by Cayenne on December 5th, 2010, 9:40 pm
Seyp
"She likely would," Sulas chuckled, "but at least she would like as not clasp your arm and tell you you did your best, but it wasn't good enough, and when you start again, you will have to practice a little more." she watched the Festival, not at all squinting despite the distance. She had said something about body heat - perhaps that was part of it. "It is useful in the rain, too. You know the magic deyhan call Auristics, yes? This is somewhat similar. The rain does not bring down the body temperature so much that it is hidden - where the rain obscures and clouds... heat still shows up... diminished... but there. That's why we use mud when dealing withe the Dhani. It confuses them." The elder shook her head.
"But of course, stop by. We will see what you have and we will see what I have... I'm sure I have some old things tucked away that you may find useful yet, and these old hands of mine aren't what they used to be," she let out a cackle, tilting her head upwards to take in the hammering rain, her fingers tight on her staff despite the downpour. She seemed to be considering his last question. "If you're not confident of a grip, don't take it. Make the shortest movements you can, and be mindful of the jumps. There's the big wheel, that one, with the planks sticking out of it?" she gestured at the course, pointing out a massive wooden wheel with wooden spoke-like sticking out of it. "Aim to get between the planks just as they come, and do not wait to jump onto the next platform. Be smart with your movements. Do not waste energy showing off. That is where some warriors fail... they get fancy."
Satu & Koa
"Everyone worships differently. You like to judge, don't you, pale one?" Oni made a face at Satu, almost Derisive in her dismissal of Satu's feelings. "Get over yourself. Makutsi is wild and dangerous and deadly, like Falyndar. She enjoys the Quoalelye. She knows what it is. She sees it as a testament to her, and the dedication we put into it for her."
With Koa disengaged from Satu, Oni let the younger Myrian go, properly chastised for now, and gave Satu a bit of a push to guide her off towards the Rain Dancers. "Come. We will see the Dancers." Dance played a part in Myrian culture, from the fire dances that they performed in celebration, to the war dances, to the rains brought on and encouraged by the worshipers of Makutsi. Some considered their fighting a dance in itself, a beautiful, deadly dance that demanded blood for the price of watching it. And beyond and between the Rain Dancers were Myrians who clearly were not dancers, but merely exploding into joyous movement for the oncoming season.
With every step they took, the beating of the drums grew louder. When they got to the Plaza, it was bursting at the seems with the Rain Dancers in the center. Each of them had their own version of the Rain Dance, but to see each and every one of them performed at once, they were somehow in harmony, in sync with each other. Some danced with weapons, some danced with talismans and staffs that they had made. Some danced with neither, no props but their own body. For all the horrific brutality that Satu had witnessed since she had landed on the shores of Falyndar, the dancers and celebrations made for a strange departure from the blood-thirsty savages that terrified the length and breadth of Mizahar.
["Do you like to dance?" Oni asked her as they worked their way into the crush of people. The unbridled Joy and Pleasure were tangible, pushing against her as surely as the bodies in the crowd.
Siiri, Miharu, & Pua
By the time they emerged from the barracks, the children's runs were over - the children's rounds often had multiple children running at once, in stages, because otherwise, it would be under Leth when the adults started competing. The adults, too, sometimes had multiple competitors on the course - three was unusual, but two was common. The Quoalelye wasn't the largest of obstacle courses - sizewise, it was pretty big - but in terms of completing time, the adults needed far less than what was allowed the children, and mere seconds could determine the winner. But it was one of the single most physically punishing events of the year for many Myrians.
But now that they were approaching it, the last age group before theirs was finishing off. They had a chance to really watch it. It began with a run through towards the solid dozen hurtles of different sizes and heights - some of which were taller than the Myrians challenging them. However, in order to discourage attempts to go under them, a vine net was there to capture and entangle those who attempted to circumvent the slippery and punishing wood-and-bamboo beams. From there, one had to tackle the leaf climb.
There were certain leaves in Falyndar that the Myrians called 'tskanna ears' - enormous, broadleaf plants that were said to grow as large as a tskanna's backside. But they were incredibly sturdy, tough leaves that became incredibly slippery when wet. And, lo and behold, they were wet now. Layers of them were attached to a long wooden ramp, on a medium incline, almost perfect diagonals... and they only had one solitary, gnarled vine to pull themselves up over the slippery leaves with to the platform that led to the balance beam maze. Slippery and difficult, the planks were of different widths and angles, some even, some rising, some falling. The runner had to navigate the maze to get to the next part of the obstacle course now that they were back on the ground level: the menacing rope net.
It was a simple, heavy rope net that hung high up, and was, in fact, one of the tallest obstacles on the course. It was made of hemp, and when it was wet, it was heavy, heavy, heavy. Climbing it was brutal. It wasn't unusual that it was the seemingly-benign net made them quit, either during it or just afterward. The part that would be more terrifying than any other stage of the challenge would have been what came next. Balanced high above the ground were large wooden poles with wooden discs attached to the top. One had to jump from pole to pole, from disc to disc, to get to the other side. For the children, the protecting net underneath was a lot further up than it was for the adults - who faced a much longer fall. After almost a dozen terrifying jumps, there was a bit of relief to be had in the so-called monkey bars.
The monkey bars were parallel bars that were conquered by using a hand-over-hand technique to get down to the bottom. The last bar was, perhaps, maybe 15 feet above the ground, leading to the next platform, which was a 'new' obstacle for this year. The last time it had been seen had been well before Siiri's age group had been born. It consisted of three enormous wheels, each of them as broad and long as a Myrian was tall, each of them rotating slowly from a complicated-looking pulley system of ropes and rainwater. Each wheel had large wooden planks sticking out of it, making it look like a paddle wheel sometimes used for churning. Each of them was spaced out, necessitating a jump to get from wheel to wheel. There was no net below - so a fall meant landing hard in the squishy mud, and being given the opportunity of taking a time penalty after a failure, or climbing up a spiked pole to get back to the platform to try again. If they chose to take the time penalty, they had the spiked pole waiting at the other end for them to climb up as well, to a bamboo platform. From there, they had to swing using one of the thick, heavy vines to the far platform, down a leaf-covered slide and into the mud. They had to stand up, and cross the finish line a few feet away for their run to be considered done.
It definitely wasn't easy. But that was what made the rainfall tattoo just that more important.
