar was staring to suffer. The animals were behaving erratically, and he wondered if the herding animals were changing their migration patterns because of it. The trip to the river was uneventful one, but luckily it only was a short trip too. He was happy that he choose to go northeast because it would cut down his travel time. Turrin immediately lead his horse to the river to drink. Taking out his water-skin, he took a small drink of the warm water. When he was finished, Turrin nudged the horse with his heel of his boot and brought Muncher back up to a trot heading east along the shoreline. Looking at Tuarina, Turrin figured that he should get to know his companion and asked with a smile, “What do you do for a living in Endrykas? Do you have any hobbies other than work?”

[Taurina]

Taurina did not mind the silence of their trip out of the tent city. With so much to dodge and Starfire’s lack of desire to follow Turrin’s horse, there was a lot to concentrate on without having to worry about carrying on a conversation. It was not too long before the tents of the Opal clan were behind them and all the stretched out before them was grasslands. Yes, Taurina had her reservations and worries over this adventure, but she was stuck in it now. Hopefully her prayer would be heard. Hopefully, they would all return in one piece. That was all the Ethaefal wished for.

They took a pause on the edge of the tent city and Turrin pulled out his compass once more. Taurina sat on her strider, patiently and waited for him to give direction. She was interested in learning how he knew where he was going. Who had he asked to tell him the way? Come to think of it, how had he even heard of the valley? Taurina knew she had never heard of the place. Though, in her defense, while very curious by nature, she did not usually go out searching for trouble alone in the Sea of Grass. Taurina blew air through her nostrils and Starfire shifted beneath her before flicking his tail against his side. Both waited patiently, Taurina releasing her thoughts and trying to pick something else to think about.

As Turrin began to speak, the Ethaefal began to feel very unknowing about her home. He had names for things. The Bluevine river, the Arale river, the Kai' Neha valley… Taurina frowned slightly. She had not gotten to know the names of things and now she was regretting that. Some outsider was already ahead of her in this and she was suppose to be Drykas now! The Ethaefal tried not to look too irritated, but she was not a very good actress. The frustrated look on her face was clear enough. A hand lifted and a couple strands of knotted hair was pushed out of her face before she nodded. The plan sounded good, smart enough. Being near the water would be a good idea and all else that Turrin said, she agreed with. She was just angry with herself. In all her effort to get to learn Endrykas and the land, she had not learned this.

“Sounds like a good plan, we’ll do that…” after a sigh and an attempt at releasing some of the frustration, Taurina audibly agreed with him only for her voice to trail off at the sight of him release his body from the strange coat thing.

The Ethaefal did not blush this time -for which she was very grateful-, but she became instantly fascinated with the work of art that had been inked over his shoulder. The work stretched over his shoulder, down his back, arm, and from the angle she was at, Taurina guessed there was some of it over the right side of his chest. The artist in her craved to study the work, learn all that it meant to him for it was different than most she had seen. This work was not a windmark, but something else. Taurina supposed she possibly should have been appalled at ink on one who was not bonded to a strider, but she was not. Turrin was an outsider and whatever customs his previous home had, he still carried them with him everyday. At least, Taurina assumed that is what these marks were. What else if not cultural?

Taurina was staring, her gaze narrow as if that would focus in and reveal to her in greater detail the work that had been done on the strange man. So when Turrin talked to her once more, offering to let her ride beside instead of behind, Taurina was startled from her deep focus. Her eyes went wide a moment when she realized what she had been doing and then… then came the easy blush she had been so thankful to avoid just moment ago.

“I… um.. sure. If Starfire will comply. Thanks,” the Ethaefal stammered at first before getting ahold of her words.

What was it about human interaction exactly that caused such awkwardness? Such embarrassment? This seemed like a recent development. Before she had simply just not interacted or interacted the bare minimum, but things had changed now. She was bonded Drykas now, part of the Stormblood pavilion, and told to be brave. Told to let her smile shine and keep her head held up high. While she hadn’t done a very good job of all Azmere had encouraged, she was at least interacting more. Or trying too… The Ethaefal sighed and motioned for Starfire to move, slow. Three times the signs were repeated in his line of vision before he got it and preformed to act. Taurina guided him over to stand just to the right of Turrin’s inferior horse. They paused there a moment, Taurina giving her stallion a rub of well done against the base of his neck to encourage such good behavior in the future.

