[Flashback] Happy Misfortune (Dex)

[Navisya Curare]

Summer 5th 511 It was unusual for Zlynge to make such a fuss about anything out in the wilds. He knew better than to bark at passing gulls and skittering lizards. It would scare off the larger game, like hares and goats. Silent obedience was paramount behavior if he was going to perform as a hunting dog. So when Zlynge began howling and barking at the top of his healthy, canine lungs, it had made Navisya strongly irritable and put her on edge. Zlynge only barked at two things—wolves and people. She was in no mood for either. Wolves meant danger, and people could mean marauders. More likely, other Symenestra hunters, but they usually kept a respectfully wide berth around each other. The Symenestra nimbly made her way across slanted crags and boulders, her hunting gear and quiver full of arrows rattling whenever she hopped across narrow crevices and skittered over steep bluffs. Making so much noise was usually counterproductive to hunting, but if Zlynge was barking at danger, it might serve them both well to make her approach known. Her dog was somewhere closer to the beach, having quickly run off earlier when he'd caught a scent. There was his large, stocky shape, standing on the precipice of a steep embankment. The bay was laid out beyond him, a flat ocean serving as a pedestal for the indigo night sky, speckled with bright stars. Zlynge had taken a different route to arrive here, not nearly as capable at climbing or sticking to cliff walls as his master. Now a sheer drop separated him from whatever was inspiring him to bark so endlessly. Finally Navisya came jogging up to her companion, putting a steadying hand at his neck as she came along beside him, then looked down to see what all the fuss was about. "…Hn." It was a body! Humanoid, but clearly not Symenestra. Its motionless, nude shape was sprawled atop the sandy beach, where the water lapped at the shoreline mere yards away. By the looks of things, it had washed ashore like a piece of driftwood, but there weren't any settlements close enough to Kalinor to explain it. Possibly a passing ship had tossed it overboard, the ocean being a convenient way to dispose of the dead. The skin was pale, pinkish, so… human? "Hush now," Navisya hissed, squeezing at her dog's flesh. Hesitantly, Zlynge gradually stopped his barking and sat in uneasy silence, shifting and groaning excitedly. The Symenestra looked down at her companion, who looked back up at her, licked his jowls, and then opened into a wide, panting smile. His large, brown eyes searched hers eagerly. "What do you look so proud for? That isn't food." She turned back to the body, tilting her head. Though it was some distance to the ground below, she could tell it was male, and either very young or very scrawny, or both. The fact that he was completely naked was befuddling as well as reassuring—he had no weapons on him, so he was likely not a thief or raider. It also meant there was nothing of value to be looted, no coin or trinkets. "Do you think it's alive?" Navisya asked Zlynge, who of course was useless. The question hung in the air for only a moment until the Symenestra seemed to arrive at a decision. "One way to find out, I suppose." Zlynge barked once desperately as Navisya disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Her slender frame descended the rockface easily, wiry limbs finding easy purchase through her thin sleeves and bare palms. The earth was too rough for bare feet, but the calves and shins of her legs could adhere to rock through her black leggings. The Summer weather provided adequate warmth, so the hunter didn't have to dress thickly. To see Navisya's long, flexible form climbing down the cliff wall, it was easy to intuit why the Symenestra were often called "spiders". Up above there was the sound of claws scampering against rock as Zlynge began to find some other way down. Arriving at the bottom, Navisya cautiously began to approach the body lying in the sand. She was right—it was human, and he was younger than she first thought. He was on the cusp of manhood, perhaps 13 or 14 if human ages were anything like Symenestra. It was then that she felt her first wave of pity for the unfortunate creature; he wasn't much younger than Navisya's baby sister. Although he hadn't yet moved, or shown any signs that he was even alive, Navisya reached over her shoulder and unfastened the flap of her quiver. She drew out an arrow, then held it fast in one hand. It was best to be cautious. If, all of a sudden, he shot up and tried to attack her, then she would be prepared to shove an arrow into his neck. Navisya knelt down next to the boy's head. One of her clawed hands reached out, hesitated, then swept away locks of hair from his forehead so she could feel at his skin. It was warm, without the sickly chill of death. She quickly withdrew her hand, then wetted her fingertips on her tongue. Reaching down to his face again, her fingertips hovered near his dry, saltwater-chapped lips. The passing of air cooled her skin. "Well, you're breathing," she told him pointedly, with a touch of amusement. For a brief while, Navisya simply sat next to him, staring searchingly at the cryptic, silent ocean, as if it could answer her questions. If her father were here, he would have told her to leave the body for the gulls and buzzards. Although he was much wiser than she was, Navisya simply couldn't sit comfortably with leaving a child to die in the wilds. She sighed. "You're fortunate my father's not here, or I'd listen to him." Reaching down to her belt, she unclipped her waterskin. She had to set momentarily down her arrow so she could lift the boy's head, which was gently set into her lap. "Don't get any ideas," she reminded the stranger, then carefully began to trickle water against his mouth. "I just need my hand free, so that I can stick you if you decide to be my enemy." Hopefully, if there was any life left in the poor lad, he would begin to drink. Somewhere nearby, Navisya could hear rocks overturning. Zlynge was getting closer. "Hello? Can you hear me? Can you move at all?" With her arrow hand, Navisya again swept up the boy's hair with ebony claws so she could see his eyes clearly. Her gold irises were merely gilded rims on eerily large black pupils. Her cobweb-colored hair was pulled back into a tight, braided weave, accenting her long, thin neck. "I'm hoping you know Common tongue, azo, because it's the only other language I know."

