No Hunt for You

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

50th Fall, 512 A.V. Though the Fall Hunt began this day, Sama'el would not participate. With the pox going on, the state of the Web, and the needs of his pavilion, he could not see spending less time with them than he already did. But the commencement of this seasonal event would occasion a great deal of news being passed around, and since his pavilion was now sequestered from the rest of the tent city, it had been decided that he would go into Endrykas to report to the Sayaph, and to do whatever trading needed doing. All that had been done now, and he was sitting on a rock after the commencement, plaiting threads of leather into a stronger lead. Like most Drykas, he didn't tie up his horses, at least once they had been trained to stick with their herd, but most horses had that instinct anyway. Still, a lead became necessary for some parts of training a horse, and while he was waiting for a second interview with the Sayaph, he thought he ought be productive. It was nice to work there in the autumnal sunlight, pretending the pox wasn't upon his people. When he returned to the pavilion, the first thing done would be Denen pouring the grace of his goddess of healing into Sama'el, to burn out any infection he might carry back to them. Sama'el had faith. And for now, he had some time and solitude. He smiled down at his work.

[Daishira]

Walking slowly throughout the city he had become fairly accustomed to, Daishira took in the environment on this relaxed day. Holly, his horse, was beside him, quietly walking beside her rider. Daishira wanted to become more familiar with this city, it seemed almost too good to be true, compared to his background. He looked around, took in the graceful autumnal scenery, then took a deep breath in.

Hold on... Daishira sniffed out a tinge of bear musk. That's not normal. His curiosity lead him towards the source of the scent. The smell became gradually stronger and stronger, up to the point where he saw a stranger, sitting down, working on something that looked like leather. Wanting to seem friendly to the habitants of the city, Daishira approached him calmly and greeted the Drykas, "Hey there. I'm Daishira."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sama'el, for his part, could not smell at all, the curse of the goddess of bears upon him. He had never smelled his son, the bear cub, and it made eating a rather sad affair, the olfactory faculty being so tied in with taste. When the stranger walked up, his gaze was down on his work, but he smiled when he looked up, friendly enough at the words spoken in Common. The man didn't look Drykas, but he had a horse with him that looked well cared for. That earned points for anyone insofar as a Drykas was concerned. "Hello," he replied in Common. He had, after all, spent nearly half his life speaking it. "I'm Sama'el Sunsinger. That's a lovely Sungold you have there." He admired the horse and any who rode them, the magecrafted creatures preferring no saddle or tack. It was a more natural way to ride, he supposed.

[Daishira]

Daishira smiled at the Drykas' warm welcome. This city is really something, he thought to himself. "Yes, thank you. Her name is Holly. Do you have any horses? I presume you do."

Daishira's knowledge and familiarity with Endrykas was still arbitrary so whatever he could learn about culture here would benefit him greatly. Obviously, being a Kelvic would mean he wouldn't perfectly fit in, but better than before. He thought of it like bringing some spice in the Drykas' lives. And he would be so eager to demonstrate to please. It was in his nature to please people, after all.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Holly," he said, considering the horse as if she were a human. To a Drykas, she might just be. "I do have several horses," he admitted. "They are back at the pavilion. There's a nasty pox going around, so I'm trying to keep everyone separated a bit until the chances of infection go down. I probably oughtn't even be here, but it's the Fall Hunt and, well, ..." He shrugged. It was a bit irresponsible, but he was still a member of the Watch and had responsibilities to the Drykas people as well as just to his pavilion, small though it may be. "What brings you to Endrykas?" he asked, friendly rather than interrogative. If the man Daishira had gotten to the city at all, it meant the Watch had likely guided him from one island of civilization to this roving one.

OOCSorry about my absence. Hope I haven't lost you!

[Daishira]

Holly brayed calmly at the mention of her name. As Sama'el spoke about the local affairs, Daishira realised he was more out of it than he originally thought. He expected some unfamiliarities, maybe even weird (which would be hard for someone like Daishira), but he needed to catch up on everything. For now, he stared blankly at Sama'el, until he asked, "What brings you to Endrykas?"

Daishira shuffled his feet a little. He did not like talking about his past, he had buried it in his grave of daunting memories, and would rather not unearth them. He avoided the question, simply saying, "I was just wondering, and came across a friendly Drykas, who allowed me to stay with her for a bit. She's nice, not so sure about the rest of her family though."

