[Flashback] Flowers in the wind

[Voreasos Alisier]

Fall 504 Av

The rain softly coated the ground in small clear drops of water. The skies were covered in dark grey clouds as thunder sounded deep within them. The main storm already passed his nest yet Voreasos was not worried of the storm remains. He was to use the paths near the home which were a few miles to an small river to use an target. There and back before the sun fell and night regain once more.

He stood just about 5'5, his frame was thin and just under 135 pounds. Silver hair that just was combed back as he wore cloth wrappings around his body and light boots. His nails were pointed that looked more like claws yet he was not in the mood to fight but to run. He had to learn to be faster then others due to he could not fight often and had to run faster then his food to catch it.

The air felt clean as he started in a light jog, right leg then left. He just kept thinking that as he pushed his legs and keeping a good pace for the jog. As long as he did not think of doing it the task would be easier or one could hope.

His mind trailing back to how he had to deal with others being faster then him. His goal to be the best in anything he did. Or at least that was his end goal. Yet for now he was to become faster and keep it up.

[Gossamer]

Training to run was no easy thing. For one thing, there was no set tenant on how to strengthen ones body. A person had to drive themselves up hills and down again, across long sweeps of land, and learn to place their feet one step in front of them, land, and push off again before they had time to feel tired. Running was about making ones heart stronger, letting the lungs fill and use the air they took in more effectively, and about freedom.

Running was a sheer joy. You weren't competing against the ground, against anyone else, or against the very weather you ran through. No, running was about the competition between your body and your will power - deciding which would win and decide when enough was enough. Occasionally, when running, one could find the perfect zone where there was no exhaustion, no frustration, no thought... only the earth and sky and the movement of ones body between it.

The pathway from his nest to the river was one he knew well. Why the Symenestra weren't big on water, they required it, like very other living thing for living. Younglings, especially the males which had a lesser value before they proved themselves, were drafted for such tasks as fetching water, so Voreasos knew the way well. The storm shouldn't have bothered him, indeed wouldn't have, if it had been anything ordinary.

It wasn't though. The storm had a fierce edge to it, a hunger, a need to drive its winds faster, and even though Voreasos wasn't far from home, with the gusts coming up and his slight body speeding through the droplets of water generated from the storm, he was challenged to even on his way to the river. And that was strange enough, for the river noise was normally low, barely audible even to a Symenestra. However, this evening, there was a roar on the wind, a rush of unnatural water that as Voreasos drew nearer, caught his attention.

[Voreasos Alisier]

His lungs felt like small daggers stabbing him with each breath. His sides tightening in pain as his legs burned with his step. He wanted to quit and just turn around yet he did not. He just kept pushing even if pain was there. He had to prove to himself that he could do this as this was the easy part. It was just him and nature when other times there would be other things like faster foes.

The hairs on his neck raised as the storm got worse, the rain becoming more but it was the wind that was pushing harder on his thin frame body. He had to make it to the river and find some form of shelter to wait out the storm. He knew there had to be some type of protection that he could use that can handle the fierce storm.

Each step felt heaver and heaver, his breath felt like stabbing fire like pain. His push of his body made him drive harder and harder to overcome his weaknesses that held him down like chains to the earth. He wanted to break all forms of chains and prove to everyone he could be better then anyone who thought otherwise.

The river was just a few feet away he knew. Each step got him closer as his outfit was soaked in the cold rain. He knew he could do it. He just had to keep telling himself that. He could do anything he wanted just don't think of the body yelling that it was to much. If he stopped now he could die and he could not die here by this. He would not give up.

[Gossamer]

The roar put the river off course from where Voreasos thought it was. His few feet turned out to be 'immediately' as he sprinted up a rise and started down the path that would take him to a common ford twenty feet at the bottom of the small hill. However, there was no twenty feet left. Raging water rushed passed just on the other side of the rise, threatening to overtake the hill and free the river from the confines of its basin. It had to have come up fast, very fast, as such things were prone to do, because Voreasos found himself knee deep in water before he could halt his forward spring.

That was when voices caught him in the distance. A treeline that was partially submerged that marked where the riverbank used to be - and indeed the ford itself - was barely visible above the now-pounding rain. Something - no two somethings - clung to the trees there, crying out piteously. Children. Symenestra children. There was nothing more precious in the world to the race that was slowly dying out due to their reproductive issues. The pair had to have been with an adult, but there was no one else around. It was likely they were caught in a flash flood and the adult was swept downstream while the children managed to cling to the trees. The ford was popular as it was a quick place to cross and had a clay deposit that the Symenestra used to make some of their ceramic goods.

The water between where Voreasos and the children were seemed high, raging, and full of debris washing downstream rapidly. It was obvious it had a healthy if not dangerous undercurrent. It was also obvious that the children wouldn't live long in the trees they were clinging too with the water rising dangerously around them.

[Voreasos Alisier]

He saw the kids and cursed under his breath on the weather and idea that they were alone and trapped in the worst of ways. He would not just leave the kids to die off, but he would not try to swim out there yet another idea came to mind. It was risk taking but it did seem to be the best of plans.

He knew time was running out so he just pushed away his fears and thoughts as he worked on his plan to try to save them. Vor just looked for another tree near him, slowly climbing it as he kept an eye on the debris that was washing downstream. One would see items blocking there way but he saw them as stepping stones.

He held on to the tree in his own way due to the wild winds and rains but he would not give up and knew he was risking his life to save them. However he would not just stand by and let life be taken away.

His eyes scanning the river, seeing the largest parts of items washing downstream be it tree's, planks, anything that was large enough to handle his weight but he had to keep an eye on what was coming as well.

