A Little On The Shotty Side[[Antar]]

[Canali]

Bouncing happily when Antar gave the slingshot, now made, back, Canali leaned forwards off of the large tree to swing her arms around his neck and shoulders awkwardly in a hug. The move was impulsive and over as fast as it began as Canali started playing with the slingshot; testing the sturdiness and strength of the leather sling. Even holding it up in the air to pretend to shoot. A childlike glee radiated from Canali as she played with her new toy. She was barely even aware of what Antar said, but got the vibe of "Leave me alone" from him as he left.

Katahr gave Canali a lazy glare, as if he couldn't figure out what she was doing, much less why. Tail flicking lazily, he curled up in a ball, purring. On hairy paws rested his triangular head. Reaching over to pet him, Canali murmured, "This is going to be an interesting little toy, Katahr. Perhaps we could even shoot a couple birds for you to munch on. Oh, Katahr! What fun!" Humming under her breath, she reached out to stroke him behind his ears. Popping one green eye open, Katahr vibrated with pleasure, pushing back against her hand. Giggling her tinkling laugh, Canali cooed to the kitten. For a cat who had been half wild and half dead when Canali found him, Katahr sure did make a great recovery. Several pounds had been put on, his coat was shining, and he had more activity. Though the ribs could be felt, his skinny frame had packed on quite a few pounds. Most likely from eating most of Canali's food.

Twirling the slingshot in one hand, Canali wondered briefly just how Antar had made it so… Finished. Perhaps it was none of her business, anyways. All she had wanted was for him to help with the slingshot; no questions needed. Glancing around, Canali peeled a piece of bark off of the fallen tree. Just a size of a silver miza. Grasping the slingshot, she settled the bark into the crevice of the leather sling, Canali pulled it taut, backwards before glancing around. What could she shoot and not get into trouble with? Eyes twinkling, Canali spotted a movement across the small clearing. An animal! Checking to make sure it wasn't Katahr, Canali aimed for the creature. The leather snapped back into place with the release. Whistling through the air, the smacked into a tree right next to the creature, who paused before scuttling up the nearest trunk, chittering its displeasure.


Giggling to herself, Canali moved to shift on the trunk; to find a more comfortable position. In the process, both legs were uncrossed and she was off balance. Flailing her arms in the air, Canali toppled to the ground. It was a solid land, and for a moment she sat dazed, wondering just what had happened before realizing. When she did, Canali chuckled at her own stupidity, glad it wasn't too far of a fall. Distractedly, she noted Antar had finished cutting his last tree. Shuffling to her feet, back cracking, Canali made her way over to her backpack; slinging it over one shoulder. Antar's lunch was held in the opposite hand of the slingshot. Humming, she practically floated back over to Antar. Lazily, Katahr had followed. Chipper, Canali questioned, "Ready to go?" even as she handed him his lunch.

[Antar]

The second tree came down just as easily as the first, meaning not easily at all. Working in the forests was difficult work, and while the same actions were repeated time and time again, each time Noth had to be absolutely attentive to the task at hand. Having a job which required working with sharp implements sort of required it. However, soon enough, the job was done, and the wagon loaded to the brim with the day's quota. Dawnstride at its forefront, tethered into the harness and ready to pull back onto the road for the short trip back to the cutters and carvers place. He'd been working at the brothers place for about a season now, and it was always tiring to work out in the woods.

It was always a challenge to figure out the trees, the ones which were good, the ones which were bad. How best to cut them to fall so you saved as much viable wood as you could. Where to plan out your day so you could figure out the best plot of forest to take down trees which fit the criteria you wanted with as little waste as possible. All of it was interesting, tiring, and ultimately all that work made a person, man or woman, hungry.

So when Canali held out his lunch Noth took it gratefully and dug into it with all due haste. Wolfing it down, he barely had time to finish it before closing back the leather satchel it had been carried in. He wasn't much for giving compliments, but he gave credit where credit was due. So after washing down an almost full mouth of some sort of bean and casserole with a long chug of water, he muttered. "Good grub, thanks."

He didn't know what else to say, the girl was kind of an oddball around Sunberth. Since when did many people hug another person over a simple artifice of stone throwing? It was all kinda freakish to him. The woman was twenty years of age for gods sake, and still used the tactic of puppy dog eyes to con someone. He presumed the hug was just another trick in the girl's arsenal of manipulative ways.

Thinking to himself a moment, Noth looked at where the girl was, and pointed to the wagon. "We'll hunt anything we might see on the road back to town, for now though I got to get this cargo back to the workplace. " Climbing up onto the wagon to grab the reins, he turned back to the girl who was in danger of being left behind if Dawnstride decided to start carting him off, the horse loved staying in motion, being ridden or pulling a wagon or cart more then anything else."Come on, it's bad to travel back on the roads alone, so you better climb up to the wagon's bench. Make sure to bring the furball too."

After the said furball and girl decided to find a place to sit, Noth cracked the reins and shouted, "Walk!" being glad Dawnstride quickly complied. The mare had a very friendly, and eager temperament, so much he hoped to remove the bit when he was better able to control the wagon. But soon enough, they were clip-clopping back down the road towards the Cutters and Carvers store with Antar guiding the horse by slight tugs on the side of the reins where he wanted the mare to go.

