[Sanctuary] Calling the Flock [Solo]

[Raiha]

4th of Summer, 511 AV.

It took practice and patience, Raiha felt, to work with raptors.

Endless patience. Because some of them were stubborn and had minds of their own, and Chuki, the male goshawk she had gotten to pair with Uzima, was a very stubborn bird indeed. She was pretty certain someone remembered what she and Kanikra... well, Kanikra, but Raiha couldn’t just blame her twin for everything, now, could she?... had done to the Timandre girl and this was some small measure of revenge, if Aselia didn’t still hang around the wildlife centre. Goddess only knew. Of course, she had sent the message to her mother, Tanaha, who had gotten in touch with a few Konti, including the one whom Raiha had gotten Kefi from, in order to make her daughter’s request happen.

She and Chuki had gotten off to a rough start. The bird had arrived in the last third of Spring, and he had ripped her open almost to the bone, something that Raiha had needed Kavala to fix. That had been what the Akontak had decided was going to be the absolute bottom of her relationship with the avian. It could only go uphill from there. And it would. He was a beautiful specimen - one that Raiha truly liked, with his glossy grey, black, and white plumage, and he had to be the biggest male goshawk she had ever seen in her life. And she, Goddess knew, had seen a lot of them. He was the same size as her hen, and that was not normal.

It had taken a couple days to warm him up to her, just getting used to her as he glared at her while she sat outside his flight and just watched him, resting on her stomach on the floor while Uzima hung out nearby. Chuki had been far more interested in Uzima than the blueskin, but time, patience, and bribes... lots of bribes... had at least made him more willing to accept some attention. And make concessions. Which was why the goshawk was wearing jesses, something Uzima no longer wore. He would wear them for a little longer. Right now, though, while Uzima and Kefi looked on, Raiha was getting Chuki to get back into the habits of working with someone and seeing just how much the bird knew, what his postures and his cues were, what he did and didn't respond to. She wanted to be able to hunt with the three of them in unison, interchangeably, covering a fairly large expanse. Another dog or two... Nothing would have have a chance. The moles and groundhogs and hares were too big for too big for the pint-sized huntress, but Raiha had a plan for that. She would take Kefi into stables for mice. That was more her style.

Right now, the kestrel was grooming herself on a fencepost, having just threatened a curious colt for coming too close. She never did think it was such a good thing that Kefi was so fearless - she only hoped one day the bird wouldn’t be overwhelmed by something so much larger than her, because there wasn’t a fight she would ever give up. She’d never forget the day that Kefi went after a rabbit, against all common sense. It had only been a small one, but it had almost killed the kestrel, and it would have, if it hadn’t been for Raiha. She clicked her tongue at the male goshawk as he waited for her on the perch she had dragged out, and now she was at the other one, gauntlet up, and clicking her tongue at him. “Chuki,” she called him, letting him see the morsel of meat that she had over her gauntlet. Back to basics. The goshawk lifted off of the perch, flapping as he aimed for the leather wrist, flaring his wings to alight on her, and Raiha let him have the scrip of meat. It had come off of a mole that Uzima had caught yesterday... and it had made good for bribes. Girl and bird eyed each other with something akin to a bit of respect and satisfaction. This would work out.

“Patience is waiting,” Raiha told the bird as they regarded each other while he gulped down the last sliver of bloody mole meat. “Not passively waiting. That’s just laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow...” there was satisfaction in her voice when he flared his wings, ready to return to his perch at her urging, “that is patience. Land,” he turned on her wrist, lifting off and returning to the wooden perch. Uzima, by now, had stopped circling overhead and was coming down to watch. Raiha threw her a piece of meat, and the bird dived for it, catching it neatly, and settling on the next fence post beside Kefi’s to enjoy it. Chuki looked at her expectantly. Well, his gaze said, where’s mine?

[Raiha]

He had it coming. Falconry, Raiha knew, was a delicate bond based on mutual respect, encouraged and forged by food, trust, and patience. She had worked with him on a daily basis, in some way, shape, or form - she couldn’t allow herself, no matter how tired she may have been or how busy her day was, to allow that opportunity to pass. He was associating her with food. He did associate her with food. But the next step was something she knew she wanted to train him to, and this was the lure. That was a work in progress. She had been using it more and more with him, even if she never needed to use it anymore with Uzima. By now, she couldn’t get more than seventy-five feet away from him during training without his already trailing her. Almost everything that the bird had eaten since his arrival had been caught by his mate-to-be. But every scrap he had gotten, every juicy morsel, had come from Raiha’s hand. She could hear him now that she fifty feet away, hearing his feelings more than his wings as he came after her. They had come a long way since Spring. She turned at just the right time, presenting him with her glove, so he could land on it. He was rewarded, again, with yet another piece of meat.

