Closed Clearing the Air (Azira)

[Khara]

.
... 9th of Fall, 514av

Fall, as far back as Khara could recall, was an exciting season. Not exciting in that the cooler weather that began to roll in seemed to breathe back life into the city, not even exciting in an anticipatory way, it was exciting in the way suddenly coming across a bear while alone in the woods was: terrifying and something you wanted to get away from as soon as possible. The final days of harvest, the preparations for Thunder Bay to once again lock down, the surplus of activity it brought, the dread and necessity of making sure the kitchen storerooms were stocked with enough food that when Winter arrived the entirety of Wind Reach didn't starve. It seemed even more important now, last year's famine still lingering in the minds of all those who called Skyinarta home.

But it was also a season of change for some. Change that always seemed to pass the young scout over - always the observer, never the active party. Not this year. The game scouts had done their usual at the beginning of the season, a small meeting was held in the early hours of the morning before their services would be required, plans for the upcoming colder days roughly outlined. They didn't have a leader exactly, but Orthin always seemed to take command of the situation and his experience was deferred to. Concerns were voiced, suggestions were made, all in all fairly routine. It wasn't until it was over that something unique occurred. At least, as far as Khara was concerned.

The senior scout had pulled her aside and rather firmly suggested that she begin working with hunters on her own on a more permanent basis. It wasn't any sort of promotion, but it spoke that at least Orthin believed she was ready to stop relying so much on her fellow scouts. The vote of confidence had been shocking enough on its own, but it was when Orthin told her of what had changed his mind that nearly caused Khara to believe it must have all some sort of grand joke. Apparently Orthin had received some words of commendation regarding the novice from a huntress, from Azira of all people. There had been some complaints also, but mostly regarding things that he believed Khara would had learned from, but overall the Avora he had spoken well of the girl. He had finished with a laugh, telling Khara to not let the words go to her head and had left it at that.

It had left Khara speechless at first, guilty at second. After all, her comments regarding the huntress to a friend had been less than stellar. She hadn't outright complained, but she had voiced how she thought the huntress had hated her from the start for no reason other than she was of a lower caste, how she had threatened to shoot the girl, how she had berated her over the fiasco with the zynx. Khara had told of a handful of the better things that had occurred during the hunt for the moose with Azira as well, but the human boy who worked in the stables had seemed to latch more onto the negative that had been uttered and Khara had done nothing to dissuade him. Not that she figured the opinion of one man would matter much to the Avora, but still it bothered the Chiet to no end that she had perhaps convinced someone that Azira was nothing more than a creature of spite whereas the huntress' words had actually benefited the girl.

The meeting with Orthin and the other scouts had occurred days ago, and still the thought persisted in the back of her mind. It was normally drowned out by other thoughts that took up the day's focus, but on the first day of the season she didn't have to work, Khara was finding it harder to ignore.

A trip to the Enclave, something to force her mind towards other subjects, seemed appropriate. Maybe she would finally find a book on the various tracking techniques she'd been making mental notes about while scouting, or maybe, just maybe she'd pick up something that would be more of use to her friend, something that would help make Nari easier to understand. After all, doing something good, something helpful, seemed a perfect way to negate any lingering guilt she was feeling for possibly having done someone else a wrong and it wasn't like she was going to get the chance to settle things with the huntress directly.

Khara froze as she turned down an aisle within the library. Sitting at one of the various randomly placed tables was the very huntress she couldn't purge from her thoughts. Of all the people to run into... Somewhere a god was laughing, she was certain of it. But what to say? She didn't want to just interrupt the Avora, but at the same time... Inability to decide collided with inaction and left her suddenly scrambling to try and look as if she was searching through the titles of the books in front of her. An opportunity to speak would come up, she was certain of it. You just had to be patient, right? Right. Like that's one of your strongest traits.

