Anything But Routine

by **Khara** on February 24th, 2015, 2:45 am

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..37th of Winter, 514

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It was a cold morning, which it being Winter and all, Khara supposed she couldn't really find fault in. A bit of a snow flurry had come through the evening prior and the storm's edges lingered, grey skies seeming an endless expanse that Syna could only barely be seen through. Her light was still reaching Mount Skyinarta, though, or at least what little of it there was at the early bell. It was the sort of semi dreary morning that heading out alone into the Sanikas Pass was not something to look forward to; especially if your task wasn't exactly meant to be exciting in the first place.

It was necessary though, or at least that's what she had been told that morning. Several of the scouts had been selected the evening prior to head out and find evidence that various migration paths that the elk herds took to their Winter grounds had been used. Purely to assure that they had indeed passed through, that their numbers were still good, and that the hunters had something to look forward to once Spring arrived and the elk hopefully came back through the pass. There was no expectation of finding game, there wasn't even a real expectation of a positive report - a negative one would provide just as much information for the next Season. It was easy going, the kind of job that most looked forward to for the lack of stress it put on the game scout. You only had to really be concerned with your own safety; something every scout was used to anyway if they had any sense in them.

For Khara though? She couldn't help but feel that maybe, just maybe the entire thing was beneath her skills. It was the sort of task for a novice, not someone who was actually trying to become something more. Those sorts of thoughts were buried deep though, under a thick layer of guilt and a constant unbidden second guessing of herself. No, Sparrow. This sort of job is probably exactly what you should be doing.

A sigh escaped and fogged in front of the the Chiet as she stood outside the closed Gates to the city. The tiny instant of melancholy brushed aside as she looked back to the door in anticipation. Plain jobs didn't necessarily have to be boring, after all. Especially not when your - Lover? No no, that's not right. Beloved? That sounds too fancy. We're not like a poem or anything. He's just my... - horse boy had agreed to use his day off to come with you.

Khara adjusted her equipment, work pack filled with items she might need during the day, bow slung over her shoulder and quiver at her side just in case the worst should happen. Despite the invitation for Zhol to accompany her, she had told him it couldn't be like when they had went to the Cherry Grove. Work was still work and she would need to be focused on that, no matter how simple the day's plan sounded. She worried about that a little, about how Zhol would see her when she was different and not entirely the nervous little pile of feathers that was so easily disturbed when in Wind Reach. That was the only version of her he really knew, after all. Still, he had seemed excited when she had offered. It was a chance for him to know more about her and she was both eager and somewhat skittish at that thought.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on February 24th, 2015, 2:52 am

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This was a stupid idea.

This was a terrible, foolish, idiotic, short-sighted, and doomed to fail idea. He'd been sad at first, at the discovery that Khara's obligations to the city would rob them of the opportunity to spend another day together. When Khara had suggested that he tag along, he couldn't have agreed fast enough, a storm surge of eagerness sweeping him away before thought had the opportunity to set in. It wasn't just the fact that he would evade a day spent missing her; it was the prospect of meeting a different her, a different side of who she was. The chance to meet Khara the game scout? To see her at work, to see the side of her that had earned her increasing notice and recognition this year? The opportunity to encounter yet another piece of the intricate puzzle that he adored? It went beyond his normal affection, his desperate desire to be as close to her as possible. This was new. This was exciting.

Of course, the problem with getting swept up in such concepts was that you agreed to things before you thought them through. Zhol had been so focused, so elated by the prospect of seeing the confident, competent side of Khara that strode bravely out into the Unforgiving each day, that he had neglected to consider one vitally important detail: how utterly useless he was at this sort of thing. Azira had driven that point home wonderfully last season: all the enthusiasm and willingness in the world could not compensate for a profound lack of skill; and that was him in a nutshell. He couldn't track. He could barely shoot. He didn't know the difference between good plants and bad plants; didn't know how to navigate without being able to see the sky. If they ever became cold, he was perfectly equipped to start a fire; but then, Khara was more than capable of doing that too, without an oversized and otherwise useless flint and tinder lumbering about and slowing her down.

What made it worse was that, this realisation having dawned, he couldn't back out, couldn't excuse himself from the expedition, for fear of hurting Khara's feelings or harming her opinion of him. This was the trap he'd fallen into: stay in the city, and offend the woman you love; or tag along and prove to her that everyone else is right to think that you are useless.