He wasn't sure if Canali hit anything along the way, but he did see her shoot her slingshot off at random things during the ride back to the store. Looking as happy as can be all the way. If she hit something, he was sure she'd tell him to stop. In which case he'd pull over to grab his bow to see if he might shoot something as well.

[Canali]

Hopping into the wagon was harder than it looked. Even when it was standing still, the wagon tipped to one side upon movement and awkwardly, even given Canali's height, she had to extend her leg, causing the skirt to slide up embarrassingly. Plopping next to Antar on the seat, Canali re-situated herself, making sure to cover her legs with the black skirt. Backpack plopping down against her feet, pebbles in one of the sewn on pouches, Canali turned the slingshot over and over again in her fingers. Katahr lazily jumped up into the back of the buggy, looking unhappy at the way of travel and downright feral when the horse jerked into a walk. Canali had mutual feelings, having been forced back at an unpleasant pace. Gritting her teeth, she shifted again; easier now that the horse was actually moving and the buggy was creaking along noisily.

Retrieving a stone from her bag, Canali settled it into the sling. Carefully, slowly, she moved. Her right hand held the slingshot, left holding the pebble in place. Pulling the leather backwards, stretching it, Canali let the stone fly. The slingshot must have been pointed at too high of an angle, because the stone bounced backwards, smacking against Canali's upper right thigh. A sting shot up Canali's leg, and she was forced to set down the toy for a moment. Turning away from Antar's eyes, Canali pulled the skirt up; grimacing at the bright red mark which had kissed her pale skin. Already, the wound was beginning to swell. Making a mental note that welts were bad, Canali rolled her skirt back down to the knee-length. This re-hid the one small freckle Canali had and the awkward situating of it. Who else had a single dark freckle on their inner thigh?

Disguising the move as a need to retrieve another pebble, Canali plucked one out of her backpack before softly setting it in the sling again. This time the stone went flying, solidly thumping against a passing tree. Giddy, Canali eagerly shot off another handful of pebbles before spotting a creature sliding through the underbrush with a fluffy, grey tail. Curious, Canali watched it for a few moments before bringing a loaded slingshot up. Shutting one eye, she lined the top of the stone up with the moving creature before letting it fly. Inside the brush, a critter chittered angrily and the tail disappeared. Shooting off another one, Canali was content to hear it thump and another angry chitter. Perhaps it was a cry of pain? Grabbing a handful of pebbles, Canali shifted closer to the edge of the buggy.

Excited and wanting to see her hit, Canali didn't think about the dangers of her choice before she stood, put one foot on the edge of the wagon, grabbed her backpack, tossed that, and launched off after it. Her dress could have caught, the horse could have spooked, a thousand things could have happened. But Canali landed hard on the ground in the bushes, hands braced on the dirt and ankles absorbing most of the shot. Meowing in protest of her quick leaving, Katahr followed the same example and jumped from the moving buggy. Unlike Canali, he landed smoothly. Grabbing her backpack, Canali moved to her feet, untensing her now sore body.

"Okay, not a good idea."

Shrugging the small pain in her ankle off after she had sprained it from landing, Canali trudged off into the wilderness, aiming for where the creature she had had been. Only a little ways back. Katahr rolled his eyes before following and the pair disappeared in the maze of trees.

[Antar]

'Feth, feth, feth, petching feth!" Noth thought to himself as the horse in front of the wagon spooked at the girls haphazard departure. It was a good thing Dawnstride was hauling a set of heavy logs at the moment, she couldn't break into a run, or even a canter. But that didn't stop his horse from twitching her neck about as she reared up on her hind legs.

Grabbing the reins tightly, Noth tried his best to calm her, shouting,"Woah! Woah!" before talking to the horse , just letting her hear the sound of his voice. His horse wasn't usually high strung but even he knew you didn't want to distract a horse by moving around precipitously. 'Damn the girl! Noth would take a switch to her back for this if Dawnstride was injured in any way. 'No,' he thought, 'It would probably be best to skip that punishment and go straight to selling her on the slave block if the horse was injured to the point where she had to be put down.' His horse was a part of his livelihood, and he wasn't above trading in something of equal value to find a replacement if Dawnstride was taken out of commission.

Luckily though, the mare calmed down to the sound of his voice and came to a full stop a short ways down the roadway. Keeping the reins in one hand, Noth dismounted from the wagon and went to pat the horse down to check on her. The mare didn't seem injured in anyway, just staring at him with large eyes as he lead her off to the side of the road and tied her there. With the more important item out of the way, calming his horse,Noth glanced angrily back down the road to see if he could spot Canali emerging from the tree line only to see nothing, 'Damn foolish woman!'

The first part of the way back had been fine, save for a few... distractions. Canali it seemed always tried to adjust her skirt and to a man like Noth, that was always a distraction. But he ignored it. Tossing it up as another tool in the woman's supposed naivete he decided to concentrate upon driving the wagon. However, when the miscreant in question (and her little cat too) decided to jump off was when things had gone south.

