Ladies of Lions and Wolves (Aello)

[Hadassah]

68th of Winter, 509 AV Tendrils of faded morning sunlight trickled through the sparse canopy of trees, causing the shadows to dance about. The ground was soft, speckled with recently fallen snow, its moisture soaking in the sound of her steps. Ice dew drops clung to the branches of bare trees, unmoved by wind. The air was silent, and she kept still, the only movement she dared to make was the flicker of her gaze. She knelt up against the trunk of a gnarled birch, hidden in the thick deer skin coat Lyra had leant her. Its hood was pulled up over her hair, shielding her face against the cold, yet each breath she drew and released sent daggers of chill through her. The cold was never so penetrating in the city as it was in the wilds, and Hadassah was not one to adapt to new environments quickly. Rarely did she dare leave the comfort of her city walls, which she knew every inch of; every dark alleyway, steep rooftop, dank tunnel. The forest was too open, too unpredictable. There was no smooth paths up into the canopy to flee, and no way to know what might appear to surprise her. The only comfort was her bow, and the little she knew of tracking. Her left hand was poised around an arrow, her right loosely held the weapon, its smooth wood grain a comfortable familiarity in this foreign place. She would have never wandered here willingly, but when the ranges at base were too simple a task, her trainer, Baern, devised a new test of her skills, off she was sent, to wander the woods, guideless, hopeless, in search of a ‘moving target’. The beast of a man shoved her out the front gate with a twisted smirk, “You’re not coming back in without a deer for us to eat!” His guttural laugh filled the air, and he watched her go, grumbling to herself all the way. It had only taken an afternoon of exploration before she stumbled across the animal. She’d only seen a deer once or twice before, and never living. Its quick movements surprised her, and its perception of her presence more so. One step in the wrong place, and its head would shoot up, massive ears suddenly facing her direction, jet eyes searching for movement before it would disappear into the underbrush. A light dusting of snow kept its trail hidden, and Hadassah was back to searching. She managed to follow it into the night, but lost the trail as dusk dissolved to blackness. Groping for what seemed an eternity, she found a hollowed out stump to curl into, and fought to a floating state of unconsciousness, kept awake by the crisp cold. Now, after hours of searching again, she found her prey nestled away in a clearing, unsuspecting and alone. In one fluid movement, she knelt, slid an arrow from her quiver, and knocked it, pulling her bow string back to her chin. With one eye closed, she took a careful aim, breathed deep, and- Movement from across the clearing alerted the animal. It froze for a split second, head held high, ears probing. And then it was gone, bounding into the underbrush to her left. Hadassah withdrew the arrow with a growl, frustration and exhaustion overtaking her. She let out a snarl, pulling the arrow back and firing into the bushes across the clearing, hoping to hit whatever might have spooked her mark.

[Aello]

Muddied irises trailed over a bed of uneven terrain; lightly rolling into the gnarled roots of hardwoods, which twisted over the earthen bed as though they were clashing snakes within an undersized pit. As the young huntress glided along, weaving her way in and out of the massive tree line, she thought she could hear them hiss at once another, as the newly fallen snow crunched beneath her step, leaving deep indentations in her wake. The rounded ends seemed to lick at her flesh as the shallow winds lifted the folds of her simple dress from about her ankles, allowing the cool air to filter beneath and chill her to the very bone as she fought to keep moving. Fought to hold some of the sun's dwindling warmth in. She could still feel it at times, caressing her skin as it peeked through the spaces between the tree's branches, left barren with the fresh season. But still, it was scarce enough, leaving the woman to repeatedly flex her fingers around the supple curve of her father's old short bow to maintain any sort of feeling within them. Just as she wiggled her toes against the soles of her simple brown suede boots. As she moved, her eyes continued to dart back and forth, following the quickly covering indentations the deer had left behind it. Two smooth crescents, turning into each other. As though they were courting in a dance of old. The tracks she knew, were fairly fresh, considering how the snow that trickled down from time to time, hadn't yet had the chance to wash them away completely. But even so, she did not have much time to follow their path before they faded away. Thus, Aello moved as quickly as her shivering legs would allow, her nose reddening as the remainder of her flesh paled and she was forced to pull her hood even higher up onto her head to keep the wind from whipping her chestnut colored mane about. I wish I could find something to eat, she thought to herself as her teeth began to chatter, this is proving to be almost as bad as hunting outside of Avanthal. Petching desolate wasteland, her mind added as her legs began to ache and she forced herself to keep on marching a little more swiftly. Somehow... For several more chimes, the girl moved through the forest until she found the deer she had been tracking settling into a clearing a little farther up. Its dark nose sniffing the air as its ears swished back and forth. Its white tail bobbing up and down as it took to what she assumed, was rest. Smiling to herself after finally having caught up, Aello plucked a peacock feather fletched arrow from her quiver, and deftly laced it onto the string of her bow. Her fingers followed the click of the nock, winding around the wooden edge. Slowly, they pulled the string back as she closed her left eye and sighted down the shaft, just as her father had once taught her to do. She could almost hear it creaking as it drew taut, past the sudden still of her breath. Only silver wisps leaving her nostrils as her heart slowed and she fought to relax as the deer looked up, right at her and bolted. In an instant, she was lowering her bow and darting after it, kicking up snow as she tread after the fading coffee colored fur. A soft whistle sounding as an arrow shot past her eyes and landed in a few feet past. Point imbedded in the ground. Oh for fuck's sake, who is shooting at me now? Aello wondered as she did her best to ignore it so as to maintain her chase. The deer's long legs and knowledge however, proving to best her. Allowing it to pull farther and farther off into the distance. Or were they just trying to take my dinner? OOCA few things, sorry this is short and sloppy. My openings tend to be like that. Also, as far as I can recall, Aello owned a sort of corset top with a long skirt which gave the illusion of a dress at this time. Green fabric with black lace strings, and a black wool cloak. She only owns the arrows from her father's old quiver at this point. So all peacock feather fletches, and she does not yet owned the cursed dagger. She maybe has one experience in it from spiritism work, and is competent or so in shortbow and auristics. Enjoy!