That twisted in his gut, though his inner strength was keeping the squirming beast pinned down in the pit of his stomach, like a horse boy wrestling a llama. His eyes glanced in her direction, the familiar urge to kiss her or take her in his arms stirring in his chest; but no. This needed to be different, she'd said; this was her work, not some romantic excursion, and Zhol needed to respect that. Zhol would respect that.

He fidgeted with his pack, adjusting the wait on his shoulders, wondering if he was bringing too much with him, or not enough. The remnants of the shirt he'd torn into bandages for Khara last season; his kettle, in case they needed to boil water; his medicinal teas; his salves and balms; his quiver, his bow, his sword, his sighting lens; everything he could think of, everything that might have the faintest chance of making him slightly less than useless, even if all he was good for was carrying the heavy loads. Fitting, he supposed, that he was about as much use to Khara as a pack animal.

"Am us ready?" Zhol tried to ask, realising instantly what a terrible idea it was to try and speak in anything but common. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; common was the language that let Zhol and Khara be intimate, get to know each other; but this was about doing the Inarta thing, and about Zhol making the extra effort. The only problem was, extra effort was worth nothing when you lacked the skill or prowess to pull it off. "I am will follow."

by **Khara** on March 10th, 2015, 12:31 am

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Khara couldn't help but smile as she watched Zhol adjust all the things he was bringing with him. It reminded her exactly of how she'd been the first time Azira had actually called on her to go hunting with her. Since then, the Chiet had learned to better gauge what exactly she would need with her for the day - usually. She still ended up bringing far more than was necessary more often than not. Seeing Zhol do the same wasn't some quirky amusement though, it was reassuring more than anything else. It was nice to know that she wasn't the only one who was more than happy to be over prepared than ever find themselves needing something they didn't bring along.

The Nari was a sweet touch too. It wasn't an easy language to learn if you didn't grow up with it, or so Khara herself was learning. She'd never considered just how different it must seem, despite how hard it had been for her to learn Common. Zhol seemed determined to learn it, though, and all things considered it made perfect sense. The only thing she could do was offer to teach him more things, correct if he didn't mind it, and of course help practice.

"I think so," she said, a bit slower than her usual cadence, something she was going to try and keep consistent throughout the day. It wasn't odd for Khara's ramblings to become lightning quick even when she wasn't nervous, today of all days she would need to be aware of it. "We aren't going very far out. Just down into the pass. There's some stairs that were carved that we'll take. The snow makes them a bit more dangerous and hard to find than usual, but it isn't too thick yet so we should be okay."

Her gaze flickered to his hand, her own twitching slightly in response to the urge to take hold of his arm as she often did. Not now! The mental rebuke was enough to draw her eyes back up to meet his and a small nod of her head was given. "Let's go."

An encouraging smile was offered before she quickly set out, the area in front of the gates only cleared of snow from the frequent use it saw from the hunters and others still determined to try and make use of the road before Winter fully set in. The thought of which was like a constant weight upon Wind Reach that you could almost feel in the air. All it would take was a single blizzard and no one would be heading out at all for a few days. The waiting for the inevitable was almost worse than when it would finally happen and every day seemed to be used to it's fullest. Except if no one wanted you to hunt with them, apparently.

Khara tried to ignore that bitter thought. She'd spent more than enough time trying to figure out why the hunters had been choosing other scouts over her, despite the fact she was quickly working towards becoming among the best. Maybe it was because of what happened in Fall, maybe someone had said something, maybe her fears weren't entirely unfounded and soon no one would ever ask for her to accompany them again.

A glance towards Zhol was enough to quiet the thoughts, at least for now. "Thank you for coming along. It just..." No, there was no room for misunderstanding for the moment. "I do not enjoy so much being alone with my thoughts. It used to be peaceful, you know? Now it is all so..." Her words hesitated as her hands moved in front of her, not entirely frantic but as if they could convey the word she wanted. A sigh left as she realized her only option of expressing what she wanted. "...Tangled."

A bit of a frown tugged at her, a feeling that she wasn't being entirely honest forcing her to continue. "Not always, though. Just when they make me do things like this." The Common words left her heavily accented, a somewhat annoying result of swapping between the two.

