Open what death doesn't touch.

[Colt]

The dog was summoned back, and it left the thick grass and the Drykas curtained there. Relieved, Shahar continued his journey, coming wide of his bondmate to where he could see the one she spoke to. Here, he settled to wait and watch; she seemed at least somewhat easy, or at least not uneasy, and that was enough to keep Shahar from any real nervousness; it was the time of neutrality, when he knew not whether his opinions were positive or negative.

The one Shahar assumed to be the leader responded to Khida’s query, identifying the group as visitors––something that made them less mysterious, but didn’t quite answer all questions. Would visitors not bind themselves to their Clan and district, rather than the outskirts?

The leader turned to his things and unburdened his horses, posture calm and unworried. That casualness served to further ease Shahar’s cautions, and he edged a bit closer.

But the curiosity still burned, and the stranger––no, Caelum, he introduced himself––seemed happy to let their interactions continue. He offered company and a meal to Khida, and then, to Shahar’s surprise, himself. Then the hunter had not moved with soft steps, after all.

Caelum whistled the hound back, and the Kelvic turned, peering straight through the black veil to where her bondmate stood. There was a mutual sharing of reaction, and she agreed to the offer.

With that business affirmed, Shahar turned back towards their own camp––if the evening meal was to be had elsewhere, he wanted to bank the fire and secure the embers beforehand, as well as deal with his armful of cattails.

Although cattails might make an addition to the shared dinner.

Shahar no longer attempted to hide his movements as he departed, although the darkness might still provide some obscurity; his presence was known, and for the first time in a long time, that didn’t seem to be a bad thing.

[Aoren]

Aoren hardly considered Caelum a visitor to Endrykas. The windmarked visage of Kasb’el was a form that the Seer had become familiar with in recent times and times before. He was still proud. He was still the picture of an Ankal ready to command his people and family. It brought a slight smile to Aoren’s face. It was not but the season prior that Caelum had taken command and lead several people to an interesting bout against one of his enemies.

For the time being however there were no enemies to be had. There was the chance to make friends. Caelum’s whistle stirred a rustling in the grass and the dark form of Isikai emerged. With the dog’s arrival they were joined by another figure. A man that he assumed was connected to the young woman in some way. Isikai made his way over to Aoren completely ignoring the Drykas man and going straight for Lillian, joining the other canine in basking in her attention. Aoren shook his head with a chuckle.

“Keep her safe.” Giving the girl another pat on the head, Aoren entrusted her to the watchfulness of the two dogs. They were certainly more than happy to keep her company. He shrugged out of his cloak laying it gently across the back of his horse. To the young woman Aoren offered a nod. Standing closer to her now he noticed her bow to which he gave a slight arch of an eyebrow.

“Hunting?” He kept to the native tongue of his ancestral people. His lack of fluency might not yet be apparent considering how short he was keeping his sentences. Still, even that one word wasn’t spoken with the fluid comfort of his Common. Aoren wasn’t in the least bit skilled with a bow. He possessed one and had even brought it with him. He had every intention of practicing with it while he was in Endrykas. He heard that the hunters in the Sea of Grass were impressive in their skills.

He didn’t expect to be taught anything any time soon but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. Aoren set to work joining Caelum in the tasks at hand. As he busied himself with unstrapping their belongings from the horses he paused giving the woman the impression of curiosity.

“What are you called?”

[Caelum]

Caelum's smile deepened when his invitation was accepted. A glance was cast after the retreating figure of the woman's companion, curiosity crouching in sun spotted eyes. He dropped the heavy roll of the tent casing to the grass and hesitated, taking stock their neighboring camp. That explained the wariness and also the lurking. The ethaefal grimaced a little to himself and, after reassuring that Lillian was safely occupied with their dogs, he went about the business of setting up camp. The first task he undertook was fastening feed bags to their horses once he and Aoren had finished unburdening them. A quick brushing down was given them with the ease of long practice be he tied their winter weight blankets into place in order to fend off the night's chill. Instructions to watch were given the battle-trained mounts and he received snorts in response, steam from their breath tumbling through the air like enlarged dandelion heads. The horses seen to, he turned his attention to Aoren and the young woman as the seer finished unloading. They were studied for a moment, a half smile on his mouth, and he said quietly, “I’m going to pitch the tent. If you could handle the fire?” Dropping into a corbie’s crouch, Caelum unwrapped the various tent components and lined them up on the grass. The oiled tarp was selected first and he took it with him to the slightly elevated, flatter spread of ground that was the entire reason for his picking of this specific spot to begin with. The elevation in this weather would allow for any rainwater to moved away rather than towards their tent. After doing a walk through it to kick loose the occasional rock, he spread the tarp out with a crackle that their horses were used to. It did earn him a disgruntled look from Gunn, however, but at this point Lillian was busy “teaching” the dogs “new” tricks while feeding them their dinner so the Imperial Watch didn’t actually come over to complain. The oiled tarp was secured with spikes and Caelum dropped to a seat on it while fitting the tent poles together, swift, able fingers quickly moving through the length of rope and hooks with the ease of long practice. It might have been surprising to those who knew how comfortably he lived Riverfall what with two separate homes, but that was still relatively new in the history of him. In short order, he was back on his feet and manipulating the poles into the proper pockets of the heavy tent canvas. Once it was all set into into place, he secured the corners with pikes and a wood mallet into the half frozen ground and went about raising it up. Unraveling to his feet, the ethaefal stood back to eye the sky with a weighing regard, attempting to determine if it would rain before morning. All that was left was moving their belongings inside and laying out the rugs and bedrolls. “Daddy,” a little voice piped up beside him. Caelum looked down, one eye squinting, to discover his daughter beaming hopefully at him. “I want to learn to shoot like Aoren.” Sticking his tongue into his cheek to smother his amusement, Caelum muttered, “Well, alright. We’ll find you a midget’s bow.” The toddler huffed.