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, What had the girl been thinking? Where was she? Should he go after her? Should he continue on and let her catch up? Would she even know where she was going? Did he having a reason to track the fool down and see to her safety? For another thing, why did women have to be in so revealing dresses? Couldn’t she be decently clothed? In sunberth an easy mark like her should have been properly dressed head to toe to stop her from being kidnapped and sold at the block! He supposed some baron , or merchant in town needed a scullery maid or two. But if she was sold… who would help out with all the camp chores? Who would make his lunches then?


That thought stopped him cold as he realized something, despite her manipulative, and conniving ways... the woman had been the first person to bring his lunch to him without being paid for it. His brow furrowed as he remembered that her lunches were much better tasting then he could make on his own. So... it was at least a small reason to try and find her rather than leaving her behind. But where had Canali gone anyways?’

He called out to her, cupping one hand around his ear to listen for any telltale noise of a person, shouting for help, but nothing came back to him in reply. Cursing in irritation, Noth gathered his bow up from the wagon and began to jog quickly back down the road, leaving his horse, who he probably cared about more than a person, behind. His eyes and ears were searching for some sign of the girl’s presence. A movement in the brush, or the sound of brambles being pushed aside. And that made his imagination wonder if the woman wasn’t hurt and couldn’t make her way back to the wagon.

But so far, there was no signs at the side of the road. He wondered if she had rolled away from the wagon so he glanced around as he frantically expanded his search. Finally, his eyes were drawn to a disturbed patch of loam about ten feet off the roadway. He couldn’t make out what it was from this distance. Scampering over to the site, he knelt down and gave the tract of land a more discerning view.


About two feet away, from the pressed earth, he saw the telltale markings of a print in the soft loam, and the arcing divot of an animals slide. He put his thumb next to the print as a guiding marker to estimate it was just a little under an inch from the heel to the claw point. He guessed it was a feline’s pawprint, and that meant to find Canali, he’d have to find the animal. Following the scatter of tracks to the harder forest soil, he noted another slight indentation in the ground. Sandal markings, from the girls footwear, leading off into the woods. They were somewhat at odd lengths, at an uneven pace, and that concerned him. He wondered if maybe she hit her head, or was stumbling off in a random direction in a daze after she foolishly jumped off the wagon’s side.

Noth cupped his hands about his mouth and shouted again. ”Canali! Where are you?”

The rogue didn’t expect a reply, by now the girl was probably stretching out the distance between them, wandering off on whatever silly little notion crossed her mind and that worried him. The others would not take too kindly if he lost one of their own. Worse, if he moved into the woods, Noth wouldn’t have the option of firing on the fly if he startled some odd woodland creature into attacking. There were a lot of unpleasant thing’s in Sunberth’s forests that he didn’t want to tangle with without being prepared, some animals and some not. Antar had been warned of bandits preying on the brothers woodcutting operations. He would just have to hope that since they were within a half mile of the shop nothing would happen. Without knowing where Canali was, he’d have to check and double check every target just to make sure he didn’t put an arrow through the girl.

With a sigh of consternation, Noth picked the general direction of the tracks and began to follow, leaping over a small log as he began the process of tracking the errant woman down.

[Canali]

Somewhere in the distance, Canali was aware of shouting. Perhaps it was Antar, looking for her? Who else would be in these woods this time of day? Glancing around at the shadowed areas, a shudder ran through her. Thieves, of course. Registering this fact, Canali hoped it was Antar. Being mobbed and killed out here, not counting what else a thief might do her, was not Canali's cup of tea. Most likely, though, Antar would give up in a few moments and continue on. He seemed like that type of person, anyways. Through Canali's eyes, he was trustworthy… If you were in a battle or needed help. However, she wouldn't put it past him to leave a person out in the wilderness without a second thought. Rumors had flown around about him supposedly selling a girl to the slave block. Shivering again, she pushed Antar out of her mind. Let him leave. See if she cared.

Mentally, she ignored the voice that screamed, "Don't leave me out here alone!"

Clucking to Katahr, Canali squatted down on the ground. She had reached where the small creature had been shot and needed to see if there were tracks. Softly pushing the branches out of her way, Canali peered into the bush, looking at the ground for any signs of marring. For a long moment, she didn't see them. Then they became clear; the four hand-like imprints. The back two were smaller, with four toes on them. Most likely all nails. While the front ones were larger, they had five toes. Wondering what it could be, Canali smiled in triumph before easing out of the plant, eyes on the tracks. Snapping to Katahr, Canali tapped the ground next to the imprints. "What are these, Katahr?" After giving her a look of "you dragged me out here for this?" and sniffing the prints, he trotted away from her.

