Timestamp: 10th of Fall 512 AV
The last thing Kavala remembered was Vanator raising his weapon and bringing it down on her forehead. She'd begged her brother to do it. The compulsions to heal the wounded zith and her companions were driving her to the edge of sanity. The Myrian had solved the Zith problem, slaughtering them neatly until none were left alive, but the small trio made up of Vanator her brother, the stranger with dark skin from the jungles of Falyndar, and herself were all grievously wounded. So while they were making a break for it, taking the horse herds back to The Sanctuary, Vanator had done his big brotherly duty and made sure his sister felt nothing on her way home.
Kavala wasn't ready to quit the fight yet though. Even as darkness took her from awareness of the scene, her gnosis took her directly to her chavi and she skimmed backwards, looking for battle, looking to see how she'd handled it before. Her last life was something known to her, and she slid past Crescent's awareness, already knowing what the Ruv'na assassin's life had been like. She went further, seeking answers, and found another life. Sliding deeper, she looked further, until the fortress caught her eye.
Ironrock.
She knew the name. Everyone did. And as she dived into the memories there, Kavala learned something she didn't know before. She learned at one time she'd been a kelvic, living in Marcus Kelvic's fortress. A'Kenas. The A' was for Marcus Kelvics first generation. The generations after her had carried names like B'Talis and C'Kavil. But all the kelvics of that first generation were designated in Marcus' systematic and no-nonsense way. They were A's. They were the First Generation. The name was there clear for her to see and she slid into the memories suddenly understanding why she had such a love and affinity with horses. She'd been one.
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A'Kenas woke up slowly. Stretching a hoof out and then another, she realized she was stretched out on her side and surged lightly to her feet, shaking off her black and white mane and snorting. Shifting into her human form, she stepped into a simple tunic, belted it in place, and slid on the sandals. Preferring to sleep in the stables often made her late for duty. And today she had patrol. With someone she didn't know, a kelvic predator. Marcus was constantly doing that, assigning prey animals to predator animals and forcing them to work together.
A'Kenas wasn't impressed. She passed a B and then a C, nodding to the C who was young and playful and kicking a ball in the courtyard. Dog... no puppy? She flared her nose and couldn't quite tell. The B was a doe she was familiar with. She passed through a walkway, up a stair and into a mustering room. She checked the roster, proud she could read and didn't need to reply on others.
Glancing at the position of the sun outside the window, she was early. But just barely. Snorting she turned down another hall, passed through an archway, and went to meet the predator she'd be doing patrol with. She needed to find out if he wanted to go in animal form, human form, or if he was using her as a mount today which sometimes Marcus required.
Her tack was back at the stables. She hoped he wanted to go in human form. She much preferred that to packing lazy predators around the mountains surrounding Ironrock. She should have recognized the name on the list, but she hadn't. There were so many kelvics at Ironrock these days, not like in the first days where there'd only been a handful. Some were sent on duties away, sold, and even some were used for breeding and sequestered a great deal.
A'Kenas was neither. SA'Kenas was a Zanrisi Creation, one of Marcus Kelvics assistances, and she was Irvyn's favorite mount and so she stayed at the fortress and when he wanted to go to the city, he rode her. She was proud of the fact, remembering a time when she was just a horse and had not been kelvic. That's what it meant to be an A'. They were made, not born. Everyone else after had been born. But she was still here, even after the three years since kelvics had come into being.
So she made it to the Courtyard right on time... and waited impatiently for the kelvic assigned to her duty, the one she'd have to patrol with.