The pair and their horses began to move again, this time at a faster rate. Turns out, Taurina did not need to give Starfire direction to go for the moment Turrin’s horse began to accelerate, the stallion began to move to try and overtake. Constant pressure against the horse’s sides with her legs and a tight grip over his mane was all Taurina could do to keep him at the trotting pace Turrin and Muncher had set. Starfire wanted to run, he was ready to run, and having the other horse by his side encouraged him to do so. He wanted to show everyone what he could do, but Taurina would not let him. They had a plan, a path, and two companions that they could not leave behind. Besides, Taurina did not want to leave them behind. She was not quite ready to soar just yet.

They made it to the river after not much time and Taurina was thankful for the break already. Her legs ached from all the pressure she had had to apply to her strider’s sides, but she did not yet know any other way to get him to slow down. When she had so much other stuff to focus on, signs were hard to get into his line of vision. He did not listen even to those a hundred percent of the time either. It was a constant mini-battle with him. It was like when two friends meet for the first time and they adore each other, but just do not yet know everything about each other. That is what it was like. One day they would know all about each other and be perfectly in sync, a force to be reckoned with. They were not there yet.

“Listen. Slow. Starfire. Follow, not lead,” Taurina directed in pavi, keeping her tone even and encouraging with a sense of authority instead of demanding or cruel.

Signs were put in his vision to coincide with her words. Listen, slow, follow. Three times for each sign. She hoped it would be enough. The stallion was then allowed to drink like the other horse and soon enough they were off again. A trot was picked up once more, but this time slower. Starfire was not making so much trouble, though he had pulled a half ahead in front of Muncher. Taurina had let him take it. He had followed the other commands and was not pulling against her anymore, she chose her battle and let him have the small lead.

“What do I do?” Taurina mimicked, looking over to Turrin after he asked his questions.

Her gaze flickered down to his ink once more before before lifting to his eyes and then the grasses ahead. His ink was fascinating. Even more now that she was closer and it was easier to see. There was a giant cat with stripes surrounded by plant life and what she guessed to be jungle from the story he had told her. She’d never seen anything like it among the people of Endrykas. So different. So interesting.

“I’m an apprentice at the Lilacwind pavilion, where we create windmarks. In your words, tattoos,” Taurina explained, a small smile on her lips. She truly enjoyed her work. “I don’t have many hobbies outside of work that have nothing to do with work. I am trying to get better, to learn all I can so that I can progress to being an actual artist. So I spend the majority of my free time working on sketches or practicing with the needles and ink on animal skin.”

Taurina glanced over at his shoulder again. Surely he would understand her interest in the art now, right?

“I’m very curious about the work that has been done on you. I’ve not seen here any like it. The plants, they are different from ours. The work as a whole is different,” Taurina looked out the land beyond them as she spoke, Starfire did not turn in any direction that way, “Will you tell me about it?”

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'

[Turrin]

After the horses drank their fill, Turrin didn't want to ride by the shoreline since the terrain was starting to become uneven far down the shoreline, so he tighten up on his reigns and turned them left away from the shore, and back to the grass. When he got to the hill leading up to the grass, Turrin tighten his legs to horses flanks and leaned forward and held onto the horn of saddle. He allowed Muncher to do the hard work and walk up the hill. As long as he could see the river to his left, he would be content. He will allow Tuarina to choose her position around him if she wanted to be closer to the river or not. He would move Muncher to allow her to slide into it. The hunter watched as she made hand gestures towards the magnificent white stallion. He knew it was Pavi, but he wasn't quite sure what she meant to tell her steed. Turrin decided to keep the gait at a faster trot. It was uncomfortable on his tender regions, but if he wanted to make it there by evening. He would need to pick up the pace.

As Turrin rode, he had the feelings that he had eyes upon him. Sometimes, he quickly flicked his eyes in her direction and saw her eyes were focused on him. He doubt that the woman found him attractive enough to stare at him, but her brown eyes seemed to be focused on his shoulder. The one with the tiger tattoo. The memorial to the father, the nation that he left behind to keep his mother, and his sister alive. When he left Taloba, he made sure that a myrian tattoo artist made him the tattoo. It was a work of art when it was first created, but now it was faded from the elements and time. It needed to be touched up. When she told him that she was a tattoo artist in Endrykas. Turrin turned to look at her and said with a smile, “I always tended to attract artists to me. Drusilla was a tailor, and Syveris was a glassblower. Now I met you, Taurina, and you are tattoo artist. Curious how fate works isn't it?” The half-breed said with a smirk, “Anyways, my twin sister Kaya was a glassblower in Wind Reach and my mother was a musician, so I guess that I can say that I have soft side for artists...”