Psshing at him in response, Canali inched upwards, eyes on the tracks. Breaking into a slow walk, limping on her sore ankle, she set off slowly after them; following them with her eyes. Keeping along with them, Canali lost them a few moments later when several leaves covered the ground. Growling under her breath, she squatted back down, moving like a duck to the next patch of dirt. Growing irritated at the lack of tracks, she sat down for a long moment, pulled her leg with one arm; massaging her pulsing ankle with the other hand. In the middle of doing this, Canali raised her eyes; only to let them fall upon another set of tracks. "Aha!" Jumping to feet, a definite mistake considering her ankle buckled under the force, Canali caught herself before following the animal path.

Fairly soon, the trail disappeared again. "Gahh!" Huffing in frustration, Canali glanced around; several large trees surrounded her. A few long moments of searching showed up no more trails, so Canali was left to believe the creature had skedaddled up a tree. However, she had little chance to look or even move to look before an solid, small, weapon smacked against the top of her head. Crying out in pain, Canali's hand moved quickly to her head, rubbing it. The weapon had been an acorn. Glancing above, Canali spotted a… Squirrel? Who was armed and ready for battle!


Canali picked up the acorn, settled it in her slingshot, and went for aim...

[Antar]

Catprints, were like little trails of bread crumbs. Their path meandering about like the snaking curves of a river making its way to sea. Following the winding trail wasn’t easy. But at least every so often a soft scouring of the forest loam betrayed a hint of a sandal’s gait. Each one was a slight sign which came together to form a scattered picture of the ditzy woman’s passage. It was like looking at a puzzle with only a few pieces linked together to form the image.

In one place, the sandal impressions were deeper, as if the girl had been running. In others, the prints of the cat wound their way about the disturbed earth, as if to show the creature dancing at someone's heels. Farther along the trail, there were little to no signs at all over the hardened patches of earth forcing noth to stop and expand his search, slowly scanning the ground out within a radial pattern to check if the petching woman had decided to up and change directions.

Finding another sign of the woman, this time a bit of cloth snagged upon a tree limb made Antar cautious. All this time searching slowed him down, and Noth knew he'd be falling behind canali more and more. And it would only increase the more directions he took. At each point where the trail began to follow a different direction, he went towards the nearest tree. Each time, he drew his kukri, and spent the necessary few seconds to draw his dagger across the toughened bark. The act caused the fresh scent of pine to tease his nostrils as he carved quick arrows to mark the direction back towards the wagon, taking care to make sure that each arrow was within sight of the last. The last thing he wanted to do was to try and find the girl, and end up getting them both lost in the woods.

The farther away from the roads they went, the wilder the forests would become. The larger the trees would have grown and the more enshrouded the canopy would become. Already, shadows stretched out into the darkened forest floor and Noth could hear the swaying of the branches in the above. The whisper of the winds as they caressed the forest branches reminded him of sea waves crashing upon the shore. Soon, Noth knew he might come across deer trails, and other animal sign which would obscure the path upon which Canali had taken and bring them both more into the virgin territory of the wilds where bears stalked their prey and ate fish from the rivers. From his bearings to the road, he knew they weren’t far from the Brothers shop, but close to the mountainsides which edged up against the oceans.

Even the terrain was becoming sloped, leading towards the older forests, tall oaks clinging to the rock faces by intricate fallings of roots that stretched like thickened arms of giant sea creatures before they pierced down deep into the bedrock below.

If he didn’t find the wayward woman soon… he’d have to turn back.

Following the trail further, he passed through interspersed thickets of wild rose, shrubs and young trees that broke amidst the older pines before breaking through to a small clearing. Taking a quick hop over the hump of a log, Noth spotted a large pile of small scat near a burrow in one of the root systems nearby, marking the sure sign of another small animal. The individual scat itself wasn’t very big but more roundish in shape and darkened in color, looking much like pellets of stone-shot. The look was rather unappetizing but the smell was even more appalling. The telltale stench wafted into his nostrils and made him wrinkle his nose with the unpleasantness. He guessed, from not spying any bone shards in the fecal pile that the burrow was home to an herbivore, a rabbit or so, but he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t an omnivore like a badger or fox.

The only thing he saw which gave him hope he was on the right track was another depression in the soil that looked like the ones back by the roadway. A cat was near.

Raising his voice again he cried out to the girl, ”Canaliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Hearing the chattering of a nearby animal in the trees up ahead, Noth rushed forwards. In his earnest desire to close the distance he foolishly tripped on a rock and fell. The impact jarred his knee slightly but he forced himself to his feet and scrambled forwards through a thorn bush gaining a bloody scratch upon his face for his efforts. On the far side of the cove of trees he spotted the object of his annoyance staring upwards with a loaded slingshot as he burst into the clearing ahead.

[Canali]

The squirrel was mocking her. Chittering and chattering, bouncing back and forth on the branch. An acorn or some type of nut was held triumphantly between two small paws, like an athletic at the Olympics. Canali could practically see the laughter echoing in his tiny, black, beady eyes. Chucking the nut at her by simply swinging it over his head and letting go, the squirrel watched as Canali quickly sidestepped the incoming missile. This seemed to upset the sadistic furry creature because several more tiny, shelled weapons were thrown with zero hesitation. Many smacked against Canali's form, making her wince and cower. Tiny little red welts covered her shoulders and most likely her scalp, too! No way was she going to stand by and let this… This petching animal pelt her with stuff!