"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

x

Once again a trip to the Enclave had been in order but this time the huntress wasn't there to do research for her work; she was there to research the subjects that interested her. New information was something that she craved and so she'd begun searching for any new reading material amongst the shelves of old notebooks and tattered scrolls. There were a number of traveller's diaries that she had read over the years but she hadn't read all of them she was sure. There were many that had escaped her notice before, tiny volumes obscured by larger tomes. There was also information that she'd forgotten despite having read it before.

So the Avora had grabbed as much as she could, balancing various books and papers in a wobbly stack that had rested against her chest in an effort to keep them in her arms. She'd made her leisurely way over to a free table, secluded from everybody at the end of an aisle that nobody seemed to come down. Her reading material had been placed like a wall in front of her, piled together to a height just below that of her chin. Ink and paper torn from the back of a book she had were placed on the table in front of her, blocked from sight by her little wall. Her quill hovered over the ink well, tip wet with ink as it waited to be returned to the page that was quickly becoming a messy scrawl of information.

An old journal had caught her eye written in chicken scrawl that could be deciphered as being Nari. Flicking through a few pages the teen found that it had belonged to a man who had visited various areas in Kalea including Kalinor and Alvadas. Her right hand flicked through pages, searching for anything to do with the Symenestra. The mention of the Symenestra city had sparked a memory of what Drusilla had told her the last Winter, about the use of surrogates to birth the spiders' children that were then thrown to the cave floor. She'd read about their city and their race before but she couldn't remember a mention of such a ritual before. Now she looked for it avidly, eyes sliding back and forth over page after page.

The quill hovered over the paper in readiness, waiting to take note of what she'd spotted on the subject:

"23rd Summer 453AV

Kalinor is certainly a wonderful city. The stories I've heard of it are true. Symenestra can pass between their dwellings by the thinnest of ropes something that I have tried and failed to do. I have to make do with being ferried around in a basket. Not that they've treated me badly. They invited me in, welcomed me with open arms and asked me to write up information to add to their library. I have seen women from other races here but they do not seem to be used as I have heard that they are. They are waited upon hand and foot as an exotic novelty, not impregnated to head for the slaughter! They are not at all barbaric as I've heard. When I tried my rope walking escapades I was saved by a Symenestra male who stopped me from falling to my death in the abyss below, which he assured me was quite far beneath me. He also told me that I was not the first outsider to attempt such a thing but fortunately for me, I'd been saved while others were littered on the floor below. That explains the horrible stories I've heard, some simple explanation that's been twisted into malicious rumour. As if they throw dead women to the cave floor!"

The young woman shuddered as she read through the section, closing the book when she reached the end. She didn't want to read anymore from that book. She'd heard it right from a Symenestra's mouth that such "stories"--as this man called them--were in fact true. Drusila was no outsider who disliked other races but had grown up in Kalinor. She wasn't likely to get that sort of thing wrong. Shuddering again, the girl reached for another little tome, dislodging it and a number of others from the pile by accident at exactly the same time. The whole thing began to slide towards the floor, the teen lurching forward to catch them before they could fall. The movement made her bang off the ink well. It tipped and began to ooze precious ink all over the table, a pool spreading too quickly across its surface and making fast progress towards the paper at the bottom of her pile.

The girl panicked, uncertain how to stop the books from falling but also to save the others from an unpleasant soaking. "Shyke, shyke, shyke, no!" she hissed, staring down at the puddle in horror.

x

[Khara]

Sometimes opportunity knocks, and sometimes it takes a great big stick and smacks you upside the head. Sadly, much like the blow to the head would leave you, when things happened with so much caution thrown to the wind, a person often found themselves in a sense of shock before they could properly react.

This was one of those times.

The shuffle of paper and leather bindings, the scrape of chair legs on the floor as it was pushed back in a hurry, the clink of the inkwell, and finally he curses all happened in such rapid order that Khara hardly had time to process what was happening before she suddenly stepped towards the little bubble of chaos. It wasn't how it was supposed to be, she was supposed to find some perfect timed moment to approach the Avora. Instead she was left scrambling as much as the other teen, opting to try and save the falling books and leave the closer inky issue to the huntress.

