A clean slate (Zeal)

[Vileia]

5th of Fall, 511 AV There was a need to do something. She didn't know what it was and couldn't quite understand where this restless feeling came from, but whatever the reason her legs itched and the enclosed space within the pavilion was beginning to feel claustrophobic. There was no one around to keep her company. The sun stood hight on the sky and the shadows were short outside, hinting to most that it was well past the time of rising and even more well into a time of labor and concentration. Anyone that didn't have anything to do would be put to work, as surely as how the sun rose the morning before. Only Vileia wasn't given a task. A smile had greeted her that morning, like the one before, and the morning before that. Kind words were offered, a plate filled to the brim with fresh and cooked vegetables placed in her hands - the drykas had never even tried to offer her meat, something the kelvic was very thankful for - and then she had been left to her own devices, free to spend the time as she pleased. It was somewhat frustrating. She was growing stronger and more alert for each day that passed, the food slowly gifting her emaciated body with hull and health. Her ribs still showed and the stomach was more hollow than flat, arms and legs appearing slightly too long and fragile in their amazing thinness. But compared to how she had looked half a season ago, Vileia was the epitome of health. And she was bored. Gnawing thoughtfully on a piece of crisp apple that had been saved from lunch, the girl stood up from her bed and strolled through the pavilion and over to the heavy flap that marked the opening. The sound of people bustling around outside penetrated the thick canvas and drew her attention. It was a reluctant curiosity that made the thin, pale-skinned young woman push the tarp to the side and peer out though, her face closed and the eyes weary. Humans... They were everywhere, talking and shouting, waving their hands about passionately. Here and there she picked up words or phrases that sounded familiar, but overall the girl couldn't make out any of the things the Drykas said. Her ability to understand Pavi wasn't good, and she could speak it even less. Spending this much time among the people hadn't aided her either, because frankly she had avoided contact with any humans other than Laria, the gold-haired girl that had brought her to the moving city. A quiet sigh of unease passed from her, and the chewing paused for a moment as she contemplated returning to her bedding and a second apple. It was so very comfortable to simply eat and sleep and not think about anything but the girl that saved her life... But continuing like this would eventually make her fat. The clan members she lived among didn't seem to expect anything from her, as if they couldn't decide whether she was a horse or a girl, or some fragile combination of both that couldn't be pressured too hard. The kelvic was thankful to them for their hospitality, she really was. But this inability to pay them back and to return their kindness was frustrating. Vileia was used to working, she could be of use as much as any of the other horses in the city. She was smaller than the Striders and probably not quite as fast, but... still. There had to be something she could do to help. It was the restless need to do something that drove the young mare out from the large tent and into the sunlight, the last of the apple soon disappearing into her mouth. After swallowing and licking the sweet fruit juice from her lips, the white-haired woman began to walk down the first slithering path that caught her attention, weaving deftly between the tents that had been set up seemingly randomly on the plain. Looking around she quietly took notice of the few things she had known about the Drykas from before, through hearsay and rumors. There really were horses everywhere. And women, many more than there were men; all of them were dressed in fabric dyed in bright colors, with braided hair, and every single one of them seemed to be going somewhere with determined steps. Vileia followed them quietly with her eyes, stopping now and then to watch someone work - at least until they looked up and gave her a strange glare. She usually continued then, thinking that she was disturbing them in their tasks. It was quite nice to be moving around, to feel the muscles of her body stretch and contract for each step, each movement she made. The loose hair tickled against her face and neck as the wind caught hold of it, playing gently with the milky white strands and tousled them teasingly. The sun was warm against her pale, bare skin, as was the earth under her naked feet. Heavy scents of horse and smoke lingered in the air, the sound of voices and strokes of hammers ringing in her ears, the neighing of horses making her want to reply and tell them that she was there. It was so much to take in and so very overwhelming. The petite kelvic strolled about, wide-eyed and curious about the things she saw, though didn't dare to actually stop and look at anything being done for a longer amount of time. The larger the passages became the more people there were, and as she began to walk among them Vileia noticed how more and more of them turned to stare at her, following her with their eyes until she had moved past them. A curious glance over her shoulder showed how some young boys actually turned around and walked backwards as they kept her eyes on them, walking blindly until one of them bumped into a rack of neatly lined up spears and tipped them over. The loud crash made her startle, and with a growing sense of unease the gold-eyed mare tried to pull away from the intense stares and the small crowd that had gathered around the tripped boy, laughing and swearing. She didn't know what was going on. Had she done something wrong, would they chase her off? Maybe she should return to the tent... As she turned around though, the unease quickly broke out into cold sweat, the gaze going slightly wild as she stared around herself. She had come from.. that direction, right? Or was it that way? All the tents and pavilions looked so similar, the colors equally bright and startling, the people walking as quickly everywhere and never staying still. She was lost, it seemed. And they were staring at her, some now even stopping to follow her with their eyes. Vileia felt her heartbeat pick up, a desire to fold her ears back over the neck and roll the eyes so strong that she wondered why she couldn't do it. Muscles tensing from a sudden preparedness to run she started to back, cautiously taking one step, then another, and a third.. Then she suddenly spun around and tried to dart away. And she would have, if it wasn't for the fact that a chest suddenly hindered her flight by being in the way, making her crash into it and completely loose both balance and any remaining sense of direction as she bounced back and fell towards the ground.