The last phrase was accompanied by a small chuckle. Another thing that was on Daishira's mind was that strange cloud 'following' the city. It didn't seem like much, and maybe it was just Daishira being new again, but it's been there since the 47th and something about it disconcerted him. Looking up at it, Daishira said, "Sama'el, do you know anything about this cloud?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

His questions were as much due to his place in the Watch as anything else; of course if Daishira was here, someone in the Watch had given him nominal approval to be here, but it didn't hurt to follow up. The easiest way to prevent crime was to prevent crime! Not that this man looked particularly shifty, but Sama'el, while young, had been around long enough to see some stuff. "Ah, yes. Drykas hospitality is warm even when Winter is licking out our heels, no?" he asked, smiling wanly. The rending of the Web and the spread of the pox made hospitality and happiness difficult here in the tent city, but he would do the best he could. "The cloud?" he asked, looking up from his his work plaiting strands of leather into something stronger, and his eyes shot up toward the sky. Mealla was the one who could speak to the breezes, not him, even after Lord Zulrav had given him a Strider and stayed his wrath when that stupid Isur had hurled his irreverent statements of hubris at the sky.

[Daishira]

As Sama'el replied with a question as seemingly lost as Daishira himself, "The cloud?"

Daishira took that to mean he didn't know what it was either. With another glance, it looked awfully menacing and very ominous. It hung like a murder of crows would do, hovering above its prey, which appeared to be the city Endrykas itself. Daishira sharply looked away and back at Sama'el's leather handiwork. The very act of observing the cloud alarmed him, almost as if the cloud could stare back, only harder and with more power. He was rather disappointed the Drykas didn't know about the cloud. He thought that with him being a local here, he would know about such anomalous events. 'Oh well,' he shrugged to himself.

"Oh... You don't know either? It's probably nothing. I just take a dislike to its presence for some strange reason..." With that, his voice trailed and became silent for a moment. Then, wanting to change the subject and become warmer with the stranger, he gestured to his work and said, "What is that you're doing there? Looks rather complicated."

He was genuinely somewhat fascinated by the beauty of Sama'el's fingers weaving the straps in and out, but it wasn't something he wanted to be lectured on. He quickly thought about his own craft. Nothing to do with making tools or similar, but his own training with his angle blade. He would need to improve himself if he was to do what he desired most. Dashing the lovely thoughts and speculations from his mind, Daishira focused his attention back on the Drykas, hoping he didn't miss any of his explanation. That would be rude, and he didn't want to hurt the guy's feelings.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"We do get some crazy weather on the Sea of Grass," he offered, but if the cloud was something special, he didn't know. If Mealla were here, she might speak to the winds as Zulrav had taught her, but it was not a grace he possessed. "Oh, I'm just plaiting these scraps of leather into a lead rope. I hate to waste, so I try to use everything I have." It wasn't a long lecture, but anyway Sama'el was not so skilled and knowledgeable that he could have said all that much about the subject. His apprenticeship, such as it was, with Utine Redpelt had been brief. The old woman had joined the honored dead upon the Web, and so he just did what he could based on what she had taught him. "I have several horses. Sometimes they need to be led, but I don't like tying animals up. Once they know to stay with the pavilion, I let them have their freedom." The foreigner seemed a bit distracted, perhaps by the cloud or by his own thoughts. There was something a little off about him, but it didn't seem to be a threatening sort of thing. "Copper for your thoughts?" Then, before Daishira could answer: "Oh, do you have shelter in case a storm hits?"

[Daishira]

Sama'el asked Daishira kindly if he had any shelter before the storm hits, to which Daishira replied, "Storm?"

He really had no idea what was going on within Endrykas, annoying reminders that he was a newcomer. Of course, he had registered what the nice Drykas said, but as Daishira could not respond with any fruitful response of his own, there was simply no need to even bother at pointless conversation. Even if he wanted to, Sama'el spoke rather quickly, not giving Daishira a chance to respond anyway. Pondering on his current shelter (a tent near Kai's), Daishira considered getting a temporary shelter. It would be foolish to pass up something like that in case of a storm. Daishira's eyes were still mesmerised by Sama'el's perfected technique in his rope to be. Being young, Daishira still did not see anything wrong with some of the quirks he possesses. It is true that he is technically a Kelvic adult at age 3, but three years is hardly enough experience of the world to judge what is right and wrong in social standards, despite being put through hardship early in his childhood.

He then looked at Sama'el's face and noticed it was curious, perhaps thinking about Daishira's strange, foreign behaviour, but he didn't mind too much.