Her initial alarm at the sudden noise and split seconds of hesitation cost her. The stack lurched, sending several volumes and papers toppling to the ground before the Chiet arrived to catch the lucky few that managed to linger long enough. She had to give herself a little credit, at least she hadn't stepped on anything in her haste to try and help.

The armload of awkwardly and seemingly randomly sized bits of knowledge was shifted until the Chiet was certain she wouldn't add to the mess on the floor. Of course, it didn't exactly leave her in a position to attempt to save the remaining works on the table that were now in danger of the ink. She wasn't sure if it was taboo, though it sure seemed like it should have been to her, but the best option seemed to be to place the books in hand on the floor, closer to the shelving than the table. After settling the small bundle with as much care as she could muster, Khara turned back to the table and quickly began snatching up anything she could while trying to stay out of the Avora's way with whatever cleanup effort she was doing.

With the situation at least beginning to be under control her thoughts turned to trying to say something. Khara glanced from papers, to the Avora, to the spreading ink, to the remaining few items that hadn't been attended to that were still in danger, and then back around again to repeat in a different order. She couldn't think of what to say, but that didn't stop nerves causing something to come pouring out of her mouth almost as fast as the ink spread.

"Sorry to intrude, it just looked like you could use some help. Not that I think you needed help! Just, maybe wouldn't object to it? Do you need me to get something to try and sop up the ink?" Her mouth moved faster than her head, and left her briefly wondering if it would be best to offer an article of clothing only to realize the complete humiliation that would come from if the Avora actually said yes. Still, the urge persisted, but thankfully went unsaid with a firm clamping of her lower lip between her teeth. The act of silencing herself wasn't enough to draw blood, but the pain got the point across that the more rational part of her was trying to make.

"Nari" | "Common"

[Azira]

x

The books were not going to say where she wanted them to, that was for sure. They'd fallen against her hands as she'd tried to catch them, contain them, but she couldn't hold them all. They slipped around her grasping fingers, slipped beneath them and the huntress couldn't grab for the bottom of the stack without letting go of the books that were at the top. Helpless to stop it, she watched as slips of paper and aged tomes fell, wincing as they thudded on the floor. And then Khara was there, catching books as more of them slipped from the pile. The game scout had appeared unexpectedly but the teen had recognised her immediately and was secretly glad that the young woman had come to her aid. A few ticks too late but better late than never.

Now that the stack was considerably smaller than it had been, the Avora was able to move her hands downwards, using her forearms to support the higher books from falling off. Her fingers found the bottom and pulled them back a bit from the edge, carefully and quickly straightening the pile. The Chiet now seemed indecisive, hovering as she watched Azira try to regain some control of the situation. A glance as she worked to right the stack revealed the uncertainty that Khara seemed to be suffering from before she put her load down on the floor next to their less fortunate cousins. The huntress didn't even want to look at the floor and see what way the fallen material had ended up. It was sure to be bad but it was better to concentrate on things that she could fix--like the spreading pool of ink--rather than letting the situation get worse.

The girl only had a few scraps of paper at hand and of course she wasn't going to use the piece that she'd taken notes upon, wet ink still shining on its surface. The scraps were thrown hurriedly on top of the ink pool, dabbing at the edge that was threatening the books. Then she realised that it had come close to dripping off the table, that she'd come very close to lying in it during her juggling act. A page was slapped down on that as well, the ink soaking into it almost instantly. The paper darkened becoming heavy and too wet to absorb anything else. It had been most of a bottle of ink and she never would have guessed that there could be so much liquid contained in the little bottle. She couldn't mop it all up and so the Chiet's offer was a welcome one.