Turrin listened to the woman explain her work at the Lilac Pavilion. Once again the woman lacked the confidence to call her a actual artist. He knew for the longest time. Kaya would always hate everything that she created. She didn't compare herself to anyone. She was just a didn't think her work was any good. It wasn't like he was any help to her since he focused most of his attention to the martial arts. However, he always took her rejects and put them into his room. When she said that she was sketch artist too, Turrin snorted, “You always sell yourself short, Rina. If you love to create art, you are a artist. Nobody can take that away from you.”

Turrin gave her a playful smile and said with a chuckle, “Unless someone cuts off your hands, but I am sure if you're passionate enough in your art. You could just put a piece of charcoal or needle in your teeth and create something!” If she hadn't noticed, the Inarta loved to talk, and he loved to give people nicknames. Rina was a good nickname for her or Rin. He would have to figure out which one the woman liked better. The playful smile never left his face, so he continued, “Maybe during this trip, you will have time to sketch somethings. Maybe the dead tree on the Arale River that Ronir was talking about. Now I am curious about your art, so you will have to show me your sketches.” The Inarta teased, “And I won't take no for a answer either, Rin.”

When Taurina asked him about his tattoo, Turrin jokily, “I figure that you weren't staring at my “pretty face.” He looked at the river for a moment and said with a hint of sadness in his voice, “Before I left the jungles of Taloba. I commissioned a myrian tattoo artist to create the tattoo for me. It was my way of not forgetting my roots and my father's skull that I left behind in the jungle. I figure if I branded the symbols of father's people into my skin that I wouldn't forget them.”

Turrin nodded to the tattoo, “The tiger symbolized my father's tiger mount that he bonded too when he was apart of the myrian army. It was symbol of strength, determination, and ferocity that aloud him to shine in a society who was controlled by women.” Turrin nodded to the tree that the tiger was perched into and said, “The tree symbolized the jungle that sheltered, feed, and protected my father's people. While the border around the tree and tiger symbolized that we are all children of the war goddess. She is what brings the clans together and holds the clans together in times of hardships.”

Turrin said with a smile, “Eventually, I would like to make another memorial for the people that I left behind in my mother's lands of Wind Reach on the other shoulder, but I would need to find a artist willing and have enough money to pay them.”

[Taurina]

The slower trot turned faster was an almost jarring gait for the novice rider. There was a natural up and down bounce that came with the movement of the horse, especially because the stallion was so big, but getting in sync was hard. Taurina found herself off the pattern set by Starfire many times which caused discomfort all throughout the muscles of her lower half. It was because she was forcing it, bouncing up too early and coming down too late. She needed to move with her horse, let him be in complete control for he would make it easy. This she did not yet know. So while she understood that she was out of sync with her horse, she did not know how to fix it. So pain was what she got in exchange for her ignorance.

The pair and their horses moved uphill, away from the uneven shore line of the river. Taurina was fine with this. There was a slight reprieve from the bouncing trot when they moved up hill. Like Turrin, the Ethaefal leaned forward as they moved up the slight uphill slope. She gripped Starfire’s mane and the yvas handle tight in her hands to keep herself atop him and kept her back straight to make it easier on her body. Soon they were level once more and moving at that fast trot along the river, but not on the shore. Taurina rode to the side of her new companion, Starfire still edging out just a little ahead of the other horse and rider. He was still not fighting Taurina on the directions she had given him, so she continued to let him have the slight lead.

Turrin was talking again, this time in reply to what information she had given him. He told her of the past artists he had encountered. A tailor called Drusilla and a glassblower called Syveris. Turrin decided that his meeting many artists was a sort of fate, caused by a soft spot his family had placed within him. Kaya had been a glassblower, his mother a musician. Taurina found the later to be a curious profession. How did one make a living off of making music? Not possible in the Sea of Grass, she did not think, but somewhere else maybe. In a different city, where the culture created a whole other world from the one she knew.

“It is curious how such things work,” Taurina commented softly before giving a small shrug.

Fate was a funny thing. No one could really tell how much of a hand it had in the day to day lives and meetings of every being on Mizahar. Yet, one could not discredit fate or the gods, for that matter, either. Both seemed to have a much bigger role to play than people wanted to admit. Things were different now. After Semele split the earth and Zulrav stormed through the sky last season, many things had changed. The Ethaefal’s view on gods other than Leth was one of those things.

