Placeholder Denusk Family Reunion Part III: To Sing for Joy

[Vanator]

A hint of pride tinged Vanator's soul as he breached the shrubs. The woman stood with weapon in one hand, burning log in the other. As diligent as always, and not just when conducting some investigation or study. The familiar falx in Delani's hand was an implement she was ready to use. There was a moment of silence as the log thunked back into the fire, releasing a cloud of sparks, the bladed sheathed again in its scabbard. Denusk gazes met, Delani studying Van's features as he did the same to her. Life had added a few creases to his cousin's feminine features, more strands of gray streaked her tawny mane. And a weariness set her jade eyes.

Vanator had no time to ponder the first words he had heard from Delani in over two years, for she rushed towards him, and he opened his arms to embrace her. His thick arms encircled her as firmly Delani's squeezed him, and Van's hand reached to cradle the back of his cousin's head. The Denusk man reveled in the moment, misty eyed, feeling as if his very heart was reaching through his chest to seize upon that which was lost, and now found.

Finally separating, Vanator strove to rest his hands on his hips instead of picking Delani up and swinging her around, rejoicing. One more Denusk found. "I had lost hope of finding anyone Dela." His features softened a bit. "I can't tell you how much I hoped when that girl said she had found a Denusk. But I was afraid to believe it. The family is not all gone Dela, Kavala and I..." He could not bring himself to say that they were all that were left. "We live at the place she built near Riverfall, The Sanctuary. And there are new ones."

So much to say. Vanator wanted to insist she come with him, join them at Sanctuary, help him rebuild the pavilion. But there would be time. Now was the time to fellowship with a lost loved one, to simply enjoy being together again. Van's gaze drifted from his cousin, bare-legged and clad in her undergarment, to the breeches drying nearby.

"Did you fetch me something to eat, or did you just fall in?" Van jibed with a wry grin.

[Delani Denusk]

Dela grinned back at him, elation giving the feeling of weightlessness to the woman once she stepped back and he began to speak. No others but he and Kavala? But, new ones too! Had he married? Goodness, so much time, so many questions! "The Sanctuary. What a curious name. It sounds like a place of peace." She remarked, only to follow his eyes to her drying slacks. "Oh, uh, heh, a little of both, I suppose. I was going to check the lines soon when you arrived. If there is anything, you can help me clean it. I'm afraid all I've got is the falx and a few eating utensils." A glimpse into the limited supplies she'd long been managing with.

Turning back to the fire, the woman kicked the log back into place carefully then went to where the trot line had been secured. With a hiss, she slipped back into the cold water and waded out to the stick that had been used to secure it. Her hand sunk beneath the surface for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. "One or two, it feels like. Grab the other end, there-" She gestured to the rocks that were around the base of a second stick, this one in the mud of the river bank. "-and just bring the line to the surface; we'll pull it all out once I get this side to the shore. One hook feels heavy; might be a turtle, catfish if we're lucky!"

Only once he'd done that did she pull her end up and bring the line to the surface. Two of the ties sagged heavily with whatever was on the hooks; as Delani got closer to the shore, however, the first of the caught creatures surfaced. It was a turtle, for sure, a big fellow too. Probably a female that saw the crawfish and couldn't resist. Soft shelled, it stuck just its head out of the surface (though the nearly four-foot diameter shell beneath suggested just how big of a meal they were about to have; too bad the shell was too delicate to be kept), this a good seven inches long and four across with a long and flexible nose.

"Big indeed! It'll snap the rest of the line if we frighten it, Vanny; help me force her onto shore from behind! Grab some of the rope from the tents we can use it as a lure from behind to force her landwards." She suggested. The turtle must've got caught by one of the other hooks too. At least it would be a good meal!

[Vanator]

As if little time had passed in separation, the cousins set to working together for their meal. Vanator stood on the bank as Delani waded back into the water. Listening to her instructions, he lifted the stick with the line attached until she could discover the catch. After dragging the line towards the bank, the head of the turtle surfaced, the size itself gave reference to its full girth, a sizable creature for its kind, and a boon for the hungry Denusks. While the woman strove to keep the turtle from escaping, Vanator hastened to her supplies, tugging out some stray ropes before hurrying back to the riverside.

Slipping into the edge of the water, Van worked a doubled length of the rope around the shell of the turtle, tucking it beneath the edge of the shell and above the limbs and tail of the creature. Taking a hold of one side rope in each hand, Vanator began to tug backwards, pulling steadily but slowly, trying to coax their prey towards the bank without giving her reason to resist. She was big, and would be hard to handle should she panic and begin to flail, and most likely escape the line.