"Get something now and worry about whatever your reasons were afterwards. I don't care for talking when there's this mess to be cleaned up. Don't talk, act!" A snap of command and a furious look that Azira shot Khara's way should have been a clear indication to the Chiet that she should have automatically done what she'd offered. Azira really wondered just how stupid the girl was. Did she not realise that she was wasting time asking ridiculous questions? Obviously she needed something to mop the ink up with.

x

[Khara]

The Chiet flinched as she was snapped at, but it was just the thing she needed to force herself to move. The assortment of papers in her hands joined the haphazard pile of books and Khara paused for just a tick, her hands making a stop motion as if that alone could convince the items to not completely topple. She wasn't entirely satisfied with the steadiness of the stack but there wasn't time to adjust, the Avora had told her to act.

As fast as her legs would carry her she bolted down the aisle, her feet sliding as she came to a stop at the end to try and decide which direction to head in. She was used to the traction the outdoors provided and the floors of the library were far more slick in comparison. For a moment she was afraid she was going to slip, her hands shot out in an effort to regain her balance and her breath was held until she was certain it was. Graceful, her ever disparaging inner self commented. "Oh shut up," she grumbled to herself in retort.

Her eyes scanned the library, hoping to find something suitable. At first she passed over the various other individuals within until, with sudden realization, she backtracked to a Dek. The drudge weren't allowed in The Enclave unless they were-

Khara sprinted towards the unsuspecting... woman? She guessed. The Dek's short cut hair, dirt covered features, and shapeless lontev obscured any of the usual signifiers.

"You!" It came out far more authoritative than she believed she ever could manage and for a second the sound of her own voice was startling to the Chiet. It seemed to have the same effect on the Dek as well who practically jumped.

Khara motioned to the grimy rag in the drudge's hand that they had been using to wipe down a shelf. "I need that. Hand it over."

Painfully long ticks passed as the Dek looked from her to the rag in their hand, the unwillingness to part with the object and their means of carrying out their duty read plain on their face. Khara let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "I'll bring it back when I'm done. Just stop dawdling and give it to me."

She practically snatched it from the Dek's hands when they finally, reluctantly, held it out to her. With the item retrieved Khara hurried back to where Azira and the ink waited. Another skidding stop was managed as she neared the table and quickly approached. To hand it to the huntress would have been to waste further time so without pause the Chiet slapped the already filthy piece of cloth down over the biggest pool of remaining ink. There was no telling just how much it would manage to sop up with it's current state but it would buy them time if nothing else.

The task of trying to figure that out though was left to the Avora. She hadn't been ordered to clean up the mess, after all. Which left Khara with nothing else to do but attempt to quickly gather up any remaining objects that may have been at risk, especially the ones that would get dribbled on should the ink escape the confines of the table. Each was added to her collective little pile on the floor as she passed wary glances back towards the huntress.

Admittedly, she was afraid to speak again, nerves strained to a point of suddenly fraying. Yet Khara never really knew how to keep herself fully under control and before she could bring a halt to it, the primary thought that was rattling about in her head at that instant was voiced. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

[Azira]

x

The snap of authority worked and sent the Chiet hurrying away to do what the Avora had ordered. She would have laughed at the scout's fear induced compliance if she'd had the time. As it was she was a little too occupied with the disaster on the table to find any amusement in the situation. She couldn't believe her clumsiness and ill luck but there was no point crying over it. What was done was done and she hadn't been entirely unlucky. Khara had been in a convenient proximity to actually come to the rescue. No, she didn't like to think of it like that. She wasn't some helpless little creature that was reliant on others to come to her aid. That's hard to believe seeing as you've needed her before and she's not the first, her inner self chimed in snidely. The thought brought a scowl to her face as she continued to try to keep the ink at bay with already soaking material that was beginning to fall apart in her ink stained fingers. It was amazing how unhelpful her mind could be sometimes, especially as it almost always managed to conjure up facts that made her wince, all the more painful because they were completely true. The fact that she'd needed Khara for that hunt wasn't something that she wanted to dwell on, particularly as there was much that she'd done that hadn't exactly been in her job description. And now here she was relying on the girl once more to help contain a situation that she couldn't handle on her own. It wasn't something that her pride wanted to acknowledge and it only succeeded in putting her into an even fouler mood than before.

