Closed Fire in the Sky (Kovac)

[Iosha]

Grabbing another arrow from her quiver, Iosha watched Kovac in one fluid motion shoot the silver fish. It was a impressive shot, but the konti made a face, shot him a look, and said with a half gine, “Show off...” Placing the arrow on the bowstring, the konti watched the shallow pool carefully for a fish of suitable size to swim into her sight line. Eventually, she saw another fat silver fish swim towards school of red fish. Adjusting her stance to balance on the rocks, Iosha lined the tip of the arrow with the back of the large silver fish. Pulling back the bowstring to her cheek, she held it in the position, so she could lead the fish. When it finally stopped, the konti let go of the bowstring. She watched the arrow soar downwards towards the target. There was little splash when the arrow struck the water, but the water turn red as the fish floated to the surface. Iosha smiled at Kovac and said with a smirk, “When I am two hundred years old, I remember my cute Inarta archery teacher when I teach my granddaughters archery. Thank you for teaching me archery, Kovac. Should we head back to camp?” Looking up into the sky, Iosha noticed how quickly the day started to pass by as they were fishing. Kovac shot his fish about a bell ago, and she just now shot a fish of her own. It will be dusk in a couple hours, and she wanted to eat before nightfall.

After pulling up the fish and taking out the arrow, Iosha and Kovac made there way back to camp. The konti gave Kovac the fish to clean them while she did some last minute things around the camp. The first order of business was getting tent ready for the night. Iosha took it upon herself to set up both of their bed rolls. When she was finished, Iosha left the tent and started to gather firewood for the fire. She was excited to show Kovac her knew element, fire. She figured if she could start up the campfire with sheer will alone. Kovac told her a few times before that she went into a trance when she displayed her magic for him, but she hadn't experience a trance in about a year now, so she figure it would be safe to give him a magic show. She knew Lhavit was a place of magic-users, so she would have plenty of time to hone her arcane skills in the city. Walking into the forest, Iosha first gathered the twigs and small branches, so she could start her kindling. After bringing back the kindling, Iosha looked around for a large fallen branch. When she found one, she looked at it and saw it was about seven feet long. It could have been a small tree, but she knew that she would need Kovac help to drag it out of the woods to their camp. Iosha wasn't quite sure where the hunter was located, so she yelled out for him, “Kovac, come here I need your help with something!” As she waited for him to arrive, she started to pull on the branch to get it unstuck from the underbrush.

[Kovac]

Kovac had taken the two plump fish and found a fairly flat rock near the water, laying each fish flat out upon it. He plucked the knife from his belt laid it behind the gills of the first fish and sliced off the head. Then he slit open its belly and cleaned out the entrails and organs. Cleaning the blade off in the water, the Avora set it again to the fish, scraping the blade against the scales, the silvery flakes flicking off and arcing away from him. He could have filleted the fish, but his hunting knife was not best suited for that task, Besides, it would be easier to cook the whole fish over the fire than try to cook the fillets without a pan. Finishing the first fish, Kovac washed it off on the sea, then repeated the task for the other catch.

The mongrel cast glances at the Konti, seeing her disappear into the tent for a while before appearing again and disappearing into the nearby forest. This concerned the hunter somewhat. They were in the wilderness, and he did not like the idea of her wandering off alone. But Iosha appeared again in short order, arms laden with fire wood before heading back into the woods. Kovac finished washing off the last fish and walked back up to the camp when he heard Iosha call for him. She did not sound distressed, "Shouldn't we at least do that down on the beach?" He called back with a sassy smile. There was no response, the Konti either not understanding his lewd suggestion, or choosing to ignore it. "Alright, I will be right there!" He yelled back. Heading in the direction of the voice, Kovac found Iosha just inside the line of trees, tugging on a long limb. He flashed her a grin and grabbed hold as well, the two of them dragging it down to the camp site.

