Closed The Unexpected Triumph (Kovac)

[Phoeniana]

14th, Winter 513 A.V. The fruit didn’t budge. Why would it? She hadn’t expected it to anyway, or so she thought. Pulling her lips into a frown while staring at the fruit she pinned to the tree herself, Phoeniana felt herself sink 10 grades lower into the dirt below. Luckily, if she concentrated hard enough, the snow would completely swallow her up and she would never be seen or heard from again. Not that anyone had seen or heard from her to begin with. Keeping a “low-profile” would be putting it lightly in terms of her. Phoeniana felt that she didn’t even exist in Wind Reach; that she was just a tiny entity that would soon sprout into dust, never to exist or never having existed in the first place. The only thing she managed to do in the city was snag a piece of fruit that she only planned on using for target practice. Sad. Annoyed at herself, she lowered her short bow at hip distance, staring at the fruit some 15 feet away from her. It wasn’t even a long distance and she still didn’t hit it! In her head, she imagined herself poising the arrow sternly, chin tucked to the side so that she was able to see the distance. The arrow that was wedged between her index and forefinger released, the arrow went flying into the piece of string attached to the stem, thus dropping the fruit and earning her both a snack and a state of triumph. That was only in her daydream, however. In reality, that fruit hadn’t budged and her archery skills were about as tuned as her sky diving ones, which wasn’t tuned at all. “Perfect,” she muttered to no one in particular. Thwarting her plans to ever be good at anything but walking, Phoeniana trudged over to the tree and viciously yanked the fruit off of string. There was no satisfaction in doing so whatsoever. It only reminded her that she was an absolute failure in that department. She failed in archery, she failed at meeting people in the city, let alone Wind Reach as a whole, and now she suddenly felt as if she failed as a human being. She took a hard bite out of the fruit, knowing she should have at least washed it off before sinking her teeth into it. No matter. Phoeniana wasn’t too excited about finding a source of water anyway. The sun streaked across the sky as she moved over to a large boulder, plopping her weight down on it and kicking at the now beneath her boot. The ice underneath her leather boots shifted, revealing a small patch of dirt. The snow was a beauitufl and dazzling white, and if she hadn't been torturing herself to practice her archer in the brittle whether, she probably would have had fun with it. Instead, with the feeling of failure already sifted and churned inside of her head, she found use of the snow-littered by kicking it angrily. Her foot swung backwards only to go plummeting down onto the ground, bringing up tufts of snow along the way. A simple task, yet the only one she could think of doing at the moment save for breaking the bow in her right hand in half. Oh no, there was no way she was going to do that. There were no sounds other than the caw of birds, the rustling of the wind between the trees, and her foot stabbing at the snow. No one was around. No company, no enemies, no one but her. Phoeniana sent a glazed, orange-eyed stare at the blank sky, admiring the freedom within the clouds. If she could sprout wings, she would have taken off. Straight into the air with no worries, no bows, and no fruit. Another bite was taken from the sweet fruit before she put her bow to the side. If she was suddenly struck by something deadly, would she die happily in peace, or die of loneliness? Phoeniana pondered that over her sad excuse for a meal.

[Kovac]

Kovac traversed the warrens of Wind Reach, working his way higher towards the aeries. The Avora chose a course that would take him along the open corridors along the crater's inner rim, this one in particular adorned with arches cut in the stone that opened up the view of Skyinarta as one walked the hall. It was colder, of course, but, after traipsing through the underground passages of the city, Kovac found it refreshing.

Taking his time to enjoy the harsh but beautiful winter landscape of the Kalean terrain, the hunter spotted a curious sight below. Outside, towards the twin lakes, someone was out. The half-breed archer could tell the figure held a bow, a woman by the size and movement. She was hanging something from the limb of one of the trees that clung to the volcanic soil on the crater floor. Kovac scowled. Who would be out in the cold and snow shooting at a tree when there were ranges inside for everyone? He paused, then shrugged, turning to leave the silly person to their folly. Then he stopped. Curiosity had snagged him.

Changing course, Kovac made his way to an exit, the long stairs that lead out of Wind Reach towards the lakes. He clutched his katinu around him as he descended, keeping and eye on the woman. She was shooting at the object dangling from the tree, and from what he could see, she was having a hard time hitting it.

By the time Kovac reached the bottom and started to cross the snow covered ground, the girl had given up and sat on a rock, eating her target. She was shooting at food? Kovac stopped in front of her, offering a small, wry smile. "What in the name of Syna's globes are you doing out here? Good gods if anyone saw you shooting at fruit, they would hang you from that tree! Do you know how short food is going to be this winter, and how valuable fruit is? You better enjoy that, Sunshine."