When Khara came back after a length of time that did no good for the Avora's nerves, Azira was extremely cranky. The Chiet didn't risk any hesitation this time, perhaps rightly wishing to avoid the ire of the huntress, but instead thrust the material she'd found into a pool of ink and then retreated. The teen looked at the filthy rag in disgust, wondering where the girl had gotten it but was quick to use it for what needed to be done. It was considerably more absorbent than paper, which wouldn't have been hard and succeeded in mopping up most of the ink before it became to laden with the liquid to do any more than drip it back onto the table. The young woman's question sent her already unstable emotions into a pride fuelled anger. The rag was balled up and flung at the woman. "You can get rid of that filth that you brought." The huntress didn't care if the rag made it into the teen's hands or struck some other part of her body. She wasn't going to let the woman think that she'd done Azira some sort of service. Just because she had didn't mean that the huntress couldn't bite her head off if she wanted to. "Couldn't track down anything better than that? A flimsy bit of cloth that looks like it should belong on a Dek and is as dirty as one to boot. Did it do the job? No!" Hands waved over the table's surface, encompassing the puddles of ink that remained and the stains where the ink had once been.

The soggy bits of paper that had been pointlessly sacrificed were also flung at the scout, the teen aiming for the woman's body so that she'd be more likely to hit her. It made her feel better, using the girl as a target. It took away from the fact that it had been her own carelessness that had caused this mess and allowed her to twist the anger at herself into anger at another. "I can't say that I'm surprised that you only half managed to do a job. It's not the first time, is it?" Somehow their hunting trip had been pulled into the conversation, the huntress throwing in her face the other's failure to follow up zynx tracks before the hunt. "You can get something else to clean up this mess. Something that can actually mop it all up. If you think you can manage that much." Attention was turned to her ink stained fingers, grimacing at the sight of the darkened digits. She was sure that it wasn't the worse of the damage though.

Moving around the table, she crouched beside the pile that Khara had made. Not wanting to risk any further damage, she didn't touch them with her dirty hands, instead nudging the material with the side of her wrist if she wanted a better look. There was damage to one book's spine, the leather split a little. Another seemed to have pages that had detached themselves from their bindings. There were loose pages that were crumpled or torn, books that had been stained a little by the ink before they'd been brought to safety. A groan escaped the huntress as she surveyed the consequences, face falling into a expression of upset. She hadn't wanted to cause so much trouble and it was akin to sacrilege knowing that not only had reading material been damaged but it had been her fault. A hand went to tangle in her hair but the gesture was aborted in time before the ink could be added to her hair as well. Something between a wail and a groan escaped her lips. "What am I going to do?"

x

[Khara]

Khara wanted to get angry, wanted to be annoyed with the Avora's actions, then shove the whole thing down since it couldn't be acted upon. She wanted to hate the other teen. Wanted to, but couldn't. Where feelings that she was being wrongfully yelled at could have manifested there was only bitter agreement. Her job, her entire purpose, the only thing she was good at was a service to the hunters. She didn't like thinking that she only lived to make their lives easier, but that was the point, wasn't it?

The balled up rag smacked into her right arm with a splat that left ink oozing down her skin. The problem was only compounded as the Chiet struggled to catch the thing before it hit the ground, while it was managed it seemed and felt as if she'd only really succeeded in covered her hands in more of the stain. Then had come the bits of paper, each leaving streaks of blacks upon impact with her clothing and skin before they fell to the floor, only adding to the mess.