As the Drykas kin worked to persuade the reptile to the river's edge, Vanator's gaze darted frequently to Delani. Just the sight of her gave his heart a lift. It also generated a barrage of questions. How had she survived the storm? His cousin's reaction assured Van that she had not found any other Denusk survivors either. Once the dinner was cooking, there would be time for inquiries. The turtle suddenly twitched, her fat arms flailing for a moment, pulling the man from his musings. Vanator eased his pressure a bit until the animal settled, then resumed the lazy draw on the ropes.

Once at the bank, Van began to scramble backwards until the front of the turtle touched land and her feet pedaled for traction. "Gods she is big!" He exclaimed as he strained against the ropes. "You made one Hai of a catch, sister!"

[Delani Denusk]

Coordinating her movements with her relatives, they coaxed the reptile closer and closer to shore until at last the turtle was on land. She had been remarkably cooperative; maybe the hook was lodged and she didn't want to panic and get it further stuck? Either way, it was a good haul. Relinquishing the rope, Dela hurried back to her bags and grabbed up the falx again, unsheathing it as she approached the dinner-to-be. Coram was watching from nearby with ears pricked forwards, his nostrils flared curiously.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm a horrible fisherman. Do you see any fish on the line?" She grinned at him then gestured again with a nod of her head. "Your turn to get wet, Vanny; get behind her so she doesn't back-pedal when I approach. I don't want to have to whack her twice." While Dela waited for him to oblige, she reflected on one of the many times she had gone fishing. "Remember that year the clans were setup a few miles out from Lari Lake? I got stuck on net duty for the pavillion that day; ugh, I always hated hauling nets. Definitely not a vested interest, hehe. Well, I happened to meet a Charoda; do you remember that?" She'd actually escorted J'heon back to the roaming city, one of the rare times the pavillion had linked up with them. It was such an unusual sight, to say the least, for a Charoda to be so far from the sea and travelling to Riverfall no less! "Stupid boy had gotten himself caught in the nets. No sooner do I get him free then we almost get caught by a glassbeak pack! Semele blessed ol' Dela with some quick feet that day."

Mentioning her old strider brought a moment of gloom across the weathered face. The woman moved up beside the turtle then, once Van had gotten in position behind her, and raised the falx in both hands over her head. The beady eyes of the turtle observed her for a moment, started to withdraw her head, but was quickly separated of it when the sword came swiftly down. She twitched for several minutes after this, then lay still, the water bloodied where it rested.

Delani turned to Coram then and gave a sharp whistle between her teeth for the colorsplash to approach while she held her hand out for the rope from Van. "Easier for him to pull it out than us to try and carry it." She signed, looping the rope afterwards around Coram's thick neck and then doing a pair of cuff-loops around both front legs to keep from damaging the shell.

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[Vanator]

Vanny. It seemed like a lifetime since he had heard that nickname. Its what Delani had called him since they were kids. It warmed his soul and broadened his grin. "But you are one Hai of a turtler, Dela!" He quipped. Vanator slipped around the giant turtle, stepping into the cool river and positioning himself behind the animal. Digging his boots into the river bed, he gripped the shell's edge in either hand, bracing himself to keep the prey from shifting much.

As Delani recalled the tale of the Charoda, he laughed out loud. The girl's rescue of the strange fish boy was the talk of the town for sometime after that, earning Delani a period of notoriety. "You always were digging up the weirdest stuff." Van remarked, hoping to dispel the subtle wash of melancholy over what he imagined was the lost Strider. To the Drykas, to lose a Strider was to lose a family member. Van had lost three in his life.

Both Denusks fell silent as the blade of the falx was lifted in Delani's hand, the turtle's instinct to pull into her shell too late to save its head. Vanator kept a tight grip as Its legs and tail whipped and shuddered eerily, making sure the turtle did not slip back into the water in its death throes.

Coram did a fine job pulling the behemoth off of the bank, a steady pull that brought the prey to level ground. Vanator crawled out of the river, his pants soaked, his boots sloshing and full of water. He kicked off the foot gear and called to Sirroco. As Delani finished removing the makeshift rope harness from her horse, Van began to unload the whither bags and bundle behind the yvas, then the yvas itself.