[Dex]

Dex wasn't even entirely awake. He felt a small touch of water to his lips, and he at first turned away, thinking the salt water was getting to him again. However, as parched as his throat was, he had to take something, even if it was salt water that just made it worse. His lips parted slightly and slowly sipped it. Finding it not to be salt water, but clear fresh water, he then began to drink eagerly. After being able to satisfy his parched throat and growling stomach, he pushed the water away from his mouth, and weakly opened his eyes. "Hello? Can you hear me? Can you move at all? I'm hoping you know Common tongue, azo, because it's the only other language I know." He nodded weakly, gazing across her face. It was surrounded with greyish white colored hair brought back behind her neck. Her eyes were the most interesting, solid gold slivers of an iris that surrounded large black pupils that Dex found itself lost in, just looking farther and farther in amazement. He spoke almost off to the side. "I speak common. I can move." His head cocked sideways a bit, still staring into those large black eyes. "What's an azo? And where did you get those eyes?"

[Navisya Curare]

Ahh, it lives. As the boy pushed the waterskin away, a strong show of vitality, Navisya leaned back from his face and seemed to brighten. Though it was partly from relief that the strange human was alive, the Symenestra was also pleased with herself for perhaps bringing someone back from the brink of death. Well, maybe his condition hadn't been quite so dire if he was already speaking and awake, but it was a success nonetheless. He did know Common, and his questions caused Navisya to lift one of her eyebrows. The breath of a moment washed passed them as she returned his quiet, curious gaze. It was difficult to tell whether she was annoyed or amused by what he had asked. Where did she get her eyes? He made it sound as if they were hanging around her neck on a chain. "My father," she replied succinctly. The other question—a request for the clarification of "azo"—was either unheard or ignored. Navisya paused then, lifting her waterskin to her own lips and taking a quick drink, and then the item was returned to its place on her belt. Next, her thin, clawed fingers began to work at unfastening the clasp of her scarlet cape. With a quick flourish, the heavy, shimmering article was all-at-once removed from her narrow, rounded shoulders. The Symenestra looked much more slender without it, almost as if she could snap like a twig under the barest pressure. "You may like to cover your shame," Navisya said flatly, and in the next moment her smooth, silken cape was laid over the young human's nude body like a blanket. It was still warm from her own body heat, so it was comfortable, but it smelled surprisingly acrid. Animal scents, unfortunately, were boons in the field of hunting, serving both to attract certain wildlife and mask the Symenestra scent. In this case, it was urine from a female mountain goat in season. Navisya's accent was thick, telling of the fact that she did not speak Common very often at all. The words were pronounced too quickly and with too much tongue, with soft consonant sounds. She was more accustomed to the graceful, smooth flow of her native tongue. There was a sudden hail of barking, which didn't seem to startle Navisya in the least. She calmly looked to her right, spying the lumbering form of Zlynge trotting across the beach. A warm, unguarded smile appeared on her narrow face. Despite his thick build and drooping face, that dog was sometimes, in certain settings, a supremely handsome animal. His black silhouette against the black ocean and the deep violet sky would have made a stunning painting. Zlynge silenced himself once he was close enough (and was sure that he'd been heard), and began sniffing the ground furiously as he inched closer to the boy. Not wanting him to be mauled just yet, the hunter stilled her dog with a sharp command, "Be seated." So Zlynge leisurely seated himself, though he didn't like it. Navisya turned her head back to the boy, whose head was still placed in her lap. She would not make him move yet. The arrow was still ready in her hand, waiting to be driven into eye socket or ear canal, but for now he seemed harmless enough. "The dog is Zlynge, my companion." The animal's name was spoken in a quick, curling instant, with at least one sound that didn't exist in Common tongue. "He doesn't eat humans, so you are safe, for the moment." Nevermind the arrow. "Now, where in the name of the Gods did you come from?"