The girl weathered the onslaught, not entirely because she had to, but because she felt as if the Avora's words were turning her into stone. Or maybe that was only wishful thinking. Stone wouldn't feel the sting that came along with them, stone wouldn't care if the person yelling at it was right or wrong, and it certainly wouldn't feel like it would be felled by the weight of the accusations. No, Khara was far from that. The next breath she drew in was labored and she forced herself to keep quiet, teeth meeting each other hard enough her jaw ached.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. Not that she was ever certain of how the huntress would act, words she had used to describe Azira came back to her mockingly. It's like she wants to be mad at everything. Khara turned and scurried away, barely hearing the Avora's lament behind her. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How did you think this was going to go down? You offer thanks for her saying something nice about you and she'd become your friend? Or even acknowledge it?? You can't even get that out in the open and she's already reminding you how incompetent you are. Maybe Orthin just held back the majority of shyke to try and be nice, maybe he just felt sorry for you. Maybe sending you out on your own is his way of ensuring you won't come back. She tried to push the thoughts aside and wiped the back of her hand across her cheek, leaving a smear of ink just under her eye.

Once she reached the end of the aisle she realized once again, she had no clue where to go. The Dek was caught in her sights again and she strode towards the woman, who looked as if they couldn't decide to be either hopeful or fearful. "Are there any more of you in here?" Khara snapped, turning dejection into the anger she finally wanted, even if it was misplaced.

The drudge woman looked down at the Chiet, obviously attempting to not focus on the various places the girl had suddenly gained streaks of black. Khara hadn't noticed the height difference before but somehow the taller stature mixed with fearful nature seemed jarring now. Shakily the woman raised a hand and pointed down one of the other rows of shelves, the scout's eyes followed and spotted the other lower caste member - but more importantly the bucket they seemed to be using in conjunction with the rag in their hand.

Instead of thanks, Khara offered a glare at the Dek who was looking at the ink soaked rag in her hands. "If you can't be of any other use, you need to leave. You don't belong here." The edge of venom that crept into her voice was realized a half second too late and left her feeling completely dumbfounded as the Dek mournfully turned and began walking out of the library. For a tick, just one, she considered calling the woman back and handing her the rag. It wasn't that Khara liked the drudge, or even went out of her way to be nice to them, she just didn't usually purposely find reasons to be cruel to them either.

As Khara looked down at the rag in her hand her mind snapped back to the waiting Avora and the current problem, completely wiping away any lingering attention the Dek had pulled from her. With new purpose she hurried towards the other drudge, a man this time, who must have overheard or watched what had happened to his peer as he was already holding out his much cleaner rag and the bucket of water. The ink soaked piece of fabric was dropped into the water unceremoniously, splashing both of them. The items were taken, once more far more aggressively than was necessary and Khara finally sped back to where Azira was.

Without a word the Chiet stepped around the huntress and the pile of books on the floor and went to work. She dunked the cleaner bit of cloth into the water and wrung out the excess before scrubbing at the table and lingering ink. As much as she tried to keep her expression neutral, maybe even just thoughtful, the rage Khara had shown the drudge had cooled once more back to a point just before misery as her mind couldn't help but fill with the same bleak thoughts regarding her possible future - or lack of one.

[Azira]

x

She didn't notice when the Chiet disappeared. One tick she'd been there as Azira lamented the fate of her reading materials and the next tick the girl was gone. She hoped that the young woman hadn't just left her to this mess. She'd been nasty and it was entirely possible that she'd ditch her, slink away to someplace else beyond the Avora's notice. The huntress hoped that Khara would come back, if she didn't... Her eyes sought the return of the Chiet, biting her lip anxiously as she wondered if she'd been left alone with her accident. It wasn't just the table that needed to be cleaned. She needed the ink off her hands as well or else she couldn't move the books back to their shelves and pretend that she hadn't caused the damage. Sure it was dishonest but she didn't want to have to explain what had happened.

