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[Khida]

However self-critical Vallora was, the recipient of her instruction gave no impression that she might the teaching inferior; she listened and took in the words with equanimity. As the other Strider continued to fidget, Khida glanced over at him, but paid little real attention to his distress; he wasn't her interest right now, and definitely wasn't her responsibility either. She stepped back from Talvael as Vallora described the Striders, canting her head and studying her work on the horse's flank. Partway through the recital, Khida turned to regard the Drykas woman directly. "Living things are sacred?" she echoed, seeming surprised by the statement. "What does that mean? To be sacred?" Keeping an expectant eye on Vallora, the Kelvic walked around to the Strider's other side. There she began brushing his other side in the same manner as the first -- starting up on his neck, working her way back in unhurried strokes, with enough pressure that... well, the horse didn't give any signs of complaint, and that was about all Khida could say. Even if she didn't like the way his tail occasionally flicked as she worked her way backwards, the hairs tickling across her skin. "Does he like your brother?" Khida asked curiously, wondering to what degree Striders and their bonded were considered a unit. Then she paused, the motion of her hands stopping, and looked at the horse -- his flank, anyway. The Kelvic moved forward to where she could look Talvael in the eye -- and he, her. "Do you like her brother?" she asked again, changing the target of the query to the one whose opinion was in question.

[Vallora Salvari]

As they talked, Vallora had reached her brother's sleek horse. It neighed indignantly, barely regarding. Over the years, Alltave had learned to tolerate her slightly, though he still would look at her all weird and acted nervous. He would only be at ease with Xaven.

Gently, Vallora ran her fingers through Alltave's hair, knowing that he never really liked the horse-brush. He also did not like strokes that were too hard or too soft. She could only smile to herself at the thought. Alltave had always given her much trouble with his demands and whatnots. If Alltave's had been her Strider, Vallora was sure she would've lost her patience dealing with the stallion.

When they had first been Marked, Vallora had always thought it was unfair that Xaven bonded with such a grand black steed. But then, it didn't take her long to realize that the elegant looks of Alltave had been hiding a bad-tempered soul. Talvael was the exact opposite - a calm, composed soul of a living. He did not need lavish treatments and he's considerably well-mannered.

Once again, Alltave glared at the stranger, looking at Khida like she was a threat. Vallora looked at the Strider firmly, warning him not to act out. She knew he would understand. He might be, after all, one of her relatives, a soul reborn as a Cyphrus dweller.

"Sacred . . ." Vallora let the word slur a bit as she looked at her horse and the stranger. Talvael did not seem to be bothered by Khida's brushing, so she decided to let them be. It is such a simple question she had asked, yet she found difficulty trying to explain it to Khida.

"Usually, Striders are reincarnations of other Drykas. When they have died, they're not fully released of this corporeal world," she started slowly, remembering the explanation her father had given to her when she had asked a similar question. "I can't explain it really. It means that your life is to be respected, to be treated as something precious. Sometimes people act like animals are nothing like us. But we know that's not true." She was not saying it right, yet Vallora could not find the exact words she needed.

Thankfully, Khida had added another question, one that she found easier to answer - it was regarding her Strider, after all, a being she had known so well. She didn't answer right away though, watching as the other woman directed the same question. "I suppose yes. Everyone does." She barely caught herself when the slight note of envy slipped through her lips.

Without noticing, she had brushed Altave's mane a bit too roughly. He snorted and shook his head wildly, making Vallora jump back in surprise. Experience had taught her not to stand to close to the stallion when he started acting up, Only when he calmed down that Vallora continued on carefully.

[Khida]

The Drykas woman seemed to be having some kind of trouble with the other horse. Or, not trouble, but... they didn't like one another, Khida concluded, mostly on the basis of the looks Vallora cast the black horse's way. The Strider himself seemed most fixated on her, if the direction he faced was any indication -- and while she wasn't good at reading horses even now, she didn't think it a friendly regard. Maybe she should be more wary of that horse than the woman. Said woman went on to address Khida's earlier question, while the Kelvic falcon considered the long mane of the horse in front of her. She glanced past him at the Drykas woman, noticing how she did brush the black Strider's mane, and set her own brush to the long strands of Talvael. Meanwhile, Vallora spoke of reincarnation and corporeal world and death -- only two of those being words Khida even began to comprehend. If she had been a horse, her ears would have tilted back with annoyed confusion. As it was, she paused in her brushing to look across Talvael's back towards Vallora. "Re... in..." She understood the other part of that sentence, even if it didn't make sense. "Striders are human?" Khida asked. "The other one said Striders were made by the gods." She said that as if it had no personal meaning for her, as it didn't -- except as a part of the great puzzle which were the Drykas people. She went on to think about that a little while, leaning her arms lightly against Talvael's spine. "So... it is not living things that are sacred," she concluded, based on how much Vallora had spoken of them rather than general 'animals'. "It is Striders, because Striders are human. But they are not human, they are horses. And they are not Kelvic," she went on, still fairly confident in that much of what the boy had said; it was supported by her own observations of the breed. "How does that work?" Talvael didn't seem to respond to Khida; she couldn't tell if that was because she didn't ask in Pavi, because she wasn't its rider, or because it didn't actually understand words at all. Oh well -- it didn't much matter, even if the communication had been worth trying. She resumed brushing his mane, only to stop again as she saw Vallora startle. Khida stopped and focused on the Drykas woman and the second Strider, watching to be sure that whatever was going on between them wouldn't impact her.

