[Various Locations]Riders of the Storm - Aren [CLOSED]

[Meera]

That having been decided, that Meera would learn how to disable an Akalak - or maybe, more specifically Aren for that matter - and that she would begin to learn in the morning, it posed one more question: What was the plan for the rest of the day? Now that Aren's plan of distracting her from the magic talk was successful, Aren and Meera were behind a locked door while the rest of the town was distracted because of the damage done to the storm--

"Darksand!" She shouted suddenly. Talking about teaching Aren to ride and the damage done to the area had jogged her memory. Using her bad hand out of habit she caught Aren's and dashed to the door, hoping he would stand and follow easily. She would hate to pull him - it would be much too painful on her hand. She fumbled trying to undo the lock and she kicked her pack out of the way before dashing through the door. How could she be so distracted by Aren to ignore the well-being of her horse?

"Teach to ride when know have horse to teach on," She said quickly and her words ran together. What she wouldn't give to be an Akalak at that moment, for she would have longer legs to run on. Her short legs didn't give her much speed as she dashed through the Kulkukan, yelling frantically about her black and tan.
"Hurry," she yelled back.

[Aren]

Darksand? Who the hell was that? Aren's brow furrowed as he tried to discern the identity of this mysterious individual whose very memory called Meera to his side. As she pulled the akalak with her injured hand, he allowed himself to be moved by her meager strength as if it were an avalanche. He still didn't like who this Darksand fellow could be, though, and was eager to meet the scoundrel. "Oh... the horse," Aren mumbled, eventually realizing that the drykas was talking about her mount. He didn't recall if she had mentioned the beast's name before, but she had certainly told him of the animal's existence. Now that he thought about it, he had heard that drykas had a special relationship with their horses. They weren't just beasts of burden to them, but friends and companions. Some might even be considered family, he believed. Yeah, it was kind of weird, but who was he to judge? "Where did you leave him?" Aren asked, making sure to maintain her frantic pace, lest he inadvertently delay her and their touch be broken.

[Meera]

"At stables on second ..." What was the word? Shard it all!! "...Ugh up there!" She dashed, her bad hand holding as tight as she could.
Focused on finding the stables intact she didn't bother to look around town. Who cared about the other businesses and these stupid petched up birds and the black falls when her horse could be dead, or worse...

"Oh, thank gods," The Stable was intact. She slowed her steps to a normal pace, approaching the building.
"Looks intact, good." Her hand on his was still squeezing as tight as she could. Panic was in her chest not knowing whether her horse was still alive. Hesitation was in every step as she turned around to Darksand's stable.

A neigh, a simple whinny.

"Thank gods," She all but screamed, seeing Darksand completely unharmed, save for a messy mane. Meera broke her hand holding with Aren and stormed up to her horse, her hands patting her horse's neck.

"Aren," She said, turning her relieved, smiling face up to Aren before bringing her eyes back to her horse. "This is Darksand. You know him already though," She giggled and pressed her lips to the horse's snout.
"You weren't too scared in the Djed storm, were you? You're very brave, beat of my gallop. You remember Aren, right, my black-and-tan?" The horse turned its head at Aren, shaking its gorgeous mane. It did remember, but was quite frankly jealous at the Akalak for stealing its rider all that time. And with the storm the poor stallion had no way of finding his rider or knowing if she was safe, and now that the storm was over he was about ready to up and leave. He did not like this town one bit.
Darksand nuzzled further into Meera's embrace if only to make Aren jealous of her attention.

"Oh, yes, Darksand. You alright now." She smiled affectionately at the stallion, continuing to rub her hands along his nose. She turned to Aren with the same dumb smile plastered on her face.

"He know you. He mad," She laughed, causing Darksand to whinny and chew at her ties on her chemise in retaliation.
"Oh yes," She talked childishly to her stallion. "Very mad." Her voice took on a sudden air of seriousness, which only made her jest seem more insulting. Darksand stomped his foot.

"Say hello, Aren." She instructed, offering her bad hand to Aren to hold. "Will not bite. Hopeful any way." A coy smirk crossed her lip.