As she waited for Khara to return, the teen moved to the table, surveying the disaster once more. Already blackened fingers righted the ink bottle, a small amount of the liquid still swilling around the bottom. The side that had landed on the table had the black liquid all over its surface and it ran down the side as she watched. She'd have to get a new bottle of ink, the last bottle unsalvageable unless she was willing to push the ink remains from the table into the bottle, which wouldn't be worth it. The piece of paper she's been scribbling on had fallen to the floor and she picked it up carefully at the edges and rested it on top of the pile of books for now. Her quill was also picked up, the nib still wet with ink that had left a little ink stain on the floor. She held onto the feather, twirling it absently in her fingers as she approached the pile of books again. A hopeless glance showed the scout hurrying back down the aisle to her, a bucket in hand. The teen sighed in relief, glad that the girl hadn't just turned tail and ran.

Khara made no comment as she passed Azira, just set to work scrubbing the table in silence. The huntress approached, dropping the quill on the table and dipping her hands in the cool water and rubbed them together vigorously in attempt to get them clean. It took a chime or two to get rid of most of the staining and she withdrew them, shaking the excess moisture off above the vessel before wiping them dry on her bryda. The quill was retrieved, the nib swirled in the water until it was as clean as it was likely to get and dried carefully on her bryda also. Her page of writing and the quill were placed together on the seat that she had formerly occupied before the huntress set to work ferrying the books to their places. A stack of books in her arms, she put a simple question to Khara, her tone tired rather than poisonous as it had been only a few chimes prior.

"Would you mind helping to put these back?" There was no command, no order but instead her words allowed Khara to choose whether she would help or not. The teen didn't wait for an answer either. She wouldn't hover as if the young woman's answer meant anything to her. It wasn't like she actually needed Khara now and that would come across in her apparent indifference where a reply was concerned. If the girl didn't bother then she was more than capable of dealing with the situation from here.

x

[Khara]

All manner of ill thoughts tumbled about in Khara's head as she had kept her eyes focused on the table. The ink was slowly coming off and she had managed to clear the bigger spills, but the Avora's stinging comments about half finished jobs repeated endlessly as she cleaned, keeping the Chiet on task.

You'd better get used to this, her own inner voice interrupted the stream, but not the sentiment. You always were more suited to be a drudge. At least there you're expected to muck things up.

It was the huntress' voice that pulled her back from the mental prison she had been banishing herself to. Khara looked up, surprised at the tone of the question and the overall lack of edge to it. A quick glance down showed her far more table than ink. It wasn't perfect, but it certainly wasn't in a hurry to become worse and it was becoming harder and harder to gauge what could be wiped away rather than what had already stained and probably needed something a bit stronger to remove it than just water.

"Okay." The reply left quietly, still meek but Khara felt it somehow was more due to her mood than anything else.

Rag and hands were shoved beneath the water's murky level, the piece of cloth abandoned to float aimlessly near its partner as Khara scrubbed her hands together to try and rid them of any excess ink. Quite a lot of the black simply refused to let up and Khara sighed at her stained hands before she ran them across a clean section of her bryda. A test rub against a clean patch of skin proved that the current blackish blue color of her hands was there to stay. It looked awful, but at least it wouldn't rub off on anything she picked up.

The pile of books was approached cautiously, each one picked up with care as Khara worried over worsening the damage some of them had taken in their tumble off the table. Her movements weren't slow, but they certainly weren't rushed either. The Chiet felt drained, each book seeming to weigh far more than their size would allow for as she lifted them from the small stack balanced in the crook of her arm and placed them back onto the shelf.

She tensed as one of the books brought her close to where the Avora was. Lhex was being anything but kind that day, apparently. As she slid the small volume back into it's place Khara glanced out of the corner of her eye at the huntress and felt somewhat horrified as once more her mouth worked faster than her mind and she was speaking before she could judge the wisdom of doing so. "I'm sorry I wasn't faster."