The training of the lure was easy from there. It was important to train them to it - it was an insurance policy, of sorts, the one fail-safe every falconer depended on, regardless of whether or not they shared her bond with birds, or were blessed by Eywaat, or what. One could never be too careful with their birds. It was simply the way she had been taught, the way she had taught Kefi and she had taught Uzima, and would likely teach every bird after it, and the way she would teach those interested in learning. Fortunately, they were apparently few and far between, with the exception of the Drykas man she had met last season. That worked for her. A teacher she was not, not yet. Advisor, maybe. But before she could call herself a teacher, she had much to learn. She wanted to visit Wind Reach, one day, and see the birds there, the massive, powerful eagles. But one day. It would not be any time soon. A mentor. That, perhaps, was a better choice of words.

With Chuki on her glove, she pulled out her lure - a good piece of furry moleskin. It drove them nuts - mole was one of the most common things they hunted, after all, and Raiha felt molehide made a better lure. It was thicker and far more durable than a groundhog’s. This wasn’t the first time he had seen it - she had been teaching him about the lure for weeks now. It was her way to end the day’s session on a positive note. Even chunky, overfed hawks would nail the lure out of pure greed. Once you had the bird on the glove, it was game over for a stubborn hawk. He knew that if he could only catch it, there would be a sizable meal in it for him. He managed a bite, but not the whole thing. He fought her for it, but Raiha, as she walked to the mews, just as stubbornly refused to give it to him. Out of sight was out of mind for a hawk. This was becoming a game they played, a training and bonding exercise. He made a pass for it, and she moved it quickly, making him wheel around on her glove to try to catch it again. It was as much a test of his dexterity and hers, made only more complicated (for the both of them!) by the fact that Raiha was still walking.

She stopped outside of Chuki’s flight, and the game began in earnest now. What had been a few passes while he wheeled became an intense choreography between bird and falconer. She counted each pass he made, one at a time as she kept the lure moving. His limit had been twenty-five - but she knew he had room to improve on that, and so did she. That limit wasn’t reached by his lack of enthusiasm, it had been reached by the fact he’d caught the lure. And, as his training had promised him, nailing the lure meant a full belly. If she went back on that, he would figure it out fast. Birds were far smarter than anyone ever gave them credit for. Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two... He was catching onto her actions now, wheeling and twisting on the gauntlet as she hit thirty-three, he finally caught it and latched onto it with his beak and then a foot, letting out a shriek. His! His! Raiha showed him the rest of his meal, enough molemeat to fill his belly, and coaxed him to step onto a perch for it. He grabbed the meat first before stepping onto the perch, and she removed his jesses before letting him lift off from that one to another. Raiha grinned a bit, and stepped out, shutting the flight behind her. The jesses were hung up on the peg outside the flight for tomorrow. One day, she knew, he wouldn’t need them. But today was not that day, and tomorrow wasn’t looking good either.

Uzima and Kefi were waiting for her when she got back, Kefi bored out of her skull, it seemed, and the female goshawk was ready to hunt. Diallo, who had been resting in the grass to keep an eye out on any horses that were interested in the birds (and subsequently discourage them with his own bulk to keep Kavala’s horses from getting their sensitive, velvety noses gouged), got up and shook himself out. Time to hunt! With the birds flying overhead, Raiha and Diallo were the servants - not the other way around. It was their job to flush the prey out and get it moving in order for the birds to catch it. This was how she liked to hunt - working in tandem with her dog and the birds. Even with her Auristics, you couldn’t beat Caiyha, not that she ever expected to - every part of Diallo was made for this. Uzima was the first to dive for a hare, as Kefi flitted, almost like a hummingbird, hovering, waiting for her own opportunity. The hunt was on, and Raiha trotted up the pasture to go and claim Uzima's kill for her. If it was any good, and hares weren't that bad... they could be eaten by the rest of Sanctuary, because Goddess knew Raiha had enough moles stashed for the goshawks to eat...