[Dex]

She spoke with an odd accent, tripping a little over words and speaking fast. Then again, his on Fratava accent probably made his words quick as well, speaking with a fast moving ease. He watched as she unwrapped something from her back and draped it over him. It was warm and smelled unfamiliar, but it was nice and soft. A black shape moved up the beach behind her, barking. He instantly recognized it as a dog and tensed up slightly. While his own parents were dogs, they were the only ones who were sure not to eat him. Considering turning into ferret and standing ground, he nixed the idea and stayed a human, a much larger form then the dog was. "That's a funny name. Zlynge." His Fratava accent plus speaking in common made the name sound almost completely different. "I floated here. I got caught on the boat I was on and tossed over. Unfortunately, I can't swim well either way, so I floated for awhile hoping to land somewhere." His child curiosity caught up with him as he gained some strength just by being awake, and he started throwing rapid fire questions. "Who are the gods? What are their names? Is one of them Laviku? Where do they come from? What are you? Why are you as thin as me? Why do you have claws? Where did you get the dog? Is he your dad?"

[Navisya Curare]

"Is he my—what?" Finding a poor, helpless soul washed up on a beach was a thing that only happened in stories. Naturally, someone in this boy's predicament would be dazed, weak, and full of questions. But Navisya had expected something more along the lines of 'Where am I?' and 'Who are you?' Not 'Who are the gods' and 'Hey is that dog your father?' Navisya was forced to assume that he'd swallowed too much seawater and had lost his wits. She might have pitied him, but instead she was thinking that this was going to earn her some hearty laughs at the Hunter's Gather. "I am Symenestra," she told him, choosing to start with the simplest of his queries. He seemed unfamiliar with her kind. "Laviku is a god, yes." She glanced up at the sea. "And you should be thanking him for not killing you." The rest of his questions weren't worth answering, as she wouldn't be one to sit here and humor his prattling. 'Where do the gods come from' was a childish question that sat with her a bit longer than the others, because it was a question so many children asked and adults never had the answer for. Well, wherever and whatever they were, they had a sense of humor delivering this poor whelp to Navisya's feet. So he was a stowaway and got tossed overboard? That made sense, she supposed. Ships passed by the bay near Kalinor frequently, sailing from Lhavit or Riverfall, or even anchored some distance from shore with the intention of trading with the Symenestra. Something about his explanation didn't quite make sense to her, however. He couldn't swim well either way? Odd choice of wording on his part. She wondered if it meant anything, or if he was just out of it. Beginning to grow uncomfortable, the Symenestra was getting impatient with this stranger's head resting on her thighs. Her courtesy acting as his pillow was only meant to be temporary. A tightness in her voice betrayed this as she spoke. "Do you feel well enough to sit up?" There was still the question of where the boy came from to start with. She knew enough Common to hear some regional accent as he spoke, but it was not one she recognized. It didn't sound Syliran or Lhavitian, at least.

[Dex]

She seemed strained about something, and asked him to get up. Hoping he hadn't hurt her, he sat up into a sitting position and looked around. It was a regular beach that was surrounded by a sheer cliff face. The dog was still just sitting there, looking lonely. "Can you thank Laviku for me? I don't know how to find him." He glanced around again, and just saw cliffs and the crashing waves. Wondering where he was going to go now, he came to another question. "How did you get down here? It seems a long way down those cliffs. Do you live here instead? Have you ever been to the top?" Feeling curious about how to go anywhere when he couldn't see a way out of the area, he half mindedly dragged his finger in the sand, not even looking at the patterns he made. Without thinking about it, he had ended up drawing the pattern of waves in the sand, and then a crude simple picture of a boat. Then his eyes alighted on a particularly shiny shell and scooped it into his hands and admired it.