Katahr was growling, off to one side. All of his hair stood on end, tail bristling, and a shiny canine tooth poked through dangerously. Canali couldn't help but share his feelings. The brown monster made her angry, too! Sure, cute and fluffy, looking all innocent. Pah! Mentally, Canali cackled, resembling a person belonging in an asylum. Innocent her arse. What a joke! The squirrel was a minion to a higher, evil god. He must be! Trying to think of what to do, Canali shifted her weight mostly onto her unhurt leg, resting her aching ankle. Shrugging her long hair over one shoulder, Canali stared at the beast pacing back and forth on the tree over her. Was he protecting his home? Probably not; instead wanting to cause Canali the pain she had caused him from the slingshot Antar had helped her make. For a moment, Canali wondered if the squirrel should be chucking acorns at him instead.

Earlier she had mused whether or not animals thought. This proved to her that they did, in fact, chat from self to self and had a thinking process. The squirrel resembled several people in Sunberth; relying on ambush and staying out of reach to conduct their business, their crimes. Their pain. Many of these bullies were thieves who attacked the caravans, taking what was there, relishing in the mizas, and killing whoever was left. Leaving no one to identify them. No one to hunt them down and seek revenge. Others in Sunberth who most likely had a thinking process like this squirrel was probably the fights in the pits; living by the motto of "Out of reach, Out of death". If you could stay out of reach of your opponent, you might have a chance of surviving instead of being beaten to death with your own object; instead of seeing your own bones broken and blood pooling around you.

Suddenly, the idea came to her. The slingshot! Of course! Having put it back in her bag somewhere down the line of tracking, Canali dug it out now; scrambling and clutching it at like it was a last resort. Lowering two, medium sized pebbles into the contraption, Canali lifted it at a high angle, lowering the squirrel in her sights. Just about the same time she was going to release her weapons in hopes of knocking the squirrel off, a sound echoed behind her. Screaming bloody murder, Canali whirled; letting the slingshot sling go right before she saw it was just Antar. It looked like one rock landed near the groin area and the other in the chested region.

Shocked for a moment, Canali did nothing. An acorn bouncing off of her head shocked her back into movement and she raced across the clearing to Antar's side, apologizing profusely and fluttering around. "Sit, sit." She didn't wait for a reply before she practically dragged him to the ground by his arm. "Oh, gosh, where did I hit? Are you okay? How did you get that scratch? Oh, gosh… Oh, gosh…" Jerking his head to the side by a grasp on his chin, Canali peered at the thorn scratch. It was bleeding, but not enough to dribble down his face. Letting go and digging back into her backpack, Canali dug, near the bottom of the bag, for her spare shirt. Finding it, she decided against tearing it. No, there would be very little use in tearing it. Besides, the wound wouldn't bleed for very long. Pressing it into Antar's hand, Canali shoved the two items against his cheek. "Here, keep pressure. It should stop in a few moments. Where else are you hurt?" Genuine concern flickered over her face.

[Antar]

'Only his damn pride!' Noth bit down on every curse he knew and slowly, ever so slowly, pushed the would be attending nurse away by the shoulders. His chest hurt from the stone's impact, a stinging raw pain, but at least there wasn't a stabbing sensation as if he broke a rib or so but the sensation in his nether regions was a harrowing reminder of some of the weaknesses of his gender. The entire thing left him stunned, wondering how he had wound up this way. For a few moments, he remembered running through a forest, seeing Canali, and then pain. The type of pain which stopped a person in their tracks. After that he had lain for a moment staring up from the ground at the most beautiful sight, the blue of the and white of the sky with sweeping clouds had peeked through the forests canopy as twinkling glimmers of sunlight crossed his field of vision.

He had to have been in the heavens, or at least his soul had journeyed there away from his body for a few moments. Then his soul returned to his body and noticed himself sitting up and being attended by a rather annoying girl who just hit him in the quillions with a rock. She seemed to open her mouth again, asking where he was hurt once more, but Noth quickly shushed that by putting his hand over her mouth a moment, shaking his head repeatedly as his eyes clenched in pain to let a single tear slip down his cheek. It wasn’t often Noth cried, and he did only keep it to a single tear, but the girl’s foolishness with a slingshot had made him feel a pain that only guys could feel. Loosening his hold on her mouth, Noth tried to open his mouth to shush her, but no intelligible sound came out, just a growl of pain that would have almost sounded like a whimper if he didn’t bite it back in time. He settled for putting one finger over the girl’s lips and pushed her aside, handing the cloth back to her as he painfully got to his feet.

He stormed off for a walk around the clearing, taking a few moments to stretch out his and groin and rotating his shoulder , just staring daggers back in Canali’s direction from time to time as he walked it off. If looks could kill she’d be a smear of charred ash on the forest floor. But looks really couldn’t kill in Mizahar, not without some special preparations, and the offense wasn’t large enough to put the girl on the block so he entertained the thought of what it would be like to get lunches for a week to soothe his wounds. When he didn’t feel as much pain in his quads, Noth turned back towards the twenty year old and stormed up to he, for the slightest chime staring fiercely into her eyes, before turning away for another moment to gather up his longbow. With a swift lunge he turned around and surreptitiously grabbed Canali at the waist to throw her over his shoulder and stormed back in the direction of the roads. The cat followed along behind hissing at his master’s treatment.