[Khida]

He continued on around the strangers' camp, a new and strengthened purpose underlying his actions. What that purpose was, the Kelvic could not be certain, but she was confident of his soon return. Seeing the leader's glance cast after her bondmate, she offered him that surety: "He will come back."

Meanwhile, the quiet man came somewhat nearer, joining in the conversation now taking shape between them all. Torchlight dappled his face as he nodded towards her, illuminating some pattern there which Khida presumed to be his own windmark. Being from the Drykas seemed not to preclude them, by such evidence as she had. He asked about hunting, casting a significant glance towards her bow; the Kelvic woman couldn't help but grimace, her manner frustrated. The last time she'd tried hunting with the bow... well, it had proven she still needed a good deal more skill. No, her hands sketched, good, not. The Pavi word for practice eluded her, and right here and now, she couldn't think of any way to talk around the word's meaning. "Only practicing."

To his second question, Khida delivered the answer in Pavi made rote by extensive use; she didn't even have to think for the phrase to come to her lips. "I am Khida." The ritual phrase, and a shift of her focus from the quiet man to the horse he had only lately finished tending, reminded her of those she hadn't yet been introduced to. They might as well get it all out of the way at once. "The Striders, names?"

The two men then set in earnest about building their campsite, a process that Khida did not offer to help with. Their routine was not her routine, so her only action was to set herself securely out of the way of their tasks. From a station near the horses, she simply observed, attentive to the goings-on around her. Though one campsite, one tent-raising and fire-making, was ultimately much like any other; there wasn't all that much to watch.

Common | Pavi | someone else

[Colt]

The camp was dim and warm, as it often was after sundown; the fire was flickering and had almost fallen into embers, but Shahar had no intention of rekindling them; instead, he sculpted the dirt around the hearth, gathering rocks and debris to craft a wall against the wind and bank the embers until morning.

He almost burned himself when he received an unexpected push from behind, turning to find Tuka with what could only be a cat’s grin. She drove her head fondly against his back, sliding under his arm in greeting until he scratched her head. An immediate pur shook her chest; she never liked being stuck in camp.

Shoving the cat off to give himself some space, the hunter set about to the cattails; winter had seen the stalks grow yellow and brittle, but the roots remained living and supple; they were quite suitable for consumption. Yes, he would bring the roots down to the strange camp and share them; wasn’t sharing the proper way to greet fellow Drykas? It didn’t matter.

With his task decided, all that was left was to be rid of the stalks he wouldn’t be using, and that was not a difficult activity; his axe was drawn and the stalks pulled taut, and within a few strikes he was decimating them. Tuka retreated from the noise with an unpleasantly surprised hiss.

Once the stalks were separated from the roots, they were added to the fuel pile by the travois. Shahar returned his axe to his hip, gathered up the roots and headed back down the hill, making no attempt to hide his approach from those who were camping below.

[Aoren]

With a nod to Caelum, Aoren went to the where he gauged would be the center of their small campsite. He had no shovel to speak of but he had no real need for one. Crouching down the Seer called upon the strands of his djed. Resting a hand upon the earth he extruded res onto the soil pushing it into the ground with an exertion of his will. He injected the res with the thought of attraction specific to the element of earth. As he instilled that thought into the res he centered his hand upon the circle pulling upwards. The charged res drew up pulling earth and soil with it. A hole in the ground was quickly formed as a result of Aoren’s manipulation of the soil. With the earth that was drawn to his res, Aoren twirled his wrist in a circular motion spinning the res. He tugged upon his djed again breathing out a small cloud of res to add to what was already present.

Lowering his hand he focused on shaping the earth that was within his control building up a small circular wall around the pit that he’d formed in the ground. Waving a hand over the wall, Aoren willed the res that remained within the natural earth to web outward through the wall. He produced a stream of res with his hands brushing them over the surface of the wall he’d formed. With a tap of his finger on the outer layer of res that he’d created his transmuted the layers into stone. Rising to his feet Aoren turned to regard the young woman. While he had not been looking at her directly he caught the meaning of the words that she had spoken aloud. The Seer smiled at her.

“No worry.” The Drykas tongue of Pavi flowed slowly from his mouth. He was not alone in his halting of the speech though it seemed. At least he wouldn’t have to feel isolated in his unfamiliarity. That was something of a comfort in the land of the endless grass. He was about to offer to learn the skills of hunting with a bow and arrow with the woman as it was something he needed to do himself when Lillian spoke up. He stifled an amused snort before going over to sweep the little Konti up into his arms.

“We will learn together, okay? Then one day you’ll be a great hunter.” Aoren gave Lillian a gentle squeeze before setting her back onto the ground. The innocent hum of the Lily of Avalis sang to him in response to being close to Lillian. It was a familiar music that he welcomed. It made him feel as if he were home and accepted. Aoren had met a few other Seers in his lifetime but Lillian was special. Upon receiving the woman’s name he gave her a nod.

“Welcome, Khida.” To the question of the horse’s names, he would leave that for Caelum to answer. The Ethaefal was far more familiar with the horses that resided at the Sanctuary than he was. In time though, Aoren was going to change that. He looked down to Lillian jerking his head in the direction of the grass.

“Come on, Lils. Let’s go find some kindling for the fire.” The little girl bounced with a nod reaching up to take Aoren’s hand. He gave Caelum a private smile, an assurance that he would watch over the Ethaefal’s beloved daughter. As both he and Lillian moved to go in search of adequate things to burn, the sway of grass announced the arrival of Khida’s companion. He gave the man a wave before being drawn into the grass in search of twigs or other things to build a suitable fire.