Taking his yvas, Vanator laid it next to the turtle, then lugged the back end of the beast up against the tack, head down, so the blood could drain. Hanging it from a tree would have been more efficient, but it would have taken another engineering feat and one of the horses to suspend if from the gnarley riverside tree, and even then, its branches may not have held it.


Returning to his gear, Van dug into a pack for some dry pants. "Let me change and I will dress dinner." he offered. Pulling out a pair of brown cotton pants, he tossed them towards his cousin. "These will be too big for you, but at least I won't have to look at your scrawny legs." He teased. Delani's legs were actually well toned, if not a little lean from the meager existence she must have endured since the storm.

Having worn his only other pair of cotton pants into the river, Van tugged the leather pants from his bags. Turning his back to his kin, Vanator stripped out of the wet breeches, pulled down his undergarment, and peeled off his shirt. The Denusks were never a particularly modest lot, even around each other. Using the shirt as a towel, he dried his lower body thoroughly. Once satisfied, Van pulled on the black leather trousers and strapped on his belt and dagger again. Then he laid his pants, undergarment and shirt on the bushes next to Dela's pants.

Taking his dagger from its sheath, Van set to dressing the turtle. He had never actually performed the task before, but had seen it done many times. He cut through the skin between the upper and lower shell, prying the rib bones from the top shell, then laid it aside. Then he began to scoop out the entrails and organs, tossing them into the river. Finally, Van began to carve the meat from the inside of the lower shell. As he worked, Van began his inquiries.

"Dela, how did you survive the storm, when everyone else was lost?"

[Delani Denusk]

Delani rolled her eyes at his quip of her legs and countered, "I've still got stretch marks from better years, you ole hound. I never ate more than the rest of you, but gods if I didn't look like a glutton." The snorting scoff was lessened with a smile and Dela donned the slacks he gave her while he too dressed. Before he had turned, he had spotted the Lakun and the scars over his chest and gut; he must have been busy too since last she had seen him.

Delani remembered Tamar's death, how hard it had been for him at the time. He had loved her very much and her extinguished life had absolutely devastated him. He had lived through much, but so had they all. Turning away, she stroked Corams face and fetched the horse brush from her bags to rub smooth the place the ropes had been, the sturdy stallion mouthing at her braid in the process. This brought a smile to the womans face and she shrugged at the horse. "Go graze, you oaf. Make friends. Be a horse." A kiss to the end of his snout and the beast was sent off to interact with the Strider.

And then that fateful question came, freezing the woman in her place, her hands a-sag at her sides and her eyes on the horses for now as the memories flitted in and out of consciousness. But that was the past, and not something she would let destory her; the pain and struggle was gone, and here, her cousin was again. United. A family made whole.

"That is a very long story, cousin. One I could never give justice to the way father could have. You know how he loved his stories." She said quietly, eventually turning to the tree they had both passed under, the falx grabbed in passing. She'd begin the methodical chopping of limbs from the tree, straight and thick ones mostly, before going down to the river and kneeling. These would then be submerged while she talked, river mud used to keep them in place and not be taken by the cold flow. Returning to the fire, Delani sat to one side so she could face Van, and began to speak.

"One of the giant constrictors had been harassing the zibri herds that winter; it had already taken several calves and even a bull, though that carcass had been found picked over by coyotes. Ahanu and I were tasked with hunting it down and disposing of it. Do you remember him?" She paused, her head tilting slightly. "We were friends before you disappeared. Of the few courters I had, he was the only one I would have accepted. I think uncle understood that and perhaps was the only reason why he did not force the issue further."

She continued on the path of the story afterwards. "Anyways, we were tasked of killing the snake and bringing the carcass back. We had been tracking it for some three weeks when the storm appeared on the horizon. We had no idea what it really was until the Seme that carried the snake was struck. Lightning, hail, torrents of rain...winds so ferocious it tore tree and grass alike and funneled water from the rivers and lakes it crossed. Eyris showed me what they were...but I am getting ahead of myself."

"We managed to reach a small cave, barely beneath ground level; it looked more like some giant hogs burrow, looking back now. Nonetheless, it saved us from the worst of the winds and rains. Dela and Ahanu remained in the back of the cave but I-" Her eyes clouded with regret then before she was able to continue speaking. "For all of the care I took in life to learn in safety, I was sorely reckless. They died because of my curiosity; lightning-" She held the scar-covered right hand up for him to see, reaching with it afterwards and twisting her torso so the back of her left shoulder was visible when the material of the simple, faded shirt she wore was pushed back. A similar burn-like scar was there. "-struck me, and while I was left with only a scar and the memory of their charred corpses, they were electrocuted and burned. I only learned recently what the storm truly was and why it behaved so...strangely, why the strike took theirs but not mine, though I wonder if my Lady did not have something to do with that.