He swore if it attacked him right now, he’d grab it with his leather gloves and give it a good swat on the backside. For a moment it seemed the woman on his shoulder might mount a protest at being manhandled in such a manner so he used the back brace of the longbow to give her a good swat on the derriere before opening his mouth to try to speak again. But still no words came which could express his fury at the pain he had received. She hadn’t stolen from him, threatening to enslave her wasn’t an option, and threatening her life was out so he did the next best thing. Talking painfully through clenched teeth he muttered. ”I’m never taking you on a fething hunting trip again until you learn to be more careful, you dumb idiot! The first rule you have to follow: Check your damn fire! Second Rule: Never jump out of a moving wagon again! You could have killed yourself ! Now I’m going back to the shop and I don’t want to hear a single peep out of you until I deliver the cargo! After that, if you’re good, I’ll take you to hunt some big stupid rabbits which like to graze near the shop but for right now, girl: NO TALKING! GOT THAT?!?!?!”

Biting down on his rage, Noth continued to follow his trail signs back to the road and was gratified to see his horse in the distance, sitting with the wagon unmolested. And with a weary sigh, and ignorant of his burden’s discomfort he unceremoniously tossed the annoying younger woman up to sit in the wagon bed before untying the reins to mount one leg on the wheel spoke to push himself up into the driver’s seat. He was simply silent the entire way, and the drying blood on his cheek was merely a reminder of his ire as the horse once again began to walk on down the road.

[Canali]

Guilt slid through Canali upon Antar's obvious pain. She hadn't meant to aim for there; hadn't even been aware the surprise target was a human! Traveling onwards with the wagon to make her find her own way home had been an available option. Instead, Antar had followed her through the woods on a wild goose chase even though he had no need to. In return, Canali had shot him in several harmful places with a slingshot and stones. While she might believe he wouldn't make a good fatherly figure, that didn't give her the right to try and take away his skill at reproducing. Hopefully he was alright.

Slipping the discarded cloth back into her backpack, Canali barely had enough time to shut it before she was swinging through the air unexpectedly. A light scream slid from her lips and the bum she had admired earlier filled her eyesight. What. The. Hell. Loosely, her bag hung from her fingers. Knowing it would drop otherwise, Canali wrapped the braided rope around her wrist. All momentary guilt before left her body and was replaced by pulsing anger. How dare he! She was not a hand sewn ragdoll to be swung around. Sure, his actions might have been explained by his pain of where her stone had hit, but there was no reason for this behavior of… Manhandling her. She would have come with him had he simply asked, or even pointed to the wagon.

Huffing and jabbing him in the back with her pointy elbow when he swatted her rump, she was aware of him shouting at her. Stupid came up several times and she would have replied, but Antar made a point of telling her to be quiet; which ironically offset his loud words. Canali nearly cried out in pain when he tossed her into the wagon bed. Solidly the wood connected with her tailbone and her ankle was jostled. Biting down against the pain, Canali instead chose to give him a deadly glare, promising of dark revenge. Controlling her breathing, Canali patted next to her; where Katahr easily jumped up, meowing in worry at the expression on her face. "I'm fine, Katahr. Really. Just a sprain. Nothing to worry about." Unwrapping the bag from her wrist, she itched him behind his furry ears to help calm him down.

Bouncing and jostling around in the back of the wagon, Canali was sad and reserved by the time they reached the woodcutters. Ready to get out of the buggy, she practically launched from the bed upon stopping. Okay, so… Not exactly. Instead she inched out, propping herself with one hand against the side of the wagon, careful of how much pressure to put on her ankle. During the ride, what she figured was a sprain had become swollen and sensitive to the gentlest of touches. Keeping to herself, she hobbled away, careful to avoid Antar. Not knowing how close to the wagon he would be needing, Canali moved a safe distance away, nowhere near any of the late workers. Lips pursed in a grimace, no smiles graced her lips towards the employees. Instead, she kept her head down and shoulders slumped.

Why had she even come out today? The visit was completely unpleasant.


She didn't even get to have her squirrel.

[Antar]

oocCanali’s actions/words approved by her writer during the bandaging process.

By the time the carriage stopped and Canali jumped off, Noth's temper was cooling as he considered all the good and all the bad of the day’s events. The little woman was annoying, that was for sure, but at least aside from the con job she seemed well. Well enough to stare death glares at him which he could see from the corner of his eye. She hadn't spoken much during the trip back, and to Noth that was rather the smartest thing she had done all day.

Only a fool would have ventured out in the woods alone, even if it was to give someone their lunch.