Taurina’s mouth opened to cut Turrin off and stand up for herself when he told her that she “always sold herself short”, but she stopped when that cursed nickname was spoken over his lips. “Rina”. Her body went rigid. Starfire snorted and threw his head in response to the change in her body. Her legs were tight on him, her fingers white for how tightly she gripped the stallion’s mane. How had Turrin come up with that one? Of all the things he could call her why that? A shudder rippled through the woman. An image of that tiny girl who had first given her the nickname was conjured up in her mind no matter how she fought against her own mind. She had not seen the nameless brat since bonding with Starfire. She had thought the image of the girl as dead and gone, the void she had filled now filled by her strider and her pavilion. Now though, she questioned, was the girl really gone? Or just suppressed and awaiting a moment like this one to be remembered and brought back into existence?

Turrin was still talking. Going on and on, not noticing it seemed that the Ethaefal had fallen completely silence and her body as still as possible. She was only thrown up now by the rise and fall of Starfire’s gait. Oddly enough, she found the true rhythm now. Her still body giving the stallion the complete control he needed to make the trot as smooth as possible for both of them.

The Ethaefal was quiet, but she was not deaf. She heard every word the strange man said. He spoke of how she was an artist and how no one could take that away from her, not even by cutting off her hands, unless she let them. Taurina guessed that even if her hands were cut off, they would just reappear in the next day. Just like her windmarks had disappeared by the time she shifted back to Drykas earlier in the season. It seemed as though she returned to the state her fall had left her in each day and she had became very aware of this fact since the windmark incident. That’s why her fingernails were the same length each day, no new scars were added to her body, her hair was always in the same tangles each morning. It was because she would remain the same for an eternity or until someone stole this life from her. She did not speak of what she knew for she did not believe the strange man would understand. She barely understood.

“No!” Taurina snapped suddenly to his request about seeing her sketches.

Though she found she did not mind the second nickname, she was not one to share her sketches with anyone. Let alone one who was still a relative stranger. Her sketches were.. private. Not really. The good ones that were not of the monsters that plagued her mind could be seen, but the moment she handed over her journal she had a suspicion he would look at whatever he wanted and see all she did not want him to. Those monstrous Zith, the half conjured images of the one who had originally called her “Rina”, everything done by her when she was still a struggling novice. No, no. She did not want him or anyone else to see those.

“I’m sorry,” her voice got noticeably calmer, “I’m just on edge. No one has called me Rina since… it was not a good experience. I prefer you not use it.”

Taurina sighed, taking a moment to collect herself and relax her muscles. She knew he had not meant harm, he wanted to encourage her. He had not known and she could not blame him. Certain things just touched the hidden places of her heart still delicate and vulnerable. Not his fault either. He did not know where those places were or that he needed to avoid them.

“Rin is better. You may use that if you wish,” she told him, trying to make up for snapping at him, “and if you promise to only look at the ones I tell you too…”

The Eth hesitated, unsure if she could trust him yet.

“You may see the sketches, but only the ones I say you can!” she took a leap of faith, fear instantly clenching her stomach and making her wonder if it was a mistake.

Only time would tell.

Turrin had revealed the meaning behind his inked marks. A tribute to his father, the Myrain whose death had meant his family being cast out from their home. Taurina listened, seeing the sadness and yet, Turrin continued on. The tiger symbolized a bond. A symbol of “strength, determination, and ferocity”. The plant was a symbol of the jungle home, and the border a sign of his goddess. Taurina nodded, solemnly. She felt guilty growing angry with him over something that seemed so small. Especially when he had shared much with her and she had shared so little with him. Trust went both ways and she was barely giving him a piece of hers.

“While your face is not that bad..” Taurina said to tease and lighten the mood she had made heavy, “the ink is ever more fascinating. This culture you lived in.. it is interesting. Has values I have never heard of before. Besides Mura I have never known a place to be so controlled by women and warriors at that… very odd, but a good odd. I think..”

Taurina sighed and shrugged.

“Tattoos are sacred here, called windmarks instead of the tattoos. They are used to symbolize a bond between strider and Drykas has taken place. A Drykas is not really a Drykas until they have bonded to a strider. The windmarks tell everyone that has taken place. That one is full Drykas,” Taurina explained, “I do not know if any here would do the new work you are thinking of having done. Not until you are chosen by a strider first. Then, maybe. I am no expert though, so, maybe not just take my word for it. Regardless, I think your wish to add your mother’s culture is a good idea. If that is what you want, when the time is right and artist found, do it.”

Common | Pavi | 'Thoughts'