[Vallora Salvari]

Vallora considered the woman's questions carefully. It was a most interesting way to think really - and surprisingly critical. She did, in away, implied that it is only humans that are sacred. It made her think again before answering the foreigner in front of her. "Gods did create the Striders and they created them with the spirit of the people. It is why Striders could use the magic of the Web and bond with a Drykas."

The questions she asked were ones Vallora had never really considered before - they were simply things she had known her entirely life. Did the Drykas really honor Striders simply because they were reincarnations of the people of the horse?

"In a way, yes," the Drykas outcast muttered. She stopped what she was doing to look at the strange woman. Alltave snorted softly and walked slowly away, trying to find better grass. Vallora did not stop him. "We do believe that the Striders were human. But at the same time, that is not the sole reason for us to respect the living. We . . . " Vallora trailed off, struggling to find the right words. "I cannot speak for all the Drykas, but for me, they're ought to be respected simply because they're living. They breathe, they move, they see, they think and they feel. Why should they be all that different from us. We all feel pain, so we shall not hurt others."

She shifted her footing as her finger fidgeted with the bracelet surrounding her wrist. "You're right. Striders aren't human. At least not for the time being. Webbers, like myself, we are tied to the Web. We are so tied to the goddess Semele that we will be reborn here in Cyphrus - either as a Drykas or a Strider. Even as a Strider, a person will still have their personalities, just slightly." Vallora sighed. She wasn't even sure she was talking any sense. "I'm not quite sure how to explain it."

"Kelvic?" Vallora asked curiously. Funny the woman should mention it in particular. She had heard about the race in passing only, never in great detail. "I'm not too familiar of Kelvics. I'm not sure how well I could compare them to the Striders," she added, unsure.

Vallora pondered for a couple of seconds. She had yet to make any friends during her time in Endrykas, she could at least try. "You are quite intend on learning the ways of the Drykas. Are you planning to stay here long? And since you are trying to learn about horses, do you own one? You could bring him here if you'd like."

[Khida]

Gods created the Striders with human souls. As she considered this, Khida regarded the horse before her, head canted and lips faintly pursed. She stood quiet and still, no longer brushing Talvael, but caught up in her own pensive thoughts. ...Really, they just seemed like horses to her, like any other. Not that she had had much to do with horses before, but still... In the end, the Kelvic shrugged and set those thoughts aside. Respecting the living... that was an idea she could understand more readily, though the Kelvic had not given it much thought before. All things... they see, they think, they feel. She had known that -- humans thought, Kelvics thought; she practiced caution and ambush tactics because her prey might see her and think to flee; and it was no great stretch to conclude that if she felt fear, triumph, contentment, sorrow, then so did all else, at least such creatures as clearly acted and reacted. But that thinking and feeling made life special... She would have to consider that one more, later. The Drykas woman went on to speak of a web, some kind of magic, something which... linked... Drykas to Striders and to... other things? Rebirth and personalities and horses and Webbers... The Kelvic's frown deepened, from an expression of contemplation to one of bewildered noncomprehension. Turning away from the woman, she walked slowly around the Strider, studying the surrounding grasses in the gloom. When she came fully around Talvael, Khida walked a circuit around Vallora as well. She was a Webber thing, whatever that meant? Tied to... what? Khida was already confused, and she could see no such connections tying anybody to anything; about all the conclusion she arrived at, a few moments later, was that whatever Vallora described surely couldn't be that important right now. If at all. The woman fortunately provided an entirely different subject of conversation in short order, and the Kelvic seized upon it most promptly. "I will stay," she replied, stopping and turning to face the woman. She gave no end date, no qualifier, and from that it might be inferred that Khida meant for the rest of her lifespan. But she shook her head to Vallora's second question. "No, I do not have a horse. I do not need one. But..." Her voice trailed off, brow creasing as she faced the inadequacy of words to describe what she felt and knew at an integral level. Any further explanation was not quick to follow.