[Zeal Aldercraft]

Vanya kept up at Zeal’s heel, easily matching pace with his long strides as the two waded through the Ruby clan’s pavilions. Every so often, he leaned down to scratch behind the deerstalker’s ear or smooth the coarse hair on the back of her head. The sun was bright and a cool breeze lingered in the air, leftover from yesterday’s thunderstorms. He weaved through the crowd of brightly clad Drykas, who were already spilling out of their pavilions onto the flattened grass paths carved out by endless foot traffic.

His mood was light for the first time in days. It was his only fully free day of the season. Now that there was no reason to hurry, he found himself lingering in the crowd, enjoying the din of conversation humming around him. Vanya whined, much less a people person than he was, she pushed him to continue moving forward or he might have lost the entire day mulling around merchant tents. He looked down into the depths of her pale blue eyes and smiled, knowing she would always get what she wanted.

Zeal picked up the pace and resumed his course toward Baultimes Barrel. A few chimes later, the bright red and gold tent rose up in the distance. He thumbed the deck of cards in his pack. He hadn’t done so well with dice lately, so he decided to try his luck at cards instead. Where there was ale, there would be games. And he was itching to play.

A clattering to his left jarred him as he came around the side of one of the tents. Vanya barked in the direction of the sound. He stopped mid-stride and swiveled around on his booted heel towards the commotion behind the tents. Wondering what had happened, he watched a white-haired female skittishly back away from a growing crowd of males. Vanya’s compact body was wound as tightly as the barefoot female stepping back towards the path. He worked at the knot of muscle in Vanya’s back, coaxing her to relax. From where he stood, he could see several spears littering the ground which made it look as though they may have caught the girl stealing. If that was true, Zeal shouldn’t have been meddling with another clan’s problems. He should have turned around and walked away...but his dog was relentlessly agitated and he trusted her instincts more than his own.

“Alright Vanya, calm down. We’ll go see what’s happening.” He straightened up and called out to the girl, but she didn’t seem to hear him, or maybe she didn’t understand him. So many travelers came through the Sea of Grass; most didn’t bother to brush up on their Pavi before they came. He tried again. This time, when she didn’t answer him, he reached out for her. She turned around so quickly, he didn’t have time to move. She plowed right into the solid wall of his chest.

He stared down into her face, one look at the confused look stamped across her fragile features and guilt washed over him. He held up a hand to the boys coming towards them without taking his eyes away from her. “What’s going on here?”

When she didn’t seem to understand what he was saying, he repeated himself in the only other language he knew and hoped she knew it too.

“Are you all right?” He repeated it in Common.

[Vileia]