[Aren]

"Yes, I do believe we've had the pleasure," Aren said, nodding his head to the horse, in deference. As the akalak witnessed the exchange he could swear that Darksand understood what Meera was saying. Honestly, it shifted the way Aren viewed the animal, inclining him to treat him more like a person than a simple beast. Perhaps this was the reason why drykas thought of their mounts as more than steeds. The horse didn't seem to like the akalak, but in more than a century of life, Aren had learned methods of winning over even the staunchest of detractors. Animals were no exceptions. Reaching his hand into his pack, Aren produced a juicy looking fruit the color of the sky. He had liberated it from a fruit stand that had been hastily abandoned in the chaos of the evacuation, and had been waiting for it to ripen. He extended the gift towards the horse, a friendly smile plain on his face, "Don't worry, I'll always bring her back to you," the akalak declared, his eyes showing no sign of deception, and his voice sounded of earnest determination. As Aren made his offering, his mind processed something that Meera had told Darksand in Pavi, something that that she had also told him. The moment was a bit of a blur, so he couldn't quite place it, but the thought suddenly became entrenched in his mind. "Beat of my gallop..." he parroted, in Pavi, wondering what it meant. His long term memory was worthless, but his short term recall more than made up for that fact, allowing him to remember the phrase in it's entirety.

[Meera]

Meera stopped her petting, distracted by his produce. The large berry was sweet and delicious, she remembered from her youth. With Darksand's light coloured buckskin pelt, she knew the berry was sure to stain his chin, just like it would stain her skin. She remembered a time when she was very young, back home with Patros. The sky was bright and sunny, and she had met her very first Akalak then. She couldn't remember why he was in Endrykas, but Patros was taking her to Kenash soon so she was a little distracted, she recalled. Meera recalled with ease the bright lemon eyes, and she even chuckled to herself at the memory.

But Aren's repetition of her phrase she was pulled from her thoughts.
"Yes, beat of my gallop. Means, uhm..." Meera thought, doing her best to translate.
"Pulse of run. Reason to be. Um. Beat of gallop." She pantomimed a horse's run, her hands patting invisible ground as her mouth mimicked a horse's clop on grass.
"Very special, uh, phrase. Very important. Without gallop, are nothing. The gallop is a Drykas pulse." Her good hand touched her chest, now mimicking the "thwump thwump" of a heart beat. Certainly he did not remember the phrase because she had said it to him? In her defense, she thought he was going to die... He had exhausted himself trying to find her, he wouldn't drink water, Aren had completely passed out on her and Tahl had to drag him to the tent. Of course she would say sweet things to him, to comfort his sleeping mind.

It had nothing to do with the relief she felt at having him by her side again, nothing to do with the courage his faint had brought her to say the words, when she was sure no one would hear. No, the words were not truly authentic. Meera now wondered why she was so intent on lying to herself at every possible moment with Aren. He was a great man, he had concern for her... No one had shown concern for her in her life. Patros cared the most, and his method of caring was smacking her upside the head and training her how to fight. It wasn't until they were to be separated that Patros finally showed his real feelings, by braiding her hair, giving her his favourite weapon.

Meera wondered if Aren would ever braid her hair for her. She had so little skill in braiding it herself she was sure if Aren was completely incompetent it would still look very nice indeed compared to her work. Inside Meera smiled, almost hoping he would one day offer.

"Patros said to wife a lot," She said, explaining where she had learned it from.

Her black-and-tan pulled from Meera's hug, the tie to her chemise hanging loose in its lips as he turned his attention to the large fruit offered by Meera's companion. He nibbled, quickly rendering the large fruit to mush in his massive, strong jaws. Just like Meera expected, the juice stuck to Darksand's sandy hair. She gave a small "tut, tut" at her messy horse, the smile never faltering on her rosy lips. The Drykas could recall scrubbing the blue juice off her hands for what felt like hours after she had painted herself near head-to-toe in the fruit's sweet juice.

"What is with Akalak and this fruit?" She asked almost rhetorically, referencing her memories.