[Navisya Curare]

Navisya gracefully rose and dusted off the front of her narrow legs, beginning to understand why her father might have left the boy to the mercy of the wilds. Maybe it wasn't seawater, and the poor lad was just simple. His garrulous questions were consistently inane and making little sense to the hunter. By helping the human, she'd thought she was doing the morally sound thing—even loaned him her cape. Now, he seemed fine, and she was beginning to feel foolish. Finding Laviku? Honestly. Still sitting obediently nearby, Zlynge shifted next to her. He wouldn't take his large eyes off of the stranger, resolute in staring him down. He wasn't sure yet whether the human was friend or foe, and he seemed inclined on the latter. "I climbed," she told him slowly, as if no more explanation were needed. How else would she have gotten down a cliff? "I've been to the top and beyond. I live several miles inland, within Kalinor. It is where all Symenestra live." Well, the ones worth mentioning, at least. At this point, Navisya might have prepared to leave, to wish the boy luck and then leave him here on the beach. However, he was still using her cape as a covering, and she wouldn't leave without it. It would have to get an extra thorough wash when she returned home. So, Navisya lingered nearby, placing one hand on her hip and the other on her dog's head, scratching gently behind his ear with her long nails. The Symenestra stared quietly at the sand-drawing of a boat, one that might have been drawn by a boy half his age. She wondered what forces would drive a very young man to stow away on a ship, one with a crew savage enough to toss him overboard. "Do you not have any family, azo? And, sorry, where are your clothes?"

[Dex]

He watched as the dog moved even closer to the two of them, staring intently at him. It made him slightly nervous, all things considered, but he was still trying to figure out where he was. When she said Kalinor, something clicked and made him curious. "Kalinor. Is that a port city? I need to check all the port cities. And you keep calling me an azo. What's an azo? And why do I need clothes? I'm fine without them. Did you want your cape back?" He was slowly remembering what he had been doing the past season, hitchhiking boats from port city to port city, trying to find the one he was born in. The only clue he had was that large blue people lived there.

[Navisya Curare]

"If you could." Without waiting for the boy to relinquish her cape on his own, Navisya stooped forward and grabbed onto a handful of silk. She straightened again, pulling the garment off of the boy with a single swipe. She turned away, rigorously shaking the cape to dislodge every last grain of beach sand. "You are 'azo'. It is a word in my language used for outsiders. And, Kalinor has no port. Do you not know what 'inland' means?" Instead of putting the cape back on her shoulders, she instead began to fold the article into a more compact shape. After lying over the boy's exposed body, she would certainly not be wearing it until it had been washed. It was interesting to think that she would more readily tolerate goat urine. Once the cape had been folded into a neat square, she stuffed it into her knapsack. "You are nowhere near any port cities, as far as I know. Why do you need to…? Never mind. Zlynge, with me." Knowing the dog would be hesitant to obey the command and abandon the stranger, Navisya looped her fingers under his leather collar and forced him to heel next to her. She began to walk off then, looking for an easier way to get up into the crags for the so that her dog could accompany her. "Good luck getting to wherever it is you are going." As far as Navisya was concerned, she was finished here. She had shared her water with this stranger and seen that he wasn't dying. It didn't seem to worry the boy that he was nude and stranded in the middle of a strange place, so why should it worry her? She had done all she could. If the wolves ate him after this, it was meant to be.

[Dex]

Hmmp. This would be difficult. Apparently the only city nearby would be Kalinor, but it had no port. If he was lucky though, someone would go from Kalinor to a port city, and he could continue his journey. While thinking this, he didn't notice that Symenestra was walking away, nor hear her parting comment. And she had said that all Symenestras go to Kalinor, so that was probably where she was going. Apparently he would be traveling with her. "Hey, wait for me!" He started running a little to catch up, but some of the shells hurt his feet as he walked. Considering how hungry he currently was, he didn't want to change, but it would let him follow her easier. That and he could hunt as a ferret easier. Thinking of this, he flashed into ferret form and caught up with her, ending up between the dog and her. Having not thought of the dog, he nervously moved closer to Symenestra making chattery little nervous noises.