Here, Dela held up her left hand, the lormar upon the back ever-glowing and now plain to see. "I stayed in the cave for ten days after I woke to find them dead. I had only a vague sense of the Web, still, but that has long been something I was weak with. Still, I had always felt it around us; but then, I could not. It was like trying to see fish in muddy water, or a leopard on the stalk. There but too out of reach, too far to really feel.

On the tenth morning, Eyris came to me. She understood my pain, my loss, that my actions cost me deeply for it had been Seen. She Knew, Vanator...To call her the goddess of Knowledge is a grand understatement. Her eyes see all, her mind knows all. She is wisdom incumbent and it was she who saved me, in the end. Her intervention saw me safely from there to bare her sign. It is to her my deepest gratitude of the last year goes.

Delani rose again, returning to the river to fetch the sticks. The mud was rinsed from them before she came to the pile of meat and began skewering pieces onto the sticks to act as shishkabobs. The kabobs were then taken to the fire, a happily grumbling fire now, ideal for cooking, and stabbed each stick into the ground around it, angled to point over the fire itself and begin the slow process of cooking the sweet meat. "That is but a part of the tale, though. What of you, though, cousin? You have been missing since 511. Where have you been all that time?"

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[Vanator]

Cutting the turtle meat into chunks after stripping the shell, Vanator listened to Delani's story, looking up often at her as she busied herself, not allowing her eyes to meet his. His cousin had endured a horrible experience, had lost loved ones too. He glanced up when Delani presented her scarred hand, his heart sinking as he thought of his beloved kin languishing in that cave, having to see the charred bodies of the man and horse she loved. Vanator's head dropped low, dragged down more in sympathetic sorrow than to see the meat he was slicing.

Then the tone of Delani's voice changed pitch and quality. There was a string of hope in her words as she spoke of Eyris, bolstered by the display of the goddess' mark upon her flesh. As the Drykas woman shared the tale of her divine visit, her demeanor mimicked that same awe that Kavala showed when she spoke of Nysel and the otherworldly matters to which she was privy. Both Kavala's, and now Delani's, holy visits and ties to the gods pricked at Vanator, an unwanted jealousy of their supernatural attentions, while he himself had spent his days on mundane matters and self-indulgence without seeking the face of the deities. But Kavala has shown him, during the Reimancy induction ritual, the gods of the worlds, how to worship and sacrifice to them, and Van had begun a personal journey to find his place within the will of the gods.

Having stepped to the river to clean his dagger and toss the rest of the carcass into the water, Vanator returned to the fire, crouching next to Delani. His hand reached out to brush her chin with his thumb, then ran his hand gently over the crown of her head in an affectionate stroke. Warm, dark eyes met hers, gold flecks dancing in his gaze. "Sister. We share great loss. I am sorry for what you had to endure, without any of us to comfort you. You have done our name proud, simply by surviving." Leaning in, Vanator kissed Delani on the forehead. His heart rent, overwhelmed suddenly with the love for his near-sister, his joy in their reunion, and his pride in her strong spirit.

Retreating to sit, still close to his cousin, Vanator turned to stare into the fire. "As for me, I had assumed you all knew that I was taken by Zith. They did not kill me, of course, for they had a more sinister plan. I was enslaved, worked labor for a while, until a Zith Mistress, Ir’Kala, took authority over me. She had a scheme to breed slaves. I was..." he paused, finding it difficult to share the details with Delani, still stung with shame, the Drykas man used terms both horsefolk understood, "...I was the stud. Several of the female slaves became pregnant, but none went full term. The Zith did not know how to provide adequate nutrition and care for human mothers-to-be. Some of the mothers themselves did not make it. Eventually, Ir’Kala gave up. I was considered too strong to keep, but instead of killing me, I was traded to the slavers at the Rattling Chains for slaves more to the Ziths' liking. That is when Kavala found me when she went to treat some of the Kelvic slaves. She literally paid for me. Not long afterwards, the Zith attacked Santuary. Ir'Kala was with them...I killed her."