[Azira]

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The huntress was pensive. She hardly noticed where she was going with the stack of reading materials in her arms, just ran on automatic as she put each one in its rightful place. There had been something interesting in Khara's expression before Azira had put her question to the scout. She had seemed angry but not with an obvious direction for such an emotion. She might have been angry with the Avora but if she had been then she probably wouldn't have come back. No, she'd been scrubbing that table not as if it had done something to her but rather as a reaction to something going on in her head. The teen thought that she understood that although she didn't want to do so. She'd often gone about a task violently and not noticed, too caught up in the furious thoughts within her head. It wasn't the same as when she used archery to "hurt" people that she couldn't actually hurt in real life. When she did that she was at least aware of the target but when it was the other way it was different. It was something that usually happened when she was angry with herself in some way. Perhaps she was reading too much into it but regardless of whether Khara's actions had been driven by some self-loathing or just anger at the situation the huntress had seen a reflection of herself in the other woman.

It made her thoughtful for good reason. She hadn't seen anything of herself in Khara before, nothing that they shared in common, at least in terms of personality. The girl had been chatty, eager and outgoing during the hunting trip, at least she had been before Azira crushed her with silence and threats and bitterness. There was nothing positive in the girl that she'd thought they'd shared but when it came to an apparent negative in Khara, the huntress saw it. It said a lot about her own personality. Her view of the scout must be very different to how the Chiet perceived her. Thinking back on things that she'd said, the ways that she acted, not just to Khara but to others, Azira decided that she didn't much like the view.

The Chiet speaking suddenly beside made the huntress start, too caught up in her unhappy self-reflection to have noticed Khara's appearance beside her. "What?" The young woman's eyes were dazed as she looked in the other's direction, trying to comprehend what the girl was on about. The ink cleanup. That was obviously what she was on about but the teen just hadn't been able to remember it for a few ticks. She recovered herself, shaking her head slowly as if to clear it. "No, it's all right. You didn't have to help in the first place, did you? I mean, you could have just gone away as if nothing had happened. Anyone else would have if they'd had dealings with me before." Bitterness came into her voice as her speech came to an end. The teen bit her lip, her gaze shifting to the book in her hand as she slowly returned it to the shelf, giving it her full attention as she did so.

She hadn't meant to say that. She hadn't meant to say it like that either. How much had she just given away? Too much. Everything was too much. She was giving the girl potential ammunition and she couldn't do that. Better to hurt others and stay guarded than to drop the guard and let something slip and she'd dropped her guard. The teen silently cursed the girl for tricking her into saying something except that she knew that she wasn't really angry at the girl. It wasn't Khara's fault that she was so bitter and mistrustful. The expectation had been driven into her by constant hounding and the damage seemed irreversible; trusting was hard.

"Thank you anyway." She kept her tone indifferent as she turned from that section of shelf and moved to another, away from the game scout. There was no point in interacting with the game scout any longer. It wasn't like she was in any way interested in the huntress.Maybe it was in her nature to help but as far as Azira was concerned the teen had acted upon the Chiet's need to serve the Avora. That was all it had been. She could have still left you. You hadn't noticed her so she didn't have to help. It was her choice. The thought gave her reason to reconsider, if only briefly, the other's motives. Khara didn't actually care about her. She was just being nice and had been dragged into an Azira maelstrom for her trouble. She couldn't be nice to the girl after the way she'd treated her or risk seeming like she needed Khara's companionship. She did need companionship though as she'd been left alone again for too long. It was just some cruel ploy on the parts of the gods to leave her miserably alone, taking away every form of companionship. In the end, she was left with nothing. No mother, no mentor, no friends. So it seemed pointless to try and befriend Khara. The scout wouldn't be interested, Azira hadn't given her reason to considering how she'd treated her during their hunt, threatening to kill her for instance. No, the scout wouldn't want her.

Another slip in concentration, the teen too caught up in her melancholy again, and the remaining materials slipped from her hands and found their way to the floor. A hand came to rest over her face for a moment, a groan escaping her lips although she wanted it to be a scream instead. Some of the pages had floated in the direction of the game scout but they would be relatively unscathed. The books though... Better to pick them up before anyone noticed that they had once again ended up on the floor and were probably even more badly damaged than before.

Just petch my life!

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