"Fish, fire, tent, beach, hot girl, looks like we have all we need for a cozy night by the sea!"

x

[Iosha]

Iosha turned her head to Kovac and said with a giggle, “I think you are getting a head of yourself, Kovi. We need firewood for the fire than you will all the time in the world to spend night with a hot fish girl.” When Iosha pulled out the large branch into there camp, Iosha paused for a moment as she realized that they had nothing to cut the branch into smaller pieces. Iosha gave her friend a side ways glance and said with a sigh, “You don't happened to have a small wood cutter's axe do you?” Picking up the large branch, Iosha dragged it over a exposed rock and laid one end on top of it. Walking around to the center of the branch, Iosha lifted her boot and drove it down on the center of branch. The konti heard a quiet crack, but the branch didn't split in two. Iosha lifted her leg once again and drove it onto the center of the branch. The sound of the crack was much more clear, and she felt the branch start to give a little more. Running a hand through her hair, she looked at Kovac and said with a smile, “We won't be using flint and steal today to start the fire tonight. I learned a new element in reimancy last season, and I want to show you. Don't worry Kovi. I promise we won't have another fish mishap.”

The first time that the ornery hunter met her. She accidentally scared him away when she accidentally crushed a fish with her water reimancy. It was a complete accident since she was in a trace the whole time, but it was enough to send the half-Inartan running home. Lifting her leg into the air, Iosha drove down her foot onto the branch again, and it cracked even more, but it didn't completely split. Feeling a slight dull pain starting to well, the konti muttered to herself in frustration, “Why don't you break!” The shook her head and looked at the larger male companion and asked with sweet smile, “Kovac? Could your break the branch into firewood? The branch isn't cooperating with me, so could you please make it listen to my demands?” Walking away from the branch, Iosha could feel her ankle start to throb, so she bent down and started rub her ankle. The proud konti knew that she might have sounded kind of helpless there, but she was afraid if she kept up trying to break the branch. She would have broke her ankle in the process. Now sitting on the ground, Iosha had a hard time admitting that she was hurt sense she was a healer, but the pain was throbbing more intensely now. The konti looked up at him and said with a weary smile, “I am going to sit out for a little bit, OK?”

[Kovac]

Kovac watched in amusement as the Konti attempted to break about the large branch. Her small foot assailed the wood again and again, to no avail. But on her last attempt, the Avora hunter saw the grimace Iosha tried to hide, how she instantly favored one foot over the other. She suddenly abandoned the chore, moving away to sit and rub her ankle. His wry smile flattened.

"Io, are you alright, did you hurt your foot?" He asked before assessing the potential firewood again. He raised his booted foot and brought it down smartly where the healer had, and the branch gave way and snapped. "You must have weakened it for me." He quipped, smiling at her. Kovac opted to carry as much as he could of the wood around them, including a length of the large limb and get more later. Arms loaded, Kovac stopped to look down at Iosha, giving her a warm grin. "I don't think you should carry any wood on that ankle. I will get it. I don't have a free hand to help you up, but you can grab onto whatever you can to help yourself up. Just don't pull down my bryda!" He teased with a wink.

Once back at camp, Kovac had collected a fair amount of firewood and had laid out tinder, kindling and wood into a typical campfire configuration. The Avora did not retrieve his flint and steel. Iosha had promised she would start the fire, and as he glanced at the attractive ivory skinned woman, he waited to see just how she planned on doing it.

[Iosha]

Rubbing her ankle, Iosha glided her fingers around her ankle. The healer didn't feel any broken bones or torn ligaments, but the soft tissue was tender. When Kovac asked about her food, Iosha gave him a reassuring smile, “I should be fine. I think in my bout of rage. I tweaked my ankle.” The konti gave him a grin and said offhandedly, “Besides, it is my dumb fault that I hurt my ankle.” Iosha knew that she needed to bring down the swelling, so she said a prayer out loud to Rak'keli in common, “I know that I should have tried to break the branch with my foot, so I might deserve my sprained ankle, but can you please take pity on me and ease the swelling in my ankle.” Iosha wrapped her hand around her ankle and the gnosis mark on her arm started to glow in a soft blue light. It glowed for about a chime until it slowly started to fade. The konti could immediately could feel the pain turned from a sharp pain to a dull throbbing pain. Iosha knew that she would have deal with her ankle the rest of her trip, but at least, she had Kovi with her.

