A Zith in Kalinor.

[Poison]

Continued from here.

Both Symenestra looked very interested as Shausha mentioned getting her stuff. They waited until she had retrieved her pack from the rocky crevice, and then they stepped a bit closer to her. It didn’t look particularly large or otherwise impressive, but they couldn’t help but wonder what was in it. Did it contain the usual things one needed when travelling – food, water, clothes and such – or something more sinister, like human bones for example?

While Demyan decided that it was Shausha’s business, Alanys decided that she would search the Zith’s pack when they were at the Sickle and Arrow – if the opportunity arose. For now though she gave Shausha a sign to follow her and began to lead her through the city of Kalinor, under the watchful eyes of countless Symenestra who had noticed the unusual visitor. Demyan walked behind them.

It was a rather long trip as the Sickle and Arrow, the headquarter of the hunters, was situated on the outskirts of Kalinor, in a part of the city that had otherwise been mostly abandoned. From here the hunters didn’t have to travel as far to their hunting grounds.

Most of the tear shaped, hanging houses of Kalinor were architectural masterpieces, but this one managed to look plain and boring. It was a dull grey, functional, without any of the silk that the Symenestra often used to decorate their walls. The door was located in the roof of the house.

Alanys knocked on it a couple of times, and then she pressed down the door handle. Realizing that the door was not locked, she shrugged her shoulders and simply opened it. Behind the door Shausha could see an extremely narrow and steep staircase that led to the main area of the house.

„It seems as if Valydor and his hunters are busy at the moment“, Alanys remarked to Shausha. „He’s the head of the hunters, you know? We will simply take a look around and try to find him. I don’t want to have to be stuck with you all day long.“ And she walked down the stairs – effortlessly. Shausha though might have a problem with her wings in such a narrow space.

The walls of the main room were grey as well and decorated with countless trophies. Rugs of fur covered the floor. There were chairs and tables as well. On the other side of the room was a small door that, once opened, revealed a narrow bridge that led to another, smaller building.

Alanys gestured for Shausha to follow her again and knocked on the door of the second building. The door was opened, and the Zith found herself face to face with a middle aged Symenestra man with shoulder length white hair. He looked at Alanys, then at the Zith and Demyan behind her, and then back at Alanys.

„Why did you bring me a Zith?“ he wanted to know. „Where did you find her?“ Alanys was a little disappointed that Valydor wasn’t surprised or scared, but then again, he was the head of the hunters. He’d probably seen worse things than a Zith. „I’ll let her explain it. She wants to help us.“ At that Valydor arched an eyebrow and turned to Shausha.

„I suppose somebody with wings could be of us. What exactly do you want to help us with?“

[Shausha]

17 Spring 513
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Shausha felt like the queen of a parade as she walked through this new city. She put on her most malevolent grin and proceeded walk haughtily, basking in the attention. Every time someone averted their eyes felt like a tally mark in her favor.

She could have lost herself in the exotic sight of hanging houses and ropes that were strung artfully from structure to structure, dipping and hanging in long, elaborate lines. However, she could not ignore the risks that entering foreign territory posed, nor would her instincts let her forget it. The fur on the back of her neck prickled, her ears darted right and left, her nose twitched and her eyes skimmed the city trying to squeeze out as much information (and reaction) as possible.

She gathered that these people were weak; Most wore a hardened outer layer even in a daily situation. She also noted that most were not put-off by her fangs, having a set of their own. Finally, she concluded that they thought she was a moron. The words “animal”, “beast”, and “monster” were repeated in low whispers. All of these words would have been a sort of compliment to Shausha, but the way they seemed to perceive her presence left her with the feeling that they believed that she was not capable of sentient thought.

When the female guard stopped at a plain looking building, Shausha assumed it was time to meet whoever these hunters were. Shausha took a jump and a quick bat of her wings which lifted her up to where the female was attempting to enter. When the female guard made a snotty remark, Shausha had to remind herself that launching herself at this woman and dropping her into the abyss below would probably not help her case. So, she gritted her teeth and pretended that her harness needed adjusting.

Shausha reluctantly slipped into the entrance hole after the woman and became instantly uncomfortable in the narrow passage. She tucked her wings in tightly and tried very hard not to bulldoze the man behind her in a desperate escape. She could not, however, control the dilating of her pupils or the power at which her heartbeat had intensified to. Just a bit longer, just a bit longer, she told the animal inside her. When she had been lead to a different structure through the previous by means of a roomy bridge, Shausha felt much relieved and spent a moment trying regain her composure.

When the female raised her fist to knock on the door in front of them, she felt the atmosphere around the two guards tighten slightly. They were going to meet someone of importance. Shausha drew herself up proudly and her narrowed her eyes.

