A Vantha Union ( Aleath & Merikanz )

[Talhar]

" Aye very true, let's head for the beach than. "

They started walking towards the beach, with the dog frolicking besides them, happily wagging his tail and leaving his tongue out of his mouth, slobbering over the paved road.

" My God, your dog's mouth is like a waterfall...of a gruesome fluid. Argh, mental image. "

Talhar playfully shivered.

" Man, if only I had brought my cloak. It's a specially made cloak by my father, it's designed to illuminate slightly with the colors of Morwen's Lights, although a bit darker than the original and ofcourse nothing in comparison with seeing the real thing, but still. "

[Aleath]

Aleath was walking beside Talhar and she started laughing uncontrollably at his comment about Shade. She was unable to stop for a while, when she imagined, what would happen if Shade jumped at Talhar. She briefly considered calling Shade to do it, but she thought that it would be plenty of time later. When she stopped laughing and caught her breath, she said, still chuckling.

"Well, it happened to me sometimes. I had to wash everything. Twice."

When Talhar was talking about his cloak, she asked.

"And has the cloak some magic in it? I always wondered if Vantha could do some magic..." she said thoughtfully.

[Talhar]

" Heheh, I can imagine. "

" And I'm not sure about the cloak, I don't think it has magic in it other than illuminating itself slightly. And as far as the Vantha people go, there are some practicioners of magic but most are hunters, gatherers, crafts- and tribespeople. "

" I'm thinking about travelling to Sahova to learn some magic actually, especially the Familiary magic branch is very interesting to me. "

" How about you? What are your dreams and aspirations? "

Asked Talhar as they continued to walk towards the beach, which was now relatively close-by.

[Aleath]

"My aspirations?" she asked, more for herself. Then she fell silent and thought about it.

What were her aspirations? She had never thought about it very much. She only left her birth place because she couldn't stand the way they were looking at her. So she left. And what to do now? She looked at Talhar and said slowly.

"I'm not sure what I want to achieve. I thought only about finding something to do in my life-a job or something. To settle down. I don't really know yet. But before that I always wanted to experience some adventure. To go to some foreign land and also visit Avanthal. That's my dream." she smiled at Talhar and then she asked him.

"How far is the beach? Is it close now?"

She was really looking forward to see the beach and the sea.

[Talhar]

" Yeah, the beach's nearby now. You can see the sea in the distance. It's no more than 5 minutes away from us now. "

Then Talhar slowly spoke, it seemed like he was talking more to himself than to Aleath.

" Don't worry, your dream will reveal itself in due time. "

Then he became happier and continued:

" My dream is too travel the world and see many wonderous things, before I return to Avanthal. "

After a few more minutes of walking.

" Here we are, we'll camp on the dunes of the beach. I brought a tent so you can sleep *in-doors* and I'll sleep outside on a towel. But first I have to make a fire, I haven't eaten yet and I have some nice pieces of meat wrapped up in paper. " He said as he dropped his backpack on the sandy dune, laid down a towel and put the pieces of meat on top of it.

Talhar redirected Shade's face away from the meat and tapped him lightly on the nose. " Those are a no-no for you matey, for now anyway. You'll get a piece later. "

[Aleath]

Aleath dropped herself on the warm sand and started to look around the beach. The walk wasn't so long, but she was glad, that she was sitting. She curiously took handful of sand and then she let it fall through her fingers. She liked the texture of it.

Then she looked at Talhar as he was taking some food from his backpack. She only took a small bag with her. She had only a waterskin in it and her eating knife. Her food was in her room. Not that she was hungry, but the meat looked very tasty.

Shade apparently thought that too, because he was constantly at Talhar's side and he was trying to steal some piece.

"Can I help you prepare the meat? I'm quite good at cooking...I think." she laughed.