Still, she did seem to be giving him a bit too much of the cold shoulder. Usually, when that happened in Sunberth, it meant one was going to avenged upon sometime down the roads. Noth didn't really care for that aspect of life on the streets, she was part of the same group as he so he couldn't just ignore her forever, even if he might want to. Taking the time to gather his thoughts, Noth considered the best course of action would be to watch her as he unloaded the cart. Circling to the back of the wagon he threw a log over his shoulder, beginning the long and tedious process of sorting as he kept one eye on the woman in question. By the time he'd come back for the second log, he knew there was something seriously wrong by the manner of how Canali was favoring her foot as she tried to hobble away from the rest of the work group. Sighing, he looked behind the girl over to the edge of the shop, the small meadow where he saw rabbits stupidly grazing like cows upon the grass and made a decision.

He plastered a cold discerning look upon his face as he began to walk. With the heavy log slung over his shoulder he marched straight towards her.. For a moment it seemed as he could spy the slight widening of her eyes at his approach and the cat's tail twitched at him in ire as he passed. For a second, the feline bared a single fang from underneath the upper jaw of its mouth. It was as if the furball was sneering at him, trying to tell him to: 'Stay away.'

The expression on Canali’s face as he walked straight past her was unreadable as he continued on to venture towards the side of the field. With a grunt of effort, Noth flipped his heavy burden off his shoulder and down onto the ground, letting it lay sideways. Turning on his heel he marched back towards the girl, and raised an arm. For a second it seemed he saw Canali flinch, hopping back on one foot as if she was expecting him to hit her. But that was hardly the case as he stepped sideways and scooped her up into his arms, like any kid would be carried. She may of opened her mouth in protest again, this time flinching from his arms but Noth sternly would take whatever elbows and punches or slaps she threw in his direction as he marched her over to the log that sat next to the fields of bunny rabbits. With an unexpected gentleness he'd lay the woman there before turning to vanish into the shop. In a few moments he returned with a bit of horse liniment, a cloth, and some heavy bandages, two “U” shaped pieces of soft leather and two pins. A supply was kept on hand by the brothers for the workers and their customers, as injuries did occur, and Noth would explain the use of such things to them later in detail.

Coming back to his fellow compatriot of the Crimson Edge, Noth noticed the cat, sitting on the log and staring at him as he silently crouched down in front of the injured girl. His own injuries, especially the one in his shoulder was becoming stiff from her attack, so with his eyes staring into hers he muttered a few words. At first it didn't seem like she heard him but then he spoke a little louder, "May I see to your leg, kiddo?"

After all, each member of the group was responsible for looking out for the others, no matter what pain they put each other through. For now, that meant getting Canali capable of being set for the ride back to camp. He'd have to come in early and work double times to make up for the setbacks of the day. But at least she'd be able to get fifteen minutes or so to herself near the rabbit field while he finished unloading the wagon.

Once done with Canali’s injury, he’d then have to see to his horse, and get Canali back to camp safely... for at night: Even he didn't want to brave the roads that cut through the forests. Rumors said that was when the wolves went on the prowl. Some of them were the normal creatures of the hills. But others were rumored to be dire sized ones from the town. Kelvic changelings who fed their bellies and sated their bloodlust on any prey, human or otherwise. In his opinion it was best to let such sleeping wolves lie.

Well, horse liniment for the pain, and then an ankle wrap. That was all he could think of to help her right now. A means to immobilize the area , even if it was a bit of a strange place to be doing so. Here at the shop near the meadow, a field of bunny rabbits behind him hopping around and sniffing the air with their little cottontails as they chewed on the grass and shrubs of the forest clearing. They were completely innocent woodland creatures... whom it seemed Canali was imitating a bit beforehand, all through the day at least. ‘What in the world was her angle anyways?’

With a bit of consternation, Noth felt his blood to boil as he unknowingly concentrated his djed to put some force behind his words as he stared into her eyes. Not being heard was annoying to him. With a cold, downright order he told the girl one thing, "Show me your ankle, Canali."

Unsure if it was his words, or her own brain kicking back in from the pain, she slipped the injured foot towards him. He knew the Canali wasn't stupid, and wouldn't put her own health as risk if there was a person willing to help with the problem. Even if she didn't want to be near them at the time… But really, in some regards she like a petulant child. And petulant children did things that would get them hurt out of sheer stubborness.

Taking her ankle gently he brought it to rest over his knee as he brought out the liniment and began to rub it upon the skin. First at the ankle itself, noticing out of the corner of his eye her wincing in pain from his tender ministrations of the herbological mixture. The stuff was strong enough to make even his hands numb from the simplest application, as he slowly and uncharacteristically worked it gently into the skin. Thinking this was a time to be heard to tell her about the scope of the day, he foolishly blurted out, "You're annoying sometimes, you know? I just can't figure out your angle."

The look upon her face seemed to denote she had no idea what he was talking about, because of whatever reasons. However, Noth was finished with the application of the herbal liniment, and moved on to take each cut out ‘U’ bit of soft leather, one in each hand. They were about three quarters of an inch thick and would provide both padding and support to the ankle while he wrapped it slowly with the long bandages.