The door swung open. Shausha suddenly felt more self-assured. In front of her stood a warrior. She could talk to a warrior. He looked stronger than every spindly person that she had seen while walking through this place, and she noted that he had a weapon on his person and at least one concealed. On his face he wore not an ignorant expression of bewilderment, but one of searching regard. Before the female could say anything else, Shausha stepped forward and batted her wing in the guard’s face.

“Fang-brother,” She began, anticipating that the familial parallel would not be wasted this time. "I am Shausha. I could help you catch your food or humans. I am fast and silent. My sense of sight, smell, and hearing are better than anyone else's. My prey never knows I’m there, and if they ever do... well,” Shausha gestured to herself, “it is obvious that I am not easy to catch.” She tossed her head back and laughed. She decided to throw in a word of Symnos. Why the hell not? “Predator,” she interjected in their language. “Natural predator.”

She leaned her weight on her left hip, effectively boxing out the female guard. Shausha was determined to convince this man of her worth. He was the real gate that she would have to pass through; If he did not approve, there would be no way she could stay in Kalinor.

.

[Poison]

As Shausha called him fang-brother, the hunter inclined his head. He appreciated that sign of respect. „You know how to talk to us“, he observed. „I expected nothing else from a Zith that has left her people and come to join us in our undeground city. It was a brave decision. I have heard of your kind. While we Symenestra can see very well in the dark, your unique traits would indeed be an advantage when we go hunting or harvesting humans on the surface. We can climb, but we cannot fly.“

He paused and looked at Demyan and Alanys who were still standing there. Alanys still looked suspicious, while Demyan was merely curious about what would happen to the unexpected visitor now. „Alanys, Demyan, thank you for bringing this to my attention. You did the right thing. I think you can go now though. I can handle the Zith until the other hunters come back. Besides, I don’t think she poses a threat to us.“

Alanys looked very unhappy as she heard this. She had thought she could search the Zith’s things while she was busy talking to Valydor, but if he sent her back … if he sent her back, she decided, she would just search the Zith’s things another time. It seemed as if he wanted her to stay which meant that she would be given a room somewhere. As a hunter, she would likely not always be there nor would she always take all her possesions with her.

„Very well“, she replied and made a face. „Come, Demyan. We have to resume our duties at the Woven Gate and see if more Zith arrive.“ Demyan nodded and followed her. Before he walked out of the door though, he adressed Shausha once more, „Don’t mind Alanys too much, Zith. She doesn’t know any better. Like Valydor I think you could be an asset, despite your race.“

Once the two guards were out of sight, Valydor turned to Shausha once more. „Natural predators“, he confirmed in Symenos. „We are not that different from each other, although we hunt for different reasons. Tell me though, do you have any combat experience? Have you ever been in any situation where you weren’t fast enough or underestimated your prey? Sometimes, when we hunt humans, it comes to that.“

„I am Valydor of the Scarlet Web by the way“, he introduced himself. „And I own the Sickle and Arrow as this place is called. What is your name, Zith?“

[Shausha]

"Hmph"
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This senior hunter was everything she had hoped. She smiled smugly as he praised her ability to fly. As Shausha waited expectantly, she contented herself with preening while the pale people talked. She ran her fingers down the ribs of her wings, smoothing light layer of fur. Her palm paused over the edge of her wing when she heard, "I don’t think she poses a threat...". Hmph.

Shausha's lip twitched when she heard "despite your race", but was distracted at the opportunity to speak about herself. "I have had some experience in hunting humans. Knocking them out and carrying them wasn't my job though. I was a spotter for humans who had strayed from their flocks. Oooh, I was also a look-out, too," she listed deliberately, recounting her excursions. "I'm trained mostly in, well, I don't know the word for it." She held her wide. "It's like this long ribbon and has a pointy end and you throw it," she thrust a clawed hand in a jabbing gesture, "and then you STAB THEM and then pull it back. You know what? I need a new one. Do you have any else in there besides sickles and arrows?" She pointed at the building behind Valydor.

"So, yeah! I'm good at stealth, but I would like to know more about fighting and hunting. Watch duty is for..." The image of Alanys' sneering face popped into her mind, "...jerks."

Shausha shook her head, blinking slightly. She flapped her namesake in a few small motions before avowing, "I am Shausha." What would happen next, she waited intently for her elder to decide.
.

[Poison]

„We don’t absolutely need any help with knocking out humans and taking them back to Kalinor“, Valydor assured her as she informed him that that hadn’t been her job and laigh. The hunter really didn’t look as if he would have a lot of trouble tying a (normal sized) woman up and taking her underground. „It’s the things that happen before that that we could use some help with. A lookout would be better than another pair of strong arms. We can climb trees, and we can climb rocks, but you are able to go much higher much faster. You could spy on the humans for us so that we can decide how to best go about capturing them.“

The hunter smiled a little as he said that. He needed to remember to thank Viratas after this. If what the Zith had said was true, capturing surrogates would get a lot easier in the future.