When Kovac was finished gathering up the firewood, he offered to help her up in his typical flirtatious manner. Iosha shook her head and said with a laugh, “If I wanted your bryda off, I doubt I would be the one pulling it down.” Iosha returned his wink and said impishly, “Besides, I think we already have enough wood.” Iosha reached out wrapped her arms around his waist, pulled herself up to her feet, and started to complain, “Ow!” Iosha put her foot down and yelped, “Ouchies!” She immediately grabbed onto his shoulders for support, put her forehead into his shoulders, and threaten him with a giggle, “If you tell Addy or Miquel about my moment of stupidity, ….I will never forgive you, Kovi. Ow!”

Iosha did her best to hop on one foot the rest of the way to camp. If they got to a rough part of the path, Iosha clung to him for dear life. When they got back to camp, Iosha sat cross legged in front of the fire as Kovac arranged the fire in the pit. Iosha smiled at him and said softly, “You know your a sweet man for helping me. Thank you, Kovi. Now do you want to see a magic trick?” Rubbing her hands together, Iosha started to concentrate her inner djed around the tinder. Iosha saw the djed created turned into orange substance called res. Iosha focused her will to set the orange res on fire. Suddenly the tinder started to burn and a few chimes later the campfire was lite. Iosha scooted back from the fire and gave him a wide grin of satisfaction. The first time that she used reimancy around him. She killed a fish, but she learned over the passed year control. The konti blew a piece of silver hair from her alabaster face and said with a smirk, “See, I have been working on my control over my magic all season, so now you won't have to worry that I will burn down the forest.”

[Kovac]

Iosha's teasing reply assured Kovac that the Konti was no severely hurt, but the short trek back to the camp had been tedious, the Avora hunter bringing along the wood while aiding his friend to walk. He insisted she rest while he set up a fire, but when Kovac was ready to set flint and steel to the tinder, Iosha stopped him.

"A trick?" He asked the Konti hesitantly. The last trick he had seen was the time they first met, they had skinny dipped in the pool in the cavern holding the Yasi archery range. She had tried to use water reimancy, and blew up a fish. Kovac nodded to her tentatively, but took several steps away. "OK."

Kovac watched as the Konti worked her magic, much smaller and controlled in scale, until the dry tinder and wood was alight with her fire. She looked up at him with a wry grin, assuring her friend that she had come a long way in managing her magic.

"Impressive indeed! You have a hot set of hands there!" Kovac continued the innuendo-laden jokes. "You are full of surprises, daughter of Mura." The mongrel sniped, flashing her a broad grin.

Kovac fetched the fish they had caught, finding a few thin, green branches and weaving them around each other to form a loose basket, them placed the fish inside. The whole contraption was set upon the fire. "These won't take long to cook with your lovely fire."

The sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains far to the west. Kovac retrieved a waterskin, then sat down next to Iosha, offering her a drink. They sat in silence for a while, looking out past the fire to the bay, the orange light of Syna's sun casting a warm glow on the water, the sky a softening sweep of red and gold that bleed to deeper purple to the east where Leth waited to take over the night.

The fish were indeed cooked in just a few chimes and Kovac removed them from the fire. Setting the basket between them, Kovac began to pick the warm flesh from the fish and popping it in his mouth, inhaling sharply to cool the morsel. "Agh," he warned around his open mouth, "Very hot!"

I seemed that the sun had suddenly dropped from the sky, and the clear night began to sport its twinking stars and pale-glowing half moon, pushing away the last warm glow of the sunset. Once the fish was devoured, Kovac threw the branch basket back on the fire and scooted closer to Iosha, until their hips touched. He laid a hand gently on her ankle.

"How does it feel, can you heal it?"

.