Placing the soft leather “U’s” under the bone of the ankle he asked her to hold them. She complied, holding them to either side of the ankle as he gently removed the sandal. Sandals which didn’t even provided a hint of support, and started his bandaging at the base of the foot. His actions at times caused her to flinch a few times and the foot to jerk a bit at his touch even though the numbing sensation was probably setting in by now.
‘At least the woman was able to take pain well.’ He thought as he snorted in irritation as he continued,“You come into the woods, alone without proper boots. Wanted to get a hunting trip through bribing me with lunch and then you went out of your way to do several unsafe things that only show your head isn't in the present, or your daydreaming. Something in Sunberth which will eventually get you killed. And then when you do get hurt , or put in a position that might worsen your injuries, you don't say anything out of pure spite. I swear it's like dealing with a child sometimes and I don't know why."

He spared a moment to glance at her, noting only as the woman stared blankly beyond his shoulder. Her jaw seemingly clenched. Maybe he was getting her aggravated, but he honestly didn’t care. The air had to be cleared in his opinion. By this time he had started at the ball of the foot, making the first loop a little bit tight, but not too much as he slowly looped it thrice more, working his way up towards the sprain before crossing to wrap it around the ankle and over the soft leather braces. Then he began bringing it back down, making figure eights to keep the support not too tight, but not too loose either.

He continued to speak as he worked, "Worse still, you still don't tell me why you've acted the way you did, and about your motives. Any other woman in sunberth wouldn't be so naively doing any of these things as they'd only serve to get her in trouble with the wrong type of people. I don't normally even try to garner the reasons why other people do the things they do, but now since the group is formed: I have to ask. And worse: I need clear and distinct answers. “

After getting about an inch above the sprain with the figure eights he figured it was done, so he gently looked at her toes to see if there was any such discoloration that might show the bandage was too tight. He then asked if there was any discomfort. Canali silently shook her head before she opened her mouth ""I'm not going to explain. You wouldn't believe me anyways. Don't act like you're my father. My father is dead. If I truly wanted your opinion, I would ask for it. Now then, if you are done, we can stop conversing enough for you to actually do your job. Thank you for the bandaging."

The woman could be blunt at times, there was no doubt about that. But Noth wasn’t the type to back down from something he felt he needed to say. Marshaling a steely glare at the woman, the rogue spoke just as bluntly as she did as he anchored the bandage with the two dull needles by sticking them through the fabric upon the side of the ankle, acting as another brace to keep the support correctly. "I'm not your father. I will never be your father and I never intend to coddle anyone like I would a child. So right now I'm going to forgive that little outburst. It's sad your father died, it truly is. But that's life. You act like a child in this town at your age, and you'll eventually end up the same. " Staring into her eyes Noth’s voice changed, becoming softer as he spoke.

"I'm giving you a single free pass , here and now. Nothing you say will have repercussions; at least not with me. Maybe we just started off on the wrong foot? But if we're going to work together in the future, or I need to know you won't endanger others if we ever go hunting again. That if you want something; you ask for it, straight out instead of playing games that gets you in a worse mess. So maybe you and I started this day wrong. But that doesn't mean I won't be an absolute bastard to you if you do something that’s going to get you and the rest of us killed. So I’d like you to be straight with me: Do you have something to say?"
The woman glanced off to the side as Noth heard her reply,

""Thank you for the bandaging."

'You’re welcome, after this is healed, would you perchance like an actual try at a good hunt, and a good day?" With a gentle hand, he looped the sandal she wore about her foot and straightened up before reaching down with one hand to help her up.

""No. Now please excuse me." He watched her proudly hobble her way towards the wagon and a bit of humor came to his eyes as he called after her. "The wagon stays here, kiddo. You'll be going back on the horse." he called after her as he went to the front of the store. "And don't move around too much on the leg!" he cautioned as he took a small bit of the liniment to rub into his own shoulder where the rock had hit him. Thinking it was enough, Noth returned the bottle back to the shop’s storeroom, and when he returned he saw Canali still awkwardly moving away, ignoring his presence completely as his walked back over to her. It amused him a bit as she fetched her backpack from the back of the wagon before she twirled around to arch an eyebrow at Antar, as if daring him to say something else.

Noth smiled crookedly as he turned his head to the side with a smirk. Marching back towards Dawnstride to untether her from the wagon he couldn’t help but get an urge to tease the woman for all the trouble she'd caused him today. Even if it was on about as friendly terms as he could be.

"By the way, Canali; you look pretty good in a dress, but the appearance is all ruined by that expression. Don't you know keeping an eyebrow lifted and a frown on your face will give you wrinkles by the time your thirty? Oh, and thanks for the lunch too. It was pretty good." Without another word, Noth tended to his horse and put upon her the saddle. After that he stowed his tool bag from the wagon back in the shop and took the tied up tarp with the hedgehog and fastened it to the saddle..

It was past time to go, he'd just have to come back tomorrow a lot sooner than normal to finish up this day’s work of unloading the wagon. Not to mention he'd have to explain things to the bosses. 'Damn women, they were always trouble in some way shape or form. Especially in the town of Sunberth.' But he had to admit, when she wasn’t talking so much, the girl was quite the looker.