It didn't take her long before she came to a stop at the side of the road, the thin layer of snow finally beginning to softly crunch under their feet. The Sanikas River still flowed nearby and the game scout looked toward it warily.

"It will be colder the closer we get to it," Khara said as she pulled a pair of plain leather gloves from a pocket of her katinu. "We'll have to watch for ice on the steps until we get to where we don't need them anymore."

Another flash of a smile was given as she stepped off the road and down onto the first step of a set of stairs that could only barely be made out against the rest of the snow covered landscape. "Probably the most excitement we'll have all day, though. Sorry."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on March 10th, 2015, 4:00 pm

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Zhol cursed himself for his lack of gloves. He wasn't worried about the cold particularly - he had plenty of ways of warming his hands, reimancy being the most obvious - but if they were going to be clambering down precarious steps, something other than frozen fingers to grasp for balance might have been preferable. He kept the thought to himself, though; no use drawing attention to how unprepared he was.

"I not am for excitement came," he tried, trying too hard not to stumble down the crude stairway to avoid stumbling over his words and grammar. He fell quiet for a moment, trying to rearrange the sentence structure and syntax into something that didn't sound so wrong, wrestling with his stunted vocabulary to convey what he wanted to say. "I am know much Khara, but I am not know every Khara. I am want..." Frustration tugged at his expression, his fingers flexing, grassland sign trying desperately to convey the sentiment that his mouth could not. "I am love already of every Khara I am know. I am want more Khara, so I am love every Khara there is."

Redness tugged at Zhol's cheeks, and he could feel the cold air leeching the heat from his face. He fell silent, cautiously trudging down the stairway in Khara's wake, parts of his mind chastising himself for using that four letter word; he was supposed to be behaving, supposed to be treating her as a game scout instead of as the sole object of his every affection. He'd promised her he wouldn't make this into a romantic expedition, and breaking his word to Khara was something he had no intention of even allowing himself to do, let alone forgiving himself for.

He steered his mind in a fresh direction. Granted, he was about as much use as a kettle made of ice on an excursion such as this, but unlike his trip into the wilderness with Azira the season before, this time he found himself with someone he was eager to learn from, and someone who wouldn't threaten to murder him for each question he asked. "What am should I be look for?" he tried; every sentence that tumbled from his lips felt so clunky and clumsy, but if he never spoke Nari, he'd never learn. "I am keep open eyes, but I am know not what I am..." His fingers curled into the sentiment he was trying to convey. Searching. Seeking. Watching for. He fumbled for the right vocabulary. "...hungry?"

by **Khara** on March 11th, 2015, 4:08 am

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Each step was taken carefully, determination and perhaps a bit of stubbornness responsible for each gentle footfall to be planted as normally as possible. The snow wouldn't make it through her gloves but Khara was determined to not use her hands just the same to aid in the steep decline. It had nothing to do with trying to show off in front of Zhol though, and everything to do with the fact that she was Inarta, this was home, and she should be able to traverse the supposed untraversable as if she had been born to do so. That didn't mean she succeeded each and every time. Every so often her left hand would fall behind her to gently touch a few stairs above to keep her balance as a particularly precariously worn step proved a bit more trouble than she had thought it would be. Ice made her foot slip and it was with every effort that she strained muscle and adjusted her body weight to keep from tumbling. If nothing else, she hoped her footing could be followed safely, Khara would never forgive herself if anything happened to Zhol on this little experiment.

Still, his comments made her pause, his use of a word she had taught him bringing a small smile to her as she turned to look up at him. It wasn't supposed to be any sort of picturesque getaway for the two of them, but that didn't stop the never ending mountain of feelings she knew echoed within his own chest. A chill breath was drawn in to respond, but before she could find the words to tell Zhol that despite the broken language she understood what he was trying to tell her and that she could only hope that she'd be given equal opportunity to learn all there was to know about him to see every side of him that she could, he changed the subject. Khara only hoped the brief instant of their eyes meeting and the look she gave him was enough to even remotely pass on the sentiment.

Zhol asked a good question though and she looked back towards where they had been headed. Satisfied they were close enough, she stepped off the stairs that continued to lead down - maybe even all the way to Thunder Bay, she never really had found out - and began heading towards where the trees just began to grow, short and stubby at first but quickly becoming taller, even if they were still sparse.