He was somewhat confused when she mentioned her weapon though. „I’ve never seen a ribbon with a pointy end“, he admitted. „We prefer the Symenestra lash, a whip with a sharp, metalic end. It’s similar, but not exactly the same. Let’s take a look at the armory though. Maybe we’ll find something that matches your description there. Or maybe one of us can make such a weapon for you. It doesn’t sound as if it’s particularly complicated.“

As she asked if they had anything besides sickles and arrows, the hunter couldn’t help but laugh. „The ‚Sickle and Arrow‘ is just the name of this place. As we are not farmers, we don’t have any sickles. We have a lot of arrows though. And if you are so interested in learning more about figthing, you can join us once you have spied on the humans for us.“

„But now come …“ He finally stepped away from the door and gestured for her to come inside. The small building contained a collection of various weapons, spears, whips and bows and a number of different pieces of armor, mostly made of leather. The Symenestra relied on their speed when they were hunting, and metal armor like the humans used it would hinder them too much. They usually wore their exoskeleton armor and the occasional piece of leather armor. „Feel free to look around and pick a weapon, and then we’ll see about helping you gain some experience with it.“

OOCFeel free to find the weapon Shausha has mentioned or the parts for it – or another weapon, as long as it isn’t anything too fancy!

[Shausha]

A crude weapon
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Shausha helped herself into the building that was gestured to. Inside, figurines that depicted various animals, weapons, and warriors lined shelves and tables. How strange. She sniffed, intently inputting the new fragrances of leather and steel.

"Hmmm," she mused, flitting around the room, inspecting the chairs, walls and chests. Pulling aside a curtain, she found what looked like a weapons room. Without hesitation, she began to dig through piles of wound cord, racks of spears, barrels of arrows. Every now and then, she'd inspect the tip of an arrow or a lash very closely, only to toss it aside or replace it with dissatisfaction.

Finally, Shausha inspected a quiver carefully. The strap meant to fit around the shoulder was one very thin, very long leather cord wound around two hooks that were fastened to the top and bottom of the quiver. Shausha pulled the cord, snapping its fastenings and unraveling the thin rope. She was very pleased to see how long it turned out to be. Setting this aside, she searched for a proper dart attachment.

Most arrowheads were too light, and those with enough heft had no hole in the base as to allow it to be strung along the cord. Pausing to think for a moment, she inspected a rather thin, short dagger. It had holes along its length. She considered it, turning it over and over, testing its integrity. Nodding to herself, she bent the dagger against the floor. After a moment a sharp crack!, she successfully removed the hilt. Pleased that the hilt was hollow and the blade was only slightly longer than what was originally shown, she began to compile the weapon.

She strained to remember what her previous weapon looked like. Trying to match the design, she pulled the cord long and lay it out on the floor. She strung the dagger's tip along the rope and fastened it where she estimated the middle would be. Then, she folded the cord in half and secured the loose ends. Now it was a matter of putting knots in its length. Her previous one had more than five, but she had found that troublesome in the past, so she set about spacing three knots across, sectioning it evenly.

Frustration began to well up in Shausha as she found her knots were moving, prone to loosening. Where are slaves when you needed them? She un-tied, re-knotted, straightened and wound the rope. After what seemed like ages, the cord met her specifications and, with a glare, she dared the triple-knots to unfasten.

Standing, Shausha spun the cord several times to test its weight. The room has a high enough ceiling, but the walls were rather narrow. She was careful not to anger Valydor by upsetting his possessions. The blade whirred by her ear as she spun it, now testing the knots. They were still spaced unevenly. Snarling, Shausha dropped to the ground again, using her claws to pry open the tight knots. Trying her best not to lose her temper, Shausha sent every Zithanese curse she knew at the crude weapon, unknotting and tying the blasted thing once again.

Her dreadlocks were coming loose and hanging around her face. With an irritated hand, she tucked them back into place, now measuring the distance between knots with her palm. That should do it. She stood once more and twirled the instrument at her side. Again, the blade sang happily against the whirring air. Shausha let go of one knot, feeling the length, then another.

"Finally!" she rejoiced, flapping her wings with glee, "Yes, this will do." Immensely pleased with herself, she put her fangs and wings on full display. When she looked up to meet Valydor's gaze, she realized he was looking around the destruction she had caused in her foray for a new weapon. Shausha rolled her eyes. Where are slaves when you needed them? She stooped to right a bag of arrows she had knocked over and proceeded to shabbily rearrange the various items she had searched through.

