A blanket of White (Bolivar)

[Lavira]

Timestamp: Fall 41, 513

Winter had come hard and fast in Kalea and the valley evergreen forests had quickly become blanketed in the bitter cold snows of the season, leaving ice clinging to the lower branches and trunks as they climbed the dark and tall shafts. Winds pushed through the woods as well, taunting and tickling, sweeping flurries across the frozen blanket to pile against the underside of the trees and into every niche around. Nothing was safe from its intrusion not even Vira as she stood naked in its midst.

How had she got into this valley like this? Where was Mohya? Her mind called to the massive bird but the wind eagle did not answer and for it, Vira feared the worse; but her mind also recognized the severity of her current situation. She needed to find shelter from the wind and cold, to find warmth somewhere in this smothering whiteness. Her body was covered in goosebumps and she shivered violently, teeth chattering in the numbing bite of the wind. "Ppppetch, hope there's a ccccave around." She stuttered between the clacking of her teeth.

Above, the skies were dark and pregnant with more snow to come, foreboding in the already bitterness of her location. If she stayed out here she would freeze; there must be shelter somewhere! The young woman stepped from the stone she had been on and onto the crust of snow, nearly falling through as soon as her weight touched it. The brittle crunch made her wince, her feet blue and half frozen, Leth providing no light to guide her way.

The moaning wind pulsed through the trees once more, pushing roughly at her in the same way as it had done all of the hunters this season, as if they refused to accept their presence here in the wilds that they did not truly belong in. What pressed against her sent her sunset mane ahead of her, whipping and tangling, falling over her shoulders once it had abated to partly cover her arms which had wrapped around her chest. "Bbbbrrrr...."

She continued crunching through the snow, sometimes blinking against the wind when it rushed around a bend and into her face instead, coughing and sputtering as tiny crystals attacked her eyes, nearly blinding her. Vira had not realized she could see through her right eye yet, the strangeness of being in a dream that was not the usual nightmares she suffered hardly considered. Nonetheless, the young woman walked, and walked. And walked some more.

For bells it felt, through an endless night that soon turned into a gale as the laden clouds above at last unloaded upon her and the forest, covering her hair with snow and ice and further numbing her slender body. It was bone-achingly cold and Vira was positive she would have frostbite by the time she found shelter. Yet, no sooner did the thought flash across her mind did she see something ahead in the darkness. It was faint, half hidden by the howling winds and always seeming to disappear. She was sure it was a mirage, or perhaps the reflective lens of an animals eyes. If it was a wolf, she would be dead before she even had a chance.

But the woman prayed it was no wolf as she hastened forwards, crying out with a cold shaken voice. "HALLO! Hallo there! Please, I need shelter!" The more she walked, the more the snow crunched beneath her bare and blue shaded feet, each step sinking her a little lower into the deep layer. The mountains could sometimes be covered in dozens of feet of snow in winter, proving a lethal challenge to all but the most seasons hunters and forcing many to stalk from the sky instead. "Hallo! Please!" The Inarta continued to cry.

As she grew nearer, Vira thought she saw the warm light of a fire. Her steps hurried, but she slipped, falling into the snow and oofing loudly. It took her chimes to climb back out, and by the time she did, she could barely stand, her whole body trembling miserably. "Ppppetch...Please! Hallo!" The fire was close, ten yards? Twenty? She forced her frozen legs to continue forwards until she was certain the light was a fire and that near it was a man. His face was familiar, though and her heart leapt at the sight.

Kovac!

The young woman nearly fell into the snow again in her haste to reach the fire, knowing that the one who waited there would surely give her shelter. He had sheltered her body before and sheltered her heart later. Everyone thought him to be nothing but a scoundrel, but she knew him better. Kovac was her love and lover, friend and colleague. Just as she would protect him, he would protect her. "Kovac!"

The name leapt in relief from her tongue and she plunged forwards, only to fall through the snow a second time, disappearing no sooner after her beloved's name had left her lips.