"The snow will make it tricky," she began, trying to keep her pace as she walked over the uneven terrain slower than the urging to get the job done demanded of her. If Zhol hadn't been with her she might very well had sprinted across the relatively open section of land; it was hazardous with the bit of snow thanks to lurking rocks and other dangers, but Khara never really had minded that. "Basically, I'm looking to see if I can tell that a particular game trail was used earlier in the season or late last. Maybe one or two others nearby as well. I need to make sure they came through in Fall so hopefully the hunters can rely on them coming back the same way come Spring."

She came to a stop and frowned before looking back over her shoulder at Zhol, lips pursing in thought. To her, the signs of an animal having been through an area - especially a group of animals - was becoming second nature. Broken limbs, spaces without growth from where they moved through or had eaten, prints, droppings... they all seemed like common knowledge to her, but even such things could sometimes baffle one of the hunters. It was no good explaining or making a list, not without an example at least.

"Musses." Her hands made a vague gesture before she realized she what she was doing and quickly put a halt to it out of fear of seeming like she was mocking him. They clasped tightly behind her back as she continued. "Prints I'll try and find later, though by now they can have faded away. Normally I would try and find trails where new plants weren't. If a lot of animals walk through a place, they make it so things do not grow, they get squished and die and so you have, uhm... Dead space?"

A sigh of frustration left her at the inadequacy of her second language and with a slight flinch she chose to switch back to what she knew she could properly explain in, even if Zhol may not have fully understood all the words. "They're called game trails. Routes that animals continually take. They aren't always as easy to spot as it sounds, sometimes it's just a matter of looking at everything else and seeing where a void is. It's really nice when there's a lot of bushes or other vegetation in an area because it becomes really clear where there isn't any. Here though? It won't be so simple."

No sooner had Khara said it than her golden eyes fell away from Zhol and towards the ground, her face scrunching just the slightest in thought and then relaxing at the realization. That was why they had sent her here. The other routes were easier to find, easier to follow. This wasn't some trivial assignment that she'd been given that was overly simple. They'd given her the more difficult area to look in to. The epiphany drew a sudden small laugh from her and quickly boosted her spirit. Fine then, if it was a challenge they gave her, she could rise to meet it.

"Just, keep an eye for anything that looks..." she tried to think of the best word, the way she looked for things. There was only one way she knew to describe it, though. It didn't matter if it was tracks or any other signs the one thing stood out that she could say was the single thing she always looked for. "Different."

Not the best instruction, but she wasn't exactly expecting to teach. When she had been learning they had shown her what the differences were to a normal landscape that showed signs of animals having been in an area, pointed out what made them what they were, but to Khara she never started looking for them outright. That seemed silly to her, trying to find something amongst a lot of other things. Looking for something that didn't seem the same, though. Finding the blemish where your mind expected sameness? That was how she did it.

"I will say when I see something so you can see too, okay?" She offered, resisting the urge to once again run over and take Zhol by the hand to lead him towards anything she saw. It was hard to fight, though. The sudden surge in happiness she felt at actually realizing she hadn't been snubbed by her task, at the dawning realization that she was more home outside than within the warrens of Wind Reach, of the fact that Zhol was with her? The sad truth was she probably looked far happier than she had in a long while. But Zhol was with her to see it, so at least it wasn't wasted.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on March 11th, 2015, 9:52 am

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Zhol's limited understanding cherry-picked certain words, the rest an incomprehensible blur that formed a tight and tangled knot of guilt and frustration in his chest. More than a year he had spent living under the mountain with the Inarta, and still he struggled to comprehend their language. At least his understanding was better than his ability to string together sentences, though; he could hear in Nari far better than he could speak.

Void. That was the word that stuck out in his mind. Dead space, she had called it in common. Looking for what was different; Finding where things were by perceiving the emptiness that it left behind. That was something Zhol knew, something he understood all too well; he had not truly understood how much Khara had meant to him, and how strong his feelings were, until the days last season when she had seemed gone forever from his life; the days where the void Khara had left behind was almost too painful to bear.