[Merikanz]

Meanwhile Avarice was chasing his monstrous prey through the forest meters away. His feet knocking loose rocks and dirt beneath him his face covered in grit and sweat. As he hit crevices and small hills he leaped, in his right hand a short-sword and in his left a random stick he had picked up while racing forward.

The beast he chased looked almost like an overly agile bull as it knocked down the trees and kicked up rocks and pebbles behind it, Avarice yelled "The time has come to end this," he then disappeared in to the trees. The wild beast then opened its horrifying mouth displaying a gruesome set of teeth as if sensing Avarice's impending attack, alas it wasn't prepared enough seemingly as monstrous as his prey Avarice appeared from behind a tree a yard ahead of it. At that point with a disturbing smile and laugh he crouched down and the beast impaled itself through it's own heart with Avarice's outwardly extended blade. The beast bellowed and Avarice seemed to revel in it. The mighty beast however wasn't quite finished enough and Avarice wasn't about to lose his difficult to achieve catch so he swung him self around unto its back and used his blade as his anchor. The beast continued its futile last sprint as it slowly bled out.

However it may have been in luck though the blade was near its heart and had slightly penetrated it but Avarice was now distracted through a clearing in the trees and brush he could see straight ahead of him, for some reason what he saw prompted the far less skilled Merikanz to take over as he whispered aloud, "Aleath?" he was then flung straight forward as the beasts leg were hindered by a medium sized boulder and flipped it over atop itself. As he flew he hit branches and bushes alike till finally landing onto the ground sliding forward and finally stopping in the sand a few feet in front of Talhar and Aleath, before he could get up and dust himself off his nearly forgotten prey came tumbling with such speed and force it flew past Merikanz and skited atop the ocean until finally stopping in the shallows.

Merikanz sighed, and with embarrassment, "Heh well hi again, (directing his eyes to Talhar) I am Merikanz, and (noticing the spear held by Talhar) I could use some help retrieving my dinner heh,... And Aleath (with an akward smile as he made momentary eye contact and then looked at Shade) I was trying to um, well... (sigh) so shall we retrieve my dinner!?"

[Aleath]

Aleath was looking at Talhar, waiting for his answer, but then she heard something. She quickly stood up and turned around towards the bushes. She nearly jumped from her skin, when something...no, somebody jumped through the bushes. Shade was standing protectively in front of her and Talhar, growling.

"Me-Merikanz?" she asked, suprised. She found out, little embarassed, that she was hiding behind Talhar and she went up to stand next to him. Shade immediately stopped growling.

"Your dinner?" asked Aleath confusedly. "You've been hunting?...Ehm by the way,Talhar this is Merikanz. We met in the Golden Dragon. Merikanz, this is Talhar. We are goning hunting together." smiled Aleath.

[Talhar]

" Su..." was as far as Talhar got before a man flew out of the woodworks and into the sand a few feet away from them. He instictively grabbed his spear and stood up. Although he dropped it after thinking that a man who appeared with such an entrance probably has no ill meanings in mind.

" Nice to meet you Merikanz. " He said smiling as Merikanz's entrance was quite humorous to say the least.

" And I'm happy to take you up on your offer Aleath, we'll retrieve the meal from the sea and you can cook it into a savory dish. " He said with a grin.

" By the way Merikanz, you seem like a very skilled hunter, taking down a beast like that. Care to join us on our hunting trip tomorrow? "

[Aleath]

Aleath nodded and went to take the meat. She wasn't paying attention to what the other two were doing. She was fully concentrated on her task. First she washed the pieces. Then she cut off the skin and all the bad pieces, that were on it. Then she found some long branch and pierced the pieces of meat with it.

She then went to find something to make a fire with. Shade was watching her every move. She found some stones and some dry wood and she took out flint and steel of her bag. Then she went back to the beach and made a hole. Not a deep, but it was enough. After that, she put the stones to the bottom of the hole and around it. After a while there flickered a fire.

Aleath then took the branch with the pieces of meat and put them above the fire. Every now and then she turned the branch a little so as not to burn the meat.