[Bolivar]

To have escaped so far just to wake back where he started. Anxious eyes fluttered open finding himself where he was. But where was he? He knew but could not say? The full exposure of the Unforgiving in the wintertime.

"How?"

Eyelids still heavy with a restless sleep it felt this misery was a unnecessary passing. Shuffling slightly Bolivar's body still refusing to move groaned with each attempt to rouse him. Trying to keep his eyes closed but failing to convince himself back to rest. Finally propping himself upright Bolivar found himself squinting distressed by the bright light that permeated the squire's gloomy awakening. His eyes still closed in a futile attempt to rest sitting up but his body already knew. It was time to go.

Exasperating slightly finally fully awake from his stupor. So he was back in Kalea somehow? He had spent quite a bit of time here, in his Sultros. Quite a few memories, some good though most bad. Wintertime in the Unforgiving though was a fate that he was poorly suited for. Finally taking in his surroundings he finally saw the trees in the forest it was in, snow at his feet and more on it's way it is only by a small miracle that this fire is here.

"What was I doing? I was. Arguing? Yes though that quickly developed into something else."

Just one wrong move and everything was out of balance. Everything was peaceful and pleasant then came the shout that shook Bolivar to the core. Caused him to despair, bring him down to his knees and then nothing. It had passed and he found himself here. No doubt, he was at a loss at how this would pan out. Solitude was no problem but the uncertainty was getting to him. Bolivar could almost feel the tension in the air above him.

The voice in the distance was Bolivar's salvation as he looked all around him trying to find the voice. Alarmed turned into panic turning into distress. Before she knew it Lavira was upon him falling forward face first into the snow. Scuttling away for a few pitched tics Bolivar simply stared at the Inartan flabbergasted by her appearance. They were indeed in the Kalea this one a resident of the city to the north. This is the first time he had ever seen one this close.

"What's a Kovac?"

Was she subjected to a similar fate as him? She wasn't looking too well. Perhaps it would be too late to save her. What would he want if he ever fell so far? Looking back at the makeshift campsite next to him and taking one of the logs as a makeshift torch Bolivar sauntered slowly to where he last saw Lavira. A blazing fire on the wood he held in hand Bolivar simply stared for a tic before finally decieding what to do. This might have been callous but he assumed that this was correct. The camp was only small enough for two but the question of keeping her alive was out of the question. She looked too far along for him to be of any help. Bolviar could do nothing and he knew it.

"I can only do this."

Tossing the makeshift torch on the Inarta Bolivar left it up to her whether she lived or died.

[Lavira]

Vira had began to clamber out again, her body numb and aching, her hair caked with ice and snow, weighing her head back as she struggled out. The lack of feeling in her extremities made the whole process even more difficult, but she was managing. But the agony of the frigid temperatures and bone-chilling wind forced her to pause, hunkering in against herself as she rested for a moment on her knees, aware of someone now standing before and above her.

He was a large man compared to the smaller woman and certainly compared to other Inarta. She sat right around four ten, making her seem more like a child than a nearly grown woman. He asked her something and slowly, the one-eyed woman raised her head to meet his face. What was a Kovac? That was a silly question, he w-

But seeing his face cut her off, a deep frown creasing her brow and a low, "Not a what, but who...and not you." Her teeth clattered again and she clenched her eyes shut in an effort to concentrate, trying to ease the shivering. "Please, I need shelter. It's so ccccooaaAAHHHH!!"

No sooner had she begun pleading again did the man drop the burning log on top of her. Vira jumped and fell back, wading through the snow away from the brand, her shoulder and chest stinging from where it had bounced against her before being extinguished in the snow. "What the hai, man!?" She shouted, the stutter gone. "I said I need shelter, asshole, not be burnt alive!" She grabbed a handful of snow and packed it into a tight ball before hurling it at the other. The surge of adrenaline had helped quiet her cold misery for the moment as she sat there shivering and glaring at Boli. He looked so much like Kovac it was frightening.

Frozenly, the teen began to get onto her feet, chirping at him in Nari as she grabbed another handful of snow and pitched it at him again. "Is that your way of helping people? Kill them? Petch what if I'd been some kid? You gonna strangle me then? Feed me to the wolves? Petching ass..."