Another wave of embarrassment washed over him as Khara made her offer. "Okay," he replied sheepishly. He understood that he would be of little use here, that his lack of understanding, lack of familiarity, and lack of useful skills would make him good for little more than an extra pair of hands and a safeguard against loneliness, but he hadn't realised he would be quite this useless. He'd hoped there would be something, some obvious clue to task his eyes to search for, something that he could dedicate his focus to that would be helpful, and might perhaps even earn a small sliver of pride from Khara had he succeeded. It was selfish, or stupid, or petty, or one of a number of other words that came readily to mind; Zhol's efforts to learn archery were not to earn praise or recognition, and yet he had become addicted to it. That look in Khara's eyes; that smile on her face; the proud embrace; the grateful kisses -

No, his mind interrupted, sternly. You are not here for that. If there are no signs that you can look for yet, then look at her. Surely that will not be too arduous a task. Another stab of embarrassment erupted, following in the wake of the wave of desire and urges that washed over him as he watched the confidence and sure-footed determination that radiated from Khara like an aura. He had wanted to see this different side of the woman he loved; what he saw made it difficult not to sweep her up in his arms, and sprint back up the mountain with her to somewhere warm and bed-like.

He wrestled those thoughts down, carefully bundling them and tucking them away to perhaps be indulged later, rather than snuffing them out entirely. Instead he redoubled his focus on the task at hand, forcing his mind to think critically about what they were doing, forcing his gaze to drink in every detail of their surroundings in an effort to keep his eyes from staring at his love.

"What animal am us for to look?" he asked; it was a badly worded question, but it felt like a good one. Zhol had encountered only a handful of the creatures that dwelt in this corner of the world, but each one had been vastly different. There were goats who skipped merrily up and down sheer cliff faces as if they were flat ground; the spiky badger-like creature he had encountered on his unfortunate expedition with Azira, that hunkered close to the ground; there were llamas, and deer, and all sorts of others. Depending on which they were looking for, would their game trails be different? Should he be looking for signs on the slope above them, deeper into the trees, skirting the edge, in the broad spaces between the trunks, close to the roots where the needles and branches shielded small islands of forest floor from the falling snow -

He frowned at himself, trying to work out a better way of phrasing his question. "Am big animal? Am climb animal? Am -" His mind failed him, trying to remember the Nari name for the enormous creature that Khara had proudly told him about helping Azira to hunt. He remembered the way she had described it, the enormous antlers especially; he gave up on vocabulary and mimed those instead, thumbs pressed against his temples, fingers splayed out into the cold air. "Am this?"

by **Khara** on March 12th, 2015, 3:18 am

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Khara was glad they weren't actually looking to find any animals, it let her not worry too much about how much noise they were making which made explaining things a lot easier when she didn't have to try and hush the Nari she was already trying to speak more clearly. It also meant she didn't entirely have to hold in the giggle that left as Zhol brought his hands up to his head. The back of her hand still found it's way to her mouth to keep the laugh from going entirely uncontained.

"A moose?" She suggested, still fighting back the small laugh but not bothering to try and subdue the grin that had come with it.

She waited until he was next to her before she began walking again, keeping the pace almost leisurely. Where her walking seemed casual, however, Khara's eyes were full of life and energy as they continually scanned their surroundings.

"No, nothing like that. Not even animals, really. Just signs of where they have been. Elk, though, so not all that different, really. Smaller than moose but bigger than regular deer, I guess." Her shoulder shrugged before she looked at Zhol in her peripheral vision. It felt strange to be so talkative and not be in a language she knew he was better with. Nari and the outdoors seemed a natural pair to her, but she had seen the small flickers in his visage that showed he wasn't entirely keeping up with her ramblings.

"You certain you do not want to speak like this? Please say if you want me to repeat anything so it is easier, okay? This is my job, but you are still my Zhol." Her hand suddenly left her side and quickly ensnared his and she turned to actually look up and meet his gaze. "Nothing changes that."

A gentle squeeze of his hand was given before she looked away, back towards the nearing trees. Something caught her eye, however, and her hand slipped from his grasp as she rushed forward. It didn't look like much, a dead sapling, proof that life in The Unforgiving was cruel even to the things most took for granted. It was the way the small tree was practically shredded though, that Khara couldn't help but see. She looked over her shoulder back at Zhol and waved him over.