[Vallora Salvari]

For the first time, Vallora really realized that she might be confusing Khida. She was not used to talking to foreigners anymore and she forgot that the world of the Drykas was not well-known by outsiders. Her people had their secrets, and most foreigners would barely understand them. As much as she wanted to apologize for confusing the woman.

Most of the time, Vallora loathed her social skills - especially her incapability in sensing what other people were feeling or thinking. On her defense, she had not gotten many chances to practice them - at least that's what she told herself.

Vallora could see the relief on Khida's face when she answered the easier question. She reminded herself to steer clear of the more complicated topics where she would accidentally spout random vocabularies native only to the Drykas. "If you do not have a horse, why are you so eager to learn?" Vallora pressed her lips together at her words. "I did not mean to pry, I was just being curious." She was not usually this chatty - most people would've made her uncomfortable.

It took her a couple of seconds to realize that the dark-haired woman was not finishing her sentence. "But what?" Again, Vallora caught herself before she made her new acquaintance to feel discomfort.

[Khida]

Why did she want to learn? As the Drykas woman posed the question, Khida realized she had no ready answer. It was something she needed to do, she understood, but the why of that need was more elusive. "Horses are important here," she stated, in the manner of a fact learned, but also with the hesitance of someone groping her way through an indistinct concept. "There are more horses than people. Horses are your people." Whatever it was Vallora meant with webs and gods and births, that much came through. "And my..." What words? They didn't use words to describe what they were to one another, and she wasn't sure how to present the relationship verbally now. Friend, she signed, the gesture stilted and hesitant, an imitation of one frequently seen. One familiar and understood, in some fashion, but not a sign the Kelvic woman usually made herself. Shelter, and approval, and in the end friend again. "My... family?.. is here. Is Drykas." Must be Drykas, between the horses and the language, even if he seemed less than at home in the city. "So... I need to learn." Falling quiet, Khida looked down at the brush in her hand. After a moment's study, she extended its handle to Vallora, raising her gaze. "Thank you," she said simply. "You will want to finish and sleep soon, I think. I do also."

[Vallora Salvari]

Vallora watched silently as Khida used the Grassland sign to convey her words. And in a way, she understood more than she would if Khida had sid all those things out loud. There carried more meaning in the signs, a deeper connection.

Vallora nodded and gave Khida a small smile. "You can keep it, I have a spare back at my tent. You could study about horse care with your friend." Truthfully, she did not really understood the other woman, but at the same time, she had decided she liked her quite a bit. Khida was forward with her words - unlike some people she knew. "Alright, I do hope you actually learn something. I have not been a very good teacher. Well, it is getting late." Tonight, Xaven had told her to get out and socialize, which means she probably had to be ready soon. "It's good getting acquainted to you, Khida. I wish you luck with learning about the horses."

[Khida]

Khida shook her head slightly at the offer of the brush. "It does not shift. I cannot take it." Since the woman seemed disinclined to receive it back right away, she bent and set it down on the ground. Whether the woman just left it there or not wasn't her concern. You could study with your friend, the woman said, and Khida tipped her head. Perhaps so, perhaps not. She had not seen a brush in his hands yet, though that did not make it impossible for him to have one. Vallora went on to speak benedictions and farewells, and the Kelvic bobbed her head to acknowledge. She half-turned, lifting her gaze up to the sky -- oranges gone to wan yellows, quickly giving way to the deepening blues of night. If she wanted to reach his camp before it became entirely black, Khida would need to fly. Light enveloped the woman's form, a soft shimmer in the gloom; when it was gone, the falcon leapt into the air without further ceremony, winging up above the city's tents and away into the twilight. OOCPost a reaction if you like, and then we're done -- until next time!

[Jackalope]

Khida

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Interrogation	+4	The Importance of Striders
Observation	+2	Vallora: Drykas Woman
Animal Husbandry	+1	What is this Webbing?
		Brushing a Strider

Vallora

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Teaching	+3	Khida: Straightforward Woman
Observation	+2	Teaching about Striders
Horsemanship	+2

Witty Remark Here

Nice thread you two. Khida, as always, great inquisitiveness. It's been so consistent throughout the life of your character, and I absolutely love it. Val, good job dealing with the inquiries of curious lady. Am I the only one who would react if a naked woman walked up to me, though? Keep up the good work. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.