Van fell silent for a moment, eyes still gazing glassy at the flames. "Only after my freedom did I learn about the storm, and the loss of our Pavilion. Ten days later, Kavala went back to the Chains, and found my children. You might remember Pygmy, the Kelvic who stayed with me one Spring. They were the infants I fathered, the one's Kashik and Father denied as illegitimate and sent away with their mother. Now, they live with us at the Sanctuary. We are a family."

[Delani Denusk]

Delani was apologetic when he told of his captivity by the Zith. Had she been alerted of this, the woman could truthfully not recall, but the reminder of it now brought to light the seriousness of their position and the memory of the old haunts and rumors surrounding their family. Denusks were cursed. For every joy that came into their life, tragedy struck trifold. And the horror of Vanator's experience furrowed her brow deeply; used as a stud to sire fresh slaves in the women they kept. What a dreadful period that must have been and the dark blonde reached to clasp his hand in silent support of her kin.

When he mentioned the kelvic and the whelps she bared in his name, Dela nodded vaguely. It had been a curious situation the woman had observed from afar. It would have been inappropriate to speak up on the matter, though, and Delani had withheld her thoughts, not wishing to fan Eachann's anger in her direction. She was already riding a fine line by then with not having found a husband of suitable taste to her (and her aunt and uncle); to apply the notion of love, even if it may have been nothing more than an afar, here would have been inappropriate especially after the devastation that he suffered following Tamar's death.

"One does not need to live among you to be your family, Vanator; she and the twins became family when she provided them just as Kavala accepted them into Sanctuary. Would I not be family for choosing to remain with the Pavilion and occasionally the other Clans in the Sea?" She smiled, turning the skewers after standing so that the meat did not burn.

Moving to where her pants still hung to dry, she checked them and decided they were dry enough. Fetching them off the bush and giving them a shake, she went behind one of the bushes and stripped back out of his clothes to don her own, speaking casually as she did so. "I shall have to come to Sanctuary soon to see the family again, if it is true that the others have returned to the Web. But I must reconnect with Endrykas first, pass on the message of Ahanu's death to his family, if they live. Now that Aramenta has tied me back into it, I can sense it again. There was nothing so disspiriting as the feeling of disassociation, Vanator, from the one thing solid in your life. Even when I found Birdflight, there was still no sense of closeness to the Clans. They were still just a vague entity too far on the horizon to know-" Delani laughed a little here, trying to rise out of the melancholy that pulsed at this time in their conversation. "-but of course, you know my Webbing ability is dreadful. I know it is there, know we are connected, rooted to this land, but I have always faltered at anything beyond that. You would think as a Sapphire I might have some in me, but I've wondered if mother's blood did not run stronger in that sense." A casual shrug as she returned to the fire, sitting now and resting her hands in her lap.

The colorsplash must have finished grazing for he'd mozied his way back to the group. The stallion was very different from the last horse she had been accompanied by, his two-toned pelt and lack of dual-colored mane identified him equally as not a Strider, as did his overall size. Striders were sleek and fast, strong and surefooted horses, but not as powerfully built. The colorsplash had a thick neck with broad and powerful shoulders. His back was thickly muscled and his legs were built as much for stamina as they were for strength. He was the epitome of a driving horse, and a fine one at that, whomever she'd gotten him from must have fetched a pretty miza. He had the faint wear in his pelt around his neck of a headstall and the shadow of lines upon his face where a bridle would have been worn.

Delani turned when he approached, clucking her tongue at him and reaching for his lowered head, an affectionate guide of a finger beneath his lip to draw him close and kiss the bridge of his nose. No, he was no Strider, but the beast had his own level of intelligence behind those almond eyes and white lashes. He was also a lot younger than her old strider had been, that mare having been a ripe 23 when the storm arrived and ended her life. The thought of the horses as she loved on Coram made her peer towards Sirroco now.

"He is unfamiliar, Vanator; how came you by him? What happened to your last one?" Her cousin-brother seemed to go through striders like children went through clothes. She had to assume he must have obtained that horse sometime after the storm.

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[Vanator]

As Delani stirred, rising to don her dried breeches, Vanator's distant gaze focused again on the skewered turtle meat over the fire. He pondered his cousin's words regarding family. Indeed, the concept of family had changed for Vanator. No longer the strict Drykas tradition of pavilion, clan and bloodline, where even his Vanthan wife was not considered one of them until she bonded with a Strider, the experiences the Denusk man had endured had reshaped his idea of what it meant to be a family. He laughed lightly. "A Konti, two Kelvics and an adopted Drykas named Aweston are the Denusks now. And you and me. Not your typical Drykas family huh?"