"This is exactly what I was hoping for. Though, I can't tell how long ago this died. It may have even been last Winter. But, see how the bark is all torn up? Antlers did that, the elk rub them against trees for a few reasons, I think. I don't remember what any of them are though, I was still a Yasi when they told us and I didn't really..." Khara caught the way her words went from enthusiastic to suddenly downtrodden and she stopped herself. She closed her eyes for half a tick and let out a slow breath, trying to shove the more negative thoughts aside - this wasn't the time for that. "Regardless of the reasons, it shows that they were here. When they do it to the smaller trees, they tend to die. I don't think they can take that much damage."

Her hand reached out and ran down a length of the dead sapling almost sadly. It seemed silly to find such a thing worth mourning, but a young tree had so much more potential than just being some bull elk's rubbing spot. Maybe it didn't, though. Maybe it was meant for exactly that purpose. Khara's mind began drawing uncomfortable parallels and she quickly pulled her hand back.

"We should find more in the area, hopefully I can see something on an older tree that is still living, or a few others. If this is part of the actual migration route, like it should be, then I should be able to see things like this of different ages. Maybe I can figure out what the newest looks like and maybe figure out how new it actually is." She tried to keep an air of hope in her voice without sounding as absolutely lost with the information as Khara felt she actually was. Spotting a rubbing was one thing, actually aging it, though? The Chiet only hoped her best guess would be correct.

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on March 12th, 2015, 3:53 am

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My Zhol.

Perfect words, in a perfect voice, said with a perfect smile behind those perfect eyes. It was deathly cold, as far as Zhol's southerner physiology was concerned; he was out in the dangerous wilderness, in the shadow of a deadly mountain that could erupt with fire or with angry Inarta at any moment, both of which could easily be his undoing. He was as far from the land of his birth as he could get; as far from his family; as far from familiar. Yet despite all that, perfect really was the only word to describe now; not just this moment, not just Khara, not just them; but everything. There was nowhere he'd rather be - not even back on bed; not even in her arms - than right here, because everything was exactly as it was meant to be.

He wrestled the thought down, fought back the urge to chase after her hand as she released his, and instead dutifully followed as she beckoned, studying what she showed him, trying to decipher the lessons she was teaching. Her offer was sweet, the sentiment attached to it sweeter still; but it had been more than a year now, and Nari barely felt any more comprehensible to him as it had the day he had arrived. He had tried easing himself gently; he had tried deliberate; perhaps the best option was to simply throw himself into the deepest depths, and hope that he would not drown.

Even the parts he did understand, he didn't understand though. To him, the broken tree was just a broken tree; how did Khara know what made it a sign of what she was looking for? How would a scuff on some bark prove that elk had passed through, rather than anything else? There was so much he didn't know, so much he didn't understand; so much detail, so much knowledge, so much insight that eluded him completely. He had come with Khara to learn more about the job that dominated her life; thus far, what he had learned was to be in awe.

"You am near as -" he tried, fumbling with his handful of words. "- as almost know much as look nice -"

He winced, and stopped himself, surrendering to a more comfortable language for just this one thing. "You are almost as clever as you are beautiful," he said with far more ease. "All these things that you know, all this understanding you have... I would not know where to begin. I am even more impressed, in awe, and proud to be yours than I already was."

by **Khara** on March 13th, 2015, 8:17 pm

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It didn't take the sudden rush of heat to know she was blushing from what Zhol had said, but the indicator left her wondering if it turned her skin more pink than the winter air had already. Even if it didn't, there was no way she could hide the nervous smile that tugged at her lips, the way her eyes demurely went downcast before flitting back up to his, or the way her bottom lip was tugged at in the slightest nibble.

"It-it's not so sp-p-pecial," Khara stuttered softly, for once not entirely sounding convinced of what she was saying. Little by little Zhol had begun to make the scout question her once solid belief that everything about her was entirely unremarkable. Praise wasn't something she was comfortable with accepting, but coming from Zhol it was easier to listen to, to dare to believe.

The timid smile turned embarrassed as she realized that even if no one else agreed with his assessment of her, the fact it was Zhol's opinion meant so much more than she could possibly say. "I-I'm glad you came with me. I don't think of this so much as anything not normal, I forget that there are any others that may not see it that way."

A thought occurred to her suddenly and Khara turned back to the sapling and gently slid her pack from her shoulder. A quick tug was given to open it and her hand delved inside to pull out a strip of blue linen.