He just did not think of fear, he just thought of his goal and in the end saving them. He pushed off after getting as high as he could that would be the safest point as he aimed at one of the moving logs after taking in the account of how fast it was moving so he would not miss it to bad.

If his plan worked he would land on it and jump to another and another like a frog jumping on stones to make its way to the kids.

However if it did not then he would use his large hands and try to swim to them. If humans could do it then he could or at least try.

And worst came to it he would yell at them to let go and he would hold on to them while he was used as a raft to go downstream.

No matter how he looked at it he would try his best. Maybe a god would smile down on him. Just maybe.

[Gossamer]

He was certifiable. That much was certain. But the fact was the survival of children was so deeply ingrained in the Symenestra blood wouldn't simply allow Vor to turn his back on their plight. If they were human children, it would have been another story altogether... but these were his own kind. And though they clung with absolute terror, there was a certainty that they wouldn't be able to get out of the situation on their own.

The wind picked up further and Voreasos had no idea if it was indeed Zulrav's fury or just a bad spot of fall weather - a precursor to the rage of the winter to come. Symenestra hated the cold, hated the time of famine. They had cause to fear it. Their prey got scarce. Their fragile natures were susceptible to storms and drastic changes of weather. Children died. But they didn't die in spring storms if adult males were around to prevent it. That much was certain. And although Voreasos had no real options - no rope, no webbing, no easy way to traverse the flowing water, he did see that if he went far enough up stream and jumped onto floating debris, his nimbleness and almost supernatural balance would allow him - coupled with his light weight - to try his luck at making it to the tree where the children were stranded.

An enormous log floated by, one that was not rolling and pitching in the water. It was a break, almost as if the God Ovek smiled on him. He was able to leap over to it and ride it most of the way. The second transition he had to make was to a floating piece of debris that looked like it used to be some form of farmers weyr - a small gateway to block off a stream to flood a field - and although it was slippery, he was able to cling to it until it took him within leaping distance of the tree.

He made the jump easily, and before he knew it he was perched on the thick lower branches just below the two children. They both looked healthy, though very scared, and light of weight. One was perhaps two or three years old, the other one a bit older. Both had wide eyes filled with fear. The female, by and large the more valuable of the two, was the youngest. The male was older, heavier, and clung to the tree with all his might.

[Voreasos Alisier]

"This will hold you for some time, but do not let go. I will take the girl and be back for you understand?" He asked not waiting for a reply as he moved down to the girl.

His left arm grabbing her around her stomach. "Hold on to me, we are going to jump. I will not let you die so trust me." He said once more in there tongue as he let her hold on.

The river and main flood was to his left with what he crossed, however plains and forest area laid to the right which was he aiming for. The depth of the water was just roughly two feet so he could handle it himself but the kids would not. He scaled down the tree slowly with her in his arm, it would be best if she was on his back but time did not let that take place.

He would hold her once they got to the ground and then move away from the main danger and find a safe place for her. He knew there had to be some safe area but for now the girl was the main key to safe but he would not let the boy die. He would come back once he knew she was safe as it was stupid to try to take them both and risk all three of them. The silky substance would hold him even with the wind blasting about. It would be a pain to get him off but he would cut the shirt if he had to.

[Gossamer]

The boy nodded with understanding, his eyes wide with fear. He held tightly to the tree as the girl jumped into Voreasos' arms. She scrambled then, lithe and flexible, up onto his back where she was higher and felt safer. Voreasos was able then to climb down the tree easily, and begin making his way back towards shore. It wasn't as easy as it looked, for the water - even though it wasn't that deep - was furiously swift. He ended up having to dodge limbs and pieces of tree sweeping through the fierce water. Every step was a struggle, every movement forward forced him back another two steps. It was hard work, desperate work, just saving the life of one child. He struggled up onto the shore, exhausted, and got her safely into the forested area where there were other trees she could climb up and be safe. Twenty feet from the bank and another ten feet vertical on a ridge, he found a perfect spot to leave her... if he didn't make it back, no matter how high the water got it wouldn't get her there. And he was able, if he chose, to leave her then and go back for the boy.

It was risky. He was soaked to the bone, the wind pounded at him, and rain fell almost vertical now... go back for the boy? Stay with the girl? He had a serious choice to make... and he was running out of time. The water was rising even further. Debris was getting even more frequent in the water. It was treacherous. Deadly. But if he went back for the boy - he'd have to go now.

[Voreasos Alisier]

The wind howled along his skin as if it was the lone cry of the wolf within the forest. His body was cold and sore as if he moved all day in labor as his lungs were on fire moving faster and harder to drag in new breath in his worn out body.

The girl was safe, he knew this yet he told the boy a promise. Even if that promise would kill him he would still try then at least he would not be told he was weak or worthless. "Come Lord Ovek, give me your luck one more time as I gamble my life to save my kind..." He said firmly mainly to himself as he pushed off the tree letting his body crash into the icy water once more as he moved back to find the lost child.

His body yelled in protest as he forced his limbs to move moving past the stinging and burning muscles as he kept his head down trying to keep the rain out of his eyes. Oils from his hair and body dripping in his eyes burning him to the point of being close to blind yet even then he did not care as he moved. A single thought was just to save the kids and make sure they would be able to get out alive. He knew help was not coming and he was the only help that they had.

He did not know if he could make it for the storm was hitting stronger around him and even his own body was giving out on him. His mind might have been wanting to save them yet he was not the stronger of his race. The area around him slowly faded in and out as his lungs burned with each step. "Must....must keep going..." He said as he looked around looking for a tree to rest on or the boy. He felt more lost then anything now and feared he took a wrong path.