"Remember meeting Akalak who gave this fruit to me when very young," She continued, watching her horse eat the berry with vigor. Pleased snorts erupted from her happy beast. He wasn't truly upset with Aren, Meera could tell from the deepest part of her heart. He was merely sulking, and now that he was rewarded for it he was like to make it a habit.
"Haha, he was very cute, I remember," she laughed, not honestly recalling the Akalak's face. There was a moment when she thought she had a snippet of his face, but it was gone quicker than it appeared.
"Think Patros tried to sell me to him. Can't remember too well. With fruit I rub on skin, make play to be Akalak. Put lemons in eyes. Patros was very mad," She laughed, continuing to pet her horse.
"But it all right, on first trip to Kenash I shot Glassbeak in eye at fifty yards," She remembered incorrectly, believing the lies she had told herself over the years. "Was only six. Must be fluke shot." She shrugged. She knew her skill was not that fantastic to replicate the shot now, and she wondered why she even offered up the information. A part of her deep inside wanted to impress Aren, but she was sure he would only think her insane for believing such a story about herself.

Her bad hand raised up to rest on his arm, and she gave Aren a lovely, warm smile of thank you as Darksand finished the fruit, his mouth a splotchy pattern of blue. She would spend a lovely amount of time simply washing Darksand's face. Darksand whinnied appreciatively, almost instinctively knowing the stain on his chin and the time Meera would have to consume on prettying him up once more. It satisfied Darksand, knowing Aren would likely not be there and he could have her all to himself again.

[Aren]

Aren listened to Meera's explanation of the meaning of the phrase with confused interest. He couldn't exactly understand everything she was saying, but he thought he got the general sentiment. Her pulse? Is that what he meant to her? The akalak couldn't help but smile, even thought he wasn't entirely certain he knew what she was talking about. Still, he liked the sound of it. As Darksand took Aren's offering, the drykas seemed to recognize the fruit in question, another akalak having given her one when she was younger. The story sparked an odd feeling of nostalgia in the blue skinned giant, but he couldn't quite place it. The fact that Meera remembered this other akalak to be "cute", however, annoyed him for some reason. As she continued her story, Aren felt more and more like he had heard it before, somewhere. It didn't make much sense, as how could he have heard a story from the drykas' own personal childhood before? Kenash... glassbeaks. Everything sounded so familiar. Aren couldn't make much sense of it, but he honestly wasn't going to give the matter too much thought, either. He was still busy trying to process this whole "beat of my gallop" thing. When Meera smiled at him, however, every thought in his mind evaporated, and he could do nothing but grin idiotically, "I'm glad Darksand is alright," the akalak said, as he turned around. Though he was loathe to, Aren knew that he should let her have some time alone with her steed, knowing that they were more than that to a drykas. "I'll... see you back at the inn," the akalak mentioned, clearly hesitant to leave her, but feeling like it was the right thing to do. He had been selfish enough for today, Aren thought.

[Meera]

Meera was confused, and she didn't really know why. Meera thought she was sharing a nice, lovely moment with Aren, but he seemed... upset. She couldn't place her finger on why, or what he was upset about, but decided it was like to be because of what she called Darksand.

The beat of her gallop. The pulse of her life, her reason for living. Was the blue giant jealous? The blonde squinted her left eye at him as she regarded him, her head tilting to the right. Aren's voice sounded almost sad, as he said his parting words, and Meera's hand fell from his arm down to his hand. Would he not even kiss her good bye? And she had no room at the inn. With the storm she thought it was probable the that inn would be full, was she expected to stay with Aren in his bed? His room? Had she done no different in the Sea of Grass? She had pressed against him for warmth when he was unconscious, she had slept with her body leaned against his in the refuge from the storm.

Should she go to the women's shelter? Just to spite him and his attitude?

Aren meant so much to her, couldn't he see that?

"Wait," she called, taking a step or two from Darksand's head but kept her fingers trailing on his back. Her bandaged hand held to the stable's wooden partition, a foot pointed into the hay and muck behind her, her heel swaying as it rested en pointe.
"Aren," She started, her voice hesitant.
"Are... we..." She began, taking her time to form the sentence correctly and clearly, to eliminate repeating it.
"Uhm, friends?" No, that wasn't what she meant to say. Her eyes met the floor and she chewed her lip in thought, making the petal bleed.

"No, uhm," Her eyes darted back and forth, as though reading an invisible book that would tell her the answer.
"Courting?" Was that the word? Yes, that sounded right.