She stomped past him now, her hands tucked into her arm pits, and dropped down beside the fire, shivering as bare butt hung inches from the ground. For a moment, she continued to just crouch there, trembling and thawing slowly in front of the fire. A few moments later, Vira reached out to her left for a blanket which had not previously been there. She gathered it around her, guarding against the wind and cold at last as she tried to summon her heat back into a managable level.

Chimes would pass in that state, her eyes closed, the fire's heat soaking into the woman and the blanket, before she opted to speak again in that same trilling chirp and click of phrases that was Nari. "What are you doing way out here anyways? Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out in winter? You're supposed to be in the city. Are you with one of the hunting teams?"

[Bolivar]

Blah, Blah,Blah. Your needs. Oh?

So the woman seemed to have more in her then she had initially lead on. The Inarta having more spring in her step from the brand being placed on her Bolivar quietly mused to himself at the scene. Trying his hardest not to smirk revealing Lavira's more then lively condition Bolivar was starting his apology in earnest as the woman exasperated once more at Bolivar.

"Oh I didn't..." (...know you were still quite alive.)

"It's just..." (...you acted so well that I actually believed you were long gone.)

"I was not sure what I was thinking." (Trying to set you on fire like that.)

His mind racing faster then he could his mouth can dole out Bolivar's sputtering came short as he flinched slightly at the snowball thrown at him. Then it took a turn for the worse as Lavira started to speak in that high pitched shriekings that the Inarta called a language. Yes she was definitely feeling better for sure.

Retreating back a few steps as the Inarta threw another snowball at him the mixed blood had it in him to retaliate back at Lavira. If he was to be damned to this strange cold place it would not be with some weird, angry woman who only talked in Nari. Solitude had it's merits and Bolivar had a mind to seize such isolation for the camp if Lavira hadn't stopped.

Watching the woman take her place in the campfire Bolivar watched the movement for the blanket with a degree of awe. One moment the woman had reached out for something that was not there, wrapped herself in it and moments later that something was visible to him. What was going on here?

Not one that understood the Inarta language Bolivar knew enough to pick out the words that seemed like a insult to him. She might have used about two or three different curses before but this time her tone suggested something more conversational if not slightly chiding.

Opting to simply stare with a raised eyebrow Bolivar blinked consciously a few times before looking around them. Still trying to figure out how they got there Bolivar shared his confusion with Lavira. Shaking his head and waving a hand up in a half shrug Bolivar walked in a circle around the campsite trying to get a read on where they were.

"You spoke common before can we talk with that?"

Trying to emulate that strange magic Lavira emulated before Bolivar tried that with his reimancy. His gloves already off he consciously pushed his djed out to form it's shape. Bolivar's construct resembling his axe the mage squire transmuted his res into ice until the an axe was held in his hand. As if on cue the forest was bombarded by shouts of reimancy and small tidbits of madness. As if echoing all around him Bolivar's sweet whispers seemed to manifest into resounding booms in this strange, strange forest. One of them with a very underlying tone of command in it's voice.

"Slay the Inarta."

The words causing Bolivar to pause recognized the language his smaller dictionary of Common. A giant tell on his face as Bolivar looked at Lavira questioningly with his makeshift reimancy ice axe he looked back at his weapon before looking back at the Inarta. A thought lighting up in his eyes looked as his gaze went to his axe, Bolivar gripped it with both hands his hands shaking with intent.

"Hey can you do that think you did but with an axe? We are running out of firewood and it would be best to ready ourselves for the night."

That shaking in his hands ceasing, Bolivar dropped the makeshift weapon from his persons. Taking his place in the campfire all too conscious about the cold now looked longingly at the woman for assistance. Of course it was outrageous to ask her for help after what he did but the way the squire saw it, they would have to get along for them if they wanted to get back safely.

oocI had the sweet whispers resonate throughout the forest not only in his head. Bolivar generally ignores them and doesn't try to make a fuss over it since he is the only one who normally hears it.