"If I was looking for animals, and expected a hunter to come with me soon, I would use one of these," She explained slowly, returning to Nari as the embarrassment of what she was considering seemed to be easier to avoid if she focused on trying to make him understand what she was saying. "I use the blue ones to help me easily find something I already did, a marker of sorts. I have other colors too..."

Her voice trailed off as she dropped the blue strip back into her pack. Another bit of hesitation was taken before she crouched down and set the bag on the ground and pulled out one of the red strips instead. "I won't mark any of the trail today because it will be a lot of time before the hunters come here," she continued as she set about releasing her hunting knife from the sheath she had purchased earlier in the season. "But, if it's okay with you, I can mark something else?"

Carefully she punctured the red strip of fabric with the knife, trying to get as close to one of the edges as she could before pulling along the length of it, separating a thin piece along the length of the linen. The larger remaining piece was placed back into her pack, but the smaller ribbon like section she gently took hold of between her lips as she set about putting the hunting knife away and closed her pack. Once her hands were free and backpack back in place she walked over to Zhol and held up the red ribbon.

"B-because of you, I use red to show somewhere that I know is safe. So if I have to stop and eat a meal or spend a night, I know there aren't any immediate dangers in the area." She paused and nervously took hold of his hand and raised it from his side before she wrapped the long thin piece of linen around his wrist. "This is for you. Because wherever you are, I am safe."

"Nari" | "Common" | "Pavi"

by **Zhol** on March 13th, 2015, 8:50 pm

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Zhol watched as Khara tied the ribbon to his wrist with reverent silence, her words seeping into his mind, and tangling with other thoughts. He remembered the last time someone had taken a hold of his arm like that; it had been Drusilla that time, and she had drawn a symbol of her family onto his bare arm. It was to stop him from looking at his arm, devoid of windmarks, and being sad; a reminder that he wasn't alone in Wind Reach. She'd said something else, too; when Zhol had remarked about how he'd once had a braid for each of his loved ones, and how he no longer could with his cropped short hair, she'd made a simple suggestion: wear them on your arm instead. And now here was Khara, doing just that: a ribbon on his wrist instead of in his hair.

He picked up tiny snippets of what she'd said in Nari. If she needed somewhere to eat; if she need somewhere to sleep; that was what he was to her. Everything she had said to him before blurred together into one. Red because of you. Safe because of you. Zhol of Wind Reach. Here was his home now. Khara was his home now. It didn't matter that he wasn't a Drykas. It didn't matter that a strider never chose him. It didn't matter that there were no windmarks on his arms. It didn't matter that his father didn't want him. It didn't matter that his old life was gone. This was his life now: this wonderful, beautiful perfection.

A smile formed on his lips, but Zhol felt his vision shimmer. He thought about trying to look away; thought about trying to hide them from her; but he didn't. No more hiding. No more keeping things from her. Even as his smile grew broader, a single tear escaped from the corner of his eye, trailing it's way down his cheek. "Thank you," he whispered quietly, before his other hand rose to his face, smearing down his eyes and cheeks to ward off any more tears before they could form.

He hesitated a moment longer before the urge overcame him; in one swift motion he took her in his arms, embracing her as tightly as he could muster. "Thank you," he whispered again, trying to kiss her cheek but missing, a frantic trail catching her hair, an ear, her jawline before the trail progressed all the way to her lips. He kissed her again, and again, the hand that she had decorated rising to cradle her cheek; a glimpse of the ribbon caught out of the corner of his eye made him want to kiss her more. it might have been a moment; it might have been an eternity; it didn't matter.

"I love you," he finally whispered, ceasing his assault of his lips, but not able to prize himself away from her arms, or stop his head from gently brushing beside hers. A tug of embarrassment pulled at his psyche, but he didn't indulge it. "Sorry," he breathed. "I know that was -" Intense? Unexpected? Inappropriate? Probably all of those things. "It is hard to explain, but... this means very much to me. I will -"

He wanted to say always be with you. He wanted to say always keep you safe. But they weren't right; they weren't promises he could keep. But there was one that he could; impossible as it seemed, he knew it was true.

"I will always be yours, Khara. I will always love you, and I will always be here."

Closed Anything But Routine