The kelvic landed on the ground on her rump with a quiet huff as air was pressed out of her lungs. A look of shock crossed her face for a moment, before it once more took on the confused, half-panicked expression from earlier. Looking up at the person she had bumped into and rubbing her nose sorely, Vileia quickly scrambled up on her feet without acknowledging how he tried to say something. She didn't understand. The words and gestures he made could have been the howling of the wind or the cawing of a crow for all she knew, it didn't mean anything and his question could have been about anything at all as far as she knew. She wanted to get away. The bustling of people around her suddenly felt way too much to handle, the staring eyes that were directed towards her seemed menacing and vicious. Why had she ever left the tent? It had been a bad, horrible decision, and now she was lost and didn't know where to go, and this person was staring her her too and didn't seem comforting at all. Vileia turned around, the light of the sun touching upon the thick mane of white hair and warming the pale skin of her completely unclothed body. She didn't feel it. She was too occupied with finding a gap in the crowd, an opening that would let her escape. This wasn't a good place to be. She should have known better than to go out among humans, loud and flailing two-legs that spoke in a way she didn't understand and glared at her with predatory eyes - at least, it was how it appeared to the frightened little horse. She turned again, startled to see how the man was still standing there with eyes resting upon her still. The young woman was too riled up to notice the change of expression on his face. Her gaze only brushed over him, seeing nothing but a human among others. Then her eyes landed on the dog next to the human that had hindered her escape, and fear took over her mind completely. Dogs were terrible, snapping biting creatures that ran after her and drooled at her haunches. They chased her, followed her wherever she went and tried to hunt her, eat her. She knew how their howls made terror freeze upon her back as she ran, ran away from fire and screams and the scent of blood... A faint yammer was pressed from her throat and in a sudden flurry of motion she darted to the right, trying to bypass the taller obstacle of a man, hoping to escape right past him and just run, run like she had done once before without even knowing where she was going. Instincts won over logic, and before she even had time to hear the question given her in the common language that she actually knew, the pale kelvic was blindly trying to run away from the horrors she imagined was all around her.

[Zeal Aldercraft]

He eyed the Kelvic warily as she flailed away from him, then stepped out of her way and let her go. There was a moment when she’d looked at him when he thought she might have understood his question, but then she looked at Vanya and the darkness that flooded her eyes was impossible to ignore. She was afraid of the dog who wanted to protect her, but he had no way of explaining that to her. His first urge was to hold onto her to keep her from getting into anymore trouble, but she was terrified enough. He felt like he’d lost his mind, letting her go like that.

As soon as she skittered around him, he regretted it. What was he thinking? She tore off naked through the crowd, her white hair was like a beacon, drawing attention to her wherever she was headed. He shook his head more at himself than anything. He hadn’t realized she was naked when he’d first seen her. How could he have missed it? He knew the games consumed his thoughts, but they’d never made him blind before. No wonder the boys had been surrounding her. It was a little too late for him to be coming to this understanding. He thanked Lhex he’d found her before things had gotten any further out of hand.

He snorted. Some rescuer he was. He’d sent her packing faster than the kids had. Fate and Zeal hadn’t been getting along very well lately. He knelt down and tugged on the ornate blue collar around Vanya’s neck. She eased off the boys and looked up at him. He commanded her to stay where she was and took off running in the same direction the girl had gone. Though his legs were longer, she was faster. He was out of breath a handful of tents away. He stood in front of one of the bannered pavilions huffing for air, trying to come up with a better way to catch up with her. If she didn’t slow down, he’d lose her.

Where was Lhex now?

[Vileia]

She ran. Terror scorched her blood and froze upon her skin, the mind crazed as air wheezed in her lungs. It was a blind flight she made through the crowded path, no longer able to see the persons that she bumped into or shoved out of the way, unable to pick up on their annoyed shouts or surprised glances. All she saw were tall, moving creatures that opened gaping mouths with gleaming pale teeth, limbs reaching out towards her as if they wanted to grasp her, hold her down and dig sharp claws into her skin. With had no idea where she was going or how to get there, she just wanted to get away from the tents and the humans and out into the open where the wind and the grass could carry her away, far away to a place where there was no thought or memory. It had been a bad, bad decision to step outside the pavilion, to follow Laria to the tent city, to allow the girl to touch her and come close. The mare knew, she should have kept running, always running until she somehow managed to forget about fear and pain and loss... Her feet skidding over the grass, Vileia didn't register any pain as pebbles and sharp grass cut into her bare feet. Not knowing that she was being followed she still ran, zigzagging between tents and ducking under lines that kept the fabric structures. For a moment it seemed that she would manage to tangle through the treacherous path, but just as she sped up once again to dart out from the line of tents, her foot stepped into a loose loop of rope that lay on the ground and caught on, stopping her dead in the track. The girl fell heavily to the ground and felt the air press out of her lungs seemingly without wanting to come back in again, leaving the white-haired kelvic gasping for breath. Clawing at the ground and kicking her legs wildly she tried to get loose, the feeling of being trapped only adding to the panic that had gripped her full force. She couldn't think long enough to make use of the practical hands this form had, she couldn't even remember that she was able to change at all; the awareness of her own body had shrunk to the rope around the ankle that wouldn't come off. All she could think about was running, and fear and now she was stuck and any moment now the drooling beast would come upon her and sink their teeth into her flesh. This would be the end for Vileia Gangarn, as surely as the sun had risen in the morning.