[Aren]

Aren froze as she asked him to wait. He didn't know if he could act so selflessly a second time, but he couldn't just leave, either. Turning around, the akalak faced the drykas again, his eyes softening on her face. She wanted to ask something of him, something which seemed to be quite difficult to put into words, and Aren couldn't guess what that might be. When she asked if they were friends, however, it felt like he had gotten hit in the stomach. His mind cartwheeled as he tried to process this possibility, his knowledge of drykas culture coming into question. Did drykas kiss each other, if they were just friends? His ignorance left him sweating for a moment. Meera soon corrected her statement, however, leading Aren to breathe an internal sigh of relief. He smiled, at her rather innocent question. Sometimes he forgot how young she was, how many doubts she must have in her mind. Taking a step forward, Aren's fingers came up to the drykas' lips, wiping away the blood she had drawn. After a few moments of deafening silence, his arms wrapped themselves around her tiny waist, effortlessly lifting her off her feet as he pressed his lips against her own. If this didn't erase those doubts, no sequence of words would achieve the desired result, he figured.

[Meera]

Meera took that as a yes, and she felt a swell of happiness surrounded her as she was lifted off the ground, but also a spark of fear - rare, for the woman to feel. Her hands naturally fell around his neck when she was lifted, and she was smiling like a goon all through the act. He liked her - a lot! Probably just as much as she liked him! This was great news. Aren was so tall that she thought for a moment he was going to sit her on her horse, but he did not. She was glad. That would have been silly. Where would she have gone?

When they broke their kiss Meera's smile fell into a neutral line, worried that she would have to trust him now.

"I..." She started, unsure where to begin. "This mean I trust you now?" Meera sucked on the swollen lip, her arms refusing to leave the wide expanse of his neck and shoulder fell slowly down his arms. Her fingers encircled his biceps, as if to hold him in place.

"Good," she continued, taking her eyes away from Aren's. "I have to tell you something." Meera's lip quivered, twitching lightly at the prospect. Everyone was busy with the storm's after effects to concern themselves with a happy couple.

"I... I ran away from Endrykas." She whispered, a breath of relaxing air leaving her mouth in a short huff. It felt liberating to tell him that and she had to give way to a small smile. Her burden was not hers to carry alone, not anymore.

"To ignore the Ankal's wishes, is to die. Remember Patros?" She asked him, still whispering. "Ankal want me to marry him. Would be like marrying father." Meera made a face to show her displeasure.
"Patros said very mean things about me for not having wind mark. Last trip to Sea of Grass was to train for wind mark. We ran. I ran here, to Riverfall. Doubt Ankal will find me. Not in Webbing, not windmarked. Am human in world of Drykas. But is why I gave Ysane."

Meera's face was a contorted, skewed vision of a wince, preparing for Aren to hit her. Her head was turned slightly to the side as though to present a cheek in which to slap as her arms drew into herself to block a torso shot. It was after all what Patros had taught her. To lie to Patros and he found out, got her beaten. But she was telling Aren this, the story of why she was really in Riverfall. He could leave her. Sell her back.

She was trusting Aren completely now, and she really didn't like how it made her stomach churn.

[Aren]

Aren deposited her back on the ground safely, listening to Meera's story intently, the bits and pieces he already knew coming into focus as he was made aware of the whole picture. His faces twisted into a frown as he realized the exact reason why she had been forced to abandon her home. As the drykas presented her cheek for striking, Aren recognized the action as the reflex of someone who was used to getting hit. Gently placing his hands on Meera's face, he forced her to look at him, scoffing at the fact that he had provoked such a reaction. "You're a drykas to me. And if this Ankal doesn't like it, he can take it up with my fist," Aren's bravado was a mix of ignorance and foolishness, but he meant every word he said. He didn't care if the Ankal was the leader of a particular clan, or of the drykas as a whole, the guy was a bastard and there was no way around that. Aren didn't know if this guy would send men after Meera, but her caution since the day they met told him that it was a distinct possibility. He knew that if they came, he would likely have to send them back as corpses. The akalak didn't relish the thought, but was nonetheless prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep her safe. Aren would protect her from the drykas, and he would teach her to protect herself from him. If the day ever came when he posed a danger to the girl, he hoped that he would have the strength to do what was necessary.