Vanator listened to Delani as she dressed. He wished her to return to Sanctuary with him, it was his plan. But after hearing what had happened to her, Van understood her need to go to Endrykas, to have closure. Already, he was praying silently to Semele and Caiyha to keep his newfound cousin safe until she was ready to come to Riverfall. He laughed again as she bemoaned her lack of webbing skills, Vanator nodding in agreement. "My webbing never reached father's abilities, not even close. I suppose I spent too much time looking for wives, or chances to kill Zith." Many of the pavilion saw his obsession over seeking revenge against the Zith for Tamar's killing as a death wish. It had very nearly brought him death several times, and the terrible encounter with the Zith female Irriari, from which he walked away the monster.

"But Kavala and I are adept enough to maintain a web around Sanctuary, and connect it to the nearby Web. Dela, I have claimed the position of Ankal of the family, it is mine since father is gone." He added, with a mix of pride and melancholy. "You will come to Riverfall, eventually, right?" Van questioned again, unwilling to risk losing Delani so soon after finding her, wanting to keep all the Denusks with him, where he could rebuild the pavilion. "Kavala will have a literal Zibri when she sees you, I have half a mind not to tell her about you until you show up." His smile widened, losing its trace of somberness.

Watching Delani with the Colorsplash made him happy. The horse was not a Strider, but the Drykas were lovers of all horses, and it was certain his cousin loved Coram. Then Dela asked about Sirroco. Vanator looked over fondly to the Strider drinking at the stream. "We met last Fall in the Sea, he was being stalked by lions. We, with Larik's help, beat back the beasts. Two of their skins decorate my room. Nyx, well, I never saw him after the Zith attacked and took me. I hope he escaped and found a herd or pavilion to take him in." Indeed, Vanator had bonded with several Striders, each one having been killed. The same could be said of his wives, if any dared to voice it.

"Kavala has several Striders in her herd, as well as a new breed she is raising for the Akalaks, they are called Denusk." Van thought maybe Delani could bond with a Sanctuary Strider, but did not say so out loud, seeing how fond she was of the Colorsplash.

The smell of the turtle flesh cooking was becoming distracting, making the Denusk man's mouth water. "I owe the Birdflights my gratitude for taking you in, though I have a feeling they have benefited many times over by having you with them."

[Delani Denusk]

The subject of women and marriage sombered Delani further as she released Coram from her affections in order to return to the fire and waiting meat. The womanizing man before her so contrasted Delani's sentiments of union, he might not understand that chapter of her life. She withheld her thoughts on the matter for now.

The woman laughed openly at the image of their konti kin birthing a zibri when she arrived at Sanctuary, adding afterwards "Yes, Vanator, I will come to Sanctuary; let it be a surprise to Kavala, hm? It's been so long since I've seen her. I know we'd had out differences after father died, but she was by far my favorite youth once we reconciled. It will be a boon to see her again."

Hearing the story of Nyx's separation from his rider became clearer as he revealed how this one was rescued from lions whose pelts now adorned his chambers at home. "I have never had the chance to hunt lions; it is a dangerous sport and I've been more devoted to thinking than acting. I would surely be eaten before it could be brought to ground. Don't you remember what a close call that hunt for a grass bear was? Two in the party still had to be taken to healers on top of the four horses that were lost by the time the bear was taken down." She shook her head at the memory then glanced to the falx and the special hilt that it had. That was a fond memory more than a sad one.

When he told that more Striders were at the Sanctuary along with a variet of horses (and a new breed besides), the cousin simply smiled back. "She seems to have turned her luck around, Vanator. I look forward to the day that I come to unite with you and the rest." How far from the truth that simple saying would become. How could she know what waited within Endrykas the next season? That her consideration would be cast aside in favor of her greater love (and conflictions with the decimation of the clans)....

"Birdflight was only part of my salvation, Vanator. The little that I could give them as they suffered plague paled to the benefits they gave me in return. Truth be told, it was a traders caravan that rescued me initially. I would have died in the Sea of infection had their leader not found me passed out on the trail. Gods, I'd been going in circles who knows how long, living off roots and berries and water when I could see clearly enough to find them." Though she wore a smile, the sadness in speaking of the caravan was clear. There was fond memories surrounding the period she'd been with them that nothing in her life could compare to. It was the ensuing separation that had left the woman so emotionally scarred. Ahanu and her Striders death had simply been a stepping stone for the devastation to come.

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