"Okay..." she appealed, "Can we kill things now? What do you even hunt?" She spun the weapon in habit at her side.
.

[Poison]

When Valydor had talked about somebody making a weapon that matched her description, he’d meant just that. He hadn’t expected that she would just take some of his weapons apart and build her rope dart. He didn’t stop her though, but crossed his arms over his chest and watched her.

The weapon she built was by no means perfect, but she was determined and didn’t give up easily. Somebody like that would definitely be useful – if he managed to curb her destructive tendencies. In time she might even improve enough to make weapons for the rest of the hunters.

„Interesting“, he remarked. He only frowned a little as he looked at the chaos she had created. „This will have to be cleaned up later on though. Try to hold back a little the next time you build something. We hunt a lot of different animals, game, but also birds and rabbits – and humans of course. We’ll go and kill something as soon as the others …“

A sound could be heard from the front of the building, and he broke off. „I think they are back. Let me talk to them and introduce you, and then we’ll go hunting.“ He opened the door. There was only a single Symenestra there though, a young woman with white hair and incredibly pale skin. Valydor furrowed his brow as he looked at her. „Saara, where are the others?“ he wanted to know.

„We’ve run into a bit of trouble. We were just on the way to the Sickle and Arrow when we were informed that a surrogate managed to escape. She was barren, and her owner wanted to take her down below to kill her, but she got away before that.“

„Dorav and that halfblood Dra-Ina are looking for her.“ She paused abruptly as she noticed Shausha and opened her mouth to say something, but Valydor already explained, „This is Shausha. She will hunt with us from now on.“ He turned to the Zith. „Shausha, how would you like hunting a human instead of a deer or some rabbits?“

[Shausha]

wat __________________________________________________________________________________ When the knock on the door came, Shausha's attention swerved suddenly. She sniffed intently at the woman named "Saara" and listened closely to her explanation as she studied the symenestra's appearance. The huntress was petite and beautiful. Her pale skin was unblemished and smooth. Wrinkling her nose skeptically, Shausha hardly believed this was the image of a hunter. "'...How would you like hunting a human instead of a deer or some rabbits?'" Shausha's heart shot up in tempo and she wound her newly made weapon around her neck. Hunting, hunting, hunting! she sang in her head. "Yeah! Lets go!" She breezed past Saara, snapping her teeth at the woman just to see what she'd do. When she got to the bridge, Shausha realized that she had forgotten her pack. Turning to retrieve it, she darted back in and spun around the room for a second, forgetting where it was. After locating it, Shausha scooped it up and looped her arms through the straps so that the pack rested on her chest. By the time she turned around, the two were gone. Scampering to the door, she saw they were waiting for her at the opposite side of the bridge. Shausha jumped out of the building, and in the same motion, over the side of the bridge and into the black air. Diving for speed, she circled under the bridge, then pulled upwards to hover next to her fellow hunters. "How's this going to work? I am faster, but I do not know what this human smells like." All of a sudden, Shausha shot up a hand to silence the response. She cocked her head slightly and put effort into quieting her wings. Silent flight was certainly more useful, but required much more concentration and energy. Shausha cocked her head once more, trying to hone in on the sound. A moment ago she thought she had heard a distant cry. Focusing now, she was sure of it. A woman's voice bounced off the ceiling and up from the depths of cave floor. .

[Poison]

As Shausha snapped her teeth at her, Saara drew back a little, but then she abruptly made a step towards the Zith, bared her fangs and hissed. It seemed to her that that was the language Shausha understood best. Next to Saara Valydor smirked a little, both because of Saara’s reaction and Shausha’s eagerness to go hunting, but he was completely serious again a few moments later. They had to catch a human. There would be enough time for fun later on.

Valydor and Saara left the Sicke and Arrow, expecting Shausha to follow them – in the usual manner (which meant walking). When she jumped out of the building and flew instead, both Symenestra stared at her for a bit. Saara was just surprised, Valydor however was impressed and already wondering how he could put the Zith’s amazing flight skills to use.

„If you always fly like that, we’ll hunt twice as many animals – and humans – as we do now“, he remarked. „As for the smell …“ He broke off, wondering how they could solve that particular problem, but Saara already had a solution. „Would a piece of clothing that she has worn help you? I could quickly retrieve something from the Nest. That’s where the surrogates are kept.“

„I don’t think the brief delay will matter“, she continued. „Humans are nearly blind in the dark, and they can’t climb very well either.“ Valydor nodded as he heard that, and then he turned to Shausha again, „Would that work for you, Shausha? If you had a piece of her clothing, could you track the human down for us?“